April 5, 2024 • 35 mins
We’re in the mood to chit-chat on The Bright Side today, but have you ever found yourself in a small-talk situation with nothing much to say? Danielle and Simone discuss how to up your small talk game. Plus, this weekend it’s the NCAA Final Four! We talk about March Madness with sports producer Hannah O’Flynn. It’s been an historic year for the women’s tournament, drawing record viewership and unparalleled attention. We’re swept up in the Caitlin Clark phenomenon, and we’ll be cheering on Angel Reese in the WNBA next year.. Who are you rooting for this weekend? Send us a voice memo at hello@thebrightsidepodcast.com for a chance to be featured in an upcoming episode.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello Sunshine, Hey fam Today on the bright Side, we're
talking women's basketball with content creator and former ESPN and
NBA producer Hannah O'Flynn.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm so glad to be alive during this time in
women's sports history. We're gonna be telling our future kids
about this. Be like back in Monday, tickets were just thirty.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Bucks, just thirty bucks.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
Well, we're getting into why this year's NCAA Tournament is
a historic moment in women's sports, and we're all getting
up to speed ahead of tonight's final four matchups.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It's Friday, April fifth.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I'm Danielle Robe, I'm Simone Voice, and this is the
bright side from Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Danielle, how we feel and it's Friday.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Oh see money, it is Friday. I have to tell you,
I am so glad it's Friday. Why For the past
four or five years, I have been making my own
schedule and is a boss. I felt like a boss
and now I have bosses and it's the first time
that I have this kind of schedule where I'm coming
(01:10):
into an office in a recording studio five days a week,
and now I know what people feel like like. I
am excited for the weekend. No shade to the producers.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
She's already sick of me, you guys, that's what she's
trying to say. No, we talk every single night now.
It's honestly gross. We're producing our own phone calls.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Yea.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So this weekend, I'm actually going to Buffalo, New York
to get ready to see the total eclipse of the sun.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
You've been talking about this since I met you.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I know you want to know why. God bless my father,
God bless Charles. He has been planning this trip for
about four years, since the universe told him that this
was happening. So this is a big family trip. This
is like a really important trip. I have so many questions.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
So the first is how often do eclipses happened? What
do you mean he has been planning this for four years.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
It's a really good question.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I don't know how often they happen, but I think
the last one was around twenty fifteen to twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And who's going?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
So it's my dad, my mom. I'm leaving the kids
and the husband at home. Really, yes, I know it's
very sad. I didn't want to, but the flights are
crazy eclipscouging is real. I didn't know this was a thing.
Eclipscouging is very real. So yeah, it's gonna be a
cute little family trip. And I have a lot of
family in that part of the country.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
So that's super cool. Are you gonna aren't you supposed
to look at it with glasses on?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yep, I'm gonna look at it with glasses. I'm a
big space nerd. I love space. I would go to
space tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
No, no, you're not one of those.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Oh yeah, listen and still Richard Branson reached out to
the bright side and was like, hey, we have a
little pod, like a little egg that we could send
you up to space in.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Do you want to go? You had t me children,
it's safe for the most part. I do think it's
so nuts. Like I love Earth, I love my life here.
Why can't we fix this place? We have a lot
to do here.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I know I love Earth too, but we are going
to run out of resources one day. And don't you
want to see Earth? Like, don't you want to just
be in space and see the universe the stars?
Speaker 4 (03:16):
I like the grass right here in Los Angeles. I
can go to Austin Texas. You can ship me to Buffalo,
New York. I'm good, don't need to see.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Space, all right, Well, cross that out of our venn diagram.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
You know, I was going to tell you what I
was doing this weekend, but what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Let me ask you and be a good friend. What
are you doing this weekend?
Speaker 4 (03:35):
So I'm watching a show called Girls on the Bus,
which I'm actually really excited about because one, I'm obsessed
with the show. If you haven't seen it yet, I
kept thinking of you watching it because it's about female
journalists on these campaign trails, literally on a bus.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
You're going to be obsessed. But I have a few
more episodes to watch.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
And also we're getting somebody from Girls on the Bus
here really soon.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
And so it's just it's so fun to watch journalism.
I love.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
I'm so like patriotic and I love when people are
invested in the truth and it's just such a great show.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Danielle, do you have any guilty TV pleasures? Do you
only watch shows about journalism or.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Eyebrow shows like The West Wing is one of my
favorite shows. I'll tell the West Wing. Yeah, it's I score,
just the opening score. Oh and I need to be
low brow. You just talked about the score on a
TV show.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
That is an objectively incredible score.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Okay, any actually speaking of this, I have something funny
to show you. Okay, So have you been getting I'm
sure you've been getting a lot of feedback from friends,
from people that are listening in your dms and texts.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Everyone's been so sweet. I love hearing from all of
our listeners about the bright side.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
It's been so cool.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Okay, So the listeners are really sweet, and that is
so it's so fun to hear what they're gravitating towards. Yeah,
my friends, not so sweet friends. Give it to me
real and I need to read you some feedback from
a friend.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Okay, let's hear it.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
It changed how I show up on this show. So
my friend Mike says all these great things. It's really punchy,
it's well produced. I think I'm probably not your audience,
but I love the vibe and even I was interested
in it. You guys have a great cadence and voice.
Here's the thing. It feels really PG like corporate, and
(05:28):
you guys are saying what you're supposed to say.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
That's so embarrassing. I kind of agreed with him. I
listen back, and I think, because we.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Come from journalism, yeah, we sounded a little corporate.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Well, not to take this super deep, but you're actually
getting to something that I've struggled with for a long time,
and it's because of my career as a broadcast journalist.
You put so much pressure on yourself when you're going
on air and you're live, and you're covering these really
important and breaking news stories in a time of intense
political polarization, and I would get so in my head
(06:06):
and so scared about saying the wrong thing. So that's
something that I have to unlearn.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I hear what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Well, what I love about working on the show is
that it is forcing me to be more real and
be more comfortable in my own skin. And thankfully I
have a co host who brings that out of me. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
I feel that way about you too. I feel like
safe when we're on the mic together. But I do
think that that corporate thing really hit me, and so
we're both going to make an effort to sound on
corporate and just kind of be ourselves. I think everybody
is listening and witnessing our own undoing and unraveling in
a good way.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, we're here for it. We're showing you all parts
of ourselves.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Folks. All right, should we get into the show. Let's go.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Okay, So we actually just did a lot of this simone.
