GOOD FOLLOW - Shatori Walker-Kimbrough On Return Of WNBA + Best Olympic Moments & More.
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Welcome to Good Follow presented by DraftKings. I'm Megan Reyes and alongside me as always are Logan Hackett and Katie Novotny. Ladies, how are we feeling today?

I'm feeling fantastic. How are you guys doing? I'm great. I'm kind of sad the Olympics are coming to an end. I am sad and I also need them to end because it has been ruining my days. All I do is wake up and then sit in front of the TV for hours and then it's one o'clock and all I've done was sit on the couch. It's been freaking sick. I love it.

Well, one thing this Olympics that we also love is seeing all the women supporting women. And it feels like it was on a whole nother level, this Olympics. And we're living through change and it's hard to deny how incredible it is to experience. And so we're going to celebrate some of these moments. And to start, we will see this video of Adele stopping her concert so that everybody in the crowd could watch the women's 100-meter final. Let's check out this video. The women's Olympic 100-meter final.

I did it!

From a production standpoint, I think it's like they had to have had this timed impeccably to be like, all right, stop concert. Put on the put on the 100 meter final. I think that's so cool. And all these people getting behind it and being so pumped. Like what a moment. Adele, like one of the biggest fans.

Stars that we know. She's like, I want this. I need to watch this event during my own concert. What?

I think it's cool too, because you can't necessarily go ahead and assume that everybody at an Adele concert is also into the Olympics or into track, but you are now. Thank you, Adele. I want to know like what song she put in between. Like, did she do a little lead up to it to build anticipation? Or was it like a slow song and was like, guys, hold on, we need to watch this. No, it was like someone like you. Or like, yeah, like a rolling in the deep would be like a nice, a nice song.

crescendo into that. We get the high speed dance song and then we watch her blast out from the starting line.

Well, what are some other favorite moments that you've all had? I have to say mine happened with Simone and Jordan bowing to Rebecca Andrade. I can't remember what event it even was. I think the very last one, but it was a perfect way to end everything and all black podiums. Simone and Rebecca were going at it all week just to be battling. And then for the girls to be like, this is for you. We're bowing for you. I absolutely loved it. And I'm here for it.

It was the floor. It was a floor final, which is also Rebecca's like bread and butter. And I missed it because some of these events are a little bit too early for me West Coast time. But when I woke up and saw this for a good like hour, every time I saw the picture of the video, no matter how many times I saw it, I just started crying for no reason.

I know. It's so... I'm going to start crying now. We're in the most... It's the most competitive event in the world. And you see these young women lifting each other up. It's... That is what we need to be seeing. I... There can be so much competitive nature in sports against women against women. And that was just... Ugh.

We need a poster. We need a flag. We need a monument. I would fund that statue, you know? What other events or what other moments do we have this Olympics? Did you see Alice and Felix launching the nursery for all the athlete mothers? Iconic. It's 2024 and we finally got it. Like, what...

Hello? I know. Women have been allowed to compete. Allowed, which I can't believe I even used that word. But women have been allowed to compete in the Olympics for how long now? But they just got a nursery in 2024. It's a different conversation. But Alison Felix still being legendary in the Olympics.

I think after Tokyo 2 when there were problems with breastfeeding mothers bringing their children and they had to get special approval, just to see something like this is so special. And Allison is such a special human being. Oh my goodness. We also have Katie Ledecky sharing the podium with her teammate Paige Madden. Katie Ledecky, just a goat.

Absolutely nesting the competition. I love all the memes of where the competition's going this way. Katie's already all the way over here. The one that's like my favorite Olympic tradition is Katie Ledecky being a whole pool length in front of everybody else. I love it. But getting to share the podium with your teammate is so cool.

That's why I love the Olympics so much because, yes, there are these individual categories, but at the end of the day, the best part of sports is learning how to be in a team and being excited for each other and what that means and lifting everyone up and being excited and just like celebrating everything.

Everybody. I get so excited. Another one that we have is in handball, which personally I didn't watch too much of. I kind of even forgot it's an Olympic sport. But there was this really cool moment where the Brazilian handball goalkeeper was carrying off their captain after she suffered an injury and was carrying her off the court. And I don't know. It's things like this. Maybe I'm just like...

I'm in my soft girl era, but pictures like this just make me, they just make me feel all the feels. Yeah, I've been crying a lot. Me too. I'm so proud of them. They've worked so hard.

