Caitlyn Clark Olympic Team Snub & US Open Picks, Ep. 247

Welcome back to another exhilarating episode of "The Capitalist Investor"! In this episode, your favorite hosts Derek, Tony, and Luke delve into some sizzling topics in sports and finance. From the buzzing controversy around Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub to predictions for the U.S. Open, this episode is packed with insightful analysis and engaging discussions. Let’s dive into the top five hot topics that defined the conversation this week. 

1. Caitlin Clark’s Olympic Team Snub
Without a doubt, the episode kicked off with the biggest headline in the world of sports 

– Caitlin Clark being left off the USA basketball team’s roster for the Olympics. Derek, Tony, and Luke dissected the decision from various angles, with a clear consensus that Caitlin Clark’s omission is a significant marketing misstep. Given her immense popularity and impact on the WNBA's viewership, merchandise sales, and general interest, the hosts argued that including her on the team could have exponentially increased the exposure and growth of women’s basketball. 


2. The Financial Implications of Caitlin Clark’s Absence
Tony brought a unique financial perspective to the Caitlin Clark discussion, emphasizing the lost revenue opportunities. He highlighted the exponential increase in WNBA revenues and attendance since Clark joined the league, stating that her presence on the Olympic team would have had a similar, if not greater, financial impact. This discussion underscored how sports decisions can have far-reaching financial consequences.

3. WNBA’s Growth and Challenges
The hosts didn’t stop at discussing Clark’s snub; they delved into the unprecedented growth the WNBA has seen. Derek provided compelling statistics showing increases in attendance, TV ratings, and merchandise sales, largely attributed to Caitlin Clark. However, they also addressed the adversity Clark faces within the league, from veteran pushback to unfair scrutiny. The conversation evolved to broader issues within women’s sports, highlighting how torch-bearers like Clark can often face the toughest challenges.

4. Marketable Personalities in Sports
The podcast took a nostalgic turn when Tony reminisced about the 1992 Olympic Dream Team and its undeniable marketing success. Drawing parallels to the current scenario, the hosts pointed out how leveraging star players can elevate an entire sport. They emphasized the importance of using marketable personalities, like Clark in the WNBA, to draw public interest and financial gain. This transitioned into a broader discussion about the current lack of clear “faces” in major sports leagues like the NBA, iterating how key personalities can drive a sport’s popularity.

5. U.S. Open Picks and Predictions
As always, the hosts couldn't wrap up the episode without discussing one of golf’s most prestigious tournaments – the U.S. Open. With the U.S. Open being held at Pinehurst, dubbed the “golfing mecca of the world,” speculation was rife. Tony highlighted key players to watch out for, including Scotty Scheffler, Hideki Matsuyama, and Keegan Bradley. Luke placed his bet on Rory McIlroy, buoyed by Rory’s recent personal developments. Derek rounded it off by mentioning reliable stalwarts like Brooks Koepka and Victor Hovland. Their in-depth analysis provided both casual fans and avid followers with plenty of food for thought.

This episode of "The Capitalist Investor" covered a wide array of topics, balancing the line between sports and finance expertly. Whether it's the controversy surrounding Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub or the enticing predictions for the U.S. Open, Derek, Tony, and Luke’s banter and insights make for a riveting listen. Be sure to catch the full episode for a deeper dive into these hot topics, and stay tuned for more engaging discussions in future episodes!

For questions, comments, or show ideas, reach out at info@connect and join us next week for an

