This season, Instacart has your back to school, as in they've got your back to school lunch favorites, like snack packs and fresh fruit. And they've got your back to school supplies, like backpacks, binders, and pencils. And they've got your back when your kid casually tells you they have a huge school project due tomorrow. Let's face it, we were all that kid. So first, call your parents to say I'm sorry, and then download the Instacart app to get delivery in as past as 30 minutes all school year long. Get a $0 delivery fee for your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order. Additional terms apply. Hi, I'm Billy Tamarris. And I'm Elise Morales. And this is go touchgrass. It's the podcast where we log in. So you can log on. Elise and I are two chronically online comedians. And on this podcast, we break down the weekend internet discourse viral memes, TikTok trends, and niche influencer drama, so that you can do literally anything else. And if you like what you hear today and you want to hear more, we've got to go touchgrass Patreon already up and running with all of our test episodes, mini trending topics, a weekly newsletter, and our spinoff series search history, where we go back and break down a viral discourse from the past. And don't forget to leave us a five star rating and review. We love reviews. We need more of them. But really, the best review you can give is to tell your friends to listen to us. We're trying to grow our little podcast that could. And we would love if you told people because word of mouth is the best review we can get. Also, I want to shout out the discord. The discord is popping. Yeah. People are saying things. People are saying things. People are saying the discord. Somebody shared a crazy quincey video, a quincey dance video that went viral. And then I shared some quincey drama of what quincey that I was in, where I had to dance the merengue version of 50 cents in the club. And if you want to hear all about that, you've got to join the discord because the internet is so vast. And like, sometimes we can't talk about everything on the podcast, but then we can talk about it in the discord. In the discord. Get on the patreon, get on the discord. But today, we have an incredible guest. Yes, we have an amazing guest who he he's a patron. He's a patron. He's a patron. Our next guest is a comedian and performer who's written for the onion z-way on Showtime, tuning out the news, which I was on for a time. Though his two most important credits are that he is letting Millie stay in his place in LA and he is an active member of Grass Nation. It's Ron Mattella. Thank you for having me. Did we settle on Grass Nation? I think that because we're using Grass Nation a lot. But people people liked Grass Dronaut. I didn't like Grass Dronaut. Ron says Jurassic Park. People do the thing. I like Grass Dronaut. I like Grass Dronaut. How would you spell Jurassic Park? I think it's G-R-A-S-S-I-C-G-R-S-C-G-U-A-R like Jurassic. I mean, I guess it could, you know, maybe everyone could spell it. It just looked off. You know what Millie called me out? She called me in rather. She called me in. She was like Ron, why do you spell it that way? And then I texted, I was defensive right away. Very, very common to Ron. Which is a common dynamic. I called him in, he gets defensive. Then he waits two days and then he presses it and then he's like, actually you're right. Well, yeah, two days later I was like, oh Billie's right because the problem with replacing the G and the J in Jurassic, G and J is basically the same sound. So it would just be like. The gift gift people don't agree. We don't have to go there yet. We were already, we were already, no, we had established first episode that this is a gift. We did, you don't get a gift. You don't get a birthday gift. You get a birthday gift. So we're a gift. Okay, shoot me in the ear. That's my new timeline. I keep saying it. It's going to pick up. Millie's making shoot me in the ear happens. Yeah, cut me in the ear. I'm going on the discord and I'm going to apologize and I'm going to do the proper spelling. Okay, great. Thank you. Holding yourself accountable in the discord. This is why you guys got to be in the discord. Things are happening. Guys, Ron, you are heavy in the satirical comedy world. But also a lot of your personal projects are centered around sports. What is it about sports that you feel is so interesting or makes sports or right for satire? Oh, that's a great question. I think where I come in with sports, it's just like how I can relate to other people, particularly to other men. Yeah. Okay. Do you think it helps? Yeah. It's a very sensitive boy. Yeah. Will you eat lunch with my English teachers? Okay, I could do that. Okay, thank you. So I think that was where I could kind of like relate to the other boys was through sports. And also to my dad, my dad was really having the sports as well. And I think it's like as a precocious child, if you know a lot about sports, like grownups really like that. Do you follow like all sports a little bit or are there some when you're like, I'm not a baseball guy or whatever, like I've baseball and hockey have fallen a bit on the wayside, but like I'll look, I'll read the scores for both of them just to be like, okay, the Phillies are good this year. Runs into golf a lot. I'm big. Yeah. So tell us the sports you do like, how deep you go in them, content you make. This was your like avenue to promote yourself with the projects. And also the thing that you do with Bleacher Report, like. Oh, right. So I wrote for the last season of gridiron heights, which is a football animated football show. So check that it's on TikTok. It's on YouTube. It's on all types of things. If you're like NFL and comedy, that's it. And it's not my big sports, I would say now golf, NBA basketball, and college football, I went to go visit. So I was in Phoenix for all at WNBA. Yeah, we're gonna talk about that later. Yeah. So I visited my cousin. He has a he's got a wife, three kids, three dogs. What's on his TV screen? College football 25, PS five. The kids, the kids are doing training. The kids are doing little mini camps. Because, okay, so this is watching college. He's playing. He's playing the game, right? There was a, there was a, playing a football. Wait, with college players? There was a nine year hiatus. College football 14 came out. I guess it was 10 years ago. And then they said, oh, actually, it's like low-key illegal to not pay our athletes, but then to make them actually. And so they were like, they were gonna sue EA. They were just like, we're gonna, we want our money. And it's like, you know what? Instead of paying you, we're just not gonna make the game anymore. Which was financially onerous. They could have totally made money and also paid the players. But they were just like, we're not even gonna go down that rabbit hole. Yeah, well, it sounds like Hollywood. We live in a, yeah, for sure. Now we live in a world where players can get paid off their name, image, and likeness. Yeah. And so then the game has been brought back. So the game came out like a week ago. Everyone was like, is it gonna come out? They're saying it's gonna come out. It's not gonna come out. It came out. And boy, are we back. We are back. So you could have a whole family. You could have a whole ass family. You know what? And three dogs. And three dogs. But this month is about college football 25. About playing fictional college kids. That's beautiful. That's crazy. That's beautiful. Okay, so we've already established that you're a member of Grass Nation. Yes. You've listened to the pod. What are the biggest lessons that like, how have we changed your life? Yeah, talk about it. What have you learned from this podcast? From this educational podcast that we do. I had a staffing meeting on a TikTok show. And they were just like, so what kind of sketches? Like what kind of sketches do you want to write? And I was like, do you know pop the balloon? And that's a patreon deep cop. That's a patreon deep dive deep dive. And if you don't know what pop the balloon is, get on the patreon. If you don't want to get on the patreon, it's a black dating show where it's basically like next. But when someone's not interested, every contestant has a big balloon. And when they don't like somebody, they pop the balloon in their face. Yes. And it's very brutal. And sometimes in a next like fashion, sometimes they'll immediately pop the balloon upon seeing the person which is brutal. And then sometimes the more the person talks, the more balloons start popping. And that's also brutal to watch as well. It's all brutal. And then they'll ask people why they popped it. Yeah. And the people will be like, they're not physically attracted to it. Yeah, exactly. It's all brutal. Well, once you started talking like pretty annoying voice stuff. That's why I couldn't go on the show. That's what we were saying. We were like, I said, because you asked me if I would go and pop the balloon and I said, I can't have that level of direct feedback. No, I don't need it. I need a buffer. Yeah. I, yeah. And then like, especially if it's like, it's your personality. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, you were just kind of as extremely annoying. Yeah. I didn't like the energy you brought. So I've learned a lot about the disc. Those are my favorite episodes is when I don't know anything about the discourse. And then I just get to be like, no way that that that happened. Yeah, like the Dallulu discourse. Oh, yeah. Jallulu. Jallulu discourse. Jallulu, yeah. You didn't know anything about that? I didn't know if that she was accused of murder. I'm like, I'm like, okay. So it's like the back and forth between the influencer and then the when the influencer died. I was, yeah, I was, yeah, I was guy. So I guess this won't be one of your favorite episodes because we are talking about something you know, like a lot of people for you. But it'll be a favorite episode of others. So the discourse today is Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese and the WNBA. So we're banking episodes. This is while we're in Los Angeles. And today's discourse is again about Angel Reese and the Caitlyn Clark rivalry. This all relates to it's like one of those things where sports versus internet, it's all intertwined. Who is Angel Reese? Okay, these bright days depressed me. Angel Reese born on May 6, 2002. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Offensive offensive. Post nine. Not post nine. Post nine. She's taller than all of us. And she's taller than all of us. She's 6'3, Angel Reese. That is tall. Born on May 6, 2002, she's an American professional basketball player. For now she's with the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association, the WNBA. She played college basketball at LSU and Maryland, who is Caitlyn Clark. Caitlyn Clark, also an offensive birthday born January 22, 2002. Also rude. Also offensive. She's an American professional basketball player for the Indiana fever of the WNBA. She played college basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes and is regarded as one of the greatest collegiate players of all time. Clark was the NDAA division one all time leading scorer and was a two-time national player of the year with the Hawkeyes. It's important to know a big, big part of this discourse of this rivalry is that Caitlyn is white and Angel is black. Very important and we will get back there. Okay, so let's talk about online profiles. Angel has 3.7 million followers on both Instagram and TikTok. So on TikTok, she has 3.7 on Instagram, just 3.7. Caitlyn has 2.7 million followers on Instagram and 450,000 followers on TikTok. Wow, that kind of surprises me because I feel like she's so very famous. Okay, but this is the distinction and this is really editorializing now. If we're looking at general vibes and personality, to me, Angel Reese is more fun. Angel Reese's online presence is participating in dance trends, doing her makeup or like she has like different makeup looks, hair, fashion, going to parties. And Caitlyn's IG and TikTok is just all about basketball. Caitlyn only has like five posts on TikTok and it's all basketball shit and her Instagram is all like basketball or basketball related sponsored content where Angel's is more of like this glimpse into kind of like a normal hot 22 year old girl who also happens to do basketball. So I think that like she's just giving more and more going on. She's experimenting with different looks like it's really fun. So to me, that was just a clear like why she has more followers. Yeah, I guess it still surprises me because I just feel like based off of just the shine of Caitlyn Clark, I would think she'd have a million at least on both just because she's so famous because I feel like there are celebrities who don't post that much, but like they have a million just based on their own fame. So it still surprises me that she's it was like 400,000 on TikTok. 450, yeah. I'm like, she's not posting. We see fashion girlies. Yeah, but I feel like even famous people, even if they're not posting. Well, we'll have a big account. You would think like if I'm if I'm following basketball accounts that Instagram would be like, do you want to follow Caitlyn Clark? Yeah. Well, Caitlyn Clark has 2.7 on Instagram. It's just TikTok that she doesn't have. She's lower. And the FYP on TikTok is different. Yeah, you're not posting. And you're not posting. And it is like the lottery system we've talked about. So it's not like follow these accounts. It's like follow this post, you know? Yeah. So it is like posting people may not even realize that she has a TikTok. I bet like people don't even realize she has a TikTok. Interesting. I find that very interesting. Interesting. So let's talk about NCAA 2023 season, right? So the NCAA, which is national. And if you think I'm being like so dumbed down when explaining things like people will talk after people will send this message is like, thank you for breaking this down in the simplest terms. Like people don't know. Also, I need it broken down in the simplest. Thank you. So please like do explain absolutely every detail. Okay. So that NCAA stands for the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is like the highest whatever division anyway. In her junior year, Angel Reese transferred to LSU and was a unanimous first team All-American selection. As a sophomore, Clark was a unanimous first team All-American. And became the first women's player to lead division one in points and assist in a single season. In her junior season, she was the national player of the year and led Iowa to its first national championship game. Clark led division one in assist and set big 10 single season marks in points and assist. Okay. So Angel's really good. She gets transferred to LSU. Clark is really good. She makes a lot of points and takes Iowa to their first ever national game, right? Since Caitlin's college career, she has helped popularize women's basketball in a trend called the Caitlin Clark Effect. So the popularity of women's basketball has been attributed to Caitlin Clark, which we'll decide later, but you know, it's very controversial to say like she whatever. Okay. So during the finals in 2023, during the finals, when Caitlin Clark would score on people, she would do the first, the popular, you can't see me gesture waving her hand in front of the face, a top popularized by professional wrestler John Cena, right? I love that John Cena's involved. We're going to do Tonya. Like that. We're going to do Tonya. Okay. So you're saying it wasn't John Cena, it was Tonya. Tonya brought it out. Okay. John Cena did in fact popularize it. Popularize it. Tonya was the first one. I saw a top popularized Tony. I said it was popularized. You're right. You're right. I said a top popularized by John Cena. I'm saying a Haitian rapper deserves his credit. That's all I'm saying. Okay, we got one Haitian on the fucking pod. And now we have to seek for Haitian rights. And as a Dominican person, I'm listening, I'm learning. I'm giving you space. I'm being called in. Tonya created, you can't see me. John Cena popularized it. Okay. Okay. So let's go to the finals. In the finals, it was Iowa, Caitlyn Clark pays for Iowa. Iowa's team is mostly white women versus LSU, which is Angel Reese's team and it's mostly black women. Can I ask a quick question? Yes. LSU is the one where they have the coach who wears all the crazy out. Yes. Macaulk. Mokey. Yeah. Okay. Kim Mokey. That's a whole other. That's a different. Put a pin in Kim Mokey. Who scores. Crazy. She's where crazy outfits kind of raised this kind of homophobic. We can't get there. Okay. I wish we could. I wish we could. That could be a Patreon app. I just, yeah, I was like, I have to visualize it. I'm like, LSU, they have that lady who wears the bigger. Yeah. It's a mostly black team. And then they have this white southern woman who dresses crazy. And then Iowa is mostly white, right? Okay. Angel, wait, okay. Angel Reese helped LSU win its first national championship. She posted 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a 102 versus 85 points victory over Iowa in the title game. She won the most outstanding player award and set the NCAA NCAA single season record with 34 doubles in the closing minutes of the game. Right. And so as they, so they're whooping Iowa's ass. Kaitlyn Clark in other games was being like, you can't see me to other people, right? Yeah. So in this game where Angel, and everyone's like Kaitlyn Clark is popularizing. Kaitlyn Clark and Kaitlyn Clark's like being lauded as NCAA women's basketball star. Angel Reese's team, mostly black, whoops their ass. And in the closing minutes of the game, Reese followed Kaitlyn Clark around the court and made a, you can't see me gesture to her and pointing to her finger to reference that she's about to win the championship ring. Her actions came under scrutiny with some journalist and analyst criticizing Angel Reese for her sports, sportsmanship. They're saying, this is class list. She's a piece of shit. People called her a piece of shit. All this stuff. Reese had this to say, all year, which is true. All year I was criticized for who I was. I don't fit the narrative. I don't fit the box that y'all want me to be in. I'm too hood to ghetto. Y'all told me that all year reset. Then in an apparent reference to Clark, she added, when other people do it, y'all don't say nothing. So this is for the girls that look like me. For those that want to speak up for what they believe in, it's unapologetically you. So again, Reese pointed into the double standard that Clark had not received similar