Latest / The Favorites Sports Betting Podcast / WNBA Tip-Off with Debbie Antonelli

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WNBA Tip-Off with Debbie Antonelli · The Favorites Sports Betting Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Favorites. The podcast presented by BET three
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: sixty five. We are part of the Action Network. I
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: am Chadmilman, Chief Content Officer of the Action Network. Tonight
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: is the tip off of the most anticipated w NBA
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: season in the league's history. Caitlin Clark making her professional
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: debut on National TV and ESPN two against the Connecticut Sun,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: joining us to discuss the new season. One of the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: most beloved broadcast voices in basketball, a veteran of every
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: WNBA season since the league's inception in nineteen ninety six,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the most recent recipient of the Naysmith Basketball Hall of
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Fames Kurt Goudy Media Award. It's one of like three
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Hall of Fames that she's in the original play by
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: play voice of the Indiana Fever, which means she is
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: the voice of Cleitland Clark's Indiana Fever this season, Debbie Antonelli.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: She will come on in one second, joining me for
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: this conversation as always, my co host, my companion, Michael
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Padre BFF professional Better, Simon Hunter et O, Simon.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Hello, Chad. Just the best time in sports, isn't it?
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: We have playoffs, we got women's coming back, we got
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: NFL scheduler release, just all of it, Like even the
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: hockey has been amazing. So yeah, if you're a fan
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: of sports, it doesn't get much better. And I love that.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: You know how much I love betting the WNBA. So yeah,
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: excited to talk about kicking off the season.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: So I don't know if de Wie knows this, and
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: I'll bring her out on a sack, But like WNBA
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: has been a massive sport for betters almost since its inception.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: And I will say, simon calling Caitlin Clark's games this
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: upcoming week maybe the second most interesting thing Debbie does
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: over the next week. We are going to get to
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: all of that in a second. As a reminder of
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  Speaker 1: the Favorites podcast is presented by bet three sixty five.
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  Speaker 1: episode of The Favorites is.
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  Speaker 2: Live on YouTube.
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  Speaker 1: For those enjoying on YouTube, don't forget to give us
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  Speaker 1: a like. Subscribe to the Action Network YouTube. Pay Debbie.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Sorry for the preamble, official welcome. Tell everybody where you
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: are right now and why Well.
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: First of all, thank you guys for having me on.
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: I'm excited to be with you and spent some time.
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: I'm in Las Vegas right now. I have the Phoenix
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: Vegas game tonight, which is a doubleheader. Caitlin Clark in
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: the Fever play Connecticut first and then tonight later tonight
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: on ESPN two. I get to work with Tiffany Green
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: and Angel Gray on the Call of the Phoenix and
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: the back to back WNBA champions Las Vegas. A says
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: it's a big bling night the rings will be passed out,
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: the banners will be dropped. It would be a lot
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: of fun in the arena.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 1: So you've been doing WNBA since its inception. You had
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame career at NC State. You know,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: basketball generally, women's basketball specifically, as well as anybody when
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: you're feeling when you're in the middle of a moment
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: like this, what is it like specifically to be in
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: the middle of this chaos and storm right now?
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  Speaker 4: Well, I would use chaos and storm as positives in that. Yeah,
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: but chat, I mean, come on, man, it's about damn time.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: I mean, I've been waiting a long time for this.
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  Speaker 4: I have in different times in my career. You know,
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  Speaker 4: I've served as a director of marketing and athletics at
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  Speaker 4: Kentucky and at the Ohio State. So I have been
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: pushing and promoting and marketing the women's game in particular
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  Speaker 4: for a long time. This will be my thirty seventh
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  Speaker 4: year on the air coming up this college basketball season.
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  Speaker 4: So with the WNBA, I was there with the ABL
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  Speaker 4: before that. And this is what I call clarkonomics. It's
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  Speaker 4: a confluence of many things coming together at the right time.
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  Speaker 4: And I am so excited about the season and where
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: the w can go and what an incredible foundation that
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: has been laid before someone like Caitlin Clark who comes
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: along as the greatest disrupt her in our game. And
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: that is a positive because it's made everyone pay attention,
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  Speaker 4: look through a different lens, see the game and the
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: product for what it is, and start investing. And we've
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: never had anyone do that, And that's what's so exciting.
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  Speaker 4: Even talking about it right now gives me chills thinking
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: about what's coming.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Well, when you're looking at Caitlin Clark specifically, what do
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: you expect to see from her at the WNBA level.
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  Speaker 1: We've seen a little bit of it in preseason. You know,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: there was a ton of chatter when Sue Bird and
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Diana Tarassi we're talking about how different it will be
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: for her when she gets to the WNBA. What are
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: your expectations.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: Well, first of all, it's challenging for anyone because now
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: there's no weak link on the court, so defensive schemes
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: are different. There'll be different rotations that she'll have to
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: adjust to. Offensively, I'm not worried about anything about her game.
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  Speaker 4: She stretches, traps, she got sized to see over the top.
