A Dominance of Epic Proportions

A few weeks ago in class, we talked about the treatment of women's sports compared to men's sports. One of the examples of a women's sport which wasn't getting as much attention as it should was NCAA Women's Basketball, where the University of Connecticut women have reeled off a record seventy one wins in a row. For some perspective, the Washington Capitals recently made big news by winning fourteen consecutive hockey games, their franchise record and the longest win streak of the season for any team. If you multiply that streak by 5 .... you still don't have the amazing streak the UConn women have accomplished. And yet, unless you follow NCAA Women's basketball, you probably haven't heard about the streak more than a few times in passing. The only reason the UConn Huskies' streak has recently been more publicized on ESPN and Sportscenter is because the Huskies just broke the old NCAA basketball record of 70 wins set by ... the UConn women's team from 2001-03! If that isn't enough to get noticed, what is? It's not like the Huskies don't play good teams. In fact, they schedule as many top 5 opponents as possible, only to destroy them as convincingly as if they were a High School team. In addition, they have arguably the two best players in the country, in Tina Charles (pictured) and Maya Moore. By being so completely dominant (and basically assuring themselves of a national championship), have the UConn Huskies Women's team actually hurt the popularity of their sport? Or is it just that women's sports won't be as popular as men's sports for the foreseeable future, even in the face of a dominant team such as the Huskies?