Seeing Red

I hated the Comets.

Sports fans need a villain and for this WNBA fan, that role was played by the Houston Comets. When they were scheduled to play in LA, Sparks fans throughout the Forum were seeing red before anyone wearing a Comets jersey set foot on the court. When L.A. played Houston we rarely liked the outcome. Two years in a row the Sparks’ playoff dreams were crushed by Cynthia and Company – once, with Tina taunting Lisa Leslie with a mock salute. To this day, the Sparks faithful have endured the irrational rantings of Comets fans who’ve had the audacity to describe that incident as an example of Lisa Leslie’s poor sportsmanship.

In 2001, when the Sparks were finally able to get past the Comets, Houston fans reminded us that Cynthia had retired and Swoopes was injured. In LA we responded by referring to our rival as the Excuseton Comets.

Yeah, it was bad between LA and Houston.

But on Saturday, Tina Thompson will be welcomed at Staples center with a standing ovation. She won’t be wearing a red jersey, in fact no one on the court will be.

However there will be red jerseys worn all through Staples Center. And at every other one of the six WNBA games that day. In Atlanta, Sacramento, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Phoenix, there will be at least a few fans wearing Tina Thompson jerseys, Sheryl Swoopes jerseys, Cynthia Cooper jerseys, Janeth Arcain jerseys…

Kim Perrot jerseys.

And all over Houston, where for the first time since the league began, there will be no WNBA games played, Comets fans will tune in to ABC to cheer for the team they used to love to hate.

And Sunday, in Indianapolis, I will be sitting in my seat, just a few feet from the Fever bench, doing what was once unthinkable. I’ll be wearing a Sheryl Swoopes Houston Comets jersey.

Sports fans need a villain. Rivalries make competition more exciting. There’s something cathartic about screaming until we lose our voices at someone who for a couple hours on a basketball court will be playing the role of the enemy. There’s something to be said for loyalty, for wearing your teams colors and representing the Team – especially on opening night.
So I hope my team understands that just this once, if they happen to look courtside, section one, seat seven, they’ll be seeing red.

Because today we are all Comets fans.