Chutzpah, Moxie, and Gumption with Big Citrus

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where, like new
Minnesota Aurora investor Cheryl Reeve, we also rock our Aurora
gear during WNBA playoffs, only differences. You know, we're wearing
it on the couch, not the sidelines, but you know,
Merches Merch. It's Thursday, September twenty fifth, and on today's show,
Big Citrus is back to discuss the state of the
WNBA playoffs, the league's coaching carousel, and how OGW fans

(00:24):
are experiencing growing pains and pocketbook pains as the league's
popularity explodes. Plus unpacking a season of gear. The WNBA
plays the Circle Game, and the MVP is MVP and
again it's all coming up right after this welcome back,

(00:47):
Slash says, here's what you need to know today. Let's
start with the WNBA and the ongoing semi final series.
The Phoenix Mercury pulled off a huge comeback win on
Tuesday night to even their series with the Minnesota Links
one to one. Down by as many as twenty points
midway through the third quarter, the Mercury clawed their way
back and Phoenix guarred Sammy Whitcomb drained a three pointer

(01:10):
with four point three seconds left to tie the game
Ifisakalier missed a jump shot at the buzzer and the
game went to overtime, which was all Phoenix. Phoenix's twenty
point come from behind win marks the third largest comeback
in WNBA Playoffs history, and per ESPN, it's also the
first time Minnesota has ever lost a game playoff or

(01:30):
regular season after being up by at least sixteen points
at the half. With the Links and the Mercury now
tied one to one, the series heads to Phoenix for
Game three on Friday, and looking further ahead to what
is now a guaranteed Game four.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
On Sunday, Phchs.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Arena announced it's moving the Jonas Brothers concert that was
scheduled for the same day as the Mercury Links contest
to Monday instead, and while the Jonas Brothers fans are
currently ravaging the comments section on the Mercury's posts, it
certainly marks what we consider a positive change from just
a few years ago, when Mercury playoff games were getting
moved to other venues to make space for stuff like

(02:06):
Disney on Ice progress. In Tuesday night's other semi final,
the Las Vegas Aces bounced back after getting blown out
in Game one by trouncing the Indiana Fever in game
two ninety to sixty eight. Following an off game on Sunday,
Asia Wilson looked more like the four time MVP that
she is in this one, posting twenty five points and
going ten of nineteen from the floor. Wilson got helped

(02:28):
from Melissa Smith, who put up eighteen points on seven
of nine shooting, and Jackie Young, who added thirteen points
in the win. That series also continues Friday Night with
Indiana hosting, and will have thoughts on both of those
series when Big Citrus joins me later in the show.
More WNBA, you'll recall it. On Tuesday show, I chatted
with Annie Costable about whether Sandy Brondello's job could be

(02:49):
on the line after the New York Liberty lost in
Round one. Well, a few hours after we recorded that conversation,
the news drop that New York is not renewing Brondelo's contract.
It marks the first time in WNBA history that a
team has fired its coach one year after winning the
league championship. Now, while the Liberty is certainly underperformed this season,
finishing fifth in the regular season standings. It's still a

(03:11):
surprising move given the injuries that the team had to
deal with this season and what appears to be really
strong support for Brondelo from players. Remember, Brianna Stewart was
shocked when she was asked about Brundello's job security after
the Liberty's first round exit last Friday.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Take a listen, what would you say to those who
question whether Sandy should be here next year to coach
you guys again?

Speaker 2 (03:33):
What though I'm not saying I questioned it, there's just
some people that do.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
I mean to anybody that kind of questions Sandy being
here like, this is a resilient group and she has
our back and we have hers.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
And the way that she continued.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
To kind of, I don't know, deal with the cards
she was dealt like was incredible. It wasn't easy for anybody,
but she came in every day with a positive attitude,
in a mindset to put us in our best positions
possible and best foot foot forward. So we're not going
to be a team that points fingers. You know, there's

(04:14):
there's a lot of us that could have done better
this season. Bo We're still gonna fight and show up
for each other every single day, and I think that's
what's the most important part.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
So we have Sandy's back.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
And after the news broke on Tuesday, Stuart posted to
her Instagram story quote eternally thankful for you at Brondela,
Sandy end quote. Minnesota Link's coach Cheryl Reeve also had
high praise for Brondela and asked about the news on Tuesday,
take a listen.

Speaker 4 (04:41):
My biggest thoughts on it is that I think, you
know I've said this before. I think Sandy's act of
a coach and Sandy willmain on her feet, like Shelby says,
and I am absolutely thrilled if I'm Seattle, Toronto and
Portland and I was just gifted.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
A championship level coach and uh, you know more.

Speaker 4 (04:57):
Obviously, U you know, thower competitors. I think a lot
of Sandy personally and professionally.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammond was among others who
commented on the surprise move, and it's worth noting again
that with Brondelo and Noel Quinn out, Cheryl Reeve has
now been in her position for longer than the rest
of the league's coaches.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Combined and not by a little.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Reeve was hired in two thousand and nine, has been
in charge of the Links for five seven hundred and
seventy days, and the league's ten remaining coaches have a
total of four five hundred and forty nine days between them,
a difference of more than three years. But if you
think every team will be switching things up, think again.
Per report from the aforementioned any constable of front office sports,
neither the Chicago Sky nor the Dallas Wings, who finished

(05:43):
twelfth and thirteenth, respectively in the standings, are planning to
make coaching changes. We'll link to that story for Manny
in the show notes and talk more about the longer
leash afforded to the coaches of the league's bottom dwellers
later in the show more. WNBA Atlanta Dream General manager
Dan Pattover was named WNBA Executive of the Year on Tuesday,
winning the award for a record third time. Padover, who

(06:07):
also won in twenty twenty and twenty twenty one while
with the Las Vegas Aces, was previously tied with Cheryl Reeve,
who also serves as president of basketball operations for the Links.
Padover's award comes after a strong season for the dream
who earned a number three seed in the WNBA playoffs.
Following the hiring of new head coach Carl Smesco and
the signings of Britney Griner and Breonna Jones during the
off season, and some facility news, the Los Angeles Sparks

