Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, the Show that
Speaker 1: Wants to Hug our Uber driver for asking if we
Speaker 1: were playing in the WNBA All Star Game this weekend
Speaker 1: on today's show. Yes, it's all things WNBA All Star
Speaker 1: weekend records broken, ACL's torn Flowers, given party thrown, we
Speaker 1: were there, a time was had. We'll tell you all
Speaker 1: about it, but first here's what you need to know today.
Speaker 1: Lots of WNBA news from the weekend. As mentioned. WNBA
Speaker 1: All Star Game on Saturday night at the Footprint Center
Speaker 1: in Phoenix and the WNBA All Stars beat Team USA
Speaker 1: one seventeen one oh nine. Same thing happened last time.
Speaker 1: This was the format for the game and we're sending
Speaker 1: off Team USA with the l again. Arique Agunbawale went
Speaker 1: off a WNBA All Star Game record thirty four points,
Speaker 1: all of them in the second half, including eight three pointers,
Speaker 1: and she won MVP Honors. Records broken by the Rooks
Speaker 1: to Fever. Rookie Caitlin Clark's ten assists the most ever
Speaker 1: by a rookie in an All Star game, and sky
Speaker 1: forward Angel Reese recorded the first rookie double double ever
Speaker 1: in an All Star Game, finishing with twelve points and
Speaker 1: eleven boards. Friday night, it was the Skills Competition and
Speaker 1: the three Point Contest, and Atlanta dreamguard Alicia Gray had
Speaker 1: a historic evening. She's the first ever to win both
Speaker 1: in the same year. Girl got a bag too. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get into that later. Heading into that competition. By
Speaker 1: the way, the biggest storyline we talked about right here
Speaker 1: on Good Game was that both Caitlyn Clark and Sabrina
Speaker 1: yan Escu declined invites from the league to compete in
Speaker 1: the three point Contest, and Clark was asked about that
Speaker 1: in a press conference. Here's what she had to say
Speaker 1: about choosing to sit out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, honestly, like I think this ress, like had been
Speaker 2: planned basketball for a year straight. Like's, It's not an
Speaker 2: easy thing to just show up to and shootout in Iraq's.
Speaker 2: Has something I've ever done before.
Speaker 1: It's not something I've had a lot of.
Speaker 2: Time to practice. I've been focusing on helping my two
Speaker 2: win games.
Speaker 1: I think, just you know, enjoying this break.
Speaker 2: I think there's gonna be plenty of opportunities for you
Speaker 2: to do that as I'm boying it. But at the
Speaker 2: same time, like the field, the shooters that we have
Speaker 2: in the competition are really good. They're all like mere
Speaker 2: forty percent shooters, So I'm excited for them. I'll be
Speaker 2: there supporting them and it'll be fun. But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: I think the biggest this is the thing on us
Speaker 2: for me is just like I need a break. I
Speaker 2: need to take some time to myself to enjoy what
Speaker 2: I want to do, and at times that can be
Speaker 2: tough be the physician that I'm in, but I think
Speaker 2: he should be healthiest from.
Speaker 1: His own A little more WNBA news. So Connecticut Sun
Speaker 1: Power couple do want to? Bonner and Alyssa Thomas are
Speaker 1: on the cover of Slam magazine. Google that check that out.
Speaker 1: You can even get it on a T shirt if
Speaker 1: you want. And speaking of couples we love, on Friday,
Speaker 1: Brittany Grinder and her wife Cherrelle announced that their baby
Speaker 1: bash Raymond, was born on July eighth. Now, it's been
Speaker 1: a difficult last couple of years for them, and that's
Speaker 1: putting it very lightly. So to see the joy on
Speaker 1: Beg's face playing on her home court during the All
Speaker 1: Star festivities, knowing that she's about to head to the
Speaker 1: Olympics and rep the USA and now soaking it all
Speaker 1: in while she's got a newborn back home. We're just
Speaker 1: so happy for the couple and sending Brittany all of
Speaker 1: our love and also, I guess we got to call
Speaker 1: her Pops now. Shout out to my girl, Tarika Foster Brasby.
Speaker 1: She got this great SoundBite from BG for CBS Sports
Speaker 1: over the weekend.
Speaker 3: There's probably one other job that you're about to get
Speaker 3: into that is really hard and really scary.
Speaker 1: You're about to be a mom.
Speaker 4: How is that feeling, Pops?
Speaker 5: Oh, let me get it together. About to be a pops?
Speaker 1: Pops it is, We got you. BG Commissioner kat the
Speaker 1: Engelbert said ahead of Saturday's All Star Game that the
Speaker 1: WNBA is considering expanding regular season to forty four games
Speaker 1: for next year's season. Now, forty four games per team
Speaker 1: are the most that would be allowed under the current
Speaker 1: Collective Bargaining Agreement, and the number of games has grown
Speaker 1: over the years, from twenty eight in the first season
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety seven to thirty four in two thousand
Speaker 1: and three, thirty six two and forty games both last
Speaker 1: year and this year, so we could be getting more
Speaker 1: games next year as well. Kathy Engelbert also talked about
Speaker 1: efforts to continue to globalize the game and mentioned Europe, Asia,
Speaker 1: Mexico City, and the Middle East as places that the
Speaker 1: WNBA might hold future games. The league previously has held
Speaker 1: a couple exhibition games in Canada. They're also talking about
Speaker 1: potentially having contests in neutral sites in the US to
Speaker 1: test out potential expansion markets. So you remember on the show,
Speaker 1: we reported last week that the WNBA is set to
Speaker 1: receive nearly two hundred million dollars a year as part
Speaker 1: of new broadcast rights. Now, this is part of a
Speaker 1: larger seventy five billion dollar NBA deal that was negotiated,
Speaker 1: and we're still waiting for the official final word on
Speaker 1: all of the numbers and the deal. But the head
Speaker 1: of the WNBA Players Association, Terry Jackson, spoke out with
Speaker 1: some concern that the league is still being undervalued. In
Speaker 1: a statement, she said, in part quote, we look forward
Speaker 1: to learning how the NBA arrived at a two hundred
Speaker 1: million dollar valuation if initial reports are accurate or even close.
