We Got Next

Ew to the “girlbossification” of AI, Portland Fire waive Black players for some whities, Golden State Valkyries’ first-ever draft pick Juste Jocyte makes her highly anticipated debut, the good and the bad of the PWHL contract and owner, and props to upcoming She Got Game weekend.

10:35 Out of Your League Piece on AI 
45:21 Justė Jocytė First Bucket! 
           Nice Profile too.
51:33 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the Professional Women’s Hockey League and the Professional Women’s Hockey League Players Association
57:44 PWHL Salaries
1:00:33 Yes Flava Flav started with Water Polo
1:02:39 Flava Flav goes to the Clark County Commission Meeting

Creators and Guests

Host
Filiberto Nolasco Gomez
Raised in a Mexican working class enclave of Eastern Los Angeles, I spent many hours hooping with the homies in public parks all over Montebello. Read more: https://wegotnextpod.org/hosts
Host
Michelle Hatfield
I’m a miserable childless cat lady from Central California by way of Virginia with some MidWest influence. I’m a women’s sports fanatic. I’m an activist, YIMBY, Golden State Valkyries Founding Guard member and season ticket holder and occasional runner who works for social justice, equal pay, and intersectional liberation. I’m a former journalist now focusing on advocacy communications and storytelling. Read more: https://wegotnextpod.org/hosts

What is We Got Next?

We’re fans of the women’s game – the athletes, styles, moves, sneaks, and memes. We approach this podcast as fans and social justice advocates. We will uplift and center those who identify as women, and who are changing the game, on and off the court, the field, the pitch, the pool, and more. We will especially uplift those who identify as women of color, and/or gay, femme, queer, non-binary, and transgender. We uphold workers over corporate greed, inclusivity and accessibility over exclusion, and equality over supremacy.

This is a safe space where we will learn and grow together as a community rooted in joy.

Michelle:

Welcome, Bienvenidos, to We Got Next, a podcast for fans, by fans, where we center athletes who identify as women, femmes, and thems, and who are changing the game on and off the court, the field, the pitch, the pool, and more.

Michelle:

Good evening, Fili.

Filiberto:

Hey, what's up?

Michelle:

What are you drinking?

Filiberto:

I don't know. You made it. What am I drinking? Delicious, by the way.

Michelle:

This is a vodka martini. Except we ran out of olives.

Filiberto:

We ran out of olives. We've been, like, doubling up on olives for a long time.

Michelle:

I know. We finally finished that jar, and I didn't realize that until I went to make these.

Filiberto:

Folks, do you identify with that? Do you just accidentally have doubles of things and then suddenly you run out of them? You're like, what? We've had, like, jars of olives for months. Yes.

Filiberto:

And we don't have them all of a sudden. The night we needed them.

Michelle:

Yes. We have not had a martini, at least at home, in a very long time.

Filiberto:

Yeah. Apparently not.

Michelle:

Yeah. So no. It tastes great, but I do like my martinis dirty if I'm gonna have, like

Filiberto:

Yeah.

Michelle:

The straight up.

Filiberto:

I like mildly dirty. Yeah.

Michelle:

Vodka. So, yeah, I'm I'm missing a little bit of the juice and the olives, the little appetizer that is the stick of olives.

Filiberto:

None of us will be surprised that Michelle likes sour flavors.

Michelle:

Once you get to know me.

Filiberto:

Yeah. And we are getting to know you. But that's what we're drinking tonight, folks. Martinis without our olives. That's amazing.

Michelle:

Vodka martinis.

Filiberto:

Vodka martinis. Thank you. Were they shaken or stirred?

Michelle:

These are very masculine martinis. No. Actually, it's the no. No. These are these are the wimpy martinis.

Michelle:

I I shook it.

Filiberto:

They shook them. Okay. Alright.

Michelle:

I'm like, what's the James Bond thing? I forget. Shaken. Yeah. Shaken.

Michelle:

So they are watered down.

Filiberto:

OK, so what's going on in the news this week, Michelle?

Michelle:

Lots of exciting stuff.

Filiberto:

Oh, do tell.

Michelle:

Yeah. So we kind of waited a little bit since our last episode. And since then, we we have a new Professional Women's Hockey League champion.

Filiberto:

You think it sounds like it was so long ago.

Michelle:

I know. Right?

Filiberto:

Yeah. As you all know, the Valkyries' schedule is a little strange sometimes. They have, like, a week off, week layoff, so so do we. Yeah. I think we're basically doing, like, three game chunks right now.

Filiberto:

It might change a little bit. But Yeah. That's been our pattern so far.

Michelle:

We took a break. Yeah. Life got a little busy there. So we have a champion, and I actually learned how to I believe I learned how to pronounce their name correctly because I was saying the Montreal Victory.

Filiberto:

I don't know why you were saying like was that. Saying

Michelle:

it so wrong. Victory. I was spelling it wrong too. So

Filiberto:

You can't even make make fun of French people correctly.

Michelle:

I know. Well, I can't roll my r's, so that's why I'm gonna have to, like, fake it right now when I say it.

Filiberto:

You can't roll your r's.

Michelle:

So, I believe it's the the Montreal Victoire or something like that.

Filiberto:

Okay. I wish people could see you making that gesture.

Michelle:

Dang. I had it earlier. But, anyways, the non- victory people, they won.

Filiberto:

French-sounding victory is what we're going for.

Michelle:

Yes. So they were able to knock out the Ottawa Charge. So was really exciting. Ottawa was able to win Game 3, so they pushed it to a Game 4. So at least Ottawa wasn't swept, but game four was all Montreal.

Michelle:

Like, Ottawa just looks really Yeah. Lost. They were just putting, they're asking their goaltender to do too much. They weren't playing great defense.

Filiberto:

It looked like Ottawa did everything they possibly could to figure out how to win, and that's all they had. All they had in them was one win.

Michelle:

Yeah. Yeah. And I think I think Montreal also was like, let's not give these people life. Like, we wanna win here even though

Filiberto:

Yeah, end this thing now.

Michelle:

Even though if you force the Game 5, you go home and you're able to win in front of your home fans.

Filiberto:

But You do can't.

Michelle:

You also don't wanna do a winner- take- all Game 5 and kind of risk making history in not a great way. So, yeah, they put on a great showing. Congratulations to them, the team that I cannot pronounce.

Filiberto:

Yeah. You can't I'm not even gonna try. Nope. Don't even try to goad me. I'm not doing it.

Filiberto:

Mm-mm. If it was in Spanish, I could do it, but no.

Michelle:

But they also other news is there was this anticipation. The League's announced a few expansion teams this year for next season. And it felt like I think it was an odd number. So people were like, is there one more they're gonna announce?

Michelle:

And they did. They announced San Jose in California will be the first California team. The first women's hockey team in California will be in San Jose, which surprised a lot of people.

Filiberto:

Mhmm.

Michelle:

Did not surprise me. I lived in San Jose. I was a Sharks fan of the NHL for a while. They've actually and I tried to look up some stats on this.

Filiberto:

Of the men's hockey league, you mean?

Michelle:

Yes. I tried to look up some stats on this because I remember hearing about these stories when I was living there. But San Jose having the men's hockey team there, also having the men's minor league team, the San Jose Barracuda, which used to be in Massachusetts.

Filiberto:

Minor league

Michelle:

hockey team?

Filiberto:

Minor hockey. Right.

Michelle:

San Jose Barracuda.

Filiberto:

Okay.

Michelle:

They used to be over on the East Coast, so that was, like, horrible if you got, like, you know, sent down or sent up. Like, it was a cross country flight and you had to play that night. It was ridiculous. So they they eventually moved to San Jose so they could, you know, double dip in the stadium so they could kind of like maximize resources. But it also allowed them to kind of like really expand their footprint in San Jose, the East Bay, like all of the Bay Area.

