September 11, 2024 • 37 mins
Los Angeles Sparks star Dearica Hamby joins Sarah to discuss the WNBA season, whether she plans to share any 3x3 secrets with her Unrivaled opponents, and the backlash she faced from Aces fans after she filed a federal lawsuit alleging pregnancy discrimination. Plus, Cathy Engelbert misses the mark, two new entries into the Good Game Hall of Fame, and a milkshake brings Sarah and friends to the yard.
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Read ESPN’s anonymous survey of NWSL GMs here
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Check out the video of Jill Scott’s live performance of “You Got Me” here
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The full WNBA schedule can be found here
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Check out the Women’s Sports Foundation’s latest research on the impact of playing sports on leadership here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're muting
the words Diana Tarasi and retire just like ex user
Phoenix Sun twenty five. Don't want to get hit with
retirement news while scroll in the timeline. Our emotions cannot
handle that Right now. On today's show, we're gonna be
chatting with Los Angeles Sparks forward Derek Hamby about her
team season and the backlash she's gotten since filing a
lawsuit against the Las Vegas Aces and the WNBA. Plus
(00:23):
we've got another entry into the Good Game Hall of
Fame and how a long line derailed my date with
a dairy field delicacy. It's all coming up right after this.
Welcome back, my little slices. Here's what you need to
(00:45):
know today in NWSL news, ESPN's Jeff Casoof conducted a
one on one anonymous phone survey of gms from each
of the league's fourteen teams and found that some believe
that league reforms have quote gone too far. One GM
told the SPN quote, there's a fear amongst staff about
what you can say, what you can't say, what you
(01:06):
have to ask players permission for what you don't if
you're going to get in trouble for this, and that
means it's gone too far end quote. Others described apprehension
about holding one on one meetings with players about their
performance and expressed worries about player complaints doing disproportionate damage
to staff members' reputations over misunderstandings, and WSL Players Association
(01:26):
chief Megan Burke, who we had on good Game not
too long ago push back. She told the ESPN quote
I flatly reject that there is evidentiary or factual basis
for the narrative that players have too much power end quote,
and that it's quote disingenuous to simultaneously agree that the
league has been completely transformed and we've created a healthier,
better work environment and culture, and to simultaneously claim that
(01:50):
players have too much power, because you can't have one
without the other. The players did the work of transforming
the league. There was no savior, no league, no team,
no one else who is going to come in and TRANSFORMSL.
It was the players themselves. End quote. Burke added that
in her view and he, concerns about holding meetings with
players are due to quote misinterpretations of band conduct. The
(02:10):
survey also found that GMS are concerned about the league
spending too much money too quickly, that seventy nine percent
of respondents believe teams don't follow league rules when it
comes to discovery, which is basically calling DIBs on certain players,
and that many teams frequently pay off the record additional
compensation to cheat the salary cap. We'll link to that
ESPN story in our notes. Two women's basketball. The twenty
(02:32):
twenty four national champions South Carolina game Cocks basketball team
made their trip to the White House yesterday, led by
head coach Don Staley. In his opening remarks, President Biden
said of the program, quote, I know why you're so good.
You've got a girl from Philly running this team. I'm
married to Philly girl. You don't screw around with a
Philly girl. Man, They're tough Jilly from Philly. End quote.
(02:53):
We love the super cute chaut out to first Lady
Joe Biden, but we got to say that nickname's already taken,
and it's taken by in comp singer and actress Jill Scott.
And while we're on Jill Scott, I advise you to
look up the live version of the Roots. You got
me with Jill Scott. Hits different and it was on
my pregame mix for every game and every track meet
from senior year of high school all the way through college.
(03:14):
I promise you won't be sorry you got me roots
Jill Scott do it In any event, it was an
incredible celebration for a team that accomplished amazing things last season.
Led by Camila Cardoso, the crew from Columbia South Carolina
finished with a dazzling thirty eight to oh record, becoming
just the tenth Division one women's team in history to
finish the season undefeated, and they did it after losing
(03:37):
all five starters from the year prior. This year, they'll
have four of their five starters back, which is frankly
scary hours I can't wait to see what the Cox
cook up in twenty four to twenty five. More college hoops.
Four time Team Canada Olympia Natalie Chanwall is headed to
the University of Michigan to serve as assistant coach for
player development. It's a new adventure for her following her
(03:57):
retirement from international basketball after the Paris olymp but it's
not her first dip into the off court side of
college ball. She spent some time as interim director of
operations at her alma mater, Notre Dame. In twenty fourteen,
She'll joined Kim Barnes Arico's staff in ann Arbor after
the Wolverines finished the twenty twenty three to twenty twenty
four season with a twenty and fourteen record, losing in
the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Achanwa brings a
(04:18):
ton of hoops experience to this role. Obviously, in two
thousand and nine, she was the youngest player ever selected
to the Canadian senior national team, and she's got more
Olympic appearances than any other team Canada basketball player. She
spent eight years in the w starting her career with
the Fever and concluding it with the Lynks, and she
helped the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to three national championship
appearances during her time as a player. Michigan's getting a
(04:40):
good one there to the WNBA. With less than two
weeks remaining in the regular season, the playoff picture is
nearly complete. Seven teams have clinched a postseason birth, while
the Chicago Sky, the Atlanta Dream, and the Washington Mystics
are all still battling for the eighth and final spot.
The Dallas Wings and Los Angeles Sparks have been officially
eliminated from playoff contention. Three games tonight, including a consequential
(05:03):
matchup between the number eight Sky and the number ten Mystics.
Those teams are only separated by two games in the standings,
and with the win, the Sticks could close the gap
to one. This will be the Sky's second matchup without
Angel Rees, who's out for the season, but their third
with explosive score Kennedy carter Back in the lineup. A
loss would definitely loosen Chicago's grip on the last seed
in the playoffs, and it would be their eighth loss
(05:25):
in the last ten games. We'll link to the full
schedule of w games in our show notes. Finally, in
w News, WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelbert went on CNBC's Power
Lunch on Monday, and CNBC anchor Tyler Matheson brought up
the rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, how it
began in college but became something altogether different in the
W Here's a bit of their exchange.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Now, it seems on some social media channels to have
taken a darker turn, a more menacing turn, where race
has been introduced into the conversation, where sexuality is sometimes
introduced into the conversation.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
How do you.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Try and stay ahead of that, try and tamp it
down or act as a league when two of your
most visible players are involved, not personally, it would seem,
but their fan bases are involved in saying some very
uncharitable things.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Well, the one thing that's great about the league right now,
we do sit at this intersection of culture and sport
and fashion and music. Like the WNBA players are really
looked at now as kind of cultural icons. True, and
when you have that, you have a lot of attention
on you. There's no more apathy.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Everybody cares.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
It is a little that bird magic moment if you
recall from nineteen seventy nine when those two rookies came
in from a big college rivalry, one white, one black,
and so we have that moment with these two. But
the one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry.
That's what makes people watch. They want to watch games
of consequence between rivals. They don't want everybody being nice
to one another. So social media is different today and
(07:00):
it was in nineteen seventy nine when it didn't exist.
But you know, I always tell the players, you know,
I was told a long time ago. If someone's typing
something in and you wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Ask their advice, ignore it.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
So it's it's a balance, but certainly from a marketing dollars,
But corporate partners are stepping up to endorse these players
much much more so than they were five years ago
because they see the benefit of having women and diverse
women representing their brand.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
So plenty to say about this, and plenty of folks
are talking about this. We're going to get into it
more on Friday's show, but I want to say quickly,
Engelbert isn't wrong. Nothing she said there was inaccurate, but
it was incomplete, and it sounded like someone who prioritizes
capitalism and the business side of her job over the
(07:43):
empathy and leadership side. Obviously, when she talks about social
media and the idea of you know, you wouldn't ask
them for advice, to don't listen to them, it sounds simple,
but when so much of your economic opportunity as a league,
so much of the conversation around the league, and frankly,
so much of life for young people takes place online
and to simply say, don't read the comments, which I
do have a key chain that says that and tries
(08:04):
to remind me of that. Simply saying that is not enough,
and it doesn't acknowledge how much business actually gets done
on social media. And it reminded me of the way
the league never really worked to get ahead of this problem.
We saw this bubbling, and as the anchor on CNBC remarks,
through the college rivalry, there were hints that this was
going to take a darker turn, and the league really
(08:26):
could have had a more concerted effort when the season
started to combat some of the conversations, to make sure
informed people were leading the conversations. And I even look
at the way this league and its players have come
together in the past around issues as serious as trying
to elect people into prominent political positions in the US.
