UConn won its 100th game in a row Monday night. …
It’s an almost unfathomable achievement, a milestone that belongs right alongside UCLA’s 88-game streak and the New England Patriots winning 18 in a row in 2007; or Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak and Byron Nelson’s 11 consecutive PGA Tour wins.
Yet in some corners, UConn’s accomplishment merited a yawn.
(USA Today, February 14, 2017)
Most of you probably missed the breaking news of this historic event. Not least because most leading voices in mainstream and social media apparently thought it merited only a yawn.
For example, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and Rihanna are all putative trendsetters for female empowerment. Yet none of them even bothered to use their Twitter accounts to give the UConn Women’s Basketball team a shout-out. If they had, they would’ve made this accomplishment a top trending topic for at least a day. As it turned out, it trended for only a few hours – below such historic events as the latest episode of The Bachelor, according to trends24.
On the other hand, I have been among few still small voices hailing the UConn women over the years, all the while decrying the yawns that continually greeted their milestone accomplishments.
Sadly, what I wrote in this regard – in “UConn Routs Louisville to Win NCAA (Women’s) Championship,” April 8, 2009 – remains as relevant today as it was when I wrote it eight years ago.
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You’d be forgiven for thinking that North Carolina winning the NCAA (men’s) championship on Monday is the biggest story in Basketball this year. …
Objectively speaking, however, the biggest story is the way UConn crowned a perfect season by winning the NCAA (women’s) championship last night in a rout over Louisville 76-54. Because UConn not only ended its season 39-0, its players were so dominant, they won each game by double digits with unprecedented ease.
Now just imagine the hoopla if North Carolina had won its championship in such convincing fashion. …
Not to mention that, instead of commanding network coverage in primetime like the men’s championship, the women’s was relegated to cable last night, which guaranteed only a fraction of the viewership. TV executives wonder why they can’t get better ratings for the fledgling women’s professional league – the WNBA. Well, it might have something to do with the way they keep dissing women’s college Basketball in this fashion.
Moreover, what does this disparate coverage say to female college athletes, as well as to young girls, who we encourage to have the same interest in sports as young boys? Frankly, it says that chauvinism, sexism, and discrimination against women in sports not only still exist but are blithely tolerated.
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Come to think of it, if not Katy, Taylor, or Rihanna, you might wonder why tweeter-in-chief Donald J. Trump didn’t bother to give UConn a shout-out. But he was too busy tweeting about the “very dishonest” media failing to mention the “yuge” crowds lining the streets to gawk at his presidential motorcade.
Hell, even his daughter Ivanka, the self-appointed White House czar for female empowerment, didn’t think this accomplishment worthy of a tweet. Besides, she was too busy fawning over Canadian President Justin Trudeau.
I wonder if this Daddy’s girl ended up grabbing him by the balls. (Just kidding! But if the allusion is lost on you, crawl back under your rock!)
In any event, this outlook on UConn’s historic streak is worth noting:
The bad news for opponents is that UConn may only get better. The Huskies have only one senior in the starting lineup, guard Saniya Chong. But the two highest scorers on the team, Samuelson and Napheesa Collier, are both sophomores.
(New York Times, February 13, 2017)
That said, UConn’s head coach, Geno Auriemma, deserves honorable mention.
I don’t usually comment on coaches because the media give them far too much of the credit their players deserve, and schools/corporate sponsors give them far too much of the money their players earn. But I feel obliged to make an exception for Geno Auriemma, UConn’s head coach for the past thirty years.
[The April 7, 2015, issue of Sports Illustrated] noted that ‘All of UConn’s championships have come under head coach Geno Auriemma. Auriemma’s 10 titles are tied with former UCLA men’s coach John Wooden for the most all-time by a college coach. Connecticut has never lost a championship game in its history.’
(“UConn: NCAA Women’s Basketball Champions … Again,” The iPINIONS Journal, April 8, 2015)
Too bad Geno is not a female coach named Geena. Hee hee hee …
Congratulations UConn!
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