The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - GOOD FOLLOW - 2017 WNBA MVP Sylvia Fowles Talks Awards and Playoffs + NWSL & More

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

This week on Good Follow: Megan, Logan & Katie discuss A’ja Wilson & Caitlin Clark’s unanimous awards, and if Paige Bueckers and Juju Watkins will get the same rookie attention as Caitlin Clark. Then, 2x WNBA Champion and 2017 WNBA MVP Sylvia Folwes joins the show to discuss A’ja Wilson's MVP win, preview the Aces vs Liberty semi-finals, and Diana Taurasi retirement rumors. Finally, Megan shares her NWSL DraftKings picks of the week, and this week’s Good Follow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a new day. How can you make the most of it with your membership rewards points? Earn points on everyday purchases. Use them for that long-awaited vacation. Points never expire, so use them how you want. That's the powerful backing of American Express. On eligible cards, terms apply. Learn more at mx.ca. So what's it like to buy your first cryptocurrency on Kraken? Well, let's say I'm at a food truck I've never tried before. Am I going to go all in on the loaded taco? No, sir. I'm keeping it simple. Starting small. That's trading on Kraken. Pick from over 190 assets and start with the 10 bucks in your pocket.

Easy. Go to kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. See kraken.com slash legal slash ca-pru-disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. Welcome to Good Follow presented by DraftKings. I'm Megan Reyes. Joining me are Logan Hackett and Katie Navatney. We're starting off this week's show with a big moment from the WNBA. Let's check this out. It's for Asia. Hold on.

Oh, this is something. All right. Go ahead. All right. Do we have someone named Asia Wilson in the house tonight? Yes. Hi, Asia. So Asia, we have to stop meeting like this. If I think back to 2020 and the bubble and the wubble,

you know, I walked into that room and handed you the MVP trophy. And guess what? You are the 2024... I love it so much. I love how all our teammates were getting high before the phone call before the sentence could even be finished. But yes, Asia Wilson has officially been named this year's WNBA MVP, earning her third overall MVP award. It was a unanimous vote, which has not been done since Cynthia Cooper in the 1997 inaugural WNBC WNBA season. So question is Asia the face of American basketball? Yes or no? The answer is yes. Yes. The answer is hell yes.

You unanimous is sick, dude. Like, can you, like, when does that ever, I mean, we don't, it doesn't happen often, even anywhere. It's so amazing. I love it, because of the whole fourth place controversy a few years ago, like, to now go unanimous is like, she's still on business with that. Exactly, and so I just don't know how anyone can continue to possibly bet against her.

And I'm also very excited to see how the Aces do in the playoffs because you got a three time MVP and an Olympic MVP on the Aces. So they may not have had the start to the season that everyone thought they were going to have, but they absolutely cannot be overlooked. I think it was so telling in the fourth quarter of the of game one against Seattle. Seattle was up at half and then at the end of the third quarter and put up two points in the fourth. So I think that says it all. Well, Asia wasn't the only player to unanimously win an award last weekend. The AP named Caitlin Clark to the all rookie team, all WNBA team, and as the unanimous AP rookie of the year. The WNBA doesn't announce as rookie of the year until later in the postseason, but just between us, as we're, you know, for fun. Do you think she will be the unanimous vote?

And if not, who else do you think will get the votes? I think she should be unanimous. But when they were voting for MVP, Angel Reese got one. I think it was like fourth place vote. And then I saw this whole discourse. It might just be conspiracy, but that would like take away from Caitlin's unanimous decision. But I think like unanimously, she should have it for sure.

OK, humor me for a second. Say she doesn't get it unanimously, which is a terrible word to keep saying over and over and over again. But say she doesn't get a unanimous vote. And with Angel's injury, who are some other rookies that you think would get the votes? I constantly struggle with saying this name. Lenny Feevish. Rookie on New York, I think we haven't seen much of her,

but this playoffs, like she went off in game one and I think we're gonna keep on seeing her go off and people are really going to start learning her name. She kind of has like a Marine Yohannes-esque thing about her, especially in the sense that like nobody really knew lots about her. But then when she started popping off, it's like, who is this girl? And I believe they're both French, which is really cool.

So I think she'll get some as well as Rekia Jackson. I could see her getting some for sure. Can't bring one out early. So I think that's my top two. Well, we all know what Caitlin's impact has been on the league and we can actually see it tangibly in the ratings. Since 2008, no WNBA broadcast has had over 1 million viewers. This season had 24 broadcasts and 21 of them featured Caitlyn Clark. But we know it's not just her. Viewership was up across the board and ESPN said TV audiences increased by 170%. So with Pagebackers entering the league next season and Juju Watkins likely a couple years after her,

this just is the beginning of record viewership, right? I mean, sky's the limit for a WNBA. I think it has to be. I mean, I think it also is they're doing better with accessibility and getting it into people's hands easier. And you can add on a package right to your Hulu. You can do, it's not, you don't have to dig around everywhere to try to find it.

