October 18, 2022 • 51 mins
Host, athlete, entrepreneur, podcaster, and one of the original digital sports influencers on social media, Rachel DeMita joins this week's episode of The Bag! Rachel, Lindsay & Rashad discuss Rachel's latest collaborations with FazeClan, the economics of sports social media influencers, touch on recent issues involving concussions in the NFL, and hear about Rachel's experiences playing in the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game alongside Justin Bieber. Don't miss this one. Get The Bag!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Never, No, Never Big. Hey, guys, welcome to another episode
of Sports Illustrating I Heart Radio's Bag with me, Lindsay
(00:21):
McCormick and my co host for Sean Jennings. The Bag
sits at the intersection of sports and business, delving into
the headlines and behind the scenes of athletes, entrepreneurship and enterprise.
Earlier today, we got the chance to speak to Rachel Demda,
host of espn s Courtside Club d one athlete and
one of the first ever sports influencers. She spoke about
(00:43):
new media and how social media, twitch and YouTube are
truly changing the game. But before we jump into that
interview or shod there's something that has been all over
the news lately that I wanted to pick your brain
on to. Uh. Obviously, everyone has seen the replays of
the concussion, the team's decision to put him back into
the game, also then the team's decision to start him
(01:06):
on Thursday Night Football after a short week, and then
him getting carded off and heading to the hospital. So
you've had concussions before, what what exactly is the NFL's
concussion protocol and what are these tests that they put
you guys through? Look like, yeah, so I've played professionally
(01:27):
for eight years, I've I've endured three concussions, one in
college and then too an nfl UM. The protocol that
they have it's called a baseline tests. So the baseline
test works like this. You come in while you're getting
all your physical exams at the beginning of the season.
On your baseline test, they have you do a neurologist
(01:48):
um baseline. So they asked you some questions of what's
what's the day state, what's your full name, what's you
know data birth, where are you what's your favorite color?
And see how long it takes you to answer these questions. UM.
They've run you through a series of hand touch eye coordination,
so they have that database in the store. There isn't
a past fail. It's a baseline. So when you ar concussed,
(02:11):
or you have a brain injury, or you have anything
from the neck up, they make you go back to
the baseline test to see how close you are to
your original UM and from there they make a decision
whether they're gonna put you back in the game or not.
The unfortunate thing is that it's a baseline test, meaning
there is no past failed, so some athletes, and not all,
but some athletes that I've talked to have have even
(02:34):
mentioned before that they intentionally UM don't do as well
on the baseline tests, so they have a lower standard
to reach to UM. So then therefore they can control
more whether they want to get back, whether they don't
want to get back, but either way they go off
a baseline. Now, I don't know if every single organization
you know uses this baseline before they say yes and
(02:56):
no before the athlete gets get back to play a field,
but it's tough. UM. I relate, I relate, and I
tell fans that some people that tune in, if you
see a player again kick cussed. He's just like a boxer.
The first thing he wants to do when a boxer
gets knocked out, he's trying to figure out how to
stand back up. He wants to stand up and fight,
(03:18):
no matter if he's seeing fifteen birds floating around, he
wants to get get up where they at, where they are,
I'm ready to still fight. That's just the athlete mentality,
and that's why they have refs that are trained to
look at a look at an athlete and decide is
he is his match over or if the if his ringing,
his corner wants to throw in the white towel because
you gotta protect the player. His attitude is to play
(03:41):
the same thing football. You get a player that's because
he breaks the leg and breaks the thumb. Me. Whatever
he does, he's trying to figure out how to get
back to that time where he broke it again. He
wants to play his competitor. So this situation you got to,
which looks to be a concussion, it looks to be right.
He could even finds equal living. He couldn't even stand
(04:02):
up and walk after banging his head, So the common
folk would say, oh, that's some type of head injury.
Obviously it is. He can't send signals to his brain
to walk. That requires your brain. That's a head injury.
Whether you want to call it dicussion doesn't matter, because
protocol is anything from the neck up they treated as
a baseline. So they brought him in from a what
(04:23):
seems to be a concussion you can't call it, goes
in and halftime, comes back out, leads his team to
a victory. Then then the very next Monday, chose me
Sunday to Thursday. Football four days of rest accident, not
even real rest because you're practicing up till Thursday night football.
They put him back out there. He put himself back
(04:45):
out there and he played again. We know that the
brain softens after repetitively being hit, so I think it does.
From my personal standpoint, being an athlete, plan for a
while he should have been playing. That's just how I
look at it. That's how I see it. Um, there's
nowhere around it. Obviously he wants to play. The organization
wants to play. Heck, they want to win every game
(05:07):
that possibly can. It ain't seeing from a distance last
year they didn't want to win any so. Uh. I
think there's a lot of scrutiny with this. Uh we'll
see how it's handled, but it's raising a lot of eyebrows.
The nfl p A announced that they were terminating the
unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultants contract involved in the two s situation.
(05:30):
Uh do you think that that was Is it really
just one person making the decision? Should more people be
fired because this the right person to fire? What are
your thoughts on that? It's a lot of people that
are collectively making these decisions. Um, it doesn't come down
to one person as an entire administration of people, red
(05:50):
tape that you've got to go through somebody. Obviously, it's
no different from football in itself. If the team is winning, um,
you know, all the success goes straight to that quarterback.
When the team loses, somebody has to get fired. He's
either the GM, the head coach, or or the as
the running backs, fault office offensive line. Somebody has to
(06:11):
get the blame for the loss. For the winds as
easy as a quarterback, right, and so the same thing here.
If two of wouldn't have got injured that game, right,
if he would have been able to remain healthy, nobody
says a peep. I don't think they wanted to fire anybody. Um,
I don't even think there were as upset as they
wanted to see. Because this is still football. This is
(06:34):
a dangerous sport. But there will be more to be
done for as correction other than firing. I would like
to see somebody get fined rather than fired, because as
a as a doctor, if you get fired, if you
get fired, he's gonna go get another job into somewhere else.
You know, it's not like you're fired from being a
(06:54):
football player. Was only thirty two teams in the world. Right,
that's you. You're getting fired from one out of million jobs. So, um,
thank you. I think that dr will be okay. Um,
I'd just rather see them pay a fine. Yeah. Well
that just shows you the power of social media and
now that everyone has a platform and can witness this
(07:15):
on TV on Thursday Night Football and then take to
their Twitter accounts and their social media platforms to tweet
their outrage. And I think that's what ultimately resulted in
the team in the NFL Players Association being forced to
take action. But speaking about social media and new media
(07:36):
and the industry, we had an amazing conversation with Rachel Demda,
again host of espn s Courtside Club and one of
the first sports influencers, on how this new media truly
is changing the game. To take a listen, you really
are one of the original sports influencers and there are
(07:59):
so many men and women now trying to follow in
your footsteps. How how did you How did your journey begin? Um? Well,
first of all, thank you guys for having me on
the show. I think it's awesome what you're doing. Um,
and I was really excited to come on and talk
to you. Because I don't really get to talk about
the business side that much. You know, I'm normally more
(08:20):
in the entertainment space, where I'm the one interviewing people.
So this is a really fun opportunity. But honestly, accidentally,
to answer your question, I kind of fell into this world.
So I knew that I wanted to be a host.
I always thought that I wanted to be an entertainment host,
like on Entertainment Tonight or a news or something like that,
(08:42):
and it's and I didn't change my mind about that
until I interned at Entertainment Tonight and I was like,
you know what, this isn't for me, Like I'm not
into the gossip. I was there with Mark Steins and
Kevin Fraser and kind of watching them do their thing,
and it was it was really cool, but I was like,
I just don't think this is me because I would
meet these guys off camera and their personality showed so
(09:05):
much more than when I'd see them on TV, and
I was like, this is two different people that we're seeing. Um.
And I did go to school for broadcast journalism and
I learned, you know, how to be in front of
the camera, behind the camera, and I came out to
l A right after I graduated, and I was like,
you know what, I'm just going to figure it out.
And I remember my my college professor telling me, like,
(09:29):
you look too young. You need to cut your hair,
you need to go to a local news station, Like
if you want to be a host, you've got to
work your way up. You can't just go to l A.
Like it's not gonna work for you, and you know,
and I was twenty one, and I was like, no,
I'm gonna do it. I'm going to figure it out.
And so, you know, I worked in a restaurant forty
hours a week and had all of these different odd
jobs just to you know, pay my rent and do
(09:51):
those kind of things. About the same time I was
getting an agent, I was going out for all of
these castings and auditions, and I actually accidentally fell into YouTube.
So I auditioned for this reality competition series that was
on YouTube and it was a beauty competition series, and
(10:13):
long story started, I won the show only because I'm competitive,
Because I'm not the best beauty blocker by any means,
Like hair and makeup and clothes like aren't really my thing.
But I'm really competitive and so I won that show
and then I won my own show that was sponsored
by Google, and I feel like it was the best
thing that happened to me because I went on this
(10:34):
show that was on YouTube and I was talking like
a news reporter host that I learned how to be
in college and from interning and entertainment tonight, and I
was getting destroyed in the comments. They were like, who
is this girl? Why does she talk like that? She's
so stuffy, This isn't the news, and I was just
getting like broken apart. But it made so much sense,
(10:55):
and so I was able to kind of bridge that
gap of like learning how to be polished but then
at the same time, like make people feel like they're
in the room with you. And so from YouTube, it
just kind of evolved from there. But it's funny that
I'm on social media though, because when I was a kid,
I was never allowed to have social media, and my
first social media was Twitter, so it kind of it
(11:17):
was Twitter in college, so that's how I had to
submit my projects in school, and then it was YouTube
and then everything else came after. So I want to
I want to go back to a comment you made
about reading the comments about your show because I had
a very similar experience when I first started out in
the industry. I was hosting one of espns first dot
(11:39):
com shows, and my boss said, do not read the
comments about yourself. But I'm gonna say you, like you said,
I would read the comments and then I would tweak
my performance in hosting based on some of the comments.
