Here's a stunner: the New York Times covers the league. (No, not the Liberty-- just the league.) The Gray Lady's Michael Schmidt asks why the world's best women players accept the comparatively low W salaries, given what they can earn in Europe and Asia.

Sports agent Bruce Levy: "The league has created the excitement around the games, making [American] players feel that they are celebrities, which can't [be] and hasn't been done overseas."

Commissioner Orender: "The W.N.B.A. is what gives players the platform to earn that money overseas. Without that they wouldn't get the dollars around the world. Lisa Leslie is a star in the States and gets endorsements because of the league. When [an overseas] league bids for her, they bid big."

Also from the Times: better-than-nothing team previews. Schmidt picks the Shock and the Storm to meet in the finals; for the Lib, "expectations are not too high."