Inside the Huddle

The Staley Stories

TICHA PENICHEIRO ON DAWN'S HUMOR

Dawn Staley came in number three on Ticha's coveted top ten funniest players of the WNBA behind Latasha Byears and Tracy Reid. :o) Ticha had this to say about Dawn's personality. "I had the opportunity to play with her on the WNBA Touring Team in Brazil. She fast became one of my favorite people. I look up to her as a point guard. She's funny in a different way -- she'll be quiet, than crack a joke out of nowhere. When her, Lisa Leslie and I were on the same team playing Guesstures, we kicked some booty." Visit Ticha's Top Ten on the WNBA web site.

WNBA.com USERS GO ONE-ON-ONE WITH DAWN

Here's some of what Dawn had to say in the August 19th chat. To read the full transcript from wnba.com, click here.

On Being a Leader...

"Being a leader is not difficult, but any time you're a point guard, that position demands leadership. You have to take control of the game, both offensively and defensively. what I try to to do is keep my opponent off balance."

On the Toughest Defenders...

"The player that plays me the toughest, I'd have to give that to two players. One is Teresa Weatherspoon from New York, and Shannon Johnson from the Orlando Miracle. They both pick me up 94 feet."

On Kim Perrot, BBall, and Life

"The Kim Perrot situation really puts things into perspective. I look at Kim, I talked to her right after she had her first surgery, and when I was talking to her, she would give anything to get out there on the court and play. It saddens me because we have some players who pretty much just go out there and play - they don't have the passion. To hear Kim talk about picking up a ball and playing really touches me, because here we have someone not able to play at this moment, wanting to play, and we've got players not taking it very seriously."

On Teammate Stephanie McCarty...

"Stephanie, to me, one of her greatest assets is being very poised. She doesn't play like a rookie. But she's been put into a difficult situation. She plays behind Andrea Stinson, and any time you've played behind an All-WNBA player like her, you definitely have to come in and make an impact. Stephanie has been a bright spot for us so far because of what she brings to our team. She's an outside threat, and she's very knowledgeable about the game. She compliments our team in that manner."

On Tattoos...

"I don't have any tattoos, and I've had enough injuries that to inflict pain on myself..."

On Her Favorite Dessert...

"My favorite snack...I don't really have a favorite snack, but I have a favorite dessert. I loooove hot apple pie. Any kind, apple cobbler, peach cobbler, with vanilla ice cream. Oh, my goodness!"

On the Most Valuable Player

"I haven't seen enough of the players on the West Coast, but in playing against them I'd give a nod to Yolanda Griffith, who's had a tremendous year. You can't have an MVP and not have Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes in the running. And then Lisa Leslie, who can do it all. Those are my top four - all have played MVP-type basketball all year long."

On her Favorite Song Right Now...

"My favorite song out now, I'd have to say, is "Jamboree" by Naughty by Nature."

DOING WHAT SHE'S GOTTA DO

Dawn's the kind of player you don't want to take a shot at as a player, or as a fan. One WNBA fan figured this out quickly. As Dawn told referee Michael Henderson she was angry at herself for missing two free throws, a fan yelled "Hey Staley, stop flirting with the ref!" The always talkative Staley grinned and shot back, "I'd flirt with you if you were the ref."

THE KNEES, THE ABL, AND THE CHARLOTTE STING

In Staley's first entry (June 23, 1999) for CNNSI.com, she tells of her new teammates, her new team, her experience with the ABL, and of the "most famous knees in the WNBA."

"I can tell you how to get to the Chick-Fil-A near our apartment complex, but that's about all I've seen of Charlotte."

Charlotte

Well, I've been in Charlotte for about six or seven weeks now, and it's been a real busy time so far. From the two-a-days of training camp, to interviews, to traveling, to making appearances in the community, there hasn't been a lot of down time. I can tell you how to get to the Chick-Fil-A near our apartment complex, but that's about all I've seen of Charlotte.

Actually that's not completely true. The players who have been here for a year or two have shown us some of the town. We've gone to the Comedy Zone a few times, and watched a lot of movies down at the Arboretum. Some of the players squeeze in some shopping in their spare time, but mostly our time is filled with the business of basketball.

