PHOENIX -- Lisa Harrison won the "Sexiest Babe of the
WNBA" vote in a landslide, but still doesn't know whether to pose
nude for Playboy.
The Phoenix Mercury forward said Tuesday the amount of money
offered would play a major role in her decision, but added that she
wouldn't go as far as most of the magazine's models.
"I'm going to listen and see what they have to say and then
make my decision based on that," Harrison said. "I have
parameters that I've set for myself."
She declined to elaborate, but promised not to expose as much as
volleyball star Gabrielle Reece did in her pictorial.
Harrison collected 18,336 votes -- 45 percent of the total cast
for 10 nominees in an Internet Web site poll that ended Monday. She
had nearly five times as many as New York's Andrea Nagy, the
runner-up.
"I was very flattered," Harrison said. "Like I said before,
it's nice to be recognized as feminine and not just being
stereotyped as a tomboy."
After the same poll last year, winner Michelle Marciniak of
Portland declined to pose. Harrison said last week she would be
willing to doff her clothes if she won, a statement that helped
double her lead.
The 6-foot defensive standout, who spent three years in the
defunct American Basketball League before joining the Mercury in
1999, earns just over the WNBA veteran minimum of $35,000 and
receives housing and transportation only during the four-month
season.
Harrison said she heard six-figure and seven-figure estimates on
what a Playboy layout would be worth and was interested in seeing
the offer.
"If I do it, it would have to be something that would be a
long-term benefit to me," Harrison said. "I'm not going to risk
my reputation or my career because of pennies."
Her contract with the WNBA contains clauses that govern behavior
as a representative of the league, but Harrison sounded ready to
test the restrictions.
"I don't think it's my job to actually teach children right
from wrong or to stay off drugs," she said, siding with Charles
Barkley's controversial position on athletes as role models. "I
can be an example for them, but, really, that should come from the
parents."
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