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Valkyries finally dismantle the Lynx, World Cup excitement, End of WNBA season predictions · We Got Next

• 0:03
  Michelle: Welcome, bienvenidos, to We Got Next, a podcast for fans by fans, where we send our athletes who identify as women, femmes, and thems, and who are changing the game on and off the court, the field, the pitch, the pool, and more.
• 0:23
  Filiberto: So in our, in our midst is our sweet little foster kitty, He-Man Thunder Kitty. He's a lot stronger, a lot more powerful than when when he first showed up on this podcast. He may hop around, interfere, eat a wire. Who knows?
• 0:37
  But, if you hear abrupt pause, it's because of sweet little He-Man Thunder Kitty.
• 0:44
  Michelle: Yep. What are you drinking this week?
• 0:46
  Filiberto: Well, we're doing an early morning session today, and I don't currently have a job. So I'm having a Cuban, Cuban coffee. For all you unexposed folks, that's cough that's milk. We got some Vietnamese coffee from Costco. Costco always seems to wiggle into these episodes.
• 1:04
  Swear to God, we're not sponsored by them, but here we go. Like a Vietnamese coffee thing. And then rum, spiced rum. That's how I'm getting my day going.
• 1:12
  And oat milk, of course.
• 1:13
  Michelle: Oat milk.
• 1:14
  Filiberto: That's how I'm getting my day going. What about you, Michelle? You still are employed. Correct?
• 1:19
  Michelle: Yes.
• 1:19
  Filiberto: So you probably shouldn't be having one of
• 1:20
  these on
• 1:22
  a Tuesday morning.
• 1:23
  Michelle: I will not. Yeah.
• 1:25
  Filiberto: What are you having, though? What are you drinking?
• 1:28
  Michelle: Nothing. I have nothing with me. Wow.
• 1:30
  Filiberto: That's amazing. Didn't see that coming.
• 1:33
  Michelle: Yep. My throat's gonna go
• 1:36
  Filiberto: Gonna be parched so soon.
• 1:37
  Michelle: A la carte.
• 1:38
  Filiberto: If you hear another abrupt pause, it's because Michelle needed some water.
• 1:41
  Michelle: Mhmm.
• 1:50
  Filiberto: So what's going on in the Wide World of Sports this week? What are some things that caught your attention?
• 1:56
  Michelle: Yeah. It's been a bit. So this might be like ten days, the last ten days, not the last seven type things. Like last week
• 2:03
  Filiberto: Which is okay.
• 2:05
  Michelle: I came across a really cool article on Angel Reese. We'll put a link to it in the show notes. But it's kind of just talks about how Angel's like a savant when it comes to rebounding and kinda how she got there and the work she puts in and how a lot of it's like practice and skill and drills, but there's another part that's just some people just feel is really just a sixth sense for her as to where the ball's gonna bounce when it's shot. And I was reading this, I had this thought, because I know she has this reputation for just missing a lot of shots, getting that rebound, and then go you know, goes in or, you know, she gets her me bounds.
• 2:47
  Filiberto: The me bounds.
• 2:49
  Michelle: Part of me, like, watching some of the the clips they had in this article, I was like, you know, sometimes she just she gets, you know, double teamed or triple teamed underneath. So she just doesn't have the right angle, the right shot.
• 3:03
  Filiberto: It's a horrible position.
• 3:04
  Michelle: And then she's looking to pass out but that, you know, that avenue is kind of taken by the defense as well. So part of me is like and this is not a new thing. People do this before, but I I think Angel probably is taking it to the next level. But there's times where she's just she's boxed out. There's no good shot.
• 3:20
  So she just throws it toward the net. And then quickly, like, she because she's shooting it, in quote marks, she knows where it's gonna bounce to. So she quickly gets in that position. That's where she gets her me-bound. But I'm thinking to myself, she's passing to herself.
• 3:37
  She knows she doesn't have the angle. She doesn't have the shot. The best route at that moment in time is to kinda throw it toward the bucket, but then go get it again. And that way, she has a better shot or she can pass out her teammates. Just gives her another opening.
• 3:52
  So a lot of people like think, oh, she's horrible at shooting. But part of me is like, no. It can also be strategic that she doesn't have a good shot. So she's just throwing up there knowing she's so good at rebounding that she's gonna go get it. So it's almost like it is a pass to herself.
• 4:07
  Filiberto: Right. So she's using the rebound the she's using her rebounding skill set off of the rim or backboard to better position herself. Yeah. She's using it for assists, basically.
• 4:17
  Michelle: Yeah.
• 4:17
  Filiberto: Yeah. Which it's not her fault that that's not scored correctly. Right? Like, just it's not her fault, y'all. Like, she's just playing the game the best way she can.
• 4:28
  Michelle: Right.
• 4:29
  Filiberto: And she's very effective at it. So complain all you want, but she's just playing the game.
• 4:33
  Michelle: Yeah. And she's she's setting records Yeah. Recently for, you know, rebounds in a season and and double doubles. So she's playing at a really elite level, and she continues to get better. It's great.
• 4:46
  Filiberto: Well, and I think Atlanta has that trade was really important for them because it's definitely worked. Like, she's definitely brought another edge, another layer of complexity, another dimension to their team that they didn't have as they were a good rebounding team. They're a great team, actually, but she just adds more.
• 5:00
  Michelle: Right.
• 5:01
  Filiberto: So good for you, Atlanta.
• 5:02
  Michelle: It's kinda that, like, x factor.
• 5:04
  Filiberto: Yeah. Some more oomph. Well, and just her attitude on the court, they needed that.
• 5:08
  Michelle: Yeah. And then just the other piece to mention is the WNBA announced next year's All-Star Weekend will be in San Francisco. So the Golden State Valkyries will be hosting. So we'll be looking to be there and interacting with fans. And I know, you know, a lot of people are kinda worried about the expense of it.
• 5:33
  So I am hoping that the people who organize the all star break will do some activations and events in Oakland, possibly in San Jose. They kinda spread it out just to like, especially Oakland, I think there's a lot of opportunity there. There's a lot more space in certain areas. But, know, just kind of paying homage to what Oakland was able to do for the Golden State Warriors before they went to Chase Center over in San Francisco. And just, it's a really cool space to be in.
• 6:06
  And I think there might be some players and fans who have a better time over in Oakland. So I just hope that the organizers kinda spread the love around to, like because it it is Golden State Valkyries. It's not San Francisco Valkyries. So there's a great opportunity to kinda spread the love around the Bay, and I hope they do that.
• 6:25
  Filiberto: Well, I think from what we understood, they were still using the Oakland facility as a training facility for the women. So it it makes sense to incorporate that into what's happening. Right. Because if you think about the time that this team spends together, it's not at Chase Center. It's in their practice facility.
• 6:38
  Right. You If think about what makes them elite, it's because of the way they practice and the way they prepare, and that's all happening in Oakland. So, yeah, they definitely gotta show some respect to that. He-Man Thunder Kitty is going wild out here.
• 6:48
  He's grabbing all the wires, jumping on Michelle's lap. He's about two pounds and nothing but launching his body into everything. But he doesn't like us touching him. He doesn't we we well, at least for me, when I pick him up, he loses his mind and wants to jump out of my hands.
• 7:01
  Michelle: I think that's just I'm my own man. I wanna, like Yeah. Be free. He does that with me too, but he does he definitely loves the pets.
• 7:08
  Filiberto: Oh, he loves the pets, but just the handling and the lifting he doesn't like.
• 7:11
  So, yeah, for those of you that are a little, stressed about the affordability of San Francisco, let's, be clear about it. It is absolutely not an affordable city. So it is a little tricky to have an All-Star game there, but there's a lot of ways to take advantage of the Bay Area. There's a lot of ways to use public transport to find the affordability and the numbers that matter to you.
