Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where
Speaker 1: cam Brink just got a Flaunt cover. Asia Wilson got
Speaker 1: a Marie Claire cover, and we want to know who's
Speaker 1: putting us on the cover. On today's show, we're going
Speaker 1: to talk with ESPN analyst, Olympic gold medalist a Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer Rebecca Lobo about the WNBA season so far
Speaker 1: and this weekend's All Star festivities. But first, here's what
Speaker 1: you need to know today. Big news for the WNBA.
Speaker 1: They're signing a new broadcast rights deal that'll be worth
Speaker 1: an estimated two hundred million dollars a year. This first
Speaker 1: reported by The Athletic. That's a huge increase from the
Speaker 1: league's current deal, which is valued at just sixty million.
Speaker 1: The league will reportedly enter new agreements with ESPN, Amazon,
Speaker 1: and NBC, with the ability to sign with additional broadcast
Speaker 1: partners to bring in even more revenue cash money. We
Speaker 1: love this news. This is huge. Speaking of money, a
Speaker 1: whole lot of it is going to the NWSL's Angel City.
Speaker 1: The team announced on Wednesday that the club is being
Speaker 1: sold to Disney CEO Bob Iiger and his wife will Obey.
Speaker 1: Shouts to will Obey. I think original host of Inside
Speaker 1: Stuff before Summer Sanders, or it might be a flip,
Speaker 1: but either way, I watch that every day growing up.
Speaker 1: So shout out to Inside Stuff and will Obey Bob
Speaker 1: Iiger and will Obey new owners of Angel City. The
Speaker 1: deal values the team at two hundred fifty million, which
Speaker 1: will make angel City FC the world's highest valued women's
Speaker 1: sports team, assuming the NWSLS signed off on the sale.
Speaker 1: So many questions about that for all my Angel City
Speaker 1: owner friends. Are we still getting orange slices from Glennon
Speaker 1: Doyle and Jennifer Garner before games? All of those superstars
Speaker 1: that are part owners. Are they still in the mix here?
Speaker 1: Or are Bob and Willow taking over? Are they looking
Speaker 1: for new owners that have like zero money compared to
Speaker 1: the rest of their owners but just want to hang
Speaker 1: out asking for a friend. Simone Biles Doc. Are you
Speaker 1: guys watching it? Because Part one is out? Netflix doc
Speaker 1: series on Simone Biles has dropped, and it details Simone's
Speaker 1: decision to withdraw from the team competition at the Tokyo
Speaker 1: Olympics due to the twisties. And if you never figured
Speaker 1: out during that whole thing, what the twisties. Are they
Speaker 1: get into it. You're gonna find out, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: follow her journey back into the gym as well. Part
Speaker 1: two of that series is going to be released in
Speaker 1: the fall. And first of all, we'll watch Simone Biles
Speaker 1: doing literally anything. And I couldn't be more excited that
Speaker 1: her husband is now a Chicago Bear, so she will
Speaker 1: be in Chicago and I can watch her just I
Speaker 1: don't know, like eat a hot dog and watch the Bears.
Speaker 1: But my favorite thing about Simone is is she's such
Speaker 1: a tiny powerhouse. Like I did a cover story with
Speaker 1: Simone for ESPN the magazine a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: and she is so small and so sweet and so cute.
Speaker 1: But girl is a nightmare. Dressed like a daydream. She
Speaker 1: has got the sparkles on her leotard. She is cute
Speaker 1: as hell. And then she goes out there and she
Speaker 1: pulls off stuff that like even the men can't do
Speaker 1: in gymnastics, gets all the moves named after her, and
Speaker 1: like this behind the scenes look of that dichotomy is
Speaker 1: chef's kiss. So excited. You all know how it goes.
Speaker 1: In La they get crazy, in Miami they get crazy,
Speaker 1: and in Phoenix, they get crazy. Okay, I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to spit. I'm just telling you it's going to be lit.
Speaker 1: Because we learn that Pitbull is going to be performing
Speaker 1: halftime of the WNBA All Star Game this Saturday in Phoenix.
Speaker 1: I will be there. Shout out to my sister Katie,
Speaker 1: who is obsessed with Pitbull. I mean, I dig it,
Speaker 1: but not like she does, so I will be sending
Speaker 1: her all sorts of.
Speaker 2: Videos from that.
Speaker 1: The Chicago Sky announced yesterday that the team have acquired
Speaker 1: Rachel Bannam, Mariah Jefferson, the twenty twenty five first round
Speaker 1: draft pick, and the rights to swap twenty twenty six
Speaker 1: first round pick from Connecticut in exchange for Marina Maybury
Speaker 1: and the Sky's twenty twenty five second round draft pick. Okay,
Speaker 1: first of all, shout out to my guy Josh Bard
Speaker 1: who texted me and called this move going from the
Speaker 1: sky to the sun Kearsian. Pretty sure he made up
Speaker 1: that word, but yes, Icarus from the sky to the Sun.
Speaker 1: I have thoughts on this, guys, the Sky or my squad.
