October 13, 2025 • 46 mins
In this episode, we get into it — sports, politics, and everything in between. The hosts break down what’s really going on in today’s political climate, especially around education and how corporate power keeps showing up in all the wrong places.
They also unpack how different generations are seeing politics play out and how political figures influence the way we think, act, and show up in the world.
Then we switch gears and dive into one of the most exciting times of year — March Madness. The conversation gets heated in the best way, especially when we talk about women’s basketball. Shoutout to legends like Dawn Staley and the rivalries that keep the energy high and the fans coming back.
But it’s not just about the game — it’s about the business too. The hosts dig into the current state of negotiations in women’s hoops and why smart, strategic moves are key if we want to keep this momentum going and take the league to the next level.
Connect @CariChampion @airSwoopes22 @SheKnowsSports
Listen: Levels to This with Sheryl Swoopes and Terrika Foster-Brasby
Subscribe Cari Champion's YOUTUBE Channel
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Speaks to the planet.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'll go by the name of Charlamagne of God and
guess what, I can't wait to see y'all at the
third annual Black Effect Podcast Festival. That's right, We're coming
back to Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, April twenty six at Poeman
Yards and it's hosted by none other than Decisions, Decisions,
MANDYB and Weezy. Okay, we got the R and B
Money podcast with taking Jay Valentine. We got the Women
of All Podcasts with Sarah Jake Roberts, we got Good
(00:23):
Mom's Bad Choices. Carrie Champion will be there with her
next sports podcast, and the Trap Nerds podcast with more
to be announced. And of course it's bigger than podcasts.
We're bringing the Black Effect marketplace with black owned businesses,
plus the food truck court to keep you fed while
you visit us. All right, listen, you don't want to
miss this. Tap in and grab your tickets now at
Black Effect dot Com Flash Podcast Festival.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Welcome to Naked Sports, the podcast where we live at
the intersection of sports, politics, and culture. Our purpose reveal
the common threads that bind them all.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
So what's happening in women's basketball right now now is
what we've been trying.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
To get to for almost thirty years.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
From the stadiums where athlete to break barriers and set records.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Kynon Clark broke the all time single game assist record.
This is crazy for rookies to be doing.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Our discussions will uncover the vital connections between these realms
and the community we create. And each episode we'll sit
down with athletes, political analysts, and culture critics because at
the core of it all, how we see one issue
shines the light on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports.
I'm your host, Carrie Champion. So programming note, family, I
(01:40):
was asked to join levels to this podcast with the
legendary Cheryl Swoops and women's college basketball analysts Terreika Foster Brassby.
So you should know their podcast because trust me, these
ladies will give you a full education on what is
needed to know about basketball college basketball. Every time I
list and I know I walk away more informed. So
(02:02):
that is the first thing. However, they asked me to
be on the podcast, and because it was March madness,
I said, do you mind if I actually borrow a
little bit of your podcast and aired on my actual
airway for naked sports, and they said, you know what, Yes, sus,
you can do it. So this is the conversation that
lives at the intersection of sports and politics. I hope
(02:24):
you enjoy. We begin with what has happened this past
week in terms of politics, and then we moved directly
in to sports. I hope you all enjoy.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
So, you know, Carrie, every single day there's something something
that that man in the White House, because I refuse
toll that there's something he does every single day. Every
day is something. So to me, two things that recently
(02:58):
happened that I was just like, are we really doing this?
And how and how can other people besides black and
brown people? Right, you sign an executive order to cancel
the Department of Education, and you are removing Jackie Robinson,
(03:22):
Medgar Evers. You're removing people from our history that had
a lot to do with making America great. And I'm
not saying make it great again, because it was.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Never great the first time. So how is.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
It that And I don't care what side of the
aisle you sit off, right, but how is.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It that that that those people.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Can be okay with with a lot of the stuff
he's done, but in particular like Department of Education, and
and basically saying, and Jackie Robinson, you didn't because you
were a black man. What you did for this country
doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
You know, So I thank you for asking that question.
This is the UCLA shirt I'm wearing. Is a Jackie
Robinson edition. By the way, let's go so uh the
first to your first question about the Department of Education
dismantling the Department of Education, they will always lean the
conservative side, will always lean on economy. They will tell
(04:30):
you this is all about the economy. They will tell
you this about overspending. And they're saying the reason why
they're trying to dismantle because you can't fully dismantle it.
It takes an Act of Congress to do it. But
when you're shutting down certain positions and departments, he says that,
he will say he he says that it's because he
wants to give it to the states. Give the education
(04:52):
back to the states. They should be in charge of
the education, each individual state Connecticut for you, Texas for you, California,
me in New York, whatever they want the state to
be in charge. The Department of Education made sure that
and you know how schools get funded, right, Yes, based
on that they live in And so the Department of
Education made sure that some of these underfunded schools were
(05:13):
allowed to get money and resources they normally wouldn't have.
And the first thing that I think a dictator does
is remove education so that people are not smart enough
to understand being duped and treated differently, and they don't
know any better, and the law of the land is created.
If you look at dictatorships all across the world over
(05:35):
the years, this is exactly what they do. It's a playbook,
and he's going down a playbook from dictators of past
and present and seeing what worked and what didn't work.
And that's why all of these things are just really
really distractions. Until he has the full control of what
he wants, everything else is a distraction. Elon Musk provides
(05:56):
cover for him. So we think we're mad at must
but we're really mad at him. Elon Musk is being used.
It's a mutually beneficial relationship for both of them. Yep.
And I think that we are watching in real time.
We never thought it could happen in America, but why not.
Every other country has had a dictatorship every other government fallen,
Why would an American's government fall?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Absolutely great nation has fallen.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Every great nation has fallen. And people think that we're
being alarmists. But I you know, and I just I
don't want to keep referencing this that TV show, But
I remember there was this one scene and animates tell
and she said, while she's walking in her red she's
all like, we all were asleep while he ignored the constitution.
We were asleep while afforded people by the thousands, hundreds
(06:41):
of thousands were asleep while unmarked plane closed officers. Ice
officers walked up to a guy while he's having dinner
with his wife and arrested him and put him in
a plane vehicle. We were all asleep? What part of
that is constitutional? How are you coming?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I wish?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Do you know how dangerous that is walking up to
some and saying we're putting you under arrest, not knowing
who the person is. You can if you did, this
can't end? Well, you get the ripe one who has
the time. It is violent?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Yes, yes, well, and.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
We're going to see and he's pushing and pushing more
chaos because if you push more chaos, you'll be more
on something to provide order, and he wants to put
the order of the chaos that he's already created.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
That's it. It's it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
But what's even worse is that as you look at
things being unconstitutional, you have an even more saddening feeling
that the folks who are put in place to protect
the integrity of the Constitution are those who are also
making the decision that these things are are not unconstitutional.
(07:46):
So we don't even have the checks and balances across
any degree of our.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Government to protect us. We don't have Yep, we don't have.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
We don't have enough people in Congress who are fighting,
and those who are are limited in some to some degree.
We don't have enough Supreme Court justices because the Supreme
Court has been stacked on the right.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So it is like, are we we just we're not.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Why I hear hear people say that I'm moving because
she was like, because I don't have anybody in Congress
fighting for me, or if he's like, I don't have
anybody in the Senate fighting for me. Yeah, but a
great movement, and I think you it historically has been
from the people. It's gonna come from the people, and it.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Has to how it has to, and it can come.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
It can actually come more quickly than people recognize if
they understand the power that they have. Because in twenty
twenty five and twenty twenty six and parts of twenty
twenty seven, there are congressional elections that are happening across
the United States. You do not have to keep them
same ignorant individuals into your political offices. If people put
the entire amount of time and effort and dedication that
(08:51):
they put into the presidential election and to removing senators
and representatives who do not align with your benefits.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
This is why.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
This isn't why for the political arguments I get in
on social media is about like this. It's like y'all
s fit two and a half months argued about why
y'all hate Kamala.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
That's what y'all did.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Y'all talk about why y'all can't stand her black ass
blah blah blah blah blah. You put that same energy
into District thirty six to the person that's been sitting
on Capitol Hill for forty five years, and that's an
absolutely nothing for all the things you think that Kamala
was supposed to say for you.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, that's that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
So we don't have to suffer for a lot of
this congressional for much longer. If people wise it up
and utilize the voice and the power that they have.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
I hope they do. I hope they do. So I
think that I think that what you're saying is right.
You see, you see these town hall meetings all across
the country, and people are angry. They get get veterans angry,
and they're yelling, people don't have anything. They are mad,
and they're letting their representatives know. Now, hope is that
we see something during the midterms, because the midterms will
(09:56):
be here and that's going to be a strong indication
of how this country feels. Yeah, if they start kicking
people out and you start to see new people and
they flip the house and they flip this in it,
we we're good. I don't know what happened, but here's
my here's here's what I do know. I need everybody,
no matter who you are, whether you think this is
relevant or not. You talked about your ninety five year
(10:17):
ol grandmother. My ninety five year o grandmother sadly voted
for Trump, but I'll tell you why she voted for Trump.
And there is this there is she's old enough to
think that women should not be in these types of positions,
which is so ironic. Wow, it was her, that was
her philosophy. But I go, oh, so old women preachers.
You know, it's a woman in the segregated, segregated South,
(10:40):
and and and and her throt processes. I'd rather us
be separate but equal like and I'm like, grandmother, there's.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
No such things.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
There's no such thing now, but it was better when
we was. I was like, it doesn't work that way.
