Dream Seeks Victories...and Profit

Henry Unger over at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes about the Dream's financial state. There are some interesting paragraphs:

Betty purchased the team, which had lost about $3 million, in late October, saving it from a likely relocation to Tulsa.

That implies that the Dream lost around $1.5 million a year during the two years of the Terwilliger Era, which correlates with what I've heard before about how much a typical WNBA team might lose.

Some of her hard work is paying off. Betty has reduced the red ink by cutting expenses, securing sponsors such as Aaron’s, Coke and Grady, and hiring an experienced sports exec, Toby Wyman, as chief operating officer.

For any reader that hasn't met Betty, you should. She radiates charisma. Is it sexist to say something about "brains and beauty"? I hope not.

But, even with a first place team, attendance is well behind where it needs to be. To break even, the Dream needs to draw about 8,500 paying fans, Betty said. This season, it has been averaging “just under 7,000,” which is similar to last year’s performance.

Interesting. I don't know if we can make 8500. Even the Braves couldn't fill up their stadium during their championship years; Atlanta sports fans that aren't solely University of Georgia football fans are hard to come by.

Next week, Henry Unger reports about Fitz Johnson and the Atlanta Beat. I'll look forward to it.

John Smoltz vs. The Dream

Picture above from Vino Wong at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz has been keeping himself busy in retirement. According to an article by Pierce W. Huff in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The unofficial “John Smoltz Life After Baseball Tour” found Smoltz in an unfamiliar spot Friday, practicing with the Dream at Georgia Tech.

The practice was Smoltz’s way of promoting the Dream and drawing attention to women’s professional sports, and when it was over he realized that he chose the right professional sport to pursue when he was younger.

“I don’t know if I made [Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo] proud as much as I enjoyed the experience today with some of the greatest female basketball players in the world,” Smoltz said. “You look from afar, and you don’t realize how quick, how strong and how talented they are. So, it was a great experience.”

...

“I think [Smoltz] is a great athlete,” Dream general manager/coach Marynell Meadors said. “Our players absolutely fell in love with him.”


Hey, athletes are the first ones to respect what other athletes do. They know how difficult it is. I hope Smoltz had a great time and that he'll come to a few games.

Dream Put on Hard Hats and Dig Selves Out of Hole

This is from a web page from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about how hot it is during the summer.

Clearly, Taj McWilliams and Armintie Price are willing to establish position on the court no matter what it takes.

The Dream and its Increasing (?) Attendance

Pierce W. Huff writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the Dream's...increasing attendance?

It's all in a marketing day's work. As they have season, the Dream last Thursday continued with their all-out promotional blitz, using team appearances, community functions and ticket giveaways to make themselves better known to the local community. The goal: increase ticket sales, even if it means personally meeting every Atlantan to do so.

The hard work is already paying dividends.

With average attendance up to 5,784, the Dream are drawing 1,300 more fans per game than last year. Attendance has increased in each of its past three home dates. The Dream plays Tulsa at noon Wednesday, the unusual start time due to the WNBA's annual Kids Day.

“There had been a very low awareness of this brand and this organization,” said Toby Wyman, the Dream’s president and chief operating officer.

Really? I thought attendance was down. Of course, it could be that the 4,284 number from last year - 5,784 minus the 1,300 more we're supposed to be drawing this year - is the real, secret number of fannies in seats from last year. (The number that only the DFO and Donna Orender knows about.) In which case, stand back for Wednesday because they're going to blow right past 5,784 in actual attendance during Kids Day.

New AJC Article: Dream Glad to be Home

Pierce W. Huff is on top of things in Atlanta. He asks the rhetorical question "Will the real Atlanta Dream stand up?" in this article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Pierce W. Huff is definitely one of the good guys.)

One thing is certain, based on the way the league has approached playing the Dream, opponents believe they are closer to being the 6-0 team than the one that struggled in its next four games.

Lehning said teams no longer overlook the Dream.

“I think everybody knows about the Atlanta Dream,” Lehning said.

