Ballhalla

From Day One

Golden State Valkyries: In the first round of the playoffs, playing tonight 7 pm PST on ESPN against the Minnesota Lynx

Darlings, I don’t know what else to tell you - tonight might be the last opportunity for you to get on board. The Valkyries are in the playoffs, down one game in a best of three series. If they lose, it’s the end of their season. This is history in the making. An expansion team has never made the playoffs before. It’s your chance to say you were a witness.

At the start of their season, I told you that one of the reasons I was committing to watching every Valks game was because of that reason alone. I can be a Warriors fan for years, but I will never be a fan who was there from the start. But the Valkyries? I’ve watched it all - well, not quite, there is one game from early in the season that I still need to catch up on.

I’m thinking about this Instagram Reel I saw this morning explaining how research consistently shows that televised Presidential debates do not change anyone’s mind. I know I’m not going to change your mind. You are either not a basketball fan, or not a women’s basketball fan or it’s on too late or you have work tomorrow or you’re watching baseball or whatever it was you used to do before the Valkyries existed. I get it.

But the thing is that the Valkyries do exist and win or lose they are a fun team to watch. You’ve heard me say it before, but every complaint about the men’s game - that they don’t play defense, that it’s all mega stars, that it’s too corporate boxes and not enough community - that’s not true in the women’s game and it’s especially not true with the Valkyries who have no stars and all heart and gritty play. It’s not just me that thinks that.

This week, Veronica Burton was named the Most Improved Player.

Coach Natalie Nakase is sure to win Coach of the Year later on this week.

There have been numerous articles and podcasts asking why the fan base for the Valkyries is so much better, so much louder, so much more vibrant than the fan base for the Warriors. It’s a vibe that you can feel through the television. It’s a vibe I can feel in the City and I am rarely (really rarely) out and about.

This team of overachievers will not exist next year, you can’t tune in for the sequel. The Valkyries will exist but because the WNBA is negotiating a new contract nearly every player (who is not on a rookie contract), is on an expiring contract so that they have flexibility for the projected improved salaries. There is going to be an extraordinary amount of player movement for next year. Of course I’m dreaming of A’ja or Sabrina or Angel Reese in San Francisco but we will see what happens. The point is that it’s not going to be the same.

If you do watch the Valkyries today, you will also get to see the best team in basketball right now, the Minnesota Lynx. They are a well oiled, extremely efficient and very fun-loving machine. They are led by Napheesa Collier, current candidate for MVP and DPOY, and unflappable, graceful destroyer of opponents’ dreams, and backed up by Kayla McBride and guards Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman. They are probably unbeatable, unless of course the Las Vegas Aces and A’ja Wilson do what they’ve been doing, which is win no matter what.

Look, the world is crumbling, the news makes me physically ill and the Valkyries are a small piece of joy. Wouldn’t you take any speck of joy that was available so that you could fight the good fight the next day?

Funny/not funny story: Even though it’s a home game tomorrow, the game will be played in San Jose, not San Francisco. The Laver Cup is in San Francisco - announced before the Valkyries even existed. This is one of the many things that happens in the WNBA that would never happen in the NBA. I get that in this case, they couldn’t have known before the team was in San Francisco. But for reference, the Valkyries have sold out every home game, have the highest attendance in the league and currently have the highest valuation of any team in the league. It would have been good to have an actual home game for this team with so much buzz.

And this has happened before to the Phoenix Mercury where they had to relocate to a college gym and it’s happening to the Atlanta Dream now - their arena seats under 3500 and they couldn’t relocate to where the Hawks play because there’s a concert there.

Side note: Roger Federer is in my town. Roger Federer is in MY town. Roger Federer is IN MY TOWN. I know I won’t run into him unless I actually leave my apartment and I really doubt I’ll run into him at my public library branch, but maybe? Stranger things have happened.

Let’s go Valks!

The Timeout Books (the books I read during commercials and halftimes)

A Game At A Time Spotify Playlist (the songs that run through my head while writing this)