Buddy Bloggers Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi were in San Antonio on Friday for the All-WNBA team announcement. Waiting patiently for their awards, they decided it would be a perfect time for a tag-team Buddy Blog effort:
Dee: So I guess we're supposed to give our thoughts on Game 1.
Sue: But you didn't watch it.
Dee: Aww, come on now. You weren't supposed to say that. I don't have cable at my house yet.
Sue: Kelly Schumacher was ballin'!
Dee: She hit a couple jumpers, right?
Sue: And a blocked shot! It was a lay-upa€¦ a lay-up! And she came from nowhere and swatted it away.
Dee: It's all about Schu. Every team she's on at least makes the Finals.
Sue: No, it was a good game. Detroit, when they're playing their best, they have so many peoplea€¦ so many big bodies. They're a very tall team. They're a tough team to go against. And San Antonio's really missing its other two point guards (Helen Darling and Edwige Lawson-Wade), because that makes Becky have to do a whole lot more. And Becky was more aggressive in Game 2, but she still had trouble hitting shots until the fourth quarter.
Dee: Yeah, Game 1a€¦ from what I've hearda€¦ Detroit just did what they do: they beat you up. When you play them, you have to either beat them up back or play better basketball than they do.
Sue: Or hit outside shotsa€¦
Dee: a€¦right, like I said, play better basketball than them. And San Antonio hasn't done either of those things. Detroit's big and intimidating. They're gonna hit you and try to bully you and they're really good at that. If you can't compete with that, you're gonna have a tough time winning games against them.
Sue: What about the rest of the Finals, though? I think San Antonio is in a little bit of trouble.
Dee: Well, I thought San Antonio was gonna win last night. I think Detroit just has too much for them. They can throw so many different looks at them, Becky in particulara€¦ They can outmuscle her with Katie, they can outquick her with Tweety and even bring a tough all-around marker like Hornbuckle.
Sue: She couldn't even get the ball off screens in Game 1.
Dee: Right, and when you're bringing the ball up the court, directing the half-court offense AND you're the main offensive threat, that's a whole lot of responsibility for Becky to have on her shoulders.
I think they need to get Ann Wauters more involved. If they could play with the Shock anywhere, I thought it would be in the post, but that hasn't been the case in these two games.
Sue: Yeah, Taj played well in Game 1. I don't think I'd say that Detroit's the superior team herea€¦ they're both good teams, obviously, to have made it this far.
Dee: San Antonio went 14-0 against the East this year! 14 and 0! 14a€¦ and 0!
Sue: That's cuz the East is weak! Same team in the Finals every year!
No, I'm totally kidding. I don't know what's gonna happen. And don't take this the wrong way, but I don't really care. I love women's basketballa€¦ obviouslya€¦ but when we're not here (in the Finals), I'm just rooting for my friends. My answer is "Go, Kelly Schumacher!" That's the most profound thing I can say about it.
Dee: I want Detroit to win because we beat Detroit last year. No, I'm kidding. I don't really care either. I think the best team will win.
Honestly, I watched about a quarter of Game 1. And the reason is that when you're not there, it's hard to watch teams playing when you think you should be there. I just can't bear it. It hurts too much.
Sue: Yes. Too much hurt. It's not because we're not fans. It's just a professional thing.
Dee: So moving right along, we're getting set to head back to the homeland this coming week. Mother Russia. I'm leaving the 8th and Sue's leaving the 10th. And our first game over in Moscow is Oct. 16.We have about a week to get ready and then a week before we're playing.
Sue: And we have the same setup that we had last year. The house.
Dee: Kelly Miller is coming over to play with us. Lauren, three Russian national teamers, we have the young Serbian of the yeara€¦
Sue: Sylvia Fowlesa€¦
Dee: Oh yeah, did I forget Sylvia?
Sue: Yeah, we're gonna suck. Though the other big team there has Penny Taylor, Tweety, Cappie, Candace Parker, Kristi Harrower, Svetlana Abrosimova.
Dee: Yeah, I miss Svetty. How is she? a€¦ Yeah, Svetty's the shizzle.
Sue: Svetty's a free agent.
Dee: I hope she comes to the West. I need her to take me to dinner. She has many shekels.
Sue: Shekels are Israeli.
Dee: Right, I forgot, Miss Israeli citizen. "Hava negila" to you.
Sue: And a "baruch atah" to you... Challah!
Dee: If they have hummus, I'm there.
Sue: Hummus and pita: fast track to fatness. Calories galore.
Dee: Oh, I want to bring up the L.A. Times article and my response to it.
