End of the Line?

With the hiring of Isiah Thomas, finally the women of the WNBA are receiving the same treatment as their male counterparts.

I know, I know, it sounds like a Slate pitch gone horribly awry, but bear with me.

Isiah Thomas appears to be a perverse rite of passage for American basketball. Eventually, he will be handed a position of power that he is woefully unqualified for, and he will scorch the earth to the point where no seed will grow.

As chronicled by Rodger Sherman at SBNation, Thomas has managed, or shall we say, mismanaged basketball at every level. He ran the New York Knicks, one of the NBA’s crown jewel franchises, into a pit of despair that they are still digging out of. When that was through, he headed to the college game, where his FIU teams won just 26 games in three seasons. Oh, and let’s not forget minor league hoops. The very existence of the modern D-League can be attributed to Thomas, who managed to take the decades-old CBA, and, through greed and stubbornness, bankrupt the organization in two years time.

On some twisted level, the WNBA should be encouraged by this moment. The league was founded in 1996, under the slogan of “We Got Next.” Now, at long last, Tina Charles, Cappie Pondexter, Anna Cruz, and others will be afforded the same opportunity that was for far too long available only to male athletes… the chance to see their roster badly bungled by one of the biggest hacks in sports.

Rosie the Riveter would be proud.

His history of sexual harassment was the first thing that came to mind for the sports media consciousness when Thomas’ new gig was announced. Howard Megdal at Capital New York.  Robert Silverman at The New Republic.  Erik Malinowski at Sports On Earth. Andy Glockner at The Cauldron. Travis Waldron at Think Progress.*

*For all of James Dolan’s flaws, and they are myriad, never let it be said that he did not provide plenty of opportunities for talented writers to be righteously indignant.

The Knicks initial response to this cacophony of outrage was a short statement that they did not believe the findings of a jury that ruled Thomas had sexually harassed Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders. It was, essentially, a corporate temper tantrum, the white collar equivalent of sticking one’s fingers in their ears and shouting “I’m not listening!” Listen, Jim, if you can’t lie no better, you might as well tell the truth.

JD & The Straight Shot – Lie No Better (LIVE)

The explanations continued, because according to the Cablevision crisis management handbook, there’s no problem that a press tour can’t solve. Isiah Thomas made the radio rounds, speaking with Dan Patrick, Mike and Mike, and Boomer and Carton. The last of those interviews was particularly uncomfortable, given the hosts’ fixation on whether Thomas actually saw the Liberty job as a way back into the Knicks front office.

“I just don’t get why a Hall of Fame, one of the great basketball players of all time, wants to be a part of the women’s game,” stumbled Boomer Esiason, before presumably realizing he sounded like a bitter men’s rights activist, “which I’m sure is great for the people who play it.”

His co-host, Craig Carton, made no attempt whatsoever to couch his own language. “New Yorkers don’t care about the Liberty. New Yorkers care about the Knicks.” When Isiah Thomas, suddenly a pragmatic feminist, suggested that perhaps New York could learn to embrace their WNBA team, Carton was once without tact. “They never will though… it’s the sad reality of the way it is.”

Actually Craig, the truly sad reality is that apparently women’s sports are forever fated to be ridiculed. Nobody is suggesting that the Liberty, or for that matter any WNBA team, will soon have the ticket sales, the television ratings, the media coverage of their male counterparts. But why, exactly, does this mean women’s basketball must be shown such contempt by you and your morning zoo ilk? Why is it so astonishing that someone actually wants to make a living in the women’s game? (Particularly when it’s someone like Isiah Thomas, who has failed frequently enough that he should be grateful for an opportunity to manage a rec-league team at the local YMCA.) Why is the WNBA forever doomed to be disrespected at every turn?

That, ultimately, is what the Isiah Thomas affair is all about. Disrespect. It was disrespectful when, in a taped deposition, Thomas tried to parse the offensiveness of the word “bitch”. It is disrespectful today for him to hide behind the fact that he, personally, was not found financially liable, even though Browne Sanders was awarded $6 million in punitive damages due to a “hostile work environment” that he helped to create. (According to Kevin Mintzer, one of Browne Sanders attorneys on the case, a single holdout juror prevented punitive damages from being assessed against Thomas, but there was never any question as to his culpability.)

Above all else, it is disrespectful for James Dolan to put Thomas in charge of a WNBA franchise. How can such a move be seen as anything

other than a slap in the face to women? Even if you ignore the evidence of harassment, (something the Garden brass is clearly inclined to do), putting someone with Isiah’s history of catastrophe in charge of the Liberty shows how little Dolan thinks of it. It is, for him, just a frivolity, a place to stick his good friend, with no regard for the message it sends.

Why should anyone be surprised, given the myriad ways in which women have been told, recently, that they are not a priority in the sports patriarchy. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman dismisses the notion that serenading Anaheim’s goaltender with chants of “Katy Perry” is in any way sexist. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers select Jameis Winston first overall, without so much as bothering to talk to the woman that accused him of sexual assault. And two respected, accomplished female journalists, Michelle Beadle and Rachel Nichols, have credentials revoked, and the ability to do their jobs compromised, for daring to report honestly on Floyd Mayweather’s history of violence and misogyny. And still, we wonder where women are getting the message that they are unwelcome in this sphere.

The NBA has long been seen as one of the country’s most progressive leagues, and one of the most welcoming to women. In their 2014 report, UCF’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport gave the league a B+ for gender hiring practices, and noted that women held 40%

of all professional positions in the NBA league office. The numbers are encouraging, as are individual success stories such as Becky Hammon joining the Spurs as an assistant coach, Lauren Holtkamp becoming the league’s third full-time female referee, and Michele Roberts’ election as head of the NBPA.

One year after Adam Silver took action, ousting Donald Sterling from NBA ownership in the wake of his racist ramblings, some have urged him to intervene once more, to prevent Isiah Thomas from officially taking the helm of the Liberty. But while the sentiment is understandable, personally, I hope that Silver stands down in this instance.  At this point, men have had plenty of opportunities to address the rampant chauvinism of the sports world. Our track record is, shall we say, problematic.

The WNBA has, over its two decades, proven successful in bringing a myriad of talented, dedicated, accomplished women into the fold. I happen to believe they’re more than capable of handling their business, by keeping Thomas as far away from it as possible. WNBA President Laurel Richie, who came to the league with a deep background in marketing and communications, made a somewhat telling statement in reaction to Thomas’ appointment, noting that “New owners are appointed by our WNBA Board of Governors, and this process has not yet begun.” Let us hope that Richie, with the backing of the league’s female owners, the half a dozen women who serve as head coaches, and the players themselves, all draw a line in the sand and make it clear that Thomas is not fit to join their ranks.

Isiah Thomas has brought his path of destruction to the doorstep of the WNBA.

But here’s hoping that women’s basketball is the one brand smart enough to send him packing.