I'm currently on the S. East on vaction and made the trip to Charlotte for tonight's game. 
I will say this right now....I want this team dismantled at the end of the season, whether they win a championship or not. They can still make the playoffs don't get me wrong...but losing these two east coast games now made it such that they need A LOT of help to get there. They need a Phoenix meltdown, a continued Houston meltdown and/or the expected Minnesota Katie-Smithless meltdown. Now they can get all of this said help, but I'm not freakin' sure this team can win out the rest of the season which they will also need to do to take advantage of the aforementioned wishful thinking help they need.
The first half was good, not great mind you but good. It was encouraging given their inability to control the game in Washington to see them controlling the game against Charlotte. They looked like they were doing what they wanted to do, they did a good job of keeping Charlotte off the boards and from scoring in the paint. The Charlotte fans sitting next to me were besides themselves at the officiating in the first half. They needent worry, thing would even up in the 2nd half. I'm not blaming the refs for the loss or giving the Monarchs any reason to excuse their poor performance, but the officiating swung noticably in the 2nd half as I guess the refs decided to even up the crappy officiating. Ticha by far was the one most affected by the weird calls that started going against the Monarchs but they all started ragging on the refs instead of focusing on the game.
I wasn't paying enough attention to have realized the M's had pushed their lead up to 12, I just got that pit of the stomach feeling when Mazzante hit the 3 that brought the Sting to within 1. It wasn't without reason, because the game was going to continue to slip away. But the turning point where the M's seemed to me to have deflated was when these boneheaded refs called a shooting foul against the M's. The Sting missed a shot, the rebound pinballed over several sets of hands and players got tangled in two separate scrums for the ball. Whistle blows. Okeeeeeeee, I'm not sure who you could have called a foul on on that 2nd scrum but these dolts all did. Okeeee, I could sorta live with that dumb decision, but in the midst of the call the refs decided that the Sting player who had allegedly been fouled while tangled with a few Monarch and Sting players at ground level (emphasis on the ground level part) WAS IN THE FREAKING ACT OF SHOOTING!!!!!!!!!!!!! The minute the ref holds up 2 fingers indicating that the foul was a shooting foul, Ticha goes ballistic, coach Whiz goes ballistic, Kara goes ballistic. The only reason why I can figure that nobody who was going ballistic got t-ed up was because these dunderheads knew they blew the call badly twice. Why none of them could figure out to ask the other if there was even remotely a possibility that anybody could have possibly shot the ball while they were in the bottom of the scrum. I mean words can't even describe how absurd that call was. The wheels appeared to fall off the wagon at that point.
(just a side note: I'm watching the studio show following the ESPN game and Nancy Lieberman and Geno Auriemma have made their playoff team predictions - when Lieberman's list went up first I asked out loud "was she smoking crack tonight and did not notice that Sacramento lost again?" then I see Auriemma's list and figured someone is slipping them mind altering substances in their drinking water because Auriemma had Sacramento taking the 3rd spot. I had to mute the tail end of the game because Ann Meyers was on a roll with her mentions of Lisa Leslie. I'm still riding an Olympic high as it relates to Lisa and thusly can fully appreciate the dominance she displayed in the game tonight but geeeeeezus, I can only listen to her name so many times Ann, daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn! And while I'm still pissed off and ranting... please tell me I am NOT going to have to suffer through Auriemma if Phoenix makes the playoffs. I swear to goodness I can see him and Meyers in a booth together doing Taurasi's games and him dropping her name while Meyers drops Leslie's and my head will explode. ).
Back to the rant...the M's perimeter defense still sucks, their late game execution still sucks. The game winning execution against the Silver Stars I'm afraid was a mirage. In the final possession of this game, when they needed a 3, I can't remember for the life of me if anybody capable of shooting a 3 ever touched the ball in a meaningful way after the first attempt they had went awry.