Filiberto:

Oh, sure. Yeah.

Michelle:

So they have a lot of kind of like those smaller stadiums that they build their adult leagues and and the youth leagues around. So it's actually they've grown not only their youth girls leagues that they have in San Jose and, like, Hayward and other areas, but they also have grown their adult women's leagues, too.

Filiberto:

Infrastructure there.

Michelle:

There is. And and again, I I was looking for numbers because at one point, I believe

Filiberto:

Viable interests too.

Michelle:

At one point, believe they were like outpacing all other regions of the country. And, you know, when you start low, it's easy to like have this exponential growth. But I couldn't find them. Unfortunately, I will keep looking. But but I do understand some people's frustration in that and this happens for a lot of leagues.

Michelle:

When you're looking to possibly expand, You host games in certain areas, certain markets just to see kind of like what would ticket sales look like.

Filiberto:

Yeah. It's a test balloon. That's why the NFL's Yeah. You know, doing their things in Europe and Mexico and just to see if they could possibly have a team in Mexico City later.

Michelle:

Well, the WNBA did that before they expanded into Canada with Toronto. They definitely

Filiberto:

and things.

Michelle:

Excuse me. Toronto. Don't pronounce the second t. They definitely did that. And so I think that's something people for the women's hockey league were expecting.

Michelle:

There were several they call them kinda takeover cities. Were there were several games played in a lot of other cities, not San Jose. And they all performed you know, most of performed really well. So people were kinda surprised, like, why didn't we get an expansion? You know, for example, Hamilton, Ontario, which was chosen as one of expansion teams.

Michelle:

A lot of people like that's that's an oversaturated market. Like so there's also concern that they're expanding too fast. But, you know, we'll see we'll see how it goes. But I I think San Jose will be a decent market for them. You know, you'll have to see.

Michelle:

But but I think a lot of, you know, a lot of people in Northern California will be really excited to go to women's hockey games.

Filiberto:

Well, and I think I remember from back in the day when the A's were possibly gonna move to San Jose, have a stadium in San Jose proper or possibly the Expos were gonna move down or something. Like, there's been talk of San Jose being a viable market for professional sports aside from hockey for a while or men's hockey for a while now.

Michelle:

Yeah. They're they very much wanna get a Major League Baseball team.

Filiberto:

Yeah. They've been trying to get a Major League something.

Michelle:

The problem is they're they have a very strong minor league team for the Giants. Yeah. And so the Giants are the only team that can go into that, like, jurisdiction.

Filiberto:

Yeah. And there's a strong and there's a strong soccer culture too. So Yeah. Yeah. I mean, San Jose's been on the map for a while.

Filiberto:

I'm a little Yeah. Surprised by people who surprised. Like, they've been trying to get attention for some time.

Michelle:

I also think San Jose is just like a lot of people, think of California, you think of, like, San Francisco, LA. And so, like, San Jose kinda gets or even, like, Oakland. Like, San Jose kinda gets lost in that, understandably, at times. But no. I mean, they've you know, the Sharks themselves haven't done great recently.

Michelle:

But but I think that's why some of the other adjacent hockey stuff's taking off is that, you know, people need somewhere to pour themselves into and, hey, I'll I'll join an adult league. And

Filiberto:

Well and I think the thing that people seem to be overlooking, and I'm gonna talk about this a lot more in my end of my Mira, Homies later, but it's a single- owner league. Like, there's not owners for these teams. They like, Mark Walters owns this league along with some other people who owns the Dodgers and Lakers and God knows what else, a bunch of other stuff. So they can do whatever they want any year that they want. Like, they can move the team out of San Jose next year.

Filiberto:

Like, there's it doesn't like, I I don't know that people need to be that concerned yet.

Michelle:

But I think, yeah, he he owns it, but I think eventually he'll want to sell. And, like, we've seen the W get these expansion fees. So, eventually, I would think the plan is to take over, like, separate ownership groups, and he'll make a shit ton of money.

Filiberto:

But not that's not yeah. No. Absolutely. It's just when they've asked him about it, that's not on the map yet. So that's not that's not out for, like, another four or five years probably.

Michelle:

A young league. So yeah.

Filiberto:

Yeah. But, like, again, he can it's a single owner league. He can do whatever he wants. So Yeah. You know what saying?

Filiberto:

If it doesn't work, they'll go somewhere else.

Michelle:

But don't piss off fan bases either.

Filiberto:

Oh, I mean, it'd be a bad idea. I'm not saying I would do that. But Yeah. I'm just people are overlooking the fact that it's a single owned league.

Michelle:

Yes. It is different.

Filiberto:

You're not you don't have to you're not like NFL with Al Davis suing people. Like, that's not gonna happen. Yeah. One dude owns everything. Yep.

Filiberto:

And I'll talk more about that. I'll talk more about that later. That's my little teaser.

Michelle:

Yep. So congratulations, Montreal, Montreal V's. I'll just call them that.

Filiberto:

Alright. So we've talked about this before, but we also consume a lot of content. We read a lot of different other producers, writers, folks that are commenting on the league all the time. So one of the folks that we read and follow is Out of Your League. So you all should check that out.

Filiberto:

We'll put that in the show notes just for your own edification. And they have a great piece entitled "WNBA Fans Hate AI, But the League is Embracing it Anyway." And I think I think this is a good example of where the league really needs to be careful. Like, you gotta follow the fans and the players if you wanna be successful as a sports league. Like, you gotta follow the fans and the players.

Filiberto:

And sure, some players are experimenting with AI and trying to figure out how to, like, market themselves. But, what's really cool is the fans are saying over and over again, I hate AI. AI is bullshit. And, you know, one of the things that I've been following both professionally and personally is AI. And now this thing's developing.

Filiberto:

It's gonna crash our economy in the next two years, if not sooner. And the technology doesn't actually work. There's a lot of issues with, quote, unquote, hallucinations, but that's really just the underlying sort of mechanisms that make it not work. Nobody actually understands how AI works. Like, it's just a really strange situation.

Filiberto:

So one of the quotes I really liked here was "As the WNBA becomes more mainstream and embraces the late- stage capitalist hellscape of investment at growth at any cost, it seems to be losing touch with the people who make up a huge part of its viewership." What do you think about that, Michelle? It's a strong quote.

Michelle:

It is. And I think we we talked about this actually. We went to a Valkyries game in the last couple weeks, and we no-, I noticed a new sponsorship deal on the court. And then also the warm- up sweatshirts that the players wear. So it's not just like one logo.

Michelle:

It was on it was several places on the court and it was it was not it was on the front of their sweatshirt, but also the arm side. So, like, they went hard. If they're gonna sell it that hard, hopefully, they, like, made a crap ton of money. I doubt they did.

Filiberto:

No. Not enough.

Michelle:

Yeah. Not enough for that. But it's this data center company. I'm not gonna name their name. But they're they're claiming to be, like, a zero carbon footprint data center, which I just find really hard to believe.

Michelle:

But, no, it's concerning. I mean, I think we've been watching this for a while. We we're both writers. So obviously, AI has the potential, if it worked, would have the potential to replace a lot of what we do. And just noticing, like, there's a lot of companies, tech companies, venture capitalists that are, like, really trying to make us dependent on AI so we can't live without it even though it does not work.

Filiberto:

Yeah. It's getting shoved in our faces. It's getting shoved into our favorite platforms. We're being asked to use it even though we don't want to.

Michelle:

Employers are kind of highly encouraging slash demanding people use it. And just like to be clear, just from my personal perspective, AI does do some things and it is very convenient and helpful. But I'm talking about like low- level AI, like, you know, the directions on our map apps. Right? Or just auto spell check.

Michelle:

Like, those things are great. Those are low level. Those aren't necessarily generative AI. And I think that's the one that people really have to be worried about. It's usually programmed by white guys and from their perspective.

