Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're wishing all the college basketball teams a happy first week of practice, made the preseason be injury free, and the regular season for that matter, and the postseason and the rest of your lives. Please every Wednesday healthy. We're super croup for this season. On today's JOWE, we'll be talking all things aces with Las Vegas Review Journal reporter Callie laws and Freeman or should we say Callie Finn Get used to it.
Our girl just got married.
Plus we get you caught up on WNBA playoff action and give you the wise words of one Twitter user that we all need to keep close to our hearts as this playoff season continues. It's all coming up right after this. Welcome back, my Orange slices.
Here's what you need to know today.
WNBA Playoffs two games on Tuesday night, and both top seeds finished off the sweeps in their first round matchups. In the early game, Sabrina and escued tide of franchise playoff record with thirty six points and high five Spike Lee to help the New York Liberty beat the Atlanta Dream ninety one eighty two in advance to the semi finals. John qwell Jones added twenty points and thirteen rebounds for her nineteenth career playoff double double and one hundred and
ninth double double of any kind in her career. The Dream fought hard to try to extend the series. They started off leading twenty eight nineteen, led by eleven in the second, and hung on to keep it within a point heading into the fourth quarter, but despite twenty six points from Alisha Gray and nineteen from Ryan Howard, Atlanta just couldn't keep pace with the top seeded Liberty New York will go on to face the Las Vegas Aces
in the semi finals. Asia Wilson and Company defeating the Seattle Storm eighty three seventy six in front of baby horse Alex Morgan courtside in Vegas. After a tough shooting night in Game one, Kelsey Plumb showed out twenty nine points in the win. MVP Asia Wilson add in twenty four points and thirteen rebounds, and they got twelve points nine assist from Chelsea Gray to hold off a Seattle
team that would not quit. Four of five starters and double digits for the Storm, and they fought but couldn't finish and force a Game three. Watching how Gabby Williams played since being added to that team, man, sure makes you wonder what that team could have done if they had her all season.
And we've got some more Game two action.
Tonight, the Connecticut Sun hosts the Indiana Fever at seven thirty Eastern with an opportunity to close out that series. Can the Sun force Caitlin Clark and her teammates into another bad shooting night like Game one, or will a young Fever team come out more poised in Game two? Second game Phoenix Mercury looking to win on the road and force a Game three with the Minnesota Lynx. That game tip's at nine to thirty Eastern. The whole If This Is It watch continues because tonight could be the
end of Dinah Trossi's career If they lose. Will Britney Griner, Kalia Copper and the White Momba herself show out and make sure DT at least plays at home one last time?
Find out should be a good one.
By the way, on Monday and Tuesday on Twitter, I asked you all to make your predictions for the first round, and as we're starting to see them come to a close.
Here's how the vote shook out.
Eighty three point four percent of voters have the Aces beating the storm, fifty three point eight have the Sun beating the fever, eighty point eight percent see the links top in the Mercury, and ninety three point seven percent of voters had the Liberty defeating the Dream in the NWSL. It's some exciting news for the league's newest club, BAYFC.
They've signed a letter of intent to build an eight and a half acre training facility on Treasure Island, a move that will bolster the island's longtime role as a sports and.
Recreation hub in the area. Fun fact, I went to a wedding there once.
The training facility deal was announced during a news conference on Tuesday, and will include a twenty thousand square foot clubhouse and three practice fields. The club intends to break round on the facility in twenty twenty five and begin using it in twenty twenty seven. The franchise is also considering possible sites for a stadium in the future. Home games are currently played at PayPal Park. That's the same venue used by Major League Soccer as San Jose Earthquakes. Also,
after we finished recording. On Monday night, the Portland Thorns earned a two to two draw with Angel City that snapped a four game losing streak for Portland. The draw keeps them in seventh place. They're three points ahead of eighth place race Louisville, while Angel City is in tenth, three points behind Louisville and BAFC, both teams still in the playoff hunt with five weeks to go. College basketball
Southern Cal just landed another top recruit on Tuesday. Five star hooper Jazzy Davidson, the number three player in the twenty twenty five class according to the ESPN Hoop Girls Rankings, committed to play for the USC Trojans next year. Davidson, a six foot two guard out of Klacamis, Oregon, will join All American star Juju Watkins at USC.
Jazzy and Juju print the shirts now please.
