Britney -groans

I admit I know next to nothing about basketball, a sport that I find uninteresting. The link below is to an article about Britney Griner, and makes some fair comment about the status of women Basketball players in the US and the vast difference in the money they make compared with the men.

What the article does not do, is ask the most obvious question -why did this woman transport dope in her luggage when entering Russia, as in, is she really that stupid? It would seem so. And after all the years she has been playing in Russia has she never met someone who can supply her with dope as and when she needs it? In a country awash with narcotics of every description and some Ms Griner has never heard of or tried?

So yes, it is a grim situation to be in, and I hope she gets let off, but not a trade with a nasty man like Bout. But given the times we are in, she is hardly an innocent lamb abroad.

Brittney Griner’s story shows again, how America continues to fail Black women | Tayo Bero | The Guardian

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Originally Posted by Stavros

I admit I know next to nothing about basketball, a sport that I find uninteresting. The link below is to an article about Britney Griner, and makes some fair comment about the status of women Basketball players in the US and the vast difference in the money they make compared with the men.

What the article does not do, is ask the most obvious question -why did this woman transport dope in her luggage when entering Russia, as in, is she really that stupid? It would seem so. And after all the years she has been playing in Russia has she never met someone who can supply her with dope as and when she needs it? In a country awash with narcotics of every description and some Ms Griner has never heard of or tried?

So yes, it is a grim situation to be in, and I hope she gets let off, but not a trade with a nasty man like Bout. But given the times we are in, she is hardly an innocent lamb abroad.

Brittney Griner’s story shows again, how America continues to fail Black women | Tayo Bero | The Guardian

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I agree with your take on her current situation, so I will only comment on the first paragraph. Women basketball players don’t make any money because they don’t sell tickets. Not enough people watch the WNBA, but more important - not enough women watch the WNBA. You can’t pay salaries when there isn’t enough interest. Not enough interest - not enough income. Most people probably couldn’t name their local WNBA team without googling it.

Thanks for your response, Fred. I hadn't thought much about popularity, and did some googling, which tries to explain why Women's Soccer in the US is more popular than Women's Basketball, and another link which indicates growing popularity of Women's Basketball, but I guess not in any numbers to compete with the Men, or Women's Soccer.

The homophobic issue is a curious argument -when the England Women Football team triumphed in the European Nations tournament last month, I don't recall anyone saying anything about the fact half the team is openly gay, we were so relieved to have won a tournament of that stature -the first since the men won the World Cup in 1966! Maybe the real question is this: is it easier for a woman in sport to be openly Gay than a man?

Anyway here are the two links-

No, Women’s Basketball’s Lack of Popularity Isn’t Due to Racism, Homophobia | by Alex Christy | Medium

Popularity Of Women’s Sports Surges Approaching 50th Anniversary Of Title IX (forbes.com)