And I think that is, it's the, it's the tale as old as time is like, we're not gonna market it to people cause no one's watching it. And you're like, well, you're not marketing it to anybody. So no one's gonna watch it. So like, I love that they're, that we're making it easy for people to watch an amazing league. So we've spent a little bit of time on the show over the course of these episodes

talking about the hype of Caitlin Clark and whether it's hype or not. But do we think that Caitlin is a one off or will we see the same type of hype around Paige Becker, Paige Becker's Juju Watkins and some of these other college stars that are going to enter the league in a few years? I think we will. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, they're already making names for themselves. I think it's also what we were just saying, people are paying attention. Social media blew up over the last four years in addition to making it easier for people to watch. And we're starting to invest in these women early. And so that combination, you're going to want to want,

it's going to keep happening. And it might not be, it might not be a Caitlin, but it'll be a page. It might not be a page. It'll be a juju. It'll just, it's just going to keep building on itself, I think. I think with the success of March Madness too and kind of like what we've seen come from that, we've learned other names like within the Angel and Caitlyn. There's been other names on the outside, but I guess because they weren't going to the W yet, people weren't paying as much attention. So now they're going to kind of watch that, wanting to hear those names and see them play. And then maybe there'll be other controversies and whatnot.

But I think that's kind of where it all started. And the pin, the nail is in the coffin. I don't know if that's the right quote, but it's going to keep on evolving like this. Let's use it. Did you say the nail or the pin? Which one are you going with? It's the nail. No, the nail. The staple is in the are you going with? It's the nail. The staple is in the coffin and that's what we're going to go with.

Well coming up Logan sits down with two-time WNBA champion and 2017 MVP Sylvia Fowles to dive further into the Asia MVP award and the whole WNBA playoffs. We'll be right back. [♪ music playing. [♪ music playing. [♪ music playing. [♪ music playing. [♪ music playing. [♪ music playing. [♪ music playing. [♪ music playing.

[♪ music playing. [♪ music playing. [♪ music playing. Welcome back to Good Follow. Joining us today is two-time WNBA champion, four-time Defensive Player of the Year, and 2017 MVP Sylvia Fowles. Sylvia, we're so excited to have you on. Thank you for having me. I'm excited.

Of course. Let's start with the biggest WNBA news of the week. In a unanimous decision, Asia Wilson won her third MVP since 2020. Now as a former WNBA MVP, what does it take to not just win one award, but three? Well, I can't speak on that because I only won one, but that year, I think 2017 was my year I won it. I think Asia is just on another level outside of like any other play in the WNBA

right now. She's definitely on a mission and that's something that she can appreciate, especially with all the attention that we're getting with the women in the WNBA. And it takes a lot of resilience. It takes a lot of thick skin because you know you don't have trolls or people that's going to speak their due. But at the end of the day, it just takes what's going to make you better. And I think she's in this period right now where she's just all Asia, all in, what I need to do to get things done. And it's been beautiful to watch.

Now we've been having this conversation every so often, but especially more so that she's been named MVP. Where do you think this lands her in the WNBA GOAT conversation? Well, you know, the GOAT situation has been stretched out a little bit, but Asia definitely wouldn't go down as one of the best, or if not the best, when it's all over and said and done.

Her history and her legacy is going to be big. Yeah, I cannot wait to see it, especially at the end of her career, because she's only 28, which is so crazy. Exactly, she's so young. Man, I wasn't doing that at 28, I'll tell you that. Now, a lot of people have different definitions for what determines an MVP. So what does AgelessWin say about the criteria for the award? She does a little bit of everything.

And when you put that into one, I know people think about like points and stuff like that. That's most valuable player, but I think MVP is a well rounded player. One who's going to rebound, one who's going to put her team in a position to win night in and night out. Somebody who's going to rebound, one who's going to put her team in a position to win night in and night out. Somebody who's going to play defense

as well as score points. But the points we're doing in the dirty work, the things that don't make the stat sheet, I think that all ties into being MVP. And you know, we can't really talk about, well, we can't have a conversation about Asia, but there's also the huge conversation about Caitlin Clark. And I feel like they're kind of the two big names

in the league right now. She finished fourth in the MVP voting, was named the AP Rookie of the Year, and is on her way to winning WNBA Rookie of the Year. We all know her rookie season has been absolutely amazing, but where does she go from here? I really don't know because she's also too someone who can bring so much to the game.

I'm not a point guard. I'm not out there shooting three, so it's kind of hard for me to say for her position. But her future is very bright, I must say. She brings a lot to this game. Of course, she brings the viewership and just her tenacity and her will to just not be pumped, not get pushed around, but also going to be like, all right, if you want to push me around, you got to push me to this level of greatness. That's something that you can always respect. And based on what you've seen from her this year, do you have any predictions or maybe

expectations for her next year that she won't be a rookie? Um, just continue to lead in ways that Nobody want to believe and I think she's been doing that I mean, I think they struggled a little bit this year But next year if they can just piece it all together and put together as a unit consistently, they're going to be Pretty good and do a lot of damage And we know Asia was named unanimousous MVP, but Kaitlyn did get votes. What do you think about that and just the whole voting process in general? I think she showed her mark.

