The Comment Section with Drew Afualo - LOCKED IN Ft. Zia Cooke ｜ The Comment Section Ep. 133

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00:01:00.060 I think it's really fun when you see celebrities that you never would have thought are like

00:01:04.160 really into the WNBA. Yeah, and Michael B. Jordan, too. He was supposed to come to a game,

00:01:09.640 but he has not come yet, so if you see this, hurry. He's trying to get wiped up.

00:01:15.320 He's trying to get wiped up by one of the sparks. He hasn't like came yet. I don't know what's

00:01:19.100 taking him so long. What are you so afraid of, Michael B. Jordan? Come on.

00:01:30.240 Hey, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Comment Section Show starring

00:01:33.860 me, your fave. Everybody knows me. Who cares about me? On to the guest. Today, we have the

00:01:38.700 iconic, the legendary, the athletic, Ziya Cooke. Woo! Thank you for having me. Thank you for coming

00:01:46.480 to the show. My second female athlete, second athlete overall on the show, but only women,

00:01:52.640 only female athletes. That's who I have. That's super dope. Period. Very exciting. Thank you for

00:01:57.820 coming. I'm honored to have you, and I have a very, very, very, I would say, passionate drive

00:02:04.860 to platform female athletes and make them more famous than male athletes. Yes. I'm glad you could

00:02:10.480 join me on this journey. Of course. But I'd like to know a little bit more about your journey

00:02:16.280 before, obviously, now you're on the Sparks, correct? But you went to South Carolina. Game

00:02:23.040 cock. Yes. I've only done one college, like, anything, like, talk or whatever, and it was at 0.95

00:02:29.800 USC. Really? Yeah. Okay. I went to South Carolina. You got a tiny little school. Yeah,

00:02:34.840 that's, yep. And someone brought me a shirt that says, Go Gamecocks. Yep. Yeah, I wore

00:02:39.020 it. Of course I did. Of course. You have to. Yeah. So I'd love to know how you started playing

00:02:45.100 basketball, how you got into it, and, like, journey up to college. Yes. So I've been playing

00:02:50.720 basketball since I was six years old, and I really got into it from my brother, Stratman.

00:02:56.640 He played every sport you can think of, and my dad had him waking up early mornings, going

00:03:02.780 to run the park, doing push-ups, all type of stuff, and I would just watch him, and I'm

00:03:07.200 like, I want to try it. Yeah. I just always wanted to try it, because I could tell, like,

00:03:11.160 how happy it made my dad to see my brother doing what he was doing. Oh, that's cute.

00:03:15.660 And I remember, it's a funny story. I used to go to church every Sunday. My mom would

00:03:22.180 go to church every Sunday. I'll have my Sunday dress on, and my brother was outside playing

00:03:26.860 with his friends. When I got back home, I'm like, I went out there, and I just shot the

00:03:30.980 ball. And my brother was like, Hold on. Like, do that again. And then I end up doing it

00:03:35.760 again, and it was like, ever since then, I fell in love with the game of basketball just

00:03:39.300 from being able to see my brother do it, and then just finally trying to pick up a ball

00:03:43.440 and see what I can do with it. So yeah, at six years old, that's when I started. That's

00:03:49.120 when you made the shot, when you were six? I was probably like six or seven. Damn, that's

00:03:52.620 crazy. Still, either way. Yeah, I was super young. I'd be afraid of you. I'd be like, okay, 1.00

00:03:57.840 baby genius. No, it's crazy, because a lot of the boys, like, they would look at me like,

00:04:03.580 yeah, she can't play basketball, and then I'd get out there, and I'd just do them bad. 1.00

00:04:06.920 Oh, man. It just used to be so funny. You're just hustling people. Always.

00:04:10.500 Oh, I'm such a girl. You want to play against me? Right. Oh, I love that. That makes me,

00:04:15.520 that really activates my prey drive, thinking about men getting shown up like that.

00:04:19.620 Ooh, love it. All the time, and not only that, but I played football, too.

00:04:23.220 Okay, period. What'd you play football? Tackle football. I was quarterback, wide receiver,

00:04:26.820 running back. I literally played it all. My jersey got retired, and everything.

00:04:31.380 Hugging the rafters. Yeah, it was just something. Slight work. Yeah. No big deal.

00:04:36.840 But, yeah, so I got my first college offer in the seventh grade by Eastern Michigan, and

00:04:43.820 I was playing football still at the time. EMU, that's the green and white team. Yeah, I know.

00:04:48.700 For some reason, I thought football was going to be like my, what I was going to do until

00:04:52.580 I got older, and I started developing as a woman a little bit, and my dad's like, you're

00:04:57.500 getting offers in basketball. You're not in football. So which one do you want to do?

00:05:01.360 Let's lock in, all right? Yeah. Let's focus up. Yeah, so I locked in, and from the seventh

00:05:06.400 grade on, I took basketball 100% serious. I gave my all to it, and I received about 55

00:05:13.220 college offers around there. Wow. Had to get it down to a top five, and South Carolina was

00:05:18.240 in my top five, and got it to a top three, and then made my decision. Did you do, like,

00:05:22.540 the commitment day where you, like, put on the hat? Yeah, I did. Oh, period. I love those videos.

00:05:26.820 Yeah. I never did one of those, but I love those videos when they're like, uh, it's a

00:05:32.500 big surprise to everyone. Yeah. Was your, are you from, where are you from? I'm from

00:05:35.820 Toledo, Ohio, originally. Oh, okay. So was your family sad that you were leaving, going

00:05:40.220 away, or they were excited to come watch you play? Well, they tricked me, first of all,

00:05:43.960 because I'm a, I'm a daddy's girl and a mommy's girl, so I wanted my family. I was going to sound

00:05:48.100 really close to your family. I am very close. My decision didn't matter to me because I thought

00:05:52.720 that they were going to come wherever I decided to go. Oh, really? And they tricked me. They just

00:05:56.640 did that so that I would actually go where I wanted to go. Where you wanted to go. Instead

00:05:59.700 of, like, actually. Locally. Yeah, so. Oh, that's really sweet. They didn't move with me, so I was

00:06:03.760 probably more sad than they were, because they planted all along. They were telling you, yeah,

00:06:07.440 we'll move, yeah. Yeah, we'll go wherever you go. Whole time, never came. That's honestly really smart

00:06:12.660 to, like, just lie to you and tell you, I'll meet you there. Yep. I'm looking at houses now. Never did. He didn't go with you. Crazy.

