My Phoenix Mercury will not only survive, but flourish.

Word came down this week that Diana Taurasi will not play during the 2015 WNBA season.  Her Russian team has requested that she take the time off to rest for her upcoming season playing for them when the overseas season starts in the fall. As a huge incentive, they are paying her (a lot) not to play for the WNBA this year.  Diana has taken their offer. For eleven seasons, Diana has played basketball year-round, full time with little or no time off.  She deserves this time off, not only for her physical rejuvenation, but for her personally*.

This sent huge shock waves through the fans of the Phoenix Mercury, causing anxiety and despair.  Since Diana is considered the backbone of the team, some fans seem to be worried that this situation diminishes the team's ability to defend their 2014 championship season.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  

The Mercury has an extraordinary group of athletes whose only mission is to get another championship.  That said, I wrote the following on Facebook to a large group of Mercury fans with the hope that my words will assuage the anxiety, give us all incentive to become even bigger cheerleaders of our incredible team and, when the season is over, look forward to welcoming back to the team the absolute best women's basketball player in history!


"Mercury fans: You may know that I come from New England (MA & CT) and I am a rabid New England sports fan (Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics & Bruins.) It's in my blood. That includes the UCONN women' and men's basketball teams. And when we lived in CT, we were fans of the CT Sun. Living here in AZ almost 7 years, the Mercury has become a passion with us, not just because of Diana (although she is a BIG reason) but because we absolutely LOVE the game of basketball, especially the women's game. Team members change for a myriad of reasons. Sometimes those changes cause us anxiety. But, remember, Diana has promised to come back. She needs, desperately, the rest she'll take this summer. We have extraordinary personnel on "our" team and the Mercury will give us a season to remember. Understand, we are Phoenix Mercury fans, first and foremost. If you look forward to an extraordinary season, you'll get it. We love all our players no matter who they are because they give us their best and provide an extraordinarily fabulous experience. We are, indeed, the best fans in the WNBA. We are X-Factor! So, don't panic and come along for the ride and let the team know we are behind them 100% GO MERCURY!"

There is a prestige factor working here. To actually make the roster of a WNBA team is many a young woman's dream.  Besides the love of the game, to make that dream worth working for, monetary recognition has to be part of the equation.  *One glaring issue is the money paid to the team members.  It's just not enough.  Perhaps this is a wake-up call for the league to figure out a way to make the WNBA a more lucrative entity. All the young women coming up behind the Taurasis, Griners, Bonners, Duprees and Taylors should not have to rely on overseas play to make a decent living in a profession that has a finite number of active years built in.

Phoenix Mercury: the 2014 WNBA Champions!

They did it. The brooms came out against the Chicago Sky, and it was 3 and done.  And done in a spectacular way.  With fewer than 15 seconds remaining, Diana Taurasi hit an incredible fadeaway jumper and was fouled in the attempt.  That shot and the successful foul shot insured the championship for the Mercury.  It was a clean 3-game sweep.

Watching and cheering loudly from home, we were caught up in the excitement... until we realized that the WNBA season was now over and our trips into Phoenix to watch the Mercury were over until next season.  We'd have to wait almost nine months until the opener next season. Oh NO-O-O-O-O!

However, we got one more chance to see our beloved team at a triumphant rally at US Airways Center on Sunday.  And oh, what fun that was. The team rolled into the arena in a white stretch limo and the coaches and each member of the team stepped out of the limo, one by one. The last, Diana Taurasi stepped out, then ducked back into the limo to bring out the championship trophy.  The place erupted.

We all spent the next hour listening to Kip Helt who hosted the festivities, the mayor of Phoenix, Coach Sandy Brondello, and the players, all reveling in each others' achievements.  It was, simply, a love fest.  Fans adore this team and with good reason.  They provided a season of excitement, fun, amazing basketball skills, energy, fierce competitiveness and a singularly remarkable fan experience.

So, here's to the 2014 WNBA CHAMPIONS!  We're so looking forward to your next wonderful season but, above all, stay healthy and know your adoring fans will be packing the arena again, hoping for a repeat!

View from a Phoenix Mercury Fan

For the past 5 years, my husband and I have been season ticket-holders for the Phoenix Mercury, the premier WNBA basketball team. We moved to Arizona from Connecticut where we were (and still are) rabid UCONN women's basketball fans!  We were each fortunate to have been able to see Diana Taurasi, live, during her UCONN basketball games.  It was almost impossible to get tickets to the women's games and a friend shared some of hers with us.  So we've followed her career from the beginning.

We were giddy with delight when we moved to the Phoenix area, knowing she was a member of the Phoenix Mercury.  And as much as we love Diana's play, her tenacity, her skillfulness, her intelligence, her attitude, her personality and her teamwork, we also love the rest of the team and how they all work together to create one cohesive, almost choreographed group of basketball talent with one thing in mind: to help make each other rise to the occasion each and every game with the ultimate purpose of winning a championship.

This year, the Fabulous Five, Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Penny Taylor, Candice Dupree and DeWanner Bonner, has consistently played as if their brains were linked.  Smooth footwork,  transitions and passes resulting in baskets, confounding their opponents make for some really great video.  But it's obvious that the leadership of their new coach, Sandy Brondello, has sparked a learning curve that just can't be beaten. This team has proven to be in sync with Coach Brondello's brilliant guidance and the incredible assistant coaches, Julie Hairgrove and Todd Troxel.  And the bench has been exceptional, stepping up handsomely when called upon, doing the job they need to do and completing the team with the best possible talent.  Erin Phillips, Shay Murphy, Mistie Bass, Aneta Je kobsone-Žagota, Ewelina Kobryn and Tiffany Bias all add to the greatness of the team.

The Mercury provides the ultimate fan experience. There are those who follow the team, there are those who are fans and then there is the X-FACTOR, fans who are season ticket holders and are, literally, fanatics, when it comes to the love of their team.  We are loud, devoted, and in love with everything Phoenix Mercury.  Those of us who can, travel to their away games.  We go early to games to watch the team on the floor shooting baskets.  X-Factor members get incentives but those are incidental to our love of the team.  We live and breathe Mercury.  The Mercury Hip Hop Squad and Scorch, the mascot, provides incredibly exciting entertainment during the games. The energy and excitement that starts with the introduction of the team is palpable, infectious, and gets the building rocking!  I don't think any other WNBA team has what we have: thousands of highly charged fans who know that their Mercury team is THE BEST in the world.  

During the course of the season, we can't wait to get to the games and it's a bit difficult to leave after a game because the excitement lingers.  Our lives are planned around home games and I make sure there is a way for us to keep up with their away games, whether by the Mercury app, Watch ESPN on my iPhone or on TV where we scream and cheer as if we were actually there!

In essence, we are the ultimate fans for a team that brings out the best in each player, provides an incredible sports experience, treats its fans and each other as family and is, SIMPLY THE BEST at what they do.

Phoenix Mercury:  I dub thee the SISTERHOOD OF THE BASKETBALL.  I just love this team!