This, again, has nothing to do with ultimate, but I was inspired -- you will come to find that whenever something strikes my fancy, I decide to write about it.
Anyhow, after the ridiculousness that was Unofficial (which resulted in a lot of photos of me that I don't actually remember), I lifted and sweated for a while and held my pee for an hour and forty five minutes on the drive home to Chicago to watch my favorite basketball team play.
Oh, before I get into that, congrats to the Whitney Young Lady Dolphins. My high school's basketball team finally won the State Championship after years of coming in third at state. It makes me really proud to know that I was part of this, once. D'FrantzFanClubPresidentSince'05! Are you a Dolphin? Fuck yeah, I'm a Dolphin!
Anyway, the UConn women's basketball team has been my favorite basketball team since, geez, seventh or eighth grade? It sounds totally random, but it's not, really. I didn't really get into women's basketball until seventh grade, and it just so turns out that the first college game I saw was UConn/Tennessee, one of the most competitive, most intense rivalries in college basketball, men's or women's. I came away a UConn fan, and have bled blue and white ever since.
Long story short, since my local team, DePaul, joined the Big East conference, I've had the great opportunity to watch some UConn games in person. Because of this, I've had the tremendous pleasure of meeting some of my favorite basketball players, and this weekend was no exception. Even though I didn't get any homework done and I've driven way more than I ever want to again in a one day period of time, I had an amazing time. And so, stemming from a sweet weekend where I got to meet (again) one of my favorite athletes of all time, I give you:
My Top Ten Favorite Athletes
- Ann Strother/Mel Thomas
Ann "Smooth As Butta" Strother graduated from UConn in '06. From the moment she put the UConn jersey on as a freshman, I knew I would fall in love with her game. She's a flat out baller, bro. She was a starter as a freshman, and she never played like one. She was tall and quick so the forwards couldn't guard her, but she could shoot and post up so the guards couldn't contain her either. She was automatic at the free throw line, and she always found a way to contribute. She always knew when to turn it on, and the ball was always in her hands with the game on the line. She had probably one of the smoothest shots in college basketball and she could stroke it from way downtown. She is one of only two players in UConn history (second to only the great Diana Taurasi) to amass over 1600 points, 600 rebounds, 400 assists, 100 steals, and 100 blocks in her career. The best part about her game though, is probably that she was always smiling out on the court. You could always tell that even though she was being really intense, she was having fun on the court, which is the way it should be. As a freshman and sophomore she was the perfect complement to Diana Taurasi, but when she left, Ann stepped up and put the team on her shoulders as a junior and senior and led the team. She didn't get those four championships she wanted, but she was a part of two great ones.
Mel Thomas ... where do I even start? Mel Thomas can shoot the lights out, but she doesn't need to put up big numbers to assert her presence on the court. She'll drive to the hoop against girls twice her size. She plays lockdown defense. She's on the court almost every minute of the game. She broke her nose one year and still dove for every loose ball with her mask on. If she played ultimate, she would layout D you without thinking twice. And she's just so dang cute!
The first time I met Mel Thomas she was a sophomore, and had just begun coming into her own. She was an okay player her freshman year, but she put in a lot of work and came out her sophomore year with a bang -- it was her breakout year. Year after year, she's only gotten better. Her sophomore year, I saw UConn play live at DePaul. She got a cut on her head during the game and had to be taken out to get stitches. She got her stitches done at the bench (I sat behind the UConn bench so I saw everything go down), and she didn't fuss or whine. When they were done, the UConn trainer did the whole finger-waving-in-front-of-face business, and Mel just laughed. She laughed like it was nothing and then went back into the game. Ballin'. The best part is that she's always laughing and smiling on the court, just like Ann Strother. They're intense when they need to be, but you always know that they love the game.
