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We provide listeners an update on our foster cats’ shenanigans, relive FIBA’s World Cup ups and downs, review the Golden State Valkyries’ record-setting second season, and discuss women’s sports’ concerning and harmful embrace of sports betting.
Show notes:
22:13 – FIBA stats for each player.
28:51 – Epic Burton block in the third against Seattle
Creators and Guests
Host
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.
Welcome, bienvenidos, to We Got Next, a podcast for fans of 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.
Filiberto:So, folks, it's been a while since we've done this podcast. I looked over at the soundboard, and this little kitty cat, I love him to death. He, when he came to us, he was, two pounds and now
Michelle:One and a half.
Filiberto:One and a half. Right? And now he's he's definitely ripping at, like, four pounds at least. Like, at least.
Michelle:I don't know if they'd let us keep him if he was that many pounds.
Filiberto:But I think he thinks he's an audio engineer. So he he changes all my levels. So I just went through a panic just adjusting everything because I had it perfectly.
Michelle:Yep.
Filiberto:Perfectly.
Michelle:He's our foster kid that we named He-Man Thunder Kitty.
Filiberto:Well, we didn't is that officially his name?
Michelle:Yes. I think so.
Filiberto:Oh, I thought that was a placeholder.
Michelle:We get to choose it.
Filiberto:I treated that as a placeholder because we were gonna decide something better.
Michelle:Do you want something else?
Filiberto:I mean, I I don't.
Michelle:Do you like Gorby?
Filiberto:What the hell is a Gorby?
Michelle:Remember?
Filiberto:Like, Gorbachev? Oh, that's right.
Michelle:So he's he's, like, a mainly white he's a white haired cat, American curl. But he's got, like, a tiny kinda, like, dark gray bits of hair growing on his forehead.
Filiberto:So those of you born in the last century will remember Mikhail Gorbachev.
Michelle:And the birthmark on his kind of balding forehead.
Filiberto:Maybe Gorba instead of Gorby.
Michelle:Oh, that'd be cute.
Filiberto:I can say it in Spanish easier. That'd be nice. So periodically, you're gonna hear He-Man Thunder Kitty make his noise. Michelle is dutifully trying to keep him attentive with his favorite wand. Mhmm.
Filiberto:And possibly, our other cat will be moaning in the background or not really moaning. It's it's more of a lament. It's like a a deep a deep malaise, perhaps.
Michelle:It is kind of a moan.
Filiberto:It's it's but it's like a it's a la Llorona.
Michelle:It's a Yes.
Filiberto:It's a wail. That's that's
Michelle:the word. A wail. That's the right word.
Filiberto:Yes. He wails with It's
Michelle:definitely a wail.
Filiberto:With some stuffed ears in his mouth. It's incredibly sad and hilarious.
Michelle:He's very attached and gets really jealous.
Filiberto:Really jealous. Really fast. Not even not even like, it doesn't take him that long to get jealous. He just jump right into it.
Filiberto:Wow, Michelle.
Filiberto:Wow. So we're recording this right after the Sparks, Valkyries game, the final game of the season.
Michelle:Yes. I think Vegas finished before us, so we were the last game to finish.
Filiberto:And, you know, Michelle didn't see a lot of the game?
Michelle:I did not. I was okay. I'll be real. So we're skipping ahead Yeah. No.
Michelle:We're we're drinking.
Filiberto:We gotta start with where we're at.
Michelle:Okay. Yeah. So we're a little amped right now. I okay. Just to back it up.
Michelle:So we played LA tonight and love you, Nneka. Yeah. Sorry to send you into retirement with a one point loss at the last minute.
Filiberto:Our president, Nneka.
Michelle:Madam president. Madam president. Love you. Love you. Love you.
Filiberto:Yes. Thank you for everything you've done for the union, the league, the players.
Michelle:And the most, the most transformative person, like, beyond just, like, playing on the court, like, transform this league.
Filiberto:Well and and some of the things that she's done in those labor negotiations and as a union leader, she's definitely one of the most transformative labor leaders out there.
Michelle:Absolutely.
Filiberto:And nobody's giving her her due. But on this podcast, we will. Yeah. She's a significant labor leader. Her gains she's made with those women are fucking incredible.
Filiberto:Tactics, strategy, execution, they fucking killed it.
Michelle:Not that, but you you set the foundation for other women's sports teams or other other unions in general to kinda follow what you've what you've all done and just really I'm gonna I'm gonna lean into the sports unions. I'm thinking of, like, the women's soccer league, baseball, hockey, like,
Filiberto:The NWHL Yeah.
Michelle:They've really, like, laid that foundation of what
Filiberto:What's possible.
Michelle:Sports Players Associations should be.
Filiberto:And I think with some a transformative contract like that, like, the women got through Nneka's leadership, it allows other people to imagine Mhmm. Because they got so much.
Michelle:To aspire.
Filiberto:To aspire. Yeah. So thank you, Nneka, for your your commitment and your work. But, damn, that was a game.
Michelle:Yeah. So we're recording this right after the game ended.
Filiberto:It's about, like like, literally, like, ten minutes. Yes. We had to walk upstairs and I had to set up the computer.
Michelle:Yes. And move the cat stuff And So, yes. I so walking into this game, we had just played the Portland Fire for the second time in, like, three or four days. We did not do well against the Portland fire. It was kind of a trap game.
Michelle:I kinda saw this coming. Was a little concerned. And then other teams were doing you know, other teams other playoff bound teams were doing somewhat decently. And so you saw there's an opening door for the for Vegas to win tonight and to leapfrog us for the second seed. You saw Washington play amazingly down the stretch, and they actually took the five seed from Indiana tonight.
Filiberto:There's a lot of movement to the last minute. Literally, the last minute of the league.
Michelle:So going into this game and, like, there's a there's a lot of groups and people covering the especially the Valkyries who were prognosticating, like our chances of who we would get in the first round. And there was a lot of like, hey, you're gonna you know, you're most likely to get Washington or Dallas. And it was like really, like, 80% you're gonna get them. And I'm like, we just lost to Portland. And
Filiberto:We lost to Portland bad.