We're talking about small talk. Do you feel like you're
a small talker? Are you good at this?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I feel like everyone has to be a good small talker.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
How do you see? I have met people who are
like I don't do small talk. I don't understand that.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
What do you do?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
You just you meet someone and you just jump right
into childhood trauma? How does that work practically?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
That's my dream.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
I dislike small talk. I don't want to talk about
like the weather or who went home on the Bachelor.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I want to know about if you're.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Similar to your mother or your father, or your childhood trauma,
or how many times you've been in love. Like I
sometimes have a physical reaction to small talk when you
say you're just like jumping in. Do you have something
that you jump into when the conversation is stale, or
you just meet somebody and you like don't know where
to go?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I never don't know where to go.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I have questions on questions I went to lunch with
someone yesterday and just peppered him with questions the whole time,
and I was like, it's your fault for going to
lunch with a journalist. I'm sorry. He was like, no,
it's great. I'm always the one asking questions. It never
happens to me, so.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
But I know something's so embarrassing.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Speaking of feedback, the feedback that I've gotten when I go.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
On dates is like this must be good.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
No, the feedback that I get when I go on
dates is like she was cool, but like it kind
of felt like an interview.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Where are they leaving these reviews? Is it like YELP
for dating Danielle? Where are you? How many stars are you?
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Guys?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
I'm like in tears right now. I'm laughing so hard.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
No, I think they'll tell like my friends.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
You guys.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
The more that I learn about Danielle's friends and their dynamics,
the more questions I have.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
There's no boundaries. It's a true sisterhood. I don't think
that's how you define sisterhood.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Okay, wait, back to small talk. Yes, not my dating life. Okay,
here's the thing about small talk that I realized because
I never liked it was I don't ever feel like
I'm good at it, like I really just go for
the jugular.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
But I realized during.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
COVID that I was missing it because there were all
these like low stakes interactions that we weren't half like
you're Barista, your uber driver, someone at the grocery store,
or a stranger you meet on an airplane, And I
was like, wait, I kind of miss these moments. There
is an element of small talk where you learn from
people like you're on your way somewhere and you learn
a great restaurant in New Mexico.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Et cetera.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, I totally agree. I think you can be thoughtful
even in small talk. Yes, something that I try to
avoid doing is just heading straight for the what do
you do question?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Or what's your career?
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Especially in a city like Los Angeles. That's so that's
such a big focus in conversation, and that's only a
small part of our identity.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
I have a question that I ask if I feel
like the conversation is lagging or it's a really good one,
if you just meet somebody, because it helps you remember
their name. When I meet somebody, I'll take you say, simone,
I'm just meeting Simone and I say, Simone, I love
your name.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
If I do, right, I'm not gonna lie. And then
I say, like, who named you? What's the story behind
your name?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Yeah, because people usually have really beautiful stories about their
family why somebody named them, and it opens up a
really great conversation. You get to know them, it feels approachable,
and also you remember their name.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Have you read David Brooks? Yeah, of course, Okay, I
talked about.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
David bro he talks about that's one of his great questions.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Really, yeah, he stole it from me. Well, I want
to go on record.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
By the way, David Brooks is like a fantastic New
York Times bestselling writer, so he probably didn't steal my question,
but we we thought similarly.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
I'm sure he wouldn't mind it either way.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Lace up your sneakers, Bredsiders. Hannah Oakland is here talking
March Madness. Right after the break, we're back and we're
talking about a huge weekend in college sports because the
final four in the women's NCAA Tournament tips off tonight
(11:01):
in Cleveland and Yukon is taking on Iowa. NC State
is playing in undefeated South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
This has been a historic tournament on the women's side
and a turning point in women's sports overall. I mean,
Monday night's twenty twenty three championship rematch between Louisiana State
University AKA LSU and IOWA drew a record twelve million
viewers on ESPN, making it the most watched women's college
basketball game ever.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
So a huge draw has been the tournament's star players,
iowa's Caitlin Clark, LSU's Angel Reese. I mean, you've been
seeing their names in the headlines, but earlier this week,
Angel Reese broke the Internet by announcing that she's headed
to the WNBA, and she announced it with this really
dope Vogue story.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
All right.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Here to get us hype for this weekend's final four
is Hannah O'Flynn. She's a former ESPN and NBA producer.
She's a host, she's an athlete. She's one of my
favorite sports content creators. Hannah, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Yes, sir, welcome. Oh I'm so hyped. This is amazing, Hannah.
I gotta out myself.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
I don't typically follow March Madness, but this year, I mean,
it's impossible not to.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Write, Oh my gosh, I mean, there's so many levels
to what's going on. From a basic standpoint, there's just
individual players that are going crazy. But if you dig
a little bit deeper, you realize that it's so rooted
in a long history of women's basketball leading up to
this point. So it's very interesting on the surface. Everyone's like, Oh,
(12:32):
it's just this year, you know, But if you actually
take a few steps back, you realize the reasons why
it's completely skyrocketed.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
I love that you're saying, take a few steps back,
because it's very clear that this moment is different from
anything we've seen in the past.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
But what was the lead up?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
So women's college basketball has undoubtedly had a big spike
in popularity, ticket sales, viewer ship. Although it seems like
it's happening out of the blue, I think it's really
rooted in years of growth, and I have four pretty
clear reasons why.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
So.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
The first is social media. It encourages star power. It
allows athletes to have their own voice and presence. NIL deals,
which stands for Name Image Likeness, where basically you can
just profit off of your own image. These deals encourage
athletes to invest in themselves, in their likeness. Nike Jordan, Gatorade,
(13:33):
bos State Farm Buick all had their first.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
NIL deals with women.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
The second piece I think is the sports media outlets
like Overtime in ESPN, dropping mixtapes, sharing personalities, creating familiarity
of players like Page Beckers, Hailey Van Lith, people that
we've been following for years since their high school days.
The third reason, honestly is I think the outrage over
(14:01):
inequality in women's basketball the past few years. We saw
the wimpy wait room that Sedona Prince exposed in twenty
twenty one, and the fact that honestly we could not
call the women's tournament March Madness until twenty twenty two
is ridiculous. The NCAA has been exposed multiple times and
(14:22):
I think that sparked major changes. And then the fourth
and last reason is the women's college basketball atmosphere has changed.
I think Yukon and Tennessee are no longer completely dominating.
There are several extremely talented teams and individual stars that
(14:42):
make the games closer and more entertaining.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Yet up the competition.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
So I feel like we got to start by talking
about the Kaitlin Clark effect. Young boys are wearing her Jersey.
I mean, she's neck and neck with Lebron James on
Google search trends. There is just so much buzz around her.
What makes her such a phenom?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yeah, Caitlin is different. She's not human. Going down to
like the statistics, she's the all time record holder for
D one men's and women's basketball ever in points scores.
So right now, at this moment, she's at three nine
hundred total points.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
All right?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Does that get we have to slow down for me?
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Does that mean that she's the highest scorer in women's
college basketball history.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
And men's Yes?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Wow, I didn't know that. She's so dominant it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
And she has over a thousand assists right now. And
I think a big thing that people don't realize is
she really makes her entire team better. She's really dangerous
from anywhere, not only because of her ability to shoot
and her quick release, but also because she sees her
entire team. You can see, like even last game, it's
(15:56):
really hard to cover her.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
There's something I'm seeing that I personally want to know
your opinion on. Because you played basketball growing up. I
have watched men's and women's sports for years. I see
men throw tantrums on the court. I mean the Chicago
Detroit rivalry. Actual punches were thrown on the court, and
(16:19):
sometimes they're suspended. Sometimes nothing happens. Women get suspended, they
get yelled at, they're told that they're not sportsmen, like
if they start getting really competitive. To me, this is
the first time we're seeing women get competitive on the court,
and it's kind of being like hyped up.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Do you see that?
