The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Chicago Sky Are The Biggest Letdown w/ Sarah Spain | Alley Oop (Ep 13)

Episode Date: July 30, 2025

Juju Gotti goes deep with Sarah Spain about the W discussing who will fill that 8th playoff spot, the valuation of the Valkyries, the rookies on the Mystics, the Fever with and without Caitlin, the inconsistent Chicago Sky, and what is up with those WNBA refs. #wnba #sarahspain #washingtonmystics #dallaswings #lasvegasaces #valkyries #basketball Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No Frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC Optimum points on your first five orders. Shop now at nofrills.ca. Book club on Monday. Gym on Tuesday. Date night on Wednesday. Out on the town on Thursday. Quiet night in on Wednesday. Out on the town on Thursday.

Quiet night in on Friday. It's good to have a routine. And it's good for your eyes too. Because with regular comprehensive eye exams at Specsavers, you'll know just how healthy they are. Visit Specsavers.ca to book your next eye exam. Eye exams provided by independent optometrists. The sky sucks! The Chicago neutral colored stars, formerly red stars, suck!

And I'm like, damn it, I've been working so hard and while they were in championship games and winning championships, no one cared. And now that they're paying attention, they suck! They suck. Gucci down to the socks like a Biggie Papa. Welcome back. Welcome back to the alley. Oof. I am joined today by my big sister, the commissioner herself, host of Good game with Sarah Spain you better act right when the commission is in town you already know you already know I'm on my

best behavior right now and moving forward for at least the next 30 minutes yeah also man tell the folks right now about the book you got out right now oh my goodness runs in the family. Come on, read something. Yeah. Thank you for giving it some love. The long and short of it is if you like football, there's some football in there. If you don't like football, it's not really about football. And it's a story for every single person who has a family, which is everyone. At one point you did, even if you don't now and it is there's an

incredible twist and the book is not just about the twist but the twist alone is worth reading it for it'll make you cry it'll make you smile it's very heartwarming in these godforsaken times and yeah I wrote it with the running backs coach for the Las Vegas Raiders he's previously been with Notre Dame USC the Chiefs a bunch of other places, but worth reading if I do say so myself. And if I do say so myself, it's also worth an audiobook listening if you're out there. You feel me? Come on now. Yes, I have friends who are mad at me because they're walking their dogs like crying down the street and they're like, people are staring at me like it's a book. A question from our show that we always ask is listening to a book

on the audio book, can I say I read that book if I'm out in the streets with my homies? I struggle with that because I have listened to a couple books and I do feel them differently than the ones I've read. Yeah. And I still consider it having like absorbed or digested the book, but I don't consider it reading, but there's no judgment on that. There's no judgment on that. Cause like I'm a podcast girlie cuz I like to get stuff done while I'm getting other stuff done So I'm like I gotta learn while I'm doing this laundry or I gotta like learn something while I'm driving So I don't mind if people only have time to do an audiobook. It still counts. I just wouldn't say I read that book I would say I'm listening. Yeah, I absorbed it

Well, I'm telling people I've read a lot of books that I've only heard in the streets But that's neither here nor one day you learn to read and then you can say But moving on to the most pressing topic right now in the streets DW my Illustrious W it's great to have someone on to be able to talk about this W wit. You feel me in a W way. First off, to this point of the season right now, what has surprised you the most? Well, if it weren't for the injuries, I would say the fever not looking like a contender,

but that's pretty clearly about a whole bunch of new pieces and a new coach trying to find their way Without any consistency Caitlin's in Caitlin's out do wanna bonners on do wanna bonners out So that kind of makes sense and it is a build that you can see paying off in years to come So the fever I'll say is is pretty well explained. I would even say the Liberty I'm a little surprised that losing Jonquell Jones shut them down so bad, but you got a potential championship hangover and you've got a very important player that missed a lot of time. I will be very interested to see the Liberty in the second half of the season, especially being dogs and adding Emma Misamin.

Like they didn't have enough talent already like a robbery ad this Multi-time like European MVP who has been in the W before and played great So I think the most surprising is actually the mystics My producer Mish is a huge mystics fan at the beginning of the season I was arguing with them about which of our teams would be more s***. And I was like, listen, the Chicago Sky aren't going to compete for anything, but look at this talent. This is going to be so fun. Spoiler alert, it has not been fun.

