Today we're bringing you episode three of Bounce. It's our second season and it's all about the Golden State Valkyries first year in the Bay. And this one takes us to a new space for fans who like to enjoy women’s sports from the comfort of a bar stool.
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Transcript:
Intro:
HOST ERIN LIM: Succession. It’s about power and confidence. And how it’s passed down from one leader to the next.
In the WNBA, when it comes to players, there’s no question who’s the current queen. It’s A’ja Wilson.
HIGHLIGHT REEL: Uh, oh. There goes Aja! Count it!
COMMERCIAL: Aja Wilson’s on top, top, top. Can’t take her spot, spot, spot.
The Las Vegas Aces’ three-time MVP. I mean, she’s got her own shoe.
COMMERCIAL: She won MVP, P, P. One, two, and three, three, three…
And when it comes to WNBA coaches, there’s nobody more respected than Ace’s Coach Becky Hammon.
COACH HAMMON HIGHLIGHT: Defend and board. We do that and we’ll be good. Defend and board.
Hammon was the first woman to be an assistant coach in NBA history. First head coach, too. And in 2022, she was the first woman to lead a WNBA team to a championship in her rookie year.
ANNOUNCER: And this season has come up Aces! The city of Las Vegas has its first major professional title!
And did it again in 2023.
ANNOUNCER: And for the first time in 21 years, the WNBA has a back-to-back champion. The Aces on top yet again.
You know who was right next to Becky Hammon and A’ja (Asia) Wilson for those two championships? Aces’ assistant coach Natalie Nakase. Now that she’s the head coach of the Golden State Valkyries, you know this home game was circled on the schedule.
COACH HAMMON: (Reporter: And how is it going to be for you to see your former assistant and going up against her?) I think she’s doing a great job. They’ve been in a lot of games, and they haven’t been able to pull some out. But, you know, when you’re pushing teams like New York and Minnesota to the brink, I think she’s doing a lot of things right.
ANNOUNCER: And we are underway, the Aces wearing the white trimmed in black and silver, and the Valkyries wearing black with their distinctive purple.
The Valkyries’ scored first at the Chase Center.
ANNOUNCER: Kayla Thornton, one of the big pickups in the expansion draft. And she wheels in to get her first bucket. One of five Valkyries who are averaging career highs in scoring this year.
The home team brought it on offense and defense.
ANNOUNCER: And now Aja bringing the ball up. We’ve seen that more and more. She’s going to go the length of the court. No she’s not! Rejected again by Billings. And then Burton goes coast to coast for her first basket! It’s a seven nothing Valkyries run. And Balhalla’s going crazy.
As the first half wound down, former Ace Kate Martin had time for one more statement.
ANNOUNCER: Time for a shot. Martin. Fire away! They call her money for a reason. Money Martin hits it to end the half, and it’s a 20-point advantage for the eight-game old Golden State Valkyries.
The Valkyries dominated their first nationally televised game. ABC broadcasters LaChina Robinson and Pam Moore noted the home court advantage.
ABC BROADCASTERS LaChina Robinson and Pam Moore: Certainly one of the toughest places to play in the league right now. / Yeah. / Fans have been engaged since the very beginning. What a pass! Veronica Burton! Have yourself an afternoon! / And this crowd is feeding off of every bit of it.
Burton ended up breaking a WNBA record: her team outscored the opponent by 40 points while she was on the court.
ANNOUNCER: What an afternoon! Way to make your debut! America gets introduced to Golden State Valkyries basketball. And they just blew away Vegas today, never trailing, winning it 95 to 68.
Coach Nakase and Coach Hammon came together after the game.
COACH NAKASE: We embraced each other. She said, “Great job.” And I literally said, “I learned everything from you. Literally.” She’s the reason why I’m here. We talked about it prior, um, about me taking this job was to have her complete support. She literally had to push me to interview. So, again, I would not be sitting here being as confident as I am as a head coach if it wasn’t for Becky.
Succession is inevitable. The passing of the crown. This was just one game out of 44 this season. But it was symbolic.
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Bounce Producers Erin Lim and Demetrius Johnson:
HOST ERIN LIM: This is Bounce: The Valkyries’ First Season in the Bay. I’m Erin Lim. I’m here with my podcast partner, Demetrius Johnson. How are you, Demetrius?