(06:31):
have announced plans to build a practice facility located in
nearby El Segundo, scheduled to open in twenty twenty seven.
Per a Sparks release, it'll be a fifty five thousand
square foot facility and at one hundred and fifty million dollars,
it represents the largest investment to date in the history
of women's sports for a single team. It's got all
the usual indoor basketball courts, hydrotherapy spos suites, state of

(06:53):
the art weight room. But I'm most interested in the
specific language that the presser uses for some of the
items they describe as part of the quote unquote WNBA's
first ever indoor outdoor player sanctuary. They talked about training
spaces bathed in daylight to support energy and recovery, extensive
use of natural light, and fully retractable doors that bring

(07:13):
the outdoors in, and panoramic views at the Pacific Ocean
and nearby mountains sparks. I'm available. That sounds baller, Okay.
Question for y'all is it possible to have too much
of a good thing? Because a rival started announcing player
signings on Monday and we were real pumped about it,
But now they've been coming out us so fast and
furious that it's frankly hard to keep track. Newcomers to

(07:36):
the league as of this recording include Paige Becker, Sanaya Rivers,
Erica Wheelers, Sonya Citron, and Veronica Burton, and returning stars
include Brianna Stewart, Alissa Thomas, Satu Sabili. We'll try to
keep up, and we'll keep you caught up by linking
to the full list of player signings in the show
notes to Soccer Spain's Itana Bonmati won her third straight

(07:57):
Women's ballon d'Or on Tuesday, becoming the first woman to
win the award three times. But while bon Maadi is
a stellar player, her win was not without controversy. Friend
of the show Ta Merik Griffin wrote a story for
The Athletic about her shock over Bonmatti's win, not because
bon Matti isn't deserving, but because her Spanish teammate Mariona
Caldente had a stronger season and won the Champions League

(08:20):
trophy with Arsenal. It's also worth reading for Griffin's highlighting
of the Ballan door voting process, including how the award
is heavily influenced by European voters. We'll link to her
story in the show notes. Worth a read slices quickly
before we take a break. Want to share some great news.
Good Game with Sarah Spain is a finalist for the
Signal Awards in the Best Daily Podcast category. We're up

(08:43):
against some heavy hitters like Atlas Obscura the Podcast and
Bloomberg's The Big Take, but you can vote for us
at vote dot Signal Awards dot com. We'll link to
our category in the show notes. You do have to
sign up to vote, but it's just an email and
a password so it's super quick. So cool to have
been nominated for this and for a few other big
time awards in just our first year and a half

(09:03):
of the show. So we're very grateful to all of
you for listening and amplifying and sharing your favorite episodes
and just be in the amazing support for everything that
we do. We got to take a quick break. When
we come back, Big Citrus chops it up on all
things WNBA. Orange, you glad you're going to stick around
for it. Welcome back, Slices. I'm going to bring in

(09:29):
Big Citrus to have a conversation about all things w
But I just want to say a quick thing about
the episode from two days ago with Annie Costable and
the conversation that we had about Angel Reese's comments. I
know that really anything regarding Angel, Caitlin Clark, and certain
other WNBA hot topics is going to drive engagement, much
of it angry and Annie and I got plenty of that.

(09:50):
Lots of them were responses that were pretty unproductive personal attacks,
accusations of having an agenda or carrying water for the sky,
more than a couple mentions of us being white, devil's
specific freezing. Those kind of come with the job and
with social media, and I've learned not to let them
get me down. But there were also some folks, including
a slice or two, that rightfully criticized me for paraphrasing

(10:13):
angels comments and inserting my opinion of them in the
retelling of them instead of using direct quotes.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
And you are all correct.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
I should have made it clear in my summation of
her remarks when I said, no one's really worth keeping
that that was my interpretation of the line from the
original Chicago Tribune article that said, quote Reese believes there
are only two guarantees on the twenty twenty six Sky
roster herself and Cardoso end quote.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
So by me being not.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Specific enough, I really muddied the conversation and took the
focus off the point that I was trying to make
about how I didn't think it was wise to speak
publicly about teammates. I stand by my opinion on the comments,
which as I think she was right about everything she
said about the Sky franchise, and she's right in demanding better,
but that I didn't think she should have criticized the
roster and specific teammates. And I think it was clear

(10:58):
from the reaction of some of her teammates that that
probably didn't serve her in the locker room or serve
the team. But my setup of the question for Annie
was sloppy. My delivery was sloppy, And as someone who
is really sensitive to how often Angel gets set up
to fail by clickbait sites, or outright manufactured quotes and claims.
I shouldn't have contributed to that by not being explicit
and clear in that conversation, So please keep holding me

(11:20):
to a higher standard. That's where I want to live.
I prefer when you do it nicely, but I'll take
it when you don't as well. So I just wanted
to put that out there, and I took down the
videos of Annie and I talking because those will spread
faster than my clarifications about how what I said was
not a direct quote of Angels. But I wanted to
make sure I said something here too, because I'm not
infallible to mistakes like that, and I just need to

(11:41):
be a little cleaner about it, especially in a space
where so often women are misrepresented.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
So I don't know if y'all had anything to say
about that too. I felt bad about it.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
I also don't have an agenda, and I really often
say my feelings very explicitly about how the Sky handled
their business, so I think it's quite clear I'm not
carrying water for them.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Sarah, my only comment on this is you white devil.

Speaker 5 (12:04):
No, not you too. I, for the record, do not
think Sarah is a white devil. I think, you know,
like you said, these are touchy subjects, right, Like, these
are very touchy subjects. And the WNBA, thankfully, gratefully and
also unfortunately, is getting to this point where all the

(12:25):
increased visibility also means increased like nonsense and people who
want to read certain things into certain you know, information
or things that they see online what have you. So,
you know, like you said, comes with the territory. And
I might as well give you my opinion on the
injury situation. And my opinion is I don't disagree with
the damn thing she said, none of it, None of

(12:47):
it from the from the organization, the front office, to
the facilities, to even the roster and the team. Like
I love Courtney Vanderslout, I also am concerned. I was
concerned this season when they made the trade, you know
what that was gonna look like. And so I think
when it comes to Angel, you know, she's twenty three.
She was born in two thousand and three. Let that

(13:08):
one sink in for you, right, she's a baby in
this game. She's a baby as a pro. It's only
you know, this was her sophomore year, her second year
of WNBA action. And so I think you know there
are some growing pains to be expected. In that episode
with Annie, you both mentioned how incorrect it was for
people on you know, the the MNBA side to say, oh,
we would never attack a star like this.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
Y'all were absolutely correct to say, yes we would.

