July 14, 2025 • 44 mins
Welcome to Season Two of Good Game with Sarah Spain! To celebrate the start of a sequel that's sure to be even better than the original, Sarah catches you up on all the news you need to know and Big Citrus dives into all of the WNBA drama that unfolded during our summer break. Plus, there aren't as many "mebounds" as you think and we welcome softball to the world of gay shit.
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Check out the new WNBA expansion team sites! Cleveland is here, Detroit is here, and Philadelphia is here
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Watch Allie Quigley’s congratulatory video here
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Details on the WNBA Portland’s launch party at the MODA center is here
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Watch a highlight of DiJonai Carrington's Andscape interview here
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Watch Tobin Heath’s tribute video here
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Read The Athletic’s story on Amanda Anisimova’s journey here
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Check out the WNBA All-Star voting breakdown here
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Leave us a voicemail at 872-204-5070 or send us a note at goodgame@wondermedianetwork.com
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 are
so back for season two, and like The Dark Knight,
Terminator two and The Godfather Part two, we fully intend
for the sequel to be even better than the original.
It's Monday, July fourteenth, Happy Disability Pride Month.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Slices.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
On today's show, Big Citrus is going to weigh in
on a WNBA controversy, make some predictions for this season
of Good Game, and welcome a little softball and gay
shit into the mix. Plus, we'll be recapping the biggest
headlines from the last two weeks, like injuries, retirements, investigations, records,
and a whole lot of summer love.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
It's all coming up right after.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
This Welcome back slices.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Did you miss us, We missed you.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Here's what you need to know today, and buckle in
because it's a lot. In WNBA news, the league officially
announced that it'll be expanding to eighteen teams by the
year twenty thirty. That's right, we took a break for
two weeks and we got three more WNBA teams. There
will be a Cleveland team tipping off in twenty twenty eight,
a Detroit team starting competition in twenty twenty nine, and
(01:17):
a Philadelphia team suiting up in twenty thirty. Cleveland and
Detroit each had teams in the early years of the
w The Cleveland Rockers were actually one of the league's
original eight teams. They played from ninety seven to two
thousand and three, and the Detroit Shock played from ninety
eight to two thousand and nine, bringing three championships to
the Motor City. All three new editions have MNBA ownership groups,
(01:39):
and each paid a cool two hundred and fifty million
dollar expansion fee. Now that number sounds high, that's because
it is. It's roughly five times the amount the Golden
State Warriors put down for the Valkyries. To quote the
great philosopher Fat Joe, yesterday's price is not today's price.
With the Toronto Tempo and the Portland WNBA team both
(02:00):
slated to begin play in twenty twenty six, the w
is adding a total of five new teams in five years.
Talk about exponential growth. We'll link to each new franchise's
site in our show notes. While we're on the topic
of expansion, the aforementioned Portland WNBA team made a curious
move at the end of June the franchise parted ways
with team president Inky Sun after just three months on
(02:24):
the job. In a joint statement, Sun and Portland WNBA
owners RAJ Sports said that it was Sun who decided
to leave the organization. Former Nike executive Claire Hamill is
serving as team president in the interim. The news comes
as a bit of a shock, as Sun was their
first hire and the franchise is set to begin play
in less than a calendar year. While the team hunts
(02:45):
for a new leader, they'll move forward with a launch
party at Moda Center on July fifteenth, where they'll reveal
a team name and brand and feature exclusive March VIP
appearances and activations. We'll link to the franchise's Instagram post
about it.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
In our show note.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
We're looking forward to hearing more about this Portland team.
It seems kind of wild that they're starting at the
same time as the Toronto Tempo franchise that seems to
be much further ahead in terms of planning and organizational structure.
More w during the break, the Indiana Fever won the
franchise's first ever Commissioner's Cup, taken down the Minnesota Links
(03:20):
seventy four to fifty nine on Minnesota's home court, and
they did it without second year guard Caitlin Clark. Five
players reached double figures for Indian the win, including veteran
Natasha Howard, who led the way with sixteen points, twelve.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Rebounds, and four assists.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
With the win, the Fever split a five hundred thousand
dollars pot, and they also raised twenty three grand for
the Peace Learning Center, their selected community organization. After the win,
amidst shotgunning beers in the locker room, Caitlin Clark was
on Instagram live jokingly referring to the Commissioner's Cup as
the quote unquote Kathy Cup and calling out the fact
that the nc'son tournaments payday surpasses that of the WNBA Final.
(04:00):
Ostensibly speaking to Missioner Kathy Engelbert, Clark said, quote, you
get more for this than you do if you're the champion.
It makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Someone tell Kathy to help us out.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
End quote sounds like yet another line item to hash
out in the upcoming CBA. Speaking of the CBA, the
WNBA Players Association has rejected the first CBA proposal offered
by the league. New York Liberty forward Brianna Stewart, who's
vice president of the WNBPA, said quote, anytime you go
back and forth, you're not expecting to hear that yes
(04:31):
on the first proposal, but you're expecting to have a conversation.
They kind of just ignored everything we said end quote.
Phoenix Mercury forward Satu Sabli, co chair of the wnbpa's
CBA Committee, was even more blunt, calling the proposal quote
a slap in the face. Sably also remarked on the
league's announcement of three expansion teams, saying, quote, we really
(04:53):
have to put our emphasis on the players that are
in the league right now. I love to see the
league growing, but how cool would it also be to
have like a little bit of expansion on the rosters
end quote. We'll keep you updated as the negotiations between
the league and the PA continue. More WNBA, there was
some player movement while we were on our break. Remember
we told you that six time All Star Juanna Bonner
(05:14):
got waived after just nine games with the Indiana Fever
while after starting the season in the starting lineup. You
remember she was moved to the bench and then she
set out for several games due to quote unquote personal reasons,
later saying the team wasn't a good fit. Well, Bonner,
who's third on the league's all time scoring list, found
her way back to where she started, signing with the
Phoenix Mercury, who drafted her fifth overall back in two
(05:37):
thousand and nine. That's right, She's not only back with
the team she helped to two titles, she's also reunited
with her fiance and former Connecticut Sun teammate Alisa Thomas.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Hoops just keeps the gay shit coming, and we love it.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
In her first game back with Phoenix, Bonner had seven
points and six rebounds, helping the team top the first
place Minnesota Lynx. Her fiance Thomas dropped a career twenty
nine points in the win.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Look at what love can do, y'all.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
But it's not all good hoops and gay shit news.
Another move broke a pair apart. The Dallas Wings traded
forward Melissa Smith to the Las Vegas Aces in exchange
for the aces twenty twenty seven WNBA Draft first round pick.
The move means that Smith and her boo djn A
Carrington's time as teammates is over for now. The duo
enjoyed about six weeks together in Dallas, and Djna spoke
(06:26):
to Antscape about the day she found out about the trade,
saying Smith had less than ten hours to pack her
stuff and hop on the plane to join Vegas. But
according to DJA, the move isn't all bad.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Here she is at the end of the day.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
You know, I do believe that this is the best
thing for her in her basketball career, and you know,
I told her that at the end. You know, of course,
We've had all these emotions all day, but this is
a great move for you. And you get to play
alongside some of the best, You get to play alongside champions,
you get to play alongside one of your goats, and
(06:59):
so I'm super excited for her. I'm sad, I'm super sad,
but I'm super excited for her.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
And who knows, maybe they'll reunite like Bonner and Thomas
sometime down the road. And Smith is settling in with
her new squad, earning four straight starts since joining the Aces.
Speaking of the Aces, they were worried for a bit
during our hiatus as their superstar and three time league
MVP Asia Wilson went down with a right wrist injury.
And a loss to New York early last week. Strass
(07:28):
didn't last long, though, because Wilson returned on Saturday with
a vengeance. She posted thirty four points and sixteen rebounds
in a one four one oh two win over the
Golden State Valkyries. It was her nineteenth career thirty point
double double, good for the most such games in WNBA history,
and her third in the twenty twenty five season. It's
also been fun keeping up with her latest fashion choices.
(07:50):
Last year it was the white T shirt, and this
year she's just stealing her boyfriend bam Autobio's stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
First it was his warm up shirt.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Now it's the do rag and those two going back
and forth on social media about all his fifth that
she's dealing.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Pretty fun to keep up with.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Sticking with the w A few players are getting their flowers.
First up, the legendary Candae Parker. Her number three Los
Angeles Sparks jersey was raised to the rafters of Crypto
dot Com Arena during the team's game against the Chicago
Sky on June twenty ninth. The thirty nine year old
five time All Star is the third Sparks player to
have her jersey retired, joining Hall of Fame release Leslie
(08:26):
and Penny Toler. The Sparks selected Parker out of Tennessee
with the number one pick in the two thousand and
eight WNBA draft, and she spent thirteen of her sixteen
seasons in LA. She became the first and still only
player to win both Rookie of the Year and League
MVP in that eight season, then went on to win
a championship with the Sparks in twenty sixteen and be
(08:46):
named Finals MVP. She made the move to her hometown
Chicago Sky and won a chip with them in twenty
twenty one. That franchise is also going to retire her
jersey later this summer, by the way, and then Parker
went on to win a title with Las Vegas in
twenty three in her last season. In a speech to
the Crypto dot com arena crowd, Parker reflected fondly on her.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Path to LA. Take a listen.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
As a kid from the Chicago land, my idea of
Hollywood was through basketball. It wasn't the glitz or the
glam or the red carpets. It was like the eighties.
Kareem imagine the Showtime Lakers. It was the early two thousands,
back to back was smooth.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Lisa Leslie, Delicia.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
Milton Jones, and Michael Cooper.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
It was the Kobe and Shaq.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
Era of the Three Pete In the early two thousands,
it was loving basketball because who didn't want to be
Monica Wright. LA was about ball and so in two
thousand and eight, when the lot avery was between Chicago
(09:56):
and La, a kid from the Chicagoland Midwest, I was.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
A little partial.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
I wanted the balls to fall in LA's court.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
I wanted to be out west.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
I wanted to be here where all the eyeballs, all
the lights, where there's ginormous shoes to fill. When I
landed here, Michael Cooper he said to me, he said, Silk.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That was my nickname.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
If you win here, you're a champion forever.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
So there's one thing on my mind, and we got that.
