Latest / The Daily Play With Joy Taylor / Historic WNBA Season Politically Hijacked, Stephanie White Defends Fever, and Josh Allen Set for Preseason

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Historic WNBA Season Politically Hijacked, Stephanie White Defends Fever, and Josh Allen Set for Preseason · The Daily Play With Joy Taylor

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome to The Daily Play with Joy Taylor.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining me. Make sure you hit
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: subscribe and follow us on social at The Daily Play
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Joy Taylor. So, before we get to NFL preseason updates,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about what's going on in the WMBA.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: The basketball is better than ever, but the off court
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: issues are overtaking the headlines seemingly more and more regularly.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: After a win over the New York Liberty earlier this week,
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  Speaker 1: Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White spoke up on behalf
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  Speaker 1: of her players. She is in her second year as
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: a Fever head coach, and she was responding in part
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: what she called quotes an online community, it's trying to
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: create narratives that simply don't exist, after some felt that
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Sophie Cunningham she did not have Sophie Cunningham as back
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: when the Fever guard was on the receiving end of
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: a flagrant foul by Chicago Skyguard Djna Carrington on Saturday.
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  Speaker 2: We are united, we are connected, We will not be divided.
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  Speaker 2: Every day these women put their ass on the line.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Every day. When they go low, we go high.
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  Speaker 1: Love will win, Grace will win, Humility will win, and
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  Speaker 1: kindness will win. I stand by them and I always
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: stand by them. Everyone else can go to hell. I
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: take personally any suggestions that I don't one hundred percent
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: of my players back.
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  Speaker 2: I ride with them. Tem Toe's down all the time.
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  Speaker 1: They know that. She was very emphatic about this and
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: left the room before taking any questions. Caitlin Clark also
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: spoke up about the fan reaction before the tip off.
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  Speaker 1: So it's tough. That's my head coach. I hated the
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: fans boot her before the game. Clark An Cunningham's that
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: the team wanted to play well for White. Kelsey Mitchell
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: and Elijah Boston spoke up about the wooing before the game.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: It's really a frustrating time for the coverage of the WNBA,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: and it has been for a while now. And listen,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I have been covered bring sports and been in this
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: business for almost twenty years. I have seen lots of
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: toxic conversations surrounding sports. Is not exclusive to women's sports,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: It is not exclusive to any particular sport. These conversations
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: pertaining to trans players is a bit more particularly exclusive
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: to well, not exclusive, that's redundant, but you know it
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  Speaker 1: seems to follow women's basketball more consistently than other sports.
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  Speaker 1: But what's happening right now is the conversation about the
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  Speaker 1: WNBA is being hijacked by people who do not support
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: women's sports, do not support women.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: They're not.
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  Speaker 1: Out here talking about the disparity of research for women's
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: health care compared to men's. They're not out here campaigning
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: for women to have autonomy over their bodies. They're not
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: out here speaking loudly and demanding justice for women who
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: have been sexually assaulted. They're not talking about maternal mortality
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  Speaker 1: rates for pregnant women in this country.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: They're not talking about maternity leave.
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  Speaker 1: They're not talking about the mortality rate for pregnant Black
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  Speaker 1: women in this country. They don't care about women, they
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: don't care about women's sports, and these these people have
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  Speaker 1: hijacked the conversation. They're using the WNBA because it is
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: convenient for them.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: To prop up a conversation. They started.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: And used w NBA as and it's growing popularity and
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: divisiveness amongst fans to prop up their political and social stances.
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  Speaker 1: There's no conversation about trans athletes in the w NBA.
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  Speaker 1: There's never been a trans athlete in the w NBA.
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  Speaker 1: There's no pipeline of a trans athlete coming to the
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  Speaker 1: w NBA.
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  Speaker 2: It's not a real thing. It's a fairy tale conversation
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  Speaker 2: made up because it is a trigger word, is a trigger.
