Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - I Went to a WNBA Game for Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham

00:00:00.480 Recently, our company's softball team lost the big game by one run.

00:00:04.800 Then Dale tried to console us with the quote,

00:00:07.200 winning isn't everything.

00:00:09.060 Well, Dale and I are very different.

00:00:12.740 I get early payout from Bet365.

00:00:14.680 If my team goes up big, I get paid out instantly,

00:00:17.480 even if they blow the lead later.

00:00:19.540 Sound familiar, Dale?

00:00:21.280 Thanks, Bet365.

00:00:22.920 Must be 19 or older, Ontario only.

00:00:24.420 Please play responsibly.

00:00:25.240 If you have questions or concerns about your gambling

00:00:26.660 or the gambling of someone close to you,

00:00:27.720 please go to connexontario.ca TNC Supply.

00:00:30.000 Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham. I'm coming to watch you. It is currently 4.45 in the morning.

00:00:36.700 I'm on my way to the airport. I'm flying to Minneapolis for the Indiana Fever and the Lynx

00:00:41.440 game. You guys know that Louie normally travels with me and the baby, but I figured I can fly

00:00:46.080 there and back the same day. Tickets were kind of expensive, so I'm just going. Louie's at home

00:00:51.300 with Margo today, which makes me very, very sad. I don't like traveling without either of them.

00:00:56.040 not sure if these road eye patches do anything or if they're just trendy but capitalism has like

00:01:02.420 a chokehold on me i'm an influencer's worst nightmare just got to minnesota in minneapolis

00:01:08.340 and i feel like a worse human being for it i hope whatever they have here doesn't rub off on me i

00:01:14.780 hope it's not contagious anyways just did my makeup ready for the day i just made a little

00:01:20.080 poster actually i made a bunch of posters for the rally we had a little rally going on outside

00:01:24.780 before the game. Game's at noon, rally starts at 11. Here's my poster I made. Sophie, thank you.

00:01:30.880 Signed, a girl mom. I've got my XXXY Athletics shirt on. I wore this one because, I mean, you

00:01:38.500 can see it from outer space, and that's what we're going for. There's no confusion on what I think.

00:01:44.780 Okay, I've got the shirt. Jeans are from Aritzia. Shoes, green shoes, sneakers are from Steve

00:01:51.400 men. Just did a whole bunch of balloons too. Maybe this is too niche. I don't know if it's

00:01:57.120 because I was an athlete. I don't know if it's because like being postpartum, although I've

00:02:02.600 always been this way. I don't know if it's hormones. I don't know. Anytime I watch people

00:02:06.420 compete in their sport, I cry. Like what's wrong with me? I'll go to my sister's gymnastics meets

00:02:12.000 and I watch her do her little floor routine and like there are tears in my eyes, like almost to

00:02:16.380 the point where like my bottom lip wants to quiver. And I know that's insane. I don't know

00:02:20.040 it's just because I recognize how hard she works. It's like hard work paying off. I don't know. I'm 0.89

00:02:25.220 just a sucker. Even in like sad, romantic movies, um, you lost me. I'm crying for sure. And I brought 0.86

00:02:32.860 the meta glasses. So I'm thinking this might be a good way to record if there are crazy interactions,

00:02:38.260 which I'm not anticipating. I'm not looking for. You're not going to see me being like a provocateur

00:02:43.040 to get any sort of reaction on camera, but for documentation purposes, in case it does happen,

00:02:50.040 I have these. Um, let's see how discreet they look.

00:02:57.780 Can you, um, you can hardly see the camera to be fair. Let's see what happens if I film.

00:03:05.200 All right. Oh, it has a little light. So I guess people will know I'm filming,

00:03:08.720 but better than like a big bulky camera in their face. And it makes me look like

00:03:12.880 sophisticated. So I might insert some footage from the Meta glasses in the blog. So I'm inside

00:03:19.540 waiting to go outside, but I hear it's getting pretty hasty. And so I'm just waiting for it to

00:03:23.800 be cleared by security. But look at this guy. I'm watching the footage just on my phone. That's

00:03:27.920 being posted. I'm sorry. If you're a grown man and you're calling women, see you next Tuesdays

00:03:35.300 again for what? Because they think women should compete fairly and safely. Like, sir, 0.99

00:03:41.020 it is a Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon. Maybe consider going to church.