Michelle:

So it's highly racist. It's highly sexist. It's being used.

Filiberto:

And it's being used it's being trained on the Internet, which reflects the sexism, racism

Michelle:

Right.

Filiberto:

Of the mostly white men that created it, that shape it, that direct it.

Michelle:

And you're seeing these court cases come out now where it's like they're just stealing content to help train AI. They're stealing artists' work, whether it's drawings, photography, whatever, or writers', people who write books, other stuff. They're illegally uploading that to help train AI. So in addition to the, you know, fake friends that people get through AI bots that are telling them they should commit suicide and, like, allegedly helping with mental health, but not really. So there's just like a lot of problematic things

Michelle:

Don't even get me started on the porn possibilities and how women have been already impacted by this stealing Scarlett Johansson's voice for AI audio.

Filiberto:

All the deepfakes. All the deepfake porn stuff.

Michelle:

So there's just like a really like a lot of really, really bad stuff. And again, it's it's not it's making a lot of people's jobs harder. I know people who work in human relation resources, for example, it's making their jobs super hard because people are using AI for cover letters and other, like, application materials. And it's they have to weed through that. It's obvious that it was written by AI.

Michelle:

And so there are areas where it's actually making people's lives harder. And that's like when we talk about it doesn't work, that's kinda what we mean. So in like, as far as shoving it down people's throats, the CSU is a great example. Cal State University system, the largest four- year, public university system in the world has signed contracts with ChatGPT and other AI companies trying to force students and faculty and others to use it.

Filiberto:

Yeah. The Chancellor's Office is trying to say that they're gonna be the AI University.

Michelle:

Yeah. Yeah. Which is just not great. So, yeah, it's it's kind of bothersome that and and the article also talks a little bit about this girl bossification of AI and how they're trying to get, they're doing this like red herring argument of like, women are always behind men on technology. So we've gotta like really pull out these like female brand ambassadors and like encourage women and it's total bullshit.

Michelle:

And and trying to like pretend to be empowering women by some of the stuff they're trying to tell people. So, like, the one advice I give everyone is when someone's really encouraging you, pushing you to use AI, you really need to kinda consider what their ulterior motives are gonna be. And they're not gonna necessarily gonna be positive, great things.

Filiberto:

And I think this is think I think I'm gonna coin a term now. I'm gonna call it AI creep. Mhmm. This is another example of how how AI creep works. Like, the organizations and institutions that we're attached to start telling us that AI is the best thing and then start telling us we should use it.

Filiberto:

Mhmm. I never asked for it. I don't want it. I can't opt out of it. Mhmm.

Filiberto:

I can't opt out of Google searches that involve AI.

Michelle:

They don't want you to.

Filiberto:

They don't want me to. Because the other part of it is they need to show that it's working. So they also need to shove it in front of our face so they can show that people are looking at it even though we're not asking for it. Because it turns out it's actually not working very well.

Michelle:

Well, it's like the the tobacco companies back in the day when they told you smoking was good for you. It was good for your health. It was fine to do when you were pregnant. That's exactly what they're doing now is they're getting these ad executives to, like, totally lie us. And this is it's so unhealthy for people, like not even just like mentally, but it's taking away people's ability to to like critically think.

Michelle:

Educators are just like, oh my God. So there's a lot of harmful aspects of AI that people are either trying to like gloss over or just like, but it's so convenient. So it's worth it. The trade offs are worth it for the convenience.

Filiberto:

Well, and I think and we'd start winding this down. But going back to what you were saying about the sort of the sort of the feminization of it, that, like, girl boss aspect of it is these companies and technologies are really racist and really misogynist. So it's actually an indication of their desperation that they're looking for women to leave and try to get people attached to it.

Michelle:

They're trying to legitimize it.

Filiberto:

I'm a big fan of Kelsey Plum, my sister. Mm-mm. Sister. You gotta be more critical about it then. Like, them reaching out to women is actually a sign.

Filiberto:

Because, again, they're so misogynist. It's a sign that the technology is failing. And if they can get women to get attached to it, they can maybe survive their IPO. The public documents, they're all going for IPOs. And what we're seeing so far is that these technologies are abysmal.

Filiberto:

The numbers don't make sense. And the only way this technology can actually work is if they addict us to it. Yeah. That's only way. And that's what they're trying to do.

Filiberto:

Every search that you do costs you maybe 10¢, but it costs them, like, $10. That's how much, like, desperately they're trying to get you to attach to their technology. They try to view it and give you all their personal information and these things and all those things.

Michelle:

But the for me, the silver lining is there's growing pushback to this and blowback, not only to the technology, the tech companies who are laying people off right now, by the way, in droves. But also talking about the environmental impact of these data centers, how they're stealing water and electricity from communities. A lot of these tech companies are trying to push through these data centers in these small communities. A lot of time, they are communities of color that don't really have, like, a political voice.

Filiberto:

We talked about this before. Yeah. Memphis, specifically Black communities, they're suffocating under the gas turbines that are behind these data centers.

Michelle:

So what I'm hoping for is that, like, there's so much blowback and it's coming from a lot of different directions. So, like, part of me is, like, is this gonna be intersectional? Are we finally because, like, we talk about late- stage capitalism. We talk about how, like, workers are being exploited and these people these billionaires became even more billionaires during COVID and, like, just how we're entering we've been in late- stage capitalism for a while. The exploitation is at, like, an all- time high.

Michelle:

People can't afford groceries. So I'm wondering if, like, this is gonna be, like, intersectional that we're finally gonna start getting, like, different groups, you know, across racial lines Yeah. Gender identity lines, class lines are finally gonna come together and be, what the hell? Like, you've got these neoliberal white environmental activists that are like have been so obsessed with, like, clean air, which is great, but they have also had a history of ignoring the communities that are most impacted by climate change. They they're ignoring the the poor communities, the communities of color where these UPS, these Amazon distribution centers are, where these, you know, the semi trucks are going by them.

Michelle:

Like, all the planes are coming in and like, the the pollution to their water and air. But we also have educators. Teachers are not enjoying AI overall. They're noticing the dumbing down of their students. You have students who are like, get me the hell out of here, young people.

Michelle:

Like, sure, I use it, but I don't want to. I think it's bad. I don't think it's gonna be great in the next five, ten years. You have tech workers who kind of think of themselves as this upper class, these jobs that could never be farmed out, that could never be replaced by technology. Meta just announced 8,000 layoffs.

Michelle:

Like, we're we're up to like I read a number. I think we're up to about a 100,000 tech worker layoffs just so far this year.

Filiberto:

White collar, mostly six- figure incomes

Michelle:

Yes.

Filiberto:

Are now disposable, y'all.

Michelle:

Exactly. They've always been disposable.

Filiberto:

They've always been disposable, but now they're feeling it.

Michelle:

Mhmm. Everyone is replaceable at work.

Filiberto:

So I think what what Michelle's kinda getting at that I think this is let's just double down on that is look, y'all, it is dark out there. AI is trying to take over our worlds. There's fascism all over the place, racism, sexism, all the -isms. But don't despair because it turns out these conditions might be revolutionary. Mhmm.

Filiberto:

These might be revolutionary conditions, y'all. And I think ultimately, the only solution to these problems is organizing. No white man's gonna save us. No technology is gonna save us. No leader, no elected official is gonna save us.

Filiberto:

We're gonna save us, y'all. Mhmm. That's what organizing is about. So I didn't really think this was gonna move in that direction, but hell yeah.

Michelle:

Well, even, like, some of these cities like Missouri, gotta give you props. There's been a few cities

Filiberto:

That's the intersectional dynamic. It's crossing class and race and gender lines.

Michelle:

Exactly. In Missouri have come together, aren't super politically active, have come together and either recalled city council members who approved these data centers against voters' wishes

Filiberto:

Yeah.

