Sky should try 'burbs again, perhaps staying for good

If Thursday's Chicago Sky exhibition game was the final interview, the suburbs might not get the job.

Only 2,215 fans showed up to the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates to see the Sky take on the Los Angeles Sparks. The team certainly had to be hoping for more out of an area that is crawling with kids and families -- the WNBA's top target audience.

But let's not get hasty here.

It's difficult to make judgments about attendance based on exhibition games. They typically don't draw well in most professional sports leagues because fans would rather spend their money on the real thing.

Also, school is still in session, and when your target audience is families with kids, games on school nights are a problem.

I would be willing to bet that a Sky game on a summer night in the suburbs would draw very well.

Yes, it is still my opinion, as it has been for years, that this franchise could be much, much better off if it leaves its city digs at the UIC Pavilion, where its lease is up at the end of the 2008 season, and heads to suburbia.

Not only is the beautiful Sears Centre better equipped to handle a professional team, the Sky would be more strategically located.

Sure, there are kids and families in the city who have money to spend on Sky tickets. But there are probably more of them in the suburbs.

"Periodically, we might go down (to a Sky game at the UIC Pavilion)," said Julie Mangum, a woman from Hampshire I talked with during halftime. "But having them here is so much nicer."

Mangum brought her three nieces -- Sam, Riki and Holly -- to the game.

Meanwhile, Nancy Koehn, her husband Terry and their daughters, 11-year-old Makayla and 8-year-old Olivia, were enjoying their first Sky game in part because the Sears Centre is much more convenient to their home in Geneva.

"We wanted to see the Candace Parker-Sylvia Fowles matchup that was supposed to happen, too. That was a big draw for us," Nancy Koehn said. "But having it here was part of it, too. It's more convenient."

AJ Collier of Carpentersville brought his 11-year-old grandson Christopher to the game.

"We come here all the time," said Collier, who frequently visits the Sears Centre for Shamrox lacrosse games. "We'd also like to support (the Sky). This is a nice evening out for us."

Hopefully, Sky officials will give their fans the opportunity to have a nice evening out at the Sears Center during the regular season.

Believe me, it's for their own good to give the suburbs a second interview, under more typical circumstances.

New coaching Cat: News broke this week that Northwestern women's basketball coach Beth Combs resigned after four years on the job.

While Combs was always personable and pleasant to deal with, I agree that the time had come for Northwestern to look elsewhere.

Combs inherited a mess and simply wasn't able to do much tidying. She compiled a 24-95 record and just a 7-59 mark in Big Ten action. This past season, the Wildcats were 5-26 overall and 1-17 in the league.

In the early to mid-1990s, Northwestern was a perennial top tier Big Ten team and NCAA tournament qualifier. With the wealth of talent in the Chicago area and Northwestern's beefed up commitment to the program -- the school just built a state-of-the art locker room facility -- there's no reason that can't be the case again.

It's late in the coaching search game now. Many moves have already been made. But new athletic director Jim Phillips seems like a go-getter. I'm confident he's committed to finding a dynamic new coach who will return this program to where it was and should be.

She's smart, too

Loyola senior utility player Kat Krause has been voted to ESPN The Magazine's first team academic District V team.

The former Hersey standout becomes the third Loyola player to earn that distinction in multiple years. She also made the team last season. Krause, a psychology major, had to have a 3.2 grade point average or higher to be eligible.

On the field, Krause leads Loyola with 6 home runs and a .479 slugging percentage. She has 7 doubles and 14 stolen bases. She'll also graduate as Loyola's career leader in home runs and RBI.

Walk this way

On Sunday, members of the Chicago Sky will be walking for a good cause. They'll join the Y-Me Walk at Chicago's Grant Park, a 3-mile fundraiser for the organization's programs and services that are offered free of charge to anyone touched by breast cancer.

Playing like a girl

Keep an eye out for the WNBA's new marketing campaign that targets men who may have misperceptions about the league.

Two local products, Naperville Central's Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks and Stevenson's Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever, will join the Detroit Shock's Cheryl Ford in a series of revolutionary television commercials.

Here's Catchings' tongue-in-cheek script, played over highlights of her making some sweet plays:

"No offense, but women's basketball is a joke. You won't see me driving hard to the hoop. I'd rather settle for mid-range jumpers. Wide-open ones, too, since girls don't play defense. If you want to see real basketball, don't watch me."

Then up pop the words "She wouldn't say that. Would You?"

Catchings closes by saying "Expect Great."

-- Patricia Babcock McGraw