Pittsburgh Passion Win 2011 Home Opener

The turning point, according to Michelle Brevard, was the offense getting something going midway through the 3rd quarter. As a six year veteran, team captain and starting safety for the Pittsburgh Passion, I suppose her opinion should count for something.


I don't know about any one turning point. I just thought the Pittsburgh defense played an amazing game, making tackles in the backfield, pressuring the quarterback, harassing wide outs and, though the Columbus Comets had some success running, never allowing Columbus to put together any sustained drives. Every time the Comets got a little something going, or got the ball back after a turnover (Pittsburgh coughed the ball up three times in the first half), the defense rose up to smite them. The success the Comets did have came on the ground, a few first downs picked up here and there, sprinkled over the first two quarters of play, mostly coming on some little counter-running plays. Happily for the about 4,000 fans in the stands (that's my guess, but the attendance could have been higher), Columbus never really posed a serious scoring threat.

Of course, neither did Pittsburgh, as both defenses dominated and the game remained scoreless through three quarters.

"Man, these guys are tough. They're tough. Aren't they?" That was Passion coach and owner T. Conn at one point on the sidelines, and she was right.

It was also partially due to the fact that the Passion offense is an almost entirely new iteration of offense for them. And it looks it. It’s a little hinkey, it lacks the rhythm and consistency that come with endless repetition, players knowing each other like siblings, a seasoned quarterback, the playbook being so deeply ingrained that blocks and routes and reads are second nature. Beyond which, the Comets defense is quite stout, too. They played so well, in fact, that the Passion didn’t pick up a single offensive first down through two full quarters.

Then, as well as Pittsburgh's defense played in the first half, they made some halftime adjustments to tighten up and they played even better in the second half. That bit of running success the Comets had early? That disappeared.

And finally, the Pittsburgh offense went away from any trickeration and let quarterback Amanda Haeg do what she does best -- run. They started grinding out yards, with Haeg eluding and dragging tacklers with her. By the end of the 3rd quarter, the offense drove to the Columbus 2 yard line, where Amy Fallon drilled a field goal to put the team up 3-0.

Those were all the points they would need. But they got some more anyway.

The Passion defense ramped up even more, forcing three and outs, picking off the ball, and setting up the offense with good field position. After a muffed snap on a Comets punt, Haeg hit rookie wide-out Rachel Wojdowski in the corner of the endzone for the first touchdown of the game. After another defensive shutdown and another special teams miscue, Haeg ran the ball in at the goalline for the final score of the game, making the Passion's return to Cupples Stadium a 17-0 victory.

If you missed it, shame on you. But you can watch it here on ESPN3 (just hit replay), or catch the broadcast locally on RootSports on May 5th.

My gameballs go to second year linebacker Ali McGrath, who was everywhere, sacking the quarterback, picking off passes, and stuffing the run at the line of scrimmage and kicker Amy Fallon whose kickoffs helped the Passion win the battle of field position and whose 4th quarter got the scoring started.

Skylar Diggins Will Save the World

Just one tweet, that's all it took. If Shakespeare were alive, he himself might tweet in response, "Oh brave new world that has such social media in it."

The tweet that sent Skylar Diggins from a great basketball player with a twitter account to a social media supernova came the day before the women's NCAA championship game when Lil Wayne tweeted to Diggins, "Kongrats to @skydigg4,my wife. Now bring it home baby."

Her twitter account blew up. As of this posting, she now has 68,640 followers and is nothing short of a cultural phenomenon, likely to break into Justin Bieber or Jersey Shore territory for recognizability. Only, unlike Bieber and Snookie, Skylar Diggins might actually have something to say worth paying attention to.

