Final score: Storm 79 – Sparks 60 (W) (9-10)

Attendance | 6357

Anthem Xtra Notes | With all the harmony, at least they were good extra notes

Anthem High Note | Dude, that was higher than a guy should sing

Anthem Style | It was the California Raisins!

Fan Noise | I'm not sure what was louder, "Beat LA," "Boooooooo," or "3M! 3M!"

Signs | A lot, but I couldn't read most of them

Fan Psyche | Take that you smug, arrogant poor sports!

Halftime | Seafair clowns

It's a good thing I had my Rally Towel handy. I needed to wipe down after that game.

I know that we don't have the fourth playoff spot yet, nor does LA have the first spot sewn up. Either way, this game felt like a statement game for both teams. The Storm wanted the almighty Sparks to know that this team is no longer a push over, an easy win, or one of the worst teams in the league. The Sparks looked like they wanted to remind the Storm who was top dog in the West and what it would feel like in a first-round playoff game.

I think our message was delivered with a little more oomph.

We knew it might get ugly fairly early on in the first half. Both teams were playing hard and aggressively, ripping the ball around, slapping hard on fouls and going at each other. At that point, word hadn't gotten around about the morning shoot around confrontation, so we just chalked it up to the fact that these teams just don't like each other. Not that they needed any new reasons for added animosity, but during the morning shoot around the Sparks came on the court at 11:00 on the dot and demanded the Storm clear out. The Storm refused and stayed to finish a free throw drill. The Sparks stayed on the court and, from the short video clip shown on KING 5, clapped the whole time. I don't know if the Sparks are really that arrogant or just hold Seattle in such contempt that they thought they could come into the Storm's home court and push the Storm around. It backfired.

Everything that normally goes against the Storm - loose balls, sloppy turnovers converted into quick points, broken plays that still manage to get the ball into scoring position - tonight went for the Storm. I didn't watch the first half of the Houston game on the Oxygen tape delay, but I imagine that the two first halves looked a lot alike. The Storm were defending very well, hitting their outside shots, and successfully taking the ball inside. The Storm built and maintained a double digit lead. As we neared halftime, I joked to a couple of people that an 18-pt lead wasn't enough against the Comets the other night - maybe a 22-pt lead would do the trick tonight.

One thing from the first half that gave me hope for the second (because we all know what happens in the second half) was that at about 11:00 minutes in or so, the Sparks went to a zone defense to try and stop the Storm offense. It didn't work. The Storm kept finding ways to score. After a couple of minutes, the Sparks went back to man-to-man coverage. The reason this gave me hope was because making this kind of defensive adjustment is exactly what teams do to the Storm after the half. Typically, the Storm don't seem to make their own adjustments and get stymied. Because the game was getting so out of hand early, Coach Cooper went to his bag of tricks early to no avail. My hope was that because the Storm got through it in the first half, they could withstand the LA adjustments in the second.

We all know what happened. The Storm did indeed hold off the LA comeback. We all knew that LA would start hitting their shots and start getting the loose balls and all the calls (at one point Seattle had 5 fouls to LA's 0). Whatever you or I think of them, they are still the defending champs and know how to win games. Mabika started going off. Lisa "at least I wasn't the one wrestling with Marcinak this time" Leslie started blocking everything and hitting her free throws. I think the Sparks got it down to 16 or 17, but no farther. The Storm found a way to keep scoring and to fight off the Sparks' defense.

And oh yeah, Michelle and Latasha "Original Gangsta" Byears got into a scrap.

I can't really give you a blow by blow eyewitness account because I was focused on Lauren who had received some sort of hit from Leslie that left Lauren writhing on the floor and staying on that end while the Sparks ran the court after a rebound. Next thing I know, 3M is on the floor and has to be forcibly restrained by one of the refs. Amanda Lassiter was wading in and looked like she was ready to finish what Byears had started. (side note - it was great to see Amanda ready to throw down after being on the team for just a few short weeks). After the dust settled, both Michelle and Byears were ejected. For some reason (probably because they didn't want to start a riot), the replay was not shown on the big screen. Once we got home and saw the replay (on KONG, KING, ESPN Play of the Night, and KIRO - yes we flipped channels like mad), here is what appears to have happened:

