Hey there! Still buzzing from the electrifying atmosphere of the women's final four basketball tournament? Us too! It's been incredible to see how much women's basketball has grown, hasn't it? From more people tuning in than ever before to the powerful legacy of Title IX, there's so much to talk about.
Let's dive into how staying in college longer builds such a strong bond between fans and players, especially compared to the quick turnover in men's basketball. And can we just take a moment to appreciate our local teams and the way they bring communities together? Players like Caitlin Clark are real game-changers, bridging gaps and uniting fans like never before. Okay, maybe CC united Hawkeye & Cyclone fans like never before.
In this episode, we're chatting about the evolution of the world of women's sports. It's all about mentorship, rivalry, and the incredible journey these athletes take. We're seeing a shift in sports commentary too, with more women voices stepping up and shining a light on deserving athletes.
We're also taking a closer look at the changing roles of women in sports media and coaching. Hats off to the trailblazers who've paved the way, and let's make sure there's always room for more women at the commentary table. Coaching isn't easy, especially for women facing unique hurdles, but they're breaking barriers every day.
So, here's to the athletes gearing up for the next season – may their hard work and dedication continue to inspire us all. Cheers to the sweat, the tears, and the bright future of women's sports!
**Listen for when Amy forgets names: Breanna Stewart & Muffet McGraw, LOL!
Make sure to subscribe to our channel, comment, like, and share!
Amy, Kitty & Stacey
P.S. Isn't our intro music great?! Yah, we think so too. Thank you, Ivy States for "I Got That Wow".
Hey there! Still buzzing from the electrifying atmosphere of the women's final four basketball tournament? Us too! It's been incredible to see how much women's basketball has grown, hasn't it? From more people tuning in than ever before to the powerful legacy of Title IX, there's so much to talk about.
Let's dive into how staying in college longer builds such a strong bond between fans and players, especially compared to the quick turnover in men's basketball. And can we just take a moment to appreciate our local teams and the way they bring communities together? Players like Caitlin Clark are real game-changers, bridging gaps and uniting fans like never before. Okay, maybe CC united Hawkeye & Cyclone fans like never before.
In this episode, we're chatting about the evolution of the world of women's sports. It's all about mentorship, rivalry, and the incredible journey these athletes take. We're seeing a shift in sports commentary too, with more women voices stepping up and shining a light on deserving athletes.
We're also taking a closer look at the changing roles of women in sports media and coaching. Hats off to the trailblazers who've paved the way, and let's make sure there's always room for more women at the commentary table. Coaching isn't easy, especially for women facing unique hurdles, but they're breaking barriers every day.
So, here's to the athletes gearing up for the next season – may their hard work and dedication continue to inspire us all. Cheers to the sweat, the tears, and the bright future of women's sports!
**Listen for when Amy forgets names: Breanna Stewart & Muffet McGraw, LOL!
Make sure to subscribe to our channel, comment, like, and share!
Amy, Kitty & Stacey
P.S. Isn't our intro music great?! Yah, we think so too. Thank you, Ivy States for "I Got That Wow".
All right.
Speaker 3:Hello everyone. Hey, hello, I am in a celebratory mood. Are you guys in a good mood today? Sure, yeah.
Speaker 4:What are you?
Speaker 3:celebrating? Well, that's part of our intro music. Is I'm about to start a celebration of our? Um, our intro music? Is I'm about to start a celebration? I was just thinking I was me and uh, cool gang celebrate good times. Yes, well, um, welcome three cocktails in with a couple of friends who have been there, done that and still want more. Yeah, Kitty. Stacy.
Speaker 4:I've definitely been there.
Speaker 5:We've been there, I've been around the block a few times.
Speaker 3:Yeah, us and Jenny.
Speaker 5:There's so many people that would not get that reference that's okay, jenny from the block, little little j-lo love.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it kind of does tie in a little bit. A little bit about being around the block a few times. You guys, I want to talk about the women's final four basketball tournament. Okay, did you watch?
Speaker 4:stacy, I know you did.
Speaker 3:Yes, I did yep.
Speaker 4:Being an Iowegian, you had to oh yeah, we had to watch yep, yep, yep, it was exciting, even the loss, you know, um in the finals for Iowa. Still, yeah, so good they came out. You know they came out so strong. I thought, oh my gosh, they actually can win this. It's a long stretch to go four quarters for that, and a lot of times they come out super strong in the second half and that's, I think, when North Carolina was stronger, south Carolina or South Carolina sorry, north Carolina was stronger, south Carolina or South?