• 7:28
  But we're really excited to see a big crowd there at Chase Center for the for all our favorite players next year. Yeah. And just the fan events should be pretty good. Like, the Valkyries are already pretty good at, like, doing that fan engagement. So Yeah.
• 7:40
  Whatever opportunities we have to meet players at different venues or events would be really awesome.
• 7:45
  Michelle: Well, it's it's just interesting too for those of you who don't know, like, two years ago, the All-Star weekend was held in Indiana. Basically, the league had to ask Indiana to host it. No one wanted to. And then this past year, Chicago hosted. They were the only ones who submitted a bid.
• 8:02
  So for some reason, I don't know if it's expensive or what's going on, but there hasn't been a lot of interest in hosting. So hopefully, the league can kinda share in some of that expense with the team and they could make it a place that people want to be at. It'll be interesting to see if they just when they hold the game and the events at Chase Center, if they do just the lower bowl or if they open up to the whole arena, which I think is kind of key. Yeah. I don't think Chicago did.
• 8:34
  Filiberto: No. They didn't. So lot of reasons for that too.
• 8:37
  Michelle: Yeah. So I think, like, the more fans you allow in, like, the more of an event it is, the more engagement and just, like, vibe you're gonna have. So that's our 2 cents from people who do not event plan. Yeah, take some cues from Unrivaled and other groups and how how they they engage people and and make it accessible and inclusive.
• 9:03
  Filiberto: Just give us a chance to participate without having to pay exorbitant fees to be into a ticket event. Just for god's sakes. Give us a chance. Right. We'd appreciate it.
• 9:11
  Michelle: Great. So that kinda takes us into the Valkyries. So we had a little pause. We've got a lot of games to go through. A lot has happened for the Valkyries since our last pod.
• 9:34
  Filiberto: Yo! It was some real lows and some real highs too. It was a very schizophrenic period. Like, was very emotional this whole time, just kind of following every game and seeing the way things were moving. But, ultimately, we ended on an amazing high note.
• 9:46
  So we're cresting in the right direction, and it's really exciting.
• 9:49
  Michelle: Yeah. So just kinda like the early stages, we played Dallas yet again. We played them a lot this season, and we were able to get out of that one seventy eight to 70. There were just some really incredible sequences where our our defense saw something on film, and we're able to get some really good steals in the in the corner. So it was just, you know, it was it was one those games where we had a 20 lead in the fourth.
• 10:13
  We allowed Dallas to come back within four. It was a little scary. So you're kinda like, ugh. So the the old Valkyries showed up of, like, not closing out games. But
• 10:22
  Filiberto: And Dallas was very under person. They just didn't have all their players available. So Yeah. It was rough for them too. And it's kinda rough to watch that, how much they were just running out of options on offense.
• 10:31
  Yeah. They just weren't able to generate a lot.
• 10:33
  Michelle: Yeah. And then we come to I believe it was our third game against Minnesota. Just same old same old Minnesota. The Valkyries at this point had not beaten Minnesota at all in our franchise history, so in in almost two seasons. There were points in that game where Golden State just looked scared, nervous, hesitant.
• 10:56
  Filiberto: Tentative. Yeah.
• 10:57
  Michelle: So and it I mean, Minnesota did a great job of just getting in our passing lanes, clogging the play, clogging the paint. And let's be real. Minnesota had just had a great shooting starts that game. Everything one of theirs was going in. Nothing of ours was.
• 11:13
  I mean, I was kinda concerned. The first quarter looked so bad. I was like, please keep this game within 20 points. Do not lose, like, a 100 to 50. That's what it looked like early on.
• 11:24
  But there were a few runs. Our, you know, our bench was kinda coming through.
• 11:32
  Filiberto: They still had I mean, it's it was really it's really nice to see that even when the game felt kinda out of hand, the bench was still fighting and
• 11:38
  Michelle: Yes.
• 11:38
  Filiberto: And pushing and trying to make their shots and just working the system and working the Valkyries offense and defense. Yeah. So some of good signs there even in the face of a bad loss. Yeah. So that's impressive.
• 11:49
  That's really the the one positive. It was just kind of a nightmare of a game.
• 11:52
  Michelle: Yeah. And then, like, the you know, down the run, just our shots weren't going in. So it was another case of, like, not being able to close out in the fourth. But final score was we only lost by 11 in a game that looked like it could have been really bad. So and we and we held Minnesota to 77 points.
• 12:09
  So Yeah.
• 12:09
  Filiberto: There were a lot of positive things that happened. And there were I think that's what we our biggest takeaway after we watched it was, you know, it was a crummy game overall, but there were there were things that happened within, like, setting up their offense or a certain defensive move that we hadn't seen them be successful against Minnesota. So it's like, alright. Cool. There's, like, things to build on here Yeah.
• 12:28
  Even in the face of a messy loss.
• 12:30
  Michelle: Yeah. But, yeah, definitely, the performance in that game, you're just like, we're just not we're not gonna win in Minnesota. Like, we're we're not gonna be in the season because we knew we're gonna be playing them in less than a week. This game was in San Francisco. We were gonna have to go on the road and beat them in Minnesota.
• 12:44
  Our last regular season, matchup, it just wasn't looking good after this game.
• 12:49
  Filiberto: Yeah. Right. Ahead of the game, we were like, it's it'd be really important if they win this because of how compressed the schedule is at that point, all these different things. We thought we had a lot of things moving in our direction and it just didn't work out.
• 12:58
  Michelle: Yeah. So this stops our win streak. So we lose to Minnesota on August 19, two days later, and this is a kind of a mini road trip for us. We went on a road trip. So we started in Chicago.
• 13:11
  I was worried about this game going in because Chicago was cresting. Natasha had a string of really great games, Natasha Cloud. You had Sydney Taylor who's just been amazing in clutch.
• 13:23
  Filiberto: We played badly against them too. Historically.
• 13:26
  Michelle: We already lost to Chicago.
• 13:26
  Filiberto: So we have some kind of matchup issue that you and I haven't been able to identify, but there's there's something about Chicago that fucks us. I have no idea what it is. And if somebody knows better than us, please let us know because it's just kinda confusing.
• 13:39
  Michelle: So, yeah, this was just like this could have been a trap game. And, yeah, it just it felt like a lot of our issues from the Minnesota game just carried over.
• 13:51
  Filiberto: It was an ugly carryover.
• 13:52
  Michelle: We looked bad. Just really looked bad. Our halftime score was low. Again, some of that hesitancy, that fear kind of carried over and just making a not great team look really good.
• 14:06
  And Sydney Taylor missed the last game we played them. Kia Stokes and Janelle Salaün were returning from a one game absence. DeJonai Carrington was out and we still lost to Chicago, and she brings so much defense. So it was just a real big letdown.
• 14:25
  Filiberto: Yeah. They had no depth or very little depth, and we still couldn't keep up with them.
• 14:28
  Michelle: Yeah. I mean, we did fight back. But what happened at the end just Sydney Taylor's amazingness. Like, you love watching these highlights when it's against another team. But but we were up Sydney ties it, and then they get the ball back, and she just it just another three point just goes in kind of toward the end of, like, buzzer.
• 14:50
  I think we had half a second left or something. Like, yeah, just total hero wins it for her team. It was really irritating, but, you know, if you remove your Valkyries fan, they were just two gorgeous shots that she made. Contested. Gorgeous.
• 15:05
  Filiberto: We just didn't have a response for Taylor. But I think what what is compelling about this game is how if you look at the score, you assume that Chicago that Cardoso had a big game, but she didn't. We had a good game plan against her. We isolated her to the perimeter. So again there were some things that were really good, but Yeah.