Davidson already has a stacked resumes, who most recently won gold in the Phoeba three x three U eighteen World Cup and in the Phoeba U eighteen AMERICAUP with Team USA. Speaking of those Trojans, that young squad fought mightily last season, reaching in number three, ranking their highest since nineteen eighty six, and posting a twenty nine and six overall record us He made it all the way to the Elite eight before losing to Yukon. We'll certainly be keeping an eye
on them this season. That rivalry with UCLA is going to be so much fun this season. College volleyball at packs late of games tonight, including the number one ranked perfect Pittsburgh Panthers putting their nine oh to O record on the line against UMBC at five eastern. There are five games across ESPN platforms tonight that you can watch, including the number nine Kansas Jayhawks taken on UCF at seven eastern on ESPNU. We'll link to the full ESPN
schedule in our notes. By the way, Sunday's Nebraska Louisville matchup on ABC did numbers, becoming the most watched regular season volleyball match on all ESPN platforms and the second most watched regular season volleyball game on any network, with six hundred and eighty four thousand viewers, peaking with eight hundred eight thousand. Tennis, the China Open Gets started today at the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Center. The same venue that was used at the two thousand and eight Olympic Games.
The top names on the WTA Tour are competing in the tournament, including Americans Jessica Pagoula, Coco Goff, and Emma Navarro. Poland's egas Fontec took home the trophy in twenty twenty three, defeating Ludmila Samsonova.
In straight sets.
QUI out to friend of the show Lindsay dark Angelo, who you heard here talking about her women's football book, Hail Mary Well. She also does a great job of covering women's hoops for awful announcing, and our interview with Cheryl Reeve inspired her to write a column this week. Now you remember the Minnesota Link's head coach came on here, talked about trying to preserve the WNBA space as one that's inclusive, welcoming and empowering for people no matter their gender, sexuality identity.
And as a gay sports writer.
Who is masculine leaning, Lindsay really felt that she echoed Reeve in her column, writing quote, I've often felt out of place when covering men's sports and or interviewing male athletes. I always had the sense that I didn't fit some particular mold of how a female sports reporter should be and look. More often than not, I felt awkward, self conscious and out of place. But when I ventured into the women's sports space, particularly the WNBA, I never.
Felt more at home. End quote.
What Lindsay wrote after that about how the league and the w space will respond to increasingly toxic rhetoric and a changing vibe really stood out to me.
I totally agree. She wrote, quote the eyes, the rise in.
Viewership, the increased attention, the additional coverage across mainstream media, the heightened conversation. It's all been amazing. It's what the WNBA community, WNBA media, players, and the league have wanted and hoped for. The troubling part is that we're now expected to be okay with and accept the influx of toxicity that has come along with it. I know growing pains are a thing, but this isn't a pain. That's
a natural part of the growing process. The WNBA is one of the most, if not the most, progressive major sports league in history. It raised the bar when it came to diversity and acceptance. It changed and evolved over time because the players use their platforms and autonomy to demand better. Now it's supposed to lower the bar just because it's more popular. New fans, media, personalities, and voices to the space should instead rise to the occasion and
meet the standards of where the bar is at. Taking steps backward just because that's been the status quo in men's leagues isn't how the WNBA operates. It shouldn't be how any women's sports league operates.
End quote. Couldn't agree more.
Lindsay Well said, terrible people will exist in every space in life, on social and sports. Fans are notoriously the world, but we can't just accept it, whether from fans, media, or players. Simply shrugging our shoulders, or even worse, lowering ourselves to contribute to it cannot be the answer. If you want to read the full story, we put a link to it in our show notes. We got to take a quick break when we come back. Cali laws In Freeman Finn is our ace in the hole stick around.
She's a Las Vegas ass and UNLV sports reporter for the Las Vegas Review Journal, with previous stops at Yahoo Sports, ESPN, Front Office Sports, and The Sacramento Observer. She was a college track athlete at uc Riverside and San Francisco State, and she's.
A newlywed, like new new It's Cali laws and Freeman. What's up CALLI.
Oh my goodness, that was such a great intro. I didn't know that you would have all that info, but thank you so much.
You know I went dig in. You know you already have three names? Do we have a fourth?
Now? Are we sticking with these three? No, it'll be changed. I'm gonna take kids so professionally, I'll have a shorter last name soon It'll just be Cali Finn fi nd, which is easier. The hyphen was from both of my parents, so.
Perfect fi and in French. Perfect.
You literally got buried last weekend, so we got to start there first. Give us the one minute wedding recap.
