January 15, 2025 • 51 mins
It’s Unrivaled Team Draft Day! Sarah, Alex, and Mish debut a fool-proof points system to help you pick which Unrivaled club to root for in the league’s inaugural season! It’s part hoops draft, part Seventeen magazine quiz and part Buzzfeed personality test. Plus, WoSo wedding szn and super slices have us siced!
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Want to help contribute essentials to those impacted by the LA fires? The folks at Deep Blue Sports are helping organize a drive. Details can be found here!
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All of the Unrivaled rosters, logos, coaches, and branding can be found on the league’s website. Check it out here
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We want to see your Unrivaled draft sheet! Post a photo on social (and tag Sarah!) or send us an email at goodgame@wondermedianetwork.com
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Check out ArtButMakeItSports’s recent twitter post featuring Naomi Osaka and the 1830s painting “Under the Wave off Kanagawa” here
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Shoutout to super slice Joey for making a composite calendar for LOVB, Unrivaled, AU Basketball, and Pro Volleyball Federation games. You can find that schedule here
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Check out Toronto Tempo merch here
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The Brittney Sykes dancing video Misha referenced can be found here
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Follow Sarah on social! Bluesky: @sarahspain.bsky.social Instagram: @Spain2323
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 very
proud of Connecticut sun guard Marina Maybrey for learning to
season her food and it's her rival turned bestie Dja
Carrington who put her on the right path. That's what
sports are really all about. It's Wednesday, January fifteenth, Draft
Day and on today's show, Alex Mesh and I are
(00:21):
drafting our unrivaled teams ahead of Friday's tip off. We've
got a foolproof system. It's part Hoops Draft, part seventeen
magazine quiz are you his friend.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Or his crush?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And part BuzzFeed personality test? Which Disney Princess are you?
Are you a Carrie, Samantha, Miranda or Charlotte. By the end,
we'll learn the unrivaled basketball club that's m FU made
for us, and we've set it all up for you
to play along and pick your squad. Two plus, it's
woso wedding season. A super slice comes through and a
(00:53):
big opportunity is coming your waist slices. It's all coming
up right after this welcome back. Here's what you need
to know today in hockey News, We've got PWHL action
(01:17):
tonight as the league leading Minnesota Frost faced the New
York Sirens at seven pm Eastern. This will be a
meeting of the league's best goal scorers. Sirens forward Alex
Carpenter and frost ford Britta Curl are at the top
of the ranks with five goals apiece, followed closely by
New York Sarah Filier, who's put in four so far.
You can catch that matchup on MSG Networks, FanDuel Sports
(01:37):
Network and TSN. For all you Canadians out there, Oh Canada.
More good news. The WNBA's Toronto Tempo just launched its
first merch drop. The items are produced by brands out
of Canada, like Real Sports Apparel and brands founded by
women like Jasmine Mayadas, Round twenty one and Esther Wallace's
play A Society, as well as Nike. I'm partial to
the play A Society Tea with Tempo in Chunky right
(02:00):
and the twenty six on it myself. You can grab
your merch and get ready for the Tempos twenty twenty
six tip off at the link in our show notes.
SAMONWSL News free agent defender Tatum Mulazo, who spent her
entire pro career with the Chicago Red Stars has signed
a two year deal with the Utah Royals. Malaso has
seventy career NWSL appearances in her four seasons in the league.
Some more soccer news. It's the off season for the Girlies,
(02:22):
which means weddings. Lots of weddings. Congrats to Lynn Williams,
Lindsay Horan, Tierna Davidson, Emily Sam's, Ali Riley, Kerrie Roccaro,
Copriest did Asco, and Natalie Jacobs, who all tied the
knot recently. I just want to let you know we're
not learning your new last names.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
We're not.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Okay, fine, maybe, but I reserve the right to call
you by your maiden names for the rest of this
upcoming season. At least. I'm still working on remembering mause Wanson.
Y'all to college hoops. Tonight's matchup between Northwestern and number
four ranked USC has been postponed. It was scheduled for
USC's Galen Center, but the Wildcats decided not to travel
because of the fires. Northwestern's game at UCLA this past
(03:03):
Sunday was also postponed. Number one UCLA's matchup with Penn
State is still scheduled to take place tonight nine thirty
Eastern at Walter Pyramid on Long Beach State's campus. Our
hearts really go out to everyone in these programs. It's
got to take us serious amount of guts to put
on a brave face and continue with both school and
the basketball season at a time like this. Speaking of
the fires, the WNBA's La Sparks and NWSL's Angel City
(03:27):
FC have joined with the other Southern California sports teams
in the MLB, NFL, NHL, and MLS to pledge a
donation of more than eight million dollars to support victims
of the LA fires and those who are fighting them.
The team's community partners are also going to distribute thousands
of items including personal hygiene kits, school supply, sneakers, and
more at Dodger, SOFI and BEMO Stadiums on Friday, January seventeenth,
(03:50):
from ten am to two pm Pacific. Any Angelinos with
proof of residency and evacuated zip codes are eligible to attend,
and bus transportation to the distribution events is avail. Folks
who are currently residing in area evacuation shelters. Families and
individuals who attend will also be given lunch at the stadiums.
Also want to let you know our friends and partners
at Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment are joining members of
(04:11):
the women's sports community, including the Sports Bra, The Gist,
and Moolah Kicks to support a nationwide essential s drive.
New or unused toiletries, cosmetics and ninety five masks, tote
bags and reading glasses are requested for displaced individuals and families.
You can get more info on where you can drop
off or ship items on my Instagram page at Spain
two three two three or on Deep Blues insta at
(04:33):
Deep Blue Sports and we'll make sure to put those
in our show notes. Got to give a quick shout
out to super slice Joey Maldonado, who took some time
during the holiday break to make a calendar of all
the Pro Volleyball Federation, Love Pro Volleyball, AU Basketball and
unrivaled games coming up over the next few months, day time,
(04:54):
where it's happening, how to watch. Joey is a literal
superstar for putting all these together for us. We'll link
to that in show notes so y'all can benefit from
his work too. Thank you, Joey. We got to take
a quick break when we come back. Who's your celebrity soulmate?
What season are you in your soul Which Hogwarts teacher
would give you detention? Are you basic? We don't have
any of those answers, but we will tell you your
(05:15):
unrivaled team Coming up next, Welcome back Slices. Today's the
big day, our unrivaled team draft. Now, if you haven't
picked your unrivaled squad just yet, grab a pen and
(05:37):
some paper and play along with us. By the end
of the show, your squad will be revealed. If you
already have a squad, no worries. This is also a
great way to get familiar with the teams and players
ahead of tip off on Friday. Okay, so this is
how this is gonna work. Grab a piece of paper
and a pen. You can hit pause for a second.
You've got to run into another room to grab them. Okay,
got it? Okay, Now, you can obviously use multiple pieces
(05:59):
of paper, but if you want to have a little
fun with it, let's just split one page into eight boxes.
So take the page and draw one vertical line down
the middle, splitting the page vertically in half. Now add
three horizontal lines, splitting the page horizontally into four sections.
So now you should have eight boxes of roughly the
(06:21):
same size on your page. If it's not perfect, no worries. Now,
in every single box except for the bottom two, write
the numbers one, two, three, four, five six top to
bottom on the left side of the box. Every box
except for the bottom two should have one, two, three, four,
five six going from top to bottom on the left
hand side. Now, it'll definitely help you if you pull
(06:43):
up the Unrivaled website to see the team logos while
you do this. But if you're driving or walking, or
exercising or otherwise can't look at your screen, don't worry.
We got you for that part. Okay, here's how this
is gonna work. We're gonna rank each Unrivaled club one
through six in six different categories, and then the final
scores will reveal our preferred squad. Shout out to front
of the show claim Conahan and her crew for this
(07:04):
draft idea. We used most of the categories that they used,
but we came up with a little bit of changes too.
So here's what we're gonna be using to pick our
club team name, color, slash logo slash branding, head coaches, players, chemistry,
and winability of the roster as a whole on the court,
and duo slash combos we didn't know we needed off
the court. Okay, let's get into it. Top left box
(07:27):
is gonna be team name. Now. You're gonna rank each
of the six clubs one to six based on name only,
just the name, nothing else. Your favorite name will go
in slot one, your second favorite in slot two, and
so on. Here are the club names. Lace's Basketball Club,
Lunar Owls Basketball Club, Missed Basketball Club, Phantom Basketball Club,
(07:53):
Rose Basketball Club, and Vinyl Basketball Club. Okay, I'm gonna
say those one more time. Laces, Lunar Owls, Missed, Phantom, Rose,
and Vinyl. All Right, everybody quickly kind of jot down
what you're thinking first reactions, and then Big Centris I
want to talk through this and figure out you know
(08:14):
what you're thinking. All right, we're just talking names now,
nothing else. Meish what club stands out to you, what
doesn't do it for you. My first spot has to
go to Vinyl Basketball Club because music.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
First of all, we haven't discussed this at length on
the show, but me and music go together real bad.
So the fact that they're called Vinyl, I just think
is so automatically. Yes for me, I really also enjoy laces.
I think that's very unique. I think in basketball lace
them up, you know. I think that's probably what they
were talking about when they're throwing ideas at the wall.
(08:51):
U love that bonus points for that, And then I
don't missed BC. It just it doesn't do it for me.
It makes me the of medicine immediately, Okay, Like I
should be watching a commercial and they're like, yeah, it's
a nasal spray. Take this, Yeah, high blood pressure, please
do not like it's just something about that just does
it hit right for me.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Alex's first thought.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
I love the lunar owls, although I did just google
to see like what species the lunar owls is and
where you can find them, and I think it's a
made up animal, Like obviously they're owls, and I'm sure
that there are lunar varieties of other creatures, but I thought.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
That was so fun.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
Vinyl is my last one because vinyl makes me think
of plastic, which makes me think of climate change in
the world degrading. So even though I'm sure they did
not mean that association, just that's my last one.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
I'm a little bit closer to meish for sure. Missed
is my last. I'm glad you said something like nasal
spray or medicine you shouldn't take if you have high
blood pressure. For me, like I said, it's just one
letter away from moist and it sounds like some sort
of like vaginal douche. Oh like if you're feeling unfresh,
just a seven day treatment with miss BC just not
(10:04):
not my favorite. And lunar owls were my second to last.
I love owls. I don't know why they're lunar, what
do they have to do with the moon. And also
it just doesn't ring off. It doesn't like roll off
the tongue. Lunar owls. It's just not pretty sounding. Laces
were my second favorite, though. I like the idea of lace's,
I like the connection. I like phantom. I don't know why.
(10:25):
I just like the mystery of it all. And I
feel like I haven't seen a lot of teams. The
only thing that's weird about that for me is I
usually don't like singular things like she's a phantoms, but
I just like I just like the name.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
It's spooky, it's great common.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, it just like I haven't heard anything like it.
You don't usually hear team names that are you know,
ac cult like or spooky or you know, and I
think it's bold to have that. Okay, everyone, make sure
you've got your names filled out one to six, your
favorite in number one down to your least favorite in
number six. Okay, Next, we're going top right box. This
(11:02):
is color logo and branding. This is kind of tough
for an audio medium. I'm going to describe them to
you a little bit. If you can pull it up
and look at them, that's definitely going to help you.
But if you're driving, exercising, etc. Quick summary of each
is the Laces is an aqua colored circle with the
outline of a basketball inside and a reddish pink l
(11:22):
made out of shoelaces. Lunar owls is a purplish blue
owl in a yellow circle. Mist is a light blue
sky with navy mountains and trees emerging from white clouds.
