Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
By Mel Greenberg
Hello everyone. The Guru may be back here at some future date.
But for now, he has moved back to the original address http://womhoops.blogspot.com
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
(Guru's note: A story on the Guru's Inquirer departure written by Frank Fitzpatrick that is in Saturday's print section appears elsewhere in Philly.com. Because it held a few days for mere things such as the Phillies and Flyers games and the NFL draft, comments from a certain coach who grew up in Norristown and has led his team to two straight unbeaten NCAA women's titles were able to insert into the story despite his busting the original deadline. That ought to make papers in a state north of New York think twice before giving him any assignments in Nutmeg country.)
By Mel Greenberg
So Mel, what was the final full-time hour like on Friday night in the Sports Dept. before slipping into the past tense and the three-week extended fadeout to take care of adminstrative and archival matters?
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
(Guru's note: Since enough requests have come, here is the text, with some explanations in parentheses, of the farewell speech given Thursday afternoon by the Guru to Inquirer colleagues past and present at a newsroom reception for his "retirement" effective after Friday night's shift. The email address and access will continue for three more weeks after going off the payroll.
The speech is focused more on the 40-plus years of Inquirer life because as the Guru has said, the blog will continue either here or at another address -- stay tuned -- and his chronicling of women's basketball will also move forward. A story on the basketball life, which was suppose to appear in Friday's sports section, apparently is on a brief hold due to the crush of sports news involving live coverage of the Flyers, Phillies and the NFL draft. Jonathan or yours truly will advise when it appears.).
THE GURU INQUIRER GOODBYE SPEECH TRANSCRIPT
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
By Mel Greenberg
This is not going to be too long in that the Guru has been busy with the countdown and out this week.
But in noticing the news over the weekend of the passing of former Delaware coach Joyce Perry, the Guru would like to say she was a class act.
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
By Mel Greenberg
Senior Tina Charles of the still unbeaten defending NCAA champion Connecticut Huskies was unable to the be in Los Angeles Saturday night at the annual ritzy presentation of the John R. Wooden Award that is awarded through the Los Angeles Athletic Club to the top collegiate men's and women's players.
Scheduling conflicts had the native of Brooklyn in Secaucus, N.J., Thurday, for the WNBA draft and then off to the UConn campus in Storrs by Sunday for the USA Basketball Senior Women's National Team workouts under Huskies coach Geno Auriemma.
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
By Mel Greenberg
New Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was not on the scene in her home area this winter to see much of Drexel senior Gabriela Marginean.
One reason was she was busy making a career move after the former WNBA champion Detroit Shock, of which she had been assistant coach and general manager, moved to Tulsa under a new organization.
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
By Mel Greenberg
In some cases, the WNBA draft coming less than 48 hours after the NCAA women's title game will keep the highs going.
That would be in Connecticut where UConn star Tina Charles will go as quickly as Sun coach Mike Thibauldt wants to tease the masses when his organization takes the first turn on the clock. The big suspense is now over whether he will also add Huskies star Kalana Greene, whose stock continued to rise as her team bulldozed its way down the stretch to an unprecedented second straight unbeaten season.
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
(Guru's note: The main game story is below this post.)
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
(Guru's note: A sidebar is posted above this)
By Mel Greenberg
Click here for Mel's list of All-Decade players from Philadelphia-area schools.
Other contributors
Jonathan Tannenwald is a producer with Philly.com. In addition to covering the local college scene, he spent two years as the Washington Mystics beat writer for Women's Hoops Guru. He also writes his own blog, Soft Pretzel Logic, which covers men's college basketball, football, and other sports.Kathleen Radebaugh is a recent graduate of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She covered women's basketball for the school's newspaper, The Hawk, and served as sports editor her sophomore year. She was also a four-year member of the varsity crew team.
Erin Semagin Damio covers the University of Connecticut and the WNBA's Connecticut Sun for the blog, and contributes other features. The Storrs, Conn., native also attends Northeastern University, where she is a coxswain on the varsity crew team.
Acacia O'Connor is based in Washington, D.C., where she reports on the Mystics and the college basketball scene in the nation's capital. A graduate of Vassar college, she played on the varsity women's basketball team and was editor of the student newspaper.
Click on any of the contributors' names above to e-mail them.
Reach Mel at poll416@gmail.com.
