| Storm fans will go Bird watching Larry Henry Sports Columnist SEATTLE - I don't ordinarily sit through basketball practices. Unless Marv Harshman is conducting them, it's pretty much, "seen one, seen 'em all.'' I went to a basketball practice the other night. I got there soon after it started and stayed until the very end. I was curious to see the No.1 pick in the WNBA draft. I was curious to see Sue Bird in a professional setting. She held my attention for two hours. She will capture a lot of other people's attention on warm summer nights this season. They'll marvel at her ball-handling, her passing and her shooting. They'll see her make perfect passes to start fast breaks. They'll see her penetrate the middle and pass to shooters on the baseline. They'll see her launch long-range shots that nestle softly into the net. They'll see her talk it up with her teammates, congratulating them with high-fives after they do something good or encouraging them after they make a miscue. They'll see her and they'll like her, this woman, this basketball player, this Sue Bird. "Isn't that a great name?" Seattle Storm coach Lin Dunn said as she invited me to sit down in her "office," five chairs at the end of the practice court in the Furtado Center. Yes, it is. It carries heavy clout in basketball circles. Just as Larry Bird - along with some guy named Johnson - had much to do with bringing people back into NBA arenas, so could Sue Bird have a lot to do with helping the Storm fill KeyArena this summer. Already, the Storm is assured of one sellout. And it's not even for a regular season game. Thanks to more than 5,600 Girl Scouts - who are celebrating the 90th anniversary of their organization - the May 19 preseason home-opener against Utah is sold out. Only twice before have the Storm filled KeyArena - just the lower bowl, which seats 9,686, is used for WNBA games - and those were regular season openers. "I didn't know that," Dunn said, when informed that every seat was taken for the shakedown game. When you can get a curmudgeonly sportswriter to come and watch a practice, you know that something extraordinary is in the air. There is. A Bird. "I hope you and thousands of other new fans find that out," said Karen Bryant, vice president of Storm operations, as she sat in a perch overlooking the practice courts. "Women's basketball fans who have watched her play the last four years and this year watched her lead her team to a national championship are excited that she's part of our community. "And then there are people who've just heard the name and heard about this basketball phenom and they want to come out and watch her play. And I think coupled with that, she's just a charming young woman and a great mouthpiece and spokesperson for women's basketball." When Bryant was growing up and playing her high school basketball at Woodway, there was no women's professional league. "My role model was Dr. J.," she said, referring to Julius Erving. "Sue Bird can be a role model for young girls." Bird had taken the last shot of the scrimmage and it misfired, something that probably didn't set too well with her. "I love her poise, I love her cool-headedness, I love her competitiveness," Dunn said in an accent that's as Southern as grits and moonshine. "She can't stand to miss a shot." Now it's just a matter of convincing her to shoot the dang ball. At Connecticut, which she led to a pair of NCAA championships, including a 39-0 record this year, she averaged less than nine shots a game in 118 starts over three-plus seasons. If she were a poor shooter, you could understand her reluctance, but she hit better than 48 percent of her attempts and was almost 46 percent from 3-point range. "I always think pass first," she said as she rested in Dunn's "office." "My coach (at UConn) got mad at me for passing up shots." She should get along very well with her Storm teammates. Passers are usually very popular. "Point guards like her don't come along very often," Dunn said. How much will she play? "I think she's going to play quite a bit," the coach said. "But what people have to do is be patient, let her grow." Bird had been through a busy week. She was introduced to the Seattle media before the Sonics' third NBA playoff game with San Antonio on Saturday, threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Mariners-Yankees game on Sunday, took part in the Storm media session on Monday, then began two-a-day practices on Tuesday. She had just completed her sixth practice. Early observations? She was finding things much different than in college. There, she said, she could pick her spots in practice to go a little easier. Not here. Not with all of these talented players. She will earn a salary of $55,000 this year, plus whatever she makes from her Nike shoe contract. A place to live and a car are provided by the team. "Two days ago, I put myself in the car and went for a ride," she said. "The only way to learn a city is to get lost and find your way back." She didn't get lost and she found her way to the most important spot in the city - Niketown. She also proved on Sunday that she not only can make a nifty pass, but she can throw a heckuva pitch. "Everybody had been telling me, 'You'd better reach the plate,' " she said. Asked if she's a Yankees fan, she replied, "I'm a New York fan. More of a Met fan." Then she remembered where she was. "And a Mariners fan." She got to meet several Yankees before the game, including Derek Jeter, David Wells and Steve Karsay, who went to her high school in New York. "Pitching," she said, "was no sweat after that." Cool customer. Cool basketball player. @3@3 |
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