8 Second Violation

It's going to be rather busy at work today, and then of course there's the Dream/Silver Stars game tonight. You might not get any blog posts today, so just a heads-up.

Happy Birthday(s)!!

Happy 25th Birthday to Kristin Haynie!!

and....

Belated Happy 23rd Birthday to Chioma Nnamaka (her birthday was two days ago)!!

Becky Hammon, Bankability and Homosexuality

A very interesting blog article can be found here at the Girl in Short Shorts Blog, discussing the entire Hammon/Russian team angle from an angle different from the angle usually taken.

From what GiSS writes, the WNBA has made Becky Hammon one of its more bankable stars. She has this Sweet All-American Girl look, Bill Clinton supposedly came to a WNBA game to watch Becky play, and she's that (white) face of bankability to make the WNBA a "family" game.

When last year's WNBA MVP runner-up was inexplicably left off a list of 23 invitees to the U. S. Basketball Women's Olympic Training Camp, this set off a chain of events than ended with Hammon on the Russian team. So the WNBA is concerned about its new sweet All-American bankable star ending up with the Russians. It makes Hammon less "saleable".

However, I suspect there is a further concern. According to the Girls in Short Shorts blog, Hammon might be -- and I am not saying this, not claiming this, not having any evidence that it is the case -- gay. Which is no damn big deal. We know at least 5 percent of the WNBA would have to be gay based on demographics alone, and the number is probably greater due to the fact that lesbians have been attracted to sports since time immemorial. (The Sapphic Games competed with the all-male Olympics for years, but sadly, the yearly winners have been lost to legend.)

I'm sure part of the WNBA's fear might be that inquiring reporters will expose the nature of Becky's (hypothetically gay) love life, and the VFW crowd will throw up their hands and say, "That's it! All women's basketball players are gay." If this would be true, women's basketball would join the list of all-gay professions, such as the steel industry. (According to sociologist Moe Szyslak.) The WNBA has to Keep Becky Hammon Marketable, which I suppose is synonymous with Keep Becky Hammon Heterosexual. (Ask Ellen DeGeneres how her career was destroyed by coming out. Ask Sheryl Swoopes, too.)

Ah, what interesting times we live in. All the dumb ass suggestions we've heard. Makeup classes, the suggestion of the liberal masters of the WNBA. Dressing like Olympic beach volleyball players, the suggestion of the conservative masters of...well, whatever.

Here's a suggestion to the WNBA and its fans: you're outsiders. You're an outsider league. The beer-and-pretzel crowd isn't going to accept you. The mere fact that you're women who are successful at sports threatens them already. An entire team of sweet-Becky-Hammon-looking girls would only be accepted at an eye-candy-hot-ass level, and never for sports skills.

MARKET TO THE OUTSIDERS, WNBA! The outsiders in this world laugh at the beer-and-pretzel crowd. They have nothing but contempt for the jock/fratboy crowd, and they'd be quick to claim solidarity with the WNBA. X-Games are very popular, so there's room for outsider sports in America. Maybe when Hammon is asked by a sports reporter, "so, do you feel like you've betrayed your country?" she should just flip him off, kick him in the groin and shout, 'Next time, don't ask such a dumbass question!'"

Hammon would probably lose a lot of fans...but gain a lot of others. I'm not saying this is the way the WNBA must go, I'm just throwing it out there. Now let me get back to my Soviettes albums.

It Happened Elsewhere!

Sun 74, Storm 67. In a wild game with 12 lead changes, the Storm (7-6) sees a 10-game home winning streak come to an end, whereas the Sun (9-2) gets its sixth win in their last seven. Sheryl Swoopes puts the Storm ahead 65-63 at 2:20, but Barbara Tuner -- an ex-Storm player -- hits a 3-pointer for Connecticut to go up 66-65 with 1:15. Four Storm fouls in the final 30 second gave the Sun enough free throw juice to win.

Five players on the Sun scored in double figures, all the more interesting as the Storm stared the game with an 11-2 run. Coach Mike Thibault responded by putting all five starters on the bench.

Are You The Ultimate Dream Fan?

Well, are you? Do you eat Dream, sleep Dream, vacation Dream? And are you willing to stand on a hill and claim, "#1 Dream fan, c'est moi"?

Then go to the Dream Diary, which is the official blog of the Atlanta Dream. They are looking to add a blogger as their Dream Fan Blogger. The blogger will have a presence on the official WNBA Atlanta Dream blog...and who knows where that might lead to?