Michelle:We're playing at LA, and as soon as Nneka because I had this circled on my calendar. I'd seen this months ago. I was considering, can we go to this game in LA? But when Nneka announced her retirement, I knew, like, instantly I knew that Valkyries were gonna be the last team she played at home, last game of the season. So I had circled that.
Michelle:I already knew it was gonna be a big game. And then we lose to Portland, and I'm like, oh, no. Like, shit's getting dicey. And and like all the stats, they don't they take in account like the stats, the minutes, the points, the assists, whatever. But they don't take into account it's Nneka Ogwumike's last game.
Michelle:Like, LA's gonna ball for her. They're gonna wanna win this game for her. They're gonna be passing the ball to her. She's even though she's retiring, she's been in the league for fifteen years, she's playing at a peak. And so even with injuries, Cameron Brink didn't play for LA.
Michelle:But even even then, I'm like, this team's gonna play for her. The crowd's gonna be there. Leslie Jones, love you, was also there in the, you know, her normal courtside seats. So I was concerned that this is gonna be an uphill battle for the Valkyries. Even had they won Portland, even if they're doing great, this is gonna be a hard game to win.
Michelle:Losing to Portland put us in this, like, oh, shit. We have to win this game to keep our two seed.
Filiberto:Well, in the Portland game too, and we're all sorts of out of order, but that's okay. The Portland game, it was clearly like Portland wanted to win that more than we wanted to beat them. Like, Portland just
Michelle:They played harder.
Filiberto:Like, just went for it. And you're sort of you were worried about that with LA, and that's what most of the game looked like until the last three minutes. Or Gabby was just like, oh, what's up? I've been gone for a while, but I'm just gonna jump back in and win this game for y'all. Like, have a good night.
Michelle:Yeah. Gabby had, like, six. She started the game really strong. She had, like, two buckets right away, six points. Or no.
Michelle:She had six points, like, in the first, and then silent for a while. And then she scored, like, a a key three pointer. And then she's and then turns around, steals the ball from LA, comes down, gets a a layup, which is, like, amazing, but I'm like, where have you been?
Filiberto:It was terrifying. So and then, you know, so we won and season's over, and we've had an incredible season. We can reflect on that, but that was a shit show of a game, especially coming after Portland.
Michelle:It was bad.
Filiberto:It was just excruciating to watch. We won. Hey. Yay. Yay.
Filiberto:Last again, last minute and a half, two minutes. If you didn't capture it, holy shit, please watch it because my god.
Michelle:Or at least lost five minutes. Yeah. But yeah. So that explains why I wasn't watching a lot of the game was because I saw the Portland game. I knew Nneka was retiring.
Michelle:I knew LA would play really hard for her. So once we got down by, like, fifteen, twenty, I was oh, man. This is like a continuation of the Portland game. Our shots weren't going in. We struggled from the three.
Michelle:Like, I was just like, even our bench was struggling.
Filiberto:We were we were literally sweating it. I had to crate the AC up.
Michelle:Yeah. It
Filiberto:was it was too hot down there.
Michelle:I was like I was like, dude, I can't I can't do this. So I was in the room. I was listening, but I was distracting myself on social media for a lot of this.
Filiberto:Which is a great place to distract yourself.
Michelle:I know.
Filiberto:If you're looking for calm if you're looking for calm and respite.
Michelle:Except except there's, like, so many amazing posts, like, congratulating Nneka and and wishing her well and, like, highlighting all the wonderfulness that she's done. And so it was kinda like, I agree with all these people and my team's struggling, but they really need to win. So it wasn't necessarily the greatest place to, like, you know, try to find solace, but the Valkyries somehow pulled out that win. Hopefully, they can carry that over into the playoffs because they kinda back back ass ended in the playoffs like they did last year. So, hopefully
Filiberto:Of the last, like, eight quarters that we've seen them play, so Portland and Seattle, they've only been, like, two good quarters. Maybe three.
Michelle:Portland, LA.
Filiberto:Yeah. Portland, LA. Sorry. Yeah. They've only been, like, two good quarters, maybe three.
Filiberto:So it's been a little weird. And, you know, some of it's attributed to people are attributing it to people coming back from the World Cup or all these other reasons. But, you know, to the eye, it just looked like they just weren't locked in. They there was no flow. Yeah.
Filiberto:Communication was off. And Yeah. The one thing that's been consistent every game of the season, every press conference, every conversation with a player is if they're not communicating on defense, they do not do well. Yeah. That's just that's just a rule with this team.
Filiberto:So when you notice that, when you see them just not chatting, not organizing themselves, not standing up on defense, something's not going right. That's what we saw today until the very end. Like, it just they locked it down at some point, and they wanted to win, and thank god they won. But, man
Michelle:It's a close game. What an end of the season. Like, all the games today were phenomenal.
Filiberto:Oh god.
Michelle:There were a few games that were, like, played by people who weren't in the playoffs. But a lot of the games, like the Minnesota fever game, which we can talk about later, but dang. Like, Fever got their butts kicked. Minnesota came to play. Everyone was on, like it was a this is, like, one of the best, like, last game last days of the season I can remember in a while.
Filiberto:And up to the last second, there were still seeding issues. Like, that's just every every game, every minute mattered.
Michelle:Yeah. So Last last two days of the season.
Filiberto:It was stressful, but super fun, and thank god it's over. What a great season. Yeah. Holy shit.
Michelle:Yeah. I think I think seeds one through eight, the people going to playoffs, the teams going to playoffs are all separated by six games. Like, that's how close it is.
Filiberto:It's tight.
Michelle:Yeah. It's really tight. Yeah.
Michelle:So back to the normal beginning of our podcast episode, Fili, what are you drinking?
Filiberto:Well, know, we don't have the same budget as our friends in the professional leagues, but we got our own little bottle of champagne. It's not being sprayed everywhere.
Michelle:I was gonna say.
Filiberto:You know, our podcast studio is our second bedroom slash my office slash where the little cat sleeps. So yeah. The foster cage. So, yeah, we're not gonna be spilling champagne anywhere. We don't have that kind of budget y'all.
