Latest / We Got Next / Joyous Juneteenth, Filiberto’s family’s first Valkyries game, Nneka Ogwumike is why we love sports!

Transcript

Joyous Juneteenth, Filiberto’s family’s first Valkyries game, Nneka Ogwumike is why we love 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 game on and off the court, the field, the pitch, the pool, and more. Welcome in, everyone.
• 0:22
  Filiberto: Yo. What up? No, that's silly.
• 0:23
  Michelle: He's gonna test all of these. Okay. Let me know when you're ready. Okay. Welcome in, everyone.
• 0:35
  Filiberto: Sup, homies?
• 0:37
  Michelle: What are we drinking this week?
• 0:39
  Filiberto: We're drinking a lovely red. From where though, Michelle?
• 0:42
  Michelle: Oh, yeah. That's right. I opened it. Yeah. I forgot.
• 0:44
  Filiberto: Or I wasn't even around.
• 0:46
  Michelle: Yeah. So this is, one of our wineries that we're wine club members at over in Sonoma County. So it's Robledo's Cab Sauv from, I believe, 2012. No. No.
• 0:55
  I opened the Pinot. This is the Pinot Noir.
• 0:57
  Filiberto: Yeah. And, you know, it may sound fancy that we're members of a wine club, but we do it on a budget, y'all. Like, there's ways to do it on a budget. And part of that budget is not having kids. So
• 1:07
  Michelle: That is part of it.
• 1:08
  Filiberto: Yeah. Gotta be honest about that.
• 1:10
  Michelle: Well, we do we do a good mix of, like, hey, let's get one that's, like, you know, a lower price point. It's kind of, like, more resourceful. And then we'll and get more bottles of that per, you know, shipment. And then the pricier, nicer maybe layout of their location or digs to you know, we'll we'll do the three bottle for that one, and we'll do the six or 10 for the Yeah. Better price point.
• 1:35
  Filiberto: We'll get some nice stuff. And, you know, don't be afraid to just ask them for an extra discount. Yeah. You know? I'm not gonna say who or what and the circumstances under which I have that idea, but don't be shy about it.
• 1:45
  Michelle: That discount will dry up if you do mention it.
• 1:47
  Filiberto: Yeah. That's why. No specifics will be named.
• 1:53
  Michelle: Awesome.
• 2:00
  Filiberto: Hey, Michelle. Mhmm. What's going on in the wide world of sports this week?
• 2:05
  Michelle: This week. A few things I want to touch on. I'm super excited about the Professional Women's Hockey League draft that was held this past week. So they they announced they are expanding into San Jose this next season. They don't have a name yet or like a mascot yet, that's still in the works.
• 2:28
  So it's known as the San Jose Club. But they were able to draft Laila Edwards at number four, which is super exciting. It's the highest that a Black woman player's ever been drafted for hockey. And
• 2:44
  Filiberto: Okay. For hockey.
• 2:45
  Michelle: To go to San Jose. At first because there's been a few trades within the women's hockey league where someone will grab them and then, like, we'll draft them and then send them somewhere else. So I, like, I had to take a beat and wait several hours to see if San Jose like did that and like broke my heart.
• 3:00
  Filiberto: It's kinda like when the Golden Knights came around, there was just a lot of movement.
• 3:03
  Michelle: Yeah. They did not do that this time Yeah. So far. So I'm super excited. I'm we may have to definitely make some trips down for their season and watch some games at the Shark Tank.
• 3:17
  I believe it's where they're gonna play the SAP Center in downtown San Jose. And it's like a few connections here like, so for those of you who've been living under a rock, Laila Edwards was a member of the USA women's hockey team this year that won the gold in Italy. She has won a she's been part of the team that won gold at world champions, the silver at world champions. She's only 22 years old. She went to University of Wisconsin where they won three national championships when she was there.
• 3:50
  It's the same school that Joe Pavelski went to. And definitely has a lot of signs like his birth city and all this stuff. This is where Joe Pavelski lives. He's a well known, very beloved player for the Sharks. He has since retired.
• 4:07
  He's been referred to as Captain America for his leadership with the USA men's hockey team during the Olympics and world championships. Another cool connection is the general manager of the Sharks, Mike Grier, used to play for the Sharks, former player. He was the first Black men's hockey player to, like, train exclusively in The US. This is kinda as hockey was, like, becoming a thing and growing outside of Canada or, you know, the cold weather, the Finland's, the the Sweden's. But he's also the first Black general manager in the NHL.
• 4:47
  So and he's been there. He followed a very popular general manager, very long serving. So I wasn't sure how long. Hopefully, Mike was gonna get the resources he needed to be successful because we don't always do that to people we choose for Black coaches. So he has been there, which has been great.
• 5:04
  Sharks are definitely rebuilding. They're they're struggling a little bit. But he's still there and I, I have to imagine that was like a great connection for the two of them since the the San Jose Sharks are they have kind of a lot of, I guess, control or a lot of say right now.
• 5:21
  Filiberto: Yeah. Some kind of relationship. We don't know exactly what.
• 5:22
  Michelle: With with that new team coming on. So just super excited for her. Again, you know, the the different hockey clubs in San Jose have been growing. And I can only imagine how excited they are. The youth teams, the women teams, the the leagues and stuff to to have her there.
• 5:39
  Filiberto: Certainly, there is a buzz around. You see it online. Yeah. We're not in San Jose or nearby, but you're seeing some of the the sort of echoes of it, echoes of that enthusiasm.
• 5:47
  Michelle: Yeah. And it's just another team that's like that growth of women's professional teams in the Bay Area. So it's really cool. Yeah. Excited for that.
• 5:56
  Hopefully, they don't screw it up with her. Another piece that we were we were celebrating and there's lot of great reactions from players on this news, but the WNBA announced they are going to 50 games, I believe, next season. So currently Yeah. Currently, there are 44 regular season games. During the most recent collective bargaining agreement negotiations, the two sides agreed to not only, you know, have more teams playing and and more roster spaces, but they're also gonna be playing more games.
• 6:31
  So that was cool to hear.
• 6:34
  Filiberto: Oh, yeah. Nakase was quoted as saying if there's more games, there should be more roster spots because there should be consideration Yes. For just what this does to the body and for
• 6:43
  Michelle: Well better pay, too.
• 6:44
  Filiberto: And there should be a you would assume a prorated increase. We haven't gone into the contract down on that piece, so so we should look into that first. But
• 6:53
  Michelle: Well, it's funny because that's the conversation with, like, other leagues like the NFL. Like, the owners really wanna go to more games, but the players are like, yeah, then but we want more pay.
• 7:01
  Filiberto: And the owners wanna go to more games because the broadcasters are desperate for another Yeah. High ratings night. So who's actually making the decisions here is kinda difficult to discern sometimes.
• 7:12
  Michelle: Right.
• 7:12
  Filiberto: Especially if the players aren't being paid proportionately to what they're expected to do on top of what they're already doing.
• 7:18
  Michelle: We're expanding our season by, like, what percent I want that in my paycheck too.
• 7:21
  Filiberto: Right. So we'll be looking into that. There should be, some smart people out there looking at the contract too. So if we see anything, we'll put it in the show notes and certainly share it on the Instagram page, which you should be following. Where is that Instagram page Instagram page, by the way, Michelle?
