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Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of sports prep live. Sports prep live, where we unbox the bike and talk excellent in athletics.

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Hello, once again, everybody. Welcome back to sports prep live. Season Three is underway. I'm your host, great and Prescott, I'm excited to have everybody back. You already know the drill. Me myself. KB, KB, once again. Welcome to the show. Great. I'm glad to be back. I cannot wait to get this going. A lot to unpack. I know. I know, before we get there anything eventful over the summer, not really, I mean, just paying attention to what was going on in the world of sports. And some of that was quite eventful. Personally, it was rather uneventful. But there's a lot that transpired that I think people have some real strong opinions on. So I can't wait to get into some of that, absolutely. All right, let's start local. I think we jump right into it. We'll start local high school football. Yes, Bishop Gorman recently, the defending national champions.

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They were ranked number two in the country behind modern day, 26 games in a row, 26 game winning streak. Now, last year, last season, we talked a little bit about modern day's head coach. Yes, we did. He was talking, he was talking, he was talking. And the players, they were saying, Gorman didn't deserve to be the national champions. They didn't play us, and if they would have played us, that outcome would not have resulted in Gorman being named the national champions. And unpacking that a little bit for the listeners, Gorman played a team that Mater day played last year yes, and Mater day lost to that team. Gorman defeated the team. They did as a consequence. Mater days coach came out because Gorman went undefeated. They won their state title,

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and they were ranked number one in a lot of the polls that track high school football, but Mater day went on to Twitter their head coach along with the players, and basically said Bishop Gorman is not the true number one. They haven't defeated us. And at the time, I thought that was a real arrogant take for a coach to be taking along with his team he was surrounded by his team on Twitter. I thought that was a real arrogant take for them confident, but in some ways also arrogant for them to be taken when they had lost to a team that bishop defeated handily, right? I'll let you pick up from there. Okay, so the thing with that was those comments were made after the California state championship game, a game in which modern day defeated the team that they lost to, and they defeated earlier in the season, and they beat them quite independently. Yeah, they handled their business. So modern day won the California State Championship, but they had still have a loss on their record, right? Gorman didn't so correct. Gorman was named national champions. Modern day got to talking. Fast forward about 10 months, and

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just recently, September 6, Gorman heads to San San Santa, Ana, California, yes, and they, they take the field against modern day. Battle of number one ranked modern day and number two. Number two, yes, defending national champions versus the team that felt they should have won. The Clash of the Titans. Wasn't exactly a clash of the titans. It did not live up to the building. Did not live up to the I mean, from right, from kickoff, it was all modern day the whole way

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um jumped out to a 14 zero lead Gorman got on the board, and before Gorman could score again, from 14 seven, modern day got it to 31 seven, and that was all she wrote. You know, you and I considered going out to that game, and I am so glad we didn't Yeah at 31 six. I think it was Yeah. And obviously, Bishop Gorman was able, during what would in basketball be called Garbage Time, yeah, get some points on the board. Bishop was able to put a few more points on the board. And I think it ended up being 31 to 15 or something like that, right? But the score does not tell no, entire story. No, it does. It was, it was, it was, wow. It was a good old fashioned, wow. It was a butt kicking, yeah. So you being a student there at Bishop Gorman, right, and knowing some of the personnel there, especially some of the personnel that left

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quarterback, who was outstanding, what was your takeaway? What happened? Why did.

Unknown Speaker 5:00
Uh, Bishop Gorman, falter in the way that they did. Was it because they lost some assets? Yeah, to graduation. Okay, I don't want to sound like I am slandering anybody. Yeah, I don't want to sound like I am pointing the finger at any person. I know a lot of these guys. I respect a lot of these guys. They know me, but it is my personal and professional opinion. Yeah, the team this year is not what it was last year, right? They lost a big time quarterback. That's where I met. That's where I was going. That's a position that matters so much on the football field, it's possibly, you could argue, the most important position in all of sports, yes, not just football, yes. And all of sports, like, there's no other sport where you have someone to lead 11 other guys like that. And he was, I think it was Micah, Micah, Aloha, aloha.

