WEBVTT - WNBA Wake Up Call 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:08.720 Come on, come on, come on. 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.360 This episode of the Heat Check, given that we are 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:23.960 not talking anymore about the Lakers dumpster fire, because that 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:27.440 could be literally its own podcast. Given how much news 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:30.000 is coming out and there's a lot. Lebron James is 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:32.640 only answering questions from women at this time, which is 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:35.880 hilarious to me. Uh, he still is going to remain 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:38.360 hopeful no matter what happens, as long as he said, 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:43.279 he said, unless he's stomped out into the grave and 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:46.559 his head is chopped off like he was some monster. 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:48.040 I said. We were going to talk about it, so 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:49.320 we're not going to talk about it, but just go 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:53.160 find it because it's absolutely bonkers what's going on. Given 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:56.640 that we're not doing that for consecutive episodes, we're going 0:00:56.680 --> 0:01:00.320 to delve into something that's a little less sexy, but 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:04.960 definitely with just as much drama. There is some recent 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:09.040 news in women's hoops that is going to blow your 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:13.319 fucking mind. Why the system of sports pretty much is broken. 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:16.480 What's happening to the w NBA players currently playing in 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:20.119 Russia and Ukraine. Fascinating stuff and more so, go ahead, 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:20.920 bro drop. 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:43.919 That b. 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:38.480 So the trade deadline's over all Star Game in the 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:44.840 rear view mirror playoffs still month and change away. It's 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:48.000 Paul's time. There's not a lot of news. We've got 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:51.960 buyouts obviously that are sort of rumbling, but we kind 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.480 of need to take a breather. I'm a little tired 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:58.000 of dissecting some of these dumpster fire franchises with every 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:01.800 little minute piece of news that comes away. Apparently Rob 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:05.960 Polenka botched a bunch of conversations where he wasn't calling 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:10.880 people back. I mean, the drama continues, but yeah, yeah, 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:13.640 he wasn't answering phone calls. Just like, look it up. 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:15.800 I don't want to talk about it. I don't like 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:18.680 he used to look it up. I don't he's so bad. 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.960 I just like, there's so much raw material in fodder 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:26.679 for me. It's like red meat and a hungry rottweiler. 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.519 I am the rottweiler in this situation. Rob Polinka is 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:33.400 the red meat and the Lakers and just how much 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:35.799 joy I get from shit talking them. But like it's 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:39.639 boring to you, even though if it might be hilarious 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:42.920 to me. So let's break down some hoops. But today 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:46.200 we're gonna be talking about one of my favorite things 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:51.480 in the world WNBA. So there's multiple WNBA stories going 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:56.160 on right now. Both of those are actually global news stories. 0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:58.960 We'll start with what's happening right now in the Ukraine 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.240 and how that has the ability to affect how the 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:06.919 women's game operates moving forward. As everybody knows, unless you've 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:09.240 been living under a rock kind of like I've tried 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:11.360 to avoid it. If you need to tell me if 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.600 I need some some news, I'm just gonna make sure 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:15.880 that Twitter tells me or someone on the street tells me. 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:18.720 I'm not gonna go out here and be looking for 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:21.600 for Sea. Hey, did you know I hear somebody on 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.639 a train I'm listening on Amtrak. I got I got 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:28.799 Chris Coons behind me on the Amtrak talking about Mitch McConnell. 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.079 I mean, you can't escape it, right. So, unless you're 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:35.480 sitting in your crib playing two K you know that 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:40.360 Russia invaded Ukraine a week ago and the economic fallout 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:44.720 has been immense. There's been immediate economic sanctions against the 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:48.960 Russian state. They've literally tanked the ruble. We've got the 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.840 owner of Chelsea pretty much being forced to sell the 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:56.840 team because he's broke. Now all of these Russian oligarchs 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:00.320 are losing their wealth. Uh, it is just abs slutely. 