Friday, July 25, 2008

July 25th, 2008: Los Angeles at New York

New York Liberty 69, Los Angeles Sparks 68

The New York Liberty, sponsored by Maalox. But we love them anyway.


BEAT LA! BEAT LA! BEAT LA! It still rings in my head with the rest of the noise from that crazy end of the game. If you gotta go out, like we do for the break, dear God, what a way to go out!

Lots of people in the house. Far too many of them wore purple, orange, or other pro-Sparks/Sparks players paraphernalia. The entire section next to us, and the row behind us, were cheering for Los Angeles- well, no, cheering for Parker, although at least the people behind us recognized DMJ and Temeka Johnson. And there was a guy in AAMCO's section who was being very obnoxious and really made me want to go Lauren Jackson on his dreadlocks.

Wonderful anthem. Absolutely nailed it. A little bit of Whitney and a little bit of Martina McBride. And that always puts me in the mood for a game.

I realize that the events of the brawl have me in a really anti-Sparks frame of mind, or at least in a frame of mind that feels like saying "fuck you" to the favorites, but really, I'm not liking Parker that much. She gets away with complaining too much- far more than I would expect from a Tennessee alumna, even if I'm given to understand that Summitt went easy on her. She had some beautiful moves, I'll say that, but she wasn't the freak of nature I've been led to expect. Leslie put up some gaudy numbers, but those were strongly helped by Cathrine's inability to box out properly. Also, those shenanigans with standing in the inbounder's spot when it was Liberty ball? Very immature. My high school team behaved better than that. Milton's a piece of work too, but we all knew that going in. Kiesha Brown really looks like she's come into her own in Los Angeles. While I wish it didn't have to be Los Angeles, I'm glad for her- she's been around so long that it's good to see her finally shine. I just wish she wasn't on the Dark Side of the Force, and that she hadn't almost kicked our asses. Not impressed with Ferdinand-Harris- the spirit is willing but the body doesn't go that fast anymore. Johnson's got a nice little jump shot, but I thought things went more smoothly with Brown in the game. Jessica Moore's reason for existence seems to be to be called for the fouls that she's in the vicinity of- not necessarily all of them committed by her, although she certainly does her part. Very little of Spencer- why not fight fire with fire, what's the worst that can happen?

Janelllllllllllllllllllll McCaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarville for the win! (Literally.) Has Nellie made it clear to everyone yet that she fears no one and nothing? What a move, what a game. And Miss Jackson- whew, she's tough. I'd like to see her go inside more instead of trying to take that jumper she's not so good with, but hey, it kinda worked tonight, so let's roll with that. Cathrine, while her defense was atrocious beyond belief, even more so than usual, displayed a knack for making some very big plays- in that regard, she reminds me very much of Elena. The late points, the late rebound, the late block. If they ever get bored with Captain Caveman, perhaps "Ride On Time" would work for her? Essence came in for defensive purposes and took some really, really bad shots. Like, seriously, E, you are not going to get a foul call one-on-four on a contested layup- pass the gods-bedamned ball and get the easy two for your teammate. Shameka hit one unbelievable three that had us all going "OH GOD TOO LONG" right until it swished through. She wasn't the Meeksiah, but we didn't need her to be. Ashley stepped up big tonight, when we needed her at both ends. About the only complaint I had about her was that she didn't use enough conditioner, and if I can see that from the upper deck… yeah. Leilani was solid, and ballsy- when you've got a fluffy little bunny throwing her body at a Sparks post, you might have a fluffy little bunny with nasty pointy teeth on your hands. Loree, watch your back. Lisa didn't have the world's greatest shooting night, but for that block, all can be forgiven.

I booed the three fighters. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I also screamed myself raspy trying to outshout the obnoxious Sparks fans around us. My humble apologies to the Finnish (?) fans in front of us. (Either Finnish or Slovakian. I'm not so good with the recognition of Eastern European languages; while the writing on the bag looked Finnish, it amused me to think that the girl in the McCarville jersey was from Kosice.)

Refs suck, what else is new? I thought Erlana was robbed of the and-1 on that play. And Leslie came damn close to being T'd up more than once.

