Final Four!

You know you are truly insane a basketball junkie when you sit around on a Sunday morning, drinking coffee, eating breakfast, all while watching a webcast of a basketball game coming to you live from . . . Cēsis, Latvia! A game broadcast in a language that, not only can't you understand, but aren't even sure what language it is. (However, we're guessing it was Latvian, making us wish we had invited Zane Teilane over for an early brunch . . . she could've translated.) But heck, language barrier or not, we could not possibly miss the Finals of the Baltic Women's Final Four Championship between defending champs TEO Vilnius of Lithuania and home-team SK Cēsis (no neutral sites for these Final Fours!). So we were glued to our laptop.

Indeed, how could we miss an opportunity to see #11 on the TEO roster and her teammates play for the Championship? That's #11 in the back row on the far right. Recognize her? Yup, of course you do . . . it's the Mystics' (and formerly the Terps') own Crystal Allison Langhorne (as she is listed on the TEO roster)!

We're pleased to report that Lang's team cruised to victory, 68-47. At first, the BasketCases had a little bit of trouble recognizing Lang on the court, since the player we thought was Lang was nailing a couple of jumpshots from just inside the 3-point line, not to mention swishing FTs (6 of 7) like she was, hmmm, Marissa Coleman. But indeed that was Lang, and we're hoping that Lang doesn't forget to bring that additional range back with her when she packs her bags and heads home to the Phone Booth this summer! Lang finished with a game-high 28 points, including 11 of 14 FGs.

After the game, all four teams competing this weekend were called back onto the court to receive various awards. As best we could tell, Lang was named to the All-Tournament team (either that, or five players were called out at random and given medals (as well flowers to help jump-start their spring gardens)).

Finally, we'd be remiss if we did not give a shoutout to the SK Cēsis mascot, who appeared to be something on the order of a white and beige walking raccoon (though we're not quite sure). One of our favorite moments this morning came during a timeout, when the mascot wheeled a baby carriage onto the center of the court, then gently picked up a little baby mascot from the carriage, and presented it to the TEO coach. Baby Daddy? Made us laugh out loud . . . some things don't need translation. Fun!

Congratulations to Lang and her teammates on a successful defense of their Baltic title! And thank you to the live feed from justin.tv for our much-needed basketball fix.

And in Other Mystics (good) News . . . Yesterday, Eurobasket.com announced their All Euro-Cup Awards for 2008-09 and the Mystics' Nakia Sanford was a First Team selection (Forward of the year!) while Shay Murphy (who averaged 22.2 ppg) was a Second Team All Euro-Cup selection. Both Kia and Shay were named to the "All Imports" team as well. Congratulations to Kia and to Shay! Now it's time to "export" all that great ball you've been playing back to DC.