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Mechelle Voepel

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Saturday, August 2
Updated: September 17, 2:47 AM ET
 
Cooper, Laimbeer deflecting the spotlight

By Mechelle Voepel
Special to ESPN.com

There's that scene in "My Fair Lady'' where Henry Higgins and Col. Pickering sing congratulations to each other -- "You Did It'' -- after Eliza Doolittle had successfully passed for foreign royalty at the Embassy ball.

Michael Cooper
Michael Cooper helped the Lakers to five NBA titles, including a seven-game series victory over the Pistons in 1988.
They're so busy celebrating "their'' triumph that they don't pay the slightest attention to the person who really "did it:'' Eliza.

Well, Los Angeles' Michael Cooper and Detroit's Bill Laimbeer are no Higgins and Pickering.

Not because they can't sing. (Actually I don't know if they can or not, but it doesn't matter anyway. Rex Harrison couldn't; that's why he "talked'' the songs.)

And not because they aren't friends. (Although, they aren't; suffice to say they'll never be sitting together in a parlor discussing Keats.)

No, the reason they're not Higgins and Pickering is that they do not think the WNBA Finals is their show. It belongs to their players.

Sure, Laimbeer and Cooper will answer the questions about their past NBA battles. But they don't say much. Really, just enough to reflect what kind of competitors they were as players.

When asked, Laimbeer acknowledged, "I believe they'll be people who will tune in just to see the two of us and what we have going on. But once they tune in, I know at least for our team, we're fun to watch. We're exciting. Hopefully, they'll enjoy the product.''

Similarly, Cooper went literary and said, "This book isn't about us ... the players are the ones who are going to make the book interesting.''

I agree with him. But let me take a detour.

We all know acceptance or even admiration from men has power in women's sports. It can be irritating, but that's the way it is. Actually, that's reflected in any endeavor that was once completely or largely closed off to women: politics, medicine, law, the military, law enforcement, etc.

Things have changed a lot. I remember being a kid in the early 1970s and seeing a newspaper picture of a woman on a highway construction crew, when that was new and controversial.

And she had this partly bemused, partly ticked-off look on her face, as if to say, "OK, I'm just holding a sign that says 'SLOW.' I think I can manage this.''

Look at newspaper microfilm from the early 1970s, especially, and you'll see stuff like that every day. The first girl to enter the county-fair tractor pull. The first girl to compete in the demolition derby. The beauty queen who, gasp, wants to go to engineering school.

Bill Laimbeer
Bill Laimbeer was the central figure of Detroit's Bad Boys teams that won back-to-back NBA titles in 1989 and '90.
How far we really are away from all that now depends on the people involved and the circumstances. There's always going to be the guy who cracks, "Oh, no, the pilot's a chick,'' or the fellow who passes a fender-bender and smirks, "Woman driver.''

But I'd like to believe that, as a society, we're past much of this. However, the "approval factor'' is still an issue. I'm not talking about anything in regard to sexuality or attractiveness. Simply, acceptance that a woman can do something.

Of course, it isn't an issue only for women. Minorities certainly are familiar with that infuriating but naggingly consistent undertone that it's necessary to prove oneself "just as capable as.''

But, narrowing this down again to women's sports, validation does feel good. That's why John Wooden's complimentary quote about women's basketball gets repeated so much. Why we see these commercials with athletic guys saying, "Hey, guess what? She can play.''

And why the WNBA -- the NBA's child, little sister, offshoot, branch, barnacle or whatever you want to call it depending on your optimism or cynicism -- is not going to mind if some spectators or media get interested specifically because of Cooper-Laimbeer.

The enthusiasm and intensity these two have for their jobs in basketball now is good for the WNBA. Not because they're men, but because they were professionals who competed at the highest level of their sport and succeeded.

That in and of itself does not make anyone a good coach. But that background combined with the ability to be a teacher is a darn good combination.

So it's not a bad thing for Cooper-Laimbeer to get attention. I'm interested in their perspective, their history and their evaluation of and contributions to the women's pro game. At the same time, they've handled it very well by always turning the topic back to their players.

Laimbeer admits he didn't pay much attention to the women's game until his daughter began to play. But he's a quick-enough study and skilled-enough observer of basketball talent regardless of gender that it didn't take him very long to figure out what the Shock needed and how to get it.

He knows Deanna Nolan, when healthy and focused, can be as multi-dimensional a threat as just about anyone in the game. He has the uptempo back court he wanted in her, Elaine Powell and Kedra Holland-Corn. He made a great draft pick in taking Cheryl Ford. You'd expect he and fellow Notre Dame alum Ruth Riley would have a great deal in common and that he can help her get even better. He knows Swin Cash is the franchise.

Similarly, Cooper seems to really relate well to and understand his players. He knows how valuable Lisa Leslie is on an every-game, every-practice basis. He has gotten the best out of Tamecka Dixon, Mwadi Mabika and Nikki Teasley by giving them enough freedom. And look how much DeLisha Milton has improved in the pro game.

So Cooper and Laimbeer are making a big contribution to the WNBA. But they'd smile and be the first to tell you they didn't score a single point this season. They know their players are the ones who "did it.''

Mechelle Voepel of the Kansas City Star is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. She can be reached at mvoepel@kcstar.com.





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