Did anyone else see the Lady Blazers? They must have been heartbroken that Bobbitt had to miss that game. They have damn nice uniforms for a high school team- yes, I know, they're not your typical high school team, but I get to thinking that Piph must have thought she was going down in uniform quality when she went to RU.

How much do I love these Libkids? Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much. And more.

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Saturday, July 19, 2008

July 19th, 2008: Indiana at New York (at Arthur Ashe Stadium)

We will never speak of this day again.


After this weekend, we will never speak of this day again. It never happened. Someone realized that an outdoor game in the middle of July, played in a tennis stadium designed by aesthetes and not architects, with one team that features a coach who doesn't know how to sub and another team that's never been known for playing pretty, badly advertised and badly run, would be an exceptionally bad idea and would make the league look bad, so the Liberty graciously forfeited.

In all seriousness, despite the US Open drawing thousands of tennis fans, the folks running the fanfest and the stadium gates didn't seem to know how to deal with the Liberty crowd. Security was extremely tight, tighter than what I'm used to at the Garden, and ushers were few and far between, not to mention that the signage at the stadium is extremely unhelpful.

Um, stupid question: was any consideration given to what would happen if the heavens opened DURING the game?

Fanfest was okay, but I've never really been into those things, I don't give a crap about the Knicks, and I didn’t realize there were Liberty fans who didn't have Sue and Kym's autographs already. Found some nice shady spots, so that made time go by faster.

Dear Garden: please stop booking boy bands, especially boy bands that suck. V Factory was bad, but Menudo was worse.

WE DO NOT NEED AN MC. When that bimbo was talking over the Liberty's entrance onto the floor, I entertained fantasies of beating her to death with Scotty B and his spiritual successors in Connecticut.

Mary, don't drink before the game; Cathrine Kraayeveld's name is hard enough to say without you drinking and screwing it up in front of several thousand people, some of whom were in those #33 jerseys.

I don't know if it's blasphemous or awesome, but I saw a new-style, name-on-the-bottom, custom #23 Wicks jersey. What's the opposite of a throwback? But I also saw a lot of older gear- the #11s, the #50s (I saw more Rebecca Lobo jerseys today than I have in years, and that's not including the one pooled on my bed right now), the #24s, the #55s, the #34s- I even saw one woman in the ooooold player tees, a bright orange Sophia Witherspoon #13 shirt. YA RLY.

This is the second game in a row that a coach has made a last-second change to the starting lineup against us. This isn't kosher. I take solace in the fact that the last coach to pull a stunt like that against us is now an ex-coach. And Catchings took full advantage of the confusion, especially early in the game. She played a good solid game in preparation for Beijing, against competition that ought to be the equal of the bottom of the opening round pool. I worried a little bit about Tully when she got banged up- I don't think she'd want her last game stateside to be the one where she gets hurt- but she seemed all right. Flying's probably going to be hell, though. Douglas killed us in the second half, at both ends of the floor. That's the Douglas I remember from Connecticut. Hoffman wasn't what she was against us the last time, but she fought harder on the boards than any of the Libkids. And TSB showed up in the second half as well, and on the defensive end. I got my first look at Khadjiah Whittington, who I've heard so much about from Indy fans and from NC State fans, and I have to say that I like her. She reminds me a bit of D-Train, a fan favorite here in New York, because of her willingness to sacrifice her somewhat undersized body. Sherill Baker was deactivated in her place, depriving her of her revenge against her former team, but somehow I think she'll survive. I wasn't as impressed with LaToya Bond, although that might be because the Fever signed her distant cousin LaToya Boyd at some point, at least according to the Liberty PA announcer. You know you're having an off night when Mike W.- who I've heard rattle off Astou Ndiaye-Diatta and Naomi Mulitauaopele without a hitch- is screwing up names. Didn't see a lot of Ngoyisa or Mann- loving Mann's new hair color, though. Someone left Feaster open, and yep, you guessed it, she hit the open three. And she made a brilliant defensive play. You know you're having a bad night when Allison Feaster is kicking your ass on defense. Tan White decided to disprove my theory that her shot selection all season has been overcompensation for the wind and other factors she'd be facing in the outdoor game so that she'd be perfect in a game that her team might not be.