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: She has a high IQ reading the second level, so
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: if you do Trapper in ball screen action, she will
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: find the right play. That side of the ball doesn't
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  Speaker 4: concern me at all. The other side of it is,
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: you know, Iowa did play a lot his own. They
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: are going to put her in multiple screening coverages. When
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: you run her through multiple ball screen coverages and you
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: make her play defense, of course she's going to pick
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: up some fouls. She's going to have to adjust to
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: the physicality on that side. So defensively, when you say
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: she's going to have an adjustment, yeah, Jackie Young, who
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: I'll see tonight, was the number one pick in twenty nineteen.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: She averaged less than seven points her first season, So
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  Speaker 4: every rookie has an adjustment period, but no rookie has
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  Speaker 4: had this kind of skill set on the offensive side
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  Speaker 4: of the ball, and they have enough weapons around her,
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: so I think she will have to adjust defensively. That's
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: the biggest part is that I'm running stuff right at
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  Speaker 4: her on the defensive end to try to make her
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  Speaker 4: guard and put her at a deficit so she can't
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  Speaker 4: impact the offensive side.
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  Speaker 1: The challenges on defense people trying to defend her, people
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: having an attitude about defending her, which they should. I
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: don't mean that in a pejorative way. How much do
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  Speaker 1: you think the WNBA needs Caitlin Clark to be magnificent
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  Speaker 1: from the beginning to maintain this momentum.
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  Speaker 4: Well, first of all, let me say this about Caitlin,
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  Speaker 4: because I think she's a remarkable twenty two year old
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  Speaker 4: young woman who I'd like to call it kid. Okay,
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  Speaker 4: I've got kids older than her, So she's a kid
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  Speaker 4: to me, all right. And when I look at her
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  Speaker 4: and you listen to her, not one time, not once,
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  Speaker 4: has there been a mic in front of her face
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  Speaker 4: where she didn't say the right thing, takes the high road,
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  Speaker 4: says the right things, talks, team talks, coaching staff talks,
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  Speaker 4: growth of the league. That's what she's always done. That's
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  Speaker 4: her habit. It's incredible the amount of incredible publicity she's
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  Speaker 4: helped create because she's been such a great ambassador by
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  Speaker 4: handling it that way. So anybody who's taking shots at
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  Speaker 4: her is really you know, if you're going to take
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: a shot at her, describe it the way I did defensively.
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  Speaker 4: This is where the issues could be. This is what
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  Speaker 4: could be a challenge, not overall sweeping. She's going to struggle,
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: because everybody struggles. There'll be times in the season where
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  Speaker 4: she might not get double figures, or she might not
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  Speaker 4: get more than a couple of assists, or there might
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  Speaker 4: be a game where she has more turnovers than assists.
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  Speaker 4: I doubt it, but it could happen. And if it
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  Speaker 4: does happen, I'm not going to be throwing a bunch
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  Speaker 4: of shade at her because there is an adjustment. Okay,
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  Speaker 4: So let's figure out how and why those things are happening.
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  Speaker 4: If they do, I think she's managed all of what
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: has come at her for a twenty two year old
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  Speaker 4: as well as you could have ever imagined. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 4: is there trash talking? Is there going to be some
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: cheap shots? Are they going to try to be physical? Yes,
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: they're going to do that. But wouldn't you do that
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  Speaker 4: with any great player? I think you would. Because she's
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  Speaker 4: so good at what she does. You have to take
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  Speaker 4: something away, right.
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  Speaker 3: And I just piggybacking off of that. It's anyone that's
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  Speaker 3: a basketball fan. She's part of this generation of the
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: Steph Currys, like she is Steph Curry and women's basketball.
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  Speaker 3: Go back and watch what he was like when he
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  Speaker 3: left Davidson to go to the NBA. He took a
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  Speaker 3: lot of elbows to the chin a lot of people.
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  Speaker 3: They watched him in March Madness, right, So now he's
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  Speaker 3: coming and hyped up. She's gonna go through these growing things.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, there's gonna be women that are gonna be
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  Speaker 3: rough on her. That's just part of sports, that's part
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  Speaker 3: of coming into the league. And it's like, I think
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: she's like what we just talk about, she's an excel offensively, defensively,
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  Speaker 3: it's gonna be tough. She's never played against women that
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: are in their late twenties that are freak athletes, the
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  Speaker 3: best athletes in the world. So for a basketball fan,
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  Speaker 3: I love this. This is this is so fun because
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: you're gonna see her game evolve and that's what's so
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: cool about this.
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  Speaker 2: So my question he was just you probably don't even
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  Speaker 2: realize this.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: If the last thirty years you've been in women's basketball,
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: you've had diehard NBA fans, the other half of your
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: fan base are gamblers. I don't even know if women
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: realize that, but their biggest half of their fan base,
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: we're sports betters. I think that's the coolest part. The
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: change has been. The common fan now is fans of
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: the WNBA. Where you usould just be Literally it was
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: just me professional betters talking and like the crazy dared
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: hoop fans. So what is your feeling about the NBA
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: has embraced sports betting WNBA. I know they're going to
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: embrace it. What's your view on it now that it's
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: going to become a huge part of this whole Peyton
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: Clark experience. Our proct bets is probably one of the
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: biggest bet props of the entire women's basketball college season.