Some of the stuff. It's just like, Okay, they're commenting
on your physical appearance, and it is what it is.
(12:00):
I'm not going to go change that. But I almost
feel like we were able to develop a thicker skin
because of reading the comments and the negative comments, and
also become better hosts and broadcasters because of the comments,
which people women coming up in this industry. Twenty fifteen
(12:22):
years ago, it took, like you said, the traditional route
of going to different local news stations and they didn't
get that direct feedback that you now get on the internet.
So how do you feel like that affected you in
terms of professionally and just mentally. Yeah, I feel like
(12:43):
it goes back to what you said. It definitely gave
me thicker skin, and that's something even from sports. Obviously,
you guys know I played bassmall my whole life. And
I've just I've been an athlete my whole life, and
that was one thing I learned early on is you
have to have thick skin. And I always had coaches
who are tough on me. I played at a really
high level and that carried on into my career. And
(13:04):
I will admit when I was first on YouTube, it
was really hard to read this comment. And and like
you said, it's it's a mixed bag. Some of it
is criticizing me by how I present and how I work,
and some of it's just telling me I'm uglier, I'm
too skinnier, I'm not skinny enough for you know, you
get all the things. Um And as my career has evolved,
the more followers you get, the more comments you're going
(13:25):
to get, which immediately you're going to get more negative comments.
So it just kind of comes with the territory. But
I'm at the place now where there's not much that
bothers me when it comes to people commenting back negatively
toward me. The only thing that and still it doesn't
really bother me. But the thing that annoys me a
little bit is when people lie about me. Like I've
(13:47):
had multiple people say, like tell stories I'm like, I
met Rachel today and she was such a bit and
she wouldn't even take a photo with me. And I'm like,
I've been at my like my couch all day, so
what like, who was this person that you met? And
I've actually had a lot of instances where people have
(14:08):
tried to I guess like mess up, yeah, with things
like that. But otherwise, like the rest of the comments,
it just comes with the territory. It is what it is.
It's the day that we live in, and you do
get that instant feedback, which you gotta be careful a
little bit with your mental health that you don't get
too wrapped up into it or completely lose yourself, but
(14:30):
you can use it to your advantage if you're strong
enough to do so. Yeah, yeah, there is a there's
a there's a major curve right there. And taking public criticism, um,
I can relate. I think we all three can relate
to that one. But it seems like you've been doing
a great job with it. But I got my question
I want to ask. Starting off is from you being
(14:52):
an athlete growing up. I'm sure you wasn't too far
and removed from playing video game names yourself did you
ever foresee yourself actually having a real interview inside of
a video game, because that's kind of about heard of.
So tell us a little bit about your thoughts on
(15:13):
that and how did that come about. Yeah, so a
short answer, No, never expected myself to be in a
video game. I never expected my career path to go
in the direction that it has, and so I've just
always been open to I don't have a five year
or a ten year plan because I don't know what's
going to come about, and so I've always just kind
(15:33):
of had that outlook on like I'm going to do
what I love and what I'm drawn to, and we'll
see what kind of falls in place. So NBA two
K actually saw my videos on YouTube and I was
doing interviews with Adidas and East Bay and all of
these different brands. And I was also interviewing high school
athletes and just putting them up on my YouTube channel,
(15:55):
and they were like small interviews, not that many people
are watching them, but um, I guess the people at
MBA two K saw them and thought that I'd be
a good fit to host this new show. This like
grand idea that they had. They're like, we have this
crazy idea to put a TV show in our video game,
and I was like, oh, amazing, you know, and so
I auditioned. I had a few meetings with them. My
(16:19):
my audition actually was to interview Shack and Ernie Johnson
and and at the same time kind of produced the
shoot because they wanted to hire somebody who did more
than just stood in from the camera and recited the
lines correctly or did interviews with players. So I was
actually the first person they hired for that show, and
(16:41):
we built the team like from nothing. We built the
show from nothing, but show didn't even really have a
full on concept or structure. And and then I got
there and they hired, uh, two more shooters and editors,
and so our first episode we had a three person team.
And I just remember like being in the office and
(17:03):
like pushing upload, like here we are, We're live. You know.
The color was off, My hosting skills weren't that great,
But we built that from the ground and that was
something that I really take a lot of pride. And
I don't think a lot of people know how much
of the creative side, like the input that I had
creatively and on the production side, like I wrote all
my own scripts all my interview questions. UM, and you know,
(17:27):
by the time I left, about four and a half
years later, I think our team was out about ten people.
But it's always been just kind of this bare bones,
you know, we just gritty and get to it and
have fun with it. And yeah, I feel like I'm
really long winded. I'm getting really long answers to your questions. That, Okay,
(17:50):
I'm going to give you another question to be long
winded about. What ways do you think that the impact
of a sports world might continue you to shape the
future of the evolution of media and entertainment. I see
the media landscape changing a lot, and especially with traditional
(18:12):
media having to adapt to what's going on on social media.
And like I'll be the first to say I don't
have cable. I haven't had cable, and however long and
I have YouTube TV, but I really only ever watched
it if I'm watching live sports. So that says something
just about like my show Courtside Club is on ESPNS
(18:35):
YouTube channel, and I watch ESPNS YouTube channel. I never
turned on the television to watch ESPN or any of
these other sports TV shows. And I feel like I'm
even on the older end of this new media wave
that's coming. But you see people like Jake Paul who's
starting better and he's doing he wants to completely shake
(18:55):
up the media landscape and sports. And then you see
the NBA doing the these like secondary streams on Twitch,
and there's just all these different ways to kind of
consume the content that you want. And so I think,
first of all, the the mainstream media and these these
big like the espns and the A b c s
and the Fox, that they're going to have to shift
(19:16):
their content because their audience is not going to be
here that much longer um. But I think it's fun
to to see where it goes. I like these alternate broadcasts.
I like the evolution of social media because we're even
seeing in a way the trick shots that were like
really hot for a really long time, Like we see
(19:36):
those kind of evolving too and not being that it's
like a trick shot and then want you know, what
kind of storyline can you add to this trick shot content?
So it's constantly changing. And I don't know if if
that completely answered your question, but I just I don't know.
I think it's gonna keep going to those like alternate
(19:56):
broadcasts in these these different ways that you're consuming. Do
you think so when I look at some of the ratings,
you still have Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football
as king, and it seems like they really blow out
the rest of the competition. Do you think that some
of these alternative platforms will be able to surpass that someday?
(20:20):
I think the only way that they could surpass that
is if they have the rights to show because at
the end of the day, I think with sports, no
matter who's commentating, no matter what the pregame, halftime, whatever,
who the sideline reporter is, people want to see sports.
They want to see the game. You know, There's been
games that I watched and I can't stand the commentators
(20:41):
and I just mut it, But I still want to
see the basketball game or the football game, you know
what I mean. So I think at the end of
the day, like the sport is what's going to carry
any media, So whoever has those rights, and you know
football and basketball is up there. I am interested though,
to see like where baseball goes, where soccer goes, where
(21:03):
men's soccer goes, where tennis goes out we have goats
and tennis who are retiring. I'm entrusted to see when
like some of these greatest of all time players are
starting to leave. How that affects certain sports too, But
you know football and baslor are pretty high up there. Yeah, sure,
those those sports are dominant. As you said, people just
(21:25):
want to see it in consuming. I don't know if
we ever can get to the point what you've seen
Twitch to do. They try to do co host and
actually co host a couple of different times. You see
networks doing things like with the Manning cast of that nature,
so people can consume the game differently, um, with different
variations of content. Could you ever see yourself doing um,
(21:47):
you know, kind of what the Manning brothers are doing
with the NFL. Could you ever see yourself co hosting
with somebody your own show with the NBA? Yeah, I
mean I think that's really fun and and to be
trans we have been talking to Amazon about possibly me
like jumping into some of those Twitch streams that they're
doing for the Thursday night games. So definitely. UM. I'll
(22:10):
also say this isn't this hasn't been um shown publicly,
but I've done a lot of stuff with the NBA's
I did an alternate broadcast um, but it was just
for internal purposes. So I actually covered the two thousand
seventeen NBA Finals. Nobody just ever saw it, but but
I was there in Cleveland and was there with another
(22:32):
social media person. And now it seems like they're trying
these different ways, like what can we do with these
social influencers of these people who aren't typical color commentators
or play by play. I've also done stuff with the
NBA where it was like me, it was Anthony Anderson,
it was Lamore and Morris, it was some YouTubers, so
like kind of celebrity influencer mix, and they bring us
(22:54):
together for big NBA games and then do a watch party,
but then film us watching it, talking to each other, discussing,
you know, during commercial breaks, we're talking about like, you know,
how we're liking the game so far in players and
this and that. So absolutely, as long as I'm having
fun with it, and it's something that you know, hasn't
(23:15):
been done before and isn't um stuffy, and I could
totally see myself doing that. Recently, you started working with
Phase Clan, one of the top gaming collectives in the world.
They're known as a super innovative company and the cutting
edge of the new media. What have you learned from
being around them and what are you excited about moving forward? Um,
(23:39):
First of all, I just want to say working with
Phase Clan is amazing. I've been on so many sets,
been in so many productions. I did a month long
shoot with them. We had a COVID outbreak, we had
so much stuff going wrong. It was a live show.
It was so many hours of work, and they treated
me so well and I always felt like they had
(24:00):
my back and I was so well taken care of.
And I've just like I've been doing this for a
long time. So like, first of all, like amazing organization. UM,
we are definitely talking about doing a lot more together.
