July 22, 2025 • 34 mins
It’s not a moment; it’s a movement.
Of course, we’re talking about the WNBA, which just threw the most exciting, audacious, and downright viral All-Star Weekend in recent memory. On today’s episode of The GIST of It, co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Steph Rotz break down the major talking points from Indianapolis, from the inimitable StudBudz to the “Pay Us What You Owe Us” t-shirts that broke the internet. Tune in, won’t you?
A big thank you to BMO for sponsoring today’s pod! BMO is the official bank of the NSL and the league’s broadcast partner, sticking to their two-decade pledge to grow the game of soccer in North America. Learn more about how BMO is growing the beautiful game at BMOsoccer.com.
Show notes:
More on The GIST:
☎️ Leave us a voicemail! Call us at 1-437-564-5579 or hold down on this link
🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
Of course, we’re talking about the WNBA, which just threw the most exciting, audacious, and downright viral All-Star Weekend in recent memory. On today’s episode of The GIST of It, co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Steph Rotz break down the major talking points from Indianapolis, from the inimitable StudBudz to the “Pay Us What You Owe Us” t-shirts that broke the internet. Tune in, won’t you?
A big thank you to BMO for sponsoring today’s pod! BMO is the official bank of the NSL and the league’s broadcast partner, sticking to their two-decade pledge to grow the game of soccer in North America. Learn more about how BMO is growing the beautiful game at BMOsoccer.com.
Show notes:
More on The GIST:
☎️ Leave us a voicemail! Call us at 1-437-564-5579 or hold down on this link
🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, Hello jessirs, welcome or welcome back to another episode
of the Gist of It. Today's Tuesday, July twenty second,
and we're your co hosts. I'm Steph Rotz.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
And I'm Ellena Hyslab, and I am apologizing in advance.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
We have been running into so many technical issues on
my side of things from today.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I couldn't get my microphone to work, I headphones to work,
my internet to work, and it's just been a calamity.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And so we're doing our best.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
But if I don't sound as clean and it's christ today,
it's because when I was traveling with the microphone to
WNBA All Star, I must have ruined it somehow.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Oh, I've been there. This isn't my first microphone.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Remember, Oh, that makes me actually feel so much better.
How quick did the second when we got you.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Arrive pretty fast? I think, Well, No, I picked this
up from Robin so the TLD y'all did another podcast,
and there's another member of the team who lives in Toronto.
I picked it up from her so I could get
it same day because mine wasn't working because I moved
with it and it must have just banged around even
(01:12):
though I tried really hard not to. It just wasn't
working with me. So sometimes technology works with you, it
works against you. But today, just know, folks, Ellen's audio
is temporary. She will be back and thriving and you
will hear that lovely Chris voice that you longed to
hear every Tuesday and Thursday. So don't worry.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I'm so sorry everyone. It's been five years with the
same mic, so it had a really good run. It
just chose a horrible time to do it. But there's
so many amazing things that we have to talk about today.
The mic is the only bad part.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Because we're absolutely vibrating because, of course Ellen just said
she came back from WNBA All Star Weekend. I of
course was watching from my couch just in awe of
all the amazing festivities that were happening and just such
a It was such an amazing All Star weekend and
we do need to talk about it. So we're going
to talk about Ellen's experiences. We're going to explore why
(02:04):
this year's WNBA also our weekend, felt like a cultural
turning point for the league. And then we're going to
explain for y'all what the heck stud buds is, and
we're going to break down the true meaning behind the
players pay us what you owe us t shirts because
we need to squash some misconceptions that are circulating online
regarding those T shirts. So we do need to talk
(02:25):
about it.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
We need to get into all of it.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
It was such a fun weekend and stud Buds really
popped off, and I messaged in the slack I said,
we need to explain stud Buds for the straits and
for the people who aren't perpetually online. And so if
you fall into either of those categories, this podcast in
particular as it comes to stud Buds is for you. Ugh.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
I was texting you all weekend because I knew you
were there and I was so jealous of everything that
was happening. And I feel like that was one of
the things that I texted you, was I am living
for stud Buds.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Yes, So we're going to get into all of that.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And then Steph also Rage texted me after her soccer game,
which I also really appreciate.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I know when you're.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Playing a sport because late at night on a Sunday,
whether it's hockey or soccer, I get meaning a rundown
of how you're feeling when things are going bad, or.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
When things could be going better, or when things are
going great.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
So basically all of my emotions share with Ella in
his love field.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
If you're only your extreme emotions, only your extreme emotions,
are you sharing with me?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Which is great.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
But before we get into all of this, I do
want to call an audible and we have it kind
of mapped out a little bit, but I'm truly calling
an audible, Steph, I want to talk about something totally different,
and if you want to talk about what we kind
of planned on, you can, But I wanted to talk
about Scotty Shuffler, world number one golfer, winning the Open
over the weekend. This is I think, really cementing him
(03:53):
as one of the greatest golfers of all time. The
Open is one of men's golfs for majors. Scotty Scheffler
is a young American lad and he has won the Olympics,
the Masters, the US Open, PGA Championship.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I think he's.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Close to a Grand Slam, if not a career Grand Slam.
If not, he might have a career Grand Slam. With this.
I'm not sure I'm really going off the cuff here.
So you need to fact check me. But I think
one of the coolest things that Scotty did, Steph, I
want to say, four or five days before the Open
was have a press conference basically talking about a fulfilling
life and his accomplishments. And he was so real about
(04:32):
like when he wins a tournament, he goes it's amazing
for those three minutes, and I feel jubilation for those
three minutes. But then I go home and life continues
and it goes on, and that's just kind of what happens.
It's not necessarily that golf or pro sports and being
successful is giving him that fulfilling life. It's other things
(04:52):
that fill up his cup. And it actually reminded me.
I think Scotty was coming at it from a very
positive perspective and talking about his family and talk talking
about just being mature, and I think you can only
do that when you're as good as Scotti Shuffler. But
it also reminded me, Steph. And you'll have to remind me.
Did you hate watch the Aaron Rodgers docuseries?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Did you end up watching it?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I didn't. I know. This is probably the fifth time
you have brought it up on the pod.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It's okay. No, no, it's totally okay. But it reminded
me a little bit of Aaron Rodgers. But I think
Aaron Rodgers kind of maybe took it in a different
way and still kind of had some ego around it.
But he was basically like, he won the Super Bowl
early on in his career, and he thought that everything
would change, and it did from a fame perspective, but
(05:39):
it really didn't from a happiness perspective and from a
pure utility perspective. And I think that that's really what
Scotty was getting at, and it made me I don't know,
I think that it just gave some perspective on sports
and humility in sports, and so I found it really
interesting that he had this conference. He was talking about
what actually matters in life, what actually fulfills him, and
(06:00):
that he loves his accomplishments and he loves the privilege
of getting to play golf, but what matters at the
end of the day, at the end of the day
is not winning tournaments.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Was it you who posted a Nike ad on your story, Yes,
of a golfer with a baby and that Scheffler. Okay,
so that was that Okay, that was a really good ad.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It was an amazing ad, and basically on that Nike ad,
I think it said Steph like priorities didn't change, yes,
and his was his family. I famously have turned off
the Wi Fi on my phone so that we're recording
the podcast without my wife, so I can't.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Look it up.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
But if you go onto Nike's page, or if you
go onto Scottie Scheffler's page or think that you could
see it. And I just thought that that was brilliant marketing.