• 7:36
  Michelle: It's pod We Got Next.
• 7:38
  Filiberto: Absolutely. It is.
• 7:40
  Michelle: But some of reactions from players because, you know, obviously, they're being asked about it during the interviews with reporters. Like, A'ja Wilson had a really great reaction. She's I got nothing else to do. This is this is what I do. So I'm excited.
• 7:52
  Filiberto: It's my jam. Just doing more of my jam.
• 7:54
  Michelle: Yeah. So it'll be interesting because it it'll definitely push the season, especially for years where you're gonna have Olympic like the breaks for Olympics or for FIBA. FIBA, which we do have this year
• 8:05
  Filiberto: I'll be talking more about later in this podcast.
• 8:06
  Michelle: this in early September. Mhmm. So it will push the season, which can will lead to some scheduling issues with with teams who are sharing stadiums, arenas, that kind stuff. But but It'll push the season into, like, October potentially.
• 8:22
  Filiberto: Yeah.
• 8:35
  Michelle: Alright. And then, like, there's just two other, like, WNBA games I want to highlight for this week too. Well, a couple of games. Just talking a little bit about, Indianapolis, played Atlanta twice. They played the first game in Indiana, and the second game was in Atlanta.
• 8:54
  So it was, you know, billed as, you know, the the rivalry that people wanna keep pushing with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
• 9:00
  Filiberto: Let's get those ratings up.
• 9:01
  Michelle: They both were dropping their new shoes in the same game.
• 9:08
  Filiberto: Read between those lines, folks. Yeah. And put it in the comment section.
• 9:12
  Michelle: Yeah. And Atlanta walked away with wins for both games. I think the second game was a little bit, Atlanta kinda was leading or at least walked away with it a little bit earlier.
• 9:22
  Filiberto: Yeah. I mean, pretty impressive wins too. Yeah. Pretty strong wins for them.
• 9:26
  Michelle: I think Indianapolis is showing more of a commitment to defense than we've seen, like, throughout the season so far, which is great. But you're seeing a few other stars struggling like Lexie Hull, just the last couple of games just hasn't been doing too good. So I
• 9:41
  think Sophie Cunningham Cunningham has been getting a little bit more of her minutes. She's being a little bit more productive. So hopefully Lexie can kind of push through.
• 9:49
  Filiberto: Kelsey Mitchell's been up and down too. So you kinda wonder what's going on there.
• 9:53
  Michelle: Well, Mitchell has like she'll have a she's kinda quarter by quarter Yeah. At this point. And maybe that's just kind of the some of the plans that the opposing teams
• 10:00
  Filiberto: I think it's way they direct the offense too. Yeah. It's not just the
• 10:03
  Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. But you also saw like Aliyah Boston's had she's just struggled with not fouling.
• 10:10
  Filiberto: Elbows over there. Yes. Getting them fouls.
• 10:14
  Michelle: So it was up and down. But just just watching Atlanta just play two like super complete games, I think you're also just seeing the greatness that Karl Smesko kind of brings to that team, not just from like a coaching standpoint of like planning and stuff. But I also think like, he's a white dude leading like a pretty all Black team, Black woman team. So not only does he have to like find a way to connect and motivate and, you know, inspire and coach women, but, you know, different races in a a city like Atlanta. So I think it kind of I think he's the good he's the right model for a lot of these white male coaches that we have this year and even for other leagues.
• 10:55
  But it's a I think he's a good model of of how to coach people up, pour into them, and get results.
• 11:05
  Filiberto: Well, and I think the WNBA in a lot of ways, it's a league with a lot of elite athletes certainly, but a lot of high IQ athletes both in terms of their knowledge of the game of basketball, but in their own emotional intelligence. And you see that reflected in the most successful coaches, not just in the pro league, but also in the college ranks. So, you know, the kind of success that Smesko has had with Atlanta certainly suggests that there's a lot of emotional intelligence going on there too and a lot of leadership from the players themselves, certainly. Like, that seems like a really strong core group of leaders and personalities, and Angel Reese has found a good place there with her identity and personality seemingly seamlessly fitting in.
• 11:41
  Michelle: Yeah. And I just I always love watching Allisha Gray. She's just amazing.
• 11:46
  Filiberto: She's a lot of fun.
• 11:46
  Michelle: And that second game was cool in Atlanta. They it looks like they had moved because unfortunately, the Atlanta Dream play in one of the smaller arenas. Very small. And so they moved this game to where, I believe, the Hawks play. Unfortunately, they had a lot of branding still up there.
• 12:03
  They even had the Hawks mascot going through the stands. And you're like, dudes.
• 12:07
  Filiberto: They didn't even put a sleeve like, usually, what you'll see is they'll put a sleeve at least over, like, the the seats so you don't see the logo and they'll put
• 12:14
  Michelle: The ones that are, like, close-up. Like, behind the benches.
• 12:17
  Filiberto: Yeah, the ones that are on camera. But they didn't even do that. It was just it was disappointing. So they go from a 5,000 person arena to a 17,000 person arena that they sell out. Yeah.
• 12:24
  And they couldn't do them the respect of just covering that those things. Yeah. That was disappointing.
• 12:29
  Michelle: No. It was. But it allowed like you said, it's a larger arena. It allows more people to go. So Dawn Staley shows up to the Atlanta game, And she brings her whole South Carolina team and and her coaches.
• 12:45
  But it was just really cool to kinda see her there because she had she had seven alumni were playing in that game between Indiana and Atlanta. So it's just really cool to see her on the sidelines and, like, you know, it's like this is it's like a summer field trip for her and her team.
• 13:01
  Filiberto: Yeah. And I think a topic that we often go to is one of the things that's difficult about the WNBA is as a corporation, the preferential treatment for white women and the way that white women get represented. So in this game, of course, we're talking about Caitlin Clark. And I in this instance, I think through the five minutes into the third or left in the third, we noticed that Caitlin Clark was kinda jawing at the opposing coach. She was jawing at Smesko.
• 13:27
  Mhmm. So he thought that there should have been an offensive foul on a play she was involved in. And as they're inbounding, she mouths to him or says out loud, challenge it. And her body language is kinda like, challenge it, Ben. And even the announcer
• 13:40
  Michelle: Ryan Ruocco.
• 13:41
  Filiberto: Yeah. He he pointed it out too. So it was like
• 13:43
  Michelle: He heard it.
• 13:44
  Filiberto: So it really caught me. So we'll if we can find a link, we'll put it in the show notes. But to me, like, that's just, like, really dis I mean, there's a lot of things that she does with the refs that's already like this is this is respectful of the game? Not really. But once you start going after head coaches like that, opposing coaches, you're really crossing a lot of lines.
• 14:02
  Mhmm. And so for me, it's like, are we witnessing someone self destructing? Right. And if so, who's there around her that isn't a sycophant that can help her just sort of get a little more even because that behavior is just too much. And it's not the kind of behavior that a that a guiding star for the league because of their preferential treatment should be engaging in.
• 14:24
  And it's not the kind of behavior that you need when you're just trying to run a sport with sportsman sportsperson like behavior or high high integrity behavior.
• 14:34
  Michelle: Right. She I mean, yeah, when you kinda get this superstar status, it can be hard to have people who can be honest with you and give you good advice. But, like, I'm even seeing it, like, in the different platforms that we're on. There's a lot, like, hardcore Caitlin Clark fans that have kind of been souring on her. And you can see it in some of the reporting even.
