Posted on April 4th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Baylor University’s women’s basketball team just completed a dream season, blowing out Notre Dame to win the national title Tuesday and finish with a 40-0 record. As she’s been throughout the season for the Lady Bears, star center Brittney Griner was dominant. She won the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award, complementing the Player of the Year honors she received earlier.
After Baylor’s 80-61 victory, Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw was effusive in praising Griner, calling the 6-foot-8 junior the best post player she’s ever seen. “I think she’s one of a kind,” McGraw said. “I think she’s like a guy playing with women.”
McGraw’s intent wasn’t to insult Griner, and the player didn’t perceive it that way. “Definitely, I take it as a compliment,” Griner said. But the coach’s comparison caused a stir on social media because of the taunts Griner endures about her height and dominating play.
Her stature, deep voice and size 17 sneakers make her an object of scorn and ridicule among ignorant fans who question her gender. They suggest that Griner can’t be a “real woman” — not the way she’s built, the way she sounds and the way she plays. It’s an age-old criticism launched against extraordinary female athletes whom mainstream society deems insufficiently feminine.
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Posted on April 4th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Despite all the hype and highlights, strikes and spotlight, and the accolades and attention, Stephen Strasburg is a relatively unknown quantity. Entering his third season with the Nationals, he’s yet to begin a year in the majors, yet alone start on Opening Day.
He’ll cross both items off his to-do list Thursday. In one sense, he’ll be another wide-eyed fan making his first pilgrimage to Wrigley Field. In another sense, he’ll be the Nats’ long-awaited ace taking his rightful place atop the rotation.
Like the previous two seasons, 2012 will be something of a tease. The countdown on a team-imposed innings limit begins with the Chicago Cubs’ leadoff batter, and likely will end with about one month left in the season. The Nats might be contenders in September, but they’ll have to wait ‘til next year to see how Strasburg might fare in that situation.
Washington could have stretched him out by putting him at the back of the rotation. Delaying his first outing and keeping him on a fifth starter’s schedule could have led to a few mid-September starts. But Strasburg was in no mood to discuss that possibility Tuesday during a news conference at Nationals Park before an exhibition against Boston.
“That’s something you guys [the media] talked about,” he said. “I don’t think it was ever discussed in the coaching staff or within the organization. I don’t have much to say on it.”
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Posted on April 2nd, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Considering the Charlotte Bobcats’ status as one of the NBA’s laughingstocks — currently on a seven-game losing streak and in possession of the league’s worst record — fans were probably heartened by a recent report involving team owner Michael Jordan. Arguably the NBA’s all-time greatest player but a lousy owner, Jordan reportedly is considering selling the team if he continues to lose millions on his investment.
“I told [General Manager Rich Cho] to make us better,” Jordan told one associate recently, according to the Daily News. “If that doesn’t work and I can’t make a profit in the next three to four years, then I’m selling.”
Jordan joined the franchise in 2006 as managing member of basketball operations for then-owner Robert Johnson and took over as owner in 2010. The Bobcats have produced one winning season with Jordan’s fingerprints on the team, compiling an overall mark of 188-232 — not including this year’s 7-43 record, which makes Charlotte the NBA’s only team with fewer than 10 wins.
But before fans could take to the streets to celebrate his impending departure, Jordan said that the report isn’t true. “I was disturbed to hear the false report that I intend to sell my majority interest in the Charlotte Bobcats,” Jordan said Sunday in a statement. “I am 100 percent committed to building the Bobcats into a contender and have no plans to sell the team.”
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