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:02.760 Bonker's Russian stock Market, which is an aggregate of the 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:05.960 biggest companies in Russia, lost eighty percent of its total 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.160 value in the first two days alone. Let's just say 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:11.720 things are not going the way that the head of 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:16.840 Russia named Vladimir Putin has anticipated them going. We'll just 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:21.400 say things have not been going according to plan. Major 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:25.000 foreign investors have pulled out of Russia. The country has 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:27.840 been banned from international banking platforms. If you want to 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:31.039 wire money from country to country and you're Russian, that's 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:34.560 a know. Some people have lost all access to Pornhub 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:38.440 if you're in Russia, which is a huge loss. Russian 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.520 oligarchs who have built multi billion dollar portfolios stand to 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:43.839 lose everything. So the lot is a lot has happening, 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:48.040 Lots popping around the world here. How does this affect 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:52.360 women's hoops? Though? Let me explain, for years there has 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:56.159 been an unspoken right, This is a fascinating shit unspoken 0:04:56.320 --> 0:05:02.400 rivalry between various Russian oligo billionaires and that has spilled 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:06.919 over onto the court. In this case, Russian women's basketball 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:11.440 Premier League has been the biggest payday by far for 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:16.440 women's basketball players for many, many years. Folks like Brittany Griner, 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:21.840 Breonna Stewart, Diana Tarasi have played for Russian teams for 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:26.919 seven figure or more contracts, which, to be frank is 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:29.680 a lot more money that they make in the United States. 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:35.160 They have made well over five times the maximum salary 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:39.520 allowed in the WNBA in Russia. It's good business to 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.160 hoop in Russia if you're a woman. And it's basically 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:46.440 just we'll just say what it is, a dick measuring 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:51.160 contest by really rich guys in Russia that decided that 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:56.440 the women's basketball Russian Women's Basketball Premier League. Hard to say. 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:00.360 Is there a little breeding ground for how they end 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:03.479 up competing with one another. It's their little sex squid 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.600 games to a degree, only no one gets hurt. In 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.240 the past past two days, this just like another way 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:12.800 of them, you know, measuring how good they are with 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:18.440 one another. So the past two days, though women's basketball 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:22.360 players living in Ukraine and Russia struggling to get out, 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.080 a move made more difficult since Russia has now made 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:28.920 it very difficult to fly out, having banned flights from 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:33.440 thirty six countries and counting. Thankfully, all the American players 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:36.280 who played in the Ukraine are out. But Russia's war 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:39.240 on the Ukraine's going to change the balance of women's 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:44.560 basketball from these intermediate term, at least because who knows. 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:49.720 Who knows before the status quo returns in Russia. Who 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:53.040 knows when these women who make their livelihoods where they 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.360 make the majority of their dollars in the offseason will 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:57.479 be able to play there again. 0:06:57.839 --> 0:06:58.039 Right? 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.159 Will those same oligur so that I mentioned that lost 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:03.760 eighty percent of their wealth, Will they be so inclined 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:08.040 to have women's basketball be their dick measuring contest anymore? 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.400 They might just be looking to just hold on, We're 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:13.120 going home kind of vibes, you know what I mean, 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:17.800 Just hang on for dear life. Who knows? Time will 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:22.679 tell I'm not optimistic. So it will put more pressure 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:27.240 on the WNBA to pay equitably. Now that overseas cash 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:34.640 cow has fallen to Putin's ill timed, ill planned moves, 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:40.000 Which brings us to the real story, the real huge story, 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:46.559 something that's been hiding in plane sight boom, airplanes, charter 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:50.320 planes to be exact, all right, So sports illustrated just 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:55.000 randomly on a Monday, just a random Monday, two days ago, 0:07:55.120 --> 0:08:00.360 drop one of the biggest stories to be about the WNBA, 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:06.720 maybe ever one league handed out record fines against the 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:10.880 New York Liberty. Not only did they do that, the 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:14.480 WNBA threatened to take the Liberty's draft picks away, and 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:19.160 they even floated the idea of not only making the owner, Josi, 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:23.240 same guy who owns the Brooklyn Nets, sell the team, 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:29.800 but also folding the entire franchise together. It was fucking serious. 