- 7 weeks ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Gray shoots this one up the middle, but right there is Bogarts, and that's the ball game.
00:06So this one was not kind to the Giants, certainly that second inning was one that we'd all soon like to forget.
00:14But in the end, the Padres take three from the Giants, and the woes for the Giants at home continue.
00:20They have now lost, let's see, 13 of their last 14, and I would never, ever think to see that coming.
00:29Now, back to Willard and Dibbs on 95.7 The Game.
00:33Okay, that's on NBC Sports Bay Area, and I think I know what Dwayne Kuyper needs.
00:38And I think that we here at 95.7 The Game can probably provide this if, you know, we pull a couple strings here.
00:45Okay.
00:46You know what Kuyper needs?
00:47I have no idea.
00:48You know what they need?
00:50They need a Valkyries game.
00:52Yeah.
00:52They need tickets to Sunday's game.
00:54That's what I think they need, because that, right now, is a happy place on one side of the parking lot,
01:02and where those two gentlemen were just talking is not a happy place on the other side of the parking lot.
01:07Right.
01:08That team scores points, and the other team on the other side of the lot, they don't score.
01:13Well, both teams call themselves a defensive team, and one of the teams is right.
01:18Let's bring on our friend Ann Killian here on the River Island's guest line.
01:24Obviously, California Sports Writer of the Year, one of the best out there to do it,
01:28and an article today in the San Francisco Chronicle with regard to kind of the blending of the two
01:34and which of these two teams is actually offering Bay Area sports fans something for their entertainment dollar.
01:41Hi, Ann.
01:41How you doing?
01:43I'm great.
01:43How are you guys doing?
01:44We're fantastic.
01:45And I thought what you said earlier today in the Chronicle really kind of struck a chord,
01:53and I guess I'd start it this way.
01:55Like, are you even surprised, or in what way are you surprised by what a Valkyries game feels like for the fans?
02:04I am surprised.
02:06I mean, you know, we didn't know.
02:07We knew that there was an appetite for a women's basketball team.
02:11I mean, all the research had shown that we've never had a WNBA team, and the league's been around 25 years.
02:19And there was certainly a hunger for it, but you had no idea it was going to be this phenomenon that it is.
02:25They've sold out every single game.
02:28The vibe inside, you guys have been there, right?
02:31We have.
02:31Yeah, the vibe is just, like, really happy and enthusiastic, and the crowd is way different than a lot of games.
02:40It's a very different feel than a Warriors game, I think.
02:42Just way more kids, you know, way more people from all walks of life.
02:48And just, you know, I mean, maybe it's because it's a little more affordable.
02:53You just don't feel like, you know, you have to be entertained, or you're going to be really mad.
02:59But you are entertained, and the team has just been so competitive, and that's the thing I don't think anyone really could have imagined with an expansion team.
03:08So it's been really way exceeded my expectations, and most people's, I think.
03:15I think even their own.
03:17I mean, Joe Lacob told me last month, I'm blown away by what he was seeing.
03:21How much of this do you think is being a part of the ground level for fans, where, you know, you're there at the very beginning,
03:28and therefore you have a little bit more fan ownership?
03:31I think that's part of it.
03:32People want to belong to something.
03:34They really, you know, they really like it.
03:36They really feel involved.
03:37They did a really smart thing with – their marketing has been fantastic, and they had people – on the first night, everyone was in merch, and not just those giveaway shirts.
03:47People, they gave away, like, Letterman's jackets to season ticket holders.
03:53The lines for the merchandise have been out the door.
03:56I mean, you know, you see it now all over the Bay Area.
03:59You see that violet, and you spot it kind of the way when the sharks first rolled out, you know, you would see the teal and go,
04:06oh, there's some of that smart sharks marketing money, but that seems like the dark ages now when it comes to the sharks.
04:14But I think there is something to just wanting to be on the ground floor, but I think it's also true that there's just been a real desire for a team like this,
04:24and then to catch it as the WNBA is on this incredible – surfing this incredible wave of enthusiasm and sponsorship and growth and numbers and viewership all across the country is – you know, it makes it exciting.
04:40And the fans know all the players that come in, and unlike, you know, when you're at a Warriors game and people boo the opposing players' lineup,
04:46you know, people cheer when Asia Wilson or other players are announced, you know, it's just a – it's a different vibe.
04:53Yeah, the first game that I went to this year, Ann, I was blown away because it was a really close, tight game against a really good team,
05:00and the Valkyries lost, and then the fans gave them a standing ovation after the game, after losing.
05:06Right. You know why? They're getting their money's worth.
05:09They're seeing really good competitive – they're seeing a really resilient team that's way exceeding expectations
05:18and really scrapping and fighting for everything.
05:23They've only had a couple of really bad games.