Speaker 5 (16:41):
You know? It's funny.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
I feel like women have been competitive for a minute.
I think people are really paying attention now and they're
hyper focusing on little things. And I also think social
media takes moments and blows them up. It becomes gifts,
it becomes memes. The one moment when Caitlyn waved goodbye
and there was like a moment between Angel and Caitlyn.
(17:04):
They when they were interviewed about it, they were like, oh, no,
like we're cool, you.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
Know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And it's just like anyone can take any moment and
make it this like they got some beef now. It's
all just a really positive thing for getting people more involved.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I think it's all great. Honestly, Well that's Angel Reese's perspective.
I mean, she said, I will take that villain label
and I will wear it proudly because she says, I
know we're growing women's basketball.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
She also had a moment during her interview right when
they lost where you could tell at the same time,
she's still human and she still has real emotions, and
I think you could tell a lot of that gets
to her and her teammate Flage said, I know who
she is and the media doesn't always portray her that way.
And if you flip the switch and think about their perspective,
(17:57):
great because they have so many nil deals, people following
every moment, but also difficult because eyes are on you
all the time, constant judgment.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Well, I do wonder if part of it is self preservation,
her embracing that label because as a black athlete, she
knows that she is going to be treated differently, that
she is going to be perceived differently when she does
the same things that white athletes do.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
There is that dynamic at play and you can't ignore it.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yes, no question, And even honestly, if you look at
the dynamic between the IOWA team and the LSU team.
Sure like LSU has a few white players like Haley
Van lith is one of my favorite players growing up
and watching. But you know a lot of people have
like generalized those teams and also just like the whole
stereotypes behind it.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
You really can't ignore the racial undertones here. It's something
to think about. I think we got to give credit
where credits due. In terms of Caitlin Clark, I mean,
the highest score in I didn't know men's and women's
college basketball.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
You can't, you don't.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I want to take that away from her as an athlete,
But I think you also have to recognize that women's
basketball in college and basketball in general is a black
dominant sport, and there's been tons of these players that
haven't gotten the credit that they deserve. And it's sometimes
hard to watch this white woman come in and all
of a sudden get almost four million dollars in brand deals, etc.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
Yeah. I know.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Angel was asked in an interview question recently about people
that aren't getting credit, and she brought up one of
her teammates who's been killing it. And also as black,
there's always a few players.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
That you're kind of like, why aren't they getting the
press they deserve?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And I think it's the responsibility of these media outlets
to really do their research and not just pick up
on who's posting a certain player.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
All right, Hannah, we need to do a quick ad break,
but when we come back, we want to get into
the business of women's basketball.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Stick with us, all right, we're back with Hannah o Flann.
So I want to unpack the business side of this
a little bit more because we touched on it, but
I think there's a lot here. A twenty twenty one
rules change allowed players to off of their name, image
(20:20):
and likeness. But can you talk about why that's such
a game changer for athletes like Caitlin Clark, like Angel
Reese and Juji Watkins.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Completely game changer. I think certain school's only profit off
of players likeness.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Their jersey purchases. A lot of athletes actually who.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Had a really big social media presence had to choose
between their YouTube channels or their instagrams and brand deals
over a d one opportunity. So now you're at a
point where you can do both, and so you can
work on your own platform and your own presence. You
(21:04):
can make sure people know who you are and also
do all of these amazing brand deals, and on top
of that, you can ball out and be an athlete.
I think, yeah, it's it's insane how much of a
difference it is.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
I start thinking about how this opens up the pipeline
for young girls who are playing sports too. Right, they
start to see this as a real career, you know,
and they start to see like, I can make this,
I can make a living out of this, I can
make a life out of this.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
The only thing here is it's really affecting a small
percentage of players, Like only the best of the best
of the best, maybe like one percent of players are
going to get paid in nil deals right one.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And that's also how it's been with the WNBA as well.
If you look at like the Diane Trossi's, the super Birds,
the Brianna Stewarts, they are the ones getting the brand deals.
And it's amazing how many elite w players don't have
as much of a presence or as much popularity as
skillful as they are. Truly, the people who are getting
(22:03):
the most press, views, involvement are the ones who are
getting those deals.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
It's a net positive, but I think it speaks to
your point about building up these players and who's responsible
for that, right, Like it's a two sided game.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
I want to zoom out for a minute and just
talk about how this is shifting the narrative around women's sports.
I mean, you've covered basketball on both the men's and
women's side, and Hannah, you were a D one athlete yourself.
What do you think is the biggest difference about the
conversations that we're having today surrounding female athletes versus those
conversations from five years ago.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
I think the biggest difference is it's not an afterthought,
It's truly the main conversation you'll see even now. The
last game IOWA versus LSU, the twelve point three million
views was more than the men's NBA Finals last year,
(23:02):
which is crazy to think about eleven point six million
views for the twenty twenty three NBA Finals, twelve point
three million views for IOLSU, and that's not even the championship.
So I've gotten more texts, more dms from random people
about this game than I ever have. It's truly such
(23:25):
an exciting time to be part of this. And I've
been saying for a while, like, remember, your value doesn't
decrease based on someone's inability to see your worth.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
So I love that Hannah.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
This year, the ticket price for the Final four, the
cheapest ticket right now is six hundred and ninety two dollars.
Do you want to guess what it was in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Seventy four, two hundred thirty five dollars.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
Wosh. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
So I'm so glad to be alive during this time
in women's sports history. We're gonna be telling our future
kids about this bee Like back in my day, tickets
were just thirty bucks.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
The world is catching on, you know, and I'm like,
there's been talent and there's also new talent coming in.
So it's not just gonna be this one moment, this
one wave. It's truly like a shift and it's I'm
just I really have chills even thinking about this moment
in time, but also what's to come.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
There's so many new eyes.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I'm so fired up. I'm fired up. I need a tunnel.
Give me a tunnel. I want to run through it
right now.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
There are some crazy mistakes that have been made during
this tournament.
Speaker 5 (24:43):
Oh god.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
For example, the three.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Point lines were taped on incorrectly ahead of the Yukon
USC game. It was corrected, but it's hard to imagine
that happening in a men's tournament.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
What's your take on that?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
So the NCAA has a history of not fully considering
the woman's side. The three point line a few days
ago was just like, it's funny. Everyone's like, I can't
believe this is happening, and I'm like, I'm not surprised.
Like it's twenty twenty two. The NCAA finally made it
okay and allowed us to say March madness. Before that,
(25:21):
you couldn't call women's college tournament March madness. They only
use that for the men's and the amount of weight
that goes into March madness in the title. In general,
it's shocking. And then the one that went very viral
was Sedona Prince exposing the embarrassingly pathetic weight room.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Wait I remember this. A player posted a TikTok showing
the difference between the women's and men's weight rooms and
it was insane. I mean, there was no comparison. It
was just pathetic. It just goes to.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Show you the level of ignorance and also just like
what women athletes have to deal with constantly, and this
isn't just on the college basketball level. WNBA absolutely certain flights.