Gawd...all I wanted was for this team to come out and play to its potential this year. They've got the talent, they've got the coaching staff. But they can't find a way to ever do it and do it when people expect them to do it. They can't play with the sense of urgency other teams seem to be able to reach back and play with. Sure, they make second half runs and all, but why do they always want to live this way? Their playoff life now rests in the hands of whether or not Phoenix can continue to beat the teams they are beating (notice how their ship righted itself after we opened the barndoor and let them taste victory after nearly going 0-fer their rugged road trip back in July?) We also are waiting to see if Minnesota can win enough games in the 2nd half with no Katie Smith. I'm sick of this. I'm sick of the pervasive mentality of this club that makes it such that we have to scoreboard watch as intently as we do.
Anybody not named Maiga, Griffith or Brunson would not feel comfortable about their future as a Sacramento Monarch if I had my druthers. Ticha maaaaaaaybe makes that list because its so hard to get someone who can handle the ball, but its getting to the point that I don't care about that much any more. Mendiola maaaaaaaybe makes that list too because from what I've seen of her in college, she's got that scrapper mentality I want to see this team have as I make it up from the inside out. I want people who will fight to win a game. I'm not suggesting this squad tonight did not want to win, I just did not see them fighting to do it, not as much as the Sting were. They were getting ****** with the refs, but the refs can't make them make their shots and rebound the ball and make a goshdarn layup.
Observations about Charlotte....if you take the attendance number the league reported for tonight's game and divide it by 100, I'm pretty sure that's the total number of people who physically had their butts in a seat tonight in the Coliseum. I hope Robert Johnson gets more on the ball and gets more people out to see this team. The other highlight of my evening, I'm pretty damn sure everybody in the arena got an autograph coupon. I wasn't going to use mine as I grumbled towards the exit. But I saw Jia Perkins was one of the players signing...ever since I saw her play as a freshman I invisioned her as a Monarch player and damn that Trudi Lacey for stealing her in the 3rd round. That and chatting up Koz and Krista after the game made the 2 hr drive back more tolerable.
May they please pull a win out of their proverbial... and beat LA on Sunday.
I will say this right now....I want this team dismantled at the end of the season, whether they win a championship or not. They can still make the playoffs don't get me wrong...but losing these two east coast games now made it such that they need A LOT of help to get there. They need a Phoenix meltdown, a continued Houston meltdown and/or the expected Minnesota Katie-Smithless meltdown. Now they can get all of this said help, but I'm not freakin' sure this team can win out the rest of the season which they will also need to do to take advantage of the aforementioned wishful thinking help they need.
The first half was good, not great mind you but good. It was encouraging given their inability to control the game in Washington to see them controlling the game against Charlotte. They looked like they were doing what they wanted to do, they did a good job of keeping Charlotte off the boards and from scoring in the paint. The Charlotte fans sitting next to me were besides themselves at the officiating in the first half. They needent worry, thing would even up in the 2nd half. I'm not blaming the refs for the loss or giving the Monarchs any reason to excuse their poor performance, but the officiating swung noticably in the 2nd half as I guess the refs decided to even up the crappy officiating. Ticha by far was the one most affected by the weird calls that started going against the Monarchs but they all started ragging on the refs instead of focusing on the game.
I wasn't paying enough attention to have realized the M's had pushed their lead up to 12, I just got that pit of the stomach feeling when Mazzante hit the 3 that brought the Sting to within 1. It wasn't without reason, because the game was going to continue to slip away. But the turning point where the M's seemed to me to have deflated was when these boneheaded refs called a shooting foul against the M's. The Sting missed a shot, the rebound pinballed over several sets of hands and players got tangled in two separate scrums for the ball. Whistle blows. Okeeeeeeee, I'm not sure who you could have called a foul on on that 2nd scrum but these dolts all did. Okeeee, I could sorta live with that dumb decision, but in the midst of the call the refs decided that the Sting player who had allegedly been fouled while tangled with a few Monarch and Sting players at ground level (emphasis on the ground level part) WAS IN THE FREAKING ACT OF SHOOTING!!!!!!!!!!!!! The minute the ref holds up 2 fingers indicating that the foul was a shooting foul, Ticha goes ballistic, coach Whiz goes ballistic, Kara goes ballistic. The only reason why I can figure that nobody who was going ballistic got t-ed up was because these dunderheads knew they blew the call badly twice. Why none of them could figure out to ask the other if there was even remotely a possibility that anybody could have possibly shot the ball while they were in the bottom of the scrum. I mean words can't even describe how absurd that call was. The wheels appeared to fall off the wagon at that point.