Here are the rules, from the Dream Diary site itself:

* Must be 18 or older. No exceptions.
* May be an Atlanta Dream fan!
* Understand that this is not a job - this is strictly a volunteerposition. You will not receive any form of payment other than the pride of being the Dream Fan Blogger!
*You must be able to demonstrate extensive knowledge of not just the Dream, our players and coaching staff, but have extensive knowledge of the WNBA, including everything from the beginnings of the league to what is going on around the league today. In other words, we need an avid, “hardcore” WNBA fan who eats, sleeps, and breathes WNBA.
*If you currently work for the WNBA or are in the media and write about / cover the WNBA, this gig is not for you.
*Your blog updates will be e-mailed in and edited for content, spelling / grammar errors, etc. Basically we just need to make sure we’re keeping it clean.
*Must be knowledgeable in using standard word processing and e-mail software. A background in journalism or creating writing is a plus.
*Should regularly attend Dream home games as much as possible.
*If you already have a blog about the Dream or anything WNBA, that is also a plus.
*In ONE PAGE OR LESS, turn in an essay on why you should be the Dream Fan Blogger. The Fan Blogger will be chosen among all entries. Tips: Be creative. Demonstrate your knowledge effecitvely. Why are you more deserving than every other applicant?
*All entries longer than one page will NOT be accepted. No exceptions.
*The Deadline for turning in your essay to become the Dream Fan Blogger is Monday, June 30th @ 5:30 PM. We want to launch the Fan Blogger’s first post on July 1st.

So do you have what it takes? If you do, start writing and turn in that essay. I'll definitely be linking you!

2008/10 - Comets 88, Dream 79

Well, another loss for the Dream. The loss puts the Dream at 0-10 for the year, which ties for second place the WNBA record of Most Consecutive Losses to start a season. The co-holder of that second place record is the Houston Comets, who beat the Dream tonight 88-79 where the Dream seemed to be behind fate's eight-ball from the beginning. We won the opening tip-off, but we would only lead two more times the rest of the game, both in the first quarter.

1) The Comets started off slow, shooting 3 for 10 as early as 5:12 left in the first. Tina Thompson started out particularly slow. The typical story is a sequence when Thompson stole the ball, then threw it to Iziane Castro Marques, who was then fouled by Shannon Johnson.

2) However, the Dream were 0-3 in three point shooting in the first. The typical dumb mistakes vexed the Dream. Ivory Latta got called for an eight-second backcourt violation when she fell down. So it goes.

3) The Atlanta announcer seemed to have trouble adjusting to conditions at the Reliant Center. Scoreboards not working, and the Reliant usually isn't well lit anyway. I switched the audio feed to the Comets announcer, who I figured was used to the conditions.

4) Some great comments from the Comets announcer, Craig Ackerman:

"There are more late whistles in the WNBA than in any other league at any other level I've seen".
"The Atlanta Dream are wearing powder blue. You could call it Houston Oiler blue."

5) The Comet quickly pulled out to a lead, leading by 10 points twice in the second quarter. A last second layup by Maiga-Ba managed to beat the buzzer and let the Comets go to a 45-35 lead.

6) Lots of hackage. By halftime, there were 30 personal fouls. Atlanta 16, Houston 14.

7) Iziane Castro Marques. She's back, and she's playing for the Dream! But she only played for about six minutes in the first half, with a grand total of one rebound...and zero points.

8) Atlanta continued to give a lot of open looks to Houston. At one point, Houston led by 15 in the third quarter, 50-35. By this time, three Comets players were in double figures and it looked like a rout was on. However, Atlanta had the hot hand and went 5-7 from the floor at time, going 3-3 in three point shots.

The continual fouling called by the referees (I doubt players from either team had much to do it, the refs were whistle-happy) kept bringing Atlanta back to the line. The free trips to the line began to eat the Comet's lead away. With Houston ahead 65-54, the Dream scored ten consecutive free throws to close the gap to wihin one point, 65-64 in the third quarter. Houston would take a 69-64 lead into the fourth.

9) It was fun listening to the Houston announcer moan and complain about the endless foul calling, which slowed the game to glacial proportions. I thought he was going stir crazy.

10) In the fourth quarter, Houston went on a 6-2 run to start and never looked back. The foul counter went to 50 for the game....then sixty....

