How many balls are you
juggling right now, job wise?
I'm going to go to the the Dallas Wings
game tonight because I'm really anxious
to to see Brittany Greiner and o
spend time with Taurasi and certainly,
you know so many of the the Dals
Wings players who I just love and have
so much respect for that franch.
Are we gay? So to you know, their family,
yeah, certainly. Well,
I'll ask you about that last but this?
It's NAL thing, and I already rd
some of your comments on Old Dominion.
You just told me that you've
you've already sent your first
payment through the app.
How'd that work?
Well, I was very impressed that I did
it in one swoop to be able to send NIL
money to the Lady Monarchs to a4
players on the team. You know, really,
it made me happy because Old Dominion,
you know the power of the logo and what
it does for us throughout our careers.
I'm not doing this zoom with you without,
you know, so many great people
giving me a chance. You know,
collegiately, everybody has a tradition.
You know, when I was, you know,
talking to Gary Payton and and
Sabrina and SQ and Shaq and Toby
Keith and Ice Cube about this,
even my son TJ, who's going to do it,
Everybody was like connected.
You know, Toby's connected to
Oklahoma and Cube loves USC.
And Shaq loves LSU,
so why wouldn't we want to do something
in this day and age when it's ll
to help the athletes directly?
I mean, think about this.
In 76 through 80, when I was at Old Dominion,
we won two national championshi.
I was two time player of the yen
college basketball. I had no mo.
I had no money for food.
I had no money for clothes.
I didn't have anything because
I was a poor kid.
There's a lot of young people ot
there right now who are incredi.
Basketball players, athletes, rowers,
tennis players, whatever, socce.
They don't have money.
You know, they come from poor background.
Some of them, some of them don'.
But why not when I help,
Yeah. And I I guess the the
assumption a lot of people have,
you know, and you know,
I I went to USC as a kid who was you know,
working two jobs so I could
and all that kind of stuff.
But I guess the assumption
a lot of people have is.
Oh, you're in a big college,
you're on a full ride,
you're getting free room and bo.
Everything is fine for you.
But as you said in your case and other folks,
depending on what sport they're,
that doesn't necessarily mean
they've got a full bank account,
right? Well,
you're you're absolutely right.
And I know I think this
is the first of its kind.
Really, my NIL pay is revolutionary because.
Think about this in in October,
the Old Dominion unveiled a
statue of myself outside the ara
and it was a beautiful thing.
And Pepsi and myself donated $20
and we thought it was going to o
to the women's basketball playe.
But it went into a general fund.
I mean, it was nothing that
Old Dominion did wrong.
It's they were doing what they
normally do and but I thought we
were going to be able to give it
to the players as part of an NI.
So this, my NIL pay is direct.
And when I got on my phone and ,
you know,
it prompted me and then it was ,
this is what I want to pay each
player send and now it's sittin.
That money's sitting in a bank
account and it will notify the
coach to tell their players.
All you have to do is just download the app.
When you download the app,
you know they'll be able to get their money.
They don't have to pay anything.
I pay all the fees.
I paid the taxes.
It's their money.
And it it actually made me feel really good.
Well, what has been your involvement?
I mean, I read that you're on tn
the board of this app, right? W?
What has been your involvement with it?
Well, you know, when I first met
Brent Chapman and I fell in love with
what he and his team were doing.
And at this stage of my life, I mean,
you know me as well as anybody.
I'm trying to be the giver,
not the taker at this stage.
I want to be able to help people
through my Nancy Lieberman charities,
through on the underserved blac,
brown, you know, of poor communities.
And we've given millions of dol.
And when I heard what they were doing,
it hit home. And I said, well,
not only do I want to be a part of this,
but I'd really like to be on the board.
I probably turned down more boas
than to hop on boards because
it's a lot of time and energy.
But I was so aligned with their
mission to help college men,
women, different sports that I t
didn't want to be a figurehead.
I wanted to be a part of the process.
And you're probably not going
to tell me how much you sent to
Old Dominion today, are you? No.
Yeah, I I today I sent $4200 to Old Dominion.
That was my first start and coah
Delicia Milton just texted me.
She's recruiting and the gal shs
recruiting has a $9000 offer from UC Irvine.
So you can see it's being very
competitive right now. You know,
college isn't the purity of the world.
It's a business.
The Olympics, which everybody is like,
Oh my gosh, it's so pure.
It's a business.