And Misha's Mystics are outperforming expectations. So I would say it would be that or the Mercury, Phoenix Mercury, first season without Diana Tarassi who retired. First season in a long time without Brittany Griner who moved on to the Dream. I was expecting a lot of rebuilding over there and they have been real good. The Valkyrie real quick. The Valkyrie my most surprising team because it ain't all the time where an expansion team comes aboard and is an immediate contender like this. Almost never. Right They beatin' girls by 20, 30. Great teams. They had a little stumble in Connecticut the other day. I think it's the time. It's

like 1 PM, it's 11 AM. I think when you have a player like Kayla Thornton, it's not just that she's leading your team in most statistical categories. It's like the heart and soul and knowing that you have someone that's having the best season of her career, just went to her first All-Star and having her suffer a season ending injury, like mentally you're just like drained by that. It's a bummer for what's to come in the second half in your postseason hopes and also you just feel bad for her because they got absolutely pounded by the worst case team, the Connecticut Sun. But yeah, you're so right.

And you know what's been really impressive about them? Not just the play, but that team is now the highest valued team in the league and they haven't finished a single season. My queen, Jess Smith, president of the Valkyries, who only just made Angel City the highest valued team in the NWSL, skipped her way over to the WNBA, takes over the Valkyries, and does the exact same thing in half a season, like I would follow her into battle. If you want to make some money and get shit done, it sounds like Jess Smith is your woman. Well yeah, I think that's a big blow because I think Kayla was in the running

for most improved player this year. This injury is just gonna take a little bit too much off of the season for her. That's probably still getting contention to that award. But damn, bro, yeah, she was having a great season, rubbing off in the locker room on them rooks, getting them right. They hard nosed too. They ain't just out there finesse three

and Kate Martin giving you a jab step now. Tiffany Hayes, tray ball in your face. Leading with her face. Come on. Right? Always prayers to my sister Tiffany Hayes. Watch the face girl, that's the money maker. Oh my goodness.

It's like once every game I'd be like, oh no. And then she'd get up, thank God. But moving on to like you said, to those Vegas Aes. I think right now their biggest problem to date is they can't get the gold mamba to even be the orange, red, pink, just be any type of mamba. It's more of a caterpillar than a snake. Any type of mamba, Jew. And that's my girl. I'm sad. I had a snake. Right. Any type of mamba jewel. That's my girl. I'm sad.

Right. I had such high hopes for her. Right. I feel like, but I still like, yesterday the flashes are there. I feel like if they can find out the combination to that, to the chemistry set they have in Las Vegas, where they can be get jewel to jewel a little bit while Jack Jacks, while Asia Asia's and while Chelsea behind the backs. That's going to be scary to face if they just figured it out and it's let's say round one of the playoffs.

Right. We've seen it in the past with teams that have found their stride right before the postseason and come out of lower seeds to win. Chicago Sky are a great example of that in their championship season. But yeah, I feel like I'm sad about Jewel because I'm such a fan of her game. And I also, I wanted what felt like a not great experience for her at the end of her time. I wanted her to get to a new spot and thrive and have a good experience. It's been a rough start in Vegas. She just hasn't found her groove yet. Then, to your point in general, it's just consistency.

They have the talent. That's very clear. I feel like Becky Hammond on the moments where she really lets loose in the postgame press or she always has the same messages, which is like, I don't know who's going to show up for me on a given day. I don't know what kind of effort I'm getting. I don't know what kind of defensive stops. I don't know who's going to show up and be hitting shots. And that's so hard to coach. And it's so hard to work through because it is just how do you get a whole team to buy in and make it happen? And you have to wonder about the pieces

that left. And you know, if I had the time and if my whole job was just scouting and analyzing W games, I would really be looking at old tape and trying to figure out the biggest differences in the style of Kelsey Plum versus Jewel Lloyd. The players that they've lost in the last couple of years since their championship teams to now that might have felt like supporting cast, but were like glue gals that made the whole thing work. Moving on to a little bit, kind of the same, the same vicinity area, way too early to tell right now, but there's a race for that eighth happening right now.

What is your early prediction? Who do you predict will get that eighth and final spot in the playoffs this year? I'm looking at the standings now at this very moment that we speak. Okay. We got a couple teams all bunched together. You know who is absolutely shocking me is the Los Angeles Sparks have won five games in a row. And guess who just got cleared to return to play our girl Cam Brink.

Who's been out 13 months after that ACL meniscus. I had pretty much given up on the Sparks. They had a slow start to the season. You weren't sure. I was actually at the opening game Sparks Valkyries when Kelsey Plum went off and I was like, oh, okay, this is how it's going to be. She's going to get 35 every night. And then it wasn't that and they struggled. But also they've got this magical Julia Julie connection now that's happening with Van Lew arriving. And I'm interested to see if they can keep it up. They've beat a couple of good teams during this five game winning stretch. And I think the Valkyries, unfortunately, I was pretty confident in their chances of maybe eking in, but without Kayla Thornton, I'm a little bit worried about their staying power. So to me I