So she life pass her by really quickly. And here
she's ninety five years old, and she realizes that a
lot of people have buy a remorse with with Trump.
And she pulled me the other day. It's two weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I was at home.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
She goes, I made a mistake, but I'm going to
tell you this, save your money. Because the more and
more I pay attention to what's going on, we are
in a world of trouble. This woman is ninety five
years old. Were to say, olds down my spote, She
yes all and she was like, I made a mistake,
and I want you to save your money. That's her answer.
Her answer to all of this was save your money. Yeah,
(11:26):
you're your house because it's about to be some lean times.
And I was yeah, and lean different for everybody. Right,
it may not be you may have money in your bank,
right you may, but lean could be you know everyone
around you is suffering, and so that makes you comfortable.
Lean could be your boss comes in and says, we
have new rules. Like you see what's going on with
Ben and Jerry's. They got bought by Unilever. Ben and
(11:48):
Jerry's the ice cream cottage, very progressive. They always are
fighting for individual rights. They are always the entity that says,
you know, we believe in these rights and these rights.
Human rights is there. That's what Jerry's is about. Yeah,
got purchased by Unilever. Told they got them to a
standoff in twenty twenty one with Unilever because Unilever didn't
(12:11):
like the way that they were protesting what was happening
in Gaza, and Unilever, their parent company, told them to stop,
and Ben and Jerry's is like, nah, I'm all set.
This is who we are. They just fired the CEO
of Ben and Jerry's because they did not like the
way that they were handling this political situation and or
his poof about protesting this current administration. People are falling
(12:33):
in line in real time, Google, Facebook, Amazon, everybody. But
when these big companies are falls yes, you're like, wait,
what does that make me feel? Like? They have so
many people. If I work for one of them companies
and they tell me don't post, I'm posting if that
work for one of these companies, and I don't really
(12:53):
feel secure where I am, I'm not going to do anything.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
Because I don't be right, because you're going to be
terrified for your for your job. And what's crazy about
that is back in And this is probably be my
last comment on this, But before during the inauguration, there
were so many people who were like, I'm not watching
the inauguration.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Cherol, you were like, I'm not watching an inauguration, and
I was like, that's cool. I get why.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
I get why some people didn't social judgment there. I
just took the stance of I want to see.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Who there, Yeah, because I want to be there. I
want to see who be here.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
And the first thing I saw when I turned on
the inauguration Mark Zuckerberg, Jim bayos All of them, of
Google not having better seats than Congressman sitting right behind,
and so to me, that was already in my head.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
A I already know.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
What to expect over the next four years, because clearly
the people who represent the biggest tech industries in our
nation and then the world are literally we use Google
every day for everything. I ain't gonna last see here
and say I'm not gonna use Google no more.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Now you know what I'm saying. I'm sitting at this point.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I would love to be like, hey, I don't have
to order from Amazon. I got an Amazon box coming.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
It's like, yeah, no doubt. I guess we still have to.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Be as much as as much as we're like I'm
not going to support right certain things, we we still
have to be very realistic in that as well as
you know what I mean, I think for me, Ta,
and this is my last comment on it, so we
can talk about something more exciting. What got so I
did too the inn right to the inauguration, and besides
(14:29):
seeing all of these billionaires, what got me was so
I used to be used to be a Carrie Underwood fan.
Love Carrie's music, I loved her on American idol, all
the things I would listen to her music. What got
me was when I saw how she disrespected Kamala Harris
(14:50):
and and basically didn't want to shake her hand.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
And I was like, I think that is so disgusting.
I think that's one hundred.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
And so I kid you not not that not that
it's going to affect her pocket at all.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
She don't know me from eve.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
But I went in my phone and I deleted all
of my carriage.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
By the way, I'm glad. It made me feel good. Yeah,
it made me.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
I want to I want to get to your level
of pettiness. Well, and I got a level of pettiness
on my own, but but I can't. The person who
I need to delete all the my my iPad and
out of my playlist is Kanye west because Kanye Weston
lost his day of mind, and a part of me
is like, and I've been going, like I know he's
been going, He's He's like, trust me, there is nothing.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I have no intention of ever trying to save Kanye.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
But for me to get rid of the college of
the college I mean a graduation that was one of
the best albums I ever had.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I was like, you're like, I'm a different one.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Yeah, I'm not different.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Girl.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
No, it's that ain't about to happen.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Yeah, differently, I think, I think, I think. I think
that's the biggest show. You hit on something that bothers
me more than anything. There is just no class at all.
There is no there is no They don't they are
so happy in the win, those who supported Trump, and
they don't know how to be a gracious winner while
they say we're poor losers. And it's like, you don't
(16:26):
have to disrespect Kamala like that. You you don't you.
But I also want the people on the left, like
in terms of the Congress, I want you to to
be on that same energy. You can't be not you
can't play nice anymore. There are no you can't play
anymore like you guys, you can't be have de corm
you hear Michelle. Michelle said, when they go low, we
(16:47):
go lower. She don't change her whole tune more.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
We been doing you, Rachelle.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
We were doing that since we appreciate it. Yeah, when
she was telling us to go high, we were like.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
It sounds cute exactly. I was taking it to hell.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
You tripping, I'm going to where I'm going to call
the an.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Okay, I wish I could, but nah, not doing that.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
We're gonna take a quick break because we have to
pay some bills. We'll be right back in just a
few moments. Thank you for listening to Naked Sports. We
are joined by Cheryl Swoops, Terka Foster, Brasbee. Levels to
this podcast and I hope you enjoy. I was happy
(17:56):
just to do the show because, first of all, you know,
I love you both, but I wanted to talk. I
want a job to tell me all about March madness
and was my team gonna win it all?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Oh, you're about to be mad at me. She's about
to be mad at us.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
I knew y'all.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
I knew y'all was gonna say that. I knew y'all
was gonna say that. But you know what, here's the thing.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
Here's the thing is that I actually love this for UCLA,
Like I love the fact that they are. I am
very high on them getting to the final four. I
feel like they have a favorable region. They should dominate
that region. Well, let me take the back, they should
dominate the first couple of rounds. I think if they
get a chance to play like old Miss, they'll be challenging.
(18:35):
If they have to play like LSU or something like that, like,
they'll be challenged, But for the first couple of rounds
they should dominate easily.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
The problem with UCLA is that I think they forget
that they have more experience than they think they do.
We say, like, oh, they haven't been here before, but like,
y'all been playing together for three and a half years
at this point, Lauren Betts is six foot seven. Ain't
nobody got nothing, no kind of smoke for her whatsoever?
And Corey Close has been one of the best coaches
(19:03):
in women's basketball for I don't.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Know how long y'all have got it.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
But execute all that and I am doubtful about their
execution When you get mopped by USC why also.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
And if it goes right, they'll meet him again. Right,
So it's like, do you play each other a fourth time?
If it goes if if if everything alignes according to
the brackets, they play each other a fourth time? Are
they tired? Do they remember? As us C rejuvenile? You know,
Juju ain't no joke, Joe? What was it for the
second game at u C l A And she and
we was we was getting they handed it to us
(19:38):
like it was embarrassed. I was with your girl.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
She was you know, she was acting up.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
She was talking to us c I said, well, did
they get you courtside? Because if you go over there,
I was like, my husband some tickets, I said, and
I know they would't course that. I'm gonna need you.
I need you to a right straight right on my dime.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Everybody was in.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Jarren was like, oh, you're so tense. I was like,
have you seen yourself with Michigan State Place.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I'm sad. We got a game. We got a game.
We got a game today. I need you all to relax.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Okay, it's serious. So she understood where I was coming
from here to your point, Tarika, you know what I
think is interesting about my team. They need to be
more hood. We need some more goods. We need you all.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
That's one hundred facts.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
I was sitting in front of a lady. She was like,
you see La wins with class, and I was like, well,
that's not gonna help us. Hunt told her her husband
U C. L A. Spends a lot of money. They
got money, money, money, She's a big, big booster. And
she was like but she was telling because her daughter
was sitting next to me and her daughter was going
in and we was all pumped and she's like, honey,
we win with class. I was like, that's not gonna
(20:46):
get us there, babe. I was like, with allsprayed. But
she was.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
That other side of la And I know, okay, the
hood side, but I know, I know there's a lot
of stuff that has to happen. But my thing is
when when I look at USC and UCLA one hundred,
Juju is that girl. She is her, but overall, UCLA
(21:18):
has a better team to me overall. Right, But to
Tea's point, I think Ucla needs to understand that and
know that and be like, Okay, y'all got juju and
we're gonna respect Juju, but we got way more than juju.
And that's how they got to play. And again to
(21:39):
Tea's point, listen, Lauren Betts, you're gonna get your ass
on the block. I love me some Lauren Betts. Gotta
get Lauren Betts to get her ass on the block.
I need you to command the basketball, and when you
get it, I need you to be strong with and
go to work. Because when she decides, when she decides
that she is going to score, she can't. And if
(22:02):
they go send a double and triple team. She also
is a I think a really good passer out of
a feneral team or triple team. But she's got to
be stronger with the basketball. I was so happy she
said she was going to go back another year because
I think she needs that year to come into the
w and and be really good when she enters the draft. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
I don't know who she's working with, but I need
her to work with in terms of, you know, of
a professional. Maybe I'm sure you can because you're you're loyalty,
but I need somebody to get in there and get
in her mind.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
And what did you say, because she said your loyalty
said no, loyalty carry yes, I mean.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
You like USC and Juju. I don't know I no, no, no.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
No, no no no no. Just to be clear, neither
of these teams are my team.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Okay, So that.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Okay, okay. If we're gonna.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Talk about loyalty, and I don't know if that's the
word I use, but I would say this, I ride
with South Carolina and State all day.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
All day. That that's what that is.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
What makes that is what makes it hard being a
fan and an analyst when it comes to college, because
you have to roll with your with your squad. I
graduated from an HBCU, I did a few semesters at
Michigan State University, and I grew up a Michigan State fans.
