Selling the Game

The Chicago Sky are running a brand-new 30-second commercial in their local viewing area. Here, have a look-see . . .

Now the BasketCases thought that was GREAT! We loooved the way Big Syl hung on the rim! Heck, now we're really disappointed that we have to wait until August 29th (!) for the Sky to come to the Phone Booth. You can bet we won't miss that game! (In fact, we're planning to be there for the warm-ups . . . you know, just in case Big Syl decides to throw one down!)

Speaking of disappointments, the WNBA's recently-launched series of ads are called "Expect Great," but in our opinion, are anything but . . . "Great," that is. Here's one of them, see what you think . . .

As you just saw, the WNBA's campaign attempts to parody the stereotypical male sports fan's disparagement of women's basketball, and -- in a matter of a mere 30 seconds -- convince him that he's wrong. It's an interesting concept, but it's a tough sell. Any time you run an ad that (even sarcastically) includes lines criticizing your own product, the execution needs to be perfect. In our opinion, these ads aren't perfect; they aren't "Great;" in fact, we think they're downright bad. (Not the fault of the players, of course.) Unfortunately, a certain "sports" columnist in today's Washington Post -- someone who would seem to embody the closed-minded, misogynist males this campaign is targeting -- not only wasn't won over by the ads' message, but used the ads as an excuse to launch his own ridiculing attack on the WNBA and women's basketball. So much for selling the game.

We don't particularly enjoy being critical of a well-intentioned (and, no doubt, expensive) effort by the League to spread the gospel of the "Greatness" of the WNBA. But after seeing the execution of the concept, we're left shaking our heads, wondering "What were they thinking?" We Expected Great Better.