Thursday, January 10, 2008

Happy New Year Monarchs Fans! I thought I’d take this opportunity to start the New Year off right and check in with all of you and share some of my thoughts as we gear up for another exciting season of WNBA basketball in 2008.

Congratulations to Seattle
First off I’d like to congratulate the Seattle Storm not only on the recent hiring of their new Head Coach, Brian Agler, but Force 10 Hoops, L.L.C. and their pursuit of securing an option to purchase the franchise. What an exciting time for Storm fans to have a new group come in and commit to be a part of such a successful organization. With Seattle being the sixth franchise to be owned solely by a non-NBA team, it demonstrates the growth and support of the WNBA. That being said, I couldn’t ask for better owners than the Maloof Family. Their strong commitment to the Sacramento Monarchs and the WNBA is a huge reason why we’ve been so successful through the years. I still love watching Joe Maloof on Donny Deutsch's show "The BIG IDEA" talk about his all-time favorite moment in sports (Kings or Monarchs) was winning the 2005 WNBA Championship with the Monarchs. I could not agree more.

2008 Season
With the 2008 WNBA schedule release back in December we have begun the planning and preparation for another great Monarchs season. We’ll have several special event games: Opening Night, Dads and Daughters, Women of Inspiration, Breast Health Awareness, Camp Day and the MONTY’s/Fan Appreciation. We’re also working on our preseason and local television schedule and will let you know just as soon as we have everything finalized.

Offseason update
Several of the Monarchs are overseas playing this off-season (you can always check out their most recent stats by clicking here.) while Yolanda, Ticha, Kara and DeMya have been around Sacramento. Yo has been planning her new foundation All About Us Girlz and working out. She says her knees feel great and she’s in good spirits. Ticha has been working out, as well, and just recently went overseas to play for TTT Riga in Riga, Latvia. Kara has been busy with USA Basketball, her gig with ESPN (I’m sure you’ve seen her on TV) and planning her upcoming wedding. DeMya is still rehabbing and getting better every day and Zachara is so cute and getting taller by the second. Coach Boucek has been here working on the court with the ladies almost every day and has also had the opportunity to visit some of the players overseas while Whiz has been busy scouting for the upcoming season.

I look forward to sharing more with you during the upcoming season. Until then, keep visiting SacramentoMonarchs.com for the latest information and for those of you that are Monarchs Close-Up subscribers remember to check your inbox, as we always want you to be the first to know of everything Monarchs!