11) The BIG statistic:

Betty Lennox: 29 points, 11 rebounds
Ivory Latta: 21 points -- a career high
Everyone else on the dream: 29 points

12) Comments by Houston announcer:

On Feenstra's mobility: "You couldn't get a credit card between Feenstra's feet."
"Houston has controlled this game from start to finish."
On the endless foul shooting: "We're never going to get out of here."

13) Jennifer Lacy fouls out. Betty Lennox looks for one of an endless set of fouls in the fourth quarters, doesn't get the call, complains about it...and earns a technical foul. Houston led 83-77 at that point, and the Dream would only score two more points in the game.

FINAL: Comets 88, Dream 79

14) Houston had five players score in double figures (Thompson, Snow, Johnson, White, Ajavon). If Maiga-Ba had scored as much as one point, they would have six players score. Houston, clearly, was running on all cylinders, while Atlanta only had two.

To wrap it up, its hard not to be discouraged when a quarter of the season is over and you still haven't won. However, there's something to be gained in adversity if you keep your eyes open. You learn just how easy it is to take yourself out of a game if you're not careful, and you learn that given the low percentage shooting from the floor in most WNBA games (the Dream shot 42.6 percent), there are places in games where you can make a run and steal a lead. The Dream simply need to learn how to get it and keep it.

Player Profile: Tamera Young

Name: Tamera Young
Born: October 30, 1986 (21)
Place of Birth: Wilmington, North Carolina
Height: 6-2
Weight: unknown

High School: Laney High School, Wilmington, NC
College: James Madison University
College major: Kinesiology and sports management

Years Pro: None -- rookie year is 2008

Position: Guard

Kudos:

1) McDonald's All-American nominee in high school
2) All time scoring record in the Colonial Athletic Association
3) Led James Madison as a senior to the the third round of the 2008 Women's National Invitational Tournament
4) #8 pick in 2008 WNBA draft - also first player from James Madison ever to be picked in the WNBA draft

Nickname: T. Young, T. Tam (from college)

Profile: Once again, there's not much to tell about Tamera Young. This is a side effect of the coverage of women's basketball in general. If you're an NBA player, I can find out just about anything about you through the internet, down to your elementary school. If you're WNBA, unless you're Lisa Leslie winnowing out information will be difficult.

We do know that Young comes by her basketball pedigree honestly. Both her brother A. J. and older sister Nikia played basketball growing up. Sports runs in the family, her cousin Willie Williams was a cornerback in the National Football League from 1993 to 2005. You might have also heard of Laney High School. There's someone else who graduated from Laney who might be better known as a basketball player -- last name of "Jordan".

Each of the two sisters would play AAU ball until the cost would force one of the two Young girls to give up. Nikia bowed out, and Tamera would be allowed to play under the tight finances.

We know that she likes fashion. We know that she's a self-proclaimed "computer freak". Aside from that, we also know a few minor facts from a WNBA article about Young's being drafted to play for the Dream.

Favorite Book: "B-More Careful." B-More Careful belongs to a genre called "street lit", or "ghetto lit", one of several books written about life growing up black in a poor, urban environment. Urbanbooksource.com has the book listed as the second best street lit novel of all time.

Favorite Movie: "Love and Basketball". A story of a young boy and girl, both good at basketball, both growing up together, both good enough to be in the pros. Even though the young man becomes an NBA star and the young woman has to go to Europe (this story takes place before the WNBA), a romance develops between the two main characters.

Favorite Album: "Mario's new album that just came out." (Probably "Go!" by Mario, an R&B/pop singer.)

Favorite TV show: "The Parkers." A UPN program about a mother and daughter who end up going to college together. Nominated for numerous NAACP Image awards.

Favorite luxury item: "My cell phone." (No information there. Nokia? iPhone?)

Aside from the trivia above, what else we can find out about Young will have to be found by mining her hometown newspapers. She wears #23, which was Jordan's number of course. It looks like Young has taste, if nothing else. Of course, the Dream will be the beneficiary of not only her taste, but her basketball skills.

It Happened Elsewhere!

Silver Stars 70, Fever 60. The Silver Stars (6-4) win their first game on the road this year. The Stars were tied 27-27 at the half with the Fever (5-4), and took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter. In the fourth, the play of Ann Wauters sparked a 10-2 run that kept the Silver Stars in charge of the rest of the game.

Ann Wauthers led the Silver Stars with 19 points. Tamika Catchings returned to the Fever for the first time this season after injury, playing for 12 minutes and scoring 2 points, the first points scored by Catchings in a Women's National Basketball Assocation since tearing an Achilles tendon in her ankle last September.

