Sparks win a road game! (and other stuff)

If anyone told me last spring that it would take a month into the season before the Sparks won a road game, I'd have said they were nuts. But so be it. I'll take tonight's 69-60 win over the Liberty.

Interesting starting lineup in Tina Thompson, Delisha Milton-Jones, Candace Parker, Marie Ferdinand-Harris and Shannon Bobbitt. Betty Lennox scored 20 points off the bench and Kristi Harrower, 4.

For the first few minutes of the game, though, I was wondering what the hell the Sparks were doing. Glad they got it together.

Assistant Coach Marianne Stanley weighs in with her thoughts on the season so far in an interview released today.

In the Sparks MVP newsletter of today, fans are given humorous player facts collected on the road trip so far:

- Marie Ferdinand-Harris has a shoe deal with Reebok and her shoes that are made up in purple and gold have "MFH 24" on the tongue. She has had this shoe deal for the past four years.

- The team has a nickname for Betty which is "Big Buckets Betty." The name means that she has her game face on and is ready to drop "Big Buckets" on our opponent.

- While riding down the escalator at our hotel with DeLisha on Wednesday, she mentioned that we had another whole night in New York and that this big city was a little too much for her. She likes New York and that all the different cultures co-exist here but in her exact words, "there is TOO much going on here for me!"

- Madison Square Garden, located on 7th Avenue in New York, is one of the oldest and most well-known arenas in the world and even to us it's still a tourist attraction. Candace Parker took time before shootaround on Thursday to get a picture of baby Lailaa on the floor next to the MSG logo.

- Tina Thompson is not just an incredible basketball player; it seems that she is also wise when it comes to motion sickness. She shared that she sits in the middle of the bus because she gets motion sickness from time to time. Her advice to thwart it:
1. Sit in the middle of the bus
2. Don't read
3. Don't stare at one thing for long periods of time
4. If you are listening to music try to close your eyes

- Bobbitt and Vanessa listen to their music at a higher decibel than should be legally allowed. Whether we're on the bus, in the airport or stuck on the slowest freight elevator in history, we can all get down to their music because it seems as though it's on a loud speaker. This morning in the freight elevator at MSG, we were all jamming to Beyonce's Halo courtesy of Vanessa.

- Coach Stanley has the hook-up! Having spent time in both NY and D.C., she knows a lot of the ins and outs for getting around NYC, getting discounted show tickets and even how to get from inside the Garden to an underground NY pizza joint. If you are headed to NY anytime soon, make sure you ask Coach Stanley for tips.

And finally, Candace Parker's ESPN commercial is out.