Time-Out Tools

When she’s not on the court, Tamecka Dixon of the L.A. Sparks has multiple ways of staying in touch with fans, fellow players and the world of sports.

There’s a red-hot professional sports team in town, leading its division and smashing the league record this year for the longest winning streak.

The problem is that most sports fans pay little attention to the team and probably have not seen it play. But the Los Angeles Sparks, which begins Women’s National Basketball Assn. league playoffs this week, hopes fan interest will increase if it continues to blaze through opponents.

One of the Sparks’ stars is Tamecka Dixon, who for much of the season has led the team in rebounds and generally has been second in scoring only to the team’s superstar, Lisa Leslie. Dixon, 25, has been with the team since the WNBA’s first season in 1997. A guard, she played for Kansas State University, where, as a senior, she was voted Big 12 Player of the Year.

Dixon, whose nickname is Meeka, spends the off-season at her home in Westfield, N.J.

DESKTOP: A Dell, about 2 years old. It’s my first computer. I’d been begging them off the girls and I figured I’d better get one for myself.

I basically use it for the Internet. I am always on there surfing to see what is going on with other teams in the league. Each team has a Web site where you can get individual and team stats. They break it down pretty well, so you can get an idea of what a team is capable of doing in certain situations--for example, you can see what their winning percentage is when they hold the opposition to 30% or less shooting.

Q. Do you also check news about the league online?

Not really, except during the draft period when I go to the WNBA site [https://www.wnba.com] to see which team has picked up whom.

Q. Do you do much e-mailing?

I have two e-mail addresses--one is a fan address and the other is for my personal and business e-mail. I probably check my personal e-mail once a week. I check the fan mail once a month, and it’s usually packed.

Q. Does the league ask you to check your fan e-mail more often than that?

It’s not a big issue yet, but I know I should. I am trying to check it more often.

I got the account myself. It’s tdixon21@aol.com because 21 is the number of my jersey. Most people get the address by word of mouth.

Q. What kind of questions do you get?

I get a lot of nice, inspirational e-mail from people who say they enjoy how I played a game. Some have questions, like why I wear the shoes I wear.

LAPTOP: I am shopping around for one now. A couple of the girls on the team have them, and I have been bugging them to let me use them when we’re on the road to go on the Internet. It’s time for me to get my own.

BOOKMARKED SITES: I’m really a sports fanatic, so just about everywhere I go on the Internet has to do with sports. All the WNBA teams, of course. . . . But I don’t just look at basketball sites--I also go to ESPN.com for general sports news and baseball, golf and football. I’m even getting into Nascar.

I haven’t really gotten into shopping online. Maybe someday.

CELL PHONE: I carry one, mostly in case my family or my agent needs to reach me.

What I use a lot more often is a two-way pager. A lot of the girls on the team have them--Lisa Leslie, Ukari Figgs, DeLiaha Milton. We go back and forth all the time, sending messages. Actually, a lot of the players in the league have them--it’s a much more convenient way of keeping in touch.

Sometimes at night I will send one of the girls on another team--not one we just played--a message to tell them how good a game they played. Or I might ask them how they managed to miss a layup.

GAMES: I used to take my PlayStation on the road with me, but the PlayStation 2 models are kind of hard to hook up to the hotel TVs.

Q. So have you gone back to taking the PlayStation on the road?

No. I’ve grown too accustomed to the PS2. I play all sorts of games, but mostly sports: “Madden NFL 2000,” “NBA Live 2000,” “NBA Street,” “Tiger Woods PGA Tour,” “Nascar 2001.” Also, “Crazy Taxi” is cool and so is a strategic game, “Ring of Red.”

Q. Does the WNBA have a video game?

No, but there has been talk that there will be one in 2003.

Q. Some of the NBA games feature players in the league. You can’t see yourself as part of a game yet.

No, but on “NBA Street” they have girl players and you can create one with a lot of detail. You can specify the height, weight, what you wear, hair color, the skills you have. You can decide how good you want to be with the ball, how high you can jump. It’s incredible.

Q. Do you ever give yourself a higher skill level than you actually have?

Definitely.

HOME THEATER: I have a 68-inch television set. When I’m home I invite my friends over for PlayStation tournaments. It’s really cool.

--As told to DAVID COLKER