Latest / We Got Next / WPBL team identity perfection, Valkyries notch WNBA-leading seven game win streak, Highlighting the misogyny, racism, and transphobia behind the disingenuous move to ‘protect women’s sports’

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WPBL team identity perfection, Valkyries notch WNBA-leading seven game win streak, Highlighting the misogyny, racism, and transphobia behind the disingenuous move to ‘protect women’s sports’ · We Got Next

• 0:03
  Michelle: Welcome, bienvenidos to We Got Next, a podcast for fans by fans, where we center athletes who identify as women, femmes, and thems, and who are changing the
• 0:13
  game on and off the court, the field, the pitch, the pool, and more.
• 0:24
  Filiberto: Hi, Michelle.
• 0:25
  Michelle: What's up?
• 0:25
  Filiberto: How are you doing today?
• 0:27
  Michelle: I'm a little warm , but I'm okay. How are you?
• 0:31
  Filiberto: You know, I I just gotta tell everyone before we get started with this podcast that over the last thirty hours, I've worked 16 of those. I am very exhausted, y'all, but I'm so motivated to speak to y'all about the Valkyries.
• 0:44
  Michelle: Mhmm. And women athletes.
• 0:46
  Filiberto: We had an and women athletes. We had a really amazing four game set. Really excited to talk to you about it. But if you notice I sound tired, it's not you. I love talking to y'all.
• 0:57
  It's because capitalism. Yep. It's exhausting. It sucks. I didn't consent to it, but it's where we're at.
• 1:05
  So, what are you drinking?
• 1:08
  Michelle: This week, again, I'm little warm right now, so I wanted to go with something refreshing. So I made an Aperol Spritz.
• 1:15
  Filiberto: Refreshing, sophisticated, European. Exactly. That's what that's what I think of when I think of an Aperol Spritz.
• 1:22
  Michelle: Very fancy.
• 1:23
  Filiberto: Very fancy. I used to have them on a patio patios in Switzerland in cafes in Geneva. Nice. It's amazing.
• 1:31
  Michelle: That's the dream.
• 1:32
  Filiberto: Looking at the Alps.
• 1:36
  Michelle: I'm not jealous.
• 1:37
  Filiberto: You shouldn't be.
• 1:37
  Michelle: You're jealous.
• 1:38
  Filiberto: Of course.
• 1:40
  Michelle: What are you drinking?
• 1:41
  Filiberto: Well, tonight, you know, I had a very long workday, but it's still early. So I'm having a little what do we I forgot. Oh, Cuban coffee. Excuse me. Excuse me.
• 1:52
  My my Cubano homies. So rum, coffee, milk, a lot of milk
• 1:58
  Michelle: Mhmm.
• 1:58
  Filiberto: And a little sweetener just to keep it nice. So we had a, you know, if y'all have been listening to this podcast, you know that we shop at Costco. We're not sponsored by Costco, but we shop at Costco. And we like to get the woolly mammoth's foot. I've learned that term in Venezuela for, like, the big giant bottles of liquor.
• 2:16
  And, you know, just kinda had to finish it. So that's what's in this drink right now. The end of the woolly mammoth's foot.
• 2:25
  Michelle: Yep. You needed the caffeine.
• 2:27
  Filiberto: Yeah. I do.
• 2:36
  Michelle, what's going on in the wide world of sports this week?
• 2:40
  Michelle: There was so much going on this week, like both the WNBA but other other amazing women athletes.
• 2:47
  Filiberto: Break it down, girl.
• 2:48
  Michelle: I know. Break it down. Super excited. Like, when I was making notes for this week, I was like, oh my gosh. It was, like, really exciting news.
• 2:54
  Lots going on.
• 2:55
  Filiberto: And, you know, when Michelle types, when she's excited, it's very different than when she's annoyed, frustrated, you know, perturbed, if you will. Mhmm. So the excited typist is is a nice one to be around.
• 3:05
  Michelle: Yes. Exactly. So to start us off this week, we had an amazing story of what I like to call a lady rower. But Kelsey Pfendler, I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly. She got on a did I write down the size of her ship?
• 3:24
  I did not. So she rode her way across the Pacific, the mid-Pacific.
• 3:29
  Filiberto: Like the ocean?
• 3:30
  Michelle: Yes.
• 3:30
  Filiberto: Like the the body of water that's on the coast of California.
• 3:33
  Michelle: So she left Monterey, California, which is on the Central Coast, and she rode 2,400 miles to Honolulu, the Honolulu Harbor.
• 3:44
  Filiberto: So on the Continental US, where would that what's 2,400 miles? Or is that too hard of a question? Did I just I don't know.
• 3:52
  Michelle: I have no idea.
• 3:53
  Filiberto: Oh, wait. Whatever. Anyway, I'm just trying to conceptualize I mean, I know that's a lot. I just would conceptualize it.
• 3:58
  Michelle: Can you, like, Google something like that while I talk?
• 4:00
  Filiberto: Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead.
• 4:02
  Michelle: So because I would I think that's putting that perspective is very important. And the cool thing is she was really wanting to become like the youngest person to do this. Oh, here we she had a 21 foot rowboat is what she used. Go ahead.
• 4:19
  Filiberto: Alright. I got a figure for you. New York to Los Angeles is 2,400 flight distance miles, 2,700 flying or driving miles.
• 4:27
  Michelle: Oh my gosh.
• 4:28
  Filiberto: She went from New York to Los Angeles
• 4:30
  in the Pacific Ocean.
• 4:32
  Michelle: Rowing.
• 4:32
  Filiberto: Rowing.
• 4:33
  Michelle: Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Not in a car. Rowing.
• 4:35
  Filiberto: She wasn't using AI. She was using her own her own self.
• 4:40
  Michelle: Can you also look something up for me? Yeah. Of course. I forgot to write down her age.
• 4:43
  Filiberto: Oh, of course.
• 4:44
  Michelle: Because that was her goal. She wanted to become the youngest to ever do this. And she did meet that and unfortunately I did not write down her age.
• 4:53
  Filiberto: Even though you were excited when you were writing these notes. You're so excited you missed some
• 4:57
  of the important details.
• 4:59
  Michelle: God, I've I've left behind a lot of my journalism acum acumen. But so she did she accomplished this in for a little under forty four days.
• 5:10
  Filiberto: 32 years old.
• 5:10
  Michelle: So she's 32 years old. So she wanted to become the youngest, which she did. And then she also wanted to try to be the fastest. And maybe thinking of beating the the prior mark for a woman, which was eighty six days. But she also beat the prior mark for a guy, which was fifty two.
• 5:28
  Filiberto: Hell yeah.
• 5:29
  Michelle: So she came in just under forty four days. So she like smoked both of those. So she has become the youngest woman and the fastest person to make that make that trip. And I mean, a lot of people like, if you're around my age, you remember I think her name is Nilar.
• 5:49
  The swimmer who was trying to swim was it the Hudson or something?
• 5:55
  Filiberto: No memory.
• 5:56
  Michelle: She but it was, like, they made a lot of, like because she was an older lady, I believe, when she did it.
• 6:00
  Filiberto: I remember the English Channel swims. Yes. That somehow was in my memory.
• 6:04
  Michelle: I forget where she swam, but, like, that was, like so just, like, this is kinda, like, another story of that. But I was, oh, yeah. It remind me of, like, the story I heard of when I was younger, except, you know, not having to be in the water the whole time. But and she we'll put it in the show notes, but she kind of, like, chronicled her journey on social media so you can see. And she did a lot of, like, pictures of her face before and then pictures afterwards of, like, 44 in the sun.