Speaker 1: Neither the NBA nor the WNBA can deny that in
Speaker 1: the last few years we've seen unprecedented growth across all metrics,
Speaker 1: the players continue to demonstrate their commitment to building the brand,
Speaker 1: and that the fans keep showing up. There is no
Speaker 1: excuse to undervalue the WNBA. Again, she is absolutely right
Speaker 1: and we are looking forward to the final numbers on
Speaker 1: that and how that valuation came to be. Remember, in
Speaker 1: that initial agreement, there was still potential room for more
Speaker 1: money because it did not prevent other deals and other
Speaker 1: partnerships from taking place. So we're gonna wait for the
Speaker 1: final word on that one. We also got some NWSL
Speaker 1: news over the weekend. The Portland Thorns have announced that
Speaker 1: interim head coach Rob Gail has been made the permanent
Speaker 1: head coach. Now you remember he began serving as head
Speaker 1: coach back in April when then head coach Mike Norris
Speaker 1: was reassigned as the club's technical director. And things have
Speaker 1: been looking up for the Thorns ever since since Scale
Speaker 1: took over. They've moved up the NWSL table and they're
Speaker 1: currently sitting in fifth in golf. Chinetti want to say
Speaker 1: on of Thailand, recorded back to back Birdie's and won
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty four Dana Open on Sunday. That is
Speaker 1: her second career LPGA title. Coming up our organs, our soup,
Speaker 1: our headaches seem maternal, and our voices are several octaves lower.
Speaker 1: Misha and I talk about hanging out in Phoenix at
Speaker 1: the All Star weekend. Next. Okay, let's get back into
Speaker 1: the WNBA All Star festivities because we were there, and
Speaker 1: when I say we, I'm not using the royal we.
Speaker 1: Mesh was there too, and Mish and I got to
Speaker 1: meet in person, So Alex, I'm gonna put you on
Speaker 1: some sort of trip. We're going to take a team
Speaker 1: field trip sometime, but for now, it was so nice
Speaker 1: to meet producer Mish in person and uh, have a
Speaker 1: couple adult beverages, watch some good basketball. We never partied
Speaker 1: at the same time because we're on different schedules. Meisch
Speaker 1: takes a disco nap like a young person and then
Speaker 1: heads back out. And I got a power straight through
Speaker 1: because if I sit down, my body's like, oh, we're done,
Speaker 1: thank you. Okay, go to sleep. Now. Well, let's start
Speaker 1: with Saturday. It's game Meiche. We were in the Gatorade suite.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Gatorade and my whole women's Advisory board
Speaker 1: for being so excited to meet Mesh. They had all
Speaker 1: listened to the show and they're like, oh, it's Mesh
Speaker 1: from the show. No, oh, no, you and journalists they
Speaker 1: all even knew their social tag so that game. Cheryl
Speaker 1: Reef called it probably the greatest spectacle in our league's history.
Speaker 1: And I mean, multiple records broken, a sold out venue,
Speaker 1: pit bull at the half. We'll talk about that later.
Speaker 1: I mean, it did go off, meiche.
Speaker 5: It did go off. It absolutely went off.
Speaker 4: It was everything and more for me, hands down.
Speaker 3: I'm not the first person to say this the best
Speaker 3: All Star experience I have ever personally had. If you
Speaker 3: can't tell by my voice, it's probably gonna crack a
Speaker 3: couple of times, folks.
Speaker 1: And that's it, is it. We're both a little lower,
Speaker 1: a little low lower than when we left.
Speaker 4: A bit a bit, but it was freaking fantastic.
Speaker 1: I mean, Arikae Gumbawale, she did exactly what I predicted.
Speaker 1: Ye I don't want to sound like and know what all,
Speaker 1: but I was right, y'all. Like I chatted with Rebecca
Speaker 1: Lobo last week and we kind of predicted this would happen.
Speaker 6: Take a listen, but the last time in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 6: when the Olympians played the All Stars and Arique went
Speaker 6: off and the All Stars won the game. That was
Speaker 6: pretty cool too, because it's always more fun of course,
Speaker 6: when it's competitive and the teams are playing really hard,
Speaker 6: and that game was a situation where that was the case.
Speaker 1: A Rika is an interesting one to say when they're
Speaker 1: competitive and it matters, because we've seen her speak out
Speaker 1: about the Team USA roster and kind of saying she
Speaker 1: pulled herself out of the process because she didn't think
Speaker 1: it was fair or an honest process for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: and she's gonna want to go off in this game.
