Nah, they're good

 I wouldn't know Ethan Strauss if he went upside my head with a ball-peen hammer. But let me start out this morning by saying I do know a couple things about him:

1. He's a guy. (I'm pretty sure)

2. Like some guys, he thinks guys suggesting ways to help out wimminfolk is just what an enlightened, 21st-century, equality-huggin' fella does.

I understand that impulse, being a guy myself. But I also understand how that impulse can come off sounding not enlightened by condescending, and therefore insulting in an entirely unintended way.

I say this after Strauss, whoever he is, went on Bill Simmons' podcast recently and suggested the sudden surge in the WNBA's popularity could be helped by tying it more closely to its male counterpart (and subsidizer), the NBA. His solution, or part of it, was to have all the WNBA teams change this nicknames to their NBA counterparts -- i.e., the Indiana Fever would become the Indiana W-Pacers, the Los Angeles Sparks the W-Lakers, the New York Liberty the W-Knicks. And so on and so forth.

The Blob can't speak for the women of the WNBA, but I figure this is not the path they'd prefer to follow to raise their league's profile.

This is because the women, one would assume, don't want to be seen as just the NBA's little sister, a perception which Strauss's suggestion would inevitably create. One would assume, again, that they want to forge their own identity and their own brand, tied to the belief that the women's game is not the men's game, but its own unique entity with its own unique appeal.

In other words, the women are likely saying this right now: "Nah, we're good." And that's especially true now that Caitlin Mania has thrown an even brighter spotlight on the WNBA than ever before. 

The Fever, after all, drew 13,000 fans to Gainsbridge Fieldhouse last night for Caitlin Clark's first home game, and it wasn't even a regular home game. It was a preseason home game. No. 22 Fever jerseys are almost literally selling out as fast as they can be produced. Consequently, every semi-conscious person in America knows exactly who the Indiana Fever are.

Why would you need to rename them? Why would the WNBA need to be Lil' Sis when the Caitlin Effect has already shoved it to the front of the American sports consciousness -- to the extent that the league announced this week it will begin providing charter flights for its teams the way a big-time professional sports entity should?

Shoot. Way it's all going, maybe the Pacers should change their name to the M-Fever. Just a thought.