Not every player is flying first class. The payment in
general has improved, but still needs to go up. Then
(26:17):
also understand that a lot of them started so much
later than everyone else because of Title nine, and the
amount of progress that a lot of these leagues have
had in the short period of time compared to when
the men's league started is also pretty significant when you
think about it. It's also so important for us to
expose moments when this is happening, post about it and
(26:43):
shout them out, and care continue to invest in women's
sports and coverage, go to the games. Women's basketball isn't
just for women, Hannah. We can't let you leave without
hearing your predictions. So what did your bracket look like
headed into the tournament? And who is your money on?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Now?
Speaker 4 (27:00):
I want to see if it's the same as mine,
because you're obviously much more of an expert.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
No, I mean, listen, man, marsh madness is different. I
looked this up so wild. The audacity we have to
believe that our bracket could actually do well. If you
flip a coin, you have one and nine quintillion chants
of getting a perfect bracket.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
What is quintillion quintillion I don't even know what that's
a Harry Potter number.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
No one has ever made a perfect bracket, did you
get close? I have Iowa in South Carolina in the finals,
so they're that's exciting. Overall, the bracket isn't doing super hot,
but I don't. I don't know anyone who's doing well
right now.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
You know, I'm already out. I had USC and LSU.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
I mean that's good though.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
That's a good guess.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
So you have Iowa, that means your your money's on
Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
My money is them being in the finals. The one
thing we haven't really fully talked about is the total
domination of South Carolina. The last time they lost a
regular season game was December thirtieth, twenty twenty one. This
is the fourth consecutive appearance they're having in Final four.
(28:19):
I genuinely going to this tournament thought they're the team
to be, and I still do. Their offensive rebounds are insane.
Cardos So just creates so many second chances for them,
So even if they're shooting percentage is low, it doesn't matter.
The bench is so deep, even if they're in foul trouble,
it's a non issue for that reason, Pow Pow and
(28:39):
Malaysia are reliable scorers, and Malaysia is also, in my opinion,
one of like the shiftiest sauciest.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Players right now.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
But yeah, I think I want, truthfully, I want to
see Iowa win. I think it would be insane. I
think Kaitlin Clark's legacy is already so established. But the
top scorer in college basketball history leads her team to
(29:09):
the championship and wins, and then she goes number one
drafted in the WNBA, Like I just that's the story
I want. Honestly, you can't go wrong either way, and
both are just fantastic.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
Hannah, I have one more question for you. You grew
up playing basketball. Your career now surrounds basketball. For parents
out there who have little girls, yeah, what has basketball
given you?
Speaker 5 (29:34):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
I think the biggest thing that people need to realize
is not only the value that sports has on making
you a better teammate, but the value it has in
making you a better person. I am more confident because
of basketball, and honestly, track and soccer and every other
sport that I played growing up. Sports has given me
(29:57):
the ability to feel like Number one. I deserve to
be there, I belong. So if you invest your kids
in sports from a young age, that's investing them in the.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Future of the world.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Like women being involved in higher places. Starts in gaining
that confidence and realizing consistency is important, realizing being good
teammate is important, and just seeing your full potential. And
I think that's something that parents can't teach. I think
(30:33):
kids have to go experience that and learn it themselves.
And I think that's why you should get your kid
involved in sports and see how into it they get.
And you know, if they don't like sports, get them
in music or are you know, like just kind to
be part of something. But I feel the most beautiful
when I'm just like sprinting, playing basketball, running in a
(30:56):
sports broad just like sweating and like going for it.
It's there's something that's so empowering and fun and alive
about that, and I hope everyone can feel that at
some point.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Hannah, thank you so much. You got me fired up girl.
Speaker 5 (31:14):
You guys are you guys are awesome?
Speaker 3 (31:15):
So are you. Thanks for your time and for your heart.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
Anytime, of course.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Hannah O Flynn is a host, producer, and basketball super fan.
Find her on IG and TikTok at O'Flynn stone Danielle,
I wasn't kidding. I'm feeling fired up right now.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Yeah, I feel fired up because of what she said
at the end of our conversation. You know, I hope
it came through in the interview, but if you were
in the room with us, I could feel her sincerity.
She was saying, like, I really feel beautiful when I'm
moving my body, and maybe it stuck out to me
because I feel the same way, like I lift weights. Yeah,
(31:56):
I like how it makes my body look. But mostly
I lift weights because I feel so dope when I'm strong,
Like I feel so much more confident when I'm strong.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Well. I also love fitness and sports because the attention
most of the time is not on a woman's appearance.
Whenever she's playing a sport, it's on her potential as
an athlete. It's on how much she can lift, how
fast she can run. It's achievement based, and I just
get so tired of living in a society that prioritizes
(32:28):
our appearance. It's refreshing to be in sport and to
see women celebrated for something other than physical beauty.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
So this is an interesting insight.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
Yeah, the top ten most followed athletes on Instagram are
all men. Okay, so people don't care about female athletes
as much yet on Instagram, but the top ten most
followed people in general on Instagram are predominantly women. And
so to your point, I think it's mostly performers. It's
like Ariana Grande, Kim Kardashian. I think we're so used
(33:00):
to seeing women's bodies perform, and we're used to men's
seeing men's bodies compete. This makes me so psyched because
we're really getting used to seeing women's bodies compete, and
we're buying in and it's like everybody's hyped around it.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
I keep coming back to this idea of us being
at an inflection point with women's sports, and specifically this
one thing Hannah said when she was talking about the
history of women's basketball being undercovered and underfunded, and that
is this, Remember, your value doesn't decrease based on someone's
inability to see your worth. So I'm taking that with
(33:38):
me today. Yeah, I'm packing it up, We're leaving, throw.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
It in the suitcase. I love it. We really want
to hear from you. Are you all watching the Final four?
Speaker 4 (33:50):
This weekend, tell us who you're rooting for and email
us at Hello at the bright sidepodcast dot com.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
And on Monday, we're talking to another one of the
show's grand old grand to hear some much needed parenting
advice from pediatrician turned TikTok star. Ask Bobby Okay, that's
it for today's show. We'll be back Monday with your
daily dose of Sunshine. Listen and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
The bright Side is a production of Hello Sunshine and
iHeart Podcasts and is executive produced by Reese Witherspoon.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Production by Arcana Audio. Courtney Gilbert is our associate producer.
Our producers are Stephanie Brown and Jessica Wank. Our engineer
is PJ. Shahamat, and our senior producer is Itsy Qinthenia.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
Arcana's executive producers are Francis Harlowe and Abby Ruzka.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Arcana's head of production is Matt Schultz.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Natalie Tulluk and Maureen Polo are the executive producers for
Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
Julia Weaver is the supervising producer and Ali Perry is
the executive producer for iHeart Podcasts. This week's episodes were
recorded by Graham Gibson.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
The theme song is by Anna Stump and Hamilton Lighthouser.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Special thanks to Connell Byrne and Will Pearson.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
I'm Simone Boyce. You can find me at Simone Boice
on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
And I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok. That's r
O b A.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Y See you Monday fam. Keep looking on the bright side.
