"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work." - Mark Twain
If there's any thunder among women's basketball fandom, it's in their statements regarding the performance of the WNBA.
For the most part, it's generally negative. Generally, the fans have a lot to complain about during any given period of time - the receipt of timely information from the league office, the accuracy of information posted on the website, and the folding of franchises have all been known to draw the ire of fans.
But I began to wonder if it were the case that the voice of the naysayers simply drowned out those who had divergent opinions.
Could it be that the WNBA is held in much higher regard than most people give it credit for?
A general rule is that people are more likely to voice a disagreement than an agreement. After all, TV news doesn't report on all the robberies/murders/political chicanery that doesn't happen but puts so much weight on wrongdoing that one might conclude that the streets are clogged with crime and chaos, even in the most rural parts of America. (An excellent book: "The Culture of Fear" by Barry Glassner.)
Therefore, we at Swish Appeal have proposed a non-scientific monthly poll to track the rise and fall of the estimation that women's basketball followers have for the WNBA. If this poll proves successful, we'll repeat it month for month, even during the months when there is no activity in the WNBA. Is the opinion that fans have regarding the WNBA fixed? Or does it vary month by month, even when there is no activity?
We'll ask one simply question every month: Do you approve or disapprove of the way the leadership of the WNBA are handling their jobs? Either answer "approve" or "disapprove". We'll keep the polls open for about a week, and track the results. We're not asking about what metric you use to determine whether you approve the job done by the WNBA or not: only your final evaluation.
However, you might want to vote before reading the comments thread, just to be completely unbiased. At least on your initial vote.