Oh my gosh, it was amazing. We so his grandmother has an apple orchard in New Mexico, so we got married there. It was a very like intimate family affair and it was so fun. Our DJ went hard, We had a photo booth. It was just a really fun time. It felt like a big party after the serious romantic stuff was over.
That sounds amazing, so fun.
It's right in the middle of your beat, though, I mean, this is your first year on the Aces beat. The playoffs get going and you're like, let me just sneak away real quick to get married and then come back. Which I love that you pulled it off because now you're back already working. I'm hoping for a nice long honeymoon once you know you get a break.
But let's talk about the Aces.
Two time defending WNBA champs got off to a rough star this season, but they've got the talent, They've got the experience to go the distance. We are talking to each other just before Game two between the Aces and the Storm, so folks hearing this will either be processing a Vegas sweep or readying themselves for a Game three on Thursday. So let's back up a little and do big picture what you saw from the Aces in the
regular season. What went right for this team when they won and what went wrong when they lost?
Yeah, I mean, I think what went wrong when they lost is the easier question to answer because it was so obvious their defense was really struggling, and so that was clear. It didn't seem like they were on the same page defensively, even sometimes offensively. Becky Hammond would sometimes say that the Aces were struggling from kind of like a main character complex, like everybody on the team was wanting to have their moment and that was really making
the offense disjointed. And obviously they've kind of moved past that, like they have really gotten to the point where running through Asia is what's working and makes sense, and you're not seeing a lot of a lot of you know, differing from that. But then you're also seeing you know, Chelsea Gray looking like the point god that we know and love. We're getting you know, sparks off the bench from Tiffany Hayes. We're seeing Jackie Young looking more like herself.
So I think, I mean, yeah, when things were going wrong, it was definitely the defense and just kind of miscommunications and lack of trust and things like that on both sides of the ball. And I think when things are going right, it's the opposite of that, like everything you know is firing on all cylinders. And I think that's
what you're starting to see, Like they they're clicking. They just held the Storm to two points in the fourth quarter like that, and some of that obviously is on the Storm, right, but you kind of want to give the ACYSM credit for their improved defense at this point.
Yeah, and I think you know, obviously, Chelsea Gray was out with injury for a while. Her return was a huge boost for the team, and then she needed some time to catch back up. But it was one of those situations where Asia Wilson was having insane season, but the numbers were down for great Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum
from last year. And I don't know if that's the inevitable result of a player like Asia being as dominant as she's been and just everyone getting the ball a little less, getting fewer looks, or if Asia's compensating for those players not having as great as a start.
Can you tell if one caused the other.
Yeah, I mean, I think that's a great point. Like, I don't know correlation causation, but I do think. I mean, even Becky has said herself, like she said last year that if she utilized Asia more in fourth quarters, that Asia would have been, you know, the unanimous MVP. There would have been no way to kind of discount the season that Asia had last season. So this year, obviously
the Aces weren't performing on the same level. Like you said, the numbers were down kind of from the core four and even the bench early in the season, and so then it was on Asia to really carry the team. And that's not my words. I've heard Becky say that, I've heard other players say that Asia really put the team on her back, and so I mean you could say that that's because of the way that the season has gone. I mean, I think a lot of that has to do with like Chelsea Gray's early the absence
that put Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum out of position. Early, Like Jackie Young was finding herself facilitating the offense, which was a position she wasn't super comfortable with, but Chelsea Gray was gone, so that's what she had to do, and that kind of shifted things for the whole teams. Like if you have one player playing out a position, then everybody has to adjust. And so Asia was really carrying the brunt of that weight.
She's been otherworldly.
We know, getting her the ball is always the move, but you got to have those other folks who step up as the season has gone on and as they've entered this postseason, who is that person that you know will step up if Asia is having an off day or if AG's on the bench, who's the go to?
Yeah, I love this question. I think that's what makes the Aces so dangerous is because you don't really know the answer to that any given game, Like they're obviously you know what the options are. You have the core four, which is outside of Asia, you have you know, Chelsea Gray, you have Jackie Young, you have Kelsey Plum like, you have these incredibly talented players, and then you have somebody like Tiffany Hayes coming off the bench and it's not
just her, like, they have a pretty significant bench. We could even start talking about Cydny Golesen and things like that and kind of the options that they have. But I think, I mean, Becky Hammond has said this, it's kind of a pick your poison thing, and you see this a lot when defenses really concentrate on Asia, they double triple team her and they focus all of their
defensive attention on her. That puts somebody like a Kelsey Plumber Jackie Young open and that's how you know, we have had thirty four thirty two point games from from from KP and Jackie this season because of situations like that, where you know, you try to take Asia out of the equation. But you gotta that means that you got to leave somebody else open, and they have plenty of options offensively.
