Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where there are
Speaker 1: no kings except Abe Frohman, the sausage King of Chicago.
Speaker 2: But we do love our queens, looking.
Speaker 1: At you, BJK Simone, Asia Pino. It's Monday, June sixteenth,
Speaker 1: and on today's show we'll be chatting with actors James
Speaker 1: Rode Rodriguez and Tom Everett Scott about the WNBA Fantasy
Speaker 1: League that brought us together, the w players surprising us
Speaker 1: this season in ways both good and bad, and how
Speaker 1: in the hell too degenerate NFL fantasy players brought their
Speaker 1: sickness to a WNBA league in the first place, Plus
Speaker 1: a very early attempt at what could be a long
Speaker 1: standing record. Good things come in pairs, and a strong
Speaker 1: message of support from the City of Angels. It's all
Speaker 1: coming up right after this Welcome back slices. Hope you
Speaker 1: had a great weekend. Here's what you need to know today.
Speaker 1: Let's start with the WNBA, where Caitlin Clark is back
Speaker 1: and the New York Liberty's unbeaten streak is over. It
Speaker 1: was in top form in her return from a quad
Speaker 1: injury on Saturday, recording thirty two points to lead the
Speaker 1: Indiana Fever to a one oh two eighty eight victory
Speaker 1: over the Liberty, handing the defending WNBA champs their first
Speaker 1: loss of the season. Clark tied her career high for
Speaker 1: three pointers with seven, and added nine assists and eight rebounds,
Speaker 1: putting on a show with a handful of her signature
Speaker 1: deep deep deep threes, including back to back to back
Speaker 1: trays all in less than forty five seconds in the
Speaker 1: first quarter. Prior to Clark's five game absence, she had
Speaker 1: never missed a game in her WNBA or college career.
Speaker 1: Guard Sophie Cunningham was also back in the lineup for
Speaker 1: the Fever after missing time with an ankle injury.
Speaker 2: The only bad news for.
Speaker 1: Indiana fans after that win is that with Clark and
Speaker 1: Cunningham back, the team had to waive Airy McDonald, who
Speaker 1: signed a hardship contract when the Fever's roster dipped below
Speaker 1: ten players, and she impressed in her three games with
Speaker 1: the team, maybe she'll pop up on another roster. Caitlin
Speaker 1: Clark's big comeback came just after another highly anticipated return
Speaker 1: to the court. Number one zero overall draft pick Page
Speaker 1: Becker's back in the lineup with the Dallas Wings last Wednesday.
Speaker 1: We haven't had a chance to mention it since then,
Speaker 1: but I couldn't let it pass without giving her a
Speaker 1: shout out because after missing four games for concussion protocol
Speaker 1: and an illness, she did not miss a beat, hitting
Speaker 1: her first six shots of the game and finishing thirteen
Speaker 1: of nineteen from the field for thirty five points. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the rest of the Wings combined to shoot thirty three
Speaker 1: percent from the field and the Phoenix Mercury got the
Speaker 1: win ninety three to eighty. Wings fans might have been
Speaker 1: excited to see Page go off, but the Mercury wanted
Speaker 1: a little more love for the dub posting quote when
Speaker 1: we won the game.
Speaker 2: But we don't have a single.
Speaker 1: Highlight in the two minute, twenty four second recap video
Speaker 1: from the WNBA. So we put together some Mercury highlights
Speaker 1: from last night's game in case you watched the other
Speaker 1: video and didn't see a single one, because there wasn't
Speaker 1: a single one end quote Spicy.
Speaker 2: And frankly, I can't blame them.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the Sparks signed veteran guard Shape
Speaker 1: Petty to a hardship contract on Saturday after losing Julia
Speaker 1: Aliba on to EuroBasket and with Odyssey Simms out.
Speaker 2: For personal reasons.
Speaker 1: If you aren't familiar with Petty and her WNBA journey,
Speaker 1: let's just say she's a case study in how hard
Speaker 1: it is to earn and keep a roster spot in
Speaker 1: this league. Originally drafted in twenty twelve, she didn't actually
Speaker 1: make her w debut until twenty nineteen. We've linked to
Speaker 1: an old thread and story from journalist Lindsay Gibbs in
Speaker 1: the show notes, which will give you a taste of
Speaker 1: Petty's work, ethic, and persistence in this league. Petty also
Speaker 1: played in Athletes Unlimited Basketball in the offseason, where she
Speaker 1: was named twenty twenty five Defensive Player of the Year.
Speaker 2: Glad to see you back in the w SHA more WNBA.
Speaker 1: The Golden State Valkyries recorded their third straight win on Saturday,
Speaker 1: defeating the Seattle Storm seventy six seventy. Kayla Thornton led
Speaker 1: the Valks with twenty two points and twelve rebounds, while
Speaker 1: Temmy fag Benley added sixteen points. The Valks also became
Speaker 1: the first since the nineteen ninety eight and ninety nine
Speaker 1: Washington Mystics to report attendance of eighteen thousand plus in
Speaker 1: five home games in the same season, and they're the
Speaker 1: very first to do so in their first five home games.
Speaker 1: Stup for the WNBA's newest team a meeting with the
Speaker 1: Dallas Wings on Tuesday. Ahead of that one, the Valks
Speaker 1: announced that the team has re signed Caitlin Chen. Now
Speaker 1: you may recall that Chen, who helped Yukon win the
Speaker 1: NCAA title this year as a transfer student, was drafted
Speaker 1: by the Valkyrise, but she was waived after two preseason games.
Speaker 1: While on Sunday, Golden State announced that Chen is back.
Speaker 1: We'll have to see how she fits into the team's
Speaker 1: long term roster plans, but in the meantime, we're hoping
Speaker 1: she gets to log at least a few minutes against
Speaker 1: fellow Husky Page Beckers on Tuesday.
Speaker 2: Which brings us back.
Speaker 1: To the Dallas Wings, who are also doing some roster tweaking.
Speaker 1: They've acquired Lee Rue from the Seattle Storm in a trade.
Speaker 1: In return, the Storm get two future draft picks. Lee,
Speaker 1: who hails from China, had requested a trade from the
Speaker 1: Storm in order to get more playing time. Speaking to
Speaker 1: reporters last week, she said that she came to the
Speaker 1: US to play basketball, so playing time is a priority.
Speaker 1: More WNBA and a few more records and achievements to
Speaker 1: shout out from this weekend. First, the Atlanta Dreams Ryan
Speaker 1: Howard tied the WNBA record for most three pointers made
Speaker 1: in a single game. Howard recorded thirty six total points,
Speaker 1: including going nine for nineteen from three in Atlanta's eighty
Speaker 1: eight to seventy win over Chicago on Friday. She joins
Speaker 1: Jewel Lloyd, Kelsey Mitchell, and ari ke Gunbowale as the
Speaker 1: only players to make nine threes in a single WNBA game.
