Hi, and welcome to Monday Sports Talk, our live, online discussion. Our guest today is Heidi Burge, the center for the Washington Mystics.

Burge will take your questions about the Mystics, the WNBA and the state of women's basketball until 1 p.m.

In their inaugural year, the Mystics have struggled, but have received tremendous fan support. Burge posted a WNBA career-high 15 points and three rebounds against the Utah Starzz on July 19. She was originally signed by the Los Angeles Sparks and added to their active roster in June of 1997 and was selected by the Mystics with the second pick in the 1998 WNBA Expansion Draft in April of this year.

Burge also helped lead Virginia to three ACC Championships and three consecutive NCAA Final Four appearances, and was a four-year starter at forward. She has played overseas in Greece, Italy, Hungary and France.

Queens, NY: When the season began, what were the goals the team set and of those goals, are any still attainable this season?

Heidi Burge: Well one of the goals was to win the championship as the first expansion team but that seems not possible at this point. Other team goals were to unite as a strong threat in the league and we think that is still attainable.

It's been a rough start for our expansion team but that doesn't mean we can't end the season on a high note, leaving people something to reckon with next year.

Kaiserslautern, Germany: What is the outlook for your sister playing in the WNBA in the future?

Heidi Burge: Very good. Heather was in the draft pool this year, but due to an injury to her left ankle, she needed three to five weeks to let her foot heal and that was during the training camp, therefore she had to pull her name out of the draft pool. Out of necessity, she couldn't make it to training camp and in this league it is such a short season that if you want aren't healthy, you should really wait until next season.

We both play overseas in the winter season, the normal basketball season, and I've been coming back to the WNBA in the summer, but both times Heather has had injuries. She is looking forward to joining in next time.

Gaithersburg, Md: There has been some talk about the WNBA joining the NBA players' union. Do you see this ever happening? Are there any downsides to joining the union?

Heidi Burge: Definitely, I think this is something that is on the horizon and maybe even closer to becoming a reality than we even realize. It definitely is a beneficial thing for the players of this league because at this point most of the rights belong to the league and not the players of the league. This is definitely a positive thing for the players, where we can have a word in our future and the conditions of the league.

There are no downsides to joining the union. There are only upsides.

The league owns each players rights. That means rights to your likeness as a player and a marketable entity. Each franchise doesn't have the rights to the player and with the league in charge of all the rights, it limits both the team and each individual player to being able to get commercial opportunities, free agency as a player and the like. The union is definitely something that the players are welcoming.

Sterling, VA: What do you consider to be the primary reason for the Mystic's embarassing game record?

Heidi Burge: One of the main reasons is the use of this league as a novelty in America. Being a professional overseas in the past six years, I have seen how teams, general managers and professional players operate. I have learned the "tricks of the trade" and a lot of necessary knowledge that I think we lack in America due to the newness of this concept -- pro women's basketball in America.

So, to more specific, they're putting the men's GMs and team representatives in charge of each WNBA team right now for lack of any better options -- that's not to say they aren't able to do this effectively -- but women's basketball and the drafting of women's players and choosing coaches and electing managers is something that nobody has experience with on the women's side as of yet.

We see a lot of misplacement of players, and misjudgment of players after just one week at a tryout draft. We also see the inexperience of American coaches to be able to understand the professional needs of their team or their players as a professional team.

All this is not to say that what is going on is completely negative and not worthy of what it's receiving as far as attention and fan support, but just that there needs to be a level of grace given by Americans, understanding how new this whole thing is and how each new professional league in any sport needs a few years to get on its feet. We can see that in history with the start of the NBA -- everything did not go right for the league right off the bat.

This is a positive thing for those of us that are working right now -- maybe not seeing the results that will be there in the future.

So, on the Mystics, we had a start to the season as an expansion team with very young players, a coach who was a great coach in college but had never been able to coach professionally, trying to make everything work right away.

I can't say anything about anyone who was drafted, I myself being drafted first in the expansion draft, but our team has struggled personnel-wise to arrive as the unstoppable force that we want to be.

It will be different next year, but it took a hard season to learn and grow.

Fairfax, Virginia: What are the differences between the coaching styles of Cathy Parson and Jim Lewis?

Heidi Burge: Well, I'm trying to learn what she is like now as a head coach, rather than being in the "backseat" as the assistant. But, in the last three days, we have seen a lot more aggressive, spunky motivation and just a more aggressive technique than we saw from Lewis.

