July 19, 2024 • 40 mins
Happy Friday, folks! In this episode, Sue Bird joins Sarah on the pod to talk about the challenges of being in control of her own schedule, the moment she first felt “old,” and who she’d pick as Rookie of the Year halfway through the WNBA season.
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Watch a few of Ticha Penicheiro’s top assists, courtesy of this WNBA highlight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieAs4eHps5Y
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Want to see what the Phoenix Mercury’s training facility looks like? Photos here: https://mercury.wnba.com/photos/exclusive-photos-of-state-of-the-art-phoenix-mercury-practice-facility/
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What should “Good Game” listeners be called? We want to hear from you! You can leave us a voicemail at 872-204-5070 or send us an email goodgame@wondermedianetwork.com
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Follow Sarah on social! X: @SarahSpain Instagram: @Spain2323
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Follow producer Misha Jones! X: @mishthejrnalist Instagram: @mishthejrnalist TikTok: @mishthejrnalist
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Follow producer Alex Azzi! X: @ByAlexAzzi
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we just
bought a gallon of sunscreen and three portable fans in
preparation for WNBA.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All Star weekend in Phoenix.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
On today's show, we're going to talk all things hoops
and the joys of retirement with four time WNBA champ
and five time Olympic gold medalist Sue Byrd. But first,
here's what you need to know.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Today. It's All Star Friday.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
The skills competition and the three point contest are today
the big news. No Sabrina Ynescu or Kitlin Clark in
the three point contest. Now, multiple outlets reported that the
WNBA invited both of them, but they declined. Sabrina of
course getting ready for the Olympics, and Kaitlin Clark has
been playing basketball pretty much every day since well really
(00:43):
since she was born, but especially all season long for
college straight into the WNBA. So I guess I understand
needing a break, but this is so disappointing, especially after
we saw what Sabrina did in the men's All Star
competition with Steph Curry. I want to see her come
back and try to beat her own record from the
women's three point line, and I really wanted to see
(01:05):
Caitlin Clark do what she does best. In fact, I
would love for them to create a second three point
line near half court logo threes only, Like, can we
just get a Caitlin Clark logo threes competing against herself?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Three point contest? Augh, I'm just very disappointed. I get it,
I get it, they need some rest. It's up to them.
They don't owe us anything.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And yet that was a huge opportunity for both the
league and for both of those players.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
So I'm really bummed we're not going to get to
see them tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
We are going to get some great three point competitors though,
the Liberties jhon Qwell Jones taken on the Washington Mystic
Stephanie Dolson, who is a center. Yes, that's right, a
center in the three point contest and as a former
big you know I'm going to be rooting for steph
She also used to be a proud Chicago Sky member.
Dolson actually currently the WNBA leader in three point field
goal percentage this season, so we love to see it.
(01:55):
They'll be shooting against the Minnesota Links. Kayla McBride, Atlanta Dreams,
Alicia Gray and the get Sons. Marina Maybury also super
pumped for the Skills Challenge because we got Britney Griner
representing her home team, the Phoenix Mercury, and she's going
to compete against a bunch of guards including her Mercury
teammate Sophie Cunningham again Gray and Maybury.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
And then the twenty.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Nineteen WNBA All Star MVP Erica Wheeler of the Indiana Fever.
So overall bummed about Sabrina and CC, but lots of
fun tonight in the skills competition and the three point contest.
Tomorrow night, we got the All Star Game, Team USA
versus Team WNBA, and it's the Battle of the Cheryls.
Cheryl Reeve, head coach of the Minnesota Lynx, who is
(02:36):
also serving as head coach of the US Olympic team,
is going to lead Team USA in the All Star Game,
taking on Team WNBA and their head coach.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Cheryl Miller.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Miller, a women's basketball pioneer, also was the Mercury's first
ever head coach back in nineteen ninety seven. Pumped for
the Battle of the Cheryls. I hope they're both miked
up too. There could be some good trash talk in
that one. The Phoenix Mercury unveiled their new practice facility
on Thursday, fifty eight thousand square foot performance center. The
organization said it cost one hundred million dollars to build
(03:07):
and it includes everything from a full kitchen with a
team chef, to an underwater treadmill to two practice courts
dedicated to Diana Tarassi. Tarassi has played her entire twenty
season WNBA career with the Mercury. Very cool move to
name those courts after her. Also pretty cool move by
the Mercury to try to appeal to free agents because
practice facilities have become a massive selling point during WNBA
(03:31):
free agency. In the last year, both the Las Vegas
Aces and the Seattle Storm built brand new dedicated practice centers,
and those facilities have clearly had a big influence in
attracting some of the league's biggest names. While the Olympic
Girlies are away, the Club Girlies will play. That's right,
there's still soccer to watch, not just Olympic soccer. NWSL
(03:52):
times Leaga MX Feminil Summer Cup kicks off today. It's
a first of its kind tournament featuring clubs from the
NWSL of the US and League MXFEMINIL of Mexico. Tonight's
Seattle Rain versus Utah Royals at nine Eastern on CBS
Sportsnet and Paramount Plus. Then Tigras UANL versus Pachuca at
ten pm Eastern on Paramount Plus and CBS Sports Golazo Network.
(04:14):
Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse started last night. If you're not familiar,
AU Lacrosse is a four week fifty six player league
held in Sparks, Maryland, with twenty four games scheduled through
the August eleventh Grand Finale. It's a short form, fast
paced format with ten minute quarters, ten v ten gameplay,
a sixty second shot clock, and it's all housed on
a ninety yard by sixty yard playing field. Now AU
(04:36):
uses a special scoring system that sort of rewards individual
players as well as teams, so every player can lose
or win points during every game. Athletes score points as
individuals and as a team to go on to an
MVP titles and get cash bonuses. Each week, players and
fans get a chance to vote for their MVP, and
then the top four players become new captains. Each week
(04:57):
draft their teams from scratch for the next week's games.
It's a little confusing at first, but then it becomes
such a cool way to root for players and see
different matchups in different team dynamics.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So just watch it for a bit and you'll get
the feel for it.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
You can go to auprosports dot com slash lacrosse to
check out the schedules and TV times. We are hurtling
into the All Star weekend and then we're crashing into
the Olympic break, but we got to put the brakes
on real quick and take a breath. We can't put
the first half of the WNBA season to bed without
(05:29):
first acknowledging yet another milestone for Kaitlin Clark. The Indiana
Fever rookie broke the WNBA single game assist record on
Wednesday night, recording nineteen assists in the team's loss to
the Dallas Wings. This amazing accomplishment brings us to a
great yes and moment.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yes and.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yes, Kaitlin Clark's dimes are a wonder and the league
has seen some pretty good passers in the past two
Some are still dishing it out every night. Actually, like
the woman Caitlyn passed in the record books, the Liberty's
Courtney Vanderslute. Now Slute had the record with eighteen assists
in a game set in August of twenty twenty, and
she's also tied for third most assists in a game
(06:10):
with sixteen, alongside current players Alyssa Thomas of Connecticut and
Salutes teammate in New York Sabrina and Escu, plus the
great t Scha Pennchero, who dished out sixteen assists twice
in her career back in ninety eight and two for
the Sacramento Monarchs Rip Monarchs, Google them Pennachero sixteen and
ninety eight was the rookie single game record before Caitlyn's
(06:31):
big nights, So there's another record for Caitlin. CC has
also now set the Fevers single season franchise assist record.
She's got two hundred and two in twenty six games
with plenty more games to go. So yes, Caitlin Clark
and go google t Chapennachero highlights when we come back.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Her job is basketball. At least it was.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It's Sue Berd aka Barbie the Legend drops by to
dish on the WNBA.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Reality TV and more joining us.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Now we've got one of the greatest players in WNBA history,
and you better take a.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Seat, because it's gonna take a while.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
She's a four time WNBA champ, a thirteen time WNBA
All Star, a five time Olympic gold medal. It's a
two time NCAA champion, and a multi hyphenate post retirement,
already well into securing an equally powerful legacy in media,
team ownership and business. She has broken her nose exactly
the same number of times she's one Olympic gold. It's
super bird unless you've broken your nose more recently when
(07:32):
you weren't on TV and we didn't get to witness it.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
No, No, I think the next time I break my
nose is when I'm getting a nose job.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I broke my nose in field hockey in high school,
and I'm like, all these years later, still every once
so WHI, I'll catch sight of it and be like,
I should have just I should have gotten that fixed.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Oh, it's it's actually it's my I have a deviated
septum like a lot of people. Yeah, it's the breeding issues.
It's less vanity, more breathing. I might just claim five
times is no good.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I might claim a deviated septum order to fix it.
No one's gonna know no, So I have to start
with something really important, which is, I think you're kind
of my boss now, because you're the chief strategy officer
for Deep Blue Sports Entertainment, which is one half of
the partnership along with iHeart that launched this show, that
(08:18):
launched this women's sports audio network.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I'm just a plead.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
I'm just the talent here, and I'm trying to figure out, like,
what kind of boss are you?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Good question. I've never been a boss before, so we're
just gonna have to learn together here.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Oh that sounds terrifying. I mean I think a point
guard is basically a boss.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Yeah, I'm like, I'm definitely nobody's boss. Even when I
played you know, we're gonna get serious on it. Even
when I play the point guard position, which is you know,
the leader and all the things. You know, you're not
going to actually act like a boss.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
That's no fun.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I don't think you get the best out of people
on that way.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
You're not firing anybody, that's for sure. That's still absolutely
good now, definitely not. It is very difficul to keep
up with you these days. In fact, I had to
go all the way to the south of France to
hang out with you at Sport Beach at can But
I do spot you on social a lot so I
can keep tabs of what you're doing. You're sitting court
side at Seattle Storm Games, You're attending Gotham f C Games.