00:03:46.240 There we go, nice, nice, nice.

00:03:53.240 We should have brought the bullhorn, we should have brought the bullhorn.

00:04:15.240 I

00:04:17.240 I don't know if it's Minneapolis like the city

00:04:47.000 itself and its inhabitants, or if it's just WNBA fans, because I very much felt like the minority

00:04:56.260 there. I understand actually entirely why many WNBA players don't speak out and I'm not excusing

00:05:03.500 it. I'm not none of that, but I kind of get it. I really do because I felt like the crazy person

00:05:09.920 there. There were so many fans and obviously the Lynx coach Cheryl Reeves on the court wearing 0.77

00:05:16.920 a shirt that said trans kids belong there were so many fans wearing trans flag pride paraphernalia

00:05:25.700 holding their signs you know that shirt um there was a shirt that penny flanagan wore who's an

00:05:32.180 elected official um that says protect trans kids i'll put a picture on screen and the shirt has a

00:05:38.220 knife on it right like if that's not incitement to violence i don't really know what is um i think

00:05:46.200 it's insinuating when you wear a shirt like that uh it's insinuating that words are violence and

00:05:52.560 because someone like me probably many of you aren't willing to go along with the pronoun stuff

00:05:57.840 aren't willing to say that trans women are women uh accurately calling them men that they view that

00:06:04.540 as violence and actual violence literal physical violence is a justified way in responding i think 0.98

00:06:11.560 that's the message that you're sending when you wear a shirt like this i saw so many of these

00:06:15.640 shirts, um, inside the arena yesterday, which again was crazy to me. Uh, they were all over

00:06:22.020 the Jumbotron. It was like, like sheer propaganda. What I saw on that Jumbotron, they only, I like

00:06:29.400 must have been a requirement. Uh, they must have been told only put people on the Jumbotron who

00:06:34.960 are wearing trans things. That being said, there were a ton of signs there. I was very certain

00:06:41.940 that I checked the bag, the bag policy and the sign policy before I went into the arena. The sign

00:06:47.920 policy was that the posters had to be 11 by 17 inches, which is close to like a standard piece

00:06:54.460 of paper size. Like again, poster size, little poster that said, Sophie, comma, thank you. Signed,

00:07:01.260 a girl mom. That's it. Nothing political, nothing derogatory. It was a very positive message. Sophie, 0.99

00:07:09.900 thank you. Boom. Done. I'm going to insert a picture here of a sign that I saw. It says,

00:07:16.540 I didn't think I could dislike anyone more than Clark. Congrats Cunningham. Which, oh,

00:07:22.300 and you can actually see that one of the, two of the knife shirts in the back of this photo

00:07:26.300 that people are wearing. I guess my question is like, why specifically do you dislike Clark?

00:07:32.980 Like, like Caitlin has done nothing political in her nature. She went to Iowa. Maybe you're

00:07:38.620 assuming because she went to Iowa she's conservative but as far as I'm concerned she was 0.54

00:07:43.700 chatting with Obama last week on the court um she liked Taylor Swift's endorsement back in um 2024

00:07:51.100 for Kamala Harris on Instagram again that doesn't make me like Caitlin Clark any less I don't think

00:07:57.900 we have any like real solid indication that she's this like MAGA conservative like I'm assuming this

00:08:04.460 girl thinks beyond the fact that she's friends with Sophie. I don't know. That's kind of it.

00:08:09.780 So anyways, all that to say, um, I was the only person in this whole arena that was told I could

00:08:16.000 not have my sign. Um, it was actually closer towards the end of the game and I was not being

00:08:22.080 obnoxious and holding it up the entire time because there were people sat behind me. Actually,

00:08:25.860 this really cute nine-year-old little girl named Emma, she was sat there. And so I didn't want to

00:08:30.260 block or obstruct her view. Um, she was so sweet by the way. She like told me like, thank you. I

00:08:35.340 know who you are. I watch your videos. Um, which there was so much of that too. I'll get to that

00:08:40.520 in a second. Anyways. Um, I'm sitting there, I'm holding my sign and I see like one of the

00:08:46.180 target center, which is the arena employees. I don't know if he was affiliated with the WNBA.