Speaker 5 (13:32):
And it's also true that those people are giving grace
to then move forward from that moment, right, And that's
what's most important. I think she's going to continue to
be a star in this league. She's going to continue,
I hope to have opinions on the way things are
done in whatever organization that she's playing for. And as
somebody who works hard and has gotten to this point
because of the work that she's put in, she deserves
to have the space to have those conversations. But they

(13:53):
just need to happen in a boardroom or amongst you know,
sky front office people and in a different way. And
she said to her, well, actually I didn't agree with
She said, it's the messenger, not the message.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
It was.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
It was the message, babe, It was the message too.
It was the message too.

Speaker 4 (14:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
I think, like you said, you can agree with the message,
which I do, and still think it doesn't serve her
or the team or her teammates to publicly speak exactly
to specific names. And I think you saw from folks
like Ariel Atkins and some others that weren't maybe named specifically,
but felt like they were included in the comment that
I read a certain way, And again wasn't a direct quote.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
It was a commentary that she believes the only guarantees.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
Are for that that other people felt that way too,
And I think you can both say it wasn't a
great thing to do and also say and then we
move on, and then Angel is righteous in a lot
of her criticisms, and we move forward and hope she
returns to the team. But as I've said to other people,
I do not blame her if she wants out. I
didn't blame Alena Deladon and Sylvia Fowls and Kendae Parker

(14:52):
and Gabby Williams and every other superstar player that has
to keep going. Yeah, damn well, you put it that way, rights,
Which is why I was frustrated with myself that my message.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
I allowed my message to be modeled.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
When I agree with most of what Angel said, I
just think it's a cardinal rule in sports when you
take on teammates in the media, You're probably gonna lose,
and I lost too because I failed to properly say
what I wanted to say.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
What do you think, Alex? Yeah?

Speaker 6 (15:21):
I mean I hope that people still take something away
from that conversation with you and Nanny, because I think
that there was a lot of truth to it. You know,
it was interesting even going back and reading that original
story in the Chicago Tribune, given how much this blew up.
I was shocked by how little Angel actually said when

(15:41):
it came to her teammates. And for me, I personally
divide it into two buckets, the criticizing the teammates and
the criticizing the team. And to me, my spidey sense
always goes up when anyone gets any type of backlash
for speaking at about ownership, for speaking at about facilities, resources,
things like that, because, for far too long in women's sports,
a fear of fragility, a fear of speaking up, a

(16:04):
fear of breaking it because if you say something bad,
all of a sudden, the whole league is going to collapse.
That kept players from speaking up and as a result
led to subpar conditions and honestly abusive conditions a lot
of times, and so fully support anyone who wants to
speak up about the reality of the life that they
are living and the team that they are playing for. Honestly,

(16:26):
I think the way that some of her comments were perceived,
including honestly, Sarah by you, given the way that you
ended up paraphrasing it, speaks to maybe some more of
the interpretation than the actual phrasing itself.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, and you're right, it wasn't.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
It was more explicit in the retelling than it was
in the original, and I think that that may have
been why eventually she said she was misconstrued, right, because
she's reading all of people's reactions to it as opposed
to the direct And I have to admit I was
in Africa when that story hit, so I didn't read
all of the reactions. I read the original Chicago Tribunes

(17:00):
story and not the rest.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
So that was interesting too.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
How much of people's reactions to me were rooted in
them believing that I was taking cues from others when
I didn't even see or read any of those things
that other people opined about. It was just my as
an athlete reaction to oh up, when you talk about
teammates in the media, it's probably going to go this way.

Speaker 6 (17:20):
Also, let's just point out that so often I respect
organizations that put up a paywall, because in order to
pay journalists, you have to make money. But there are
so many times that people are opining on things that
they have not read because they cannot get past the page. Yes, like,
you can't comment on something if you really haven't read.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
It, right, completely agree. Okay, I'm glad I got to
say that.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
Let's deftly, intentionally and with clarity discuss some other issues
in the WNBA. I want to backtrack quickly because Mish
you and I haven't had a chance to talk on
the show about our responses to the first round format,
and I just wanted to say I thought kicked ass
and if you go back on my social media four years,

(18:04):
way before Caitlin Clark was a twinkle.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
In any of our eyes.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
I complained about the fact that the first round didn't
allow for each team to get at least one playoff game.
I understood travel costs, I understood it's a short best
of three series, but to me, it felt like such
a great way to increase enthusiasm across the entire country
and to really make sure that every team that made
the postseason benefits in some way, and so I've always

(18:30):
rallied for a one to one one format in that.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
And we got it, and I thought it kicked ass.
I thought it kicked ass too, man, I was.

Speaker 5 (18:40):
I was more in favor of it less because of
you know, what it could do for impact and influence
that's obviously extremely important. But to me on the competitive
side of it, like it gives the lower seed team
a more honest shot to win the series. To me,
because when you go into a series like they were
a prior for two games, knowing you gotta one, you

(19:01):
gotta pick up one of those on the road.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
That's a daunting task. Man. That's whether people.

Speaker 5 (19:06):
You know, competitors will be like, oh, it doesn't matter,
you go in and get the win. Regardless, It's something
to consider. It's something to think about. And when you know,
I don't know how much the players love having to
go back and forth, like if you're in a cross
country series, that's not the most fun thing in the world.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
Better flying private though.