Who the fuck was that incompetent ditz in #20 tonight? Because she had the attention span of Iciss Tillis, the shooting skill of Bethany Donaphin, and the defensive skillset of Camille Cooper after her back started flaring up. Don't you try to tell me that was Shameka Christon in that uniform, because if it was, someone needs to smack that girl like her mama never did. That would have been Shameka's worst game ever, by a long shot, and I don't want to think that a game that bad could belong to the Shameka Christon who's been kicking ass most of this season. The defensive lapses… the balls through the fingertips… the missed shots… the bad shots… that's not the Shameka I knew. But #20 wasn't the only Liberty player out there who didn't seem to give a good goddamn. Janel wasn't with it, even if she scraped together 10 points. Cathrine wasn’t with it. Loree looked miserable. Essence looked like a splat on the rookie wall. I can haz Lisa Willis in mah startin lineup naow? The little bunny had a really awful pass (and another awful pass, but Janel was asleep on it as well, so I blame both the bunny and the Goth), but she was somewhat better than Loree. Jessica, for God's sake, REBOUND. I know #50 has a long tradition of big posts with no vertical, but REBOUND THE FUCKING BALL. It's not rocket science; you should be fine. Lisa at least seemed to care, and so did Tiffany, even if Tiff was taking shots she had no right to be taking. Ashley ran low on Red Bull- no, seriously, I'm not sure what happened, but right before the game she ran back inside.

There are things in this world I do not need to see. Lin Dunn in shorts is one of them. They enforced the dress code for the actual game, but the scars were already left. Even if the game hadn't sucked, I'd have needed eye bleach.

I'm used to crap fouls. I give up.

All of that being said, the actual watching experience wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. We got some nice breezes, the air cooled down, the noise level was acceptable, we could see the scoreboard, we got our stats, I even liked their organ better. I could see doing this again- IF it was better planned.

That's the problem with the Liberty front office. Give them lemonade, they'll somehow turn it into lemons. This would have been a better idea either as a preseason game or as an early-season game, in late May or early June, with a team that isn't as defensive-minded as Indiana, with enough lead time in the offseason to really build it up instead of having to split focus and try and sell both this game and the Garden games. Instead… we got this. And the quality of the game isn't really the FFO's fault (unless That Moron started coming up with excuses before tip), but the quality of the experience is. If I were a first-timer, like hell I'd be inclined to come back unless someone hooked me up for free, and did so for a Garden game.

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Thursday, July 17, 2008

July 17th, 2008: Washington at New York

New York Liberty 77, Washington Mystics 56

Leilani Mitchell bares her nasty pointy teeth, Ashley Battle flexes her considerable muscles, and dysfunctional Mystics are dysfunctional.


Okay, okay, it's the Mystakes, I shouldn't be getting too many of my hopes up after this, even after a performance like this. But damn, do I love these kids or what?

Very few Mystics involved in the pregame shootaround- just Mosby, Langhorne, and Sanford. We began to wonder if Tree Rollins had a cunning plan up his sleeve, but that would require Tree Rollins having a cunning plan. Then there was that whole thing with the change in the starting lineup, which I wasn't even sure was legal- would love to know the explanation for that one. So yeah, that was weird.

Janel was awfully moody during shootaround. Guess she was focusing on the game. Either that, or the randomizer came up with "emo" today for her persona.

Nice harmony on the anthem, though they missed a few notes. Also, please not to be wearing mopheads. They are not particularly decorative.

