‘Every effort’ has varying meanings, apparently
An unintended consequence of the U.S. women's soccer team's recent World Cup victory has been almost unprecedented bon mots for the WNBA, too. National pundits, who admittedly won't be here thisweekend for the WNBA All-Star game, have nonetheless mentioned the WNBA's 18-year run (and running) as another beacon of the women's sports revolution, almost a co-headliner with the femmes de futbol.
Funny, though, how a league such as the WNBA, so starved for media attention, is lucky sometimes there's such a dearth of it. It's doubtful the national media would have allowed the Indiana Fever's recent travel foibles to pass with nary a peep.
The game's intelligentsia convenes at Mohegan Sun this weekend. Amid the rightful celebrations, some discussion must flow, too, about the cancellation of the WNBA game last week between Indiana and Connecticut because of travel issues. The WNBA has three options: Option 1: Allow teams to charter in the middle of a "back-to-back," otherwise known as games in successive days.
Option II: Eliminate the concept
of the back-to-back, thus making travel issues moot.
Option III: Put some teeth into the existing rule that teams must make every effort to get to the city in question, regardless of uncooperative weather, mechanical issues, blah, blah, blah. Shall we examine? Option I: Never happen. Charters are expensive, too much so for a league where the bottomline is to the penny. Understandable. But if Daddy Deep Pockets ever decided to sink a fewbillion into the longest running women's professional sports league in the history of the world, charters should be right there behind higher salaries.
Option II: It ought to be explored more than it will. The rub: WNBA teams prefer to play Thursday through Sunday, believing better crowds appear on weekends. Makes sense. More WNBA teams than ever are turning profits now, especially with the help of corporate America's logos on the front of jerseys.
It's a legitimate concern that smaller weeknight crowds would imperil profit margins that are already thin enough to spread across a Wheat Thin.
Just know it could happen, given the number of times WNBA teams go aweek at a time without playing. Back-to-backs could be eliminated by making better use of weeknights, especially in the summer with school out and vacations in.
If it's going to help with the integrity of the game, I'd rather the occasional smaller crowd than competitive disadvantages.
Which brings us to Option III. From this day forward, WNBA franchises need to make the word "proactive" part of the lexicon. That means when you must get to a city for a game that day, contingency plans must be made at the first hint of a delay.
I'm not sure that was the case with Indiana.
I'm not saying no efforts were made to find another flight to Connecticut.
The Fever did book a flight to Boston later last Saturday.
I'm saying they began too late, thus handcuffing themselves to Reagan Airport and not the DC area's other two airports.
Example: A spokesperson at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) confirmed four flights on three different airlines (Southwest, American, U.S. Air) took off last Saturday between 12:27 and 1:55 p.m., which would have allowed the Fever to land in either Hartford or Providence by 3 p.m. It would be reasonable to conclude they'd have been at Mohegan Sun by 4:30 for a 7 p.m. game.
Ideal? Hardly. You know what else wasn't ideal? Back in 2003, the Sun played a game in Cleveland and had to be in New York for a road game in under 48 hours. A citywide blackout grounded all flights in Cleveland. The Sun could have punted. Instead, they took a bus from Cleveland to Uncasville, arriving home at midnight. They slept fast and took a bus first thing to New York.
That's called making every effort.
It was reported the Fever began making new plans about 11 a.m. They couldn't have made BWI by the 1:55 flights? The 18 people in the traveling party could have interspersed among six cabs if they had to.
They couldn't have taken a bus, like the Sun, which would have put them at Mohegan around 6 p.m.?
Indiana's inability to make it here cost the Sun a Saturday night home game. It is rescheduled for Tuesday. I'm guessing the turnstile count will be about 1,000 fewer than it would have been. Moreover, the Sun would have played Indiana without Natalie Achonwa and on the back end of the back-to-back (Indiana played at Washington last Friday). Connecticut would have played a tired, shorthanded team. Instead, the Fever get to come here Tuesday rested and ready.
Keep in mind Connecticut and Indiana may battle for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. A half-game separates them. What if it comes down to one game?
The league can bury its head in the sand if it wants. But I'm thinking that shorthanded Indiana, playing its third game in four nights, wasn't entirely motivated to play last Saturday. Youmay disagree. Free country. Just don't let it happen again. Either eliminate back-to-backs or start legislating. This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro. Twitter: @BCgenius
Which brings us to Option III. From this day forward, WNBA franchises need to make the word “proactive” part of the lexicon. That means when you must get to a city for a game that day, contingency plans must be made at the first hint of a delay. I’m not sure that was the case with Indiana.