You Let Some Girl Beat You? by Ann Meyers Drysdale

Author:Ann Meyers Drysdale
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Behler Publications, LLC

14

Waiting It Out

“I never realized until later in life that women were supposed to be the inferior sex.”

~ Katherine Hepburn

At the end of the ’79/’80 season, I was named MVP alongside Molly Bolin. However, there was no fanfare, no publicity, and no celebration within the organization, whatsoever. I should have taken that to be another bad omen, but I still wanted to believe everything would turn out for the best. I returned to the West Coast for the offseason and got the shock of my life when a Gems’ check to me for $10,000 bounced. I waited for them to make it good, but it wasn’t going to happen, so I decided to sit out the following season’s games until they paid me in full for the first season.

I also decided to take the Superstars up on their offer to compete in the upcoming event, and this time I would be ready.

I trained throughout the summer, well in advance of the December event, and let Papa’s words ring continuously in my head: “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” I didn’t have time to prepare for the first go around because I was busy broadcasting for the Pacers and playing pro-ball with the Gems. But now I had a strategy. Not only did I know which sports to participate in, but just as importantly, the order.

Since I was sitting out all of the Gems’ games, I was able to devote myself entirely to training for the Superstars event. As with everything that happened in the WBL, it seemed this, too, would be spun to my disadvantage. There was talk within the league and speculation among the press that I wanted to renegotiate my contract for more pay. “No one is quite sure where Ann Meyers is,” wrote the Post Dispatch. “We’d like to know where she is, too,” a spokesperson from the Gems told the paper. It was frustrating because management knew exactly where I was. I was waiting to be paid in full for the previous season.

My relationship with the WBL had been fraught from the beginning, yet I tried to make an earnest go of it. I’d made umpteen appearances for them and shown up for dozens of dinners and receptions with sponsors, all unpaid. I had no obligation under my contract to make these promotional appearances, but I did it because I knew how important it was to promote the league and the N.J. Gems, and in return they wrote me a bad check for $10,000. It was literally a federal offense.

I spoke to David endlessly about whether or not I should bite the bullet and return to play for the Gems and hope for the best. Part of me wanted him to say that I should return to New Jersey because I wanted to play basketball so badly. But there was a principle involved which neither David nor I could ignore. It wasn’t about the money, but about how a professional player deserved to be treated,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.