Transcript

0:00

Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of the Capitalist investor. As always, you have me, diamond hands D. We got the whole team here. Tony the tiger, cool hand Luke. What's going on, guys? What's up? What was the cool hand Luke thing again? Because you were holding movie and loop. Oh, really? No idea what that is. I mean, it's from a while ago. I've never seen the movie, but I know it's. Why can't I think of his name? The guy? Newman. Paul Newman. Yeah, that's a. That was the guy back in the day, right? Oh, yeah. Was he in the. Was it the. Not chase, the. The one good movie? The starts with an s? I think. He was in a lot of good movies. Now he just makes salad dressing, right? Well, he's no longer alive. I know that for sure, but. Yes, he does. But his. His estate still makes salad dress. The sting is what you're saying. Yes. What I was looking for. That's one of the greatest movies of all time, for sure. No doubt. Every time I go. Ever watch that? In college with us at John Carroll. We watch it all the time. Well, I don't know if Wally, my future father in law, is listening to this, but I don't think he remembers everything that he tells me, and he has forces me to watch the movie. Every time I come back home, he's like, Luke, have you ever seen this movie? I'm like, yes. Well, we watched the last time I was here, so I love the movie because I've watched it so many times. Wow. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's on Netflix, because I watched. I watched it recently. I gotta go get educated. Yes. It's good. All right. Anyway, so from Paul Newman to the hot topic of the week. I mean, let's face it. Everybody's talking about it in sports. Outside of sports, it's Caitlin Clark. You know, just in general, I would say just kind of what she's dealing with in the WNBA. But in the last week or so, they announced the roster for the USA basketball team, and Caitlin Clark was not on it. She was left off. So lots to dig into on both sides there. But I know Tony has a lot to say, so I'll turn it over to you first, and we can kind of go from there. Oh, man. All right, well, if I get that red carpet treatment, I might as well go then. All right, so I know this isn't really necessarily, like, a financial planning topic, but it's definitely financial. It's a financial decision made by, obviously, powers that I'll never be a part of anyway. Yes, I would say the politically correct answer is, okay, yeah, she hasn't earned her stripes to be on the team. You know, I guess I could. I could make that argument. I mean, she was a, you know, a historic college collegiate player already, you know, playing well with the professionals, people that are been around, and, you know, just like any rookie, you know. But she's doing very well as a rookie. However, on a marketing basis, it is absolutely the worst thing anyone could have thought of or not thought of. Right? Like, why is she not on the team? Because you can see, like, everything is two, three, five, x with her in the league, going from collegiate to professional there, you know, WMA or WNBA revenues. Everything's up. Everyone's making more money now because of her. And, you know, then you can also talk about, like, how the. The. You know, the veterans are, you know, beating on her. I don't know how much of that is media driven, you know? I mean, every rookie should get their lumps from veterans. That's just, you know, you know, lay of the land. But here's the thing. So, in 1992, the Olympic dream team. Remember that? Dude, I collected every cup from McDonald's that whole year. Like, I. Everybody. The whole United States rallied around that because it was the first year that professional athletes were allowed to participate in the Olympics for the basketball team. So they basically created an NBA roster, and it was Michael Jordan, Pippen's, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullen, David Robinson, Charles Barkley. All Hall of Famers, right? And Christian Laetner. Don't steal my thunder. God damn it. And then they chose Clyde Drexler over Isaiah Thomas, you know, coin flip. But they wanted to acknowledge the amateur part of the system, and they brought in Christian Laetner, which, you know, I looked at the roster of other things. They left Shaq off the team. Smart. But anyway, but that was a thing, because it was like, hey, he wasn't really proven. He was still kind of an amateur. He was still in collegiate, but he. He helped the. The Blue Devils win a national championship that year. So, like, he was. He was the man in college basketball. Guess what? Caitlin Clark was the woman in college basketball. She just happens to be a pro right now. But they did that as. Because everyone. I mean, he had, you know, Christian Laner had that. Was it him that had that awesome. It was turn away jump or jumper to win the game and all that. I mean, it was like. It was like one of the. Actually one of the best NBA basketball games I've ever watched. Like that, Duke, I don't know who they're playing. Probably tar heels at that time. Yeah, it