New CBA + Elevating The Joy with Shea Ralph and Mikayla Blakes

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're breathing
a big sigh of relief We're getting a WNBA season.
Is it too early to plan some watch parties? Who
will make my fantasy lineups? Book tickets to Toronto and Portland?
Planned my game day? Fits? Plenty of time. We've got,
holy shit, fifty days tip off? Is it fifty days?
There's so much to do. It's Thursday, March nineteenth, and

(00:24):
with the deal finally done, we'll get you caught up
on all the details of the new WNBACBA with ESPN
reporter and friend of the show Alexa Philippoo. Then we'll
be joined by Vanderbilt head hoops coach Shay Ralph and
superstar sophomore guard MICHAELA. Blakes. The duo joined me last
week ahead of the start of March Madness to talk
about their best season in years and how Vanderbilt's investment
is making a difference on the court, Plus share the

(00:46):
quirkiest things about each other and debunk the myth that
some sort of magical faery dust is powering one high
profile unbeaten opponent. Oh you cut, Plus basketball is so
back fencing catches up to the twenty for a century
and use slices have been doing your slice work. It's
all coming up right after this. Welcome back slices. Here's

(01:15):
what you need to know today. Let's start with the
verbal agreement heard round the world. After more than seventeen
months of negotiating, including countless hours this week and last,
the WNBA and the Players Association reached a verbal agreement
on a new CBA in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

(01:35):
The good news major increases in salaries and the overall
salary cap. The numbers, as reported by ESPN, salary cap
will start at seven million dollars, way up from a
million and a half in twenty twenty five. The average
salary will be around six hundred thousand dollars, that's a
four hundred percent increase from last season, and the minimum
salary will be over three hundred thousand dollars. That's up

(01:57):
from an unbelievably low sixty six thousand dollars last year. Now,
the jury is still out on the revenue share portion
of the deal, which was the biggest sticking point throughout negotiations.
You recall the PA was pushing for a share of
gross revenue, while the league wanted them to settle for
a portion of net revenue revenue after costs. Now sources
told the ESPN that the average revenue share in the

(02:17):
new CBA will be nearly twenty percent across the length
of the deal, but the language wasn't specific. You have
to assume it's twenty percent of gross, because at one
point the WNBA was offering up seventy percent of net.
But even if it's twenty percent of gross, it's a
disappointment in my opinion. Now, I wasn't in those rooms,
and I don't know the financials. Then again, who does right?

(02:38):
Adam Silver and joint NBAWNBA leadership is notoriously secretive about
the numbers. But the NBA players have received about fifty
percent of gross revenue since nineteen eighty four. The idea
that the women would be settling for twenty percent is
a joke to me. Now, I know everyone has to
leave that room claiming victory and sounding like their side
got what they wanted, But I'm very, very interested in

(03:00):
hearing the excuse for giving women players a thirty percent
smaller cut of that gross revenue than the men get.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Now.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Interesting note on that slice. Kim Neil shared with me
a fantastic conversation that friend of the show David Barry
had with the Rough Notes substack by Maya Goldbergsfear about
the CBA negotiations. We'll link to it in the show notes.
I think it's still worth the read. But in it,
David talks about how he's often asked to do interviews
about women's basketball, but rarely specifically about CBA negotiations. He says, quote,

(03:26):
reporters are not calling me, and I know why. It's
because if you quote me or talk about what I'm
saying about the NBA and your article and you work
for ESPN or any of the major news sites, the
NBA will give you a call and they will tell
you stop doing that. End quote. And I just want
to point out that after our most recent interview with
David on this show, when I dug deep into the
issues he often highlights comparing NBA and WNBA revenue shares

(03:47):
across different points in their league timelines. And when I
went even further, finding an old New York Times article
about that nineteen eighty four landmark CBA that earned NBA
players that more than fifty percent revenue share, and I
started posting about it. Well, I got a call from
the league just as he said, and off the record,
let me talk you through why you're wrong. Call and

(04:08):
you won't be surprised to hear that they didn't convince
me I was wrong. I wanted to share that because
I think David is onto something and we should continue
to demand more transparency with the WNBA financials because their
sensitivity around revenue share, to me, feels rooted in the
knowledge that they're getting away with something and they want
David and me and others to stop sniffing around. Okay,

(04:28):
Mini rant over. One other major point of contention during
these CBA negotiations was housing, and as of this recording
on Wednesday afternoon, we don't yet have details on that,
but WNBAPA president Neko Oguo Makay told reporters the new
deal quote strengthens housing and retirement and expands resources for
family planning and parental leave. It redefines what it means

(04:48):
to be a professional in this league, end quote. Oguo
Makay and other players like Alicia Clark also posted some
picks on instaff from inside the mysterious meeting room that
they've practically lived in of late one showed a blanket
and a sweatshirt fashioned into a pillow on the floor.
So when we say living, we mean it. We'll put
a link to their posts in the show notes. Now,
remember this is just a verbal agreement. A formal term

(05:09):
sheet needs to be finalized, and the agreement's pending ratification.
But after one hundred plus hours of negotiating, this is
massive news that they got this done. WNBPA executive director
Terry Jackson told reporters early Wednesday, quote, I think this
can be summed up in two words. Player empowerment. Players
coming to the table and standing on business and being
reminded of the collective voice and of what it means

(05:31):
to be in a union, and the power of this union.
They never forgot it, and they have taken it like
they always do, to the next level.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
End quote.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
The twenty twenty six WNBA schedule will now continue as
planned with no disruptions. Training camp is set to open
April nineteenth, and the start of the regular season will
be May eighth. For now, a note to all front offices,
start pounded caffeine because you got a whole off season
of free agent signings to do in the next thirty days.
Also a note to hoops reporters that cover the pro

(05:58):
and college game. I'm so sorry, but you have one
day till the first round of March Madness starts. Oh
that includes friend of the show Alexa Philippo, who will
join me in just a minute with more details on
this new CBA to college hoops. Where it's nine to
two of the first four round in the NCAA March
Madness Tournament. Now's first four really should be called the
Final four, since the winners are the final four teams

