This ain’t Augusta

[00:00:02] Hey everybody and welcome to The Staredown. I am Mallory, your host, and it's been a little while since I've been on here for just a normal episode.

[00:00:10] The last episode I dropped was the first part of the Women in Coaching and Officiating series that I'm starting.

[00:00:17] But we all know that as the temperatures outside are heating up,

[00:00:21] so are sports. Just because it's summer break for the kids in school doesn't mean that sports take a break. So

[00:00:29] you know what to do. Sit back,

[00:00:32] relax, grab a drink or two and let's get into The Staredown.

[00:00:36] Alright, so let's go ahead and kind of hit first things first. We all, if you've listened to any of these previous episodes,

[00:01:11] you know that

[00:01:12] the NCAA, I think that the whole part of the NIL,

[00:01:17] they have really screwed themselves out of this being something that's going to be viable and that they have anything control of

[00:01:24] and can

[00:01:26] have a nice, decent path forward. Right now it's still just very much chaos. So

[00:01:32] about a week or two ago, we got a statement from The Power Five

[00:01:36] and the NCAA stating that they had come to a settlement agreement in the case House versus the NCAA.

[00:01:42] And if you don't know what the case is about, basically

[00:01:45] it is a complaint that's been brought by former Arizona State swimmer Grant House and Sedona Prince, a former Oregon

[00:01:52] but current TCU basketball player. And they said that basically along with the NCAA, the five wealthiest conferences

[00:01:58] had improperly barred them and other athletes from earning endorsement money.

[00:02:04] So the class action lawsuit was actually getting ready to go to trial this coming January.

[00:02:10] So they still had, you know, a good seven months before that happened.

[00:02:14] But I think they just decided to go ahead and say, no, we're gonna settle. So

[00:02:19] let's talk about the settlement. It's a very, very interesting thing.

[00:02:26] So there would be a new compensation model. Each school would be permitted

[00:02:30] but not required to set aside up to 21 million dollars in revenue to share with athletes per year.

[00:02:37] However, there's a caveat that as revenues rise, so could the cap, which makes sense, right?

[00:02:43] Like you're not going to leave that at 21 million if your revenues continue to rise.

[00:02:47] So I do like the fact that they have that in there.

[00:02:50] And here's the other good part about it. Athletes in all sports would be eligible for payments and schools would be given the freedom to decide

[00:02:57] how that money is going to be split up amongst sports programs,

[00:03:03] athletes, those things. So, you know, the way I look at it is is a company really saying, hey, here's our budget for the year.

[00:03:10] This department gets X number of dollars. This department gets X number of dollars.

[00:03:14] So on and so forth. And so I think that's kind of what you see here.

[00:03:18] Where I'm interested to see how this all really kind of plays out is that scholarship limits

[00:03:24] by sport, they wouldn't be restricted anymore, but there would be

[00:03:29] roster restrictions.

[00:03:31] So

[00:03:33] it's going to be interesting to see how the roster restrictions play out.

[00:03:37] You know, what does that do? You're obviously not gonna go back into a time where

[00:03:43] you give all of your money to all of them in sports and then women's sports fall to the wayside.

[00:03:48] And I think too, especially now that we have seen the rise of women's sports as we've talked a lot about on the show,

[00:03:54] that schools know better than that. They know that the women are drawing in

[00:03:59] viewership and

[00:04:00] bringing in things and, you know, fans that they've never had before.

[00:04:05] So what's not really clear is that

[00:04:09] if this new compensation model, if it's going to be subject to the Title IX

[00:04:14] loss that you know, we all know, which is kind of where we also got the scholarship restrictions because you can't, again,

[00:04:20] you can't give everything to football. So you have to make sure that your women's sports have some

[00:04:25] love there from the scholarships. But

[00:04:28] the other big thing that's going to be affected by this is NIL activities. So currently, you know, you have a lot of

[00:04:35] collectives, which are basically just big groups and they go out and raise money on behalf of their collective and then

[00:04:43] they pay their athletes. They're the ones that handle all of the contracts for these athletes.

[00:04:48] It's actually something that I've kind of looked into a little bit further because if there are athletes out there, in theory,

[00:04:54] I, on this podcast, could go to a collective and say, hey,

[00:04:59] XYZ athlete just had a great

[00:05:02] performance, I would want to pay them $200 for an hour long interview that would air on the podcast and then we'd work out the details.

[00:05:10] But I would do all that with the collective and then the student athlete could sign it and we would go from there.

[00:05:14] So I think that's really cool that they have the collectives. It's actually kind of helped streamline it. Of course,

[00:05:19] it's obviously also given us some crazy,

[00:05:21] crazy things in terms of amounts of money that have been raised and that type of stuff. But

[00:05:27] this new settlement, what's going to be interesting to see is can those collectives be brought in-house into the athletic department?

[00:05:34] So right now they are not

[00:05:37] affiliated with the university. They just serve as like the third party

[00:05:42] middleman for lack of better term. So if they bring them into the university,

[00:05:48] then to me the next question would be, then does that become part of your fundraising arm?

[00:05:53] And if so, then does that become a tax deduction?