Sue: Yeah, let's talk about that.
Dee: What she wrote was so wrong. Now I'll preface this by reminding you that I don't have cable, so I've been reading and writing a lot. So I read the article and I thought, "Someone needs to be proactive about this." So I set up a meeting with my creative team and they put it together.
Sue: Yeah, you consulted your creative team.
Dee: Yeah, we worked together to shut that woman DOWN! She may never write again!
Sue: It's that UConn education coming through.
Dee: Sociology major, represent! No, honestly, my creative team went to really good colleges.
You just get tired of reading articles like that. And especially for a woman to write that? Come on! She's a hater. She's a big hater.
She was so wrong about it all. She kept making all these comparisons to the NBA. Well, we're NOT the NBA. We never will be the NBA. Because we're not guys.
But we do have the best female basketball players in the world. We could have brought three USA teams to Beijing and we would have swept the medals. Our bench could easily have won gold! It's the truth!
So when are people going to start mentioning how well we do and all the good things we do for women's basketball? We've won four straight gold medals. That's pretty cool. But this woman's mad that we can't dunk? Shut up!
We don't get paid as much as the guys? Shouldn't that make you like us more? We're playing the game for the right reasons!
I feel some times that people don't actually know how much work we put into it. I think some people see it as just a summer league. You know? "Sign up to play this summer in the WNBA!"
But we are professionals! This is my job!
Sue: She should come try and play.
Dee: She SHOULD come play. We practice a lot against guys, and I think they always have a very different perspective on how we play after they play against us a little bit. We play a lot against D-II players, I-AA players, and they're always saying, "Wow, we never knew you guys were that good."
Sue: Remember those guys we played against with the USA team at Stanford before we went to China?
Dee: Yeah, we whooped 'em!
Sue: Well, except that huge guy in the middle. He was like 6-7 and hitting fadeaway three-pointers. We were thinking, like "Yeaha€¦ this is realistic competitiona€¦"
Dee: It is kind of funny that as we're writing this, ESPN is showing Jim Rome--
Sue: Burning?
Dee: Yeah, he definitely is burning. So what about Warren Sapp on Dancing With the Stars? He's good, right? He can shake it. He's good, dude.
Sue: He's nimble for a big guy.
Dee: So who are you putting your money on?
Sue: Misty May-Treanor.
Dee: I heard she's terrible. She's a little stiff, isn't she?
Sue: Well, she has a lot of muscles. From the volleyball.
Dee: Yeah, being at the Olympics was fun. Oh, what about Lauren running up and trying to talk toYao during the Closing Ceremonies!
Sue: That was hilarious. If you haven't seen it already, please go YouTube it right now. "How am I gonna live without Yao?"
Dee: I think she's kind of infatuated with him. She talks about him a lot. They're good friends through basketball. In a non-romantic way.
Sue: Yeah, he's married. To a former Chinese national team player.
Dee: Yeah, but she's no Sui Feifei. Or Miao. Miao was BALLING at the Olympics.
Sue: Miao was balling.
Dee: So, speaking of foreign policy, I'm all about tax cuts this season. I don't know about you, but I'm voting Obama for yo mama, McCain insane. That's it, print it.
I actually watched the VP debate a few nights ago, but I was in a sushi restaurant and it was on mute. Did Palin hold her own?
Sue: I don't like talking about politics.
Dee: If I hear the word "bipartisan" one more time, I'm gonna kill myself.
Sue: The one that kills me is the whole "hockey mom" thing.
Dee: The thing I love is that when they say, "My friends, you can trust mea€¦" If you believe them, there's something wrong with you. And it's always, "My friendsa€¦"
Sue: And what about Tina Fey as the Vice President?
Dee: What?!?
Sue: She does a spot-on imitation of Sarah Palin. She's done it a couple of times on Saturday Night Live. Haven't you seen it?
Dee: I don't have any freaking TV! I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.
Sue: I'll send it to you. It's really good. "I can see Russia from my backyard!"
Dee: I do love her accent. It's almost a Minnesota accent.
Sue: "Ohhh yahhhhh, we share a maritime border!" a€¦ "Can I call ya Joe?"
Dee: Every time Palin was talking, Biden was laughing. That's a bad sign. But Palin's suit did look nice.
Sue: OKa€¦ since we've made fun of just about everyone in America now, we'll let you enjoy the rest of the Finals.
Dee: And maybe we'll check in from Russia this winter. Wouldn't that be fun?
Sue: Yeah, and we'll really be able to see Russia from our backyard!
Dee: Yeah, Birdie! Good one!