So yeah, I just want to have that men's sports
moment because I thought that it was a nice mental
health moment as well.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
It's also really nice to have that come from a man.
I think too, because oh I saw this one TikTok
today and it said something along the lines of women's
job is to make their success look easy and men's
job is to make their success look hard. And I
think it's really interesting to think about it in that way.
And then to also have men prioritize work life balance
(07:09):
and prioritize family is such a pivotal moment I think
for us culturally to have someone that's so successful also
talk about what it's like outside of his sport. And
I think because you just don't get that often. So
that's really wholesome and I really appreciate you calling that audible.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, and one last thing step on that note too,
he was kind of just talking about I'm only able
to golf because his wife is at home and she's
doing what she needs to do so that he can
play golf. And he said in that press conference too,
the minute golf started impacting his family life, he would
stop playing golf. And again, he has the privilege of
winning to out the money and being a millionaire and whatever.
(07:48):
But I think to your point, we have never well
not that I remember. I don't remember any other male
professional person at his height ever say those things.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Oh perfect, Thank you so much for that. And you
know what, thanks Amelian to our pals at BIMO for
sponsoring this episode of the gist of it the MLS.
So we're talking soccer now. The MLS All Star Game
is tomorrow, featuring some of the best and brightest stars
from the league's thirty teams. And guess what, BEMO sponsors
(08:21):
four of those squads, LAFC and the three Canadian teams
Toronto FC, C F Montreal and Vancouver y Ceps FC.
When you're cheering on your favorite footballer tomorrow, you can
thank Bimo, the bank that's been growing soccer in North
America for almost twenty years. Learn more at our Soccer
help desk found at the link in the show notes.
(08:42):
Again to learn more, go to the Soccer help dust
link in our show notes. The WNBA All Star Weekend
is officially done. It's officially dusted and you they didn't
have to be there physically like Ellen has slept to
(09:02):
know that it was an actual vibe. There was just
something special about this past weekend. Something about it felt different.
It wasn't just basketball. It was a truly cultural crossover,
celebrating fashion, fandom and hoop dreams. Really, I think, in
my opinion, expose how multifaceted these players are and really
(09:24):
gave us a glimpse into so many of their personalities
and their interpersonal relationships and how they interact off the court,
which was my favorite part because I'm all about the storyline.
So for today's One Big Story, we're rehashing the best
moments from the weekend, from the iconic shoe phone and
the viral stud buds to the shirt that broke the Internet.
It's just so exciting time to be alive.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
There are so many moments that I feel like in
producing this podcast, our producers were like, what should we choose?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
What should we pick?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
What have you?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
There were so many amazing moments.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I think Asia Wilson at the Skills competition holding up
to shoe and everyone.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Was kind of like, what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
But it was actually a camera and she was taking
inspiration from Shacks two thousand and six shoecam moment.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
If anyone knows that I love that so much.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I think my favorite well, actually I have two favorite
things of the weekend, and both of them have to
have with Pagebeckers.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I think the first one was.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Wag Talk just fully saying out loud or fully getting
page backers out loud to hard launch on social media,
which I thought was amazing. And then the second thing, though,
that I really enjoyed was Angel Reese and Pagebeckers TikTok
collab dance and when Page kind of snuck in from
behind Angel Reese and you didn't expect that to happen.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I love that combination.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
So those two things just made me really happy over
the weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Can I share my favorite moment that's not including the
stud buds because we're going to get to that, so
outside of the studbuds, my favorite was when New York
Liberty and Attached to Cloud won the skills competition and
after as she has the trophy and she's got the mic,
she shouts out her girlfriend and says that they can
now put a down payment on the house. And to me,
(11:07):
I shrieked. I kicked my feet. It was such a
a rom calm moment for me and really shows how
impactful that money would be for WNBA player. That's a
down payment, baby.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
That's a down payment, and I want to say stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I think that was thanks to a flack for them
actually increasing the prize money, and so it was really
cool seeing the brand also interact and say like, oh
my gosh, we didn't realize what type of impact this
would have, which is really cool to see that the
brands are stepping up and seeing their impact more.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
There was a lot of really cool brand activations and
representation from heads of the brands throughout the weekend too,
and so we clock those as fans. We see you,
we know where you are, so thank.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
You and we remember you and we use you when
you're supporting female fans or women's sports.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
But what we do have to talk about me and
I think this was true.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Our favorite thing from the weekend was stud Buds, two
women with pink hair.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
That were bopping around the entire weekend.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
So in case you missed it earlier this season, a
little bit on the download to start, I would say
Minnesota Lynk's friends and teammates Courtney Williams and Natisha Hydeman
launched a Twitch account called stud Buds and they were
recognizable all weekend because they dyed their hair pink ala.
(12:31):
I don't think it was because of Megan Fippino, but
I think that it was like the pink hair always
reminds me of Fipino, But I love that they were
just pink and they were.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
So easily found.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
And the coolest thing stef was that they live streamed
literally every single moment. I think it was seventy two
hours two hours right during the WNBA All Star weekend,
and they were streaming on Twitch for the most part,
but then they also were on Instagram posting a ton
of things, and the type of content that they captured
(13:02):
I think had so many people gasping because it was
behind the scenes things that none of us, as fans
or media members would ever have the opportunities to see,
but obviously the things that all of us desperately want
to know and see.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
We got to see the commissioner of the WNBA dancing
at a party. We got to see Courtney Williams request
a song change from Diplos spinning and Sports Illustrators All
Star after party, which.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I got there. You were there. I was there, but
I went to bed early.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Ellen.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
It was so late, man like, it was twelve thirty
one o'clock.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Still nothing was happening, and I said, I gotta go
to bed.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
I'm too old for this. And then I saw the
footage later and I said, what's wrong with me? Truly,
what's wrong with me? Why wasn't I there? I regret
that moment? So bad?
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
That is so fun? Where else did you ever? Did
you see them live streaming at all this weekend? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I mean, I'm fortunate to be in a lot of
rooms with a lot of these players, So I hope,
you know, getting to have lunches and be in the
same rooms with Breonna Stewart or Asia Wilson or Kevin Durant,
Neco Guombuquay, Skyler Dickens, like I got to be in
the room with all of them and meet them in
some cases, shake their hands, say thank you, especially with
(14:25):
Stewie because she's been on the podcast for so much
and we've been working with her on a partnership with Corona,
and so it was great to be able to also
meet some of them too and be in the same spaces.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
It was just so exciting as a fan to just
see so many of them have authentic moments and to
see players helping teammates out and stuff. You know, one
of my favorites was someone grabbing Kaylen Clark's drink and
taking it off the frame. Someone'ld say she's playing defetse
for her. There's just it was such an organic moment,
and it really shows how you really need to center
(15:02):
these women in the league, and you really need to
have them at the forefront of all of these conversations
and at the media, because the league has in the
past been criticized for not centering queer women of color
in campaigns and in media, and stud Buzz really proves
why you you you really shouldn't be doing that.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
You got.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
You gotta put these women fronts center. They have so
much life. They are the party.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Yeah, it was. It was really great to see.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I mean actually covered this in our sports business newsletter
stuff because to me, us talking about the WNBA also
being a cultural moment, I think is also talking about
it being a cultural shift. And I think this cultural
shift is two folds in the sense that the WNBA
is as a league over the last couple of years,
has finally been leaning into its queerness, that it's been
(15:50):
built by black women, and has also really been leaning
into the personality of its players, which beforehand, when we
think about the WNBA, in those early days, we saw
people like Subird and Diana Tarassi, both Mary Kay women
wearing dresses and having their hair down and having their
hair straight and had to look a certain kind of
(16:10):
buttoned up way. And now that's just not the case.
