- July 24th, 2008, 6:16 pm
#186957
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... d2192.html
WNBA's Shock signs 50-year-old Nancy Lieberman
04:57 PM CDT on Thursday, July 24, 2008
By BARRY HORN / The Dallas Morning News
bhorn@dallasnews.com
Nancy Lieberman was a relative kid the last time she laced up her basketball shoes to play in a WNBA game. She was only 39.
Now, 11 years later, 23 days after she celebrated her 50th birthday, Lieberman kissed her teenaged son D.J. goodbye and headed from her suburban Dallas home to Houston to play for the Detroit Shock against the host Comets in a WNBA game Thursday night.
Officially, Lieberman has a signed a seven-day contract. But after Thursday morning's shoot-around in Houston, the Basketball Hall of Famer said she expects her tenure with the Shock to last just the one game.
Also Online
WNBA hands out suspensions
"It will be an amazing experience," Lieberman said in a telephone interview. "I love my sport. It's in my DNA. I want to compete."
Lieberman said she and Shock coach Bill Laimbeer have been discussing the possibility of her playing again since the 2007 WNBA All-Star game. Lieberman was at the game as a broadcaster for NBA TV. After she demonstrated what the players would have to do to be successful in the skills competition, Laimbeer complimented her effort.
He concluded by saying he would think about signing her to a short-term contract. Lieberman had coached the Shock for three seasons from 1998 to 2000.
"We both laughed," Lieberman said.
But on July 12, Lieberman received a late night text message from Laimbeer after a Shock loss to the New York Liberty at Madison Square Garden,
"I'm ready," Laimbeer's message said.
Lieberman was at her regular training session at a Plano gym on Wednesday morning when Laimbeer called to invite her to play in the game against the Comets. Coincidentally, Lieberman had been scheduled to analyze the game for ESPN.
"Can she still compete at this level? I don't know," Laimbeer told ESPN.com "But I'm going to throw her in the fire."
Laimbeer's call came in the wake of the Shock losing forward Cheryl Ford for the season with a torn ACL. The Shock made national headlines after Tuesday's benches-clearing shoving match with the Los Angeles Sparks.
"I expect to have a good time," said Lieberman, who works out at the neighborhood gym every day. "I understand the moment. I expect to play hard."
She expects the Comets to play hard as well.
"There are going to be kids out there who don’t want a 50-year old to go by them," she said.
Lieberman has been on the national scene since she was 18 when she was youngest member of the U.S. gold medal winning women's basketball team at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. She later led her Old Dominion teams to consecutive college national championships in 1979 and '80. Both years, she was the national player of the year.
Sly Fox wrote:In my experience with the Falwell family over the past 30+ years, they have never been shy about stating what they believe and standing by it. If anything it should be on their family crest.
- By LU Armchair coach