High Level Conversations: Lexie Brown, Seattle Storm

On this episode of Levels to This, hosts Sheryl Swoopes and Terrika Foster-Brasby are joined by Seattle Storm guard, Lexie Brown. Lexie opens up about her journey with Crohn’s disease, what it’s been like adjusting to a new team, and the behind-the-scenes realities of WNBA contracts. Plus, the crew dives into team chemistry, the role Athletes Unlimited is playing in growing the women’s game, and what it really means to balance life, health, and hoops.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Levels to This 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.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey, what's up, everybody? It's your girl, Treka Foster Brass.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
What's going on? Y'all? Is your girl? Cheryl swoops? Cheryl's
over there, Parch what's up? I was thirsty?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
And this is levels to this.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
This is the show where we talk about the real
shit that women go through, and we really.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Do have a fun episode.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
We've got a very fun guest who's going to join
us today. But first, Cheryl, I was teasing you before
the show starts because you switch up your voice when
you are talking.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
To your babies.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
And I think, I think we.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Have a lot of listeners who are pet moms, So like,
tell everybody, tell everybody about your about your babies.

Speaker 4 (00:59):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
You. I can't do ship around you.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
I got a point, you do?

Speaker 1 (01:07):
No, okay, So I have two babies. You could appreciate this.
Are you a movie a movie? Buff? I am okay?
So Queen and Slim you saw the movie? Yeah? Yes,
my dog's names Yeah? But crazy, the crazy thing is.
So the boy is slim obviously from the movie, but girl,

(01:31):
there is nothing about him that's slim. He is some
kind of healthy.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
What kind of dog you have?

Speaker 1 (01:41):
They were rescued, so they're German Shepherd mix. The vet's
not sure what the mixed part is, but they're both
German Shepherd. But they are my babies. And you know
how when you have babies you gotta do the little
baby talk. My husband hates it because he's like, why
are you talking to them? Damn dogs like that, my dad,

(02:02):
But I said, this is my baby, baby, Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
First of all, I enjoy I love being like people
who are pet moms. I love that I had a
fish at Alpha passed away.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
But before then I had a dog. I had a lab.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
I had a chocolate lab, and her name was Peyton.
I named her after Peyton Manny because y'all know I'm
a Colts fan, so name.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
You're after Peyton. And I had to get my dog away.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
I moved to an apartment that didn't allow pets, so
at six months I had to get my dog away.
But that dog got big as hell. I was like, bro,
what a dog went? A chocolate lab? Yeah, Peyton was
this small when I first got her. By the time
I was like two months in, the dog was big
as me. It was like the if anyone didn't know

(02:50):
what the lab is, it's like the it's like the cottonail.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Have you ever seen a cottonail tissue commercial?

Speaker 3 (02:55):
And then two months later they big as you. You're
not cute, so like, okay, So they were rescues. I'll
make a long story short. I initially didn't want them
because I travel a lot and all the things.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
So somebody either dropped them off at my neighbors, and
my closest neighbor is I don't know, they're a couple
of miles away. Yeah, I live in the country, like
deep in the country, clearly, so but he would come
over and you know, talk to my husband anyway. So

(03:33):
he called him and he said, hey, I got two dogs.
They were dropped off. If you guys want them, you
can have them. If you don't, I'm gonna take him
to a shelter. Now, I had been thinking about getting
a dog, and so my husband said, well, bring him
over and let Cheryl look at him. So he for
for five days he would bring him over in the morning.
So I could just like play with them and watch

(03:54):
them and keep them. And then he would come back
and get them in the evening around five six o'clock
because I didn't have dog food. I didn't have all
the thing for dogs because I don't have dogs. So
like Friday, when he brought them, and when he came
back to get them, he said, listen, today's day. Do
you want them or not, because otherwise I'm taking them
to a shelter. Now. I also have to tell you
when I got when he brought them you, it was

(04:15):
very clear that they had been abused. Like the girl
dog didn't want you to touch her. You couldn't go near her.
Anytime you get close to her, she would just roll
over on her back and she would just pee everywhere.
And Slim the boy dog, he had a big old
just ball spot in the top of his head. Oh no,
So he was like, suerol, what's you gonna do? Which

(04:37):
one do you want? So I was like, all right,
I'll keep one, but like, how do you decide which one?
And I didn't want to break them up, so I
was like, f it, I'll keep both of them. And
that was four years ago, and here they are. They're
my babies. I love them in pieces and can't imagine
not having them.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Oh that is such a beautiful story.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
I love that, you know the best thing about him, Tea.
And for people who have dogs, they can relate like
to me, dogs animals. Dogs are very smart for one,
like when you're having a bad day, especially my boy dog,
Like he's a mama's boy. He's very protective when I'm

(05:24):
having a bad day, Like he'll just come and just
sit next to me and he like looks deep into
my eyes like what's wrong, Everything's gonna be okay, And
he just loves on me and he just make they
just make all the bad things better. So I love
my dogs. I love that.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
I really love that my husband, my husband wants a dog.
But I just in my head, I'm like, you're you're
going all day for work with the exception of like
two days out the week. I'm not guaranteed to be
here at any given moment. Like I could be here
for weeks at a time, and then the next thing
you know, I'm on.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
A row for two weeks.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
So it's just so's it's so inconcestent our schedule that
I just don't know, like if we could take care
of like dogs. But I grew up with dogs like
I had a dog at Chico that was our little
little He was the.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Taco Bell dog.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
And we had a German shepherd. Her name was Major. Yeah,
we called him Chico. Chico used to Chico used.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
To take my chicken. He used to take my chicken.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
And I'll never forget one time I was like five
years old, Chico took my damn chicken drum My mom
used to tell me all the time so.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
We could hold your food up because Chico will take
your food.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
Chiko took my chicken and ran under the bed, and
my mom caught me under the bed trying to get
my chicken drumstick back.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
Now, granted I got.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
This drums chick back, but obviously my mama is like, girl,
you're not finna eat this drums.

Speaker 5 (06:35):
I was like, you didn't hate that, please tell me.
But it was like the audacity of you to think
you could come take my chicken bone and run And.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
How dare you how damn think you're finna take my
drup stick.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
Niles's to say, I learned my legs.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
See you crawling underneath the bed, like give me my
chicken bag girl asked.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Okay, get in my chicken bag.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
I dif'dly remember that, like, yes, this dog, y'all gosh.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Dog. But anyway, for all of our.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Listeners out there who are dog moms or dog dads, yes,
we are a pet friendly show here at levels to this,
but we need to have a dog show. We we should,
we should are some of our some of our best
guests come from these random moments and random conversations that
we have.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
So yes, let's do that.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
But this week we are actually gonna talk a little
w NBA because we have a very special w n
B a guest and guess.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
What she is also a dog dog mom?

Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yes, yes she is.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
She is also a dog mom.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
So this week we are gonna have Sexy Lexi, Lexi
Brown of the Seattle Storm come out on the show
just to kick it with us a little bit.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
And I'm excited to chat with Lexi.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Who knows where this conversation is gonna go because you
honestly just never know, but I'm excited about having her on.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
I am too, yeah, just you know, not only when
we talk basketball, but there's so many different levels to Lexi.
So we're gonna get into some good stuff with her.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
Absolutely, So without further ado, let's just go ahead and
take this thing to the next level. Yo, everybody, we
are so incredibly excited to welcome in our guests for
today's episode.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
And before I.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Officially introduce my guest, let me just say that I
am about to call we the guests, and I are
about to call on cheryls so much pain today because
sure came off and she got to what the silliest
mother people that I know.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
I don't understand yesterday?

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Do you do you hear me over here trying to laugh.
I'm like, I'm like, but today.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
We are so the real to welcome in Seattle Storm's
own Lexi Brown also co hosts I Heard Women's Sports
Network with our girl Mariah Rose. But what's up Lexi? No, man, wait,
Lexi don't don't. Don't respond to that t You gotta
give her a little bit.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
More than that. She's not just Lexi Brown, she is
the sexy Lexy Brown. Let's go. No, ma'am.

Speaker 4 (09:47):
I've been trying to get it to be a thing
in Seattle, and they're not rolling.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
They're slow. They're slow in Seattle.

Speaker 4 (09:54):
It's the only one that will call me sexy LEXI.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Don't you know, like next is the one that told
us that we're gonna make it happen. We're gonna make
the sexy Lexi happen.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
Yeah, yeahbody please, I mean, right now, that's what I'll
be a little sexy Lexi on that bench, like I'm chilling.

Speaker 6 (10:12):
So somebody bringing a sign.

Speaker 4 (10:18):
Sexy Lexi on that bench, like, come on, somebody.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Somebody come do something with her.

Speaker 4 (10:29):
I'm gonna address the elephant in the room immediately.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
So okay, well listen, since you're gonna address it, let's
just hop right on into it. Okay, So right, you know,
we know you were with the Sparks. We won't talk
about that. I'm gonna ask the question because I was
asking myself this question, why aren't you getting the minutes
that you should be getting that you deserve. I'm just

(10:55):
asking you. Said you're gonna address the elephant in the room,
so let's address it.

Speaker 4 (10:59):
I mean, honest, I just think I came into a
situation that had already been established. I got traded kind
of late, you know, after free agency, after they signed
a bunch of the players, and then I have a
protected contract. So whether they thought I'd fit in or not.
Like the contract was protected, which is a blessing to

(11:21):
me because I've spent my entire career being on unprotected
contracts every season, so to have that, especially after being sick,
was so important to me. I don't know, I was
talking about it on our show yesterday. We're thirteenth and
three point attempts per game, so it's not really a

(11:42):
focus of ours right now. Even though I can do
more than just shoot threes. That's something that they brought
me here to do, and right now that's just not
what our offense is doing. And we're playing pretty well,
even though we just lost to.

Speaker 6 (11:54):
The Links last night. It was a close game and
unwinnable one.

Speaker 4 (11:59):
But I think that at some point my services will
be utilized, and when that happens, I'll be ready. But
I've taken four threes in five games. I haven't made
a field goal yet, So you know, the mental side
of it, it's not getting to me.

Speaker 6 (12:15):
Trust me.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
I'm past that, and I'm in a really good place
mentally and physically, like I feel great. I'm not dealing
with any symptoms or anything like that.

Speaker 6 (12:25):
Like that's not why I'm not on the court.

Speaker 4 (12:28):
So it's just getting used to a new situation with
new players. You know, they returned for their players from
last season, which not many teams did that.

Speaker 6 (12:36):
So they're just rocking with it.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
And I just gotta you know, be supportive, be a
great teammate, and just and wait and be ready.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yeah, that's definitely a veteran mindset, Like you know, you're
not new to this, and so you understand kind of
like how the business goes. And there might be some
new fans who just aren't quite sure, don't understand kind
of how the business goes. But looking at Seattle, and
I think a lot of people probably came into this
season underestimating where Seattle was going to be and what

(13:06):
they're going to do, it does look and feel like
this is a team that is like truly ready to
compete and contend. Having Nekka as the leader, so many
people love and respect her. I have a reason that
I'm going here with this, believe me. But what is
that atmosphere like being in the Seattle locker room and
kind of working with Skyler and Mekka and all of

(13:26):
those people.

Speaker 4 (13:28):
It's a super competitive locker room and it's also super supportive.
I think everybody on this team just wants to win,
and whether that looks like being a great teammate or
playing thirty five minutes, playing five minutes. And I think
last night Mekka said the best thing, like we just
beat Vegas by like twenty the other day and then

(13:50):
we go to Minnesota and lose. So what she said
is like, don't let the highs get us too high,
but don't let the lows get too low.

Speaker 6 (13:57):
But also it's our fifth.

Speaker 4 (13:58):
Game of the year, no need to overreact to anything
at this moment. So I think Neca always has done
a great job of keeping like everybody very level headed
through the good times through the not so good times,
and I think that's one of the things that makes
her such a good leader. But I mean, if you're
looking at the trends of the league, like people are

(14:19):
playing faster, people are spreading the floor more, people are shooting.

Speaker 6 (14:23):
A lot of threes.

Speaker 4 (14:24):
So I think it's just going to be the battles
of styles of play. And if you look at the
teams that are ahead of us New York, Indiana, Phoenix,
they're playing a lot of outside in basketball. So again
I think it's just gonna it's a chess match. Like,
that's what I call our season. It's just an ultimate

(14:44):
chess match.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:46):
The reason why I said I have a point to this,
and we're not going to get into this, but the
reason why I said I had a point to this
is because I think a lot of people know, as
we're still addressing elephants in the room, is that there
was coming into the season allegation about things that was
going on with in Seattle, and I think the problem
that some people have is that we always listen to

(15:08):
like hearsay from the wrong people, from the wrong outlets,
from the wrong We just listened to shit from the
wrong folks, and that can sometimes overtake those who are
actually in it, you know what I mean. And so
I felt it was important to kind of get an
idea of what the locker room is truly like from
somebody who was in it, versus kind of what you
hear and what you see and what you think. And

(15:29):
I know, you know, I was with you at AU
when the news came out that you were being traded,
and we were like.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
What, what the hell? What is going on?

