Jaden Daniels Sent a CEASE & DESIST to LSU, WNBA Discourse is Exhausting, + More

Hey Hotties! 

Jaden Daniels sent a cease & desist to LSU over his jersey number, but that's not what this episode is really about.

The truth is: sports discourse is broken and I'm exhausted. The WNBA has become a political battleground from politicians and media figures  using women's basketball as a prop for culture war arguments. Sophie Cunningham, Caitlin Clark, trans debates, it's all being weaponized instead of being about the game.

I used to love sports drama because it made you want to turn on the game. Now it all feels heavy and political. Even the NBA Finals got ruined the moment politics showed up.

I'm part of the problem. I love sports gossip. But I'm tired of feeling bad watching something that's supposed to make me feel good. I want the game decided on the court, not off it. Something has to change.

TIMESTAMPS: 
1:07 Jaden Daniels & LSU Jersey Drama 
8:00 Sports Discourse Has Become Exhausting
11:00 WNBA Being Weaponized for Political Agendas
14:00 Dave Portnoy, Megan Kelly, Trump Using Women's Basketball
17:00 Sophie Cunningham Drama & How It Became Political
20:00 Trans Debate Singled Out at WNBA Only
23:00 I Used to Love Sports Drama (Dylan Brooks Era)
29:00 NBA Finals Were Perfect Until Trump Showed Up
32:00 How That One Moment Got Sucked Into Politics
38:00 But I'm Tired & Exhausted Now
41:00 Players & Scandals Cloud the Entire Sport
44:00 Deshaun Watson Makes It Hard to Watch Objectively
47:00 How Do We Get Joy Back in Sports?

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🎧 Listen on Apple: https://apple.co/3YhVfXj
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning and welcome back to the Hoops for Auddies live show. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My fucking broken hand chain. As soon as I get off live, I'm going to get this fixed. But there's so many sports headlines. And honestly, I'm gonna be real with you guys. The reason look at this. My handy dandy trusty dusty clipboard is blank because I didn't make any notes today. Like I'm just going to talk to you guys and I'm just going to chat. But there's a lot going on in and around the sports world. And so without further ado, let's start by getting into our hot girl headlines. Bitch, okay. First things first, I want to talk about Jaden Daniels and this drama surrounding his jersey number. So for my hot girls that don't typically watch sports and don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, Jaden Daniels is the Washington Commanders quarterback. He won the Heisman at LSU in 2023, wearing the number five. DJ Pickett is an LSU sophomore cornerback, a five-star recruit, and he is now wearing the number five. Lane Kiffen is LSU's head coach who was hired after Brian Kelly, who coached Jayden. Okay? This is all like this is good tea. So just like lock in. Basically, what had happened was LSU gave this player that's currently at LSU the number five jersey, okay? The issue is Jaden, when he was at LSU, wore the number five, okay? And he won the Heisman Trophy. They didn't, you know, win the championship or anything like that, but he won the biggest award there is to win in college football at the time. And so he had a really, really good career, right? He wore the number five, and I guess according to Jaden, he was promised that no one else would ever wear the number five after him because he was so iconic and so this and so that. Well, this kid that plays at LSU now, when he came to LSU, wanted to wear the number five, and they told him no. Brian Kelly was the coach at the time, and they were like, girl, we told Jaden he could wear he'd like that was his number. Like, no, you can't wear it. So he wore number three. Well, now they have a new coach, and they gave this kid, DJ, the number five. Okay. LSU has an interesting philosophy around retiring jersey numbers. And if you're not a sports fan, basically, if you had an iconic enough career, they'll retire your jersey number, they'll put your jersey in a frame up in the stands, and no one can ever wear your jersey number again at that school or on that team, whatever. At LSU, like Joe Burrow's number hasn't been retired, right? But they're not gonna give it to anybody else because Joe Burrow had such an iconic career. I mean, again, Joe Burrow was undefeated and won the championship. And the Heisman. So he had a much better team than Jaden, but still. But they they're not giving anyone Joe Joe Burrow's number, and they told Jaden they wouldn't give anybody his. Well, this kid is like, I didn't get to wear number five last year and I won it this year. And Lane Kiffin is like, I'm not, I wasn't the coach for Jaden Daniels, and I'll be damned if I piss off one of my players by not giving him the jersey number that he wants. So yeah, you can wear the number five. Now, where things get dicey and a little bit interesting is they did a photo shoot. Um, let me see if I can find you guys a picture. I'll just like show