Mark Madden: Women's sports deserve equal opportunity, but equal acceptance can't be mandated

It’s an era of forced equality for women’s sports.

For example, the WNBA’s average attendance is almost exactly that of the American Hockey League, hockey’s AAA loop. The WNBA plays in major cities and big arenas. It’s nationally televised. The AHL has none of the above.

Yet the WNBA is smeared across ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” The AHL isn’t. Heck, the NHL barely makes “SportsCenter.”

Diana Taurasi of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury on Thursday became the first WNBA player to score 10,000 career points. The national media feted the accomplishment.

The game was played in Phoenix on Taurasi’s home court. It drew 7,564 — just 41% of capacity. It wasn’t even important in Phoenix, where Taurasi has played her entire 19-year WNBA career.

We’re told we should care, that women’s sports are equal. But the market dictates.

Equal opportunity is one thing. It’s required, and rightly so.

Equal acceptance can’t be mandated.

The U.S. women’s soccer team is mangling the ongoing World Cup. There’s still time to save the situation. The U.S. squad is certainly talented enough to do so.

But ex-U.S. player Carli Lloyd, now an analyst on Fox, heavily berated her old team after a dire 0-0 draw against Portugal on Tuesday.

That result allowed the U.S. to squeak into the knockout round with one win and two draws, the worst group-phase record in the team’s storied World Cup history.

Portugal hit the post in stoppage time. If that ball goes in the net, the U.S. would have been eliminated from the World Cup.

Yet, after the game, U.S. players were dancing on the field, taking photos with fans, laughing and joking, and generally indulging showbiz despite playing an awful 90 minutes and just one good half in the tournament out of six.

“I have never witnessed something like that,” Lloyd said. “To be dancing and smiling … I mean, the player of the match was that post. We’re lucky to not be going home.”

Lloyd’s criticism came under fire, not least from U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski, who called it “insane.”

No, “insane” is tying Portugal 0-0.

Lloyd has two World Cup winner’s medals and two Olympic golds. Andonovski has none of the above. Trust Lloyd’s judgment in this instance.

Her censure was 100% on the mark.

If women’s sports are to be considered equal, then deserved evisceration after a bad performance followed by display of a flawed culture should be not just tolerated but welcomed. That’s what would have happened had a U.S. men’s team delivered similarly.

Equal translates to bad as well as good. Don’t confuse preferential with equal. Saying Tuesday’s excrement show didn’t deserve harsh criticism is preferential.

The U.S. women’s soccer team used to be America’s sweethearts. But led by the uber-preachy Megan Rapinoe, the team has politicized itself to the point of polarization.

It’s not illogically getting pay equal to the U.S. men’s team despite a disparity in revenue produced. Everybody wants more money. That’s easily understood.

But it’s always something. They sucked the fun out of it. They seem to dislike their own country even as they represent it. Watch when the camera pans the team while the national anthem is played.

That’s their right. They can do whatever they want.

It’s also my right to not watch. (I haven’t. I used to watch religiously. I miss Meghan Klingenberg, Pittsburgh’s own and 2015 World Cup winner.)

But the TV ratings are strong for the team’s games at this World Cup, even at odd times. Tuesday’s game started at 3 a.m. Eastern time, yet drew an average viewership of 1.354 million with a peak of 1.73 million at about the time that ball hit the post.

Maybe the U.S. women’s team is foolproof.

That might be tested if they lose to Sweden in Sunday’s Round of 16. Because the social viewpoint of a bunch of also-rans isn’t very sexy.