Is It Getting Heavy?

The Valkyries, The Wiz and other antidotes

Last night all I wanted to do was go to sleep ridiculously early. The kind of early I would have rebelled against as a kid. The kind of early where you say “I’m a grown ass woman and I can do what I wanna”. I was rooting for the sun to go down early on solstice. But the neighbors had a rager of a party. They were at least a block away but because of how sound travels and bounces off buildings, it was specifically loud. From my living room it was not so bad. But the party was twice as loud exactly where my pillow was. And while there can be something comforting about falling asleep to the sound of a party - very 1970s my parents having people over - that didn’t work last night.

Which is a long way of saying there are many reasons I can’t sleep.

But I don’t write about those reasons, I write about basketball as a bulwark against those things. Basketball as a way to pick yourself off, dust yourself off, start all over again. What happens when the Warriors and the Wizards are over and I have to pay more attention to the non-basketball world around me? I either want to go to sleep at 7:45 pm or 2:30 am with no in between.

A few weeks ago I was thinking about Kevon Looney’s ability to get rebounds and then I had a wave of sadness over the fact that I might have already seen Loon’s last minutes. I mean, maybe not, but also probably? The lesson from the Warriors’ post-season is that they are not there yet. Their complete inability to win a playoff game without Curry was a gap that they must close. And so, as happens several times in the basketball season, I am left hoping that the players who I value have no value to other teams.

When we last talked, it was mid May. Jordan Poole has long been back from his end of season trip to Europe. The Warriors have scattered to the winds. Steph’s nearly last words from his post-season press conference were “Leave me alone this summer.” Moses Moody is in Africa on a trip with the NBPA, Kuminga is in the lab, Podz is courtside at every Valkyries game, Buddy is in the Bahamas and Jimmy is mostly in Europe either at soccer games or vineyards or extremely fancy outdoor birthday parties in Italy. (Or at least, this is what they’ve been posting on IG, who knows where they really are).

And we are on the verge of a game 7 in the NBA Finals. Pacers-Thunder. Have you been watching? So many people have not been and that’s too bad. The Pacers and the Thunder are two highly likeable teams. They are young, they have fun together, they play defense, they’ve been brilliant (all year for OKC and for the Pacers during the playoffs). The games have been great entertainment. I assumed that it would be the Shai Gilgeous Alexander Finals, but it’s been the Tyrese Haliburton Finals, even though he has not been the best player on his team.

A fun weird thing about Haliburton is his voice - he regularly switches registers mid-sentence. He says he is unaware of doing it in the moment. It seems like it’s artificially manipulated until you hear it happen in real time.

But more importantly, he’s been draining buzzer beaters, playing injured and bringing everything he has to the team.

This is my pitch to watch Game 7. There aren’t many game 7s in the Finals - the last one was 2016. This is the last NBA game until October. Maybe you would like an escape today for a few hours.

Yesterday I read an article about how accessible design and basically a lot of the developments made for disabled people end up being used for the military. Things created for disabled people become too expensive to get to market for disabled people and yet somehow not too expensive for the military and police. Example: robot dogs, originally developed as a potential replacement for seeing eye dogs. Corporations get the funding for research to help disabled people and get their profit by weaponizing their results. It was all I could do not to go full fetal, full jellybean, full Friends marathon. (This was also why I wanted to go to bed so early.)

I stay afloat through basketball and when I need extra support, which is always, I’ve got a rotation on youtube. Here’s some of my most recent life rafts.

A’ja Wilson’s Nike commercial. Love love love seeing her parents, her college coach and I’m sure a ton of personal references for her that I don’t know.

Janet Jackson at the BET awards

Need more? How about E-40’s Tiny Desk concert? (Yes, Mom, that’s Howard Wiley playing sax.) It’s cued up to start at Yay Area, stop it whenever you want.

Whenever non Bay Area people watch home Warriors games with me, inevitably someone asks “who is that person sitting courtside…” The answer is always E-40.