05:26One was the first night, but that's – I think it was just kind of all too much for them.
05:30But they've been – really been in almost every game.
05:35Now, the piece that you did is a little bit of a comparison – a comparison and contrast piece.
05:41Yeah, like, to what level does it – are you taken aback by the fact that the Giants have battled boredom for a few years now,
05:51but Buster Posey comes in, Willie Adamas is here, they trade for Rafael Devers.
05:57This was supposed to be the antidote for the boredom, and here we are.
06:03Yeah, I don't think they're boring, you guys.
06:05I think this is astonishingly terrible.
06:08So it's almost, you know, captivating in its awfulness.
06:12That's fair.
06:14I do think, you know, the last three years felt very much like we were on a continuous loop,
06:20just watching the same thing over and over and over again.
06:23It was rather dull.
06:24It was dull to write about.
06:25There was not a lot that seemed different.
06:29They kind of ended up the same – they did the same things with the trade deadline,
06:32ended up in the same position.
06:34You know, one year they threw Gabe Kepler under the bus.
06:37But, you know, it just was kind of a continuous – it just seemed like the same thing over and over.
06:42And this year there has been a lot of excitement, and there has been, you know,
06:45the Buster Factor and the belief that they're, you know, going to try to play the way fans want them to play,
06:53to play, you know, the baseball that makes sense for the team,
06:57to not be driven solely by analytics.
06:59And then you get, you know, something like – well, you get their fast start, first of all,
07:03which was, again, kind of like the Valkyries, I think, exceeding expectations.
07:09And then that weekend with the Dodgers in their, you know, in first place,
07:14and they do the biggest trade that – still the biggest trade of the whole season.
07:19And there was so much enthusiasm.
07:23And the other thing, the whole season, when we're talking about the fan experience,
07:27the fans have been packing the park.
07:29The fans have really come back.
07:31Almost every game is – weekend game, at least, that I go to is 40,000.
07:36And it's been – it feels like old times.
07:40And then to have this happen, especially happening at home the way it is,
07:45is just – it's kind of mind-boggling that they just fell off the cliff so steeply.
07:51I mean, you can say, yeah, they're not a great team.
07:53They have these, you know, X, Y, and Z issues.
07:56But this is pretty historic, and it's terrible to –
08:00Especially when you look at what they've done at home.
08:03And I think Kype said on the cut we played on the way in, 13 of 14 home losses.
08:08And when you think about that, just trying to get the casual fans.
08:12Mark and I had this discussion back in March, and Mark was saying,
08:15it's a baseball town, and fans will come back.
08:17And they did, and now you've got this.
08:19How much does this home drudgery affect, you know,
08:24the second- and third-tier fans wanting to be a part of it?
08:28I think it affects them, and I think it affects –
08:30I think it'll affect the turnout for the rest of the season.
08:35I think this was their last chance, and, of course, school's going to be back –
08:39just about back in for almost everyone, and attendance might have gone down anyway.
08:46But people don't want to go.
08:48I just was so struck because I went Sunday, and, of course, that was until today.
08:53Just perhaps the worst performance of the season.
08:58The 8-0 loss to the Washington Nationals.
09:00At least this was to the Padres today.
09:02And then 40,000 people – and it was, you know, it was Junior Giants Day.
09:07It was Run the Bases Day.
09:09There were the lines at the concession stands.
09:12The lines at the merch stores were just so long.
09:16People just spending so much money.
09:18And then that performance.
09:21And then Monday night, I went to the Valkyries game,
09:25and it was the same situation as sellout crowd,
09:28lines in the concession stands, lines for the merch.
09:31And they got their money's worth.
09:33They got a team that really battled.
09:35And even, you know, they were playing a bad team, the worst team in the league.
09:39But the game before that, they'd beaten the Sparks.
09:43And the game before that, they almost beat the Aces.
09:45Like, they were battling, and they understand that they're in must-win situations,
09:51that there's a playoff berth on the line,
09:54and they are running out of time.
09:57And they're playing like – and it's just kind of seizing the moment.
10:01And I think that's – there's just a lack of energy right now with the Giants.
10:06There's just something missing.
10:08Yeah, to say the least.
10:10And Killian is with us here on Willard and Dibs 95.7, the game.
10:15And, I mean, we're all parents here, and I've got to tell you this.
10:18Like, when I listen to Bob Melvin talk in these post-game sessions about the Giants,
10:23like, I feel like when I – the feeling I feel as a parent of teenagers
10:29looks the same as the way he feels about his team,
10:32where everyone's just like, I don't know why the message isn't getting crossed.
10:34I don't know why this isn't working.
10:37I'm trying everything I can do.
10:39So, I don't know that this is Bob's fault or whatever,
10:43but how much damage do you think has been done with what's happened here with the Giants?