• 15:21
  It was just a really shitty game to watch.
• 15:23
  Michelle: It was. And
• 15:24
  Filiberto: Especially after the Minnesota game. It was, you know Yeah. I think and the fan base gets a little, extra around some of these things. Like, people already were kinda panicking about the playoffs and all these things. And, you know, you sort of absorb it a little bit too, but it was just a really shitty game.
• 15:38
  And Nakase in this one, she talked about how what was her response to this game? I don't remember.
• 15:43
  Michelle: Emptying the tank, I think.
• 15:44
  Filiberto: That was her issue with this one.
• 15:46
  Michelle: I think and you saw Gabby and Veronica sat a lot in the second. Yeah. And they didn't they didn't they were not in foul trouble. So I think it was kind of like you're not bringing it, or some other people are. Let's give them a chance.
• 15:58
  Like, Laeticia Amihere was just had some great energy off the bench in that game. Mhmm. So bit of a downer, and you're kinda like, oh, man. Like, our our, you know, our magic number is getting a little bit a little spicy there. Losing to Minnesota and then Chicago.
• 16:17
  Filiberto: And it's also like this isn't the team that won 10 games in a row. Like, this is this is rough. Like, two games in a row and, like, losing bad. Like, not close games. Like, losing bad.
• 16:24
  Michelle: And then you're looking at playing Chicago And then having to go into Minnesota and play them again.
• 16:31
  Filiberto: Right.
• 16:31
  Michelle: Like, two twice in three games. So I just not feeling good about that.
• 16:43
  Holy smack.
• 16:44
  Filiberto: Holy buckets.
• 16:46
  Michelle: Some gear shifted for the Valkyries and a completely different team showed up for this game.
• 16:52
  Filiberto: Yeah. And I think this game feels as though it's a signature game for them. Like
• 16:58
  Michelle: Absolutely.
• 16:58
  Filiberto: This is it.
• 16:59
  Michelle: For the franchise, these two years, this was a signature game.
• 17:02
  Filiberto: Yeah. This is definitely the most important win in franchise history.
• 17:05
  Michelle: And I think you're seeing
• 17:06
  Filiberto: It's only two years, but still.
• 17:07
  Yeah. we can make a grandiose statement.
• 17:09
  In the history of the franchise is the most important win. Like, we can say that. That's okay.
• 17:14
  Michelle: Ceci Zandalasini had a great game, 18 points, two steals, two blocks. So not only is she kinda, giving them a little bit more on offense, but she's just playing her defense is much better.
• 17:25
  Filiberto: It's been picking up.
• 17:26
  Michelle: Like last year, this year, she kinda sometimes she looks just out of place.
• 17:30
  Filiberto: Kinda listless or just isn't sure
• 17:32
  Michelle: Know where she's going. She's gotten better. She's moving faster. She's more agile. Just bringing it.
• 17:38
  And it's it's one of those things where it's like, Natalie, you know, Coach Nakase is saying, like, I just need, like, an extra steal, an extra block from you. Like, I don't need you to move mountains for me. I just need a little bit more, and that's gonna give us a better chance to win.
• 17:51
  Filiberto: Well, Well, if you look at her season stats, they're actually not that great. Like, she hasn't had great averages, especially for a starter on a second place team. Yeah. But in the last couple of games, she's really picked it up. Yeah.
• 18:00
  And again, love to ask her what the hell happened. Did she change her breakfast? Like, don't know exactly what's going on there, but, like, she's really on one lately. And I think also limiting her turnovers. She had just such a bad habit of getting turnovers in the open floor around the perimeter when she held onto the ball a little too long.
• 18:15
  Yeah. So she's doing a better job protecting that basketball. But the confidence is there. And someone like Ceci, like, she rolls on her confidence, it seems like. And if she's confident, I'm looking forward to her FIBA participation, and we'll talk more about that
• 18:27
  Michelle: Yeah.
• 18:28
  Filiberto: A little later.
• 18:29
  Michelle: Yeah. And I think, we had 12 steals in this game. I think that set a franchise record And then add another six turnovers. So we forced 18 turnovers for that for Minnesota, which is just huge.
• 18:42
  Filiberto: It's a team that knows what they're doing. Yeah. And and quickly, Olivia Miles, one of best ball handlers in the league quickly just right out of college. Like Yeah. This is a team that's better than those that dropped two.
• 18:51
  And we demolished like not demolished, but we deconstructed a lot of what they want to do. And we really, really, really just demoralized them. Like, it was wild to watch just them continuously piling it on, just not stopping.
• 19:08
  Michelle: Yeah. I think the there are just so many deflections. Like, this is a great game to watch Yeah. To look for those. But and this this 18 turnovers total doesn't include a lot of those deflections.
• 19:19
  Filiberto: Doesn't include that at all.
• 19:20
  Michelle: So it got to the point what you know, to what you're saying is you've getting in the head of the links players. And I do wanna admit Courtney Williams was out. Yeah. Absolutely. Her Iron Woman streak of, like, playing having the longest active streak of of games played without missing one came to an end.
• 19:37
  She had kind of like a a foot injury. She came back next game, so she only missed one game. But she was not there and, you know, she opens up a lot, for passing and assists for them. But to what you're saying is, if you watch, a lot of the offensive, possessions for Minnesota, like, in the in the second half, there's a lot of passing. There's a lot of hot potato.
• 19:59
  They were a lot more hesitant, a lot less aggressive because they're worried about those deflections.
• 20:04
  Filiberto: Yeah.
• 20:05
  Michelle: And we held Miles and, Olivia Miles and Napheesa Collier to a combined 17 points in that game.
• 20:13
  Filiberto: Well, along with what you're saying, so there's a deflections piece and then what you're also saying too is how hard our defense pushes teams into the end of the shot clock so that they're rushing shots and or just straight up, like, shot clock violations. Right? Yeah. McBride was rushing shots. She's a rhythm player.
• 20:28
  She's a shooter. If you're rushing her, she's not gonna be as good. That's what we saw.
• 20:32
  Michelle: Yeah. And I'm glad you brought up Kayla McBride because she was kind of a jerk in the the loss the par game we played though No.
• 20:41
  Filiberto: Was a jerk straight up.
• 20:42
  Michelle: San Francisco. She definitely did a nighty night, like a Steph Curry.
• 20:46
  Filiberto: She appropriated the Chase Center, you know, thing.
• 20:50
  Michelle: Yeah. She's being kind of an ass. So it did feel nice. I don't think the Valkyries did anything that we could see. There might have been some chirping.
• 20:58
  But it was it was nice to just be like, okay, Kayla, you had a great game, but that no longer is the case. And, yes, it was our first win in 10 tries with Minnesota if you're including the playoffs last year. But it was a big win, and we we took Minnesota's clinching that night. They could have clinched the one seed that night.
• 21:19
  Filiberto: On us at home floor.
• 21:20
  Michelle: And since this game, they've lost to Washington. And so now, they still need two more wins to clinch. So there's still because we beat them, so that math's changed. So now, there are four games left, and they're still looking to clinch the number one seed. So Valkyries, technically, if if, Minnesota lost every game and we won every game, we might be able to get the one seed.
• 21:46
  Filiberto: I think we win we would win out in that scenario. However unlikely that scenario is.
• 21:51
  Michelle: It is very unlikely. But my point is this win, like, sure it was a win. McBride's like, that's one win. But what we did do was mess up the end of their season and their clinchings.
• 21:59
  Filiberto: I mean, it's great theater. It's great drama. Yeah. It adds tension to the end of the season. It adds a little more intrigue to those two games against, the fever that Minnesota has.
• 22:07
  It I love it. It's what I'm here for.
• 22:09
  Im makes for good theater .
