Latest News
Watched the midnight edition of “SportsNet Central” on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. Not to find out who won or lost. Thanks to this new-fangled (OK, not so new-fangled, but I’m not sure there is a word “old-fangled”) thing called the Internet, finding the results of games is easy.
Reserve guard Allie Quigley had a career-high 14 points for the Chicago Sky in Friday’s game at San Antonio. Credit: Rick Welton/HomeLand Sports LLC
No, I tuned in more out of curiosity than anything else. To see whether the WNBA Chicago Sky might be on CSN’s radar. I do know the NBC affiliate in Chicago (Channel 5) did show highlights of the Sky’s first loss of the season — 81-69 to the host San Antonio Silver Stars. Maybe some of the other local channels did, too. CSN Chicago did not. Consequently, viewers were not informed that heralded rookie Elena Delle Donne led the Sky (3-1) in scoring with 17 points (5-of-15 from the field, 0-for-4 from three-point range) and former DePaul star Allie Quigley came off the bench to post a career-high 14 points. It was the Sky’s first game this season without star guard Epiphanny Prince, who is playing with the Russian National Team for the next six Sky games. Of course, that information is available on the Internet.
Nor was there a mention of the Chicago Bandits remaining unbeaten in National Pro Fastpitch play. Monica Abbott (a big name in the world of softball) pitched a one-hitter and struck out 11 in a 14-0 victory vs. the Akron Racers at the Ballpark in Rosemont.
OK, I get it. The WNBA has a TV deal with ABC/ESPN. That presumably is part of the reason that the Sky is so low profile (very close to no profile) with Comcast, which owns NBC. And the Bandits have a stadium that seats fewer then 2,000, so a full house is not exactly the numbers that might excite media outlets.
Do the Sky and Bandits rate greater in importance and following than major sports teams in Chicago? Certainly not. Do they merit a mention? Well, I don’t run a cable channel. But, if you’re looking to broaden your audience, you might want to think about adding women’s sports. A few seconds here, a few seconds there.
Legendary Monica Brant always is welcome around here. For more of Monica, there is some video if you scroll down (and even if you do not).
Both basketball and softball feature attractive females — if that is the criterion for inclusion — and talented athletes. Are women basketball players the equivalent of NBA talent? No. Are softball players the equivalent of big-league ballplayers? No.
But as long as you are the only operation devoted to sports, you can get away with whatever you want when it comes to ignoring women’s pro team sports. If there were competition in the marketplace, it might be another story.
Speaking of media and competition and the Chicago market, it’s too bad Mitch Rosen — the program director at all-sports radio’s WSCR — didn’t take the offer to move to WGN, where he began his career. It could have been re-energizing not only for Rosen and WGN, but for The Score.
And imagine for a moment that somehow WGN could have been transformed into a sports-talk radio station. There is no question Chicago could use another. With the Cubs and Blackhawks already part of the programming, WGN easily could transition to such a position. ESPN 1000 is hardly what most folks think of as local in that the station has to take a certain amount of national programming from the corporate parent. Smaller cities have as many or more sports-talk radio stations, so Chicago certainly could use another one — meaning a third one rather than a simulcast on FM of either The Score or ESPN.
But I won’t hold my breath.
Maybe someday there will be a rival to CSN and to the two radio sports-talkers. And if when that day comes, there might even be room for some coverage of women’s team sports in Chicago.
Speaking of females and athletes, we are happy to feature figure and fitness legend Monica Brant. The first two videos are from the 2013 Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio. The other is from an activity that she holds at various locations. Monica, who is 42, also has become a track athlete and in her spare time (what spare time?) is a horsewoman.
As usual, here is where we go for our daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the never-ending efforts of the editorial and video departments at elliottharris.com and the reality that they don’t know the meaning of “gratuitous,” among many other words):
Advertising opportunities are available on ElliottHarris.com. For information and rates, contact sales@elliottharris.com.