Speaker 3 (15:41):
And so I just thought it was you know, it's
important to kind of set like that tone because at
that time, allegations and things were kind of at a
high and so it might have been a little interesting
for you to be like, what the hell am I
about to walk it into versus what it actually is?

Speaker 4 (15:57):
Yeah, I mean, and I'm with you with that, Like
the he says, she said, like, I have been a
victim of getting a lot of assumptions placed on me
and a lot of projected words and actions directed towards me.
So I've always gone above and beyond to not do
that to other people. So I went into this situation

(16:19):
with a blank slate. I wasn't there last year. I
don't I haven't talked deeply with anybody that was in
that locker room last year that are not in the
locker room now. And for me, my whole mindset going
in was like this don't got nothing to do with me.
Like whatever y'all had going on last year, I wasn't
here for it. So I'm not about to come in

(16:40):
with all these preconceived energy and notions about a situation
that again it was this person said this, that person
said this, this person said that. But I do feel
like the lingerings of what went on like kind of
carrying over, and I think everybody's just trying to like

(17:00):
move on and move past it because it didn't happen
that long ago. So I was on a team at
Duke when I transferred, my coach coach P was under investigation,
and I wasn't there when that went on either. So
I got there and I was like allegations of what like,
but I the coach P. I knew wasn't the coach
P that was being painted in those you know, allegations

(17:22):
and investigations not invalidating.

Speaker 6 (17:24):
Anybody else's experience.

Speaker 4 (17:26):
I app So if you have that experience with somebody,
that's absolutely your experience, and I'm not going to make you.
I'm not going to be like, I don't know, you're
lying at this, Like everybody has the right to their
own experiences, but it wasn't mine. And that's very very
similar mindset I had coming to Seattle, and so far,
I'm just kind of like, I mean.

Speaker 6 (17:44):
I everybody's different.

Speaker 4 (17:47):
I could see how certain things can rub people the
wrong way, but that's life. And for me, I've always
been big on like that ain't got shit to do
with me. So I'm going to keep living my life
and I'm not going to let other people actions or
feelings or thoughts affect my day, my interactions with other people,
in my mood, and I've just always been like that,

(18:07):
but people struggle to do that, which I've learned as
an adult growing up that it's very hard for people
to just let people be them and then you do
you and just go about your day. So yeah, I mean,
I think that's that's life.

Speaker 6 (18:21):
That's not just in sports. I think that's in life.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
So Lexi, you you brought it up when we were
talking about, you know, you in Seattle and playing time
or not getting the minutes that you want. You brought
up that the reason why you're not playing isn't because
you're ill, right, Like, you've been very vocal about your
Crohn's disease and when you got diagnosed. I'm so happy

(18:53):
to see you back playing, healthy, happy, all the things,
But talk a little bit about that jarny that you
went through for a little bit.

Speaker 4 (19:03):
One thank you for asking, because I honestly don't get
asked how I'm doing or feeling very often, so I
really appreciate that I feel great. I think with Chrones,
it's just like there's every day discomfort and things that
I have to deal with that are just normal to
me at this point. I've made them normal instead of

(19:25):
succumbing to them and having them ruin my life, which
other people I've talked to with crones like they crones
has made life unenjoyable for them for the most part,
and I wanted to make sure that didn't.

Speaker 6 (19:38):
Happen to me.

Speaker 4 (19:41):
Like basketball wise, like I'm doing everything one hundred percent.
I'm back doing all my extra workouts. I feel amazing,
high energy, everything like that. And it's just still getting
over the fact that the empathy and grace and stuff
that I was expecting from coming back from some something
like that is is not what I thought it was

(20:03):
going to be. And that's okay, and I think I've
just had to be at peace with that.

Speaker 6 (20:07):
Carls is like a.

Speaker 4 (20:07):
Very hard thing to explain to people. It's hard for
people to wrap their mind around, especially when you're looking
at the person right in their eyes and you're like,
you look fine, You're a professional athlete, you're playing and
working out every day.

Speaker 6 (20:19):
How are you sick?

Speaker 4 (20:21):
So it's just something that I've had to deal with,
and I've just had the best support system with my
friends and family, and I would not be here without them.
And really it was like when I got sick and
lost all the weight and didn't think I was gonna
be able to play again for me, my purpose and motivation
like made of one point eighty. Like right now, yes,

(20:43):
I'm not happy that I'm not playing, but the fact
that I'm on a roster right now after what I
went through mentally and physically is like such a huge
win for me personally, and being able to play in
this elite league is like cherry on top because I
thought I thought I was done.

Speaker 6 (21:04):
I thought it was over. So but I feel good.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
Wow, I feel real good. Well you do you do?
Look good? Thank you? You do? You do? Look sexy Lexi?

Speaker 4 (21:14):
Sexy sexy Lexia.

Speaker 6 (21:18):
Come on, y'all make some T shirts or something.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Listen, don't be saying that when all these people show
up with a sexy Lexi T shirt.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
All listen. I was about to say, who are gonna
call that?

Speaker 3 (21:29):
The Seattle broadcast team and be like, hey, yo, I
need you all to refine the nickname.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
Get that they need to say it, because I was
like I was telling them, I was like, yeah, Cheryl
calls me sexy Lexi on the AU broadcast.

Speaker 6 (21:44):
And they were like, yep, what I was like, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:47):
That's how we do things.

Speaker 6 (21:49):
Athletes limit.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yeah yeah, oh funny.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
But I'm actually happy that you bring up athletes unlimited, Like, yeah,
take a second.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
And kind of talk about that, because I.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
Think when you think about AU, you are certainly one
of the faces that have become synonymous with that league
and how it's continuing to grow and developed in this
past season in Nashville, personally, I felt like this was
the best season of the three that we've had. It
just felt like the city was excited to have you
guys there and the red carpet was rolled out. Like

(22:24):
I literally pulled up at the airport and could see
the billboard outside of the airport that was like a
yeas in town, get your tickets, and like that's just
kind of what you know, it's what women's basketball deserves,
but it's definitely like what this leaves deserves. What was
your overall impression of like this season of AU and
how you guys are continuing to kind of grow that league.

