RILEY GAINES PODCAST： Protecting the integrity of women's sports： Tommy Tuberville's mission for fairness and safety
Episode Stats
Summary
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) is a politician fighting tooth and nail for women in sports, especially in a hostile environment where that is not overly welcomed. He is also a seasoned athlete and a coach in the SEC.
Transcript
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With a towing capacity of 3,500 kilograms and a weighting depth of 900 millimeters,
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Hey guys, welcome back to the Gains for Girls podcast.
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I am so, so excited for our guest today because not only is he a politician fighting tooth
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and nail for girls and women in sports, especially in a hostile environment where that is not
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overly welcomed, he's also a seasoned athlete and a coach in the SEC.
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Most impressive thing on his resume is beating University of Tennessee.
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Here is my interview with Senator and Coach Tommy Tuberville.
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Well, Coach Tuberville, let me just say, even being a Kentucky Wildcat, how excited I am
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I think we can both agree, at least neither of us cheer for that orange school in the state
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Well, you know, we all, now that I'm a politician, so to speak, uh, uh, I've, uh, I've got to
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kind of pull for everybody, but, uh, you know, Auburn is deep down in my heart.
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Well, well, speaking of that, um, both being SEC athletes, your, your resume outside of just
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Um, the SEC schools you've coached at all of your, your incredible coaching achievements.
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I guess my first question is what ultimately led you to leave all of that behind and run
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My, uh, my career was, I couldn't have had a better career.
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I stayed at some places a long time, Miami, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech, and
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Cincinnati, but after, uh, I got to a certain point, I, I told my wife, you know, it's about
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time I move on, you know, let some of these younger guys move up and I was going to retire.
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I did ESPN for a few years and then, uh, but that doesn't last long.
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And I was sitting on my couch one morning, drinking coffee and my wife walked by and said,
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And so, and so, uh, uh, a few days later I, I came to her, I said, uh, I'm going to run
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And, uh, so I did for two years, probably two years.
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I went all over the state of Alabama campaigns, hardest thing I've ever done.
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And we won very easily over a United States Senator, a, um, Congressman, uh, uh, an attorney
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I'm a person that's had a job for a long time, but I wanted to help.
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And the one thing I did see now, and, uh, that really motivated me was that I saw the
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direction of our education, especially our secondary education, high schools, as you know,
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coaches go to high schools all over the country.
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I've been in all 50 States, been high schools everywhere, talking to parents, talking to,
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And I saw the last 15 years, the direction that our education system has gone and it's
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And, uh, we better get control of that because that's the strength of our country education
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and given young people like y'all opportunities for success.
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Um, so I guess, I guess in your wildest dreams, did you think that you would, you be elected
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to the great, to be a Senator of the great state of Alabama, get to DC.
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And then ultimately, which this falls in line with the education because we're fighting
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Did you think he would ever be in the position that you're in having to fight against biological
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And, and who better than a coach, uh, that's a Senator.
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And by the way, there's 99 senators and one coach, the alcoholic coach.
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Uh, but I've been on the floor time and time again.
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And I wasn't here for two weeks, I'd stood up on the floor and, uh, with an amendment,
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uh, to a bill to say, listen, we cannot allow biological boys or men to play again in women's
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Uh, actually we had one Republican that voted against me and I, all I needed was 51 votes.
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And ever since then, Riley, we have been fighting it tooth and nail.
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Cause I really, I'm probably the only one up here understands.
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I asked him, I said, don't you have a daughter?
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I mean, do you actually want them dressing in dressing rooms with men or boys taking showers,
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It's the craziest thing I've ever, I never thought I'd be involved in this.
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So it's just, uh, I know what you're going to worse than what I'm going, cause you're
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I mean, you've seen it up close and personal and I've been following you and I've been,
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I've been right behind you just pounding, you know, what we need to be pounding, uh,
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to the people and trying to get it in their heads.
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And coming from me again, a female athlete, I couldn't be more grateful for your leadership.
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Truly, um, you, you've shown that you do know how to coach.