(06:20):
that make the real tournament, but obviously that name is
already taken. Basically before the first round. The first four
features two games between the season's lowest ranked conference champions,
plus two games between the lowest at large seeds, and
then the winners of those four games. Earnest spotted the
first round of the tournament, which takes place Friday and Saturday.
You got it anyway, be sure to get your brackets

(06:42):
in now. We're also keeping an eye on the D
three tournament, specifically NYU. We've shouted them out a couple
times this season for their epic win streak, which just
keeps growing over the weekend. With their defeat of University
of Wisconsin Lacrosse seventy two to forty seven in the
Elite eight, the Violets posted their ninety first straight victory.
It's now the second longest streak in NCAA basketball history. Tonight,

(07:04):
they'll try and make it ninety two wins with a
Final four game against Scranton in Salem, Virginia. Tip Off
is at seven thirty pm Eastern. You could stream the
game on ESPN Plus. To international hoops, Team USA finished
with a perfect five to zero record at the FEBO
World Cup qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico, closing out their
play with an eighty four to seventy win over Spain
on Tuesday night. The team, which was without standouts like

(07:27):
Asia Wilson, the Visa Collier and Brianna Stewart, and which
was almost fifty percent rookies making their national senior team debuts,
still won by an average margin of forty two points
in five games across seven days. Caitlin Clark was named
MVP of the tournament, her first game action since last
summer due to a number of groin and leg injuries.
In Puerto Rico, she averaged eleven point six points and

(07:47):
six point four assists per game. The end of the
four qualifying tournaments, which were happening simultaneously around the world,
means the sixteen team field is now set for September's
Feeble World Cup in Germany. Among the teams who qualified
this past week are France, Spain, China, Turkey, Japan, and
Puerto Rico. To the NWSL expansion team, Denver Summit has

(08:07):
two new players already, with Sports Illustrated reporting on Wednesday
that Yasmine Ryan and Delaney Shean are leaving the Houston
Dash for the Summit for an undisclosed transfer. Feed The
pair both joined the Dash from Gotham FC in December
of twenty twenty four. More NWSL and some bad news
for Angel CITYFC midfielder Hina Sugita. The club shared on
Tuesday that Sugita suffered a left ACL injury and will

(08:29):
be placed on the season ending injury list. Now you
might remember friend of the Show Jeff Casoof was raving
about Sugita and the team building around her in the
midfield when he was on our show last week, So
this is a big blow for ACFC. The Japanese national
team player who was traded to the team in September
last year after spending four seasons with the Portland Thorns,
has fifty one international caps, including participating in the last

(08:49):
two World Cups. Hoping Sugita can heal up in time
for next year's World Cup in Brazil. To fencing, where
women are getting their own NCAA championship for the first
time in decades. No not kidding. For the first time
since nineteen eighty nine, the NCAA will sponsor separate national
championships for women's and men's programs. For more than thirty
five years, college fencing's top men and women have dueled

(09:12):
for a single combined NCAA team title. Now, that structure
created an obvious disadvantage for programs with only women's teams,
which couldn't score points in the men's events and were
therefore effectively shut out of a chance to take the
national title. According to USA Fencing, by introducing it dedicated
women's championship, more than one hundred and fifty additional student
athletes each year would get a shot at winning a
national title of their own. Columbia, Notre Dame, and Northwestern

(09:35):
have all qualified for the maximum six fencers, so they'll
fight for the historic title. Competition takes place today and
tomorrow at Notre Dame. Early round coverage will be available
on Notre Dame's official live stream page. We'll link to
it at the show notes, and tomorrow's semi finals and
finals will stream on ESPN plus all Right slices. As
we mentioned at the top of the show, the WNBA

(09:56):
and the Players Association finally reached a verbal agreement on
a new collective bargain agreement in the early hours of
Wednesday morning, and we had so many questions about the
new deal, so we reached out to one of the
best friend of the show, ESPN's Alexa Philip, who who
has spent the last week plus camped out in Midtown Manhattan,
and I mean that literally on the street in a
fold out chair eating pizza, waiting for them to come

(10:18):
out and say a deal has been done. So hallelujah.
She finally got to see them walk out of that
building and say the deal is done. Okay, it's Wednesday
afternoon when we're talking to you, you're on basically no sleep,
so we're getting a lovely punch drunk Alexa and the
term sheet has not been revealed, So everything we're talking
to you about now is based on your reporting and
what we do know, and will of course add some
details when we get them. But first, thanks so much

(10:40):
for making time for us. I want to talk about
what you see as the biggest takeaways from this. We're
hearing the numbers about the change in the salary cap
and the average and max and minimum salaries, but like,
for you, what's the biggest thing.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah, I think you've heard the word transformational thrown around
a bunch from both sides. But the way that this
agree agreement is going to directly tie player salaries and
the salary system to the growth of the league is
something that is historic for the WNBA, in for women's
basketball right now. Obviously, going into this past week when

(11:13):
they were still negotiating and you saw that they had
different ideas of what that revenue sharing system could look
like and those deals, what they landed on is still
kind of to be determined.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
The kind of.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
Underlying thing even as they were still negotiating, was that
either way, revenue sharing was going to be a main
fixture of this deal. And that's something that the players
yesterday were oh my god, I said yesterday that was
literally like thirteen hours ago. This morning we're really able
to fixate on. And I was really moved by Alicia Clark,
who's more of like a middle class player throughout her

(11:43):
time in the league, and she was saying that this
is a sort of deal that's going to make arguably
the most difference for a player like her, who might
not be making a million dollar salaries in this next agreement,
but are still going to see such substantial salary increases
and it's going to be life changing for them. So
I can't wait to see more of the full details
and exactly how everything kind of netted out, But I

(12:06):
think at the baseline you could say that this is
going to be transformational, and the players and the league
were able to deliver that.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, I mean. Friend of the Show Richard Cohen pointed
out that the biggest cap hit last year was Kelsey Mitchell,
and the baseline salary for anyone in the league is
going to be more than what her salary was last year.
So everyone in the league on the new deal will
be making more than the person who made the most before,
which truly is transformational. Now, for a moment, I'm gonna
let my cynicism come in because I think we knew

