Latest / We Got Next / Is professional women’s hockey in peril? Valkyries celebrate mascot’s birthday in style and on a win streak

Transcript

Is professional women’s hockey in peril? Valkyries celebrate mascot’s birthday in style and on a win streak · 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 game on and off the court, the field, the pitch, the pool, and more.
• 0:21
  Filiberto: So just so everybody knows, we got a cat situation up in this. So we've been fostering one adult male cat. His name is Grayson, for a while now. And then we're also fostering a little guy. He's like a two month old, tentatively referred to as He Man Thunder Cat.
• 0:40
  Michelle: Thunder Kitty.
• 0:40
  Filiberto: Thunder Kitty. Excuse me. So He Man Thunder Kitty stays with us because the cats need to be separated because that's just where they're at. But we can hear Grayson crying outside. Poor little guy.
• 0:50
  We're going to spend some time with Grayson after this podcast episode. But, yeah. Little He Man Thunder Kitty is hopping around. We're gonna put a photo out there for y'all to see.
• 0:59
  Michelle: Love to I've trying I've been trying to get photos of him, but he moves so much.
• 1:03
  Filiberto: He's a fast little guy.
• 1:04
  Michelle: It's like it's a flash of white. But yes, Grayson. We also have to, like, add some context for Grayson, the older cat. We did trim his front nails this morning.
• 1:16
  Filiberto: He had a rough day.
• 1:17
  Michelle: So he needs a lot of soothing right now.
• 1:20
  Filiberto: We give him plenty of snacks, but Yeah. He needs more loving attention. Yes. Apparently.
• 1:31
  Hey, Michelle.
• 1:32
  Michelle: Yeah.
• 1:32
  Filiberto: What is that beverage you have there? What do we got today?
• 1:35
  Michelle: This was a fantastic beverage that you put together this time. You introduced me to the cold press juicing.
• 1:44
  Filiberto: Do y'all know about that? Cold press juicing. It's amazing.
• 1:49
  Michelle: So we had some oranges. I think we we overdid it on the Vitamin C this week. Yeah. We got like the mandarins and then also a lot of oranges. So we're like, oh, let's just juice the oranges.
• 2:02
  Filiberto: We won't be getting scurvy this week, folks. Protected from that.
• 2:06
  Michelle: So, yes, we have our own fresh pressed juice with a little bit of vodka. So that's a screwdriver. Right?
• 2:13
  Filiberto: Yeah. Okay. Cold press cocktails, what we're calling those. Yes. In case we want to trademark that.
• 2:17
  Michelle: We have a business plan for our retirement that involves
• 2:20
  Filiberto: We do.
• 2:21
  Michelle: These these drinks.
• 2:22
  Filiberto: Call us at 1-800 get juicy.
• 2:26
  Michelle: But it's very it's very yummy. I appreciate it.
• 2:28
  Filiberto: Thank you. Thank you. Oh, Grayson's crying so loud. Can you hear him on the radio? Oh, Oh.
• 2:34
  Oh. On the mic. I don't think Yeah. It's tough. Poor guy.
• 2:39
  He has a lot of attachment issues, everybody. You you all know that kind of cat. Fellow cat lovers out there, you know that lovely, adorable, but super attached cat. He is very attached to us, and it's sweet and lovely until we need some space, and then it's not sweet and lovely. Yep.
• 2:54
  But, you know, you gotta take the good with the bad, I suppose.
• 3:06
  Hey, Michelle. Yes. What's going on with news this week? There's been a lot lot happening out there.
• 3:12
  So, why don't you, walk us through some of these Yeah. Some of these big topics.
• 3:16
  Michelle: So I just wanna note, like, there are some conversations happening across many different women's sports leagues this week. We're gonna reserve spending some time on that for a future episode where we can kinda do a little bit more research, put some more thought, gather a lot of kind of what the best sentiments we've seen in interviews and social media. So we're not ignoring what's going on. We just wanna spend a little bit more time looking at collective bargaining agreements and other things
• 3:44
  Filiberto: Absolutely.
• 3:45
  Michelle: To put together a bigger commentary on that. But a few of the cool things I've seen. There are where's my phone? There are a few in case you haven't seen them or heard of them. There's a few like websites and apps.
• 4:07
  And if we're leaving something off, please let us know. But I want to kind of just like give a shout out.
• 4:16
  Filiberto: Yeah. I think similar to what we do as like independent just podcast producers, there's also folks out there working on tech and putting together apps related to women's sports. So Yeah. That's been fun just watching that develop. And we don't really have an opinion yet.
• 4:29
  We're just trying to draw people's attention to these things. They need the feedback. They need the users.
• 4:33
  Michelle: Yeah. When you can, like, kinda check them out and see what fits like what you're looking for with, your own experience as a fan. And for years, I've been very frustrated with ESPN. That's kind of the main place they've had this monopoly on Mhmm. Sports coverage.
• 4:52
  Especially, like, if you wanna find scores or, like, the latest news on sports. That's, like, the go- to app for a lot of people. And if you wanna, you know, go beyond the the two or three, you know, men's sports leagues that they push on you, you have to do a lot of searching and stuff. And it's very frustrating, very annoying. So just came across She Scores.
• 5:18
  It's shescoressports.app, a p p.
• 5:22
  Filiberto: We'll definitely have a link link in the show notes.
• 5:24
  Michelle: Yeah. We'll link to it. But basically, it's kind of it's trying to it's it's built by women's sports fans for women's sports fans. And basically, they're trying to address that frustration of not being able to find a coverage of women's sports leagues and putting it together in one place for you. And you can personalize it.
• 5:42
  You can favorite certain leagues. But like, you know, ESPN basically has the WNBA and the National Women's Soccer League. And that's kind of it that I've been able to find. So this expands to about 10 other leagues. So and I think they'll also have like ways to kind of watch these other players.
• 6:06
  It's not just scoreboard, it's about also trying to find
• 6:08
  Filiberto: Integrated like TV viewers.
• 6:10
  Michelle: A way to stream it or view it. So it's like you don't like Yeah. Not only did you you're trying to find the scores or something, but you like missed the game completely because you had no idea like you And know not. Schedule. Yeah.
• 6:22
  Filiberto: Or you were traveling or whatever.
• 6:24
  Michelle: Yeah. So I wanna shout out though that thank you for putting that together. Whoever's responsible for this, I will definitely reach out. And maybe we can have you on the pod and just talk about this huge project that you've done for all of us. We really appreciate.
• 6:38
  The other one I just wanted to shout out is Bet On Her. So this is an app.
• 6:43
  Filiberto: Yeah. I've been I've been following that one a little more. So this app has been going on for a minute. They on the website they mentioned I'd actually didn't know the number, but it's basically like an aggregator. It's a collection of APIs and different league streams for I think they they mentioned 40 sports, 40 women's sports.
• 7:03
  So you're getting everything from sort of the things that we talk about the WNBA to, like, rugby, international rugby, different things. And they're starting to actually produce their own stories too. So it's a, you know, it's a budding little platform. Our podcast is streamed through there too. They added us pretty early on.
• 7:17
  So thanks for the support y'all at Bet On Her Collective. Appreciate y'all.