you. They did a photo shoot with DJ and his new in his new number, and they had Jaden Daniels in the background. Hold on, I'll show you. It's a little, okay, whatever, bruh. I saw a photo where DJ Pickett did a little photo shoot, and in the background, you can see Jaden Daniels wearing the number five in a photo of LSU, and it said like legends. That is the part that kind of would have irritated me because I'm like, you put me in the back, but at the same time, like you're being regarded as a legend at the school. So that's a compliment. No? Whatever. So Jaden was so upset that they gave this kid his number that he sent a cease and desist to LSU to not use his name, image, and likeness anymore. And asked for the replica of his Heisman trophy that they have at LSU to be sent back to Jayden and like for LSU not to use it. And LSU has no intentions of returning it and hasn't decided how far it'll comply with the cease and desist. Nothing, noting that it isn't legally binding. Lane Kiffin, the current head coach at LSU, has spoken to Daniel's representative directly and said publicly that he had no decision to make because the number was promised to the kid before he got there. So the issue is they promised this kid, DJ, that he could wear the number five before he got there. And then when he got there, they were like, No, Jaden would be upset. And so now this year he's like, give me my fucking number. And Jaden is currently like at training camp with the Washington Commanders as a as a quarterback there. He obviously was injured, got injured last season, has had some issues with his health, and has a lot to focus on, right? His family statements said that they feel profoundly disrespected. Daniels himself posted something much softer saying he's grateful for his time at LSU and that there are issues to work out and he'd hope it'd get resolved privately, and it did not get resolved privately. To me, to me, okay, my issue, my opinion on this situation is number one, if your jersey didn't get retired, you cannot expect the school to be loyal to you and never give that number to anybody else because at the end of the day, if they wanted to retire your number, they would have retired your number. Number two, a lot of people are saying, well, if they won't give anybody Joe Burrow's number, they haven't given anybody Joe Burrow's number, why would they do that to Jaden? I say that Joe Burrow had a very different career in college to Jaden Daniels. Yes, they were both incredible quarterbacks, yes, they both won the Heisman. It looked very damn right. Joe Burrow was lucky to have an incredible team around him, but at the same time, we know this being sports fans, there are just certain conversations that you are not in when you didn't bring home the bacon. Okay? And at the same time, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, wasn't Jaden Daniels a transfer? I don't know. It's just like the whole thing is weird. If I were an athlete and I had the opportunity to get my jersey retired or I had an iconic career, I would be honored if other people coming up wanted to wear my number and wanted to pose behind a picture of me and whatever. Like, especially at my school, I feel like that's iconic and that keeps my legacy alive. And if you're in the NFL, like, I don't know, what more do you want? Like, why take the number from the kid? He was promised the number. It doesn't fucking matter. But this also to me sounds like two babies crying and my, my toy, my toy, my toy, my toy. And it also sounds like a money grab, low-key from the family, or like, I don't know what the family is trying to do, but it sounds like oh, here I go, being messy. But it sounds like somebody in Jaden Daniels' camp has too much time on their hands. It does. It sounds like Jaden is probably at training camp focusing on doing what he gotta do. He has a team of people around him, an entire entourage, as every athlete does, and it sounds like somebody around him has too much time on their hands, okay? And was like, I don't like that. And I'm offended. I'ma talk to the lawyers, I'm gonna handle it. And Jaden's probably like, okay, girl, do you like I don't really care. I mean, yeah, I'm not gonna say names. People in the chat are saying that it sounds like maybe his mom is doing this blah blah blah. And I don't talk about mamas, so I won't even speculate there. But it sounds like somebody in on his camp has too much time on their hands because this is a non-issue, somebody wearing your jersey number. You should be honored and see that as a sign of respect. And at the same time, LSU, don't promise nobody you're not gonna give up their number if you're not gonna retire their jersey. And I honestly believe that if Lane Kiffin had to give a five-star recruit Joe Burrow's number to keep them, to keep his job and to look good this year, he 100% would. If it were the right person. I'm not letting no fucking five-star recruit go because you don't want me to give them your number. You you've lost your