Final score: Storm 49 – Fire 56 (L) (8-14)

Attendance | 9232

Anthem Xtra Notes | More at the end

Anthem High Note | Hit it, then went even higher

Anthem Style | The way it should be sung

Fan Noise | Us: Not enough – Them: Too much

Signs | More than ever?

Fan Psyche | Sigh

Halftime | Storm Quest shooting contest

Sigh.

Let’s get this over with…

4, count them, 4 shot clock violations. Lauren Jackson scores only 4 points. Sophia Witherspoon hits 5 of 8 three pointers (and they all seem to be daggers to the heart). The Storm shoot only 32% from the field and 17% for threes. The team misses 7 free throws. The Fire out-rebound us and at one point double the Storm in rebounds.

All of this adds up to the sixth straight loss in a row, eight losses out of the last nine games, and the uncomfortable position of (once again) last place in the West.

Oh yeah, and this is the first of yet another back-to-back home then away against a top-caliber opponent game.

Again, sigh.

We come into this game really wanting to win, maybe more so than normal. Why? Because it’s Portland. Because they are sending up two buses of fans to this game like the trip we took down there on July 4th. Because of Jackiemania. Because July 4th was the last game the Storm won. We are ready for a win.

The anthem, goosebump-inspiringly delivered by Pat Wright of the Total Experience Gospel Choir, starts us off on the right foot. Yes, that’s right, we (Scott more so than Angie) is actually moved by the anthem for a change. Another good sign is that Lauren’s mum is in the stands. After Lauren’s stellar performance in the All-Star game, we figure that tonight is going to go all Storm. And finally, the word is out that tonight’s game is a sell-out, which can only mean good things.

Once the game starts, some old patterns emerge pretty quickly and the Storm start falling behind. On several occasions, there are 2 or 3 Storm players under the basket and one Fire player and it’s the Fire player who comes up with the rebound. The Storm continue to play smothering, turnover-forcing defense but then can’t capitalize by scoring points. Lauren is getting constantly triple-teamed because the Fire have no reason to fear any outside Storm scoring.

Jenny Mowe and LJ get tangled up at one point and Mowe delivers a serious blow to Lauren’s head (anyone who thinks that Lauren punched first just needs to watch the replay on ESPN). Rightfully so, Mowe gets instantly ejected from the game. Of course, that just means that the Fire get all indignant, especially Vanessa Nygaard, and they go on a tear.

It gets uglier. The Storm make a small push and get stymied by a shot clock violation or a Witherspoon three. Bevilaqua takes a couple of flops, er… sorry, charges. The red clad Fire fans end up doing to us what we did to them – out cheering the stadium.

The final indignation is that Spot, the evil black-hearted Fire mascot, makes an appearance. Even though Doppler does a “magic” trick to get Spot back for the “I love OR” incident at the July 4th game, it falls a little flat and it seems that the refs are getting ready to call a delay of game because the trick goes on just a little too long.

We so wanted to send the Portland fans home disappointed. Well, we’re the ones who had a long drive home.

Notes:

KING 5 uber-geek John Curley is at tonight’s game helping out with the timeout entertainments. The best one is when he and Doppler go head-to-head, or should it be back-to-back, for Bungie Ball. Curley cheats of course, but it is still pretty funny watching him and Doppler getting pulled around the floor.

Michelle Edwards is not at the game. She is undergoing surgery and is not expected to return for the rest of the season. We hope that she is able to come back so that we can show her our appreciation.

Speaking of love and appreciation, Sassy Sue, upstanding member of the stormfans.org forum, produces a card for the team and several people stop by the Green Club before the game to sign it. We are happy to finally meet some of the forum faithful face-to-face, including Gym Rat and Stormrocks. Hmmm, do I smell a stormfans.org event in the future?

For some reason, Coach Dunn only plays 8 players tonight. Quacy Barnes, Michelle Marciniak and Alessandra are suited up but don’t play. Coach keeps saying that fatigue is problem for the team and we can understand holding something back for Los Angeles on Saturday, but still – we don’t get it.

Before the game, the Seattle Fire department has a couple of trucks, a dunk tank and a lot of firefighters on hand for a “Put out the Fire” event on the West Plaza. Their mascot happens to be Sparky the Dog. Sparky is a dalmation. Spot, the Portland Fire mascot, is also a dalmation. Sparky need to have a bigger name tag, because our first urge upon seeing a dalmation mascot walking around outside KeyArena was to kick its spots.

Finally, after the game, Lauren tries to throw a couple of t-shirts to her mom. The first one gets intercepted. The second one lands a couple of rows short. Scott, being the fine individual that he is (and modest too), scoops up the shirt before one of the little psycho kids can get to it and underhands it to Mrs. Jackson. We here at stormfans.org are always happy to provide an assist when necessary.