June 23rd, 2007: San Antonio at Connecticut

San Antonio Silver Stars 71, Connecticut Sun 58

The Game Notes hit the road, Sophia Young and Erin Buescher kinda rock, and much time needs to be killed.


Though it doesn't make much sense in the context of being a Liberty fan, I do enjoy my road trips to Connecticut. It's an experience, and a reasonably priced one to boot, the way I go. Since I'm of age, I go to Chinatown to take one of the casino buses. $10 buys the ticket on, and there's a $2 fee for coming home on a later bus than the one you were assigned. In return, the casino provides $20 to bet with and an additional $15 to either eat or bet with. Factor in a $20 ticket to the game, and the cost is pretty much a wash (especially if you win, like I did today, woo!). It's about an hour and a half train ride and three hours on a bus, and sometimes I wonder exactly why I'm doing this for a team I don't particularly like when they're playing a team that isn't mine. But there's a thrill to it- this is an experience I don't share with my family or friends.

We wend our way through Manhattan, over the bridge to Brooklyn, the old city of churches (I counted four steeples out the bus window), through some of the less attractive parts of Queens, which looks from this route like the city of highways, over the Triborough Bridge into the Bronx, and thence to I-95 through Westchester County, the greenery of suburbia, into Connecticut. I'm given to understand that it's a very pretty drive in the fall, but I rarely have reason to go to Connecticut in the fall. I imagine it would be, though, especially when you draw closer to Mohegan Sun, which is far, far away from any of the major cities of Connecticut. Our route takes us through Norwalk, Bridgeport, and New Haven, any of which can spring giant floods of traffic on the unwary traveler at a moment's notice. Generally, I'm either paying attention to my iPod or the Hong Kong soap opera playing out on the screens- one such show had so many of its episodes run that I ended up finding the show on Wikipedia and reading about it because I was so curious.

Of course, if one travels alone, one runs the risk of one's own idiocy doing one in. I completely forgot that this was a 7PM tip-off (seriously, Sun, what is with all these weird tip times for your weekend games?), so that I ran like my pants were on fire to pick up my ticket and discovered that running was not necessary and in fact made me look rather foolish. There was a mini fan fest going on atop one of the garages, so I went and checked it out. Mostly stuff for the kids, as opposed to stuff for mature, adult people like me- a couple of guys on stilts who heard more than a few Margo Dydek jokes, a balloon artist, lots of little baskets and hoops (it took me about nine tries to hit a shot, at which point the young boy behind me sank his first attempt), a video game tourney, some other stuff. Diet Coke Plus might be a good idea, but it's a little sweet for me; I did like the tropical fruit smoothies the Dunkin Donuts guys were testing on us, though. Also applied for a Discover Card in order to get into the Fan Lounge. I doubt they'll actually give me the card, but what the heck.

I sat in the second row of the endcourt near the visiting bench. Endcourt seats aren't the greatest in the world, because you miss the half of the action that's at the other end, plus the basket stanchion is in the way of a lot of the paint work, and there are always people walking in front of you. On the other hand, how many sporting events will allow you to get that close to the action for $20? This is one of the things I love about the WNBA- it appeals to my bargain-hunting tendencies.

The one thing I don't enjoy about Sun games is that they try too hard to force the crowd into things. Granted, with the way the Sun have been playing this season, I can understand why they'd need to, but such manufactured noise, and especially manufactured noise that doesn't last through the game, irks me. It doesn't feel authentic. It also doesn't help that the Sun's MC, Scotty B., has annoyed me since his days with the Orlando Miracle (for those of you newish to this whole WNBA thing, the Miracle was the first incarnation of the Sun, before they moved to Connecticut).

Nice anthem, if a little overdramatic.

Honestly, for San Antonio, I could probably just cut and paste the notes from the Liberty game, replace the appropriate Liberty player's name with whichever Sun player was on defense, and they would be reasonably accurate. But that's cheating. So here we go. Becky was, if possible, even more on thatn she was against New York. The circus shots were going down, the long shots were going down- she looked like she was trying to prove something, although I can't imagine what. VJ was, once again, a quiet assassin; you looked up and you realized that, hey, she was in double digits. That's always been her thing, tough, getting the job done while everyone's distracted by the shiny and the flashy. Sophia Young was able to get free for that smooth outside jumper a little more often than she did against New York, partially because Dydek isn't a great perimeter defender, partially because she didn't get in foul trouble and thus had more chances to work it. Buescher was also, I think, more effective against Connecticut than she was against New York. I think it's a difference in the style- the Sun's post players might like the perimeter on offense, but can't handle it on defense, whereas Cathrine Kraayeveld can defend somewhat on the perimeter. Another unimpressive game from Ruth Riley; you'd think she'd be a bit more relaxed without Bill Laimbeer constantly yelling at her. Off the bench for San Antonio, I was most impressed with Shanna Crossley again, although it felt like Agler was using a short rotation. Little's going to be a really good player, methinks. I like her instinct for the game.