• 6:28
  And so a lot of people commented, like, not only does does her hair lighter, she looks tanner.
• 6:33
  Filiberto: Yeah. Towards the Equator too. So you're getting Yeah. Ton of sunlight.
• 6:36
  Michelle: Yeah. But just like her eyes, people are like, man, your eyes there's so much wisdom in your eyes now. Like, what did you see while you're on the the Pacific? So
• 6:44
  Filiberto: Well, she was by herself. She saw herself. Yeah. That's what she saw.
• 6:46
  Michelle: Yeah. Forty four days by herself.
• 6:47
  Filiberto: You have to be comfortable with your own thoughts or something like that. Like That's a
• 6:51
  Michelle: In such a physical and mental challenge.
• 6:53
  Filiberto: Yeah. No. If you're at all disregulated or have some serious trauma, that's gonna fuck you up. Yeah. Like, being that alone in a good way, possibly.
• 7:00
  But yeah. That's it's both a mental, physical, spiritual challenge. You know? It's one of those things that's, like, hit you in every level. Yeah.
• 7:07
  Hope you said your name hope we pronounced your name right. Congratulations to you, Kelsey Pfendler. I think that's that looks right to me. Yeah. I think that's right.
• 7:14
  Michelle: Yeah. But silent P's mess me up sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. So it was just, like, phenomenal to kinda, like, you know, watch all that coverage when she was able to make it back on land.
• 7:26
  Filiberto: Like, I did a five k once in negative 20 rather weather, and that was exhausting. So holy hell.
• 7:31
  Michelle: Yeah. You have no idea.
• 7:33
  Filiberto: No idea. No concept. Amazing.
• 7:47
  Michelle: The other big story from this week is and some of you have probably seen this a lot on your your socials and in the news.
• 7:56
  Filiberto: But Yeah. We're not trying to break news here, y'all. We're just we're just talking about some hot stuff.
• 8:00
  Michelle: Yeah. Just highlighting some stuff. So the Women's Professional Baseball League announced their inaugural season. There are four teams they're going with. A few of teams have started signing people to them.
• 8:13
  But it's really cool. And I believe they start their season like in the next like, August 1 actually. It's coming up, like, the next couple weeks. But and we'll I'll we'll put some links in the show notes to some of the information. But just wanna kinda like highlight, like, not only is this gonna be like a baseball league for women, which is a little bit different than softball.
• 8:35
  And I was kinda like, why like, why is it so important? Like, what's so different between baseball and softball? Yeah. And I actually did look into it and it's like, it is very different. It's like like in softball, you can't steal bases.
• 8:51
  Filiberto: Oh, I mean, I knew it different but I
• 8:53
  didn't know about that.
• 8:54
  Michelle: It's a smaller fieldI think it's definitely a smaller field. Though, obviously, the way they pitch.
• 8:58
  Filiberto: It's the The size of the two. Yeah. Size of field.
• 9:01
  Michelle: Yeah. So pitching is much different, but also just like, there's just a lot more you can do on offense and defense in baseball than they than the rules for traditional softball have been. So that's why it's cool. Like, hey, I just I prefer this style of play or like, I have a better skill set for this and I enjoy it more. It's like, this is why I wanna play baseball.
• 9:20
  So it's like really cool just like learn a little bit more about that. But I also like was reading about just the teams. So we have
• 9:29
  Filiberto: This is I think the really exciting part.
• 9:31
  Michelle: Yeah. So they're gonna start with teams in New York, Boston, San Francisco, and LA, which will be great. I believe they're playing in a stadium. I think it's in where was it? Indiana, maybe.
• 9:46
  So it's gonna be similar to Unrivaled where they play in one location. Where so we're not having to travel between Boston and New York, like, cross country. Right?
• 9:53
  Filiberto: That seems to be the trend too because Project B is also like that, but internationally, at least from what we know. And we're not gonna get into Project B on this podcast, but I'll put a note about that.
• 10:03
  Michelle: Yeah. So the Boston's team is called the Boston Hunters.
• 10:07
  Filiberto: Mhmm.
• 10:07
  Michelle: And they named themselves after a trailblazing physician. She was her name is Harriet Hunt. She was a trailblazing physician, one of the first women to practice medicine professionally in the US. And she was denied admission into Harvard's, I think, medical school because of her gender. But she still was like, f you guys, I'm still gonna be a doctor.
• 10:33
  Filiberto: I'm loving I'm loving the woke up vibe too. Let's double down this shit. Like, fuck fascism, fuck the Trump administration, fuck MAGA. Let's double down on this excellence.
• 10:42
  Michelle: Yeah. No. It's great. And then we have New York. They're gonna be known as the New York Heights, which has a lot of meanings.
• 10:48
  Filiberto: Yes.
• 10:49
  Michelle: But they're one of them is they named themselves after Dorothy Height, who's one of the most influential leaders of the civil and women's rights movements. She dedicated her life to advancing equality for all.
• 11:00
  Filiberto: Hell yeah.
• 11:02
  Michelle: So that is so awesome. And then we have the Los Angeles Queens, which I love. And they named themselves after Lizzie Murphy. She was nicknamed the Queen of Baseball. She was the first woman to play against Major League players in 1922.
• 11:21
  And she broke barriers at a time when opportunities for women in pro sports were extremely limited. So we have the Boston Hunters, the New York Heights, the LA Queens, and the last one is the San Francisco Firebells . I really love their logo and their colors are amazing. So the Bells are named after Lillie Hitchcock Coit.
• 11:49
  As a teenager, Lillie "Firebelle Lil" Hitchcock Coit famously leapt into action to help San Francisco volunteer firefighters battle a blaze on Telegraph Hill. She became an icon for the firefighters and who were known for their rebellious attitude. Love it.
• 12:06
  Filiberto: There we go. There we go. That's a full spectrum of like interesting dynamics and drawing from histories and stuff. And certainly, we'll have links in the show notes for y'all to Yeah. Enjoy at your leisure.
• 12:19
  Michelle: So, yeah, I think we talked about this before, but I think it's this amazing, like, building upon these foundations that these other leagues. We talked about the WNBA, the PA's most recent contract with the league and how that built upon what soccer players what women's hockey players had done with their contracts leading up to this. And so now you have we've got professional volleyball league that's starting up. We've got professional softball league starting up. And now we have a professional women's baseball league starting up.
• 12:51
  And the way like, they're being founded, the way they're being managed, and just kind of the thought and intention that's being put into uplifting women's stories and just their activism and the impact they've had on their communities, on their sports, etc. They're just kinda like outdoing each other. It's like we can just we can be better at uplifting and centering. Like, it's just it's really great to see them building on and pouring into what's already been done before them and just trying to, like, have that grow. It's it's really great to see.
• 13:27
  Filiberto: Well, I think it's also like I think one of the things we've been seeing with the WNBA on the executive level at least is that they're hiring folks from the NWSL. So there's a back and forth there too that I think is really interesting and important to note. I think you'll see some crossover possibilities, media rights things moving down the line as well. That's exciting. Yeah.
• 13:45
  It's good. And certainly, the PWBL also, you know, wasn't messing around. They chose major media markets to establish themselves in. But I think I think the thing that keeps going through my head, the we talked about this earlier in the week. I've been thinking about this is, like, I think in the past, and this is true for folks of color too, when, like, when they did women's baseball years ago or something like that, it was or women's football, professional football.