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And you know, the guys that are there were so, you that chemistry, right? They were so used to playing with him, right? And so it's, you're right, it's not a knock on anyone that's there now, but it's, it's no different than, and we'll get into this a little later. You know, Caitlin Clark coming into the WNBA and just not having that chemistry. And so, you know, the first nine or 10 or 11 games, they're like one in eight, that chemistry really matters, and it matters on the football field, yeah, and losing Micah, I think he went to Hawaii

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and shout out to Micah. I mean, just a phenomenal football player. But that position, right? That is just so key on a football field. And I think you might be right, it may be the most instrumental position on all of sports. Yeah. I mean, it's that important so to lose that guy, plus some other assets that they lost, and then go up against, you know, what is ostensibly the number one ranked team in the nation, that's a tough ask for anybody. Yeah,

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and the thing with Micah was their quarterback now Mel Spicer. He was still there at Gorman. He's a senior now.

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Michael was a four year starter, right for that team. Micah came in, first year, starting varsity, second year starting varsity, junior year and senior year. Gatorade, Player of the Year, Max preps, National Player of the Year, right? Michael was the real There are levels to this, yeah,

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like no quarterback in the country was doing what Michael was doing. He was putting up numbers that nobody had ever seen. Outstanding. He is outstanding, right? So you take him away, and you put in a quarterback who's been his backup for the last four, three years, and he hasn't really didn't get a lot of time, right? Experience, they just threw him into the fire, because Gorman starts off hot. They start off with tough teams. Yes.

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And one of his first three starts is against a team that not only is ranked number one in the country, they're out to get you. They're like, they want to kill you guys. Yeah. And, you know, watching the game down in Florida, you know, it was a little wobbly. They're in Florida a couple, a couple mistakes. They're growing pains, and I think, you know, they're going to get it together as the season goes on, as that chemistry builds. But you're right, elite programs like that, they throw themselves in the fire. They want to play some of the best teams in the country. And when you do that, and you've got new pieces, and people are getting used to one another, and not always on those plans, yeah, it's not That's exactly right. That's well, said, it's just not going to go as planned. Initially,

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turning the page a little bit. Yes, we're still talking about things maybe not going as planned.

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A lot of people felt that

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in the Olympics, representing the US National Women's team. Oh, big page turn. I'm ready for it. But again, not as planned. Yes, still, along those lines,

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there were some names that made that final roster and some names left off that final roster that caused confusion, controversy, debate. We're talking about the frustration women's Olympic basketball team for the United States of America.

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Caitlin, who has been a big topic of discussion on this show. Obviously, I know her personally, right? I've been

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right here in this desk, in this seat. I sat here and interviewed brick her dad. Yes, she's been a huge topic of discussion, and she was left off that roster, that Olympic roster, to the frustration of many, much to the chagrin of a lot of folks, absolutely in media, a lot of analysts. You know, Stephen A comes to mind. Shannon Sharpe comes to mind.

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Charles Barkley comes to mind. NB, current NBA players, yeah, she was left off that list. And I get some of the pushback that Stephen A got, because for him, I think he just kept pushing the button that it was marketing, marketing, marketing, yeah, Want to get the rear end in seats. And there is something to that.

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It. But although Caitlyn is playing differently post Olympics than she was pre Olympics, but even pre Olympics, the thing that was missing from this team she was doing, which is distributing the ball. And they had a couple of close games, but the last game they played, they could have lost. They they won that game. And I want, I don't want anybody by someone to shoe size. Yeah, I was gonna say, I want everyone to take this literally. They won that game by toenail. Yes, literally, yes. A Tony. Shout out to Gabby Williams. That was ridiculous. Play for France, yeah, from right here in Las Vegas, right here in Las Vegas, I think she's now with the storm. For anybody that didn't see that game, it was a close one throughout us. Was supposed to dominate the game, just like they always do. The women's team has won the gold medal in every Olympics for women's basketball. Straight, yeah, yeah, and decisive, yeah, no, no. Close games.