• 7:22
  Michelle: I think what people have also noticed, and we've seen a lot with like the WNBA, but it's also true for hockey and soccer and others is there are a lot of athletes that are coming from not just the United States. And so, they might have their their own international competitions. And so how do we you know, they also their country has their own sports league. So how do in the off season when the WNBA isn't in, but, know, other leagues in other countries are, how do we like keep up with our favorite players? And we've, of course, seen that, especially with the Golden State Valkyries.
• 7:59
  A lot of their players are from France.
• 8:01
  Filiberto: I'm very invested in the French national team. I do wanna watch their games.
• 8:05
  Michelle: And so now it's like, how do I follow my favorite WNBA player, many of whom go to Europe or Asia?
• 8:11
  Filiberto: Like, how do I get that Turkish league feed? Like, what?
• 8:13
  Michelle: Exactly. And so I I've noticed, like, an increasing infrastructure for that. Yeah. Not only, like, the teams that have to build that out and have a camera per at least one camera person or a camera staged somewhere, a way to get the audio on that end, but then also trying to find a partner who will stream it or, you know, host it on some type of platform so people can actually view it. So there's been more efforts to to do that to give us that access.
• 8:42
  And so I think you're seeing that with some of these, you know, websites or apps as they're trying to bring that just increase that accessibility.
• 8:51
  Filiberto: Well, and it's also not lose sight of the fact too that's in their interest. Right? Like, meteorites are one of the most profitable, important out you know, assets out there, especially with digital streaming where you can rewind and Yeah. Watch things on demand. Being able to force people to watch commercials is actually a really big deal, and that's why sports media is so important.
• 9:08
  So there's a lot of interest in expanding that user base because the more users you have, the more value it has. But the the side effect of that is we get more access to stuff. So that's pretty cool.
• 9:18
  Michelle: Yeah. And it's just a way to expand like that fandom beyond just one league season because the W, as an example, you know, these have a shorter season than other leagues like the MNBA and stuff like that. So how do I keep following them throughout the year? So it's a great so I just wanna thank She Scores and Bet On Her.
• 9:43
  Another fun story this week is Natesha Heidemann of the Seattle storm, half of Stud Budz, started her own, started a running club this week called Run Budz.
• 9:58
  And we'll put the link to their Instagram in the show notes. But when I saw this, I've never been more upset that I do not live in Seattle.
• 10:07
  Filiberto: I don't even like running. I wanna go running now. Let's go to Seattle and go running, sweetheart. Let's do it.
• 10:12
  Michelle: Yeah. And it looked like they're combining kinda making sure people are stretching, maybe needing some mindfulness.
• 10:17
  Filiberto: Some wellness, overall wellness. Yeah. Y'all, it's not really worth it to go running if you're not taking care of that experience.
• 10:23
  Michelle: Yeah. You gotta stretch.
• 10:24
  Filiberto: Stretch. You gotta do, you know, like, you gotta do a little bit of, like, you know, like a little light yoga, pilates work. Right? Like, do some holds, loosen up those calves, work on those hamstrings.
• 10:35
  Michelle: Yeah. Or even like a grounding in.
• 10:37
  Filiberto: Full strengthening.
• 10:38
  Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. Like a grounding in too.
• 10:39
  Filiberto: It's like Why you why are you going for that run?
• 10:41
  Michelle: Yeah. Just making sure you're getting like kind of a little like transition between whether you like are coming from work or a hectic household or something. It's like making sure you kind take that minute that moment to like, what do you wanna accomplish on this run, both physically and also like mentally and emotionally?
• 10:59
  Filiberto: Yeah. And just reflecting on how good you feel about yourself after you're done with that run. Yeah. What you've accomplished. Yeah.
• 11:06
  Absolutely. You know, in our in our world of, like, activism and union stuff, our victories don't come very frequently. So I think in athletic, athletics has been one of the things that's also kept me in a good place because I can measure and accomplish something when I don't feel like I'm gonna accomplish anything. You know, when you're in the middle of a campaign and it's really rough, you're like, oh, man, are we ever gonna win? But just making those little accomplishments happen at least supports, like, some positive thoughts.
• 11:33
  So thank you, athletics.
• 11:34
  Michelle: Yeah. Thank you, Natesha. And last ...
• 11:39
  Filiberto: Run Budz. Awesome. Sorry. Fail.
• 11:40
  Michelle: That's okay. Just the last one. I I have a note to talk about. This will be a good transition into the Golden State Valkyries segments. There were a lot of fantastic I don't know if it's if it was part of like WNBA Rivals Week.
• 11:57
  They were pushing this last week, but there were some phenomenal games played. But I one that just kinda like stood out to me was the Las Vegas versus Aces versus Washington Mystics. Mhmm. And they had consecutive games. Right?
• 12:11
  So Washington was in Vegas for two games. And I remember, like, the first game, Las Vegas eked out a win. It was 86 to 76. But Washington played them hard. They're with them most of the game.
• 12:29
  And we had just played them. So I was like
• 12:31
  Filiberto: Yeah. We just watched them, like, really closely. Yeah. Not that long after.
• 12:35
  Michelle: And so part of me was like, you know, because we won the first game in San Francisco and then we played again a day or two later. And so and Washington beat us heading into all star games. So I was I was like thinking of the aces of like, watch out for that second game because they make some adjustments. It could be a threat. They're playing really hard.
• 12:54
  Game two was I believe last night. And again, it was very close most of the game. Washington was right there with them. You had Shakira Austin and A'ja Wilson just going at it being very physical. There wasn't like a lot of chirping that I could see or like, you know, talking smack, but just very physical to two players at their peak.
• 13:16
  Mhmm. Just playing really hard going to the bucket.
• 13:20
  Filiberto: Well, also, again, we're we're and we're getting to the point of the season where it's feeling more like a playoff environment and the intensity is increasing. Right? Every game matters. Every seeding matters. Moving losing two games in a row might knock you down like four spots.
• 13:33
  Like, it's getting kinda wild now.
• 13:35
  Michelle: Yeah. And if you're, you know, Washington's playing for seeding at this point because there's kind of teams like four through eight are like separated by a game or two. So they're playing for that seeding. They're trying to get as high up as they can for home court. And then you've got Vegas who's sitting at third right now like a game or two behind Golden State depending on the day of the week.
• 13:56
  And they're kinda like, what the hell? We want that two seed back. Yeah. So and because they've been, you know, with Minnesota for the number one spot for at least the first half of the season until we kind of went on our winning streak.
• 14:10
  Filiberto: Yeah. Vegas has been a little uneven lately.
• 14:12
  Michelle: Yeah.
• 14:12
  Filiberto: So
• 14:12
  Michelle: And Vegas has lost to Washington before this season. But, no, it was it was a great battle just on both sides. It was really fun to watch. So if you haven't watched that, sign up for League Pass. It's not super expensive.
• 14:28
  And go watch those games. Yeah. Oh, and that final score, that second game was as close. So the first game, 86 to 76 for the Aces. The second game, eighty three seventy six Aces.
• 14:38
  So the score is almost the same too.
• 14:40
  Filiberto: Well, I remember the first game too of the two that you're mentioning. The first half, the way Washington played that first half was amazing. And it's hard to keep it up, so you always expect to drop off in the second half generally. But, yeah, they looked really good the first half at least. So, like, it was like, yeah, they're gonna if they can keep that together, they're gonna make it really far in the playoffs.
• 14:58
  Michelle: Yeah. They look good.
• 15:00
  Filiberto: They look really good.
