Comments on: Six foot eight inches of badassery

Six foot eight inches of badassery

showbiz_liz — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:30:15 -0800

Before Jason Collins, there was her. "Owning The Middle: Brittney Griner wears bow ties, dates women and dunks with abandon. Call her names if you like -- she is done hiding from haters."

By: GallonOfAlan

GallonOfAlan — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:33:22 -0800

Top woman.

By: rmd1023

rmd1023 — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:45:08 -0800

I'm glad she's out of Baylor and past the draft and feels comfortable coming out without risking her career. Also, when I see articles like this about women professional athletes doing well, I think "Fuck yeah, Title IX".

By: rtha

rtha — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:46:47 -0800

It feels so good saying it: I am a strong, black lesbian woman. Every single time I say it, I feel so much better. Yes, yes! I'm so glad she's been able to discover it as young as she is, despite having had to even kind-of live in a closet at Baylor. So happy for her.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:02:25 -0800

And before both of 'em, there was Sheryl Swoopes, in 2005. There's also Seimone Augustus and Chamique Holdsclaw, making at least four openly gay WNBA players. Joining the list of openly gay players of major sports: Robbie Rogers is joining the Los Angeles Galaxy.

By: Blue Jello Elf

Blue Jello Elf — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:04:39 -0800

Video of her two dunks in her first WNBA game.

By: markkraft

markkraft — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:06:31 -0800

"Call her names if you like..." I didn't know Tucker Carlson could dunk!

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:08:48 -0800

I am so in love with Brittney Griner it is embarrassing. And the more I learn about her the deeper it goes. When Griner goes shopping, she often looks for clothes in the men's section. People will say, "Hey, you're in the wrong place." But as she explains, "It's what I feel comfortable in. It's my dress identity." It is not 'simple' at all - but it always seems like it is when she says it.

By: elsietheeel

elsietheeel — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:13:54 -0800

"It's to show my girlie side," she says. "So many people exist between the two ends of the spectrum, but no one wants to admit it. If you're in between, they say something is wrong with you. 'We can fix you.' Well, I don't need fixing." <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Also how the hell is a 6'8" woman supposed to find clothes in the "right" place anyway?

By: Ruthless Bunny

Ruthless Bunny — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:14:34 -0800

It's WNBA Season at our house! I'm a WNBA widow, Husbunny is addicted. If you want to read him, he posts about the WNBA, Georgia Tech Women's Basketball and the Atlanta Dream on Swish Appeal. We've been so excited about Brittney Griner coming to the league. She's a great player, a good person and an excellent role model.

By: 2bucksplus

2bucksplus — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:15:13 -0800

No shit she looks in the men's section, she's 6'8".

By: MoonOrb

MoonOrb — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:18:17 -0800

You kind of have to be in awe of the chutzpah of someone in a store who tells her she's shopping in the wrong place.

By: wotsac

wotsac — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:21:10 -0800

Hell - at 6'8" it's not going to be any fun finding decent clothes in the mens' section.

By: davejay

davejay — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:22:55 -0800

Huh. She has a build like mine. I've always felt like my build was very feminine for a guy. Now I'm reading that her build is very masculine for a woman. I'm not sure what to think of that.

By: bricksNmortar

bricksNmortar — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:32:08 -0800

At first read of the title, I thought this post was going to be about James Comey, the 6' 8" guy poised to become the new director of the FBI. Not sure what he falls on the scale of badassery, but it seems like he did the right thing, once before.

By: Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish

Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:42:22 -0800

I'm not sure how I feel about that offer from Mark Cuban to have her try out for the Spurs. He's big on publicity stunts, but it would also be a potential step forward, much moreso than the occasional talk about a woman trying out for NFL kicker.

By: IAmBroom

IAmBroom — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:43:57 -0800

davejay: Huh. She has a build like mine. I've always felt like my build was very feminine for a guy. Now I'm reading that her build is very masculine for a woman. I'm not sure what to think of that.

It's simple, davejay: your body is wrong. But if you buy our product, it will be perfect. For now.

By: MoonOrb

MoonOrb — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:47:15 -0800

I have mixed emotions about the NBA tryout thing too. On one hand I think it would be awesome to have a league filled with the best basketball players, regardless of their gender. On the other hand, I think it might be devastating to the WNBA to rob it of its most elite players, and I think it's a pretty cool thing that the WNBA exists.

By: DarlingBri

DarlingBri — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:50:08 -0800

Oh holy fucking Christ. This woman deserves a standing ovation for surviving at Baylor.

By: Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish

Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:03:55 -0800

If the WNBA became an actual feeder league for the NBA, though, that could help more than the loss of talent hurts. I mean, it's not like the best players opting out of college to head straight for the pros has made the NCAA game less popular.

By: colbeagle

colbeagle — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:06:16 -0800

I think some people may be overestimating the ability of even super-talented women players to make it into the NBA at a rate that would diminish the WNBA's talent pool.

