Houston, we have a problem: Once mighty Comets are gone

The first WNBA game I ever went to was in Houston.

It was the summer of 1997, the league's inaugural season, and my husband and I happened to be in that part of the country, so we made a side trip to see a Comets game.

The atmosphere was electric, and it genuinely seemed like the WNBA was much more than just a novelty draw there.

The Comets were nearly selling out the old Compaq Center - and had drawn 16,285 to their inaugural home game - with fans who were excited to be blessed with some of the best players in the league in Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper and Tina Thompson.

I had a lot of fun at that game in Houston. The basketball was good and it was kind of neat to be a part of history.

Guess I had better cherish that memory more than I already do. There may never be another WNBA game played in Houston.

On Monday, the league announced that the Comets, struggling with bad management and a new owner who bit off more than he could chew financially, would be ceasing operations. Effective immediately.

"It's a sad, sad day for the city of Houston, it's a sad day for all those Comets fans who helped us build it up, it's a sad day for all the players, and it's a real sad day for Van Chancellor," said Chancellor, the Comets' first coach.

He left two years ago to become the women's basketball head coach at LSU.

"I really hate this," Chancellor said. "I hate it for the WNBA, I hate it for women's basketball. It's mind-boggling that this has happened."

Of course, "this" has happened before in the WNBA.

Teams have come and teams have gone.

Houston is the fifth WNBA team to either disband or move to a different market under a new name.

But, like Chancellor, I think that this particular "going" is a bit more poignant - and hurtful - than the others.

Houston was the WNBA in its infant years, the league's cornerstone franchise.

Not only did the Comets have three of the league's best players, they also won - and won big. You may remember that the Comets won not just the first WNBA title, but the first four.

Yep, a four-peat. Right out of the box.

It was a spectacular and magical dynasty that not only made the franchise strong and popular, it also gave the WNBA some legitimate footing at a time when it needed it the most.

"(The four straight titles) meant everything in the world back then," Chancellor said. "People often asked me if I thought a dynasty was good for the league and heck yeah, I did. It brought a champion, it brought publicity, it brought everything."

And poof, eight years later, the Comets are shooting no more. Just like that.

It just doesn't seem right.

Hey, maybe the Comets can ask for a bailout. Everyone else is doing it.

But seriously, maybe the Comets will actually get their bailout - eventually.

Word is there are investors in Houston who were interested in buying the team but couldn't get all of their ducks in a row quickly enough. The league says it needed to press on with its yearly timeline. It has schedules to put out, plans to make for the upcoming season. Apparently, Monday was as long as it could wait for Houston.

So now, the WNBA will hold a dispersal draft Monday to redistribute to all the other teams the players whom Houston held the rights to.

Based on the inverse order of each team's finish in 2008, the Chicago Sky will get the third pick.

"It's always disappointing when a team folds and this was a great franchise and a wonderful championship team," Chicago Sky president Margaret Stender said. "But I think things had been going on down there for a while, so I guess I wasn't really surprised."

Stender says she isn't all that concerned either.

I, on the other hand, think it never bodes well for any league when teams fold, let alone a team that seemed to have everything going for it. Houston had history, championships and a fan base that was still considered healthy by WNBA standards.

"I think there is absolutely no connection between what happened in Houston, which had a unique situation with new ownership, and the health of the WNBA. None. This is a really healthy league," Stender said. "We have extraordinarily committed ownership and leadership."

Not to mention, she says, an increasingly talented pool of players.

"It's all about the players," Stender said. "The level of talent just keeps getting better and better. The health of the league has everything to do with the caliber of athletes and how they continue to improve.

"There's a nostalgic kind of sadness about Houston, but I think the women's game is healthier than it has ever been."

pbabcock@dailyherald.com