10:49I think when something like this happens, I think you have to look at everything.
10:53And, unfortunately for Bob, who I've known a really long time,
10:57I have a ton of respect for.
10:59He's done really great stuff in his career.
11:02I think, you know, he's the hot talking point right now,
11:07and part of it is because they've been playing his old team that, you know,
11:12he did not succeed with in his final year there.
11:16It didn't go the way he had wanted.
11:19So, I think that contrast makes everyone looking more at Bob.
11:24Bob, I know they gave him a year extension,
11:29and, you know, I understand Buster has made it clear that he likes stability.
11:35I think the last thing he wants to do is scapegoat a guy the way Kapler,
11:40who might have deserved it, might not have,
11:42but he, you know, I mean, Farhan definitely ran over Kapler with the bus.
11:48So, I don't think Buster wants to be that guy because there's so many things wrong,
11:54and most of it is the players just not coming through in clutch situations.
12:00So, I don't think Buster would want to do it,
12:04but I think it's certainly something that's being talked about.
12:06I would be surprised if Melvin would get fired before the end of the season
12:13because I don't think Buster thinks this is his fault,
12:16but I would not be surprised if they decide to make a move in the offseason
12:20despite that one-year extension.
12:22And does this become a tougher offseason than the last one for Buster
12:25because his former teammate Pat Burrell is the hitting coach for a team that doesn't hit,
12:30and front office guys who helped him when he was a youngster are still around?
12:34Is Buster going to have to put on his big-boy president-of-baseball ops pants
12:39and make hard choices this summer?
12:42I think so, but I don't think he's going to have any problem doing that.
12:45I think if we've learned anything about Buster,
12:49it's that he is, one, embracing this job in a way that I didn't think he necessarily would,
12:58and two, he wants to do it right, and I don't think he's...
13:02But Buster's a very pragmatic guy,
13:05and I think he took this job knowing that he was going to have to make some tough decisions
13:11and do some things.
13:12He's already done it.
13:13He's gotten rid of some of his old teammates, you know,
13:16and I just think that's part of the deal.
13:20I don't know if...
13:21I don't think it'll be a tougher season.
13:23I think he's one of the smarter athletes I've ever dealt with,
13:27and I think his learning curve is pretty good.
13:30So I think he's probably already thinking of what he needs to do,
13:35because I think, you know, he's as frustrated as anyone
13:39and is probably looking ahead right now.
13:42I mean, he's not harboring any illusions that...
13:45You know, I think he was.
13:47He told me on Sunday, yeah, we've got to get on a heater,
13:50and then they came out and, you know...
13:52Yeah, there was no heater in the offer.
13:55No heater, no, not at all.
13:58Hey, Ann, if this is what regular season Valkyries games feel like,
14:02what do you think a postseason Valkyries game would feel like?
14:04Oh, I think it would be crazy,
14:06and I think it would be super fun to have one,
14:09just especially because, you know,
14:11people didn't expect that at all.
14:13In fact, I know there's some talk that
14:16what would they do if there's a conflict at Chase,
14:20but the Chronicle has been told that
14:23they would do what they do for the Warriors
14:25if there's a conflict,
14:26and that is move the conflict,
14:29because if they had the chance for a home game,
14:32they would play it at Chase.
14:34But what I think has really happened,
14:38because now the league is going to expand
14:41quite a bit in the next few years,
14:43and the bar has been set extremely high.
14:47And, you know, we saw the valuation numbers
14:49for the Valkyries,
14:51and they play in, you know, a fantastic arena.
14:57They have a really great training site
15:00and facility over in Oakland
15:02in the Warriors' whole place.
15:03They're just doing things in a way
15:05that very few teams in the league do,
15:08and so these new expansion teams
15:10are going to have to do it that way, too,
15:12or they're going to get left behind.
15:14So, yeah, and I think, you know,
15:16you asked about Melvin.
15:18I think we could have a Coach of the Year
15:20in Natalie Nakasi,
15:21because she's really done an incredible job
15:24with a roster of, you know,
15:26at the beginning,
15:27even people who are fans of the league
15:29were kind of like,
15:30hmm, who are those people?
15:32I don't know the people on this roster.
15:34Right.
15:34And then they lost their best player,
15:36and they're still finding ways to hang in there.
15:39Ann, thank you, and go watch the game.
15:42I will.
15:43Thanks, you guys.
15:44All right, good to talk to you.
15:45Ann Killian, San Francisco Chronicle.
Recommended
13:48
|
Up next
24:37
23:39
17:44
25:00
25:36
10:56
24:04
24:39
24:12
15:51
13:08
21:53
10:26
9:28
19:02
13:40
11:18
22:07
7:58
16:04
26:23
13:44
9:03
21:26
Be the first to comment