• 14:58
  So, you know, you want someone like her if you're gonna try to have her be the face of the league. You know, she has to have people around her that are helping set her up for success. And I think sometimes that gets ignored. Like, everyone assumes, oh, she's got someone in her life or like, that's not my responsibility. Like, I'm the team or I'm the league.
• 15:20
  But it kinda is if you if you see someone struggling or even like alienating people, I think that's not good for business. If you're looking at purely from that standpoint, you don't even care about her as a human being, which hopefully that's not the case. But yeah. Like this this is like an example of someone's cry, tantrum for help, whatever you wanna call it.
• 15:44
  Filiberto: Yeah. And I think in my life, it's like people are at their best when they have a strong group of people around them that could hold them accountable, but then also give them perspective when they're when things are getting small and you're feeling pressure and you're sort of losing that perspective. Right? And so when, you know, people around me, folks that gone to politics that kind of sold out, it's when they sort of find people that it's easier to deal with with them because they'll agree with you a lot. It's like, well, I don't wanna talk to Fil anymore because he challenges me.
• 16:11
  It's easier for me to deal with the other person. I'm trying to do all these ambitious, aspirational things, and this guy's getting in my way. But I'm not getting in anybody's way. I'm just kinda helping you stay grounded. That's kinda like that's what a good friend does.
• 16:22
  And I think that's when you start pushing those people away because you start believing your own bullshit, that's when things get dangerous.
• 16:28
  Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. So hopefully, you know, she's, you know, recognizing it is half the battle. Right? So hopefully, she's recognizing that and Yeah.
• 16:41
  Can do better because this is not this is not sustainable long term.
• 16:45
  Filiberto: No. It's bad for her. It's bad for the team. It's bad for the league. Yeah.
• 16:48
  It's not good.
• 16:53
  Michelle: And the only thing I wanna touch on, another game this this past weekend. So this is the thirtieth, year of the WNBA. The first game was played thirty years ago this past Sunday. And it was, you know, the inaugural game between the LA Sparks and the New York Liberty who they you know, I assumed this would be a huge rivalry and it and it was early on between those two teams. I'll talk a little bit about this later on.
• 17:19
  But I think just the celebrations that have that have been planned around the thirtieth anniversary have so far been really great and honoring the players who helped found this league and, you know, kept it going when they weren't being invested in. It's, you know, it's a really pathetic sad story as as to how a lot of these women were treated for, like, the last the first half of its existence, eighteen, twenty years.
• 17:46
  Filiberto: Mistreated, exploited, taken advantage of, yeah. Absolutely. Mostly Black women. Like, it's just yeah.
• 17:51
  Michelle: So it's nice to see, like, how far we've come. Obviously, there's more to to do and and to be better. But it just like I was just reflecting on that and the Pride nights that we're seeing at, you know, games this month and then also the Juneteenth celebrations. Yep.
• 18:08
  You know, I'm not saying every team did everything perfectly, but from what I've seen, there was like really intentional efforts to make sure that these weren't just like, oh, here's a tote bag giveaway. They did more. Like we were at the Valkyries on Juneteenth. We went to that game against Minnesota. And they had so much pop ups outside the stadium, inside, as far as singing, in performances.
• 18:43
  It was, like, just all over. They changed their logo. Like, it was
• 18:47
  Filiberto: Well, and Ari, the emcee said it best. Right? She was like, this is our night to celebrate Black culture, that's what we're bringing to you fans tonight. So it was it was just a really impressive and thoughtful display.
• 18:57
  Michelle: Yeah. So it's it's nice to see that, like, some of us have learned from the past, from history, and there's this effort and investment. This costs money. Right? Like, how these performers here, to have this this branding for Juneteenth or Pride or whatnot to, like, just organize getting all these people here to perform and uplift them and highlight them.
• 19:20
  And it is it's it's a real investment. And as I just think it's great. And, you know, that that game with the Sparks and the Liberty, they had some players from that first game there. Teresa Weatherspoon was there. You had Rebecca Lobo was calling the game.
• 19:40
  You had Lisa Leslie there and others who and they they replicated the first jump ball. So no, it's it's really great to see these women like get their moment and a lot of them didn't the first time around, second time around. So it's really nice to to see that and be an example of what athletes and the sports world should be and how they should treat people. So just really good job. Keep it up and do and keep and, like, pour in more.
• 20:11
  Filiberto: Yep. And one of our favorite celebrities was there too. That was really funny.
• 20:15
  Michelle: Leslie? Yeah. Not to spoil it for anyone, but LA won that game on a last minute shot. And Leslie Jones, who's I believe a season ticket holder courtside
• 20:27
  Filiberto: Yeah.
• 20:27
  Michelle: Definitely jumped up and hugged Nneka Ogwumike right away. Like the reporter was trying to get in, do the post game interview and Leslie was there. And Leslie was still like, you could see on her face she was still processing the amazingness of what just happened. And like, just appreciating Nneka. And she was you could see her during the interview.
• 20:46
  We should add this to show notes. But you could see her her she's like, wow. She's just like, mind is still blown. Kinda, you know
• 20:54
  Filiberto: Her face was expressing everything.
• 20:56
  Michelle: Exactly. Kinda clowning behind Nneka. But
• 20:59
  Filiberto: She's telling her to stay in the frame.
• 21:00
  Michelle: So she's still Exactly.
• 21:02
  Filiberto: She's still in the frame throughout. So you get to
• 21:04
  see her just keep responding.
• 21:05
  Michelle: Yeah. So it was
• 21:06
  Filiberto: very nice.
• 21:06
  Michelle: It was just a really, really good night.
• 21:09
  Filiberto: And and you'll have more to say about this
• 21:11
  Michelle: I will.
• 21:11
  Filiberto: At the end of our podcast. So stay for that, folks.
• 21:14
  Michelle: Yep.
• 21:24
  Filiberto: On to the games. So a lot of games in a short amount of time, and my family got to see the Minnesota games. So we'll get to that in a second. But real fun times. Real fun times and awful times and awful times.
• 21:36
  And not gonna lie, folks, one of the reasons why we actually watched the Indiana Atlanta game and then the Liberty and Sparks game is also because we wanted to to sort of like a palate cleanser after watching the Vegas game. Yep. And I'm sure you all felt the same way. So we'll get into it.
• 21:51
  Michelle: I think we should just go through the game that we won.
• 21:55
  Filiberto: Yeah. Why not? Let's enjoy that moment Yeah. Again.
• 22:01
  Michelle: And so this was June 17 versus Dallas. We were at home. Right? Or we're the road? We were at home.
• 22:07
  Filiberto: Oh, my
• 22:08
  Michelle: We were home. Yeah. We were at home.
• 22:11
  So in typical Valkyries fashion, we got off to a slow start. Jessica Shephard was having a beast of a first quarter. But you know she can't keep that up. Right? Hopefully, the Valkyries defense would not allow her to do that.
• 22:25
  But it definitely felt like when the Valkyries have the ball coming into offensive zone, Veronica Burton has it. You could tell that, you know, once Burton picked up her dribble or was passing it, Bueckers Paige Bueckers was trying to cut off any pass back to Veronica because that's one of the ways the Valkyries set up their offense. So that was something like I can notice that those were probably some of the scouting that they had. It was great to see Laeticia Amihere come in.
