the WNBA's big mistake...

was keeping with their tradition of holding their draft the day after the women's NCAA championship game.

It's always been a dumb idea, but one I thought they would have fixed heading into this year with Candace Parker turning pro and the consensus No. 1 pick by LA.

I see their thinking: let's do the draft the day after when everyone is thinking about/talking about women's basketball.

But that's not the case. No one really cares - and if they do, they care about CP. So instead of capitalizing on that, they bungled it.

Hold the draft the Monday after the Masters, when nothing is going on...let CP make the rounds of all the television shows, radio shows, etc etc around the country, and especially in L.A. where she would be selected.

The league missed its one golden opportunity to create some hype, some momentum....but instead there's this sort of afterthought feel to the whole thing. I mean - the Par 3 contest at the Masters was the front page ESPN.com story most of the day...with Candace's selection being relegated to a note above Francisco Rodriguez' sore ankle....

then again, that's been the curse of the league since it's inception.