Tiffany Crowns and Terrible Execs

in the late game. The Fever Sun game had everything a fan that Caitlin Clark had to get security to put in time out. Clark and Dwana Bonner get into a couple of feisty exchanges, a scary moment where Erica Wheeler flew into a cameraman, but did return to play a Marina the Dog Maybury Dagger three at the end and some more insane stat lines from who else but Alyssa Thomas. Thomas had nineteen points, thirteen assists, and five rebounds.

She now has just the second game in WNBA playoff history with fifteen plus points, thirteen plus assists, and five plus rebounds. She also had the first one last year, and per ESPN stats at Info, Thomas's twenty six assists in the series ty with Sueberd in twenty twenty for the most assists over a two game span within a postseason all time. On the other side, a much better game from Caitlin Clark in the loss. She put up

twenty five points, nine assists, and six boards. Via ESPN Stats and Info, Clark became just the second rookie in WNBA postseason history with at least twenty points, five rebounds and five assists, joining her hero Maya Moore, who did it in twenty eleven. Clark's team, Adaliah Boston had sixteen points and nineteen boards, becoming the second youngest player in WNBA playoffs history with fifteen plus points and fifteen plus

rebounds in a postseason game. Trailing only Candice Parker. I'm sure sad to see the Fever season end, but an incredible year for last year's last place team. I see a whole lot of success in their future, especially with arrested Kitlin Clark. And according to Wednesday night's ESPN broadcast, she's going to take some time to rest this offseason,

which means likely no Overseas league and no Unrivaled. We were actually wondering if we were going to see that announcement drop anytime soon about her joining Unrivaled, and it turns out Indiana Fever gm Lyn Dunn revealed on one oh seven five the Fans Wake Up Call show a few months ago that Kaitlyn was invited to Unrivaled, but she said at the time she thought Caitlyn preferred to

get more five on five reps. So could we see her join AU basketball That's just a four week season, could still get some reps in Caitlin and Nashville would be very fun. We'll keep you updated on that. One more thing about this series I think is worth noting. In the postgame presser, Alisa Thomas was asked about her son team staying professional in the face of racism and threats from social media users and alleged fans during the series. Here's some of what Thomas had to say.

no place for it. And and you know, basketball is headed in in in a great direction, but we we don't. We don't want fans that are are gonna degrade us and call us racial names. I mean, we already see what what's happening in the world and and what we have to deal with.

rapes you and cuts your head off. All over social media there are things like that and just awful things being said, in particular to the Sun, A team opposing Kaitlyn Clark's fever. Now, Kaitlin Clark is not to blame for this, but it is something that the league finally felt they should address. After this game, the WNBA put out a statement that read, the WNBA is a competitive league with some of the most elite athletes in the world.

While we welcome a growing fan base, the WNBA will not tolerate racist, derogatory or threatening comments made about players, teams, and anyone affiliated with the league. League security is actively monitoring threat related activity and will work directly with teams and arenas to take appropriate measures to include involved law enforcement as necessary. Now it feels like that statement is a few days, if not weeks too late, but better

late than never. After the game, Fever coach Christie Sides also made a statement about how there is absolutely no place for these players who are going to work and doing their best to be receiving this kind of treatment. To the late game where the Minnesota Links managed to finish off the Phoenix Mercury one oh one eighty eight

behind a fist at Collier. Picking up where she left off in Game one, she put up twenty three points in the first half and finished with forty two in the game, tying a WNBA playoff record some truly ipop and stats for Fee thanks to across the timeline first player with back to back thirty five point games in WNBA playoffs history. First player was seventy three plus points in a two game span in a WNBA postseason. Fee

was cash money all night long. On the other side, Britney Grinder was all but unstoppable and they got it tour in the paint and she put up twenty four in the game, but the Mercury simply couldn't get enough stops on defense. Points off, turnovers were a hiller for them, and they had no answer for the Links half court offense either. Twenty eight team assists for the Links in the game, a truly well oiled machine. This from across

the timeline again. In the two game series, the Links had fifty eight assists on sixty eight field goals made. That's eighty five point three percent of makes assisted down That's the best mark over a two game span in WNBA Playoffs history. Like Game one, Khalia Copper was slowed down by foul trouble, she had thirteen in the lost Natasha Cloud sixteen points and ten boards, and in what might have been the final game of her incredible career,