I don't really have a perception of if she's been voted in or not. I think the media does a really good job around who they want to put those votes upon. And I think she should have been in the conversation, although she is a rookie. I mean, you had it done before with Candace and a lot of people before Candace. So I don't see why not. And let's talk about one last award. Being a four-time Defensive Player of the Year winner, you know what it takes to lock things down.

Oh my gosh. So I want to know who your pick is for Defensive Player of the Year this year. I might seem a little biased on this one, but I think Napisa Collier. I think she's been doing all the dirty work. I hope she could have been an MVP this year. I wish that was a thing, but Asia just showed up and showed out. So it was like flat out no-brainer. But I think Napisa's been doing things on the opposite end of the floor too that don't get her a lot of recognition

because everybody been focused on the offensive part. But her defense has been amazing and the things that she's done for the Minnesota Lynx. I'm so proud of that woman. And I wish, I wish, and I'm hoping that she gets defensive player of the year. Have you guys talked at all this year? We talk often, actually.

We text after every game. I'm making sure I'm sending her updates of what I think she did good, what she didn't do so good at. But yeah, I try to keep in communication with her as much as possible. Oh my gosh, I absolutely love that. And at the time of recording,

Diana Taurasi has not officially retired, but the rumors are absolutely swirling around that she can't be at the end of the season. Here's what she had to say ahead of the Mercury's last regular season game. Um, there's, there's really, um, no place to start, but there's always a place to finish. And, uh, it seems to be in the same place. Knowing every single night that we came into this building, we had you guys behind our back. But I wanna thank every single coach, every single player, every single person

that's put on a WNBA jersey, because it takes a village. And our league is about uplifting each other at every turn. If it is the last time, it felt like the first time. I love you guys. The whole show Diana, like she's going to keep you on your toes the whole time. She's never going to be direct. She's going to seem sublime. And you know, you can appreciate Diana. Like I love that woman so much. She's definitely one of those players who was a headache to play against, but a joy to play with.

And she's given us 20 great years. So if this is a last run, I just want to say that would never be another DT. The whole if it is, is like completely throwing me for a loop, but as you said, it is on brand. But I kind of want to talk more about what it's like playing against her,

because we see it as fans, maybe sometimes with rookies. But just what goes into the game playing against her, especially knowing how she is on the court? Diana is definitely a competitor by no means necessary. I think just getting to Diana head mentally, because she does it to other people. Mentally, that's the only way you can get to Diana when she's playing. And that's like being a little dirty, being a little edgy, talking a little trash.

I think she does it well, but when you get someone who does it back to her, she do not like it. And so for us, that's always the game plan, just getting her head a little bit. And sometimes it was a win, sometimes it was a loss, depending on the game situation. But yeah, she's special. She's special in a lot of ways. If she does retire, what kind of legacy does she leave behind after 20 seasons in the W? I mean, you're talking about 20 seasons, she is the W. In my opinion, I mean, she definitely was around 20 seasons. She is the W in my opinion. I mean, she definitely was around the time of my era when I discovered basketball and to give 20 years of like trauma to your body because I don't think people really understand

what athletes go through with the injuries and all that other stuff. I think her legacy would just be, hmm, determination. To have that, to have that will to want to push for 20 years says a lot about her determination and the things that she brought to the game, but the game, what the game also meant to her. I mean, I couldn't do 20 years, as you can see, but that's a lot of work. And it says a lot about a person who was willing to put themselves, um, do that physicality year in and year out. Um, it's amazing. I can't do it. I can't, every time I think about 20 years, I'm just like, at 15, I was done. I was like, I don't know how she did it. I can't do it. Every time I think about 20 years, I'm just like, at 15, I was done. I was like, I don't know how she did it. But it's pretty amazing. Do you have any words of wisdom after,

if she does retire, do you have any words of wisdom for her? DT, you're like that big annoying sister that I never had. In a lot of ways, she's so loving and caring off the court, but once you step in between those four lines, it's war. And I can appreciate the things that she brought to the game and the things that she would leave behind for these young ones to pick up. I appreciate you so much and the things that you've done for the game, but I just appreciate who you are. I think she came into this league a tough nose and she left this league being a tough nose.

And you can always appreciate about, you can always appreciate about that, that about someone who's themselves from start to finish. And DT has definitely been that. Goodness gracious. I feel I'm in my feelings right now. Okay, let's move on to playoffs for a minute. At the time of recording, the first of my final matchup has been set and it is a 2023 rematch between the Aces and the Liberty. And that was a crazy series to begin with. But do you think the Aces can hold on and keep their chances of a three-peat? Or the Liberty just too good this season?