Speaker 6 (22:46):
Yeah, I mean, I agree with you.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
This was definitely the best season in my opinion from
the buy in from Nashville, from our roster, from the play,
like from week one to week five, like we had
such a great time and everything was just so well
thought out and well executed, and it took a lot
of work, and honestly, they were not like wanting to

(23:11):
be in Nashville for real, like they had. We knew
we had to get out of Dallas, and they had,
you know, a bunch of other options, and then here
comes Nashville and they're like, oh, we don't know about Nashville,
and we the executive Committee, were like, no, I think
you we should look into Nashville for sure. And we
started talking to people from Nashville and they were so
aesthetic for us to be there, and you know, the

(23:33):
rest is history. Were there for at least two more seasons.
I think I've already I don't know if I'm allowed
to say this, but I've already signed my contract for
season five and I'm returning as the chairperson of the
Executive Committee. So this is my home, this is my family.
It's the happiest I've been playing basketball since I left
Duke and it changed my career.

Speaker 6 (23:55):
So I love.

Speaker 4 (23:57):
AU And you know, every year we have more and
more players from the W coming to AU and players
in AU getting on rosters, like seeing so many players
that started AU not on W rosters and making opening
day rosters, Like that's what makes me so proud and
happy about AU.

Speaker 6 (24:14):
Like I think I said it on our show.

Speaker 4 (24:16):
We have thirty current We have thirty current W players
that have played in AU or just played in AU.

Speaker 6 (24:23):
So I mean it's a place you go.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
To enjoy yourself, to develop, to build relationships and have
a good time. Like I just the way everyone gets
to play and just be themselves in AU, Like it's
just it's like basketball utopia. That's what I keep telling people.
And that's like my first thing when I try to
get people to come and play and athletes ulimit. It
is like if you want to just whop, like, AU's

(24:48):
where you want to be for sure.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
That's it. That's it. So Lexi, I don't I don't
want to talk about unrival, but I do want to
ask you a question. So we know that the CBA
is coming up, So two questions. What are the top
priorities that you all are wanting to address or you're

(25:14):
looking to talk about, And do you feel that having
an athlete's unlimited and an unrival helps you guys when
it comes to sitting at the table for negotiations with
a new CBA.

Speaker 4 (25:32):
Oh yeah, first question, we have like a every time
we're in our meetings, we have a long list of things.
I think currently right now player salaries is like one A,
one B, one C.

Speaker 6 (25:45):
Like that's what.

Speaker 4 (25:47):
The main focus is at this moment. I know I've
heard from other players. You know, making sure we get
to keep the charter flights is a priority because that's
not written in our CBA currently. The charter flights, accommodations,
healthcare benefits for current and retired athlete or players, relocation expenses,

(26:13):
like any little thing.

Speaker 6 (26:15):
And I think that's what's so amazing about.

Speaker 4 (26:17):
Terry, who's the president of our Players Association, and Mekka,
is that they're like any little thing that you've experienced
as a player, like bring it to us, because everything
has to be put in the CBA. Like for me,
for example, something that I brought up in one of
our meetings that we had in Nashville was are we
going to have player minimum requirements to access certain salaries?

(26:43):
Because right now, the only requirement you have to make
a maximum contract is years of service and that's it.
So for a player like me who has the years
of service but didn't necessarily ever get the same opportunities,
I'm never going to have a chance to access a
certain amount of money because I don't for whatever reason,

(27:06):
my career has just been the way it was.

Speaker 6 (27:08):
And even if I do play well.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
If this GM don't like me that much, or this
coach don't like me that much, like they're not going
to give me that money. But if there's a threshold
you have to reach, and I reach it, it doesn't
matter what anybody thinks about Lexi the person.

Speaker 6 (27:24):
We're talking about, Lexi the player and I.

Speaker 4 (27:29):
That came to my attention the last round of negotiations
when we didn't have as many.

Speaker 6 (27:35):
Free agents for the new money.

Speaker 4 (27:37):
So like, whoever was just a free agent was getting
the new money, which good for them.

Speaker 6 (27:42):
Love that.

Speaker 4 (27:44):
But this next CBA, everybody's a free agent. So now
are y'all going to determine who gets what because of
who you like, who you want on the team, Like, no,
there has to be something in place. That's what how
it is in the NBA, Like you have to meet
minimum requirements to access money. So that was my thing

(28:04):
that I brought up, and honestly, it probably won't even
affect me at all, Like I don't know if I'll
ever be like.

Speaker 6 (28:10):
First team all the w NBA or MVP or nothing
like that.

Speaker 4 (28:13):
But I still think it's important to have things in
place so everything can look uniform, so you're not looking
at one team salary cap and stats of players and
another team salary cap and stats of players and you're like,
what is what is the how do we get here?
Like how did y'all balance the salary cap?

Speaker 3 (28:32):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (28:33):
And then speaking of salary cap, getting rid of the
hard cap is huge for us. So those are just
a handful of things. I'm on the CBA committee, so
I'm like really engaged and locked into this.

Speaker 6 (28:46):
I asked Ecca questions all the time. She's probably tired
of me.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
So it's fun being involved in this round of negotiations
because the last CBA was only my second season, so
I had no idea what was going on. But I've
experienced a lot since then, so I'm like, oh, I'm
going to be involved in this for sure. And then
the second question is the effects of AU and unrivaled.
I think it gives us more leverage because we're able

(29:13):
to show that people want to invest in, support and
watch women's basketball in the United States, and we've just
never had that before. We've never had any tangible proof
and evidence of people wanting more women's basketball, people wanting
us to be in the States, people wanting us to
be in their commercials, wanting to wear their clothes be
a part of their brands. So I think that's huge

(29:35):
for us as far as negotiating.

Speaker 6 (29:38):
But I don't think it's everything.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
Like there's a lot of things that AU and unrivaled,
like things that they just don't have to worry about,
like traveling, and.

Speaker 6 (29:46):
Like there's just a lot of.

Speaker 4 (29:47):
Things that the WNBA handles that Unrivaled in AU just
don't have to deal with because we're in one place.
So I think there needs to be just a cohesiveness,
and I think that's going to be the most beneficial thing.
We don't all have to be competing with each other.
We all need to work together to continue to elevate

(30:08):
the women's game.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yeah, I agree one hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
I don't personally see any of the three as the same,
Like the audience is different, the concepts are different, and
to me, even the sustainability level is different. I mean,
the W've been around almost thirty years, so clearly that
is where it is. But when I look at like
an unrivaled I see like a star driven Typely, the

(30:30):
bigger your name, the bigger your presence, the bigger your popularity,
the more people want to come and see you. I
look at Athletes Unlimited as a league that is truly
about developing and getting better as a player, and I
love that there are like stars from the W who
are like, listen, I want to stay home.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
I don't want to go overseas.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
I still want to make some extra money in my pocket,
but I still want to play with people who are
competitive and who want.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
To get better, and it makes me better.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
So there are two things that I see in the
day of you that I'm always like, if you pull
from this, and you pull from this, you can actually
come up with something that could be dope. And I
hate the fact that there is no like a developmental
league or g league for W players because at some point,
whether we like it or not, it's the worst part
of sports.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
People get injured, people get injured.

