OAKLAND, California – The Golden State Valkyries are tearing it up in their inaugural season as part of the WNBA’s latest expansion and showing plenty of promise as the newest pro sports team in the San Francisco Bay Area.

And even amidst their excitement, the Valkyries players continue to show a stunning sensitivity to how this is actually a dark and desperate time for Bay Area sports fans, owing to the recent departure of some of the region’s most beloved franchises.

The 49ers moving their stadium to Santa Clara, and the Warriors bailing across the bay to San Francisco- those were both betrayals. But the first true gut punch was when the Raiders completely abandoned Oakland and moved away to become The Las Vegas Raiders.

And now the Oakland Athletics, **historic and iconic franchise of the East Bay** after years and years of agonizing back-and-forths and heartlessly toying with their fanbase, the A’s are finally, officially, leaving the Bay. And they’re also moving to Vegas- but for the next three years until their stadium is built, they’re playing their games in, of all places, Sacramento?!

These are the kinds of frustrations you will hear whispered or shouted in sports bars and social gatherings across the Bay Area, and usually somewhere behind the people talking is a Valkyries player nodding with a blank expression.

If they’re having this conversation at a park with a large open field, then sometimes there are two Valkyries players nodding in the background, and usually behind them is a Bay FC player raising her arms and yelling, but she’s way over on the other end of the field.