00:06:18.900 But they were always there, though, so it was, like, it felt like they lived there, honestly. Yeah,

00:06:22.880 I'm sure. And then being a college athlete, that's, like, your whole life is just playing

00:06:26.460 your sport. So how was it playing in college? Like, did you notice a difference in, like,

00:06:31.680 you know, intensity or anything like that? I think for sure. The pace was something that was a lot

00:06:36.840 different, and the pace from college to the W is different. I think that's the number one thing

00:06:41.900 that changes when you're elevating and when you're playing basketball. But also, like,

00:06:47.300 the mental part of the game, it didn't really click for me until I got to college. Like,

00:06:52.660 understanding you got to be mentally strong. Like, I didn't even get that until I got to college,

00:06:57.340 and I was feeling myself have different emotions. Things weren't going my way, and it was the first

00:07:01.600 time that it's ever happened to me. So it was something that I just had to deal with.

00:07:07.280 Interesting. Yeah, and I think, too, like, even the mental part probably plays a huge role when you

00:07:11.200 go from college to the W, too. For sure. Because then you're adding in all of this, like,

00:07:15.620 visibility, too, now. Especially if you do really well in college, which I know you did. But it's,

00:07:21.100 like, when you garner all this attention, that was going to be my next question, is, like,

00:07:24.800 how has social media played a factor in, you know, especially now that the WNBA is having such a,

00:07:30.480 like, renaissance right now. Like, everyone loves women's basketball now, which is great.

00:07:34.820 Took them a while, but it's great. We're here. Took the scenic route, but everybody arrived at the

00:07:38.600 same destination. Love that. Yeah. So how has that been? Like, now that you're at the Sparks now,

00:07:43.720 you kind of went to the next level. Like, as the exposure changed the experience,

00:07:47.620 is it completely different now that you kind of have to be two different people? Like,

00:07:51.300 you have to be, like, a social person, a social media person, but then also an athlete?

00:07:54.760 Yeah, I think, well, I'll say that college kind of gave me a head start for that because of NIL.

00:07:59.340 Yeah, that's true. My first year, I think the first year NIL started was my junior year.

00:08:04.560 So I got two years at understanding the business of things and being able to make money and

00:08:10.240 understanding that my brand is super important. Yeah. So I got a, I got a good, good, a very good

00:08:15.380 head start with NIL. And that's what kind of helped me when I got to the W was just like,

00:08:20.340 just the same for me, really. Yeah. Just understanding that I have to be a businesswoman,

00:08:24.700 understanding my finances and how to take care of my money, understanding what to say yes to,

00:08:28.960 what to say no to. Yeah. So I was happy that I was able to experience NIL before I got to the W.

00:08:33.860 Yeah. That's how, oh, that's such a good point. And it's, and it gave you a lot of, first of all,

00:08:38.000 it gives you what you're due, which is like money for your compensation, compensation for your time

00:08:42.940 and being an athlete. Um, but then also, yeah, that's so true. It gives you a lot more perspective

00:08:47.180 on when you like transition into a full-time athlete and not just like a student athlete.

00:08:52.140 Um, how has the attention on women's basketball been like, obviously you've been playing basketball

00:08:57.380 your whole life, so you've known how fucking awesome women's basketball is, but now this, 1.00

00:09:01.580 it's really brought in this new wave of fans this past year. So what's that been like now that you've

00:09:07.760 been playing it for so long. So you're probably, it's probably, I'm sure strange to see other people

00:09:11.720 kind of just discover. It's super dope to see, I think. Yeah. And I'll say like, I was, it's,

00:09:17.160 it's kind of weird because I feel like I kind of grew up in the era where social media was just

00:09:21.620 becoming a thing. Like we started having overtime, ball is life, she hoops, like it was just all these

00:09:27.120 different types of platforms that players were starting to get recognized on. And that was like,

00:09:31.620 highlighting them. That didn't really happen to like the end of my junior year till my senior year.

00:09:36.380 And that's how I kind of became who I am because of the things that were captured. Um, then when you

00:09:41.680 get to the, to college, we, it was kind of slow until NIL came and then NIL brought it up. And then

00:09:48.100 these new waves of girls that just got in the W, um, injuries, uh, Caitlin Clark, they are definitely

00:09:53.400 leading the way I think. And, and just showing what women's basketball is, is capable of. 0.99

00:09:58.200 Yeah. And I bet it's like, I've talked about this with my other friends who are female athletes too.

00:10:03.960 It's like, it's very cool. And it's also really annoying because then you have people being like,

00:10:09.880 Oh my God, did you guys know that there's a professional women's league in basketball?

00:10:13.180 Yeah. Yeah. A lot of us have known for a while. And I think what I think is wonderful about it is

00:10:19.320 now women's basketball players are getting just as much attention, like media attention as men's

00:10:25.720 basketball players, which has been a thing forever. They they're popular forever. And now we just

00:10:30.600 gotta, we gotta keep moving forward, keep pushing up. And I think we're on the rise. Honestly, I've

00:10:35.640 been in restaurants, literally anywhere I go, I see women's basketball on the TV or I might see it on 0.55

00:10:41.100 the screen somewhere. And it's just like, well, sometimes I look at them like, wow, like we're on TV.

00:10:46.000 Like every time I go somewhere, I hear about women's basketball and it's just showing that

00:10:50.200 we're on the rise. Absolutely. And I'm, I'm curious, like, what has it been like as far as like

00:10:56.020 dealing with hate? Cause obviously you deal with like, Oh my gosh, actually, this is the first

00:11:01.820 question I want to ask you. How many men have, have challenged you to like one-on-ones? They're

00:11:06.160 like, Oh, well, if you just like, if I give me a couple hours, we'll just warm up a little bit.