You're a co owner over there. You're launching new content
(09:17):
for Together and a touch more new deals with Box.
You co produced a documentary, So let's pause there. Power
of the Dream. It's streaming now in prime video. It's
this incredible look at the true power of the WNBA
off the court at a moment in time that really
blew people's minds. Tell me about making that and tell
(09:37):
folks why they should watch it.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Yeah, well I'll start. I'll start with the ladder. So
this is just the story of you know, all of
us when we were in the bubble season we arrived there.
Obviously it's in the middle of a pandemic. It's also
in the middle of the social uprising, and we really
wanted the season to stand for something. We wanted to
stand for social justice. We wanted to have black live
(10:00):
matter on the court. We wanted to have say her
name on our warm up shirts, Brianna Taylor's name on
our jerseys. So it was really, you know, we wanted
to have impact, only to be met with resistance by
a Republican sitting senator who was also the owner of
the Atlanta Dream and Kelly Loffler. And it's really the
story of you know, her essentially telling us that we're
(10:21):
trying to be too political, you know, trying that Black
Lives Matter is a political movement, a device, and a
divisive one at that. And it's really about it's a
story about the history of w B activism and how
we got to twenty twenty and why we had the
backbones that we had, if you will. And then it's
also about what we did and the strategy that we
took and how we were able to kind of defend
(10:43):
ourselves while also helping American democracy. And that's not like
a that's not like a loose statement. It's like very
fastial the Senate. Yeah, no, it's pretty crazy when you
think about it. So it's really just a story of that.
And I think so it's important to watch it to
see just I think how the WNBA rolls and really
how anyone and any you know, I don't know at
(11:08):
any workplace, at any moment in their lives, in any community.
When you come together and you get strategic good things
can happen. Good things can happen. So I was really
excited to be a part of that. The co producing
part is really just more kind of like, you know,
making sure the dots are connecting, you know, making sure
we have enough photo, enough video. Luckily, you know, it
was the bubble, so a lot of people were taking
(11:28):
pictures of videos who were able to use a lot
of the archival there, so putting it to putting it
all together was great. But don Porter, the director, is
the one that she's incredible all that she noted it. Yeah,
she was one of.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
The directors of the incredible Title nine documentary the ESPN did,
and that was just fantastic. I love how you were
just one of the co producers of the doc but
also like basically a co producer of the movement because
you were such a huge part of making it happen.
So it's multifaceted that role for you. Where else are
you spending most of your time these days? How do
(11:59):
you just side which projects to say yes to? And
how hard is it to say no when everyone's like,
but it's women's sports and you're super birds, so you
should be involved with all of it.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, I've never been good at saying no, Like my
whole life. It's that whole you know, that old people
pleasing thing. So I'm definitely navigating that. I do feel like,
honestly similar to you, Sarah, why the show is so important.
We're kind we're on the same age and so we
have similar experience, and that we've been in women's sports
(12:29):
for so long, so we're uniquely positioned our voices, our experience,
all of that, understanding the nuance. I mean, we've talked
about this at nauseum at times, so it's hard to
say no because we are at such a pivotal moment.
It's so exciting. There's so much coverage, or so much
more coverage. So you want to have those voices a
part of it. You want to have your you know,
(12:50):
your fingerprints all over it. But you have to learn
how to say no too. So that's kind of what
I'm navigating, trying to keep the main thing, the main thing,
which at this point is really just not you know,
overdoing it for myself.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I like how you tried to find a main thing,
and you still were like, it's still all the things,
but like just doing only so many of all the things.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yeah, basically, I've never had a main thing.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I was to have athlete. I didn't even have a
main thing in sports.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I've literally never said no, not even to an event
other than like the mile plus anything longer than a mile.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
It was easy to say no to.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I'm out. You didn't have like one that you were
better at.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I mean, my best was probably that gaveling, and then
hurdles and triple and long jump. Yeah, I mean I
didn't really have one that was so much better than
the others.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Never been good at the main thing.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
You did finally say no to basketball, and by that
I mean you were retired finally, which is like, I'm
still sad, you know this, because I was such an
asshole the entire time, every time you were like I'm
not sure.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
I'm like one more year, You're not allowed all of us.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
You're the only thing I have left when I'm like, oh,
there's people my age still doing stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
OK, what's been the best part about being retired?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Probably just making my own schedule. You know, obviously, listen,
you play sports. Everybody knows it when you're an athlete,
like you're in season, you've got games, you're traveling. If
you don't have games, you have practice, and the off
season you work out. But I don't think the part
that people don't understand is just how it's constantly running
in the backdrop. There's just this thing that is just
(14:31):
always there, and it's either providing a little bit of guilt,
like crap, I gotta fucking get up and work out.
How am I going to set this in? Or it's
providing a ton of other emotions. But it's just always there.
It's always guiding you. And so once that was gone,
there's definitely moments of like what the fuck do I
do now? But now I'm almost two years, Like once
(14:52):
this WNB season ends, it'll be two years. So I'm
starting to get into a flow and I really like
that I can. I I have my own time. I
get to make the decisions I want with my own
time now outside of work stuff that still exists. But
that's really nice. Like Megan and I can I don't know,
go to Mexico for a weekend if we want it,
(15:13):
you know, we can take a trip, we can see friends,
we can make these decisions where before that was just
not on the table. So it's been really cool to
kind of add those days back into like my consciousness.
They were just not there, they didn't exist.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, it's pretty wild. I think the non athlete doesn't
really get. It's kind of like I think about being
like an actor and actress, where it's like, no, no, you
can't cut your hair. You can't like accidentally get a
bruise because that's not going to match the time we
were recording this scene the last time, and now we
have to make it. You know, like your body and
you are not entirely yours in a way that's very
(15:48):
different from a lot of other jobs.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
What's been the toughest.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Part probably like the same thing.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
No structure. No one's telling me like what the hell
am I spying?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I know my dad. My dad has through through my
professional career, has joked that I've just been in like
this extended version of kindergarten. You know. It's like people
telling me where to go when I have a booboo,
they fix it. And I think all of those Yeah, exactly,
make sure you your snack, make sure that's that, make
sure you nap, don't miss your nap time.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
You have literal timeouts.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
So yeah, yeah, so that part has been tough too.
I think the hardest part is just I guess, like
the identity piece of it. You know, it's even it
still doesn't roll off my tongue when if I introduce,
if I'm getting introduced or I'm introducing myself, like oh,
retired athlete, former athlete, it still doesn't come naturally. I
(16:41):
still speak in the wing when I talk about the
w NBA, So that part is still slowly I'm still
slowly letting go of it. So it's been a process
getting better, but it's been that's probably the hardest part.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I'm gonna say forever athlete retired is fine if we
never say fur I like that. You mentioned Megan your
full fiance still unless you secretly got married.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Okay, it's been a long engagement, so just checking.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
To make sure a little bit we didn't make use
of our free time that way. You and Meghan Rapino
this incredible power couple, and you've done a lot separately
and a lot together. I'm wondering the weirdest pitch or
invitation that you've gotten. You don't necessarily have to share
names or specifics of a company or a person, but like,
did you ever get like a prince in Dubai that's
like okay, five million dollars to be at my party
(17:29):
or some company that you're like, this is the worst.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
This is like not a fit.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Nothing is nothing's collen to the top of my head.
And this isn't This isn't a plug, I promise, but
we are. We recently announced we're going to do like
a reality show around the dating lives of women's athletes.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
No way, where did you announce it?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
How do I gus this?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
It's like a touch more which is me and Megan's
production company in partnership with Together but also a partnership
with Bunna Murray. It does. I mean, they're like the
wizards of this.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Oh my wait wait wait wait wait more details all
the details.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Basically, yeah, I mean we're going to follow you know,
any female athlete that wants to be a part of it.