The Joys of the MacBook

Today, I have purchased a MacBook. This is the first MacIntosh I've bought since the old Mac Plus -- I've been a PC person all my life. So, there hasn't been a lot of blogging today -- who would have thunk it?

I'm still taking this baby out for a test drive, just to see what it can do. So you can expect the blogging to be light today.

It Happened Elsewhere!

From yesterday....

Silver Stars 74, Storm 69. The Storm (7-4) led this at one time by twelve points, but the Silver Stars (5-4) came rolling back. Seattle came back and managed to cut the lead to 69-68 with 48 seconds left, but couldn't create any more points through fouling. Sue Bird scored 21 points for the losing Storm.

Mystics 64, Sky 57. The Mystics (3-7) snapped a five game losing streak. It was Elena Beard who gets the lioness's share of the glory, scoring 13 of her 22 game points in the third quarter. The Sky (3-5) only had 55.2 percent free throw shooting which doomed Chicago as the Mystics shot 53 percent from the field.

Sparks 98, Sun 93 (OT). The marquee game of last night. Connecticut's five game win streak (8-2) comes to a halt in overtime with Kiesha Brown of the Sparks (6-2) scoring four free throws in the last moments. The Sun actually led 92-91 with one and a half minutes left, but made only one of two free throws. Sidney Spencer then made a three-pointer that put the Sparks ahead for good at 94-93. Lisa Leslie of the Sparks had a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Candace Parker scored 17.

Any Publicity is Good Publicity...

...I guess.



I guess the people putting together the YaHoo! Front Pages didn't say, "WNBA? Who cares?"

Iziane Thrown Off Olympic Team, Coming Back to Atlanta

If you're unaware of where Iziane Castro Marques is, she was in Madrid, playing in the final qualifying round for women's basketball in the 2008 Olympic Games as a member of the Brazilian national team.

Twelve teams came to Madrid, but only five teams would get berths at the Olympics. (The U. S. has already earned its berth.) The twelve teams played series of round-robin games to go down to eight remaining teams fighting for the five spots.

With the quarterfinals set up, all eight remaining teams would find the initial quarterfinal game a critical one for their Olympic hopes. If a team won the first quarterfinal game, they clinched a berth. That made up for four of the five berths. The four quarterfinal losers would play a "loser's semifinals" to compete for that fifth and final berth.

With Brazil needing a win against Belarus in the quarterfinals, it all fell apart. The favored Brazilian team fell behind Belarus, and in a shocking turn of events, Iziane Castro Marques, the premier player on the Brazilian women's team, refused to take the floor for the second half after an argument with coach Paulo Bassul.

(Bassul tells his side of the story at this link, in a video interview.)

As far as Bassul is concerned, Iziane is off the team for the rest of the qualifying tournament. Could Iziane get back on the team if she apologized and if Brazil earned that hard-to-get fifth berth? Bassul didn't want to commit to anything. "That's out of my hands."

We don't know what Izi's side of the story is. Given the spotty coverage of international women's basketball, we might never know.

I've tried to use Google translate on some Brazilian pages, and the impression given is that Iziane Castro Marques will be back in the United States on Sunday, just in time to suit up for the Dream against the San Antonio Silver Stars. Izi says that she was story, but she also says that this isn't the first disagreement that she's had with Bassul. Izi says the feeling between the two is mutual, and that she will refuses to play for Bassul ever again. Breaking down and crying, she said that if she couldn't be happy playing, then it wasn't worth it to play even if it was for Olympic gold. She thought that the other players wanted her back, but that they couldn't convince the coaching staff to change their minds.

So Izi will be back with the Dream next week. Hopefully, she can put her experience at Madrid behind her, no matter whose fault it was. And hopefully, she'll find the happiness in Atlanta that she couldn't find in Brazil.

2008/9 - Fever 76, Dream 67

Well, we have nine games and nine losses so far. We lose once again. But oddly enough, I wasn't too put out by last night's performance.

Mind you, the Dream never threatened to take command. If the Dream were ahead, it was only by one point or so and only in the first quarter. The Fever went ahead, and after the first early points, stayed ahead.

What I'm happy about is that we only lost this game by nine points. The Fever never really went ahead by more than 10 and even though the Fever kept the lead, the Dream remained right behind them and Indiana just couldn't shake us off.

My thoughts:

1) I once said before that "every bad team is bad in its own way". Or maybe it should be that every bad game is bad in its own way. For the Dream, it was simply little things. Jennifer Lacy went to make two easy layups -- and missed both of them. Lots of times, the Dream had open looks but hesitated to shoot. Passes sometimes went right into the arms of enemy defenders.