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:35.280 What could have been so gregious that they would fold 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.560 an entire WNBA team where there's not that many be 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:41.720 the first one to contract to have to just close 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:45.360 up shop go home in the biggest market in the country. 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:49.320 What could he have done? It was so terrible. Was 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:52.240 there some sort of some sort of pizza ring, underground 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:55.880 pizza ring going on in some basement? What could have 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:56.520 been happening? 0:08:57.480 --> 0:08:58.120 What was it? 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:03.680 Tell me? I need no wait. Josi put his players 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:06.280 on a charter plane and took them to Sonoma for 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:09.280 wine tasting. You mean to tell me that that was 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:13.080 so egregious that he would be possibly forced to sell 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:16.000 a team and fold the entire New York Liberty as 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:19.800 a whole, All because Josi wanted to take them on 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:22.720 a team building trip, All because he wanted to treat 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:27.200 his players like male players are treated, All because he 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:31.000 didn't want the New York Liberty to fly Southwest next 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:33.400 to Fred and Karen and their little baby Eli on 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.600 their way to some family trip in Phoenix. All because 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:42.240 of that. Mostly, when you go bird's eye view, it's 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:45.280 because Josi, the owner of the New York Liberty and 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:48.640 the owner of the and the Brooklyn Nets, same vibes, 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:53.720 same intentions, same mentality. Josi is willing to do what 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:57.560 so many other owners are not willing to do. Do 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:02.840 whatever it takes, pay whatever it takes to show your 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:07.200 players you invest in them, and you're willing to do 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:11.000 whatever it takes to compete and win, like he's doing 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:14.439 with the Brooklyn Nets. You cannot make that shit up. 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:20.199 Here's what happened, Josi. Here's the backstory. Josi, billionaire owner 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:22.400 of the Brooklyn Nets but also the New York Liberty, 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.800 wanted to give the Liberty a team building trip to Napa, 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:28.640 so he charted a plane and sent them off the 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:35.439 Wine Country. Why you don't say star player Dede Richards, 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:39.760 rook a rookie said at the podium. Randomly, they asked 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.360 her what her favorite off the court moment was, and 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:46.520 she said, NAPA. NAPA was just so much fun. NAPA 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:48.720 was an opportunity for us to get together as a 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:51.440 team and just be beautiful. And you know what, I 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.680 love that. I was just planning for days what I 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:59.040 was going to war. Where to NAPA? Once they told us, Josi, 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:03.439 you monster, shut the league down, Shut the team down. 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.240 Force this man out, Get on the fuck out of here. 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.240 Liberty guard Jasmine Jones said that the team owners treat 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.920 us like they treat an MBA team. That is fucking awful. 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:19.560 You don't say, folks, what's the problem here, what's the 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:23.839 problem here? The problem is that it violated the WNBA's 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:27.880 Collective Bargaining Agreement, which constrains the benefits that you can 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:31.480 give players. Is that not the stupidest fucking thing you've 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:35.240 ever heard in your life? There should be. Well, it's 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:38.320 just hold that thought for later. But it gets even 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:43.000 more stupid. The Liberty chartered flights for each road game 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:46.400 of the seasons second half, beginning in August, with the 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:51.440 trip to Minnesota and the WNBA was fucking pissed Cauz. 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.920 Right now, they're using commercial flights like Southwest with Brian 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:58.920 and Karen and Eli on their trip to Phoenix. You'd 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.400 be on the same fight with Brian and Karen and 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.840 their little baby Eli, crying and screaming when you're trying 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:06.080 to get your mind right for your game. That's what's 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:09.800 happening now. Josi was like, this is ridiculous, especially when 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:13.640 there's issues with weather, issues with plane delays, issues with 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:17.280 everything that comes with being just a normal traveler, which 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:22.280 these people are not. Josai Apparently the punishment that WBA 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.920 was floating around was upseed, and Josi was like, you 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.280 know what, I don't care. I'm gonna continue to do 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:29.480 it anyway. You can tell me not to, but I'm 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:32.400 going to. In fact, he doubled down stating that WNBA 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:35.000 athletes should be treated like the elite players that they are, 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:37.760 and then he went public on Twitter over the fact 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:39.840 that he can't fly his own team via charter because 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:43.199 he has a lot of money. Josi, as an aside, 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.480 is the co founder of Ali Baba, which is the 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:51.360 Google in China. So then he does the most extraordinary thing. 