June 3, 2024 • 34 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses the viral incident from Saturday where Caitlin Clark was maliciously shoved in the back by an opponent, why it feels like most WNBA players around the league have it out for her, why Clark's own Indiana Fever teammates still haven't really come to her defense throughout all this and whether or not the powers that be in the WNBA need to step in and protect their golden goose.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight
Fire for Monday, June the third, and I hope everybody
had as good of a weekend as I did. Oh
so spectacular. Here's how great you know? The weekend is well.
I watched a couple of movies that I'll touch on first,
(00:32):
but not having NBA playoffs was just incredible. There's no
need for me to watch NHL. I couldn't tell you
who's in the finals. Rob did mention before we started recording.
Edmonton's in cool Edmonton Oilers, awesome, congrats Canada. I didn't
watch any baseball over the weekend. I watched a movie
that I had no cuil existed, and then I told
(00:52):
my brother it's called The Gray Man. I'll talk about
it in a second awesome movie. I can't believe nobody's
talked about this. And I went to you know, Open
this morning to record the podcast. I hadn't opened my
computer all weekend. What a victory, you know, just on
the phone, played some sports. I had a big men'sley
game Sunday against this team. I won't bore you with
(01:13):
the details. We got to win by eight or nine.
But they were you know, a bunch of young, super
athletic guys who didn't have size, but they try hard.
Oh my gosh, off the charts they had like twenty
offensive rebounds, just out on sheer, hustle and the whole game.
You know, these guys, they they're they're fans of the
herd and stuff, and I think some of them listen
to the podcast and they're, you know, I got j Mack,
(01:35):
I got you know, they're like calling it out like that,
like I like I matter or something. You're a fun game,
like kids had sports obviously a little bit, and I
played a lot. Listen. I'll say this, pickleball, I'm late
to the party. You guys know this. When anybody goes
all in on something, I'm out. Like cargo shorts back
in the day, No thanks, I'm good. I don't eat
cargo shorts. Then you have kids and you're like, oh
(01:57):
my gosh, cargo shorts so clutch. But anytime someone goes
all in on something, I'm just I'm kind of out
and I want to be a follower of the crowd.
So I haven't played pickleball my life. My son had
it in Pe. Yes, out here in Los Angeles First
Middle School pe they rotate like swimming at the local pool, table, tennis, whatever,
and pickleball was one of them. And he comes home
(02:18):
raving about it, and so he starts to play, and
I'm like, all right, I gotta see what this is
all about. So I play and it's like, not bad,
it's kind of fun and exciting, and it's not that
much of a sweat. One on one is a little
bit of a sweat, but it's a lot easier than tennis.
And so me and my son were playing Sunday morning
one on one, you know whatever, and our hours up
on the court and these two old ladies were waiting
for their other players to show up at two v
(02:39):
two and my son goes, d do you guys want
to play us two on two? I'm just telling you
it's two ladies one hundred percent. They were over sixty
years old, and they both had gray hair. Now they
were in shape, but they were had gray hair. And
I'm like, okay, my son, you know, is just like,
let's go. We're gonna smash them. And I see from
this this woman, by the way, had been there for
like thirty minutes early, stretching and all this stuff, A
(03:00):
feeling like she's real. She starts serving and it's like,
what is this? What is happened? Spin pace everything, and
we're just caught off guard. Like we again, I've played
for like a week and we were athletics. We can
get stuff, but they know like the rotations, what to
do with the net. And it was an eye open experience.
And yes, we lost badly to too sixty year old.
(03:20):
It was humbling at the end. I'm like they were like,
oh they could tell. We were like shell shocked. And
this woman's like, we've been playing for many years. I
was like, oh, this is my first week, and I
go do you guys play often? She goes yeah, pretty
much every day. And I was like, oh, every day
you're playing pickleball, and so they're really listen. So there's
a fun sport. So now naturally I started to text
some dads, all right, who's in let's go bonding with
(03:42):
the kids. But I will quickly rattle off a couple
movies I saw this weekend with my son die Hart,
not die Hard, die Heart one and two with Kevin
Hart Rob have you even heard of those two?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I have not heard of either of those movies.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Okay, yes, so they're on Amazon Prime. I've never done
the let me just go see what's happening on Amazon Prime.
But we're on there looking for something. I'm like Kevin
Hart die Heart. Oh maybe it's okay, we check it out.
It's okay, serviceable, quick, ninety minutes and yeah, if you
have ninety minutes to kill, it's fine. It's not earth
shattering and not gonna have to think. And we watched
(04:16):
this movie called gray Man, who starting Ryan Gosling and again,
never heard of this. Have you heard of it? Rob,
I have heard of it.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I haven't seen it.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
So it's on Netflix. Okay, you gotta watch that this week.
It's really good. So it's essentially Ryan Gosling is like
kind of a Jason Bourne almost with a couple tweaks
to the storyline, but like the gist of it. If
you like Jason Ward, you will absolutely love this. I
thought it was tremendous. I started to text people like
have you seen this? Nobody's heard of it, and this
(04:47):
is again we're gonna do sports here in a second.
But my big issue with the streaming is like I
didn't know Kevin Hart had these two movies. I didn't
know Ryan Gosling had this movie because they're not like
advertised on billboards or on commercials traditional ways. I don't
watch ads when I go to YouTube, I just don't
do that. I don't know where they're advertising these movies.
(05:09):
But I don't go to Netflix and just surf around
for what to watch. So I didn't know these things existed.
And it was like, I would highly recommend. It's got
real people too. It's Gossling, It's got Captain America Anna
d Rmass, who is you know, extremely I think I
might have butcher her name, but she's extremely attractive, and
Billy Bob Thornton. It's got like real actors. And I'm like, damn,
(05:31):
maybe I'm missing out on the streaming world. Anyways, there
was one interesting thing to happen in sports this weekend,
just one, and it involved Kaitlin Clark. And I'm sure
you guys saw this. So Saturday, Indiana Fever versus Chicago
whatever their name is, and it was billed as Angel
Rees versus Kaitlin Clark, Part three. I believe they faced
(05:56):
off twice in college and now they had this matchup
and listen, folks, I'm being honest with you the WNBA stuff.
If Kaitlin Clark's playing, I'm actually like, oh, let me
check out. Let me just check out the game. I
just want to see what's happening. And all of a sudden,
(06:17):
you know, I played pickleball with my son Saturday morning.
I played some hoops and I missed the beginning of
the game, and then I opened my phone. I've got
all these texts, Oh, this is so dirty, the jealousy
is outrageous, and I had no idea what people were
talking about. So then I see the clip of this.
I think her name is Chnnity Carter. Essentially, her and
(06:37):
Kitlin Clark got a little dust up and there's like
a Zapruder level breakdown on what happened that led to this,
and this girl Carter hits a basket right, and Indiana
goes to take the ball out, and as the girl
steps behind the line to take it out, this girl
Carter says, that's for you, bitch or whatever. She says
(06:57):
something with the B word and then goes over and
body checks Caitlyn Clark to the ground. The ball hasn't
even been inbounded and the referees blew the whistle and I'm like, oh,
that's a what is it? A dead ball foul? So
you get a free throw and then no flagrant nothing.
The ref was right there, didn't like step in to
break it up or anything. And Kitlin Clark is like,
what are you doing? You just got body checked. And
(07:20):
this is where it gets weird. If everybody wants to
break down the angles. There's an angle, a camera angle
that shows the Chicago bench and when this girl decks
and I listen, I know people didn't like it. When
I said Jordan Poole got sucker punch by Draymond Green. Folks,
I will go to my diean deathbed. That was a
sucker punch. Draymond Green to Jordan Pool, you are teammates.
