The Fanatics 5-18-25: Reese vs. Clark saga continues

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Uh so before the break goes kind of telling, and
of course they's showing a baby kid trying to climb
the tree Jesus towards the snake. What are we doing, people,
what are we doing? We're not We're not living life, right.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
So w n b A.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
The The season launched yesterday, and of course we had,
uh the I think it's the Fever versus the Sky, Yes, right,
of course we all know this as Caitlin Clark versus
Angel Reese, also known as magic Bird. Hold on, it
could be. I don't know it's magic bird esque. Oh

(00:41):
you'll get che Sga esque. No, Robert, those guys, here's
here's my problem. Yesterday obviously, good lord they ty They
are literally showing this snake that's like eight foot long
on this you know tree, and I'm like, why why
are we doing this?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
I didn't know snakes could climb trees and I hate
snakes that tear even more.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, mount Yeah, they also like make sure like in
your toilets tonight that you don't see a snake that's
happened to me in my life. Indy and a Fever
beat the Chicago Sky yesterday, ninety three to fifty eight
Now that's not the tail of the tape. Kaitlyn Clark
did a common foul on Angel Reeves, who flopped, and
of course Angel Rees hopped up and you know, got

(01:22):
into Caitlin Clark's face, and then you know, the rest
were like, hold on, we're gonna upgrade this to a
flagrant even though it was a common foul. No big
deal from Kaitlyn Clark's camp and of course Angel Reese's
camp saying that Kaitlyn Clark is crazy, she's this and
that of course, what does this do for the WNBA.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
You've got ratings through the roof.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Now it was a common foul, Like, they need to
look at this, The league needs to look at this
and take it back down to a common foul because
what happened is and coaches and players, what do we
always tell you play to the whistle, right, and the
Fever weren't playing to the whistle. They felt like there

(02:03):
was a you know, a foul, a push in the
back which was kind of a flop. But then what
happened is is that obviously the whistle wasn't blown. Kaylin
Clark saw that Angel Rees was gonna get a free
lay up, which she probably would have missed, but she
goes across and just slaps her on the arm and
make sure that she doesn't do it. Yeah, so she

(02:23):
can make free throws because at that point, do you
want to give him a layup or do you want
to do a free throw?

Speaker 3 (02:28):
You always shoot for the free throw, especially because Angel
Reese is not a great a free throw shooter.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Angel Rees needs to cal him down. That's what she
needs to do.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Okay, because I'm gonna tell her very straightforward. Kaylen Clark
is the WNBA, all right. She outscored you yesterday. Her
team beat you yesterday. Because after that it was a
close game, okay, but after that it just fell apart.
For the sky, it fell apart and it was ninety

(02:57):
three to fifty eight. Kaitlin not only beats you on
the court, she beats you up in your head too.
She's mentally tough. And Angel Reese, you got a lot
of work to do. Somebody corrects me if I'm wrong,
but I'm tired of the talk I.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Think with Angel Rees, and I might be a law
off based here.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
She remember last year, whenever Kaitlin Clark was coming out,
it was the highest viewed season that w NBA by
far and came out I know, but in Kaitlin Clark's effect,
in the Kaitlin Clark effect, a lot of the vets,
a lot of the high powered vets. We're talking about
how like the game has always been here, She's not
the only reason people are watching. And there was a
hint of let's just call it what it was they

(03:34):
called it was a hit of jealousy around the attention
that she was getting and that she was bringing to
the league with Angel Reese. She is never in her
career and I might be wrong, but she's never in
her career gonna not be attached in some way to
Kaitlin Clark. Kaitlyn Clark doesn't have to necessarily attached to
Angel Reese and and with Angel rees when it comes
to this, I don't know if I don't know if
it's a stretcher, but it feels like she has a

(03:55):
problem with accountability for herself because every time she does
one thing, she gets check and then and then runs
away from it. Last week during the press conference, during
the Introucti press conference, a reporter asked her if, looking
back a year ago, you talked about how the NBA
or the w NBA is viewed highly because of not
just her, because of you. She cut their porter off
and said, next question, oh yeah, that was all because

(04:18):
you started that conversation. She has talked about how the
media does this to her, but then she does similar
stuff for herself, but as soon as someone criticizes her
for it, all of a sudden, there's an issue beyond that.
So my thing with with Angel Reese has never been
about her as a player. She's a good player. Obviously,
there's there's foster her game, but she's a good player.
But her thing has always been more vocalization as opposed
to on the court performance right, and and and the

(04:40):
lack of accountability behind it.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
And what I take away from sorry, just real quick,
what I take away from this Caitlin Clark off season
is she's a beast.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
She actually had an off season. You know.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
Last year she didn't really have an off season. She
was in the Final four, she gets strapped and then bam,
you're playing in the w NBA. This year, she had
an office season, you know. And it's scary because dude,
she got some muscles, like she got she got bigger,
you know, and she's gonna be more aggressive because last
year she was getting it wasn't only Angel Reese that

