Springfield Spirit - Exhibition Game
Western New England College, MA- 1/25/03

 

It was so great to see Sue Bird, Swin Cash and the rest of the Springfield Spirit Players! The exhibition game was basically a scrimmage between white team and blue team. It was the same setup as the Jennifer Rizzoti's Charity Game and the UConn All-Star Classic last year. Swin Cash and Kara Wolters led the white team to a 80-76 win over the blue team featuring Sue Bird. As you can probably imagine a team with Swin who was a very active rebounder, and Kara Wolter who was a strong presence inside. The white team seemed to be able to utilize what they had nicely. On the other hand, Sue Bird and Cindy Blodgett contributed 23 points each, but was not enough to produce a win for the blue team.

My friend and I left early from Boston, hoping to get better seats and catch their practice session. We printed the direction from the Springfield Spirit Website and followed it from A to Z. I thought we got there too early since we did not see anyone around, so we took off and grab something to eat and comeback about 40 minutes before the scheduled start time. Surprisingly the place was still look empty except some cars and people walking around in the parking lot. Well, of course we were at the wrong place!!! The game was being played at the Alumni Healthful Living Center (I hope I got it down correctly - such a meaningful name *wink* *wink*) instead of the River Arena. Anyhow, we finally got to the right place and didn't feel too bad since some people went through the same journey as we did.

The game turned out to be an entertaining one. We cheered, laughed and clapped throughout. Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Kara Wolters were joking around during the game. It was so refreshing to see the players having fun out there. Even the contests kept the atmosphere alive. The game was a little bit sloppy at times, but I think they will get better throughout the season. Their first official game against the Houston Stealth will be a tough one. I'm looking forward to a match up between Sue Bird and Swin Cash vs. Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson. Well, the second duo sounds a little intimidating, but I'm sure that Sue and Swin will have something to say about that!

The nice thing about exhibition games is that all players stay after the game for 1 hour autograph session. I got all the players except Rebecca Lobo, Rita Williams and Monica Maxwell who did not attend this exhibition game. I'm not an autograph freak, but it is nice to have some kind of memorabilia from different players, teams and events. I was not able to take a lot of pictures during the game because of poor lighting in the gym. I will probably find a better seat on friday, so I can have decent angle and lighting to work with.

Autograph session was great! One of the fans brought Swin Cash Bobblehead Doll with her, and the other players were laughing about it. Waiting in line was the last thing I had in mind, but after a while trying to take some pictures, I decided to join the rest of the line junkies. It wasn't too bad compared to other games where you have to put in some efforts to earn autographs.

Okay, I think I have a sudden brain freeze. It is time to wrap things up! Get your tickets to Springfield Spirit games if you haven't done so. We will have great games, since other top WNBA players also participating in this league, so it should be quite interesting to see who will come out on top!