I receive questions all the time like "What's it like to play with Rebecca Lobo?" and "What's it like to play with Teresa Weatherspoon?"

When asked questions like these, I have to chuckle to myself, because playing along side them is great, but knowing them is much more comical. And if anyone knows me, they know I'm always up for a good laugh.

I love to laugh, make others laugh, or be laughed at. It's one of the greatest gifts in the world to have the ability to put smiles on other people's faces. Although, when you see the same old faces, day after day after day, like when you are teammates, a little comedy goes a long way.

Here are a few stories from the locker room and court that got me in trouble for laughing. Hopefully, you'll find the humor in them as well, and at the end of this column I won't have to write, "Well, I guess you had to be there."

Sue Wicks is known as one of the hardest-working people on the team. She's also a very good friend, and since she's in her 30s and I'm in my early 20s, she kind of looks out for me. When she laces her shoes up every night, you know you'll get 110 percent effort from her. She is one of the most intense people on the court, and I love to play with her.

Last Sunday, we played the L.A. Sparks in one of the most intense games in WNBA history. It has been L.A. in the West and New York in the East receiving media attention, and there's talk of the two teams meeting in the WNBA Finals this year. Our only meeting together was sure to be a big one.

And it was. There were at least six technical fouls called and one ejection in the game. To say it was really intense actually would be an understatement. It was one of those games where there were many individual battles going on and tons of trash talking, and a game in which every possession was important.

Midway through the second half, I caught the ball on the right wing. Passing on a jump shot, I decided to drive the right baseline and try to draw some contact from the defense. Well, I did. I drew their whole team. The L.A. defense collapsed hard on me, so surely one of my teammates would be open.

But one small problem -- how am I going to pass the ball, with the baseline on one side of me, and five yellow jerseys consuming the lane? So I did the only thing to do. I flipped the ball underhand to a slashing Sue Wicks for a quick layup. Or at least I tried to. Instead, the ball flew off a knee of one of the defenders.

Quickly and sharply, I yelled "SSUUUEEE!" Her response was priceless. She looked at me and smiled and said, "Not even close, Sweetie!" We then sprinted down to the other end after my turnover. There was a foul called, so the action stopped, but my laughter didn't. The coach wasn't too happy to see his player make a crucial turnover, and then laugh running all the way down to the other end of the court.

Later in that game, one of my teammates who doesn't get to play a lot, got some action. She's from Yugoslavia, and she's about 6-4, and sometimes her English isn't that great, even though it's is a lot better than my Yugoslavian, or what ever they speak over there. Understand that the game is practically over now, and coach wants to give everyone some minutes on TV. There's a cardinal rule when your winning and the game is almost over -- don't foul. So "Cookie" (her nickname, her real name is Hajdana Radunovic) checks in, and the first play she's in she goes in and hammers Delisha Milton of the Sparks. There was strong contact on the foul, so Spoon sprints over to Cookie, who was grabbing her throat, and says, "Cookie, you all right?"

Cookie choked out, "I sink sum ting broke."

Spoon about fell off the court, she was laughing so hard.

In the same game, Coach Richie (Adubato) was trying to put all the players in at the end of the game. He scanned down the bench to see Grace Daley, curled in a ball at the end of the bench. When he looked at her, and said, "Grace, do you want to go in (because there were only about 35 seconds left)?" She quickly turned and shook her head and said, "No way coach, it's too dangerous out there, I'm safer here on the bench!" Oh, the whole bench was cracking up.

Those were just a few of the crazy things that went on in the L.A. game. Hopefully, you saw the humor in them that I did, because I've been laughing as I wrote them. If you'd like more stories like these, or others, please feel free to notify my Web page (www.beckyhammon.net), and let me know if you just needed to be there.

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.