[00:05:56] Which then that's a whole other can of worms and something that I'm

[00:06:00] sure people that are way smarter than me

[00:06:03] have looked into those laws and are working through that. But it's definitely something to watch.

[00:06:07] I do also think it's interesting because

[00:06:09] in the settlement and the terms of the settlement weren't actually

[00:06:14] included in the statement that was put out by the

[00:06:18] the conference commissioners and the NCAA

[00:06:21] Charlie Baker, the head of the NCAA. But

[00:06:24] there are obviously a lot of speculation and one of those is that they would be able to go back and pay athletes,

[00:06:31] retro pay them from I believe it was 2016. So you could see, you know, student athletes from

[00:06:37] 2016 who were out in the real world making their way and getting paid for it.

[00:06:41] So I think that's going to be an interesting thing to watch.

[00:06:44] Right now the case in the settlement is with the federal judge who was going to preside over the case.

[00:06:49] So if he approves it then

[00:06:52] y'all get ready to hold on to your hats because

[00:06:56] basically

[00:06:58] amateurism as we know it will be gone. It will stay

[00:07:02] basically probably at the high school level and below and then

[00:07:06] I'm interested to see does that open a can of worms for AAU?

[00:07:10] Those types of things. So I guess we're gonna we're gonna have to wait and man, I do not envy that judge.

[00:07:16] But I mean we've talked about it here too.

[00:07:19] The face of college athletics is changing.

[00:07:23] It's

[00:07:24] we knew the model that was there couldn't sustain forever, you know, you can't

[00:07:28] you can't continue to have the rich keep getting

[00:07:33] stinking wealthy rich off of these kids and then send these kids back into poverty situations.

[00:07:38] I mean, you know, you've probably heard me say it on another episode about they go home and they sometimes don't even have

[00:07:44] meals over Christmas breaks and things, you know, they don't their families don't even have money for that. So it's kind of hard to

[00:07:50] to not want these kids to earn some money.

[00:07:53] You know, then do you start putting caps on it? I don't know. So interested to see kind of what comes out of that.

[00:07:58] But yeah

[00:08:00] the NCAA man, they're just

[00:08:02] they're just gonna let somebody else continue to clean up their mess for them and at this point it's going to be the

[00:08:08] the court system. So I guess we're gonna see what happens.

[00:08:11] All right, the next thing I had for you guys today is Charles Barkley. So let's talk a little basketball.

[00:08:18] And so we're gonna talk Charles Barkley and I don't mean men's basketball. Of course not. I still mean women's sports.

[00:08:24] So Charles Barkley

[00:08:26] back early May,

[00:08:28] he announced that he was going to donate a million dollars specifically to Auburn and it is going to be

[00:08:35] for women's athletics.

[00:08:37] His exact quote was,

[00:08:39] I just want to make sure I always take care of the women at Auburn because I worry about them more than anything during this

[00:08:45] NIL movement.

[00:08:46] Everybody's worried about football and basketball. I just want to make sure the women know I've got a lot of love and appreciation for them.

[00:08:53] So

[00:08:54] here's a round of applause for Charles.

[00:08:56] We like Charles, right? Like we love him and I love that he did that and he also donated a million dollars

[00:09:03] to St. Mary's which is

[00:09:05] a

[00:09:07] great organization.

[00:09:09] It educates girls from kindergarten through 12th grade

[00:09:13] and

[00:09:14] they specifically work with women. So

[00:09:17] I believe there was a segment on 60 Minutes that he saw and it inspired him. So I'm here for it, Charles.

[00:09:23] I am absolutely

[00:09:26] digging your love of women's sports. I'm digging the fact that you know that

[00:09:30] women, man, they're still missing out a little bit. It's you know, not everybody can be an angel Reese and

[00:09:38] and a Caitlin Clark making millions.

[00:09:41] But I still like the fact that you know, you're here to support the women's game and make sure that the women are

[00:09:47] taking care of as well.

[00:09:48] Okay, so let's kind of move on into the Olympic sports because I think there's been a lot of talk about Olympic sports

[00:09:55] coming up that

[00:09:56] people may not realize are Olympic sports, but they absolutely do now. So let's start off with women's basketball.

[00:10:02] So we'll kind of talk a little bit of WNBA here as well. I think you've seen Caitlin Clark struggle a little bit.

[00:10:08] I mean, she's obviously not struggling that bad y'all. If that's what struggling looks like can I struggle like that in my

[00:10:13] everyday job? That'd be great because she's like fourth in the league in

[00:10:18] assists and rebounds, I believe both the last I checked.

[00:10:22] But she was actually just left off the U.S. women's national team

[00:10:27] but to that point there are no

[00:10:30] WNBA rookies on that team.

[00:10:32] So I think what that says and kind of you know, one of the things that you've seen with Caitlin is it's a very grueling

[00:10:41] schedule that they have to go into especially with the Olympics. So

[00:10:45] let's remember

[00:10:46] she could have gone to the

[00:10:48] to the women's team national camp, but she was playing for an NCAA title so she missed camp.