00:08:51.840 He was on court. He was wearing all black. I'm assuming he was some sort of like security type

00:08:56.840 role. I don't know. Um, rule enforcer maybe, but he looks at me from across the court and he was

00:09:02.900 like, put your sign down. And he said it like that. And I was like, I'm looking around. I'm

00:09:07.600 like, who's he talking to me, me, put my sign down. And so I just kind of keep holding it.

00:09:12.960 And he comes over there and he says, you need to take your sign down. And I, I kind of pushed

00:09:17.600 back. I'm like, why? And at this point, everyone in my little section was pretty outraged. They're

00:09:22.400 like seeing the hypocrisy with their own eyes firsthand and so they're like why does she have

00:09:28.040 to put her sign down look that person has a sign this person has a sign why does she need to put

00:09:31.640 hers down and he says well I was told it has her name on it so she can't and I said whose name he

00:09:38.080 said Sophie you can't have her name on a poster I don't want to be someone who's like breaking the

00:09:43.900 rules I'm really not a provocateur I'm just not I'm not looking to get punched in the face I'm

00:09:48.200 not looking for this big viral moment, but at the same time, I'm not going to let myself be

00:09:52.300 steamrolled. So I wasn't allowed to have my sign. Tons of nasty, horrible looks. Tons of slurs said

00:09:57.740 at me. Actually, Kayla McBride, who was one of the Link's star players. I don't know if it's her

00:10:02.660 wife or her girlfriend. I should probably look it up. I didn't even look at them. At this point,

00:10:06.840 I don't think either of them recognized me, saw me. Recently, our company's softball team lost

00:10:12.360 the big game by one run. Then Dale tried to console us with the quote, winning isn't everything.

00:10:18.200 Well, Dale and I are very different.

00:10:22.420 I get early payout from Bet365.

00:10:24.340 If my team goes up big, I get paid out instantly, even if they blow the lead later.

00:10:29.140 Sound familiar, Dale?

00:10:30.980 Thanks, Bet365.

00:10:32.560 Must be 19 or older, Ontario only.

00:10:34.100 Please play responsibly.

00:10:34.920 If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you,

00:10:37.420 please go to connectsontario.ca and see supply.

00:10:41.160 After maybe two minutes later, I walk by the wife or the girlfriend,

00:10:45.320 Kayla McBride's wife or girlfriend and I still have my little poster and the game was over at 1.00

00:10:50.500 this point I've got my shirt on and she looks at me and goes ew ew ew ew all in my face like that

00:10:57.900 and I'm just kind of sat there like I'm not going to respond to that because I don't think that

00:11:05.120 about you I don't know you I don't know anything about you I don't know your beliefs I can assume

00:11:09.020 I can assume your beliefs but I don't think it's fair for me to do that so she's all in my face 1.00

00:11:14.820 you're disgusting. Ew, ew. Which is just so stupid. It's just so stupid. Anyways, that was 1.00

00:11:23.440 kind of that. That was the vibe of the game. Every time Sophie was on the court, every time she subbed

00:11:27.140 in, every time she got the ball, it was boo, boo, boo. Her teammates weren't really passing her the

00:11:33.780 ball. I don't know if it was to like save her the feeling of just like total shame, which

00:11:41.460 Sophie's unshakable she's unmovable she is uncancellable because she is unshakable um I

00:11:50.180 can tell you just based on the conversation that Sophie and I had after the game it doesn't bother

00:11:55.340 her that's just not something like she's not just saying it doesn't bother her like it genuinely

00:11:59.580 does not bother her um so much so that I didn't tell her that I was going to be there because

00:12:05.840 because I didn't want to, like, let's say something went haywire. I didn't want her to be

