Submitted by | Gym.Rat.07

Forget the refs being bipolar with their whistle - that was so last season. Phantom Phouls are all the rage. They dished one out to Bird who was inches (like 3 dozen of them) away from the person with the ball and got called for a foul but they bestowed upon Kamila the majority of the Phantom Phouls. Here we go again.

Preacher Man, oh Preacher Man... where are you?

Marching Man was working his marching mojo and made the jumbo tron. He's one for one this season.

This is Lauren Jackson's team. She gets hurt and we are seriously screwed. Great that she had the points but it's scarry to see everything run through her. It needs to be somewhat even. She can't do that for 34 games.

Carrie Graf really stresses her F's. I couldn't hear what she was saying on the bench but I did hear lots of "ffss" and "fh's" (not of the mother of all words kinds but just "f-type" words in genera". Some people pop their p's - Carrie pops her f's.

Doppler lost his vain (I'm not sure that's what it's called but that's what I'm going to call it), not once, not twice, but three times that I saw. Last year his shorts - this year the vain - next year his yellow shoulder hair (what IS up with THAT?).

STH thing post game: Upstairs felt like a mosh pit sans crowd surfing but with crackers and cheese. Q&A - David needs to zip it, fans need to ask a question and not pull a Locke, we didn't even NEED to ask questions in the first place since we got more than enough from the players introducing the other players, and don't get me started on the lackluster idea that was 4 stations of autographs.

Submitted by | connvex

They looked quick. They looked real good on D-fense. I saw good transition and the Mercury often looked frazzled with time running out on the shot clock. Both teams had to deal with some rapid-fire substitutions and this kept things a bit on the sloppy side, but we'll see more polish with time.
 
Individually:
 
LJ- MVfrickenP. Yeah, tell us something new, connvex. I'm just so glad we don't have to play against her.
 
Bird- The teams best floor leader. I wish she'd take it to the hoop a bit more but the dishes were all very well thought out and executed.
 
KV- Had some of her game taken away by the refs. Can someone tell me why she gets called for so many crappy calls? I think the refs just got bamboozled by the Kayte Christensen thrashin wet-towel act and assumed it couldn't all be dramatics. Vody will get it figured out.
 
Barnes- Her movement was almost looking good, along with her Tenacious D, but I'm still wondering about the offense. She is still a big part of the team spirit, and I hope she is given the chance to recoup through the season. I wouldn't be that surprised to see her on the IR for the early season.
 
Sam- She looked decent. She has more poise than I remember from Lassiter but she didn't do a whole lot tonight. I still need to get to know her game so I know what to look for. AD had a lot of praise for her in the STH Q&A post-game show. Donovan has been coveting Sam for years.
 
Betty- Great scramble, very aggressive which I like, decent passing (with some poor decision making that resulted in all of the TOs). I would like to see less fouls and a much better shooting % as the season rolls on so I can feel cool calling her B-Money. At least she realized she wasn't that "on" tonight and didn't shoot too much. She's got a great personality.  
 
Tully- If she looks like this the rest of the season (offensively), that'd be sweet. Still not equal to Sue as a floor-leader but her defense is impregnable. You just gotta love Tully.
 
Simone- I seriously think she can stay on for this season and I think that would be a good thing. She still has some bobble-hands but she produced quality points. I noticed some interesting rotations where they brought out Burse as the 4 when LJ was resting and kept either KV or Edwards at the 5 and it generally looked sharp.
 
Burse- As expected, I was really excited about Janell. Great rebounder and shot blocker. Good energy. I can see where she might get into foul trouble quickly because she fights for every rebound. She has 5 TOs listed in the box score but I can barely remember when those happened.
 
Greco- One of my favorite players to watch tonight, she played real tight defense and looked like a cerebral player. I think/hope she makes the team cause I suspect over the next few years she could develope into something special. I'd definitely like to see her take more shots.
 
On the chopping block:
I thought Gardner-Combs looked the best but she really only played for ~2 minutes. That coulda been a fluke. Walseth looked decent. Thompson was sloppy, and I don't even remember seeing Shaq. Its hard to tell how this will all go, but I still feel more comfortable with anyone here than Sun Jung Min.
 