Speaker 1: Marina Maybury is a straight up dog, playmaker, leader, aggressive
Speaker 1: both sides of the court. I'm just perplexed. It will
Speaker 1: also be very interesting to see Marina pair up with
Speaker 1: Dja Carrington. That could be quite icy. Go back and
Speaker 1: look up some of their highlights. Then again, I was
Speaker 1: super worried about Colia Copper and Sophie Cunningham becoming teammates,
Speaker 1: and they seem to be buddy buddy, so you just
Speaker 1: never know. I'm going to talk about this straight a
Speaker 1: little bit more later. I want this all to settle.
Speaker 1: But yeah, Marina, that's my dog. Sue Bird, who by
Speaker 1: the way, will be on the show tomorrow, has won
Speaker 1: everything there is to win in basketball, and now she's
Speaker 1: up Barbie too. Mattel announced that the former Seattle Storm
Speaker 1: point guard in five tin Olympic gold medals will be
Speaker 1: part of their role model collection. Love this for Sue,
Speaker 1: Love this for Barbie. Come on, Barbie, let's go cross
Speaker 1: up some bitches. NWSL is currently on an Olympic break,
Speaker 1: don't forget, but that doesn't mean that the players are.
Speaker 1: Because a record fifty six NWSL players are gonna compete
Speaker 1: at the upcoming Paris Olympics, which is more than any
Speaker 1: other league in the whole world. Of the twelve Olympic
Speaker 1: teams in the tournament. Eleven have at least one NWSL
Speaker 1: player on their roster, Gotham FC and Orlando Prideley the way,
Speaker 1: they've got seven players each competing at the Games. There's
Speaker 1: also a couple of tournaments happening back home for non
Speaker 1: Olympians two So if you miss the NWSL and you're
Speaker 1: not get enough soccer from the Olympics, we'll tell you
Speaker 1: all about those in an upcoming show. When we come back.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be famous by the Father because forever's too short.
Speaker 1: We're gonna chat with one of the best in the business.
Speaker 1: She knows Little Stinker and all the New York Lonely Boys,
Speaker 1: Rebecca Lobo up next. We're back and we're almost heading
Speaker 1: out of town because this weekend is the twentieth WNBA
Speaker 1: All Star Game. I will be there in Phoenix. And
Speaker 1: if you're in the know about how many WNBA seasons
Speaker 1: there have been, then you know that the math aint mathon.
Speaker 1: We got twenty eight seasons and only twenty All Star games.
Speaker 1: What's up with that? Well, when the league started, they
Speaker 1: didn't have them, and then they skipped them for a
Speaker 1: few years during the Olympic years, and then there was
Speaker 1: of course the COVID year, no All Star Game in
Speaker 1: the bubble, So we're just at twenty Now, why does
Speaker 1: that matter? Well, besides those years missing out on all
Speaker 1: the fun and the pageantry and the parties of the
Speaker 1: game and the weekend itself, it does make it feel
Speaker 1: like some of the best players ever might have had
Speaker 1: like an off year or two. Diana Trozzi, for instance,
Speaker 1: She's been in the league for twenty seasons but only
Speaker 1: an eleven time All Star. Britney Griner for instance, She's
Speaker 1: only been in the league for eleven seasons but ten
Speaker 1: All Star noms. Neck Ogom Makay twelve seasons, nine All
Speaker 1: Star appearances. So some of the older players like Diana,
Speaker 1: who were around when All Star didn't exist or when
Speaker 1: they skipped Olympic years, they kind of got boned worth knowing.
Speaker 1: The good news is we do get a game this
Speaker 1: year despite the Olympics. In fact, this weekend's going to
Speaker 1: be a sort of tune up for Team USA. They're
Speaker 1: going to take on Team WNBA in the game on Saturday.
Speaker 1: We're going to keep an eye on injuries the next
Speaker 1: couple of days because Brianna Stewart and if you said
Speaker 1: Collier Britney Griner, Dina Trossi, a couple others have been
Speaker 1: missing some of their WNBA games, so we'll see whether
Speaker 1: they decide to take this opportunity to get some rest
Speaker 1: instead of a tune up for the games. Hopefully we'll
Speaker 1: see all the stars on Saturday, but worth noting that
Speaker 1: some may need to get themselves healthy before Paris. Also
Speaker 1: this weekend, keeping out Friday night, we've got the Skills
Speaker 1: Challenge and the Three Point Contest, and then all day
Speaker 1: Friday and Saturday in Phoenix the WNBA Live Fan Festival
Speaker 1: at the Phoenix Convention Center. Lots of free swag, there,
Speaker 1: lots of activities, players popping by, and it's really part
Speaker 1: of this new look All Star weekend. If you have
Speaker 1: not been to an All Star weekend for WNBA, or
Speaker 1: maybe even when years ago, the thing that stood out
Speaker 1: to me in recent years was how elevated the experience
Speaker 1: has become. The parties, the activations, the sponsor involvement. And
Speaker 1: I remember being in Chicago at the All Star Weekend
Speaker 1: and just thinking, I wish that all the executives that
Speaker 1: are at the top level of major TV networks, major websites,
Speaker 1: major brands would start to include it in their trips.
