Decatur HOA's Court 2 showdown outranks Dream-Valkyries Game 7
The first Game 7 in WNBA finals history will play behind the bar at the Whistle Stop while the Peachtree Hollow homeowners' title match takes every television in the building.
A Decatur sports bar will show the first Game 7 in WNBA finals history on a phone taped to the ice machine. The Whistle Stop on Ponce has committed all 26 of its televisions to Saturday night's Peachtree Hollow Homeowners Association pickleball final, which starts at the same hour.
The Atlanta Dream beat the Golden State Valkyries 80-69 on Thursday to level their series at 3-3. Fine. We'll get to that.
The real war is on Court 2 behind the clubhouse. Gary Tolliver, an actuary with a hamstring he no longer trusts, and his partner Dennis Fahey face the Brannigan brothers for the HOA cup. Nobody on that court has blinked since September.
“I've watched a lot of fourth quarters,” said Whistle Stop manager Dale Hornsby. “I have never seen a man dig deeper than Gary did in Wednesday's semifinal. He hit a third-shot drop on one leg. That's a man who wants it.”
Hornsby said burying Game 7 behind the bar was never a hard call. “You've got history on one side and a dink rally for the ages on the other. The customers know where the stakes are.”
A series, apparently
For the record, the Dream and Valkyries have played six games of a best-of-seven. Saturday's is the seventh. ESPN and the Guardian both report the league has never had one, if you want to look that up during a changeover.
The Valkyries are an expansion team in only their second season and they are one win from a title. Hornsby waved that off. “Did they do it on a tennis court four retirees repainted with a sprayer from the hardware store? No. Then don't talk to me about adversity.”
The road to Court 2
HOA tournament commissioner Rhonda Pike has run the Peachtree Hollow bracket since the board approved it on a 4-3 vote two summers ago. She calls Saturday the biggest night in the subdivision's history, ahead of the retention pond referendum.
“The Brannigans run heavy topspin and they talk,” Pike said. “Gary doesn't talk. Gary points at the kitchen line and resets. That is a general.”
Pike has arranged 26 folding chairs along the fence, a moment of silence for a retired paddle, and a flyover by Fahey's nephew's drone. Guest parking will be enforced. There will be no re-entry.
Asked whether the HOA considered moving its final so residents could watch the Dream, Pike went quiet for a long time. “Move it where? This is the final. You do not move a final.”
The ice machine situation
The phone carrying Game 7 belongs to bartender Luis Arrieta, who volunteered it. It is a four-year-old Android with a cracked corner. The sound will be off.
“People can lean in,” Arrieta said. “If something big happens I'll call it down the bar between points. I'm not calling anything during a serve.”
Arrieta is the only staff member who has watched the series. He said the Dream's lunchtime win on Thursday was the coldest road performance he had seen in years, the kind where a team stops shooting scared and starts shooting mad. Then he glanced over his shoulder and dropped his voice. “Don't put that near the pickleball stuff.”
“You've got history on one side and a dink rally for the ages on the other. The customers know where the stakes are.”
Reaction
A group of Dream season-ticket holders in matching red asked Hornsby whether the phone could at least be propped higher. Hornsby said the ice machine is where the outlet is.
One of them asked why a championship game with a trophy, a national broadcast and a full arena ranked below four neighbors on a converted tennis court. Hornsby said he did not care for the tone. “Four neighbors with everything to lose,” he said.
Pike offered a compromise. Game 7 audio could play over the clubhouse speaker during water breaks, provided nobody scored while a Brannigan was serving.
Al Jazeera describes the Dream's shooting on Thursday as sharp. Hornsby has not read it. “Is Gary in it?” he asked. He was told Gary was not in it. “Then it's a preview piece,” he said.
Late Friday, Hornsby allowed one concession. He will put Game 7 on a single screen near the restrooms if the pickleball goes to a third game, the basketball goes to overtime, and nobody is looking.
That is 26 screens for four men and a roll of court tape. That is one phone for the first Game 7 in the history of a professional league. Hornsby called the arrangement fair. “It's about what people have earned,” he said, and went to fix the tape.
