Final score: Storm 69 – Sparks 67 (W) (5-4)

Submitted by | New Socks

My yelling at the yutz in front of me on the freeway drowned the national anthem out, as I was stuck in what looked like a parking lot.

I walked up to the Staples Center with a sign that said 9-1 Today, 9-2 Tomorrow written on both sides. The lady at the metal detector laughed, and said, Oh girl, you are gonna take some crap from that one.  I laughed, and took the sign. Her supervisor, who was wearing about 50 million Sparks pins on her jacket rushes up and asks to see the sign. I show her the sign and takes it in her hands and tells me it is too large. Here is the funny part. I had called the Staples Center to verify exactly how large my sign could be (11x14) and made it exactly that size to provide the crowd with maximum viewing space. I put up an argument, but she was bound and determined that I wasn't going to bring that sign in. She started walking around to the trashcan that was about 50 feet away and she was holding it up over her head to show the door attendants at the other entrance her big steal. There was a huge group of people standing in line right behind where she was walking waiting to buy souvenirs so I yelled out in my outside voice, HEY LADY, GREAT SIGN!!! Everyone turns around, sees her with this sign over her head, with a big smile on her face. Everyone begins to boo her and give her crap. My niece cracks up, gives me a high 5 and we go and find our seats.

I was wearing my Lauren Jackson away jersey and as walking down to my seat, some guy says, Nice shirt, a**hole.  I just turned and smiled and said, Hey Thanks!!

As I went down my row to find my seat, I was shaking hands with Sparks fans telling them Good luck. I usually do that. I love their reaction. Continually throughout the game I compliment them if their team has a good play. Ill smile and laugh with them when one of the teams gets hosed on a call. For the first half I would stand up and cheer for every basket and yell Threeeeeeeeeee or YEAH WHOEVER. Some weenie a few rows back was yelling, SIT DOWN. I guess I was so polite, and had been so nice to the people around me that during the second half I stood up when Sandy busted a three and yelled YEAH SANDY. The guy back there yells, Sit down! About 3 Sparks fans around me stand up and yell back at the guy to Shut up. LOL.

The slaps you could hear from this game were totally audible from where I was sitting in the 10th row. You could hear F-Bombs from both sides. I also thought I could hear someone making that whining sound you hear when you let the air out of a balloon slowly; but then realized it was Lisa Leslie whining to the refs. This was constant. Even the Sparks fans sitting next to me were getting frustrated. This sweet old lady behind me said, Stop being a crybaby, and just play!!

Kamila took a serious beating. Every, and I mean just about every time that someone even passed by her they would grab a hold of her arm or shove her. But, I have one thing to say about Kamila. She is an Ann-knee-mal! I am uber impressed with her.

Tamika Dixon: PASS the ball.

Tully is so fun to watch. My niece said she could almost imagine the growling noise that a small dog makes when you try to take a toy out of its mouth while she is defending someone.

The technical foul. That was just a weird play. I was watching Sue skip down the court but then all the drama came before the block. Lauren set a pick on McCrimmon and Nicky Mc held on to Lauren as she moved away. Lauren moved around Kamila and ran smack into LL at the top of the key and she pushed LL. Her momentum sent LL falling back on her heels for about 4 steps and then Lauren got the ball back and by then LL looked pissed already and was just catching back up with Lauren when she got beat. Lauren went up, LL got the block. The ball landed on Lauren's head and LL punched it out of bounds. Lauren turned around and walked into LL. Leslie was whining, Did you see that? to the refs when the ref AND Lassiter made the technical hand signal simultaneously.  I yelled out, Good call, Amanda!

Lauren said something that had the S-Bomb in it after her technical shot, but before the free throws. I couldn't hear it all.

The following play Sandy took a shot to the mouth. Thank goodness for the mouthpiece.

The lady in front of me tells her friend, if Lisa is so worried about her damn hair maybe she should just shave her head. She has had her hands in her hair more than she's had them on the ball.

I asked a Sparks fan what happened to Byears. She just shook her head. She said that she was removed to actions detrimental to the team. She also said that it was a surprise that she hadn't gotten kicked off earlier and that she was in constant trouble with the team.

The halftime entertainment was a group of guys from a home for the mentally handicapped playing against what looked like a junior high girls team. It was pretty inspirational to see these guys playing their hearts out. Actually, the girls went and scored a couple times and people clapped. After that the crowd started booing them when they would make a basket. Finally, the men made a basket and the crowd cheered louder than they had for the Sparks all game.

When they came back out at half time Kamila looked like she had taken some shots to the head. Her eyebrows were puffed up.

Kamila got the ball in the paint one play and accidentally (snicker) popped Dixon in the chops. This was loud. I mean really loud. I don't know if it was the shot to the mouth or her hitting the court but there was quite a thump. Once Dixon got done with her lying on the floor squeezing her lip trying to make it bleed she popped up and started talking her smack. She had her head going she had no spinal cord.