Dina Trossi put up ten points. If she's done, she leaves sitting in first place all time in points, field goals made, and three pointers made, second in games played, and fourth in assists. So much more to say about Diana Trossi if she lets us know in the coming days, weeks, or months that this was indeed it. Seeing Diana walk off the court to a standing ovation from the Minnesota crowd in fact, you know, seeing all these teams done for the year, I'm not ready. I'm not ready to

say goodbye. Fans need a chance to see their squad at home in the postseason at least once. I think, and I think these lower seeded teams need a chance to make some money off a home playoff game or two. So I got to give to Twitter RTIs and shout out on this show to this. Shay Serrano tweet, he wrote, WNBA, the first round should be best of five. This best of three nonsense is nonsensical. Please do something about this at FBI, at the Rock, at Michelle Obama, someone, anyone.

Shay is right, Michelle, we need you help us. In WNBA Awards news, it's official. Connecticut Sun guard Dja Carrington is the WNBA's most improved Player. It's the terry. On top of the best regular season of her career, Carrington, in her fourth year in the league, average a career high twelve point seven points, five rebounds, one point six assists,

and one point five to six deals. The Stanford alum got twenty eight of the sixty seven votes for the award, with Dereka Hamby of the Sparks receiving eighteen and Bridget Carlton of the Thanks getting fifteen to round out the top three senior at a seat belt, one of the best defensive guards in the league has been doing her job in a variety of ways, which keeps the main thing,

the main thing, locking opponents up. That's where that seat belt celebration she does got its inspiration, and now that playoff NAY is activated, she's showing no signs of slowing down. Congratulations to Dja Carrington. More w News. Kurt Miller is out as head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks. The franchise announced the move on Tuesday, after Miller's second season

with the team. While the Sparks were twenty five and fifty five during Miller's time at the Helm, the move still came as a shock, seeing that Miller was brought in to rebuild a struggling franchise and the player spoke

very highly of his leadership. The team was plagued with injury, including an absolute killer to star rookie Cameron Brink, and most assumed he'd be given more time to turn things around, especially since Miller was the WNBA Coach of the Year in twenty seventeen with the Connecticut Sun and the league's first ever executed the year when he was the GM for the Sun as well. After the news broke, sparkstar Deerica Hamby took to Twitter, thanking Miller for always having

her back. She wrote, quote, A little lost for words. Honestly, this is hard for me as a big part of my transition success and support to LA has been Kurt. I hope there is grace in this process for a proven, amazing coach. Everything shouldn't fall on his shoulders. And there's so much more that goes into coaching besides wins and losses. And then she put in parentheses that a lot of

you don't see but you speak on end quote. In another tweet, Hanby continued, quote takes courage to come into a situation as such and do the dirty work that essentially you don't and won't get credit for. Everyone not built for that. He wanted that challenge. Some people like and only want gold hand it on a platter.

of the league thanks to a new shoe deal. Colson is the first signature shoe athlete and official brand partner of Creative Control. Per the press release that went out, Quote Creative Control is rewriting the rules of athlete brand partnerships, putting athletes at the center of creative decision making and offering a fifty one percent profit share from design to production.

Athletes like Sidney Colson are given full ownership over their signature shoe journey, allowing them to build a personal brand that extends beyond the court.

the end of the night. Superstar participants include Thomas of course in the two hundred meters plus Friend of the Show, Massi Russell and the hundred meter Hurdles and fifteen hundred meters goat Faith Kip Yagan. The winner of each event will receive sixty thousand dollars plus a crown from Tiffany and Company. And by the way, to put that in perspective, that's double the money that athletes get for winning in the Diamond League, which is track and Field's elite circuit

to soccer. We mentioned earlier this week that Kelly O'Hara had played her final game after the Gotham FC defender was placed on the season ending injury list due to chronic needed generation. Back in May, O'Hara had announced her plans to retire from soccer at the end of this season, and we're happy to see that the US women's national

team won't let her career pass without celebrating it. US Soccer announced it honor O'Hara in a retirement ceremony during halftime of the team's friendly versus Iceland on October twenty seven. Per the Athletic US Soccer is also planning to honor Alex Morgan, who retired this month after announcing she's pregnant with her second child, but details on the timing of

