How it all went down.
Perhaps Dianai Taurasi was celebrating ID4 a bit early. Or perhaps her and her chums were having a few white wine spritzers while engaging in a civilized round-table discussion on the ultimate panty-dropper.
Whatever the reason, Taurasi got a bit intoxicated early Thursday morning and decided it was a good time to take a spin. But apparently that type of thing is frowned upon in Phoenix, and the grand pooh-bah of UConn women's basketball was cited with a DUI.
Let's have it, AP:
"Phoenix police spokesman Luis Samudio says an officer stopped Taurasi at about 2:30 Thursday morning for allegedly speeding. A police statement says the officer smelled alcohol and gave her several field sobriety tests.
"Taurasi was then driven to a mobile DUI van where she gave a blood sample, then was cited and released. Authorities did not know her blood alcohol content."
Taurasi allegedly tried to use the "Do you know who I am?" defense. Unfortunately, after officers called their grandmothers to confirm she was in fact a WNBA players, police were said to be only motivated to continue on. (This may or may not have happened.)
The news was reported by the Arizona Republic the same day Taurasi was named the leading vote-getter for the WNBA All-Star game. Irony ensues.
Earlier in the night, Taurasi also dropped a cool 22 points and blocked four shots in a win over the Storm. Not sure if this was a David Wells situation, but it wouldn't surprise me. Not because she's some uncontrollable alcoholic, but I'm pretty sure Taurasi could make the All-Star team even if all her extremities were peglegs. Not sure how that would work, but she would.
It's feels bad to admit it, but things like this happen all the time to athletes so news like this doesn't exactly shock me anymore. But for others, I'm sure it's a bit more jarring considering Taurasi's squeaky-clean image. There may now be a few more WNBA fans going to bed at 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m.