The Home Of Your New WNBA Champions: Ypsilanti!

If you're the kind of person who pays attention to such things, you may have noticed that the Detroit Shock will not be playing their WNBA Finals games in Detroit or Auburn Hills or any place else within the I-275 belt. Instead, their playoffs are being held in beautiful and spacious Ypsilanti, Michigan, on the campus of Eastern Michigan University. As you can imagine, the chance to crown a world champion right there in their sleepy little burg has the entire town jumping for joy, especially Mayor Paul Schreiber. "What?" he excitedly replied. “That's news to me.” The local news in the slightly larger home town of the Shock's opponent—San Antonio—tracked down 'Da Mayor in order to inform of the most important sporting event in his city since the 2007 Mid-American Conference Gymnastics Championships.

Q: Is Ypsilanti ready for WNBA fever? A: The Convocation Center (capacity 8,824) is a huge place and a great facility. We’re certainly ready. Q: So you’re the mayor of the town with the world’s most phallic building? A: Oh great. You heard about that. That water tower still works, by the way. You can laugh about it all you want, but I respect a building that was built of stone in 1890 and still works.

Scintillating! By the way, the reason why the Palace of Auburn Hills is not available to the Shock this weekend? Because it was already booked ... by Disney On Ice. Now that is just Goofy. • For Stars: yip, yip, Ypsilanti! [My San Antonio] • Detroit at San Antonio: Game 2 Preview [Yahoo]