Alison Bales Makes the AJC

Pierce W. Huff writes an article about Alison Bales and the turnaround of her career at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

From the article:

Bales re-joined the Dream this season and has made an instant impact. She had five rebounds and gave the team some needed energy off the bench in Saturday’s season opener at the San Antonio Silver Stars. She scored eight points and had four rebounds in Sunday’s home opener against the Indiana Fever.

Dream coach/general manager Marynell Meadors said this Alison Bales is completely different than the Alison Bales who played on the team during its inaugural season three years ago.

“I think two years ago she wasn’t real sure if basketball was in her future, and some things happen for a reason,” Meadors said. “I think when she got cut in Phoenix and didn’t have basketball, probably for the first time in her life, she decided she really missed it.”

Definitely give it a read.

De Souza Also Ready for Opener

Pierce W. Huff of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on Erika de Souza's arrival in training camp. She literally arrived in camp on Media Day:

Meadors said the only change she will make to help de Souza early in the season is to limit her practice time instead of her game time. Her goal is to conserve the wear and tear on de Souza's legs.

De Souza talked about Brazil a little bit....

“Rio is like having a country inside a city,” she said. “You can find everything there, nice people, wonderful nature, beach, friends, and this is my eternal home. People in Brazil poke fun on cariocas [citizens of Rio], telling them that we are ‘players,’ and this happens because in Sao Paulo and south Brazil, as it is colder, they have a different way of having fun, to see life.”

But to me, this was the most important part of the article. De Souza plays basketball for something beyond the love of the game - there are a lot of people depending on her....

De Souza uses some of the money earned from playing in the Euroleague and the WNBA to provide for her younger brothers, grandmother and father back in Rio.

“It is important that they have the opportunity to have a better chance in life,” she said. “In Brazil, the private schools are expensive, and it is important to invest in it in order to have the best scholarship as possible. Talking about my grandmother, I must confess I spoil her, everything she wants and I need I buy for her. She is my mom right now.”

What's the rule? IF YOU DON'T CLICK ON THE ARTICLE, THEY DON'T THINK YOU'RE INTERESTED. So show the lugnuts at the AJC something and click like a mad person. (End of rant.)

Digest 01-2010

* Thinking about Training Camp
* The Meadors Hire: A Geno Conspiracy?
* Tony Wyman and the Gwinnett Post
* Dream Home Games Covered by Fox Sports
* Dream Players Overseas

I can't believe it. Tax Day has come and gone and we are now in mid-April. As I write this we're exactly a month away from the opening game of the 2010 Atlanta Dream season.

Training camp starts on April 25th, and it looks like everyone will be there - with a few exceptions. The first of these exceptions is in Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza. Each of those players is still in Spain, and undoubtedly will be dealing with the post-season playoffs. (Their teams are #2 and #1 in the Spanish League, respectively, and both teams went deep into Euroleague play.) The other exception is in Kelly Miller, who might still be finishing up with Spartak Moscow in Russia.

There are a couple of other players still theoretically attached to their European teams, but I don't know how strong that attachment is. Yelena Leuchanka is still on the Galatasaray roster in Turkey, and I don't know if the Dream, or Galatasaray expect her to remain in Turkey when there's a training camp going on. It took the Dream three years to finally get Leuchanka signed, a signing that was always real soon now. It looks like it has finally happened, but as I wrote before, I'll not believe it until I see Leuchanka wearing powder blue.

The other case is that of Demetress Adams, who is playing for Burgos in Spain. Burgos is a top team, but it's a top team in the FirstTop League at the end of the year, and Burgos is the #1 team in LFB2. How bad do they need Demetress Adams....

...and how bad do we need her? If Adams were really good, she'd be in the first league - the best players in LFB2 are usually college players who couldn't make a WNBA roster and are just looking to play basketball for some amount of money, somewhere. Adams should be dominating play in LFB2 if she were pro caliber - can you imagine what a Diana Taurasi would do against the warm bodies of LFB2 competition? - but she has struggled. The hiring of Adams has perplexed me, and the only conclusion I can come up with is that Adams is a warm body - until de Souza and Lyttle show up.

