Journey Staff Room

The 2010 Olympics are more than 12 months away, but fans can see the world’s best winter athletes in action throughout Vancouver, B.C. this winter.

The World Cups for alpine and freestyle skiing, figure skating, bobsleigh, luge and other sports take place throughout the Vancouver area between now and March. These competitions give organizers a chance to test the venues that will host Olympic events in 2010.

Among the highlights:

• Jan. 24-25 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup
• Feb. 2-7 FIBT Bobsleigh & Skeleton World Cup
• Feb. 2-8 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2009
• March 9-14 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals

Vancouver also marks the one-year countdown to the games with a star-studded concert featuring Canadian-born Grammy winner Sarah McLachlan on Feb. 12. The concert, at the Queen Elizabeth Theater, is part of Cultural Olympiad 2009, a series of more than 400 concerts and events that take place across the region between Feb. 1 and March 21.

Winter hotel rates and relatively small crowd sizes—compared to those expected in 2010—are just a couple of things that make visiting Vancouver for the World Cup events a fun, stress-free alternative to the actual Olympics. A recent surge in the value of the American dollar compared to the loonie doesn’t hurt, either.

As the countdown to 2010 continues, mounting Olympic fever is palpable throughout Vancouver. New hotels seem to open each month, and major infrastructure improvements are also quickly coming on line. Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort unveiled the Peak 2 Peak Gondola on Dec. 12, and new sections of the Seawalk are expanding the promenade’s reach around the city. It’s just a matter of time before the expansion of the Sea-to-Sky Highway and the extension of the Sky Train rapid transit system linking Vancouver International Airport to the Waterfront Centre are complete.

Of course, there’s never a bad time to visit Vancouver, as I was reminded during my most recent visit in late November. For this trip, I stayed at The Listel Hotel, just a few blocks from Stanley Park along Robson Street. The Listel takes a proactive approach to the arts and the environment. Many of the rooms are adorned with original paintings or limited-edition prints from regional artists. The hotel has also earned high marks for its eco-friendly programs that include the recent installation of solar panels and an energy-efficient heat-recovery system. O’Doul’s, the hotel’s restaurant, is firmly entrenched in British Columbia’s sustainable foods movement and features live jazz every night. On one evening, I lingered in the lounge to listen to the music after a dinner that included ravioli stuffed with locally grown butternut squash. The next morning, I feasted on flavorful free-run eggs and bacon for breakfast. The hotel’s commitment to culture and conservation, combined with extremely reasonable room rates, helped me feel good about feeling good.

A 15-minute walk from The Listel brought me to the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park, where I had a chance to see Tiqa, the baby beluga whale born in June. Tiqa seems pretty happy following her mother, Qila, around in the tank with grandmother Aurora close by.

In between checking out the city’s attractions and Olympic sites, I also took some time to visit local food landmarks that were highly recommended by locals. One morning, I ventured out to Kitsilano for breakfast at Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe. After walking around the city on a rainy afternoon, I settled in for a bite at The Irish Heather, a popular Gastown “gastropub.” Even casual spots such as these have embraced the sustainable foods movement. Sophie’s, a diner whose bright yellow walls are covered with kitschy collectibles that range from vintage Coca-Cola signs to a framed Village People album cover, offers free-run eggs in its omelets and gets its produce from local farms. The Irish Heather, which recently relocated to an old brick building restored with a modern vibe, uses sausage from a nearby charcuterie in its bangers and mash. In the Irish Heather’s rendition of this classic pub dish, the plump, juicy sausages are covered in gravy and share a plate with separate mounds of mashed potatoes and mashed carrots. This may not be part of the diet of many of the Olympians who will be coming to the city in the months ahead, but, in my mind, the dish deserved a gold medal of its own.

If the fifth-grade students at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School have their way, the “Preview Ending Light” may be coming soon to a movie theater near you.

A group of four students conceived the idea for the device during an exercise called “What’s Your Big Idea” on Junior Achievement Day at the Seattle elementary school. Junior Achievement is a nonprofit organization that develops educational programs designed to inspire students from grade school through high school to succeed in business and industry. Through one such program, 19 members of AAA Washington’s staff, including yours truly, had the opportunity to spend a day in the school’s classrooms on Nov. 7 (AAA is a major sponsor of Junior Achievement).