We got that championship.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
When Parker's jersey is lifted to the rafters in Chicago,
it won't be the first because last week the Sky
honored recently retired Ali Quigley by making her number fourteen,
the first jersey retired by the franchise. The Sharpshooter spent
ten seasons with the Sky, helping them to their first
championship in twenty twenty one. The three time All Star
and one time sixth Player of the Year is also
(10:55):
the only player WNBA or MNBA to win four All
Star three point contests. She retired as the Sky's all
time leader in points and field goals, records broken this
season by her wife, Courtney vander Slut, and we dare
you not to tear up watching Slute try to make
it through Alley's congratulatory video without breaking down. We'll link
(11:16):
to that video in our show notes.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Some more Sky News.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Second year star Angel Reese has been named the cover
girl for the NBA two K twenty six WNBA Edition
video game. Recenter teammates wore T shirt celebrating the honor
for pregame on Saturday, and every fan in attendance for
the Sky's big win over the Links got a T
shirt as well. Next up to receiver Flowers Seattle Storm
great and friend of the Show Sue Byrd, who will
(11:40):
be honored with the statue outside Climate Pledgerina on August seventeenth.
The Storm is the first franchise in WNBA history to
dedicate a statue to a former player plenty more on
the statue related celebrations Ensue's twenty one season career to come.
That was a lot of WNBA news, and now that
we're caught, we can look ahead to WNBA All Star
(12:02):
Weekend coming up in Indy. Caitlin Clark and Nafisa Collier
got the most fan votes, so they were named All
Star Game captains. They put on their general manager hats
to draft Team Clark and Team Collier last week, and
they made one surprise switch, not a player trade, but
a coach trade, sending Minnesota Links coach Cheryl Reeve over
(12:23):
to coach her Star and Team Collier, with Liberty coach
Sandy Brondello taking over Team Clark. More on that later
in the show, along with a little big Citrus chatter
about the controversy over the fan, player and coach votes
for that game to the NWSL. The Chicago Stars coaching
carousel continues. After firing Louren Donaldson at the end of April,
(12:45):
the team promoted assistant Masaki Hemi to interim head coach,
but in early July, Hemi departed the club to quote
pursue other opportunities. Now assistant coach Ala Masser has taken over,
so the Stars are now on their third head coach
of this season and fifth head coach since twenty twenty two.
The permanent head coach search continues. Meantime, An independent investigation
(13:08):
into BAYFC concluded that head coach Albertine Montoya did not
violate the NWSL's anti harassment, discrimination and bullying policy, but
did find quote unquote shortcomings in his communication style. The
investigation was the result of a March report in the
San Francisco Chronicle that described a quote unquote toxic work
(13:28):
environment and revealed at least two formal complaints made about
the team. More soccer news, The US women's national team
looked sharp in a three nail win over Canada and
a July second friendly in DC dubbed the All State
Continental Classico. Claire Hutton scored her first international goal, Sam
Coffee added her fourth in a USA kit, and Yasmin
and Ryan added a late goal her second in as
(13:50):
many games. The US women's national team won all three
of its friendlies during this Viva window, not conceding a
single goal despite playing without any of their europe based players.
Sid's Nami Germa also we want to shout out friend
of the Show, Izzy Rodriguez at the case current who
scored in her US women's national team debut the team's
Dune twenty ninth match against Ireland. Even more soccer, US
(14:12):
women's national soccer team great Tobin Heath has announced her
retirement from soccer at the age of thirty seven, almost
three years after her last appearance and following multiple knee surgeries.
Heath won two World Cups and two Olympic gold medals
in her thirteen year career with the US women's national team,
and she also won two NWSL championships with the Portland Thorns.
On the Recap Show podcast with wife Kristin Press, a
(14:35):
forward with Angel CITYFC, an emotional Heath described finally coming
to the realization that she wouldn't be able to get
healthy enough to return to the pitch.
Speaker 6 (14:43):
Over New Year's I actually came to the full acceptance
that I wasn't going to be playing for like two years.
I'd really held on to it, and you know, like
I tried everything to get back, Like I spent tens
of thousands of dollars and two surgeries, one crazy surgery.
Speaker 7 (15:01):
And like the whole time I believed I was going
to get back, like and the writing was definitely on
the wall, and like I just I just couldn't accept.
I think that that was like my ending heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
It is always so hard when the body calls equits
before the mind does. There's a really lovely tribute video
featuring Heath's teammates and friends writing her letters about her career.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
We'll link to that in our show notes.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Oh and one last thing, did you hear me call
Kristen Press her wife? Yep, Heath referred to Press as
her quote wife and former teammate in an interview with
The Athletic, and a rep for the couple later confirmed
the news. So congrats to the longtime pair on making
it official. Whenever and wherever that happened. Long live footy
(15:49):
and gay shit more soccer. Congratulations to our show side,
Minnesota Aurora e FC on another spectacular season that ended
just short of the finals. After a fourth straight undefeated
regular season with all wins and two ties, the Aurora
defeated kings Hammer a FC on July sixth to make
it to the semi finals of the USLW Playoffs, where
(16:11):
they fell one nil to the Utah United on Saturday.
Utah will face NC Courage U twenty three for the
championship next Saturday. Thanks for another great season, Aurora. We'll
be back to cheer you on next year. To the
courts of Wimbledon, where American Amanda Anisimova's magical run ended
in the final Igasfontec handily defeated Anisamova six h six
(16:32):
to Soho on Saturday to earn her first Wimbledon title
and sixth major championship. Spontech is the eighth consecutive first
time women's champion at Wimbledon, and is the eighth women's
player all time and only active one to win a
major title on all three surfaces. It was a tough
finish for Anisimova, but it was a hell of a run,
and there's a really nice article in The Athletic about
(16:53):
her emotional journey back to the top of the tennis
world after the sudden death of her father in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
We'll link to it in our show note es.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
We also had fun watching Washington Spirit and US women's
national team star Trinity Rodman cheer on her boyfriend Ben
Shelton as he advanced all the way to the quarterfinals
at the All England Club before he fell to Yanick Sinner,
the eventual champion, and shouts to Rodman for correcting the
announcers who called her by the wrong name and then
invoked her dad, Dennis Rodman, with whom she doesn't have
(17:22):
a relationship, wrote Rodman on Instagram. Quote for those who
don't know, my name is Trinity, not Tiffany. Also for
Ben's matches, he has his family there as his support system,
which includes his dad.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
My dad's not even in my life.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
No need to bring him up during his matches when
I don't even want him talked about during mine.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
It's him and his loved ones. Moment, Thank you. End quote.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Here's hoping there's one day where Trinity won't have to
keep saying that. To Track and Field and the Prefontaine
Classic were two time Olympic champion. Beatrice Shabbett ran a
world record of thirteen fifty eight six in the five
thousand meter, becoming the first woman to run a sub
fourteen minutes in the event. Later in the meet, fellow
Kenyon and fellow Olympic gold medalist Faith Kipiegon broke her
(18:07):
own world record in the fifteen hundred meters with a
three forty eight sixty eight run, and finally, in motorsports,
a quick shout out to friend of the show, Catherine Legg,
who finished nineteenth in the Grant Park one sixty five
NASCAR Cup Series race in downtown Chicago the weekend of
July fourth. She's the first woman in eight years to
finish in the top twenty of a Cup Series race.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Way to go, Catherine.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
All Right, we got to take a quick break when
we come back. We know you missed us when we
missed you too, Big Citrus gets back on the mic
in just a sec.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Stick around. Welcome back, y'all.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
We hope you're feeling is rested and relaxed as we
are after our two week hiatus. And if you're not,
if you're gritting your teeth and bawling up your fists
and jail because you actually really could use a two
week summer break yourself.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
All right, we hear you. At Least we're back, though,
so the.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Daily grind's a little easier with a podcast episode to
look forward to every morning, right, hopefully. Well, while we
were gardening, swimming, sleeping, reading, and otherwise enjoying our break,
a few questions came to mind, like, what the hell
was Sophie Cunningham thinking taking on the city of Detroit, Detroit,
(19:27):
of all places. Quote, I don't know how excited people
are going to be going to Detroit or Cleveland. The
Fever Stars set about the WNBA expansion news and like,
no offense to Indiana. Okay, some offense, but folks in
the deep south of the Midwest probably shouldn't be talking
about what cities players want to live in and visit.
And thankfully, the city of Detroit clapped back with quote,
(19:49):
the last time we were home to a WNBA team,
Detroit Shock, we ranked top five in attendance for five
straight seasons, number one in attendance for three straight seasons,
and set a single game attendance record of twenty t
two thousand and seventy six fans at Game three of
the two thousand and three WNBA Finals end quote.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Wow. Nothing like having beef with teams that don't even
exist yet.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
So and speaking of those expansion teams, why did the
intro videos for all three of the new w expansion
team's center little girls? The Detroit and Cleveland intro videos
are both voiced by little girls, while the Philly video
was interviews of little girls. This is such a tired approach.
(20:29):
I've got no problem with including kiddos in the content.
Of course, we all love the idea of young girls
across America having teams and players to look up to
in their city.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
But as we've said over and over, women's sports has
to be cool, has to have an edge. The kids
and the families are going to show up no matter what.
So speak to your audience as adults, make the team
and the gear and the game look cool. Can you
imagine an expansion MNBA team doing a video which is
little boys talking about the NBA, like the voice of
(20:59):
a little boy saying the NBA is coming to Kansas City.
Speaker 8 (21:04):
Nah.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Like just last year, the Golden State Valkyries rollout did
it right. It was slick and it was simple.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
It was shots of the city interspersed with clips of
w legends and stars. It said a lot about where
the team was going to live, and that's all it
really needed to do. There's plenty of time to appeal
to kids. Throw some camps and clinics, but let's start
off with a little more creativity and style. Okay, here's
hoping the teams break out some more inspired content as
their tip offs near. I was also thinking, when a
(21:30):
trade happens for the Las Vegas Aces, what happens to
the one hundred thousand dollars sponsorship bonus from the city
of Las Vegas. Does the originally assigned player who's no
longer with the team get it all? It's been reported
that the payment comes in installments, not a lump sum,
so maybe they just keep what they've made and the
contract ends. Does the new player get the remaining percentage
of the contract? So, like, for instance, with Liz Kittley
(21:52):
and Tiffany Mitchell who just got waived in the Melissa
Smith deal, did they get to keep a few months
of that hundred k? I sure hope so, because that
would make free agency sting a little less. And finally,
I was thinking, when it comes to All Star voting,
what's the real reason WNBA players, coaches, and fans all
had such different ranks for Fever Star Caitlin Clark. When
(22:14):
the voting breakdown for the upcoming All Star Game was released,
there was a lot of buzz about Kaitlin Clark being
ranked the top guard by the fans, third by the
media and ninth by her fellow players. Is the ranking
the result of resentment or jealousy, as some allege, I
think we need to get into it. So for this one,
I got to bring in the rest of Big Citrus
(22:35):
Alex mesh Hi longtime, no time.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Is it really nice? It's kind of nice.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
At the beginning of the hiatus, I was like, it's
going too fast, and then by the end, I was like,
I think I'm good. I'm ready to get.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Back to work.