(07:43):
Even if your jawjacket in practice and shoving, you don't
just rear back and cock and bury someone with a punch.
You don't do that. That was a sucker punch. And
we could disagree, rob might I know other people will
I thought it was a sucker punch. I thought this
was a dirty body check by this on Kitlyn Clark.
Yet Angel Reese and another girl on the bench as
(08:06):
soon as the play happens, just dex Kitlin Cark. These
two girls stand up and are cheering, stand up and cheering,
and y'all can say all you want, Well, look at
the other end. Caitlin kind of throws an elbow. I
didn't think it was. They were jostling for the ball.
If you want to call it a foe like a
half an elbow, fine, go ahead, that's fine. Guess what
(08:27):
Angel rees and the bench could not see that. They
didn't know what was happening. Now, on the way back
down the court, Kitler Clark said something to her after
that little jostling moment. Nobody on the Chicago bench could
have possibly seen that Katelin Clark didn't have the ball.
They were just simply cheering. The fact that someone body
checked Caitlin Clark to the ground, and that, to me
(08:50):
is so fundamentally wrong. You guys know, I play in
men's leagues. In no way, shape or form would I
be happy with on my teammates for body checking somebody
on a dead ball play at all, Like, what are
you doing? What what? We're playing basketball? Hard fouls? I
get that's a different story, but what are we doing
body checking Kaitlin Crook. So then and this is what
(09:13):
I don't like about the WNBA right now is the
narrative around it. Rob. It's all, well, this league is
just full of all these people who hate Katelin Clark.
They're so jealous, and it's it's being painted as a
racial thing. And you know where that is that becomes political.
(09:33):
You know, one side doesn't like the w NBA and
they want to say, you know, the usual comments about
the league, and the other side is, well, don't work
pro Kaitlin Clark, and then it becomes like a political
race issue, and then the discussion is out one. I
think we can have like an actual discussion about it, Rob,
because from my perspective, I do think there is an
(09:56):
underlying jealousy of Kaitlin Clark throughout the league. And there's
a lot of people out there in the WNBA who
comment on the WNBA who, you know, let's be blunt,
they think Caitlin Clark is a little overrated. She didn't
win a national championship. She lost to Angel Reese two
years ago, and she lost to South Carolina last year.
(10:20):
So she didn't win a championship. Is she that good?
And then this girl. Carter went online afterward and said,
what's the big deal? All she can do is hit
three pointers? Like that's all she can do. This sounds
not totally similar, but a little bit like the Steph
Curry narrative when he popped in twenty fifteen. Do you
(10:42):
guys remember the disdain from Berkley and Shack. I wish
somebody would cut up how bad those guys took shots
at Curry in twenty fifteen and in twenty sixteen, Curry's
leading the league in scoring, the Warriors are sixty seven wins,
they win the title, and Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, all
(11:02):
these guys were pissed that Steph Curry quote unquote cut
the line. He didn't wait his turn. He went from
monta Ellis and forty wins to holy shit, sixty seven
wins in the title and the splash brothers and fans
love them, and the jerseys are selling out. Wait, wait, wait,
we've been here. We've been waiting our turn. You know,
(11:23):
Kobe had his run, oh Lebron, you know, everybody had
their run. It's our turn. Russell Westbrook thought he had next,
Chris Paul thought he had next with Lob city and
Curry just zoomed past him. And there's a lot my guests,
my guess, there's a lot of women in the WNBA
who feel like, Hey, I've been averaging twenty points a game.
This girl Carter, who I'd never heard of, nobody had
(11:45):
ever heard of. Sorry, I guarantee you zero people who
listen to this podcast, zero people who watched me on
the herd, had ever heard of this girl before. Apparently
Screw scored like twenty points a game in China last year. Okay,
I just feel confident in saying we're not gonna know
who she is a week from now. And she got
her name in the lights by knocking Caitlin Clark down
(12:08):
and then making some derogatory comments. You don't need me
to sit here and say, Kaitlin Clark's the reason the
WA and NBA has all this type. Kaitlin Clark is
the reason that you guys are on private jets now
and have you you're no longer on commercial flights flying
spirit Air with the rest of the unwashed masses. Okay,
(12:30):
you guys don't need to say that. I don't need
to say that and repeat that that's been out there
for a while the reality, the fact of the matter
is the jealousy for an undersized you know, Kaitlin Clark's
not big. An undersized white girl taking over women's basketball
has people irate. They lost their minds when an undersized, skinny,
(12:52):
little runt Steph Curry took the NBA by store, people
just refuse to believe it. I'm telling you. Even during
that seventy three wins season when they had more wins
than the Chicago Bulls with Jordan, there was still so
many doubters, And of course everybody took glee when they
lost to Lebron and Kyrie, and then they got Kevin
(13:13):
Durant and it was like, oh, well, come on, that's unfair,
And then everybody's Curry didn't do this. Curry didn't do that.
Curry won in twenty twenty two. I haven't heard a
damn thing about Curry from the usual suspects since they
won that title. My gut rob is that this kind
of stuff is gonna percolate all season. I think the
WNBA needs to step in sooner than later, because I'm
(13:34):
just telling you, I put this tweet out there when
I saw it, when I saw the video, they better
not let some of these girls who were jealous of
Kate Laclark killed the Golden Goose and really injure her
if she's got to miss a month. I'm sorry. Ain't
nobody talking about the WNBA. I'm sorry. That's just how
it is. You guys can be great at the sport,
Your team can be good. You might score twenty twenty
(13:56):
five a game. I don't care who you are. That's
just how it is right now. You're gonna have to
just deal with it. Play your best and don't take
cheap shots at the most famous player in the WNBA
right now. And I know Kelsey Plumb with Vegas is
super famous, and the girl with Vegas who's won the MVP,
she's awesome, the lefty. It's Kaitlin Clark's league right now, Guys.
(14:17):
I know that hurts to hear. That's just how it
is now.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Rob.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Here's my concern. If the league steps in and says stuff,
I think you get a lot of upset players pissed
that Caitlin Clark's getting this defense from the league. And
if they do nothing, I'm worried Clark might get injured.
The NFL protects its quarterbacks. You can't hit Brady. They
want to protect Mahomes and why because you need those
(14:43):
guys in the postseason. You need them healthy. We're able
to watch Sunday Night football with Zach Wilson against whoever
the backup is in Kansas City is crap compared to
Mahomes versus Aaron Rodgers. That's the reality. So I think
the league does need to step in. This is a
delicate shoot for them. And I'm sorry guys, some of
these ladies in the league. They need to clean up
(15:04):
their friggin' act because this is unacceptable.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Could not agree with you more.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
And this is what is very frustrating for me, because,
like you said in the beginning of your rant, there
people are trying to make it a racial thing. And
to some extent, I understand again because she is the
great White Hope right the way she's being marketed, and
I'm sure that that plays us a part of a
role into why she's so popular. Because she shoots the
(15:42):
logo threes. She is a white girl from you know,
the cornfields of Iowa, right, So I'm sure that narrative
plays a role. We've kind of seen this story before, though,
you remember, and I can only say it can I
saw from there for thirty documentary The Fab Five Versus Duke,
(16:04):
And in that documentary they ask all those five guys,
what was your first thought about Christian there, who at
the time was the man. He was the face of
college basketball, he was the best player on the best team,
getting all the magazine cover shoots, all that stuff. They
go down the list, overrated, pretty boy, a bitch like that?