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And you're, you're coaching these people on doing the right thing.
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And we saw the same bill introduced on the house side by representative Subi, um, the
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And, you know, coach Tuberville, it blew my mind that this fell entirely on party lines
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entirely all Democrats, all 203 of them, every single one voted in opposition of protecting
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women and girls and sports, protecting women and girls in general, because this is bigger
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It's in regards to our locker room and our safety and our, and our sports.
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They're choosing to, to, to throw all of that out of the window, their moral compass entirely
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out of the window to what I believe to virtue signal.
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Um, uh, and I was shocked, like I actually wasn't shocked, um, by the response you had
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And that leads me to, um, just a few weeks ago, I sat in front of the Senate at the Senate
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Um, Senator Dick Durbin was there, Senator Booker, um, a lot of, of course, strong, influential
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people, even Marsha Blackburn from my home state of Tennessee.
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She was there, um, the comments and the conversation surrounding this topic is they'll say it's
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They will say, they will label you all of those things.
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They will say, this is an anti-trans bill that, that bans trans athletes from competing.
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And I'll be the first to say, and I know you can attest to this.
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And so my question to you is what is your response when they do the name calling, um, when they
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want to, to cancel you for saying women and girls should be protected in their sports?
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Well, they really don't have an argument, right?
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You know, here's what happens up here in Washington, DC.
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You've got the Democrats that really don't have an agenda.
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Uh, they run on identity politics and they have to get different groups to vote for them
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You can see the direction our country is going right now, uh, in terms of our economy or borders,
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crime, education, foreign relation, have no policies.
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They don't believe in anything, but if they can find one group that they can identify
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and jump on their side, they feel like they're going to get votes from them.
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There's not, you can't tell me that some of these ladies or some of these men that have
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It is, it's criminal, uh, that they would vote politically, you know, against this when
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they know dang right, it, uh, that is, it's wrong.
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We should, they should not be doing it, but they do it for power.
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And, uh, that's the sad part about, uh, Washington, DC.
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Everything is usually down party lines, but at least, uh, the Republicans up here, we have
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We have a philosophy that we follow or we try to follow and we don't work for identity politics.
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That's that's the reason that really makes me mad that this whole thing about biological
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boys playing against women and girls in the smaller, smaller, uh, ages.
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I've seen, I've seen volleyballs hitting girls in the head from these bigger kids hitting it
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harder and, and, and, you know, they can't react in time.
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Let me tell you, we go back to what we talked about earlier, 51 years of title nine.
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I was a women, I was a girl's basketball coach in my first job back when I was coaching
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And, uh, I've never seen anything so successful.
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And that's one thing up here that's actually worked in the federal government.
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They made it a level playing field for girls as to guys and the sport of women's athletics
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And, uh, now the same people that were for it are voting against it.
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And if we don't watch it, if we don't watch it, it's really going to affect the future.
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Because if I had a daughter, I wouldn't let her play against it.
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You know, if she's going to have to compete against males, not, you're not doing it either.
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I'd move or take her out and put her somewhere else.
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And, and the, the approach from the Biden administration, even, I mean, even the press
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secretary a few days ago, when a reporter asked her the question, a very legitimate
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question about the concern of, of safety, as you mentioned, um, this reporter, he said,
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you know, well, what do you have to say to girls in regards to their safety when competing
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And the press secretary looked at him literally and said, well, that's assuming that trans
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He was asking a question with a legitimate concern and she totally dismissed it and labeled
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And that that's the message that they're sending to young girls and women.
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It's that our safety and our privacy and our fairness and our dignity and all of that.
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I mean, I could, the list goes on our self-perception, our mental health.
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Um, what matters to the Biden administration, what, what seems, and again, this shouldn't
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be a political issue, but it's, of course, it's inevitable in the way it's become one.
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And what matters to the left is protecting the minority.
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Um, and I will say your home state of Alabama, I was incredibly surprised because there were 17
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Democrats who voted in favor of protecting women and girls in sports.
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This is by far the most we've seen out of any state.
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Um, actually, I think there were more who voted president who didn't vote.