Speaker 8 (22:49):
As I was preparing for today's show, I was like,
do I have to wear my back to school clothes? Like,
whip out my freshly sharpened pencils, get.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
To your binder on your notebook for each category of
each class.
Speaker 9 (23:03):
Were you a big backpack kid too?
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Ol?
Speaker 8 (23:06):
I loved my backpack and stationary school supplies.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
School supplies the best meish not you.
Speaker 10 (23:14):
Oh, definitely a thousand percent trapper keeper forward to I don't.
Speaker 9 (23:19):
I don't know that I was giving trapper keeper.
Speaker 10 (23:21):
I definitely had a backpack that was way too big
for my body for you know, stretch there until I
started to grow. And then, of course, as you probably felt,
was the tallest person in all my classes, forever.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
There you go. But love supplies.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
All right, let's talk about this Caitlin Clark thing, because
people were in a fizzy about it.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Alex, what do you make of it?
Speaker 8 (23:41):
I want to just start by providing some context, because
this is not the first time that we have seen
a huge division between how players are being ranked. So
I'm going to bring us back two years to twenty
twenty three, when Sabrina Unescu was ranked sixth by fans,
sixth by the media, and noteenth by her fellow players.
(24:03):
So Caitlin looking pretty good with the ranking that she
got there in comparison. And then last year, here's a
fun fact, folks, the WNBA didn't release a breakdown.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
And remember that.
Speaker 8 (24:15):
I have a theory as to why it is because
I think that the divide was probably even wider between
how fans and media and players voted for Kaitlin, and
they probably just didn't want to deal with the ensuing drama,
and this year they were like, oh, it's pretty close,
let's just release.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
It right right, Or maybe because like the general discourse
around Caitlin versus everybody is not as insane this year,
it's not gone. But maybe they're like we can handle
it this year.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Last year, we can't. We do not trust the people
with this information.
Speaker 10 (24:46):
Yeah, it could have been a I mean we already
had enough inflection points, but it could have set fire
for Yeah. Out, that's that's a great fine, And I
appreciate you you going to find that because this breakdown
makes totals sense to me, Like, I don't I think
we're at this point with the w where every little
thing that has to do with Caitlin, Oh, immediately we
(25:08):
have to be up in arms. We don't know, We
really really don't, y'all. Like she had a good year
to this point, but she's been out, she's been hurt,
she's been off the court. Yes, she's second in assist
per game. That's never not gonna be magical. But they're
supposed to rank her off Aura, Like she's not even
you know what I mean, she's not even. She doesn't
even have an opportunity to play in the games. And
(25:29):
then if you look at the players who were voted
ahead of her, that makes it make even more sense.
Alisha Gray ranked first, having the best year of her
entire career, the most point.
Speaker 9 (25:39):
She's ever averaged. Right, you got Sabrinni and Escu.
Speaker 10 (25:43):
You just talked about her, Alex and I think it's
so funny how quickly people are forgotten that Sabrina was
the golden child when she can Yeah, right, but.
Speaker 9 (25:51):
Now it feels like she's getting hurt.
Speaker 10 (25:52):
Her second win, she's ranked second, and the player voting
her team's in third place. She's top five in points
per game, Like, there's a lot of reasons these other
guards were ranked above Caitlyn Clark and then just look
at the standings Indies in eighth place. They've struggled even
when Caitlyn has been on the court. There have been
games where they've played seamlessly, and there've been games where
they just don't look like the Feber team we expect
(26:13):
them to look like. So I just don't think this
is a thing. It's not a slight, it's not a disrespect.
It's not evidence of some ulterior motive that people have,
though I will say I would understand if there were
some rough, tough feelings towards Kaitlin because of some of
the little scuffles we've seen throughout the first half of
the year, But I don't think that's what's being reflected
(26:34):
in this ranking at all.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I think it's possible that a couple players did think. Listen,
she's gonna get all the fan votes. I don't need
to boost her. I'm going to pick some other players
that I think I want to give a bump. That
is very possible, right, Or it might even be some
players who flat out resent the fact that there are
so many that cape for Caitlin, regardless of what the
context of anything is, and that they're just.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Frustrated with that.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
But what I want to point to is what you
said me, which is the numbers as of July second,
which is I believe, the date that this came out.
She had only played in nine games. She had the
quad strain, she had the groin injury, so she's already
not putting up very much of a body of work
to be voted upon.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
And at the time, she was.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Twelfth in the league in points per game, thirteenth in
field goals, made, eighty eighth in three point percentage, Yes,
that's the accurate number. Eighty eighth in three point percentage,
third in three pointers made, thirty fifth in rebounds, second
in assist first in turnovers, and fourteenth in steals. Those
are good numbers, there's some good ones in there, and
(27:34):
then you look at the actual numbers, you say, she's
not having a great season. And yes, the injuries are
a huge part of that. But if you're the player's voting,
you're not voting off of like hype like you said
or Aura, You're voting off of.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
How people are playing, and.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
She hasn't been playing that well when she is playing.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
So it actually makes sense.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
And the problem is is that every conversation we have
around Caitlin, and often the w in general, is so
infused with ignorance that it's very hard to even have
the conversation, Like you have to get people caught up
on a million things before they can even have an
accurate response to something like this. And so when it
came out, it was not surprised at all that people
(28:14):
lost their goddamn minds.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
And I was also like, how about just go look
at some statistics watch them games.
Speaker 8 (28:20):
Yeah, I was fascinated by Kelsey Plumb though getting ranked
sixth by fans, sixth by the media, in sixteenth by players,
because I think one of the things that really stands
out to me looking through these and we'll link to
them in the show notes, but the media and players
are actually pretty well aligned hm, which says a lot
to me that at least the media members that are
(28:42):
voting on this are pretty clued in to like what
actual good basketball looks like and the types of stats
that you should be keeping tabs on. And so I'm
super curious about that one though, Like is it just
the media over ranking her or is there something going
on where the players are like, mmm, Kelsey, I don't
know about you.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
The other one that stands out to me, especially based
on what we just talked about with Sabrina as well,
is pagebackers. Yes, pagebackers number two, fan rank number five,
media rank number four, player rank.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Like when we.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Talk about rookies, rookie treatment, rookie expectations, all the other stuff,
the golden child is their resentment.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Page is immune.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Page is so beloved by everyone, and that's not a
knock on her game because she is insanely efficient. I
just had someone text me today that was like, is
it crazy to think that Page might be better than
like Clark and Reeese And I'm like, bruh, she could
be better than everybody, and like, you're not going to
see the highlights as much because it is so efficient
and she makes it look easy, and then she's putting
(29:43):
up numbers that we just haven't seen. So I do
have to say I enjoy the fact that, you know,
Page wins people over and seems to be popular with
everybody involved. Okay, the other thing I mentioned earlier in
the show is that Clark and the FISA Collier are
captains of the teams, and they switched coaches for the game.
Cheryl Reeve coaches the league leading Links, so she was
(30:03):
assigned to Clark's team because Clark was the top vote getter.
But then they swapped so that Cheryl's going to coach
the team led by Hurst our player Collier, and Clark
will be led by the Liberty of Sandy Brondelo. Now,
on its face, this is really no big deal, and
it was kind of funny. Even in the live show
where they revealed their drafted players, Caitlin was like, I
don't know if we're allowed to do this, but whatever,
try to stop us.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
There's no rule.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
So it's kind of funny, and you know, you're, oh, yeah,
of course reeven Caller want to stick together. But on
the other hand, some of the fun of this game
is that you see players and coaches together that we
don't normally see. And the added little twist here is
that there is controversy that's been built around Cheryl Reeve
and her role as head coach of the Olympic basketball team.
Even though she didn't get to decide which players were
(30:45):
on the roster, she was thrown into the mess and
accused of like being critical because she tweeted out once
about how her team's preseason game wasn't being played on
TV and you couldn't watch it and there's more things
to watch than just Caitlin Clark. So combined, certain people,
Stine Brennan among them, have sort of made her an
enemy of Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
This doesn't help.
Speaker 9 (31:06):
So I was watching it, I was like, no.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Don't add to this.
Speaker 9 (31:10):
I wanted to see.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Y'all on a sideline together, just being fine, and instead
it's like, I'm sorry, I can't be expected to play
for her. And I'm not saying that that's what you're saying,
but that's how it reads.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (31:20):
Yeah, I didn't love that move, and I thought it
was interesting for anyone that didn't see the live show.
But Caitlyn even starts off by being like, I don't
know if this is in the rules, I don't care,
and she made it sound like she had discussed it
with Fia ahead of time, like she wasn't like it
was clearly already decided, but.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Fee's face didn't look enthusiastic and like, yeah, this is fun.
Speaker 8 (31:43):
Yeah, And then also, why didn't Fee bring it up?
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yeah? Perhaps yeah again, Yeah, Why wouldn't phoeb be like,
I can't let my coach be working with y'all, I
can't let me steal my coach.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Then it would seem more fun. Instead it was like, yeah,
I don't know if this is allowed, but I'm not
gonna play for her.
Speaker 9 (31:58):
I don't know.
Speaker 10 (31:59):
I really don't know what to make of that piece
of it, because that did kind of throw me for
a loop. I was like, and I was also as
a producer and somebody who you know knows you, and
folks who work in broadcast at TV, I'm like, babe,
don't go off script, don't off script.
Speaker 9 (32:15):
Don't tell these people some shit that they weren't ready for.
Speaker 10 (32:17):
But that aside, when it comes to the actual like gameplay,
I'm really not mad at it, honestly, because if you
think about what just happened with Minnesota losing to Indiana
and the Commissioner's Cup. It would make sense to me
if he specifically had a little chip on her shoulder.
She's like, all Star is gonna be on your home court.
