"And you thought WNBA Live Access was disappointing...."

From the Spanish sports site enCancha.com:

Feb.es. The website of the Spanish Federation continues to provide coverage for the day of very poor quality. In broadcasting, the actual quality of the image and position of the chambers are very poor in most games. No comments, no placards and time marker, but a deafening sound environment. Nothing more was heard of "The match of the day" of the Women's League. Too much expense for the FEB.

The alternative is the "Basketball in vivo.A good idea, if it were not for the markers are not so vivid. Often left standing during matches, and sometimes never even get started. These are failures that we suffer for a long time and remain unresolved. This neglect by those responsible for the FEB website is a reflection of the attitude of its leaders to the Women's League. It is not a money issue, is an attitude problem.

Maybe that should be the counter-argument. "It's not a money problem, it's an attitude problem." I'm going to remember that the next time the WNBA pleads poverty on something.

Spanish Women's Basketball Season to Start October 10th

If the Dream go deep in the WNBA playoffs, players like Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza won't have much rest as the 2009-10 season of the Liga Feminina - the Spanish women's professional basketball leaguge - begins on October 10, 2009.

The full schedule is here.

Erika de Souza's Ros Casares club opens at home against Hondarribia and Sancho Lyttle starts her season with Perfumerias against Argon. Arminitie Price played for Joventut last season, and if she stays with the Spanish League she'll play against Real Canoe. (Argon and Real Canoe are "promoted" teams from Division 2 of the 2008-09 season.)

The final playoff takes place on April 24-28-May 1st of 2010. If the 2010 WNBA season opens in May 2010, that's not a lot of time to rest if either Ros Casares or Perfumerias goes deep...and both are expected to contend for the title.

Talk About Performance-Based Contracts

It appears that Extrugasa, before their final loss of the season to Ros Casares, were given a letter last Wednesday. My understanding is that since Extrugasa had fallen to the bottom of the Liga Feminina (the Spanish Women's Basketball League) and were destined to be sent to Liga Feminina 2 the Extrugasa Board of Directors felt they should be compensated. They were asked to sign a letter turning over part of their salary back to Extrugasa, which would be taken out of their paychecks in September. (Apparently, the team promised them some back salary which was due in September.)

No one on the team signed that letter. The players informed the club that they didn't want to be involved in any contentious disputes right there and then. If the club had any issues with player salaries, Extrugasa could speak with their agents.

Sara Gomez, Extrugasa's team captain, said "It is normal to be disappointed, like all other players in the staff refused to sign the document, as well as punish them for the reason explained above, they were promised payment of salaries owed to them in next September." Basically, she meant that she understood that Extrugasa was unhappy with the results, but the payment was promised to the players and they deserved it.

The story above illustrates the difference between Europe and the United States. European players, like American players, are concerned about the financial survival of their league. The WNBA's union has pretty much given in to management demands - they'll take lower salaries to ensure they have a place to play. European players want to work with management as much as they can, like the Americans.

I expect, however, that the Americans would have been far less polite about it. Suppose that Ron Terwillinger walked into the dressing room of the Atlanta Dream and said, "I'd like for you to return, oh, 25 percent of your salaries back to us after that horrible season. After all, you didn't perform to expectations." It would have taken a crowbar to peel Betty Lennox's claws from his face.

(Heads up to Bert at the Painel do Basquete Feminino blog for pointing out the story.)

Liga Feminina Playoffs

According to p_d_swanson over at RebKell, I was right about the Spanish League playoffs being both a four-team affair and an eight-team affair. Here's why:

The top four teams play for the league championship. The semifinal round is a best-of-three series where the following teams play:

#1 Ros Casares vs. #4 San José
#2 Perfumerias vs. #3 Rivas Ecópolis

The five-through-eight teams play for two spots in the Eurocup:

#5 Olesa vs. #8 Hondarribia
#6 Joventut vs. #7 Ibiza

I don't know if the series ends after the best-of-three series or if the two winners go on to play for an imaginary fifth place in the Spanish League. All I know is that Erika de Souza and Sancho Lyttle will be that much slower getting home.

At the Bottom and the Top of the Liga Feminina

This is what I've been able to figure out about Liga Feminina play. Of course, all of it could be completely wrong, as the following are merely implied in the articles I've read and have not been stated outright.

* The top eight teams challenge for the Liga Feminina Championship. The quarterfinal and semi-final rounds are best-of-three and the finals are best-of-five. Erika de Souza might be playing well into May and might return to the Dream exhausted. Ros Casares has won all of the marbles the last two years.

* The ninth-through-twelfth teams don't win anything, but at least get to play in the upper league the following year.

* The bottom two teams get automatically relegated to the Liga Feminina Two, and the two top teams from the LFB 2A move into the LFB the following year. Those clubs would be Moguerza (which has Christina Quaye of Marquette) and Promogest (which has Sarah Crooks from Canada and Kristy Lavin from England).

* The current bottom of the table standings in the Liga Feminina

11. Gran Canaria 7-18
12. Zarazoga 6-19
13. Extrugasa 5-19
14. Estudiantes 5-20

It appears that Extrugasa's game didn't take place yesterday like I thought it would, due to the fact that Perfumerias was playing in the Euroleague Championship. Instead, Extrugasa will play Perfumerias on Wednesday. This gives Extrugasa and Iziane Castro Marques the chance to decide their own fate. If they could beat Perfumerias on Wednesday and Ros Casares on Saturday, they could catapult themselves out of the bottom.

As for Estudiantes and Nikki Teasley, it's untelling what they have to do to avoid relegation. It might already be over for them.