Speaker 1: They're taking these regular Johns to the super Bowl or
Speaker 1: NBA All Star or f one, but if they included
Speaker 1: the WNBA All Star weekend, they'd really get a feel
Speaker 1: for just how rabid the fandom is, how much of
Speaker 1: an intersection there is with culture and music and fashion,
Speaker 1: and how big of an opportunity there is to invest
Speaker 1: and cover and care about the w I mean, I
Speaker 1: want them to update themselves on the data that's huge,
Speaker 1: and thanks to Sports Innovation Lab in Wasserman and others,
Speaker 1: we now have these like cold hard facts about fan
Speaker 1: interest and watching habits, brand affinity, spending, all of that
Speaker 1: stuff that's so important. But also these execs need to
Speaker 1: have the experience. And I think going to for instance,
Speaker 1: Sue Bird's Crown Royal party and walking through this beautiful
Speaker 1: activation highlighting her career achievements, or going to a Jordan
Speaker 1: Women's collective party at the Viceroy and Chicago and Young
Speaker 1: Jeezy's performing and everyone's hype, Like the people making decisions
Speaker 1: need to be there and see it to really understand.
Speaker 1: So I hope they're in Phoenix this weekend, sweating their
Speaker 1: fucking balls off with us and seeing the magic in person.
Speaker 1: Speaking of balls, our next guest knows a thing or
Speaker 1: two about them. Basketball's that is joining us now on
Speaker 1: the show. Olympic gold medalist, NCAA champion and member of
Speaker 1: the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naysmith Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. Now a reporter and color analyst for ESPN,
Speaker 1: focusing on women's college basketball and the WNBA. She met
Speaker 1: her husband after he shit talked the WNBA in a
Speaker 1: column for SI, and she invited him to a game
Speaker 1: to see how wrong he was. I guess you could
Speaker 1: say it was love at first slight. It's Rebecca Lobo.
Speaker 1: What's up? Rebecca?
Speaker 2: That? That could be my favorite introduction effort.
Speaker 1: It's like my favorite story. I am always telling people
Speaker 1: that story. And then you saying at your Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame speech that one of your kids men's basketball on TV,
Speaker 1: and you're like, what, men play basketball too? Like that's
Speaker 1: how you know you're raising her?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: That's right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yep.
Speaker 3: That daughter, she was like four at the time, is
Speaker 3: now nineteen and about to enter her junior year at
Speaker 3: college Unreal.
Speaker 1: By the way, just in case, I'm not encouraging men
Speaker 1: to talk shit about women's sports and the hopes that
Speaker 1: it will land you a Hall of Fame. Wife, I
Speaker 1: think that's a rare occurrence. Let's stick with being supportive.
Speaker 2: But maybe it will.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe everybody likes to get nagged every once in
Speaker 1: a while. I guess that's that's that's what you're showing us. Okay,
Speaker 1: we have to talk about the most important thing first,
Speaker 1: which is that you made a cameo on Girls five EVA.
Speaker 1: And I'm completely obsessed with that show. My husband and
Speaker 1: I are like quoting it NonStop. So tell me everything.
Speaker 1: I need to know. What it was like hanging out
Speaker 1: with Sarah Burrellis and Rinale's Goldsberry and Paulapel and Busy
Speaker 1: Phillips and everybody else.
Speaker 2: Well, it was awesome.
Speaker 3: So it came to me, I don't know, a year
Speaker 3: and a half ago, and I got like an email
Speaker 3: from my agent, would you be interested in doing a
Speaker 3: cameo on this Girl's five have a show? Canvassing a
Speaker 3: number of people And it was taped like right after
Speaker 3: the final four And I was like, oh, you know,
Speaker 3: I have to go away to Long Island for a
Speaker 3: week or something. And my oldest daughter is like, are
Speaker 3: you crazy? Of course you have to do this. She's like,
Speaker 3: and bring me along with you. And so anyway I
Speaker 3: got a chance to do it. Because of their their
Speaker 3: COVID regulations. When we taped, I wasn't able to bring
Speaker 3: my daughter. But we were at a castle on Long Island.
Speaker 3: It's it's where they filmed part of one of the
Speaker 3: Taylor Swift videos. You know exactly which one it was,
Speaker 3: and it was awesome. I was there for maybe three days,
Speaker 3: and there was a ton of downtime. So anybody who's
Speaker 3: filmed stuff before knows that you film for you know,
Speaker 3: twenty minutes, half hour, and then you might be hanging
Speaker 3: out for a couple of hours. And in this castle,
Speaker 3: there was this library that was sort of like the
Speaker 3: green room, the hangout room.
Speaker 2: So sometimes i'd be in there and like one time,
Speaker 2: Sarah Burrella's just went She's like, I'm going to get coffee.
Speaker 2: Would you like me to get you some coffee?
Speaker 3: And then we just ended up having this long conversation
Speaker 3: about coffee and life and and a variety of things,
Speaker 3: and she could not have been more awesome. And then
Speaker 3: another one of the moments, when I'm just hanging out
Speaker 3: Rene Lee's Goldsberry, we start talking her son is a
Speaker 3: high school basketball player. My son's a high school basketball player.
Speaker 3: So anyway, we were just talking about that. These women,
Speaker 3: Sarah could not have been more cool.
Speaker 1: They were absolutely I love to hear.
Speaker 2: It was a blast.
Speaker 3: And the thing is I hadn't seen the show before
Speaker 3: I was asked to do it, so I was like
Speaker 3: binge watching, so I knew what was going on. And
Speaker 3: I'm sitting I'm watching with my husband like you did,
Speaker 3: and we are dying because we were both huge thirty
Speaker 3: rock fans.