could have been, but, yeah. Like, that was the best shot I've ever seen to win a game in my. Like, I was just going bananas as a twelve year old kid or whatever. I was something else that will never come back. College basketball. But that's besides the point. Yeah. So, I mean, I don't know why they didn't do it. There's just. Well, this is different. I'm not. I don't draw the same parallels to 1992 with Shaq, you know, in college, compared to Caitlin Clark nowadays. Like, for all you softies out there, I might offend you with this, but men's basketball is more popular than women's. There's no doubt about that. Right? And when it comes to this new age of them trying to push women's basketball, the WNBA, and make it popular, you utilize the face of that marketing campaign as much as possible. And Caitlin Clark, I don't care. You know, the heat I might get from saying this, which I don't know how many people are actually going to see this, but Caitlin Clark is the face of the WNBA, and there's no one else. That's the face right now, even though that's a big debate out, I've been seeing a lot of Twitter people say, oh, Caitlin Clark's not the face. And then all these WNBA people getting interviewed saying, no, we're the face. I'm the face. No, you're not. Caitlin Clark right now is the face of the WNBA. She is making it popular. Just look at the standings in the room whenever she comes to a new stadiums or Indiana, specifically, the. The. How many tickets are selling over there. Like, there's a reason why people are watching it. It's because of her. Yeah, I mean, and take a look at, you know, just take a look at the NBA right now. I mean, I watched the NBA enough to just know what's going on, but in my opinion, just based on what's going on right now, there is no face of the NBA, in my opinion. I mean, LeBron's kind of fizzling out, and there's no one to really grab the baton because it kind of went, what? Like, maybe like Jordan and then Kobe and then, you know, LeBron, and I don't know who's there now. I mean, Luca, but not really. And honestly, like, is there there? Obviously, the Celtics are probably going to win the NBA title, but, like, I don't there's not a superstar on their team when they have a bunch of. They're. They're extremely deep with extremely good players, but there's not a Lebron on the team. Like, there's not a generational person on the team. But now Caitlyn is. Yeah. Right. And now. Now people are getting irritated because she is becoming the face and has been the face, but she's a white woman, so, I mean, a lot of people don't want to embrace that, and that's what the left is kind of tearing that down or trying to, at least. Yeah. It's what it appears. Yep. So, some of the numbers, of course, printed this out, but the attendance through so far. So this is just this year. So far. WNBA 156% increase from last year. Seats filled above 90% capacity above 17% last year. The ratings, you know, they're a bunch over two. Ratings are up 33%. Merchandise sales 756%. Every number. Every single number is up. Yeah. I've never watched a WNBA game before this year. I've watched, like, two this year because of Caitlin Clark. Oh, there you go. Yep. I still haven't watched, but I haven't. I watched some of her collegiate games as going through the final four kind of tournament. I've been watching he and WMA. I've watched a. Maybe some in the past. Like, when. Like, Rebecca Lobo. Is that her name? Like, you know, when they first kind of started the WMBA. I started watching a few of those games just because. Didn't we have a team? Yeah, we had a team. Cleveland. Yeah. Rockers. Yeah. I remember we. We scrimmaged them in college. Well, not good. So one of my. One of my. One of my good friends. Bigger guy, you know, probably 6465. He went to, like, Iowa college and the intramural team. Bunch of athletes that just couldn't be on the boys team. They scrimmage the women, and he goes, dude, they beat our ass. Literally, like, bruises. Elbows, push. Like, they were mean and nasty. So he goes, like, they're this. They're not. They're playing a different game than what you would. You would think a woman's basketball team is playing. Yeah. Did you get that treatment? Are you getting bumped in the paint? Oh, yeah. No, it was definitely. Definitely, definitely competitive. Yeah. But good. So, yeah, you know, it's. The Olympics are the perfect opportunity for exposure, and that's where I was going with the 92 Olympic team. It made those players, and especially Michael Jordan, like, the most famous person on the planet. Right. It catapulted the NBA to multiple levels from where it was. And that's what people bring in, you know, man versus women and race and all this stuff. But it's really. It's really about business sense to me. Business likeability, you know, relatability. You have to have a marketable product to sell to the masses. Right. There's. The problem is, when that marketable product doesn't fit the agenda, controlling the. Pulling the strings, then that becomes an issue, I think. But everyone keeps bringing race up. But