Latest / WCHS Network Podcasts / Let's Talk with Carl Lee: A Conversation with Karley Walker - Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, WNBA, NIL and the controversies
Transcript
- 0:01Yeah, you gotta work. You gotta work, cry sign It's mine gotta
- 0:13show. Everybody is mine. Sign you gotta work, cry Son. Another
- 0:18mind from Saga Dog to day Line, Don't Tell you Gotta work. Welcome
- 0:23to Let's Talk with Carl Lee, where sports, culture, and community intersect.
- 0:28Joined Carl and frequent co host Hollis Lewis as they dive into engaging conversations
- 0:33with guests from all walks of life. Let's Talk is probably presented by Attorney
- 0:37Frank Walker, Real Talk, Real Experience, Real Results, Frank Walker Law
- 0:42dot com. Let that conversation begin on Let's Talk. Welcome ladies and gentlemen
- 0:47too. Let's Talk with Carl Lee. We dive into conversations dealing with sports
- 0:52and a lot of the issues that come with sports, and today we'll touch
- 0:58into one of those. Our sponsor of Let's Talk is Attorney Frank Walker,
- 1:03Real Talk, Real Experience, Real Results. Visit Frank Walkerlaw dot com for
- 1:08more information. You can catch Let's Talk with Carl Lee every Sunday at one
- 1:15pm Thursdays at seven pm on five to eighty WCHS. If you miss an
- 1:21episode, you can go to w CCHS network dot com let's slash Let's talk
- 1:26and listen to it online. You can follow us on Facebook with Let's Talk
- 1:30with Carl Lee for any updates and more. All right, So, Hollis
- 1:37Lewis is my co host today, and before I introduce our guest, you
- 1:45and I have we've kind of, I don't know, we've kind of beat
- 1:49up the Caitlin Clark issue. I guess. I guess you could say that
- 1:57we maybe some over, but I think me and you we don't have We're
- 2:04not really the experienced people in the in the in the house, I don't
- 2:07think right, you know, I don't think that I could. I'm giving
- 2:12my personal opinion as a as a professional athlete, as a college athlete,
- 2:15high school athlete, and all of the experience that I've had in sports.
- 2:22So I'm trying to so would you agree that this is more of a female
- 2:30athlete's uh opinions speaks better than maybe me and you. I think they have
- 2:38a firsthand knowledge. I think us being sports fans, our whole lives of
- 2:42us, being athlete coaches, we definitely have a perspective an opinion. But
- 2:46you know, as female, particularly a basketball player, professional athlete, a
- 2:51coach, they would have a firsthand knowledge about the you know, the issues
- 2:55that's surrounding Kaylyn Clark and women's basketball, women's sports in general. And I
- 3:00don't think we beat it up because I think it's a permanent issue. Right,
- 3:04It's something, it's revolutionary, it's we're experienced, we're in the middle
- 3:07of experience something that we have not previously experienced in women I'll say, in
- 3:13women's sports, not just basketball. And let me Okay, So I agree
- 3:17one hundred percent of introduce her. Guess, well, here's the thing,
- 3:23here's the thing. I'm holding her because I think she is like, really
- 3:27the ideal person to speak to this and and I want us to get all
- 3:31about her. Our doubts, our conversation that does have no to me,
- 3:38I feel has no value compared to her. Okay. So I think that
- 3:46Caitlin has done something for the league. I think it has I think,
- 3:51and and the idea of changing the game. Okay, And this is going
- 3:57to be an interesting get to the guest. I think it's her shooting and
- 4:01the depth of her threes and that type of thing I think that changes it.
- 4:05Okay, I would argue, I would argue different than that because I
- 4:09Like again, and I've said this multiple times on the show, I don't
- 4:12think it's just her. I think when you have that great rivalry heard Andrew
- 4:16Reese when they had it in college, and now it's going straight to there
- 4:20in the same class, they're going straight to the professional ranks. With that,
- 4:25those two of those rivalry really blossom. And even like Kim Mosey the
- 4:29coaches and Staley the coaches, just everything surrounding that. And again I'll say
- 4:33Kayler Clark being at the head of that, you cannot discount that. But
- 4:38I don't think it's just about her and just about her game. And I
- 4:41would also say that women's particularly women's basketball. I was even watching the women's
- 4:46World Scaries softball those it's just better. It's a better watch than the men's
- 4:51game right now. It is, And maybe it's been a better I don't
- 4:55know, but I'm saying right now, what I'm saying is a way better
- 4:59watch. Right, So, our professional guest, our professional guest is and
- 5:05I have to say this. I've known her mom, I've known her dad
- 5:09for like ever, all right. She is a graduate from South Charleston High
- 5:14School. She played basketball and soccer at South Charleston. She was a member
- 5:19of the South Charleston twenty ten state runner up girls basketball team. She's a
- 5:25graduate from Worcester College with a BS in computer science. She was a four
- 5:30year starter for the women's basketball team. She also played golf, which I
- 5:35need some golf lessons. So she might be, she might be. She
- 5:39might be the person I'm going to be looking up. Carly Walker. Reed.
- 5:46She and she's coached AU level. That's where you that's basically where you
- 5:49got started, okay, And that was with the Raising Stars. She has
- 5:56been a head coach for the South Charleston Middle School for four years, South
- 6:00Charleston High School for two years, and she was assistant coach at West Virginia
- 6:04State University, where she continues to volunteer there now and waiting on her journey
- 6:10to see where that journey takes there, where it goes, So all right,
- 6:15So and she works at CAMC currently right now. So thank you for
- 6:20being our guest, Thank you for waiting. But I needed I wanted to
- 6:24set this up because again, I kind of respect the whole era around you,
- 6:30right, And I did because I know your dad, I know your
- 6:32mom, And then got a chance to see bits and pieces of your career,
- 6:38and so that's why I wanted to reach out and get you on the
- 6:41show. So I appreciate you call. We're glad to have you. I'm
- 6:45glad to have you because I don't I don't have to just sit here trying
- 6:47to deal with Hollis the whole time. I got to high see somebody who
- 6:50has the professional or opinion. So when you have the conversation about Caitlyn Clark,
- 6:57like just in your own space and around other women's women's basketball players,
- 7:04female basketball players at any level, what is that talk like, Well,
- 7:10you got to respect her, right, I mean, she's a baller.