Based on her performance throughout the NCAA tournament, including Notre Dame's losing effort in the final game last night (76-70 to Texas A&M), she is ready to assume the mantle of the best player in the game. Through six games in the tournament, she averaged nearly 20 points per game and she's on the floor constantly, rarely sitting down for more than a minute. When her team needs her to score, she drops 28, as she did against UConn. When they need her to distribute the ball, she has 12 assists, as she did against Tennessee. And while her stats are impressive, she's more than that. She's explosive, compelling, a charismatic person, but also a charismatic player.

Though a point guard, she's not content to just sit outside the stripe and try to hit three-pointers. She is both fast and quick, will put the ball on the floor, dribble-drive to the bucket, and lay in a beauty of an underhanded shot. Or she'll pull up and hit three. Or, she'll make a great pass to somebody in the paint. She can do it all, and because she can do it all, you don't know what Diggins is going to do next.

She also has good model looks. Let's face it, Diggins is a stunner. But unlike other female athletes who were long on looks and short on game, Diggins can flat out play.

And you know what? If people tune in to see Notre Dame women's basketball because Lil Wayne tweets to Diggins and calls her wifey, or if they tune in because they think she's hot, they have just tuned into a basketball game wherein they will see a great basketball player.

And what's wrong with that?

Skylar Diggins will save the world.

Top 10 Players of the 2010 Women's NCAA Tourney

From True/Slant on April 10, 2010:

Here are my Top 10 Favorite Performers of the 2010 NCAA Women’s Tournament.

10. Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame. First of all, this is a freshman who came into Notre Dame under a world of hype, but has proven to be up to the billing: The Skylar Diggins show comes to South Bend. She cruised as her team cruised past Cleveland State in the first round, then in the second round, versus Vermont, the Skylar Diggins show came to March Madness: 31 points, seven steals and six assists. Oklahoma’s defense took away much of what she wanted to do at the offensive end, but she helped keep the game close with steals and rebounds. Then she hit a three-pointer to send it to overtime. It was a spectacular debut at the big dance.

9. Jene Morris, San Diego State University. Prior to the tournament, I had seen a little under one-half of San Diego State Aztec basketball, so I really didn’t understand the full magnificence that is Jene Morris. Her performance in the tourney was enlightening, to say the least. She’s a wonderful defender – it’s required that all the Aztec players commit to defense — but it’s on the offensive end where she really shines. Some players have a knack for making the big play at the big moment. Certain players have a gift for doing something that stems the flow of momentum for the opposition. Morris is one of these players. Besides that, she’s got a killer three point shot, almost as beautiful as the sublime perfection of Maya Moore’s outside shot.

8. Alexis Rack, Mississippi State. This kid? Has hops. She flew up and down the court, hitting three-pointers and mid-range baskets. She distributed the ball and caused turnovers all over the floor. But in addition to speed and a sweet shot, she’s got stones. She’s tiny. They list her at 5′ 7″ – which is pretty short by D-I basketball standards these days — but I don’t know that she’s even that tall. Yet she continually drove to the hoop, wending her way through and around much bigger bodies to create lay-up opportunities. At their game versus Ohio State, the guys sitting next to me and behind me just kept muttering, “fearless.”

7. Amber Harris, Xavier. No team went through a crazier, wilder ride than the Xavier Muskateers, and perhaps no player had a bigger single impact that Harris. She showed both power and nuance, patience and urgency. In the final seconds of their game versus Vanderbuilt, she drove the lane for the winning lay-up. Then she lead Xavier past the Zags, before taking mighty Stanford to their absolute limits. When she came down with an offensive rebound with the score tied and just 18 seconds remaining, it should have been the nail in Stanford’s coffin. Should have, could have, but wasn’t. Still Amber Harris put on a show.