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: I have a huge smile on my face because let
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: me give you a little history and you hit, you
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: strike a chord with me, Simon. That is exactly something
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: I love talking about. Now, I'm going to preface it
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: with saying this, I've never bought a lottery ticket. When
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: we're here in Vegas, I'm not gambling. My husband throws
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: the dice.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: I drink.
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: The drinks were perfectly fine. Right, But let me say this,
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: if you go back and look, this is my fifteenth
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: year that I have talked about this. Fifteen years ago,
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: I was looking for this kind of disruption in our game,
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: and I wanted the Sweet sixteen to come to Vegas.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: Every time I'm in Vegas, I think about it because
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: what I was trying to do was eliminate Well. There
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: was a whole plan. You can read it in the
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: New York Times, the Washington Post USA today. You can
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: read the plan. It was there, and it was an
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: effort to scrap the way we were running the NCAA
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: tournament at the time. We didn't need four regionals. I
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: wanted to have one. I wanted to be here. Part
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: of the reason why I wanted to be here in Vegas,
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: because that's where I am right now, is the NCUBA
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: at the time was not allowing any postseason NCUBAA championships
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: to be held in Vegas. Yet every conference on the
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: West Coast was having their post season conference basketball tournament here.
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: There were other nc DOUBLEA events that were being hosted here,
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: but the NCUBA had their head in the sand over
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: the whole gambling thing. Okay, they then don't bet on
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: a video. All of that, I felt college students, and
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: I have three boys. I would rather not see that,
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: don't bet on a video. I'd rather see safe sex,
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: responsible drinking to be honest with you, that's what I
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: think college kids need. Anyway, I digress, all right. So
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: I thought that this demographic was a demographic at the
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: time in women's college basketball that we had not tapped into.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: The eighteen to thirty five year old male demographic that
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: you know when we're at Vegas, and when you're in
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: Vegas in March during March Madness, that every casino sportsbook
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: has the games on. The sportsbooks are crowded. If we
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: just had one TV that had a women's basketball game
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: on it because we were here in Vegas, I thought
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: that would have moved our metrics a lot sooner than
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: where we are now. So I'm not saying that I
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: had it all right, but I am saying that, yes,
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: I am one hundred percent into believing that this aspect
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: of college sports, women's sports in particular and the WNBA,
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: is a really important facet to bring that male demographic
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: into our game.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: When we first launched Action in twenty eighteen, before sports
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: betting became legal, we were sitting in our office in
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: New York and there were thirty of us spread throughout
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: the country.
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: And it was.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: May or June of twenty eighteen, and I heard this
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: loud gasp and someone started swearing, and I'm like, what
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: is going on? There was a shared Google sheet that
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: all of the high stakes betters were using to model
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: the WNBA games, and someone had screwed up the Google sheet.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: And it's an indicative of what Simon is saying and
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: what you're saying, that there is a audience there that
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: has been the beat of what this was. And look,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: he used your marketing background and said we should have
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: been in Vegas a long time ago. It's interesting to
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: me that you say there should be more you know,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: sex and drinking PSAs than betting PSAs. I don't disagree.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: I got a kid in college. I'm more worried about
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: the first two than i am about the third one.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: So why what's your take on that?
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: Well, that's it right there. I mean, you get what
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: I'm saying. I mean, I think. And fifteen years ago,
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: betting wasn't legal across states, right, so there was a
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: whole opportunity there to lead on the women's side, to lead,
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: take a chance. It's a little risky, change what we're doing,
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: change the thinking at the time. Over the course of
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: fifteen years, even Mark Emrick who was the president of
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: the time, said, you know, there's so much hypocrisy about
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: what we're doing in Vegas. You know, we've got all
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: these other championships there, yet we can't have an NCAA
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: title there. He admitted it, and I was like, you know,
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: like hallelujah, Like honestly, I've been pushing and actually I've
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: not had one coach say it was a bad idea
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: on the women's side. So I do think that there
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: are other vices that we should be worried about for
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: our young people, and gambling obviously is one of them. Now,
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: I'm not going to advocate gambling. I hate to say
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: I don't know exactly what my own boys are doing,
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: but I really, because of my job, I really don't.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: I do give them warnings that you better be careful
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: because you guys know the obvious can happen, you know.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: So I don't want to make it sound like I've
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: got my head in the sand, because I definitely don't.
