Do people care about the Lynx? (versus, venue, top)

[PullMyFinger]

I think the Lynx are toying with the other team in the championship here. I expect them to blow them out now two games in a row.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Right---when I was coaching basketball the 8th grade girls team often handed the boy's team their shorts in our weekly scrimmages...

That makes complete sense because many of the boys could be prepubescent. Once the boys mature and gain their strength, size and speed advantage, it wouldn't be close. The laws of physics are at work here and it should not be up for debate.

[Oildog]

Originally Posted by PullMyFinger

FYI, the women's Olympic Hockey team that won the gold medal practiced against Warroad's A Bantam team. Bantams are in the 13-15 year old range. I cannot remember who won the game but the boys were much faster.

I think it was the high school team and they played no-checking and the Olympic team lost.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Oildog

I think it was the high school team and they played no-checking and the Olympic team lost.

It was Warroad's high school team. They defeated the Olympians 2-1. Close game, tho.

Warroad High School edges Team USA women - Olympics - ESPN

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

It was Warroad's high school team. They defeated the Olympians 2-1. Close game, tho.

Warroad High School edges Team USA women - Olympics - ESPN

Back in 2005-2006, Warroad's HS team was rated 142 (see United States Boys High School Hockey Rankings ). In other words, they were a decent team. If the Warroad team played the boys Holly Angles (ranked #2), then Warroad would have been mopped up. So in other words, the best of the best women's team cannot compete with a top rated boys high school team. If we add in checking to the mix, it would be a complete and utter blowout. I'm just say'in.

[rogead]

From a basic physiological perspective, well-conditioned female athletes tend to plot-out at around the thirtieth to thirty-fifth percentile of male athletes. That is to say that that those women will tend to perform at about the same level as the lowest third of male athletes. Factor in the difference in maturity levels between women in their early to mid twenties--compared to eighteen and nineteen year old (and younger for those who have suggested a comparison to boys high school ball) men, and you have another important element of team competition.

Looking at some purely numerical comparisons in individual athletic endeavors, there is a higher level of performance from the best-conditioned of women than many expect. For example, if we combine the male and female finishers of the 2011 NY Marathon, we find that the best time for a woman ranks at twentieth overall--with six women among the top thirty spots. The top one hundred finishers included fifteen women. This means that there were fifteen women who finished with a faster time than 99.7 percent of the men who finished the race. If there's one thing a marathon measures, athletically speaking, it is endurance.

ING New York City Marathon Results Archive

If we look at the weightlifting results from the 2012 Olympics, the best weights recorded by female lifters tended to come in at about fifteenth to twentieth place when combined with the male lifters of similar weight classifications--which means that the best female lifters outperformed most male lifters.

No one is arguing that female athletes can compete with similarly-conditioned male athletes; but I would stand by the argument that well-conditioned individual female athletes have the ability to compete with some of the good--but not remarkable--male athletes and many male athletes of average ability. There's no reason that those individual abilities wouldn't translate into team sports.

While we are all entitled to an opinion on the matter, and it is unlikely that we will ever be provided with a real-life example (it wouldn't be in the PR interest of anyone to take such a risk), a lot of people are underestimating the advances in girl's/women's athletics (particularly basketball) over the last few decades.

As to the original question, I think a lot of people have been following the Lynx. Attendance has been up considerably, as have TV ratings. Good competition is good competition--regardless of the level at which it's played. We haven't had much in the way of competitive teams around here over the last few years.

[Oildog]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

It was Warroad's high school team. They defeated the Olympians 2-1. Close game, tho.

Warroad High School edges Team USA women - Olympics - ESPN

I recall this story wasnt given much run as they didnt want to dampen enthusiasm for the womens team.

Now that the Lynx are knocked out, do they make lots of changes? I understand they had a good regular season.

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by Oildog

I recall this story wasnt given much run as they didnt want to dampen enthusiasm for the womens team.

Now that the Lynx are knocked out, do they make lots of changes? I understand they had a good regular season.

Lynx Big 3 had a pretty successful Olympics as well, they probably got worn down and their main stars have been playing a lot of basketball the past year or so. While the rest of the league has seen a general drop in attendance I think the Lynx saw a significant increase and IIRC they were over 9K/game.

[Mason3000]

Originally Posted by rogead

I've been to several games. I've literally just gotten home from watching them win at Target Center tonight. Attendance was well over 13,000. Women's/girl's basketball has improved considerably over the last decade or so. I would guess that a top WNBA team would be able to compete with a solid men's college team today. At any rate, the level of competition is growing better every year, and I hope the support The Lynx get will grow accordingly.

Pardon me for piling on if this is 3 pages of people explaining that the WNBA champion couldn't stay within 30 points of Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina or Michigan St. It's like in tennis. The 100th ranked mens player would smoke the women's champion. That's not to say that women's athletics aren't important or that they can't be entertaining, just a dose of reality.

[pete6032]

Well they are an endangered species in Minnesota but you don't hear much in the media about what the DNR is doing to help the population bounce back.