Muffet Graduates, Valkyries Begin, and Fans React

Graduation milestones, expansion excitement, and growing pains on and off the court. In this episode, Kaari returns after a short break to celebrate her daughter’s college graduation — and the WNBA’s 29th season tip-off. 

She shares her firsthand experience as a Golden State Valkyries season ticket holder at the team’s much-anticipated home opener, including standout moments, second-half struggles, and a halftime performance that sparked some strong opinions. 

Plus:

• A quick history of WNBA expansion team expectations
• Thoughts on the early identity of the Valkyries
• Why fan traditions matter — and how they start
• Listener Q: Why do women play with a smaller basketball?
• This week’s Buzzer Beater (shoutout to the record-setting All-Star ticket sales!)
• And of course, an Air Ball Award you don’t want to miss

Whether you’re new to the league or already yelling “GSV! GSV!” at your screen — this episode is for you.

“Big stories, little episodes—amplifying the voices shaping the game on and off the court." - Her Game Her Voice Podcast by Kaari Peterson

Transcript

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Hi, I'm Kari Peterson, and this is Her Game, Her Voice, the podcast with big stories and little episodes, amplifying the voices shaping women's basketball. I'm back, and so is the WNBA. Season 29 is officially underway, and I am so ready for it. It feels like it's been a minute since I've been behind the mic, and that's because life... My daughter, aka Miss Muffet, graduated from college in Nashville. She's staying there for the summer and for grad school. So this basketball mama was busy helping her rookie move into her first apartment and get everything set up for adulting. Yes, it involved multiple trips to Target. But now I'm back in podcast mode and ready to dive in. In this episode, I'll be talking about the start of the WNBA season. answering a great listener question, and of course, handing out this week's awards, including a very satisfying buzzer beater. So let's tip this baby off. After all the moving boxes, furniture assembly, and Target runs, I came home in time to experience something I've been waiting 18 months for, the home opener for the Golden State Valkyries. Shmoopy and I bought season tickets for the Valkyries. We are all in. But like I said, it's been a long wait. The league announced the San Francisco expansion team over a year and a half ago. And last Friday, it finally happened. The Valkyries' first ever home game at Chase Center. This home opener wasn't just a game. It was the Valkyries' WNBA debut. A first chance to show the league and the fans what kind of team this is and what kind of season we might be in for. And the game? They started strong, really strong. hung right in there against the LA Sparks. There were moments of brilliance from Tiffany Hayes, Temi Fag-Benley, and Julie Van Loo. But after halftime, it was a different story. And that story was turnovers. Way too many turnovers. 22 to be exact, 10 more than the Sparks. And the Sparks made us pay, scoring 25 points off those giveaways. Ouch. And speaking of halftime, guess who the halftime entertainment was? My old pal E-40. Wait, what? If you listened to episode four of this podcast, you already know how I feel about using E-40 to market this team. Yes, he's a Bay Area icon, blah, blah, blah. But come on, this is the inaugural home game for a WNBA team in San Francisco. You're telling me there wasn't a single female artist, local or national, who could have headlined halftime instead? So yeah, I had to sit through that. But silver lining, I did get a post-game fan survey, and I used it to make my opinion known. E40, it's not personal, but it is a mismatch. Now back to the Valkyries. Setting expectations is key here. Expansion teams in any league tend to struggle early on, and the WNBA is no exception. Since the league began, 11 franchises, including the Valkyries, have joined the original eight. Out of the first 10 expansion teams, only three won their first ever regular season game. And only one expansion team, the Detroit Shock, finished their first season with a winning record. So yeah, I'm managing my expectations. That's the secret to enjoying this first Valkyries season. Everything is new and I mean everything, even the fan experience. Being inside the Chase Center for the home opener was exciting and honestly, a little awkward. Because we're all new. New fans, new team, new traditions that don't exist yet. Like at Stanford games, Shmoopy and I always enter through the same gate and exit through a different one. And if we switch that up, I'm convinced Stanford will lose. But with the Valkyries, we're still figuring it all out. Even the cheers are a work in progress. At one point, the MC tried to get us hyped up by yelling, GSV! GSV! And yeah, it started off okay. But then it just kind of trailed off into awkward mumbles. Not sure that chant's going to survive the season. It made me realize how much fan rituals matter. The chants, the entrances, the quirky superstitions, they're all part of what makes showing up feel like being home. And this season, we're building all of that from scratch. And honestly, that's kind of special. And now it's time for a listener question. This question comes from Derek, who asked, Can you talk about the evolution of the size of the basketball used in women's games? Derek, my basketball nerd heart beat a little faster when I read your question. Yes, yes, I can talk about that. We'll start with a quick trip back in time. When James Naismith invented the game of basketball in 1891, players used, you guessed it, a soccer ball. Not super ideal for bouncing or precision passing, but hey, it was the 1890s. Soon after, purpose-built basketballs were developed. The first ones were made from leather panels stitched together around a rubber bladder, which evolved into the more uniform, molded versions we see today. Spalding was the first company to make a basketball specifically for the sport. Now about ball sizes. By the way, I'm resisting the urge to make a joke here. This is a family show, after all. In men's basketball, the standard size is a size 7 ball. That's about 29.5 inches in circumference and weighs around 22 ounces. But in women's basketball, a smaller, size 6 ball is used. It measures 28.5 inches around and weighs 20 ounces. So about an inch smaller and 2 ounces lighter than the men's ball. But this wasn't always the case. The first major use of a smaller ball in women's pro basketball was in 1978. when the short-lived Women's Professional Basketball League, the WBL, adopted the size 6 ball. The idea? To account for the average differences in the hand size and upper body strength between men and women. The suggestion actually came from WBL player Karen Logan. But here's the kicker. The decision wasn't based on any hard scientific evidence. It was more of a practical assumption. NCAA followed suit in 1985. standardizing the smaller ball for women's college basketball. And