Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Day 1 of Vacation was a blast. Spent much of it on my feet, unfortunately.

The WNBA Hollinger Ratings should be up at RebKell soon. I wanted to wait until teams had an average of three games under their belt. Today's slate of games should do it.

I won't be able to see how Dream/Liberty turns out...well, not live, anyway. Dream to Make a Difference!

Catching Up

It's nothing short of amazing. You wait one week, and a lot can change in the WNBA, both for the Dream and elsewhere.

* The most important piece of news that struck was that the Sacramento Monarchs had folded. The Monarchs had been in the league all 13 years of its existence, leaving only four original teams that have been with the league from day one - New York, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Utah/San Antonio. Houston, Charlotte, Cleveland and now Sacramento have bitten the dust.

I felt that it was a shame that the Maloofs - the owners of the Sacramento Monarchs - decided to give so much little notice of their decision. Mechelle Voepel heard that there was going to be a change somewhere along the way in the WNBA about a week ago, but had no details. Now, the shoe has dropped.

The hope - and I think it's an outside hope at best - is that the Monarchs can relocate to Oakland. I mean, with all of the jokes aside, if the WNBA can't survive in San Francisco then it can't survive anywhere. The problem with such a relocation is the venue. The Cow Palace is a decrepit arena in a bad part of town. As for going to the Oracle Arena - where the Warriors play - the obstacle appears to be Chris Cohan, the owner of the Warriors. (I can't figure out why. Either he thinks that lesbian fans will give him the cooties, or he feels that a successful WNBA franchise would point out to one and all how sorry the Warriors are.)

Furthermore, basketball in San Francisco might not be a slam dunk. Frisco Del Rosario writes that "Professional women's basketball has never been more than a curiosity [in San Francisco]." The San Francisco Pioneers in the WBL couldn't draw. The San Jose Lasers in the ABL couldn't draw either. After coming back home after a visit to San Fran, I see Frisco's point. San Francisco is a bad sports town for the same reason that Los Angeles is one - there's just so much to do in those cities that basketball isn't going to capture anyone's attention, whereas if you live in Dallas.... (*)

I hope - I really hope - that the Monarchs can find a home in the Bay Area. I believe the prospects, however, are dim.

* Another surprise was Ros Casares's loss in Euroleague to Cras Basket Taranto in Italy. What was more suprising is how far El Ros fell behind. They were down 60-36 at one time in the third quarter, but somehow managed to crawl to within five points, 72-67 with 1:27 left in the game on a shot by Delisha Milton-Jones. That would be as close as Ros Casares came, as El Ros could only score two more points, losing 78-69 on the road.

This just goes to show you how tough Euroleague is. Anybody can beat anybody. Ros Casares's dream of being undefeated in both the Spanish League and Euroleague goes by the wayside. Me, I blame Becky Hammon. (**)

* Armintie Price got married as well. I believe that the Atlanta Dream's website is posting photos. Congratulations to Armintie Price, and here's to many years of married bliss.

* Georgia Tech lost to Oklahoma State on the road, and beat Florida Gulf Coast at home in the Women's National Invitation Tournament. Georgia Tech starts out 2-1 on the year.

I'll get back on track sooner or later. It was probably good for me to be away from the keyboard for a week, anyway.

____

(*) A joke for Ethan over at Actionless Activity.
(**) Another josh, this time to Becky Hammon's many fans.

En Vacance

Now currently enjoying about a week of vacation. So for those disappointed visitors, there are some great links on the left hand side of the page worth visiting. Hoping to be back around Saturday or (next) Sunday.

The Return of the Dreamer

Back again, jiggity jig. There's a lot to catch up on, so my hope is to write up some brief blurbs about Saturday's games and write about Sunday matches in more detail.

Thanks to Jaime, Ethan and Rebecca for keeping the comments sections warm:

Jaime, good luck to Olivais in Eurocup competition. I hope that Aja Parham is okay.
Ethan, thanks for reminding me that I was not only leaving my cellphone behind, but a copy of the Dream's win over Los Angeles as well.
Rebecca, in a just world, there would be a universal naming convention. At least we can get some joy out of the botched translations and players listed by their middle names.

Back From Vacation

In sunny Las Vegas. More like "hot and extremely humid Las Vegas". I slept 11 hours when I got home last night.

You would never guess who I met at the airport. Jerry Finkbeiner, the head coach of the women's basketball program at Oral Roberts University. Finkbeiner has been very successful at ORU; he made it to the first round of the NCAA Women's Tournament. Unfortunately, his team was assigned Tennessee in the opening round. You can guess how far ORU advanced.

So what was Finkbeiner doing in Vegas, of all places? Apparently, they were holding some tournament in Las Vegas for under-18 players. (I thought I saw a few of them at the hotels.) Finkbeiner was recruiting. Given ORU's success in women's b-ball, I'm sure the casinos don't want him near the tables -- Finkbeiner has a record of beating the odds against him.