By: Keith Talent

Keith Talent — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:07:29 -0800

Uhhh, there's no female on earth that could play in the NBA. Never has been, never will be. Sorry to pop your Pollyanna gender neutral sports bubble.

By: ChuraChura

ChuraChura — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:09:15 -0800

Awesome awesome stuff!

By: kmz

kmz — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:12:19 -0800

I'm not sure how I feel about that offer from Mark Cuban to have her try out for the Spurs. He's big on publicity stunts Cuban getting the Spurs to try out Griner would be heck of a stunt indeed.

By: Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish

Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:14:40 -0800

Look, I'm on the east coast. You're lucky I didn't just write $BORING_TEXAS_TEAM.

By: Snarl Furillo

Snarl Furillo — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:15:00 -0800

I am so in love with Brittney Griner it is embarrassing. ME TOO. I have such a girl crush. My Facebook feed lately is nothing but links to articles about her and little hearts. I also love that she is controlling her own media identity now, because she has such an awesome personality and she is able to articulate her own gender identity in this really relatable way- like, I feel like there are probably a lot of people who read or watch ESPN who have never heard the phrase "dress identity" before but know someone who never wears pants/always wears pants and suddenly put two and two together. It's such a change from the shit that was published about her when she was at Baylor. There was one piece that noted that she has kind of a deep speaking voice and that she once committed the sin of asking for a fucking toy train for Christmas, and The New York fucking Times published an article about her that boiled down to "Griner: Gay, Trans or Pretty?" when she was EIGHTEEN. Ugh, I'm still pissed about all that bullshit.

By: postel's law

postel's law — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:21:18 -0800

If you think there aren't any women that could play in the NBA, Cheryl and Reggie Miller have a playground bet for you in 1982.

By: New England Cultist

New England Cultist — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:28:57 -0800

Bless her and her bow ties.

By: feckless

feckless — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:29:39 -0800

Uhhh, there's no female on earth that could play in the NBA. Never has been, never will be. Sorry to pop your Pollyanna gender neutral sports bubble. Well, that's a silly thing to say. I have no opinion on whether women should be in the NBA, or should want to be, but couldn't? Extremely talented athletes are almost by definition physically and mentally out of the ordinary. You never know what could happen, but it doesn't seem implausible to me that (for example) the best female player in the world could outplay a minor NBA player, now or in the future. Anyway, Griner seems like a pretty amazing person. Good for her.

By: MoonOrb

MoonOrb — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:40:03 -0800

I think some people may be overestimating the ability of even super-talented women players to make it into the NBA at a rate that would diminish the WNBA's talent pool. It's not so much about diminishing the talent pool as it is about diminishing the league's appeal to viewers and fans. Even taking the very best player and having her play somewhere else would be a pretty significant blow. And it would also further cement the perception of the league as second-rate. It wouldn't even be the league to watch if you wanted to see the best female basketball players in the world: that league would be the NBA. And, yes, I understand that it's unlikely.

By: kmz

kmz — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:45:23 -0800

Oh holy fucking Christ. This woman deserves a standing ovation for surviving at Baylor. Yep. It's perhaps instructive to remember that Baylor didn't allow dancing on campus until 1996. That's 12 AF (After Footloose).

By: Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish

Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:49:42 -0800

Good for her for surviving and thriving (as much as she possibly could, anyway) but it's kind of horrifying that when she asked her coach if being a gay woman on campus would be a problem, Mulkey managed to completely forget about the school's entire policy on sexuality.

By: rtha

rtha — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:50:27 -0800

Even so, Mulkey sounds like a dream to play for compared to Rene Portland, who wasn't fired until 2007.

By: MoonOrb

MoonOrb — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:01:52 -0800

Amazing and terrible that Rene Portland's program is only the second most disgusting sports program at Penn State.

By: Snarl Furillo

Snarl Furillo — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:08:59 -0800

Yeah, who'd have thought that Rene Portland would only be the second most-embarrassing coach at Penn State?

By: DarlingBri

DarlingBri — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:36:02 -0800

It's perhaps instructive to remember that Baylor didn't allow dancing on campus until 1996. That's 7 years after I was forced to tour it as a high school senior, a trip I made during Easter, which is when I saw a student dragging a 6-foot cross across campus, tied to his back. There was no drinking, no dancing, and no co-ed dorms at the time. As I ended up going to a Playboy Top Ten party school to drink, do drugs and have loads of sex, it was never going to be a good match (though they did throw me a very nice tea party.) I actually have a very begrudging tolerance for Baylor because my grandmother - who died 10 years ago at the age of 98 - got her college degree from there 'round about 1927. Baylor was surprisingly progressive at one time; it was the 3rd college in America to offer co-educational degrees way back in 1857. Unfortunately, I think progress stopped in Waco in the same year.

By: HostBryan

HostBryan — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:49:50 -0800

I heard all about her as a result of teaching and attending a Big 12 school so I was aware that she was a Big Deal; reading this article has made me a fan. Good for her and I wish her nothing but success. Put me down as someone who's now more excited for the WNBA season to start than to see this tedious slog toward an inevitable NBA Finals.