Yeah, they sure do.
You know you you mentioned Tiffany Hayes after she went off in Game one, Becky Hammond talked about getting to snag her out of retirement. How important has she been to this team this season and how important is it to have a player that hasn't been on the team for the previous two titles, because that's a big thing, is finding motivation, finding drive when you've just come off back to back wins. And I think Tip brings that coming from a team like the Sun that haven't won.
Yeah, I think, yeah, you're right. Tip has a level of hunger that is just unreal for someone who you know, seemed I mean, who was retired, who you would think was ready to be done with the game. But she's so aggressive. She sacrifices her body on so many different plays, like and it's just incredible to see. Becky was telling me recently that sometimes she just watches Tiffany Hayes highlights because they're so aesthetically pleasing, and I think that that
makes total sense. It's like the energy that she plays with. I think sometimes like if you just look at the games where Tiffany Hayes excels, it's also games where Asia is playing really well, and so they work as like this really impressive tandem with like Tip off the bench and then Asia kind of I don't know, it seems like they kind of build on each other's energy, and
so it's really important. I think that, like you said, I think you don't amount of retirement for no reason, like she wants a ring and she has the hunger that the Aces were kind of missing. Like you heard Becky Hammond say during that rough you know, six and six start without Chelsea Gray, that she didn't like the Aces energy from day one. She didn't like their deepense,
and she didn't like their vibes. And it's crazy to hear a Hall of Famer like her use the word vibes to describe kind of how she's taking the team's temperature. But I mean, she was pretty clear about that she didn't like it. She didn't.
Sometimes it's just.
Exactly Sometimes it really is just vibes. And so it's so funny that you know, Tip has that like she has that hunger. It's innate for her and not to say that, you know, the Aces don't have it now, but there definitely was a point starting where it just wasn't there, and so she always brings it every single night.
You mentioned sid Colson, great basketball player, somehow an even better comedian just not only there for the lightness and the vibes that we mentioned, also obviously brings a ton of energy and skins on the court.
But how do you.
Really just evaluate or sum up what she brings to a team because of what she brings with her personality as well.
Yeah, I mean I think that, like you said, the comedy is I think hard for some people to overlook because they're just like, wow, she just must be, you know, a joker through and through, but she's really not. I've seen sid very serious, like I think a lot of people probably saw. When Asia accepted her MVP award or when she was informed of it privately, she read these letters that she wrote to each player on the team, and Sidney Colson's letter she said that Sidney taught her
how to be a leader. And I can totally see that because I've seen Sidney, like she has this switch that she can flip where it's very funny, it's very playful, and then the next thing, you know, she's being very serious and you know that you need to like really listen to what she's saying. And so I think that
that's a big part of it. It's like she has a personality that is so magnetic and like, yes, so fun, but she also is is crucial to like the culture of the team, and so I think you pair that with the way that she is absolutely fearless on the court. I mean you look at she's not a tall player,
but she plays like she's giant. Like she gets in the game and these for a lot of times fourth quarter situations, they'll kind of utilize her as like a closer of sorts, and then she'll bring the defensive spark. She's getting steels, she's going up for layups. Sometimes she's smoking the layups, but it doesn't matter because she just like does not get nervous. And that's something that I think is huge for the aces because when you're not scared, there are a lot of things that you can that
you can do that that others can't. You know, like she'll go for behind the back pass and the WBA Finals, like it's literally that's crazy. That's a crazy thing to do, and it's something that only Sidney Colson would do. But I think it really matters for the team, Like she's just such a spark for them.
Yeah, I think what you're describing to is sort of like flow state where you let your body and your reps take over instead of being in your head. And that comes from a real place of confidence. And that's tough to have when you're tight, because you're stressed about trying to repeat or whether your team has been playing up to up to expectation. And I think sid has been able to show the other players how to do that and how to stay in that state of like
just playing ball. Another person I think that's had a really interesting impact on this team is Kate Martin. She's got real Golden Retriever energy, which is one of my favorite sayings these days because some people just have it, and she's such a team and fan fave. She's gotten a lot of minutes that Kirsten Bell got last season.
