TV Pickings Slim, Where's the WNBA?

I was doing my "coach potato" thing last night, channel surfing around the television universe.  It was slim pickings, sad to say, with the Al Pacino celebration of gratuitous violence, Scarface, on one of the channels being the best selection available.  But although Pacino's performance as the anger-management-challenged thug Tony Montana was riveting, I just couldn't take the lengthy scenes with Michelle Pfeiffer's languid, flat performance.  So I did what many others probably did: I switched to my DVD/Blue Ray collection, picking Lord of the Rings to watch.  Oh, there could have been a different option for me had the NBA Channel not been displaying a bit of sexism in its programming...

For years the National Basketball Association has been promoting its own sister league to the men's...the WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association), which wisely plays its schedule during the summer to avoid conflicting with the men's league play.  I've watched a few games so far this year during the rare times that they've seen fit to broadcast any, and I was impressed with the skill and spirit shown by the players.  So far, I like the Phoenix Mercury, but I haven't seen enough of the other teams to really settle down to follow one particular team over the others.  You might think that a Saturday night might be a great opportunity for the league to showcase its women's basketball and increase its popularity.  But you'd be wrong...

Instead, the NBA Channel kept the WNBA off and showed men's Summer League games.  These feature players who are trying to make the regular teams; not even the second stringers are here!  But that's what was shown, so I opted for Frodo, Gandalf, and company instead.

Maybe the NBA Channel (or even possibly ESPN) will choose today to show some exciting WNBA action.  There are some interesting scenarios taking place in the league.  The Phoenix Mercury are doing better than last year, while last year's champion, the Indiana Fever, had a terrible start due to several key injuries in their starting lineup.  Can they get back on track in time to make the playoffs?  The Atlanta Dream are dominating the East, but to me the Minnesota Lynx, who lost in the finals to the Fever last year and are leading the West, seem to be the dominant team in the league so far.  But even if they show some other teams playing each other, I'll watch.  Who knows, I just might find "my" team!