Intro (March 2022)
TLDR version: The Hoops Flashlight is a place to shine a light on my little corner of the women’s basketball world. I have more than 280 characters’ worth of thoughts on teams I care about sometimes, and I have a big enough head to think it’s worth putting those thoughts somewhere on the internet besides Twitter.
Unnecessarily long version:
What’s up friends! Welcome to my – I’m not sure what to call this – place where I write things? I think I’m supposed to call it a newsletter, but that feels weird considering it’s not really “news” and it’s not gonna be on any sort of regular schedule.
So, welcome to this thing.
It doesn’t matter what you call it – the content is far more important than the label. Speaking of content, I should probably introduce you to what that’s going to look like. Not that I exactly know yet.
But first, some background. I’ve been producing other women’s basketball content for a few years now. Articles, videos, podcasts … just enough to trick your favorite school’s SID into giving me media passes to their games.
I’ve also consumed enough sports media as a fan to be keenly aware of the coverage gap between men’s and women’s sports. (Plus, I have eyes and a brain that works at least two days a week, so it’s not like sexism in sports – or life – was ever gonna slip by me.)
Yet, I had an experience in February that made me realize that the coverage gap is even bigger than I thought. I was at a Loyola Chicago postgame press conference, waiting for the players to come in, when the SID walked in and said, “Calvin, just you tonight.”
And it hit me.
See, I’m not a beat reporter, so I really only go to press conferences for fun – mainly to learn what I can from smart basketball people. I’ve been to a few power conference pressers, such as Oregon and South Carolina (mostly on Zoom, but enough to get a sense for the attendance). I’ve been to a million Illinois State ones, where they have a local beat reporter and at least a couple student reporters. None of them have had what they deserve compared to the men’s side, but each of them have had something.
Now, I knew intellectually that not all of the 350+ Division I teams had beat reporters, or even actual press conferences at all. So maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me that the SID and I were the only ones there to ask questions. But you know how when you first see something up close you just get those extra feels? Like the first time a white person sees racial prejudice in action, or the first time a straight person has a front row seat to the hate directed at LGBTQ people.
You can’t unsee that stuff.
Being in that practically empty room legitimately bothered me. Like, to my inner core. Loyola is a solid, winning Division I basketball program that, at the time, was in the top half of one of the better conferences in the country. Oh, and it’s in Chicago – one of the biggest basketball markets in the world!
Why the *$%& was no one showing up for them?
That’s when I knew that whatever content I had been cooking up just wasn’t enough. It’s like that overused yet perpetually applicable Gandhi quote (that I somehow just now learned Gandhi didn’t actually say): “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
I knew I wanted these teams to get their due attention, so that meant being the one to do something about it.
Until … I remembered that I’m just one dude. With a day job. Who never wants to be a beat reporter because traditional game recaps seem boring and unnecessary in 2022 when we all have the internet and streaming and box scores in our pockets (all respect to the wonderful beat reporters who do great work).
Enter this [what are we calling this again?]: a place for me to give a bit of love to some extraordinary women’s basketball players, coaches, and programs in my own way while simultaneously being realistic about my bandwidth and practicing #selfcare by not overworking myself. In other words, to pretend like I’m doing good things while actually being kinda selfish.
Where does that leave us? I guess this is the part where I explain the meaning of the name, the story behind it, and what it says about what I want to do here.
It started with a text from the incomparable Sam Brief. (If you don’t know Sam, go check this out and tell me you’re not impressed.) “More important to lift those in the shadows than those in the blazing sun,” his text read.
Preach, my guy.
All I really want to do is shine a light on people who deserve it. People who aren’t already in the sun. But I don’t have a giant spotlight or anything. (See the “I’m one guy with a day job” thing, not to mention that max 0.1% of the women’s basketball community knows I exist.) All I got is my tiny flashlight – just big enough to illuminate the corner of the room.
That’s how The Hoops Flashlight was born – as a way to shine a light on my little corner of the women’s basketball world. If you know me, you know my corner starts with Illinois State. I live walking distance from campus, and everyone I’ve met there is an exceptional human being.
Actually, exceptional human beings are probably the common denominator, because ever since, I don’t know, 2016, I have found more and more people in this country to be not awesome. Once I got involved in the women’s basketball space, however, I realized this is where all the awesome people are. And when I meet awesome people, I start caring about their teams.
Those are the teams I want to write about here. Maybe I could write about them at the actual platforms I write for, but not sure any real publication would be cool with having more coverage of the same few specific mid-majors than they do of the top 25. Plus, writing on my own means I can break all the rules. So for any “analysis” (aka useless opinions disguised as articles) that doesn’t fit nicely anywhere else, now it has a home.
Also, no UConns of the world here – they deserve mad hype and all, but they have people at their press conferences.
I’m still kicking around ideas in my mind about what I’ll put here. Always open to suggestions! Come to think of it, most of my work that doesn’t suck came from someone else’s ideas (I may owe some people some royalties or something…)
For now, all I know is that every now and then, I have thoughts and want to ramble for a minute (like Loyola – sorry, had to). Basically this. I figure it’s less annoying for everyone if I put most of that here instead. So, we’ll see what shows up here.
Wow, I just sufficiently summarized the purpose of this in like three sentences. Not sure why I wrote a whole thousand words. See? Already rambling. (Okay time to go put the TLDR at the top.)
Anyway, I think that’s about it. Considering that I’m not exactly big time and this is wicked niche, I’m pretty sure it's not gonna break readership records. Also pretty sure I don’t care. To the three of you who are still here though (hi Mom!), much love.
P.S. I know the whole world is using Substack, but I hear Substack doesn’t care about trans people, and I do. Hence, Weebly – this random site that I am still trying to learn how to use but that appears to have everything I need.
