franchise in 2004 that still had to grow to reach contender status.

Having seen Ron Howards documentary, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, about the legendary bands brief but insanely popular touring years, I found myself thinking about how we react to greatness when its in front of us.Did the people who saw the Beatles in concert in 1964 really know the magnitude of what they were seeing? No, how could they? In a clip in the film, when asked that year about being a cultural phenomenon, Paul McCartney sounds embarrassed and says theyre just doing this for a laugh. Throughout 1964, the question even the Beatles themselves asked was: When will the bubble burst? Of course, it never did. And never will.Sports greatness is different in a lot of ways. New future Beatles fanatics are still born every day. But its harder to fully appreciate athletes without seeing them in the moment.When it comes to womens sports, there is even more tied to the immediacy of seeing them live, because their legends generally arent built up or maintained as well as mens are. So as Minnesota and Phoenix meet in the WNBA semifinals over the next week, dont miss the opportunity to reflect on seeing Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi on the same floor again.Moores Lynx and Taurasis Mercury are meeting in the playoffs for the fifth time in the past six years, starting with games Wednesday (ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET) and Friday (ESPNews, 8 p.m. ET) in St. Paul, Minnesota. The best-of-five series shifts to Phoenix on Sunday (ESPN, 5 p.m.). The Lynx won all three regular-season meetings.Moore and Taurasi also shared the court on the same side during the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Taurasi was the U.S. teams leading scorer as she won her fourth Olympic gold medal. Moore was second on the team in scoring and led in assists; she won her second gold.Both have three WNBA titles. If one should lead her team to the championship this year, shell join Houston Comets standouts such as Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson with a record four championships.Taurasi and Moore have been linked ever since the latter ended up on the same college path at UConn, but it goes back even further. They share a birthday: June 11.Taurasi, born in 1982, is seven years older, and she came cross-country from California -- a Lakers fan, with vibrant West Coast sports pride -- to play at UConn in 2000.I still can recall a coach who saw Taurasi play in high school saying that she might be the best player ever to come into the womens college game, but ... she was cocky as hell. This coach wondered if UConns Geno Auriemma would be able to deal with her.Its hilarious to now think back on that conversation, because we know they ended up being -- and still are -- a match made in basketball heaven. Taurasi will always be the player closest to Auriemmas wisecracking, fiercely competitive heart. When Taurasi famously went 1-of-15 from the field as a freshman in the 2001 national semifinals and UConn fell to Notre Dame, Auriemma still praised her for the way shed played all that season. He said she might never lose at the Final Four again.And she never did, playing on perhaps the greatest womens college team in 2002, and then putting the team on her back for two more titles, in 2003 and 04.Moore was born and spent her childhood in Missouri, then moved to Atlanta. When she went to UConn in 2007, there was similar hype even though she and Taurasi were different types of players. And very different personalities. You werent going to get wisecracks and comic bravado from Moore. Even as an 18-year-old, Moore seemed to have the sensibilities of a 30-year-old.And she related to other players on court differently, too. Taurasi thinks like a point guard even when shes not in that spot in a lineup, and her ability to connect to, inspire and communicate with teammates is unsurpassed in womens hoops.Moore, a smooth and fluid forward, is more insular. Its not that she isnt a great teammate. But she was always in her own head a little more, constantly critiquing and refining her own performance to exacting standards.Both Auriemma and Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve talked about how one of Moores challenges was to integrate herself fully with her teammates, to not be quite so much on Planet Maya. And she has worked hard at doing that.Moore won two national championships at UConn, and then in 2011 was drafted No. 1 to a Minnesota team that was perfectly set up to need her as the final piece to the championship puzzle. The Lynx won the WNBA title her rookie year and have been contenders ever since. The only season of the Moores career that the Lynx didnt make the WNBA Finals was in 2014, when they lost to Taurasi and the Mercury in the Western Conference finals.The show within the showTaurasi was drafted No. 1 to a Phoenix franchise in 2004 that still had to grow to reach contender status. The Mercury won their first title in 2007. Two more followed, in 2009 and 14.Taurasi (2009) and Moore (2014) have been the leagues MVP, and in both