June 7th, 2009: Connecticut at New York

Connecticut Sun 66, New York Liberty 57

LEILANI MITCHELL YOU GUYS. Wait, what do you mean there's another half to play? Aw, fuck...


Opening Day, done as right as you would expect from this squad. Some hits, some misses, but mostly hits. Well, until the third quarter...

I don't want to say that we were waiting eagerly for this season here, but I met up with the boy for lunch at quarter to twelve- and a few of the Usual Suspects were already in position by the side door. We had another incident of "how the hell do you lose a six-three power forward?" when Tiffany did a vanishing act. Don't worry, she came back for the game. Maybe she got her hair done- she's got a beautiful braid thing going on.

A couple of us were in Comets gear, and a few others were in red. What I find interesting was the amount of black jerseys I saw. A lot of #24s, a lot of #11s, a lot of #50s. Good times. A pretty large crowd, more than I remembered from late last season. More involved than the Connecticut fans were.

Lots of Girl Scouts. They did the anthem, starting off awkwardly but finishing strong. I hope whoever started making a ruckus during the anthem couldn't help himself, because otherwise I'll hunt him down and smack him upside the head. The Girl Scouts were also involved in the ball exchange, though I didn't realize they allowed boys. Also also, they were one of the timeout entertainments.

I like whoever's in the Maddie suit this year. He, she, it has a sense of humor. And the way they punked the Sun fan was hysterical. The contest involved putting on a Velcro-coated suit and rolling around in fake cash while blindfolded. So the first guy, a Liberty fan, did it, and got a fair amount of money. Then the Sun fan put on her blindfold... and the Torch Patrol changed out the sheet for an empty one, so she was rolling around on center court with nothing to show for it, while Mike W. and the crowd shouted encouragement. You can imagine the look on her face when she took off the blindfold and realized she didn't have any money on. I don't know if she was in on it or not, but she was a good sport either way.

LOVE the new video. It's good to see the players involved in the team media again. Now, if only the league-mandated Kat Deluna appearance hadn't put the screeching brakes on the intros, we might have had some momentum. I think it's interesting that with Loree on the bench, Janel's moved up in the pecking order- she's a co-captain now, and she got pride of place as the last player announced.

Dear Erin: this is not Aussie Rules. Please stop trying to tackle people. Your enthusiasm, energy, hustle, and other things that are necessary for chasing loose balls are starting to cross the line towards insanity and reckless behavior. At least some of her shots went in today, unlike yesterday. That was awkward. Lindsay Whalen was rebounding like nobody's business. It was absurd. But she and the Liberty were using the same "drive, then stop driving" playbook. I'm wondering if that would have been the same if Connecticut hadn't played the day before. Chante Black made a cameo appearance, but between foul trouble and rookie jitters, Thibault made it clear he didn't trust her in crunch time. Kerri Gardin continues to offense/defense platoon with Turner, though she got hot in the third quarter. Well, okay, maybe it was just lukewarm, but hotter'n noon on the Fourth of July compared to the Liberty's "offense". Asjha Jones played a very physical game, with some borderline plays at some points. I wasn't exactly happy with her. Neither were the fans; there were a few boos when she was introduced, probably from bitter Rutgers fans.

Whitmore did not have a horrible game off the bench. Kiesha Brown briefly continued her Roaring Rampage of Revenge against another team that cut her. She's really a steadying hand for that team when Whalen or Phillips have to go to the bench. Not that Cirone is doing badly, but she's more of a sparkplug. Situationally, it makes sense to put Brown in when things don't need to change and Cirone when things do need to change. Barbara Turner keeps making boneheaded mistakes. Maybe she was afraid of Anne Donovan. She almost hit a heave at the end of the third quarter, which would just have been ridiculous. Ervin did a great job on the inside. Small but critical plays. I like her. I don't know why Sun fans are bitching about Thibault. If he calls the plays and the players go off and do something else, that's not his problem. And his subbing is situational. He actually looks at matchups, unlike most coaches.

LEILANI FUCKING MITCHELL! I don't care what else the Fluffy Little Bunny did or didn't do, that shot was fucking amazing. She doesn't have the stamina to be the starting point guard a team like New York- with a coach who trusts her reserves as far as she can throw them- is going to need. Janel looked good in spurts, but if she starts thinking she's Elena Baranova and she can can threes on a regular basis, I'm going to learn some new swear words just so I can use them on her. Cathrine was at least rebounding, but once again, she was back to thinking she was a small forward. Dear Cathrine: WE HAVE SHAMEKA FOR THAT. Go set a Screen of Death on somebody. I hope Shameka's gonna be okay. We really don't need another hamstring injury. Except for the third quarter, I don't know what Essence was doing out there.

Loree is starting to walk more and more like Spoon every day, though that may have more to do with the hammy than with the channeling. She still doesn't look right out there, but what the fuck else are we going to do. Ashley made things happen, but they weren't always good things. Sometimes too much energy is a bad thing. I blinked, and apparently Tiffany Jackson was in and out of the game while I did so. Kia Vaughn still looks like a rookie out there. HIT SOMEBODY! The teddy bear wearing #15 shouldn't be making more contact with people than you do! Erlana mostly committed fouls. Spencer was a decent rebounder, but I'm still not sure why we traded for her.

Bonita Spence lost weight, but she also seems to have lost competence. I wouldn't be surprised if the play where Shameka was injured gets reviewed by the league. There were some dangerously borderline plays that weren't called that could lead to the axiomatic slippery slope. No full nelsons, please.

Awesomesauce sightings: Billie Jean King, Sue Wicks, Kym Hampton. Also, Kia and/or Essence may have had folks in the stands. There was also a ridiculously tall, skinny blonde who left around the same time as Sue. I mean really tall. She made Sue look short, while wearing flats. Our guess is that she was a former St. Francis player, Katja Bavendam.

I also love the new video for "Gotta Get Up". Ashley's little dance moves! The performance was live today, which was way cool, but I hope it's not live for every game.

Flags! Flags for the starters! Made of win! "Do you have a flag?" "Yes, actually! *plants flag in some other team's ass*"

It's good to be home. It's always good to be home. I just wish we'd had a little more offense after Leilani's shot.