I paired up with Dean Granholm, AAA Washington’s chief accounting officer, to lead the fifth-grade class through a series of hands-on exercises focusing on various aspects of the free-enterprise system. (Due to privacy concerns, the names of the teacher and the students have been omitted from this article.) The students were divided into groups of four for the exercise encouraging them to come up with their “Big Idea.” Each group was asked to create a product or service addressing a specific need—and then develop an ad for the product. One group, which included a student with a fear of heights, decided to start up an engineering firm specializing in low bridges and short buildings. Another group was asked to develop a breakthrough in entertainment. After one of the students commented that he hates having to wait for the previews to end at the movie theater, the rest of the group decided to develop a light to post outside the theater door that indicates when the previews are over. This would allow people to finish getting their snacks at the concession stand or just relax in the hallway before heading to their seats when the main feature begins. After this brainstorm, it didn’t take the creators of the PEL long to draw up a clever ad promoting their new product.

As the day progressed, Mr. Granholm and I led discussions and interactive exercises designed to shed light on the range of skills people need to be mechanics, farmers, engineers and entrepreneurs. One exercise allowed the students to create their own resumes. Some students seemed surprised to learn how important math and science skills are to such a wide range of jobs. Others just thought it was neat to get to meet a couple of guys who work for the company that sends out the tow trucks.

Part of Junior Achievement’s goal is to show youngsters how businesses need workers with math, science and communication skills. Though I’m not sure how successful we were, I hope that we did, in some small way, give them another reason to stay focused on their schoolwork as they grow up.

People who volunteer to be teachers through Junior Achievement are told that they help make a difference in the lives of students. What we weren’t told is how much of an impact the students could make on us. There is something incredibly rewarding about seeing youngsters’ eyes light up when they learn the meaning of a new word or see a connection between something they read about and something they see in real life.

I also walked away with a newfound respect for teachers. Between making our presentations to the class and circulating among the students to answer questions, our day in the classroom flew by. I was completely exhausted and impressed by the amount of physical energy alone that it takes to be a teacher. Overall, the ability of our classroom’s teacher to get through to the students, and the students’ ability to grasp new concepts, left me feeling good about the future. And whenever I go to the movies from now on, I’ll be looking for that light above the door to tell me when the previews are over.

To the Editor—

In your September/October issue, Rob Bhatt had an article called “transportation talk”. In the introduction, he stated, “AAA does not endorse either candidate”. Well, perhaps not in words, but certainly through the photos. Obama is standing in the bright sun with a blue sky and white clouds overhead. McCain is seen as a bleak, small, old-looking head with an even darker American flag behind him. I find the choice of these two photos to be disgraceful! I expected far better from Journey but now  realize that you have joined the majority of the rest of the biased media.

I was going to write a letter to the editor but was surprised to discover there is no such department in your magazine. Why not??? I would very much like my opinion to be read by other readers. and hope, at least,  that you will give serious consideration to what I have just written.

Lea Welch

Nicole—
Thanks so much for the article about your journey to Sepino to find your roots.  It reminded me of a vacation our family (myself, wife, teenage daughter) took to Italy in the summer of ‘07.

Accompanied by my wife’s sister and her daughter, we took a leisurely auto trip north from Rome to the walled city of Lucca, the ancestral home of my sister-in-law’s recently deceased husband (Robert Nannizzi).  We rode bicycles atop the ancient wall, stopping at an especially pretty spot to scatter his ashes onto the breeze.  It was a poignant moment, much like those you experienced in Sepino.

From Lucca, we took the train to Venice before flying home. Thanks again for reviving fond memories of that trip.

Sincerely, Mark Adams, Gig Harbor

Too bad the Dec/Nov issue of Journey left out one of Seattle’s most popular holiday events, Figgy Pudding. An annual fundraiser for the Pike Market Senior Center, this downtown caroling competition attracts more than 40 singing groups and droves of enthusiastic onlookers to the streets around Westlake Center. Donations are made, carols both solemn and funny are sung, popcorn and cocoa are downed, awards are given (including one for the people’s choice), and everyone has a fun evening. This year the competition is on Friday, December 5:

http://figgypuddingpmsc.org/

Judy Moise
Caroler, AAA member and Figgy Fan

Hi Judy,
You’ll be happy to see that we DID in fact include the Figgy Pudding Caroling event in our magazine. In fact, it is SO important, that we included it in a feature story as opposed to having it hidden in the calendar.

You’ll find it on page 22 (#5 on in our “Top 10 things to do for the holidays” story) of our Nov/Dec issue.

—N.M.