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They get to the gold medal game. It's a close game throughout. They're out like France, yep, they played France in Paris. First time in history. That's the same teams were playing for both the men's and the correct Goldman correct or and they're up three about five seconds left, France gets the ball, takes it down the court. Gabby Williams, uh, off one leg, throws up. I would say a prayer, but the type of game she was having, yeah, it wasn't a prayer the last five minutes. Gabby Williams on one I mean, she was unbelievable. She sends the game to overtime. They review it, and just like Kevin Durant was in 2021

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I mean, to a T her toe was just on that line, correct, and US escaped with the gold medal. That's what happened. But the reason they were and that was great drama, but the reason they were in that position, that ball got sticky, is the ball did not move. That ball got sticky no matter which guard you put in there, whether it was Diana, reality is coming tarazi, whether it was jewel Lloyd, who no for not on the offensive side, at least in terms of scoring, she did her thing in that game a little bit. Yeah,

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whether it was Kalia copper,

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whether it was, you know, because I think Chelsea plum, Chelsea, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young. Now, there are things that they did very well, absolutely, whether it was defense, what was rebounding. But the one thing that did not go very well for this team is ball distribution, absolutely. And even Sabrina, an escue out of New York, no matter who they put on that floor, the ball wasn't moving. And because the ball wasn't moving, it was it was a stagnated defense, right? And because the defense was stagnant, it's hard to score. It not only is it hard to score, you're easier to defend. And the one thing that we know about Caitlin Clark, she moves, let me say this another way. The one thing that most people think about when they they're they're considering or watching Caitlin Clark, is her scoring, right? But Caitlin Clark is dangerous because she moves the ball, she impacts the game in terms of number of points because of the way she scores and the way she distributes the ball. Just look at

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Kelsey Mitchell's scoring as a consequence of a as a consequence of Caitlin now, being on that team, it's unbelievable. The way that they've been playing the second half of the season is just out of their minds. For a team that hasn't been in the playoffs since what, 2016 right? Yeah, to now have you know, I think they're in six positions. They're in sixth position, guaranteed playoff spot, correct? Have a chance to get to five.

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It is, it is egregious that Caitlin was left off of that team. And I think a lot of the reason that she was left off, at least from my vantage point, from my reading, is simply because she was getting so much pushback. Because I think a lot of the the folks in the league felt like what she was getting was coming to her too early, right? That maybe she wasn't worthy of all of the accolades that she's getting. Not hearing that much now, but no, we're not hearing that. She's setting assist records. She's setting scoring records. She is doing the darn thing, and obviously they're racking up the win column. She's just had an outstanding season this Rookie of the Year race, which I never thought was a race. Still, Angel Reese has done much better this season than I thought she would do, even though I thought she would do well, we have to give credit where it's due. Yes, we do right here on this show, we sat and said, You.

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Angel Reese's game might not translate the way she thinks it would. Boy was and I probably said that, yeah, you're nice to say we

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I probably said that. Boy was I wrong. Here's what I will say, she shoots 40% and 38% on layups. So she's her stats look great, but if you dive into the efficiency, right, it's not great, right? Now, I will make another point about efficiency. However, what people don't realize about Caitlin's assist numbers is how many layups she generates. If you watch one of her games, she's going to create six to seven layups for her teammates every game. Yes, it's unbelievable. I've never seen anybody men or women who create so many wide open layups for their team. You told me this anecdote when you were young, and you interviewed Caitlin Clark when you first started sports live, and you you coined the phrase, or the nickname for her, the maestro. The maestro, absolutely. And that sums up who she is on the basketball court, probably more than any other nickname that I could come up with. She just conducts the offense to a T when she's on that floor, right? She's She has moments where things are just running flawlessly and you just can't stop it, because her danger as being a basketball player on the floor isn't the way it was in college, where it was scoring that if we, if we shut down the three, and we force her to go, right, you know, we can kind of limit some of her effectiveness. That's not the case anymore. Let's tied up those holes. Not only is she going downhill, but she's always got her head up. She's always a passing threat, and you never know where the pass is coming from, right she's finding people in the right spot. So we feel that Caitlin should have been on that team. I think they would have won more decisively. Yeah, they certainly would have filled the rafters, because they were, they played in some stadiums that although, although they weren't empty, they were, yeah, 40, 50% full. And that just wouldn't have been the case with Caitlin, no. And there are some players, and no disrespect to any of them, that should not have made that roster. Yeah. And to your point, Kelsey Mitchell, from the fever as well.