(16:26):
That that's how they felt about it. That was your
friend of the show, Jimmy King. Yeah, think he's been
on the bottom. But and you know what, I have
no problem with that. I have no issue with you
thinking that he's overrated, or in this case, Caitlyn Clark's overrated,
that she's a pretty girl. That I mean, I wouldn't
use the B word to describe another woman, but I
have no issue with you thinking that about her. And
(16:49):
if you really feel that way, then what you do
is you bust her ass on the court, which has
basically been what's happening right the team sucks. Yesterday, she
went one for ten the day after this whole drama happened.
You don't even know about that, because only one was
talking about is the shove of my mind. They don't
even care that they played again on Sunday and they
got tuned up again. And if you really think she's overrated,
(17:10):
and if you really think she's not that good and
that she's being propped up by the media or whatever,
then what you do is you go out there and
you dominate her the way that teams have been dominating her.
And that's fine, that's acceptable, that's part of sports. What
it's not acceptable, and what is so shortsighted and flat
out stupid is going out of your way to rough
her up, to cheap shot her in the back, to
(17:32):
hard foul her across the face, to do all these
little things to kind of send a message. You'd be like, yeah,
you're really not all that. If she is or she isn't,
it's not important right now. What's important is that Caitlin
Clark is single handedly making you money. What kind of
person in their right mind would go out of their
way to sabotage the person or the thing that is
(17:55):
making them money. If Jason McIntyre legitimately had an issue
with Colin cowar I'm not saying you do, but if
you did, to go publicly scorch the earth and say
derogatory or inappropriate things about Colin Cowherd, whether they're true
or not, would be a dumb move by you. Because
right now, Colin Cowherd is the tenth poll for FS one.
(18:17):
If he does well, everybody does well. If Kaitlyn Clark again,
if her team's losing, whatever, that didn't seem to matter,
because according to the attendance records, seven of the of
their games have averaged over seventeen thousand attendants in attendance.
That is the most in WMA history. Her debut was
the highest rated debut or the highest rated game in
(18:37):
over twenty years. Her first game on ABC was the
highest rated in their network's history. Everything about her is
bringing positive information and attention to your league, which is
going to lead to It's already got the Charter Jets'
number one and number two. The new CBA is coming
up after next season. If Kaitlin Clark what again, whether
(19:01):
her team is good or not, Right now, she alone
is getting people interested in talking about your league. If
all of these cheap shot fouls and this chicken shit
played by a lot of her contemporaries continues, what's to
stop her from saying, you know, I don't need this shit.
I'm gonna go take that five million dollars from ice.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Cube and then what.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Do you want to play in front of four thousand
people again? Do you want to have to go play
in Russia overseas and risk a Britney Grander situation because
you don't make enough money to support yourself on American soil.
I don't get it. It's stupid and these girls should
really be embarrassed at themselves.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yeah, it's it's rough. The only argument I saw online
that I thought had credibility rob was where the hell
are kitling Clark's teammates? Like, why aren't they stepping in
when people are decking her? And she's gonna in incidents
all the time because people are coming at her and
they're jostling her, And like, I think, I'm not saying
(19:58):
they need to go out and hire like a.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Does NATed goon.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
They don't need a Eudonis Haslam on the roster. They
don't need a Charles Oakley but and again, I don't
know the women's basketball culture in WNBA. Rob, maybe you
could speak to this. I mean, I can't imagine that
you could, but I'm just putting this out there. In
any sport, football, basketball, baseball, like somebody goes down, you
(20:24):
help them up. Somebody comes after your guy in baseball,
if your guy gets hit by the pitch, they're throwing
at you next time you're up right at the pitcher,
Like there's payback. There's retaliation in the NFL. I don't
know that it's as much retaliation, but it's certain Like listen, man,
if someone comes after your teammate, you're getting in there instantly.
(20:45):
You're like a family. And I don't maybe just in
WNBA there's not But like Kate Laccrocott knocked down and
like her teammate didn't step in Carter's face, Like, what
the hell are you doing? The girl witnessed it, the
girl inbounding it. I don't know, Rob, did you did
that strike you as a little bit odd?
Speaker 3 (21:00):
It did on its face until I thought about her
for a few more minutes, and it's like, I think
her teammates don't like her either. Oh no, really, I
have a feeling, and you can tell early on in
the season. And I, you know, I've watched most of
every game she's played because most of the time it's
on when an out of the studio for the radio show.
So her first game or her first couple of games,
(21:23):
there were times where her teammates were freezing her out.
I don't know if you remember watching that, Like she'd
get the ball, she'd give it up at the top
of the keys, she'd ask for it back, and they
just wouldn't look her way because you know, they got
to get there, and that's why their team, that's part
of the reason why their team sucks. And then I
think that because she is getting all this attention, because
(21:43):
it quite honestly, members of the media are glossing over
a lot of her shortcomings, even though the rod numbers
look fine. I think she's you know, amongst guards first
and rebounds first and assists you know second in scoring
and her efficiency is actually like right on par with
other household name guards like Kelsey Plum, Sabrine I and
SQ like they're there. None of them shoot very well.
(22:05):
It's not a guard's league. It's it's a big and
a wing league and a WNBA three, old school NBA
like that. But she also leads to the WNBA and turnovers,
and not a lot of people are talking about that.
And so I think, again, this is just me and
my opinion. I think her teammates see like, well, you know,
she's really not that good. She's just two for ten
from three, and she just jacks up these shots and
(22:25):
blah blah blah blah, and people still want to talk
about her. I'm gonna show her that that she's really
not all that. And I can do the same thing
if I get the opportunity. And I have a feeling
that the jealousy and of the resentment runs ramped through
the league, including amongst her own teammates.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Hmmm, that's a Now that's a fire tape. So I
I did check last night and I didn't even know
they played Sunday night. I mean back to back. You know,
the league is screwing Clark and the Fever. Fine, but
they got smoked by the Liberty. You know, they were
down a billion at the end of the first quarter
game over, Clark held to one bucket a three pointer.
(22:59):
Here's the quote from Sabrina Aynescu, who I know Rob
referenced her earlier and apparently she's like really really good.
I'm sure she's excellent. I would know her if she
delivered a pizza to to my house like later today.
So I just don't know who she is. I know
the name, I've seen it online. I'm sure she's a
phenomenal player. I think collectively as a team, we understand
who kind of the head of the monster is on
(23:21):
that team, and we're just trying to make everything tough
and difficult. So Sabrina Aescu, one of the best players
in the league, is saying that we need to chop
off the head of the monster, and then that team
is not going to do anything. Meanwhile, you've got this
dope on Chicago, Carter Kennedy, who's saying, well, other than
three pointers, like, what is she? What's She's nothing special?
(23:43):
Yet you have one of the best player in the
league saying the exact opposite. And I don't know, Rob,
I don't I can't think of an experience in sports
as a as a fan where nobody likes the superstar
that is loved by everyone else, Like the Warriors loved
(24:03):
Steph Curry. Superstars in the league didn't like him because
he was bypassing them. But I don't think his own
teammates ever didn't like him. I mean, he's extremely nice guy,
well liked on and off the court. He's he's popular
among players in the league. But I think it was
superstars didn't like him. I have zero context for almost
(24:24):
the entire league disliking her. Now that's probably a bit
strong because some people are saying stuff, but actions over words, right,
I mean the actions are cheap shots and I don't know,
like not one of hey, let me help you up.
You just got decked by someone on the other team.
So I don't know, Rob, I'm gonna need to search
(24:45):
far and wide to find maybe it's happened in soccer,
like in ted Lasso with Did you watch the show
or No?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I've seen pieces I would never actually watched.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
No, No, it's it's great. You gotta watch that. The the
one they're like, they're best player the first season is
a dick and he's super arrogant and you know, talking
trash to his own teammates, get me the ball, blah blah,
not trying, you know, and his team that did not
like him, And that's a fictional character. I don't know,
(25:17):
rub do you have anyone who nobody likes a star
on our team? I can't think of this ever happening.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Now. Again, that's just your allegation that the team does.
