Final score: Storm 56 – Monarchs 59 (L) (0-2)

Submitted by | Stormfan7

After 10 hours driving from Portland to Sacramento I was ready for a good game and I got a pretty good game. We arrived at Arco and this feeling of adrenaline came over me once I saw our team on the court. I didn’t know any of the people on the court but they were Storm players so I was excited. As I was walking down to the court Kamila came on and so did Sue and Tully, it was nice to see some familiar Storm faces. Kamilas hair looks really nice. It looks like it was dyed blonde and then dyed red. It’s a LOT lighter than we are used to seeing it. Out of the new players I only recognized Michelle Greco and Maren Walseth, because the other players had their shooting shirts on I couldn’t see their name.  
 
The running joke of the night involved AD. She had on a 3⁄4 sleeved white shirt. The joke was that it is really a long sleeved shirt but on AD it only came up to her elbow. I don’t know if you guys find it funny but we sure did.  
 
The Game      
 
The first half was awesome. We were wining and so sure that BirdjackVodka and Leighway were the bad omens at Arco but I guess it’s us who are the bad omens.
 
AD’s tech. She was jawing at the loser ref (# 39) and I was yelling “you tell him AD” and she waved her arm in disgust and he called the technical. If I remember Yo missed the shot so its not that bad.  
 
Some of the fans at Arco are losers. They kept turning around and making faces at me the second half of the game. The first half I sat in my assigned seat in the middle of Monarchs fans. I didn’t yell much the first half except for when LJ would score and I would say “That’s the way MVP”. It didn’t seem to bother anyone so I kept at it. The people around us were nice we talked to the about Mendiola (they didn’t know who she was, what she looked like…they had to look on the roster to see if she was really on their team). The second half we moved by Mr. Trinity and Trinity across from the Storm bench. If you are going to yell at our players you better expect me to do it to your players. If you can give it you better well be able to take it because I am going to get you back worse than you got me. They would yell at KV to miss her free throws (which she didn’t) so when Ticha missed I would yell “one more just like that Ticha” and they would turn around and glare at me. The best was when Ticha blew a WIDE open fast-break layup and I was yelling. They didn’t like that either. I guess next time I will stay in my real seat with the cool Monarchs fans.  
 
After the game Shed, Mr. Trinity, Trinity and I headed to the Hard Rock Café for some after game beverages and Michelle Greco was there. I got to talk to her for a minute and told her she played really well, I wished her much luck on making the team and that Sunday we would have a  different outcome.  
 
The Players
 
Adia Barnes: From what we saw she is a lot slower this year than she has ever been. It may be because of her knee brace that looks like it weighs 25 pounds is slowing her down. She didn’t play much so it will be interesting to see if she makes the team. In addition to her being a little slow she is also really expensive but we’ll see how she goes.  
 
Tully Bevilaqua: She played great and was sort of showing Greco the ropes in the game. Her leadership is going to do wonders for this team. She also provides a spark and nailed some good 3’s. It looks like she worked on her offense this off season and it shows.  
 
Sue Bird: A lot faster than she was last year. She hasn’t found her shot this pre-season but I believe she will be great when the season starts.  
 
Jannell Burse: Did anyone see the Seinfeld episode where her Uncle Leo has eyebrows drawn on and always looks really angry? Well, that’s Burse. That face she has on in the picture is her regular face. After seeing her play I would say she is well worth the trade.  
 
Andrea Gardner-Combs: Had a few good plays but some bad ones too. I have my doubts about her making the team.  
 
Simone Edwards: Didn’t play. As much as she is a fan favorite I don’t think she will make the team. The competition to make this team is intense and she came late so her chances are slim.  
 
Michelle Greco: I really like this addition to the Storm. She is a little sparkplug off the bench and brings a lot of energy to the floor. She reminds me of a younger Sue Bird even though I think she is older than Sue.  
 
Lauren Jackson: She was having a little trouble getting used to the smaller ball but eventually she will. Her injury didn’t seem to be bothering her much except for one time when she was knocked to the floor and winced a little. She was pulled off right away and seemed fine after. During the warm-ups you could see her thigh was VERY heavily wrapped but again, it didn’t seem to bother her much.  
 
Betty Lennox: She looked really good during the game. She is a little bit out of control but with some good coaching she will be better. She pushes herself a little too much and tries to do too much which isn’t bad but it isn’t good either.  
 
Sheri Sam: I think she took way too many shots in the first half (11 I think). Like Betty, if coached right she can be controlled and play great. She looked really aggressive and never gave up. This is shown in her missing twice, getting the rebound twice and finally scoring on the third try.  
 
Alicia Thompson: She has a body like Burras (maybe a little smaller) but is a lot faster. She comes ready to play with her “Bring It” attitude. When one of our players got knocked down she jumped up off the bench and looked like she was ready to slug someone.  
 
Kamila Vodichkova: She is AWESOME. 12 points in her first game back. She is the same old KV we know and love.  
 
Maren Walseth: Didn’t play but I heard good things about her.  

Shaq Williams: She is shorter than I thought she would be but that’s not a bad thing. She only played a few minutes so it’s hard to figure out her place on this team. If it came to her and Greco, I would take Greco in a heartbeat.

The Storm: They could be a championship team if they get a little more together. They looked a little disorganized in a few plays but overall they are the best Storm team ever put together. Lennox, Sam, Burse and the other new players are great.  
 
Mendiola: Was her hair ever pulled in college (a la LJ and LL in the Olympics)? If she makes the team and plays in the W I can’t see how it wont be pulled. There was one drunk lady yelling for her to play but she didn’t. With the players Sac has I wouldn’t expect her to make the team.
 
To the people of California: Who names your roads? Some of them were funny like Hooker Creek Rd and Easy St. But there were ones like Road 8, Road 27, Road 99…Couldn’t you guys think of names for these roads? Maybe Governor Arnie can take care of it.  
 
Miles: 1190