Speaker 1: And it's so similar to that joint YEP.
Speaker 3: So funny, so funny, and like you know, just a
Speaker 3: beautifully written. The actors are amazing. The singing and choreography
Speaker 3: was cool. That was one of the other things in
Speaker 3: the green room watching like the choreographer teaching the women
Speaker 3: how to do certain things that they're going to do.
Speaker 2: And one of the scenes anyway, I'm trying it.
Speaker 1: Awesome job. It was the Blank Space video. By the way,
Speaker 1: for those who want another Easter egg that mansion that
Speaker 1: they filmed, it was from Blank Space. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it's just the best show. The Easter eggs are
Speaker 1: all over that show. You almost have to like watch
Speaker 1: it multiple times to get every single joke in reference
Speaker 1: to the nineties and everything else. Okay, I had to
Speaker 1: ask you about that because I'm so obsessed and I'm
Speaker 1: like literally evangelist for that show. I tell everyone all
Speaker 1: the time to watch it. Let's talk great because we
Speaker 1: have some like big news in the WNBA today the
Speaker 1: media deal that just got announced. The Athletic was first
Speaker 1: to report that the league agreed to two point two
Speaker 1: billion in new rights deals. We're gonna get a lot
Speaker 1: of details to come, but what's your first reaction?
Speaker 2: Awesome, awesome, long time coming. I think there.
Speaker 3: It's reported that it's averaging out to around two hundred
Speaker 3: million a year, four times what the current deal is,
Speaker 3: at least four times. I'm thrilled for the players because
Speaker 3: you know, they'll opt out of the CBA this year,
Speaker 3: they'll start negotiating, and I I am thrilled because hopefully
Speaker 3: this means that there's going to be a huge spike
Speaker 3: in in salaries. We've already seen them get the chartered
Speaker 3: flights that they'd been hoping for for the last number
Speaker 3: of years. And as you know, everything is driven by
Speaker 3: the media rights deal. That's where all the money is
Speaker 3: that's where the players are going to get the things
Speaker 3: that they want to get. So I'm thrilled that, you know,
Speaker 3: if was being reported is accurate, I'm thrilled for them.
Speaker 1: So cool. You know, we had a wild start to
Speaker 1: this season, and we've settled down a bit, thankfully. We've
Speaker 1: started really focusing on the basketball, which has actually been
Speaker 1: really absolutely a little bit of most of us some
Speaker 1: of us, yeah we have. Yeah, But before we can
Speaker 1: move on, I do want to get your perspective from
Speaker 1: the inside on how you handled the sort of hysteria
Speaker 1: and unhinged start to this season, Like how much did
Speaker 1: it factor how you called games? How much did it
Speaker 1: affect the conversations you had with players, because even if
Speaker 1: you wanted to ignore it, you could like accidentally step
Speaker 1: into some sort of beef was going on, or like
Speaker 1: say the wrong thing and have everyone think you were
Speaker 1: taking quote a side, like it was almost impossible not
Speaker 1: to pay attention just to make sure you didn't get
Speaker 1: roped up in it. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think actually a little bit separate from your question
Speaker 3: is that when we started the season, we knew there
Speaker 3: was going to be a ton more WNBA, ten more
Speaker 3: people watching the WNBA, perhaps for the first time. So
Speaker 3: when Ryan and I did that first game, Indiana's first game,
Speaker 3: it was the first game of of the season, Indiana
Speaker 3: at Connecticut. Anytime there was a different rule in the
Speaker 3: WA than we have in college, we explained because we
Speaker 3: knew that there was a bunch of new people watching
Speaker 3: the game, that they're they're probably there for the first time,
Speaker 3: So we understood that piece of it. It wasn't until
Speaker 3: you got a few weeks in that like you felt
Speaker 3: the other narrative. And when it really hit me was
Speaker 3: Ryan and I called the Chicago game at Indiana, the
Speaker 3: first game where Kennedy Carter had the foul against Caitlyn Clark,
Speaker 3: and it felt like from that moment on, things really
Speaker 3: blew up because I had kind of ignored the whole
Speaker 3: silly narrative that, you know, the veterans are jealous of
Speaker 3: Kate and the Lark, so they're beating her up. Because
Speaker 3: I've been watching all the Indiana games, I'm like, no,
Speaker 3: have people not been watching the w NBA for the last.
Speaker 2: Two decades, Like this is how they defend and yeah,
Speaker 2: and yes she was.
Speaker 3: She getting more defensive attention than any player in the
Speaker 3: history of the league. Yes, she was, I can say
Speaker 3: that with authority, But were they being dirty? And was that,
Speaker 3: you know, that fueled by jealousy? I just thought it
Speaker 3: was such a stupid narrative that and it didn't really
Speaker 3: have teeth until all of a sudden you got the
Speaker 3: Kennedy Carter hit and then things just boiled up into
Speaker 3: sort of a fervor of ridiculousness.
Speaker 2: And it was super interesting to me. And it's something
Speaker 2: that you.
Speaker 3: Have to kind of be delicate about because we're thrilled
Speaker 3: with all the new attention that the WNBA has, right,
Speaker 3: We're thrilled with all the new fans that are watching.