6. Brittney Griner, Baylor. I have to admit, there was a part of me that wanted to dismiss Griner, to think of her as merely a freak show — all height and luck and genetics. Then came the punch and I started to strongly dislike the kid. Granted, she is a very incomplete player. She doesn’t move much or all that well. She doesn’t have a great shot yet or even a killer instinct on the offensive end. And she could be a much better rebounder. All of those flaws showed up when she played against Tina Charles, but then, Charles has made everybody look bad this year. And yet, despite those flaws, Griner was more than just a freakshow of bones and sinew. Her shot blocking ability is something to behold and it’s impact cannot be overstated. She didn’t merely block shots, she swatted them down as though she were human anti-aircraft artillery, as player after player tried to get around her, by her or through her. Inevitably, the Griner swat came, sending the ball ignominiously to the court. Or onto the scorer’s table. Or into the seats. Every time she did that, her team fed off of her energy. The kid’s legit. I wouldn’t say she’s won me over. She’s got a long way to go still before she reaches that rarified air, so to speak, but she’s on her way.

5. Amanda Thompson, Oklahoma. I think what I like most about Thompson is the effort, which is not to say that she’s not a very talented player; she is that, of course. But I like that you can see her working on the court, digging down, reaching inside of herself to find that elusive something that will catapult her team to victory. Despite being surrounded by some really talented teammates – and that Oklahoma team is deep – it felt like Thompson did something when the Sooners were backed into a dangerous alley. She made steals and came down with rebounds. She hit inside shots and dished back outside. Last year, all anybody could talk about was how could coach Sherri Coale replace Courtney Paris. I wonder how she’s going to replace Thompson?

4. Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Stanford. I’m not even sure what to say about Ogwumike. In the Final Four game versus Oklahoma she staked her team to a large lead to watch it slip away. With just 16 seconds left, after a Danielle Robinson lay-up, Stanford’s lead frittered down to just three, so she took things into her own hands. Some how, she found her way to a clear space and, with a great pass from Kayla Pederson, she hit the lay up to put away the Sooners for good. She can do everything, evidenced by the fact that she put up a double-double in every game of the tourney except one (versus Iowa: 23 pts.; nine rebounds.) She can play inside. She can play outside. She can sky to come down with a rebound. She can speed up the pace for her team or she can settle it down. When she and Appel were able to work together on the court, Stanford was like a fast-repeat machine gun.

3. Jayne Appel, Stanford. I’ve written plenty about Appel over the years. About her drive and leadership; about her hands and her vision. But one of the things I really like about watching Appel is that she is one of those rare players possessed of both equanimity and guts. It’s hard to strike that balance. Having played an entire season on a gimped up ankle, Appel limped through the NCAA tournament and still she managed to elevate her team. Then, fighting for the ball in the paint in the championship game versus UConn, she rolled that ankle again. She could barely walk off the court. But still, the trainers taped her back up so she could play her guts out. The ankle, though, was a problem. It prevented her from getting any lift to shoot. Apparently, it’s not just me: Everybody loves Jayne. Even my buddy the DieHard UConn fan texted to say that she felt for Appel, on the bench, unable to play in the waning moments. There’s a reason everybody loves Jayne: she always fights to the end and never loses her dignity. So, despite the disappointment of coming so close and having to watch it slip away, I’d remind Ms. Appel that she really did have a wonderful career. But I probably don’t have to remind her. You know, equanimity and all.

2. Tina Charles, UConn. It’s hard to say anything about Charles that hasn’t already been said. She eclipsed all other post players in the tourney, which is some heady praise, considering that we also the swan song of Appel, the opening act of Griner, and the breakthrough of Amber Harris. She is a beast in the paint and I mean that in the best way possible. I don’t think anybody is stronger than Charles. At least I haven’t seen anybody who is. Even more than Griner, Charles changes the shot selection for the opposition. She did it all second half in the championship and that, as much as anything else, was the reason UConn pulled out the win.

