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August 28, 2005

On Being A Storm Fan

So at one point during the game yesterday, Jeff leaned over to me and asked,

"So what got you in to this stuff, anyhow?"

I get asked this question a lot, so I thought it was high time I wrote about my introduction to, and continuing enthusiasm for, the WNBA.

It goes like this.

Back in July of 2003, I tried to get my friend John Kaufmann to go see "The Matrix Reloaded" in IMAX. Instead, I woke up on the 14th to find the following e-mail from him:

I have a friend here from out of town, and I tried to talk him into some Matrix action tomorrow, but we're going to the Storm game instead (I've never seen a womens pro game, and I must confess I'm excited).

As it happens, John enjoyed the game. In fact, he liked it so much that he sent me an e-mail on the 23rd to invite me to go to one with him:

As for the Storm, August 6th pits them against their rivals in LA. That would be a great game to see. What do you think.

Despite my misgivings, I agreed to go.

Misgivings, you say? Yes. Most boys from the 'burbs grow up with sports, endlessly quoting players, teams, stats, and matchups, playing in "fantasy" leagues and whatnot. For me, as a young, sedentary geek amid all this sporting nonsense, a sports fascination seemed bizarre - like everyone around you being normal 95% of the time, but dropping into conversational Polish, say, when confronted with others of their tribe. It makes one feel like an outsider, to say the least.

By the time I was 14, I had long since come to believe that the Sports Gene, or whatever the Human Genome people wind up naming it ("Sporticus Genus"?), was something I was lacking. Indeed, I'd decided that the space normally used in the Guy Brain for sports trivia was entirely occupied by computer stuff. Where most of my friends were happy to talk about the Mariners or the Seahawks, I was all about the C64 vs. the Apple II vs. the TRS-80 (go, Commodore!). I did attend Mariners games in the Kingdome, and, later, Safeco Field, but I just didn't see what all the fuss was about.

So when John invited me to the game - this is women's basketball, mind you, which, last time I checked, was the least "macho guy" sport one might attend, save, perhaps, competitive crochet - I went primarily for his company (plus, John gets enthusiastic about stuff, and it makes you want to check it out). I didn't expect much from the game, really; I knew squat about basketball (I mean, I knew you had a ball, and you needed to put in the opposing basket, but that's still squat). But the prospect of spending two or so hours with John is a unique thing, and one worth treasuring. So I ponied up the $8 for the ticket, and off we went.

I remember that first half of the game pretty well, mostly because it was so surreal. The fans were doing their strange rituals (standing and sitting on cue, booing at calls, and so on). The graphics on the Arenavision weren't too helpful, and I found a lot of the game mystifying - who fouled? what did that mean? why are people cheering? - but at some point, Sue got the ball, and ran with it, and lobbed it, and it went in. And I found myself on my feet, cheering and hollering, arms in the air, feeling excited and alive at having witnessed something that was, without question, just cool.

I was hooked. Still sports-clueless, but hooked.

There were only a couple of games left in the 2003 season, and I saw one more before calling it a year. But as the 2004 season approached, I started to get excited, and began making plans to go to games. My friends were skeptical ("Seattle has a women's basketball team?"), but I twisted a few arms and suddenly, surprisingly, wound up attending about half the home games for the year, usually with a different group of people. I found myself following the team in the newspaper (I'd habitually tossed the sports section for most of my life, so that was kinda new) and on the Internet.

And then we started winning. And kept winning. And made the playoffs. And won some more. And, ultimately, brought home the first championship to Seattle in 25 years.

All told, 2004 was an excellent year to get your Storm groove on.

But why do I like this game? What makes the Storm special?

This is a hard question. Marnie and I have had little conversations about "why we like" certain teams or sports (she's an M's fan, and a killer baseball player in her own right). Heck, Nick Hornby's first novel, "Fever Pitch", is all about an obsessed soccer fan in England, who wonders, "Do we pick teams, or do teams pick us?"

For me, though, there's no one, single answer. I think the most honest thing is to say that I like the Storm because I like the Storm - there's some irreducible quality, there, that's not really pull-apart-able; even if you could isolate some aspect of the appeal, you'd only be talking about 10% or 20% of what's really there ... which is sort of like saying that you like the Mona Lisa because it's got blue in it.

I like that the sport is a different style of basketball than the NBA. There's more passing, more collaboration, more team plays. WNBA has its star players, of course, but they don't hog the ball or the spotlight.

I like that the players seem genuinely thrilled to be playing basketball - they love the sport, not the spectacle, and they love their fans.

I like that WNBA is an underground, growing thing, gaining respect and converting fans through sheer will and determination. The league has been around nearly a decade, but ink spilled about the Storm is perpetually buried on Page 2 of the sports section. (Which is changing, and not a moment too soon for me.)

But mostly, I like the fans. I like their energy, their positive vibe, their welcoming of anyone (and everyone) who wants to come and watch this team play. We've all been to sporting events where drunk boors shout obscenities and epithets at the players; those people don't come to WNBA games. Who does come? Families, young couples, 15-year-old girls who play high school ball, older folks.

It's exciting, and novel, for me to see sports through the same lens that I've always seen music. I love New Order, right? But maybe not their latest album, or even that one track that everyone else loves, and that's OK. So, working with that analogy a bit, getting myself down to Key Arena for 20-some home games a year is kinda like seeing my favorite band play a string of local shows. Each one is different, each one is worthwhile. Even when they lose.

Hey, it's the hottest ticket in town, if you ask me. And, if you're reading this Web site, well, you're asking.

We're in the playoffs again. So try it. There'll be 17,000 people in Key Arena, and the games'll be awesome. Chances are good that you'll like it. And in the meantime, at least you know who Lauren, Sue and Betty are.

Hell, you can impress your friends with your sports knowledge ("Seattle has a women's basketball team?") when you see them on Page 2 of the sports section.

Posted by Gavin Shearer at August 28, 2005 5:06 PM. Posted to Seattle Storm.

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