The Dream lost, but here’s why Atlanta won
Like many of you, I woke up Sunday morning in my feelings.
I wasn’t sure whether it was grief, depression, the time change or a chemical imbalance from too much Halloween candy.
Then it hit me: Less than 12 hours earlier, the Atlanta Dream lost their Game 7 WNBA Finals matchup, 68-63.
It was heartbreak in the Bay.
I replay images from the game in my head.
There’s Flavor Flav sitting courtside, draped in Golden State Valkyries gear. Mayor Andre Dickens is there screaming alongside Dream die-hard and media personality Ms. Basketball.
There’s superstar Angel Reese hyping point guard Jordin Canada after the latter carried her team through the first 20 minutes.
The Dream were up 30-24 at halftime.
Then there was Valkyries star Gabby Williams’ 28 second-half points. Golden State coach Natalie Nakase dropping celebratory F-bombs. Violet and white confetti raining down on our Peachtree Street parade plans.
As Atlanta sports fans, it’s easy to write this off as the familiar feeling of coming up short when it matters most. Name any one of our teams, and there’s an example.
To me, this Dream run was something different.
Yes, they lost.
And yes, they’ll have to get better. Yet, along the way there were so many “W’s in the chat!” moments for this fan base, city and league that the one consistent feeling I have is pride.
In an election year, we found one thing to actually agree on: the Atlanta Dream.
I started thinking about those moments no one can take away from us. The ones that feel like they can only happen here.
We’ll always have those Game 3, 4 and 6 memories at what some locals dubbed, “Club State Farm.”
All three were sellouts.
We’ll remember the Game 3 crowd screaming “ATL Hoe!” so loud we could hear it on our TVs as we watched along. That energy fueled the Dream to a 97-71 win and 2-1 series lead.
Baby D knows that only in Atlanta can a common colloquialism, as old as paying for MARTA fares with copper tokens, become the hit song he created alongside Pastor Troy, Lil Jon, Archie Eversole and DJ Montay.
Atlanta made it a hot line. They made it a hot song. Our fans and players made it their war cry.
Something Baby D told me after Game 3 about Atlanta sports fandom and pride sticks out. “So each team, we don’t care if they winning, if they losing — we can ride or die for them,” he said.
This was true for the Dream on Thursday when 17,000-plus folks showed up at lunchtime for Game 6 at Club State Farm, an 80-69 win.
The stakes couldn’t have been higher. The circumstances behind the 12:30 p.m. tipoff time couldn’t have been more convoluted.
The city showed up. CM the MC declared, “It’s a beautiful day to dream.”
In-game host Bria Janelle declared us, “the United States of Atlanta.”
Folks pledged allegiance to show why, in this instance, it was a flex to say, “People in Atlanta don’t have jobs.”
I can still hear the women in attendance rapping bar for bar with Crime Mob’s Princess and Diamond as they performed their verses on “Knuck If You Buck.”
Everyone sang T-Pain’s “Buy U A Drank” at halftime when he bopped around Club State Farm’s hardwood with backing from DJ Montay.
A pair of women held giant lemon pepper wing cutouts in the crowd. Young Dro reminded us he’s still one of the city’s most underrated artists.
Janelle showed why she’s probably Atlanta’s next homegrown media star.
When she had an impromptu performance of “Wipe Me Down” with Boosie and Webbie, it felt like watching the homegirl next door living out her dream.
Anyone who knows ball in Atlanta can admire Janelle going from local high school standout to hosting the pro-am Atlanta Entertainment Basketball League to now leading capacity crowds in pro arenas.
Like the Dream, she’s another Black woman success story made in Atlanta. This team and this city are full of them. It’s why rooting for them is easy.
Reese, the Dream’s best-known player, is dubbed “Queen of the South.” Arguably the best player, Allisha Gray, is local royalty by way of Sandersville. The perennial All-Star, Rhyne Howard, ain’t afraid to wear a gold grill.
They remind us of us.
ATLiens have been waiting for a team just like this one, a squad that calls the city proper and its culture home. They are named after our most famous King, after all.
OG Dream fans already knew.
Everyone has something to say about Atlanta — fandom, culture, our big-city chops — but this WNBA Finals run showed we are a team and city comfortable speaking for ourselves.
Throughout the run, we packed local bars. At games, we met every, “Hi, Barbie,” with a “Hi, Barbie.” We know every “Izzy, Izzy, Izzy” is followed by an “Oi, Oi, Oi.” We rooted for the Dream alongside Bernice King and Belly Gang Kushington.
After their Game 7 loss, Reese reflected on the season. She talked about how this group changed her life. She talked about Atlanta.
“Our fan base back home poured into us so much this year,” she said.
“We really wanted to do it for them.”
In their effort, Reese and Co. challenged the idea of Atlanta having no perennial championship contender. They played through schedule uncertainty in one of the greatest WNBA Finals in history. They gave us a reason to believe.
For that month, just like the FIFA World Cup this summer, nothing else mattered to locals but time spent together rooting for a common interest.
I know some of us went to sleep Saturday night sad, mad, happy or indifferent.
When we woke up, one thing was still true.
Win or lose, the Dream is real.