Speaker 1: Chicago's Angel Reese had her own big game in the
Speaker 1: Sky's next outing, recording her first WNBA career triple double
Speaker 1: on Sunday with eleven points, thirteen rebounds, and eleven assists
Speaker 1: in Chicago's seventy eight sixty.
Speaker 2: Six win over the Connecticut Sun.
Speaker 1: Per across the timeline, Reese is the second youngest player
Speaker 1: in WNBA history to record a double double, behind only
Speaker 1: Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 2: More hoops news.
Speaker 1: This past Saturday with the twenty twenty five Women's Basketball
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame Induction ceremony at the Tennessee Theater in Knoxville.
Speaker 1: Four great players, Sylvia Fowls, Elena Beard, Cappy Pondexter, and
Speaker 1: Sue Byrd were inducted, along with coaches Mark Campbell and
Speaker 1: Lucille Cavalas, and former Georgia Tech women's basketball standout and
Speaker 1: executive director of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Danielle Donahue.
Speaker 1: The four players, Fowls, Beard, Pondexter, and Bird combined for
Speaker 1: more than thirty All Star selections, eleven WNBA championships, and
Speaker 1: countless Olympic and international titles. Said Byrd during her speech, quote,
Speaker 1: I am filled with overwhelming pride.
Speaker 2: We all should.
Speaker 1: The game isn't just surviving, it's thriving. To witness this
Speaker 1: generation of players stepping into their power, being unapologetic and
Speaker 1: celebrated for their talent.
Speaker 2: That's the real dream come true. End quote.
Speaker 1: To the NWSL amid ongoing immigration raids in Los Angeles
Speaker 1: and protests against those raids, Angel CITYFC made a statement
Speaker 1: ahead of Saturday's game against the North Carolina Courage. The
Speaker 1: club printed out ten thousand t shirts that read Immigrant
Speaker 1: City Football Club on the front and Los Angeles Is
Speaker 1: for Everyone Los Angeles s Paro Totos on the back
Speaker 1: and placed them on seats for fans to wear. The
Speaker 1: club also issued a statement which set in part quote
Speaker 1: the fabric of this city is made of immigrants. Football
Speaker 1: does not exist without immigrants. This club does not exist
Speaker 1: without immigrants. End quote. ACFC went on to lose the
Speaker 1: match two to one, with North care line is Brianna
Speaker 1: Pinto scoring the game winner in stoppage time. Center back
Speaker 1: Kaylee Kurtz also made some history in the win, becoming
Speaker 1: the first NWSL player to record one hundred consecutive starts
Speaker 1: with the same club. More NWSL, the league announced that
Speaker 1: this year's NWSL Championship will be played at San Jose's PayPal.
Speaker 2: Park, home of BAFC.
Speaker 1: The game is set for Saturday, November twenty second, and
Speaker 1: tickets for the final will go on sale in August.
Speaker 1: To Ncuba Track and Field, the national Championships concluded over
Speaker 1: the weekend, with Georgia winning its first outdoor women's track
Speaker 1: and field title in program history. The Bulldogs were led
Speaker 1: by Olympic gold medallist Eliah Butler and d j A. Oakley,
Speaker 1: who went one to two in the women's four hundred
Speaker 1: meter meantime. One of our favorite headlines from track Nationals
Speaker 1: came in the pole vault final, where Washington sophomore Hannah
Speaker 1: Mall won the NCAA title and broke the collegiate record
Speaker 1: by clearing four point seven to nine meters. But it
Speaker 1: wasn't just anyone who set the record she broke. It
Speaker 1: was her twin sister and fellow Husky, Amanda Mal, who
Speaker 1: set the old mark while competing at last month's Big
Speaker 1: Ten Championship. Amanda, who was undefare this season entering ncuble a's,
Speaker 1: went on to finish third, while Rutgers Chloe Timberg finished second.
Speaker 1: Sandwich between the Mal twins. Another record worth noting. Michigan's
Speaker 1: Savannah Sutherland ended her collegiate career in style, winning the
Speaker 1: four hundred meter hurdles national title in fifty two point
Speaker 1: four to six seconds, breaking the previous NCAA record of
Speaker 1: fifty two points seven to six set in twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: by none other than the legendary Sydney McLaughlin. Lavroni to
Speaker 1: softball and the AUSL where the Bandits are at the
Speaker 1: top of the fourteen leader board following four straight wins,
Speaker 1: one against the talents and three against the volts, but
Speaker 1: the most exciting game of the weekend was Game one
Speaker 1: of a double header between the Blaze and the Talents,
Speaker 1: featuring an incredible comeback from the Blaze.
Speaker 2: Here's how it went down.
Speaker 1: The Blaze trailed twelve to one in the fourth inning
Speaker 1: twelve two one, but they pulled off an incredible eleven
Speaker 1: run comeback, which may have been helped by a fifty
Speaker 1: six minute rain delay midway through the fourth. And I know,
Speaker 1: my fellow Chicago Cubs fans know the power of a
Speaker 1: well timed rain delay see the twenty sixteen World Series. Anyway,
Speaker 1: once the rain stopped, Bailey Klinger got things rolling with
Speaker 1: the three run homer, with the Blaze ultimately tying things
Speaker 1: up twelve twelve in the sixth, but it was the
Speaker 1: Talents who went on to win the game, with infielder
Speaker 1: Sydney Romero recording a two run home run in the
Speaker 1: bottom of the seventh. Talents followed it up with a
Speaker 1: seven to six winning Game two of the devilheader. So
Speaker 1: while the Blaze took the l's, it's possible their eleven
Speaker 1: run comeback will be in the AUSL record books for
Speaker 1: a very long time. For comparison, the last time the
Speaker 1: MLB saw eleven run comeback August two thousand and one
Speaker 1: to tennis and some news we can get behind from
Speaker 1: the Women's Tennis Association. The WTA announced last week that
Speaker 1: players can now take time away for fertility related procedures
Speaker 1: like egg and embryo freezing without impacting their world ranking.
Speaker 1: Moving forward, eligible players who missed time for fertility procedures
Speaker 1: will receive a protected ranking calculated using the twelve week
Speaker 1: average of their WTA ranking from eight weeks prior to
Speaker 1: the start of their miscompetition time. They're then eligible to
Speaker 1: use that special ranking to interrupt three tournaments within ten
Speaker 1: weeks of returning. While most doctors agree that low impact
Speaker 1: exercises generally fine during IVF treatment, strenuous workouts are often
Speaker 1: advised against due to the risk of ovarian torsions. That
Speaker 1: means lead athletes often have to scale back while undergoing treatment.
Speaker 2: We got to take a quick break when we come back.
Speaker 1: Just a couple of Hollywood stars playing WNBA Fantasy.
Speaker 2: It's Tom and.
