Speaker 1: In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams is an
Speaker 1: iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
Speaker 1: and Entertainment.
Speaker 2: What's up, everybody, it's your girl, Christina.
Speaker 1: And this is another episode of In Case You Missed
Speaker 1: It with Christina Williams. And I'm super excited about this
Speaker 1: week's guest. I want to say today's show is a
Speaker 1: little bit legendary because we have a four time WNBA champion,
Speaker 1: five time Olympic gold medalist, and all around media mogul,
Speaker 1: and I think she's my boss kind of. I want
Speaker 1: to welcome in the iconic one of one super to
Speaker 1: the show.
Speaker 3: Hey, Sue, Hi, thanks for having me, Thanks.
Speaker 2: For being here.
Speaker 1: So I want to dive right in, and I know
Speaker 1: everyone's super curious. We've seen you around everywhere. How's life
Speaker 1: since retirement for you?
Speaker 3: It's been good. It's been good. Definitely busy figuring out
Speaker 3: how to say no, which clearly I have not done
Speaker 3: a good job of. But you know, I'm obviously still
Speaker 3: figuring it out, but lucky to have a lot of
Speaker 3: opportunities that I'm able to check out to see what
Speaker 3: actually speaks to me. So I still feel like I'm
Speaker 3: in a little bit of that phase.
Speaker 1: I'm actually absolutely like living kind of curiously through you
Speaker 1: because I feel like we all don't have the same
Speaker 1: twenty four hours as super You're literally doing a little.
Speaker 2: Bit of everything.
Speaker 1: I think one thing that I've I'm married about you
Speaker 1: like in your retirement phase is just how you've diversified
Speaker 1: your investments across media, team, ownership, business, which drives you
Speaker 1: to your passion of building your business portfolio. When it
Speaker 1: comes to supporting like women led initiatives.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I actually feel really lucky. A lot
Speaker 3: of times people don't necessarily know what their passion is.
Speaker 3: A lot of times people don't know how to execute
Speaker 3: that passion when they do find it. I obviously am
Speaker 3: extremely passionate about women's sports, even more passionate about women's
Speaker 3: basketball it self. It's something I obviously lived and breathed,
Speaker 3: but it's something I believe in and so to you know,
Speaker 3: now in retirement, try to find ways to keep having
Speaker 3: an impact, keep growing the game. Like you said, whether
Speaker 3: it's media, ownership, you name it. I have that as
Speaker 3: my north star. That's like my guiding light, and so
Speaker 3: again I feel really lucky that I have that and
Speaker 3: then from there, I'm just able to figure it out
Speaker 3: and see what works.
Speaker 1: In addition to expanding your business portfolio, you've been able
Speaker 1: to you and your fiance Megan Rappino, have been able
Speaker 1: to kind of evolve a touch more the live podcast
Speaker 1: that gave all of us life during the pandemic into
Speaker 1: a full fledged production company and podcast. What's the best
Speaker 1: part for you about trading in your jersey for a mic.
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, I had to you know, at
Speaker 3: some point you got to retire from sports sadly. I mean,
Speaker 3: I think just given my experience in the world of
Speaker 3: women's bast all you know on the court, off the court,
Speaker 3: the things I've seen for a lot of us, a
Speaker 3: lot of us former players, a lot of current players,
Speaker 3: we have a unique outlook like we've lived it. And
Speaker 3: now that women's basketball is getting more attention, women's sports
Speaker 3: is getting more attention, you need our voices, You need
Speaker 3: us to be in this media space kind of given
Speaker 3: the real at times. And I think that's where Meghan
Speaker 3: and I have really landed with our podcast and what
Speaker 3: we want it to be about. We want to be
Speaker 3: able to share the mic. If you will have guests
Speaker 3: on giving their real takes, but we also want to
Speaker 3: have our voice because honestly, when you do retire, what
Speaker 3: you realize is the mic is not in front of
Speaker 3: your face as much anymore, so you don't really have
Speaker 3: that outlet. So we just want ahead and built the outlet.
Speaker 1: What's something that you've learned about Megan while doing this podcast?
Speaker 3: Oh? Man, you know something I've learned. I don't know
Speaker 3: if it's I don't know if I've learned this about her.
Speaker 3: I don't know if she's learned anything about me. I
Speaker 3: think it's more so just we already knew each other
Speaker 3: very well, had an understanding, and you're seeing it come
Speaker 3: out even more right So for Megan, the differences in
Speaker 3: the way that we prepare for the podcast, it's like
Speaker 3: so us like, I'm like very prepared. I try to
Speaker 3: have like all my ducks in a row, and Meghan
Speaker 3: likes to be a little bit more spontaneous and pulsive
Speaker 3: in the moment. And I think that's why it actually
Speaker 3: fits really well. We're kind of broke both bringing that,
Speaker 3: so it really just doubled down on what I already knew.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite segments of the podcast is are
Speaker 1: you a Meghan or are you a suit? So?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to know.
Speaker 2: What would you say is the ultimate soothing about you?
Speaker 3: Oh? God, yeah, I guess I'm just especially compared to Meghan,
Speaker 3: I'm just like a little more buttoned up. I'll call it.
Speaker 3: Some might call it something else. I keep it real.