cases it seems weird, actually, that each has won that honor only once. In the time theyve been in the WNBA together, Taurasi and Moore have been the premier players.At 27, Moore is still in her peak years as an athlete. As long as the Lynx can stay competitive around her, its reasonable to wonder just how many WNBA titles she might win. Seven? Eight?Taurasi, at 34, is getting closer to the end of her career, but its hard to say how close. If her body holds up, you can see her playing as long as she possibly can. Shed like to add more to her championship collection, too.Taurasi has hit so many clutch shots over the years, its hard to tag just one as her signature moment. But its easy to pinpoint her signature play: the pull-up 3-pointer. She makes it looks deceptively simple, and its deadly. Shes dribbling ... dribbling ... and then after what seems a mere flick of the wrist, the ball is going through the net. You can only imagine how defenders feel.For Moore, the signature shot is that balletic finger roll: the grace, the power, the body control as she glides to the rim.Her signature moment came last year in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals at Indiana. The teams had split games at Minnesota, and it was feeling a lot like the 2012 WNBA Finals, in which the Fever upset the Lynx in four games. But Moores 3-point buzzer-beater gave the Lynx a 80-77 victory.If she missed, the game would have gone to overtime. And if the Fever had won, they would have been playing for the title at home a few nights later. But she didnt miss.With the new playoff format this season doing away with conferences and taking the top eight teams, Minnesota earned a comfortable and familiar position: the No. 1 seed. Phoenix had a much bumpier ride and ended up as No. 8.But theyre both here now, three wins from a place in the WNBA Finals. The show within the show is Maya vs. Diana.Is it true greatness vs. true greatness? You know the answer to that: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Air Jordan From China . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. Wholesale Jordans . LOUIS -- Valtteri Filppula assisted on three of Tampa Bays four goals, and the Lightning beat the St. http://www.cheapairjordanfreeshipping.com/ . The home side created most of the chances but struggled to break down Braunschweigs resilient defence, resulting in the Bundesligas 1,000th scoreless draw. Cheap Jordans Shoes Free Shipping . Belfort (24-10) needed just 77 seconds to down Henderson in the headlining bout of Saturdays "UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson" event at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. The fight served as a rematch of the pairs 2006 meeting, which Henderson won by decision. Cheap Jordans For Sale . Aaron Harrison scored a 22 points for Kentucky (6-1), which has won four in a row following a Nov. 12 loss to current No. 1 Michigan State. Julius Randle overcame a scoreless first half and added his sixth double-double in as many games with 14 points and 10 rebounds. COLUMBIA, Mo. - No. 18 Mizzou Volleyball (27-5) carried its momentum from Thursday evening into Friday at the Hearnes Center, earning a 3-1 (25-13, 22-25, 25-16, 25-21) victory over Purdue. The Tigers earned their first all-time win against the Boilermakers, while also supplying redemption from their previous meeting in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.Mizzou now advances to the Sweet 16 in this years NCAA Division I Womens Volleyball Tournament. It marks the Tigers first trip to the NCAA Regionals round since 2010.Redshirt junior Melanie Crow (Wildwood, Mo.) delivered a memorable performance against Purdue, recording 25 kills on .426 hitting. Crows 25 strikes marked a new career high, while also establishing her sixth 20-plus kill match of the season.The Tiger outside hitters performance against the Boilermakers will live in Mizzou Volleyball postseason lore for years to come. Crows 25 kills and 27.5 points both rank third-most in all-time Tiger NCAA Tournament action. In her first taste of NCAA postseason play, Crow has produced 42 kills (6.00 kills per set) on .393 hitting over two mmatches.ddddddddddddJunior Courtney Eckenrode (The Woodlands, Texas) was sensational for the second-consecutive night at setter. Her 51 assists led to the Tigers tallying 59 total kills on .346 hitting. Similar to Thursday against Northern Illinois, Eckenrode excelled at divvying up Mizzous attacks on offense. Along with Crows stellar performance, four other Tigers posted seven-plus kills to keep the Purdue defense on its heels.Redshirt junior Kira Larson (Fargo, N.D.) tallied one of her top individual matches this season, finishing with nine kills on .389 hitting, two aces and three total blocks. In Mizzous first and second round matchups at Hearnes, Larson posted 17 total kills on .412 hitting.Mizzou advances to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the first time since 2010. The NCAA Regionals will take place from Dec. 9-10 at four non-predetermined campus sites. Visit NCAA.com for the latest updates on the 2016 Division I Womens Volleyball Tournament. ' ' '