Speaker 1: James next joining us now. He's an actor, director, and
Speaker 1: screenwriter known for shows like psych and A Million Little Things,
Speaker 1: currently directing ABC's high potential starring It's Always Sonny's Kaitlyn Olsen,
Speaker 1: a Texas native, NYU grad, dog foster, animal lover and
Speaker 1: environmental advocate. He's got a serious fantasy sports problem. And
Speaker 1: this isn't actually a podcast, it's an intervention. It's James
Speaker 1: Rode Rodriguez.
Speaker 3: Hi, James, thank you so much for caring enough to
Speaker 3: try to help me.
Speaker 2: Also with us.
Speaker 1: He's an actor known for movies like That Thing You'd
Speaker 1: Do an American Werewolf in Paris, Boiler Room, and La
Speaker 1: La Land, and TV shows including Southland, Er Lawn, Order,
Speaker 1: Will and Grace, Thirteen Reasons Why, and the Hilarious Underappreciated
Speaker 1: I'm Sorry. He's currently in production playing Elwood's dad in Elle,
Speaker 1: the Legally Blonde Prequeil series. A Massachusetts native and Syracuse grad,
Speaker 1: He's a father who's blowing off his kids on Father's
Speaker 1: Day to hang out with us instead.
Speaker 2: It's Tom Evert Scott, Hi, Tom.
Speaker 4: Hey, Yeah, whatever, those kids, they don't need me anymore.
Speaker 1: Grown fine, Thank you guys for joining the show.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited to chat.
Speaker 1: Before I get to why you're here and why it
Speaker 1: makes sense, I'd like to start with how you know
Speaker 1: each other?
Speaker 5: James.
Speaker 2: Do you remember how you two met.
Speaker 3: Tom and I met because we were we both found
Speaker 3: ourselves in the same dynasty league. Am I on the
Speaker 3: right path here? Tom?
Speaker 5: Yeah? Right through Garrett, right.
Speaker 3: Through Garrett Leerner, a wonderful screenwriter and fantasy football enthusiast,
Speaker 3: asked me if I wanted to be my first dynasty league,
Speaker 3: and it was sort of the one, the thing that
Speaker 3: I hadn't done yet, and in some way I was like, well,
Speaker 3: this is the gateway that I know. I don't have
Speaker 3: a problem because I don't have a dynasty team yet.
Speaker 3: But then I said yes to that, and Tom, sure enough,
Speaker 3: is a part of that league and it's a little
Speaker 3: bit of us versus them. I think the name of
Speaker 3: the league is Hollywood Randos, That's right, And it's like
Speaker 3: half people in our business and half people in the
Speaker 3: fantasy football business. And I believe we have dominated. I
Speaker 3: think we're going into.
Speaker 5: Like the Hollywood part.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah. We're crushing these guys.
Speaker 2: So you're beating the experts, the fantasy experts.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we are impressive, and it feels good, feels good.
Speaker 3: Tom and I also realized that we had met many
Speaker 3: many years previously in Vancouver. What I was doing Yeah, well,
Speaker 3: I was doing psych and he was working on a
Speaker 3: show called Saved, and I don't know. It was just
Speaker 3: warm feelings all the way around. Tom is one of
Speaker 3: the all time good guys in our business. Everyone says,
Speaker 3: so you don't get hands selected by Tom Hanks if
Speaker 3: you don't have that Hanksyan vibe. So he's just was
Speaker 3: just the easiest guy to warm up too. And now
Speaker 3: I'm proud to say that we're not just in the
Speaker 3: same dynasty league, we're pals.
Speaker 5: We are pals. We became pals.
Speaker 1: Is it true, Tom, that you almost weren't hand selected
Speaker 1: by Tom Hanks for that big break because you were
Speaker 1: too Hanksyan and they worried you were too similar to him.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't until his wife stepped in and said
Speaker 1: worth it, give him the job.
Speaker 5: That's pretty much what happened.
Speaker 4: He told me that he was not necessarily gonna even
Speaker 4: though he thought I was right. He thought I was
Speaker 4: too much like him. And Rita watched my tape and said,
Speaker 4: you should hire this guy. So I owe it all
Speaker 4: to Rita.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I guess because it wouldn't have made sense
Speaker 1: in the movie for you guys to be related. But
Speaker 1: I mean, there is no better, I think compliment than
Speaker 1: being told you're very Tom Hanksy. And I think that's
Speaker 1: about us about as good as it gets.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, come on, like, that's pretty good. That's
Speaker 5: better than.
Speaker 1: Most American icon legend everybody. It's like, it's like mister
Speaker 1: He's like mister Rogers.
Speaker 2: Basically he is.
Speaker 5: He played mister Rogers.
Speaker 3: He did, Yeah, yeah, of course he did.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay, James, you.
Speaker 1: Mentioned that you were worried about your addiction, but the
Speaker 1: fact that you weren't in a dynasty league made it
Speaker 1: clear that you were fine. And then of course you
Speaker 1: joined a dynasty league, confirming that you were never and
Speaker 1: are still not fine. So first of all, can you
Speaker 1: tell people what a dynasty league is? And then also
Speaker 1: can you give us a look at your peak depravity?
Speaker 1: How many leagues at once in how many different sports
Speaker 1: is peak depraved?
Speaker 3: All right, I'll start with the easy one that I
Speaker 3: feel less shame about, and that's just telling you what
Speaker 3: a dynasty league is. A dynasty league is where you
Speaker 3: do a startup draft, like a normal startup draft, like
Speaker 3: you would for any draft redraft league. Our ours happens
Speaker 3: to be a super flex which means you can you know,
Speaker 3: you start two quarterbacks. But then what happens is that's
Speaker 3: just your team forever, so.
Speaker 2: You become you're a real GM. James, I'm a.
Speaker 3: Real GM, and so is Tom. And then each year,
Speaker 3: come draft time, all you're really doing is effectively drafting
Speaker 3: rookies from that season's draft. And then we also have
Speaker 3: Every league is different, but in ours, any veterans that
Speaker 3: are hanging out on the wire are also eligible for
Speaker 3: our rookie draft, which you know, once you get into
Speaker 3: the fourth and fifth rounds, you might see some journeyman
Speaker 3: receivers or some third string quarterbacks coming off.
Speaker 2: The board someone the Bears killed.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, as.
Speaker 2: An opportunity elsewhere.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that was the final step for you give
Speaker 1: us like, what are we at now?
Speaker 2: Where we had a reasonable number and what was the
Speaker 2: peak number?
Speaker 3: The peak number I think was two seasons ago because
Speaker 3: it climbed up over fifteen, and that's when I said, no,
Speaker 3: I have to get under fifteen. And then last year
Speaker 3: I think I was at fourteen. So I did what
Speaker 3: I said I was going to do because I'm I'm
Speaker 3: a man of my word. I speak truth to power.
Speaker 3: And now you know, every season is its own, you know, adventure.
