Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - I Sat Courtside at the Indiana Fever Game — What I Saw Between Simone Biles and Sophie Cunningham

00:00:00.000 saying how you feel out loud is terrifying but that's what hinge's new free audiobook

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00:00:20.700 raven smith and rufy thorpe i hunter harris wrote and read the forward the audiobook's out now give

00:00:27.940 to listen. I feel like every time I make a vlog, Louie and I are sat just like we are right now

00:00:38.920 in the car on the way to the airport, and today is no different. We are crisscrossing the entire

00:00:43.980 country this week. We're home right now in Nashville. We're flying to Jackson, Mississippi.

00:00:50.060 From Mississippi, we're going to New York, New York to California, California back to New York,

00:00:54.540 then home, all with an 11-month-old baby.

00:00:59.320 I figured we would make a little vlog talking about our WNBA experience.

00:01:24.540 the entire sold-out arena in Minneapolis that was filled with people 0.52

00:01:54.480 were wearing some sort of trans paraphernalia. Obviously this was like an ode to Sophie Cunningham 0.54

00:02:00.000 given that the Lynx were playing the Fever but it felt like 50% of the arena had like a trans flag

00:02:07.520 draped over their back or trans flag earrings or a shirt with with some sort of gay pride something

00:02:15.840 rainbow colors the pastel blue pink white okay you get it the Fever game was a totally different

00:02:23.440 experience. Even still in Minneapolis, and I said this in my vlog, it was like a 10 out of 10

00:02:29.080 experience. Like I, it was high energy. It was high scoring. Both the Fever and the Lynx were

00:02:33.680 over 100 points. Like it was a really close game. So I had a really, really good time, which I think

00:02:39.280 was really good for me to see because I was apt to, I don't know, I'm kind of ashamed and like

00:02:44.140 embarrassed to say this, but you see like the spoof clips of WNBA games online, right? I can

00:02:49.500 think of several clips of Angel Reese attempting to rebound and and make a layup and missing over 1.00

00:02:55.780 and over and over again it makes it just feel like a very unserious league in terms of of competitive

00:03:01.380 play which again I'm ashamed to say that I didn't really think that but you I don't know that's the

00:03:06.640 narrative that you're being fed being there in person you witness how high level these athletes

00:03:10.460 are how incredible they are their skill set their talent how hard they work so I was really glad I

00:03:15.340 went and now to our second game louis first really fun i had a great time uh i didn't know what to

00:03:21.460 expect a fever one which was great i don't think you can grasp just how good caitlin clark is

00:03:27.920 until you go and see her play in person i mean she was sinking deep threes i mean she went on

00:03:36.100 a rampage for a minute where it was just bucket after bucket after bucket and kelsey mitchell

00:03:41.480 yeah they got 34 points a piece and it was cool because the fever was down after the first quarter

00:03:47.300 and they came back to win by a pretty big margin and our seats were so good yeah we were sat

00:03:52.980 courtside like right in the front to where like any of the players sweat could just like drip on

00:03:59.580 you like i don't know it was really cool and we were sat with the attorney general of indiana

00:04:05.180 um a.g. Rokita he has been like fantastic across the board on a myriad of issues um but of course

00:04:13.140 the issue of preventing men from playing women's sports he's been great he was one of 26 states

00:04:18.620 attorneys general to ultimately sign on to a lawsuit under the previous administration

00:04:22.460 suing the Biden administration for their illegal administrative rewrite of title nine he was

00:04:27.520 victorious in this effort he's been awesome and I just think the optics of being with the attorney

00:04:33.380 General, the state's top law enforcement officer, after our experience in Minneapolis, where

00:04:39.700 a WNBA affiliated employee, I don't know if he was with the Lynx or the league itself,

00:04:46.080 but nonetheless an employee of the league of some sorts, told me I couldn't have my

00:04:51.560 sign because it had Sophie's name on it, which is a total infringement on our First Amendment

00:04:57.900 rights given the fact that i was following all of the the protocol and the sign policy for the arena

00:05:04.940 and it was total viewpoint discrimination because no one else had to take their sign down that had

00:05:09.840 other players name on it just me so to then be at the the fever game with the state's top law

