Thursday, June 26, 2014

Where are the Washington Mystics? Part 2


With a little help from their friends at the Washington Post, the Mystics might be able to fill more seats at home games at Verizon Center/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The Mystics are not to be found in a prominent position among the sports pages of the Washington Post,* that's for sure. 

The day after the team won its first game in five starts, when players beat the Stars 81-70 in San Antonio, all the team could muster in WAPO's sports pages was a lowly left corner of 179 words (including the title) alongside a hockey capsule (June 25, 2014, p. D2).

On the front sports page were color photos of Tiger Woods and Lebron James, the latter which took up almost half the page.  I thought the NBA season had ended.  Does James play for the Wizards?  Is he joining the team?  On page D3 was another picture of Woods. I guess when it comes to sports, all that counts are men.

Those editors think only men read sports? 

What kind of message does this send to budding female athletes?

The only photo of a female in the section was a young girl holding a sign, "Welcome back, Tiger."  Whew.  Looks like the sports sex discrimination at WAPO will continue long past my lifetime, alas.

* This version is not what appeared in the print edition.

Next up for the Mystics:

June 27, 7 p.m. v. Connecticut Sun, Verizon Center

June 29, 4 p.m. v. San Antonio Stars, Verizon Center

Part 1 of "Where are the Washington Mystics?" is right here.
Last September at Verizon when the Mystics played the Connecticut Sun/Photo by Patricia Leslie

patricialesli@gmail.com

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