From a purely geological perspective, the Hawaiian Islands clearly rank among the world’s most dynamic places. Every time a massive volcanic eruption reshapes a swath of land, trees and plants inevitably re-establish their roots in the charred remains of the lava flows. In a seismic dance whose rhythm is measured in eons, myriad other forms of life always follow—and thrive. In this setting, it seems only natural that the island’s inhabitants would be equally adept at adapting to rapidly evolving circumstances—and thriving.

This certainly seems to be the case among Hawaii’s farmers and ranchers. When the sugarcane and pineapple plantations began pulling out of the islands more than a decade ago, a new wave of farmers and ranchers found opportunities to till the land. In many cases, these independent farmers incorporated sustainable practices into their operations, reflecting the sense of respect that Hawaiians hold for their natural surroundings. All this combined with the surging popularity of organic and naturally raised foods is helping them turn this tropical paradise into a foodie paradise.

“When I came here 20 years ago, we were getting 10 percent of our ingredients locally and 90 percent from the mainland,” says George Mavrothalassitis, the James Beard award–winning chef/owner of Honolulu’s Chef Mavro restaurant. “Now, it’s the opposite. I’m getting 90 percent of my ingredients locally.”

Chef Mavro, who hails from Marseilles, France, notes that an abundance of seafood and a melding of Pacific Rim cultures throughout the islands have allowed Hawaii to develop a rich and distinct culinary identity. However, with the exception of luaus, the dining options available to most tourists, at least up until recent times, were limited to continental recipes made from ingredients shipped in from elsewhere. These days, chefs throughout the islands can turn to their local farms and ranches for some of the best produce and meats found anywhere, prompting more and more of them to embrace the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement.

I spoke to Chef Mavro at Mealani’s Taste of the Hawaiian Range and Agriculture Festival, which took place Oct. 3 at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island’s Kohala Coast. He was among the 30 or so chefs who presented dishes crafted from Big Island ingredients in a walk-around tasting attended by about 1,000 people. About two-dozen purveyors of items including honey, goat cheese, grass-fed beef and a plethora of organic produce also dished out tasty food samples at the event.

During my visit to the Big Island, I also noticed a growing sense of pride among area residents in their farm-to-table movement. At Kalaekilohana, a quaint, plantation-styled bed-and-breakfast in the Big Island’s Kau region, owners Kenny Joyce and Kilohana Domingo eagerly shared local ingredients with me and my travel companions, a group of fellow journalists. On one morning, we feasted on slices of locally grown melons, guava and dragon fruit, along with locally produced ham and cheese and organic muffins from a nearby bakery. The following morning’s repast included hormone-free eggs from an area farm. Both meals were accompanied by Kau-grown coffee. The medium-roasted beans offered restrained bitterness and lingering hints of smokiness, a mellow change of pace from their cousins grown in the island’s Kona region. For good measure, Joyce and Domingo also treated our party to an-all Kau dinner featuring grass-fed rib-eye steaks, chard and sautéed tarot during one of our evenings at their inn.

Later, after spending a few days along the Big Island’s western shore, our group stopped off at the Hawaiian Vanilla Company on our way east to Hilo. Founded about a decade ago by Jim and Tracy Reddekopp, who met and married on Oahu before moving their family to the Big Island, the Hawaiian Vanilla Company boasts of being the only commercial vanilla producer in the United States. Besides growing vanilla—in greenhouses set on former sugarcane land—and producing an array of vanilla and vanilla-infused food and beauty products, the Reddekopps also serve spectacular lunches in their visitors’ center, a restored coffee mill originally built in the 1920s. Through a variety of savory and sweet dishes, including vanilla butternut squash bisque and coconut-crusted crab cakes topped with a vanilla Hollandaise, Tracy Reddekopp showed us that vanilla is not just for French toast and ice cream anymore. As I savored her food, I couldn’t help but remember an additional comment chef Mavro had made to me a few days earlier, when I asked what he would tell people about the islands’ dining scene. “Forget about what you thought about the islands 20 years ago,” he said. “We have a great farmers and ranchers now. We have a lot more than just coconut trees and the surf. I hope they will come for the food.”

I took his words as an invitation to return.

For information on dining and agricultural tours on the island of Hawaii, contact a AAA Travel Agent or the Big Island Visitors Bureau.

My husband and I were so taken with the article written by Eric Lucas, “Freedom Highway—Stunning sights on the road to Bella Coola” in the September/October 2007 issue, that this year we took the journey. It was all Mr. Lucas said it would be and more; in fact we were surprised there isn’t more written about the beauty of the Bella Coola valley—reminded us of Yosemite! Please extend our thanks to Mr. Lucas for his helpful article (and all the others he writes.) We were pleased to see the same page on the wall of the bakery he raved about at Nimpo Lake!

