June 2006: New York Liberty Season Subscriber Event

Barbara Farris works big rooms, Ashley Battle is all kinds of awesome, Kelly Schumacher is a space cadet, and Erin Thorn delivers a zinger.


I know it's tradition and everything, but they really need to quit having the players introduce each other. If it's not forced awkwardness, it's silliness, and if it's not that, it's language barriers, and if it's not that, it's grandiose claims. (No, Sherill is not our Dwayne Wade; completely different playing styles, yo.)

Those of us in section 23 started with Kiesha and Iciss. Poor Ice was under the weather. She sounded miserable. I wanted to hug her and give her a cup of herbal tea. Someone asked Iciss if they should use "Ice Ice Baby" as her Cheesy Musical Hook, and she thought it was a good idea. Obviously that was the medication talking. Kiesha reminded us all that it *is* a new team that got off to a slow start, but there was a lot of question dodging in there. She really likes the city and the wandering- you can find something to do or a whole bunch of nothing. (paraphrase). We had a few stock questions being asked, including hometowns. Someone inquired as to majors, another to female sports idols, and there were two kids I swear work for Kidsday asking all sorts of inane questions. Kiesha majored in speech communications, Iciss in economics- very cool, that. Iciss idolized La Leslie, Kiesha Dawn and Spoon.

The first question to Loree was "how did you get those shoulders?" She credited her parents and lots of heavy lifting in college. As we know, she spent her offseason relaxing and rehabbing her injury- she *does* plan to go overseas this offseason. As a kid, she played kickball and soccer and enjoyed movies; her favorite is The Lion King, and yes, she's seen the stage show. She majored in sociology. Her favorite part of being in New York is playing in front of fans, which confused me, seeing as there are an awful lot of people in Thompson-Boling. If you care, she has the good taste to prefer mint chocolate chip ice cream. Someone asked her about differences in coaching styles. Loree paused for an ellipse or two before answering, "Different." She talked about how intimidating Coach Summitt is, how competitive she is, and how she's very hard on her point guards. Her best games, or at least the most memorable ones, were winning her first SEC tournament title and beating UConn in Connecticut. Pay attention, this will come up later. Her favorite part of New York is the shopping.

Cathrine had on a lot of jewelry- four plain silver rings I could see, a bracelet, and a chain. Someone asked her if she enjoys being tall, and she does, mostly, except it's hard finding shoes for size 14 feet- not a lot of shoes in her closet, mostly sandals, no heels. She hit her growth spurt in middle school, was average height before that, which I find interesting, because isn't that not usually the way it goes? One of the kids asked if she had any friends from grade school that she misses. She thought about it and said there are a few folks from high school she hasn't kept in touch with. I asked her what part of her game she takes the most pride in. To my surprise, it's not the Screens of Death, but her shooting- she said that it allows her to open up and improve her overall game, because most posts don't have the outside game (except, um, the Euros and the Aussies, but whatev, Cat), so it makes her more useful. Someone had asked her the hometown question; she told us Kirkland but said that she usually just says Seattle. Since she's from the West Coast, she mentioned that she doesn't know a lot about New York and the East Coast and would like to see more. She's a football fan, and wanted to play as a kid except her mom wouldn't let her- if it comes to a choice between watching football and basketball, she'd rather watch football. She's a Seahawks fan, but not a fanatic. Another of the stock questions was "have you ever hit any game-winning shots?" Cathrine hit one in high school, plus a halfcourt shot in middle school.

There weren't a lot of questions for Christelle and Emilie, which was sad. It was nice to know that Emilie is Parisian, though, because that helps confirm my dad's theory about Parisian women and scarves. Most of that five minutes was us against Christelle in a trivia contest. Poor Christelle was so lost. I meant to ask the pair of them if they'd been watching World Cup, but it didn't seem quite proper.