00:05:16.680 enforcement officer was i don't know pretty cool where we were sat was right across the court from

00:05:24.800 the Connecticut Sands bench

00:05:26.500 the gasp I

00:05:28.540 gasped

00:05:29.200 when I saw 0.89

00:05:31.800 Brittany Griner in person

00:05:33.580 6 foot 11 1.00

00:05:34.800 that is a behemoth of an individual 1.00

00:05:38.460 she is a force

00:05:40.380 to be reckoned with

00:05:41.600 I was shooketh

00:05:43.460 it was really cool though because I feel like

00:05:45.940 again online will feed you these narratives

00:05:48.140 and you would imagine

00:05:50.480 that Brittany Griner is by no 0.97

00:05:52.500 stretch of the imagination

00:05:53.500 conservative or a MAGA Trump supporter I think most people would have thought that Sophie and

00:05:59.840 Brittany Griner wouldn't like each other kind of cool because I watch Brittany Griner and Sophie

00:06:04.220 Cunningham like really embrace each other and have kind of like a intimate moment where clearly

00:06:09.580 words were exchanged I'll put something on screen of that well it shows you what sport is about

00:06:13.880 all the differences in viewpoints or whatever else it gets put aside and it was the it was

00:06:21.340 the true essence of what sport is and i just appreciated how they were able to go to each

00:06:25.620 other directly i again i don't know what they were talking about i didn't there i have no

00:06:29.740 knowledge of that i think only one person was hateful to me in the arena right yeah it's right 0.76

00:06:36.160 on the way in and hey riley you suck but that was it which that's a total win for me i mugged the 0.88

00:06:42.740 life out of him i learned what mugging was not too long ago i was mugging him all right you guys 0.95

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00:08:05.500 tell them that Riley from the Riley Gaines show sent you. Show me your best mog. You're mog maxing.

00:08:12.820 Mog maxing. Royce White was there too but I'd never spoken to him before. There was no like 0.51

00:08:19.020 prior communication anything like that and so I just look over in the middle of the game

00:08:24.460 and you see how tall do you think he is like probably what like yeah like a seven foot tall

00:08:30.440 giant but he's he's also with a beard and like wearing a men's suit but with this like

00:08:36.820 kind of snatched wig like i it was blended beautifully it was curled beautifully like

00:08:43.140 you see this huge man with the wig it was so funny though talking to him because he was like

00:08:47.240 i don't know how you women do it like his beard that the little stringy hairs were getting all 0.84

00:08:52.620 in his beard he was having to like really like white chicks it there was a point where he even 1.00

00:08:57.340 ask some other woman there to help him put it back in a ponytail. So that was comical. And just 0.99

00:09:02.740 highlighting, we've talked about this on the show before about Ines, but just highlighting the 1.00

00:09:07.140 insanity of the WNBA's current policies and what they allow for. Not a hypothetical, like their 0.98

00:09:13.980 current bylaws and policies. One more point about the game that you didn't really get to see on TV

00:09:19.220 was Simone Biles. I will say, even after she has come after me, I don't even remember what she said.

00:09:27.260 i kind of like just blocked it out because the personal attacks wasn't something like you look

00:09:31.960 like a man or something oh yeah she said something to the effect of like um go bully someone your own

00:09:37.780 size which would ironically be a man i was like six months pregnant at the time but okay simone

00:09:45.500 even still though i don't i don't take that personally i understand people say things when

00:09:52.000 the heat of the moment they're angry it was very I'm sure rash and quick and I actually felt bad

00:09:58.520 for her in the backlash that she got as you can imagine as most people know she did not take the 0.53

00:10:05.160 favorable side of the men and women's sports issue came out saying that I was a bully I was a bad

00:10:10.340 person I was mean inclusivity all the buzzwords right and she got absolutely berated for it

00:10:18.540 this is this is where you're just a better person than me because no i i felt bad for her because i 1.00

00:10:23.420 don't like seeing women especially high level incredible female athletes for her i mean she's 0.98

00:10:29.740 the greatest gymnast of all time female gymnasts of all time and so to see her on the receiving end

00:10:36.460 of i mean negativity and vitriol i didn't like seeing that it made me it made me feel bad for

00:10:41.660 her but anyways i we saw her at the game and i just kind of got to witness her in real life and

00:10:47.340 her demeanor i was far away i did not get to to talk with her in real life although i would have

00:10:52.300 loved to apparently after the game simone hung out in or near the fever locker room and got to

00:10:57.660 meet and greet some of the fever players um i'm gonna put this clip of a couple interactions

00:11:04.060 in right now and you tell me what's different from the others i want to date with rules

00:11:10.460 Carty says.