Speaker 2: You do keep it real.
Speaker 3: Yeah, just a little more on it. Yeah, I think
Speaker 3: that's kind of That's kind of what it is. But
Speaker 3: you know, every now and then it changes up, and
Speaker 3: that's why we have fun doing the riu O Meghan,
Speaker 3: are you Sue?
Speaker 2: Build it on?
Speaker 1: Like the podcast conversation. One of your main goals, you said,
Speaker 1: was to provide a unique perspective on the important and
Speaker 1: relevant issues of today. And so, in a recent episode,
Speaker 1: which is one of my favorite episodes because I think
Speaker 1: that you guys really raise awareness on an important topic
Speaker 1: with media and their relationships to pro athletes, you and Megan,
Speaker 1: you guys did a deep dive into how isms have
Speaker 1: impacted not only black athletes, but marginalized groups within the WNBA.
Speaker 1: As someone who has consistently used their platform to advocate
Speaker 1: the social justice and to support those marginalized communities, what
Speaker 1: role do you believe allyship plays and creating those meaningful
Speaker 1: conversations that can potentially change the sports world.
Speaker 3: God, it's such a big part or such a big
Speaker 3: piece to the larger puzzle. When you have somebody advocating
Speaker 3: for you that isn't you, doesn't look like you, doesn't
Speaker 3: necessarily have the same societalles or challenges that you have,
Speaker 3: it just goes further. It just has a larger impact.
Speaker 3: The volume, if you will, is bigger. I have felt
Speaker 3: that both, like on both sides essentially, like both as
Speaker 3: an ally, which is really as a white player in
Speaker 3: a league that is predominantly black or women of color.
Speaker 3: I've also experienced it as a gay athlete. Right Like
Speaker 3: when a straight person speaks on LGBTQ issues, it just
Speaker 3: has a bigger meaning. And I think that's just the like,
Speaker 3: that's just the reality of it, that's just the world
Speaker 3: we live in. Again, when somebody advocates for you, it
Speaker 3: can also take the load off a little bit, make
Speaker 3: it less of just my issue and kind of more
Speaker 3: one of all of our issues. And I think that
Speaker 3: has a lot of power to it as well. It
Speaker 3: makes it a little less daunting, and because it's really
Speaker 3: hard to have to constantly advocate for yourself to have
Speaker 3: to constantly be out there. I mean, honestly, even sometimes
Speaker 3: I get sick of my own voice when I have
Speaker 3: to talk about things that are directly impacting me. You know,
Speaker 3: you don't want to be you want to be annoying
Speaker 3: that kind of thing. So when you have somebody supporting
Speaker 3: you and backing you, when you can be the person
Speaker 3: who is supportive or backing somebody else, it just goes
Speaker 3: so far. And it's really, I think, such an important,
Speaker 3: like I said, piece of the puzzle if you actually
Speaker 3: want to create change.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this, but the first
Speaker 1: time I ever interviewed you was when the WNBA was
Speaker 1: back at MSG. Obviously you were still playing for the
Speaker 1: Seattle Storm and we were like in a little hallway
Speaker 1: and I was super nervous because I'm like, this is
Speaker 1: super and this is my first time covering the WNBA.
Speaker 1: But like I remember, a fan kept yelling your name,
Speaker 1: and you were like advocating for me in a way
Speaker 1: as a media member, like now I'm doing this and
Speaker 1: just gave me your attention to time. But also this
Speaker 1: past June at the Tribeca Film Festival, the power of
Speaker 1: the Dreams. At the Power of the Dream screening, you
Speaker 1: asked all of us to stand up who was covering
Speaker 1: the w n b A And I just want to
Speaker 1: give you your flowers and thank you just for seeing
Speaker 1: those of us who've been in this space as women
Speaker 1: of color, in this space that covers this league, just
Speaker 1: recognizing that and giving us your time as a pro athlete.
Speaker 2: We appreciate you.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you of your advocacy too for those of
Speaker 1: us who are part of these groups trying to break
Speaker 1: into you know, this space and the media, because in
Speaker 1: the same way, the media space needs more diversity in
Speaker 1: the news rooms. And that's something that I've been passionate
Speaker 1: about ever since I came into this space, just being
Speaker 1: a voice, even when you know I've been attacked by
Speaker 1: other people in the media and do not look like me.
Speaker 1: So I appreciate you too. And I don't know if
Speaker 1: you knew that, but just want to let you know.
Speaker 3: That, thank you. I really appreciate that. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Staking On the Power of the Dream, you co produce
Speaker 1: this documentary alongside Nekka Gloomika, Don Porter, and Tracy Ellis Ross.
Speaker 1: Why was this story an important story to tell for you?
