July 18th, 2003: Charlotte at New York

New York Liberty 56, Charlotte Sting 48

Tamika Whitmore goes to extremes, terrible things are done to classics, and no one wants to see Andrea Stinson's midriff.


If this was a men’s team, there would be no question about precisely what was going on. It would be splashed all over the back page, and we’d know for certain who hated whom and who wanted to get the hell off the team. Everything would be aired. There would be no questions, no doubts, and honestly, I think the Tomato-Head would have been fired by now because of all the scrutiny. But it’s not a men’s team, and so the coverage is minimal and buried in the back of the sports section when it is there, and so all we can do as fans is guess and conjecture and post amusing theories on message boards.

On one hand, this is good. What goes on behind the locker room doors and in the offices of the team execs isn’t our business. Personally, I could care less about most of the scandals and the crap that float around men’s sports. But on the other hand, damnit, I want to know how Spoon is really taking the ascension of K.B., and why Tamika’s playing like she’s still off in la-la-land. And it galls me that gender is probably the main reason why there is so little interest in the league- so many people don’t take female athletes seriously. I mean, it’s still basketball, a sport that America takes pretty seriously. *sigh* Someday it’ll finally swing to one extreme of the other- either there will be no female pro leagues, or there will be complete equality.

I tell people Allison Feaster is a pure shooter, that she’s smart and she knows the game and has a sweet stroke. She hit a halfcourt shot in the pre-pregame warm-ups, when the majority of the crowd hopefully hadn’t shown up yet, because if this is the majority of the crowd we’re in a lot of trouble. So someone had better take notice out on the court, or we’re going to be at the short end of the score once again, and I don’t know about y’all, but I’m getting really sick of that. Anyway. The Sting really are a nice bunch. Rushia Brown gets the Queen of Nice award for this squad, for taking someone’s roster and passing it and a pen to all of her teammates in order to get it signed for the person. There was also some cuteness with Dawn Staley and a couple of her young fans; she was joking with them that they were lost- “Look where you are!” or words to that effect.

This is one of those strangers-in-the-night days… came down 32nd Street on the way to the game and passed a taller-than-average young woman in red shorts who looked vaguely familiar. So I got into the Garden, and one of my friends asks me, “Hey, did you see Erin?” (as in Thorn) “Red shorts?” “Yep.” Our theory that Richie was busting their asses was later blown out of the water when Erin returned with shopping bags. Then, a couple of hours later, as I came in to get my ticket scanned, I ended up next to a very tall black woman. (Trust me when I say tall. I’m 5’7” or 5’8”, so it takes a lot to make me think someone is tall.) She looked kinda like one of the Fab Four (obviously not Bird, but I always mix up the other three). So I sit here and wonder if, by any random chance, either Tamika Williams or Asjha Jones is at tonight’s game; it can’t be Cash because Detroit hosts Seattle tonight- wee, Fab Four angst!

Kate, be grateful you missed the dancers. They started out well, with a number from “Hairspray”, but it went downhill from there and ended up as an interpretive dance to the Pledge of Alleigiance and a reading from the Constitution. Come to think of it, where are you? Someone’s in your seats, they better be there with permission! At least you missed the most awful anthem I have ever heard. I don’t know what it was, whether it was a disco mix or a hip-hop mix or calypso, or reggae, or R&B, but it was awful. When did the national anthem become the latest song to remix? Hunh?

Halftime now; Mr. Taylor is serenading us. Hopefully he’ll do something better than he did with the national anthem. (And yes, he did. That was wonderful halftime stuff. Celebrate good times, indeed.) Ah, a lead. Oh, how wonderful. I forgot how nice it was to be at the winning side of the score. We’re playing well, which is always a good thing. There have been some lapses in hustle, but not as many as there were against Washington. VJ’s gone off like a firecracker. And Erin actually saw extended playing time! K.B., on the other hand, committed one foul and was out of the game for the foreseeable future. Tamika’s showing hints of emerging from her Zen state. Elena has had the worst luck with her shots, though she did finally get one to fall. I really have high hopes for this game, all the gods of sport know we need it.

Richie’s losing his mind. Why did he take K.B. out after all that hustle she had shown? Why put Crystal back in? Why take Elena out when she plays best with the young’uns? Why play Spoon so long at the start of each half? We can’t keep doing this! We can’t keep playing with seven players when everyone else runs fresh bodies at us.

Yayayayayayay! * * We won, we won, we won, we finally won, we’re finally off the schnide! VJ was incredible! She decided that she wasn’t going to lose any more games, so she simply took this one over. She had 27 points; the Liberty in total only had 56. She dished, she swished, and she showed more animation than any of us had ever seen out of her before. Tari was a monster on the boards- is it just me or has she been getting better and better this year? Spoon actually scored- was that the first time this month? Tamika’s still playing the role of Zen Girl, but she did show some hustle and some interest in actually bruising her dainty skin. I guess the effectiveness of the bench trifecta- Elena, K.B, and Erin- could be argued either way. Elena was the only one to score, but all of them ate up key minutes and allowed VJ and the crew a rest. I wish he’d show more faith in Fro’, instead of just letting her do all the announcements.

Tamika spent a lot of time pissed off tonight. Twice, when she went to the bench, Linda tried to high-five her and she utterly ignored the poor kid. As if Linda hasn’t been ignored enough this season. The second time, Linda just stood there, hand in the air, while Miko stalked off to the end of the bench. Miko needs to find a happy medium very soon, somewhere between MellowSpacedOut!ZenGirl and RagingScreamingTempramental!Girl, or else she’s going to either go insane or lose her job. Likewise, Crystal needs to make like Stella and get her groove back. On that topic, what’s happened to her dribble? She can hardly handle the ball anymore, and that’s not good for a small forward.

Tonight’s Becky Watch had the poor thing back behind the scorer’s table, as she was not dressed properly to hang out with the team. She and Crystal chatted a little during halftime. Oh, and anyone who was at the Play-By-Play, give us, well, a play-by-play.

Unwanted Midriff Sightings: K.B., VJ, and *shudder* Andrea Stinson. (Note to Andrea Stinson- lay off the pasta, stop padding your bra… whatever it is, just stop. These unis are NOT flattering to women with… um… *diplomatic* curves and heft.)

Unfortunately, Your Yo-ness, any Finals between the Monarchs and the Liberty this year would be in some bizarre consolation bracket.