They call it "mental mistakes", as if there were any other kind of mistakes. It's as good a cliche as any, given the circumstances. The Dream simply made a lot of mental mistakes.

2) Katie Douglas started the game cold. "When she gets hot", said my friend, "then we'll have to start worrying." Well, it never really happened. Douglas ended up with 11 points in 37 minutes played.

3) In particular, the Fever started cold from the free-throw line. I think at one point they were 3 for 12 from the free throw stripe. It was the Fever's abysmal free throw shooting that kept the Dream in it in the early part of the game. Unfortunately, they would make up for it in the second half, and get 32 free throw attempts to just 15 attempts for the Dream. The Fever would end up shooting 75 percent from the line, not bad.

4) We were outrebounded 29-21, but it really wasn't a contest. I think Tammy Sutton-Brown's 12 rebounds outrebounded all of our centers-of-the-day put together.

5) Tamera Young had a great game. She picked up 14 points, a high in her young career. She also had an amazing four steals. She was all over the place. If Young continues to have games like that, our first win is going to come fairly soon.

6) Betty Lennox. 13 points, and outscored by both Young and Ivory Latta. Lennox only had one assist. Get in the game, B-Money.

7) Latta has scored at least 10 points in the last four games. Her shooting from the floor has finally turned around. She's dishing the ball. Unfortunately, she missed a few open looks, preferring instead to take her position near the backcourt and to try to set up a shot.

8) Katie Feenstra. Despite her six points, she was her usual immobile self. She tried to use her height to grab balls thrown clearly out of reach, but would only get a finger on them, and as a result, Indiana would get the ball back again for another try at a field goal. During one part of the game where the fans usually clap "De-FENSE (clap clap) De-FENSE (clap clap)", the cries of "Love-LACE (clap clap) Love-LACE (clap clap)" could be heard on the floor. (Coach Meadors would put Lovelace in for about five minutes. She took one shot and made it, for 2 points on the night.)

9) Atlanta simply has no fast break game. I wonder if it's too late to get one. Coach Meadors has to be very concerned about that.

10) At the end of the game, Ivory Latta took the mike and spoke briefly to the fans. She thanked us for coming out to cheer on the team, a real class act all the way. One of my binocular-wearing friends stated that Latta was extremely frustrated during the fourth quarter, "almost to the point of tears".

11) We had an awesome crowd. I know the WNBA inflates its attendance numbers, but the place didn't look like an empty barn. Announced attendance was over 8,000 and everyone was in it. Kids, adults, older people, gays, straights, blacks, whites, you name it. There was a real feeling of solidarity among the crowd. "We've lost nine games, but we are in this together. We are the Dream."

It Happened Elsewhere!

Monarchs 82, Lynx 78. The Monarchs (5-4) win their third straight game, taking the lead when the Lynx (6-3) continued to turn over the ball. Minnesota had 21 turnovers in the game. It was the Monarch's sixth straight win over the Lynx, capped off by free throws from Ticha Penicheiro. Nicole Powell had 18 points for the Monarchs.

Soapbox Time

Nice kids, but no Phoenix Mercury.

All over the internet you will find the usual kind of trash-talking where the same kind of bushwa that is repeated (lamentably) in those "Expect Great" commercials is mirrored by the retarded jock/fratboy crowd.

"I would score a triple double, every night, against the WNBA. I wouldn't even pass the rock!"

"Our state high school boy's team could whip a WNBA team. Want to bet money on that?"

Oh, that last foolish person. How much money do I have in my pocket? How can I make this happen so I can get his money?

Let's say a few words about how these women have achieved their skills. They were not achieved at a finishing school somewhere. Bluntly, they were achieved against men who would probably outscore your high school team by a good twenty points or so.

First, virtually every college women's team in the country plays against men. Most of these guys are guys on the "practice squad" who were just not good enough to make it onto a Division I team, or guys who want to do something else with their lives other than play pro ball but still want to keep their hands in. These were the guys who were the standouts on their home basketball teams and are probably the kind of guys that make up a state boy's championship team. Unless all of your high school championship starters all went to NBA teams, you might have one or two decent players on that boy's championship team and the rest going to Division II or III...or nothing.

Secondly, even off the court, women play against men. Ever heard of pickup games? Pickups at the Y? A three-on-three game on the hot asphalt? In some neighborhoods, you have to hold your own if you want a chance to play, and these are the kinds of places where most men would be laughed off the court.