He was and is an excellent coach for setting up a team and its offensive and defensive efforts that bring the best out of each player. Unfortunately, in this professional game, even that's not enough, but the head coach needs to be able to adjust more quickly in the game situation. By adjusting, that is to say, not just changing the offense or defense, but being open to switching players on the court that might be doing just what you need that night. We had a problem of staying with too much emphasis on a few people rather than exploiting all of our weapons.

Cathy Parson already is pro-actively boosting everybody into the mindset of equal opportunity if you get the job done. With her, it's all starting with something everyone can do -- aggressive defense.

Baltimore, MD: Why do you think that Washington Supports its WNBA team the way it does and are you suprised by all the support, despite having a lossing season.

Heidi Burge: I don't know why they support us like they do, although I do know from experience playing at U-Va. that when you have fans, they are loyal. It is the most impressive thing for me, coming from L.A. and situations where fans turnout depends on team performance, that these people continue to faithfully come and cheer us on.

I don't know how to thank them, but honestly, it warms my heart and those of us on the team to know that they are behind us and we want nothing more than to bring home some victories just for them.

Washington, D.C.: Heidi, who is the player that you least like to play against, and why?

Heidi Burge: I would say Jennifer Gillom and Marlise Askamp and Stepnaova of the Phoenix Mercury. They just have so many weapons. Strength, quickness, height and experience. It makes it a difficult day. But, that doesn't mean we can't rise to the occasion and beat them.

Washington, DC: How would an all-star team of women fare against the men's all-star team?

Heidi Burge: There is no question with the men's NBA being the best and strongest league in the world, with players that are enormous in size and strength and skill that that would be a difficult matchup for us women who are smaller, but bigger compared to other women and lesser in strength.

I do believe that the women could score some points on them, though and that would be done by outhustling and outquicking who we could of the men's team.

Arlington, VA: What was your most memorable
moment while Playing at UVA?
Who was the best player you
played with/against?

Heidi Burge: The best player I played with is undoubtedly Dawn Staley, but I would go further to say, the best players were my sopphomore year with Dawn, Tammi Reiss, Tonya Cardoza and my sister and myself. It was the greatest team I've ever been a part of.

As far as playing against, it was the Stanford's and Tennessee's of that era -- they were always the ones that gave us the most trouble. Within the ACC conference, I would say Rhonda Mapp of N.C. State and Sylvia Crowley and Charlotte Smith of North Carolina gave us the best challenges "inside."

The most memorable moment was my first year walking onto the University of Tennessee's center court, in front of 23,000 people for my first college Final Four game, after beating Tennessee in overtime to get there (their fans were not happy to see us.)

Annandale, VA: What are some of the major differences in style between the WNBA and the NCAA?

Heidi Burge: In the WNBA, you not only have the best, but the best of the best in the world. The strongest, the biggest, the quickest, the most skilled, most experienced women's players are represented.

You have to proven yourself in many ways to get here. In college, there are great players and they have worked hard and excelled in what they do but playing professionally is a step beyond that.

As far as where you are drafted or end up playing, that function is entirely different in the WNBA than in college. You try out and make it or not make it in a draft pool where, depending on whose pick it is in the draft, you are chosen by a team. As you know in college, each coach has more control over recruiting, and selecting their players to mold their team.

New York, New York: What do you think has been the secret to the WNBA's success?

Heidi Burge: The growth of women's basketball -- the competitiveness and the emphasis on equal opportunity. Women now have the opportunity, after Title 9, to not only play sports and compete at collegiate levels, but now make a career after something that wasn't even an opportunity before.

So, with the '96 Olympics being the peak of stardom for women's basketball as a representative of what women are capable of doing, we saw a great time for the WNBA to come into existence. Now, people are able to get away from comparing us always to the men and, rather, watching and enjoying women's basketball for what it is and it is much different than men's basketball.

The game is a more fundamentally sound game of "traditional" basketball, where also women are still at the young, naive stage of the pro game, where money and fame haven't distorted the properties of what it is about. It's about heart and soul and giving everything you got when you get the chance to play and the fans love that.

Also, the women are more in touch and more closely related to the fans.

Fairfax, VA: What is the first priority as far as addressing weaknesses in the offseason?
And is it too early to begin campaigning for Chamique Holdsclaw to choose the WNBA and possibly become a Mystic via the draft?

Heidi Burge: No. 1, stuff we want to concentrate on in the offseason is getting together the players that we have or can get to mold a more experienced, cohesive team that is capable of being an offensive and defensive threat both from the guard positions and the center positions. That may mean changing personnel.

As far as Chamique is concerned, yes, she should would be a great addition to any team and I would love to see her in a Mystics uniform.

Washingtonpost.com: Thank you, Heidi, for taking time out to join us on Sports Chat. Thank you all for your questions, and please join us again next week for another live discussion.

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