Hey X-Factor! We are heading back to the 602 right now.We spent way too long in Indiana’s cold weather, and we’ve all been dying to get back to phoenix! As you all know we are tied up in the series 2-2. I hope you and everyone you know will be at our game tomorrow night 6pm! Last game of the season! It’s kind of crazy knowing that this is our final game. We waited all season for this and the entire time we hoped it would come down to this but here it is…. Finally!
I know I’ve been behind on uploading pics/videos/ and writing blogs but it was been very hectic. I will definitely give you some road-trip info in this one!
Bridget acted a fool as always…. She’s 100% entertaining all day long. I really wish she had her own TV show or something so everyone could see how funny and spontaneous she is. During one of our practices she went through a team bag of extra gear and came out on the court in a full game uniform, along with a sweatband. She went into character and for the next 20 minutes, she believed she was the 12th player re-activated on the team. She went through different plays. The only thing I can compare it to is, in the movie “Along Came Polly.“she was definitely just like the guy that shots bricks all day but would say “let it rain,” every time he shot.
In the locker room there’s always continuous music playing. One day after practice a Mary J. Blige song came on and I guess Le’coe felt the music because she jumped up with a fake mic in hand and started imitating Mary. I must admit she did a very good impression. I did get that on film and will post it shortly!!
Another morning, as I was getting ready to leave my hotel room to catch the team bus, my room phone rang. I answer it and it was a lady on the other end who said, “this is Lin Yi with the Indiana Tribune and I am doing a story on players in the finals series.” She asked if she could ask a few quick questions and says she’s already interviewed Indiana’s equipment manager. I am very skeptical about this because no one ever interviews me! I do think it could be fake, but cannot for the life of me think who it could be on the phone. So I keep allowing her to talk. Then she gave me our PR guy Eric’s name and said she got the ok from him. I try to make excuses and say I’m in a rush and need to hop in the shower,and right then I hear a crack in her voice and I shout “DIANA!”She did one of the best Asian accents I may have ever heard. She could not stop laughing and I didn’t hear the end of it for the rest of that day. I will never fall for that again! And the real reason she was calling me was to get a pair of shorts.
I have so much confidence in this team and I LOVE everyone who’s a part of it so dearly. The Mercury really are my 2nd family. They surprised me the other day with a card and a gift just saying how they appreciate me, it almost made me teary eyed but I held it back thankfully! I appreciate and respect them greatly!I’m soooo excited its game 5 of the Finals and at the same time sad the season is almost complete. I will miss everyone this off-season, it has truly been a record-breaking season! GO MERCURY!
Hi everyone! It’s Saturday and the team and I are back in Phoenix. As you know we played at Key Arena in Seattle the other night and came home with a 'W'!! It was a crazy nail-biting game, but we pulled through as the stronger team. Everyone has been so excited about the upcoming playoffs, there's definitely no signs of fear! Practices have been exactly how they've been all summer long. They haven't intensified or gotten easier to rest anyone. During practices in phoenix this past week we had a lot of the Suns guys come in and watch, Suns coach Alvin Gentry always seems to make an appearance in the upper viewing area in our practice court. He just sits back and observes. This weeks practices have had me cracking up! The girls have been going very hard as usual but everyone is in happy spirits. Towards the end of Wednesdays practice Coach Gaines separated the girls into two teams. He had the black jersey'd team running quick 10 seconds or less plays, using a scenario where they were down 3 or 2 points. The white jersey'd team played defense with coach Julie and Bridget setting them up. They went through around 6 different drawn up plays from Corey and although the plays worked and they were able to get some great open looks they didn't score one point :( plus the defense from the white team was on point! On the 7th try the black team started full-court with 8 seconds left on the clock, they we're down 2 points and the white team was all set for a full court defense. As soon as the basketball was in-bounded every player on the white team fell (literally threw themselves on the ground) and the black team ran the ball all the way down and scored a lay-up! The defense was called 'Grenade' I think coach Julie gave it that name. So finally, the black team was able to score... And that section of practice was over! This gave everyone a good laugh, especially for the on lookers in the viewing section.
In Thursdays shoot around the teams continued the fun! Let's see… first Bridget found some big headphones and showed us her DJ'ing skills. Then, while the team did their two warm up laps around the court DeWanna piggy backed on Le'coes back, Le'coe showed us her track skills that were utterly hilarious! I cannot even explain how she set up at the line and ended up stutter stepping when she took off. At the very end of that shoot around Bridget and Le'coe had a race across court, I will upload the video for you all to see!
We are all excited to finally know that we will be playing San Antonio for the first round of playoffs!!! I personally cannot wait for our first home post season game! I know the x-factors going to come out strong! Well its finally time to leave work today!! My mom and nana are cooking dinner for the team tonight... After being on the road I think everyone is excited to get a home cooked meal!
