Taking it seriously.

Every once in a while, I get told not to “take things so seriously”. Or, as I usually read it, “get a sense of humour, even though I am saying something offensive, you hairy-legged, frizzy haired harridan”.

So, you can imagine my disgust, when I read this headline about a brawl in the WNBA:

WNBA brawl has an upside
Tuesday’s WNBA rumble upside: It shows that the players are serious, and all the fuss isn’t a bad thing, either

Wait, what? So…a brawl, something that not too long ago had fans and officials crying foul in the NBA is a good thing in the WNBA? In 2004, there was a brawl in a Pistons-Pacers game, which led to five players, and five fans being charged with assault. It was described as one of the worst incidents of sports violence in America, and led to suspensions, trades, and changes to security.

At the time, NBA commissioner David Stern said

“The line is drawn, and my guess is that won’t happen again — certainly not by anybody who wants to be associated with our league”

But wait, when it happens in a girls’ league, it’s ok, because it gets them some publicity and shows that they are serious? Let’s see just how serious:

Ok, so to my reading, what we have is a player pulling another down, some shoving, a coach pushing a player out of the way, some punches being thrown. It’s pretty disgusting. I’m all for bringing back the biff, I really am, but things shouldn’t escalate like this.

10 players and a coach have been suspended and rightly so. And now, articles full of words like “passion” “toughness” “commitment” “seriousness” “desire” abound. Come on, did anyone really question these women’s seriousness and commitment? You did? You wanna tell that to 6ft4in Lauren Jackson’s face? Actually, do you want to say that to 5ft3in my face?

These women are athletes. Serious athletes. Seriously talented athletes. This brawl is not a coming of age. It’s not a celebration. It’s bad. All it demonstrates is that women, as well as men, are capable of being stupid and violent. As Candace Parker (one of the players right in the middle, and frankly, an awesome player ) said “put people together in sports and there is always the possibility that something like that can happen”. People. Not women or men.

Yeah, all the coverage is good. No news is bad news, right? But for how long will women athletes have to fight this perception that they are somehow less serious, less committed, less passionate, less talented than their male counterparts?

Oh really? You want to say that to my face?