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hyperetic · Posted: 09/29/12 2:16 pm ::: Perceived Villainy

Now that so many perceive the Mercury as tankers, cheaters, villains (if you will), will there be extra incentive for fans to root against a once very favored team? When the Pistons became the Bad Boys, they enjoyed a modicum of success. They really didn't care about perceptions. I wonder how other teams feel about the situation. Will they be more apt to get up for games against the new look PHX than they normally would have. Will they use PHX as a rallying point?

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coffy73 · Posted: 09/29/12 2:45 pm :::

I really disliked the Detroit Shock, but I grew to love their antics and bad girl attitude. The team themselves could care less how they were looked at and it buoyed them to success. I have a feeling the Mercury are gonna be the same way. Diana is always better when the opposing crowd boos her, so no change there. The Merc were my favorite team when Cappie was there, but wained a bit after. This season completely destroyed the little like I had for them, but who knows, maybe the love will be back with Griner.

Rock Hard · Posted: 09/29/12 10:53 pm :::

The majority of the fans that are going to hate the Mercury are fans of Western Conference teams. They are the ones that complained the most about PHX allegedly tanking the 2012 season. Fans of Eastern Conference teams could have cared less if PHX tanked their season or not.

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hyperetic · Posted: 09/30/12 12:33 am :::

If someone believes they cheated and was rewarded with the #1 spot in the draft then I would assume they would use that as a reason to root against PHX.

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Orion · Posted: 09/30/12 7:29 am ::: Perceived Villiany

I am a fan of an Eastern Conference team (to greatly simplify my feelings toward the Mystics). I despise what I believe the Phoenix Mercury has done because it is so antithetical to what I think of as the behavior of WNBA teams.

If we were talking about European soccer, the faking that goes on there with fouls and flops are known and reacted to within that fan community. There was even a great commercial where the Italian team was practicing, someone blew a whistle and all the players fell on the ground moaning and grabbing a shin or ankle, etc.

What I believe the Mercury has done and gotten rewarded for is cheating the intention (however imperfect the instrument) the of the draft to even out the league, keep games competitive, etc. I think they cheated and got away with it. Contempt is what they deserve and contempt is what I (FWIW) feel for them.

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MuneravenMN · Champion Tipster

Villainy? Lol!!! It is so much more banal than that. Tanking isn't cool-bad. It isn't edgy. It's lame. It's not clever. Hell they didn't even try to cleverly pull it off! Phoenix is about as "Bad girl" as rich suburban housewife taking a pole-dancing class to lose weight.

I find cheaters boring and uninspiring. Not worth hating and not at all likable. I used to admire and like Phoenix fans and their team even though they compete with other teams I like more personally. Now? The gloating of a few fans here has left a bad taste in my mouth and the team is just another business that is willing to be dishonest to get ahead. How dull.

My feelings about Phoenix? I feel the same way about them that I do about the Miami Heat. Yawn. I like teams that are built the old fashioned way.

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Luuuc · #NATC

braveniler58 · Posted: 09/30/12 2:08 pm :::

All I got to say is, bring it on. This league has been lacking in something since Leslie retired and Detroit relocated, so I'm fine with Phoenix becoming the "villain" - I'm a fan of the Patriots, so I'm used to it. Wink

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Rock Hard · Posted: 09/30/12 7:49 pm :::

I need to correct a statement in my previous post. I stated that most Eastern Conference fans did not care if Phx tanked or not. The Mystics fans cared a lot! Sorry Washington! Embarassed

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Orion · Posted: 09/30/12 8:00 pm ::: perceived villiany

Sorry to disappoint you, Braveniler, but for me, contempt is best served cold. You will get nothing hotter than cold disgust from me.

Lisa Leslie was not an organized, system-wide assault on the ethics of the WNBA. She just let her elbows get crazy-wild and dangerous sometimes.
Phoenix tanking, OTOH, is a planned, unethical assault on all the role-model, stand for the good, be different than all the other sports, that the WNBA was supposed to be.