[00:10:55] Well, then like you know a month after that she's in the draft and then she's immediately starting to play. So

[00:11:02] I mean in March we were just talking about her trying to go for an NCAA championship and here she is three months later. She's

[00:11:09] graduated,

[00:11:10] been drafted, started her new team, played in the WNBA.

[00:11:14] It's a very grueling schedule.

[00:11:15] So I actually think it's probably a good thing for her long term to maybe sit this one out.

[00:11:20] It's going to drive her. She's already tweeted out, you know,

[00:11:23] or told her coach like all this is going to do is just make me work even harder and it

[00:11:27] should and I'm glad to hear her say that but also

[00:11:30] like sometimes your mental health is a lot

[00:11:34] more important and I think you know the team that they do have, the roster that they've put together,

[00:11:39] it's insane and it's girls who

[00:11:42] have been around for a while. I mean, you know, Asia Wilson,

[00:11:46] Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart,

[00:11:50] Joel Lloyd,

[00:11:51] Brandi Griner.

[00:11:53] I mean you look at this and actually as I'm looking at the roster there are only

[00:11:58] four

[00:11:59] girls that have not had any Olympic experience on the team.

[00:12:04] So I think that's pretty impressive that

[00:12:08] the others have and the other thing is too is it's not a very big team.

[00:12:11] There are only and I'm counting while we are recording this so one,

[00:12:19] 12, 12 spots. That's it.

[00:12:22] So

[00:12:24] 12 spots.

[00:12:25] Only a third haven't been to an Olympics. I mean, I get it like I get why she's not there.

[00:12:30] So

[00:12:31] she was trying to become only the fifth rookie ever to make it

[00:12:36] onto the team

[00:12:37] but I again I get why she she didn't so

[00:12:41] you'll have your day. Don't worry, Caitlin. You'll have your day.

[00:12:44] I think one of the other things I wanted to talk about with her and just the WNBA

[00:12:48] in general is like her and Angel Reese both, you know, I was

[00:12:55] I pointed out the fact that they were both very very vocal

[00:12:58] in college.

[00:12:59] You know, they probably said a lot of stuff to the refs that they shouldn't have and they got away with it

[00:13:04] and they're not getting away with it now in the WNBA and what's interesting is is like now you've got

[00:13:09] other ladies out there who've been around the block and they're not afraid. They don't

[00:13:13] they don't care that you make more money than them. They don't care that you're the biggest star. They're out there

[00:13:19] vying to play and keep their roster spot and

[00:13:23] to beat the rookie who comes in like a rock star, like absolutely that's what they want to do.

[00:13:28] So, you know, I think you've seen both of them kind of take a little bit of a

[00:13:34] I don't want to say a hit but they both have very different approaches and very interesting approaches as to how they handle it.

[00:13:41] I also think it's very interesting too that Angel came out and said, you know,

[00:13:45] it's more than just one person as to why people are now tuning in and

[00:13:51] I get it Angel. Yes, you're absolutely right. It's more than one person but

[00:13:56] and yeah, you're part of that. You absolutely are part of that, but it's also more than the two of you. So

[00:14:01] it's just part of the trend. But hey, I'm here for it. I love the fact that they have that confidence in themselves.

[00:14:07] I think that's just going to carry over into the sport as a whole. So I'm kind of here for it. Call it cocky,

[00:14:13] whatever, but you know nobody blinks an eye when

[00:14:16] everybody watches the roast of Tom Brady and

[00:14:19] you know, nobody I didn't really feel bad for him. If you've watched it, I did not feel bad

[00:14:23] for him at all. He knew exactly what he was doing. But

[00:14:26] you know, yeah, we watched because we wanted to laugh at Tom and we wanted to see others make fun of him too.

[00:14:32] But yeah, so I don't, sorry Angel, sorry Caitlin. I don't really feel bad for you all but

[00:14:37] it's going to be good. It's going to be good for this sport. So y'all just hang in there,

[00:14:41] make it through your rookie season and you'll be good. Promise.

[00:14:45] All right, so on to other Olympic sports and we're 47 days away from the Olympics. I am so

[00:14:51] excited. So one of the main things that I love about the Olympics is track and field and

[00:14:57] this weekend we had the NCAA championships and Ole Miss produced

[00:15:03] a triple crown winner on the women's side, the first ever

[00:15:07] four by 100 meter relay winning team on the women's side, and a shot putter who is a national champion. So

[00:15:15] shout out to Tarek on the men's side for winning the shot put,

[00:15:20] Mackenzie for being our triple crown winner with the 100, the 200, and then the four by one

[00:15:26] win and then again, shout out to our team who went and won the women's first ever four by 100

[00:15:32] meter relay championship for my Rebels. But beyond that, huge kudos to Connie Price Smith.

[00:15:42] She is a four-time U.S. Olympian. She was a thrower and she was amazing at it.