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Balling, I know you, balling, you spoke about her scoring numbers. Chelsea Mitchell is a beast. See, that's not what even stands out to me. Her, her just points per game totals, especially post Olympic break. Yes, I mean, what stands out to me the most I looked at her career stats, Kelsey Mitchell has been like that. She's top four all time in scoring, collegiate scoring, currently just coming out of Ohio State. She averages 18 points per game for her career. She's averaging 19 this year, so not a huge jump, but here's where the jump comes in, and I think Caitlin should get lot of credit for this, right? Kelsey Mitchell's efficiency has gone up true suiting 14% since last year because so much attention was on her and she didn't have anybody who could get her the ball in her spots whenever she needed right, she had to create off the dribble, I know, and that's tough to do, and this year, her efficiency has gone just skyrocketed because she's getting so many catch and shoot three right, and she's light out the defense cannot focus on her. She might be the best shooter on that team, and Caitlin Clark is on just standing at the one she's a great shooter, just standing at the three point line. I don't know if I would take Caitlin above her as just a pure spot up shooter. Kelsey Mitchell is a 3000 plus point scorer in college. Caitlin has the record, but Kelsey Mitchell is no Kelsey Mitchell can ball. Kelsey Mitchell is no scrub. She's quick. She's got handles. Kelsey aggressive problem. She's She can ball, yeah. Kelsey Mitchell is an absolute speaking of the WNBA and Caitlin Clark and, to a lesser extent, Angel Reese, Oh, yeah. Kathy engelber. Kathy Engelbert, the Commissioner of the WNBA, yeah, was on a station that I watched quite a bit, CNBC,

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with Tyler Matheson, and Tyler asked her a question about the toxicity that exists between the Caitlin Clark fan base and the angel Reese fan base. Yeah, absolutely. And I think where he was going with that is we've seen, whether it's on social media, whether it's on YouTube, a lot of fans, particularly of Caitlin Clark. And Caitlin has nothing to do with this. Yeah, you know you know her very well. I've met her. She is a great person. She is disconnected from this in any way, shape or form, but a lot of her fans have said some really ugly stuff about not only Angel Reese, but a lot of other African American players in the WNBA. And Kathy was asked about that and what Kathy.

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Went on to say was that the rivalry between Caitlin and Angel is good for the sport, and they liken it to the rivalry that existed between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, she completely missed the mark on speaking to something that has really been a black eye for the WNBA, which is dealing with that toxicity that does come from Vans, because we know there's a bunch of keyboard warriors out there in the basement that can say anything, especially on Twitter now that it is just, you know, quote, unquote, a bastion of free speech? Yeah, I think it's irresponsible speech, but that's another matter for another day.

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She did a really poor job of talking about it, and then came out and had to apologize and restate her opposition to what we're hearing from some of those fan bases, because a lot of players were really disheartened with her comments, up to and including Aaliyah Boston, spoke up about how Kathy missed the mark. What did you think about that?

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I think,

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I think Kathy was trying to avoid dodge, a sense, yes, yes. Answering that question directly. Kathy Engelbert.

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And I hate bringing this into the equation, but it's just the way it is. Kathy Engelbert is a white woman, correct? And as the Commissioner of the WNBA, I don't know if she wanted to.

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I don't know if it's throughout drama, answer the question directly, right? But that was possibly the worst way she could have answered. It was a blind spot for her. She made the way she answered that question, comparing them to magic and bird. But I think the thing that really got people she said that it was great for the market marketability of the sport. Yes, she did. And making a question like that commercial is just not when some of the African American players who have played against Caitlyn, and some of them have gone a little far with the the the flagrant fouls and things of that nature. But that happens in sport, and for those young women or women to get death threats right, because some random fan out there felt that Caitlyn was fouled too hard or to be called all sorts of disparaging names, many of which we cannot say here on radio. No, we can't

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that is taking it a step too far. Not a step, not a step too far. Steps several, several steps too far. And that was a blind spot for Kathy. And she got in a little bit of hot water had to come out and clean it up. And you know, as a fan of the WNBA, she should make sure that she is attuned to what's going on out there and in the future. Please do better. Yeah, absolutely.