fucking mind and bumped your fucking head. If you think I am going to tell one of my recruits no, because of a promise that was made to you before I got here. That don't got nothing to do with me. Ain't my fish to fry. He can have a number. Are you fucking kidding me? That's uh that's silly and it's stupid. And nobody's bigger than the program. So I think Jaden Daniels is crying and I think it's a little OD. Well actually, I don't think it's him. I think it's somebody on his camp that just has too much time in their hands and is like, butthurt. And maybe thinks that they can get a little, a little money or something from LSU because of this. But one thing I know when it comes to college football and college sports, especially in the SEC or in the South, whatever, is I love the Georgia Bulldogs so much that I would never, like, if I were a football player, I played a sport, I would never do anything like tarnish my legacy or my relationship with the school. Like, if Georgia calls me and needs anything, I am there yesterday. And so I think it would be cool, and again, I'm not an athlete, so I don't know, to have somebody at Georgia right now be like, I want to be like Mariah or I want to do something Mariah is doing, and I wouldn't take that as an insult or try to like cut off that tie because I love my school and I have like school pride. So I think it's very interesting to want like to buck up at your former university like that. I don't know. When you should have a sense of pride around your university. But maybe that's just me. Let me know what you guys think about this situation in the chat with Jaden Daniels. But I think that it sounds like people are tripping. Next hot girl headline I want to get into is oh fuck. I literally read it on my handy dandy trusty dusty notes, and like I'm already irritated. I'm already irritated, bitch. I'm already irritated! And this gets into the confession I'm gonna give you later in the show, but two former NBA men filed to enter the WNBA draft. Or Ennis Cantor, Turkish born center, 6'10, third overall pick in 2011, blah blah blah blah blah. Royce White, former first round pick who barely played in the NBA, now Republican Senate candidate, has also announced a 2028 presidential run. Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. On August 7th, Cantor Freedom posted a video wearing a WNBA hoodie saying that if simply declaring who you are is all that's required, he meets every requirement to play in the WNBA. Royce White declared hours later, oh my god, I'm just like irritated. Oh my god. Long story short, okay, no, I'll tell you what happened. All right, and I know people are like, why talk about this? Why talk about this? Why talk about this? Why talk about this? My job is to explain what's going on in the sports world to the girls, okay? I'm just explaining to you the story. Former NBA player posted a video wearing an NBA, a WNBA hoodie saying that if simply declaring who you are is all that's required, he meets every requirement to play in the WNBA. Royce White declared for the WNBA draft hours later. On August 10th, Cancer Freedom escalated this by submitting a signed letter to the league office formally entering the 2027 draft pool, citing article XIII. Y'all know I don't do Roman numerals of the collective bargaining agreement, which requires only that a player be at least 22 and out of college eligibility. He wore a shirt reading, Invest in women, pay women, hire women to do it, and asked the league to confirm receipt. He says that he's not mocking anyone, only asking that the rules be applied equally, and has said that he'll pursue legal action if denied. A league source told Forbes the WNBA isn't taking either declaration seriously and called them bad faith actors, trying to show division and chaos. Commissioner Kathy Engelbert sent a memo to Teams. The league's anti-hate task force met on Wednesday, and Cheryl Miller said that she'd have welcomed both men courtside as fans, but told them to shut that noise up about the draft. Okay. This sounds like starved men for attention. And like, I'm not even gonna give an opinion on that because you guys know my opinion is on that. I just want to tell you what happened. At the end of the day, because there are no trans women in the WNBA, this whole thing is just like making a mockery of the trans community, and it's people using the WNBA as a means to an end and trying to get attention. And I think it's unfair to the WBA, I think it's unfair to the trans community, and I think it's stupid, and those men should be fucking embarrassed and ashamed. And who gives a fuck, honestly? And I think people, even people who disagree on this issue, like with me, in my opinion, should be able to agree that that was stupid, right? I think we all can agree that that was stupid. That's not it's not fair to the women in the WNBA, and it's like if you really care about protecting women and pushing women's sports forward, why make a mockery of the league like that in the middle