When they work together and they act together, they get
(08:47):
shit done. And it feels like there wasn't that collective
effort in this case to prioritize not just the experience
of the rookies, but the way the league was entering
this new era of attention. And I think Kathy Engelbert,
perhaps as a leader. If this is the way she'd
used this problem is part of the issue there. Claire Watkins,
a Great women's sports reporter, asked on Twitter, this is
(09:09):
a real question. Is there anyone in the league office
who has shown Engelbert what it is exactly a player
like Ree sees on her social media every day. It's
a great point if Engelbert is too distanced from the
actual experience of the players to recognize the severity of this,
which includes death threats and I know where you live
and here's your address, and awful, racist and homophobic and
(09:29):
every other kind of comment that these players are getting.
She might feel like her answer was comprehensive enough. It
clearly wasn't. This isn't just a dog on Kathy, but
it is to say that as the league increases in
popularity and attention, so too must it acknowledge the responsibility
that it has to handle big issues like this. This
answer was a fail. It was incomplete. We're going to
(09:50):
talk about this more later, and by then we probably
will hear from players too. In fact, some of them
are already out there very clearly speaking their mind about
what they saw from Kathy. I haven't seen many full
on say this is what she should have said or
I disagree with that, but there are some pretty obvious ones.
Brianna Turner, for example, wrote, I stand against all forms
of discrimination, hatred, and bias, especially in reference to sports.
(10:12):
The intersection of racism and sports should always be rejected.
No platform is too big or too small to stand
for the right thing, no excuses. She posted that to
social no context. I think it's pretty clear that she
was suggesting that that's something Kathy Engelbert should have said.
I agree, although I'll say that the simplistic idea of
like denouncing racism, homophobia, sexism, yeah, absolutely start with that.
(10:34):
But ultimately the question here for Kathy, and the larger
question for the league is what do you plan to
do about this? How do you get ahead of it?
Not just how do you respond to it, but how
are you preventative or how are you collective in your
efforts to make sure that it doesn't get fostered by
anyone in the media, by fan bases, by groups that
allege to support you, your team, or your league. I
(10:55):
know a lot of people are going to call for
Kathy to explicitly face this issue head on and that's accurate,
Like you have an opportunity there to speak head on
to an issue that has plagued this league since its
beginnings and very clearly has taken on an even darker
turn this year, and she didn't do it. And criticism
for that is completely fair. But to be honest, at
this point, I think we're so beyond needing to just
(11:16):
say racism bad that I want to hear more definitive
ways that she wants to respond. It feels like this
league is very aware of the homophobian racism that plagues
women's sports par particularly the w and the coaches are
and probably most of the front office. I just don't
know if Kathy wants it to be part of her job,
and I don't want to speak out a turn. I
don't know how much she does behind the scenes, and frankly,
(11:37):
I haven't done reporting on whether behind the scenes she
is active in this, but that answer certainly led me
to believe that she isn't. She's more focused on the
business side and props to the business of the W
going the direction that's going in. But Kathy needs to
care as much about this issue, and she needs to
make that clear when she does interviews like this and
when she's making decisions about the league moving forward. Finally,
there's a new research report from the Women's Sports Foundation
(11:59):
titled Play to Lead The Generational Impact of Sports on
Women's Leadership, and this breakthrough study reveals the profound cross
generational impact youth sport participation has on women's leadership development.
It's a survey of multiple generations of women, from those
in their twenties all the way up to their eighties,
exploring the effects of policy driven changes, most notably the
passage of Title nine in nineteen seventy two, and diving
(12:21):
into the barriers that have impeded full and sustained sport
participation across the decades. Now, some of this reporting is
stuff that I've been talking about people in this industry
have been talking about for a really long time. We
know that early access to sport and youth participation tied
directly to leadership at the highest levels. You've likely heard
that longsighted Ernst and Young report ninety four percent of
(12:41):
C suite women played sports, a staggering number. But there's
new takeaways from this research that I found surprising to
including the fact that the youngest group of women interviewed.
Those in their twenties have escalating concerns around barriers to
full and safe participation as a component of youth sports.
That means those who most recently participated in youth sports
see problems and see those problems getting worse. The report
(13:05):
recommends all sorts of potential policy action, like advocating for
Title nine to be enforced at all levels of education,
starting even younger, expanding the Equity and Athletics Disclosure Act
to include second education programs, and advocating for US Congress
to pass the Fair Play for Women Act. It also
suggests other solutions, including elevating youth sport coaching training, expanding
the number of women coaches through training and active recruitment,
(13:27):
and prioritizing mental health and wellness support. There's a ton
of good stuff in this report, and the most important
part might be that it gives us the hard data
on the impact of sport for women on future leaders
and women's success in the workplace, and the effect it
has on our economy as a whole. And we know
how much people are moved by the business case for things,
by the economics of things. We understand how important it
(13:50):
is to keep putting this data in front of decision
makers and having them see the direct correlation between girls
and women in sport and what that means for our economy.
We should care a whole lot about whether we're helping
the next generation, and that includes all of them, regardless
of economic status, race ability. How to get all of
them access to sport so that we can ensure that
the future includes more women in those leadership positions. You
(14:11):
can find the full Women's Sports Foundation report in the
show notes, and I highly recommend a lot of you
checking it out. It's good stuff, all right, my little
orange slices. I got to give you a little context
here ahead of my interview with La sparkstar Derika Hamby.
So last month, Hanby filed a federal lawsuit against her
former team, the Las Vegas Aces, as well as the
WNBA itself. She claimed that she was discriminated against on
(14:34):
the basis of pregnancy.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
So.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
She was a member of the Aces from twenty eighteen
through twenty twenty two, and she signed a two year
contract extension in June of twenty two. She says that
to sweeten that extension offer, the Aces made specific assurances
outside the contract, including allegedly promising to pay the private
school tuition of her daughter through a school quote unquote donation,
and to supply both assistance with childcare and housing accommodations.
(14:58):
Just days after Hamby and the a has won the
twenty twenty two WNBA title, she announced that she was
pregnant with her second child. According to her lawsuit, Hamby
says that following that pregnancy announcement, she experienced changes in
how she was treated. She alleges that Ace's head coach,
Becky Hammond, made hostile and discriminatory remarks about her pregnancy,
and she says Hammond accused her of signing her contract
(15:18):
extension while knowingly pregnant, not taking proper precautions to avoid
another pregnancy, and more. Now, if you remember, this isn't
the first time the topic has come up. On the
day that Hamby was traded to the Sparks, she took
to social media to publicly accuse the Aces of misconduct,
and in February of last year, the WNBA announced that
it was investigating her allegations. The league ultimately stripped the
Aces of a first round draft pick as punishment for
(15:41):
quote impermissible player benefits since those aforementioned assurances about the
school tuition and the childcare payments violate the WNBA standard
player contract. The league also suspended Hammond for two games
for violating league and team respect in the Workplace policies,
but Hamby's federal lawsuit takes the case to a new level.
Details in the law lawsuit alleged that the Aces directed
(16:01):
players to stop communicating with her, and that the team
didn't invite her to the team's WNBA title white House
ceremony with Vice president Kamala Harris, among other things. She
also says the WNBA refused to extend a marketing contract
that paid her in addition to her player salary. WNBA
has said it's reviewing the complaint, and Hamminis denied wrongdoing
on multiple occasions, but while the legal process unfolds, Hambias
(16:23):
had to deal with harassment, including from Las Vegas Aces fans.
When the Sparks played the Aces in Vegas last month,
she was booed just about every time she touched the ball,
despite helping that team to its first title just two
seasons ago. Deerica is limited on what she's allowed to
say about the case given that it's still ongoing. But
I did get her thoughts on what it's been like
playing under so much pressure and how she handled the
(16:43):
hostile response from the Aces fans, plus a whole lot more.
That conversation's coming up next stick Around. She's a WNBA champion,
a three time All Star at two times sixth Woman
of the Year, and an Olympic bronze medalist three x
three at the Paris Games. She's the mother of two,
and she broke my Sky fan heart with her insane
(17:06):
last second half court game winner against Chicago in the
second round of the twenty nineteen playoffs. It's the Los
Angeles Sparks, Dereka Hanby, what's up, Dereka?
Speaker 5 (17:15):
You haven't healed from that.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
No, that was a terrible play on all accounts by
the Sky. But you also had to make the shot
to make.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
It hurt, and you did, which was meant to be
a lot of.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Was it for who?
Speaker 5 (17:27):
For who? For me?
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Who was in charge of that kind of destiny?
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Referee?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
That's right. I want to start with the most important thing,
which is your cute little babies. I want to know
where the names came from. Amaya and legend Marie.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
Uh So, Amya.
