Final score: Storm 50 – Sparks 68 (L) (0-1)

Attendance | 11,726 — not the anticipated sellout, but not too shabby.

Anthem Watch | Yet another American Idolesque performance. Feh.

Fan Psyche | So that’s what losing half of a championship team looks like.

Game Highlight | All the good stuff was unfortunately pregame.

Halftime | The tumbler guys returned — again.

SF.O Keyword of the Game | Who needs points in the paint anyway?

Game Photos

The game was nothing short of embarrasing. Yes, the opening 10 minutes of the first half had a lot of positives, including: Stevenson hitting her first shot, the Storm getting The Diva into early foul trouble, the Storm holding the Sparks to single digit scoring for a long stretch, Simone hitting her shots, our interior defense slowing down Holdsclaw and The Diva.

Then the Storm started turning the ball over again and again which led to a flurry of Sparks' fast breaks. It was pretty much all down hill from there.

The Sparks went into a zone and the Storm had no answer. I don't know what the final stat was for scoring in the paint, but the Storm only had 9 points there from the first half. I'd guess they ended up with 11 for the game.

It seemed like instead of the veteran's leadership and confidence rubbing off on the newbies, the newbies' confusion and timidity seeped into the veterans' psyches.

The big cliché is that since they won one championship, everyone's expectation is for them to repeat. I don't expect that, even before our core roster got cut in half during the offseason. I expect that no matter what, the Storm are going to be competitive. I expect them to come into every game with intensity, drive and energy. I trust that LJ, Sue and Betty will bring their best every night and that their effort and example will inspire the same from their teammates. I expect Coach Donovan to field the best team she can and to execute the best game plan she can. I'm confident that if the team does all of this, we'll be back where we want to be at the end of the season.

This game had about 8 minutes of what I just described and 32 minutes of something short of that.

I'm expect one more thing — the team will be better on Friday and the Comets are in for it if they expect to face the same team that lost to the Sparks.

Other Notes:

The Championship banner was raised before the game. It was great to see the players get emotional while it was unveiled. The newbies stayed at the bench and looked a little overwhelmed. Coach Donovan came over after the lights came up and said something to them like, "This is what you want," or "This is what you are here for."

The Stormtrooper — I went over and told him to "Execute Order 66" as soon as the Sparks sat down on the visitor's bench. He didn't do it.

The coaches all put on their Championship rings right away. All the rest when back into their boxes and off to the locker room, although the trainer did come back from the half with hers on.

Coach Boucek looked extremely bored while she modeled her ring for the ABC cameraman, but then he kept her there for nearly 5 minutes.

Submitted by | jilly1217

Good sized crowd but not a sell-out. the ring ceremony was terrific, the banner-raising made me cry. Betty's face during the banner was priceless, she looked like she was in all of her glory and awe. Tres cool. The rings themselves are friggin outrageously gorgeous! coach couldn't stop looking at hers, it was cute.

National anthem was ok - she got the words right but was a bit too flashy in her singing.

The game started out like we were superheroes. We were scoring and rebounding and passing and catching and doing everything right. The sporks didn't even get into double digits until almost 14 minutes into the first half! diva had 3 fouls and all of the points (literally). Then we had a few fumbles, a few turnovers, and we never regained our momentum from there.

The second half we couldn't buy a basket. NOTHING went in and every time the sporks touched the ball, it dropped in like it was on a rope. We had some great open shots and a lot of the balls were doing the 'go into the basket and circle around the rim but pop back out' trick and we were never under the basket for the rebound. And lauren, oh lauren, with 8 points. How badly did we need her in the paint? How awful to break her streak against the friggin sporks. Betty was rockin, sue stepped it up, simone played hard and great, jb was strong. Ii'll just leave it at that.

I was glad donna orender was there to see the suckiness of the refs in person. Maybe (please please) she'll do something about it.

Sigh. We're still a 'new' team and it's only the first game. Sigh.

Submitted by | Hou2Sea

Sitting behind the bench, you get to hear all of Coach D's time out talks with the team... She was so frustrated that her eyes would water as she talked and she kept telling them, "If you have a shot, take it."

It did seem like a lesson in how to pass the ball sometimes, but we did seem to shoot more later in the game.

The ring ceremony was fantastic I thought. And being from Houston, this made my fifth ring game to attend.

Couple of things made this good for me:

- Everyone on the staff was recognized and presented with a ring at the game. Trainers, asst. coaches, etc. For those watching from home, if they showed a ring on tv, that ring and hand belonged to Asst Coach Jenny Boucek. They must have filmed that for 5 minutes. Coach Boucek, hand modeling is in your future. In Houston, they never used a stage, and only the players got rings at the game. Today's ring event took longer and paid more respect to the organization than the entire 4 Comets ring ceremony's of the past. I loved that Karen Bryant singled out Coach and then the Seattle fans. She is a true class act.

- The replica rings for the fans were great and not cheap looking. I have the ones that the Comets gave out, and would be willing to show you what a cheap championship plastic ring really looks like. Just ask me.

My award for favorite moment during a time out was the "10 Things you didn't know about Sue Bird" that was shown on the jumbotron. She said her favorite tv show was Seinfeld and her favorite character was Elaine. Then Sue did the Elaine dance and then said....."If you ever show this, you've got to show her dancing on the show" which they did. Sue's ability to laugh at herself is the best.

The food discounts were back for those who arrive early.

Still no Hustle Rewards? Must mean they are gone.

The ultra cush seats were still in place for row one courtside. Everyone thought they might disappear when the Sonics season ended, but they were still in place.

The ref's were better than the last pre-season game. But they could still be counted on to make unusual calls on one end of the floor, then run back up the floor and then do a "make-up" call, to make up their bad call from before on the same two players. This happened numerous times.

I missed Tully too. I hope that Zara works out, because I wasn't too impressed, but it's only been a week.

LA had 42 points in the paint... yes, LJ needs to go back to being under the basket. I bet Coach makes this decision within the next two games.

And finally... the Storm Powers that be have nailed the "Item of the Game" for the last two years in a row. So what happened today? Two years ago, the first games item was a white tee shirt that said "LJ for MVP". And that year, LJ did get MVP. Last year's first "Item of the Game" was the "This time it's for the Trophy" shirt and we won that trophy.

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