• 15:06
  Okay. We're back on our three game set Yes. Per usual.
• 15:10
  Michelle: And they won all three.
• 15:11
  Filiberto: It was a nice little cluster games too. They were I think looking at the schedule, it was like, these are very winnable games for them. If they wanna keep their position, they need these are the kind of games that they need to win.
• 15:20
  Michelle: Yes. And like you said on our last episode where it's like, this is the grind of the season. And we've mentioned before that Coach Nakase wants to keep the Valkyries kind of in this playoff mode, this kind of desperation urgency mode. That's hard to keep up this part of the season. Right?
• 15:37
  And that dedication defense that takes a lot of energy, a lot of calories, a lot of dedication. And it's it's hard to pull that off for a whole a whole season, much less a whole four quarters in a game.
• 15:48
  Filiberto: Well, and I think you've mentioned this before, I think we talked about it on the last podcast. Like, part of pushing your players that hard is also necessity of investing in their wellness and investing in their recovery. And, you know, you hear from the players that the Valkyries really do invest in that too. So push them hard, but also make sure you're setting them up for success as well.
• 16:08
  Michelle: So we had August 7 in Dallas and we played August 9, two days later, in LA. So we had like a mini road trip there. And then August 12, we we were back at home against Chicago and that was
• 16:23
  Filiberto: You mean, Ballhalla? Hell yeah. Back at Ballhalla.
• 16:27
  Michelle: And we're recording this Friday, August 14 in the morning.
• 16:30
  Filiberto: I was in San Diego yesterday.
• 16:31
  Michelle: So Yeah.
• 16:32
  Filiberto: Whoops. Gonna record. A little scheduling snafu. I'll have more news to share about that at some other juncture. Can't really say much about it now.
• 16:40
  Cross your fingers, everybody.
• 16:42
  Michelle: So that first game against Dallas, I think we have we have one more game, I think, in Ballhalla coming up. But, you know, this is this is big because Dallas is right behind us in the standings. So it was kinda like if if someone can win both these games, like this is a huge game swing. Yeah. Or, you know, split them, that's fine too.
• 17:00
  But it's like it as a Valkyries fan, can we win both these games? Dallas is kind of
• 17:05
  Filiberto: Well, and I and the other urgency about these games too is that we're about to hit a really shitty part of our schedule. Probably the worst part of the schedule for the entire season
• 17:13
  Michelle: Yeah.
• 17:14
  Filiberto: Arguably. At least that chunk at the end where there's, like, five games in three days or something.
• 17:19
  Michelle: At least probably top two bad
• 17:21
  Filiberto: Yeah.
• 17:21
  Michelle: Chunks of our schedule.
• 17:22
  Filiberto: So the winning these games is also exceptionally important. Yes. Really, really important. So Yes. Yeah.
• 17:27
  It's very impressive.
• 17:28
  Michelle: And Dallas did not have Azzi Fudd. So that was a plus
• 17:31
  Filiberto: was a factor for them. Absolutely.
• 17:34
  Michelle: But this game, you know, it was it was somewhat close for a bit. I think Paige Bueckers scored a lot early. I mean, you have to deal with Paige and Shepherd. Like, if you can try if you can try to kinda contain them and then force Arike Ogunbowale to like do really well. It, you know, can be a game plan.
• 17:54
  Whether or not you can actually execute that, who knows? But looks like that's kinda what the Valkyries were able to do. Dallas' offense just kind of felt flat except
• 18:03
  Filiberto: It looked really flat.
• 18:04
  Michelle: Except for James. I thought she had a great game.
• 18:07
  Filiberto: Yeah. Yeah.
• 18:07
  Michelle: She really I think she either started or at least kinda filled a lot of Azzi Fudd's minutes. Yeah. I thought she did really well, was standout in that game. The Valkyries outscored Dallas all four quarters.
• 18:21
  Filiberto: Yeah. And I think Li Yueru gave them a change of pace for a hot minute, but I I think they wanted her to keep it going and she couldn't. Like, I think and I think that's the kind of story of this Dallas offense is there were simple sets. There were some basic pick and rolls, a couple of screens like that. Was just wasn't much going on.
• 18:37
  It was way too ISO oriented.
• 18:39
  Michelle: It felt a little two dimensional.
• 18:40
  Filiberto: Yeah. And for someone like Arike who's really, really good when she's really, really good, expecting her to sustain like an ISO based offense is not a good idea for her. Yeah. Because when she can't shake out and when she just gets stuck not making shots, like, that's where she's at. And you Arike is the key.
• 18:56
  Yeah. And you need her to do well for that team to do You need her to be playing at a plus.
• 19:00
  Michelle: Well, if she's doing well, it opens up a lot more on your offense. Yes. It
• 19:04
  Filiberto: It backs people off of Paige and Jessica Shepherd and just allows things to flow better.
• 19:09
  Michelle: But that's part of, you know, a team that plays really great defense is that it's you're it's gonna kinda stifle some some players. And I think Arike really succeeds when she has a little bit more space, and the Valkyries just took that away from her.
• 19:22
  Filiberto: Yeah. And it didn't and it didn't design the offense around that necessity for space. Yes. But I think the Valkyries defense also, like, it's it's both stifling and then it's pay, it's hurried. So it's what's amazing to watch is how much they'll shut down what the other team is trying to do, get in their lanes, and then force that team to pick up the pace to make their shot because the shot clock's running out.
• 19:44
  So it's it's this amazing sort of balance and shift that they do. Yeah. So everyone's taking shots they don't want and then they kinda see it.
• 19:53
  Michelle: I'm curious if, like, that's something that Coach Natalie Nakase and her assistants kinda picked up on, you know, especially their time with Vegas. Like in the W, there's just at least recently, last couple years, there are some teams that play defense really well, but it's not necessarily something you sustain throughout a whole season. It's like that's the niche the Valkyries could carve out for themselves. And to be quite honest, several of the number one draft picks recently, very great offense, very dynamic, but they're not used to playing a stifling defense. They don't get that very much No.
• 20:27
  In a college game.
• 20:28
  Filiberto: They weren't asked to do those things in college.
• 20:30
  Michelle: And I think if you're looking at that, like, look, these are people that are coming up who are coming up in the league. If they face a really tough defense, they can't do shit.
• 20:40
  Filiberto: Yeah. And in the college game, they're expected to try to shut down one player. Maybe two at most. But with the Valkyries, you have to figure out how to try to shut down Gabby. Hope to God that Janelle just doesn't get hot, but she probably will anyway.
• 20:51
  Like, there's a lot of things you have to account for when you're playing the Valkyries. Even even when, as you're describing, they're spending a disproportionate amounts amount of their preparation on defense Yeah. Defensive principles, it seems.
• 21:03
  Michelle: Yeah. I mean and if you look at our Instagram pod We Got Next, we've put together a couple graphics where it and we talk about kind of like the number one offensive stars that the Valkyries defense has shut down. Yeah. So it's like a common theme throughout the whole season is if you can contain, you know, one or two of these force, a secondary or tertiary player to kind of
• 21:28
  Filiberto: Have to try to beat you.
• 21:29
  Michelle: Step into that role and then they can't. And so that's been kind successful for the Valkyries.