The most famous knees in the WNBA

With so many new players in the league, the media have a lot of questions for me as well as the other former ABL players. At the top of my personal list of "Most Asked Questions" has to be "Dawn, how are your knees holding up?" It seems like wherever we go, no matter who's doing the interview, that makes it into the conversation.

For those of you who may not know, I had my first experience with knee problems back in 1988 and I had surgery in my first year at Virginia. Since then, I've had arthroscopic surgery on both knees on a number of occasions, including last June.

I think people have this misconception of what kind of surgery I've had though. I've never torn a knee ligament or anything like that. My surgeries have just been to clean out loose cartilage and the other junk that builds up in your knee after years of pounding on the concrete courts in downtown Philly.

When I first had my initial surgery, I did just enough rehab work to get back out on the court, which I now know was the wrong thing to do. These days I do a set of specific exercises at least once a day if not twice, to help strengthen my legs. Former Philadelphia 76ers coach John Lucas taught me these exercises a few years ago when I was preparing for the Olympics and he was still in Philly.

I don't mean to get off on a side note here, but I've got to mention to you that I hold John Lucas in the highest regard. Here was a man whose head was on the coaching chopping block at the time. Everybody was trying to run him out of town, and he was kind enough to let me work out with the Sixers, and he even worked out with me personally every day after he was done with his players.

As I said, he taught me a set of exercises and told me to throw out my "corporate workout" and get back to basics. He got me thinking about playing for another 10 years instead of just another two or three, and I owe him a lot with regards to my current health. If you were starting a list of the nicest people in sports, he belongs right at the top of the list.

OK, back from the tangent and back to my knees. Lots of people seem to think that my knees are what caused me to fall to No. 9 in the draft this year and that might be true, but I don't think I could have asked for a better situation than the one here in Charlotte. The Sting were looking for a veteran point guard, and hopefully I'll be able to help take Charlotte further in the playoffs and compete for the WNBA Championship.

One final note on my knees before we move on. I don't worry about them at all. I consider myself to be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, and I've put my knees in his hands. Regardless of what happens with my knees, I'm at peace with it, and fans of the Charlotte Sting can be too.

The ABL

A close second in the "Most Asked Questions" department would probably be "How does the WNBA differ from the ABL." Some people seem disappointed when I tell them that I really can't tell a big difference between the leagues.

Obviously the current version of the WNBA has more talent across the board than either of the leagues did last season, but for every Cynthia Cooper that the WNBA had, the ABL had a Yolanda Griffith. For every Ticha Penichiero that the WNBA had, the ABL had a Jennifer Azzi.

Who had the better talent before the ABL folded? I guess fans can debate that question if they want. We'll never know the answer to that one. At least now all that talent is under one roof.

I shouldn't say that there are no differences between the leagues. There are a couple in terms of rules and equipment. The WNBA plays with the smaller NCAA size ball, while the ABL used the larger ball that the NBA uses. The larger ball is used in international competition also. The ABL played four, 12-minute quarters just like the NBA, while the WNBA plays two 20-minute halves.

But none of these things seem to bother any of the former ABLers. Just take a look at the league leaders and you'll see their names all over the place.

Even with the new talent in the league this year, Houston still seems to be the team to beat, but you can't take a day off in this league. It's a clich�, but it's true: Any team can beat any other team on any given day this year.

Teammates

Two quick notes on two of my teammates, before I head out to practice. First... Rhonda Mapp. I can remember playing against her back in the ACC days, and although I wouldn't say I was intimidated by her, she was definitely somebody I avoided on the court, because she looked like she could really put a hurting on you and she wouldn't mind doing it either.

Now that I'm playing with her with the Sting, I respect that quality about her even more, and I would much rather be playing with her than against her. But off the court, she's a big teddy bear, always joking around and keeping people loose. On the court though . . . you don't want to get in her way.

Second is Stephanie McCarty. I got to watch her play some this year, mostly during the NCAA Tournament, and when people talked about her potential in the pro game they always seemed to be dwelling on the negative. She's too slow, how is she going to be able to defend faster players, how will she be able to get her shot off at the next level. Well, after four regular-season games, two-preseason games and hours of practice, I can answer all of those question for you. Forget about them.