• 14:08
  It's kind of seen as like a charity project.
• 14:09
  Michelle: Right.
• 14:09
  Filiberto: It's like, oh, a bunch of men deciding that women can do something too, and then they give them opportunity. It's condescending. It's bullshit. It's designed around the male gaze, etc., etc.. What's exciting, especially with, like, Unrivaled and these other leagues too, is this these are leagues defined by women under their terms, under their sort of cosmology, whatever you wanna however you wanna think about it, but it's dope.
• 14:31
  Yeah. Like, it's not again, it's not filtered through the male gaze and distorted in that way. Like, it's legit, and it's way different than what we've seen before. Like, they're expanding what sports entertainment could possibly be, and it's really exciting.
• 14:43
  Michelle: When you can tell they're not only like, first off, they're in the room.
• 14:46
  Filiberto: Mhmm.
• 14:47
  Michelle: But they're not only in the room to be window dressing. Right. They're in the room to be part of the decision makers.
• 14:52
  Filiberto: And they're owning. They're owning this shit. So we don't know the owners of this league. We haven't looked into that, but that's certainly something to keep an eye on. But I'm thinking more about Unrivaled.
• 15:00
  Michelle: But their perspectives are, like, out front. Yes. And that's what we need more of. Their perspectives and experiences.
• 15:06
  Filiberto: Yeah. And worldview. Yeah. No. It's awesome.
• 15:08
  Michelle: It's important.
• 15:09
  Filiberto: It's a golden era. I didn't, you know I I don't know. It's a golden era for women's sports.
• 15:13
  Michelle: It is.
• 15:13
  Filiberto: It's kind of incredible to just be around it.
• 15:15
  Michelle: It is.
• 15:15
  Filiberto: It kinda smacked me in the face. I was like, what's happening? So thanks for introducing me to this, but there's a lot of cool shit going on now. Yeah. People need to be paying
• 15:22
  Michelle: attention. Yeah. When you start looking at plane tickets. That's all I'm saying.
• 15:26
  Filiberto: Only right now. Right now. Anyway.
• 15:36
  Michelle: Just the other news of note for this week, which can be a transition into our other topics. But the WNBA announced their All Star starters. So their first wave of announcements was the ten ten players who will be starting in the All Star Game coming up not in less than two weeks. And then they a couple days later, they announced the reserves who will be playing. So to start with, like, the starters, really great group of people. From the Valkyries,
• 16:13
  we had we had our first franchise first all star last year with Kayla Thornton. She was a reserve. But this year, Gabby Williams was chosen as a starter.
• 16:22
  Filiberto: So she'll be
• 16:22
  Michelle: the she'll be our second franchise's second all star. She'll be the first starter.
• 16:28
  Filiberto: And if you all have been listening to the podcast, you know we're massive Gabby Williams fans. So we couldn't be more excited for her. Yeah. If you've ever possibly listened to this podcast, Gabby, congratulations.
• 16:39
  Michelle: There were a few notes that you noticed from the the 10 starters. Three of them come from the Indiana Fever. Mhmm. And they the league did release so the All Star vote is taken from three pools. One is the fan vote, which is 50% of the weighted overall score.
• 17:00
  Then you have media. So reporters, columnists, others, which will be 25% and then players make up the other 25%. So the league released the top vote getters and they released a breakdown of like how they scored from the fan vote.
• 17:19
  Filiberto: Which is pretty intense. Like, I don't know that I expected that level of detail and transparency. Right. And then the outgrowth of it. Yeah.
• 17:26
  Michelle: So some people noticed that a few players who are ranked highly among fans and media were not ranked as highly among players, which was interesting. And we'll put we'll link to this breakdown in the show notes for y'all.
• 17:41
  Filiberto: We even know how many players voted too.
• 17:43
  Michelle: And that's the thing too to note.
• 17:44
  Filiberto: A which is a wild detail too.
• 17:47
  Michelle: To note that for some reason, a lot of players did not vote this year. Like, less than half.
• 17:51
  Filiberto: The fact that we know that is crazy, but or wild. Sorry.
• 17:54
  Michelle: So that's something to keep in mind. Like, there could be a variety of reasons people decided not the the players decided not to vote. The LA Sparks came out and said, oh, our message didn't get to them, so we're not sure if they got the email or
• 18:07
  Filiberto: Oh, like that.
• 18:08
  Michelle: Yeah. Like, LA
• 18:09
  Filiberto: Just basic logistics stuff.
• 18:10
  Michelle: LA's like, we lost the ballots, basically. Like, not that they voted, so but like yeah. I I
• 18:16
  Filiberto: They're physical ballots.
• 18:17
  Michelle: No. I'm joking.
• 18:20
  Filiberto: uh-oh. Sorry. Okay.
• 18:21
  Michelle: But but allegedly, there's an email that went out and, like, the players are saying that's not the right email address. Like, it's just a huge cluster for a professional organization.
• 18:29
  Filiberto: With a staff and money. Yes. A billion dollar industry, multi-billion dollar.
• 18:32
  Michelle: So there's a lot of asterisks that can go around here for this. But I do wanna kinda talk about like overall the All Stars with the reserves and the 10 starters. I do feel like people always talk wanna talk about snubs or surprises with these kind of lists. And like at this point, like, okay, fine.
• 18:53
  If I like, I would have I voted a lot for Veronica Burton. I was trying to like focus on her and get her in. I think she's having an amazing season. Great. I want her on there.
• 19:04
  Who do I take off? And I I can't. I can't think of anyone who would be above her to take off. I think Brittney Sykes also deserves to be on this list. I think Chelsea Gray.
• 19:14
  I mean, I like
• 19:14
  Filiberto: That's why, like, the language of snub isn't useful here because Right. There's no one that we would remove.
• 19:19
  Michelle: Exactly.
• 19:19
  Filiberto: Everyone is incredibly deserving.
• 19:22
  Michelle: Right. These people deserve to be on this All Star roster. So, like, basically, what I feel like we've expanded teams. We're gonna expand teams in the future. I think the league needs to look at expanding the All Star roster.
• 19:35
  Not a lot, but, like, I think they could at least expand it three or four more spots. Then
• 19:39
  Filiberto: you have four at least four more slots.
• 19:41
  Michelle: I think that would solve a lot of the issues that, like, fans have. Like, not everyone's gonna make it. We don't want everyone everyone to make it because then what
• 19:48
  Filiberto: if We don't wanna, like, baseball where one every team has to have a representative. Yeah. Right? But then also, like, it's an exhibition game. Like, they're why are we limiting the roster spots?
• 19:58
  Right. Like, this is kinda silly too. It's a purely exhibition game. Why don't you give the fans the best experience possible and expand the slots so we can see our favorite players or very deserving favorite players?
• 20:09
  Michelle: Yeah. So that was the only thing I was gonna say there. Because, again, yeah, I'm I'm looking at who made it, and I'm like, I don't I can't. I'm not gonna take anyone off that. Because, like and this year is a little different for me.
• 20:19
  Like, there are so many players having, like, career seasons so far. I know we're only halfway through the season, but there's just, like, some fantastic sports skills on display. And that's why I think of Chelsea Gray. I'd I mean, I think she should be on All Star every year because she's she's that amazing.
• 20:36
  Filiberto: Well, she's a living legend.
• 20:37
  Michelle: She's completely elevated every team she's been on. Like, LA won their their more recent championships because of Chelsea Gray. So and it's like, how many, like, no look, behind the back, between the leg passes does she have? Like, these circus, like so
• 20:54
  Filiberto: Just casually too, like, a Wednesday night game.