Speaker 3 (31:19):
People get hurt, and so now you've got this player
that can't go overseas for real, because then they've really
lost the opportunity to kind of come in and play
for hardship opportunities.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
But what are they doing in this meantime? Like what
they what are they go? You're thed, you're the grand.

Speaker 3 (31:40):
If there is a way that, like some of the
model in structure that they have, that athletes unlimited, coupled
with the promotion and marketing and investment that they get
from unrivaled, can pull together and this is in my world,
in my head, my head world somewhere can pull together
to come up with like a small G league type

(32:01):
situation that happens during the summer at the same time
as the WNBA, so that college players, people who want
to get better, folks who may not have made a
roster can stay in shape, can stay tuned up, like
so that you.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
Have a pool, a pool of people of.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
Players to pull from and to choose from and they
feel valued. Like is that something that you guys have
ever discussed.

Speaker 4 (32:24):
Or absolutely so actually funny that you've said that. So
there's actually a new league starting next summer. It's called
Upshot League, and it's based in Jacksonville. One of the
teams is going to be in Jacksonville, So my dad
they have had my dad kind of consulting with it,
and Taj from the W left the W to come

(32:46):
work for this new league. Yes, okay, she's the vice
president of basketball operations. So essentially this would be exactly
what you described league for players running concurrently with the
W season and if and B because it's gonna have
to be written in the CBA. If this could be

(33:09):
the pool that people can pick from for their hardship contracts,
so like you could have make sure that these teams
are running similar sets, they're running similar defenses, so when
you bring your hardship player, they are at least familiar,
you know. I feel like having additional roster spots would
help that as well. But if that can't happen, then

(33:32):
you know, this league is starting next summer. So I
ask my dad about it all the time, like are
they going to work like closely with the W. Is
it going to be like a feeder league to the W,
or is it going to be independent from the W?
Like There's so many things, but again everything has to
be written in the CBA. So this is like the
perfect time for it to be starting. I'm sure that.

(33:53):
I don't know if they did this on purpose or
not to run at the same time as the negotiation period,
but yeah, it's The cities are Jacksonville, Savannah, Charlotte, Greensboro,
So it's only four cities, I think, but that's more
than enough players to have a pool to choose from
for the W.

Speaker 6 (34:11):
So, I mean that's come up a lot.

Speaker 4 (34:13):
As these college kids are getting more popular, their brands
are growing, They're going to get to the league and
get cut and we can go through the same thing
every year every year. Yeah, the same thing, and it's
just going to keep getting worse. So if there's a
way that this upshot league can run with the W
I think that would be amazing. Wouldn't promise anybody any

(34:36):
WNBA time or a roster spot because you have to
fall under the eight players for the hardship contracts, but shit,
we had ten. So I don't think I've been on
a team yet that hasn't activated a hardship player.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (34:53):
Yeah, so it shit happens.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
Every year to that point. LEXI. You know, back in
the day when the league started, we had I think
we carried thirteen players on a roster with you know,
we had two ir spots. So when you start talking
about expansion and bringing new teams, like, yeah, that's great,
but why not look at adding a couple of more

(35:19):
roster spots as well? What would you contribute all the
hype and the growth of women's basketball or the W two.

Speaker 6 (35:28):
I think it's like a mixture of things. I think
you go all the way back to COVID.

Speaker 4 (35:33):
The world changed when COVID happens, and I think people
were already online a lot pre COVID, but post COVID,
like people are like chronically on the internet. And I
think women athletes just do the internet better than men athletes,

(35:55):
Like they their content is better, they are or personable
on their socials because for so long, that's all we had,
Like we didn't have these commercials that we didn't have billboards,
commercials where we just had to show up for a
production date and then the company would take care of
everything else. Like we had to do everything ourselves if
we wanted to build our brand outside of basketball, because

(36:17):
we didn't have the same resources or attention or energy
that the men had. So I think once COVID happened,
like the women athletes like, we were like it's our
time to shine, Like this is where we live, we
live on socials, like this is what we do.

Speaker 6 (36:31):
And I think.

Speaker 4 (36:32):
Finally there was a switch in college or the switch
in the w and in other women's professional leagues where
they were like, oh, like, this isn't a distraction, This
doesn't mean that they don't care about the sport they're playing.
This is how they're going to build their fan base,
this is how they're going to build their brand, and
ultimately that gives us more money, our organization more money,

(36:52):
our teams more money. So I think it was a
combination of that. I think also in the college game,
the women, well everyone talks about all the time. The
men's college landscape has been a mess for a few
years now with the transferring and the one and done
and all that. So you just have a group of

(37:12):
this social media I mean, I don't think these are
the iPad kids, but they're like the iPhone kids who
got to go through high school and college not being
frowned upon for being active on socials and being their
own person outside of the sport that they played, and
they were able to go through college and build their

(37:32):
brands and be themselves. And you look at the men's
side and you're like, who is this person? I don't
know who that guy is. Oh he was at a school.
This is his third school, Like what is going on?
And the women, you just had the same group of
girls that you got to watch grow and win and
get better and develop and then get to the W
And I just think it was just like the perfect
storm of that.

Speaker 6 (37:52):
And I've always said it was great timing.

Speaker 4 (37:56):
And at the end of the day, the players that
were in this perfect store how to produce. They had
to be entertaining, they had to win, and they did
all of the things. So that's why I think like
the women are just blowing the men out of the
water in that aspect, because you go look at the
men's side, you're like, I don't even know who won.

Speaker 6 (38:13):
Who won Florida.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
I don't And I didn't care about the men's tournament
at all this year.

Speaker 6 (38:20):
I did not care at all.

Speaker 4 (38:22):
And I love basketball, but I can't watch men's college
basketball because I don't know who any of the people
are and I'm tired of seeing the kid transfer ten
minutes after.

Speaker 6 (38:33):
The game ends.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
I don't like that like, yazy so complained about one
and done for years.

Speaker 4 (38:39):
Yeah, and they want us to have that for our game.
I'm like, have y'all seen what it's done to the
men's game. No, because the transfer is already ruining women's
college basketball a little bit.