I know. I even put on like Twitter the other day that I need the Olympics to end because I have no more tears left to give. I'm crying at just the most ridiculous mundane moments and then obviously the most incredible exciting moments. I just, I don't have any more tears for this Olympics. You've taken everything I have to give.

But last one, there's also this really cool video of Michelle King, who is a Washington Spirit owner, has been such an incredible supporter of women's sports, donating $4 billion to the U.S. rugby team after they won the bronze medal. Let's take a look at this video. So I wanted to help. So I had some conversations last night and this morning, and I have committed a billion dollars a year for the next four years.

And that is to get you guys win the gold medal. So the race for the gold in the 2028 LA Olympics starts now.

Michelle is so... She's her. And I love everything that she's been doing in women's sports. And their reaction. I love how it's the typical, let's just have this really...

important monumental moment happen on the top of the stairs. Like Michelle, go to the top of the stairs and make your announcement about your $4 million investment or even not an investment, a donation. I'm going to do that next time I donate to a GoFundMe. I'm just going to stand at the top of my stairs and just wave.

But so special. And it's so cool to see. I think to everything she does, she is rocking that fit. She has it on every single time. It's looking good. Her hair is absolutely perfect and all done. And she's just looking perfect to be like, hey, here's $4 million. Go have fun. Like a mom, a mom giving like a kid some allowance to be like, go get some candy, sweetheart. She says $4 million freaking dollars.

She reminds me just from like the way she carries herself in her style. And this is completely meant as a compliment, but you're going to laugh. She reminds me of Edna Mode from The Incredibles, just with like her style and the short bob, but like in the best way possible. Like Edna Mode means Devil Wears Prada.

Anyways, we're going to move on. As we keep saying, the Olympics are coming to an end and we've had a really fun few weeks filled with some really incredible moments. So we're going to wrap things up in the Olympic talk and we will each share our favorite moment from Paris 2024. So Katie, start us off. What is your favorite moment from them this year's games? Kelly Ching and Sarah Hughes, their overall defense on the beach volleyball court has been...

I am obsessed. I've been watching and being like, oh, so good. Let's here's one of them. Check it out. Yes.

This one is a perfect example of just being able to put it down the line when no one is looking. And it's like the absolute strategy and smarts to be able to see this in this high intensity game. And then there was another one that it was like the longest rally I think I've ever seen in my life. And it ended high.

on a tomahawk, which you just go like this. And it's like a, it's like a, it's like a hail Mary in beach volleyball or in volleyball. And you're like, God, I think I can get it. And I think it was Chang who just popped it over. And the, and like, he was France who could, they had no idea where it was going. And it went, it just like, it was like a free ball just right over their heads. And then it was incredible. It was absolutely incredible.

I love it. Beach volleyball players cover so much ground and it's awesome to see them just absolutely. I mean, they did lose, but they were so, they did. Eventually they lost, but they were so good. That's so cool.

That's a great moment. Logan, what about you? What's your favorite moment? My favorite moment is going to Snoop D-O-double-G. I think it was absolutely genius to have him on the grounds. He's been everywhere every single day, every single sport. And like he's making a show out of it. And I absolutely love it. But check out this video of him dancing for a horse.

He's getting paid millions of dollars to be at the Olympics. And it's working. Listen, it's working. He has earned every last penny.

To your point, Logan, he's been everywhere. He's at like gymnastics. He's at volleyball. He's dancing with horses. The sky is no limit for Snoop Dogg. It's like he's the unofficial mascot. He is the Olympic mascot. He has to be here in 2028. So my favorite moment of the Olympics, I...

I'm such a sucker for the small countries, the underdog story. And without a doubt, mine is Julianne Alfred winning the women's 100 meter final. Everything about this moment from the look on her face, the reaction. And my favorite is this video of the screening, the watch party back in St. Lucia, where she's from, who she ran for. The video of this crowd going crazy when she won the gold. Let's check this out. No, no, no, no, no.

I'm gonna cry again. I know. I know. They're so excited. And like to have that many people in your corner, like can you imagine? I think too as Americans and even Canadians who are historically leading Olympics summer and winter in

In medal counts, sometimes I feel like we take the golds and the silvers and even the bronzes, we take medals in general a little bit for granted. And so when a country gets to win their first ever Olympic medal and let it be gold in the 100 meter final, which is arguably like the sexiest Olympic event to exist, it's so cool.