I think the Aces can hold on. And I say that because I think they're now at a phase in the season where all cylinders are clicking now. Chelsea Gray is a little bit more healthy. You've got Hayes going out there completing the game plan but also scoring. And Asia is just coming off winning MVP. I think Kelsey just like she got something to prove. And so I think you're going to get a good battle between those two. I don't think you can knock them off just yet. But with that said, New York, I mean,

they're a well-oiled machine as well. And so it's going to be tough. It's going to be a battle. And I'm looking forward to it. What are you most looking forward to in the matchup? I think more of the trash talking, because women's sports don't get that a lot. And it was a lot said last year with Aces winning

and their players being on social media and having so much to say. I'm sure New York is holding on to that and they gonna have something to prove. And so I'm seeing, I'm willing to see what they gonna throw back in the Aces face. Now up in the conversation with the Liberty and the Aces is the Lynx and you know them so well.

You spent seven years of your career with the Minnesota Lynx, who are one of the best teams in the league. So what are the keys for the Lynx to win it all this season? I think continue to play as a team. Be unselfish, but at the same time be consistent. And I think we got in this far throughout the season

because the team has been consistent on both ends and floor. And if we can piece that together in the playoffs, I think we've got a good chance of making it to the finals. And with a lot of new eyes on the W this season, people have a lot of questions about the playoff format, being the better seed, getting games one and two at home versus games one and three.

Now, you're not in the league, so you can't get fined for this. You can speak out. I want to know if you think it is the right format or does the structure have to evolve as the league goes on? I think we've been seeing different formats over the last couple of years, but I would say this one, I like it. I like it because if you're the number one C, you want to play at home.

And that's the whole point of playing at home. You want to get those games at home and get them out the way because you have the best season at home. Like the best, yeah. And so I don't have a problem with it, honestly. It would suck for the opponent, of course, if we was in like eight seed and have to do two games there. But I think it's well worth it.

That's what they play for year round. They're the number one seed,'s well worth it. That's what they play for year round. It's the number one season. If you could make a dream playoff format, what would it be? A dream playoff format links Planet Liberty and the finals. Oh my god. That would be so good. Now that I think about it.

All right. Before we go, the foundation of this show is that communities get built one Good Follow at a time. And every week we do a Good Follow, which can be a person, page, brand, you name it. So who would you like to shout out as your Good Follow? Right now, this current moment, I have two. I have a friend by the name of Rohan. He's in DC. He's an artist and he does artwork.

And I like the roles that he's taking right now and just exploring and doing things within the community makes me proud. My second one probably would have to go to also a friend by the name of Alonjo Challa. He does a brand with alapia. It's like soaps, shampoos, and body oil, butter, and stuff like that. Now have a line coming out with cleaning products also too. And so I think he's doing a really good job because all of this stuff is based on paying women and West Africa and all the materials and resources also to come from Africa. And so I think he's been doing a really good job with that. And so if I hadn't choose those would be my two good followers.

I absolutely, I'm going to have to get the links after this. Oh, that's the links. Oh my gosh, we're on it today. Thank you so much for joining us today. It's been amazing having you on the show, and I really enjoyed chatting with you. Thank you. I appreciate it so much. Coming up next, we chat with two-time NCAA champion and League One volleyball player

Asia O'Neil. She shares her inspiring journey of overcoming challenges, the significance of women's sport stories and how perseverance can turn dreams into reality, ultimately leading her to become a number one drop pick. We'll be right back. ["Scan and Pay"] What's better than Tim's Rewards Points? Two times the Tim's Rewards Points. Use Scan and Pay on the Tim's app from now until September 30th to earn two times the

points. Pay, Earn and Redeem all with one scan. Only on the Tim's app. Canada only, limited time only, terms apply, see app for details. Summer's here and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well you can't get a Well Groom Lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken Parmesan delivered.

A cabana? That's a no. But a banana? That's a yes. A nice tan? Sorry, nope. But a box fan? Happily yes.

A day of sunshine? No. A box of fine wines? Yes. Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets.

Product availability may vary by Regency app for details. From the executive producers of Lost. This place will not break us. The Phenomenon returns to Paramount+. The only way we go home is together. From new season now streaming exclusively on Paramount+. When you are faced with all those trials and when you just really have to force yourself to put your head down and keep working and then it works out for you in the end and you accomplish everything you set out, I think that's the epitome of sports and something that is so special to experience.

I moved to Texas and was introduced to volleyball. Didn't really know anything about it. Went to the first practice and immediately loved it. And I think for me, it's like the epitome of a team sport. If you ask a lot of other sports, one person can kind of take over and it'd be like their show. But volleyball, you really do require everybody on the court to like all hands on deck and work together. And I really liked that, especially being really young at that time.

I was 12 years old just finding my way in this new sport. But I felt that and sit like camaraderie and team identity. And I just really loved it because of that. This last college season going through the tournament from the Sweet 16 on, I felt like I was just living in like a fairy tale wonderland. We almost lost our season to Tennessee, who was the underdog in the situation in the game. And we were facing match point and ended up winning in five.