You just beat us on our home court for more
(32:37):
money than you would earn the finals. As Kaitlyn Clark
pointed out, why not, I'm gonna go out here and
see if we can make a statement. And on the
flip side, you know you got Kaitlyn Clark, Kelsey Mitchell,
Jackie young Sonya Citron, Sabrinian Escut, some of the most
prolific shooters in the game. Under Sandy Brondelo in her
kind of offense, that's gonna be fun.
Speaker 9 (32:59):
And you either way you look at that.
Speaker 10 (33:01):
The more involved and engaged I feel like the players are,
the more they're about it, the more they're excited about it,
the better the quality of the actual game will be.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I love that. I agree with all that. I just
don't want to give ammunition to conspiracy theories.
Speaker 8 (33:17):
For Sarah, you already listed facts in this episode, and
that was against their entire identity.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
They're already gone, They're not even here.
Speaker 8 (33:25):
Before we move on, one more thing I want to
mention from that draft selection show with Fee, but I
don't know if you guys noticed she was wearing an
Unrivaled shirt and Caitlin was wearing an Indiana Fever shirt. Also,
every single player that Fee selected has an association with Unrivaled,
with the exception of Neka, who of course is in
charge of the players Association. And so to me, that
(33:47):
whole thing also felt a little bit like a slight
middle finger to the WNBA.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Oooh, I did not notice that.
Speaker 8 (33:54):
To me, it felt like a subtle statement from Fee
of hey, I'm representing Unrivaled right now, not the league,
which for people that don't know, there are a lot
of rules about media appearances and what you can and
cannot wear to them. Usually you are mandated to wear
team gear. I'm not sure if he was breaking a
rule by not wearing team gear to that, or maybe
it fell in these gray lines of like whose jurisdiction
(34:16):
is this, But the fact that she was wearing an
Unrivaled thing did send a message. I thought about how
she currently feels about the CBA negotiations.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
And also worth noting that she actually came out feeded
and denied any conflict of interest that she might have
in terms of her roles as both a co founder
of Unrivaled and vice president of the WNBAPA. So somebody
on X basically said that there was no way that
Kyllier and Stewart could negotiate the upcoming CBA in good
faith because of the financial benefits that they would get
if the WNBA were to go into a lockout and
(34:44):
how that might help their Unrivaled league. So then NEFISA
wrote back on ex and was like, so, let me
get this straight. While everyone else was enjoying fireworks, you
were thinking about how me and Stewie of all people,
are conspiring to force a lockout that would result in
less money year round for WNBA players.
Speaker 9 (35:00):
Yeah, makes sense.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
They weren't working with a lot of information, but they
were ready and willing to send out those conspiracies, which
brings us.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Back to what we just talked about.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
But it is interesting that maybe it was a wink
from her, you know, like I'm going to wear this
Unrivaled shirt since people think that I'm you know, negotiating
against the league.
Speaker 8 (35:18):
But she should have shut up In the New York
Skyline Dress's Kathy Anger.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
All right, we don't have enough time for all the
questions that we asked ourselves over break, Like you know,
I don't know which crimes get you deported to a
foreign gulag and which ones get you elected president? Or
I don't know how many books do you need to
sell to offset the cost of selling your soul? Or
maybe you know why did HBO cancel Somebody Somewhere great show.
(35:46):
I guess we'll have to get to those another time,
because we got a lot of work to do putting
together a brand spankin new season of amazing good game
episodes for all y'all, And we already have some really
great guests lined up for the first few weeks, so
get excited for that. And I just have some goals
for this season that I would like to share.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
I would like to do.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Some more fun group chat episodes with like comedians and
content creators and people who know game, just shooting the
shit and talking about issues and topics that are top
of mind for women's sports fans. I think those are
really fun. I love listening to shows where people are
laughing a lot and like having fun, and I want
to give that to our listeners sometimes as well.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
And I also want to get more w players on
the show.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Their schedules make it tough to book them at times,
but I really want to hear more from the women themselves.
Since so much of W chatter tends to be dominated
by talking heads and TikTokers and Twitter loud mouse and
headline writers that are trying to get clicks, I find
it harder and harder to find good information now because
the top of every search is like the garbage AI
generated shit where they're like speaks out break silence and
(36:47):
like they didn't say or do anything.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
So I want to get more players and hear it
from them. Meish, what about you? What do you want
to do this season?
Speaker 10 (36:54):
Everything you just said like to with THEI of course,
of course I want every w NBA player in the
league to come on our show. Actually, can we just
block out the next one hundred and fifty episode? That
would be a lot, But I'm a thousand percent there with.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
You on that.
Speaker 10 (37:10):
I also want to get some celebrity fans on, like,
that's that's an area I really want to tap into.
I'm talking like Leslie Jones her crazy self. Okay, Okay,
make that make that connection, Sarah Spain connection, vivocate a Fox,
Wanda Sykes, all top of my personal list.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Love it.
Speaker 10 (37:30):
But specifically, there's one person in particular that I really
really really really really want to get to come on
the show, and that's Isa Ray. Y'all, yes, lady, I
know she's busy, I know, I know you heard her name.
Were like, there's no way, And there is a way
because she's an investor in San Diego FC of the
MLS uh And I think with the right poking and prodding,
(37:52):
we can bring her over to the NWSL side show
her how much more fun she would have investing in
the San Diego Wave.
Speaker 9 (37:59):
Or pork and if you got it, girl, you got it.
Speaker 10 (38:02):
But I'm just saying it feels like there's a clear
cut connection there and we can make that happen here.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
I love it. I'm here for it, Alex, what about you?
Speaker 8 (38:10):
I want to see us book some opposing athletes in
a head to head interview kind of actually inspired a
little bit by what we saw with Caitlin Clark and
the FISA Collier doing their pre All Star draft. I
remember seeing I think I'm going to give MMA credit
for this. I don't remember if it was the PFL
or some other organizations, but I know seriously, but I
(38:31):
remember seeing a joint interview before or FI. I literally
do not remember the athletes, but it was two athletes
that were going to fight each other in two days
doing a sit down interview together, and it was so engaging,
and I was like, I can understand why athletes don't
do more of this, but I feel like, if there's
anywhere to have those types of conversations, it's women's sports, right,
and so I want to see athletes come on and
(38:52):
you know, have a little bit of trash talk and
throw some shade.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
That would be really fun.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Let's just call the WNBA in advance and say that
we would like access to the top four players from
each of the finals teams to chat with us directly
before they meet in the WNBA finals.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
So you think that will work? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (39:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (39:08):
The questions they include what trash talk name would you
give your opponents?
Speaker 5 (39:13):
Dog?
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Okay, I don't think Marina and the Sun are going
to be in the finals.
Speaker 8 (39:21):
That doesn't mean Rina's trash talk won't be though.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
I love all that. I love all that.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
All right, we got to take another break obviously send
us what you'd like to see in this season as well.
When we come back, one sport officially enters it's good game,
Gay Shit Era.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Welcome back, slices.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
It's time for another edition of good Game, Good Game
fact you. All right, here's a fun fact you could
share with the haters who insist on continuing to spread
the lie that most of Angel Reese's rebounds come off
her own offensive missus. Heading into game action on Sunday,
Angel Reese led the WNBA in rebounds with two hundred
and fifty five, but if you just took her defensive rebounds,
(40:10):
she'd still lead the league. Her one hundred and seventy
six defensive rebounds tops second place Azare Stevens one hundred
and seventy two total offensive and defensive rebounds combined. So yeah,
take that stat to certain folks you know who, and
ask them if they can identify and articulate why they're
so committed to spreading a lie.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
I don't think they're going to have a good answer.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
All right, folks, this is a big day for the show.
We've got our first entry into the Annals of Softball
and gay Shit. Okay, so get this at the start
of the Athletes Unlimited Softball Season AUSL, Kayla Kowalick was
playing for the Blaze while her girlfriend Mackenzie Clark was
on the Volts, but after the first ten games of
the season, Clark was traded to the Blaze to join Kualik.
(40:58):
It was part of the first trade in AUA sell history,
and per Unusual Softball, koali stats got a big boost
once her girlfriend arrived. In the ten games before Clark
was traded, Kowalik had a one ninety two batting average,
three hundred on base percentage, and three to eight slugging percentage,
But after Clark joined her team, Qualk posted a five
(41:18):
hundred batting average, six twenty five on base percentage, and
seven to fifty slugging percentage. The power of love, y'all
sports are obviously physical and psychological, so it makes sense
that play with her crush would help Koalik crush some dingers.
We love that. We also love that you're listening, but
we want you to get in the game every day too.
(41:39):
So here's our good game play of the day. It's
an easy one, but we're really hoping that all of
you do it. Send our show to one friend that
you think might enjoy it, or two or three or
four friends, but you know, start with one, send them
a favorite episode.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
And invite them to be a slice. Let's keep growing
our community. And for extra credit, if you're listening to
the and you happen to be an.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Agent, player, coach, media, somebody else in the mix, and
you know a superstar that should be on our show,
holler at him and tell them to come on. I
don't know, you know, like Venus and Serena Williams, Caitlin Clark,
Angel Reese, Don Staley, Emma Hayes, Simone Biles, Jordan Giles,
Katie Ledeci, you know any of those people.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
We'll keep updating the list.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
We always love to hear from you, so hit us
up on email, good game at Wondermedia neetwork dot com,
or you can leave us a voicemail at eight seven
two two o four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe,
Rate and review.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
It's easy watch host cities.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
Getting a makeover in honor of women's sports, rating ten
out of ten toes in on supporting the Ladies review
in Basel, Switzerland, the stoplights have changed from standard pedestrian
outlines to the outline of a woman kicking a soccer ball.
The change is in honor of the Euro twenty twenty
five tournament that's being contested in Switzerland right now through
(42:58):
July twenty seventh. The tournament has already broken the Women's
European Championship group stage attendance record, boasting a combined two
hundred and eighty seven four hundred and thirty eight fans
through just the first.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Two match days and out.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
In Indianapolis, temporary street signs celebrating the upcoming WNBA All
Star Game have been added around the city, including one
for each of the thirteen teams in the league. And
this is not the first time that Indie streets have
dressed up for an occasion. Last year, the city welcomed
the Taylor Swift Eras tour with signs for streets with
names like Getaway Car, Drive, Swift Street, and Ready for
(43:32):
It Road. We love a SETI that steps up when
it's their time to shine. Now it's your turn, rate
and review.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
See you tomorrow when we chat with Ben Pickman, staff
writer for The Athletic, about all things WNBA. Good game
to all our super cute sports and gayshit Couples, Good
Game Slices.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Thanks for joining us for the start of season two.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Youw the WNBA conspiracy Industrial Complex. 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 Azzie
(44:16):
and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz,
Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rutter,
Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and Gianna Palmer. Our associate producer
is Lucy Jones. Production assistance from Avery Loftus and I'm
Your Host Sarah Spain.
