Tuesday, December 2, 2008

It's Showtime!

FINALLY!

Where do we begin, let’s see . . . Once upon a time it was 1963, nah . . . ok

Actually, I don’t know where to begin because there are years of episodes, good, bad and ugly experiences, false starts, hiccups and bumps, so I’ll keep it brief.

This vision that captures the industry of women’s sports entertainment was inspired by the accomplishments and success of the 1996 U.S. Women’s Olympic Basketball Team and our journey began in the summer of 1997.

In 1998 or was it ’99, (its been a while) an unlikely alliance was formed between a fan of the game of basketball (that would be me aka “The Wizard”) & an extremely accomplished and celebrated legendary female basketball player. As I think about it, the weirdest thing of the friendship is that we were brought together by basketball but we rarely talked about the game itself. Maybe because I had never actually seen her play, women’s basketball was not really televised or even encouraged during her time so when we met I was not in awe of her athletic ability.

FAST FORWARD

In the summer of 2008 the women’s sports talk show concept was born.

If you’ve been a fan of women’s sports for any length of time you’ve probably come to realize that far too often women’s sports can be a tough sell to those in the mainstream media.

Don’t get it twisted I’m a realist; business is business and making a profit is the objective. You know how it goes money talk annnnd . . . well you know the rest.

THE MOTIVATION

The ladies who work tirelessly to perfect their craft - the fans that support the athletes with oft time’s blind loyalty and an unwavering commitment and the future, those generations of sheros and female athletes to come. (And furthermore it’s about damn time)

IT’S TIME

So we were thinking out loud, after watching or listening to most men’s sporting events there is usually a medium of some sort that allows the fan to express their euphoria or disappointment of any given athletic performance. Howesenever, when the women’s event is over (pick one, any sport) Er’body rushes to the light switch . . . bye, c’ya . . . it’s almost like being drop kicked up out the door . . . as a fan you start to feel like Pam from any episode of The Martin Lawrence Show . . . “Get To Steppin”.

You get the picture, so here’s the dilemma do we keep whining about it or do we keep waiting on Oprah or Beyonce or Rosie or Queen Latifah or Queen Elizabeth (you get the point) to throw out the proverbial golden parachute or do we step out on faith and forge our own way. No doubt it’s a huge task, a big step and a humungous undertaking. We’ve lamented over and over again both privately and publicly how the women’s game, women’s sports, fans and female athletes have been disrespected, disregarded, overlooked & taken fro granted; in some circles it’s called being Pimped! You know, you are only useful when you are being used.

The choices are, keep whining and waiting or in the words of Charles Barkley, Shut Up and Play!

So here we are taking this GIANT leap known as The Women’s Sports Talk Show co-hosted by Basketball Hall of Famer Lynette Woodard.

Lynette will also have various athletes from the women’s sports world co-hosting with her from time to time. Our goal is to explore & expand a medium that is committed to broadening the scope of women’s sports and the female athlete.

THE SHOW

The show will be open to all things women’s sports related and we really only have a few common sense rules

  1. Respect (Comment with respect)
  2. Respectful (Be respectful)
  3. Respectfully (Disagree respectfully)

So to break this down – You can disagree, in fact we encourage it if you have a dissenting opinion and you can freely voice your position on any issue or topic related to women’s sports but we will not tolerate profanity, abusive language or name calling.

If you have a show topic, idea or want to write a blog send us an email or use the hotline to leave your idea or rant; if it’s good we will put you on the show. All we ask is that you leave valid and verifiable contact information.

This is an aggressive venture with an aggressive growth plan and we are pretty sure it has not been done before; so we kindly ask for your patience, participation and ideas. We invite your input as we grow this concept together.


Now I must get back to the controls. . . PEACE!

The Wizard