Speaker 3: I'm glad they're talking about the WNBA on CNN and
Speaker 3: on some sort of more mainstream platforms.
Speaker 2: But then you're like, wait, but why don't you have
Speaker 2: people want to actually know what they're talking about? What
Speaker 2: are you talking about? So I do, and I do
Speaker 2: feel like that's settled down a little bit.
Speaker 3: I do, however, feel like, especially when it comes to
Speaker 3: Angel and Caitlin, there's this weird like you can.
Speaker 2: Only be a supporter of one or the other. You
Speaker 2: can only be team Caitlin or you can only be
Speaker 2: team Angel. And I'm like I love watching them both there.
Speaker 1: It's weird the well, and especially in women's sports, I
Speaker 1: have eleveny side pieces. Like in men's sports, I do
Speaker 1: a much better job of like I hate anyone that's
Speaker 1: not my team, and women's like I kind of want
Speaker 1: them all to have a good game. It's a problem,
Speaker 1: and that's especially the case with Caitlyn and Angel and.
Speaker 3: The interesting thing and of course a lot of this
Speaker 3: is fueled by social media, which isn't the real world.
Speaker 3: But I do feel like, you know, if I say
Speaker 3: something positive about Caitlin, people half the people are going
Speaker 3: to interpret it as something negative about Angel, which is ridiculous.
Speaker 3: Like I just want to put information out there, like
Speaker 3: look how great cheese been, Look how great Angel's been,
Speaker 3: Like this is this is amazing, And even when you're
Speaker 3: having the Rookie of the Year conversations and debates, like
Speaker 3: you don't have to say what you know, this person
Speaker 3: is not good at this, like like it's it's it's
Speaker 3: a little bit crazy, but I guess that's what you
Speaker 3: have in in men's sports, and so some of that
Speaker 3: is good as long as we can stay out of
Speaker 3: the kind of well, I think.
Speaker 1: It fuels a lot of takes. It fuels a lot
Speaker 1: of takes, and that's one of the things that we've
Speaker 1: been missing in women's sports, because you need information, and
Speaker 1: people need to be informed enough to have a take,
Speaker 1: even if it's poorly informed. They need to know enough
Speaker 1: to care enough to have a take and get mad
Speaker 1: and fight each other on the internet about it. So progress,
Speaker 1: I guess.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's I was just on a conference call and
Speaker 3: that the China Robinson was on, and she just kind
Speaker 3: of brought up the point that you know a lot
Speaker 3: of people have used have said negative things, you know
Speaker 3: about these women in personal attacks, and it's like that
Speaker 3: that's unnecessary, that's unnecessary.
Speaker 2: Let's all have our opinions.
Speaker 3: You can like one or the other, but like to
Speaker 3: take it to a place it doesn't belong. I think
Speaker 3: that's what has kind of concerned people, especially early on.
Speaker 3: I feel like we're in a place now.
Speaker 1: But I think I've been so impressed with the rookie class,
Speaker 1: in part because of their ability to handle the unhinged
Speaker 1: commentary Kitlyn Clark, Angelies, Kate Martin, Cameron Brink before her injury.
Speaker 1: Not only were these like business women who were handling
Speaker 1: the pressure so well and the eyeballs and playing very well,
Speaker 1: making a great transition, but like being able to deal
Speaker 1: with the unhinged people who are being not just critical
Speaker 1: but mean and downright ugly to what do you attribute
Speaker 1: the basketball side their ease in adjusting to the progame.
Speaker 1: Is that nil and already sort of being business women?
Speaker 1: Is it the skill level in the college game right now.
Speaker 3: In terms of their ability to kind of handle all
Speaker 3: of the eyeballs. I think some of that's nil and
Speaker 3: just social media anyway. You know, Angel Leaves has had
Speaker 3: millions of followers on Instagram, you know, since she was
Speaker 3: in college, so she's she's adept at handling that. Caitlyn
Speaker 3: Clark the same. In terms of the basketball, I think
Speaker 3: you just have such great players in the women's college
Speaker 3: game now, in particular those two young women in the
Speaker 3: programs are coming from Cameron Brink as well, and kind
Speaker 3: of how they've handled themselves. You know, they know how
Speaker 3: to be pros from the time they get to college.
Speaker 3: They surround themselves with the right people, whether it's trainers
Speaker 3: or advisors or whatever it is, so they're a lot
Speaker 3: more prepared when they get to the WNBA for this.
Speaker 3: And I think We're going to see this in the
Speaker 3: next bunch of years too, because there's such an incredible
Speaker 3: crop of talent in the college ranks. I mean, at
Speaker 3: the top of that list coming out this coming year
Speaker 3: most likely as pagebackers, and talk about a player who
Speaker 3: knows how to handle theirselfs and all the ways we've
Speaker 3: just talked about, and will also be a great player.
Speaker 3: It's exciting to see sort of what's going to be
Speaker 3: over the next couple of years, the infusion of even
Speaker 3: more prepared talent into the league.
Speaker 1: Agreed. Agreed, there's some really fun young stars. Speaking of stars,
Speaker 1: can you even put into context what we're seeing from
Speaker 1: Las Vegas Acas star Asia Wilson this season?