Filiberto:If you wanna sponsor us and, give us that kind of budget that we'd be happy to accept that. But we're enjoying some celebratory champagne. Like, was provided by Costco?
Michelle:This is this is shut your mouth for once. This is this is
Filiberto:For once?
Michelle:This is no. No. I'm just saying, like, from the Costco ads that we always do.
Filiberto:Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, free Costco ads.
Michelle:This is Robledo,
Filiberto:which is one of
Michelle:amazing wine wineries in Sonoma that we frequent. Mhmm. Thank you. Thank you, Robledo.
Filiberto:Thanks, homies at Robledo for indirectly sponsoring this season.
Michelle:Can we call it champagne, or do we have to say, like,
Filiberto:sparkling Champagne.
Michelle:Grand Cuvet sparkling wine.
Filiberto:If you say it exactly the way I just said it, you'll be fine.
Michelle:Oh, there you go. Champagne. I can't do a French accent, so I'll be quiet.
Filiberto:There you go. Sorry. You're gonna have to pay.
Filiberto:Hey, why don't you clue us in onto the wide world of sports?
Michelle:Yeah. So a few quick stories that have been happening this in the last couple weeks. First off, Cathy Englbert, the WNBA commissioner announced her retirement, which did not surprise anyone. She's had a rough go of it the last year or so, including the bargaining for a new collective bargaining agreement with the players association we kinda mentioned with Nneka earlier.
Filiberto:Racial dynamics across the league. Yes. Increased toxicity. Like, there have been a lot of fumbles.
Michelle:Yeah. Yeah. She yeah. One of her, I think, latest greatest was saying that the racial tension that media and fans have been stoking between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese was good for the game. At the end of the day, she just hasn't been able to step up and be a commissioner and represent her owners and her fans and her players like she needs to be.
Michelle:I think that's gonna be something that Adam Silver will be focusing on. And one thing I do wanna mention in people like there's some shortlists, some longlists as to who can replace her and people keep mentioning like Swin Cash or like Nneka Ogwumike. I'm gonna tell you right now, he's not gonna hire a player. He's not gonna hire a former player. The commissioner reports to the owners.
Michelle:The commissioner does what the owners want. And I understand a lot of hatred towards Cathy. She made a lot of fuck ups, her own fault. But at the the day, she's doing what the owners tell her to do. All commissioners are doing what the owners tell them to do.
Michelle:So if you wanna be mad at someone, you need to be mad at the owners.
Filiberto:Well and from the league's perspective, Cathy wasn't a mistake. Cathy was exactly what they wanted. So let's not even be ambiguous about that.
Michelle:They hired someone from tech with who knew only business.
Filiberto:Yeah. With the analytics background, like, just not
Michelle:Yeah. And that's who they're gonna hire again. And I will hand over my paycheck to some, like, nonprofit, you know, organization if I'm wrong here. I don't think I'm wrong.
Filiberto:Okay.
Michelle:I will donate my paycheck if I'm wrong. I don't think I am.
Michelle:The other thing I wanted to mention was congratulations to the LA Queens of the Women's Professional Baseball League. They finished their inaugural season and they had their championship series, best of five against the San Francisco Firebells this week. The Queens were actually up to nothing in the series, and the Firebells came back with some blowout games.
Michelle:But the Queens were able to win it in the last game, game five, due to a historic performance by Ayami Sato. She's one of the sports all time greats. And people said she was finally able to extinguish the Firebells. But it was a two o game in game five to win it. That was the first that's actually the first shutout of the season, the whole season for the league.
Michelle:And Sato threw a complete game. Seven innings, five hits, zero runs, zero walks, one strikeout, and she only threw 76 pitches. That's freaking efficient and amazing.
Filiberto:Yeah. Just took it over. Yeah. We got to watch the last couple innings. It was amazing.
Filiberto:Yeah. It was a nice little nice little win.
Michelle:So congratulations congratulations to them.
Filiberto:Inaugural season is over.
Michelle:They sold 55,000 tickets with four teams in one place, one baseball stadium they stayed at. They reportedly gained 1,300,000 in ticket revenue, and I can only hope that they use that money to invest in their players for next season.
Filiberto:We already know it's not gonna happen, though. Like, there's already been suggestions that there's issues internally that Yes. There's lawsuits around where the money's going. So, you know, there's lot of concern.
Michelle:I was saying that hopefully to manifest something.
Filiberto:Yeah. But let's be, you know, real about what's going on here.
Michelle:Well, I I think it's important to note, you know, adding to what you're saying is one of the team captains kind of in their, you know, speeches to the team before game five was like, hey. We don't know what's happening next season, so let's leave it all out in the field. Like and that's that's kind of a shitty position to be in, like, not knowing if you're gonna have a season next year. Like, all this inaugural, this is great, you're breaking records, like, you're making history, but then not knowing because you have crappy management who aren't like, we we were watching that last game and we're, like, looking at the field and there's, like, dirt and weeds out there. And we're, what the hell?
Filiberto:Yeah.
Michelle:And half those players aren't necessarily on contract. They're just getting paid for that day and getting some housing. Like, that's not the way to run a professional league.
Filiberto:And so We're super excited about what's happening, but we're also cautious and suspicious about some of the background noise. And we'll certainly keep on top of lawsuits and other action around the league.
Michelle:Yeah. So congratulations to the LA Queens.
Michelle:All right. Before we get to the amazing Valkyries end of their season and looking forward to the playoffs in the WNBA, Let's just touch on this other, like, huge tournament that happened that kinda broke up the W season. FIBA, the women's basketball World Cup.
Michelle:What were your thoughts from watching those games? We had kind of group play and then, you know, the quarterfinals, semifinals, finals. What were your thoughts on the the tournament?
Filiberto:Yeah. I think I think the sort of suspicions around who was gonna be in the final was true. It was gonna be USA and France, and I think it made a lot of the earlier games a little, the way they had the buy for the first place teams in the in the group stage and the and the second and third place teams ended up playing in the tournament. It was just kinda there was a lot of lopsided lopsided scores. It wasn't as interesting.