Speaker 5 (19:22):
At least yeah, yeah, at least at least she got that.
At least at least they have that. Maybe one day
we'll get a little bit more of an extension on
the playoffs in the postseason, so the turnaround isn't so quick.
Just just throwing that out there, but to me, I
love it for the competitive aspect of it.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Let's talk about these semi final matchups. I man, we're coming.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
We're recording this on Wednesday, coming off those Tuesday night games.
We could start with the Aces and the Fever. I
thought this looked more like what we expected out of
the series, but this could be recency bias where Game three,
the Fever yet again surprises with their ability to toned
down the MVP and her cohorts. I just think what

(20:06):
we talked about Annie and I in Tuesday's episode about
the Fever doing a tremendous job of adjusting in light
of injury is still going to be a factor in
this series when they get behind, when they get down,
if someone's having an off night. That's a team that
has already figured out how to rely on so many
different I mean, Kelsey Mitchell clearly is the center of it,

(20:27):
but they figured out how to rally during adversity. And
I think the Aces, from what we've seen, it's Asia
and a couple other people show up and help, and
that's how they get it done.

Speaker 5 (20:38):
So yeah, yeah, And I also think, you know, it's
the experience with championship level resilience that the Aces have.
You know, it's not just the amount of talent that
they have, it's also that that's a big factor. But
for Indiana, I think that rally's running out, Sarah, I
think that rally is running out. I think I've been,

(20:58):
like you said, so extra ordinarily impressed with what they've
been able to do with what they've had this season.
I just think in a five game series, it comes
back to bite you in the ass. And I think
we saw a little bit of that in Game two.
Kelsey Mitchell isn't able to get off at the same
clip that she did in Game one. What happens, nobody
else can really rise to the occasion to the extent
that they need to to overcome a juggernaut like the

(21:20):
Las Vegas Aces. And so that's that's where my heart
is currently at. But I think to this point, you know,
like you said, they've shown us they've got guts.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
They've got more than guts, They've got what's a.

Speaker 5 (21:33):
Word or a body part that's even more disgusting and
more gritty and more you know, they've got about to
say they've got venus.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
No, no, we usually say, we usually say they've got,
but we don't want they've got.

Speaker 5 (21:49):
Those are gross too, but that's what we're looking for.
They've got I don't know, we'll find, we'll find another
is not a body part, but they've got What's.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
The other thing?

Speaker 5 (21:58):
People say they've got moxie, moxie, Yeah, they've got all that,
but I just I think you need more than that.
You need to eat the Las Vegas aces at this juncture.
And then the other thing is I mentioned that championship
level resilience. Let's let's remember theig out their asses will
buy fifty three points by the Minnesota Links at the
beginning of August and didn't lose another game the rest

(22:20):
of the regular season. That's the kind of team, right
we're talking about. That's the kind of response that we're
talking about. And plus that loss I think hurts them.
I think they want the opportunity to whoop that ass
in Minnesota's ass in the championship.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
And that's also something that they're not gonna let go
of easily. I want to quickly mention.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
You said the rest of the supporting cast didn't quite
get up enough, and that's mostly true, But nobody usually
will replace a thirty plus point performance the way that
Kelsey has, right, it's usually their, you know, their piece
of it. But Otessey sims again eighteen points after a
huge first game too. And I know, Alex, you and
I have had a particular interest all season in these

(22:58):
players that are like in it out of rosters getting
picked up on hardship contracts. We've been talking for a
couple of weeks about wanting to get one of those
players on and really dive into what it feels like
to be on.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
The bubble and in and out. What have you made
of this Odyssey Simms moment.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
I mean, it's just really incredible to imagine that she
wasn't on a roster and here.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
She is doing some huge things in the postseason.

Speaker 6 (23:22):
Yeah, for sure, And I think let's just refresh people
for a second. Odyssey played with the Sparks for twelve
games earlier this season before getting picked up by the Fever.
She had to sign three back to back to back
seven days contracts before she could finally get on a
hardship contract, and This is somebody who last year, when
she spent some time with the Dallas Wings, they kept

(23:43):
resigning her and you would watch as the the web
address for the signing was like Dallas Wings signed Odyssey
Simms dash three, Like if you have to start adding
a number after the number of times you've gotten signed
with the team, like wild wild.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
For those whose brains don't operate the way Alex's is.
What she's saying there is that the specific URL name
would have been a repeat of a previous so they
had to add dash one, dash two, dash three each
time they re signed her so that it would be
a new landing page with the right date and the
right information because that's how many times they just kept
resigning her, which.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
Is wild, truly.

Speaker 6 (24:21):
And so here's Odyssey Sims and a great opportunity that's
in front of her, and yet thanks to her hoop stats,
I did a little bit of digging on salary numbers,
and as we know, negotiations around the next collective bargaining
agreement are ongoing. We've heard talk are we going to
see the first million dollar salary in the WNBA? And
I want to focus for a second on players like

(24:42):
Odyssey Sims because so far with the fever, for her
three seven day contracts, for a total of twenty one days,
she made thirteen thousand, nine hundred and eleven dollars. For
her current hardship contract, she's made seven thousand, nine hundred
and forty nine dollars for a total of twenty one thousand,
eight hundred and sixty dollars. That should not be allowed.

(25:03):
You should not be allowed to play basketball in the
playoffs at such a high level while making such little money,
because behind the scenes, she's having to work out, keep
herself in shape, get into the gym, doing all of
these things while not tied to a team. And we
are at a point where it is exploitation, yep, to
allow this system to have players. Right. We talk about

(25:24):
it with unpaid internships. We talk about it with comedy
and exposure and theaters that don't pay right so long
people will say like, oh, well, you're at least getting exposure.
Exposure isn't good enough. And so I want to see
a system put in place where somebody like an Odyssey
Sims and so many of the other players that are
on hardship and seven day contracts have stability more than

(25:45):
just that single seven day contract stipend. I want to
be able to celebrate her, and yet the system that
allows this to happen just seems so broken to me.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Completely agree.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
That's so well said, Alex, And yeah, the stories are
great to tell, but the reality is really hard, and
for players to be available means they can't really commit
to other things that might pay them a reasonable living wage.
They can't commit to life choices that would keep them
out of the country or unavailable, so they have to