- 7:12She can play, and she could do more than just shoot. That's what
- 7:15people don't really talk about. Like, she has phenomenal basketball IQ. She
- 7:19can see the floor, she passes well, and yes, her shooting is
- 7:23amazing. I mean she can hit them from deep. I actually remember the
- 7:27first time I saw her on ESPN, she hit like three logo threes against
- 7:31Michigan to bring them back in the fourth quarter, and that's kind of when
- 7:34she really took off. From that moment. I think she's phenomenal. Do
- 7:40I think she's the best player out there? Right now. No, I
- 7:44do not think she's the best player in women's basketball. Okay, elaborate a
- 7:46little bit on that, just for somebody like me. Okay, yeah,
- 7:54help me with that when you say it, because when I look at her,
- 7:56I'm like thinking, man. And again, she gets the most attention
- 8:00see her more than anybody else. Yeah, and she does get probably the
- 8:03most attention, which I mean it is deserved, but there's other great women's
- 8:07players out there, and I think it's great that she's getting that attention because
- 8:09it's starting to showcase all the women's talent that's actually out there that people haven't
- 8:15been paying attention to. Somebody like me, I've been paying attention to it
- 8:16for a long time, but some people are new to this. They're just
- 8:20realizing that women's basketball is the real deal. So I think right now,
- 8:24the best player in women's basketball is Ajia Wilson. She's a baller, she
- 8:28dominates. She's leading in scoring, she's leading in rebounding. I think she's
- 8:33second in what was it blocks, and then she's first in efficiency, and
- 8:39she never gets the praise she deserves. But yeah, to me, right
- 8:43now, Ajia Wilson is the best player in women's basketball absolutely dominating. Yeah,
- 8:46she's dominating every game. I've heard her name, But like I would
- 8:50say, I don't know her name right right, Like I wouldn't like and
- 8:54you should she's yeah, And I'm in a place where like I'm not thinking,
- 9:00like, oh, I want to turn the television. If you asked
- 9:03me what team she played on, I say, I don't know, wouldn't
- 9:09know. She's got a statue at South Carolina right now, She's the real
- 9:13deal. Look it up. And again that's why I say, like,
- 9:15I think the w NBA that one of the knocks on. They do a
- 9:18poor job of marketing, marketing and the players marketing in general. Yeah,
- 9:24and they're rebranding right now, like now they're referring to does the w W
- 9:28Yeah, So I think that's helping. And I think where there was all
- 9:31this hype around March madness for women, it's it's finally getting the credit that
- 9:37it deserves. Like we finally get to fill out a bracket for the women's
- 9:39game that used to not be a thing. That he used to only be
- 9:41focused on the men. There wasn't even an option to go on any type
- 9:45of app anything to fill out a bracket. If you wanted to do it,
- 9:48you had to print it out and do it on paper. People don't
- 9:50even realize that like it. It's growing, Like it's finally getting the recognition
- 9:54it deserves. There were more viewers watching the women's game this year. Nobody.
- 9:58I don't even think anybody watched the men's championship game. I'll watch it,
- 10:01yeah, like yeah, and I'll say this, and you can,
- 10:05you know, give your comments on this, and I would say right now,
- 10:09although we have the hype around certain players and everything like that, the
- 10:13women's game is the game itself is better at all levels. I'm glad you
- 10:18finally got their better. Yeah. If you're a true like basketball fan,
- 10:24like I love the game, I I if I could watch it all day
- 10:28every day, I would do it. I could talk about it all day
- 10:30every day. But the women's game has has been a better watch. They
- 10:33actually have to play. It's not just athleticism and above the rim and shooting
- 10:37threes. You watch the NBA right now, all they're knowing is five out.
- 10:41Everybody standing around and watch the two best players on the team try to
- 10:45go to the basket and score, and then that's it that there's no more
- 10:48try and go offense. There. There's there's no more like true basketball out
- 10:52there is that even And I don't know how big of a sport fan you
- 10:58are, as football or anything. I don't even think. I don't even
- 11:03think football is the same. Yeah, well I would think. I think
- 11:07I don't, And I don't know do we have any idea of like why.
- 11:11It's because we're getting It's the rules. It's the rules when you look
- 11:15at specifically the w excuse me, the NBA because they try to acquesce to
- 11:20the European style of play, and when you look at the European style of
- 11:24play, it's offen centric. They don't have defensive it's not defensive because they
- 11:28don't have as good as athletes as we have over here. So the NBA
- 11:31has adopted a lot of those rules and standards. So when you see a
- 11:35Luca and a Joker, that's why they're prospering, because number one, they're
- 11:39offensivetry players. They play no defense at all, and it's not as rough
- 11:43as game as it used to be. Yes, it's definitely soft now,
- 11:46but too it's those players are dominating because they they learn the fundamentals like they
- 11:48were supposed to right like here excively. Yeah. Here, it's like,
- 11:52well, when you score that much, if you're outscoring, you're the person
- 11:54your gordon I think not evens it out right. I worry about defense too
- 11:58much. Let me ask you. Let me ask you this because because I
- 12:01see this a lot. I see dad's moms coaching or bringing their their kids
- 12:11to the gym. Yeah, and the shooting, dribbling. There is no
- 12:15focus on defense. It's almost as if you don't have to, like you
- 12:20can be a star now simply by shooting. Oh yeah, I mean look
- 12:24at Kaitlin Clark. Did you see her player defense? No? She she
- 12:28is smart in her defense. She's never guarden the best player though on the
- 12:31other team. She's always guarding somebody who's standing off in the corner, you
- 12:35know what I mean. She's always the help defender. But no, she's
- 12:37not known for her defense because she really don't have to play. She's not
- 12:41getting as simon of stopping the best player on the other But if you look
- 12:43at like Angelies or Brinkley Lay play, they play D. That's what I'm
- 12:48saying. So stars at the w n b A they're playing D. Yeah,
- 12:54there still alive. NBA who Okay, I'm sold on that because I
- 12:58do you buy into the idea that you that because I'm an I couldn't shoot.
- 13:03So coach Walton had me as the guy covering somebody else right right and
- 13:09told me basically never to shoot, you know, unless I absolutely had to.
- 13:13Ye. So I understand the relevance of defense, but I don't see
- 13:18anybody specifically going to the gym telling the kid to get their load, shovel
- 13:24your feet, that kind of stuff. You don't see it. Everything is
- 13:26offense drive driven, I think for defense defense, I mean, every coach
- 13:33probably has their certain philosophy that they teach within their man and man or whatever
- 13:37zone principles they want to teach. And every you know, you could talk
- 13:39to ten different basketball experts and they teach their teams how to play defense probably
- 13:43ten different ways. To me, defense is hard and hustle. Yes,
- 13:48if you want to stop somebody, if you have that mindset, like you
- 13:52are not scoring on me today, that's defense. And the drill the best
- 13:56drills for that is really just like agility drills right that side to side move.
- 14:00So if you can incorporate that in your practices, like that's really what
- 14:03helps on defense. You can do defensive slides and you can do all that,
- 14:07but it's really just heart and hustle. And if you watch Western Yia
- 14:11State, that's what we're about. Heart and hustle. We get after it.
- 14:15So if you can teach your kids that and that type of mindset,
- 14:18the defense will almost take care of itself. There's definitely things you have to
- 14:20coach around defense, but it's really just I don't see enough players out there
- 14:28now that have that dog in them. And that's when you get great defensive
- 14:31players. And what do you look at And if you look at dynasties,
- 14:35particularly in the NBA, they always had that one great defensive player. Here
- 14:39you look at the Draymond Green's, the Big Wallace's, the Dennis Robins,
- 14:41they always had that one. The Bruce Bowens, they always had that one
- 14:46just dog defensively. And I'm thinking, like, if we want to actually
- 14:50get back to those dynasties, you still got to, I think have that
- 14:54because even I got Brown from Celtics, you still got to have a good
- 14:56defensive player. Yeah, just the emphasis is not on yeah, but you
- 15:00And going back to the women's game, you look at march Manus, this
- 15:03year, WU gave Iowa a run for their mind because they played great defense.