• 22:59
  Filiberto: Yeah. She's been quiet for long time. Yeah. Finally got some minutes.
• 23:02
  Michelle: They they came in early in the first, which was great. Valkyries just had a of turnovers. And then, yeah, it was it was just like two very different teams. The first, you know, first half wasn't initially great, but then they came out and they played really well in the second. Their defense was that's how they eat. Right?
• 23:21
  So they they held Azi Fudd and I think this is Paige. My notes are off. To only, like, two points in the first half. Like, that's amazing.
• 23:32
  Filiberto: Yeah. People have a hard time doing that. Yeah. But it speaks to our perimeter defense, especially.
• 23:37
  Michelle: Yeah. But again, our bench our bench did great. Got a lot of points from them, and then we went on a 19-0 run in the second. So I think, overall, this was a great game. Dallas was gonna be a challenge.
• 23:51
  Think right now the league you kinda see like three or four different tiers. You have your top tier of like Minnesota, Vegas.
• 23:59
  Filiberto: New York.
• 24:00
  Michelle: You could argue maybe New York, Atlanta is in there. Yeah. Yeah. And then you have your like next tier which is like which I believe Dallas is in. I would like to say the Valkyries are there too.
• 24:10
  Filiberto: We're there. For sure there.
• 24:12
  Michelle: So and then possibly Indiana.
• 24:14
  Filiberto: I mean, our record against that tier of team is really good.
• 24:17
  Michelle: Yeah. So it was it was good to have a win against Dallas, which is one of those better teams, like, kinda up and coming, kinda like how you know, what we are. We definitely struggle against Minnesota and Vegas. But, you know and it's like, well, can you beat your peers then, like, that are in your tier? And so it's good that we can get those wins.
• 24:35
  Filiberto: Because in beating your peers is also improving too. And that's where you're improving enough to maybe beat the better the best teams.
• 24:41
  Michelle: I also wanna shout out Kaitlyn Chen because she came in I don't know if it's because she knows Paige Bueckers really well, but she came in and, like, destroyed her a few times just, like, like, running downhill to the basket.
• 24:56
  Filiberto: She's been on the tear for a while now. She's been rolling.
• 24:59
  Michelle: Yeah. And even Paige Bueckers mentioned that, like, in her postgame was, like, she's you know, she's got this, layup game that, like, is on another level. So a lot of UConn alumni, know, Paige Bueckers and Kaitlyn Chen played together at UConn. So there's, like, a lot of UConn alumni in this game. But definitely won the game by 11 points, which was great.
• 25:20
  Filiberto: Really solid win. Really fun to watch.
• 25:22
  Michelle: Just a lot of, like, tenacity from the Valkyries, which is, you know, what you wanna what you wanna see. Because the game before we played the Sparks, we held Kelsey Plum to nine points. In this game against Dallas, we held Paige Bueckers to 15. So that's that's really great to be able
• 25:37
  to bottle up stars like that.
• 25:39
  Filiberto: Yeah. And it shows that the game plans that the Valkyries employ really do work.
• 25:43
  Michelle: And the scouting.
• 25:43
  Filiberto: They're very good at that. Yeah. They're good at developing those game plans.
• 25:49
  Michelle: I feel like we should talk about I'm go a little bit out of order here. I feel like should talk about Vegas first, and then we could talk about Minnesota because that was a fun game.
• 25:56
  Filiberto: Okay.
• 25:56
  Michelle: Because we were with the fam and it was Juneteenth.
• 25:59
  Filiberto: Alright. So we'll leave it in a
• 26:01
  Michelle: out of order. Where's the gavel? I'm gonna gavel for out of order.
• 26:05
  Filiberto: Alright. Well, I mean, there's not a lot to say about the Vegas game.
• 26:08
  Michelle: Exactly. Let's just go over it. Breeze past it.
• 26:11
  Filiberto: UUUUUUUUUhhhhhhh. That was the game. That was the conversation in my head -- uuuuuuuuuuuuh. This is tough, man.
• 26:17
  Michelle: Yeah. Vegas
• 26:17
  Filiberto: I can't believe
• 26:18
  we beat them at 36 or whatever last year. That was wild. That was a wild game. We were and we saw it. We were there for it.
• 26:23
  But this was not that game. This was not that game.
• 26:27
  Michelle: It was not. Our shooting was atrocious. We we were down by 28. That was the largest deficit. This is our largest loss this season points wise.
• 26:40
  It was our fourth game in seven days.
• 26:43
  Filiberto: You're gonna hear about that over and over again. It certainly came up along the press conference. Four games in seven days. I'll bring it up again at the end of our podcast when I talk about schedules. But, yes, fourth game, seven days.
• 26:54
  Michelle: And it will not be the last time we have a condensed schedule like that.
• 26:57
  Filiberto: It's a mess.
• 26:58
  Michelle: We're gonna have we're gonna have five in seven. Yeah. Or five in eight later on. Yeah. And that won't be on the road, I believe.
• 27:07
  So and I you know, Vegas was shooting shot 62% from the field in that game. That cannot happen. You will not win a game, especially against a team like Vegas if you allow them to shoot 62%. They were 46% behind the arc, 46 points in the paint. Like, Vegas just had their way Yeah.
• 27:27
  With Golden State. Golden State shot 42% from the field and 17% from threes. That's just not gonna win you a game.
• 27:36
  Filiberto: Yeah. The only I mean, the one really exciting thing that happened is we've been you know, everyone on Reddit and then all the various fan pages are like, wow, we need more size inside. We need more size inside. So we got to see we got to finally see Nadia Fingall Yeah. A little bit.
• 27:49
  So that was cool. She got her first points. Yeah. And so that was good to see, especially as we get into Atlanta. We're gonna need her size inside Yeah.
• 27:56
  Against Atlanta, for sure.
• 27:59
  Michelle: And I just I just do wanna point out too. I was watching this game and I'm like, why is A'ja Wilson still playing? Had such a large large lead.
• 28:08
  Filiberto: Yeah. You're really upset about that.
• 28:09
  Michelle: And I know I know A'ja is like has been very healthy, very fortunate with the injuries. I'm absolutely, she wants to play. Like, I get that.
• 28:18
  Filiberto: I think she sees herself. She sees that as part of her leadership too to
• 28:21
  Michelle: Yes.
• 28:21
  Filiberto: Play every minute.
• 28:22
  Michelle: However
• 28:23
  And maybe they don't have as many games coming up and it's fine to to play her. But I I'm also kinda like, she might need some rest. Let's not risk the injury. So I you know, but also I know she's already put together an MVP season and she probably wants to keep that going, but an injury would not help with that. So kinda have to balance that.
• 28:43
  So, yeah, I was just kinda like, why does Vegas still have their starters in at this point? But I think they've seen in other games, the Valkyries have been able to put on streaks. And so maybe they're a little concerned about that. We're definitely broke. We did that earlier against Vegas.
• 28:57
  Filiberto: Yeah. Salaun and Ceci fucking start making their threes. Yeah. You can throw up 30 points in, like, five minutes.
