Q ponders how Beard's injury might affect the Mystics. He also chimes in on "The Role Model Thing: Perspectives from the Women’s Game"

While female athletes may not be "role models" in the colloquial sense that we think of them -- people we literally want to be exactly like -- they do often present a model for the range of things women can do and as he writes "destabilize gender stereotypes". I'm not sure it's possible to measure that impact with any kind of research and even so, the effects might not appear immediately.

But second, as related to the WNBA, what I wonder is if it's different because the league has been around longer. Maybe the league has merely brainwashed its players, but many of the players we talk to -- and college players as well -- talk about the importance of not only being a role model, but also the existence of the league as a new aspiration for them. It's probably not the central motivation to become a professional basketball, but many of the women we've spoken to do see that as something more than peripheral to their responsibility as athletes.

Also at Swish Appeal, freelantz writes, Alison Lacey ready to learn from the best in Sue Bird

And if you been in a "holding pattern, take a deep breath and prepare yourself for the next basketball season mode, oh, look! it's a furlough -- fun times, huh Jayda? --" you might want to take a gander at some of the S.A. writing you may have missed: Swish Appeal 2010 WNBA Draft Archive: Links, Links, and More Links...

Over the last two weeks we've written quite a bit previewing, covering, and recapping the WNBA draft.

With articles scattered all over the site and difficult to find, here are links to pretty much everything we've written in order to bring some measure of order to the chaos we've created.