Speaker 6 (17:44):
She's actually in the shooting basketball right now, but I
just wanted to stick with an a name. Her father's
names Alonso, so I was trying to kind of keep
that thing going. And Marie is my family's like middle name,
my mom's middle name, my grandmoms, my sister, so felt
I wanted to keep that going. And then when I
had a son, I was like, he can't be Murray,
so he'll be like Mari and so r e E
(18:08):
and his name just kind of just kind of crazy
how it came about. I was at All Star weekend
and I had to bracelet on my wrists and at
the time I didn't know, but uh like I was pregnant,
and the bracest said legend, and I was talking to
Kelsey Plum and I was like, I'm gonna name my
next kid this like legend And then sure enough, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Wow, I'm not gonna lie as a person whose name
is better than my siblings, because just Sarah Spain, the
alliteration is better than Katie Spain. I've always wondered if
she's like, why didn't I get the cool name? And
I feel like Amaya might be like, I'm just a
Maya and my legend but I can't honestly might inspire
her to greatness, I would just like spite.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
Oh she's on it.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
She's she works already, Like she's in there working out
right now and play. So I'm hoping she likes tennis
and she's really picked up on it, So hoping she's
gonna stay with that.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Okay, you might have inspired her with those name choices.
What's been the best part of adding the job of
mom to your job of basketball player?
Speaker 6 (19:09):
Just having like a little mini me, you know, she's
just the life I get to experience is one thing,
Like you know, your parents are like, oh, I got
to do this and do that, And I think it's
pretty cool. Me and my mom were really close growing up.
She had me at seventeen, so we've always had a really.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
Good relationship, close relationship.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
So to be able to kind of repeat that with
my daughter and have her goal along and experience everything,
this meant a lot to me, and I know it'll
mean a lot to her.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Yeah, last weekend, your Sparks were officially eliminated from the playoffs.
What are your teammates and coaches saying about staying motivated,
staying competitive through the end of the season.
Speaker 6 (19:42):
Uh, just we're just talking about the future and continue
to build and while it obviously isn't going to quite
matter right now, and just continue to do little.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
Things and continue to get better.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
If we just had a meeting, coach had to treat
this like our playoffs, because we're going to get back
to backs with Connecticut and Seattle and like you would
typically do that in a playoff series.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
So just kind of get a little experience with that
going through that process.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
But yeah, I mean going into the season, it wasn't
We didn't have the highest expectations, and I think at
a point in time we thought like we could still
be pretty good, but we obviously had some bad luck
with some injuries that happened. But we're excited. We got
good pieces. Obviously we're gonna add another piece probably in
the draft. Yeah, we're gonna be good to go.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, there might be a there might be a chance
we see Page Beckers there this year.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
We won't.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
We will, you know, I don't want any tampering. I'm
not sure what the rules are for you in potential
first round picks, but you're looking at the future and
you do have Rakia Jackson, one of the stellar rookies
to come out of this year's draft class, who's been
just playing her ass off. You've gotten to watch her
up close all season. What makes her so special and
what do you see for her future in the league.
Speaker 6 (20:49):
I mean, she's just skilled, honestly, on both ends of
the ball. I know we obviously have seen her offensive talent,
but her lengthdin and versatility, she can be special in
defense as well. And honestly, I think after like her
second her third week here, I wrote her a letter
and I told her that she was the future of
this team and that she was the start. And at
that point she hadn't even hear her stradia, and I
know she was frustrated, and I tried to keep reminding her,
(21:11):
like it's gonna click, it's gonna click, like you know,
just the new the rookie transition. And at the beginning,
with some injury, she was playing out of position, so
it was a little hard. You know, she was at
the four going against like me, and so it was
kind of frustrating for her. But I just tried to
be in her ear, just remind her how confident she
needs to stay in that how good she's going to be.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
That's a vet move. But it's also kind of a
mom bove to take the right under your wing and
write her a letter. That's really sweet.
Speaker 6 (21:37):
Oh, every I wrote all my teammates letters, maybe after
the first couple of weeks. Yeah, just about what they
could do well and just kind of things they give
them confidence.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Yeah, it's old school, instead of sending them a text
or an email. Do you have specific like special paper
or cards that you use.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
Oh, Maya got we got index cards and I let
Maya decorate them and they get kind of lazy towards
the end. But that was something that when Maya was here,
she was fresh out of school. Also, it was just
an opportunity for also met Amita Bond and I wrote
them out on my phone and then I just kind
of like translated them over and I gave them before game.
And I think it meant a lots of them are
(22:15):
Kisa that she still has it on refrigerator actually, so ah,
that was great on the line for her to hopefully
share that story.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah, yet another rookie phenom and Cameron Brink and her
injury was a real disappointment for the Sparks, especially to
have to see a rookie go down like that. How
has the team sort of supported her and how is
she handled being sidelined really well?
Speaker 6 (22:34):
I mean, if you know anything about him, she's she's
super sensitive and she's hard on herself, and so I
think initially it was I mean, I don't think for
anybody to be really draining, but I think she's slipped
her perspective and she knows it's a good opportunity for
her to get stronger, watch a lot of film and
just grow, and you know, she got a taste of it,
(22:56):
and so I think she's going to be prepared, you know,
come back next season and she'll have a growth a lot.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yeah, of course, we never want anyone to get hurt,
but her injury did open up a spot for you
on the Olympic three x three squad. Can you take
us through how you got that news that you would
be elevated and playing.
Speaker 6 (23:13):
Yeah, very disappointed at first on the initial selection process.
I won't speak too much because obviously I still ended
up on the team. And yeah, you know, Cam and
I were on that phone call together and we were
both crying and like, I was happy for her, but
she was like sad for me. So we kind of
went through that process together and actually a couple of
(23:33):
days ago we had another conversation about it and she
was talking about how she thinks were intertwined and just
I was like meant to me and like a moment
for her to have like like tremendous growth in her
life because of where she was at with basketball, and
so it was kind of like a sad.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
But like a bonding moment for us.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
And she was super supportive and I'm gonna be there
for her through this process as much as I can.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
But yeah, I got the phone call.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
It was ironically, I was already in Connecticut with the Rosati,
the head coach of three on three, and the day
before we had sat down for a little bit and
we kind of talked about it and maybe an alternate
and so the way it kind of played out the
day after that was kind of like bittersweet, which is
I feel like for me, I wasn't able to fully
like you know, processing to be excited because I was
(24:17):
still just so like in shock for camp.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah that's wild though, that she was the one comforting
you after the initial roster decision and then you're the
one comforting her after the jury. It does sort of
connect you to in a really special way. I know
that the new three on three not three x three
because Unrivaled is using three on three and they have
different rules. That new league is going to be different
(24:40):
than the Olympic version. But there's obviously a lot of
crossover when you've got three on three play. So are
you going to be generous with your advice for competitors
or are you keeping those secrets to yourself.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
I mean it's gonna be new to me quite honestly.
I mean it's still it's five on five court style
because you're still going up and down, right, So I think.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Are going to be because they're using both sides of
the court like three x three.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
Yeah, there's gonna be players that have advantages just because
like foot speed up and down. I think I'll be
one of those. But just a great opportunity. You know,
the best players in the world are gonna be in
the city of Miami, you know, getting better and competing
and just bringing more attention to women's basketball. So I'm
looking forward to you know, I get to go and
learn more. I mean, I'm ten years in and I
(25:25):
still have to go so to be able to be
around the best players in the world.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
I'm excited, and I'm I'm a really big fan of
when you've got a versatile player that can be a
big and still shoot threes, like you know, handle the ball.
So you're right, those players that have enough size and
length to be tough on defense and to take up
space in a three x three situation, but also can
have the speed to play full court as opposed to that.
(25:51):
That benefit in three x three was that you weren't
having to run the floor, but they're gonna make you
work for it, which I mean, if it's no Fisa
and Brianna, that's why that's happening. They basically created the
thing that was the best for their skill set.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
I mean, I think you're gonna have to be in
better conditioning to do three x three, honestly, because you know,
three on three you can kind of walk the ball
up a little bit, so you might be able to
That's fair.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
That's fair, and I didn't even think about that. You
get a little break between the reaction and the.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
Games will probably be longer, so there's a little bit
more room for air versus. But it's like one on
one and so We're.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Gonna see who's got the handles, that's for sure. That's
gonna be fun. I'm excited for that. So, speaking of competing,
Maya's auntie, Olivia Nelson Adota plays for the son sister
of Maya's dad. When you play each other, does that
connection make you go extra hard or do you take
it easy on her?
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Uh?
Speaker 6 (26:41):
I think I'd take it easy on her. I mean,
she'd probably to take it hard, but I have a
little soft spot for her.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
So I've known her since she at least it's on
Maya seven, I've been ten.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
Fourteen, sixteen years. Wow, So i've known her. She was
kind of mean to me when she was little, so
like a protective little system.
Speaker 5 (27:03):
But no, we have a great relationship.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
You know.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
I'm just trying to be supported to her and be
there for her and in all areas of life. And
I'm thankful for that relationship.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
What if Amia wants to wear her jersey instead of yours?
Speaker 5 (27:15):
How does that?
Speaker 1 (27:16):
What happens?