• 22:10
  Michelle: They have a tougher schedule than we do the last four games. So yeah.
• 22:13
  Filiberto: Well, the and the other piece of this too, so the thing that we've. There's been a weird, like, you know, we're obviously enthusiastic about the Valkyries, but there's a funny bias against the Valkyries from a lot of national sports reporters just not taking them seriously. And fair enough, it's franchise team, blah blah blah. But if you really watch them, they're playing a serious level of basketball. This isn't a fluke. And I think the Minnesota game and then the subsequent games that happen, the three games really lock it down, but the Minnesota game gets national attention.
• 22:40
  Like, people are writing about the Valkyries way differently all of a sudden. The power rankings came out, today in the morning. You're seeing Valkyries right up there. So this is a again, this is a signature win for every like, everything that the Valkyries want to do well, they did really well in this game. And if we're thinking about playoff ready, this is the most playoff ready we've seen them in the history of the franchise.
• 23:01
  Again, without getting ridiculously grandiose statements, but, you know, given the two yeah history, it's fine.
• 23:06
  Michelle: No. It was, like, a very detail oriented game. It was a game like, you know, it's it's the, quote, unquote, happiest you've seen Coach Nakase in her game press conference.
• 23:14
  Filiberto: Yeah. It like she was drinking and she was so happy.
• 23:16
  Michelle: Barely smiles.
• 23:17
  Not to accuse anyone of anything but yeah.
• 23:19
  She's, you know, one of those like never satisfied coaches. So I think you saw them play very detail oriented. You saw them play a full four quarters and you saw them empty the tank.
• 23:30
  And that's what she's looking for, and that's what you're talking about when it comes to the playoffs.
• 23:34
  Filiberto: And I think this is the one and only game where I really felt what it means to have I mean, not only Nakase, the preparation is there, but this game is where I was for for the first time thinking about what it means to evaluate the performance of a coach because
• 23:49
  Michelle: Yeah.
• 23:49
  Filiberto: Her coaching was so distinctive in the way that she was moving her lineup, shifting
• 23:53
  Michelle: Yes.
• 23:54
  Filiberto: Changing defenses, zone, not zone. All the different little things that she did that were very visible worked really, really well. And so, again, I don't know that I ever really was able to notice it as hard as I did for this game, but her again, her performance as a coach was extraordinary for this one.
• 24:10
  Michelle: Right. And she's going up against the competition for Coach of the Year probably in that game.
• 24:14
  Filiberto: Yeah. And again, an established coach with decades of success. Right.
• 24:25
  Michelle: We played Connecticut, and this is part of that road trip again. So Chicago, Minnesota, Connecticut, and then we'll play New York and then return. And then actually went to Portland. So this is yeah. This is a longer, you know, longer than I thought road trip.
• 24:40
  Filiberto: Yeah it was funky,
• 24:41
  Michelle: So Connecticut, you know, and and at this point, we've got our eight teams going to playoffs. We have the other teams who are not. And so who you know, of those eliminated teams who can play spoiler, who can still keep playing. Connecticut's, even though the record doesn't show what I think, they've played really well this season. However, going to this game, it was kinda like, hey, we need to rest some people before we play the Liberty the next night.
• 25:09
  So we had a back to back with Connecticut and the Liberty. I you know, Liberty could have been an interesting game because they're definitely fighting for seeding. They wanna get as high up. It looks like they might, you know, five, six, seven, eight type thing.
• 25:20
  Filiberto: And they haven't had a great season. That's a team of veterans. They have a lot of pride. And I'm pretty sure they're angry about how much they're losing.
• 25:26
  Michelle: Connecticut?
• 25:26
  Filiberto: Yeah. Liberty.
• 25:27
  Michelle: Okay. So Connecticut, I think going in like if and this is what they did, you know, basically the goal was to get a win but also be able to rest some people, I think. And so we got a a good lead early which allowed the rest for the players. Like, we didn't wait till the fourth to get a good lead. We got it early, which allowed a lot of, players to rest.
• 25:50
  And then we saw we were able to play our get ready, squad. So this is kind of what would be kind of your third third unit, third string. They don't get as many minutes. Some of them are, developmental players, so they haven't played too much this season. So we gotta see everyone go in, eventually in this game, which was great.
• 26:09
  And again, it's it's a struggling Connecticut team, but it was just a really good win for us. We put to get we shot 54% field goal, 40% from the three point line. And this is where we start kind of a few games where we're able to get into the paint. So we had 43 points in the paint, which is something we struggle with.
• 26:28
  Filiberto: Yeah. It was really wild to watch just how easily everyone on the Valkyries was able to get whatever shot they wanted and all including getting into the paint. Yeah. I think what was really impressive about the third unit doing their thing was they played with the same level of intensity as the first unit. They weren't as successful.
• 26:42
  They weren't making all their shots. Obviously, they're not the starters. There's a reason for that. But it was important to see their commitment. You know, they were they were really throwing down.
• 26:50
  Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. It's just a testament to those, you know, staying staying ready games and, like, simulated games. And it's like two bright spots in this game. Again, we beat Connecticut 89 to 64.
• 27:05
  I wanna shout out to Kaila Charles. She's had a really great game, 14 points in nineteen minutes. She was five of six from the field, one of one from the three point. She had eight rebounds, two assists, a block, and a plus 23. So just really great on both sides of the ball.
• 27:25
  And the other bright spot, I just wanna shout out Charlisee Leger-Walker for Connecticut. She was just a bright spot for them. Anytime she had the ball, she was doing good with dealing for the assist, but also her shots, were pretty good. So, it's an she's a rookie out of UCLA. She's part of that UCLA Sixth that got, drafted.
• 27:43
  So, I think she's gonna have a really, good future in in the league.
• 27:48
  Filiberto: Yeah. Just going back to Charles for a second. I think what's been really impressive now we're getting close to the end of the season so we can talk about year long performance. And I think Charles is someone that she's not gonna get sixth person of the year. They're not gonna talk about her as most improved player.
• 28:00
  Like, she's not gonna get any warriors, not in conversation for any of that. But she's had, I think, a really incredible season. Her versatility, her willingness to play different roles. She's been a starter. She's been a backup.
• 28:10
  She covers guards. She covers forward. She covers centers. She contributes in different ways. This game, she was really hitting the rim hard.
• 28:16
  Other games, she's shooting more threes. She's just been able to contribute a lot to the team, and I think people should really respect what she brings. Yeah. She's awesome.
• 28:25
  Michelle: Give her a look. Yeah.
• 28:33
  Two more games to mention. So, played Connecticut then flew to New York for a game the next day. And like I said, I wasn't sure going into this game because I knew the Liberty were fighting for their seating.
• 28:46
  They've had an up and down season, but there's still a lot of talent there. But we did really well. We won 79 to 60, which is just a great margin of victory for us. I would say Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones had good nights. They were pretty efficient.
• 29:06
  They scored in the teens. But unfortunately for them, like no one else on team. Even Fiebich, whose coming back and had some good games just didn't do well that night. And Sabrina is just still struggling.
• 29:20
  Filiberto: Yeah. Watching Sabrina play was really hard because that's that's a champion. That's someone that's been in the league for a long time. Amazing college athlete.
• 29:27
  Michelle: Something's going on.
• 29:28
  Filiberto: She's still throwing up shots with confidence, but my god, those shots were not looking good. Like, when you loot when you miss dramatically from so many different ways, like, something's off. Yeah. So, again, not to not to be a jerk about it, but just, like, out of concern. It's just like, yo.
• 29:44
  What's going on, girl? Yeah. Like, how are you how are you are you good?
• 29:47
  Michelle: Yeah. So the Valkyries held New York to 30% shooting from the field, 23 from the three, just really low for New York. And then, yeah, some superstars for the Valkyries in that game. Think, Ceci continuing to kinda be that leader. She's led a few games and points for us.
