Recently in Candace Parker Category

By now you've seen the fight with Candace Parker, posted it to at least one of your social networking sites and formed an opinion on how much street cred these girls should get.

But have you looked at the suspensions? They make no sense.

As we wait for the WNBA to hand out punishments today for the altercation on Tuesday night that involved Naperville Central graduate Candace Parker altering her pristine image, Los Angeles Times columnist Helene Elliott said the fight could be a positive event for the league and women's sports.

Essentially, Elliott wrote that this will alter the way sports fans view women in sports.

Tuesday wasn't a dark day for the WNBA. It should signal the dawn of an era in which female athletes are appreciated for being competitive and fiery. No apologies necessary.

I tend to agree with Ellliott that the controversy is good for the WNBA for a few reasons. The No. 1 reason is publicity. The second reason is it involved Candace Parker, who is essentially the same thing as the WNBA at this point.

When Parker quickly stood up and fought back when Plenette Pierson (a name nobody knew until then and we will soon forget) dealt the play, what we saw was the WNBA standing up for itself.

Now that you've read the stories and seen the video, what sort of punishment do you think Candace Parker deserves for her role in Tuesday's WNBA fight?

Should she be suspended for 1 game, 2 games or even more?

Should the U.S. Olympic team get involved and suspend her for any games in Beijing?

Was she targeted by the Shock and deserves to get off scot-free?

Candace Parker, the WNBA's shining star tried to give a Detroit Shock player a shiner on Tuesday night in a scuffle that ended with three players, including Parker, ejected.

Parker was one of three players ejected along with Detroit assistant coach Rick Mahorn after an ugly scuffle with 4.6 seconds left in Los Angeles' 84-81 victory.

"To be honest, I don't recall exactly what happened," said Parker, who led Los Angeles with 21 points. "I'll have to watch the tape."

The Associated Press saw it this way.

The skirmish started moments after Parker and Detroit's Cheryl Ford had to be separated after Ford fouled Parker.

Parker threw a punch at Pierson before being tackled by Detroit's Deanna Nolan. Players and coaches from both teams joined in, and Mahorn knocked Lisa Leslie to the court at one point.

We mentioned a while back that an ESPY was just about the only award on the planet that Candace Parker had not won. Not any more.

The Naperville Central graduate won two ESPYs on Wednesday night. It will probably be the last time that David Beckham lets himself be photographed with Candace. Man, even Tom Crusie thinks Becks looks short in that photo.

In a completely unrelated note, Dime gave us a look at the shoes Candace will wear in the Olympics.

As we all know, Candace Parker needs a storage unit to house all the awards and honors the Naperville Central graduate has picked up over the years. I would have linked to her bio on the Los Angeles Sparks team Website, but it is strangely devoid of content.

But she hasn't won an ESPY. Yes, the promotional device has eluded Candace Parker. She must be steamed.

But fear not, Candace will get her chance to set things straight. She was named one of the four candidates for Female Athlete of the Year on Tuesday along with IRL driver Danica Patrick, golfer Lorena Ochoa and skier Lindsey Vonn.

Again, it was a bit surprising to see nothing about the ESPY nomination on the Sparks team Website. There was statistical information -- Candace is averaging 17.2 points and 9.4 rebounds -- and game stories, but nothing about the ESPYs.

It's almost like the award isn't important.

At the 35 second mark you can see Candace Parker dunk for the last of her 22 points on Tuesday night. The Naperville Central graduate became the first WNBA player to dunk in back to back games.

"A lot of us have just seen history," Sparks Coach Michael Cooper said. "You're going to see more because Candace Parker is very, very good."

In the LA Sparks 77-63 victory over the Indiana Fever last night, Candace Parker became just the second woman in WNBA history to dunk in a game. But no doubt, their will be some who say it wasn't a "true dunk." And I've got a tiny problem with that.

This is the first of two posts of an "In my own words" feature on FSN Prime Ticket, which is a cable network in the Los Angeles market. In his this interview Candace Parker tells her athletic life story, including describing herself as "a girly tomboy" when she was a youngster growing up in Naperville.

Parker also explained that Ron Harper, not Michael Jordan, was her favorite Bulls player.

In part two, Candace Parker backs down from singing a Little Mermaid song after claiming she new all of them. She also said the following phrase: "Grandma, you can't listen to Wu-Tang." That's good stuff.

As my colleague Brad Engel posted earlier, the WNBA has got game and Candace Parker fits in nicely. Just check out the highlights from her rookie debut, which also happened to be the best in league history.

All right, I'll admit it:

I didn't watch the WNBA until Candace Parker cracked the league earlier this year. Not only did I not watch it, I didn't even follow it.

Heck, I can't believe it's been around for a decade already. Eh, I guess most people can say the same about Major League Soccer, too. I digress.