This girl can flat out play the game. Ann Meyers put it best when she called Stephanie the WNBA's version of Larry Bird. I don't know if Steph will put up those kind of numbers in her career, but she has the same kind of knowledge for the game that Bird had and the same kind of knack for being in the right place in the right time. I guarantee you that by the end of the season, every one of the people who said Stephanie couldn't play at this level will be asking themselves, "What was I thinking when I wrote that?"

Thanks again, and God Bless.

-- Dawn

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BETWEEN THE LINES: THE MASTER COLORER

In her July 1st edition of The Buzz, Staley reveals some others skillz that put her in a class of her own.

"Well, while you're busy reliving your childhood by maneuvering Sonic the Hedgehog through 24 levels of fun and excitement, I'm relaxing by helping Mickey and Minnie Mouse realize their dream of living in a world of two-dimensional color."

Hey everybody. Thanks for checking in on the second edition of "The Latest Buzz." As always, if you have any ideas for future columns or questions you'd like to ask, you can e-mail me by clicking on the link at the end of this column.

Well, the Sting just finished up some quick-hit road trips, with a one-game trip to Detroit, and a two-game trip to Cleveland and New York. We played four games in six days, and went 2-2. Unfortunately, we're missing Tracy Reid at the three (small forward) since she reaggravated a knee injury against Los Angeles, and we didn't have Rhonda Mapp playing center for us in New York because she's been battling an upper respiratory infection.

We're not using injuries as an excuse though. Unless you're really lucky, you're going to have injuries during the season. Already this year, you've got big-name players like Rebecca Lobo and Jennifer Azzi who are missing games. But New York has responded to Lobo's injury by finding different ways to win, and there they are sitting in first place. Detroit responded to losing Azzi by beating New York.

So injuries don't have to mean the end of your season. The good teams find ways to win, when they lose starters. Take a look at what the Miami Heat did this past NBA season. They lost two starters for most of the year, yet still had the best record in the Eastern Conference.

That's what we've got to do. Find ways to replace Tracy's athleticism and energy and Rhonda's low-post scoring and rebounding. You're not going to plug in somebody in their positions and automatically get the same kind of production. Hopefully you're able to "build" a Tracy and a Rhonda by using several players.

Speaking of the traveling we've been doing, I thought I'd share with you one of my favorite ways to pass time on the road . . . Coloring. You read that right. Coloring.

Quit laughing! I see you giggling out there! Just because you're not comfortable enough with yourself to carry a coloring book out in public, that's not my problem. Do you ever play Nintendo? Or Game Boy? I thought so. Well, while you're busy reliving your childhood by maneuvering Sonic the Hedgehog through 24 levels of fun and excitement, I'm relaxing by helping Mickey and Minnie Mouse realize their dream of living in a world of two-dimensional color.

And I don't mind bragging to you, because it's not bragging if you can back it up. I'm hands down one of the best colorers in the country. If Ted Turner ever decides to colorize some of those old black and white movies with 96 shades of Crayolas, I'll probably be first on his list of people to call.

Of course, I wasn't always the master colorer I am today. I first got into coloring when I was really little. At Christmas time, my mother would get me puzzles, coloring books, crayons, little stuff like that, always promising me that we'd get bigger, more expensive gifts after the holidays were over and they had the sales. Of course, I never got the bigger presents, but I did get a hobby that I carry with me to this day.

As I said, the reason I still color is because it's relaxing. Most of the players listen to music on the road to unwind. Others, like Vicky Bullett, like to do crossword puzzles. I color.

I've been taking coloring books on the road with me since my early USA Basketball days, and when I was playing professionally overseas. I even got current Los Angeles Sparks center Lisa Leslie into coloring. Since this column is about giving you, the fan, a behind-the-scenes look at the WNBA, I've got to be honest with you. Lisa Leslie may be the best center in the WNBA, but she can't color to save her life.

She uses all the really bright colors in the box, and they don't always match each other. I guess at some level, the way Lisa colors could tell you something about her personality. We won't psychoanalyze Lisa today though. Maybe some other time. Luckily for me, the colors that Lisa uses are the ones that I typically don't use, so we can both color at the same time.