Speaker 4:Carolina. Sorry, yeah, between that and the men's. Anyway, south Carolina, I didn't watch the men at all.
Speaker 3:You didn't, yeah, nope, but that's not unusual for me, but I Kitty, did you watch at all?
Speaker 5:We only watched a couple of the games. Okay, no, just yeah, I want to say the last two games we watched and primarily well, and Bill's an Iowa agent also, um, so he's always interested, but also it was just everybody talking about it. Yes, but you just feel like, oh, I better watch this game because there might be some conversation at work tomorrow.
Speaker 3:Yes, isn't that fantastic. So, speaking of everybody watching it, I have loved looking at the numbers of viewership. What did they say? 18.4 million viewers watched the last game and during parts of that game it spiked up to 24 million viewers. That's more viewers than at the World Series, than at a Super Bowl, than, I mean, than any college sport. I think almost all of the professional sports have not had that much viewership, and it was because these women were so amazing. Yeah, it has taken a long time to get here. Yes, it has.
Speaker 4:It. Actually I found one stat where it's doubled in the past couple of years. You know, two years ago it was like 4 million, last year 9 million, this year 18 million. You know, I mean that's huge, just from you know, wanting to see, you know, like I said, these women basketball players that are breaking records and yeah, super good.
Speaker 3:You know, um, I was. I, I'm a sports fan. I like to listen to all the commentary around it, but they were. There were a bunch of men on one show and let, let, let's put a pin in talking about all the women who, who called all these games and were commentators. Let's go back to that. But the men were talking about how the women's game is, is where the energy's at, and how everybody knows superstars, and it's not just Caitlin Clark and it's not just Angel Reese, it's Juju Watkins, it's Paige Beckers, it's, you know, camila Cardoza, it's it's all these people.
Speaker 3:And I had a thought. I think it's because, um, men's basketball, college basketball, men's college basketball has become a one and done. They just look at it as a stepping stone to the NBA, so you don't develop any sort of relationship with a player, there's nobody that comes in as the freshman who does, who lights it up, and then you get to watch them for the next three or four years, and I think that there's something to be said If you I mean, maybe the NBA doesn't, god knows they're making a bazillion dollars, but I think that that's what has been so fun. I mentioned Paige Beckers Paige Beckers and Tessa Johnson, both Minnesotans. People in Minnesota have heard Paige Becker's name forever. I'm sure Caitlin Clark you've heard her name forever. I don't know what even goes so far to say is. Caitlin Clark is one of the few things that could bring together Hawkeyes and Cyclone fans. Yeah, yes, because they're not of the same camp?
Speaker 3:No, no, no for sure, and it's not often that Minnesota roots for Iowa teams, but I know that a lot of people did yeah, and I think it's that you get to watch them and you, you somehow are invested in them and yeah, yeah, kitty, when? Yeah, yes, well, I was going to talk to you. Go ahead, ask your question, because mine has to do with the branding, the marketing. Going to talk to you.
Speaker 5:Go ahead, ask your question, because mine has to do with the branding, the marketing, yeah, so when? When did this really start to get some traction? So we know that we're, we, we are all um grateful for 1972, when title nine was passed. Yes, it is. It is crazy to think that that was when I think about that year, 1972.
Speaker 5:So you know, we were very we were five five right yep, um, crazy that that had to pass in order for us to, you know, have equal funding and being able to women being able to girls and women being able to be included in athletics. But it took a while still for it to really um the results of that to really be seen, this extreme excitement that we've just come out of with the final four. When do you really feel like that momentum started to get underway? Was it five years ago? Was it more than that and I just wasn't paying attention? I don't know.
Speaker 3:Can you guys hear the motorcycles in the?
Speaker 4:background. They're racing down the road.
Speaker 3:There's the crew. Sorry about that, you know. I think that since Title IX there have been blips, especially in America's history, where we've gotten behind. Women's athletics yeah, if you think back to Chrissy Evert in tennis, billie Jean King in tennis, of course the Williams sisters and there's been a lot of tennis seems to be one of those sports that you know, when they get there, everybody knows their name. I would say the 1999 U S women's national soccer team, which was an amazing year. I mean, think of all the Mia's that you know now that is for from Mia Hamm, 1999. I was pregnant with it, with Ava, had her about uh, you know, a month later and I so badly wanted to name her Mia, um, and was shot down. You know, just add it to the long list of names. I love Ava's name, but you know that's how that goes, um.
