2012 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament…?

As every person with internet access or friends knows, March Madness has started. Most sports fans have done hours of research, filled out their brackets, set up TiVo to record the games, and parked themselves in front of the television. However, many people are wondering: “This is women’s history month, right? So what about the 2012 NCAA women’s basketball tournament?” With all the focus on men’s basketball, women’s history month has taken a back seat. But shouldn’t we be focusing just as much on women’s sports as men’s? The answer is complicated.

Barack Obama filled out his 2012 NCAA Men’s bracket with all of his predictions. Yet he didn’t fill out a women’s bracket, even though it is happening at the same time as the men’s tournament. It seems that unless you play golf or tennis, are attractive, or win a gold medal during the Olympics, a female athlete gets paid little attention.  This sends a message to all people: Women aren’t as important as men. In the Bible, it says, ” So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.  The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.” Does this mean that God meant for men are superior to women? Or is it just a coincidence that he created a male first?

On the other side of the coin, it is important to note that there is a very specific reason for the popularity of male sports over female sports. More people are interested in men’s sports. They are more fast paced. They are more exciting. They are more popular. More people attend men’s sporting events every year than women’s. ESPN shows, on average, more men’s basketball games than it does women’s. This is because people want to see intense competition, dunks, trash talking, and the occasional skirmish and fight. For those who say women’s basketball is just as exciting as men’s, consider this: in WNBA history, a total of five dunks have happened. In my opinion, women’s NCAA basketball gets little attention, even during women’s history month, because it is not as exciting or popular as men’s basketball.