Last Wednesday, my son and his Dad joined an estimated 400,000 fans on the Embarcadero to celebrate the Golden State Valkyries, our new WNBA champions. I’ve been smiling about it all week.
If you’ve been living under a rock (which in this market would probably still get multiple offers), here’s the quick version. The Valkyries played their first game just 18 months ago. On October 31, they won the title in Game 7 at Chase Center and became the first expansion team in WNBA history to win a championship. They did it without a single All-WNBA player.
That’s part of what I love about this team. Many of these players were overlooked somewhere else. They came here, they played for each other, and won together.
And the fans! Chase Center, aka “Ballhalla” on game nights, has sold out every Valkyries game. In the stands are diehard women’s sports fans AND ALSO every other demographic you can imagine, including Warriors and 49er players, my sports-obsessed 10 year old boy, and so many others.
It’s a true Bay Area positive vibe!
SF has gone violet. City Hall and the Transamerica Pyramid are lit up in the team’s color, and Muni buses say “Go Valkyries!” One fan at the parade told The New York Times she ran track in college, back when women had no path to going pro, and had waited decades for a day like this.
That stuck with me. So did seeing so many different kinds of people, cheering for the same team, cheering for the Bay.
It (again) made me very proud to be a San Franciscan.
Congratulations, Valkyries. See you in Ballhalla.