By: ancient star

ancient star — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:09:30 -0800

Amazing!

By: sonascope

sonascope — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:28:53 -0800

If she doesn't end up in a Janelle Monae video, I'm going to be very cross indeed.

By: drowsy

drowsy — Thu, 30 May 2013 17:56:16 -0800

All I can is that dunk photo with the low chucks and the chain link net is a keeper.

By: elsietheeel

elsietheeel — Thu, 30 May 2013 18:35:39 -0800

She can't play in the NBA because it would insult Charles Barkley.

By: thecjm

thecjm — Thu, 30 May 2013 21:06:56 -0800

I'm not going to say that a woman cannot or will not play in the NBA. But the player that Griner represents - 6'8", thin, uses their length to dominate in the post, plays close to the basket and dunks a lot - is the type of men's player that can dominate at the high school and college level but rarely makes it to or succeeds in the NBA. Griner with a lot more hops and athleticism = Darius Miles. If a women makes it to the NBA it is going to be as a point guard. Someone like Abby Wambach would be a good candidate - just under 6', tough, athletic and an extremely smart playmaker. She's not going to be a dunker. She's not going to be super tall. She is going to play a hell of lot like Steve Nash.

By: Graygorey

Graygorey — Thu, 30 May 2013 22:28:56 -0800

Uhhh, there's no female on earth that could play in the NBA. Never has been, never will be. Sorry to pop your Pollyanna gender neutral sports bubble. Shaq couldn't play, either, and he seems to have done well enough for himself based on size alone. Do you have supporting metrics for your statement, or was it art intended to provoke a response?

By: Snarl Furillo

Snarl Furillo — Thu, 30 May 2013 22:43:21 -0800

Someone like Abby Wambach would be a good candidate - just under 6', tough, athletic and an extremely smart playmaker. A good candidate should probably also play basketball.

By: moody cow

moody cow — Fri, 31 May 2013 00:59:20 -0800

From the video in TFA: "I wanna break the mold in a bad way. Just in a lot of different areas (...) There's not gonna be a mold left when I'm done." She is amazing!

By: goofyfoot

goofyfoot — Fri, 31 May 2013 03:59:09 -0800

She's the first gay athlete to get an Nike endorsement deal! I just constructed a post on her, and I hope showbiz_liz will forgive me if I throw in my links? Brittney Griner was the no.1 draft pick for the WNBA this year. In her first pro game, for the Phoenix Mercury, she dunked twice. Before that, she led her team at Baylor to a 40-0 season, and as a senior ranked second on the women's career scoring list with 3,203 points and has blocked 736 shots, an NCAA record for men and women. She's also an out lesbian who asks bullied kids to tweet her, who wrote in the NYTimes "I think that's what makes life beautiful: everyone is different and we can all learn from one another," who came out as she began her professional career, and who is the first out gay athlete to secure a Nike endorsement deal.

By: goofyfoot

goofyfoot — Fri, 31 May 2013 04:06:55 -0800

Sorry, that last link should be this.

By: chavenet

chavenet — Fri, 31 May 2013 05:12:38 -0800

This is something that everyone should strive to be able to say, each and every day: "Reading what people say makes me want to be me even more."

By: chavenet

chavenet — Fri, 31 May 2013 05:23:37 -0800

Meanwhile, why are dunks so rare in WNBA? Griner is 6 foot 8, she is going to be dunking a lot, methinks. This study from 2003 shows that the average height for the WNBA is just around 6 feet, but there are lots of players at 6 foot 5 and the tallest (ever) was Margo Dydek at 7 feet -- all perfectly reasonable dunking heights. So is it a game play thing? (Average NBA height in 2007-2008: 6 foot 7.)

By: Foosnark

Foosnark — Fri, 31 May 2013 05:25:31 -0800

I've always felt like my build was very feminine for a guy. Now I'm reading that her build is very masculine for a woman. I'm not sure what to think of that. I think my face looks more feminine with a long beard than with none. Feminine and masculine are vague, arbitrary categories that sometimes break down when applied to actual people.

By: DynamiteToast

DynamiteToast — Fri, 31 May 2013 08:10:35 -0800

I graduated Baylor in 2011, so was there while Brittney was. Like the article says, it was never a secret that she was lesbian. It's a shame she couldn't be as out as she'd like there, and I'm not proud of that aspect of my school. As for the students though, I never heard a one say anything bad about her, though I wouldn't have expected the people I hung out with the be the type to say something anyways. In fact, most students and teachers I knew were sick of Baylor's policy (which is basically "Don't Ask, Don't Tell").

By: donnagirl

donnagirl — Fri, 31 May 2013 11:24:05 -0800

I work at a BigXII school, and have off and on been a women's bball fan. It was a weird combination of frustrating and exciting to watch her completely dominate year after year, but everything since the NCAA loss this year has made me love her more and more. I can't wait to see what's ahead. Also, that article confirmed every feeling I ever had about Kim Mulkey. It is clear as day when she's on the sidelines that she is not a person who is healthy to be around.