The key to being a good colorer, other than having an eye for what colors complement each other, is having a sharpener. I can't stress this enough. Kids, adults, whoever. If you've got a box of 16 crayons, 24 crayons or any smaller number of crayons that doesn't have a sharpener in the back of the box, you're not realizing your full potential as a colorer.

The sharpener makes all the difference in the world, and will greatly improve your accuracy and ability to do detail work. Without a sharpener, you've got to rotate the crayon while you use it to keep it sharp, otherwise you get a blunt crayon that's useless. Then you've got to use scissors or something to cut it, and that just gets messy.

So go out right now and buy a box of 96 crayons with a sharpener in the back. I guarantee you'll see improvement right away.

That's all the time I've got for this week. Keep watching the Sting and supporting women's basketball everybody, and I'll talk to you next week.

Thanks again, and God Bless.

-- Dawn

WINNING STREAK

"They call the game Tweedeleedee which is a line from the chorus. I don't know if I spelled it right, but you get the idea. It may not sound as funny to you as it is to us, but after traveling with each other for two months, spending time in airports, buses and hotels, you get a little stir-crazy, and stuff like that cracks you up."

Hey everybody. Welcome back to The Latest Buzz.

The Streak and the Playoffs

Well, we had a busy week last week, with five games in seven days, but we won all of them, and ran that winning streak to six before losing to Sacramento. We look like we're in pretty good position to make the playoffs, but we've got our West Coast trip coming up, so we can't relax now.

Basically the difference between the first half of the season and our recent winning streak is consistency. When it's gotten down to crunch time in close games, we're making the stops we need, and on offense we're hitting the shots we need to hit.

We're also playing more as a team in those crucial moments, making the extra pass, setting the extra screen. Everybody's getting their touches on offense, and plays down the stretch have a chance to come to them, so we don't break down and try and go one on one with everybody because we'll each get our chance to impact the play. That sort of play becomes contagious, especially when you're winning.

Hopefully we can keep it up.

Fun on the Road

Tracy Reid and Sonia Chase play this one game that's kind of hard to describe. It's sort of like paddy-cake only with a lot more difficult hand slapping, elbow slapping and gyrating. While they're going through this series of moves they get going faster and faster, plus they're singing the lyrics to Rockin' Robin.

They call the game Tweedeleedee which is a line from the chorus. I don't know if I spelled it right, but you get the idea. It may not sound as funny to you as it is to us, but after traveling with each other for two months, spending time in airports, buses and hotels, you get a little stir-crazy, and stuff like that cracks you up. Plus, we started doing it at the beginning of our winning streak, so if we keep on winning, they're going to keep on Tweedeleedeeing.

Another thing we do on the road to pass the time is play a lot of card games. UNO is pretty big. There's nobody who really dominates at that game, but Sonia always seems to wind up on the losing end.

We play a lot of spades too. When Tracy and I get together we seem to be the best combination. I've heard that the guys in the NBA play for some pretty high stakes during the season. We don't have the cash to throw around that they do, so we just play for pride and bragging rights.

The Unsung Hero

One of the unsung heroes of our team is our equipment manager, James "Little Mac" McCullough. Mac doesn't just throw out the basketballs and the towels. He's in charge of holding on to anything we could ever need while we're on the road, and he probably has some things that we won't ever need, but he lugs them around just in case.

Break a shoelace, go to Mac. Forget your shooting shirt, go to Mac. Sometimes I think that if I showed up to a game without my shoes, my uniform, and my knee wraps, Mac would reach in to his magic bag of tricks like Felix the Cat, and out they'd come.

But the most important thing Mac carries around is "The Box." "The Box" is a Tupperware container that Mac has with him at all times. Inside "The Box" is all different kinds of candy and gum. I know I can't go too long during a practice or a game without a piece of Winterfresh. Normally he rotates the kind of candy we get too. Sometimes it's heavy on Sprees, sometimes Tootsie Rolls, and on special occasions, he'll surprise us with some Now & Laters. He's been slacking off a little bit lately though. We've been playing well enough to have earned some Now & Laters.

That's all I've got time for today. Next week, I'll be writing to you from the West Coast, and we might have a clearer picture of the playoffs.

Keep sending in those letters, and thanks again for checking in.

God Bless.

