Get out of her way

Every day I learn something new. A lot of times, it's something I should have known already. Last night's awakening came as I was enjoying a messy homemade taco. I thought I'd watch some sports on the iPad. After a minute or two of observing some Euro guys playing indoor tennis, I switched over to a rerun of women's basketball, Stanford vs. Oregon State. It was the conference tournament semi-final from Las Vegas, recorded a few hours earlier.

I have a soft spot for each of these schools, and so without a real rooting interest, I turned up the sound and commenced to enjoying the action.

It was some high-powered basketball. Women were making shots and plays from all over the court. This game has come a long way from when my mom played it in the 1930s. Or even from when I was in college.

Dominating the whole affair was this long, cool woman with blonde braids on the Stanford team. She's blocking shots, making layups, getting all the rebounds. A freshman, no less. And she's fired up!

By the time I was down to using corn chips to deliver the last of the guacamole, the announcers revealed that she is Cameron Brink, and she is from Beaverton, Oregon! As Johnny Carson would say, I did not know that. She graduated from Mountainside High, which I don't think I knew existed, either. Hunting around on the Google, I see she went to Southridge for a while, too.

Her parents are ex-Virginia Tech ballers, and they are friends from their Hokie days with the Curry family of pro basketball fame. So Cameron definitely has the genes.

She's got a fine team around her, too. There's a junior named Hull, from Spokane, who was also getting it done. But I can't give you her first name because there are identical twins, Lacie and Lexie Hull, on the Stanford team. Talk about genes.

Oh, and Russell Wilson, the pro quarterback, was on hand, in the small live audience that seemed to be limited to family. I guess there are even more chromosomes to ponder. 

Anyway, Stanford gave Oregon State a shellacking, although I'd pay to see the latter play any time. They're pretty good, too. Maybe some day we'll all go to a basketball game again.

Tomorrow Stanford plays the UCLA Bruins for the league tournament title. I'll be pulling for Stanford all the way. Up the 503! (Or as the T-shirts at USC say, FUCLA.)