backlash for making that you can't see me gesture two games earlier. Clark later defended Reese for the criticism for the gesture and the incident grew attention to the roles of race and gender in the perception of trash talk in sports. Since again, Reese's black Clark is white. Yeah, Reese was named the most outstanding player of 2023 NCAA women basketball championship. And Clark was named Naismith Player of the Year. Following the game, first lady Jill Biden remarked that she wanted Iowa to be invited to the White House, along with LSU, as in addition to the custom of the president and the first lady hosting the national champions. So again, LSU beats Iowa's ass in this thing and Angel Reese gets a lot of shit. But again, people are all in love with Caitlyn Kirk. And Jill Biden's like, I want both teams to come. So this is what Jill Biden said. I know we'll have the champions come to the White House. We always do. So we hope LSU will come. But you know, I'm going to tell Joe, I think Iowa should come too because they played such a good game. And it really pissed off a lot of people, including Angel Reese, who said, I just know if the roles were reversed, it wouldn't be the same. If we were to lose, we would not be getting invited to the White House. I remember she made a comment that both teams should be invited because it was about sportsmanship. So Angel Reese took that as a dig of like her saying or Jill Biden saying like, it's more sportsmen like to have both teams or whatever. But at the end of the day, you wouldn't invite an all black team that just lost to the White House, along with the White team that won the championship. But it's like, it seems like there's some kind of double standard. So, but the sportsman thing wasn't directly said by Joe Biden that was like to bunt. So this is again, this is Angel Reese had a longer statement. And I'm like, are you saying that because of what I did? Like the, you can't see me stuff. Stuff like that, it bothers me because you're a woman. At the end of the day, white, black, it doesn't matter. You're supposed to be standing behind us before anything. So it's hard to see these things like that and not to comment on it. But at the same time, I have a platform right now where I can speak out and a lot of people have had my back through it. I'm proud to be in a situation like this. Nobody is giving her grace right now. Trust me, nobody's giving her grace. And that's why she's trying to backtrack on what she said. So it was such a mess for Joe Biden, you know, because she looked fucking stupid because obviously it did come off as kind of racist. So Joe Biden's press secretary had to walk back Joe Biden's statement saying her comments in, yeah, I know, her comments in Colorado, which is where she did. We're intended to applaud the historic game and all women athletes. She looks forward to celebrating the LSU Tigers on their championship win at the White House. Then Angel Reese was reached her comment. She said, I don't accept that. I'm not going to lie to you. I don't accept that apology because she said what she said, you can't go back on certain things that you say. You felt that they should have came because of sportsmanship, right? Iowa can have the spotlight. We'll go to the Obamas. We'll see Michelle. We'll see Barack. I would rather go to the Obamas House kind of any day. Sorry, but the sportsmanship thing, she didn't actually say, but she hinted at it, but that's what Angel Reese felt like that's what she was commenting on was like, Angel Reese was criticized about not being sportsmanship by doing this. And then just so funny because it's such like a mild thing to do. Yeah, like it feels very, I don't know, again, I'm like not a sports person, but I feel like people do like mild taunts to it. Am I right? And thinking like, that's not that crazy to wave your hand in front of your face? I think that kind of represents the double bind that the WNBA is in right now because they have a goal to grow the game together, but it's also a competition. Yeah. And so you have Jill Biden being like, we're growing the game together, we should all be at the White House together to show unity, which is well-meaning, but it's also like there are winners and losers in sports. Yeah, that's how sports become like, that's how people get invested. Like when there actually is a really good rivalry in sports, like a Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese, like people tune in to see that. And they don't want the end result to be like, but both girls were so good that everybody comes to the White House. Yeah. And it's also like a little insulting to like women, well, it's insulting because of the race thing, but it's also like women athletes, it's like, it doesn't have any stakes, like they should just love the have for the love of the game. And it's like, no, these are competitors, they've been training all year, like that like shit talking. And it's like, yeah, Caitlin Clark was shit talking for a while. And then she got her ass handed to her. And it's like, to be like, we are all sisters, it's like, it's like that kind of shit that like really undermines the effort of women as athletes. I do have to say that Biden did have to personally call Joe Biden, the president, personally called Angel Reese and their coach, which usually when NCAA champion wins, the president calls the coach and congratulates them. But after this mess, Biden called Angel directly and then after that, LSU came to the White House. So I was never done before of the president calling a player, but it was such a fuck up that Jill did. And then that's when they came. So yeah, but it's crazy. Yeah, I'm like, it's like the seeds for a lot of drama. Okay, we're ready to keep going. Yes. 2024 and C double A season rematch, rematch. So 2024 season was a little rough for Angel, given like the new, given like all the press and everything. And again, she's still in college, like, she was like bullied a lot. And she also was getting more opportunities. And she actually was becoming an influencer herself. So 2024 was kind of rough for Angel entering her senior season. Reese was named an AP preseason All-American and preseason SEC player of the year. On November 14, 2023, she had 11 points and five rebounds in a 109 to 79 win over Kent State. But she was benched for the second half, which Mulkey described as a coach's decision and she did not elaborate. Reese did not play an LSU's next four games for Undiscold's reason. Mulkey later attributed Reese's absence to locker room issues. So Reese has this great season coming out of it. She's getting a lot of press. She's getting a lot of attention, whatever. Rumors are starting to float that like, she has a bad attitude. She is not doing well in classes. She's getting benched a lot, all this stuff, right? LSU's losing as well. LSU's losing a lot, right? Then Caitlyn Clark, her senior year, she was named preseason big 10 player of the year and earned unanimous AP preseason All-American honors. On October 15, she played October 15, 2023. She played in crossover at Kinek and a preseason exhibition game against Nepal at Kinek Stadium. She had a triple double of 34 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists in a 94 to 72 win. The game had an attendance of 55,646, which set the record for women's basketball. I know. So the rest of the season, basically the rest of the season, Clark would keep scoring a lot. And Clark left Iowa with the most career points. So she scores a lot. She scored 3951 points and most career points and most three pointers, which are 548. More points, men or women. Anyone who's ever played college basketball, she has the most point. Yeah. The second most triple double is 17 and the third most is 6, 1,144 in division one history. Iowa was in the finals but lost to South Carolina. So again, LSU didn't win, Iowa didn't win. South Carolina is also like an all-black team. So it's very interesting, like it's just interesting with these dynamics because Kaitlyn scores a lot. And you can tell us about like the basketball of it all. But to me, it seems like Kaitlyn's good at scoring but not good at leading her team to a victory. But she's getting all this attention because she's good at scoring and they're like women's basketball, women's basketball. But like these black teams are actually beating her and like none of them are getting like the same record or like whatever. And also that like to attribute like oh Kaitlyn Clark has popularized women's basketball and it's like these teams that are beating her are making it good to watch too. But we're giving all this, I don't know. You need a foil. Yeah. If it was just Kaitlyn Clark running over teams and never losing then I don't think anyone would really care. You need you need good teams to come up against. Yeah. But she's like Kaitlyn Clark isn't like a she's in a good position because she I mean she led the league in in assist the last two years. She just set the the WNBA record for assistant a game. She had 19 assistant a game. She's an incredible passer and a playmaker. But in Iowa and in the WNBA whenever she loses everyone's just like oh her teammates suck. Oh it's just it's just like 10 white girls that you could have got from anywhere. So she's like kind of like an enviable position to like whenever she loses she has an excuse