Speaker 6 (38:49):
But y'all want to bring one and done. Look what
it's doing to the men. Yeah, it's winning a mess.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
It's like, keep it, keep it where it is, keep
it where it is.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
I will say I was in invested this year in
the men's tournament just because I'm a Michigan State girl
and my spartans was bawling. But that's where I start
and stop, Like I.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
Can't tell you the Like I just was like no.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
And then plus for you know, for work, when they're like, hey,
we need you to cover this game, and I'm like, okay,
well now I got to actually study because I don't
know none of these players.

Speaker 4 (39:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (39:17):
But but exactly that's.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
The point though, Like, I completely agree with your point.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
I feel like you hit the nail on the head
about it being the perfect storm, right, Like you've got
to have players producing at the same time as all
these other things are happening, and it just kind of
brings about the fact that these college players bringing their
college fan bases to the W. I feel like it's
also something that for years we've been trying to figure out, Like,

(39:43):
of course, you know, Yukon has kind of always been Yukon,
and Tennessee has kind of always been Tennessee. And I think,
you know, once Asia came along, we started seeing the
South Carolina's turn around, and then the Nordre Dames got bigger,
and so like that that transition has been in Bible,
you know, in my opinion, just seeing people continue to
bring their college fan bases over and parody in college

(40:06):
basketball too. I think it's helped me for the longest
the times it was like it's the same for schools.

Speaker 4 (40:12):
It's schools, same for schools.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
You never know, right, like you never know. And I
and I love that.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
About where college where where basketball and college basketball has gotten.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
But what I hate.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
And I mean this strongly, what I hate is that
anytime you open the door for new things and new
fans and new people and and it's not And I
am one who is adamant LEXI I only got two
hundred and forty characters, you know what I'm saying, Like
I don't have.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
I'm not paying Eline for longer tweets, for longer messages.

Speaker 4 (40:46):
And I think everyone who does that needs to stop stop,
Like that's it. You can't get to write that much.
Go write a newsletter and email hundred because I don't.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
Even want to read all of that. I don't even
want to read all that.

Speaker 4 (41:01):
Wants to hear your think piece about something that you
know nothing about.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Nothing about.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
But I only bring that up to say, it is
so many factors to where women's basketball have gotten where
they are. And it didn't start yesterday, and it didn't
start last year, and it didn't start two years ago,
like it has been this way and it has been
growing to this level to ninety sep since ninety seven.

(41:26):
Like I think people forget, like when the league first started, it.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Was jumping, jumping, like jumping, like it was crazy, crazy jump.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
I think people forget like ce Vivian Striker was selling
out stadiums years ago, you know what I mean, in
the college game. So it's just crazy how folks just
kind of forgotten or not.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
I don't want to say forgot.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
But it's like recency bias.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
It's recency bias because we are a younger fan base
to the point of social media. So you know, we
didn't have an opportunity to have everything recorded and placed
on YouTube or placed on TikTok, so younger folks and
younger fans.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
But I know it's frustrating.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
And then YouTube personally, YouTube have the opportunity to sit
on Gils Arena, which is a show that people watch
and consume all the time, and every little thing you
say gets clips cut, messed up, fucked up, just like

(42:28):
it's like, there's no all of that, and I get it,
all of that, but I do want to offer you
both an opportunity to just kind of as frustrating as
it is, like why why is it important to continue
to be vocal? Like you both have podcasts, you both
have outlets where you can speak your truth and where

(42:49):
you can because you got more than two If you
want to have more than two hundred and forty characters,
you go to a platform that gives you more than
two hundred and forty characters, and.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
You ain't got PA and you ain't gotta pay.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Ninety nine, but in fact they pay you.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
But anyway, I think the question is just like and
this is for both of you like, why is it
so important to despite the noise and the way that
your words are constantly twisted, you still find it important
and valuable to kind of speak your truth and just
be like, this is what it is.

Speaker 4 (43:20):
I didn't realize what like that clipping was until I
went on my first episode, literally my first time on
gils Arena. They could be talking about an NBA player
in the playoffs and it like went crazy and.

Speaker 6 (43:38):
I wasn't wrong. That's the thing.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
That's the thing about you, guys.

Speaker 6 (43:41):
I'm very rarely wrong.

Speaker 4 (43:43):
And I say that respectfully because I do my research
and I don't speak negatively about people because why, like
I don't need like when people just want to speak
negatively and be rude and like personally attack people like
I've just wasn't raised that way. That doesn't bring me
joy and that's bad energy and bad karma. So like

(44:05):
that's something that I don't do. So when people want
to clip things, I it was frustrating at first, because
I was more frustrated the fact that people just weren't
going out of their way to provide themselves with more
context of the conversation. Like for me, I'm a big
context girly like, I'm huge on context, So the fact
that people were just seeing the clip and running with it,

(44:27):
I was just kind of like, this makes me concerned
for like the human race a little bit as a whole,
but I can feel good about the whole point I
was making. So once I like got came to terms
with that, I was like, I don't care what people say.
I'm not even on that platform anymore. I already see people.

(44:49):
I've already seen people clipping me and Mariah's show to
make it seem like we're saying things that we're not saying,
Like you have no control over what other people do
with your content. And if they want to go out
of their way and make my words negative because that's
what they think, or they want to use my words
to say something mean about me, like there's nothing I

(45:11):
can do about that.

Speaker 6 (45:12):
I don't care. I don't get it.

Speaker 4 (45:13):
M So I just think it's important that we thinking
like you, Cheryl. We have been here since the beginning
before it was cool to like women's basketball to cover
women's basketball, and it's important for us to stay strong
in our opinions and continue to uplift the game and
talk about it the way it needs to be talked about.

Speaker 1 (45:35):
And I don't know.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
I just people are just like anybody who attacks Cheryl.

Speaker 6 (45:40):
I'm just like, what it's like, y'all like attacking like Lebron.
Y'all realize that, like what are we doing here?

Speaker 1 (45:48):
Like, no, no, they're attacking. It's like attacking MJ, not Lebron.
But Oka correct now I'm just playing. I'm just playing.

Speaker 6 (46:02):
Both of them.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
No, you know, to answer your question, we have so
many men, whether they're ex athletes, current athletes, never played
the game before, but because they are, because they are men,

(46:27):
whatever they say, it makes it right, right, So people think,
so they think. And I actually said this last year.
I said, if if I can't talk about our game,
if I can't talk about players in our game, good bad, indifferent.