Speaker 3: I have a hard time saying no to anything charity related.
Speaker 3: So that Jack's my my number up for sure. I've
Speaker 3: got my home league, I've got my Dynasty League. I'm
Speaker 3: a big friend of a guillotine. I love a guillotine.
Speaker 3: What a fun format that is?
Speaker 1: What that is and I've never even heard of it.
Speaker 1: You truly are a degenerate.
Speaker 3: Tom and I are in the same guillotine, one of those.
Speaker 4: You get eighteen teams and then each week the lowest
Speaker 4: scoring team gets cut until they she left and.
Speaker 2: There is a higher suicide league.
Speaker 1: But it's not it's your teams instead of the professional
Speaker 1: teams losing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and their entire roster goes under the waiver war.
Speaker 1: Oh, It's like relegation in the Premier League, except for
Speaker 1: instead of waiting till the end of the season, it's
Speaker 1: just mid season you get Wow. Okay, So Tom, you're
Speaker 1: also a degenerate.
Speaker 4: Oh man, say fifteen is probably like right in the
Speaker 4: same neighborhood for me. At one point I had to
Speaker 4: cut some weight. Some of that it was too much.
Speaker 4: I mean, I felt I just saw the look on
Speaker 4: my wife's face when fall started rolling in and she'd be.
Speaker 1: Like, oh, yeah, OK go, Well, now that we've established
Speaker 1: that you're in every type of league for every type
Speaker 1: of sport, let's talk about the league we're actually in.
Speaker 1: We're in a WNBA auction style fantasy league called the
Speaker 1: D League, and it's actually pretty simple. When you draft,
Speaker 1: you just have to promise a certain amount of money
Speaker 1: out of your total to get the players that you want,
Speaker 1: and then you can get a bunch after that for free.
Speaker 1: But it's my first season along with my teammate Tie,
Speaker 1: and I roped in Friends of the Show comedian Aaron
Speaker 1: Foley and ultra runner Klaan Connigan to form a team.
Speaker 2: As well, and we're trying to learn.
Speaker 1: But currently you guys are one in, which isn't a
Speaker 1: surprise your professionals, James, When did the D League start?
Speaker 1: And who are the other folks in it? Who am
Speaker 1: I playing against? Are the actors?
Speaker 2: Are they friends or are they just fellow degenerates.
Speaker 3: We're all degenerates. We started four seasons ago. You are
Speaker 3: playing with two guys, lovely gentlemen that I went to
Speaker 3: high school with, who Tom also knows, named Ray and Ben.
Speaker 3: Ben is our commissioner. We became big college fans because
Speaker 3: we do a yearly trip to Vegas during March Madness,
Speaker 3: and we were betting on women's games like crazy, and
Speaker 3: we realized that we knew more players. And this is
Speaker 3: not you know, you do the math and it don't
Speaker 3: it's not a shock. But you get to know the
Speaker 3: players in the women's game so much better because they
Speaker 3: stick around for four years, and we were able to identify,
Speaker 3: like all of these these ladies that we were fans of,
Speaker 3: and then that sort of just took a natural segue
Speaker 3: into forming a WNBA fantasy league, which on ESPN only
Speaker 3: started like I think four or five years ago, so
Speaker 3: I don't know if we got in year one, but
Speaker 3: we might have. And I believe Ben took the first
Speaker 3: season crown, the inaugural where we only had four teams.
Speaker 3: Then we upped it to six and I have won
Speaker 3: the last two and I'm currently going for number three,
Speaker 3: which you have now been tagged into try and stop
Speaker 3: me from doing.
Speaker 4: This is my first year in the league, OK, I'm
Speaker 4: trying to figure this out. I'm right there with you, Sarah.
Speaker 4: I don't I've never done football. Well, thank you, I
Speaker 4: you know, I got I think I got lucky. I
Speaker 4: think I made some crucial mistakes so far. I dropped
Speaker 4: some starters and other people smartly grabbed them, and I
Speaker 4: was like, oh, wait, don't you just rotate these players?
Speaker 3: But you know what, it's so tough in the first
Speaker 3: month of the WNBA season because rotations aren't set. There's
Speaker 3: always some players that start in Europe and then land
Speaker 3: or leave the w and go to your and you
Speaker 3: got to keep track of like who's going to be
Speaker 3: around and who's not I drafted, you know that Valkyrie
Speaker 3: number one pick, who's not even gonna play this season.
Speaker 3: Like you have to sort of like catch up, and
Speaker 3: it takes like a solid month, you know, to do that.
Speaker 5: So well.
Speaker 4: Also the thing that I'm having a hard time figuring
Speaker 4: out And James, you've done Richard Street baseball too. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I don't know if you've ever done any other like
Speaker 4: daily but football you just do by the weekend you're playing.
Speaker 4: But this is every day. You got to kind of
Speaker 4: figure out who's who to start, who to play. That
Speaker 4: really threw me for a loop, trying to fill out
Speaker 4: my roster, like optimizing my robster each week.
Speaker 5: It's been hard. I am not very good at it. Sarah,
Speaker 5: you've got a good team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we're getting better. We got our first win.
Speaker 1: I had a button that said I could just automatically
Speaker 1: optimize it where it would put the people who had
Speaker 1: a game in every day, and then it like one
Speaker 1: day I went to check and it had stopped. So
Speaker 1: now I just like bump ahead every day and change
Speaker 1: my roster a couple days in advance so that if
Speaker 1: I forget to look, I'm at least playing all the
Speaker 1: people playing. But to your point, our team Skyler's Old Pussy, which.
Speaker 5: I great name, really want everyone.
Speaker 2: To know the origin of because it's weird if they don't.
Speaker 1: So, just in case you haven't heard me mention it
Speaker 1: on the show in a previous episode, it is because
Speaker 1: Skyler Diggan Smith was caught on a hot BLI like
Speaker 1: telling an opposing player that she felt young butter Pussy
Speaker 1: was old because of having kids, and how could I
Speaker 1: not name my team?
Speaker 5: Then?
Speaker 1: Okay, that's right, Yeah, but Tom you're and strong, thank you? Yes,
Speaker 1: your team wrong and strong.
Speaker 2: You're sitting in.
Speaker 1: Second at two in one and you did beat my
Speaker 1: team in week one and James your team three p
Speaker 1: defender a very subtle nod to the fact you're going
Speaker 1: for your three p Thanks for rubbing it in currently
Speaker 1: three and zero, Explain to us how you're kicking our
Speaker 1: ass so that we can make adjustments, and.
Speaker 3: Betsy Well, I put the b in subtle, Sarah, I
Speaker 3: think you know that. Here's what it comes down. It
Speaker 3: comes down to drafting a great core, and by cores,
Speaker 3: I mean like four or five players where you allocate
Speaker 3: your money in such a way that you know, if
Speaker 3: you suffer injuries to other players, it's never going to
Speaker 3: affect you that much because you basically have one hundred
Speaker 3: and twenty points every time they all play a game.