My most-used tool in my anti-despair kit? The Wiz recording of Be a Lion. I’ve seen it so many times, I just jump halfway through to the part where the three part harmony comes in, but you should listen to the whole thing.

And then there’s the Golden State Valkyries - the feel good team of the year. I was always intending to watch every Valkyries game, to evolve A Game at a Time to include watching every Warriors, Wizards and Valkyries game (208 games, but who’s counting besides me). I’ve heard those long term Warriors fans who have been there through the lean times and the triumphs. I will never be able to be that Warriors fan. I can be that fan for the Valkyries.

I know how to watch a rebuilding losing team - I watch the Wizards - and I’ve learned how to find joy in it, even when some games are painful. I was ready for the sacrifice, the growing pains of a new team.

But something odd happened - the Valkyries are good.

They are currently 6-6. If the season ended today, they would be in the playoffs. They are fun, they are tough, they are joyful. And the fans are out of hand. They call it Balhalla (get it? Valhalla?) Chase Center is a relatively chill arena for the Warriors. It is raucous for the Valkyries. The Warriors for better or worse are a corporate event and it shows. The Valkyries are a Bay Area phenomenon and it shows. Don’t believe me? Check out the schedule and watch a home game when they are on national tv: Valkyries National TV Schedule.

They are a team of people who are 6th-8th on the roster which makes them hungry. They know how to play as a team. They know how to do what is necessary for the good of the team. Coach Natalie Nakase said they specifically recruited killers who play with joy. (This is the Steph Curry philosophy of playing as well).

Do we need an NBA reference? Imagine a team of Donte DiVincenzos or Kevon Looneys, or Gary Payton IIs or Aaron Wiggins. You see what you are getting. A whole bunch of players who play hard and play the right way.

Here’s a highlight from their most recent game against the Indiana Fever - they won by the way. Listen to the crowd noise.

This team has energy like you would not believe. They chase down the ball, they go after rebounds. They outhustle every team they play. That doesn’t mean they win every time but it does mean they are competitive in every game they play. Currently, 5 team members are gone playing in the European League. The replacements have been top notch. There have been more changes in their starting lineup than anyone else in the W. It has been hard to keep track of players because of the rotating cast and because they play most of their roster every game. But no matter because Coach Nakase (first Asian American coach in the W) is a genius and has got all the players, whether it’s their first day or their third month, totally bought in to what this team is doing. They are joyful. They are tough as nails. Dang do I wish I could be joyful and tough as nails.

Here’s from an earlier game:

Also, is it the Vals or the Valks? What do you think? I’ve heard it both ways.

I don’t think I am close friends with anyone who has season tickets (and if I am, let’s talk), but my friends’ friends do. So I can watch the game and see people I know in real life in the stands - people I’ve met at various birthday parties, graduations, and weddings. The photographer for the Valkyries? My friend’s friend. Person shown on the Jumbotron with her very famous San Francisco sister? My friend’s friend. It’s local in a way that is a delight. And it’s a new fan base - there’s only a 5% overlap between season ticket holders for the Warriors and the Valkyries.

And they are bringing in the money too. The Valkyries are selling out all their games and they have the highest attendance (18K) in the league. They are projected to be the highest revenue team of the W - not only because of attendance, but because of merchandise. Some of this makes sense. No one had Valkyries merchandise before this year so everyone needs some. But for all the talk about W teams not being profitable, the Valks are proving them wrong. They are proving me wrong. I love it.

Later today I will inevitably scroll upon something that will bring me to my knees. I’ll watch the Pacers/Thunder game and then the Valkyries, my downstairs neighbor will hear me yelp about some improbable shot going in, I’ll hear the local ice cream truck drive by, I’ll make my plans to resist empire, and hopefully go to sleep. But not before hearing my favorite part of Be a Lion one (or ten more) times. Use as needed.

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)

I had been delinquent and wasn’t keeping this playlist updated - it is now! All the songs from all the posts are in this playlist.