It's About Play, Not Playaz, for the WNBA All-Stars

Mystics owner Sheila Johnson. (By Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)

The cold hard truth is that there wasn't a lot of glitz to the WNBA All-Star Game festivities over the past week. Reporters and folks-about-town called up Sheila Johnson, owner of the local Mystics, and wanted to know where to go and what to do for the "glitz and glamour," as she put it, and there really wasn't an answer. Boldface names included Malcolm-Jamal Warner (yes, Theo from "The Cosby Show") and singer Vanessa Carlton. The big party was held at the Commerce Department's Mellon Auditorium.

None of which seemed to matter much to Johnson at halftime in her box at yesterday's game at Verizon Center. In her book, this was never going to be about some huge buzz-o-rama overtaking Washington, with celebs flying in for a star-studded sportsfest.

"What this has been," Johnson says, "has been a really incredible weekend of healthy family fun."

Instead of Hummer limos and roped-off nightclub events, the week's schedule included a visit to a Boys & Girls Club and a news conference on the issue of childhood obesity, a luncheon to honor Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a forum on the N-word.

The WNBA has been riding the women's empowerment train for 11 seasons now, and while it may not make much -- okay, any-- money or get the kind of attention paid to the men, that's not really what this is about. Johnson bought into ownership just hoping that she'd start breaking even in a few years. And fellow owner Ted Leonsis? Let him tell it:

"I coined a term called 'filmanthropy,' " he said, referring to the $2 million he poured into a movie about violence in Nanking, China, in the 1930s. "That would be movies that you know won't make money, but they need to be made. Right now, the WNBA is still a passion play. Helping to empower women and be role models to girls is important."

But -- give them this -- once you get them out on the court, the women really make an effort to put on a good show.

"The thing I really like about the WBNA all-star game is that the women really play," Warner said while lounging in the owners' box yesterday afternoon. "They ball. You go to the men's game and they just don't want to get hurt."

And there's also this: "I'm a man," Warner said. "I like to watch women in shorts."

This was the second time in six years that Washington played host to the annual all-star game, and the capacity crowd was not about high fashion or even that many high heels -- there were a lot of families, a lot of fathers and daughters, and a lot of lesbian couples in town for the weekend.

"I went to Vegas," said Ryan Johnson, referring to the site of the NBA all-star game this year, "and this is totally different. There were a lot more celebrities. Here, it's about basketball."

He brought his 13-year-old daughter, Jesamyn, and 4-year-old son, Davouz, to encourage their interest in basketball. Like Warner, he gave props to the women for their efforts. "They play a lot harder," he said.

"Did you see some of those hits out there tonight?" said forward DeLisha Milton-Jones, one of two Mystics players on the Eastern Conference team roster (the other being Alana Beard). "It was really physical under the basket. I punched somebody out there. I don't know who it was. Plus you've got to give the men some credit. They play 80-something games in a year. That's a lot of basketball. We play a lot of basketball in a short period of time. But when you want to win, it's all about the crowd around here. You want bragging rights."

Up in the owners' box, where the VIPs dined on brisket and salmon, gourmet mac-and-cheese and Nathan's hot dogs, Leonsis chatted up ESPN execs here to promote the league's new television deal while Johnson -- dressed in a red-and-white-striped blazer -- played hostess to a crowd that included more than a few former WNBA stars.

"What the WNBA is all about is courting families and nurturing," Johnson said. "We want to present a picture out there of talented women. "