- 15:09They get after it, and they had Caitlin Clark's number. She was
- 15:13frustrated that entire game. Then you go to the national championship game. I
- 15:16think she had twenty points in the first quarter and then they put Raven Johnson
- 15:20winner and she shut her down and locked. She only scored like eight or
- 15:24ten points after that for three more quarters. So like defense wins games.
- 15:28Wow, okay, and that's that. That slogan's been yeah forever. But
- 15:33why are we not why inlets say high school, why are we not focused
- 15:39on that and and teaching those things I can remember, but I still coach
- 15:46is still teaching. Yeah, coach is still teaching. I think it's just
- 15:48not highlighted. It's just not And I think you still got kids probably grabbing
- 15:52picking up school. But if you if you okay, so if you casually
- 15:56teach me, and that might be a bad word, but if you casually
- 16:00each me something. And I spend ninety of my time on the offensive side,
- 16:07whether it's shooting a layup, shooting a three, shooting a foul shot,
- 16:14and I don't spend time because I can remember having a guy dribble the
- 16:18ball back and forth, you know, left the right, left the right,
- 16:22and shuffling to stay in front of him to a point that where you'd
- 16:26almost like your back's hurting, your legs are killing your rated. I think
- 16:30we don't do those kinds. We do, yeah, and I did that
- 16:36at the high school level. I did that at the middle school level.
- 16:38Like coaches still work on defense. I think when you're like when you're talking
- 16:41about going and working out and like paying for lessons and things of that nature,
- 16:45Yeah, they're going to focus more on the offensive skills because that's what
- 16:48I have not seen one kid go over to job playing and do defensive slots.
- 16:52That's just not what they're going to want to do when they're working on
- 16:55their individual game. Plus, if you want to make yourself a better individual
- 16:59defender, there are things you can do. But defense is also teamwork,
- 17:02right, So like doing those an individual sessions, there's some benefit, but
- 17:06doing that when you're with your team there's more benefit in my opinion. And
- 17:10when they do like the ladder drills and those sort of agility drills that works
- 17:12with athletic drill, that's defense. It's not necessarily like a one to one
- 17:17comparison. But when they doing those athletic drills, that is because in a
- 17:19lot of coaches they're defensive driven. If you look at South Charleston High School
- 17:25this year, you have big Roam in the middle and he was changing shots,
- 17:27so people going to the lane they couldn't get to the lane because he
- 17:30was there. You can see the difference when he was on the court.
- 17:33You can see the difference when he's off the court. For sure. Defense
- 17:34is still relevant, yes, just that one on one. If you're like
- 17:37I said, if you're working out, that's not nobly what you're gonna be
- 17:41working out with specifically. And you talk about the slogan defense wins games,
- 17:44but offense sales tickets, right, So that's why people focus on that a
- 17:48lot more and they look at the offensive end more. Like I don't know
- 17:52of one great defensive player that got the praise that they necessarily deserve within teams,
- 18:00like ravend Johnson, Like she got a lot of praise simply because she
- 18:03shut Caitlyn Clark down. If that would have been somebody else, I don't
- 18:07know she would have gotten the praise that she deserved. And she's probably done
- 18:10that game after game after game. Yeah, she has Yeah, all of
- 18:15a sudden, it's a big deal. And that's a lot of the reason
- 18:18why South Carolina is doing so well. They are a great defensive team.
- 18:22And granted they're also very tall. I don't know where Don Saley's finding all
- 18:26these dog girls, but yeah, like the center Cordoza, she's like six
- 18:30eight. You've seen the difference when she was on the court was off the
- 18:33court for yeah, and you've seen a difference now with the sky. So
- 18:37yeah. The other interesting thing kind of a little bit of subject, but
- 18:42these ladies are dunking the basketball now, and I think Alexis Wrnbucker was dunk
- 18:48in the basketball back in the early two thousands. The greatest high school basketball
- 18:52player of all time in West Virginia in my opinion. Yeah, so that's
- 18:55the thing, Like, I agree, and we're hoping to get her too.
- 19:00Yeah. I grew up loving women's basketball. I grew up watching lex
- 19:03Renee meg with throw Keisha Tyler like the Nitro South Charleston rivalry then was the
- 19:10most fun games to watch. I honestly didn't care to go to a high
- 19:12school men's game. To be perfectly horness back then because the women's games were
- 19:17way more fun. I mean, I have never seen a men's high school
- 19:21game where I look over in the corner of the Rex Center in South Charleston
- 19:25and see Pat Summit, Muffett McGraw, Geno Rim, Brenda Freeze, Like
- 19:30these are all major D one coaches there to watch Lex and Renee. Wow.
- 19:34Yeah, Like so I haven't seen that locally for the men's game,
- 19:38and it could have happened. I just didn't see it. Like Oj was
- 19:41huge, he was a sensation when him and Patrick Patterson were at Huntington,
- 19:45but it was nothing like the Lex and Renee era. What do you think
- 19:51was the Is there a reason why women's sports has been on a delay for
- 20:00the media? Is there is there a justifiable reason or is it just the
- 20:06media just assumed that it wasn't well, weren't covering or or putting out like
- 20:12quote the men's games. Well, a lot of the problem was there wasn't
- 20:15a whole lot of women in the media. So now you're seeing a lot
- 20:18more female sportscasters. I mean, Doris Burke was is the first woman ever
- 20:25to commentate an NBA Finals game, and that happened this year in twenty twenty
- 20:30four, Like, think about how crazy that is. So no woman has
- 20:33ever commentated an NBA Finals game until this year. She's the first ever and
- 20:38very well deserved. She's one of the best commentators there is out there,
- 20:41and she was one of the best players there is, like in women's basketball,
- 20:45but not many people know that. Like so I think, really it's
- 20:49just the exposure in the representation. Like representation matters. So when you don't
- 20:53have women advocating in the media to show and do women's games, it's not
- 21:02going to be shot. And I'll say, just to add to that point,
- 21:04and I've said this previously, it's just I'm telling you, the men's
- 21:08sports are just almost unwatchable on TV now. They're just kind of I'm telling
- 21:14you it is. It is. This is the worst that I've ever seen,
- 21:18Like I said, even watching comparing like I'm watching the College World Series
- 21:22compared to the Softball World Series the soft again and not actually the College World
- 21:26is actually pretty good to watch, but the Softball World Series is far more
- 21:32superior. If you watch basketball n Cuba men's women, the women's game is
- 21:37far it's just better, you know, even watching We're football guys, right,
- 21:41watching football now because of all the rules change, it's a little bit
- 21:45difficult to watch track and field. I was watching that yesterday. I mean
- 21:48that's kind of equal. I mean, those phenomenal athletes, but I just
- 21:52say, pound for pound right now, far as a television television viewing audience,
- 21:56with so many other options, the women's game is better to watch.
- 22:00Yeah, And I think for women, like all we've ever asked for is
- 22:03the seat at the table, right, So think about it, like,
- 22:04there's not even that many all girls basketball leagues period around here and there that
- 22:11is growing, Like we just got an all girls summer league that's happening in
- 22:15South Charleston, which I'm so excited about there. I think it's for a
- 22:18grade school. I think it's great school age girls first through fifth grade.