Like it's more common in movies for sure. I mean,
I guess if you were so, this might even be
a stretch. You could make the case that Michael Jordan's
teammates did not like him and that kind of played
down there. Wait, which just watching the last dance. If
you watch the Last Dance and if you kind of
(25:43):
know some people who cover the team back then, he
ruled with an iron fist. He was always intense. He
was not a guy to play around with. Oh kind
of Yeah, So it's possible. Again, I don't know, but
it's possible that for the most part his teammates maybe
did or did not like him, but there was all
the respect factor, like, hey, you know what, no matter
(26:03):
what he does or says to me in practice, I
don't I mean, I like it, but the fact is
that he's leading us to wins, and we got to
respect his talent and his ability, and that's going to
go as far as we can take it. Like, not
everybody is meant to be liked, you know what I mean.
And the difference was, at least in this situation, is
as great as Michael Jordan and Kobe and Lebron, and
he brought up Steph Curry. As great as those guys are,
(26:26):
none of them were ever tasked with carrying an entire
league right when by the time Jordan popped magic and
burd had already taken care of that. Now he took
it to the next level. But there was no concern
about the viability of the NBA when Michael Jordan came along.
There was no concern about whether or not the NBA
(26:47):
could operate in the black when Lebron and Kobe came around, right,
and the WNBA is being propped up and held up
by the NBA. They're the one financing everything. The WNBA
is right now is not profitable and all the things
that they've been asking for and clamoring for is finally
like at their doorstep. And it's because of this one player.
(27:09):
It's because of Kaylen Clark. If Kaylyn Clark is as
good as we hope she will be, then this league
could be profitable. They could be getting charter jets, they
could be getting you know, multimillion dollar contracts, so she
has the weight of just not just herself and her
own expectations or expections for her, she has the weight
of the future of the entire league on her. So
(27:33):
I know this is kind of a tangent here, but
it's unlikely. But I don't think it's out of their
own possibility that you know, she's just people are so
jealous of her that they would much rather see her
get exposed than to embrace what she's doing for the league.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
I should also add that maybe maybe this was just
a one off, like a dirty shot. Somebody looked up
Carter's background. This woman Chnnity Carter is her name. So
she was a first round pick in twenty twenty. She
was dumped by the team that drafted her in twenty
twenty one after threatening to beat up one of her teammates.
(28:12):
They dumped her and called it conduct detrimental to the team.
She was dumped the fourth overall pick, and a year later,
because she threatened to beat up one of her teammates,
they dumped her. The LA Sparks picked her up and
then waived her for poor conduct. She was basically excommunicated
by the league. This woman and played abroad and now
the sky pick her up and lo and behold she's
(28:37):
playing with Angel Reese and boom she body checks Kitlin Clark.
I mean, I don't know, folks. I know people don't
want me to drag Angel Reese into this the l
at the former LSU star. I'm sorry, Rob, you watched
a video of her jumping up off the bench cheering
Kitlin Clark getting decked. Earlier she put out like I
think earlier last week she put out a tweet about
(28:59):
Kitlin Clark after they lost a game and then deleted it.
I don't know what is wrong with this girl. She
just has it out for Clark. And I know some
people are gonna be like Jay, Wait, wait wait. You
and Rob loved those nineties NBA rivalries where teams weren't
all friendly and cozy and hanging out in the offseason
like they are now. You guys loved the hatred of
(29:21):
Knicks Bulls. Yeah, sure they did not like each other.
But is this the same thing Angel Reese like basically
against Caitlin Clark. She's one and two. You know, Catlin
Clark lost to her in the title game, beat her
in the final four the next year and now this one.
(29:41):
So is this clearly is a rivalry. I think it's
kind of one sided because remember at the draft they
were like hanging out, not just them two, but like
the top, the Brink and Clark, and they were all
like hanging out, and it felt like it was just like, Hey,
on the court, I'm a different person, and I've seen
(30:02):
that with guys to some extent, I can be a germ.
I'm on the basketball court, not like this. But I
don't know, Rob, are we missing should we like say, hey,
this is great for the sport. I mean, obviously it's
great for the sport, but I don't like the Detroit
Pistons roughing up Michael Jordan is a terrible analogy because
that was like hard basketball fouls. This is a dead
(30:25):
ball body check. Nobody ever did that to Michael. I've
never seen that done in the NBA. And so I
don't know. This doesn't strike me as rivalry. It's almost
like creepy, jealousy, petty anger. I don't know, Rob, Yeah, no,
we miss you were right there at the end.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
It's jealousy, it's anger, it's pettiness, it's all of the above,
and to anyone who's saying that we like nine. I
love nineties NBA. I love too. I love the the
fact that the Lakers and the Kings didn't like each
other them in two thousands, Like I love that kind
of I love the bad blood and you know, the
trash talk and even the hard fouls when it calls
for no problem with that. The issue, again, as you
(31:03):
alluded to, is it's one thing to have a rivalry
and an on court river or even an off court
rivalry where you just don't like someone and you want
to beat them over and over and over. And I
understand that part. What you don't do is shit where
you eat. What you don't do is go out of
your way to injure somebody or try to hurt somebody
(31:25):
who again it's a broken record. Who is putting money
in your pocket? If Caitlyn Clark is like, I saw
the attendance over the weekend, and it's up across the league,
because again, Kaitlyn Clark by herself is like a one
woman economy, right, Like Indiana Fever have already gotten more
attendance in their first ten games and they had all
(31:45):
last season, right, So excuse me. The first more attendants
in the first five home games versus twenty of last seasons,
So they're gonna bliterate whatever their home record was. Just
based on Caitlyn Clark rough math, she is worth approximate
lee ten thousand more people in attendance on a game
to game basis than everybody else in the league. So
(32:06):
in a game that she plays, if they get twenty
thousand people, in a game that she doesn't play, there
would get ten thousand. That's basically the argument. And even
there's some that are actually losing attendance based on last season,
and that's what their team being. Not even terrible, they're
just okay. So why again would you go out of
your way to hurt this person Again you cannot like her.
(32:32):
You can want to quote unquote expose her, that's fine,
But what they're doing is cutting off their nose to
spite their face. I don't get it.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, well, I'll wrap with this rob. The WNBA should
really have a come to Jesus moment here. So this
is a crazy stat I saw on social media. The
Las Vegas Aces, who won the WNBA last year. They've
played six games, okay, the first twenty days of the season, six.
(33:02):
Kaitlin Clark's Fever have played eleven. What what are you doing?
Or do we just want to grunner into the ground
and capitalize on the Kitlin Clark's the Caitlin Clark effect.
Eleven games in twenty days, Lebron would be sitting out
any NBA start. I mean when Ben Yama ain't doing that,
he's load managing from the jump. The Vegas Aces have
(33:23):
played six games in twenty days. Meanwhile, they're just force
feet now. Kaitlin Clark does have like a four or
five day hiatus here. Yes, I checked the schedule, and
then the schedule softens up so they'll get some w's.
But I don't know, man, Maybe the WNBA is doing
it right. But holy hell, this is way more WNBA
than we've ever talked. We just banged out twenty five
(33:45):
minutes on the WNBA on a Monday in June. NBA
finals don't start until Thursday. Obviously we do a lot.
There is a guest we have coming up this week.
I won't spoil it. I think he's been on Yeah,
he's been on the pod once before. But there's a
new TV show about the Clippers that was similar to
the Lakers showtime show on HBO that was awesome, and
(34:07):
we're trying to get a guest who's one of the
stars on that show, so that'll be fun. But I
don't know. NBA Finals coming back, and NFL Camp is
starting to ramp up a little bit. Should be a
fun week ahead. We'll talk to you tomorrow.