Hello Sunshine, Hey fam Today on the bright Side, we're
talking women's basketball with content creator and former ESPN and
NBA producer Hannah O'Flynn.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm so glad to be alive during this time in
women's sports history. We're gonna be telling our future kids
about this. Be like back in Monday, tickets were just thirty.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Bucks, just thirty bucks.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
Well, we're getting into why this year's NCAA Tournament is
a historic moment in women's sports, and we're all getting
up to speed ahead of tonight's final four matchups.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It's Friday, April fifth.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I'm Danielle Robe, I'm Simone Voice, and this is the
bright side from Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Danielle, how we feel and it's Friday.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Oh see money, it is Friday. I have to tell you,
I am so glad it's Friday. Why For the past
four or five years, I have been making my own
schedule and is a boss. I felt like a boss
and now I have bosses and it's the first time
that I have this kind of schedule where I'm coming
(01:10):
into an office in a recording studio five days a week,
and now I know what people feel like like. I
am excited for the weekend. No shade to the producers.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
She's already sick of me, you guys, that's what she's
trying to say. No, we talk every single night now.
It's honestly gross. We're producing our own phone calls.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Yea.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So this weekend, I'm actually going to Buffalo, New York
to get ready to see the total eclipse of the sun.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
You've been talking about this since I met you.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I know you want to know why. God bless my father,
God bless Charles. He has been planning this trip for
about four years, since the universe told him that this
was happening. So this is a big family trip. This
is like a really important trip. I have so many questions.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
So the first is how often do eclipses happened? What
do you mean he has been planning this for four years.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
It's a really good question.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I don't know how often they happen, but I think
the last one was around twenty fifteen to twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And who's going?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
So it's my dad, my mom. I'm leaving the kids
and the husband at home. Really, yes, I know it's
very sad. I didn't want to, but the flights are
crazy eclipscouging is real. I didn't know this was a thing.
Eclipscouging is very real. So yeah, it's gonna be a
cute little family trip. And I have a lot of
family in that part of the country.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
So that's super cool. Are you gonna aren't you supposed
to look at it with glasses on?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yep, I'm gonna look at it with glasses. I'm a
big space nerd. I love space. I would go to
space tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
No, no, you're not one of those.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Oh yeah, listen and still Richard Branson reached out to
the bright side and was like, hey, we have a
little pod, like a little egg that we could send
you up to space in.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Do you want to go? You had t me children,
it's safe for the most part. I do think it's
so nuts. Like I love Earth, I love my life here.
Why can't we fix this place? We have a lot
to do here.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I know I love Earth too, but we are going
to run out of resources one day. And don't you
want to see Earth? Like, don't you want to just
be in space and see the universe the stars?
Speaker 4 (03:16):
I like the grass right here in Los Angeles. I
can go to Austin Texas. You can ship me to Buffalo,
New York. I'm good, don't need to see.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Space, all right, Well, cross that out of our venn diagram.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
You know, I was going to tell you what I
was doing this weekend, but what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Let me ask you and be a good friend. What
are you doing this weekend?
Speaker 4 (03:35):
So I'm watching a show called Girls on the Bus,
which I'm actually really excited about because one, I'm obsessed
with the show. If you haven't seen it yet, I
kept thinking of you watching it because it's about female
journalists on these campaign trails, literally on a bus.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
You're going to be obsessed. But I have a few
more episodes to watch.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
And also we're getting somebody from Girls on the Bus
here really soon.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
And so it's just it's so fun to watch journalism.
I love.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
I'm so like patriotic and I love when people are
invested in the truth and it's just such a great show.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Danielle, do you have any guilty TV pleasures? Do you
only watch shows about journalism or.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Eyebrow shows like The West Wing is one of my
favorite shows. I'll tell the West Wing. Yeah, it's I score,
just the opening score. Oh and I need to be
low brow. You just talked about the score on a
TV show.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
That is an objectively incredible score.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Okay, any actually speaking of this, I have something funny
to show you. Okay, So have you been getting I'm
sure you've been getting a lot of feedback from friends,
from people that are listening in your dms and texts.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Everyone's been so sweet. I love hearing from all of
our listeners about the bright side.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
It's been so cool.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Okay, So the listeners are really sweet, and that is
so it's so fun to hear what they're gravitating towards. Yeah,
my friends, not so sweet friends. Give it to me
real and I need to read you some feedback from
a friend.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Okay, let's hear it.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
It changed how I show up on this show. So
my friend Mike says all these great things. It's really punchy,
it's well produced. I think I'm probably not your audience,
but I love the vibe and even I was interested
in it. You guys have a great cadence and voice.
Here's the thing. It feels really PG like corporate, and
(05:28):
you guys are saying what you're supposed to say.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
That's so embarrassing. I kind of agreed with him. I
listen back, and I think, because we.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Come from journalism, yeah, we sounded a little corporate.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Well, not to take this super deep, but you're actually
getting to something that I've struggled with for a long time,
and it's because of my career as a broadcast journalist.
You put so much pressure on yourself when you're going
on air and you're live, and you're covering these really
important and breaking news stories in a time of intense
political polarization, and I would get so in my head
(06:06):
and so scared about saying the wrong thing. So that's
something that I have to unlearn.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I hear what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Well, what I love about working on the show is
that it is forcing me to be more real and
be more comfortable in my own skin. And thankfully I
have a co host who brings that out of me. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
I feel that way about you too. I feel like
safe when we're on the mic together. But I do
think that that corporate thing really hit me, and so
we're both going to make an effort to sound on
corporate and just kind of be ourselves. I think everybody
is listening and witnessing our own undoing and unraveling in
a good way.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, we're here for it. We're showing you all parts
of ourselves.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Folks. All right, should we get into the show. Let's go.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Okay, So we actually just did a lot of this simone.
We're talking about small talk. Do you feel like you're
a small talker? Are you good at this?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I feel like everyone has to be a good small talker.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
How do you see? I have met people who are
like I don't do small talk. I don't understand that.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
What do you do?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
You just you meet someone and you just jump right
into childhood trauma? How does that work practically?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
That's my dream.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
I dislike small talk. I don't want to talk about
like the weather or who went home on the Bachelor.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I want to know about if you're.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Similar to your mother or your father, or your childhood trauma,
or how many times you've been in love. Like I
sometimes have a physical reaction to small talk when you
say you're just like jumping in. Do you have something
that you jump into when the conversation is stale, or
you just meet somebody and you like don't know where
to go?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I never don't know where to go.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I have questions on questions I went to lunch with
someone yesterday and just peppered him with questions the whole time,
and I was like, it's your fault for going to
lunch with a journalist. I'm sorry. He was like, no,
it's great. I'm always the one asking questions. It never
happens to me, so.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
But I know something's so embarrassing.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Speaking of feedback, the feedback that I've gotten when I go.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
On dates is like this must be good.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
No, the feedback that I get when I go on
dates is like she was cool, but like it kind
of felt like an interview.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Where are they leaving these reviews? Is it like YELP
for dating Danielle? Where are you? How many stars are you?
