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Written by: Aditya Joshi
Parity in NBA terms is when every single team in the league has the talent to compete for a championship. For most people this makes the game more fun, but for others it’s different. Currently, there is mostly parity in the NBA, so any team in the league can win on any given night. According to Action Sports, NBA basketball is the most predictable sport. A good measure of parity is preseason odds and in preseason odds the average eventual team that wins the championship has a +320, to put that into perspective the teams with the worst odds have a +50000 odds, and the best teams have a +230 odds. But without statistics and odds, the bottom line is parity. The least parity that the NBA ever had was easily the 2016-2019 Golden State Warriors. It was to the point that their entire starting five was in serious all star talks every season. For the NBA as a business, this was not a good thing because viewership went down because fans did not want to see one team dominate as much as the Warriors did. Records were broken and so many amazing things were happening in-game but nobody really cared, fans were hating on the team. The odds of the warriors -195 odds to win the championship which was a record in itself. The Warriors were a historically non-parity team, but the NBA without parity is the opposite. When parity is alive in the NBA, you never know what team will win a game. Suddenly a last seed team can have a nail-biting game with a top 5 team in the league. The lowest odds that an eventual championship was the Toronto Raptors in 2019. They had at +5500 in championships and with everything right happening in favor of their team, they won with Kawhi Leonard winning the championship MVP trophy. This was the start of what the parity in the NBA we still see today. As a business, not having parity in the league is a bad thing, like when the Golden State Warriors were dominating the entire league and easily made it to the final four years straight, the viewership started to go down drastically through the years. For the past two years the views have bounced back with the NBA finals matchups not being one sided on paper. In 2022, the NBA is worth about 75 Billion dollars with all of the teams values combined. They are a business, and without parity is bad for business because of the obvious lack of competition for the team causing the non-parity. With it, every fan, team, and player can feel that they are still going out on the court with the will to win against whatever team they are playing regardless of their seed/record (wins and losses). Most of the players, teams, and fans not having parity is a bad thing. Fans normally like seeing all teams (including their favorite team) having a chance to compete. Teams want to never lose hope so they always would always want parity. Players are the same way because they want their teams to never give up.Overall I think parity is always going to be a good thing for the NBA as a business but also as a player association.
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Written by: Radhika Goyal
Have you heard about the United States women’s national soccer team? Well, this team represents the United States for women’s soccer. The USWNT, also known as, The Stars and Stripes team, is the most triumphant and strong, leading team. They have won 4 Women’s World Cup titles over numerous years and four Olympic gold medals. However, not only did they manage to achieve these accomplishments, but they also have won eight CONCACAF Gold Cups. The remarkable team’s captain is unsure, as proved by the official USWNT website. The team’s top scorer, Abby Wambach, retired in 2015. Not only is she an icon for girls who play soccer, but she is also an icon for those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Many young people part of that unique community look up to her because Abby is not ashamed of being part of it. Recently, as of February of 2022, the USWNT participated in the SHEBELIEVES Cup. The two players, Catarina Macario and Mallory Pugh led the team to victory. Both players helped the team win with two goals each. After the successful game, Catarina Macario was named the 2022 Visa SheBelieves Cup MVP. Believe it or not, Catarina is the youngest player to ever accept this recognition. In this game, USWNT played against several teams such as Iceland, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, and South Korea. In 2018, the USWNT proved their greatness when they were undefeated. After this victory, the team gained much popularity. That was the start of their success. Today, many young soccer players look up to the USWNT because they have such a powerful, inspiring team that motivates them to continue playing soccer. However, after they started to gain many fans, multiple individuals started to accept that women are also capable enough to play sports. https://www.ussoccer.com/teams/uswnt Written by: Ahana Goel
You’ve probably played basketball, football, and maybe even lacrosse. But, have you ever played table tennis? Let me tell you a little bit about it! Table tennis is a great sport! I bet you will enjoy it as much as I do! Table tennis is where players stand on one end of a very long “table” which can be folded for easy storage. Players are given a table tennis racket, or a paddle, to hit a small ball. A paddle is a small racket, but instead of the net as the middle where you hit the ball, it is made out of rubber. You can have one player on each side of the table (singles) or you can have two players on each side (doubles). You can even play by yourself by folding up one side of the table. It’s better when other people are playing with you. But where did this amazing sport even come from? Well, in the 20th century, a man named David Foster had the idea to bring tennis onto a table. However, the game was not called table tennis. Rather, it was called Ping-Pong and many still use the name today. Did you know that table-tennis is the third largest participation sport in the world? That’s amazing! The objective, or goal, of the game is to hit the ball so that the opponent cannot hit it back, while the ball hitting the other side of the table. The game is only won when the