The women have played men before. This isn't some sort of astonishing concept. Reading some of the haters, you'd think women played in burkas. (*)

According to the Women's Hoops Blog, there are two propositions that haters seem to think are "all that" and end the argument.

#1: Women aren't as good as men at basketball.

#2: Women's basketball is inferior to, and less important than, men's basketball.

Agreeing with the WHB, yes, #1 is true. But so what? At comparitive levels, the men's teams are better than the women's. The Los Angeles Lakers would beat the Phoenix Mercury. The Kansas Jayhawks men's hoops team would be the Tennessee Lady Vols. The boy's state hoops champs would beat the girls.

The biggest reason this is true is anatomy. The average men's pro team has players 6'7" tall. The average women's team is about 6'0" tall, about as tall as a men's pro team would have been fifty years ago. Even though women have more pound-per-pound endurance, men have more pounds, period, and gain muscle more efficiently. The men are taller and stronger, and all other things being equal, will be triumphant.

However, there is a winnowing out that takes place in basketball. Remember the guy who was the basketball all-star in high school? How come that guy didn't make the NBA?

Well, what happened was he went to a college where every single one of the freshmen was either the best player on his high school team, or the second-best player. Your high school friend didn't get to pad his score anymore against the fat kid who played for the high school that only had 100 students. Now, he was playing against the elite high school level.

The best players in college -- who are the best of the best players of high school -- go to the pros. This happens on the women's level as well. These aren't college basketball players in the WNBA. These are the elite college players, and each WNBA team is essentially a women's college team of national all-stars.

When Joe Schmuck's men's high school championship team takes the field against the Phoenix Mercury, there won't be a player on that Mercury team that wasn't all-everything-and-the-kitchen-sink growing up, that hasn't played against not only women but against big strong men, women that have played against the best women on the friggin planet, and players that have usually played on multiple continents. Hell, the experience alone on the Mercury would cause smart men to think twice.

Here's what's going to happen. The biggest, toughest baddest player on the boy's high school state championship team might hold his own. If he's a 7 foot behemoth, or if he's a once-in-a-lifetime player like LeBron James, or if he's among the elite high school players not just in the state, but in the country, one of the guys who will end up on an NBA team. Everyone else? The guys who usually go to Division II or III, if anywhere? They'll wither and die. It will be a blowout, probably bigger than expected because a lot of these guys have been told by the haters for years that they are inherently superior to anything with a vagina. Losing to women would throw them mentally into a tailspin. (Years later, they'll say they all had the flu. Or the refs cheated. Or "I was too busy looking at those hot asses to score points.")

Which is why you'd never see such a matchup. The women have nothing to prove. The haters would never risk such an outcome, because they'd have everything to lose and nothing to gain.

As for the second argument - that women's basketball is essentially inferior and is therefore, unworthy of not only respect, but notice - such an argument makes an absolute hypocrite out of every hater out there. If our advocate for the high school champs really believed that, he wouldn't be watching a high school basketball championship at all. He'd be surfing the channel at home, watching Knicks-Clippers, because the state high school basketball champions would be smoked by the Knicks walk-ons in a matter of moments. If quality of play is everything, then why does anyone watch college basketball at all, much less high school basketball? If such arguments were true, people would just stay home and watch classic NBA Finals games from the 1970s.

This is exactly the argument that "ted" at the Women's Hoops Blog advocated. Most of the advocates of the inferiority of women's basketball are advocates of the inferiority of women, period. (**) Time spend in discussion with them is time better spent elsewhere. You'd get more reasoned arguments from the brick wall outside.

To conclude, I'm not surprised by these arguments from ignorance. The world is a big place, and therefore, has a lot of stupid people in it. What's truly surprising is that so many people, particulary people who claim to be experts on basketball, buy into those arguments and try to sell them to other people. The problem is that, as the School of Hard Knocks will tell you, ignorance cannot be defeated by reason. Reason has no place in the world of a fool.

(* * *)

(*) - One of the hallmark qualities of a hater is a complete ignorance of the thing he hates. The ignorance comes from the belief that the "inferior" is beneath his notice and he should therefore never be bothered with it. For example, most of the bashers of, say, the Reverend Al Sharpton will say, "why is Al Sharpton always beating up white people? why doesn't he take on black rappers and black criminals?"...complete unaware that Sharpton has taken on both of the latter for years. The reason the haters don't know any of this is that the work of Al Sharpton is beneath their notice unless he does something that make the haters unconfortable. Sometimes, paradoxically, this stupidity is presented as a point of intellectual pride.

