Ailene Voisin: No better choice than Whiz, kids

[walker60]

The #1 reason Voisin is mindlesly propping up Whis for coach is simple.

Being a female writer (and probably a feminist, not that there's anything wrong with that), she will automatically support anything that validates women's sports.

John Whisenant being able to go from coaching the WNBA to coaching an NBA team would to a great extent validate, the WNBA. Writers like Voisin would endlessly point out how the WNBA prepared him well for an NBA job and it that the women's game and men's game weren't really that far apart.

Of course there is some validity to this. Whisenant probably knows the game very well and could probably point out a lot of the finer points of strategy of an NBA game. But a good NBA assistant coach would probably do a better job of it. Because a good NBA assistant coach, in addition to knowing basic basketball strategy, knows the NBA rules and is familiar with both teams and players currently in the league.

Bottom line: If John Whisenant never coached WNBA and was currently a men's college coach or CBA coach, Ailene Voisin wouldn't be saying 2 words to support him.

^^ It's a possibility but you have to make an unfair assumption to get to that point.

That said, since Voison has written two different articles supporting the favored probable coach in about a week (Larry Brown and Whisenant), I wonder if she's gonna flip flop again and jump on the Musselman bandwagon?

 

[greypoupon]

^^Sorry, but that's really a pretty sexist viewpoint. Her gender has absolutely NOTHING to do with her articles.

EDIT: Okay, except for her comments about Peja's rippling muscles.

What's sexist? Saying that Voisin being a female sportswriter and a feminist is highly likely to support women's sports?

I'm saying that the fact that Whisenant has a direct affiliation with a women's league is going to jive favorably with Voisin's opinion of who should be named coach of an NBA team.

It might even be sub-concious, but Voisin is going to naturally look favorably upon someone who's main claim to fame is winning a championship in a women's league. A person who does that and then goes on to prove himself in the NBA is going to validate and place more importance on the WNBA and women's basketball. She wants to see that happen.

In doing so, she's pretty much tossing the factors that make someone a good NBA head coaching candidate (namely experience as an NBA assistant and/or player) by the wayside.

If she really thought Whisenant's current qualifications were good enough to deem him a worthy candidate, then she should also be pushing for the coach who won the last CBA or USBL championship, because in truth those leagues come a lot closer to NBA type competition than the WNBA ever will.

But she's obviously not advocating any of those people. She has her own biased reasons, of which I don't neccessiarly blame her for because it's human nature on her part.

JMO.

 

[Padrino]

^^ It's a possibility but you have to make an unfair assumption to get to that point.

That said, since Voison has written two different articles supporting the favored probable coach in about a week (Larry Brown and Whisenant), I wonder if she's gonna flip flop again and jump on the Musselman bandwagon?

not to mention the fact that she jumped on the "re-sign adelman" bandwagon a few weeks before he got canned.

 

[hoopsfan]

Next week..."Musselman is the right "muscle man" for the job."

 

[Prophetess]

Next week..."Musselman is the right "muscle man" for the job."

just be sure if she uses that, that she gives you credit.

once a coach is announced, her article will be on how it was the best choice all along.

I wish she would pick an opinion and stick with it!

 

[VF21]

What's sexist? Saying that Voisin being a female sportswriter and a feminist is highly likely to support women's sports?

I'm saying that the fact that Whisenant has a direct affiliation with a women's league is going to jive favorably with Voisin's opinion of who should be named coach of an NBA team.

It might even be sub-concious, but Voisin is going to naturally look favorably upon someone who's main claim to fame is winning a championship in a women's league. A person who does that and then goes on to prove himself in the NBA is going to validate and place more importance on the WNBA and women's basketball. She wants to see that happen.

In doing so, she's pretty much tossing the factors that make someone a good NBA head coaching candidate (namely experience as an NBA assistant and/or player) by the wayside.

If she really thought Whisenant's current qualifications were good enough to deem him a worthy candidate, then she should also be pushing for the coach who won the last CBA or USBL championship, because in truth those leagues come a lot closer to NBA type competition than the WNBA ever will.

But she's obviously not advocating any of those people. She has her own biased reasons, of which I don't neccessiarly blame her for because it's human nature on her part.

JMO.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion. Unfortunately, it's pretty obvious you know very little about Ailene Voisin, her biases, etc. I do, however, like the fact you're apparently able to see into Voisin's subconscious and get to the core of her beliefs.

Peace.

 

[Kingsgurl]

Here's my foray into her subconcious-

She didn't have a good relationship with Adelman, which limited her access somewhat. She is writing good, complimentary stories about each front runner in order to get off on the right foot with whoever ends up in charge of the team. Her true nature will be revealed to them at a later date

 

[VF21]

^Ding! Ding! Ding!

