RebKell's Junkie Boards

[SDHoops]

Let me explain the point of this post. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I am a true believer that there are still many things that don't sit well with double standards when it comes to the media and perception. Jackie and Plum are in a sense, the All-American girls. They're, well..Caucasian, pretty, outgoing. Patricia wasn't, both figuratively and literally. With Kelsey Mitchell (whom I've met and she's not the most outgoing) on pace to become to the new career scorer with a big senior year barring injuries, only time will tell if she's all over ESPN for days following the accomplishment, if the pro scouts show praise in their drafting, and if the WNBA has her face plastered all over the sites, apps, etc. To this day, we know how the W treated and some franchises still treat their LGBT fans! Being a minority myself and being that kid who got left in the back of class to figure things out myself despite being one of the only students in my HS class to earn a Bachelor's Degree, I know all about double standards..I think that women also know all too well. Here's an article that was written about Hoskins in the mid 90's. I guess only time will tell if Mitchell does break the record to see how it pans out..and as I've said before, i don't care, I'll be the asshole or devil's advocate. In this case, the devilette's advocate

Patriotic thrill eludes former Valley star

By C.B. Bryant
Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer

Patricia Hoskins set NCAA records, but she wanted more in the form of an Olympic tryout.

Patricia Hoskins didn’t watch the USA Basketball Women's National team play on television last weekend. That would have been much too painful. Hoskins, the NCAA’s career scoring leader, never got to try out for the team that will represent the United States in this summer’s Olympics. She didn’t get a try-out for the 1992 team, either. In fact, Hoskins hardly got much credit for her accomplishments at Mississippi Valley State. Despite setting five NCAA Division I records from 1986-89, the basketball establishment still questioned her ability.

Hoskins is frustrated that her U.S. career ended with her final game at Valley. Her pro career consisted of a few months playing in Italy. “I can still play,” said Hoskins, 28, who works for a carpet manufacturer in Greenville. “My mom always told me you never lose what you know. I’m not in shape right now, but it’s not so bad that I can’t get back into shape. If I knew I had the opportunity to be on a national team, I’d be ready. I would be working out like crazy.”

Instead, she’s in Jackson today to receive the Excellence in Women's Sports Award as part of Jackson State’s annual Girls and Women in Sports Seminar and the SWAC’s 75th Anniversary Celebration. The awards presentation begins at noon in the Jacob L. Reddix Campus Union Building. The seminar begins at 10 am. Hoskins will be one of eight pacesetters to be recognized for their contribution to women’s sports.

“I think it’s great to be honored like this,” Hoskins said. “I’m pretty excited about it. After all these years, somebody thought, ‘Hey, let’s give Patricia Hoskins an award.’ It lets you know that you’re not completely dead and forgotten."

Perhaps others have overlooked Hoskins. Valley hasn’t.“She was one of the greatest women’s basketball players in college," said former teammate Stephanie Brown. “It was fun having her on the team. She didn’t get the recognition she deserved. "

Hoskins never made any of the three major women’s All-America teams. She was the 1989 runner-up for the U.S. Basketball Writers Association player of the year. Texas’ Clarissa Davis won the award. “Maybe it had something to do with going to a small black school,” Hoskins said. Hoskins, also known as “the franchise," was a two- time black college player of the year and was named SWAC player of the year three times.

The 6-foot-3 Gleenville native set Division I records for career points (3,122), career scoring average (28.4), season scoring average (33.6), scoring average for a senior (33.6) and rebouding average for a sophomore (17.0). Hoskins ranks second with 1,662 career rebounds.

Hoskins doesn’t get on the court much anymore. Nowadays, she's busy working and raising her 7-year-old son, Daryl. Hoskins admits she misses basketball enough to want to play again someday. “The money I made overseas makes my job look like trash,” she said. “Hopefully, I can get back to school and get my masters and move on. Playing basketball is also

Hoskins owns 24 of the Devilettes’ 35 individual records. She says her most memorable season was 1987-88, when the Devileites won their first SWAC title. She remembers that the team didn’t make it to the NCAA Tournament. “We weren’t even invited, and I feel we played just as well as all the other teams," Hoskins said. “By beating Oklahoma that year, I felt we proved we could play with anybody. I don’t feel like they were fair to us."

Valley coach Jessie Harris believes the system was particularly unfair to Hoskins. “There was no question about it, she could play,” said Harris, now in his 21st season at Valley. “There was one time she would score about 45 to 48 points a game six or seven times in a row. She did the majority of her scoring against the good teams. I couldn't understand why she didn’t get a chance to try out for the Olympics. There were quite a few good players at that time, but her stats alone should have gotten her there.”

Hoskins agrees.

“I’m just shocked I never got a chance to even try out for the Olympics," she said. "I never even got an offer. I’m not bitter, just disappointed because I never got a chance to expand my career in the States."

[LegoMyEggo]

I'm not sure I fully understand your point. So please feel free to clarify if you want.

Mitchell has gotten a lot of exposure. She's all over the Big Ten Network and no other conference has a network that really compares. I've read about her in Sports Illustrated, the Washington Post, etc. What would help her is if Ohio State could win something and she play well to help them on their way.

Just as an example- WBB promoted Diamond DeShields until it made some folks nauseous. Even when she sat out a year as a transfer, she was still featured at the expense of other players who were actually playing and accomplishing things. And she's a player who had questionable sportsmanship, quit on UNC, didn't strike me as a great teammate, would promote stupid people fights on her social media, etc.

Candace Parker, Maya Moore, Skylar Diggins all were wall to wall promoted. They were inescapable. Those three also had high level team success. Plum at least got to a Final Four, which raised her profile for sure.

