Why Is The American MVP Of The WNBA Playing For Russia?

Written by John Jordan - Director - Girlshoopscout.com

    San Antonio Silver Stars  guard, Becky Hammon will be playing for the Russians in the upcoming Olympics. That's a tough one for me to grasp. She attended my basketball camps when she was growing up in Rapid City, SD and I have
known her and her family for years.  One of the saddest phone calls I ever got as a young coach was from her Father, Marty the night before she was to start high school. She wanted to play for me at a new Catholic school I was coaching
at in Rapid City, SD but her parents knew that I was probably not going to be there long so they sent her to Rapid City Stevens the big AA team in town. I remember telling her Dad that she was going to be a great great player and I was
sorry that I would not get to coach her but I understood. He asked me how I knew she was going to be so great?, after all she was only 5'3" back then. I told him I just knew, she did special things even at that age with a basketball. She had a fire in her that you just do not see too often. She refused to lose from an early age and did not just get mad about it, she did something about it, she practiced even harder until she achieved victory for her team and herself.

    Blame this Olympic fiasco on our political driven USA Basketball. Becky who was runner-up last year for the WNBA's MVP was not even invited to tryout for the US Olympic Team. Her dream was to play in the Olympics, a pity that it will not
be for the Red, White and Blue. I got to admit it will be hard to cheer against her if the US plays Russia. But would you cheer against Dorothy against the Evil Witch?

    Becky's whole life she has had to fight stereotypes and just plain politics. Being a short girl from a small town some even wondered if she would play college basketball, let alone NCAA Division I. That has not changed even at the professional level. Since it's inception it has seemed as though the WNBA favored the players from the glamour programs regardless if they were strong players or not. If you have UConn or UT on your jersey you are sure to be drafted. Becky single handily led her Colorado State team to the Final 16 in her senior year of college. She was a second team All American and finished 3rd in the NCAA in scoring her senior season. Of course she had and still holds every Colorado State
record you can imagine. Yet Becky was not drafted by a single WNBA team. She had to make the New York Liberty as a rookie  free agent. She was coming off the bench for years. She worked harder and harder and then finally began to
come into her own. She won over the Yankees with her grit and determination and by the end of the her run there was considered the heart of the New York Liberty. Then on Draft Day last year, the Liberty traded her to the expansion San
Antonio team. So what did she do? She did not hang her head or complain, she just did what she always had, she just pushed harder.  She upped her assists per game total to 5.0 from 2.7 and led the  WNBA in assists winning their Peak
Performance award. And her new team, well she led them to the Western Conference Finals.

    Last season capped off a remarkable ferry tale as the little undersized slow guard we called "Bubba" when she played against us men folk back in her junior high days was the runner-up for the worlds best player in the worlds best league.
By the way, the girl who beat her out for MVP was Seattle's Lauren Jackson who will be suiting up for her home country of Australia in the Olympics. So for all intense purposes, Becky Hammon was the American MVP of the WNBA but not
even invited by our distinguished Olympic Basketball Committee to tryout for the USA team.Becky is the small town girl All American girl, she is the American success story and the Rocky for females. A little player made good in a big players world. After living and capturing the American dream it is unthinkable that she will have to
live her Olympic dream in a Russian uniform. I would not bet against her though.

    Speaking of wicked witches, Nancy Lieberman who it seems has been around since James Naismith discovered the game had the nerve to call her a "Traitor." I saw where this 50 year old throwback to half-court basketball signed a 7 day contract to play for the Detroit Shock of the WNBA. In my opinion there is the betrayal. The betrayal of fans who are paying there hard earned money to try and see professional women's basketball make a go of it in our country. Instead the Detroit fans will be treated to watching an old lady who was not even athletic in her prime attempt to compete with true professional athletes. She better hope she does not run up on "Bubba" during this last run before the old age home.  It's okay though, I am sure Bubba is trained in CPR and knowing the kind of girl she is, I am sure she would be the first to save her after running Lieberman so hard that she caused her cardiac arrest. Leave it to the old guard not to understand that they are the ones who have backed Becky into a corner. Her dream was to play in the Olympics, she has done everything humanly possible to get there, yet her country says she cannot be their guest at the party. I say more power to you Becky, just go easy on Team USA though...