Oh, pioneers

Sporting News, The, Feb 5, 1996 by Ann Killion

"I always said women's basketball would be the first sport to break through," says Sue Levin, marketing manager for women's sports at Nike. "Girls play the same game. Any sportswriter can go out and cover a girls game. And Americans have a love affair with basketball."

National team player Azzi has seen an attitude change, too.

When I was little, playing basketball wasn't the cool thing to do,' Azzi says. "Now it is."

All of which made the women's version of the "Dream Team"--complete with Spike Lee-produced Nike ads, Swoopes going one-on-one with Michael Jordan and autograph cards--a natural.

"It feels like it's time to take things up to another level," VanDerveer says.

The tour has been exhausting and logistically mind-boggling. It has covered 25,584 miles and passed through 26 airports, and that doesn't include a recent trip to Siberia and upcoming trips to China and Australia. The team is scheduled to play international exhibitions throughout the country this spring, including one at the women's Final Four in Charlotte. It also will make appearances at the NBA All-Star game next week in San Antonio.

In each city, the players have made appearances, signed at autograph sessions and been swamped with interview requests. "It feels like the Final Four every day" VanDerveer says.

Though the team has happily discovered pockets of interest all across the country, the tour also has the feel of a traveling revival meeting, out to convert the nonbelievers. VanDerveer has always told her teams that someone might be watching women's basketball for the first time, and she doesn't want them to leave disappointed.

"If people come to a women's game and they see a bad game, with sloppy play, they might say, `Oh, that's the way it is,' and never come back," VanDerveer says. "They wouldn't do that at a poorly played men's game. Sometimes we don't get the benefit of the doubt."

VanDerveer doesn't have to exhort this team to sell itself. The players include Edwards, aiming for her fourth Olympic team, Swoopes, Leslie, Azzi, Staley, Katrina McClain, Carla McGhee, Katy Steding, Nikki McCray and Lobo. All but McCray and Lobo have played professionally overseas. They aR gave up significant income--in McClain's case a reported $300,000--for the chance to earn $50,000 playing for their country. Their goal is to win a gold medal, certainly, but also to provide the impetus for the professional league. They're already convinced of the importance of converting the heathens.

"That's nothing new to any of us," Azzi says. `We're all pioneers in this sport."

According to Ackerman, the tour has exceeded sponsors' expectations. They are reaching teenagers, young professional women and families. Attention has come from media outlets as diverse as TSN, Cosmopolitan, Men's Journal, Ebony and Newsweek. lifetime has produced personal vignettes on the players, who--to a woman--can easily be sold as role models.

"If you were looking for evidence that there is a market here for teenage girls, then the tour has proved that,' Levin says. "Little girls don't have sports heroes. But if you build them, they will come."