[pilight]

Cheryl Miller got a ton of attention in the mid-80's despite being black and not conventionally pretty.

I never saw Hoskins play. Hardly anyone did. WCBB was rarely on national TV in those days and when it was the networks opted for teams that were national contenders; Texas, Tennessee, La Tech, etc.

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I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[SDHoops]

@LegoMyEggo It's an open discussion that people can add to. It's asking the question is there? You made good points

@pilight It's more than just attention it seems like, though. From the article it sounds like the team that won their conference got laughed by the NCAA tournament committee and also was not considered for any All-American awards. Stiles and Plum headlined them.

[ClayK]

I don't think there's any doubt that there's a double standard.

Most sports fans are white, and sports fans generate the income that supports the programs. So naturally marketers will try to promote those individuals that have a connection to the audience -- thus pretty white girls get more publicity than pretty, or non-pretty (whatever that may mean), girls of color.

It's sad, and certainly unfair, and it should be noted and commented on, but it seems to me it's about the way our system operates (capitalistic, profit-oriented) plus the inherent racism common to all humanity, pretty much.

So of the Kelseys, I would expect Plum to have more publicity than Mitchell, even though I think Mitchell is a better player. In the end, though, if Mitchell is indeed a better player, she will have a longer career, make more money and have earned more respect.

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Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā

[Nixtreefan]

[GlennMacGrady]

Patricia Hoskins

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http://www.youtube.com/MagicBusBasketball

[SDHoops]

[SDHoops]

[SDHoops]

[FrozenLVFan]

I don't know enough about Patricia Hoskins to add much, except that playing for a relatively unknown school in a small conference probably impaired her candidacy for awards considerably.

[LegoMyEggo]

If what you say here was true how is it possible that the most marketable pro athletes are most often black? If your theory was true, wouldn't Larry Bird have been bigger than Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Steph Curry, etc.?

Basketball is a predominantly black sport at the highest levels and all those white fans you talk about keep buying tickets, cable packages, sneakers and jerseys. Same goes for football.

Taurasi looks like a schnauzer but gets promoted every bit as much as the more attractive Sue Bird. Griner is no beauty queen or king and gets promoted.

Tiger was predominantly Asian and black. There were plenty of white golfers available to promote, yet he was the top choice by a mile in his prime.

I disagree with your theory.

[ClayK]

[pilight]

[WNBA 09]

[GlennMacGrady]

As to men's NCAA basketball, I don't think there's a double standard, simply because there are so few white players who are elite. I saw a recent program that showed that, for many years, only about 10% of the NBA has been comprised of white American players. Jerry West couldn't think of any white American "stars" when asked.

As to women's NCAA basketball, no, I've never sensed any media double standard as to whites, blacks or mixed racial players. Whoever are the best players on the best teams, which are highly skewed toward black players, or the top scorers, or the top dunkers, or who otherwise produce highlight reel plays -- they get the media hype.

We've only had three players approach the NCAA career scoring mark this century, Jackie Stiles, Brittney Griner and Kelsey Plum. Griner got a LOT more coverage and hype than Stiles or Plum and for good reasons -- and Griner's uber-hype began in high school. I don't think Stiles, who went to a minor school with no other stars, ever got much coverage until she closed in on the career scoring record in her senior year and then literally carried her Cinderella team on her back to the Final Four.

The most hyped WCBB players this century have been Diana Taurasi, Candace Parker, Maya Moore, Brittney Griner, Breanna Stewart and, to a lesser small college extent, Elena Delle Donne. In my opinion, the hype in all those cases was justified: each player was objectively heads and shoulders above their peer competition. Notwithstanding her career record, Plum never attracted the coverage or accolades of any of these players, even though she was in a very star-weak senior class.

A notch down from the six stars I just named, were perhaps such college players as Skyar Diggins, Tina Charles, the O sisters, Odyssey Sims, Angel, Fowles, Augustus, Cappie, and Sue Bird -- all black players but one.

What NCAA players are hyped now? Are any of them white? KLS, sort of.

No, I don't buy the argument that the media has a racial double standard. If anything, most of the media are liberal social justice warriors in disguise. To extrapolate anything from the Plum coverage is, in my further opinion, trying to reach for something that's not there.

That said about the media, I have always detected what seem to me to be racial preference patterns in certain NCAA fan bases and coaches. Sometimes white, sometimes black.

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http://www.youtube.com/MagicBusBasketball

[LegoMyEggo]

I've seen it on her social media. Nothing inaccurate.

[FrozenLVFan]

[cthskzfn]

[GlennMacGrady]

[Queenie]

As I recall, that game at the RAC was what got Tara Mitchum drafted (albeit in the fourth round, but hey, #60 was the second-highest pick the Liberty had left, THANKS BLAZE)

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Ardent believer in the separation of church and stadium.

[SDHoops]

So okay, maybe original thought was too out there lol

From this thread, we've almost come to a conclusion that:

-Players that play for smaller schools don't always get the attention they deserve even though the NCAA swears that all 300+ Division I schools are on a level playing field.

-Race isn't a factor for most media, too complex to tell if beauty has any impact.

-Race could be a factor for fans as pointed out by Clay, but there is no real way to measure this. In 2005, New London Day Sportswriter Mike Dimauro wrote that he believed the UConn women's attendance went down because "UConn women aren't as white as they used to be." Another media perception that led me to start this thread was Don Imus' comments in 2007 on Rutgers players being thugs and nappy-headed ho's while Tennessee's players were pretty and the such.

-I think that player's level of likability also plays into it and depends on their mannerisms and being outgoing. I remember everyone loved Griner in Denver because she made sure she signed everyone's stuff and took pictures even when her name was being called for the WBCA team. From everything I've read, Stiles and Plum were also similarly nice.