The more I see of Rollins's Mystics, the less I like them. It almost seems that the mentality of "if you can't beat 'em, beat 'em up" is coming into play; their style hints of desperation, and Beard's of despair. Taj must be so frustrated, going from dysfunctional team to dysfunctional team. I was surprised they didn't go in to her more, because the shots she took were going in, and she had a wily way of getting around the defense. Beard also seemed to be playing back, although I'm not sure how much of that was her having to be playmaker and how much of that was defense and how much of that was her just not giving a good goddamn. She came on in the third quarter, and somewhat in the fourth, but she wasn't as involved in the game as I'm used to, and I think once Currie started to suck, she needed to get more involved at the offensive end. Sanford seems to be resting on her laurels, having procured way too much money from the Lynx deal that the Mystics matched. Also, not a big fan of flying elbows and draaaaaaaaaaaaama. Spare me until you can hit the free throws. That goes for Currie, too. I keep telling myself I've been judging Currie on her build and her swagger, and then she goes out onto the floor and does something that makes me go, "oh, *that's* why I didn't like her, I remember now!" Nikki Blue does not impress me, though that may be because the most lasting impression I have of her from that game comes from 1) tripping Leilani with what looked like a hand on her leg to pull her down on replay (I reserve the right to have seen things wrong), and 2) her hand on Cathrine's leg like she should have been offering to buy Cat a drink- while on the other side of the floor, Jess or someone gets called for less of a foul. Strong rebounding and boxing out, though. Then again, it's not hard to box out the Libkids. Saw more of Mosby than I expected- is the Krystal Vaughn experiment over, then? Langhorne played well enough, had a couple of moves, but you can't airball a free throw. You just can't. Especially not when the odds are good you know someone in the crowd. Saw surprising amounts of Laurie Koehn in situations that I would not have expected to see Laurie Koehn in, and not in situations I would have expected her in for. Crystal Smith seemed to be in solely to match up with Leilani, and our midget is better than their midget. Wecker sighting, and I forgot she had that range, but other than that… and I'm trying to find something to say about Coco Miller, I really am. But looking at the boxscore, I don't think the Mystics fans would want me to.

Leilani!! Fluffy little bunny has her some nasty pointy teeth! How about that drive with the reverse layup? It's really fucking obvious to anyone with eyes that Loree's playing hurt, and that the pigeon-toed stride is not just her channeling Spoon. But for the first time since Coquese Washington, this team has a backup point guard who is competent, who is actually a point guard, and who the coach trusts. This makes me a lot more confident. And I'm loving Lisa's development. In a way, I think our guard reserves are learning from each other- Ashley knows that she has to score if she wants minutes, and in return Erin and Lisa are learning that they have to play defense if they want minutes. Erin had a great defensive play on Beard late in the game, which was a big help since Ashley was on Koehn. Lisa's getting very good at getting her hands on the ball. And our Miss Jackson on the boards, of course. So good to see Jess back on the court- yes, she's slow, but I believe that's called being a center in the Big Numerically Challenged; give her a little time and she'll round into proper WNBA shape. I have faith in her- but I'd have a helluva lot more if she'd grab onto a rebound and hold onto it instead of tapping it out and/or not getting a grip on it. Also, can I mention in passing that I get a warm, fuzzy feeling of rightness with #23 and #50 on the court at the same time? Yes, I'm weird. I thought Ashley was forcing her offense at times, but it could have been worse. As for the starters- well. It seems that Essence Carson is the kind of person who does nothing by halves. If she's going to hit the rookie wall, then by God, she's going to hit it so hard that she leaves a multi-colored splat on the wall. It's brutal for a Rutgers fan to watch. Cathrine- where has this Cathrine been for the last year or so, and can we keep her, please oh please can we keep her? Shot blocking monster in the paint, rebounding, setting screens- YES OH GOD YES. Janel and the Pick of Death- and her "did iiiiiiiii do thaaaaaaaat" reaction- are love. Big, painful love. Brutally efficient. Shameka didn't hit her shots, but the hair is awesome and she got herself to the line enough. And Loree? Loree is hurt. She has to be. Either that or this is a Pod Person and the real Loree is in space while aliens figure out how she got those shoulders.

Everyone forgot how to tell time today. The gates opened early- except upstairs, where they opened late. The Mystics committed more eight-second violations than I've ever seen in a pro game. The Liberty committed more shot clock violations than I've seen in a game. LOOK AT THE CLOCK. IS NO COMPLICATED.

Small crowd. Quiet crowd; by the time we had reason to get into it, it wasn't worth getting into because the butt-whooping was on and there was no need for that extra oomph.