Speaker 2: I don't know that I can. The best context. The
Speaker 2: best context is, you.
Speaker 3: Know, my colleague Ryan Ruco said she's playing as well
Speaker 3: as anyone has in the history of the game. And
Speaker 3: I'm one hundred percent agree with that. And I'm the
Speaker 3: type of person who, like, I really want to give
Speaker 3: something a lot of thought before I say she's playing
Speaker 3: better than anyone has in the history.
Speaker 2: Of the league. But I'm getting closer and closer to that.
Speaker 3: When I was watching their game the other night, Vegas
Speaker 3: against Chicago, and I'm just like, wow, Asia is not
Speaker 3: only head and shoulders above anyone else on the floor
Speaker 3: on this game, She's heading shoulders above everyone else in
Speaker 3: the league right now. And it's what she's doing on
Speaker 3: the offensive end and the defensive end. Certainly she's playing
Speaker 3: as well as anyone in the history of this league.
Speaker 3: Could she be playing better in this stretch than anyone
Speaker 3: in the history of the league.
Speaker 1: She might be, she might high praise and right now,
Speaker 1: I mean, she is definitely the leader for MVP and
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year. And I know at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the season, Asia said flat out like she's
Speaker 1: motivated by the fourth place vote that she got in
Speaker 1: the MVP race last year. And I wonder after the
Speaker 1: Olympic break, who do you even see that could make
Speaker 1: a run at her and try to steal some votes.
Speaker 3: If Asia continues to play the way she is playing now,
Speaker 3: no one. If she continues to play the way she's
Speaker 3: playing now, it should be a unanimous m VP. By
Speaker 3: the way, I was not the fourth place vote. There's
Speaker 3: a like a little sub thread on Twitter that.
Speaker 1: Oh to say it was me and they got you
Speaker 1: got pointed out for that Oh, okay, I haven't.
Speaker 3: I haven't responded because it's such a stupid thing to say,
Speaker 3: but whatever it was on me.
Speaker 1: Do you think we should be shipping about that going forward?
Speaker 1: To be too hard now because now there's so much
Speaker 1: going on with like HATELN and Angel that if you
Speaker 1: make the Rookie of the Year votes then it's like, yes.
Speaker 2: I think I think it might be insanity. I think
Speaker 2: you might push some voters away.
Speaker 3: If it was transparent, I would be fine with it,
Speaker 3: and maybe it would make people more accountable and and
Speaker 3: you know, take very seriously the thought that they put
Speaker 3: into their different awards. But I think it also might
Speaker 3: maybe in a couple of years. Yeah, but yeah, right now, again,
Speaker 3: if she comes back from the Olympics healthy and continues
Speaker 3: to play the way she's been playing, she's untouch. She
Speaker 3: could be the unanimous MVP. I don't know if we've
Speaker 3: ever had a unianimous like everybody getting the number because
Speaker 3: you vote for five. I don't know if we've ever
Speaker 3: had a case where one player has gotten all the
Speaker 3: number one votes.
Speaker 2: But if not, she could be that first.
Speaker 1: It'd be this year. We mentioned Caitlyn Clark and Angel
Speaker 1: Reese and the fun little rivalry. We can all decide
Speaker 1: for ourselves how much they really don't like each other
Speaker 1: versus it just being basketball and regular competition. But they're
Speaker 1: gonna be teammates this weekend in the All Star Game.
Speaker 1: What do you expect? Keep it business like? Do you
Speaker 1: think they'll surprise some folks with the little buddy cop
Speaker 1: chummy dynamic, just to like shake things up? What do
Speaker 1: you expect to see?
Speaker 3: I think it has been like a fun rivalry We've
Speaker 3: never you know, we had the angel you know, you
Speaker 3: can't see me, you know, after Caitlyn had done it
Speaker 3: their junior years in college. But I don't feel like
Speaker 3: we've seen anything extra since that moment. You know, when
Speaker 3: they when they met in the regional final game, it
Speaker 3: was just great basketball. And then you had a three
Speaker 3: matchups so far in the w n b A and
Speaker 3: you know, he had the one where Kennedy shoved her,
Speaker 3: but the other two it's just been great basketball. Two
Speaker 3: of the three games were decided by a single point.
Speaker 3: So I think I think it's gonna be fun. I
Speaker 3: think I think you'll see you know, maybe you'll see
Speaker 3: some pick and roll, although that isn't a heavy part
Speaker 3: of Angel's game. But Angel run the floor, Katelyn will
Speaker 3: give her the ball find It'll be fun. Yeah, hopefully
Speaker 3: there will be some of those like little banter moments. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think people would like to.
Speaker 2: See to them at once.
Speaker 1: You can't see us. I want to see that.
Speaker 2: To one of the Olympians.
Speaker 4: Love that.
Speaker 3: But but yeah, like they've they've always been really cool
Speaker 3: when talking about one another.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we also have a fun fiance versus fiance dynamic
Speaker 1: in the game. We got d Wanna Bonner on Team
Speaker 1: w NBA taking on Alyssa Thomas on Team USA. They're
Speaker 1: usually teammates in the w NBA playing against each other. Okay,
Speaker 1: picture this, It's Bonner versus Thomas, one on one. Who
Speaker 1: is going harder? In your mind? Who wants and needs
Speaker 1: that more?