1. Maya Moore, UConn. She possesses the best, most reliable jump shot in women’s basketball, maybe in all college basketball, and her shot is certainly one of the most aesthetically pleasing I’ve seen at any level. Period. It’s no surprise that Moore tops this list. She is great. I knew that. I also knew that she could stake her team to a huge lead. What I didn’t know, I mean really know deep in my bones, was if Moore could lead her team from behind, if she could bounce back from the worst half of basketball I’ve ever seen her play. Her shots clanked off the back of the rim, off the front of the rim, banged harmlessly off the backboard and sometimes missed the target altogether. She turned the ball over and dribbled off her own foot. It was ugly. And it was a gut check. In the first five minutes of the second half, Moore put up a jumper, kissed it off the glass and then it touched nothing but net. She not only got on a roll, she forced herself ont that roll and scored 15 of her 23 points in the second half. Gut. Checked.

Just missed the cut: Vivian Frieson, Gonzaga; Jasmine Thomas, Duke; Joy Cheek, Duke; Jeanette Pohlen, Stanford; Kalana Greene, UConn; Chanel Mokango, Mississippi State; Alysha Clark, Middle Tennessee; Nyeshia Stevenson, Oklahoma; Alysha Harvin, Florida State; Victoria Dunlap, Kentucky; Kelly Faris, UConn; Kayla Pederson, Stanford; and Ta’Shia Phillips, Xavier.

Grading ESPN's Coverage of the Women's NCAA Tourney, 2010

From True/Slant on April 9, 2010:

Women’s NCAA Final Four Production Grades


Watch Maya Moore spin out of her regular clothes and into her UConn Huskies uniform! See with amazement Nnemkadi Ogwumike turn from a heel shod, skirt wearing femme fatale into the PAC-10 player of the year!

That was how ESPN chose to introduce us to the starting five players on each of the Final Four teams.

During these intros, each player would say something about herself, something unrelated to basketball, of course. Then she’d spin and bam, she’s a hoopster too!

Whah!?

“I’m Tina Charles and I’m a daddy’s girl.” Spin and voila, she is the dominant post player for undefeated UConn.

Brittney Griner introduced all 6′ 8″ of herself to America by declaring that she likes bacon. (Maybe it was babies that she likes. I couldn’t hear clearly, so I like to think it was bacon. Everybody likes bacon, right?) Spin, spin and she is the shot-blocking freshman phenom for Baylor.

Somebody else liked to shop.

Another one had 300 shades of nail polish.

One player told us she was a Christian (not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I don’t care what church you go to, how frequently you get a mani-pedi, or if you dislike pork products.)

I was watching with several other women, some of whom were football players. We all joked and hooted derisively; we hollered “bacon!” and “christian!” at appropriate moments throughout the games. But really, we were appalled. At least they allowed Jayne Appel to introduce herself by saying that she was the heart of her Stanford team. True dat, Jayne.

Not to mention that the spinning-clothes-changing special effect was laughable. Were they seriously trying to reference the 1970’s TV version of Wonder Woman with Lynda Carter?

If they were, they should have just gone whole hog and used that same snappy theme music.

But I wonder, why is it so hard to package women’s sports? And why does ESPN (or any other venue for that matter) feel like they have to package it differently?

My buddy Sully, starting tight end for the Pittsburgh Passion, pointed out that they can never just let women be athletes. It’s important that women are athletes AND …

Women always have to be something, something off the court, off the ice or away from the field, preferably something in stark contrast to the stereotypes for athletes. It’s never enough just to be a good athlete.

Unless a male athlete actually, you know, DOES something extraordinary off the court, it’s like his life outside of athletics doesn’t exist. Mostly, we just hear about who ran the fastest 40, or who can bench press the most; who has an unbelievable vertical leap and whose team won the state championship in high school.

But that other life, the “real” life, if you will, is necessary for women.

“Oh my god, she’s a hockey player, but really, she’s a classical violinist!”

“She runs track, but she excels at accounting!”

“She’s a point guard, but really, she’s going to take over her parents horse farm when she graduates. How wonderful!”

She’s Diana Prince, government secretary, but she’s also Wonder Woman. Hard to believe we’re still here. I wonder what Lynda Carter thinks …

2010 Women's NCAA Tourney Final Four

From True/Slant on March 30, 2010:

Stanford and Baylor Advance to Final Four


Stanford Survives.

