The Storm held its annual Tip-Off Breakfast this morning at the Spirit of Washington Events Center in Renton and, as usual, it was a great deal of fun. First and foremost, however, it was for a good cause.

All proceeds went to benefit Renton Area Youth & Family Services, and FSN Stars – the community arm of FSN – helped the Sonics & Storm Foundation present the event. During the event, there was a raffle and also a silent auction of several items autographed at Monday’s Media Day.

Most of the schedule was devoted to Q&A with the players and coaching staff. Katie Gearlds, Wendy Palmer and Lauren Jackson joined Anne Donovan on the stage, while Sue Bird and Ashley Robinson took the microphones into the crowd and served as moderators.

There were plenty of comments that had everyone in attendance laughing.

The players on the stage were asked about what music they like to listen to before games and came up with very different answers: country for Gearlds (a decidedly minority choice), Nine Inch Nails for Jackson and gospel for Palmer.

Several players were asked for their picks in “best on the team” categories. Tye’sha Fluker went with former Tennessee teammate Shyra Ely as the best dresser (and, as she pointed out, Ely had matching shoes for her midnight blue dress). Barbara Turner was asked to choose Storm contestants for “Dancing With the Stars” and “American Idol,” picking Lauren Jackson and Tanisha Wright, respectively. However, Wright was unwilling to sing for the crowd.

Assistant Coach Heidi VanDerveer got in a good line when asked about creating Betty Lennox’s nickname, B-Money, during Lennox’s rookie season when both were in Minnesota.

“When she had a few turnovers, we called her B-Change,” said VanDerveer. Then she started playing well and we called her B-Money.”

Palmer couldn’t resist a dig at her coach when asked about whether the WNBA would ever go to shorter shorts.

“We don’t want to go back to the days of Charles Barkley and Anne Donovan,” joked Palmer, drawing a big laugh.

All in all, it was a fun morning as we moved one step closer to tipping off the season on Saturday against Houston.

WNBA.com’s GM Survey continues.

Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson got some credit today for their poise on the court. Sue got two votes for best court smarts, Lauren one. Meanwhile, Lauren’s two votes tied her with Lisa Leslie as the best on-court leader, while Sue got one vote. LJ also got a vote as the league’s toughest player. Given all the injuries she’s played through, hard to argue with that.

Again, my off-the-cuff answers (today’s questions, specifically the leadership/personality ones, are a lot harder to answer):

Most athletic player – Deanna Nolan
Best post moves – Lisa Leslie
Best pure shooter – Laurie Koehn (8-for-9 on threes the other day)
Best leaper – Deanna Nolan
Best post passer – Janel McCarville
Best open-court finisher – Cappie Pondexter
Quickest with the ball – I can’t pick Izi (no Storm picks, but how did she not get any real votes?), so … Deanna Nolan
Best court smarts – Sheryl Swoopes
Best at making teammates better – Nikki Teasley
Toughest player – Tully Bevilaqua
Most intense player – Temeka Johnson
Most easy-going player – pass
Best on-court leader – Sheryl Swoopes
Best locker-room leader – pass; how would I know?

I was expecting this to be a fairly low-key Media Day, given it is not kicking off training camp as it has in year’s past, but we quickly have a fairly big story here: Barbara Turner’s presence despite her Fenerbahce team being headed to a Game 7 in Turkey. We’ll get Turner’s take and Anne Donovan’s comments later.

Also look for a behind-the-scenes perspective on Media Day since I won’t be as busy tracking down stories as in years past. Make sure to keep checking back for the latest.

10:53: Media Day is set up with about eight different stations for players to rotate to throughout the morning. They’re getting their pictures taken (naturally), filming video for StormVision, taping audio for Storm broadcasts, signing autographs and much more.

