Over the past couple of years, I’ve been searching tirelessly for real media coverage of women’s professional basketball in Europe. With the exception of the athletes on Twitter, and a few sites like Eurobasket, FIBA and Basket Plus International, it’s pretty safe to say that nobody in the USA really knows about the leagues or the lives of women who play professional basketball overseas during the months of August through May.

But over the past few days, this has changed. Why?

Because mainstream sports media decided to cover it. No – not because of the awesome talent, unique lifestyles or underlying stories about the market for women’s basketball internationally.  No, that’s not worth their time.

Instead, they’re casting poorly-researched opinions from their offices here in NYC about how Diana Taurasi tested positive for the drug modafinil while playing in Turkey, after an AP story ran and started a wave of rumors.

For those who don’t know, modafinil is a stimulant used to treat narcolepsy, preventing excessive sleepiness.  That’s what created news about women’s basketball.

Here are some examples of how sports media is serving us with this story:

• Diana Taurasi’s positive drug test may mean U.S. Olympic team only wins gold medal by 40 instead of 60 (NBC Sports)
• Modafinil: THG’s partner in crime? (CBC Sports)
• Diana Taurasi fails drug test in Turkey (ESPN)
• Laboratory that tested Taurasi has questionable history (Slam Online)
• Taurasi may face Olympic ban for positive drug test (New York Times)
• Taurasi tested positive for modafinil (Washington Post)

To be frank, the USA coverage on this story is nothing but complete and total bullshit. Here’s why:

1) The testing isn’t even complete yet (they need to do two urine samples in order to conclude anything).

2) All the outlets listed above – ESPN, Slam, etc., NEVER cover the women’s game in Europe.

We can never even find a freaking score. But then this week, they lead SportsCenter of with a story of an unconfirmed drug test, for a sleeping pill? Really guys??

How about this – is anyone brave enough to send someone over there to Europe? Has anyone discovered WHY these ladies are playing there every year? What kind of money are they making? (hint: for the best players, it can be 10 times their WNBA salaries). Why do they get paid this much? What are their lives like? Did Taurasi knowingly take a pill that prevents sleepiness? What would make someone want to do that? Why would she need a boost? Is this even performance-related at all?

Until someone in sports media finds the balls to ask for money to get these questions answered and told by a real reporter, I’m going to continue to hit the bullshit button on this story. It’s pure speculation and really bad reporting.

12/29 Update: Note - when this was first published, I mistakenly called this drug a sleeping pill. I've adjusted the post above. It does not change the direction of my argument, however. 

View Original Post at becauseiplayedsports.com | View mhueter's Full Profile

• Filed Under:  
• Basketball, Sports, SportsPLUS, OpEd, Media/Marketing, WNBA, Anti-Doping, Sexism, Russian/Euroleague

This post is related to an ongoing story:

• Diana Taurasi

There are 3 comments on this post. Join the discussion!

cgaff3 says:

Totally agree, Megan. Ann and I were just talking about the same thing. Great points.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010 at 6:29pm EST

KnollTroll says:

I agree with you about it being hypocritical to only cover this ascept of womens baketball but you need to do some homework too. Its not a sleeping pill at all. The opposite. Used "to promote daytime wakefulness". As in a stimulant. Check your facts before you criticize other jouralists.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010 at 9:50pm EST

mhueter says:

Thanks, KnollTroll. I adjusted the post above. My apologies for calling it a sleeping pill. You'll notice that despite the adjustment, it did not change the direction of my story. Also, I'm not criticizing journalists. I actually REALLY respect journalists. I'm criticizing folks at these publications who make editorial decisions. There are SO MANY untold stories about women's basketball overseas. It's really incredible. If just one of these publications invested a little bit of time and money into sending someone over there to investigate, you'd be surprised what they'd uncover, and the amount of people who would tune in.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 9:49am EST