(12:35):
that this deal was going to be massive and deservedly so.
Every single metric, every single economist who looked at the
finances said they are getting screwed the players. They are
getting so much less than what they deserve. So we
knew that the numbers were going to go way up.
I'm still stuck on the revenue share, though. The league
barely moved on what they wanted for a percentage of

(12:55):
gross revenue, whereas the player started around forty percent ask
and it sounds like ended up a twenty percent. That
is a massive move for them to give up twenty
percent of what they were asking for of that gross revenue.
That feels like a major concession and loss to me.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
Yeah, and that's something we didn't necessarily get into in
the heat of the celebration the other day. Obviously, the
league had said that the player's proposal would result in
hundreds of millions of dollars of losses. The players obviously
said that that was something that they did not agree with,
that they thought that the league proposals were something that

(13:31):
weren't giving them their fairshore up till now, I think
maybe what could allow a little bit more clarity on
like where they actually stood is exactly what system they
did end up deciding. Was it more of like a
gross system, was it more of a net system. Was
it something a little bit more creative? And maybe that's
where we saw some of the sorts of compromise or
or how they were able to come together on both sides.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
How that maybe would be reflected yet to be seen,
maybe when we get the details yet to be seen.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
I think at once the settles, I'm very interested to
hear how the players worked through that, having to go
from one idea of what they were asking for at
the beginning of this process and having to come down
significantly arguably.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
From where they started.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
But it did feel like at the baseline they still
felt like that this was something that was going to
really transform.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah again, cynicism. I feel like you have to walk
out of that room and act like you won your
side because you made a deal. Right, You can't come
out and say we're not happy with the deal we
made as we're making it. They have to say that.
I think my concern is I think it has to
be either gross or something creative, because originally the WNBA
was coming out around seventy percent of net. There's no

(14:41):
way the players would agree to twenty percent of net.
If anything, it would be twenty percent of gross, or
like you said, maybe there's a creative something in the
middle that they came upon. I'm stuck on the fact
that the men have been making fifty percent of revenues
for the last forty years, So I don't understand how
we're still expecting the women to take significantly less than that.
But hopefully we'll get some answers from came out of
their discussions. You know. One of the things that makes

(15:03):
it hard is the WNBA has historically not opened up
its books to the public, but also not to the union.
What did you hear about how much the PA was
actually able to negotiate knowing what the revenue is and
what the financials are.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
You know, there were obviously financials that were provided from
the league and from teams. Whether or not those were
able to be independently audited it was a kind of
a different question. One of the things that my understanding
was something that was being negotiated and bargained over is
is kind of the capacity for the union to audit
those financials and the next agreement whether or not that would

(15:37):
just include revenues or that would also include expenses, and
would it be league financials team financials, and so you know,
the league did provide My understanding was, you know, an
assortment of financials that were audited on their side. The
union was asking for the right to have their own
independent audits of kind of that body of what they
were given. That's one thing that people can look at

(15:59):
when we see what this final agreement actually entails.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
Yeah, I think that makes a huge difference. Okay, we've
kept you too long already, So a couple last quick ones.
Any idea how long the deal is for that? Actually
we do not know yet. I look forward to hearing that.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
I think we're going to get more of the details
in the coming hours. Basically, what happened is the term
sheet still has to be written and finalized. They did
tell us basically when there was that verbal agreement on
what the terms were. So that's why we were able
to say that there is something that is happening. Then
it gets turned into our term sheet, and then that
term sheet then goes to the players. They have to

(16:33):
then eventually gets everything gets written up and then ratified,
so that whole process would take a few weeks. I
think we'd have more details, hopefully very soon on length
of the contract.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Well, let's hope it's more than a year or two
before we're doing this again for everyone, say, for all
of our sakes. Okay, So for existing contracts, for like rookies,
do they get leveled up to the base minimum or
do they start that when their contract runs out and
they get a new one.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
Yeah, so I actually can provide a little bit of
details on that. So let's take a player like Caitlin Clark.
We saw some reports that came out on this kind
of provision where certain top performers on rookie contracts would
be able to make more money more quickly. And so
under this deal, someone like Caitlin, her base salary is
going to go up, jump up. So in twenty twenty six,

(17:17):
she's going to be bumped up to five hundred and
thirty thousand dollars because you know, she's also now eligible
she would become eligible for the projected max beginning of
twenty twenty seven, so that'd be one point three million,
and then the projected supermax beginning in twenty twenty eight
and that's one point seven million. So that kind of
deal with this whole kind of top performers if you

(17:37):
have certain thresholds that you meet of you know, I
don't know exactly what they decided, if it was all
WNBA or you know, obviously there's there was a component
at one point of if you're you know, an MVP,
you could get jumped up to the supermax. So we'll
see exactly where that sorted out. But yes, they were
all be an ability for the people in rookie scale
contracts get jumped up right away and then they can
make even more depending on how successful they are on

(17:59):
the court.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
Cool and what about the two Lexis are two veterans
who are signed through next year. There are only two
players in the league that are signed already for contracts
this year. Do they get bumped up or are they
stuck on the contracts that they signed?

Speaker 3 (18:13):
That's a good question. I actually don't know the full
answer to that. I would assume that they get bumped up. Yeah,
but I'll report back.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
I'll message one at the Lexis she's a friend at
the show, and see what she says about that. Okay,
last question for you, you were outside a hotel instead
of the WNBA headquarters. I assume they did the talks
there just to have a neutral site. They actually switched.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
They did three days at a hotel, a usual site hotel.
Then they did NBA headquarters, Union Headquarters, NBA Union.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
The last day they circled back, and we're back at
that hotel for the last.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
Day, okay. And then I think we need to have
the quartete of you that crashed outside an eight pizza
in your chairs on the show sometime to share stories
from the street. But what's a good one?