Michelle:

Or just were able to organize, like you're saying, and get these bans in place for their cities that they'll never, you know, they'll never be building data centers there. Like, sometimes those are like, those are initiatives they had to hold elections for across the city and have people vote on. And these are just areas you wouldn't expect that kind of, like, activism. So there are some, like, kind of good signs coming out of this, but we gotta keep the pressure on. We gotta keep we gotta keep at it.

Filiberto:

Yeah. That's right. And that's why we we we read alternative news and, like, non- mainstream news because it inspires conversations. You also, again, check out Out of Your League. They got great stuff.

Filiberto:

This is just the one article we decided to focus on tonight. But, yeah.

Michelle:

I think the last thing we wanted to touch on for news this week was what actually a lot of WNBA fans are talking about is the Portland Fire. And Portland's had kind of a rocky start if you go all the way back to when they were naming their president and their GM. They kinda had like someone leave super early and then took them a while to find a coach. And so they've had a few missteps early, but there's also been some not great ones in the last week. So the Fire announced some players there waiving Haley Jones, Kamiah Smalls, and Sug Sutton, which actually surprised a lot of people.

Michelle:

The all these players had had great games.

Filiberto:

And without being worried about it, Sug Sutton is probably one of my favorite names out there.

Michelle:

It is. And instead, they ended up signing other players. And I don't know if I'm gonna be pronouncing these names right, but we'll go for it.

Filiberto:

Probably not, but it's okay. Help us out in the comment section, folks.

Michelle:

Holly Winterburn, who's from Great Britain. We have Frieda Buhner from Germany.

Filiberto:

Buhner is Yeah, probably. That's the double thingies.

Michelle:

Yeah. And then Teja Oblak Oblak? Who's from Slovenia. So basically, they got rid of they waived three Black players and hired three white- presenting players. So not great.

Filiberto:

Yeah. On the little racism meter that we have in the office, that's pretty far to the racism level. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Michelle:

It's also like people are very upset as they should be. And so I went and I looked at I'm like, okay. So Portland, you know, it's kind of a it's kind of a white town. But I also just like looked up the Portland Fire organization. And it's like now, I looked up today, May 26 is when we're recording this.

Michelle:

10 of their 13 players on their roster present as white. And then three of their five coaches, I'm talking head coach, assistant coaches present as white. This is very problematic. This is a very white team. And I think we can talk about this like

Filiberto:

You're describing a loaf of white bread.

Michelle:

Mhmm. Gotta be proud.

Michelle:

Gotta be proud Oregon. But I think like we'll do a deeper dive in this later on. But I I think one thing that's kind of disturbing, when you when you combine this with some of the rule changes to kind of reduce physicality, aka the way American Black women play, you have a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that includes better compensation, better working conditions. We have no Black women WNBA coaches, head coaches. And then we just talked a little bit about the AI conversation, how the WNBA is really leaning into AI.

Michelle:

It's it kind of reminds me of what happens when something like, the WNBA was built on the backs of Black women. And now that

Filiberto:

And Black fans. Yeah. I mean, quite frankly, it's not just the players, the fans too.

Michelle:

And now that there's this more professionalism for them, they've got this bigger salaries, better working conditions.

Filiberto:

Significantly higher salaries. Yes.

Michelle:

Now all of a sudden, you're seeing teams employ more and more white players, at least white presenting

Filiberto:

And coaches.

Michelle:

From from Europe, from Australia, some from Canada. So it's like it kinda reminds me of the CSU. And we've talked about this before, but like the CSU used to be this, the California State University System of public education used to be like very low tuition if you had to pay tuition back in the day.

Filiberto:

It was nominal. Nominal.

Michelle:

Could it was really affordable public college education. But then once we went through, like, Civil Rights Movement, the women's rights movement, and we and we had demographic shifts in the state, all of a sudden, now that there's Black and brown people going to the CSU, now we can start charging tuition and it's gotta be a lot. And we're gonna add some fees and some other things onto that. Oh, by the way, we're also gonna start increasing and having campus security.

Filiberto:

And we're not gonna update buildings And we're not gonna renovate. And we're not gonna make anything easier. And we're not gonna have more campuses. And we're not gonna invest in tenure- track faculty.

Michelle:

Right. Yeah. This kind of shift in investment is very concerning. And again, it's like on its own. Okay.

Michelle:

Sure. This is like one season. It's one team. Okay. But when you start combining everything, these recent moves this year and last, it's very, very concerning.

Michelle:

And I just really urge Portland Fire fans or others, if you're seeing this happen to your teams, particularly the white fans, you really need to push back and use your voice.

Filiberto:

Well, I think the other I think the other analogy that is only relevant for anybody over 35 is if you were in LA in the late 80s, 90snineties when UPN started or the WB, they disproportionately had Black content. They established themselves, generated revenue, like, generated their prowess on Black content and Black viewership. As soon as that was done, they went white hard. They didn't give a shit about Black people. Black content went out the door.

Filiberto:

No

Michelle:

No more perspectives.

Filiberto:

Black television, no Black producers, no Black directors. Like, it moves so fast. And I think that is probably analogous to what's happening now with the increased revenue both in the CBA, the player side, but also in the media rights side.

Michelle:

Right.

Filiberto:

So definitely something to keep an eye on y'all. And again, if this is this is our opportunity to shape this league however we want. Like, we obviously don't have any formal authority over what happens with teams or the league, but we are the fans. We are the viewers. We are the folks that make it happen.

Filiberto:

So

Michelle:

Right. These these rich, highly disconnected millionaires, billionaires are not gonna do the right thing on their own. They're gonna have to be forced to.

Filiberto:

Alright. So we had a lot of games going on. Maybe it's, May 21 versus the Liberty, May 22 versus Fever, May 25 versus the Sun. Break it down for us, Michelle.

Filiberto:

What went down this week in Valkyries-dom, in Ballhalla?

Michelle:

There is a lot. There's a lot to celebrate. The Valkyries put together some really great games. Going to the Liberty game first and now we also have hindsight since that game was played about a week or not almost a week ago. And since then, the Liberty have continued to struggle.

Michelle:

So they're having a rough time. But entering this game, New York had a seven day rest.

Filiberto:

We had no reason to believe that they'll be struggling for the next week. Yes. When we saw this game, we were like, hell, yeah. We're fucking beating in the Liberty.

Michelle:

Well, both teams had a lot of rest. New York had seven days. Golden State had eight. And it was like, oh, maybe maybe New York's just rusty. Right.

Michelle:

Right. I was like, oh, no. Their their their problems are running a bit deeper.

Filiberto:

They have a solid core. Like, we still gotta be worry weary of them.

Michelle:

Yeah. I the Liberty looked really two dimensional to me. Yeah. And I think part of that is be and I yes. Sabrina Ionescu was out with an injury as are a few other players, key players.

Michelle:

But I think part of that two dimensionality is because they're missing Natasha Cloud.

Filiberto:

Yeah. She brought so much to them. Midrange, defense, threes, just like she was your third or fourth option where the first two couldn't figure out what to do. Like, she just, I don't I just don't She brought it.

Michelle:

She brought it. Mhmm.

Filiberto:

She's a fucking champion. She's a winner. And she's dope. She seems like a really fun person to hang out with too.

Michelle:

Well and they got rid of their coach.

Filiberto:

Natasha Cloud, if you ever wanna have a drink in Sacramento, just come on by. I'll make you a Pisco Sour. That's a good one.

Michelle:

Oh, that should be our next What We're Drinking.

Filiberto:

Oh, yeah. Let's do that. Alright. Put it on the list.

Filiberto:

Yep. There we go. Excited.

Michelle:

So, yeah, they I mean, it was it was billed as the best offense in New York versus the best defense in the Valkyries. It was nice because there were not a lot of fouls called. So it was actually a game that flowed and and was playing well. I think this was the first night of back to backs for the Valkyries.