Like I will watch that moment forever and ever and ever. Okay. So now that Paris is getting ready to come to a close, we're going to turn our attention to 2028. LA 2028 is going to be the home of the next summer Olympics, which is home to Katie and soon to be home for myself. And so Katie, can you tell us what you have prepared for us? 2028 is the return of softball. Yes.

I am so pumped, although I am very frustrated that the softball...

It's going to be planned to be in Oklahoma, which I know is the capital of... It's the capital of softball. It's a big thing. However, there are a lot of fields here in LA. So I feel like we could figure something out. It's so ridiculous. Also, it is like Tornado Alley during peak tornado season. So I don't know. Anyways, but...

because I'm a huge softball head and I never stopped talking about how I play, I decided I want to try my luck at making the U.S. 2028 team. So I did put together an official tryout video for you guys. I think I have a shot. Hey, I'm Katie Novotny. I'm based in Los Angeles, and this is my official Team USA 2028 tryout for the Olympic softball team. Let's play ball. Jenny Finch!

I got my church scrunchies. I got my rolled shorts. I got my sliding shorts. I sprained my ankle about like six to seven dozen times. No brag. That's a 28. Your body's not about to break down. Like, are you even an athlete? You want to squish the bug. See that?

How long has it been? 20 minutes? I'm not a shortstop, but I could be. I'll be better in the outfield. Go, go, go, go, go, go! Oh, that was clever. We want to rally, rally, rally, rally. We want to rally, rally, rally, rally. Oh!

The third sunflower seed is still pickle. I ran out, so I'm making my own. It's a 28. 28.

It's kind of giving Sandlot. I mean, if there's a gold medal in softball cheers, Katie is definitely making that team. They should just put you on as like a hype woman. Make me the Snoop Dogg of 2028.

I'm nowhere near his level, but maybe he could be my mentor. I hope you make the team. I didn't know that we could video audition for the Olympics, but I think you have a solid shot. Yeah. Based on, you know, just reality shows, self tapes, you know, the nature of L.A., I believe in L.A.

I believe in me. I believe in me. I think I will need a lot of athletic tape and probably Tylenol, but I can do it. Coming up, Logan sits down with WNBA player Shatori Walker-Kimbrough to discuss the return of the WNBA and all things tunnel walks. We'll be right back. ♪♪♪

Welcome back to Good Follow. Joining me today is Washington Mystics guard, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough. Shatori, it's great to have you on the show with us. How are you today? I'm doing good. Thanks for having me.

Of course, we love having you here. And we're going to get into some basketball in a minute, but I want to talk about something people might not know about you. You independently studied wealth management and investing and have also taken an interest in real estate. What sparked that interest and how did you get into all that? My mom, even when I was younger, she was just big on having

having, I would say my ducks in a row for when the ball stops bouncing. And I didn't really exactly know, even still now I have like a couple options of what I want to do after basketball, but I'm still not like a hundred percent sure. But I did know like, while I'm playing, I can save as much as possible. So,

So then I started saving starting in college and then I wanted to get to the next level to have my money start working for me. So I just started listening to different podcasts and different books on different ways to like diversify so that my money can work for me in different ways. So I just started by, you know, investing in stocks. And then after I graduated college, I got a financial advisor.

And then even listening to more podcasts, I wanted to take that leap of faith of getting an investment property. So I got that last year, my first property last year. And so even now, like continuing to build on that knowledge and continue to have kind of like a safety blanket. So when it is time to transition out of basketball, I don't have to like rush into something that maybe don't want to do just for a check.

but to continue to have that safety blanket. - I was an athlete and I feel like I didn't learn anything about that. Do you think that that should be like a course that you have to take as an athlete? Because when you stop playing, it's like, oh my, like what is happening? I don't know anything.

Yeah, definitely. I think it's, uh, I definitely think it should for honestly, all athletes. Um, honestly, people in general, I think it's, it's definitely something that is overlooked. And the most important thing, especially when investing is time. So the younger that we can do it, um, the more beneficial it'd be down the road. And I think that a lot of people realize it. I don't know.