Filiberto:That kinda sucked. But it was a lot of fun to see some of our favorite players do really well. Like, Ceci had a nice tournament with Italy. Like, we speculated this, but she did she was the centerpiece of the offense, and she did produce quite a bit.
Michelle:I mean, Italy almost knocked off The USA
Filiberto:in No. They did great.
Michelle:In group play.
Filiberto:They did great. Spain was a little bit of a disappointment. Like, people had a lot of expectations for them and their lineup was stacked, but I think they proved they're still a really young team, and there's a lot of room to grow.
Michelle:They're still building.
Filiberto:They're still building. And, yeah, I just love watching France and the Le Valkyries players dominating there and just seeing Janelle start and do really well and Gabby be a team captain. And so it was a little bit of a drop off just with all the action, everything that happened that when we got back stateside, the Valkyries just weren't incorporating the European players as well. And it's been kind of a shitty couple games, but I think the overall tournament was entertaining when you get to the sort of closeout games. And it was, again, fun to watch our favorite players do their thing.
Michelle:Yeah. And kudos to Germany for hosting. Yeah. I think a few teams like China, they're just they're just right there. They just need, you know, a few more scorers.
Michelle:I think I mean, obviously, in the people who've run the the the pre, the halftime, the postgame shows, the people who were commentating were phenomenal. Tina Charles, you know, kind of Candace Parker kinda come in toward the the end, but they deserve all the flowers they're getting for their commentary. It was interesting watching the officiating because it's obviously gonna be different. And there were several American players who who had to kinda adjust. Mean, again, like, there are probably other players from other countries that did, but it's like more noticeable for us watching the American teams.
Michelle:Like, Caitlyn Clark has had a hard time. The officiating is, you know, a European play is just a little bit more physical. And
Michelle:Well I think that was one
Filiberto:of the clarifications that when I was watching. People kept saying that that's physical.
Michelle:Physical. Physical. Physical.
Filiberto:But then the more we watched, was like, it's not that it's physical. It's just the refs let a lot more shit get away. The refs allow a lot more things to slide. That's what it felt like. So it'll it looked like it was more physicality.
Filiberto:But if you, I think, paid attention, it was because the refs it's just a different style of officiating.
Michelle:But I think, yeah, some some American players are used to, like, flopping and
Filiberto:Yeah.
Michelle:Getting the attention of the refs and automatically getting called. That just was not happening.
Filiberto:There was no tolerance for that.
Michelle:With these refs. So you had certain younger American players struggling. I did wanna note so, like, I know coming into the tournament, there was some commentary about A'ja Wilson wanting to kind of like, you know, she had an injury. She had some issues with her back, so she bowed out. And there's some commentary that maybe she was concerned that she'd be outshone by some younger players on the roster.
Michelle:But watching the tournament, that absolutely was not the case because USA had to rely on a lot of their veterans to win them games. And that includes Breanna Stewart who ended up being the MVP of the tournament. She was phenomenal, like, the USA team on her back a few times. And you could tell if you look at, like, certain players like Paige Bueckers or like Caitlin Clark and you compare them, their stats and their playing time to some of the more veteran players like Breanna Stewart or Chelsea Gray or Jackie Young. Like in the games where it was a lopsided win for The USA, the younger players got a lot more playing time.
Michelle:And so their stats look great. But then in like the closer games like that game I mentioned against Italy in the in the group play where the USA eked out a win by three points. And other games, the veterans carried the minutes and they they played more of the game. So it was just interesting that, like, they had more of, like, a roster for the first time. It was, like, kinda split between younger, the next generation, and the older, more veteran. But a lot of people would argue that those veteran players are the ones who came through and the ones who head coach Kara Lawson relied on to bring home the gold.
Michelle:So just wanna, like, you know, give those players the flowers they deserve for winning the gold.
Filiberto:Yeah. And it's not like an opinion or an argument. It's just in the it's in the stat lines. Yeah. It's in the box score.
Michelle:And we'll put the links on the show notes where you and it's really cool because FIBA, the website, you can actually click on a player and you can see all of their stats for each of the games, and they do, like, a cumulative and then an average. So it's very it's very clear.
Filiberto:Yeah. So keep an eye the show notes. We have some dope links, including a lot of video from our favorite plays and steals and things. Yeah. So, yeah, keep an eye on it.
Michelle:We'll put that in there.
Michelle:So let's go over the Valkyries. So they had four games left at the end of the season before we head into playoffs. We played Portland twice. We started with the back to back after the FIBA break.
Michelle:We had Portland on the eighteenth. Then the next day we had Seattle. And then a couple days later on the September 22, we played Portland again in Portland this time. And then like we just said at the top of the show, we played LA in LA to close out our season, and Nneka Ogwumike's amazing, phenomenal career. The first two games were great.
Michelle:We were actually at those games in San Francisco at Chase Center.
Filiberto:Yeah. It was awesome. All the fans were there. Environment was strong. People were vocal.
Filiberto:It was just a beautiful way to end the home portion of the season.
Michelle:Yeah. I mean, that Friday game against Portland, the Valkyries end up winning 82 to 62. But just I was, like, anticipating this, like, heading into it. I was like, the vibe is gonna be so awesome. People are gonna be so excited after, like, two or three weeks of no Valkyries.
Michelle:They're gonna be so excited to have the team back, and it was so loud there. It was amazing. And
Michelle:when we
Michelle:won that game, we clinched a top four, seed with that win. So that was really important for us to get home court in at least the first round.
Filiberto:Yeah. And it was really impressive because our European players that we were mentioning weren't here. So, our second and third unit really got a lot of attention. Juste got plenty of minutes. She scored a lot of points, made some beautiful passes.
Filiberto:Like, her court vision is very apparent in the couple of minutes that we got to see her. And in the show notes, we have a a montage or a compilation of all of VB's six deals. Like, Veronica did really well. She really anchored that defense that night. It was nice to see.
Michelle:And I just wanna throw out there, Leticia Amihere had a career high 17 points. She was everywhere on defense, on offense. She had a really great game.
Filiberto:Yep.
Michelle:And then our next game, we played Seattle again at home. We won that game 70 to 57. I feel like this was kind of Juste Jocyte's coming out party again. Number one draft pick from last year. So the first ever draft pick for Valkyries.
