On this episode of the bob Ryan & Jeff Goodman Podcast, Bob Ryan and Gary Tanguay discuss all the biggest news around the game of basketball. Caitlin's run is over but her mania set a new bar for the WNBA, plus the Sixers dish out more cash for Joel Embiid, and much more!
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00:00Hi everybody, it's time for the Bob Ryan Gary Tangway pod here on CLNS Media, brought to
00:22you by PrizePix, the exclusive daily fantasy partner of CLNS Media Network.
00:27More pick less with PrizePix. Okay, the Caitlin Clark story has come to an end, Bob, but boy,
00:34what a difference she has made for the WNBA. The numbers are up all over the place.
00:39She's making money. I hope this is going to mean more money for other players.
00:43It really has been something to watch.
00:46It is a phenomenon. And you know, just in general terms about women's basketball,
00:50I was introduced to it big time in 92, in the Dream Team, because in addition to covering
00:59the men, I covered every Dream Team game. I also covered the entire tournament for our women,
01:06and got introduced to the world of international women's basketball.
01:10And prior to that, the only real connection I had had was locally. There was a tournament,
01:17I'm gonna say 50 years ago, at Northeastern, of some schools, and I went, and the play was
01:26embarrassing, was primitive. And one of the funny things about it was, you never saw so many jump
01:30balls. And the reason was, the ball handling was so bad. And then they were diving on the floor for
01:37the ball that was always out there. You never saw so many loose balls. And it wasn't very good.
01:44But by the time I came around in 92, you were looking at good players, you were looking at
01:50good basketball. And I observed that no sport has come farther in a shorter period of time than
01:55women's basketball. Well, that was in 1992. And we've come exponentially farther since then,
02:02in terms of the breadth of talent that not in the depth of the talent and worldwide.
02:07And so, and I really was enlightened a number of years ago, I was in LA during the finals,
02:15I guess it was. And the women were playing as well. And I went to a game, and I'm sitting in
02:21the first row. And I'm feeling, you could feel the energy, you know, the pace was really good.
02:28I said, I was dazzled by, you know, what I was saying. I remember with the game,
02:32because Michael Cooper was coaching against against Bill and beer. And so anyway, this sport
02:39has come so, so far, since, you know, and it's a tribute to so many people. But it still was under
02:47off the radar for the average American sportsman. You know, it still is true that, that for the most
02:53part, women's basketball devotees, you know, we're husbands, fathers, and brothers and uncles
02:59and neighbors, you know, and not really Joe average fan. And that's changing so rapidly now.
03:09And, but the big boost, this Caitlin Clark phenomenon, and it's absolutely amazing what
03:16her presence has done for the game and, and exposing us people to Oh, by the way, how does
03:22all these other great players, not really fine players that you didn't know anything about now
03:26you do totally. And so, um, you know, let's congratulate Aja Wilson for becoming a unanimous
03:32MVP, for example, third one, and people are being exposed to the age of Wilson's in the world. And,
03:38and that and that's, and that's always people feel Kelsey Mitchell. Mitchell is the best player on
03:42the Indiana team. Yeah, right. We see that because of Caitlin Clark, Major Boston. And so, and so
03:49yeah, but it's it's true. So but meanwhile, it's no question that this phenomenon, and now the
03:54rivalry with Angel Reese, which unfortunately has taken had to, you know, right, got mired in
04:00racial overtones, which is just despicable. But, you know, it's also you'd be pretty uneven to
04:07deny that, that Caitlin Clark being white doesn't, you know, bring fans that sadly, that wouldn't
04:12have been there. Otherwise, that's stupid. You can't deny it. But but you don't want that to
04:18be the focus of her of any rivalry with with Angel Reese. And people are equating it to bird
04:24and magic, you know, and right, well, sense. And to a degree, yeah, you know that you can you can
04:30draw that parallel, you know, for sure. But anyway, with Caitlin Clark is her presence as
04:37put a focus on the WNBA. Well, to watch the game, you said it, okay, to talk about the product,
04:43to watch the game, if you're a basketball fan is enjoyable. Yes, it's enjoyable. Okay. Now,
04:50if you look at ticket prices, Bob, and 20 bucks can get you in, I mean, I just looked online,
04:56maybe they've gone up, I'm sure they've gone up. Okay. But it's not three, four or $500 to take
05:02two people to a Celtics game. No, but they are going, but they are going on to go up. There's
05:07a very enlightening story in today's. It's not in the athletic, which means in New York Times,
05:12this is where I read it, that that's going to be part of the deal, though, now the people,
05:19you know, the need to make more money, and the idea that they will raise these ticket prices.