00:12:11.800 implicated. I didn't want anyone to say that, oh, you colluded with Riley to get her there 0.97

00:12:16.460 to cause this scene. And again, I wasn't looking for a scene, of course not, but I just didn't want

00:12:22.520 Sophie in any way to be implicated. And so as soon as the game ended, actually she texted me and

00:12:26.820 she's like, wait, you're here. And so she came out and we were able to, to chat about some things

00:12:34.360 and conversations that happened behind the scenes that I don't feel at liberty to share without

00:12:40.560 without her approval and we did talk about though Sophie coming on the podcast so make sure you

00:12:48.300 subscribe and stay tuned because hopefully that comes out in the future and like I said Cheryl

00:12:52.500 Reed the coach of the Minnesota Lynx who wore this shirt that said trans kids belong

00:12:58.800 there's no such thing as trans kids there's no such thing as trans kids um i think you have

00:13:08.400 abusive parents who convince their child that they are something other than what god created

00:13:13.900 them to be but there's no such thing as trans kids because there's no such thing as transgender as

00:13:20.380 you can't change your sex um that's not to say again i'm not denying the existence of people 0.99

00:13:26.340 who believe they were born in the wrong body of course that I think it will always exist likely 0.96

00:13:31.120 but you can't change your sex therefore you cannot be transsexual right anyways this coach 0.91

00:13:38.440 um you have to imagine that the league approved for her to wear this shirt um trans kids belong 0.62

00:13:47.600 they and again it just kills me because they say what Sophie's doing is she's aligned herself 0.93

00:13:53.240 politically with conservatives she has said nothing other than women's sports should be

00:13:59.640 just for women if that is inherently political if save women's sports is inherently political

00:14:06.800 then so is trans kids belong it's another point to be made of how exhausted this conversation is

00:14:13.720 i'm exhausted of course from the response of the left and just how like like getting in my face

00:14:20.080 saying ew, calling me rude, giving me the dirty looks. That's exhausted. It doesn't hurt my

00:14:24.920 feelings. I don't feel any type of way about it because I've dealt with it for so long now, but

00:14:28.580 it's tired. I'm kind of tired of the way that it's been politicized and capitalized on by people on

00:14:36.840 the right too. Hear me out. As long as the Democrats continue to be crazy on this issue,

00:14:43.100 obviously, I think conservatives, Republicans, those who are seeking elected office should lean

00:14:48.960 into it because I think every single person should be on record saying, do they think men

00:14:53.580 should be in women's sports? I think it's a perfect litmus test to how far, I mean, how just insane and

00:14:58.500 how radical you really are. Because if your answer is yes, you're not fit to serve in public

00:15:03.640 office in any capacity. I really think that. Anyway, so I think conservatives should continue

00:15:09.540 to lean into it, but I'm tired of them leaning into it because I'm tired of this being a political

00:15:14.600 issue. One that people feel like they can get these really easy political points on. That's

00:15:20.020 not how this issue is to me. When I say the slogan of protect women's sports, it's not just something

00:15:25.340 that I say in an attempt to get likes and clicks. I really mean it. The game actually was super

00:15:32.160 enjoyable. And I didn't go into it with high hopes. I'm kind of ashamed to say because I think

00:15:36.360 it's my first ever WNBA game. I think I've seen a lot of the, at least attending. I've watched

00:15:42.100 them on TV, but to be honest, I don't watch it that often. And if I do, I'm watching the fever

00:15:47.280 play. I'm watching Caitlin Clark and I'm watching Sophie Cunningham. Um, so I haven't tuned into

00:15:51.780 too many WNBA games partially because the league is so woke and the highlights that you see online, 0.93

00:15:58.320 it makes the league look like a spoof, like, like the women and their athletic ability. Even 0.99

00:16:03.120 that you see the videos of Angel Reese, like missing every single layup. You see the

00:16:07.980 atrocious attempts at rebound, right?

00:16:11.520 Recently, our company's softball team

00:16:13.560 lost the big game by one run.

00:16:15.900 Then Dale tried to console us with the quote,

00:16:18.340 winning isn't everything.