Filiberto:Our first round pick.
Michelle:And Yeah.
Filiberto:Think I she was, like, sixth overall.
Michelle:Yeah. Yeah. She got a lot of minutes again because we were resting some of our FINA players like Gabby Williams, Janelle Salaun. She had thirteen minute thirteen she played thirteen minutes, had 11 points, was four of seven, three of three from the three point line. She had three rebounds, three assists, a steal, and no fouls this game.
Michelle:I wanna mention it. In the Portland game, the night before, she fouled out.
Filiberto:Oh, right.
Michelle:And the Seattle game, no fouls. So that was a huge improvement.
Filiberto:Well, Natalie Nakase in the press conference, she was like, yeah. That's fine. I don't mind them fouling out.
Michelle:Yeah. She's like, she fouled out. That's great. She she maximized her fouls, so that was great. Which I kind of agree with.
Michelle:I think, like, when coaches pull players, like, four or five fouls, like, in the fourth, I'm like, no. Let them play. Let them foul out. Like, maximize that. Don't leave them on the court.
Filiberto:Well, given how well they played without the European players in the in those two games Yeah. Both in terms of we were anticipating great games against Portland again and LA, and it just it didn't come to fruition. Yeah. But the one convenient thing about these back to backs is horrible for the players. It's something that we've talked about a lot, But we got to hang out with my brother who lives in San Francisco.
Filiberto:So shout out to Ernie for Yeah. Housing us for that weekend.
Michelle:Yeah. Thank you.
Filiberto:It was very nice. We were very busy that weekend. There's so many things going on.
Michelle:I do wanna shout out Flau'jae Johnson. Again, people can research the messy draft night of this year for the Valkyries and how they drafted Flau'jae only to trade her to Seattle like within five minutes. But she was one of the few bright spots for Seattle in that game. She had 17 points, super efficient shooting. She's had a really great game.
Michelle:She plays really well against, like, the Valkyries in Chicago and just wanna shot her out.
Filiberto:Mhmm.
Michelle:We did allow Seattle to kind of come back. We only had six points in the fourth quarter.
Filiberto:Which we didn't know at the time, but foreshadowed the next two games.
Michelle:Did. It did. And Leticia had an epic play. Was it in the second quarter?
Filiberto:I think so. Yeah. I don't remember. But it's the it's linked in the show notes. So it's when she blocked someone, caught it, ran down the court, and threw a nice little assist.
Michelle:To Kaitlyn.
Filiberto:Was it Kaitlyn Chen?
Michelle:Kaitlyn F'in Chen. K KFC. And Kaitlyn was shot at three point and made it.
Filiberto:Yeah. So a lot of good plays. And then, Veronica had a really nice block in the third. It's linked in the show notes as well.
Michelle:And then the last two games of the season that the Valkyries would probably like to forget really quickly, we we flew up to Portland on September 22. Kind of a rematch. And it's like that first game, the most recent game against Portland that was in San Francisco, Emily Engstler was really hyped. I think she felt she should have got more free throws in those games.
Filiberto:Yeah. She wanted more foul calls for sure.
Michelle:She kinda and she kinda had this like
Filiberto:She's very demonstrative about it.
Michelle:Yes. Very kinda angry, you know, passionate. So when we flew to Portland and played them there, it was kinda like, how is this gonna carry over? And I felt like it definitely did. Like the team, Emily definitely wanted to beat the Valkyries.
Michelle:This was Portland's last game of the season. It was a home game. So they were definitely motivated. The Valkyries started out great. They went 17 o in the first quarter.
Filiberto:It was kinda shocking. Yeah. Like, we love watching them play well, but that was just weird.
Michelle:They usually don't have great first quarters.
Filiberto:Yeah. And I we haven't played a first quarter like that all season or the last ever, I think. Just that kind of dominance. Very strange.
Michelle:And then it went downhill from there. And you could tell the rest of the team kinda rallied. The Portland team kinda rallied. And kinda that that fourth quarter that we played at home in Seattle where we only scored six points kinda carried over into this game. Yeah.
Michelle:And, you know, Coach Nakase in her postgame press conference just said Portland outplayed us. They played harder.
Filiberto:Yeah. They wanted to better. And I think this is gonna be a bit a major thing in the playoffs playoffs is it really, really depends on who wants it. Yeah. They just gotta fucking want it.
Michelle:I kinda felt like this was almost like a playoff game, like the playoff atmosphere of, like, this really tense every possession meant something. And it was kinda like, okay. If you're gonna lose something, great. Hope you know, and this is kinda what reporters are trying to lead the players in their their post game press conference.
Michelle:Like, isn't it good you have this now where you can like learn and adjust before before you you get get to to the the plan? Playoffs?
Filiberto:You
Michelle:You
Filiberto:can build build character.
Michelle:And it's kinda like, okay, great. We should have already known this. But so it was a good opportunity for the Valkyries to like look at some film, maybe decide they should make better shot choices. But yeah, it didn't it did not look great. Basically, you know, you've got the number one scoring bench in the league and they just didn't do well in this game.
Michelle:And then we also didn't shoot well from threes. So I mean
Filiberto:We didn't shoot well overall.
Michelle:Not that I wanna give an opposing team, like, any heads up. They're very smarter than me, so they already probably know this. But that game is a good blueprint on how to beat the Valkyries in the playoffs. And so I'm sure.
Filiberto:Yeah. I know.
Michelle:Dallas yes. Dallas is gonna definitely watch that game in preparation.
Filiberto:We were also playing ourselves out of that game too.
Michelle:Like, it
Filiberto:wasn't and Dallas doesn't have the personnel to to even approach some of those things that Portland was able to do. I think the other thing that was happening in the background that was interesting and and kinda shocking was Minnesota had lost against Indiana that night. Yes. And it gave us a chance to tie for the first for first place.
Michelle:Yes.
Filiberto:So we were about to tie for first place. We were about to end this season potentially
Michelle:And then we
Filiberto:in first place.
Michelle:Did not do well against Portland.