• 30:07
  So this game, 20. Super efficient, eight of 17 from the field, four of 10 from threes. Like, that would those were some good, like, dagger.
• 30:17
  Filiberto: Well, then when she's good, she just looks so effortless. She's just gliding around the court. Just that quick that quick release at a high point. Yeah. Just her and Janelle just throwing up really high point shots.
• 30:29
  It's just beautiful to watch.
• 30:30
  Michelle: She had five rebounds and was a plus 17. And then you have
• 30:34
  Filiberto: And Playing good defense too. She's still, Ceci's out there playing good defense.
• 30:37
  Michelle: Absolutely. Which is what we need. Tiff Hayes, you know, she's filling in some big shoes here, but she's just kinda like Veronica sometimes, she's just all over the place sacrificing her body, just opening up lanes for us. So she was driving to the bucket a lot, which help helped open up our threes. But she had 12 points in thirteen minutes.
• 30:59
  That's that's wild to have that much contribution. A lot of those were free throws. But she was getting those free throws because she was driving. Yeah. She was it's just one of those things where she's just flying into the basket and then just, like, rolls into the photographer's underneath, has to get back up, run down to the other end.
• 31:16
  Just, again, that emptying the tank, that doing what she needs to do to help her team.
• 31:21
  Filiberto: Well, I also just love too that she takes her pause. When she has to get rolled on the ground, she's like, no. No. No. No.
• 31:25
  We're not starting this game yet. I'm taking a break. Like, I just got my ass fucking Yeah. Thrown to the ground.
• 31:30
  Michelle: Yeah. So great win. And then we had a couple days off. And on a Sunday Sunday afternoon, we played in Portland. And so this is kind of where we start getting partial strength teams because when we were in New York, it it makes sense of a few of our players who are participating in the FIBA World Cup left from New York.
• 31:54
  They flew from New York to Germany instead of going to Portland, having to fly back to New York. So so we Gabby Williams, Ceci Zandalasini, Janelle Salaün, took off from New York to fly to Germany.
• 32:08
  Filiberto: And there was, hilariously some alarm among the fan community because people were seeing in the transaction wires that all these contracts were suspended. Temporarily suspended. Right. Right. But it's just a feature of the just mechanics of getting the tournament together and playing for the national team, etcetera.
• 32:22
  Michelle: Yeah. And then Portland, they may have others going, but the the big hole for them, Carla Leite, also, left and headed to Germany. She's in the World Cup. So she's, you know, she's a finalist, I I think, for a most improved player.
• 32:37
  Filiberto: Yes. It'd be certainly.
• 32:39
  Michelle: She's definitely kind of their quarterback, their floor sergeant or general, whatever you wanna call it. So they they definitely struggled
• 32:45
  Filiberto: She has carried that team. She's driven her a lot of the offense.
• 32:48
  Michelle: Yeah. They just struggled with ball movements. Engstler and and Carleton were still there for Portland, but just, you know, they they can't actually make up all of her points that they're missing.
• 32:58
  Filiberto: Well, then for a defense as good as the Valkyries, you can't just have, like, two options on offense and try to work that. That's just it's not gonna happen.
• 33:05
  Michelle: Yeah. And I think just, you know, it's that theme of next person up for the Valkyries. So you had Tiffany Hayes, Kaila Charles, and Kayla Thornton just had really great games. Kinda kinda reminds you of, like, last year where they just they had a a lot of minutes. And then Megan DiLeo, she was kind of the consistent bright spot for Portland.
• 33:27
  She led them in scoring. I think she had 12 points. And just the threes for Portland, they they are very dangerous three point shooting team. Unfortunately, this weren't going in for them early. They started hitting them kind of toward the end of the third, but it but at that point, it was too late.
• 33:42
  Filiberto: Yeah. The Valkyries defense was just smothering them.
• 33:44
  Michelle: Yeah. So we ended up winning this game 86 to 69 even though we were down a few players. And also another another game where we, were able to get into the paint a lot. So that's that's good. We're gonna need that because that opens up the three point shooting.
• 33:59
  Filiberto: One that also creates a lot of pressure on the defense, and people start fouling. When we when Tiffany Hayes starts barreling in like that, people start fouling her
• 34:05
  Michelle: Yeah. Hard. Exactly.
• 34:07
  Filiberto: That's unfortunate. And I think the way that Veronica Burton gets officiated, especially on offense, is unfortunate. Like, she doesn't get the calls that she should be getting Yeah. For the kind of contact that she's getting. Yeah.
• 34:16
  But that's what we need to be effective.
• 34:19
  Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. So just all around, I mean, you know, like you said, we had some low spots in the string of games, but just a lot to for the for the players and the coaches to be proud of.
• 34:47
  There's kind of a second break this season that we only get every four years. This is for the FIBA World Cup women's basketball.
• 34:56
  So a lot of teams are a lot of players are there now in Germany. They will the first game is September 4. So this Friday, 5AM our time.
• 35:08
  Filiberto: Hell yeah.
• 35:08
  Michelle: Pacific time.
• 35:09
  Filiberto: Hell yeah.
• 35:10
  Michelle: So set your alarms.
• 35:11
  Filiberto: Brew up some coffee.
• 35:13
  Michelle: And and then it'll go a couple weeks, and teams will be back mid September. So we'll have a a couple week break here. Great games to watch. I think most of them are on like TNT, HBO, or, you know, as Kayla Thornton was asking during one of her post game press conferences about, send the link, cable's too expensive. All I have is YouTube YouTube TV.
• 35:35
  So hopefully, they got that settled out. But just wanna, you know, kinda ask you get your feelings where you know, we have got four games left. Every team has four games left once we come back from FIBA. Like, what what do you think where do you think the Valkyries are right now, the Valkyries?
• 35:53
  Filiberto: I mean, it's a really exciting time because we're again, we're getting close to the end of the season. We get to think about the team for the next two weeks because we're just, like, excited about what's happening. And our strength of schedule looks really good. Like, really good. We have the third easiest schedule according to Tankathon.
• 36:10
  Two games against Portland, which we just decimated. Then we play Seattle and the Sparks. Yeah. Like, we have a really good chance here not only to win out, but also just to hone the craft and just, like, be extra precise and then give some load management and give some time to the second and third strings. Like, we're in a really good position to be very effective.
• 36:30
  If we can hold on to the second seed and just maintain right now, we'd be playing Washington if the playoffs started today, we have a pretty good chance against them, I think, given our track record. So I think we got a really good shot at getting to the second. Even if we lose every single game, we're still in a strong position to be effective.
• 36:45
  Michelle: Yes.
• 36:46
  Filiberto: But the way they're playing right now, they're just again, the break kinda throws it off a little bit. Yeah. We hope not, but it might.
• 36:54
  Michelle: Well, I think your first couple games coming back, there's gonna be some minutes restrictions for those who did play in FIBA. Yeah. So I think at this point, yeah, it's like, can we stay detail oriented? What's our momentum gonna look like after the break? And then can we stay healthy?
• 37:08
  I think those are kind of like, we don't know those. So it's it's hard to kind of get that crystal ball out. But I think the Valkyries have put themselves in, like, the best position they could at this point.
• 37:17
  Filiberto: Yeah. And we're two games behind Minnesota. I don't know that we're gonna catch up to them at best.
• 37:22
  Michelle: There's a possibility
• 37:23
  Filiberto: narrow window.
• 37:24
  Michelle: But probably
• 37:27
  Filiberto: But probably let's let's be real y'all. Like, the, like, the best the likely scenario at at best is we tie them. They have the strength of schedule over us, so we're not gonna get first place. Yeah. Let's just be cool with
• 37:36
  Michelle: that. Tiebreaker.