We're going to follow their dating lives. So whether it's
people who are in relationships mary, partner, husband, white, doesn't matter,
all the above, everything in between, single dating, you knowing
mingled and just like yeah, we don't want it to
be it's not gonna it's not gonna start out as
(18:29):
like some salacious thing.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
No, it's gonna turn into fantasy. It's gonna turn Remember
that show, wasn't it Fantasy Island?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Discover Way America can't stop talking about Temptation Island.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
I never watched it.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I never literally watched it with my dad. I don't
know that.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
What weird that was when we were growing up, it
was like they sent couples to a place and they
were like, either this will bring you closer together, or
you'll all start having sex with each other instead.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Like I feel like that's like that. I feel like
that could be this. It's like, hey, we have a
bunch of it.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
I might have teammates, you might have teammates dating. It
might have you know, like inter league dating, Yeah, different sports,
you name it. So we're in the process right now. Obviously,
people always want to know if we're going to be
on it. We are not. Maybe I was like, can't
we just be like the cool people on the cameo? Yeah,
you're like Nickololache and.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
What's your face on Love is Blind? No? No, it's
news No whatever his new way. I don't watch these
things Okay, well I didn't.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I watch Love on the Spectrum though, do you watch
Love on the Spectrum? Oh my god is the best.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I try not to watch any of them, and then
someone I respect happens to mention it, and then I'm like,
I'll give it a shot. Mina chimes Love is Blind,
And then here I am like five seasons in wasting
my life away watching freaking Love is Blind. Anyway, you
could be like Nick Lashane whatever his wife's name is,
I'm sorry for that woman, Vanessa che.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I forget your name.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
And they come in and they're like, all right, couples,
you know, anyway, that's.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
That's that's gonna be your in. Meghan's role is like
the overseer of all the action.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Okay, you and Megan famously have talked about how late
in your career, since you both played longer than the
majority of athletes, how you got the workouts in and
changed your regimen. You had this great trainer that worked
with you to keep your body going. What does it
look like now no one is making you work out,
You don't have to be ready for anything.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
What are you guys up to this?
Speaker 3 (20:27):
FI? I mean, we're going right back to your other question.
This falls into like making my own schedule. I'm not
on somebody else's time. But what I've found is I
still like working out. I still, I still it makes
me like feel better in my body throughout the day.
But I've learned that it doesn't have to be tiller.
I think for a while, it took me a minute
to shed this. I don't know this like, it's not
(20:50):
an obsession. It was more just will be the right word,
maybe like a need. I needed the workout to be hard.
I needed to feel like I did it and I
accomplished something for this larger goal that was like being
ready for games or whatever I'm gonna call it. So
I definitely let go of that. Finally it took a minute.
So now I can you know, if I go for
a thirty minute walk, cool?
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah if I do?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, if you go do I don't know, a boxing class, great?
And then yeah if you want to do a hard
one every now and then when there when the mood strikes,
which it doesn't strike off, great, But if I take
a couple of days off in a row, I'm also
not being myself up. Yeah for me, part of that
identity thing I was talking about earlier was I did.
I did kind of embody this aging athlete who was
still at the top of her game, and that for
(21:34):
I was the oldest player in the WNBA for like
five or six years, so it was just like it
was constant in my head too, though everybody reminded me, like, oh,
super the oldest player of the w She's a miracle exactly,
and I think I like really digested that, and so
for a while there it took me a minute to
like let go of that. But yeah, I've gotten to
a good place where I basically, you know, I work
(21:56):
out enough where I can even drink whatever I want.
Is really what we're talking you know.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, yeah, that was like me right after track, when
I stopped competing, I like couldn't go to yoga.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I'm like, what is this even I'm not pouring sweat,
I like.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
And of course later I come to realize how good
it is and beneficial and I really enjoy it, but
it was like, I'm gonna run to yoga and then
run home from it, and then I'll get a good
five miles in.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
In addition to the class.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
For those who haven't heard it, it's just one of
my favorite stories tell the story of showing up to
camp and having a chat with your youngest teammate about
the age of her mother.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Oh god. So yeah. This was I think twenty twenty one,
so I wasn't even in my retirement year yet. So
Kicky Herbert Harrigan, she had come from South Carolina. She
was in our camp and we were just chatting and
she was like, hey, my mom's in Seattle, Like, would
(22:52):
it be cool if you, you know, like meet her
after the game or meet her, you know, take a
picture of whatever.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
And I was like, yeah, cool.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
So anyways, in that conversation, it's somehow comes up where
I think maybe Kiki was like, oh, you guys have
the same birthday and I was like, oh nice, like
October sixty who And I was like, oh what, Like
I don't even remember if I asked. I think I did.
I was like, oh, what year she bore She's like, oh,
nineteen eighty.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
And I was like, I'm sorry, Well, I'm like me
and your mom are the exact same age. I was like,
what does this mean for my life right now?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
So yeah, that was at first, Yeah, it got a lass, Yeah,
but I knew it. I knew I was getting I
knew I was getting to that age where I was
having teammates on my team. And I even said this.
I was like, I have teammates on my team that
I really could be their mother, and not in like
some accidental.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Yeah, not like in high school like I planned this.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, I thought, like, I want to start my family.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I'm glad that you knew it. I'm delusional.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
And when I became an owner of the Red Stars,
I thought it was like, I'm like the players kind
of not their parents. And then the same thing happened.
One of them was like, oh my god, it's your birthday.
Today's my mom's birthday.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
And my husband was like, probably the same haha.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
And she was like, oh, she's born in seventy nine.
I'm like, oh, just got her by a year. Yes,
but still what the I.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Thought, No, I know you're reminding me, you're taking me back.
I don't know if this is going to hit for you.
I'm going on a limb here. I remember I had
like a big blow to my life when I realized
I was older than all the people in real world.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
For the youngsters the real world, No, I think it
still exists, right, now they just have like challenges.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
All the time.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Instead of you know, gaunt, let's stop faking and start
getting real or whatever they did.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
People stop and start getting.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Okay, back to the basketball. So you really like made
the WNBA what it is today. You and many many
others are such a huge part of why these current
athletes are getting unprecedented levels of coverage and endorsements and
support and love. What percentage of you, be honest, is
(24:53):
proud and happy for them, and what percentage of you
is jealous that you retired right before all of this.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
I'm in a pretty good place about it. I'll say,
like I'll say, like I was gonna say ninety ten,
then I was gonna say eighty twenty, So we'll go
eighty five. We split the difference eighty five fifteen. I mean,
of course, there's a part of me that wishes I
could play, but simultaneously, I don't wish I could play
at forties three, Like if I was twenty three, Uh,
forget it. I would love to be able to go
(25:23):
back in time and be a twenty three year old
right now. Absolutely. I actually said that recently to someone
who was like I was like, dang, I was born
too soon, and they were like, yeah, but you could
have been born earlier and it would be even worse.
And I was like, okay, good point. Yeah, so yeah,
of course I think someone will be lying if they
said they wouldn't want to go back, like any WNBA
player who is now retired and play right now. It's
(25:44):
everything we always fought for or always wanted. We always
knew that. The one thing I know, I always said
throughout my career. It's like at times we will be like,
what needs to change in marketing and in business and
in this and then that, and I'm like, yeah, I
don't know, But what I do know is the product
on the floor like that has sustained, like that has
not just sustained, that has gotten better. We've done our part,
(26:06):
and so it really is wonderful to see like all
of that payoff, to see the attention come. Like you
mentioned earlier, I tried to go as many games as
I can, whether you know I'm in New York or Seattle,
that's where Megan and I both live now, And it really,
I mean, it's unreal. It's great. I love it. I
mean every now and then I get annoyed at the
narratives and all those things of that.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Yes, Like, how do you explain the hysteria that we
saw in the beginning of the season, particularly around rookies
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, Like the coverage was insane,
but also it was hysterical and unhinged.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Yeah, it was just it was a lot. It really
was a lot of new eyeballs that, you know, the
college players brought with them, which I still don't understand
how that happened because I always said this, where do
you think all the W ANDB players came from? Like
we all came from college. I don't get it, like
we all, you know, but Kaylin and Angel I mean, listen,
(27:03):
you can talk about a lot of college players, but
those two in particular, they I don't know what when
I see the younger generation, I just see people that
different from when I was coming out of college and
even pretty much all in my career. They now see
these business opportunities and they jump at them. They're they're smart,
they're strategic. We felt lucky just to have a league,
(27:24):
and they're and they're like seeking things out in a
different way, which I love to see. But from a
basketball standpoint, I think Caitlin in particular, you know her
long distance threes. I always said this, we finally got
the an acdote to dunking. All we heard our entire
existence was you guys are boring. You know dunk Oh,
maybe you should lower the rims. It would be more exciting.
(27:46):
And the thing about the long three is it is
what it is. The distance is the distance. It goes
in or it doesn't. It's the same for everybody. And
so in a sense, I think she snapped people out
of this trance that was very negative towards women's basketball,
and now she's brought this huge group. What happened then
was and you don't really see it. You didn't really
see this, and you don't see this in a lot
(28:07):
of other sports. This need listen. In ten to fifteen
to twenty for the remainder of time, Caitlyn will go
down as whatever you want to call it, like the change,
the one who made the change, this pivotal person. She
will one hundred percent. But in other leagues you never
it was never like when Lebron came, it was like, oh,
Michael Jordan didn't happen, And for some reason that happened,
(28:30):
and it caused this whole thing when the reality was
no player felt the way towards Caitlin. Everybody was very welcoming, inviting,
and they mistook I think competitive talk right with hate
with hating on somebody, and there is a thin line
there by the way, and some people do both and
some people swing back and forth. But I think the
(28:50):
majority of WNBA players, with their play, with their talk,
it was just competition, not hate for a person, and
it's just sports.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
But we have trouble not being around women in sports,
so we made it weird. You can only say two
words in response to this question, who is your Rookie
of the Year pick?
Speaker 2 (29:08):
So far?
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Yeah, I don't get to do my explanation. It's dicey.
I think, well, can I add wes third word? Currently?