Speaker 2 (18:55):
You got?

Speaker 1 (18:55):
What comes to mind? I feel like I was looking
at the photos of you and thinking, like ten or
fifteen years from now, you're gonna have the most warm
and fuzzy memories. You won't even remember how tired you
were because you all like went through that together.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
One hundred percent. I mean, I never thought I'd be
interviewing like Kathy Engelbird at three am multiple times. That
was that was an experience, and she was you know,
everyone was very gracious with their time, even like amid
crazy long bargaining sessions and at crazy times, but all
the shows of support and gratitude from people all over

(19:25):
the league or trust friends, like the deliveries we got
from the chairs to ice cream, to pizza to coffee.
It was just so heartwarming and I will never forget that.
I'll never forget just how kind of like punchy delirious
we'd be. Oh, one really funny story was I was
playing pop punk.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
This was like Sunday night.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
At like two am, and I just, like Jackie Powell
and I are jamming to it, and Stewie comes down
from the elevators and she just kind of like gives
us a look, like what's going on here. We're like,
we're just trying to pass the time.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
We just need to blast in some tunes. Ain't awake,
you know.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
And she looked exhausted, just out of last tunes. And
then she was like she was trying to figure out
which way to go out the lobby, and so we
had pointed her in the right direction. But there's just
so many little interactions with that returner showing us the
photo she was taking from the hotel conference room down
like the bird's eye view photos of us like sitting
in our chairs.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, that was that was pretty great too.

Speaker 3 (20:21):
So lots of little moments with the players I bet
people from around the league the union, and it was
really cool to see them get this thing across the
finish line.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
I bet you anytime anyone got a text from like
a friend, everyone's like, who is it? What they say?
Did you get any news? Like just trying to keep
up with each other. Who's breaking what at this point? Yeah? Well, Alexi,
we can't thank you enough. I hope you get to
go take a nap soon. I hope so too, but
I'm not optimistic. It's a busy day.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
But I'd rather be here talking about this than you know,
anywhere else.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
That's right. Better have a deal done than back on
the street. Thanks so much, exactly, Thank you. Thanks again
to Alexa for joining us on absolutely no sleep after
a marathon night. So appreciated. We got to take a
quick break when we come back. Vanderbilt coach Shay Ralph
and the nation's top scorer, Mikayla Blake's stick around joining

(21:15):
us now. She's the head coach of the number six
ranked Vanderbilt women's basketball team of Fayetteville, North Carolina native.
At one point in high school, she held seventeen state
basketball records and was the ninety six USA Today National
High School Player of the Year. She went on to Yukon,
where her teams went one hundred and thirty and ten,
and in two thousand she captained the Huskies to the
national championship and was named the Final four tournament's most
outstanding Player. She was drafted to the w but knee

(21:37):
injury sidelined her pro career. She pivoted to coaching, went
to Pittsburgh for a few years, then back to stores Connecticut,
where she was an assistant coach at Yukon from O
eight to twenty twenty one before being named Vandy's head coach,
a North Carolina Sports Hall of Famer, the SEC Coach
of the Year. She's always late and she proved it today.
It's Shaye Ralph Hi coach.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Hi, thank you, Wow, my whole life story and my
twenty second that was impressive.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
I just want to make sure Mikayla knows. You know,
she's getting coached by a boss. She needs to know
about those records.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
Did you hear all that mixed?

Speaker 4 (22:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah, I heard it a lot. I've heard it a lot.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
Okay, good, good, good, Well joining the boss. She's a
superstar for the Vandy Commodores. The first sophomore since Asia
Wilson to win SEC Player of the Year. The nation's
leading scorer, she has the third longest active streak in
D one hoops and scoring in double figures with fifty
straight games. She was the twenty twenty five USA Basketball
Female Athlete of the Year and twenty twenty five FEEBO
Women's AMERICAUP MVP. A Jersey native, she learned how to

(22:32):
be a gym rat from her big bro, and she
digs a chill playlist before games. There's no one like
number one. It's Mikayla Blakes. I'm Michayla. What's yo?

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Hey? That's impressive.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
She y'all are impressive. Coach. This is your fifth season
at Vanderbilt. You won SEC Coach of the Year. Your
overall wins and conference wins are both the most that
the school has ever had in the regular season. What
do you think really clicked this year to take you
from sort of building to built?

Speaker 2 (23:00):
We're still building. I mean, I think really the differences players.
You're not a really great coach or a good coach
even without really good players and great players that buy
into what you're doing, that have laid the foundation. You know,
even before this year, and then players like Mikayla, or
honestly just Mikayla that do the uncommon thing. And I

(23:23):
think that's one of the ways that her and I
built our relationship was that, you know, you stated all
of those facts and things about my career, but remember
when I went to Yukon, it wasn't the Yukon that
it is now. And you know, I wanted to bet
on myself and the same thing coming here to Vanderbilt
after spending half my life at Yukon is creating an
opportunity for others to do the same. And you know,

(23:46):
Mikayla is built differently and she did bet on herself
and is doing the uncommon thing. And look at what
is possible. Yeah, when you have what God has given
her and you put the right people around each other
and then you just keep doing the work. Look what's possible.
And she's proving it and we're proving it every single day.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
One of my favorite stories I read was you were
getting recruited by everybody back to those seventeen different state
records you had going for you, and everybody was buttering
you up. Oh you're going to start, You're going to
be great, You're going to be the best And Gino
Orimas said, well, I mean if you're good, you'll play,
and if you suck you won't And you were like,
that's where I want to go. Yeah, which is built differently,
like you said about Mikayla, someone who wants to prove
herself somewhere and who wants to earn it. And I

(24:26):
could see why maybe you two bonded over that. Mikayla,
you have been a huge part of this team's success.
Last year, you set the NCAA freshman single game scoring record.
You were the first d one player to score fifty
three or more points in multiple games in a season
since back in the late eighties. What kind of expectations
did you have for yourself when you were making the
jump from high school to collegiate play. Did you surprise

(24:47):
maybe even yourself with how much success you had freshman year?