Speaker 1: I could see Arigae wanting to get MVP, wanting to
Speaker 1: beat Team USA and prove some sort of point. So
Speaker 1: that's a good one to bring up. We might see
Speaker 1: that again. And for those who didn't get what I
Speaker 1: was saying there, Arique has been in the team pool
Speaker 1: for the US team the last two Olympics cycles, didn't
Speaker 1: make the team in twenty twenty one, and then a
Speaker 1: bit after the roster was announced this year, she said
Speaker 1: publicly she took her name out of the mix and
Speaker 1: said there were quote unquote politics in the selection process.
Speaker 1: This is the second time Arikee has not made that
Speaker 1: team and then gone on to become MVP in the
Speaker 1: All Star Game. Going off. Last time it was twenty
Speaker 1: six points, which was impressive enough. This time thirty four.
Speaker 1: And this is one of those games when you look
Speaker 1: at the box score afterwards, it's not the same as
Speaker 1: when you're there in the building, not at all. Watching
Speaker 1: her just drain three after three after three, hands in
Speaker 1: her face, falling away didn't matter.
Speaker 3: You know what I knew it was going to be
Speaker 3: a special night is when she she was coming right
Speaker 3: to left down the court, took a one footed off
Speaker 3: her left foot, one footed shot from the top of
Speaker 3: the key switch. I say, yeah, this is you know,
Speaker 3: we just didn't sit back, eat the popcorn and enjoy
Speaker 3: this moment because she's about to do some give spectacular stuff,
Speaker 3: really truly well.
Speaker 1: And zero points in the first half. So when they
Speaker 1: came back out at the half in the beginning of
Speaker 1: the third, she started to get really hot and they
Speaker 1: looked like they were feeding her. I turned to you
Speaker 1: and I said, Okay, do you think they had a
Speaker 1: conversation at the break about getting her the MVP? Because
Speaker 1: the thing about All Star games is there are so
Speaker 1: many talented players out there. Everybody wants their time, everybody
Speaker 1: wants their shine, and they all kind of know that
Speaker 1: the fans are there to see their respective favorites, right,
Speaker 1: So when you've got a game where someone gets really hot,
Speaker 1: it does sort of have to be a team decision
Speaker 1: because in a regular game, you want to win no
Speaker 1: matter what, so you're feeding the hot hand. But in
Speaker 1: an All Star game, it's about showing everybody's skills. It
Speaker 1: got kind of clear to me quickly that the rest
Speaker 1: of the team was on board. In fact, after the game,
Speaker 1: Kaitlin Clark said they tried to sub me in for
Speaker 1: a reega in. I was like, absolutely not. You got
Speaker 1: to do that. Pep're in there letter cook.
Speaker 3: When you see somebody doing things like that, you don't
Speaker 3: want to stop the spectacle. Like you mentioned, the fans
Speaker 3: are there for a show, and if you know somebody's cooking,
Speaker 3: why would you not continue to feed the hot hand.
Speaker 3: I also feel like at the All Star break, these
Speaker 3: players are very, very tired, even the ones that are
Speaker 3: in the game, and so I'm not mad if I'm
Speaker 3: necho or I'm one of the older you know players
Speaker 3: on that team and Arique's cooking, please make us all
Speaker 3: look good. We're all gonna get this win together. We're
Speaker 3: all on the roster.
Speaker 5: Come on. So but she had a special night for sure.
Speaker 1: Literally, letter Cook, make us all dinner and we'll just
Speaker 1: sit here and watch because we're tired. We're tired. Also
Speaker 1: worth noting they want to win that game. There is
Speaker 1: pride on the line for Team WNBA versus Team USA,
Speaker 1: and for the second straight time, the WNBA All Stars won.
Speaker 1: You and I were talking before I had Team USA
Speaker 1: all the way. Yeah, I thought after they lost, getting
Speaker 1: ready for the Tokyo Games, they would just have this
Speaker 1: chip on their shoulder of like, yeah, we got to
Speaker 1: prove we know we're gonna go out there as the
Speaker 1: favorites for gold again. We know we're one of the
Speaker 1: most nastic teams in Olympic history. But we still got
Speaker 1: to get this w before we leave. And instead they
Speaker 1: are getting on that plane to Paris, perhaps not as
Speaker 1: happy as they could be, perhaps feeling a little bit like, oh,
Speaker 1: we did not want to enter this Olympic outing with
Speaker 1: a big fat l just before we left.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know, if you really sit and't think
Speaker 3: about it, Team WNBA was coming in. Of course, there
Speaker 3: was an actual game to lose, but they had nothing
Speaker 3: to lose. It was all fun and games for them.
Speaker 3: For Team USA, both teams in the first half looked
Speaker 3: a little tight. I think there were nerves, but Team
Speaker 3: USA looked stiff. They looked like they were, you know,
Speaker 3: giving up shots. They weren't playing as loose just because
Speaker 3: you know that that pressure's on. It's real, it exists.
Speaker 3: And they were partying. As we all know, they were
Speaker 3: out there in the streets.
Speaker 1: We'll get to that. We'll get to them being out
Speaker 1: in the streets because we saw them and we were
Speaker 1: with them. But I also think they might have been
Speaker 1: trying to run plays, work on stuff that they've been
Speaker 1: working on in practice, like really prep in a way
Speaker 1: that Team WNBA isn't prepping. And TWNBA knew they were
Speaker 1: about to take a month off, like this is it
Speaker 1: on my body? I get a month off, whereas Team
Speaker 1: USA is like, man, we're gonna keep grinding. So all
Speaker 1: that is taken into account when we see that WNBA win.