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:54.240 He was like, well, because they said, well, this is 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:57.559 this is a competitive balance issue. If your team can 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:01.360 fly charter and which is against the law or the 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.400 rules of the CBA, and all the other and all 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:06.920 of the other teams cannot, that gives you an advantage. 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.040 It's not correct, that's not right, and it's cost too 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:14.320 much money for these other non quote unquote non billionaire 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:17.480 team owners, so it's wrong. And then he does this, 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:25.080 He found a sponsor to fly all the WNBA teams 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.920 for three years for free. 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:29.400 Yep. 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.560 Do you know what happened next? Of course, all the 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:33.200 teams were. 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:36.520 Like hell yeah, right. No, they weren't. 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:41.080 Like hell yeah, they were like, absolutely fucking not. The 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:49.360 WNBA Board of Governors turned it down. Let me say 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:51.480 that again in the back for the folks in the 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:55.480 back not quite listening. Josi, the owner of the New 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:58.280 York Liberty, was so committed to giving his players what 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:00.920 he felt they needed to be success. We'll be ready 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:03.800 and to have no travel hiccups because he's a multi 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:06.840 multi billionaire. And when he was told he couldn't do 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:11.360 that because it gave him a competitive advantage, he found 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.440 a way for everyone to have the same exact thing. 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.480 Which he thought was the bare minimum for travel for 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:22.960 an elite athlete, and the Board of Governors said no. 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:27.480 According to s Y. If you are wondering why that 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:32.160 might be, according to them, quote, here's where it gets 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:36.920 fucking crazy. Some owners worried that the players would get 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:40.960 used to it and there would be no going back. 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:47.480 Others wondered whether players might prefer a salary hike instead. 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:53.760 That's not how this works. You can't just say, uh, 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:57.040 I'm sorry, net Jets, I would prefer that money go 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:59.960 into my pocket instead of just you giving us planes. 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:10.160 Excuse me, pause, let's just say, let's just bring this 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:14.560 all back. They didn't want players to get used to 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:19.440 what to get used to being treated like professional athletes, 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:24.040 the elite athletes that they are. They wanted them to 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:29.080 be seen and felt as just regular joes on a 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:34.120 Southwest flight or a Delta flight flying commercial. You cannot 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:38.600 make this shit up, dog the WNB. It is absolutely bonkers. 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:42.520 And here you are, here, I am thinking that Major 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:46.200 League Baseball had a monopoly on being cheap billionaires. Here 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.360 I am thinking like it's just them. No, No, cheap 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:51.680 bastards are found in every corner of the world. 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:52.440 The League. 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:55.880 Originally, here's what they wanted to do to the Liberty 0:15:56.280 --> 0:16:01.400 League wanted originally to slap a million dollar fine on them, 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:04.160 by far the most in the history of the league, 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:06.120 and then they dialed it down to a half a million. 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:09.680 Keep in mind, though, that this is a league that 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:13.200 has cap salaries at two hundred and twenty one thousand 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:19.080 dollars per year. That is the supermax for a WNBA player, 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:23.120 And you wonder, you have to wonder why Mark Davis, 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:28.600 who also co owns the Raiders, owns the Aces, why 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:32.840 he decided to pay Becking Hammond a million dollars to 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:37.280 coach Because he can. Because that's the thing that he 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:41.720 doesn't have any restraint over. He can, he wants to, 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:43.360 and he thinks that it's going to help his team win. 