August 18th, 2003: Houston at New York

New York Liberty 67, Houston Comets 64

An epic duel graces the Garden hardwood, Linda Fröhlich is as cute as a button, and our bench needs time.


This is not of the good. Crystal seems to think that she’s a Knick; she’s taking shots that are out of her range and not playing defense. C-Rob, please take a long look in the mirror; you lack certain attributes that are necessary to play in the NBA. Meanwhile, VJ is the only one who’s scored so far for the Liberty. Tamika’s doing her ‘dude, where’s my brain’ act again. Tari, of course, is Windexing the glass in that way which has gotten her over a thousand rebounds in her WNBA career.

The lovely Sue and her lovely lady friend are here taking in tonight’s game. I think we might need to enlist Sue in our ‘take Becky shopping for decent clothes’ mission; lady has her some fashion sense. Wowzer. I do believe Joan Jett has also rejoined the ranks of the Liberty faithful; nice to see her again. I hope they’re both good omens.

And why did Tomato-Head take Linda out of the game? She brings pure heart and pure passion (the pure basketball will come in time). Plus, let’s face it, she’s a warm body who can rest poor everyone. (And she’s just too cute anyway.) Elena’s been actually making herself useful, bless her soles. And I actually saw Miko rolling around on the floor to force a jump ball. And our girls have actually been winning the tips, even against the tall willow that is Michelle Snow. We’ve gotten those extra possessions off jump balls and offensive rebounds that have let us get the extra points.

And what the hell did Gardenvision have Cooper flashing up on the screen for? She’s not even in the time zone. Much like Elena’s head on defense. She’s been all right on offense, but her defense has been lacking.

Now this is the basketball team I’ve been missing for most of the season. This is the heart, the hustle, the passion, that I’ve loved. And is it just coincidence that Sue’s back in the building? Tari almost got into it with Tiffani Johnson, but showed restraint. Good onya, Tari.

Sheryl Swoopes is incredible. Which might be the reason for the Liberty’s foul trouble; we’ve already got four and they only have one. They don’t need to work as hard as to stop us, and that bothers me. If Richie has a lick of sense, K.B. comes in before the next official timeout to up the tempo and make the Comets have to guard all five positions. I like the big lineup with Elena, Miko, and Tari, but it does have some element of risk if one of them gets in foul trouble.

Holy shit, Tamika just nailed a three-ball. Nailed it pure. I’m in shock. And her reward is to be the one that K.B. replaces. Some days you just can’t win. Hopefully this isn’t one of those. Heh, nice catch by a fan in the fourth row. Little too adrenaline-pumped there. Would someone on the Liberty please try to contain Tina Thompson? It might make a nice change from trying to seal off Swoopes. Arcain’s been quiet. Too quiet. I worry that she might bury the dagger on us because we’ve been lax because she hasn’t been very offensive. I am seriously hoping that Tari and Crystal show up. And Elena has responded. Okay, I’ll take those points.

Linda.is.too.cute. She’s up and screaming and high-fiving after every made shot. Someone said that she might be our new Sue Wicks. I know no one can replace #23, but I think Fro’ can fill that position of hustler and team cheerleader. She’s a good kid. She keeps the bench energized; and that’s something important for chemistry.

Spoon was just brilliant. Fronted Swoopes for about five seconds, long enough to keep her from getting the basket and long enough for the team to get back. Granted they got two points anyway on Arcain free throws, but that took time off the clock, and we can only hope that that turns to our advantage in the waning seconds. And so far… Swoopes missed a three, and that’s good for us. (Bad for my VGM, though.)

They need to stop doing this to me. My mom’s family has a history of heart trouble, and I don’t want a dramatic victory or defeat to be what kills her. Or me, for that matter. (Really, I don’t. Even if she’s pissing me off right now.)

I’m trying to be euphoric, really I am, but my mom decided this was a brilliant fucking time to discuss financial matters, so I’m pissed. I’ll try to get the mood back. Vickie was incredible tonight. Though she has shown more flaws as of late, the fact remains that she is all game all the time. That steal to seal the game, and the way she evaded all the Comets who tried to catch her- beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Five of our top six really showed up tonight- Elena, Miko, VJ, Spoon, and Tari. Crystal was the only one lagging, but I cut her some slack because she’s sick- I saw her coming in and she looked sort of like death warmed over, so I will give her some mercy. But Elena and Tamika both played like power forwards, which was a novelty considering the amount of time they’ve both spent floating around the perimeter and avoiding rebounds. Tari, of course, hustled after everything that looked remotely like a possible rebounds, netting her the team high with six. The only problem I have with that is that it drags her rebounding average down from the 8.4 she had posted. And Spoon… holy hot damn, the old lady still has some juice in her. She played with more hustle than I’ve seen out of her in a long time, and even showed off some moves that I don’t think anyone’s seen in a long time. I know I’m probably obsessing, but I suspect that she had a certain someone on her mind and sure as hell wasn’t going to disappoint this certain someone at this time of the year. It is the same reason that I have no doubt that no matter how tired they are, the Comets will beat Seattle tomorrow. There is no way that they will allow themselves to lose in their own house on that night. Especially when the opposing point guard wears #10. The Comets will simply not let it happen. It may be a blowout, and I think it will be. It may be a buzzer-beating nailbiter. But there is no doubt in my mind that the Comets will come out on top tomorrow. (Sorry, Stormies. You can have the game in Seattle, in my mind, deal?)

Sort of speaking of Houston, it was very, very nice to finally get to meet you and your posse, recycler. Hopefully we’ve all given you a sufficiently warped picture of how crazy we Liberty fans are. That was one heck of a halftime we spent. I like chatting with you. You should come more often. And you, and your friends, and every Houston fan that was in the arena, and every Houston fan in general, should have your heads held high. Your team played a hell of a game and should be saluted.

Were there problems with this game? Well, one: Richie, who else? He needs to have more faith in the bench. We need to see more of Erin and Linda, and I’d like to actually see Bethany play before the season ends, if that’s all right with him. Those gals will never mature unless he demonstrates that he can trust them in key situations.

Having said that, however, this was a hell of a game. This game proved that the Comets bring out the best in the Liberty and the Liberty bring out the best in the Comets. This was the kind of game that could only draw fans to the league and not push them away in disgust. This was the pure heart, pure passion, and pure basketball that I yearn to see every night. And both teams brought it, which made the game all the sweeter. So I salute both teams for never letting up and for playing through the usual appalling refereeing (though it wasn’t too egregiously awful tonight, I must say). And I thank them for making my price of admission seem like the greatest of bargains. And I further thank them for proving to me once again that this is the game as it is supposed to be, unsullied by offcourt clouds of suspicion or other priorities or simple disinterest. Every second of the game, there were ten players on that court who wanted nothing more than to win, and that is all a fan can ask for.