That means a lot of time waiting around for the media. We had a lengthy chat with Lauren Jackson, expounding more on her off-season rejuvenation in South Korea and more. None of her teammates in Korea spoke English, which allowed her to focus on basketball and avoid any drama (despite the best efforts of her translater). LJ also hung out from time to time with other WNBA players, most notably friend Alana Beard, who played on a nearby team.

11:18: Sue Bird spoke at length about her experience in Russia to the media. She described winning a championship as “almost anti-climactic. You don’t get any chance to celebrate.” As soon as the series was over in Russia, Bird, Jackson and their teammates were en route back to the U.S.

The arena Spartak played in held 3,500-4,000 fans and was often sold out.

The Spartak team had an assistant coach who Bird and Jackson felt looked exactly like Anne Donovan, to the point where they discussed who would win in a one-on-one game – the fake Donovan (who went about 6-6) or the real Donovan?

11:35: “It will be good to have everybody back here,” said Donovan about Barbara Turner’s return from overseas. Turner made the decision and informed the Storm after her team lost Game 6 in Turkey on Saturday, which forced a deciding Game 7 tomorrow. We’ve yet to get a chance to talk with Turner.

12:40: We had a chance to chat with Turner.

“It was a very difficult decision not playing in the final,” she said. Turner had been thinking about the schedule and how much it would hurt her chances to make the team missing three practices. After Game 6, she made the decision, informed her coach and then called Donovan to give her the good news. Turner arrived in Seattle last night, but doesn’t seem to be feeling much in the way of jetlag.

“It was a great experience in Turkey, a great team, a great coach,” she said.

Turner explained that the decision to move from Israel to Turkey was about growing her game. In Israel, she was mostly playing power forward. With her Fenerbahce club in Turkey, she played the wing positions and had the opportunity to work on her outside shooting and defense.

Things are winding down here at The Furtado Center. I got a chance to watch Sue Bird record some of the “hypes” for the StormVision screen. Sue’s a riot, and she was cracking herself up with her acting.

I also had a chance to feel like a player by getting my headshot taken by Sonics & Storm Photographer Terrence Vaccaro. The glare of the lights is harsh indeed.

Ashley Robinson has been hanging out with Sonics Mickael Gelabale and Johan Petro, getting them a sandwich from the food available for players, staff and the media. Now Robinson is playing H-O-R-S-E with Gelabale, who has an advantage from the perimeter.

1:00: Katie Gearlds chatted quickly about her trip back to Purdue for graduation after wrapping up her Media Day responsibilities.

“It was awesome,” she said. “A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Gearlds was thankful Donovan and the Storm let her take time off to go back home. After flying from Seattle to Indianapolis and back in a 48-hour span, she’s a bit tired and was looking forward to a nap before this afternoon’s practice.

I think that’s a wrap. Thanks for reading and stay tuned as we start our week-long season preview here on storm.wnba.com.

As the Storm continues its efforts to get out in the community and promote Opening Night on May 19 (now less than a week away, if you can believe it), Tanisha Wright, Shyra Ely and Tye’sha Fluker will be at Green Lake today with an ice cream truck, giving away ice cream from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Here’s hoping the sun peeks through by then.

Also, on behalf of the entire Sonics & Storm organization, a Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there.

They’re baaaaack. Great to see Sue and LJ out on the floor. The rumors are very true – LJ looks to be in incredible shape after playing in Korea and Russia during the off-season.

More great news: Janell Burse is on the court for contact. I haven’t noticed any lingering effect of her shoulder spasm last night. Tye’sha Fluker is also on the court, though that’s not really a surprise.

We’ve missed this: LJ grabs a rebound and hands off to Sue. After the ball is advanced upcourt, LJ screens for Sue, who steps back and nails the three-pointer.

Izi Castro Marques has not been on the court since I arrived. Not sure why. Shyra Ely is getting the vast majority of the reps at small forward.

Anne Donovan calls a foul on Lauren, who protests. “Well, that’s a WNBA official for you,” answers Donovan.