Original Story:
http://my.wnba.com/thread.jspa?threadID=....
Dee: So I guess we're supposed to give our thoughts on Game 1.
Sue: But you didn't watch it.
Dee: Aww, come on now. You weren't supposed to say that. I don't have cable at my house yet.
Sue: Kelly Schumacher was ballin'!
Dee: She hit a couple jumpers, right?
Sue: And a blocked shot! It was a lay-upa€¦ a lay-up! And she came from nowhere and swatted it away.
Dee: It's all about Schu. Every team she's on at least makes the Finals.
Sue: No, it was a good game. Detroit, when they're playing their best, they have so many peoplea€¦ so many big bodies. They're a very tall team. They're a tough team to go against. And San Antonio's really missing its other two point guards (Helen Darling and Edwige Lawson-Wade), because that makes Becky have to do a whole lot more. And Becky was more aggressive in Game 2, but she still had trouble hitting shots until the fourth quarter.
Dee: Yeah, Game 1a€¦ from what I've hearda€¦ Detroit just did what they do: they beat you up. When you play them, you have to either beat them up back or play better basketball than they do.
Sue: Or hit outside shotsa€¦
Dee: a€¦right, like I said, play better basketball than them. And San Antonio hasn't done either of those things. Detroit's big and intimidating. They're gonna hit you and try to bully you and they're really good at that. If you can't compete with that, you're gonna have a tough time winning games against them.
Sue: What about the rest of the Finals, though? I think San Antonio is in a little bit of trouble.
Dee: Well, I thought San Antonio was gonna win last night. I think Detroit just has too much for them. They can throw so many different looks at them, Becky in particulara€¦ They can outmuscle her with Katie, they can outquick her with Tweety and even bring a tough all-around marker like Hornbuckle.
Sue: She couldn't even get the ball off screens in Game 1.
Dee: Right, and when you're bringing the ball up the court, directing the half-court offense AND you're the main offensive threat, that's a whole lot of responsibility for Becky to have on her shoulders.
I think they need to get Ann Wauters more involved. If they could play with the Shock anywhere, I thought it would be in the post, but that hasn't been the case in these two games.
Sue: Yeah, Taj played well in Game 1. I don't think I'd say that Detroit's the superior team herea€¦ they're both good teams, obviously, to have made it this far.
Dee: San Antonio went 14-0 against the East this year! 14 and 0! 14a€¦ and 0!
Sue: That's cuz the East is weak! Same team in the Finals every year!
No, I'm totally kidding. I don't know what's gonna happen. And don't take this the wrong way, but I don't really care. I love women's basketballa€¦ obviouslya€¦ but when we're not here (in the Finals), I'm just rooting for my friends. My answer is "Go, Kelly Schumacher!" That's the most profound thing I can say about it.
Dee: I want Detroit to win because we beat Detroit last year. No, I'm kidding. I don't really care either. I think the best team will win.
Honestly, I watched about a quarter of Game 1. And the reason is that when you're not there, it's hard to watch teams playing when you think you should be there. I just can't bear it. It hurts too much.
Sue: Yes. Too much hurt. It's not because we're not fans. It's just a professional thing.
Dee: So moving right along, we're getting set to head back to the homeland this coming week. Mother Russia. I'm leaving the 8th and Sue's leaving the 10th. And our first game over in Moscow is Oct. 16.We have about a week to get ready and then a week before we're playing.
Sue: And we have the same setup that we had last year. The house.
Dee: Kelly Miller is coming over to play with us. Lauren, three Russian national teamers, we have the young Serbian of the yeara€¦
Sue: Sylvia Fowlesa€¦
Dee: Oh yeah, did I forget Sylvia?
Sue: Yeah, we're gonna suck. Though the other big team there has Penny Taylor, Tweety, Cappie, Candace Parker, Kristi Harrower, Svetlana Abrosimova.
Dee: Yeah, I miss Svetty. How is she? a€¦ Yeah, Svetty's the shizzle.
Sue: Svetty's a free agent.
Dee: I hope she comes to the West. I need her to take me to dinner. She has many shekels.
Sue: Shekels are Israeli.
Dee: Right, I forgot, Miss Israeli citizen. "Hava negila" to you.
Sue: And a "baruch atah" to you... Challah!
Dee: If they have hummus, I'm there.
Sue: Hummus and pita: fast track to fatness. Calories galore.
Dee: Oh, I want to bring up the L.A. Times article and my response to it.
Sue: Yeah, let's talk about that.
