MCBias Interviews: Erin Buescher, Part 2

Part 2 of my interview with Erin Buescher. Erin talks about why the women of the WNBA really are beautiful, what she would write about if she had a blog, and her Christian faith. Read Part 1 for what you missed.

Photo courtesy of NBAE/Getty Images.

Suppose you could win a game for the Silver Stars by either scoring a basket, rebounding, passing an assist, blocking a shot, or stealing the ball. Which way to win the game would be your favorite?
No doubt, by a steal.........just so fun and dramatic!!! lol

There seem to be a lot of WNBA player stereotypes. Which ones are definitely not fair or true?
That these women are not beautiful....you take ANY girl off the streets, in the club, out of the magazines, put them in HUGE baggy shorts past their knees, UNflattering jerseys, no make up, sweating, hair pulled back (similar to first thing in the morning styles) and very few women would be feminine and attractive. But if people could see these women off the court they would be SHOCKED. AND, the guys I've dated have loved having a girlfriend that they can go to the gym with, play sports with, and compete with. It's so much more fun!! I think a lot of guys truly are intimidated by a girl who is strong, and confident.....AND can beat them at most sports...lol. Strong, competitive, fierce, athletic, fast, tough on the court....feminine, beautiful, sweet, loving and caring off the court....IS there a better combination?

If you ever had a blog like Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi(http://www.wnba.com/news/birdanddee.html) on WNBA.com, what would you write about? What don't people know about Erin Buescher that might be fun to tell them?
OH my goodness, to be honest....probably not too much about basketball. There's just so much to life, when I'm out of the gym, I don't spend TOO much time talking about basketball. I love outdoor sports, I love God, I love traveling, different cultures, countries, food, cooking (although I have no idea how), adventures, nature, relationships, fitness, health, HUMOR....any and everything I suppose.

I know you enjoy surfing; what is your favorite surfing memory or day?
I think one morning I woke up before sunrise, and a good friend of mine paddled out in the most beautiful, magical place in Costa Rica. Just my friend, myself and all the morning sea life...watching the sunrise over the rainforest mountains and surfing small, but fun waves.....oooohhhh I think I'm salivating.

I noticed this year that the Silver Stars have a higher than normal number of Christian players on the team; at least 4 by my count. Being a Christian yourself, how (if at all) has it changed your WNBA experience?
It's pretty incredible the San Antonio team this year. It's more than 4, I can tell you that much. We became each others biggest support group....sharing and encouraging each other with our reading the word, with our struggles, our victories...everything. We had a weekly bible study that was intense but also had a LOT of laughs. I think it helped our on court chemistry to be honest. There is NOTHING more important in this life than a real, passionate, growing relationship with Jesus Christ....and we were all able to share the most important thing in our lives with each other. Truly a summer I will never forget.

Finally, what question does the media not ask you that you wish they would? Ask it to yourself and give me your answer.
REPORTER: "ERIN, WOULD YOU LIKE A FREE ROUND THE WORLD TICKET AT NO CHARGE?"
ERIN: "YES PLEASE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH."
Reporters just don't ask these kind of questions enough. Hope this is good enough!!

It was, Erin, and thanks to you and Leigh Anne as well for the pictures to accompany the interview. Just a few thoughts from me: I loved the reply about WNBA players and beauty. I agree that men can be intimidated at times; the Ladies... blog also brought this up once (sorry, can't recall the link to post). Also, the part about off-court beliefs and attitudes affecting on-court chemistry also fascinates me. If you like your teammates as people and share beliefs with them off the court, it seems logical that it might translate into better game performance. That's why I'm paying attention to these stories out of Boston that Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are becoming friends; yes, it does matter, and it will make the team better.

MCBias Interviews: Erin Buescher

Previously on this blog, I mentioned my admiration for the competitive and charming Erin Buescher of the WNBA San Antonio Silver Stars . This WNBA season, she was a big part of the surprising Silver Stars playoff push. However, Erin was injured soon after she took Player of the Week honors on 23ppg (on 50% from 3-pt land, 93% from the line), 6.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists. I caught up with her soon after the WNBA finals to ask her how the rehab was going and to better understand what it's like being a WNBA player. Thanks to Leigh Anne for helping coordinate this.

Read on to learn what it is like to play in Greece and whether WNBA players ever interact with their NBA counterparts. As you always do, dear reader, play nice in the comment box. Part Two, in which Erin discusses WNBA stereotypes, her faith, and what she would blog about, should be up tomorrow.