• 29:03
  Michelle: Yeah. And and because we've played Vegas, like, three times in the last, like, two or three weeks. So one of those games we definitely put a scare into them and she did have Becky Hammon, Coach Hammon did have to pull some for starters back into the game. And so maybe they're just kinda like, don't wanna give them life this time.
• 29:19
  Filiberto: That's fun.
• 29:20
  Michelle: I can see that. But yeah, just one of those games you wanna forget about and move on.
• 29:33
  And then the last game that happened this past week is our Juneteenth game on June 19 against Minnesota. Super close game, but unfortunately, the Valkyries were not able to pull up the win. What'd you think of the game?
• 29:50
  Filiberto: It was a great the first half was incredible. We were, like, on point, and the second half just fell apart. The second half just fell apart. And I think I'll start jumping into my family on this one because they had some ideas about this too that were funny. But I was so we mentioned this last podcast.
• 30:07
  My birthday is on June 13, and then my brother's birthday is on the fifteenth. My brother-in-law is on the twenty second. So we try to do something a little bigger, in June, or I've just kind of led the charge to do something a little bigger in June because I like it. And I get to see my family four times a year really solidly aside from just little trips that happen here and there. So it was just great to be with them.
• 30:25
  It was great to share this experience that we've been having, that Michelle and I have been having for the last two years since the Valkyries started with them and just the fan environment. Y'all like, it is not a joke. Like, the fan environment and the Chase Center for the Valkyries is incredible. It's certainly like nothing I've ever seen. Like, the most impassioned I've ever seen a crowd generally is for, like, Rage Against the Machine.
• 30:47
  Like, that's been Yeah. Like, I've never that's this isn't to that level, certainly, for a lot of different reasons, but that's, like, the level of intensity that's in there. It's, like, in that orbit to me.
• 30:55
  Michelle: Well and it stretches, like, through all kinds of lines. Like, we we were sitting in front of, like, I wanna say teenagers or people in their twenties.
• 31:04
  Filiberto: Yeah.
• 31:04
  Michelle: And they were locked into they were engaged the whole time. They had a lot of opinions for their age. But you can but you can tell they're like they know basketball. Yeah. And they're there they're really hardcore fans.
• 31:18
  A little little fanatic, I would say, but that's but that's great. So that was just kinda, like, cool to see, like, a younger generation, like, really love the Valkyries and and cheer for them very seriously.
• 31:29
  Filiberto: And for context, we sold our regular season tickets in order to pay for six. We didn't didn't really cover all of it. But in order to cover six, we got tickets way at the top.
• 31:39
  It was also a different fan experience because I think what we noticed too is there's there's just more young people up there because the cheap those tickets are just cheaper. Like, there's way more adults in the lower bowl, and that makes sense because, you know, we got adult monies. But in any case, it was fun to be in that environment to that part of the stadium. Like, not to be an asshole, but, like, yeah, there were cheaper seats, and we don't normally sit there. So it was like a different it is a different angle on it and a different feel for what it's like to be in the arena.
• 32:04
  Going back to my family, it was really fun just to watch how much my 10 year old niece responded to just the way they structure the experience. Like, she was just so into it. She wanted to get a Sephora bag too. She liked the mascot. She got herself a little sweater, a Balhalla sweater.
• 32:22
  Michelle: Oh, she was very upset. The first Yeah. Few stores we went to didn't have the right size. Yeah. And there was, like, a cloud hanging over her.
• 32:31
  She was upset.
• 32:32
  Filiberto: So It's the closest she gets to a tantrum. Yeah. But it's, like, her range of emotion, that was pretty bad.
• 32:37
  Michelle: Yeah. But it was great. On our way out, we've you know, her parents are able to find the right size. And so she got her sweatshirt, and she was wearing it the rest of weekend, and it was very sweet.
• 32:44
  Filiberto: She's the newest Valkyries fan.
• 32:46
  Michelle: Yeah. They're they're sorry. They're Go ahead. They're planning to they wanna she wants to go again. She wants to see another game.
• 32:53
  So they live closer to LA, so they're gonna try to go to a Sparks game against the Valkyries.
• 32:56
  Filiberto: Yeah. While we were driving back, my sister was already checking out tickets, and they're not that bad, turns out. Yeah. They already have a culture of going to LA for sports because they go to Kings game a lot. Kings games a lot.
• 33:06
  Mila loves Kings games, my niece. So we just she doesn't like baseball, which totally makes sense. Like, it's hard for kids to watch baseball. Come on. It's not that complicated.
• 33:14
  Michelle: Even for adults.
• 33:15
  Filiberto: Yeah. Even for adults. That's why we got to get up and get beers and stuff. But so there was a little concern that she wouldn't be able to sit through the whole game, but she loved it. She really was into it.
• 33:22
  You know, she understood what was happening. She was engaged. She knew when to cheer. And all the different, like like, fan set pieces that they have to keep people engaged, she was really into. She like she knew understood when to cheer and when to be engaged.
• 33:35
  It was fun watching my siblings get really into it. Like, I actually didn't look at them very often. You have more observations on them.
• 33:40
  Michelle: I did. I looked over a few times, like, even during, like, quick timeouts or something. And, like, Martha was, like, leaning forward in her seat. Like, she was, like, into it. She goes, okay.
• 33:49
  Like, she you can see, like in her mind, she's like, okay. Are gonna do next? What's what's gonna be the next play call? Yeah. Was really cool.
• 33:54
  Filiberto: And it did you know, and I told them ahead of time that we anticipated that it'd be a close game because Minnesota was really good and that we probably wouldn't win, but either way, it'd be exciting. And that kinda happened. Yeah. Like, that was a pretty good call on my part. Like, we've been watching it this much that we had a good feel for it.
• 34:07
  But I think and then my brother-in-law, he had a good observation too. He was like, yo. Olivia Miles and Courtney Williams are really good. I was like, yes, they are. And he's like, well, we really rely on threes and outside game.
• 34:18
  I was like, yes, we do. And he was like, and Valkyries need some size inside. Like, yeah, man. That's, you hit it.
• 34:23
  Michelle: He went to one game. One game. And knew that.
• 34:25
  Filiberto: Hit the nail on the head. So congratulations, Jesus. You sorted it out. But, yeah, that's that's you know, so even for someone that just watches one game, he, you know, grew up playing basketball a little bit.
• 34:35
  Mostly hockey is his thing. We did CrossFit together for years, so that's the other part of our athletic experience together. But, yeah, y'all, we need size. Incredibly so well, so going back to my family's, we'll kinda finish that point. But yeah.
• 34:50
  So, like, you know, it's professional sports. It's owned by a billionaire, blah blah blah blah, all these different things. But what I saw with my niece and my siblings was really what sports is about at its best. Right? At its worst, it's a lot of fucked up things.
• 35:02
  It's a lot of protecting people with impunity, all these other things. But at its best, it gives my niece a sense of possibility, which is really, really important. It gives her something that we can connect with and talk about and experiences that she can sort of lean back on. And it's just a fun time. It's just a really fun time.
• 35:20
  Right. And just enjoying seeing Black women at their best, largely mostly Black women at their best, and just kind of experiencing Juneteenth with them too is interesting and and fun and just sort of sharing in that sort of reflection and and acknowledgment. So, again, big corporations owned by a billionaire. That doesn't always taste well for me, but I do appreciate the attentiveness to not only basketball as a sport for the male gaze, but what we see at the W, what we see at the Valkyries is this is a sport for families and not for the male gaze. Yeah.
