Golden State crowds welcomed back Monique Billings (now with Indiana) and Carla Leite (thriving in Portland) with loud, loving ovations — the roving cameras found a kid with Leite sign _crying_, for heaven’s sake.
Tonight, Los Angeles and Kate Martin visit. “Fan favorite” doesn’t fully describe Martin’s position in the Chase Center’s hearts.
I’ll put it this way. I met a doctor with whom I talked baseball while he examined me. His name was Dr. Brooks Bahr, and in the course of conversation, he said he was born in Baltimore in 1970.
My eyes widened. “They named you after…”
Dr. Bahr nodded. “Yep. Lots of boys — and girls! — named Brooks then around Baltimore.” Brooks Robinson was a third baseman of legendary defensive ability for the Baltimore Orioles in the ’60s and ’70s — in 1970, the Orioles won the World Series and Brooks was named World Series MVP. Robinson was from Little Rock, Ark., but Baltimore adopted him as their own.
I think Kate Martin became a daughter to the Bay Area during the Valkyries’ inaugural season. The most love I ever saw for a basketball player was for Sue Bird after the end of her last game in Seattle. Martin reached a level like that in one year instead of 19, and without Bird’s four championship rings.
The Valkyries front office put Martin’s face on most of the marketing pieces during the off-season. A front office risks looking silly if it markets a team around a player who doesn’t return, but that’s what happened. Martin was #3 or #4 on Golden State’s depth chart at two guard, which made her relatively expendable, and they cut her.
I was shocked. Whomever the Valkyries kept instead of Kate Martin could not produce points, rebounds, and assists sufficient to make up for the public relations damage.
At 7 o’clock, the Golden State coaching staff shall be reminded that if it were up to the season ticketholders, Martin would still be here.