Money isn't everything

This is a blog by Chantelle Anderson. Chantelle is a former All-American center at Vanderbilt. She's played in the WNBA for San Antonio and Atlanta. Her knees have betrayed her at the professional level and I believe she's trying to hook on with a team overseas. She's a very intelligent person and I found this blog to be very thought provoking and I'm sure some of you will, also.


Ok so today I was having a conversation on my Twitter with a sports blogger named Patrick. Looking at his blog, he seems like a pretty intelligent guy, but I couldn’t get past his negative comments on the WNBA. So I called him out on it. He is of the opinion, as are many other men that have so eloquently commented on my blog, that the WNBA is a terrible brand of basketball and a complete waste of energy for anyone involved – namely the NBA, who financially backs the league.
And while I will not sit here and argue that the WNBA is the smartest of business moves for the NBA where money is concerned, I do want to share with you why I believe it’s worth the effort.
A few years ago, while playing for San Antonio, I visited Austin for the day to speak at four different schools. After speaking at the first high school, the basketball coach pulled me aside and started telling me about this girl, Tamika (name has been changed), who had been an all conference freshman the year before, but had since quit basketball to do other things. Those other things included hanging out with known gang members, getting suspended from school, and as it was rumored, selling drugs (which I was later told had been true). She asked if I could talk to the girl one-on-one. I had to leave to make it to my next appearance so I told the coach if she brought her to the gym, I’d come back after school.
A few hours later, I was in the gym, waiting for Tamika to show up. I’d been waiting about five minutes when she walked in, wearing a huge red t-shirt, baggy red jean shorts, black tennis shoes with red laces, and swaggin it up like she was Jay-Z or something. In my head I’m thinking, “wow”, and wondering if I should have a knife on me (no joke). The coach introduced us and left us to talk. I had no idea what to say, but the first time I looked into her eyes – through the awful, hazel colored contacts she was wearing – I thought to myself, “there is something special about this girl. I’m supposed to be talking to her right now”.
So I started asking her about herself, what her favorite subject was, and what she did for fun. I found out she was a straight A honors student (even though she tried to pretend she wasn't smart), and had a passion for music. When I asked why she was wearing all red, she squirmed and hesitated a second before saying it was just something a group of her friends were doing; that was the first time she hadn’t looked me in the eye. I let it go and asked why she had quit basketball. She said she had thought it was a good idea but now wished she hadn’t, and that it was too late because the team had already been practicing and were about to start playing games. That was exactly what I wanted to hear. I informed her that I had talked to the coach (I hadn’t yet but I knew she would agree) and if Tamika was willing to make up her missed practices, she could be on the team. I told her that for some reason I believed she needed to do this, and that even if she never went pro, basketball could help her. And then I promised if she played, I would come see a game. She said she would think about it, and that was it.I was on a high after that. I meet so many people in connection with my job, and I didn’t know what it was but somehow I just knew Tamika had to play. Two days later the coach called and told me she had decided to give it another try. And two weeks later, when Tamika had made up all of her missed workouts, I got another progress report assuring me she was enthusiastic and working hard to get better. I finally got to see her play a month later when I kept my promise to come to a game. I was wowed at her natural talent and the ease with which she played. I then knew why she had to play: this game could take her somewhere else.
After the game I offered to be her mentor, and she would eventually become like a little sister. A week later she called to tell me about a guy she had been hanging out with before she re-joined the team being shot, and who was now in the hospital fighting for his life. She told me very matter-of-factly, “that could have easily been me.”
I met Tamika when she was a sophomore in high school. As of now, she just finished her freshman year at a Division one university, which she attended on a full ride basketball scholarship.
To say that I am proud of her would be an understatement. To say that I believe God used my position as a professional athlete to help save this girls life would be the truth. We hear countless stories about the NBA players that used basketball as a ticket out of the dangerous neighborhoods and broken homes of their childhood. But what about the little girls left in those neighborhoods? Don’t they deserve a chance too?
This was not meant to be some sentimental plea to keep the WNBA alive or garner fan support. It was meant to show that even if countless men don’t value it, professional women’s sports do and should have a place in our society. This story is not a fluke or an isolated incident. Stuff like this happens regularly to myself and other WNBA players; and not just involving kids. I’ve had women tell me watching how hard I work in my workouts helped keep them coming to the gym and eating healthy. And I’ve had men tell me they use me as an example to encourage their daughters to dream. These compliments are such an honor to me; way better than being told I’m pretty, or even smart. But I would hate to turn around and tell those people that none of what they feel deserves validation because women’s basketball doesn’t make enough money. That’s why the WNBA is important.

Remembering Carly

I read this story on ESPN.com. I had heard about it a couple of years ago. It sort of puts things into perspective.

