Okay, so the Houston Comets are in second-to-last place, not much of a threat to anyone and certainly not worth having as an archenemy. But back in the day when they were whipping everybodyยs ass and going four for four in the championships (gosh, does anyone else miss Cynthia Cooper?), the Comets and the Sparks were pretty much ยbreak-her-arm-and-take-the-flagrant-foul-callย rivals. Theyยre 7-16 at this writing, but thankfully, thereยs still some lingering acrimony between the two teams, mostly because Tina Thompson had to follow in Lisa Leslieยs footsteps her whole career. Thompson followed Leslie to Southern Cal, and every career marker Thompson attained had already been won by Leslie. It also doesnยt help that Mwadi Mabika (from the Congo), Temeka Johnson (from Louisiana State) and a couple of the other L.A. players arenยt above some extra shoving underneath the basket now and then. Theyยve split their first two meetings so far this season, and with only three more home games, the Comets might just play a balls-out, ignore-the-ref game. Wouldnยt that be nice?
This article appears in Aug 2-8, 2007.