Speaker 3: Man. I mean, first of all, the story itself is
Speaker 3: just there's so many lessons to be learned. Yes, it's
Speaker 3: a story about the WNBA and essentially, you know how
Speaker 3: we were able to I guess, fight back when attacked
Speaker 3: by an actual owner who was you know, for those
Speaker 3: that don't know saying in our bubble season in twenty twenty,
Speaker 3: not to have black lives matter on the court, not
Speaker 3: to dedicate our season to say her name. So, yes,
Speaker 3: it's very much a story about that, and that is
Speaker 3: a story that just needs to be told. I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm sure you've heard me say. It's like if any
Speaker 3: other male sports league had done what we did in
Speaker 3: that bubble season, the whole world would have known, without
Speaker 3: a doubt, people would have been banging on the door
Speaker 3: to make that documentary. So in one sense, it was
Speaker 3: just important to tell it for what it is. But
Speaker 3: I think on another side, there's so many lessons to
Speaker 3: be learned. There's lessons around, I feel like for women,
Speaker 3: for women of color, again, marginalized communities. There's an empowerment
Speaker 3: piece to this, right, there's a collaboration. What happens when
Speaker 3: we work together aspect to this, When to lead, when
Speaker 3: to follow understanding that when you're trying to get when
Speaker 3: you have this larger goal, it's not always going to
Speaker 3: be easy. Like some of my favorite moments, they weren't
Speaker 3: my favorite in the moment, but favor now is the
Speaker 3: harder times where we weren't necessarily arguing, but we all
Speaker 3: had different perspectives on how to get things done. And
Speaker 3: that's really how you problem solve, right, Like, that's really
Speaker 3: how you get to that end goal. So it's just
Speaker 3: for so many reasons I think it needed to be told.
Speaker 3: But yeah, if I'm being totally honest, it's because the
Speaker 3: women of the WNBA, like we do shit and we
Speaker 3: get shited done, and people needed to see what exactly
Speaker 3: happened in that moment and how we're able to help
Speaker 3: bring Reverend Warnock this like incredible amount of name recognition,
Speaker 3: which you know, i'd like to argue help them get elected,
Speaker 3: which as we know, changed and totally flipped democracy on
Speaker 3: its head.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I know, I totally agree.
Speaker 1: And you know it's super interesting because obviously I was
Speaker 1: covering the w around that time, and I thoroughly remember
Speaker 1: like being before the bubble happen, just being in Indianapolis
Speaker 1: and being with Tamika Katchans, Natalie Chong was Stephanie Mvunga
Speaker 1: and some of the other Indiana Fever leadership at the time,
Speaker 1: just marching down the streets, getting people registered to vote,
Speaker 1: just taking the job titles off and just beating people
Speaker 1: at a human level.
Speaker 2: And taking that action.
Speaker 1: And it's just because of the women at the WNBA,
Speaker 1: just getting people together to mobilize. Obviously, this is an
Speaker 1: important election and you've been super vocal about it, but
Speaker 1: just what is your message to you know, people out
Speaker 1: there about this election and why it is important to
Speaker 1: go out and vote.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, voting
Speaker 3: is really the I don't want to say the only,
Speaker 3: but one of the guaranteed ways to have your voice heard,
Speaker 3: one of the guaranteed ways to have impact. And I
Speaker 3: know at times it can feel like, oh, I'm just
Speaker 3: one vote, but obviously, if you know, thousands of people
Speaker 3: or millions of people thought that, you know, then we'd
Speaker 3: be in a bad spot. So with that, not only
Speaker 3: is it the one way you're guaranteed, I feel like
Speaker 3: the other part of it is everybody has things they
Speaker 3: care about, you know, and so to piggyback off that
Speaker 3: this is the one way that the things that you
Speaker 3: care about you can have a voice in that as well.
Speaker 3: And yeah, this election is important, and yeah it makes me.
Speaker 3: It makes me nervous. I've had I've had, actually had
Speaker 3: like a really hard time watching the debates because I
Speaker 3: just get this like almost like a almost like some
Speaker 3: sort of performance anxiety, like for Kamala Harris, where I'm like,
Speaker 3: oh God, like I want her to do well so
Speaker 3: bad as I can only imagine. It's like not that
Speaker 3: this is equivalent at all, but watching your kid do
Speaker 3: something like you just want it so bad. But yeah,
Speaker 3: the other thing I feel like I would just encourage
Speaker 3: people to do is understand what's at stake and and
Speaker 3: really where that to be honest, where that segues too
Speaker 3: is social media, Like do not believe what you see
Speaker 3: on social media? And I'm just gonna go out like
Speaker 3: good or bad? You have to look stuff up. That
Speaker 3: for you page, Yeah, that for you page, it's dangerous,
Speaker 3: absolutely dangerous. It doesn't matter what we're talking about. That
Speaker 3: for you page is dangerous. Is set up right now
Speaker 3: to you know, push different agendas and different narratives in
Speaker 3: your face based on what you might be interested in.
Speaker 3: So I really encourage people, especially younger people, if you
Speaker 3: see something on social media like this is the right moment,
Speaker 3: to go ahead and do your own research, Like, don't
Speaker 3: just believe it because you see a headline. That's something
Speaker 3: we're learning in women's basketball. I think it's something that
Speaker 3: we're learning across the board. It definitely exists in politics
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I want to move right along to the next thing.
Speaker 1: And I appreciate you for sharing your thoughts on you know,
Speaker 1: why this election is so important. This past season, the
Speaker 1: Phoenix Mercury sort of hinted at Tyana Tarazzi, who is
Speaker 1: your former teammate, so when you competed against for years
Speaker 1: that if this is her last season, any updates on
Speaker 1: DT whether she's gonna retire.