It’s a very different experience watching a practice with fans in the crowd cheering. Solid turnout for today’s “Meet the Team” event for season ticket holders, which includes the chance to watch practice and more.

I want to take a moment to give credit to all the Storm folks who have worked to make today’s event possible: Gentry Davis, Katie Dahl, Kristina Netzler, Susie Kandzor, Dallas Pride, Gabriella Buono, Todd Albright, Kelly Nigh (who specifically requested a shout out), Matt Heuer, the Knittels, Alan Horton and Adia Barnes and everyone with Storm basketball operations … I’m sure I’m missing people and I apologize to them.

LJ is clearly fighting the effects of jetlag to some extent. She’s smiling about missing shots she knows she’s going to hit in a week.

One of the members of the practice squad nearly runs into Coach Donovan on the fast break. Fortunately, disaster averted and the crowd gets a good laugh.

Janell Burse hits both ends of a one-and-one to finish us off and Lauren Jackson swarms her with a bearhug to show her appreciation.

While the players do their post-practice stretching, Alan and Adia raffle off some great prizes. As the players file back out to the floor, they’re joined by Doppler, who has a surprise – a birthday cupcake for Lauren Jackson (26 yesterday), accompanied by the fans singing “Happy Birthday.” One fan brought an enormous birthday card/poster for Lauren.

Fans ask, how jetlagged are Sue and Lauren?

“Pretty jetlagged,” says LJ. Their total trip was about 18 hours, including a 13-hour flight from Moscow to Los Angeles.

Betty was asked about what it’s like playing overseas for coaches who don’t speak English. She compares it to how it was depicted in the movie “Love and Basketball.” Have your teammates translate for your coach and then say, “Get me the ball.”

The “Tennessee trio” (I’m thinking about trademarking that one) was asked to compare Coach Donovan to legendary Pat Summitt. Ashley Robinson sees a lot of similarities. Coach herself says that Tennessee is one of those programs that prepares its players really well for the WNBA – adding in UConn to appease Sue Bird.

“Just ask them what happened,” says Bird, referring to the two NCAA titles UConn won over Tennessee during her career.

Anne concludes the group portion by thanking fans for their support. Now season ticket holders will break into smaller groups to meet the players in a more intimate setting.

“I feel so positive during 2007,” says Ashley Robinson. She was candid when asked if she always rebounds as well as she did last night. “My statistics say I don’t,” she admitted.

Tanisha’s favorite food: “Good old spaghetti with meat sauce.” I’m sitting with a young group, so we’re hearing a lot about favorite pets.

Tye’sha Fluker is speaking at length about playing for Coach Summitt. “She wants to develop you as a woman first.” Later, she adds, “Being here reminds me of being at Tennessee.”

“Did they put all the kids in one section?” asks Anne Donovan. Wasabi Bistro is the consensus favorite restaurant of the sushi-loving coaching staff.

LJ says ice hockey is becoming her favorite sport outside of basketball. I can’t imagine where she got interested in that. Lauren surprised herself by saying, “I’m home,” when she got to her place in Seattle last night, something she didn’t expect and never would have imagined as a homesick 20-year-old rookie.

Sue has no pets and solicits suggestions. When she had goldfish, she reports, they died the second day when she was changing the water. Sue’s favorite hangout is “wherever these guys go,” referring to her teammates.

Talking about her legendary coach at Louisiana Tech, Leon Barmore, Betty notes that Coach Donovan is the first female coach she has ever had. Betty is confident the boxing and kickboxing she did over the winter helped her game and worked on her shooting in Poland because she didn’t want to drive into the lane and get her head knocked off – all for no call.

JB describes the recovery in her hometown of New Orleans as “really slow.” Seattle is “so far away,” which is why her favorite thing to do for a vacation is go home.

“I’m all yours,” exclaims a smiling Izi, ready for questions. She had to be convinced to pick up basketball at about age 13 because nobody else in her family is an athlete “at all.”

That wraps up a fun event. We’ll have more after media availability.