So as it relates to D one, I'm spartan all
day long, right, but I tried to tone that down
(23:37):
for women's basketball, just because it's like, hey, you want
to be professional, you want to be fair, you know
what I mean?
Speaker 1 (23:43):
So I try.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
I'm not always successful, but I try men's basketball. Leave
me alone today when we play, don't call me, don't
text me.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I'm talking. I was talking about Michigan last night. I
thought they was gonna lose. I got so excited, said.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Y'all can breast my you can fus stop bracket up.
If that means Michigan is going home, that got to
go one hundred percent. Don't know, Basis Blue get no
love around here.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
So that is what it is.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
But it's so hard not to cheer for South Carolina.
It's so hard not to cheer for dawn S Day.
Like the level excellent station continues to just she has
completely shifted the standard to me of what women's basketball
is and where it should be. I think I would
love to owe the parody that we have in women's
college basketball now to the beginnings of how she started
(24:37):
to turn around not one program, but too because she
didn't just do it at South Carolina. She turned around
Temple too.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
She didn't at the end of the day.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
It's just it's it's it's so fun because the tournament.
We're recording this on a Friday, and the tournament is
getting ready to start today.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
So I love the fact that I look at.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
This tournament and I can't fill out a bracket anymore
and say, well, we know the first two rounds is
gonna be no.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
We see upsets. Yeah, you see people go like, we
see players go off with it. Yeah, Like the madness
is real.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
And what I love more than anything about where we
are now with women's basketball is just the way that
people have an opportunity to make a name for themselves.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Now.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
I can never forget Jackie Young.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
In twenty nineteen, she was not the projected number one
overall pick.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Oh no, it was supposed to be Sabrina and Escu
that year.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Right, And then the tournament came and Notre Dame showed
out in that tournament and then they made it all
the way to the finals against Baylor, and granted Baylor
got the w that year, but at the end of
the day, it was like here she yeah Offason.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Yeah she WASNA, you're too late to get all his money,
but yeah, you know what I mean, like late to
get off cash.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
And I love it was.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
It was building. All of it was building the building block.
You're absolutely right. I think don I even and coach
and I. I will be very honest of the coach.
Corey and I talk all the time. I fly off
for UCLA. I do things for them all the time.
That's my g She can call me up and I'll
do anything for her. It bro As UCLA was making
this run. I remember her asking if I wanted to
(26:13):
go to the game in South Carolina and I was like, ooh,
I've missed that one. And I was like, I'm gonna
have to miss that one because I don't want you
to be mad at me when I get excited for
Donah to your I understand I better. You know, at
the school, it's being a black woman before going to school,
you know, that's all it is. It was like she's
(26:36):
smart enough to understand that, Like, but I'm still rooting
for you, like I still want you to win, but
you understand I feel such such a and loyalty and
watch I'm like, go ahead, boo doo, you get all
this to make all the demands have in zone. Be unapologetic,
be a fighter. They know two things. My team's not
(26:58):
going there because if they're raised, won't play there.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
Yes, and garry that I'm sorry, that's what for me.
But besides, I played with Don you know, in the WU,
played with her in the Olympics, like all of those things.
I'm like, that's my girl. But here's what I really
here's what I really pull hard for Don is because
she's one of us, and people are always sitting waiting
(27:28):
for her as a black woman to fail, but they
don't want to sit there and cheer her on in
her successes. And you know, for so long we we
have been told as as a black woman and looked
at as a black woman leading in NC double A
Division one.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Team, you can't do it.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
You as a black woman can't win a championship, You
can't recruit, you can't get the all of those things.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
And don Staley, she she don't say nothing. She like
just watched me. Just watch me.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
I'm I'm gonna do all the things that you say
I can't. I'm gonna turn this around. Yeah, I'm gonna
get what I deserve. Like I sit back and I
watched all these things, like I text on it ain't
got none to do with basketball, But I'll just say
thank you, right, just thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
She she gets it, she sees it. She's a great
mentor for these young ladies.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
And it's just hard for me to not not pull.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
For her, right yep.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
And yeah, so I'm yeah, and I'm always when people
come for her, they come for her players, I'm gonna
be the first one to be like, oh no, we're
not gonna do that.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
We're not gonna do it. You're not gonna come for
down Staley.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
Like that's just they And I think folks often forget
that it wasn't in those same in those same comments
that you're that you're saying they said about her, which
they did. They now turn all of that around to
make it a negative. They now turned all that around
and say, well, of course she wins.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
She has all these all Americans.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
It's like, but you said, I couldn't read proof all Americans,
and they said, well, of course she has all these
great facilities because they.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Paid her all this money. But y'all don't know.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Don Staley put her own money into this program. Early
on before I got to hear it was It's like
everything that y'all are saying was a negative that have
now become a positive. Now we're gonna figure out how
to make that thing a neetive. It's just a cycle
that will never end. And as we talk about Michelle
Obama telling us when they go low that we go
lower down. Maybe one of the few people who still
(29:27):
goes high. Yeah, and it's another reason why we continue
to respect her and everything that she's doing.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
YU kind is coming.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
You're listening to Naked Sports, and we gotta pay some bills.
We'll be right back in just a few moments. I'm
so grateful that these ladies from levels to this podcast
that's the legendary Sheryl swoops and the best in terms
of women's college basketball. Analyst Jarka Foster Brassby here on
(29:59):
Naked Sports, take a listen. I'm really curious about how
you feel people are receiving women's basketball. It's not that
same fever pitch when it was Caitlin and Angel Rees.
It doesn't feel that exciting. Do you think women's basketball
needs that rivalry to get more? I mean they're still
(30:20):
spending the money. People are still but like the excitement
of where the man down the street who never watched
women basketball is talking about it, you know what I mean?
You know how when you guys stopped by people. I
don't feel that this time. But Miani had an interesting take,
and I don't always listen to men talk women's sports,
but he said, no matter what you think, and I
put this in my rivalry doc, that Tarika was in.
(30:41):
The rivalry is such a good thing, and they're missing
out on the rivalry that could be between Yukon and
NSC at South Carolina. And I think that or I
feel like it could be USC maybe. And you talk
about Juju taking on page like, I wonder if that
storyline needs to be played up more, even though it's
(31:03):
not a storyline, so that there's more interest. Do you
see what I'm saying? Like cause I Angel Rees really
provided her being quote unquote in theory, the villain really
gave them what they needed to mean, Kaitln was great,
but we needed something else. We need it, We needed
it to be up here.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
So what I would say to that is, I think
that the best rivalries are the ones that continue to
exist even when you don't have to force it. Because
that Caitlyn Clark and Angel Rees's rivalry, it still exists.
It's just in the w now as it relates to
the to women's college basketball. One thing that I've always
noticed and then scherryl you could, I mean you played
(31:39):
on the college level. I knew I was done after
high school. College was not gonna be for me. So
I don't have this experience, but it feels like what
I love about college rivalries is that no matter who
plays there, no matter how long, like, UCLA is always
gonna hate USC.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
It don't matter. If Reggie's there, it don't matter. If
Lisa's there, it don't matter if Like it don't matter
if Cheryl Miller's there.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
USC and U c l A are Michigan and Michigan
State will always hate each other. It don't matter. I
don't care who played there. I don't even need to
know the players. If you're wearing a Maze and Blue outs.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
You Michigan State.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Matter, can you Yeah, you're back, You're back.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
And so when I and now, I feel like at
one point in time that was Yukon and Tennessee, it
was like it didn't matter where it was, what was
going on, like it didn't have to have a.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Player name attachment.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
So I say all that to say that I feel
like organic school rivalries are building in half built. I
think that South Carolina and Yukon, especially if they if
they reached you know again this year, could definitely be
that kind of rivalry. U USC continuing to stay and
if you and if Lauren Betts comes back next year
she's alluded to that continue that crosstown rivalry is something
(32:55):
that continues to grow. I don't think rivalries are sustainable
when it is just upon people.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Yeah, oh oh, they need to be based on the school.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
They need to be based on We need to make
these two schools, these teams face each other so much
and so good to where they start to feel away
about it because people come and go.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
We see that in the men's game.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
In the men's game, Duke and North Carolina gonna forever
be a rivalry.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
It don't matter.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
Whatever, it's gonna it's gonna let it's gonna be prime
time every single time. That Championships Classic is always gonna
be Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, and Duke. It ain't gonna
never change because those schools are always and it's always
gonna bring eyes and attention. The women's game have yet
to have that one, not since Yukon and Tennessee. They
have not had that one school where you're just like,
(33:45):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Care who played. If these two teams matching up, it
might be nasty tee. I totally agree with you on that.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
I have a different perspective as well when you talk
about rivalries, like, I didn't think Angel and Caitlyn was
a rivalryson Honestly, I thought this was you have this
really really, really really good white player and you have
this really good black player. And because of that, I
(34:22):
think people were like, well, I gotta pick one or
the other.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
I gotta rock with Caitlyn or I gotta.