 

[greypoupon]

You're certainly entitled to your opinion. Unfortunately, it's pretty obvious you know very little about Ailene Voisin, her biases, etc. I do, however, like the fact you're apparently able to see into Voisin's subconscious and get to the core of her beliefs.

Peace.

Voisin's bias towards women and women's sports is going to be about as natural as an Asian person rooting for Yao Ming, and I don't think there's anything wrong about either of those things.

I've read plenty of her articles. Some of them are good, make sense and are supported by good facts and information. This happens to be one that makes very little sense and plays into her natural human bias. The arguments she used to advocate Whisenant may as well have been used for just about any college, CBA or USBL coach.

 

[VF21]

I do think there's something wrong with your assumption about her being female meaning she'll have a natural bias towards Whisenant.

I'm female and I don't want him. Kingsgurl is ... female. So are 6th and a good number of other members of this forum.

It's not about gender.

 

[Warhawk]

I do think there's something wrong with your assumption about her being female meaning she'll have a natural bias towards Whisenant.

I'm female and I don't want him. Kingsgurl is ... female. So are 6th and a good number of other members of this forum.

It's not about gender.

I agree. She can write good fiction, but in general her articles are just that, fiction, with no basis in fact or just a wishy-washy opinion or an old rehashed beef she has with a player or coach.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

Goodness gracious...if I had nickel for every illogical leap.....all Asians support Yao Ming? That's new.

It's not about gender or feminism and women's sports. Although I do think Voisin uses her pen to push some angles she feels need to be pushed. This ain't one of them.

 

[Bricklayer]

Now going back to the orignal article, I will say that that is PRECISELY the impression she left by intentionally trying to drive a wedge between male and female fans with the implication that men who objected were being sexist. If it was the only article of hers I had ever seen that would have been my guess too.

That's a new one though (I think -- I have not read any articles she may have written on the Monarchs so cannot be sure) so I suspect it was more opportunistic than anything else. A hook, an excuse, playing politics.

 

[Jerryaki]

...as natural as an Asian person rooting for Yao Ming, and I don't think there's anything wrong about either of those things.

darn tootin'!

 

[walker60]

Goodness gracious...if I had nickel for every illogical leap.....all Asians support Yao Ming? That's new.

It's not about gender or feminism and women's sports. Although I do think Voisin uses her pen to push some angles she feels need to be pushed. This ain't one of them.

Ya, actually that's why Yao leads the league or is close to it in All-Star voting every year. The NBA extended the voting to China, and in turn, he garners a crazy amount of votes.

 

[Padrino]

china does not = asia. if it did, they would just call it asia. there are a lot of other countries in asia, and though none of them combined come close to the population of china, its still ludicrous to say that all asians support yao ming. a whole lot of chinese people support yao ming...but let's not make sweeping generalizations.

 

[Roch Royals Fan]

Actually the Musselman and Elie bios are from the Coaches section of nba.com.

I feel like the old Roseanne Roseannadana character from Saturday Night Live. "Oh, nevermind..."

 

[VF21]

^^I almost feel guilty saying this, but it wasn't Roseanne Roseannadana who said "Never mind."

It was another great Gilda Radner character, Emily Latilla.

 

[greypoupon]

china does not = asia. if it did, they would just call it asia. there are a lot of other countries in asia, and though none of them combined come close to the population of china, its still ludicrous to say that all asians support yao ming. a whole lot of chinese people support yao ming...but let's not make sweeping generalizations.

Now you're just getting into semantics. Of course China does not equal Asia. I'm Chinese and Asian at the same time, and I live in community with a lot of other Asian from countries other than China. I would say that a lot of Asian people in general are supportive of Yao.

I hope that's not perceived as yet another stereotypical, ignorant sweeping generalization that has me going out on a 100,000 foot limb.

You know what Billy Hunter (African American, head of NBA players association) said about seeing a black player (Jerome Iginla ) do well in the NHL playoffs a couple years ago? He said it naturally piqued his interest that "a brother" was doing well in a sport that he otherwise paid very little attention to.

What did Larry Bird say a couple of years ago in an interview that also featured LeBron, Magic and Carmelo? He said that basketball was a black man's game (his words exactly) but that it'd be good for the NBA to have more white stars in the league (his words exactly) since the majority of NBA audiences were white and that a white superstar would be something more of the NBA audience could relate to. You didn't hear one word of disagreement from the 3 black people on the set, and the reason you didn't hear any was because Bird spoke the truth.

People naturally gravitate and are able to relate to better to others who look like them, speak like them, or come from the same kind of social background. I'm guessing that's happened before, and that it still happens today in everyday life.

I hope I'm not offending anyone with these notions and suggestions that evidently some people may have never heard, thought of, or deny.

