Tossing Aside 'Great' Expectations

The WNBA's new slogan is "Expect Great."

(Runner-up slogan: "Good Seats Still Available.")

Perhaps you've seen those bizarre, new commercials in which three WNBA players belittle their own product.

Candace Parker: "I'm sorry, but you couldn't pay me to watch women's basketball."

Cheryl Ford: "I'm afraid of contact, so you could post me up all day long."

Tamika Catchings: "No offense, but women's basketball is a joke."

At the end of each spot, the words "She Wouldn't Say That" come up on the screen, followed by, "Would You?"

There's a backdrop of eerie, ominous music, the kind you hear in "The Shining" just before Jack Nicholson chops through the bathroom door with an axe.

Who dreamt up this ad campaign, Lizzie Borden?

Frankly, I don't think they can shame me or scare me into buying WNBA season tickets.

The commercials are aimed at men who disdain the WNBA. The thing is, men usually love watching women; I've noticed this at the beach, in bars and at board meetings -- well, on those rare occasions there is a female presence at those meetings.*

(*Yes, readers would be correct to question how I might be at a board meeting. Actually, it's a statistical improbability.)