Anne and Terry Grasteit
Sequim, Washington

They came. They saw. They cooked.

And when all was said and done, the crew from Bone Daddy’s BBQ of Midland, Mich., captured top honors at the 20th annual Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off at John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Sparks, Nev. In a double-blind tasting, a panel of 18 judges consisting of chefs, food experts and media members, including yours truly, gave Bone Daddy’s the top score among the 24 professional high-volume rib-cooking teams invited to participate. The Barbecue Company from Phoenix, Ariz., won the Best Sauce award, while Butch’s Smack Your Lips BBQ of Mt. Laurel, N.J., captured the People’s Choice award.

The six-day festival, which began on Aug. 27, brought more than 500,000 people to Sparks’ Victorian Square. For those not familiar with Sparks, Victorian Square is the roughly six-square-block town center outside the Nugget, about 3.5 miles east of downtown Reno.

As a fervent fan of barbecued ribs and the Reno-Sparks-Lake Tahoe area, I didn’t hesitate to accept an opportunity to serve on this year’s judging panel. Jim Heywood, a retired instructor from the Culinary Institute of America’s campus in Hyde Park, N.Y., served as head judge, while other notable palates on the panel included Mike Peters, a member of the Kansas City Barbecue Society, and award-winning grill master Troy Black.

As panelists, one of our toughest responsibilities was refraining from eating any of the ribs prior to the judging. I am proud to say that I honored this obligation, but this didn’t stop me from roaming the festival grounds to soak in the sights and smells of what I had to wait to taste. Along the way, I met people like Dennis Carrino, who runs Porky ’N Beans BBQ, based in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Carrino owned and operated a popular restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio, for several years, but these days, he takes his crew to about 20 rib-cooking contests across the country each year.

A few stands away, I chatted with “Rasta” Joe Alexander from Plymouth, Ind., as he slathered his own brand of Jamaican-style barbecue sauce on slabs of ribs he had just placed on his grill. Alexander expected to dish out about 10,000 pounds of ribs during week, and event organizers later reported that the 24 teams served more than 100 tons of ribs overall.

The aromas of hickory, mesquite and cherry-wood smoke filled the air while the sounds of rock, R&B and country-western music blared from the entertainment stages spread across the grounds. On the festival’s opening night, famed competitive eater Joey Chestnut consumed 9.8 pounds of rib meat in 12 minutes to claim his third straight victory in the event’s rib-eating contest. Later in the week, recent American Idol contestant Bucky Covington headlined on the main stage. He was followed, a few nights later, by anthem-rock legends Night Ranger. Revelers braved lines that grew to more than 20-deep at times to feast on rib plates priced at $22 per slab.

The judging itself took place inside a closed meeting room shortly after noon on Sunday. We did not learn the identities of the teams who made each batch until after the winners were announced the following afternoon.

When I wasn’t at the cook-off, I found time to explore the Reno-Sparks area’s other pursuits. My affinity for the region dates back to the 90s, when I lived and worked in the area, and is based primarily on the fact that Reno and Sparks are so close to Lake Tahoe. The spread of Native American casinos across the country and the fallout from the nation’s economic woes have affected Northern Nevada. The upside, however, is the fact that visitors can find great deals on hotels, golf rates and other activities throughout Reno, Sparks and Lake Tahoe.

On one afternoon, I headed out to Arrow Creek Country Club, about 20 minutes southwest of downtown Reno by car, for a round of golf on the Arnold Palmer–designed Legends Course. A roughly 20-minute drive in the opposite direction the next afternoon took me to the Resort at Red Hawk, where I took on the Robert Trent Jones Jr.–designed Lakes Course. At the former, I aimed for fairways and greens that hugged the contours of quiet desert foothills, all the while marveling at views of the bustling valley below. At the latter, I steered my shots around a series of lakes and bunkers that lined lush fairways on a relatively flat stretch of desert.

I also set aside some time for a great hike. From the Mt. Rose trailhead, about 25 miles southwest of Reno, I followed a trail that led through sagebrush fields, an alpine meadow and pine forests to get to Mt. Rose Peak. From a perch about 10,775 feet above sea level, I gazed straight down into Lake Tahoe’s electric blue waters and at the valleys north and east of the Lake Tahoe Basin. The U.S. Forest Service gave the trail a “difficult/technical” rating, and it took me nearly five hours to complete the approximately 10-mile expedition. In other words, it was exactly the type of thing that I needed to prepare myself for the ribs that were waiting for me back in Sparks.