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight
Fire for Monday, June the third, and I hope everybody
had as good of a weekend as I did. Oh
so spectacular. Here's how great you know? The weekend is well.
I watched a couple of movies that I'll touch on first,
(00:32):
but not having NBA playoffs was just incredible. There's no
need for me to watch NHL. I couldn't tell you
who's in the finals. Rob did mention before we started recording.
Edmonton's in cool Edmonton Oilers, awesome, congrats Canada. I didn't
watch any baseball over the weekend. I watched a movie
that I had no cuil existed, and then I told
(00:52):
my brother it's called The Gray Man. I'll talk about
it in a second awesome movie. I can't believe nobody's
talked about this. And I went to you know, Open
this morning to record the podcast. I hadn't opened my
computer all weekend. What a victory, you know, just on
the phone, played some sports. I had a big men'sley
game Sunday against this team. I won't bore you with
(01:13):
the details. We got to win by eight or nine.
But they were you know, a bunch of young, super
athletic guys who didn't have size, but they try hard.
Oh my gosh, off the charts they had like twenty
offensive rebounds, just out on sheer, hustle and the whole game.
You know, these guys, they they're they're fans of the
herd and stuff, and I think some of them listen
to the podcast and they're, you know, I got j Mack,
(01:35):
I got you know, they're like calling it out like that,
like I like I matter or something. You're a fun game,
like kids had sports obviously a little bit, and I
played a lot. Listen. I'll say this, pickleball, I'm late
to the party. You guys know this. When anybody goes
all in on something, I'm out. Like cargo shorts back
in the day, No thanks, I'm good. I don't eat
cargo shorts. Then you have kids and you're like, oh
(01:57):
my gosh, cargo shorts so clutch. But anytime someone goes
all in on something, I'm just I'm kind of out
and I want to be a follower of the crowd.
So I haven't played pickleball my life. My son had
it in Pe. Yes, out here in Los Angeles First
Middle School pe they rotate like swimming at the local pool, table, tennis, whatever,
and pickleball was one of them. And he comes home
(02:18):
raving about it, and so he starts to play, and
I'm like, all right, I gotta see what this is
all about. So I play and it's like, not bad,
it's kind of fun and exciting, and it's not that
much of a sweat. One on one is a little
bit of a sweat, but it's a lot easier than tennis.
And so me and my son were playing Sunday morning
one on one, you know whatever, and our hours up
on the court and these two old ladies were waiting
for their other players to show up at two v
(02:39):
two and my son goes, d do you guys want
to play us two on two? I'm just telling you
it's two ladies one hundred percent. They were over sixty
years old, and they both had gray hair. Now they
were in shape, but they were had gray hair. And
I'm like, okay, my son, you know, is just like,
let's go. We're gonna smash them. And I see from
this this woman, by the way, had been there for
like thirty minutes early, stretching and all this stuff, A
(03:00):
feeling like she's real. She starts serving and it's like,
what is this? What is happened? Spin pace everything, and
we're just caught off guard. Like we again, I've played
for like a week and we were athletics. We can
get stuff, but they know like the rotations, what to
do with the net. And it was an eye open experience.
And yes, we lost badly to too sixty year old.
(03:20):
It was humbling at the end. I'm like they were like,
oh they could tell. We were like shell shocked. And
this woman's like, we've been playing for many years. I
was like, oh, this is my first week, and I
go do you guys play often? She goes yeah, pretty
much every day. And I was like, oh, every day
you're playing pickleball, and so they're really listen. So there's
a fun sport. So now naturally I started to text
some dads, all right, who's in let's go bonding with
(03:42):
the kids. But I will quickly rattle off a couple
movies I saw this weekend with my son die Hart,
not die Hard, die Heart one and two with Kevin
Hart Rob have you even heard of those two?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I have not heard of either of those movies.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Okay, yes, so they're on Amazon Prime. I've never done
the let me just go see what's happening on Amazon Prime.
But we're on there looking for something. I'm like Kevin
Hart die Heart. Oh maybe it's okay, we check it out.
It's okay, serviceable, quick, ninety minutes and yeah, if you
have ninety minutes to kill, it's fine. It's not earth
shattering and not gonna have to think. And we watched
(04:16):
this movie called gray Man, who starting Ryan Gosling and again,
never heard of this. Have you heard of it? Rob,
I have heard of it.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I haven't seen it.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
So it's on Netflix. Okay, you gotta watch that this week.
It's really good. So it's essentially Ryan Gosling is like
kind of a Jason Bourne almost with a couple tweaks
to the storyline, but like the gist of it. If
you like Jason Ward, you will absolutely love this. I
thought it was tremendous. I started to text people like
have you seen this? Nobody's heard of it, and this
(04:47):
is again we're gonna do sports here in a second.
But my big issue with the streaming is like I
didn't know Kevin Hart had these two movies. I didn't
know Ryan Gosling had this movie because they're not like
advertised on billboards or on commercials traditional ways. I don't
watch ads when I go to YouTube, I just don't
do that. I don't know where they're advertising these movies.
(05:09):
But I don't go to Netflix and just surf around
for what to watch. So I didn't know these things existed.
And it was like, I would highly recommend. It's got
real people too. It's Gossling, It's got Captain America Anna
d Rmass, who is you know, extremely I think I
might have butcher her name, but she's extremely attractive, and
Billy Bob Thornton. It's got like real actors. And I'm like, damn,
(05:31):
maybe I'm missing out on the streaming world. Anyways, there
was one interesting thing to happen in sports this weekend,
just one, and it involved Kaitlin Clark. And I'm sure
you guys saw this. So Saturday, Indiana Fever versus Chicago
whatever their name is, and it was billed as Angel
Rees versus Kaitlin Clark, Part three. I believe they faced
(05:56):
off twice in college and now they had this matchup
and listen, folks, I'm being honest with you the WNBA stuff.
If Kaitlin Clark's playing, I'm actually like, oh, let me
check out. Let me just check out the game. I
just want to see what's happening. And all of a sudden,
(06:17):
you know, I played pickleball with my son Saturday morning.
I played some hoops and I missed the beginning of
the game, and then I opened my phone. I've got
all these texts, Oh, this is so dirty, the jealousy
is outrageous, and I had no idea what people were
talking about. So then I see the clip of this.
I think her name is Chnnity Carter. Essentially, her and
(06:37):
Kitlin Clark got a little dust up and there's like
a Zapruder level breakdown on what happened that led to this,
and this girl Carter hits a basket right, and Indiana
goes to take the ball out, and as the girl
steps behind the line to take it out, this girl
Carter says, that's for you, bitch or whatever. She says
(06:57):
something with the B word and then goes over and
body checks Caitlyn Clark to the ground. The ball hasn't
even been inbounded and the referees blew the whistle and I'm like, oh,
that's a what is it? A dead ball foul? So
you get a free throw and then no flagrant nothing.
The ref was right there, didn't like step in to
break it up or anything. And Kitlin Clark is like,
what are you doing? You just got body checked. And
(07:20):
this is where it gets weird. If everybody wants to
break down the angles. There's an angle, a camera angle
that shows the Chicago bench and when this girl decks
and I listen, I know people didn't like it. When
I said Jordan Poole got sucker punch by Draymond Green. Folks,
I will go to my diean deathbed. That was a
sucker punch. Draymond Green to Jordan Pool, you are teammates.
(07:43):
Even if your jawjacket in practice and shoving, you don't
just rear back and cock and bury someone with a punch.
