Mechelle Voepel

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Wednesday, August 28
 
Second place no place for New York
By Mechelle Voepel
Special to ESPN.com

The WNBA is finishing its sixth season, so maybe you can't put anything in "historical" terms just yet without sounding grandiose.

Teresa Weatherspoon
Teresa Weatherspoon hopes to have a WNBA title to celebrate this weekend.
However ... you can put the New York Liberty's championship quest into historical perspective. (Note: We are about to, at times, interpret the terms "historical'' and "perspective'' loosely.)

The Liberty are making their fourth run at the title, coming up short previously all three times (1997, 1999 and 2000) to the Houston Comets. And, let's be frank, the majority of WNBA watchers aren't picking New York to beat Los Angeles this time, either.

So you have the Liberty trying to avoid officially being put on the "almost, but not quite'' A-list.

Obviously, everyone would have their own ideas about worthy-of-mention members/things on such a list. A few of my nominations:

  • Deborah Kerr, who was nominated six times for Best Actress, but never won. They did finally give her an "honorary'' Oscar in 1994. (When you watch "An Affair to Remember,'' -- she wasn't nominated for that one, by the way -- at what point in the long final scene do you start yelling at Cary Grant, "Oh, come on! Haven't you noticed she hasn't MOVED off the sofa the whole time you've been there!)

  • Whatever it was that didn't quite measure up to make it "The Eight Wonders of the World.'' (Actually, there's some question about whether it was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or the Walls of Babylon that was really Babylon's wonder. Perhaps was debated on the ancient-world version of "Crossfire.'')

  • William Jennings Bryan, who was nominated for president of the United States three times -- and lost all three. (There are so many clever lines from "Inherit the Wind,'' the fictional drama inspired by the Scopes trial, in which Bryan battled Clarence Darrow. Including: "I may be rancid butter, but I'm on your side of the bread.'')

  • Nancy Lopez, who won a ton of golf titles but not the one that mattered most: the U.S. Open. (Why didn't anybody ever nickname Nancy "N-Lo?'')

  • The Car Acrobatic Team, which couldn't quite beat Speed Racer. (It always really bugged my sister that whenever Speed used the Mach 5's saws to cut down trees, it didn't explain how he was able to drive so smoothly over the remaining stumps. I countered that if you accepted that the car could run underwater AND Spritle and Chim Chim didn't drown in the trunk, you pretty much had to accept everything else, too.)

  • Virginia, Auburn and Georgia, which have combined for 11 trips to the Women's Final four but have no national championships. (It's all Tennessee's fault.)

    But on whom can we pin the Liberty's inability to win a WNBA title in its previous three chances? Cynthia Cooper.

    Houston faced New York in six playoff games total. The only sub-par performance that Cooper had in those six was also the only time Houston lost. That was 1999's Game 2, won 68-67 by New York on Teresa Weatherspoon's now-famous 3-point heave. Cooper went 1-for-10 from the field and 10 of 12 from the line for 12 points that day.

    Cooper's done now, of course, but the Liberty has the same kind of problem to deal with in facing the Sparks. There's a superstar that New York will have to try to slow, Lisa Leslie, along with an assortment of other threats who can do everything to clobber you: From Tamecka Dixon's drives to the basket to Nikki Teasley's passing and defensive pressure to DeLisha Milton's aggressiveness on the boards to Mwadi Mabika's spontaneous striking ability.

    New York has its own assortment of talent, especially with Tari Phillips and Tamika Whitmore pounding it inside. But maybe as big a factor is that the Liberty players really think they can grind out a victory against anyone.

    Still, what neutral party is going to actually pick New York to do that twice against L.A.? Probably nobody.

    But we'll give the Liberty better odds than the Car Acrobatic Team.

    Mechelle Voepel of the Kansas City Star is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. She can be reached at mvoepel@kcstar.com.



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