00:11:10.160 And I just like, I'm sure that's happened to you like your whole life. Uh, that's like challenges,

00:11:13.940 the challenges. And then that's just kind of how men try to like get on with you. I think

00:11:18.500 they're trying to relate, but then they take it a little too serious. Yeah. They take it a little

00:11:22.380 too serious and they try to do the whole loving basketball thing. And it's like, yo, like, come

00:11:28.500 on, be serious. Like, no, I'm playing for real. Play for real. Don't flirt. Play for real. Like,

00:11:33.740 I really want to show you that you can't guard me. Put the flirting aside. Oh my gosh. The ick

00:11:38.520 that crawls through my veins just now thinking about men like play flirting. Yeah. Like, Oh my

00:11:43.660 shirts versus skins. You and me. I'm curious. I was curious on, on social media. Cause now

00:11:49.680 because women's basketball is so forefront in a lot of ways, um, obviously that gives a lot of 1.00

00:11:55.660 men license to be like, well, it's still not as interesting as like, I've fought men on TikTok

00:12:01.720 many times who talk about female athletes. And recently I made one about WNBA players because

00:12:06.800 they say the most head ass shit, like the shit they say, which is like, well, I mean, if I was in high 1.00

00:12:13.320 school, I could have beat, I could beat a WNBA team. And I'm like, okay, but you're 30. 1.00

00:12:17.420 Yeah. Like you sell insurance. So I doubt it. Right. So I don't believe you, I guess. But

00:12:23.200 I'm curious if you have to deal with that, especially getting featured on, um, all of

00:12:27.260 those different platforms. Like WSLAM follows me and like, they feature a lot of women's basketball 0.99

00:12:33.400 players or even when Bleacher Report, like post basketball players, if they ever post female

00:12:37.560 athletes, there's always men in there. Always. One thing about me is I'm, I'm good at just

00:12:43.680 ignoring people. Like I do really well at that. I don't really, I, I'm understanding that trolling

00:12:49.900 is a thing now. Like that's what people like get happy about and that's who they are. So it's just

00:12:54.760 like to keep myself sane, I just read it, laugh at it and move on. Yeah. Cause that's all you can do.

00:13:01.300 Yeah. Well, and I also think too, whenever men say shit like that, like they're like, well, if I, 0.99

00:13:05.760 you know, I could beat the best basketball, like there was one guy that got really mad at me when 0.98

00:13:10.460 I made a video defending WNBA players and when he started the video, he was like, well, first off

00:13:16.880 I'm five, four, stop right there. Stop right there, sir. I don't take you seriously. You can't. Yeah.

00:13:24.560 I don't, I don't take you seriously. I immediately stopped listening as soon as he said that because

00:13:29.880 his whole thing was he beats people at, at the gym all the time. So he could easily, he's like a YMCA

00:13:34.800 basketball player. Yeah. Yeah. He's a pickup basketball guy. You know, you're like just loiters

00:13:38.540 around the court. Like you guys, you guys try to play? You guys try to play? He has no friends of

00:13:42.440 his own. He's just glomming onto other groups sometimes. Can't do it. And I also think when it

00:13:47.920 comes to athletes like yourself and men running their fucking mouth, I always think like you're at 0.99

00:13:53.200 home, like to that man, you're at fucking home watching her on TV. If you really, like, I always 0.99

00:14:00.340 think if, well, if I didn't get hurt, I just always think what's stopping you now, right?

00:14:05.120 Go, go try, go try to make the NBA right now, buddy. See how that works out. He's like, it's

00:14:10.240 just opportunity. Okay. We'll go. Like, I'm sure they have trials, right? Literally. And

00:14:16.080 I feel like for female athletes, they have to like constantly, they can never, I guess this

00:14:22.620 is like a different kind of question, but female athletes, especially also have to keep a certain 1.00

00:14:27.200 level of decorum about them. So even when people are being really misogynistic in interviews

00:14:31.500 or post game pressers, they have to be really nice about dealing with it. Yeah. Which I

00:14:37.160 don't agree with. Yeah. Honestly. Men aren't. Like NBA players don't give a fuck. Like they're,

00:14:41.820 they're very honest. And I think that's something that's kind of changing as well. Like we're able

00:14:45.860 to be who we are, say how we feel. Um, I just got to give props to Angel Reese. Like I feel

00:14:51.440 like she's one of the ones that just stood on who she was. And it was just like, it's either

00:14:56.360 you can accept it or you're not going to accept it, but I'm a ball and do what I need to do

00:14:59.500 regardless. Yeah. So I think that's just like the mindset that some of the WNBA players are

00:15:04.080 starting to have. And she's helped people just show who they are and believe in themselves.

00:15:07.880 Really? Absolutely. And they do not hold male athletes to that same standard. Yeah. They

00:15:12.780 never do. They let them act however they want. And they're like, well, they're just a passionate

00:15:16.620 player. Yeah. And then when women do it, they're like, oh, look how fucking unreasonable she 1.00

00:15:20.360 is. They start judging her as a person and not as an athlete. Exactly. You know what I mean? 0.98

00:15:24.240 Which I fucking hate. Yeah. I hate that shit. But I'm also, I'm grateful for, I'm grateful that 0.99

00:15:29.640 everybody's paying attention to it now. Yeah. But I hate that that also comes with it. Yeah. So I'm

00:15:34.020 sure you feel the same way too. I do. Especially having played as long as you have, like, again,

00:15:37.900 it's like, I feel like athletes like yourself are like, I'm just going to keep playing. Yeah. You can

00:15:42.640 keep doing this. Yeah. I'm just going to keep playing. That's, that's literally me. I'm going to keep

00:15:47.480 playing, playing the game. But speaking of, we're going to talk about our topic for today,

00:15:52.540 which is terrible men on the internet who reject the validity of female professional

00:15:56.960 athletes and don't believe they should be treated equally in sports, which we've already talked 0.97

00:16:02.320 about is fucking really makes me angry. It irritates the hell out of me because men have 1.00

00:16:07.440 this very strange blind confidence about, especially about sports. And I was like, the amount of men

00:16:14.060 who make it professionally is the same as women, which is very small. Right. And like, they're 1.00