A final question is about Jennifer Lacy. The last I heard, Lacy was still (technically) an unsigned free agent. Can you appear in training camp if you're not signed to a contract?

Other training camp arrivees haven't clocked a single pro game over the past seven or so months. I don't believe that Coco Miller was signed anywhere in the off-season, and if she was, she was probably playing somewhere like Nicaragua where I never heard of it. Armintie Price and Shalee Lehning were busy brushing up on a potential future coaching career - Price at Ole Miss and Lehning at Kansas State.

Lehning had other distractions as well. First, she had to finish her degree. We can proudly say that Lehning graduated K-State in December. Second, she spent the first part of the off-season recovering from a horrible shoulder separation. It was one of the worst separations the doctor treating her had ever seen, and such injuries cast rational doubts about Lehning's power to recover. From my brief interactions with Lehning, she strikes me as a woman with a lot of willpower. If Lehning can recover, she will recover. The problem for both Lehning and Price will be in recovering and shaking off the rust at the same time.

Every other player on the roster (save for the newest acquisitions) spent some time overseas. Erica White was in Israel. The three draft picks spent time on a college roster somewhere. However, not all pro experiences are equal.

Take the case of Chamique Holdsclaw. The Claw started out with Good Angels Kosice in the fall, played a couple of games with them, and was unceremoniously dumped. My understanding is that the Good Angels felt that they had gotten a broken player, basically - that Holdsclaw's knee injuries were worse than what they were led to believe. The Claw returned to the United States for a few months, and then took off again to play for K. V. Imperial in Cyprus.

I hope I'm not insulting Cypriot basketball when I say that...well, it's not top caliber. K. V. Imperial is sorta top caliber - they did well in Eurocup, after all - but I don't think it's the kind of a team that leaves a Perfumerias or an Ekaterinburg or a Brno with night sweats and horrible dreams.

For the rest of the players, however, it has been a really good year overseas. Sancho Lyttle, Erika de Souza, Kelly Miller and Iziane Castro Marques all played for teams that went deep in Euroleague, one of the premier events in European basketball. Each of those players went into the postseason with their respective clubs in the various national basketball leagues. Most national leagues play a game a week; those players played two or more a week as they juggled the obligations of their national leagues with Euroleague. Playing the best top-ranked competition can only make you a better player; playing in the post-season teaches you what it takes to go deep.

A concern for anyone following how well players do overseas is fatigue. NBA players get a few months off where they don't have to play any basketball if they don't want to. Not so for the women: women's pro basketball pays poorly and it's a necessity to go overseas if you want to make a living. One would expect these players to be exhausted come the WNBA.

I believe that Marynell Meadors, on the other hand, might come to an opposite conclusion than the fans would come to. The Dream players are ready. Many played for clubs still in contention, so they're not dealing with an enforced four to eight week layoff caused by their European clubs not making the post-season. Their basketball reflexes are still fresh.

I know that Meadors has definitely been keeping up with the successes and failures of her various players. I also expect very little to surprise her. However, you never know what's going to happen until the 2010 WNBA season starts - let's hope that the 2010 Atlanta Dream training camp is a positive experience for the fans, for the players, and for everyone.

(* * *)

One of the most joyful/frustrating things about following women's basketball is the tendency of its fandom to attribute the worst possible motives to every single action that anyone could possibly undertake. Given the struggles of the game, I can understand why - betting on the worst, cheapest, most petty motive is usually the winning bet. (*) However, when taken to extremes the paranoia and hostility exhibited can be very very frustrating.

Take the case of Dream coach Marynell Meadors. Meadors was given the honor of being named to the coaching staff of the USA Women's Basketball Team, whose head coach is currently Geno Auriemma. Women's BB fans immediately began attempting to fit the hire into their existing world-view. The take: this hire had nothing to do with talent, and was merely the end result of the need for Auriemma to be in absolute control of his surroundings - since Meadors was such a bad coach (so the story goes) she would be a mere cipher on the coaching staff compared to the manaical brilliance that was Geno.