- 22:22I believe that starts. I have to ask Kvon, I'll know, but
- 22:26it's this summer. I want to say it starts like within the next couple
- 22:29of weeks. Yeah yeah, all girls, Yeah, take take your girls
- 22:34and South guys. Yeah yeah. So I think like just having those avenues
- 22:42for girls to feel more comfortable and come out and play. Like obviously,
- 22:45like when I was growing up, I was probably one of maybe five girls
- 22:48in the youth league at South Charleson. Me and Sissy Wilson were and we
- 22:53made All Stars every year. We were better than a lot of the boys
- 22:57that we played with. But that's not always the case, right, So
- 23:00not everybody's confident enough to go in and do that. So I think the
- 23:03exposure like aau Even now, the women's teams are finally getting exposure and they're
- 23:08getting sponsorships from Nike and under Armour and things of that nature, and that
- 23:11didn't used to happen like except for like the top ten teams in the country.
- 23:17Now there's all kinds of amazing athletes out there in the women's game.
- 23:19So I think because the game is growing and we're getting more people interested and
- 23:23more girls are starting to play at a younger age, there's way more talent
- 23:27out there now than there ever has been. Is it to Hollis's point when
- 23:33you watch, when you watch a women's sport, and maybe with the exclusion
- 23:38of track, those are equals. Yeah, that was a pretty much equally.
- 23:45The women's sport looks different, like the effort looks different in a hustle.
- 23:51Yeah, we play hard, you know, and I think that guys
- 23:53have kind of gotten to a space where you know, hey, I'm making
- 23:57all this money. Yeah, you know, I'm not diving for a ball.
- 24:00You like, you're not going to get a Dennis Rodman type of player.
- 24:04Well, I mean they get then they get criticized. Yeah, they
- 24:07get criticized they're too aggressive. Yeah, Like I mean, look at Draymond.
- 24:11He also says some crazy stuff, so he does that. Yeah,
- 24:15but like that's not acceptable anymore. Like Dennis Rodmin was kind of praised for
- 24:18that in the nineties and early two thousands, you know what I mean.
- 24:21And like that's when the NBA was fun to watch, was the nineties and
- 24:23early two thousands. Like, but people did not like him and a dirty
- 24:29guy. I mean, think about it. You're you're getting guarded and you're
- 24:32getting a little elbow all the time. Yeah, nobody's don't like that.
- 24:33Nobody likes it when somebody's up in your face playing defense like that or getting
- 24:37every rebound. Like that's what I love about Angel race Man. She can
- 24:41rebound, I mean, and she's she's getting like ten boards a game right
- 24:45now as a rookie in the WNBA. But I think I think just like
- 24:51the men's game has been around for so long and it's evolved in a way
- 24:56of a lot of just kind of like to me, it's just professionally selfish
- 25:00play. Like I think Yukon men's team was a great example this year that
- 25:06if you go out and just play the game how it should be played,
- 25:08you'll dominate. Nobody was even close to Yukon men in the March Maddins game.
- 25:12They won all their games by double digits most of the time twenty point
- 25:17leads, including the championship game. And that's because coach Hurley's a fantastic coach.
- 25:21That's why the Lakers are trying to get it right now. But to
- 25:26me, the women's game has always been fundamental, and it's always been tough,
- 25:30and it's always been competitive because we don't have necessarily the above the rim
- 25:34play at every player, Like almost every player in the NBA can dunk.
- 25:37That's not the case in the WNBA. So I think like it's just more
- 25:41fundamental and it's just great basketball. It's great basketball, and it's the way
- 25:45the game should be played. It's funny you said that because I was listening
- 25:48to Carmelo Anthony today, he was doing a podcast and basically what he said
- 25:52is if you want to learn to play basketball, watch the women's game.
- 25:56And he made the exactly what you just said is the point that he made.
- 26:00Because you don't have the athleticism and above the rim play that you have
- 26:03to be gritty. You have to you know, set that screen and do
- 26:07that curl and do the fundamentals that are going to make this thing work.
- 26:11And I think that because and because we have so much flash and individualism in
- 26:15sports, that the player who does the fundamental things, the players who just
- 26:19does the may not be like the flashy thing, but just the he set
- 26:22that screen perfectly and made that block perfectly, that we're noticing that person now
- 26:29as opposed to the guy girl who's doing all the flashy stuff. Yeah,
- 26:33you have a league of players who are heard doing that like that. It
- 26:37just makes it like, wow, this is really yeah. And the women's
- 26:40game is just getting more competitive too, right like in the college area specifically,
- 26:42like it was Yukon and Tennessee and those those were the teams winning almost
- 26:48every single year, was Yukon and Tennessee. And now now we've got the
- 26:53South Carolina as We've got LSU. Baylor's been good. I mean West Virginia
- 26:59women's basketball st great. Shoot, Marshall women's basketball won the conference. Shout
- 27:03out to coach Kim who's now the head coach at the University of Tennessee.
- 27:06Local girl played basketball with her. And how about West Virginia women's basketball.
- 27:11Yeah, speaking of that, we had in the conference, we had three
- 27:14three uh, we had Fairmont State, you see, make the national Marshall
- 27:18WVU made made the national tournament. And I don't understand how that wasn't talked
- 27:22about hour Like, yeah it was. It was Westerree State Fairmount in the
- 27:30n C DOUALEA Division two tournament and it was I don't think you made it
- 27:33this year? Yeah, now it one year it was State Glenville. When
- 27:37you see that, they did make it one year, all three of them
- 27:38together. But then it was also a w and Marshall made the NC Double
- 27:42A Tournament and Marshall was the thirteen seed. Like that's how good Marshall did
- 27:47this year. They were a thirteen seed that's unheard of. Won their conference.
- 27:49Yeah, I won their conference, won the regular season, and won
- 27:52the tournament for their conference. Coach go to Tennessee, which is a that's
- 27:57like a yeah to Marshall to like Notre Dame, and she did that.
- 28:03She was at Glenville, then she went to Marshall and then now at University
- 28:07of Tennessee's a huge jump. Yeah, yeah, I can't wait so we
- 28:14can get a commercial in here. We'll be right back, all right.
- 28:17Let's Talk with Carl Lee is presented by Attorney Frank Walker. Real Talk,
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- 29:11network dot com slash Let's Talk. This is Let's Talk with Carl Lee.
- 29:15Now back through the conversation. Hello, ladies and gentlemen, we're back from
- 29:19a break. I just want to give another little shout out for my sponsor,
- 29:23Frankie Walker. Let's Talk as proudly presented by Attorney Frank Walker. Real
- 29:30Talk, real experience, Real Results. You can visit Frankie Walker online at
- 29:34frank Walker Law dot com for more information. Hollis listen in the break,
- 29:41I was like, you know, I was, I was mentioning the possibility
- 29:45of kind of like easing through something else. But I think we want to.
- 29:48I think the consensus is we want to kind of stay in this,
- 29:52in this vein. So lead us back out to an to an angle that
- 30:00I think you want. You want to take it because I'm curious to see
- 30:03I'm learning here. Yeah, all right, so I'm having for YouTube,
- 30:08so we'll talk to me. A look, I guess I would you know,
- 30:11start with a question. I think now that you know, I would
- 30:15say that women's basketball specifically women's sports in general, has this level of attention.