00:16:18.740 not in that percentage. And all of a sudden, they're like, well, I could probably beat women. 0.99

00:16:22.280 Right. You're all fuck 50. Fuck me. What I do. This is crazy. Okay. So in this first video, 1.00

00:16:29.480 in this video, a man plays a WNBA player 1v1. He doesn't say the name of the player, her team or

00:16:36.340 tag her anywhere. So can't verify who it is. But he scores a ton of baskets on her and the clip shown 0.67

00:16:42.240 and brags that he wasn't even trying that hard. And I was like, okay, so he's just playing a woman

00:16:49.040 in basketball and basically bragging and saying she's a WNBA, WNBA player, but won't say who it 0.66

00:16:55.160 is. So I'm like, is her back just to the camera the whole time? Right. And so the comments on this,

00:17:00.840 like this one says, please explain to me how gender equality is even possible. Leave it to women to lie 1.00

00:17:06.220 to themselves for every single thing in life. I'm assuming he's saying like women could never play

00:17:10.800 against men. Yeah, that's crazy. But the fact that I just don't understand why men like get so

00:17:16.300 excited when they, when they beat women, like, honestly, that's what you're supposed to do.

00:17:22.700 Like, but isn't that like kind of your guys's thing? Yeah. Like that's what y'all say. So

00:17:29.780 why are you even talking about? Also, I don't believe you that that woman was a WNBA player. 0.99

00:17:35.540 Yeah, me either. I think that was, that's trolling. Like you see how it is?

00:17:38.460 It's a lie. Yeah, it's truly, it's like a fake video. But I also think

00:17:42.740 they, in no reality, like the video that I made was stitching this podcast with these two guys.

00:17:49.040 And they said, do you think that the best high school basketball team, like men's basketball

00:17:54.120 team could be the best WNBA team? That was the fucking prompt. That's so disrespectful. 1.00

00:18:00.160 To which, exactly. To which I say, uh, no, I don't think that a high school team could be

00:18:05.060 the WNBA team. I saw something like that. Yeah. I was like, but too, like, what are

00:18:10.780 these fake fucking questions? Like what are we, we're just making up hypotheticals? Like 0.98

00:18:14.620 that's why I'm like, you, like the men who say that shit, I'm like, you couldn't even 1.00

00:18:18.120 make varsity in high school. So what the fuck are we talking about? Like, are you the guy 1.00

00:18:21.760 to ask like, who's the best basketball player in the world? I think it's so-and-so. And

00:18:26.760 I always say too, that professional men's basketball players don't talk shit on WNBA 0.99

00:18:32.500 players like that. Yeah. They don't. At least not publicly. If they ever do, you never see 0.99

00:18:36.520 it. No, they don't. I think because they understand like the talent that we have. It's like real

00:18:40.100 recognized real. Yeah. So like they respect an athlete and she is an athlete. So like,

00:18:45.220 that's why I'm like, all of these women that you talk shit on have been endorsed by the 0.99

00:18:49.520 men that they worship. So I don't understand. Man. Like, where's the disconnect coming in? 0.99

00:18:53.940 It's like the men that you worship and get on your knees for love these women and think

00:18:59.340 they're remarkable athletes. So what the fuck are we arguing about? It's crazy. Hey, what 0.99

00:19:03.940 are we talking about? That's why I asked how many men have challenged you. They're like,

00:19:07.080 well, there's been a lot. She's never caught me at the LA fitness. Right. How are we to

00:19:12.660 know? That's definitely going to be one of the comments. Like, all right. I told someone

00:19:19.460 once I, I remember seeing a thread like years ago, um, from a famous women's basketball player

00:19:25.640 and she's retired. She was retired. Then I forget her name, but she was, did this whole 0.97

00:19:31.160 thread basically saying like, why she never accepts one-on-one challenges anymore. Or 0.76

00:19:35.820 she stopped a while into her career. And she said, because I realized like, I don't have anything

00:19:40.140 to prove to these guys. Right. And then when you start beating them, what ends up happening

00:19:43.600 is they start fouling you and like hurting you on purpose. Then I realized I was like

00:19:48.360 jeopardizing my career by trying to like prove myself to these men who could never make it

00:19:54.180 in a million years. Like no matter with all the help in the world, they could never make

00:19:58.520 it because God hates them. So that's why they're not players. Um, so like, that's why they don't

00:20:03.420 have that life because they weren't blessed with that. And so I, every time I see men talk

00:20:08.080 shit, that's what I think about is how women are like, I'm not proving myself to you. 1.00

00:20:11.460 And that's something that I had to like learn going back to my hometown and I would go to 0.99

00:20:15.660 the YMCA. Cause that's just where I grew up playing. And I started noticing like some

00:20:20.540 of them were playing, like it was scouts in the room and it's just like, hold on, wait

00:20:25.360 a minute. Wait a minute. What's going on here? Like definitely chill. He's not here.

00:20:31.800 Yeah. They get to dunking on you. I'm like, roll, like relax, calm down. I'm just going to

00:20:38.780 like that. And you know, what's crazy is I thought too, when I talked about it with my

00:20:42.260 boyfriend, cause my boyfriend played college football, but then he didn't want to play

00:20:46.440 in the pros. Like he's like, Hey, I'm done. I give up. I don't want to do this anymore.

00:20:49.240 Yeah. And so he had scholarships and everything too. And so he's like, I just always think

00:20:53.460 like men who play like that just never had, like, they just never felt that what it feels

00:20:57.960 like to be the best.