• 21:34
  Filiberto: Well, know, one of the things about watching the Valkyries is the best way to try to understand what they're doing, I think, for us or for me has been focusing on one player and just seeing the way they work through the screens and all those things. And Gabby Williams is obviously like one of the most dynamic defensive players the Valkyries have and arguably in the league. And one of the things that you and I picked up on, I don't remember if it was this game, but the way she has her hands when she's defending interestingly allows her to try to swipe at the ball below the plane of where the the hands are for the dribbler such that she rarely hand checks. Yeah. She rarely gets I mean, reaches in a lot, like a lot, but she rarely gets fouled.
• 22:13
  Then the more, you know, we're watching the more I'm like, how does she get away with that? And that's that's the thing. Yeah. She keeps her hands down. And you don't you typically don't get taught that when you're playing basketball.
• 22:22
  So kids, you know, don't listen to me and try to do that. I'm not trying to guide you or tell you what to do, But it's just something to notice as, you know, we spend a lot of time just watching this stuff. But and clearly, there's a lot of exercises that they do just to speed up their agility on that type of movement. But, yeah, it's just really fascinating to watch and see those defensive principles look more obvious. Because it takes Yeah.
• 22:44
  Takes a while to train your eye to be able to notice those things too. Like, I wasn't noticing that stuff when we were first watching those things or these games.
• 22:51
  Michelle: Well, yeah, it allows her to, like, not foul as often. Yeah. And it will we'll try to put a a link to a clip of this because it it kinda looks a little awkward. Her arms are down on her sides, but her arms but
• 23:01
  Filiberto: Her fingers are flared up.
• 23:02
  Michelle: But her hands are out.
• 23:04
  Filiberto: Which is actually hard to hold. Like, try it. Like, as you're listening to us, try it. Like, just stick your arms out and try to lift the tips of your fingers. Like, it actually kinda hurts on the top of your hand.
• 23:13
  Yeah. But she's trained herself to do that. And I'm if we were if we were had an opportunity to interview her, I would totally ask her about that. I'd be like, yo, girl, like, what's up with that? Yeah.
• 23:22
  Like, as a tactic, as a strategy, like, tell me about where that came from because I'm really curious.
• 23:26
  Michelle: Yeah. And, you know, in this game, Dallas did try they did put up a run, put up more of a fight in the fourth quarter, but Golden State still outscored them. What are your what were what were you seeing about just being able to finish games for the Valkyries?
• 23:43
  Filiberto: Yeah. I think it's some it's a theme that we've talked about for a while now. But, like, as a as a as a defense and as an as a as a three and d team, one of the things that seems like they've been developing is the ability to close out. And I think in this three game set, you really see the development of that. Like, we saw last season they had a really hard time closing out games.
• 24:04
  This season, they're closing out games a little better. But interestingly, they've escalated. And now if you're watching the games, they're closing out each quarter, like, really strong. Like, they kinda start out slow a little bit. They're just kinda figuring their stuff out, but they're able to ramp it up really well such that, yeah, they're in a great position by the time if you're if you're closing out really strong before halftime, you get to really prepare yourself during halftime, go through your notes, you know, get a little treatment, whatever.
• 24:34
  And then if you're closing out in the third, you're setting yourself to really dominate in the fourth. And that's kind of what you see as a progression through these through these three games.
• 24:42
  Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. And I think another common theme for these three games is we had a different Valkyries step up. Yeah. And this game, it was Veronica Burton.
• 24:51
  She had let me pull up the box score for this. Burton had she played thirty minutes, which is great because you're seeing Coach Nakase manage their minutes a little bit more.
• 25:04
  Filiberto: They're pushing them a little harder. Yeah. But also managing the European players' minutes because of FIBA. So
• 25:11
  Michelle: So Veronica played thirty minutes. She had 22 points. She was eight of 13 on scoring. Three of seven on threes. So she just was kinda like really
• 25:18
  Filiberto: It's a big all around game for her.
• 25:20
  Michelle: Really hitting it. She had four rebounds, seven assists, a steal. And she was a a plus seven. Kiah Stokes, plus 21. Like, all the starters were, like, great in their pluses.
• 25:33
  So strong game for Veronica. She's really coming into her own as a leader and just being like, she she communicates great, but she's just been a little bit more of that on the courts during breaks for the for the team. It's her coaches kinda pointed that out in some of her press conference.
• 25:49
  Filiberto: Leadership's increasing. It's really nice to watch.
• 25:51
  Michelle: That confidence in her own leadership.
• 25:53
  Filiberto: And they're responding to her really positively too. So it speaks well to the way this player, this team is designed.
• 25:59
  Michelle: I think over the last two seasons, the, you know, Valkyries players have seen her as their leader. Right? But she's just kind of like just elevating that role for herself and like I said, confidence in it. It's been it's been great.
• 26:18
  And then our next game, two days later was in LA. You know, before the Valkyries, LA was my team. So it was a great game to watch. LA has been a little, you know, kind of after the Kelsey Plum trade to Phoenix. They've been kinda, like, really playing well.
• 26:38
  Filiberto: Yeah. It's a more balanced approach on offense. Kelsey Plum is an amazing player, but she does hog up a disproportionate amount of the offensive action.
• 26:47
  Michelle: Yeah. That's not to say LA is going on a win streak right.
• 26:53
  Filiberto: Let's not confuse anything. You all.
• 26:56
  Michelle: They've been kind of playing great as a team. They've got some great leaders in Cameron Brink, Nneka, and Rae Burrell.
• 27:02
  Filiberto: But they keep running into injury problems. I know. It sucks for them. Like, I you know, you know, secondarily, we're very invested in the Sparks, not nearly as much as the Valkyries. So it's just rough watching them just struggle so much because it's a it's a cool team and a lot of good players, but Yeah.
• 27:16
  It's just not working, unfortunately.
• 27:18
  Michelle: It's tough. I would say this is one of the best for first quarters we've seen the Valkyries play. And I mean, LA just struggles on defense. Right? That's a storyline from this year and last year.
• 27:31
  So they were making the Golden State's offense look really good. Yeah.
• 27:36
  Filiberto: We were doing whatever we wanted. It was kinda wild.
• 27:38
  Michelle: Gabby just had a really great game. She, like, she was scoring really well. She kinda made it look really easy.
• 27:44
  Filiberto: I mean, she's easily the best athlete on the court most nights. Yeah. That's that was certainly true that night.
• 27:49
  Michelle: Yeah. And in this game, like Rae Burrell did not score until the fourth, like a field goal. She may have shot some free throws, but she did not score until the fourth. That's not a recipe for success for that team. And I don't I don't know if she just wasn't getting the looks, but, like, dang.
• 28:06
  And how did Ceci do in that game?
• 28:08
  Filiberto: Ceci did not miss a three. She went five for five.
• 28:12
  Michelle: Mhmm.
• 28:12
  Filiberto: It was amazing. Like, I don't you know, some games, Ceci just like, looks like she's still just trying to figure out what to do, and the other games, she's just knocking them down. Like and, I mean, Janelle Salaun probably has the prettiest shot because she constantly has somebody in her face, and it's hilarious watching her just shoot over people and make them anyway. Yeah. But Ceci as like a a pure fundamental.
• 28:36
  Like, the way she shoots is just fucking glorious, especially when she's actually making the shots. And, yeah, that night she was locked in.