Phantom is a black basketball with a white ghost over
it and some spooky looking letters saying phantom. Rose is
a forest green circle with a pink rose inside. In
(11:43):
the center of the rose is a basketball, and Vinyl
is a deep magenta kind of burgundy red record, like
a record from a record player with a white and
light blue basketball inside. Now, if you need to pause
and take a little bit of time with this one,
feel free. Like I said, you could pull up the clubs,
but list these again, from one to six, your favorite
and number one all the way down to number six.
(12:06):
Let's take a minute and do that. All right, let's
talk through this for a minute here. I'm gonna go first.
This was really hard for me because I actually liked
almost all of them. I think they did a pretty
good job. I gotta go with the laces. I just
think it's really cool how the l is like weaving
in and out of the rest of the logo. I
(12:27):
love again the reference to shoelaces and the color scheme
is cool and different, something I haven't seen in a
lot of other sports teams. I also was really drawn
to the mist I've talked in the past. There's this
I think I mentioned on the show, although I'm not positive.
There's this new lower level soccer team called Salmon Bay FC,
and I literally want to live in their crest. It
(12:49):
has this like beautiful salmon colored sky and the water
in the mountains and that's what this reminds me of,
is like Lake Tahoe or someplace that I love visiting.
So the mist was a beautiful landscape that made me
want to go there, So that was number two. I
also really love Phantom. It just again was completely different
than anything I've ever seen from a sports logo. Honestly,
the only one I didn't really like was Rose. It
(13:12):
just didn't do it for me.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Vinyl is last for me because who yeah, because I
was expecting so much.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
The name is great, but the record doesn't even look
like a record.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
It's like just some random circle with some squiggly lines
in the middle of it somewhere. It just doesn't It's
not giving me record like I needed to. Laces they're
my number two for the same reasons. I also love
that like is it turquoise?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Is it qua till? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, that color.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
If folks go to the Laces Instagram page, they've got
the jerseys in that color sick.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
I mean, they're they're gorgeous.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
So absolutely my number one in this category is Phantom. Yeah,
because I love I'm a basic bitch.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Maybe maybe that's what it is.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I love basic black and white and the little ghostages.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Look, it's adorable.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
How can you not love that?
Speaker 1 (14:06):
What you got? Alex?
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Okay, so number one, I'm with you. Sarah Laces just
super cool. Love the way that it intersects. Then I
have the miss because I do like the landscape. My
only other concern with it, apart from the fact that
there appears to be no basketball, which I guess is
a prerequisite for me, the logo has be on one
(14:28):
side see on the other for basketball club. But when
I look at it, I do kind of say, be
missed CE, be missed.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
CE like it.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
So as I'm saying this, I think I'm gonna move
them down. I'm gonna move them down to number three.
I'm going to put the lunar owls at number two,
with a weird looking owl with its basketball ballet. Phantom
is number five for me for some reason, Like I
know you were kind of convincing me. I'm second guessing
myself now, but it reminded me a little bit too
much of like Spirit Halloween.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Just quick aside for those who will appreciate this. When
I see ghosts like that. There was this incredible Saturday
Night Live episode with Christopher Walkin where they had a
Christopher Walkin Family renew and every cast member had to
do a Walkin impression to him, and Amy Poehler was
by far the best. She was better than Christopher Walkin,
and her thing just kept being like, I don't like ghosts,
(15:20):
the spooky, and every time I see a ghost down
my brain just goes I don't like ghosts anyway. All right,
moving on second box down on the left. Head coaches. Now,
let me just put this out there. If you don't
know shit about any of these coaches, if you don't
have strong opinions about any of them, you don't have
to rank them. If you're worried that the you know,
(15:41):
protecting the point system and the integrity of your scoring
will be affected by randomly assigning numbers to people who
don't care about, don't do it. But we want to
give you all the information to work with and if
you want to make choices based on coaches, here you go.
The Lace's head coach is Andrew Wade, a player development
assistant coach for the Washington miss shout Out dmvbs a
(16:02):
former college player at the Catholic University of America in DC,
which I knew nothing about, but it turns out is
the National University of the Catholic Church in the United States. Okay,
The Lunar Owls head coach is DJ Sackman, an NBA
and WNBA skills coach, an influencer who founded hoop Study,
an online basketball education company. He's got millions of followers,
(16:23):
so if you like influencers, that's your guy. He played
his college ball at the University of New Haven in Connecticut.
The missed head coach Phil Handy. He played college ball
for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, then professional ball overseas for
five years. Longtime assistant coach in the NBA, he's won
three NBA championships as an assistant. For his first three seasons,
he was a player development coach for the Lakers under
(16:45):
Mike Brown. Also served as an assistant under Brown in
Cleveland for five seasons, then under Nick Nurse for a season,
and most recently back to the Lakers from twenty nineteen
to twenty twenty four. If you're a Lakers fan, maybe
that's your guy. Phantom head coach Adam Harrington previously served
as an assistant coach and the director of player development
for the Brooklyn Nets and as a shooting coach for
the Thunder Oklahoma City Thunder. He played collegiately at Auburn
(17:08):
and North Carolina State and professionally in the NBA Europe
and China Rose head coach Nola Henry just added as
an assistant coach for the Dallas Wings this week, so
if you're a Dallas fan, maybe this year ago. She
was an assistant coach for the Sparks in twenty twenty four,
after being a player development coach during the twenty twenty
three season for them. Also part of Kurtmuller's staff when
he was at the Connecticut Sun. She played college hoops
(17:30):
at UMass and the College of Charleston. Vinyl head coach.
Theresa Weatherspoon, former WNBA and college hoops legend. She played
for Team USA, winning Olympic gold and silver. Played for
the New York Liberty the LA Sparks of the WNBA,
played college ball for Louisiana Tech. She's a Hoops Hall
of Famer. She worked in player development and was an
assistant coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the MNBA
(17:52):
for three seasons before becoming the head coach of the
Chicago Sky last year. She was let go after just
one season in Chicago. My feelings on that have been made. Okay,
rank your teams by coach one through six, and again,
if you got no thoughts on the coaches, you can
always leave the category blank to protect the integrity of
your point system. Let's talk through this quickly, mish Alex.
(18:13):
Did you have any big takeaways on this? It's hard
because there are a couple that I'm like, oh cool, yeah,
and then there's something I'm like that I don't really care.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
My list is pretty simple. After Muffet interview yesterday, I'm like,
you gotta put the women first. So go in with
t Spoon number one, Nola Henry number two, three through six,
the men based on how often they worked with women's
basketball players, judging if they fall three.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Through six, it's very reasonable.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
I have got Nola Henry Rose VC head coaches number
one because first of all, Coastal Athletic Association grad shout
out College of Charleston, shout out to Nola.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Congrats to her on the new gig.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Also, I got a chance to chat with her when
I was out in Phoenix and they played the Mercury
played the Sparks, and she was on that Sparks coaching staff.
So shout out to her number two Spoon. It's gotta
be Spoon. She's got to be one or two. I'm
riding or dying with her period. I would love to
have played for her. I would run through a wall
for her right now.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Frankly.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
At three, I have Phil Handy because he's one of
those real ogs like I've been following his I believe
his Instagram is like ninety four feet of Game or
something like that, and he's been unlocking the secrets and
throwing out drills and skills and all that kind of
stuff since when I was playing in high school. And
it also is really involved, as you just said, Alex
(19:36):
on the women's side with women's players on purpose and
then the rest.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Are Yeah, so DJ Sackman, I don't think it's had
a lot involvement with the WNBA women's side until this,
but I at least like that he created this big,
like basketball education thing, and so I'm down with that.
And then I will probably get skewered for this and
shouldn't say it aloud, but I just got to drop
(20:02):
the guy from the Catholic Church University to last. I
just I don't want too much of God in my coaching.
Let's just let him her it they if it exists,
take care of more important things than our huddle. Okay, anyway,
rank your coaches, rank your teams, and again you can
leave them blake. Okay, second, box down on the right players. Now,
(20:26):
there are probably some players you just can't imagine rooting against.
Maybe it's someone from your alma mater or your w squad,
someone you wish was on your squad you always want
to rock with, and you're gonna take this chance to
root for. On the other hand, there might be a
player you just can't imagine yourself rooting for. They played
for your college rival, they're on your w rival, they
date the chick you like, they date the dude you like.
(20:48):
They're messy on social they're messy in life, whatever it is.
This is your opportunity to ding a team for carrying
a player you just cannot imagine rooting for. Now. This
was going to be two separate categories, and then I
realized it's impossible to elevate the players you like without
being affected by the players that you don't. So it's
just one category. This is less about how they play together.
This is less about whether they're gonna win as a
(21:09):
result of chemistry or how good they are at basketball.
This is just who you like and who you don't like.
Here are the rosters for each club, and I'll give
you each player's current or most recent W squad in
case that's helpful to So. The Laces have the Aces
Jackie Young, Aces, Tiffany Hayes, Lynx, Kaylea McBride, Sons Alyssa Thomas,
(21:31):
Valkyrie's Kate Martin, and Mystix Stephanie Dolson. The Lunar Owls
have the Lynx Nefisa Kllier, the Lynx Courtney Williams, The
Storms Skyler Diggan Smith, the Dreams Alicia Gray, Mystic Shakira
Austin and Sparks Cameron Brink. The myst have the Liberties
Brianna Stewart, the Sons dj A Carrington, The Liberties Courtney Vanderslute,
(21:53):
the Storm for Now, Jewel Lloyd, the Mystics Aliah Edwards
and the Sparks Rakia Jackson. The Phantom are the Wings
for Now Sattoo Soabily, the Suns Marina Maybury, the Mercury's
Britney Griner, the Mercury's Natasha Cloud, the Fevers, Katie lu
Samuelson and the Liberties Sabrina and Escu. The Rose are
(22:14):
the Sky's Angel Rees, the Aces Chelsea Gray, the Mystics
Britney Sykes, the Mercury's Kalia Copper, the Sparks, Azrey Stevens
and the Fevers Lexi Hall. Finally, the Vinyl are the
Wings Ari Kea Gumbuale, The Sparks, Ray Burrell, the Dreams,
Ryan Howard, Fevers, Eliah Boston, the Dreams Jordan Canada and
(22:36):
the Sparks Deerica Hanby. I hope you wrote every single
one of those down. If not, you probably need to pause,
take a look and be reminded. Just a note here
there's a couple squads with two or more players from
one WNBA team. So if you want to keep rooting
for your w squad via Unrivaled, or if you want
to totally change things up, just note. There's a couple
of aces on the Laces, there's a couple of links
(22:58):
on the Lunar Owls congregating on the Mist, Mercury gathering
together on the Phantom, and there are two dream players
on Vinyl. Let's pause and take a minute and write
our thoughts down.
Speaker 5 (23:12):
I have answers and I'm not sure if I like them.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
I also came up with some answers that I am
sure to want to change later. I was also thinking
and yell weigh in on this big citrus. If people
want should they consider counting this category?
Speaker 5 (23:29):
Twice I was wondering the same thing. I was like,
how can we rank players with the same.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
As Nates like, we don't want to get too complicated
on this, we don't want to make it really tricky.
But in this case, I feel like, if you feel
very strongly about players, you could decide to give extra
weight to this category and we'll tell you how to
do that at the end. So think to yourself if
you want to double up on this category of players,
(23:55):
or if, like me, this was impossible because you like
all of them, maybe it doesn't matter as much, and
the point is to let the chips fall where they may.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
See Sarah, this is what I love about the show.