Speaker 6 (27:16):
Then she says she's just she said she doesn't cheer
against us, but whoever wins, she's happy for them.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Perfect. Can I ask about when your sparks went to Vegas?
Some of the aces fans booed you despite you having
a major role in getting the team its first title.
How did that feel in that moment, because I have
not seen a single person, former player or a fan
say that they felt that that was a fair move
(27:42):
from the fans.
Speaker 6 (27:44):
Ironically, I tried to process it and prepare myself in
a sense, but it's still you can't really prepare for
it until you go through it and I fall back
tears like the entire game like.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
It was.
Speaker 6 (28:01):
Yeah, it was heartbreaking, but I you know, people don't
fully know and understand. They're just going off the sport
aspect of it. So I understand that. But it was
a moment that I had, like leading up to it,
I had severe like overwhelmingness and like anxiety in my stomach.
But that process has passed. I'm just looking forward to
the right thing being done.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I don't blame you for having that reaction, and I
think as much as we can know that fans operate
from this sense of us versus them, it doesn't mean
that it doesn't hurt in that moment. What would you
say to those fans about what they didn't understand about
you coming back to play there?
Speaker 6 (28:37):
I don't know if they're new fans. I think a
lot of the old fans probably weren't participating in that. Yeah,
just like the loving heart that I poured into being
a part of that, and I didn't like ask to
leave so to say.
Speaker 5 (28:51):
So, you know, it's a complicated situation.
Speaker 6 (28:54):
For all them and fans included, and it was like
kind of torn but.
Speaker 5 (29:01):
Is eventually hoping to have it all situated and figured out.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah, I wanted it to be like that NBA game
where Popovich like grabbed the mic midgame and was like
shut up. I wanted like Kelsey or someone to hop
on and be like, okay, everybody, like we're not doing that.
But I know that's easier said than done. From afar,
I'm obsessed with Michael Jordan's massive Jordan obsessed with both
the gear but also the guy. I'm a Chicago getal,
you're a Jordan athlete, So I got to know, like,
(29:26):
what's the best thing you've been gifted by Jordan brand
or like the coolest experience that you got because of
your partnership.
Speaker 6 (29:34):
I would just say the ability I get so many shoes,
Like actually, I don't even know if it was really
like put out there, but I sign up for extension.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Congrats amazing.
Speaker 6 (29:46):
Yeah signed four years. I just what the brand stands
for and just how comfortable and how loving they are,
and you know they kind of cater to you as
a person and an athlete. My family, I just always
have really appreciated and they just do right by you.
And like I said, like I love representing the brand
and I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
You don't even have to think about like Christmas presents.
You just got the play and everybody gets Jays. Yeah,
I send everybody Nike money and say like, yes please,
that's I need someone in my family to design with Jordan,
because I've been sitting on stock X just throwing throwing
cash at all my jays. What's your goal for this offseason,
including both playing and unrivaled and looking ahead to next season.
Speaker 5 (30:29):
Yeah, it just continues to get better. You know.
Speaker 6 (30:30):
I think I obviously took a tremendous growth Elite this year,
and I still think I have more.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
That I can add to my game. First of all,
I need to make graph free throws.
Speaker 6 (30:42):
I think if not saying, we'd be in the playoffs.
But you know there's a lot of games I've we
kind of lost to a couple of points. So just
being able to knock down free throw shots because I
an't getting into the line, and I would say at
a midrange game, I've shot, I'm shooting the ball well
from the three, and obviously it's at the paint, but
teams are guarding me a little bit different now. So
(31:03):
being able to kind of have that mid range area
under control.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
I think you see it in Likenfisa and Asian Stewey.
So being able to add that to my.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Game, Yeah, well we'll be watching. We'll be watching for
the free throws too, I can I can bet on
that now that you said you're going to work on it.
We're always one of my goals.
Speaker 6 (31:21):
I had a little basketball, a big bass of dub
Bay ball, and I wrote down my goals for the
year and I think I said eighty percent. I'm nowhere
to hear that, so but at least I was thinking
about it.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Yeah, just keep at it. Just roll that roll the
goals ball over to the next season too. Don't need
to start a new keep. Some of those just add
to it. Thank you so much for coming on. I
was so great to talk to. Enjoy the rest of
your season. Appreciate the time.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Thanks again to Deerica for the time. We got to
take another break. When we come back. A pair of
Hoopers entered the hallowed halls of the Good Game Hall
of Fame. It's next, You're back, We're back to We're
all back together, and I'm still feeling inspired by Deerica,
(32:09):
who's absolutely killing it as a Hooper and a mom.
So inspired another entry into the Good Game Hall of Fame. Okay, so,
just to remind her, Deerica had her son Legend on
March sixth, twenty twenty three. And get this, she returned
to Sparks training camp seven and a half weeks later
April twenty eight, twenty twenty three, and she proceeded to
(32:32):
play all forty games that season. Insane, right, Well wait
till you hear this. Way back in nineteen ninety seven,
in the first season of the WNBA Friend of the Show,
Cheryl Swoops was the face of the league. She was
the first player to sign with the WNBA, the first
to have her own signature. Shoe Anne was set to
join the Houston Comments. Swoops was a big deal in
Texas too, having put Texas Tech on her back, leading
(32:54):
the program to its first and only NCAA championship in
nineteen ninety three. So Cheryl Swoops was pregnant before for
the start of the ninety seven season and had her
son Jordan great name just as the season tipped off.
It took Cheryl just six weeks to return to the court. Now,
she didn't play all forty games like Deerica, but her
comments went on to win the first championship in WNBA
history and then win three more in a row. The
(33:17):
rest is well, you get it, and we got a
shout out another friend of the show, Candace Parker, for
her journey as a hooper and a mom too. In
two thousand and eight, Candas was at the top of
her game, coming off two national championship titles with the
University of Tennessee and an Olympic gold. She became the
only player in w history to win Rookie of the
Year and MVP in the same season. And surprise, she
(33:39):
did it all while pregnant. That's right, her daughter Laila
was in her belly helping mama to that Olympic gold,
Rookie of the Year and MVP. Candas was back on
the court and Staples Center fifty three days after giving
birth to Laila, and was named to the All WNBA
Second Team and All Defensive Second Team despite having missed
almost a full month due to her maternity leave. She
(34:01):
started her career as a mom, and in her final
years playing she expanded her family and finished it as
a mother of three. She married fellow Hooper on A
Petrokova in twenty nineteen, and they've added two sons to
the mix, Air born in twenty twenty two and Hart,
born in May of this year. Cheryl set the precedent
for Hooper moms in the w and Candace continued that legacy.
Both proved that returning after birth might be difficult, but
(34:24):
it isn't impossible. We salute you, Cheryl, Candace Deerica and
all the athlete moms out there. Oh and miss Swoops
and miss Parker. Welcome to the Good Game Hall of Fame.
We love that you're listening, but we want you to
get in the game every day too, y'all know that.
So here's our good Game Play of the day. It's
inspired by that Women's Sports Foundation report we told you about.
(34:44):
So we want to hear from you. How did your
experience playing sports impact your life down the road, Got
any great stories about it? Hit us up good game
at wondermedianetwork dot com. Leave us a voicemail at eight
seven two two o four fifty seventy. Hit me up
on Twitter at Sarah Spain or on Instace at Spain
two three two three, and don't forget to subscribe, rate
and review. How many times do I have to tell? Yeah,
(35:08):
it's really easy, guys. Just watch the White Sox Campfire
milkshake rating incomplete out of five stars.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
Review.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I didn't get to have one. The line was too long. Now,
how is that possible, you asked, when the White Sox
are the worst team in the history of baseball and
their pathetic crowds are a thing of mockery on the interwebs,
How was there a long line? I'm stumped, as you are.
A list. This is what happened. A handful of my
friends and I went to the game as like a
bit like, let's support our White Sox fan friend for
his birthday and witness the grossest, most heinous display of
(35:39):
baseball ever put on a field. They'll be like seventeen
of us. It'll be fun and it actually was fun,
but there was like eleven thousand of us and the
Guardians had a perfect game through six plus innings, so
like for a while there we actually thought we might
witness history. Alas, the White Sox got a hit and
I missed out on like the main reason I was there,
the infamous campfire milkshake. Pictures of this beautiful monstrosity have
(36:02):
been taunting me for months. Chocolate milkshake, s'mores, Graham Cracker,
Hershey Bar, marshmallows, and I was finally gonna get one
until I got to the stand and I saw the line,
dozens and dozens of people waiting and each marshmallow being
meticulously placed atop the dairy delight. It was gonna take forever.
Everybody get tamp today. What a disappointment. I might have
(36:26):
to go back for it though, Like I'm really I
really need to try this thing, and I hear it's
dog Days at the park coming up, so I don't know.
The wait talks about gets some more of my money.
Now it's your Dirk rate and review. Thanks for listening, everybody,
see you tomorrow. Good game, Deerica, Good game, Cheryl and Candice.