Speaker 4 (24:50):
Yeah, I completely surprised myself. I Mean everybody I talked
to was like college is a different level, Like the conditioning,
the workouts, everything, the players, it's like a level above
and coming in I thought, okay, yeah, I'm just a freshman,
so I'm thinking I'm going to get like whacked Haart
in face, like from a player.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
Or just metaphorically even Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (25:11):
But I mean just coming in it was kind of
a smooth transition, just the team atmosphere and stuff. The
coach has always built confidence into me, so hadn't that
confidence to go out there. It just kind of came natural.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
Now in your sophomore season, you're leading the nation in
scoring with twenty seven points a game. What feels good
right now in your game? What feels easy?

Speaker 4 (25:30):
I don't know if I would say anything feels easy.
It's just knowing, like the work I've put in to
be prepared to perform in those moments. It's been a
lot of that, a lot of faith, a lot of
just taking time for myself, I think this year and
just really figuring out like who I want to be
as a player and not putting any pressure on myself.
I think that's the reason I'm having success this year.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
Yeah, the sophomore slump come sometimes just from like overthinking
it after you've done so well your freshman year. You know, coach,
you obviously recruited Michaela so you knew she would be great,
But can you talk about how great she's been for you?

Speaker 2 (26:01):
Yeah, it's so cool to sit here and listen to
her answer questions. I'll always read after the interviews that
she has and all the great stories that people are
writing on her, and they're deserved and they should be written.
But I was not surprised at all. And she hasn't
lived a long life. She's just beginning hers, really, but
having lived through all the things that she's going through
as a player and as a coach, and watching her

(26:22):
come to college and elevate everything that we did. Elevate
our summer workouts, elevate our academic standards, elevate our culture,
elevate our relationship building, elevate our relationship with the communities,
elevate our level of fun and enjoy. And we're continuing
to work on that. But it wasn't a surprise because
if that's who you are, then that's how you're going

(26:43):
to play. And she's going to have nights, you know,
like we all do. But what's really cool about Mikaela
is that she doesn't ever get tired. She's going to
compete until the buzzer goes off. She's going to demand
out of the people around her in a way that
calls them up and not out, but if they need
to be called out, she'll do that too. And that's
what I mean by she's built differently, because sometimes it

(27:04):
takes players years to learn that. Some players that have
for a level of talent never learn it and never
are forced to learn it. And I think you got
to look back to her parents, her brother, the people
that are in her inner circle that have raised her,
that have also built that level of confidence and work
ethic and genuine competitiveness and genuine coachability. It just doesn't
happen often, so it's not a surprise, and honestly it's

(27:27):
just the beginning. She doesn't even know this yet. I
don't think she's only scratched a surface. And as she
continues to play and work and run into two obstacles
and you know, failure, we get all worked up in society.
We want things to be so easy. The world is
built for it to be so easy. But like, the
more that you run up against things that are really hard,
the better you're going to be. So I just love

(27:48):
that we get to be that I get to be
on the journey with her and her family and this
team because she's only going to continue to do special things,
and that as a result means that we are only
going to continue to do special things here at Vingerbilt.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, there's a really beautiful thing that happens when someone
who is naturally exceedingly gifted also still wants to work
so hard at it, because that's when the best stuff arrives.
If you take it easy because it's easy for you,
or it feels like it comes easy, that's when you
can waste some of that opportunity. You know, Mikayl, I
can see the passion in your coach talking about you.
What's the quirkiest thing about Coach Ralph.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
We don't have enough time. We don't have enough time
for that question.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
Spell some tea, Spell some tea.

Speaker 4 (28:29):
I found out Coach Ralph can do a headstand. That
one caught me off guard because last summer she tortured
us and brought us to hot yoga and she was
just like a beast doing it and we all were
drenched and sweat and I wanted.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
To do it.

Speaker 4 (28:42):
And then I guess randomly somebody was like, yeah, Coach
Rolf need a handstand or headstand and she was like yeah, nice,
and we were like, you're lying, and so she just did.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
It, and I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
That was probably the quirkiest thing I.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
Michael, I want to tell you that folks like Coach
Ralph and I, when we get old and busted and
our body doesn't let us do what you're doing anymore,
we just have to find new challenges like handstands and
headstands and splits and yoga positions. It's all we got.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
I got that.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
Yeah, it's all we got to get better at after
we've torn every single ligament and muscle in our body. Yeah,
that's all I got. I can't improve my points per
game average anymore. Coach, what's the quirkiest thing about Mikayla?

Speaker 2 (29:20):
Hmmm, what is the quirkiest thing about you? Mikayla Blake's
my government?

Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yeah, the government, the government name, the government, Mikayla, Pamela Blake.
What's your middle name?

Speaker 2 (29:32):
I can't even give that one out.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
Oh maybe that's the quirkiest thing about you.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
I would say. She's kind of a girly girl, so
like going to get her nails done like a little
spot a. I don't think that most people would see that,
you know, but she has like this little girly side
of her. Like, if we move around practice and she
had a nail appointment or hair appointment, I'm going to
get a text message. I'm going to get a tech
message that we have a very important appointment. And I'm like, Okay, you've.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
Got to keep that coach, look good, play good.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
I love guys. She owns it too. She owns it.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
I've seen her Instagram. She likes to put up a
shot or too look and cute with her little outfits on.
So I get that. I could see that. Yeah, yeah,
you know, coach, after a great regular season, you had
a tough SEC tournament. Mikayla got off to a rough
start in your quarterfinal game against Ole Miss. You got
ejected arguing a call. I'm curious what went wrong that
day because coming in you had a full head of
steam heading into that tournament.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
Yeah. I wouldn't say that anything went wrong. I think
Mikaela she just missed some shots, and we all did.
We missed some open shots that we normally make, and
we weren't able to get defensive stops and rebounds, and
it just kind of snowballed a little bit for us.
So it's not something that we hadn't seen before, and honestly,
we had seen that before from that team, and I