I don't want to say too late, but it's always one of those things like, dang, I wish I would have known this when I was younger. So I think that honestly, starting in like middle school, high school, I think it should be, there should be some type of financial literacy classes so that we can even, so that we can know, even just like taxes and different things of that nature should be,

something that, you know, is definitely taught at a young age. And I want to talk fashion for a minute. The WNBA season is getting ready to return in a few days, which means the tunnel walks are back. And that's one of my personal favorites. But as the OG of tunnel fits, what's it been like to see fashion in the WNBA and the tunnel walks take on a whole life of its own? It's great to see it blossom, especially because obviously we're looked to, we're looked at

as athletes. But I think that with our own fashion and different people have different styles, some people dress themselves, but you can tell, we can express ourselves in other ways, not just through the uniform that we wear or the one sleeve or the shoes that we wear, but also it gives a little glimpse of ourselves outside of the basketball court.

I absolutely love it. And I love on players that like, you don't expect to like pop it off, pop off. And you're like, Whoa, like what is going on? But does anyone's style have your attention this year? Honestly, so like so many people, I could probably go through each team and just name some people, but like just off the top of my head, like Dini Richards on my team, Steph Dolson on my team.

I love Skylar. Skylar's one of my favorites. Rekia Jackson, Nika Mule, and Cameron Brinker are some of my rookie favorites. Arike Agumawale is one of my favorites. Izzy Hare. I can just keep going. There's so many people. Courtney Williams is one of my favorites. The list keeps getting longer the more and more publicity it gets. And there's people that I'm even learning about that I didn't even know. Because when we're playing, we don't get to see what people watch the game. And so I'm like, oh, no, she didn't have that on. No wonder she played good. Yeah.

I'm really curious. Have you planned your fit for your first game back? Or is it more of like a last minute, whatever you decide, whatever you're feeling? Kind of like all the above. I think for me, definitely the weather takes into consideration because they always tell us where our pictures are going to be taken out, taken where they're going to be taken. So like if it's raining, we'll go inside. Yeah.

I may not put my best fit on it for taking pictures inside. So yeah, it'll definitely matter like how the weather is. But most of the time, it's like kind of like what I'm feeling. I definitely always want to try to go for comfort. So I'm always going to be comfortable, but definitely like where the pictures are taken, I take that into consideration. Is there any fit that you've worn that's been like your absolute favorite? I actually, I had this...

Like this furry cardigan with these oversized short trousers that I got over in Europe. I can't even remember the store and I'm really upset about that. I really liked it. But that was probably my favorite fit this year. And with the games ready to pick back up, what are you looking forward to in the second half of the season? For us, injuries have kind of, I want to say hindered us because we've been playing in close games, but we've been missing definitely a lot of key players.

And hopefully on this side of break, we can get some players back, um, and kind of put all the pieces together and see where that takes us. By the time your first game back rolls around, you would have been off for a month since the all-star game is having the long break helpful, or does it kind of interrupt the flow of the season? I think for me and us personally, I thought it was good for us, not just physically, um, but mentally as well, like different people were able to get away. Uh,

Our team had three Olympians, so they didn't get a break, but obviously they're competing in the Olympics. So that's always something great. But for us, I thought it was great that we got kind of got away and we could come back fresh mentally, emotionally and physically and kind of like all come together, especially with, you know, hopefully adding some more pieces so we can kind of have like a fresh start.

As a team, what will you have to do to pick up some wins for a chance to sneak into the playoffs? For sure. I think for us, it's just like using this break, um,

to kind of like regroup. Because like I said, there's been so many ins and outs of people in the starting lineup, people out of the starting lineup, people playing, people not playing, minimum restrictions, so many different variables. So it's kind of been a little bit inconsistent. So I think I'm excited for us to see it all come together. And that's what we're using this break for, to see it all come together and using this time to do that. What does your time during the Olympic break look like? And what's the behind the scenes for everyone? Yeah, for us,

us, we've actually been having our own Mystic Olympics. I think it was Saturday or Friday or Saturday, we had a cooking challenge. And of course, my team won. But yeah, different days, we've been doing...

different like challenges that the coaches will make up. That's kind of like, I don't wanna say based off the Olympics, because obviously there's no cooking in the Olympics, but outside of watching and cheering our teammates on that are competing, we've been kind of like doing like team bonding. So that's been super competitive. And like I said, I think it's been really good for us to not just regroup on the court, but doing those fun things.