Filiberto:We shut the bed, and it's fine. And Yeah. And we won against the Sparks, we're in second, and it's beautiful. But holy shit. Like, that's how wild this season is, but we were almost finishing in first place.
Filiberto:Almost. Yes. One game.
Michelle:That's a thing.
Filiberto:A couple baskets away from that.
Michelle:That's the thing that sets the stage for the LA game that just happened just now tonight was if the Valkyries had won that game in Portland Yeah. Tonight would have been a little bit more, like
Filiberto:A little bit more interesting.
Michelle:Like, laid back.
Filiberto:Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Michelle:Laid back for the Valkyries fans. But, no. No. It was, like, at least I can speak for myself. All day today, I've had some emotional issue.
Michelle:Like, just
Filiberto:You've had big feelings about big things, Michelle. It's okay.
Michelle:Big feelings. I was having some moments of grief about one of my cats that passed away recently. And I think part of that was just like the anxiety of tonight's game because I knew. I was like, we lost Portland. Now we're in a situation where we might lose our two seed because I know the Nneka is amazing and they're gonna play well for her.
Michelle:So just really wish the Valkyries could have beat Portland because a lot of us, including myself, could have relaxed a little bit more tonight.
Filiberto:I would they could have relaxed too. Like, everyone would have been a little better. Yeah. But fuck it. Let's keep it tight.
Filiberto:Let's keep it tense. This is an exciting season for us.
Michelle:Right. And then we kind of already talked about tonight's game against LA. Just really bad carryover for the Valkyries. I I don't disagree with the shots they were making. I I wish they had chosen more high percentage shots, but the shots they were making weren't bad.
Michelle:It was just that they weren't going in, which is a problem they had against Portland.
Filiberto:No. They had a bunch of like, they had open lanes to the basket.
Michelle:Yeah. They had they had some layups. They were missing.
Filiberto:Didn't happen. Our threes weren't atrocious. If we had hit our mean on threes, we would have lost by lot won by 20 points. So it was just kind of a nightmare of a game, but, you know, we won it.
Michelle:I think, you know, the LA Sparks tried to slow down the game in the last three minutes.
Filiberto:Yeah. They kinda fucked up on that.
Michelle:And but I think that's a base that's a basic game management decision that I think, like, nine out of 10, like, teams would have made. Yeah. Because again, our shots were not going in. Like, our numbers for the rest of the game were not great. It's just that you had someone like Kaitlyn Chen who kept driving.
Michelle:Gabby Williams all of a sudden decided to, like Like, make her. Shots.
Filiberto:Veronica had something on her shoulder where she was like, fuck you. We're not losing this game. Like, it was it was incredible to watch her just take the reins and, like, the leadership that that required for her to, like, will that team to win was incredible to watch. Yeah. You don't wanna be you don't want her to go that hard just to for a win, but it was nice to see her, like, hit that gear because I don't know that we've seen that because she hasn't they haven't been pressed like that before.
Filiberto:Like, wins have been fairly impressive all season. The losses have been big clunkers. Yeah. They haven't had a fight that hard. And so the overtime loss to Portland, yeah, was was rough to watch because it's like this is the first time they get challenged by a, you know, arguably an inferior team, and they couldn't step up to it.
Filiberto:But at least against LA, they were able to figure something out.
Michelle:Yes. And I think we, you know, did better than LA on our free throws, which I think would be the difference to the game, which I've kind of been harping on because our free throws are not the greatest. Because LA outshot us just, you know, field goals in general, and then they outshot us from the three points. So that kinda made a difference for us. And a lot of people, like, prognosticating about the playoffs will talk about the Valkyries and how they're not the best offensive team.
Michelle:Great defensively, like, one in so many categories on defense. But a lot of people have these, like, this nagging suspicion that our offense just isn't great. There's no playmakers. And I think that's the one kind of silver lining from the LA game was that you did have someone like Veronica Burton. You had Kaitlyn Chen chipping in at the end.
Michelle:And then you had Gabby make those point those those shots at the end. So it's kinda like, hey. We do have some playmakers who
Filiberto:We have closers.
Michelle:Can step up.
Filiberto:We have closers.
Michelle:And I think a lot of people kinda question that for the Valkyries. And and I understand, but this kind of is a good transition into our next topic.
Michelle:The Seattle game. They were saying this too about how Mhmm. Offense sells tickets, but defense wins games.
Michelle:Right?
Filiberto:Well and I think as that as they were saying that during the game, I think the the sort of reframe that we offered was for the Valkyries, defense sells tickets. Defense sells tickets.
Michelle:Absolutely. Two seasons of sellouts at the Chase Center.
Filiberto:Every fan in that every game we watch, people go harder for a Gabby steel than a Gabby three. Mhmm. Like, it's just we love defense. Like Nakase has said, we've said this well before that, this audience like, the Valkyries fans, Ballhalla is extremely intelligent, and they have an intuition about what's going on. And they don't just root for an easy three shot.
Filiberto:They root for they root for effort, and they root for, just shutting the opposition down. Yeah. So we're ready like, this crowd is ready for the playoffs. This team doesn't necessarily look like that, like, looking at the last two games, but this crowd is hungry and ready for it. Or we're gonna be there on Sunday.
Filiberto:Yeah. And it's gonna be something good. I don't know if they're gonna win, but this crowd is gonna be, like, devoted to them.
Michelle:Yes.
Filiberto:I can guarantee you that. I don't know the outcome, but I can guarantee you that.
Michelle:Yeah. And I think especially just I gotta mention this in case people don't know this, but if you're a Valkyries fans, you definitely know this. Last year, you know, one of the things about this Sunday game one of the playoffs, all four series are gonna start game ones this Sunday. So tune into
Filiberto:All day.
Michelle:All day. Forget football. You're gonna be watching the WNBA all day.
Filiberto:Who's watching football right now?
Michelle:All day.
Filiberto:Fuck football!
Michelle:day. One thing that we're also excited about is even though the Valkyries made the playoffs last year Yeah. This year will be the first time that the Valkyries get to play at home. Last year, even though Warriors owner, major investor owner of the Valkyries, Joe Lacob was like, we wanna win a championship in five years. For some reason, they didn't anticipate they set those expectations, but still didn't anticipate the Valkyries doing well their first season and making the playoffs because they scheduled Chase Center for some tennis, the first week of the playoffs.