Jeanette Pohlen bolted for the basket a little over 90 feet from her, racing the length of the court, past and around pressing Xavier defenders. The ball left her hand, a mere blink left on the clock, kissed off the glass and dropped through the net. Her teammates swarmed. Jayne Appel leapt and, I believe she even wept.

Stanford could have lost. Some might say they should have lost. But I always think that what should have happened did. And what did happen was a gut check nobody saw coming. Given that Stanford had rolled every opponent except UConn, no one expected this kind of heavy-weight battle. Some idiot even wrote that Stanford was destined for the Final Four, on an inexorable collision course to meet mighty UConn again. So thanks to Pohlen, I look less like an idiot, Stanford survives to fight another day, and Jayne Appel gets the equivalent of an 11th hour governor’s reprieve.

But to understand Pohlen’s miracle shot in Sacramento, you’ve got to consider the entirety of the game.

Xavier played brilliantly. They did everything necessary to win, except actually win. Every time Stanford made a run, Xavier countered. (Apparently, somebody failed to pass on to the Musketeers the memo declaring Stanford’s appearance in the Final Four as a fait accompli.) Down the stretch, down by seven, Special Jennings hit a layup, plus one. Then Dee Dee Jernigan made a rebound and a bucket. Then Amber Harris made a jumper to tie it up. And April Phillips hit a layup to put Xavier ahead. Filling in for Appel, Jocelyn Tinkle hit a jumper to tie it for Stanford, but Tyeasha Moss answered to put the Musketeers back in front. Kayla Pederson, as she alway seems to do, tied it up.

So, it came to this moment — all tied up at 53, so little time remaining that the shot clock was off, and Xavier ball. The game, the braggin’ rights and a trip to the Final Four, was all right there for the taking. Appel had fouled out and was on the bench — on the verge of ending her career that way. Nnemkadi Ogwumike was on the floor for Stanford, but clearly spent.

Ball movement all around. Pederson peeled off, taking a step or two toward the three-foot stripe. Jernigan ducked behind her into the paint for a clean look. But the ball bounced too high off the glass, off the rim and down. Harris, a force all night, grabbed the ball and gave the Musketeers another chance to put it away. Same exact play. Same exact result. Except this time, Pederson came down with the ball and called a time out.

Other than her three-pointer so early on in the night it felt like the day before, nothing was dropping for Pohlen. It seemed like she wouldn’t have hit water had she fallen out of a boat. But on that stage, with time draining away, the Final Four slipping away, Pohlen came up big. Can two points count for more than just two points? One point would do it. Two was what it was. Must have felt like 20.

ESPN loves to show the coach promos – with Geno and Sherri Coale, Tara and Pat, as Her High Holiness The Summitt says, “It’s hard to win on this stage.” The Musketeers can tell you all about it if you don’t believe Summitt.

Brittney Griner Is.

Earlier in the night, it looked like the Dookies would hold off the Baylor Bears and despite a poor shooting performance (just 23% from the floor – ouch) and despite Brittney Griner teetering on the edge of another triple-double, they led most of the night.

Griner was kinda quiet for the first part of the second half. She almost disappeared, insomuch as a 6′ 8″ phenom can disappear, that is. But then she took over again. Just as she had down the stretch against Tennessee. I’m seeing a pattern develop.

Duke is not a great shooting team to begin with, but Griner forces opponents to change their shot selection, hurry their shots, alter the trajectory of their shots. Yeah, like I said, a pattern. The shots? They are not so good when Griner is on the floor defending. Just a fact. For a team that’s not an offensive juggernaut to begin with, Griner roaming out there, long and lanky, ready to swat passes and shots down, is a fact that is the kiss of death.

At the end, Coach Mulkey teared up. Again. But she had reason to. Her young kids, freshmen Jordan Madden and Kimetria Hayden, as well as Griner of course, played huge roles down the stretch. They are just growing up in front of us, with every game. This could make for an epic Final Four.