You don't do that. That was a sucker punch. And
we could disagree, rob might I know other people will
I thought it was a sucker punch. I thought this
was a dirty body check by this on Kitlyn Clark.
Yet Angel Reese and another girl on the bench as
(08:06):
soon as the play happens, just dex Kitlin Cark. These
two girls stand up and are cheering, stand up and cheering,
and y'all can say all you want, Well, look at
the other end. Caitlin kind of throws an elbow. I
didn't think it was. They were jostling for the ball.
If you want to call it a foe like a
half an elbow, fine, go ahead, that's fine. Guess what
(08:27):
Angel rees and the bench could not see that. They
didn't know what was happening. Now, on the way back
down the court, Kitler Clark said something to her after
that little jostling moment. Nobody on the Chicago bench could
have possibly seen that Katelin Clark didn't have the ball.
They were just simply cheering. The fact that someone body
checked Caitlin Clark to the ground, and that, to me
(08:50):
is so fundamentally wrong. You guys know, I play in
men's leagues. In no way, shape or form would I
be happy with on my teammates for body checking somebody
on a dead ball play at all, Like, what are
you doing? What what? We're playing basketball? Hard fouls? I
get that's a different story, but what are we doing
body checking Kaitlin Crook. So then and this is what
(09:13):
I don't like about the WNBA right now is the
narrative around it. Rob. It's all, well, this league is
just full of all these people who hate Katelin Clark.
They're so jealous, and it's it's being painted as a
racial thing. And you know where that is that becomes political.
(09:33):
You know, one side doesn't like the w NBA and
they want to say, you know, the usual comments about
the league, and the other side is, well, don't work
pro Kaitlin Clark, and then it becomes like a political
race issue, and then the discussion is out one. I
think we can have like an actual discussion about it, Rob,
because from my perspective, I do think there is an
(09:56):
underlying jealousy of Kaitlin Clark throughout the league. And there's
a lot of people out there in the WNBA who
comment on the WNBA who, you know, let's be blunt,
they think Caitlin Clark is a little overrated. She didn't
win a national championship. She lost to Angel Reese two
years ago, and she lost to South Carolina last year.
(10:20):
So she didn't win a championship. Is she that good?
And then this girl. Carter went online afterward and said,
what's the big deal? All she can do is hit
three pointers? Like that's all she can do. This sounds
not totally similar, but a little bit like the Steph
Curry narrative when he popped in twenty fifteen. Do you
(10:42):
guys remember the disdain from Berkley and Shack. I wish
somebody would cut up how bad those guys took shots
at Curry in twenty fifteen and in twenty sixteen, Curry's
leading the league in scoring, the Warriors are sixty seven wins,
they win the title, and Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, all
(11:02):
these guys were pissed that Steph Curry quote unquote cut
the line. He didn't wait his turn. He went from
monta Ellis and forty wins to holy shit, sixty seven
wins in the title and the splash brothers and fans
love them, and the jerseys are selling out. Wait, wait, wait,
we've been here. We've been waiting our turn. You know,
(11:23):
Kobe had his run, oh Lebron, you know, everybody had
their run. It's our turn. Russell Westbrook thought he had next,
Chris Paul thought he had next with Lob city and
Curry just zoomed past him. And there's a lot my guests,
my guess, there's a lot of women in the WNBA
who feel like, Hey, I've been averaging twenty points a game.
This girl Carter, who I'd never heard of, nobody had
(11:45):
ever heard of. Sorry, I guarantee you zero people who
listen to this podcast, zero people who watched me on
the herd, had ever heard of this girl before. Apparently
Screw scored like twenty points a game in China last year. Okay,
I just feel confident in saying we're not gonna know
who she is a week from now. And she got
her name in the lights by knocking Caitlin Clark down
(12:08):
and then making some derogatory comments. You don't need me
to sit here and say, Kaitlin Clark's the reason the
WA and NBA has all this type. Kaitlin Clark is
the reason that you guys are on private jets now
and have you you're no longer on commercial flights flying
spirit Air with the rest of the unwashed masses. Okay,
(12:30):
you guys don't need to say that. I don't need
to say that and repeat that that's been out there
for a while the reality, the fact of the matter
is the jealousy for an undersized you know, Kaitlin Clark's
not big. An undersized white girl taking over women's basketball
has people irate. They lost their minds when an undersized, skinny,
(12:52):
little runt Steph Curry took the NBA by store, people
just refuse to believe it. I'm telling you. Even during
that seventy three wins season when they had more wins
than the Chicago Bulls with Jordan, there was still so
many doubters, And of course everybody took glee when they
lost to Lebron and Kyrie, and then they got Kevin
(13:13):
Durant and it was like, oh, well, come on, that's unfair,
And then everybody's Curry didn't do this. Curry didn't do that.
Curry won in twenty twenty two. I haven't heard a
damn thing about Curry from the usual suspects since they
won that title. My gut rob is that this kind
of stuff is gonna percolate all season. I think the
WNBA needs to step in sooner than later, because I'm
(13:34):
just telling you, I put this tweet out there when
I saw it, when I saw the video, they better
not let some of these girls who were jealous of
Kate Laclark killed the Golden Goose and really injure her
if she's got to miss a month. I'm sorry. Ain't
nobody talking about the WNBA. I'm sorry. That's just how
it is. You guys can be great at the sport,
Your team can be good. You might score twenty twenty
(13:56):
five a game. I don't care who you are. That's
just how it is right now. You're gonna have to
just deal with it. Play your best and don't take
cheap shots at the most famous player in the WNBA
right now. And I know Kelsey Plumb with Vegas is
super famous, and the girl with Vegas who's won the MVP,
she's awesome, the lefty. It's Kaitlin Clark's league right now, Guys.
(14:17):
I know that hurts to hear. That's just how it
is now.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Rob.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Here's my concern. If the league steps in and says stuff,
I think you get a lot of upset players pissed
that Caitlin Clark's getting this defense from the league. And
if they do nothing, I'm worried Clark might get injured.
The NFL protects its quarterbacks. You can't hit Brady. They
want to protect Mahomes and why because you need those
(14:43):
guys in the postseason. You need them healthy. We're able
to watch Sunday Night football with Zach Wilson against whoever
the backup is in Kansas City is crap compared to
Mahomes versus Aaron Rodgers. That's the reality. So I think
the league does need to step in. This is a
delicate shoot for them. And I'm sorry guys, some of
these ladies in the league. They need to clean up
(15:04):
their friggin' act because this is unacceptable.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Could not agree with you more.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
And this is what is very frustrating for me, because,
like you said in the beginning of your rant, there
people are trying to make it a racial thing. And
to some extent, I understand again because she is the
great White Hope right the way she's being marketed, and
I'm sure that that plays us a part of a
role into why she's so popular. Because she shoots the
(15:42):
logo threes. She is a white girl from you know,
the cornfields of Iowa, right, So I'm sure that narrative
plays a role. We've kind of seen this story before, though,
you remember, and I can only say it can I
saw from there for thirty documentary The Fab Five Versus Duke,
(16:04):
And in that documentary they ask all those five guys,
what was your first thought about Christian there, who at
the time was the man. He was the face of
college basketball, he was the best player on the best team,
getting all the magazine cover shoots, all that stuff. They
go down the list, overrated, pretty boy, a bitch like that?
(16:26):
That that's how they felt about it. That was your
friend of the show, Jimmy King. Yeah, think he's been
on the bottom. But and you know what, I have
no problem with that. I have no issue with you
thinking that he's overrated, or in this case, Caitlyn Clark's overrated,
that she's a pretty girl. That I mean, I wouldn't
use the B word to describe another woman, but I
have no issue with you thinking that about her. And
(16:49):
if you really feel that way, then what you do
is you bust her ass on the court, which has
basically been what's happening right the team sucks. Yesterday, she
went one for ten the day after this whole drama happened.
