When Violence Is Good

Let’s face it.  When was the last time you talked about the WNBA, or even bothered to read a post about it?  David Stern’s decade-long project, known as the Women’s National Basketball Association, has provided hundreds of female athletes with a means to professionally pursue their basketball careers.  It has generated immeasurable interest among young females.  However, it has also been subsidized by the NBA since its existence.  While not entirely devoid of talent (the WNBA has seen the likes of Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, Diana Taurasi and Lisa Leslie), most sports fans would rather watch paint dry than attend a WNBA game.

Rarely will highlights from the WNBA lead a sportscast, never mind be reported.  That was until this week.  In Tuesday night’s Los Angeles Sparks – Detroit Shock game (yes, I had to look up the names of those two franchises), a brawl broke out involving both players and coaches.  There hasn’t been a good ruckus in Detroit in some time, so the fans were due.

Tempers had been flaring throughout the game.  After a made Marie Ferdinand-Harris free throw, Plenette Pierson and league savior Candace Parker got entangled, with both of them hitting the ground shortly thereafter.  Pierson then immediately got up and accosted the young Parker as she lay on the court.  Ultimately, benches cleared, punches were thrown and players were ejected.  Dare I say, more quality contact was made in this scuffle than in most NBA brawls.

Candace Parker, the former standout and two-time national champion at the University of Tennessee, is already the face of the league.  She’s attractive, plays in Los Angeles and to coin Dick Vitale, can flat out shoot the rock.  She scored 34 points in her league debut back in May and could conceivably win both Rookie of the Year and league MVP awards.  She leads the league in rebounding and is fifth in the league in scoring.  All this means she has a target on her back.  One would expect a touch of resentment in the league and it reared its ugly head Tuesday when Pierson ‘welcomed’  her into the WNBA.

In response to the fight, the league suspended ten players, as well as Detroit assistant coach Rick Mahorn, for their role in the fisticuffs.  As expected, Pierson received the harshest suspension, four games, for instigating Artestly.  The multiple suspensions will be staggered so that both teams have enough players to field a team over the next few games.  It is worth noting that Rick Mahorn and Bill Laimbeer, formerly of the Detroit ‘Bad Boys’ and no strangers to league suspensions, are on the Detroit coaching staff.  Rick Mahorn now holds the distinction of being the only person suspended in both the NBA and WNBA.

Controversy surrounds Mahorn’s role in breaking up the fight.  Mahorn is 6-foot-10 and probably tips the scales at close to 300 lbs.  In an attempt to separate some of the players involved, he placed his hands on Lisa Leslie who then fell backwards.  As it seemed at first glance that Mahorn may have shoved Leslie, several of her teammates, including former Florida Gator DeLisha Milton-Jones came off the bench to throw punches at Mahorn.  Mahorn, obviously did not retaliate and made every effort to help Leslie up after she fell backwards.

Should we be surprised that a fight ultimately broke out in the WNBA?  After all, it is competition, woman’s basketball at the highest professional level.  Tempers and adrenaline run high, just as in any sport.  Altercations break out in men’s sports all the time.  Why should women be exempt from adrenaline-infused poor judgment?  The worst result of the fight came when Shock player Cheryl Ford left the game with a torn ligament in her knee, just for trying to break up the fight.  She will miss the rest of the season.  What’s even more astounding is that head coach Bill Laimbeer will fill Detroit’s vacant roster spot with 50 year old, basketball Hall-of-Famer, Nancy Lieberman.  She used to COACH the Shock ten years ago!!!  To put things in perspective, Magic Johnson isn’t fifty yet.

Bottom line is… violence sells.  Otherwise, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarznegger wouldn’t be millionaires.  Commissioner Stern has gone to great lengths to clean up the image of the NBA, particularly after the 2004 Malice at the Palace.  However, a few more scuffles might just generate some interest in the women’s league.  Far be it from me to condone violence but isn’t that the only reason people watch hockey?

The saying goes there’s no such thing as bad publicity.  The WNBA might just be a victim, or benefactor of such circumstance.  The commissioner will likely continue to rule with a stern hand to avoid any future incidents, but there is no denying the scuffle brought attention to a sport that had been craving it.