that celebration are still in the works. And finally, great news for chikai Ugo Red Stars fans and fans of world class goalkeeping, Alissa Naier has re signed with the team, agreeing to her tenth season with Chicago world's best keeper sticking in the world's best city. But I'm not biased, So the other day on Twitter, I asked y'all the vote on this question, what's the ideal WNBA playoff watching

situation at the arena? At home on the couch with your favorite snacks, in your own bathroom, out and about running errands, are at the club on your phone, or at a team sponsored watch party. And it turns out y'all like free snacks and no bathroom lines, because at home one with sixty two percent of the vote. In the arena second with twenty eight percent. At a team watch party, earned seven percent of the vote, and watching on your phone while running errands are at the club

snagged two percent. Speaking of voting, it's hard to believe, but we're officially less than forty days from election day, My little slices, As November fifth approaches, there are sports leagues, teams, and groups organizing all over the place in support of Kamala Harrison Tim Walls. Last week, more than fifty former football players and coaches, including several Pro Football Hall of famers and Super Bowl MVPs, announced their endorsement of the

VP on National Black Voter Day. And this past Monday, I joined an organizing call for Athletes for Harris. I got to hear from co chairs Magic Johnson and Billy Jean King, from current Second Gentleman Doug M. Hoff, coaches Steve Kerr, Doc rivers, Greg Popovich and Moore. Other co chairs of the group include South Carolina coach John Staley, soccer legend Ali Krieger, MNBA players Draymond Green and Chris Paul,

and paralympian Ali Truett. Now, a few things stood out from that call that I thought might be useful to you slices as we spend these weeks approaching election day. First, Magic Johnson talked about not needing to know every single issue in order to feel comfortable talking to friends and family about voting. Just figure out the ones that matter most to you and your loved ones and community and start conversations about those issues, talk about how they would

be affected by the election of either candidate. And second, Steve Kerr had an interesting angle on getting traditionally conservative

voters to cast a ballot for Harris Walls. He talked about the need for a stable Republican party in this country, how valuable and necessary it is for the GOP to be a functioning party, and he talked about how removing Donald Trump as the leader of the GOP and resetting their idea of what would be a successful candidate can help start their path back to a respected party that differs in issues of policy instead of issues of decency.

So if you're in a battleground state like Arizona, Georgia, at Michigan, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin or near one of those states, it is all the more important that you talk to folks about voting and you get involved. You can actually go to events dot Democrats dot org and find opportunities to do things like phone banking or canvassing in places all across the country. It might not be something you've

ever done before. They will walk you through every single little detailed They'll show you how to do it and you can make a difference. You could truly talk to people that are on the fence or aren't sure what they're going to do and help them understand what an important election this is going to be for the future of our country and in particular the future of the rights for women in our country. So be sure to share the site iwill vote dot com and tell folks

to make sure they're registered. They can learn how to vote by mail and all sorts of other stuff. All Right, we got to take a quick break when we come back. Who's got the edge when you run back a WNBA finals matchup one year later, the team that won last year or the team with the better record this year. We'll talk about it next.

We were at the very beginning of what hopefully will be an endless in Infinity era tour from Taylor Swift, and every WNBA headline was about the battle of the super teams, the Las Vegas Aces versus the New York Liberty. What a time to be alive. So no one was surprised when the Liberty and the Aces met in the finals. But were we a little surprised when the Aces, after losing Chelsea Gray and Kia Stokes to injury, made easy work of the Liberty to win a second straight WNBA title.

We were, We were surprised, and in their postgame celebration, the Aces made it clear there was only one real super team in the league. Fast forward to twenty twenty four, and the Liberty have been the better all around team, earning the number one seed in the playoffs. New York dominated the Aces in the regular season, beating them in all three meetings. Ninety to eighty two on June fifteenth, seventy nine to sixty seven on August seventeenth, and seventy

five to seventy one on September eighth. After the matchup was set, Aces guard Kelsey Plumb had this to say about taking on the liberty. I think, first of all, New York is a lot better than they were last year, just playing simple, bigger. They shove the ball at a better clip if you.