So I hate doing mid season awards. I think that honestly,
I felt this way about m v P forever. People
would say someone was MVP in the first two weeks
and then in a weird way, it kept them in
(29:32):
that conversation no matter what they did. So I've never
been but currently Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Okay, spicy, okay, spicy icy, and dicey, I don't know
you know those double doubles.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
That's that's pretty well.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
I know. So that's I say, yeah, race, we'll see
where where the streets.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
It's a great race.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
I've quoted you so many times talking about the evolution
of women's sports because you always seem to see the
bigger picture, even when you were playing in it. That
includes you were calling out the poison of people poisoning
the well of women's sports, wasting their time talking to
smack instead of just watching something else. You demanded more
advanced statistics for women's basketball and the Players Tribune so
we can have better conversations and better analysis. What are
(30:15):
you seeing right now? What do you what is making
you want to write another Player's Tribune style? Missive Oh,
there's a lot kind of what we were talking about
earlier about We'll just use the word nuance.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
I think the life of a male professional athlete is
so known. It is so known, and a lot of
times what we're seeing in the current coverage of women's
basketball is people who are taking that male professional basketball
player lens because they know it so well, and putting
it on women's sports and putting on women's basketball. And
(30:49):
that's that's not our lives our lives are different. I
think A great example, this isn't necessarily Apple Staples, so
what I just said, but it's similar. A great example.
It was the narrative around why in an angel should
stay in college for nil money? That was an insane
insane It was properly insane. And I'm really glad that
(31:10):
not that they left, whether they left or stayed, they
were going to become professionals at some point anyway. But
I'm really glad the way it played out because those
two I don't know their bank accounts, but what I
say read they're making way more money than they would
have in college. Nobody ever, nobody ever took in like
what it meant to be a professional, and nobody ever
(31:31):
took into account that NIL was marketing. Nil isn't your
WNBA contract. Yeah that's not.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
You can still have that comparison, Yeah, yeah, all that
money's going with you.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
So that was really frustrating. So I think that's kind
of what I've seen that people just don't know our lives,
and in a lot of ways that these young young players,
they're kind of starting a whole new life of a
women's basketball player to be professional in this world. You know,
we all played overseas. Our lives were kind of one way,
and they're they're starting what is going to be like
(32:03):
a new pathway.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Yeah, and then there's that other league that like Brandon
Stewart and Defisa Callier started, So there's gonna be a
lot of opportunities for folks to stick around in the
off season and all the money and sponsorships and attention,
which is fantastic. Okay, speed round To close us out,
who you got Team WNBA this week's All Star Game
or Team Olympics.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
So I played in this in twenty well, twenty twenty one,
twenty twenty Olympics, whatever, and we lost. So I actually
think that Team USA is going to win this time
because now it's like it's going to be a lot
of we don't want to do what happened now, So
I'm going to pick Team USA. It was a learning
lesson last time around.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Speaking of the Olympics, how pissed it you are?
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Are you at Diana Tarrossi for getting one more run
at it.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
And potentially adding a gold medal that you don't have?
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Well she does, Yeah, she has one up of me,
isn't she. No, I'm really happy for her, like truly,
it's I don't. It's funny because I've actually got this
question a couple of times, and it is interesting. I'm like,
I still feel pretty good about my five. It's not
good anymore. No, not like it kind of gets brought
up in anyway. You're just done. But no, if anyone
(33:13):
knows how hard it is to play this long at
this level, it's me. So I have a ton of
respect in what she's doing, and I'll be there so
I'll get to watch it.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
How much longer you think she's going to play?
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Gun to my head, this is probably it, but.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Okay, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
It gets tricky when you're older and you're still playing
at a high level. Listen, you wouldn't want it the
other way, right, You wouldn't want to be like stinking
it up or god forbid injury, Like you wouldn't want
any of that. But it does make the decision. You're
kind of like, oh, I can still do it.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yeah, but I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
I think she has an other thing she might want
to get to you, so we'll see.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Okay. One of my producers is a former college hooper.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
She's so bummed, she's on a flight right now, and
she's not getting to meet you, so shout out me.
Sometime you'll get to meet Sue. But what's the celeb
you have that fandom for? Who do you most want
to grab a drinker of me with that? You're like, oh,
you spot them from a fire, and you're like, that
person seems fun.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Well, my secret crush is wonder Woman Linda Carter. No
I actually met her though, Gal good Dot. Yeah, I know.
I didn't want to say, except I'm like you do
or good Dot. We're just gonna call her Gal if
I saw her, yeah, I would be star.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
She's not a secret crush anymore.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
It is now then everybody knows Megan's over here.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
She doesn't have a crush on Gal.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
She's like smoking. Okay, last one. You've got the world
at your fingertips right now. Pie in the sky dream
a job, a role, an opportunity and invitation like put
it out there, manifest that ship, put it out in
the world.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
What do you want?
Speaker 3 (34:49):
God?
Speaker 2 (34:49):
You know?
Speaker 3 (34:50):
I think the one I'm gonna throw out there. I've
been throwing this out there quite a bit is when
the Sonics get back to Seattle. I want to be
a part of that. I want to be a part
of that ownership for sure.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Okay, I love that. I love that. Yeah, and we
love you. Sue.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Thanks so much for giving us your time. I know
you're so busy so far. You've been a benevolent dictator
as a boss.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Get back to work. You gotta get out of here.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Thanks Sue. We got to take a quick break.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
When we come back, it's ground and find out Fridays tgif.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Oh, hey, you're back, guess.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
What it's ground and find out Fridays and we're ready
to be petty. Yeah. The best way to celebrate a
big accomplishment and tons of positive affirmations from people is
to get real negative, real quick, just for like a
quick second though. We're going to do it because I
just want to give a shout out to all the
people who doubted that we could make a show like this.
(35:47):
You deserve prison, but you won't get time because you
told us. There wasn't enough info, there weren't enough games,
there weren't enough watchers. People didn't listen, people didn't care,
And guess what they do, and so do we. And
we're having a blast, and so are all of our listeners.
So if you Randon found out TGIF. Speaking of listeners,
we love that you're listening, but we want you to
get in the game every day too, So here's our
(36:09):
good game play of the day. Obviously, tune into the
WNBA All Star festivities. We got the Skills Challenge and
the Three Point Contest tonight six pm Eastern on ESPN,
and then the WNBA All Star Game is live tomorrow
eight thirty pm Eastern ABC and the ESPN app, and
it's also available to live stream with direct TV stream.
Speaking of that All Star Game, we got some great
(36:31):
responses to your favorite WNBA.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
All Star moments. Here are two of my faves.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
The first was from coach Marion Washington at my Washington
thirty one on Twitter, a Women's Basketball Hall of Famer
head coach for the Kansas Jayhawks women's basketball team from
nineteen seventy three to two thousand and four. You heard
that right, three decades of coaching. I'm so pumped, she
wrote us, and I love her answer so much. She said,
my favorite WNBA All Star moment is today's moment my
(36:59):
Jayhawk time. Mika Dixon was a three time All Star.
Her role models were men today the WNBA is full
of role models for today's pro, college and youth players.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
We love it. Thank you coach for writing in and
thanks for that moment. I love that too.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Also at gen Ford one point thirty said Sue's between
the legs pass to LJ. Yes, you must look this up.
Two thousand and three All Star Game, Sue Bird length
of the court breakaway, no look, bounced past backwards between
her legs to a trailing Lauren Jackson for the layup.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Absolutely elite.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Find the highlight And actually, speaking of Lauren Jackson, this
is kind of incredible.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
So we just talked to Sup Berd. She's clearly very
happy in retirement.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
But we got to give a shout out to Jackson
because she retired in twenty sixteen and spent five years
away from the game, but has since returned twice and
was actually recently confirmed as a member of Team Australia
for the upcoming Paris Olympics. At age forty three, she'll
become the oldest basketball player in Olympic his street when
she steps on the court in Paris.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
By the way, I love that.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
People my age are constantly being called miracles, just absolute miracles,
just for standing up every day, which, honestly, when I
stand up out of my chair every day, I feel.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Like I should get myself a pat on the back.
Congrats to Lauren Jackson.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Keep those answers to our questions coming, and I'm still
kind of debating what we're going to call you folks.
Some listeners have submitted some ideas, the Goodies, the gg's,
the ADT's which stands for about damn times, the squad.
I've got some ideas too. I was thinking, since our
show is named in honor of the postgame handshakes, maybe
(38:37):
y'all are the high fives or just the fives?
Speaker 3 (38:40):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Fives? Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
I don't know about that, the butt slaps, the butt taps,
or maybe, like another time honored game tradition, the orange
slices you remember those at halftime, y'all could be my slices.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
I don't know why. It sounds cute. It sounds like,
what's up slices? You're a little slice. I don't know,
am I weird? Tell me Let me know. I kind
of like that one.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Let's keep brainstorming, though, it feels like maybe we should
keep brainstorming, so keep them coming. Hit us up on
our email Good Game at wondermedianetwork dot com or on
social at Sarah Spain on Twitter, or you can even
leave us a voicemail message that we might play on
the show. Eight seven two two o four fifty seventy
and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review the show.
It's so easy. Watch Dogs rating eleventy out of five stars.
(39:29):
Review Woman's Best Friend better than Humans nine out of
ten times.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
They love long walks on the beach. They do cool
tricks for treats. They're great snugglers.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
They'll probably hopefully actually not sure about my dogs, but
maybe alert you to a fire and save your whole
family dogs man.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Also, please adopt, don't shop. Thank you, thanks for listening.