We've actually just this week been talking about going to
Rio for the cs GO like World Championships. Face Clan
(24:21):
has an amazing counter strike team and so UM talking
about me going with them and interviewing their squad and
just kind of vologing it being there on the ground
with them, documenting it, seeing if they make it, you know,
all the way to that championship game, which I think
that they have the ability to do. So doing some
stuff that's like more hardcore gaming. But then at the
(24:44):
same time, Phase in itself is the perfect mix mix
of of gaming and culture and sports and gen z
and millennials and there's just it's a great mix of
all of that. And they do want to do more
in sports. And obviously they signed Brawny and they have
Kyler Murray on their roster. But then they have somebody
(25:05):
like Snoop Dogg who also is like big into sports
and gaming. And so we've talked about a lot of
different things of you know, celebrity gaming tournaments or what
shows could we do around these athletes that they have
that's just different than what's done before. So I love
what Face is doing. Um, they're super creative. They're always
(25:27):
thinking ahead, like what can we do next, what can
we do different? They really do not want to be
like anybody else. They're not looking at anybody else and
like this is our competitor or this is what we're
striving to be. They're like, no, this is what we are,
this is who we are, this is what we're gonna
do and and how can we do this in the
coolest way. So a lot of stuff to come, I
will say, So keep your eye out on that. But
(25:49):
first but firstly Rio, which I've also never been to Brazil,
so I feel like that will be fun. I'm jealous.
I want to go to I want to go to
Brazil just to continue my dancing career. They have as
an art phone called Zook that is out there that
is absolutely amazing. If you get a chance, UM, find
(26:09):
you a zoop festival or a Zook club and let
me know how much you like it. I'm jealous. Yeah,
you know what else I want to do? They have
this game that it's like volleyball on trampolines. Oh wow,
where you use like your hands and your feet. It's
like a mix of volleyball, soccer and gymnastics and it
looks so cool and I just want to find a
(26:31):
place where I could try it. So that in Zook, right, Yeah,
you gotta do the definitely do that. Yeah, rash Rashad's
your travel planner. He churns up small fee, but that's
fine free, um do so join it up with Phase
(26:52):
plan um, you know, because they are they are kind
of revolutionized in the whole game in industry. If you will.
I know a lot of those guys over there. I've
had a chance to go by the House and Kick
It and Hunt of Thieves, and I even started to
each sports organization myself. Have you have you been heavy
in the gaming world yourself? Um? As far as playing
(27:12):
or competitively just fun casually um and commentated in that space.
So as far as my gaming, like me actually gaming,
I'm not that great at a lot of the first
person shooter games. I feel like Fortnite is the only
one that I can kind of get a grasp on,
(27:32):
but I can respect the other games. I'm actually I
actually don't play sports games that much either. Like I
love Minecraft. Okay, okay, I love Minecraft. I played my
switch a lot, you know, like Mario Kart, and now
there's a new almost like we first switched to, so
ill play some of those games I love among us.
I'm like stuck in that era still, but those are like,
(27:55):
you know, kind of quick on the go games. Um.
But as far as the storytelling behind the competitive gaming,
I take an interest in that because I feel like
that is the only way to take E sports to
the next level. Because right now, I feel like the
fan base in e sports is just these hardcore gamers
(28:18):
because they just they know what the game is. They
like watching these guys who are the best in their space,
but I think to take us to that next level
and to get the more casual fan involving, need to
tell the stories of these gamers who are the best
gamers in the world, who in a sense, like you
can argue, are pro athletes in that space. And so
that's what I was hoping to help Phase do, is like,
(28:41):
let me help you tell the stories of these these
teams that you guys have. And so that's where I
see it, And that was even when I was with
NBA two K, something that I was always stressing to them,
and like, I don't see NBA two K and E
sports growing much beyond that because it you love basketball,
(29:01):
you can go watch real people play basketball. You don't
need to watch people play video games as basketball players.
But you cannot go watch a Fortnite scenario in real life,
you know. So there's this like element of fantasy that
you can't watch in real life. But I think it
is going to be harder in E sports for like
(29:21):
Madden and FIFA and two K for like that to
really elevate to where the general gaming public wants to watch.
So it's E sports where I feel like the last
couple of years, we've heard, oh, e, sports is where
the sports world is headed. Is that? Do you think
that truly is the case or we always have some
of these's big name sports around. Um, definitely don't think
(29:49):
it's where it's I don't think sports and sports. I
think like our traditional sports are gonna be on top always,
and I think but I think slowly but surely we
I mean, there used to be the stigma around the sports,
right if you were really good at video games, you
were like sitting in your mom's basement with Dorrito cheese
(30:10):
on your hands, you know, overweight and like really pale
because you never go outside. You know. Now it's cool
when you see people making millions of dollars being really
good at gaming, and it's it's either they're really good
and they're winning these big tournaments, or they're really good
because they have a great personality and they're streaming on
Twitch and they have millions of people that tune in
a year to to watch them play. So I feel
(30:32):
like it's still kind of like a subdivision, but it's
becoming more and more respected, even in the past like
seven years, where sports have always been sports, like if
you're an athlete, like you're the popular kid, you know. Yeah, yeah,
I also answer, just let me know what you think. Right. So,
But like traditional sports, you if you're the best, you're
(30:56):
the best. You're gonna be out there, you're gonna be known,
you're gonna be seen, um, and you want to get paid.
And when it comes to game and you actually can
be the best, but nobody cares or like you, and
therefore it's hard to make a living in the space.
Sometimes just it's it's some people's charisma gaming personality. I mean,
you've got a lot of people in the each sports
world that are terrible, but that is actually why a
(31:19):
lot of people like them because their personality. They enjoy
watching them make a buffoon of themselves, laughing at themselves, um,
and they build a major name in the e sports world.
So it depends on if you're looking at it competitively
versus monetarily, and they are totally different when it comes
to each sports space. Whereas sports, if you're the best,
(31:40):
you're the best, and you're gonna get read. And I
think too, there's this the smaller even subdivision where it's
the really really competitive E sports guys where if you
can get picked up by a team and you are
the best, then you will make that money because some
of these these tournaments, they're winning millions. If if they win,
you guys might have never even heard of them or
(32:01):
watched it, or they might not be famous by any means,
but they're getting a check. But it's the odds are
probably so slim to even get eyeballs on you to
get on these teams. Because they've even run tests on
some of these professional gamers and you're you're probably familiar
with the like hand eye light tests and stuff. So
(32:25):
these gamers were actually had quicker reaction times than some
of the best athletes in the world when it comes
to like football and basketball players. But all they're doing
they're only doing that obviously, they're not like sprinting and
jumping and those kinds of things. So that's why some
people will put them on the same level as an athlete,
but they definitely don't have the notoriety yet that you know,
(32:49):
a Lebron James or Tom Brady is going to get
right unless you're shot right, But then he isn't even
the best in the world. He's just a great personality. Right. Again,
sometimes it's just somebody's personality that you appreciate. And then
(33:09):
and then at that point, riche I'm sure you could attest.
It is just like commentating. Um, some people are really
really good at the actual art of journalism, commentating or
whatever it may be. And then some people just yeah,
I love their personality. I don't care how good they are.
They make me laugh, they made me feel at home.
I'd rather just hit play, put their YouTube up in
the background, and vibe out with them. I mean, we
(33:31):
even look at my career. I have over a million
followers on Instagram, and until late most of my content
was straight basketball and I would do a trick shot
video or a simple three pointer that would get millions
of views. But I'm not good enough to be in
the w n b A and there's not many there's
(33:55):
I don't know, maybe one or two w NBA players
who have has more followers than I do or gets
more views on their videos. But I am not the
best basketball player by any means. But I just happened
to grow my social following doing what I do, and
people are like, wow, she made that shot, you know right,
(34:18):
It's so tell us a little bit about that, because
that that is very interesting that you know you can
kind of recognize um, you know uh w n B
a player. UM, although that you're attesting she probably is
better than you at the sport, but yet you have
a bigger following of people watching what you do in
(34:41):
that sport with trick shots and things to that nature.
Was what kind of advice, UM, would you give to
the younger you coming up or somebody that might be
listening to this podcast tuning in, UM that is a
female and that wants to get in the sport sector
of interviewing and following your footsteps, how would you guide
(35:03):
them and say, hey, here are some things you might
want to be mindful of. I can't promise you that
the outcome will be the same or worse, but here
are some things that you should be mindful of. Yeah,
I think I think firstly, Um, I actually talked about
this on my TikTok a couple of weeks ago. I
think that there's a lot of promise for the women's
(35:24):
basketball game evolving and becoming more popular because of the
social media access that we have now and because of
n I L So there are a lot of girls
on TikTok who are younger than me. High school basketball players,
college basketball players who have millions of followers, And I
truly believe that the way to help the women's basketball
(35:46):
game grow and the w n b A grow is
for people to become more invested in individual players and
follow their journey, because I've seen people do that for me,
and I think if they are invested in this girl
who's in college who has this massive TikTok following, they
love her personality and they love her videos, and they
see the cool trick shots and things that she does,
then they're gonna want to see her play at the
(36:07):
next level or at least follow her journey that way,
and then girls are going to be able to make
more money than they might even make on a w
n b A salary. So I think, in general, any
female basketball player who is playing right now, do your
best to capitalize on all of your resources that you
had right have right now, because there's a lot of
money to be made in the space, and there's so
(36:29):
many different platforms that you could do that by just
being yourself, by just being a little bit unique, and
then having basketball being your core thing, because if you're
a hooper, that's going to be most of your life anyway,
but like showing your journey, showing what you do in
the morning, showing your training, and then showing your personality,
making fun videos, making videos with your teammates, your friends, um,
(36:52):
and so I think there's just so much more access
And I was just like, any advice for somebody wants
to be in my position. I do think education at
some level is important. I know not everybody is going
to be able to go to college or has that accessibility,
but continue learning no matter what stage of life you're in.
There's so much Again, there's so many resources YouTube. There's
(37:15):
a lot of different tutorials. You can learn how to
edit and try new things and stay true to yourself.
And you're gonna have to work hard. Also, I busted
my ass, my whole life to be where I'm at,
And yeah, work hard, be yourself and try new things,
be creative, and keep learning. That's my advice. I love
(37:38):
that advice because that's something that I try to push
to my little nephews quite often. Or I have nine nephews,
excuse me, eight nephews. One needs and I always tell
her she's my favorite NS. It's her response every time.