And then I think also from a business perspective too, right, stuff,
We're seeing this growth of influencers, We're seeing this growth
of community. We're seeing this growth of people really leaning
into and finding their niche. And I think with stud buds,
when you look at Haydman and when you look at Williams.
It's not like they're the most popular players in the league.
(16:33):
It's not like they're getting all of the brand deals
or the brand partnerships, but they are probably some of
the best personalities in the league. And so them basically
taking things into their own hands and saying, you know what,
we're funny, we think this is what an audience would like.
We have no holds bars. We're totally open to showing
all of this. I think is also leaning into this
(16:53):
digital moment that we're having as fans and that sometimes
we care more about what's happening off the col or
what happens off the court. Wants us to see what
could go down on the court. And I think there's
going to be a lot more Minnesota Links fans because
of these two just being themselves. And why it works
is because they're so authentically themselves.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Their Instagram now has seventy two thousand followers, and their
Twitch account, which is where they were live streaming, has
sixty eight point nine thousand.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And I do want to say I think that I
followed them on Friday and it had thirty four point
one thousand followers on Instagram on Friday, So it has
doubled since Friday when I followed them, and so just
imagine where this could go, especially because the Links are
such a great team too. We're in the second half
of the season, Like, there's so much opportunity for this,
(17:48):
and I think so much opportunity for people to learn
about the great culture that the WBA.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Has and the numbers don't lie. And I think that's
a perfect segue into the next part of the podcast,
which is us talking about the pay us with u
OS T shirt so that the players were wearing. This
was an absolute mic drop moment. This is just a
pivotal moment in the weekend. Players came out ahead of
the All Star Game for warm up wearing pay us
(18:14):
what UoS T shirts, so quite literally it said that
on the T shirt and it was such a unifying
moment for the game and really shows and it was
a reflection of that camaraderie that we were seeing throughout
the weekend on that Twitch link.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
A lot of camaraderie on the twitch stream.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Oh it was so good. Guys. You guys, if you
haven't watched some of it, you have to promise me
you will become an instant fan. AnyWho, But the weekend
is supposed to be fun, but of course it was
also business, right.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
It was also business, And I do I want to
talk about one thing with this unity of a direct
reflection of camaraderie. So the players, of course all agreed
to wear those pay us what UoS T shirts. This
is in relation to their ongoing clutch of bargain agreement
discussions with the league. We've talked about it in Ignausiam
and we're going to do it in a little bit here.
(19:06):
One thing, Steph, And I'm not sure if you saw this,
but and you're going to say, okay. The postgame press conference,
Kelsey Plum, now of the LA Sparks was kind of
making equip and I think she was trying to make
it lighthearted somehow, basically saying that the team met up
before the game and all agreed to wear the T shirts.
(19:28):
And when she said the team, she meant team the
FISA Collier And then she said notably, not everyone was
there active from team Caitlyn Clark, and she was sitting
beside Sab like sabrinay Nescu, and I think she was
trying to like jab at Sab for maybe not being
there or maybe their team wasn't there. But I found
that to be a really interesting SoundBite and a SoundBite
(19:50):
that I don't personally love, Like I just feel like
that's completely unnecessary because it could show that there A
isn't unity.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
B she's trying to throw players under the.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Bus or see saying something that just like, just because
they weren't there, doesn't mean that they didn't want to
wear the T shirts. Like clearly they all wore the
T shirts. So what is the point of that comment?
That kind of threw me for a whirl.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
That it felt really pointless to me. I was someone
flagged it to me and I said, what do you mean?
And I went and looked up and it just was
really really awkward. And I am happy that Sab did
say like there's no point in talking about that, or
something along the lines of yeah, let's let's move on,
or that's not necessarily true. I can't remember what she said,
(20:34):
but she did definitely did react in that moment, and
to me, that is that's what you do. It's just
shut shut that down, move on another trade of thought.
Because I don't know why she was going on Tanga.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
It wasn't funny, It felt a little off the cuff.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
And I think in all of this kind of why
I wanted to bring it up Steph is as we're
going through the misconceptions that we're also going to be
talking about in our personal training SASH. These women are united,
they are all wearing those T shirts, they are all
looking to get paid more, they are all looking for
the CBA to improve, and so I think that that's
what we want to be talking about today, regardless of
(21:08):
one probably SoundBite that shouldn't have been said.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And the teachers did say pay us what you owe us.
They didn't say. There's been a couple edits online with
pacing over and writing different things. That is not what
it said. This is what they said. So don't believe
everything that you see on the internet. I do need
to say that as well. Ye, speaking of misconceptions. But yeah,
we mentioned it before, let's mention it again. The league
(21:34):
and the Players Association did actually meet for an in
person meeting at the All Star weekend, and that was
their first face to face meeting since last December, and
now we know so the news. The new part of
that is a record breaking number of players, which was
more than forty came to the table in that particular meeting,
and that just shows how educated, how passioned, how like
(21:54):
they are there they want to participate in this and
really push for a CBA that better where the league
is currently at financially, I think Steph.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
At the same time, unfortunately, those T shirts show that
there's still a big gap. And also unfortunately New York
Liberty superstar Stewie, who we just talked about, Brandon Stewart
said as she called the meeting a wasted opportunity. And
I think those things just show that they're not even
remotely close to each other when it comes to salary
(22:25):
and rev share.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Probably Yeah, someone did say in response to the Katy
Angelbart dancing video of her dancing with the players, is
I see you trying to you know, Manoamano with the
players up until in negotiation? I clock you.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, It's so tough on a weekend like that, right, Like, yeah,
there is still so much to celebrate, There is still
so much going on from the league perspective, from the
player perspective.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
We again, we will.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Never know fully the numbers. We do not see the
balance sheets, we do not see the income statement, and
it's like there is I hope rationaleand reasoning, because again
in twenty twenty, like the CBA was something that they
all wanted, and they all wanted to move in that
right direction. The NWSL and their CBA, they all wanted
things to move in that right direction. I do think
that the league wants to try to move in the
(23:16):
right place, but I think that there's probably a mixed
mismatch in like the length of how far things can
go or how things can be pushed.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And it wasn't all bad news from this weekend. They
reportedly did make progress surrounding family planning and retirement benefits.
