June 4th, 2005: San Antonio at Connecticut

Connecticut Sun 80, San Antonio Silver Stars 69

Girl Scouts, confused Silver Stars, elven warriors, tall women in black- just another day at Mohegan Sun for the Game Notes of Doom.


Bonus game notes coming to you from a half-conscious and somewhat distracted Queenie six hours after game's end. Any errors are due to either my brain going die, my brain going elsewhere, or a change in perception due to the six-hour delay.

Smallish crowd, but what would you expect? The novelty of Pee-Wee returning has worn off, and San Antonio has no UConn players to draw in extra people. Still, it's disconcerting to be there ten minutes before the gates open and see more security guys than people waiting to get in. Okay, maybe the numbers weren't that bad, but believe you me, it was a close ratio.

They search a heck of a lot more thoroughly at Mohegan than they do at MSG or any other arena I've visited. I mean, they put on the proctologist's gloves! They pat you down! Jeez, I know I wield a mean Sharpie, but I didn't think my rep had reached the Nutmeg State.

Forgetting the rosters does not get you bonus points in my book, either. I mean, silly me, what's a lot of Girl Scouts going to do with rosters to identify who everyone might be? But there were folks at that game who weren't hyperactive, hypersonic Girl Scouts and maybe thought a roster would have come in handy. Not cool, people. Not cool.

Met up with dts, the infamous Dani, and the lady of the house (who, from the introduction, I'm gonna assume is the 'nms' at the end of dts's screenname). Pee-Wee knows how to work a crowd, even when it's not technically hers. She's cool. I rather like her. And according to her, people did actually call her Pee-Wee without laughing while she had Debbie Black as a teammate. I don't understand it myself, but I'm just strange.

The Girl Scouts made a big-ass banner for the Sun to run through. Lindsay Whalen just took one look at it as if to say, 'WHAT is this thing doing in my path to the basketball court?' and brushed the paper out of her way. Somehow I don't think that was the effect they were going for. It's all for the best, really. If they'd had the players run through it, someone would probably have tripped, fallen, and taken out a teammate as she did. That's just the way these things work.

San Antonio just looks lost on the court. It's kind of sad. On the plus side, LaToya Thomas seems to be coming into her own. Wendy Palmer-Daniel seems determined to prove that there's power in her yet- I think she was high rebounder for the SASS, and if she wasn't she sure came off that way. Chantelle Anderson still has a long way to go, but she's starting to show flashes of the country's leader in field goal percentage. (pilight, as an aside: has any team ever acquired the #1 and #2 picks from the same draft before?) No one seemed to have their stroke today except for Toya and Wendy. Oh, and Katie Feenstra, but she scares me, so I don't want to talk about her. She splits the center minutes with Anderson; effectively, they play half and half, situationally. It was nice to see Edna on the court- she still looks good; if Chelsea Newton hadn't stepped it up, I bet the Monarchs would be missing her while Lawson was out. But so few Connecticut fans clapped for her that I wondered if they just don't know. No one else really left an impression, other than Pee-Wee blowing kisses to the crowd before tip-off. Whatever she or Marieeeee did, it was on the low- easy when you're in those black uniforms.

Taj was unconscious tonight. Not literally, but figuratively. She was unstoppable inside, and even when she felt like popping a three it went in. If she hadn't spent about half the game on the sidelines, it might have been an even uglier margin of victory. Keesh stepped it up late, including bringing her defense, which was appreciated. Whalen had a quiet game, unless she got a lot of assists. She also needs to learn the same lesson as Becky: that trick only works once, after that, you end up getting reintroduced to it at high speed and with a bit more force behind it. Margo had a good game, although she needst o learn to grab a rebound instead of tapping it every which-way; several times I was sure that she had forgotten which team she was on, so many taps and tips were going to Silver Stars. But she's got a nice-looking shot and if she gets in the right place she can be a very effective defender. Connecticut has a funy way on offense: they look so lost, like the play's constantly broken down, and then suddenly the right person ends up with the ball and takes the right shot. It's some kind of magic. Uh... Sun bench: since Taj spent so much time on the bike machine, Thibault had to go a little deeper into his bench than he might have ordinarily. Asjha Jones seems to have some sort of philosophical difference with the rims at the Mohegan Sun Arena; given time, I'm sure they'll all learn to get along, but until then, she can't rely on any bounces to go her way. Le'Coe Willingham looks good- more svelte, still as willing to kick ass and take names. Brooke Wyckoff is a favorite of mine (it's the avenue), and she made a couple of nice plays today, including one that will get its own paragraph. The SWGs were interchangable.

Katie Douglas is getting her own paragraph, and it's not for good reasons. Talented she may be- she went on a 8-0 run of her own in the second half to effectively make San Antonio go die- but she carries a lot of attitude for a young player. I can understand not being Miss Congeniality with her backstory, but there was one play near the end of the game that riled up even the coach. It was under a minute left- I think it was the 27-second mark- where four bench players were in with her, three of them being kids who hadn't scored, and she still went in for a difficult and unnecessary shot. San Antonio got the ball and play stopped, and Thibault promptly sent in Derevjanik and proceeded to try and tear Miss Douglas a new one. It might have worked if she'd bothered listening, but she blew right by him to sit on the end of the bench. No. This is unacceptable.

Play of the game- end of the first half: Sun have the ball, with a shot clock differential. Keesh throws up a three, airball, Wyckoff runs under the basket to snare the rebound and set up someone else for a shot, shot misses, San Antonio has possession, except for the matter of a steal involving Douglas and Wyckoff, half ends with a Keesh lay-up. I think that really deflated the Silver Stars, as if they needed it further.

Second favorite moment of the game: anything that involved Chantelle Anderson doing her porny player tricks. Those are always good for a laugh, although I don't think Mr. Daniel would be too happy with where she touched his wife at one point. I like her, don't get me wrong. I just think she makes the perfect foil to the pious Baptist girl who signs with a Bible verse about God knowing your thoughts of peace.

I still miss catching out-of-town scores, but I'll live with that. I definitely like not having people hawking crap in my line of sight. The seats could use some work, though

Anthem singer blew chunks. Dude, there is no excuse for not knowing the words if they're on the jumbotron in front of your face. Halftime was Simon Says. We avoided that. There were a whole passel of activities set up in the corridor for the Scouts. If that path was true, Jenn Derevjanik has no feet. That would make her story even more compelling. They had one of those mini-hoops with mino-balls set up, and it even came with mini-shothogs. I was this close to addressing them as Diana, Anna, and Nykesha, but I don't think the guys would have appreciated that.

Refs didn't noticably suck, even though Thibault was doing his best to make people think they did during a couple of calls. Good for a laugh, though. Coachepiece Theatre should be a staple in every league.

Stayed after the game with Sharpie in hand and boyfriend in tow. (He's a good boyfriend. I think I'll keep him.) Sandy Brondello cleans up niiiice! It's funny to see her working in street clothes. I still think of her as the Sol's elven warrior, or if I have to modernize, in Storm green. If only her Aussie magic would work on the SASS. Some of the Silver Stars sent their bags up with the bellhop. That amused me no end.

Oh, and someone needs to tell evil-troll-Debbie that Margo Dydek cleans up quite well- maybe not quite like Danica Patrick, but she knows how to present herself and dress stylishly; black may be simple and overused, but there's a reason people keep going back to it, and she looked good in it.

Overall, it was nice to go to a WNBA game as a complete neutral and take everything in. So that's, what, my third game of the season? Not bad for a non-STH.