However, there are many other good reasons for Auriemma to have hired Meadors, none of which have to do with control fantasies. Let's look at some plausable theories:

As honorarium: As I've written before, Meadors is the oldest coach in the WNBA. She's contributed to the sport for decades. Last year, she was named the WNBA's Coach of the Year - I don't think she deserved the vote, but one could argue that she deserved to win on the basis of the team's turnaround from bottom-basement dweller from the previous year to playoff team in 2009.

If Auriemma really doesn't "need" a new coach - so the conspiracy goes - then why not Meadors? Of course, Meadors could be coaching into the 2020s but she might also decide at some point to hang up the clipboard. Maybe USA Basketball decided to add to Meadors's resume as a reward.

Management: You have to remember that Angel McCoughtry is currently on both the Atlanta Dream and the USA Women's Basketball Team. If there's anyone who knows Angel McCoughtry besides the women who have played against her, it's Marynell Meadors. Having Meadors on the team might give Auriemma some extra insight into McCoughtry's noggin. (Or he could just call Jeff Walz.)

Actual coaching: If you don't know Meadors's background, there are two things you should know. First, she has served as an assistant coach before. Meadors's career hasn't gone in a straight line of "first assistant coach, then coach." In her pro career, she's gone back and forth between head coach and assistant coach. Meadors knows what the role of assistant is. A person who had been head coach for the last twenty years might have find sliding into the assistant role more difficult.

Evaluation and building: The Atlanta Dream is not the first team that Meadors has built from the ground up. The other team was the Charlotte Sting, so Meadors knows what its like to build a cohesive team out of...well...nothing.

Furthermore, Meadors seems to have a good eye for evaluating talent. Some might claim that Meadors's acquisitions were either no-brainers (McCoughtry) or from luck (Lyttle, Holdsclaw) but I think that the proof for such claims lies on the one making the claim - choices such as Erika de Souza panned out when no one thought they were, and Shalee Lehning did a fairly decent job of running the point guard spot for a rookie.

In short, I suspect the complaints are more an attempt to insult both Meadors and Auriemma than they are attempts to explain the hire. One thing I know about Auriemma - he loves winning and he is the kind of man who would "run through Hell in a gasoline suit" to win a ball game. (**) If he signed Meadors to his coaching staff, there is only one logical conclusion: he thought she would help guarantee his team a FIBA medal. But of course, even American gold won't sway those that have made up their minds otherwise.



(*) - This is true for other professional sports as well. However, as women's pro basketball is on shakier ground, the creaks in the floorboards make more noise.
(**) - Quoted initally by Pete Rose, describing his own love of baseball.

(* * *)

The Gwinnett Daily Post writes an article about Toby Wyman, the new Chief Operating Officer of the Atlanta Dream. I'm glad to see that the Gwinnett paper is writing about the Dream; the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's treatment of the Dream is either neglect (in the print edition) or abuse (in the blog sections).

Whether the Gwinett paper will cover more Dream stories remains to be seen. The author is Christine Troyke, I think you should send a comment if you were glad to read the article. It looks like some Georgia paper might end up leading the pack on Dream coverage; the sad story is that the leader in Dream coverage might not be Georgia's supposed flagship paper.

Other than that, the treatment of Wyman's career is interesting. They ask him what the #1 goal of the Dream is, and it is not "to win games". It is this:

"I think what we want to do is, No. 1, it’s like anything else, we want to be a viable, successful franchise that is relevant in this marketplace. Which means putting people in the seats every night."

