So from Milton Kent, there's more talk about "taking time off for recuperation." I was intrigued by this quote from Milton's piece:

While Beard did not play overseas this past offseason, a number of players have groused privately about having to work nearly a full calendar year without a reasonable amount of time off between their seasons. Taurasi is one of the few players to publicly express her concerns.

"Groused privately?"

Geez, children, grow up. Playing year 'round has been the reality of the W since Day 1. If you don't want to play in the W, then don't. While we fans may whine a bit, I don't know that any would begrudge you the time off. As Diana herself noted in the article:

"The WNBA was here before me and it will be here after me," said Taurasi. "This league isn't based on one person. It never was and it never will be. There's still going to be a lot of great players out there. The level of play will still be high."

The summer season, the tight scheduling -- it's not a whim. Nor is the 11-player roster. It's a business decision. You want to make suggestions on how to improve things (in this current economic climate), g'head.

How about we reduce the season 10%? How about we eliminate the All Star Game? How about we make players chose between playing in the W or playing for USA Basketball. (We know who wins THAT battle.) How about we ask the non-US leagues to alter their calendar? (Yah, like they give a whit about the W.)

And while I'm willing to listen to those who will argue that the 11-player roster has impacted the quality of play or resulted in more injuries or put quality players on unemployment, I'm still waiting for tangible proof.

To be frank, I'm not quite sure what's up with this sudden (though familiar) focus on tired bodies. There are plenty of incompetence's to focus on in the WNBA -- their marketing, their inability to access the internet effectively, the seeming resistance to apply "Best Practices" across the board. Why don't writers tackle those issues?

The brand could be so much stronger, but no one seems to be able to slap the W upside the head.