(**) - If you don't believe me, consult their other blog entries, even on non-basketball matters. A sort of patronizing or objectifying attitude towards women occasionally comes to the surface there as well. To paraphrase Chris Rock, "That train's never late!"

Like Hell Heat

This site on the Chicago Sky website gives a taste of what life is like on the road in the WNBA. Here is a section from the writeup about the Sky's visit to Atlanta:

Road Trip 2 - Atlanta

Thursday June 5, 2008
Today marks our first trip ever to Atlanta to take on the newest WNBA franchise, the Dream. The team has been looking forward to getting to the south, and enjoying some HOT, HOT weather, and well, it hit us as soon as we landed and stepped off the plane. Since some of our girls are from the South, including Armintie, Quianna, Chasity and Jia, they knew exactly what to expect. As Armintie put it, “It’s like hell heat down here.” Just take my word for it, it was extremely hot. After we made it to the hotel, Chas mentioned the Celtics-Lakers game, so we all invited ourselves to her room to watch. The rule of the night was that you could only join the viewing party if you were cheering for Boston, and we all were. So we ordered dessert from room service and watched Boston win game one of the NBA Finals, then called it a night.

Want to read more? Click the link.

It Happened Elsewhere!

Monarchs 79, Mystics 76. Nicole Powell of the Monarchs (4-4) scored 28 points, one point away from her career best, and also scored the go-ahead shot with about one minute left which put the Mystics (2-7) behind for good. The Mystics three point game was shut down, and the team didn't make a three-pointer unti the second half. The Mystics have now lost five straight.

Silver Stars 64, Fever 53. Sophia Young returned for the Silver Stars (4-4), and it showed on the scoreboard, with 17 points for Young to make up for the fact that Becky Hammon was held to two points (she scored her only points in the fourth quarter). San Antonio remains undefeated at home. As for the Fever (4-3), they would score only eight second quarter points.

Storm 83, Mercury 77. Diana Taurisi of the Mercury (2-5) celebrated her 26th birthday and scored 37 points, but four Storm (7-3) starters were in double figures. Sue Bird, shooting 1 for 12, was not among them, but got a career high in rebounding, as the Storm cleaned the boards 52-31. Mercury center Tangela Smith, with a swelling in her right knee, did not play. Taurisi complained about the refereeing after the game. (I wouldn't expect a fine, tho.)

Sparks 80, Shock 73. The Shock (7-3) were flummoxed by the Sparks' 100 percent shooting at the foul line -- 24 for 24. Lisa Leslie of the Sparks (5-2) scored 17 as Candace Parker got into early foul trouble.

"You Can't Handle the Truth!"

This is an article by Jay Mariotti, of all people about the NBA potentially fixing games through injudicious instructions to referees.

When I read stuff like this, I think, "You know, the WNBA has to take a lot of crap from people. But think about it.

"Because the Las Vegas oddsmakers don't know the game, no one bets big money on it -- Las Vegas lines aren't even PERMITTED to take bets greater than $500 because they're afraid that WNBA fans know the game better than the bookies do.

"Because the jock/fratboy sports media expresses open contempt for the W, they want series to be shortened, not expanded. (Hell, they want the entire league to disappear.)

"Therefore, whatever you think of the WNBA's refereeing, at least as a WNBA fan I can sleep soundly knowing that WNBA president Donna Orender isn't leaning on anyone to fix games. You might not like WNBA basketball, jack, but at least our games are on the up-and-up."

2008/8 - Liberty 81, Dream 77

Gonna be a sloooowww day at work today....

"The Mets scored 19 runs today."
"Oh yeah?...did they win?"
--Story about Mets fans in 1960s (apocryphal)

When the Liberty showed up last night, fans there notice a few things out of place. Ivory Latta had ditched her bangs for a braided look, her hair tied behind her back. Kristen Mann had switched her black wristband from one side to another.

Clearly, the awareness of an 0-7 record had hit the Dream and the Dream were resorting to the tried and true measures taken by athletes trying to break a losing streak. Try to turn your luck around by turning yourself around. Which begs the question of how many sacrifices it would take? Not stepping on cracks? Providing a pile of rabbits feet? Picking a five leaf clover?