Mel Thomas tore her ACL earlier this year, ending her season and her UConn career. When I found out the news, I literally cried for her. No one deserves to end their senior season like that, least of all Mel. Mel is my favorite player, and I know this really hurts her chances of getting drafted into the WNBA, but I hope some team out there knows how sick of a player she is. I was so lucky to get to see her play in person twice, and even luckier to get to meet her three times. Seeing her at the game in Chicago this past weekend sucked. She sat at the end of the bench in her blue warm-ups and not her jersey. When the team ran into the tunnel for halftime, she limped in after them. I watched my hero limp into the locker room. It's like finding out that Santa Claus isn't real for the first time, or understanding for the first time that your dad can't do everything you think he can. It actually physically hurt to see Mel not playing. It's kind of hard to go from seeing her throw her body all over the court to seeing her struggle with something like walking.
I guarantee you, 50% of the pictures that exist of Mel Thomas show her sprawled out on the floor or in the process of diving. It's pretty ridiculous, actually. Mel Thomas is the reason I wear #25. Mel Thomas isn't the fastest, tallest, strongest, or sometimes even the most talented player on the floor. But she has the most heart of anyone on the court, always. She's the heart and soul of Husky basketball. She gives it absolutely everything that she's got night in and night out. She's the type of player, leader, and person that I want to be one day, when my skills match my ambitions. - Jon "Blazeman" Blais
I'm a sucker for a sad story. Everyone knows this. I first became interested in doing the Ironman a few years back, after first getting into running. I had always been into swimming (was always horrible at it) and biking (still can't figure out how to not fall off my bike), but running was totally new to me and the fusion of the three intrigued me. My uncle had done triathlons before and first introduced us to the concept of the Ironman. From then on, I became obsessed with it. One afternoon, I was watching PBS or NBC or some shit, and a documentary about the Ironman was on. They were doing features on participants, and one of them was Jon Blais. Jon's lifelong dream was to participate in the Ironman Triathlon. If you don't know, you can't just be like, "Oh hey, I think I'll do the Ironman this summer." You either have to be chosen through a lottery or you go through qualifications competitions. Jon was chosen in 2005. That same year, he found out he had ALS. Despite having a debilitating disease, he vowed to finish, saying that he would roll his way across the finish line if he had to. He finished, and he log-rolled his way across, too. He died two years later, after becoming the first person with ALS to finish the race. People like Jon Blais, they are the reason I run. When I thought about nothing but quitting during the marathon, it was Jon Blais, among others, who kept me running. So, thanks, Jon. - Steve Prefontaine
There's a lot that can be said about Pre, and every runner in the world looks up to him, apparently, but that's not why he inspires me. Pre inspires me because of his mentality. He was always aggressive in his running; he believed in coming out of the gate hard and not letting up. That was always my "strategy" when it came to running. I'm not particularly fast or smooth in my running, but I go hard, all the time. I don't let up until my body does. That was Pre -- he went hard, every second, every step of the way. He also had a sick mustache -- that's what I call classy. - Anna Nazarov
Anna Nazarov is someone I look up to because she's my height (5'3) and when you look at her you don't necessarily think "dominant player", but that's exactly what she is. She helped cultivate the UCLA program, and in her senior year, she led a team of studs and somehow still stood out. Flat out, she's a baller. She's got the sick ridiculous throws and the defensive tenacity that I only wish I could bring to the table. - Deena Kastor
Deena Kastor is one of the top American distance runners, and is one of the best female marathon runners in the world. I saw her run the 2005 Chicago Marathon, which she won. I remember seeing her run by and thinking about how much of a badass she was. Also, during the Cross Country World Championships one year, she got stung by a bee and her throat closed up and she passed out and fell over and everything, but she still finished 12th. Bad ass motherfucker.
Oh, and Deena Kastor is totally Jewish. Yeeeeeah. - Sue Bird/Becky Hammon
Sue Bird is my ideal of a team player. I would dare say that she is one of the top female point guards of all time. She has always been a pass first, score later type of player, even though she is capable of scoring in droves. She had one of the slickest, smoothest jump shots I had ever seen, and she had a ridiculous handle on the ball. She was a winner, straight up. She once hit two buzzer-beaters in one game. She just has this fire to do whatever it takes to put her team on top.
