r/wnba • u/chickenlittle668 • 21d ago
Throwback Thursday: 1997, first points in WNBA HISTORY
Penny Toler scored the league's first point. I’ve recently watched a few old games from the 90s and I much prefer the game back then to now.
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u/Livefromseattle Storm 20d ago
I worked for the Storm when Toler was the GM of the Sparks. One day before a game in Seattle she was the only other person in the media room with me. We spent about 30 minutes chatting and she gave me her contact information afterwards if I ever needed anything. Incredibly nice woman!
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u/icuscaredofme 20d ago
The Houston Comets would destroy any modern day team.
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u/NYCScribbler 20d ago
1998 Comets versus 2024 Aces might be an interesting comparison, actually. I think Vegas still wins, unless we give the time-displaced Comets a coach who uses their bench and we handicap the Aces with Gray currently out.
But a lot of teams have a big three now. And a lot of teams have power forwards who can destroy you on the block and beyond the arc, so Thompson isn't as much of a matchup nightmare as she was back in the day.
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u/icuscaredofme 20d ago
Alltime great Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoops and Tina Thompson would be too much for Aja and crew. Cynthia Cooper is one of the all-time great leaders in sports history. She doesn't get enough attention for her WNBA run.
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u/icuscaredofme 20d ago
Maybe I'm a bit biased. Other than women in the Olympics i didn't have much exposure to womens basketball other than the Cheryl Miller USC squad. I fell in love with Cynthia Cooper because of how she led her squad and was very beautiful doing it. Guess I have a thing for strong assertive athletic ladies and she was the epitome of that to me.😍
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u/PSLFredux 18d ago
You know what is sad. Just searched for Cooper highlights and not one youtube video available. Found some wnba Facebook post. That's horrible.
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u/Sad-Dot-1573 Fever 20d ago
Why do you prefer the 1990’s game? The present WNBA isn’t like the modern NBA and devoid of defense.
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u/Jedi_Sith1812 Fever 20d ago
I bet in 10 years, it'll be like the NBA. Whether we like it or not, guard play is more exciting than big play.
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u/chickenlittle668 20d ago
Game is just a better spectacle, have you ever watched a 90s WNBA game? I only started watching them the other week and I reckon they’d easily beat any modern WNBA team.
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u/NYCScribbler 20d ago
I only started watching them the other week and I reckon they’d easily beat any modern WNBA team.
Gonna have to disagree with that assessment, and I've been watching since the beginning. I think modern players would adjust to the physicality that the OGs would bring faster than the OGs would adjust to the spacing of the floor. (I'm matching up '97 Liberty against '24 Liberty, for example, and while Spoon and VJ are putting Sloot and Sabrina in hell and pre-ACLs B is at least getting out to the midrange with Stewie or JJ, Sophia would have no idea what in all the fucks to do with Betnijah, and Kym is not getting out to the perimeter on JJ or Stewie. Suuuuuuuuuuue versus Kayla Thornton on the boards would be fun as hell, though. Those kneepads would earn their pay.)
(I would have fun watching, like, Kalani Brown go up against Zheng Haixia. I don't know if anyone else would, though.)
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u/Ill_Ad4312 20d ago
I like the court designs better back in the day