Discussion on WNBA Leadership and Accountability

This is the Sage Steele show and Riley

Gaines, host of the Riley Gaines show.

Alright, Sage Carrington just responding to the

white privilege post saying in part

I've never once claimed that the assessment

of the foul was white privilege.

That was your assumption.

Try exercising your critical thinking skills.

I know you studied psych.

I would never use that term as a rhetorical weapon

knowing the historical and social weight it holds

without having the proper evidence

to substantiate it.

Sage, she posted that and is now claiming

it didn't apply to the foul that was called or

the ejection.

My goodness, well all the evidence that we need

is right there on X where she posted and tagged

the Indiana Fever just thirty minutes after

she was rightfully ejected after this flagrant two foul.

But you know we should not be surprised at this point,

Laura, considering the way that this league is being led.

If the commissioner of the WNBA refuses to stand up for women,

to define a woman, she probably should not be leading a women's basketball league.

But that is the problem.

No leadership.

I mean this is crisis PR 101, right?

You own the issue.

They deep down know they've screwed it up.

You explain it to you and then you describe

exactly what you need to do to fix it.

Quickly, they have gotten themselves into this position.

What you said is exactly right.

They deserve all of the criticism that they are receiving

for simply refusing to stand up for women.

Riley, we knew it was only a matter of time

before we had a six-foot-ten former basketball star of the NBA

coming out and saying, you got me.

Like, this is who I am.

Welcome me into your ranks, welcoming,

tolerant, wonderful women.

I mean, this is what they asked for and

what are they going to do now?

Pretend they never said any of this?

Yeah, I know,

I think what Aness Cantor-Freedom is doing is genius.

He started a movement, which I think,

of course, was the intention.

He's kind of set them up to

where there's no other way out.

At least now they have to either define the word woman

or let him play.

And I would laugh the fact that they're having a

meeting to define what a woman is,

if it weren't so dang sad.

But at least now they're having a meeting,

which is more than what the Democratic Party is doing.

I hope they don't invite Ketanji Brown-Jackson to this meeting.

I would love to be just a fly on the wall.

Here's what I'll have to say about that.

If you have to have a meeting to figure out what a woman is,

then you're not fit to lead an organization,

even if that organization is one that generally loses about $50 million

every single year.

Here's my message to Kathy Engelbert.

I've got a farm, and on my farm I have a heifer

and I have a bull.

The bull is equipped with horns and all.

If Kathy Engelbert is confused about gender,

I would invite her to come milk my bull

and see how well that works for her.

I can't wait for she takes you up on that.

Sage, back to this flagrant foul,

which it's kind of getting, you know, I played basketball,

I played softball, I played field hockey, stuff can get rough.

But this is getting a little scary,

especially with the neck or anything near the neck.

What should happen to this coach for not standing up for Sophie?

Yeah, I mean, that is absolutely the right call.

No matter what,

Dijonay deserved to be ejected, and deep down everybody knows it.

On the other side, you had Katelyn Clark,

who was assessed a technical foul just for accidentally touching the official.

If you go back and look at that replay,

it's ridiculous, and then everybody talks about white privilege there as well.

At the end of the day,

the inmates are running the asylum, guys.

I hate to use that analogy,

but they have got to take control, and as you know,

exactly, and as you know, on any level, in any sport,

the coach always stands up for their player,

even if they think the player was wrong,

they lie, they defend them, and time after time,

Stephanie White, who I've known her for 30 years,

a lovely human being,

the fact that she's choosing to not stand up for her player

in every way is beyond disappointing,

and at some point, accountability must take place with her,

because we don't see this, right, Riley?

Riley, she's afraid.

The coach is afraid.

She doesn't have any courage.

Sorry, she might be the nicest person ever,

but she's afraid.

And I think that's why they don't like Sophie is because

Sophie does have courage.

She exudes it courage and confidence and it's it's contagious.

And I think there's a lot of jealousy

whether it's other players, whether it's even her own coach

and I watch Stephanie White,

you would not see that within any other professional League.

I think especially men's professional.

You wouldn't see an NBA coach not defending this player,

even if to say just point even if it was justified.

All right, Sage Riley, both of you.

Awesome to have you on.

Thank you and coming up.