Barbara is a hoot. She had us all laughing. Someone asked what it was like being experienced but a newbie. She said they worked her into the co-captaincy because she came to camp late, but she's taking on the challenge of leadership for this team. She thinks we have a great team. I think Schuey nailed her with an elbow. Her favorite country that she's played in overseas is France, but she loves the European lifestyle overall- they really know how to live, we're killing ourselves over here! Her favorite food is dark, dark chocolate- "it's good for you… it'll cure cancer someday, you'll see". She's another sociology major. WTF is sociology anyway? At least she's planning to go back to school. She has a lot of nicknames, not just Barb but also B. "Barbara seems to be too long for them to say." She picked "Fearless Farris" from a selection from her unofficial booster selection. Someone asked what it was like having Laimbeer as a coach. "Bill is always gonna be Bill." He liked her, though, so that was okay. He'd always have the tape of his old games in when she was at his house for dinner (though I assume when she said she, she meant the entire Shock team, 'cause otherwise it's the return of inappropriate player/coach conduct in Detroit!) and he'd be in the itsy-bitsy shorts- "he couldn't get into those shorts now if you paid him". Her best game? Well, the one that came to mind for her was Game 3 of the 2003 Finals. Wonder why. I asked what it was like to play in the ABL. She said it was different, fun… since she was with the Blizzard, she had the UConn fan base, and she liked them. Her kid activities were pretty much standard young'uns, although she was a late bloomer in hoops- didn't hit it until 13 or 14.

Becky relishes the challenge of being the new leader of this team after "Spoon and that group" left. She kept expecting them to walk through the door, but "you gotta move on". Someone asked what it was like to be named an All-Star. She said it was hard to put into words, but it was very awesome and almost a little bit humbling. She can't count how many game-winning shots she's hit, terming it "my share". Apparently they don't have Italian ices in South Dakota. Yet another reason never to move there. She learned a lot not only from Spoon (who the original question was about) but also VJ and Crystal, who are all "ridiculously smart" when it comes to basketball. I asked, because I'm curious about this kind of thing, why she calls herself Becky officially. She said it was 'cause it's shorter and everyone calls her that… except her mom when she's in trouble; even now, she's still "REBECCA LYNN!" Her favorite sport other than hoops, to watch and to play, is football. (Apparently she doesn't count hunting, fishing, and scuba diving as sports for the sake of the kids.) During the offseason she likes to get home for the holidays because she'd be disowned otherwise. One of the stock questions was hobbies. She says hers is sleeping. Right, Becky. [I]Sleeping.[/I] ;)

The first question to Shameka was "can I have your autograph?" Most of these were fashion-related questions, since she was introduced as a diva. She likes fashion. She gets a pedicure at least once a week, which I think is just wasteful. She loves Israel and told us it's not like we think it is, but she enjoyed her first year more because she had issues with the staff last year. Coaching staff, I assume, not press. ;) One of the kids asked her what designer she would pick for her entire wardrobe. She had a LOT of trouble picking one, but her first instinct was Gucci. She wants to be a fashion designer. Someone asked the hometown question, and she leaned in close and said, "Do you know where Arkansas is?" Apparently when she first got to New York and told people where she was from, people asked her, "Is that in the United States?" I weep for those people. She was another late bloomer, around the same age as Barb. Which made the next question really stupid, because it was, "did you know you were going to play basketball when you grew up?" Shameka's response was, "I did not think I was going to be playing basketball, dear!" I remember the dear part because it was fun.

Someone asked our intrepid staff if it was hard to coach. Patty, who had her Philly smart-assery cranked to the max, said "Nawwwww…" She said it's very rewarding. Someone else asked how they divide the coaching duties. "I do it all," she said. Before Glenn and I could die of laughter and/or apoplexy, she clarified that Catherine (who is apparently an assistant after all) does the organizing- "she's the brains of the operation"- Marianne is in charge of the posts, Nick is in charge of the guards, and they divide the scouting equally. "They work harder than I do." She's very proud to be a Philly girl, and that includes occasionally taking a potshot at New York. I asked both her and Marianne about the transition from player to coach, and I realized later that that wasn't quite the question I meant to ask, but in any case, they answered it. It's a way to stay in the game. Marianne loves coaching, wouldn't trade her job for the world. Someone asked Patty about Cappie's odds for ROY, and she thinks Cappie's got a good shot, but also mentioned "that kid from Minnesota" and Sherill. I'm sorry, but you really should be able to namedrop Seimone Augustus. Maybe she thinks Thorburn's that good…