Enjoy the weekend and we'll see you Monday.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Good Game, superb Good Game, Caitlin Clark you Phoenix summer
temperatures one hundred and fifteen degrees.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Come on man.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network
Our producers are Alex Azzi and Misha Jones. Our executive
producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder.
(40:25):
Our editors are Jenny Kaplan, Emily Rudder, Brittany Martinez and
Grace Lynch. Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your
Host Sarah Spain
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we just
bought a gallon of sunscreen and three portable fans in
preparation for WNBA.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All Star weekend in Phoenix.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
On today's show, we're going to talk all things hoops
and the joys of retirement with four time WNBA champ
and five time Olympic gold medalist Sue Byrd. But first,
here's what you need to know.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Today. It's All Star Friday.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
The skills competition and the three point contest are today
the big news. No Sabrina Ynescu or Kitlin Clark in
the three point contest. Now, multiple outlets reported that the
WNBA invited both of them, but they declined. Sabrina of
course getting ready for the Olympics, and Kaitlin Clark has
been playing basketball pretty much every day since well really
(00:43):
since she was born, but especially all season long for
college straight into the WNBA. So I guess I understand
needing a break, but this is so disappointing, especially after
we saw what Sabrina did in the men's All Star
competition with Steph Curry. I want to see her come
back and try to beat her own record from the
women's three point line, and I really wanted to see
(01:05):
Caitlin Clark do what she does best. In fact, I
would love for them to create a second three point
line near half court logo threes only, Like, can we
just get a Caitlin Clark logo threes competing against herself?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Three point contest? Augh, I'm just very disappointed. I get it,
I get it, they need some rest. It's up to them.
They don't owe us anything.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And yet that was a huge opportunity for both the
league and for both of those players.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
So I'm really bummed we're not going to get to
see them tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
We are going to get some great three point competitors though,
the Liberties jhon Qwell Jones taken on the Washington Mystic
Stephanie Dolson, who is a center. Yes, that's right, a
center in the three point contest and as a former
big you know I'm going to be rooting for steph
She also used to be a proud Chicago Sky member.
Dolson actually currently the WNBA leader in three point field
goal percentage this season, so we love to see it.
(01:55):
They'll be shooting against the Minnesota Links. Kayla McBride, Atlanta Dreams,
Alicia Gray and the get Sons. Marina Maybury also super
pumped for the Skills Challenge because we got Britney Griner
representing her home team, the Phoenix Mercury, and she's going
to compete against a bunch of guards including her Mercury
teammate Sophie Cunningham again Gray and Maybury.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
And then the twenty.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Nineteen WNBA All Star MVP Erica Wheeler of the Indiana Fever.
So overall bummed about Sabrina and CC, but lots of
fun tonight in the skills competition and the three point contest.
Tomorrow night, we got the All Star Game, Team USA
versus Team WNBA, and it's the Battle of the Cheryls.
Cheryl Reeve, head coach of the Minnesota Lynx, who is
(02:36):
also serving as head coach of the US Olympic team,
is going to lead Team USA in the All Star Game,
taking on Team WNBA and their head coach.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Cheryl Miller.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Miller, a women's basketball pioneer, also was the Mercury's first
ever head coach back in nineteen ninety seven. Pumped for
the Battle of the Cheryls. I hope they're both miked
up too. There could be some good trash talk in
that one. The Phoenix Mercury unveiled their new practice facility
on Thursday, fifty eight thousand square foot performance center. The
organization said it cost one hundred million dollars to build
(03:07):
and it includes everything from a full kitchen with a
team chef, to an underwater treadmill to two practice courts
dedicated to Diana Tarassi. Tarassi has played her entire twenty
season WNBA career with the Mercury. Very cool move to
name those courts after her. Also pretty cool move by
the Mercury to try to appeal to free agents because
practice facilities have become a massive selling point during WNBA
(03:31):
free agency. In the last year, both the Las Vegas
Aces and the Seattle Storm built brand new dedicated practice centers,
and those facilities have clearly had a big influence in
attracting some of the league's biggest names. While the Olympic
Girlies are away, the Club Girlies will play. That's right,
there's still soccer to watch, not just Olympic soccer. NWSL
(03:52):
times Leaga MX Feminil Summer Cup kicks off today. It's
a first of its kind tournament featuring clubs from the
NWSL of the US and League MXFEMINIL of Mexico. Tonight's
Seattle Rain versus Utah Royals at nine Eastern on CBS
Sportsnet and Paramount Plus. Then Tigras UANL versus Pachuca at
ten pm Eastern on Paramount Plus and CBS Sports Golazo Network.
(04:14):
Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse started last night. If you're not familiar,
AU Lacrosse is a four week fifty six player league
held in Sparks, Maryland, with twenty four games scheduled through
the August eleventh Grand Finale. It's a short form, fast
paced format with ten minute quarters, ten v ten gameplay,
a sixty second shot clock, and it's all housed on
a ninety yard by sixty yard playing field. Now AU
(04:36):
uses a special scoring system that sort of rewards individual
players as well as teams, so every player can lose
or win points during every game. Athletes score points as
individuals and as a team to go on to an
MVP titles and get cash bonuses. Each week, players and
fans get a chance to vote for their MVP, and
then the top four players become new captains. Each week
(04:57):
draft their teams from scratch for the next week's games.
It's a little confusing at first, but then it becomes
such a cool way to root for players and see
different matchups in different team dynamics.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So just watch it for a bit and you'll get
the feel for it.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
You can go to auprosports dot com slash lacrosse to
check out the schedules and TV times. We are hurtling
into the All Star weekend and then we're crashing into
the Olympic break, but we got to put the brakes
on real quick and take a breath. We can't put
the first half of the WNBA season to bed without
(05:29):
first acknowledging yet another milestone for Kaitlin Clark. The Indiana
Fever rookie broke the WNBA single game assist record on
Wednesday night, recording nineteen assists in the team's loss to
the Dallas Wings. This amazing accomplishment brings us to a
great yes and moment.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yes and.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yes, Kaitlin Clark's dimes are a wonder and the league
has seen some pretty good passers in the past two
Some are still dishing it out every night. Actually, like
the woman Caitlyn passed in the record books, the Liberty's
Courtney Vanderslute. Now Slute had the record with eighteen assists
in a game set in August of twenty twenty, and
she's also tied for third most assists in a game
(06:10):
with sixteen, alongside current players Alyssa Thomas of Connecticut and
Salutes teammate in New York Sabrina and Escu, plus the
great t Scha Pennchero, who dished out sixteen assists twice
in her career back in ninety eight and two for
the Sacramento Monarchs Rip Monarchs, Google them Pennachero sixteen and
ninety eight was the rookie single game record before Caitlyn's
(06:31):
big nights, So there's another record for Caitlin. CC has
also now set the Fevers single season franchise assist record.
She's got two hundred and two in twenty six games
with plenty more games to go. So yes, Caitlin Clark
and go google t Chapennachero highlights when we come back.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Her job is basketball. At least it was.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It's Sue Berd aka Barbie the Legend drops by to
dish on the WNBA.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Reality TV and more joining us.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Now we've got one of the greatest players in WNBA history,
and you better take a.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Seat, because it's gonna take a while.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
She's a four time WNBA champ, a thirteen time WNBA
All Star, a five time Olympic gold medal. It's a
two time NCAA champion, and a multi hyphenate post retirement,
already well into securing an equally powerful legacy in media,
team ownership and business. She has broken her nose exactly
the same number of times she's one Olympic gold. It's
super bird unless you've broken your nose more recently when
(07:32):
you weren't on TV and we didn't get to witness it.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
No, No, I think the next time I break my
nose is when I'm getting a nose job.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I broke my nose in field hockey in high school,
and I'm like, all these years later, still every once
so WHI, I'll catch sight of it and be like,
I should have just I should have gotten that fixed.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Oh, it's it's actually it's my I have a deviated
septum like a lot of people. Yeah, it's the breeding issues.
It's less vanity, more breathing. I might just claim five
times is no good.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I might claim a deviated septum order to fix it.
No one's gonna know no, So I have to start
with something really important, which is, I think you're kind
of my boss now, because you're the chief strategy officer
for Deep Blue Sports Entertainment, which is one half of
the partnership along with iHeart that launched this show, that
(08:18):
launched this women's sports audio network.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I'm just a plead.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
I'm just the talent here, and I'm trying to figure out, like,
what kind of boss are you?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Good question. I've never been a boss before, so we're
just gonna have to learn together here.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Oh that sounds terrifying. I mean I think a point
guard is basically a boss.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Yeah, I'm like, I'm definitely nobody's boss. Even when I
played you know, we're gonna get serious on it. Even
when I play the point guard position, which is you know,
the leader and all the things. You know, you're not
going to actually act like a boss.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
That's no fun.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I don't think you get the best out of people
on that way.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
You're not firing anybody, that's for sure. That's still absolutely
good now, definitely not. It is very difficul to keep
up with you these days. In fact, I had to
go all the way to the south of France to
hang out with you at Sport Beach at can But
I do spot you on social a lot so I
can keep tabs of what you're doing. You're sitting court
side at Seattle Storm Games, You're attending Gotham f C Games.