• 37:37
  Filiberto: Tiebreaker over us. Yeah. But I think second place is a lock as long as we just do our work. As long as we do our work.
• 37:45
  Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. So we're we're sitting in a in a good place. And then I think, like, there's also I think this is one of the earliest times I've I've watched a sport where the the those going to the playoffs and those not was determined rather like, just earlier in the season than normal.
• 38:08
  Filiberto: And you have more teams and stuff.
• 38:09
  Michelle: So There's not a lot of, like, anticipation. It's like, oh, who's on the bubble? Who's gonna be spoiler necessarily?
• 38:14
  Filiberto: Deeper into
• 38:14
  Michelle: the Like, we know the eights. They're going to playoffs at this point. We've known that for a week or two.
• 38:18
  Filiberto: And number eight is really far from number nine. So there's not even any chance of that.
• 38:22
  Michelle: Yeah. So I'm saying the elimination everyone's been eliminated. So I think at this point, there's there's a lot of drama with, like, the seeding from, like, four down to eight. Mhmm. And then what those matchups would look like.
• 38:34
  And we gotta remember, the first round is only three games. Yeah. So that's the potential, like yeah. We've done well against Washington, but that's what some people say, like, again, if if the playoffs start today, we'd be playing Washington. Three game series, they would have a shot though.
• 38:48
  Filiberto: Right? An elimination You game right after game one for any team. Yeah. That's what makes it so wild. Yeah.
• 38:53
  And anything can happen.
• 38:55
  Michelle: So but there there is some interesting there is some drama. We talked about the seeding. That's kinda like the drama we have left for the end of the season. But there is some drama on the possible number one seed for the draft.
• 39:08
  Filiberto: Yeah. As you all know, it's still a lottery and there's a race to the bottom right now. But what really I didn't we just looked this up now because we're thinking about the end of the season. Because of Chicago's wacky trades, Washington might end up with a number three pick or possibly better.
• 39:22
  Michelle: Yeah. And they just had what?
• 39:24
  Filiberto: They're stacked.
• 39:25
  Michelle: They had how many number one, like, first round picks this last year? I think they had three or four.
• 39:29
  Filiberto: Right. And no one's really declared yet, but this could be the draft that includes Juju Watkins, Hidalgo, Madison Booker at number three possibly.
• 39:38
  Michelle: So Yeah. Alright. Possibly Sarah Strong.
• 39:41
  Filiberto: There's no roster spots on that team.
• 39:42
  I don't know what they're gonna do, but, like, yeah, it's again, another note to take care of. We're not worrying about that because our team is incredible. But, you know, if we're think if we're thinking about the rest of the league and where our favorite college players are gonna end up
• 39:53
  Michelle: Yeah.
• 39:53
  Filiberto: It's nice to pay attention to the old Tankathon.
• 39:58
  Michelle: Yeah. Most definitely. And we'll put a link. There's there's actually a tankathon.com.
• 40:04
  Filiberto: Really helpful.
• 40:05
  Michelle: So we'll put a few links there and they also are tracking remaining schedule strength. So we'll put those in the show notes for people who wanna kinda track that. Yeah. Because I know there there are gonna be some of us that are gonna be definitely watching the World Cup, but not gonna be as many games to watch. Some of us will be I know I will be rewatching, like, the recent Atlanta versus Minnesota game.
• 40:26
  I will be watching that today or tomorrow just to, like, fill in the time of, like, not having Valkyries or other games to watch.
• 40:32
  Filiberto: Well, just the emotional commitment is different. Yeah. And it's not as tense. Right? What what I am concerned of, and I'm knocking on wood basically every day, is just concerned about injuries in an exhibition environment.
• 40:42
  That's always a a concern overall. Knocking on every piece of wood
• 40:45
  Michelle: You want to stay healthy.
• 40:46
  Filiberto: Wanna stay healthy. We need that.
• 40:48
  Michelle: Don't use the I word.
• 40:49
  Filiberto: Knock on that wood y'all. Let's get that get that good luck going in.
• 40:55
  Michelle: And So FIBA's upon us. I'm gonna have to try to find a way to there's no way I'm getting up at 5AM. I'm just I'm trying to find
• 41:04
  Filiberto: Nobody's asking you get up at 5AM.
• 41:05
  Michelle: I know. Some of us are already up, that time, but we'll have to
• 41:07
  Filiberto: I'm not trying to watch TV there early.
• 41:09
  Michelle: We'll find a way to to get those. But so for the Valkyries going to the World Cup, we have Ceci Zandalasini will be playing for Italy. Then we have Gabby Williams and Janelle Salaün will be playing for France. And we have Miela Sowah playing she's Sami Whitcomb is not going to World Cup So Miela was able to replace her, which is great. And then Natalie Nakase is gonna be one of assistant coaches for USA and also one of the Valkyries trainers.
• 41:41
  She's amazing. She's gonna be the trainer for USA Women's. So she's going as well.
• 41:46
  Filiberto: That's fun.
• 41:47
  Michelle: So we've got a lot of people to watch and keep track of and just wanna shout out again to SheScores. They've added FIBA. So and all those games and scores that you can watch and they'll have how to how to see the games, how to stream them. Not up on other sports apps right now. So head over to SheScores.
• 42:10
  And that's where I'll be kinda tracking these games.
• 42:13
  Filiberto: You can find the Patriot games on ESPN plus, but you can't find FIBA. Yeah. That's ridiculous. Pretty much. That's all we're gonna say about that.
• 42:19
  Mhmm. That is
• 42:20
  Michelle: it. Mhmm. Anything you're looking forward to in World Cup?
• 42:24
  Filiberto: I'm looking forward to the final. I think it'll be exciting. I'm looking forward to just, like, watching my favorite players, compete against each other in a different setting. So Yeah. Kinda like selectively watching games.
• 42:34
  I'm gonna follow the French games a lot just because, again, our favorite players are there. Yeah. Without A'ja Wilson playing for USA, just they're not as compelling No. To like, if I I'm looking forward to just taking a little break from watching sports in general. So the next two weeks are gonna be fun.
• 42:51
  But if I'm gonna spend some time watching sports, it's not gonna be I'm not as excited to watch USA without A'ja Wilson.
• 42:58
  Michelle: Yeah. And I think I think not having A'ja changes
• 43:02
  Filiberto: Changes their possibilities too.
• 43:04
  Michelle: USA's Chances too, or at least their road to victory. Yeah. I think Japan's gonna be
• 43:10
  Filiberto: They're gonna be fun to watch.
• 43:11
  Michelle: I think that's gonna be great. I I don't think Australia's as good as they've been in the past, but I think that No. It's a strong challenger. Obviously, France is.
• 43:18
  Filiberto: A lot of recognizable names. Yeah. Italy's gonna be I think I it was my one prediction. I think Ceci's gonna go on a tear
• 43:25
  Michelle: Yeah.
• 43:25
  Filiberto: In this tournament. She's gonna get a lot of time. They're gonna depend on her a lot. They're gonna be throwing the ball at her a lot. Yeah.
• 43:29
  And I think she's ready for it because of the because not only of how she's improved with the Valkyries, but how much she's, like, taking control of the offense when she does have the ball.
• 43:37
  Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. So it'll be it'll be fun. Yeah. Looking forward to it.
• 43:42
  Seeing seeing the other countries in the replay.
• 44:00
  This is our last segment of the show where we talk about kind of things have been bothering us, things we've been noticing. It's a place for us to interrupt, bad behavior, racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic, ableist behavior. So what do got for us this week?
