Thursday, March 23, 2006

The Waiting Place

You can tell the Sonics had a hiatus last weekend as Mr. P. had time to crank out a nice interview and article on the addition of Ms. Wendy Palmer.

I have been in what Dr. Seuss called the Waiting Place for I don't know how long. Good things have been happening for me, work has kept me busy, the Sonics have made strides and have pulled themselves out of the pit of festering ooze into which they had decided to bathe this season, and I have had a couple of chances to do some game charting that contributes to more than my own uneducated analysis. All that said, I am still itching for the start of the WNBA season. I imagine that my interest in the NCAA will pick up once ESPN and ESPN2 get over their ADHD issues and can let me view a game in its entirety. I also imagine that I will get excited over the NBA playoffs and some potential charting opportunities rumored to be coming at that time. As I wrote in a post to the Rebkell boards recently, though, my heart is with the Storm and the W.

I have been a basketball fan for as long as I can recall, though my obsession with the game only got fired up around 12 years ago watching a Heat/Knicks playoff game in the lobby of some shopping center while waiting outside the rehearsal hall for a play I was doing in Memphis. There was one other actor in the company that was a sports fanatic, and the boyfriend of one of the actresses was a fan as well, so, for perhaps the only time in that career for me, I had people in my job who shared my obsession, and it was able to grow. Since the career of a starving actor usually involves little pay and ridiculous hours as well as the relocation to unfamiliar cities, you basicly found people you worked with that had similar interests or you stayed solo. You just didn't have the time or the money to develop new social networks outside of work in every new town.

I switched careers and now have the time and the money to afford to feed my obsession on its own and develop the social network outside of work (since my nearest coworker is 180 miles from me that is needed). I can go to games as well as watch them on TV. These days I can even watch them on the internet, though the leagues have a ways to go figuring out how to make the service work and be of value to fans. I see a lot of basketball these days. There is still no team, no league, however that I feel so personally attatched to as I feel about the Storm and the W. I can't explain why, but they feel like MY team, MY league. I can't quite put my finger on how or why or when, but that is simply the way I feel.

To get back on topic, as a result of this peculiar sense of "kinship" with the team and with the league, I come to find myself in the Waiting Place. I am waiting for the draft to come at the end of the NCAA tournament. I am waiting for Lauren Jackson to sign her contract. I am waiting to hear if Suzy Batkovic will stay in Australia to prepare with the Opals for the World Championship. I am waiting to see if Sue Bird comes into the season tentative after two broken noses or returns to taking it fearlessly to the hole and pulling up for jumpers in transition like she used to do. I am waiting to see how Anne Donnovan addresses the backup point guard solution.

It is simply not a nice place to find yourself in. Fortunately, having read the book, I know that there are escape routes somewhere, and they lead to places where boom bands will be playing, points will be scored and games will be won. The trick for me is to find my own way out...so I guess it is time for me to pack my bags and start hunting for that exit.

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