CalTrain was packed with baseball (A’s visiting the Giants is a bigger occasion than it used to be, since Oakland ate shit again at keeping a sports team) and basketball goers, which makes it tough to disembark. A fellow said to his mate: “When those people go, follow them. That’s our strategy.” “Their strategy should be to follow a big guy like you”, I said. He didn’t get that, if his first idea didn’t clue you in to his savvy. “Why do you have a sign that says ‘Media’?” he said. “I was working the Valkyries game”. “That’s the women’s …
The hottest ticket and media credential in this town or any town
The organizer of the 2025 US senior open for chess fell ill. The usual path these days is to launch a pleasehelpme page, but this chess organizer said: Please play in my tournament. It’s in Illinois, weekend of July 25. So I’d miss Dallas at Golden State, but the Wings visit again in September. And there’s a Sky game I could do on the 27th. Only trouble is, it’s Indiana. Before I ask Sky media for a credential, maybe Golden State can find a job (and accreditation) for me.
The Caitlin Clark Effect reaches the magazine racks
I don’t care if it’s good or not — the fact that it exists means having to put my $16 in, so there’ll be more like it in the future (and if I’m writing it, then it’ll be better). Wait. $16?! Yeah, said the kid. Magazine prices are going way up. Maybe it’s the cost of the paper, some think it’s the inks, I dunno. But graphic novels, they still cost the same. Graphic novels cost too much 10 years ago, I said. The other things are just catching up.
Valkyries cut to final 12, keep savvy forward Linskens
The Golden State Valkyries made their final cuts Wednesday, waiving guard Kaitlyn Chen, and forwards Laeticia Amihere, Chloe Bibby, Mamignan Touré, and Elissa Cunane. Valkyries followers objected because they saw Chen on TV during the NCAA championship game, so she must be worth keeping. And Amihere scored 20 points in the first exhibition game! NBA observers used to joke during the ’90s, when Jordan was making the NBA product a household object, that inexperienced NBA coaches formed their draft strategies solely from watching the Final Four. The Chen supporters display that sort of judgment. Amihere’s 20 points against Los Angeles …
Vlastimil Hort 1944-1925
Czech-German grandmaster Vlastimil Hort died Monday at 81. Hort was one of the best players in the world during the ’60s and ’70s, reaching the candidates matches in 1977, where he was knocked out by former world champion Spassky. Hort is well remembered for declining to win that match by forfeit, and instead giving an ailing Spassky one of his own timeouts. Hort set a record for conducting a simultaneous exhibition of 636 games in 1985. In 2006, he won the senior world championship at chess960 (honest, a senior 960 tournament is something for which I’d rekindle enthusiasm and ambition).
Goodbye, Cruel World (literally, not figuratively)
When the ’80s band Til Tuesday announced last October that it was reforming — for the first time in 35 years — to play at the Cruel World festival in Pasadena May 17, I reached for my credit card. Then in December, I purchased my season ticket for the Golden State Valkyries. When the league set this as opening weekend, I crossed my fingers. May 16 at Los Angeles would’ve been dreaming come true, but May 16 hosting the Sparks meant racing away from Chase Center to catch a plane. I was OK with the plan to hurry from Chase …
Eight best players, four nicest girls
Golden State won 84-79 in Phoenix Sunday in a preseason exhibition. It was the second game in which the Valkyries came back from down 12 or more before entering the fourth quarter tied. The Valkyries assisted on 21 of 25 FGM, led by guard Julie Vanloo’s 6 assists. *** WNBA rosters are nearing their final forms, while fans go wackawacka because their personal favorites aren’t surviving that last cuts. The Valkyries cut Shyanne Sellers (whose father Brad was on my fantasy team in 1993) a week ago, though her jersey was already on sale in the team shop (the lesson …
Playing against ex-students is the worst
I most dislike playing chess against opponents who used to be my students. If they bought into the methods that my coach taught me, it’s like playing against superior versions of myself — they’ve got everything I gave them, plus whatever else they picked up along the way. If they did not buy in, then I feel additional pressure to smash their stupid faces, in a manner to suggest: See? If you’d gone with the program, you would’ve won this game. I tried retired from over-the-board play, but following my lecture last week, the Kolty club asked me to fill …
Like I said
One of the troubles I have with blogging, I said, is that “good” stuff is set aside for inclusion in a book, while throwaway items go on FB or BlueSky, and there’s only rarely anything in between. Then I launched this blog because I needed someplace to cover the WNBA developments (Golden State gave me my first team since Sacramento folded, but Los Angeles hired my coach), and even chess (because I broke the chess blog). I also said I would post some crap, rather than think too much about where it belongs. So here’s a picture of today’s Amazon …
Sparks 83, Valkyries 82 (exh)
Los Angeles spoiled the first game in Golden State history in San Francisco on Tuesday. Sparks guard Aari McDonald scored 10 of her 12 points in the 4th quarter, including a 3-pointer to break the game’s last tie, and two free throws to put the visitors ahead by 4 with 0:05 remaining. Both coaches — Natalie Nakase for Golden State, and Lynne Roberts for Los Angeles — made their WNBA debuts in the preseason exhibition. The Sparks visit San Francisco again on the 16th for the teams’ official openers. *** My custom is to write something like a wire service …