Michelle:

So I think coach Nakase was definitely monitoring minutes.

Filiberto:

There'll be some load managing going on. Yeah.

Michelle:

Yeah. In preparation for the next day, the Valkyries are gonna play Indiana.

Filiberto:

And I have to travel for that too. Let's really emphasize that. It wasn't like back to back in San Francisco, go home, take a shower, come back. It was traveling from New York to Indiana. Yep.

Filiberto:

After having traveled from LA to or San Francisco to New York.

Michelle:

Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, the Valkyries led by 10 after the first quarter and they kinda didn't look back. You could tell that Liberty tried to kinda get the ball to Jonquel Jones more often in the second and third, but it just they just didn't have it. The Valkyries definitely did.

Michelle:

They led by eight at halftime. But I I think we we're seeing a lot like, the Valkyries, because they have a bench that you know, they they have a few players that could be the sixth person coming off the bench with their energy and just with their offensive and defensive contribution. So I think what you're seeing is the Valkyries are able to kinda spread around the the points, the assists, the the defense, and some other teams are just struggling with, like, trying to keep up with that.

Filiberto:

Yeah. I think in these games is when you see what's really impressive about the Valkyries is their collective speed, athleticism, IQ, pace. Like, it's it's like watching really good soccer, like, really, really good soccer. They're just so intuitive to one another. And this is also the benefit of, like you know, we've seen this in some, commentaries that, you know, a lot of teams got put together because of the wide free agency that happened, but the Valkyries were the most, like, put like, kept together from last year, and it kinda shows.

Filiberto:

Like, they have a lot of intuition to one another. And I think they enjoy each other's company. Like, that just comes across consistently all the time. And it makes it really nice to be there as a fan just watching folks that really just dig being together.

Michelle:

Yeah. They don't it doesn't feel like they have a lot of, like, huge egos. There's lot of, like, selflessness that I that's definitely coming through.

Filiberto:

Yeah. And even, like, inter inter like, multilingual like, even that part of it, you have it's a multilingual team, multi, multiculture. Like, it's cool that way. Mhmm.

Michelle:

One thing I just really appreciated too is the, you know, the Valkyries, this season alas, they had a tendency if they got a lead, they would kinda just take their foot off the gas in the third and fourth. They did not do that in this game. So that was, like, a really good signal. And that can be as part of that depth. Right?

Michelle:

But they kept up their defense, and they they kept scoring. So

Filiberto:

Very different than last year. And I think that's part of the addition of Gabby Williams and then part of them having played together and then partly just becoming veterans. Like, knowing that you have to always compete even when you're winning by fifteen, twenty, 30. Right. You have to keep competing.

Filiberto:

And we didn't always see that last year, not because they were a bad team, but just didn't it's just question of maturity or something, but just wasn't happening as often.

Michelle:

When there's gonna be a lot of games, like, they're gonna have to win these games. You don't wanna regret certain games that you that you lost because it's gonna impact, you know, whether or not you make it to playoffs. It'll impact your seeding.

Filiberto:

We don't wanna be in late August thinking about a game you had in May that you should have won.

Michelle:

Which I think they did last year.

Filiberto:

June.

Michelle:

They they could have gotten a five seed. They end up with an eight seed, and they lost in the first round. So I mean, that that kinda and and there were at least three games they should have won last season. So yeah.

Filiberto:

As of yesterday, it's a it's a four way tie for second place.

Michelle:

And the Valkyries are there. Yeah.

Filiberto:

Yay. But it's a four way tie.

Michelle:

I know. Well, it's early.

Filiberto:

But but, yeah, but every game but just to the point, every game matters.

Michelle:

Absolutely.

Filiberto:

In a tight league where there's, like, a lot of equity and a lot of, like, just less teams tanking than you have in the male game, like, every game really does matter.

Michelle:

Yeah. Atlanta's number one right now. It's wild. I love it.

Filiberto:

You and I knew they're gonna be good. Yeah. Like, they'd look good. They made the right moves. Ryane Howard is just an incredible athlete.

Filiberto:

Angel Reese is an incredible addition. They're already just kinda stacked. Yeah. Absolutely. Anyway.

Michelle:

So moving on to the next game. So the Valkyries beat Liberty, then they the next day. So they had to fly from New York to Indiana, and they ended up landing at 4 AM for their game that night.

Filiberto:

And probably a lot of turbulence too, I would imagine.

Michelle:

So we come to we come to the Fever and it and it's weird because they also build this game as the top the top offensive team. I don't know if Liberty losing the night before vaulted Indiana into that category the next night.

Filiberto:

We kinda lose real quick on this one.

Michelle:

And then so doing it as, like, the top offense. And, again, how do you define that? Is it by scoring alone? What is it? I don't know.

Michelle:

Versus the top defense in the Valkyries. But excited to see Monique Billings. She played for the for the Valkyries last year. She's now with the Fever, and she was starting. So that was really cool to see.

Filiberto:

Also another great Unrivaled season. She had a really, really awesome Unrivaled season. Yes. Shout out to you, Mo.

Michelle:

Yeah. But I always I don't watch a lot of Fever games, but I love watching Kelsey Mitchell play.

Filiberto:

Kelsey Mitchell, you're the shit.

Michelle:

She's just so good. Like So good. She's I wanna say she's she's gotta be the fastest guard, like, obviously now, but even, like, you know, when you're when you're ranking top guards that can just get downhill and can just create a lot of issues for the defense.

Filiberto:

She's so strong too. She's fast and strong. So she can really just work her way in. She can score at every level, and she plays tight defense.

Filiberto:

But the thing I enjoy about her the most is she never backs off. Yeah. Like, she's always locked in. And in the playoffs last year, we really saw how she carried this team. Yeah.

Filiberto:

She, like, single handedly just made that happen.

Michelle:

Really carried the team because what was the thing she got where she, you know this from CrossFit, where she, like, wore out her legs....

Filiberto:

Rhabdo!!!

Michelle:

Yes.

Filiberto:

Yeah. That's right. I forgot about that!

Michelle:

She literally couldn't stand anymore. She'd worn her body out so much.

Filiberto:

Like, yeah, y'all CrossFitters or other just athletes, y'all heard about got Rhabdo as a professional like, it is hard to drive yourself so far beyond what your body's capable, like, that's what you have to do to get rhabdo. You have to drive yourself harder than what your body's capable of. Few of us can even, like, taste that level of determination. Like, I I never have. Like, I never have in my life.

Filiberto:

But she did that trying to will the Fever to a victory. That's how devoted she was, and that's not not applauding that either. Like, homegirl, like, yo, don't get rhabdo. That is dangerous. Like, you're in the hospital for weeks sometimes.

Filiberto:

Like like, I'm not trying to applaud that, but just to offer the context. Like, that's how devoted she was. Again, not a great thing. Please don't do that. Kids watching at home, like, that's not the model.

Filiberto:

Like, back it off when you're tired. Like, let's not get rhabdo, but shit. Yeah. That was wild.

Michelle:

Yeah. So she's amazing. I mean, she's, as long as the shot looks halfway decent, it's going in for Kelsey. That's how good she is.

Filiberto:

As long as she's on the court, you have a chance.

Michelle:

Yeah. Absolutely.

Filiberto:

And I wanna be clear that we're talking about her specifically on this team as being that person. Yeah. And that's, that's that.

Michelle:

Veronica Burton was guarding her. So that was just a great matchup to watch as well. Yeah. Because they're both just really great at their ball handling skills.

Filiberto:

I can see their big buddies off the court too.

Michelle:

Possibly. Yeah.

Filiberto:

I can see that happening.