It is on the court but different things like that to kind of like build the team bond. Oh, with like the Mystics Olympics, are there prizes? Like what do you win if you win the whole thing? So, the last time we did it, I think it was three years ago, we got like a Visa gift card. Like the gift card that you can use anywhere for first, second and third place.

I'm not going to lie, last time I was in first place, like the whole break and the cooking challenge killed me. Wow, I got dead last. Dead last. And I got like third place. I was really upset. Your new redemption year. No, yeah, for sure. For sure.

Between new fans, new teams, more games, and a new media rights deal, the WNBA is seeing unprecedented growth. What does the future of the WNBA look like to you? I'm not sure because there's been so much growth in this first year. And it's just only year one. Um,

That we've seen such a big jump. With that being said, I'm super excited for where we're at and where we could be. With the new teams, rookies killing it, different teams like Minnesota playing so good. I don't know if anyone expected them to play as good as they did. They probably did.

Um, but also obviously with Cheryl Reeves as your coach and GM, like you can't really count them out. Um, but yeah, there's been, there's been so many ups to the season that I'm excited for the growth for sure. And you mentioned the rookies. How amazing is it to just see what all of them are currently doing both on and off the court? Absolutely. It's super exciting. Like I'm, I'm so excited even for our rookie on our team, Malia Edwards. I see her every day, just being able to put the work in and even, I mean, competing in the Olympics this year, um,

obviously they can't do as well. She probably expected them or wanted them to do, but we'll see her tomorrow. And like, we're just super proud of her and her growth in this little bit of season that she's had, but she's playing so well for us and she works hard and she's, she's such a good teammate. Oh my gosh. I love how like you talk so positively about her. It's so cute. But speaking,

Speaking of the Olympics, at the time that we were recording, Team USA is tipping off against Nigeria. Nigeria has had a Cinderella-type run in Paris after entering the Games having never won a game. How fun is it to watch what they've been doing? It's been so great. And unfortunately, I have not seen a Nigeria game because...

Normally our practices are during the time that they're playing. - Oh no. - But I always go, but yes, I know I'm so upset about it. Like I'm so happy that we actually get to see them now 'cause we were out of practice. But just going back and seeing the highlights and just seeing that the history is being made by them,

it's so surreal to watch and I can't imagine how they feel representing their country and making history. And do you have any concerns about the U.S. not winning their eighth straight gold medal? No concerns. When you have Asia and Stewie, I

I just don't know what you did. Not to mention all the other girls. If they walk on the court, you're just like, okay. And then BG's coming off the bench and Kelsey Plum's coming off the bench. It's just like, all right. That's what we thought.

We were about to get our wind and they said like this next platoon coming out. But I mean, their team is super sacked and I'm super excited to watch their games and see them all put it together. Do you think there's a better duo than Asia and Stewie right now?

I can't even imagine. I know not to me, like just watching them play. I'm like, yo, how do you, like, what do you say to your team in the huddle? Like, I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of the other coach. I'm just like, hope and pray. Like, I don't, I don't really know what, I'm not sure. I'm not sure, but it's definitely fun to watch. I'm glad I'm on this side.

Yeah, like I was saying on one of the other shows that if I saw them coming towards me and I was standing in the middle of the court, I would actually call my mom and ask for help or start crying because that would be absolutely terrifying. Yeah, like...

And then she, if they ask for a sub, it's like BG checks in. She's 6'9". Like, it's like, all right. While you're talking about the Olympics, if you can go and compete in any other sport, which one would you choose? I used to play volleyball in high school. And I liked volleyball, but I'm not going to lie, like I also was on the track and field team.

Anfield. So I definitely stayed away from the track, but I love long jump, triple jump. So I'm like, I'm, uh, tuned into the Anfield part. Um, shout out to the university of Maryland. Um, Thea, uh, wanted triple jump. So I was super excited for that. Go Terps. How long do you think it would take to train there? Like if you started training today, do you think you can make it to LA 2028? Um, if that's all I focused on, like, I'm like,

Because they've been competing like that. I feel like their whole lives for this. So I don't think three years is enough. I mean, for me, because I believe in myself, I would like, I live in this like delusional world sometimes. I would say, yeah, but I don't know. I don't know. I would definitely try, but I don't know how realistic it is. Well, Chatori, thank you so much for joining us on Good Follow. It's been so amazing to have you on the show. Coming up, Megan gives her DraftKings Picks of the Week and we preview the US Women's National Team gold medal game against Brazil. ♪

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Now it's time for this week's DraftKings picks. For the first time since London 2012, the United States women's national team are playing in the gold medal women's soccer match. As they return to championship form under coach Emma Hayes, they will match up against a Brazilian squad led by Marta, one of the greatest women's soccer players of all time. I'm going to start with you, Marta.