That was obviously a focal point of the player's goals
and the next CBA, so there has been movement on that.
But going off of the T shirts, it's probably the
salary that they're not seeing eyed on out. That's just
(23:48):
my extrapolation, and.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Like tied tied to the salary is the prioritization rule.
So it's basically saying they want the athletes to prioritize
the WNBA ahead of any other league that they play in,
so enrive a European leagues. And I think that's really
hard if they're not getting paid what they want to
be getting paid when some of those other leagues are
also paying them well, in some cases better, and so
(24:13):
I think that's the hard part here, but it's glad
to see. We're super happy to see some benefits. I
think the hard part stuff is that the players are
willing to walk out. But it was really interesting. I
was listening to a panel with Asia Wilson and she
was basically saying, like, yeah, Unrivaled is so good because
the WNBA season is so short that in the off
(24:33):
season we can kind of lose attention, and as female athletes,
you never want to be losing attention from your audience
or your brands. So it's so great to have all
of these other leagues. But at the same time, when
you think about a lockout or when you think about
a strike or something like that, you could also potentially
see that impacting the athletes negatively, also from a brand perspective.
(24:57):
So it's just it's a really tricky one.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
No one wants to strike. Ever, that's to think that
that's what people want ever in a negotiation, it's just
not true. People want to make strides. And it is
interesting the fans are on their side. They chanted pay
them at the end of the All Star Game, which
did feel reminiscent of the US women's national soccer team
(25:25):
when they were going through their fair pay, Equal Pay battle,
which is obviously different than this, but in the same
field house if you will, talking about the gage bag
field house a.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
When I was like, I don't think that's saying so
thank you so much for connecting the dogs.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
There, because that was what did they They said, the
fans chanted equal pay, equal pay, right, Yeah, yeah, so
the fans are again behind the athletes. Here it's time
(26:03):
for our personal training SASH. This is where we'll answer
your hard hitting questions about anything, and we mean anything
in the sports world. And if you'd like to be
featured on a future episode, you can call us, leave
us a voicemail at one four three seven five six
four five five seven nine. That number will be in
the show notes. You can just hold down on it
and use that to call us, or if you'd rather
(26:24):
not listen to your own voice because relatable content, you
can email us at pod at the Just sports dot
com or message us dm us on Instagram. Ellen is
at Ellen at the gist. I am at Stephanie Rott's
my full name. Unfortunately, so those are your options, call
email or dm us. And in today's Personal Training Sash,
(26:45):
we are taking a question from Ainsley in Toronto. Shout
out to TEO.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
So here we go, Hi, Allen high Steph. It's Ainsley
calling from Toronto of the pod by the way, But
quick question with the WB All Star weekend over the
weekend and them showing up to warm up to the
game wearing pays but Uola shirts so iconic. But it's
(27:09):
posted on the page like that gist gets great positive comments,
but then it's posted on other sports instagrams like TSN,
ESPN and the comments section ain't it People, probably mostly men,
don't understand the significance of it. But why do you
think that is? Why are men hating as a w
(27:30):
NBA so bad?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Can I get my TLDR answer first?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Sell it please?
Speaker 1 (27:37):
My TLDR answer is men don't actually like women because
we've been socialized in this patriarchal, misogynistic culture. We get
this because men don't fully humanize women and don't see
them as equals as people, And that is the TLDRS.
Men don't actually like women.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
And what would be your long format.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Is all is unpacking that you know what I mean,
So okay. So there's the misinformation part of it. There's
the assuming that the players think that they need to
be paid equally to what the NBA is played. There's
the misconception on the history of the NBA in terms
of how long it took for them to be profitable.
There's the lack of information in terms of how many
NBA teams actually are not profitable in current day after
(28:25):
the league's already been operating for fifty years. So there's
just all of these misconceptions about how they inherently value
men and they do not value women, and how that
impacts their interaction with a purely women's league.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Drop that, Mic, Steph. Sorry, I agree, and I thank
them for me.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
I can almost speak to this from a business perspective too. Please,
When we look at venture capital and people investing in women,
of all venture capital money, it's only two percent that
goes to do female founded businesses or women owned businesses,
even though women are starting businesses every single day.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
We get way less funding.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
And we know because studies have shown that women only
get invested in when they have their resume and they
prove what they can versus men get promoted or sorry,
Women get promoted rather when they have their resume, they've
shown what they could do, then they get that promotion.
Men get promoted based off of potential. And so it's
the same kind of thing here, Steph, where when you
(29:30):
actually dig into the numbers and when you look at
the NBA, the NBA was always invested in and the
NBA continued to do well because people kept on investing
in it because they were like, there's so much potential
and men's basketball is doing so well versus the WMBA
being a women's league. They're like, okay, they're doing all right.
Once they prove they do well, boom will bring in
(29:51):
a bunch of money. And so it's really interesting, Steph,
because we're seeing this two point two billion media deal.
And that's because since the WNBA has been able to
prove fandom, it's been able to prove revenue potential, it's
been able to prove profit potential. Before that, it was
all potential. And when the NBA was in there, that
(30:14):
before that stage, it was like it's okay, they're still learning.
It's okay, they're still learning.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
We're still gonna throw money at it.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
And so I think that there's just this total misconception
of comparing the WNBA to the NBA all the time,
but also comparing them at wrong points in time. If
you actually look at the NBA at the same time
that we're looking at the WNBA, the WNBA.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Is actually performing better.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
And I think that that's a huge thing that people
are just not wrapping their heads around. And you know,
there's financial literacy around this, there's social media literacy around this.
I think that we are in a little bit of
an epidemic when it comes to both of those, especially
across North America. And so there's going to be a
bunch of trolls that just don't understand it. But we
(30:57):
can't allow those loud few to take over the zeitgeist
and take over the conversation because they're just totally wrong.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
But they're still going to be men who you could
tell all of this too, You could explain the financials
of both the NBA and the WNBA and the history
of both of those leagues, and they are still going
to make stupid comments on Instagram because this is how
they feel they can maintain social control. This is how
(31:27):
they feel they can maintain power in a society. Where
they are seeing women advance. And there are so many
people in this world that think if someone else gains access,
then that means that they're losing a piece of the pie.
And that is not what happens here. Is we are
all saying we deserve what we are owed, and that
is what the women in the WNBA are saying. So
(31:50):
there's always going to be people who just simply are
not going to listen because they are not engaging in
good faith, because they have no intention of doing that.
And those are the people that you have to ignore.
And I think in person, it's so much easier to
have these conversations where you can look eye to eye
with someone, and it's so easy online to just start
fires and then walk away and to push people's buttons.