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we are
so back for season two, and like The Dark Knight,
Terminator two and The Godfather Part two, we fully intend
for the sequel to be even better than the original.
It's Monday, July fourteenth, Happy Disability Pride Month.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Slices.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
On today's show, Big Citrus is going to weigh in
on a WNBA controversy, make some predictions for this season
of Good Game, and welcome a little softball and gay
shit into the mix. Plus, we'll be recapping the biggest
headlines from the last two weeks, like injuries, retirements, investigations, records,
and a whole lot of summer love.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
It's all coming up right after.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
This Welcome back slices.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Did you miss us, We missed you.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Here's what you need to know today, and buckle in
because it's a lot. In WNBA news, the league officially
announced that it'll be expanding to eighteen teams by the
year twenty thirty. That's right, we took a break for
two weeks and we got three more WNBA teams. There
will be a Cleveland team tipping off in twenty twenty eight,
a Detroit team starting competition in twenty twenty nine, and
(01:17):
a Philadelphia team suiting up in twenty thirty. Cleveland and
Detroit each had teams in the early years of the
w The Cleveland Rockers were actually one of the league's
original eight teams. They played from ninety seven to two
thousand and three, and the Detroit Shock played from ninety
eight to two thousand and nine, bringing three championships to
the Motor City. All three new editions have MNBA ownership groups,
(01:39):
and each paid a cool two hundred and fifty million
dollar expansion fee. Now that number sounds high, that's because
it is. It's roughly five times the amount the Golden
State Warriors put down for the Valkyries. To quote the
great philosopher Fat Joe, yesterday's price is not today's price.
With the Toronto Tempo and the Portland WNBA team both
(02:00):
slated to begin play in twenty twenty six, the w
is adding a total of five new teams in five years.
Talk about exponential growth. We'll link to each new franchise's
site in our show notes. While we're on the topic
of expansion, the aforementioned Portland WNBA team made a curious
move at the end of June the franchise parted ways
with team president Inky Sun after just three months on
(02:24):
the job. In a joint statement, Sun and Portland WNBA
owners RAJ Sports said that it was Sun who decided
to leave the organization. Former Nike executive Claire Hamill is
serving as team president in the interim. The news comes
as a bit of a shock, as Sun was their
first hire and the franchise is set to begin play
in less than a calendar year. While the team hunts
(02:45):
for a new leader, they'll move forward with a launch
party at Moda Center on July fifteenth, where they'll reveal
a team name and brand and feature exclusive March VIP
appearances and activations. We'll link to the franchise's Instagram post
about it.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
In our show note.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
We're looking forward to hearing more about this Portland team.
It seems kind of wild that they're starting at the
same time as the Toronto Tempo franchise that seems to
be much further ahead in terms of planning and organizational structure.
More w during the break, the Indiana Fever won the
franchise's first ever Commissioner's Cup, taken down the Minnesota Links
(03:20):
seventy four to fifty nine on Minnesota's home court, and
they did it without second year guard Caitlin Clark. Five
players reached double figures for Indian the win, including veteran
Natasha Howard, who led the way with sixteen points, twelve.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Rebounds, and four assists.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
With the win, the Fever split a five hundred thousand
dollars pot, and they also raised twenty three grand for
the Peace Learning Center, their selected community organization. After the win,
amidst shotgunning beers in the locker room, Caitlin Clark was
on Instagram live jokingly referring to the Commissioner's Cup as
the quote unquote Kathy Cup and calling out the fact
that the nc'son tournaments payday surpasses that of the WNBA Final.
(04:00):
Ostensibly speaking to Missioner Kathy Engelbert, Clark said, quote, you
get more for this than you do if you're the champion.
It makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Someone tell Kathy to help us out.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
End quote sounds like yet another line item to hash
out in the upcoming CBA. Speaking of the CBA, the
WNBA Players Association has rejected the first CBA proposal offered
by the league. New York Liberty forward Brianna Stewart, who's
vice president of the WNBPA, said quote, anytime you go
back and forth, you're not expecting to hear that yes
(04:31):
on the first proposal, but you're expecting to have a conversation.
They kind of just ignored everything we said end quote.
Phoenix Mercury forward Satu Sabli, co chair of the wnbpa's
CBA Committee, was even more blunt, calling the proposal quote
a slap in the face. Sably also remarked on the
league's announcement of three expansion teams, saying, quote, we really
(04:53):
have to put our emphasis on the players that are
in the league right now. I love to see the
league growing, but how cool would it also be to
have like a little bit of expansion on the rosters
end quote. We'll keep you updated as the negotiations between
the league and the PA continue. More WNBA, there was
some player movement while we were on our break. Remember
we told you that six time All Star Juanna Bonner
(05:14):
got waived after just nine games with the Indiana Fever
while after starting the season in the starting lineup. You
remember she was moved to the bench and then she
set out for several games due to quote unquote personal reasons,
later saying the team wasn't a good fit. Well, Bonner,
who's third on the league's all time scoring list, found
her way back to where she started, signing with the
Phoenix Mercury, who drafted her fifth overall back in two
(05:37):
thousand and nine. That's right, She's not only back with
the team she helped to two titles, she's also reunited
with her fiance and former Connecticut Sun teammate Alisa Thomas.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Hoops just keeps the gay shit coming, and we love it.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
In her first game back with Phoenix, Bonner had seven
points and six rebounds, helping the team top the first
place Minnesota Lynx. Her fiance Thomas dropped a career twenty
nine points in the win.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Look at what love can do, y'all.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
But it's not all good hoops and gay shit news.
Another move broke a pair apart. The Dallas Wings traded
forward Melissa Smith to the Las Vegas Aces in exchange
for the aces twenty twenty seven WNBA Draft first round pick.
The move means that Smith and her boo djn A
Carrington's time as teammates is over for now. The duo
enjoyed about six weeks together in Dallas, and Djna spoke
(06:26):
to Antscape about the day she found out about the trade,
saying Smith had less than ten hours to pack her
stuff and hop on the plane to join Vegas. But
according to DJA, the move isn't all bad.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Here she is at the end of the day.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
You know, I do believe that this is the best
thing for her in her basketball career, and you know,
I told her that at the end. You know, of course,
We've had all these emotions all day, but this is
a great move for you. And you get to play
alongside some of the best, You get to play alongside champions,
you get to play alongside one of your goats, and
(06:59):
so I'm super excited for her. I'm sad, I'm super sad,
but I'm super excited for her.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
And who knows, maybe they'll reunite like Bonner and Thomas
sometime down the road. And Smith is settling in with
her new squad, earning four straight starts since joining the Aces.
Speaking of the Aces, they were worried for a bit
during our hiatus as their superstar and three time league
MVP Asia Wilson went down with a right wrist injury.
And a loss to New York early last week. Strass
(07:28):
didn't last long, though, because Wilson returned on Saturday with
a vengeance. She posted thirty four points and sixteen rebounds
in a one four one oh two win over the
Golden State Valkyries. It was her nineteenth career thirty point
double double, good for the most such games in WNBA history,
and her third in the twenty twenty five season. It's
also been fun keeping up with her latest fashion choices.
(07:50):
Last year it was the white T shirt, and this
year she's just stealing her boyfriend bam Autobio's stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
First it was his warm up shirt.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Now it's the do rag and those two going back
and forth on social media about all his fifth that
she's dealing.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Pretty fun to keep up with.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Sticking with the w A few players are getting their flowers.
First up, the legendary Candae Parker. Her number three Los
Angeles Sparks jersey was raised to the rafters of Crypto
dot Com Arena during the team's game against the Chicago
Sky on June twenty ninth. The thirty nine year old
five time All Star is the third Sparks player to
have her jersey retired, joining Hall of Fame release Leslie
(08:26):
and Penny Toler. The Sparks selected Parker out of Tennessee
with the number one pick in the two thousand and
eight WNBA draft, and she spent thirteen of her sixteen
seasons in LA. She became the first and still only
player to win both Rookie of the Year and League
MVP in that eight season, then went on to win
a championship with the Sparks in twenty sixteen and be
(08:46):
named Finals MVP. She made the move to her hometown
Chicago Sky and won a chip with them in twenty
twenty one. That franchise is also going to retire her
jersey later this summer, by the way, and then Parker
went on to win a title with Las Vegas in
twenty three in her last season. In a speech to
the Crypto dot com arena crowd, Parker reflected fondly on her.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Path to LA. Take a listen.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
As a kid from the Chicago land, my idea of
Hollywood was through basketball. It wasn't the glitz or the
glam or the red carpets. It was like the eighties.
Kareem imagine the Showtime Lakers. It was the early two thousands,
back to back was smooth.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Lisa Leslie, Delicia.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
Milton Jones, and Michael Cooper.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
It was the Kobe and Shaq.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
Era of the Three Pete In the early two thousands,
it was loving basketball because who didn't want to be
Monica Wright. LA was about ball and so in two
thousand and eight, when the lot avery was between Chicago
(09:56):
and La, a kid from the Chicagoland Midwest, I was.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
A little partial.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
I wanted the balls to fall in LA's court.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
I wanted to be out west.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
I wanted to be here where all the eyeballs, all
the lights, where there's ginormous shoes to fill. When I
landed here, Michael Cooper he said to me, he said, Silk.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That was my nickname.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
If you win here, you're a champion forever.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
So there's one thing on my mind, and we got that.
We got that championship.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
When Parker's jersey is lifted to the rafters in Chicago,
it won't be the first because last week the Sky
honored recently retired Ali Quigley by making her number fourteen,
the first jersey retired by the franchise. The Sharpshooter spent
ten seasons with the Sky, helping them to their first
championship in twenty twenty one. The three time All Star
and one time sixth Player of the Year is also
(10:55):
the only player WNBA or MNBA to win four All
Star three point contests. She retired as the Sky's all
time leader in points and field goals, records broken this
season by her wife, Courtney vander Slut, and we dare
you not to tear up watching Slute try to make
it through Alley's congratulatory video without breaking down. We'll link
(11:16):
to that video in our show notes.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Some more Sky News.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Second year star Angel Reese has been named the cover
girl for the NBA two K twenty six WNBA Edition
video game. Recenter teammates wore T shirt celebrating the honor
for pregame on Saturday, and every fan in attendance for
the Sky's big win over the Links got a T
shirt as well. Next up to receiver Flowers Seattle Storm
great and friend of the Show Sue Byrd, who will
(11:40):
be honored with the statue outside Climate Pledgerina on August seventeenth.