I have two goal scores for this game. Mallory Swanson has three of the 11 goals scored for the US women in the Olympics, and I think she'll have another one this weekend. But I also have my eye on Brazil's Adriana. The forward who also plays for Orlando Pride is super quick in transition and could very well bag a goal against the US. I think this is going to be an exciting game and Brazil should not and cannot be overlooked. But I'm going to go with the United States to bring home gold and

Fun fact, as we've seen veteran talent rotate out of the team and new talent come in, this would be the first gold medal for every single person on the roster should the U.S. win gold. Logan, how do you think this game is going to end? I think it's going to be a thriller, like a really close one. The whole perfect vision I have in my head is that like U.S. scores two and it's like, oh, we're good. And then Brazil is going to score one and then come back really hard. But

as you said Brazil should not be overlooked and they play different type of soccer that I don't think the US are used to seeing I mean they've played Brazil in the past but I think US really has to be on their game and so does Brazil but it's going to be a close one it's like what they say about 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in soccer

I love that storyline. If that's... I'm in. I'm in. I watched... Was it a double overtime? There's been a lot of extra time, honestly, in all the women's soccer matches. They've all gone to extra time or penalty kicks for the most part. There's been so much free soccer going on in the Olympics. And yesterday's game, I was like, oh God, can this please end? Like...

Yeah, I think it was yesterday. My brain can't take it anymore. They went into extra time and I was like waiting and I was like waiting and I was waiting. But then that last goal was sick. This is a fun fact also. Brazil and the U.S. are the only two countries who have played in all eight Olympic women's football tournaments. But OK, so here's the thing. Marta is arguably the

not even arguably, objectively, one of the greatest women's soccer players of all times. And she's actually the second all-time leading goal scorer in Olympic women's soccer. And she's never won a gold medal. So part of me is like, as someone who adores Marta, I mean, what a way to end your career because she's already said this is her last Olympics. Oh,

Oh, also I'm a man. Katie, whose side are you? Okay. I guess I'm on Brazil's side. I guess, I guess I'm on Marta's side right now, man. Give her the, give her the Emmy, you know, like give her this fairytale ending. Yeah. Shit.

I don't know. I'm torn. Logan, what do you think? I mean, so Brazil didn't have Marta the last two games because she had a red card suspension. And so there was all this question about whether or not Marta was going to end her career, her international career on a red card suspension. And now she gets to play in a gold medal match. Do you think having her back is going to be the key for Brazil to get over that gold medal slump? I think...

I think it is because there's a lot of people on the team too who grew up looking up to Marta and they're playing with their idol so they want to play for her and she's had a few days off a few games off pretty much like a week or two off at this point she's been she is like coming into this moment honestly perfectly it's really bad like I hate that that's how it worked out for her

But it's kind of ideal in this situation. So she's going to be going crazy. The team is going to be going crazy. And I think they could do it. What's also going to be really cool about this match is Sophia Smith, who had the game-winning goal against Germany to advance the US to the gold medal match, will be playing for her first gold on her birthday. Such Leo energy. Just the coolest thing for the first time Olympian. But let's stick with soccer for a little bit. And we're going to go outside of the Olympics for a couple minutes.

While we have had all this exciting Olympic action, we have had a little bit of women's soccer action still going on in the U.S. The NWSL Summer Cup is...

had its semifinals earlier this week. And for those who don't know what it is, the Summer Cup is a tournament between NWSL and Liga Emeke, which is the top professional women's league in Mexico. And the tournament favors the League's Cup. For those that are familiar, it's a similar tournament between the teams in MLS and Liga Emeke men's teams in Mexico. And it's such a fun way to expose fans to different leagues and teams and players and to continue growing the game in North America.

So Gotham and Kansas City Current won the semifinal games earlier this week, and they'll play in the championship game in October, which is weird because it's called the Summer Cup. The fall cup? The classic summer month. I love a classic summer October celebration.

