Sure, the tournament is played under the old women's basketball rules of six players per team (three offensive, three defensive). But despite the antiquated structuring, the tournament packed in 15,000 fans and an estimated 2.5 million television viewers.
Equality
Whether or not these high school women's games were of "equal" caliber with men's games is insignificant. A women's program was backed by one million dollars promoting competition and plenty of action was sufficient to draw the crowds. That is significant.
Perhaps we East- and West-coast cosmopolitans with our classy habits and our big-deal men's pro teams are too sophisticated to put up with women's athletics when they are not on a par with men's competition. But that attitude will not stop the "wheels of progress" in sports.
Chris Evert and company are getting the tennis world to equalize the tournament prizes for men and women. Judy Rankin and company are working on prize equalization in the golf world. Women's basketball has an equally promising future.
Every sports fan knows that Al McGuire has stepped down as Marquette basketball coach with a highly successful career and an NCAA title in his pocket. The retirement of a successful men's coach has always been big news, but women's coaching has, until recently, been basically ignored. However, this week even The New York Times was quick to acknowledge that Cathy Rush had ended her seven-year reign as Immaculata's coach of women's basketball. In her tenure as the head of the three-time national champions, Rush compiled a 149-15 won-lost record--an amazing feat for a man or woman.
Snicker and Change
So while the women continue working and the men continue snickering, the sports world continues changing. With proper funding, better organization, and more acceptance from the media, women's athletics will begin to gather more strength on the professional sports scene.
Look for the breakthrough to come in basketball. With millions of fans killing each other for high-priced NBA tickets, the day will come when thousands of fans will begin to turn to more readily available admissions to games in a new professional women's league, and the media will respond to this fan action. That will be the "shot heard round the world" in the revolution over women's athletics.