Speaker 5 (34:26):
Rock with Angel, Because to me, a lot of the
stuff that people talked about it didn't really have anything
to do with the two of them playing basketball because they.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Didn't guard each other. Yeah, like it Caitlyn. Caitlyn is
in her own world.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
Caitlyn plays a certain way, she plays a certain position,
she does the thing she does, and Angel does the
thing she does right, So like both of these players
can be really good. I think people tried to make
it a rivalry because that was exciting for the game.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
I will say this, I loved it.
Speaker 5 (35:08):
Whether you considered it a rivalry or not, I loved
it because people were talking about the women's game. Yeah,
they were talking about Angel, they were talking about Caitlin,
but you ended up talking about the WNBA.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
You ended up talking about the game.
Speaker 5 (35:22):
I think a lot of times when people think about
women's basketball, women's sports in general, but in particular women's basketball,
they want us to all be like Kumbaya.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Oh they all like each other're Oh, they're all business.
Speaker 5 (35:35):
Oh they don't curse, they don't swear, they don't play hard,
they don't foul.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Who right, But we've always played that way, and you
know what, I'm okay.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
If you don't like me, yeah yeah, even.
Speaker 5 (35:51):
If you do like me, when we step on that court,
I'm coming for your head every single time when the
game's over.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
If we you know, we friends. When the game's over.
We're cool.
Speaker 5 (36:01):
We can go have dreams, we can go talk, we
can go talk about how I just gave you forty
and how you thought you was going to hold me.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
To twenty five sary. To your point, I do think
it's really, really, really good for the game. But I
also think we're at a place right now.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
Whether that's because of Caitlin Angel and the whole rookie
class last year, but also the Asia Wilson's.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
The Diana Trossi's right.
Speaker 5 (36:32):
I think we're at a place right now though, where
women's basketball is.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
In a really good place. People are talking about it.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
I got people talking to me about it that didn't
even know the WNBA existed until this season, right Yeah.
And I'll end on this because I said this yesterday.
I know there's a new CBA coming up. I know
the players are like, listen, we want X, Y and Z. Rightfully,
So this is just my two cents. But I will
(37:01):
say this, if you don't get all those things that
you're asking for now, probably ain't the best time for
a lockout.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Well why would you say that?
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Because of where the game is right now?
Speaker 5 (37:14):
Oh? I just I don't think we're at a place
where we want to go down that road.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
If you lose that momentum, it's no guarantee that you
will peak that right back.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Wow, what a tough space to be in because I
know players want to get more things, and you got
a generation of players and only a handful, But they're
used to getting what they want. You talking to the
likes of an Angel and a Caitlin and all these
other players that came in, they're used to fighting for
what they want.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Well, yes they should. So here's the thing, right, they should.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
And I do think it's because of the Angels and
the Caitlin's that they probably will get a lot of
the things they're asking for. But here's the other thing
I say. You also only have probably a handful of
players that can afford do you play?
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Wow, right, the opportunities are there.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
When I look at you know what, dear Mark, I
saw a Flage Experience commercial, I'm like, what the hell.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Like, it's great?
Speaker 5 (38:12):
Where everything that I'm seeing that they're doing, that's happening
that these women deserve. This is where we always wanted
to see the league, right, all these opportunities that they're getting.
But you also have to be strategic in what your
(38:33):
plan is gonna be. Right, you go to the table
and you say we want X, Y and Z, and
if they come back there like, all right, we'll give
you X and Z. But why don't know so way
your options? Is it really worth you all saying we're
not we're not gonna play because we want why Also,
last thing I'll say, I do feel with unrival and
(38:56):
even with athletes unlimited, right, there are two other leagues
that these women have an opportunity to play in. Granted
and R I've only had thirty players, AU only had
forty players. But because there are other opportunities, that is
going to put pressure on the W.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
You took the words right out of my mouth, Shryl.
Speaker 4 (39:16):
I was literally getting ready to say when you were
done that I don't think that it will even need
to get to a lockout because I think the W
isn't stupid. As much as people criticize them, They're not stupid,
and they understand the product that they have, and they
too understand that this is a momentum that they can
ill afford to lose. This is a time that they
(39:36):
can ill afford to They have an opportunity to put
this league in a different category, in a different financial status,
and I don't think that they would also be willing
to waste that over being stubborn. It has not worked
in the years past, it will not work moving forward.
So I genuinely hope that they are wise enough to
understand that there is a give and take, and as
(39:57):
much as they want the players to give and take,
they have to give a little bit too. So I
don't think it'll get to a lockout personally.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Okay, that's so smart. And by the way, all the
nuance to what's happening you are. I love that. I
love the idea of being like the knowing yet unrivaled
in these other leagues exists. The w will have to
understand that these players do have more leverage than they need,
and you're right, only a handful of players show can
actually be like I'm off.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Set, I'm straight.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Yeah, I'm fine. I got so that That's.
Speaker 5 (40:27):
Why it's important, Carrie, to have the right people in
the room when it comes to the negotiating, because it
can't just be about you, right like, well, this is
what I want, because you're speaking for the entire league.
You're speaking for all these women who who don't have
these endorsement deals, who don't have these opportunities, who might
only be making seventy five thousand dollars during the WNBA season.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Yeah, you know what I mean. Do you remember the
movie one forty four, Remember the movie that came out. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
One thing that always sticks out to me is Courtney Williams.
Courtney forty four was the movie about the Governor player,
the documentary with the players in the bubble king the
during the pandemic, and it's really good. It's really good,
And Courtney Williams was very vulnerable in there. And when
they showed the clips of them being at the table
amongst each other speaking, Courtney said, I don't want there
(41:20):
was The question became whether or not they play a
specific game because of a player player player, because of
say it again, no kidd okay, she was Candace wasn't
in one forty four, it was SUPERGA, SUPERB, Kelsey Plumb,
(41:42):
it was Elizabeth william So in a in in one
the players were having a conversation whether or not to
play a specific game because there was a shooting in
which Jacob Blake was shot and the NBA when they
were in their bubble they decided that they were not
going to play, and so the WNBA had to make
(42:03):
a decision whether or not they were not going to play.
And here you are in a season where there are
more eyes on your sport than any other eyes, because
if we're in a pandemic, can't nobody going nowhere? They're
playing in the summertime. And on top of that, it's
all about how you make money. You make money based
off how you play and when you play. And so
(42:23):
Courtney Williams was like, listen, I'm not about not trying
to play this game because I can't afford to not play.
I can't afford the ramifications that could come from networks
or whoever else. Don't want to show our games no
more because we're deciding not to play.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
And so there was conversation and I respected.
Speaker 4 (42:46):
Courtney Williams for that because it was very clear that
it wasn't necessarily because I feel that we shouldn't stand
up for Jacob Blak. But the reality is I have
to provide, and she said this, it's my responsibility to
provide from my family, and I can provide for my
family if you don't know, checks come through because the
rest of y'all can afford to provide for your family,
(43:08):
whether y'all get this check or not. I ain't got
that and have I never had more respect for Courtney
than I did at that moment, because she kept it
real and she spoke for so many other people who
honestly filled up, who wouldn't speak up but felt the
same way. It's not about wanting to not stand up
for this right, but it's also about being realistic that
I don't make what y'all make. I can't afford to mischecks.
(43:29):
And I think that's a conversation that will happen amongst players,
not in front of the WNBA, but just amongst each other,
amongst peers when they consider if it ever gets to
this part a lockout where you have to be considerate
of your sister and everybody don't got it like you
got it.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
And by the way, that is a decision that has
to be made in every professional sport. That's why the
NFL finds them self fighting getting people won't all protest,
and people say because they're players who make no money,
And then there are players who make a lot of money,
And there is and by for us, for you, by
our stand and say I'll make a lot of money, right,
but I'm somebody who might do a league minimum at
five hundred versus somebody who has one hundred million dollar
deal and approach the game differently. So it makes sense.
(44:07):
It totally does. Wow, you gave me a education. I
hope they don't like out there, ul because we don't
want to.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
We don't know it just listened.
Speaker 5 (44:14):
The momentum, the momentum that we have right now is,
to be honest with you, there are times are I'm like, damn,
this is really happening in the.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
Double NBA for the w players.
Speaker 5 (44:27):
And so that's why I'm like, it's you know what,
maybe in five years, if we're back here having this conversation,
I might feel differently.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
But just the.
Speaker 5 (44:38):
The viewership, the attendance, the I don't even care if
it was bad publicity.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
You're talking about the WNBA, right.
Speaker 5 (44:49):
We just don't want to get to a point where
we're like, all right, we're not going to play this
season and all of that momentum like it's for yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:01):
And selfishly, I don't want y'all to lock out either,
because that's.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
My pay check.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
What you need.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
Seriously, I got to cover this sport.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
What OK, keep me on payroll and.
Speaker 5 (45:11):
I ain't gonna come on. I don't mess on my bro.
We ain't want forty four. It's gonna be more. We
didn't added three. You gotta have thirty six small.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
People here mathing, not this mathing that I didn't.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
I would my degree in political science, not math. I'm
just adding. I was just adding the valkyrie for this.
Oh MG, Carrie, we appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
I appreciate you. I should stay here all night and
talk to y'all. Y'all just gave me a full education.