00:11:11.840 Rawls?

00:11:12.680 Raka asks.

00:11:13.940 This is the love story of real hinge couple Carty and Raka.

00:11:18.000 Written and read by me, Nicola Dynan.

00:11:20.780 Listen to the free audiobook now.

00:11:25.240 Thanks for coming.

00:11:26.440 Of course.

00:11:27.260 Good to see you.

00:11:27.900 Hello.

00:11:28.620 How are you?

00:11:29.940 Thank you.

00:11:30.720 Of course.

00:11:31.680 You too.

00:11:32.340 Good game.

00:11:32.920 This is my brother's house.

00:11:35.900 Thanks for everything.

00:11:37.000 Of course.

00:11:37.580 You're welcome.

00:11:38.980 Love her.

00:11:39.640 It is so funny seeing the height difference of these WNBA players who are 0.99

00:12:08.840 like like six foot four six foot two uh and then you have simone biles who is four foot eight like

00:12:15.300 that is so funny um did you notice the interaction between simone and sophie she looked less than

00:12:24.180 enthused to see sophie sophie the one who's labeled hateful was the one who was complimentary

00:12:30.240 you're a bad day and someone says thanks pat on the back shoes are off one more thing i want to

00:12:37.560 hit on about Simone and this is the part that the public didn't really get to see the media doesn't 0.65

00:12:42.680 really know but the guy she was sitting next to at the game posted this online totally outing her 0.61

00:12:48.840 and throwing her under the bus she was sat next to a guy named Michael Buckley who is gay I mean

00:12:55.080 I honestly I don't know much about him I think he's like a LGBTQ plus IA whatever activist

00:13:02.200 this author speaker advocate all the things okay um just picture one big bright rainbow

00:13:09.300 that was michael buckley uh i think he's been a fever fan for a while or a wmba fan for a while

00:13:15.720 nonetheless they were sat next to each other and he posted this in his instagram story i'll put

00:13:20.600 something on screen the next day following the game he says i said to simone last night notice 0.86

00:13:25.500 it's always the mediocre white women who are complaining about trans athletes and never the 0.98

00:13:30.300 black women who are historically the best athletes. We were fired up. Did you catch that? He just 0.99

00:13:36.540 absolutely outed her and reinforced her stance on how she feels about men and women's sports.

00:13:42.780 And also, if you're going to call Sophie Cunningham mediocre, I think that says a lot about

00:13:48.780 you, Michael Buckley. Have you ever played a sport in your entire life? Like I know, I don't want to

00:13:55.120 come for someone's personal appearance. I just don't. That's not generally how I roll, but I know

00:13:59.760 you this picture on screen i know you are not calling sophie cunningham mediocre or anyone

00:14:06.320 else mediocre for that point then he put this on his story so there's no like questioning who he

00:14:12.360 was talking about when he's talking about mediocre white women because he's talking about me and

00:14:16.380 sophie um he puts this on his story next it's a screenshot of i guess comments online and it says

00:14:23.620 this is what grifters riley gains and sophie cunningham have enabled the constant harassment

00:14:28.880 and dehumanizing of one of the most marginalized communities what did sophie say you can make that

00:14:34.820 argument against me whatever at this point like in the way that i have been outspoken like my stance

00:14:40.120 it's the same as sophie's of course right but like i divulge in other issues i'm very pro-life like

00:14:45.920 like i get if you want to come after me for my conservative christian beliefs and viewpoints not

00:14:51.540 that i agree or think it's rational or even justified but i could like understand where a

00:14:57.120 super crazy left-wing person's going to do that but sophie sophie has only ever said i want to

00:15:03.280 protect girls i want to lead with love but i want to speak the truth boom full stop that's it period

00:15:09.320 point blank end of story that is it you know i thought being bloated after every meal was normal

00:15:15.280 uh it's not once i really focused on changing my gut uh everything changed i'm talking yes

00:15:22.220 obviously the bloat, my hair, my skin, my nails, even my immunity. And one thing that I noticed

00:15:28.020 that made a really big difference for me was taking cowboy colostrum. I started taking cowboy

00:15:32.960 colostrum for my gut, but the results that I did not expect are the ones that really shocked me.