Bell has had those ankle and achilles injuries, and Kate Martin is just like I think also besides the minutes that she's gotten, we've seen so many clips of the team interacting with her in free time.
What is it about her? Why does everyone love Kate Martin so much?
Oh my goodness. I mean, I've heard so many different rating reviews about Kate, and I think the main thing is that they love who she is as a person, Like they feel like she's a kind, genuine competitor and who wants to learn and grow, and so I think that's one thing. But they also really admire the way that she knows how to play with superstars, Like she played with Caitlin Clark at Iowa.
That's no easy feed.
That means that every single game they played was prime viewing. There was a lot of pressure on her. But also like it's a skill in itself to play with a superstar, you know, you have to kind of approach the game differently knowing that, and that's something that everybody on the ACES needs to know how to do because they're playing with Asia Wilson, who is a legend in the making, a legend now already with her third MVP a unanimous one at that, and so you kind of hear about
the intricacies of that. Even like Telsea Gray and I talked about this recently, just how like, you know, there are certain things that are just different when you're playing with somebody like Asia Wilson, Like if she wants the ball, you need to give it to her immediately, things like that. And so Kate Martin knows exactly what that's about, and like she does it well. And Becky Hammond also, I think probably sees a little bit of herself and Kate Martin.
If you look at the way that Becky Hammond started, she was undrafted, you know, when she started in the league, she was undersized and things like that, and so that's Kate Martin in some ways. But what Kate, what Becky had, and what Kate and Martin both have is like this tenacity, you know. And so I think that Kate really made her. I love that Comparisonah so smart, kay, I mean, Kate made her bread and butter from doing the little things.
That's what Becky Hammond kept saying. And if you like listen to Becky Hammond talk about how she was as a player, she'll say the same things. I did the little things because like I couldn't do the big stuff.
I couldn't like do all the highlight plays. I would focus on the little things, the fundamental things, and that's what Kate Martin did early, and she found herself in some really you know, serious games early in the season, and I think that that experience will come and clutch in the postseason.
Yeah, Kate Martin's been obviously huge for this team, just in a vibe sense. Again, maybe not as much on the stat sheet, but there are a couple subs and bench players that have gotten an opportunity and made the best of it. I mentioned Kirsten Bell, you know, she hadn't played more than eight minutes all season, and that final game of the regular season she put up twelve points in twenty four. We saw Megan Gustafson in that last game twenty four points, a career high.
You don't want to necessarily have to go too deep on your bench in a series. You want your core players to light it up and make things easy. But knowing that the Aces have those players further down the bench, you know, do you think that they'll be important to this third title run?
Yeah, No, I think it's huge. I think that. I mean, if you look at how they won the title last season, it was important. We just talked about Sidney Colson and she was crucial for the Aces winning that title last year. And I think that kind of what you talked about is, you know, you want to know that you have that depth, and I think that there was a point in this
season where the Aces didn't really know. I think they knew that they had something in Tiffany Hayes, they knew that they had kind of a defensive spark in Sidney Colson, and then things were kind of up in the air, which is why Becky was kind of rotating through that
fifth starting spot. So you saw Megan Gustison get some starts in place of Kia Stokes, you saw Alicia Clark get some starts, and then also you know, start on the bench some games, like they were really trying to figure out what they were working with, and I think, like you mentioned, that last regular season game was a good opportunity for them to showcase like, no, we have a good amount of bench players, like we have strength, we have people that can come off the bench and
make a difference, And I think that that was important also just for the bench, like in a confidence sense. But there was definitely a moment in this season where it was unclear kind of what they were working with.
Let's talk about Becky Hammond. She's beloved by her players. What makes the relationship between the Aces players and their coach so special?
