Seeing images of college sensations turning WNBA stars Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark fill my timelines and appear on all the media sites I subscribe to was heartwarming.

For the first time in my long life as a basketball fan, we are witnessing a major paradigm shift in women's sports – where the best women are treated with the love and respect they deserve from fans that hail from all walks of life. Now, there is still a huge pay disparity, that has been connected to TV contracts and ticket sales being lower for professional women basketball players in America, but with this type of attention from the media and the scores of new fans – I doubt that the days of women being paid hundreds of thousands, for what men get paid hundreds of millions, will last long. As we celebrate the surge in popularity of women's basketball, I can't help but think about those super-talented women who came up on the courts in the parks where I used to play.

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When I was coming up you had to be tough as nails to play basketball in Baltimore City. Many of the best games were on concrete, and you better not call a foul or you’ll ran off the court. Of course, you may chip a tooth or bust your head or break a bone, but at the end of the day those are small prices to pay to shine amongst the best, and we had some women who used to be the brightest.

This was the early '90s, but keep in mind that the WNBA wasn't founded until 1996. . . . Most of the female players were never big stars in America.

Tanya, with big lazy eyes and sharp left hand, could cross anybody. Her step-back jump shot was lethal, and her only weakness was that she couldn't get off unless she were in a trash-talking competition. "When she starts running her mouth, you better not say anything back because she won't miss!" is what was shared amongst the dudes who battled her on the blacktop daily. You could say that Tanya’s mental game was just as good as her physical game and if you didn't pay close attention she would beat you with both. Lanky Lisa........

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