Few long lines for a great shake. From a shitty team.
(36:47):
Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
producers are Alex Azzi and Misha Jones. Our executive producers
are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder.
(37:07):
Our editors are Jenny Kaplan, Emily Rudder, Brittany Martinez and
Grace Lynch. Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your
Host Sarah Spain
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're muting
the words Diana Tarasi and retire just like ex user
Phoenix Sun twenty five. Don't want to get hit with
retirement news while scroll in the timeline. Our emotions cannot
handle that Right now. On today's show, we're gonna be
chatting with Los Angeles Sparks forward Derek Hamby about her
team season and the backlash she's gotten since filing a
lawsuit against the Las Vegas Aces and the WNBA. Plus
(00:23):
we've got another entry into the Good Game Hall of
Fame and how a long line derailed my date with
a dairy field delicacy. It's all coming up right after this.
Welcome back, my little slices. Here's what you need to
(00:45):
know today in NWSL news, ESPN's Jeff Casoof conducted a
one on one anonymous phone survey of gms from each
of the league's fourteen teams and found that some believe
that league reforms have quote gone too far. One GM
told the SPN quote, there's a fear amongst staff about
what you can say, what you can't say, what you
(01:06):
have to ask players permission for what you don't if
you're going to get in trouble for this, and that
means it's gone too far end quote. Others described apprehension
about holding one on one meetings with players about their
performance and expressed worries about player complaints doing disproportionate damage
to staff members' reputations over misunderstandings, and WSL Players Association
(01:26):
chief Megan Burke, who we had on good Game not
too long ago push back. She told the ESPN quote
I flatly reject that there is evidentiary or factual basis
for the narrative that players have too much power end quote,
and that it's quote disingenuous to simultaneously agree that the
league has been completely transformed and we've created a healthier,
better work environment and culture, and to simultaneously claim that
(01:50):
players have too much power, because you can't have one
without the other. The players did the work of transforming
the league. There was no savior, no league, no team,
no one else who is going to come in and TRANSFORMSL.
It was the players themselves. End quote. Burke added that
in her view and he, concerns about holding meetings with
players are due to quote misinterpretations of band conduct. The
(02:10):
survey also found that GMS are concerned about the league
spending too much money too quickly, that seventy nine percent
of respondents believe teams don't follow league rules when it
comes to discovery, which is basically calling DIBs on certain players,
and that many teams frequently pay off the record additional
compensation to cheat the salary cap. We'll link to that
ESPN story in our notes. Two women's basketball. The twenty
(02:32):
twenty four national champions South Carolina game Cocks basketball team
made their trip to the White House yesterday, led by
head coach Don Staley. In his opening remarks, President Biden
said of the program, quote, I know why you're so good.
You've got a girl from Philly running this team. I'm
married to Philly girl. You don't screw around with a
Philly girl. Man, They're tough Jilly from Philly. End quote.
(02:53):
We love the super cute chaut out to first Lady
Joe Biden, but we got to say that nickname's already taken,
and it's taken by in comp singer and actress Jill Scott.
And while we're on Jill Scott, I advise you to
look up the live version of the Roots. You got
me with Jill Scott. Hits different and it was on
my pregame mix for every game and every track meet
from senior year of high school all the way through college.
(03:14):
I promise you won't be sorry you got me roots
Jill Scott do it In any event, it was an
incredible celebration for a team that accomplished amazing things last season.
Led by Camila Cardoso, the crew from Columbia South Carolina
finished with a dazzling thirty eight to oh record, becoming
just the tenth Division one women's team in history to
finish the season undefeated, and they did it after losing
(03:37):
all five starters from the year prior. This year, they'll
have four of their five starters back, which is frankly
scary hours I can't wait to see what the Cox
cook up in twenty four to twenty five. More college hoops.
Four time Team Canada Olympia Natalie Chanwall is headed to
the University of Michigan to serve as assistant coach for
player development. It's a new adventure for her following her
(03:57):
retirement from international basketball after the Paris olymp but it's
not her first dip into the off court side of
college ball. She spent some time as interim director of
operations at her alma mater, Notre Dame. In twenty fourteen,
She'll joined Kim Barnes Arico's staff in ann Arbor after
the Wolverines finished the twenty twenty three to twenty twenty
four season with a twenty and fourteen record, losing in
the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Achanwa brings a
(04:18):
ton of hoops experience to this role. Obviously, in two
thousand and nine, she was the youngest player ever selected
to the Canadian senior national team, and she's got more
Olympic appearances than any other team Canada basketball player. She
spent eight years in the w starting her career with
the Fever and concluding it with the Lynks, and she
helped the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to three national championship
appearances during her time as a player. Michigan's getting a
(04:40):
good one there to the WNBA. With less than two
weeks remaining in the regular season, the playoff picture is
nearly complete. Seven teams have clinched a postseason birth, while
the Chicago Sky, the Atlanta Dream, and the Washington Mystics
are all still battling for the eighth and final spot.
The Dallas Wings and Los Angeles Sparks have been officially
eliminated from playoff contention. Three games tonight, including a consequential
(05:03):
matchup between the number eight Sky and the number ten Mystics.
Those teams are only separated by two games in the standings,
and with the win, the Sticks could close the gap
to one. This will be the Sky's second matchup without
Angel Rees, who's out for the season, but their third
with explosive score Kennedy carter Back in the lineup. A
loss would definitely loosen Chicago's grip on the last seed
in the playoffs, and it would be their eighth loss
(05:25):
in the last ten games. We'll link to the full
schedule of w games in our show notes. Finally, in
w News, WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelbert went on CNBC's Power
Lunch on Monday, and CNBC anchor Tyler Matheson brought up
the rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, how it
began in college but became something altogether different in the
W Here's a bit of their exchange.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Now, it seems on some social media channels to have
taken a darker turn, a more menacing turn, where race
has been introduced into the conversation, where sexuality is sometimes
introduced into the conversation.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
How do you.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Try and stay ahead of that, try and tamp it
down or act as a league when two of your
most visible players are involved, not personally, it would seem,
but their fan bases are involved in saying some very
uncharitable things.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Well, the one thing that's great about the league right now,
we do sit at this intersection of culture and sport
and fashion and music. Like the WNBA players are really
looked at now as kind of cultural icons. True, and
when you have that, you have a lot of attention
on you. There's no more apathy.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Everybody cares.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
It is a little that bird magic moment if you
recall from nineteen seventy nine when those two rookies came
in from a big college rivalry, one white, one black,
and so we have that moment with these two. But
the one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry.
That's what makes people watch. They want to watch games
of consequence between rivals. They don't want everybody being nice
to one another. So social media is different today and
(07:00):
it was in nineteen seventy nine when it didn't exist.
But you know, I always tell the players, you know,
I was told a long time ago. If someone's typing
something in and you wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Ask their advice, ignore it.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
So it's it's a balance, but certainly from a marketing dollars,
But corporate partners are stepping up to endorse these players
much much more so than they were five years ago
because they see the benefit of having women and diverse
women representing their brand.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
So plenty to say about this, and plenty of folks
are talking about this. We're going to get into it
more on Friday's show, but I want to say quickly,
Engelbert isn't wrong. Nothing she said there was inaccurate, but
it was incomplete, and it sounded like someone who prioritizes
capitalism and the business side of her job over the
(07:43):
empathy and leadership side. Obviously, when she talks about social
media and the idea of you know, you wouldn't ask
them for advice, to don't listen to them, it sounds simple,
but when so much of your economic opportunity as a league,
so much of the conversation around the league, and frankly,
so much of life for young people takes place online
and to simply say, don't read the comments, which I
do have a key chain that says that and tries
(08:04):
to remind me of that. Simply saying that is not enough,
and it doesn't acknowledge how much business actually gets done
on social media. And it reminded me of the way
the league never really worked to get ahead of this problem.
We saw this bubbling, and as the anchor on CNBC remarks,
through the college rivalry, there were hints that this was
going to take a darker turn, and the league really
(08:26):
could have had a more concerted effort when the season
started to combat some of the conversations, to make sure
informed people were leading the conversations. And I even look
at the way this league and its players have come
together in the past around issues as serious as trying
to elect people into prominent political positions in the US.
When they work together and they act together, they get
(08:47):
shit done. And it feels like there wasn't that collective
effort in this case to prioritize not just the experience
of the rookies, but the way the league was entering
this new era of attention. And I think Kathy Engelbert,
perhaps as a leader. If this is the way she'd
used this problem is part of the issue there. Claire Watkins,
a Great women's sports reporter, asked on Twitter, this is
(09:09):
a real question. Is there anyone in the league office
who has shown Engelbert what it is exactly a player
like Ree sees on her social media every day. It's
a great point if Engelbert is too distanced from the
actual experience of the players to recognize the severity of this,
which includes death threats and I know where you live
and here's your address, and awful, racist and homophobic and
(09:29):
every other kind of comment that these players are getting.