Dee: What she wrote was so wrong. Now I'll preface this by reminding you that I don't have cable, so I've been reading and writing a lot. So I read the article and I thought, "Someone needs to be proactive about this." So I set up a meeting with my creative team and they put it together.
Sue: Yeah, you consulted your creative team.
Dee: Yeah, we worked together to shut that woman DOWN! She may never write again!
Sue: It's that UConn education coming through.
Dee: Sociology major, represent! No, honestly, my creative team went to really good colleges.
You just get tired of reading articles like that. And especially for a woman to write that? Come on! She's a hater. She's a big hater.
She was so wrong about it all. She kept making all these comparisons to the NBA. Well, we're NOT the NBA. We never will be the NBA. Because we're not guys.
But we do have the best female basketball players in the world. We could have brought three USA teams to Beijing and we would have swept the medals. Our bench could easily have won gold! It's the truth!
So when are people going to start mentioning how well we do and all the good things we do for women's basketball? We've won four straight gold medals. That's pretty cool. But this woman's mad that we can't dunk? Shut up!
We don't get paid as much as the guys? Shouldn't that make you like us more? We're playing the game for the right reasons!
I feel some times that people don't actually know how much work we put into it. I think some people see it as just a summer league. You know? "Sign up to play this summer in the WNBA!"
But we are professionals! This is my job!
Sue: She should come try and play.
Dee: She SHOULD come play. We practice a lot against guys, and I think they always have a very different perspective on how we play after they play against us a little bit. We play a lot against D-II players, I-AA players, and they're always saying, "Wow, we never knew you guys were that good."
Sue: Remember those guys we played against with the USA team at Stanford before we went to China?
Dee: Yeah, we whooped 'em!
Sue: Well, except that huge guy in the middle. He was like 6-7 and hitting fadeaway three-pointers. We were thinking, like "Yeaha€¦ this is realistic competitiona€¦"
Dee: It is kind of funny that as we're writing this, ESPN is showing Jim Rome--
Sue: Burning?
Dee: Yeah, he definitely is burning. So what about Warren Sapp on Dancing With the Stars? He's good, right? He can shake it. He's good, dude.
Sue: He's nimble for a big guy.
Dee: So who are you putting your money on?
Sue: Misty May-Treanor.
Dee: I heard she's terrible. She's a little stiff, isn't she?
Sue: Well, she has a lot of muscles. From the volleyball.
Dee: Yeah, being at the Olympics was fun. Oh, what about Lauren running up and trying to talk toYao during the Closing Ceremonies!
Sue: That was hilarious. If you haven't seen it already, please go YouTube it right now. "How am I gonna live without Yao?"
Dee: I think she's kind of infatuated with him. She talks about him a lot. They're good friends through basketball. In a non-romantic way.
Sue: Yeah, he's married. To a former Chinese national team player.
Dee: Yeah, but she's no Sui Feifei. Or Miao. Miao was BALLING at the Olympics.
Sue: Miao was balling.
Dee: So, speaking of foreign policy, I'm all about tax cuts this season. I don't know about you, but I'm voting Obama for yo mama, McCain insane. That's it, print it.
I actually watched the VP debate a few nights ago, but I was in a sushi restaurant and it was on mute. Did Palin hold her own?
Sue: I don't like talking about politics.
Dee: If I hear the word "bipartisan" one more time, I'm gonna kill myself.
Sue: The one that kills me is the whole "hockey mom" thing.
Dee: The thing I love is that when they say, "My friends, you can trust mea€¦" If you believe them, there's something wrong with you. And it's always, "My friendsa€¦"
Sue: And what about Tina Fey as the Vice President?
Dee: What?!?
Sue: She does a spot-on imitation of Sarah Palin. She's done it a couple of times on Saturday Night Live. Haven't you seen it?
Dee: I don't have any freaking TV! I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.
Sue: I'll send it to you. It's really good. "I can see Russia from my backyard!"
Dee: I do love her accent. It's almost a Minnesota accent.
Sue: "Ohhh yahhhhh, we share a maritime border!" a€¦ "Can I call ya Joe?"
Dee: Every time Palin was talking, Biden was laughing. That's a bad sign. But Palin's suit did look nice.
Sue: OKa€¦ since we've made fun of just about everyone in America now, we'll let you enjoy the rest of the Finals.
Dee: And maybe we'll check in from Russia this winter. Wouldn't that be fun?
Sue: Yeah, and we'll really be able to see Russia from our backyard!
Dee: Yeah, Birdie! Good one!
Original Story:
http://my.wnba.com/thread.jspa?threadID=....
