July 9th, 2005: 2005 WNBA All-Star Game

West 122, East 99

"Sleep deprivation: like being drunk, but it's free!" The Game Notes are off to Mohegan Sun for the All-Star Game and associated festivities. New words are coined, all kinds of fans are everywhere, there's a disconnect between players and coaches, and Ashley Battle may or may not be drowning her sorrows.


"Sleep deprivation: like being drunk, but it's free!"

Man, these All-Star Games take a lot out of you, don't they?

So my mom and I drove up with a friend of ours, and as soon as the gates opened at the fan fest, that was the last that either of them saw of me until about ten minutes before tip-off. I was all over that place like a fungus. I love the look of the new cards, and some of the photos they chose- the Katie Smith one that was on display at the autograph table, with her flexing and grinning, comes to mind- were a hoot. Stood on the autograph line for both East and West- got the East, didn't get the West, but got DeMya Walker later, so that didn't really matter. I spent most of the festival in search of a complete collectoin of fans- every year at All-Star Games, I do my annual check of 'does every team still have at least one fan proud enough to wear their gear and travel X number of miles to se them?' So if you were accosted by a crazy brunette who said she was collecting fans, holla back. I got some great throwback shots in the collection, though; there was a lady in a Janice Braxton jersey, a little teeny girl in a Zheng Haixia jersey, a Jen Gillom jersey and a Bridget Pettis jersey, and a Sales Miracle jersey. I got pictures from every team except San Antonio, and I saw a lady with a Silver Stars backpack, so we're all set. I'd rate this fest/gathering/jam above both New York ones, but below the two-day affairs in Orlando and Washington. The picnic tables alone give them the edge- they were mighty good for my sore and aching feet that I spent all day on. And the lady at the first-aid station was very sweet when I asked for tape to stick my nametag back on my bag (I said was going to wear it, and why would I lie about a thing like that?).

Kate, the Adminitrix at WNBATalk, and Ali were making fools of themselves, as usual- how many times do I have to tell you not to encourage the idiot MC? If you see Lib games, you'd know them in an instant; they're the boa-clad dancing maniacs who sit behind the Liberty bench. They were in full form at the ASG.

I've coined a new term. The collective noun for fans is obsession. For example: "If you see Kelli, tell her that there's an obsession of Sacramento fans over there." This matches up with the collective noun for referees, confusion. For example: "The confusion is at center court- you think they'll get the call made sometime this century?" *grin*

I went inside at five to three, in the company of dts, a Board Junkie with a heart of gold, and his family- his daughter, who I know to be a talented autograph collector, also turns out to have a knack for coming up big in pressure situations- she won a pair of the new Taurasi sneakers in a game of Knockout. They slipped me down courtside for the pre-pregame warmups- if y'all are really nice, I'll post the shots I took down there to my Webpost archive. The sides by the tunnel were mobbed- some players stopped for some folks, some players stopped for other folks, and Ann, Taj, and Becky stopped for 'most everyone. Oh- I think the Shock were filming a commercial down there, to judge from the amount of loaned-out Shock paraphernalia and the way Ruth kept looking at the camera. Shoot, if I'd known that, I would have tracked down the nice ladies I saw in the Shock t-shirts- including a Ruth Riley #00 tee- and told them to come down there. Damn, you forget how striking Ruth is up close- she's not necessarily a traditional beauty, but she's very, very striking. Guess y'all Shock fans are so dazzled by Swin, Barb, and Kara that you miss Ruth.

Oh yeah. Did I mention that the rows in front of dts and family were the friends and family/comped tickets area? We got to chat with Cheryl Ford's mom- she's a total sweetheart, was touched when we pulled out a couple of Cheryl's cards for her. Various and sundry Hammons were also in that section- think we saw DeMya Walker's mom, too, sitting just down the row from Chantelle Anderson. *That* was nifty; it's nice to see the people who gave us these great players- to any basketball parents out there, thank you for loaning us your children.

I eventually decided to be honest and went up to my seat in 107-J. I think it was mostly Liberty fans in that area, although we sat in front of a pair of very sweet Minnesotans. I sold them a batch of Lynx cards- you should have heard them squeeing at the Vanessa Hayden rookie card and laughing at Suzie McConnell Serio's player card from way back when. I sold 'em cheap. It seemed fair. The people in front of us, the poor souls, got delayed because their bus got lost out of New Haven- they missed most of the first half, and they weren't even the worst off. Carrie- the girl who won last year's auction for the game of HORSE with Tamika Catchings- was down the other end of the row in front of us- thought that was cool; I spent a lot of the waiting-on-autograph-lines time chatitng with her and a couple of friends.

The problem with the game was the mismatching. No, not just those times that Dawn Staley ended up guarding Claw. The problem was that the Eastern players cared and the Eastern coaches didn't, whereas the Western coaches cared and the Western players were just like 'whatever, let's watch DeMya bust some moves during the timeout'. The West was loose, which you'd expect when they've won all the games and the only coach who ever came close to beating them is now on their bench, but Anne Donovan and crew kept them focused enough to kick butt. Thibault, on the other hand, seemed to think the game didn't matter; I think his priority was making sure that everyone played and everyone scored- I don't know how many times they tried to feed Dawn before the ball finally went in and theycould get back to trying to play the damn game.