Speaker 1: But speaking of wins, Arique, after that incredible performance, we're
Speaker 1: all kind of holding our breath to see what kind
Speaker 1: of trophy she gets because there's been a lot of
Speaker 1: talk in the past about the trophy size, and I'll
Speaker 1: tell you what. We all know, this size matters. And
Speaker 1: when Kelsey Plumb had that little itty bitty trophy that
Speaker 1: looked like something you'd have to save up a bunch
Speaker 1: of tokens or tickets at David Buster's to get out
Speaker 1: of ice the glass case in front, we were all like,
Speaker 1: what the hell is that thing? And so thankfully this
Speaker 1: year was a nice appropriately sized glass trophy plaque, whatever
Speaker 1: you're gonna call it, for a rique well deserved, well deserved.
Speaker 1: Speaking of well deserved, I think we all need to
Speaker 1: hold the dollar real quick from Alicia Gray because she
Speaker 1: went off on Friday and it paid off. Gray got
Speaker 1: two thousand, five hundred and seventy five dollars from the
Speaker 1: league for each of her wins for the three point
Speaker 1: and the skills. That's per the WNBACBA, but she also
Speaker 1: got fifty five thousand dollars per event from AFLAC as
Speaker 1: part of a partnership with the WNBA Players Association, So
Speaker 1: one hundred and ten thousand dollars from AFLAC in addition
Speaker 1: to what she got from the WNBA. Folks, we did
Speaker 1: the math for you. Her base salary from the Dream
Speaker 1: this year is one hundred and eighty five thousand dollars
Speaker 1: and on Friday Night she won one hundred and fifteen thousand,
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty dollars. That's sixty two percent of
Speaker 1: her season salary in one night. Talk about it. Come
Speaker 1: up for Alicia Gray. We love to see it. And
Speaker 1: Mesh was also really fun. She was wearing her goggles
Speaker 1: and he rode kind of goggles. Yeah. Holly Road kind
Speaker 1: of called her out and was like, those are non prescription, right,
Speaker 1: and she was like, oh, secrets out right. I wear
Speaker 1: them because I got poked in the eye before and
Speaker 1: now it's just kind of my look. But they cut
Speaker 1: over and Alicia's former college teammate Asia Wilson was wearing
Speaker 1: the glasses the goggles in solitude court side while watching,
Speaker 1: and then of course Asia said after the big wins,
Speaker 1: she's not paying for another dinner, and I don't blame her.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when somebody comes up big like that, we're all eating.
Speaker 4: That's the whole point, right.
Speaker 3: We were we were with you shooting in the gym. Literally,
Speaker 3: Asia was with Alsia Gray shooting in the gym. So
Speaker 3: I'm just I'm ecstatic for her. And she's so sweet.
Speaker 3: That's the one thing I love about her. Everybody saw
Speaker 3: that viral video of her and Angel Reese at the
Speaker 3: scorer is table too, just cheesing.
Speaker 5: I love it all.
Speaker 4: She's such a sweet human, so southern.
Speaker 5: I love it. I can appreciate that very much. But big, big,
Speaker 5: but she's a.
Speaker 1: Killer, big big, but she's a killer because she went
Speaker 1: out there and the Power of the Dream. It's not
Speaker 1: just a documentary, y'all. It's Alisia Gray, Power of the Dream,
Speaker 1: taken both on Friday night, one bummer mesh and like,
Speaker 1: thankfully you and I were not affected, but a lot
Speaker 1: of people were that, like somebody hit refresh on our
Speaker 1: entire societal technology and it really focks some people up
Speaker 1: for this weekend, And one of them was Erica Wheeler
Speaker 1: of the Fever. She was supposed to compete in the
Speaker 1: Skills Challenge on Friday, but her flight got canceled, so
Speaker 1: Kelsey Mitchell, also of the Fever, stepped in. She was
Speaker 1: already in Phoenix as part of the All Star Game
Speaker 1: and competed. But that's just a bummer, Like you have
Speaker 1: to hope. I know Eric has been an MVP in
Speaker 1: the All Star Game, before and she's had her moments there,
Speaker 1: but you just don't know how many of those you're
Speaker 1: gonna get and for it to be like, imagine how
Speaker 1: pissed we are when we're just like going to a
Speaker 1: girl's weekend and our flight gets canceled, Like you're going
Speaker 1: to potentially win fifty five thousand dollars, yeah, and your
Speaker 1: flight doesn't go like that was a real.
Speaker 5: Bummer, big, big, big bummer.
Speaker 3: And not to mention just the fact that we all
Speaker 3: talked about it, this was probably the best All Star
Speaker 3: that the WNBA's had, and to miss out on that
Speaker 3: is also just a huge, huge letdown.
Speaker 4: So so sorry, Erica Wheeler. Hopefully you get.
Speaker 3: Another opportunity to do this even bigger, even better next
Speaker 3: year or in the future.
