Great expectations: Women who make the ultimate sports comeback

January 19, 11:51 PMChicago Sports ExaminerCharlie Corr

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AP photo / L.A. Sparks' Candace Parker

When we think about sports comebacks, we focus on the season after having Tommy John Surgery, or coming back from a torn ACL. But let's put injuries to the wayside. What about the women in sports who return from giving birth to a child, or in some cases, even playing through it?

The past several weeks have been a local reminder of two talented women who are expecting a child this year. Naperville native and Los Angeles Sparks star Candace Parker and Chicago Red Stars defender Kate Markgraf are pregnant, their teams publicly announced. Parker will not skip a beat and should play through the majority (perhaps all) of the 2009 WNBA season. Markgraf unfortunately will miss out on her debut in Women's Professional Soccer.

I implore fans and members of the press to use their noggin on this topic, because it is guaranteed that the issue of their pregnancies will be a hot button before their 2009 seasons. Parker, after all, is the 2008 WNBA Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player. Markgraf is a Notre Dame grad (she was Kate Sobrero back then) and was co-captain of the U.S. Women's National Team that won gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. These are two athletes who surely are integral to the makeup of their teams and leagues, and they are exemplary stars from a marketing standpoint.

But news flash: Families come first, and sports are secondary. And if anything, we should be embracing the fact that many women athletes have made a strong return after giving birth to a child.

Parker's teammate, Lisa Leslie, sat out the 2007 WNBA season and returned without a hitch the following year. Or if you can recall, in 2006-07, Syracuse women's basketball player Fantasia Goodwin actually played through almost the entire season without anyone knowing she was pregnant. That's crossing a line in terms of the safety of her child. But it goes to show how much heart they have in their chosen professions.

Is it a disappointment that Parker, the face of the WNBA, might miss a small portion of the 2009 season? Of course. And it goes without saying that Markgraf's debut would have been a key focal point to the beginning of the Red Stars' run, and the return of women's professional soccer.

Still, let's be appreciative of their joyous occasions and their resilient paths back to the competitive mecca. Some topics trump an athlete's presence in a professional sport, and this definitely is one of them.

DID YOU KNOW ...

• That Candace Parker won two Illinois High School Association Class AA state titles with Naperville Central?
• That Kate (Sobrero) Markgraf was a three-time NSCAA All-American at Notre Dame?

RELATED PIECES ...

• Two fellow Examiners wrote about Candace Parker's pregnancy. CLICK HERE to read a piece by Women's Sports Examiner Zalika Green and CLICK HERE for a story by Sports Examiner Paula Duffy.