into this series, right, the Liberty has the momentum. They've made it clear that these pieces can work together, it can achieve great things on the court. But I think what the Aces have going for them is they know how to do it. It's just whether or not they're all healthy in the same head space. At the same time, And I do think that that's something that you can turn on in the playoffs in a way that if you don't have those pieces, you have no hope at all.

and I wonder what your take on this is. Do you think that Asia's unbelievable season has come as a response to some of the other players not playing as well as they had last year and also Chelsea Gray being out, or do you think that because Asia is so dominant sometimes the team is almost maybe even subconsciously or unintentionally deferring to her instead of stepping up.

once you realize you don't have it going. You kind of have to make that decision because if you keep jacking shots up, Hey, Becky's not gonna be real happy with you, and b you're not gonna have a one hundred and thirteen offensive rating like you did in twenty twenty three. So I think, you know, it's kind of a domino effect in that they realized, Okay, we don't have it going, and somebody's gonna have to write this shit.

And Asia is the best player in the world and she's on the team, so why would you not defer to her? But it's a really good question, especially in the playoffs, when it comes down to the crunch time, you gotta figure out who your go to is gonna be, who's hands you're putting that ball in, because everybody can't have the ball.

we're used to seeing. That's gonna be huge for the Asis is having nights where some other player just explodes because the other team is going to focus on Asia, and rightfully so, but you need to figure out then if Asia's getting double team triple teamed, or if she's just tired, who are you going to and are they gonna step up exactly?

three balls. She's got to be ready to knock down any open jumpers and clean up on the offensive boards. I think that's something that'll help them get over the hump and then gosh.

mismatch here that I'm worried about. But that person coming off the bench in the moments where people are tired, in the moments where there's a foul someone gets hurt, like knowing that that person's coming off and going to be able to contribute, which we've already seen from both of them just in this first round. So yeah, I think for me it's Tiff and Leoni Febitch. What about you, Alex.

be so hot and can also be so cold. And when you look at when the Liberty haven't had success this year, it is often because John Quall is getting three points, you know, And so I think she really has to turn it on, have confidence, and be willing to do her thing and be set up in a position to do her thing for the Liberty to have success.

For the Aces, this maybe sounds like a little bit of a copad answer, but their bench, And the reason why I say that is I think that the Aces, out of all the teams in the league, have the best bench chemistry, and that's led by Sid Colson, self

described benchwarmer. Right like she owns that title. She knows that she's not going to be the star on the court, and it is hard, I think, in a league with the best players in the world to have people on the bench who know what their place is, who know how to set up their teammates for success, and aren't resentful of that. It's that off court chemistry that really makes a big difference when you get down to the finals in the semifinals.

playing time and everyone loses their shit. You notice when they're messing with Kate Martin and then leaving her off the bus and having like those things stand out to me. So I do love that answer, and I do think oftentimes I'll look back on a championship year from one of my teams and I'll be like, you could almost tell from the beginning they just had it. They had it. Okay, last question, big question, Miish, I'm starting with you.

from blowing up before. That includes patriarchal values that kept women from participating, pseudoscience dictating what women were allowed to even attempt to do, actual bands on women's sports, like seventy years banning women's pro soccer in England, and then lack of investment, lack of data, lack of resources, lack of coverage, you get the idea. The point is all that context around the landscape of women's sports is so necessary when we have conversations about how we got here

and where we're going. And that's true in the WNBA two. Yes, we've seen Kaitlin Clark be the match that lit up the bonfire of a league that was being built over the last quarter century. And when we talk about this change, this pivotal moment, so much of it is around the

hype about Kaitlin Clark. But we also have to talk about the league's starts and stops, it's moments of growth and regression, and we just got some new information about that because the recent sportsmediawatch dot com article entitled how Caitlin Clark raised the bar for the WNBA highlights an excerpt from a book about ESPN. Now I actually have this book, and I thought I read the whole thing,

but I do not remember this section. Maybe it's just hitten a little different in the context of everything that's going around with the w But the story talks about this part of the book and reflects on how decision making from one higher up at the worldwide leader changed the whole trajectory of the league. So here's a bit of that story from sportsmediawatch dot com, written by John Lewis. Quote in the Jim Miller and Tom Shales book Those

Guys Have All the Fun. Former ESPN executive Mark Shapiro was blunt about the clashes he and then NBA commissioner David Stern had over the airing of WNBA games in the early two thousands. This quote from Shapiro, he wanted the WNBA on the air. I told him the WNBA stinks, it doesn't rate, and I didn't want it. No one watches it, men don't watch it, women don't watch it. My goal was to get it off the air. I

wanted it off altogether. But he went above me to ESPN president George Bodenheimer, and I think Disney CEO Bob Iiger and one. It was one of the few times George ever overruled me. At least I got it put on ESPN two where it couldn't hurt us. End quote.