(05:14):
was going after her. You know she I'll say it
right now, she put Diana Tarossi in retirement.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Well, Diyan Taras is a probably gonna retire.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
I said it because Tarassi was giving her crap last year.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
You know, Oh, she's nothing. Wait till she gets to WNBA.
I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
What And considering that she was an All star and
this was like a month and a half after the
after the college season ends. Remember the collegeason ends. A
month later there's a WABA draft, and then a month
later the start of the season. She had like a
two month period of no basketball and then had to
go right back to it. The fact that she pretty
much was didn'tally shown much signs of rush. She was
still a very active shooter on the outside. Obviously we
knew the Fever weren't going to do much. They had

(05:50):
a Leah Boston that was it, and now they're building
towards something with this franchise.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Ty, what what are your takeaways from this flagrant foul?
Is it over reaction?

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Is it?

Speaker 4 (06:00):
Is it just what the w n b A needs?
One hundred percent over reaction? It is also what the
w n b A needs and w n b A
needs visibility. Truth be told. Yes, they're expanding, which is great,
so that means there's growth. The arenas are full. The
arenas are full. They're more highlight on players that typically wouldn't. Uh,
the previous MVP, I believe just got a Jordan Brand

(06:22):
deal this week. And this goes to show I can't
tell you who the previous MVP's name is off the
top of my head.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
From the Vegas it was Asia Wilson.

Speaker 5 (06:32):
Asia Wilson's gotta get her on NIKH which NBA players.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Agent wan of three years in a row.

Speaker 5 (06:38):
So maybe not MVP, but uh maybe leading score. What
was her name?

Speaker 3 (06:41):
I feel so bad we came into the semon when
the visa win. The visa caller, I love throwing you
guys off for a loose No, it's okay. Twenty twenty
four w n b A V m v P was
Asia Wilson, That's what I thought.

Speaker 4 (06:52):
Yeah so again, Oh yeah, so it wasn't a FIA
that that just signed a Jordan Brand deal. Sorry, because
rand Strut was the final MVP. Yeah so, but so
I think the FEATIA was leading scorer. But Nafi should
just signed a Jordan Brand deal. So that's big, right, yeah,
and go ahead.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
Sorry, But you know what's also big for the w
nb A is them this past season in the in
the NBA All Star Game, pulling out of that whole
three point contest thing.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
I think that was huge for them.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
I think that was a chess move by them, saying, hey,
we don't need to latch onto you guys.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
That much w n b A to me is exciting.
I'm not gonna lie.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Like when it first came out, I was like, you know,
but now the way that they branded, I mean there's cards,
there's you know, you have these collectible rookie cards you have.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
I mean it's fair play, you know.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
And to see these arenas sold out a huge, huge
to where the w NBA is going. But I can
tell you this, you better start paying them more. You
better increase the salaries. I gotta ask I gotta ask
you all this real quick.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
And I'll start with you because I think I think
you might have that you might you and I might
be on the same page with this. When it comes
to major reis and Kayla Clark, I just said that
Kaitlin Clark doesn't have to have her legacy attached to
Angel rees But does Angel Reese not not up to
this point in her career, is she not almost inevitably
attached to Kyla Clark in every single way?

Speaker 4 (08:13):
Yeah, and I'm sure that's infuriating. And every batman needs this.
Robin the is Jo he's a joker. Yeah, but say
there there is no in sports, there's no way you
achieve greatness without without a villain on the other end. Yes,
And that's just the way two nice guys that go
at That's just the way sports go, you know, Brady Manning, Yes,

(08:34):
you know that there's always Verse and Tiger Phil.

Speaker 5 (08:38):
I mean it goes beyond the game of basketball, football, golf.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Soto against the Yankees. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Aaron judge on him, didn't they? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (08:47):
Yeah, So I mean that that's just the way the
game goes.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
She just needs to accept it.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
She needs to accept it because at the same time
that that's the biggest key if if Angel Reeves could
just turn there and be mature about it, because Clark
doesn't really acknowledge the fact of Angel and I think
for Angel that bothers her. That It's almost like when
you have an ex girlfriend and you don't talk about her,
but your ex girlfriend's out there posting everything they can

(09:14):
to get you to try to understand who they.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Are, and you've already blocked her, yes, and you've blocked her,
and you.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
Probably haven't even blocked her on your social media. You're like, yeah,
watch me grow, and you're just and they sit there
and they look at your everything that's going on. And
that's what Angel Rees is now. When Angel Reaves can
accept the fact that for the Sky she's the number
one player, not for the WNBA yet, now she's got
to do something right. The Sky have got and they