(32:13):
And I was listening to Megan Rappino and Sue Bird's
interview with Caitlin Clark that they did at All Star Weekend,
and they did briefly talk about this. I think Megan
Rapino says something like, I've only ever had two people
come up to my face and say something negative to
me my whole life. But think about the amount of
hate that that woman has received online. And so you
have to think about that proportionately in terms of what
(32:34):
people are actually willing to say to your face versus online,
and you have to understand that that is where they're
getting their sense of control from.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
And I think that's the perfect end to this podcast. Step,
thank you so much for that lecture, and I think
that case and Vendor studies. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
I learned in yours in business.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
I learned to love you.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
I always learned so much from you.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
I love you.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
This marks the end of today's episode, so thank you
so much everybody for tuning in. We will be back
in your feed with a new podcast on Thursday. In
the meantime. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, subscribe,
send us a DM a voicemail and email be a
part of the actual podcast. We would very much show
love to have you here with us. Wow to have
your voice included.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
This episode was edited by Savannah Held and produced by
Lisa Minatillo, Mollie Potter, Arianna Pisad, and Alexandra Puccio.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Again, I'm Ellen Hsslap. I'll be back with a good
bike on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
I'm so frad We will be here soon, so leave
us a voicemail Please love you bye,
Hello, Hello jessirs, welcome or welcome back to another episode
of the Gist of It. Today's Tuesday, July twenty second,
and we're your co hosts. I'm Steph Rotz.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
And I'm Ellena Hyslab, and I am apologizing in advance.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
We have been running into so many technical issues on
my side of things from today.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I couldn't get my microphone to work, I headphones to work,
my internet to work, and it's just been a calamity.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And so we're doing our best.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
But if I don't sound as clean and it's christ today,
it's because when I was traveling with the microphone to
WNBA All Star, I must have ruined it somehow.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Oh, I've been there. This isn't my first microphone.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Remember, Oh, that makes me actually feel so much better.
How quick did the second when we got you.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Arrive pretty fast? I think, Well, No, I picked this
up from Robin so the TLD y'all did another podcast,
and there's another member of the team who lives in Toronto.
I picked it up from her so I could get
it same day because mine wasn't working because I moved
with it and it must have just banged around even
(01:12):
though I tried really hard not to. It just wasn't
working with me. So sometimes technology works with you, it
works against you. But today, just know, folks, Ellen's audio
is temporary. She will be back and thriving and you
will hear that lovely Chris voice that you longed to
hear every Tuesday and Thursday. So don't worry.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I'm so sorry everyone. It's been five years with the
same mic, so it had a really good run. It
just chose a horrible time to do it. But there's
so many amazing things that we have to talk about today.
The mic is the only bad part.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Because we're absolutely vibrating because, of course Ellen just said
she came back from WNBA All Star Weekend. I of
course was watching from my couch just in awe of
all the amazing festivities that were happening and just such
a It was such an amazing All Star weekend and
we do need to talk about it. So we're going
to talk about Ellen's experiences. We're going to explore why
(02:04):
this year's WNBA also our weekend, felt like a cultural
turning point for the league. And then we're going to
explain for y'all what the heck stud buds is, and
we're going to break down the true meaning behind the
players pay us what you owe us t shirts because
we need to squash some misconceptions that are circulating online
regarding those T shirts. So we do need to talk
(02:25):
about it.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
We need to get into all of it.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
It was such a fun weekend and stud Buds really
popped off, and I messaged in the slack I said,
we need to explain stud Buds for the straits and
for the people who aren't perpetually online. And so if
you fall into either of those categories, this podcast in
particular as it comes to stud Buds is for you. Ugh.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
I was texting you all weekend because I knew you
were there and I was so jealous of everything that
was happening. And I feel like that was one of
the things that I texted you, was I am living
for stud Buds.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Yes, So we're going to get into all of that.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And then Steph also Rage texted me after her soccer game,
which I also really appreciate.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I know when you're.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Playing a sport because late at night on a Sunday,
whether it's hockey or soccer, I get meaning a rundown
of how you're feeling when things are going bad, or.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
When things could be going better, or when things are
going great.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
So basically all of my emotions share with Ella in
his love field.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
If you're only your extreme emotions, only your extreme emotions,
are you sharing with me?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Which is great.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
But before we get into all of this, I do
want to call an audible and we have it kind
of mapped out a little bit, but I'm truly calling
an audible, Steph, I want to talk about something totally different,
and if you want to talk about what we kind
of planned on, you can, But I wanted to talk
about Scotty Shuffler, world number one golfer, winning the Open
over the weekend. This is I think, really cementing him
(03:53):
as one of the greatest golfers of all time. The
Open is one of men's golfs for majors. Scotty Scheffler
is a young American lad and he has won the Olympics,
the Masters, the US Open, PGA Championship.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I think he's.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Close to a Grand Slam, if not a career Grand Slam.
If not, he might have a career Grand Slam. With this.
I'm not sure I'm really going off the cuff here.
So you need to fact check me. But I think
one of the coolest things that Scotty did, Steph, I
want to say, four or five days before the Open
was have a press conference basically talking about a fulfilling
life and his accomplishments. And he was so real about
(04:32):
like when he wins a tournament, he goes it's amazing
for those three minutes, and I feel jubilation for those
three minutes. But then I go home and life continues
and it goes on, and that's just kind of what happens.
It's not necessarily that golf or pro sports and being
successful is giving him that fulfilling life. It's other things
(04:52):
that fill up his cup. And it actually reminded me.
I think Scotty was coming at it from a very
positive perspective and talking about his family and talk talking
about just being mature, and I think you can only
do that when you're as good as Scotti Shuffler. But
it also reminded me, Steph. And you'll have to remind me.
Did you hate watch the Aaron Rodgers docuseries?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Did you end up watching it?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I didn't. I know. This is probably the fifth time
you have brought it up on the pod.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It's okay. No, no, it's totally okay. But it reminded
me a little bit of Aaron Rodgers. But I think
Aaron Rodgers kind of maybe took it in a different
way and still kind of had some ego around it.
But he was basically like, he won the Super Bowl
early on in his career, and he thought that everything
would change, and it did from a fame perspective, but
(05:39):
it really didn't from a happiness perspective and from a
pure utility perspective. And I think that that's really what
Scotty was getting at, and it made me I don't know,
I think that it just gave some perspective on sports
and humility in sports, and so I found it really
interesting that he had this conference. He was talking about
what actually matters in life, what actually fulfills him, and
(06:00):
that he loves his accomplishments and he loves the privilege
of getting to play golf, but what matters at the
end of the day, at the end of the day
is not winning tournaments.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Was it you who posted a Nike ad on your story, Yes,
of a golfer with a baby and that Scheffler. Okay,
so that was that Okay, that was a really good ad.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It was an amazing ad, and basically on that Nike ad,
I think it said Steph like priorities didn't change, yes,
and his was his family. I famously have turned off
the Wi Fi on my phone so that we're recording
the podcast without my wife, so I can't.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Look it up.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
But if you go onto Nike's page, or if you
go onto Scottie Scheffler's page or think that you could
see it. And I just thought that that was brilliant marketing.
So yeah, I just want to have that men's sports
moment because I thought that it was a nice mental
health moment as well.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
It's also really nice to have that come from a man.
I think too, because oh I saw this one TikTok
today and it said something along the lines of women's
job is to make their success look easy and men's
job is to make their success look hard. And I
think it's really interesting to think about it in that way.