Lewis's story continues quote. The WNBA's banishment to ESPN two after benefiting from regular windows on NBC and ESPN, was the beginning of its dark ages when viewership tanked, every team jersey was the same except for color and the ad on the front, and playoff games were being moved to college campuses because Disney on Ice held precedents. A WNBA title was once clinched at the Convocation Center of Eastern Michigan. The only attention the league got was as

the butt of jokes on Network's It Comes. It took nearly twenty years for the league to merely recover to the point where it was viewed as having potential. It may well have continued to grow without Clerk. The difference she has made is not between survival and failure, but between gradual growth and a level of cultural relevance that the league realistically may never have reached without her. From

baby steps to a full sprint. End quote. Now, again, this book has been out there, but I think looking at everything around the w right now, looking at all the bad faith arguments people have made about the product being bad, about nobody watching it, hits especially to read that an executive at the most powerful sports media company

was trying to tank it with intention and listen. As business people, you can decide whether you want to elevate something, whether you believe in something, whether you want to bet on something to bring in ratings and revenue and ad dollars. But also at every turn in history, usually men have not bet on women. They have not given it a shot to thrive. And as it said in that story and as it said in the book, when it did have the opportunity to be seen and covered, it did thrive.

And as soon as they took that away, it started to falter. And that example is true across so many different opportunities for women's sports in the past. And I hope that now that we're having real dialogue about this and being transparent about how those decisions can change everything, we do not allow that to happen again. And I'm thankful for those who fought him on at least keeping it on. But man, does that suck to hear how much farther along the league could have been if it

hadn't been for people putting those roadblocks in the way. Anyway, it's really important to keep talking about that stuff, and it's really important to keep calling out those what the facts, so that we can make sure we don't make those same mistakes in the future. We love that you're listening slices, but we always want to get you in the game every day too. So here's our good gameplay at the day, and it's a real easy one. Just go watch Sidney Coolson's shoe launch video. We'll link to it in our

show notes. It finally puts an end to the age old question, can you flirt with yourself? Yes? Yes, you can go watch it. You'll understand we love to hear from you. Hit us up on email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review and tell your friends to do the same.

In fact, that's what we did today. There's been some major drama in the ultra running world, so we called up friend of the show, former group Chat guest and ultra marathon Kalaim Conahan to help us out.

twenty four hours. Her talent, wins and accolades are undeniable. But then, just like when my headlamp went out in the deep woods of Rocky Point, New York in the middle of the night, things have taken an unexpected turn to the dark side.

That's right, slices. One of veres sneaky Wikipedia account has been found pulling superlatives from the pages of fellow runners like Desi Lindon, who won the twenty eighteen Boston Marathon, and Courtney de Walter, who, after winning the three most prestigious one hundred milers last summer, is arguably the sport's

biggest star. This Wikipedia account removed phrases like quote, widely regarded as one of the best trail runners ever from de Walter's Wikipedia page, meanwhile adding the suspiciously similar phrase quote widely regarded as one of the greatest ultra runners of all time, to you guessed it. Camille Heron's Wikipedia page.

Also sketchy, This Wikipedia account was created hours after a prior account was temporarily banned for conflict of interest policies, specifically for jusging up Heron's page, and it was later determined to be a continuation of that banned account. Even more sketchy, this same Wikipedia account was awfully quiet during Heron's six day world record attempt back in March. Either the Internet is full of great detectives, or perhaps this account was not so sneaky after all, changing other runners

Wikipedia entries is not cheating per se. So you really can't take away any of Camille Heron's incredible successes as an ultrarunner. So why is she trying to take away the success of her peers. I'm all for healthy competition, but this ain't it. It's embarrassing and cringe and downright bananas. As an ultrarunner myself, I don't mind being called crazy. I'm kind of used to it, but this is crossing the line.

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