Why ask why?

With tonight's four games added in, here are the current WNBA standings:

East

Indiana 6-2
Chicago 5-3
Washington 4-3
Connecticut 4-3
Atlanta 4-5
New York 2-6
Detroit 1-5

West

Seattle 6-2
Minnesota 6-3
Phoenix 6-3
San Antonio 3-3
Los Angeles 2-5
Sacramento 1-6

So, in the East there are three teams at the top that aren't usually there. Detroit, at the bottom, hasn't been in that position for years. Phoenix is back up top in the West, Minnesota might finally be living up to its potential, and Los Angeles continues to fail to live up to theirs.

No wonder some fans are cranky and asking why. It's human nature to ask why, after all. But we only find out the answer to that question part of the time, and this is one of those times that we don't.

There are so many factors that go into a successful team: a good coach, the team's responsiveness to coach(es), solid players, team chemistry, effective plays, effective defense, execution of game plan, coach and team's ability to adjust - among other things. There are also off-court issues.

Several years ago I became friends with a player from another WNBA team. She told me a few things about her team and its players matter-of-factly, but that I didn't know about. Let's just say the experience taught me that you really never know what's going on behind the scenes of a team unless you're either a player or a staffer, and any outsider who thinks they do know is kidding themselves.

Who really understands what exactly "it" is that's keeping the Shock, the Monarchs, the Sparks and the Liberty in the basement of their respective conferences? It could be, and probably is, a myriad of factors in each case. I'm not going to torture myself trying to figure it out. That's the job of each team.

But I can understand the urge to ask why. Personally, I spend at least a few minutes every work day trying to figure out why some kid said or did something.

Good thing there's not a message board for that.