Checking in on the 2010 Women's NCAA Tourney Elite Eight

From True/Slant on March 29, 2010:

Women’s NCAA Tourney Elite 8 Upon Us

In a statistic that seems patently impossible, UConn’s Maya Moore is hitting 71% of her shots from 3-point range in the tournament. Outrageous. With Moore on another planet and the magnificence that is Tina Charles, playing UConn right now must be a little like standing in the eye of a hurricane for 40 minutes. While I do not believe that any team is utterly invulnerable, let’s just say the Huskies have parked their team bus right next to unbeatable and walked over.

Meanwhile, the only other team to roll through the first three rounds with ease is Stanford, which makes it seem more and more likely that the two behemoths are on a collision course. I don’t mean to diminish the other teams by stating that. Xavier junior center Ta’Shia Phillips put on an eye-opening performance with a big-time double-double in their win over Gonzaga; Florida State gutted out a tough win against a very good Mississippi State team; I could write tomes about Oklahoma’s depth and Kentucky’s speed; and even more about Baylor and Duke (below). But I really have to wonder if any of those teams can keep the big girls on the block from their appointment with destiny?

Over in “The Bracket of Death” ™ (the Memphis region — any region with Tennessee, Baylor, Duke, WVU, and LSU must be considered a veritable charnel house), Baylor took down the mighty Vols of Tennessee. Brittney Griner was, quite simply, a force of nature. She played every minute of that game and dropped 27 points on Tennessee, but her real impact was her 10 blocked shots. Every time Tennessee got a look they wanted, Griner swatted the ball into the third row. It must be really frustrating to work so hard to create offensive opportunities, simply to have them literally smacked down.

So Baylor moves on in the Bracket of Death to face Duke tonight, a match-up I am really looking forward to as much for the players as for the coaches.

Baylor coach, Kim Mulkey, dresses like Tanya Tucker and struts and fist pumps and jumps around like Jerry Lee Lewis, so I can see where Mulkey might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but I must admit, I love it. I just get a kick out of a coach who is as much of a cheerleader as the teams most rabid fan — hell, I think she’d wear face paint if Baylor’s AD would let her. Mulkey’s emotions are right on the edge, barely under the surface; she got misty while the Tennessee game was in live action and a bit more misty during her post-game presser. If she doesn’t genuinely care about her players, then she deserves an Oscar.

Mulkey already has a national championship under her belt, one that Baylor won by beating Michigan State in the final in 2005. The coach at Michigan State that year? Another coach I love to watch — Joanne P. McCallie, now coach of the Duke Blue Devils. McCallie is just lovable. Maybe she because she looks like somebody I could be related to or have been pals with in college, but I have a soft spot for McCallie. (A friend who works in television production was working the women’s tourney in 2005. He did the final between Baylor and Mich. State, so he spent a lot of time around both teams. He raved about McCallie, confirming that while I am often full of it, in this particular case, my instincts were dead-on accurate.)

While I’m on the subject of coaches, after their Sweet Sixteen victory, Huskies coach Geno Auriemma had no criticisms of his team (many in the Storrs area collapsed from shock), but cousin Geno being cousin Geno, he had to stir the pot a bit, so he commented on the Tennessee loss to Baylor the day before by saying that he was glad that a UConn-Tennessee meeting in the Final Four was off the table, not because he doesn’t want to play Tennessee, but because it would inevitably become the “Pat & Geno” show. He felt that would be unfair to the other teams, the players themselves and that the Final Four is, or should be, larger than just two coaches.

I want to go on record as saying that I’ll miss seeing Her High Holiness The Summitt, not because I want to see “Pat & Geno ™” necessarily, but because she’s a coach I really enjoy watching. I love the Summitt Death Stare and if you’ve ever watched even a single LadyVols game, you know what I mean. So, I’ll miss Summitt. (For that matter, I’m bummed that Rutgers went out in the first round because I love watching C. Vivian Stringer, too. I guess you can’t have everything, right?)