• 20:56
  Michelle: Yeah. Bink. So yeah, I think it's it's weird to not see some of those names. But, again, I'm not gonna be one of those fans that sits here and is like, like, there's no one above them I would take off. But it needs to be expanded.
• 21:10
  Filiberto: Yeah. That's the moral of the story is we need to expand the rosters. Because it's an exhibition game.
• 21:15
  Michelle: Yes.
• 21:15
  Filiberto: Why not? Why not? Yes.
• 21:27
  Michelle: Alright. So let's get into this week's Valkyries. If
• 21:31
  Filiberto: If you all haven't been paying attention, this has been a very exciting four-game stretch.
• 21:35
  Michelle: No. You not been paying attention? Before that.
• 21:37
  Filiberto: Even before that.
• 21:38
  Michelle: So last week's episode, we talked a lot about how it was the first time since we started the podcast that we had the Valkyries go three and o. It was super exciting.
• 21:47
  Filiberto: Like, didn't know how to deal with it emotionally. Was
• 21:49
  Michelle: like
• 21:49
  Filiberto: We
• 21:49
  Michelle: were like, on this high. We're like, we'll never see this again.
• 21:51
  Filiberto: Because we're always girding ourselves for a loss because we lost half our games last year, basically. So and again, it's exhibition exhibition, excuse me, expansion team, and it's still the second year. Like, I don't wanna get ahead of myself. Yeah. Right?
• 22:03
  We're just we're we're trying to get caught up in the excitement of a new team, not, like, expect championships. Right. In any case.
• 22:09
  Michelle: So that was last week.
• 22:10
  Filiberto: Yeah.
• 22:10
  Michelle: We were like, three and o. This is awesome. Like, look at us. Look at look at the where we are in the standings. Like, it's great.
• 22:15
  And then we're preparing. We're taking notes. All this last week for the podcast, and we're like, oh, man. They went four and o.
• 22:21
  Filiberto: Holy yeah. Holy cupcakes. We swept Atlanta. We're four and o. Like, none of that was expected.
• 22:28
  And I I think, you know, again, we're watching things in these sets. Right? Like, last time we talked about how we watch things in three game sets just because that's how the calendar works. In this case, it worked that we had a four game set because of the Commissioner's Cup and now the All Star break and the way the calendar sorts out. Yeah.
• 22:44
  It was interesting as a four game set because what I think is the most compelling part of their sort of claim to emerging claim to elite status is how they can win in so many different ways. Right. And they're closing out games. Like, that was not happening early in the season, but definitely didn't happen last season as often as it could have. So watching those two elements happen makes me really believe.
• 23:09
  Now I'm not just some, like, idiot fan just being like, we're gonna win it. Like, I really believe that they're an elite team because of those two key features.
• 23:17
  Michelle: Yeah. I think, like, what you so as someone who's covered education as a reporter a lot, I'm gonna I'm gonna borrow from something they talk about when it comes to education and learning is like, you're not gonna become an A+ student overnight, but showing that improvement. Yeah. Showing that improvement toward proficiency or in this case, toward toward winning and being successful and and being together as a team.
• 23:43
  That's what we're seeing. We're seeing this huge improvement, especially if you wanna look at last year or even, you know, the second 10 games versus the first 10 games of the season. Like, there's massive improvement, and and it's just, like, onward. You know?
• 23:55
  Filiberto: Massive improvement. And then Nakase said this last time, and she qualified it by, like, I'm not trying to be a jerk. And I believe her. There is so much room for improvement. Right.
• 24:04
  And not, again, not to nitpick or, like, be unnecessarily critical, but, like and we'll get into more of the specifics, but, like, some quarters, they just shit the bed. Third quarter was a problem for a while, but they finally solved that one, so that's exciting. But there there are areas there are very clear areas that if I'm the Valkyries looking at the film room, I'm like, alright. Fix that. Fix that.
• 24:24
  Fix that. Fix that. No big deal. Right? Not stressful.
• 24:26
  We're winning, but we gotta improve. If I'm the opposing team looking at the film room, I'm like, holy shit. This team is dominating, and they're not even, like, a 100%, like, in their sets, in their rhythm the entire game. They're still figuring out their matchups. They're still figuring out how to be consistently elite.
• 24:43
  They're still figuring it out. So again, the the possibility for improvement, I think, is really high. That's kind of scary and exciting.
• 24:50
  Michelle: Yeah. I mean, and and as an example of that, this four game stretch, the Valkyries had a ton of turnovers in their games. And so if you're if you're planning, you know, you're you're doing your game plan to face the Valkyries and you're like, hey, if we can get more than 10 turnovers or if we can get 15 or more turnovers Yeah.
• 25:07
  Filiberto: You're gonna have your targets.
• 25:08
  Michelle: And then you're like, that's helpful for us to win this game. And some of these teams did that and they did not win the game. So the Valkyries are able when they are struggling in certain areas, they're they're able to overcome that and still pull out the win, which is tough to do. And it's kind of like, we've talked to this a little bit that playoff mentality.
• 25:26
  Filiberto: Yeah. I think that's the other part of it is this four game set. I'm glad you said that. The urgency the urgency was impressive. Like Yeah.
• 25:35
  I don't want players burning out because they're, you know, going too hard too early. But I think they I think Nakase said this on one of the postgame interviews that she's like, we're we're preparing for the playoffs. And I was like, okay. I just I remember hearing that and putting it in the back of my head. Don't know what that means.
• 25:50
  But and then watching the game, I'm like, oh, shit. I totally get what she's saying. The urgency, the dedication, like, she will yank starters if they are not performing quickly. Like, she's playing every game like it's game seven, or she's coaching every game like it's game seven. I don't think they're gonna burn out.
• 26:07
  Like, if any other context, I'd be like, oh, man, that's not a good strategy because they're gonna burn out. But I they they thrive on it.
• 26:13
  Michelle: But they
• 26:14
  Filiberto: want it.
• 26:14
  Michelle: And she has the depth. If she's
• 26:15
  Filiberto: saying depth. She has the yeah.
• 26:17
  Michelle: If she's saying empty your tank, because that's what she's I've noticed that in the last couple postgame press conferences is we've got it we've got it empty the tank or at least, like, for this quarter, leave it all on the court. And she can do that with her players. Her players can empty the tank because they have such a strong bench.
• 26:34
  Filiberto: And I think they trust their coaches. Yeah. Like, preparation, the dedication. Like, if if I'm a player on the Valkyries, I'm gonna be like, I can throw everything I have at this game because I trust the guidance that I'm getting. Right?
• 26:46
  At least for me, it's like when I used to do CrossFit more regularly, my mentality was as long as I can just show up to the front door, somebody's gonna guide me and move me through a really difficult exercise that I'm gonna feel great afterward. Yeah. But I need to have that trust in my coaches and in the gym in order to have that kind of fluidity and, like, comfort. And I think that's kind of where they're at. They really, really trust their coaches and their system and their schemes.
• 27:09
  Right. At least it kinda feels that way. I don't know if I'm right.
• 27:11
  Michelle: Yeah. And those are some of the major adjustments they're making in between quarters or at halftime. She's like, here was the game plan. And in, you know, Coach Nakase said that during one of her postgame press conferences where she said, you know, what was the change at halftime? She's like, we basically reminded them what the game plan was and then showed them clips of how they were not doing that.
