If one listened to or read the Chicago sports media, you would think the most exciting sports event of the weekend was the Cubs beating Milwaukee in 2 out of 3 games. As a Cub fan, I will admit this is important, but it didn’t move the Cubs ahead in the standings in the pitiful Central division. The Sky moved into 3rd place in the Eastern conference. (This is only the Sky’s second season, as compared to the long dry spell of the Cubs. Yes, I am a Cubs fan.)
The most exciting games of the weekend involved the Sky. The Chicago Sky traveled to Sacramento to take on the Western Division champions, the Sacramento Monarchs. The Sky pulled out the game in double overtime. Jia Perkins starting in place of Dominque Canty, scored 39 points. Aramis Ramirez’ walk off home run on Friday was nothing compared to the hot hand of Jia Perkins.
Sunday night, the Sky moved on to Los Angeles to meet the Sparks. Another overtime win. This time, Candice Dupree carried the team on her shoulders, although a double-double was just missed by Perkins, Armintie Price and Chastity Melvin. Dupree is so good, you expect her to score at least 20 points per game.
Of course, neither game would have to go to overtime if we could shot free throws. The Sparks shot 100% from the free throw line, and the Monarchs shot 100% until the last couple minutes of the game. Whereas, the Sky tends to shoot in the 60% range.
It would have been great to see these two games televised. I listed to them through the radio broadcast on the web. Basketball is somewhat harder to listen to than baseball or football. Skyfencer and Skydramaqueen couldn’t follow the game. You need to know the terminology to pick it up on the radio. Even I wanted to see what was happening. On the radio, you can’t really see if someone like Price is causing troubles for the opposing players with great defensive plays. The radio doesn’t let you see, Perkins smooth shot. I believe some games are available through the NBA pass, but I really don’t want to purchase the whole NBA pass package. I enjoy listening to Les Grobstein and Tauja Catchings on the audio broadcast. They know basketball, and Grobstein brings a Chicago fan perspective to his comments.
Unfortunately, both these games were out of town, so there was no television broadcast in Chicago. Sacramento had 7,000 fans at the game, Los Angeles had 7,500. I wonder if Chicago’s fan base would grow if they could see games, especially when they are so exciting. Again, the 2 major Chicago papers only have AP articles for the games.
The Sky players are appearing at the Taste of Chicago this week. According to the web site, the players are there on July 2, July 4, and July 6 at 3 pm at the Sports Pavilion at Buckingham Fountain. I know if a season tickets holder’s newsletter, it actually had the players that would be present, but the web site doesn’t have that information. Of course, the web site doesn’t have anything about this on the home page either, it’s listed in the community calendar.
Here’s a few articles about the games from this weekend.
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