Welcome Home, Brittney Griner

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 12/9/22 at 8:45pm

You represented yourself and your country with dignity during your captivity.

[kdogg36]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 9:58am

I unequivocally celebrate the return of Brittney Griner.

I am also disgusted that no one seems even to be talking about Marc Fogel, who is rotting in a Russian prison on equally ridiculous charges. I hope that everyone will mention his plight every time they rightly celebrate Griner's freedom.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 10:48am

I agree, Kdogg. I don't think there's really anything to be happy about. Russia got by far the better end of the deal with the prisoner swap. This should never have happened to start with. A win for Russia here.

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 11:24am

It is very sad to see that Marc Fogel is still over there but releasing him was not even on the table.

As far as Griner, yes, glad they let her go. I do have mixed feelings about it though. She has been to Russia to play more than once. I would suspect she knows the laws and consequences that come with possessing cannabis in Russia. This didn't happen on any of her other trips over there. I find it hard to believe that she mistakenly packed it. It's Russia. If, as claimed early on, it was for medicinal purposes it seems she would have had that cleared before traveling there. Yes, to us, 9 years is a long time to imprison someone for having cannabis oil cartridges, but it is Russia and you have to, unfortunately in this case, abide by their laws if you are going to be living and working there. Not that I think she would want to go back, but who knows, I wonder if part of her release is that she is no longer allowed to play in Russia in the off season?

Updated On: 12/10/22 at 11:24 AM

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 12:14pm

A gay, African-American woman.  She likely would not have survived long in a Russian prison or work camp.  "Bravo" to the United States Government for negotiating to bring her home.  Good job.  

[kdogg36]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 6:42pm

uncageg said: "It is very sad to see that Marc Fogel is still over there but releasing him was not even on the table."

Exactly. As I said, it’s disgusting that people aren’t even mentioning him in this conversation. Of Griner, Whelan, and Fogal - who all, unequivocally, deserve to be home - Fogel is clearly the one who should have been at the front of the list. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 9:24pm

As an equal fan of basketball, I was overjoyed when I heard she was coming home. Two things though, 1.) it's been speculated that the cannabis was planted in her carry-on. 2.) This was clearly a set-up by Putin & Russia to get a deal down the road that would have never involved Whelan or Fogel. Griner was a celebrity in Russia due to her basketball status. She played for 7 years(winters) in Russia and made a lot of money. Several other prisoners knew who she was.  Whelan is a discharged ex-Marine who dealt with espionage. The MAGA crazies need to check their facts before complaining about why Griner got dealt and not Whelan. #45 apparently had a deal in place to get Whelan home and he backed out on it sometime in 2019.

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/11/22 at 1:26am

Griner admitted to "accidentally" packing it.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 12/11/22 at 2:38pm

The fact is that WNBA players are underpaid compare to, say, their male counterparts in the NBA. This leads to many WNBA players having to play in Europe during their off season. I honestly feel that if there was equal pay, then this whole thing would not have happened in the first place. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 12/11/22 at 2:52pm

Islander_fan said: "The fact is that WNBA players are underpaid compare to, say, their male counterparts in the NBA. This leads to many WNBA players having to play in Europe during their off season. I honestly feel that if there was equal pay, then this whole thing would not have happened in the first place."

Here's the issue. Now first let me say I'm a huge supporter of women's basketball(WNBA & college) and I attend Liberty games in the summer. But to say WNBA players should be making $1 million salaries when there's a lack of ticket sales, a poor TV deal and the league has failed to expand since 2008 is overreaching. The only way their salaries increase would be after a CBA is worked out(2025), a large TV contract gets established, Engelbert actually gets a few expansion teams and the schedule is structured to have 2/3 of the games played from mid-June through Labor Day(when attendance is higher). Even so, I still don't see even the top players like A'ja Wilson, Ionescu, Stewart getting $1 million checks then. The revenue just isn't there.

 

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 12/11/22 at 4:07pm

ACL2006 said: "Islander_fan said: "The fact is that WNBA players are underpaid compare to, say, their male counterparts in the NBA. This leads to many WNBA players having to play in Europe during their off season. I honestly feel that if there was equal pay, then this whole thing would not have happened in the first place."