• 28:43
  Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. No. She looks good. I mean, I know some fans kinda question whether or not she'd be she should be a starter because she's not necessarily as flashy or doesn't necessarily shoot as much.
• 28:55
  But she does play a really important role for that team.
• 28:58
  Filiberto: Her ball handling kills me though. She gets caught in some shit in the and when she tries to dribble up, she gets caught in some stuff, you know, often in the middle of the court and it it just hurts my heart. I feel like she dribbles too high. Yeah. I feel like she needs to crouch lower, especially because of her height.
• 29:14
  Yeah. And especially because often guards that are short of her are defending her and Yeah. She's exposed if she's dribbling too high. Yeah. That's just my very casual, not very informed, very distant observation.
• 29:26
  Michelle: Yeah. You're not you're not wrong on that.
• 29:28
  Filiberto: I don't know. I don't I don't know that I'm right. I I can't really clarify that.
• 29:33
  Michelle: Yeah. This is the game that Kiah Stokes was injured.
• 29:37
  Filiberto: Yeah. So
• 29:38
  Michelle: she took she took a hit to the face, the head from Cameron Brink.
• 29:42
  Filiberto: Thinking of you, Kiah.
• 29:43
  Michelle: I know.
• 29:44
  Filiberto: Hope you feel better.
• 29:45
  Michelle: So she did set out the next game against Chicago for concussion protocol. I think the good thing is
• 29:50
  Filiberto: It was officially concussion protocol?
• 29:52
  Michelle: Yeah. Okay. So the good thing is, you know, they had three days or they didn't play till three days later against Chicago, and then they don't play again until Monday. So so Kiah does have some time. They they she did not play against Chicago.
• 30:08
  So she has almost a probably a week or over a week, hopefully. And she the Chicago game, she was sitting on the bench, which is good. You're going through concussion protocol sometimes, that's too much sensory. So you can't be out there.
• 30:22
  Filiberto: Could be dangerous to be out there.
• 30:23
  Michelle: So that could be a good sign that she's out there. So hopefully, she's doing what she needs to do to get better, take care of herself.
• 30:30
  Filiberto: And we've been watching the Valkyries from the beginning, and we know that they tend to be really conservative with injuries. Like, they tend to not push it. They don't watch it out
• 30:37
  Michelle: They don't hide that either.
• 30:38
  Filiberto: Yeah. They say it all the time in their press conferences. Yeah. Like, they're not ambiguous about it. So, you know, I think we're confident in knowing that when she is back on the court, we know she's ready to be back on the court.
• 30:47
  Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. But I know they you know, Valkyries had a lead and LA went on a run-in the fourth. So it was a it was a little scary. A little scary.
• 30:59
  We had a one point lead with two minutes left. And then Salaun hit a three with they kinda sealed it for us three with thirty three seconds left that put us up by six points. So we had we gave up. We turned the ball over 15 times so
• 31:15
  Filiberto: It got a little messy.
• 31:16
  Michelle: For, you know, playing against a team that doesn't play defense that much Yeah. To give fifth to to turn over the ball 15 times, not great. Mhmm. Mhmm. But they were able they won that game 84 to 78.
• 31:28
  So, yeah, it was a slim it that score makes it look closer than it really was. But, you know
• 31:34
  Filiberto: But it's it's wild watching Janelle, like, just make those threes because she demoralizes team with her shots sometimes. Like, no other player on their Valkyries roster just does that to the other team. Just like, hey. You're trying to beat us? Fuck you.
• 31:47
  We may I just made a three in your face, dude. Like, damn, girl. Yeah. I love it. Love that attitude.
• 32:18
  Michelle: And last game of this three game chunk was against Chicago on August 12. It was a bad first, but Coach Nakase's postgame press conference, it wasn't necessarily the team that was doing badly, which has kind of been the theme in the past is like, we just don't come out of game very well.
• 32:37
  Filiberto: She's happy to say that and claim that when it happens. But
• 32:40
  Michelle: she did say we had a game plan. It was not the right game plan. So she so between first and second quarter, she adjusted it and the team did much better after that.
• 32:48
  Filiberto: And she refused to clarify. So I think our best guess is and y'all can tell us if you think you're right. If you have your own thoughts, please let us know. But our best guess is that they were trying to collapse the paint pretty quickly to minimize Cardoso, and they kind of gave up on the three a little bit and guarding the three really hard. So we think and after that, they started guarding the three harder, and then they went, like, one player fronting Cardoso and trying to disrupt that that in what's the term of the path?
• 33:17
  What is it called? The ingest path. It's not ingest. Entry pass. The entry pass.
• 33:22
  Yeah. Trying to disrupt the entry pass and another player behind helping. Like, that's what Yeah. At least it looked like. And it worked.
• 33:28
  Michelle: Well, I think I don't know if they were playing like as the Valkyries were playing a zone, but they were just giving the Chicago offense way too much space. And so they were able to kinda just run past our defense and get to the bucket Yeah. With, like, really easy shots, easy layups. And so I think that that was what I could see was the adjustment is they didn't really get that the rest of the game.
• 33:51
  Filiberto: Yeah. Well, they started attacking the three line in the perimeter and they just
• 33:54
  Michelle: Yeah.
• 33:55
  Filiberto: Chicago just couldn't end.
• 33:56
  Michelle: I think most most teams are just you're gonna have to decide to give up for Cardoso. At least like a teams like us that don't initially have that height, especially not having Kiah Stokes. We also had Janelle Salaun set out this game. So that was like, oh, crap.
• 34:11
  Filiberto: A lot of our front court was out.
• 34:12
  Michelle: Yes. Well and Salaun is, you know, the the league's highest scorer off the bench. So that was a
• 34:18
  lot of minutes to replace.
• 34:19
  Filiberto: Well, she would have been guarding Cardoso at certain points too. Yeah. She would have been helping with that. Yeah.
• 34:24
  Michelle: So that was kind of scary. But then at this point, it's like, just give just give Cardoso hope her points and then, like, you know, focus on other people. At least make it hard from the score. Like, make them uncomfortable. But if they make the shot, like, you know, Cardoso is gonna do make the shot. But it's great because Kamilla Cardoso and Leticia Amihere both went to South Carolina, and Amihere got the defensive assignment against Cardoso. So that was just a fun battle.
• 34:53
  Filiberto: I know. Sorry.
• 34:55
  Michelle: No. No. I mean and I think there's, you know, there's a little bit of a stature difference between the two of them. So that was just
• 35:03
  Filiberto: Amihere was at
• 35:04
  a disadvantage. It was But she fought really hard and
• 35:07
  Michelle: Yeah.
• 35:08
  Filiberto: Held up her own.
• 35:09
  Michelle: They know each other. They know they know how to guard. And I you know, it's a shout out mentioning that Kiah Stokes and Janelle Salaun were out. So that meant one of our developmental players got extended minutes. So Ashten Prechtel kind of got that assignment.
• 35:27
  She played eighteen minutes, which is that's rough. Like, when you're trying to stay ready, you're not getting a lot of reps in practice, you're not playing games. That's really difficult
• 35:38
  Filiberto: to do. Also, was playing against Kamilla Cardoso. So well, she came out of that bruised up. I guarantee. Yeah.
• 35:44
  That's the biggest side of It's hard.
• 35:45
  Michelle: She needed an ice bath. So she's she shared a lot of the minutes with Amihere . Did a great job. I mean, there were there were a few times where I was like, oh god, don't dribble the ball. But she had three points.