 

[VF21]

Now you're just getting into semantics. Of course China does not equal Asia. I'm Chinese and Asian at the same time, and I live in community with a lot of other Asian from countries other than China. I would say that a lot of Asian people in general are supportive of Yao.

I hope that's not perceived as yet another stereotypical, ignorant sweeping generalization that has me going out on a 100,000 foot limb.

You know what Billy Hunter (African American, head of NBA players association) said about seeing a black player (Jerome Iginla ) do well in the NHL playoffs a couple years ago? He said it naturally piqued his interest that "a brother" was doing well in a sport that he otherwise paid very little attention to.

What did Larry Bird say a couple of years ago in an interview that also featured LeBron, Magic and Carmelo? He said that basketball was a black man's game (his words exactly) but that it'd be good for the NBA to have more white stars in the league (his words exactly) since the majority of NBA audiences were white and that a white superstar would be something more of the NBA audience could relate to. You didn't hear one word of disagreement from the 3 black people on the set, and the reason you didn't hear any was because Bird spoke the truth.

People naturally gravitate and are able to relate to better to others who look like them, speak like them, or come from the same kind of social background. I'm guessing that's happened before, and that it still happens today in everyday life.

I hope I'm not offending anyone with these notions and suggestions that evidently some people may have never heard, thought of, or deny.

That's all well and good, albeit totally irrelevant.

We're talking about Ailene Voisin. You apparently don't know her and it's pretty clear you don't understand what's going on with this article of hers.

This isn't about social mores, it isn't about demographics, it isn't about societal trends. It's about a sports columnist for the Sacramento Bee who has every reason to support the notion of Whis. She's not in the employ of the WNBA. She doesn't give a rat's patoot what happens to the WNBA. Believe me...

 

[nancgo]

Ms Poison sure spent alot of time with Ron Artest last night during halftime of the Monarch's game. Some us are wondering what kind of wordsmithing/manipulation will come in the next column.....

 

[greypoupon]

That's all well and good, albeit totally irrelevant.

We're talking about Ailene Voisin. You apparently don't know her and it's pretty clear you don't understand what's going on with this article of hers.

This isn't about social mores, it isn't about demographics, it isn't about societal trends. It's about a sports columnist for the Sacramento Bee who has every reason to support the notion of Whis. She's not in the employ of the WNBA. She doesn't give a rat's patoot what happens to the WNBA. Believe me...

I don't know Voisin, but nobody needs to know her to be able to read her articles and form an opinion about those articles. I've read a lot of them and found some to be well written and well supported. This isn't one of them.

The only thing I've said is that Whisenant's association with a women's league has some influence on Voisin's opinion because she's a women. I made an analogy of an Asian person supporting Yao because he's also Asian.

I'm just throwing this opinion out there and not trying to change anyone's mind who thinks otherwise, but some people are treating the idea I put out as if it were totally alien and inconceivable.

 

[VF21]

I'm just throwing this opinion out there and not trying to change anyone's mind who thinks otherwise, but some people are treating the idea I put out as if it were totally alien and inconceivable.

Some of us actually do know Voisin, or have at least talked to her on occasion. And it's for that reason that we can say with a certain amount of confidence that you're off-base in your assessment of her mindset when it comes to supporting Whisenant as a means to further the WNBA. That's just not part and parcel of her agenda, IMHO.

 

[Viking]

Who wants to bet her next article is called "Don't make a fuss, Bring on the Muss!" ?

 

[Lightforms]

Who wants to bet her next article is called "Don't make a fuss, Bring on the Muss!" ?

To me, everytime she does this kind of predicting, of a person staying or going, she is always proved wrong the next day. Or maybe that was the whole Bee sports staff in general...

 

[Superman]

^^Sorry, but that's really a pretty sexist viewpoint. Her gender has absolutely NOTHING to do with her articles.

I don't think that's any more sexist than her suggesting that men will automatically reject Whisenant because he "coaches women."

Stand down, guys. For all his detractors among Kings fans -- and, initially, he probably would be unpopular among the male masses -- the man received a standing ovation when he strolled into the arena for the WNBA season opener.

And because she chose to make that a subplot - if you will - in this particular article, it's reasonable for one to conclude that she's lobbying for Whisenant because it would stand to increase publicity for the WNBA.

But I don't think that the fact that she's female means that she's automatically a WNBA supporter. That's a bit much, if you ask me. My sister and my wife HATE the WNBA. With a red, fiery passion. Won't watch it for money. And they love the NBA (even though they spend more time talking about who's attractive and who is built well, etc.; it's sickening).

Ailene Voisin may hate the WNBA; I don't know. Mustard boy might not know, either (no offense, greypoupon; just having fun at 1 in the morning). But her article certainly gives the impression that she is interested in the WNBA getting some much needed pub.