• 35:51
  And I really love that part of it.
• 35:52
  Michelle: Yeah. I I do just wanna, like, point out a few, like, show notes too from that game. Yeah. Olivia Miles found out what it's like to play to face an actual defense in the WNBA.
• 36:14
  Filiberto: Yeah. That's what I thought right at tip of my tongue. Like, holy mother. Like, welcome to the W homegirl.
• 36:20
  Michelle: She was held to seven points.
• 36:22
  Filiberto: Welcome to a scheme that worked on you. Yikes.
• 36:25
  Michelle: And and even Minnesota's coach, Cheryl Reeve, talked about it in her postgame comments that it's it's a good lesson for her to learn. Because there's been a little bit of a narrative. I think Olivia Miles, you know, less there's too much that changes, I think she absolutely has rookie of the year wrapped up. But there's also this narrative, like, she's so amazing. She's so kind of ahead of where a lot of people are at this stage of their career Oh, first year that she looks bored sometimes on
• 36:51
  Filiberto: She's ahead of pros that have been playing for ten years. Like, she's just a different
• 36:55
  Michelle: Like, you see on the sideline, she kinda looks bored sometimes. Or the last I would say last week or two, she's gotten a little chippy. She got a tech for taunting someone.
• 37:03
  Filiberto: What's the word I like to use? She's been getting a little more grandiose. Yes. Absolutely. She's been feeling herself a little too much, perhaps.
• 37:08
  Michelle: Exactly. So this was kind of a good, like, you know, hitting a wall for her and and and getting to experience that. Doesn't take away the amazingness that she is. But, yeah, she she looked, like, a little annoyed, a little upset Yeah. And knew that she wasn't kind of hitting her standards for that game.
• 37:25
  Filiberto: And, you know, I think for for youth, for folks getting into basketball and wanna take themselves seriously as a basketball player, I think there's two things that are really instructive about that game is, one, her persistence. Like, she kept shooting, she kept driving, she kept passing. Like, she was having a shit game, but she kept trying. And I think that's just really impressive. It's a little maybe it's a little narcissistic, but you have to believe in yourself and you have to believe in your game even when you're having a shit game.
• 37:49
  So, you know, I applaud her for that, and that's something we should pay attention to if you're striving to be an athlete or a top athlete. The other thing is just the master class of defense that the Valkyries just throw out there. Look. Just watch the way they guarded Olivia Miles. And not only the rotation of players that were assigned to her, but the different looks, the different traps, the different screen, like, tactics that they used on her.
• 38:10
  Like, it was moving and changing constantly. And that was really impressive. And it was impressive that they shut down her and Natasha Howard, but other players had wild games and they just you know, Valkyries lost.
• 38:22
  Michelle: Well, that's why the Lynx are so good. Right? They've got a lot of stars on their their team. So even though you're you're able to bottle up Olivia and Natasha Howard a little bit, you had Coffey and and Courtney Williams just had amazing games.
• 38:35
  Filiberto: Yeah. They just went off. And everyone did critique them for not having depth this year because of all the players they lost. Yeah. But they're showing what's what's what people are showing is Cheryl Reeve is a genius.
• 38:43
  Like, she's still making it work. And those players were more talented than people give them credit for.
• 38:47
  Michelle: Absolutely. Like you said you said in a prior episode about Natasha Howard. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
• 38:51
  And it just the last thing I wanna I wanna point out about this game was the Valkyries fans poked the beast. They poked the bear. They should not have if they've been paying attention to the WNBA, to Courtney Williams, to Stud Budz. They should have known that if you poke her too much, she's going to feed off of that. Yeah.
• 39:15
  And that's absolutely what she did this us. Game. She was. For people who don't know, she she and Hiedeman, her Stud Budz, were just doing like a TikTok live or live. And and she was talking about, oh, you know, our upcoming game is gonna be Golden State.
• 39:32
  And she's talking about it. And then she starts like saying, yeah, but they're fans. And Hiedeman was like, watch out. So Hiedeman tried to get her to stop. But Courtney knew what she was doing.
• 39:42
  And she mentioned that sometimes the fans in the past have been kinda like bullying them. That's kinda how she felt. The players are great. She has a lot of respect for the players. But there's some fans she's just, you know, they're a little too much.
• 39:53
  And so that got passed around Valkyries pages on Reddit, other places. And so they went after her. She was introduced.
• 40:02
  Filiberto: Yeah. The fanverse was very agitated.
• 40:04
  Michelle: They when she was introduced, they definitely booed her. They tried to boo her every time she had the ball. The people the fans who were behind their bench, some of them admitted to kinda going after a little bit. And then you can see, she made some shots and she kinda did the superhuman pose flexing your muscles. Toward the end when it became clear that we could not make our free throws and that Minnesota was gonna win the game, she started blowing kisses to the crowd.
• 40:33
  And she she hit her her point. So and I also just wanna like I understand where fans coming from. Absolutely. Especially after Temi saying last year that you shouldn't be applauding the opposing team. You should be making it uncomfortable for them.
• 40:47
  I think there's a difference between making it uncomfortable for an opposing player and making and being a bully or or making it personal. And I I think that's where the line was crossed. And I I obviously did not I did not want her to win that game. But I also respect her as a human being and what she and Natisha Heideman have done with stud buds and really elevating the game and bringing more fans, like cool fans to the game. And I really respect what she's done for that.
• 41:20
  And so that's why, like, I'm probably gonna hold back on my boos for her.
• 41:23
  Filiberto: Yeah. No. I think it's also part of what's dangerous about sport and where it's at its worst, where in a largely Black league when white people or other types of folks get to, you know, like, yell at Black people, that's where some of the anti Blackness comes out. Some of that un sort of processed, like, rage and hostility towards Black people that, you know, is conscious or unconscious. But that's that is where you have to be really mindful of the line.
• 41:48
  Right? This is still a game. Yeah. We don't have to personally, like, not like her just because she's fucking with us. Like, she's fucking with you, y'all.
• 41:55
  Like Yeah. You're playing into it. That's fine. Well like.
• 41:57
  Michelle: And also, you didn't help the team by doing that. Yeah. By giving her something. And again, if you've watched Courtney Williams play, she's one of those players. She doesn't necessarily lean into that like a Sophie Cunningham does or like an Alyssa Thomas does.
• 42:11
  But she will feed off that boos and kind of negative energy. It kind of fuels her. Right? So, like, if we if you really want the Valkyries to win, you would not have done that and given her that fuel.
• 42:20
  Filiberto: Right. Yeah. Just trying to mindful of that.
• 42:23
  Michelle: Yep. But, yeah, great game to be at. Again, the Valkyries did great with Juneteenth. So, you know, just appreciate the players and the team for, like, making those memories for for us and for your family. It was really great.
• 42:51
  Alright.
• 42:52
  We've reached our last segment, where we kind of talk about something that just got in our craw this week.
• 42:58
  Filiberto: Got in our craw.
• 43:00
  Michelle: Wanna complainsies about it. So, or or share share in our frustration.
• 43:05
  Filiberto: Some of it's delightful too. We have delight at different and joys and things.
• 43:09
  Michelle: So Not well, we're doing halvesies this week, I guess.
• 43:12
  Filiberto: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm saying not me. I'm not naming myself.