DEMETRIUS JOHNSON: I'm doing really good. I'm so glad to be back here.
ERIN: Yeah! We are at Ricky's Bar in the Castro neighborhood in San Francisco. It is the very first women's sports bar in the bay. It is packed.
DEMETRIUS: It is definitely packed in here right now. I feel the energy. It's so many people here. I smell the food. I'm seeing the replay of the game between the Golden State Valkyries and the Los Angeles Sparks. So I'm feeling real good right now. I need to get me some food as well. But um, I'm feeling good. I like the feeling here and I love like the little basketball rims you have, the basketball lights. So I feel the energy. There's a long line of people that's trying to get in, so I just feel blessed that I'm actually in here right now.
ERIN: Yeah, this is, uh, this has been years in the making here in San Francisco, but let's talk about the Valkyries.
DEMETRIUS: The Valkyries is definitely surprising. I feel like most people, they're playing really hard. I love the sisterhood, man. I think we all didn't expect this, but also I can say, um, I love the support that the Bay Area has given this team. Every home game has been sold out so far. So I'm excited and I'm loving how they plan.
ERIN: Yeah, I mean there were a couple of games that weren't great. They knew it though, and they knew, I think, where to tighten it up. So we sought it against the Las Vegas ACEs.
DEMETRIUS: Anytime a team is coming to the Bay Area to play the Golden State ies, they know they have to play hard. They know they're gonna play a team that's going to give it their all. So, yep. Shout out to the valkyries.
ERIN: Shout out one thing that's coming up that you really wanna talk about, which we should. The European League is gonna start up, so we're gonna have a few players that are missing.
DEMETRIUS: Yeah, so Julie Van Lew is going to be representing Belgium and we love Julie Van Lew. (We love) we love Julie Van Lu, so also another player, Janelle Salon. She's gonna be representing France. So we're gonna have to see how the team be able to fill in. Of these players that are going to be playing overseas.
ERIN: We'll see what happens. This season is a rollercoaster. We talked about that. So now we're just going to like start something new.
DEMETRIUS: Exactly. This is all very new and, but. What I also want to bring up, because we're here at the opening day of the first ever women's sporting bar in the Bay Area in San Francisco, and then your feature is about this place as well. So, uh, I'm looking forward to hearing this.
ERIN: I'm excited for everyone to listen to it. This has, uh, again, been years in the making and you know, uh, there's a famous saying that's like, if you build it, they will come. And, and they're here.
DEMETRIUS: And they're here right now. It's, it's amazing the families that are here, the friends, how it's bringing everyone together. I love it. And um, I'm definitely gotta come back and get some of the food. Matter of fact, lemme go get some food right now.
ERIN: Yep. Let's listen to, uh, Ricky's. Let's get into it.
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Story Transcript: Rikki's - The Bay Area's First Women's Sports Bar
REPORTER ERIN LIM: I’m here in the Castro where the owners of Rikki’s have invited friends and family for a soft opening.
Sounds of a busy bar and kitchen
The decor is purple, pink, and neon with lots of women's sports memorabilia. On one wall, I see pennants from the Valkyries, and the Bay FC women’s soccer team. There’s even one from The San Francisco Pioneers – the first Women’s Basketball League that played in the City. Mixed in with the pennants, I see a Sports Illustrated cover with local figure skating legend Kristi Yamaguchi. And next to the basketball hoops by the kitchen there’s a wall dedicated to the bar’s namesake, Rikki Streicher.
Sounds of busy bar and kitchen
Rikki was a local activist and business owner for more than 30 years. She owned a few lesbian bars: Maud’s in Haight-Ashbury, Amelia’s in the Mission, and Olive Oil’s Bar and Grill, based not too far from where the Chase Center is today. Here she is in the documentary Last Call at Maud’s:
Archive of Rikki Streicher: “ I have always been a bar person. I've always felt that bars were the most honest, open, free place that women could go.”
Rikki was also a huge sports fan. She co-founded the Federation of Gay Games and sponsored all kinds of women’s teams in San Francisco.
When Rikki’s owners Danielle Thoe and Sara Yergovich set out to open this bar, they were looking for a name that would honor the rich history of San Francisco and women’s sports, someone who really meant something to the City. Daneille says Rikki Streicher’s name rose to the top.