Yeah, I mean the phrase that I always hear in reference to Becky, just like around Ace's HQ, is that she's a player's coach, like she loves her players. And it's so interesting because I think in light of every thing. You know, you have the Aces, their current well the Aces and the u NBA being sued by Dereka Hanby and this discrimination matter, and so I think that Becky
has felt like attacked on that front. I think she really prides herself on being a player's coach, But then now you're seeing herself like kind of defend herself unprompted, like she'll be asked questions that don't really require an answer about her philosophy as a coach, but like recently she she will go into these like kind of long, I don't know, postgame answers where she she'll talk about how much she cares about our players and how she
wouldn't have gone into coaching if she didn't, and it's like, you know, nobody's kind of asking her those questions. But I think it's like she really wants people to know
that that's how she feels. And I think, you know, her players have been very vocal about that, Like recently it was like the I don't know, maybe the fourth anniversary of her Jersey retirement of like the San Antonio Stars would which you know, used to be part of the Aces organization, and so she was asked postgame kind of I don't know, like her reflections of the time since she's been a player of whatever else, And that was a time where she just talked about how she
really wanted to be a coach because she wanted to make a difference and she could have gone into TV, but she specifically did coaching. And then in that same postgame press conference, separately, Kelsey Plumb and Chelsea Gurray talked about how Becky Hammond changed their careers, like how they don't feel like they would be the level of you know, like they wouldn't have the talent or the success that
they've had without Becky. And I think a lot of that is because she wants to get to know them personally. Like Becky recently said, she doesn't feel like she needs to be, you know, her player's first call when they need to think. But she hopes that she is a call that they make, like she hopes that they feel that they can rely on her for support and things
like this. And so it's really interesting seeing that dynamic somebody who really cares about the way that they're perceived as a coach, who cares about their players during a time where maybe that could be in question, you.
Know, right.
I mean, I think it's not surprising that she's talked about that even when not asked, because that lawsuit does have questions swirling about how she does treat her players.
It's not the only controversy this year.
The Aces kicked off the season with the big you know ring ceremony for their second title, and not long after that the league anounce an investigation to determine if they were providing impermissible benefits and circumventing the salary cap because they had this Las Vegas tourism sponsorship. They gave every player on the team one hundred thousand dollars sponsorship deal.
This is huge, big, great news, but there are questions about whether they're getting around paying players in interesting in different ways to try to lure them to the team. Then there was the federal lawsuit filed by Hanby alleging discrimination due to pregnancy, and another instance of her claiming that the team was promising things that they would pay
for outside of the contract. Has there been a lot of conversation internally player staff coaches about pushing through some of these quote unquote distractions as we called them in sports or communication with Hamby, even as a former teamate, like how much does that come up this season?
Have you heard much about it?
Yeah? I mean I think that you know, you mentioned the one hundred thousand dollars sponsorships with the LVCVA, and I was like, really, kind of, I don't know. I guess one of the primary reporters in that situation like talking to the LVCVA and then trying to get answers from the aces, and when I would ask questions like obviously their stances, you know, we don't know anything about this, we're not involved, et cetera, et cetera, which is fine, But then I think one of my questions became, well,
like how is this impacting the season? Like you're trying to start a year. Is this a distraction? And you have players like Asia saying like, no, we're professionals like we we have to you know, ignore these types of things, and we're used to it by now. Like there's definitely I can say it's been clear to me internally that there's almost a frustration. I think the Aces feel targeted. And I you know, again like I'm not saying that that's the reality. I'm just saying, like, how, how what
seems to be the case? I think Mark Davis when they were kind of trying to figure out their uh season ticket pricing and things like that, Mark Davis sat down with a bunch of media and he spoke about how when he was asked basically like what has the response from other owners across the league been like surrounding these LVCBA sponsorships and these one hundred thousand dollars deals, And he was like, Oh, their response is let's investigate the Aces. Like he he felt he has made it
clear like that. He feels like there's a target, he said himself, he feels like the Aces have been what do you call it? Not game changers is not the word that he used, but like people who have, you know, broken the norm and when you do that, like there's a target on your back. In his perspective, and he feels like that's what the ace aces have had to
deal with. And so I think you hear that a lot from the players at large, like on Twitter sometimes when they they'll they'll like tweet out kind of vague messaging about being investigated and things like that, Like I think they feel like there's been like a punishment for being at the cutting edge of so many things.
Yeah, I mean, I think first of all, if they are found to be guilty of any of those things, that's still the best attitude to take if you're trying to win and play a season. Is everybody against us, We're being targeted, right, That's the kind of idea that you have to have in your head if you're going.
To move forward either way.