I like the phrase "to be relevant". The Number One goal of any franchise is survival, and in order to survive you have to be relevant enough to get the turnstiles turning. You have to be on the map in the local scene, and this is very difficult in the college-football crazy South. Over the off-season, I've watched Kathy Betty try to sell the team seemingly to one person at a time - appearing pretty much anywhere she can get the word out. You have to admire the effort, but at times I feel a little embarrassed. In my mind's eye, I see Betty appearing in front of sparse crowds anywhere she can hang her shingle, trying to convince potential fans and trying to drum up interest. Can you build a fan base that way? Yes...but is that method the best use of your time and money?

Wyman speaks about what I call the pro paradigm. It's the belief that the WNBA must promote itself like any dull NBA game. Troyke asks Wyman if a better model for the WNBA wouldn't be something like Triple-A baseball:

"But, yes, absolutely, from an accessibility standpoint, from and entertainment standpoint, one of our goals is we need to broaden ourselves out a bit. Certainly we’re a women’s product, but at the end of the day we just want to be perceived as good, sports, family entertainment.

That means we’re also committed to winning on the court. We want to win championships. But certainly we want people to feel like it’s a great entertainment product and, just like anything else, enjoy themselves and keep coming back."

Troyke then addresses the canard advocated by some that summer basketball is a bad idea because people would rather be outdoors. She writes, "People think of summer being meant for outdoors, but frankly, it’s too dang hot here most of the time — I’d like to be in an air-conditioned arena, you know?" I have to concur there - that argument might play out in Chicago or Seattle, but it's too damn hot in the South during the summer.

An illuminating question Troyke asks is whether or not the Dream should just tank in 2010 to pick up Maya Moore.

CT: "So you’re not going to try to lose all your games so you can draft Maya (Moore) in a year?"

TW: "No (smiling). Being from Boston, Red Auerbach drafted Larry Bird a year early. They closed that loophole and that was my first question to our GM, has the WNBA closed that same loophole?"

I suspect that Wyman might know what he's doing on the business end. Whether he'll have input on the pro acquisition end remains to be seen - it appears that Marynell Meadors will continue to wear the dual hats of GM and coach. However, the more I look at Wyman the more I like what I see.

(* * *)

Some great news today, where the Atlanta Dream announced that Fox Sports and SportSouth will cover 16 of the 17 home games of the Atlanta Dream this year.

The link to read is right here. But has Art Eckman moved on? God knows we loved Art Eckman and his interesting observations, particularly those involving Katie Feenstra-Mattera. The two announcers will be Bob Rathbun and LaChina Robinson. We all know Robinson from the previous two years covering the Dream and covering Georgia Tech women's basketball, but Rathbun comes from the Atlanta Hawks. He has his own Wikipedia entry, as he was the play-by-play announcer for the Braves from 1997-2006. He's also a member of Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

It will be interesting to hear Rathbun's take on the game, as generally the NBA announcers don't watch WNBA games. His bio on the Hawks page is here

(* * *)

I'm going to report briefly on what players are doing overseas. You can read the boxscores yourself. The format is borrowed from P. D. Swanson, the creator of Swanny's Stats.

Euroleague: Ekaterinburg 84, Krakow 50. The third place game took place on April 11th, with Ekaterinburg facing down Krakow.

EKA: Parker 21, Wauters 14, Bibrzycka 9 (Stepanova 8, Nolan 4, Abrosimova 3, Pondexter 2)
KRA: Burse 11, Fernandez 10
Iziane Castro Marques: 14 points, 7 rebounds, 6-for-17 shooting, 2-for-4 3-points shooting, 37 minutes played

Spartak Moscow 87, Ros Casares 80. Spartak Moscow wins their fourth straight Euroleague championship.

SPA: Taurasi 29, McCarville 20, Korstin 16 (Bird 5, Fowles 4, Jekabsone 0, Miller 0)
ROS: Milton-Jones 19, Valdemoro 14 (Snell 12, Montanana 10, Vesela 5)
Kelly Miller: 0 points, 2 rebounds, 5 minutes played
Erika de Souza: 16 points, 7 rebounds, 7-for-16 shooting, 30 minutes played

Russia: Spartak Moscow 102, Dynamo Kursk 87. Spartak Moscow wins the first game of their post-season semifinals match, and then....