Danielle Thoe: It was like, wait, there's this person with kind of a cool, catchy, you know, quick name to say. And then we, learned more and more about Rikki and I think both the kind of community spaces that her bars were. And the the kind of things that she supported.
Danielle and Sara only met a few years ago playing in soccer leagues around San Francisco. They became fast friends.
Sara Yergovich: We were at a soccer game and Danielle was talking to a friend kind of ahead of me about how she wished she could open a women's sports bar.
Overhearing this, Sara’s ears perked up. She’d been feeling like something in her life was missing, like she wanted more meaningful work. The idea of a women’s sports bar seemed like it would fill that gap.
Sara: I kind of jumped ahead and ran up to her and I was like, “Wait, I wanna do that too.” And that was the start of the conversation.
Danielle had been hosting women’s soccer watch parties at bars throughout the City. She would beg people to come out to watch these games.
She’d tell them, “Come out to the bar and they’ll put the game on.” Sara told her she’d help get the crowd out.
Danielle: So then it was great to have somebody come and be like, I wanna do that too. I wanna, I wanna get people to show up.
Danielle said they had lots of support from San Francisco’s small business community.
Danielle : There's been a lot of people who've like supported us and opened up their spaces. Richmond Republic has been a big partner bar for Bridge Brigade, the Bay FC Supporters Group, and the Patriot House downtown at the Embarcadero Center. Then Standard Deviant we wouldn't be here without Mark DeVito and all of his support.
As more and more people came to the watch parties, Danielle and Sara started to recognize the need for their own space.
Sara: It's not just about having a space where you can watch it. It's where you feel like you're welcome and it's your own community space.
After doing research and filling out countless spreadsheets about who was watching women’s sports, the pair shared their work with friends and family. They found out that no one cared about the numbers. They just wanted Sara and Danielle to open the bar already.
Danielle: Everybody was on the emotional high, everybody was like, totally, it's obvious. So it seems kind of funny looking back, we were digging for numbers and information that really were not so important once we announced.
Friends and family did invest, and Sara and Danielle ran a crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $400,000 dollars.
So the search for the perfect spot began. They knew the people who attended their watch parties said that food, drinks, and access to public transportation were really important. So was having the space be open to all-ages.
Danielle: Recognizing people were bringing a lot of kids out to watch, and how culturally important it is to have female role models in a space that you can walk into.
This space in the Castro was it.
Sound of work being done inside of Rikki’s
A week before opening, Sara, Danielle, and their team were hard at work, building benches, painting, sanding, menu testing, and getting a kitchen and bar crew together.
For them, it’s significant to be able to open a new business in the historic queer neighborhood.
Sara : As a resident of the Castro, I see the people who live here being not just cis men, and there isn't a lot of space here that speaks to that. So I'm excited to be part of it.
Danielle adds:
Danielle: Rikki's is a women's sports bar, but we are not shying away from the fact that women's sports don't exist without queer women.
Sound of Rikki’s opening party
At the soft opening, a lot of patrons are wearing violet Valkyries gear.
Sara and Danielle are soccer fans first. They are super excited to see the Bay FC enter its second season down in San Jose. But the energy throughout the City around the Valkyries’ inaugural season kicked them into high gear.
Danielle: The Valkyries announced and there, it was like, “Okay, we, we gotta go. Like, this is real. These two teams…the biggest…in terms of broadcasting women's pro sports in the U.S. are starting here.”
Sara and Danielle tell me they’re not just going to have women’s sports on their TV’s 24/7. They had the NBA finals on at the soft launch. And if you want a Bend it Like Beckham party, they’ll consider it. They just want Rikki’s to be a space that its namesake would want to hang at – filled with sports, community, and pride.
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Show Credits:
BOUNCE is a production of KALW public radio. Our theme music was made by Daoud Anthony. Artwork is by Illuminaries and the Bay Area Mural Project with help from Charles Lighthouse. Thanks to KPIX+ for use of their broadcast sound. And to the Golden State Valkyries for providing access and support.
Our team includes Isabel Angell, Justin Ebrahimi, Galnadgee Joe-Johnson, Truc Nguyen, James Rowlands, Molly Blair Salyer, and Victor Tence. Ben Trefny is executive producer. Demetrius Johnson is co-producer. Erin Lim is co-producer and the host of BOUNCE season two.