Speaker 3: Well, I'll say this, like Alyssa Thomas is probably the
Speaker 3: most physical defender in the w NBA. Like, she will
Speaker 3: lay you out if she needs to, and bump you
Speaker 3: and stuff. I would imagine she wouldn't do that toa
Speaker 3: to Dowana, But I don't know if it was gonna
Speaker 3: be like a you know, do Wanna is the more
Speaker 3: gifted like offensive scorers?
Speaker 2: You know, she can hit, you know, drain from the outside.
Speaker 3: Alyssa can't really but Alyssa, I don't know that that
Speaker 3: would be you know what, that would be a smart
Speaker 3: fun thing to do in the All Star Game, like
Speaker 3: give it to one of them, probably do wanna and
Speaker 3: clear out the other side of the floor Florida. Like,
Speaker 3: I don't know how much of that kind of stuff
Speaker 3: we're going to get from the Olympic team. I think
Speaker 3: a lot for them. This is a real tune up,
Speaker 3: a real game. But maybe we'll see some of those
Speaker 3: fun moments, like in the past we've seen Britney Grinder
Speaker 3: bring the ball down the floor and take a three,
Speaker 3: that sort of thing. Maybe we'll see that more from
Speaker 3: the w NBA All Stars.
Speaker 1: Do you have an all time favorite WNBA All Star moment?
Speaker 2: Gosh, there have been some great ones.
Speaker 3: One of the all time incredible performances, but was by
Speaker 3: Shony Shimmel, which was actually the All Star Game was
Speaker 3: in Phoenix that year. I don't remember the exact year,
Speaker 3: but she came out and she just had so much
Speaker 3: flair to her game. But the last time in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty one, when the Olympians played the All Stars and
Speaker 3: a Rique went off and the All Stars won the game.
Speaker 3: That was pretty cool too, because it's always more fun,
Speaker 3: of course, when it's competitive and the teams are playing
Speaker 3: really hard, and that game was a situation where that
Speaker 3: was the case.
Speaker 1: A Rique 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 she's gonna want to go off in
Speaker 1: this game. I could see a Rikue wanting to get MVP,
Speaker 1: wanting to beat Team USA and prove some sort of points.
Speaker 1: So that's a good one to bring up. We might
Speaker 1: see that again, all right, So w n B a
Speaker 1: second half. Mercury, Fever Sky and Dream are kind of
Speaker 1: the teams that look like they'll be battling for the
Speaker 1: seven and eight, those final playoff spots, which too Doc
Speaker 1: making the cut.
Speaker 3: Mercury, Fever Sky and Dream the Mercury, I mean, once
Speaker 3: they get everybody healthy, I mean they're just so talented
Speaker 3: you would imagine that they would be in there. Atlanta
Speaker 3: hasn't figured things out. They're really struggling. And even when
Speaker 3: Ryan Howard returns, you know, I don't know that they're
Speaker 3: gonna they're gonna be.
Speaker 2: In that mix.
Speaker 3: Dallas, of course, is a mess right now. You know
Speaker 3: they're you know, Si will return. She was a first
Speaker 3: team All w NBA member last year, so she could
Speaker 3: have a significant impact. Maddie secrets getting healthy as well.
Speaker 3: I think that you will have Indiana and Chicago both
Speaker 3: in the playoff. In the playoff picture, I forget who
Speaker 3: the four are, the Washington Atlanta, below them Dallas and
Speaker 3: then the fourth oh in l A. I think both
Speaker 3: Chicago and Indiana will be part of the playoff picture
Speaker 3: for sure, which would be incredible for just to continue
Speaker 3: the ratings and you know, the fan attendance and all
Speaker 3: those other things. I mean, people are gonna watch the
Speaker 3: other teams.
Speaker 2: What we know that things are being fueled in a
Speaker 2: lot of ways by those two teams.
Speaker 1: Last one, give me one big prediction for the second half.
Speaker 3: One big prediction for the second half of the season.
Speaker 3: I predict that with a healthy Nafisa Collier, the Minnesota
Speaker 3: Links will be challenging to will be challenging to get,
Speaker 3: not only to the semi finals, but could make a
Speaker 3: real run for that championship series.
Speaker 1: There is a real attempt for there to be a
Speaker 1: top trio instead of duo, and the Links keeps being
Speaker 1: in and out of that. So I'm excited to watch.
Speaker 1: She was not the fourth place vote. Guys. Okay, enough
Speaker 1: with that, Rebecca Lovo Hall of Famer al timer, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for coming on. We got to take
Speaker 1: a quick break. When we come back. The dunk heard
Speaker 1: round Chicago. Oh hello again. It's time for the Good
Speaker 1: Game Hall of Fame, the segment where we celebrate women's
Speaker 1: sports lore and start telling the stories of women's sports history,
Speaker 1: just like we do all the stuff the guys did.
Speaker 1: Start carving the plaque, find a good place on the wall.