00:20:58.800 No, that's, that's definitely true. I think it probably just gives him a little bit of a boost

00:21:02.500 of like adrenaline confidence. Maybe confidence. Yeah. I don't know. He's like, I actually

00:21:07.120 saw Zai at the Y and I dunked on her. You guys know her? You know her? Yeah. Like it's

00:21:14.020 crazy. You're like, okay. And I'm actually get paid. I actually get paid to play this

00:21:17.700 sport. Right. You work at AutoZone. So literally the same, not the same, but that's what I think

00:21:23.720 is funny. Like what's been my experience, like with, uh, the female athletes I have like befriended

00:21:29.180 in this industry and everything is all of you are so like, whatever, dude. Yeah. Like

00:21:33.660 if that makes you feel good about yourself, sure. Like the way that they're like, I could

00:21:37.500 beat you. Okay. Yeah. Literally. Sure. Like that's why I said, what's stopping you? Go

00:21:43.040 audition. Yeah. Literally. Audition. Try out. Uh, this next comment says most average male

00:21:49.380 rec players would scorch most WNBA players. No. They will what? They would scorch. What does 0.95

00:21:56.120 that mean? Beat severely? Scorch. Okay. Scorch. I think a white guy wrote that. It had

00:22:03.680 to be. Scorch. Most WNBA players. No. No. The answer to your question is no, they wouldn't.

00:22:12.600 Most. I feel like they think WNBA players are this big. No. Yeah. And that's what they,

00:22:18.080 they're all five, two and petite. That's what they, I literally think they think that they

00:22:21.580 have to at this point. And that's what they're going to tell you. It's so funny to see you

00:22:27.720 guys are so wrong. You know, what's crazy is if anything, they're more talented because

00:22:31.360 a lot of WNBA players are also serving face. They have like, like they look gorgeous on top

00:22:37.200 of being an athlete. Of course. I don't do that. Yeah. They look ugly while they play. They

00:22:42.520 don't care about that. This next one says no offense, but that's kind of why that's why men 0.82

00:22:48.060 get paid more. Not saying they're better, but because of the attraction of flashy dunks

00:22:52.660 and consistency, consistency. That's actually not why men get paid more. Yeah. Like that's

00:22:59.220 actually not true. They play more games and have more visibility. That's why they get paid

00:23:02.380 more. Yeah. Some people don't know that though, but I'm just stupid bitch. So what would I 0.95

00:23:06.580 know? I'm a stupid woman. When I had, when I made that video, I got so much hate from so 1.00

00:23:10.440 many men who are under five, eight and all, every single one of them was like, well, who the 0.99

00:23:14.860 fuck are you to comment on players? And I always say I'm just as qualified as you. Not 0.97

00:23:19.120 at all. Literally. You don't see me saying I could be Ziya. Like I'm not saying that shit.

00:23:23.620 I'm not walking around being like, yeah, let me see Caitlin Clark on the, on the fuck in 1.00

00:23:26.660 the paint. I'll get her in the fucking paint. I would never do that because I am not shit 1.00

00:23:31.300 compared to her in basketball. Hello. It's not the whole fucking point. I'm just as qualified 0.98

00:23:35.120 as you, buddy. Not at all. Okay. This next video in this video, WNBA player Kelsey Plumb is 0.71

00:23:44.400 being interviewed. She explains that there is a common misconception with the WNBA versus

00:23:49.160 NBA athletes and pay. She says that they're not asking to make as much money as someone

00:23:53.700 like LeBron does. They're asking to get paid the same percentage of revenue. For example,

00:23:58.260 they sell her Jersey at Mandalay Bay and she doesn't get any money from that. That's crazy.

00:24:03.000 Crazy. That's fucking nuts. I did not know that. Crazy. Just say, and then those comments 1.00

00:24:07.140 are fucking awful. This one says just saying she's still making more than the middle class 0.99

00:24:10.900 for a dream job. Like stop complaining. It's just, you never win. Do you? Like

00:24:15.860 they're like, Oh, well guess what? Men get paid more. Yeah. I would like us to get paid

00:24:19.340 in equal revenue shares. Now you're complaining, complaining about getting paid for your job.

00:24:24.940 Nice. It's crazy. Women are just, but what I do love is that we all speak up for what we 0.98

00:24:31.280 believe in. And even it's crazy. Cause when I got in the W, I didn't even realize like how

00:24:36.600 much time and effort, the W actually puts into getting us what we deserve. Like I'm like, man,

00:24:42.900 the W what's going on? Like, do they not care? And then when I got to the league and I saw how

00:24:47.380 many people were pushing for it, all the players that was pushing for it, I kind of felt bad that

00:24:51.540 I was even feeling the way I felt about the W. And now that I'm seeing the way that it's,

00:24:55.420 it's getting better and better and it's increasing. It's just like, it's just timing. Like this is the

00:25:00.900 timing for it to all happen. I mean, as a woman, I just told someone like we, we're going to always

00:25:05.540 get it hard, but we can handle it. I don't, I personally don't think men can handle what we

00:25:11.180 go through. Like, honestly, I don't think they would be able to handle the things that women 1.00

00:25:14.900 have to go through. No, absolutely not. This is the cards we were dealt, but we're on the rise for

00:25:18.920 sure. Yeah. And still, and still doing it, like still fucking showing up, still coming and giving

00:25:24.700 your hardest, like giving a hundred percent every single fucking time. Yeah. Still talking about how 0.99

00:25:29.280 much it matters. Still talking about women. That's another thing too, that I love, um, that you don't

00:25:33.800 see in any male professional leagues, which is like the camaraderie, like how everyone's kind

00:25:39.940 of sticking together and uplifting each other. Even when they try really hard to pit women against

00:25:44.920 each other, like female athletes, they're like, I'm not going to sit here and talk shit on her 1.00

00:25:49.380 with you. Like they're trying to make girls gossip about each other and shit. It's not a thing. 1.00

00:25:52.760 It's like, I'm a player. She's a player. She's a great player. So am I like the fact that

00:25:56.140 they give each other kudos, even if you're not on the same teams, always different schools,

00:26:00.540 because if we have no one else, we only have each other. And I think that's what the whole

00:26:05.380 WNBA is. Like we're all a family, like totally a total family. And even when we have altercations 1.00

00:26:11.100 one team just going back and forth or a player on player. And that's just competitive. Yeah.