Michelle:

But for the Valkyries, they had kind of a slow start as they do sometimes in the first quarter. They got better in the second. Their rebounding was better. There was kind of like a a weird skirmish toward the end heading into halftime. Hayes, Tiffany Hayes for the Valkyries and Caitlin Clark for the fever were kinda getting chippy each other.

Michelle:

They're shooting threes in each other's faces. So but I you know, this is a game that was really disappointing when it came to the refereeing. I think a lot of people who play the Fever, you know, fans of those teams probably feel the same way whenever they watch their team play the Fever. But especially coming off of the game, the prior night with the Liberty where the game just had a better flow. The foul calls seemed to be more consistent and not calling every single thing that's happening on the court.

Michelle:

So eventually, those foul calls going against Golden State helped the Fever with their free throws, and, that was the game.

Filiberto:

And going back to the Tiffany Hayes for a second, like, I love watching her play. That's just I don't there's never a second of her being on the court that I just don't enjoy because she's so passionate. She's so determined. She's just so joyful in the way she approaches her game. Like, it's just awesome.

Filiberto:

So Yeah. Whatever you're doing, Tiffany, we're behind you. Ride or die. Ride or die.

Michelle:

Well, I think so this was on May 22. So this was, like, last Thursday or Friday. So they do play each other again. So this one was in Indiana. This game will be this week, this Thursday come in San Francisco.

Michelle:

So it'll be interesting to see. And the Valkyries will not be on the second night of back to back.

Filiberto:

Back to back. Jesus.

Michelle:

Hopefully hopefully, the Fever land at 4 AM, to SFO.

Filiberto:

Well, because I think I think the point needs to be made that, like, the unfortunate thing for the Valkyries is they're not, like, a half court slogging like, they can survive a back to back night with a horrible flight. Like, they're a three point shooting athletic, like, aggressive team. You need to be rested for that. Mhmm. You need to have your night rest.

Filiberto:

You need to feel good. You need enough feel heavy legs because you're tired, and you just had a game last night. So it does it does the league does screw them a lot when they give them back to backs no matter the context. It's just not good for their style of play.

Michelle:

Right. But, hopefully, having the bench they have can help help with that sometimes.

Filiberto:

Yeah. The depth that they have.

Michelle:

Speaking of which, so the next game was this past

Filiberto:

Speaking of which?

Michelle:

This past Monday. Valkyries were back at home. They played Connecticut. Unfortunately, Brittney Griner did not play. So that was I was you know, that would've cool to see her play.

Filiberto:

Our heart is always with BG.

Michelle:

Yeah. But there was some exciting news for the Valkyries. You had Ceci Zandalasini was back. She was out since the, I believe, the first game of the season. She got a concussion.

Filiberto:

She was on the protocol.

Michelle:

Yeah. Sounds pretty horrible. She had kind of nonstop headache, so it was a bit for her.

Filiberto:

Shout out to you, Ceci. Just taking care of yourself. Like, I hope that you don't, aren't back on the court without feeling a 100% ready enough. It feels like Yeah. She waited the appropriate time.

Michelle:

Yeah. She looks good.

Filiberto:

Yeah. Looked good.

Michelle:

And the Valkyrie's first ever pick going back to last year as an expansion team, their first non- expansion draft pick was Juste Jocyte, I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly.

Filiberto:

Or at least close to. We're not trying to go correct here. We're just close to.

Michelle:

Some fans call her JJ to kinda get around, like, how the hell do you pronounce that name? But she is finally in the Bay Area. She, I think she went to two practices before this game.

Filiberto:

Maybe even one. I think they kept saying one.

Michelle:

Yeah. And

Filiberto:

She may have watched one and then participated in the, in another one.

Michelle:

She was not in street clothes. So she was actually in her uniform. People were like, oh my gosh. Is she gonna play?

Filiberto:

She was on the tight game bun. She was ready to go.

Michelle:

She was on the bike at one point warming up her legs. We're like, oh my gosh, she's gonna come. Luckily, the Valkyries had a good enough lead, so there was a little bit of pressure was kinda off the team. So Juste did come in in the fourth quarter with about four and a half minutes left, and she was in the game for, like, two seconds. They were inbounding underneath the basket.

Michelle:

So she's in the game for, like, two seconds. They run a play. They inbound it to her. She shoots it, goes in. And so that was really awesome.

Filiberto:

And I'm pretty sure the w a w the women's basketball website is really good about the analytics, and we can just show you a clip of that play. So we're gonna try to do that for the show notes for this one. And then because she came around in a curl. Yeah.

Filiberto:

Boom.

Michelle:

And then, like, a minute or two later, she just said, what the hell? I'm gonna shoot a three, and it goes in. So she had, like, she had five points in a couple of minutes' play, which is great.

Filiberto:

Well, what really impressed me too is how even she seemed. Like, just completely composed. Like and then I saw I read an article about her that talks about how she takes meditation really seriously. She's been a pro since she was, like, 13. Right.

Filiberto:

But she takes meditation seriously. She's, like, is really into wellness. So it would it would have been helpful to have read that ahead of time to have noticed it, but it was definitely noticeable that she was just, like, in rhythm, just, like, fucking, like, not overwhelmed by the moment. Not overwhelmed by the moment. And those are the kind of people that are gonna carry us in the playoffs.

Filiberto:

Not that we didn't have that before, but, you know, if we're gonna get past the first round, we need folks like that.

Michelle:

Well, that's what, you know, that's what fans and even, like, Coach Nakase say about, like, Salaun and Zandalasini is that they come and they have this cool head. They have this, like, confidence. They don't, like, panic very easily. And so you kinda need that in some of these, like, clutch or high pressure moments.

Filiberto:

Yeah. And just every once in while, like, when just watching Salaun shoot. Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah.

Filiberto:

It's just the mechanics, the the sort of elegance of movement. Mhmm. And she just does that routinely every game.

Michelle:

Yeah. So spoiler alert, the Valkyries win this game by 27 points, 97 to 70.

Filiberto:

That was even the biggest lead. It was yeah.

Michelle:

So it was a great win. Again, going into a rematch with the Fever later on this week. So just good game. There were a lot of fouls, so that kind of led to some choppy play earlier on.

Filiberto:

There was some nail biting. There was just Yeah. There was no flow to the game, and it got really uncomfortable.

Michelle:

Like, at halftime, the Valkyries were only they were up by 17, which definitely sounds like a huge lead, but they should've been up much earlier. But I think there was a lot of frustration with the foul calls for both teams. So then they were frustrated, and they took undisciplined. They took even more undisciplined fouls.

Filiberto:

Just swatting and that kind of stuff. So I think I think with the Valkyries, at least in this game, what they struggled with was in the beginning, they were kind of passive, and then they got more aggressive in the second, but then they got caught with a lot of fouls. So it's the Valkyries are very good, very aggressive defensive team. But, unfortunately, with the way the league is dealing with officiating, they have to really they're not just playing against their opponent. They're also playing against the refs and figuring out how to set their offense or defense.

Filiberto:

Yeah. Figuring out how to set their defense. So it's it definitely is a challenge for them every night. Mhmm. And that's not fair.

Filiberto:

And, again, like we were saying in our last podcast, a lot of these rules are designed to to support, encourage, prevent the restriction of the play of white women, you

Michelle:

know, in At the expense of Black women,

Filiberto:

At the expense of the excellence of Black women.

Michelle:

So we're we're getting to our last segment. And

Filiberto:

Hopefully, your favorite segment, everyone.

Michelle:

Yeah. Exactly.

Filiberto:

Is this your favorite segment? Mention it in the comment section and smash that like button. Is that that's that's what we have to say right now. If you're a social media person, you have to say smash that like button.

Michelle:

Smash?

Filiberto:

Yeah. I don't know how you smash a digital object.

Michelle:

Well, it's also kinda violent.

Filiberto:

I don't know. That's what that's what the kids say, so that's we're gonna say. We'll change it up next week. But

Michelle:

Gently push that heart button, please.

