Laptops are getting better and better. My cell phone is also much more advanced than the one I had six months ago; The apps on this phone need to be updated every week. Everything is changing in our world, everything except the outdated mentality behind the way we market, appreciate and value women, especially in the world of professional sports.
Over the holidays, I saw a clip of WNBA star Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm brilliantly crossing the lane, whipping the ball over her head to throw a no-look pass to a wide-open Natasha Howard for the open layup. The clip is fast-paced, but even when the footage is slowed down, you still can’t pinpoint the moment Bird makes eye contact with Howard, which makes the piece even more remarkable.
Games like this should be talked about more. We are delirious when LeBron James does he do it? we explode when Steph Curry hits an open shot. So why not give the same love to Bird, the WNBA’s all-time leading passer? The 37-year-old basketball star, along with her partner, Seattle Reign midfielder Megan Rapinoe, an Olympic gold medalist and 2015 World Cup-winning player for the United States women’s national soccer team, recently made headlines for being the first openly gay couple to grace the cover of ESPN magazine’s Body Issue.
“I think having a gay couple on (the cover), I hope that becomes the norm. You want it to not be a problem. You want that to be the case,” Bird told ESPN. review, “’Oh, another couple is over there.’ You know, I think our participation is the first step in that direction.
The progressive nature of ESPN is inspiring, and the magazine’s reporting on Bird and Rapinoe is a big step in the right direction for LGBT representation in professional sports. But why aren’t their career skills generating the same buzz? There would be no ESPN coverage for Bird if she wasn’t one of the most gifted athletes of all time. Don’t take my word for it – check it out highlight reel.
The #TimesUp and #MeToo movements are forcing sexist entertainment industries to change; companies like HBO addressed their salary disparities while sexual harassers and attackers are reported, fired and, in some cases, criminally charged. Hopefully some of that energy can trickle down to the hype our culture puts into women’s sports, because the skills are there and they deserve higher salaries and platforms than their male counterparts already receive.