Mean the sticks I think the sticks yeah, so your sister and I see you yeah I mean it's been fun to see. Pretty Sykes got that Jewel-Oy thing going on to me though Because when she want to she get up behind right to the hole and have your big man in foul trouble and a damn near dunk on him every game. Or every place should I say, but it's like sometimes she's more passive and I get it. It's the regular season winding down. We got the Mercury in town. I got like six seats over here. I think it's fun watching Kiki and Sonia from the very beginning of the season kind of already be like we belong here

We're good. And I think that that's a trend we're gonna see as the years keep coming with the college players being professionalized not just by NIL but like the quality of the game the Amount of people viewing and attending like they're already stepping into the league so much more prepared. We always have these conversations about not enough roster spots, which is still true. There are still some talented rookies that can't quite make the cut. When you see ones like Kiki and Sonja that arrive and Paige, who despite the dumpster fire that is Dallas, is breaking all sorts of records of first to this many points and assists and everything else, you can tell that we're going to get this influx of talent, whether it's Azee, whether it's Hannah Hidalgo, whether

it's Juju that come in and are also like, yeah, no need to give me any time to get used to this. I'm already a pro, which is really fun. Well, I know about somebody who I think is doing a horrible job at times. I want to send these people away for a little while so they can get some reps and come back to WNBA Referees man. We gonna have to get it together at some point or some like I don't know Do we need to have a benevolent offering? What do we what can we do y'all?

Because like I said, I want to sign up to be a WBA ref. They might let you in based on the quality that's happening right now. You might be just thrown right out there. I mean, I think there's a number of- What is that supposed to mean? I've been to be the best referee in the world. I don't know what you're talking about.

There you go. You'd be probably the longest tenured. You're five minutes. That's part of the problem is, as in so many spaces in the world and in sport, when people get really competent, they send them to the men's side. And the women's game isn't always a destination for everyone. And so if they're shuffling their best refs and using the W as a sort of incubator to bring talent up to the NBA side, then you're not only losing the best refs and using the W as a sort of incubator to bring talent up to the

NBA side, then you're not only losing the best talent, but you're also, again, getting rid of anyone with veteran experience. So we've got new people in there. We also seem to have very different ideas on any given night about what qualifies as a foul, how physical to let them play. Right. Moving screen. All the stuff, all the stuff. And like the problem isn't just how frustrating it is for players or gamblers or viewers, it's also a subliminal subconscious message

you're sending to people about the value of the product. And this is something that has plagued women's sports in a million different ways over the years, from everything from game experience, which was piddly diddly, to what kind of production value is on your screens, right? Are you watching a game that somehow only has like two TV angles and looks like it was shot

on like a home video? Those things, and I remember talking to a friend of mine who worked in production and is a director for TV and digital and said, you might not even know why you're changing the channel. It might not even be like, I know my brain is telling me this product isn't that great or I don't like this camera angle or whatever. You might not even know it. You might just be flipping.

It bothers you. Like I'm trying to remember, was it the dream that had the court that like I could not, I can't watch games on it? Like, wait a second okay I love talk about the gray on the glass the glossy gray I I'm not sure so I haven't watched a dream game in a little while but I think it was sky dream the sky we're wearing like light blue with Navy the dream we're wearing Navy with light blue and the court was Navy with light blue and I was like what am I watching I can't tell what's a player what? What's a court which team they're on so anyway? That's right if you win that was not subliminal for me

I was like I'm turning this off because this I can't I can't even focus But a lot of times people don't even know why and something like officiating where you're so frustrated watching about what you're seeing on the court that you're like man I'd turn this off this sucks. That's bad for the product and the game and the league, so it's not just frustrating, it's really telegraphing people a message about whether you think that this league is worthy of paying people enough to stick around

and paying people enough for it to be a destination, which, man, it's been frustrating. Bruh, see, that's where I got my sister on right now. She give you the Socrates philosophical Dr. Phil way or why the referees are ass. The piddly diddlys. Refs are ass. What she means, you feel me?

I'm a y'all's translator. Yes, thank you, thank you. Yes, for the people. Well, yeah, man. So we gonna get some early predictions. Title, I'm talking about right now. I feel like Emma Messerman changes every single thing, idea I already had, that I had in my head.

