HEY HOW TALL ARE YOU? Ft. Janiah Barker and Kiki Rice | The Comment Section Ep. 137
Summary
In this episode of the Comment Section Show, I sit down with two former UCLA Bruins women's basketball players, Janiah Barker and Kiki Rice. We talk about how they got their start in the sport, what it's like to be a female athlete in the WNBA, and how they feel about the current state of women's sports.
Transcript
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Do y'all ever have men be like, how tall are you? I'm probably about like, around the same height.
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It's not even night, they'll come stand next to you and be like...
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Hey, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Comment Section Show, starring me, your fave.
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I'm collecting female athletes like Infinity Stones.
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Yeah, I went to the All-Star game this weekend.
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Yeah, never felt safer in a crowd of sports athletes.
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Because it's just, it's all lesbians and women.
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Is that for women's basketball exclusively or just Bruins in general?
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I just think it's because like UCLA, like, maybe.
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But I'd love to know your guys' origins, like how you got into basketball.
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I know your lore to an extent, but I would love for everyone else to know, like, how you
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So I started playing when I was like six years old.
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And my older brother, he's a few years older than me, so he would go.
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He'd go shoot at our neighbor's house and stuff.
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So I'd want to go down with him and my dad and so on.
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And I kind of went down there and took my first shot.
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And ever since then, I've been playing on, like, AAU teams, travel teams, and just stuck
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But yeah, I started playing basketball, I want to say, like, five.
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I just remember my dad, we were watching a Boston Celtics game, and I'm like, what are
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So ever since then, it's been the tallest thing on the court, and just loved it so much.
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And it's literally my life, so that's just part of me.
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And how has it been, like, succeeding at a sport so young?
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Has it been, did it take any of the fun out of it for you, or has it been just, like, the
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higher you go, the more excited you get and more motivated you are?
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I mean, at one point it did, because I think my pops knew, like, my potential and how good
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So the push was like, okay, like, hold on, you're doing a bit too much, it's not fun
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But after that, it was just, like, sometimes it's just surreal.
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So U16, like, winning a gold medal, like, just, that's crazy.
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I'm, like, realizing it now, but I think at a young age, I'm just, like, living.
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Yeah, for me, when I was younger, actually, I played soccer, too.
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And there's a point where I'm like, all right, like, I want to play soccer and not basketball,
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because my mom, or my dad is less hard on me about soccer, because obviously you don't
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So I'm like, yes, I'll play soccer, because, like, my dad, he's on me about basketball, working
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But, and then when I got to, like, maybe 12-ish, at that point, I was like, okay, like, you
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know, like, I love basketball more than I love soccer.
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But, yeah, there's a point where I'm like, I don't even know if I want to do this, because
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soccer seemed like it'd be the easier route in terms of me getting yelled at and all
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But, no, like, I felt, you know, you're in love with a game, and you play so much, and
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So it's like, I got to keep playing, got to keep, you know, realizing.
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Also, too, I feel like, because the two of you are so prominent in women's basketball,
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especially now, and with, like, the resurgence of women's basketball this year, like, women's
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basketball has seen so many new fans this year.
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I'm sure it can get difficult, too, like, having so many more eyes on you now, like, especially
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But it is, like, yeah, you see, like, a player tweet something, or they post something,
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and it's, like, overnight, right away, like, literally, the whole scandal something drama.
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Do y'all have, like, did y'all have any people that you watched playing the game that
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I mean, okay, well, I'm a really big fan of Rekia Jackson, like, somebody else used to
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Really love her game, but I think, not, like, be like, but just to be excited and proud
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I grew up with Angel Reese, like, so just see her just flourish and be everything that
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And, like, even being a model, like, it's just so beautiful to see that.
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It's, like, I have guy friends, you know, they go college for a year and then they go
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So, it's, like, they get to live their life, but just to see her flourish and just grow
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For me, it wasn't really, like, one player that I was, like, you know, I want to be like
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her, I want to play like, but I think it was just a collection of, like, growing up,
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like, watching women's college basketball and, like, every single year I'd see, like, more
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people know about the game, more people tuned into the players.
