Poor turnout at games sends larger message

The Detroit Shock began the 2009 WNBA season with a 2-7 record. Plagued by injuries and a coaching change, they stumbled through the first half of the season before finally hitting their stride. They ended up advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, losing in the deciding third game to miss the WNBA Finals for the first year since 2005. Their reward for turning around their season - and for their entire history, which included three WNBA Championships in five years - was a one-way ticket to Tulsa. The team relocated on Oct. 20 because there was never really a market for it in the Detroit area.

As the team was saying goodbye, only a half hour down I-75, Autumn Rademacher was preparing to begin her second season as coach of the Titans women's basketball team. While UDM is still in the thick of conference play, both teams' seasons are eerily similar.

Like the Shock, Detroit's roster was decimated by injury. They began the year 2-9, but somehow find themselves in a tie for first place in the Horizon League after starting the conference season at 7-2.

Also like the Shock, the Titans play virtually every game in front of thousands of empty seats. If you are one of the 10 or so fans who come to the games, don't worry. Title IX protects the Titans from suffering the same sad fate as their WNBA counterparts.

When the Shock left town, UDM lost an important recruiting tool. The fact that a professional team was right up the road could help lure players hoping to be noticed by WNBA scouts. The biggest loss, however, came to the young girls of the surrounding community, who lost a group of women that they could look up to.

Girls could now look to the Titans, but the fact is this: There is even less of a market for women's college basketball, as evidenced by the low attendance. If no one else appears to care about the team, why should the young girls?

There is a dangerous possibility that even they could lose interest and possibly turn their hearts away from women's athletics as a whole. If they do, it's our own fault.

I understand our student population is very busy, and attending women's sports is not exactly on the top of everyone's to-do list. But if we fail to show the common courtesy of supporting our own student-athletes, what will the little girl considering trying out for her grade school's basketball team think? Will she be as likely to consider the rewards of athletics when she looks at the empty stands?

I doubt it.

She'll most likely fall into the stereotype of becoming another cheerleader or air-brushed picture on a magazine, just to get some attention.

I don't really care if you like women's basketball or not. It doesn't come down to that.

It doesn't come even come down to how well the team is doing. Just look at how few people show up for tomorrow's game against Green Bay, a battle of the two teams tied for first place in the conference.

If no one shows up, the team won't care. Sure, they'd probably like to play in front of an actual student section. But they won't lose confidence in themselves just because no one else shows enough respect to support them.

What it really comes down to is how we want the next generation to grow up. We all have at least some responsibility to the young girls who look to our female student-athletes for guidance. If we turn our back on the women's teams, what will they do?