We had Ad-Libs- everyone act surprised that Shameka takes the longest to get ready. Erin was very animated about it, though. Usually they deliver the answer as woodenly as a carpentry shop, but Erin elaborated on it- "the hair's gotta be right, she's gotta do the makeup, she has to have the right outfit". Oh, Erin. We also had the Maddie Awards- Lisa was the only one to get the line right, damnit!

Madame President was in the house, and I thought I saw Lib Fan giving her a piece of his mind about roster cards. I wouldn't be surprised.

Little Jackets versus Oh God Who Thought That Suit Was A Good Idea. Dear Coach Rollins: should you feel the burning urge to dress in team colors, may we suggest a tasteful blue suit? Blue works for everyone. Crystal Robinson looked good, though. She seems to have found a figure in recent years.

Lots of make-up calls and no-calls in this game. But it never got out of hand.

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Saturday, July 12, 2008

July 12th, 2008: Detroit at New York

New York Liberty 74, Detroit Shock 64

Sista Christon, oh, your time has come. Shameka Christon is on a roll, Lisa Willis helps out, and much noise is made in this joint.


Oh, what a night. Somehow we always seem to have these nights at the Garden against Detroit. And somehow I always seem to end up in Kate or Ali's seats by the Liberty bench for them. (At least this time it wasn't an ESPN game, and therefore I didn't have to worry about a pregnant Rebecca Lobo trying to get through, a situation I've been in two separate times.)

Kids' Day at the Garden, but they didn't do much with it- the big thing was having a kid do the starting lineups. She wasn't bad, except when she stumbled over "athletic trainer" the second time. Also, crowning moment of heartwarming: during shootaround, Megan Duffy and a young… maybe she was a camper at some point? For a while, I thought maybe a cousin, but then Duffy asked the kid if that was her family over there, so I'm guessing not related, because one should know what one's relatives look like. But it was a sweet little conversation.

Crowning moment of "oh God please tell me I stashed my handbag": Jess going through our very narrow aisle to greet someone. Images of newspaper articles flashed before my eyes: "Liberty center Jessica Davenport injured by tripping over fan's purse" Fortunately, all straps were under the chair and no harm was done, but damn, Jess, warn a fan!

Some genius, I don't know who or how or why, managed to put two Shock fans in our section. Behind the Liberty bench. And with both Kate and Alison not in attendance, we had to do a helluva lot of screaming for them. Casey, Catherine, apologies, but y'all do understand, right? Screaming for four, plus drowning out opposing fans. That's a lot of screaming.

There's nothing quite like a prolonged, close-up view of Deanna Nolan from behind to make one appreciate biceps, shoulders, a complete lack of body fat, and tattoos. That being said, this may have been the single worst game I've ever seen Deanna Nolan play in my life, and I've had season tickets for as long as she's been in the league. She looked so out of rhythm, and so lost while her teammates were taking some gods-awful shots. I'm going to hope that we can also credit Essence's defense, because Essence at the other end of the floor… well, some of us would like to sleep tonight, so let's not bring that up. And Smith wasn't hitting all the shots she usually hits, either, and she got some open looks that made me cringe. Very solid play by Humphrey- what is it with Bill and getting the best out of these Bulldogs? Does he have some kind of weird link with Andy Landers? I like her stroke, especially for a big. I think she could have gotten a little more time. Especially with some of the shots Braxton put up. Lord have mercy. Sometimes I genuinely wonder if she knows what the point of the game is. But I should leave her alone- she was very nice to fans after the game. Remind me again why Cheryl Ford isn't on the national team? I mean, okay, the Liberty are not the best rebounding team in the world, but still. If she's not an alternate, I'm going to have to help Bill light the torches and hand out the pitchforks. She played very, very well. Sheri Sam just kind of seemed to be there. Big, solid guard, but not the world's greatest ballhandler- we had the pleasure of seeing Shameka and one of the other Libkids trap her right near our sideline until they finally got the steal. For a defensive fan, that's hot. Lovelace played in very brief stretches and did little with them. Plenette Pierson did everything I've ever expected from her: she scored, she rebounded, she fouled, she flopped, she defended. Hornbuckle- you can see the potential, but she looked more like a rookie than Humphrey did. DNPs for Sanni and Murphy, which led to a bit of confusion later when Murphy came out with Sanni's luggage. Bill's a drama queen, but we all know this, and it's fun to watch. I was almost hoping he'd get T-ed up- I've never seen an ejection from court level before, and I would have liked to see a walk of shame from there. But it is what it is, and I think the refs were smart enough not to T him up, given some of the calls. I was really surprised they shot so much from the perimeter- they have more than enough muscle, and guileful muscle at that, to take any team short of LA in the post, and especially a team like the Liberty with an undersized center and a power forward who thinks she's a shooting guard. I'm glad Detroit didn't play to their strengths, but I expect better than that from Bill.

