Do WNBA players care about their fans more than NBA players?

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Jun 8, 2000

Women's Basketball is more popular now than it ever has been. In 1996 the USA Women's Basketball team won the gold in the Atlanta Olympics, sparking an interest in the sport. The year before the Olympics, USA Basketball heavily promoted the National Team, gathering media attention and thousands of fans across the country. They traveled to countless states to play exhibition games, and won every single one, proving what women are capable of. They signed thousands of autographs, and posed through photo session after photo session. Although their hands hurt, and their cheeks ached from smiling, they knew that the fans were essential to the growth of the sport they love.

WNBA players are very aware of the fact that they are role models to many people. They get countless letters from little girls telling them that they want to be just like the player. They understand the responsibility of being a role model, and take that responsibility. They are careful what they say and do while they are in public, so that they don't set a bad example. Most of them don't get in trouble with the law, and only rarely are there fights between players on the court.

In the NBA however, they seem to forget the fact that thousands of children look up to, and want to copy everything they do. There are numerous reports of NBA players getting into drunken fights in bars, or getting arrested for abuse, and things like that. The messages many NBA players send out to their fans aren't necessarily good ones.

Without the fans, sports would not be in existence, and women seem to understand this a little more than the men. Without the fans, they wouldn't have a job. Female athletes treat their fans with respect, and many of them seem to consider their fans more as friends than anything else. They greet the regulars by name, and are more than willing to stop and chat for a while if they aren't late for practice or a game. A few years ago two girls were at the parking lot outside the arena after an Atlanta Glory game. Teresa Edwards walked by, and they called her name, and said that they had just wanted to tell her that she had played a good game. Teresa Edwards thanked them, and after a moment or two of chatting offered to take the girls out to dinner. Players send out birthday letters, and Christmas cards to some of their fans. Things like this are regular occurrences in women's sports. They don't forget the people who let them do what they love.

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