Oh, Connecticut. From two-time finalists to this? This team reminds me of the Liberty, and not the exciting, passionate edition of 2007- I'm thinking of the blip year, 2003. Like the Sun, we had lost a key veteran post player; like the Sun, we were trying to integrate a couple of new players into the system. I call it a blip because the Liberty made the playoffs the next two seasons, but it was also the start of the slide and the disintegration of the old Liberty. So I'm a bit worried for the Sun, except that if they disintegrate, then that opens the door for the Libkids. Honestly, they looked like they didn't want to be on the court against San Antonio. By the end of the game, it looked like they were just waiting for Whalen to do something interesting to keep them in it. Margo Dydek looked especially out of it out there. If she's still hurt, then she needs to sit and de Souza needs to start, and if she's not hurt, she needs a whack upside the head, because there were way too many plays were she didn't move at all. She didn't go after balls, she didn't go after shots, she didn’t go after drives in the lane. She stood theree, and often she wasn't even just standing there under the basket, but outside the paint. For the longest time, Asjha Jones also didn't seem to be interested in going inside, although she got over that tendency sometime in the second quarter. Katie Douglas was really stroking them during practice, and she hit some great shtos in the game, but she almost seemed to run out of gas as the game wore on. I liked her defense on Becky Hammon, though. Le'Coe Willingham, who started in place of the injured (and sharply dressed, I ought to add) Nykesha Sales, hit her first shot and contributed some strong rebounding, but I think starting her in place of a small forward got her thinking that she was in fact a small forward, and she was taking shots that are definitely outside her range. By the end of the game, Lindsay Whalen looked like the only player who was playing hard out there for the Sun, and part of me was wondering if she was trying to top Becky Hammon, with her choice of shots and her increasing use of the crossover dribble. Off the bench, Érika de Souza played with the kindof hustle I wish I could have seen from the Sun starters, and Jamie Carey was her usual understated self in running the defense. I also liked that Thibault put her on defending Hammon when she was in, because who's going to know her moves better than the guard who practiced against her over the winter when they both played with the Chill? I was surprised and disappointed not to see more of Kamesha Hairston; I think she would have brought the energy that the Sun were sorely missing, and she would have fit perfectly into the small forward slot. I might also have used Megan Mahoney earlier than the last couple of minutes, if only because what I've seen of Mahoney makes me think of jumper cables.

Sitting in the endcourt did give me a close opportunity to observe the out-of-bounds calls, and how hard they are to make. This doesn't mean that I wasn't protesting vocally (yet politely, Matt, don't jump down my throat) at some of the decisions made. There were some very questionable calls on screens as well. I didn't recognize two of the referees when they were announced, which might have explained some of it. Everyone's susceptible to rookie mistakes, after all.

The Sun do a lot more "you! You are the lucky fan!" promotions than the Liberty do- the Liberty seem to be more along the lines of "you! Prove to us that you are lucky and/or skilled at something and we will give you things!" Not that the Sun don't have actual contests, and not that the Liberty don't have lucky fans, but it seems to be a difference in the team culture, and I wonder how much of it has to do with the Sun being housed in a casino.

I had signed up for the Discover Card Fan Lounge, since I doubted I was ever going to have another chance (as far as I know, the Liberty don't sponsor one) and I thought it might be interesting. It did seem promising, but when they announced the two Sun players, they weren't players I had much interest in meeting and/or getting autographs from, so I skedaddled and passed the pass along to another fan. (To the staff at Mohegan Sun- the cookies were excellent!) Though it still makes me feel vaguely seedy, I have by now chosen the hotel lobby at Mohegan Sun as my stakeout point; there's just too much risk and not enough space in the other places, and if I'm going to go four hours each way to a game, I want something to remember the experience (especially when I'm not going to want to remember the game). It's comfortable, and I got the chance to chat with some of the Connecticut equivalent of the Usual Suspects. There's a woman who specializes in cards and nifty team rosters, and a guy who specializes in collegiate caps (his Tennessee cap is quite the sight to see, and he even tracked down a cap from The Master's College for Erin Buescher). We didn't talk much about the game- I felt it would have been pushing my luck, since I wasn't exactly in home colors.

After that, it was time to run for the bus, ride standby, pay my $2 penalty, turn on the iPod, and doze off, already plotting these game notes in my sleep-addled mind. I did start writing them when I got home after two in the morning, but between the urge for sleep and the lack of internet connection, I finished them shortly before I had to head out to the Garden for game three of my personal tripleheader. I'm honestly not sure whether I'm going to survive this weekend, or if I do, whether I'll be able to make it through Monday at the office. Remember, fellow fans, I'm doing this for you.