Fever take Outdoor game
Even after the Indiana Fever arrived early Saturday morning and hadn’t had a chance to practice in the fresh air, they handily defeated the New York Liberty 71-55 in front of a reported 19,000 fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the first regular-season pro basketball game to take place outdoors. The New York Times has more:
Riding a three-game winning streak, the Liberty opened the game by shooting 18 percent, closed to 4 points behind at the half, then scored 3 points in the third quarter. The Fever captured a 71-55 victory, which ended with fireworks shooting out of the United States Open scoreboard.
“We started thinking about the atmosphere,” said the veteran forward Shameka Christon, who scored 9 points as the Liberty dropped to 12-10. “We had so much other stuff, rather than focusing on ourselves. You can sit here and say it’s just like home, but it’s not.”
The setting was a bit incongruous, part sporting event inside the stadium, part family carnival outside on the grounds of the U.S.T.A. Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, named for the pioneer for women’s tennis and women’s sports.
Now Q over at Rethinking Basketball believes that while the game should have been televised, it might have been a good thing that it wasn’t, considering the gameplay.
The fact that the game occurred will generate some buzz and I imagine that could “catch the eye” of some casual fans. However, what the WNBA game didn’t need was one more reason for the casual fan to dismiss and demean the game because of one bad showing in such a special setting. And you don’t want to give off the impression that your sport is dependent on a gimmick because it lacks substance, especially in an otherwise great season.
And that’s exactly why the WNBA made the right decision in not putting the game on national television. With the buzz from this game and the Olympic buzz, it’s possible that a few casual fans could feel the impulse to watch a few WNBA games after hearing about the women’s national team….especially if they win gold.
But the game played tonight — independent of the atmosphere -– was not a performance representative of the quality of play that would attract casual fans to the game. And that doesn’t mean they should never do it again — I hope they do…and I hope it’s a better game.
Q makes a great point, and I for one was upset the game wasn’t televised, but it seems the league made the right call keeping it on Webcast.
Tags: "outdoor classic", indiana-fever, new-york-liberty, WNBA, wnba-basketball, womens-basketball
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