Speaker 4:Women's gymnastics women's gymnastics like um, women's gymnastics, women's gymnastics like like olympic, olympic sports, you see, women. You know, we know a lot of women's names from olympics. You know, I think this basketball thing is new for sure. Yes, you know. Yeah, women's basketball being so popular all of a sudden is definitely new, you know.
Speaker 3:I wonder. I wonder if it's bigger now because of the results of Title IX. So many girls have been playing at high they're out there just competing, have been playing at high. They're out there just competing. It's now okay, and it's been okay for them for a long time to be beasts on the court and to to to play hard. It used to be that there were a few schools, a few college schools, that were just phenomenal and all the good players wanted to go to a few of those. Uh, tennessee, uconnn, would you say, stanford, stacey, are you drawing any other?
Speaker 4:No, but between UCLA and you know what I mean. California, yeah, california, for sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I think that there are just so many more athletes now that can play at that caliber that they're not all flooding to one or two schools. So you've got half a chance in your state to know a couple of players and you track those players, and so there are more colleges, and I know a number of the coaches are talking about that. You know, and it's the same kind of conversation that's going on with the US Women's National Team in soccer. You know people are like, oh, us isn't as good. No, I think everybody else is catching up, sort of thing. Yeah, man, have things changed, you guys.
Speaker 3:When I was a junior in high school, my girls' basketball team went to the state tournament. The year before the boys went to the state tournament. My junior year, the girls went to the state tournament. Let me just compare the two, shall we? So the boys' team had great warmups, the snap-off pants, the whatever.
Speaker 3:Girls had a t-shirt with our names on the back and, by the way, my last name flick. They put it on there in all caps. You don't space that L and I, right, and it does not look good. And so I brought every time I'd get one of those. I bring it home and my dad would get the razor out and trim the L back so that you know it didn't look like a four letter word out there on the back of my jersey. But the moms bless their freaking hearts because we didn't really have PTO back there or the booster clubs sort of things. The moms on the team got in touch with the women gym teachers, got in touch with the gym, the women gym teachers, the facts, the sewing teachers, and made all of us girls come in. And all the moms came in and we sewed our own warmups so that we could have nice pants and jackets. Yeah, yeah, can you imagine right now telling the varsity boys football?
Speaker 3:team come on in Come on in Saturday.
Speaker 4:You're going to cut, you're going to lay out the pattern.
Speaker 3:You're going to put pins and things. You're going to sew seams yeah.
Speaker 4:Most of the parents aren't going to be able to sew, let alone everybody. I find that so hard to believe because you were a big school.
Speaker 3:We were a little school and we had an actual uniform and warm-up. Oh, we had a uniform. We had playing uniforms, but we had the warm-up T-shirt that went over the playing uniforms, but we did not have the sweatsuit warmups that the boys teams had Interesting. So now you see these girls, women. You know what starts off as girls, as they become women, and they're getting marketing deals and branding deals. Yeah, Kitty, have you noticed this? Have you had conversations? I mean you talk to people all over the place.
Speaker 5:Well, I think one of the things that has really helped to skyrocket the whole thing and have these opportunities for young women who are developing these amazing careers and getting sponsorship deals and things like that, was the rise of social media.
Speaker 5:So it happened at the exact right time. So, when all of these women were excelling in their you know all the names that you mentioned a little bit earlier, Amy social media was on the rise as well, offering an opportunity that never existed before for these people to be close to their fans, for them to share their stories and for them to build their own personal brands. So I don't think that there could have been anything more. I don't know that there's anything more effective than that for all of these rising stars, and I think that's been a lot of the engine behind all of these amazing women now as as role models, and thankfully, I mean I don't know, you don't see very many of them being in the headlines for domestic abuse, being arrested. Dui as we get with, you know, as we get in the other major yeah, yeah yeah, all the men's geez.
Speaker 4:They're lucky to get through a season with everybody, without somebody getting in trouble yeah, so it's awesome that they are actually good role model role models.