And we have to be able, you kno,
to help those kids.
And again, it's to me,
it's just a small thing that I can do
from my university and so many athletes,
so many people.
You don't even have to be an
athlete to give back to the
athletes that are currently the.
It's just if if you're so movedd
your heart's in it, do somethin.
Yeah.
And so it's it's all good for y.
Do you see any? Any pitfalls for
some of the student athletes?
Any any words of warning for th?
I mean, assuming you know that you know
windfall may be the wrong word to use,
but you know suddenly they've got a lot
of cash in hand or or are you expecting
just enough to to help them out in the
sports that are not getting, you know,
all the money that people think they are?
Well, I mean, you know, in in my
cases they're not getting lottery money.
I mean, I don't know, but you k,
I I heard that you can Google i,
but you know, Caitlin Clark
or Angel Rees or some of those
athletes are upwards of $1,000,.
That's tricky. You know,
now you're getting into lottery money and are
you prepared to handle that type of money.
And I'm hoping on the big end, you know,
some of those student athletes will have.
An attorney or somebody to guide
them and and not let people bece
vultures with their money.
Just put it somewhere in in savings so people
can't or trust so people can't get at it.
But you know for the the money t
we're going to send to Old Domin
or I already sent to Old Domini.
I hope they just feel good that somebody
actually cares that somebody wants to help.
I'm a sister and I love the university.
I'm just doing my fair share.
Okay. Well, fantastic.
Well, I I appreciate you takinge
time for this and you said you'e
going to the the Wings Mercury
game tonight to see old friends,
to to see Brittany for the first time in
Texas and over I think 700 days since
she's played in the state of Te.
Is it not just about the game?
I mean it's the fact to go
see her for the first time.
Well, it's it's bigger than the game.
It's real life. And I can't wait to give
her a hug and just tell her that we're
so happy she's safe and she's b.
You know, Diana and I have been
friends since she was in colleg.
So we were texting this morning
and I couldn't wait, You know,
I said I can't wait to to see yu
give you a hug. And she's like,
I can't wait to give you a hug.
Let me tell you what, it won't be a hug.
She'll be felling me like a ban.
The girl. Thousands all the time, Diana.
But you know, the W NBA is this incredible,
incredible family.
And you know,
I was a Mercury my first year in the league.
In 97, I played for the Mercury,
so I'll always have a soft place
in my heart for them.
And on the other side,
I'm an ambassador for the Wings
and I'm very grateful to Greg
Bibb and Amber Cox for seeing f.
To allow me to be part of
this incredible organization.
So Enrique, Satu, Satu,
they're both playing at MVP levels right now.
SATU is healthy.
She's a beast.
Enrique has a skill set that
most men would love to have.
It's it's unbelievable what this team can do.
Coach Trammell, she's really go.
She's she might be one of the mt
positive people I've ever seen.
She just has a really full way about her.
So it's it's kind of neat for
me to be able to.
I'll go out there tonight and
Friday and I'll try and go to as
many games as I possibly can.
But my big three season is
about to start on the 25th.
So I'll be around and I hope the
people in the Metroplex will
come out and watch the wings.
Fantastic and and the last thins
one of the other stories that we
doing today is you know when whn
Britney comes into each city foe
first time since her time in Ru.
You know, her story comes with her and a
lot of families are still out there hoping
for the same happy ending that she got.
It seems like Brittany is okay o
carry that weight and and a lotf
teams are helping her along the way to
kind of be that poster child for that.
Maybe these other families will
have the same ending as well.
You okay with that as far as you
know it's a lot of pressure on .
You know, I mean we we prayed hard and long
and in masses for Brittany to come home.
And the one thing that I will say is that
this is what I've read, the fact that,
you know, she's kind of changed
her stance on the flag and thin.
I think, you know sometimes you go to
a have a situation like that and all of
a sudden you have perspective of life.
And she's, she's such a young,
incredible a woman.
And I think she's, she's fighting hard here.
She and her wife, Cheryl are fighting hard,
you know, politically with the power and
the weight that they have to try and get,
you know, so many of the other
Americans home. It's not lost on her.
I don't want to speak for Brittany Greiner,
so I'm parroting a wife, red.
And until I see her and talk to,
I admire her for not just sayin,
you know what, I'm home. I'm co.
I'm good.
No, she cares about people and s
going to work hard to advocate and do
what she can to put light on other U.S.
citizens who are imprisoned,
really around the world.