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Um, but just a few weeks ago, I came by your office when I was in DC.
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It was actually when I was there for the Senate judiciary hearing.
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And I came in your office with a young girl by the name of Kylie Alons and she swam for
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Uh, she's an incredibly decorated, accomplished swimmer.
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She's the most decorated swimmer in NC state history.
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Um, a 31 time All-American, a five time ACC champion.
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Um, do you remember the story she told you in regards to the locker room?
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Um, could you briefly kind of just an overall synopsis of what that looked like for her at
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that same NCAA, NCAA championships where I competed against Leah Thomas?
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I can remember, you know, the talking about the dressing room and how both of you were surprised.
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And she, she actually, uh, said she dressed in a, what was in an electric room, uh, where there
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Uh, she was not going to dress in front of this, uh, uh, this guy or girl.
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I mean, it, it, you don't, you don't go through things like that in life.
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You know, you practice the dedication, all the things you put into it.
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And then you get to a situation where you're, you have an opportunity to compete and then
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all of it's destroyed by a distraction that should never even have the possibility of being
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And so, yeah, we, as you and I sat there and listened to her, it's just, it's just sad
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to, to see what, you know, the girls and women are having to go through right now, just
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because of politics, just because of identity politics and because of racism.
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I mean, it's exactly, they always fall back on that.
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And it's just a, it's a shame that, uh, people across the country vote for that because we
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all, you and I both, we're looking for fairness, just compete.
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Just make yourself better to compete and try to be the best.
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And, uh, the way that our country is going right now with the Democrats in charge, that's
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Do you see this, this, this bill you put forward this past year, this past cycle, is this something
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Is this something you're going to continue pursuing and fighting for?
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We're going to, we're going to keep fighting for it.
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We're going to keep talking about it on the floor.
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We talk about it in, in some of our caucus meetings.
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Uh, but you know, the thing about it is we know on the other side, they've already made
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They're set in stone because they know that they want that vote.
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They want that vote from the, from the group, from identity, identity, political groups that
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Uh, and it's just, they're, they're pushing that agenda so hard.
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And I don't understand where the, where the, the women are that, that should be standing
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There should be women, group, women groups out there that should be right there beside us,
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you know, and, and carrying signs and saying, what is going on here?
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It begs the question of where are the feminists, right?
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Where are the trailblazers for women's sports such as Megan Rapinoe, right?
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I mean, while I, I virtually agree with her on nothing, we can't, I can't acknowledge and
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admit how she was someone who fought for women in sports.
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She fought for equal access and equal resources and all of those things, especially when it came
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to the U S women's national soccer team in comparison to the men's, but now she's undermined
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She's someone we have to accredit title nine to really, I'm sure you can remember not to
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I'm sorry if I'm, if I'm aging you here, but I'm sure you can remember that this match.
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Um, I can, I can remember, uh, you know, the, the fight, you know, for title nine, I exactly
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can remember it, how, how, how so important it was to give, uh, young women, uh, and young
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girls the same opportunity to have that opportunity when they got older to learn, to compete, to
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learn time restraints, to learn organization, work ethic, work with other people, uh, understand
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And when you get kicked down and, and you don't win that you don't stop, you get up and go
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again and you work harder, that's what this country gives you.
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Uh, but what they're saying is, no, you don't have a chance.
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Uh, we're going to let young men or young boys participate against you.
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I mean, and they know that, but again, the, the politicians, all they want is to vote.
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You know, what's crazy about that is, is the overwhelming majority of people, not even
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just Republicans, the overwhelming majority of the general public acknowledges how this
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So they're, they're doing this for the vote, but this isn't how the constituents feel.
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This is a hill, a lot of people, especially a lot of women, parents, grandparents, this is
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And I, and I had one of those lifelong liberals a few weeks ago.
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She, this lady, she told me, and it's really stuck with me because I think it's so powerful.
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She said to me, Riley, how can these people leading our country defend what they can't
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Um, we have a, even a sitting Supreme court justice who can't define what a woman is because
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It's, it's as if it's like a Babylon B it's hard to distinguish between satire and reality
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And it's, it's unfortunate because we were living it.
