By Mel Greenberg
So who is it?
In a period spaced apart by ten minutes, the WNBA will announce the rookie and player of the year awards in San Antonio late Friday afternoon or early Friday night, depending on your location on the planet, prior to the start of Game 2 of the championship finals between the host Silver Stars and Detroit Shock.
WNBA president Donna Orender as part of her state of the league several days ago made a reference to the race being the closest in league history.
At least the Guru thought it was in the transcript -- it has been a looong night on the desk and this is coming to you right from the top of the Guru's head.
Having been deprived a little history in Los Angeles' narrow loss to the Sparks in the deciding Game # of the Western Finals, former Tennessee star Candace Parker can no longer become the first player to win a WNBA title to go with an NCAA and Olympic championship in the same calendar year.
But the native of Chicago could still become the first to win both the rookie and MVP in the same WNBA season.
Having been the overall No. 1 choice of the Sparks in April, Parker lived up to the expectation and it would be the only shock not associated with Detroit for someone else to be given the rookie honor.
So the fact that both awards are happening in close proximity to each certainly makes her a prime candidate.
The Guru was unable to reach either Sparks or league sources to ask how many plane tickets had to be sent to Los Angeles, considering Lisa Leslie could be in the MVP mix.
Another clue, but maybe meaningless, comes by way of a coast-to-coast call to the Guru's good friend Jayda Evans, the beat writer for the Seattle Storm, home of Sue Bird, another strong candidate.
Is Bird the one?
On one hand Evans noted, she might be since Bird's name was thrown around a lot.
On the other, Evans said she had not been able to reach her usual contacts, many of which are also associated with the Guru.
"Usually, they let the writer in the city involved with the winning player know ahead of time and no one has called me and I hadn't been able to reach anyone," Evans reported.
A third possibility could be a San Antonio player, likely Becky Hammon if the vote was close.
Home city is usually worth extra publicity and after Friday night, if the Silver Stars don't prevail, holding off the winner would become a major gamble because San Antonio could be finished with its season in Texas, dropping 2-0 in the best-of-five series.
Appropriately, being located not far from the Alamo becomes significant for the Silver Stars because the new Mexican general Santa Ana is Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer who is not known for taking prisoners -- just technical fouls and not always by his request.
A loss Friday night and San Antonio will once again be down to its last shot. And after Sophia Young's heroics in Game 2 of the Western Finals to keep the Silver Stars alive, how many last shots are left in the arsenal?
-- Mel
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