I read with interest my colleague Brad Essex’s post the other day regarding Caitlin Clark and the brutal treatment her alleged peers in the WNBA subject her to in most every game she plays. While Brad did an excellent job of detailing how the WNBA and its assorted players — many of whom seemingly daily bathe in bitterness syrup over how the cruel world has rejected them not due to skin pigmentation but rather a determined inability to be likable human beings — are fiercely determined to demolish the one player that has brought them popular culture attention and relevancy, there are some other factors at play he did not delve into that warrant a deeper dive.
MORE: Essex Files: The WNBA’s Goose Is Laying Golden Eggs and They’re Beating It With a Bat
I come from a couple of different angles. First, there is a family history that long ago taught me tolerance and acceptance, where typically, a member of Generation Boomer would have cried, “unclean!” My father had three sisters, two full and one half. The two full sisters lived together in various flats and houses in San Francisco over the years before retiring to the suburbs. Dad would routinely pack Mom and whichever assortment of their five kids were at home at the time for a Saturday or Sunday trip into the city, which was always a treat. The youngest sister was once engaged, but her fiancé died in World War Two during the Bataan Death March. The oldest never married but always had a, shall we say, special lady friend who, as I recall, was a lovely and quite pleasant woman. It was not until many years later that I learned what was going on, by which time I had grown thoroughly unbothered by such things despite my fervent embrace of evangelical Christianity in my teenage years. I still believe, and I’m still quite of the mindset that while yes, the Bible says what it says and His Word is His Word, God is far more qualified to sort out these things than I am.
Second, as a native and vast majority of my life resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, I have seen and do see life out here through an entirely different prism than assumptions made based on media sound bytes and tossing about of assorted drive-by cultural clichés. We are not all demented progressives. One might question the sanity of those of us who are unashamed conservatives for remaining. Still, we tend to think of ourselves as the modern equivalent of those whom God mentioned to Elijah as reserved to Himself and who had not bowed the knee to Baal. We native Californians are a stubborn lot.
Adding to this is a career path that, over the decades (ouch), has meandered from the retail world to corporate life and back into retail. Presently, my current and hopefully final stop before retirement is a sporting goods store that, in addition to athletic gear and outdoor adventure supplies, carries a fair amount of merchandise for the local college and professional teams. Which, despite the city of Oakland’s best efforts to run everyone out of town, there is a high number. Our current best seller? Take a guess. 49ers? No! Warriors? Nope! Giants? Uh-uh!
It’s the Golden State Valkyries.
As I’ve mentioned before, the Valkyries are unique among WNBA franchises. On the court, despite a fluid roster due to injuries and players having commitments to overseas continental tournaments, the Valkyries are currently over .500. A rare accomplishment for an expansion franchise in any sport. Despite not being blessed with an abundance of sharpshooters who can cover a multitude of basketball sins by draining three-point shots like they are layups, the Valkyries play a brand of basketball emphasizing tough, but not dirty, team defense and, when on offense, unselfish ball movement in search of who has the best scoring opportunity in lieu of who has the greatest desire to pad her stats.
Given that interacting with the customers is my favorite part of the job (what, you thought it was stumbling in through the front doors at four in the morning in search of a coffee IV before starting my daily tasks?), I spend a lot of time chatting with people shopping in our Valkyries section. It is a broad cross-section of humanity. All colors. All genders. All preferences. Dads buying a shirt for their daughter in preparation for going to a game together. Sons buying a sweatshirt for their mom and a hat for themselves. Husbands and wives, already decked out in their Warriors gear, picking up something in violet and black en route to Chase Center in San Francisco, where they will join forces and voices with over 18,000 fellow fans. The Valkyries have sold out every home game this year, regardless of opponent. And no, it’s not because the legendary Golden State-Connecticut rivalry has finally reignited. The Valkyries enjoy fan support that is the envy of every other team in the WNBA. Even Indiana, which has a player wearing #22 that I hear is pretty good.
Okay, so what does all this have to do with conservatism?
I am a firm believer that the words of Paul to the Colossians are just as applicable to spreading the conservative evangel as they are to proclaiming the Good News of Jesus:
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Cultural awareness is a critical element in truth-telling. We see daily the lamentable results of conservatives having abandoned higher education to the crazies. Entirely unintentionally, the WNBA has presented us with a tool to reach multiple groups with the truth: It is conservatives, not bitter progressives, who are not only making the WNBA possible but are its most fervent supporters, even if indirectly. Consider these facts:
- It is conservatives who are most fiercely opposed to the transgender invasion of women’s places and women’s sports.
- It is conservatives who unhesitatingly welcome the Scott Preslers of this world into their ranks without agenda or bias.
- It is conservatives who reject groupthink and demands for conformity, instead pursuing political policies, platforms, and practices that let people live their lives in freedom and safety.
If you don’t like the WNBA, fine. It is not everyone’s cup of cappuccino. Unlike progressives, we conservatives have no problem with people enjoying things not under our sphere of interest. I enjoy watching the Valkyries. I want others to do the same if they are so inclined. I also relish the opportunity the team presents to mention to its fans that when it comes to who is responsible for the opportunity to root for Kate Martin and company, it is far more the men and women in office the media tells you to hate than Governor Hair Gel and associates.
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