Speaker 3:Yeah, interestingly, I don't know I mean I don't know if anybody else has been paying attention, but there were a bunch of women who were commentating all these games, which is fantastic, and they were former players and they were former coaches and they were talking stats, but they were talking about the challenges and stuff that they'd lived through and they were really, really supportive and complimentary of all the players and they did this fantastic job. Of course, the big names were mentioned more, because that's where the expectation is, but they highlighted other players who weren't getting, who were flying under the radar, because, let's face it, as we saw, you cannot win a game with with one player. You know it takes a group, but there was a side show that was Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird and they had some other Stewart, come on, brianna Stewart, brianna Stewart. A lot of those girls played at UConn and they won multiple. I think that Brianna Stewart Gosh, this is horrible that I can't nail that down.
Speaker 4:I think it's one face, but I can't tell you what her name is either.
Speaker 3:Stewie they call her Stewie, I think. She won four national titles and they were kind of ripping on Caitlin Clark, getting a lot of juice, so to speak, a lot of attention, and they did back it up. And I will say, if you've ever listened or read anything Diana Taurasi has ever said she, she's old school man, and by old school I mean she, she has no qualms, she thinks they've got it too easy. She'd be the one that'd say, well, back in my day I had to make my own lunch and carry it uphill both ways. You know, she's got that kind of attitude.
Speaker 3:And she said something and people have taken it to mean it was towards Caitlin Clark, but I think she was talking about in general that you can look really good playing against 18 year olds, but now you're going to step into art. Basically, she's saying now you're coming to the real world and we're going to knock you down and sit you down and you're going to learn a few things, sure, which I'm sure every single one of those players knows that, oh don't you suppose I would even think anybody going the first year in, you know, nba, wnba.
Speaker 4:they're thinking you know, I don't know what I'm, what I'm gonna you know, I don't know what to expect and how I'm going to stack up there. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, but she's caught. She's caught a lot of shit because, um, people, somebody said, well, that's just hazing, that's how it is. They all have the mindset that that's what we had to go through, so now that's what you have to go through. So, as great as the support behind women's sports has been, why are women still sometimes our own worst enemies? How come we've not gotten that out of the way?
Speaker 4:Right, yeah, yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 5:I think there's always. There's always going to be. There's always going to be. I don't know if it's if she's being a bully or not, but there's always going to be that difficult personality that you're going to deal with at anywhere, anywhere in your life. So whoever's on the receiving end of that, hopefully they just look at it. As you know, this is a learning experience and you know it maybe fuels them to be the best that they can be and maybe in the end, that's the intention of that person. Who knows, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, who could hope?
Speaker 5:I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. Yes, you are.
Speaker 3:I'm just going to say, if you would, you should Google that. You should Google Diana Taurasi, and it'll come up and you'll go like, oh, oh yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I'll take that back.
Speaker 3:Also, she's like nearing 40. And she, you know she's had it hard. I will say people, she is a phenomenal player. Phenomenal, she's just an unbelievable player who has pulled her team along for years and years and years and been an anchor in the WNBA. My thought is why can't you be gracious to the next crew? Because you know all these girls, not just Caitlin Clark, but all these girls are bringing viewership with them which benefits everybody yeah, it does.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I wonder if you know how. You see, you know you, you mentioned that. You know there's all these women sportcasters. Now do you think that's maybe a piece of why they didn't always get so much coverage? You know before, if you got, because you've seen it, you see the line of five men talking about the game, right, you know, you suppose, um, you know that's a piece of it. That's probably. Who was, you know talking about what? Holding them back? Holding maybe? I mean I, I could imagine that, don't you think? I mean they want to talk about the you know men's NCAA instead of you know, and in the news, you know, all we would have known before social media would have been whatever we saw on the news, right?
Speaker 3:So yeah, probably. I mean I think I think to Kitty's point earlier without social media and their marketing and their branding deals um their sponsorships, we're not watching them as much. They're just not going to give a maritime because TV is all about dollars, I think. I think what's great about all those commentators is that the right word. Yeah, I think that's a stupid word. They're like commenters, but commentators. Yeah, it gives athletes another opportunity past their playing careers. I think I've mentioned that Ava's degree was in the School of Journalism and I think it's sports, media and communications, and she had a lot of athletes in classes because they were college athletes. They love sports, they love being involved in it, they love the energy and the activity. But they could see the writing on the wall they were not going to. Not everybody goes on to play and I think that there are a lot of women out there that are really smart about the game and are really dynamic and fun to watch and they're getting opportunities now they never would have before.
Speaker 3:No, never would have Right. I'm trying to think who, the women who, who talked about sports even when we were young adults? I know there were a couple um diet, uh, roberts, robin roberts, she was an athlete, basketball player, I believe. Anybody else come to mind?