Well let me start off with HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEWANNA! Its been a while since I last blogged but I figured today is the day!!
The team went on a 2-game road-trip and just got back 2 days ago on Wednesday. I am so happy to have them back in the 602! Coming into work when the team is away just isn’t the same. I go into the locker room, training room, and my office and I am the only one there. I have to turn all the lights on myself and work in silence, or the sound of my ipod or tv, which is not the same as the distinct voices of our hilarious players and coaches. When the team is here it’s pretty much impossible to have a bad day at work or a dull morning. They all have their routines of coming into their second home, the Mercury locker room! Everyone goes around to make sure they tell every single person good morning. Some do it with just a little eye contact and verbal words, most go around giving hi-fives, then there’s Meek who gives hugs and Dee who sometimes gets overly excited and attacks you with a bear hug. There’s always smiles all around! Also, when the teams gone I find myself coming to work on a empty stomach and I always wait until so late to eat lunch. I make myself have a headache from an empty tummy. This is only because when the team is here, every morning there’s food provided for everyone… thanks to our trainer Tamara! We have fresh cut fruit, bagels, muffins, donuts, granola bars and other delicious snacks! Making a pit stop by the food counter is part of my daily routine!!
I received a package the other day from my two lovely sisters. They sent me a syringe filled with chocolate from Max Brenners, my favorite dessert spot in NYC… A chocoholics heaven!! And a huge pair of purple underwear with MERCURY screen printed on the back side. They are hilarious and from our 2007 championship season. They may have some goodluck with them! Some of you may have seen the photos of players wearing them on the bus to one of our practices in Detroit during that finals series. Anyways, I thought I’d tell you about them because they seem to be stuck in my mind… maybe because they are hanging on my window to the office right in front of my face!
Donna Orender has graced us with her presence at this mornings shoot around!! It’s awesome to have such a great women as the President of our amazing organization, the WNBA! I’ve met Donna Orender on multiple occasions and she’s just so humble and genuine.
I hope you guys are coming to tonight’s game vs. the Mystics! When we get this win we will have clinched a playoff spot, and we will be the first team this season to earn that postseason appearance!! Also, you desperately need the watch the Cappie23 video our game ops dept. put together!! It’s going to play 2nd quarter. There’s some really special appearances in the video… I was lucky enough to see some clips, one of our President Jay Parry and GM Ann Meyers Drysdale. They really got into the spirit of the video and rapping!I can’t wait to see it all put together!
Can I just say… our game operations department is the absolute best! I have been to every arena in the WNBA and watched so many time-out, quarter break and half-time skits and performances and no one compares! I’ve known Vice President of Game Entertainment Kip Helt and Game Entertainmet Manager Shaun Stanhibel since the day I started working here…. Back in 1997! Kip was my first boss and I’ve never had a better one! Both of those guys are so creative and entertaining! I can tell Shaun just lives for the moments he gets to throw on a costume or mascot outfit and run onto the court to get the crowd involved! His dance moves may need a little more work though J. So… they’ve been telling me for a while that they are going to put me in one of their hilarious game time videos, I always say NEVER! But, they finally got me to do one! It was hard to say no when my one line was “I love CP23”..I mean I do love that girl so it wasn’t too hard.
Well the team just left for the afternoon lunch and naptime, which means I get to go home for a little break also! I will be back to the arena shortly though… can’t wait for tonight!
The team is on a 5 game roadtrip! We unfortunately started off on a bad foot and our flight to NY was delayed a total of 7 HOURS! Oh man, that really put a damper on our Saturday because we had to wait around the airport the entire time! Although we were slightly happy we were able to catch the All Star game because of our delay and all that free time allowed for some team fun! So... Let me introduce you to the "MERCURY FIVE" - Bridget, Le'coe, Tangela, DeWanna and Ketia! They are our new dance crew, lol! They used their extra airport time to come up with a dance, which if you were in our terminal you got to see them perform it for everyone! Haha, the Jet Blue staff even anounced it on the main intercom and played the music through their speakers! It was hilarious and definitely gave all those uneasy/irritated/delayed passengers a great laugh. Since our flight was delayed, we didn't get into NY until 230am! :( such a bummer! But, luckily when we got on the bus, Bridget continued to entertain us and acted like our tour guide! Apparently she thought we landed in Rome, because it really did feel like we just got off a 14 hour flight! I was especially bummed because I was planning to have a lovely dinner with my two sisters who live in the city! That really cut back the amount of time I got to spend with them, but I am still sooooo excited and happy I got to see them! I was also excited that Dirk made it to the game a.k.a. Dermot, although I didn't get to say hello. I am going to post the video of the MERCURY FIVE performing but don't have my connector to upload the video to my computer, gotta wait til I get home! But, I cannot wait for everyone to see it!! We beat