Who Are You Rooting For in the WNBA Playoffs?

So C and R have been taking in the WNBA playoff games, when televised on a channel we actually get, even though we have no vested interest, meaning we have no home team to root for, thank you very much Sacramento and the Moo-oaf brothers. So the next best thing is to root for teams that have ex-Stanford women’s basketball players and after that, players we just admire.

We were delighted Jayne Appel’s team, the San Antonio Silver Stars, were in the playoffs. Unfortunately they had to play Phoenix, which is lead by Diana Taurasi, who falls under the category of players we admire. We admire the heck out of her.

Predictably, Phoenix beat San Antonio two games to none, but we did get to see Jayne Appel play, and C and R must admit, for the first time all season it finally looked as if Jayne belonged in the WNBA.

For those of you not in the know, Jayne had a stellar career at Stanford and in her senior year lead her team to the championship game, where, hampered by a painful stress fracture in her foot plus a sprained ankle, went scoreless and left college with a bad taste in her mouth. Her summer in the WNBA has not gone well either, and it is hard to tell if it is the lingering effects of her injuries or the higher level of play or a combination.

Anyway, she looked good in the loss. At one point, Jayne was being guarded by another former Stanford women’s basketball player, Brooke “The Hook” Smith. They were guarding each other so C and R took turns punching each other on the arm and saying, “Look, Brooke’s guarding Jayne, Jayne’s guarding Brooke!” We noticed both women play very similarly, but we believe Jayne is just better. Not that we have anything to back it up with, we just believe that!

Well, at least we can now root for Nicole Powell on the NY Liberty.

WNBA Finals

Congratulations to the Phoenix Mercury, for winning the WNBA Championship over the Indiana Fever in a best of five competition. The papers say it was the “big three”, Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter and Penny Taylor that did it, but we sooooo love Diana Taurasi. The powers that be agreed with us by voting Taurasi the Finals MVP to go along with her league MVP. Diana didn’t always have the most points, but she contributes in so many ways. She really helped her team by stepping up her rebounding and her defense.

This is Phoenix’s second championship in three years. Phoenix won it with the super-speed style that then-coach Paul Westhead used in 2007 and Corey Gaines adopted when he took over. And we love this quote:
“When I first started coaching in the WNBA coach Westhead, who is my mentor — who we owe this championship to as much as him being here right now — he told me, ‘We're going to coach the players as players, not women, ball players”' Gaines said. “And it's funny how they embraced it because they enjoyed being treated that way. Instead of being treated as women basketball players, we treat them as ball players.”

We love that many are saying this WNBA finals is the finest in the WNBA’s 13 year history. The five games were entertaining and so well played that it gave a lot of attention and respect to the WNBA.

In the deciding game five in Phoenix, Phoenix Suns captains Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash and Grant Hill purchased the tickets in the upper bowl of US Airways Center, then gave them away, leading to a sellout crowd of 17,313. We here at C and R wish they didn't have to do that, that the public will come out on their own after seeing and hearing how great these women play.

The great Mechelle Voepel reports that:
“Television ratings and attendance were up, with the last three games of the Finals being sellouts. The total attendance for the series was a record 82,018. Upper-deck seats were bought and distributed by members of the Suns organization for the contests in Phoenix, which no doubt helped. But both games in Indianapolis sold out with no freebies.”

Going from on the verge of losing the WNBA franchise, so selling out your home games in the finals is great for Indiana. We hope they are around next year for Phoenix to beat again!

WNBA Finals, Game 1

The opening game of WNBA championship game was yesterday. And it was shown on a semi-legit channel, free with your paid cable bill channel, a channel that more than 10 people get, maybe you have heard of it, it's called ESPN2.

Congrats to Diana Taurasi for wining the league's MVP Award this year before the game. She would be my first pick on any team!

Okay, we reported here how great it was that Indiana's Larry Bird, Pacers Sports and Entertainment President, bought 9,000 seats for the deciding game three of the WNBA semi-finals. Indiana went on to win that game. Someone in Phoenix must have read our article, because, Women Talk Sports reports that "Phoenix Suns general manager Steve Kerr bought the entire the upper-level of US Airways Center for game one of the 2009 WNBA Finals". He only bought 7,000 seats to Bird's 9,000.

Steve Kerr was quoted, “Both of us were part of championship teams and understand the importance of a packed house. For anyone who doubts the WNBA level of play, this is an opportunity to see for yourself. I challenge any doubters to come see the talent, skill and intensity on the court."

Okay, we know we had absolutely nothing to do with Steve Kerr getting into the act. We also love his message, if you are not a fan of Women's Basketball, come see it free. Wow, great, our hat's off to both of you...but....these guys shouldn't be spending their own money. The management should be giving away the seats, with the same message, we are so sure you will love the talent and intensity, especially during the finals, come see it for free. The building can give away the cheap seats, or charge a dollar, or somthing to encourage more fans of this greaet game.

Here's another way to fill the seats, have an exciting, well contested, highly skilled game! And, apparently, they did. The game was a marketing dream, there was a lot of scoring, the game went into over time, goats were turned into heroes (Cappie Pondexter), and everyone scored at least 20 points.

Check out this quote, "Well, if you didn't like women's basketball," Phoenix coach Corey Gaines said, "I think you do now."

Win, win, win. Except for the Indiana Fever, which actually lost to the Phoenix Mercury, 120, to 116 in over time.

Can't wait for game two.