5 Reasons New York Fans Should Watch the WNBA Instead of Monday Night Football Tonight

Image via Complex Original

Tonight at 8:30, the St. Louis Rams will visit the New York Giants in the second game of the Monday Night Football season. Also tonight, in Indianapolis at 8:00, the Indiana Fever host the New York Liberty, in Game 3 of the WNBA Eastern Conference Semifinals (it's a 3-game series, so the winner will advance to the Conference Finals to face the Atlanta Dream).

Two New York teams, two games, one night, which to watch? Welllll...we know what you're gonna say. "This is America! I'd rather watch Ahmad Bradshaw's pre-workout workout than a women's basketball game." I might've even said the same thing at one time, but I took in the Liberty-Fever Game 2 Saturday in Newark (won 87-72 by New York), and I'm a convert to the WNBA game. Do I expect you to do the same? Probably not. But I'll try.

This series features genuine star-power, in the form of the Fever's Tamika Catchings and Katie Douglas and the Liberty's Cappie Pondexter and Kia Vaughn, but we've dug a little bit beneath the surface for some New York-centric highlights. Here are 5 Reasons New York Fans Should Watch the WNBA Instead of Monday Night Football Tonight...

Shannon Bobbitt Has the Best Ankles Broken per Minute Rate in Basketball History

Bobbitt, a reserve for Indiana from traditional women's college powerhouse Tennessee, is the player fans love to watch and coaches love to yell at, like Nate Robinson with a ponytail. A point guard who doesn't always seem to know where she's going, Bobbitt totes the rock up the floor like something really bad and really fast is chasing her. Once she encounters a defender, she's as likely to cough it up as she is to keep it (she's got a career 2-1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio), but if she does hold on to the ball, she's going to embarass whoever's guarding her. We saw her put a handful of Liberty defenders on the ankle replacement waiting list Saturday. She's only averaged 12.5 minutes this series, so don't blink, you'll miss her.

Essence Carson Is the Essence of Smooth

Like Bobbitt, Carson is a New York-area product, and it shows in her game. Named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team despite coming off the bench for the Liberty, Carson is a scorer first and foremost, but that's why we like basketball right? (If you applauded the Knicks trade for Carmelo Anthony, that's you.) 

The Kicks

Nike PEs aren't just for boys!

Tonight's MNF Game Is a Total Turd

Yeah, we said it. The Giants are just lame. Tom Coughlin got you excited? Eli Manning? Their Super Bowl honeymoon ended a long, long time ago. This is the second game of what's shaping up to be a lost season, against an injury-decimated Rams squad that's not exactly sexy itself. The storyline? Former Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo returns to face his old team. That's it. You want to watch this instead of a win-or-go-home playoff game? Yikes.

Liberty Fans Are the Best in New York

Because of ongoing renovations to Madison Square Garden, the Liberty are playing their home games in Newark for the next three seasons, meaning that Liberty fans have to trek out to the Brick City to watch their team play. And trek they do. We rode the PATH Train back with a group of fans from the Bronx who a) knew their stuff, and b) stared down a commute that would leave fans of other Big Apple teams rummaging through the couch cushions for the remote (we hear Mets fans can't even bring themselves to walk across the parking lot at Citi Field any more). It's a pretty exclusive club, but we get the feeling the Liberty backers like it that way.