[00:15:52] She's actually one of very, very few female head coaches that coaches both the women's and the

[00:15:58] men's team. So just kind of tying it back into that other little series I'm doing on the women

[00:16:04] in coaching and officiating. I have a feeling as we get closer to the Olympics you may hear a

[00:16:09] little bit more about her. I think she's just a phenomenal human being. I've met her a couple

[00:16:13] of times. It says she's 62 years old and y'all if you saw her there's no way. I don't think

[00:16:20] there's any way she's 62 years old. But I'm so happy for her. The Ole Miss women also just

[00:16:26] finished fifth as a team at the NCAA championship, outdoor championship, and so that's the highest in

[00:16:32] school history which is awesome. So coach Connie keep doing you. The men are right there too

[00:16:38] man. We've got a lot of good running and throwing happening in Mississippi.

[00:16:44] Some other cool things that are happening with Olympic sports. Both track and field and boxing,

[00:16:50] the winners of those within the Olympics will be getting paid by their respective international

[00:16:56] association. So I love that. It's obviously you know you look at the history of the Olympics

[00:17:06] and even kind of tying back into this whole NCAA thing and its amateurism and you know

[00:17:11] pre-fontaine. That was one of the things he fought for. See pre-fontaine back in the

[00:17:18] late 60s early 70s was you know you call us amateurs and we have to train but we don't even

[00:17:27] have money to support ourselves to be able to live. So you know he fought a lot for that

[00:17:35] which then obviously opened up the door so that you know you have like dream teams and

[00:17:39] you have professional athletes who can go play like on the baseball side, volleyball,

[00:17:45] basketball obviously that kind of stuff. They can go represent their country in Olympic

[00:17:51] competitions so now they're even taking it a step further though and they're going to be

[00:17:55] introducing money for the winners of events in those sports. So I think that's going to be

[00:18:00] really cool. I'm also just I'm really excited for the Olympics. It's just it's so fun

[00:18:05] and I am such a nerd when it comes to sports. I spent my Friday night watching college baseball

[00:18:11] because it's super regionals and oh there were some good games and then also watching the NCAA

[00:18:19] championships and my friend Kelly was over here and she can attest to this but we were

[00:18:25] watching the men's 5,000 meter run and I was like they were showing on this one guy Texas

[00:18:33] Adam runner and I was like oh he didn't he didn't do himself any favors. He's boxed in,

[00:18:37] he's boxed in, he's got to get out like he's not going to have the ability to pass like what

[00:18:41] is he doing? What is he doing? Like somebody's got to go to the outside and but like look at

[00:18:45] these strides and I was like you know look they're so close and like it amazes me how

[00:18:49] there's way less collisions than what you would think and then next thing you know there is a

[00:18:53] collision in the back which just sorry sorry to the guy from Indiana who I believe I

[00:18:59] jinx that upon my bad but it was so cool to watch because the guy who ended up winning it he

[00:19:05] actually got out of being boxed in and he went around the side and the dude from Texas A&M

[00:19:12] he was having to kind of work his way around and work his way out and it slowed him down

[00:19:16] by even like a half a second to a second and so I am a total sports nerd because that's how

[00:19:22] I spent my Friday night so I'm sorry Cody. I love you but when the Olympics are on I hope

[00:19:29] you're just ready for me to nerd all the way out because that's what we're going to be doing.

[00:19:33] So enough about that Olympic sport let's take a quick break and when we come back I've got a

[00:19:40] couple more topics and then I'll let you get on with the rest of your days so we'll be

[00:19:44] right back. All right well thanks for taking a break hopefully you didn't need a refill

[00:20:20] hopefully you already had your second drink ready to go but if you did get a refill

[00:20:24] cheers to you. So I miss football I truly truly miss football. Football is

[00:20:33] it is life it really is for me it's just life I love it but there's some really cool things

[00:20:40] happening with women and football so the first thing I want to talk about is the American

[00:20:46] gymnastics great Miss Dominique Dawes she is now one of four new limited partners

[00:20:54] to the Atlanta Falcons and I think that is so cool. She as well as former Walgreens CEO Rosalyn

[00:21:01] Brewer film and television producer Will Packer and venture capitalist Rashaun Williams they

[00:21:06] were all approved at the league meetings in Nashville but how cool is that that you have

[00:21:14] two women joining an NFL owners group but not even just that a former Olympian in gymnastics

[00:21:25] like I just think that's so cool and especially because y'all know I love Simone Biles

[00:21:28] and her husband Jonathan he's in the NFL so I like the whole gymnastics football kind of

[00:21:35] crossover so I think that's really cool. I'm very excited for Dominique I don't know that

[00:21:41] it's going to make the Falcons any better but you know we'll see. I also think what's really cool

[00:21:46] is that she was a member of the gold medal winning team in the Atlanta Olympics so

[00:21:54] a little thing I caught on there that I was like hey girl you won your gold in Atlanta

[00:22:00] now you're part owner of the Atlanta Falcons hey awesome really really cool. Also some of

[00:22:07] the other cool things that are happening and actually strangely a tie-in here again with the

[00:22:11] Atlanta Falcons so they are starting the Atlanta Falcons have set up like a new thing to get

[00:22:16] girls flag football out into high schools around the south and I was so excited to read that two

[00:22:24] of those high schools are in my hometown one of them is my alma mater Austin High School

[00:22:29] who you with hey hi and then the other one is Decatur High School our cross-town rival but