05:25But meanwhile, it's still relatively affordable compared to the men. And the game itself,
05:33I said a long time ago, 10, 15 years ago, that it's the men's game of 30 years ago,
05:39it's not going to be played in the air. If that's your big passion, okay, sorry, you're not going to
05:44have the 50 foot alley oops, you're not going to have it played in the air. That's not the way it's
05:48played. But it's fundamentally the way basketball used to be played and is and by the men and is
05:55still being played nicely by the women. And because the shooting is good, the fast breaks,
06:04now the game, the product is a very enjoyable product. And it's only going to get better,
06:10because I mean, this inspiration that Caitlin Clark and company have had with these young
06:15girls in America, there's going to be, you know, this is not gonna be any turning back.
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07:24guaranteed. PrizePix, run your game. And I also think that the reason Caitlin Clark became so
07:32popular, I think in the college game, it was a time when the men's college game really is suffering.
07:37Well, yeah, that is going through this and how, to what extent women are going to be affected by
07:42this compared to the men, you know, with the NIL and the transfer and stuff. Right.
07:47It's all, it's all sitting there and women are making money. I don't know that the transfer
07:52portal is. I think it's going to hurt men more. I don't know. It just seemed to me.
07:59People want to root for somebody, you know, they want to root for a team, you know,
08:03they want to, they want to become accustomed to a roster. They want to, they want familiarity
08:07with their team. Yeah. You know, and Caitlin's team was very familiar. I mean, the timing,
08:13I mean, look, UConn won back-to-back championships with a different roster.
08:17Right. And, you know, so there's no familiarity for the fans.
08:22No, no. It's a, it's a, it's a fan experience, which we've brought in this discussion,
08:25a fan experience is different change and people are going to have to adapt because it's not going
08:30to go back. It's not going to go back. It's the, there might be wonderful. And these will be
08:35stories that will be, you know, nice little juicy subplot stories for some writers, some down the
08:40road about, Oh, here's a guy that started out as a freshman and he was averaging four points a
08:46game. And now he's a senior and he's a possible first round draft pick. You know, well, those,
08:52those stories used to abound. Well, you know, they don't exist right now because that is very,
08:59very rare, but the women, you might, you might still have that coming with the women. You know,
09:05I don't know that there's going to be the wholesale upheaval of rosters are now experiencing. We'll
09:11see. Well, I could tell you this as a girl, dad, and, um, my weekend consisted of
09:20approximately 14 hours of either field hockey or lacrosse. I can tell you that the endorsement
09:31money for the women will, will be there. And I think Caitlin set the table. She got the $30
09:36million from Nike and a lot of young women play basketball. They play and it's kind of,
09:41and it's not just going to be basketball, but you know, if they're smart, you know,
09:46um, it's going to go to other areas. It's going to go to training shoes and so forth. I mean,
09:51you know, I could tell you in my, in my family, my kids totally play sports, but they train and
09:56they go to these different gyms and they got these different routines and so forth. And I need
10:00training shoes and I need basketball shoes that I need, you know, they're probably taking me to
10:05the cleaners, Bob, you know, what can I say? But I'm, but I'm saying is that, you know,
10:10for the women and, and not just Caitlin Clark, but for the women in general,
10:16I think there's going to be more endorsement money. And that's where the real money is.
10:20Even with the, I mean, look, Jordan retired. I mean, he's a billionaire because of Nike,
10:25not because of the Bulls. No, no question. No, I understand. I mean, already though, just the
10:30fallout from other sports, uh, two other sports that I forget the name of the gymnast, but this,
10:35uh, this, uh, this making more. I'm sorry. I apologize folks, but I can't remember her name,
10:42but I know there's a gymnast out there breaking it in big time. And, uh, uh, you know, and there
10:46was states and areas where other women's sports or different sports are more popular. So, oh,
10:52it's great. It's good. But, uh, but in terms of back to, you know, the whole thing with the WNBA,
10:57uh, it, it, it's, it's really a, a, a heartening thing. I I'm happy for them. I'm happy for
11:03everybody. And, uh, now, and, and by the way, uh, they're going to expand Simone Biles. Simone
11:11Biles is who you're speaking of three new teams in two years. You know, we're going to have,
11:16we're going to have a team in the Bay area, the Valkyries. I love that the Valkyries.
11:22And we're going to have Toronto, which is unnicknamed yet. And of course, Portland is
11:26coming in and 26 as well. So it is expensive. And the thing is it's needed because making a WNBA in
11:33the context of their world is a lot harder than making the NBA or making it because they, the job,
11:39the players are out there and the jobs aren't. And it is, it's, uh, but now there's going to
11:45be more opportunity and more, and that's going to be great. Look, there's nothing like seeing
11:48a game live. I mean, watching it on TV is great. We have all the technology, we have our phones,
11:52we have access to everything, but being there in person, it's definitely the way to go. Game time
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13:28time today. What time is it? It's game time. All right, Bob, let's segue into some other
13:33NBA news. Oh, by the way, I wanted to ask you this. Who was the first female basketball player?