Back when I was taking seventeen quizzes as a fourteen
year old, they never gave me the flexibility to take
things into account as they applied to me. It was
just all in.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
By the end, they were just like you're a terrible kisser,
and if you don't eat enough pineapple, your vagina's gonna
taste like shit.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
That was literally takeaways.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
By the time you were done reading the magazine, that
was the two things you were left with. And also,
you're not a lesbian, Misha, it's just a face.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
I will say I never took any of those quizzes
because I knew I was.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Gay at like three.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
So good for you. Get us started since you did
yours in advance. Oh my gosh, don't do me.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Okay, So first up ROSEBC because Britney Sykes, because the
season that would have been for the Mystics had she
not been injured in dealing with all of that.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Also, I just love her as a human.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
I feel like she's one of the most down to
earth folks I've ever had the chance to speak with
across sports. Frankly, she's hilarious. So she puts Rose at
the top for me. Phantom has multiple players that I love,
but mostly I am enjoying the Oregon reup with with
Sabrina and Satu. I think they were robbed. In twenty twenty,
(25:34):
A lot of people gave Sabrina flack for that, you
know the last few seasons saying oh, would you have.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Even won a championship?
Speaker 4 (25:40):
I think, actually yes, and I'm very excited to see
them play together again.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
And then the lunar owls.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
I gotta give a shout out to Courtney Williams, who
I put as my Fit of the Year award winner
in our slices because I thought that chaft fit was nuts,
but also because Skyler digg and Smith is a Leo queen.
You know, to some she may be problematic. To me,
it's just the cost of admission, you know what I'm saying.
(26:08):
And yeah, the rest laces I gave a little shout
out to there at fourth because Tip Hays, if folks
remember her playing three v three for Azerbaijan and the Olympics,
was just incredible, pulled off some upsets.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
So uh yeah, that's where I say with that, Okay, Alex,
what you got? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (26:25):
For me, the top two were super clear. I went
with Roseen Vinyl in that order, and the reason I
did that was I feel like, for the most part,
the players on these teams are from WNBA teams that
have not had success in the last couple of years,
and so these players have been underrated and not able
to perform to the degree that they would be able
(26:46):
to with better players on their team, and so I'm
super curious to see what these teams are able to
do together and if it helps these players shine a
little bit more.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Gosh, I love Alex's brain. It always works so differently
from mine, and it's such a fascinating exercise to do
the same thing and end up in different places and
for different reasons. Yeah, because Rosenviinel are both pretty low
for me, I'm not going to get into any details,
but my number one is the missed. It's just no
skips on that one for me. I'm a huge Branda
(27:19):
Stewart fan. I'm a huge Jewel Lloyd fan. I love
watching Jewel play. And then Sludy, my girl from This
from the Sky, I like watching her handles and Djena
just adds a little spice. So yeah, this was number one,
followed very closely by the Lunar Owls because Nafisa Collier
(27:39):
is very quickly becoming one of my favorite players. And
Courtney Williams. I love watching Courtney Williams. Yeah, and Skyler
digg and Smith is always going to bring you just
something it could be drama, it could be a fight
on the bench, or it could be some great play.
I want to watch it either way, and right will never, ever,
(28:01):
ever not be glad that she gave us that incredible
sound bite when she didn't know she was miked up
when she said that her pussy was old because she
had babies like that. The rest of her felt okay,
but she had old pussy. I don't know if we're
gonna bleep that, and if we do, just know that
I'm saying the P word and maybe forever for that.
(28:24):
Phantom and Laces, it was kind of like a one
or the other. There's so many people on both of
those squads, so this was really really tough for me,
and I imagine it was tough for everybody. Which is
congrats to unrivaled on making really cool squads, really interesting squads,
and making that a really tough exercise. Okay, make your
rankings one through six, all right, moving on third box
(28:45):
down the left side. This is chemistry and winnability of
the roster on the court. So think back to the
rosters we just listed. Which squad feels like a winner,
Which club has the best balance of bigs and guards?
Speed and size, handles and skill sets. Are their players
you think will play really well together? Maybe not. I'm
going to read them for you one more time. Start
(29:05):
thinking about how they might fit together on the court.
The laces are Jackie Young, Tip Hayes, Kayla McBride, Alissa Thomas,
Kate Martin and Stephanie Dolson. The lunar owls are Nafisa Collier,
Courtney Williams, Skyler Digg and Smith, Ali Shah Gray, Shakira
Austin and Cameron Brink.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
The myst are Brianna Stewart, djon A.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Carrington, Courtney Vanderslute Jewel Lloyd, Aliah Edwards and Rakia Jackson,
Phantom Satusabele, Marina Maybray, Britney Griner, Natasha Cloud, Katie lu
Samuelson and Sabrinia Escu Rose Are, Angel Reyes, Chelsea Gray,
Britney Sykes, Kalia Copper, Azare Stevens and Lexie Hall. And
the vinyl are Arikee Gumbuwallee, Ray Burrell, Ryan Howard, Aliah Boston,
(29:49):
Jordan Canada and Dierica Hanby. This is chemistry on the court.
Take a moment and make your rankings.
Speaker 5 (29:57):
I feel like, I'm just writing words on a page.
Should they don't have any meaning attached to them. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
At this point, I'm like, I could spend hours, so
instead I'm just gonna go with my gut. This one
was probably the hardest. It's hard to imagine some of them,
(30:25):
and especially with this style of three on three, which
we haven't watched a lot. It's not half court, so
you do have to get up and back, but it's
a shorter court than a standard. How much are the
bigs going to be able to handle defending people with
like great handles? How much are the shorter, smaller players
going to be able to actually make great plays in space?
Like this is? This is really hard. I'm going to
(30:47):
start so that later when you say stuff, I don't
change my answers because I realized how wrong I was.
I just want my gut, as wrong as it may be,
to be what I stick with. Again, do not know
why I answer these things. I said the mist as
number one, I just for some reason, Briana Stewart seems
just so perfect for this particular style of play, and
(31:08):
with jewel and slute feeding her, and just like the
that makeup of that squad to me, is like a
really good mix of bigs and guards. Then I went Vinyl,
I'm really thrilled and excited to see Ari Gay in
this space. After that, again, don't ask me why I
got the phantom, I think it's because I'm really fired
up to see Sabrina feeding Britney Griner and Marina maybriy
(31:29):
when she gets hot. And then the unicorn s too sable,
I think, again, another player who's going to be just
really well suited to this style of play. And then
after that I randomly chose the lunar owls. Again, I
think Fee is a great fit for this. I think
Skyler and Court like I just yeah, again, who the knows?
(31:51):
And I'm already I'm already really questioning my answers, But
that's what I went with. How about you, al.
Speaker 5 (31:56):
I was thinking of chemistry a little bit differently, thinking
about where are we going to have the fewest clashes
of personality, And to me, that is the laces that team.
I think, especially you know Kate Martin, I think you
could throw her anywhere and she's going to bring the
(32:17):
people together. You also then have Steph Dolson and Jackie Young,
who both won gold with the US in twenty twenty
technically twenty twenty one with that first three on three
gold medal three x three, I guess in that case, Yeah,
I just don't see that team having a lot of
intrapersonal problems, and so I think that's going to lead
(32:37):
to good chemistry. Then I have the missed because I
just I think, similar to what you said Sarah before,
it's just Darntony misses on that roster. And then I
have Vinyl Phantom, lunar owls, and Rose and I didn't
read that much into any of those, and so you
shouldn't either.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Okay, pressures on me are hoop head the expert. Let's
hear it all right.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
Well, if you're disappointed by any of these explanations, chalk
it up to the game, because it's a lot going
on in here. But first for me is actually the
lunar owls. I think they have got all the goods
on offense and on defense. I think you started off
strong with Fee who was easily the best two way
player in the WNBA this season. Skyler, who I've just mentioned.
(33:28):
I think she gets a lot of props for her
offensive you know, ability to distribute and run offense. I
think in three on three that's especially important. But I
also think her defense is very underrated. Ali Sha Gray,
we already know she can hit a three ball if
you leave her open. Also an excellent defender. Cam brink
led the league in blocks despite Yeah, but she doesn't
(33:48):
count because she's not playing this year. Well, she doesn't,
but I still want to give them the benefit of
the doubt for having her on the roster and then
having Shakira Austin there to learn from. Like Kira, I
think is the next iteration of where we want Cam
to go in terms of versatility, in terms of mindset
on the court. So I just think they've got a
great mix of stuff going on. And then second for
(34:09):
me was ROSEBC because any team with Chelsea Gray on.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
It, yeah, any team.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Are Yes.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
The fact that she is gonna be playing with Ka
who was as explosive as she is getting her open
in her spots. Britney Sykes, you want to talk about
two way players, she might have been the second best
in my opinion, even though again she didn't play a
full season.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Yeah. My thought with that team though, and now, similar
to Alex Hadden, pretty low is I'm not huge on
the bigs as far as mobility, really, Azare as a right,
she's a little stiff. I love Azare, I love Azrae.
She's a little stiff for me for this kind of game.
She's not gonna be able to stay in the paint
(34:52):
the same way. She's gonna have to spread the court more,
get back and forth. And same with Angel. Angel, you
put her in the paint, she's gonna put in work
on the She's gonna get those inside buckets. She's not
a huge threat outside, even though she's been working on it,
and I don't think of her as like having that
quick reaction making a play on her own kind of
(35:12):
style of play. Yet maybe that's something she'll develop into.
And to me, the bigs on that team are what
took it out for me. Even though I love the
idea of Chelsea and k I respect that.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Angel is the one of those two that I think
I kind of agree with you, moron.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
I think she might surprise us though.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Her rookie season yep.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
And then as Aray Stevens, she's she's a sneaky good
three point shooter. She's a sneaky good, you know, stressed
to floor kind of player.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
It's just more deliberate. It's a deliberate style of play
to me, and the kind of players I want in
this are moving before they're even having a second of think.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
I hear you, I hear you, Yeah, and then I
won't give you my full because some of them I
just kind of woul like, we're gonna put you all
in here because we have to. But third, for me
are the laces I think you know in my top
three is so tight, y'all, it's so tight. It was
so hard to decide between these three teams. But I
think again, any team with at on it Alyssa Thomas
(36:08):
is going to be fantastic. Tip Hays, as I mentioned,
we already know she's great three on three. Wise, Jackie
Young is going to shine in this format and put
her in Kaylea McBride together, please back back again, notre
dame back again.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
And I'm interested to see Steph Dolson because obviously olympian
in three x three, but different style with a full court. Yeah,
all right, make your rankings, make sure you got your
teams one through six, all right. Finally, third box down
on the right side, duos slash combos. We didn't even
know we needed off the court. This is just for
(36:44):
social Who do you want to watch make behind the
scenes videos? Who do you think it'll be fun to watch?
You know, dicking around on the bench, which we need
a new term for dicking around for ladies, booming around,
titting around, racking around.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
You don't want to help me out here, you don't
want to hear my.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Sing around. You're going to have to put a warning
on this episode.
Speaker 5 (37:18):
I was in One of the categories was rock paper scissors,
meaning the answer had to have the word rock paper
or scissors in it, and I was like, lesbian round,
lesbian round.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
We got a couple in there. We did, we did.
Speaker 5 (37:33):
Those were the only scissor related terms.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
My best friend and I have a joke that will
get us every time we see scissors, because we were
playing whatever that game is, like heads up or whatever.
You have the phone on your forehead and you're trying
to guess what it says, and everybody's giving you clues,
and then if you get it right, you get to
like put your head down and it refreshes. So she
was the one holding the phone. She didn't know what
it says, and one of us said, women do this
(37:57):
and she goes scissoring and me immediately refreshed, like I
know that's right, and we're like, what not the answer?