Shameka Christon! Damn, girl. Just, damn. She got it done down the stretch at both ends of the floor. She came up big right when we needed her to. If she's truly coming into her own, then glory be, and I'll be glad to be along for the ride. And Lisa with the big bucket- oh, that was key, and she's learning how to play both ends of the floor. See? SEE? Sometimes players take TIME to develop! On the other hand, if they're Tiffany Jackson, maybe sometimes they don't need as much time and they can go in and begin kicking ass with exceptional speed. I love her more the more I see her go in and work on the inside. So if she doesn't have a jump shot, I can deal- my favorite post at St. John's has a jumper that makes T-Spoon look like an expert gunner- as long as she's going inside and she's rebounding and she's bringing hustle and energy. She did lose her defensive assignment a couple of times, though, and that's gotta stop. Essence took some dumb shots tonight- just didn't seem to be all with it, although I do note she had the assignment on Nolan, and Nolan went 2-13, so some of that ought to be credited to E. Cathrine got really exposed against the Shock posts- damnit, I know from personal experience that white girls can't jump, but this takes the phrase to new levels. Good grief. Janel, also with the lack of boxing out, but she at least went in, whereas all Cathrine's makes were from the outside. Loree was pretty good, with occasional moments of "oh crap, there's the pod person again". Leilani was not as impressive, but I think there was only one WTF moment when she was on the floor. Don't remember what it was, but one is still better than many. Also, Leilani has brass ones, because she got stuck guarding Detroit posts on more than one possession, and did the best she could with a hard-charging Pierson and the 6'6" Braxton. Ashley played two awful minutes and sat the rest of the game. Right move, much as I hate to say it, because while Lisa didn't turn on until late in the game, she wasn't screwing up quite as spectacularly as AB, who managed to miss rim on both of her lay-ups. Erlana went in, worked hard, and *le gasp* boxed out.

Inconsistency, it is a referee thing. We saw a couple of the questionable calls, and I think Detroit did get the worst of it, but there was always a strong sense of WTF about the refereeing.

Madam President in the house!

I wasn't listening to the halftime concert- as mentioned in another thread, I was copyediting the game notes they gave us. "A piece" is supposed to be one word, and I'm fairly certain the shot from beyond the arc is hyphenated- three-pointer, not three pointer. I'll shut up about the grammar now.

So good to have Vera back. Apparently Mary Murphy's on vacation. Mary, we love ya, but feel free to take as much summer vacation as you want, because Vera's such a joy to have around. We saw her after the game and many of us let her know how much we missed her.

Also coming out the side door after the game were several Shock players: Braxton, Murphy, and Lovelace. To my embarrassment, I didn't recognize Murphy the first time I saw her (in my defense, she was a DNP and I'd forgotten what she looked like from last year, and she was carrying Sanni's luggage) and I think she initially thought I was either asking for Lovelace's auto or Madam President's auto. So yeah. If any Shock PR types have managed to read down this far, please convey my apologies- yes, I really do know who Eshaya "Shay" Murphy is.

These kids are going to kill me one day. The only question is whether I die happy or not.

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Sunday, July 6, 2008

July 5th, 2008: Minnesota at Seattle

NB: To the anonymous who keeps trying to shill that gods-awful idea of the "Outdoor Classic" on my blog- STOP IT. I will keep rejecting your comments, and if you're with the Liberty, Amy is going to hear it.

Seattle Storm 96, Minnesota Lynx 71

Lauren Jackson is a golden goddess, Katie Gearlds has cojones, and awesome Stormfans are awesome.