Michelle:So the Valkyries had to pack up and drive down south to San Jose, and they played the one game they hosted. Unfortunately, were swept by the Minnesota last year. But the one game they hosted was in San Jose where the the hockey team the NHL hockey team plays. Still great vibe. People packed it.
Michelle:People got on the BART. They got on the light rail. They drove down there. It was phenomenal. But everyone is so excited about this Sunday and actually having their first game at Chase Center.
Filiberto:It's gonna be ripping in there, y'all. Yeah. If you can if you can get a ticket, get there. Yeah. We you know, who knows what's gonna happen in rest of the playoffs?
Filiberto:Who knows what's gonna go down? But that first game is gonna be nice.
Michelle:Yes.
Filiberto:It's gonna be nice.
Michelle:First actual game at Chase Center.
Filiberto:So be there if you can.
Michelle:And if you don't know, the playoffs are a one one one in the first round. It's a it's a it's a best So of three home team does game one, and then we go on the road, because everyone wants to at least host one game. And then game three will be back at the home team.
Filiberto:And, you know, just anticipating playing Dallas, we know that for certain now. They're not looking good. And we played really well against them during the season. So looking forward to a positive outcome there and getting into the second round, but gotta take it a game at a time, and we'll be right there with y'all. What's our section, Michelle?
Filiberto:What's our section number?
Michelle:106?
Filiberto:So find us in 106, y'all. If anybody's listening that's in that area, I'll be wearing my We Got Next podcast jersey.
Michelle:Hell, yeah.
Filiberto:I mean, I think think just to finish off this, the postseason are what we're anticipating. I think the matchups are really nice. They're very even, like, one to eight Minnesota versus Liberty, that's gonna actually be a really tough series for Minnesota. Like, Liberty is no slouch. They haven't had a great season, a lot of injuries, blah blah blah.
Filiberto:But they've been looking really good lately. They have a lot of veterans that know how to handle things. Wanna keep an eye on Jones' ankle. But I think one to eight yeah. She just she just hobbled out of the game today.
Michelle:Jonquel?
Filiberto:Yeah. Okay. So one to eight, everything's really solid. So wherever you all land in terms of what you're able to watch, it's gonna be really good, I think.
Michelle:Well, I think, like, that series so we have Vegas is gonna play the Indiana Fever. And if you remember last season, the Fever made out of the first round. They kinda were the lower seed. And they played Vegas and they actually took Vegas to like overtime and like end of like a few like, I think the last game, like, they played five, I think. So five games.
Michelle:They took them to game five. It was very close that whole game.
Filiberto:So If it wasn't for Kelsey Mitchell not getting a rhabdo
Michelle:Right.
Filiberto:But Kelsey Mitchell had to get to the point of Rabdo Yes. In order to keep Indiana competitive. Like, she literally just
Michelle:She carried that team.
Filiberto:Carrying that motherfucking team on her back. Like, that shit was crazy, and they almost won.
Michelle:Yeah. So that's a great matchup because that's kind of like a rematch of last year.
Filiberto:And a full strength squad.
Michelle:But the you know, Vegas was able to beat the fever and go on to win the championship last year. I think the other series, like Atlanta versus Washington, I think that's gonna be great. That's gonna be a great series too.
Filiberto:Gonna be nice.
Michelle:I know a lot of people wanted Atlanta versus the Fever in the first round, but I think Washington Atlanta is gonna be amazing.
Filiberto:I think when we're not watching the Valkyries games, we're gonna be watching
Filiberto:those games.
Michelle:Absolutely.
Michelle:Absolutely.
Filiberto:Doesn't mean it matter if you know the score or you see the basketball right in front of you. You have to watch it just to figure out what the hell happened. And the just the amazing tactical battles that are gonna be happening a bunch a bun among a bunch of really intelligent basketball players. Yeah.
Filiberto:Like, it's gonna be really cool.
Michelle:And those two coaches are just great.
Filiberto:Coaches are at the top of their game. Like Yeah. Atlanta's been on a good run lately. They had some you know, they play poorly against us. They had some hard points in this season.
Filiberto:But Yeah. Atlanta, aside from the Valkyries, are probably one of my favorite teams to watch. Yeah. Absolutely. Along with Washington.
Filiberto:So, yeah, those are two teams I love watching anyway. Yeah. So
Michelle:Yeah. It's gonna be hard when you're rooting for both of them. Yep. Yep.
Michelle:We're at our last segment of the episode where we do some venting, some interruptions, some call ins, some call outs.
Filiberto:If you've made it this far and are hanging on this podcast, hey. Thank you.
Michelle:Congratulations.
Filiberto:This is our last podcast for the regular season. And, you know, it's something that we've been working on for a couple of years, thinking through, planning, and it's just really nice to have completed it.
Filiberto:Yeah. Let's get it done. So here we go. Our last our last our last segment.
Michelle:Yeah. Which is usually kinda each of us has our own thing. But this year, this this this episode, we're we're teaming up. My segment is called Ima Stop You Right There . And then Fili's is Mira Homies.
Michelle:But we're kind of joining forces like a super team, like a Marvel comic movie.
Filiberto:Yeah. We're covering one topic today.
Michelle:Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yeah. This this week we're talking about sports betting, which I know some people are trying to make new names for. But if you watch any women's sports or even like on your phone, you've probably noticed these ads. They are everywhere.
Michelle:And I'm talking about like, Kalshi, Polymarket, these are kind of like the newest iteration of sports betting. They don't wanna call themselves that.
Filiberto:They can't call themselves that because then they would be illegal.
Michelle:They're getting around certain state rules by claiming that they're not.
Filiberto:And I'll get into the specifics of that. Yeah.
Michelle:So on these apps, these platforms, you can bet on sports, but you can also bet on, like, other things. Like, they've introduced, like, politics. I mean, you can all you can you can bet on who's gonna win Dancing with the Stars this week or what color hair Taylor's Swift's gonna have next. I mean, this is like really ridiculous. And they're kinda selling this as entertainment, kinda like when you go in and play the slot machines at a casino.