Somehow won that four set, came back won in five. And from that point on, we beat like three number one seeds in a row. It was just so rewarding that amidst all the craziness and the outside noise and people doubting saying that we were just one hit wonder somehow won the year before could do it again. Being able to prove all the people wrong and then going on and winning and winning the way we did was just so special. That was just like clear-cut example of when you really do the work and ignore everything outside of you you can still accomplish it no matter what

people say and that's something that even when I'm done with sports, I'll have to remind myself like, no matter how sticky and bad it seems right now, it can always get better down the road. That time period from December to like January was a really crazy few weeks. But honestly, Texas did a really good job of preparing me and like the rest of my teammates

at getting ready for the pros. Pro is so different from college. You don't have that same culture, team camaraderie. It's not, oh, I'm playing for this university and there's so many fans at this university. This is all me and all them, where now you go to pro and it's like, okay, I'm here on this team this year. I don't know who will be here next year.

I don't know if I'll be here next year. So I think for me, for a while, maybe the first couple of weeks, it took a second to adjust to, to realize, okay, this is different and I really have to be on my stuff for myself. My first summer with USA, I still was in college. It was summer of 2022. So I was able to like kind of dip my toe in and get a feel for everything. But this past summer being with them, it was a super high intensity gym every single day. Obviously it's Olympic year so everyone's trying to fight to make an Olympic spot. I really love the culture that Carr just created there.

Everyone's very helpful, very loving, caring but at the end of the day it's everyone for themselves and I think for me that was also an adjustment to get used to is when you're in college everyone's on the team. Like yes you're fighting for a playing spot but you're not fighting to like be on the roster. Obviously I have all these people around me that want the best for me, but at the end of the day, I have to like be there to continue to push myself

to try to get to all the things that I want to get. My first year playing after redshirt, again, finally getting on the court, being told, hey, you should never play volleyball again, is not something that anyone wants to hear. And I'm definitely a person who likes to prove people wrong. So immediately, like I was sad, I cried, I felt my feelings and did all of that,

but I knew that there was no way that I was just gonna give up and like not let myself go after all these things that I set out to do. Really like my last two months of my season in 2019 from October to December, it was a really grueling time for me. I felt terrible every single day.

I was getting pulled in and out of practice and just trying to manage that side. In addition to the regular stresses that you go through as an athlete trying to win conference and then make it to the tournament and win tournament, try to get an entrepreneurship. So there's all these things going on. For me, like it wasn't really a hard decision at all to have surgery. A lot of times my dad would remind me like as you didn't have to have a surgery, you could have just said no to volleyball, but for me that just wasn't an option. Like I would have never, ever done that.

When you're playing for a program that's so consistent, successful as Texas, it could be easy for them to just want to focus on people that are gonna help them win and what they need to do on the court. And they could easily just be like, well, yeah, go do your surgery and then come back when you're ready. But they were so invested from the very start and knew all the issues that I had and always want to be there for me.

My head coach Jarrett and our athletic trainer Deann blew down to Cleveland and were there waiting in that waiting room for like eight hours during my surgery made sure everything went well that I was good and then they went back to Austin so just even having them there just meant so much to me because they don't have to do that. That's not a requirement. They don't need to. And it just goes to show how much they really supported me during that time and one of the best for me. Even if I ended up being like the worst volleyball player ever, I know that they still would love me and care about me just as much as they do. And the rest of my coaches were the same way. And even my teammates, everyone was super

supportive. They were the ones that are like, Jeria, Asia's heart rate is too high, she needs to come out of this drill right now. Cause like, I'm not the person that would ever pull myself out, so they'd be the ones like, she needs to go, come on, come get her. So I'm just really blessed that I was surrounded by all these people that really wanted the best for me

and were supportive. There's so many things in sports surrounding working hard and not wanting to pull yourself out and all the things that you deal with mentally as a high level athlete, you don't want to seem weak or that you can't do something but luckily I was surrounded by people who knew myself, my heart, and where I was coming from and just really were there for me anytime I needed them. And I think throughout that time I really learned a lot about myself

and learned that I can push myself way farther than I thought I could and I'm a lot tougher and a lot stronger than I thought I was. I really look back on it super grateful that I went through it. I really try to use that and reflect on how I was able to get through something that's extremely challenging and very tough emotionally, mentally, and use that to push myself forward. It was really special for me when I found out that I was getting that award. Telling my story has allowed other people to feel connected and feel support and feel motivation to get through whatever they're going through.

I'm a person that has a really strong faith and I believe that everything that God does to you for you is for your betterment and you might not realize in the moment like why you have to go through this. Like I could obviously be like this sucks, like why did I have to have open heart surgery again? But I try to view it as there's so many people in the world that I was able to touch with my story and even if I don't directly know them or if they even haven't reached out to me, that there's people out there that are affected for the better

because they heard about what I was going through. A lot of people love college volleyball right now, but I think that League One is going to be college volleyball like times 10. We have Americans, obviously, that are playing in the league, but also girls that are coming from overseas that have played in the top leagues in the whole entire world. It's going to be insane to watch. And then I'm just excited to be back in Austin. I spent six years of college there, so I definitely love the city. I love the fans.

