Wednesdays Is Wednesdayish.

This is what happens when there's no Liberty news to keep me sane.

Nothin' doin' on the Liberty front. Shameka Christon is graded over at the Lib's site, but other than that, nada. This is what I was afraid was going to happen in the off-season, with very little to keep this blog going. However, it's good to keep the grease on the wheels, so better to update with just a bit than nothing at all.

Don't make me keep that promise.

In other news, the Mercs are going to be on a Wheaties box. Which is nice, in a kinda "well, that's cool" way, but really, who the hell eats Wheaties? I had a box once, and it was like eating freeze-dried cardboard. Still, good going.

Linda Froelich waxes poetic on the way that the WNBA affects European ball. That pretty much sums it up. She was on the German national team with... guess who... Martina Weber. See? It's six degrees all the way, baby!

Other than that, nothin'. Bleh. If there's something good, I'll update tomorrow. If not, you'll have to wait until Friday. Until next time?

See ya, Space Cowboy...

Check Below "Busy" for Today's Post...

Blogger can be annoying sometimes, and I can't figure out how to shift positions on the posts. Which is especially annoying because I wrote one sentence yesterday, saved it to work, and then finished it today and posted it but it's NOT coming up. Anyway, check two posts down for today's post.

Busy

Sorry everybody. TOOOOOOOO much work. I will update tomorrow. Today's supposed to be my day off so I can celebrate the advent of European influence and the massacre of millions of people. Instead, I am at work and working waaaaaay too hard. I'll update tomorrow. Peace.

I Want You (She's So Heavy)...

That sound you hear is Lennon and Harrison rolling over in their graves.

Before I get started, I want to warn you all against an insidious film that left me feeling hollow on the inside and sugar-coated on the outside. I am talking, of course, about Across the Universe.

Now, I'm sure a few of you out there like Julie Taymor's work or liked Moulin Rouge or enjoy Beatles songs reduced to their very basic meanings without any context, underlying meaning, or reimagining done to them. I am not one of those people. The film was not a whole loss (The Draft/"I Want You" sequence was astonishingly good), but I went it wanting to like it, pleading to like it, and have proof that Julie Taymor actually knows how to construct a film that doesn't a.) lag in the middle, b.) lack a coherent structure, c.) have cutesyness or MTV-style shots for the hell of it, or d.) just skim the surface of the ideas that she's dealing with. Unfortunately, she went 0-4, and is now 0-3 in the films that I've seen of hers. Let me be blunt. Taymor knows how to fill a shot. She just doesn't know how to fill two and a half hours with meaning.

Still, I prefer Batman Returns to Batman Begins, so take my assesment with a grain of salt.

Onto the topic at hand...

A nice little piece about the Chicago Sky and working together. The "cooperation" and "family" the author discusses in the article didn't help the Sky into the playoffs, but hey, the WNBA can't just be the Liberty.

I'm sure most of you know that Margo Dydek (CON) is pregnant. What some of you may not know is that it might spell the end of her WNBA career. THAT would suck, although I can't say that I blame her.

The U.S. House of Representatives, when not taking bribes, evading taxes, taking endless breaks (while only "working" three days a week), and generally being major fuck-ups, can do some good. Hey, they just congratulated the Mercs on their WNBA Championship win. Now if they can fix that Iraq thing...

In Liberty news, nada. Loree Moore's up on the Lib's "report card" segment. Also, I've found more Weber shots, but that really only excites me.

Don't hate me; hate my y chromosome.

That's it for me. I've got too much work (though not so much that I can't see Blade Runner: Final Cut tonight at the Ziegfeld). The NHL is gearing up, I'm grinding down. It's like living in a yellow submarine...

Now THERE is a Beatles film!

See ya, Space Cowboy...

The Friday Man Hath Cometh

Sorzy abott teh speljing. Weber maeks mw drool.

LIBERTY NEWS

Well, what little there is...

Love Shay Doron (who doesn't?), but she's gotta update her site once in a while. Last news post? In August. Come on, Hammer! If I can update my blog every other day during the week in the off-season, you can throw a bone or two to your beloved fans!

A couple days old, but Janel's blog has been updated. Huzzah!

More Martina Weber pictures up on her comparison site, linked from the Lib's homepage. I will refrain from such comments that would be unsuitable for my mother to read, but let it be known that Weber is a hell of a woman. She's averaging 12 points a game and she looks like a hand-crafted form of Venus. All I can say is... Damn.

Not really Liberty news, but apparently, there's this seamstress/artist named Martina Weber (ALSO from Germany) who pops up all the time when I'm searching for Weber's name on the intra-web. It makes my searching of the tubes that makes up the information superhighway that much more difficult.

AROUND THE LEAGUE...

Gotta love the spin. As reported on the WNBA's site...

"Delisha Milton-Jones and other top WNBA players are going overseas to stay
in shape this off-season."

Something tells me that it's not really staying in shape that's getting all of the lasses across the pond.

If you're into MORE propoganda, take a look at Orender's latest speech from the 2007 WNBA Sales and Marketing Meetings. To be fair, Orender presents a couple negatives, too, and really, it's her job to tout the league wherever she can. Still, a little bit of depression sets in everytime I read about the over-hyping that is done by the league's front office.

Speaking of Orender, she made ESPN and Business Week's Top 100 Influential People in the World of Sports... at number 100.

Former WNBA and NCAA star Fran Harris is launching an magazine this fall for college-aged entrepeneurs. Just a shout out, really, since I figure most of my readership is beyond college.