You don't even know about that, because only one was
talking about is the shove of my mind. They don't
even care that they played again on Sunday and they
got tuned up again. And if you really think she's overrated,
(17:10):
and if you really think she's not that good and
that she's being propped up by the media or whatever,
then what you do is you go out there and
you dominate her the way that teams have been dominating her.
And that's fine, that's acceptable, that's part of sports. What
it's not acceptable, and what is so shortsighted and flat
out stupid is going out of your way to rough
her up, to cheap shot her in the back, to
(17:32):
hard foul her across the face, to do all these
little things to kind of send a message. You'd be like, yeah,
you're really not all that. If she is or she isn't,
it's not important right now. What's important is that Caitlin
Clark is single handedly making you money. What kind of
person in their right mind would go out of their
way to sabotage the person or the thing that is
(17:55):
making them money. If Jason McIntyre legitimately had an issue
with Colin cowar I'm not saying you do, but if
you did, to go publicly scorch the earth and say
derogatory or inappropriate things about Colin Cowherd, whether they're true
or not, would be a dumb move by you. Because
right now, Colin Cowherd is the tenth poll for FS one.
(18:17):
If he does well, everybody does well. If Kaitlyn Clark again,
if her team's losing, whatever, that didn't seem to matter,
because according to the attendance records, seven of the of
their games have averaged over seventeen thousand attendants in attendance.
That is the most in WMA history. Her debut was
the highest rated debut or the highest rated game in
(18:37):
over twenty years. Her first game on ABC was the
highest rated in their network's history. Everything about her is
bringing positive information and attention to your league, which is
going to lead to It's already got the Charter Jets'
number one and number two. The new CBA is coming
up after next season. If Kaitlin Clark what again, whether
(19:01):
her team is good or not, Right now, she alone
is getting people interested in talking about your league. If
all of these cheap shot fouls and this chicken shit
played by a lot of her contemporaries continues, what's to
stop her from saying, you know, I don't need this shit.
I'm gonna go take that five million dollars from ice.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Cube and then what.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Do you want to play in front of four thousand
people again? Do you want to have to go play
in Russia overseas and risk a Britney Grander situation because
you don't make enough money to support yourself on American soil.
I don't get it. It's stupid and these girls should
really be embarrassed at themselves.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yeah, it's it's rough. The only argument I saw online
that I thought had credibility rob was where the hell
are kitling Clark's teammates? Like, why aren't they stepping in
when people are decking her? And she's gonna in incidents
all the time because people are coming at her and
they're jostling her, And like, I think, I'm not saying
(19:58):
they need to go out and hire like a.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Does NATed goon.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
They don't need a Eudonis Haslam on the roster. They
don't need a Charles Oakley but and again, I don't
know the women's basketball culture in WNBA. Rob, maybe you
could speak to this. I mean, I can't imagine that
you could, but I'm just putting this out there. In
any sport, football, basketball, baseball, like somebody goes down, you
(20:24):
help them up. Somebody comes after your guy in baseball,
if your guy gets hit by the pitch, they're throwing
at you next time you're up right at the pitcher,
Like there's payback. There's retaliation in the NFL. I don't
know that it's as much retaliation, but it's certain Like listen, man,
if someone comes after your teammate, you're getting in there instantly.
(20:45):
You're like a family. And I don't maybe just in
WNBA there's not But like Kate Laccrocott knocked down and
like her teammate didn't step in Carter's face, Like, what
the hell are you doing? The girl witnessed it, the
girl inbounding it. I don't know, Rob, did you did
that strike you as a little bit odd?
Speaker 3 (21:00):
It did on its face until I thought about her
for a few more minutes, and it's like, I think
her teammates don't like her either. Oh no, really, I
have a feeling, and you can tell early on in
the season. And I, you know, I've watched most of
every game she's played because most of the time it's
on when an out of the studio for the radio show.
So her first game or her first couple of games,
(21:23):
there were times where her teammates were freezing her out.
I don't know if you remember watching that, Like she'd
get the ball, she'd give it up at the top
of the keys, she'd ask for it back, and they
just wouldn't look her way because you know, they got
to get there, and that's why their team, that's part
of the reason why their team sucks. And then I
think that because she is getting all this attention, because
(21:43):
it quite honestly, members of the media are glossing over
a lot of her shortcomings, even though the rod numbers
look fine. I think she's you know, amongst guards first
and rebounds first and assists you know second in scoring
and her efficiency is actually like right on par with
other household name guards like Kelsey Plum, Sabrine I and
SQ like they're there. None of them shoot very well.
(22:05):
It's not a guard's league. It's it's a big and
a wing league and a WNBA three, old school NBA
like that. But she also leads to the WNBA and turnovers,
and not a lot of people are talking about that.
And so I think, again, this is just me and
my opinion. I think her teammates see like, well, you know,
she's really not that good. She's just two for ten
from three, and she just jacks up these shots and
(22:25):
blah blah blah blah, and people still want to talk
about her. I'm gonna show her that that she's really
not all that. And I can do the same thing
if I get the opportunity. And I have a feeling
that the jealousy and of the resentment runs ramped through
the league, including amongst her own teammates.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Hmmm, that's a Now that's a fire tape. So I
I did check last night and I didn't even know
they played Sunday night. I mean back to back. You know,
the league is screwing Clark and the Fever. Fine, but
they got smoked by the Liberty. You know, they were
down a billion at the end of the first quarter
game over, Clark held to one bucket a three pointer.
(22:59):
Here's the quote from Sabrina Aynescu, who I know Rob
referenced her earlier and apparently she's like really really good.
I'm sure she's excellent. I would know her if she
delivered a pizza to to my house like later today.
So I just don't know who she is. I know
the name, I've seen it online. I'm sure she's a
phenomenal player. I think collectively as a team, we understand
who kind of the head of the monster is on
(23:21):
that team, and we're just trying to make everything tough
and difficult. So Sabrina Aescu, one of the best players
in the league, is saying that we need to chop
off the head of the monster, and then that team
is not going to do anything. Meanwhile, you've got this
dope on Chicago, Carter Kennedy, who's saying, well, other than
three pointers, like, what is she? What's She's nothing special?
(23:43):
Yet you have one of the best player in the
league saying the exact opposite. And I don't know, Rob,
I don't I can't think of an experience in sports
as a as a fan where nobody likes the superstar
that is loved by everyone else, Like the Warriors loved
(24:03):
Steph Curry. Superstars in the league didn't like him because
he was bypassing them. But I don't think his own
teammates ever didn't like him. I mean, he's extremely nice guy,
well liked on and off the court. He's he's popular
among players in the league. But I think it was
superstars didn't like him. I have zero context for almost
(24:24):
the entire league disliking her. Now that's probably a bit
strong because some people are saying stuff, but actions over words, right,
I mean the actions are cheap shots and I don't know,
like not one of hey, let me help you up.
You just got decked by someone on the other team.
So I don't know, Rob, I'm gonna need to search
(24:45):
far and wide to find maybe it's happened in soccer,
like in ted Lasso with Did you watch the show
or No?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I've seen pieces I would never actually watched.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
No, No, it's it's great. You gotta watch that. The the
one they're like, they're best player the first season is
a dick and he's super arrogant and you know, talking
trash to his own teammates, get me the ball, blah blah,
not trying, you know, and his team that did not
like him, And that's a fictional character. I don't know,
(25:17):
rub do you have anyone who nobody likes a star
on our team? I can't think of this ever happening.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Now. Again, that's just your allegation that the team does.