NY on Sunday! YAY... It's always exciting to play in Madison Square Garden, and its always a difficult arena to play in... I mean, our all time record there speaks for itself! We are now 2-12 in MSG! After the game my sister took some of the team and I to a delicious Spanish Tapas restaurant called Pipa. Coach Julie, Nicole Ohlde, our Communications manager Eric, our PR and community relations mgr. Leslie Factor, and our tv/ radio announcer Kevin Ray came along. It was a very cool restaurant with great food and live music! Later Sunday night everyone went to Cappie's launch party for '4Season Style Management'. It was at Mad46 a really cool rooftop bar. Today the team took a charter bus over to Connecticut, it's a pretty quick drive. I stayed an extra day in NY and am going to catch up with the team tomorrow morning. I'm so happy my sisters and I have gone to some of my favorite places to eat, Max Brenners and Serendipity. We also went rowing in Central Park Which was so relaxing! After the Connecticut game I am going on a little vacation! Yay! The team is continuing on to Atlanta, Minnesota and Seattle before coming back to Phoenix. Well, I hope all of you keep tabs on this roadtrip because I'm sure its going to be an exciting one! We did already start off with one exciting win! Go Merc! :)
Happy Saturday! It’s another exciting game day…. The team plays Sacramento tonight, it seems like we’ve played them enough times for one season already but we play them again this coming Wed. the 15th at 12:30! It’s our afternoon camp day, so I’m expecting the usual high pitch loud screams from thousands of young kids. Those games are definitely the loudest games of the season!
Things have been really great around here...the team unity is priceless!! Last week we all attended the Beyonce “I Am” concert. It was sooooooo good! During practices before the show a bunch of the players and of course Bridget were practicing their Beyonce moves! We had a huge suite with the players, coaches, staff, hip-hop squad, friends and family. Everyone was up dancing and definitely enjoying themselves!
Our game entertainment department has been coming up with fun time-out videos for games. I loved the Brooke/Tangela fight skit! They both really enjoyed it also… they didn’t want to take off the robes. I know they are filming another sing with the Mercury video, because they’ve been stealing players away. But I’m not sure what song they are going to sing to. I cannot wait to see that!!!
I posted another video of the shoot around half court shot the other day… Le’Coe made the money shot! And also in the video if you notice is Diana kicking the basketball. Diana has some soccer skills and can kick a ball from the court and aim it to go through a portal entrance on the top of the bleachers…she does this every shoot around. I’ve heard Diana talking about how sometimes she wishes she was left handed because left handed players “always have a pretty shot” according to her. The other day she threw up a random 3-pointer with her left and it was a swish! Needless to say, she amazes me a lot.
I’m sure some of you know our fans have a Mercury Booster club! They give us little care packages every game. Its usually fun toys, candy, gum and a lot of random goodies! Last game vs. Chicago they gave us fake gold chains and hats. Since our team has a bunch of goofballs, of course they put everything on to do their team walk down the hallway for pre-game. There’s an ongoing joke with the team and Ohlde…in the 4th Quarter Noise video, each player holds up 4 fingers and says “4th quarter” well everyone holds up their hands up straight but Ohlde holds hers at a slight angle. Since the first time that video played now it’s a joke that Ohlde has her ghetto side!! Of course its all been made more dramatic and people go around saying “4th quarter” with their hands and heads held sideways. So... Ohdle definitely had to wear one of those fake chains!
I don’t know if any of you guys are facebookers… but there are some funny videos on there of some Mystics and Dream players rapping! It’s pretty hilarious and all done jokingly… I mean they do rap about their own dogs! Good stuff!
Hope you guys all have a fun and safe weekend, and hopefully see you guys at this wed. or next Saturdays game!!!
WOW!!!! I am loving every minute of this season.... I really feel like X-Factor has turned it up a notch this year! Like, I know I used to always hear people hollering all throughout games but lately my ears have been ringing from the ridiculously loud noise! Its Sunday and today is another exciting game day. During games I sit on the 2nd row of the bench... And a lot of times I wish I could be sitting in the crowd yelling as loud as possible like everyone else. As I get into the games I do have to hold back a lot of emotion because when I do yell.... All I see is one of the coaches or our trainer in front of me turn around and give me a look... Like, "Was that you?!" It does make me feel like I'm just yelling in their ears!.. OOPS :)
I posted two videos today... Just little things. One is of my favorite part of practice, coach Bridget pushing the bigs around and the other is the team shooting half court shots today. Its a ritual they do after every shoot around. Today Dewanna was the only one who made the BIG shot! I am going to start posting daily pics and uploading more videos real soon! There's definitely a lot of stuff I'd love to share with everyone that would be best shared through images!
Big ups to Q!! Yesterday was her 23rd birthday.... She's such an old lady!!! :) JK. She definitely didn't get any special treatment for her special day. In fact, she had to go through the spank line! I'm sure glad I don't celebrate my birthday during the season because the girls on are our team can get some good hits in that spank line!