[00:22:35] I am so excited to see where that goes and how we set up flag football in North Alabama and also

[00:22:42] across the south. I think it's just so cool we have a friend that we met at the Ole Miss Arkansas

[00:22:47] game last year someone in their family her name is Katie but she I believe is a quarterback

[00:22:52] and I think it's her middle school team and y'all these girls go out and ball every weekend

[00:22:58] and they dominate like every time I look on Facebook Katie's got a new ring and I'm like

[00:23:02] that's just so cool so I'm really excited to see that and then even a step further than that the

[00:23:08] NFL has even taken a step and hired a new vice president which is her name is Stephanie Kwok

[00:23:18] I believe I pronounced that correctly it's KWOK so we're going to go with it but she is

[00:23:25] she's obviously brilliant as well she went to Harvard Business School and graduated from there

[00:23:30] but she's going to be the vice president in charge of growing girls flag football

[00:23:38] I think it's also more than just girls I think this is the other thing that the NFL is doing

[00:23:42] they're growing flag football as a whole I know that in part it is because you know we're

[00:23:47] trying to get that added to the Olympics it will be a sport in LA so that's going to be fun

[00:23:54] to see that but I am I'm really really happy that the NFL put a female in charge of that

[00:24:00] I think she'll be able to kind of help bridge the gap you know we've seen females become way

[00:24:06] more interested in football over the past few decades and I'm hopeful I'm so so hopeful that

[00:24:14] we are finally past the for it to be an NFL jersey aimed at a female it has to be pink

[00:24:21] and rhinestones and glittery and sparkles no I don't I don't want that I want what those guys

[00:24:26] on the field are wearing now just maybe don't make it so that a small hangs down to my knees

[00:24:32] like maybe make it in more of a female friendly cut not meant for someone who's 6'4 but you

[00:24:38] know um I'm here for all of that I just y'all know I'm just don't you don't have to girly

[00:24:44] it up for me but hey if the pink if the pink jersey sell and the glitter jersey sell then

[00:24:48] keep them but you know maybe maybe do some other things so again very happy to see a female step

[00:24:54] into a vice president role with the NFL to help spread flag football especially because

[00:24:59] flag football is a lot of the ways are in a lot of places the only way that girls are allowed

[00:25:05] to play football um you know I'm okay with that in a lot of ways um I I would have loved to

[00:25:14] have played tackle football but y'all let's let's be realistic I'm five foot three and

[00:25:23] I I'm not going to tell you how much I weigh but in high school at five foot three where I

[00:25:28] maybe maybe weighed a hundred pounds soaking wet if I had played football I would have been

[00:25:33] snapped in half so if flag football is where it's at and there's enough interest then heck

[00:25:38] yeah I am here for it let's keep this sport safe let's continue to grow it and

[00:25:44] yeah obviously I'm super super excited about that um the other thing that's not really female

[00:25:50] related um but that did kind of come out is that they are going to be switching to uh a

[00:25:59] different a different way of tracking first downs um I loved reading the story that ESPN

[00:26:06] put out about it and it's it has to do with the gene uh seriatory where he uh in the game of

[00:26:14] the cowboys and the raiders in 2017 you know they the chain gang ran out they put it down

[00:26:20] and it was like so close to is it a first down is it in a first down and gene took out

[00:26:26] an index card and literally put it between the nose of the ball and like the chain to see

[00:26:31] and like it was I believe indeed a first down he claimed um that oh yes it was it was a first

[00:26:39] down and that's right because that's what helped the cowboys go on to win it okay it's all

[00:26:43] coming back to me now and no I'm not going to sing Celine Dion for you you don't want me to

[00:26:47] do that but um he said later on that you know it wasn't the index card that that was the

[00:26:57] thing that made him like get him to that decision he said he had visually done it that was just the

[00:27:01] reassurance to him and so apparently at the league meetings in March the owners have now

[00:27:07] approved a new system um that will be used in the preseason and it's going to be optimal

[00:27:13] tracking once it's once the ball is spotted by hand um then it will like it will basically

[00:27:21] notify officials if they've made the first down so I'm kind of interested to see how this

[00:27:26] is going to work um it's also going to be uh again this kind of goes back to how you like

[00:27:34] implement things like don't implement them like try it out in preseason right like don't don't

[00:27:38] just throw it into the regular season because god knows that's the last thing we need in

[00:27:42] regular season um but I do think it's going to be kind of cool because we have enough

[00:27:47] cameras and we have you know GPS systems and all those things now I mean look you can go to top

[00:27:53] golf and play and it knows exactly which hole you made it in based off of the ball that you

[00:27:57] hit so why can't we instead of taking the human eye into account which I get it I am still

[00:28:04] kind of a purist there is a human element to all of this and so I don't want to fully take

[00:28:07] that out and have like robots or only computers making calls but for for games where we there

[00:28:16] is a lot on the line right and honestly in football games there's always usually a lot on

[00:28:20] the line both college and nfl so let's start using the technology that's there like let's

[00:28:25] work smarter not harder and especially I mean it's we all joke it's it's a game of inches

[00:28:30] I I would even go so far as to say football is actually a game of millimeters a blade of

