Girls basketball does not suck

Okay, I know I'm the only basketball fan on here...hello? Dirtman? are you there?

But last nights game between the Phoenix Mercury and the Indiana Fever did not suck. At all. The Merc ran and ran like Gracie after eating a half bag of chocolate chips. Surprisingly the Fever kept up. Tamika Catchings managed to keep Taurasi under control (22 pts, 6 dimes, 9 rebounds, but on 5-17 shooting...yikes, kobe-like #'s). Luckily the Merc have Penny Taylor off the bench - who scored 23, 18 in the first half - all while chugging a Foster's* - Okay not chugging, but she looked like she may/may not fall asleep at any moment...australians are cool like that.

So, file away another obscure sport that I follow that gets 20 sec on coverage on SportsCenter, squashed in between an analysis of the Yankee's socks and a report that Tim Tebow flossed. If it wasn't for my boy Josh Elliot, I would be over you SC.

* Thats Australian for beer, like I need to tell you that.

Two buck seats...

Okay, first The Roosevelt was great. An old house, good beers on tap (Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale), yummy food (deviled eggs & ham, pickled okra).

But the Mercury game was just as good. First off - its always nice to see Phoenix beat L.A in basketball. And we got to see the classy (and really, really tall with sharp elbows) Lisa Leslie in her last WNBA game.

The Merc play an up-up-up tempo game and mix things up on defense. The starting lineup for LA averaged over 6 foot, and Phx starting guard had to be 5'3", and the 2 guard was 5'8". But Phx had Diana Taurasi, who yes...it's true, is a complete and total stud. She reminded me of Lebron in the way she seems about 25% more athletic than any other player on the court. But unlike Lebron she's completely clutch. She came out in the fourth and scored 8 straight points - if she decides to go to the basket, good luck stopping her.

Taurasi has at least two insane (insane! I tell you!) assists and guarded every single position on the other end (including blocking Lisa Leslie). It was pretty amazing. She's right up there with the greatest athlete I've ever seen in person - after the game Leslie said that Taurasi is the greatest player on the planet and I believe her.

So, free up your sports schedule (not that there is anything worth watching...really) The Mercury open the Finals against Indiana tomorrow night - best of 5. Go Merc!