(46:47):
If I can't do it, nobody should be doing it,
especially a male. Right. And to Lexi's point, I don't
hate or not one single person. First of all, let's
just say that let alone a player, Like, what do

(47:08):
I look like hating on any player that's playing the
game today. Yeah, they probably have more opportunity, they're making
more money, they're getting bigger bags, and I am here
to applaud it. Stand up for it, Go get Joe Bagg.
Like I already said, there is nothing that I wanted

(47:29):
to accomplish in basketball that I didn't accomplish. So to
say I'm hating on players, I hate players. I'm a racist.
All of those things like find something new, find something different,
find something unique to come at me with, because that
doesn't fly over here, Like all the racist comments, all

(47:51):
of those things that people want to say I am.
I actually laugh at it because y'all sound dumb. Like
y'all sound really dumb. I love where this game is at,
but I feel it's very important for like Lexi, myself
and t even you with your platform, I feel like

(48:12):
it's very important that we are in those spaces where
men are talking about our game. You haven't played our game.
You don't know the ins and outs of what it
means to be a part of the WNBA better than
those who have covered it since day one, like you,
who have played it since day one, like myself, and

(48:35):
who's currently playing it, like Lexi, I don't care what
you did in the NBA. You didn't do it on
this side. So to come for me and come at
me and say, oh, you don't know this you don't
know that. Okay, Well you can keep saying that because
I know for a fact I know more about the

(48:55):
game than you do. That's why I think it's important
to have voices like myself off and Lexi's and whether
y'all want to hear it or not, Like I get
these comments all the time. I hate when y'all bring
her on the show talking about gil show. And you know,
on days when I have time, because some days I
have time, not every day I ain't got time, but
on the days when I do, like, I'm gonna sit

(49:16):
here and I'll entertain you. So my response is, if
you don't like it, then don't watch it. And not
only that, if I'm such a bad person, why is
it that you're searching for what is Cheryl Who's doing?
Or what does she say? Or who does she who
is she talking about? So you can go and comment it, like,
just go find somebody else to troll, because that's what

(49:38):
you're doing.

Speaker 4 (49:39):
They probably and they probably are following you.

Speaker 3 (49:41):
Ain't blocked, they ain't blocked you, they ain't muted you.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
Probably following you.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
Ask y'all.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
When they see.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
But to you, here, here's here, here's my here's my thing,
right because and I don't want to talk about it
because I'm over it. But you know, like the most
recent situation with Caitlyn and Angel, I said I had
no issue with Caitlyn's foul. That's the very first thing

(50:15):
I said. And I didn't because I would And I
also said I would have done the same thing because
I was taught you don't give up an easy layup.

Speaker 4 (50:22):
And the thing it had nothing to do with the
players on the court.

Speaker 6 (50:26):
I wasn't saying oh no about that.

Speaker 4 (50:27):
I said, damn, that was a that was a smart
play from a competitor.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
That's what it was. And that's what it was.

Speaker 4 (50:36):
That too, But okay, LEXI like, you.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
Can do whatever you want. But but people wanted to say, yeah,
go ahead.

Speaker 4 (50:46):
I was, yeah, it's going to be this is going
to overshadow anything that happens for.

Speaker 6 (50:51):
The next year.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (50:53):
Well, you know, I was disappointed and and I was like,
can you maybe they'll surprise me.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
No, they know, you didn't. You didn't really think that.
You didn't really think that. But you know, but people
want to say that Angel reacted that way because it
was Caitlin. And what I said was m no, I
think Angel Angel would have reacted like that period because
that's that's who Angel is. So somebody brought up the
fact that when when At fouled her heart, she didn't

(51:23):
jump up like that.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
I was like, well, she probably couldn't breathe.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
She probably couldn't breathe like like, not only that, but
it was the fact like At grabbed the girl by
the throat, she closed lined her, so she probably was
trying to catch her breath.

Speaker 6 (51:38):
She probably was like what just happened?

Speaker 1 (51:40):
What is going on?

Speaker 4 (51:43):
And I got screened in the back cord by Alissa
Thomas and that.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
Ship listen, at ain't no joke. At at ain't no Joe.

Speaker 6 (51:55):
I'm sorry, no one is doing that.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
No, it's not happening. Yeah, I'm just like, like it
just it takes the fun out of out of the
game when when it's all the extracurricular stuff outside of
what's going on on the court. Right, And I completely
agree with Lexi, it's two competitors. It's two competitors, right,

(52:20):
Like Caitlyn did what she's supposed to do. It was
a hard foul. Whether you thought it was a flagrant
or not. My thing is the rest called it a
flagrant from the angle I saw. I didn't think she
went for the ball, and I thought the rules were
you don't go for the ball with the hard foul
to the flagran foul whatever. But they both both Caitlyn
and Angel said it was a basketball play. Let's move on.

(52:43):
So so if they're moving on, why can't the rest
of the world.

Speaker 3 (52:48):
You know what, I'm gonna even add to that and
just simply say the very next day, I was sitting
courtside doing my job, watching Shakira get ready to go
off and then then part and I didn't see no
extra curricular commentary about Shakira and Marina and Shakira push
the ship out of Marina, and I was like, damn, Marina,

(53:08):
you kind of had to eat that one. But at
the end of the day, like the same thing right
before that happened, you could see John quill and I
forgot who she was getting.

Speaker 4 (53:16):
At Chelsea somebody.

Speaker 3 (53:19):
I'm just like, we know, we know what it is, like,
we know, and it's so irritating, and so.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
No Djona and Jeff Shepherd, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (53:32):
Yeah, the competitors competitors.

Speaker 4 (53:36):
So that's why it's important for us to keep the
main thing the main.

Speaker 2 (53:39):
Thing, yep, exactly exactly.

Speaker 4 (53:42):
The main thing is these are strong, amazing, powerful women
competing for a championship.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
Well, listen, all right, so this this isn't a basketball one.
But I told I told a couple of people you
were coming on the show today, and I need to
know for them, what does the dating scene look like
for lex It's just me, I said, you know what,

(54:25):
because some listen I've had I've had three people hit
me up like, what's up with Lexi Brown? I said,
what you mean? What was up with her?

Speaker 3 (54:35):
So?

Speaker 1 (54:35):
I said, she's coming on the show, And okay, that's
the that's the answer I'm giving them. She's a stay
home dog mom. Unless you got a real cute dog,
you ain't got a gent No, I won't even say that.

Speaker 6 (54:48):
Boy, I got real responsibilities. I got a handle, you know.

Speaker 1 (54:54):
Okay, Well I did ask, so I need that out
here so so when they hear it, they'll no idea.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
Ask that's great.