Speaker 3: I got nothing. I got nothing. I'm not even being
Speaker 3: I'm not even viing Cooi, I'm not avoiding. I can
Speaker 3: only speak from my experience, right and obviously for me,
Speaker 3: I ended up announcing during the season. Totally different experience.
Speaker 3: But prior to the twenty twenty two season, which is
Speaker 3: when I retired right after the twenty twenty one season,
Speaker 3: this was the time where you gotta let like the
Speaker 3: fall all the season's just ended. You really need to
Speaker 3: let the dust settle because there's just so many different
Speaker 3: highs and lows in the emotions. It would be impossible
Speaker 3: to make a decision now anyway, Like unless she already
Speaker 3: knew with one certainty, that wouldn't be the time where
Speaker 3: she would say something anyways. So I'd imagine she's probably
Speaker 3: if I had to guess, I do know they had
Speaker 3: a vacation on the book, So hopefully she's on a
Speaker 3: beach kicking it with her family, not thinking about this decision,
Speaker 3: and we'll all find out soon.
Speaker 1: Thank you for that update. What's one of your favorite
Speaker 1: moments with Diana? I mean that shows like the true
Speaker 1: colors of who she really is.
Speaker 3: The true colors. Oh my god, you can go there. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's it's like impossible. I told the story recently, But
Speaker 3: one of my funnier memories with d was actually at
Speaker 3: our first Olympics. So you know, we're the young Bucks's
Speaker 3: two thousand and four. We're definitely there to learn. We
Speaker 3: know that after this Olympics it was likely that, like
Speaker 3: Don Staley was going to retire, it was likely that,
Speaker 3: you know, the guard spots were going to be available.
Speaker 3: For us, so we're really there to learn. De definitely
Speaker 3: played a lot more than I did, but we're both
Speaker 3: still there to learn. But we're all so excited, you know,
Speaker 3: and we understand that the early games, Like I think
Speaker 3: we played New Zealand in the very first game. We're like, okay,
Speaker 3: this might be the only time we play, so like
Speaker 3: we got to be ready. So we get to the
Speaker 3: very first game. We walk in the locker room, you know,
Speaker 3: you just normal locker room stuff, put in your uniform on,
Speaker 3: whatever it is, go to put your shoes on. She
Speaker 3: was like, she taps me. She's like, oh no, I'm
Speaker 3: like what. She's like, I brought two left shoes. I'm
Speaker 3: like what, Like, what do you mean? There's another story
Speaker 3: where we're in Russia, very very very long story short.
Speaker 3: We get to the gym. I'm actually not playing this game.
Speaker 3: For whatever reason, I'm not. It's like I'm not even dressed.
Speaker 3: Maybe I'm hurt, who knows. We get to the range.
Speaker 3: She was like, oh my god, you have to go
Speaker 3: back to my apartment. I forgot my jersey. I'm like,
Speaker 3: all right, so I have, like I actually have like
Speaker 3: a decently long list of d doing shit like that.
Speaker 3: So no, it's super hard.
Speaker 2: So how did she get her other shoe? She brought
Speaker 2: two left shoes.
Speaker 3: I mean Nike letter Listen like Nike, you know they
Speaker 3: hook it up. So we had like six seven, eight
Speaker 3: nine pairs for the Olympics. So she just grabbed two
Speaker 3: left ones and somebody had to go back to the
Speaker 3: We were staying on a boat at that time. Somebody
Speaker 3: had to go back to the boat the botel and
Speaker 3: get her other shoe.
Speaker 2: That's so cool.
Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break. When we come back, we
Speaker 1: will discuss the growth of women's sports, the WNBA playoffs, Yukon,
Speaker 1: and some of Sue's favorite career moments. In your film
Speaker 1: Super in the Clutch, you talked about how Cheryl Swoops
Speaker 1: and Lisa Leslie and those players pioneered at the WNBA,
Speaker 1: but how your generation was the generation.
Speaker 2: That made it more normal to have a path to
Speaker 2: the the u NBA.
Speaker 1: Obviously, the w NBA league is different today than it
Speaker 1: was when you were first drafted. So what do you
Speaker 1: see as the biggest difference now then when you came
Speaker 1: in so much?
Speaker 3: So much? I actually think a lot of this answer
Speaker 3: lives in nil because, in my opinion, what the NIL
Speaker 3: did or what NIL is doing is it allows all
Speaker 3: these players who are making these huge names for themselves
Speaker 3: because the college platform is so big, So you're making
Speaker 3: these huge names for themselves, which is not different from myself,
Speaker 3: Diana Kanas, Parker, Skyler, Diggen. I mean you can rattle
Speaker 3: off a thousand names. We all were huge coming out
Speaker 3: of college. We all have big names, big brands in
Speaker 3: a sense. But now because they're getting like the brands
Speaker 3: to attach to them, the money's bigger. There's a different notoriety.
Speaker 3: And yes, Caitlin is obviously an angel to like in
Speaker 3: this other stratosphere, which I'm sure Paige and you know,
Speaker 3: would you just have announce her Nike deal They're going
Speaker 3: to follow. But regardless, like all the athletes are now
Speaker 3: building actual brands, and I think that's giving them just
Speaker 3: this like societal acceptance. That's much different because when a
Speaker 3: lot of us came into the WNBA, it was like
Speaker 3: a little bit of a drop off. The coverage was
Speaker 3: a drop off. This cool factor didn't really exist. You
Speaker 3: were cool in college, but something happened when you went
Speaker 3: to the WNBA. It's like, but I'm the same person.