(30:46):
think the frustrating part for all of us was that,
like we just kind of let it unravel to the
point where even in the fourth quarter, when when we
were able to fight back, we had just dug ourselves
a little bit too deep of a hole. But again,
I think, you know, sometimes it's just not your night.
And what I want my team to understand is, hey, listen,
we may not shoot the ball well, and you know,

(31:07):
we may have a quarter where Mikaela and Aubrey don't
shoot the ball well, but we can't dig ourselves a
hole because we don't do what we're supposed to do
on the other end either, because we're not operating as
a unit, because we're not continuing to fight and play
really hard. And so I think in terms of a
rough night, those were some of the things. I didn't
think we quit. I think my team played really hard.
We just ran up against someone who played better earlier.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
Yeah, and then ran out of time, right because you
cut it to nine.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
I think I actually told them today if I had
known that that was what it was going to take
to turn the game around, I would have gotten kicked
out way sooner. That was my second and third technical
of my career and way out of character for me.
It's not normally what I would do, but I will
say I am tired of having the same conversations, specifically
about Mikayla. So when things continue to happen around the

(31:56):
physicality of the game for her and I feel like
we're not being heard or respect, then I'm going to
say what I need to say. And if I knew
that I was going to get kicked out, I would
have said a lot more.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
Yeah, and you would have done it earlier, because they
got pretty close once you left, and Mikaela and off
night for you with twenty four points still, which really
says something about how you recovered from a rough start
in that one. Coach, Are you worried about how that
lost might effect you're seating in the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
No, No, not at all. I don't care. We're in.
We're going to get seated where they set us and
we have no control over that, and we're going to
continue to prepare and get better. And I think, you know,
if anything, I think that what happened in the SEC
tournament is added fuel to the fire for all of us,
and now we had time to rest, and now we
have time to continue our preparation to make a very

(32:41):
deep run in March.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
I do think sometimes that kind of adversity actually helps
a team figure out, Okay, we've been here before, it's
starting to get away from us. Got to stop it earlier.
Or we've been here before and we came all the
way back. Here's how we need to do it here.
As opposed to sometimes you worry about the teams that
really haven't faced a lot of adversity up until they
get that tough matchup in tournament. MICHAELA, how do you
put that behind you and just gear up for the

(33:03):
bigger tournament that's ahead.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
I think the main thing is I'm human, like coach said, like,
I'm not going to have a perfect game every single night,
but I can't let it continue to affect how I perform.
After that, It's kind of like live in the moment
for twenty four hours and then brush it off. I mean,
I still have a game to play, we still have
the tournament we're still hosting, and things like that. And
I think last year my dad brought up a great point,

(33:25):
like we had kind of the same effect. We tried
to come back against South Carolina the SEC Tournament and
then we thought it was fuel to the fire for
when we came into March Madness, but we started out slow.
So just using last year's performance as well to go
this year and actually realized since we had that happened
last year, like this year in the NCAA Tournament, we
will actually be prepared and ready and I think it'll
translate that fourth quarter to March findness.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
Yeah, there was an eight year NCUBA draft for Vandy
and now you're making a third straight trip to the
Big Dance. How have expectations ramped up with every single
year a coach?

Speaker 2 (33:56):
I mean, I don't really think of it as expectations.
I like the question, I appreciate it, but I just
feel like this is what we came here to do.
No one has higher expectations of us here than me
or our kids or our staff. And didn't come here
to lose. I don't come here to not have to
be in the NCAA Tournament. So we better go every year.
And I don't want to just go. I want to

(34:16):
go and win. I want to compete for championships. I
am excited about all the things that are happening around
our program right now. I think we've earned them. I
think we're having a really special year. And I love
that our players are getting honored, and you know, there's
honors for me, which is coaches honors, and we're getting
lots of visibility at Vanderbilt because they Vanderbilt has invested
in women here. Our ad and our chancellor have invested

(34:39):
in athletics and in women specifically us and not just money.
That's not what I'm talking about. And I'm talking about
all the things, all the resources that we have at
our fingertips to grow. And this is what that looks
like when you invest in women. These are the results
that you're going to get. So I love the opportunity
to continue to compete for Vanderbilt with my team, with
my staff, because we do have something really special here,

(35:01):
and the baseline expectation here is that we will be
in the insutable Tournament and that we will be competing
for championships.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
I love that you talked about the investment, because programs
like yours are what drives motion everywhere else. Seeing the
results of what it looks like when a program is
invested in and resourced and cared about and respected, and
where that can take your program and your school as
a results of what it tells everybody about your school
that you have these successful teams. So I love it, Michaela.

(35:27):
She mentioned some of the other things that have happened
around the team as a result of success, and that
includes the stands that the game's filling up more and
more as you're stacking up wins. You're a huge part
of that. How do you handle the responsibility or maybe
the privilege of returning this program to contender status and
knowing there's a lot of people showing up to watch you.

Speaker 4 (35:46):
Honestly, I'm just excited about it. Like I came last
year and saw the stand and I was like, I
wish we had a lot more fans because it was
mostly filled with opposing fans. But this year, like, we
have a lot of people coming up who were like,
we just bought season tickets, we're looking at buy some
and tickets next year. We're excited for you guys, And
I feel like that just really proves like that people
are investing in women's sports. It's not just all about
the men's and here at Vanderbilt. We also get support

(36:08):
from other student athletes as well. They'll show up to
games and things like that. So I feel like it's
just a huge community and it's just a really great
thing happening.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
Yeah, there's something about putting on a show in front
of your fellow student athletes that feels especially good. I
always felt like it was a special night when folks
came to watch us compete from another team. So I
think it's going to be happening more and more for
y'all as you continue to have a ton of success.
You know, Coach, you were a player and coach at
the best women's hoops program in the world, and I

(36:35):
wonder what the biggest lessons you took away from coach
orim or I would say.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
Number one that you know, I think the aura around
Yukon from the outside looking in is like, you know,
they get all the best players and they're unbeatable, right,
They're like sprinkled this magic ferry dust and all these
great things happen, and it's just it's really not It's
not that. I think if you look at how simple
the formula is for what was done there and what

(37:01):
they continue to do is really what the nuts and
bolts of just having a winning culture and a championship
culture and a championship team looks like. I think the
biggest thing that I learned their number one resilience, because
you're going to have to do hard things. We're going
to have to do them every day, and especially when
you're the hunted, and I think that's really cool that
I learned that they're The second part is there's no

(37:21):
replacement for the right people and hard work. So I think,
especially in the landscape that we have right now, it's
really easy to look at talent and numbers and be like,
we just need talent, right we need people that score,
and we're going to go by the rankings and all
the scouting services or in the transfer portal, like who
has the most points and who has the best events.