00:26:14.860 When we get in the, uh, for media, when we get to the media room, they ask questions and

00:26:19.440 we keep it a hundred percent respectful. Yeah. We just have a few words. She's a great player. 0.61

00:26:25.320 Yeah. It's like, it's never, I hate her and she's never personal because we know that

00:26:30.280 we're all just competitors and you're all athletes. Like that's the, that's what makes

00:26:33.720 sports fun is that they're competitive and they have a competitive edge to them. But

00:26:37.800 that's what I mean when they say they like, whenever, if, if people like, they kind of

00:26:41.940 like, it gets a little heated, like on the court, they're like, Oh, do you guys hate each

00:26:45.940 other now? Like, do you guys ask LeBron that? Of course you fucking don't. You know what

00:26:49.740 I mean? You never ask him that shit. Cause you know, it's just them playing against, 1.00

00:26:52.980 it's just the natural nature of the game. Exactly. Everyone's feeling some type of way

00:26:57.020 cause everyone wants to win. That's a good thing. Yeah. But I, I love when I see interviews

00:27:02.020 with so many different WNBA players that are like, it's just uplifting to everyone. Like

00:27:07.360 we all have each other. I have her back. She has mine because we're all athletes. And

00:27:12.340 if they, and honestly, that's what they want. Yeah. They want to turn everyone against each

00:27:16.540 other. They want to turn women against each other. Not here. Yeah. Sure. Not here. This

00:27:21.200 one says, how many WNBA jerseys do you have? What channel do they play on? Cause I don't,

00:27:25.940 I didn't even know they were on TV. I thought they were just on 2B. 2B is crazy. That's kind

00:27:33.760 of a funny joke, but 2B is crazy. They took their time with that joke. They took their time.

00:27:41.260 That's kind of a funny joke, but fuck you still. How many WNBA jerseys do you have? Well, 1.00

00:27:46.740 shit. I don't know. I would say, you know, what's funny is like clearly someone's buying 1.00

00:27:52.280 them because they're in Mandalay Bay. Yeah. How many jerseys have you sold buddy? Oh, you

00:27:57.140 don't have one. Probably none. Bummer. Yeah. See? Was your family really excited to get a

00:28:03.220 jersey with your name on it? Yes. My whole entire, my whole entire family. My, the city

00:28:07.380 of Toledo too. Like they all went and brought my jersey. Really? Yeah. So. Oh my gosh.

00:28:11.480 How exciting. Super exciting. I was going to say, what was the, what's the coolest part

00:28:14.860 since like going to the W and everything? Like what's been the coolest part for you?

00:28:20.020 That's a good one. Um, I think the coolest part is just probably playing against some

00:28:26.260 of the greats and having the opportunity to learn from some of the greats. Yeah. Uh,

00:28:30.960 that's something that I love. Like I grew up watching Kelsey Mitchell when she went to Ohio 0.98

00:28:34.720 state and to be able to play against her was crazy to me. Like surreal. Yeah. Playing against

00:28:41.360 Tariqa, uh, DT, Brittany Griner, like getting the opportunity to step in front of her and

00:28:48.460 her telling me that I had a good game. It was like all those type of moments is the ones

00:28:52.960 that I cherish the most just because I grew up watching these women and to be able to share 0.81

00:28:57.500 the floor with them is something that I'll forever be grateful for. That's so fucking cool. 0.90

00:29:01.640 Yeah. And, and also too, on top of that, even WNBA players, like they talk about their favorite 0.98

00:29:07.080 like NBA players too. Like they're like, Oh, I loved watching, you know, KD. I loved

00:29:11.560 watching Steph Curry. I loved watching, like they all say that. And then the NBA players

00:29:15.920 say the same thing about WNBA players. And none of those men are being assholes about that 0.98

00:29:20.740 shit. Like none of them are like, Oh, I could beat them. They show so much love. Like a lot 1.00

00:29:25.940 of the NBA players, they even invest in, in the W like, uh, my magic Johnson owns, uh, the LA

00:29:33.740 Sparks. Like that's someone that's retired from the, from the NBA, but he's poured into

00:29:37.220 our, poured into us. So I think that the love has always been there from the NBA and it's

00:29:42.380 like a brother and a sisterhood.

00:29:44.180 Yeah, absolutely. And I, I've said this too, on one of my episodes, like I talked about

00:29:48.100 how like, I know Sabrina Ionescu was being like personally mentored by Kobe and he like

00:29:53.280 asked to mentor her because he saw what a star she was. Like that's the type of shit where 0.99

00:29:58.440 I'm like, the greats are literally backing them. What the fuck are y'all talking about? 1.00

00:30:01.820 Yeah. I'm like all these five, six men piss me off. Yeah. This one says this equal rights 1.00

00:30:07.500 movement has gotten out of control. LOL. All right. Blah, blah, blah, blah. It's literally

00:30:14.960 just unsurprising. It's like never surprising. It's like, that's the most consistent thing

00:30:19.800 is men being a fucking hater. It's crazy. Yeah. Well, I was going to say, what is the craziest 1.00

00:30:25.480 thing that's happened to you since like becoming a person outside of your sport? Cause obviously

00:30:30.320 now like people are separating you as like, they're just seeing you as a celebrity now

00:30:34.200 and on top of being an athlete. The craziest thing that's happened to me? Like it could

00:30:37.520 be with an encounter with like a famous person, maybe a favorite athlete. Oh, I feel like I'm

00:30:43.080 not going to say the craziest one. I'm going to think about it when I leave. Like, dang,

00:30:46.880 I should have said that. Oh, you're fine. Ah. I always like to ask when people start, cause

00:30:52.280 this industry is kooky puts you in the room. I mean, it's tough. The first one that came

00:30:58.760 to my mind and it's probably way more that I could say, but, uh, when we played against

00:31:05.460 Vegas, um, Floyd Mayweather was like sitting courtside and I went up to him like Floyd,

00:31:12.320 like, what's up? Like I'm your biggest fan. Like in Floyd Mayweather is a boxer that I've

00:31:18.140 always looked up to and watched and just, just saw the way he was as a businessman. And

00:31:22.800 it's just was like, he was somebody that, you know, they'll say like, if you had to go

00:31:26.340 eat dinner with someone, who would it be? I would be like Floyd Mayweather. So to have

00:31:30.360 the opportunity to meet him was pretty cool, but I know it's so many more, but that's just

00:31:33.900 the first. Also to sit courtside too. Yeah. He was just sitting courtside. Like I'm like,

00:31:38.920 y'all look up. I'm like, Floyd, let's take a picture after the game. I think it's really

00:31:42.780 fun when you see celebrities that you never would have thought are like really into the

00:31:47.240 WNBA. Yeah. Like Dace, who's the one, the white guy, the actor who loves the WNBA.