SPA: Taurasi 20, Korstin 20, Osipova 14 (Fowles 13, Jekabsone 11, Bird 10, McCarville 4, Miller 4)
KUR: Snow 28, Lapteva 15, Bimbaite 10, Robbins 10
Kelly Miller: 4 points, 2 assists, 2-for-2 shooting, 9 minutes

Spartak Moscow 92, Dynamo Kursk 69. Spartak Moscow sweeps the best-of-three series and moves on to the finals against the winner of Ekaterinburg-Orenburg.

SPA: Taurasi 21, Osipova 16, Fowles 10 (Jekabsone 11)
KUR: Snow 11, Lapteva 10 (Psareva 14)
Kelly Miller: 3 points, 1-for-5 shooting, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 14 minutes played

Turkey: Galatasaray 68, Ceyhan 49. The final regular-season game of the year. Galatasaray goes 18-4 on the year and finishes in third place. (Fenerbahce finished 22-0; Kocaeli finished 0-22). Galatasaray plays #6 Tarsus in the quartefinals; the next games are on Thursday, April 22 and Sunday April 25th - doesn't look like Leuchanka will be back in Atlanta soon.

GAL: Catchings 20, Douglas 14, Sencebe 13
CEY: Campbell 19, Ervin 12, Yalcin 5 (C.Smith 3)
Yelena Leuchanka: 4 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2-for-6 shooting, 20 minutes played

Spain: Perfumerias 68, Rivas Ecopolis 65. Perfumerias wins the best-of-three series in Game 2 and moves on to the Semifinals against the Ros Casares-Mann Filter winner.

RIV: Cruz 16, Ujhelyi 16, Langhorne 15 (Tornikidou 4, Joens 3)
PER: Domínguez 19, Sánchez 10 (Willingham 6)
Sancho Lyttle: 12 points, 9 rebounds, 6-for-9 shooting, 27 minutes played

Ros Casares 80, Zaragoza 64. Ros Casares wins the first game of their best-of-three series at home against Zaragoza. If they win on Monday, they'll play Perfumerias in the finals.

ROS: Milton-Jones 27, Montañana 19, Valdemoro 14 (Aguilar 0, Snell 0)
ZAR: Feaster 16, Sten 11, Palomares 9
Erika de Souza: 12 points, 10 rebounds, 5-for-11 shooting, 23 minutes played

Spain, Second Division: Valbusenda 83, Burgos 70. Valbusenda upsets the #1 team in the LFB2. There are only three more games left in the LFB2 regular season.

BUR: Nascimento 18, Pablos Villarroel 15, Lozana Adan 11
VAL: Louden 18, Lassiter 15, Szoke 12
Demetress Adams: 0 points, 1 rebound, 0-for-1 shooting, 10 minutes played

AJC Article About Chanel Mokango

Pierce W. Huff over at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution speaks with #1 Draft Pick Chanel Mokango:

Mokango led Mississippi State with an average of 7.2 rebounds per game and was third in scoring at 10.8 points per game. She had 174 blocks in 31 games.

The key word to describe Mokango’s game now is “potential.” She thinks she will improve in her shot-blocking and shot-making abilities.

“My basketball is only going to get better,” she said.

Meadors also loved Mokango’s potential.

“I think we filled a tremendous need at that post position,” Meadors said. “I think her upside is just out of sight.”

In addition, we learn about Brigitte Ardossi of Georgia Tech's Draft Day activities:

Ardossi, a 6-2 post player who was selected all-ACC this season, averaged 15.8 points and shot 48.6 percent from the field for the Yellow Jackets.

“She has so much fire and passion for playing the game, and that’s what the Atlanta Dream is all about,” Meadors said. “Not only that, but she’s very talented. She’s got great footwork. She’s got a face-up jump shot, and she does a lot of really good things.”

Ardossi said she was eating cheeseburgers and watching the draft with her teammates when her name was called.

