The WNBA is once again relevant!

WNBA MVP Candace Parker is returning from maternity leave on Sunday for the Los Angeles Sparks, just six weeks after giving birth to her first child.

The Sparks have struggled without Parker and an injured Lisa Leslie, getting off to a 3-5 start. Los Angeles were the favorites to win the WNBA title.

And if watching Parker run up and down the court wasn’t enough inspiration to watch, the Sparks are taking on the Phoenix Mercury and Diana Taurasi, who was cited for driving drunk Thursday evening.

It was only a matter of time before the women really started acting like the men and getting busted for DUI’s.

Congrats goes out to WNBA MVP Candace Parker who gave birth to a baby girl on Wednesday.

The baby girl weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces and was 20 inches long.

Parker is married to Minnesota Timberwolves forward Shelden Williams and she expects to rejoin the Los Angels Sparks as soon as she gets the OK from the doctors.

For the sake of the 17 WNBA fans, hurry back, Candace!

Even the camera loves Candace Parker.

Parker is on the latest issue of ESPN The Magazine, pregnant and all.

The Los Angeles Sparks forward is the first pregnant athlete to be shown on the cover of ESPN The Magazine.

And fellas, the article’s first paragraph dives right into the fact that Parker is a C cup.

I’m sure the rest of the article is great but I didn’t make it past the first paragraph.

Parker is due in early May – never too early to get your office baby pools going on what day she has the kid.

Los Angeles Sparks center Lisa Leslie announced on Wednesday that she will retire from the WNBA after the upcoming season.

The three-time MVP and four-time Olympic gold medalist said once she calls it quit – - that’s it:

“I’m not going to pull a [Michael] Jordan and come back in a year or two,” she said. “For me, I feel good about where I am. … I just know this is a good time. I can still help [the team]. I don’t want to be out there when I can’t do it.”

Leslie is one of the last players still in the WNBA when the league was formed in 1997.

The 36-year-old center has a 19-month old daughter and missed the entire 2007 season due to her pregnancy.

If you need a reason to watch the WNBA this season with Candace Parker out this season, here’s your excuse as Leslie is of the greatest players in women’s basketball  history.

WNBA MVP and Los Angeles Sparks forward Candace Parker is pregnant and expecting her first child with husband Shelden Williams of the Sacramento Kings.

“Shelden and I are very excited to be expanding our family,” said Parker in a statement. “We feel blessed and look forward to becoming parents.”

It is highly doubtful we will see Parker play in the 2009 WNBA season.

Kinda hard to dribble the ball when you have a bun in the oven.

Let’s hope the kid looks more like Candace and doesn’t get Shelden’s looks.

I’m just saying…

If the Houston Comets can’t survive in the WNBA, just shut the whole league down, David Stern.

2008 continues to get better for Candace Parker.

The Los Angeles Sparks forward won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award and is expected to take home the MVP trophy later today.

Parker averaged 18.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game which led the WNBA.

It wasn’t enough to get her Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA Finals, falling to the San Antonio Silver Stars in the WNBA Playoffs.

Parker would join an exclusive club of athletes who have won Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season.

The last athlete to accomplish that feat was Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki in 2001.

The WNBA’s new motto should be:

WNBA: We Like Fights

The suspensions were announced from the Tuesday night brawl between the Los Angeles Sparks and the Detroit Shock, and to be honest, the ladies got off easy.

Shock forward Plenette Pierson received the biggest blow, a four game suspension as the league felt her actions initiated the fight.

On the flipside, Candace Parker, who tossed Pierson to the floor, was suspended for only one game for throwing a punch.

Overall, 11 people were suspended including Shock assistant coach Rick Mahorn for two games for “escalating the altercation.”

If this were the NBA, David Stern would have dropped the hammer on both Parker and Pierson.

But really, it’s the WNBA – - they can’t afford to have Parker missing more than one game.

(Allen Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

The WNBA has finally arrived!

The ladies are starting to brawl like the fellas in the NBA.

Late in the Los Angeles Sparks-Detroit Shock game, a fight broke out between Candace Parker and Pienette Pierson as the two women got tangled while contesting a free throw.

Pierson decided to go after Parker, who pulled the rope-a-dope on the Shock guard and flung her to the floor as all hell broke loose.

The benches cleared and Detroit assistant coach Rick Mahorn found himself in the middle of the melee, eerily similar to the 2004 Pistons-Pacers brawl at the Palace.

Except this time, instead of chasing Ron Artest, he was shoving Lisa Leslie to the floor.

You can be the judge after watching the video, but Leslie didn’t pull a Euro flop – - she had some help getting to the ground.

If Mahorn did indeed put his hands on a woman, he needs to be suspended for the rest of the season.

That’s one line you just don’t cross as a man.

DeLisha Milton-Jones, who had her homegirl’s back, hit Mahorn from behind and was ejected along with Parker, Leslie, and Pierson.

Lost in all this was the fact that Shock forward Cheryl Ford sprained her right knee and was wheeled off in a wheelchair after injuring herself while playing peacemaker.

The WNBA … it’s fightastic!