WNBA Tells Skeptics to Expect Great

• May 8, 2008 03:00 PM ET
• by Richard1211

The WNBA's 12th season gets underway next weekend, and the league is eager to attract new fans and change perceptions of women's hoops. A new marketing campaign, "Expect Great," launches during tonight's Celtics/Cavaliers NBA playoff game (7 pm/ET, ESPN). In a series of ads that are clearly aimed at men, three top players - the Detroit Shock's Cheryl Ford, the Indiana Fever's Tamika Catchings and celebrated rookie Candace Parker of the L.A. Sparks - repeat the criticisms they've heard. The complaints are clearly contradicted by simultaneous game clips.

In Ford's spot, the four-time WNBA All-Star says: "Let's be honest, your rec league team would smoke us chicks without working up a sweat. I'm afraid of contact, so you can post me up all day long. Plus, the lane will be open, because no girl is gonna take a charge. We want no part of your rec league team. Believe that." Then the screen goes dark and the words "She wouldn't say that. Would You?" appear.

Ford and Parker's spots premiere tonight, while Catchings' debuts on Sunday during ABC's coverage of the NBA Playoffs.