Filiberto:

Yeah. Please. If it's late at night, just scroll your little iPad over and just tap it.

Michelle:

Gently caress.

Filiberto:

And bring yourself to sleep. And, eventually, I'm gonna have a meditation channel too, so look forward to that.

Michelle:

So what's been on your mind this week?

Filiberto:

What's been on my mind? So we were watching the PWHL. Did I get that right? The acronym? Mhmm.

Filiberto:

Yeah. Good for me. Game, and we noticed that it's called the Walter Cup. We were like, wait a second.

Michelle:

That sounds weird.

Filiberto:

Who the fuck is Walter? And then we looked it up. Because I've because I I've mentioned this before in the podcast, but when I was reporting in Minnesota, there was a professional women's league that I was in dialogue with. I never really wrote articles about it. I think we wrote one article about it.

Filiberto:

But, during the game, they were like, this is the second or third championship. And it was like, wait, what? So I looked it up. Okay. So it turns out that Mark Walter and his wife, who also own the own the entire league.

Filiberto:

And Billie Jean King is the person that suggested that the trophy be named after them. Shout out to the ladies out there.

Michelle:

And Mark Walter is the same person who has this investment group together who own the LA Dodgers

Filiberto:

Outright.

Michelle:

And own the Lakers.

Filiberto:

Recently bought the Lakers

Michelle:

And the Sparks.

Filiberto:

At a $10,000,000,000 valuation, own the Sparks, own a couple of they own a F1 thing. They own a couple of English soccer league. Like, the thing about the thing about capitalism that cracks me up and these billionaires is a long time ago, I remember reading an article from, you know, the the guy with Omaha. What's his name? The guy that does investments that everyone's always like, he's a god.

Filiberto:

Warren Buffett. Yes. Thank you. Didn't have to look that up. And he basically admitted that his investment genius, basically, quote, unquote, genius is buying monopolies.

Filiberto:

That's all he does. That's how he makes his money. So sports entertainment, especially in the digital era where people are cord cutting, sports entertainment is one of the most valuable properties in entertainment because it's live content, and they can put commercials in your face. Otherwise, you can avoid commercials using Netflix or whatever other things. They know that.

Filiberto:

That's why sports is the most expensive thing to purchase right now. But that means that it's guaranteed a profit. Right? And so that's what billionaires do. That's how they make their money.

Filiberto:

They create, generate, corner, create monopolies, create monopolies. They try to guarantee profit. And they do that with or without our consent. So a couple of things about the league that, looking through their contract. So their contract is for eight years, '23 to '31, which, again, for folks that aren't, you know, all up in the union world, that is long.

Filiberto:

Like, the longest contracts that I've ever heard of is five years. And the reason why you wanna have short contracts is you wanna have the opportunity to continue to bargain and continue to get salary increases and continue to fighting for pensions and all those different things. So an eight year contract

Michelle:

does not allow the players to take advantage of the growth that they're creating. Yeah. It's it it almost sounds like a you're lucky to have a league contract. Yeah. Which is what women athletes are told a lot right now.

Filiberto:

It's kind of a company union contracts. Mhmm. And mad respect to the women that were organizing and trying to create this league and reached out to Billie Jean King and the Walter family and created this. Like, there clearly, was no other option to create women's professional hockey without this scenario.

Filiberto:

So fine. Like, we're gonna just acknowledge that, but that is a big giveaway. That is a big giveaway. Okay. So, the minimum salary you could possibly make is $37k, but only nine players can make that on each team or six players.

Filiberto:

Oh, no. And you have to have six players to a minimum salary of $80,000. The average salary is $55k with the three so in the contract, there's a 3% increase every year. So, you know, that's fine, I guess.

Michelle:

Yay. Inflation.

Filiberto:

It's below inflation. You're right. Yeah. Just because it was such a big deal with the WNBA, women's basketball, they do not have charter flights. There's condition there's specifics under, you know, if the if the game is more than x amount of miles, then you can do this and that, but there are no charter flights.

Filiberto:

But they must the hotel combinations must be comparable to a TripAdvisor two star class hotel. That's in Article 12.2. They do not have a pension. They have a 401k plan. Yeah.

Filiberto:

I'm I'm really bothered by that. Their first Union ED used to work in the NHL league office, and he was a general manager and all these things. So now but now the the the Union ED is a former, women's professional baseball player. She's more tied into the game. She's been a consultant, so, much stronger personality.

Filiberto:

But I think I think overall, I just wanted to really bring this up because I think we all are very excited. Right? Like, those of us that are podcasting, those of us that are consuming women's sports, that there's this, like, gorgeous moment where, like, just women's sports is, at the apex and growing and just continuing. But one dude gets to own, along with his wife, gets to own an entire league and dictate terms of a contract that are just not favorable to workers that are working in that situation. And again, mad respect to the league officers and the players that agreed to this, like you all just did what you did to make the league happen.

Filiberto:

But goddamn, this is not a strong contract. And the only thing an eight- year contract does for a private enterprise is guarantee profits.

Michelle:

Yeah. It allows them to control costs.

Filiberto:

In four to five years, when Mark Walters tries to sell these individual teams, he can say to them, I'm guaranteeing you what your salaries are gonna be for the next four years. That's why I think he's not gonna start selling them for another four to five years.

Michelle:

Right.

Filiberto:

Because that's that is the most important selling point for a potential owner is these players can't say shit to you for four years about their contracts. So, again, I I fucking understand why you would bargain that, players, but fuck. You put yourself in a tight spot. You put yourself in a tight spot. But, you know, it also gives you it also gives you eight years to fucking organize the shit out of this league and get yourself the contract with the money you deserve.

Filiberto:

And, you know, it's also the case that, like, no other professional sport in their inception had a union contract this strong.

Michelle:

Yeah. I think that's that's something

Filiberto:

That's something to keep in mind. Like, I'm trying to keep in mind as I was reading it that, like, no one had a contract this strong.

Michelle:

Exactly.

Filiberto:

But you gotta do better than this. Like, this is not a great contract.

Michelle:

Well, yeah. And I think that speaks a little bit to the people who play hockey. It's still a very white sport. And I know people are working on that, but a lot of people who play it, male or female, are coming from privileged families. And so I think that you're seeing a little bit of that.

Michelle:

So if they wanna diversify the league and the the just kind of like, what's the word? The pipe? The pipeline.

Filiberto:

Yeah. That's what I'm talking about.

Michelle:

If they wanna if they wanna diversify their pipeline, they're gonna have to do better with that.

Filiberto:

Yeah. Trying to use the word pipeline less often since the Keystone Pipeline is done.

Michelle:

Is there a different word we can use?

Filiberto:

Pathway.

Michelle:

Pathway. Yeah. They need to be able to diversify their pathway and do better,

Filiberto:

Expand that pathway.

Michelle:

And that's one of the ways to do that is you have to guarantee people a professional salary that they can not only live off of, but, you know, can have lives and families.

Filiberto:

Yeah. And to the players, I'm glad you have your league. I'm glad you have your salaries. Just keep fighting for it. Yeah.

Filiberto:

You deserve more. A lot more.

Michelle:

Well, and I I think going back to what you're saying is that, like, they had huge viewership numbers. Like, as far as comparing this season to last season, just the growth in, like, the merchandise sales and, like, ticket sales. There were a lot of sellouts of, like, large venues. So the growth is there. But, yeah, it's it sucks that players aren't gonna be able to take advantage of that for a little bit.

Filiberto:

Yeah. They're gonna sign some massive media rights deals in the next three to five years. Mhmm. And players are gonna be making the highest the highest paid player right now is making, like, $160,000.

Michelle:

Yeah. Those are not WNBA salaries, but they will be soon.