internationally, FIBA mandated the use of the size 6 ball in 2004, hoping it would increase shooting accuracy and make the game more dynamic and fan-friendly. So did it work? Well, sort of, but not exactly how you might think. A study looked at over a thousand European women's games played before and after the switch to the smaller ball. The idea was to see if there was a measurable improvement in the accuracy of shots. And the results? Mixed. Players did take more three-pointers with the smaller ball, possibly because it felt easier or boosted confidence. But actual shooting accuracy did not improve. In fact, free throw percentages dropped, which was the opposite of what researchers expected. So while the smaller ball might make the game feel a bit faster and the passing snappier, It didn't magically make shots fall. So today, players are still using the size 6 ball. It's what they train with. It's what they know. And about the look of the WNBA ball. You know, that iconic orange and oatmeal color combo. It wasn't just a design choice. It was a branding one. Executives wanted something visually distinctive when the league launched. They tested a dozen colors at Madison Square Garden. and ultimately landed on the two-tone design because you could see the rotation of the ball more clearly on TV. It's since become a signature part of the league's identity. So to sum it up, overall, the smaller ball didn't improve accuracy, but may have helped with pace, passing, and confidence, especially with longer shots. And at the end of the day, as any baller will tell you, only one thing matters, the ball going in the basket. And now it's time for everybody's favorite, the awards segment. This episode's buzzer beater award goes to... WNBA fans. Specifically, the thousands of WNBA fans who broke the internet trying to snag tickets to the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game. Here's the deal. Tickets went on sale April 29th for the big weekend in July. And according to reports, they sold out in under five hours. Five hours. And that's with fans immediately facing long virtual lines. It was over 12,000 people deep just minutes after the on-sale window opened. But why does this matter? Because the WNBA All-Star Game is heading to Indianapolis for the first time ever, July 18th and 19th. And demand is off the charts because interest in the league is at an all-time high. We've been watching this growth in real time. TV ratings, merchandise sales, social media, and now ticket sales. The game has leveled up and so have the fans. Interest in women's sports, and the WNBA specifically, isn't just growing. It's exploding. And it's not slowing down anytime soon. So shout out to the WNBA fans who waded through those long virtual lines for All-Star Game tickets. You're this week's Buzzer Beater Award winners. And now, the Air Ball Award. This week's Air Ball Award goes to the Golden State Valkyries front office. Why? For cutting rookie Kaitlyn Chen right before the season started. And they cut rookie Cheyenne Sellers a couple weeks ago. There are no rookies on the Valkyries' final roster. None. Zero. Zilch. And it gets worse. Yuste Yochide... their 20-year-old Lithuanian draft pick? Well, it looks like she's a draft and stash and won't even be playing this season. So if you're like me and you enjoy watching rookies develop in the W, as a Valkyries fan, you're out of luck this season. And Valkyries fans are making it known that they are not happy about the roster cuts. The comments are flying on social media, especially about Caitlyn Chen. People are mad, and not in a slightly annoyed way, more like a, I was going to follow this team, but now I'm not way. As I mentioned in episode 6, Caitlyn Chen playing in San Francisco, a city with such a strong Asian American community, could have meant everything. The representation, the visibility, the inspiration for little girls in the crowd who finally see someone who looks like them running the point. But now, that's not happening, and people are pissed. So to the Valkyries, if your brand is about building something bold and inclusive, cutting Kaitlyn Chen is a real air ball. Now it's time for the flagrant foul award. This week, the award goes to the moment in women's basketball that seriously crossed the line. And the foul wasn't on the court this time. It was in the stands. During Saturday's WNBA season opener between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky, Yes, the same game where Kaitlyn Clark was hit with a flagrant foul for an aggressive, but pretty standard defensive play on the ball. Fans inside Indiana's Cambridge Fieldhouse allegedly hurled racial slurs at players from the Chicago Sky. Here's how I feel about this. Booing players? That's part of the game. I don't like it, but it's part of the game. Racial slurs? That's hate speech. It's abuse, it's ugly, and it's out of bounds. According to The Athletic, the WNBA is now investigating these hateful comments. And while the league didn't specify who the slurs were directed at, sources confirmed that they were aimed at Reese. The booing peaked after Clark's flagrant foul on her midway through the third quarter. And what should have been a moment to talk about the physical intensity of the matchup instead turned into yet another reminder that racism is alive and well. The WNBA issued a statement condemning all forms of hate, racism, and discrimination. The Players Union backed the investigation, saying, Such behavior is unacceptable in our sport. The Fever's ownership said they're cooperating fully with the league and reaffirmed their commitment to player safety. And just for context, this all happened on the heels of the league launching a No Space for Hate campaign. The same week. What?!

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No Space for Hate is a league-wide platform to address racism, harassment, and hate, not just online, but in arenas too. And anybody who questioned whether or not the WNBA needed a campaign like this, well, here's your evidence. So this week, the flagrant foul award goes to those fans, or fan, who think that hate has a place in the W. It doesn't. Period. I'm Kari Peterson, and that does it for another episode of Her Game, Her Voice. If you'd like to hear more episodes of Her Game, Her Voice, please follow or subscribe to the podcast. Subscribing and following the podcast is a mutually beneficial thing. It benefits you because you won't miss an episode, and it benefits me because, well, you won't miss an episode. Subscribing is easy. Just go to the Her Game, Her Voice show page on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. tap on the plus sign or click on follow to subscribe. And while you're on the show page, I would be eternally grateful if you would take a few seconds to give Her Game, Her Voice a great rating and or review and share an episode with a friend. Her Game, Her Voice can also be found on Substack, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. Thanks again for listening and let's get hooping.