[00:28:37] grass you know that that type of stuff and so I think that's going to be kind of cool

[00:28:40] to see that they're doing that so I'm happy to see that the nfl is going to at

[00:28:42] least try and try it out see what happens and maybe we don't have to use index cards

[00:28:47] but hey at the end of the day we know we can all right so I think I've talked enough about

[00:28:53] things that I love now we're going to talk about a story that I shared on our Facebook page

[00:28:58] I actually found it because Megan of Megan and Mal who joined me she posted this and it

[00:29:05] actually took place in the Mississippi Delta the Cleveland Country Club in Cleveland,

[00:29:10] Mississippi the lady who posted it her husband signs up for this golf tournament every year

[00:29:17] and so his it's a golf club they have an annual golf tournament I guess I don't I didn't

[00:29:24] it didn't say if it was like a member member or member guest or something like that but

[00:29:28] you know she went on to write that every year you know they it's a tradition with

[00:29:32] their family they meet old friends down there kind of see how the town has changed since

[00:29:38] they all graduated from college at Delta State and all those things so his usual partner her

[00:29:43] husband's usual partner couldn't play because he was going to his niece's wedding so her

[00:29:49] husband needed a partner so their daughter Lauren who was very excited to play she's not really

[00:29:58] a golfer is my understanding she was a division one college basketball player so obviously

[00:30:03] she's competitive but she had some free time and so she was like what the heck why not so

[00:30:08] they turn in the paperwork they do all this they put her name on it paperwork was turned in in

[00:30:15] April keep that in mind turned in in April they paid everything they were getting ready they made

[00:30:22] their reservations hotels all those things so this got posted on Friday I believe so on

[00:30:31] Thursday which was due to you what day was that the sixth the sixth of June now remember I said they

[00:30:40] filled out their paperwork and turned it in in April then on June 6th the day before the

[00:30:45] tournament supposed to start they get a phone call Lauren can't play why Lauren's a girl

[00:30:52] and she can't play well why not because she's a girl okay well she's willing to the mom who wrote

[00:31:01] this said that Lauren was willing to you know hit from the men's tease she wasn't asking for

[00:31:07] anything special she was going to play same rules as the as the men and basically what it

[00:31:15] came down to was that well the reason was is they've never had a man or they've never had a woman

[00:31:24] play in this tournament so she couldn't play okay well nowhere did it state that it was a

[00:31:31] men's only tournament nowhere did it state that women could not participate and the golf pro

[00:31:37] even went on to say that

[00:31:44] he well he agreed with the husband when the husband was like so you mean to tell me if we

[00:31:47] had just put her out there put her hair up underneath a baseball cap dress her in like a

[00:31:52] guy's shirt and pants or shorts y'all never would have known and she could have played

[00:31:59] and they were like yeah basically I'm like what what the hell are you kidding me so

[00:32:05] you know in a place where we're trying to keep I don't know I just I was like what that doesn't

[00:32:12] even make sense so they go on and they they ended up having someone who the golf okay so

[00:32:25] the golf pro went back and asked for some time to talk it over with some of the others

[00:32:29] and then he would call them back and make sure because they were just pleading they were

[00:32:32] like she just wants to play like you know it's it's not like she's an LPGA

[00:32:37] tour player she just wants to play with her dad and again you've had her paperwork for

[00:32:43] okay so well let's just say they turn their paperwork paperwork in on April 30th

[00:32:49] and then you have all of May and then you have the first five days of June and then

[00:32:56] you let her know the day before like that's that's BS come on as soon as they turn in

[00:33:00] their paperwork and you saw the name Lauren you probably should have said something if you

[00:33:05] weren't going to let her play anyway so golf pro calls around the other golf pros in the

[00:33:10] area are kind of like yeah whatever and so so Lauren then calls and Lauren said she just

[00:33:19] wanted an answer a reasonable answer as to why his response to her was and I quote we have

[00:33:25] never had this problem before she then replied with so the fact that I am a girl is a problem

[00:33:32] he didn't respond to that then she asked him if dad had lied and said that I was a boy and

[00:33:39] I dressed like a boy I would have been able to play and he actually replied to her yes

[00:33:46] okay so here comes Lauren's brother he plays in the tournament he sends an email to the club

[00:33:54] stating you know that this is insane and this is offensive and he's going to let everybody know

[00:34:02] they then get a call from a friend that went to school with them who happens to hold a position

[00:34:10] on the board at the club they're trying to keep him anonymous so that's about as that's about

[00:34:14] as vague as it can be he apologizes ask the dad so he's a friend of the dad and then so he

[00:34:19] asked the dad if they allow her to play would she still be willing to do so so dad talks to

[00:34:25] Lauren Lauren says yeah she just you know wants the right thing to be done so he lets us know

[00:34:30] that and then the mom says you know he lets us know that they would get back with us very

[00:34:34] soon so five and a half late five and a half hours later at 9 30 p.m. the night before

[00:34:40] the tournament is going to take place they've still heard nothing at 10 30 dad reaches out to

[00:34:46] his friend again still nothing you know they've got to leave by 9 a.m. to get to the tournaments