of their season? Like, no. Okay. Dijanae Carrington and her white privilege post. You guys have not heard from me since this happened. Dijanae and these fucking tweets. God, girl. I hate speaking on these tweets. If you don't know, DeJanae Carrington is a guard for the Chicago Sky. She played for Connecticut in Dallas before this year, and she's known league-wide as a hard physical defender. Sophie Cunningham is an Indiana Fever guard and Caitlin Clark's teammate, and she got tw she got famous in 2025 for a hard foul defending Caitlin Clark. She became polarizing in July when she told ESPN that she opposes trans women competing in women's sports. And Stephanie White is the Indiana Fever's head coach. So much happening with the Indiana Fever over the week. But basically, Saturday in Chicago, it was Rivals Week in the WNBA, the Chicago Sky, and the Indiana Fever have a lot of even Angela Reese's, Angel Reese's even playing anymore, but there's a lot of contention between those two teams. Sophie Cunningham was out ahead on a fast break, and DJ Carrington chased her down and swung her arm across Cunningham's face and neck, knocking her to the floor with no way to break her fall. Sophie got up and charged at her and shoved her. The call was reviewed and upgraded to a flagrant two. DJ Carrington was ejected, and minutes later posted the words white privilege on threads and tagged the Indiana Fever. Sophie Cunningham said afterwards that Carrington did it because she wants attention. And DeJany Carrington said nothing for two days. Monday, she finally spoke and said the foul was never intentional and that she's made the same chase down play for years and that it might happen again because of how she plays. She refused to explain the post and then she corrected the thing that everyone had assumed. She never said the foul call itself was white privilege. What she says is she wants consistency. The same call, regardless of the name of the jersey, jersey, the skin color, or the score. She was fined $1,000, and Cunningham was not pencil penalized for the shove. White initially, this is Stephanie White, the coach for The Fever, told reporters that the Flagrant 2 was the right call, but that she didn't think that the contact was intentional and credited Carrington's physicality. She later said that she hadn't seen the replay when she had said that. Okay. And then Fever fans and Republicans, conservatives, were so upset with their coach that they booed her. They booed her out of game. And Caitlin was very disappointed and disgusted by that. Sophie Cunningham spoke about it. And that's gonna get into something I'm gonna speak on a little later in the show. But here's my like, if you want my opinion, here's my opinion. DeJan A. Carrington is a tough player, and Sophie Cunningham has a reputation for being a quote unquote enforcer because of a hard foul that was worse than this one. And as much as I don't agree with Sophie Cunningham's politics or the way she goes about a lot of things, I do believe that it was the right call because when a player is knocked out of the air and that they could be injured, obviously that's a flagrant too. It should be in every sport. It is like across the board. And Sophie got up afterwards and obviously wanted to fight DJ, like got mad and got bucked with it. But I will say, and in that, in a sense, I I could see a lot of people saying, Oh, well, white privilege, because they didn't penalize Sophie for that, and blah blah blah. There was a similar foul earlier where Caitlin Clark did something similar to another player, and blah blah blah, and all these inconsistencies in WNBA officiating and whatever. My main thing is there's an overarching issue with inconsistency in WNBA officiating that Kathy Engelbert had announced at WNBA All-Star, they are making an effort to bandage and fix and evaluate. And I understand the call to eject Dijon A. However, I don't think that she meant to hurt Sophie. Also, I think that a lot of times when we're watching sports, like Wimby being called a dirty player during the NBA finals, a lot of times when we're watching sports, a lot of the things they do are unintentional. Okay, a lot of the time. I mean, we had the situation where Caitlin Clark's eighth technical was rescinded two hours after the game. In the same game as this Carrington ejection in the third quarter, Caitlin Clark drove to the baseline, got bumped by Natasha Cloud, passed the ball off, and her momentum carried her out of bounds and into an official. She was assessed a technical foul for making contact with the referee, and it was her eighth of the season. By league rule, the eighth technical is an automatic one-game suspension, which would have kept her out of the game against Liberty on Tuesday. Indiana appealed it immediately after their win, and the league reversed it in under two hours. Caitlin said that she had already watched the tape and that nothing was intentional. Stephanie White, who picked up her own technical arguing the call, said