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: But I do think there are other things that we
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: ought to be concerned about with the young people, not
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: just gambling, but safe sex, responsible drinking would be on
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: my list.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: With three boys, it is great though, where to get
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: people into sports. Betting responsibly is a great gateway to
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: get into it. Where you know, I've never watched a
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: WNBA wright some guy today he's never watched before you
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: listen to the show, he's gonna put five dollars down
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: on the or the over of Kaitlin Clark's prop and
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: he might watch twenty minutes today that he had never
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: in his life was ever going to watch, and he
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: might realize quickly like, actually, this is just the same
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: as NBA. It's just as fun, it's just exciting. It's
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: actually I believe it's better on the eyes. I think
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: it's more appealing to watch. So to me, it's a
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: great thing that the WNBA to embrace a little bit
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: because it is a way to get people into the sport.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: It's a gay way to get them the footing.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Because I have friends who never in their life did
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: they ever watch Premier League soccer, but they made a
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: little bet on it and now they wake up Saturday
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: morning they watch Premier League soccer. It becomes part of
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: their routine. So that to me is the battle for
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: the WNBA. You guys have the summer. You have the
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: summer like people just do not like baseball. It's slow,
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: it's born to some people. There's a whole demographic out
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: there for them to kind of corner in those dead months.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: So I love it.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: I just keep on thinking it's going to keep growing
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: so much. It's just there's so much untapped potential and
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: we just like you talked about the pealing Clark has
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: come in already made a big change. We saw online
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: yesterday them flying in the private jets.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: That's just one. That's another step. So I just show
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: on your view.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: Can you believe how much it felt like it was
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: a slow burn, but now it's speeding up. Now everything's
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: happening so fast. What do you think the WABA is
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: gonna be like in just the next five to ten years.
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: Well, let me comment on what you said first signment about,
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: because you're absolutely right that was the premise fifteen years
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: ago about having the gambling aspect inside the women's game
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: be a part of the whole Sweet sixteen to Vegas concept,
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: because I thought if people were putting money on it,
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: they would watch. If they were watching, ratings would go up.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: If ratings went up, we'd have something to sell. It
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: seemed to me to be an easy equation because we
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: needed something that was different. And that's why I was
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: so keen on it and so big on it and
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: so big on it that if I talk about it anymore,
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: I'm going to get fired because the ESPN asked me
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: not to talk about it anymore. THEA is our partners, Okay,
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: So I'm not speaking on half on behalf of ESPN.
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: I'm speaking on a half of Debbie anton La right now,
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: so I can't speak to that. I will say that
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: I did push to get the WNBA on some betting
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: platforms on ESPN, and I was doing that the last
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: couple of years. They FaceTime me in my house and
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: I give them some b roll in the morning and
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: I'd say, hey, you know, Phoenix and Vegas, this is
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: some things to look for, and I'd stay away from
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: the numbers in the line. So that way, because I'm
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: calling the game, I can't do that tonight. But you're
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: absolutely right. Somebody is gonna throw ten bucks down on
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: a prop and see what happens, and they're gonna stick
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: around and watch, and you know what's gonna happen when
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: they watch, They're gonna find out that man, Connecticut's pretty
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: good too. And that Vegas tonight, back to back champs.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: Asia Wilson, she might be the best player in the league.
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: I think she's gonna probably be the MVP. She's the
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: front odds winner to win it again. She's won it twice,
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: so you know, I think that's a tripical effect. I
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: do think that expansion is coming. I think charter flights
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: is definitely coming. Nobody has a bigger brain around the
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: economics of the league than the commissioner, Kathy Engelbert. You
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: can't just wish for charter flights to happen or want them.
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: You've got to find the economic money. You got to
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: forecast forward. And I think that's the other part of it,
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: that Caitlin's not getting enough credit for the forecasting forward
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: of what the w can be because of the amount
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: of presence, and not just Caitlin. She's the headliner, but
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: Angel Reese, Camilla Cardoso, let's see starting the season hurt.
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: What can she do? Rakia Jackson in LA, Cameron brink
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: in LA. I mean, you can go on and on
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: with the amount of talent that's entered the league. But
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: every year we have great talent that enters the league.
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: There's a different spotlight on these players because their college
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: time allowed them to have name, image and likeness and
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: social media and to be able to hire agents and
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: do all the things that the current WNBA or the
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: older players could not do. So it has elevated the
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: platform on one that believes that rising tide lifts all both.
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: And honestly, the only thing I'm looking at is the
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: color green, because everyone's going to make more money because
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: of the way the game is right now, And how
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: could you not be happy about that? As a player,
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: a front office member, a staff. I can't tell you
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: the number of people that say to me, yo, the league.
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: They players don't get paid. Yeah, they deserve more. Yes,
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: how are they going to make more money? You have
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: to grow the league. It can't just be like snap
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: your fingers and all of a sudden. It costs money
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: to do the things the players want. Yes, the players
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: deserve it. I'm not saying they don't. But you have
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: to be able to have the economics to be able
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: to do it. That's why I say. Kathy Engelbert she
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: ran one of the top four accounting firms in the world, Deloitte.
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: She certainly knows what she's doing from an economic standpoint.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: When you watch women's hoops, whether it's college basketball or WNBA,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: and you're also doing men's hoops as well. When you
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: think about the w NBA's development and the development and
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: women's college troops, Simon said, like, it's a more fun.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Game to watch.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: It's lower to the ground, there's a lot more passing,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: it's a lot more fluid. It just feels like you're
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: watching a game where it's not the stopping and starting
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: and sort of of the NBA give a preference when
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: you're watching these games. Do you like watching women's college
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: basketball more than men's college basketball or vice versa.
