WNBA Open Thread - Thursday Twinbill: Atlanta @ Washington, Phoenix @ San Antonio
As the WNBA regular season winds down, the playoff picture must get clearer, right? Right, I say?? Today's games feature two fourth-place teams in their respective divisions (San Antonio and Atlanta), a team that can clinch their spot tonight (Phoenix) and a team that ... oh wait - I guess we can't talk about the Mystics and the 2011 playoffs (sorry Wiz, I feel your pain) other than in a spoiler role. Anyway, leave your comments in pictures and words on the thread to be archived for all eternity!
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Atlanta (16-13) at Washington (5-24) The Dream, sitting fourth in the East, need a win at Washington to keep a firm grasp on their playoff spot. While it’s nearly impossible the Sky can catch them at this point, a Dream loss to conference-foe Washington would make that near impossibility seem less far-fetched. Atlanta can’t rest easy tonight, however, as their three games with the Mystics have all been decided by 8 points or less. Atlanta’s magic number to punch their ticket to playoffs is 2. 7 p.m. ET | LiveAccess |
Phoenix (17-12) at San Antonio (14-15) The Silver Stars need to defend their home court tonight and continue to win in order to stay in their fourth-place spot in the West. With a loss, San Antonio will be just one slim game ahead of LA. Phoenix holds firm at second, after halting the Tulsa streak on Tuesday and stands to clinch a playoff berth with a road win. Penny Taylor, who didn’t play against the Shock, called her injury minor and said she was day-to-day but DeWanna Bonner is more than ready, if needed. 8 p.m. ET | LiveAccess |
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I am a Mystics fan tonight.
Yes, you read that right.
Also I will be cheering for the SASS but that’s probably less or a surprise.
by Shannon Cotterell on Sep 1, 2011 6:34 PM EDT reply actions
OF a surprise
Typing, I fail at it.
by Shannon Cotterell on Sep 1, 2011 6:34 PM EDT up reply actions
So I went looking for pictures that will be appropriate for tonight games...
…and this one doesn’t exactly qualify but it’s still funny so it needs posting.

by Shannon Cotterell on Sep 1, 2011 6:40 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Wiz, here's some sage advice from a Shock Superfan
Sometimes, even the best teams need help. And when they’re at the free throw line there’s no defense out there but us fans.
And us fans gotta do whatever we can to make those free throw shooters miss. Every. Single. Shot.
love ur quotes of the commercials
Behind the coach. Ttyl at halftime
by thewiz06 on Sep 1, 2011 7:08 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Monique Curry goes hard to the hole,
and the commentators say that she “went off of that leg too” and that “it’s nice to see she isn’t settling for jumpers”.
The Verizon Center is like the BOK
built too big for a basketball court with the stands on one end starting well behind the court.
no, it is courtside club
A company buys the entire section..
by thewiz06 on Sep 1, 2011 8:02 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Aren't there supposed to be inbuilt seats
in that part of an arena. Do they have stadium seats there for Wizards games?
no.
They would be box VIP seats for the wizards. The courtside club is inside what would be the hockey rink for caps games.
by thewiz06 on Sep 1, 2011 8:36 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Here is a better view of this area
The Courtside Club during Mystics season from where I sit:

The same view during Wizards season. I attended an open practice last December.

Any of the seats behind the guard rails are the front seats right behind the goals during Caps games. On our tickets. All of the VIP seats for Wizards and Mystics games are in Row AA, BB, CC, or AAA, BBB, CCC etc and all of these seats are in what would be the ice rink. These rows don’t exist for the Caps I believe.
It is nice to see some fans who are always decked out
and they are the Tulsa version of the Capstronaut until he got revealed…
Surprisingly, they
are interviewing Marynell Meadors at the half end. The announcer asks her if she is bothered by the Mystics getting to the line and she says yes.
i was so gonna post a pic of him asking candace with my captions.
by thewiz06 on Sep 1, 2011 8:00 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
So did you go to this big
Season Ticket Holder shindig they are showing?
Tour of the locker room, pictures with the team, and then four groups of fans talking to four groups of coaches and players?
Trudy Lacey tells a story
about Laurie Byrd who she calls by her last name. She says that Byrd is so skinny and one time she asked her to go eat and “Bird” said “No, I ate yesterday”.
no but i saw one of them earlier today
by thewiz06 on Sep 1, 2011 8:38 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Baby you're a Firework!
….Teen…age.. dream. the way you turn me on.
Daisy Dukes, bikini on top.
Katie Perry coming to San Antonio.
Also playing: Janelle Marie.
Announcer raises the issue of whether Danielle
Adams will be hurt in sixth woman voting because she missed 11 games.
Taurasi is tops in free throw percentage at 91%
in the league and only second behind Angel McCoughtry in total attempts. Announcer is amazed that McCoughtry takes around 12 a game.
Danielle Adams is a professional baskball player and
she is a minimum of 50 pounds overweight. Amazing.
Vanessa Nygaard?
True story about Va’s screens, but…who was doing the commentary who remembered that?
by Shannon Cotterell on Sep 2, 2011 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions
SilverStars announcer Andrew Monaco
Doesn’t look like she ever played for them although she was a coach with them and has this picture on her bio. But he was also the play-by-play announcer for the Orlando Miracle so he must remember her from way back when she was on the Sol.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-monaco/7/886/322
Now we're going streakin baby! Two in a row! Two in a row baby!
Va has always been wacky and physical
http://articles.sfgate.com/1996-03-28/sports/17770393_1_vanessa-nygaard-final-four-stanford
I need to find the video of her chest-bumping people at alumni night, and omewhere there’s got to be video of her chest-bumping Tara Harrington and just about knocking her into the first row of fans.