And so now whenever we hear scissors or scissoring, that's
that's all right. We've really taken a detour here. Anyway,
this is a question about duos and commos. We didn't
know we needed off the court. So if you've been
(38:18):
following the social accounts, and if you haven't, get on
it me she's just doing those deep dives for us.
We got to catch up. But there's been a lot
of cool behind the scenes pictures and videos from the arrivals,
from the media day, photo shoots from practice. So what
vibes are you getting from the teams from the teammates.
Are you maybe hoping there might be some collusion with
your favorite w player recruiting a new teammate to your
(38:39):
city now that they've got to got them on their
same unrivaled team. Do you like watching folks with similar
fashion vibes or personality maybe some odd couples, mesh, I
know you've done a deep dive into this. We're gonna
take a second to do this and rank ours, So
hit pause, will rank these and then we're gonna hop
back in. All right, This was another tough one, especially
(39:00):
because you've only gotten a little taste of what these
players look like playing together, hanging out together. So this
is kind of a guest for some of these mish
what you got.
Speaker 4 (39:10):
Well to start things off, it's got to be ROSEBC
because the Angel Times Ca Times Britney Sykes trio is
just bursting with personality. I don't know if folks have
seen yet the Angel and Cop tiktoks. Some of them
go on the actual team page and some of them
just go on their own personal pages. But calling Coy Grandma,
(39:31):
because believe it or not, she's getting up there.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
I think that's hilarious.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
Britney Sykes in anybody, frankly, in a pairing or a
trio is hilarious.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
They posted a video the other day of her.
Speaker 4 (39:43):
It's just a super cut of her dancing at media
day to there she go by Big Lotto and I've
never related to somebody more than when I saw that video,
because there's nothing wrong with breaking out in a little
random dance and making people around you feel a little
bit better.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
After rope.
Speaker 4 (40:00):
It's gotta be the Lunar owls because any team with
Ali Chagray, the content they post with her in it,
it's an immediate like she's one of the most lovable
players out here. And also we got to wish her
a happy belated birthday. Her birthday it was a couple
of days ago. So anything with her is gonna make
me extremely happy because she seems like the kind that's
camera shot. But once you get her out of her shell,
(40:21):
and hopefully they can over the course of the Unrivaled season,
we can get some cool behind the scenes stuff from
her and then the Vinyl. I think the practice content
from them has been fire. I love Jordan Canada as
a leader, her voice, the way that she kind of.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Brings energy to a practice.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
We're gonna get a lot more of that, I'm assuming
as the season goes on, and I just I'm a
nerd about that kind of shit.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
I kind of just love hearing people talk to her
in practice.
Speaker 5 (40:45):
Yea.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
The last place team for me in this category was
the Laces, not because I don't like the players on
the team, but those are just our mild mannered batties,
you know, like we're not gonna get I don't.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Know that we're gonna get a lot out of them,
which is fine.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Steph brings it like fashion and stuff, but she's not
like super over the top personality wise. Yeah, I had
some similar ones to you. I started off with Phantom.
I just Marina Maybury's terrible cooking that she thinks looks
decent has just got me already. I just want to
see where this goes. The fact that she needed to
be told to use spices, and then she made a
(41:19):
cooking video that she's like, Oh, this is gonna be busting,
and then it was not. And then she gave her
homemade pasta to Dja Carrington, the one who had given
her all the spices, and Dja said she left it
in her locker by mistake and didn't get a chance
to try it. And then angel Re said about it,
which is exactly what I thought. Why I think that
was frosted flakes. And if you want to know why
(41:40):
this pasta looked bad, it's because it looked like frosted flakes.
I just need more cooking with Marina Maybury. That's just it.
And then I don't know, BG is sneaky funny at times,
and just the vibes from BG are just fun at
all times. They just did a social video about like
who's your lookalike? And PG was like, no, not playing
(42:01):
this game.
Speaker 5 (42:02):
No.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
My second place was Rose too. Like you said, there's
just a lot of personality there, and you know, Angel
Reese is always gonna bring a whole production to everything
good or bad, and it's gonna be a fashion show
and it's gonna be like, what's the next thing She's like,
you know, she just did vogue for Pete's sake, Like
it's always something with Angel. And then I had the
lunar owls that they're just because I feel like there's
(42:26):
this like Skyler plus Cam, like just like fashion thing
that could be going on there, and same with like
Court is more mask presenting, but also it's like very
fashion forward. But I feel like Skyler and Cam are
full on like models, so to see what they bring
to the pregame fits and maybe you know, and then
(42:46):
I don't know. I just find Fees so likable. She's
not super outgoing, but like her vibes are just chill,
So I'll leave it there. There's a bunch of good
ones that I'm sure are gonna come out after that
it'll be like Oh damn. I didn't even know that
person was so funny. But that's part of the fun here,
what about you, al.
Speaker 5 (43:01):
I just want y'all to know that as part of
this exercise, I tried to calculate the gayest team important.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (43:08):
So I think as of right now it is missed
uh with at least four players who are publicly out,
and so that's great. I just want that to be
on the record of people knowing that. In terms of
the actual duos, though, I would love to have somebody
(43:29):
film a shopping trip with Court Williams and Cam Briank
throw Skyler, Digg and Smith in two Like would love
to just see them like trying on outfits for each
other in the dressing room, mayor ye see what comes out,
just because the sense of fashion style is so different.
But I think it could be really fun. Kate Martin
has such sidekick energy, and I would love to see
(43:51):
her as Alyssa Thomas's sidekick pump up woman. All of
that maybe help Alyssa come out of her shell a
little bit more, because I think she's been such an
underrated player for so long and often doesn't get the
shine that she needs and deserves. So I want to
see if we can have that happen on the laces.
Love it then, Phantom. Okay, this one's a little bit deeper.
(44:15):
But Natasha Cloud's always been somebody that has been so
good at using her platform speaking out about social justice,
racial justice, things that matter to her. Sabrina Unescu not
so much. And so I'm curious to see if maybe
there's something that develops there in terms of the two
of them have an interesting and important conversations off the court.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
All right, get your chemistry, your duo's, combos, trios, the
people that you most want to see hang off the
court written down one through six and again. If you're
not super up to date on these players, you don't
know them well enough, you don't have strong opinions, you
could skip it and keep the integrity of your rankings. Okay,
we're going to give you a minute here. Double check,
make sure you've got each club ranked at least once
(44:57):
in each category. Enjoy this very brief musical interlude. Okay,
here it is the moment of truth. In the bottom
(45:19):
left box. For each club, you're going to write down
the name followed by the ranking that they earned in
each box. So For instance, the first spot in the
first box top left for me is Phantom, So I'm
writing down Phantom with a one. Then I'm going to
the second box and I'm seeing that I had Phantom
at three, I'm writing down a three. Then I've got
(45:39):
them at three again, and so on. Then you're going
to add up the points from each box for each club.
The team with the lowest total points is your unrivaled squad.
And then when you get to that, you'll jot down
the name in the bottom right box. Give it a
big old circle, and start telling the world who your
(46:01):
team is. Make it your whole personality. All right, hit pause,
do some math. Okay, I'm excited about what I got
for a number of reasons. One because I'm a basic
bitch who likes logos and colors, and it was one
of my favorite logos in colors. And also because ultimately
it was never my least favorite in anything. This team
(46:24):
got two ones and four threes, so it's kind of
middle of the road and a bunch, and then it
was my favorite in a couple and it never dropped,
you know, into the fives and sixes. So y'all, but
I'm Team Phantom, oh okay, okayissing. It was a two
team race and Phantom is my club, all right? Which
(46:47):
you got me?
Speaker 2 (46:49):
Coming in first? For me is ROSEBC.
Speaker 4 (46:52):
Whoa I had three ones for Rose, so three top choices,
two fours in one to three.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (47:01):
I was not expecting this. I had an idea in
the back of my head of what my team was
gonna be. But I'm not mad at it. I'm not
mad at it.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Okay, al who you got?
Speaker 5 (47:13):
Okay? My number one team is the Laces Best, which
I think is so funny because I realized that I
ranked them last in terms of players, but then first
in terms of chemistry and duos, which gives you a
sense of how much they picture thought I put into that.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Not scientific, No.
Speaker 5 (47:39):
No, I think maybe some of those quizzes that we
took in old magazines for a little bit more scientific,
at least the attentions to detail that I put into them.
But I'm Team Laces from here on out.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
I'm Jellyfish on that logo to be honest, because the
Lace's logo is fire. But I love that we all
ended up with different teams. Let the ship talk and
begin Phantom, and it was meant to be because the
ghosts the spooky. Okay, we want to see your work,
so snap a shot of your draft and send it
to us. We want to know how you got to
(48:11):
your final answer, no judgment. It can look real messy.
I think I might post the messy one and then
rewrite it so that people can actually see what's going on.
But send it to us. We got to take a
quick break. When we come back, you get a slice,
and you get a slice, everybody gets a slice. Welcome back, slics.
(48:38):
We got big news this week.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
Huge.
Speaker 1 (48:41):
Okay, here's the deal. There's an opportunity for you, yes
you listening right now, to get in the women's sports
game in a big way. To put your money where
your mouth is, kick your fandom into high gear and
support this thing that has brought us all together, a
love of women's sports. You can be a part of
something that changes the way folks think about ownership in sports,
decision making and community building. Now, we're not going to
(49:03):
tell you what it is just yet, but know that
we're all in and we're super stoked about it. Sised
even right, mesh, we all real siced about it. Also,
know that we know that this sounds like a pyramid scheme,
or maybe a way to get slices to pay off
my mortgage, or a new kind of bitcoin. The good
news is it is none of those things, but we
can't tell you what it is just yet. We'll bring
(49:25):
you more details later this week, so hold on to
your butts. In just a few days, you're going to
think of slices in a whole new way. How's effroteaz y'all.
We love that you're listening, but we want you to
get in the game every day too. So here's our
good gameplay of the day. I already said it. Send
us a snapshot of your unrivaled team draft. We want
to see those cute little papers with your rankings, and
we want to see the team you ended up with.
Send them to our email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com,
(49:47):
and we always love a voicemail eight seven two two
oh four fifty seventy. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review, y'all.
It's easy watch art, but make it sports. Recent Twitter
posts featuring Naomio Osaka and the eighteenth painting under the
Wave off Kanagawa also known as the Wave, rating five
out of five all hits no missus review. Seriously, this
(50:09):
account does not miss It is an instant follow for
a reason. The main premise, if you've never seen the
Art but Make It Sports account, is to take a
sports photo and put it side by side with the
piece of art that it resembles, and the stuff that
they pair together is wild uncanny. The account is run
by l J Raider, who sifts through thousands of pieces
of art to make matches every single time. And I
(50:30):
know what you're thinking. No, he does not use AI.
It's all up in his brain. Some pieces come to
him right away, some come after a quick spin through
folders of art on his phone. One of the folders
is labeled meme Fuel. It's really impressive and the post
with Naomi is just the latest in a long stretch
of brilliance. Fun fact, after I started reposting his stuff
in the early days of the account, he even set
(50:50):
me an actual piece of art. It's an Art but
Make It Sports combo featuring obviously Michael Jordan. We threw
a link in our episode notes where you can see
the Osaka post for yourself, and where you can subscribe
to the Art button Make It Sports substack. Give them
a follow on socials too. Now it's your turn, rate
and review. Thanks for listening, See you tomorrow. Good Game Unrivaled,
(51:11):
Good Game, Phantom Rose and Laces few actual pyramid schemes.