00:15:38.940 My hair is noticeably thicker, which this is something that's really important to me now being

00:15:43.420 what, nearly nine months postpartum. I still have a full head of hair. I didn't really suffer from

00:15:49.160 the postpartum hair loss. My skin is very clear. I don't have that bloated feeling anymore.

00:15:55.440 Colostrum, I found out, it supports your gut health. And when your gut is right,

00:15:59.200 everything else really follows that. And it's not just my experience. Cowboy actually ran a

00:16:04.080 clinical study and the numbers back it up. It says that 83 participants reported improved gut health,

00:16:10.060 79% experienced less bloating and inflammation, 72% saw improved digestion, and 62% saw fuller,

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00:17:23.940 If you go to cowboyclassroom.com slash Riley Gaines, you can use my code Riley Gaines for 25%

00:17:30.120 off at checkout. She's never come out and said that she's MAGA, that she's a Trump voter,

00:17:36.220 not that she should feel shame in saying that and people can't assume her political opinions

00:17:41.320 that was even further solidified when she's on the bar singing Toby Keith red white and blue

00:17:46.260 but nonetheless she's never said that she's never affiliated herself in that way yet you've got

00:17:52.040 people like this calling her a grifter I hate hate that word grifter it makes me so angry because

00:18:00.040 i just think the concept of moral conviction is so foreign to some people that they call it

00:18:08.140 grifting and i'll tell you when we were in minneapolis what would have been favorable

00:18:12.820 about the position that sophie has taken and saying she wants to protect girl sports because

00:18:16.940 she was booed by virtually the entire arena it's just not clocking to you michael buckley and

00:18:21.900 simone now knowing this context and what they were talking about during the game it makes that

00:18:26.820 interaction between Sophie and Simone feel a little more tense. Sophie didn't have any of this

00:18:31.660 background going into that interaction, but I'm of the mind that even if she did, it wouldn't have 0.96

00:18:36.920 changed how she embraced Simone because Sophie doesn't care that Simone's political beliefs are 0.83

00:18:43.220 probably very different than her own. It's so funny, we're filming all of this as we're getting

00:18:47.760 out of the car going into the airport, but I just, I get so heated because again, when I'm thinking

00:18:52.180 about him calling her mediocre, she's the fourth leading scorer on the team. She's typically shooting

00:18:56.620 the best three-point percentage in the league. She's competed at the highest level. She had

00:19:00.340 chances to succeed. She benefited from them greatly. And now when she's done, she's pulling

00:19:06.000 up the ladder behind her. So other girls, I guess, don't get that same chance. I don't know. It's very

00:19:11.300 mean girl energy. And crazily enough, they seem excited about it. So much so that they asked me

00:19:17.400 if I was okay in being on the Jumbotron. They wanted to like plaster it up there to the entire

00:19:23.020 arena that I was there. A special recognition Riley Gaines is in the house type thing, which

00:19:27.560 I was shocked by this. To just think that a team under the WNBA umbrella would come out on the 1.00

00:19:33.580 right side of this. They asked me if I would be okay with being on their social media. They met

00:19:37.860 me at the door when I arrived and so they filmed me, asked me questions for their socials and told

00:19:43.880 me that they were so excited it was going to go up on their Instagram. I can't remember if it was

00:19:47.340 first quarter or sometime around the half, but they put Simone Biles on the Jumbotron. So again,

00:19:51.640 and I'm kind of just, like, patiently waiting.

00:19:54.340 Halftime rolls around, third quarter.

00:19:56.500 We're into the fourth quarter, and they text and say,

00:19:58.620 hey, we're not going to get you on the Jumbotron,

00:20:00.900 but we hope you had a really great time.