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It, like, made me want to be a part of the game and, you know, get there one day, even
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Well, that was going to be my next question was, like, now that women's basketball has,
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is, like, moving so quickly to, like, mainstream, obviously there have been people that have
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been fans of women's basketball for a long time, but now a lot of people are like, I didn't
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How do y'all feel about all the new attention and new fans coming in to watch women's basketball?
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We went from, they need to be in the kitchen making peanut butter jelly sandwiches to,
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So, it's really been like a rollercoaster ride, but it's, like, it's such a blessing.
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Like, you know, of course, I feel like we deserve every attention that we get from it because
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we put as much work in as the boys, you know what I'm saying?
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We just wait for that money to get, you know, where the boys are at.
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Sometimes it's like, you can tell, you haven't been watching basketball in a while.
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So, sometimes you gotta, you know, say something.
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But I think it's cool to, like, introduce so many new people to the game and it's like,
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now you see, like, little boys wearing, like, jerseys of WNBA players and not NBA players.
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So, it's like, you know, like, that's stuff we love to see.
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Yeah, I saw a lot of little boys at the All-Star game in, like, Diana Taurasi jerseys.
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Like, a lot of them were in Taurasi jerseys, which I thought was so cute.
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Yeah, she's beloved, like, especially because we were in Phoenix.
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Like, when she came out, it was like, ah, like, Justin Bieber was there.
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I'm so curious, like, how, well, obviously, Janae, you transferred.
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Man, I went to Texas A&M and I just came, like, College Station is just such a small, small town.
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So, to come to L.A., like, there's just been so many opportunities.
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Like, first of all, like, being here is really, really cool.
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But L.A. is just so, L.A., like, L.A. is just L.A.
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But I've had great people around me just to introduce me to people that are good people.
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What have you learned, like, since you, like, because you've been here, like, for, like,
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So, like, what you think is, like, something that you should take?
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Everyone here is definitely a lot more materialistic than back home in D.C.
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And that's something that, like, I mean, I think it's, like, cool stuff that you have
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But it's, like, it's very different coming from D.C.
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Like, everyone's into politics and, like, the government and all that.
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And out here, it's, like, people go about their day knowing, like,
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In a way that's, like, a breath of fresh air and stuff.
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And it's, like, immediately, like, it's just, I feel a different vibe.
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One of my favorite questions to ask female athletes is, like,
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what your experience has been like with men who are, like,
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Like, it's always the football players because they think they, like,
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They have all the confidence in the world every single time.
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Definitely, I've played, like, a lot of guys would be like,
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When I had Ziya, she goes, that's the worst when they're, like,
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I'm not going to be backing you down or something.
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Like, I'm not going to put my butt on you, boy.
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Yeah, but no, it's always good to give them that work
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Yeah, what about, like, the gym at school or something?
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pick up basketball there, and then they're like,
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And then they start getting, it starts not being very funny
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It's like, trying to foul, be a little dangerous.
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Because football players forget it's basketball,
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I told Ziya the same thing, too, that I read this thread
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But she wrote this whole thing basically saying
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why she stopped one-on-one-ing dudes all the time.
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I mean, they have those in football and stuff, too,
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Like, female athletes are so unfazed by that shit
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and they feel like they have to prove themselves.
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So we would just make each other laugh the whole time.
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But I didn't give a fuck about throwing like at all.
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And my mom doesn't get mad at me for not being in a sport.
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And then whenever someone started getting a little too good on JV and they might replace me,
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and then she got like an offer to like a small school for discus.
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these are just comments on that video that says,
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give me a week of practice and I can be any female athlete at their sport.
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He has a picture of Troy Bolton as his profile picture.
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Them having Troy Bolton be a basketball star and he's like,
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Like why is Troy Bolton in your profile picture?
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Do y'all ever watch basketball in movies and like cringe at it?
