Speaker 1: Stephanie White is the coach of the Indiana Fever, and
Speaker 1: she made a statement before the game that the Fever
Speaker 1: played against the New York Liberty. That did not help her,
Speaker 1: did not help the Indiana Fever, did not help the WNBA.
Speaker 1: If anything, it made her look weak, it made the
Speaker 1: team look weak, and it made the WNBA look like
Speaker 1: they don't quite understand what the issue is. Tony Katz,
Speaker 1: Tony Katz today and for the Jamel Hills and everybody
Speaker 1: else who wants to say that we don't have the
Speaker 1: right to talk about this and we're just obsessing over
Speaker 1: this because of race. The WNBA has a choice to make.
Speaker 1: The WNBA can decide that they are in the business
Speaker 1: of being a league, or the WNBA can decide that
Speaker 1: they are in the business of being a welfare recipient.
Speaker 1: Four years the WNBA was a welfare recipient. The NBA
Speaker 1: wanted to create a league for women. The league never
Speaker 1: made any money, the league never got any traction, and
Speaker 1: yet it's still got funded. Now, living in Indiana might
Speaker 1: be different our team than other teams, because this is
Speaker 1: this is a basketball state, right The expression here is
Speaker 1: in forty nine other states. It's just basketball but this
Speaker 1: is Indiana. They take it at a level I cannot
Speaker 1: describe to you. It's unbelievable. Rights it's in the same
Speaker 1: way this this state views the month of May because
Speaker 1: that's when the Indianapolis five hundred happens. Now, every state
Speaker 1: has something that connects for the people who live there.
Speaker 1: It is a thing for them. Basketball for sure, for sure,
Speaker 1: And so we did pay attention to the Indiana fever
Speaker 1: and we had great Tamika Catchings was a great ambassador
Speaker 1: for the league and was a star of her time.
Speaker 1: And then Caitlyn Clark came to town. Well the rest
Speaker 1: is history, as you know, and more people paid attention,
Speaker 1: and that upsets some people because this girl was getting
Speaker 1: attention and these weren't getting attention, and this was big
Speaker 1: a tree, and that's when the crazy fouls would start.
Speaker 1: Some things I think Caitlyn Clark complained about that weren't
Speaker 1: worth complaining about. And some things she was absolutely right
Speaker 1: and everybody saw it. But with Caitlyn Clark came the
Speaker 1: opportunity to become a league that could be self sufficient.
Speaker 1: They went from commercial flights to charter flights, private better hotels.
Speaker 1: They started to play in real arenas they moved games
Speaker 1: and people were like, well, if you're gonna put on
Speaker 1: a show, we want to see it. If it's gonna
Speaker 1: be entertaining, we want to see it. My daughters now
Speaker 1: want to go absolutely, I'm taking them fantastic. The w
Speaker 1: NBA has on every level shown that they were not
Speaker 1: up to the moment, because it's not that they could
Speaker 1: control the criticism criticisms from without. It has nothing to
Speaker 1: do with the criticisms from without. They could not handle
Speaker 1: the criticisms from within the players, the coaches and the
Speaker 1: media that clearly didn't want this for their little league.
Speaker 1: And so there's been a lot of talk and with
Speaker 1: the Sophie Cunningham conversations about how girls sports would be
Speaker 1: for girls. They don't like that either. And now going
Speaker 1: after Sophie Cunningham and the clothes line uh tackle if
Speaker 1: you will from uh De Johnny uh dejohn de Janna
Speaker 1: is a Dejona, the Djona djon a thank you Djna
Speaker 1: Carrington and people have been talking about this more. Well.
Speaker 1: This became a thing because it was a close line.
Speaker 1: By the way Sophie Cunningham has done this before. She's
Speaker 1: tackled people on court before, she got thrown out of
Speaker 1: the game. Carrington got thrown out of the game, and
Speaker 1: then she immediately put white privilege. Good lord, she's trying
Speaker 1: to backtrack that a lot of criticism. That brings us
Speaker 1: to the coach of the Indiana Fever, Stephanie White, who,
Speaker 1: when first asked about the foul against her player Sophie Cunningham,
Speaker 1: was like, listen, these girls are gonna play hard. And
Speaker 1: now she comes to have a presser where she is
Speaker 1: going after the detractors and claiming she never saw the play.