They love volleyball down there. The state of Texas loves volleyball. So I'm just really excited that I get to be back home and play in front of my friends, family, and hopefully bring some Longhorn fans into our games. The women's stories probably aren't told enough and congratulated enough for all things that women go through. Even just when I see women who give birth and bounce back and get on the court. Obviously that's not like a severe injury or something, but just women go through a lot to play the sport that they love and have to balance so many things, whether that's when you have children wanting to get married, have

families do all these things. Whereas men's sports, I think it's laid out a little differently. Like, yes, they'll still get married and have children, but they're not the ones bearing children. So there's just a lot of different dynamics within men's and women's sports. Our stories aren't necessarily shared the same way and aren't pushed forward and graduated the same way. So I'm really hoping that as women's sports continue to blow up in the U.S., we get to see more personal stories of women. When we tell women's stories,

we kind of tell it for the viewpoint of men, readers and listeners, whatever that may be. We just tell them like, oh, they accomplished this, this and this on the court. They're really great athletes, which is great. Awesome, we all want to be great athletes. But I think when we try to connect more to the emotional piece,

it's able to create that connection with the fans more so than it would just like, oh she's a great basketball player, she's a great volleyball player. But if we get that emotional piece and connect with them that way, I think we will be able to pull in more also female viewers, but then male viewers they get to see that they're more than just like these high-level athletes. The legacy that I want to leave behind is letting women know that they don't have to act or be or play a certain way to be successful. Growing up in the sport, I saw like one specific like cookie cutter version of what a volleyball player looked like and it looked nothing like me, acted nothing like me, and for a long time I felt like I had to fit into that box.

It wasn't really until I got to college that I really realized I can be authentically myself and that is okay, that is great, and that's how I perform the best. So I hope after I've been playing people look to me and whether they're young women of color or not, they just realize that they can play this sport at a high level, they can be themselves completely, be authentically them and no one can tell them otherwise. Like they can still be as successful as they want being who they are. I've had a lot of people reach out honestly over like the last two years and it's really cool and special for me and kind of full circle because one I feel like I'm still like 16 years old so I feel like I'm like a little kid running around so people say that they look up to me and that's so crazy. I've even had just like videos sent to me of like high schoolers or

middle schoolers and they're like getting a block and staring someone down and that's something that when I was playing was just not okay at all it It was just very taboo. So seeing like young kids do that and they're like, you inspire me to just be myself and have energy and be rah rah, whatever it may be. There's nothing better than being able to just authentically be you and just play freely and show your emotion however you want and not having people dictate what or how you should look and act when you play. So it's really cool when girls do that and it makes me feel like I'm doing something right. Welcome back to Good Follow. We just heard from the incredible Asia O'Neil, a two-time NCAA champion, Pro Volleyball Federation and League One volleyball player.

It's hard not to feel motivated after listening to her story. And we're thrilled to keep following Asia's journey this upcoming season and can't wait to see the legacy she creates both on and off the court. Before we get into our weekly picks, our partners at DraftKings have an offer that's perfect for any gameday. Right now, new customers who bet $5 will instantly get $250 in bonus bets. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and sign up using promo code GOODFOLLOW. That's $250 in bonus bets to spend on parlay, live betting, or picking straight up winners

after betting just $5. And if sports betting is not yet available in your estate, you can still join in on all the fun with DraftKings Daily Fantasy and have the shot to win cash prizes. Again, download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use promo code GOODFOLLOW for $250 in bonus bets instantly after betting just $5, only at DraftKings Sportsbook. Okay, now it's time for this week's DraftKings Sportsbook picks. I'm looking at Sunday's matchup between No. 6 Chicago Red Stars and No. 5 North Carolina Courage.

The top 8 teams in the league will clinch a postseason spot, and Chicago's win last week against San Diego created distance between them and the cutoff line as they attempt to clinch the playoffs for the first time since 2022. NC Courage lost their match last week to Racing Louisville, but they sit at 5th on the table, yet only 3 points separate them from Chicago. I'm picking NC to get the road win and 3 points. And what makes the Courage so special is out of 26 field players, they have had 13 different goal scorers in the regular season, including three defenders, so really anyone can score.

But this week, I'm picking Ashley Sanchez as my goal scorer who leads her team with five goals on this season. She's also the first player to score against all 14 active NWSL clubs. When she has open space and the ball, you gotta watch out for that right foot. So, Logan, do you agree or disagree with me? What do you think will be the outcome of this game?

I don't know what to think. I want to say that NC is going to get it, and that's what I'm really feeling. agree or disagree with me? What do you think will be the outcome of this game? I don't know what to think. I want to say that NC is going to get it, and that's what I'm really feeling. But given their past few games, I mean, they had the 1-1 tie against Bay, but they have beaten KC, but they just lost to Louisville. I feel like they're kind of all over the place,

but this is going to be the time when they really get it together. And I feel like, especially rankings-wise, like this game means so much right now. When I said this in a previous episode where I feel like they've kind of been the quiet contender, which is so interesting because when I was doing my research and I realized my 13 different goal scores,

including defenders, is incredible. And it makes them such a threat that I feel like a lot of hype has been around Orlando and KC and Gotham. And NC have just been sneaking their way like further and further up the table. I also love what Ashley has been doing. I mean, she's been like a driving force for this team and progressively it's getting better and like more people are hopping on.