Speaker 3: My game's the same, So yeah, there was just like
Speaker 3: something different. But now, and I do think this plays
Speaker 3: a huge role. You've got these players building their platforms,
Speaker 3: building like who they are as players but also as businesses,
Speaker 3: and they're taking that with them into the pro game.
Speaker 3: And what's happening is all these people, all these fans,
Speaker 3: all these brands, decision makers are seeing that and now
Speaker 3: they can invest in them early and also follow them
Speaker 3: into the pro leagues. And I really think that has
Speaker 3: been It's been so big for women's basketball because we
Speaker 3: are one of the few sports where the college platform
Speaker 3: is bigger or has been traditionally bigger than the pro platform.
Speaker 3: So this has really been needed to bridge that. And
Speaker 3: that's yeah, if I had to land somewhere, it's that
Speaker 3: bridging of the gap between college and the WNBA. It
Speaker 3: didn't exist for so many years, and now we're starting
Speaker 3: to see it and the business is big.
Speaker 1: It's booman, absolutely, and you're one of those players that's
Speaker 1: probably like transcended. And when people think of a WNBA
Speaker 1: think of you, they think of Diana Tarazzi's the hitroll
Speaker 1: suits and now that Caitlin Clarks. You spent nineteen seasons
Speaker 1: obviously with the Seattle Storm. You won four championships. I
Speaker 1: want to know which championship meant the most to you.
Speaker 3: Oh. I always say, you wouldn't ask a parent their
Speaker 3: favorite kid. Lucky for you, I do kind of have
Speaker 3: an answer. It doesn't you know. It's interesting this answer.
Speaker 3: So I've said this before. The answer. Okay, so the
Speaker 3: answer is twenty eighteen. But I have my reasons. And
Speaker 3: it's funny because when I said this in my eight
Speaker 3: hour long retirement speech, some of my former teammates from
Speaker 3: like twenty ten, two thousand and four, they were kind
Speaker 3: of mad at me. But the truth is the reason
Speaker 3: why twenty eighteen is my my favorite is because I
Speaker 3: was at a point in my career where I debated retirement.
Speaker 3: I don't really talk about this, but I debated retirement
Speaker 3: in twenty sixteen and seventeen. Like it was, it was,
Speaker 3: it was getting closer. I knew it was, it was
Speaker 3: on the horizon. And I had also in twenty sixteen
Speaker 3: signed up for a rebuild. So I'm at a point
Speaker 3: where I don't know how much longer I'm going to play,
Speaker 3: and I'm also at a point where I have totally
Speaker 3: resigned myself to helping the next generation of Storm players
Speaker 3: carry on the legacy, and it's not about winning a
Speaker 3: championship anymore. I really had accepted that. I was okay
Speaker 3: with that, But then all of a sudden, twenty eighteen
Speaker 3: comes and yet we had Stewey, we had Jewel that
Speaker 3: was already in the works. AC is only getting better
Speaker 3: and better. Right, I can go down the list. We
Speaker 3: add Natasha Howard, So a team that was kind of
Speaker 3: like we finished seventh eighty year before, we're kind of like, okay,
Speaker 3: now the sudden we plug her in and things just change.
Speaker 3: And now we finished first, right, Like we're probably picked
Speaker 3: to finish seventh or eight, who knows we finished. We're
Speaker 3: in the top of the standings. We're smelling championship, and
Speaker 3: I just people a lot of times will say like, oh,
Speaker 3: make sure you enjoy the moment, like live in the now.
Speaker 3: That can be hard to do that year, especially in
Speaker 3: our playoff run. I was so present and so in
Speaker 3: the moment because I knew this was so unexpected and
Speaker 3: I was just so thankful for it. So then to
Speaker 3: actually win it. So that's why it's my favorite.
Speaker 1: I love the twenty ten run. Those clutches and go ahead,
Speaker 1: I feel like that was like my CTV like you
Speaker 1: were in your bag in twenty ten, well, your whole career,
Speaker 1: you were in your bag with twenty ten was like
Speaker 1: one of my favorite runs to watch. You kind of
Speaker 1: handed the keys over to Jewel. And now you're in ownership,
Speaker 1: how have you been able to just advise and guide her?
