Too Bad it Was a Work Day!

The BCs feel really sorry for all the Mystics Season Ticketholders and other grown-ups who couldn't make it to this morning's Screaming Kids Day game between the Mystics and the Dream. You missed a good one! It was a hardfought, fun-to-watch (poorly officiated, as usual) game between two closely-matched Eastern Conference competitors . . . and the best part is that the Mystics won, 82-72.

Today's Mystics looked a whole lot more like the Mystics of the first half of the season. They played with intensity and with energy; they led by 12 points at the half, increased their lead after the break, and didn't falter when the Dream threw an inevitable run at them.

Once again Crystal Langhorne led all scorers (we love saying that) -- with 24 points -- and she recorded another double-double (15 boards). And Lang did all that against Atlanta's much bigger post players, including 6'5" Erika de Souza, 6'4" Sancho Lyttle and 6'7" Alison Bales. Though Lang was the only Mystics starter in double-figures, she got plenty of help from her teammates off the bench. Matee Ajavon (15), Chasity Melvin (12), and Marissa Coleman (9) combined for a total of 36 points, plus they added a bunch of steals, some rebounds, some assists . . .and a whole lot of energy.

The game was a bit of a foul fest (52 fouls were called) and sometimes the officials were extremely creative in their calls, while at the same time turning a blind eye to some genuine violations. (Did the WNBA revoke the 3-second rule without telling us?) The Dream's posts parked themselves in the paint so long today, we kept hoping they'd eventually run out of change for the meter. But no matter, the interpretive officiating took place on both ends of the floor (yes, the Mystics benefited at times, too) and we don't really think it affected the outcome of the game, even if it did make the game longer than it needed to be. C'est la vie.

The 14,300 color-coded campers seemed to be having a blast, as did the 47 adults (give or take a few) who managed to get away from work. The game operations staff wisely decided that giving out noisemakers (the "Camp Day" handout-du-jour for the past few seasons) to the kiddies was not such a great idea. Instead, they gave out blue plastic Mystics bracelets that lit up in the dark (cool) and made for a great visual when the Mystics were introduced and whenever the lights were turned down. (Unclear, though, who thought it was a good idea to hype Red Bull on the megatron to young children. We didn't spot a single one of those 14,300 kids in need of any form of "energy" boost.)

With today's win, the Mystics (finally through their own play and not as the result of other teams' results) have moved back into first place in the East, albeit tied with the Indiana Fever at 13-7. Although Indy is Washington's next opponent (this Saturday at 7 PM at the Phone Booth), Indy first plays the L.A. Sparks (6-15) tomorrow, before traveling to our Nation's Capital. Which means, of course, that Indy has a chance to pull ahead of the Mystics before the two teams face off on Saturday. In any event, Saturday's game is a very important one, for both teams, in the increasingly congested Eastern Conference playoff race.

Go Mystics! . . . Beat the Fever!