Becky Hammon is another one of my underdog favorites. She was barely recruited out of high school because she was "too short", and at Colorado State, she became the top scorer in WAC conference history, man or woman. Out of college, she was undrafted. High school all over again, right? No. She signed a contract with the New York Liberty and became an All-Star. Well, not right away, but after a lot of years of putting in the work, she finally became an All-Star and an All-WNBA First Teamer. She's got a huge fanbase, because everyone loves Becky Hammon, and she's got a sweet stroke. She may be smaller than most, but she sure doesn't play like it. She's fearless, and she's all heart. - Holly Greunke
Wisconsin is sort of my "UConn" of ultimate. They were probably the first elite team that I got to watch. I got my first taste of a partial Wisconsin team at Fall Out '06, where we got THUMPED. At Nationals last year, the first game that I saw was the Wisconsin/UBC game. Someone pointed out #24 to me, and at the time I had no idea who that was. But as the tournament went on and I watched more and more games, I got to find out just who #24 was -- White Lightning. I really, really think that the name about sums it up.
If you are not convinced by that fierce-ass moniker, then I don't know what to tell you. I'm tellin' all y'all right now, White Lightning: shawty, she'll take you there. - Wilma Rudolph
If you've been following with my trend of distance runners, then this pick might seem sort of weird to you, since Wilma Rudolph was a sprinter. The thing that inspires me about her is that she was always a fighter. She found out she had polio when she was 4 and couldn't walk without the aid of leg braces. No big, she would shed them and made the Olympic track team as a 16 year old. She once ran the 100 meters event in 11 seconds. She won three Olympic gold medals in Rome and she had a sprained ankle, and what? - John Stockton
I think most basketball players wouldn't have put John Stockton on their list over Michael Jordan. I love Michael Jordan. As a native Chicagoan, MJ was always one of my favorites growing up, but John Stockton was a different type of athlete. He was that old-school, pass first type of point guard -- he was just an unselfish player. He has the most assists and steals of anyone in NBA history. He also wasn't afraid of anyone. He was physical and a total grinder type of player. John Stockton was creative with the ball and the way he passed, and he was fucking clutch.
Oh God, and his freaking short shorts ...
God I love short shorts. - Paula Radcliffe
Paula Radcliffe is one of the best female marathon runners in the world, as she has won like a thousand marathons (London 3X, Chicago, New York 2X, World Championships). She holds the world record time for the marathon and the 10K. They say that the reason why she's such a dominant runner is not because she has a killer finishing kick, but because she sets a "punishing pace" from the start. Every time I watch that video I feel bad for that chick she is destroying. She is so sick. Oh, and heehee, she also runs funny.
I know a lot of you probably expected The GB to be listed but I can't really put a GirlCrush on the list, because that's conflict of interests, right? Well, I guess Mel Thomas is on the list, but that's only because I've already met her like three times in person and we're sort of best friends at this point, because we have two whole pictures together on Facebook and I've shaken her hand one too many times. That and she's about to graduate from college and I don't know that I'll ever actually get to see her play basketball again. So at this point, we're kind of like, on the outs of GirlCrush-dom.
Oh shit, it is 4AM and I just finished learning my Chinese, gahhhh I'm so screwed. But fear not, instead of studying, I was busy changing my Facebook picture and status , watching Ellen Page on SNL (cutest EVER!), putting new COTD videos on my iPod, and eating pickles. Good thing I dropped that one class so that I could have a nap between my last class and lunch, whew. Oh, and my little brother just sent me the saddest song in the whole world. I shit you not -- SADDEST. FUCKING. SONG. EVER. Oh God. I just listened to it in bed and soaked my pillow without even thinking about it (not jizz, actual tears). We are possibly the saddest brother/sister combo ever, ugh. There should be a law that disallows me from listening to my iPod at 4AM. Good thing I have my new boyfriend to cheer me up. We're going to cuddle in his racecar bed tonight.
Anyway.
Hopefully I come back with something worth your time later this week.
1 comment:
2 things
A) I still can't believe you missed Asian movie night, but I guess there's always next time.
B) I noticed Holly Greunke was wearing patterned leggings...yessss. I couldn't make out the pattern but no doubt they're badass.
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