I appreciate it. Thank you just like me and I
love what we did, how we did it all. We
put the intersection of all of it together. We did
a monolith. We know all things, and so I that absolutely.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Thank you so much. I look, we didn't capture away pie.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Thank you all for listening to sports again. A huge
shout out to levels to this podcast with Chryl Swoops
and ta Rika. I appreciate you both. I have learned
so much. Thank you all for being here. Join us
next week. Naked Sports written and executive produced by me
(46:20):
Kerry Champion, produced by Jocquees Thomas, Sound design and mastered
by Dwayne Crawford. Naked Sports is a part of the
Black Effect podcast network in iHeartMedia
Speaks to the planet.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'll go by the name of Charlamagne of God and
guess what, I can't wait to see y'all at the
third annual Black Effect Podcast Festival. That's right, We're coming
back to Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, April twenty six at Poeman
Yards and it's hosted by none other than Decisions, Decisions,
MANDYB and Weezy. Okay, we got the R and B
Money podcast with taking Jay Valentine. We got the Women
of All Podcasts with Sarah Jake Roberts, we got Good
(00:23):
Mom's Bad Choices. Carrie Champion will be there with her
next sports podcast, and the Trap Nerds podcast with more
to be announced. And of course it's bigger than podcasts.
We're bringing the Black Effect marketplace with black owned businesses,
plus the food truck court to keep you fed while
you visit us. All right, listen, you don't want to
miss this. Tap in and grab your tickets now at
Black Effect dot Com Flash Podcast Festival.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Welcome to Naked Sports, the podcast where we live at
the intersection of sports, politics, and culture. Our purpose reveal
the common threads that bind them all.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
So what's happening in women's basketball right now now is
what we've been trying.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
To get to for almost thirty years.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
From the stadiums where athlete to break barriers and set records.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Kynon Clark broke the all time single game assist record.
This is crazy for rookies to be doing.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Our discussions will uncover the vital connections between these realms
and the community we create. And each episode we'll sit
down with athletes, political analysts, and culture critics because at
the core of it all, how we see one issue
shines the light on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports.
I'm your host, Carrie Champion. So programming note, family, I
(01:40):
was asked to join levels to this podcast with the
legendary Cheryl Swoops and women's college basketball analysts Terreika Foster Brassby.
So you should know their podcast because trust me, these
ladies will give you a full education on what is
needed to know about basketball college basketball. Every time I
list and I know I walk away more informed. So
(02:02):
that is the first thing. However, they asked me to
be on the podcast, and because it was March madness,
I said, do you mind if I actually borrow a
little bit of your podcast and aired on my actual
airway for naked sports, and they said, you know what, Yes, sus,
you can do it. So this is the conversation that
lives at the intersection of sports and politics. I hope
(02:24):
you enjoy. We begin with what has happened this past
week in terms of politics, and then we moved directly
in to sports. I hope you all enjoy.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
So, you know, Carrie, every single day there's something something
that that man in the White House, because I refuse
toll that there's something he does every single day. Every
day is something. So to me, two things that recently
(02:58):
happened that I was just like, are we really doing this?
And how and how can other people besides black and
brown people? Right, you sign an executive order to cancel
the Department of Education, and you are removing Jackie Robinson,
(03:22):
Medgar Evers. You're removing people from our history that had
a lot to do with making America great. And I'm
not saying make it great again, because it was.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Never great the first time. So how is.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
It that And I don't care what side of the
aisle you sit off, right, but how is.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It that that that those people.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Can be okay with with a lot of the stuff
he's done, but in particular like Department of Education, and
and basically saying, and Jackie Robinson, you didn't because you
were a black man. What you did for this country
doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
You know, So I thank you for asking that question.
This is the UCLA shirt I'm wearing. Is a Jackie
Robinson edition. By the way, let's go so uh the
first to your first question about the Department of Education
dismantling the Department of Education, they will always lean the
conservative side, will always lean on economy. They will tell
(04:30):
you this is all about the economy. They will tell
you this about overspending. And they're saying the reason why
they're trying to dismantle because you can't fully dismantle it.
It takes an Act of Congress to do it. But
when you're shutting down certain positions and departments, he says that,
he will say he he says that it's because he
wants to give it to the states. Give the education
(04:52):
back to the states. They should be in charge of
the education, each individual state Connecticut for you, Texas for you, California,
me in New York, whatever they want the state to
be in charge. The Department of Education made sure that
and you know how schools get funded, right, Yes, based
on that they live in And so the Department of
Education made sure that some of these underfunded schools were
(05:13):
allowed to get money and resources they normally wouldn't have.
And the first thing that I think a dictator does
is remove education so that people are not smart enough
to understand being duped and treated differently, and they don't
know any better, and the law of the land is created.
If you look at dictatorships all across the world over
(05:35):
the years, this is exactly what they do. It's a playbook,
and he's going down a playbook from dictators of past
and present and seeing what worked and what didn't work.
And that's why all of these things are just really
really distractions. Until he has the full control of what
he wants, everything else is a distraction. Elon Musk provides
(05:56):
cover for him. So we think we're mad at must
but we're really mad at him. Elon Musk is being used.
It's a mutually beneficial relationship for both of them. Yep.
And I think that we are watching in real time.
We never thought it could happen in America, but why not.
Every other country has had a dictatorship every other government fallen,
Why would an American's government fall?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Absolutely great nation has fallen.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Every great nation has fallen. And people think that we're
being alarmists. But I you know, and I just I
don't want to keep referencing this that TV show, But
I remember there was this one scene and animates tell
and she said, while she's walking in her red she's
all like, we all were asleep while he ignored the constitution.
We were asleep while afforded people by the thousands, hundreds
(06:41):
of thousands were asleep while unmarked plane closed officers. Ice
officers walked up to a guy while he's having dinner
with his wife and arrested him and put him in
a plane vehicle. We were all asleep? What part of
that is constitutional? How are you coming?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I wish?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Do you know how dangerous that is walking up to
some and saying we're putting you under arrest, not knowing
who the person is. You can if you did, this
can't end? Well, you get the ripe one who has
the time. It is violent?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Yes, yes, well, and.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
We're going to see and he's pushing and pushing more
chaos because if you push more chaos, you'll be more
on something to provide order, and he wants to put
the order of the chaos that he's already created.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
That's it. It's it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
But what's even worse is that as you look at
things being unconstitutional, you have an even more saddening feeling
that the folks who are put in place to protect
the integrity of the Constitution are those who are also
making the decision that these things are are not unconstitutional.
(07:46):
So we don't even have the checks and balances across
any degree of our.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Government to protect us. We don't have Yep, we don't have.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
We don't have enough people in Congress who are fighting,
and those who are are limited in some to some degree.
We don't have enough Supreme Court justices because the Supreme
Court has been stacked on the right.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So it is like, are we we just we're not.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Why I hear hear people say that I'm moving because
she was like, because I don't have anybody in Congress
fighting for me, or if he's like, I don't have
anybody in the Senate fighting for me. Yeah, but a
great movement, and I think you it historically has been
from the people. It's gonna come from the people, and it.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Has to how it has to, and it can come.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
It can actually come more quickly than people recognize if
they understand the power that they have. Because in twenty
twenty five and twenty twenty six and parts of twenty
twenty seven, there are congressional elections that are happening across
the United States. You do not have to keep them
same ignorant individuals into your political offices. If people put
the entire amount of time and effort and dedication that
(08:51):
they put into the presidential election and to removing senators
and representatives who do not align with your benefits.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
This is why.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
This isn't why for the political arguments I get in
on social media is about like this. It's like y'all
s fit two and a half months argued about why
y'all hate Kamala.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
That's what y'all did.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Y'all talk about why y'all can't stand her black ass
blah blah blah blah blah. You put that same energy
into District thirty six to the person that's been sitting
on Capitol Hill for forty five years, and that's an
absolutely nothing for all the things you think that Kamala
was supposed to say for you.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, that's that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
So we don't have to suffer for a lot of
this congressional for much longer. If people wise it up
and utilize the voice and the power that they have.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
I hope they do. I hope they do. So I
think that I think that what you're saying is right.
You see, you see these town hall meetings all across
the country, and people are angry. They get get veterans angry,
and they're yelling, people don't have anything. They are mad,
and they're letting their representatives know. Now, hope is that
we see something during the midterms, because the midterms will
(09:56):
be here and that's going to be a strong indication
of how this country feels. Yeah, if they start kicking
people out and you start to see new people and
they flip the house and they flip this in it,
we we're good. I don't know what happened, but here's
my here's here's what I do know. I need everybody,
no matter who you are, whether you think this is
relevant or not. You talked about your ninety five year
(10:17):
ol grandmother. My ninety five year o grandmother sadly voted
for Trump, but I'll tell you why she voted for Trump.
And there is this there is she's old enough to
think that women should not be in these types of positions,
which is so ironic. Wow, it was her, that was
her philosophy. But I go, oh, so old women preachers.
You know, it's a woman in the segregated, segregated South,
(10:40):
and and and and her throt processes. I'd rather us
be separate but equal like and I'm like, grandmother, there's.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
No such things.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
There's no such thing now, but it was better when
we was. I was like, it doesn't work that way.
So she life pass her by really quickly. And here
she's ninety five years old, and she realizes that a
lot of people have buy a remorse with with Trump.
And she pulled me the other day. It's two weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I was at home.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
She goes, I made a mistake, but I'm going to
tell you this, save your money. Because the more and
more I pay attention to what's going on, we are
in a world of trouble. This woman is ninety five
years old. Were to say, olds down my spote, She
yes all and she was like, I made a mistake,
and I want you to save your money. That's her answer.