• 35:59
  She shot oh, they were all free throws. But good on her for getting free throws. Yeah. She had three rebounds, two assists, a steal. So good on her for in a plus 10.
• 36:11
  So just great job coming off the bench. Or not the bench, the bench bench. Like, two benches away. So it was just good to finally watch her play.
• 36:26
  Filiberto: Mhmm.
• 36:26
  Michelle: But the the Valkyries player, we we said there's a player who stepped up in each of those games. This game was definitely Tiffany Hayes, had a career game. She was all over the place. Sometimes watching her play, you're like, if I was her mom, I'd be like, oh my god. Like, don't hurt yourself.
• 36:45
  She played seventeen minutes coming off the bench, 22 points. She was eight of 11 shooting.
• 36:51
  Filiberto: I mean, she fights for so many of those points too. She's given her her body for those points.
• 36:55
  Michelle: Those aren't easy points.
• 36:56
  Filiberto: She's not just out there casually dropping threes. Like, she's hitting that rim.
• 36:59
  Michelle: She was eight of 11 from the field. She shot one of two from three. She made both of her free throws, five rebounds, two assists, three steals, and she was a plus wait. Plus 23. Like, that's just great.
• 37:17
  Like, she had I think that was her best game. Not that she hasn't tried before and had a lot of really good games. So this was her best game as a Valkyrie. And this woman is how old is she? Like, mid thirties?
• 37:29
  Filiberto: Yeah.
• 37:29
  Michelle: Like damn girl!
• 37:31
  Filiberto: Age aside, she had retired already.
• 37:33
  Michelle: Yeah. She is 36.
• 37:34
  Filiberto: This is three years after she already retired, y'all. Yeah. Three or four years. I don't remember exactly.
• 37:37
  Michelle: Yeah. No. And it's just, again, seeing someone like that have this, like, second, third, career, whatever whatever you wanna call it, I think that just, like, amps up the team. They're just so happy for her. They're glad to be her teammates.
• 37:51
  So it's just more of the the good vibes to the Valkyries.
• 37:53
  Filiberto: Well, her attitude too is often just kinda watching her. It's like, she's just glad to be there and just having a good time.
• 37:58
  Michelle: Yeah.
• 37:58
  Filiberto: Like, Tiffany Hayes is having a really good time playing basketball. I think the we talked about this earlier, but closing out quarters, you see this is a really good example of that. Like, the first quarter wasn't pretty, but they still closed it out pretty strong. Leading into the fourth quarter is when they really because the game was kinda tight, but they ended the third quarter so strong. And then suddenly in the fourth, they had a 20-point lead.
• 38:19
  And I think, you know, thinking about the sort of playoff learning, so they kinda gave up they gave up some leads against Dallas and LA, and it's like, you also have to outside from learning how to close out games, you also have to learn how to hold leads. So I think this is a great example of something they haven't really been good at before, but they really held this lead into the fourth. They held it strong. They kept pushing back. Whenever Chicago was trying to make a run, it just wasn't happening.
• 38:43
  So Yeah. Congratulations for Valkyries finding another gear and just getting a big win. It's a good series of wins here.
• 38:50
  Michelle: Yeah. I just wanna add a Banham for Chicago. She was hitting some great threes kinda coming off the bench and that kinda kept Chicago in this game, quite frankly. And then Golden State had franchise record 16. They forced 16 turnovers from Chicago.
• 39:11
  So again, a team that does that on the regular to set to set another franchise record, that's great. Okay.
• 39:17
  Filiberto: Absolutely.
• 39:31
  Michelle: We're at our last segment of the episode where we talk about a topic this week. Sometimes it's a vent. Sometimes it's an props and a shout out, an uplifting. Sometimes it's an interruption, polite friendly interruption. Sometimes not polite and not friendly interruptions.
• 39:51
  Filiberto: So not always. No.
• 39:52
  Michelle: What's what's on your mind this week, Fili?
• 39:54
  Filiberto: Mira homies. I think one story that's kinda sliding around a little bit that we need to all pay attention to because it can affect, like, a lot of different layers, not just of the male sports that have been the focus thus far, but certainly women's sports as well. And that's why it matters, and that's why we're talking about it. But in the news a couple of weeks ago, and we'll put links to this, Mark Walter, the owner of the folks that own the Dodgers, because he doesn't own them directly, and this will be important in a second, was being investigated for the federal government for the way in which they set up loans within his various companies to in order to make purchases of professional sports leagues. Oh.
• 40:33
  I hope that makes sense.
• 40:35
  Michelle: Not really, but there is a connection with the sports leagues.
• 40:39
  Filiberto: Yes. So so, you know, he runs Guggenheim Partners and which is a insurance company. And one of the things that's been happening in the last fifteen years is insurance companies have increasingly used that giant wad of cash that they pick our pockets for all the time that just sits there. They use that money to make investments, but they're not supposed to invest in entities that are also owned by the same companies. And that's where Mr.
• 41:06
  Mark Walter may have run into problems. Now, I don't think it's likely that this guy's gonna get any jail time or anything because, like this administration doesn't give a shit about white collar crime.
• 41:17
  Michelle: They don't. Like I mean, any administration, but yeah.
• 41:20
  Filiberto: But more so. Like disproportionately more so.
• 41:23
  Michelle: He's the a rich white guy. They hardly ever spend time in jail.
• 41:25
  Filiberto: Right. Whatever whatever offices in the Department of Justice that's supposed to performatively go after white collar crime has been decimated. Attorneys General's offices all over the country. So like there's real almost no appetite to go after these folks. So unlikely to be anything big on that level, but it helps.
• 41:44
  So one of the things that's interesting about this is as all as that story broke in most media, ESPN did not touch it at all.
• 41:52
  Michelle: Of course not.
• 41:52
  Filiberto: And they still haven't. And they still haven't. Right? So just to keep an eye on that one. But they did they did cover Mark Walter basically flipping the Lakers to Jared Kushner's brother.
• 42:07
  I don't even know his name.
• 42:09
  Michelle: I will look it up.
• 42:10
  Filiberto: Kushner. Kushner's other brother. John? John, Jim. Jacob.
• 42:13
  James. I don't know. Jacob Jacob is probably it actually, I think. But so he bought the Lakers for 10,000,000. That sale finalized in October.
• 42:22
  And now he's flipping it for 12,000,000,000. Or, yeah, said billion before.
• 42:27
  Michelle: In like ten months.
• 42:28
  Filiberto: Yeah. What's interesting Joshua. Joshua. And what's interesting about that is part of the complaint against the companies for the way in which they structure their sports deals. The companies admitted that they know this is wrong.
• 42:43
  They made a mistake, and they're adjusting their books to compensate. And then a couple months later, they get rid of the Lakers. Yeah. Yeah. Again, I don't think they're gonna be prosecuted.
• 42:52
  The way they bought the Dodgers years ago means that I mean, that team is way more valuable than what they bought it for. So there's a lot of ways to, like, sell a stake or make adjustments to the loans. Like, I think the Dodgers will be fine. Right. The quite the more important question for me is how does this affect the PWHL and how does this affect the Sparks?