that like if only she played with better teammates which is what Angel I mean Angel's always at LSU Angels had good players around her. South Carolina I mean everyone on their team is like four or five star prospect and and Angel is playing with a good team right now in the WNBA. But like Kaitlyn Clark has plausible deniability for Oliver. Is there like an element of like is she particularly fun to watch like yeah like did she have that kind of like flourish or whatever sometimes the player has like I think to me and before we move on like to me she's like good technically but she doesn't have the risk to me. Wow I disagree Emily. You think she has the risk? And it's it's it makes an interesting race analysis because when you think about white basketball players grit hustle determination. Yeah it's like they're not athletic. Like Kaitlyn isn't the fastest but she has like step back three is like she plays kind of like Steph Curry or like a James Harden so like she's really fun to watch. Kaitlyn or sorry Angel Reese is more of like a gritty like hustle player. She's more of like a Charles Barkley, Kevin Love. She's not the most athletic coordinated person but she's just like Caris more than anyone else. Yeah she's like I don't know to me like watching Angel's like she's got like I don't know it's exciting in a different way. Yeah but I'm not a basketball person. Anyway let's talk about draft picks. So okay the CISO whatever the the that was in March like that was March Madness Iowa didn't win LSU didn't win South Carolina won. But real quick they did they didn't play each other in the finals but they played each other in the elite eight. Yeah and Iowa did avenge. Yeah they did. They beat LSU but people were like should LSU have been that early. Should they have played that early to begin with? Yeah the draw was messed up. I think that they should have played either in the finals or the semifinals. Yeah so that was also like a thing of like of course somebody has to win or lose but they were very early on in like the tournament. Yeah it goes back to what Millie was saying about the rough start to the year for Angel. So LSU was kind of in a hole. They started playing well later on in the season but by then they couldn't be a two seed or a one seed. They had lost too many in the beginning of the year. Anyway interesting. Okay so let's talk about draft picks. So on February 29th 2024 Clark announced that she would she wanted to go for the WNBA. Because of COVID people college players could play an extra season to make up for the 2020-2021. But Clark was like no I'm going to go to the WNBA even though she could have done one more. Yeah good news. You've been sleeping in there. Yeah she was projected to be the first overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft by many publications including ESPN, US Today and CBS Sports. On April 3rd 2024 Reece declared for the 2024 NBA draft where she was projected to be a first one pick. On April 15th 2024 Clark was selected as the first or her pick for the of the 2024 WNBA draft by the Indiana fever. Reece was selected as the seventh overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft by the Chicago Sky. So now let's talk about the body slam incident. This I heard a lot of that because my husband watches ESPN and I was just like it was on constantly talking about this. So on Sunday June 2nd during a game with the Chicago Sky versus Indiana fever which is again, Andrew Reece's team versus Caitlin Clark's team, player Shenady Carter gave a shoulder shot to Clark that knocked her to the floor before an inbound pass during the third quarter of Saturday's 71 to 7 win by the fever. The officials, so it was like the ball wasn't in play and she just like shoulder checked. It was a body check. During the game it was deemed as a common foul. After the game Clark was like I wasn't expecting it. It is what it is. It's a physical game. Go make the free throw and execute on offense. I feel like that's kind of what we did. So a lot of people were pissed because it was like very aggressive. It's unnecessary and the WNBA upgraded Shenady Carter's foul against Caitlin Clark to a flagrant one violation. Though they didn't assign any fines to Shenady Carter, Chicago rookie Angel Reece however ended up with a $1,000 fine for failing to make herself available to press during the post game press conference. Right. So right after she did the shoulder check, I think Angel Reece like gave Shenady a high five or something. This was replayed a lot. Everyone was like yeah and then Angel Reece high five. Angel Reece also elbowed Caitlin Clark in that game when they were going for a rebound. She elbowed her and Caitlin Clark fell to the floor. To what degree is that like normal or not? That's normal. It's normal. Like it's, I don't know. So the Caitlin Carter thing was not normal. Body checking. Body checking. That was targeted. But that was targeted when it happened. But the elbow thing or whatever. Chicago Sky got, so Angel got fined $1,000 for not showing up. And the Chicago Sky got hit with $5,000 for not showing up. I will say a $1,000 fine for an NBA player is nothing. These girls, when Caitlin Clark got signed to the Indiana fever and they showed where her contract was, all this shit that we're talking about Caitlin Clark, she, her first year, she's making 70K. Yeah. So some assholes at Deloitte like intern, whatever is making more money than Caitlin Clark. Yeah, that's ridiculous. So a thousand dollars is probably a sizable chunk. Yeah. What a lot of these places do is like the salary will be short, like cheap or like less, but then they'll pay for housing or they'll give others incentives. Yeah. And when we're talking about Caitlin and Angel, their endorsements are insane. Yeah. So they're making money. Yeah. So they're making money. Kenny Carter probably $1,000 would affect. Yeah. But they didn't charge her. Yeah. But then she said, Kennedy said, I'm not going to answer any questions about Caitlin Clark. So after the game, Clark fans were less, you know, even though Clark was like, it happens, like this is a little crazy, but whatever, Clark fans were not able to like let it go. They were all tweeting, like, tell me again how Caitlin Clark is not being targeted and treated unfairly, you know, directly referenced. And then another said, WNBA are not bleeding, the hating Caitlin Clark allegations at all, they're mad. So like a lot of people have been, like the narrative has been that because Caitlin Clark was the one who popularized women basketball and women's sports, that all the other black WNBA players are jealous of her. And any chance they get, they're going to like fucking body check her and they're going to be violent towards her and all that stuff. Yeah. I feel like I was seeing that on ESPN and like, I could, there was the very gleeful attitude about being like, look, reverse racist, they've reverse racisted her. Yeah. So now we're going to watch this video now. Okay, whether you're in a basketball or not, let me explain to you all of the drama going on in the WNBA right now involving Caitlin Clark with all the context. This weekend was the first game between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and the WNBA. It was a highly anticipated matchup. We knew it was going to be competitive and eyes were going to be on it. The game was super close, super competitive and the fever beat the sky by one point. The moment everyone's talking about the game is when Kennedy Carter body checked Caitlin Clark and knocked her to the ground. It was aggressive. It was unnecessary. And it was clearly on purpose. And it was when the ball wasn't in play. And so it was called an off ball common foul. A lot of people were upset that Kennedy didn't get any extra additional punishments because it was clearly on purpose afterwards. Angel Reese high five to everybody seemed like they were happy about it. A day later, the WNBA upgraded the foul from a common foul to a flagrant one and find Angel Reese $1,000 for not making herself available to the media after the game. After the game, during her media availability, Kennedy Carter said she's not answering any Caitlin Clark related questions. And obviously, Angel Reese didn't do media and ended up getting fined for it, which like $1,000 is pocket changed Angel Reese like she don't care. Now some eagle eyed fans have found that Caitlin Clark's boyfriend has been liking hate tweets about Angel Reese for over a year now, including this infamous tweet from Dave Portnoy calling Angel a classless piece of shit for doing the ring gesture that Caitlin had done first. Her brother liked this tweet where it was like Angel Reese had a offensive rebound. And then her brother liked this hate response that said two and nine. What's that smell? Here's another one from the boyfriend. He liked this tweet about Angel and Caitlin being named co-athletes of the year. And somebody replied and said, imagine averaging 30 and carrying your team to a final and you have to share an award because the publication is afraid of internet outrage. There's like a whole thread on Twitter of tweets that Caitlin's boyfriend and her brother have been liking about Angel. And we can't control our families. I'm not here to say that this is Caitlin's fault. I'm just giving context that if I were Angel and I saw your