(just a side note: I'm watching the studio show following the ESPN game and Nancy Lieberman and Geno Auriemma have made their playoff team predictions - when Lieberman's list went up first I asked out loud "was she smoking crack tonight and did not notice that Sacramento lost again?" then I see Auriemma's list and figured someone is slipping them mind altering substances in their drinking water because Auriemma had Sacramento taking the 3rd spot. I had to mute the tail end of the game because Ann Meyers was on a roll with her mentions of Lisa Leslie. I'm still riding an Olympic high as it relates to Lisa and thusly can fully appreciate the dominance she displayed in the game tonight but geeeeeezus, I can only listen to her name so many times Ann, daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn! And while I'm still pissed off and ranting... please tell me I am NOT going to have to suffer through Auriemma if Phoenix makes the playoffs. I swear to goodness I can see him and Meyers in a booth together doing Taurasi's games and him dropping her name while Meyers drops Leslie's and my head will explode. ).
Back to the rant...the M's perimeter defense still sucks, their late game execution still sucks. The game winning execution against the Silver Stars I'm afraid was a mirage. In the final possession of this game, when they needed a 3, I can't remember for the life of me if anybody capable of shooting a 3 ever touched the ball in a meaningful way after the first attempt they had went awry.
Gawd...all I wanted was for this team to come out and play to its potential this year. They've got the talent, they've got the coaching staff. But they can't find a way to ever do it and do it when people expect them to do it. They can't play with the sense of urgency other teams seem to be able to reach back and play with. Sure, they make second half runs and all, but why do they always want to live this way? Their playoff life now rests in the hands of whether or not Phoenix can continue to beat the teams they are beating (notice how their ship righted itself after we opened the barndoor and let them taste victory after nearly going 0-fer their rugged road trip back in July?) We also are waiting to see if Minnesota can win enough games in the 2nd half with no Katie Smith. I'm sick of this. I'm sick of the pervasive mentality of this club that makes it such that we have to scoreboard watch as intently as we do.
Anybody not named Maiga, Griffith or Brunson would not feel comfortable about their future as a Sacramento Monarch if I had my druthers. Ticha maaaaaaaybe makes that list because its so hard to get someone who can handle the ball, but its getting to the point that I don't care about that much any more. Mendiola maaaaaaaybe makes that list too because from what I've seen of her in college, she's got that scrapper mentality I want to see this team have as I make it up from the inside out. I want people who will fight to win a game. I'm not suggesting this squad tonight did not want to win, I just did not see them fighting to do it, not as much as the Sting were. They were getting ****** with the refs, but the refs can't make them make their shots and rebound the ball and make a goshdarn layup.
Observations about Charlotte....if you take the attendance number the league reported for tonight's game and divide it by 100, I'm pretty sure that's the total number of people who physically had their butts in a seat tonight in the Coliseum. I hope Robert Johnson gets more on the ball and gets more people out to see this team. The other highlight of my evening, I'm pretty damn sure everybody in the arena got an autograph coupon. I wasn't going to use mine as I grumbled towards the exit. But I saw Jia Perkins was one of the players signing...ever since I saw her play as a freshman I invisioned her as a Monarch player and damn that Trudi Lacey for stealing her in the 3rd round. That and chatting up Koz and Krista after the game made the 2 hr drive back more tolerable.
May they please pull a win out of their proverbial... and beat LA on Sunday.
Last edited:
Well I just wanted to know because it sounded like you really didn't like her. 
haha jk 
Well anyway let me know what ur thoughts are on her. thanks.
Could she be another casualty of this offense? Aaaannnndddd.....Ticha's assist numbers are down as well. 