• 27:31
  And like, and and then asking them what what should have been done. And so that just that quick being able to put that video together, that quick adjustment going again, going back to what you're saying about the plan that the coaches put together, sticking to that and being better at that, that's the adjustment that I see. At least, especially against Connecticut. Yeah. Where you could really see some of those halftime adjustments where you couldn't necessarily see them before.
• 27:55
  I'm starting to see those a lot more now.
• 27:57
  Filiberto: Well, even with Connecticut too, and sorry to jump ahead, but she's explicitly said that in the first quarter of that game, they just weren't communicating enough. Right. And that's what they needed to turn on. And I think part of that had to do with Gabby not being in the game and her being like a initiator probably for that conversation Right. On the court.
• 28:15
  But to me, that's like it's like one of the things that comes across in the postgame press conferences is reporters are searching for a complicated answer for some of these questions.
• 28:24
  Michelle: Right.
• 28:24
  Filiberto: Like, what did you change? Blah blah blah blah. And Nakase is just like, I just told them to talk more.
• 28:29
  Michelle: Mhmm.
• 28:29
  Filiberto: Like, it it and it kinda is frustrating sometimes because you are looking for a more complicated answer, and this is they're all professional athletes and all these different things. Like, did you all, like, you know, tell Gabby to move three inches over the right on her, you know, I don't know, whatever. But, no, I think it is that simple. Talk more, close out, work the scheme. Yeah.
• 29:04
  Michelle: So let's take let's go through the games a little bit just like quick notes that we saw. So July 4, we played Atlanta in Atlanta. So we had just played Atlanta a couple times in San Francisco, like, within the last couple weeks before that game. We won both those games. So again, like, oh, we're going on the road and we're gonna be in Atlanta.
• 29:24
  Maybe not. But it was a close game.
• 29:27
  Filiberto: They're a good team. We're not gonna win this one.
• 29:29
  Michelle: It was a close game. It was the Valkyries won 88 to 83. But, you know, we had a strong start. Our threes were going in.
• 29:38
  We did at one point put Atlanta into the bonus with seven minutes left in a quarter. I think that was in the fourth. Yeah. Which was not great. But I think the beginning of the game, we were just getting outrebounded, I think that was an adjustment that was made Yeah.
• 29:55
  Some point in the second or in the third. So that was just, like, a really really good battle between two really good teams. I think Atlanta
• 30:04
  Filiberto: It was gritty. Gritty is the word for that game. Yeah.
• 30:07
  Michelle: And then, you know, there was there was some there was some fighting. Ceci and Allisha Gray got into it.
• 30:14
  Filiberto: Oh, yeah. She hit her and, like, we love Allisha Gray. Like, she's dope. But Ceci. Ceci.
• 30:20
  Michelle: Yeah. And then, you know She
• 30:21
  Filiberto: swiped her glasses.
• 30:22
  Michelle: Allisha gets up and, like, charges at Ceci.
• 30:24
  Filiberto: She's about to she's about to work some business on Ceci.
• 30:27
  Michelle: And I know I know people were a little upset because Rhyne Howard and I forget whichever which think Naz Hillmon.
• 30:33
  Filiberto: It primarily Rhyne. It was primarily Rhyne.
• 30:35
  Michelle: Kind of like they saw what Allisha was about to do, so they kinda grabbed her, pushed her toward the bench.
• 30:39
  Filiberto: Rhyane was about to tackle her onto the ground. Like Yeah.
• 30:42
  Michelle: She was Oh, yeah. Rhyne was prepared to tackle her.
• 30:43
  Filiberto: Body to, like, get her out of that scenario.
• 30:45
  Michelle: Like, help me help you in those situations. Yeah. The refs did end up calling a tech on Allisha anyways, even though there was not, like, a verbal or physical confrontation. I saw a lot of people really pissed off about that. But I I think what the refs were trying to do, they had seen the game was getting a little chippy.
• 31:03
  There were a lot of fouls called. I think they were just trying to lower the temperature in the stadium amongst the players. It sucks that it just happened in that moment and Allisha was the one that got that tech. But I think that's what they're trying to do, and it did. It did it did kinda calm down the play from that moment on.
• 31:21
  Filiberto: I think yeah. I think in the last week, we've seen improved I I wanna use this term very, like, intentionally, but play from the referees. Like, it's been it was hard for them in the beginning of the season. They were trying to be consistent. Didn't work out very well.
• 31:36
  But what we're seeing more in a better way is they're calling things more consistently. However, they are changing what they're willing to call fouls on depending on the play and the and the Yeah. And the tension in the room. So that is where it gets confusing, I think, for the casual fan or us as fans. It's like, this game is being refereed way differently than the other game.
• 31:56
  Yeah. But it's within the context of the game, it's being refereed fairly but differently. And so Yeah. How do we make sense of that? But I think that's I think that's what's happening.
• 32:04
  Michelle: Yeah. And that's something that happens in a lot of sports leagues Yeah. Is on any on any other day, may not have been a foul or a tech, but they're gonna call it because they're gonna, you know, send people to their corners and be like, calm down. Yeah. There's more to come if you guys don't calm down.
• 32:17
  Filiberto: Right? And then we needed that. But the players needed that too. It was honestly, they needed that.
• 32:21
  Michelle: Well and later on, Kaitlyn Chen for the Valkyries was called for a tech for something we have still have no idea.
• 32:27
  Filiberto: It's still unclear what happened there.
• 32:29
  Michelle: So taunting or getting in the ref's face. I don't know. But what I'm saying is each team had a tech
• 32:38
  Filiberto: Yeah.
• 32:38
  Michelle: Like, at the end of that game. So
• 32:40
  Filiberto: It was a it was a it was a physical type game, and the referee I think the refereeing allowed it to be a good game. Yes. They could've gotten really out of hand really quickly.
• 32:47
  Michelle: Yeah. And and Which is the weird part because so many people were saying it was an inconsistently like, especially, like, the post game, they're going up to reps a little bit. I was like, I've watched every Valkyries game and
• 32:57
  Filiberto: I've watched what every dribble.
• 32:59
  Michelle: What I can say is that of their at least their games, I can't speak for every game that is played in the W. But at least for those games, that was one of the more consistently called games I've seen.
• 33:09
  Filiberto: Oh, it was a good game. It was, like on every level, it was a really good game aside from the fact that it was, like, you know, wasn't poetic on offense for either team.
• 33:17
  Michelle: And what I'll say is Golden State shot 17 free throws, and Atlanta shot 33. And I'm sitting here as a Valkyries fan saying it was a consistently called game. So I'm okay with that.
• 33:27
  Filiberto: Well and when we were looking at these games, so it's four games in seven days. And, you know, we're sort of worried because and they had an issue around tired legs and one of the other games prior. So I was like, oh, man. By the Connecticut game, they're gonna be busted. But it was really interesting that Nakase was like, they have tired games today.
• 33:44
  Mhmm. The first game, it was like, oh, man. So that's also what in my mind, I was like, oh, man. We're not gonna do well in the rest of this series because they're already tired
• 33:51
  in front.
• 33:51
  So something happened. They adjusted. Yeah. And they keep winning.
• 33:57
  Michelle: Yeah. I mean, it's of the of the four games, this was one where the the fourth was again frustrating because the Valkyries were doing what they could to lose the game. They were fouling a lot. They were turning over the ball on inbounding. They ended up giving Atlanta a few points that made it closer.
• 34:15
  Filiberto: Yep.