that the reversal was the right decision. And the WNBA notoriously is slow with reviewing calls and that whole thing, and they rescinded to Caitlin's tech immediately. I thought that was the right decision as well. I think that the WBA is making an effort. It just needs to be the same across the board. And I think that that is where Dijnay's frustration was coming from. And we have seen before that DJ is quick to tweet. Okay, she's quick to tweet her thoughts. And I've been an athlete, and I think a lot of you have too, where you're in a heated situation and there's an argument that happens, and you're like, I got in trouble, but she didn't get in trouble because she got up and pushed me after. And that ain't like, what the fuck is this? This is my privilege, like, whatever. I think that this is just like a situation. Like, I don't have an opinion. I wasn't in it. Like, I really don't. Like, I just think that this was a situation. Point blank, period. What I have an issue with, you know, I hate having to speak on it, honestly. Like, I'm kind of like, fuck DJ. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I've spoken to some other journalists this week who covered the WMBA, and they're like, damn, DJ, I didn't even want to have to speak on this shit. Like, I didn't even want to have to cover this. And like, she had an emotional reaction and she tweeted, and it's like, it's just not that big of a deal. And I saw this morning, last night, I'm doing research on this whole topic, and you know, looking at what other people are saying and blah blah blah. And I saw like a Megan Kelly video on who is Dejanae Carrington, really. I didn't fucking watch that shit, obviously. But it's just so annoying how people are like making caricatures of WNBA players, and you know, as much as I believe Sophie Cunningham is somebody who feeds into that 100%, like to say Dejanae was looking for attention, girl. Pot calling the kettle black. Am I right? It is annoying to see them all get these roles placed onto them and it becoming this thing. And I did criticize them for saying that they want it to be just basketball, but I am getting to a point of fatigue as a fan where I'm like, guys, the whole thing is very entertaining as a fan. Like, you know, it's heated, it's rivals week, someone gets ejected, it's blah blah blah, it's drama, but it's just a conversation afterwards that I'm a little bit fatigued of. And I love Dijanae Carrington. I think she's a tough player, and I think we need tough players in the WNBA. I think we need players enforcers like Sophie Cunningham and the WBA. I think it's entertaining, and I think that people, at least people are watching, but it's just like the the WNBA is physical. When are we gonna learn? Like, when are we gonna learn the WBA is physical and it's not an intentional like thing? All right, like the fever aren't the only people who experienced physical play. Um, and I think the WNBA made the right call with rescinding Caitlin's tech 100%, and I'm glad it happened quickly, and I hope that that swiftness is carried around is carried across the board, no matter who the player is. And I think that's what Dijon A was trying to get across in that moment. No? Can we all agree on that? All right. Russell Westbrook retired from basketball. Ah he announced it on Wednesday with a video narrated by Michael B. Jordan. In it, Westbrook watches his own highlights on a s on a screen and never speaks. And Jordan asked him at the end what he's most proud of, and Westbrook doesn't answer. The only words from him were in the caption. Sometimes you don't even know when you've already watched the hand. Um, he had some real offers. Sacramento and Washington both wanted him on minimum deals off the bench, but the Kings were turning the job over to rookie Darius A. Cuff, and that it would have been a reduced role, and he decided to stop playing it instead. He's been one of the most argued about players over the last decade, and to see the tone on him flip warm overnight was very beautiful. It is sad, like it's it's just definitely a changing of the guard happening in the NBA right now, and to see a player like Russell Westbrook, who always gave 100% throughout his entire career and the triple doubles and just his whole legacy. I I think he was such a positive player for the WBA, or not WNBA, the NBA. And it's I'm sad to see him go for real. It it's sad to think about when I think about Russell Westbrook. I do think about that KD move from Oklahoma City. And I just always wonder what it would have been like if we would have seen those two together for longer. I do. Um, but goodbye to Russ, and what an incredible career. And I'm a little sad. I am a little sad for him. And so, yeah, uh Russell Westbrook retired from basketball. What the fuck? And who's gonna be next? That's my thing. I hope some of these players that are retiring do get better send-offs. Like Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook. Like, I feel like as an NBA, we can make