And then to also have men prioritize work life balance
(07:09):
and prioritize family is such a pivotal moment I think
for us culturally to have someone that's so successful also
talk about what it's like outside of his sport. And
I think because you just don't get that often. So
that's really wholesome and I really appreciate you calling that audible.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, and one last thing step on that note too,
he was kind of just talking about I'm only able
to golf because his wife is at home and she's
doing what she needs to do so that he can
play golf. And he said in that press conference too,
the minute golf started impacting his family life, he would
stop playing golf. And again, he has the privilege of
winning to out the money and being a millionaire and whatever.
(07:48):
But I think to your point, we have never well
not that I remember. I don't remember any other male
professional person at his height ever say those things.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Oh perfect, Thank you so much for that. And you
know what, thanks Amelian to our pals at BIMO for
sponsoring this episode of the gist of it the MLS.
So we're talking soccer now. The MLS All Star Game
is tomorrow, featuring some of the best and brightest stars
from the league's thirty teams. And guess what, BEMO sponsors
(08:21):
four of those squads, LAFC and the three Canadian teams
Toronto FC, C F Montreal and Vancouver y Ceps FC.
When you're cheering on your favorite footballer tomorrow, you can
thank Bimo, the bank that's been growing soccer in North
America for almost twenty years. Learn more at our Soccer
help desk found at the link in the show notes.
(08:42):
Again to learn more, go to the Soccer help dust
link in our show notes. The WNBA All Star Weekend
is officially done. It's officially dusted and you they didn't
have to be there physically like Ellen has slept to
(09:02):
know that it was an actual vibe. There was just
something special about this past weekend. Something about it felt different.
It wasn't just basketball. It was a truly cultural crossover,
celebrating fashion, fandom and hoop dreams. Really, I think, in
my opinion, expose how multifaceted these players are and really
(09:24):
gave us a glimpse into so many of their personalities
and their interpersonal relationships and how they interact off the court,
which was my favorite part because I'm all about the storyline.
So for today's One Big Story, we're rehashing the best
moments from the weekend, from the iconic shoe phone and
the viral stud buds to the shirt that broke the Internet.
It's just so exciting time to be alive.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
There are so many moments that I feel like in
producing this podcast, our producers were like, what should we choose?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
What should we pick?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
What have you?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
There were so many amazing moments.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I think Asia Wilson at the Skills competition holding up
to shoe and everyone.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Was kind of like, what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
But it was actually a camera and she was taking
inspiration from Shacks two thousand and six shoecam moment.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
If anyone knows that I love that so much.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I think my favorite well, actually I have two favorite
things of the weekend, and both of them have to
have with Pagebeckers.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I think the first one was.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Wag Talk just fully saying out loud or fully getting
page backers out loud to hard launch on social media,
which I thought was amazing. And then the second thing, though,
that I really enjoyed was Angel Reese and Pagebeckers TikTok
collab dance and when Page kind of snuck in from
behind Angel Reese and you didn't expect that to happen.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I love that combination.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
So those two things just made me really happy over
the weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Can I share my favorite moment that's not including the
stud buds because we're going to get to that, so
outside of the studbuds, my favorite was when New York
Liberty and Attached to Cloud won the skills competition and
after as she has the trophy and she's got the mic,
she shouts out her girlfriend and says that they can
now put a down payment on the house. And to me,
(11:07):
I shrieked. I kicked my feet. It was such a
a rom calm moment for me and really shows how
impactful that money would be for WNBA player. That's a
down payment, baby.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
That's a down payment, and I want to say stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I think that was thanks to a flack for them
actually increasing the prize money, and so it was really
cool seeing the brand also interact and say like, oh
my gosh, we didn't realize what type of impact this
would have, which is really cool to see that the
brands are stepping up and seeing their impact more.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
There was a lot of really cool brand activations and
representation from heads of the brands throughout the weekend too,
and so we clock those as fans. We see you,
we know where you are, so thank.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
You and we remember you and we use you when
you're supporting female fans or women's sports.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
But what we do have to talk about me and
I think this was true.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Our favorite thing from the weekend was stud Buds, two
women with pink hair.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
That were bopping around the entire weekend.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
So in case you missed it earlier this season, a
little bit on the download to start, I would say
Minnesota Lynk's friends and teammates Courtney Williams and Natisha Hydeman
launched a Twitch account called stud Buds and they were
recognizable all weekend because they dyed their hair pink ala.
(12:31):
I don't think it was because of Megan Fippino, but
I think that it was like the pink hair always
reminds me of Fipino, But I love that they were
just pink and they were.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
So easily found.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
And the coolest thing stef was that they live streamed
literally every single moment. I think it was seventy two
hours two hours right during the WNBA All Star weekend,
and they were streaming on Twitch for the most part,
but then they also were on Instagram posting a ton
of things, and the type of content that they captured
(13:02):
I think had so many people gasping because it was
behind the scenes things that none of us, as fans
or media members would ever have the opportunities to see,
but obviously the things that all of us desperately want
to know and see.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
We got to see the commissioner of the WNBA dancing
at a party. We got to see Courtney Williams request
a song change from Diplos spinning and Sports Illustrators All
Star after party, which.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I got there. You were there. I was there, but
I went to bed early.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Ellen.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
It was so late, man like, it was twelve thirty
one o'clock.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Still nothing was happening, and I said, I gotta go
to bed.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
I'm too old for this. And then I saw the
footage later and I said, what's wrong with me? Truly,
what's wrong with me? Why wasn't I there? I regret
that moment? So bad?
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
That is so fun? Where else did you ever? Did
you see them live streaming at all this weekend? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I mean, I'm fortunate to be in a lot of
rooms with a lot of these players, So I hope,
you know, getting to have lunches and be in the
same rooms with Breonna Stewart or Asia Wilson or Kevin Durant,
Neco Guombuquay, Skyler Dickens, like I got to be in
the room with all of them and meet them in
some cases, shake their hands, say thank you, especially with
(14:25):
Stewie because she's been on the podcast for so much
and we've been working with her on a partnership with Corona,
and so it was great to be able to also
meet some of them too and be in the same spaces.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
It was just so exciting as a fan to just
see so many of them have authentic moments and to
see players helping teammates out and stuff. You know, one
of my favorites was someone grabbing Kaylen Clark's drink and
taking it off the frame. Someone'ld say she's playing defetse
for her. There's just it was such an organic moment,
and it really shows how you really need to center
(15:02):
these women in the league, and you really need to
have them at the forefront of all of these conversations
and at the media, because the league has in the
past been criticized for not centering queer women of color
in campaigns and in media, and stud Buzz really proves
why you you you really shouldn't be doing that.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
You got.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
You gotta put these women fronts center. They have so
much life. They are the party.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Yeah, it was. It was really great to see.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I mean actually covered this in our sports business newsletter
stuff because to me, us talking about the WNBA also
being a cultural moment, I think is also talking about
it being a cultural shift. And I think this cultural
shift is two folds in the sense that the WNBA
is as a league over the last couple of years,
has finally been leaning into its queerness, that it's been
(15:50):
built by black women, and has also really been leaning
into the personality of its players, which beforehand, when we
think about the WNBA, in those early days, we saw
people like Subird and Diana Tarassi, both Mary Kay women
wearing dresses and having their hair down and having their
hair straight and had to look a certain kind of
(16:10):
buttoned up way. And now that's just not the case.