But my nephew is a lot of times, Rachel, they
just see because I was successful in my field of
(38:00):
a ball. Um they see the red carpet, right, they
see their uncle's success. Um, they see the house I
was able to buy my mom, and they're nonny right.
And quite often they don't see the work that took
place in order to make it to the red carpet.
(38:21):
So I always take them on a day with me,
like the day in the life of the wake up
with me. They work out with me, they go to
all the classes I went to, they train with when
they eat what I eat, They do everything I do
for a full week, and then they set back and
they say, you know what, I'm not sure if I
want to do this as much as I used to,
because you you were so used to seeing the final product,
(38:42):
and so I'm gonna I appreciate you sharing that because
a lot of people think, um, you know, you just
pop on YouTube and just put a camera in front
of you and start talking and that's gonna equal a
million views. And if you don't get a million views,
you know it's you're unsuccessful. So I appreciate you speaking
to that because I can't stand to see people skip
(39:03):
the hard work part. Yeah. Of course, a lot of
people don't see that, and there's a lot of these
stories of, you know, an overnight success. But but even
my success started when I was ten years old and
started playing basketball, probably started before that, honestly, because if
I wouldn't have played basketball and learned all that I
did through that, if I didn't become as good as
(39:25):
a basketball player as I was, I wouldn't have even
been able to capitalize. And it put my career in
the path that it's been in. You know. So there's
so many Drew Hanlon is one of my good friends.
He's an NBA trainer. He always says, there's so many
unseen hours that go into your craft, and there's a
lot of people who want to be great, and if
(39:47):
it was easy, everybody would do it, you know, we'd
all pick that that million dollar pack, you know. So yeah,
so I totally agree. So growing up a basketball fan,
Uh do would be remiss of me not to ask
who are some of your top if you can give
me a top four or five players in your book? Um,
(40:10):
right or wrong? But in your book, who are your
top five players that you just love of all time?
They ain't even got to be the best to stop
five if you love so my top five Michael Jordan's,
Lebron James Shack, Kobe, and Alan Iverson. And Alan Iverson
(40:33):
was my favorite player growing up for the pure fact
of the energy that he brought to the game and
how he changed the game of basketball because he was
unapologetically him. I just thought that that was so dope.
And I was a pure shooter who had no athleticism
and he's over here crossing people up, and I just
like my playings. I was completely different, different, but I
(40:56):
idolized him so much. I just thought, he's just really
true to him, you know. And then Kobe, somebody who
I got to meet an interview and he complimented my
jump shot, which I will never forget. It was the
coolest moment. I didn't even know he knew who I was,
but um, the energy about him was just, you know, crazy.
(41:20):
So obviously he's there. Shock is a mentor to me.
I've known him for years. Obviously, like I said, um,
he helped me. He didn't help me, but he was
part of the reason that I got the job at
NBA two k and which really helped my career. So
I'll always, you know, have him up there. And then
I grew up in Akron. Lebron's from Akron, so I've
(41:40):
been watching in play since he was fourteen. And then
I mean, you you can't have a top five and
not put Michael Jordan there. You know, I've never met him,
but I would love to one day. I think, g
p um, I'm pretty much on the same board with you.
MS is Jordan's um you got. I absolutely love Shaquille O'Neill. UM.
(42:06):
I throw in Magic Johnson, UM, I throw in Curry um,
and the and the reason why I throw it throwing
those guys is because um you got. I think Jordan's
revolutionized in his magic revolutionize that I personally believe for
the point guard position. How he did Michael Jordan's revolutionized
(42:27):
the way people looked at the game. She killed O'Neill
revolutionized how people look at the game. I feel like
Kobe elevated with Jordan's started, and I feel like Lebron
elevated with Kobe was doing. And I think Curry made
people really look at how people play the game. And
so that's why I Curry is doing something similar that
AI did just in a like in a different way.
(42:50):
But I always say, like I would not want to
coach youth basketball right now, Like could you imagine court? Yes,
I'm saying so, Like, whether you like it or not,
Curry has definitely changed the way that a lot of
us play basketball or want to play basketball because we
think we can shoot like him. Yeah, and it makes
(43:11):
sense the theory if somebody, if you go down the
court and dunk, you get two points. And if I
come down the court and shoot the three I wanted
three to two, that's it. Yeah, And you can be
scrawny and skinny and short and still do that. You know, absolutely,
you don't have to be a freak specimen right now,
I like that list. I've I've met magic before and
(43:35):
the loveliest human. Um. I just didn't get to watch
him play much, so it's hard for me to you know,
you see highlights and stuff, but it's different than when
you can actually witness it in the same like generation,
you know what I mean? Absolutely absolutely, if you if
you can compare your game to anybody in the NBA,
(43:56):
who would you compare how you how you modeled your
game after so or influence? We can go with influence.
I would say. I would say I watched JJ Reddick
in college and it was very some. I was a
pure shooter. I would love to say Clay Thompson, but
(44:18):
it's definitely a stretch because my footwork was not as
on point as he was, and I wasn't as good
of a defender as he is. I would love to
say Klay Thompson. Um, but yeah, I would probably say
like a JJ Reddicks, I was really smart. I knew
where to be on the court. I shot the ball
really well, I had good passing ability, ran the floor,
(44:40):
weld and get tired. Yeah yeah, s J J. Nice. Nice,
And I'm curious, um with your your position when it
comes to N I L, coming down to whichever team
has the most money, was just all of a sudden
started to dominate. I think I think N I L
is going to be interesting, because I don't think it's
(45:03):
going to be the way it is right now forever.
I feel like it's like a little bit of a
bubble right now, and we're gonna have to get our
footing to see where this goes and what shifts happen,
and if the NBA is going to let kids come
straight out of high school again, I know that they're
talking about that, so I think there's a lot of
different factors. I think if it keeps going in this way,
(45:25):
we might see the whole landscape of college sports changed completely. Anyway,
because the guys that are going to be going to
college are spending a significant time in college. It's gonna
be great for them, but they might not be the
ones going pro so, and I think in a in
a way it might be a good thing because we're
going to go back to rooting for our teams based
(45:49):
on where they are or just kind of that that
pride that we have in those teams and not for
the fact of, oh, we're watching Duke because they have
this player, like they have Zion who is going to
be this huge star in the NBA, and they're only
going to be there one year. Maybe they won a championship,
maybe they don't, doesn't matter to them. Now you're going
(46:11):
to have people going to college for four years and
kind of building these teams. It will be interesting to
see with like schools, and I think you're seeing that
with um Peyton manning Son right He's going to Texas
and just getting a crazy bag, you know, to go
to Texas and really getting the excitement around the Longhorn
(46:37):
and the UT program again, which seems like it's been
lost over the past couple of years. It's crazy how
just signing one player can truly do that. Yeah, I
went to the game that their their kickoff game against
Alabama and like, didn't win. Shouldn't have won. Alabama is
a much better team, but yeah, the fans are ready
to go, and it feels you feel like you're there
(47:00):
in Texas. Thinks that there's a number one team, So
I want to see where it goes. I think it's
a really great opportunity, though I will i'd be lying
if I say it wasn't a little bit jealous, because
I probably would have played all four years of basketball
if I had n I l because I definitely would
have utilized it. But I felt like I had to
choose between sport and getting a good education and working
because I actually was offered an internship at ESPN Radio
(47:22):
my freshman year of college. I wasn't able to take
it because of basketball, but I knew I didn't want
to go pro. So I think for a lot of people,
and maybe especially women who were in maybe similar situations
that I was like, I know, I don't want to
play pro, but I want to continue my four years.
They could make some money, they can have a good time,
they could go for a championship. They can build a
(47:43):
team to where they're sticking together throughout these however many
years in college. So in a way, I think it
could be a good thing. Where the thing is going
to take a little bit of time for the dust
to settle to where we really can see clearly on
what's going to happen. I have one last question for you.
You played in the NBA All Star Celebrity All Star
Game and got several buckets. By the way, what was
(48:07):
it like being in a starting five with Justin Bieber.
That's funny, Okay, So I played in New Orleans the
year before, and then I played in l A. And
I'm only saying that because Jamal Hill was my coach
in New Orleans and she she didn't know that I
knew how to play basketball, so she didn't play me
very much, and like I didn't start, and then like
(48:29):
midway through the game she said, oh, like you have
a nice shot. I'm like yeah, So then um, in
the l A game, Michael B. Jordan and Rachel Nichols
were the coach, and I had just interviewed Michael B.
Jordan's recently and he knew that I played ball, and
I was like, can I just start? And He's like, yeah,
of course, So I started. I've actually known Justin for years,
(48:53):
so and I hadn't seen him in a while, so
we were just like friendly and he got the cist
to me and so that was cool. There was weird
tweets because we were talking to each other on the
bench and people are like, oh, Justin s flirting with
this girl. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, we
don't just it um but no. The NBA All Star Game,
(49:13):
it was so much fun. If I really wish my
team would have won, because I feel like I could
have gotten m v P. But I officially tired retired
from NBA All Start celebrity games after that one because
I just don't feel like you can top an NBA
All Start in l A, you know. And that was
a really fun game, Like Michael Jordan put on a
(49:35):
jersey at one point and came and played with us,
like Jamie Fox was on the other team. It was
just like a stack line up across the board and
it was a lot of fun. So well, I'm I'm
sure it will come back around to where the All
Star weekends in l A again, and then I'm sure
you will get another invite, So you should come out
(49:56):
of retirement Tom Brady style maybe, or maybe I could
coach and I could set somebody else up to have
a great game. You know, I could start somebody and
be like, yeah, maybe. Well, thank you so much for
taking the time to talk to us. You're just a
(50:17):
wealth of knowledge about new media and where the industry
is headed. And this conversation was really refreshing and one
that I know our listeners are going to really enjoy.
So thank you. So thanks for having me. No, I
appreciate you guys. I think what you're doing is really
cool and obviously, like I love the team you're working with.