Speaker 3: And then outside of that, you know you're looking for
Speaker 3: some upside. You're looking for someone who you know is
Speaker 3: not flashy, not sexy. Perfect example. I've had her for
Speaker 3: three years in a row. Now, Minnesota power forward Atlanta Smith.
Speaker 3: She might crawl to double digit points, but she's second
Speaker 3: in the league in blocks, She's one of the best
Speaker 3: defensive players in the league. And she will get you,
Speaker 3: you know, twenty to twenty five points a game very quietly,
Speaker 3: but it's dependable. You want players like that. And then
Speaker 3: the last key to it is. You have to have
Speaker 3: at least one sort of slush spot on the end
Speaker 3: of your bench that you're not attached to, so that
Speaker 3: if you need to rotate a player in and out
Speaker 3: because the person you're playing has seven more games on
Speaker 3: the schedule.
Speaker 2: Than you do, right you the part You.
Speaker 3: Got to have that player that you can, you know,
Speaker 3: hit the bricks pretty much.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Day, I'm struggling with that because every time I look
Speaker 1: to do that, because I watched you make so many rotations,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh, I'm just sticking with the people
Speaker 1: I have. But everybody out there to pick up has
Speaker 1: fewer points average than my players, and so I'm worried
Speaker 1: if I do that, I'm just going to get rid
Speaker 1: of someone who's consistently better.
Speaker 2: Tom If you found a player that you were.
Speaker 1: Like excited to see heading into this season, either a
Speaker 1: rookie or someone you thought would be coming in hot,
Speaker 1: or someone that would be good for your roster, and
Speaker 1: immediately you were like, Okay, I don't know what I'm doing,
Speaker 1: and or like someone that you added to your roster
Speaker 1: and then now you're like, whoh, I had no idea
Speaker 1: they were going to be performing this way.
Speaker 4: I mean kind of like last year when I was
Speaker 4: watching THES it was my first like understanding of like
Speaker 4: how great these players are and I and I didn't
Speaker 4: really know that I was going to be in this
Speaker 4: league at that point. So then when we came to
Speaker 4: getting close to our auction draft, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 4: I know some of those players. And then I looked
Speaker 4: on YouTube and I found this great YouTube person called
Speaker 4: Brooks Bench and she yeah, and she and her friend
Speaker 4: they just were talking up drafting their WNBA fantasy teams
Speaker 4: and they were listing their favorite players. And I just said,
Speaker 4: if these guys know this much about women's basketball, I'm
Speaker 4: just going to take their advice.
Speaker 2: Smart.
Speaker 4: And so without really knowing these players, I had these
Speaker 4: tiers and I knew how much I was going to
Speaker 4: That's what I do in fantasy football when I draft,
Speaker 4: I just have tiers of guys and it was great.
Speaker 5: It helped me get fords of women.
Speaker 1: If you will you buyers of women for your fantasy
Speaker 1: deep cut women, James, I want you to explain how
Speaker 1: you managed to steal Caitlyn Clark that.
Speaker 5: Was such a great trade and benefit.
Speaker 1: From her huge return to play without dropping a single
Speaker 1: dollar on her in the auction draft and with the
Speaker 1: person who traded her to like doing it at such
Speaker 1: a late time that there was really no purpose by
Speaker 1: the time he finally traded her.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so dear Ray over bed on Caitlyn. He dropped
Speaker 3: one hundred and twenty of his two hundred dollars on her,
Speaker 3: thinking that he was driving up the price. We all
Speaker 3: immediately were like, no, he had Caitlyn Clark and then
Speaker 3: no money left to spend, and so he got off
Speaker 3: to a really rough start. He wasn't just losing, like
Speaker 3: he was getting destroyed because he only had Caitlyn and
Speaker 3: then she got hurt and it was two weeks minimum,
Speaker 3: and I pounced. I offered him something the day that
Speaker 3: report came out and then been I and I think
Speaker 3: he thought he was that this was strategy. Found an
Speaker 3: article I think from Athlon Sports from.
Speaker 2: Someone can't be trusted?
Speaker 3: Can trusted doctor that had nothing to do with the team.
Speaker 1: No, No, it's like a it's like probably like the
Speaker 1: doctor from thirty Rock.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they were like, with this kind of injury,
Speaker 3: we would expect her to be out for a lot
Speaker 3: longer than two weeks, but we don't think that you know,
Speaker 3: her career or is in jeopardy, and so it was
Speaker 3: it sort of played right into my hands because I
Speaker 3: was like, I'm not believing an article from Athlon, so
Speaker 3: I know Caitlin Clark is probably like frothing at the
Speaker 3: mouth to get back as soon as humanly possible, and
Speaker 3: I actually got I actually got away with not having
Speaker 3: to give up Alyssa Thomas, who I originally was going
Speaker 3: to make part of that deal, but then it was like, ah, dude,
Speaker 3: I don't know if she's going to be out for
Speaker 3: a month, I'll give I'll give you Jackie and Gabby
Speaker 3: And don't get me wrong, I love me some some
Speaker 3: Gabby Williams and Jackie. He's had some huge games. You
Speaker 3: weigh him out, and you know, a healthy Katelyn Clark,
Speaker 3: she'd make that deal every day of the week.
Speaker 1: Well she came back and dropped like sixty parts for you,
Speaker 1: So it seemed like a decent movement.
Speaker 3: And I'm still going to lose, yeah, which is just
Speaker 3: so crazy to lead.
Speaker 5: Yeah you are? You know you're not? This week? I am.
Speaker 2: He might take his first album.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I'm taking the first.
Speaker 1: Tom Alisha Gray, Kelsey Plum Sat So those those ladies
Speaker 1: are holding things down for your squad. But Asia Wilson's
Speaker 1: been your m v P as is expected. What is
Speaker 1: the plan if Asia's absence drags on due to concussion?
Speaker 2: Brot a call? Are youre going to trade her to James?
Speaker 1: Like that?
Speaker 5: More on? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 4: What's the going rate for Asia Wilson?
Speaker 3: Is it Veronica Person and Atlanta Smith?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, you just talked her up right?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 5: Good?
Speaker 4: Uh, just send me some doctor report and her concussion.
Speaker 1: I mean, do you want sports Keita this time? That
Speaker 1: one's even worse than Avlon.
Speaker 4: I'm actually watching the Aces right now without Yeah, they're on,
Speaker 4: She's not there. Should be okay, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you'll be fine. You'll be fine. I think
Speaker 2: should be fine.
Speaker 1: Do you have any big bold predictions for the rest
Speaker 1: of the season.
Speaker 3: James, Yes, I don't think that the Aces are gonna
Speaker 3: turn it around and be a real factor. I mean,
Speaker 3: they'll be a playoff team, but I don't think the
Speaker 3: Jewel Lloyd for Kelsey Plumb plug and play experiment is
Speaker 3: working out for them.