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mercfan3 · Posted: 09/30/12 8:10 pm ::: Re: perceived villiany

Phoenix and Taurasi have been the villian since LLL retired. The bitching is only going to increase.

I won't care when we're winning. And no matter what anyone says, y'all are gonna watch.

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Shades · Posted: 09/30/12 8:47 pm :::

Rock Hard · Posted: 09/30/12 11:10 pm :::

No, Shades I do not want to get it. It does not matter what you think or what I think about PHX. The WNBA President is the one with the power. It is her call to make. Any person that does not like PHX having the number one pick and does not send a ton of emails to the league office can just kick rocks! Cool

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You can win, as long as you keep your head to the SKY! Be OPTIMISTIC!

hyperetic · Posted: 10/01/12 1:41 pm :::

Villainy, oftentimes, is a perception in the eye of the beholder. And we all know perception is not always reality.

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Angus24 · Posted: 10/01/12 5:40 pm :::

I am wondering if the league or anybody will have guts enough to react to this situation in any meaningful way. I am guessing probably not, which will be bad for the league. Bad behavior usually breeds more bad behavior.

ClayK · Posted: 10/01/12 7:14 pm :::

Again, if the league goes after Phoenix for what is basically unprovable intent, the same case can be made against Washington. And you know, Sylvia Fowles sat out a whole bunch of games down the stretch too, so Chicago would also be in the same category.

So does Tulsa default to the top pick, and the other three get shut out?

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Shades · Posted: 10/01/12 8:14 pm :::

caune · Posted: 10/01/12 8:49 pm :::

Nerd2 · Posted: 10/01/12 8:57 pm :::

ClayK · Posted: 10/02/12 10:32 am :::

MuneravenMN · Champion Tipster

I find what DC and Chicago did defensible; that is, I can live with the idea that a team would reasonably elect to sit a dinged up player at the very end of a season if the team is out of the play-off picture. That isn't tanking in my book. I would prefer that all players play if they can because the fans pay to see the best product the team can put on the floor. Still, even many STHs might be fine with sitting a star who is worn down once the play-offs are no longer a possibility.

What the Mercury did was on a whole different level. Their "injured" player, THE difference player for her team and the one player who could have scored enough to keep the Merc out of the lottery, had one excuse after another for not playing for the whole season. I could have lived with all that had she not punctuated the middle of this lost season with a killer performance in the Olympics.

It's tawdry. I don't ever recall feeling disappointed in the WNBA or any of its teams like this.

(The last time I remember feeling this way was when A-Rod left the Seattle Mariners and said he wasn't doing it for money. Rolling Eyes

It was truly okay if he wanted to get paid the big bucks, but lying about it and thinking that Seattle fans were dumb enough to believe the lie? That was insulting. . . .much like Phoenix asking us to believe that Taurasi couldn't play.)

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tfan · Posted: 10/02/12 1:30 pm :::

Teams had players go out with injury. As did Phoenix. But Phoenix had a player go out for tiredness (compounded by the fact that it was the biggest gym rat in the league). And the player made things worse by talking about "sitting down with management to see what's best for the future of the franchise" (regarding playing in the second half of the season after playing in the Olympics) and saying "the plan went as planned" after Phoenix was assured good lottery odds. And while some people, notably Phoenix fans, have no problem with that, a lot of fans are outraged. So at a bare minimum Laurel Richie should provide a stern directive to teams: As your team is drifting towards the bottom of the standings, do not announce players are gonna sit out because they are tired. Have them suit up, play a bit, and then fake a serious injury. And after that tell the player to zip it.

Shades · Posted: 10/02/12 1:48 pm :::

tfan · Posted: 10/02/12 1:52 pm :::

ClayK · Posted: 10/02/12 1:58 pm :::

Shades, I'm still waiting for your answer on how you differentiate between what Phoenix might have done and what Chicago and Washington might have done.

The above point about Phoenix doing it longer might have validity, but you said it's a question of right and wrong.

It's also a question of proof, and how you would prove that Washington and Chicago didn't do what you say Phoenix did do.

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