What do you call someone who is the biggest fan of a losing team?

Loyal? Self-assured? A little nuts?

Lisa Borders, who hopes you'll call her the next mayor of Atlanta, plays that role for the Atlanta Dream, whose debut season began with 17 losses, the worst performance ever by a WNBA team.

But that doesn't faze Borders, the president of the City Council and a former Westminster cheerleader who decided Atlanta needed a pro women's team.

The story of the team and her role with it, her supporters say, can be viewed as Borders' political playbook —- revealing her relentlessly enthusiastic, collaborative and, at times, almost naive way of getting what she wants.

At every home game, Borders is often the first fan on her feet to cheer a good play, and the last to sit down. In between, she likes to dance with her team of women friends who attracted the Dream here.

"As a politician, you realize that people are watching and that it may be better if you're more reserved, more careful, but she is not going to do that," says state Rep. Stacey Abrams (D-Atlanta). "She's not going to change what she does because of what people think."

For Borders, 50, cheering is a political statement, too. She believes in surrounding herself with supporters who pick her up and keep going no matter what —- and in showing up for them in hard times.

Her closest personal allies are women familiar with isolation, whether created by losing basketball games or historical barriers. Most are baby boomers who came up in male-dominated businesses that compelled them to find strength in like-minded women. From these alliances, the Dream was born.

"Lisa believes in supporting women because she's been in positions where she hasn't gotten support," says Karen Webster Parks, 48, a childhood friend of Borders and a former Fulton County commissioner who now heads the Atlanta Women's Foundation.

Political alliances were something Borders, who is divorced with one son, grew up watching her family make —- with varying success.

Her grandfather was civil rights leader William Holmes Borders Sr., who pastored at Wheat Street Baptist Church in Sweet Auburn and helped desegregate Atlanta's buses and police department.

Her mother, Gloria T. Borders, ran for the Atlanta City Council and General Assembly, but didn't win.

Borders helped integrate the Westminster Schools, graduated from Duke and went on to a master's degree in health administration. An executive in banking, health care and real estate, she served on various Atlanta civic and nonprofit boards dedicated to families.

In her rookie campaign, Borders won the citywide election for council president position in 2004. Two years later, she heard Madeleine Albright speak at a WNBA-sponsored luncheon in New York.

"There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women," the former U.S. secretary of state told the crowd.

That helped inspire Borders to bring a WNBA team here, that and the message of the league: that women of all ages can lead, inspire and create change.

"My personal mission for everything that I've been involved with civically and as a volunteer is about women and children," Borders told a women's sports banquet in Atlanta in February. The Dream "fits that sweet spot of women and children. This is my new posse!"

To get the team here, Borders cherry-picked her network of female contacts. By the time she ended her spiel, her friends were wondering why they didn't think of the idea first.

"None of us hesitated to jump on board even though we didn't know what it all meant," says Danita Knight, 46, the wife of former Hawks general manager Billy Knight and who used to work for the NCAA.

"When Lisa told me this team would be good for our city, my first thought was that neither of us know anything about basketball," says Abrams, 34, a former Atlanta deputy city attorney. "But I'll do anything for Lisa because I trust what she thinks is right, and usually it's so weird and fun, it's worth the experience."

Also on the team: Valerie Hartman Levy, founder of the Atlanta chapter of the Million Mom March; Danielle Donehew, former Georgia Tech basketball star who oversaw operations for the Tennessee Lady Vols; Lara Hodgson, former COO of Dewberry Capital; Madelyn Adams, former vice president of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Morgan Smith, a finance expert; Monika Majors, senior innovation manager at Georgia-Pacific; and Louise Sams, general counsel and president of Turner Broadcasting's international operations.

Her circle was so effective at fulfilling the Dream that when prospective cities contact the WNBA, president Donna Orender points them to Atlanta.

The downside is that being collaborative can come off as lacking expertise.

"For a politician it can be dangerous to be collaborative, because people assume that you don't know what you're doing," Abrams says. "But Lisa does this to know more."

The Dream has helped Borders build political capital among lesbian fans, especially those with children. They have felt like outsiders at other sporting events as well as in public policy. So says Kathy Kelly, who as founder of the Marriage Equality Georgia Family Project organizes social events and political advocacy for same-sex couples.

"We've tried to help the Dream succeed because they are great for our families, because they're so open, and Lisa helped the team owner understand that," Kelly says.

Borders' involvement with the Dream mirrors the path Shirley Franklin took to becoming Atlanta mayor: strong ties to an Atlanta developer, and a project linking pro sports with civic improvement.

Franklin worked for the East Lake Community Foundation, set up by Tom Cousins after he redeveloped a public housing project where golf legend Bobby Jones grew up. An annual PGA Tour event there brings national attention.

Borders served as senior vice president for Cousins while persuading another local developer, Ron Terwilliger, to bankroll the Dream. She left Cousins to start her own consulting business, The LMB Group, and the Dream is a client.

"Lisa's native born and loves Atlanta, and is someone who understands and looks for opportunities to advance Atlanta, business and women," says Franklin, who grew up in Philadelphia.

Even though the Dream has won only a handful of games, Borders hopes that the team shows what its biggest fan is made of.

"I don't see a direct correlation with my campaign [for mayor]," she says. "But I hope it demonstrates my approach to any challenge, that I can build a coalition to take a calculated risk. Win or lose, this is about providing a path for women that is equally good for the city."