- 30:22Where do you see kind of the next steps happening to actually propel it
- 30:27where it's you know, where you have you know where, to getting paid
- 30:32how they're supposed to get paid. Yeah, Terry say the pay. I
- 30:33mean think about it. In the WNBA right now, of all the girls
- 30:37that were drafted, thirteen are only still in the WNBA. Thirteen. I
- 30:41think there was maybe thirty five players drafted in WNBA and only thirteen are still
- 30:47on current costs. There are I think twelve current teams and why why do
- 30:52you think that is? It's not enough. There's not enough teams. There's
- 30:55there's so much great talent out there and each team only has twelve rosters spots.
- 31:00So you so so would you say kind of the next step is the
- 31:03expansion teams. Yes, I think that's huge. Like the Valkyries that we
- 31:07just got, that's going to be fantastic. There's another team that I think
- 31:10is going to be in Toronto. I mean we used to have the Charlotte
- 31:14Sting. I mean think about it. The closest, yeah, the closest
- 31:18w NBA team to us right now is probably the Washington Mystics in DC,
- 31:22or the Indiana Fever in Indianapolis, and those are like five six hour drives.
- 31:26So how big of it, Like, how big of an impact have
- 31:30you seen or seen as a change with the growth of the w NBA and
- 31:37and and women's sports as a whole, young girls, their gravitation to women's
- 31:45sports sports. I love it. I mean I how honestly, I'm starting
- 31:48to hear people yelling Kayln Clark instead of Kobe when they're leaning back to hit
- 31:52a shot, you know what I mean. So it's it's it's cool,
- 31:55and it's cool to see young men as well are also paying attention to the
- 31:59women's game because we want everybody to watch, not just women, We want
- 32:01everybody involved. We want everybody to watch. But it's really cool seeing young
- 32:06girls have women to look up to to play. Like my favorite player growing
- 32:10up with Diana Tarazzi, and I think she's the goat, like she will
- 32:15always be the greatest of all time for me, But she'd I don't think
- 32:17she got the praise she deserved because talk about shooting. She can hit deep
- 32:22threes. Gino just didn't allow that. Speaking of that, we got to
- 32:28talk about this the Olympic team. Yeah, where we look at the roster
- 32:34and we don't see Andrewice, we don't see Cleveland Clark, we don't see
- 32:36Brinkley, we don't see any of this class on that team. Yeah,
- 32:39just in your view again, and I'm sure all the ladies or all the
- 32:43women on that team are well deserved. But just from a marketing standpoint,
- 32:47do you think that was a strategic mistake not to have some of those players
- 32:52on that team. No, I don't think they're good enough right now to
- 32:54play at the Olympic level. Okay, I think the players that are currently
- 32:59on the deserved to be on the roster. And I think again, it
- 33:01showcases there is a lot of talent out there. There is a lot of
- 33:07women's talent out there, and we're just now getting to see it on display.
- 33:10Like a lot of the rookies, they've struggled their first couple games in
- 33:14the WNBA. Yeah, the game is more physical. You're playing against grown
- 33:17women. You're not playing against eighteen to twenty two year old kids. You're
- 33:22playing against grown women who've been doing this for a long time, and they
- 33:24were dominant in college as well. And you know now they're dominating at the
- 33:30professional level. So I mean Asia Wilson, really she's taken off within the
- 33:34last two years, you know what I mean, And she she struggled too,
- 33:37Like very rarely do you see a rookie really come in and dominate.
- 33:40To me, I think a rookie that did that was Kannas Parker, and
- 33:44she's one of the greatest of all times too, so you don't really see
- 33:46that. I mean, Stewie won four championships in four years, was the
- 33:51MVP almost every single year, and she came in the league and still had
- 33:54an adjustment period, you know what I mean. So I think it's really
- 33:58showing that, Like, no, they're there's a lot of talent out there,
- 34:00and as good as Kaylyn Clark is, as good as Angel Reese is,
- 34:04as good as Cameron Brink is, and I don't think she gets enough
- 34:07credit because she's been bawling right now. Yeah, but I think the roster
- 34:12as is there's I would have loved to have added more people, but who
- 34:15they have, I think it's great, but I think I think they could
- 34:17have added three more spots. Yeah, they got twelve on the roster now
- 34:21ten or twelve probably twelve. That's usually more like yeah, but again that
- 34:25that comes down to the money too, Like probably can't afford to add those
- 34:29spots because then you know, it's the w NBA is still not making the
- 34:32money that it showed, but it's USA Basketball, so you get paid through
- 34:35a different entity. It's not WNBA. It's probably I bet you if we
- 34:37would investigate, it's probably still not equal to what the men's team has.
- 34:42Yeah, let me ask you just one more question where we're talking about professional
- 34:45and we talked about expansion, is there ever could there ever, ever,
- 34:50ever, ever ever ever for like a w NBA. Could we could West
- 34:54Virginia Maybe not we's Virginia loan Maybe we could put him and that could try
- 34:58state like in honey to where you have Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia,
- 35:01like a could we ever host could we ever be a home of it?
- 35:06Like a w NBA team? I would love to be. It would be
- 35:08awesome. I don't know though. I shoot, I'll take Columbus, Like,
- 35:14get us a team in Columbus, Like that's only two and a half
- 35:15our drive. I'll be there every game if I can. Yeah, Pittsburgh,
- 35:19Columbus area, that's probably more realistic right now. But I think,
- 35:22you know, as long as the pretty much like the capital cities and though
- 35:27smaller like what you said, the Tristate area, if they keep growing,
- 35:29if we keep you know, getting more people to move in, like the
- 35:32whole economic impact, I think we could. But right now, unfortunately,
- 35:37I don't think it's probably possible. Yeah, I think just dreaming. Yeah
- 35:40right, I know, me too, I think I think really, I
- 35:44think a whole host of West Virginians would love to have some form of a
- 35:49professional team. Him. Oh, yeah, I don't think. Yeah,
- 35:53you know, West Virginia is a sports state. I feel like, yeah,
- 35:57fortunately you're stuck with West Virginia and Marshall. That's like, that's our
- 36:02pro team. Yeah, you know, well, you know, I got
- 36:07at least yeah, but at least you know, whether it's one two,
- 36:14it's still I think we're I think we're missing out. Yeah. I think
- 36:20having the TVT here the last couple of years was huge. You know,
- 36:23that's probably the closest to a professional type of game we've been able to get
- 36:28because a lot of the people who play in the TVT were former NBA players,
- 36:32So I think it was cool to have that here. I think from
- 36:36a women's standpoint, if we could get an exhibition w n B a game
- 36:39here, that would be wow. Are we Is it because of the facilities
- 36:45that we can't. The Civic Center could definitely host it. I mean the
- 36:50coliseum in Morgantown could have hosted. They had an exhibition game at South Carolina
- 36:54with the Las Vegas Aces. Yeah, we could. I think we could
- 36:58definitely host it. And I think how reasons is there? Okay, so
- 37:01if we have something that's is it financial or it or it's just because it's
- 37:09all it's west ertaink No. I think that you had like the cycling,
- 37:13Yeah, the cycling crowds here, you had the Junior Olympics. As far
- 37:16as boxing here, we have young man you mentioned here. So I think
- 37:21if we can get with our our leadership, shout out to America, she's
- 37:24doing fantastic. I think something like that could happen. And okay, so
- 37:30let's let me change. Let me change the way that I say it.