• 44:21
  Filiberto: Mira homies. I haven't really talked about I've been wanting to talk about this a lot, but I wasn't able to because I was still working at the grocery store near my house. But now that I'm not working there, I'm more than happy to speak freely about some of the things that I saw. And the really exciting thing for me and the horrible thing for me is I got to work there during the whole poop lettuce fiasco. And there's a lot of lessons for y'all that I learned working at the grocery store.
• 44:45
  But the fundamental thing, I swear to God, this will connect to the W at some point. Like, it's gonna it's gonna get there. Just, like, indulge me for a second. Just just sort of roll with me a little bit. But I think one of the things that was really obvious working at a grocery store at the front end of the supply chain in a produce department and seeing everything come in and out is how fucked we are, y'all.
• 45:07
  Like, seriously, there are so few hands in terms of companies controlling so much of what goes in our bodies, And we see what has been happening when the federal government just decides to be indifferent towards its responsibility to protect our interests against corporate profit.
• 45:22
  Michelle: Right.
• 45:23
  Filiberto: Like, we got fucked because they don't care about us. And so everyone I know lately has been sick in some way or another. And it's not just the poop diet or lettuce. It's everything else that we're consuming that's full of hazardous chemicals that the EPA is, like, openly just letting get stuffed into the the food process. So working at a produce department, you're getting the front end of that oligopoly.
• 45:42
  Right? You're getting the front end of what that looks like. And let me tell you all, it's disgusting. Mhmm. And one of the reasons why it's disgusting is these grocery stores are so committed to profit that they habitually understaff the stores.
• 45:55
  Michelle: Yes.
• 45:56
  Filiberto: And when you go in there, it's like you're trying to get your produce and you're not seeing it. And it's really easy to get frustrated with the first person you see. But let me tell you all something really important. It is not the responsibility of that produce clerk. Right?
• 46:09
  It's not the produce clerk's fault that the grocery store is trying to screw you and take your money. That is not their design. That's not what they wanna do. They're being paid nothing to work really, really hard.
• 46:19
  Michelle: They're being exploited as well.
• 46:20
  Filiberto: They're being totally exploited. And if you wanna be if you wanna hold a grocer responsible, it's management, it's the owners that you don't have access to that you will never be able to talk to or tell how much they've ruined your life with their shitty ass lettuce. But those are the folks that need to be held responsible for what happens here. And the best thing you all can do is vote with your dollars. And if you see things not going well, if you see workers being mistreated, go somewhere else, please.
• 46:43
  For God's sakes, go somewhere else. But why is this relevant for the W?
• 46:48
  The reason why I think this is relevant for the W is because in that produce business, I saw the shrinkification . I saw the way they're just trying to throw at you rotting food because they don't care about you. And the thing that I worry about with the W that goes along those same lines, because the same types of people are running these systems, is that they increasingly make our experience in in watching games at the venues that we love to go to so uncomfortable because everything's so goddamn expensive.
• 47:14
  Like, when Michelle and I go to a Valkyries games, we have we pay a lot of money just to have two beers and a shitty meal. Like, it's not great. And I think that's the way they're they're picking our pocket, and they're taking advantage of our emotional emotional commitment to these elite women athletes. And I wanna support these women athletes. It's unfortunate that it gets laundered through billionaires.
• 47:33
  So I think one of the solutions and one of the challenges or calls in I wanna have to the W and the league, particularly the league and the players themselves and the association is what are some ways that y'all can use the contract to benefit the fan experience?
• 47:48
  Has anyone even had that kind of conversation in in professional sports, in sports unions? I don't think so. But how can we use things that other unions have done throughout the country, and this is generally called bargaining for the common good, to get advances for regular people that love this shit? So for example, some of the things that our friends over at Rutgers have identified that unions have done by bargaining for the common good is doing things like holding Wall Street accountable, divesting from public prisons, ending predatory banking.
• 48:15
  And we'll have a note to this in our show notes. Increasing remittances they demanded that US bankers start remittances to Somalia. Well, that's incredible. The victories that working people have had for the entire community. Right.
• 48:28
  So player association, can we come up with something where we work together to bargain for a better fan experience for the W? Maybe a cap on the way how much they can charge us for food and beer. Maybe prioritizing working with local producers of restaurants. Right? Maybe working with Black businesses in Oakland to fill in all that so they can get all the profit.
• 48:51
  What are ways we can do to make it better for us, the fans? How can you use the contract to do that? And how can you pull fans in to have maybe there could be a fans council or something like that. I don't know. This is me just spitballing here.
• 49:02
  But I think there's really important ways that the contract can be leveraged to support the fans that love this so much and to fight off the billionaires trying to pick our pocket constantly.
• 49:11
  Michelle: Well, that's the point I want to make is that there's a lot of conversations going around about how the pool of fans is changing. Yeah. A lot of the fans that have been, like, diehard supporters are being priced out with some of the season ticket renewals Yeah. Or just single ticket sales and what it costs, you know, to have a soda and a hot dog at the game. It's definitely increasing.
• 49:36
  But the problem is now you're bringing in these fans who actually don't care about women's sports and are bringing in their toxic masculinity. They're bringing in, just a lot of that different changing the vibe not for the better. And so it I think the point you're making is, you know, even though the contracts, like, usually focus on the players, but, like, what kind of experience do you wanna have from the fans who are sitting three rows from you?
• 50:02
  Filiberto: From your audience.
• 50:03
  Michelle: Right. Yeah. Like and you can achieve some of that. You can keep this a game of people who care about women's sports and not just, like, being seen in a place to take an Instagram selfie. But one of the ways you do that is you make sure that those people who have been fans for, you know, for a lot of these teams, years, decades, is to do some of this bargaining for common good because we want everyone to have a good time.
• 50:28
  It's not just about the players. It's not just about the owners. But making sure you're treating your concession workers correctly. Like players have a vested interest in that and so do fans. So there's a like, I'm glad you brought this up.
• 50:40
  There's a there's a lot here that can be done to kind of keep the W, like, what we love about it from disappearing, which some of us have already started noticing. But, like, let's let's hold that line, and this is one of ways you can do that.
• 50:54
  Filiberto: Yeah. And I think I think to your point, for the players, like, the interest is multivaried. But, yeah, I think do you want to have an audience that filled up that's filled up with folks like me and Michelle? Or do you wanna have people that make a lot more than us that don't give a shit about you? Because we got lucky that they didn't increase season ticket prices and we can come back another year, but I don't know that we can keep affording that.
• 51:15
  I don't know. They're gonna jack us up at some point. Like, that's just what they do. So, you know, it's like, who do you want in the room
• 51:22
  Michelle: Right.
• 51:22
  Filiberto: With you when you're just doing the most incredible things you'll do in your lifetime? Like, what made the what's made the Valkyries so successful is they've been able to share that with a committed fan base. And that's that's not guaranteed if we especially if we can't afford it anymore.
• 51:35
  Michelle: Well, yeah, a fan base that's able to cheer at games, to boo the refs when they need to, and and to kind of be that that six person helping the team win. Like, that's what's gonna be that's why the Valkyries are fighting for a top four seed. They wanna have that home court advantage. That disappears if the only people who can afford your tickets are millionaires. They are not gonna be cheering you on throughout the whole game.
• 51:59
  They're not gonna be invested. They'll show up sometimes second quarter, least sometime in the third quarter. These are not the fans that are gonna help you, achieve some of those runs and some of those championships. So it's something that they need to think about seriously.
• 52:12
  Filiberto: Yeah. It's an invitation, y'all. It's not a callout.
• 52:17
  Michelle: Awesome. Good job.
• 52:19
  Filiberto: Thank you.
• 52:33
  What do you have on your mind today? Michelle z? Michelle z. Sorry.
• 52:36
  What do you have on your mind today, Michelle? What's going on?