If you haven’t been to Forks lately, you might be surprised to find out what’s going on in this quiet corner of the Olympic Peninsula. The former Logging Capital of the World has become this summer’s must-visit destination for fans of the Twilight series of teen-romance novels.

The four books that make up the Twilight Saga follow a teen-age girl named Bella Swan, whose infatuation with Edward Cullen, a boy at her high school, leads to romance. Edward’s only apparent flaw is the fact that he is a vampire. An Internet search reportedly led the series’ Phoenix-based author, Stephenie Meyer, to choose Forks for the setting, because her vampires need dark, rainy climates to survive. From this perspective, Forks has it all. Teen-age girls seem to be the biggest fans of the series, and this brings an otherwise unlikely demographic group to a town once dominated by burly men with chainsaws and beards. Nevertheless, the community seems to be taking its newfound popularity in stride.

Twilight-themed T-shirts fly off the rack at the downtown Thrifway, and Sully’s Drive-In proudly serves up Bella Burgers for its literary minded visitors. During my half-hour visit to the Forks Visitor Information Center, I counted 20 people stopping in for information on the sights Meyer describes in her books. One family, with three teen-age girls, was visiting from Wisconsin. Later, a mother, father and teen-age daughter from Toronto stopped in to pick up the Twilight welcome packet, which includes a map to area Twilight landmarks and a Twilight trivia quiz, while the son waited in the car.

The Forks Chamber of Commerce even offers three-hour van tours to landmarks matching those described in Meyer’s novels. Stops include the local high school and the police station. The tours take place on a weekly basis, and reservations are required (360-374-2531). Marcia Bingham, executive director of the Forks chamber, is impressed by how well Meyer captured the spirit of Forks, which is particularly remarkable because the author had never even been to the community prior to the 2005 release of Twilight, the first book in the series, though she has reportedly dropped by since then.

Twilight-mania extends to Bella Italia restaurant in Port Angeles, where Edward and Bella go on their first date. On Aug. 10, Twilight and its sequels, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn (released Aug. 2), occupied four of the top five positions on the USA Today best-seller list, and Time magazine included Meyer in its list of the world’s most influential people for 2008. With a motion picture based on the series due out in December, Forks residents can expect the visitors to keep coming. Mark your calendars for Sept. 13, when Forks celebrates Stephenie Meyer Day. The date coincides with Bella’s birthday in the novel.

Of course, you don’t have to be a teen-age girl to have fun in and around the northern side of the Olympic Peninsula. Here are few other things to see and do throughout the region:

Olympic Cellars

The producer of the Working Girl and La Dolce Vida wines hosts its “No Labor” Day celebration on Aug. 23. Stop by to sample wines and food, including Texas chili, and listen to live music. Intrepid visitors can also sign up for tandem skydive jumps that take place throughout the day. The fun continues with an evening barn dance featuring the country sounds of Nathan Chance. The winery is located in a restored barn alongside Hwy. 101, just east of Port Angeles.
On Sept. 13, the winery hosts its 6th annual Grape Stomp and Harvest Festival. The afternoon celebration features a contest in which two-person teams attempt to crush the most wine from grapes with their bare feet (à la Lucille Ball). Live music and wine tasting round out the fun.

Peninsula Golf Club

This private, member-owned golf course on the edge of Port Angeles is now open for daily play on afternoons, six days a week (it is reserved for members only on Thursdays). The course measures only 6,334 yards from the championship tees, and its 108 acres of space requires a tight layout. Nevertheless, the course makes up for its lack of size with persistent tests of shot-making abilities. On the sixth hole, for instance, an overly rotund Douglas fir awaits like Jabba the Hut down the right side of the fairway, turning what would otherwise play as a straight approach to the green into a dogleg right. On clear days, the view from the seventh fairway stretches all the way across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Victoria, B.C. The clubhouse and pro shop sit in modest facilities that date back to the club’s opening in 1921, but with $32 greens fees ($22 in fall and winter, not including cart fees), the facility offers great value and a leisurely pace.

Rainforest Paddlers

The Peterson family’s roots in the Hoh River Valley date back to the 19th century, and they have tilled the land and welcomed visitors for four generations. Anna Matsche is part of the Peterson’s new generation of leaders. When she’s not running her café or helping harvest hay from family farmland, the 20-something woman and her team lead kayak and raft tours down the Hoh (Class I/II), Sol Duc (Class III) and Elwha (Class II/III) rivers. As they skillfully navigate the rapids, Matsche and her crew share their insight on the region’s natural and cultural history—and offer great tips on places to eat.