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:46.960 That's how you think like a real billionaire who wants 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.840 to win games. It's also the only salary that's not 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:56.600 capped in the CBA. The WNBA is in grave danger. 0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:59.880 I would say, you've got issues with players who are 0:16:59.880 --> 0:17:03.160 not not making money in Russia any longer, they're going 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:07.600 to put pressure on the WNBA. The WNBA has been inflexible, 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:11.920 even when there's free stuff that gives them an ability 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:15.240 to grow the game, and the CBA will do nothing 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:17.840 to pay these players what they are worth. And the 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:23.840 CBA is in place until twenty twenty seven. That is 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.600 an eight year long CBA. They got that deal done 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.399 twenty twenty and it does not end. It does not 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:32.760 expire until twenty twenty seven. So what does that all 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:36.760 mean for me? It means I've come to the reality 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.800 and I've come to the conclusion that professional sports is broken. 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:43.359 I mean, it's just just up in front in the 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:45.920 last month. You've got the Olympics, you've got baseball, you've 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:50.840 got the WNBA. There are let's just break down how 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:55.080 this works. Very very very rich people get to a 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:59.280 level in their life and then the status where they 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:04.520 get in ced into a fraternity. Thirty teams in the WNBA, 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:08.960 it's way less. So you get invited into this fraternity, 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:12.200 you go through all the hoops and you have billions 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:15.800 of dollars at your disposal. You've made a killing in 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:18.320 your life and this is one of those final little 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:21.400 infinity stones in your glove where you feel like you're 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.960 a real person. Now, something to complete you, something to 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.040 go off and tell your friends about. Something where you 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:31.080 get free this and free that, box seats and charter 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:34.480 flanes and free shit, and people oohing and awing over 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:36.760 you because you own a sports team. Whatever sports team 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:39.359 it is, doesn't really even matter, and that is you 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:45.080 and those people, as my grandma would say, they don't 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:48.160 get rich by giving it away. They don't get rich 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:51.119 by giving it away. And even when they are worth 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:56.600 five six seven billion dollars, that mentality sticks, that cheap ass, 0:18:56.880 --> 0:19:03.520 poor me mentality, despite them being worth literally more money 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:06.959 than they could ever spend no matter what they wanted. 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:11.800 Not even Phil Mickelson could spend five billion dollars, and 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.800 that is something that he probably would get close to 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.239 given his gambling issues. If you're a billionaire and you 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:20.119 own a team and you're not willing to do whatever 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:22.200 it takes to get that team to win, which is 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:26.640 the entire point of owning a team, competing and playing 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:31.119 to win. That's literally the only goal of a sports 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:33.639 team is to win, and to win at the highest level. 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.480 And you're not, and you're against the free market of 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.439 paying players the elite of the elite. As much as 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:42.240 it takes for you to collect the team that will win. 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:46.640 You're fucking cheap ass, and you don't deserve to own 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:51.879 a team winners, which apparently you are not winners, do 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:56.520 whatever it takes to win no matter what. There's billionaires 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:00.840 owning teams that would rather cheap out, cheap out on 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:05.520 everything on their team, on how it's ran, on what 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:08.960 their players make, on what their coaches make, because they 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:13.440 still make enough money anyway. That to me is a problem. That, 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:16.880 to me, is a gigantic problem that hampers the growth 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.680 of a game that is struggling to get new consumers, 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:22.240 get new eyeballs. 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:26.200 Nobody fucking cares right now about the WNBA because they 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.840 won't put money into it. The product is good, These 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:33.160 girls put up buckets, the jerseys are nice. They're trying 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:36.320 to figure out a way to get more people interested 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:40.720 in the game. And then you do shit like this, 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:43.120 like it's absolutely bonkers. 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:50.159 So how do we fix the WNBA specifically, how do 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:53.080 we fix it? My man Tom Ziller? I love Tom Ziller. 