The Future of the 6'8" Woman: Baylor Basketball Forward Brittney Griner

Texas' Baylor University is in the midst of a women's basketball renaissance, due largely to the presence of 6', 8" freshman forward Brittney Griner. Many of us are already familiar with Griner, having seen footage of her clocking another female player on the court in the midst of a game early in the season. It was a dirty, blind-sided punch that broke the nose of the other player, a tall, blue-eyed blond. We may have formed our opinion then and there of Griner as a player and a person: She's hot-tempered. She's immature, a diva, a prima donna, a street fighter; she's a thug who punches other women.

When I first saw the clip of Griner's punch played over (and over and over) on ESPN, my first reaction was that my heart sank in my chest. I wanted to know more about this pretty, light skinned African American player who is the most dominant force in women's college basketball today - and I'm as white, middle class American as they come.

I felt sorrow and sadness for Brittney because I have a daughter who is slightly over 6' tall. I know firsthand what it can be like for a very tall young woman to be accepted into our society, athlete or not.

Apparently, the expected routes for a girl once she's passed the 5'10" mark and is still growing are two - only two - choices: athlete or model. My daughter followed both paths with very mixed results. It was really, really hard for her growing up. She was always the tallest kid in every class - among both boys and girls. People always thought she was older than she was because of her height, and thus automatically expected more from her than she was capable of giving. I remember, at 19 months old and still in diapers, she was toddling into our family room when a new friend of mine remarked out loud "Wow, you're the biggest baby I've ever seen in my life." At some level, my daughter understood what this woman was saying, at least from the tone of her voice. It was like someone had stuck a knife into my heart. (I chose not to remain friendly with that woman much longer after that.) She played every sport available to her until some she literally outgrew. (Diving, for instance, was not a choice. Nor was field hockey: bad back, never learned to bend at the knees.) Was Griner also destined to be locked into only one sport?

'Normal' and age-appropriate children's clothing didn't fit her, and she was constantly growing out of her shoes. Some years, she went through three shoe sizes in a single year. From the time that they're able to process words and verbal tones, very tall girls know instinctively that there's something different about them, when in truth, there is, instead, something very special about them. Before the age when they can process words into complete sentences, they've been stared at, whispered about, treated differently from their siblings and peers.

My daughter is 'only' 6'1". Brittney Griner can claim an additional, full 7" to her frame, with a wing span of 7'4" on the court. I'm guessing that Britteny was destined (doomed?) to be a basketball player from the age of six. How much of a childhood playing other sports - or not playing sports - did she miss? Did she take ballet lessons, a rite of passage for many little girls, or was she too tall to fit into any of the leotards and ballet slippers available? How much more expensive was Brittney's wardrobe because she was always, always growing? How many boys teased her on the playground, driven by an unspoken jealousy? How many friends did she have growing up, girls with whom she could just have sleepovers and not worry about having to wake up early the next morning to make a tournament deadline? Did people stare at her wherever she went because of her height? We already know that the answer to that is yes.

What will the future hold for Brittney Griner, both as a woman and as an athlete? For the latter, she'll remain with Baylor, I believe, for a four-year career and graduate with a degree. There's not much urgency for a woman basketball player to leave after a year, as will be the case of Kentucky's John Wall or Ohio State's Evan Taylor. The WNBA may or may not be around by the time that Brittney completes what will be, barring injury, a spectacular career at Baylor. There's little incentive for women collegiate basketball players to leave school. My guess is that she'll lead them to at least two women's championship titles, and Tennessee's Pat Summit and UConn's Gino Ammarino will not so patiently wait for her career on the court to end: She'll continue to vex, harass and shut down their teams for the next four years. Watch Griner on the court: The girl never cracks a smile. There should be some joy in playing sports at the collegiate level, especially one in which you were destined to excel.

Much of who Brittney Griner the woman will be has already been formed. She won't much wear high heels, and the dating pool will be extremely small for her, probably the only 'small' thing in her young life. She'll learn over the course of the next four years to keep her temper in check, if only because it will be in her game's best interest to do so. Will some drunken frat boy call her a 'mammoth' at a party one night? Possibly. Will she marry? Does she want to have children one day? Will she continue to hide the hurt from years and years of criticism and critique due to her height, something over which she had no control or say? Or will it continue to well up and burst to the surface with a hard fist to another young woman's face on the court?

She's a pretty girl, with soft, delicate features that belie her unique stature. With luck, she'll find a career in sports broadcasting after college. Then and maybe only then will we get to know more about the woman inhabiting that 6'8" body for all of these years...when the real Brittney Griner will stand up.