Double Standards

Wendy Carpenter of The News Tribune has something to say regarding Izzy's benching during the Seattle - Houston game:

It probably makes sense. The WNBA has modeled much of its league after the NBA.

In the NBA, the emphasis over the past few decades has been on the superstars, as opposed to the league itself and/or individual teams.

For years, a double standard has existed in the NBA between star players and everyone else.

The WNBA has begun to do the same thing.

Calls often go the stars’ way, and if a star does get in trouble, the sentence tends to be light.

True enough, hay wala akong masabi sa inis...Anyway, why can't they suspend La Diva for a day and I'd be very happy. :)
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Two weeks ago, there was an on-court incident involving Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi and Washington Mystics forward DeLisha Milton-Jones that ended in a near melee.

Four technical fouls were assessed in the second half of the game, and Taurasi was involved – either directly or indirectly – in all of them. But the incident that got the most attention occurred with just under two minutes to play, when Taurasi was going back on defense while running alongside Milton-Jones. Taurasi lowered her shoulder, causing Milton-Jones to fall. Milton-Jones got up and went after Taurasi, looking as if she were going to hit her.

The WNBA took no action after the game to reprimand either player, or either team.

On Tuesday, Seattle Storm forward Iziane Castro Marques was suspended for the Storm’s game in Houston for allegedly throwing a punch in Seattle’s previous game....

The WNBA would obviously like to avoid situations where its players are fighting. But its ruling Tuesday seems to indicate that in order to do that, it will bend over backward if a player even comes close to closing a fist. If that is true, why wasn’t Milton-Jones suspended for a game? And why wasn’t anything done to Taurasi, who apparently initiated the contact in the first place?

Taurasi, who is in her second season in the league, is one of the biggest stars in the WNBA. She was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2004 after a stellar four-year career at the University of Connecticut, during which she won three NCAA titles and was a consensus Division I national player of the year. She also won a gold medal as a member of the United States team at the Olympics in Athens last summer. Most consider her one of the best things to happen to women’s basketball.

Milton-Jones is no slouch, either. Though the seven-year WNBA veteran has a reputation as a tough player, she won two WNBA titles with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001-02 before being traded to Washington. She also has an Olympic gold medal from the 2000 U.S. team.

Both Taurasi and Milton-Jones are part of the WNBA’s marketing campaigns, or have been featured prominently.

Castro Marques does not have quite the same name recognition.

The 6-foot, 140-pound Brazilian is playing in her third WNBA season, her first with the Storm.

She earned the starting job this season, her first time as a regular starter in the league. But Castro Marques will likely not be a part of any marketing campaigns.

Is that why she was punished so swiftly and harshly by the league for a play that didn’t even elicit any response during the game?

The WNBA has tried to differentiate itself from the NBA. From the beginning, it has made itself into a fan-friendly league. And it has done so much that is right. Its players make an impressive effort to interact with fans, as many remember what it was like before there was a WNBA.

Tickets are cheap enough that families can enjoy a game without refinancing their mortgage.

But as the WNBA grows, so will its egos. And the same rules should apply to everyone – the WNBA might want to be more consistent with its punishments.

If not, it might get the reputation that the stars are running the league.

Not unlike another professional basketball league.

Hay, pesteng double-standards yan.