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: So I love all basketball, and it's going to sound
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: like a cop out, but I watch it all. I
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: love it that much and nothing has taken me away
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: from the game to not want to love it right,
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: So I will even give up a tea time if
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: it's a game I need to see. That's my second
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: favorite sport. So and all the resource we have now
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: you can watch a game anytime, anywhere. So that has
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: helped somebody like me who just absolutely loves it. I'm
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: a big time junkie. Here's what I'd say about the
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: women's game. Yes, we play maybe at not above the rim,
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: the below the rim. Game requires incredible skill set, and
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: especially in the WNBA. I mean, if you can't handle
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: and can't finish on the left side of the floor
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: and fundamental things that you teach little kids, you got
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: to be able to do all those things. Something I
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: say on the air under overheadstrap, by stamp, switch, drop,
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: the eight different ways you can guard a ball screen,
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: you don't need all those in college women's basketballmen the
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: w you have to mix it up a little bit
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: more so just that one piece of it from which
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: was an equal opportunity offense when I played a lot
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: of motion, a lot of screen off the ball, pass
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: and cut. We still have that in the game, but
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: we have more isolation, more two man game. Even the
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: stuff that I have a team, my high school team,
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: I'm teaching them two man side, clear it out. What
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: can we get on the two man side? How many
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: options do you have and what matchups can you put
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: in that? How can you isolate somebody? I think that's
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: where the game and the scouting part of it has grown.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: And that's where to go back to Caitlin Clark. That's
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: somebody that has an incredibly high IQ. She can force
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: a mismatch in certain options in their offense, and when
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: she gets those mismatches, she can take advantage of it.
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: That's the part for me. Guys, for being around the
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: game so long that I've watched evolve. You know, players
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: that have always been good. Skill set's been good. I
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: think the best field goal percentage and the history of
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: women's college basketball was in the mid eighties when I
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: was playing. So the shoot the players were good. Everybody
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: could still shoot it. But the guy's game is very physical.
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: There's no freedom of movement. They like to think that
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: there is. It depends on if you like that style
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: of play in the playoffs. I do like it because
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: I don't like to hear as much whistle. But during
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: the regular season, especially in college men's game, you know,
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: they're the only sport right now that plays two halfs.
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: They don't play quarters. Everyone plays quarters. When the women
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: put the quarters in. Honestly, at first I thought it
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: was window dressing. I thought it was just a you know,
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: a disruptor or changed to look at the game in
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: a different way. But it does give you a little
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: more strategy more too. For ones, it feels like the
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: game's a little faster. I do miss the one in one.
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: I do think the women's college game. I'd like to
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: have that come back because I do think strategy at
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: the end of the game when you have two free
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: throws as much different than when you have it one
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: in one. So I don't know what the reason was
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: for taking that out. I still have never gotten a
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: good reason from the NCAA or the rules committee on that.
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: Something that I think FEEBO was doing, so they just
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: adapted it.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: By the way, as you were talking, one of our
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: producers slacked a story from the La Times of you
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: pushing to have the Sweet sixteen in Vegas from like
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: a decade ago. Yes, kudos, kudos, thank.
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: You for looking that up. I'm sorry I didn't mention
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: the La Times. I should have mentioned it too. No,
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: that's all right, I wrote about it.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: That's all right.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Set quick read here, Simon. Can you name the fastest
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: growing ticketing app in the United States?
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Game Time?
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: That's right, It's game Time. I love Game Time for
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: two reasons. First, they still sponsor this show. Second, I
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: actually use game Time all the time. They've amazing last
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: minute deals, including pro and college sports, speaking of which,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: I'm opening the game Time app right now from my
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: house here in central Connecticut. No matter where you live. Oh,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: by the way, I'm opening from my house here in Connecticut.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: I can get into the Mets game tonight for less
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: than ten bucks. No matter where you live. Download the
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: game Time app. Get out have some fun this week.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: You deserve it, and you can redeem code favorites for
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: twenty dollars off your first purchase. Terms apply again. Just
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: download the game Time app, use code favorites for twenty
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: dollars off your first purchase. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guarantee.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: We've talked about how much people like to bet on
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: the WNBA. For any listeners interested in betting basketball, actually,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Action Networks NBA podcast Buckets has spun off its own
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: WNBA episodes into an all news show. If you're looking
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: to bet the WNBA this season, check out the new
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: podcast Buckets WNBA, That Buckets WNBA wherever you listen to podcasts. Okay,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: I feel like we're thirty years into the WNBA. The
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: game has evolved from players like Dawn Staley, who is
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: now a legendary coach at South Carolina, two players like
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Caitlin Clark, from Sue Berd to Candice Parker who just retire.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Like the the litany of WNBA players who have now
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: become legends to sports fans is long enough. And also
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: the game has evolved enough that it puts people like
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: you in a tough spot because now you'll be asked
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: questions like if you're naming the five best WNBA players,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: who are you naming?