By Mindi Rice
HoopGurlz
Carly Stowell was a point guard on the rise. A 5-foot-9 package of enthusiasm and talent -- on the court, with the band or in the classroom -- and the 14-year-old was just about to hit the national scene.
Kylie Huerta and the Jammin' Legends are doing even more this year to remember Carly Stowell, because this would have been her senior season.
A freshman point guard from Kent, Wash., Stowell led her high school team -- the Kentlake Falcons -- to the state tournament in March 2007 and then headed to North Carolina in April, where her name was being passed around the coaching circles as a promising young talent. She had talked to her strength and conditioning coach, Mike Caplan, about a camp at Notre Dame in July.
This summer would have been Stowell's prime July recruiting period, likely packed with unofficial college visits and basketball tournaments. Instead, it is filled with memories, reunions and working toward a new goal.
It has been two years, three months and eight days since Carly Stowell died in Raleigh, N.C., the night before she and her teammates were to play in the Deep South Classic, a spring evaluation event.
Stowell was doing her homework in the team hotel when she turned to her mother, Elena, collapsed and died from acute cardiac arrhythmia.
Her team, the Emerald City Legends 15U squad, played the tournament in her honor. Then, as they returned home to Washington and life without Carly, Stowell's family, teammates and friends knew they could not let Carly or her memory be forgotten. Even after her death, she has been the bonding force between her teammates.
"That's our main focus all the time and our main cause," Kylie Huerta said.
Huerta is one of four who are still together, having moved from the Emerald City Legends program after the summer of 2007 to be part of a new team -- the Jammin' Legends. Morganne Comstock, Dakota Sisco and Riley Butler are also on the new team that is part of a new, larger organization: The Carly Stowell Foundation for Education in Athletic and Music Performance.
The growing foundation currently includes 11 basketball teams, two volleyball teams, a lacrosse team, a music program with jazz improv and a marching band that performs in parades.
"Fundamentally, it's just people that see the mission of what we're trying to do -- bring both music and athletics to kids who really want to just learn how to be better. People just jump in and get involved," said Quentin Sisco, Dakota's father and the president of the foundation's board of directors.
Perhaps the foundation's largest goal is to eventually have a center in Kent, Wash., where it can house all the athletics and music programs under one roof, perhaps even with the ability to host tournaments like the one in which Carly Stowell was planning to play when she died.
"What's really amazing is we'll go to tournaments like this and people will ask, 'What is that?' [about the '21' written on the players' shoulders] And all we'll do is say 'Carly Stowell' and people know," Sisco said. "Regardless of where their team is from, they remember that."
The team name, Jammin' Legends -- complete with a saxophone-styled "J" in the jersey's logo and Carly's number (21) on a basketball that dots the "I" -- came to Chuck Stowell, her dad, in a dream. Carly played just about every instrument and was as talented with the jazz band led by her father, Kentlake's music director, as she was on the court.
Chuck Stowell now coaches one of the boys' Jammin' basketball teams on which one of his sons plays, while Elena Stowell, a former Washington State volleyball player, coaches in the volleyball program.
At Kentlake, where she shared the court again with Comstock, Sisco and Butler, the team memorializes her by draping her jersey over a chair for every game, home or away. Her jersey is also hung in the Falcons' home gym.
A Carly Stowell Winter Classic is hosted at Kentlake each year, and coach Scott Simmons is among the many who won't let Stowell's name be forgotten.
"This year, since it's her senior year, we're going to focus on her big-time," Comstock said. "The captains, Dakota, Riley and I, are finding a way to honor her memory a lot."
Everyone who has been touched by Stowell has different ways to honor her memory, including marking "21" on their shoulders for games, wearing a bracelet with a "21" patch on it or just supporting the foundation and its goal to never forget Carly.
In remembering her, people have found friends and support among those who loved her or have carried on her memory. Caplan, who moved to Chicago around the time Stowell died, was reunited with team parents recently when he came to see the team at the Summer Showcase in Chicago. The parents of girls who were already friends have become even closer through Stowell's death and the birth of the foundation and Jammin' Legends.
"We know that it takes all of us to raise our kids," Sisco said. "We can't do it alone and it's one of the things that we're trying to create."
Mike Caplan was much more than just Carly Stowell's strength and conditioning coach. He considered her his little sister.
The reunions and shared time together are good for the souls of those who knew Stowell best. The parents and the girls recognize that sharing memories and telling stories not only heals their hearts, but carries on her memory to other people who may not know much about the budding star.
"One thing you guys don't know and that's always bugged me was I've read a few of these articles, and they always say it was Carly's life dream to play in college and all that," said Caplan, talking to a couple parents. "Two days before she died she told me her life's dream and that wasn't it. It was to get her braces off. That came from her mouth. All she wanted was to get those braces off."
Braces or not, Caplan, who called Carly his little sister, was pleased to see what the team has become in their quest to honor their former point guard.
"I'm not a kid; I've been around the block. I know life goes on," Caplan said. "But it's good to see they remember her."