But also there are instances across sports, whether it's nil to the changing investment in women's sports, where you are trying to push the envelope. You're trying to figure out
where's the line when do I cross it? How do I maybe cross it to get away with it, or how do we change the way things have always been done, Particularly in women's sports, where we've seen such a dearth of resources and opportunities, the bar is so low for the expectation of what these players would be paid, how they're treated, how the resources and facilities are that I think it's great that the Aces are pushing that we'll find out if they push far and whether you know,
they're wrong to feel persecuted as opposed to accurately criticized. But I do think they've been able to rally around that. The inside of their rings last season said you know, Aces versus everybody, So they're just continuing that kind of mindset. I was curious, though, if you ever talked to the players about the fans booing Hamby when she came back to play in Vegas with her new team, the La Sparks. We talked to dea Erica about that, and she said it was really hard on her emotionally.
I was surprised.
I guess not that I thought maybe an Ace's player would like hop on the Mike Popovich style and say something, but I thought maybe that they would motion to the crowd, or that there would be some sort of sign to say like, hey, we're not doing that to someone to help us win a title.
But I don't know.
Maybe there are lingering resentments for Hamby, for what she's said about Hammond and the team.
Have you asked the players about that moment?
No, you know, I didn't have an opportunity to ask the players. I think immediately after that game, a lot of the media were kind of, I want to say, stunned by Becky's immediate postgame comments because I think that was that was like the logical next question. I think she was initially just kind of asked about the tone of the game as it related to the allegation stemming from Derka, since it was like, since it was her return to the Aces, it wasn't her first time back
in Las Vegas though, since these allegations. I remember, like the Sparks played the Aces very early in this season and it was fine. She was she was received really well by Aces fans and things like that. So I think that things were a little bit thrown off.
I think it was the difference between the initial allegations, yeah, and then the secondary federal lawsuits of filing. Right, this was the first time I think after the it became a federal suit.
I grew with that one hundred percent. I think a lot of fans were reacting to the most recent filing and that was going to be My next thing was like I didn't get to talk to the players. I think that we were all just kind of like thrown off because Becky Hymmond went on a little bit of a tirade about her perspective of what happened. But I was able to talk to some fans, and I think a lot of them. Two fans that I spoke too specifically said that they regretted booing Deerica, and I think
that some of them did not know the context. And that's not to speak for everybody. Obviously, I couldn't speak with every fan, but some fans felt like because if you go to an ACES game, like a lot of players will get booed. Deerka was not the only player being bowed, but she was the most consistent player being booed, and it was clear, like it was hard to ignore.
It was every single time she touched the ball. But she wasn't the only one, Like there were other Sparks players that were being boed and like and lots of games you come into the ACES house like you're it's not going to be a welcoming environment, like you They want to make it tough for the opposing team, and so some of the fans that I spoke to said that they regretted when they thought about the context of it all and how like difficult that could have been
for Dereka that they regretted booing. So I think that, you know, I would love to kind of get a player perspective. It's just things move so quickly on the eighth s bet, it's always there's always something.
Yeah, Becky stole the headlines on that day, she absolutely did, for sure. And I also think to your point, there is this group mind. Think at a game, everybody starts booing a player and you're like, oh, yeah, you're the opponent, and then later you're like, oh, wait, what were we you know, So I'll give a couple fans that excuse, but obviously a lot of them knew what they were doing there, and that's an interesting dynamic to look at.
We're so excited to keep watching this team. We don't know yet if they have swept this first round or there's a third game coming, but we so appreciate you coming in and giving us context for the season as we continue to watch them in this postseason. Thanks so much for the time and promise us you're gonna take some sort of honeymoon and break to celebrate that wedding sometime soon.
Oh, fingers cross, fingers.
Cross, fingers cross is not a plan, girl, fingers cross is will see.
I'm not accepting that.
I need you to say right now, I'm going to takes some time for myself and my new husband, and I'm gonna figure out some time for us to just be alone and not think about sports.
Right now, I'm thinking about Asia and this MVP season.
Oh man, all right, we'll take this offline.
Callie, We're gonna take this offline. We're gonna have to talk. You need to learn this, young Thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Thanks so much to Kelli for hopping on with us, especially right after getting married.
We got to take another break.
When we come back, Bots, Trolls, and shit stirs a helpful and handy guide to dealing with the WNBA playoffs. Come on back, Welcome back, my little slices. We love that you're listening, but as always, we want you to get in the game every day too. So here's our good gameplay of the day. First one's easy. Make sure you keep following Callie's work at the Las Vegas Review Journal, follow her.
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All spread the good word of self described fever fan and WNBA ficionado Mollie McGrath twelve on Twitter, who wisely wrote on Tuesday, quote good morning, also quick reminder that basketball is a contact sport.
She's right. Please tell your friends, tell your family.
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