Here's the issue. Now first let me say I'm a huge supporter of women's basketball(WNBA & college) and I attend Liberty games in the summer. But to say WNBA players should be making $1 million salaries when there's a lack of ticket sales, a poor TV deal and the league has failed to expand since 2008 is overreaching. The only way their salaries increase would be after a CBA is worked out(2025), a large TV contract gets established, Engelbert actually gets a few expansion teams and the schedule is structured to have 2/3 of the games played from mid-June through Labor Day(when attendance is higher). Even so, I still don't see even the top players like A'ja Wilson, Ionescu, Stewart getting $1 million checks then. The revenue just isn't there.

"

You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. WNBA doesn’t have the same draw as the NBA. No WNBA player will have the same mass fandom of say Steph Curry or LeBron James etc. And, yes, their TV deal is a joke

. Now, I do know that as of a few years ago, the WNBA was a subsidiary of the NBA. There were even WNBA teams that were owned by people who also owned NBA teams. Good example would be that Dolan owns the Knicks, and, back when the WNBA a subsidiary of the NBA. The Liberty played their games at MSG. But, when the WNBA split from the NBA to be their own thing, many owners who owned teams it both leagues started to sell their WNBA franchises in favor of keeping the more financially lucrative NBA teams. 

You do know more than I on the topic so for this I defer to your wisdom. When the WNBA was under the umbrella of the NBA, did the players make more then than now or has it been pretty much the same? 

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 12/11/22 at 4:28pm

For there to be equal pay, there needs to be equal respect. The same as with everything else. It's a man's world.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 12/11/22 at 5:34pm

All WNBA teams were a subsidiary through the NBA until 2002. After that is when the ownership model was changed and each individual team would be owned and operated by their NBA counterpart or individual owners. That's when two teams folded(Miami and Portland) and two more relocated(Utah to San Antonio and Orlando to Connecticut). Cleveland folded the following year. Currently, out of 12 teams, only 4 teams are owned by an NBA franchise: Phoenix, Minnesota, Indiana and New York. The remaining 8 are under independent owners, but some have rich owners (Sparks, Aces).

[Zeppie2022]

Posted: 12/11/22 at 6:20pm

"For there to be equal pay, there needs to be equal respect. The same as with everything else. It's a man's world."

This has nothing to do with gender, it is all about revenue and the quality of the product. The WNBA players are skilled, but they pale in comparison to male players in the NBA. Their games don't come close to the excitement level of the NBA and that is why they have low attendance and TV ratings. Women's tennis gets equal pay in Grand Slam tournaments now and the reason is that they are not only talented, but their matches are also very entertaining to everyone. The women's tennis players also have personality and promote the game well throughout the world. I think top female players over the years (Martina, Chrissie, Serena/Venus etc.) got just as much respect as their male counterparts.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 12/11/22 at 7:13pm

In retrospect, the WNBA's TV ratings have been climbing steadily for several years now. Attendance wise, the league hasn't gotten back to it's pre-COVID levels, but even then it was roughly 7,000/game. A larger TV contract is what will get the WNBA to another level and some respectability. Trying to compare the NBA to the WNBA in terms of watchablility is and has always been laughable. In fact, the NBA has yet to return to pre-COVID levels attendance & their TV ratings are declining. The men's and women's game have always been different and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 12/16/22 at 11:24am

Zeppie, it goes deeper than that. Ticket sales and quality of the product are a result of the culture. Girls sent to ballet, boys sent to sport. Like I said, it's about respect.

[Zeppie2022]

Posted: 12/17/22 at 10:10am

"Zeppie, it goes deeper than that. Ticket sales and quality of the product are a result of the culture. Girls sent to ballet, boys sent to sport. Like I said, it's about respect."

I guess we will agree to disagree a bit. Today, girls are just as likely to be sent to the soccer field as they are a ballet class. My brother has three daughters and when they were young kids, he exposed them to everything. He played catch with them, took them to shoot baskets and hit tennis balls with them. They did take some dance classes when they were young, but it was not their thing. One of his daughters actually turned out to be quite a swimmer, set a couple of records in HS. Another one played HS basketball and was pretty good and the oldest daughter did not care one thing about dance or sports.

[South Florida]

Posted: 1/7/23 at 5:54pm

A gay, African-American woman.  She likely would not have survived long in a Russian prison or work camp.  "Bravo" to the United States Government for negotiating to bring her home.  Good job.

She might have run the joint.