these things a little bit bigger of a deal. Social media makes everything, even big things, feel so small. And it's one of the things I hate about it. Like, you can just put up a video and it's like, oh, he retired, and then we like move on to the next thing in the news cycle. I wish that they did get like a little bit more of a moment. I don't know. The Lakers got sold for $12.5 billion to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger. Josh Kushner, 41 years old, founded the venture firm Thrive Capital and co-founded Oscar Health, younger brother of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's sonner, Donald Trump's son-in-law. Um, he holds a minority stake in the Miami Heat that he will have to sell now, obviously. Bob Iger, he's 75, ran Disney from 2005 to 2020. And again, from 2022 until earlier this year, he and his wife, Willow Bay, own the NWS Cells Angel City FC. Mark Walter sold the team. Um, he also owns the Dodgers. It's the most anyone's ever paid for an American sports team. Walter bought a controlling stake from the Bus family a year ago at 10 billion valuation. Itself was a record at the time. And he clears roughly $2.5 billion selling the team. Jerry Buss bought the franchise outright for $67.5 million in 1979. Kushner and Iger had been working on landing an NBA expansion team in Las Vegas. They approached Walter with an offer on Sunday and it was done by Wednesday. That's really fast. The board of governors still has to approve it next month. The Sparks and the Dodgers are not a part of the sale. Two footnotes Walter and Guggenheim partners are under federal investigation over whether loans were properly disclosed. Disclosed, they did deny any wrongdoing, and the probe hasn't been given as a reason for selling. Yada yada yada yada. Kushner's Thrive was set to buy a minority stake in FIFA's World Cup operations for 4.2 billion until FIFA withdrew the proposal this month after backlash from soccer federations worldwide. People with a lot of money doing people with a lot of money things. Okay. I mean, hey, the thing is, I know like somebody asked my opinion on the owners of the Lakers. Sports owners are such a weird thing to me that like I don't like to think about them too hard because a lot of them are bad people. Let's keep it probably like I don't really like to think about who owns the team, right? Because a lot of them are bad people. It's like when you work for a company, you don't really like to think about who owns the company because sometimes they're bad people, and it's just like, all right, I am like a Measley fan. That's like above me. I feel like the bus family were iconic, and I love their story and running point and blah blah and uh all that. But do I give that much of a fuck who owns the Lakers? Not really. Do y'all? I don't know. Next headline I want to talk about quickly. Team USA uh for the World Cup were announced. The roster was announced. Sue Bird is the managing director of the national team. She announced the roster on the Today Show. The 12 are Aaliyah Boston, Paige Beckers, Caitlin Clark, Nafisa Collier, Khalia Copper, Chelsea Gray, Ryan Howard, ATL, Kelsey Blum, Angel Reese, ATL, Brianna Stewart, Asia Wilson, Jackie Young. And a lot of people were upset because Kelsey Mitchell, Olivia Miles, Sabrina UNESCO, and Alyssa Thomas were cut. Those are all uh people who were snubbed from the team that people are very upset about. Kelsey Mitchell is an Indiana fever guard in her 10th season, averaging 24 points a game and outscoring Caitlin Clark on her own team. She's never once made a team USA 5v5 roster. Olivia Miles is the Minnesota Lynx rookie out of Notre Dame who's had a fucking insane, incredible season. And Subert, you know, gave some reasons about why people were left off the team. And she basically just talked about who you would put on, and no matter what, anybody would be unhappy and blah blah blah. And I feel that way about these things to be honest. And team USA women's basketball is so dominant and so talented, like whatever. But um, the reason that Kelsey Mitchell uh wasn't on Team USA that has been given was they weigh experience in the program, and she's never been invited to a national team camp, so it's like circular. Like they they want you to have team USA experience, but she's never had team USA experience. How's that fair? The World Cup is September 4th to September 13th in Berlin, and somebody called at my plant dying. I just watched it. My best friend gave me this planter and made it for me, like literally cut open a basketball and gave me that and gave me that plant. She said it's impossible to kill. I look over at it today and it's fucking yellow. So yeah. Also, thank you for the correction in the chat. Olivia Miles did go to TCU after Notre Dame as well. Those are all my hot girl headlines. Let me know at the end if there's anything I missed and that you guys, you know, want to talk about. The NFL preseason starts this weekend and is on a roll. NFE NFL season is so