The Storm is the first franchise in WNBA history to
dedicate a statue to a former player plenty more on
the statue related celebrations Ensue's twenty one season career to come.
That was a lot of WNBA news, and now that
we're caught, we can look ahead to WNBA All Star
(12:02):
Weekend coming up in Indy. Caitlin Clark and Nafisa Collier
got the most fan votes, so they were named All
Star Game captains. They put on their general manager hats
to draft Team Clark and Team Collier last week, and
they made one surprise switch, not a player trade, but
a coach trade, sending Minnesota Links coach Cheryl Reeve over
(12:23):
to coach her Star and Team Collier, with Liberty coach
Sandy Brondello taking over Team Clark. More on that later
in the show, along with a little big Citrus chatter
about the controversy over the fan, player and coach votes
for that game to the NWSL. The Chicago Stars coaching
carousel continues. After firing Louren Donaldson at the end of April,
(12:45):
the team promoted assistant Masaki Hemi to interim head coach,
but in early July, Hemi departed the club to quote
pursue other opportunities. Now assistant coach Ala Masser has taken over,
so the Stars are now on their third head coach
of this season and fifth head coach since twenty twenty two.
The permanent head coach search continues. Meantime, An independent investigation
(13:08):
into BAYFC concluded that head coach Albertine Montoya did not
violate the NWSL's anti harassment, discrimination and bullying policy, but
did find quote unquote shortcomings in his communication style. The
investigation was the result of a March report in the
San Francisco Chronicle that described a quote unquote toxic work
(13:28):
environment and revealed at least two formal complaints made about
the team. More soccer news, The US women's national team
looked sharp in a three nail win over Canada and
a July second friendly in DC dubbed the All State
Continental Classico. Claire Hutton scored her first international goal, Sam
Coffee added her fourth in a USA kit, and Yasmin
and Ryan added a late goal her second in as
(13:50):
many games. The US women's national team won all three
of its friendlies during this Viva window, not conceding a
single goal despite playing without any of their europe based players.
Sid's Nami Germa also we want to shout out friend
of the Show, Izzy Rodriguez at the case current who
scored in her US women's national team debut the team's
Dune twenty ninth match against Ireland. Even more soccer, US
(14:12):
women's national soccer team great Tobin Heath has announced her
retirement from soccer at the age of thirty seven, almost
three years after her last appearance and following multiple knee surgeries.
Heath won two World Cups and two Olympic gold medals
in her thirteen year career with the US women's national team,
and she also won two NWSL championships with the Portland Thorns.
On the Recap Show podcast with wife Kristin Press, a
(14:35):
forward with Angel CITYFC, an emotional Heath described finally coming
to the realization that she wouldn't be able to get
healthy enough to return to the pitch.
Speaker 6 (14:43):
Over New Year's I actually came to the full acceptance
that I wasn't going to be playing for like two years.
I'd really held on to it, and you know, like
I tried everything to get back, Like I spent tens
of thousands of dollars and two surgeries, one crazy surgery.
Speaker 7 (15:01):
And like the whole time I believed I was going
to get back, like and the writing was definitely on
the wall, and like I just I just couldn't accept.
I think that that was like my ending heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
It is always so hard when the body calls equits
before the mind does. There's a really lovely tribute video
featuring Heath's teammates and friends writing her letters about her career.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
We'll link to that in our show notes.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Oh and one last thing, did you hear me call
Kristen Press her wife? Yep, Heath referred to Press as
her quote wife and former teammate in an interview with
The Athletic, and a rep for the couple later confirmed
the news. So congrats to the longtime pair on making
it official. Whenever and wherever that happened. Long live footy
(15:49):
and gay shit more soccer. Congratulations to our show side,
Minnesota Aurora e FC on another spectacular season that ended
just short of the finals. After a fourth straight undefeated
regular season with all wins and two ties, the Aurora
defeated kings Hammer a FC on July sixth to make
it to the semi finals of the USLW Playoffs, where
(16:11):
they fell one nil to the Utah United on Saturday.
Utah will face NC Courage U twenty three for the
championship next Saturday. Thanks for another great season, Aurora. We'll
be back to cheer you on next year. To the
courts of Wimbledon, where American Amanda Anisimova's magical run ended
in the final Igasfontec handily defeated Anisamova six h six
(16:32):
to Soho on Saturday to earn her first Wimbledon title
and sixth major championship. Spontech is the eighth consecutive first
time women's champion at Wimbledon, and is the eighth women's
player all time and only active one to win a
major title on all three surfaces. It was a tough
finish for Anisimova, but it was a hell of a run,
and there's a really nice article in The Athletic about
(16:53):
her emotional journey back to the top of the tennis
world after the sudden death of her father in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
We'll link to it in our show note es.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
We also had fun watching Washington Spirit and US women's
national team star Trinity Rodman cheer on her boyfriend Ben
Shelton as he advanced all the way to the quarterfinals
at the All England Club before he fell to Yanick Sinner,
the eventual champion, and shouts to Rodman for correcting the
announcers who called her by the wrong name and then
invoked her dad, Dennis Rodman, with whom she doesn't have
(17:22):
a relationship, wrote Rodman on Instagram. Quote for those who
don't know, my name is Trinity, not Tiffany. Also for
Ben's matches, he has his family there as his support system,
which includes his dad.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
My dad's not even in my life.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
No need to bring him up during his matches when
I don't even want him talked about during mine.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
It's him and his loved ones. Moment, Thank you. End quote.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Here's hoping there's one day where Trinity won't have to
keep saying that. To Track and Field and the Prefontaine
Classic were two time Olympic champion. Beatrice Shabbett ran a
world record of thirteen fifty eight six in the five
thousand meter, becoming the first woman to run a sub
fourteen minutes in the event. Later in the meet, fellow
Kenyon and fellow Olympic gold medalist Faith Kipiegon broke her
(18:07):
own world record in the fifteen hundred meters with a
three forty eight sixty eight run, and finally, in motorsports,
a quick shout out to friend of the show, Catherine Legg,
who finished nineteenth in the Grant Park one sixty five
NASCAR Cup Series race in downtown Chicago the weekend of
July fourth. She's the first woman in eight years to
finish in the top twenty of a Cup Series race.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Way to go, Catherine.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
All Right, we got to take a quick break when
we come back. We know you missed us when we
missed you too, Big Citrus gets back on the mic
in just a sec.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Stick around. Welcome back, y'all.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
We hope you're feeling is rested and relaxed as we
are after our two week hiatus. And if you're not,
if you're gritting your teeth and bawling up your fists
and jail because you actually really could use a two
week summer break yourself.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
All right, we hear you. At Least we're back, though,
so the.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Daily grind's a little easier with a podcast episode to
look forward to every morning, right, hopefully. Well, while we
were gardening, swimming, sleeping, reading, and otherwise enjoying our break,
a few questions came to mind, like, what the hell
was Sophie Cunningham thinking taking on the city of Detroit, Detroit,
(19:27):
of all places. Quote, I don't know how excited people
are going to be going to Detroit or Cleveland. The
Fever Stars set about the WNBA expansion news and like,
no offense to Indiana. Okay, some offense, but folks in
the deep south of the Midwest probably shouldn't be talking
about what cities players want to live in and visit.
And thankfully, the city of Detroit clapped back with quote,
(19:49):
the last time we were home to a WNBA team,
Detroit Shock, we ranked top five in attendance for five
straight seasons, number one in attendance for three straight seasons,
and set a single game attendance record of twenty t
two thousand and seventy six fans at Game three of
the two thousand and three WNBA Finals end quote.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Wow. Nothing like having beef with teams that don't even
exist yet.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
So and speaking of those expansion teams, why did the
intro videos for all three of the new w expansion
team's center little girls? The Detroit and Cleveland intro videos
are both voiced by little girls, while the Philly video
was interviews of little girls. This is such a tired approach.
(20:29):
I've got no problem with including kiddos in the content.
Of course, we all love the idea of young girls
across America having teams and players to look up to
in their city.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
But as we've said over and over, women's sports has
to be cool, has to have an edge. The kids
and the families are going to show up no matter what.
So speak to your audience as adults, make the team
and the gear and the game look cool. Can you
imagine an expansion MNBA team doing a video which is
little boys talking about the NBA, like the voice of
(20:59):
a little boy saying the NBA is coming to Kansas City.
Speaker 8 (21:04):
Nah.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Like just last year, the Golden State Valkyries rollout did
it right. It was slick and it was simple.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
It was shots of the city interspersed with clips of
w legends and stars. It said a lot about where
the team was going to live, and that's all it
really needed to do. There's plenty of time to appeal
to kids. Throw some camps and clinics, but let's start
off with a little more creativity and style. Okay, here's
hoping the teams break out some more inspired content as
their tip offs near. I was also thinking, when a
(21:30):
trade happens for the Las Vegas Aces, what happens to
the one hundred thousand dollars sponsorship bonus from the city
of Las Vegas. Does the originally assigned player who's no
longer with the team get it all? It's been reported
that the payment comes in installments, not a lump sum,
so maybe they just keep what they've made and the
contract ends. Does the new player get the remaining percentage
of the contract? So, like, for instance, with Liz Kittley
(21:52):
and Tiffany Mitchell who just got waived in the Melissa
Smith deal, did they get to keep a few months
of that hundred k? I sure hope so, because that
would make free agency sting a little less. And finally,
I was thinking, when it comes to All Star voting,
what's the real reason WNBA players, coaches, and fans all
had such different ranks for Fever Star Caitlin Clark. When
(22:14):
the voting breakdown for the upcoming All Star Game was released,
there was a lot of buzz about Kaitlin Clark being
ranked the top guard by the fans, third by the
media and ninth by her fellow players. Is the ranking
the result of resentment or jealousy, as some allege, I
think we need to get into it. So for this one,
I got to bring in the rest of Big Citrus
(22:35):
Alex mesh Hi longtime, no time.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Is it really nice? It's kind of nice.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
At the beginning of the hiatus, I was like, it's
going too fast, and then by the end, I was like,
I think I'm good. I'm ready to get.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Back to work.
