SLAM Magazine, which describes itself as "the basketball Bible," has Lynx star Maya Moore on the cover of its most recent edition. Two things about that:
1. Moore is the first woman on the cover since 1998 and just the second woman on the cover ever (Chamique Holdsclaw is the other). The first instinct is to wonder what took SLAM so long and to wonder why more women's basketball players haven't graced the cover in the meantime as the sport has grown dramatically in the last two decades.
2. If a women's basketball player was going to break that string, though, it absolutely needed to be Moore. She's won at every level — college, overseas, WNBA and Olympics — and is the most iconic player of this generation.
Local author Steve Marsh's story is worth a read, too, nicely weaving together her basketball beginning, her faith, her legacy and her relationship with her mother.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
