SEATTLE – When you are 21 years old, you can do this.
You can fly out of Salt Lake City on Thursday morning, arrive in Hartford, Conn., that night, rise bright and early Friday morning and take your final college exam.
On Saturday morning, you can get up and take part in your graduation ceremonies, spend that night visiting with family and friends, then drive 2 1/2hours to your home in New York so you can catch a 5:20 a.m. Sunday flight to the West Coast.
Arriving in Seattle late that morning, you can then go play 31 minutes in a WNBA preseason game. And play pretty well, all things considered.
Oh, you look a little out of sync in the first half, as might be expected. “A little discombobulated,” is how you describe yourself. But in the final 20 minutes, you look as if you caught a few winks at halftime because your play is fresher and you almost lead your team to victory.
If Sue Bird can do this after two cross-continental flights in 72 hours, imagine what she can do after a good night’s rest. Which was what she had planned for Sunday night.
Then it starts to get nutty again. She’ll catch a red-eye tonight for the East Coast and a Tuesday morning visit to the White House, where she and her NCAA champion University of Connecticut basketball teammates will meet the president.
“How can you miss your college graduation and a chance to meet the president?” she asked rhetorically. “These are once in a lifetime opportunities.”
So, did you vote for George Bush? “Gore,” she replied. “But that’s all right. From what I understand, he’s (Bush) got a great personality.”
And he probably knows who Sue Bird is. “He does,” she said with glee. “Governor (John) Rowland of Connecticut got to ride on Air Force One and the president asked, ‘So what’s Sue Bird like?’ “
Well, she’s apparently big on accountability. She could have used the alibi “tired legs” for her sub par first-half performance Sunday, in which she scored only two points and committed four turnovers, but rather than do that, she said, “I was a little discombobulated at first.”
A hectic schedule will do that to you. “No,” she said. “It would be easy to use that as an excuse.”
And so she didn’t.
What she did was put the first 20 minutes out of her mind and come back with a strong second half, hitting all three of her 3-point shots and playing a flawless floor game.
She ended with 11 points but saw her team, the Seattle Storm, lose its first preseason game in three starts, a 70-68 decision to the Utah Starzz.
It wasn’t a bad performance considering the Storm was playing its second game in a little over 24 hours and had to travel from California. “We started a little sluggishly,” said coach Lin Dunn. “But that’s the way the WNBA is. Back-to-back games.”
For the rookies, it’s all part of growing up. Of course, Bird, the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, didn’t play in Saturday’s game, but Felicia Ragland did.
Ragland looks as if she’s adapting to the new schedule. A second-round draft choice out of Oregon State, the 5-foot-9 guard led the Storm with 15 points in Sunday’s game. The day before, she also led the Storm in scoring with 11 points in a 65-52 victory over Sacramento.
In fact, she has been in double figures in all three games (she had 11 points in a 69-64 Thursday night win over Utah).
“If she’d hit that last shot, she’d had a roster spot (guaranteed),” said Dunn, with just a slight bit of tongue in her cheek.
Ragland missed a wide open jump shot in the final seconds that would have tied the score in Sunday’s game, after having misfired on another make-able shot with about 36 seconds remaining.
Give her this. She had guts enough to take those shots. Most rookies are looking for a place to hide in the final seconds when the game’s on the line.
“I’m willing to take that challenge,” Ragland said in a soft voice that belied her ultra aggressive style of play. “But I’ve definitely got to make those shots when I’ve got open looks.”
For one so small, Ragland isn’t afraid to go in and mix it up with bigger players. She grabbed six rebounds, or as many as Utah’s 7-foot-2 Margo Dydek had.
She also hit the deck several times. “I’m not good at balance,” she said. “I get a lot of floor burns.”
Ragland averaged 19.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.47 steals for Oregon State her senior year. She was just expecting to “get picked up” in the draft and was ecstatic when the Storm selected her.
“She’s a good player,” Bird said, “especially for her size.”
Good, tough and she wants the ball.
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