{"id":77874,"date":"2025-08-12T19:32:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T19:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/77874\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T19:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T19:32:08","slug":"golden-state-valkyries-hatch-violet-the-raven-their-mascot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/77874\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden State Valkyries hatch Violet the raven, their mascot"},"content":{"rendered":"

As tens of thousands of fans looked on through binoculars Monday night, the Golden State Valkyries<\/a> unveiled their new mascot: a bespectacled purple raven named Violet, who cartwheeled her way onto the court and into the hearts of the Valkyries faithful.<\/p>\n

Violet\u2019s halftime entrance came as the culmination of a saga that began on Thursday, when the Valkyries announced<\/a> that a \u201cmysterious, unusually large, violet egg\u201d from an \u201cundetermined bird species\u201d had appeared in Thrive City, the area outside Chase Center. The organization set up a livestream cam and designated Monday night\u2019s game against the Connecticut Sun<\/a> as \u201cBird Watchers Night.\u201d<\/p>\n

As fans gathered both inside and outside the arena on the night of the game, everyone seemed to have their own theory for what creature might hatch from \u201cthe egg.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a raven,\u201d said Sophia, an 18-year-old from Menlo Park who cited connections from Norse mythology. \u201cThey\u2019re very closely associated with valkyries, and I\u2019ve seen them on the screen during past games. I\u2019ve also seen stuff about them following valkyries when they go on their adventures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Golden State Valkyries mascot Violet is unveiled at halftime during the Valkyries game against the Connecticut Sun at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

And as the game built to halftime, Chloe, a 13-year-old from Fairfield, said she agreed that it would be a purple raven.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just a lot of feathers, and the egg\u2019s purple for the Valkyries,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her cousin Bryce, a 9-year-old from Daly City, begged to differ. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a pterodactyl,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know, I just think it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

A video shown in the arena at halftime \u2013 shot from the mascot\u2019s point of view \u2013 started the unveiling. After hatching from the egg and finding her uniform, the raven was invited onto the court by the Valkyries\u2019 dance team.<\/p>\n

When Violet strutted and somersaulted her way onto the court, she was met with near-universal acclaim from the Valkyries\u2019 latest sellout crowd of 18,064fans. She immediately attempted several layups with the help of Golden State Warriors center Quinten Post, and missed the first few. She ultimately sank one during a break in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

She also performed a few Bay Area dances with a young dance crew, much to the delight of the home fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were great, very Bay Area, so you love to see the Bay being represented,\u201d said Samantha Howard, a fan from Brooklyn who has lived in San Francisco for the past 13 years. \u201cThe dance group was certainly much better than the attempts to make a basket.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as for Violet herself, Howard said she was a little surprised, but enthusiastic regardless.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, adorable, but I was expecting a more powerful warrior bird, like a black raven screeching across the ground,\u201d she said. \u201cVery cute, but she was just born, so I could imagine maybe she\u2019ll evolve into a more powerful bird in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Valkyries mascot Violet scores a basket during a time out during the Valkyries game against the Connecticut Sun in the fourth quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alba Barreto, a senior citizen from San Francisco, said she thought the reveal was \u201cwonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so glad Violet was with us this evening, and I think she\u2019s going to be an asset to the Valkyries,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Fans on Reddit were also mostly positive, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Norse theme continues,\u201d user Ok-Cheesecake-8719 wrote in a threat on r\/wnba<\/a>. \u201cI love it! Would\u2019ve loved to see a deep cut with the names of Odin\u2019s actual ravens, but they\u2019re not very Basketball themed so I get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reddit user sharingtheflame echoed Howard\u2019s wish for more ferocity: \u201cI was expecting something a bit more badass but we shall embrace her nonetheless.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the Valkyries, Violet\u2019s arrival onto the basketball court might just have lit something of a fire beneath them. After leading by just six points at halftime, they sank a succession of 3-point baskets \u2013 including five in the third quarter alone \u2013 to balloon their lead over the Sun to 20 points. They never looked back, winning 74-57.<\/p>\n

Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase was busy with her halftime message during Violet\u2019s introduction, but she did have a tip for the mascot\u2019s layup skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, maybe dunk it, how about that?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Valkyries\u2019 next two games are on the road, including at Washington at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Violet\u2019s next chance for a home appearance will be Sunday at 5:30 p.m. when Golden State hosts the Atlanta Dream.<\/p>\n

Tina Chen contributed to this story.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Golden State Valkyries mascot Violet is unveiled at halftime during the Valkyries game against the Connecticut Sun at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As tens of thousands of fans looked on through binoculars Monday night, the Golden State Valkyries unveiled their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[402,4804,10831,2558,99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-77874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-golden-state-valkyries","10":"tag-inside-sports","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}