Speaker 3 (55:02):
Okay, Oh my god, did you say did you say?

Speaker 1 (55:05):
How quick? She cut me off like no, no, no, no,
not going here.

Speaker 3 (55:13):
You're gonna get these You're gonna get these photos on
Instagram and that's it.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
Oh my God.

Speaker 3 (55:20):
Well, before we let you go, Lexi, we have missed
several times that you have a show with Mariah Rose
on the iHeart Women's Sports Network. So I just want
to give you an opportunity to kind of talk about
your show where people can listen and like what you
and Mariah.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
Got coming up.

Speaker 4 (55:35):
Yeah, So it's called Full Circle Podcast and it's just
a women's basketball show. We we last week our episode
was called keep It Cute, So that's basically what we do.
We like to talk analytics, stats, uh, good performances, teams,
like we just really get into it. But it's nothing personal,
like we say, U, what is it just five? I

(56:00):
forgot what our logo thing line was. I made it
up one day and I can't remember it right now.
But it's just like a fun space for women's basketball,
especially in the toxicity that surrounds the sport at times.
So it's just a place where you can get some
really valuable information about what's going on in the w
in college, might tap into some high school stuff this
year as well. And it is weekly on Wednesdays. You

(56:25):
can find it anywhere you find your podcast, and then
videos drop on YouTube on Fridays.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
I love that will love it. We definitely going to
be checking out. I already do checking out.

Speaker 4 (56:35):
So there we go, Zoey all producer, no filter, all facts,
there we go.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
No filter. All thank you that. I love that shout
out to Zoe.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
Like zorry, you'll be on top of it.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
Yes, Zoe be on it. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
I love that we share the same producer. So let's
make sure Zoe get hugged.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
Love.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
But thank you so much for hanging out. Lexi. We
definitely got to have you come back on the show
because we didn't even get into half the ship.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
We was gonna talk about talk. I'm struggling over here,
and you know, you know, I like to talk. I
like to laugh. I'm struggling. But sex but sexy, Lexi.
We know you're gonna keep it sexy.

Speaker 4 (57:23):
Keep it sexy, right, yeah, sexy?

Speaker 1 (57:29):
Oh my god, bye, Thanks Lexi.

Speaker 3 (57:38):
I can already tell that we are gonna have to
have Lexi back on the show because there is just
never enough time to get into everything that we really
want to get into. And I could just really feel
like that was starting to get juicy. The conversation was
starting to get juicy.

Speaker 1 (57:53):
Well, I mean, there were so many places we could
have gone but and and a lot of good things
that we talked about, out her Crohn's disease, her going
to Seattle, and how all of that felt. But you
know what I was disappointed in because now I'm gonna
have people coming at me.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
Ah the dating question.

Speaker 1 (58:17):
Yeah, Like I actually had people say can you find
out if Lexi Brown is single? And a couple of them.
I said, even if she and she isn't you're not
her type.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
It's not you. It's nice. It is true her and Cannon,
and that's it. That's all we working with.

Speaker 3 (58:34):
Alexi was like, nah, Cannon is the only man in
my life right. That is so funny. But you know
what's crazy. I get that question about you all the.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
Time about me.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
Yes, people are always like, you know I love you know,
I love Sharyl. You know you know you know shrel
I had a crush on Sharyl.

Speaker 3 (58:51):
But I was like, well, you're the blue woman that's married,
which you should have had a crush back of the day.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
Listen, let me spell it for you and you pronounce it.
I'm gonna spell it and you pronounce it. This is
what my husband is.

Speaker 4 (59:02):
I g.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
And you and t.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
Spell it against your ig.

Speaker 1 (59:19):
And you and t ignant.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
Ignorant. I knew it instantly because I got one of them.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
But you know, what's so much? You know, because I
know we're gonna wrap it up. But it's social media
is such a place. It's just such a place. Sometimes
just when I'm sitting around not doing anything, which isn't
very often, I'll just go through my d MS because
I don't do that very often, and some some of

(59:56):
the messages are of course, people hate me, but then
there are some that are like, mmmm, girl, you're sicker
than a snick thought. I thought you was fine when
you play the things I would do to you. Now
I'm like, oh gosh.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
This is why I don't check my dms. What I
tell you, you gotta show him. You got to show him
to your husband, because that's when it's really funny.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
I get stuff like that and.

Speaker 3 (01:00:21):
I show it to Greg and he was like, he'd
be like, oh, and it's it's crazy because it's always
somebody who you know that you're not gonna get with.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
That's why they be cool, That's why they respond the way.
That's fine because they like say like it don't matter,
we know you not.

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
Never gonna happen. It's never never gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (01:00:40):
I'm telling you now, let let let somebody find Slade
in my d MS.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
I can't show up and I know you don't. I
know you don't. I can't show that one.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
Oh my god, yes, God, hilarious.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
So so thankful to have Lexi on such a great conversation.

Speaker 3 (01:01:00):
Absolutely well, as we are on our way up out
of here, Cheryl, I know you got something good for
us this week?

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
How are you gonna level us?

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
Okay? So we are in Pride months. We are right,
and I know We've said it because we always you know,
we're always on top of people and things in what
month it is, and so for Pride Months, yes, I
want to do some type of a quote or an

(01:01:28):
uplifting word for all of the LGBTQ community. So today
this is what I got. It says, to be yourself
in a world that is constantly trying to make you
something else is the greatest accomplishment.

Speaker 3 (01:01:52):
Oh yeah, that can be for anybody, for anything, but
in particular because.

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
It's Pride month. Just want to send out mad love
to our LGBTQ plus community and that word today was
for you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:08):
Absolutely, I absolutely love that and it is one one
hundred percent accurate. Never never, never ever ever change who
you are, Always be who you are.

Speaker 1 (01:02:17):
We love that, love that.

Speaker 3 (01:02:19):
Well with that, friends, That is going to be it
for this week's episode of Levels to This, but we
will be back next week with more next level conversations
just about the real shit that we go through as women.
And remember this isn't our show, but it's our show,
so we want to hear from you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
Leave us a review in Apple Podcasts. Tell us what
you thought of this week's show.

Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
You can hit us up on Gmail at Level to
This Podcast at gmail dot com and please follow us
on Instagram at lttpod. Until then, keep your mental's ground
level and we will be.

Speaker 2 (01:02:54):
Back next week.

Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Peace peace y'all. Listen to Levels to This on America's
number one podcast network, iHeart, Open your free iHeart app
and search Levels to This with Cheryl Swoops and Tareka
Foster Brasbee and start listening