It's the Autumn Cup, apparently. I'm not sure. But Gotham and Kansas City have been two very good teams the last couple years. Logan, I would love to know your thoughts on Gotham. They are stacked, clearly. And they have so many of their players playing for the U.S. Women's National Team in the Olympics. Do you think that they will add another piece of hardware to the team?

to their trophy case in the Summer Fall Autumn Cup in October.

See, this is a tough one because Gotham is the type of team where they have everything on paper. And then throughout the season, I mean, they've been kind of like up at the top, but they haven't really excelled yet. And I feel like coming off the Olympic break, they can definitely do that, especially with some of the pickups that they got during the break. But Casey Curran is just, they're in a league of their own at this point. Well, not a league of their own because they're also at the top with Orlando, but they're

But the way that they play and with Temwa Chawinga, I think KC is going to pull it off. But Gotham could ride the momentum from this Olympics with all the players that they have on their team. Now let's move to golf, which I know is your specialty and your expertise. So Women's Olympic Golf started on Wednesday and it wraps up this weekend. Lydia Ko is still on a quest for gold after taking silver in Rio 2016 and bronze in Tokyo 2020. Will this year be the year that she does it?

Well, okay. Let me just say this. At the time of filming, as we were filming this, Celine Boutier is at the top at seven under. Her first round, she shot a 65. Everyone else, actually, the second place is four under. And then after that, we're like one, two. And there's 13 players tied for 13th place at even, which Lydia is one of them. So I think because Celine came out with that killer first round, it's going to be pretty hard. I fear...

that with a few good rounds, she'll maybe add another silver bronze. But I would love to see her win gold. And there's still three more days of competition. So Celine could drop and she could come back up. Well, she's also up against Nelly Korda, who is the reigning gold medalist. And we all know how hot she started this year with six titles in seven events before taking a dip with three consecutive cuts. So what is she going to have to do to get back on track and defend her gold medal?

She's going to have to have three days of lights out insane golf and pray, although she probably doesn't want to, but pray that Celine doesn't have her best golf.

But again, Celine is French too. So she is playing on home turf. I think everything is just kind of again, it's Celine's moment right now. But Nelly could really, really get back up there to I think silver and bronze as well. It could go like Celine, Nelly, Lydia, but who knows? Coming up after the break, Logan reveals her good follow of the week. Stay tuned. ♪♪♪

Welcome back to Good Follow. As you know, the foundation of this show is that communities get built one good follow at a time. Each week, one of us will highlight a person, a page or a brand as the good follow of the week.

Logan is up this week. Logan, who is your good follow for us? My good follow of the week is Flagrant Magazine. I actually sat down with Ashton Batuzzo and Alex Haig, two of the four co-founders, to learn all about how and why Flagrant came to be. So take a look. Ashton, Alex, my good follow for this week is Flagrant Magazine. And I'm so excited to have y'all on. How are you doing? Doing well. Thanks for having us. Yeah.

Thank you for coming on. I'm so excited. And for any of the listeners or people watching who haven't heard of Flagrant Magazine, can you just give a little bit of an insight into what y'all do? Yeah. We sort of overexert ourselves. So now the list is probably shorter to explain what we don't do. But sort of our bread and butter and what we started as is an inclusive women founded basketball publication, print publication. That's very important to us.

And we sort of highlight stories surrounding Hoops culture and we focus on artists and communities and fans.

And we do that via a print magazine, via a Substack community that features a Discord and people have a lot of fun talking basketball and all kinds of crazy things in there. A newsletter, a podcast. What am I forgetting, Alex? I think you covered most of it. Yeah. We do some events at times. We do some meetups with our Substack subscribers, things like that. But yeah, Bread and Butter is the magazine. Yeah.

We sort of aim to give equal coverage to sort of all genders because we

We feel like that's one strategy and one great way to grow the women's game is to sort of serve that on a platter with people that are already consuming basketball media and just don't maybe know that they also care about the W and women's basketball. So it's sort of a sneaky little way to get them interested. And I think it's I think we're I'd say it's kind of working. I don't know. Yeah, I'd say so. We don't have the numbers for you, but yeah. Yeah.

I don't think we need the numbers. I've heard y'all everywhere. Your name is like literally online out of people's mouths. Like y'all are doing so well, but I want to know how did y'all come to be?