back, bitch. And the Indiana Fever are coming to visit us in Atlanta to play the dream on Sunday at five o'clock. And Formula One returns on August 21st. So beautiful. I love this for us. Now I'm gonna get into my confession of the video. All right. Something I've been wanting to talk about, and honestly, before before I decided to talk about my Hoggirl headlines, to be honest, this was all I was gonna talk about in this video. So honestly, here's my thing sports discourse is in a bad place, my friends. Conversation around sports is in a bad place. And I, as a fan, am getting really fatigued of a lot of the conversations happening in the sports world, the way fans are talking about it, the way the media is covering it. I think social media has done a lot of ugly things, a lot of great things for sports, but a lot of ugly things for sports. And I think we're losing the plot a little bit, and I'm a part of the problem, 100%, because I love sports drama and I love storylines and I love mess. And I don't know if it's because we're in the off-season for a lot of sports, like the NFL hasn't really kicked into the gear yet, and the NBA is in its offseason. I don't know if it's that, but I think particularly when it comes to the WNBA, I have had a lot of really hard time participating in a lot of the discourse throughout the season because I just feel icky. And I think that the thing that I love about sports has kind of been sucked out of a lot of the conversations, and it's starting to feel like a lot of people don't care to talk about sports if we're talking about actual sports. People just want to use sports as a caricature for whatever political agenda they're trying to get across. And as somebody who cares a lot about politics, it's hard for me because I'm hitting this double-edged sword of like, okay, I do care about political issues. I do, I do. I don't want to be a person who's like, I don't fucking care. Like, especially because I've built such a platform off of caring about a lot of issues. But at the same time, I'm like tired of talking about a lot of things. And I feel like a lot of things are being used to push a political agenda, like the trans conversation. It's like there aren't trans women in the WNBA yet. The WMBA, and I just find it interesting, like these men aren't coming at tennis in this way or volleyball in this way. It's like the WNBA always is getting singled out for all of these issues. And I think Sophie Cunningham brought a little bit of that on for because she gave her opinion, and I don't like that. But at the same time, it's like with the W, it's unfortunate that it never gets like eclipsed by something bigger when it comes to like the actual play happening on the court. And at the end of the day, as much as I talk about all of these things all the time, and I'm critical and I give my opinion on Sophie Cunningham or Caitlin Clark or their PR strategy or this or that, at the same time, I feel like when I do want to cover them as just athletes, it's like clouded by this like horrible dark cloud. And it's just like I don't want to talk about that shit. Like a little part of me was like, I rolled my eyes a little bit when Dijanay tweeted that white privilege thing because I was like, I don't want to talk about that. Like, I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about the game. I really don't want to talk about that. But I, as a black woman, I know how prevalent and important it is to have these conversations, so I don't know how we find a middle ground and how we patch up sports discourse, right? Because the thing that I love so much about sports feels like it's getting lost. And I love a silly drama like Dylan Brooks. You know, Dylan Brooks brought so much fun drama to the NBA, as annoying as he was, and as much of a villain as he was, it wasn't like I was attaching my political ideology to Dylan Brooks. It was just like either you were a Grizzly fan and you loved it, or you, I'm a Steph Curry fan, I love the Warriors, and I hated it. But it was entertaining, and it's just like all points back to basketball, and it's joyful in a way because you look forward to seeing the teams face each other on Christmas Day, and that's where the issue gets settled. You know what I mean? It gets settled on the court, it gets settled on the field. I want to see issues get settled on the court and settled on the field. One of the things that made me fall in love with sports is this idea that there could be these little beefs like uh Clay Thompson. I can't remember what he said about LeBron that activated him in the 2016 finals. If anybody in the chat knows what I'm talking about, please let me know. But Clay Thompson talking shit and activating LeBron James and LeBron James coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA finals because of shit talking. Like that is interesting to me. And it makes me want to turn on the game, right? It makes me want to turn on the game. And I think one of the most joyful moments I've had as a sports