Two so can we posted and you guys both have
(50:39):
to come on Courtside Club too. Yeah, thank you guys
for listening to Sports Illustrated and iHeart Radios the Bag.
For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
But don't don't don't don't, don't do
Never, No, Never Big. Hey, guys, welcome to another episode
of Sports Illustrating I Heart Radio's Bag with me, Lindsay
(00:21):
McCormick and my co host for Sean Jennings. The Bag
sits at the intersection of sports and business, delving into
the headlines and behind the scenes of athletes, entrepreneurship and enterprise.
Earlier today, we got the chance to speak to Rachel Demda,
host of espn s Courtside Club d one athlete and
one of the first ever sports influencers. She spoke about
(00:43):
new media and how social media, twitch and YouTube are
truly changing the game. But before we jump into that
interview or shod there's something that has been all over
the news lately that I wanted to pick your brain
on to. Uh. Obviously, everyone has seen the replays of
the concussion, the team's decision to put him back into
the game, also then the team's decision to start him
(01:06):
on Thursday Night Football after a short week, and then
him getting carded off and heading to the hospital. So
you've had concussions before, what what exactly is the NFL's
concussion protocol and what are these tests that they put
you guys through? Look like, yeah, so I've played professionally
(01:27):
for eight years, I've I've endured three concussions, one in
college and then too an nfl UM. The protocol that
they have it's called a baseline tests. So the baseline
test works like this. You come in while you're getting
all your physical exams at the beginning of the season.
On your baseline test, they have you do a neurologist
(01:48):
um baseline. So they asked you some questions of what's
what's the day state, what's your full name, what's you
know data birth, where are you what's your favorite color?
And see how long it takes you to answer these questions. UM.
They've run you through a series of hand touch eye coordination,
so they have that database in the store. There isn't
a past fail. It's a baseline. So when you ar concussed,
(02:11):
or you have a brain injury, or you have anything
from the neck up, they make you go back to
the baseline test to see how close you are to
your original UM and from there they make a decision
whether they're gonna put you back in the game or not.
The unfortunate thing is that it's a baseline test, meaning
there is no past failed, so some athletes, and not all,
but some athletes that I've talked to have have even
(02:34):
mentioned before that they intentionally UM don't do as well
on the baseline tests, so they have a lower standard
to reach to UM. So then therefore they can control
more whether they want to get back, whether they don't
want to get back, but either way they go off
a baseline. Now, I don't know if every single organization
you know uses this baseline before they say yes and
(02:56):
no before the athlete gets get back to play a field,
but it's tough. UM. I relate, I relate, and I
tell fans that some people that tune in, if you
see a player again kick cussed. He's just like a boxer.
The first thing he wants to do when a boxer
gets knocked out, he's trying to figure out how to
stand back up. He wants to stand up and fight,
(03:18):
no matter if he's seeing fifteen birds floating around, he
wants to get get up where they at, where they are,
I'm ready to still fight. That's just the athlete mentality,
and that's why they have refs that are trained to
look at a look at an athlete and decide is
he is his match over or if the if his ringing,
his corner wants to throw in the white towel because
you gotta protect the player. His attitude is to play
(03:41):
the same thing football. You get a player that's because
he breaks the leg and breaks the thumb. Me. Whatever
he does, he's trying to figure out how to get
back to that time where he broke it again. He
wants to play his competitor. So this situation you got to,
which looks to be a concussion, it looks to be right.
He could even finds equal living. He couldn't even stand
(04:02):
up and walk after banging his head, So the common
folk would say, oh, that's some type of head injury.
Obviously it is. He can't send signals to his brain
to walk. That requires your brain. That's a head injury.
Whether you want to call it dicussion doesn't matter, because
protocol is anything from the neck up they treated as
a baseline. So they brought him in from a what
(04:23):
seems to be a concussion you can't call it, goes
in and halftime, comes back out, leads his team to
a victory. Then then the very next Monday, chose me
Sunday to Thursday. Football four days of rest accident, not
even real rest because you're practicing up till Thursday night football.
They put him back out there. He put himself back
(04:45):
out there and he played again. We know that the
brain softens after repetitively being hit, so I think it does.
From my personal standpoint, being an athlete, plan for a
while he should have been playing. That's just how I
look at it. That's how I see it. Um, there's
nowhere around it. Obviously he wants to play. The organization
wants to play. Heck, they want to win every game
(05:07):
that possibly can. It ain't seeing from a distance last
year they didn't want to win any so. Uh. I
think there's a lot of scrutiny with this. Uh we'll
see how it's handled, but it's raising a lot of eyebrows.
The nfl p A announced that they were terminating the
unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultants contract involved in the two s situation.
(05:30):
Uh do you think that that was Is it really
just one person making the decision? Should more people be
fired because this the right person to fire? What are
your thoughts on that? It's a lot of people that
are collectively making these decisions. Um, it doesn't come down
to one person as an entire administration of people, red
(05:50):
tape that you've got to go through somebody. Obviously, it's
no different from football in itself. If the team is winning, um,
you know, all the success goes straight to that quarterback.
When the team loses, somebody has to get fired. He's
either the GM, the head coach, or or the as
the running backs, fault office offensive line. Somebody has to
(06:11):
get the blame for the loss. For the winds as
easy as a quarterback, right, and so the same thing here.
If two of wouldn't have got injured that game, right,
if he would have been able to remain healthy, nobody
says a peep. I don't think they wanted to fire anybody. Um,
I don't even think there were as upset as they
wanted to see. Because this is still football. This is
(06:34):
a dangerous sport. But there will be more to be
done for as correction other than firing. I would like
to see somebody get fined rather than fired, because as
a as a doctor, if you get fired, if you
get fired, he's gonna go get another job into somewhere else.
You know, it's not like you're fired from being a
(06:54):
football player. Was only thirty two teams in the world. Right,
that's you. You're getting fired from one out of million jobs. So, um,
thank you. I think that dr will be okay. Um,
I'd just rather see them pay a fine. Yeah. Well
that just shows you the power of social media and
now that everyone has a platform and can witness this
(07:15):
on TV on Thursday Night Football and then take to
their Twitter accounts and their social media platforms to tweet
their outrage. And I think that's what ultimately resulted in
the team in the NFL Players Association being forced to
take action. But speaking about social media and new media
(07:36):
and the industry, we had an amazing conversation with Rachel Demda,
again host of espn s Courtside Club and one of
the first sports influencers, on how this new media truly
is changing the game. To take a listen, you really
are one of the original sports influencers and there are
(07:59):
so many men and women now trying to follow in
your footsteps. How how did you How did your journey begin? Um? Well,
first of all, thank you guys for having me on
the show. I think it's awesome what you're doing. Um,
and I was really excited to come on and talk
to you. Because I don't really get to talk about
the business side that much. You know, I'm normally more
(08:20):
in the entertainment space, where I'm the one interviewing people.
So this is a really fun opportunity. But honestly, accidentally,
to answer your question, I kind of fell into this world.
So I knew that I wanted to be a host.
I always thought that I wanted to be an entertainment host,
like on Entertainment Tonight or a news or something like that,
(08:42):
and it's and I didn't change my mind about that
until I interned at Entertainment Tonight and I was like,
you know what, this isn't for me, Like I'm not
into the gossip. I was there with Mark Steins and
Kevin Fraser and kind of watching them do their thing,
and it was it was really cool, but I was like,
I just don't think this is me because I would
meet these guys off camera and their personality showed so
(09:05):
much more than when I'd see them on TV, and
I was like, this is two different people that we're seeing. Um.
And I did go to school for broadcast journalism and
I learned, you know, how to be in front of
the camera, behind the camera, and I came out to
l A right after I graduated, and I was like,
you know what, I'm just going to figure it out.
And I remember my my college professor telling me, like,
(09:29):
you look too young. You need to cut your hair,
you need to go to a local news station, Like
if you want to be a host, you've got to
work your way up. You can't just go to l A.
Like it's not gonna work for you, and you know,
and I was twenty one, and I was like, no,
I'm gonna do it. I'm going to figure it out.
And so, you know, I worked in a restaurant forty
hours a week and had all of these different odd
jobs just to you know, pay my rent and do
(09:51):
those kind of things. About the same time I was
getting an agent, I was going out for all of
these castings and auditions, and I actually accidentally fell into YouTube.
So I auditioned for this reality competition series that was
on YouTube and it was a beauty competition series, and
(10:13):
long story started, I won the show only because I'm competitive,
Because I'm not the best beauty blocker by any means,
Like hair and makeup and clothes like aren't really my thing.
But I'm really competitive and so I won that show
and then I won my own show that was sponsored
by Google, and I feel like it was the best
thing that happened to me because I went on this
(10:34):
show that was on YouTube and I was talking like
a news reporter host that I learned how to be
in college and from interning and entertainment tonight, and I
was getting destroyed in the comments. They were like, who
is this girl? Why does she talk like that? She's
so stuffy, This isn't the news, and I was just
getting like broken apart. But it made so much sense,
(10:55):
and so I was able to kind of bridge that
gap of like learning how to be polished but then
at the same time, like make people feel like they're
in the room with you. And so from YouTube, it
just kind of evolved from there. But it's funny that
I'm on social media though, because when I was a kid,
I was never allowed to have social media, and my
first social media was Twitter, so it kind of it
(11:17):
was Twitter in college, so that's how I had to
submit my projects in school, and then it was YouTube
and then everything else came after. So I want to
I want to go back to a comment you made
about reading the comments about your show because I had
a very similar experience when I first started out in
the industry. I was hosting one of espns first dot
(11:39):
com shows, and my boss said, do not read the
comments about yourself. But I'm gonna say you, like you said,
I would read the comments and then I would tweak
my performance in hosting based on some of the comments.
Some of the stuff. It's just like, Okay, they're commenting
on your physical appearance, and it is what it is.