• 43:10
  So if Mark Walter is suddenly cash poor because of the way, because of the possibly illegal ways that these loans were structured, he doesn't have the kind of liquidity he had before, does this decimate the possibility of the PWHL thriving? And it's also decimate the possibility of the Sparks improving because they need a lot of money to fix up all the shit going on over there. They need new coaches, new staff, new general managers, probably. They already said they're making a new facility. If they want to be among their peers, they have to spend a lot of money.
• 43:39
  And they're just not there. For a major market to perform that poorly, that's really embarrassing.
• 43:44
  Michelle: Well, I think a lot of Lakers fans were excited when he bought the team because they hadn't been invested in at the same rates that they have in the past when especially when they had their dynasties. And so I think that was also a hope for a lot of of Sparks fans too. And a lot of the Sparks issues last several years haven't initially been investment. They've been just like the wrong coaches, the wrong GMs.
• 44:08
  Filiberto: But to me that's investment too.
• 44:09
  Michelle: No. Absolutely. You have to make it a destination that people want to go play and they want to go work And they're
• 44:15
  Filiberto: And you have to be willing to pay the top coaches the most money. They chose a coach out of college that probably didn't cost them as much.
• 44:22
  Michelle: Right.
• 44:23
  Filiberto: That's that's investments.
• 44:25
  Michelle: And that's what we're seeing.
• 44:25
  Filiberto: Yeah. It's investment. Right.
• 44:29
  Michelle: But, yeah, it goes for both. Yeah. So selling off the Lakers. I mean, there's a lot of people that are Like, were they were
• 44:36
  Filiberto: flip the Lakers.
• 44:36
  Michelle: They were super excited when he first bought them because that's how he did with the Dodgers. Yeah. And then he sells them off. I mean, they still have the Sparks, I guess. But but Lakers questionable.
• 44:46
  Filiberto: Are one of the top brands in basketball. He just flipped it like he was a fucking contractor just putting it in new kitchen.
• 44:52
  Michelle: Yeah. Like to to two dudes that are gonna run it into the ground.
• 44:56
  Filiberto: Right.
• 44:56
  Michelle: In my in my opinion.
• 44:57
  Filiberto: And I'm pretty sure due to the pressure of not the federal government, but their shoddy books because of the way they purchased the Lakers through, again, loaning one company, loaning to another in a way that's generally considered legal. Using and then I think the and I'll we'll send the article using a third party to do that, to try to validate that deal.
• 45:15
  Michelle: Right.
• 45:15
  Filiberto: Real shady shit.
• 45:16
  Michelle: Right.
• 45:19
  Filiberto: Yeah. That's something to keep an eye on y'all. These billionaires, we look. Y'all, we're fans of these things, but these things are owned by billionaires. And the way billionaires make money in capitalism
• 45:29
  Michelle: Sketchy.
• 45:29
  Filiberto: May be legal, but it's not ethical, and it's not in our interest at all. So just gotta keep an eye on those things.
• 45:36
  Michelle: That's what's hard about being a sports fan in this country.
• 45:39
  Filiberto: Well, and, you know, let's think this through a little bit. Right? If those players if the all the players on W decided, like, fuck this. We're not playing for billionaires anymore. We're gonna start our own league separate from Unrivaled.
• 45:48
  What do you think would happen to their access to stadiums and arenas? Right. It'd be done.
• 45:52
  Michelle: And and media deals.
• 45:54
  Filiberto: Yeah. They would be completely eviscerated before they even had a chance to get going. Nobody would loan them money. Like, they would be very informally there would be no documentation, but they would very informally not be allowed to exist. Yeah.
• 46:05
  And that's the way this shit works, y'all. So, again, not comfortable that we're owned by billionaires and we're lining billionaires' pockets. But there is something important about supporting these women and being attentive to this league Yeah. That makes up for it.
• 46:18
  Michelle: Yeah. And it's like, you know, I've spent some time in San Jose. I'm really excited about the yet to be unveiled San Jose professional women's hockey team. And this kinda like really dampens our season. They're building a lot of momentum.
• 46:33
  They have Laila Edwards, who's become like, in this short, hasn't played a game yet in SAP Center in San Jose. And yet is probably the most, like, popular athlete in that city, in that South, you know, Bay Area right now, which is wild.
• 46:51
  Filiberto: kind of iconic.
• 46:52
  Michelle: Yeah. And I hope that I hope that she's allowed to continue doing that and they have a season and San Jose, you know, does well and establishes a team and a a venue for, you know, fans and athletes.
• 47:06
  Filiberto: But if that money is tight Yeah. They're not gonna be able to grow this league. No. So we'll see. Keep an eye it, y'all.
• 47:12
  We'll try to keep an eye on it too.
• 47:19
  Hey. What's on your mind, Michelle? What are you thinking about these days? Yeah.
• 47:23
  What's percolating in that little coffee maker up there?
• 47:26
  Michelle: Yeah. I think there's been a lot happening in women's sports in the last week or two where I just didn't really quite frankly have the energy or the mental emotional bandwidth to really put something together this week.
• 47:36
  Filiberto: There's some dark clouds hovering over the league right now. It's little ugly. It's a little ugly, but there's still plenty of things to embrace and love too.
• 47:44
  Michelle: Yeah. So I'm a stop you right there.
• 47:48
  Filiberto: Oh.
• 47:50
  Michelle: So I've said in the past, the Golden State Valkyries, their mascot, Violet, the raven to accompany the Valkyries on their quest for basketball supremacy.
• 48:00
  Filiberto: The first mascot with astigmatism.
• 48:03
  Michelle: Yes. I am a bespeckled podcast co host. Mhmm. Violet is a bespeckled
• 48:11
  Filiberto: Bespectacled. Bespectacled.
• 48:13
  Michelle: I'm spectacled.
• 48:15
  Filiberto: Bespectacled spectacle.
• 48:16
  Michelle: Lavender raven, which we love. So the the Valkyries are really intentional strategic their first year. They did not have a mascot for most of the season. They kind of slowly unveiled that really great job. I wasn't a huge fan of the bird.
• 48:40
  Filiberto: The giant sparkling egg?
• 48:42
  Michelle: No. Well, just
• 48:43
  Filiberto: Oh, the choice of a bird. yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 48:46
  Michelle: And just, you know, the the outfit, not a huge fan of. Kinda growing on me slowly but surely, but still kinda like, But I will and yeah, last year's unveiling, they like put an egg in front of Chase Center.
• 49:03
  Filiberto: So in case all just don't know Michelle that well, just you shouldn't be surprised that her immediate response to something is skepticism and suspicion.
• 49:09
  Michelle: Are you saying that I'm a pessimist?
• 49:14
  Filiberto: I wouldn't say that because I didn't say that.
• 49:17
  Michelle: You alluded to it.
• 49:18
  Filiberto: I did not. I said what it said. Use the words. It indicates, excuse me.
• 49:24
  Michelle: Yes. Violet is definitely targeted at a certain Demographic. Demographic of our families, which is not necessarily us.
• 49:30
  Filiberto: No. That's
• 49:30
  Michelle: not. And that's okay. But, yeah, they had a huge thing where they had like a purple a lavender feather out in front of Chase Center. Then they had a huge a
• 49:39
  Filiberto: Oh, let's not forget the bird catcher people too or the assistants or whatever.
• 49:43
  Michelle: No. I'm actually gonna dress okay. This is the this is the ironic part.
• 49:46
  Filiberto: Okay.
