LeBron Doesn’t Think Girls Can Ball

To be fair that’s not exactly what he said.  NBA commissioner David Stern commented in an interview that he thinks women could be playing in the NBA in the next decade.  According to ESPN LeBron has expressed his doubts that women could compete in the league in the next ten years.

Now my initial reaction was severe irritation.  The girl raised on sports has a hard time swallowing the fact that when it comes to sports men and women may not be on an even playing field.  Ideally I would love to see women out there with the best of them, but in many cases it is a bit more complicated than that.

Whenever these arguments come up, there are so many factors that are discussed.  One of the most common points of contention is the physical difference between men and women.  To that point, especially in the context of the baseball, there are undeniable differences that could leave women at a disadvantage.  The average height of a WNBA player is 5’11” or 6’0”.  The average height in the NBA is 6’6”.  Height is a barrier, but it’s not always all that important.  New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson is 5’9”.  So what’s really the difference?

I think it starts much younger.  In sports like basketball, men and women are separated at a young age.  From then on each play against members of their own sex and in some cases may be coached and trained diffrently.  If women can ever hope to compete with men on a larger scale (aside from the few Billie Jean Kings and Annika Sorenstams of the world) then they need to start out competing with men.

I would love to see women competing in the NBA and receiving the kind of recognition that the men’s league players get, but I fear that I have to agree with LeBron just a bit.  Until we are more serious about letting women compete with men at all levels, it is going to be quite rare to see women competing with men on the professional level.