Michelle:But, you know, the sports betting can have, like, horrific consequences, not only for the betters, the people making the bets, they're losing the money, but also the subjects that they're trying to make money off of, which you've probably heard a little bit about. Like, there's a lot of sports leagues, including like the MLB, the NFL. You know, these these players have talked about getting death threats for themselves or a family if they don't pitch a perfect game because people lose a lot of money off them.
Filiberto:Well, this gets so granular too. It's like if they don't if they didn't throw a a ball on the third pitch
Michelle:Or like
Filiberto:somebody lost like
Michelle:50 on thousand the third pitch.
Filiberto:Somebody lost like $50,000 and starts harassing over Those
Michelle:are the kind
Filiberto:playing a player.
Michelle:Those are the kind of bets people are making.
Filiberto:That's the kind of shit that's going down.
Michelle:It's not just like, oh, the Giants will beat the Dodgers. It's like this certain pitcher in this game is gonna throw this pitch in the fourth inning against this person. Like, it gets really specific. And of course, if we talk about women's sports, it gets really, really bad. But I've been reading a few articles and like, we'll put this in the show notes.
Michelle:But one that was citing that in 2025, Americans placed roughly a $166,000,000,000, b, billion with a b, in bets on sporting events. That's just sporting. You can bet on other stuff. Right? So "that's more than The entire US movie, music, book, and museum industries generated in revenue combined in that year."
Filiberto:And so that's quote that's quote unquote legal sports betting.
Michelle:Correct. Okay. And, you know, a way this is kind of getting around some of these sports betting laws is it's viewed as entertainment. They're pretending to be knowledge based when you're, you know, throwing down your bets on your apps, etcetera. And it's just really concerning to see certain leagues like the WNBA welcome these sponsorships and the ads from these companies with such open arms.
Michelle:We've seen these ads on like player jerseys, their warm up outfits. They're on the basketball courts. They're everywhere during in the game. You see them during commercial breaks. I'm getting them on my phone.
Michelle:They're in my feed. They're on apps of, like, games that I play, like, non sporting games.
Filiberto:Even the announcers are plugging them too. Yes.
Michelle:And you even have like you have former or current WNBA players doing ads for them, which is like, what the hell y'all? Like, come on. And so it's just like really frustrating to see the WNBA kinda participate and be so desperate to race to the bottom when it comes to some of these sponsorships. And, you know, we're not super big fans of like tech companies, and this is kinda like an extension of that. Like tech companies kinda bring out the worst in America, like US behavior.
Michelle:And there was like a study that said that you're you're starting to see like an ad for sports betting every thirteen seconds. Like if you're watching TV, you're streaming, or if you're like on your phone, you're seeing these kinds of ads every thirteen seconds. Like, that's amazing. And I think we just need to like remember like the harm that this leads to like, this is gambling. So you have people going into debt, especially with this economy right now and the job market and the high cost of anything.
Michelle:You've got people who are trying to make ends meet by utilizing this.
Filiberto:Pay grosser bills. Like Yeah.
Filiberto:Nobody's trying to be ambitious here. Yeah. People are so desperate to try to make a little extra cash that they're diving into this.
Michelle:Yeah. But, again, it's like they're also gambling on people who didn't ask for this attention, didn't ask for this type of like money to be placed on them entering a game. You know, you've got players in the WNBA, other leagues also, but it's just it's heavier with the WNBA women's sports that are expanding, and this is some of the ills that come with expanding and
Filiberto:With more attention.
Michelle:With more money being invested. This is the kind of money that's being invested. But you got people getting death threats and that they're getting messages on the social media or like signs in the stands where that are very racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic. This harassment, you're getting booed at games. I mean, Septi White can attest this with the Indiana fever.
Michelle:They're being stalked, and other violence will continue. So, like, just well, like, wanna call out the WNBA and their media partners, quote unquote, that they're part of the problem here. They are leading to some of this behavior, some of these threats, some of this unsafe, unhealthy situations for the players. And I just have to throw out there, like, watching these ads, seeing so many of them come across my feeds. The amount disclaimers that come with these ads for, like, addiction hotlines or blah blah blah or suicidal hotlines.
Michelle:And I'm like, if your product needs this many disclaimers, it reminds of the pharmaceutical industry. Right? Like, if your product needs this many disclaimers, you should probably be banned. Like, let's be real. So I just like, again, wanna call in WNBA other leagues to like really question and have some thoughtful conversations involving stakeholders, including their players and their agents about taking money from these companies for these sponsorships, for these ads, and like what is actually impacting the players and the people like on the ground.
Michelle:I think it's ridiculous. I think it's harmful. I think it can lead to no benefits. And, you know, just need to question where we're at with this and the harm that is perpetuating on your players and your fans. What are your thoughts?
Filiberto:Mira homies. I think along with what Michelle's saying, I think the thing that really concerns me, and this has happened a lot more with baseball and it's encroaching on the women's basketball, is, are we going are we only going to take this seriously if someone gets injured or dies? Like, is that what it's gonna take for people to be like, yo, we gotta regulate this. This is a major problem. And, you know, I think that's what it's gonna take.
Filiberto:So I'm just not looking forward to that situation. So the other interesting thing about Draft Kings and all this thing, all these dynamics and the poly markets and the predictive markets is recently New York Times put out a massive investigative piece on Draft Kings. And according to journal documents and sources, they revealed that Draft Kings uses a sort of AI system to try to identify bettors and users that will be most likely likely to use. They are explicitly targeting and exploiting people that have tendencies and tendencies to just spend too much, to be too focused and to lose everything. So I think this speaks to one of the dynamics that's really difficult and complicated and harmful about capitalism and the late stage capitalism that we're in is it all depends on and is fed by addiction.
Filiberto:The most successful companies in The United States are the ones based on us type of addiction, whether it's chemical, emotional, or or psychological. Right. So the Draft Kings dynamic is similar to that. They wanna hook you in. They wanna get you excited, and they wanna keep you there.
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.