man liking tweets calling me a classless piece of shit in public knowing people are going to find it, I don't feel so deep away. Another piece of context I feel like people are leaving out is that Caitlin had elbowed Kennedy on an earlier play. Kennedy is known for being a very physical player, not just with Caitlin with everyone and had anyone else elbowed her, she would respond the exact same way. Like this is not new. Now the public is an outrage saying that the WNBA needs to do something to protect Caitlin because if she gets hurt, it's going to be horrible for the league. And Caitlin was like, look, I'm aware that I'm going to get a bunch of hard fouls. It's just a part of the game. Like, it's fine. This experience is not exclusive to Caitlin. Angel got clotheslined like last week. But I think that Kennedy Carter deserved a flagrant one. I don't think that this was a good look. And I'll give more of my thoughts later. But what do you guys think about this whole thing? So guys, what do you think about this whole thing? Wow, that's, I guess, like the tweets are interesting. The liking of Dave Portnoy, a tweet that calls someone a classless piece of shit is not already liking, first of all, engaging with barstool sports, you're reading like, already, like, I'm sorry, you're on a list. It's a huge red flag. It's a huge red flag. Well, this is, this is like, you were describing Caitlin's lack of an online persona. And that's a, it makes it easy for people to project their beliefs on to her. And I, it's a bit of a problem now because she doesn't, she's kind of afraid to say anything. We can stand on anything. Well, we'll talk about that later. Let's just, because we're going to talk about that in a second, but reaction to the context and the tweets. Well, yeah. Well, it's like, well, if you don't say something, and then I see your boyfriend liking tweets, of course, I'm going to project his opinions on to you because he has the freedom to like these shitty tweets, whereas you can't speak freely. Yeah, like if it was one tweet and not the classless piece of shit one, it's like, okay, whatever your, your girls in a rivalry, you like to tweet, whatever. But it is also like, dude, you're like, I mean, your likes aren't public anymore. They weren't that time. And they were at that time. Number one. And number two, I guess the way I would feel like if I was Angel Reese, and I saw that Caitlin Clark's boyfriend was liking all of these tweets bashing me, I would be like, Oh, this is how they talk about me. Absolutely. Behind closed doors. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's kind of how I would feel. I want to make a point about the Caitlin getting fouled because I do think she's getting fouled more than than usual. But I think that there's there's a bit of a conflation happening where it's like, just be like the the basketball game itself in the heat of the moment, people are going to be really physical of Caitlin Clark. They don't want Caitlin Clark to embarrass them because she's been getting all this attention. But that's in the competition. Yeah, after the competition is over, that doesn't mean I hate Caitlin Clark. You know what I mean? It's like, you want to humble somebody who's getting like a lot of, I can't imagine what it feels like to be these these women who like have been busting their ass for years, and then this young white girl comes and she's fine. I don't know your thing. She's great, whatever, but like she's good. But like so are a lot of women who are players, you know, and they're like, they're really good, and they've been working their ass off with like, no one has to think and now people are like suddenly like what like I would be kind of salty too. Athletes have pride, like famously athletes have pride. Yes. And they have confidence. I don't know if you've met an athlete before. Yes. But yeah, that's a it's a it's a it's a problem where people kind of conflate on court behavior with off the court feelings. Yeah, it's not always the same. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's not the same exact thing because like wrestling is not it's like written, but it was so interesting to see when I worked at WWE, we'd write these storylines where it was like, people would be rivalry or whatever. And then like, and these guys are like, I hate your guts and they're like beating the shit at each other and blood comes out. And then after you're like, Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I missed your phone. And they're so sweet and they're so nice. And it's like, yeah, like, that is kind of like, I mean, I'm not saying that like basketball is the same as wrestling, but it's like, yeah, like or or even comedy, like if I'm on a if I'm on a stand up showcase with someone who's like 25 has all of these credits, so it has a million followers, it's like, well, that's my life. Yeah. It's like, yeah, I want to text my friend just being like, that person bombed. Like, I killed he he bombed. And that is why you body check. That's why I body checked all the police don't destroy. We get added it out and we get added it out and only then edit that out. We like that in a week. I body bed, I body check bed marshals. And it's crazy because bed marshals six two and you are not. I don't think I could. I'm not answering that. The way you kicked the little one. Yeah, that was unfair. Because that was small. Protect Martin Higgins at all costs. We got to protect Martin. But it's like we're we're competitive in our field. Of course. And if someone's getting all this attention, it's just like, but I like I'm serious about my craft as well. And I want to show people that like I have skill too. But then if we're in the green room and they're nice, I'm not going to be shitty to that person. And also, and in the same breath, there are probably teammates that you hate. Yeah, there are teammates that you hate and you can't stand. And but then on the court, you got to work as a team and you got to whatever. Yeah. And then you're high fiving, you're listening to each other total. I mean, that's this is like the benefit of sports and why a lot of people commenting on sports could probably use like they could have used sports in their youth to understand that you have to get along with people that you might not agree with or have things in common with. Yeah, you have a a bigger goal. So yeah. And one more thing again is like the missing context in all of this was that Caitlyn Elboud, Kennedy first, and Kennedy is a violin player. She's been like, Kennedy has bounced around the league from team to team because of her issues because she's a violin player, but she's so good though. So again, it's not necessarily that she just whatever, Caitlyn fucking whatever Elboud hurt. And then she did a little extra, which she's known to do. Okay. So on June 5th, so this was all that happened on June 2nd, right? June 5th, the popular rookie, Angel Reese and other Chicago sky players claimed that Kennedy Carter was targeted by an aggressive Caitlyn Clark fan while trying to get off their bus. Carter was again at the center of the WNBA discourse since the hard fall against Indiana player Caitlyn Clark went viral. So a man was attempting to approach Carter as she got off her team bus and the corporate, the culprit also harassed staff and other team players. So it got so crazy that all the members of Chicago sky were tweeting about it. And then one said, getting harassed at her at our hotel is where the line needs to be drawn. Some fans have no chill. I think Angel Reese wrote this. We have security and they did know somebody else wrote this, sorry. And they did a great job of deescalating the situation slash protecting us. It's still extremely weird and crosses the boundaries meeting us where right when we get off the bus. According to sky player Isabelle Harrison, Carter couldn't even step off the bus. And Isabelle Harrison said, thank God for security. My teammate being harassed at our hotel is insane. Angel Reese further denounced the incident on Twitter telling fans that coming to their hotel to put a camera on her teamwork's face is nasty work. This is really out of control and it needs to stop. Finding out our team's hotel to pull a camera. Yeah, okay, I just reviewed that. So yeah, again, fans are escalating it. It's getting really crazy. And then I'm going to show one video where Caitlyn Clark is asked directly, like, again, it's not just this fan getting physical, but now fans are actually like, showing up showing up, showing up places, tweeting racist things that other WNBA players, all this stuff. And Caitlyn Clark was reached her comment. And now we're going to see. It's a Caitlyn Clark's responsibility to tell her fans to stop being racist to a full bit just generally bigots towards other players in the league. 