Sorry for the delay on these- I have been out of town, you know.

I still love Key Arena, although it occurs to me that the other thing it needs is some way of keeping one posted on the out-of-town scores; I had to rely on text messages and a friendly Storm fan to keep me posted on the Liberty (thanks, Awase!)

Anthem was less impressive tonight- the other night, on the clarinet, was quite lovely, but this gentleman seemed to have issues with finding his key. Ironic, in *the* Key, no?

Did Nicole Ohlde actually… you know… play? Because I think I remember seeing her for something like ten seconds, and that was the end of it, so either she didn't play all that much, or she was completely unforgettable when she was in. Seimone is Seimone. There really isn't much more to it than that. She'll get her shots, and most of the time she'll get her makes. She's so smooth and so good at finding her shot. DeForge was another one, I got the sense she was there but I don't remember her doing much- this might have had to do with the bench playing most of the game for Minnesota as the lead got so rapidly out of hand. Quinn seems to be slipping this season, but she's still a better option than Harding, who seems to have lost any speed she once had- there was one play where she was so frozen she looked like a statue, and I always had the impression that she had decent speed before the knee injury. Anosike played tough, and I thought she played well. (The woman behind me, who was giving Anosike and Hayden hell all night, might disagree with me, but that's fine with me. Hard for Queens to agree with the Bronx.) Wiggins did not have a very good game at all, and once that happened, she started whining. I try to like her, I really do, but on the court she comes off like she has a chip on her shoulder the size of a redwood, and she plays like she's entitled to any call she wants. Hayden got a little rough, and she too has lost her edge- before the game, though, we had a great conversation about "Shot Clocks", so if accommodatingly notes an order from the Twin Cities in the near future, he's quite welcome. Confused as to why she's hyphenated on the jersey but not in the PA announcements.

LaurenfreakingJackson. LaurenfreakingJackson from eight rows back of the Storm bench. I traveled with two Storm fans, and I think they thought they died and went to heaven. She's in fine form. But you don't need me to tell you that. Or that Bird ran one of the smoothest games I've ever seen from a PG- I think the worst tangle she ever got herself into was when she wasn't happy with her ponytail and Swoopes reassured her that it was just fine. Yo… she's a nice solid presence, but she can't do all that much anymore other than hit people. The fast break she attempted to run was not something I really wanted to see. Swin was really getting lost on defense, and I think that's why Agler kept pulling her. He had a good grip on the rhythm and flow of the game, I felt- something I've felt sorely lacking in New York's coaching, and something I am therefore more attentive to when watching other teams. I don't remember much of what Swoopes did, although I know she was in on a couple of pretty plays, because I remember hearing "from Sheryl Swoopes" over the PA. Katie Gearlds was on fire, and I was so glad to see that- she seems like such a sweet kid, and she had a career night. Beautiful. She's got cojones, too! How many times was she guarding 4s and 5s? Tanisha Wright had some unbelievable plays- for good or for ill in some cases. Little and Ely both struck me as there and getting things done. Kelly Santos seems to like to hit people. Kristin O'Neill got in the game for extended minutes, and everyone was screaming for her teammates to get her the ball so she could score, and I do believe the roof would have come flying off the building if she'd done that. But T wanted to get to double figures and I think they knew KG was going for a career-high, so. It is what it is, and I think O'Neill's proven herself worthy of a second seven-day deal.

Ashley Robinson sprained her ankle in the game against New York, and thus was in street clothes. Hot DAMN. I'm surprised people don't try to cause her mild strains just to make sure she dresses in street clothes for every game- yes, I know, I know, she's also an excellent shot blocker and a key piece of the Storm's bench, especially given Yo's age.

I was surprised the mayor showed up, too, but I admit being rather neutral about that. Y'all still have the Storm, so I'm happy about that.

Favorite curse word of the game- Yo after either her first or second foul, in which she ended up on the floor and with the foul. A very loud F-bomb escaped her as she stalked back towards her bench. I wouldn't want to get Yo Griffith mad enough to start cussing at me, would you?

