WNBA Stars Embarrass Team USA; NBA's Skewed Media Deal; Transfer QBs Dominate; Stones/Levi's Recap; Bravo, Joe

Like so many others, we were dismayed that Caitlin Clark was left off the U.S. Women's Olympic Basketball Team.

Well, Clark and her WNBA All-Star teammates--including two others who were snubbed by the national team--got some sweet revenge Saturday night when they beat Team USA 117-109 in a game that wasn't as close as the final score indicated.

Clark had an off shooting night but made several brilliant passes en route to 10 assists with zero turnovers. She also had five steals. Angel Reese, the other half of the rookie superstar duo, was a force inside with 12 points and 11 rebounds, her 16th straight double double.

Former Stanford star Nneka Ogwumike, who somehow has never made the Olympic Team despite being one of the best players in the world for the last 12 years, had 14 points. And Arike Ogunbowale, who has twice been passed over for Team USA, scored 34 points in the second half in a stunning offensive display.

Media Deal: The WNBA showcase came just a few days after news of the league's new 11-year media deal were leaked. If the reports are true, despite a 300% increase in payouts, the women were screwed again by the NBA bosses.

The NBA will receive a reported $76 billion in media rights from ESPN/ABC, NBC and Amazon Prime. Out of that rather amazing treasure chest, the WNBA will receive $2.2B, or about 3%.

This despite the fact that the WNBA's attendance and TV ratings have more than doubled this season to all-time highs, thanks to Clark, Reese, Cameron Brink (sadly, out for the year with a torn ACL) and other first-year stars.

The WNBA's current media deal, which pays $60 million per year, will expire after the 2025 season. The NBA, which owns 58% of the WNBA, negotiated the deal for both leagues, which will pay the men $73.8B and the women $2.2, which translates to $6.7B per year for the men and $200M per year for the women.

And since the NBA owns 58% of the WNBA, it will keep $116M of the WNBA's share.

The players have the option to opt out of their Collective Bargaining Agreement after the 2025 season, and there's no question that they will.

They will ask for a bigger share of the NBA's new media deal, a bigger share of the actual media rights (they currently are capped at 10%), and higher salaries across the board (currently, the top salary in the WNBA is $252,000).

They deserve much more. $252,000 should be the lowest salary in the league, not the highest, so no WNBA player has to go overseas to supplement her income.

Hall of Famer and former Olympic star Cheryl Miller, who coached the WNBA All-Stars Saturday, told the SF Chronicle that "we need tough and fair negotiators and visionaries. And we need a bully, we need a bully behind the table that's willing to say 'we'll break up the pieces and go from there.' But there's a certain number bigger than 2.2 billion that we want."

I think they'll get it.

Sign of the Times: Nothing has impacted college football more in the last few years than transfer quarterbacks.

Five of the last seven Heisman winners have been transfer quarterbacks: Baker Mayfield (Texas Tech to Oklahoma), Kyler Murray (Texas A&M to Oklahoma), Joe Burrow (Ohio State to LSU), Caleb Williams (Oklahoma to USC) and Jayden Daniels (Arizona State to LSU). Virtually every starting QB in the Pac-12 last year was a transfer.

The conventional wisdom nowadays is that if a player loses his starting job, feels threatened by an incoming recruit, or has fallen out of love with his coach, he's going to transfer.

This year there are at least four transfer quarterbacks who have a chance to contend for college football's highest honor: Oregon's Dillon Gabriel, formerly of UCF and Oklahoma; Ohio State's Will Howard, transferring in from Kansas State; Notre Dame's Riley Leonard, formerly at Duke; and Miami's Cam Ward, formerly at Washington State and Incarnate Word

The ACC is hosting its Football Media Kickoff this week. Each team brought three or four top players. Interestingly, four of the schools brought two quarterbacks to the event:  Cal (returnee Fernando Mendoza and Mississippi State transfer Chandler Rogers), Duke (returning starter Grayson Loftis and Texas transfer Maalik Murphy), North Carolina (Texas A&M/LSU transfer Max Johnson and returnee Conner Harrell), and SMU (returnees Preston Stone and Kevin Jennings).

This shows the impact of the transfer portal on two levels. Three teams have a transfer trying to oust a returning starter, and one team has two returnees battling for the starting job. By giving them all exposure at Media Days, the coaches are hoping to keep them all happy so they don't jump ship.

Gimme Shelter: The Rolling Stones' concert at Levi's Stadium last Weds. night was a marvelous, exhilarating experience. Mike Jagger was in rare form. A week shy of 81 years old, he seems to have lost little of his talent, enthusiasm, and swagger. 

Jagger's  voice was very strong. He strutted around the wide stage and long catwalk, exhibiting his familiar gestures, pointing, posturing and generally having a ball.

He was resplendent in his teal colored jacket, then, after guitarist Keith Richards gave him a break by singing(?) three songs, returned in a black outfit with sparkles.

Highlights included my favorite Stones tune, "Start Me Up," to open the set, "You Can't Always Get What You Want," "Gimme Shelter" and a wonderful cover of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone."

Levi's Issues: Unfortunately, the concert served as a reminder that Levi's Stadium  is not very user-friendly.

Among the issues: you have to park a long way from the stadium, and pay a high price to do it. Entry is always slow, because of the high security (about half the crowd seems to set off the metal detector), rigid bag policy, and paperless ticketing. 

Signage is poor both inside and outside the facility. Stadium staff is generally helpful, but it's often hard to find someone to direct you or answer a question. Moving through the concourse requires fighting through a sea of humanity, with long concession lines extending from both sides, and getting from one side of the stadium to the other is takes an eternity. 

Even Jagger commented that Levi's "is quite a hard place to get to, sometimes, isn't it"

Yes, it is. Overall facility grade: B-

Thank You, Joe: Heartfelt thanks to President Joe Biden for stepping aside yesterday. An act of great courage and personal sacrifice. As he has for the last 50 years, Joe did what was best for the country, not what was best for his own self-interest.

As Jonathan Last wrote so eloquently in the Bulwark, "He beat back America’s first authoritarian attempt. And when he realized that he could not do it a second time, he stepped away so that someone else could."

Selfless act. Country over ego. Bravo, Joe.