(Guru's note: To avoid duplications and rehashed analysis that is available every else at this hour, the Guru offers his own off-the-top musings going into Game 1 of the WNBA finals from a town that only understands Game 1 is Phillies vs. Brewers.
The Guru has also announced he is suspending all his activity to parachute into the Detroit area early Sunday morning to give his blessings to the Tour-de-Motown in terms of how these events are actually scheduled in arenas for Games 3 and, if necessary, Game. 4.
If Game 4 is not necessary someone will have to bail the Guru out from an extra day in Michigan to return to the City of Baseball Love, which may or not be by then.)
By Mel Greenberg
PHILADELPHIA (So you know where I am) - According to the WNBA playoff bracket, the New York Liberty's stirring postseason run has been shortcircuited by the Detroit Shock.
If so, then who are some of those key players hiding in San Antonio Silver Stars uniforms?
Let's start at the top with Becky Hammon, the former darling of the Madison Square Garden crowd.
In fact, should San Antonio go on to make life miserable for the Shock, the 2007 WNBA Draft Day will have to be amended to two key deals made back-to-back at the top that resulted in championships.
The first was already achieved a year ago when Phoenix dealt its No. 1 pick for Tangela Smith from Minnesota and the swap helped the Mercury win its first title at the expense of Detroit.
Soon after the Mercury played its card, San Antonio coach Dan Hughes, in his home state of Ohio, in Cleveland, emerged to say the Silver Stars had acquired Hammon from New York.
Meanwhile, Ann Wauters, a former No. 1 pick from Belgium, migrated from the Liberty as a free agent to the Lone Star State. Then there's Vickie Johnson, one of the mainstays in New York's earlier appearances at the finals.
Finally, assistant coach Vanessa Nygaard, the former Stanford star, also saw time with the Liberty, although she had suffered some injuries that limited her activity.
Bailout Kings
Maybe Congress needs to borrow Hughes and Detroit Shock coach Bill Laimbeer to help dissolve the financial mess in Washington.
By now, the Laimbeer story is well know. Shock owners wanted to deep-six the franchise until he went into the front office and claimed he could save the day and turn things around.
As soon as he took control, an early streak was halted and the follow season in 2003 the Shock became the Worst-to-First darlings when they upended the two-time reigning champion Los Angeles Sparks to win a thrilling final, rallying in Games 2 and 3.
A major star in the Shock ascendancy was Ruth Riley, who will now be on the other side playing for the Texans.
Since then, the Shock have become perennial championship contenders, although the darling phrase is no longer, well, appropriate.
When it comes to Hughes, if anyone calls his two previous places of employment for references, they'll think his resume is loaded with fiction. The numbers of the Charlotte Sting and Cleveland Cavaliers are now unlisted, as are the two former franchises, themselves, in the league standings.
The Silver Stars used to be known be known as the Utah Starzz, a team which made editors challenge reporters to see if their "z" keys on their laptop computers were stuck because the letter at the end of the alphabet kept showing up in repetition in the copy.
Of course, the franchise after its shift from the Salt Lake City was still in danger of being flushed down the Riverwalk until Hughes arrived and turned San Antonio into one of the jewels of the West.
The Meaning of Taj
While the Shock have regaled into a reputation as the WNBA "Bad Girls" in the personna of Laimbeer's time as a member of the Detroit Pistons "Bad Boys" NBA champions, people are openly cheering for veteran Taj McWilliams-Franklin, who was acquired late in the season and has helped Detroit make do without the injured Cheryl Ford.
Just before the Olympic break, the Guru was in the Washington Mystics lockerroom interviewing McWilliams-Franklin, who once played for the Philadelphia Rage in the former American Basketball League.
She was busy offering calculations as to what the Mystics had to do to make the postseason.
Fate has now given her another way to achieve the goal if not more. And for those who were born yesterday, Shock teammate Katie Smith and McWilliams-Franklin were on opposite sides in the first ABL championship when Smith's Columbus Quest beat the then-Richmond Rage in 1997.
Smith got her first WNBA title two years ago in Detroit and now McWilliams-Franklin, a native of Texan, could earn hers.
Guru Marketing Idea for San Antonio
Speaking of Texans, former Baylor star Sophia Young is now getting even more notoriety after her buzzer-beater in Game 2 of the Western finals rescued San Antonio from elimination by Los Angeles.
So if the Silver Stars win it all, why not take the team to the nearby Alamo, have Young stand in front of them launching a ball, and then produce a T-shirt with the phrase "Remember the Shot!"
Michael Cooper Phone Home
With Los Angeles' elimination, the Guru was reminded of the theory he espoused several years ago, called "The Curse of the No. 1 pick."
At that time, with Suzie McConnell-Serio's departure from Minnesota, the Guru noted that every coach, except Van Chancellor, in the history of the league who held the No. 1 pick, was gone from their job with a year.
We're still trying to remember how to qualify Phoenix, which held the pick last year, though dealt away, and no longer is coached by Paul Westhead.
Well, the Sparks, predicted by all in the preseason to run away with the title with the addition of Candace Parker, didn't make it.
So L.A. coach Michael Cooper should check his voice mail a little more often this winter, although the Guru expects that a member of Sparks ownership will read this and call the Guru to say the curse streak won't continue.
Paul Newman and the Guru
Bet you are wondering what this item is all about. Well, the passing of acclaimed actor Paul Newman last weekend recalled a moment from the Guru's youth as a high school senior.
The Guru and his cousin had faked their way into the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City, a short ride from Philly, as bonafide media representatives -- yeah, it'd be jail time in today's climate.
When one of the big nights of the week arrived, the Guru was down near the front with the Pennsylvania delegation, some of whom he knew because they were politicos from the neighborhood.
Well, in those times of pre-video and every other technological toy associated with the Guru, the only way to view the speeches live by Ted Kennedy, etc., was to stand on the bridge chairs because that's how close to the podium the Pennsylvania crowd was located.
So as the Guru held his own on top of his seat, he suddenly felt a person behind him, kind of leaning on the Guru's shoulder to balance himself.
The Guru glanced backwards and it was -- Paul Newman.
And no, several years later, the Guru did not try to remind Newman of their meeting when directors were looking for someone to play the role of the Sundance Kid to Newman's Butch Cassidy.
-- Mel
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