• 43:15
  I'm just saying sometimes.
• 43:16
  Michelle: Okay. So joy that
• 43:17
  Filiberto: we had.
• 43:18
  Michelle: So what do you wanna tell the homies?
• 43:19
  Filiberto: Alright. Mira homies. Mira, mira, mira. You know, this message is really for the league and perhaps some of the team executives.
• 43:25
  But, like, if you look so, again, one of the things that you're gonna be hearing out about a lot in regards to this Vegas loss and the Minnesota loss as well is four games in seven days. Four games in seven days. That is a nightmare. That's horrible for the body. Again, for a team like the Valkyries that really rely on their legs and shooting threes and making threes and then crashing the glass and hitting layups, They're a very active team.
• 43:47
  So if you're asking them to play four games in seven days, you're also asking them to play it at a competitive disadvantage. And I think that's really upsetting, and it's upsetting for me as a fan of what's happening. The other part of it that's really messed up is that, like, you're really risking injury.
• 44:01
  Michelle: Yep.
• 44:02
  Filiberto: Like, you're risking injury to your top players to the only like, this is a basketball league. So the only thing that matters are these players and then the fans that watch it. And you're risking them not being able to participate, compete, and, you know, sort of put on the best show that they possibly can that they wanna put on for us. So if you're looking at the schedule right now, because we just it's in the show notes. If you look at the end of August, there's three games in four days.
• 44:26
  Yeah. How is that a good idea? The other reason why I think this really annoys me is because this reflects the lack of meaningful and consistent journalism around the WNBA. If there was a cadre or a group of really good journalists, when this schedule came out, they would have immediately gone after league and be like, why are you doing this? What is the reason why you're you're putting three games, three games in four days, and they're all travel games?
• 44:49
  They have to go on the road for all these games. These aren't home with the Valkyries or in San Francisco. Three games in four days. What is that? And so I think my concern is that if there isn't any journalism, we don't know why we can critique it.
• 45:01
  But my concern is that the reason why some of these games get scheduled the way they do is because the reason the arenas get occupied by, like, for example, Teletubbies on Ice or Labubus on Ice. And that was scheduled, like, three or four years ago, and and women aren't important enough for them to reschedule the Teletubbies on Ice. And so, therefore, you end up having three games in four days. That's what my suspicion is. Again, without decent journalism, we don't know, but there has to be a reason why that bad decision is being made.
• 45:28
  Again, if we care about the players, you just you just so in one CBA, the league made so many overnight millionaires, and you're gonna risk their bodies Right. Like this. The health of the league, especially at the end of the season. This this has playoff ramifications too.
• 45:45
  Michelle: Well, or if I'm also just like if I wanna speak their language of money, money, money, like, you've you've invested in these players and you're like, you're not maintaining your investments. You're actually risking your investment. Right?
• 46:00
  Filiberto: If you wanna think of it in ROI and dollars and cents like that. Absolutely. And I think and we have to also remember that not too recently, this schedule would have had to have been conducted on commercial flights. At least now they get charter flights. Right.
• 46:13
  But this would have happened on commercial flights. How do you expect someone to fly from, what is it, New York and then the game before they play in Connecticut. Connecticut to New York. At least that's a little closer, I guess. But still.
• 46:25
  Yeah. You have to move in hotel rooms. You can't practice. You can't do your therapy to feel better about your body. Like, it's gonna be really hard for them to beat Liberty like this.
• 46:33
  Like, that's just Yeah. Really, really, really unfair. Yeah. So I don't even know who'd be mad about it, but this one. I'm not sure if it's the I know the league scheduler is the person responsible for this, but we also know just from just being a reporter close to Super Bowl sometimes too that the cities themselves shape the league shape shape the schedule a lot because the availability of the arenas is what shapes this thing a lot quite a bit.
• 46:55
  And, what we saw last year with the Valkyries playoff game is that they weren't anticipating or appreciating the possibility that this team would be successful.
• 47:03
  Michelle: Mhmm. Slow clap. Yeah. Thanks a lot.
• 47:06
  Filiberto: So we're seeing the ongoing ramifications of that. Yeah. And it better not be Labubus on Ice.
• 47:12
  Michelle: Yeah.
• 47:12
  Filiberto: Making that weekend happen for them. That's messed up, man. I don't...
• 47:31
  Alright, Michelle.
• 47:32
  What's in your craw? What does that refer to? Craw? What do you mean?
• 47:36
  Michelle: I think it's like a bird thing. Something messed up? I'm not sure. Like a beak or no. No.
• 47:40
  Craw, I think, is right.
• 47:41
  Filiberto: Yeah. Okay. Good.
• 47:42
  Michelle: Yeah. Let's look it up.
• 47:43
  Filiberto: Was just worried I was I was saying something messed up.
• 47:45
  Michelle: These old timey expressions.
• 47:46
  Filiberto: We'll check it out. We'll put it the show notes.
• 47:51
  Michelle: So for me this week, I'm a stop you right there. So I talked about we talked about a little bit earlier the the league celebrating thirty years. This past Sunday, they had the LA Sparks and the Liberty playing each other. So they brought back, you know, the original tip-off with Lisa Leslie and other players. And so it's like a really cool day.
• 48:19
  Think the first the original game, New York won that one. This one, LA came out with the win. Was not looking pretty. Mm-mm. The first half of that game, the Liberty were just ahead.
• 48:31
  I think they I think they were ahead by like 15 at one point. So they just were kinda like doing their thing. LA has been struggling. Not the best defensive team in the league for a couple years now. But then, like, they just kinda went on a run and they I don't know if New York thought they won the game already, but they went on a run.
• 48:54
  And, you know, toward the end, they're trading buckets at the end. So, like, someone's up by one, someone's up by two, and they they go back and forth. And LA calls a time out. I think they have they have like ten seconds left, twelve seconds left. They and I think at this point, watching them play the last couple weeks, I would have assumed they would have drawn a play for Kelsey Plum.
• 49:16
  Filiberto: Yeah. Especially if they kind of scored that was Yes. Tied or win it.
• 49:21
  Michelle: That's usually who they have plays for.
• 49:24
  Filiberto: But that's obviously who the other team is thinking about, sooo.
• 49:27
  Michelle: That's true. Misdirection. Right? Mhmm. So they had to play.
• 49:32
  They did some screens, and then Nneka was open behind the arc on the left side of the basket. And I think Liberty has a I'm forgetting her name, the new French player. She was on Nneka after some of those screens. So she's kinda like trying to stop Nneka shot. LA Sparks are down by two, so they could have gone for two in time and gone to overtime, but they chanced it on this last minute three pointer.
• 49:55
  Filiberto: I love it.
• 49:55
  Michelle: And Nneka hits it. Yeah. And this because they're playing in LA, the crowd goes wild.
• 50:01
  Filiberto: It was incredible.
• 50:02
  Michelle: Was so unexpected. You mentioned Leslie Jones was sitting in the the front row. So she's one of the first ones to hug Nneka after her teammates, obviously. Her teammates just rushed her. It was a great scene.
• 50:13
  Nneka had started her career. She played in Stanford. She started her career in LA before leaving and going to Seattle. This is her first season back after free agency. She came back to LA.
• 50:23
  So it's kinda like a homecoming for her. She's probably the end of her career might be finishing with LA the next year or two. Mhmm. So she also is president of the players associations association. So she just led, facilitated.