Speaker 1: Because we know the Seattle Storm team is a team
Speaker 1: that's synonymous with winning when people think of Seattle basketball, Yes,
Speaker 1: you think of the SuperSonics, but no, it's the Seattle
Speaker 1: Storms town when it comes to basketball. So what have
Speaker 1: you been able to just kind of part to Jewel
Speaker 1: as she looks to, you know, continue that winning culture
Speaker 1: in Seattle.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean to be honest, you know, since I've
Speaker 3: retired and even now in the ownership group, I'm around,
Speaker 3: I go to games. Obviously people see that and I
Speaker 3: try to be present in that way. But at the
Speaker 3: same time, like it was more so when I played
Speaker 3: with Jewel, you know, and I'm seeing her every day
Speaker 3: and you just try to like help somebody like you, like,
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna sit Jewel down and be like, yo,
Speaker 3: this is actually the way you should shoot your pull
Speaker 3: up or you know, this is Actually it was more
Speaker 3: just like mindset stuff, being a leader, like what it
Speaker 3: means to represent and carry a franchise right, not just
Speaker 3: to championships, but like every day, and how to embody
Speaker 3: that and how to get other people like your teammates
Speaker 3: involved in that way and feel ownership within that. So
Speaker 3: it's more so conversations like that. And to be honest,
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty three, to see Jewel step in to
Speaker 3: this leadership role, to see her be more vocal, to
Speaker 3: see her, you know, again take ownership of the team,
Speaker 3: that really made me proud. And again it's not I
Speaker 3: don't take any credit whatsoever, because like I said, we
Speaker 3: were just teammates having conversations here and there, But it
Speaker 3: really did make me proud to see her come out
Speaker 3: of her show in that way, to see her take
Speaker 3: on that role. You saw it again this year. This
Speaker 3: year obviously was a little bit different because now you've
Speaker 3: added Skyler Diggins and Echo Gumake, so it's obviously a
Speaker 3: little different. But it was really cool for me to
Speaker 3: watch Jool come out of her shelf. So that's been fun.
Speaker 1: You've played against countless talented players, and we know this year,
Speaker 1: especially how rivalries are the main storyline of the w
Speaker 1: I'm curious who pushed you to step up your game
Speaker 1: and your playing career, or a player that you went
Speaker 1: up against night in a the night out that just
Speaker 1: made you just get in your bag a little bit more.
Speaker 3: Diane's definitely up there, you know. When I think of
Speaker 3: really my whole career, so many times it was our
Speaker 3: two teams that had to play against each other. Not
Speaker 3: every playoff run had that aspect to it, but a
Speaker 3: decent amount of them. Sometimes you know, I was on
Speaker 3: the winning side, sometimes I was on the losing side,
Speaker 3: and you always take something from that. So definitely Diana.
Speaker 3: Early in my career, Jen Azy was someone like I'm
Speaker 3: catching Yeah, I'm catching Jen like at the tail end
Speaker 3: of her career. But that was somebody that I look
Speaker 3: up to when I was a little kid, like fourteen fifteen.
Speaker 3: That was my c at B a moment. I obviously
Speaker 3: wanted to have a career just like her, you know,
Speaker 3: like won national championships in college, had success at the
Speaker 3: pro level ABLWNBA, but one Olympic gold medals, and that
Speaker 3: was like somebody I was like, oh my gosh, I
Speaker 3: could have a career like that. And then when I
Speaker 3: finally got to play against her. You know, sometimes some
Speaker 3: people just have your number. She would just always block
Speaker 3: my shot. And I'm not like, you know, like I'm
Speaker 3: should pull up some threes. It's not like I'm in
Speaker 3: there doing any wild stuff. She had my pull up time,
Speaker 3: she would always block my shot. So I feel like
Speaker 3: that experience clearly I held onto it. But that's also,
Speaker 3: to be honest, why I take pride when I look
Speaker 3: back on my career because I know there's going to
Speaker 3: be somebody that's like, oh, if I can win, you know,
Speaker 3: this amount of gold medals, if I can win this
Speaker 3: amount of WNBA championships, like that's kind of what I
Speaker 3: want to aspire to be.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this too, but I'm
Speaker 1: from Harlem and I know that you're a fellow New Yorker.
Speaker 1: So growing up in New York, I feel like women's
Speaker 1: basketball like it wasn't something abnormal for me to see
Speaker 1: growing up because obviously, like women like you, Tina Charles,
Speaker 1: the epiphany princes, you know, like you guys really like
Speaker 1: let the game speak for itself. And I feel like
Speaker 1: New York they have it has like a lineage of
Speaker 1: elite point guards. I want to know, in your opinion,
Speaker 1: what makes New York Guards stand out from the rest
Speaker 1: of the world.
Speaker 3: Oh, easy, easy, I think. I think what I'm about
Speaker 3: to say shows up in like a variety of ways.
Speaker 3: But it's there's there's like a grit, there's a mental toughness.
Speaker 3: For some it means maybe like they're more physical. For some,
Speaker 3: it means they're gonna hit game winning shots. For others,
Speaker 3: you know, it means they can talk shit, talk trash
Speaker 3: throughout the whole game and still not have an impact
Speaker 3: on them get the better of you. I think it
Speaker 3: just shows up in so many different ways. But that's
Speaker 3: definitely why New York City guards are are elite. You
Speaker 3: kind of have to. It's like the city that you're
Speaker 3: playing in what felt like was always on the line.
Speaker 3: When I think back to my my high school days,
Speaker 3: even my AAU days, it was like there was always
Speaker 3: something on the line and you had to represent in
Speaker 3: a different way. And I think it gave all of
Speaker 3: us this mental toughness, like we knew we were representing
Speaker 3: something else, not just ourselves.
Speaker 1: As you look at the next generation of guards, obviously
Speaker 1: Caitlin Clark is at the top of that she won
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year, and I know that you've talked
Speaker 1: about her in some of your predictions, that you said, oh,
Speaker 1: she's gonna be a Rookie of the Year. What stands
Speaker 1: out to you about her game specifically?