And then I think also from a business perspective too, right, stuff,
We're seeing this growth of influencers, We're seeing this growth
of community. We're seeing this growth of people really leaning
into and finding their niche. And I think with stud buds,
when you look at Haydman and when you look at Williams.
It's not like they're the most popular players in the league.
(16:33):
It's not like they're getting all of the brand deals
or the brand partnerships, but they are probably some of
the best personalities in the league. And so them basically
taking things into their own hands and saying, you know what,
we're funny, we think this is what an audience would like.
We have no holds bars. We're totally open to showing
all of this. I think is also leaning into this
(16:53):
digital moment that we're having as fans and that sometimes
we care more about what's happening off the col or
what happens off the court. Wants us to see what
could go down on the court. And I think there's
going to be a lot more Minnesota Links fans because
of these two just being themselves. And why it works
is because they're so authentically themselves.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Their Instagram now has seventy two thousand followers, and their
Twitch account, which is where they were live streaming, has
sixty eight point nine thousand.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And I do want to say I think that I
followed them on Friday and it had thirty four point
one thousand followers on Instagram on Friday, So it has
doubled since Friday when I followed them, and so just
imagine where this could go, especially because the Links are
such a great team too. We're in the second half
of the season, Like, there's so much opportunity for this,
(17:48):
and I think so much opportunity for people to learn
about the great culture that the WBA.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Has and the numbers don't lie. And I think that's
a perfect segue into the next part of the podcast,
which is us talking about the pay us with u
OS T shirt so that the players were wearing. This
was an absolute mic drop moment. This is just a
pivotal moment in the weekend. Players came out ahead of
the All Star Game for warm up wearing pay us
(18:14):
what UoS T shirts, so quite literally it said that
on the T shirt and it was such a unifying
moment for the game and really shows and it was
a reflection of that camaraderie that we were seeing throughout
the weekend on that Twitch link.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
A lot of camaraderie on the twitch stream.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Oh it was so good. Guys. You guys, if you
haven't watched some of it, you have to promise me
you will become an instant fan. AnyWho, But the weekend
is supposed to be fun, but of course it was
also business, right.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
It was also business, And I do I want to
talk about one thing with this unity of a direct
reflection of camaraderie. So the players, of course all agreed
to wear those pay us what UoS T shirts. This
is in relation to their ongoing clutch of bargain agreement
discussions with the league. We've talked about it in Ignausiam
and we're going to do it in a little bit here.
(19:06):
One thing, Steph, And I'm not sure if you saw this,
but and you're going to say, okay. The postgame press conference,
Kelsey Plum, now of the LA Sparks was kind of
making equip and I think she was trying to make
it lighthearted somehow, basically saying that the team met up
before the game and all agreed to wear the T shirts.
(19:28):
And when she said the team, she meant team the
FISA Collier And then she said notably, not everyone was
there active from team Caitlyn Clark, and she was sitting
beside Sab like sabrinay Nescu, and I think she was
trying to like jab at Sab for maybe not being
there or maybe their team wasn't there. But I found
that to be a really interesting SoundBite and a SoundBite
(19:50):
that I don't personally love, Like I just feel like
that's completely unnecessary because it could show that there A
isn't unity.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
B she's trying to throw players under the.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Bus or see saying something that just like, just because
they weren't there, doesn't mean that they didn't want to
wear the T shirts. Like clearly they all wore the
T shirts. So what is the point of that comment?
That kind of threw me for a whirl.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
That it felt really pointless to me. I was someone
flagged it to me and I said, what do you mean?
And I went and looked up and it just was
really really awkward. And I am happy that Sab did
say like there's no point in talking about that, or
something along the lines of yeah, let's let's move on,
or that's not necessarily true. I can't remember what she said,
(20:34):
but she did definitely did react in that moment, and
to me, that is that's what you do. It's just
shut shut that down, move on another trade of thought.
Because I don't know why she was going on Tanga.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
It wasn't funny, It felt a little off the cuff.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
And I think in all of this kind of why
I wanted to bring it up Steph is as we're
going through the misconceptions that we're also going to be
talking about in our personal training SASH. These women are united,
they are all wearing those T shirts, they are all
looking to get paid more, they are all looking for
the CBA to improve, and so I think that that's
what we want to be talking about today, regardless of
(21:08):
one probably SoundBite that shouldn't have been said.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And the teachers did say pay us what you owe us.
They didn't say. There's been a couple edits online with
pacing over and writing different things. That is not what
it said. This is what they said. So don't believe
everything that you see on the internet. I do need
to say that as well. Ye, speaking of misconceptions. But yeah,
we mentioned it before, let's mention it again. The league
(21:34):
and the Players Association did actually meet for an in
person meeting at the All Star weekend, and that was
their first face to face meeting since last December, and
now we know so the news. The new part of
that is a record breaking number of players, which was
more than forty came to the table in that particular meeting,
and that just shows how educated, how passioned, how like
(21:54):
they are there they want to participate in this and
really push for a CBA that better where the league
is currently at financially, I think Steph.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
At the same time, unfortunately, those T shirts show that
there's still a big gap. And also unfortunately New York
Liberty superstar Stewie, who we just talked about, Brandon Stewart
said as she called the meeting a wasted opportunity. And
I think those things just show that they're not even
remotely close to each other when it comes to salary
(22:25):
and rev share.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Probably Yeah, someone did say in response to the Katy
Angelbart dancing video of her dancing with the players, is
I see you trying to you know, Manoamano with the
players up until in negotiation? I clock you.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, It's so tough on a weekend like that, right, Like, yeah,
there is still so much to celebrate, There is still
so much going on from the league perspective, from the
player perspective.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
We again, we will.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Never know fully the numbers. We do not see the
balance sheets, we do not see the income statement, and
it's like there is I hope rationaleand reasoning, because again
in twenty twenty, like the CBA was something that they
all wanted, and they all wanted to move in that
right direction. The NWSL and their CBA, they all wanted
things to move in that right direction. I do think
that the league wants to try to move in the
(23:16):
right place, but I think that there's probably a mixed
mismatch in like the length of how far things can
go or how things can be pushed.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And it wasn't all bad news from this weekend. They
reportedly did make progress surrounding family planning and retirement benefits.
That was obviously a focal point of the player's goals
and the next CBA, so there has been movement on that.
But going off of the T shirts, it's probably the
salary that they're not seeing eyed on out. That's just
(23:48):
my extrapolation, and.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Like tied tied to the salary is the prioritization rule.
So it's basically saying they want the athletes to prioritize
the WNBA ahead of any other league that they play in,
so enrive a European leagues. And I think that's really
hard if they're not getting paid what they want to
be getting paid when some of those other leagues are
also paying them well, in some cases better, and so
(24:13):
I think that's the hard part here, but it's glad
to see. We're super happy to see some benefits. I
think the hard part stuff is that the players are
willing to walk out. But it was really interesting. I
was listening to a panel with Asia Wilson and she
was basically saying, like, yeah, Unrivaled is so good because
the WNBA season is so short that in the off
(24:33):
season we can kind of lose attention, and as female athletes,
you never want to be losing attention from your audience
or your brands. So it's so great to have all
of these other leagues. But at the same time, when
you think about a lockout or when you think about
a strike or something like that, you could also potentially
see that impacting the athletes negatively, also from a brand perspective.