Other P.S. The graphic at the top was made by Lauri Riddell who, unlike me, is incredibly talented at such aesthetic things. Shouts to her! And someone hire her!
Unnecessarily long version:
What’s up friends! Welcome to my – I’m not sure what to call this – place where I write things? I think I’m supposed to call it a newsletter, but that feels weird considering it’s not really “news” and it’s not gonna be on any sort of regular schedule.
So, welcome to this thing.
It doesn’t matter what you call it – the content is far more important than the label. Speaking of content, I should probably introduce you to what that’s going to look like. Not that I exactly know yet.
But first, some background. I’ve been producing other women’s basketball content for a few years now. Articles, videos, podcasts … just enough to trick your favorite school’s SID into giving me media passes to their games.
I’ve also consumed enough sports media as a fan to be keenly aware of the coverage gap between men’s and women’s sports. (Plus, I have eyes and a brain that works at least two days a week, so it’s not like sexism in sports – or life – was ever gonna slip by me.)
Yet, I had an experience in February that made me realize that the coverage gap is even bigger than I thought. I was at a Loyola Chicago postgame press conference, waiting for the players to come in, when the SID walked in and said, “Calvin, just you tonight.”
And it hit me.
See, I’m not a beat reporter, so I really only go to press conferences for fun – mainly to learn what I can from smart basketball people. I’ve been to a few power conference pressers, such as Oregon and South Carolina (mostly on Zoom, but enough to get a sense for the attendance). I’ve been to a million Illinois State ones, where they have a local beat reporter and at least a couple student reporters. None of them have had what they deserve compared to the men’s side, but each of them have had something.
Now, I knew intellectually that not all of the 350+ Division I teams had beat reporters, or even actual press conferences at all. So maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me that the SID and I were the only ones there to ask questions. But you know how when you first see something up close you just get those extra feels? Like the first time a white person sees racial prejudice in action, or the first time a straight person has a front row seat to the hate directed at LGBTQ people.
You can’t unsee that stuff.
Being in that practically empty room legitimately bothered me. Like, to my inner core. Loyola is a solid, winning Division I basketball program that, at the time, was in the top half of one of the better conferences in the country. Oh, and it’s in Chicago – one of the biggest basketball markets in the world!
Why the *$%& was no one showing up for them?
That’s when I knew that whatever content I had been cooking up just wasn’t enough. It’s like that overused yet perpetually applicable Gandhi quote (that I somehow just now learned Gandhi didn’t actually say): “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
I knew I wanted these teams to get their due attention, so that meant being the one to do something about it.
Until … I remembered that I’m just one dude. With a day job. Who never wants to be a beat reporter because traditional game recaps seem boring and unnecessary in 2022 when we all have the internet and streaming and box scores in our pockets (all respect to the wonderful beat reporters who do great work).
Enter this [what are we calling this again?]: a place for me to give a bit of love to some extraordinary women’s basketball players, coaches, and programs in my own way while simultaneously being realistic about my bandwidth and practicing #selfcare by not overworking myself. In other words, to pretend like I’m doing good things while actually being kinda selfish.
Where does that leave us? I guess this is the part where I explain the meaning of the name, the story behind it, and what it says about what I want to do here.
It started with a text from the incomparable Sam Brief. (If you don’t know Sam, go check this out and tell me you’re not impressed.) “More important to lift those in the shadows than those in the blazing sun,” his text read.
Preach, my guy.
All I really want to do is shine a light on people who deserve it. People who aren’t already in the sun. But I don’t have a giant spotlight or anything. (See the “I’m one guy with a day job” thing, not to mention that max 0.1% of the women’s basketball community knows I exist.) All I got is my tiny flashlight – just big enough to illuminate the corner of the room.
That’s how The Hoops Flashlight was born – as a way to shine a light on my little corner of the women’s basketball world. If you know me, you know my corner starts with Illinois State. I live walking distance from campus, and everyone I’ve met there is an exceptional human being.
Actually, exceptional human beings are probably the common denominator, because ever since, I don’t know, 2016, I have found more and more people in this country to be not awesome. Once I got involved in the women’s basketball space, however, I realized this is where all the awesome people are. And when I meet awesome people, I start caring about their teams.
Those are the teams I want to write about here. Maybe I could write about them at the actual platforms I write for, but not sure any real publication would be cool with having more coverage of the same few specific mid-majors than they do of the top 25. Plus, writing on my own means I can break all the rules. So for any “analysis” (aka useless opinions disguised as articles) that doesn’t fit nicely anywhere else, now it has a home.
Also, no UConns of the world here – they deserve mad hype and all, but they have people at their press conferences.
I’m still kicking around ideas in my mind about what I’ll put here. Always open to suggestions! Come to think of it, most of my work that doesn’t suck came from someone else’s ideas (I may owe some people some royalties or something…)
For now, all I know is that every now and then, I have thoughts and want to ramble for a minute (like Loyola – sorry, had to). Basically this. I figure it’s less annoying for everyone if I put most of that here instead. So, we’ll see what shows up here.
Wow, I just sufficiently summarized the purpose of this in like three sentences. Not sure why I wrote a whole thousand words. See? Already rambling. (Okay time to go put the TLDR at the top.)
Anyway, I think that’s about it. Considering that I’m not exactly big time and this is wicked niche, I’m pretty sure it's not gonna break readership records. Also pretty sure I don’t care. To the three of you who are still here though (hi Mom!), much love.
P.S. I know the whole world is using Substack, but I hear Substack doesn’t care about trans people, and I do. Hence, Weebly – this random site that I am still trying to learn how to use but that appears to have everything I need.
Other P.S. The graphic at the top was made by Lauri Riddell who, unlike me, is incredibly talented at such aesthetic things. Shouts to her! And someone hire her!
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