You're a co owner over there. You're launching new content
(09:17):
for Together and a touch more new deals with Box.
You co produced a documentary, So let's pause there. Power
of the Dream. It's streaming now in prime video. It's
this incredible look at the true power of the WNBA
off the court at a moment in time that really
blew people's minds. Tell me about making that and tell
(09:37):
folks why they should watch it.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Yeah, well I'll start. I'll start with the ladder. So
this is just the story of you know, all of
us when we were in the bubble season we arrived there.
Obviously it's in the middle of a pandemic. It's also
in the middle of the social uprising, and we really
wanted the season to stand for something. We wanted to
stand for social justice. We wanted to have black live
(10:00):
matter on the court. We wanted to have say her
name on our warm up shirts, Brianna Taylor's name on
our jerseys. So it was really, you know, we wanted
to have impact, only to be met with resistance by
a Republican sitting senator who was also the owner of
the Atlanta Dream and Kelly Loffler. And it's really the
story of you know, her essentially telling us that we're
(10:21):
trying to be too political, you know, trying that Black
Lives Matter is a political movement, a device, and a
divisive one at that. And it's really about it's a
story about the history of w B activism and how
we got to twenty twenty and why we had the
backbones that we had, if you will. And then it's
also about what we did and the strategy that we
took and how we were able to kind of defend
(10:43):
ourselves while also helping American democracy. And that's not like
a that's not like a loose statement. It's like very
fastial the Senate. Yeah, no, it's pretty crazy when you
think about it. So it's really just a story of that.
And I think so it's important to watch it to
see just I think how the WNBA rolls and really
how anyone and any you know, I don't know at
(11:08):
any workplace, at any moment in their lives, in any community.
When you come together and you get strategic good things
can happen. Good things can happen. So I was really
excited to be a part of that. The co producing
part is really just more kind of like, you know,
making sure the dots are connecting, you know, making sure
we have enough photo, enough video. Luckily, you know, it
was the bubble, so a lot of people were taking
(11:28):
pictures of videos who were able to use a lot
of the archival there, so putting it to putting it
all together was great. But don Porter, the director, is
the one that she's incredible all that she noted it. Yeah,
she was one of.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
The directors of the incredible Title nine documentary the ESPN did,
and that was just fantastic. I love how you were
just one of the co producers of the doc but
also like basically a co producer of the movement because
you were such a huge part of making it happen.
So it's multifaceted that role for you. Where else are
you spending most of your time these days? How do
(11:59):
you just side which projects to say yes to? And
how hard is it to say no when everyone's like,
but it's women's sports and you're super birds, so you
should be involved with all of it.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, I've never been good at saying no, Like my
whole life. It's that whole you know, that old people
pleasing thing. So I'm definitely navigating that. I do feel like,
honestly similar to you, Sarah, why the show is so important.
We're kind we're on the same age and so we
have similar experience, and that we've been in women's sports
(12:29):
for so long, so we're uniquely positioned our voices, our experience,
all of that, understanding the nuance. I mean, we've talked
about this at nauseum at times, so it's hard to
say no because we are at such a pivotal moment.
It's so exciting. There's so much coverage, or so much
more coverage. So you want to have those voices a
part of it. You want to have your you know,
(12:50):
your fingerprints all over it. But you have to learn
how to say no too. So that's kind of what
I'm navigating, trying to keep the main thing, the main thing,
which at this point is really just not you know,
overdoing it for myself.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I like how you tried to find a main thing,
and you still were like, it's still all the things,
but like just doing only so many of all the things.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yeah, basically, I've never had a main thing.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I was to have athlete. I didn't even have a
main thing in sports.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I've literally never said no, not even to an event
other than like the mile plus anything longer than a mile.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
It was easy to say no to.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I'm out. You didn't have like one that you were
better at.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I mean, my best was probably that gaveling, and then
hurdles and triple and long jump. Yeah, I mean I
didn't really have one that was so much better than
the others.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Never been good at the main thing.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
You did finally say no to basketball, and by that
I mean you were retired finally, which is like, I'm
still sad, you know this, because I was such an
asshole the entire time, every time you were like I'm
not sure.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
I'm like one more year, You're not allowed all of us.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
You're the only thing I have left when I'm like, oh,
there's people my age still doing stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
OK, what's been the best part about being retired?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Probably just making my own schedule. You know, obviously, listen,
you play sports. Everybody knows it when you're an athlete,
like you're in season, you've got games, you're traveling. If
you don't have games, you have practice, and the off
season you work out. But I don't think the part
that people don't understand is just how it's constantly running
in the backdrop. There's just this thing that is just
(14:31):
always there, and it's either providing a little bit of guilt,
like crap, I gotta fucking get up and work out.
How am I going to set this in? Or it's
providing a ton of other emotions. But it's just always there.
It's always guiding you. And so once that was gone,
there's definitely moments of like what the fuck do I
do now? But now I'm almost two years, Like once
(14:52):
this WNB season ends, it'll be two years. So I'm
starting to get into a flow and I really like
that I can. I I have my own time. I
get to make the decisions I want with my own
time now outside of work stuff that still exists. But
that's really nice. Like Megan and I can I don't know,
go to Mexico for a weekend if we want it,
(15:13):
you know, we can take a trip, we can see friends,
we can make these decisions where before that was just
not on the table. So it's been really cool to
kind of add those days back into like my consciousness.
They were just not there, they didn't exist.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, it's pretty wild. I think the non athlete doesn't
really get. It's kind of like I think about being
like an actor and actress, where it's like, no, no, you
can't cut your hair. You can't like accidentally get a
bruise because that's not going to match the time we
were recording this scene the last time, and now we
have to make it. You know, like your body and
you are not entirely yours in a way that's very
(15:48):
different from a lot of other jobs.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
What's been the toughest.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Part probably like the same thing.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
No structure. No one's telling me like what the hell
am I spying?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I know my dad. My dad has through through my
professional career, has joked that I've just been in like
this extended version of kindergarten. You know. It's like people
telling me where to go when I have a booboo,
they fix it. And I think all of those Yeah, exactly,
make sure you your snack, make sure that's that, make
sure you nap, don't miss your nap time.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
You have literal timeouts.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
So yeah, yeah, so that part has been tough too.
I think the hardest part is just I guess, like
the identity piece of it. You know, it's even it
still doesn't roll off my tongue when if I introduce,
if I'm getting introduced or I'm introducing myself, like oh,
retired athlete, former athlete, it still doesn't come naturally. I
(16:41):
still speak in the wing when I talk about the
w NBA, So that part is still slowly I'm still
slowly letting go of it. So it's been a process
getting better, but it's been that's probably the hardest part.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I'm gonna say forever athlete retired is fine if we
never say fur I like that. You mentioned Megan your
full fiance still unless you secretly got married.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Okay, it's been a long engagement, so just checking.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
To make sure a little bit we didn't make use
of our free time that way. You and Meghan Rapino
this incredible power couple, and you've done a lot separately
and a lot together. I'm wondering the weirdest pitch or
invitation that you've gotten. You don't necessarily have to share
names or specifics of a company or a person, but like,
did you ever get like a prince in Dubai that's
like okay, five million dollars to be at my party
(17:29):
or some company that you're like, this is the worst.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
This is like not a fit.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Nothing is nothing's collen to the top of my head.
And this isn't This isn't a plug, I promise, but
we are. We recently announced we're going to do like
a reality show around the dating lives of women's athletes.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
No way, where did you announce it?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
How do I gus this?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
It's like a touch more which is me and Megan's
production company in partnership with Together but also a partnership
with Bunna Murray. It does. I mean, they're like the
wizards of this.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Oh my wait wait wait wait wait more details all
the details.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Basically, yeah, I mean we're going to follow you know,
any female athlete that wants to be a part of it.
We're going to follow their dating lives. So whether it's
people who are in relationships mary, partner, husband, white, doesn't matter,
all the above, everything in between, single dating, you knowing
mingled and just like yeah, we don't want it to
be it's not gonna it's not gonna start out as
(18:29):
like some salacious thing.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
No, it's gonna turn into fantasy. It's gonna turn Remember
that show, wasn't it Fantasy Island?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Discover Way America can't stop talking about Temptation Island.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
I never watched it.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I never literally watched it with my dad. I don't
know that.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
What weird that was when we were growing up, it
was like they sent couples to a place and they
were like, either this will bring you closer together, or
you'll all start having sex with each other instead.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Like I feel like that's like that. I feel like
that could be this. It's like, hey, we have a
bunch of it.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
I might have teammates, you might have teammates dating. It
might have you know, like inter league dating, Yeah, different sports,
you name it. So we're in the process right now. Obviously,
people always want to know if we're going to be
on it. We are not. Maybe I was like, can't
we just be like the cool people on the cameo? Yeah,
you're like Nickololache and.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
What's your face on Love is Blind? No? No, it's
news No whatever his new way. I don't watch these
things Okay, well I didn't.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I watch Love on the Spectrum though, do you watch
Love on the Spectrum? Oh my god is the best.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I try not to watch any of them, and then
someone I respect happens to mention it, and then I'm like,
I'll give it a shot. Mina chimes Love is Blind,
And then here I am like five seasons in wasting
my life away watching freaking Love is Blind. Anyway, you
could be like Nick Lashane whatever his wife's name is,
I'm sorry for that woman, Vanessa che.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I forget your name.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
And they come in and they're like, all right, couples,
you know, anyway, that's.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
That's that's gonna be your in. Meghan's role is like
the overseer of all the action.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Okay, you and Megan famously have talked about how late
in your career, since you both played longer than the
majority of athletes, how you got the workouts in and
changed your regimen. You had this great trainer that worked
with you to keep your body going. What does it
look like now no one is making you work out,
You don't have to be ready for anything.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
What are you guys up to this?
