{"id":310719,"date":"2026-05-11T19:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/310719\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T19:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:26:10","slug":"six-entirely-real-people-we-met-at-the-valkyries-home-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/310719\/","title":{"rendered":"Six entirely real people we met at the Valkyries home opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mission Local has a series called \u201cPeople We Meet\u201d<\/a> where we introduce you to a few of the many fascinating San Franciscans we come across in our reporting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today we\u2019re taking a different approach: In the spirit of the New Yorker\u2019s long-running satire column, Shouts and Murmurs<\/a>, here are a few of the fans who showed up in full force for the Valkyries home opener at Ballhalla (aka Chase Center) on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The Heartbroken<\/a> Fan Still Wearing Her Kate Martin Jersey<\/p>\n

We all mourn differently. It has been a long few days since Kate Martin was dropped from the Valkyries squad. This fan dyed her hair purple, dressed head-to-toe in violet and painted the number \u201c20\u201d over her face. During the game, she brandished a giant \u201cMissing\u201d poster with Martin\u2019s face on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(FYI the WNBA store<\/a> now has Kate Martin Valkyries jerseys on sale, tear.)<\/p>\n

The Other Heartbroken Fan Still Wearing Their Custom Flau\u2019jae Johnson Jersey They Ordered in The Less Than <\/a>an Hour That Johnson Was a Valkyrie Before She was Traded<\/p>\n

Again, we all mourn differently. This fan came with a loudspeaker that cycles through playing Flau\u2019jae\u2019s \u201cWOAH\u201d and Camoflauge\u2019s \u201cCut Friends,\u201d vowing never to visit Seattle. At halftime they find the fan wearing the Kate Martin jersey and together the two pass a flask back and forth. The pair finish the game in silence.<\/p>\n

\"AA fan sporting a Kate Martin jersey outside of the Chase Center on May 10, 2026. Photo by Meg Shutzer<\/p>\n

The Queer Couple That Met On Lex<\/p>\n

Matched because they both answered \u201cWho is your celebrity crush?\u201d with \u201cVeronica Burton.\u201d They look like the female version of Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams. One of them spends the game loudly talking about her former gymnastics career in Texas. The other keeps talking about their cottage.<\/p>\n

The 6 a.m. Cycling Class from a Boutique Fitness Studio That We Happen to Like<\/p>\n

They have been up since 5 a.m. It is now past 9. They are awake and still \u201cfine.\u201d A basketball bounces off of the six-pack of one of the cycling instructors. She doesn\u2019t notice. She is too busy drilling Eileen Gu on her lifting routine and offering tips on form after Gu beat the drum before the game.<\/p>\n

\"TwoEileen Gu prepares to strike the drum before the Valkyries play the Phoenix Mercury at the Chase Center on May 10, 2026. Photo by Meg Shutzer<\/p>\n

The One Person That Doesn\u2019t Want to Be There<\/p>\n

A Y Combinator co-founder, he only showed up at the game because another founder tweeted that \u201cfemale representation is the next big thing in AI.\u201d Spends the first quarter whacking the side of his Vision Pro and muttering that augmented reality is not what it used to be. At halftime, the founder gets four notifications from his Oura ring. You poke him. He is fast asleep.<\/p>\n

Your Elderly Grandparents from Very Small Town, USA\u00a0<\/p>\n

They arrived two hours early. Brought their own sandwiches. Didn\u2019t understand the seating chart so they accidentally bought floor seats. Kept making a Valkyrie\u2019s \u201cV\u2019 sign during the games. Had no idea that they weren\u2019t making peace signs. Were alive when the term \u201cdagger\u201d was an active part of the slang lexicon but still don\u2019t understand why the fans get rowdy when \u201cWHAT A DAGGER!\u201d flashes on the screen after 3-pointers.<\/p>\n

The Golden State Valkyries are playing the Chicago Sky this Wednesday May 13 at 7 p.m. at the Chase Center. Buy your tickets here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t swing the ticket price? The Chase Center\u2019s outdoor plaza screens the game live and free \u2014 and if our reporting is correct, the archetype-watching out there is just as good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mission Local has a series called \u201cPeople We Meet\u201d where we introduce you to a few of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144,127,124738],"class_list":["post-310719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-sports","tag-valkyries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}