100% it is. Hey, I'm Coach Jackie, make videos, all about women's sports. And this conversation is a long time coming and I'm glad we're having it undeniable that ever since LSU beat Iowa and the national championships in 2023, there has been a conversation whenever fans try to defend Caitlyn Clark, where they are absolutely racist towards her black opponents. That's just true. That just happens. Is it Caitlyn Clark's fault that that happens? No, it's not, right? People say things. However, after a couple years of them saying it, it is her responsibility to speak up and say, stop saying that. Yesterday morning after she got, Caitlyn Clark was asked about all this. It's not something I can control. So, you know, I don't put too much thought and time into thinking about things like that. To be honest, I don't see a lot of it. Like I said, like, that's always my job. Like, everything on the outside, I can't control that. So I'm not going to spend time thinking about that. You know, people can talk about what they would talk about, um, to make conversations about whatever it is, but I think for myself, like, you know, I'm just going to play basketball, I'm here to have fun. As soon as that clip was published, there was immediate backlash online, as there should be, because everything she said was just white privilege. She's saying, I just want to have fun, I just want to play basketball. There are members of the league that also just want to have fun and want to have basketball, but they can't because of the way that your fans are talking to them and speaking to them. And for anyone who says she doesn't see it, I think it's been years and she probably does, but also it not seeing it is the privilege. So all day long, it's fans in the media talking about this. And then in the afternoon, we get our first player, Dijane Carrington, who plays for the sun, tweeting, "How one cannot be bothered by their name being used to justify racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, homophobia, and the intersectionalities of them all is nuts. We all see it. We all have a platform. We all have a voice and they all hold weight. Silence is a luxury." So then before the game, which is ours later, Caitlin Clark is asked again. Yeah, I think it's disappointing, I think. Everybody in our world deserves the same amount of respect for women in our league, it's not the same amount of respect. So people should not be used to my name, the first load of judges, it's disappointing. It's not acceptable. I think it's just a basic human thing that everybody should handle. To be a fine person and treat them how you would want to be treated as a person. This answer from Caitlin is good. It's fine. It is the stop doing it that everyone wanted. If I was to nitpick, I'd say I would have loved to hear her say something along the lines of, "Hey, if you use few racism out of player in this league, you cannot call yourself my fan. You are no fan of mine." Or to acknowledge her privilege in some way. And I can nitpick, because look at the ways that her peers talk about this subject. One page back is one in SV. At 19 years old, this was her speech. "The light that I have now, um, as a white woman who leads a black led sport, um, is celebrated here. I want to show a light on black women. They don't get the media coverage that they deserve." When asked about the racism and the media's coverage of LSU's team, this is Haley Van Liff's answer. "We do have a lot of black women on this team. We do have a lot of people that are from different areas. And unfortunately, you know, that that bias does exist so today. And a lot of the people that are making those comments are being racist. I'll talk trash and I'll get a different reaction than if Angel talks trash. I have a duty to my teammates, to have their back." Just last week when Cameron Brink was asked about what growing the WNBA looks like to her, she mentioned that she has privilege as a young white player and as a feminine appearing player and that she has more masculine teammates and non-binary teammates than she wants to uplift. And when everyone's accepted, that's grown. And beyond what other players have said recently, the WNBA as a league has always been centered around social justice. In 2020, the whole league came together as one in support of say her name and black lives matter. The Atlanta Dream literally helped flip the Senate in Georgia. Am I happy Kaitlyn Clark said what she did? Absolutely. But I also think that as she grows up and finds her footing in the WNBA, she will want to say more. So thoughts? I know that was no longer video. So I went to the WNBA all-star game. Yeah, this is how it's perfectly going to lead into the WNBA all-star game. Yeah, so there were a group of people walking around with T-shirts. Kaitlyn Clark T-shirts, so it's like the Iowa colors, which is yellow and black. And they said, the teachers said, "Don't hate because she's white and straight." Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, my God. I need you to know. They're not just white people, Millie. Well, there'll be people of color on both sides of the room. Oh, my God. The process of, like, designing, printing, creating the shirt. Getting your friends to buy in and be like, "What are you the shirt on? Looking at yourself in the mirror saying, "I'm actually, I'm going to wear the shirt. I'm doing it. I'm doing the whole thing. Don't hate because she's white and straight." Yeah. The one thing that I did think while watching that is that, like, that first statement that she made, the bad one, where she, like, doesn't disavow racism, which is, like, an easy thing to do. And someone asked you, like, should people be racist on your behalf? You just say no. Is that Chet Hanks defended white boy summer more forcefully on Instagram story than she did? He, like, he found out that, like, right-wing people were using white boy summer in a bad way. And he immediately took the Instagram story to be like, "That is not the intention of white boy summer." I think he said-- White boy summer is for white guys who like women of all color. He said queens of all colors. He said exactly very important thing to get them phrasing. He said, "White boy summer is for men who, like, queens of all color things." Yeah. Speaking of Chet Hanks, we have a Z-way writer here who got to meet Chet Hanks and-- Shout out to Chet. And much like my question about Caitlin Clark, what's kind of his energy to watch him and-- Yeah. You watch a lot of white people that have energies. What do you say? What say you about Chet Hanks? Oh, my energy towards Chet. Or what was Chet's vibe? Yeah, his riz level. Oh, Chet kept flirting with Z-way while his girlfriend was on set. Wow. And that my friend-- That rocks. That my friend? That's why I voiced something. That's why he likes queens of all races. Queens of all races, queens of all kind of monogamy types as well, clearly. But back to this statement, yes. I'm glad that, like, it was corrected. But yeah, it's just really interesting. It's like, it's like, if you're not standing up against, like, people using your-- like, you are embracing it, you know, and you don't-- you want the white industry. I might-- to defend Caitlin Clark, or just to give context, because she is-- she's from the Midwest, right? Yeah, probably. She's from the Midwest. I have no idea. So athlete-- so Lebron, for instance, Lebron has become more vocal about race activism. He's, like, had the Black Lives Matter shirt in the bubble. But when Lebron was a rookie, he didn't really say anything. And I think that's just more of a byproduct of his life being completely dedicated towards basketball. Lebron-- I remember Lebron had a Twitter Q&A where he's like, favorite rappers, Jay-Z, Nas, favorite superhero, Superman, Batman. And it's just like, I just don't think he had time for things outside of the scope of basketball. And then as he grew as an adult, he was like, "Oh man, the world is messed up when you're not six, eight and incredible at basketball." Because I think this happens with like, like, Pele was open with the Brazilian soccer player. He was just like, "Well, when you're-- like, famous is a class position, where he's like, people aren't racist to me because like, yes, I'm a Black Brazilian man, but I'm also like famous." And so like, I'm insulated from a lot of the problems in the world. And I think like, she does a lot of insulation. And another video talked about like, that is a privilege to be insulated. But I-- yeah, it's tough because it's like Gen Z. And I just haven't-- my understanding is that Gen Z is a lot more aware of race, class, privilege, whatever. But she's also just like a white girl from Iowa. And she's like, her focus is really basketball. I don't think she's lying when she says that. And yeah, I think also like, people really underestimate how stupid athletes are. And like, just-- And you said it. You said it. I think women are smart, capable. Wow, and there's very controversial takes from Ron. I do feel like-- I hear what you're saying, and I think that that is true. And I do feel like, probably as an athlete, like, people are always telling you like, your focus should just be on the game. And also that maybe she's getting a little bit of that, not to always bring things to Taylor Swift of that. Like, you should never speak on this. Never speak on race, whatever. But at the end of the day, if someone's like, hey, people are using you to be racist, I do feel like most people with two brain cells to rub together know me. Like, oh, dad, definitely don't do that on my behalf. And I did not think of anyone else but Taylor Swift when you said don't hate on her because she's white and straight. Well, I am wearing that to the Aristotle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you go to Warsaw. I'm wearing that to seek Taylor Swift. And I'm going to have it in