Speaker 8 (22:49):
As I was preparing for today's show, I was like,
do I have to wear my back to school clothes? Like,
whip out my freshly sharpened pencils, get.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
To your binder on your notebook for each category of
each class.
Speaker 9 (23:03):
Were you a big backpack kid too?
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Ol?
Speaker 8 (23:06):
I loved my backpack and stationary school supplies.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
School supplies the best meish not you.
Speaker 10 (23:14):
Oh, definitely a thousand percent trapper keeper forward to I don't.
Speaker 9 (23:19):
I don't know that I was giving trapper keeper.
Speaker 10 (23:21):
I definitely had a backpack that was way too big
for my body for you know, stretch there until I
started to grow. And then, of course, as you probably felt,
was the tallest person in all my classes, forever.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
There you go. But love supplies.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
All right, let's talk about this Caitlin Clark thing, because
people were in a fizzy about it.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Alex, what do you make of it?
Speaker 8 (23:41):
I want to just start by providing some context, because
this is not the first time that we have seen
a huge division between how players are being ranked. So
I'm going to bring us back two years to twenty
twenty three, when Sabrina Unescu was ranked sixth by fans,
sixth by the media, and noteenth by her fellow players.
(24:03):
So Caitlin looking pretty good with the ranking that she
got there in comparison. And then last year, here's a
fun fact, folks, the WNBA didn't release a breakdown.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
And remember that.
Speaker 8 (24:15):
I have a theory as to why it is because
I think that the divide was probably even wider between
how fans and media and players voted for Kaitlin, and
they probably just didn't want to deal with the ensuing drama,
and this year they were like, oh, it's pretty close,
let's just release.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
It right right, Or maybe because like the general discourse
around Caitlin versus everybody is not as insane this year,
it's not gone. But maybe they're like we can handle
it this year.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Last year, we can't. We do not trust the people
with this information.
Speaker 10 (24:46):
Yeah, it could have been a I mean we already
had enough inflection points, but it could have set fire
for Yeah. Out, that's that's a great fine, And I
appreciate you you going to find that because this breakdown
makes totals sense to me, Like, I don't I think
we're at this point with the w where every little
thing that has to do with Caitlin, Oh, immediately we
(25:08):
have to be up in arms. We don't know, We
really really don't, y'all. Like she had a good year
to this point, but she's been out, she's been hurt,
she's been off the court. Yes, she's second in assist
per game. That's never not gonna be magical. But they're
supposed to rank her off Aura, Like she's not even
you know what I mean, she's not even. She doesn't
even have an opportunity to play in the games. And
(25:29):
then if you look at the players who were voted
ahead of her, that makes it make even more sense.
Alisha Gray ranked first, having the best year of her
entire career, the most point.
Speaker 9 (25:39):
She's ever averaged. Right, you got Sabrinni and Escu.
Speaker 10 (25:43):
You just talked about her, Alex and I think it's
so funny how quickly people are forgotten that Sabrina was
the golden child when she can Yeah, right, but.
Speaker 9 (25:51):
Now it feels like she's getting hurt.
Speaker 10 (25:52):
Her second win, she's ranked second, and the player voting
her team's in third place. She's top five in points
per game, Like, there's a lot of reasons these other
guards were ranked above Caitlyn Clark and then just look
at the standings Indies in eighth place. They've struggled even
when Caitlyn has been on the court. There have been
games where they've played seamlessly, and there've been games where
they just don't look like the Feber team we expect
(26:13):
them to look like. So I just don't think this
is a thing. It's not a slight, it's not a disrespect.
It's not evidence of some ulterior motive that people have,
though I will say I would understand if there were
some rough, tough feelings towards Kaitlin because of some of
the little scuffles we've seen throughout the first half of
the year, But I don't think that's what's being reflected
(26:34):
in this ranking at all.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I think it's possible that a couple players did think. Listen,
she's gonna get all the fan votes. I don't need
to boost her. I'm going to pick some other players
that I think I want to give a bump. That
is very possible, right, Or it might even be some
players who flat out resent the fact that there are
so many that cape for Caitlin, regardless of what the
context of anything is, and that they're just.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Frustrated with that.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
But what I want to point to is what you
said me, which is the numbers as of July second,
which is I believe, the date that this came out.
She had only played in nine games. She had the
quad strain, she had the groin injury, so she's already
not putting up very much of a body of work
to be voted upon.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
And at the time, she was.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Twelfth in the league in points per game, thirteenth in
field goals, made, eighty eighth in three point percentage, Yes,
that's the accurate number. Eighty eighth in three point percentage,
third in three pointers made, thirty fifth in rebounds, second
in assist first in turnovers, and fourteenth in steals. Those
are good numbers, there's some good ones in there, and
(27:34):
then you look at the actual numbers, you say, she's
not having a great season. And yes, the injuries are
a huge part of that. But if you're the player's voting,
you're not voting off of like hype like you said
or Aura, You're voting off of.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
How people are playing, and.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
She hasn't been playing that well when she is playing.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
So it actually makes sense.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
And the problem is is that every conversation we have
around Caitlin, and often the w in general, is so
infused with ignorance that it's very hard to even have
the conversation, Like you have to get people caught up
on a million things before they can even have an
accurate response to something like this. And so when it
came out, it was not surprised at all that people
(28:14):
lost their goddamn minds.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
And I was also like, how about just go look
at some statistics watch them games.
Speaker 8 (28:20):
Yeah, I was fascinated by Kelsey Plumb though getting ranked
sixth by fans, sixth by the media, in sixteenth by players,
because I think one of the things that really stands
out to me looking through these and we'll link to
them in the show notes, but the media and players
are actually pretty well aligned hm, which says a lot
to me that at least the media members that are
(28:42):
voting on this are pretty clued in to like what
actual good basketball looks like and the types of stats
that you should be keeping tabs on. And so I'm
super curious about that one though, Like is it just
the media over ranking her or is there something going
on where the players are like, mmm, Kelsey, I don't
know about you.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
The other one that stands out to me, especially based
on what we just talked about with Sabrina as well,
is pagebackers. Yes, pagebackers number two, fan rank number five,
media rank number four, player rank.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Like when we.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Talk about rookies, rookie treatment, rookie expectations, all the other stuff,
the golden child is their resentment.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Page is immune.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Page is so beloved by everyone, and that's not a
knock on her game because she is insanely efficient. I
just had someone text me today that was like, is
it crazy to think that Page might be better than
like Clark and Reeese And I'm like, bruh, she could
be better than everybody, and like, you're not going to
see the highlights as much because it is so efficient
and she makes it look easy, and then she's putting
(29:43):
up numbers that we just haven't seen. So I do
have to say I enjoy the fact that, you know,
Page wins people over and seems to be popular with
everybody involved. Okay, the other thing I mentioned earlier in
the show is that Clark and the FISA Collier are
captains of the teams, and they switched coaches for the game.
Cheryl Reeve coaches the league leading Links, so she was
(30:03):
assigned to Clark's team because Clark was the top vote getter.
But then they swapped so that Cheryl's going to coach
the team led by Hurst our player Collier, and Clark
will be led by the Liberty of Sandy Brondelo. Now,
on its face, this is really no big deal, and
it was kind of funny. Even in the live show
where they revealed their drafted players, Caitlin was like, I
don't know if we're allowed to do this, but whatever,
try to stop us.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
There's no rule.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
So it's kind of funny, and you know, you're, oh, yeah,
of course reeven Caller want to stick together. But on
the other hand, some of the fun of this game
is that you see players and coaches together that we
don't normally see. And the added little twist here is
that there is controversy that's been built around Cheryl Reeve
and her role as head coach of the Olympic basketball team.
Even though she didn't get to decide which players were
(30:45):
on the roster, she was thrown into the mess and
accused of like being critical because she tweeted out once
about how her team's preseason game wasn't being played on
TV and you couldn't watch it and there's more things
to watch than just Caitlin Clark. So combined, certain people,
Stine Brennan among them, have sort of made her an
enemy of Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
This doesn't help.
Speaker 9 (31:06):
So I was watching it, I was like, no.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Don't add to this.
Speaker 9 (31:10):
I wanted to see.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Y'all on a sideline together, just being fine, and instead
it's like, I'm sorry, I can't be expected to play
for her. And I'm not saying that that's what you're saying,
but that's how it reads.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (31:20):
Yeah, I didn't love that move, and I thought it
was interesting for anyone that didn't see the live show.
But Caitlyn even starts off by being like, I don't
know if this is in the rules, I don't care,
and she made it sound like she had discussed it
with Fia ahead of time, like she wasn't like it
was clearly already decided, but.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Fee's face didn't look enthusiastic and like, yeah, this is fun.
Speaker 8 (31:43):
Yeah, And then also, why didn't Fee bring it up?
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yeah? Perhaps yeah again, Yeah, Why wouldn't phoeb be like,
I can't let my coach be working with y'all, I
can't let me steal my coach.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Then it would seem more fun. Instead it was like, yeah,
I don't know if this is allowed, but I'm not
gonna play for her.
Speaker 9 (31:58):
I don't know.
Speaker 10 (31:59):
I really don't know what to make of that piece
of it, because that did kind of throw me for
a loop. I was like, and I was also as
a producer and somebody who you know knows you, and
folks who work in broadcast at TV, I'm like, babe,
don't go off script, don't off script.
Speaker 9 (32:15):
Don't tell these people some shit that they weren't ready for.
Speaker 10 (32:17):
But that aside, when it comes to the actual like gameplay,
I'm really not mad at it, honestly, because if you
think about what just happened with Minnesota losing to Indiana
and the Commissioner's Cup. It would make sense to me
if he specifically had a little chip on her shoulder.
She's like, all Star is gonna be on your home court.
You just beat us on our home court for more
(32:37):
money than you would earn the finals. As Kaitlyn Clark
pointed out, why not, I'm gonna go out here and
see if we can make a statement. And on the
flip side, you know you got Kaitlyn Clark, Kelsey Mitchell,
Jackie young Sonya Citron, Sabrinian Escut, some of the most
prolific shooters in the game. Under Sandy Brondelo in her
kind of offense, that's gonna be fun.
Speaker 9 (32:59):
And you either way you look at that.
