We are 1-3 now but have practically the same squad we had last year. So what's the difference?

We started training camp and the preseason real strong and then dropped our season opener to Miami. It's not just the losing that bothers me (although that drives me crazy), it's the way we have been playing that is really frustrating. We are totally out of sync. You can sense the frustration with the players and the urgency with the coaching staff.

Why are we struggling to find a winning combination of players? Where's the consistency and confidence that a veteran team should have? Are the minutes distributed the way they should be? Where's the defensive pride the Liberty live and die by?

There are so many questions, and not a lot of answers for us right now.

It's hard to separate and look at a situation realistically, with all the facts, instead of emotionally. Women especially tend to get more emotionally involved. That trait has its good side because it means we are passionate beings with what we may be doing.

But, it also tends to give a reaction, instead of a response. My initial reaction may be to say, "I'm not playing enough," "I'm not getting enough shots," "I'm not ..." etc. That's why there are a couple of steps I try to run through before I let my emotional side get the best of me.

Instead of reacting, I try to ask myself a few questions:

1. Am I complaining? To complain is a pretty natural reaction, but it gets me nowhere, just more upset. If I need to vent, I vent to an outside source. I try to give myself about 20 minutes, and then move on and let it go.

2. Am I questioning things that are out of my control, or things that are in my control? No need to get worked up over something I have no control over.

3. Am I dwelling on the negatives, instead of saying, "I'm not doing this," or "I'm not doing that"? I need to try to list things I will do to improve the situation. Such as, "I will play my hardest every time I come into the game," "I will have a good attitude," "I will take control over things, that I can, and I will let go of things that I can't control".

So when I feel myself starting to react, I try to remember responding normally gets better results, even though it requires some patience.

It's a long season, and it's not how you start, but how you finish.

Becky Hammon, an all-state basketball player at Rapid City Stevens and an All-American at Colorado State, is in her third year of pro basketball as a member of the WNBA's New York Liberty.