How is your rehab going; what are you doing each day as you recover?
Rehab is going well I guess, it's the first time I've been injured, so I'm not sure if I'm ahead or behind....but either way, it's a long, slow process getting the knee back healthy again. I have a ton of exercises I'm doing each day, trying to get the muscles strong again. They disappeared literally overnight!

Paul Shirley, a professional basketball player, recently came out with a book documenting his travels around the world to play basketball called "Can I Keep My Jersey?" I was wondering if you had happened to read the book and if so, what you thought of it. Is the life of a professional female basketball player similar?
I haven't read the book! But actually, it sounds like a great idea, I wish I would have thought of it before Paul did...I bet it's interesting. Playing overseas is quite the ride!

How do WNBA players decide what country they will play in during the offseason? I have an amusing mental picture of players trying to make their decision surrounded by tourbooks with titles like "South Korea on $30 a day" and potential contracts written in foreign languages. That's how it works,right? ha. Seriously, what is the process of decision-making?
I think most WNBA players decide where they will be playing by whoever offers the most money, that's where they are headed. For me, I was a bit different, not your conventional bball player. I felt, if you are going to get a free apartment, and job over in europe for seven months.....it's going to be a place I want to see, and enjoy the experience rather than just accept the paycheck. Now, I can understand, some of these girls are making quite the pretty penny in some places like Russia, Korea etc... but they also are paying the price. Basically giving their lives over for seven months, russia is so cold, I just could NOT do it.

Instead I chose to live right on the mediterranean, in one of the most traveled to destinations, island hopping during the day, practice by night. I thoroughly enjoyed my three seasons in greece. I can say a small part of me is actuallygreek now, I didn't hang with all the americans at the r&b hip hop clubs. I was going to the local hotspots that all the greeks enjoyed, ie...BAZOOKIA!! lol but seriously, I ate like a greek, (went to coffee for hours like a greek), listened to the music from there, and tried to enjoy the unique opportunity that it really was. Money gets spent, but experiences are for life.

Photo courtesy of NBAE/Getty Images.

You have ended up playing in Greece the last few WNBA off-seasons.What was life and basketball like there?
Well, I sort of just ran into the answer the question before, but I loved it. I would wake up, go to the beach, go for coffee...read, go to friends' houses for lunch. Lunch in Greece isn't like here, the whole family comes home from work, mom/wife usually has cooked some sort of yummy meat, salads, side dishes, bread, wine, FETA, and we sit down to a thanksgiving type meal (everyday) after which the family will all get into their pajamas, and crawl into bed for mid afternoon 'siesta'. Most of the shops will close between 3-6 p.m. while everyone naps. People love to sit and talk....coffee for 3,4,5 hours is not uncommon...relationships are valued on a higher level than here I think.

Just a slower paced life, Greek people like to enjoy themselves, they love family, they keep it simple, they love food and wine, and they don't worry too much. My teammates were like sisters to me, I learned the language enough to say whatever I want (usually in a round about way and VERY grammatically incorrect). Just a fun place to be, if that country had waves to surf on....i may just had found my next home.

One of the reasons I like the WNBA is its family feel. It's not such a large league that it seems impersonal. Are there particular fans that stand out as most memorable from your career in the WNBA?
I think that the fans in Sacramento and in San Antonio are really amazing. I like that as well about the WNBA...you look into the stands and you see so many children. The players also interact with the fans enough that there is definitely a relationship between the fans and the players.

What's your favorite free-time activity on the road during the WNBA season? I love to read, but also just take a walk through the different cities that we play in. It's fun to go exploring, find new fun restaurants, or go to a movie. But mostly you are just resting, since we are in and out so fast.

I doubt Tim Duncan comes to practices to help you all practice post-up moves, ha. But I was wondering if WNBA players ever interact with any NBA players, and if so, which player that you met is your favorite? And which WNBA players do you consider your best friends?
In San Antonio, we don't see the Spurs because we have different practice facilities. It's kept pretty separate. But in Sacramento, it was really pretty special, we shared the facilities with the Kings, and we would lift weights together, or be in the training room at the same time. They were really supportive of our team, cheering for us, going to games, putting up signs for us (the year we won the championship)....kind of like we were all one big team. I think that's a great environment for both sides, it's a shame it's not the same in San Antonio. I could never pick just a few close friends in the WNBA...I've been so fortunate to have been on four different teams with such unique, amazing, fun and funny girls. People are DEFINITELY missing out by not taking the opportunity to get involved and be apart of what these amazing women are doing....both on and off the court.

Open Bias: Is the WNBA Too Black for You?

It's old, but I found this blooper tape of WNBA Draft Picks in 2004 trying to say "Go Girl World" rather amusing.