While I agree with Auriemma in that the tournament should be about more than just two coaches, everybody wants to see UConn-Tennessee (even Jere Longman at the NYT.) Oklahoma’s Sherri Coale, Stanford’s Tara Vanderveer, and the above mentioned Mulkey and McCallie are not exactly pikers, but at the end of the day, Summitt and Auriemma remain the faces of women’s college basketball as much as Maya Moore and Jane Appel are. The game needs Summitt and Auriemma.

It needs their larger than life personalities. It needs the sustained excellence of both programs, the instantly recognizable Tennessee orange and the passion of the UConn fans.

It needs their genuine antipathy for each other.

Heck, I’m going to watch the games anyway, regardless of the presence or absence of Summitt and Auriemma, Coales and Vanderveer. But we’re not talking about me. Even to the biggest women’s sports neophyte, the names Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma are known quantities, brands as people are fond of saying these days. So if the sport is to continue to grow, it needs Maya Moore and Britney Griner, but it also needs the Pat & Geno show.

I know that cousin Geno and Her High Holiness The Summitt see eye to eye about as often as Lindsey Graham and Charles Schumer do, but I think they both care about the game. So it really is time to have a come to Jesus meeting and re-ignite the regular season Tennessee-UConn rivalry.

Woman on the Offensive Line Plays Last Football Game

From True/Slant on June 30, 2009


Rhonda Donahoo told me this wasn’t the way she wanted to end her football career. She had played the 2009 season against her doctor’s wishes, having already pushed her body past reasonable limits, so she knew the Pittsburgh Passion’s 27-17 loss at the D.C. Divas marked her final game in uniform. The playoff loss was just the third loss for this full-contact women’s football team in as many seasons, during the course of which they compiled an overall record of 27-3. The Divas advanced and will host the Boston Militia in the eastern conference championship game on July 11th, the winner of which will play in the IWFL (Independent Women’s Football League) Championship game in Austin, Texas on July 25th.

But Pittsburgh’s Rhonda Donahoo can put her shoulder pads in mothballs and place her banged up helmet on the mantle. She played her six year career on the offensive line, where bodies take and dish out some of the fiercest punishment on a football field and the endeavor has taken its toll.

There at the very beginning, Donahoo is one of the 11 active players who remain from that original 2003 Pittsburgh Passion roster. Back then, the team was affiliated with a different league, then the NWFA and these women, volunteer football players, raised money to get the team up and running (and continue to cultivate sponsors and fund-raise to this day). They were there for the first practice, the first scrimmage and the first game. They played through growing pains and rough years, when they were all really just figuring out how to play organized football. They’ve seen coaches come and go and have called four different Pittsburgh area fields their home turf.

In 2007, the squad largely reflected that original roster and, on a muggy July night in Nashville, they won the NWFA championship. Donahoo played that game with one knee sort of taped and banded into place — a jerry-rigged invention of a creative training staff catering to her desire to finish out the run on the field. One recent evening, she sat down with me and recounted the litany of injuries, but there were so many, I can’t remember them all and I’ve certainly forgotten some of the details. Following the 2007 championship, Donahoo hobbled into the sunset and underwent multiple surgeries. She was laid up for months. She knew she could never play football again, but hoped to resume some normal activities, like taking a spin on a bicycle, or just going for a long, aimless walk.

In 2008, the team switched leagues (from the NWFA to the IWFL) while Donahoo rehabbed and checked the scores; she just couldn’t bring herself to sit in the stands and watch. The Passion were undefeated through the regular season, but lost in the 2008 Eastern Conference Championship game in Chicago. Donahoo decided to give playing one more shot, to try to squeeze one more season out of her knees and ankles.