player reaches 11 points. A match is played best 3 of 5 games. There are two types of games in table tennis. There can be singles or doubles. Unlike singles, where the ball can bounce anywhere on the table, the ball can only hit the right side of the table for both the server and receiver. The top 5 countries in table tennis are China, Japan, Germany, Korea, and Sweden. But, why are they the best in this sport? These countries are dynasties in this sport not only for their coaches, but also for their players. The coaches not only have great table tennis techniques, but they also have great tactics, strength, playing style, and team managers. The players have a great sense of determination and have many people who play this sport. However, the best player of them all is Fan Zhendong from China with over 12,000 points! Currently, he is ranked number 1 in men’s singles. Overall, table tennis is an amazing sport! Written by: Kate Pietruszkiewicz
Simone Biles, the Williams sisters, Candice Parker…. You’ve probably heard of these female sports stars, right? But that list of sensational athletes goes on so much longer. The historic women of our past articles have opened up so many opportunities by showing and proving to the world what girls can do. Now the problem that stands in our way is recognition. If we can do it just as well as men, then why aren’t we getting treated like it? Well, back in 1972, The U.S. Department of Education did make a move for change. At that time, girls were still thought to be unfit for sports and were therefore denied the recruitment, admissions, counseling, financial assistance, and athletics that were offered to men at the same schools. Imagine having to practice your sport late, after dinner, on a weeknight, because that’s the only time that the boys team wasn’t practicing. That’s what the Brown University women’s swimming team endured to get their training in, and most other women athletes at the time could relate; practicing with no equipment, no locker rooms, and no gyms. Once Title IX came about, all educational programs and activities receiving federal funding were required to abide by the statement that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination”. This now applies to approximately 17,600 local school districts and over 5,000 postsecondary institutions, where girls and boys don’t have to participate in the same sports, but they must have the same number of teams offered. The participation of girls in sports has increased from 1 in 27 to 1 in 3 in the 50 years since Title IX was enforced, but they still only get 5.4% of the televised coverage on sports channels. Girls all over are putting in the work and accomplishing the unheard of, but very few have the honor of seeing them. In 2019, the Women’s World Cup made up 1.9% of that small amount, meaning that since the World Cup only comes around once every four years, the media coverage in the off years is 3.5%. With the US Women’s National Soccer Team generating so much TV attention, it’s only fair and expected that they, as well as the teams from other countries, get rewarded, right? Because sadly, while the dream as a child may just be to play in front of a sold out stadium, ultimately a career in sports is still a career. The average American woman earns only 81% of what a man would in the same role. In basketball for example, an NBA player will make 8,321,937 dollars a year and a WNBA player will make 75,181 dollars. That stat is alarming on its own, but the biggest discrepancy comes between the highest paid men and women sports stars. In 2019, the soccer star Lionel Messi made 125% more than Serena Williams. Think about that: Tennis is the highest paying women’s sport, and Serena has been the most talented and accomplished athlete in that field for the past 27 years. She is arguably the greatest woman athlete across the globe. If the greatest of all time, with 23 Grand Slam titles and 4 Olympic gold medals to prove it, can’t get equal treatment, then how can the rising stars survive in the competition? By continuing to play and continuing to impress, we prove that we are worthy of a spot and worthy of acknowledgment. So, with so much going on in the world right now, let’s try to take a break, play sports, and celebrate the Women’s History month that is earned every day. Sports connect athletes, fans, and viewers from all over and whether you are playing or watching, you’ve always got a team. Getting absorbed in a game provides the inspiration and support to face whatever your challenge may be. Watching these women do their thing and dominate across the fields and courts, connects us to a cause. What they are doing is pushing us forward, into a future of equal playing opportunities and recognition! https://online.adelphi.edu/articles/male-female-sports-salary/ https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/tix_dis.html Written by : Kate Pietruszkiewicz
Following an exciting We Play Too soccer clinic at Moody Middle school, let’s kick over to what the professional women in that sport are getting some positive attention for now! A few US Women’s National Soccer Team athletes have made an especially awesome accomplishment last Tuesday, 2/22. Alex Morgan is a three-time Olympian (including a gold medal in 2012), a back-to-back winner of the FIFA World Cup, and now a member of the San Diego Wave FC, an NWSL soccer team. She has lived up to her honor in the Time Magazine in 2019 as one of the 100 Most Influential People of the Year; having written a children’s book series - The Kicks, starred in a movie - Alex & Me, and accompanied by a Canadian and an Australian woman, she became one of the first girls ever on the cover of the FIFA video game. Along with her co-captain from 2018-2020, Megan Rapinoe, she has led the fight for equal pay in the sport of soccer. On Tuesday, after 3 years of ups and downs since they filed their gender discrimination lawsuit campaigning for equal pay, the group of 28 women’s soccer players came to a 24 million dollar settlement with the US soccer federation. This is a big move for recognition in women’s sports, something that, if you are interested in learning more about, will be the focus of our next article! |
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