Pioneer
Posted by SBG on Thursday, December 30th, 2004 at 10:21 pm
Earlier this week, the Star-Tribune named Lindsey Whalen the Minnesota Sportsperson of the year. This is a decision that the Stick and Ball Guy endorses enthusiastically. Yes, Our Guy was fabulous and won the Cy Young Award (and with a unanimous vote). Yes, Daunte Culpepper may have had the best season by a Vikings quarterback, ever. But, neither of these guys took a team that was nowhere and dragged them into the public consciousness. And that only partially describes what Whalen has done.
To say that Minnesota Gopher Women's basketball (pre Whalen) wasn't exactly on the front burner of the local sports scene is an understatement of the highest order. When Whalen was a freshman, the Gophers went 8-20 (actually, they had worse seasons than that). By the time she left as a senior, the Gophers made the Final Four and gave perennial power Connecticut a run in the national semifinal. Along the way, Minnesota fans fell in love with a team that averaged just 1,000 fans a game in Whalen's freshman season.
The Whalen phenomenon reminded me of my days in North Dakota. I remember distinctly the first time I saw a girl play basketball, I mean really play. In the fall of 1982, I saw Pat Smykowski, then 15, play a high school game in which she destroyed the SBG's hometown team. Wow, could Smykowski play. She could shoot, run the floor, handle the ball, and pass. I had never seen anything like her. She went on to play at North Dakota State after winning Miss Basketball North Dakota. She brought her game of athleticism, grace and talent to NDSU. I was always amazed at her play. The women's program at NDSU was very good and entertaining for a very long time. And people noticed. The men and women played on the same nights -- and people came to watch both games. Eventually, the rivalry games between NDSU and UND were played on separate nights -- and the women's game often outdrew the men's game. SBG recognizes that women's college basketball can be quite entertaining and fun to watch.
I actually had a chance to play a pickup game against Smykowski at NDSU. She was already done as a varsity player, and she brought a bunch of younger women's players to take on a group of college guys to get some competition. SBG played against varsity men players at NDSU as well in pickup games, as well as numerous varsity athletes. But, for one day, I played against a group of women's players. When I was on the court with Smykowski, I gained more respect for her game. She was more than capable of playing with us. I was very impressed with her quickness.
I'm sure that Whalen is a far superior player to Pat Smykowski. But, it was Smykowski who first showed me that women's basketball is actually a pretty good game and that the players are much better than most men would realize. What Whalen showed Minnesotans this year, SBG saw over twenty years ago in a small high school gym in North Dakota.
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