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: Oh you're not asking me that, are you?
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: I'm asking you right now because it's like, well, because
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: the game has changed so much, and like you know,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: those first few years, like Houston is dominating and Cheryl
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Swoops is amazing, and now all of a sudden, like
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: people like that, people who are coming to the WNBA
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: right now might not even remember or know that that
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: was something that was incredible when the league was first starting.
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: Well, I'm running through my list of people in my mind,
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: and there's so many. I mean, if I just went
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: from Naysmith and looked at you know, someone like Cheryl
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: Miller didn't even get to play in the WNBA, right,
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: so that would be one of the all time greats.
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: But you know, Teresa Weatherspoon and Michelle Tims, two people
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: you might not think about are in Nasmith. Lauren Jackson
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: is Naysmith two Australian Tims and Jackson Australian players. Then
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: you have the Houston dynasty that you just mentioned, Cooper,
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: Swoops Thompson, Okay. Then you have la Lisa Leslie Hall
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: of Famer. I mean it's a tough list. Then you
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: go to the Connecticut group Yukon. You mentioned Sue and Diana.
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: Diana's not and Sue are not eligible for Naysmith, but
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: they'll be first ballot Hall of Famers. Brianna Stewart would
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Maya Moore. I
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: just helped induct her into the Women's Basketball Hall of
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: Fame this year. Simone Augustus going into Nasmith this year.
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: So I mean, I say that that is a tough list.
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: That is a really hard list to come up with because,
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: as you said, the game has evolved so much. Cynthia
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: Cooper is always a great story for me because she
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: spent twelve years in Europe and came back later in
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: her playing days and dominated the league, like if we
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: had had the league before she had to go overseas.
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: And then right now we're watching Asia Wilson in just
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: seven years, got two MVPs, got two Defensive Player of
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: the Year awards, has two titles, is an All star,
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: she said, in the next couple of years. I mean,
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: she could wipe away everyone else's credentials. That's how good
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: she is. So I'm excited about what's coming. It's hard
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: to pick five. I don't know if I can get
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: to five, but I know Katie Smith is a Naysmith
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: Hall of Famer. You know, you could just keep going
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: through the list. There's so many greats that have played
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: the game that came before this group of young talent
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: that's that's entered into a new era that has elevated
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: everybody's eyeballs, right, So that's a good thing. So I
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: can't get you five. That's too hard. I just rattled
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: off a bunch of names. I'm sure I lost somebody
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: there that I should have probably mentioned. Tamika Catchings, you know,
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: Tamika Catchings, nay Smith hall of Famer. You caught me
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: off guard a little bit, But that's a good conversation
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: for me to be thinking about.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Well, you did give me a roster. You can't give
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: me five, but you can give me a roster, which
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: is which is which is still pretty good because even
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: some of those names like I've forgotten to Meek a
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: catch right, like you forget like I had forgotten Lisa Leslie,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: like so many players who were so dominant and help
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: move the league in the direction that it is now.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: Who Like when we talk about Caitlin Clark, you talk
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: about Angel Reich, They're standing on the shoulders of all
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: these players, right who over the years have had their
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: moments where they were going to be the face of
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: the league. Is that as it transcended. That's what Caitlyn
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: Clark like is taking it to the charters, taking it
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: to a double header on national TV to open the season.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: But that's something that Auto m.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: Domickson.
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's Clarkinomics. I coined it in November. Yeah, it's
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: a phrase I came up with. I have actually have
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: T shirt clarkonomics.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: You're getting paid for that. I hope you're getting paid
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: for that, because you're not getting paid for the Vegas ideas,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: so you might as well get Yeah.
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: No, no, no, my best ideas result in zero incomes
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: to the Anton La Fa and So family. So no,
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: I'm not getting paid for that.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Speaking of Antonelli family. Very smooth transition. You will be
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: very soon. Probably what is it the three days from now?
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Doing an endurance test that very few people can match.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: For the Nothing but Net charity that you run. Explain
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: what it is and what you're going to be doing.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: I have a lot of questions about this.
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you guys so much, or give me a
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: chance to talk about this. Twenty four hours Nothing but
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: Net is a twenty four hour free throw shooting marathon.
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: I make one hundred free throws on the top of
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: every hour for twenty four straight hours. So at the
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: end of twenty four hours, I've made twenty four hundred.
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: This is year six and I will be in my
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: driveway once again on May eighteen and nineteen. I start
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: at noon and I end at noon. It takes me
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: fifteen minutes to make a hound. We live stream the
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: entire twenty four hours. I have pre taped and some
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: live interviews of actors, celebrities, coaches, players. It's entertainment. The
• 32:11
  Speaker 4: other forty five minutes, or what we try to create
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: is entertainment. In the first five years of the event,
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: all everything goes to special Olympics. There's no very little
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: overhead in my driveway. So this is a fundraiser for
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: Special Olympics. I have three boys. My middle son has
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: Down syndrome. Special Olympics was a great spot for him
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: to compete and train and organize and socialize, and we're
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: trying to help other families do the same thing. It
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: allowed my son to have confidence to go to college.