[00:34:51] play and all this basically by 5 a.m. the next morning they still don't know anything so

[00:34:59] they're four hours away from having to leave at 6 a.m. they know nothing 7 a.m. they know

[00:35:03] nothing 7 a.m. they know nothing at 8 a.m. when the dad reaches back out to his friend

[00:35:12] he was told that they were discussing the and y'all this is an error or this is in quotes issue

[00:35:19] i'm going to come back to that so 8 a.m. okay we're going to get back to you very soon

[00:35:24] so at 10 15 over an hour after lauren and her dad were supposed to leave town

[00:35:35] dad reaches out one last time for a final decision he explained that he thought there was only one

[00:35:41] right answer because there is only one right answer and that's to let her play

[00:35:45] and basically after 24 hours of thought discussion communication between the board

[00:35:54] current golf pro past golf pro and other members of the club the cleveland country club

[00:35:59] decided to stand with their decision of not allowing a girl to play in the tournament

[00:36:05] that does not state that it's a men's only tournament and the only reason is is they have

[00:36:11] simply never had a girl play in it before okay well guess what guys augusta national had never

[00:36:21] had women play there before either and now they do they actually have members of augusta

[00:36:28] national that are women oh my god augusta national the holy grail of golf in america

[00:36:37] when it comes to clubs has women but cleveland mississippi just cannot allow

[00:36:48] a woman to play in their good old boys men's tournament oh my god give me a break give me

[00:36:59] a damn break this is the dumbest fucking thing i have ever read okay i did i'm sorry i try to

[00:37:07] keep these clean but literally what the fuck the thing that i take the most offense to

[00:37:17] is that it was quoted multiple times that this was an issue lauren being a girl

[00:37:28] was an issue are you are you kidding me like what what that's not that's not an issue guys

[00:37:36] it should be very it should be very very clear like we my husband and i are members of a

[00:37:40] country club and it is very clear we actually just had a tournament this past weekend at our

[00:37:46] club it's big it's called member guest it is men's only they also have tournaments that are

[00:37:52] only or seniors or whatever but they at least state that and i've also seen them where there

[00:37:58] are things that haven't been clear they then either come out and clarify it as soon

[00:38:03] as they realize it not literally the day before the tournament starts

[00:38:08] or they go and make the proper course correction and then communicate it out to everybody

[00:38:13] that's how you handle this that is how you handle this you don't handle this by

[00:38:18] telling a girl who just wanted to go play golf with her dad at some country club that honest to

[00:38:26] god i didn't even know existed and i'm from mississippi i'm from that area ish i didn't

[00:38:31] know that cleveland had its own country club i mean i'm not surprised but it's not i can

[00:38:35] guarantee you it's it's not the nicest country club you've ever seen it sure as hell is not

[00:38:41] but i just my mind is just absolutely blown my mind is just absolutely blown that this is even

[00:38:49] still a thing guys this is 2024 all they had to do was say hey y'all can come play but

[00:39:01] she has to hit from these tees like there there was a way to like come to a middle ground

[00:39:06] that still let her play but didn't i don't know hurt all the guys feelings that she could possibly

[00:39:14] out drive them i mean is that is that what this is are they i don't i really don't understand

[00:39:20] where the hurt feelings and the insanity comes out of this like i just i don't even get it

[00:39:29] it's disgusting it's bullshit it's not like somebody's going to win millions off of this

[00:39:34] and get freaking a pga to work hard exemption from it they're just not my god so

[00:39:44] to the men of the cleveland country club i want all of you out there that are listening

[00:39:52] to this if you know any of them please deliver this message from me to them

[00:39:57] um fuck you fuck your golf course and i invite you i invite you to come and look loren in the eye

[00:40:10] and tell her to her face that being a female is the issue at hand and that is why she was

[00:40:17] not allowed a day out on the golf course with her father at your country club i want to be

[00:40:23] there i want to film it i want to get both sides on the record when it happens but we all know

[00:40:32] guys they're not going to do that guys and girls we all know they are never ever ever going to

[00:40:37] do that they are not man enough none of them are man enough to look her in the eye hell

[00:40:43] they're not even man enough to look her dad in the eye and tell her this or him this they

[00:40:49] so yeah so fuck them fuck their golf course and i hope that none of them ever hit anything

[00:40:55] par or below again i hope they bogey and double bogey and triple bogey every single hole from

[00:41:01] here on out i really do because how dare you how dare you and i hope i hope that none of your

[00:41:14] daughters because i'm pretty sure some of them have daughters i hope none of their daughters

[00:41:18] ever face any kind of discrimination like that in the workplace or in their everyday lives ladies

[00:41:24] give me just a second because we know that that is false and if that were to ever happen

[00:41:28] and they don't experience and hell would freeze over but i hope they wouldn't ever experience it

[00:41:35] and i hope i hope that you don't have to deal with your daughter crying because she knew

[00:41:41] she was the most qualified for a job and didn't get it i really i really hope that

[00:41:47] but more so if that does happen i really hope that you feel just an ounce an ounce of guilt

[00:41:58] for what you've done also i kind of hope all that happens to harrison butker as well look

