Lisa Leslie, Still Fighting for Recognition

by Seth Pollack on Sep 27, 2009 5:28 PM EDT in Sports & Society

The only way to fully appreciate the post game comments from Lisa Leslie as she reflects her career and next steps is to listen yourself.

Here's a few key quotes:

"The world needs to recognize that just because we're women and we may not have the ability to jump as high and do what men can do, none of us can. That's just the way we're made. Our chromosomes are different but with that said give us our opportunity and give us a place."

"I don't see anything about the WNBA. If you don't have NBATV and cable you missed it and that's not fair. So that's what I'm fighting for. That's my transition. I'm still fighting for women's basketball and for young girls and for my daughter to one day have a place in the media."

Coach Cooper talking about Leslie and the end of his career in the WNBA

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Thanks for posting, Stan.

Much appreciated…will listen later, but love hearing comments with bite.

SwishAppeal.com, women's basketball...covered SBN-style... twitter: @qmccall3

by Nate Parham on Sep 27, 2009 6:05 PM EDT reply actions

Having listened to her comments now...

I will echo a statement from ATLDreamFan17 on the Pleasant Dreams blog:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=595059113916595813&postID=2397599813341260641

“I’m curious what Leslie would consider unmarketable and unladylike. When I go to WNBA games I see people and families who represent the various players in the league (as far as looks/dress off the court goes). So should certain groups be alienated for the sake of more fans? I’d like to hear other players views on the matter.”

Without knowing exactly what she means, it’s difficult to really comment one way or the other… nevertheless, it should not prevent people from catalyzing a discussion around these issues. The NBA has a dress code — for both reasonable and problematic reasons — and so it’s reasonable for the WNBA to institute something similar.

The big problem is what type of standard for femininity that they choose to “enforce”, as described here:
http://smartlikeme.wordpress.com/2008/05/11/recent-sports-articles-remind-us-that-female-athletes-are-sexual-and-maternal-women-first/

We can speculate about what Leslie meant, but it’s more important for the league to take an unambiguous stance on the issue, given the structure of their existing rookie orientation…

Hopefully Leslie will keep the issue on the table this time — for better or worse — so we can’t just dismiss as we are normally given to do…

SwishAppeal.com, women's basketball...covered SBN-style... twitter: @qmccall3

by Nate Parham on Sep 28, 2009 2:09 AM EDT up reply actions

Great post.

Phx Stan, thanks for the yeoman effort in getting the post-game audio posted. It’s definitely an interesting listen and should provide a lot of fuel for conversation and thought.

by James Bowman on Sep 27, 2009 7:03 PM EDT reply actions