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Guys?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
I'm like in tears right now. I'm laughing so hard.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
No, I think they'll tell like my friends.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
You guys.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
The more that I learn about Danielle's friends and their dynamics,
the more questions I have.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
There's no boundaries. It's a true sisterhood. I don't think
that's how you define sisterhood.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Okay, wait, back to small talk. Yes, not my dating life. Okay,
here's the thing about small talk that I realized because
I never liked it was I don't ever feel like
I'm good at it, like I really just go for
the jugular.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
But I realized during.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
COVID that I was missing it because there were all
these like low stakes interactions that we weren't half like
you're Barista, your uber driver, someone at the grocery store,
or a stranger you meet on an airplane, And I
was like, wait, I kind of miss these moments. There
is an element of small talk where you learn from
people like you're on your way somewhere and you learn
a great restaurant in New Mexico.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Et cetera.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, I totally agree. I think you can be thoughtful
even in small talk. Yes, something that I try to
avoid doing is just heading straight for the what do
you do question?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Or what's your career?
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Especially in a city like Los Angeles. That's so that's
such a big focus in conversation, and that's only a
small part of our identity.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
I have a question that I ask if I feel
like the conversation is lagging or it's a really good one,
if you just meet somebody, because it helps you remember
their name. When I meet somebody, I'll take you say, simone,
I'm just meeting Simone and I say, Simone, I love
your name.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
If I do, right, I'm not gonna lie. And then
I say, like, who named you? What's the story behind
your name?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Yeah, because people usually have really beautiful stories about their
family why somebody named them, and it opens up a
really great conversation. You get to know them, it feels approachable,
and also you remember their name.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Have you read David Brooks? Yeah, of course, Okay, I
talked about.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
David bro he talks about that's one of his great questions.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Really, yeah, he stole it from me. Well, I want
to go on record.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
By the way, David Brooks is like a fantastic New
York Times bestselling writer, so he probably didn't steal my question,
but we we thought similarly.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
I'm sure he wouldn't mind it either way.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Lace up your sneakers, Bredsiders. Hannah Oakland is here talking
March Madness. Right after the break, we're back and we're
talking about a huge weekend in college sports because the
final four in the women's NCAA Tournament tips off tonight
(11:01):
in Cleveland and Yukon is taking on Iowa. NC State
is playing in undefeated South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
This has been a historic tournament on the women's side
and a turning point in women's sports overall. I mean,
Monday night's twenty twenty three championship rematch between Louisiana State
University AKA LSU and IOWA drew a record twelve million
viewers on ESPN, making it the most watched women's college
basketball game ever.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
So a huge draw has been the tournament's star players,
iowa's Caitlin Clark, LSU's Angel Reese. I mean, you've been
seeing their names in the headlines, but earlier this week,
Angel Reese broke the Internet by announcing that she's headed
to the WNBA, and she announced it with this really
dope Vogue story.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
All right.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Here to get us hype for this weekend's final four
is Hannah O'Flynn. She's a former ESPN and NBA producer.
She's a host, she's an athlete. She's one of my
favorite sports content creators. Hannah, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Yes, sir, welcome. Oh I'm so hyped. This is amazing, Hannah.
I gotta out myself.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
I don't typically follow March Madness, but this year, I mean,
it's impossible not to.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Write, Oh my gosh, I mean, there's so many levels
to what's going on. From a basic standpoint, there's just
individual players that are going crazy. But if you dig
a little bit deeper, you realize that it's so rooted
in a long history of women's basketball leading up to
this point. So it's very interesting on the surface. Everyone's like, Oh,
(12:32):
it's just this year, you know, But if you actually
take a few steps back, you realize the reasons why
it's completely skyrocketed.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
I love that you're saying, take a few steps back,
because it's very clear that this moment is different from
anything we've seen in the past.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
But what was the lead up?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
So women's college basketball has undoubtedly had a big spike
in popularity, ticket sales, viewer ship. Although it seems like
it's happening out of the blue, I think it's really
rooted in years of growth, and I have four pretty
clear reasons why.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
So.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
The first is social media. It encourages star power. It
allows athletes to have their own voice and presence. NIL deals,
which stands for Name Image Likeness, where basically you can
just profit off of your own image. These deals encourage
athletes to invest in themselves, in their likeness. Nike Jordan, Gatorade,
(13:33):
bos State Farm Buick all had their first.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
NIL deals with women.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
The second piece I think is the sports media outlets
like Overtime in ESPN, dropping mixtapes, sharing personalities, creating familiarity
of players like Page Beckers, Hailey Van Lith, people that
we've been following for years since their high school days.
The third reason, honestly is I think the outrage over
(14:01):
inequality in women's basketball the past few years. We saw
the wimpy wait room that Sedona Prince exposed in twenty
twenty one, and the fact that honestly we could not
call the women's tournament March Madness until twenty twenty two
is ridiculous. The NCAA has been exposed multiple times and
(14:22):
I think that sparked major changes. And then the fourth
and last reason is the women's college basketball atmosphere has changed.
I think Yukon and Tennessee are no longer completely dominating.
There are several extremely talented teams and individual stars that
(14:42):
make the games closer and more entertaining.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Yet up the competition.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
So I feel like we got to start by talking
about the Kaitlin Clark effect. Young boys are wearing her Jersey.
I mean, she's neck and neck with Lebron James on
Google search trends. There is just so much buzz around her.
What makes her such a phenom?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yeah, Caitlin is different. She's not human. Going down to
like the statistics, she's the all time record holder for
D one men's and women's basketball ever in points scores.
So right now, at this moment, she's at three nine
hundred total points.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
All right?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Does that get we have to slow down for me?
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Does that mean that she's the highest scorer in women's
college basketball history.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
And men's Yes?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Wow, I didn't know that. She's so dominant it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
And she has over a thousand assists right now. And
I think a big thing that people don't realize is
she really makes her entire team better. She's really dangerous
from anywhere, not only because of her ability to shoot
and her quick release, but also because she sees her
entire team. You can see, like even last game, it's
(15:56):
really hard to cover her.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
There's something I'm seeing that I personally want to know
your opinion on. Because you played basketball growing up. I
have watched men's and women's sports for years. I see
men throw tantrums on the court. I mean the Chicago
Detroit rivalry. Actual punches were thrown on the court, and
(16:19):
sometimes they're suspended. Sometimes nothing happens. Women get suspended, they
get yelled at, they're told that they're not sportsmen, like
if they start getting really competitive. To me, this is
the first time we're seeing women get competitive on the court,
and it's kind of being like hyped up.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Do you see that?
Speaker 5 (16:41):
You know? It's funny.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
I feel like women have been competitive for a minute.