Speaker 1: Which I'm surprised by. And maybe it's just gonna too
Speaker 1: much of a Jewellloyd homer. But I'm a huge fan
Speaker 1: of hers, and I know Kelsey is a dog and
Speaker 1: Kelsey can make her own shot and go off. But
Speaker 1: Jewel also was a player that, like I thought, was
Speaker 1: just going to keep getting better. And I don't know
Speaker 1: what the fit issue is or what Maybe it's just time,
Speaker 1: but it's not looking great.
Speaker 3: It's not looking great. They got blown out by an
Speaker 3: expansion team, and I don't think you can overstate that
Speaker 3: that means something is seriously wrong in that locker room
Speaker 3: or or somewhere. And you know, Becky didn't mince words.
Speaker 3: And I feel like they're already at a point in
Speaker 3: the season where you know that they have to they
Speaker 3: have to figure out what's going on. Meanwhile, you know,
Speaker 3: the Liberty and the Links look as good as ever,
Speaker 3: and now that Caitlin's back, look out because fever here
Speaker 3: they come. So I feel like I don't know how
Speaker 3: bold it is, but you know, going into this season,
Speaker 3: the Aces were right there, you know, in the discussion,
Speaker 3: and I don't know that they're actually going to be
Speaker 3: in the discussion.
Speaker 1: No, that's I think I agree with you, And my
Speaker 1: preseason prediction for MVP Wasnafisa Collier, And I feel like
Speaker 1: it's hard to pick anyone bit asia after a season
Speaker 1: like last year. But you know how tendency in leagues
Speaker 1: is like not to keep giving it to the same
Speaker 1: person even though they deserve it. And I thought fee
Speaker 1: was due and if the aces aren't really in the conversation,
Speaker 1: that's going to help.
Speaker 2: Fees costs a.
Speaker 3: Little bit of time. Yeah, the fees fees outrageous as well.
Speaker 2: Right now?
Speaker 1: Her efficiency? Uh, Tom, are you interested in trying to
Speaker 1: steal away any of my players? Is there anything you
Speaker 1: want to talk about right now?
Speaker 3: Or?
Speaker 5: Boy?
Speaker 4: Do I wait? So your did you who did you
Speaker 4: bid on? Who did you bid the most money on?
Speaker 4: In the auction?
Speaker 2: I'd have to go back and look a lot of
Speaker 2: the players.
Speaker 1: My teammate and I were like willing to really spend
Speaker 1: on everybody, like we thought overbid on We kind of
Speaker 1: we didn't know what we were doing.
Speaker 5: I think you got the steal.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, you got the steal of the draft.
Speaker 1: We under got joll Yeah, we got the steal of
Speaker 1: John Quell for sure, but now she's been out, which
Speaker 1: has been unfortunate for us. And then we got Collie
Speaker 1: a Copper not knowing that she was going to get
Speaker 1: that knee thing.
Speaker 2: So she's finally.
Speaker 1: Back in, but we've had her on the i R
Speaker 1: the whole time. Someone in the league, and I don't
Speaker 1: know anyone but you two. Whoever it was, tried to
Speaker 1: get me to make a trade for Courtney vander Slut
Speaker 1: the day she got hurt. I think, hoping I wouldn't know,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, this is my job, bro, oh and
Speaker 1: that's and that's.
Speaker 2: My team, the Chicago Sky.
Speaker 5: So wow, I.
Speaker 2: Sure hope that. I don't think it was you. Did
Speaker 2: you have Courtney vander Slut?
Speaker 4: I did, but I wouldn't have tried it a hurt player.
Speaker 4: I dropped her as soon as she got hurt.
Speaker 1: Okay, maybe someone else picked her up and then tried
Speaker 1: to trade her as if I didn't you Maybe maybe Sky.
Speaker 4: No, no, I think I was offering you some players
Speaker 4: for Khaliah Copper.
Speaker 5: Is that who you have?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And I think it was maybe you sent
Speaker 1: the trade before she got hurt.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't Yeah, I wouldn't have sent you a trade
Speaker 4: for the player.
Speaker 5: I've been doing this too long. That's that's uh.
Speaker 1: Also, you know you're an actor, so you know, sure
Speaker 1: I believe you what you're saying right now, but look
Speaker 1: at that face.
Speaker 3: Look at that sweetest and honestly.
Speaker 2: A liar, he's too sweet.
Speaker 1: Well, I won't hold it against you, and lucky for you,
Speaker 1: I literally just sent back a note that was like,
Speaker 1: are you kidding me? Get out of here, and then
Speaker 1: deleted it, so I will never know who it was
Speaker 1: and if it was you, wasn't it wasn't.
Speaker 5: Me because I didn't get any and I didn't.
Speaker 4: Get like that okay response, But no, you know what,
Speaker 4: I think that Clea Coopper coming back is good for
Speaker 4: the Suns.
Speaker 5: That's my take. I think they're a strong team for sure.
Speaker 2: You mean you mean the Mercury.
Speaker 5: I mean the Mercury, Sorry that the Suns.
Speaker 1: Are, No, I mean I think it's also I think
Speaker 1: it's also good for the Suns because talking about literally
Speaker 1: anything other than sons is good for that ownership or
Speaker 1: I guess sexual harassment or potentially sleeping with the player,
Speaker 1: or potentially racist hiring practices. Just getting the Mercury to
Speaker 1: be top of the news is exactly what that ownership needs.
Speaker 2: Before I let you go, I want to ask you, James.
Speaker 1: You're directing the show high potential, what help you up
Speaker 1: to is there another psych movie in the works? Is
Speaker 1: there anything else you want to play and get us
Speaker 1: to get into.
Speaker 3: I just got back from directing the two part premiere
Speaker 3: of High Potential, which I'm guessing will drop maybe September.
Speaker 2: Ish nice, that's season two.
Speaker 3: It'll be season two. It was kind of a surprise
Speaker 3: like runaway hit for ABC and UH, and I did
Speaker 3: the finale, which was kind of a big cliffhanger episode.
Speaker 3: So I was cool. I was lucky. I got to
Speaker 3: go back and sort of, you know, finish what I started,
Speaker 3: which you know rarely happens for you know, directing television.
Speaker 3: So it was It was a lot of fun. They
Speaker 3: threw a lot of They threw a lot of money
Speaker 3: at this premiere because it's a hit show now. So
Speaker 3: I had a lot of days. I had a lot
Speaker 3: of toys. It was a lot of fun, and UH,
Speaker 3: fans of the show, I think, UH should be stoked
Speaker 3: to know that it's not going to drop off a cliff.