Polish on the back, so nobody misses what I'm trying to communicate. There's not going to be any Polish people there at the Aristotle store. It's all going to be empiricans. And other Europeans. And other Europeans. Really quickly, given all this, how was it seeing Angel and Caitlyn work together on the NBA All-Star team this weekend? Because you did just come from Phoenix from watching the NBA, WNBA All-Star game. Talk to us about that. So they played on the same team for the first time, I think for the first time ever. And so the viral clip is Caitlyn passing the ball to Angel, like a very nice assistant angel. And then they slapped hands afterwards. And there were quotes that have leaked since then where they were talking to each other and the huddle just being like, "You know that clip already went viral." That is fun. I like that. I think there's a certain, I don't think they're best friends, but I think there's a certain level of mutual respect that they have for each other. There was also Angel passed to Caitlyn, and Caitlyn just missed the shot. But it was clear they were trying to make a clip because they know that it's good for the sport. Yeah, you got to work it out on the remakes. Yeah, I was going to say, yeah, that seems to be what's happening. It's good for the sport if they interact with each other in some way for good and for bad. Well, watch that space, guys. I will say this, though. People were not giving Caitlyn Clark room to breathe. Like they were guarding, they were like face guarding her the whole time. If you want to say you created, if you want to say you're bringing a hype to the WNBA, you better fucking back it up. Compared to, and like the All-Star game is like a symbolic event. I think in men and women sports, and I think it's a time, especially for young players, where the elders in the game could be like, you're one of us. We're accepting you now. So in the NBA, it's like, you know, Yannis or MB, like when they have their breakout season, they're just like, okay, now you're a part of like the fraternity now. I did not get that vibe per say from Team USA toward Caitlyn Clark. I think they really, they didn't give her an open shot to be like, hey, do you want to make a half-court shot? Like go for it. They were face guarding her the whole time. Well, because she was left off of Team USA. So, and a lot of people were saying like, oh, it's because of this. So they wanted to prove that like, yeah, she didn't belong on Team USA. But then they did, Team USA. They did end up losing. I think Team USA could use a point guard, and I think there's a point guard from Iowa. That might be available. Why was she left out a few years there? Is that too much to get into? She was like, it's political. Well, okay, so leading into the Olympics, they have scrimmages that are like open scrimmages between the best women's players. Caitlyn and Angel were always playing in the NCAA tournament when the scrimmages were happening. So these players are building continuity with each other. Some of them have played in Olympics like four years ago. And so they like, we're not going to like pick this player that no one has ever played with before when we have this built-in continuity. And like bench somebody who's been doing the work here. And yes, and bench someone. For, you know. Yeah, this white girl that a lot of people don't like any. That people have been like experiencing racism for and stuff and whatever. Like, yeah, I get it. Yeah, so, and I, there's also discourse being like, they could have added Caitlyn, but she wasn't going to play. And they didn't want to get backlash for that. Yeah, they didn't want to, yeah. She isn't, I don't think she would have, I don't think she deserves to start for the team. And so it's like, but then if all of these people, all the Caitlyn fans are watching them play and the Caitlyn's not playing, they all become like that terrible mom that's like put my son in the game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, if like, people are already like showing up at the bus of other like players to like yell at them, it's like, yeah, maybe we don't want to like incense this group. But speaking of Team USA, this is a perfect segue to our Grasshoal of the Wii. Yes. Finally, we have a guest who knows the segment, knows what's going to happen. Who's listening to our podcast before? So we have an Olympic Grasshoal this week. We're keeping in our sports theme. Today, we are talking about gymnast, Michaela Skinner. And this is a different Michaela than Michaela Moroni, who's the one who went viral for always being like, like having a little face. Oh, yeah. That's a different Michaela. Okay. I think in gymnastics, kind of every other person is Michaela. This is a different Michaela. And that Michaela is like Puerto Rican and Black or something? I think Michaela Moroni is pretty white. Oh, okay, never mind. Oh, oh, that one. Okay, okay. See you later in the night. A lot of Michaela. I think we're dealing with a high number of Michaelas in general. I'm Michaela volume. Yeah, exactly. Critical mass of Michaelas in USA Gymnastics, I think in general. But the one who made the face, that's not where we're talking about. We're talking about Michaela Skinner, who's also like a, I believe, white Michaela. Michaela won silver on vault in the Tokyo Olympics and has since retired. So that's kind of where she stands in the world of gymnastics right now. She had to apologize recently after, she basically went on like a YouTube rant that went viral, where she criticized the current makeup of USA Gymnastics and basically implied that they are soft, which is a lot, and aren't able that basically the coaches aren't able to coach the way they used to out of fear of being reported to this organization called SafeSport. That's an independent entity that handles allegations of abuse. So she's basically being like, you can't say anything these days because of SafeSport. Yeah, God forbid the US Gymnastics team like gets a second or third outside of, not like there was a huge abuse scandal that affected hundreds of women. Yeah. And like some, I think didn't like Larry Nasser like, kill himself or something. He's, uh, did he die? I don't know. I thought he was in jail. I thought Larry Nasser was in jail. Because I wrote, I have here that he's serving a 145-year sentence, but now I know that, or 175-year sentence, I know that someone beat him up in prison. Yeah, yeah. And we googled Larry Nasser dead. Well, that was the first scene that came. He was stabbed in prison. And I don't know if he does. He's still kicking him. He's alive. Okay, but he was stabbed multiple times, twice in the neck, twice in the back, six times in the chest. Yeah. Okay, so he is not like us. Okay, so literally, yes, exactly to that point. Basically, specifically what Michaela said that got her in trouble is, girls just don't have the work ethic. And it's hard to because of SafeSport, like coaches can't get on athletes, and they have to be really careful what they say, which in some ways is really good. But at the same time, to get where you need to be in gymnastics, you do have to be, I feel like, a little aggressive and a little intense. So this is where it's good to know. Like we just said, USA Women's Gymnastics was famously victimized by serial pedophile, Larry Nasser, who was their team doctor for 18 years, abused, like, over 100 people. Yeah. And is now serving a 175-year sentence. And got stabbed a bunch, yeah. And is alive despite someone's suffering. Also, okay, another thing to keep in mind is in the Tokyo Olympics, so Moenbio's famously had to step aside from competing because citing mental health reasons, specifically that, like, the pressure to compete was giving her this condition called the twisties, where, like, you as a gymnast lose track of, like, you're up there and you're spinning around and you lose track of, like, where in the spin you are, which can basically completely fight the lower because you don't know when to come out of the spin. So it is genuinely dangerous. There is something similar that they talked about in Ted Lasso. This is so embarrassing. You're finally outing yourself. I know, I know, I know. I was, like, live tweeting Ted Lasso season three to run or live texting, and it was because it was tough. But I watched it all. But yeah, but the spins, the thing, like, it's this thing where sometimes, like, the pressure gets so much on a sports player that they forget how to do things that are secondary to them. Yeah. And it becomes actually physically dangerous if you're trying to land properly. Yeah, I remember at the time this was happening, someone describing it as, like, you're driving a car. I meant in the middle of it, you forget how to drive a car. And, like, suddenly you're just, like, driving a car and you're like, "Oh, my God, I don't know how this works," or, like, whatever. So the thing that's interesting about that is, Simone Biles stepping down is what got Skinner on the team. Yeah. Skinner subbed in four Biles, and that's how she ended up with her silver medal. Brazilian, Brazilian Rebecca Andrade took the gold. But it's, like, she's literally there because people have resources and, like, mental health resources. Yeah. And number three, Skinner trained under team coordinators Bella and Marta Carole, who are a husband and wife