Tag: wnba

Tonight in Vancouver, British Columbia, they will play basketball 🏀 like it was 1999 !

Vancouver, BC, is by far my favorite international city, and it stems from our two stays just below the Canadian border.

Back in 1995, the National Basketball Association decided to take the game to an international level by expanding into both sides of Canada 🇨🇦. The Toronto Raptors to the east and our Vancouver Grizzlies to the west.

2001 was the last time that professional basketball was played in Vancouver, so when the WNBA added the Toronto Tempo to the league, it was a marketing guess that the folks running the show would do some forward thinking about their country and play games in Montreal and Vancouver at some point.

The game in Montreal broke the 20,000 attendance mark, and the trip to Western Canada 🇨🇦 was an extended stay plan. First, the team would host Portland on a Friday night, and then the Las Vegas Aces provide the competition on Sunday evening.

  Yes, the level of excitement that was there led to the planning of a trip back to the Pacific Northwest for a welcome home party 🥳 to the game of professional basketball 🏀.

Thankfully, the status level reached with American Airlines allows for redepositing the miles for the flight ✈️ but no such luck with the tickets to the game.

ION is 📺📺📺 set to televise the game starting at 10pm local time (7pm).

A bowl of popcorn 🍿 and a flat screen TV will have to fill the bill tonight.

Vancouver had the misfortune of bad timing, and things went from bad to worse when they used a lottery pick on Steve Francis, who proceeded to refuse to play North of the Border.

The NBA was just beginning to embrace the game as one of the world 🌎. There were international players back then, but nowhere near the level we have today.

The PNW took back to back hits when the second of its trio of teams headed out to Oklahoma City. The Seattle team went from the Supersonics to the Sonics, and eventually, the OKC Thunder in 2008.

Seattle is on the short list for expansion now, but the chance that Vancouver gets a second chance is bordering on non-existent. I am not sure that the folks in BC still follow the Grizzlies down in Memphis, but for at least one weekend, there will be a reason to head over to the Rogers Center for some Hoops !!!

Let’s do this !

Toronto carries a 66-59 lead into the fourth quarter as they look to snap a 12 game losing streak. They remain short-handed, so endurance will be a factor down the stretch.

Portland goes on an 11-0 run to pull within 75 – 73….. [3:56], now 14-0.

One possession game with 0:19 to play with Toronto leading by 2. The crowd seems to be enjoying it.

12:23 – Toronto Tempo 82, Portland Fire 🔥 79 is your final score….

When you have a thought bouncing around in your head, but Sue Bird 🐦 comes along and says it for you…..

Can we please 🙏 let Women’s Basketball 🏀 return to being about the game itself ?

Whether it’s Kris Richardson, Howard Mayo, or Kara Lawson, or Pierre Curtis, who is coaching your team, Girls / Womens Basketball is a big part of life. But lately, it’s harder to enjoy the sport because of all the outside noise from social media.

Sports uset to be an outlet for most people, a place to escape from the day to day challenges of life. Whether you watched it because your daughter was playing the game or just because you enjoyed the sport, for a couple of hours, you had a safe place to exist.

  Can we please find a way to get back to enjoying the game of women’s basketball while we still can ?

Haven’t played in over a month due to injury and wearing a new jersey for the first time didn’t prevent Kelsey from being Kelsey !

The go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute and 20 points on the night 🌙 is a pretty solid way to start your two months in the desert 🏜 !

Playing in the Windy City with a new set of teammates, Kelsey Plum showed very little rust from her extended break due to her lower leg 🦵injury. There will be little time to celebrate as PHX plays in Atlanta tomorrow night.

Welcome back, Kiddo !