Anyway, I got myself down to my local pizza shop to watch the Detroit Shock play the San Antonio Silver Stars. Detroit won a close game. It was a good game, as it should have been; Detroit and SA lead their conferences.
Aside: Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn NEED to coach in the NBA. They are still Bad Boys to the core and each got a technical foul. After Mahorn got his, he surreptitiously adjusted his glasses with his middle finger, knowing that the TV was panning on his face. Laimbeer also informed his team or the sideline announcer (forget which) that "Because the game's on TV, they'll call more fouls against us to keep it close."
Anyway, I still had to wonder, "Why isn't the WNBA more popular?" I personally like basketball in general, so I like the WNBA as well. The WNBA people I observed at the WNBA draft seemed pleasant and interesting. I've talked about this before and given suggestions for improvement. But I thought it'd be more interesting to link to some complaints about the WNBA. And I have to give my dark hypothesis, after trying to put a nice face on things in my previous analysis.

Hypothesis: The WNBA is too black (and thus, unattractive) for white males, who form the majority of the sports-viewing public. Thus they do not watch.

I decided to interview my favorite white male; myself. I did an informal study of WNBA players by looking at last names that begin with A-G on the WNBA list of players. (Yes, random sampling would have been best, for you stat heads). Here are my results.
32 of the 50 players were black.
From the pictures of the players in uniform from WNBA.com, I thought 4 out of 50 players were moderately attractive or higher.
Allowing myself to google players who might be "on the bubble" and also relying on my memory, I bumped that up to 12 of the 50 players.
Of that total, TWO of the 12 were black. What does this mean?

I graded 2 out of 32 black players as of at least average looks (Nikki Blue and Swin Cash, for the record) and 10 out of the 18 white players as of at least average looks. In other words, my measurement is about what you'd expect when I grade white players; about half of them are of average looks or higher, half are below. But when I grade black players, I find less than 10% of them of even average looks. And I consider myself to be a fairly open-minded person, and I like the WNBA and have no problem with female athletes. Yet I still come up with that result. One has to conclude either that I am racially biased to think that white women are prettier than black women, or that my sample was somehow biased.

Now I'm sure some people are going to accuse me of racial bias or being myopic. That's ok; it's worth it to prove the larger point here. And I challenge you to do a similar study with the list and tell me what you find. It's more people than just me. I recently read something that really opened my mind on this issue. White people, where do you think black people ranked TV shows like Friends? Seinfeld? You think they enjoyed those shows as much as you did? Ask some of your black friends. You might be surprised by the answer. (Idea for this courtesy of the Bias book by Bernard Goldberg.) On TV, we want people who share our skin color (or, even worse, who look just like us). That's who we find most attractive. And that's why the WNBA will never catch on with the majority of the viewing public.

Silly Bias: Female Blogging Duos

Gentlemen, the day we hoped for is finally here; attractive ladies have descended on sports blogland, two by two, as on Noah's ark when the elepha...um, bad analogy. Not that sports blogland was devoid of feminine beauty (braces for hate mail from other bloggers), of course. We all know that the end of the world must be nigh when this occurs. Excuse me while I barricade myself in my apartment to prevent their romantic onslaughts; I sorrow when the petite brunnettes get trampled. I must prepare myself for the last days of my stay on earth, and...Wait, that's not going to happen until 2515? My canned food will only last until 2009! That said, while I await the hordes from a feminine Armageddon, here's a few videos to tide you over.

Competition on the blogging front! Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi are going to crash the blogging party...and then leave when they find out that they're the only girls there. Just kidding, fellow lady bloggers! Hmm, I wonder if Sue and Diana would consent to a guest post from everyone's favorite MC? Somehow, I think not.

Speaking of female blogging duos, there's a real shocker in this one around the 20-second mark, and it's not what the screen capture shows, either.

EDITED TEXT
To evade the Viacom Nazis who object to blatant thievery of their content (the nerve!), hit up this link: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jessica+Biel+Sarah+Silverman
END EDIT
You don't even know how excited this made me (or you know, and realize I should get a life, heh.) Sadly, my exhaustive 3-day Google marathon found no actual blogs for Jessica Biel or Sarah Silverman. Count me among the 2% who'd rather see their blog than watch them fake-kiss. (Of course, that's because I plan to get a kiss for myself due to insightful, thoughtful blog comments that the rest of you would never think of. Stuff like "Jessica, with those biceps, do you prefer the cream or the clear in your steroid use?" See, that's what really gets the ladies; personal questions that show you really are paying attention! Um, wait...maybe not.)