I think people are really paying attention now and they're
hyper focusing on little things. And I also think social
media takes moments and blows them up. It becomes gifts,
it becomes memes. The one moment when Caitlyn waved goodbye
and there was like a moment between Angel and Caitlyn.
(17:04):
They when they were interviewed about it, they were like, oh, no,
like we're cool, you.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
Know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And it's just like anyone can take any moment and
make it this like they got some beef now. It's
all just a really positive thing for getting people more involved.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I think it's all great. Honestly, Well that's Angel Reese's perspective.
I mean, she said, I will take that villain label
and I will wear it proudly because she says, I
know we're growing women's basketball.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
She also had a moment during her interview right when
they lost where you could tell at the same time,
she's still human and she still has real emotions, and
I think you could tell a lot of that gets
to her and her teammate Flage said, I know who
she is and the media doesn't always portray her that way.
And if you flip the switch and think about their perspective,
(17:57):
great because they have so many nil deals, people following
every moment, but also difficult because eyes are on you
all the time, constant judgment.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Well, I do wonder if part of it is self preservation,
her embracing that label because as a black athlete, she
knows that she is going to be treated differently, that
she is going to be perceived differently when she does
the same things that white athletes do.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
There is that dynamic at play and you can't ignore it.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yes, no question, And even honestly, if you look at
the dynamic between the IOWA team and the LSU team.
Sure like LSU has a few white players like Haley
Van lith is one of my favorite players growing up
and watching. But you know a lot of people have
like generalized those teams and also just like the whole
stereotypes behind it.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
You really can't ignore the racial undertones here. It's something
to think about. I think we got to give credit
where credits due. In terms of Caitlin Clark, I mean,
the highest score in I didn't know men's and women's
college basketball.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
You can't, you don't.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I want to take that away from her as an athlete,
But I think you also have to recognize that women's
basketball in college and basketball in general is a black
dominant sport, and there's been tons of these players that
haven't gotten the credit that they deserve. And it's sometimes
hard to watch this white woman come in and all
of a sudden get almost four million dollars in brand deals, etc.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
Yeah. I know.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Angel was asked in an interview question recently about people
that aren't getting credit, and she brought up one of
her teammates who's been killing it. And also as black,
there's always a few players.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
That you're kind of like, why aren't they getting the
press they deserve?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And I think it's the responsibility of these media outlets
to really do their research and not just pick up
on who's posting a certain player.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
All right, Hannah, we need to do a quick ad break,
but when we come back, we want to get into
the business of women's basketball.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Stick with us, all right, we're back with Hannah o Flann.
So I want to unpack the business side of this
a little bit more because we touched on it, but
I think there's a lot here. A twenty twenty one
rules change allowed players to off of their name, image
(20:20):
and likeness. But can you talk about why that's such
a game changer for athletes like Caitlin Clark, like Angel
Reese and Juji Watkins.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Completely game changer. I think certain school's only profit off
of players likeness.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Their jersey purchases. A lot of athletes actually who.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Had a really big social media presence had to choose
between their YouTube channels or their instagrams and brand deals
over a d one opportunity. So now you're at a
point where you can do both, and so you can
work on your own platform and your own presence. You
(21:04):
can make sure people know who you are and also
do all of these amazing brand deals, and on top
of that, you can ball out and be an athlete.
I think, yeah, it's it's insane how much of a
difference it is.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
I start thinking about how this opens up the pipeline
for young girls who are playing sports too. Right, they
start to see this as a real career, you know,
and they start to see like, I can make this,
I can make a living out of this, I can
make a life out of this.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
The only thing here is it's really affecting a small
percentage of players, Like only the best of the best
of the best, maybe like one percent of players are
going to get paid in nil deals right one.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And that's also how it's been with the WNBA as well.
If you look at like the Diane Trossi's, the super Birds,
the Brianna Stewarts, they are the ones getting the brand deals.
And it's amazing how many elite w players don't have
as much of a presence or as much popularity as
skillful as they are. Truly, the people who are getting
(22:03):
the most press, views, involvement are the ones who are
getting those deals.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
It's a net positive, but I think it speaks to
your point about building up these players and who's responsible
for that, right, Like it's a two sided game.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
I want to zoom out for a minute and just
talk about how this is shifting the narrative around women's sports.
I mean, you've covered basketball on both the men's and
women's side, and Hannah, you were a D one athlete yourself.
What do you think is the biggest difference about the
conversations that we're having today surrounding female athletes versus those
conversations from five years ago.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
I think the biggest difference is it's not an afterthought,
It's truly the main conversation you'll see even now. The
last game IOWA versus LSU, the twelve point three million
views was more than the men's NBA Finals last year,
(23:02):
which is crazy to think about eleven point six million
views for the twenty twenty three NBA Finals, twelve point
three million views for IOLSU, and that's not even the championship.
So I've gotten more texts, more dms from random people
about this game than I ever have. It's truly such
(23:25):
an exciting time to be part of this. And I've
been saying for a while, like, remember, your value doesn't
decrease based on someone's inability to see your worth.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
So I love that Hannah.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
This year, the ticket price for the Final four, the
cheapest ticket right now is six hundred and ninety two dollars.
Do you want to guess what it was in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Seventy four, two hundred thirty five dollars.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
Wosh. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
So I'm so glad to be alive during this time
in women's sports history. We're gonna be telling our future
kids about this bee Like back in my day, tickets
were just thirty bucks.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
The world is catching on, you know, and I'm like,
there's been talent and there's also new talent coming in.
So it's not just gonna be this one moment, this
one wave. It's truly like a shift and it's I'm
just I really have chills even thinking about this moment
in time, but also what's to come.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
There's so many new eyes.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I'm so fired up. I'm fired up. I need a tunnel.
Give me a tunnel. I want to run through it
right now.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
There are some crazy mistakes that have been made during
this tournament.
Speaker 5 (24:43):
Oh god.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
For example, the three.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Point lines were taped on incorrectly ahead of the Yukon
USC game. It was corrected, but it's hard to imagine
that happening in a men's tournament.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
What's your take on that?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
So the NCAA has a history of not fully considering
the woman's side. The three point line a few days
ago was just like, it's funny. Everyone's like, I can't
believe this is happening, and I'm like, I'm not surprised.
Like it's twenty twenty two. The NCAA finally made it
okay and allowed us to say March madness. Before that,
(25:21):
you couldn't call women's college tournament March madness. They only
use that for the men's and the amount of weight
that goes into March madness in the title. In general,
it's shocking. And then the one that went very viral
was Sedona Prince exposing the embarrassingly pathetic weight room.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Wait I remember this. A player posted a TikTok showing
the difference between the women's and men's weight rooms and
it was insane. I mean, there was no comparison. It
was just pathetic. It just goes to.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Show you the level of ignorance and also just like
what women athletes have to deal with constantly, and this
isn't just on the college basketball level. WNBA absolutely certain flights.