• 34:16
  Michelle: And I think that's what Nakase might have been talking about when she said like they just had tired legs toward the end of the game. But, yeah, I was just kinda like, oh my gosh. Like, you're letting Atlanta go on a run. But they were still able to focus and close out the game. So, thankfully, it was a w.
• 34:29
  Filiberto: And that's, again, what elite teams do. Right? Like, even when your shots aren't sinking and you're not doing well, you still figure out how win. That was just really impressive.
• 34:36
  Michelle: 14 turnovers in that game, they still won.
• 34:38
  Filiberto: Because, again, last season, that would have been a loss. Yeah. And that was a loss.
• 34:42
  Michelle: Absolutely.
• 34:42
  Filiberto: That would have been loss.
• 34:43
  Michelle: Absolutely. And then two days later, we played Washington, the Washington Mystics in Washington.
• 34:50
  Filiberto: Mhmm.
• 34:50
  Michelle: That was a 62 to 49 win for the Valkyries.
• 34:54
  Filiberto: Big old win.
• 34:56
  Michelle: Not a pretty first.
• 34:57
  Filiberto: Not a pretty first at all.
• 34:59
  Michelle: Nope. Both teams at one point had combined to shoot four of 20. So it was bad.
• 35:06
  Filiberto: Yeah. If you haven't seen this game, just skip the first. Just skip it. Yeah. Just skip Why?
• 35:10
  Michelle: Why? Just go right past it.
• 35:11
  Filiberto: Look at the box score. You'll you'll get everything you need from the box score. You don't need the heartburn. You don't you know, our fan base is probably a little older.
• 35:19
  Y'all don't need that stress. Yep. Like, life's stressful enough. Capitalism off is awful. Yeah.
• 35:24
  Just don't watch the first quarter.
• 35:26
  Michelle: So not surprising just looking at who's playing for Washington. We just you know, we're losing the the game in the paint. We were having a hard time rebounding in the first. But I will say, you know, Coach Nakase went to her bench, which has just helped us win a lot of these games in the past, I would say 10 games. So we had Kaitlyn Chen, Tiffany Hayes, Kiala Charles.
• 35:50
  Filiberto: Kaitlyn Chen may have I'm been the MVP of this four game
• 35:54
  Michelle: I'm not gonna go that far.
• 35:55
  Filiberto: May have been. Last game wasn't great, but
• 35:58
  Michelle: Those three combined for 16 of 26. The rest of the team was 10 for 48.
• 36:05
  Filiberto: Y'all it was abysmal. And a lot of it was the first quarter. Not kidding. Not kidding. The rest of it was glorious.
• 36:10
  They, you know, scored a lot, did their oh, this is the feather thing too. Like, you can see it in the in the play now. Like, when they're playing Valkyries basketball, it is so obvious. Like, the rhythm, the sort of flow is beautiful. It's just a gorgeous style of basketball.
• 36:26
  When they're not in that flow, my god. My god. It's it's the joke in our household is it looks like
• 36:36
  Michelle: LA Fitness.
• 36:36
  Filiberto: LA Fitness at midnight.
• 36:39
  Michelle: Which one of the announcers, I forget I completely forget which game it was. But they said something like that, not LA Fitness, but they said something like YMCA, like, you know
• 36:49
  Filiberto: Some sort of organized
• 36:50
  Michelle: So it was something similar to that. And I think you were working. I was watching a game by myself, but I just had crack up because it was very similar to what you say. I was like, mhmm.
• 36:57
  Filiberto: Well and it it goes back I I'm gonna try to find this Instagram clip. I don't know that I can, so I'll describe it a little bit. But it's like this clip of, like, people playing basketball and everyone's shooting, missing their shots, and takes four people to rebound and passes are awful. And Yeah. Things that's what they look like when they're at their worst.
• 37:12
  Yeah. Their worst and their best are two very different animals.
• 37:16
  Michelle: But what I what I will say about this game so Sonya Citron was out for Washington. So that's a huge, huge void for them, not only just ball movement and assists, but also scoring.
• 37:25
  Filiberto: But also congratulations to her for having an incredible year. Like, I don't think people really saw it coming, but she's she's locking it down.
• 37:32
  Michelle: Gabby didn't play a lot in that game. But I think just still a very you know, despite the first quarter, it's a extremely impressive game for the Valkyries.
• 37:42
  Filiberto: Team effort. Yeah. Like, Nakase is using her bench. Yeah. And it's it's it's working Yeah.
• 37:48
  Really, really well. So I think I think what that also says too is they have a strong commitment to one another Yeah. As a team, and that's just beautiful
• 37:56
  Michelle: Washington was held us 16 points in the second half. So Yeah. I mean, that's that's the team effort. Yeah. People are leaning in each other.
• 38:18
  So two days later, the team flew to Toronto, July 8. Happy birthday, mom, Kathy Hatfield. The Valkyries won that game 83 to 75. Toronto did have some injuries. So they had Brittney Sykes, Kiki Rice, and Temi Fagbenle , formerly
• 38:39
  Filiberto: Home girl.
• 38:40
  Michelle: Formerly of the Valkyries. They were all out for Toronto, but it was still a back and forth game. I mean, this game also got a little chippy. It always will with Marina Mabrey on the court.
• 38:49
  Filiberto: That's an editorial.
• 38:51
  Michelle: It is. But yeah, I mean, it took us a while to score. So I think it took five minutes for us to score our first bucket. It was it was bad.
• 39:01
  Filiberto: Well, this this was also the game where I was like, man, this is weird. I'm in a tough position because, like, Natalie Nakase was the Coach of the Year last year. She's every like, they had an amazing year last year, and she's elevating them. She's bringing them up. She clearly, you know, knows what she's doing.
• 39:18
  She's they clearly have an amazing coaching staff. They make adjustments, but for a while, they were coming out of the third really flat. And it's weird. Like, at a halftime, out of all these conversations, like, what's going on? So it started giving us a little concern.
• 39:31
  Michelle: Yeah. But luckily, their defense really worked for them. I'll I'm putting together a graphic we'll post on socials and we'll link in the show notes. But it was another example of a game where the Valkyries' defense kept a star player to just a poor performance. This for for Toronto, this would be Marina Mabrey.
• 39:54
  Filiberto: And she was getting frustrated.
• 39:56
  Michelle: She was held to 11 points total, two of nine on field goals. And I will tell you those two field goals came with two and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter.
• 40:03
  Filiberto: It was garbage time.
• 40:05
  Michelle: She shot some free throws is what I'm saying.
• 40:07
  Filiberto: If we had a a stat around non garbage time points, she'd be at a big fat zero or close to zero.
• 40:13
  Michelle: So that might be one of reasons she was frustrated during that game.
• 40:16
  Filiberto: Absolutely.
• 40:17
  Michelle: But yeah. I mean, Toronto was doing a great job of doing a pick and roll to Izzy Harrison a lot knowing that we just don't necessarily have that size underneath the basket. So eventually, they went away from that. I'm not sure if that was like our defense. I think it was.
• 40:31
  I think Kiah was trying to break up that passing lane a little bit.
• 40:34
  Filiberto: Yeah. No. They keyed in on it.
• 40:36
  Michelle: Yeah. Salaun had a career high. I believe she had 26 points. Unfortunately, Gabby Williams would get injured in this game. She missed the next game.
• 40:44
  So hopefully, she's doing well. I think I think you sit her against Connecticut because you know you have five days between Connecticut and Indiana.