Text this!

I need to check my cell phone package to make sure I have unlimited texting. If I don't, I might be running out of 'em real soon.
The local coaching situation has my phone blowing up. I'm getting asked lots of questions. Unfortunately, I don't have any answers.
Phillip Lansdell, El Dorado's new AD is doing a great job of keeping me in the dark. I know John Traband has left Bearden and will be the new girls coach at Hampton. I know, and this is pending board approval, Hampton's Bryan Sanders will be assistant football and head softball coach at El Dorado. And, Adam Bishop is the new softball coach at Parkers Chapel.
There, you know everything I know. That didn't take long, did it?
I'm also getting lots of queries about former El Dorado coach Corey Smith and his legal troubles. Unlike Magnolia Banner sports editor Chris Gilliam, I'm not going to wade in to waters that deep. This isn't like a bad call at a ball game. This is someone's freedom and career. I don't write columns or even blogs about that.
Hopefully, the truth will be revealed and if he did what he's accused of doing, he will be punished accordingly. If he didn't do it, I would hope he'd get his life and career back.
Back to the coaching circles, former Union player and son of Coach Gary Don Smith, Josh Smith is on the prowl for a coaching gig. If bloodlines are an indicator, he could be a bright new coaching star.
Personally, I think both Josh Smith and Sharonda Davis would be perfect for Junction City's opening. It's a low-pressure job with minimal expectations and the Lady Dragons do have talent. I'd really love to see Sharonda working with that young post player the Lady Dragons have.
Anyway, good luck to those two and all the other young, aspiring coaches. The profession needs some new blood. I'm just happy these kids had the good sense to go into coaching and not journalism.
Speaking of journalism, my book is coming along nicely, thank you. I sent an early draft to Brad Slatton and he gave me some good reviews, which definitely boosted my spirits. Maybe I really am on the right track with this thing.
Turns out, it might not be a novel but what they call a novella, which is basically a short novel. To be considered a novel, the book needs between 70,000 and 100,000 words. Mine will be closer to 50,000. I don't want to add a bunch of stuff just to get the word count up and bog down the story.
I'll keep you posted on this little project and, by the way, thanks for asking.

I'm not working here

To work or not to work, that is the question.
Actually, I guess that's a statement since I didn't put a question mark at the end.
Anyway, I'm in the midst of my second week of a two-week vacation. It's probably the only break I'll get this year. Unfortunately, car troubles foiled my plan of spending last week in Fayetteville, staying at a hotel on the company's dime and covering the local athletes at the All-Star Games. I really was looking forward to getting away, perhaps spending a day with Coach Slatton and his wife Donna.
I was really eager to get out of town for a few days. I got a cousin trying to move in with me with her two daughters. I got one bedroom, one bathroom, one roll of toilet paper so, that ain't happening.
I need to type quieter in case she's waiting outside the window.
Yeah, the 2000 Cavalier has been good for me but I think it may be time to put her down. I can't afford to get it fixed and, although it's still running, there's no way I can trust it for those football road trips I got coming up.
To make matters worse, I've got to fix up around my house and that's gonna cost money because when I say "I" gotta fix up around my house I really mean "I" gotta pay somebody to fix up around my house.
So, anyway, with the vacation plan falling flat, I've been holed up in the house. If it sounds a lot like my vacation last year, yeah, it is. Life sucks balls when you're broke.
I haven't been playing the video game, however. That's right, I'm writing a novel. Well, I said it was going to be a novel. I don't know if I can come up with 100,000 words. I'm at 15,000 now and I've got plenty story left to write. But, it might not actually end up being novel length.
I've been focused on that instead of the hot bed of local sports activity going on outside. I've made a phone call about the El Dorado job and I did get a tip. But, I ain't writing about it until I'm getting paid.
I just found out about the Junction City girls job being open. I thought the coach was going to turn it around after watching the Lady Dragons at summer camp. I do think he might've turned them in the right direction. It'll be interesting to see what happens down there.
I thought I mentioned earlier that Mike Poff has taken over the Smackover girls basketball program. Chris Long will take over the softball job. That should be interesting, too.
I really probably should be on top of some of this stuff but, hey, I'm on vacation. I would actually still be on vacation right now except Mark Bagwell Young in Parkers Chapel texted me saying he was Jonesing for some Floor Burns. That sounds like a marital issue to me.
Ha!
Here the drummer get wicked!
I'll try to tear myself away from the brilliant piece of literary cheesecake again within the week. Peace out, ladies.