She might feel like her answer was comprehensive enough. It
clearly wasn't. This isn't just a dog on Kathy, but
it is to say that as the league increases in
popularity and attention, so too must it acknowledge the responsibility
that it has to handle big issues like this. This
answer was a fail. It was incomplete. We're going to
(09:50):
talk about this more later, and by then we probably
will hear from players too. In fact, some of them
are already out there very clearly speaking their mind about
what they saw from Kathy. I haven't seen many full
on say this is what she should have said or
I disagree with that, but there are some pretty obvious ones.
Brianna Turner, for example, wrote, I stand against all forms
of discrimination, hatred, and bias, especially in reference to sports.
(10:12):
The intersection of racism and sports should always be rejected.
No platform is too big or too small to stand
for the right thing, no excuses. She posted that to
social no context. I think it's pretty clear that she
was suggesting that that's something Kathy Engelbert should have said.
I agree, although I'll say that the simplistic idea of
like denouncing racism, homophobia, sexism, yeah, absolutely start with that.
(10:34):
But ultimately the question here for Kathy, and the larger
question for the league is what do you plan to
do about this? How do you get ahead of it?
Not just how do you respond to it, but how
are you preventative or how are you collective in your
efforts to make sure that it doesn't get fostered by
anyone in the media, by fan bases, by groups that
allege to support you, your team, or your league. I
(10:55):
know a lot of people are going to call for
Kathy to explicitly face this issue head on and that's accurate,
Like you have an opportunity there to speak head on
to an issue that has plagued this league since its
beginnings and very clearly has taken on an even darker
turn this year, and she didn't do it. And criticism
for that is completely fair. But to be honest, at
this point, I think we're so beyond needing to just
(11:16):
say racism bad that I want to hear more definitive
ways that she wants to respond. It feels like this
league is very aware of the homophobian racism that plagues
women's sports par particularly the w and the coaches are
and probably most of the front office. I just don't
know if Kathy wants it to be part of her job,
and I don't want to speak out a turn. I
don't know how much she does behind the scenes, and frankly,
(11:37):
I haven't done reporting on whether behind the scenes she
is active in this, but that answer certainly led me
to believe that she isn't. She's more focused on the
business side and props to the business of the W
going the direction that's going in. But Kathy needs to
care as much about this issue, and she needs to
make that clear when she does interviews like this and
when she's making decisions about the league moving forward. Finally,
there's a new research report from the Women's Sports Foundation
(11:59):
titled Play to Lead The Generational Impact of Sports on
Women's Leadership, and this breakthrough study reveals the profound cross
generational impact youth sport participation has on women's leadership development.
It's a survey of multiple generations of women, from those
in their twenties all the way up to their eighties,
exploring the effects of policy driven changes, most notably the
passage of Title nine in nineteen seventy two, and diving
(12:21):
into the barriers that have impeded full and sustained sport
participation across the decades. Now, some of this reporting is
stuff that I've been talking about people in this industry
have been talking about for a really long time. We
know that early access to sport and youth participation tied
directly to leadership at the highest levels. You've likely heard
that longsighted Ernst and Young report ninety four percent of
(12:41):
C suite women played sports, a staggering number. But there's
new takeaways from this research that I found surprising to
including the fact that the youngest group of women interviewed.
Those in their twenties have escalating concerns around barriers to
full and safe participation as a component of youth sports.
That means those who most recently participated in youth sports
see problems and see those problems getting worse. The report
(13:05):
recommends all sorts of potential policy action, like advocating for
Title nine to be enforced at all levels of education,
starting even younger, expanding the Equity and Athletics Disclosure Act
to include second education programs, and advocating for US Congress
to pass the Fair Play for Women Act. It also
suggests other solutions, including elevating youth sport coaching training, expanding
the number of women coaches through training and active recruitment,
(13:27):
and prioritizing mental health and wellness support. There's a ton
of good stuff in this report, and the most important
part might be that it gives us the hard data
on the impact of sport for women on future leaders
and women's success in the workplace, and the effect it
has on our economy as a whole. And we know
how much people are moved by the business case for things,
by the economics of things. We understand how important it
(13:50):
is to keep putting this data in front of decision
makers and having them see the direct correlation between girls
and women in sport and what that means for our economy.
We should care a whole lot about whether we're helping
the next generation, and that includes all of them, regardless
of economic status, race ability. How to get all of
them access to sport so that we can ensure that
the future includes more women in those leadership positions. You
(14:11):
can find the full Women's Sports Foundation report in the
show notes, and I highly recommend a lot of you
checking it out. It's good stuff, all right, my little
orange slices. I got to give you a little context
here ahead of my interview with La sparkstar Derika Hamby.
So last month, Hanby filed a federal lawsuit against her
former team, the Las Vegas Aces, as well as the
WNBA itself. She claimed that she was discriminated against on
(14:34):
the basis of pregnancy.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
So.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
She was a member of the Aces from twenty eighteen
through twenty twenty two, and she signed a two year
contract extension in June of twenty two. She says that
to sweeten that extension offer, the Aces made specific assurances
outside the contract, including allegedly promising to pay the private
school tuition of her daughter through a school quote unquote donation,
and to supply both assistance with childcare and housing accommodations.
(14:58):
Just days after Hamby and the a has won the
twenty twenty two WNBA title, she announced that she was
pregnant with her second child. According to her lawsuit, Hamby
says that following that pregnancy announcement, she experienced changes in
how she was treated. She alleges that Ace's head coach,
Becky Hammond, made hostile and discriminatory remarks about her pregnancy,
and she says Hammond accused her of signing her contract
(15:18):
extension while knowingly pregnant, not taking proper precautions to avoid
another pregnancy, and more. Now, if you remember, this isn't
the first time the topic has come up. On the
day that Hamby was traded to the Sparks, she took
to social media to publicly accuse the Aces of misconduct,
and in February of last year, the WNBA announced that
it was investigating her allegations. The league ultimately stripped the
Aces of a first round draft pick as punishment for
(15:41):
quote impermissible player benefits since those aforementioned assurances about the
school tuition and the childcare payments violate the WNBA standard
player contract. The league also suspended Hammond for two games
for violating league and team respect in the Workplace policies,
but Hamby's federal lawsuit takes the case to a new level.
Details in the law lawsuit alleged that the Aces directed
(16:01):
players to stop communicating with her, and that the team
didn't invite her to the team's WNBA title white House
ceremony with Vice president Kamala Harris, among other things. She
also says the WNBA refused to extend a marketing contract
that paid her in addition to her player salary. WNBA
has said it's reviewing the complaint, and Hamminis denied wrongdoing
on multiple occasions, but while the legal process unfolds, Hambias
(16:23):
had to deal with harassment, including from Las Vegas Aces fans.
When the Sparks played the Aces in Vegas last month,
she was booed just about every time she touched the ball,
despite helping that team to its first title just two
seasons ago. Deerica is limited on what she's allowed to
say about the case given that it's still ongoing. But
I did get her thoughts on what it's been like
playing under so much pressure and how she handled the
(16:43):
hostile response from the Aces fans, plus a whole lot more.
That conversation's coming up next stick Around. She's a WNBA champion,
a three time All Star at two times sixth Woman
of the Year, and an Olympic bronze medalist three x
three at the Paris Games. She's the mother of two,
and she broke my Sky fan heart with her insane
(17:06):
last second half court game winner against Chicago in the
second round of the twenty nineteen playoffs. It's the Los
Angeles Sparks, Dereka Hanby, what's up, Dereka?
Speaker 5 (17:15):
You haven't healed from that.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
No, that was a terrible play on all accounts by
the Sky. But you also had to make the shot
to make.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
It hurt, and you did, which was meant to be
a lot of.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Was it for who?
Speaker 5 (17:27):
For who? For me?
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Who was in charge of that kind of destiny?
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Referee?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
That's right. I want to start with the most important thing,
which is your cute little babies. I want to know
where the names came from. Amaya and legend Marie.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
Uh So, Amya.
Speaker 6 (17:44):
She's actually in the shooting basketball right now, but I
just wanted to stick with an a name. Her father's
names Alonso, so I was trying to kind of keep
that thing going. And Marie is my family's like middle name,
my mom's middle name, my grandmoms, my sister, so felt
I wanted to keep that going. And then when I
had a son, I was like, he can't be Murray,
so he'll be like Mari and so r e E
(18:08):
and his name just kind of just kind of crazy
how it came about. I was at All Star weekend
and I had to bracelet on my wrists and at
the time I didn't know, but uh like I was pregnant,
and the bracest said legend, and I was talking to
Kelsey Plum and I was like, I'm gonna name my
next kid this like legend And then sure enough, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Wow, I'm not gonna lie as a person whose name
is better than my siblings, because just Sarah Spain, the
alliteration is better than Katie Spain. I've always wondered if
she's like, why didn't I get the cool name? And
I feel like Amaya might be like, I'm just a
Maya and my legend but I can't honestly might inspire
her to greatness, I would just like spite.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
Oh she's on it.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
She's she works already, Like she's in there working out
right now and play. So I'm hoping she likes tennis
and she's really picked up on it, So hoping she's
gonna stay with that.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Okay, you might have inspired her with those name choices.