Byears had the ball on a mini-fastbreak and Michelle fouled her hard to prevent the easy layup. Inadvertently (I say that because I seriously doubt Michelle meant to do this), Michelle caught Byears on the face. Latasha landed and did a chest pass throw at Michelle's head. She flinched enough so that it hit her shoulder. She reacted by rushing Byears and it looks like she pushed Byears and didn't really punch her. Byears tied 3M up in return and pushed her to the floor. The refs and other players stepped in and separated the two combatants. I think that on further review, the WNBA will have to say that Byears initiated the fight by throwing the ball at Michelle. Michelle reacted poorly, but I don't think that any "real" punches were thrown. Your interpretation may be different.

The worst thing about this whole altercation wasn't the fight itself or even the ejections. The worst part of it was when 3M left the court and headed into the tunnel. She was crying, a lot. I hope she heard us cheering for her, because we were.

About the time that the refs were conferring and deciding what to do, Beancounter started the "Beat LA" chant - and it grew into a beautiful and deafening thing. Now, I know that LA hears this all the time. I'm sure that they get that and all kinds of things screamed at them in every arena. I don't know if it had any effect on them, but it felt damn good to be doing it.

So many things went right tonight, I don't want to end on the fight. Felicia Ragland - 5 monster 3s. Adia Barnes - 8 monster rebounds. Lauren - had DeNasty Milton for lunch. Sue - pinpoint assists and timely baskets in the second half. All of the Storm - heads up play, nice recovery when the ball was bobbled or the play broke down. Takeisha "Tiki" Lewis - a couple of badass moves and buckets during garbage time. This was a great game to watch.

SPoG (Stormfans Player of the Game) - man, this is a hard one. We have another shared SPoG tonight - Lauren, Felicia and Michelle. Lauren for taking on the league's best forwards and beating them. Felicia for hitting those awkward looking, high arching, momentum building threes. Every time she put one up, I and just about everyone else would slowly rise out of our seats ready to explode as the ball went in. And Michelle, not for fighting - after all that really was a boneheaded thing to do - but for not backing down. How can I have it both ways? 'cause I'm a fan, and I think the Storm need to show some backbone against the unnecessarily physical teams in the league. Michelle could have kept her head a little more and stayed in the game while Byears got ejected for throwing the ball. Ladies, this SPoG is for you. And, unlike the stupid ESPYs, each of you will get time to thank anyone you want at the SPoGs.

Notes:

As I posted on the Forum, the "Larry Who?" t-shirts will be on sale Friday before the Cleveland game. Big Lo and Ian will be in the Nikko restaurant parking lot at 4:30 (across the street from the West entrance of Key Arena). The shirts will sell for $12. They are not currently selling the shirts on the web. The two said that for now, they want interested fans to approach them personally to get the shirts. I will keep you up-to-date if anything changes.

We will be collecting donations for the Michelle Marciniak Fund tomorrow night at our seats. We know her fine will probably be $1,000 (or more), but we want her to know that we are behind her all the way. Besides, we told her at the end of last season that we would pay for any fines incurred during LA games.

There were 4 or 5 LA fans sitting a couple rows in front of us. They got up and left with about 8 minutes left in the game. I guess they were more certain about the loss at that point then we were about the win (Angie didn't feel comfortable until about 1:30 on the clock). They also gave us dirty looks when we were doing the "Beat LA" chant.

Some fool (and obvious first timer) behind us kept telling us "down in front" at the beginning of the game and the second half when it customary to stand until the Storm score. The announcer needs to go back to saying something about this custom because fewer and fewer people are doing it. Also, he used to lead the "1. 2. 3. Go Storm!" cheer after the first score and has quit. The lame ass Seattle fans haven't picked up on it or something because no one is doing it. Announcer guy - go ahead and assume most fans are apathetic rubes who need reminding each game on what to do. Otherwise, those of us who do keep the tradition look like jerks and get to hear, "Down in front" a lot.

As further proof that section 113 is THE place for the cream of the Storm Fan crop, Seattleguacho has joined us and now sits directly in front of me and Angie. I guess this means I really will have to be careful about eating those big french fries during the game (yelling + fries = spewage). Seattleguacho, I promise - no spew (comforting, I know).