The Zapper

There's a pleasing and unexpected trend in WNBA coverage at midseason: a willingness to deal with the downside of life in the first-year league. Last Friday, at half time of the Houston Comets-Los Angeles Sparks game, Lifetime's Maura Driscoll conducted a candid interview with Mary Murphy, deposed earlier in the week as coach and general manager of the slump-ridden Sacramento Monarchs. The next day on NBC, Hannah Storm and Ann Meyers criticized the Phoenix Mercury for lack of heart during its 78-70 loss to the New York Liberty. For providing a sense of reality to counter the league's often Pollyannaish image, we say: You go, girls!