Her answer to all of this was save your money. Yeah,
(11:26):
you're your house because it's about to be some lean times.
And I was yeah, and lean different for everybody. Right,
it may not be you may have money in your bank,
right you may, but lean could be you know everyone
around you is suffering, and so that makes you comfortable.
Lean could be your boss comes in and says, we
have new rules. Like you see what's going on with
Ben and Jerry's. They got bought by Unilever. Ben and
(11:48):
Jerry's the ice cream cottage, very progressive. They always are
fighting for individual rights. They are always the entity that says,
you know, we believe in these rights and these rights.
Human rights is there. That's what Jerry's is about. Yeah,
got purchased by Unilever. Told they got them to a
standoff in twenty twenty one with Unilever because Unilever didn't
(12:11):
like the way that they were protesting what was happening
in Gaza, and Unilever, their parent company, told them to stop,
and Ben and Jerry's is like, nah, I'm all set.
This is who we are. They just fired the CEO
of Ben and Jerry's because they did not like the
way that they were handling this political situation and or
his poof about protesting this current administration. People are falling
(12:33):
in line in real time, Google, Facebook, Amazon, everybody. But
when these big companies are falls yes, you're like, wait,
what does that make me feel? Like? They have so
many people. If I work for one of them companies
and they tell me don't post, I'm posting if that
work for one of these companies, and I don't really
(12:53):
feel secure where I am, I'm not going to do anything.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
Because I don't be right, because you're going to be
terrified for your for your job. And what's crazy about
that is back in And this is probably be my
last comment on this, But before during the inauguration, there
were so many people who were like, I'm not watching
the inauguration.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Cherol, you were like, I'm not watching an inauguration, and
I was like, that's cool. I get why.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
I get why some people didn't social judgment there. I
just took the stance of I want to see.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Who there, Yeah, because I want to be there. I
want to see who be here.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
And the first thing I saw when I turned on
the inauguration Mark Zuckerberg, Jim bayos All of them, of
Google not having better seats than Congressman sitting right behind,
and so to me, that was already in my head.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
A I already know.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
What to expect over the next four years, because clearly
the people who represent the biggest tech industries in our
nation and then the world are literally we use Google
every day for everything. I ain't gonna last see here
and say I'm not gonna use Google no more.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Now you know what I'm saying. I'm sitting at this point.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I would love to be like, hey, I don't have
to order from Amazon. I got an Amazon box coming.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
It's like, yeah, no doubt. I guess we still have to.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Be as much as as much as we're like I'm
not going to support right certain things, we we still
have to be very realistic in that as well as
you know what I mean, I think for me, Ta,
and this is my last comment on it, so we
can talk about something more exciting. What got so I
did too the inn right to the inauguration, and besides
(14:29):
seeing all of these billionaires, what got me was so
I used to be used to be a Carrie Underwood fan.
Love Carrie's music, I loved her on American idol, all
the things I would listen to her music. What got
me was when I saw how she disrespected Kamala Harris
(14:50):
and and basically didn't want to shake her hand.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
And I was like, I think that is so disgusting.
I think that's one hundred.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
And so I kid you not not that not that
it's going to affect her pocket at all.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
She don't know me from eve.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
But I went in my phone and I deleted all
of my carriage.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
By the way, I'm glad. It made me feel good. Yeah,
it made me.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
I want to I want to get to your level
of pettiness. Well, and I got a level of pettiness
on my own, but but I can't. The person who
I need to delete all the my my iPad and
out of my playlist is Kanye west because Kanye Weston
lost his day of mind, and a part of me
is like, and I've been going, like I know he's
been going, He's He's like, trust me, there is nothing.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I have no intention of ever trying to save Kanye.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
But for me to get rid of the college of
the college I mean a graduation that was one of
the best albums I ever had.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I was like, you're like, I'm a different one.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Yeah, I'm not different.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Girl.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
No, it's that ain't about to happen.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Yeah, differently, I think, I think, I think. I think
that's the biggest show. You hit on something that bothers
me more than anything. There is just no class at all.
There is no there is no They don't they are
so happy in the win, those who supported Trump, and
they don't know how to be a gracious winner while
they say we're poor losers. And it's like, you don't
(16:26):
have to disrespect Kamala like that. You you don't you.
But I also want the people on the left, like
in terms of the Congress, I want you to to
be on that same energy. You can't be not you
can't play nice anymore. There are no you can't play
anymore like you guys, you can't be have de corm
you hear Michelle. Michelle said, when they go low, we
(16:47):
go lower. She don't change her whole tune more.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
We been doing you, Rachelle.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
We were doing that since we appreciate it. Yeah, when
she was telling us to go high, we were like.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
It sounds cute exactly. I was taking it to hell.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
You tripping, I'm going to where I'm going to call
the an.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Okay, I wish I could, but nah, not doing that.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
We're gonna take a quick break because we have to
pay some bills. We'll be right back in just a
few moments. Thank you for listening to Naked Sports. We
are joined by Cheryl Swoops, Terka Foster, Brasbee. Levels to
this podcast and I hope you enjoy. I was happy
(17:56):
just to do the show because, first of all, you know,
I love you both, but I wanted to talk. I
want a job to tell me all about March madness
and was my team gonna win it all?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Oh, you're about to be mad at me. She's about
to be mad at us.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
I knew y'all.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
I knew y'all was gonna say that. I knew y'all
was gonna say that. But you know what, here's the thing.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
Here's the thing is that I actually love this for UCLA,
Like I love the fact that they are. I am
very high on them getting to the final four. I
feel like they have a favorable region. They should dominate
that region. Well, let me take the back, they should
dominate the first couple of rounds. I think if they
get a chance to play like old Miss, they'll be challenging.
(18:35):
If they have to play like LSU or something like that, like,
they'll be challenged, But for the first couple of rounds
they should dominate easily.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
The problem with UCLA is that I think they forget
that they have more experience than they think they do.
We say, like, oh, they haven't been here before, but like,
y'all been playing together for three and a half years
at this point, Lauren Betts is six foot seven. Ain't
nobody got nothing, no kind of smoke for her whatsoever?
And Corey Close has been one of the best coaches
(19:03):
in women's basketball for I don't.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Know how long y'all have got it.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
But execute all that and I am doubtful about their
execution When you get mopped by USC why also.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
And if it goes right, they'll meet him again. Right,
So it's like, do you play each other a fourth time?
If it goes if if if everything alignes according to
the brackets, they play each other a fourth time? Are
they tired? Do they remember? As us C rejuvenile? You know,
Juju ain't no joke, Joe? What was it for the
second game at u C l A And she and
we was we was getting they handed it to us
(19:38):
like it was embarrassed. I was with your girl.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
She was you know, she was acting up.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
She was talking to us c I said, well, did
they get you courtside? Because if you go over there,
I was like, my husband some tickets, I said, and
I know they would't course that. I'm gonna need you.
I need you to a right straight right on my dime.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Everybody was in.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Jarren was like, oh, you're so tense. I was like,
have you seen yourself with Michigan State Place.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I'm sad. We got a game. We got a game.
We got a game today. I need you all to relax.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Okay, it's serious. So she understood where I was coming
from here to your point, Tarika, you know what I
think is interesting about my team. They need to be
more hood. We need some more goods. We need you all.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
That's one hundred facts.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
I was sitting in front of a lady. She was like,
you see La wins with class, and I was like, well,
that's not gonna help us. Hunt told her her husband
U C. L A. Spends a lot of money. They
got money, money, money, She's a big, big booster. And
she was like but she was telling because her daughter
was sitting next to me and her daughter was going
in and we was all pumped and she's like, honey,
we win with class. I was like, that's not gonna
(20:46):
get us there, babe. I was like, with allsprayed. But
she was.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
That other side of la And I know, okay, the
hood side, but I know, I know there's a lot
of stuff that has to happen. But my thing is
when when I look at USC and UCLA one hundred,
Juju is that girl. She is her, but overall, UCLA
(21:18):
has a better team to me overall. Right, But to
Tea's point, I think Ucla needs to understand that and
know that and be like, Okay, y'all got juju and
we're gonna respect Juju, but we got way more than juju.
And that's how they got to play. And again to
(21:39):
Tea's point, listen, Lauren Betts, you're gonna get your ass
on the block. I love me some Lauren Betts. Gotta
get Lauren Betts to get her ass on the block.
I need you to command the basketball, and when you
get it, I need you to be strong with and
go to work. Because when she decides, when she decides
that she is going to score, she can't. And if
(22:02):
they go send a double and triple team. She also
is a I think a really good passer out of
a feneral team or triple team. But she's got to
be stronger with the basketball. I was so happy she
said she was going to go back another year because
I think she needs that year to come into the
w and and be really good when she enters the draft. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
I don't know who she's working with, but I need
her to work with in terms of, you know, of
a professional. Maybe I'm sure you can because you're you're loyalty,
but I need somebody to get in there and get
in her mind.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
And what did you say, because she said your loyalty
said no, loyalty carry yes, I mean.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
You like USC and Juju. I don't know I no, no, no.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
No, no no no no. Just to be clear, neither
of these teams are my team.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Okay, So that.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Okay, okay. If we're gonna.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Talk about loyalty, and I don't know if that's the
word I use, but I would say this, I ride
with South Carolina and State all day.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
All day. That that's what that is.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
What makes that is what makes it hard being a
fan and an analyst when it comes to college, because
you have to roll with your with your squad. I
graduated from an HBCU, I did a few semesters at
Michigan State University, and I grew up a Michigan State fans.