So she returned to the team in the winter of 2009, started every game at guard and was named an alternate to the IWFL all-star squad. A little over two weeks ago, with a playoff berth on the line, Donahoo played her thankless role on the offensive line, as the Passion beat the New York Sharks in an overtime thriller to end the regular season. With that, she had one more shot at a championship.

Of course, playoff seeding being what it is, Pittsburgh’s first test was to beat the D.C. Divas, their long time rival and the only team which had beaten them in 2009. Still, the team felt, or maybe they hoped, their wild victory in New York would be the springboard to another championship run, the last chance for Donahoo and some of the other original players to win a second title before focusing their energies on other endeavors. As Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll said, at some point, you have to get on with your life’s work.

The June 27th playoff game in suburban D.C. was one of missed opportunities for the Passion. With the teams slugging out a scoreless game through the 1st quarter, on the sidelines, I felt like Pittsburgh was winning the battle of attrition, when all of a sudden, D.C. was threatening to score from the Pittsburgh 10. But the Pittsburgh defense stiffened, led by Jen Dulski who hammered Diva quarterback Allyson Hamlin on a blitz, then made another tackle for no gain on a run. The ball went over on downs, but the Passion turned it right back over with a fumble. The Divas punched it in easily. It was just that kind of a night — one step forward, two steps back.

Pittsburgh hung in there, but made mistakes at key moments, while the Divas avoided big mistakes. After the Passion went up 10-7 early in the 3rd quarter on an Amanda Haeg scamper into the corner of the end zone, D.C. answered quickly, as Hamlin tossed a beauty of a fade route to Tara Stephenson for a touchdown. (I have to take a moment to point out that Hamlin and Stephenson run that fade pattern as well as any quarterback-wide out combination I’ve seen at any level. For real.) From there, D.C. cruised, ensuring that there would be no shot at a second title for Donahoo and the Passion.

I’ve spent a couple of seasons around the team. I’ve gotten to know them as football players and as people, too. There are always a handful of veterans threatening to retire; I’ve learned that sometimes they mean it and sometimes they don’t. But this year I get the eerie feeling a lot of these players have played their last games in black and gold.

Seasons end and players part ways, leaving behind team workouts, film sessions, practices, travel days and game day routines. The transition is always tough, but for returning players, the sting of cleaning out their lockers is balanced by the promise of another season still to come; fall workouts will be upon them before they know it. For those who have played their last game in uniform, the sense of loss can be overwhelming.

Just moments after the horn sounded the end of the game, the Pittsburgh players huddled together on the field and Donahoo knelt a few yards behind them, flanked by two teammates. I don’t know if she was felled by physical pain, exhaustion, overwhelming emotion, or, most likely, some combination of the three. Eventually, she pulled off her shoulder pads, pulled herself up, and joined her teammates. For the last time on a football field.

Later that night, over beers, she teared up when we talked about it being the end of the line. And then, as she always has, she became the life of the party, goofing off with total strangers in the suburban DC hotel bar, dancing, raising a ruckus and entertaining her teammates. Maybe that was the last time, too.

Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

I have a friend who had a t-shirt that read, "Jack and Jill Ran Up the Hill. Jill Won. Girls Rule." In keeping with the spirit of that t-shirt, from CNN/SI today:

"BAYONNE, N.J. (AP) -- On the pitcher's mound, a 12-year-old girl from New Jersey is perfect.

Mackenzie Brown is the first girl in Bayonne Little League history to throw a perfect game. She retired all 18 boys she faced on Tuesday. There are no official records of how many perfect games are thrown per season. Little League Baseball in Williamsport, Pa., estimates only 50 to 60 occur each year. No one knows how many have been thrown by girls. ... She'll get to throw out the first pitch at Citi Field on Saturday when the New York Mets host the Washington Nationals."


I see that the Natinals', er Nationals' team earned run average is 5.36. They should consider offering young Mackenzie Brown a contract. She's probably better than anybody they have in their farm system. Oh, and she can probably spell, "National."