• 50:39
  Filiberto: And very visibly led. Like, she wasn't shying away from making sure that people knew that this union is strong and that she's the head of it.
• 50:45
  Michelle: Yes. And so she they were able to get this transformative contract. And I think she came under attack by a lot of people, including some players who didn't think the league was being or the sorry, the union was being transparent. And one of those players would be Kelsey Plum, who's one of her teammates. So So she did she did take it from a few sides as
• 51:08
  being a president going through contract bargaining, which which happens.
• 51:11
  Right?
• 51:11
  Filiberto: As one does in this high profile Yes. It's a bargaining campaign.
• 51:15
  Michelle: It's very much a tactic to, like, you know, make the president out to be a a villain. So she's being interviewed after the game, after she hits this three pointer this night with all these luminaries in the stadium who, you know, laid the foundation for this league to be successful when the owners and etc. didn't want didn't really want it didn't care if it it lasted, but the players the players and fans did. And and Nneka, who I've followed her since Stanford. She's not you know, she'll show emotion when it comes to, like, competitiveness to passion for basketball. Yeah.
• 51:54
  Filiberto: Like big plays and stuff like that.
• 51:56
  Michelle: But she, you know, she kinda tries to hide, like, you know, getting choked up or, you know, crying. She doesn't really do a lot of that in public. So as she's being interviewed by the sideline reporter after the game, you know, you could tell it was kind of like a lot of what's happened last year was hitting her. She did tear up and and choke up and it was just you know, I think LA's had a rough go at this year. So to get a win like that on national TV against a a really great Liberty team.
• 52:27
  And for the team to trust her with the ball and for her to finally know, she's definitely like I said, toward the end of her career, her performance probably isn't up to her standards. So to like see her have that moment because I I do think, reflecting on the last thirty years, Lisa Leslie got a lot of you think of the WNBA in the nineties and the two thousands, you think of Lisa Leslie. Like she was with a face. There are other people like Rebecca Lobo and Dawn Staley, Diana Taurasi, like other other people. But Lisa Leslie gets like the lion's share of that.
• 53:02
  And I think now there's a lot of players, there's a lot of personalities, there's a lot of sponsorship deals, a lot a lot of more commercials.
• 53:11
  Filiberto: More money, more slots, social media.
• 53:13
  Michelle: Yes. So things are definitely different. So there there's there's space for a few more people to be, like, as recognizable as some of the players back in the day. But I I do feel that Nneka is today's Lisa Leslie. I I think she is that leader.
• 53:29
  She is the face of the league. And I know there's like some younger people coming up and and are in the face too. There's there's a lot of room to share now, right, compared to back in the day. But and I think she's just she has taken on a lot being the Players Association president for the last couple of years and going through this contract bargaining. She's taken a lot of this personally to make sure that the players have what they need to be successful.
• 53:59
  That the league is sharing in the billions that the that the players are producing each year and furthering that contract for players. Remind people, the CBA, they did get an article where some of the original players, depending on how long you play, there's kind of a sliding scale of giving like a one time thank you, recognition payout to them for what they did knowing their wages were so low back then. Is there something we can give to kinda honor in our thirtieth season? Like what they did, what they gave to this game. And let's be real, the players had to give something up for that.
• 54:34
  The league was not gonna do that on their own. There was something that the players gave, the current players gave a little bit to make sure they could have that recognition for the people who came before them, the women who came before them. And so to have a lot of those people in that room, in that stadium, watch Nneka do that for LA. It was just like it makes me cry. Like, it makes me tear up to think about just the people who didn't get the recognition.
• 55:04
  And we're seeing like the fruits and the spoils of that now. And these people who were underpaid, you know, but not just the pay. Like, people, they were probably spending their own money on their own medical treatments and other things in the off season and and getting their own coaches and trainers. And like, because of that passion, because of that love, and they they knew the people were coming up behind them, the women who were coming up behind them, and they knew it was gonna be worth it for them. And so to be able to see some of women be able to take part in that and celebrate that, those who are able, it's just really great.
• 55:39
  And to to see Nneka, like, really be present for that in that moment last night is really great. And I know it means a lot to her, and she deserves all of that all that success.
• 55:51
  Filiberto: Well, I think Nneka is a champion certainly in the game itself and then also as a labor leader. The the thing that I keep thinking about is if you're if you're not watching women's basketball, you're also losing the opportunity to see a labor leader in action, a really strong labor leader. And the way she guided those negotiations, the power that that group of women asserted to get the contract that they got is something that I need labor folks to study and pay attention to because it was incredible. They got massive wins, and they they did it because they were skillful, strategic, and they had her leadership. So let's not overlook that.
• 56:21
  She's a legend for a lot of different reasons.
• 56:24
  Michelle: Well, I think what also strikes me is a lot of labor leaders, their their time is bought out. Right? So they're not actually doing that job. A lot of them aren't doing that full time.
• 56:36
  Filiberto: For a lot of big unions.
• 56:37
  Michelle: Yeah. When you're a president, you're being president. And so your union is paying your employer for that year that or whatever that term. And so, Nneka is doing this huge this hugely visible
• 56:52
  Filiberto: More than a full time job.
• 56:53
  Michelle: This important work that's got millions billions of dollars tied up in it. But she's also still playing. Like, so she's still even during these, like, around the clock negotiations toward the end, she still has to go to the gym. Especially as an older player, you still have to go to gym.
• 57:07
  You have to you have to watch what you're eating. You can't, like, you know, just have beers and sodas in between, you know, bargaining sessions. So she and she's playing right now.
• 57:18
  Filiberto: Playing at the highest level at a very physically demanding position. Yeah. She's not a yeah. She's a starter.
• 57:25
  Michelle: Yeah. You think of, like, Sarah Nelson and all these other people. Like, she's, you know, the the president of the flight attendants union. She's not necessarily on planes as at least as much as she would be if she was, you know, a regular member, regular flight attendant person. So it's like, you gotta think of that too is like she was doing two big jobs.
• 57:42
  She's still playing and she's also leading this contract bargaining in this union.
• 57:47
  Filiberto: And, you know, being a leader of personalities is not easy.
• 57:50
  Michelle: It is not.
• 57:51
  Filiberto: And not a lot has slipped out about that, but Mhmm. I can tell you from experience. That's
• 57:56
  Michelle: that's her skill. That's part of what she was studying at Stanford. Right? So, you know, you gotta gotta keep everyone together. Everyone's got different interests, different perspectives, different needs.
• 58:10
  And she did a good job of that. So, yeah, just probably gonna watch that last minute shot. The post reaction, I'm probably gonna watch that a couple more times today and the week.
• 58:17
  Filiberto: Yeah. It's gonna be good.
• 58:18
  Michelle: Yeah. It was just a really a really great moment. And for me, so far this season, it's one of the highlights.
• 58:22
  Filiberto: Absolutely. And, no, I think to go to something you said earlier, the Sparks have had a very disappointing season. They've gone all in. They made all these big moves in the off season, etc., So it's been disappointment, and this that's definitely gonna be one of their high points of the entire year of that game, that ending.
• 58:37
  And I just hope they really hold on to that one because, man Yeah. That is some good stuff.
• 58:42
  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 we got next pod dot org.