00:20:03.120 And then it all, like, clicked to me exactly what was happening.

00:20:06.500 They wanted to appear to be on the right side of these issues,

00:20:09.380 and I think genuinely they want to be on the right side of these issues,

00:20:12.580 but there's still a level of fear.

00:20:15.140 They tried to say they didn't want to draw a hostile crowd to me,

00:20:18.360 but I think, and again, I'm kind of just guessing,

00:20:20.900 like speculating now if I had to guess I would imagine that whoever was in charge of kind of

00:20:27.860 making these decisions got the no from the higher-ups so I did not go in the jumbotron and I

00:20:34.280 was not on the fever social media so there's a part of me that wonders if the fever ever intended

00:20:39.760 on doing these things or if it was kind of just part of the plan to appease appease appease not

00:20:45.080 that I was even looking for that or wanted that or certainly did not expect that to just appease

00:20:51.720 and then last minute put it off. And for clarity, do I think I'm of the same caliber or profile in

00:20:57.520 terms of, you know, recognized, nationally recognized, even globally recognized name to

00:21:02.500 Simone Biles? No, I don't think that. This is not me saying I deserve to be on the Jumbotron.

00:21:08.560 It's more so just highlighting how the fever moved about this situation. I think they're trying to

00:21:13.680 it on the fence and wink at everybody but if the past few years have taught us anything we know

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00:22:20.020 Or you can click the link in the video description.

00:22:22.560 You can scan the QR code on your screen

00:22:24.360 or you can check the pinned comment.

00:22:27.660 We made it to Jackson.

00:22:29.080 We're about to get in the car.

00:22:30.200 So just kind of final thoughts here. 1.00

00:22:31.540 I still think Simone Biles is on the wrong side of this issue based on the alleged conversation that she was having with Michael Buckley 0.99

00:22:39.580 Which is so unfortunate. It doesn't make sense to me

00:22:42.980 I think what I want to do now is reach back out to her. Of course, we haven't had any communication since the

00:22:49.280 public interaction that we had on X

00:22:52.740 Several months back I mean over a year ago now

00:22:57.580 So I would love to reach out to her and just tell her, like, again, I would love to link

00:23:01.980 arms.

00:23:02.720 Will she respond?

00:23:03.940 Probably not.

00:23:04.900 But no one can say that I didn't try.

00:23:07.580 And we need to plan our next WNBA game.

00:23:10.180 Now they're going into the FIBA World Cup, so it'll be super cool to see Caitlin Clark

00:23:14.000 and Angel Reese on the team to watch the USA play China.

00:23:17.940 And last thing before signing off, you guys should turn on your post notifications, subscribe,

00:23:21.980 like, comment, all the things, because Friday's episode, we are going to do an Ask Me Anything.

00:23:26.720 So you can go over to the Instagram.

00:23:28.340 Would love to hear from you guys what you want me to answer,

00:23:31.220 what I can be insightful about,

00:23:33.620 whether it's health, fitness, marriage, culture, et cetera.

00:23:36.160 I would love to hear from you guys.

00:23:37.640 And as always, we're very grateful for you.

00:23:40.080 See you on Friday.

00:23:42.040 I want to date with Rawls, Carti says.

00:23:45.200 Rawls? Rucka asks.

00:23:46.860 This is the love story of real hinge couple Carti and Rucka.

00:23:51.300 Written and read by me, Nicola Dinan.

00:23:54.080 Listen to the free audio book now.

00:23:56.720 thank you guys for watching the riley gain show you can subscribe right here we have new episodes

00:24:03.940 every single tuesday and friday at 10 a.m eastern time and we are covering everything from pop

00:24:08.860 culture to politics to deep dives to motherhood and sports all of that and more we want to hear

00:24:13.660 from you though what is it that you want to hear comment down below we can't wait to see you next

00:24:17.020 time

00:24:27.400 You matched on Hinge. You're vibing. Then her energy completely changes. What do you do?

00:24:34.420 I'm Raven Smith, and I wrote and read a real love story about this exact sitch.

00:24:39.240 Listen to the free audiobook now.

Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - September 01, 2026

I Sat Courtside at the Indiana Fever Game — What I Saw Between Simone Biles and Sophie Cunningham

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