Not every player is flying first class. The payment in
general has improved, but still needs to go up. Then
(26:17):
also understand that a lot of them started so much
later than everyone else because of Title nine, and the
amount of progress that a lot of these leagues have
had in the short period of time compared to when
the men's league started is also pretty significant when you
think about it. It's also so important for us to
expose moments when this is happening, post about it and
(26:43):
shout them out, and care continue to invest in women's
sports and coverage, go to the games. Women's basketball isn't
just for women, Hannah. We can't let you leave without
hearing your predictions. So what did your bracket look like
headed into the tournament? And who is your money on?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Now?
Speaker 4 (27:00):
I want to see if it's the same as mine,
because you're obviously much more of an expert.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
No, I mean, listen, man, marsh madness is different. I
looked this up so wild. The audacity we have to
believe that our bracket could actually do well. If you
flip a coin, you have one and nine quintillion chants
of getting a perfect bracket.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
What is quintillion quintillion I don't even know what that's
a Harry Potter number.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
No one has ever made a perfect bracket, did you
get close? I have Iowa in South Carolina in the finals,
so they're that's exciting. Overall, the bracket isn't doing super hot,
but I don't. I don't know anyone who's doing well
right now.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
You know, I'm already out. I had USC and LSU.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
I mean that's good though.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
That's a good guess.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
So you have Iowa, that means your your money's on
Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
My money is them being in the finals. The one
thing we haven't really fully talked about is the total
domination of South Carolina. The last time they lost a
regular season game was December thirtieth, twenty twenty one. This
is the fourth consecutive appearance they're having in Final four.
(28:19):
I genuinely going to this tournament thought they're the team
to be, and I still do. Their offensive rebounds are insane.
Cardos So just creates so many second chances for them,
So even if they're shooting percentage is low, it doesn't matter.
The bench is so deep, even if they're in foul trouble,
it's a non issue for that reason, Pow Pow and
(28:39):
Malaysia are reliable scorers, and Malaysia is also, in my opinion,
one of like the shiftiest sauciest.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Players right now.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
But yeah, I think I want, truthfully, I want to
see Iowa win. I think it would be insane. I
think Kaitlin Clark's legacy is already so established. But the
top scorer in college basketball history leads her team to
(29:09):
the championship and wins, and then she goes number one
drafted in the WNBA, Like I just that's the story
I want. Honestly, you can't go wrong either way, and
both are just fantastic.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
Hannah, I have one more question for you. You grew
up playing basketball. Your career now surrounds basketball. For parents
out there who have little girls, yeah, what has basketball
given you?
Speaker 5 (29:34):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
I think the biggest thing that people need to realize
is not only the value that sports has on making
you a better teammate, but the value it has in
making you a better person. I am more confident because
of basketball, and honestly, track and soccer and every other
sport that I played growing up. Sports has given me
(29:57):
the ability to feel like Number one. I deserve to
be there, I belong. So if you invest your kids
in sports from a young age, that's investing them in the.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Future of the world.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Like women being involved in higher places. Starts in gaining
that confidence and realizing consistency is important, realizing being good
teammate is important, and just seeing your full potential. And
I think that's something that parents can't teach. I think
(30:33):
kids have to go experience that and learn it themselves.
And I think that's why you should get your kid
involved in sports and see how into it they get.
And you know, if they don't like sports, get them
in music or are you know, like just kind to
be part of something. But I feel the most beautiful
when I'm just like sprinting, playing basketball, running in a
(30:56):
sports broad just like sweating and like going for it.
It's there's something that's so empowering and fun and alive
about that, and I hope everyone can feel that at
some point.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Hannah, thank you so much. You got me fired up girl.
Speaker 5 (31:14):
You guys are you guys are awesome?
Speaker 3 (31:15):
So are you. Thanks for your time and for your heart.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
Anytime, of course.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Hannah O Flynn is a host, producer, and basketball super fan.
Find her on IG and TikTok at O'Flynn stone Danielle,
I wasn't kidding. I'm feeling fired up right now.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Yeah, I feel fired up because of what she said
at the end of our conversation. You know, I hope
it came through in the interview, but if you were
in the room with us, I could feel her sincerity.
She was saying, like, I really feel beautiful when I'm
moving my body, and maybe it stuck out to me
because I feel the same way, like I lift weights. Yeah,
(31:56):
I like how it makes my body look. But mostly
I lift weights because I feel so dope when I'm strong,
Like I feel so much more confident when I'm strong.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Well. I also love fitness and sports because the attention
most of the time is not on a woman's appearance.
Whenever she's playing a sport, it's on her potential as
an athlete. It's on how much she can lift, how
fast she can run. It's achievement based, and I just
get so tired of living in a society that prioritizes
(32:28):
our appearance. It's refreshing to be in sport and to
see women celebrated for something other than physical beauty.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
So this is an interesting insight.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
Yeah, the top ten most followed athletes on Instagram are
all men. Okay, so people don't care about female athletes
as much yet on Instagram, but the top ten most
followed people in general on Instagram are predominantly women. And
so to your point, I think it's mostly performers. It's
like Ariana Grande, Kim Kardashian. I think we're so used
(33:00):
to seeing women's bodies perform, and we're used to men's
seeing men's bodies compete. This makes me so psyched because
we're really getting used to seeing women's bodies compete, and
we're buying in and it's like everybody's hyped around it.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
I keep coming back to this idea of us being
at an inflection point with women's sports, and specifically this
one thing Hannah said when she was talking about the
history of women's basketball being undercovered and underfunded, and that
is this, Remember, your value doesn't decrease based on someone's
inability to see your worth. So I'm taking that with
(33:38):
me today. Yeah, I'm packing it up, We're leaving, throw.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
It in the suitcase. I love it. We really want
to hear from you. Are you all watching the Final four?
Speaker 4 (33:50):
This weekend, tell us who you're rooting for and email
us at Hello at the bright sidepodcast dot com.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
And on Monday, we're talking to another one of the
show's grand old grand to hear some much needed parenting
advice from pediatrician turned TikTok star. Ask Bobby Okay, that's
it for today's show. We'll be back Monday with your
daily dose of Sunshine. Listen and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
The bright Side is a production of Hello Sunshine and
iHeart Podcasts and is executive produced by Reese Witherspoon.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Production by Arcana Audio. Courtney Gilbert is our associate producer.
Our producers are Stephanie Brown and Jessica Wank. Our engineer
is PJ. Shahamat, and our senior producer is Itsy Qinthenia.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
Arcana's executive producers are Francis Harlowe and Abby Ruzka.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Arcana's head of production is Matt Schultz.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Natalie Tulluk and Maureen Polo are the executive producers for
Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
Julia Weaver is the supervising producer and Ali Perry is
the executive producer for iHeart Podcasts. This week's episodes were
recorded by Graham Gibson.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
The theme song is by Anna Stump and Hamilton Lighthouser.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Special thanks to Connell Byrne and Will Pearson.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
I'm Simone Boyce. You can find me at Simone Boice
on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
And I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok. That's r
O b A.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Y See you Monday fam. Keep looking on the bright side.
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