Speaker 1: The only person who potentially had a worse weekend was
Speaker 1: Aubrey Plaza. Now I'm not laughing because it's funny, but
Speaker 1: it's kind of funny only because how are you going
Speaker 1: to show up to the WNBA All Star as an
Speaker 1: actress and fan and be the one who tears your
Speaker 1: acl Like you got people out here fighting for money
Speaker 1: and prestige and MVP awards and they're okay and you're
Speaker 1: just playing Knockout at the Phoenix Mercury New Facility and
Speaker 1: you tear your ACL. H the Parks and rec star
Speaker 1: of TV and film, one of my all time fabs
Speaker 1: who is straight up a vibe at all times. Whether
Speaker 1: she's given double middle fingers on the jumbotront or not,
Speaker 1: she's pretty much always a vibe. But she literally tore
Speaker 1: her ACL midweekend. So like we saw her in a
Speaker 1: bunch of places, she was doing a podcast with Sue
Speaker 1: Byrd and Meghan Rapino. She was court sided for the
Speaker 1: Skills and the three point. At some point between when
Speaker 1: we saw her Friday night and Saturday Night's All Star Game,
Speaker 1: we look courtsied and she's got crutches and a brace,
Speaker 1: and Sue Bird is changing her ice pack and we
Speaker 1: find out via the broadcast and Ryan Roco that she
Speaker 1: tory cl.
Speaker 3: That's the kind of stuff that makes women's sports so spectacular,
Speaker 3: because when have you heard a storyline like that at
Speaker 3: the at the NBA All Star Game?
Speaker 5: You don't, because you just don't.
Speaker 3: Aubrey Plaza that you're gracing the WNBA with your presence again,
Speaker 3: because I also love everything.
Speaker 5: She's ever been in.
Speaker 3: But yeah, you're you're not even spectating, right, Just sit still,
Speaker 3: don't do nothing, you know what, you know what, Props
Speaker 3: to her forgiving it her all.
Speaker 1: It sounds like she was playing more defense in in
Speaker 1: that knockout game than you didn't.
Speaker 4: She was walking somebody from getting the ball she was.
Speaker 5: I see it for her, I do.
Speaker 1: That's right, that's right. One last thing about that Saturday night,
Speaker 1: A lot of people were mad about Pitbull being the
Speaker 1: halftime performer, which, like, to be honest, I was kind
Speaker 1: of surprised about. But then it made sense and I
Speaker 1: was thinking about it. I was like, wait, I'm really
Speaker 1: enjoying this, and I'm like definitely shouting along with him fireball,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, Hi, I'm the problem. It's me? Is
Speaker 1: this me not getting that it's like contributing to anti
Speaker 1: feminism because there's like scantily clad women dancing with them
Speaker 1: and I don't know what it is, amish. Maybe you disagree,
Speaker 1: but you know, there's a hip hop squad for the
Speaker 1: Phoenix Mercury and there's men and women dancing, and it's
Speaker 1: reminiscent of the dance squads at NBA games that sometimes
Speaker 1: feel problematic, but they feel sort of like empowered, And
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's the vibe I'm getting a
Speaker 1: lot more these days. Is it doesn't feel like objectification.
Speaker 1: It feels like empowerment. And it might just be the
Speaker 1: lens through which I'm seeing things, but to me, Pitbull
Speaker 1: and his dancers it didn't feel like, oh, this is
Speaker 1: inappropriate for a women's event. It felt like it's pit Bull,
Speaker 1: it's mister Worldwide, and he's got dancers that are hot
Speaker 1: and that are dancing. But I don't know if I've
Speaker 1: just gotten so like, is this internalized misogyny where I'm
Speaker 1: just conditioned to see this bullshit and I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's cool.
Speaker 5: You know, Sarah.
Speaker 3: I think the environment had a lot to do with it,
Speaker 3: because personally, pipple was it wouldn't have been my first choice,
Speaker 3: but I enjoyed myself and when he did all of
Speaker 3: You or whatever.
Speaker 1: The day of that song is last Yep with Neo.
Speaker 5: I loved it. I ate it up. But to your point.
Speaker 3: About the scantily glad women, I feel like the difference
Speaker 3: is the gays, right, It's not so much the male gaates.
Speaker 4: It's a bunch of lesbians and they're watching them.
Speaker 3: Folks dance and it's adoration and it's pure joy and
Speaker 3: it's not you know, the objectification we're used.
Speaker 5: To, you know what I mean. So I think that
Speaker 5: had a lot to do with it.
Speaker 3: But overall they were just talented also, and I think
Speaker 3: that always, you know, brings general spirit of appreciation for
Speaker 3: whatever is going on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean I think I see both sides
Speaker 1: for sure. I understand people who had a problem, and
Speaker 1: I also understand people like me who were like it
Speaker 1: was just a good time. Plus, you know, Unfortunately, Brandy
Speaker 1: Carlisle just wouldn't hit the same way, and that would
Speaker 1: have been my top choice.
Speaker 4: I don't know if that would have I don't know
Speaker 4: if that would have been not.
Speaker 1: For the All Star Game, but shout out, Brandy Carlisle.
Speaker 1: Give me, I love you so much.
Speaker 3: Give me Victoria Monet next year, WNBA, give me Victoria
Speaker 3: Monet and we'll be in business. Or Kailani, that would
Speaker 3: be fantastic. You want to make some money there you go.
Speaker 1: Thursday and Friday, there were some good parties. To get
Speaker 1: to me, she and I were ships passing in the night.
Speaker 1: Did you have a highlight for any of the parties
Speaker 1: that you went to aka I got you in.
