00:00we mentioned caitlin clark in the last segment gotta mention her again because there's a little
00:03bit of a controversy going around right now uh carrie champion has been blasting nba at wmba
00:09refs for direct quote here blatant favoritism towards caitlin clark um what are your thoughts
00:19on that type of idea because here's the thing like the narratives that surround caitlin clark
00:24are are just really interesting you know the idea that she's protected by the league the idea that
00:29everyone's going after her because she's been so heavily promoted which listen i the promotion of
00:36caitlin clark based on what she did in college i think is fairly justified she was doing incredible
00:41stuff over there and i'm i i i didn't love this aspect i understood but i didn't love this aspect
00:48i felt like when caitlin clark first got in the league and it wasn't just her other young people
00:53that were getting in the league at the time a lot of new eyeballs were coming over to the w
00:57and it
00:57seemed like there was a little bit of the old guard that was relatively annoyed by the new kids coming
01:05into the school uh yeah i think some of it some of it is that um and and you know
01:13i do think you're
01:14going to get that type of pushback when especially at in a in a moment where you know the the
01:21w just got
01:22a new cba done yeah and and massive step forward a lot of massive steps forward and a lot of
01:28those
01:29veteran players and people that have covered those players and in relationship with those players
01:36the sacrifices that they knew were going to be made in order for the league to take the step forward
01:44that it needed to take to get to where they are now you know i think sometimes young athletes young
01:51people can come across as though they aren't as um aren't as appreciative or or grateful for
01:59those that have kind of paved the way before them and so when you come in um and you know
02:07not just the
02:08way you carry yourself in terms of feeling like hey i'm i'm the new king now i'm you know that's
02:13how like aunt edwards brings that energy big time you know and i love it by the way you know
02:18the dream
02:19team in in 92 in in barcelona you know michael jordan was on the rise but magic johnson was still
02:25kind of you know trying to remind him nah bro just you know this has been my league for a
02:30while like
02:31i'm not just gonna hand over the baton you're gonna have to take it from me um and so some
02:36of that
02:36energy like i think caitlin clark plays the game in a way and carries herself in a way as though
02:41like
02:41she knows that she is the future of basketball she doesn't necessarily say that but she she plays that
02:49way and has that type of energy uh and so yeah i think it's been extreme on both sides of
02:56the like
02:57dislike conversation um with caitlin clark but i think it was also within that context of
03:03you know angel reese was also yeah coming into the league as a very well-known player
03:08and controversial quote-unquote i don't even know what that means anymore um and so i you know
03:17magic johnson larry bird coming into the league at the same time boston east coast la west coast
03:24there was a lot of narrative around those two players the the rivalry that it became etc
03:30um and people had their opinions about that too i don't i don't think opinions are bad
03:35i just i think when we start to subscribe intent to what people are doing that's where we get in
03:43trouble always because we just we don't know yeah we're trying to fill in the blanks on a narrative
03:47that frankly most likely isn't even there yeah but i i i think the the one thing we can't
03:54we don't want to skip over is when a when a when a woman or a woman of color is
04:02commenting on
04:03something related to another woman that is or isn't of color like we don't know what it's like
04:09as as men or as sports fans like we don't know we don't live in that world their experience has
04:16been
04:16like to see someone else treated differently than they feel that they have been treated that's also
04:23mixed into even some of the wmba players as caitlin clark was coming into the league
04:30like hey well we've been a part of this league for a long time and never gotten some of the
04:35benefits
04:35and things that you are yeah experience and she walked right into it yeah that she walked right into
04:41no nobody is saying uh she isn't creating new um energy passion support for the league ticket
04:52sales viewership but like that's clear you can't argue the numbers even in terms of her stats i mean
04:58the phrase that's even been used a ton the quote-unquote caitlin clark effect yeah that is a
05:04phrase that's thrown around you can't argue that part um i i think some of the you know the feelings
05:10around the favoritism etc is more in how she's treated by you know the the officials uh the league
05:19itself etc um and players that have been in the league that know or recognize like well when i
05:26came into the league i wasn't treated that way i didn't i didn't get that type of recognition like
05:30you know and but that's just part of this league like it's always going to be that way in sports
05:37like a new person coming in with that effect is going to receive much different treatment than
05:43when kobe bryant came into the league in 1996 whoever victor wimbanyama is getting very different
05:49treatment than the number one pick 20 years ago received and so we also have to kind of keep that
05:57in mind as well but i i just you know when carrie champion or another woman and a woman of
06:04color is
06:05speaking just about how it looks or is perceived to them and their experience there's more to it than
06:12just like what we can see with our eyes 100 percent right so i i just also try not to
06:19then get extreme
06:19in how i respond of course what she has to say because that's her opinion about it and everybody's
06:26entitled to kind of share you know whatever they feel like they have to say i mean can i even
06:31brought
06:31touch on you kind of touched on the elephant in the room how much does race actually even come into
06:36play with these type of things and i know the w is kind of it's it's a newer world that