“The whole table got up and started cheering,” she said.

Wow. I guess the WNBA doesn't call you when they're drafting you.

AJC Article About the Dream and the Draft

Before tomorrow's draft, Pierce W. Huff of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution got a chance to speak with Atlanta Dream coach Marynell Meadors about the needs of the Dream:

"It’s going to be a question of whether a player can make our team,” Dream general manager/coach Marynell Meadors said. “I hate to say it, but it’s going to be tough.”

...

“I think the No. 1 position for us in the draft still is to try to find a post player, and then a guard or a player at small forward,” Meadors said.

My guesses: Jacinta Monroe of Florida State, Brigitte Ardossi of Georgia Tech or Kelsey Griffin of Nebraska.

An Answer from the AJC

Shawn McIntosh answered my letter. I don't want to reprint the entire letter - I don't know if that's strictly legal or not - but basically, her answer was that the coverage of the Dream corresponded with the size of the fan base. I think that that's simply a cop-out myself, as high school football teams get more coverage than the Dream and I doubt those teams draw 7,000 fans per game. However, the response was a pleasant one and I'm happy for the quick turn-around.

The important part of the response:

So I'm certainly taking note of your request for more coverage and will pass it on to our editors. They will have to consider the options in the new season, taking into consideration the size of the fan base, the size of the section, the relative interest in the topic and the record of the team.

Record of the team? Hm.

Size of the section? We don't have much control over that.

What we do have control over is the "size of the fan base" and the "relative interest".

Click the AJC links when Dream stories pop up.

Be loud and a little bit obnoxious, but not too much. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease."

And if you've not written Ms. McIntosh, please do so.

Boilerplate

I wrote to ESPN about how much I enjoyed their coverage of the WNBA and that Mechelle Voepel was doing a fine job. This was a few days ago, and ESPN finally sent their boilerplate response: "We got your mail, etc." At least I was "acked" as the Scientologists put it.

Still waiting for that response from the AJC.

Advocating for the Dream: Speak Up!

It appears that the public editor of the AJC is Shawn McIntosh. The e-mail for McIntosh is insideajc@ajc.com.

I believe that the "public editor" of the AJC used to be the position of ombudsman. Looking through Google, it seems that the AJC has gone through advocates like a prostitute goes through tricks. You'd better write Ms. McIntosh quickly; tomorrow it might be somebody else.

There's a profile for Ms. McIntosh on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution web site.

I wish that some of my readers would send Ms. McIntosh a few lines. Hey, we send e-mail all day; why not send out one brief e-mail for a good cause?

Some general guidelines:

1. It should be about one subject: about how the Dream is poorly treated by the AJC, and not about wide issues of the WNBA and media coverage. Ms. McIntosh can't do anything about the latter.

2. It should state examples. (It does't have to be footnoted but it should site what I consider particular slights - "Every morning I open the paper and I'm lucky to get a boxscore, buried on the back page.")

3. It should be an argument. "Here's what you did. Here's what you could so. Here's why you should do it."

4. It should be serious enough to demand a response. I think a little anger is warranted given the shabby treatment by the Atlanta media but it shouldn't descend into ad-hominem and cursing.

So here I am, advocating again, wondering if either my readers or the AJC will listen. Please, please, PLEASE send a brief e-mail. A "YOUR DREAM COVERAGE SUX!" e-mail will be better than nothing at all.

I'll close with a snippet from one of my favorite shows:

Jodie: "Daria, if you don't like it, you complain."
Daria: "I don't complain."
Jodie: "That's all you ever do."
Daria: "I mean, I don't get involved."
Jodie: "Then I guess you don't really care that much, do you?"

Vivlamore: McCoughtry and Meadors Will Be ROY and COY

We call this click-love time! Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution gives us some amazing insight on the 2009 season for the Dream.

Angel McCoughtry was ready to quit.

The Atlanta Dream forward was frustrated with the way she was playing in her first WNBA season. The game was no longer fun, so she gave serious consideration to giving up the game of basketball. Serious consideration.