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:57.000 He's got a great newsletter on Substack called Good Morning Basketball. 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:02.080 He wrote, the salary cap is the problem right now 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:06.359 for the WNBA. There's new energy and new resources available 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:10.199 in and around women's sports. Literally four or five billionaires 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:13.239 the own WNBA teams that have gotten walled off. When 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:15.640 they're trying to do whatever it takes to win, they're 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:18.120 running into like, well, I want to pay Liz Cambridge 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:22.639 X and I can't. And now Liz Cambridge Cambage, Cambage 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:26.560 has left, and this is what he says. More. There's 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:29.200 more resources available in and around women's sports, but the 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:32.880 league's conservative mindset is keeping it closed off to lots 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:36.639 of potential growth. The WNBA has been so focused on 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:40.879 mere survival for so long that it's unable to pivot 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:44.679 into an expansionary strategy. The conservatism of the league is 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:48.600 baked hard, crusted onto the WNBA, to the point where 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:52.400 money bag investors like Josi and aces Mark Davis are 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:57.119 unable to break the status quo. Fuck that, fuck that 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:02.080 He proposes the wa NBA adopt a similar structure as 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:05.640 the EPO, where rich owners spend as much as they 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:10.000 want to build a sustainable powerhouse, and then the rising 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:12.960 tide lifts all ships. Who cares if a few teams 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:19.160 in this league are killing, absolutely destroying investing in marketing 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:22.960 and branding and events and trying to make this as 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:27.600 most the most sexy team, most sexy league as possible. 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:31.560 That tide lifts every single w NBA team up with 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:35.000 Mark Lore Who's going to own who is currently owning 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:39.800 the Links? Josi, Mark Davis. They are begging, salivating as 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:43.879 owners of other businesses. Who knows what it takes to 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:47.240 grow something from scratch. All they want to do is 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:49.440 do what it takes to grow the game. And the 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:53.240 w n b A won't let them draconian rules that 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:56.800 don't make no sense. So what we do know is 0:22:56.840 --> 0:22:58.720 the way that the w n b A has handled 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:02.119 this is a nightmare. It's got to change because the 0:23:02.160 --> 0:23:04.879 league itself is growing. Ratings are way up over the 0:23:04.960 --> 0:23:08.480 last two years despite the pandemic. The league has new 0:23:08.520 --> 0:23:13.160 equity owners that include Condoleeza, Rice and Nike. The valuation 0:23:13.240 --> 0:23:15.080 of the league and its franchise is supposed to be 0:23:15.119 --> 0:23:19.800 around a billion dollars right now. Gross. And because we're 0:23:19.800 --> 0:23:23.600 pushing p because we're pushing pe, we're wanting to try 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:28.560 to pivot hard away from hating the powers structures of 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:32.080 the WNBA and Major League Baseball and the Olympics. We're 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:34.720 gonna get away from that and just tell you about 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:39.880 really fast this very side road about Don Staley, who 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:43.440 could have been the coach of the Portland Trailblazers if 0:23:43.600 --> 0:23:47.000 they would have done the right thing. Same thing with 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:51.120 Becky Hammond actually, but no shade to Chauncey Bullops. There's 0:23:51.160 --> 0:23:53.200 a terrific story on an scape which you should be 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:57.320 called the undefeated. They've changed names about her incredible influence 0:23:57.359 --> 0:23:59.560 on the world of women's basketball and in this case 0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:05.359 black female head coaches. Back in twenty fifteen, Staley received 0:24:05.359 --> 0:24:08.000 a piece of the net cut down by Carolyn Peck, 0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:11.439 head coach of the Purdue boiler Makers who won the 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:15.000 title in nineteen ninety nine, making her the first black 0:24:15.000 --> 0:24:16.800 head coach in history to win a title in the 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:21.800 nc DOUBLEA. And that act of kindness doing what the 0:24:21.880 --> 0:24:25.080 WNBA should be doing, which is literally pulling people from 0:24:25.119 --> 0:24:29.320 behind up to lift them to see what's possible, to 0:24:29.440 --> 0:24:31.800 make sure that you're making the world a better place 0:24:31.840 --> 0:24:35.920 for the generations after you. That act of kindness influenced 0:24:36.000 --> 0:24:39.200 Don Staley to the point where she cut her own 0:24:39.280 --> 0:24:44.359 NCUBA championship net from twenty seventeen into ninety pieces and 0:24:44.480 --> 0:24:48.600 sent them to black female head coaches in basketball. This move, 0:24:48.680 --> 0:24:52.920 she said, connected them all together in an unbreakable bond. 0:24:53.680 --> 0:24:56.399 That's what we need more in sports is for people 0:24:56.480 --> 0:24:59.640 to know how they fit into the greater puzzle of things. 0:25:00.000 --> 0:25:02.880 How great is that? Nicole Powell, a young black Head 0:25:02.920 --> 0:25:07.200 coach at UC Riverside, said, Don Staley's move is getting 0:25:07.320 --> 0:25:11.800 me to think bigger. We all need as people, and 0:25:12.000 --> 0:25:15.200 especially in these leagues that think bigger. How can we 0:25:15.280 --> 0:25:19.800 support others, other coaches, other people younger than ourselves at 0:25:19.840 --> 0:25:23.840