- 37:32Have we just not thought about it? And and now the sports like,
- 37:37we haven't thought about hosting something like that, so we never have. I
- 37:40think, I think, I'm sorry, I'll let you go. But sports
- 37:44tourism is a new industry. Yes, sports tourism is really kind of a
- 37:49new concept to West Virginia. I'm not saying national right to West Virginia.
- 37:52So I think we're looking at it and I and I truly believe with you
- 37:55know, our current leadership, I think in the next four to five years,
- 37:58because again we've had what we had forty nine ers here, we've had
- 38:01the Saints here as far as doing their training briar. So I think we're
- 38:07close and it's going to happen. Yeah. And then the PGA golf tournament
- 38:09was at the Greenbrier too, Yeah, So I think it's going to start
- 38:13happening. And I think you got leadership and Amy good one. You shout
- 38:15out to Ben siling Go as well that are thinking outside the box, and
- 38:19they're like, yeah, why why can't why can't we host these events here?
- 38:22Let's let's make it happen. So I think if you can, you
- 38:25know, do it from a financial standpoint, and you can get enough people
- 38:29who want to come to those events and they show up and actually come,
- 38:32then yeah, I don't see why we couldn't do something like that. I
- 38:36just don't know how anybody wouldn't come because the one thing that I would say
- 38:40in West Virginia, if anything, we're sports fans. Yes, I agree,
- 38:45you know we we we are locked into and I mean you can take
- 38:50that all hoody down to youth sports. I mean you got grown men fighting
- 38:53over that's a whole other issue. That's a whole other issue. Yeah,
- 38:58you know what I'm saying. But I think just the reality of what the
- 39:00sport is, we're all over it, you know, we dive into it.
- 39:06Yeah, call yeah. And women's basketball is growing here as well.
- 39:09Like shout out to lexin Renee. They were kind of like the catalyst for
- 39:13that in West Virginia. Seeing that type of talent here was crazy, and
- 39:19they got a lot of coaches attention at the national level, and then they
- 39:22finally started coming here and recruiting a little bit more. And like the Aleah
- 39:25Dunham's like Alio's fantastic, you know, and we just need to keep keep
- 39:30building on that, keep you know, supporting the women athletes here, keep
- 39:35you know, giving them the skills, coaching them up, that kind of
- 39:38thing. I mean, I think it's just going to keep getting better.
- 39:40And to that point, I think you kind of mentioned some things earlier,
- 39:45But what do we need to do here, like within the state locally to
- 39:49make sure that we're continue to support What do women's sports here need? Women's
- 39:53sports here? I mean it's it's pretty much the same. Like you know,
- 39:58I was one of the only only female coaches in the high school level,
- 40:04and now we've got Olivia Woody at Capital and honestly there's a couple others
- 40:09and some more rural counties. There's a coach at Chapmanville, female coach at
- 40:14Chapmanville, coach Goores. She's doing a great job that we need to be
- 40:17be represented. We need more women getting involved and giving back to the sport
- 40:22that they once loved. I think that's huge because I you know, I
- 40:25wear the girls used to make fun of me all the time because I wear
- 40:29my WNBA year to practices and stuff all the time. I'm always representing in
- 40:32some way, shape or form. So I think we need more women coming
- 40:37to the table and being involved in sports youth, middle school, high school,
- 40:42college and being ready to give back. I think, especially here,
- 40:45we need more of that. Are we are we giving those women when it's
- 40:51their time? Did we give them enough for them? To feel like it's
- 40:57worth giving back because some people can just get back to because of the that's
- 41:00just naturally, naturally who they are. Yeah, but because sometimes I think
- 41:04you have to give me something to make me say, well, okay,
- 41:08I'm going to do this for you. Yeah. If you're getting into coaching
- 41:13because you want money or anything like that, you're getting in it for the
- 41:15wrong reasons. Yeah, you're getting in it for the wrong reasons. I
- 41:17think it's just you know, encouraging women to get out there and do it.
- 41:22I think too, it's different dynamic, right, Like women are usually
- 41:25the people the ones that are raising the kids. They're the ones that are
- 41:29you know, running the households, things of that nature. And I think
- 41:34and it's been frowned upon for women to do both. And I think we
- 41:37are seeing more and more now that it's being more encouraged. So it's okay
- 41:42for our women to run a business, run a family, and you know,
- 41:46have extracurriculars that they're into as well. I think before that was really
- 41:50discouraged. It was stay in your place. So I think now that women
- 41:54are being encouraged to like do things like that, I think that's going to
- 41:58get better. Too, and again coaching coaching doesn't pay a lot anyone.
- 42:04But I can't you know, I can't imagine, and I don't know this
- 42:07as a fact, but I can't imagine that a female coach and women's coach.
- 42:15Say, if I coach football and you coach basketball, I'm going to
- 42:20assume that I'm going to make more, No, for sure, then you're
- 42:22gonna make Yeah. But to me makes no sense. Head coach, head
- 42:27coach, head coach, don't matter what it is. What I'm just I'm
- 42:30just saying that it should be if you're the head, then it should be
- 42:36equal. I mean, I know that it's not. Yeah, and it's
- 42:39not going to be because I mean, think about it, like football stadiums
- 42:43are huge compared to basketball arenas. They're always gonna get sell more tickets.
- 42:46They're going to have to understands stay basketball. But I don't. I don't
- 42:51think like far as you know, to me, this isn't a male or
- 42:53female thing. It's just sport. Like for example, if we have a
- 42:58sport, if we have somebody who coached as an Olympic sport, they're not
- 43:00going to get paid. They should not get paid the same as somebody who
- 43:05coaching, like a women's basketball team, who, like you said, go
- 43:07fill up a stadium, Yes, a head coaching before ball, fill up
- 43:10an arena. Yeah, and that's sport by sport. But if we focus
- 43:14just on basketball, there definitely is disparity between coaches pay for men and women.
- 43:17Okay, there's definitely disparity. Yeah, like the even looking at the
- 43:22major D one schools, Like some of the D one men's coaches are getting
- 43:25paid outrageous amounts of money and they're they're not even as successful as some of
- 43:30the women's programs that are also at the Division one level. So I think
- 43:35there's definitely disparity there. I think it's starting to get better. I think
- 43:39like the Dawn Stanley's who's a trailblazer for women's sports. She she's getting big
- 43:45contracts now, which is fantastic because we weren't seeing that before and it's well
- 43:47deserved, right, Like, I mean, she put her time in,
- 43:51like everybody thinks, like she's just been successful this whole time. Note she
- 43:53was at Temple before and was like struggling and building the program up and then
- 43:58finally got her opportunity at South Carolina that gave her more resources, and she
- 44:01had more recruiting capabilities and things of that nature. And now she's showcased into
- 44:06the world how great we coach she is. You're touching on a on another
- 44:09subject that I think is really really important, because sometimes what coaching isn't just
- 44:16about the exces and o's or the diagram. No, it's not it.
- 44:21You have to have you have to have support. You know you might have
- 44:23support, you have to And and I don't know if people understand when you
- 44:30take over a job that's in, that's down, I don't know what your
- 44:37expectation is for a year. And again I'm not making I'm not making any
- 44:42justification from my experience, but but the reality of it is, No,
- 44:45it's hard, it's it's challenging. It is when you step into a program
- 44:50that's already down. But but I think that's the part of coaching that probably
- 44:54people don't talk about enough, is that you have to be a business person.