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: He went to the Clemson Life Program. Life as an acronym.
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: Learning is for everyone. He graduated. He lives at Clemson
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: independently with support, and he works two jobs. It's an
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: incredible community that they've created there for people with intellectual
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: and physical disability. And so in the first five years
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: of our event, we raised eight hundred and sixty thousand.
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: This year I am poised and plan on and say
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: good prayer that we can cross a million dollars. So
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: hopefully on May nineteenth, at noon, when I'm finished shooting,
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: we will have raised a million dollars for Special Olympics.
• 33:23
  Speaker 4: It's not something that I thought of. I came up
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: with the idea. It was kind of a crazy whim.
• 33:32
  Speaker 4: I didn't know if I could do it. I didn't
• 33:34
  Speaker 4: know if anybody would watch, and I didn't know if
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: anyone would give. And six years in we're about ready
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: to raise a million dollars for Special Olympics. So it's
• 33:42
  Speaker 4: it's incredibly crazy and amazing and very emotional, and I'm
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: sure it'll be very emotional when we get to the
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: end on Sunday.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to donate. I can guarantee Simon's going
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: to donate. I would hope that a lot of our
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: listeners are going to donate as well. When is it
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: the hardest window to make the shots?
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: So after doing it for five years, the first year
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: I was in the gym, and then COVID put us
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: outside and the first year we raised eighty five thousand,
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: and I didn't want to not do it. So we
• 34:15
  Speaker 4: just went in the driveway and sort of did it
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: by ourselves and live streamed it and made it work
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: the best we could. The training is the hard part,
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: because it's the fitness part of it that it's not
• 34:27
  Speaker 4: the you know, I have muscle memory and the ability
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: to self correct. I probably shot the ball billion times
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: in my lifetime. I'm still shooting it.
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: It.
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: The hardest hours are the first couple of hours. The
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: emotion and the adrenaline all that and then I was
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: saying that in my training I would be thinking about
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: pushing through that two, three, four am, five am. But
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: those hours I seem to shoot my best. So I
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: didn't tell you. My five year average is ninety four percent.
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: I have had a couple of hour that I did
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: not miss I've had several hours where I've missed one
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: or two. Those usually come in the middle of the night.
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: So the first couple of hours, in the last couple
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: of hours are really the hardest. And listen to this.
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: The first hour the Mount Pleasant other than Mount Pleasant,
• 35:18
  Speaker 4: South Carolina, the police department runs the torch into my yard.
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: We have a cauldron, a mini cauldron for special Olympics.
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: The torch burns for twenty four hours. We have a
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: lot of people that are there. Last year, Roy Williams,
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: the Roy Williams showed up in my driveway for the
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: first hour. You talk about being nervous shooting one hundred
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: free throws, I mean that was incredible. I missed seven
• 35:41
  Speaker 4: the first hour. So it's not about the free throws.
• 35:46
  Speaker 4: That is the platform and the vehicle to share the
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: stories and most of the live stream has special Olympic
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: athletes from all over the country coach k Dabo Sweeney,
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: Shane Beemer. You know, I've had Jim Ants, I've had
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: Ernie Johnson. I dig deep into my basketball rolodex to
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: try to come up with as many big names as
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: I can and ask them to push it out on
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: their social It's all helped us raise some money. So
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: it's quite crazy. It sounds crazy. I do get AARP mail,
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: but I'm out there hustling and scraping and grinding and
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: trying to raise as much money as we can to
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: help special Olympics, help families like mine, because I know
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: how important it is.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: What do you do for the other forty five minutes
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: it takes your fifteen minutes to make free throws?
• 36:33
  Speaker 4: Well, there's a lot you guys might be too young
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: to remember Jerry Lewis and the Muscular District v telethon,
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: But that's sort of what I'm doing. I'm in the driveway.
• 36:41
  Speaker 4: I might be leading to the next interview. I might
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: be doing a live interview. I might be, you know,
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: capping off something we just ran to tell a story.
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: It's a constant effort to try to ask people to give,
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: and what I ask everyone I meet is, for one
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: penny for every free throw. That's twenty four dollars. Most
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: people can do that or a little bit more. And
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: that's how we've raised it. It's been very much grassroots.
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: It's all a grassroots effort. I have a lot. The
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: average donation I think was one hundred and fifty dollars
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: over from when we get to a million, I think
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: it's probably gonna be about one fifty to two hundred
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: is the average donation.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Very important question for a gambling podcast. Have you ever
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: hustled anybody who didn't know who you were in a
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: free through contest?
• 37:29
  Speaker 4: No, I've never had a chance to do that, but
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: I would like to.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: I have.
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: I do have one donor that gives me two hundred
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: and fifty dollars for every hour over ninety percent, and
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: last year I only missed two and those are the
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: last two. So that's the kind of I wish I
• 37:46
  Speaker 4: could come up with some more of that because that
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: puts the moneyball equation into it, because in my mind
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: I know how many I've missed. So I mean, so
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: it's the other forty five minutes. I'm I'm I'm not sleeping.