-- Dawn

THE DAYS OFF

" I guess we were feeling kind of tired and delirious, because we stopped into a hat store and tried on just about every hat in the place. Tracy thought that I should get the tomato hat, which was basically just what it sounds like -- a giant tomato on your head. She said it went with my "fruit-basket shaped head." Let's just say that I didn't get the tomato hat."

Hello again everybody, and welcome to this week's Latest Buzz, coming to you from the middle of our West Coast road trip while we wait to play Sacramento.

The Playoffs

Last week I wrote that we might have some playoff matchups to talk about this week, but instead of getting a clearer picture, things have gotten more messed up. Washington is in the race now, and there are five teams fighting for three playoff spots. With only about 10 days left in the regular season, we should see some of the most competitive games of the year coming up.

Like I said, we're in Sacramento right now waiting to play the Monarchs, and it's been kind of a strange week. For the past two weeks we've been playing a game every other day, and now we've had three days off since our last game. It's the first time we've had two days in a row to practice since probably the first week of the season.

It's a weird feeling as an athlete to have this much time off, because your body gets used to the idea of playing every other day. It may not like it, but it gets used to it. But it's nice to have the time now since the playoffs are right around the corner. It gives us a chance to work on some things and tweak some things that we haven't had the chance to.

An Athlete's Grub

Normally about the only thing you eat on the road is room service, because you don't have time to find anything else. When we were in Utah, I had my best meal of the season from room service -- chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and vegetables. We were there less than two days, and I had it three times.

A Sacramento Novelty: Flavored Lemonade

I'm not sure what kind of food Sacramento is known for, but we found the best lemonade in the world right here. It's at a place called Hot Dog On A Stick. You know how sometimes you'll go out and want to eat a particular meal, but what you have to drink doesn't really matter? This lemonade is like that, only in reverse. It doesn't matter what you eat, as long as you get the lemonade with it.

My personal favorite was the cherry flavored lemonade, but Tracy Reid really liked the lime. And when I say she really liked it, I mean she REALLY LIKED IT. She actually wanted to marry it. You should have heard her: "With this straw, I thee wed." The first time we went there, we ate at Johnny Rockets and had some burgers before the lemonade. I think we're going to do that for our pregame meal also.

Hitting the Mall

When we were walking back from the mall after experiencing the greatest lemonade in the world, I guess we were feeling kind of tired and delirious, because we stopped into a hat store and tried on just about every hat in the place. Tracy thought that I should get the tomato hat, which was basically just what it sounds like -- a giant tomato on your head. She said it went with my "fruit-basket shaped head." Let's just say that I didn't get the tomato hat.

But we did each get a Rastafarian hat. I think I spelled that right. Anyway, we put on these big, floppy, rainbow-colored hats and talked with Jamaican accents for the rest of the day. Coach Hughes almost didn't recognize us when he got on the bus after practice. He thought we were friends of somebody.

We also hit an arcade while we were at the mall. And I've got to tell you -- Tracy can't shoot a lick. We were playing one of those shooting games, and she was hitting normal people, villains, it didn't matter. If it was moving on the screen, it was in danger of taking a hit when she was firing. I'm pretty sure that Tracy can cross off police work and the military as possible employment options once her playing days are over.

While Tracy was busy making the streets unsafe for law-abiding citizens everywhere, Sonia Chase was trying to play Ms. Pacman -- and the emphasis in that sentence is on "trying." How long has that game been out? And she was getting eaten on the first screen. How can you not get past the first screen on Ms. Pacman? And it wasn't one of those newer ones where they've gone in and messed with everything so that it goes fast when you first start out. This one was crawling. Maybe if we could have put both games together, Tracy could have put Sonia out of her misery before the ghosts did.

Movie Madness

Another thing we do a lot of on the road when we've got the time is watch movies. This week, we went to see "The Sixth Sense," the new Bruce Willis movie. It is, without a doubt, the best movie I've seen this summer. It's got everything you could want in a movie tugging at all your emotions. It'll make you laugh; it'll make you cry; it'll scare you. Plus it's got a big twist at the end. Next chance I get, I'll be seeing that again.

Well, that's all for this week. Keep those letters coming, and thanks as always for tuning in.

God Bless,

-- Dawn

Read something about Dawn or had a chance to meet her? Include it here in The Staley Stories.

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