(12:00):
I'm not going to go change that. But I almost
feel like we were able to develop a thicker skin
because of reading the comments and the negative comments, and
also become better hosts and broadcasters because of the comments,
which people women coming up in this industry. Twenty fifteen
(12:22):
years ago, it took, like you said, the traditional route
of going to different local news stations and they didn't
get that direct feedback that you now get on the internet.
So how do you feel like that affected you in
terms of professionally and just mentally. Yeah, I feel like
(12:43):
it goes back to what you said. It definitely gave
me thicker skin, and that's something even from sports. Obviously,
you guys know I played bassmall my whole life. And
I've just I've been an athlete my whole life, and
that was one thing I learned early on is you
have to have thick skin. And I always had coaches
who are tough on me. I played at a really
high level and that carried on into my career. And
(13:04):
I will admit when I was first on YouTube, it
was really hard to read this comment. And and like
you said, it's it's a mixed bag. Some of it
is criticizing me by how I present and how I work,
and some of it's just telling me I'm uglier, I'm
too skinnier, I'm not skinny enough for you know, you
get all the things. Um And as my career has evolved,
the more followers you get, the more comments you're going
(13:25):
to get, which immediately you're going to get more negative comments.
So it just kind of comes with the territory. But
I'm at the place now where there's not much that
bothers me when it comes to people commenting back negatively
toward me. The only thing that and still it doesn't
really bother me. But the thing that annoys me a
little bit is when people lie about me. Like I've
(13:47):
had multiple people say, like tell stories I'm like, I
met Rachel today and she was such a bit and
she wouldn't even take a photo with me. And I'm like,
I've been at my like my couch all day, so
what like, who was this person that you met? And
I've actually had a lot of instances where people have
(14:08):
tried to I guess like mess up, yeah, with things
like that. But otherwise, like the rest of the comments,
it just comes with the territory. It is what it is.
It's the day that we live in, and you do
get that instant feedback, which you gotta be careful a
little bit with your mental health that you don't get
too wrapped up into it or completely lose yourself, but
(14:30):
you can use it to your advantage if you're strong
enough to do so. Yeah, yeah, there is a there's
a there's a major curve right there. And taking public criticism, um,
I can relate. I think we all three can relate
to that one. But it seems like you've been doing
a great job with it. But I got my question
I want to ask. Starting off is from you being
(14:52):
an athlete growing up. I'm sure you wasn't too far
and removed from playing video game names yourself did you
ever foresee yourself actually having a real interview inside of
a video game, because that's kind of about heard of.
So tell us a little bit about your thoughts on
(15:13):
that and how did that come about. Yeah, so a
short answer, No, never expected myself to be in a
video game. I never expected my career path to go
in the direction that it has, and so I've just
always been open to I don't have a five year
or a ten year plan because I don't know what's
going to come about, and so I've always just kind
(15:33):
of had that outlook on like I'm going to do
what I love and what I'm drawn to, and we'll
see what kind of falls in place. So NBA two
K actually saw my videos on YouTube and I was
doing interviews with Adidas and East Bay and all of
these different brands. And I was also interviewing high school
athletes and just putting them up on my YouTube channel,
(15:55):
and they were like small interviews, not that many people
are watching them, but um, I guess the people at
MBA two K saw them and thought that I'd be
a good fit to host this new show. This like
grand idea that they had. They're like, we have this
crazy idea to put a TV show in our video game,
and I was like, oh, amazing, you know, and so
I auditioned. I had a few meetings with them. My
(16:19):
my audition actually was to interview Shack and Ernie Johnson
and and at the same time kind of produced the
shoot because they wanted to hire somebody who did more
than just stood in from the camera and recited the
lines correctly or did interviews with players. So I was
actually the first person they hired for that show, and
(16:41):
we built the team like from nothing. We built the
show from nothing, but show didn't even really have a
full on concept or structure. And and then I got
there and they hired, uh, two more shooters and editors,
and so our first episode we had a three person team.
And I just remember like being in the office and
(17:03):
like pushing upload, like here we are, We're live. You know.
The color was off, My hosting skills weren't that great,
But we built that from the ground and that was
something that I really take a lot of pride. And
I don't think a lot of people know how much
of the creative side, like the input that I had
creatively and on the production side, like I wrote all
my own scripts all my interview questions. UM, and you know,
(17:27):
by the time I left, about four and a half
years later, I think our team was out about ten people.
But it's always been just kind of this bare bones,
you know, we just gritty and get to it and
have fun with it. And yeah, I feel like I'm
really long winded. I'm getting really long answers to your questions. That, Okay,
(17:50):
I'm going to give you another question to be long
winded about. What ways do you think that the impact
of a sports world might continue you to shape the
future of the evolution of media and entertainment. I see
the media landscape changing a lot, and especially with traditional
(18:12):
media having to adapt to what's going on on social media.
And like I'll be the first to say I don't
have cable. I haven't had cable, and however long and
I have YouTube TV, but I really only ever watched
it if I'm watching live sports. So that says something
just about like my show Courtside Club is on ESPNS
(18:35):
YouTube channel, and I watch ESPNS YouTube channel. I never
turned on the television to watch ESPN or any of
these other sports TV shows. And I feel like I'm
even on the older end of this new media wave
that's coming. But you see people like Jake Paul who's
starting better and he's doing he wants to completely shake
(18:55):
up the media landscape and sports. And then you see
the NBA doing the these like secondary streams on Twitch,
and there's just all these different ways to kind of
consume the content that you want. And so I think,
first of all, the the mainstream media and these these
big like the espns and the A b c s
and the Fox, that they're going to have to shift
(19:16):
their content because their audience is not going to be
here that much longer um. But I think it's fun
to to see where it goes. I like these alternate broadcasts.
I like the evolution of social media because we're even
seeing in a way the trick shots that were like
really hot for a really long time, Like we see
(19:36):
those kind of evolving too and not being that it's
like a trick shot and then want you know, what
kind of storyline can you add to this trick shot content?
So it's constantly changing. And I don't know if if
that completely answered your question, but I just I don't know.
I think it's gonna keep going to those like alternate
(19:56):
broadcasts in these these different ways that you're consuming. Do
you think so when I look at some of the ratings,
you still have Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football
as king, and it seems like they really blow out
the rest of the competition. Do you think that some
of these alternative platforms will be able to surpass that someday?
(20:20):
I think the only way that they could surpass that
is if they have the rights to show because at
the end of the day, I think with sports, no
matter who's commentating, no matter what the pregame, halftime, whatever,
who the sideline reporter is, people want to see sports.
They want to see the game. You know, There's been
games that I watched and I can't stand the commentators
(20:41):
and I just mut it, But I still want to
see the basketball game or the football game, you know
what I mean. So I think at the end of
the day, like the sport is what's going to carry
any media, So whoever has those rights, and you know
football and basketball is up there. I am interested though,
to see like where baseball goes, where soccer goes, where
(21:03):
men's soccer goes, where tennis goes out we have goats
and tennis who are retiring. I'm entrusted to see when
like some of these greatest of all time players are
starting to leave. How that affects certain sports too, But
you know football and baslor are pretty high up there. Yeah, sure,
those those sports are dominant. As you said, people just
(21:25):
want to see it in consuming. I don't know if
we ever can get to the point what you've seen
Twitch to do. They try to do co host and
actually co host a couple of different times. You see
networks doing things like with the Manning cast of that nature,
so people can consume the game differently, um, with different
variations of content. Could you ever see yourself doing um,
(21:47):
you know, kind of what the Manning brothers are doing
with the NFL. Could you ever see yourself co hosting
with somebody your own show with the NBA? Yeah, I
mean I think that's really fun and and to be
trans we have been talking to Amazon about possibly me
like jumping into some of those Twitch streams that they're
doing for the Thursday night games. So definitely. UM. I'll
(22:10):
also say this isn't this hasn't been um shown publicly,
but I've done a lot of stuff with the NBA's
I did an alternate broadcast um, but it was just
for internal purposes. So I actually covered the two thousand
seventeen NBA Finals. Nobody just ever saw it, but but
I was there in Cleveland and was there with another
(22:32):
social media person. And now it seems like they're trying
these different ways, like what can we do with these
social influencers of these people who aren't typical color commentators
or play by play. I've also done stuff with the
NBA where it was like me, it was Anthony Anderson,
it was Lamore and Morris, it was some YouTubers, so
like kind of celebrity influencer mix, and they bring us
(22:54):
together for big NBA games and then do a watch party,
but then film us watching it, talking to each other, discussing,
you know, during commercial breaks, we're talking about like, you know,
how we're liking the game so far in players and
this and that. So absolutely, as long as I'm having
fun with it, and it's something that you know, hasn't
(23:15):
been done before and isn't um stuffy, and I could
totally see myself doing that. Recently, you started working with
Phase Clan, one of the top gaming collectives in the world.
They're known as a super innovative company and the cutting
edge of the new media. What have you learned from
being around them and what are you excited about moving forward? Um,
(23:39):
First of all, I just want to say working with
Phase Clan is amazing. I've been on so many sets,
been in so many productions. I did a month long
shoot with them. We had a COVID outbreak, we had
so much stuff going wrong. It was a live show.
It was so many hours of work, and they treated
me so well and I always felt like they had
(24:00):
my back and I was so well taken care of.
And I've just like I've been doing this for a
long time. So like, first of all, like amazing organization. UM,
we are definitely talking about doing a lot more together.