Also too by the way, my team I want to, I think is gonna get that A spot, is also your la sparks because Ray Barrell I see you as array waking wake her up Rekia wake her up Dierca hand be Rekia's been going off right wake her up I feel like and they wake they woke up right now in the in the Getting the potions right in the levels evil style, but that's right Real Hollywood story come from behind can't roll it up

superstar Comes in everything. Um, who's is who my Prediction for I think you're right about Emma Meeserman obviously is a huge addition I'm curious to see how midseason you adjust to Jonquell coming back Brianna Stewart could be out a couple games thankfully seem to avoid serious injury Emma me some in added to the picture I Can't pick against the links right now, I know the Liberty Should get the benefit of the doubt is the defending champs all that talent But I think if you get into a series like last season, and one team was the team that

lost by a whistle or two and a play or two, and the other team had a great off season of parades and celebrations and go into their home countries to be brought as a conquering hero and the other one was stewing over that shit and by the way also co-founding a league where they won MVP in the 1v1 and you know pretty much was a baller I think that's the team that has the edge and I I have really respected the way the Liberty have played this season even during that stretch without Jonquell in terms of not having that championship hangover you always hear about but I think when push comes to shove, if it's literally pushing and shoving for that last point, my money's

on the links. What is your biggest letdown so far this season? Who has let you down the most? Whether it's a player, whether it's a team that you thought would be here but is there, who's the biggest letdown thus far? I don't want to be a homer, but I'm just going to say the Chicago sky for a couple reasons. One, because just in general, it sucks to live in a city where I've been working for years trying to get people to jump on board the women's sports train, and it finally

feels like there's enough momentum behind it that even the jemokes on local radio that used to make fun of women are still, you know, they're finally addressing it. They're going to game. There are all these jerk offs that like used to make fun of it are now taking courtside seats that I know they're getting for free instead of paying the league so that they could say they went to Angel Ruiz versus Caitlin and it's like, fuck you, you've never cared. But those people are at least acknowledging that women's sports exist and talking about it occasionally and our teams suck. The sky sucks. The Chicago neutral colored stars, formerly red stars suck.

And I'm like, damn it, I've been working so hard and while they were in championship games and winning championships, no one cared. And now that they're paying attention, they suck. So I would say that I really wanted to see Camila. I thought she was going to take more steps this year. I think Angel has actually done a remarkable job considering the just general vibe of the team. I thought Haley Van Lith might do more.

I'm really bummed about Slute getting injured and I really hope that's not it for her, but I wouldn't be surprised. She passed her own damn wife in career scoring for the franchise and I don't know if she wants to recover and come all the way back. They've got a newborn, Ali Quigley retired, so they can go off and be Vander Quigs together in life with their baby and not play again. And I wouldn't want to play again if it was for the damn Chicago sky. So I would say that, I mean, the aces too, but like at least the aces fans have been getting a good show the last couple years and a couple championships.

We haven't gotten shit since Candice left and we got really excited about our draft picks and looks like we're heading for another big draft pick that we can ruin. Sorry. This is what I have to say to those Chicago fans. Come on, blur that shirt out. Ooh, and y'all, the she who shall not be named, y'all lost her last year and I understand she was a headache. I understand she had a lot of stuff. Yeah, we're missing those points though. I'm talking about, I already know that she was

putting them and the organization through a lot. Yeah, that wasn. A long-term solution based on everything I heard. There was no way of like building for a future around that. But did you see the video of her kissing boobies in Mexico? She's not coming back. I saw the video of her kissing boobies. And that's exactly. She's living the dream. She was living her life.

I've never seen nobody happier in my life. She makes me sad. I have to be honest. I used to kind of just talk smack about people like that and now I feel sad for them because you are self-sabotaging You have so much talent you could offer so much and to be Basically kicked off three different teams like that's getting in your own way. That's sad to me There's obviously something going on there that needs to be like healed and figured out But I mean go kiss some boobies. I guess maybe that's healing right healing for some people cuz her but she was she on that court oh my damn

like it was during the time out here in Atlanta last year we were like the balls bounce to the referee and she just ran up and grabbed the rim two hands yeah okay was that yeah right there's nobody why isn't everybody going crazy right now? Yeah, but yes, I can get well soon. What she's very good right now. She's signing autographs Yeah, very great places. So yeah, I Think that that about does it now like I did not expect the Chicago sky to get their blowtorch I'm so sorry, but in that such a way, but they deserve it. They don't deserve it.

Like you said, to let me down, man, if we give him the wings coach, a better chance, or one more year to get it right. Tyler, so I really listen, I'm letting the Connecticut sun off the hook because I had no expectations and they've lived up to those no expectations. Whereas the sky I expected more of. Thank you so much, my sister, for joining me today. Thanks for having me. You made my job 100% easier just listening to the GOAT commission talk, man.

You are always welcome here. I always wish you nothing but the best. You gave me love during the pandemic. You and your husband showed me love during the pandemic and y'all don't know man that really sparked some belief back into myself because that pandemic was a lonely place for a lot of people who lived alone like myself. Yeah. And so you guys show me that love in the pandemic man. I always moving forward consider you and Brad family. Oh, that's nice.

So I appreciate seeing you seeing you at all. So we can have. Yeah. I'm always rooting for you, sis. You will keep talking about the W keep talking about all these amazing women in this league because we need more voices who watch it and know it and love it to talk about it. Hell, yeah. And like that baby, we are outta here. Salute.

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