Speaker 1: We've got our very first inductee to the Good Game
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, the Good Game Hall of Fame. First,
Speaker 1: I want to set the scene for you. I want
Speaker 1: you to think back to two thousand and nine. Producer
Speaker 1: Mish was probably not born yet. It was two thousand
Speaker 1: and nine. Boom boom, pow, hope and change. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: let you finish. You remember in her first WNBA All
Speaker 1: Star appearance, Sylvia Fowls then a member of the Chicago
Speaker 1: Sky made a statement by dunking. Pretty cool, But thirteen years,
Speaker 1: two WNBA titles and zero in game dunks later, Fowls,
Speaker 1: then with the Minnesota Links, and already having announced that
Speaker 1: she'd retire at the end of the season, dunked in
Speaker 1: the All Star Game again in Chicago, back where she
Speaker 1: used to play. You could damn near here. The crowd
Speaker 1: go crazy all the way in Indiana. This is one
Speaker 1: of my all time favorite sports moments to witness in person.
Speaker 1: Dunking in your final All Star game after not dunking
Speaker 1: in a game in thirteen years. The ovaries on this woman,
Speaker 1: just zero fear of getting rejected by the rim in
Speaker 1: her fourteenth season in the league. One foot out the door,
Speaker 1: ready for a life of leisure, and she goes for it. Unreal.
Speaker 1: Congrat Sylvia Fowls, You are forever in the Good Game
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, the Good Game Hall of Fame. All right, listeners,
Speaker 1: we still need to come up with the name for you.
Speaker 1: So far haven't gotten enough good responses. So at Sarah
Speaker 1: Spain on Twitter, hit me up, what should we call you?
Speaker 1: We love that you're listening, We love that you're here.
Speaker 1: But we need to call you something and we want
Speaker 1: you to get in the game every day too. So
Speaker 1: here's our good game play at the day ahead of
Speaker 1: this weekend's WNBA All Star Game. We want to hear
Speaker 1: your favorite WNBA All Star moment. You just heard mine
Speaker 1: that fouls dunk, But tell us yours. Hit us up
Speaker 1: on email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com, or on
Speaker 1: social at Sarah Spain on Twitter, or you can even
Speaker 1: leave us a voicemail message eight seven two two o
Speaker 1: four five seven. Oh, tell us your all time favorite
Speaker 1: WNBA All Star moment. Mesh, you got one. You're a
Speaker 1: WNBA head, it's your favorite All Star moment.
Speaker 4: I gotta say back in twenty eighteen, when Christy Tolliver
Speaker 4: made the All Star Game, DMV product first and foremost
Speaker 4: went to Maryland, broke some hearts, aid Duke in six
Speaker 4: if you know you know, but yeah, she dropped twenty
Speaker 4: three points in that All Star Game, and she is
Speaker 4: my goat.
Speaker 1: So I was what tens in twenty eighteenety no baby,
Speaker 1: noise play it.
Speaker 4: I was twenty one in twenty eighteen, and that was
Speaker 4: just a beautiful moment for me because on the back
Speaker 4: half of her career. To see her, you know, get
Speaker 4: that light and make the most of it and shine
Speaker 4: so bright.
Speaker 1: On that stage was so special to me. Love it, Alex,
Speaker 1: you got one, Yeah, I do.
Speaker 5: Mine is a bit more recent. I'm gonna go to
Speaker 5: twenty twenty two, and at that time, Brittany Griner was
Speaker 5: still being wrongfully detained in Russia, and originally players were
Speaker 5: being very tactful about not speaking up too much about it,
Speaker 5: thinking that that would help Griner's case. But as the
Speaker 5: summer kind of wore on, the strategy changed, and so
Speaker 5: that year at All Star all the players came out
Speaker 5: for the second half wearing number forty two Grinder jerseys,
Speaker 5: and just seeing that level of support from the players
Speaker 5: I think helped shift the conversation around Grinder's plight and
Speaker 5: move it to a new level.
Speaker 1: Love it. Those are awesome. Send us yours see if
Speaker 1: you can keep up with Mesh and Alex. We already
Speaker 1: got some great answers to yesterday's question, which was which
Speaker 1: athlete in women's sports you'd most want to see a
Speaker 1: documentary about. Shout out to our very first emailer, the
Speaker 1: first email ever received at Good Game at Wondermedia Network,
Speaker 1: dot Com shout out Kevin Lane. His email found our
Speaker 1: inbox just eighteen minutes after our episode dropped. Episode one
Speaker 1: drops and eighteen minutes later Kevin Lane is in the inbox.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Kevin his athlete of choice swin cash
Speaker 1: excellent choice, excellent Kevin, Thank you for emailing. We'll get
Speaker 1: to more of everybody's answers on tomorrow's show. Keep them coming.
Speaker 1: And while we're telling you what to do, you've subscribed
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Speaker 1: in sports like Leslie Visser, Julie Foudi, Kat Austerman, Bonnie
Speaker 1: Bernstein message you congratulations on the first episode your new podcast.
Speaker 1: You guys get it. You've been there right, five out
Speaker 1: of five rating for sure. I'd say the review for
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Speaker 1: it again. Okay, so you get it. Give it a try, subscribe, rate, review,
Speaker 1: It's easy. Thanks for listening. Come back tomorrow. Good Game,
Speaker 1: Simone Biles, Good Game, Rebecca Lobo you tweeters accusing Rebecca
Speaker 1: of being the fourth place voter. Good Game with Sarah
Speaker 1: Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with
Speaker 1: Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are Alex Azzi
Speaker 1: and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz,
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