It is hard to argue that August is the worst month of the year in Texas. It is the hottest month by almost a full degree over July. It is the driest month by almost a half-inch of rain compared to July. It also includes the worst day of the year. This year, that day is August 12th. That’s the day kids go back to school. I have not personally gone back to school in over four decades, and yet I still feel for the kids this time of year. But this year there is something magical happening in August right here in Arlington.
Now magic often happens in a blink of an eye, so don’t blink when you look at the WNBA standings. When you do, you will see that the Wings are on pace to take the city by storm. Last year they tied for the worst record in the league at 10-34. This year they had won ten games by the middle of June, and it is more likely that they will get to thirty wins than to thirty losses.
We Texans are no strangers to great women’s basketball programs. Jody Conradt’s Texas team won the national championship in 1986. By the way, she coached basketball, volleyball and softball at UTA in the 1970s. Marsha Sharpe led Texas Tech to the top, winning the NCAA title game in 1993. Then there is Kim Mulkey, who led the Baylor Bears to three titles in 2005, 2012 and 2019. We know what a champion looks like, and these Wings have the look of a champion.
It may not happen this year, but the Wings are on the right track. They have two 1-1s on the roster. That is two players who were the first pick of the first round of the WNBA draft. The two came from the best college basketball program in recent years, the University of Connecticut. Paige Bueckers joined the team last year and won Rookie of the Year in the WNBA. This season she is averaging 33 minutes and nearly 20 points per game. Her teammate at UCONN, Azzi Fudd, was added in the most recent WNBA draft, and she is off to a great start too. Averaging over 30 minutes and over 13 points per game.
The Wings hired a new coach in the offseason. Jose Fernandez brings a championship pedigree of his own from the college ranks. He coached the women at South Florida for 26 years and led them to the WNIT Championship in 2009. He is known for his ability to develop players. As good as Bueckers and Fudd were when they arrived, the WNBA is the best women’s league in the world, so there is a lot for each of them to learn. In some ways, Fernandez was destined for this assignment; he and his wife have five daughters.
In August, the previously established worst month of the year, the Wings provide respite. They are like an oasis in the middle of a desert. There are seven home games this month, including four in the last ten days of August. By then you will be looking for anything to distract you from what feels like the longest month of the year.
If you are somewhat ambivalent about the Wings since they are ready to leave Arlington for Dallas as soon as possible, I don’t blame you. I must admit I feel the same way. That said, Dallas has not even been able to get a practice facility built, which the city promised would be open before this season began. I would not hold my breath waiting for the city to figure out how to get the Wings’ new arena finished. There have been monumental and costly delays on the convention center renovation. Including the latest one where someone realized that the roads would be affected by the changes in the size of the building. I’m no city planner, but how was that not discussed on day one?
But I digress; the point is that for now the Dallas Wings belong to Arlington just as much as the Dallas Cowboys do. We like to support our teams, but we also like to support winning teams. At the time of this writing, the Wings have won twice as many games as they have lost. The Cowboys have not done that in over two years and only three times in the last decade. This might be the year the Cowboys do it too, but that is a column for another month.
For now, let us shift focus from heat, dry heat that makes this month feel like a month of Sundays. Soon our Sundays will be filled with football, but for now take advantage of the air-conditioned comfort of College Park Center and check out a team that might just be magic.
Sports columnist John Rhadigan is the host of
The Rangers Podcast on DLLS Sports.
