A consumer’s guide to the best and...

A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here.

What: WNBA on NBC . . . and on NBC . . . and on NBC

Rebecca Lobo is in my kitchen making coffee.

Lisa Leslie is in my office working at the computer.

Nancy Lieberman-Cline is at my door with a Federal Express package.

Is it all a dream or has NBC really gone to a new schedule--All WNBA All the Time?

Jay Leno had Leslie on his show recently, promoting the opening of the league. What’s next? Leslie moving to a higher court, playing an assistant district attorney on “Law and Order?”

Or a guest-starring Lobo crossing the Soup Nazi on “Seinfeld” when she says, “I Got Next!”

Soup Nazi: “No soup for you, too many turnovers.”

The limit has been hit, and the league hasn’t even begun its second month. One caller to Jim Rome’s syndicated radio show complained recently that the WNBA commercials are better than the quality of the games.

Women’s basketball is not the target here . . . over-saturation is. Frankly, the Pete Sampras Nike commercials were getting tiresome after a fortnight at Wimbledon.

Subtlety and the NBA/Nike marketing machines don’t belong in the same sentence.

David Stern’s apparent marketing strategy with the WNBA appears to be borrowed from the Shaq school of offensive basketball--just grab the ball and jam it down people’s throats.

And if you happen to crush the rival league, the ABL, in the process, so much the better.

What NBC is doing for women’s sports is admirable, but you have to remember it is the same network that gave short shrift to women’s soccer and women’s softball at the Olympics.

The perception of NBC is that female athletes don’t matter unless they are wearing swimsuits, are under 17 or are connected to the NBA.