The WNBA Finals tip off today in Ballhalla, the heavenly christened, violet-clad alter ego of San Francisco’s Chase Center, with the arena-by-committee Atlanta Dream facing the Golden State Valkyries in a battle of would-be first-time league champs.
Now, if arenas were the sole factor in this series, the Dream’s title march would have dead-ended somewhere near MLK Jr. Drive (pick the city), especially as what the Valkyries’ marketing department has appropriated this season with their slice of Norse afterlife mythology is best-in-league supreme (despite Valhalla—small fishbone to pick here—being for the slain, not those still slaying).
Instead, the teams’ nickname merit, naturally, will tip the series’ scales in the end, and the Man Mulligan amateur building superintendents see the revamped Dream sermonizing the upstart Valkyries into ultimate submission, 8 Preacher Pulpits to 4 Runestones.
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