fan in the last year, because I feel like a lot of joy has been sucked out of sports in a way, was the NBA finals. I thought the NBA finals was perfect, honestly. There was drama, there were storylines, there was mess. There are people I agreed with, there's people I won I don't. And it's it was so fun, and it brought us all together in a way, and it was like enjoyable for everyone in the world to watch. I absolutely loved it, and I hadn't felt like that watching sports in a really, really long time. I think part of it for me is the league's not doing a good enough job. Another thing as a woman is, you know, when players are violent against women or a situation like that occurs, it makes it harder for me to enjoy because it puts a cloud over the whole thing, right? You think of like a Deshaun Watson kind of situation, it makes it hard for me to enjoy as a fan and just like watch him objectively because of this, and the league puts us in that position. I it was just nice during the NBA finals to just like get to enjoy and be a fan, and there be storylines and drama. And if you think about it, the one time that a piece of joy was sucked out of the NBA finals this year was when Donald Trump showed up. And it also it speaks to a larger issue that we're having in culture right now, politically and whatever, like where you know the president coming to the game shouldn't derail or a former president, like Barack Obama shows up and it's like a joyful thing kind of for everybody, and it's like very presidential, and he's interacting with the players, and it's like positive. And I so deeply wish for a moment like that for the WNBA because in the direction that the discourse is going can't be good for the future of the game. I've and like why I say I'm a part of the problem is because I too have a lot of times attached my identity to these players or built an opinion based off of my experience and emotional reaction to what's going on that made the game feel bigger than a game to me. And I think that sometimes that can be great and sometimes that can be really harmful and like kind of exhausting, and put you in a situation where you're like, I don't really want to watch this because I don't want to like feel bad. Like I watch sports to like feel good, and now I'm feeling like you know, and I don't have a solution to that, to be honest. I don't have a solution for that, but I think in a lot of in a lot of ways, even me, I think you know, my audience loves a drama video more than they love a joyful video. It's kind of how it's always been. But I do in a way want to stop feeding that and try to find joy in like loving sports and watching sports again because it's just that like when those men declared for the WNBA draft, I was like, I'm exhausted, bitch. I'm like fucking exhausted. I don't want to have this conversation, and I I think it's disappointing that men, political figures Megan Kelly, Donald Trump, all of these people, Dave Portnoy, are making a mockery of women's basketball in a way that is not pushing us forward or moving the needle in a way that is positive for women's basketball. It's making women's basketball into kind of a joke and like uh, oh, I can use this thing to get this point across. And these people like aren't watching the games. So I think we should get back to loving sports drama, loving sports gossip that makes us want to watch the game and and see the outcome be decided on the court, whether that is a political issue or not. Like, I I would love, I can't wait to see DeJanay and Sophie Cunningham face each other again, right? Like that makes that I do want to watch the game, right? So, like it's a double-edged sword, and I didn't think a lot about this before I spoke on it. I've just like sports discourse is in a bad place, and I I am tired of it. I'm really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really tired of it. So, yeah, um, I hate to end the show on a bad note. I hate to end the show on a bad note because I love you guys so much and this was so much fun, but I do have to go. So if you are just joining and you missed the beginning of the live, don't worry. This will be up on YouTube at 7 p.m. Eastern tonight and up on all podcast platforms. So wherever you get your podcast, you can listen to me while you're on your walk, while you're in a car, while you're at a bar. I don't know. I don't know, bitch. You can hear my voice. Um, make sure to subscribe to Hoops or Hoddies on YouTube. It helps me so much. It helps me keep the lights on in this bitch, okay? You know I'm self-employed, bitch, and I don't do gambling ads. So, you know, as a sports creator, subscribing to my YouTube is the least you can fucking do. I'm not convincing you bitches to like gamble your money on sports because I have morals. So please subscribe to my YouTube, okay? Help me keep the lights on this bitch. I love you guys so much. I mean, it falls who's for hotties on all social media platforms to see when I go live next, and I'll see you next week. Bye.