We've actually just this week been talking about going to
Rio for the cs GO like World Championships. Face Clan
(24:21):
has an amazing counter strike team and so UM talking
about me going with them and interviewing their squad and
just kind of vologing it being there on the ground
with them, documenting it, seeing if they make it, you know,
all the way to that championship game, which I think
that they have the ability to do. So doing some
stuff that's like more hardcore gaming. But then at the
(24:44):
same time, Phase in itself is the perfect mix mix
of of gaming and culture and sports and gen z
and millennials and there's just it's a great mix of
all of that. And they do want to do more
in sports. And obviously they signed Brawny and they have
Kyler Murray on their roster. But then they have somebody
(25:05):
like Snoop Dogg who also is like big into sports
and gaming. And so we've talked about a lot of
different things of you know, celebrity gaming tournaments or what
shows could we do around these athletes that they have
that's just different than what's done before. So I love
what Face is doing. Um, they're super creative. They're always
(25:27):
thinking ahead, like what can we do next, what can
we do different? They really do not want to be
like anybody else. They're not looking at anybody else and
like this is our competitor or this is what we're
striving to be. They're like, no, this is what we are,
this is who we are, this is what we're gonna
do and and how can we do this in the
coolest way. So a lot of stuff to come, I
will say, So keep your eye out on that. But
(25:49):
first but firstly Rio, which I've also never been to Brazil,
so I feel like that will be fun. I'm jealous.
I want to go to I want to go to
Brazil just to continue my dancing career. They have as
an art phone called Zook that is out there that
is absolutely amazing. If you get a chance, UM, find
(26:09):
you a zoop festival or a Zook club and let
me know how much you like it. I'm jealous. Yeah,
you know what else I want to do? They have
this game that it's like volleyball on trampolines. Oh wow,
where you use like your hands and your feet. It's
like a mix of volleyball, soccer and gymnastics and it
looks so cool and I just want to find a
(26:31):
place where I could try it. So that in Zook, right, Yeah,
you gotta do the definitely do that. Yeah, rash Rashad's
your travel planner. He churns up small fee, but that's
fine free, um do so join it up with Phase
(26:52):
plan um, you know, because they are they are kind
of revolutionized in the whole game in industry. If you will.
I know a lot of those guys over there. I've
had a chance to go by the House and Kick
It and Hunt of Thieves, and I even started to
each sports organization myself. Have you have you been heavy
in the gaming world yourself? Um? As far as playing
(27:12):
or competitively just fun casually um and commentated in that space.
So as far as my gaming, like me actually gaming,
I'm not that great at a lot of the first
person shooter games. I feel like Fortnite is the only
one that I can kind of get a grasp on,
(27:32):
but I can respect the other games. I'm actually I
actually don't play sports games that much either. Like I
love Minecraft. Okay, okay, I love Minecraft. I played my
switch a lot, you know, like Mario Kart, and now
there's a new almost like we first switched to, so
ill play some of those games I love among us.
I'm like stuck in that era still, but those are like,
(27:55):
you know, kind of quick on the go games. Um.
But as far as the storytelling behind the competitive gaming,
I take an interest in that because I feel like
that is the only way to take E sports to
the next level. Because right now, I feel like the
fan base in e sports is just these hardcore gamers
(28:18):
because they just they know what the game is. They
like watching these guys who are the best in their space,
but I think to take us to that next level
and to get the more casual fan involving, need to
tell the stories of these gamers who are the best
gamers in the world, who in a sense, like you
can argue, are pro athletes in that space. And so
that's what I was hoping to help Phase do, is like,
(28:41):
let me help you tell the stories of these these
teams that you guys have. And so that's where I
see it, And that was even when I was with
NBA two K, something that I was always stressing to them,
and like, I don't see NBA two K and E
sports growing much beyond that because it you love basketball,
(29:01):
you can go watch real people play basketball. You don't
need to watch people play video games as basketball players.
But you cannot go watch a Fortnite scenario in real life,
you know. So there's this like element of fantasy that
you can't watch in real life. But I think it
is going to be harder in E sports for like
(29:21):
Madden and FIFA and two K for like that to
really elevate to where the general gaming public wants to watch.
So it's E sports where I feel like the last
couple of years, we've heard, oh, e, sports is where
the sports world is headed. Is that? Do you think
that truly is the case or we always have some
of these's big name sports around. Um, definitely don't think
(29:49):
it's where it's I don't think sports and sports. I
think like our traditional sports are gonna be on top always,
and I think but I think slowly but surely we
I mean, there used to be the stigma around the sports,
right if you were really good at video games, you
were like sitting in your mom's basement with Dorrito cheese
(30:10):
on your hands, you know, overweight and like really pale
because you never go outside. You know. Now it's cool
when you see people making millions of dollars being really
good at gaming, and it's it's either they're really good
and they're winning these big tournaments, or they're really good
because they have a great personality and they're streaming on
Twitch and they have millions of people that tune in
a year to to watch them play. So I feel
(30:32):
like it's still kind of like a subdivision, but it's
becoming more and more respected, even in the past like
seven years, where sports have always been sports, like if
you're an athlete, like you're the popular kid, you know. Yeah, yeah,
I also answer, just let me know what you think. Right. So,
But like traditional sports, you if you're the best, you're
(30:56):
the best. You're gonna be out there, you're gonna be known,
you're gonna be seen, um, and you want to get paid.
And when it comes to game and you actually can
be the best, but nobody cares or like you, and
therefore it's hard to make a living in the space.
Sometimes just it's it's some people's charisma gaming personality. I mean,
you've got a lot of people in the each sports
world that are terrible, but that is actually why a
(31:19):
lot of people like them because their personality. They enjoy
watching them make a buffoon of themselves, laughing at themselves, um,
and they build a major name in the e sports world.
So it depends on if you're looking at it competitively
versus monetarily, and they are totally different when it comes
to each sports space. Whereas sports, if you're the best,
(31:40):
you're the best, and you're gonna get read. And I
think too, there's this the smaller even subdivision where it's
the really really competitive E sports guys where if you
can get picked up by a team and you are
the best, then you will make that money because some
of these these tournaments, they're winning millions. If if they win,
you guys might have never even heard of them or
(32:01):
watched it, or they might not be famous by any means,
but they're getting a check. But it's the odds are
probably so slim to even get eyeballs on you to
get on these teams. Because they've even run tests on
some of these professional gamers and you're you're probably familiar
with the like hand eye light tests and stuff. So
(32:25):
these gamers were actually had quicker reaction times than some
of the best athletes in the world when it comes
to like football and basketball players. But all they're doing
they're only doing that obviously, they're not like sprinting and
jumping and those kinds of things. So that's why some
people will put them on the same level as an athlete,
but they definitely don't have the notoriety yet that you know,
(32:49):
a Lebron James or Tom Brady is going to get
right unless you're shot right, But then he isn't even
the best in the world. He's just a great personality. Right. Again,
sometimes it's just somebody's personality that you appreciate. And then
(33:09):
and then at that point, riche I'm sure you could attest.
It is just like commentating. Um, some people are really
really good at the actual art of journalism, commentating or
whatever it may be. And then some people just yeah,
I love their personality. I don't care how good they are.
They make me laugh, they made me feel at home.
I'd rather just hit play, put their YouTube up in
the background, and vibe out with them. I mean, we
(33:31):
even look at my career. I have over a million
followers on Instagram, and until late most of my content
was straight basketball and I would do a trick shot
video or a simple three pointer that would get millions
of views. But I'm not good enough to be in
the w n b A and there's not many there's
(33:55):
I don't know, maybe one or two w NBA players
who have has more followers than I do or gets
more views on their videos. But I am not the
best basketball player by any means. But I just happened
to grow my social following doing what I do, and
people are like, wow, she made that shot, you know right,
(34:18):
It's so tell us a little bit about that, because
that that is very interesting that you know you can
kind of recognize um, you know uh w n B
a player. UM, although that you're attesting she probably is
better than you at the sport, but yet you have
a bigger following of people watching what you do in
(34:41):
that sport with trick shots and things to that nature.
Was what kind of advice, UM, would you give to
the younger you coming up or somebody that might be
listening to this podcast tuning in, UM that is a
female and that wants to get in the sport sector
of interviewing and following your footsteps, how would you guide
(35:03):
them and say, hey, here are some things you might
want to be mindful of. I can't promise you that
the outcome will be the same or worse, but here
are some things that you should be mindful of. Yeah,
I think I think firstly, Um, I actually talked about
this on my TikTok a couple of weeks ago. I
think that there's a lot of promise for the women's
(35:24):
basketball game evolving and becoming more popular because of the
social media access that we have now and because of
n I L So there are a lot of girls
on TikTok who are younger than me. High school basketball players,
college basketball players who have millions of followers, And I
truly believe that the way to help the women's basketball
(35:46):
game grow and the w n b A grow is
for people to become more invested in individual players and
follow their journey, because I've seen people do that for me,
and I think if they are invested in this girl
who's in college who has this massive TikTok following, they
love her personality and they love her videos, and they
see the cool trick shots and things that she does,
then they're gonna want to see her play at the
(36:07):
next level or at least follow her journey that way,
and then girls are going to be able to make
more money than they might even make on a w
n b A salary. So I think, in general, any
female basketball player who is playing right now, do your
best to capitalize on all of your resources that you
had right have right now, because there's a lot of
money to be made in the space, and there's so
(36:29):
many different platforms that you could do that by just
being yourself, by just being a little bit unique, and
then having basketball being your core thing, because if you're
a hooper, that's going to be most of your life anyway,
but like showing your journey, showing what you do in
the morning, showing your training, and then showing your personality,
making fun videos, making videos with your teammates, your friends, um,
(36:52):
and so I think there's just so much more access
And I was just like, any advice for somebody wants
to be in my position. I do think education at
some level is important. I know not everybody is going
to be able to go to college or has that accessibility,
but continue learning no matter what stage of life you're in.
There's so much Again, there's so many resources YouTube. There's
(37:15):
a lot of different tutorials. You can learn how to
edit and try new things and stay true to yourself.
And you're gonna have to work hard. Also, I busted
my ass, my whole life to be where I'm at,
And yeah, work hard, be yourself and try new things,
be creative, and keep learning. That's my advice. I love
(37:38):
that advice because that's something that I try to push
to my little nephews quite often. Or I have nine nephews,
excuse me, eight nephews. One needs and I always tell
her she's my favorite NS. It's her response every time.
But my nephew is a lot of times, Rachel, they
just see because I was successful in my field of
(38:00):
a ball. Um they see the red carpet, right, they
see their uncle's success. Um, they see the house I
was able to buy my mom, and they're nonny right.
