Posted by Ann Meyers Drysdale: Jan. 9, 2009

Today I had the good fortune of being at the Surprise Tennis and Recreation Complex for the Fed Cup Tennis press conference with their captain, Mary Jo Fernandez. She is in town to help promote the USA playing in the Fed Cup on Feb. 7 & 8 and the festivities in the days before the Cup. Kevin Ray (KRay), our Mercury voice, asked me to come and check things out. What an awesome facility! There were twenty-five courts, a park with a lake nearby and the baseball stadium for the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals teams for Spring Training right across the street. Incredible area!

Mary Jo and I have met multiple times over the years through the Women’s Sports Foundation dinners and Billie Jean King functions, but I was very impressed with her once again. A U.S. Open and Australian Open finalist and Olympian, it was a pleasure to sit and listen to this young mother of 2 who had a solid and respected tennis career. During her playing years, she was told by the great Billie Jean King that “she [Mary Jo] would make a good coach someday.” That is what she will be doing with a young, talented Fed Cup Team in February as captain and coach. She’s excited about the possibility of Serena Williams being on the team. Mary Jo’s good friend Lindsay Davenport will not be able to compete as she will be expecting her 2nd child (and we know that Candace Parker won’t be competing for the LA Sparks the first half of the season, as she will be expecting her first child). Fortunately, there is wonderful, young talent out there, such as Coco Vandewaugh (whose uncle Kiki played at UCLA and in the NBA, as did her grandfather Ernie). What an honor it will be for these young women to represent the United States of America!

I was asked to say a few words with John Austin, another wonderful tennis player who played on tour and helped get the Fed Cup to Surprise. After we spoke to a terrific group of people that showed up for the press conference, I was asked to hit a few tennis balls with Mary Jo (until John was changed out of his coat and tie). Boy, did she make me hit---a lot! I think I hit more than her because I kept hitting into the net or hitting rainbow shots. I played high school tennis and went out for the tennis team at UCLA, but it’s probably been 5-6 years since I’ve picked up a racket. Let me tell you, it showed.

The first clue that I was going to struggle with Mary Jo was when the tennis pros gave me 4 or 5 rackets to choose from… too many options! Just give me one racket that will hopefully get the ball over. After the 3rd or 4th shot, I was a-huffing and a-puffing. Jeez –all the balls seemed like they were on my side of the court! I asked Mary Jo for some advice on how to fix that problem, but then I over compensated and hit moon balls. She was very nice and patient with me, and as any pro, made it look effortless. I was down on the non-sun side asking for a sub when out of the locker room jogged superman, I mean John. Thank goodness he took over. The fans got to see much better tennis and more balls in play.

So come on out everyone to the Fed Cup! Support your young women, support Mary Jo, support tennis, but most important, support your country.

The Mercury will be there!

Posted by Ann Meyers Drysdale: Dec. 22, 2008

Happy Holidays Mercury Fans! This definitely is the season to be joyous and thankful for all the gifts that have been bestowed upon us! I am so excited to be spending the holidays with my 3 children. We might even get up to the mountains for a little skiing or snowboarding. I did say my kids---not me. I’ll be the one next to a fire place with a nice cup of hot chocolate.

Now that the kids are older, it’s hard to get them up and excited to go with me to pick out a tree and get it decorated. We used to go get a tree and it would take about 2 hours to pick one out because we would play “hide and seek” and “tag” amongst the trees in the Christmas tree lot. I would have to go find them once we found a tree that we liked, but they all had to agree upon it before we took it home, which was difficult!

These last few weeks have certainly been active for me. First we had the dispersal draft from Houston and we picked up a young, exciting player in Sequoia Holmes, a wing player. Then we had the draft lottery and determined we will have the fifth pick this year. But most recently, the coaches, staff and I kicked off Mercury Cares Week and have been busy volunteering and hosting clinics for underserved kids. We served dinner at a local shelter and spent time with seniors, delivering gifts and singing songs! If there was ever a time to give back to the community, this is definitely it!

I was also fortunate enough to spend time with Coach John Wooden this past weekend, who at age 98, is still with it. I played in the golf tournament that raised money for the Special Olympics and went to the dinner where I got to see a lot of Coach Wooden’s former players. My brother David played for Coach, and went to see him on Saturday, the day of the games at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Unfortunately, I did not get to attend the games, as I was at traffic school for 8 hours.

