Women’s Pro Game Finally Finds a Forum

Two women, each with huge investments in the Women’s NBA, used the same word to describe their feelings Saturday, in the tumult of an unexpectedly big crowd, 14,284, that turned out to see the league’s first game.

Overwhelming.

Val Ackerman, the WNBA president, talked 45 minutes before tipoff, as players in new uniforms warmed up with new oatmeal-and-orange basketballs on the Forum court.

“You know, we’ve been working on this for a long time, putting in long hours, and to see, finally, those players out there actually warming up to play this game . . .”

She paused. “It’s an indescribable feeling for me. It’s overwhelming.”

Another who said she was overwhelmed but for a different reason was Christine Leslie-Espinoza, mother of the L.A. Sparks’ marquee player, Lisa Leslie.

“To me, the greatest thing about this day is all the little girls I saw here today who have athletes to look up to,” she said after the game, after watching her daughter talk to 30 or so reporters.

“My heart is filled with joy; it’s overwhelming . . . to see these women have this opportunity. And all the little girls I saw. . . . I’ll tell you, there was a lot of goal-setting today.”

As for her daughter’s team, she shrugged.

“You can’t win all the games, no one will,” Leslie-Espinoza said, “but you can motivate little girls to be great and that’s the most important thing that happened today.”

Among those impressed by the players’ skill level was Magic Johnson.

“I thought they all seemed pretty nervous, but I enjoyed it,” he said. “I thought they all played pretty well.”

“I could tell Lisa was tight. I worked out with her two months ago and she was sky-high then. And she wasn’t even in training camp yet. Really, there was an awful lot of pressure on them today--first league game, and all that.

“They’ll be a good team, I think. Once they get to know each other on the court well and learn the referees. . . . Once they get relaxed, watch ‘em then.”

Nancy Darsch, the New York Liberty coach who was fired by Ohio State three months ago, said the historic game meant a lot to U.S. women.

“All these older players who have played overseas all these years, they paid their dues,” she said.

“It’s been a long time since they were able to play in this country. It’s time.”

Among the projects to which Ackerman referred about building a league from scratch were huge arena curtains. The league purchased six almost quarter-mile-long curtains to reduce the size of the NBA arenas, to create more intimate settings . . . in case of poor attendance.

Estimated cost: $100,000 each.

At the Forum, the black curtain was to be run all along the concourse, creating a cozy 8,505-seat arena.

Naturally, the first thing the Sparks did this week was take down the big curtain and open upstairs seats to accommodate the unexpectedly large ticket demand.

“Nice problem to have,” said Ackerman, who added that she needed a seat belt to keep her optimism restrained.

“You look at the combination of our promotion of the league, the interest we’ve had by the media, the fans. . . . It gives us great hopes that we’re getting off to a great start.”