by Shannon Cotterell on Sep 2, 2011 3:42 PM EDT up reply actions
Did you that during this 20 second timeout
someone will be diagnosed with Diabetes.
Someone you know.
Someone you love.
Someone that could be you.
dribbletostopdiabetes.com
Taurasi just ran by Jia Perkins and
hooked her arm and pulled her along and the officials caught it and called a foul on her.
No. 29
That’s not just any burger. No sir. That’s your burger. It didn’t exist before you ordered it.
Whattaburger
Just like you like it.
Taurasi griping big time about a foul call
and the replay makes it look like she did get only ball on Danielle Robinson’s fast break layup.
Dan Hughes
talking about how he wants Jia Perkins to start now so they can have a third double figure scorer on the floor. Will be replacing Scholanda Robinson.
Jayne Appel just
drove to the basket in the paint and instead of shooting passed it out to someone at the three point line. I don’t know if I should be impressed with the pass or flabbergasted that she didn’t shoot it.
If you aren't a Katie Perry fan,
the Euphoria Tour is coming to San Antone. Enrique Inglesias Pit Bull. Prince Royce.
yes, you are correct. nice way to welcome mo back.
My fanpost still stands, but I am still pleased to see the team play with a renewed sense of confidence today.
by thewiz06 on Sep 1, 2011 9:14 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
You wanna live like a SilverStar
Stop by any Lynd community today. Lynd Communties are the official home of the San Antonio SilverStars.
I don't know if it is my connection or the Live Access feed
but I have been unable to watch the SilverStars game for a while.
It keeps freezing on me. Now it is frozen on Jayne Appel shooting a foul shot
with an angelic expression.

Danielle Robinson comes out of the game and Dan Hughes comes over and
holds her hands and says something that makes her smile. I saw Hughes hold someone else’s hands coming out of the game, maybe Hammon. Don’t think I like that, even if he does that when he is praising them.
Announcer says
“I have always said, the SilverStars will play any style of play you want.”
That after Hughes was quoted saying something about the SilverStars and Connecticut keep it in the 80’s.
It's all over in San Antonio with
them winning by 18 points 86 to 68.
For some reason Taurasi only played 21 minutes and Tameka Johnson 15.
Ruth Riley started but played less (12:59) than Appel (20:49) and Adams (18:43)
So Sheila Johnson is a minority owner, but
she is the face of the ownership with regard to the team. That is not uncommon I guess. I have been surprised to learn in the past that some guy who you thought was the sole owner of some team actually held a minority of it.
Who is the dude in the tie who gets front row center treatment?
Now we're going streakin baby! Two in a row! Two in a row baby!
It is Greg Bibb
He is the COO of the Washington Mystics and has held the spot since the 2008 season. He is also the Executive Vice President of Business Operations the Washington Wizards since last June when Ted became majority owner of the team, so he was one of the top Mystics folks to take over the Wizards ship when you think about it. The Wizards title doesn’t sound as high as his Mystics position, but in reality, it’s the same role because for the Wizards, Ernie Grunfeld is the “President” of the team, but isn’t running business ops because he’s the GM. In short, Bibb runs the business side of the Mystics, and now the Wizards.
Here is Bibb (right) after the unveiling of the new Wizards logos (pic from his blog)

Though I didn’t write it in my fanpost on my suggestions for the Mystics or the other one questioning ownership’s commitment, there are some Mystics fans who think Greg has something to do with Angela Taylor’s demise, because if I’m not mistaken, he hired her, so therefore she reported to him. I really can’t say anything on that, and I don’t think that is true, even if she did report to him. If anything, he would’ve bent over to keep Angela at all costs. Bibb has always been walking up and down the hallways at Verizon Center at every basketball game and says hi to a lot of folks every game. He doesn’t hide, plain and simple, though Sheila hasn’t been seen very often this season.
At that conference, Bibb ended it by saying "Go Mystics" by accident and then corrected himself!
If he does that as a Freudian slip, well, I can certainly tell you he is passionate about the team.
by thewiz06 on Sep 2, 2011 4:14 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
And on Sheila, yes, she is the face of the team from an ownership standpoint
but Ted has been labeled as the Mystics owner a bit more over the past year since the Wizards purchase.
I keep adding....
and Sheila bought into the partnership primarily because of the Mystics even though she in all likelihood invested more money into the enterprise than what the Mystics are worth, and Abe Pollin approached her specifically about the Mystics too.

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