[00:42:04] i get it here harrison butker i haven't even really wanted to talk about him but

[00:42:08] he's also disgusting i also find it hilarious that his teammate who just went down this weekend

[00:42:14] while having heart issues at practice harrison is the one who saw it and guess what he went

[00:42:19] and ran to a female trainer to alert her that there was something happening i'm sure she

[00:42:26] probably should have been in the kitchen i'm sure he absolutely told her that that she

[00:42:31] should be in the kitchen after she helped save his teammate but i digress and that was a

[00:42:36] little bit of a side note that i didn't plan to to give but y'all that's just disgusting

[00:42:41] kody and i went on vacation for his birthday happy 40th to my hubby and we went and played

[00:42:49] this beautiful golf course called my acoba it's a pga tour stop like it's it's beautiful and

[00:42:57] it will eat your lunch like it's so hard but it is so pretty it there was there were women

[00:43:03] playing out there so again i'm going back to the whole point of like cleveland cleveland

[00:43:09] cleveland country club in cleveland mississippi you're not that good get off your damn high

[00:43:14] horse and you know what maybe eat some crow because i really do hope that one day you all

[00:43:19] get the chance to face lauren and i hope she just beats the shit out of you in a game of

[00:43:23] golf so okay i think i've made my point on that it's disgusting it's backwards and

[00:43:29] yeah it may take me a little while to get over that so also sorry this that that whole

[00:43:34] tirade probably took this from pg-13 to rated r really really fast actually i know it did because

[00:43:40] i know i said f i said the f word more than once and we know that it only takes

[00:43:45] it takes more than one f word you can say the f word one time in a movie to keep a pg-13 rating

[00:43:50] but if you say it twice you're going to r so sorry not really uh because that's it's

[00:43:55] y'all that whole situation is truly fucked up like that's so fucked up um oh looks there

[00:44:00] we go i definitely just got us an r rating um on that note and on vacation note uh just kind of

[00:44:06] a shout out to all of our friends that we made in mexico so to melissa and sarah paton the

[00:44:11] mother and daughter who were there on a girls trip celebrating that's awesome i hope you guys

[00:44:17] are tuned in and listening um it was so fun getting to meet y'all also to michelle and greg

[00:44:23] so wonderful meeting y'all greg i'm sorry i tried to also make you a cancer survivor but

[00:44:28] i think you know the hardest shoes that's probably enough so my bad for that one uh and then to their

[00:44:32] friend who will forever be known as the drunk alabama fan from mexico who's calling on line one

[00:44:41] i hope all of y'all are listening i hope you all made it home safely and then also to our

[00:44:47] other friends that we made shawn and judy um we hope you guys made it back home safely

[00:44:53] after some travel delays but i wanted to shout all of them out as just a thing to show again

[00:45:00] kind of why i love this show why i even wanted to do this show as a whole of sports it doesn't

[00:45:06] matter where you're from they bring people together it amazed me how just wearing an old

[00:45:13] miss hat um we got to meet so many people actually just met a girl who graduated from

[00:45:17] old miss she was down there with her family um if y'all are listening to this please stop by

[00:45:21] our tent i think i told y'all where it is uh but sports brings people together you know it doesn't

[00:45:27] matter where you're from doesn't matter where why you're on vacation no matter where you are

[00:45:31] in the world like it was so cool to meet all of these people and talk sports which then led

[00:45:35] us into other discussions and it's just it's a really cool thing so um i'm not ready to

[00:45:41] give up on sports yet even though they may frustrate me um in a lot of ways i may not

[00:45:47] agree with everything but come on y'all we all know that if i ruled the world and i ruled

[00:45:51] everything it would be perfect right right absolutely it'd be perfect for me but maybe not

[00:45:56] for all of y'all and that's that's probably a good thing for all of you all so all right

[00:46:01] enough for this episode i know you're all tired of hearing me i'm tired of hearing me so

[00:46:06] you can always go find us at thealabamatake.com you can find us on facebook at the stare down

[00:46:14] stare down is one word uh you can also then go find us on instagram thank you instagram

[00:46:22] for not being weird and changing your name like that other app did but on instagram we are at

[00:46:27] the staredown underscore podcast on twitter or x whatever it is uh we're still gonna go with

[00:46:36] twitter guys um on that we are at the stare down pod you can also send us an email to

[00:46:44] the staredownpod at gmail.com we look forward to hearing from everyone also the next episode

[00:46:52] will be the second installment of our women in coaching uh segments and i'm i'm kind of

[00:47:01] i'm still kind of working on how it's going to go the direction it's taking

[00:47:04] the things i want to talk about are kind of kind of splitting but we'll see what happens right like

[00:47:08] i'm just here to talk about a thing i love uh but it's it's kind of a fun topic so

[00:47:13] on that note i hope you all have a phenomenal week i hope you've had a great weekend

[00:47:19] and i hope that you were able to sit back relax grab a drink or two and listen to the

[00:47:26] staredown i thank you as always you guys are why i do this and hotty toddy we're super close

[00:47:34] to football season guys 87 days have a wonderful week bye