There's been some goofing off around the locker room as always, but its now turned into people hanging up bad pictures of each other and doodling on their faces! There's a great one of Diana hanging up right as you walk into the locker room... no one can miss it! lol And I have to admit I did one of my own... I doodled on Corey's autograph photo! I am going to upload that picture in a minute! That picture is sitting on our white board.
There's a ton of dogs in the Mercury family now! Lets see... I have my dog, Ella! Ohlde has a cockapoo named Gus, Tan has a silky terrier named Jade, Cappie has two dogs named Snooze and Max, Ketia has a toy poodle named Roman, LeCoe has a toy american eskimo named Aubie, and Bridget has her two Jordan and Paris! The doggy playdates are nonstop!
Well the players are starting to roll into the arena and It's time for me to get back to work! I hope to hear all that noise at tonight's game and leave some of that energy with the Mercury as they head out into a winning 3 game roadtrip tomorrow!!
Its Monday, and the mood around here is great! We have the first game of the season under our belt and it can't get any better than starting off with an exciting win!! I absolutely looooved the "Mercury Player Sing-Along" video during the game. I can't wait to see more of those. The players filmed that one day last week and they all definitely had a good time with it. Well all except Maz, she got demoted for lack of attempt... Maz can sometimes be a shy one with stuff like that so they let her off the hook!!!
I'm sitting in practice right now and Bridget is being entertaining as always... she's wrestling with Le'coe's son Derek in the practice court while the team is stretching. Coach Corey is writing plays on the white board and I was just informed that he has taken a class before, to learn how to better write on boards. He said they taught him angles and its apparently still awkward for him to write! Lol! Our owner Robert Sarver played around with the team a little today. Cappie took him one on one, and she pulled some moves on him.... although he was in a business suit. Tonight he's treating the entire team to dinner!!!
Each of our players have favorite things around the arena. They all love the breakfast foods provided in the locker room every morning! Tangela and Dee looooove the powdered donuts our trainer gets every gameday. Ohlde loves the laffy taffy's in our candy jar and the Glacier Freeze Gatorade.. Maz loves the dryfit shirts... Which she makes cutoffs that get torn in practice every other day. Brooke loves the chapstick the team buys. I know there's a lot more stuff I'm missing but I must get back to work!! I will definitely give you more details soon! :)
Well its the start of week 3 of training camp! The Mercury court is down, freshly buffed and ready to go for our first home game of 2009!!! Practices have been really good and I think we are done with two-a-days thankfully :) but all the girls are still working extremely hard! So I know you amazing X-Factor fans like to know the skinny on the players! Well... Let me just tell you we always have a great bunch of girls, but this group is hilarious! The new dance that seems to get most of the players moving in the locker room is the stanky leg... Not my style! But.. I do enjoy watching them make fools of themselves. On the court.. During our stretch circle "B" better known as coach Bridget Pettis has a daily ritual of going around and giving each girl a hi-5. This season it has turned into a complete routine with each player having a different crazy action to do with B. I'll give you some examples... With Shin they give each other a karate bow, hi-5 then use their hands to symbolize flashing lights, with LeCoe they both do a dance that they've created, then slap hands. There's also jokesters on the team. One un-named player picked up a tiny disgusting critter found and chased one of our unexpecting rookies around the gym with it!
The team has also been doing a lot together outside of the arena. We've had a few team bbq's... Any excuse for some good food! Memorial Day we had a pool party and we've gotten together for the exciting NBA playoff games. I must say we have some good cooks on the team! Bridget makes the absolute best mac & cheese, our trainer Tamara always provides the delish crab legs and Quigley makes the most AMAAAZING cookie bars, which we've named "Q's intentionally extremely undercooked cookie bar" its like eating warm cookie batter with the tiniest crisp to it! :) I am definitely the biggest fan of desserts. Some players have also been supporting other local sports, a few of the players went to the Diamondbacks game last friday. Ohlde and Laurie Koehn took their former college coach from K. State.
And just to keep you guys in the know.... Here's player nicknames currently being used. Of course you guys know our returning players: DT or Dee, Diana CP, Cap or Cappa, Cappie Maz, Kelly Mazzante Tan, Tangela Smith Coe, LeCoe Willingham B-Rock or 'brook the hook', Brook Smith Shin, Yuko Oga Q, Allie Quigley Here's the new ones: Ali, Alison Bales Meek, Temeka Johnson O or Ohlde, Nicole Ohlde Page, Murriel Page Laur, Laurie Koehn DB or 'go getta', DeWanna Bonner Sha pronounced 'shay', Eureka Brooks
There's a lot of great things happening with the Mercury right now and I personally can't wait for that first game on June 6th!!!! Hope to see you there.
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