• 52:40
  Michelle: So I just wanna call attention to an article that was that appeared in the Defector recently. And I think just kind of going back to this podcast, we've been kinda keeping our eye on the professional women's baseball league. Started with four teams. They're playing in, I believe it's Illinois?
• 53:01
  Filiberto: Yes. Somewhere small town in Illinois somewhere.
• 53:03
  Michelle: I keep getting that mixed up. And, you know, great skills, great players, good games to watch. There have been some hiccups with some of their broadcasting and and, like, some horrible weather to to start their their opening weekend. But, I think because of some of those hiccups, we're a little weary to kind of, like, spend a lot of time talking about them because it felt like something was off.
• 53:30
  Filiberto: Yeah. It it felt like a a really it's a startup, but it felt like, I don't know, a really poorly executed startup.
• 53:40
  Michelle: Which is weird because you've seen other leagues starts or, like, you know, new franchises like the Valkyries that have just done a great job.
• 53:50
  Filiberto: The NWSL is on amazing ride the last five. There's a lot of people out there that know how to do this really well.
• 53:55
  Michelle: Exactly.
• 53:55
  Filiberto: A lot of women, executives that know how to handle this.
• 53:57
  Michelle: So it's kinda like, why are guys screwing this up so badly? Like, was just it's it's just been kinda weird. So reading this this article by Jen Ramos Eisen, and Frankie De la Cretaz was really helpful to kinda understand some of the issues. And I don't wanna spend too much time here, you can read it. But the reporters spoke with more than a dozen players.
• 54:21
  Some of them were drafted, some of them are not signed, some of them were okay with using their names, some of them were off the record. But they're kind of like describing something that's like that goes beyond the usual hiccups. Like where they held a draft last fall and then people didn't hear anything from the league for months. You know, they had some the people that were hired to be presidents and and to be leaders and management of this league, like, were some good signs for people. But there's just other stuff they're just not paying attention to.
• 54:55
  They're doing horribly. Like, a lot of announcements they changed. They were supposed to have six teams when they opened. They only had four. And a lot of these changes, players didn't even know about until it was announced on social media.
• 55:06
  They had no advance warning.
• 55:08
  Filiberto: Like, y'all, you can't open a restaurant saying that you're gonna have Italian food and then say that, actually, we're not gonna have pizza at all and no pasta and good luck getting a meatball. Like, just that's not how it works.
• 55:18
  Michelle: Yeah. And I think, like, reading between the lines you have, it's the same old same old with a lot of women's sports. It's like you should just be lucky that you have this league. Yeah. And whatever we throw at you, if we give you crumbs, you should be happy, you should be satisfied, you should be content with that.
• 55:32
  And I think there's still some players who feel that way, so they're afraid to kinda say anything negative about the league. And that's kinda what management's kind of exploiting is they they know that people won't speak out because they'll be afraid of kinda, leading to its debyes in the worst case scenario. But it just doesn't feel like they're being treated super well. Like there's people who are drafted. If you were drafted in the first three rounds, you got a contract, but others are not.
• 56:03
  You get your living expenses when you're in town, but the players are making 3 to 500 a game, which isn't a lot. Some of these players have played Banana Ball, if you remember the Savannah Bananas, like those players are getting 6 figures. And so it's kinda like the Women's Baseball League got a 3,000,000 in initial investing, investment. And it's kinda like where is that money going? It's not going to the players.
• 56:30
  Filiberto: Mhmm.
• 56:30
  Michelle: And it's like other things like this didn't promote the league very well. They would have events in cities but didn't promote them ahead of time or market them. So like a lot of fans didn't even know about them and they had players show up. You could have gotten signatures, you could have got photos with them.
• 56:44
  Fans didn't even know. Same thing with broadcasting. Like, they're not promoting the game. Like, it was supposed to be just streaming, not even on ESPN like TV streaming, but just on their streaming platform, which unfortunately was only for residential. They didn't have a a way for commercial.
• 57:01
  So for bars, bars couldn't show the game when the season started. They have they have a different kind of platform they use to show sports.
• 57:09
  Filiberto: Different licensing arrangement.
• 57:11
  Michelle: You know, eventually fix that. But it's like there's so many of these bars and places that are are now starting to show more women's sports, they couldn't do that for the first couple of weeks. So it's just been kinda amateur.
• 57:25
  Its been really, fly by night. Yeah.
• 57:27
  Filiberto: And Well, I think the thing that really emerges that really, like, I think sinks it up for me is last week, there was a reporting that Mina Kim, one of the boards of directors, has filed a lawsuit over financial transparency. And she's alleging that there's a lot of backroom deals between family members. Yeah. Like, that you cannot defend that and you can't manipulate people away from critiquing that by saying if you don't have us, you don't have a league. Because fuck you, they can just make another league.
• 57:50
  Right. Like, you don't get to have that kind of impunity. If this is actually what's happening Yeah. If those allegations are true, this has just been a money grab.
• 57:57
  Michelle: Right.
• 57:57
  Filiberto: And they've taken advantage of people that's fucked up. And this is one of the things that happens when you don't have a union. The PWHL has a union however weak that contract is, but it's still a union. It's still a force that can organize people and and speak up.
• 58:07
  Michelle: Right.
• 58:07
  Filiberto: They do not have that in this baseball league, and we're seeing the consequences of it.
• 58:10
  Michelle: Exactly. And so we'll put a we'll put a link to The Defector article and the one that Fili just mentioned about the separate lawsuit about transparency.
• 58:20
  Filiberto: That's a bad lawsuit y'all. Even if it's not entirely accurate, the fact that it's even on paper and they're willing to put it and that that a board of director a board of director doesn't have access to financial documents. I've been on boards. That is the number one thing that you're supposed to do. Yeah.
• 58:33
  That you're responsible your primary responsibility is fiduciary you have fiduciary responsibility over the institution.
• 58:40
  Michelle: And transparency.
• 58:41
  Filiberto: If you can't see a budget, you you're not fulfilling that responsibility.
• 58:44
  Michelle: Right. Right. No. It's not a good sign. So I just wanna we'll put links to both of these in the in the show notes.
• 58:51
  But I I think one of the one of the players that was quoted was, we can be patient for progress. Like, don't ask me to be patient if we're not getting progress. Right? We can be patient, but we wanna see that progress. We wanna see that growth.
• 59:08
  We're okay sacrificing. This is kind of what WNBA players did. Right? The the first ten, fifteen years of this league, there's a lot of sacrifice by those players to to build on what we have now for the WNBA. So, you know, if if you're a baseball in the baseball league, you're thinking the same thing, but it's like we wanna see that progress.
• 59:26
  Like, you can't just, like, stick us here and have us be stagnant for for years for what?
• 59:32
  Filiberto: Yeah. And for all those fans that really believed in this league and believed that it was an opportunity and for all the women out there that just really love baseball and wanna play it, I'm really sorry that they took advantage of you. You don't deserve that. You deserve to be taken advantage of like that. That's not cool.
• 59:44
  Yeah. That's not cool.
• 59:46
  Michelle: So, yeah, we'll we'll keep following the story, but I just wanna thank this is another example of of journalists who have time and a lot of time it's on their own time. It's their own expense until someone picks up the article, but just wanna thank Jen and Frankie for doing this reporting.
• 1:00:04
  Filiberto: Well, that's really important for investing in these kind of projects too. Like, most news sites don't like investing investigative because it just takes longer. It's more expensive to produce these articles.
• 1:00:12
  And you might piss someone off.
• 1:00:14
  And you're gonna piss somebody off. Mhmm. That's the funnest part of it, though. Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:00:18
  Agitation is fun.
• 1:00:19
  Michelle: Yeah. Thank you for putting that together. It's an important read.
• 1:00:27
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