Ashley was next up. Someone asked what it was like having Geno as coach. "I think everyone should have to go through it… I think everyone should have to take some verbal abuse." More in that vein. We were stumped for a moment, at which point our minder suggested that she pick on someone. With an unerring eye for trouble, Ashley pointed at Glenn. He looked nonplussed for a moment, then had the brilliant idea to mention that Loree had said her best game was beating UConn in Connecticut, and what did she think of that? AB stuck her hand out and said, "We got the rings." Someone asked what it was like playing against former teammates, especially Phoenix (I think they thought she was a true rookie and didn't know she was a five-year student). She said that it's fun, and you can laugh at the things they do, but there's a competitive edge- you can't let them have bragging rights. She spent her last offseason in Spain. Her dream vacation is on a beach in Tahiti with nothing to do, a Gatorade in one hand. She draws when she needs to calm down. Very cool. New York is very different from Pittsburgh (um, duh?) but unlike most Libs, she's been visiting the city since she was a kid; when she was ten, she told her mom that she wanted to live in New York. "Now you do," someone in the crowd said, but she said she doesn't quite, but she's here a lot of the time. She double-majored to get her fifth year, economics and business, and I think Glenn has acquired a new favorite player. "I got the brain, too," she said before walking off.

The first little-kid question of Erin's session, other than "what's your hometown" and the "Do you know where Utah is?" thing, was "What's your favorite soda?" Apparently, she doesn't drink soda, just water, lemonade, and Gatorade. [url=http://web.archive.org/web/20021026175515/http://templehill.com/soda_caffeine.html]Sounds familiar from somewhere.[/url] On the Liberty, she learned the most from Becky and VJ because they play the same position. Her best games ever involved hitting nine three-pointers- once in AAU, once in high school, once in college. Hey, doesn't that mean she's due? Let her loose, Patty! :D Someone asked about the pressure of playing in New York. "Believe me, we want to win!" Someone followed that up with a question along the lines of New York fans being spoiled, and the questioner started listing teams. Erin cut her off after the Yankees and, deadpan, said, "The Knicks." Best one-liner we had that night. We busted up laughing like you wouldn't believe. After a few seconds of this, she looked at us, looked at the Garden employee standing over her shoulder, and said, "I'm not supposed to say that. I'll get in trouble." Someone referenced the free throws against San Antonio and asked her how to be prepared. She said that she knows that it's her shot to prove that she can play and help the team. As for the free throws… "They're free. No one's guarding me."

We had Schuey last. She claims Cincy as her hometown, and American as her nationality (although I could have *sworn* she was taking pride in the Canadian thing a few years ago…), although when she moved to Quebec, she learned some French. Someone asked if she translates for the new players. She looked horrified at the thought. Christelle does that! She's great at it! And she went on to mention that since she's been playing in Spain, she's been experiencing second-language difficulties. "My French has turned into Franish." She didn't know that "Boogie Shoes" was her Cheesy Musical Hook, but she likes it. It's hard to hear the music on the court, especially when you get into a zone, but although you block it out, it gets you up. I asked her why she picked #17, knowing that #11 was out of the question, and she went on this weiiiiiiiiird tangent about how the numbers have to be visually even and look right, and it was weird, and it was what I expected from Schuey. She claimed 6'5" at the beginning of the night, over on our right, but by the time she got to us, she was 6'4" ¾. She's shrinking! Nooooooo! She claims that Patty is thorough. I claim she's crazy. Schuey also says she analyzes everything about a game, and if they lose, she goes, "We didn't do this and this and this!" Growing up, she always knew she was going to play *a* sport, because she played everything: basketball, soccer, volleyball, tennis, badminton… Her championship ring from UConn is stashed away to show to the grandkids- "at that point I'll be wearing everything".

She was the last, if you've been keeping count, so we came to the free throw shooting contest with the fan participation in. Guess who had the lucky envelope under her seat. Yeah. Me. Me trying to shoot free throws. I was the one who cussed when I forgot to rebound. I actually managed to hit one and hit the rim twice out of four shots. W00t! It's very disconcerting when you think of yourself as a taller-than-average woman (I'm 5'6" barefoot, 5'8" in shoes) and you come up to someone's shoulder. I felt tiny. It was weird. Schuey's cool, though. I like her, even if she's woefully inconsistent.

There weren’t a lot of people there. I got in maybe five minutes before the gates were scheduled to open and the line was only just starting to hook around. I guess there aren't a lot of subscribers left… at least ones who could make it after work.