00:31:54.080 Is it Jason Sudeikis? Jason Sudeikis. What's a movie he was in? Yeah. I'm probably not going

00:32:01.080 to know. Ted Lasso. We're the Millers. We're the Millers. Yeah. He's the main guy. Okay.

00:32:07.340 Yeah. He loves the WNBA. Yeah. There's so many people. He goes to every, he has like

00:32:12.920 season passes. He goes to every game and Michael B. Jordan too. He was supposed to come to

00:32:17.200 a game, but he has not come yet. So he's trying to get wiped up. He's trying to get wiped

00:32:21.800 up. He's trying to get wiped up by one of the sparks. He hasn't like came yet. I don't

00:32:26.700 know what's taking him so long. What are you so afraid of Michael B. Jordan? Come on. Okay.

00:32:32.660 Just to wrap things up, I'll ask you a final question, but what would you say is your best

00:32:37.560 piece of advice for any young female athletes that maybe are like looking to play or they're, 1.00

00:32:43.400 maybe they're playing now or they want to play and they are like seeing this like renaissance,

00:32:48.520 the love for WNBA. Like, what would you say is your best piece of advice for them if they're

00:32:51.540 coming up? I think my best piece of advice, it wouldn't be so much that I would say, but

00:32:57.320 just to keep it short, I would start by just saying like really, really pay attention to the

00:33:02.600 people that you allow to be in your life, especially if you're really good at this sport

00:33:07.780 or you're seeing that you're becoming really good. It's going to be so many people that are

00:33:11.940 going to come and say, I can help her with this. I can do this for her. I can be here and do this

00:33:15.600 for her. And then, you know what I'm saying? Like it can just be, they can get in the way of the

00:33:19.920 success that you really deserve. Totally. Um, so the one thing with me is my dad was my go-to

00:33:25.140 with everything. So falling on to the people that you know, love you and care about you and

00:33:29.920 want to see you be successful, stick with them the longest and, and let them help you figure out

00:33:35.240 who else deserves to be in your circle. Totally. And then I would just say like, make sure you're

00:33:39.420 working extremely hard, like extremely hard. And with NIL being what it is now, it can sometimes

00:33:44.780 make you lose focus on the school part of things. So it's like, make sure you take that serious

00:33:50.080 too, because the ball will stop bouncing at some point and you want to be able to go back to

00:33:54.860 whatever you got that degree in. Yeah. Things like that. Um, and then just enjoying a moment,

00:34:00.980 have fun with, with the game. Like you want to make it seem less like a job for as long

00:34:06.120 as you can, because once it becomes a job for you, it's a job and there's nothing that

00:34:10.660 you can do to change that. Yeah. And then lastly, I would just say, stay mentally strong.

00:34:15.640 Make sure that you stay mentally strong and understand that you will have highs and lows

00:34:19.960 and things like that. But I can really keep going because there's so much that I've been

00:34:23.960 through that I've, that I would love to just help people with, but that's some of the things

00:34:29.000 I would say. Yeah. I would love to add to that. Like when I was in college, I majored in journalism.

00:34:34.080 So I worked with athletes a lot. So I did a lot of sports stuff. And I, uh, I will say female

00:34:39.300 athletes in college statistically always do very, very, very well in school. They statistically

00:34:46.900 do very well. They never have problems. They never fail. They never know. Like they're always,

00:34:51.260 and a lot of times female athletes are double majors too, or they take way too many classes 1.00

00:34:56.300 on top of playing their sport. I have to say as a student athlete, I don't know how you

00:35:00.860 could fail. You have so many resources. Okay. You know what? You know, it's like, I've said

00:35:05.920 that forever. You have so many resources and they do everything. There's no way to fail.

00:35:10.540 Yeah. For the most part, they give you all your classes, all your books. They give you tutors.

00:35:15.180 It's like, how do you fail? They literally build your schedule for you. You should literally be

00:35:20.040 honor student. I swear. Like there's no reason. And honestly, most times, most times female 1.00

00:35:25.740 athletes are honor students on top of being athletes. And male athletes don't have that.

00:35:31.320 They struggle with that. Yeah, they do. And you know how I know because I was a tutor in college

00:35:35.340 for male athletes. Really? Yeah. I know that was hard. I had to train athletes. I tutored athletes

00:35:40.120 in general, but I never tutored women ever. Did you give them the answers? No, I didn't. Oh good. 1.00

00:35:44.980 I'm a really mean tutor. Oh, that's, I don't know. It's like when my dad, your dad's being

00:35:49.860 mean to you when you're trying to do math homework. Yeah. You don't get the answers. I was like,

00:35:53.360 what do you mean? You don't get it. Try again. Erase it. Erase it. Start over. I'd have to help

00:35:58.860 them like write stuff more than anything. Yeah. This is shocking. But when I was in college, I worked in

00:36:04.900 the athletics department office and I was like the first job I ever had, I was like a stat girl. So I was

00:36:10.900 just like making fucking copies all the time. And there was, you know, like in college, when you do 0.97

00:36:16.100 your bios, they'll give you like little papers to like fill out. So they're like, what's your favorite

00:36:20.520 food? Like if there's fun facts, but more than anything, it's just your stats and like where

00:36:24.580 you're from. Yeah. So there was a part, a section on the male athlete one that said like, tell us a

00:36:29.940 little bit about yourself. And it said like, write a fun fact or something so they could put it in your

00:36:34.020 little bio. The, the shit that men wrote. Unbelievable. I was looking through my photos 1.00

00:36:40.280 and I literally like, I took pictures of some of them because I was just shocked. Like the ones

00:36:45.200 that women wrote were so thoughtful, they thought it out, funny, sweet, eloquent. Like they're just

00:36:51.400 like, Oh, I really love knitting. And I love listening to Frank Ocean. Like it was like shit like that.