So as it relates to D one, I'm spartan all
day long, right, but I tried to tone that down
(23:37):
for women's basketball, just because it's like, hey, you want
to be professional, you want to be fair, you know
what I mean?
Speaker 1 (23:43):
So I try.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
I'm not always successful, but I try men's basketball. Leave
me alone today when we play, don't call me, don't
text me.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I'm talking. I was talking about Michigan last night. I
thought they was gonna lose. I got so excited, said.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Y'all can breast my you can fus stop bracket up.
If that means Michigan is going home, that got to
go one hundred percent. Don't know, Basis Blue get no
love around here.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
So that is what it is.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
But it's so hard not to cheer for South Carolina.
It's so hard not to cheer for dawn S Day.
Like the level excellent station continues to just she has
completely shifted the standard to me of what women's basketball
is and where it should be. I think I would
love to owe the parody that we have in women's
college basketball now to the beginnings of how she started
(24:37):
to turn around not one program, but too because she
didn't just do it at South Carolina. She turned around
Temple too.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
She didn't at the end of the day.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
It's just it's it's it's so fun because the tournament.
We're recording this on a Friday, and the tournament is
getting ready to start today.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
So I love the fact that I look at.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
This tournament and I can't fill out a bracket anymore
and say, well, we know the first two rounds is
gonna be no.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
We see upsets. Yeah, you see people go like, we
see players go off with it. Yeah, Like the madness
is real.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
And what I love more than anything about where we
are now with women's basketball is just the way that
people have an opportunity to make a name for themselves.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Now.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
I can never forget Jackie Young.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
In twenty nineteen, she was not the projected number one
overall pick.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Oh no, it was supposed to be Sabrina and Escu
that year.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Right, And then the tournament came and Notre Dame showed
out in that tournament and then they made it all
the way to the finals against Baylor, and granted Baylor
got the w that year, but at the end of
the day, it was like here she yeah Offason.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Yeah she WASNA, you're too late to get all his money,
but yeah, you know what I mean, like late to
get off cash.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
And I love it was.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
It was building. All of it was building the building block.
You're absolutely right. I think don I even and coach
and I. I will be very honest of the coach.
Corey and I talk all the time. I fly off
for UCLA. I do things for them all the time.
That's my g She can call me up and I'll
do anything for her. It bro As UCLA was making
this run. I remember her asking if I wanted to
(26:13):
go to the game in South Carolina and I was like, ooh,
I've missed that one. And I was like, I'm gonna
have to miss that one because I don't want you
to be mad at me when I get excited for
Donah to your I understand I better. You know, at
the school, it's being a black woman before going to school,
you know, that's all it is. It was like she's
(26:36):
smart enough to understand that, Like, but I'm still rooting
for you, like I still want you to win, but
you understand I feel such such a and loyalty and
watch I'm like, go ahead, boo doo, you get all
this to make all the demands have in zone. Be unapologetic,
be a fighter. They know two things. My team's not
(26:58):
going there because if they're raised, won't play there.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
Yes, and garry that I'm sorry, that's what for me.
But besides, I played with Don you know, in the WU,
played with her in the Olympics, like all of those things.
I'm like, that's my girl. But here's what I really
here's what I really pull hard for Don is because
she's one of us, and people are always sitting waiting
(27:28):
for her as a black woman to fail, but they
don't want to sit there and cheer her on in
her successes. And you know, for so long we we
have been told as as a black woman and looked
at as a black woman leading in NC double A
Division one.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Team, you can't do it.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
You as a black woman can't win a championship, You
can't recruit, you can't get the all of those things.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
And don Staley, she she don't say nothing. She like
just watched me. Just watch me.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
I'm I'm gonna do all the things that you say
I can't. I'm gonna turn this around. Yeah, I'm gonna
get what I deserve. Like I sit back and I
watched all these things, like I text on it ain't
got none to do with basketball, But I'll just say
thank you, right, just thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
She she gets it, she sees it. She's a great
mentor for these young ladies.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
And it's just hard for me to not not pull.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
For her, right yep.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
And yeah, so I'm yeah, and I'm always when people
come for her, they come for her players, I'm gonna
be the first one to be like, oh no, we're
not gonna do that.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
We're not gonna do it. You're not gonna come for
down Staley.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
Like that's just they And I think folks often forget
that it wasn't in those same in those same comments
that you're that you're saying they said about her, which
they did. They now turn all of that around to
make it a negative. They now turned all that around
and say, well, of course she wins.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
She has all these all Americans.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
It's like, but you said, I couldn't read proof all Americans,
and they said, well, of course she has all these
great facilities because they.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Paid her all this money. But y'all don't know.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Don Staley put her own money into this program. Early
on before I got to hear it was It's like
everything that y'all are saying was a negative that have
now become a positive. Now we're gonna figure out how
to make that thing a neetive. It's just a cycle
that will never end. And as we talk about Michelle
Obama telling us when they go low that we go
lower down. Maybe one of the few people who still
(29:27):
goes high. Yeah, and it's another reason why we continue
to respect her and everything that she's doing.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
YU kind is coming.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
You're listening to Naked Sports, and we gotta pay some bills.
We'll be right back in just a few moments. I'm
so grateful that these ladies from levels to this podcast
that's the legendary Sheryl swoops and the best in terms
of women's college basketball. Analyst Jarka Foster Brassby here on
(29:59):
Naked Sports, take a listen. I'm really curious about how
you feel people are receiving women's basketball. It's not that
same fever pitch when it was Caitlin and Angel Rees.
It doesn't feel that exciting. Do you think women's basketball
needs that rivalry to get more? I mean they're still
(30:20):
spending the money. People are still but like the excitement
of where the man down the street who never watched
women basketball is talking about it, you know what I mean?
You know how when you guys stopped by people. I
don't feel that this time. But Miani had an interesting take,
and I don't always listen to men talk women's sports,
but he said, no matter what you think, and I
put this in my rivalry doc, that Tarika was in.
(30:41):
The rivalry is such a good thing, and they're missing
out on the rivalry that could be between Yukon and
NSC at South Carolina. And I think that or I
feel like it could be USC maybe. And you talk
about Juju taking on page like, I wonder if that
storyline needs to be played up more, even though it's
(31:03):
not a storyline, so that there's more interest. Do you
see what I'm saying? Like cause I Angel Rees really
provided her being quote unquote in theory, the villain really
gave them what they needed to mean, Kaitln was great,
but we needed something else. We need it, We needed
it to be up here.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
So what I would say to that is, I think
that the best rivalries are the ones that continue to
exist even when you don't have to force it. Because
that Caitlyn Clark and Angel Rees's rivalry, it still exists.
It's just in the w now as it relates to
the to women's college basketball. One thing that I've always
noticed and then scherryl you could, I mean you played
(31:39):
on the college level. I knew I was done after
high school. College was not gonna be for me. So
I don't have this experience, but it feels like what
I love about college rivalries is that no matter who
plays there, no matter how long, like, UCLA is always
gonna hate USC.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
It don't matter. If Reggie's there, it don't matter. If
Lisa's there, it don't matter if Like it don't matter
if Cheryl Miller's there.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
USC and U c l A are Michigan and Michigan
State will always hate each other. It don't matter. I
don't care who played there. I don't even need to
know the players. If you're wearing a Maze and Blue outs.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
You Michigan State.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Matter, can you Yeah, you're back, You're back.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
And so when I and now, I feel like at
one point in time that was Yukon and Tennessee, it
was like it didn't matter where it was, what was
going on, like it didn't have to have a.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Player name attachment.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
So I say all that to say that I feel
like organic school rivalries are building in half built. I
think that South Carolina and Yukon, especially if they if
they reached you know again this year, could definitely be
that kind of rivalry. U USC continuing to stay and
if you and if Lauren Betts comes back next year
she's alluded to that continue that crosstown rivalry is something
(32:55):
that continues to grow. I don't think rivalries are sustainable
when it is just upon people.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Yeah, oh oh, they need to be based on the school.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
They need to be based on We need to make
these two schools, these teams face each other so much
and so good to where they start to feel away
about it because people come and go.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
We see that in the men's game.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
In the men's game, Duke and North Carolina gonna forever
be a rivalry.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
It don't matter.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
Whatever, it's gonna it's gonna let it's gonna be prime
time every single time. That Championships Classic is always gonna
be Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, and Duke. It ain't gonna
never change because those schools are always and it's always
gonna bring eyes and attention. The women's game have yet
to have that one, not since Yukon and Tennessee. They
have not had that one school where you're just like,
(33:45):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Care who played. If these two teams matching up, it
might be nasty tee. I totally agree with you on that.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
I have a different perspective as well when you talk
about rivalries, like, I didn't think Angel and Caitlyn was
a rivalryson Honestly, I thought this was you have this
really really, really really good white player and you have
this really good black player. And because of that, I
(34:22):
think people were like, well, I gotta pick one or
the other.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
I gotta rock with Caitlyn or I gotta.
Speaker 5 (34:26):
Rock with Angel, Because to me, a lot of the
stuff that people talked about it didn't really have anything
to do with the two of them playing basketball because they.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Didn't guard each other. Yeah, like it Caitlyn. Caitlyn is
in her own world.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
Caitlyn plays a certain way, she plays a certain position,
she does the thing she does, and Angel does the
thing she does right, So like both of these players
can be really good. I think people tried to make
it a rivalry because that was exciting for the game.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
I will say this, I loved it.