- 44:59You have to be the marketing. Yeah, they have to go after
- 45:01it. And I think that when you look at when we're talking about pay,
- 45:05I think the women's pay is going to go up as more eyes are
- 45:07on the sports. Yeah, so when you look at somebody like a Kim
- 45:09Molki. People think that she has these flamboyant outfits on just the wearing,
- 45:14But no, that's part of the marketing of what she's trying to do.
- 45:17She's getting people eyes on it. Any way that she is, she's getting
- 45:21she's getting those outfits sent to her to where people will start, you people
- 45:24to start buying the stays genius, right, Yeah, look at stuff like
- 45:29that. That's what you have to do. That's the part that you have
- 45:31to do to get the eyes on you, you know what I mean,
- 45:35And that that way you can justify the higher self. Yeah, And that's
- 45:37why there's a lot of talk right now because I think next year the WNBA
- 45:40players are going to get to read negotiate their contracts and they're not asking to
- 45:45get paid the same amount as NBA players. They're asking for the same percentage
- 45:52of pay of shares that like Kelsey Plumb right now is the highest selling jersey
- 45:55in the WNBA, she gets no money off jerseys that she sells. See
- 46:00that's that's great. Yeah. So yeah, so it's like they're just asking
- 46:04for the same percentage of pay. So like Lebron, I'm sure he gets
- 46:07a certain percentage of However, many jerseys of his that cell they're just asking
- 46:12for that same percentage. They're not it's not real. They're not being unrealistic
- 46:15saying, oh, we should make millions of dollars too. They can't.
- 46:17The WNBA is not making millions of dollars right now. Now, hopefully they
- 46:21will and they will start getting to be able to pay more. But I
- 46:23mean, Caitlin Clark is being as famous as she is, she's getting paid
- 46:28seventy six thousand dollars a year. Yeah, Like that's crazy. And they're
- 46:32like, oh, well, she's lucky because she gets endorsements too. So
- 46:36does Lebron James and he gets paid like thirty five million dollars a year to
- 46:39play. So I mean, they're just asking for the same percentage. It's
- 46:44not they're asking for the same pay. And I think it's important that people
- 46:46understand that that's a good points. Yeah, great point. Yeah, And
- 46:52again I'm glad that we've had you on because like this is information that I
- 46:57think a lot of people need to hear, need to know because and and
- 47:01I'll be one of the first ones to say, like it's educational for me,
- 47:06you know, because I just I and again, I go back,
- 47:10I love I love the women's game, and and and again. To Hollis's
- 47:15point, it just looks better. It just looks like they're working harder like
- 47:19that for whatever a little bit of money that they're making interesting. We're not
- 47:23trying to suck up to the women. We're not trying to do I'm just
- 47:28glad y'all watch both games and that to watch the men's games. Yeah,
- 47:31well, I'm glad people are finally here. I'm glad. I'm glad people
- 47:35are finally seeing, you know, how good it is. And it's worse
- 47:38because it's been like this for years. We just haven't gotten the chance for
- 47:43it to be showcased. Like this year was the first year I can remember
- 47:45that every single game from the first round on was nationally televised for people to
- 47:51watch. Before the women's tournament wasn't televised till maybe the final four, maybe
- 47:55the Elite eight. You were trying to figure out, you know, they
- 48:00were having to play in like crazy like gyms before they even got to the
- 48:05you know, Elite eight. Yeah, like rec centers and stuff. I
- 48:08mean, you can listen to all kinds of like Diana Tarassi and Seueberd.
- 48:13They have a bunch of great podcasts out there. They have a like a
- 48:15thirty for thirty about their experiences playing in Russia and things of that nature.
- 48:20And they talked about the culture shock they had going from Yukon, which had,
- 48:23you know, the money because Gino had built this dynasty and they had
- 48:28all these fans and you know, they were traveling like great, they were
- 48:31staying in these great hotels and then they get to the WNBA and they're riding
- 48:36on buses and you know what I mean, and they're having to fly like
- 48:39with everybody else that's going through the airport and things of that nature. So
- 48:43I think it's great that we're they're finally getting the exposure they deserve because with
- 48:46that, money's gonna come to And it's that and that's crazy when you when
- 48:51you when you say that, but is it crazy? Is I mean,
- 48:54you know, I'm saying, Okay, what I'm saying is like when you
- 48:58talk about a league, because you're saying, like the NBA, the NBA
- 49:01twenty five years in was where the WNBN was at, right, And it's
- 49:06just not crazy. Yeah, look at look at the world too, Like
- 49:08look at the world to look at how long it's taken for people to understand
- 49:12that women should be in positions of power in companies. In companies, I
- 49:16mean, I don't know. I think Amy Goodwin's the first mayor, female
- 49:21mayor of Charleston. Yes, I mean think about it, like you don't
- 49:22see women running for office like you do now. You didn't see that,
- 49:28you know, fifteen twenty years ago. So I think, like women in
- 49:31general, like it's our time, Like we're rising to the occasion. We're
- 49:36showing our worth in all aspects, not just in sports but in the world
- 49:40as well. That's a good point and point, and they're living up to
- 49:45it, you know. And yeah, now I get that. I could
- 49:49get in a whole other debate about how men are trying to set us back
- 49:52twenty years too with some of the legislation and stuff going on. But we're
- 49:53not going to go there. We're not gonna go yeah from that, we're
- 50:04gonna go there. We're not gonna We're gonna stay out of politics. And
- 50:06and and I'll just say this, and Holland knows I love him to death,
- 50:12but I don't see any place for politics in sports, right And I
- 50:20understand and one of the things and one of the things that that that I
- 50:22have seen dads in politics who have kids in sports, Yeah, creating rules
- 50:32and creating rules that benefit their kids. Didn't say that. I have said
- 50:39that, Yeah, and and and that kind of stuff. Really really Yeah.
- 50:45Politics are everywhere, though, I mean especially in little leagues, Like
- 50:50that's why you got a bunch of dads out here coaching, and then that's
- 50:52their kids don't play the whole game and all that kind of stuff. And
- 50:55you know, my son probably hates that I coach him in little league.
- 50:59Is I was twice as hard on him as I wasn't anybody else, just
- 51:01like my dad was growing up. But I mean, I think politics are
- 51:06going to be everywhere, and I think for sports, the biggest thing with
- 51:08politics is it's not really politics when the NBA or WA players like stand up
- 51:14for something or they're just using their platform to showcase what they believe in.
- 51:16And I'm all for that. I don't agree with the shut up and play
- 51:21mentality that some people have. I think if you have a platform, you
- 51:23should use it, whether you're a professional athlete or not. Like, whatever
- 51:27platform that you have, I think you should use it, especially for something
- 51:30that you strongly believe in. How do we kind of not necessarily along those
- 51:36lines, but when you, like I said, we talked to Nausey just
- 51:38about the game, particularly the WNBA college women's college basketball, and just the
- 51:44grit to grind. Just start the feel of it. Like when watching the
- 51:47tournament this year, it almost feel not like a soap opera, but it
- 51:52feels like a like a high stake drama or something. Yeah, Like it
- 51:54was intense, Like you can feel the intensity of it. Yeah, how
- 51:59do we keep that and prevent the women's game from turning into the men's game.