13:41Was it that you remember that came on big? Well, you know, you had the, I used to know her name
13:52for sure, the stunt that the Warriors played when they drifted. Right. Anne Meyers, Nancy Meyers?
14:01No, no, no. She was legit from UCLA. Anne Meyers certainly would be one for sure.
14:08Oh, Carol Blazejowski for sure. Nancy Lieberman. Nancy Lieberman-Klein.
14:19These are the real pioneers, you know, that really put it over the map. And Anne Meyers,
14:24that group right there. The original is 76. The first year the women were in the Olympics,
14:30that original group, and Anne Meyers was the star of that. But Carol Blazejowski,
14:34there's three names for sure. I'll throw you out there right now. And so they're the Billie
14:41Jean Kings of the field. And then of course, the 96 team was awesome. And they were undefeated.
14:48They played over 60 games in preparation and saved their best for last. They pounded Brazil
14:54in the finals. And that group was terrific. And I'll tell you, I still don't think there's a
15:01better point guard, maybe in the league than Dylan Staley was. And Lisa Leslie, great, great
15:07pivot player. You know, they set the standard that they're now, you know, trying to reach.
15:13So that's it. But I'll give an answer to your question. The three names that jump out at me,
15:16right, were Anne Meyers, Carol Blazejowski, and Nancy Lieberman-Klein later.
15:23Okay, now we can segue to this. JoEllen Beed is going to be in Philadelphia until he's 30,
15:29anyway. I wasn't so sure that was going to happen. But he signed in. I mean,
15:33who can turn down an extra $193 million for an extension? I guess when it comes to the money,
15:42no one can turn. We're very unfair with players. And we think, oh, you know, it's not just about
15:48the money. Will he go and try to win somewhere else? Well, you know, when you have his health
15:53history, it is going to be about the money and security. He is an interesting case here,
15:59because we know he's good, very good, has been an MVP, is a beautiful scorer. He absolutely
16:06is a concert. He had a game in the 22-23 season, when he hit the Celtics with like 52. And I raved
16:14about how effortless and versatile it was and how smooth and good looking it was. And I got hooted
16:21out by some people because they didn't want to acknowledge it, you know, that he had done this
16:24to the Celtics, you know, that he had. But the thing about him that everybody knows, it's Kevin
16:30Vindolino. And this past year, he played 39 games. Oh, he averaged 34 points a game. He averaged to
16:36play 39 games, not even half a season. He has never played more than 68 games in an 82-game
16:43season. And yet he's, you know, here's the yeah, but with him in terms of paying him, you know,
16:49is he around when you need him in the spring? You know, and the answer in the past has been not
16:54necessarily. So, you know, he will be 31 in March. Is there any indication that he is going to stop
17:01getting hurt? I mean, not, you know, I mean, this is a tremendous, risky investment, don't you,
17:07in that regard. It's not that he isn't good. We know that he's damn good. And he's a good ambassador
17:12to his fun. You know, he's controversial. He's funny. You know, he's a public person.
17:17Right.
17:18He's X-ing or he's Instagramming and all this stuff. You know, he's willing to get engaged.
17:23So he's a guy that people can follow and enjoy or, you know, or not enjoy, you know, but
17:30you know he's around. So I wish him well. And I like watching him play. And, you know, be nice
17:36with one of these years, though, he could play at least 70 games.
17:39You're right. I wonder if Philly just feels they need to keep that one guy there to keep fans
17:44interested to sell tickets. I don't know. But when we see what the Celtics are going to be sold
17:51for, the one hundred and ninety three million is a lot of money.
17:57When we're talking that, you know, it's a minimum of six billion. They're going to be
18:00you're going to need to pony up to get the Celtics.
18:03Yeah, it's crazy.
18:04You know, I by the way, as an aside, I hope that Steve Tagliuca is the guy that can round up this
18:10the money bags and get it done. I just don't want to see some outsider come in that we
18:16wouldn't know anything about it. We couldn't trust. I'm rooting for Pags.
18:20But that's a lot of dope. I understand. But, you know,
18:24there's always seem to be somebody out there, you know, some some rich guy.
18:29Well, Pags, I mean, Pags wants to win. There's no doubt about that.
18:32So I agree with you 100 percent. All right, Bob, that'll do it for this edition of Bob
18:36Ryan and Gary Tangway, our podcast. Thank you very much for joining us. And Bob, let me just
18:43get a wonderful spot here in the air brought to you by Price Picks, the exclusive daily fantasy
18:48partner of CNN's Media Network. Pick more, pick less with Price Picks. See you next time, Bob.
18:53Very good.