Three Rivers Resort

After hearing Matsche describe the milkshakes at Three Rivers Resort, I simply had to try one for myself.
I was not disappointed.
Three Rivers consists of cabins, RV hookups, a general store and a burger shack off Hwy 110, about halfway between Forks and La Push. There is nothing fancy about the place, but my strawberry milkshake, made with fresh strawberries and rich ice cream, was pure pleasure. Even though the top of the concoction rose above the brim of its 16-ounce cup, it held firm as I relished every sip. Matsche raves about the huckleberry shakes that they serve in the fall, and I have no reason to think that these are anything but sublime.

Thank goodness for the Seattle Storm. While the Mariners continue to flounder and the Supersonics load their moving vans, the local ladies of hoop are dishing out special moments—on and off the court.

Seattle’s lone remaining professional basketball team enters a crucial stretch of games riding a six-game winning streak that has brought it to within one game of the division lead in the WNBA’s seven-team Western Conference. After a lackluster start to the season, the team now seems poised to make a run for a second league championship in just the ninth season of its existence.

This good news is tempered by the fact that the team will have to play its next five games, beginning with a July 18 tilt in Indianapolis, without the services of star forward Lauren Jackson. The two-time league MVP, who hails from Australia, is temporarily leaving the Storm to train with her native country’s national team as it prepares for the Olympics. The rest of the WNBA goes on hiatus for about two weeks when the Olympics begin, but Jackson is leaving a little earlier to spend extra time getting in sync with her teammates Down Under. This means that point guard Sue Bird, who will be playing with the American women in Beijing, and her Storm teammates will have to fill a very large void.

Judging by the action in the Storm’s July 12 home win over the Los Angeles Sparks, any setbacks that the team does suffer during Jackson’s absence won’t come from a lack of heart—among the players or their fans. Spurred on by a sell-out crowd at Key Arena, the Storm overcame an early deficit to run away with a 70-52 victory in a showdown featuring some of the brightest stars in women’s basketball. The Sparks’ side of the court featured rookie sensation Candace Parker, whose ability to dunk is attracting national attention, and basketball legend Lisa Leslie, a three-time league MVP and member of three gold medal–winning Olympic teams. The Storm countered with its own cadre of high-profile players. Alongside perennial all-stars Jackson and Bird, veteran forward Sheryl Swoopes, who joined the Storm before this season, has earned three league MVPs and three Olympic gold medals of her own during an illustrious career.

It would be easy for a new WNBA fan like myself to fixate on the spirit of empowerment that permeates Key Arena during Storm games. Much of this comes from the top. The four women who comprise Force 10 Hoops L.L.C., the investment partnership that acquired the team earlier this year, are each worthy role models for anyone in need of inspiration. In college, Anne Levinson fought for equitable treatment of female athletes. Later, as a judge, she created one of the nation’s first mental health courts. Ginny Gilder runs an investment business that supports non-profit organizations that promote social justice. Lisa Brummel and Dawn Trudeau each made a fortune in the software industry. Both now dedicate much of their time to non-profits that promote health and social welfare.

Furthermore, the contest against the Sparks took place on Women of Inspiration Night. In a halftime ceremony, Dr. Sutapa Basu (executive director of the Women’s Center at the University of Washington), Mimi Gates (the soon-to-be-retiring director of the Seattle Art Museum), Roman Pierson (founder and CEO of SynapticMash) and Colleen Willoughby (founder of the Washington Women’s Foundation) were recognized for their distinguished records of community service.

However, focusing solely on the importance of exposing youngsters, female or male, to such positive influences, as worthy as it may be, only tells a portion of the story about the Seattle Storm experience.

When the clock starts ticking and all attention shifts to the action on the floor, it becomes clear that the terms “fledgling” and “novel” are no longer applicable to the WNBA. Now in its 12th season, the league, primarily through its players, has established itself as a world-class athletic institution. When you see Jackson post up for a basket or Sue Bird pull up to drain a jump shot from the side of the key, you realize that you are watching basketball being played at a very high level. When your team is fighting for the lead, you don’t care about the gender of anyone on the floor. You just want your team to score.

As the team hunkers down for this crucial stretch of the season, I’d recommend a Storm game to any sports fan living in or visiting Seattle. After all, it’s always nice to have something to cheer about.