Speaker 2: You know, this isn't necessarily for those people that are
Speaker 2: in this room.
Speaker 1: This is more for an.
Speaker 2: Online community that's trying to create narratives that simply don't exist,
Speaker 2: trying to create a fabrication or disortion of who I am,
Speaker 2: of what I'm about. Our player's success, our player's health
Speaker 2: and wellness, our player safety is always a top priority.
Speaker 2: One of the things I pride myself on is my
Speaker 2: relationships with players. For those who have anything to say
Speaker 2: about the play in the last game, I didn't see
Speaker 2: the play in real time. I went straight to a
Speaker 2: press conference. I thought the play got called right, thankfully,
Speaker 2: Sophie's okay, was it egregious. Absolutely. When you have a
Speaker 2: chance to watch that over and over and over on replay,
Speaker 2: you can see that I didn't have that in real time.
Speaker 2: I take personally sorry any suggestions that I don't one
Speaker 2: hundred always have my players back. I ride with them
Speaker 2: ten toes down all the time, all of the time.
Speaker 2: They know that it's a shame that we can't have
Speaker 2: an opportunity to talk about what great basketball they're playing
Speaker 2: because they are team playing. The reality is with me.
Speaker 1: I will always lead with love, I will always lead with.
Speaker 2: Grace, I will all lead with humility, and I will
Speaker 2: always lead with integrity. Doesn't mean I'll always get a writer.
Speaker 2: I'm also human. The hate, the fear mongering, the divisiveness,
Speaker 2: the stuff that's trying to hijack our league will not win.
Speaker 1: It won't win.
Speaker 2: We are united, we are connected. We will not be divided.
Speaker 2: Every day. These women put their ass on the line
Speaker 2: every day when they go low, we go high. Love
Speaker 2: go win, Grace will win, Humility will win, and kindness
Speaker 2: will win. I stand by them. I will always stand
Speaker 2: by them. Everybody else can go to hell.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, I'm gonna start where I start. That was
Speaker 1: poorly done. That was poorly advised. She embarrassed herself, She
Speaker 1: embarrassed the Fever organization. She embarrassed the WNBA. If you
Speaker 1: allow your emotions to control you, there is nothing else
Speaker 1: that can happen. Now, it's possible that men see this
Speaker 1: differently than women looking at my chat room. Nope, we
Speaker 1: all see it the same way. But I want to
Speaker 1: break down a couple of things she said, just to
Speaker 1: show how disconnected it is from reality. The online community
Speaker 1: has an issue. You mean the fan You mean the
Speaker 1: people who want to show up and want to pay you.
Speaker 1: They want to give you their money, And you're making
Speaker 1: it more and more difficult because you won't admit that
Speaker 1: they targeted Caitlin Clark, and you won't admit that there's
Speaker 1: a real racism within the WNBA, and you won't say
Speaker 1: the W stand for women. If you did not see
Speaker 1: the foul in real time, Coach White, why did you
Speaker 1: comment on it? I think that's a very legitimate criticism.
Speaker 1: Why'd you comment on it? Why not say I didn't
Speaker 1: see it. I need to go back and watch it.
Speaker 1: You defended Carrington, you defended Djona. Shouldn't have You should
Speaker 1: have admitted to that. You're going to lead with love, grace, humility,
Speaker 1: and integrity, and hate, fear mongering and divisiveness will not win.
Speaker 1: Tell that to the players in the WNBA, Tell that
Speaker 1: to the coaches in the WNBA. Tell that to the
Speaker 1: media in the WNBA, not me. Love will win, grace
Speaker 1: and kindness will win, and everybody else can go to hell. Well,
Speaker 1: if you wanted to take a big giant crap on
Speaker 1: your own message, Coach White, bravo. You did no favors
Speaker 1: here for yourself, for your team, or the league. And
Speaker 1: I think there should be a conversation about whether or
Speaker 1: not you have the temperament to be a coach, because
Speaker 1: as a fan you just told them to go to help.
Speaker 2: I'm toning, guys,