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  Speaker 1: Topic for people who do not understand, who are not educated,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: who choose not to be educated, and who simply want
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: to make what they feel as a point that they're
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  Speaker 1: not even making because there's there's no trans people coming
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  Speaker 1: for women's sports, particularly the WNBA, one player says, does
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  Speaker 1: not reflect obviously the opinions of the entire league, and
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  Speaker 1: it also doesn't reflect the reality literally of the situation.
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  Speaker 1: You can have whatever opinion you want about trans people
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  Speaker 1: playing in professional sports or in women's sports, but the
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: facts remain in the facts. There's never been a trans
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: person in the WNBA. There's no trans person trying to
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: play in the WNBA. So you're emphatically arguing for nothing,
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  Speaker 1: for literally nothing, playing right into the hands of these people.
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  Speaker 1: And it's unfortunate that these women are having to deal
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: with this sort of attention, especially this season that the
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: WNBA is having. Season of the fever are having. Now,
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  Speaker 1: it's not from nowhere, This is the consequence of actions,
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  Speaker 1: and whether you like it or not, actions have consequences.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes they're positive, sometimes they're negative, but there are always consequences.
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  Speaker 1: No one's being persecuted here, and there is actually a
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  Speaker 1: way to stop all of this. It's not gonna happen.
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  Speaker 1: But I find the incessant need for an unnecessary opinion
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  Speaker 1: to be exhausting. And you know, I really feel these
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  Speaker 1: women when they're like, we need to talk about basketball.
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  Speaker 1: There are players who are having unbelievable seasons. More and
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: more people are paying attention to the actual s, and yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I just hate to give attention to these people who
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  Speaker 1: are so transparently do not care about women, because your
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: actions have to follow that across the board. If you're
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: concerned about women's sports, I'm gonna need that energy across
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: the board for everything. And it's not there because you
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: don't care and you never have. And yeah, you can
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: miss me with it. You can miss me with the outrage.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: You're not outraged, you don't care. You fall into the
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  Speaker 1: same category as every other knuckle dragger that is easily
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  Speaker 1: triggered by certain catchphrases, and the big bad boogeyman is
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  Speaker 1: not there, just like unplugged, you know, from the ivy
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  Speaker 1: of like propaganda and fear mongering. It's really not that
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  Speaker 1: scary out here. And I'm not like out on some
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  Speaker 1: islands or with my head.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: In the sand. It just doesn't exist.
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  Speaker 1: I worry about things that exists as a woman living
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  Speaker 1: in this country, as a former woman athlete, as someone
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: who advocates for women in all spaces, and have my
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: entire career and the fruits of my labor exist. No,
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  Speaker 1: this is not something you're concerned about. You do not
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  Speaker 1: care about these women. You do not care about the
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: WNBA athletes. You do not care about women athletes who
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: do not care about women. If you did, you would
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: be advocating for more things than just protecting WNBA players
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  Speaker 1: from a person that doesn't exist or people that do
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  Speaker 1: not exist.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just I'm keeping it pc for the sake of
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: this particular conversation, but yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean I it kind of enrages me.
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  Speaker 1: Because where you get the nerve to prop yourself up
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: as someone who cares about women, you don't care. You
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: don't care about women, And that is part of the
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: reason why there's so much pushback, because.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Is everyone can see everyone who who lives. This very
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: clearly sees.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Through this grift and and it's a powerful one, and
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: it's a lucrative grift, and it is it does it
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: does have its benefits. You know, to be a grifter
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: in that space, but that's all you are because you're not.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: You don't care about you don't care about women.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: So I feel them, I feel I feel for the
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: players who are really.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: Trying to go and focus on basketball.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: And as the season, you know, winds down and we
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: get closer to the playoffs, I think this is going
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: to be really important stretch and time for the w NBA,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: for these coaches and for these athletes who are being
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: asked questions that.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: No one else was being asked.
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  Speaker 1: And it would be interesting to see if they did
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  Speaker 1: start asking asking other athletes these questions. We're just you know,
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  Speaker 1: asking the people who are out here barking about it
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  Speaker 1: to explain themselves intellectually, of course, not emotionally, not with
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: catchphrases and cliches. It's really embarrassing, and again, I just
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: hate to give them the attention, but it's reached.