Speaker 5:geez, um, I don't know, but you know what I feel like. It sort of started around you'd you'd see a female commentator at the olympics, because they were former skaters or skiers or tennis players. Um, you'd see billy jean king wrap up her career and then she would commentate. But tennis wasn't as big then, you, you know, as as it was in the Williams sisters era. But yeah, I feel like the first time we started seeing women show up in that, in that sort of position, was around tournament sort of things like the Olympics.
Speaker 5:But now it's, you know, with this movement of women having the same seat at the table as men, and I hate to say this, but they're wanting to bring women in to be able to say, hey, hey world, we believe women should have this seat at our commentator table. So here, you know, here is Aaron Andrews and you know whoever else. But, damn, you have to know your shit to be able to do that. Talk about, talk about being, um, scrutinized for every word, every what she's, what they're wearing, yes, um, every tiny little thing, simply because they're a woman yeah, and there's so many that are so good so good yeah, and I will say that I'm seeing fewer and fewer um people who were hired maybe because of how they looked, as opposed to their abilities.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you know, before you come at me about that, I also don't like people who sing the national anthem at sporting events. I'm very particular about some of these things. There's nothing worse to me than butchering the national anthem. Yes, you're not trying out for American Idol. It's a horrible song. Just sing it, sing it.
Speaker 4:Just normal, normal. Normal, no big runs and drills, no.
Speaker 3:Don't scat. There's no scatting. You have to scat. You did not allow for scatting during the middle. You've heard people scat. Oh, I'm just being a smart ass, but you know when they do all like you're talking about all the trills.
Speaker 4:All the run, all the run, and can we not?
Speaker 3:take a breath in the middle of a word. Sorry, this could be its own show.
Speaker 4:Sure.
Speaker 3:Things. That piss me off, but there's nothing worse than stupid questions that are asked by somebody who yeah and I know it's happened over the years that I've been a Twins fan that they make the women sometimes who are down on the field just do stupid stuff. Oh, I want to compare this hot dog to that hot dog. No, that should not be on TV. No, no, that should not be on TV.
Speaker 4:No, kitty, don't you wonder why it's always the you know female down on the field? And never in the booth.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, never in the booth and never in the halftime. You know, like I said, that desk where the five guys you know sit, yeah, you never see any women. Said that. That desk where the five guys you know sit, you never see any women. Yeah, that's right. For that, whether it be college football or NFL.
Speaker 3:I will say, um, baseball and basketball are both better at that. Um baseball, there was a woman GM, uh, in Florida who came in and she was only there a few years and left and was like pat it with you people and she did amazing things for the team. Becky Hammond is now coaching. She was an assistant coach for Greg Popovich in the men's NBA and you know more women are getting to be coaches, and and again. Why is the epitome being a coach for men's teams? Yeah, why is that top shelf?
Speaker 5:Right. Well, I think we'll probably start to see that shift now, Because you clearly hear people say I was talking about this with one of the guys at work today, because I said said this is what we're going to talk about tonight on the podcast, and he said I watch. I watch way more women's basketball than men's basketball and it's simply because, right now at least, they are better games, they are more competitive. You watch a guy's game, it's snooze fest.
Speaker 4:Yeah because they don't play defense. They don't play defense. Nope, it's how much you can score.
Speaker 5:Nope, so it's just. It's just better basketball, yeah. So I think you know, maybe all of these things are are great to keep the momentum going.
Speaker 4:Yeah, do you think the women's coaches have been a piece of this too? I mean, you can't hardly um, you know, discount Kim Mulkey, for instance. You know you can talk all day about her loud clothes, but she certainly brought something you know to the women's basketball table as well as successful as she's been, you know. Dawn. Staley. Yeah, Phenomenal yeah absolutely Lisa. Bluter. Lisa Bluter, definitely, she's been in it a long long time?
Speaker 3:What? 26 years? It's been a long time. Yeah, there are phenomenal women's coaches. You know Pat Summitt, what's the one from Notre Dame that just retired? Um had a very soft name for a very hard cracking woman. Um, she was amazing. Amazing petite little thing who was just superstar, um so. So here's a question for you Do you feel it matters if women are coached by women?
Speaker 4:That's a good question. Um, you know, I don't. I don't think it does. I'm sure there's good. You know men's coaches. I don't know. I mean I know the Iowa State, you know women's coach is a guy and they all love him. So I don't know, I've been fairly successful. What do you think, amy?