Speaker 5: Yeah, shout out to you for that, y'all.
Speaker 3: I want you to know also, while I have this platform,
Speaker 3: Sarah was the plug.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 3: I had all intentions of sitting in the bed and
Speaker 3: watching everything on TV, and Sarah said, no, you're gonna
Speaker 3: be here, So I appreciate that. But yeah, I did
Speaker 3: see Cock Copper go word for word on Dreams and
Speaker 3: Nightmares at Kandas Parker's Anita's party.
Speaker 5: And that might have been the highlight of my weekend
Speaker 5: as a whole. You know what.
Speaker 3: Actually though, Flage got on stage and performed right after that,
Speaker 3: and I was front row for it. Can I tell
Speaker 3: y'all we're gonna give her a shout out later in
Speaker 3: the show. But get on board, tell you right now,
Speaker 3: get on.
Speaker 1: Board right I have now seen flopperform multiple times because
Speaker 1: we were out in France together, you know, Subtle Flex,
Speaker 1: and then I saw at Boardroom on Thursday night, and
Speaker 1: are again at a different event later in the weekend,
Speaker 1: like she was everywhere. By the way, Hilario said that
Speaker 1: Boardroom event, I was sitting with the president of the
Speaker 1: New Valkyrie's Bay Area team and Laura Krenty with Deep
Speaker 1: Blue and We're sitting in this VIP area that was
Speaker 1: reserved and we just felt like, you know, sitting down
Speaker 1: and we're like, yeah, it's reserved for us. This girl
Speaker 1: comes over and she's like just wanted to let you
Speaker 1: know that, like in a couple of minutes, Maria owned
Speaker 1: School will be here and so you'll have to move.
Speaker 1: And we're like all right, and then she walked away.
Speaker 1: We go, who the hells Maria Owns, Like, we don't
Speaker 1: know who Maria is? She with like a sponsor. We're
Speaker 1: not moving for Maria. We're gonna like make friends. And
Speaker 1: then she comes back and she goes, okay, just a
Speaker 1: five minute warning on Marina ownskew and we're like it's Marina. Now,
Speaker 1: who's Marina? Who is this Maria Marina? And she's like
Speaker 1: it might be Sabrina and we're like, oh, okay, Sabrina
Speaker 1: you Neescu and she's like, I don't know, I'm I
Speaker 1: just work here, and we're like, okay, well, we'll move
Speaker 1: for her, like we'll get our asses out of this booth.
Speaker 1: So Brendan Ginescu I get.
Speaker 5: Well, like we're just kidding.
Speaker 1: From now on, we're gonna have a group thread that
Speaker 1: just called Who's Maria because we were like, who's Maria?
Speaker 1: We're not moving for Maria. Yeah, the parties were super fun.
Speaker 1: You know, I always say this, but I really feel
Speaker 1: like one of the coolest things about the women's sports
Speaker 1: space and events like this is you look around the
Speaker 1: room and you're like, I would hang with all these people,
Speaker 1: like these are awesome people. And even when it's crowded
Speaker 1: and even when it's hard to get into, everyone's nice,
Speaker 1: everyone's kind. It's just a vibe. It's just it's really cool.
Speaker 1: Another really cool thing for me is I got to
Speaker 1: be present for two different legends getting their flowers in
Speaker 1: the moment. One of them, you know, well passed retirement
Speaker 1: but as there's so much conversation about, and one of
Speaker 1: them literally right after retiring. And the first was Thursday night.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Christina Williams who invited me to this
Speaker 1: beautiful dinner on the SDK rooftop and we honored Cheryl
Speaker 1: Swoops and Christina, by the way, has a new show
Speaker 1: coming out right on this network on iHeart, so we'll
Speaker 1: be making sure we give you all the info when
Speaker 1: that drops. It's later this week, so you can listen
Speaker 1: to it. But Cheryl Swoops got up and one of
Speaker 1: the things she talked about was just like, there's these
Speaker 1: superstar players from her time that do get a lot
Speaker 1: of credit, but how many of the everyday players or
Speaker 1: even regular All stars are not known. And it got
Speaker 1: me thinking about how disrespectful some of the language around
Speaker 1: the older years of the WNBA has been. Like if
Speaker 1: you look at the early years of the NBA, the
Speaker 1: playoffs were on tape delay. There were five thousand people
Speaker 1: in the stands for some of the most historic performances
Speaker 1: we've seen, and yet we remember them with this aura,
Speaker 1: this mythologizing of the NBA greats who helped build the league,
Speaker 1: and even if you don't know a lot about them,
Speaker 1: you know the names and you talk about them with reverence.
Speaker 1: And in the WNBA, the language has always been that
Speaker 1: was shit. Before Caitlin got there, nobody watched it wasn't good.
Speaker 1: And we know that's not true. We know the players
Speaker 1: were incredible, the product was amazing. It is all about
Speaker 1: TV coverage, media coverage, society's bullshit. Like there is so
Speaker 1: much there was intention too to some of the ways
Speaker 1: that women's sports were not being elevated. There were columns
Speaker 1: being written by high profile journalists making fun of it,
Speaker 1: poisoning the well, dogging it for no reason. And so
Speaker 1: when Cheryl started to talk about these players who not
Speaker 1: only don't get their flowers, but are actively being dogged
Speaker 1: by people who are trying to make it seem like
Speaker 1: the product wasn't good until Caitlin arrived, we can't have
Speaker 1: that like that's trash. And one of the things she
Speaker 1: said she wants to do is have a brunch with
Speaker 1: current and former players and bridge that gap, get the
Speaker 1: younger current players to really get to meet and know
Speaker 1: some of the people who paved the way for them.