Stop praying on vulnerable folks with promises that are mathematically
impossible and leggings that usually ultimately suck. Good Game with
Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership
with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us
(51:31):
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are
Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett,
Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder. Our editors are
Emily Rudder, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and Lindsay Crawdowell. Production
assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're very
proud of Connecticut sun guard Marina Maybrey for learning to
season her food and it's her rival turned bestie Dja
Carrington who put her on the right path. That's what
sports are really all about. It's Wednesday, January fifteenth, Draft
Day and on today's show, Alex Mesh and I are
(00:21):
drafting our unrivaled teams ahead of Friday's tip off. We've
got a foolproof system. It's part Hoops Draft, part seventeen
magazine quiz are you his friend.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Or his crush?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And part BuzzFeed personality test? Which Disney Princess are you?
Are you a Carrie, Samantha, Miranda or Charlotte. By the end,
we'll learn the unrivaled basketball club that's m FU made
for us, and we've set it all up for you
to play along and pick your squad. Two plus, it's
woso wedding season. A super slice comes through and a
(00:53):
big opportunity is coming your waist slices. It's all coming
up right after this welcome back. Here's what you need
to know today in hockey News, We've got PWHL action
(01:17):
tonight as the league leading Minnesota Frost faced the New
York Sirens at seven pm Eastern. This will be a
meeting of the league's best goal scorers. Sirens forward Alex
Carpenter and frost ford Britta Curl are at the top
of the ranks with five goals apiece, followed closely by
New York Sarah Filier, who's put in four so far.
You can catch that matchup on MSG Networks, FanDuel Sports
(01:37):
Network and TSN. For all you Canadians out there, Oh Canada.
More good news. The WNBA's Toronto Tempo just launched its
first merch drop. The items are produced by brands out
of Canada, like Real Sports Apparel and brands founded by
women like Jasmine Mayadas, Round twenty one and Esther Wallace's
play A Society, as well as Nike. I'm partial to
the play A Society Tea with Tempo in Chunky right
(02:00):
and the twenty six on it myself. You can grab
your merch and get ready for the Tempos twenty twenty
six tip off at the link in our show notes.
SAMONWSL News free agent defender Tatum Mulazo, who spent her
entire pro career with the Chicago Red Stars has signed
a two year deal with the Utah Royals. Malaso has
seventy career NWSL appearances in her four seasons in the league.
Some more soccer news. It's the off season for the Girlies,
(02:22):
which means weddings. Lots of weddings. Congrats to Lynn Williams,
Lindsay Horan, Tierna Davidson, Emily Sam's, Ali Riley, Kerrie Roccaro,
Copriest did Asco, and Natalie Jacobs, who all tied the
knot recently. I just want to let you know we're
not learning your new last names.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
We're not.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Okay, fine, maybe, but I reserve the right to call
you by your maiden names for the rest of this
upcoming season. At least. I'm still working on remembering mause Wanson.
Y'all to college hoops. Tonight's matchup between Northwestern and number
four ranked USC has been postponed. It was scheduled for
USC's Galen Center, but the Wildcats decided not to travel
because of the fires. Northwestern's game at UCLA this past
(03:03):
Sunday was also postponed. Number one UCLA's matchup with Penn
State is still scheduled to take place tonight nine thirty
Eastern at Walter Pyramid on Long Beach State's campus. Our
hearts really go out to everyone in these programs. It's
got to take us serious amount of guts to put
on a brave face and continue with both school and
the basketball season at a time like this. Speaking of
the fires, the WNBA's La Sparks and NWSL's Angel City
(03:27):
FC have joined with the other Southern California sports teams
in the MLB, NFL, NHL, and MLS to pledge a
donation of more than eight million dollars to support victims
of the LA fires and those who are fighting them.
The team's community partners are also going to distribute thousands
of items including personal hygiene kits, school supply, sneakers, and
more at Dodger, SOFI and BEMO Stadiums on Friday, January seventeenth,
(03:50):
from ten am to two pm Pacific. Any Angelinos with
proof of residency and evacuated zip codes are eligible to attend,
and bus transportation to the distribution events is avail. Folks
who are currently residing in area evacuation shelters. Families and
individuals who attend will also be given lunch at the stadiums.
Also want to let you know our friends and partners
at Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment are joining members of
(04:11):
the women's sports community, including the Sports Bra, The Gist,
and Moolah Kicks to support a nationwide essential s drive.
New or unused toiletries, cosmetics and ninety five masks, tote
bags and reading glasses are requested for displaced individuals and families.
You can get more info on where you can drop
off or ship items on my Instagram page at Spain
two three two three or on Deep Blues insta at
(04:33):
Deep Blue Sports and we'll make sure to put those
in our show notes. Got to give a quick shout
out to super slice Joey Maldonado, who took some time
during the holiday break to make a calendar of all
the Pro Volleyball Federation, Love Pro Volleyball, AU Basketball and
unrivaled games coming up over the next few months, day time,
(04:54):
where it's happening, how to watch. Joey is a literal
superstar for putting all these together for us. We'll link
to that in show notes so y'all can benefit from
his work too. Thank you, Joey. We got to take
a quick break when we come back. Who's your celebrity soulmate?
What season are you in your soul Which Hogwarts teacher
would give you detention? Are you basic? We don't have
any of those answers, but we will tell you your
(05:15):
unrivaled team Coming up next, Welcome back Slices. Today's the
big day, our unrivaled team draft. Now, if you haven't
picked your unrivaled squad just yet, grab a pen and
(05:37):
some paper and play along with us. By the end
of the show, your squad will be revealed. If you
already have a squad, no worries. This is also a
great way to get familiar with the teams and players
ahead of tip off on Friday. Okay, so this is
how this is gonna work. Grab a piece of paper
and a pen. You can hit pause for a second.
You've got to run into another room to grab them. Okay,
got it? Okay, Now, you can obviously use multiple pieces
(05:59):
of paper, but if you want to have a little
fun with it, let's just split one page into eight boxes.
So take the page and draw one vertical line down
the middle, splitting the page vertically in half. Now add
three horizontal lines, splitting the page horizontally into four sections.
So now you should have eight boxes of roughly the
(06:21):
same size on your page. If it's not perfect, no worries. Now,
in every single box except for the bottom two, write
the numbers one, two, three, four, five six top to
bottom on the left side of the box. Every box
except for the bottom two should have one, two, three, four,
five six going from top to bottom on the left
hand side. Now, it'll definitely help you if you pull
(06:43):
up the Unrivaled website to see the team logos while
you do this. But if you're driving or walking, or
exercising or otherwise can't look at your screen, don't worry.
We got you for that part. Okay, here's how this
is gonna work. We're gonna rank each Unrivaled club one
through six in six different categories, and then the final
scores will reveal our preferred squad. Shout out to front
of the show claim Conahan and her crew for this
(07:04):
draft idea. We used most of the categories that they used,
but we came up with a little bit of changes too.
So here's what we're gonna be using to pick our
club team name, color, slash logo slash branding, head coaches, players, chemistry,
and winability of the roster as a whole on the court,
and duo slash combos we didn't know we needed off
the court. Okay, let's get into it. Top left box
(07:27):
is gonna be team name. Now. You're gonna rank each
of the six clubs one to six based on name only,
just the name, nothing else. Your favorite name will go
in slot one, your second favorite in slot two, and
so on. Here are the club names. Lace's Basketball Club,
Lunar Owls Basketball Club, Missed Basketball Club, Phantom Basketball Club,
(07:53):
Rose Basketball Club, and Vinyl Basketball Club. Okay, I'm gonna
say those one more time. Laces, Lunar Owls, Missed, Phantom, Rose,
and Vinyl. All Right, everybody quickly kind of jot down
what you're thinking first reactions, and then Big Centris I
want to talk through this and figure out you know
(08:14):
what you're thinking. All right, we're just talking names now,
nothing else. Meish what club stands out to you, what
doesn't do it for you. My first spot has to
go to Vinyl Basketball Club because music.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
First of all, we haven't discussed this at length on
the show, but me and music go together real bad.
So the fact that they're called Vinyl, I just think
is so automatically. Yes for me, I really also enjoy laces.
I think that's very unique. I think in basketball lace
them up, you know. I think that's probably what they
were talking about when they're throwing ideas at the wall.
(08:51):
U love that bonus points for that, And then I
don't missed BC. It just it doesn't do it for me.
It makes me the of medicine immediately, Okay, Like I
should be watching a commercial and they're like, yeah, it's
a nasal spray. Take this, Yeah, high blood pressure, please
do not like it's just something about that just does
it hit right for me.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Alex's first thought.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
I love the lunar owls, although I did just google
to see like what species the lunar owls is and
where you can find them, and I think it's a
made up animal, Like obviously they're owls, and I'm sure
that there are lunar varieties of other creatures, but I thought.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
That was so fun.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
Vinyl is my last one because vinyl makes me think
of plastic, which makes me think of climate change in
the world degrading. So even though I'm sure they did
not mean that association, just that's my last one.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
I'm a little bit closer to meish for sure. Missed
is my last. I'm glad you said something like nasal
spray or medicine you shouldn't take if you have high
blood pressure. For me, like I said, it's just one
letter away from moist and it sounds like some sort
of like vaginal douche. Oh like if you're feeling unfresh,
just a seven day treatment with miss BC just not
(10:04):
not my favorite. And lunar owls were my second to last.
I love owls. I don't know why they're lunar, what
do they have to do with the moon. And also
it just doesn't ring off. It doesn't like roll off
the tongue. Lunar owls. It's just not pretty sounding. Laces
were my second favorite, though. I like the idea of lace's,
I like the connection. I like phantom. I don't know why.
(10:25):
I just like the mystery of it all. And I
feel like I haven't seen a lot of teams. The
only thing that's weird about that for me is I
usually don't like singular things like she's a phantoms, but
I just like I just like the name.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
It's spooky, it's great common.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, it just like I haven't heard anything like it.
You don't usually hear team names that are you know,
ac cult like or spooky or you know, and I
think it's bold to have that. Okay, everyone, make sure
you've got your names filled out one to six, your
favorite in number one down to your least favorite in
number six. Okay, Next, we're going top right box. This
(11:02):
is color logo and branding. This is kind of tough
for an audio medium. I'm going to describe them to
you a little bit. If you can pull it up
and look at them, that's definitely going to help you.
But if you're driving, exercising, etc. Quick summary of each
is the Laces is an aqua colored circle with the
outline of a basketball inside and a reddish pink l
(11:22):
made out of shoelaces. Lunar owls is a purplish blue
owl in a yellow circle. Mist is a light blue
sky with navy mountains and trees emerging from white clouds.
Phantom is a black basketball with a white ghost over
it and some spooky looking letters saying phantom. Rose is
a forest green circle with a pink rose inside. In
(11:43):
the center of the rose is a basketball, and Vinyl
is a deep magenta kind of burgundy red record, like
a record from a record player with a white and
light blue basketball inside. Now, if you need to pause
and take a little bit of time with this one,
feel free. Like I said, you could pull up the clubs,
but list these again, from one to six, your favorite
and number one all the way down to number six.
(12:06):
Let's take a minute and do that. All right, let's
talk through this for a minute here. I'm gonna go first.
This was really hard for me because I actually liked
almost all of them. I think they did a pretty
good job. I gotta go with the laces. I just
think it's really cool how the l is like weaving
in and out of the rest of the logo. I
(12:27):
love again the reference to shoelaces and the color scheme
is cool and different, something I haven't seen in a
lot of other sports teams. I also was really drawn
to the mist I've talked in the past. There's this
I think I mentioned on the show, although I'm not positive.