Speaker 10 (33:01):
The more involved and engaged I feel like the players are,
the more they're about it, the more they're excited about it,
the better the quality of the actual game will be.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I love that. I agree with all that. I just
don't want to give ammunition to conspiracy theories.
Speaker 8 (33:17):
For Sarah, you already listed facts in this episode, and
that was against their entire identity.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
They're already gone, They're not even here.
Speaker 8 (33:25):
Before we move on, one more thing I want to
mention from that draft selection show with Fee, but I
don't know if you guys noticed she was wearing an
Unrivaled shirt and Caitlin was wearing an Indiana Fever shirt. Also,
every single player that Fee selected has an association with Unrivaled,
with the exception of Neka, who of course is in
charge of the players Association. And so to me, that
(33:47):
whole thing also felt a little bit like a slight
middle finger to the WNBA.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Oooh, I did not notice that.
Speaker 8 (33:54):
To me, it felt like a subtle statement from Fee
of hey, I'm representing Unrivaled right now, not the league,
which for people that don't know, there are a lot
of rules about media appearances and what you can and
cannot wear to them. Usually you are mandated to wear
team gear. I'm not sure if he was breaking a
rule by not wearing team gear to that, or maybe
it fell in these gray lines of like whose jurisdiction
(34:16):
is this, But the fact that she was wearing an
Unrivaled thing did send a message. I thought about how
she currently feels about the CBA negotiations.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
And also worth noting that she actually came out feeded
and denied any conflict of interest that she might have
in terms of her roles as both a co founder
of Unrivaled and vice president of the WNBAPA. So somebody
on X basically said that there was no way that
Kyllier and Stewart could negotiate the upcoming CBA in good
faith because of the financial benefits that they would get
if the WNBA were to go into a lockout and
(34:44):
how that might help their Unrivaled league. So then NEFISA
wrote back on ex and was like, so, let me
get this straight. While everyone else was enjoying fireworks, you
were thinking about how me and Stewie of all people,
are conspiring to force a lockout that would result in
less money year round for WNBA players.
Speaker 9 (35:00):
Yeah, makes sense.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
They weren't working with a lot of information, but they
were ready and willing to send out those conspiracies, which
brings us.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Back to what we just talked about.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
But it is interesting that maybe it was a wink
from her, you know, like I'm going to wear this
Unrivaled shirt since people think that I'm you know, negotiating
against the league.
Speaker 8 (35:18):
But she should have shut up In the New York
Skyline Dress's Kathy Anger.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
All right, we don't have enough time for all the
questions that we asked ourselves over break, Like you know,
I don't know which crimes get you deported to a
foreign gulag and which ones get you elected president? Or
I don't know how many books do you need to
sell to offset the cost of selling your soul? Or
maybe you know why did HBO cancel Somebody Somewhere great show.
(35:46):
I guess we'll have to get to those another time,
because we got a lot of work to do putting
together a brand spankin new season of amazing good game
episodes for all y'all, And we already have some really
great guests lined up for the first few weeks, so
get excited for that. And I just have some goals
for this season that I would like to share.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
I would like to do.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Some more fun group chat episodes with like comedians and
content creators and people who know game, just shooting the
shit and talking about issues and topics that are top
of mind for women's sports fans. I think those are
really fun. I love listening to shows where people are
laughing a lot and like having fun, and I want
to give that to our listeners sometimes as well.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
And I also want to get more w players on
the show.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Their schedules make it tough to book them at times,
but I really want to hear more from the women themselves.
Since so much of W chatter tends to be dominated
by talking heads and TikTokers and Twitter loud mouse and
headline writers that are trying to get clicks, I find
it harder and harder to find good information now because
the top of every search is like the garbage AI
generated shit where they're like speaks out break silence and
(36:47):
like they didn't say or do anything.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
So I want to get more players and hear it
from them. Meish, what about you? What do you want
to do this season?
Speaker 10 (36:54):
Everything you just said like to with THEI of course,
of course I want every w NBA player in the
league to come on our show. Actually, can we just
block out the next one hundred and fifty episode? That
would be a lot, But I'm a thousand percent there with.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
You on that.
Speaker 10 (37:10):
I also want to get some celebrity fans on, like,
that's that's an area I really want to tap into.
I'm talking like Leslie Jones her crazy self. Okay, Okay,
make that make that connection, Sarah Spain connection, vivocate a Fox,
Wanda Sykes, all top of my personal list.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Love it.
Speaker 10 (37:30):
But specifically, there's one person in particular that I really
really really really really want to get to come on
the show, and that's Isa Ray. Y'all, yes, lady, I
know she's busy, I know, I know you heard her name.
Were like, there's no way, And there is a way
because she's an investor in San Diego FC of the
MLS uh And I think with the right poking and prodding,
(37:52):
we can bring her over to the NWSL side show
her how much more fun she would have investing in
the San Diego Wave.
Speaker 9 (37:59):
Or pork and if you got it, girl, you got it.
Speaker 10 (38:02):
But I'm just saying it feels like there's a clear
cut connection there and we can make that happen here.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
I love it. I'm here for it, Alex, what about you?
Speaker 8 (38:10):
I want to see us book some opposing athletes in
a head to head interview kind of actually inspired a
little bit by what we saw with Caitlin Clark and
the FISA Collier doing their pre All Star draft. I
remember seeing I think I'm going to give MMA credit
for this. I don't remember if it was the PFL
or some other organizations, but I know seriously, but I
(38:31):
remember seeing a joint interview before or FI. I literally
do not remember the athletes, but it was two athletes
that were going to fight each other in two days
doing a sit down interview together, and it was so engaging,
and I was like, I can understand why athletes don't
do more of this, but I feel like, if there's
anywhere to have those types of conversations, it's women's sports, right,
and so I want to see athletes come on and
(38:52):
you know, have a little bit of trash talk and
throw some shade.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
That would be really fun.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Let's just call the WNBA in advance and say that
we would like access to the top four players from
each of the finals teams to chat with us directly
before they meet in the WNBA finals.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
So you think that will work? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (39:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (39:08):
The questions they include what trash talk name would you
give your opponents?
Speaker 5 (39:13):
Dog?
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Okay, I don't think Marina and the Sun are going
to be in the finals.
Speaker 8 (39:21):
That doesn't mean Rina's trash talk won't be though.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
I love all that. I love all that.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
All right, we got to take another break obviously send
us what you'd like to see in this season as well.
When we come back, one sport officially enters it's good game,
Gay Shit Era.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Welcome back, slices.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
It's time for another edition of good Game, Good Game
fact you. All right, here's a fun fact you could
share with the haters who insist on continuing to spread
the lie that most of Angel Reese's rebounds come off
her own offensive missus. Heading into game action on Sunday,
Angel Reese led the WNBA in rebounds with two hundred
and fifty five, but if you just took her defensive rebounds,
(40:10):
she'd still lead the league. Her one hundred and seventy
six defensive rebounds tops second place Azare Stevens one hundred
and seventy two total offensive and defensive rebounds combined. So yeah,
take that stat to certain folks you know who, and
ask them if they can identify and articulate why they're
so committed to spreading a lie.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
I don't think they're going to have a good answer.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
All right, folks, this is a big day for the show.
We've got our first entry into the Annals of Softball
and gay Shit. Okay, so get this at the start
of the Athletes Unlimited Softball Season AUSL, Kayla Kowalick was
playing for the Blaze while her girlfriend Mackenzie Clark was
on the Volts, but after the first ten games of
the season, Clark was traded to the Blaze to join Kualik.
(40:58):
It was part of the first trade in AUA sell history,
and per Unusual Softball, koali stats got a big boost
once her girlfriend arrived. In the ten games before Clark
was traded, Kowalik had a one ninety two batting average,
three hundred on base percentage, and three to eight slugging percentage,
But after Clark joined her team, Qualk posted a five
(41:18):
hundred batting average, six twenty five on base percentage, and
seven to fifty slugging percentage. The power of love, y'all
sports are obviously physical and psychological, so it makes sense
that play with her crush would help Koalik crush some dingers.
We love that. We also love that you're listening, but
we want you to get in the game every day too.
(41:39):
So here's our good game play of the day. It's
an easy one, but we're really hoping that all of
you do it. Send our show to one friend that
you think might enjoy it, or two or three or
four friends, but you know, start with one, send them
a favorite episode.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
And invite them to be a slice. Let's keep growing
our community. And for extra credit, if you're listening to
the and you happen to be an.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Agent, player, coach, media, somebody else in the mix, and
you know a superstar that should be on our show,
holler at him and tell them to come on. I
don't know, you know, like Venus and Serena Williams, Caitlin Clark,
Angel Reese, Don Staley, Emma Hayes, Simone Biles, Jordan Giles,
Katie Ledeci, you know any of those people.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
We'll keep updating the list.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
We always love to hear from you, so hit us
up on email, good game at Wondermedia neetwork dot com,
or you can leave us a voicemail at eight seven
two two o four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe,
Rate and review.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
It's easy watch host cities.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
Getting a makeover in honor of women's sports, rating ten
out of ten toes in on supporting the Ladies review
in Basel, Switzerland, the stoplights have changed from standard pedestrian
outlines to the outline of a woman kicking a soccer ball.
The change is in honor of the Euro twenty twenty
five tournament that's being contested in Switzerland right now through
(42:58):
July twenty seventh. The tournament has already broken the Women's
European Championship group stage attendance record, boasting a combined two
hundred and eighty seven four hundred and thirty eight fans
through just the first.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Two match days and out.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
In Indianapolis, temporary street signs celebrating the upcoming WNBA All
Star Game have been added around the city, including one
for each of the thirteen teams in the league. And
this is not the first time that Indie streets have
dressed up for an occasion. Last year, the city welcomed
the Taylor Swift Eras tour with signs for streets with
names like Getaway Car, Drive, Swift Street, and Ready for
(43:32):
It Road. We love a SETI that steps up when
it's their time to shine. Now it's your turn, rate
and review.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
See you tomorrow when we chat with Ben Pickman, staff
writer for The Athletic, about all things WNBA. Good game
to all our super cute sports and gayshit Couples, Good
Game Slices.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Thanks for joining us for the start of season two.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Youw the WNBA conspiracy Industrial Complex. 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 Azzie
(44:16):
and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz,
Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rutter,
Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and Gianna Palmer. Our associate producer
is Lucy Jones. Production assistance from Avery Loftus and I'm
Your Host Sarah Spain.
Host
Sarah Spain
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