Speaker 1: And I love that idea. I just think shout out
Speaker 1: to Cheryl for that. Speaking of Cheryl, Cheryl Swoops also
Speaker 1: has a show on this network coming out soon, so
Speaker 1: we'll be making sure to tell you how you can
Speaker 1: listen to that too. The other one quickly was Kandas Parker.
Speaker 1: So Candas is on the Gatorade Women's Advisory Board with
Speaker 1: me this term, and I've known Candas for a while
Speaker 1: and she's literally the best, but her relationship with her
Speaker 1: sponsors is truly special. And we saw that on Friday Night.
Speaker 1: Adidas threw her a surprise retirement party and had her
Speaker 1: daughter Layla voice over a video commemorating her career, had
Speaker 1: a bunch of her friends and teammates come up and
Speaker 1: speak about her like people were just pouring into canvas
Speaker 1: all weekend. But during our advisory board meeting, Gatorade surprise
Speaker 1: Candace by telling her they were putting up a billboard
Speaker 1: digital billboard outside the Footprint Center with her arms spread open,
Speaker 1: just commemorating her career, and she basically was like on
Speaker 1: the verge of tears talking about how much it meant
Speaker 1: to her her relationship with GAATEORAID since being named a
Speaker 1: Gatoraide Player of the Year twenty years ago. By the way,
Speaker 1: her class was Lebron, James, Allison, Felix and her and
Speaker 1: Hather ol'riiley the soccer player. Like that's dynastic right there.
Speaker 1: But she has these relationships with these sponsors and the
Speaker 1: people around her, and anyone who's gotten to know Candice
Speaker 1: just knows like she's the real one. She's the best.
Speaker 1: So I loved being in the room for those moments
Speaker 1: with those players, and we definitely need to do that more. Yes,
Speaker 1: these current players are amazing and they're setting records, and
Speaker 1: all these women that came before, we deserve to know
Speaker 1: more about them, to make sure they know how appreciated
Speaker 1: they are. All right, Misha, anything else on the weekend.
Speaker 1: You're gonna sleep for a couple of days or are
Speaker 1: you good?
Speaker 4: No, we're grinding, Sarah, we got a show to me.
Speaker 4: You know. We can't stop now. We can't stop now.
Speaker 5: But just it was.
Speaker 3: Awesome meeting everybody at WNBA Live as well. I know,
Speaker 3: I got to say hi to a bunch of people
Speaker 3: shout out round twenty one play a society. Can't retire
Speaker 3: from this, follow can't retire, doc because what you're talking
Speaker 3: about with Cheryl, there are so many people I met
Speaker 3: this weekend who are also trying to help bridge that
Speaker 3: gap for new fans to learn about the history of
Speaker 3: the league and where we've come from with women's basketball
Speaker 3: as a whole.
Speaker 4: The WBL, the ABL, y'all don't know about them.
Speaker 3: You should, so just tap in, tap in all the
Speaker 3: way if you're going to be in lean in, folks.
Speaker 1: I love it, I love it. It was so fun
Speaker 1: to hang. Next time you're in, Alex, next time you're
Speaker 1: in when we come back two goats giving us the
Speaker 1: feels we're going to talk about one of those moments
Speaker 1: that feels like it can only happen in women's sports.
Speaker 1: Stick around, welcome back. We're glad you're here. Honestly, we're
Speaker 1: glad we're here because being in Phoenix in the middle
Speaker 1: of summer felt like being inside someone's mouth, and I
Speaker 1: was worried I wasn't going to make it out. Thank
Speaker 1: goodness for air conditioning and thank goodness for covering women's sports.
Speaker 1: I was sharing that thought with my girl, Maggie Hendrix,
Speaker 1: who is a great reporter for all sorts of women's sports,
Speaker 1: and we witnessed this moment on Saturday night that really
Speaker 1: felt like it was that sort of where else but
Speaker 1: women's sports moment, and it was between Cheryl Miller and
Speaker 1: Ann Meyers Drysdale. Now this was heartwarming, to say the least,
Speaker 1: and we got to talk about it. So Cheryl was
Speaker 1: appointed to run the show for Team WNBA in the
Speaker 1: All Star Game. She was the coach, and in case
Speaker 1: you missed it, we talked about her last episode. But
Speaker 1: one of the baddest women to ever play basketball won
Speaker 1: two national titles with USC, was an All American All
Speaker 1: four years. WNBA didn't exist when she graduated, and she
Speaker 1: had some knee injuries that cut her career short. But
Speaker 1: she was a dog and she's done a lot of
Speaker 1: broadcasting work. She was the first head coach in Phoenix
Speaker 1: Mercury history. So awesome were Friday Night at the Skills Challenge.