(24:57):
So it's just it's a really tricky one.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
No one wants to strike. Ever, that's to think that
that's what people want ever in a negotiation, it's just
not true. People want to make strides. And it is
interesting the fans are on their side. They chanted pay
them at the end of the All Star Game, which
did feel reminiscent of the US women's national soccer team
(25:25):
when they were going through their fair pay, Equal Pay battle,
which is obviously different than this, but in the same
field house if you will, talking about the gage bag
field house a.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
When I was like, I don't think that's saying so
thank you so much for connecting the dogs.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
There, because that was what did they They said, the
fans chanted equal pay, equal pay, right, Yeah, yeah, so
the fans are again behind the athletes. Here it's time
(26:03):
for our personal training SASH. This is where we'll answer
your hard hitting questions about anything, and we mean anything
in the sports world. And if you'd like to be
featured on a future episode, you can call us, leave
us a voicemail at one four three seven five six
four five five seven nine. That number will be in
the show notes. You can just hold down on it
and use that to call us, or if you'd rather
(26:24):
not listen to your own voice because relatable content, you
can email us at pod at the Just sports dot
com or message us dm us on Instagram. Ellen is
at Ellen at the gist. I am at Stephanie Rott's
my full name. Unfortunately, so those are your options, call
email or dm us. And in today's Personal Training Sash,
(26:45):
we are taking a question from Ainsley in Toronto. Shout
out to TEO.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
So here we go, Hi, Allen high Steph. It's Ainsley
calling from Toronto of the pod by the way, But
quick question with the WB All Star weekend over the
weekend and them showing up to warm up to the
game wearing pays but Uola shirts so iconic. But it's
(27:09):
posted on the page like that gist gets great positive comments,
but then it's posted on other sports instagrams like TSN,
ESPN and the comments section ain't it People, probably mostly men,
don't understand the significance of it. But why do you
think that is? Why are men hating as a w
(27:30):
NBA so bad?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Can I get my TLDR answer first?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Sell it please?
Speaker 1 (27:37):
My TLDR answer is men don't actually like women because
we've been socialized in this patriarchal, misogynistic culture. We get
this because men don't fully humanize women and don't see
them as equals as people, And that is the TLDRS.
Men don't actually like women.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
And what would be your long format.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Is all is unpacking that you know what I mean,
So okay. So there's the misinformation part of it. There's
the assuming that the players think that they need to
be paid equally to what the NBA is played. There's
the misconception on the history of the NBA in terms
of how long it took for them to be profitable.
There's the lack of information in terms of how many
NBA teams actually are not profitable in current day after
(28:25):
the league's already been operating for fifty years. So there's
just all of these misconceptions about how they inherently value
men and they do not value women, and how that
impacts their interaction with a purely women's league.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Drop that, Mic, Steph. Sorry, I agree, and I thank
them for me.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
I can almost speak to this from a business perspective too. Please,
When we look at venture capital and people investing in women,
of all venture capital money, it's only two percent that
goes to do female founded businesses or women owned businesses,
even though women are starting businesses every single day.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
We get way less funding.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
And we know because studies have shown that women only
get invested in when they have their resume and they
prove what they can versus men get promoted or sorry,
Women get promoted rather when they have their resume, they've
shown what they could do, then they get that promotion.
Men get promoted based off of potential. And so it's
the same kind of thing here, Steph, where when you
(29:30):
actually dig into the numbers and when you look at
the NBA, the NBA was always invested in and the
NBA continued to do well because people kept on investing
in it because they were like, there's so much potential
and men's basketball is doing so well versus the WMBA
being a women's league. They're like, okay, they're doing all right.
Once they prove they do well, boom will bring in
(29:51):
a bunch of money. And so it's really interesting, Steph,
because we're seeing this two point two billion media deal.
And that's because since the WNBA has been able to
prove fandom, it's been able to prove revenue potential, it's
been able to prove profit potential. Before that, it was
all potential. And when the NBA was in there, that
(30:14):
before that stage, it was like it's okay, they're still learning.
It's okay, they're still learning.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
We're still gonna throw money at it.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
And so I think that there's just this total misconception
of comparing the WNBA to the NBA all the time,
but also comparing them at wrong points in time. If
you actually look at the NBA at the same time
that we're looking at the WNBA, the WNBA.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Is actually performing better.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
And I think that that's a huge thing that people
are just not wrapping their heads around. And you know,
there's financial literacy around this, there's social media literacy around this.
I think that we are in a little bit of
an epidemic when it comes to both of those, especially
across North America. And so there's going to be a
bunch of trolls that just don't understand it. But we
(30:57):
can't allow those loud few to take over the zeitgeist
and take over the conversation because they're just totally wrong.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
But they're still going to be men who you could
tell all of this too, You could explain the financials
of both the NBA and the WNBA and the history
of both of those leagues, and they are still going
to make stupid comments on Instagram because this is how
they feel they can maintain social control. This is how
(31:27):
they feel they can maintain power in a society. Where
they are seeing women advance. And there are so many
people in this world that think if someone else gains access,
then that means that they're losing a piece of the pie.
And that is not what happens here. Is we are
all saying we deserve what we are owed, and that
is what the women in the WNBA are saying. So
(31:50):
there's always going to be people who just simply are
not going to listen because they are not engaging in
good faith, because they have no intention of doing that.
And those are the people that you have to ignore.
And I think in person, it's so much easier to
have these conversations where you can look eye to eye
with someone, and it's so easy online to just start
fires and then walk away and to push people's buttons.
(32:13):
And I was listening to Megan Rappino and Sue Bird's
interview with Caitlin Clark that they did at All Star Weekend,
and they did briefly talk about this. I think Megan
Rapino says something like, I've only ever had two people
come up to my face and say something negative to
me my whole life. But think about the amount of
hate that that woman has received online. And so you
have to think about that proportionately in terms of what
(32:34):
people are actually willing to say to your face versus online,
and you have to understand that that is where they're
getting their sense of control from.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
And I think that's the perfect end to this podcast. Step,
thank you so much for that lecture, and I think
that case and Vendor studies. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
I learned in yours in business.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
I learned to love you.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
I always learned so much from you.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
I love you.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
This marks the end of today's episode, so thank you
so much everybody for tuning in. We will be back
in your feed with a new podcast on Thursday. In
the meantime. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, subscribe,
send us a DM a voicemail and email be a
part of the actual podcast. We would very much show
love to have you here with us. Wow to have
your voice included.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
This episode was edited by Savannah Held and produced by
Lisa Minatillo, Mollie Potter, Arianna Pisad, and Alexandra Puccio.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Again, I'm Ellen Hsslap. I'll be back with a good
bike on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
I'm so frad We will be here soon, so leave
us a voicemail Please love you bye,
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