Oh Well. At the end of the first half of this afternoon's Mystics-LA game, it certainly looked like that old fashioned whupping we'd been worried the Mystics were going to get was about to come true. Scoring only 20 points in the first half, shooting barely 25%, only 3 assisted baskets, being outrebounded 18-13, hitting only 2 of 6 FTs . . . etc, etc, etc. Not encouraging.Thankfully, however, the game didn't end after 20 minutes. To the Mystics' credit, after falling behind by 16 in the 3rd quarter, they fought back to actually take a 1 point lead with a little more than 6 minutes left in the game. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, as the Sparks regrouped, re-took the lead less than a minute later, and pulled away to win, 70-59.
We couldn't in all honesty call this a "good" loss, but at least the Mystics showed their 11,500 fans in the Phone Booth (and the national TV audience) that they didn't give up and made LA work for their victory. We're guessing that you were either in the arena along with us or you watched the ABC broadcast, so there's not much more we need to say. So that brings us to . . .
The Charm Factor. Let's see now . . . free Mystics "Believe" T-shirts to the first 5,000 fans. (Fans always like free T-shirts!) A lovely rendition of the National Anthem on violins and violas by the DC Youth Orchestra, who played with (to quote the BasketCases' on-staff musical consultant) "perfect bowing." A half-time performance by the very spirited Kangaroo Kids Howard County Precision Jump Rope Team, and then (back by popular demand) the Ballou High School Marching Band. Definitely an above-average in-arena experience!
So we're awarding Four Bunnies!For Maryland Fans . . . Check here for a feature in the Philadelphia Inquirer about Crystal Langhorne and the challenges in adjusting to pro basketball.
posted by BasketCases @ 10:34 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
I'm 6'5" and I generally don't care about free t-shirts; even the XLs aren't long enough, and they're too billowy (tho they were more billowy when I was skinnier). What I wanted was a ROSTER CARD - are they not giving those out this year?
Most encouraging sign: Mo hitting those outside shots in the 2nd half. If she can do that consistently she'll be the star many fans (me included) thought she'd be.
C&OSpence
I LOVE seeing the Kangaroo Kids perform. And what can you say about Ballou High's band. Da bomb-diggity! Oh, yeah. Did anyone else catch Marissa Coleman at the game? She came down to the front and yelled words of encouragement to Lang before the game started. Pretty cool!
Those fancy, full color roster cards were printed and given out by the league, which (sadly) decided to discontinue them this year. We think the Mystics should at least give out a roster sheet, as they did at the first game.
Yes, we saw Marissa too. If only she could have suited up; she'd be an instant improvement for this team!
-- BC
Things that made me happy about this game: 1. the t-shirts have no advertisements on them! 2. the dc youth orchestra (I love kids who play music) 3. Ballou!!!! 4. Monique's defense on Candace. She was a beast, and she actually made Her Holiness break a good sweat.
I won't mention the things that made me unhappy about this game, they kinda go without saying.
They had roster sheets at the Guest Services window for this game. Hopefully they will continue to have them. It would have been nice if that I been announced.
The Ballou kids should be hired to be the "house band". I really like them.
The classical music players out in the hall, before the game were pretty cool too.
Roster sheets were available at the F Street entrance when I arrived about 2:50. My wife, who arrived a few minutes earlier, had to hunt them down at Guest Services.
How about a non-white t-shirt one of these days??
I had to watch this game on the tube, and I must say CP was the only player that suited up as far as the announcers were concerned. MoC did play great defence on her but did she get props from announcer guy, NO! He spent the entire game waiting for CP to dunk on Stix fans. It like watching the Wiz, play LJ on NBC, Nothing but Cleveland, yesterday it was ABC, All Bout Candice. Loved what I saw from Taj.
Marissa Coleman was at the home opener also. She was signing autographs for adoring fans on the concourse after the game. Kristi was at the second game and said Crystal leaves tickets for her former teammates and coach? Saw Coach Frese last week also.
To BC: I sent an email to Greg Bibb about bringing back The Amazing Christopher (the life-size puppet man) for at least 1 half-time and suggested the Ballou band be closer to the action. Do you have any influence with the higher ups to make these things happen?
I hope the team can be more consistent and play like they did in most of the third quarter. It was too bad that at times they were in position to get good rebounds and the ball bounced off of 2 or 3 players and into the Sparks' hands
B100 STH
Christopher, the Quick Change Artists, and the unicyclist with the spinning bowls are on our short list of "wow" halftime performers. Let's hope we see them this season!
And many thanks to our readers for alerting us to the location of the secret roster sheets.
-- BC
I was in the arena, screaming my head off in the 3rd quarter during their comeback - even I got tired. I do have an observation from a lot of WNBA games on ESPN and in the arena. They always seem to show the male players/celebs in the crowd (and I have no problem with C. Butler, and Etan - great to see him looking healthy)But female celebs show up too - like Anne Donovan, Marissa, Kristi! Would have liked to have seen them on the jumbo screen too!! And could they please let the YMCA song die a natural death!! What happened "to everybody clap your hands!"
S. Rob
Post a Comment
<< Home