The Fever Set a Guinness World Record, Fall Short Against Minnesota

My family and I are now part of a Guinness World Record.

Last Saturday, we were able to attend the Indiana Fever's home opener against the Minnesota Lynx, in a rematch of the 2013 WNBA finals where the Fever wanted to set a world record by having the most glow sticks lit in one building at one time.

They were talking this up on social media big time, and everywhere I turned someone was tweeting or updating about the record attempt. We got some tickets, thanks to Kevin Messenger, the Fever's PR director, and we were off!

We've been loyal fans of the Fever for years, and we were looking forward to a new season under coach Stephanie White. They had already lost the season opener to Chicago, and this was the home opener.

We waited for the appropriate time, right after player introductions, and right there up on the ginormous video display — seriously, that thing is huge! — Briann January told us to crack the glow sticks, and they cut the lights.

It was the first time I had ever cracked my own glow stick (it was everything I hoped for and more!), and I got to wave it around with an arena full of other world record participants.

At halftime, Guinness world record certifier, Michael Empric — that is, he certifies world records. He doesn't hold a world record in certifying — appeared on the giant video display (seriously, there has to be a world record for that) and informed us that we had smashed the previous record with 3,712 Fever fans all waving these little red glow sticks in a single building.

And I was there! My wife was there! And our kids were there! We got to participate in a world record! How many people get to say that? Well, 3,707 other people get to say it too, but that's pretty damn special. We're actually a little proud of that. I think my youngest daughter even kept all our glow sticks.

Oh, and the Fever lost to the Lynx.

Amid all the excitement of the world record, there was a basketball game to be played too.

The Fever just weren't on their game this night. There were a lot of struggles, and Erlana Larkins had limited playing time, while Tamika Catchings was out completely. Both women have right knee issues, which affected the game.

But worse was the shooting. The Fever missed too many shots. This wasn't just a matter of not taking shots, this was missing easy shots.

Looking at the Fever stats sheet, I can see that of all the players, only rookie Natalie Achonwa broke .500 shooting. She shot 7-of-11 field goals, for a .636 average. Meanwhile, Marissa Coleman, Shenise Johnson, and Erlana Larkins averaged .500, hitting 5-of-10, 6-of-12, and 1-of-2 respectively. The team total was .424 for field goals.

When it came to 3-pointers, only Layshia Clarendon and Johnson were .500, hitting 1-of-2 and 2-of-4. All told, the team was 4-for-15 on 3-pointers.

A few notable observations from the game:

  • Right at the beginning of the game, Natalie Achonwa had 6 of the Fever's 8 points. She's going to be a major factor in the Fever's run for the playoffs if she keeps this production up.
  • Speaking of Achonwa, I saw her hurl herself after the ball at least twice. The only other person we see go horizontal that much is Tamika Catchings.
  • Maggie Lucas played just three minutes in the second quarter. After that, she was on her feet, behind the bench and to the right, flexing, moving, and keeping loose. She was ready to go back in, although she didn't get a chance. I loved seeing her spirit and eagerness. I hope she always keeps that.

The Fever play the New York Liberty on June 10.



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