Speaker 3:stressful. What do you think, amy? Well, I hearken back to a bad experience that came about during one of my children's high school careers where a coach was hired, I believe as a knee-jerk reaction to a man that they got rid of. So they hired a woman. She didn't know shit about the game, she was not good and and it's one of those deals where I'd like it to be that we've come far enough that that that it's the best person. But I really like there to be way more women interviewed, cause I think there are phenomenal women coaches out there. But I do get that.
Speaker 3:It is like so many CEO positions. You're a CEO of a corporation as a head basketball coach in college or a head coach in any sport. It's a life commitment. It's a lifestyle commitment. And if you are young and in the family era, you know your own personal family and kids. You've got to have everybody on board. Yeah, and I wonder you know the money, the time, the schedules, the rigor, the recruiting? If that doesn't, if women don't look at that same way that they do it, you know, when they get to a certain point they're like yep, I'm, I'm out when it comes to corporate America.
Speaker 4:I don't know. I'm sure it's similar. It would be hard to be, you know, young, have a young family and do anything, not if they have a stay at home-home.
Speaker 5:husband, yeah, could, yeah, could yeah, just another one of those conundrums yeah, what do you think the pay uh, equity or disparity looks like in this? On on this topic, I have no idea.
Speaker 3:I can't believe we didn't Google it, but I would bet.
Speaker 4:Because you can Google. You know, definitely, iowa and Iowa State being state colleges, the state pays them, so you can Google it and find out. But I didn't think to do that. However, I'm really sure that they would not be. You know, the women's coaches for both Iowa and Iowa State are not near as high as the men's basketball and the men's football. I think the men's football is higher, is the highest, sure, you know. So I mean they're not anywhere on the list, or I'd have, you know, not noticed. That's not what I mean, but you know, I just I just know that they're at the top and lisa bluter is not up there anywhere close. So, yeah, maybe after this I would think she'd get a giant raise.
Speaker 3:But who knows um, I would bet it's probably. What do you think? They make A couple of hundred thousand dollars and the men make over a million.
Speaker 4:Oh, I think the men make millions. Yeah, all together the women, I would hope more than a couple hundred thousand, but I don't think that.
Speaker 3:Do you think they'd make a million? I don't think so.
Speaker 4:I don't, I know nothing about this, We'll Google and we will look that up.
Speaker 4:That will be a piece of piece of the information we come up with. Yeah, in my doing a little bit of research I went down the rabbit hole of you know Iowa girls sports. So, like at the time I had no idea what. You know Iowa girls sports. So, like at the time I had no idea what, um, you know title nine was what that meant. How do you not know that I have a paper? Oh no, I mean I do now.
Speaker 3:I meant in the eighties, right I had no idea when I was in eighth grade and moved to Wilmer from Iowa, so let's talk about basketball at that point too. Yeah, yes, one of the papers that I wrote that went into my writing folder that followed me year and year and year until I graduated and I got all those back was about Title IX. As an eighth grader who came in, I have been a feminist forever and that's the thing that's on it.
Speaker 4:But I'm going to tell you why. I'm going to give you a little history on it. So Iowa, specifically, has had women's basketball since the yes, you know 40s, 50s, you know and they've let men.
Speaker 4:I think before that. Yeah. So title nine for Iowa women's basketball in high school was not a big thing because they had the what do they call it? The Iowa women's basketball association years before that. You know, I think it was their 50th anniversary. I don't know, maybe 10 years ago, I don't know. But the funny thing when I was researching it was yes, so they've had women's basketball forever, but we had six on six basketball and that became a very controversial thing in the eighties because for this reason thing in the 80s, because for this reason, kind of that we're talking about. So title nine really had to do more with education and giving women scholarship opportunities and that kind of thing. So with the same reason, if you know, you know, high school women and I got a bug flying around High school in Iowa, you know, up until the early 90s played six-on-six basketball and the thing was that they claimed they had a harder time getting college basketball scholarships because they'd been playing six-on-six and not five-on-five. So I thought that was interesting For me, playing six on six.
Speaker 4:I liked it, you know I I obviously was not going to play in college because we did not go to the state tournament. In fact we would lose out in the first round of the you know regionals. So we were no good, I admit that. But it was definitely an opportunity. And back then everybody went out for basketball, certainly in junior high, yep, you know, and they got weeded out like everybody does, but it was a bigger sport. In fact we did not have volleyball until I was well. We didn't have junior high volleyball when I was in junior high. But the year women's volleyball started at my high school was when I was in eighth grade. So when we got to be a freshman we could go out to out for volleyball. So I thought that was interesting. I figured, you know it was a brand new sport. Who?
