(Kelsey Plum in her first home game as a Los Angeles Spark.)
It’s as the title says. This very much felt like the first day of school.
Yes, I saw all my favorite media people during Media Day but this is the real thing. The Sparks did play two days before and won against the Golden State Valkyries. But we’re all present for the first home game at Staples Center (this is my own site so I will not be as “professional” here; not that I’m boorish, mind you) as they went against the Minnesota Lynx. Old friends. New friends. All of us covering the Los Angeles Sparks. As I’ve said in past entries, this is my third season doing this.
Days before the game, though, I decided I wanted to be on top top top by getting the A’Ones (A’ja Wilson’s signature shoe).
(I will not sing the whole song here. It’d take too much space.)
But I decided to take it a step further. I acquired a Dodger blue sombrero during Cinco de Mayo at Yaamava Casino. And it matched the A’Ones perfectly. So I wore it for the game.
(And of course, I wore my BSB shirt to signify that we were, indeed, back again.)
Predictably, I got many looks when they saw the blue sombrero. After the pre-game press conference, Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts passed by me and remarked that she liked my hat. We’ll get back to that later.
As seasons come and go, there will be change. Ari Waller, who had been the Sparks in-game host the last two seasons, was no longer there (more on this in a later entry!). There was now a courtside lounge on the East side of the court (when you enter through the Kobe Bryant entrance at Staples).
The Sparks press conference was switched to the Chick Hearn media room. That used to be our place to watch games and have lunch/dinner. The visitor’s press conference was switched to the room by the marquee. They were held there regularly two seasons ago and it also doubled as a media room when the old Chick Hearn media room was under construction.
As the people were filing into the arena, I started to make my rounds to meet up with (new) friends that I made on Threads. Shoutout to Ceci, Angel, Jason, Tiffany, Kris, and Kenya. I’m sure I missed a few names so apologies to them.
The Sparks did well against the Minnesota Lynx in the first half. Then the Lynx bogged down on defense and ran away from them in the second half. There was a time where the Sparks got it down to single digits but ya know, Napheesa Collier is pretty good in basketball.
Sadly, Rickea Jackson got knocked out of the game after colliding with Alanna Smith at the end of the third quarter. The Sparks would go on to lose by 14 points.
Coach Lynne Roberts talked about being mentally tougher and just making shots. She brought up the “next play mentality” for the first time this season.
After the press conference was over, fellow media members immediately looked at me and said, “You’re not wearing the hat the next game!” Coach Roberts interjected and said, “It’s a vibe! I like it!” But we all agreed that I wouldn’t be wearing the hat on the next home game, which was Friday.
With that, the first day of school was over. A three-game home stand was on the horizon as we settle into the new school year, er, season.
Rey-Rey is all over social media. He’s on Threads, Bluesky, and the vomit-inducing Twitter (I refuse to call it with a certain single letter). In the past, he covered the NBA and the Lakers. Now he’s in his third season as a Sparks beat writer for the Sporting Tribune.