And quite often they don't see the work that took
place in order to make it to the red carpet.
(38:21):
So I always take them on a day with me,
like the day in the life of the wake up
with me. They work out with me, they go to
all the classes I went to, they train with when
they eat what I eat, They do everything I do
for a full week, and then they set back and
they say, you know what, I'm not sure if I
want to do this as much as I used to,
because you you were so used to seeing the final product,
(38:42):
and so I'm gonna I appreciate you sharing that because
a lot of people think, um, you know, you just
pop on YouTube and just put a camera in front
of you and start talking and that's gonna equal a
million views. And if you don't get a million views,
you know it's you're unsuccessful. So I appreciate you speaking
to that because I can't stand to see people skip
(39:03):
the hard work part. Yeah. Of course, a lot of
people don't see that, and there's a lot of these
stories of, you know, an overnight success. But but even
my success started when I was ten years old and
started playing basketball, probably started before that, honestly, because if
I wouldn't have played basketball and learned all that I
did through that, if I didn't become as good as
(39:25):
a basketball player as I was, I wouldn't have even
been able to capitalize. And it put my career in
the path that it's been in. You know. So there's
so many Drew Hanlon is one of my good friends.
He's an NBA trainer. He always says, there's so many
unseen hours that go into your craft, and there's a
lot of people who want to be great, and if
(39:47):
it was easy, everybody would do it, you know, we'd
all pick that that million dollar pack, you know. So yeah,
so I totally agree. So growing up a basketball fan,
Uh do would be remiss of me not to ask
who are some of your top if you can give
me a top four or five players in your book? Um,
(40:10):
right or wrong? But in your book, who are your
top five players that you just love of all time?
They ain't even got to be the best to stop
five if you love so my top five Michael Jordan's,
Lebron James Shack, Kobe, and Alan Iverson. And Alan Iverson
(40:33):
was my favorite player growing up for the pure fact
of the energy that he brought to the game and
how he changed the game of basketball because he was
unapologetically him. I just thought that that was so dope.
And I was a pure shooter who had no athleticism
and he's over here crossing people up, and I just
like my playings. I was completely different, different, but I
(40:56):
idolized him so much. I just thought, he's just really
true to him, you know. And then Kobe, somebody who
I got to meet an interview and he complimented my
jump shot, which I will never forget. It was the
coolest moment. I didn't even know he knew who I was,
but um, the energy about him was just, you know, crazy.
(41:20):
So obviously he's there. Shock is a mentor to me.
I've known him for years. Obviously, like I said, um,
he helped me. He didn't help me, but he was
part of the reason that I got the job at
NBA two k and which really helped my career. So
I'll always, you know, have him up there. And then
I grew up in Akron. Lebron's from Akron, so I've
(41:40):
been watching in play since he was fourteen. And then
I mean, you you can't have a top five and
not put Michael Jordan there. You know, I've never met him,
but I would love to one day. I think, g
p um, I'm pretty much on the same board with you.
MS is Jordan's um you got. I absolutely love Shaquille O'Neill. UM.
(42:06):
I throw in Magic Johnson, UM, I throw in Curry um,
and the and the reason why I throw it throwing
those guys is because um you got. I think Jordan's
revolutionized in his magic revolutionize that I personally believe for
the point guard position. How he did Michael Jordan's revolutionized
(42:27):
the way people looked at the game. She killed O'Neill
revolutionized how people look at the game. I feel like
Kobe elevated with Jordan's started, and I feel like Lebron
elevated with Kobe was doing. And I think Curry made
people really look at how people play the game. And
so that's why I Curry is doing something similar that
AI did just in a like in a different way.
(42:50):
But I always say, like I would not want to
coach youth basketball right now, Like could you imagine court? Yes,
I'm saying so, Like, whether you like it or not,
Curry has definitely changed the way that a lot of
us play basketball or want to play basketball because we
think we can shoot like him. Yeah, and it makes
(43:11):
sense the theory if somebody, if you go down the
court and dunk, you get two points. And if I
come down the court and shoot the three I wanted
three to two, that's it. Yeah, And you can be
scrawny and skinny and short and still do that. You know, absolutely,
you don't have to be a freak specimen right now,
I like that list. I've I've met magic before and
(43:35):
the loveliest human. Um. I just didn't get to watch
him play much, so it's hard for me to you know,
you see highlights and stuff, but it's different than when
you can actually witness it in the same like generation,
you know what I mean? Absolutely absolutely, if you if
you can compare your game to anybody in the NBA,
(43:56):
who would you compare how you how you modeled your
game after so or influence? We can go with influence.
I would say. I would say I watched JJ Reddick
in college and it was very some. I was a
pure shooter. I would love to say Clay Thompson, but
(44:18):
it's definitely a stretch because my footwork was not as
on point as he was, and I wasn't as good
of a defender as he is. I would love to
say Klay Thompson. Um, but yeah, I would probably say
like a JJ Reddicks, I was really smart. I knew
where to be on the court. I shot the ball
really well, I had good passing ability, ran the floor,
(44:40):
weld and get tired. Yeah yeah, s J J. Nice. Nice,
And I'm curious, um with your your position when it
comes to N I L, coming down to whichever team
has the most money, was just all of a sudden
started to dominate. I think I think N I L
is going to be interesting, because I don't think it's
(45:03):
going to be the way it is right now forever.
I feel like it's like a little bit of a
bubble right now, and we're gonna have to get our
footing to see where this goes and what shifts happen,
and if the NBA is going to let kids come
straight out of high school again, I know that they're
talking about that, so I think there's a lot of
different factors. I think if it keeps going in this way,
(45:25):
we might see the whole landscape of college sports changed completely. Anyway,
because the guys that are going to be going to
college are spending a significant time in college. It's gonna
be great for them, but they might not be the
ones going pro so, and I think in a in
a way it might be a good thing because we're
going to go back to rooting for our teams based
(45:49):
on where they are or just kind of that that
pride that we have in those teams and not for
the fact of, oh, we're watching Duke because they have
this player, like they have Zion who is going to
be this huge star in the NBA, and they're only
going to be there one year. Maybe they won a championship,
maybe they don't, doesn't matter to them. Now you're going
(46:11):
to have people going to college for four years and
kind of building these teams. It will be interesting to
see with like schools, and I think you're seeing that
with um Peyton manning Son right He's going to Texas
and just getting a crazy bag, you know, to go
to Texas and really getting the excitement around the Longhorn
(46:37):
and the UT program again, which seems like it's been
lost over the past couple of years. It's crazy how
just signing one player can truly do that. Yeah, I
went to the game that their their kickoff game against
Alabama and like, didn't win. Shouldn't have won. Alabama is
a much better team, but yeah, the fans are ready
to go, and it feels you feel like you're there
(47:00):
in Texas. Thinks that there's a number one team, So
I want to see where it goes. I think it's
a really great opportunity, though I will i'd be lying
if I say it wasn't a little bit jealous, because
I probably would have played all four years of basketball
if I had n I l because I definitely would
have utilized it. But I felt like I had to
choose between sport and getting a good education and working
because I actually was offered an internship at ESPN Radio
(47:22):
my freshman year of college. I wasn't able to take
it because of basketball, but I knew I didn't want
to go pro. So I think for a lot of people,
and maybe especially women who were in maybe similar situations
that I was like, I know, I don't want to
play pro, but I want to continue my four years.
They could make some money, they can have a good time,
they could go for a championship. They can build a
(47:43):
team to where they're sticking together throughout these however many
years in college. So in a way, I think it
could be a good thing. Where the thing is going
to take a little bit of time for the dust
to settle to where we really can see clearly on
what's going to happen. I have one last question for you.
You played in the NBA All Star Celebrity All Star
Game and got several buckets. By the way, what was
(48:07):
it like being in a starting five with Justin Bieber.
That's funny, Okay, So I played in New Orleans the
year before, and then I played in l A. And
I'm only saying that because Jamal Hill was my coach
in New Orleans and she she didn't know that I
knew how to play basketball, so she didn't play me
very much, and like I didn't start, and then like
(48:29):
midway through the game she said, oh, like you have
a nice shot. I'm like yeah, So then um, in
the l A game, Michael B. Jordan and Rachel Nichols
were the coach, and I had just interviewed Michael B.
Jordan's recently and he knew that I played ball, and
I was like, can I just start? And He's like, yeah,
of course, So I started. I've actually known Justin for years,
(48:53):
so and I hadn't seen him in a while, so
we were just like friendly and he got the cist
to me and so that was cool. There was weird
tweets because we were talking to each other on the
bench and people are like, oh, Justin s flirting with
this girl. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, we
don't just it um but no. The NBA All Star Game,
(49:13):
it was so much fun. If I really wish my
team would have won, because I feel like I could
have gotten m v P. But I officially tired retired
from NBA All Start celebrity games after that one because
I just don't feel like you can top an NBA
All Start in l A, you know. And that was
a really fun game, Like Michael Jordan put on a
(49:35):
jersey at one point and came and played with us,
like Jamie Fox was on the other team. It was
just like a stack line up across the board and
it was a lot of fun. So well, I'm I'm
sure it will come back around to where the All
Star weekends in l A again, and then I'm sure
you will get another invite, So you should come out
(49:56):
of retirement Tom Brady style maybe, or maybe I could
coach and I could set somebody else up to have
a great game. You know, I could start somebody and
be like, yeah, maybe. Well, thank you so much for
taking the time to talk to us. You're just a
(50:17):
wealth of knowledge about new media and where the industry
is headed. And this conversation was really refreshing and one
that I know our listeners are going to really enjoy.
So thank you. So thanks for having me. No, I
appreciate you guys. I think what you're doing is really
cool and obviously, like I love the team you're working with.
Two so can we posted and you guys both have
(50:39):
to come on Courtside Club too. Yeah, thank you guys
for listening to Sports Illustrated and iHeart Radios the Bag.
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