In age if not maturity.

That's all I got, lads and ladies. The Pens open up their season tonight, but this is a Liberty blog, so I won't comment further (except during moments of extreme passion). Until Monday, then?

See ya, Space Cowboy...

If you will allow me a brief interlude...

I am excited to the point of arousal.

NHL Season "begins" tonight. Sure, this is a Liberty Blog, and yeah, two games have been played already. But a.) this is my blog, so I can talk about anything I damn well feel like, and b.) not only were Anaheim and Los Angeles playing, but their match was in London, as far away from the real NHL as possible. Why not play in Prague? Or Stockholm? Or any city in any number of countries that supply NHL hockey players? Ask this man.

Interestingly (and unexpectedly to me), this has a link to the WNBA. You see, you have a great sport (hockey and women's basketball), run by a questionable commissioner (Bettman and Orender) that say that they are doing as much as possible to save the league, when, in fact, their actions are the antithesis of their statements.

All right. I'll come down off my soap box.

In any case, if you like good sports, check out the NHL tonight. HUZZAH!

In women's hoops news, some people are claiming that the Houston Comets are close to moving to Atlanta, which was considered a front-runner for a 2008 WNBA Expansion Team. Most of this information comes from message boards (home to many a sweaty recluse interested more in Lara Croft's cup size than actual conversation about the social ramifications of video games), so I'm willing to take it with a grain of salt, but if you like the-sky-is-falling scenarios, then eat your heart out.

Personally, I feel like this could never happen. A storied franchise like the Comets? With top-tier (for the WNBA) attendance? Moving to a notoriously lax sports town? I know I advocated for a team in Atlanta in one of my early essays, but that was a case of lesser-of-two evils: if expansion MUST happen, place a team in a huge city with an NBA team (in a basketball hungry market) rather than putting it in Northern Arkansas. Relocating a key team in a huge market to a fickle city with a smaller fan-base? Et tu, Orender?

Thus falls Caesar... er, the WNBA.

Meanwhile, in real news, the Liberty's site has a (mini) update about Libs playing overseas. Sure, its really just about Martina Weber and Shay Doron, but hey! Those are my two favorite-players-who-should-be-playing-more-often! Or something. Particularly Martina.

But then, you know all about my feelings re:Weber.

Tamika Catchings has a blog up now on the league's site. I would like to slam it in favor of Janel McCarville's blog, but I can't. Compared to Marvel's, it's longer, more in depth, and more personal. Not taking McCarville to task or anything, but can Catchings PLEASE stop showing up other stars?

I haven't been covering the Isiah Thomas scandal, mostly because it only indirectly deals with the Liberty (or does it?), but I found this piece with a quote from former-Lib, Sue Wicks. My thoughts: sexual harrasment, bad/stupid/pointless/immoral/detrimental/etc. However, I am not familiar with the trial enough to make more of a comment (read: my focus is on more important things happening in the world right now, which may be glib and not-seeing-the-picture of me, but true).

I hadn't even considered this possibility, but, hell, I guess the US's trouncing in the FIBA's WAS good for more than self-aggrandizing.

Peaceful out on the lake, gents and lasses. I'll post more, should more arise. Until then?

See ya, Space Cowboy...

They Did It

Yup. They did it. Surprised?

The Americans won the FIBA Championship, as if the way they have been playing ever left us in any doubt. 101-71 over Cuba? Is that a game, or an extended warm-up?

I found a Livejournal site out there from a Maryland fan. Major Shout-outs to the writer for propping the Libertine and letting me link to her LiveJournal site (some people don't like to make their LJ's PUBLIC-public, and hey, I like ego-stroking as much as the next gent). She calls it "weirdly written".

I take that as a compliment.

She also makes note of a Shay Doron quote from the beginning of the season. From her site...

...Maryland star Shay Doron, in Cleveland for the WNBA's pre-draft camp, said she's troubled that worries about sexual orientation take away from what players are doing on the court.

"I feel like you should accept anyone for the people they are, and hopefully as time goes, and the new generations start filling in, we can get over that hump," Doron said....

Too true, Doron. Too true. However, I don't think it's "worries" so much about sexual orientation as curiosity, morbid fascination, and some people looking for any way to denegrate players, whether for legitimate reasons or not. Put simply, if most of American society feels that sports are inherently masculine and that lesbians are inherently abnormal, it only takes a...

..."small"...

...logical leap to believe that the WNBA is itself inferior (I would link to sites, but really, you can find them on your own, and I don't want to give them anymore traffic than they already get). It's not me. It's not you. It's not the WNBA. It's not the fans. It's not lesbians. It's not anything else like this. It's some people...

...like this guy...

...looking for a way to make their penises seem bigger. And if they feel that the only way to do that is to insult someone else and take focus away from the larger picture, either by implying that women's sports are inferior or that lesbians dominate the sport, well then, we're going to be dealing with these morons for a loooooooong time.

Enough depressing talk. Let's get some Liberty news!

Janel McCarville's "report card" is up on the Libs' site. She also updated her blog. Is there anything she can't do?

More stuff on everybody's... well, just my... favorite German basketball star, Martina Weber. Once again, it's in German, but there's some nice shots of her there. Keep on workin' it, Weber.

Really, that's about it. I'm sure there's more info out there, but I'm working (ostensibly) and writing up a storm. So, I gotta cut you guys off somewhere. Until next time?

See ya, Space Cowboy...