Speaking of the game: I hadn't seen Houston this year, so I hadn't seen with my own eyes that Sheryl Swoopes is kicking rear and taking names. If ever there was a year that she deserved the nickname Her Majesty, it is this year. What is it with Comet players and getting better when they're supposed to be past their primes? This isn't fair! I want an investigation! She was a worthy MVP- that wasn't booing y'all at home heard in the background, that was the sound of several thousand impressed fans going "Swooooooooopes!" Bird and Taurasi, in addition to keeping the Western players in stitches, ran a couple of plays that I swear Geno would have recognized from the sideline- but they worked, they got 'em open threes. Birdy looks strange with the mask on, but today it didn't seem to bother her. Maybe the meds were really kicking in. *grin* Taurasi was adorable- oh yeah, she also hit a three-pointer from what had to be thirty, thirty-five feet out; her feet were on the little secondary All-Star logo off to the side. It was near the end of the game, so we were all out of ooohs and ahhhs for something like that, but it was still impressive. Yolanda played like it was her last game, as she walys does, and she got her groove on prettygood during the tiemouts. LJ did the defensive work, what little of it there needed to be. Katie Smith off the bench- which are two phrases that should never be stitched together, by the way- took a few bad shots, but then one three fell and it was all over after that; she just wound up and put them in- I've never seen a shot as automatic as hers in my life. Marieeeee's shot is still gorgeous, and one of the debates in the car on the way home was ' who has the prettier shot, Ferdinand or Swoopes?' She also brought the D, getting some flashy steals off casual ballhandling. Holdsclaw had a couple of reverse moves that were siiiiiick. Leslie played tough; more than that, I dare not say. DeMya, in addition to some nifty moves on the court, kept us all laughing up on the seats when she pulled out her dance moves during the timeouts. She got this All-Star thing in a way that most other players and folks didn't- play hard when you get out there, but have fun while you're doing it. After free throws, and there were a ridiculous amount of free throws, the sight of her and Dawn Staley tangled up in the frontcourt (or what would be the frontcourt- you know what I mean) was hysterical, but also pointedup the problem with the East's lineup. I liked the shimmeryness of AD's shirt. Yes, Seattlites, y'all really do have a well-dressed coaching staff.

Tamika Catchings. How anyone can speak ill of that woman is completely beyond me. She had such hustle, such passion, such beautiful shots, that if the East had managed to pull this one off, she would have been MVP, no doubt. Becky was the only other starter who looked like she really belonged there; she hit some deep shots too, one only a little bit closer to the arc than the Taurasi 'eh, what the hell' shot. But Dawn, much as I hate to say it, looked old, slow, and lost out there. Swin might have been ready to play ball, but she wasn't ready for an All-Star game. What Bill Laimbeer was thinking, I suppose we'll never know. Ruth chose a good night to have a good game, but she and all the other Eastern posts looked like they didn't know what they were doing. Much as I hate to say it, that includes Ann; she was caught totally flat-footed out there, lost and confused. My friend, who's a die-hard Liberty fan who will never admit that any Lib does anything wrong other than Elena, says it was because she didn't get enough minutes and she didn't get enough touches. I say she looked like a damn rookie, and tha t was the reaosn why she wasn't getting minutes and wasn't getting touches. Taj looked like shewas playing in pain for parts of the game- her back spasms? Keesh was out of it, plain and simple- missed two passes that she should have had- yeah, her offense turned on in the second half, but by then, it was too late. Alana Beard does a better impersonation of a point guard than I thought. I hadn't seen her in that position (not and remembered, in any case; remember, I missed the first Mystic visit to the Garden this year, and last year, I had other things on my mind during the Washington game). It might well be a position that suits her after all. Tweety couldn't get her shots to fall until late. We were all hoping she'd make the dunk she was trying for- wouldn't that have just shut Lisa up? She came mighty close, too. Keeep practicing, Tweety; we'll see it next year, right? Cheryl Ford got hit in the face sometime near the waning minutes of the second half, came off holding her jersey over her face. Other than that, I don't remember what she did. That's the problem with the morning after, you never remember things...

After the game, I went to hang out by the box office. dts, Dani, and crew were there- so were a couple of other Board Junkies. After some time, Ann popped out on the phone. A wave of fans descended upon her, and after signing a few 'graphs, she fled back into the arena. She was the only player we saw. Ann Meyers also came out that way, but I wouldn't get too close to her. She might have cooties. DeMya Walker's mom and grandma came out that way too- DeMya's looks and personality definitely come from that side of the family. Oh, and Lib fans, you'll never guess who was there on a league credential- Boris, Elena's boyfriend. No, I don't know why.

So around sevenish, I went up to Lucky's, where the Board Junkies were having the meetup. It was mostly Lib fans, actually, drinking, watching the Yankee game, and wondering what precisely Thibault was on while coaching that game. We were wondering who else off that board was going to pop in- some out-of-area folks were supposed to be stopping by, but we hadn't seen either of them. Along around seven-thirty a guy in a Comets t-shirt wandered in, looking around for a group. We acted on a hunch and waved him over. 'Twas pilight, who had missed the whole enchilada because of flight troubles at O'Hare (and I've been stranded at O'Hare- it's NOT fun). Lucky's also played host to a couple of former Huskies, Ashley Battle and Jessica Moore. Is it wrong for me to wonder if they were drowning their sorrows after being midseason cuts?

If anyone has that photo from open practice where Sheryl was sitting on LJ's lap, please e-mail me the image or a link to the image? That needs to be used for something.

Damn, I'm exhausted just typing this.