So I'm really excited to see what they do in this game. Well, KC current and Gotham FC face off on Saturday and only one point separates them in the standings. So this is another big game. And to me, after watching the last few weeks, um, really since the Olympic break, it seems to me like a current win is really heavily dependent on a goal from Tama Chowenga. Do you think that Casey can get the three points against Gotham?

I really think that they can, especially how they've been doing lately. Like they had their dip and then we just saw them be a Washington three nil, which was like such a big one. And it wasn't just how much scoring. I think Nichelle Prince was their 18th goal scorer of the year. Gotham, they do have the second best defense in the league. But at the same time, I feel like they haven't been playing teams recently who would put up a lot of goals against them.

I mean, Casey has the best offense in the league. So I'm interested to see how they stop them, but I do think that KC is going to end up putting up more goals on them. I literally had money on that KC Washington game. I was like, oh, Spirit got this. And then I was like, no, excuse me. I was wrong. I was so shocked to see, I mean, that game was like peak NWSL after dark to begin with, so much chaos going on. But they're like, KC went through their dip and then they got their defense together and then their offense is coming together. It seems like they're back to what they were before the Olympic break.

So I also want to see if that continues, like, can they ride out undefeated now? Did they just click back together? Who knows? I wanted to know what else you meant by after dark. What else? What was in the chaos that was so fun? I think that's just a saying in the end of your self-community. Yeah, it gets so chaotic. But there's a...

People are going down left, right, and center. There's random calls. Maybe a ref will be super bad. A ball would like fly into the river. An errant fan like it just gets absolutely crazy. You had mentioned offense is kind of getting its rhythm. Defense has gotten itself together. Obviously, Tenwa scoring is huge for Casey.

But what do you think? Is there anything specific that you think they'll need to do to get the win? Casey or Gotham? KC. They're going to have to score and dismantle Gotham's defense somehow. Gotham's defense seems to be a brick wall. And I don't think there's been more than one or two goals put up against them. And we've recently been seeing Gotham scoring more than one goal each game.

So I think it's just getting past that, but also having, I mean, their defense on lock because at the end of the day, you have to score more than the other team. And yeah. No. And I think like, especially Gotham, like Tina Davidson, like is a force that you do not want to reckon with. And she's someone I, if I was a forward would not want to see on the back line. with and she's someone I, if I was a forward, would not want to see on the back line. No, not at all. Well, let's move on to spirit. Trinity Rodman left last weekend's game against Casey in a wheelchair with a back spasm. And after the game, coach Jonathan Giralde said that Rodman felt something in her back

and would be evaluated further when the team returned back to DC. And as of this recording, there hasn't been an update on her status. I think Trinity's absence is a honestly a massive loss to Spirit. She's currently fourth in the Golden Boot race with eight goals on the season and she's literally the spirit of this team. She's so much fun to watch. Like she is, she's magic when she's out there on the field. It's incredible what she can do. So Logan with Washington already losing Croix Bethune for the season. And if Trinity were to miss time, who would need to, I'm sorry, who would need to step up for the spirit?

Oh, that's a hard one, because I feel like it was Trinity and Croix who were like the dynamic duo. And then even Olimata Saar was in there and she's been out for the past few games that I believe knee injury. So it's like they're losing their core. But Lacey Santos, they picked her up in the transfer window, like around the Olympics. She's from Columbia, I believe,

and she's been doing so well for this team. It's a shame because she was clicking with Trinity, but I think she's gonna have to step up and be that main goal scorer, as well as Paige Metair. I've really been enjoying watching her play recently. Yeah, Paige Metair is definitely a little underrated, I think, in the league and for the spirit. But I'm excited to see how that game shapes out.

And one more NWSL topic before we move on. Kelly O'Hara and Alex Morgan had their first U.S. women's national team cap in March of 2010. And with Kelly's injury, which is now a season ending injury, they both played their final game back on September 8th. And Kelly texted Alex this about their retirements. In reality, we're all crying saying goodbye to these two legends, right? I mean, we've seen Megan Rapito, Alex Wargig, Kelly O'Hara, Ali Krieger, like the US women's national team greats have moved on,

but to lose Alex and Kelly in not just one season, but oddly one day is so sad. I think it's kind of poetic though that they like start and end on the same day, but there's a picture from the 2019 World Cup, which was like absolutely iconic for USA and the whole front row, they're like pretty much all retired now.

And it's so crazy to see, but it's also this new era had to start at some point. I guess we just didn't expect it to come as early. Right. So when you were growing up, did you have any favorite players on the US team? Or were you a big Canada soccer girlie? Where did your fandom lie? It was pretty much all Alex Morgan.