• 49:46
  Michelle: Not a huge fan of Violet yet. I'm thinking that there's like a bird keeper.
• 49:52
  Filiberto: Oh, yeah. The bird keeper. Yes.
• 49:54
  Michelle: Who's with her. And I mean, if you're a mascot, you need someone to walk around with you so fans don't trip you. Yeah. Or or you trip on your own. You can't actually see sometimes the outfit that you're wearing, it can be very hot.
• 50:06
  Filiberto: I've worn those things. It gets really hot in there.
• 50:08
  Michelle: It's hard to walk sometimes. You don't actually see the corners as you turn.
• 50:12
  Filiberto: You gotta deal with steps a lot.
• 50:13
  Michelle: She has a bird keeper who has their own little outfit. And so I'm thinking of dressing up as that for Halloween this year.
• 50:20
  Filiberto: Love it.
• 50:21
  Michelle: I need someone to be the Violet to my bird keeper so that may be my sister or may be my mother. They don't know this yet.
• 50:31
  Filiberto: Y'all, she's not asking me. She might be asking you all. Who wants to be Yes. Michelle's Violet?
• 50:35
  Michelle: If someone is in Sacramento and wants to hang out with three children that
• 50:41
  Filiberto: And parents and your parents too.
• 50:42
  Michelle: Yes. But the neighborhood they live in does it up. And there's a lot of jello shotting, you know, for the adults.
• 50:49
  Filiberto: We're not gonna name names because we don't want them to get in But
• 50:51
  if you show up,
• 50:52
  we will guide you to the
• 50:53
  Michelle: I'm just saying they've got some fantastic front yard displays, cool little games for the kids. But anyways, that's where we will we will be this Halloween this year. So, yes, not a fan of Violet, but possibly may dress up as Violet's keeper this year for Halloween.
• 51:08
  Filiberto: Got it.
• 51:09
  Michelle: I wanna do something Valkyrie ish and that seemed like really kinda easy, fun a fun thing to do to help kinda spread the word about the Valkyries and to the Sacramento community. But yeah, last year the roll out for Violet, a gigantic egg in front of Chase Center.
• 51:27
  Filiberto: Sparkly. Feathers. Sparkly egg.
• 51:28
  Michelle: Yes. It's a lavender sparkly egg. They put like a nest in one of the kind of sections inside the stadium. They tease it a lot. Then finally, they had the unveiling.
• 51:40
  She came out, you know, she looks she looks kinda cute. It works. And we made sure, you know, your niece wears glasses.
• 51:49
  We made sure
• 51:49
  Filiberto: She's like also be spectacled.
• 51:51
  Michelle: We made sure to send Mila the photos of Violet and then they came to a game this year.
• 51:57
  Filiberto: It wonderful.
• 51:59
  Michelle: So fast forward a year and just this week, Violet had her birthday of her hatching, if you will. Or if you won't like me.
• 52:09
  Filiberto: I won't.
• 52:10
  Michelle: But so it was the Chicago game. And I I thought whoever planned that, like shout out to you. Like, I'm not necessarily a fan of this mascot. Maybe I'm getting there. But whoever planned that, that was really well done.
• 52:24
  They had this like tiered cake for her. Ari, the in stadium host.
• 52:31
  Filiberto: Extraordinare.
• 52:32
  Michelle: I love
• 52:33
  Filiberto: Extraordinare. Sacramento. Mhmm.
• 52:35
  Michelle: She did great. She always has fantastic hats and shoes and she has great local designers Mhmm. You know, make and design her fits. So they have like a disco themed birthday party for Violet. And Ari wore, you know, like a huge afro.
• 52:52
  She had a lot of gold and lavender on. It was fantastic. They brought Violets and we'll put this in the show notes on these photos. You can see Violet had a really great dress that was kind of like almost like a fiberglass or like
• 53:08
  Filiberto: I don't know.
• 53:08
  Michelle: Like a mosaic, like rainbow kind of feel to it. Was it was gorgeous.
• 53:13
  Filiberto: I mean, look at the photos, obviously.
• 53:15
  Michelle: She like rappelled from the roof for some reason. I don't know why they did that.
• 53:21
  Filiberto: She's a mascot.
• 53:22
  Michelle: She's a a raven in flight, I guess.
• 53:24
  Filiberto: You have no. You have mascot. You gotta drop from somewhere.
• 53:27
  Michelle: Well, that's the thing. Living in San Jose for so long, being a San Jose Sharks fan, that is what Sharkie does, their mascot.
• 53:33
  Filiberto: He repels
• 53:34
  Let's pause this to take note that the mascot for the San Jose Sharks is named what was that again?
• 53:41
  Michelle: S J for San Jose.
• 53:43
  Filiberto: Oh.
• 53:44
  Michelle: S J Sharkie.
• 53:46
  Filiberto: Its full name is S J Sharkie. Yes. Got it.
• 53:49
  Michelle: Yes. He's he's got his own Instagram. It's there.
• 53:51
  Filiberto: Of course.
• 53:52
  Michelle: So he so the Sharks have this pregame thing. They actually have a full on shark head that gets lowered to the ice. That's the players skate out on before their introductions.
• 54:02
  Filiberto: I had no idea.
• 54:03
  Michelle: I guess they're like, oh, we gotta put the shark head at the top and it's gotta come down. So maybe Sharkie can just fucking like fall down to the ground. I don't know. I don't know. So I feel like maybe that, you know, had some influence over Violet doing some of that rappelling.
• 54:17
  Maybe it was P!nk, the performer. I don't know. But but it was also but the Sharkie connection, they had a lot of the the mascots from the Bay Area team. So you had the mascot from the San Francisco Giants. You had the little blue dude from the San Jose Earthquakes?
• 54:38
  Filiberto: Yeah. Quakes.
• 54:39
  Michelle: I don't know yeah. Quakes. I don't know if the Bay FC team has a mascot.
• 54:43
  Filiberto: I don't know.
• 54:43
  Michelle: I didn't see I didn't see if they did. They had SJ Sharkie there from hockey. They had I don't know this mascot's name, but the a turtle from the .. the Golden State Warriors G league team in Santa Cruz. Lovely. I'm probably leaving someone out.
• 55:03
  I apologize. But they had a lot of cool mascots and I just thought that was really well done. Like seeing Yeah. Kind of the popularity of all the WNBA mascots that were there for All Star Weekend Absolutely. That just There was some drama, some love triangles with some of mascots involving Ellie from New York.
• 55:19
  So I think kind of seeing that and then maybe kind of saying, hey, let's do that. Can we do that for, you know, the Bay Area teams? Like, I just thought that was really cool. And all those mascots kinda showing the love for like a fellow Bay Area team. So I again, I just think whoever planned that, and I'm sure it was a huge team of people, but really well done.
• 55:41
  We weren't at the game, but we saw, we watched the game and then I've seen some stuff on social media. I just I just thought it was really cool and happy happy bird day to Violet.
• 55:52
  Filiberto: Yeah. No. I'm digging all the side quest social media stuff. It's fun. Yeah.
• 55:55
  Just adds more dimensions, more things to more ways to interact with the game. Yeah. It was great. Great for the kids and great for the adults. So there you go.
• 56:02
  Yeah. Well, thanks for that, Michelle.
• 56:04
  Michelle: Yeah. Thank you, Violet and the Valkyries.
• 56:10
  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.