(09:41):
have potential because they had a good draft as well.
But Indiana right now, the over under on them to
win as much games and it'd be one of the
biggest flips in WNBA history is thirty one games.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
It would be what the Pistons did this past season
to get with it.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
It would be and the thirty two wins happened to
the New York Liberty last year they won the championships.
This is a big flip for Indiana, you know, And
so the WNBA, to me, we just used a whole
segment on it fellas and it's relevant.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
And let's think about it because if you look at
the Fever right now, for like, until Kayln Clark got there,
the face of that franchise, the franchise that was a
bad one was Aliah Boston, who was a good player,
came out South Carolina and that was about it. Team
and her up with Kaitlin Clarke gives you the option
up top and download that a lot of people are
And this is obviously very early. I've already heard comparisons
I don't know if you heard this or not to
Kobe and Shaq to how those two were meshed together.

(10:32):
Obviously we'll see how the relationship goes from there. But
just from the impact they had from the top of
the key end and the page, it's it's understandable.

Speaker 4 (10:38):
I mean, beyond that, let's let's just take it away
from the game for a second. Sure, this game is growing.
The way I see this, this impact is great, and
I'm with you doing. I think a piece of that
is that Angel reestis accept her role the same way
I said last week that Draymond Green is accept that
he is the enforcer, he's the bill, He's not he

(11:00):
I wouldn't call him villain, but he's the enforcer for
the Warriors, so that comes kind of a villa. There
are things that come with that territory, right, But that's
what that's what made you great, That's what made you great,
that's what earned.

Speaker 5 (11:11):
You your money.

Speaker 4 (11:12):
Ye angel Rees, You're You're in a similar boat. And
I think it gets hard for her to defend, which
I understand at at a certain level. That're like, Hey,
I'm a human too, and i deserve my credit and
my due and I'm not just one hundred percent solely
tied to my competitive nature against Kaitlyn Clark.

Speaker 5 (11:29):
It's it's deeper than that. I do have a legitimate
impact because she does right.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
She does.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
She does. If she wasn't around a.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
Famous but what I mean, she wouldn't be, she would
not be, she would not have this, she would not
be as as public a figure in the w n
b A without klon Clark.

Speaker 5 (11:45):
Neither here nor there.

Speaker 4 (11:46):
Because I mean, you could say the same thing if
you know Gig was going to Yukon this year, paway
how the game was going, The game of women's basketball
was growing one way or another. Right, It's great that
Kiln Clark has put it on a pedestal here rate
at Kaitlyn Clark is sitting down with Cels from Goldman
Sachs to talk about how we're growing the game and
how much money the game is bringing in. And I

(12:07):
believe you both as girl dads should be excited that
this game is growing. You give me options, especially.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
Dylan, are playing playing ball at a level.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
My daughter like this whole card collectible things she's asking
me for for w NBA players and she's got two
of them. She's got the top draft pick from this year.
Page yeah, and she's so and they're sitting in her
room so and they're watching. And I can tell you
this too that my oldest she loves Kaitlyn Clark. She
loves everything that she does for the league and for

(12:36):
women in Genning's sports overall.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
And you know it has a simall bows effect.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
If you look at the Elasha's draft, Kaitlin Clark win
one overall, and then this year and next year's don
and me a draft has a star in them in
their faces page backers this year and then next year.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Obviously we'll see how the injury.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
And come back from it affects her, But Juju Watkins,
a lot of people think is a better player than
both Page and Kaitlyn Clark as overall player. Obviously, Kaitlyn
Clark is one of the best shooters in the league,
but overall player, Juju Watkins has the juice. She might
be the best of these three players. But this is
three years in a row. The w NBA draft just
by itself is going to get high rates because of
those players, and that's that's how the game grows.

Speaker 4 (13:12):
They're they're at and I'm glad you Shane's made the
you know, you made the Bird in magic comparison, maybe
not the segment, but the segment prior. Yeah, this is
this is where the w n b A is at,
at that level what they need. Yes, yeah, that's where
this league is realistically. And I think there's so much
because the NBA's tied to the w n b A.

(13:34):
They want to catch up to the NBA so bad.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
You're not in strides.

Speaker 5 (13:38):
Yeah you're making strides, but you're you're not in that
era right now. You look at where this league is.

Speaker 4 (13:44):
The w n b A is in its Magic Bird era,
and that's that's who they are, yes, right, And That's
what caused them to get money. Remember Bird was there,
not Bird Magic was the first one to sign a
million dollar contract. Kaitlin Clark's going to do that, right,
That's how the game grows. There's gonna be more money
catch these names down the line.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
She'll talk about our podcast, yeah she will, so all right.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
Coming up next, I want to talk a little bit
about our airport.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
That's all next on the Fanatics on ticket seven sixty