Speaker 3:knew, we just didn't have it. Two seconds and explain what six on six basketball was.
Speaker 4:Six on six, different than five on five, where you, you know the whole team runs, you know the full full court six on six. There were three on your team. You had three on offense. They stayed on one side of the court and your defense, three defense, stayed on the defense side of the court. So you, you know. Some other differences would be you know, only dribble twice, only dribble twice, dribble, dribble, pass, dribble, dribble, pass, dribble, dribble, shoot. That's all you did.
Speaker 3:So, yes, um, so that's how I learned how to play basketball. I was a forward, so that meant I was a shooter. I got to Wilmer in eighth grade and my let me just say went from a group, uh, uh, a class size of 60 to a class size of two, 90. So I'm already in culture shock. I've got, I've got the wrong hair, I don't have the right jeans. All these people had gone to school together forever. They changed rooms, I went to the wrong homeroom. Everything I talk about hate my life. Oh, I did, but the one solace I had were sports and I was good for an eighth, you know, for seventh or eighth grader. Um, yeah, I get to basketball and now we're playing five on five and I fortunately I could run. I could always run, so that wasn't a big deal to run the whole court. But damn, if I didn't dribble twice and pick up my dribble and go to pass. I got yelled at so much because I could not have it already.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I didn't understand. I mean, it was culture shock. You would have thought they dropped me down in the middle of Vietnam or something. I had no clue what I was doing, it was just bizarre. But the thing about Iowa basketball that has always fascinated me and there is either an Iowa historical Society, pbs, something like that there is a full hour show of all this footage of former Iowa basketball and how it was the thing that brought people in town together because they were such high scoring games. There was games were 116 to 108. You know, there were just these unbelievable games. If you are ever flipping through PBS cause I've seen it in Minnesota and every time it's on I have to text Stacy. I'm like Stacy, stacy, it's on, it's such an interesting.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it is interesting they they made a movie a couple, just a couple of years ago and they filmed it just over a little ways away from here.
Speaker 3:What movie was that and how have I not seen it?
Speaker 4:Oh, it would be obscure, I can't think of the name of it off the top of my head. But yeah, they actually had tryouts of Iowa girls because you had to be high school, so then they had to teach them how to play six on six so they could be, you know, in this movie. So yeah, it was kind of interesting. I'll have to look up the name because I can't think of it. But um, but that's part of the controversy, you know, is that you know that once they went from a fast six on six game because, like I said, you had a dribble, dribble, pass so it was moving, there was none of this dribble around, or yeah, there was no stalling at the end of the game.
Speaker 4:I mean you could try stalling. You couldn't, you couldn't, so um, and then going from. You know, can you imagine like the year when you were in high school and it moved to five on five? You know they were so low scoring, you know, because they just it took a while to get.
Speaker 3:you know, get used to it, and it is kind of it's kind of a full circle moment for, I'm sure, women who are our age and older, who lived in Iowa, who played, because the fervor and the town getting behind basketball now is exactly like what it was back then.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, which is really cool. But, man, it's taken an awful long time to get where we're at and I'm just super, super excited about the trajectory of where women's sports are going, yeah, and in all aspects from from broadcasting, from coaching, from players I hope that they can boost the WNBA. It's a. It's a fast game, good teams. It's another good entertainment. Kitty, as you said, there's always something going on for even people who don't know really about the sport. I think that it is worth celebrating. Can we go further? So good, we started to wrapping it up. I would like to propose a toast, if I could, my goodness Fancy, from the three cocktails in crew, to the youngins who are out there working their fannies off this summer, who are going to be shooting baskets on their driveway, who are going to play in gyms without air conditioning, to the women who are joining new teams and having to learn new lessons. We salute you.
Speaker 5:We salute you. Yes, yay, salute you, we salute you yes.
Speaker 3:Yay, awesome. Here's everyone. How about we see you next time?
Speaker 5:Yes, See you next time. Bye.
Speaker 2:Bye. Can't ever stop. I'ma tour the forest runnin', get me to the top. I don't need a invitation. I'm about to start a celebration. Let me in Brought a good time for some friends. Turn it up loud past ten, turnin' up the crowd when I hit em with the power.