• 40:51
  Filiberto: Yeah. And they're calling it a contusion. So it's not like a ligament or bone thing or strain or something like that. Just she has a really bad owie. Yeah.
• 40:58
  So I hope you heal quickly, Gabby.
• 41:01
  Michelle: Yeah. So, I mean, Janelle Salaun, again, had a great game. She and Kaitlyn Chen combined to have 42 of Golden State's 83 points.
• 41:10
  Filiberto: And I think their participation was so important because at this point, again, we're working on the third game in, what, five days or something like that. Yeah. So the second unit just soaking up 20 they played, like, half the game at this point.
• 41:25
  Michelle: They did.
• 41:26
  Filiberto: So that allows the starters to have some rest, and it I think it helped them for the Connecticut game as well.
• 41:30
  Michelle: Yeah. Well and it's, like, going back to that, Kaitlyn and Janelle having 42 of 83 points. The bench also had 52 of the 83 points. And I mean, you could see this in the next game that I think part of Connecticut's game plan was to try to stop Salaun and Kaitlyn Chen . Mhmm.
• 41:53
  Since they scored half of the points in the prior game, which could argue is a good game plan. Gabby Williams is injured. Veronica Burton might be tired.
• 42:01
  Filiberto: Offense is coming from somewhere.
• 42:02
  Michelle: Who else is gonna step up for the team and and be able to score if you're able to kinda shut down? So I think that last game, July 10 versus Connecticut, at this point, Natalie Nakase is saying, hey, we're flying a lot. After flying cross country, she's like, people are getting dehydrated. You can kind of see it at this point.
• 42:21
  Filiberto: Yeah. She was like, I get dehydrated a lot. I'm having a hard time.
• 42:24
  Michelle: Yeah. So I think, hopefully, the team got a nice blackout day the next day to kinda just relax. But you could definitely tell in that Connecticut game that the game plan was to try to, you know, definitely have what do they call it? Not a stat sheet. Like, have a game plan against Kaitlyn Chen.
• 42:44
  Filiberto: Oh, she got scouted.
• 42:45
  Michelle: She got scouted. That's what Gabby was saying.
• 42:46
  Filiberto: They talked about it a lot in the post game interview that Yeah. That it clearly she got scouted, and they had a game plan to shut her down.
• 42:53
  Michelle: Which is, like, such a compliment. Yeah. Right?
• 42:55
  Filiberto: And it kinda works, but it's not gonna work forever. Yeah. Like, she's she's playing at a really high level right now.
• 43:02
  Michelle: Well, and just what happened was that opened up for Veronica Burton. And I I know people will say, like, oh, a lot of her offensive stats are lower this year. And that's and, again, that's just one picture of her game. There's also what we call defense. But
• 43:16
  Filiberto: And rebounding.
• 43:17
  Michelle: People will say her her stats are down, but part of that's because they're sharing the load. Right? They're not asking her to do as much offensively as they did last year. But when you do take away someone like Kaitlyn Chen, it opens it up for Veronica do to do that work that she's done.
• 43:31
  Filiberto: Well, that's that's that classic three and d offense. You penetrate, you clog the lane, you draw the defense, and you let Yeah. People have open threes. Yeah. No.
• 43:40
  I think the I think the thing that people misunderstand the way the about the way Veronica's playing is that she may be scoring less, but she's contributing so much more. Right. Like, she's really shaping this team. Like, this is her team that she's leading. So I don't give a shit about those stats.
• 43:56
  Yeah. Like, the improved play, the way the team is responding to her, the leadership she's taking, how vocal she is, how much she calls them into their little huddles between free throws or whatever. Like Yeah. She is driving this team. And that's why some of those numbers are gonna slip because her priorities are elsewhere where they should be.
• 44:13
  It's good. It's a good thing.
• 44:15
  Michelle: The team's asking a lot of things from her Yeah. And a lot of different things they did last year.
• 44:19
  Filiberto: And she's meeting that. Right. So, no, she's having a better season than last season in my mind.
• 44:23
  Michelle: Exactly.
• 44:24
  Filiberto: Like so much better.
• 44:25
  Michelle: And a lot of her contributions to the team aren't gonna show up on a stat sheet.
• 44:28
  Filiberto: No.
• 44:29
  But I think more than anything else, like, you know, from her bios and what we've seen in interviews and conversations, she was like she got cut. She was cautious. She was, like, just trying to find her place. And to see just her as person grow in confidence and more of her identity coming out, like, in interviews and all these different ways. And just with the team, like, this team is based on not just Gabby Williams and her sort of excellent defense, but it also is based on the identity of the other players.
• 44:53
  And Yeah. Certainly, Veronica Burton's one of those that really shapes that identity.
• 44:56
  Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. She had a few like, key drives to the basket at the end of third and the fourth that helped the Valkyries pull away from Connecticut. And we'll put there's a few clips of those that we'll put in the show notes. But I do I do wanna shout out Connecticut.
• 45:16
  I mean, they're they're having a rough season.
• 45:18
  Filiberto: They're at the bottom of the standings. Let's not dance around that.
• 45:21
  Michelle: they they have a lot of great players and they played really hard. Like, played the full forty minutes. They gave it their all. And, you know, that's just that's that's a tough mental ask, but they're they're meeting that challenge, and they that was a great game to watch.
• 45:36
  Filiberto: Yeah. And I think, you know, I think about this in my job a lot, but it it yeah. They looked really good. And for Connecticut, it's like, just stick to the plan. You're losing right now.
• 45:46
  That's fine. But you're doing really well. You're playing really well. Just stick to it. Whatever you're doing, it's working.
• 45:51
  Yeah. You're not seeing the wins yet, but it's working.
• 45:55
  Michelle: You'll get there. Yeah.
• 46:08
  We're we're at our last segment of the show. My portion is called I'm Gonna Stop You Right There.
• 46:14
  Filiberto: Is it your favorite segment yet? Because it better be.
• 46:18
  Michelle: I mean, I'm not gonna you know, I'll be honest. Sometimes I struggle with what I'm gonna talk about. How
• 46:23
  Filiberto: so, Michelle? What do you mean? Just like coming up with an idea or
• 46:27
  prepping yourself?
• 46:28
  Michelle: I am opinionated, but like, there are times where it's hard for me to kinda like like, I remember going through journalism school and we had like, as the program I went to, we had a daily newspaper and you had to write a news story, at least an opinion piece, at least an arts piece, and at least a sports piece. The rest you do yourself. Like, you could choose. I always struggle with the opinion pieces because it's like, I see like all the different perspectives.
• 46:54
  And so it's like, I don't wanna discount, but this is the shit. This is what's happening. So it's always hard for me to cover all my bases in like 500 words or less. I'm I'm getting better at it the older I get, but it's still tough.
• 47:08
  Filiberto: Well, it's it sounds like you're also that to me, you know, as an editor is like the struggle to decide on your opinion whilst collecting a lot of opinions. It's the struggle to really be that definitive.
• 47:21
  Michelle: Right.
• 47:21
  Filiberto: It's hard. And because, like, for those of you who don't know, journalists, I was a journalist too, it is hard to decide, okay, the story's done. Because it's never really done. Right. Like, could do more with it.
• 47:31
  You can get more quotes. You can do all this shit. But, like, you have to just decide this is what's gonna go out
• 47:37
  Michelle: At this moment in time.
• 47:38
  Filiberto: And this is gonna meet the needs that we need.
• 47:40
  Michelle: And it can evolve. You can write different stories based on the feedback.