team known for being extremely abusive to athletes. They, and they had to step down after the Larry Nasser scandal because they were, like, buddy-buddy with him. Nice. And Skinner herself has said in interviews that she was scared to return the team in 2019 because of the emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of Carole who wasn't even involved in the organization anymore. Not at all. So, like, for her to say this shit is just crazy. So they did the "this you" to her? Yeah, basically. Like, well, also, like, it just reminds me of, like, Boomer women who are, like, I can't believe everyone makes such a big deal about me, too. Like, of course your boss is going to touch your ass all the time. You're like, what the fuck are you talking about? Yeah, why have you accepted that this is how the world should be? If you're excited, like, what are you talking about? Yeah, like, yeah. But they always say some shit, like, that where it's, like, clearly they were abused, but they are, like, lashing out that there are resources now for other people to not. Yes, so it's, it's very that. So, and she also, like, came for the current gymnastics team very specifically. She said, besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn't what it used to be. Just notice, I mean, like, obviously, a lot of the girls don't work as hard. The girls just don't have the work ethic. Which is, I think it's funny that she leaves Simone out of it because it's, like, don't speak on Simone. That's like, you can't think shit about Simone Biles. But also, it's like, you weren't even initially on the team. You didn't work hard enough. Yeah, exactly. Like, they actually outright made a team that you weren't even. Yeah. And it's like. Also to do, to come out with that video before they even get a chance to compete in the Olympics. Right? Is wild because you're just setting yourself up to look stupid. I know. When they inevitably win medals. Right, exactly. Because it's like, the US, USA Gymnastics is extremely dominant. Like, obviously, other gymnastics team. Russia ain't gonna be there. Yeah. Like, there are other gymnastics teams. Right here. No. Russia and competing. I feel like this episode, we're learning a lot about the psychology of athletes. Yeah. And what it takes psychologically to be an athlete. Not much, apparently. So, yeah, the video was not received well. There's also, like, a racial undertone too in that video. I've heard. Is the team mostly black right now? The team is a very mixed. And Michaela is this white-warming girl. There is something in there. She probably got a little bit too much dirty soda as they drink there. You know what the fuck they put in soda in the Utah, it's sick, dude. What? They like, you never heard of dirty-- No. I've never heard of dirty soda. I heard it. We can talk about dirty spray. No, no. They like, you know how people have, like, jazzed up water for their Stanley Cubs? These people will go to places, like, Mormons, and they will drink soda with, like, extra syrups. And, like, all kinds of shit. Like, make soda cocktails. Well, that's the-- I mean, that's kind of the most fun they're allowed to have. Yeah, well, but not in soaking. Put a pin in that discourse. You can't even have caffeine. I'm putting syrups in myself. Syrups are going in soda. I have to have some joy. I gotta wear crazy underwear. Yeah, you gotta wear crazy underwear. Do you think Michaela was fucking in the Olympic Village? Michaela Skinner? Skinner. No, she-- I mean, I don't know. I-- you know what, Ron? I can't speak to that at all. [LAUGHTER] I have no idea if she was fucking in the Olympic Village. I didn't actually feel it. No, because it was Tokyo, so it was, like, super crazy. Oh, they didn't even give them good beds. They gave them cardboard beds so that they wouldn't fuck. Yeah, and it was, like, COVID time. No, it was COVID, so no one was there. It was really, really hard to like. The whole thing's going to happen in Paris, for sure. Oh, yeah. But maybe that's why she's tight. She's upset. She wanted to cheat on her husband. She got the COVID Safe Olympics, and she wanted the back and all Olympics. Well, she wasn't even going to go to the COVID Safe Olympics. Wow, I know. We speak on it. Speak on it. OK, so video not received well, she deletes it. She first tries to address the whole thing just on Instagram story, which is very, you know, like level one, just trying to apologize, where she goes. This isn't a July 3rd Instagram story. I feel like a lot of you guys had misinterpreted or misunderstood exactly what I was meaning or had said. A lot of the stuff I was talking about wasn't always necessarily about the current team, but she also did literally say, "I feel like the current team isn't good at this so long." Because I love and support all the girls that made it, and I'm so proud of them. I was going back to my own gym, and I'm not sticking up for Marta or saying that what she did was good. I'm just saying that it was different. Sorry for anything that got out of context or seemed hurtful. Throughout the video, I was so pumped for the girls, and it was so fun watching trials and doing live with everybody. So she pulled a sorry if anything got taken out of context, but seemed hurtful. Yeah, that's a rough one. That's terrible. She also invoked this very abusive woman again. And then, so again, this is now not received well. Yeah, back us. Back us to the back us. Ron mentioned it. This is the fucking deep ingrass nation he is. Back us to the back us to the back us. He's not only an active citizen. He's participating in primary elections. He's the elections for city councilor. He's voting in the industry. I'm knocking on doors. No, he's canvassing. He's not just, you know, whatever. So, per the backlash to the backlash, all, like, this means that now we've had to go to, basically, like, an elevated notes app apology. I'm going to show you, like, it's not-- That's Jeopardy. It's in the Jeopardy font. It's in the Jeopardy font. It's giving Jeopardy font. And it has a little fake signature from her that's in, like, another font at the bottom. Yeah, and a curly font. But, yeah, it's a square text in the Jeopardy font that says, "Dear Team USA and our gymnastics community, I want to formally apologize to Team USA and to our gymnastic community for my comments during my recent YouTube episode of the gymnastic Olympic trials. It was not my intention to offend or disrespect any of the athletes or to take away from their hard work. Your hard work and dedication has paid off, and I congratulate each and every one of you. Upon reflection, I was comparing the Marta era to the current era. I am coming to terms that I have not fully dealt with the emotional and verbal abuse that I endured under Marta that perhaps led to my hurtful comments. OK. I take full responsibility for what I said and I deeply apologize. It is most important to me that the sport I love continue down a path of healing and ensures a positive environment for all. I wish you all the best in Paris. I will be cheering you all on. Go Team USA. Love Michaela in curly font. So, what makes this grassroots lead to me is that it's like, you came online to bash the most beloved Olympic team that we have that has gone through all of this abuse that is very, very well documented at this point. Kind of like, cape for the abuse, and then you turn around and use having experienced that abuse and be like, I just haven't come to terms with the abuse I experienced. And it's like, but you were saying that the team would be better. They need more abuse in order to reach their potential. Yeah. So that's kind of where I feel like-- She's saying hurt people hurt people. But her people need to log off. Her people have the best stuff. The reason we say, Michaela Skinner. Go Touchgrass! That was a great episode. That was a great episode. We really did it. We really got into some more. I apologize if you don't like sports. But you like them now. But you like them now. It's how good the episode was. Because the episode was so good. We got the tea. And we have the tea. Ron, where can people find you? Besides the Go Touchgrass Discord? You know, I'm covered in money in the Go Touchgrass Discord. So, holler at me there. Ronald Mattelis underscore on Instagram. I'm posting. I'm posting. I'm posting. I got stories. Nothing else. No TikTok. No Twitter. I'm off at Twitter. I'm off at TikTok. Wow, just IG. I'm just IG. I'm kind of an IG model. You hear that? Adam Masari. You're kind of an IG model. You're not. But we'll move on. You can find me @billy_tomaris on Instagram and TikTok and @billytomaris on Twitter. I'm still there. I don't know what I'm doing. You can find this podcast @GoTouchgrassPod on Instagram. TikTok and Twitter. Elise, where can the people find you? Uh, guys, you can still find me @pandelis on Instagram. I'm trying to change that handle. We'll get Elise. Meta, if in between the last time I asked him now, someone at Meta has started listening. Please, I am trying to change it. And Elise Navidad everywhere else. We'll get Elise Navidad on Instagram. We're on the road to Elise Navidad. We're on the road to Elise Navidad. It's happening. It's happening. It's happening. We are going to get someone at Meta to hear my please. Yes. Well, until next time, Go Touchgrass! That was a head gum podcast. [BLANK_AUDIO]