(37:42):
You've got to get the right people. You know, obviously
have to have a level of talent skill. But if
you try to fit pieces that aren't going to fit
into the puzzle of your culture of your team, it's
just not going to set everyone up for success and
it's going to fall apart. And that doesn't mean that
you know that they're bad people or the wrong people
are bad players or the wrong players. It's just making

(38:03):
sure that you know what you're about as a program,
that you know what your team needs, and then putting
those pieces in place for them to be successful. And
that's my job. I got to clear the path for
my team, and I have a really, really good formula
for what it looks like to be successful at the
highest level.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
Yeah, and I feel like that team building is so
much more of an ongoing process now because of the
transfer portal. It used to be sort of, yes, year
to year, you're going to lose some and gain some,
but you can keep building this recipe at a sprinkle
of this, at a shaker of this. And now with
each year it's who do we lose and who do
we bring in? And how do I keep acting like
a GM for this program and bringing in the right folks.

(38:39):
And I think your point is a valid one. A
lot of people who go to Yukon could go somewhere
else and not look like that. And it's not the
magic of Yukon. It's that work that gets put in
once you get there. And I imagine you've taken some
of what you've learned there sprinkled your own thing.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
And I would say too, not to cut you off,
but like, I don't think it has to change. This
is a really important inflection point in college sports, and
like protecting the experience of a college student athlete, I
don't think that it has to change. Yeah, I think
that when you have the support that we have and
the vision that we have, relationships are still important. It's okay.

(39:15):
If it's not the right fit for a player, it's okay.
But it doesn't mean that you're going to have rollover
every year just because you're trying to win win, win,
win win. If that's all that we're doing, then our
sport is going to be in trouble. Yeah, I completely agree,
because respectfully, and Mikayla's on here, these are still kids.
They still need to grow up, They still need to

(39:35):
learn lessons, they still need to learn, you know what
it looks like to be successful, to handle adversity, because
at some point they're going to stop playing basketball, and
hopefully players like Mikaela and Mikayla won't stop playing for
a long time. But if we get all the things
turned around and get the priorities in WAG, then we're
not doing our jobs. And I know here, we're going
to do our job.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
It's a tough thing right now, and I think everybody's
feeling the push of Like, yes, of course, situations not great.
An athlete needs to find a place that's right for them,
but also leaving at the first sign of adversity, or
not having that three or four year experience somewhere, or
not learning how to push through things that aren't working
out to find the other side where you're better, stronger, faster,
and readier to play. Like, all of those are a

(40:16):
part of the experience. And there's also, unfortunately, some kids
who enter the transfer portal and don't find their way
to somewhere else. They're looking for a grasses, greener situation,
and they left behind something pretty good. And I think
even those who want to advocate for player rights and
player choice are still looking at the system and saying, Hmmm,
something's got to give here. It can't just be this
constant bopping around where you don't ever have a college

(40:37):
experience in addition to your.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
Basketball experience exactly.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
Yeah, which is hard, you know, MICHAELA. In addition to
everything you're doing at Vanda, you also got the chance
to play on Team USA alongside some fellow college greats.
At the Foba AMERICAUP. You were alongside Audie Crooks, Olivia, Miles,
Handa Hidalgo, like so much talent there. I wonder what
you learned from your time with Team USA.

Speaker 4 (40:59):
I just learned how to player aground other really great
players and just how to put people in position for success.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
I think that was the main thing there. And also
there everybody works hard.

Speaker 4 (41:08):
Everybody shows up like forty five minutes early to everything,
and it's just like routine for people. And then I
just learned they're just discipline. It's like to be able
to be on the court in those moments, you need
to be disciplined, You need to be ready, and your
role is going to change. You may be the leading
scorer one game, you may not, and it's just what
can you do to benefit the team and have Can
you be the best teammate for others who are doing

(41:29):
really well and others who aren't.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
I mentioned first sophomore SEC Player of the Year since
Asia Wilson not bad company. Does that distinction make you
maybe dream a little bigger even about what could be
possible for you in collegen and the pros.

Speaker 4 (41:43):
Yeah, I mean, it's a great honor. And to be
beside Asia Wilson. I feel like she's the goat of
women's basketball and she's a huge role model. I look
up to her a lot, and it just really shows
me that I'm on the right path, my work is
being shown, and I'm around the right group of people
because without them, I wouldn't be able to get the
WA as well.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
So yeah, before I let you go, coach, I know
you said, and I agree with you, Like, there are
some great programs, great players that are not getting as
much storytelling this season. Tell us something about your program
that you wish more people knew, A player, a story,
a piece of adversity you've overcome. What's something that you
wish the national media was talking about from this season.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
That's probably a better question for Mikayla.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
Look at her, She's like, coach, don't pass me the ball.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
I know. I really think for this team in particular,
we've been here for five years. Sasha Washington's been here
all five years, Jada Brown, who's been here for I
think in the landscape and the landscape changed drastically right
after we got here, like a year and a half,
two years after we got here, and the commitment level,
I mean we because we went through some really tough

(42:46):
times and there's constant adversity, there's constant obstacles, and the
commitment level from my staff, the commitment level from our team,
the things that you know, even Mikayla saw in us
before everyone else saw them. But my team knows it,
our administration knows it, our community knows it, and we