• 47:42
  Filiberto: Can follow-up, whatever. But it's it's hard. It is. It's hard to really know that this is the statement you wanna make.
• 47:49
  Michelle: Yeah. Exactly. So, you know, this is a topic I've been thinking about for a while, and it's the latest salvo in a decades long, centuries long.
• 48:02
  Filiberto: Eons long.
• 48:05
  Michelle: Just treatment of women in this country
• 48:09
  Filiberto: What are you referring to, Michelle?
• 48:10
  Michelle: Yeah. So the latest piece is about 11 Republican Congresspeople wrote a letter to the WNBA, basically threatening the league that if they don't protect Caitlin Clark from all these Black women, that they're going to open up an investigation into the league with all of the backing that the federal government has.
• 48:38
  Filiberto: The power of the federal government and all the pedophiles that are running it at the moment. Mhmm.
• 48:43
  Michelle: And they're claiming that this is in the interest of protecting women's sports.
• 48:50
  Filiberto: And again, which women are they talking about?
• 48:54
  Michelle: So that's kind of the part that I wanna talk a little bit about. This is our segment where we do interruptions, and I'm going to do a not-so-kind interruption of these people. These people have never cared about women's sports. These are the same people in their roles as coaches, athletic directors, back in the day, they were school board members, I don't know, studio executives, or other elected leaders.
• 49:22
  They did everything they could to fight efforts like Title IX that forced sports programs to offer equal access and resources to women athletes. They are the reason that we need stuff like Title Nine. These are the same people who defund, demean, discriminate, degrade women athletes. Their pay, their leagues, any of their media coverage. It feels like the only thing that they care about is policing women's bodies as a means to control and oppress us.
• 50:06
  Especially in like today's moment, there's this clear attempt to fear monger and create division to fool people into electing them. And all the parties in this country do this. The GOP has perfected it the most. And those are the 11 Congresspeople, they belong to the Republican Party.
• 50:36
  They are a shrinking minority and they know it. And they're just trying to hold on to their power as long as they can. That's all this is. As other people have said in the past, they're trying to manufacture scapegoats and these culture wars to distract us and divide us. These people should focus on addressing real challenges to women's sports.
• 51:01
  And this is this is a Congress people other people have noted this. This is not me. Others have noted that they've only passed like 44 laws this year. So what the hell is congress doing with our taxpayer money? How are they representing people?
• 51:13
  They're barely effective. But if if you want to protect women's sports, if you wanna strengthen it, if you want to invest in it, you know, women's sports are facing some challenges. Unequal funding, limited access to training facilities, pay disparities, male dominated leadership, which we saw on complete display during the World Cup games we've watched. Gender based violence, harassment across race, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. These people who send this letter, these are the same people trying to take away women's voting rights with the SAVE Act.
• 51:57
  These are the same people trying to erase the girls and women trafficked in the Epstein files. Yet, you're gonna tell me that you're gonna protect women's sports. Again, they should be focused on working for the people, delivering healthcare for all, making our communities safe from over policing, solving the affordability crisis, addressing climate change, reducing income inequality, improving mental health, stopping school shootings. I could go on. These people have never cared about women or women's sports and they never will.
• 52:38
  All right. That's my interruption. What are what are your thoughts on this topic?
• 52:43
  Filiberto: Yeah, I think for folks that are listening, it's like, well, what's what's my stake in this? Like, what's my perspective on this as a dude, like running this podcast, talking about women's sports? And I think my interest in this is intimate. Like, not only is it the sort of basic cliche thing that I love women and there's women in my life that I love very dearly, and I want them to have every opportunity possible. But, you know, fighting against this sort of sexism, misogyny, racism is deeply important to me because the sort of folks that really cater profit off of this sort of hate also profit off of racism, also profit off of transphobia.
• 53:22
  Like these are the thinking is consistent, right? And I used to be a scholar of genocide. And the thing that I'm most sensitive about is anything that dehumanizes people because dehumanizing people eventually leads to an argument for their death. Like, that may sound dramatic, but that is what history teaches us is that whenever you get to a point where you're dehumanizing people and you have impunity and arms and the means by which you can murder people en masse, that happens continuously, mostly by white men. And so fighting against this is fighting against those things, y'all.
• 53:56
  Like this isn't disproportionate. These are the stakes. These are the stakes that we're living in. Very much so. So my interest in this as a as a man, as a person of color, as a formerly incarcerated person, all these different identities that I have is clear and unambiguous.
• 54:13
  The fight is the same as mine, and that's never going to change. So for those of you that are on the sidelines or just unsure about what your claim is or what your stake is on this, it is there. It is there. It's easy to find. And if you can't find it, that's a prejudice that you have to deal with.
• 54:28
  That's a bigotry. That's an unconscious bias that you have to navigate. And I encourage you to do so. It's important to get to that point of realization. But this is your fight.
• 54:37
  Whoever you are, this is your fight.
• 54:41
  Michelle: Yeah. And I think this also is what happens when you have a league or just decision makers, executives, whatever, whether this is how they're always operating or in this political climate with this president. I think a lot of people are worried about being bold or worried about being stating their values and their aspirations because doing so may make you a target. Right? You don't wanna be too loud about certain things.
• 55:15
  And while I understand that urge, I've seen in my job, my daily job, but I've also just watched other people attempt to do that and they're targeted anyways. And so I think people need to wake up and stop being so silent and stop going along with the oppression, And they need to fight it and they need to really stand up for who they are in this case, you know, who what the WNBA is. And I think this just goes to show and yet another example of the failure of leadership within the WNBA. And some of this tied to the NBA. Right?
• 55:56
  Like, they're still linked. The WNBA is not its own league.
• 56:00
  Filiberto: We still have to look to who owns it.
• 56:02
  Michelle: Right. So this is a failure of the commissioners. This a failure of the owners to really embrace who they should be speaking up for, who they should be advocating for. And, you know, Cathy Englebert, she's in Tahoe with a bunch of mucky mucks during some golfing thing, I think. She was supposed to do an interview on Dan Patrick or someone's show, and she canceled it.
• 56:27
  They're in the same freaking city. Like, she canceled it because she's too much of a chicken shit to comment on this. She doesn't have a good grip of how she wants to communicate. She'll talk about hate doesn't belong in the W. But beyond that buzzword, beyond that phrase, she doesn't know how to answer it.
• 56:45
  She doesn't know what that looks like. She cannot speak to the lived experiences of what's happening to the players, coaches, and other people in her league. And it's just it's embarrassing. And it needs to change.
• 57:04
  Filiberto: Yeah. And I think a lot of what you see in terms of the league and the white fragility is a lot of these white women are getting frustrated that they're not used to the privileges that they had in middle school and high school and college. But Y'all gotta be clear about that.
• 57:21
  Michelle: And I think like the you mentioned elementary school or whatever. That's a lesson we learn. Like, if a bully senses your weakness, they're gonna exploit it. They're gonna go even after you because they're weak themselves. Right.
• 57:34
  If you show strength like other people have in this country, they'll back off. Or they'll wither or they'll they'll try to target you, but they won't be successful. It'll be short lived.
• 57:45
  Filiberto: Well, and I think strength not in terms of, like, muscle or, like, physical capacity, but strength in terms of, like, knowing who you are and being clear about your identity and your values and your principles. That's you know, it sounds like an after school special, but that's the real strength. The more you know, boop boop boop.
• 58:05
  Michelle: Thanks for listening and building community with us. Make sure you're following us on Instagram at pod we got next, and subscribe at wegotnextpod.org.