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: I don't go to and I don't start drinking coffee
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: till about six. So I've figured out a way to
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: manage the hydration. And there's a lot of people in
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: the driveway. I mean all hours of the night, there
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: are people there and they're having a good time. So
• 38:17
  Speaker 4: it's fun. I can just say this that people come
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: and they say, like my two sisters who from my
• 38:22
  Speaker 4: entire life never rebounded for me in the driveway or
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: everyone out there, you know, but they're like, what are
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: we gonna do? Come down there and watch you shoot
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: free throws. We've watched you shoot your whole life. I'm like, well, yeah,
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: you're gonna watch for fifteen minutes, but there's a lot
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: of stuff going on and pretty soon it's time to
• 38:37
  Speaker 4: shoot again. So it's been amazing. It's been amazing. It's
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: been amazing the amount of impact the money has had
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: and the awareness that has generated for Special Olympics. And
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: I wish I had started it fifteen years earlier. If
• 38:52
  Speaker 4: i'd started fifteen years earlier, I can only imagine how
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: many millions of dollars you might have raised by now.
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: But this is the first million, and I'm going to
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: keep working on the second million. And like I say,
• 39:02
  Speaker 4: on the air. I'm gonna shot till my armfalls off,
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: and it literally is falling off in the driveway. So
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: I wish people knew how hard I worked and trained
• 39:11
  Speaker 4: to get ready, because it's not easy. That's the hardest part.
• 39:16
  Speaker 4: That and maintaining the emotions in the last hour is
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: pretty hard.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: To twenty four hours NBN dot com is the fundraiser
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: website to donate twenty four hours NBN dot com. Last question,
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: if you can make a prediction for who will win
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: it all? Where do we want to make our futures bets?
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: You don't have to say it's a future's bet. Are
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: we going with the Aces third time in a row?
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: Is it a super team.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: From New York?
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: Where would you say the best? Who's most likely to
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: win the WNBA title?
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: Well, it's not a a great money line for you guys, right,
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: but it is Vegas. I do think they're the best team.
• 40:04
  Speaker 4: They averaged over ninety points last year. They have four
• 40:06
  Speaker 4: all stars on their roster, They got Asia Wilson, They
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: won more games than anyone last year. They went over
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: the thirty win mark. They have everything in place to
• 40:14
  Speaker 4: do it again. Vegas is on fire for women's hoops,
• 40:18
  Speaker 4: it's a great environment to be in. But I do
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: think that I'm keeping my eye on for a couple
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: of sleeper teams like Dallas. Enrique Agumbawalle. She's such a
• 40:32
  Speaker 4: big time scorer. They have an injury to start the
• 40:34
  Speaker 4: season with Satu Savaly. She's not available right now. Keep
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: my eye on Dallas. Of course, Indiana hasn't been in
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: the playoffs since twenty sixteen. I think if there's a
• 40:43
  Speaker 4: prop out there, whether they make it or not, I
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: would definitely pick them to make it. I think they
• 40:47
  Speaker 4: will make it. I think not only a Leah Boston,
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: but Melissa Smith is a big time player. She could
• 40:52
  Speaker 4: be an All Star this year. I think she is
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: equally adept at handling the two man game with Caitlin
• 40:59
  Speaker 4: as Elia does, which gives them other options. Kelsey Mitchell
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: is one of the all time great scorers in the
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: history of the NCAA. Caitlin passed her along her rise
• 41:10
  Speaker 4: this season, and I've got great faith in Indiana. The
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: other team is Minnesota. Cheryl Reeves won four of these,
• 41:17
  Speaker 4: she had a dynasty herself. I would keep my eye
• 41:19
  Speaker 4: on them. Those are the teams I'm watching right now,
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: and then the next super team that people are talking
• 41:24
  Speaker 4: about is Seattle because they got Skylar Diggan Smith, who
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: did not play last year. She's back in the backcourt
• 41:31
  Speaker 4: with Jewellloyd. Jeweloyd's a big time scorer, and Nekogumacay moved
• 41:35
  Speaker 4: over from La over to Seattle. So those are a
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: couple of teams and storylines I'm keeping my eye on.
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: I do think Vegas has the ability to repeat that
• 41:43
  Speaker 4: hasn't happened since the two Sparks during Lisa Leslie's time.
• 41:48
  Speaker 4: So that is a couple of storylines to keep your
• 41:52
  Speaker 4: eye on. But most importantly for the w fans is
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: please buy a ticket, Please go to the games. Please
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: support the league, Please turn the TV on. It's going
• 42:01
  Speaker 4: to help the league continue to grow and help those
• 42:04
  Speaker 4: players get paid more, and it will help the charter
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: flight situation as well.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: Also donate twenty four hours NBN dot Com Debbiantonelli is
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  Speaker 1: gonna make twenty four hundred free throws over twenty four
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• 43:00
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• 43:05
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• 43:10
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