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  Speaker 2: This point where.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's just props this whole conversation, and.
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  Speaker 2: It's very toxic, and it's hard to.
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  Speaker 1: Even have a conversation about the w without these things
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  Speaker 1: coming up in an interesting year, and I think it's
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: I think how it's handled will actually be very important
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: for the progression of the league into next year, and
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: as the league continues to expand with new teams and
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: you've got you know, a billion dollar valuation for the
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Golden State Valkyries, and as.
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  Speaker 2: Sports and sports coverage continues to grow.
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  Speaker 1: As we can see that it is and I've been
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  Speaker 1: banging the drum for years that news and sports are
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  Speaker 1: the last thing that we watch live, so they're an
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  Speaker 1: absolute premium. Right now, you're seeing what these rights are
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  Speaker 1: going for. You saw the new CBA. These women are
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: being paid millions of dollars now and our and the
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: league is continuing to grow despite the constant you know,
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  Speaker 1: chatter about it, which I also find ironic because for years,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: some of these same men we're talking about how this
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  Speaker 1: league doesn't matter and it's just a waste of money
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  Speaker 1: and time, and now all of a sudden, everyone has
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: these deep, strong feelings about protecting women. I do think
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  Speaker 1: how the conversation is handled and how the commissioner handles
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  Speaker 1: this is going to be very important because there's a
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  Speaker 1: lot on the line. There is the original you know fandom,
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  Speaker 1: the hardcore fans, there are the new fans that are
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  Speaker 1: at the table.
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  Speaker 2: There is now massive corporate sponsors.
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  Speaker 1: There's now droves of media covering the league.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, it's going to be really it's going to
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  Speaker 2: be really interesting, and I for one can't wait to
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  Speaker 2: see what happens. But I do know I can't continue to.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, to allow the conversations to go on without pointing
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  Speaker 1: out that they are complete and other frauds. Dude, if
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: you are an advocate for women in sports, I expect
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: you to put your money where your mouth is, your energy,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: your platform for all things that advocate for women.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: If you can do that for an extended.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Amount of time and might buy this little aware that
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: you're selling, but right now you can keep it moving
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: with that. So I also wanted to give that update
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: on Josh Allen. He is going to play preseason week one,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: at least that was a plan.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: On Thursday.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Coach Joe Brady said that things can change after today's practice,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: but right now, everyone that's healthy is going to be playing.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: It's the first game in the new technically in their
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: new stadium, and it's Joe Brady's first year fully running
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: the show in Buffalo, which I'm fascinated to watch. Joe
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Brady has been someone that has been at the forefront
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: of expectations for some time now. This is a big
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: change for Buffalo with a new head coach moving on
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: from Sean McDermott. I don't need to see Josh Allen
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: play a lot. Preseason is very, very tricky. It's like,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: if you don't play and then you start season slow,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: everyone's mad at you.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: If you do play and you injure yourself, everyone's mad
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: at you. So there's like there's a risk factor that
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: you have to take.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: And I do think that you do need to get
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: some reps in as starters in preseason. Just keep it light,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: articularly with Josh Allen. Josh is an incredibly dynamic player.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: We know what he can do with his legs, We
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: know what he is capable of.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: I feel like this year, maybe our expectations of them
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: going all the way is outlandish.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: But you know, time is money.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: We just thought what the New England Patriots did at
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: some point, they do need to convert this situation and
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Josh Allen into a championship and or at least get
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: to a champion shift and your window is not open forever.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: So I don't feel like super strongly that he shouldn't
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: be playing, but I just wanted to keep it light,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: keep it light, make sure you know, he gets out there,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: gets a little loose, doesn't go, you know, diving into
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: a helicopter, dive into the end zone.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: He's a professional, he knows what he's doing.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: But I just want to see a long season with
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Josh Allen and I don't want that ruin be gaets
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: a preseason.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for joining me today. I make sure
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: you hit subscribe.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Follow us on Socialist The Daily Play Joey Taylor for
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: more than those other top stories of the day. Tune
• 16:32
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• 16:35
  Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.