Filiberto:

I mean, WNBA was pretty bad last year. So Mhmm. You know? But if y'all need an organizer, I'm happy to help. I'm not just some guy talking shit.

Filiberto:

I'm gonna I will throw it down. I will back up what I'm saying.

Michelle:

Email Fili at info@wegotnextpod.org.

Filiberto:

Get it.

Filiberto:

So, Michelle, what's on your mind? What are you thinking about?

Michelle:

I just love this story. I cannot get enough of it.

Filiberto:

You know, our hot takes are also positive hot takes, not just us ranting about shit. Let's just preface it with that.

Michelle:

Oh, I'm gonna rant, but it's gonna be like a happy rant.

Filiberto:

Yeah. Yeah. So, like sorry. Before you get going on this, this is what I so in PTSD world, we talk a lot about being triggered and things like this, and it's a bad thing and it's triggering isn't good. But sometimes there are positive triggers too.

Filiberto:

There are ways in which we get so, like, elevated that I just it's disproportionate. So I think this is one of them. Go ahead. Sorry, Michelle.

Michelle:

That's okay. I wanna talk about Flavor Flav this week and how you know, he's a rapper, so I'm I'm sure there are lyrics to songs that I probably don't appreciate that have not aged well for a lot of us. But I I do appreciate Flavor, and also his reality dating TV show that was on VH1 a long time ago. Ew.

Filiberto:

That was a hot ass mess.

Michelle:

Cringe. That was cringe.

Filiberto:

We can't we can't get past that. But it will also reflect it reflected the time. He was neither ahead or behind what was going on.

Michelle:

Yeah. But I do like this, like, third wind, fourth wind, fifth wind, whatever it is where he's decided to be very supportive of women.

Filiberto:

Any and all women's sports.

Michelle:

And I love so he is kind of sponsoring and partnering with a lot of people to promote and and put on this She Got Game weekend in Las Vegas in the middle of July. So it's gonna be hot and humid as shit.

Filiberto:

Mhmm.

Michelle:

But it's just like four- day celebration of women athletes. And he's does a little he's does a few times where he's kind of sponsor he's helped fundraise and sponsor certain teams at the Olympics Recently.

Filiberto:

He was, field hockey and rugby and

Michelle:

Yeah. I don't remember Yeah. Exactly. But he's he's come to Olympics. He's helped kind of uplift female athletes.

Filiberto:

It was water polo. Was like women's water polo he got down with. Anyway, we'll put it the show notes.

Michelle:

I can't remember. Sorry. But so he and this kind of started again, his activism, his supportive women, athletes, especially Olympians has been around for a bit. But this year, we had the Winter Olympics in Italy. And a lot of a lot of you are gonna know this, that the USA women women's hockey team won gold as did the men's.

Michelle:

There was this moment for the men where they had some grifters attending their game in the locker room with them afterwards celebrating, and someone called Donald Trump.

Filiberto:

You mean to say that FBI director, Kash Patel, otherwise known as Edgar J. Boozer?

Michelle:

Is a grifter? Yes.

Filiberto:

You mean to say him?

Michelle:

That person. They end up calling they end up calling up Trump. He got him on the phone. He invites him to the White House, his, like, State of the Union speech. Also, some really disgusting Yeah.

Michelle:

Gross, misogynistic comments about women athletes. So I guess I'm gonna have to call the women's team to invite them and just

Filiberto:

Yeah. Fuck you, dude.

Filiberto:

Fuck you.

Michelle:

And the men's hockey team players laughed at his jokes and took part in it. It was really gross

Filiberto:

Okay.

Michelle:

And disgusting. So anyways, Flavor Flav is like, that's bullshit. And he's like, I invite those women to, like, come and party with me. We're gonna do a parade. And so that's kinda how it started.

Michelle:

He eventually expanded his invite to all Olympic women's athletes and Paralympians. And then we talked about the Professional Women's Hockey League and how Montreal just won the championship. So he's also extended the invitation to them. So it's become this thing. He needed approval from the Clark County Commission, which is like their county kinda government body, which is where Las Vegas is.

Michelle:

It's in Clark County, Nevada. And he got that approval this past week, and it was kinda it was kinda funny because he's going to public comment just being like, thanks everyone.

Filiberto:

Let's put that clip on the show notes.

Michelle:

And and it's during public comment, so you're usually supposed to enter you know, say who you are for the record. And so the lead commission person was had to interrupt Flavor Flav and say, staff is telling me you have to you have to like, say who you are for the record. And so he's like, hey, everyone, I'm Flavor Flav. And so it was like this really cute moment where you're like, you're just a member of the public and we need your name. So he unanimous decision by the Clark County commissioners to approve this this massive event.

Michelle:

They're gonna have a parade down the Strip one of the days. Of course, Flavor Flav is not doing this by himself. He has his own management team. He's got a promoter. Huge huge defense.

Filiberto:

Flavor Flav got people.

Michelle:

So they've they've been able to book Allegiant Stadium, or Arena, which I believe is where the Raiders play.

Filiberto:

That's where the that's where the foosball was played. Okay.

Michelle:

And I was kind of getting

Filiberto:

It's a domed facility too. So

Michelle:

And I was kind of getting to hear some of the people who've already committed to being the entertainment at concerts this weekend include the Backstreet Boys.

Filiberto:

Oh, no.

Michelle:

So definitely hitting like certain target audiences

Filiberto:

For the ladies.

Michelle:

Yes. Exactly. So it's gonna be like an all out great party. I think it's fantastic to, like, again, uplift these phenomenal athletes and give them this moment that, like, unfortunately, other people in quote unquote, like, positions of power are unwilling to do. And this is actually gonna be a better party than going to the White House, going to a state of the union speech.

Michelle:

They're gonna have way more fun, way more attention. I'm already, like, looking for flights to to Vegas, see if we can, like, swing that weekend. But

Filiberto:

We should, we should just go record. Yeah.

Michelle:

But it's props to everyone who's sponsoring it. Yes. You're gonna make money. You're gonna get some good media and attention for this. But I can't wait to see whether we're there in person or we have to, like, watch it from afar.

Michelle:

I'm, like, super excited to see what what happens and just, like, you know, props to Flavor Flav for just kind of making this kind of joyful

Filiberto:

Resistance.

Michelle:

Event. Yes. And resistance and movement for for women and giving them that space to to be themselves and get the accolades that they absolutely deserve and they've earned.

Filiberto:

Well, the cool thing about it too for me is, like, I used to do music promotion and, like, different things around music. And when I try to have brown and and, women and femme performers, I always get a lot of reasons why it won't work, right, when I'm trying to book venues and make it happen. I know it's gonna work, but I get told a lot of reasons why it won't work. And that's why it's so cool about Flavor Flav . He's like, I'm just gonna fucking do it.

Filiberto:

Fuck y'all. Y'all don't see what this is? Okay. You're fucking stupid. I'm gonna do it.

Filiberto:

Like, barriers are only there when you don't want something to happen. If you just give a shit, you'll make it happen. So good on him for just fucking doing it.

Michelle:

Yeah. Super exciting. Yeah. In, like, six weeks. It's happening in, six weeks.

Filiberto:

Are we going to Las Vegas in six weeks? Is that what's happening?

Michelle:

I kinda want to.

Filiberto:

Are we announcing it?

Michelle:

I mean, I don't wanna commit to anything right now.

Filiberto:

Alright, y'all. If we don't we won't commit to anything. But if someone wants to sponsor our trip, then we can commit to something. Then we will commit.

Michelle:

Yeah. We gotta get through your birthday month first.

Filiberto:

Yeah. We gotta survive that.

Michelle:

Then we'll make it, we'll make some decisions.

Filiberto:

Yeah.

Michelle:

Thanks for listening and building community with us. Make sure you're following us on Instagram at pod we got next and subscribe at wegotnextpod.org.