Oh, that's an Ashton. That's an Ashton thing. She's the ringleader. I've tried to like figure out a way to tell this in an interesting way, which I'm still not there yet. And B, how to make it more succinct. And I've already talked now for 20 seconds. So I'm failing at that also. But basically, I had worked in sports prior to this point in my career. And I was in my first job where I wasn't in sports. And I...

am someone who loves reading, who loves sort of like physical media and consuming art and stories that way. So I reached out to Bethany Alex Brasilia, who I had known from like all different sort of parts of my life, areas of the country. And I was like, you know,

what do you, how do you feel about making a magazine? Is this crazy? And we were all like, yeah, it's crazy, but let's do it. Um, and we actually, Alex still has like her texts from me. We've like posted them before. Um,

But they're kind of embarrassing. Yeah. I'm like, hey, do you know how to use Adobe? And I sort of lied and was like, yeah, yeah, I for sure do. So I did lie to get this job. I like to say that. I feel like we've all been there, especially with Adobe. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, exactly right. You just fake it till you make it. But Ashton reached out to us in 2019. And yeah, it was to start a magazine. We didn't know that it would be multiple magazines or an entire business at the time.

Um, but that's sort of what happened. So, uh, yeah. And y'all have been able to build a great community. What do you love most about it? I think it's hard to see exactly how strong the community is because unless you're sort of in our Patreon or a paid sub stack, but, um, something that I think we probably both agree is really special is, um,

The members of our Discord, the members of our Patreon, our paid sub stack, they all travel across the country to hang out with each other, even without us. I think some of them have become best friends with each other. People are in the Discord talking all day long. It just feels really nice to know that there's a safe space for whatever type of conversation you want to have. It's not always about... I was thinking about this the other day.

How it's cool that like, of course, basketball brought everyone together. But so much of that community is not basketball now, just because like, you know, you have shared interests, and you know, you're going to be sort of the same type of person, you're going to be able to love all kinds of things together. So now it's like, they don't only love basketball together, they love everything together.

which is what I like, I think the most. It's pretty special. I would say that. And just, well, just like the fact that we've kind of grown along with women's basketball in 2019, like,

I would say we weren't ourselves. Even the biggest women's basketball fans, we were still discovering the league and women's basketball in general. We definitely watched, but we're not as well informed as we are now. And it's definitely grown outside of Flagrant Magazine as well. So it's just been very cool to be a part of that growth and to see that

and just be in that space with everyone else who's doing a lot of great work for women's sports. And last question before we go, the WNBA season is back into action next week. What are you guys looking forward to for the second half of the season? I'm interested to see how Maverick and Dijon play together. Yeah, that's going to be wild. I'm looking for some...

A better showing. I'm trying to think of how to say this because I feel bad. I live in New York, so I'm a Liberty fan. I go to Liberty games. And obviously the Liberty are a great team, one of the best teams. And I hope that we can get back to the finals. But I should say that if we get to the finals, I'm hoping for a better showing than what happened last year against the Aces. So I'm looking for a good playoffs from the Liberty. That's all I can hope for.

And I'm an Aces fan, so I'm okay with that happening again, actually. I decided as a new to women's basketball or new to the WNBA in the last few years, I could bandwagon a really good team. So I decided to do that. And I don't have any regrets. No. Do you have any predictions for who's going to win this year?

I mean... It's going to be hard to beat the Aces. It's going to be hard to beat the Aces. It's going to be hard to beat. For sure. I wouldn't mind it being interesting, though. I'm not looking for an easy path by any means. I think the league looks a little bit more well-balanced this year because of trades and a little bit of movement. So I feel like it'll be a little bit better than last year. It also... I feel like with the WNBA...

Just because we're sort of so starved for games, I always want Max, just give me as many games as possible. And if that means, you know...

we take it to three games we take it to five games whatever that's great and so whereas like with men's basketball I'm like okay we can like we don't need seven games in this speed it up yes we do let's go we have jobs um so honestly whatever gives us the most amount of games is great with me well Ashton Alex thank you so much for sitting down with me I've loved chatting with y'all and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day thank you so much thanks Logan you too Logan thank you for highlighting flagrant mag I'm

I personally love them and I've been a fan and supporter of them since day one. I have all their issues downstairs. So go follow Flagrant Mag on IG and Twitter and check out more about the brand. And we want to hear more from our fans. Who is your good follow? Send us your noms at Good Follow Show and tell us why your good follow should be featured. Good Follow is brought to you by DraftKings. We'll see you next week.

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Bye.