Speaker 3 (20:27):
FI? I mean, we're going right back to your other question.
This falls into like making my own schedule. I'm not
on somebody else's time. But what I've found is I
still like working out. I still, I still it makes
me like feel better in my body throughout the day.
But I've learned that it doesn't have to be tiller.
I think for a while, it took me a minute
to shed this. I don't know this like, it's not
(20:50):
an obsession. It was more just will be the right word,
maybe like a need. I needed the workout to be hard.
I needed to feel like I did it and I
accomplished something for this larger goal that was like being
ready for games or whatever I'm gonna call it. So
I definitely let go of that. Finally it took a minute.
So now I can you know, if I go for
a thirty minute walk, cool?
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah if I do?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, if you go do I don't know, a boxing class, great?
And then yeah if you want to do a hard
one every now and then when there when the mood strikes,
which it doesn't strike off, great, But if I take
a couple of days off in a row, I'm also
not being myself up. Yeah for me, part of that
identity thing I was talking about earlier was I did.
I did kind of embody this aging athlete who was
still at the top of her game, and that for
(21:34):
I was the oldest player in the WNBA for like
five or six years, so it was just like it
was constant in my head too, though everybody reminded me, like, oh,
super the oldest player of the w She's a miracle exactly,
and I think I like really digested that, and so
for a while there it took me a minute to
like let go of that. But yeah, I've gotten to
a good place where I basically, you know, I work
(21:56):
out enough where I can even drink whatever I want.
Is really what we're talking you know.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, yeah, that was like me right after track, when
I stopped competing, I like couldn't go to yoga.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I'm like, what is this even I'm not pouring sweat,
I like.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
And of course later I come to realize how good
it is and beneficial and I really enjoy it, but
it was like, I'm gonna run to yoga and then
run home from it, and then I'll get a good
five miles in.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
In addition to the class.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
For those who haven't heard it, it's just one of
my favorite stories tell the story of showing up to
camp and having a chat with your youngest teammate about
the age of her mother.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Oh god. So yeah. This was I think twenty twenty one,
so I wasn't even in my retirement year yet. So
Kicky Herbert Harrigan, she had come from South Carolina. She
was in our camp and we were just chatting and
she was like, hey, my mom's in Seattle, Like, would
(22:52):
it be cool if you, you know, like meet her
after the game or meet her, you know, take a
picture of whatever.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
And I was like, yeah, cool.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
So anyways, in that conversation, it's somehow comes up where
I think maybe Kiki was like, oh, you guys have
the same birthday and I was like, oh nice, like
October sixty who And I was like, oh what, Like
I don't even remember if I asked. I think I did.
I was like, oh, what year she bore She's like, oh,
nineteen eighty.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
And I was like, I'm sorry, Well, I'm like me
and your mom are the exact same age. I was like,
what does this mean for my life right now?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
So yeah, that was at first, Yeah, it got a lass, Yeah,
but I knew it. I knew I was getting I
knew I was getting to that age where I was
having teammates on my team. And I even said this.
I was like, I have teammates on my team that
I really could be their mother, and not in like
some accidental.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Yeah, not like in high school like I planned this.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, I thought, like, I want to start my family.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I'm glad that you knew it. I'm delusional.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
And when I became an owner of the Red Stars,
I thought it was like, I'm like the players kind
of not their parents. And then the same thing happened.
One of them was like, oh my god, it's your birthday.
Today's my mom's birthday.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
And my husband was like, probably the same haha.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
And she was like, oh, she's born in seventy nine.
I'm like, oh, just got her by a year. Yes,
but still what the I.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Thought, No, I know you're reminding me, you're taking me back.
I don't know if this is going to hit for you.
I'm going on a limb here. I remember I had
like a big blow to my life when I realized
I was older than all the people in real world.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
For the youngsters the real world, No, I think it
still exists, right, now they just have like challenges.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
All the time.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Instead of you know, gaunt, let's stop faking and start
getting real or whatever they did.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
People stop and start getting.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Okay, back to the basketball. So you really like made
the WNBA what it is today. You and many many
others are such a huge part of why these current
athletes are getting unprecedented levels of coverage and endorsements and
support and love. What percentage of you, be honest, is
(24:53):
proud and happy for them, and what percentage of you
is jealous that you retired right before all of this.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
I'm in a pretty good place about it. I'll say,
like I'll say, like I was gonna say ninety ten,
then I was gonna say eighty twenty, So we'll go
eighty five. We split the difference eighty five fifteen. I mean,
of course, there's a part of me that wishes I
could play, but simultaneously, I don't wish I could play
at forties three, Like if I was twenty three, Uh,
forget it. I would love to be able to go
(25:23):
back in time and be a twenty three year old
right now. Absolutely. I actually said that recently to someone
who was like I was like, dang, I was born
too soon, and they were like, yeah, but you could
have been born earlier and it would be even worse.
And I was like, okay, good point. Yeah, so yeah,
of course I think someone will be lying if they
said they wouldn't want to go back, like any WNBA
player who is now retired and play right now. It's
(25:44):
everything we always fought for or always wanted. We always
knew that. The one thing I know, I always said
throughout my career. It's like at times we will be like,
what needs to change in marketing and in business and
in this and then that, and I'm like, yeah, I
don't know, But what I do know is the product
on the floor like that has sustained, like that has
not just sustained, that has gotten better. We've done our part,
(26:06):
and so it really is wonderful to see like all
of that payoff, to see the attention come. Like you
mentioned earlier, I tried to go as many games as
I can, whether you know I'm in New York or Seattle,
that's where Megan and I both live now, And it really,
I mean, it's unreal. It's great. I love it. I
mean every now and then I get annoyed at the
narratives and all those things of that.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Yes, Like, how do you explain the hysteria that we
saw in the beginning of the season, particularly around rookies
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, Like the coverage was insane,
but also it was hysterical and unhinged.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Yeah, it was just it was a lot. It really
was a lot of new eyeballs that, you know, the
college players brought with them, which I still don't understand
how that happened because I always said this, where do
you think all the W ANDB players came from? Like
we all came from college. I don't get it, like
we all, you know, but Kaylin and Angel I mean, listen,
(27:03):
you can talk about a lot of college players, but
those two in particular, they I don't know what when
I see the younger generation, I just see people that
different from when I was coming out of college and
even pretty much all in my career. They now see
these business opportunities and they jump at them. They're they're smart,
they're strategic. We felt lucky just to have a league,
(27:24):
and they're and they're like seeking things out in a
different way, which I love to see. But from a
basketball standpoint, I think Caitlin in particular, you know her
long distance threes. I always said this, we finally got
the an acdote to dunking. All we heard our entire
existence was you guys are boring. You know dunk Oh,
maybe you should lower the rims. It would be more exciting.
(27:46):
And the thing about the long three is it is
what it is. The distance is the distance. It goes
in or it doesn't. It's the same for everybody. And
so in a sense, I think she snapped people out
of this trance that was very negative towards women's basketball,
and now she's brought this huge group. What happened then
was and you don't really see it. You didn't really
see this, and you don't see this in a lot
(28:07):
of other sports. This need listen. In ten to fifteen
to twenty for the remainder of time, Caitlyn will go
down as whatever you want to call it, like the change,
the one who made the change, this pivotal person. She
will one hundred percent. But in other leagues you never
it was never like when Lebron came, it was like, oh,
Michael Jordan didn't happen, And for some reason that happened,
(28:30):
and it caused this whole thing when the reality was
no player felt the way towards Caitlin. Everybody was very welcoming, inviting,
and they mistook I think competitive talk right with hate
with hating on somebody, and there is a thin line
there by the way, and some people do both and
some people swing back and forth. But I think the
(28:50):
majority of WNBA players, with their play, with their talk,
it was just competition, not hate for a person, and
it's just sports.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
But we have trouble not being around women in sports,
so we made it weird. You can only say two
words in response to this question, who is your Rookie
of the Year pick?
Speaker 2 (29:08):
So far?
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Yeah, I don't get to do my explanation. It's dicey.
I think, well, can I add wes third word? Currently?
So I hate doing mid season awards. I think that honestly,
I felt this way about m v P forever. People
would say someone was MVP in the first two weeks
and then in a weird way, it kept them in
(29:32):
that conversation no matter what they did. So I've never
been but currently Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Okay, spicy, okay, spicy icy, and dicey, I don't know
you know those double doubles.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
That's that's pretty well.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
I know. So that's I say, yeah, race, we'll see
where where the streets.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
It's a great race.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
I've quoted you so many times talking about the evolution
of women's sports because you always seem to see the
bigger picture, even when you were playing in it. That
includes you were calling out the poison of people poisoning
the well of women's sports, wasting their time talking to
smack instead of just watching something else. You demanded more
advanced statistics for women's basketball and the Players Tribune so
we can have better conversations and better analysis. What are
(30:15):
you seeing right now? What do you what is making
you want to write another Player's Tribune style? Missive Oh,
there's a lot kind of what we were talking about
earlier about We'll just use the word nuance.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
I think the life of a male professional athlete is
so known. It is so known, and a lot of
times what we're seeing in the current coverage of women's
basketball is people who are taking that male professional basketball
player lens because they know it so well, and putting
it on women's sports and putting on women's basketball. And
(30:49):
that's that's not our lives our lives are different. I
think A great example, this isn't necessarily Apple Staples, so
what I just said, but it's similar. A great example.
