Gotnext Women's Basketball Boards

1carol · Joined: 17 Jul 2003 Posts: 1043 Location: Phoenix AZ

I'm glad Mique decided to tell everyone about her depression. All the printed negativity has made her condition much worse. Sounds like she's taken control of the situation. It's an illness that's being treated and nothing to be ashamed of.

It's about time people quit speculating with such negative comments. Many people have been very cruel. Especially the motorist (below) who yelled out at her in public.

Everyone should remember the extremely talented, fresh & vibrant personality that joined the league as a rookie because that person will be back. :D

Let's all have compassion and wish her a speedy recovery.

http://feeds.foxsports.com/story/3119894
Quote: Mystics' Holdsclaw suffering from depression
Associated Press 11:45PM - 10/28/04

WASHINGTON (AP) - Mystics star Chamique Holdsclaw says she left the team in the middle of the WNBA season because of depression.

"Depression, people just don't realize how it can take over your mind," said Holdsclaw, the WNBA's No. 1 overall pick in 1999. "Yes, I was walking around and looked fine."

She has been under a psychiatrist's care since becoming increasingly withdrawn, alienated from teammates and family and even her oldest confidantes, she said. She changed her cell phone number so that Washington general manager Pat Summitt, her former coach at Tennessee, couldn't reach her.

"I just kind of had to break away from all that," said Holdsclaw, who added that she slept a lot. "I was just doing my own thing, just living without all of the expectations."

The Mystics went on an improbable playoff run in her absence, winning five of their last six regular-season games before losing to Connecticut in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Holdsclaw said she never watched her teammates or any other sports on TV. She sat on the couch in her apartment just a block from the MCI Center.

"Everything was negative," she said. "Dark."

One Mystics fan confronted her in public about her absence, she said. A passing motorist rolled down his window and began berating her, telling her, "You need to get it together! You need to get back on the court!"

She failed to show up for a game against Charlotte on July 24. Holdsclaw played in the next game, against Detroit as a reserve, and didn't play the rest of the season. She was placed on the injured list Sept. 1.

Holdsclaw was averaging 19 points per game. She opted out of the U.S. national team for the Athens Olympics, and missed the WNBA All-Star game.

Keegan · Joined: 13 Jun 2002 Posts: 977

I don't know - I can understand why she would feel ashamed but no one's perfect. I'm sure she could have escaped all that negativity if she'd be honest straight away.

Depression does not provide a foolproof excuse for the way she acted either. I know people who've been seriously depressed and they didn't leave people in the lurch like that.

1carol · Joined: 17 Jul 2003 Posts: 1043 Location: Phoenix AZ

You are so right. She should have been honest right away. She just made things worse for herself. It's a good thing for Alana Beard that Mique left them in a lurch. Now Alana's had a chance to prove herself. I think Mique was used to being the the go to gal & didn't know how to play teamwork any more. I also think she realized that Alana could be her relacement & it scared the s**t out of her

CamrnCrz1974 · Joined: 16 Jun 2003 Posts: 1689 Location: Central Phoenix

Susan O'Malley could not have handled the situation any worse...and neither could Chamique.

Chamique was entitled to her privacy, as she worked through her depression. While I think fans would have supported her, she needed to confront the depression and recover on her own terms.

But the yo-yo with her teammates...leaving, coming back, leaving, coming back...repeatedly...did no one any favors, especially when they had no idea what was going on. Tamicha Jackson only found out THIS WEEK what happened.

And Mystics management kept the secret from coach Michael Adams because they felt it should be private? What does that say about the Mystics' confidence in Adams?

Well, it says the Mystics have about as much faith in Adams as they did in Jim Lewis, Cathy Parson, Nancy Darsch, Darrell Walker, Tom Maher, and Marianne Stanley...and every other fired Mystics coach (to be fair, Walker chose not to return...apparently with good reason).

And now O'Malley is considered to be in the running for WNBA President? Could it get any worse? Oh, wait...we could have Carol Blazejowski...

If Seth Sulka does not get the job, I hope Andrea Lloyd-Curry does.

Oh, I hate to tell Chamique this, but many people deal with depression. They don't have the luxury of getting paid while being absent for months at a time.