- 52:05I don't know if the women's game will ever turn into the men's game.
- 52:07It's just I don't even even know if that's even possible because the women's
- 52:13game, I mean, it's it's always going to evolve, right, just
- 52:15like the NBA has kind of evolved into what it is now. And I
- 52:19think what you're going to see in the women's game is with the expansion,
- 52:22it's going to show even more that there's a lot of great female athletes out
- 52:27there, no matter what sports you're in. And what I hope is that
- 52:30all this attention on women's basketball in particular is also going to bleed into other
- 52:37women's sports, because I hope we one day get a women's professional, like
- 52:42a big softball league, Like, yes, yes, that is very much
- 52:47deserve. Yeah, that is very much deserved. Softball, I'm telling women's
- 52:52softball is so fun to watch, so fun. Yeah. I hate that
- 52:55picture from Stanford this year that I was watching her just not going down,
- 53:00was like women down before we had the tournament we had. We had the
- 53:02tournament at the Rock in South Charleston, and so I had seen collegiate softball
- 53:10because if I'm flipping through the channels and I see it, I freeze on
- 53:14it. I watch it. Yeah, I'm saying, and I'm like and
- 53:17all of a sudden, man, I'm like thinking, oh my gosh,
- 53:20and I'm the dude who's scared of the ball. So I'm watching the picture
- 53:23and I'm like, oh my gosh, like I would never hit that.
- 53:27Yeah. And then going and watching these young kids play the game, these
- 53:31young ladies, yeah, playing the game. Yeah, I'm like, man,
- 53:36this is this is entertaining. Yeah, and softball Softball's blowing up right
- 53:40now and I love it. I was Fortunately my best friend Samantha Snager,
- 53:45she grew up playing soft phone was one of the best players ever to come
- 53:47out of the state play D one at Youngstown, so I knew kind of
- 53:51how good softball was, and then just trying to see like how that sport
- 53:54has evolved as well as been phenomenal, Like the Softball World Series is always
- 53:59so entertained were to take. So let me ask you this before we go
- 54:01out. I know we're closing all time. You being a college coach,
- 54:05and we've talked about the transfer about in IL. We talked about a bunch
- 54:09of stuff now to keep the sanctity of what collegiate sports is supposed to be.
- 54:17What are one two rules that you will possibly implement to like just keep
- 54:23it keep it in pocket and not just have this like free agency sort of
- 54:28mentality amongst athletes and coaches. I mean loaded question. Yeah, man,
- 54:32that's tough. I think it's not even just the transfer portal. I think
- 54:36the NIL has really changed the women's game as well. You like it or
- 54:39not, I love it. I think there definitely needs to be some adjustments
- 54:44with it in both the men's and women's game. I think it's kind of
- 54:46like it got out there and I don't think people realize how out of control
- 54:51it's going to get so quick because it's out of control. Yeah, and
- 54:52it's it really benefits more of the major D one schools and it makes it
- 54:59hard for a recruiting standpoint as well, because how are you going to compete
- 55:04with schools that have the money to pay these kids? Like kids are not
- 55:07going to turn down money, and they're not thinking about what's the best fit
- 55:12for me? Where am I going to be the most successful? Do this?
- 55:15Does this school have the major that I want to major in? You
- 55:17know, they're thinking, Okay, who's going to give me the most money?
- 55:21That's where I'm going to go? Yeah, yeah, yeah. A
- 55:25parent is going to make that decision. Yeah yeah, yeah. You don't
- 55:30just recruit the kids too, right, You got to have that rapport with
- 55:32the parents. So and you know, parents sometimes can almost hurt their kids'
- 55:37chances of going to a school by how they act and the questions they ask,
- 55:40especially around financials. I mean being at the Division two level, Like
- 55:45it's not only at West Creety State, We're hanging out all kinds of money,
- 55:47Like we are getting all this in all money. But I think that
- 55:51makes it twice as hard at the Division one level. I think to the
- 55:54transfer portal, it has its pros and cons, like if a kid is
- 55:59truly in a bad city situation, or think about it. These kids are
- 56:01making this decision at eighteen years old where they're supposed to go and spend the
- 56:06next four years you know, of their life. And then yeah, some
- 56:09make it it by themselves. And I think too, like you know,
- 56:13coaches can sometimes sell one thing and then they get there and that's not what
- 56:16it is. That's one thing that I love about a coach Marshall in his
- 56:21recruiting process. He's very straight up about what it's going to be like when
- 56:23you get there. He's very transparent and that's why he's a phenomenal coach.
- 56:28But I think to not all coaches are like that. They sell one thing
- 56:31and really their program something completely different. And I think now instead of kids
- 56:36getting there and being stuck, they have an option to explore other options.
- 56:39I mean, it's just like in the job world, right, you get
- 56:42in a job and you know you're there for a couple of years and it's
- 56:45not what you thought. You're allowed to leave that job and go get another
- 56:47job, and you don't have to sit out a year and not get paid,
- 56:50or you don't have to sit out a year and not do what you
- 56:52want to do. When you're in college, the higher up you get sports
- 56:57are kind of your job on top of being in it. Yeah one,
- 57:01Yeah, it's your job on top of you know, staying on top of
- 57:04your schoolwork and getting your degree. So I think it's great that kids are
- 57:07getting that option. Do I think some kids maybe abuse it? Probably some
- 57:13people are always thinking the grass is greener on the other side, and some
- 57:15people getting the transfer portal because all I didn't play like I thought I should
- 57:19have. Well, were you in the gym every day working? You know
- 57:22what I mean? So yeah, it's too difficult. So I think the
- 57:27transfer portal in the Nile money really just plays a big factor in college sports
- 57:30right now, and I think it's it's going to continue to change, and
- 57:32I'm sure the NCAA is probably looking at it, and who knows what rules
- 57:36are going to come out on it. But I don't think either when are
- 57:38necessarily a bad thing. All right, Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're
- 57:42gonna have to wrap it up. But I sits that our guests will probably
- 57:46be back again stuff that we may want to touch on. All right,
- 57:52we appreciate you being being here for us, and we will be back next
- 57:54week. Let's Talk with Carl Lee is presented by Attorney Frank Walker. Real
- 58:00Talk, Real Experience, Real Results, Frank Walker Law dot Com. Comment
- 58:04on episodes, ask carlon Hollis questions, or it suggests topics. At our
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- 58:13page to become part of the conversation. If you fall, doesn't don't for
- 58:16get back up for your feet. Anything can be a win, yup,
- 58:20even the feet that says shit's a bath for you? Wise visityy sweet couldn't
- 58:23play with big kids. I had to sit in the street and watch from
- 58:27a distance. But over time I grew. If I put in the work,
- 58:30in no time, I'm doing everything that I worked and prayed. I'm
- 58:34okay. If you ask me how did I do it, I'm gonna say.
- 58:37You gotta work, cry shine, just mine gotta show. Everybody is
- 58:40my time. He ain't here. You gotta work, cry shine. Never
- 58:45mind who talking died this day line, don't talk. You gotta work.
- 58:50You gotta work. You gotta work. You gotta work, you gotta work,
- 58:59you gotta work.