Yes, my friends, I went to traffic school, but NOT for speeding, just making a “bone head” maneuver (I did not endanger anyone, just made an “unsafe lane change”). So I thought I better help my insurance out and go to traffic school. It was the same instructor that my 19-year-old son had when he was 16 for rolling through a stop sign. If you have ever been to traffic school you know that sometimes it’s tough to stay awake, but our instructor, Mike, a former sheriff, was a crack up!

There was a group of 3 young girls 19-20 and they had been up most of the night, one with just one hour of sleep as she was spending “quality time” with her boyfriend. Another guy fell asleep and Mike had ALL of us look at the gentleman so when he woke up he saw all of these eyes on him and certainly was embarrassed, but more so when Mike kept asking him questions and the guy didn’t speak English so wasn’t able to answer. Mike had great stories for us though and kept us entertained, but it was a real refresher course on the rules of the road. Just make sure you get enough sleep the night before if you go to an 8 hour class.

On Sunday I was at a dinner for the Lott Trophy for Ronnie Lott, the former USC, Hall of Fame football player with San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders. The award is about the impact a young college defensive player makes not only on the field, but the impact off the field too. James Laurinaitis, linebacker from Ohio St. who made the Dean’s List all 4 years as a Buckeye, received the award. He and I shared an award from Halls of Faith 2 years ago in Arizona from Athletes International. He’s a classy kid whose whole family is involved with sports. His dad was “the Animal” pro wrestler. I am so honored to be a part of an evening where the Pacifica Club in Newport Beach has given over $650,000 to charities.

Remember I talked about “giving back” in the start of this post? Well, I was asked to be one of several speakers to give a speech at Pete Newell’s Memorial last Monday. Pete Newell and the Big Man’s Camp; Pete Newell and the Tall Women’s Camp; Pete Newell, Hall of Fame Coach, 1960 Olympic Coach, 1959 Cal NCAA Championship Coach. His accomplishments go on and on. Pete Newell was a giant in our game, and was ALWAYS giving back with his time and knowledge to make others better. Pete and I were close over the last 30+ years. I would sit and watch his Big Mans’ Camp for hours with guys like Hakeem Olajuwon, Bernard King, Ralph Sampson, James Worthy and Shaquille O'Neal. Then the last 8 years, I have been involved with Pete and the Tall Women's Camp. To have Coach Newell and Coach Wooden in my life and helping me understand the game, again, how blessed am I to have such wonderful men in my life teaching me to give back.

I hope that all of you will have a joyous and happy holiday season. And I hope that you will remember to give back, even a smile, to someone less fortunate and make them appreciate who they are. A smile doesn’t cost anything to give away. Plus, you will feel a lot better!

Posted by Ann Meyers Drysdale: Nov. 7, 2008

Hello X-Factor!

How is everyone's off-season going? Like all of you, I was disappointed in not making the play-offs. As were the team and coaching staff too, but it just means more work for all of us in the off-season. The players are overseas working on their game and feeling the drive to get back to Phoenix, get better and get back into the WNBA playoffs.

The coaches and I have been in discussion every day on the college prospects and the free agents. Probably the top centers coming out (in no particular order) are Chante Black (Duke), Courtney and Ashley Paris (Oklahoma) and Kia Vaughn (Rutgers). You know the Mercury is always looking for size inside so there will be lots of behind closed doors discussions going on with teams.

My 15-year old-daughter, Drew recently had her tonsils out, so it gave us a chance to watch LOTS of movies together from Blockbuster and to tell you the truth, we struck out with most them. Even my mom said "turn this one off," and Drew agreed. So we watched some of our favorite shows. Drew and I could watch Law and Order 24-7. We both like “Special Victims Unit,” but she likes “Criminal Intent” better. They’re both very entertaining.

But Sunday night is our night with “Extreme Home Makeover.” That's what we start out watching Sunday nights. It's so heartwarming to see how so many people give back to others. Most times that show brings tears of joy in seeing the happy faces of the families. Then from there we go straight into “Desperate Housewives” and “Brothers and Sisters.”

But this week, it's been all about the election, the propositions and how our nation will change. I am so excited for the future of our country. I will say that I thought both speeches, by John McCain our Arizona son and the new President elect Barack Obama, were awe inspiring. Senator McCain was a class act and is a true American. President elect Barack Obama, all I can say is "WOW!" That man can give a speech! Talk about inspiring! And the can do attitude and the change that will happen is certainly something we want to bring next season with the Mercury.

So hang in there X-Factor and I'll try and keep you up-to-date on what's going on, as we have our league meetings soon and hopefully all of us will learn a little bit more on what to expect for next season.