(43:06):
are constantly doing work behind the scenes to be where
we are. So I think it's really cool that the
eyes that are honest right now are honest, but I
want people to understand the buy in that that took
and the commitment and the work and the belief and
the chemistry, and it was really, really, really hard. And
that was my point earlier, is like I think right now,

(43:29):
people just want the easy out or the easy win,
or the place where they're going to make the most
money or it's going to be on TV the most
And what my kids did, my team did, was very
uncommon in terms of their buying and their commitment. And
we're getting to see what delayed gratification looks like. And
I just think that's so cool because that's going to

(43:49):
be there for them the rest of their lives, and
that is usually what great things look like. Great things
don't come to you on a silver platter. If they did,
we would all have them. But these kids really worked
hard for this moment, and each of them has a story.
So I'm hopeful as we continue to go on in
March it they'll all be be told. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
And it's very cool the idea of these players that
get to point to this moment and say this is
when we changed everything for Vanderbilt women's hoops, not we're
one of many teams that have won, or we're just
one of a round of great players that came through
and left. But here's where things changed, which is really cool.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
It's really cool.

Speaker 1 (44:23):
Mikayla, you got a story since coach tried to force
the ball into your hands.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
I punted it, but I answered it, but then I
punted it.

Speaker 4 (44:33):
I think like a lot of people don't really look
at us outside of basketball. Like a lot of my
teammates are influencers, you like to post on TikTok, do
a lot of those things, and we're just very like
team based. So I feel like I don't know if
people looked at us outside of basketball. Would be kind
of different than what you see on the court. I
feel like on the court we're all just very competitive,
but off the court we're just laughing, just doing trends

(44:53):
things like that.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
Thanks everything, all right, MICHAELA said, Nil, guys, we have
a lot of personalities here. Hello us sponsors. We're funny
and smart and cute, and we do dances too. I
like it, I like it. Sell yourself well. We have
enjoyed watching you all season long, and we can't wait
to watch you in the tournament. So thanks so much
for the time.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
Thank you, This was so much fun. Thank you so much.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (45:17):
Thanks again to coach Ralph and Mikayla for taking the time.
Can't wait to watch him in the tourney. We got
to take another break when we return Phallic fruit and
an East Coast geography lesson. Welcome back slices. We love
that you're listening, but we want you to get in
the game every day too, So here's our good game

(45:39):
play of the day. First, one last reminder to get
those brackets in, and second, keep reaching out to us
about your game going experiences and more. We're loving all
the slices doing their slice work of late, like certified
slice Kate em who wrote in about the Boston Legacy
Stadium situation. She wrote that I was right when I
said people in the Northeast are pretty casual about crossing
state lines for a quote unquote home games, but they

(46:01):
still have their limits. Quote. The news that the first
season would be at Gillette, which is notoriously miserable to
get in and out, wasn't great, but it was really
important to me to support women's sports in the Legacy,
so I committed to club seats for the first season
and figured I could just tough it out for a year.
Only after we had put down the money did they
release that half the games would be in Rhode Island.
Rhode Island is a day trip. I'm also a normal

(46:23):
person with a super demanding job that isn't confined to
nine to five. Realistically, I'm probably gonna eat the road
Island tickets unless I can donate or sell them AnyWho
getting ready to bundle up in cheer and debating the
wisdom of wearing an unfuck with the Bull hoodie to
a family friendly event end quote. Kate, thanks for writing
in that does indeed suck, and also please let me
know how your family responds to the hoodie. We also

(46:44):
heard from Super Slice and Good Game chief accessibility officer
Amanda Vallo, who wrote in about attending the PWHL takeover
to her game at Denver. She said the elevator situation
to accommodate patrons who used wheelchairs needed some work, and
she wasn't in any hurry to buy the phallic chocolate
covered straw sticks that seemed to be at eye level
everywhere she looked, but quote, overall, the stadium vibe was excellent.

(47:06):
Denver showed up and showed out fifteen thousand plus voices,
cheering loudest for signs that said support trans kids and
proudest for we want a team end quote. We love it.
Amanda Gracie wrote us about attending the She Believes Cup
game in Columbus, Ohio, sharing that despite disorganized parking and signage,
the stadium looked great and the American Outlaws drums section ruled.

(47:28):
She also shared a little ps about an American hero,
writing quote, I actually go to Ohio University. It's the
home of Team USA hockey player Gwyneth Phillips. Everyone here
is so proud of her. She visited the local rink
after a club game in October. Seeing a woman who
earned two shutouts in the Olympics really helped me stay motivated.
I cover men's ice hockey here and men are gross,
and I'm gonna put as much effort as i can

(47:49):
get to cover women's ice hockey in the future. End quote.
Men are gross, gracie hard to argue these days. I know,
I know not all men, but it's always a man.
Thanks y'all, we always love hearing from you. Hit us
up on email, good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or
leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two four
fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review.

(48:11):
Do it, Do it right now, do it. It's so easy.
Watch starting off your season oh to twelve before turning
things around to finish fourteen and four in conference play
and play in your first Division one postseason. Rating a
near full one eighty review. The Mercyhurst women's basketball team
went from an first start to the season losing twelve
straight games, to writing the ship and qualifying for the NIT.

(48:34):
Multiple members of first year head coach Aaron mills Reid
squad won conference awards and the Lakers will host Binghamton
in the NIT Tournament tonight, marking the program's first ever
D one postseason appearance. You know what they say. If
at Mercyhurst you don't succeed, try try again. Now it's
your turn, y'all rate and review. Thanks for listening, See
you tomorrow. Good game, mckaylan, Coach Ralph, Good game, WNBPA

(48:58):
and WNBA, thank you, having done enough digging on the
revenue share side to wonder if this CBA really is
good enough for what the players deserve. 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

(49:21):
your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are
Alex Azzi and Bianca Hillier. Our executive producers are Christina Everett,
Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our editors are
Emily Rudder, Lucy Jones, Britney Martinez and Gianna Palmer. Production
assistant from Avery Loftus and I'm your Host Sarah Spain

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}New CBA + Elevating The Joy with Shea Ralph and Mikayla Blakes