1. The game started out fast. Most likely, the speed of the game was being set by the Liberty, hoping to capitalize on the fact that the Dream don't communicate very well. The Dream were happy (?) to cough up the ball, but the Liberty couldn't capitalize on any of them. With both teams pretty much deciding not to play defense, the Dream jumped out to a 19-16 lead at the end of the first quarter.

2. The Liberty also made another fateful decision, to put Erin Thorn on Betty Lennox. Thorn's job was to make sure that Lennox couldn't get the ball. That didn't seem to work, with Kristen Mann crossing her 2008 season high in the second quarter, with Latta making good shots, and with Feenstra making rebounds. Furthermore, Lennox had at least seven points by the second quarter, indicating that Lennox wasn't being stopped. The Libs scored six straight at one time, but Atlanta made the final shot of the second quarter and took a 36-35 lead into the locker room.

3. Stat of the day for the Liberty:

First half

Janel McCarville: 17 points
Everyone else: 18 points

4. Going into the second half, the Liberty made an abortive attempt to drive through to the basket, but gave it up. The Dream, most likely in an attempt to slow down the pace of the game, went to the 2-3 zone. Unfortunately for New York, the Libs went to rock bottom in three-throw shooting. Atlanta went on a 10-0 run. Feenstra put J-Mac to work under the boards. It all seemed to be going in Atlanta's favor, and the Dream ledd 55-49 at the end of the third quarter.

5. Going into the fourth quarter:

Points in the Paint

Atlanta: 30
New York: 18

6. At one point, the Dream had a 21-1 scoring run against the Liberty. The Dream led at one point by 12 points, 66-54, just into the fourth quarter. Feenstra was having a season-high game.

New York then realized that they would have to go into the big bad paint and actually fight if they were to have a chance to win. Fighting the 2-3 zone wasn't working; slowing down the game was now working actively in Atlanta's favor. The Liberty began to get offensieve rebounds and whittled down Atlanta's lead. To eight points. Then six. Catherine Kraayeveld began to work the boardds for the Liberty.

7. Then in the last five minutes, it went to all-fsck.

a) There's a rule in the WNBA -- "if you're active as a player, you'll get the calls". In other words, if you drive to the hoop and kick the center in the teeth on the way in, the call will be made against...the center, even if the center is writhing in obvious pain. When New York switched to active mode, the WNBA referees figured, "okay, anything wrong from this point on must obviously be the Dream's fault".

I'm not using it as an excuse. When you lead by 12 points in the fourth, ref calls should be a non-factor, all other things being equal. However, the Dream could not buy a call.

b) Feenstra had a critical shot blocked by McCarville and sort of disappeared in those last few minutes as the New Yorkers surrounded her.

c) The Dream were actually called for a shot clock violation.

d) After Betty Lennox's three pointer that closed down the game to one point, there was miscommunication between Ivory Latta and Coach Meadors, resulting in the Liberty getting a chance to eat up time before Latta made a foul to stop the clock.

e) The big mistake. Coach Meadors, looking to have three point specialists on the floor, sends Ann Strother to in-bound the ball. Strother hasn't played a single damn minute of the game and is ice-cold. Shameka Criston steals the ball, the Dream are forced to foul, etc. etc.

What do you do? What-do-you-do?

There's a commercial that plays on Atlanta radio, a Dream promotional commercial during games. "We've got players...we've got a coach...we've got brand new uniforms." Unfortunately, what we don't have is a win. The chances for those don't come often, and we just p*ssed one away last night.

This one has to hurt. And now, the Dream have to do something that's even harder than losing a close game -- shake off the loss and come out hard against Indiana on Friday night.

Jambi the Genie Says....

Probably the last post of the day. We call upon the powers of Jambi the Genie to show us the way tonight. Spare the Dream, oh Jambi!



Monarchs @ Mystics: the Mystics shoot over 50 percent for a home win. Washington 71, Sacramento 64.

Liberty @ Dream: The Dream shoot well, but turnovers ruin the chance of an upset win. New York 93, Atlanta 85.

Fever @ Silver Stars: This time, Becky Hammon is held to only 10 points by a tough Indiana D. Indiana 76, San Antonio 64.

Mercury @ Storm: This game will be decided in the fourth quarter by a Phoenix run. Phoenix 84, Seattle 80.

Shock @ Sparks: Great play by Detroit's bench sends the Sparks to another unwanted home court loss. Detroit 78, Los Angeles 74.

(Jambi is 12-7 this year, for a 63.1 percent W/L prediction accuracy. Jambi lives in his box at http://nationalsportsrankings.com. Give it a visit.)