The crew wasn't too horrible, although there were a couple of sketchy calls- but a couple, not an entire game's worth. I was worried, since Scott Twhat-the-hell's-his-name was part of that crew, but the female ref and the other dude seemed to have control of it.

I'm still on cloud nine. Everything was just so cool!

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July 3rd, 2008: New York at Seattle

Seattle Storm 84, New York Liberty 71

Paging Loree Moore to the New York Liberty. Will Loree Moore please get her ass back to the New York Liberty?

My first visit to the Key was everything I could possibly have hoped for, and I get now why people speak so highly of it- the only thing that went wrong was that, oh, yeah, the Liberty lost, and for me, that is a sad-making thing.

I really like Seattle Center. Very pretty- reminded me a little of the Mall in DC. Bought my tickets yesterday, exchanged teasing words with the folks there, and came back today to drop off some tickets at will call. On my way there, as I tromped along the street, limping because my right pinky toe is in fact one giant blister, I heard someone yell, "Hey, Queenie!" Besides the fact that that fulfilled one of the fantasies I'd had about this trip, it was all kinds of cool- the driver was Brrringy, of Stormfan fame, and she brought me over to jilly's house, where I met her and her infamously photogenic kidlets, then gave me a lift back to the Key. I think that's one of my favorite things about Stormfans- it's like one big Internet-connected family.

I love the Key. I mean it. I don't understand what the hell the NBA's issue is with it. I felt more comfortable there than I ever thought I would in a strange arena- I think it's because here it's clear the WNBA team is the tenant, at least during the season, (yeah, yeah, ignoring the Sonics news)- the people who run the Key are focused on the team that's there at the time. At the Garden, I always get the sense that the Liberty are the red-headed stepchild. The curtains helped- for a while, I even forgot that there were seats up there. About the only thing I don't like about the Key are the cupholders- they make the seats too narrow and the aisles too narrow. But if that's the only complaint I can come up with...

Would someone clue me in on what happened to Janel? Why she didn't play part of the second quarter and the entire second half? Because she better have been hurt or sick or something along those lines, because I can't seriously believe that That Moron would have passed the event horizon of stupidity for some petty reason. I don't think that helped our attempts to defend Lauren Jackson- note that I said attempts, this is LJ we're talking about here- because Cathrine was gods-awful on defense, and while Erlana tried, she's a rookie and easily tricked. (Also, Erlana? You ARE NOT IVORY LATTA. please stop with the fancy dribbling. What is with centers who think they're point guards on this team?) Cathrine at least got some of her shots, but I cannot express enough my extreme frustration with her "rebounding" and "defense". Loree did not put any mark on this game. At all. Essence brought more offense in one game than I've seen from her in two weeks straight- I just wish she'd figure out that the WNBA three-point line is further back than the collegiate line, because we might only have lost by ten if those long twos had been threes. It's uncharcteristically stupid of E to make the same mistake over and over and over again. Shameka got hot late, though the Storm fans I was with were very impressed with her range. For some reason, when Cathrine was playing like the worst kind of crap, that was when That Moron decided to deviate from her pattern and go with Leilani before Tiffany... and then put Tiffany in for Janel. The logic or lack thereof broke my brain a little. Leilani played well- fluffy little bunny has nerve. Lisa... did not play well. Let's leave it at that. Not a lot of Ashley, and a very momentary Erin Thorn sighting. I just don't understand my team sometimes, I really don't.

Lauren Jackson is unfrickinbelievable, and I realize this is belaboring the obvious liek woah, but she really is amazing. Bird played a great floor game, not to mention the scoring she put up because she ran circles around our guards. Swoopes, yeah, what tweaked knee? She helped turn the momentum back around right when the Libkids had cut it to 9. Cash was solid, and I thought played above average defense. Griffith was there, and part of the fierce rebounding (yeah, seriously, I knew it was a bad sign for the 'kids when Seattle's first possession started with four offensive rebounds before LJ could score). Don't remember much about the Seattle bench, to be honest with you, but, yeah, Tanisha Wright is not a point guard. Seattle loves their Huskies, though- O'Neill got one helluva hand when she came into the game, though she didn't play all that much. I guess solid but unimpressive might be the word.

Wish these notes were doomier. But I'm wiped.

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