The one thing I noticed about LA was that if Milton or Teasley didn't have the ball they were just looking for it. They weren't setting too many screens or helping out.

Mabika was totally a non-factor in this game. She looked really bummed out the whole game.

There is some guy in the 4th row yelling for the refs to go back to Seattle.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot this. In the first half they called Sandy for a foul. Ref puts up 1 and 5. The scorekeeper gives the foul to LJ. I noticed this and yelled toward the bench, Anne, they gave that foul to LJ. Who knows if she heard me, but she looked up at the board and then went over to the scorers table and had them correct it.

There was a play where Tully brought the ball down and then passed off to Sue. I don't know if they were out of position or not but Sue tried getting everyone into their spots and no one was moving and Sue stood there dribbling and then totally rolled her eyes in disgust. I thought to myself, I hope they didn't have the camera right in her face for everyone to see that.

At the 8 min mark we were up by 14 and I turned to the lady next to me and said, man this is a good game. She said yeah, it looks like you guys got it. I smiled and said you know how it is with these two teams. Its never over, and 14 points is no way near enough to make me feel comfortable.

Dixon gets an and 1 and Leslie comes up lame. The Oscar went to someone else and she resumed play.

With 3 minutes left the lead was down to 8 and I was eating my jersey. I was so nervous because LA had finally woke up and was being quite dirty and quite aggressive. The crowd got really loud and that didn't help us either as they were quiet the whole game.

Just under three minutes and someone trips Sue and she goes down hard on her knee. Even the Sparks fans around me groaned on that one. Thankfully, she popped back up.

Under two minutes and we are only up by 6. I'm having major déjà vu from the 30th of May. I have just eaten the entire collar off of my jersey.

Kamila is dribbling in the key. WHY? She gets rid of the ball to Sandy and she rifles a pass to the unsuspecting LJ. TURNOVER.

LA goes down to Score. The crowd erupts. I look over and my niece has her shirt pulled up over her face. She cant watch. This is her first WNBA game ever and she is way into it.

Anne calls a timeout to allow us to breathe. LA comes out of the time out with a lay-up. We are up by 2. I swallow my gum.

I'm expecting a time out. They don't call one. I grab a hold of my niece and hold my breath. Sandy gets the ball and she is directly in front of me and in my line of sight for the basket. As soon as she let it go I felt my eyes start burning. I knew it was going in. I could see it. When it went in we went crazy. There was this couple behind me about 6 seats down who were rooting for the Storm and the guy leaned way over and we high fived. My niece pointed out that I was crying.

There was still another play for LA. Oh please not the 3. I saw Teasley was still on the bench. Dixon took the shot; it was short. W-Spoon put it in for the lay-up.

We inbound, and they have to foul. Mabika throttles Kamila but in a rare show of LA sportsmanship reaches back to shake Kamila's hand.

We inbound again and they foul Sandy. She misses both free throws, but on the second one LA fights over who will be the hero and no one can seem to grab the ball. Time expires.

I shook hands with everyone around me and they asked if I was coming back for the game on the 5th. Heck yeah! The old couple behind me (Sparks Fans) gave me a hug and said I was a great fan.

After the game Sue did an interview with David and Elise. They were right below me. I waited till the aisle cleared and then moved down. When she was done, I was standing a few yards away. I said, hey, good game Sue! She stopped walking and said, Hey, thanks for coming. You must have been pretty outnumbered up there. I said, you guys gave me a heart attack. She said, YOU?! That was just crazy. I said, how's the knee? She made a face, said she needs some ice then said I gotta go but thanks again for being here.

I then went over to David and Elise and talked to them. They asked me if I made the trip from Seattle. I said no, I was from Calif. David asked why I wasn't an LA fan. I said I cant support a team that plays like theirs. Elise said good decision. David knew where I was from and we small talked about it. I told them I about died when Sue hit the floor on her knee. I asked if they knew how it really was. Elise said it isn't too good. That Coach Anne said it blew up like a balloon on the plane and they had to ice it. They told me I should try to get up to Seattle to watch a game at The Key, that there are some pretty crazy Storm fans up there (gee, I wonder who). They signed one of my post cards and then some giant Samoan dude kicked me off of the floor.

Oh yeah. There was one point where there was a foul or something under a basket. All the players were heading to their little mini huddles on the court and Sandy bumped into LL (The Nominee). Leslie reached out and shoved Sandy, and Sandy turned around and started out of the huddle. Someone grabbed a hold of her and pulled her back in, but you could hear one of the refs say cut the crap, Lisa. LOL  
 
Anyway, that's my report. Sorry it was so long, but this was an event of my lifetime.  
 
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