It was the narrative around why in an angel should
stay in college for nil money? That was an insane
insane It was properly insane. And I'm really glad that
(31:10):
not that they left, whether they left or stayed, they
were going to become professionals at some point anyway. But
I'm really glad the way it played out because those
two I don't know their bank accounts, but what I
say read they're making way more money than they would
have in college. Nobody ever, nobody ever took in like
what it meant to be a professional, and nobody ever
(31:31):
took into account that NIL was marketing. Nil isn't your
WNBA contract. Yeah that's not.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
You can still have that comparison, Yeah, yeah, all that
money's going with you.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
So that was really frustrating. So I think that's kind
of what I've seen that people just don't know our lives,
and in a lot of ways that these young young players,
they're kind of starting a whole new life of a
women's basketball player to be professional in this world. You know,
we all played overseas. Our lives were kind of one way,
and they're they're starting what is going to be like
(32:03):
a new pathway.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Yeah, and then there's that other league that like Brandon
Stewart and Defisa Callier started, So there's gonna be a
lot of opportunities for folks to stick around in the
off season and all the money and sponsorships and attention,
which is fantastic. Okay, speed round To close us out,
who you got Team WNBA this week's All Star Game
or Team Olympics.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
So I played in this in twenty well, twenty twenty one,
twenty twenty Olympics, whatever, and we lost. So I actually
think that Team USA is going to win this time
because now it's like it's going to be a lot
of we don't want to do what happened now, So
I'm going to pick Team USA. It was a learning
lesson last time around.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Speaking of the Olympics, how pissed it you are?
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Are you at Diana Tarrossi for getting one more run
at it.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
And potentially adding a gold medal that you don't have?
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Well she does, Yeah, she has one up of me,
isn't she. No, I'm really happy for her, like truly,
it's I don't. It's funny because I've actually got this
question a couple of times, and it is interesting. I'm like,
I still feel pretty good about my five. It's not
good anymore. No, not like it kind of gets brought
up in anyway. You're just done. But no, if anyone
(33:13):
knows how hard it is to play this long at
this level, it's me. So I have a ton of
respect in what she's doing, and I'll be there so
I'll get to watch it.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
How much longer you think she's going to play?
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Gun to my head, this is probably it, but.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Okay, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
It gets tricky when you're older and you're still playing
at a high level. Listen, you wouldn't want it the
other way, right, You wouldn't want to be like stinking
it up or god forbid injury, Like you wouldn't want
any of that. But it does make the decision. You're
kind of like, oh, I can still do it.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yeah, but I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
I think she has an other thing she might want
to get to you, so we'll see.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Okay. One of my producers is a former college hooper.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
She's so bummed, she's on a flight right now, and
she's not getting to meet you, so shout out me.
Sometime you'll get to meet Sue. But what's the celeb
you have that fandom for? Who do you most want
to grab a drinker of me with that? You're like, oh,
you spot them from a fire, and you're like, that
person seems fun.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Well, my secret crush is wonder Woman Linda Carter. No
I actually met her though, Gal good Dot. Yeah, I know.
I didn't want to say, except I'm like you do
or good Dot. We're just gonna call her Gal if
I saw her, yeah, I would be star.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
She's not a secret crush anymore.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
It is now then everybody knows Megan's over here.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
She doesn't have a crush on Gal.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
She's like smoking. Okay, last one. You've got the world
at your fingertips right now. Pie in the sky dream
a job, a role, an opportunity and invitation like put
it out there, manifest that ship, put it out in
the world.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
What do you want?
Speaker 3 (34:49):
God?
Speaker 2 (34:49):
You know?
Speaker 3 (34:50):
I think the one I'm gonna throw out there. I've
been throwing this out there quite a bit is when
the Sonics get back to Seattle. I want to be
a part of that. I want to be a part
of that ownership for sure.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Okay, I love that. I love that. Yeah, and we
love you. Sue.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Thanks so much for giving us your time. I know
you're so busy so far. You've been a benevolent dictator
as a boss.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Get back to work. You gotta get out of here.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Thanks Sue. We got to take a quick break.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
When we come back, it's ground and find out Fridays tgif.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Oh, hey, you're back, guess.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
What it's ground and find out Fridays and we're ready
to be petty. Yeah. The best way to celebrate a
big accomplishment and tons of positive affirmations from people is
to get real negative, real quick, just for like a
quick second though. We're going to do it because I
just want to give a shout out to all the
people who doubted that we could make a show like this.
(35:47):
You deserve prison, but you won't get time because you
told us. There wasn't enough info, there weren't enough games,
there weren't enough watchers. People didn't listen, people didn't care,
And guess what they do, and so do we. And
we're having a blast, and so are all of our listeners.
So if you Randon found out TGIF. Speaking of listeners,
we love that you're listening, but we want you to
get in the game every day too, So here's our
(36:09):
good game play of the day. Obviously, tune into the
WNBA All Star festivities. We got the Skills Challenge and
the Three Point Contest tonight six pm Eastern on ESPN,
and then the WNBA All Star Game is live tomorrow
eight thirty pm Eastern ABC and the ESPN app, and
it's also available to live stream with direct TV stream.
Speaking of that All Star Game, we got some great
(36:31):
responses to your favorite WNBA.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
All Star moments. Here are two of my faves.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
The first was from coach Marion Washington at my Washington
thirty one on Twitter, a Women's Basketball Hall of Famer
head coach for the Kansas Jayhawks women's basketball team from
nineteen seventy three to two thousand and four. You heard
that right, three decades of coaching. I'm so pumped, she
wrote us, and I love her answer so much. She said,
my favorite WNBA All Star moment is today's moment my
(36:59):
Jayhawk time. Mika Dixon was a three time All Star.
Her role models were men today the WNBA is full
of role models for today's pro, college and youth players.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
We love it. Thank you coach for writing in and
thanks for that moment. I love that too.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Also at gen Ford one point thirty said Sue's between
the legs pass to LJ. Yes, you must look this up.
Two thousand and three All Star Game, Sue Bird length
of the court breakaway, no look, bounced past backwards between
her legs to a trailing Lauren Jackson for the layup.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Absolutely elite.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Find the highlight And actually, speaking of Lauren Jackson, this
is kind of incredible.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
So we just talked to Sup Berd. She's clearly very
happy in retirement.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
But we got to give a shout out to Jackson
because she retired in twenty sixteen and spent five years
away from the game, but has since returned twice and
was actually recently confirmed as a member of Team Australia
for the upcoming Paris Olympics. At age forty three, she'll
become the oldest basketball player in Olympic his street when
she steps on the court in Paris.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
By the way, I love that.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
People my age are constantly being called miracles, just absolute miracles,
just for standing up every day, which, honestly, when I
stand up out of my chair every day, I feel.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Like I should get myself a pat on the back.
Congrats to Lauren Jackson.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Keep those answers to our questions coming, and I'm still
kind of debating what we're going to call you folks.
Some listeners have submitted some ideas, the Goodies, the gg's,
the ADT's which stands for about damn times, the squad.
I've got some ideas too. I was thinking, since our
show is named in honor of the postgame handshakes, maybe
(38:37):
y'all are the high fives or just the fives?
Speaker 3 (38:40):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Fives? Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
I don't know about that, the butt slaps, the butt taps,
or maybe, like another time honored game tradition, the orange
slices you remember those at halftime, y'all could be my slices.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
I don't know why. It sounds cute. It sounds like,
what's up slices? You're a little slice. I don't know,
am I weird? Tell me Let me know. I kind
of like that one.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Let's keep brainstorming, though, it feels like maybe we should
keep brainstorming, so keep them coming. Hit us up on
our email Good Game at wondermedianetwork dot com or on
social at Sarah Spain on Twitter, or you can even
leave us a voicemail message that we might play on
the show. Eight seven two two o four fifty seventy
and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review the show.
It's so easy. Watch Dogs rating eleventy out of five stars.
(39:29):
Review Woman's Best Friend better than Humans nine out of
ten times.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
They love long walks on the beach. They do cool
tricks for treats. They're great snugglers.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
They'll probably hopefully actually not sure about my dogs, but
maybe alert you to a fire and save your whole
family dogs man.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Also, please adopt, don't shop. Thank you, thanks for listening.
Enjoy the weekend and we'll see you Monday.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Good Game, superb Good Game, Caitlin Clark you Phoenix summer
temperatures one hundred and fifteen degrees.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Come on man.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network
Our producers are Alex Azzi and Misha Jones. Our executive
producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder.
(40:25):
Our editors are Jenny Kaplan, Emily Rudder, Brittany Martinez and
Grace Lynch. Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your
Host Sarah Spain
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