00:16:20.220 Well, Dale and I are very different.

00:16:23.900 I get early payout from Bet365.

00:16:25.960 If my team goes up big, I get paid out instantly,

00:16:28.640 even if they blow the lead later.

00:16:30.620 Sound familiar, Dale?

00:16:32.440 Thanks, Bet365.

00:16:34.040 Must be 19 or older, Ontario only.

00:16:35.580 Please play responsibly.

00:16:36.400 If you have questions or concerns

00:16:37.240 about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please go to

00:16:39.280 connexontario.ca TNC Supply.

00:16:41.340 I actually had a really good time.

00:16:43.100 I actually had a really good time. It was super high

00:16:45.280 energy. It was an incredible game.

00:16:47.320 It was super high scoring.

00:16:49.060 The final score ended up being 108 to

00:16:51.160 100. Like, that was cool.

00:16:53.420 It was really cool to see Ryan Howard play

00:16:55.340 who was at the University of Kentucky

00:16:57.160 at the same time I was. She was

00:16:59.020 she plays for the Lynx. 0.97

00:17:01.040 She was the number one WNBA draft pick 0.58

00:17:03.240 in 2022 coming out of Kentucky.

00:17:05.840 And so it was super cool.

00:17:07.240 to be able to see her. So I really actually enjoyed it. Um, and I would definitely go back

00:17:13.060 to a WNBA game. Even I think if it wasn't to watch the fever, I had a really, really good time

00:17:18.720 and the arena was packed. I don't know if that's because of the recent controversy and people

00:17:23.440 either showing up for Sophie or people showing up for the links, but I enjoyed it. I really did.

00:17:30.260 And I would encourage everyone, if you maybe had the same mindset that I did prior to this, 0.97

00:17:34.640 of like the league sucks and these players suck and everyone's woke um maybe just tune in to a

00:17:40.180 game and I think especially the experience of going there in person if you have the opportunity 0.98

00:17:45.640 if you're able if there's a WNBA team that is close to you um I would encourage you to go in

00:17:51.460 person because I had a really good time and I would go again and these women are incredible

00:17:56.960 there were several Lynx players who were like like they couldn't miss they couldn't miss and

00:18:02.440 I admire that. So I recommend going, checking out for yourself. Maybe at that point you can kind of

00:18:08.440 like the ratio of angry, disgruntled, lesbian trannies who show up to WNBA games. We could 1.00

00:18:17.160 like bring that down. Like if we could have parents who want to inspire their kids to play

00:18:23.160 basketball, maybe they're, they're boys or girls play. Um, maybe you could take them continue to

00:18:29.700 inspire the next generation. The league is at a crossroads. I said this in my podcast

00:18:34.640 just last Friday that came out. It's cool to see people rallying around women's sports. 0.98

00:18:43.440 It sucks to see what the league is doing with that attention and how they're totally folding.

00:18:48.780 So that's kind of my thoughts. Hopefully we get Sophie on the podcast soon. I appreciate you guys

00:18:54.840 for tuning in um let me know any questions comments you guys have make sure you subscribe

00:19:00.540 turn on post notifications that way when sophie does come on the pod you guys don't miss it

00:19:05.060 thank you guys for watching the riley gain show you can subscribe right here we have new episodes

00:19:10.780 every single tuesday and friday at 10 a.m eastern time and we are covering everything from pop

00:19:15.720 culture to politics to deep dives to motherhood and sports all of that and more we want to hear

00:19:20.500 from you though what is it that you want to hear comment down below we can't wait to see you next

00:19:23.880 time recently our company softball team lost the big game by one run then dale tried to console us

00:19:30.840 with the quote winning isn't everything well dale and i are very different i get early payout from

00:19:38.280 bet365 if my team goes up big i get paid out instantly even if they blow the lead later sound

00:19:44.380 familiar dale thanks bet365 must be 19 or older ontario only please play responsibly if you have

00:19:49.960 questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you please go to

00:19:52.640 at connexontario.ca TNC Supply.

Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - August 05, 2026

I Went to a WNBA Game for Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham

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