Catchings has her mind set on one thing: winning first WNBA title
Tamika Catchings is in love with the fairy tale.
She wants to fall in love with the perfect guy, get married, start a family, maybe even get a house with a white picket fence.
But, here's the thing. Catchings also is in love with basketball.
And the former Stevenson High School star still has a few things left on her hoops to-do list.
So the fairy tale gets put on hold for a bit longer while the dream - or a dream season, rather - is pursued.
"It's a championship, that's what I want," Catchings told me Wednesday night after she and the Indiana Fever turned back the Chicago Sky 76-67 in Indianapolis. "I'm definitely ready to settle down, get married, have kids. I've got a boyfriend. I'm ready for a normal life - for a change.
"But all that stuff can wait a little bit longer. There's only so long (one can play professional basketball) and this time right now - this is it for me. I really want a WNBA championship. It's the missing piece."
But Catchings, who has won at every other level, may not have to be issuing maydays for very much longer.
Over her eight-year stint in Indianapolis, the 30-year-old Catchings has played on some pretty good Fever teams. But she says this one is special.
At 16-4, the Fever boasts the best record in the WNBA. At one point this summer the team had won a record 11 straight games.
"This is probably the best opportunity we've ever had here (to win a championship)," said Catchings, a silky smooth, 6-foot-1 small forward who is averaging 14.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.65 steals. "Everything seems to be coming together."
Catchings knows the signs.
Since leading Stevenson to the IHSA Class AA state championship in 1995, Catchings has won an NCAA championship at Tennessee, 2 Olympic gold medals and various titles in the overseas leagues she plays in during the WNBA off-seasons.
Meanwhile, personal achievements such as being named a four-time All-American at Tennessee, a six-time WNBA all-star and the best defensive player in the WNBA in multiple seasons have only added to her resume.
Yet, Catchings can't stop thinking about the one thing she doesn't have.
"It bothers me," Catchings says about her lack of a WNBA title. "I'm determined to win it at any cost."
Well, maybe not any cost.
The one thing Catchings doesn't want to do is get hurt again.
She has been banged up the last couple of years with serious foot injuries. She spent most of last season trying to come back from an Achilles tendon tear that sidelined her at the end of the 2007 season.
"There were plenty of nights I was frustrated, not getting to play, watching from the bench," Catchings said. "But looking back, I wonder where I'd be now. You don't want injuries to happen, but they often make you a stronger person. And you appreciate what you're doing a lot more."
Catchings hopes that one day her kids will appreciate the kind of player she once was: a champion (fingers' crossed) at every level.
"You better believe I'll be pulling out all the tapes," Catchings laughed.
Catching up with Tauja: A Tamika Catchings story wouldn't quite be complete without an update on her older sister Tauja.
As teens, the two sisters were practically joined at the hip as they terrorized high school girls basketball teams around the Chicago area.
Tauja, who went on to star at Illinois, now runs Tamika's charitable foundation (Catch the Stars) and is the mother of a 4-year-old son, Kanon. She just got her real estate license and will be getting married to a man from Chicago in early November.
So will Tauja move back up to the Chicago area with her husband or stay nearby Tamika in Indianapolis?
"She better stay down here with me," Tamika laughed. "I'd miss her and my nephew too much."
pbabcock@dailyherald.com