(26:17):
sit and then the cost of getting to the places.
Sometimes they pay their own way to try to make
sure they're available and ready if that signing happens. Like
the idea that you could have twenty one thousand dollars
to pay for all the different things that you would
need to be at the level a professional athlete needs
to be, particularly in a league as competitive as this,

(26:37):
is just unreasonable. And yeah, I imagine that will be
hopefully one of the big things addressed in this CBA. Yeah,
for sure, we got to take a quick break more
with Big Citrus right after this. All right, let's get
to the other semi final, because I will say that

(27:00):
two of this series is the first time I have
been genuinely worried about the Minnesota Lynks for the entirety
of the season.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah, dating to the.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
Preseason and the middle and not because of the blown
twenty point lead, which was terrible, but because multiple moments
throughout that game, they would grab back a five to
six point lead, They would get up enough that if
they made the right decisions and played smart basketball, they
could hang on to it through the buzzer, and they

(27:30):
kept dropping the ball midway through the third, in the fourth,
with a minute to play in the overtime, Phoenix was
just better.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Over and over again. And that has me really interested
in watching Game three.

Speaker 5 (27:44):
Yeah, I have to totally agree with you, because when
I'm watching games, I'm not only basing what i'm thinking
on what I'm seeing. I'm also basing it on the
feeling of my gutt and in my chest right and
the feeling in my gut on so many occurrences, Oh shit,
Minnesota's gonna put them in a hole big enough, This
one's gonna be big enough. This was gonna be big enough,

(28:04):
and it was never big enough. And the thing about Phoenix,
they're driven by the engine. They're driven by Alissa Thomas
they're driven by somebody was such an indomitable spirit about
her that I don't think she was ever gonna let
that game be more than a five point loss. Like,
no matter what it looked like, they were down as
many as twenty, she doesn't care. And you can see

(28:25):
watching the game how much she demands of her teammates,
and so I think that's a big part of the
reason why, you know, Minnesota was never able to get comfortable.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
And then also.

Speaker 5 (28:33):
Phoenix has got some players like Monika Cole Mkanni, like
Sammy Whitcomb, like Catherine Westbeld, who were ready when their
numbers were called, ready when their names were called, west
Belt getting a steal, hitting a.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
Huge three, Sammy Witcomb, who.

Speaker 5 (28:48):
I thought had like the full character arc in this
game too, where the first few minutes she played, I said,
please get her out of their name, please, And then
come the fourth quarter she's hitting huge shots. And then Monique,
you know, being the point guard that's not Alyssa Thomas
on the floor and finding ways to get her involved
and hitting her shots like Phoenix.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
Is very intriguing to me.

Speaker 5 (29:07):
And I think game two just showed like they're not
going to roll over and Minnesota has real, real problems.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
They can't figure out how to slow them down.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
I think your point about Alyssa Thomas spot on and
the amount of ground she covers, stealing a ball, running
the point, passing it off, getting it back, cutting the lane.
I mean, she is so strong and she is so
physically imposing in every spot she gets on the court.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
That was a huge part.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
But I'm not letting the links off the hook for
the sloppiness at the end of the fourth whether it
was Courtney Williams thrown away passes, whether it was Alana
Smith co Defensive Player of the Year jumping on defense
and getting out of position, whether it was Ifisa Collier
sometimes not looking like she got big enough. Put up

(29:54):
those elbows, make yourself a wider target. Just like there
were just these little moments where it was like God, fundamentals,
a couple of little fundamentals, and this is sewn up,
and they don't have enough time to come back and instead,
and that's you know, certainly pressure from the Phoenix bur
cury crossing half court and everything else on the inbounce passes,
everything else. But I don't think it's unreasonable to think

(30:16):
that the links can fight back in those moments, but
they have to execute, and if they don't, this might
be the team that will make them pay.

Speaker 5 (30:22):
Yeah, and you know, speaking again about my gut, there
was a interview right before the start of the fourth quarter,
I think with Kaylea McBride oh Or. She was asked,
you know, hey, Phoenix is going on runs, like what
are you guys gonna do to really lock this thing
down down the stretch? And I could just she was
she was projecting a lot of confidence, like we you know,
we're ahead.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
We just need to slow down, take care of things.
We'll be all right.

Speaker 5 (30:45):
For some reason, my gut was like, no, maybe you
endanger girl.

Speaker 6 (30:51):
You in danger, girl, you in danger?

Speaker 5 (30:54):
So interesting, interesting stuff. I think that series has gone
five for sure?

Speaker 2 (30:59):
You do?

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (31:00):
Hell ya, hell yeah, because I think Minnesota is going
to get their look back on Phoenix's home court and
it's going to come down to who can really get
it done in Target Center game five.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
I definitely think it's going five. Yeah, Okay, okay.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
I want to say one last thing about this playoff
series because usually in my brain, I think it's ESPN
brain content brain. It's like a combination of the two
from all the years where we would have these hypothetical
questions of which of these is the best for the NBA,
Which of these winners is the best for the NFL.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
So let's play a little.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
Game here of the remaining teams, which is the best
story for the WNBA if they go on to win
the title?

Speaker 6 (31:41):
Well I'm laughing now thinking about that, Sarah, because there's
nothing TV execs love more than a New York LA showdown.
In neither of those T teams have made it that far.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Or in the case of the w Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese.
But that's not happening either. True.

Speaker 6 (31:58):
I don't know if I want to deal with a
world in which the headlines after the Indiana Fever without
Kaitlyn Clark win the WNBA title, Like Kaitlyn Clark leads
from the bench like I don't know, I don't know.
Oh boy, you can.

Speaker 5 (32:12):
Literally write it right now, because that's exactly what it's
gonna say verbatim.

Speaker 6 (32:16):
Yeah, they couldn't have done it without her voice.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
A lot of five thousand word think pieces about how
Caitlyn Clark was the inspiration behind it all, every single
teammate who actually played being asked about the role that
Caitlyn played from the bench.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
Another book. Maybe, oh my god.