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the remake of white man can't jump with Jack Harlow?
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It's just the way they film and choreograph like sports.
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I'm not trying to get a lot of shots to where it's like,
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I wonder if they watch sports movies and think like,
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Or they look at how someone's built and you're like,
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the guys who mop the sweat are taller than that.
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like he's being recruited by like all these huge D one schools.
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I don't even play tennis and I beat D one girls at just anything or that guy's this color.
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do the girls really think that they would beat a man?
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Only exception is if they have zero athleticism.
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that's not true because men who are not athletic talk shit on women all the time who are athletes.
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I don't really understand where they're coming from.
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you're that guy who like gives the speech in the locker room.
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They would hurt your feelings before they even play you.
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both are posing in competition form while wearing formal clothes,
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jokingly on their way to a date night with the captions.
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I'm assuming about the woman who's a bodybuilder.
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Your body fat is so like low that they don't even get a period.
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That is that's very interesting that that's the only thing you know about
00:50:41.140
Bodybuilding is so fascinating to me because they are truly torturing
00:50:54.100
they'll eat like 900 calories a day and they'll do like four hours of
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which like sucks all the water out of them so that they are as lean as
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Like their muscles are just suctioned to their skin.
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Like you're at the level where it's like one of eight in the world have ever
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And it's funny is my dad did a bodybuilding competition for the first
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So my dad essentially did it with like no help for like three,
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he finally got a coach that was like able to work with him.
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like someone who made it and doesn't need to prove anything anymore.
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I feel like athletes are so confident like that.
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there's a point where when a woman works too much,
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I'm sure they say that about all female athletes,
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I go grab my girlfriend and then grab her real quick.
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I've talked to some of my friends who are athletes.
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Like women's basketball players are fucking tall.
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And then one of my friends was telling me about it.
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did you tell him we're wearing the same outfit?
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I really want to ask a man about that for real though.
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men like think that masculine women that are lesbians are attractive.
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if my girl was swole like that and looked like a man,
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y'all just think because of how they think of women,
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Like I need that kind of delusion in my life sometimes.
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Like they try to picture like their ego is like so much bigger than,
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I'll like a man will attack me and then I'll tell him like,
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I want you to tweet a picture of you standing next to your mom's fridge.
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where did the hate from the men like originate though?
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Like what really got you to the point where he was like,
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something happened that like just triggered you.
00:56:08.760
Sometimes like I was at the gym like a few weeks ago and the gym I go to,
00:56:13.660
my boyfriend used to work at and I know all the people who work there.
00:56:21.900
So like I went there and I can always tell when there's a new guy in there
00:56:25.060
because if it's a guy like that sees me by myself and just doesn't know who my
00:57:12.020
I was literally at a grocery store checking out and this guy was like asking me
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if you don't ring up my mango and put it in there immediately.
00:58:23.540
what is y'all's best piece of advice for young women who are maybe wanting to play basketball and they see like how popular women's basketball is now.
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maybe they're feeling nervous about it or maybe they're excited.
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Like what would y'all say is your best piece of advice for young female athletes coming up?
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I would say like be confident in whatever you do.
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in women's basketball and in this game where like,
00:58:53.980
you're still going to encounter opportunities where you like,
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you get hate for playing basketball or like you feel some sort of like resistance to doing so.
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But I think like be confident in that and know that like you have an army of people behind you.
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And this game is only going to get better because you play it and because you grow this game.
00:59:12.240
I would say just to make sure you put the work in,
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no matter how minute you think that little run you did for like,
00:59:30.560
Don't let anybody take that confidence from you and continue to believe in yourself.
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And always give yourself models or like something just to reset and always give yourself affirmation.
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Just always tell yourself the best thing because you are your number one supporter and your number one like person.
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it's you versus you and always have your confidence and just be consistent.
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And the work will always show as long as you put it in.
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I met quite a few players this weekend and they're like,
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But I'm really excited and happy that y'all got to see Janiah and hear from Janiah and
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Thank you so much for tuning into this episode.
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