Keith Stone co-editor-in-chief
“Bevball” is the most hyped thing on campus all year. The SaMo game packs the Swim Gym with students and is the most talked about on campus event for weeks. Everybody knows the status of boys basketball: who they’re playing, who the starters are and even the most out of touch students know that boys basketball is a big deal. However, this year, girls basketball won CIF for the first time in history and there was little to no publicity and few fans present to witness their victory. This is incredibly unfair.
It’s widely acknowledged in the world that girls basketball is not as popular as boys. WNBA players are paid significantly less than their counterparts in the NBA and far fewer people are interested enough to tune in to watch their games.
This phenomenon has translated to high school sports. Even though girls basketball puts in endless hours on the court and on the track, and for the first time ever clinched the CIF ring, they still haven’t received the attention they deserve. The diehard boys basketball fans simply don’t show up for the girls.
Now, many advocates of men’s basketball over women’s basketball proclaim that men’s games are more high scoring, which makes them more action packed. However, the girls team typically scored in the 40s in all of their games, and the grit and determination of every player is evident the second they step onto the court. The effort put in by the girl athletes should earn them viewers, fans and cheers, and it is unfair that they did not get to live the same experience.
Girls basketball broke records this year and won a championship. This deserves publicity and if they are as good next year as they are this year, all of Beverly should come out to support them, like we did for boys basketball.