Speaker 6 (32:34):
Not to minimize the role that Kaitlin clearly is playing, right. No, No,
It's one of those things where it's like, let's just
focus on the players on the court too. What would
be best for the man's hair. I'm really having to
think on this one.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
You'd never make it on around the Horn.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
You would have been muted to make a decision negative
one thousand boys.

Speaker 6 (32:52):
My brain is still trying to come up with a
better word for anus, and I'm like thinking about the
fairnks that frogs had to digest food and thences Misha.

Speaker 5 (33:05):
I actually do think if I believe in my heart
that they could do it, and I don't think that
I believe that based on what I just told you
about the fever Aces series, if Indiana did have the
gumption to get it done, though, I do think that
would be the best story for the league as a
whole because of exactly what you just said, Because it
would show Indiana in and of itself is not just

(33:27):
Caitlyn Clarkland. There's so much more here, even Indiana basketball,
like the storyline of Steph White playing at Purdue, winning
at Purdue, playing for Indiana like she is, Indiana basketball down.
So I think there would be that aspect of the story.
Kelsey Mitchell has been doing her thing in the WNBA
for years, years, and still even to the end of

(33:50):
the regular season, even to now, it's been Oh, Kelsey
Mitchell's been picking up the slack.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
Kelsey Mitchell's been picking up the slack.

Speaker 5 (33:56):
In a world where Indiana wins the championship, Kelsey Mitchell
goes absolutely, she goes absolutely ballistic.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
That's the only way that they win a championship.

Speaker 5 (34:04):
And so in my imagination, if that were to happen,
she would get all the shine that she so rightfully deserves.
And then you know Ossie Simms who you just mentioned,
Shay Petty who you just mentioned, who are the kind
of gritty that keeps you in the league no matter what,
no matter injuries, no matter where you are, Like that
would be an incredible story for the league if I

(34:24):
thought it was possible.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
I don't think Misha just added gumption. So I think
the title of this episode has to be like hutzpamoxy
and gumption, because you've now listed like every cutesy word
we give her a woman who fights back.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
I have two answers to this.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
My first and I think biggest, clearest answer is the
Minnesota Lynx. I think having the story of redemption from
last year, building on what fans learned about that roster,
whether it's Fee or McBride or Lena Smith or the
stud Buds Cheryl Reeve like those stories. Repeating stories are
good for women's sports because a lot of new fans

(35:05):
will then attach to those players having seen them back again,
getting a taste for that team again. And I think
the story of redemption is great, So I think that's
my answer. My only secondary would be the Aces.

Speaker 5 (35:18):
Now.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
The Aces have won enough.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
In recent years that they don't really need to be
at the top again, But as we continue to try
to really get through the average viewer's mind what they're
watching in Asia Wilson, another title with her at the top,
while she's selling her shoes, while we're watching her commercials,

(35:40):
while we're talking about a record forth, the MVP will
just I think, re solidify her place at the top
of the league when so often people are choosing to
talk about other players, and I love the conversation about
all the different great players, but that would be useful.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
I think to the league as well. I still think
the links are the best story.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (35:58):
I have a secondary offtion too, which is actually my
primary option because, as I just mentioned, the one to
be very clear about, I don't think Indiana's winning your championship.
To me, the best actual, realistic option is Phoenix. Like
I'm surprised nobody else has said, two gay moms Alyssa
Thomas and Delana Ponner for the league.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
This is not for your personal gay Agendammish.

Speaker 5 (36:22):
You know what this is about me. This is about me,
right now? Okay, the league for a second, Two gay
moms who were together in Connecticut and got there so close,
so close, so close, never able to push it across
the finish line find their way back together through completely

(36:42):
different paths, completely different sets of turmoil, to come back
and win a championship a franchise that hasn't won one
since twenty fourteen, with Nate Tibbetts leading the way, right, Okay,
we don't need to talk about him.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
He wasn't a part of the fantasy. This is a
rom com and a fantasy romance novel.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
But I'll take it, and I like it, and I
do think there's something to be said for Alyssa Thomas
never getting her shine, and if she leads a team
to a title she finally will.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
That is good for the league beyond just Alyssa Thomas.
As for the two game mom storyline.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
That might be best for our show, that might be
the best Hoops and Gays shit update we ever have,
I don't know as much if that's necessarily for the
league the best thing. Okay, let's talk about this league
and the coaching carousel, because my face, y'all, when just
hours having a conversation with Annie Costable about how you're

(37:39):
allowed to ask if Sandy Brundella's job is safe, but
come on, then they don't renew her contract. My jaw
was on the floor. I guess I shouldn't be surprised
at this point the amount of movement that there is
in this league, but still in a season absolutely destroyed
by injury, with no consistency in that row. I am

(38:01):
dumbfounded about what they think will come and be better
than the situation there. Now.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
I have to say ditto.

Speaker 5 (38:09):
I have to say if I was a cartoon, my
eyeballs would have poked out of my skull three times
with a little you know, the little sound of.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
I don't get this shit.

Speaker 5 (38:19):
I don't understand, Like it would make more sense to
me if they had mutually agreed to part ways because
she wanted to pursue another opportunity elsewhere, Like that would
make sense to me. The other thought I had was like,
maybe they want to be lean and flexible based on
the prospect of new personnel and maybe a new style
of play or whatever that might come in twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
But that's too many.

Speaker 5 (38:39):
Variables to get rid of somebody with her kind of resume, Like,
it just doesn't make sense to me. What so I
mean winning as coach in franchise history. Frankly, you know,
because I was so used to her in Phoenix. When
she went to New York, it was kind of like
an identity crisis issue for me. I didn't understand how
she would fit in. To me, she amplifies everything that

(39:02):
the New York Liberty want to be putting out there
in terms of their team vibe and the way they
go about things.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
I do not understand.

Speaker 5 (39:08):
I wish we had Rika Laiala on today to explain
to us what the hell is going on? Because she
she's down and with all the things happening with New
York Lirity Basketball.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
Or our girl Renee Stubbs, who isnt good friends with
Sandy Broundelo sitting courtside and has set on her Instagram
she's not renewing because she doesn't know what the hell
the team is doing here. Alex, there's that which shocked
us all, and I didn't see a single person who
seemed to agree.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
With the move.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
And then there's the fact that the two male coaches
of the twelfth and thirteenth ranked teams in the league
this year, are, according to reports, going to stay in
their jobs. Do you think it's right and smart that
Christical Klanis of the Wings and Tyler Marshap the Sky
are sticking around?