06:41the w is
06:41currently finding itself in um can you speak on that a little bit i think it does not not in
06:48the
06:48way of racism of course but i it's it's very different i i think you know in in all sports
06:56though it's kind of always been that way i i don't think it's different um we talk about it in
07:03the nfl a
07:04lot we the way black quarterbacks were perceived compared to white quarterbacks absolutely we still deal
07:09with that today like you you see how lamar jackson is treated you see how josh allen is treated it's
07:15very different right and that that's not a um it's it's not something that's going to go away like
07:23it's it's it's a microcosm or or it's symbolic of even people's experience in the country we live in
07:29yes and the world we live in we're still battling and navigating some of the aspects of race and culture
07:36not just in sports but in the communities we live in and the places we um we travel to etc
07:42um so it's always going to be a part of the conversation um a part of the narrative
07:49um i just think we have to make sure we're leaving room for people to have different opinions um or
07:57to
07:57feel differently about the experience and you can't try to shout somebody down that feels like
08:03caitlin clark is being favored the same way you can't shout somebody down that doesn't feel that
08:09way yeah like it's okay if they see it differently should we be able to have a conversation about it
08:15and you be able to hear my perspective on it what my life experiences have shaped me to see and
08:23believe
08:23with my own eyes yeah you got to leave room for that just like i have to leave room to
08:29hear it and
08:29see it the way you see it and we can agree to disagree but when it just turns into just
08:35always pointing and screaming always like then we we're kind of losing the opportunity
08:41to have it be something that could still ultimately bring us together like caitlin clark actually is
08:46the the quietest about it because she seems like she just wants to kind of focus on playing basketball
08:52that's definitely what it seems like but listen you mentioned it it's all matter of perspective like
08:58i i i understand some people's perspective that all she's bad for the game i don't really go that
09:05far but i also understand the perspective that how great she is for the game and yeah would i like
09:10her
09:10to get a little bit of the uh luca complaining a little out of her system yeah maybe a little
09:15but
09:16she she had that in college it was annoying to watch in college as a as a for me not
09:22race related
09:23not gender related i just don't like players male or female complaining that spend a lot of time
09:28doing that i agree i just don't and it was funny early in my baseball career i think i complained
09:33about umpires to their like way more i think my like first two years i had very little tolerance for
09:39bad officiating it took probably about three years of professional play that i realized that i finally
09:44like got the right perspective like these guys are not trying to make bad calls they are it's a
09:50thankless job to be a referee an umpire very much like they're doing their very best with very like
09:57minuscule strike zones and things that they need to be able to to pretend that they can see very very
10:03much so that we have our feelings about officials as a former player coach like there are a lot of
10:10nights currently coaching in high school there's a lot of nights i'm i'm like okay i don't like what's
10:16going on here sometimes i'll let it be known sometimes i'm more reserved but ultimately like
10:22you you have to believe they're not trying to get it wrong um you know but again i i think
10:29um
10:31you know this is kind of part of the world that we're in like people can have these thoughts and
10:38opinions and it can turn into a story and something that we're talking about just due to the way media
10:44uh and content are consumed now uh that you know this now has legs even though this is her opinion
10:52it's fine she can see it this way through her lens and other people may or may not agree um
10:59but
11:00i just think it's important that we continue to you know kind of talk about it and leave the room
11:07open to have these bigger discussions yeah we just we just do that's that's the missed opportunity if
11:13if we don't look at it that way because there's going to be there are little girls watching this
11:19unfold now and this is leaving an impression on them now about what it's like out there in the world
11:27as you get older and you start to have these experiences and if you want to be like candace
11:31parker if you want to be like neka gumake if you want to be like caitlin clark if you want
11:35to be
11:35like sue bird we don't want little girls thinking it's actually bad to be one of those women
11:41absolutely because this is how you're going to be treated good or bad right you just you want it to
11:47really be about the basketball we're supposed to be appreciating the greatness of her ability to play
11:52the game at a really high level um we can still have these conversations but ultimately figuring out
11:59a way to make sure that the w is moving in a positive direction and growing fan coach media
12:06representative that has to be the ultimate goal otherwise anything you're doing or saying that
12:12could be hurting the game and having people want to pay attention to the w less that's a problem
12:19completely agree and right now the w you know the new cba which i think is a phenomenal step in
12:23the
12:24right direction for not just the wmba but women's sports as a whole um and also uh it's being reported
12:30right now by front office sports that the the uh retired wmba players are about to get a multi-million
12:37dollar gift the w the wmba's new cba includes a veteran recognition payment for retired players
12:44with at least five years of experience if you have five to seven years of experience thirty thousand
12:48dollars eight to eleven years of experience fifty thousand dollars twelve plus years of experience
12:54one hundred thousand dollars as a gift to retired uh and wmba players nice not bad not bad you
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