...

“I was just so frustrated,” McCoughtry said. “Hopefully, this may inspire anyone else who gets frustrated. Don’t give up.”


According to Vivlamore, McCoughtry and Meadors are going to be named Rookie of the Year and Coach of the Year on Thursday.

Remember when AJC articles about the Dream were rarer than hen's teeth? You need - to click - the link! (Several times, if necessary.)

Show the Love

Sekou Smith at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes about the Game Two loss:

“This is so disappointing,” McCoughtry said. “We thought we had this series, and I really thought we had a chance to contend for a championship this year. We have so much talent, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be.”

Click the link, and show the love.

Dream Make AJC Again: Quick Preview of Game 2

Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes from Dream practice before Game Two tonight. Quoting Ivory Latta:

“But we are so pumped up because we know when we come back here and have our fans behind us we can accomplish anything. They’ve truly been our sixth man this year, and we’re going to be focused and have a lot of energy. I promise you we’re going to come out of the gate strong and ready to go.”

You heard that? And now, you need to let the AJC hear it by showing your love and clicking the article.

Article about Tonight's Game from AJC

An article from the AJC that isn't a wannabe-fratboy blog post or isn't copied from the AP? You must be dreaming!

But here it is!

Holding out Holdsclaw: ‘Mique has been idled nine straight games following arthroscopic knee surgery in late August. The club, either overly optimistic or cleverly obfuscating, keeps listing Holdslaw “day-to-day” but she has not suited up since the operation.

“Still day-to-day,” Meadows said while predicting Holdsclaw would dress for today’s game.

If you want to see more articles like this one, you should click this one. They count those clix, you know.

Pleasant Dreams Blog Apologizes

From Jeff Schultz at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

1. And finally, “Sunny Day! …”
Two weeks ago I wrote about the possibility that the Atlanta Dream (a women’s basketball team) would be kicked out of Philips Arena if it made the playoffs in the WNBA (a women’s basketball league). Why? Because the arena was booked for “Sesame Street Live!” Of course, I mocked the Dream. It’s what I do. Also, Elmo rocks! This position infuriated the seven WNBA fans in town (or possibly one fan masquerading as seven readers). Well, it happened. The Dream made the playoffs. Their games were relocated, I believe to a street corner in Lawrenceville. Given this morning’s theme, the Count, Elmo, Oscar and I have an announcement to make: We don’t stinkin’ apologize.

If the Pleasant Dreams blog has inadvertantly left the impression that Mr. Schultz is a journalist, we apologize profusely.

AJC Reports About Ticket Sales

The AJC actually wrote an article about ticket sales. The article is posted here.

If you support the blog and/or the Dream, I suggest you click this link as often as possible. Or get your friends to click it as often as possible. They count those clicks at the AJC.

P. S.: Thanks to the anonymous commenter in the thread below.

For Once, the AJC Dreams Positive

Surprise of surprises! The Atlanta Journal-Constitution actually reported positively on the relocation of the Atlanta Dream's opening round playoff games to Gwinnett Center. Granted, it got moved to the "Inside Access" section but it's there! And with a nice playoff photo, too!

Contracts are contracts, but evicting a team from its home arena for its first-ever playoff outing is a disappointment. After talking with Tonya Alleyne, the team’s vice president of media relations, it seems less like a failure to plan and more like a failure to dream big enough for this team.

In its first season, the Dream finished with league-record 30 losses. This year, they clinched the second seed in the Eastern Conference and made the second-biggest turn-around in league history. They’ll play the 2008 champions, the Detroit Shock.

Nobody expected it to happen in year two, Alleyne said, because it never does.

“We’re very happy to have this problem,” Alleyne said. “We’ll play wherever they will put us. We’ll play on a playground.”


I'd like to make an official request to the AJC - we need Jamie Gumbrecht to cover the Dream. Or just put Dream game results in the "Inside Access" section. The Sports Department at the AJC ain't worth a.....