Speaker 2 (39:48):
Now, keep this in mind.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
I think it's very easy to sort of be flippant
about it and be like, this is bullshit that men
get a longer lease than the women. I do wonder, though,
when you are in clearly I mean, and the Sky
weren't supposed to be clearly in a rebuild. I mean
they were a little bit, but it wasn't supposed to
be this bad. When you're the Wings, I think there's
an argument for trying to establish a system and keep

(40:11):
it going so that you're not just shuffling through coaches
with these young players, if you believe that his plan
is right, if you believe that he's got a goal
for the future and you just need to get the
right roster for it. I'm not saying that's the case,
but I'm saying it's not always a no brainer to
me that if you have a bad record that means
the coach should be replaced. Sometimes you need time to

(40:35):
insert a formula in a system and have the roster
to make it work. Is there an argument in either
of these teams for that, or do we think it's
kind of fishy that the two men at the bottom
have security while a bunch of women near the top
are getting shuffled.

Speaker 6 (40:51):
I think in general sports teams, especially it seems on
the women's side. If anyone out there ever wants to
crunch the numbers on how women's leagues, you know, we've
talked about it. The NWSL too, just turn through coaches
like crazy. I think that sports teams get rid of
coaches way too easy, though, and I don't really understand
what's behind it. To me, the fact that Dallas and

(41:12):
Chicago are sticking with their coaches maybe represents more of
a budget question. Maybe they know they're not willing to
spend enough to get a good new head coach in place,
versus the New York Liberty, which have historically over the
last couple of years under these owners, been willing to
shell out money. I'm not saying I know what any
of these people are making, apart from Nate.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
Tibbets We all know what Nate Tibbitts is making.

Speaker 6 (41:38):
But that's just a question that I have. I mean,
I think for me, I always go to the players,
right like, do the players like playing for this person?
Are the players learning from this person? Are they gelling
under this person? That's a hard question to answer this year,
given what we know is coming in free agency. But
I would hope that as these decisions are getting made,
players are being considered.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
Well in terms of that too.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
I would like actual interviews, or if they're unwilling to
go on the record, they can be sources.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
But I don't want to use.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
TikTok clips to decide how bought in players are on
their coach. It very well might be possible that the
Wings players are not bought in on Chris coklanis, But
I'm not going off of random clips from when he's
drawn up plays.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
I just that doesn't feel.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
Like enough for me, and it feels incomplete to make
judgments on how now we can look at the product
on the court, we can look at what he says
behind the scenes about his future plans. But I'm not
just going off gifts or even gifts. The last thing
I wanted to quickly ask you all about is and
I don't know if you saw some of these stories,
but near the end of the regular season, there were

(42:49):
some Liberty fans wearing shirts and having signs and protesting
the rising ticket prices. And we've heard some of the
individual anecdotal stories of og fans who show up where
and whenever the team needed them to. And now some
of those people can't afford to get into games with
the new look WNBA. This is a very tricky conversation.

(43:11):
We are demanding more money for players, we are celebrating
private jets. We are really excited about all the areas
of growth, until it comes down to the ways that
it affects fans and their ability to come and support
teams in person, Miiche, what do you think about this
and is there any real way to solve this problem?

(43:33):
Knowing particularly that we don't have a lot of transparency
on how much money the teams are actually making when
you settle out all of the costs and stuff of
the league. We know the revenue is going way up,
we know the investment is going way up. We don't
really yet know how much teams are making from all
of that.

Speaker 5 (43:52):
What I'll say first is I hope the price increases
are justified because of what you just said. I hope,
in my heart of hearts that the prices are justified
because we're talking about people who are foundational fans, not
just of the liberty, but of the WNBA folks, without
which we might not be here, you know what I mean,

(44:14):
we might not still be celebrating the longevity of this league.
So I'll say that first, I hope the price increases
are justified and they aren't just exploitive.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
Second, the way you teed up the.

Speaker 5 (44:26):
Question, Sarah talking about the private jets, talking about you know,
increasing in salaries. Correct me if I'm wrong, but those
are the same kind of things that in today's world
when we look at the way capitalism affects our society.
Those are the same things that we're criticizing millionaires and
billionaires about, right.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
So to me, it's like.

Speaker 5 (44:47):
It's tough to be at this place where we know
that increasing salaries and doing more for this league is
going to advance women, is going to advance non male
athletes generally speaking, is going to advance and have an
impact on the NWSL, the PWAs all these other things.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
And try to hold that in.

Speaker 5 (45:03):
The same hands as like there are other real world
issues that we're facing that we could be putting money
towards that these people who are fans are trying to
put money towards because the world is affecting them in
different ways. Like, those are all real truths that we
have to contend with. And so for that reason also,
I'm like, we've got to find a middle ground. We've
got to find a way to be kind and be

(45:26):
considerate of the people who've been here, the people who
you know, in their social economic status maybe haven't moved
as much from the beginning of the WNBA to today,
and how we can continue to incorporate them and make
it a path for being a fan, for being in
that crowd, in that arena, in that gym for as
long as they can, and people a lot smarter than

(45:47):
me are going to be the people to answer those questions.
But I think the W, for a league that's been
on the forefront of so many different issues, has to
really look that in the face and reckon with that
reality right now that the world is moving in one
direction and we're kind of doing a money grab right now.
That's deserved, but we need to find a way to
make it compatible with the way that, you know, everybody's

(46:10):
lives are moving.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
I don't know. I don't know how we answer that question.
I don't know what we do.

Speaker 5 (46:13):
I do know that these players deserve more money. I
do know that Audi c SMS and Shay Petty and
those players who are on hardship contracts should not be
expected to keep doing what Alex was.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Laying out earlier.