Speaker 1: Cheryl Miller got a shout out on the JumboTron, and
Speaker 1: she was sitting next to fellow basketball legend Ann Meyers Drysdale,
Speaker 1: But they only gave a shout out to Cheryl Drysdale
Speaker 1: wasn't recognized. Cheryl's pointing next to her, but they don't
Speaker 1: put Ann's name up on the JumboTron, and she kind
Speaker 1: of goes unrecognized. Okay. Anne was the first player regardless
Speaker 1: of gender, to be an All American in four straight seasons,
Speaker 1: the first player drafted to the Women's Basketball League aka
Speaker 1: the WBL AKA, the first professional women's league in the
Speaker 1: United States. She was also the first female player to
Speaker 1: try out with an NBA team. She tried out for
Speaker 1: the Indiana Pacers. Now she's a long time vice president
Speaker 1: of the Mercury and the Suns. When I say basketball greatness,
Speaker 1: Ann Meyers Drysdale is it so we love the moment.
Speaker 1: On Saturday, the cameras are on them, and right before
Speaker 1: tip off, I'm talking like minutes before tip off of
Speaker 1: the All Star Game, Cheryl Miller walks over to Drysdale
Speaker 1: sitting courtside, throws her a quarter zip jacket and makes
Speaker 1: her an honorary coach, brings her over to the bench
Speaker 1: to coach with her for the night. It was announced
Speaker 1: in the arena, the crowd went crazy and it was
Speaker 1: the kind of shit we love to see it, just
Speaker 1: this women supporting women, making sure the legacy of the
Speaker 1: game is remembered, making sure we're lifting as we rise.
Speaker 1: It was just really, really freaking cool. So shout out Cheryl,
Speaker 1: shout out Anne, and shout out those moments that feel
Speaker 1: like they're where else but in women's sports. King of
Speaker 1: Women's Sports, we have a lineup this week for the
Speaker 1: rest of our shows that's going to blow your mind.
Speaker 1: Tierna Davidson ahead of the US women's soccer team playing
Speaker 1: in Paris, the legendary Abby Wombach to break down the NWSL,
Speaker 1: the Olympic team, everything she's been doing since she retired.
Speaker 1: Maggie Stephens, literally the greatest women's water polo player on
Speaker 1: the Planet and more. That's all coming up this week.
Speaker 1: As always, we love that you're listening, but we do
Speaker 1: want you to get in the game every day too.
Speaker 1: So here's our good game play of the day, and
Speaker 1: it's an easy one. Listen to Flage's new album. It's
Speaker 1: called Best of Both Worlds. She's got a Lil Wayne
Speaker 1: feature on it, She's got some banger songs. And remember
Speaker 1: that this is an LSU player national champion, still in college,
Speaker 1: still playing, and has a full rap career in addition,
Speaker 1: putting out an album, performing at the SP's, performing at
Speaker 1: all these parties, like she really can't do it all
Speaker 1: and she's so beloved. If you watched her walking around
Speaker 1: the All Star and she just got it, she got
Speaker 1: that it factor. So give Flages album and you listen,
Speaker 1: give her some love. Oh we also need you to subscribe, rate,
Speaker 1: and review. Thank you to those who have already done it.
Speaker 1: We love to hear from you, and we especially love
Speaker 1: two reviews that we saw. We got to read them. Okay.
Speaker 1: H M Parodies wrote for one Star no equestrian sport coverage,
Speaker 1: another sports show with no horseback riding sport coverage. It's
Speaker 1: a massively popular industry with many disciplines. Men and women
Speaker 1: compete against each other directly, even at the highest levels
Speaker 1: like the Olympics. You know what, You're right, but it's
Speaker 1: a little early to presume that we will not be
Speaker 1: the leading coverer of dressage. It is a little presumptuous
Speaker 1: to just assume that we're not going to be giving
Speaker 1: you all the horseback riding content that you deserve. It
Speaker 1: may be accurate, but you don't know that yet. We've
Speaker 1: only done three shows, so hang in there with us.
Speaker 1: You might get those horses you're looking for. You never know.
Speaker 1: And also out to Cherokee Heel, who gave us five
Speaker 1: stars and said this is gonna be fun. As someone
Speaker 1: who played a rover in high school basketball because city
Speaker 1: schools didn't think girls could run full court for forty minutes,
Speaker 1: this podcast has long been wanted and needed. Congratulations. Are
Speaker 1: you sure you're not a lesbian? You know I'm not.
Speaker 1: You know I'm happily married to a man. But who
Speaker 1: do we ever really know? You know I'm open. I'm
Speaker 1: open to where life will take me. Thank you Cherokee
Speaker 1: Heel for the review and for making sure I'm keeping
Speaker 1: an open mind. You can hit us up on our
Speaker 1: email Good Game at wondermedianetwork dot com or on social
Speaker 1: at Sarah Spain on Twitter. You can even leave us
Speaker 1: a voicemail message eight seven two two oh four five
Speaker 1: oh seven oh thanks as always for listening. Come back tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Good game, Alicia Gray, Good Game, Arika Glumbouale you people
Speaker 1: who crowd the baggage carousel instead of taking two steps
Speaker 1: back and then stepping up to grab their bag when
Speaker 1: it arrives. And yes, I did come straight from an airport.
Speaker 1: Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
Speaker 1: production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
Speaker 1: can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
Speaker 1: our producers are Alex Azzi and Misha Jones. Our executive
Speaker 1: producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder.
Speaker 1: Our editors are Jenny Kaplan, Emily Rutter, Breddy Martinez and
Speaker 1: Grace Lynch. Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your
Speaker 1: Host Sarah Spain h h