Tamara MowattIn Oklahoma City this past week, over 62,000 sports fans gathered to watch an event. Basketball? No. Baseball? No. Spring football practices? Nope.
Women's fast pitch softball. The NCAA Women's College World Series, to be precise.
Wow, that's a lot of boyfriends and relatives, huh?
Ehhhhhhh.....no. Thousands of people just might be onto something here.
Tonight, behind pitcher Taryne Mowatt, the Arizona Wildcats defeated the Tennessee Lady Vols in the decisive third game to repeat as national champions. This was after one of the absolute best games I've ever seen on a collegiate level that was played last night.
Aside from having homer feelings for the Pac-10 team, Arizona, I had no real rooting interest in this series. But I couldn't stop watching it. I'm bummed that it's over. This should've been best of five and not best of three.
Tennessee had been a heavy favorite with their pitcher, Monica Abbott, coming into this tournament. As I watched her, I could see why.
I saw her pound in fastballs, and something called a "riseball". I saw Taryne throw change up after change up, freezing batters in the box and the bottom somehow dropped out of the ball time after time.
As I watched these games, I kept wondering: why isn't there a professional league for fast pitch softball? Why are these girls' careers over after college, except for international competition?
As it turns out, there actually is a professional fast pitch softball league. It's called National Pro Fastpitch.
Yeah, I hadn't heard of it either. And that's a shame.
So we have Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, and some others wanting to start up a new football league. Save yourself the trouble, boys. Anyone and everyone who goes up against the NFL loses, and loses hard.
The XFL? Gone. The World Football League? Gone. The United States Football League? Gone.
You guys want to make an impact on the world of sports? Go fund National Pro Fastpitch. Buy the teams and pump some money in there. Or start your own league.
The investment won't be all that much. These women won't be screaming for millions. Well not yet, anyway. Establish a league minimum of 70,000 a season to start.
You want stars? We got some stars for you. In addition to Taryne, how about Monica?
Jenny Finch?
Jessica Mendoza?
India Chiles?
Now I can hear some skeptics saying "Oh, I play softball on the weekends.....big deal." Uh, you haven't played THIS softball on the weekends. Hey, I defy any weekend warrior to haul his beer gut out there and try to hit a pitch off of Finch, Abbott, or Mowatt. He'd look like the true fool he is.
Also, so WHAT if people play in rec leagues? People play in basketball, baseball, tennis and golf rec leagues. And they play in rec leagues because they're not good enough to be professionals.
I played more tennis tournaments than I can count. I hauled in a bunch of trophies, too.
And yet none of them were from Wimbledon. Get where I'm going here, naysayers? These ladies are the best at what they do. They are talented, charismatic, team-oriented, and an absolute blast to watch. Well, when there actually IS a chance to watch.
No, this league will never fill the stadiums like major league baseball or the NFL. But it could work, especially with enough money and the right marketing behind it. It'll work with people who've grown weary of the crybabies and steroid abusers in the "mainstream" sports. It'll work with people who want to take their kids to a sporting event and not have to spend a couple of hundred bucks to do so.
Just ask Peyton Manning, who called Abbott to wish her luck during the Series. Last I heard, that guy was a pretty decent athlete himself. Or Phil Fulmer, head coach of Tennessee's football team. Or Pat Summit, the head coach of the Lady Vols basketball team, who attended in person with Fulmer.
One last thought: Wouldn't it be a shame if this were the last time we got to see Abbott and Mowatt face off against each other?The Akron Racers rock!
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