Speaker 5 (46:23):
But I also know that, like not just the W,
all these leagues, the MMBA, the NFL, y'all are going
to have to come to a point where you reckon
with the fact that you know, minimum wage isn't enough
for regular fans to come and watch you plan anymore.
It's it's pricing out people who probably need sport in
that community more than anybody else does.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
So it's it's a very tough problem, very tough problem.

Speaker 6 (46:47):
I struggle with this because on the one hand, I
want women's sports to operate in this capitalist world, and
also I would really be curious to see if the
WNBA and it's key could innovate around this problem, right, Like,
what would a sliding scale pay model look like? How
could we make sure that fans can get in the

(47:08):
door and pay what is fair to them, And maybe
that means other people pay more, But there are so
many organizations that use that type of model and have
fantastic results, and they get buy in from the folks
that can pay more because they know that they are
contributing in a way that helps somebody else. And so
I don't know what that would look like, but women's

(47:29):
sports can be a great place to innovate. The other
thing I want to just point out is that the
expenses are so high that they have to make up
a lot if they want to be able to profit.
But some of that money is coming from ticket sales,
but more of that money, historically across all leagues comes
from TV rights that's both national and local. It comes
from sponsors, it comes from concessions, and so this WNBA

(47:53):
new Media Rights deal I think fall short in terms
of what it could be valued as I think it's
disappointing to see that burden then get placed on the
fans to maybe make up some of that difference when
I would argue that the media rights should have been
valued higher.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
Really great points from both of you. I want to point.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
Out, like one reality is that the product that liberty
fans were getting at the beginning is very different from
the product now, And it costs money to have Ellie
and dancers and music and DJs and all the cool
things that have elevated women's sports so that the experience
of going to a game feels very on par with
men's professional leagues, and that didn't used to be the case.
So even if you love the product on the court,

(48:33):
you just weren't getting the same vibes and now we
are and that costs something. But it's the same problem
I think all progressive, anti capitalist, empathetic humans have, which
is how can we live in a system that we
don't agree with and push back on it while also
accepting that we have to survive and thrive within it,

(48:56):
and the onus is always put on women, marginal communities,
people who care about giving about other people to fix it,
while the people who are bought into the cruelty of
the system continue to get richer and richer and more powerful.
I'm not saying that's what we should strive for. Being
the richest and most powerful isn't happiness, it isn't success.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
But I do want to find a.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
Balance between demanding that the w at this incredible moment
of growth immediately become as altruistic as possible, and demanding
that they also are allowed to thrive in a system
in which they're going to be held back at all
times whether or not they operate as altruistically as we

(49:40):
would like. Right, they're going to have to operate in
the system even if they don't agree with it. So
if we ask them to operate in a way that
serves everyone except for them, they're not going to last
very long. So I agree with all your points, and
I do hope that there are some innovative and cool ways,
and Alex probably that scale model of pricing could be
offset by brand that really want to do right by

(50:01):
fans more so than other fans paying a higher price,
like the sort of like rich folks should pay more
taxes that we can't seem to make happen in our country.
Not to mention of this words world duh, but I
do think that there's some interesting ways to try to
figure out how to make sure.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
That balance still exists.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
And like Bisha said, I hope people much smarter than
you are the ones tasked with.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
Figuring it out.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
Another amazing conversation. Gosh, I love chatting with you guys.
You're so smart. Okay, we gotta go, though, We gotta
take a break because we could talk all day.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
When we come back, we're going to unpack a season
of March Welcome back slices.

Speaker 1 (50:44):
We love that you're listening, but we want you to
get in the game every day too. So here's our
good game play of the day. Vote for us in
the Signal Awards. Like I said, we'll post a link
in the show notes to our category, and you know,
do it the Chicago way. Vote early, vote, often, vote
more times than you're technically allowed to. We also got
a couple emails from you all about the slack versus
discord versus reddit and all the other options for getting

(51:05):
the Slice community together. Please keep those thoughts coming because
we really want to hear from y'all and how to
best bring everyone together and where you would like to
come together. And speaking of getting together, Tuesday, October seventh,
in New York City, I'm going to be at Beyond
the Game, Women's Sports and the Future of Fandom, which
is an event coordinated by PMG Advertising Agencies, So I'm

(51:26):
going to be speaking about a bunch of stuff. Multiplatinum
artist Rachel Patton, who you know from Fight Song and
other songs, will be performing.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
The spots are free, but they.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
Are limited, so we'll put the link in the show
notes and hopefully there's still some spots available. If Slices
want to come, we'd love to see you there and
we always love to hear from you, So hit us
up on email good Game at wondermedianetwork dot com or
leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two four
fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review.
It's real easy watch The Sisterhood of the Traveling Players,

(51:56):
rating three out of three sets of Team Unis The
life of a w player on the roster bubbles Edge
is a potent mix of uncertainty, hardship contracts, airline miles,
and a closet full of gear for teams you no
longer play. For This summer, former Stanford standout Hailey Jones
started with the Atlanta Dream, briefly suited up for the

(52:17):
Phoenix Mercury, and then ended the season with the Dallas Wings.
She recently posted a TikTok where she was pulling shorts
from each of those teams out of a box with
the caption unpacking after being on three different teams this season,
and then the audio was the Kendall Jenner stop. This
was Coachella twenty sixteen. This was the vibe at the
time while holding up her Mercury and her Dream shorts.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
It's too good.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
We'll link to it in the show notes, and we'll
also link to a great recent ES fan story about
Hailey Jones and other W players who are living life
on the fringes of the W, swapping cities and rosters
and just trying to find a place that they can
make stick.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
It's a good read. Now it's your turn.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
Y'all rate and review, Thanks for listening, See you tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
Good game, good Game. Yeah, we're shouting ourselves out. Good Game.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
Other Signal Award nominees who we hope to defeat you Capitalism.
Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
You can find us on the.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are Alex Azzie
and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz,
Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rutter,
Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and Gianna Palmer. Our associate producer

(53:37):
is Lucy Jones. Production assistance from Avery Loftis and I'm
Your Host Sarah Spain

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Host

Sarah Spain

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Chutzpah, Moxie, and Gumption with Big Citrus