What's been the best part of adding the job of
mom to your job of basketball player?
Speaker 6 (19:09):
Just having like a little mini me, you know, she's
just the life I get to experience is one thing,
Like you know, your parents are like, oh, I got
to do this and do that, And I think it's
pretty cool. Me and my mom were really close growing up.
She had me at seventeen, so we've always had a really.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
Good relationship, close relationship.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
So to be able to kind of repeat that with
my daughter and have her goal along and experience everything,
this meant a lot to me, and I know it'll
mean a lot to her.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Yeah, last weekend, your Sparks were officially eliminated from the playoffs.
What are your teammates and coaches saying about staying motivated,
staying competitive through the end of the season.
Speaker 6 (19:42):
Uh, just we're just talking about the future and continue
to build and while it obviously isn't going to quite
matter right now, and just continue to do little.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
Things and continue to get better.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
If we just had a meeting, coach had to treat
this like our playoffs, because we're going to get back
to backs with Connecticut and Seattle and like you would
typically do that in a playoff series.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
So just kind of get a little experience with that
going through that process.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
But yeah, I mean going into the season, it wasn't
We didn't have the highest expectations, and I think at
a point in time we thought like we could still
be pretty good, but we obviously had some bad luck
with some injuries that happened. But we're excited. We got
good pieces. Obviously we're gonna add another piece probably in
the draft. Yeah, we're gonna be good to go.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, there might be a there might be a chance
we see Page Beckers there this year.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
We won't.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
We will, you know, I don't want any tampering. I'm
not sure what the rules are for you in potential
first round picks, but you're looking at the future and
you do have Rakia Jackson, one of the stellar rookies
to come out of this year's draft class, who's been
just playing her ass off. You've gotten to watch her
up close all season. What makes her so special and
what do you see for her future in the league.
Speaker 6 (20:49):
I mean, she's just skilled, honestly, on both ends of
the ball. I know we obviously have seen her offensive talent,
but her lengthdin and versatility, she can be special in
defense as well. And honestly, I think after like her
second her third week here, I wrote her a letter
and I told her that she was the future of
this team and that she was the start. And at
that point she hadn't even hear her stradia, and I
know she was frustrated, and I tried to keep reminding her,
(21:11):
like it's gonna click, it's gonna click, like you know,
just the new the rookie transition. And at the beginning,
with some injury, she was playing out of position, so
it was a little hard. You know, she was at
the four going against like me, and so it was
kind of frustrating for her. But I just tried to
be in her ear, just remind her how confident she
needs to stay in that how good she's going to be.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
That's a vet move. But it's also kind of a
mom bove to take the right under your wing and
write her a letter. That's really sweet.
Speaker 6 (21:37):
Oh, every I wrote all my teammates letters, maybe after
the first couple of weeks. Yeah, just about what they
could do well and just kind of things they give
them confidence.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Yeah, it's old school, instead of sending them a text
or an email. Do you have specific like special paper
or cards that you use.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
Oh, Maya got we got index cards and I let
Maya decorate them and they get kind of lazy towards
the end. But that was something that when Maya was here,
she was fresh out of school. Also, it was just
an opportunity for also met Amita Bond and I wrote
them out on my phone and then I just kind
of like translated them over and I gave them before game.
And I think it meant a lots of them are
(22:15):
Kisa that she still has it on refrigerator actually, so ah,
that was great on the line for her to hopefully
share that story.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah, yet another rookie phenom and Cameron Brink and her
injury was a real disappointment for the Sparks, especially to
have to see a rookie go down like that. How
has the team sort of supported her and how is
she handled being sidelined really well?
Speaker 6 (22:34):
I mean, if you know anything about him, she's she's
super sensitive and she's hard on herself, and so I
think initially it was I mean, I don't think for
anybody to be really draining, but I think she's slipped
her perspective and she knows it's a good opportunity for
her to get stronger, watch a lot of film and
just grow, and you know, she got a taste of it,
(22:56):
and so I think she's going to be prepared, you know,
come back next season and she'll have a growth a lot.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yeah, of course, we never want anyone to get hurt,
but her injury did open up a spot for you
on the Olympic three x three squad. Can you take
us through how you got that news that you would
be elevated and playing.
Speaker 6 (23:13):
Yeah, very disappointed at first on the initial selection process.
I won't speak too much because obviously I still ended
up on the team. And yeah, you know, Cam and
I were on that phone call together and we were
both crying and like, I was happy for her, but
she was like sad for me. So we kind of
went through that process together and actually a couple of
(23:33):
days ago we had another conversation about it and she
was talking about how she thinks were intertwined and just
I was like meant to me and like a moment
for her to have like like tremendous growth in her
life because of where she was at with basketball, and
so it was kind of like a sad.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
But like a bonding moment for us.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
And she was super supportive and I'm gonna be there
for her through this process as much as I can.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
But yeah, I got the phone call.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
It was ironically, I was already in Connecticut with the Rosati,
the head coach of three on three, and the day
before we had sat down for a little bit and
we kind of talked about it and maybe an alternate
and so the way it kind of played out the
day after that was kind of like bittersweet, which is
I feel like for me, I wasn't able to fully
like you know, processing to be excited because I was
(24:17):
still just so like in shock for camp.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah that's wild though, that she was the one comforting
you after the initial roster decision and then you're the
one comforting her after the jury. It does sort of
connect you to in a really special way. I know
that the new three on three not three x three
because Unrivaled is using three on three and they have
different rules. That new league is going to be different
(24:40):
than the Olympic version. But there's obviously a lot of
crossover when you've got three on three play. So are
you going to be generous with your advice for competitors
or are you keeping those secrets to yourself.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
I mean it's gonna be new to me quite honestly.
I mean it's still it's five on five court style
because you're still going up and down, right, So I think.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Are going to be because they're using both sides of
the court like three x three.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
Yeah, there's gonna be players that have advantages just because
like foot speed up and down. I think I'll be
one of those. But just a great opportunity. You know,
the best players in the world are gonna be in
the city of Miami, you know, getting better and competing
and just bringing more attention to women's basketball. So I'm
looking forward to you know, I get to go and
learn more. I mean, I'm ten years in and I
(25:25):
still have to go so to be able to be
around the best players in the world.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
I'm excited, and I'm I'm a really big fan of
when you've got a versatile player that can be a
big and still shoot threes, like you know, handle the ball.
So you're right, those players that have enough size and
length to be tough on defense and to take up
space in a three x three situation, but also can
have the speed to play full court as opposed to that.
(25:51):
That benefit in three x three was that you weren't
having to run the floor, but they're gonna make you
work for it, which I mean, if it's no Fisa
and Brianna, that's why that's happening. They basically created the
thing that was the best for their skill set.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
I mean, I think you're gonna have to be in
better conditioning to do three x three, honestly, because you know,
three on three you can kind of walk the ball
up a little bit, so you might be able to
That's fair.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
That's fair, and I didn't even think about that. You
get a little break between the reaction and the.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
Games will probably be longer, so there's a little bit
more room for air versus. But it's like one on
one and so We're.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Gonna see who's got the handles, that's for sure. That's
gonna be fun. I'm excited for that. So, speaking of competing,
Maya's auntie, Olivia Nelson Adota plays for the son sister
of Maya's dad. When you play each other, does that
connection make you go extra hard or do you take
it easy on her?
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Uh?
Speaker 6 (26:41):
I think I'd take it easy on her. I mean,
she'd probably to take it hard, but I have a
little soft spot for her.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
So I've known her since she at least it's on
Maya seven, I've been ten.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
Fourteen, sixteen years. Wow, So i've known her. She was
kind of mean to me when she was little, so
like a protective little system.
Speaker 5 (27:03):
But no, we have a great relationship.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
You know.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
I'm just trying to be supported to her and be
there for her and in all areas of life. And
I'm thankful for that relationship.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
What if Amia wants to wear her jersey instead of yours?
Speaker 5 (27:15):
How does that?
Speaker 1 (27:16):
What happens?
Speaker 6 (27:16):
Then she says she's just she said she doesn't cheer
against us, but whoever wins, she's happy for them.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Perfect. Can I ask about when your sparks went to Vegas?
Some of the aces fans booed you despite you having
a major role in getting the team its first title.
How did that feel in that moment, because I have
not seen a single person, former player or a fan
say that they felt that that was a fair move
(27:42):
from the fans.