There's a positive vibe in the air for this team. They have their eyes on the prize and I think we're gonna see a solid run for the '04 Storm.

Submitted by | eclair

Reese's Pieces in the house!!!!!!
 
It seems that the Fox NW broadcast team will be posting creamy fillings and Droppings and Wangs and Thangs after the games from now on. F***ing copycats. Boycott their asses, I say.  
 
If LJ gets hurt, we are so screwed.
 
During the STH post-game event, Betty Lennox said that LJ is flat out the best basketball player she's ever seen. Ever. (That's my highlight of the evening.)
 
Say goodbye to Maren Walseth and Shaq Williams, anyway. Shaq played practically no minutes, and every time Greco did something good (particularly that play under the rim where Greco ended up with the FT rebound and drew the foul), Shaq looked like her mother was dying. And she looked like her mother AND father were killed by her best friend during the Q & A session. We also didn't see much of Gardner-Combs during the game.
 
Once during the game, Shaq was sitting in the place next to Jenny Boucek, and when Sue Bird came out, both Sue and Jenny gave her the hand sweep until she moved out of the way. No respect for the soon-to-be-done Duck.
 
And speaking of Michelle Greco: Love Her. Let me repeat, Love Her. Positive energy, patience, a lil' juke here and a lil' juke there. Seems like she and Sue Bird are sisters in crime--they had several conspiratorial giggles over the course of the game. She fits right in. She is like this year's Tully. (Who clearly has been working it over the off-season, and who apparently has a tree farm in Australia?)
 
So, the truth comes out: 1. S. Bird didn't have chondromalacia after all. It was a red herring, if you will, injury. She actually had a large tear in her meniscus, which makes her performance last year all the more impressive; and 2. Adia didn't just nuke her ACL, she took out her MCL as well. Adia looks tentative and slow. If AD is selcting her team based on who can help right now, Adia goes home. But Adia's not acting like a player who's going anywhere, especially after talking with her post-game. Anne must be counting on her continued improvement.  
 
Adia asked my son to please skip his game this Thursday and come to hers. He just might be hopelessly smitten. And rightfully so. ( I would *so* choose a basketball girl for him!)
 
SF7 was going to ask David Locke who won his Saggy Seconds, but he never called on her. What a chicken he is.
 
Sheri Sam looks like she's been here forever. AD said that she tried to acquire Sam while coaching in Charlotte, and then tried again last year. She and LJ looked happy to be with each other.  
 
AD says the what makes a championship squad is chemistry, which may have been a hint as to who she plans to keep.  
 
David Locke said, I think, that Simone is a luxury not too many teams can afford, given her backup status and veteran $$$. Who negotiated that contract again? Simone looked a little bulked up in the arms, had much better positioning and seemed to be able to hang on to the ball better. (Whether Sheddie and Seven think so or not)
 
My second favorite moment of the night? LJ's monster, monster block in the first half. Did I mention it was monster?
 
Alicia Thompson dresses like my grandfather. But she is a crazy, crazy spark plug on the bench. She was more into the game than anyone else in the Key, bouncing and yelling and hooting. It was excellent!
 
Kamila didn't dye her hair "platinum red" in celebration of her Russian league victory. She just copied our smashingly elegant jezzie.
 
Third favorite moment? When my 16 year-old said with awe in his voice, "Was that really THE gym.rat?" as we walked away.  
 
And for those who saw my  "39 and 1" New Haven Register Guard cover sent to me by my nephew, yes! I ended up in Sue Bird's line, and yes! She wrote "Will, good luck with you knee, (smiley face), Sue Bird" and yes! She remarked about how goofy she looked in that photo, and I told her that Stacy Dales would have liked to look that damn goofy in the paper that day, which made her smile the not-for-the-press-but-real smile, which was cool!
 
I was so happy to be able to see so many dear stormfans, especially after such a terrible week. Owl, My Sweet and Sassy, jezzie, pwe (who I just met tonight!), Scott, Angie, SF7, Sheddie, gym.rat, the irascible Shobe, dear jrod and her mom Claudia, WNBAfanforever, and our long distance travellers, new socks, kate, and SFiCL made my night more than LJ and Co. It's clear that every one around us was wondering who we were! When are the rest of you stormfans coming, for goodness' sake? You need to get out here and see this!

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