There's this new lower level soccer team called Salmon Bay FC,
and I literally want to live in their crest. It
(12:49):
has this like beautiful salmon colored sky and the water
in the mountains and that's what this reminds me of,
is like Lake Tahoe or someplace that I love visiting.
So the mist was a beautiful landscape that made me
want to go there, So that was number two. I
also really love Phantom. It just again was completely different
than anything I've ever seen from a sports logo. Honestly,
the only one I didn't really like was Rose. It
(13:12):
just didn't do it for me.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Vinyl is last for me because who yeah, because I
was expecting so much.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
The name is great, but the record doesn't even look
like a record.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
It's like just some random circle with some squiggly lines
in the middle of it somewhere. It just doesn't It's
not giving me record like I needed to. Laces they're
my number two for the same reasons. I also love
that like is it turquoise?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Is it qua till? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, that color.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
If folks go to the Laces Instagram page, they've got
the jerseys in that color sick.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
I mean, they're they're gorgeous.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
So absolutely my number one in this category is Phantom. Yeah,
because I love I'm a basic bitch.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Maybe maybe that's what it is.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I love basic black and white and the little ghostages.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Look, it's adorable.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
How can you not love that?
Speaker 1 (14:06):
What you got? Alex?
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Okay, so number one, I'm with you. Sarah Laces just
super cool. Love the way that it intersects. Then I
have the miss because I do like the landscape. My
only other concern with it, apart from the fact that
there appears to be no basketball, which I guess is
a prerequisite for me, the logo has be on one
(14:28):
side see on the other for basketball club. But when
I look at it, I do kind of say, be
missed CE, be missed.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
CE like it.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
So as I'm saying this, I think I'm gonna move
them down. I'm gonna move them down to number three.
I'm going to put the lunar owls at number two,
with a weird looking owl with its basketball ballet. Phantom
is number five for me for some reason, Like I
know you were kind of convincing me. I'm second guessing
myself now, but it reminded me a little bit too
much of like Spirit Halloween.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Just quick aside for those who will appreciate this. When
I see ghosts like that. There was this incredible Saturday
Night Live episode with Christopher Walkin where they had a
Christopher Walkin Family renew and every cast member had to
do a Walkin impression to him, and Amy Poehler was
by far the best. She was better than Christopher Walkin,
and her thing just kept being like, I don't like ghosts,
(15:20):
the spooky, and every time I see a ghost down
my brain just goes I don't like ghosts anyway. All right,
moving on second box down on the left. Head coaches. Now,
let me just put this out there. If you don't
know shit about any of these coaches, if you don't
have strong opinions about any of them, you don't have
to rank them. If you're worried that the you know,
(15:41):
protecting the point system and the integrity of your scoring
will be affected by randomly assigning numbers to people who
don't care about, don't do it. But we want to
give you all the information to work with and if
you want to make choices based on coaches, here you go.
The Lace's head coach is Andrew Wade, a player development
assistant coach for the Washington miss shout Out dmvbs a
(16:02):
former college player at the Catholic University of America in DC,
which I knew nothing about, but it turns out is
the National University of the Catholic Church in the United States. Okay,
The Lunar Owls head coach is DJ Sackman, an NBA
and WNBA skills coach, an influencer who founded hoop Study,
an online basketball education company. He's got millions of followers,
(16:23):
so if you like influencers, that's your guy. He played
his college ball at the University of New Haven in Connecticut.
The missed head coach Phil Handy. He played college ball
for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, then professional ball overseas for
five years. Longtime assistant coach in the NBA, he's won
three NBA championships as an assistant. For his first three seasons,
he was a player development coach for the Lakers under
(16:45):
Mike Brown. Also served as an assistant under Brown in
Cleveland for five seasons, then under Nick Nurse for a season,
and most recently back to the Lakers from twenty nineteen
to twenty twenty four. If you're a Lakers fan, maybe
that's your guy. Phantom head coach Adam Harrington previously served
as an assistant coach and the director of player development
for the Brooklyn Nets and as a shooting coach for
the Thunder Oklahoma City Thunder. He played collegiately at Auburn
(17:08):
and North Carolina State and professionally in the NBA Europe
and China Rose head coach Nola Henry just added as
an assistant coach for the Dallas Wings this week, so
if you're a Dallas fan, maybe this year ago. She
was an assistant coach for the Sparks in twenty twenty four,
after being a player development coach during the twenty twenty
three season for them. Also part of Kurtmuller's staff when
he was at the Connecticut Sun. She played college hoops
(17:30):
at UMass and the College of Charleston. Vinyl head coach.
Theresa Weatherspoon, former WNBA and college hoops legend. She played
for Team USA, winning Olympic gold and silver. Played for
the New York Liberty the LA Sparks of the WNBA,
played college ball for Louisiana Tech. She's a Hoops Hall
of Famer. She worked in player development and was an
assistant coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the MNBA
(17:52):
for three seasons before becoming the head coach of the
Chicago Sky last year. She was let go after just
one season in Chicago. My feelings on that have been made. Okay,
rank your teams by coach one through six, and again,
if you got no thoughts on the coaches, you can
always leave the category blank to protect the integrity of
your point system. Let's talk through this quickly, mish Alex.
(18:13):
Did you have any big takeaways on this? It's hard
because there are a couple that I'm like, oh cool, yeah,
and then there's something I'm like that I don't really care.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
My list is pretty simple. After Muffet interview yesterday, I'm like,
you gotta put the women first. So go in with
t Spoon number one, Nola Henry number two, three through six,
the men based on how often they worked with women's
basketball players, judging if they fall three.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Through six, it's very reasonable.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
I have got Nola Henry Rose VC head coaches number
one because first of all, Coastal Athletic Association grad shout
out College of Charleston, shout out to Nola.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Congrats to her on the new gig.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Also, I got a chance to chat with her when
I was out in Phoenix and they played the Mercury
played the Sparks, and she was on that Sparks coaching staff.
So shout out to her number two Spoon. It's gotta
be Spoon. She's got to be one or two. I'm
riding or dying with her period. I would love to
have played for her. I would run through a wall
for her right now.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Frankly.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
At three, I have Phil Handy because he's one of
those real ogs like I've been following his I believe
his Instagram is like ninety four feet of Game or
something like that, and he's been unlocking the secrets and
throwing out drills and skills and all that kind of
stuff since when I was playing in high school. And
it also is really involved, as you just said, Alex
(19:36):
on the women's side with women's players on purpose and
then the rest.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Are Yeah, so DJ Sackman, I don't think it's had
a lot involvement with the WNBA women's side until this,
but I at least like that he created this big,
like basketball education thing, and so I'm down with that.
And then I will probably get skewered for this and
shouldn't say it aloud, but I just got to drop
(20:02):
the guy from the Catholic Church University to last. I
just I don't want too much of God in my coaching.
Let's just let him her it they if it exists,
take care of more important things than our huddle. Okay, anyway,
rank your coaches, rank your teams, and again you can
leave them blake. Okay, second, box down on the right players. Now,
(20:26):
there are probably some players you just can't imagine rooting against.
Maybe it's someone from your alma mater or your w squad,
someone you wish was on your squad you always want
to rock with, and you're gonna take this chance to
root for. On the other hand, there might be a
player you just can't imagine yourself rooting for. They played
for your college rival, they're on your w rival, they
date the chick you like, they date the dude you like.
(20:48):
They're messy on social they're messy in life, whatever it is.
This is your opportunity to ding a team for carrying
a player you just cannot imagine rooting for. Now. This
was going to be two separate categories, and then I
realized it's impossible to elevate the players you like without
being affected by the players that you don't. So it's
just one category. This is less about how they play together.
This is less about whether they're gonna win as a
(21:09):
result of chemistry or how good they are at basketball.
This is just who you like and who you don't like.
Here are the rosters for each club, and I'll give
you each player's current or most recent W squad in
case that's helpful to So. The Laces have the Aces
Jackie Young, Aces, Tiffany Hayes, Lynx, Kaylea McBride, Sons Alyssa Thomas,
(21:31):
Valkyrie's Kate Martin, and Mystix Stephanie Dolson. The Lunar Owls
have the Lynx Nefisa Kllier, the Lynx Courtney Williams, The
Storms Skyler Diggan Smith, the Dreams Alicia Gray, Mystic Shakira
Austin and Sparks Cameron Brink. The myst have the Liberties
Brianna Stewart, the Sons dj A Carrington, The Liberties Courtney Vanderslute,
(21:53):
the Storm for Now, Jewel Lloyd, the Mystics Aliah Edwards
and the Sparks Rakia Jackson. The Phantom are the Wings
for Now Sattoo Soabily, the Suns Marina Maybury, the Mercury's
Britney Griner, the Mercury's Natasha Cloud, the Fevers, Katie lu
Samuelson and the Liberties Sabrina and Escu. The Rose are
(22:14):
the Sky's Angel Rees, the Aces Chelsea Gray, the Mystics
Britney Sykes, the Mercury's Kalia Copper, the Sparks, Azrey Stevens
and the Fevers Lexi Hall. Finally, the Vinyl are the
Wings Ari Kea Gumbuale, The Sparks, Ray Burrell, the Dreams,
Ryan Howard, Fevers, Eliah Boston, the Dreams Jordan Canada and
(22:36):
the Sparks Deerica Hanby. I hope you wrote every single
one of those down. If not, you probably need to pause,
take a look and be reminded. Just a note here
there's a couple squads with two or more players from
one WNBA team. So if you want to keep rooting
for your w squad via Unrivaled, or if you want
to totally change things up, just note. There's a couple
of aces on the Laces, there's a couple of links
(22:58):
on the Lunar Owls congregating on the Mist, Mercury gathering
together on the Phantom, and there are two dream players
on Vinyl. Let's pause and take a minute and write
our thoughts down.
Speaker 5 (23:12):
I have answers and I'm not sure if I like them.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
I also came up with some answers that I am
sure to want to change later. I was also thinking
and yell weigh in on this big citrus. If people
want should they consider counting this category?
Speaker 5 (23:29):
Twice I was wondering the same thing. I was like,
how can we rank players with the same.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
As Nates like, we don't want to get too complicated
on this, we don't want to make it really tricky.
But in this case, I feel like, if you feel
very strongly about players, you could decide to give extra
weight to this category and we'll tell you how to
do that at the end. So think to yourself if
you want to double up on this category of players,
(23:55):
or if, like me, this was impossible because you like
all of them, maybe it doesn't matter as much, and
the point is to let the chips fall where they may.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
See Sarah, this is what I love about the show.
Back when I was taking seventeen quizzes as a fourteen
year old, they never gave me the flexibility to take
things into account as they applied to me. It was
just all in.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
By the end, they were just like you're a terrible kisser,
and if you don't eat enough pineapple, your vagina's gonna
taste like shit.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
That was literally takeaways.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
By the time you were done reading the magazine, that
was the two things you were left with. And also,
you're not a lesbian, Misha, it's just a face.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
I will say I never took any of those quizzes
because I knew I was.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Gay at like three.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
So good for you. Get us started since you did
yours in advance. Oh my gosh, don't do me.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Okay, So first up ROSEBC because Britney Sykes, because the
season that would have been for the Mystics had she
not been injured in dealing with all of that.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Also, I just love her as a human.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
I feel like she's one of the most down to
earth folks I've ever had the chance to speak with
across sports. Frankly, she's hilarious. So she puts Rose at
the top for me. Phantom has multiple players that I love,
but mostly I am enjoying the Oregon reup with with
Sabrina and Satu. I think they were robbed. In twenty twenty,
(25:34):
A lot of people gave Sabrina flack for that, you
know the last few seasons saying oh, would you have.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Even won a championship?