Speaker 6 (27:44):
Ironically, I tried to process it and prepare myself in
a sense, but it's still you can't really prepare for
it until you go through it and I fall back
tears like the entire game like.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
It was.
Speaker 6 (28:01):
Yeah, it was heartbreaking, but I you know, people don't
fully know and understand. They're just going off the sport
aspect of it. So I understand that. But it was
a moment that I had, like leading up to it,
I had severe like overwhelmingness and like anxiety in my stomach.
But that process has passed. I'm just looking forward to
the right thing being done.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I don't blame you for having that reaction, and I
think as much as we can know that fans operate
from this sense of us versus them, it doesn't mean
that it doesn't hurt in that moment. What would you
say to those fans about what they didn't understand about
you coming back to play there?
Speaker 6 (28:37):
I don't know if they're new fans. I think a
lot of the old fans probably weren't participating in that. Yeah,
just like the loving heart that I poured into being
a part of that, and I didn't like ask to
leave so to say.
Speaker 5 (28:51):
So, you know, it's a complicated situation.
Speaker 6 (28:54):
For all them and fans included, and it was like
kind of torn but.
Speaker 5 (29:01):
Is eventually hoping to have it all situated and figured out.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah, I wanted it to be like that NBA game
where Popovich like grabbed the mic midgame and was like
shut up. I wanted like Kelsey or someone to hop
on and be like, okay, everybody, like we're not doing that.
But I know that's easier said than done. From afar,
I'm obsessed with Michael Jordan's massive Jordan obsessed with both
the gear but also the guy. I'm a Chicago getal,
you're a Jordan athlete, So I got to know, like,
(29:26):
what's the best thing you've been gifted by Jordan brand
or like the coolest experience that you got because of
your partnership.
Speaker 6 (29:34):
I would just say the ability I get so many shoes,
Like actually, I don't even know if it was really
like put out there, but I sign up for extension.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Congrats amazing.
Speaker 6 (29:46):
Yeah signed four years. I just what the brand stands
for and just how comfortable and how loving they are,
and you know they kind of cater to you as
a person and an athlete. My family, I just always
have really appreciated and they just do right by you.
And like I said, like I love representing the brand
and I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
You don't even have to think about like Christmas presents.
You just got the play and everybody gets Jays. Yeah,
I send everybody Nike money and say like, yes please,
that's I need someone in my family to design with Jordan,
because I've been sitting on stock X just throwing throwing
cash at all my jays. What's your goal for this offseason,
including both playing and unrivaled and looking ahead to next season.
Speaker 5 (30:29):
Yeah, it just continues to get better. You know.
Speaker 6 (30:30):
I think I obviously took a tremendous growth Elite this year,
and I still think I have more.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
That I can add to my game. First of all,
I need to make graph free throws.
Speaker 6 (30:42):
I think if not saying, we'd be in the playoffs.
But you know there's a lot of games I've we
kind of lost to a couple of points. So just
being able to knock down free throw shots because I
an't getting into the line, and I would say at
a midrange game, I've shot, I'm shooting the ball well
from the three, and obviously it's at the paint, but
teams are guarding me a little bit different now. So
(31:03):
being able to kind of have that mid range area
under control.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
I think you see it in Likenfisa and Asian Stewey.
So being able to add that to my.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Game, Yeah, well we'll be watching. We'll be watching for
the free throws too, I can I can bet on
that now that you said you're going to work on it.
We're always one of my goals.
Speaker 6 (31:21):
I had a little basketball, a big bass of dub
Bay ball, and I wrote down my goals for the
year and I think I said eighty percent. I'm nowhere
to hear that, so but at least I was thinking
about it.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Yeah, just keep at it. Just roll that roll the
goals ball over to the next season too. Don't need
to start a new keep. Some of those just add
to it. Thank you so much for coming on. I
was so great to talk to. Enjoy the rest of
your season. Appreciate the time.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Thanks again to Deerica for the time. We got to
take another break. When we come back. A pair of
Hoopers entered the hallowed halls of the Good Game Hall
of Fame. It's next, You're back, We're back to We're
all back together, and I'm still feeling inspired by Deerica,
(32:09):
who's absolutely killing it as a Hooper and a mom.
So inspired another entry into the Good Game Hall of Fame. Okay, so,
just to remind her, Deerica had her son Legend on
March sixth, twenty twenty three. And get this, she returned
to Sparks training camp seven and a half weeks later
April twenty eight, twenty twenty three, and she proceeded to
(32:32):
play all forty games that season. Insane, right, Well wait
till you hear this. Way back in nineteen ninety seven,
in the first season of the WNBA Friend of the Show,
Cheryl Swoops was the face of the league. She was
the first player to sign with the WNBA, the first
to have her own signature. Shoe Anne was set to
join the Houston Comments. Swoops was a big deal in
Texas too, having put Texas Tech on her back, leading
(32:54):
the program to its first and only NCAA championship in
nineteen ninety three. So Cheryl Swoops was pregnant before for
the start of the ninety seven season and had her
son Jordan great name just as the season tipped off.
It took Cheryl just six weeks to return to the court. Now,
she didn't play all forty games like Deerica, but her
comments went on to win the first championship in WNBA
history and then win three more in a row. The
(33:17):
rest is well, you get it, and we got a
shout out another friend of the show, Candace Parker, for
her journey as a hooper and a mom too. In
two thousand and eight, Candas was at the top of
her game, coming off two national championship titles with the
University of Tennessee and an Olympic gold. She became the
only player in w history to win Rookie of the
Year and MVP in the same season. And surprise, she
(33:39):
did it all while pregnant. That's right, her daughter Laila
was in her belly helping mama to that Olympic gold,
Rookie of the Year and MVP. Candas was back on
the court and Staples Center fifty three days after giving
birth to Laila, and was named to the All WNBA
Second Team and All Defensive Second Team despite having missed
almost a full month due to her maternity leave. She
(34:01):
started her career as a mom, and in her final
years playing she expanded her family and finished it as
a mother of three. She married fellow Hooper on A
Petrokova in twenty nineteen, and they've added two sons to
the mix, Air born in twenty twenty two and Hart,
born in May of this year. Cheryl set the precedent
for Hooper moms in the w and Candace continued that legacy.
Both proved that returning after birth might be difficult, but
(34:24):
it isn't impossible. We salute you, Cheryl, Candace Deerica and
all the athlete moms out there. Oh and miss Swoops
and miss Parker. Welcome to the Good Game Hall of Fame.
We love that you're listening, but we want you to
get in the game every day too, y'all know that.
So here's our good Game Play of the day. It's
inspired by that Women's Sports Foundation report we told you about.
(34:44):
So we want to hear from you. How did your
experience playing sports impact your life down the road, Got
any great stories about it? Hit us up good game
at wondermedianetwork dot com. Leave us a voicemail at eight
seven two two o four fifty seventy. Hit me up
on Twitter at Sarah Spain or on Instace at Spain
two three two three, and don't forget to subscribe, rate
and review. How many times do I have to tell? Yeah,
(35:08):
it's really easy, guys. Just watch the White Sox Campfire
milkshake rating incomplete out of five stars.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
Review.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I didn't get to have one. The line was too long. Now,
how is that possible, you asked, when the White Sox
are the worst team in the history of baseball and
their pathetic crowds are a thing of mockery on the interwebs,
How was there a long line? I'm stumped, as you are.
A list. This is what happened. A handful of my
friends and I went to the game as like a
bit like, let's support our White Sox fan friend for
his birthday and witness the grossest, most heinous display of
(35:39):
baseball ever put on a field. They'll be like seventeen
of us. It'll be fun and it actually was fun,
but there was like eleven thousand of us and the
Guardians had a perfect game through six plus innings, so
like for a while there we actually thought we might
witness history. Alas, the White Sox got a hit and
I missed out on like the main reason I was there,
the infamous campfire milkshake. Pictures of this beautiful monstrosity have
(36:02):
been taunting me for months. Chocolate milkshake, s'mores, Graham Cracker,
Hershey Bar, marshmallows, and I was finally gonna get one
until I got to the stand and I saw the line,
dozens and dozens of people waiting and each marshmallow being
meticulously placed atop the dairy delight. It was gonna take forever.
Everybody get tamp today. What a disappointment. I might have
(36:26):
to go back for it though, Like I'm really I
really need to try this thing, and I hear it's
dog Days at the park coming up, so I don't know.
The wait talks about gets some more of my money.
Now it's your Dirk rate and review. Thanks for listening, everybody,
see you tomorrow. Good game, Deerica, Good game, Cheryl and Candice.
Few long lines for a great shake. From a shitty team.
(36:47):
Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
producers are Alex Azzi and Misha Jones. Our executive producers
are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder.
(37:07):
Our editors are Jenny Kaplan, Emily Rudder, Brittany Martinez and
Grace Lynch. Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your
Host Sarah Spain
Host
Sarah Spain
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