Speaker 3: I mean, I think it starts and ends with the
Speaker 3: range in which she shoots it. Obviously, it's not to
Speaker 3: take away from her passing her ability to drive. I
Speaker 3: think she's a lot stronger and a lot faster than
Speaker 3: people were giving her credit for. That's actually something I noticed.
Speaker 3: I went to go see one of her games in Iowa.
Speaker 3: I was shooting Sue's places and she was in one
Speaker 3: of the episodes, and I was able to go catch
Speaker 3: one of her games. It wasn't like a Marquee game,
Speaker 3: but it was the first time I saw her up
Speaker 3: close in personal. I was sitting courtside, and immediately I
Speaker 3: was like, Oh, she's strong, she's fast as shit, and
Speaker 3: her handle was a lot tighter than I think you
Speaker 3: could understand watching on t But with all that said,
Speaker 3: it's still her range. The fact that you have to
Speaker 3: guard her that far out, the fact that you know
Speaker 3: she's efficient from that range. So it's not just the
Speaker 3: range it's the fact that she could shoot it off
Speaker 3: the dribble. This is what opens everything up for her.
Speaker 3: This is what allows her to utilize her speed and
Speaker 3: get by you, because what happens then people have to
Speaker 3: come and then she can find you. There's also another
Speaker 3: aspect of her game, like in terms of IQ and
Speaker 3: her pick and roll reads. That's elite. But I still
Speaker 3: think the threat of that long range three, the logo three,
Speaker 3: if you want to call it that, it opens up
Speaker 3: and allows her to showcase all the other parts of
Speaker 3: her game.
Speaker 1: You're one of the best passes that ever played the game,
Speaker 1: and I feel like as the game evolves sometimes it
Speaker 1: kind of looks like the art of post entry passes
Speaker 1: is kind of progressing.
Speaker 2: What's the secret, sauce behind being a good passer? I mean,
Speaker 2: no shame, no shape, no shape, But like.
Speaker 1: You're one of the best to do it, so I figure,
Speaker 1: why not ask you the secret to it?
Speaker 3: I don't even know if there is a secret. I
Speaker 3: mean some of it was like I played with great
Speaker 3: post players, so I had to learn how to do
Speaker 3: that shit, like for real. Some of it was that
Speaker 3: I think there's you know, there's there's like a whole
Speaker 3: recipe to it right, Like, some of it is not
Speaker 3: like unselfishness. We have to put yourself to the side,
Speaker 3: but you do have to be willing. I think some
Speaker 3: of it's court vision. There's another part that's angles. You know,
Speaker 3: how are you creating the angle? Like to me, like
Speaker 3: a Courtney vanderslute, she always creates angles like off the dribble.
Speaker 3: She finds ways I didn't really do it that way.
Speaker 3: I did it in other ways. So there's there's all
Speaker 3: different kind of ways to get this recipe going. I
Speaker 3: do think some of it is just a willingness and
Speaker 3: then using your experience as you go to like learn
Speaker 3: and read the defense. And then you have to have
Speaker 3: like an anticipation. That to me is like the biggest
Speaker 3: the biggest key. When you watch players who as they're
Speaker 3: watching plays unfold, they can kind of it feels like
Speaker 3: they're almost predicting. They're really just anticipating based on experiences
Speaker 3: they've already had and they're able to tap into that.
Speaker 3: Some of that comes from watching a lot of film.
Speaker 3: Some of that is literally just going out there and
Speaker 3: doing it and learning from mistakes.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Sue before you get out of here, I want
Speaker 1: to know because I've seen you courtside at some of
Speaker 1: the New York Liberty games taking in all of the
Speaker 1: playoffs in your former teammate Yukon Sistern Brianna Stewart has
Speaker 1: led the Liberty to the WNBA Finals. When this comes out,
Speaker 1: obviously we'll know who the Liberty will be up against.
Speaker 1: But what are your thoughts about the playoffs this year
Speaker 1: and what's exciting you the most about the postseason?
Speaker 3: The playoffs have been great. The only thing that we're
Speaker 3: all seeing, and this has been ongoing for forever, is
Speaker 3: trying to figure out this first round. In my first
Speaker 3: my early early days, the top seed went on the
Speaker 3: road for one game, then played the next two at home.
Speaker 3: I have to be honest, I lost in that scenario.
Speaker 3: I didn't love. That definitely puts the pressure on you know.
Speaker 3: Then we went to single nation. Now we're back to
Speaker 3: three games with a two to one format, But obviously
Speaker 3: some teams don't get a home game, so there's there's
Speaker 3: still I feel like this playoff show that still needs
Speaker 3: to be worked out. Once expansion team comes in there,
Speaker 3: comes in there, we'll see, we'll see how that changes things.
Speaker 3: That's the only negative. Everything else has been amazing. I
Speaker 3: think we're seeing excellent play. We're seeing in real time
Speaker 3: like adjustments from game to game, different teams doing different things.
Speaker 3: It becomes a chess match, which I love. Obviously, the
Speaker 3: viewership and tendance speaks for itself. And then, last but
Speaker 3: not least, we're having, you know, big time players show
Speaker 3: up and make big time plays or have big time games.
