Latest Liberty Fan Poll Not So Great

Added by Darius Amos on August 16, 2011.

The deadline to vote for the top three games in New York Liberty history is this Friday, but many fans are a little hesitant to actually cast a vote. Why you ask? Well, let’s consider that of the 15 nominated games posted on the team’s website, the most memorable victory in franchise history is not on the list.

Who can forget Sept. 4, 1999, Liberty vs. the Houston Comets in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals?New York won in dramatic fashion, as recent Ring of Honor inductee Theresa Weatherspoon connected on a halfcourt heave in the final seconds to send the series to a third and deciding game. In fact, WNBA fans in 2006 selected Weatherspoon’s buzzer beater as the “Greatest Shot” in league history. That’s a pretty big game and moment for the Liberty to exclude from this current ballot, don’t you think?

There are plenty of good ones that made the list: the first WNBA game; the first playoff game; regular season games at Radio City Music Hall and the National Tennis Center; and Game 3 of last year’s conference semifinals, among others. But I just can’t get over the fact that the Weatherspoon game is missing from the nominees.

Of course there’s reasoning behind this significant omission, and of course it has to do with the corporate big wigs. According to a release on the team website, “fans get to select the Top three games in Liberty history. The games selected by fans will then be re-broadcast on MSG.” Later, the release states that “not all Liberty games are available to be rebroadcast by MSG”, hence the exclusion of several games, including Game 2 of the ’99 Finals.

So let’s get this straight: the organization is running a poll titled “Greatest Games in Liberty History,” yet the greatest game in Liberty history is not one of the choices simply because the Madison Square Garden network can’t air a replay of it. OK, I understand broadcasting and re-transmission rights, and MSG is choosing not to get its hands on the ’99 Finals. That’s fine, though I don’t know the exact reasoning behind that call. What’s not OK is that I try to vote in a poll where the game regarded as a WNBA treasure is not even a choice.

Perhaps MSG, which owns the Liberty franchise, should rename the poll as something like “The Greatest Games in Liberty History that MSG is Willing and Able to Rebroadcast.”