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And you know, I'm as big of a Caitlin Clark fan as they come, right? But that doesn't give anybody or any Caitlyn fan, any person licensed to right? I mean, that's just, that's just wrong. And she should have, Kathy Engelbert should have, straight up, said that, and because Caitlyn has said that, right? Caitlyn herself has spoken about, she has being a fan of her credit, right? Being a fan of me doesn't make it okay to say these things about a red one correct or other players, and Kathy as as a white woman, I think she just wanted to avoid it was a blind spot. Yes, I think she wanted to avoid the race. Yeah, coming up, sure, that's what it was. But that's just, you're the commissioner of the WNBA. You have to be able to answer questions directly about what's going on. And it was, you know, Tyler Matheson, a great reporter. He wasn't trying to set her. Caucasian man that asked her the question was not trying to set up. It's a real issue in the WNBA. It absolutely is. And for her to answer that the way that she did was really a black eye for for her, and, you know, to a lesser extent, the the WNBA, but she, she soon heard from a lot of her players. No, there were, there were people in the league calling for her to be fired. Yeah. Brianna Stewart, Caucasian one, the white woman spoke up. Kelsey Plum, right here, Las Vegas aces, she spoke up again, much to their credit, and a lot of African American women. But I don't even think it was the fact that it was a black, white issue. It was a right, wrong issue, right? And she just really missed the March she did absolutely

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aside from that point, because we know that's very important,

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Caitlyn has also been the recipient of some hate. Now not we're not comparing, yes, it to the level of what these African American women in the league. Correct, correct. That's not what this is.

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Caitlin has also seen some hate vitriol, yeah, and a lot of it from notable, notable voices in the world of.

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Sports Media, yes, in the world of the WNBA,

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you know, Cheryl swoops, Diana Taurasi, a legend diamond Deshields, active player right now all star

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cailyn's received some

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you know, the interesting thing she has, and it's almost gender specific, except for one glaring example, yeah, or one glaring exception,

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Gino ariyama. Gino, good old Gino, who said probably wanting to echo the sentiment expressed by his former player, Anna tarazi, who said that for Caitlin, reality was coming. Boy, was she ever right. Reality did come, but not for but it wasn't. It wasn't that wasn't for Caitlin. It was for the rest of the WNBA. Reality is and it's still coming. Reality is coming, not in the way that she meant it, but Gino came out and said that Caitlyn was not built for this. Said that she was too slow,

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said that her skill sets were let transfer to the WNBA, yeah, and I don't know if this goes back to and didn't really recruit her, because he, he says she never called him, she she never expressed interest. I didn't know that, and that's usually called Thank you. I'm glad you mentioned that. Glad you mentioned Jack Gray, because that's usually not the way it goes. No, it's usually the program that reaches out to the high school athlete, and sometimes, if when they're in middle school, and Caitlin was certainly one of those individuals, special individuals, that was receiving interest even in middle school, but usually it's the college that reaches out to the player, and not the other way around.

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So, you know, Gino really kind of stepped in it.

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I would like to see, you know, the next time that he's asked about her, how he attempts to clean this up, because she is just playing out of her mind. And were it not for, you know, las Vegas's very own Asia, Wilson, Caitlin's the MVP. Caitlyn, she's in. I'll say, I'll say it. Caitlin, no, you don't say top three. Noface Collier's balling. I'll make the bold claim. Caitlin's the MVP. If it weren't very face of Collier in Minnesota is bawling. But Caitlyn is in my top three or four points. 1919, six and nine,

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nine assists since the break. Average in 25

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balling multiple triple doubles. Your piece of Collier's ball. She is, I'll give her that. Okay, she's still not my MVP. All right. Thank you everybody for tuning in to this episode of sports prep live. It's great to be back. It's great to have you all back. You know, I'm Graydon Prescott. Tune in next time. Great to have you all here. And as always, have a great day. See you next episode. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of sports prep live. I'm Graydon Prescott, and don't forget to catch all of our episodes on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcast, and be sure to follow us on Instagram or Twitter at sports prep lab. Thank you.

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