Speaker 3: I think Sabrina is an excellent example of that, you know,
Speaker 3: especially having like a not so great game three. She responded,
Speaker 3: and like, that's what you want to see in the playoffs, right,
Speaker 3: you want to see what players are made of. That's
Speaker 3: why I love the playoffs. You really get to see.
Speaker 3: As a player, you got to know what you were
Speaker 3: made of as a fan. Now as a spectator, I
Speaker 3: get to see what all these what all these younger
Speaker 3: players are made of, and you really can only know
Speaker 3: in the playoffs, and it's really been fun for me.
Speaker 1: Speaking of big moments and big games, Page Beckers led
Speaker 1: Yukon last year to the final four. She's turned back
Speaker 1: to Yukon with the goal of wanting to win a championship.
Speaker 2: Blue Blood to blue Blood.
Speaker 1: When it comes to Page, what advice would you give
Speaker 1: her as she enters, you know, her final year at Yukon.
Speaker 1: We know how much Yukon has been a winning program.
Speaker 1: Obviously you played there and led them to two Nashville Championships.
Speaker 1: But what advice would you give Page beckerds Man.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure there is much advice to give, you know.
Speaker 3: I think Page, she's now been in college for quite
Speaker 3: a while, so she knows, she knows what it is,
Speaker 3: you know. At this point, my only advice to her
Speaker 3: would be to trust her work, trust her preparation. I
Speaker 3: do think that Yukon it can be really hard, and
Speaker 3: I didn't have to deal with this. You're also playing
Speaker 3: for history, and sometimes that history, right like the winning
Speaker 3: history that is the University of Kannic, can can can
Speaker 3: be like a mental little bit of a mental hindrance.
Speaker 3: It can really get in your head, it can play
Speaker 3: with you. So for Paige, I would just try to, yeah,
Speaker 3: maybe have her continue to stay focused on this one
Speaker 3: year and emphasize that what happened before in Yukon history
Speaker 3: has nothing to do. Both good and bad has nothing
Speaker 3: to do. And you get to write your own story.
Speaker 3: You get to write your own history, and just to
Speaker 3: kind of take advantage of that moment, but she knows,
Speaker 3: she knows this is nothing new.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to see what Page and the Yukon
Speaker 1: Huskies do this next season. Thank you so much Sue
Speaker 1: for joining us this week on In Case you missed
Speaker 1: It with Christina Williams.
Speaker 3: Oh my pleasure. Thanks for having me For.
Speaker 1: More about Sue, make sure you check out a touch
Speaker 1: more of the podcast weekly on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, and
Speaker 1: of course the iHeartRadio app coming up after the break.
Speaker 1: We have the Things that I Love this week more
Speaker 1: case you missed it with Christina Williams. When we return,
Speaker 1: welcome back to you and case you missed it with
Speaker 1: Christina Williams, and you already know what time it is.
Speaker 1: It's time for the things that I loved this week
Speaker 1: all weekend, I guess. On Sunday, I was able to
Speaker 1: go to my very first Gothup FC game. Whe everyone
Speaker 1: watches Women's Sports Night. It was super festive, celebrating, you know,
Speaker 1: the growth of women's sports. I was able to meet
Speaker 1: one of the co owners and also shout out is
Speaker 1: superb because she is also a co owner for Gotham FC.
Speaker 1: I think at the seventy minute mark of the match.
Speaker 1: Gotham FC just really turned it up. They scored four
Speaker 1: goals from the seventieth minim mark to the ninety and
Speaker 1: you know, I just have never been so excited for
Speaker 1: a soccer match than attending that game. So it was
Speaker 1: really good vibes and I'm happy that they won. They
Speaker 1: clinched home field advantage for the playoffs. I would like
Speaker 1: to think that I'm a little bit of good luck,
Speaker 1: but shout out to them. Another thing that I loved
Speaker 1: this week was on Monday, I was able to attend
Speaker 1: a live recording of All the Smoke. Shout out to
Speaker 1: Matt Barnes and Stack, my big bros in this industry.
Speaker 1: They had Larry Johnson, former Knicks player, NBA legend as
Speaker 1: a guest. It was good laughs, good vibes all around
Speaker 1: at grever Se. My friends and I went to the
Speaker 1: show and it was just great to see podcasting in
Speaker 1: like a different form. So I thoroughly enjoyed my night.
Speaker 1: And that's gonna do it for the things that I
Speaker 1: love this week. Also, of course, I'm gonna love the
Speaker 1: playoffs when the finals start tomorrow.
Speaker 2: But that's gonna do it.
Speaker 1: For this episode of In Case you miss It, with
Speaker 1: Christina Williams. Please don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe
Speaker 1: to the podcast, and coming up this week, we got
Speaker 1: my girl lage A Johnson coming through to the show. Also,
Speaker 1: please don't forget to look in the description box, follow
Speaker 1: us on all social medias, and also click the link
Speaker 1: to a Touch More with Sue Bird and Meghan Rappino
Speaker 1: the podcast series where you can find it weekly on YouTube, Apple, Spotify,
Speaker 1: and of course.
Speaker 2: The iHeart app. Peace Out.
Speaker 1: In case you missed it with Christina Williams is an
Speaker 1: iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
Speaker 1: and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.