Valkyries 2026 WNBA Champs, Halloween

 

Golden State wins the WNBA Finals 2026

What an insane end to the season.  Right up til the last 70 seconds of the 7th game, I really had no idea how this would go.  A true underdog story, the Valkyries arguably have no *stars* as far as the media is concerned.  There's no media darling like A'ja Wilson or wild narrative like Angel Reese has been the last five years or so, between NCAA and her time in the WNBA.  

Instead, you have a second year team with players who are rock solid coached by someone who just showed she's the hardest working woman in sports business (maybe after Holly Rowe).  

When I got into the WNBA, the Valkyries were just starting up, so as a new-to-me sports league, I thought "a ha!  I have no history to contend with if I follow a new team."  Plus, they often started their games just as Jamie was going to bed, as they would start around 7:00 or 7:30 Pacific time.  So, the Valkyries became one of my default teams.  

Of course, there aren't *that many* teams.  So I watch a few, including the Las Vegas Aces.  And this season I tuned into far more Atlanta games once they picked up Angel Reese who had been languishing at Chicago who wanted to treat her like a kid with an attitude problem while being a terribly coached and managed team (come on Chicago.  You should know better.).  

So, yes, the Play Offs were nuts this year, and I was sad the Aces flamed out.  Apparently there was a ton of behind-the-scenes drama over there that Las Vegas kept a lid on and only got mentioned briefly after they were eliminated.

But I went into the Finals totally happy with either Atlanta or Golden State winning.  I just happened to know Golden State a bit better, but my friends like JAL and Dr. Jill were big Atlanta fans and contextually filled me in on a few things.  

Anyway - tremendous 7 game series, complete with the WNBA leadership misfire, apparently not buying that the Finals would go to 6 games or that Atlanta could be there.  And, thus, Game 6 was played at 12:00 on a Thursday (I managed to watch half during my lunch break).  And then they scheduled Game 7 during prime trick-or-treat on Halloween.  Insane.

I did manage to watch the second half on a split screen.  Matty, Nicole and Juan were over, as well as Jamie's Dad, so we watched both, with me silently losing my mind as the Valkyries tied it up and then went ahead.

Worth noting was Gabby Williams who put up 30, shot 10 for 23, Tiff Hayes got 11, Veronica Burton did 10, and Stokes got 13 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.  Just a solid showing against the Dream's tough defense.  

On to Unrivaled in January!

Halloween 2026

skeptical, to say the least

Emmylou tried on her stegosaurus costume and it was a little small.  We got some pictures and then left her spend the evening in her usual non-costumed state.  But she sure is cute as a little dinosaur.

This year we had Jamie's Dad, Matt, Nicole and Juan over for the holiday.  We ordered in some pizza and Nicole brought popcorn.  It was nice.  Stella, Matt and Nicole's greyhound, was also here.  She and Emmy get along really well.

Little, little kids started showing up before 6:00, and we sat outside on the driveway passing out candy for about two hours, finally calling it at 8:00-ish so I could finish up the basketball game.  

I did not wear a costume, I wore one of my Bride of Frankenstein shirts.  We had a lot of fun costumes, but:  I don't know what anything is anymore.  And that's fine.  I asked a girl what she was and she said "I'm (someone's name) from Zombies 4", which...  man, the hyper specificity is just hilarious.  But I am sure she was super happy.  And I do know what Zombies is.  

But my neighbor wore his Cubs hat and jersey he bought in Chicago and, as my neighbor is a huge Astros fan, he was former Astro and current Cubs' 3rd baseman, Alex Bregman!  I wish I'd put on my jersey and hat.  Next year.

By and large, it was nice out minus some mosquitos (reminder to buy some Off).  

I also am still trying not to eat sugar, so I walked our remaining candy to the Phillips twins down the street and handed it all over.