Alex Morgan was the first I heard of and saw everywhere, even before Christine Sinclair. It wasn't until Canada kind of started getting good and Christine was doing more ads and everything that I was like, wait, we have kind of our own little Alex Morgan here. But yeah, Alex was really the main one and then kind of Megan

Rapinoe and it completely went into the US Women's National Team, which is why I think also like when Canada won the Olympics, it was so special because the way that I feel like my generation was raised, it was like US is the one and only dominance. But that does also say a lot about how good that team is and just the influence of the people on it. Yeah. And I think it'll be fun because I think now in this new chapter, we'll see Alex do her business ventures, probably more investments. We already know she doesn't want to coach and Kelly is, I hope she does more on air. She does her man on the street videos are so fun. She just has such a fun

and I want to say infectious personality in such a great way. So hopefully we'll see more of both of them around the game. As we go. Exactly. We'll move on from soccer for a little bit. A few weeks ago, Amazon Prime dropped a six episode series called The Money Game, which follows LSU athletes as they navigate and take advantage of the changes with name, image, and likeness. So this got me wondering, who do you all think will be the next

NIL influencer in women's college sports this year? In other words, if we're looking specifically at LSU, who would be the next Angel Reese or Libby Dunn? I think Hailey Bryant. She's coming back for fifth year in gymnastics. I think this is really gonna be her year to pop off. And then actually another Hailey, Hailey Van Leith. Last year she was big in like popular media, like her clips being replayed and everything.

But I think her influencer era is gonna start now. What about the other Hailey? The twin. Cavender? Cavender. Do we like her? I just know that she's really hot and has a lot of followers. And I feel like that's a little bit of what you need

to pop off. The Cavenders were like OGs in the NIL thing. I'm pretty sure a lot of it started because of like trailblazers, I guess we can call them, which is super cool. But I'm also excited for freshmen who we don't really know a lot about coming in and then they start to get popular and their following grows. I'm also really excited to see Audi Crooks, Iowa State basketball. She'll be a sophomore this year and she was doing a big one last year. So I'm excited to see if it translates to social media or not. I'm also excited to see and not that it really matters, but I'm excited to see like if there's

a sport that takes up, you know, space. Olivia, obviously gymnastics, women's basketball is huge. But like I would love to see if there's a sport and an audience that people are most engaged with. I could see gymnastics definitely being a big one. A lot of people are still really bought in and really excited after the Olympics. But I think that's always really interesting too, especially with college sports is we get a little bit more of a mix across the board of sports than we may see in major professional leagues in the States as of now.

Before we close the show and get to this week's good follow, I know Katie has something she wants to share and she really wants to shout out. So Katie, what do you have for us? Okay, my honorary good follow of the week is at WNBA Granny on Instagram. She is, I'm making her be my new grandma. Watch this.

This is day 19 of my journey from 84 year old grandma to WNBA All-Star. I wake up between five and 5.30 a.m. and I'm on the gym ready to go by 7 a.m. I'm literally a dog. If waking up early and busting my ass on the court and in the weight room is the price for making the WNBA and turning my dream into a reality,

I'm gonna pay that price every single day. She's literally a dog. She uses phrases like, let me cook. Her form is exquisite. The only time she took off was when her husband died and when she was in the hospital. So, you know you can count on her, you know? And she's still recording videos from her hospital bed,

keeping that form going. She's starting to get a ton of notice. And I kind of feel like we might see her. Maybe she'll be our new influencer next year in our NIL discussion. That's great. I love that she is very committed to the. Day in the life bit, because that's a lot of work. And getting up at 5.30, because it couldn't meet me.

She's 85, so there's, we know that there's some type of grandchildren helping, which I like props to them in my own brain. That's what they're doing to help her get over her RIP husband. And I love that. I think it's beautiful. And she also has one, there was one time where she said, I think the WNBA is ignoring me because I'd be a cheat code.

Well, thank you for sharing WNBA Granny with us. And as we all know, the foundation of the show is built on the idea that communities are built one good follow at a time. And so each of us take turns shouting out a person, page, or brand as our good follow of the week. Katie had her honorary one, and this week I'm also up. So this week I want to shout out Olivia Ho, AKA The Give and Grow on IG. Olivia is the owner of The Give and Grow, which is an initiative centered around growth. And one of their initiatives are workshops for girls and women

to create their own basketball planters. And the given girl has partnered with major players in the sport world. So let's check out this video. I am the biggest and I've been this way since I was a kid. I'm the biggest crafty DIY girlie. So I admire so much how Olivia is using sporing creativity to inspire and mentor youth. And so I encourage everyone to check out her planters and her workshops. And I know she just posted something today that she's dabbling in soccer planters a little bit more.

So really excited to check those out. But everyone go and give Olivia and the giving grow a follow on Instagram at the giving grow. And we want to hear from our fans. Who is your good follow? You know the drill. Send us your nominations to at good follow show and tell us why your good follow should be featured. Good Follow can be found on DraftKings Network or on the Good Follow YouTube page.

Good Follow is brought to you by DraftKings and we'll see you next week. So So So So Thanks for watching!