Could a WNBA championship save the Indiana Fever?
OK, I admit it. I'm doing something very anti-sportswriter here and I'm rooting for someone - and something.
I'm hoping that Tamika Catchings and the Indiana Fever win the WNBA championship. There, I said it.
It's not that I have anything against the Phoenix Mercury. Very good team. Very entertaining team. Best player in the league in Diana Taurasi, who was named the WNBA's most valuable player Tuesday.
Phoenix, which is tied with Indiana 1-1 heading into Sunday's Game 3 (3 p.m., ESPN2) of the best-of-five WNBA Finals series, is certainly championship worthy.
Indiana is too. But the Fever also gets the sentimental vote. At least mine, anyway.
Ironically, despite increased ticket sales, new sponsors and a spectacular run through the regular season and playoffs that included an 11-game winning streak, the Fever is in danger of being, well, spiked.
As in completely wiped off the map after 10 years of existence.
That's part of what drives my rooting interest. Perhaps a WNBA championship could change that.
In March, one of the team co-owners alluded to the fact that financial troubles (losses of several million dollars) could force the Fever to be sold or liquidated unless significant gains were made this season in attendance and sponsorships. We're talking double the numbers here.
Well, the Fever's attendance went up, but by only 3 percent (to 7,939 fans). And three new sponsorships - even though they came from giant corporations such as Kroger, Old National Bank and Lucas Oil - might not be enough to make up the difference.
The WNBA has had teams fold and relocate and it's never a good situation. Dissolving the Fever would be particularly sad because this has been one of the best franchises in the WNBA, especially since landing Catchings in 2002. The Fever has had just two losing seasons since then.
Clearly, Catchings is a winner. She just hasn't won big in the WNBA yet, which brings me back to my sentimental vote.
If you're from Chicago, I would think that you've got to be pulling for the likeable Catchings in her quest for her first WNBA ring. She's one of the few Chicago natives in the league.
Catchings spent many of her formative years in Lake County and attended Stevenson for the first two years of her high school career. As a sophomore, she led the Patriots to their first of back-to-back state championships.
Catchings went on to have great success at Tennessee, where she won a national title as a freshman in 1998. She's a two-time Olympic gold medalist and has been in the WNBA for eight years.
From Day One, Catchings has been a great ambassador for the league. She's literally one of the nicest professional athletes you'll meet. And, having been born with a hearing impairment that forced her to wear hearing aids for many years, she's been an inspiring role model to kids with hearing disabilities.
Actually, Catchings is a great role model to all kids. Years ago, she developed her "Catch the Stars Foundation" that has been one of the most comprehensive and enduring player charities in the WNBA.
"Catch the Stars" helps at-risk youth in the Indianapolis area by providing academic and sports-related programs that assist with everything from reading and study skills to basketball fundamentals and fitness objectives.
When I saw Catchings in Indianapolis for a Chicago Sky game in August, she told me that as full and as rich as her professional career has been both on and off the court, she won't be able to rest until she wins a WNBA championship.
She's desperate for a ring and she loves her life in Indianapolis and says she'll do anything to help the Fever climb to the top while also staying put (in Indy).
I'm betting that's pretty much all Catchings had on her mind as she exploded for what almost went down as the first triple-double in WNBA Finals history (19 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds) in a 93-84 Game 2 win in Phoenix on Thursday night.
Here's hoping that Catchings gets that first Finals triple-double, and at least one more after that. She deserves it, and so does the Fever.
pbabcock@dailyherald