"Come on, Kara, take a deep breath. Enjoy that new season smell. At least I think that's that new season smell. I don't think I want to know what else it could be, so let's go with that." Rebecca settles into the chair next to Kara and picks up the media guide abandoned by Kara's hand. "You did your research already? You're good."

"I know all I need to know about them," Kara replies, forcing the words through gritted teeth.

"Hey, hey, you have issues with them, leave them outside the arena. We're professionals here. I'm going to grab a plate- want me to bring you anything?"

"I won't be able to keep it down." She doesn't get to finish her statement before Rebecca leaves with the book in hand. "Neither will you."

A few minutes later, Rebecca returns with a plateful of cheap Italian buffet and the media guide. "I don't remember that many of the staff being blonde before. You'd think they're looking for more sexual harassment suits, not less. Okay, so… major roster revamp. There's a story right there. What happened to 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'?" She flips open the book and reads through. "Well, that's a different spelling from New York's usual; I guess they're making up for the miss on Brunson, since she's the only one they never had… hey, I think they got the wrong picture for Jackson! Doesn't that look more like the Jackson who was your teammate? What was her name, Brittany?"

"Yeah," Kara grunts.

"Man, what's gotten into you? I know you aren't exactly a ray of sunshine, even on your good days, but you're going to be on camera tonight, the least you could do is try to be informative, even if you can't make yourself be polite." Rebecca changes tables, crossing to the other side of the room, put off by Kara's cold and inexplicable rage, and returns to perusing the media guide. "When did Wisconsin send anyone to the league? Anderson was the last one… oh, hey, at least they kept one veteran, I swear Thorn is indestructible… this is ridiculous. I've never seen so many diminutive names on a roster before. Jenny, Christi- oh, and she looks like the kind who dots it with a little heart, too- Laurie, Barbie- who expects to be taken seriously if she calls herself Barbie? Cathy? Who goes by Cathy anymore? Tiffany, Ashley, at least those are names I can take seriously…" She trails off at the last word, the fade in her voice coinciding with the last page of the New York roster.

Kara waits. She is not disappointed. The book goes flying across the room, splaying open on the floor to what she knows is the offending page. Kara continues to wait. She is not disappointed. "What kind of sick joke is this?" Rebecca asks, biting off the words with uncharacteristic venom. "Seriously, Lawson, what kind of joke is this? It's two hours until tip-off, we don't have time to mess around with fake media guides, no matter how well done they are."

"It's not a fake. I got it from one of the interns. I couldn't believe it either. But I saw the whole thing when we were filming for Shootaround. All those blonde ponytails in blue warmups… and one brown braid." Kara pats the chair next to her, and six-foot-six of fury on high heels joins her so that she can lower her voice and continue. "And I don't think it's just a coincidence that #33 wouldn't stop shooting threes, despite her size, or that #22 was the best in the defensive drills… or that #21 had bigger shoulders on her than the rest of them. They're all almost exactly alike, but just different enough that they might make a viable team. Look at the pictures again, though, if you can force yourself to, and tell me who they all look like."

Rebecca gets up, picks up the media guide, and flips rapidly through it. "Well, except for Thorn, they all kinda look like Becky, that same pretty girl next door Midwestern look. Come to think of it, they all look pretty much identical, even this new Rebecca they've replaced Davenport with. Hey, am I the only one who thinks it's strange that they didn't trade any of the chips they had in order to change up the roster? They could have gotten some pretty good value in return for most of that starting lineup. You know Minnesota would have loved to have a chance at McCarville."

Kara shakes her head. "Too many things don't look right about this. Almost complete turnover, with none of the former players showing up on any other rosters or having retired? A whole bunch of no-name players who went undrafted, and are all almost identical? I could almost believe it if they hadn't kept almost all the numbers the same, and if some of the players now wearing those numbers didn't have slight echoes of the players who were wearing the numbers last year, whether it's in playing style or in name. Something fishy's going on with this league."

"With the league? That's a leap of logic to make that's pretty long."

Kara doesn't say wait until some suit asks you if you want to be pretty. What she says instead is, "You haven't seen the Connecticut media guide yet, have you?"