Speaker 4 (25:40):
I think, actually yes, and I'm very excited to see
them play together again.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
And then the lunar owls.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
I gotta give a shout out to Courtney Williams, who
I put as my Fit of the Year award winner
in our slices because I thought that chaft fit was nuts,
but also because Skyler digg and Smith is a Leo queen.
You know, to some she may be problematic. To me,
it's just the cost of admission, you know what I'm saying.
(26:08):
And yeah, the rest laces I gave a little shout
out to there at fourth because Tip Hays, if folks
remember her playing three v three for Azerbaijan and the Olympics,
was just incredible, pulled off some upsets.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
So uh yeah, that's where I say with that, Okay, Alex,
what you got? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (26:25):
For me, the top two were super clear. I went
with Roseen Vinyl in that order, and the reason I
did that was I feel like, for the most part,
the players on these teams are from WNBA teams that
have not had success in the last couple of years,
and so these players have been underrated and not able
to perform to the degree that they would be able
(26:46):
to with better players on their team, and so I'm
super curious to see what these teams are able to
do together and if it helps these players shine a
little bit more.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Gosh, I love Alex's brain. It always works so differently
from mine, and it's such a fascinating exercise to do
the same thing and end up in different places and
for different reasons. Yeah, because Rosenviinel are both pretty low
for me, I'm not going to get into any details,
but my number one is the missed. It's just no
skips on that one for me. I'm a huge Branda
(27:19):
Stewart fan. I'm a huge Jewel Lloyd fan. I love
watching Jewel play. And then Sludy, my girl from This
from the Sky, I like watching her handles and Djena
just adds a little spice. So yeah, this was number one,
followed very closely by the Lunar Owls because Nafisa Collier
(27:39):
is very quickly becoming one of my favorite players. And
Courtney Williams. I love watching Courtney Williams. Yeah, and Skyler
digg and Smith is always going to bring you just
something it could be drama, it could be a fight
on the bench, or it could be some great play.
I want to watch it either way, and right will never, ever,
(28:01):
ever not be glad that she gave us that incredible
sound bite when she didn't know she was miked up
when she said that her pussy was old because she
had babies like that. The rest of her felt okay,
but she had old pussy. I don't know if we're
gonna bleep that, and if we do, just know that
I'm saying the P word and maybe forever for that.
(28:24):
Phantom and Laces, it was kind of like a one
or the other. There's so many people on both of
those squads, so this was really really tough for me,
and I imagine it was tough for everybody. Which is
congrats to unrivaled on making really cool squads, really interesting squads,
and making that a really tough exercise. Okay, make your
rankings one through six, all right, moving on third box
(28:45):
down the left side. This is chemistry and winnability of
the roster on the court. So think back to the
rosters we just listed. Which squad feels like a winner,
Which club has the best balance of bigs and guards?
Speed and size, handles and skill sets. Are their players
you think will play really well together? Maybe not. I'm
going to read them for you one more time. Start
(29:05):
thinking about how they might fit together on the court.
The laces are Jackie Young, Tip Hayes, Kayla McBride, Alissa Thomas,
Kate Martin and Stephanie Dolson. The lunar owls are Nafisa Collier,
Courtney Williams, Skyler Digg and Smith, Ali Shah Gray, Shakira
Austin and Cameron Brink.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
The myst are Brianna Stewart, djon A.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Carrington, Courtney Vanderslute Jewel Lloyd, Aliah Edwards and Rakia Jackson,
Phantom Satusabele, Marina Maybray, Britney Griner, Natasha Cloud, Katie lu
Samuelson and Sabrinia Escu Rose Are, Angel Reyes, Chelsea Gray,
Britney Sykes, Kalia Copper, Azare Stevens and Lexie Hall. And
the vinyl are Arikee Gumbuwallee, Ray Burrell, Ryan Howard, Aliah Boston,
(29:49):
Jordan Canada and Dierica Hanby. This is chemistry on the court.
Take a moment and make your rankings.
Speaker 5 (29:57):
I feel like, I'm just writing words on a page.
Should they don't have any meaning attached to them. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
At this point, I'm like, I could spend hours, so
instead I'm just gonna go with my gut. This one
was probably the hardest. It's hard to imagine some of them,
(30:25):
and especially with this style of three on three, which
we haven't watched a lot. It's not half court, so
you do have to get up and back, but it's
a shorter court than a standard. How much are the
bigs going to be able to handle defending people with
like great handles? How much are the shorter, smaller players
going to be able to actually make great plays in space?
Like this is? This is really hard. I'm going to
(30:47):
start so that later when you say stuff, I don't
change my answers because I realized how wrong I was.
I just want my gut, as wrong as it may be,
to be what I stick with. Again, do not know
why I answer these things. I said the mist as
number one, I just for some reason, Briana Stewart seems
just so perfect for this particular style of play, and
(31:08):
with jewel and slute feeding her, and just like the
that makeup of that squad to me, is like a
really good mix of bigs and guards. Then I went Vinyl,
I'm really thrilled and excited to see Ari Gay in
this space. After that, again, don't ask me why I
got the phantom, I think it's because I'm really fired
up to see Sabrina feeding Britney Griner and Marina maybriy
(31:29):
when she gets hot. And then the unicorn s too sable,
I think, again, another player who's going to be just
really well suited to this style of play. And then
after that I randomly chose the lunar owls. Again, I
think Fee is a great fit for this. I think
Skyler and Court like I just yeah, again, who the knows?
(31:51):
And I'm already I'm already really questioning my answers, But
that's what I went with. How about you, al.
Speaker 5 (31:56):
I was thinking of chemistry a little bit differently, thinking
about where are we going to have the fewest clashes
of personality, And to me, that is the laces that team.
I think, especially you know Kate Martin, I think you
could throw her anywhere and she's going to bring the
(32:17):
people together. You also then have Steph Dolson and Jackie Young,
who both won gold with the US in twenty twenty
technically twenty twenty one with that first three on three
gold medal three x three, I guess in that case, Yeah,
I just don't see that team having a lot of
intrapersonal problems, and so I think that's going to lead
(32:37):
to good chemistry. Then I have the missed because I
just I think, similar to what you said Sarah before,
it's just Darntony misses on that roster. And then I
have Vinyl Phantom, lunar owls, and Rose and I didn't
read that much into any of those, and so you
shouldn't either.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Okay, pressures on me are hoop head the expert. Let's
hear it all right.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
Well, if you're disappointed by any of these explanations, chalk
it up to the game, because it's a lot going
on in here. But first for me is actually the
lunar owls. I think they have got all the goods
on offense and on defense. I think you started off
strong with Fee who was easily the best two way
player in the WNBA this season. Skyler, who I've just mentioned.
(33:28):
I think she gets a lot of props for her
offensive you know, ability to distribute and run offense. I
think in three on three that's especially important. But I
also think her defense is very underrated. Ali Sha Gray,
we already know she can hit a three ball if
you leave her open. Also an excellent defender. Cam brink
led the league in blocks despite Yeah, but she doesn't
(33:48):
count because she's not playing this year. Well, she doesn't,
but I still want to give them the benefit of
the doubt for having her on the roster and then
having Shakira Austin there to learn from. Like Kira, I
think is the next iteration of where we want Cam
to go in terms of versatility, in terms of mindset
on the court. So I just think they've got a
great mix of stuff going on. And then second for
(34:09):
me was ROSEBC because any team with Chelsea Gray on.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
It, yeah, any team.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Are Yes.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
The fact that she is gonna be playing with Ka
who was as explosive as she is getting her open
in her spots. Britney Sykes, you want to talk about
two way players, she might have been the second best
in my opinion, even though again she didn't play a
full season.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Yeah. My thought with that team though, and now, similar
to Alex Hadden, pretty low is I'm not huge on
the bigs as far as mobility, really, Azare as a right,
she's a little stiff. I love Azare, I love Azrae.
She's a little stiff for me for this kind of game.
She's not gonna be able to stay in the paint
(34:52):
the same way. She's gonna have to spread the court more,
get back and forth. And same with Angel. Angel, you
put her in the paint, she's gonna put in work
on the She's gonna get those inside buckets. She's not
a huge threat outside, even though she's been working on it,
and I don't think of her as like having that
quick reaction making a play on her own kind of
(35:12):
style of play. Yet maybe that's something she'll develop into.
And to me, the bigs on that team are what
took it out for me. Even though I love the
idea of Chelsea and k I respect that.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Angel is the one of those two that I think
I kind of agree with you, moron.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
I think she might surprise us though.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Her rookie season yep.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
And then as Aray Stevens, she's she's a sneaky good
three point shooter. She's a sneaky good, you know, stressed
to floor kind of player.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
It's just more deliberate. It's a deliberate style of play
to me, and the kind of players I want in
this are moving before they're even having a second of think.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
I hear you, I hear you, Yeah, and then I
won't give you my full because some of them I
just kind of woul like, we're gonna put you all
in here because we have to. But third, for me
are the laces I think you know in my top
three is so tight, y'all, it's so tight. It was
so hard to decide between these three teams. But I
think again, any team with at on it Alyssa Thomas
(36:08):
is going to be fantastic. Tip Hays, as I mentioned,
we already know she's great three on three. Wise, Jackie
Young is going to shine in this format and put
her in Kaylea McBride together, please back back again, notre
dame back again.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
And I'm interested to see Steph Dolson because obviously olympian
in three x three, but different style with a full court. Yeah,
all right, make your rankings, make sure you got your
teams one through six, all right. Finally, third box down
on the right side, duos slash combos. We didn't even
know we needed off the court. This is just for
(36:44):
social Who do you want to watch make behind the
scenes videos? Who do you think it'll be fun to watch?
You know, dicking around on the bench, which we need
a new term for dicking around for ladies, booming around,
titting around, racking around.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
You don't want to help me out here, you don't
want to hear my.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Sing around. You're going to have to put a warning
on this episode.
Speaker 5 (37:18):
I was in One of the categories was rock paper scissors,
meaning the answer had to have the word rock paper
or scissors in it, and I was like, lesbian round,
lesbian round.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
We got a couple in there. We did, we did.
Speaker 5 (37:33):
Those were the only scissor related terms.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
My best friend and I have a joke that will
get us every time we see scissors, because we were
playing whatever that game is, like heads up or whatever.
You have the phone on your forehead and you're trying
to guess what it says, and everybody's giving you clues,
and then if you get it right, you get to
like put your head down and it refreshes. So she
was the one holding the phone. She didn't know what
it says, and one of us said, women do this
(37:57):
and she goes scissoring and me immediately refreshed, like I
know that's right, and we're like, what not the answer?
And so now whenever we hear scissors or scissoring, that's
that's all right. We've really taken a detour here. Anyway,
this is a question about duos and commos. We didn't
know we needed off the court. So if you've been
(38:18):
following the social accounts, and if you haven't, get on
it me she's just doing those deep dives for us.
We got to catch up. But there's been a lot
of cool behind the scenes pictures and videos from the arrivals,
from the media day, photo shoots from practice. So what
vibes are you getting from the teams from the teammates.
Are you maybe hoping there might be some collusion with
your favorite w player recruiting a new teammate to your
(38:39):
city now that they've got to got them on their
same unrivaled team. Do you like watching folks with similar
fashion vibes or personality maybe some odd couples, mesh, I
know you've done a deep dive into this. We're gonna
take a second to do this and rank ours, So
hit pause, will rank these and then we're gonna hop
back in. All right, This was another tough one, especially
(39:00):
because you've only gotten a little taste of what these
players look like playing together, hanging out together. So this
is kind of a guest for some of these mish
what you got.
