*I hadn't realized how all over the place it is until I listened to it all the way through this morning. If you like your radio eclectic, you'll enjoy.
The episode kicks off with Beyonce's "Run the World (Girls)", as it's a celebration of badass women. That sort of celebration is something we do here, too. Which is a nice segue into the topic of this post.
The Golden State Valkyries won their first WNBA championship on Halloween, defeating the Atlanta Dream in Game Seven, 68-63.
Natalie Nakase is the Valks' head coach. After stints as an assistant with teams as disparate as the Los Angeles Clippers, Las Vegas Aces, Tokyo Apache (Japan), and Agua Caliente (G-League), she was named the first coach in Golden State's history on October 10, 2024.
She was named WNBA Coach of the Year after leading her expansion squad to a 23-21 record and a berth in the playoffs. Nakase was the first coach of an expansion squad to win the award. And she was just getting started.
The Valkyries finished the 2026 regular season with a 32-12 record, good for second overall in the 15-team league, one game behind the Minnesota Lynx. Golden State topped an up-and-coming Dallas Wings team, two games to one, in the quarterfinals, then easily dispatched the defending champion Aces in a three-game semifinal sweep.
Nakase's bunch were crowned champions after a brutal seven-game series with a very tough Atlanta Dream team, who took a step up this year after adding Angel Reese to a talented roster. Neither team led by more than one game in the back and forth set. True to form, all four Valks victories came with the winning score under 70, and all three of the Dream's wins happened when they were able to push the pace and get the game closer to 80+.
That's Golden State in a nutshell. Nakase herself was a hard-nosed, undersized (5'2") point guard who walked on at UCLA and became a three-year starter. Her team mirrors her on the court - they play their asses off. The Valkyries were 14th in the WNBA in points per game and dead last in shooting percentage. They took and made fewer free throws than all but one team. They were middling in rebounding stats. No Valk was in the league's 30 in points per game, nor top 20 in rebounds per game, and not a single starter cracked the top 50 in field goal percentage.
At the same time, they led the league in Defense Rating and Net Rating, were tops in turnovers created, and 4th in steals. They were the slowest team in terms of pace. It's a goddamn grind to play Natalie Nakase's team, and every contributor knows and plays her role. Every coach dreams of getting her/his players to sacrifice for the collective.
In Norse mythology, valkyries are meant to be fierce woman warriors who escort the dead from the battlefield to Valhalla. According to legend, they have no named leader, but work as one. Damn. I guess Natalie Nakase's a valkyrie her ownself. And she might just fuck around and be one of the first women to be an NBA head coach. Maybe she'll take over for this guy, who'd probably vouch for her.
man, you folks really don't like badass women, huh?
ReplyDeleteNakase's post-game pressers are gems. Wonderfully unfiltered and profane. And yeah, she's a badass. Entire Valks' experience at home looks nuts. Mostly glad to see WNBA players earning enough that they don't have to go overseas off-season to earn what they're worth.
ReplyDeleteI was speechless when I learned there was a new post.
ReplyDeleteready to play on the air right now. and again at 5:00 pm. get some.
ReplyDeleteHappy Veterans Day to all those who serve or served. Greatly appreciated by many millions.
ReplyDeleteword. my family's service goes all the way back to both of my great-grandfathers and all the way forward to a pair of nephews (one flying helicopters for the navy in the persian gulf at the moment and the other a first-year cadet at the air force academy). me, not so much. pete hegseth dishonors veterans' service, which is one of the many reasons i want that fucker fired on a rocket into the sun.
ReplyDeleteIt'll happen. Hear me now and believe me later.
ReplyDeleteHead over to The Waterfront Radio -- Les Coole's Clever Covers Episode 1 at 11:15 and Episode 2 at 12:10.
ReplyDeleteAnd Rob's show is pretty damn good, people. Tune in when you can.
Hegseth is terrible AND trying to impeach without the votes in the senate is performative and stupid. Investigate the hell out of these clowns and let them implode.
ReplyDeletesometimes performative shit matters in service of influencing a public that tunes washington out 95% of the time. i think the dems will pick the ball back up in january, impeach hegseth, and take it to trial fully expecting to lose the vote in the senate (it takes 67 votes to convict). but i think a highly-publicized, well-planned three-week circus full of damning evidence that implicates rubio and trump in addition to hegseth is a significant win for the dems, regardless of the outcome. if team trump were smart, they'd cut hegseth loose before that happens.
ReplyDeletetoday more than ever, politics is performance. zohran mamdani is one of the best political communicators in the country. he and his team are very clearly performative in how they publicize the many little things they're doing to improve the lives of new yorkers. that performance happens to have a point of view and a consistency. and people fucking love him.
ReplyDeletethe gop has held the advantage in terms of performative outrage for decades, and they've used it to their significant electoral advantage. if the dems are finally learning how that game is played, i'm here for it.
shit. i guess this could've been a post.
Performative shit in NYC where the Dems or democratic socialists should never lose is one thing. Doing it countrywide for a still very divided electorate is another. The audience is swing voters and non-MAGA folks right of center. A three ring circus will enthrall the base but won’t help with the folks you really want to bring into the tent. People are starved for a government that actually gets something done.
ReplyDeleteDon’t play into Trump’s martyrdom/lawfare complex. It helped get him reelected in 2024. Professional but ruthless investigation of the actual criminality going on is much more important and frankly all over the place. Investigate Don Jr. getting a Russian oligarch to pay for his wedding, or Alina Habba getting a $50M contract from a bullshit company to secure a pardon, or any number of other things.
Remember, this White House is going to fight every subpoena and not show up when possible. The performance should be one of ice cold professionalism - not this giddy “lawyer up” shit. Box these fuckers in, make them look terrible not sympathetic for not responding to legitimate inquiries, make Trump pardon folks that are facing difficult but fair investigation. These fuckers will hang themselves.
Ice cold! Alright alright alright alright alright!
Deleteif you're looking for performative politics, the season finale of "the diplomat" has it in spades
ReplyDeletepolling after the midterms suggested that the second-most important issue animating voters' choice (after affordability) was ending corruption. combatting graft and illegality in a "professional and ruthless" manner is well within the capacity of people like jamie raskin. i agree fully that the cowboy shit won't play, but i think the dems can prosecute the case effectively while continuing on other fronts to govern in ways that matter. like they're already signaling.
ReplyDeleteseems we need to get together over some beers to hash this out.
I know just the place!
ReplyDeletewhich season, dave?
ReplyDeletewrens are 5.5-point dogs on the road in boca raton against florida atlantic.
ReplyDeleteRIP Richard Posner.
ReplyDeleteMiguel has a great Posner story
ReplyDelete