Speaker 1: I'm a I'm an old head who's still like DVRs
Speaker 1: things to put them in front of my face to
Speaker 1: remind me to watch them. So I have the whole
Speaker 1: first season of that on my DVR, but I only
Speaker 1: watched the first episode because now all I have time
Speaker 1: to watch is sports basically, and my buddy Taran Killham
Speaker 1: was in it.
Speaker 2: Did you get to work with him on any of
Speaker 2: the ones you directed?
Speaker 3: Many times? He's pretty much in every episode.
Speaker 2: Okay, he's the best.
Speaker 5: Yeap.
Speaker 3: He plays Caitlin's well, she has two baby daddies. He's
Speaker 3: the second baby daddy of the two younger children that
Speaker 3: she has.
Speaker 1: Okay, cool, Oh, so fun? All Right, I gotta, I gotta,
Speaker 1: I keep saying this late. They gotta fake a coma
Speaker 1: and watch that.
Speaker 2: People will leave me alone for a week night.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Tarin, by the way, is trying to steal Tom's thunder
Speaker 3: as another one of the all time sweethearts. Yes, that
Speaker 3: I've ever come across.
Speaker 5: In this.
Speaker 1: Tom, you were working on this incredible project.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited. I've seen clips.
Speaker 1: I'm a huge Reast Weatherspoon fan and I love Hello Sunshine,
Speaker 1: and I've seen clips of her and the younger l
Speaker 1: Woods just started coming out. How's it, Ben, tell us
Speaker 1: something to get excited about for this show?
Speaker 4: El Oh, it's so wonderful and she's so great. Lexi
Speaker 4: Minitri who at cast as the young al they did
Speaker 4: this national search, and she is just like lovely and
Speaker 4: smart and funny and perfect. She's doing this perfect version
Speaker 4: of Reese's character.
Speaker 5: And still like.
Speaker 4: In these scenes that we're in together where we're also
Speaker 4: just doing this other newer version of it. It's very funny,
Speaker 4: much like the original movie. It's similar in tone, and
Speaker 4: it looks beautiful. The costumes are immaculate, the sets, everything
Speaker 4: is really.
Speaker 5: Really cool looking. But we're having a blast making it.
Speaker 1: It's gotta be a it's got to be a wild
Speaker 1: thing to go from being like the little up and
Speaker 1: coming heart throb in that kind of project to being
Speaker 1: the dad of the young up and comer. Like I mean,
Speaker 1: it's inevitable because we get older, but like it just
Speaker 1: it's always weird and funny to me when I think
Speaker 1: of about the fact that, like if I was cast now,
Speaker 1: I would be cast I would be too old to
Speaker 1: be cast as a mom. But I'm like, I can
Speaker 1: never be a mom. I'm not mature enough for that,
Speaker 1: biologically too mature, but you know what i mean, Like,
Speaker 1: it's just weird to see the people that when I
Speaker 1: was coming up were like the youngsters are now all
Speaker 1: playing the parents of the youngsters.
Speaker 4: Yeah, saying to those young actors a lot, I think,
Speaker 4: I say, like, you know, back in mind day, and
Speaker 4: they're like.
Speaker 2: Exactly.
Speaker 1: When I tried to get into this business, I literally
Speaker 1: bought a DVD burner and then I had to take
Speaker 1: a video camera out, send the footage to an editor,
Speaker 1: put it on a DVD burn DVDs and mail them
Speaker 1: in the mail to agents to see if they were
Speaker 1: interested in my hosting reels.
Speaker 2: So YouTube kind of a nice thing.
Speaker 1: Okay, James, Before I let you go, I have one
Speaker 1: serious question for you, because we talked about this when
Speaker 1: you were on my podcast, my old podcast, that in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty you changed your name for your acting career.
Speaker 1: You would start it out calling yourself James Rode, but
Speaker 1: you wanted to reclaim and go buy your birth name
Speaker 1: James Rode Rodriguez. And that process was based on long
Speaker 1: talks with your dad, who's Mexican American, and a real
Speaker 1: deep dive into your heritage and really wanting to connect
Speaker 1: yourself to that history and have it be a part
Speaker 1: of your career in a way that when you started out,
Speaker 1: they said, wasn't a good idea?
Speaker 2: I know, you're in LA.
Speaker 1: I know things there suck right now, and the current
Speaker 1: anti immigrant sentiment from the administration and the current approach
Speaker 1: to people in LA that are not quote unquote American
Speaker 1: is deeply upsetting. I wonder how it's affected you personally
Speaker 1: and how you feel like it affects folks in the
Speaker 1: business that are welcome when they're playing a character, but
Speaker 1: perhaps not welcome when they're themselves.
Speaker 3: I think I think it's a really tricky time for
Speaker 3: all the reasons that you've mentioned, But I also think
Speaker 3: it's difficult to reconcile for a lot of us that
Speaker 3: still have family that may either be undocumented or or
Speaker 3: have been living in this country for forever and ever
Speaker 3: and ever and maybe never got nationalized, or family that
Speaker 3: you know is still in the country that you know
Speaker 3: we originally came from, and whether it's affecting you personally.
Speaker 3: It's impossible to not put on the lens of what if,
Speaker 3: like what if that that, because it could easily you know,
Speaker 3: I know that I have extended family, you know, with
Speaker 3: spouses that are probably living in this country document and
Speaker 3: and I can't imagine how terrifying it is because of
Speaker 3: the way that these raids are being executed, and how
Speaker 3: little just cause is going into any of it. And
Speaker 3: at the same time it feels like more so maybe
Speaker 3: than than in the past when we kind of went
Speaker 3: through this the first time. There's a little bit of
Speaker 3: like a wait and see approach in terms of how aggressively,
Speaker 3: you know, we should use our platforms because we kind
Speaker 3: of just want to wait and see if.
Speaker 2: It backfrom which is so hard.
Speaker 3: Epic epically and in the way that we hope that
Speaker 3: it will. So it's like it's gone from like deaf
Speaker 3: Con you know one, all the way to Deafcon five.
Speaker 3: But then the approach is also feels it feels very,
Speaker 3: very different, And this is a conversation that I know
Speaker 3: is happening amongst a lot of people, not just in
Speaker 3: our business but just period and just in terms of
Speaker 3: like how loud to be, you know, do is enough
Speaker 3: rope all that's required here so that it kind of
Speaker 3: takes care of itself, because as Tom can attest as well,
Speaker 3: we in the entertainment business oftentimes have to weigh like
Speaker 3: how much good we do versus how much bad we
Speaker 3: do by speaking up, because the backlash is sometimes even
Speaker 3: bigger than you know, what you might be able to
Speaker 3: accomplish by doing something because you're oftentimes preaching to a choir,
Speaker 3: so it's it's wild times.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Sarah, Yeah, yeah, Just I remember like when that
Speaker 1: when you came out and talked about your name and
Speaker 1: your family. It was like a part of these conversations
Speaker 1: we were having at the end of every article, it
Speaker 1: was like, and here's a link to this to learn
Speaker 1: more about this, and here's how you can support this,
Speaker 1: and here's where you can give to this. And we're
Speaker 1: not really doing that now the same way we were then,
Speaker 1: partly because we're so shell shocked from how quickly and
Speaker 1: terribly it's happening, and also because it happened already, so
Speaker 1: we're like, oh this again, ship, Like, what do we
Speaker 1: do this time?
