Rant #2,197: It's Happening (Not)

There was kind of a strange story over the airwaves today, and while it was sports related, it had nothing to do with a team playing a game ...

No, it had to do with just the opposite.

Let me preface this by saying that I have absolutely no interest in the WNBA. I have always thought it was the NBA's politically correct answer to those who believe that like just about every professional sports league, the organization is male centric, non-inclusive and has little or nothing to do with gender harmony.

But whatever the case, the league, financed by the NBA, exists to showcase some of the best female basketball talent on the planet.

If that is your bag, that is fine. To me, I would rather watch the D-League or the Gatorade League or whatever the NBA calls its linked minor league.

But back to the WNBA ... something just happened that really is unusual, and it bears a mention here.

One of its teams forfeited a game because of travel issues. When was the last time you heard of something like that?

Last Friday, the Las Vegas Aces had to forfeit their game against the Washington Mystics because of a series of travel mishaps that led to the Mystics arriving at their destination just a few hours before the game was to begin, bedraggled to a point that the team felt it could not play.

According to reports, the Aces were set to leave their home base of Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon, which would have given them plenty of time to play the game against the Mystics the next day at 7 p.m. Due to travel conditions, the WNBA pushed the game back to 8 p.m. to accommodate the team, But ultimately, with the Aces experiencing interminable travel delays--25 hours of hopping from plane to plane, no sleep and relaxaton, and thus, no time to practice, and no time to get ready for the game--the team didn't know how to proceed.

After consulting with the league's player association, as well as medical professionals, the team decided to cancel the game entirely and take a forfeit in the process.

Reports are that the WNBA, itself, was not consulted on this move, and I am sure that league officials were not amused by this cancellation.

The last thing a fledgling league like this needs is such a blemish; except in extraordinary situations, games get played no matter what.

It is also important to note that WNBA teams fly commercial, while NBA teams fly chartered flights. Thus, the WNBA is not only at the beck and call of its schedule--they are a coast to coast league--but also to airlines and the conditions that commercial flights experience, which are much greater than those experienced by charters.

Thus, the WNBA was forced to announce that the game between the Aces and Mystics set for Friday had been canceled, and the Aces forfeited the game due to "failure to appear."

Forfeits are infrequent--meaning that they rarely happen--in Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, and certainly in the National Basketball Association.

Somehow, the teams get to their destinations through a myriad of flight problems.

Just a few weeks ago, the New York Yankees experienced almost back to back road series travel delays, where they even had to experience some shut eye in the middle of the airports that their planes were grounded in.

When relying on any travel situation--by car, by train, by plane, by boat, what have you--there are often going to be times when due to certain situations, travel is delayed.

I am sure you have been in an airport, in a car, or in some other vehicle where due to situations beyond your control, you experienced delays.

Heck, I drive in traffic back home from work each and every day. These things happen.

But for a professional team to actually cancel a game due to the travel situation is virtually unheard of; if such situations exist, it is usually in the league's hands to decide what to do.

There is simply too much money riding on these games to have them canceled, except in the worst of circumstances.

The Aces did reach Washington eventually, maybe worse for wear after their travel ordeal. Nobody is arguing that they didn't have a smooth ride to Washington.

But to cancel a game because a team did not have a happy, carefree flight is completely ridiculous, putting the league and fans out unnecessarily.

Show business has a well known axiom which reads, "The show must go on," and the WNBA, being in not only the sports but the entertainment business, should follow this rule, too.

You cannot have teams canceling games like this, because the WNBA struggles with a credibility factor to begin with; does anyone think that this makes the league more credible?

And for those who believe that female athletes are not as viable, marketable or fun to watch as male athletes are, and are much softer than their male counterparts, well, this just plays into it.

Sure, looking back on this incident years from now will probably get a big yawn from most people, but the Aces didn't do their team or their league any good with its actions, and if I were running the WNBA, I would look into other action, such as fines, for any team ever circumventing the league schedule by going over the league's heads like this in the future.

Now, back to real sports ...