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Um, but anyways, coach Tuberville, I applaud you and your efforts for what you're doing for
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title nine, what you're doing for female athletes and ultimately what you're doing for women.
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Because as I mentioned, this is a lot, a lot broader here than just women's sports.
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This is the war on women and you're seizing the opportunity to, to fight for us and protect
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us and our sex-based protections like our privacy and our safety.
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And I know I'm a megaphone for so many and telling you that.
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Um, but really quickly, while I have you, and again, both of our backgrounds being in sports,
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I wanted to hear about your efforts and, and what you're thinking for NIL.
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Um, I know this is something that you're passionate about and ensuring fair competition, all of
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those educational opportunities, um, and making sure that's not eroded by athletic compensation.
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Um, so would you mind touching on what those NIL efforts look like?
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Yeah, of course, you know, I lived it for a long time and I've seen, uh, college sports
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change and go through certain stages, but we're in a stage right now with this NIL where we're
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on the verge of, of, of going bankrupt, to be honest with you.
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Now there's a few schools that can, can really hold up to what what's going on right now with
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all the money that's going to players and athletes.
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And listen, I'll be the first one to tell you, I know how hard it is.
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You know, how hard it is to be an athlete and also go to school at the same time.
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I used to tell players, I said, listen, I know how hard it is.
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Whenever regular students go and drink a beer at the pub or, or, or walk around campus
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or playing tennis, you're working out or going to tutors.
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And, and, uh, I started talking to coaches last year, uh, across the country about this.
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And Joe Manchin and I got together, Joe Manchin from West Virginia is a Democrat.
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We got to do something from the federal standpoint.
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Uh, now we don't want to do a whole lot, but we do want to make, uh, a law.
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This is going to be a law that we're going to try to pass.
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And we want to make sure that all 50 states do the same thing.
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You have some states that will allow schools to go in and recruit 11th grader, say it's
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You say, listen, if you'll commit to us, we'll start paying you a hundred thousand dollars
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a year immediately before you even get to the school.
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The Supreme court said you can make money off your name, image, and likeness.
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When you get to university, that's what they meant.
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So we've got to stop this and what's going to happen.
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All the money's going to go into paying players, which again, I'm for players making money.
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Um, I'm, I'm so for that I'm for every player, all men and women.
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There's probably 500 athletes on every division one campus.
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We've got to give them the opportunity, but you also got to remember you have to have facilities.
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And if you people start all this money starts going to athletes, what's going to happen
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is there's no money going into the Olympic sports.
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There's no money going into some of the women's sports.
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You're going to see sports drop because there's only going to be the ones that really bring
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And so, uh, we'll, we'll drop the bill next week.
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You'll see a press conference probably around Tuesday or Wednesday.
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Joe and I will talk about it and we'll start selling it to in the Senate and then try to get
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Um, well, I can't wait to see what that looks like.
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I know at university of Kentucky, our basketball players, our men's basketball players are treated
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And this was, this was before they lost to the Peacocks or whoever they lost to it are
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Um, but I couldn't be more grateful for your time, Senator Tuberville.
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Um, we started, we were a few minutes late starting this podcast because you had to run off and
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vote and I'm sure you're about to have to do the exact same thing.
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And so I just wanted to thank you for your time.
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And congratulations on your show, but thank you for what you're doing.
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We've got to stay out there after this because that's what they want us to do.
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The Democrats will think, Hey, they'll forget about it.
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Uh, if we'll just keep pushing against them, uh, they'll give up.
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They're messing around with a coach and an athlete here and we don't quit.
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We're going to get this done because it's the right thing to do.
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And so hopefully, hopefully in the very near future, we get something done to help and protect
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Um, I could not be more proud to stand alongside him in this fight.
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And I couldn't be more grateful for his appearance on the gains for girls podcast.
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Um, don't forget to check us out at outkick.com or wherever you stream your podcasts, Apple,
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And so I look forward to seeing you guys next Wednesday.