Speaker 2: It's very complicated.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry to end this interview on something very.
Speaker 2: DeBie Downer.
Speaker 1: At the end, we just while on that note, congratulations
Speaker 1: on about to be taking your first l of the
Speaker 1: season in our league, and I hope it's one of bet.
Speaker 3: Thank you yes on that, James, thank you for joining.
Speaker 3: Thank you both for joining this league. It's been so
Speaker 3: fun and it's been so ultra competitive, and uh I
Speaker 3: hope we can do it for years and years in
Speaker 3: years and years to go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because next year I'm gonna know what the I'm doing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm saying that's what I'm saying. This is so fun.
Speaker 4: I really love it, right, two hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Tom's learned nothing.
Speaker 2: That's what we've gotten. Tom's learned nothing. Thank you guys
Speaker 2: both for hopping down this.
Speaker 1: With So I just like love the idea of these
Speaker 1: like Hollywood bros.
Speaker 2: Just like battling it out over Veronica Burton.
Speaker 3: So that's right.
Speaker 5: I got her love it so much the day.
Speaker 2: Well, thanks for the time.
Speaker 1: I'm sure your names will be invoked in future episodes,
Speaker 1: especially if my team gets better.
Speaker 5: I'm going to hold you to that sounds good. Thanks Sarah.
Speaker 1: We got to take another break when we come back.
Speaker 1: Buggy eyes and a wagon tongue make pickin a photo tough.
Speaker 2: I'll explain stick.
Speaker 1: Around Welcome Backslaces. Last week we had Howard megdel On
Speaker 1: to talk about his new book, Becoming Caitlin Clark, and
Speaker 1: we mentioned how funny it was that the photo on
Speaker 1: the cover of his book looks just like the photo
Speaker 1: on the cover of Christine Brennan's upcoming Caitlin Clark book. Well,
Speaker 1: Howard's editor at Triumph Books, Clarissa Young, has chimed in
Speaker 1: with an explanation that totally checks out. She forwarded me
Speaker 1: an email she sent Howard after listening to our episode,
Speaker 1: writing quote, just finish listening to the Sarah Spain interview
Speaker 1: and realize I'd never shared any backstory on the cover design.
Speaker 1: Maybe you'll find it funny I do. I look through
Speaker 1: every single photo of Caitlin on the photo wires, going
Speaker 1: back years, trying to find a possible candidate for the cover. First,
Speaker 1: you rule out anything in the red Fever jerseys because
Speaker 1: it's not the color people associate with her. A fun
Speaker 1: fact is that Iowa and the Fever actually use the
Speaker 1: same shade of yellow. Then, of course it makes the
Speaker 1: most sense to have her shooting, so you want an
Speaker 1: action shot. You look at the action shots and you
Speaker 1: realize that Caitlin physically shows all her trademark intensity and
Speaker 1: energy in a very consistent way, eyes bugging and tongue
Speaker 1: wagging out comically to the side. Fine for editorial but
Speaker 1: not exactly cover material. One way out of that is
Speaker 1: to choose a photo for shooting a free throw, which
Speaker 1: I ultimately did. Her face is much calmer, though her
Speaker 1: laser focus is clear, yet the overall energy of the
Speaker 1: image is lacking. Hence our close crop where you can
Speaker 1: connect directly with her eye in the center of the cover.
Speaker 1: Our eyes love looking at other eyes in design, and
Speaker 1: we can often make use of that when composing covers.
Speaker 1: It is my unwavering belief that Christine Brennan's designers went
Speaker 1: through the exact same frustrating process. Clarissa continues, So that's
Speaker 1: the inside baseball on the cover. It all comes down
Speaker 1: to tongue wagging. Steph Cury presents similar issues with mouthguard wagging.
Speaker 1: My colleagues had to deal with me randomly exclaiming about
Speaker 1: her facial expressions as my search went deeper.
Speaker 2: And deeper into the archives. End quote.
Speaker 1: We love learning about processes like that, and actually, as
Speaker 1: a result, when I was watching Caitlin's return on Saturday,
Speaker 1: I noticed every eyebulge and tongue wag while she was playing.
Speaker 1: Thanks Clarissa, We love that you're listening, but we want
Speaker 1: you to get in the game every day too, So
Speaker 1: here's our good game play of the day. Make sure
Speaker 1: to submit your votes for WNBA All Start. You can
Speaker 1: submit one ballot every day between now and June twenty eighth.
Speaker 1: Each ballot conclude up to ten players, six front court
Speaker 1: and four guards. We'll link to the voting page in
Speaker 1: the show notes. Also, don't forget to send us your
Speaker 1: favorite pride activations. Did a team or a league nail
Speaker 1: it with their TFOs, tas, donations or social posts. We
Speaker 1: want to see them. Send them to a good game
Speaker 1: at wondermediaetwork dot com, or you can always leave us
Speaker 1: a voicemail at eight seven two two o four fifty seventy.
Speaker 1: And don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. It's real
Speaker 1: easy watch taking a twenty four hour trip to Minnesota
Speaker 1: to see our team side Aurora sc rating five out
Speaker 1: of five goals and a five nothing win review. Andrea Yach,
Speaker 1: founder of Aurora FC, was the best host ever for
Speaker 1: my whirlwind trip to the Twin Cities. She introduced me
Speaker 1: to great folks and set up radio and newspaper hits
Speaker 1: so I could talk about good game and my book
Speaker 1: and our slices, diving into ownership with the team, and
Speaker 1: then the game was awesome. Rain couldn't stop the Aurora
Speaker 1: from putting a beat down on the Chicago City Dutch
Speaker 1: Lions five nothing, and because of the rain, I got
Speaker 1: the perfectly Minnesota moment of hearing Prince's Purple Rain as
Speaker 1: the skies opened up and the drizzle became a poor
Speaker 1: no more than a minute after the final whistle. I
Speaker 1: think they might be contractually obligated to play that song
Speaker 1: every time it rains. There and the stadium, which is
Speaker 1: part of the Vikings Complex, is fantastic. Makes for a
Speaker 1: great game day experience, plus all the fan interactions, player celebrations,
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Speaker 1: over there. I really recommend you go check it out
Speaker 1: if you're nearby. Thanks again, and now it's your turn
Speaker 1: rate and review. Thanks for listening, y'all. See you tomorrow.
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Speaker 2: I promise one of the greatest shows of all time.
Speaker 1: Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
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Speaker 1: Your Host Sarah Spain