Like it's more common in movies for sure. I mean,
I guess if you were so, this might even be
a stretch. You could make the case that Michael Jordan's
teammates did not like him and that kind of played
down there. Wait, which just watching the last dance. If
you watch the Last Dance and if you kind of
(25:43):
know some people who cover the team back then, he
ruled with an iron fist. He was always intense. He
was not a guy to play around with. Oh kind
of Yeah, So it's possible. Again, I don't know, but
it's possible that for the most part his teammates maybe
did or did not like him, but there was all
the respect factor, like, hey, you know what, no matter
(26:03):
what he does or says to me in practice, I
don't I mean, I like it, but the fact is
that he's leading us to wins, and we got to
respect his talent and his ability, and that's going to
go as far as we can take it. Like, not
everybody is meant to be liked, you know what I mean.
And the difference was, at least in this situation, is
as great as Michael Jordan and Kobe and Lebron, and
he brought up Steph Curry. As great as those guys are,
(26:26):
none of them were ever tasked with carrying an entire
league right when by the time Jordan popped magic and
burd had already taken care of that. Now he took
it to the next level. But there was no concern
about the viability of the NBA when Michael Jordan came along.
There was no concern about whether or not the NBA
(26:47):
could operate in the black when Lebron and Kobe came around, right,
and the WNBA is being propped up and held up
by the NBA. They're the one financing everything. The WNBA
is right now is not profitable and all the things
that they've been asking for and clamoring for is finally
like at their doorstep. And it's because of this one player.
(27:09):
It's because of Kaylen Clark. If Kaylyn Clark is as
good as we hope she will be, then this league
could be profitable. They could be getting charter jets, they
could be getting you know, multimillion dollar contracts, so she
has the weight of just not just herself and her
own expectations or expections for her, she has the weight
of the future of the entire league on her. So
(27:33):
I know this is kind of a tangent here, but
it's unlikely. But I don't think it's out of their
own possibility that you know, she's just people are so
jealous of her that they would much rather see her
get exposed than to embrace what she's doing for the league.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
I should also add that maybe maybe this was just
a one off, like a dirty shot. Somebody looked up
Carter's background. This woman Chnnity Carter is her name. So
she was a first round pick in twenty twenty. She
was dumped by the team that drafted her in twenty
twenty one after threatening to beat up one of her teammates.
(28:12):
They dumped her and called it conduct detrimental to the team.
She was dumped the fourth overall pick, and a year later,
because she threatened to beat up one of her teammates,
they dumped her. The LA Sparks picked her up and
then waived her for poor conduct. She was basically excommunicated
by the league. This woman and played abroad and now
the sky pick her up and lo and behold she's
(28:37):
playing with Angel Reese and boom she body checks Kitlin Clark.
I mean, I don't know, folks. I know people don't
want me to drag Angel Reese into this the l
at the former LSU star. I'm sorry, Rob, you watched
a video of her jumping up off the bench cheering
Kitlin Clark getting decked. Earlier she put out like I
think earlier last week she put out a tweet about
(28:59):
Kitlin Clark after they lost a game and then deleted it.
I don't know what is wrong with this girl. She
just has it out for Clark. And I know some
people are gonna be like Jay, Wait, wait wait. You
and Rob loved those nineties NBA rivalries where teams weren't
all friendly and cozy and hanging out in the offseason
like they are now. You guys loved the hatred of
(29:21):
Knicks Bulls. Yeah, sure they did not like each other.
But is this the same thing Angel Reese like basically
against Caitlin Clark. She's one and two. You know, Catlin
Clark lost to her in the title game, beat her
in the final four the next year and now this one.
(29:41):
So is this clearly is a rivalry. I think it's
kind of one sided because remember at the draft they
were like hanging out, not just them two, but like
the top, the Brink and Clark, and they were all
like hanging out, and it felt like it was just like, Hey,
on the court, I'm a different person, and I've seen
(30:02):
that with guys to some extent, I can be a germ.
I'm on the basketball court, not like this. But I
don't know, Rob, are we missing should we like say, hey,
this is great for the sport. I mean, obviously it's
great for the sport, but I don't like the Detroit
Pistons roughing up Michael Jordan is a terrible analogy because
that was like hard basketball fouls. This is a dead
(30:25):
ball body check. Nobody ever did that to Michael. I've
never seen that done in the NBA. And so I
don't know. This doesn't strike me as rivalry. It's almost
like creepy, jealousy, petty anger. I don't know, Rob, Yeah, no,
we miss you were right there at the end.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
It's jealousy, it's anger, it's pettiness, it's all of the above,
and to anyone who's saying that we like nine. I
love nineties NBA. I love too. I love the the
fact that the Lakers and the Kings didn't like each
other them in two thousands, Like I love that kind
of I love the bad blood and you know, the
trash talk and even the hard fouls when it calls
for no problem with that. The issue, again, as you
(31:03):
alluded to, is it's one thing to have a rivalry
and an on court river or even an off court
rivalry where you just don't like someone and you want
to beat them over and over and over. And I
understand that part. What you don't do is shit where
you eat. What you don't do is go out of
your way to injure somebody or try to hurt somebody
(31:25):
who again it's a broken record. Who is putting money
in your pocket? If Caitlyn Clark is like, I saw
the attendance over the weekend, and it's up across the league,
because again, Kaitlyn Clark by herself is like a one
woman economy, right, Like Indiana Fever have already gotten more
attendance in their first ten games and they had all
(31:45):
last season, right, So excuse me. The first more attendants
in the first five home games versus twenty of last seasons,
So they're gonna bliterate whatever their home record was. Just
based on Caitlyn Clark rough math, she is worth approximate
lee ten thousand more people in attendance on a game
to game basis than everybody else in the league. So
(32:06):
in a game that she plays, if they get twenty
thousand people, in a game that she doesn't play, there
would get ten thousand. That's basically the argument. And even
there's some that are actually losing attendance based on last season,
and that's what their team being. Not even terrible, they're
just okay. So why again would you go out of
your way to hurt this person Again you cannot like her.
(32:32):
You can want to quote unquote expose her, that's fine,
But what they're doing is cutting off their nose to
spite their face. I don't get it.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, well, I'll wrap with this rob. The WNBA should
really have a come to Jesus moment here. So this
is a crazy stat I saw on social media. The
Las Vegas Aces, who won the WNBA last year. They've
played six games, okay, the first twenty days of the season, six.
(33:02):
Kaitlin Clark's Fever have played eleven. What what are you doing?
Or do we just want to grunner into the ground
and capitalize on the Kitlin Clark's the Caitlin Clark effect.
Eleven games in twenty days, Lebron would be sitting out
any NBA start. I mean when Ben Yama ain't doing that,
he's load managing from the jump. The Vegas Aces have
(33:23):
played six games in twenty days. Meanwhile, they're just force
feet now. Kaitlin Clark does have like a four or
five day hiatus here. Yes, I checked the schedule, and
then the schedule softens up so they'll get some w's.
But I don't know, man, Maybe the WNBA is doing
it right. But holy hell, this is way more WNBA
than we've ever talked. We just banged out twenty five
(33:45):
minutes on the WNBA on a Monday in June. NBA
finals don't start until Thursday. Obviously we do a lot.
There is a guest we have coming up this week.
I won't spoil it. I think he's been on Yeah,
he's been on the pod once before. But there's a
new TV show about the Clippers that was similar to
the Lakers showtime show on HBO that was awesome, and
(34:07):
we're trying to get a guest who's one of the
stars on that show, so that'll be fun. But I
don't know. NBA Finals coming back, and NFL Camp is
starting to ramp up a little bit. Should be a
fun week ahead. We'll talk to you tomorrow.
Host
Jason McIntyre
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