Speaker 4 (39:10):
Well to start things off, it's got to be ROSEBC
because the Angel Times Ca Times Britney Sykes trio is
just bursting with personality. I don't know if folks have
seen yet the Angel and Cop tiktoks. Some of them
go on the actual team page and some of them
just go on their own personal pages. But calling Coy Grandma,
(39:31):
because believe it or not, she's getting up there.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
I think that's hilarious.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
Britney Sykes in anybody, frankly, in a pairing or a
trio is hilarious.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
They posted a video the other day of her.
Speaker 4 (39:43):
It's just a super cut of her dancing at media
day to there she go by Big Lotto and I've
never related to somebody more than when I saw that video,
because there's nothing wrong with breaking out in a little
random dance and making people around you feel a little
bit better.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
After rope.
Speaker 4 (40:00):
It's gotta be the Lunar owls because any team with
Ali Chagray, the content they post with her in it,
it's an immediate like she's one of the most lovable
players out here. And also we got to wish her
a happy belated birthday. Her birthday it was a couple
of days ago. So anything with her is gonna make
me extremely happy because she seems like the kind that's
camera shot. But once you get her out of her shell,
(40:21):
and hopefully they can over the course of the Unrivaled season,
we can get some cool behind the scenes stuff from
her and then the Vinyl. I think the practice content
from them has been fire. I love Jordan Canada as
a leader, her voice, the way that she kind of.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Brings energy to a practice.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
We're gonna get a lot more of that, I'm assuming
as the season goes on, and I just I'm a
nerd about that kind of shit.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
I kind of just love hearing people talk to her
in practice.
Speaker 5 (40:45):
Yea.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
The last place team for me in this category was
the Laces, not because I don't like the players on
the team, but those are just our mild mannered batties,
you know, like we're not gonna get I don't.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Know that we're gonna get a lot out of them,
which is fine.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Steph brings it like fashion and stuff, but she's not
like super over the top personality wise. Yeah, I had
some similar ones to you. I started off with Phantom.
I just Marina Maybury's terrible cooking that she thinks looks
decent has just got me already. I just want to
see where this goes. The fact that she needed to
be told to use spices, and then she made a
(41:19):
cooking video that she's like, Oh, this is gonna be busting,
and then it was not. And then she gave her
homemade pasta to Dja Carrington, the one who had given
her all the spices, and Dja said she left it
in her locker by mistake and didn't get a chance
to try it. And then angel Re said about it,
which is exactly what I thought. Why I think that
was frosted flakes. And if you want to know why
(41:40):
this pasta looked bad, it's because it looked like frosted flakes.
I just need more cooking with Marina Maybury. That's just it.
And then I don't know, BG is sneaky funny at times,
and just the vibes from BG are just fun at
all times. They just did a social video about like
who's your lookalike? And PG was like, no, not playing
(42:01):
this game.
Speaker 5 (42:02):
No.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
My second place was Rose too. Like you said, there's
just a lot of personality there, and you know, Angel
Reese is always gonna bring a whole production to everything
good or bad, and it's gonna be a fashion show
and it's gonna be like, what's the next thing She's like,
you know, she just did vogue for Pete's sake, Like
it's always something with Angel. And then I had the
lunar owls that they're just because I feel like there's
(42:26):
this like Skyler plus Cam, like just like fashion thing
that could be going on there, and same with like
Court is more mask presenting, but also it's like very
fashion forward. But I feel like Skyler and Cam are
full on like models, so to see what they bring
to the pregame fits and maybe you know, and then
(42:46):
I don't know. I just find Fees so likable. She's
not super outgoing, but like her vibes are just chill,
So I'll leave it there. There's a bunch of good
ones that I'm sure are gonna come out after that
it'll be like Oh damn. I didn't even know that
person was so funny. But that's part of the fun here,
what about you, al.
Speaker 5 (43:01):
I just want y'all to know that as part of
this exercise, I tried to calculate the gayest team important.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (43:08):
So I think as of right now it is missed
uh with at least four players who are publicly out,
and so that's great. I just want that to be
on the record of people knowing that. In terms of
the actual duos, though, I would love to have somebody
(43:29):
film a shopping trip with Court Williams and Cam Briank
throw Skyler, Digg and Smith in two Like would love
to just see them like trying on outfits for each
other in the dressing room, mayor ye see what comes out,
just because the sense of fashion style is so different.
But I think it could be really fun. Kate Martin
has such sidekick energy, and I would love to see
(43:51):
her as Alyssa Thomas's sidekick pump up woman. All of
that maybe help Alyssa come out of her shell a
little bit more, because I think she's been such an
underrated player for so long and often doesn't get the
shine that she needs and deserves. So I want to
see if we can have that happen on the laces.
Love it then, Phantom. Okay, this one's a little bit deeper.
(44:15):
But Natasha Cloud's always been somebody that has been so
good at using her platform speaking out about social justice,
racial justice, things that matter to her. Sabrina Unescu not
so much. And so I'm curious to see if maybe
there's something that develops there in terms of the two
of them have an interesting and important conversations off the court.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
All right, get your chemistry, your duo's, combos, trios, the
people that you most want to see hang off the
court written down one through six and again. If you're
not super up to date on these players, you don't
know them well enough, you don't have strong opinions, you
could skip it and keep the integrity of your rankings. Okay,
we're going to give you a minute here. Double check,
make sure you've got each club ranked at least once
(44:57):
in each category. Enjoy this very brief musical interlude. Okay,
here it is the moment of truth. In the bottom
(45:19):
left box. For each club, you're going to write down
the name followed by the ranking that they earned in
each box. So For instance, the first spot in the
first box top left for me is Phantom, So I'm
writing down Phantom with a one. Then I'm going to
the second box and I'm seeing that I had Phantom
at three, I'm writing down a three. Then I've got
(45:39):
them at three again, and so on. Then you're going
to add up the points from each box for each club.
The team with the lowest total points is your unrivaled squad.
And then when you get to that, you'll jot down
the name in the bottom right box. Give it a
big old circle, and start telling the world who your
(46:01):
team is. Make it your whole personality. All right, hit pause,
do some math. Okay, I'm excited about what I got
for a number of reasons. One because I'm a basic
bitch who likes logos and colors, and it was one
of my favorite logos in colors. And also because ultimately
it was never my least favorite in anything. This team
(46:24):
got two ones and four threes, so it's kind of
middle of the road and a bunch, and then it
was my favorite in a couple and it never dropped,
you know, into the fives and sixes. So y'all, but
I'm Team Phantom, oh okay, okayissing. It was a two
team race and Phantom is my club, all right? Which
(46:47):
you got me?
Speaker 2 (46:49):
Coming in first? For me is ROSEBC.
Speaker 4 (46:52):
Whoa I had three ones for Rose, so three top choices,
two fours in one to three.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (47:01):
I was not expecting this. I had an idea in
the back of my head of what my team was
gonna be. But I'm not mad at it. I'm not
mad at it.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Okay, al who you got?
Speaker 5 (47:13):
Okay? My number one team is the Laces Best, which
I think is so funny because I realized that I
ranked them last in terms of players, but then first
in terms of chemistry and duos, which gives you a
sense of how much they picture thought I put into that.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Not scientific, No.
Speaker 5 (47:39):
No, I think maybe some of those quizzes that we
took in old magazines for a little bit more scientific,
at least the attentions to detail that I put into them.
But I'm Team Laces from here on out.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
I'm Jellyfish on that logo to be honest, because the
Lace's logo is fire. But I love that we all
ended up with different teams. Let the ship talk and
begin Phantom, and it was meant to be because the
ghosts the spooky. Okay, we want to see your work,
so snap a shot of your draft and send it
to us. We want to know how you got to
(48:11):
your final answer, no judgment. It can look real messy.
I think I might post the messy one and then
rewrite it so that people can actually see what's going on.
But send it to us. We got to take a
quick break. When we come back, you get a slice,
and you get a slice, everybody gets a slice. Welcome back, slics.
(48:38):
We got big news this week.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
Huge.
Speaker 1 (48:41):
Okay, here's the deal. There's an opportunity for you, yes
you listening right now, to get in the women's sports
game in a big way. To put your money where
your mouth is, kick your fandom into high gear and
support this thing that has brought us all together, a
love of women's sports. You can be a part of
something that changes the way folks think about ownership in sports,
decision making and community building. Now, we're not going to
(49:03):
tell you what it is just yet, but know that
we're all in and we're super stoked about it. Sised
even right, mesh, we all real siced about it. Also,
know that we know that this sounds like a pyramid scheme,
or maybe a way to get slices to pay off
my mortgage, or a new kind of bitcoin. The good
news is it is none of those things, but we
can't tell you what it is just yet. We'll bring
(49:25):
you more details later this week, so hold on to
your butts. In just a few days, you're going to
think of slices in a whole new way. How's effroteaz y'all.
We love that you're listening, but we want you to
get in the game every day too. So here's our
good gameplay of the day. I already said it. Send
us a snapshot of your unrivaled team draft. We want
to see those cute little papers with your rankings, and
we want to see the team you ended up with.
Send them to our email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com,
(49:47):
and we always love a voicemail eight seven two two
oh four fifty seventy. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review, y'all.
It's easy watch art, but make it sports. Recent Twitter
posts featuring Naomio Osaka and the eighteenth painting under the
Wave off Kanagawa also known as the Wave, rating five
out of five all hits no missus review. Seriously, this
(50:09):
account does not miss It is an instant follow for
a reason. The main premise, if you've never seen the
Art but Make It Sports account, is to take a
sports photo and put it side by side with the
piece of art that it resembles, and the stuff that
they pair together is wild uncanny. The account is run
by l J Raider, who sifts through thousands of pieces
of art to make matches every single time. And I
(50:30):
know what you're thinking. No, he does not use AI.
It's all up in his brain. Some pieces come to
him right away, some come after a quick spin through
folders of art on his phone. One of the folders
is labeled meme Fuel. It's really impressive and the post
with Naomi is just the latest in a long stretch
of brilliance. Fun fact, after I started reposting his stuff
in the early days of the account, he even set
(50:50):
me an actual piece of art. It's an Art but
Make It Sports combo featuring obviously Michael Jordan. We threw
a link in our episode notes where you can see
the Osaka post for yourself, and where you can subscribe
to the Art button Make It Sports substack. Give them
a follow on socials too. Now it's your turn, rate
and review. Thanks for listening, See you tomorrow. Good Game Unrivaled,
(51:11):
Good Game, Phantom Rose and Laces few actual pyramid schemes.
Stop praying on vulnerable folks with promises that are mathematically
impossible and leggings that usually ultimately suck. Good Game with
Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership
with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us
(51:31):
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are
Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett,
Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder. Our editors are
Emily Rudder, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and Lindsay Crawdowell. Production
assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain
Host
Sarah Spain
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Decisions, Decisions
Welcome to "Decisions, Decisions," the podcast where boundaries are pushed, and conversations get candid! Join your favorite hosts, Mandii B and WeezyWTF, as they dive deep into the world of non-traditional relationships and explore the often-taboo topics surrounding dating, sex, and love. Every Monday, Mandii and Weezy invite you to unlearn the outdated narratives dictated by traditional patriarchal norms. With a blend of humor, vulnerability, and authenticity, they share their personal journeys navigating their 30s, tackling the complexities of modern relationships, and engaging in thought-provoking discussions that challenge societal expectations. From groundbreaking interviews with diverse guests to relatable stories that resonate with your experiences, "Decisions, Decisions" is your go-to source for open dialogue about what it truly means to love and connect in today's world. Get ready to reshape your understanding of relationships and embrace the freedom of authentic connections—tune in and join the conversation!