00:36:56.560 It's like something silly. It literally could be half a sentence. Some men would write, like one guy 1.00

00:37:01.440 wrote a whole paragraph basically saying he doesn't like to talk about himself cause he's

00:37:04.600 humble. And he was like, I'm actually really not like that. No disrespect. He literally wrote that

00:37:08.500 out. No disrespect. I'm actually a very humble athlete. Unlike other athletes, no disrespect.

00:37:13.660 Like wrote that like four or five times. Oh wow. One guy wrote, I like Kung Fu. Okay. Like to watch

00:37:20.700 or to like engage, like they would have to ask them like, do you like to like do Kung Fu? Right.

00:37:25.580 Do you like just, he just goes, I just like it. Okay. Well then the women's ones were like, 1.00

00:37:31.080 I really love my family and I love doing charity. Like these like really thoughtful, sweet,

00:37:36.720 well-written answers and everything men wrote was like, I like chicken. It's like some guy,

00:37:43.240 some guy wrote, I just liked the color yellow. Oh man. Okay. But he also spelled yellow wrong.

00:37:49.020 Oh, and that's not a joke. I wish I was kidding. I'm not. And all these men are in their twenties.

00:37:53.520 Hello. I'm 17 in the office making copies. Me being judgmental at 17.

00:37:57.780 What would you say? Oh wait, I want to ask you more questions. Sorry. I'm like rambling.

00:38:03.020 What would you say is your like most memorable moment as an athlete? Like whether it was like

00:38:07.840 a game you won, championship or anything like that. That's easy. I think my most memorable moment

00:38:13.940 was, this is how like I became Ziya Cook, I think. Yeah. When I was my senior year, I had like one of the

00:38:22.420 best games of my career and I kind of like crossed this girl. I pointed at her and then I did like 0.81

00:38:26.760 this crazy lay. Yeah. And that moment was crazy. Cause it's like when people say like my life changed

00:38:34.140 overnight, that was like one of those life changing. Cause it was clipped everywhere. It was put

00:38:38.820 everywhere. My following went crazy and I can just only imagine if like NIO was then. Oh my God.

00:38:45.620 It would have been crazy. It would have been crazy for me then. I swear. But I think that was one of

00:38:50.940 one of the great, very, very good memory for me. But I got a lot like winning my first national

00:38:55.980 championship was amazing. Yeah. Getting drafted. That was just like, oh my gosh, how was that?

00:39:00.900 A whole, whole dream come true. Like I, even when I still think about that moment, like I still tear up

00:39:05.600 sometimes. Really? Cause it's just like. It's just all these years you've been building. Man,

00:39:09.560 worked extremely hard to do it. Especially if you were there with you? Yes. I had my whole family there. It was

00:39:14.640 probably like a hundred of us. Everybody, they were waiting on me at, uh, we got a hall and

00:39:19.880 everybody was there waiting on me. It was just a crazy experience, but it went perfect. Like

00:39:24.240 my draft night, I have no complaints. It literally went exactly how I wanted it to go. But you got

00:39:28.220 to do it in your own. Like, were you at home when you did, when you did your, when you got

00:39:32.340 drafted, were you like in your hometown or were you? No, I was in New York. So yeah, that's

00:39:36.940 where we got drafted. That was, that's where the draft is at. So I was only allowed to have

00:39:40.840 four people, I think at the draft sitting with me at the table. Gotcha. And then my,

00:39:44.820 the rest of my family, they were just at a hall and was waiting for me to get there.

00:39:48.700 Oh, that's so sweet. Yeah. It was crazy. But yeah. That's really fucking cool. Do you think

00:39:53.220 your dad's proud? Oh my God. Your dad, my dad is, if you know my dad, you know, he is beyond

00:40:01.040 proud of me. Like I'm his baby. He just like, uh, are you the youngest? Yes, I am. I have

00:40:06.820 one older sibling. Just your brother. Yeah. Just my brother. So, but yeah, no, my mom

00:40:11.840 and dad both are very, very proud. You can see it literally when they look at me, you

00:40:15.860 can tell. And wearing your jerseys. Yes, of course. That makes me want to tear up. That's

00:40:21.220 so sweet. Okay. What we'll just, we'll wrap really quick, but what would you say? Just

00:40:26.300 like, what are some parting wisdom you want to give any young athlete? I know you already

00:40:30.000 gave your advice, but like maybe just one last piece. I would just say, be who you are.

00:40:35.300 I would just say that, um, take time to find out who you are first, because you're going

00:40:40.520 to go through so many different stages of your life and you're going to think you know

00:40:44.160 yourself. You're not going to know yourself. Yeah. And the older you get, you'll start to

00:40:47.780 find exactly who you are. So I would just say, be who you are, but then understand that

00:40:52.980 you will change at times throughout your life. You're going to change and be okay with accepting

00:40:57.680 that and, and, um, just being able to hold yourself accountable to where you, where you should

00:41:02.200 get better at as a person, um, things like that. So that's something I would say. Period.

00:41:06.580 Love. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Yes. You're incredible. An icon, a legend.

00:41:11.360 Thank you all for watching and tuning in. Where can everybody find you? You guys can find me

00:41:16.840 at Z dot loading. I'm pretty sure Z dot loading underscore on every social media platform.

00:41:22.180 Perfect. So yes. And we'll, we'll write it underneath you. So it's nice and people can see it easy

00:41:27.060 and make sure y'all go watch Zaya play. Yes. LA Sparks number one. Period. Love that. Thank

00:41:33.260 you so much for joining us on this episode. Thank you so much to my amazing guests, Zaya.

00:41:36.740 Don't forget new episodes of the comment section drop every Wednesday. You can stream the audio

00:41:40.800 on all streaming platforms, or you can watch the video for free and exclusively on Spotify.

00:41:44.880 So make sure y'all go follow Zaya. Make sure y'all watch the WNBA period. Go watch female 1.00

00:41:49.420 athletes. Love. And thank you so much for joining us and I'll see you next week. Bye.

00:41:57.060 Bye.

The Comment Section with Drew Afualo - August 28, 2024

LOCKED IN Ft. Zia Cooke ｜ The Comment Section Ep. 133

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