Speaker 5 (35:08):
Whether you considered it a rivalry or not, I loved
it because people were talking about the women's game. Yeah,
they were talking about Angel, they were talking about Caitlin,
but you ended up talking about the WNBA.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
You ended up talking about the game.
Speaker 5 (35:22):
I think a lot of times when people think about
women's basketball, women's sports in general, but in particular women's basketball,
they want us to all be like Kumbaya.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Oh they all like each other're Oh, they're all business.
Speaker 5 (35:35):
Oh they don't curse, they don't swear, they don't play hard,
they don't foul.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Who right, But we've always played that way, and you
know what, I'm okay.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
If you don't like me, yeah yeah, even.
Speaker 5 (35:51):
If you do like me, when we step on that court,
I'm coming for your head every single time when the
game's over.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
If we you know, we friends. When the game's over.
We're cool.
Speaker 5 (36:01):
We can go have dreams, we can go talk, we
can go talk about how I just gave you forty
and how you thought you was going to hold me.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
To twenty five sary. To your point, I do think
it's really, really, really good for the game. But I
also think we're at a place right now.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
Whether that's because of Caitlin Angel and the whole rookie
class last year, but also the Asia Wilson's.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
The Diana Trossi's right.
Speaker 5 (36:32):
I think we're at a place right now though, where
women's basketball is.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
In a really good place. People are talking about it.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
I got people talking to me about it that didn't
even know the WNBA existed until this season, right Yeah.
And I'll end on this because I said this yesterday.
I know there's a new CBA coming up. I know
the players are like, listen, we want X, Y and Z. Rightfully,
So this is just my two cents. But I will
(37:01):
say this, if you don't get all those things that
you're asking for now, probably ain't the best time for
a lockout.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Well why would you say that?
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Because of where the game is right now?
Speaker 5 (37:14):
Oh? I just I don't think we're at a place
where we want to go down that road.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
If you lose that momentum, it's no guarantee that you
will peak that right back.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Wow, what a tough space to be in because I
know players want to get more things, and you got
a generation of players and only a handful, But they're
used to getting what they want. You talking to the
likes of an Angel and a Caitlin and all these
other players that came in, they're used to fighting for
what they want.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Well, yes they should. So here's the thing, right, they should.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
And I do think it's because of the Angels and
the Caitlin's that they probably will get a lot of
the things they're asking for. But here's the other thing
I say. You also only have probably a handful of
players that can afford do you play?
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Wow, right, the opportunities are there.
Speaker 5 (38:05):
When I look at you know what, dear Mark, I
saw a Flage Experience commercial, I'm like, what the hell.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Like, it's great?
Speaker 5 (38:12):
Where everything that I'm seeing that they're doing, that's happening
that these women deserve. This is where we always wanted
to see the league, right, all these opportunities that they're getting.
But you also have to be strategic in what your
(38:33):
plan is gonna be. Right, you go to the table
and you say we want X, Y and Z, and
if they come back there like, all right, we'll give
you X and Z. But why don't know so way
your options? Is it really worth you all saying we're
not we're not gonna play because we want why Also,
last thing I'll say, I do feel with unrival and
(38:56):
even with athletes unlimited, right, there are two other leagues
that these women have an opportunity to play in. Granted
and R I've only had thirty players, AU only had
forty players. But because there are other opportunities, that is
going to put pressure on the W.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
You took the words right out of my mouth, Shryl.
Speaker 4 (39:16):
I was literally getting ready to say when you were
done that I don't think that it will even need
to get to a lockout because I think the W
isn't stupid. As much as people criticize them, They're not stupid,
and they understand the product that they have, and they
too understand that this is a momentum that they can
ill afford to lose. This is a time that they
(39:36):
can ill afford to They have an opportunity to put
this league in a different category, in a different financial status,
and I don't think that they would also be willing
to waste that over being stubborn. It has not worked
in the years past, it will not work moving forward.
So I genuinely hope that they are wise enough to
understand that there is a give and take, and as
(39:57):
much as they want the players to give and take,
they have to give a little bit too. So I
don't think it'll get to a lockout personally.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Okay, that's so smart. And by the way, all the
nuance to what's happening you are. I love that. I
love the idea of being like the knowing yet unrivaled
in these other leagues exists. The w will have to
understand that these players do have more leverage than they need,
and you're right, only a handful of players show can
actually be like I'm off.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Set, I'm straight.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Yeah, I'm fine. I got so that That's.
Speaker 5 (40:27):
Why it's important, Carrie, to have the right people in
the room when it comes to the negotiating, because it
can't just be about you, right like, well, this is
what I want, because you're speaking for the entire league.
You're speaking for all these women who who don't have
these endorsement deals, who don't have these opportunities, who might
only be making seventy five thousand dollars during the WNBA season.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Yeah, you know what I mean. Do you remember the
movie one forty four, Remember the movie that came out. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
One thing that always sticks out to me is Courtney Williams.
Courtney forty four was the movie about the Governor player,
the documentary with the players in the bubble king the
during the pandemic, and it's really good. It's really good,
And Courtney Williams was very vulnerable in there. And when
they showed the clips of them being at the table
amongst each other speaking, Courtney said, I don't want there
(41:20):
was The question became whether or not they play a
specific game because of a player player player, because of
say it again, no kidd okay, she was Candace wasn't
in one forty four, it was SUPERGA, SUPERB, Kelsey Plumb,
(41:42):
it was Elizabeth william So in a in in one
the players were having a conversation whether or not to
play a specific game because there was a shooting in
which Jacob Blake was shot and the NBA when they
were in their bubble they decided that they were not
going to play, and so the WNBA had to make
(42:03):
a decision whether or not they were not going to play.
And here you are in a season where there are
more eyes on your sport than any other eyes, because
if we're in a pandemic, can't nobody going nowhere? They're
playing in the summertime. And on top of that, it's
all about how you make money. You make money based
off how you play and when you play. And so
(42:23):
Courtney Williams was like, listen, I'm not about not trying
to play this game because I can't afford to not play.
I can't afford the ramifications that could come from networks
or whoever else. Don't want to show our games no
more because we're deciding not to play.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
And so there was conversation and I respected.
Speaker 4 (42:46):
Courtney Williams for that because it was very clear that
it wasn't necessarily because I feel that we shouldn't stand
up for Jacob Blak. But the reality is I have
to provide, and she said this, it's my responsibility to
provide from my family, and I can provide for my
family if you don't know, checks come through because the
rest of y'all can afford to provide for your family,
(43:08):
whether y'all get this check or not. I ain't got
that and have I never had more respect for Courtney
than I did at that moment, because she kept it
real and she spoke for so many other people who
honestly filled up, who wouldn't speak up but felt the
same way. It's not about wanting to not stand up
for this right, but it's also about being realistic that
I don't make what y'all make. I can't afford to mischecks.
(43:29):
And I think that's a conversation that will happen amongst players,
not in front of the WNBA, but just amongst each other,
amongst peers when they consider if it ever gets to
this part a lockout where you have to be considerate
of your sister and everybody don't got it like you
got it.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
And by the way, that is a decision that has
to be made in every professional sport. That's why the
NFL finds them self fighting getting people won't all protest,
and people say because they're players who make no money,
And then there are players who make a lot of money,
And there is and by for us, for you, by
our stand and say I'll make a lot of money, right,
but I'm somebody who might do a league minimum at
five hundred versus somebody who has one hundred million dollar
deal and approach the game differently. So it makes sense.
(44:07):
It totally does. Wow, you gave me a education. I
hope they don't like out there, ul because we don't
want to.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
We don't know it just listened.
Speaker 5 (44:14):
The momentum, the momentum that we have right now is,
to be honest with you, there are times are I'm like, damn,
this is really happening in the.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
Double NBA for the w players.
Speaker 5 (44:27):
And so that's why I'm like, it's you know what,
maybe in five years, if we're back here having this conversation,
I might feel differently.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
But just the.
Speaker 5 (44:38):
The viewership, the attendance, the I don't even care if
it was bad publicity.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
You're talking about the WNBA, right.
Speaker 5 (44:49):
We just don't want to get to a point where
we're like, all right, we're not going to play this
season and all of that momentum like it's for yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:01):
And selfishly, I don't want y'all to lock out either,
because that's.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
My pay check.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
What you need.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
Seriously, I got to cover this sport.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
What OK, keep me on payroll and.
Speaker 5 (45:11):
I ain't gonna come on. I don't mess on my bro.
We ain't want forty four. It's gonna be more. We
didn't added three. You gotta have thirty six small.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
People here mathing, not this mathing that I didn't.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
I would my degree in political science, not math. I'm
just adding. I was just adding the valkyrie for this.
Oh MG, Carrie, we appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
I appreciate you. I should stay here all night and
talk to y'all. Y'all just gave me a full education.
I appreciate it. Thank you just like me and I
love what we did, how we did it all. We
put the intersection of all of it together. We did
a monolith. We know all things, and so I that absolutely.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Thank you so much. I look, we didn't capture away pie.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Thank you all for listening to sports again. A huge
shout out to levels to this podcast with Chryl Swoops
and ta Rika. I appreciate you both. I have learned
so much. Thank you all for being here. Join us
next week. Naked Sports written and executive produced by me
(46:20):
Kerry Champion, produced by Jocquees Thomas, Sound design and mastered
by Dwayne Crawford. Naked Sports is a part of the
Black Effect podcast network in iHeartMedia
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