there's a lot of white basketball players who are in the top ten in the WNBA, so I don't understand why it has turned into this race discussion, because it's not about race. It's about a player coming along, like a Michael Jordan who would just elevate the league to the next level. And it happens in every single league. You just have to look at it. And I feel like the discussion going on right now is the WNBA thinks that they can just, like, skip steps on the way to a, you know, marketable product. That's what they need. Right. And someone comes along that can elevate them to that next level, and everyone's mad about it, and it's very. It's a very strange thing to see unfolding. You know, I don't know how old Caitlin Clark is, but isn't she probably, like, 2021? Yeah. So it's like being 20 and having to deal with the whole world seemingly hate. Hate on you. Can't be easy. She seems to have handled that pretty well. But. But, yeah, it's. It's a. It's a laughable discussion, honestly, to think that anyone except Caitlin Clark is responsible for all of these numbers, it's laughable. It really is. Yep. And instead of embracing it, they seem to be going against it. You know, just like, with cheap shots. You know, during the game, I saw that. You know, it's. It's fine. Right? Like, welcome. You know, welcome to the league moments. That. That's cool. You know, it happens, but, you know, it crosses over when you start taking cheap shots, and it seems to happen every single game. Yeah, I mean, I just looked it up. The NBA and. And the WMA or WNBA. The. The racial profile is pretty similar. It's roughly, you know, 65% to 70% are black, and about, you know, about 15% to 20% are white. The rest are, you know, the rest, you know, different ethnic background, diversity backgrounds and stuff. But, like, so, I don't know. I mean, it was just kind of like Larry Bird, too, you know, I mean, like a phenomenal, great white player in a. In a league that's predominantly not white, you know? And now you have that in, in, you know, and you have that in the WMA right now. And I don't know. I don't know what the. I don't know what. Well, sadly, everything seems to be about race in today's world. It's like weaponizing it. Yeah. They've weaponized it. The left's weaponized it. And if you, if you were smart, you just make it about money. Yeah, exactly. And growing the game. Right. That's what they say they want to do. Right. Remember, with all the live talk with the golfers, they were saying they wanted to grow the game. You know, most of them were full of shit. Right. They just wanted more money. This is an opportunity to grow the game, is to take women's basketball to the next level. It's what happens in all sports leagues, and, and they seem to be fighting against it. It's. It's wild. It's interesting. I have, like I said, just watch one or two games, but she's become a lot better passer. Like, her assist are, like, through the roof. Apparently, from the games I watch, her passes are on point. She hasn't been rocking. I don't think the three points, as much as people maybe have hope, but she's still becoming a really good player within the league itself. Yeah. So. All right, well, that's the. The hot topic of the week, but we also have a little golf. You guys want to make a few golf picks? Let's start with Luke. So us. So you will keep. We'll keep it brief, but the US Open is in Pinehurst, you know, a place we've been to a couple times. It's. It is a great place to. Down in Pinehurst, North Carolina. It's the golfing mecca of the world, essentially, which, thanks to social media and youtubers and stuff like that, has become pretty much unaffordable now. So thanks for that, guys. But it's an amazing venue. Payne Stewart won at Pinehurst before he passed away in a historic event. So it's a big deal, for sure. It's a great golf course, and it's always known for probably the hardest course in the world. That's what they're going for, essentially. And it looks like they've done that. People are complaining about how fast the greens are and how unfair the setup is and all that good stuff. Stuff. So, all that said, the winner at best is probably going to be a couple under par. So there are going to be lots of people who are on the leaderboard above par. It's just a grueling test of golf. The way Pinehurst is set up, I guess they redid it over the last six or seven years, just made it more treacherous. But the reports coming out, you know, from a lot of, you know, the caddies and the players, they're practicing putting off of the, the fairways end of the greens because the, the greens are, are turtle shelled, you know, so they're, they're like a thimble, the top of it. Like there you got it. Even if you hit the top, you could still roll off the green. And plus, it's hard and fast, so, like you could spin off the green very easily. So a lot of the reports I'm reading is you need to kind of look for those guys that are good at, obviously, ball striking, but also good at short game, because odds are you're going to be playing off of not on the green, you're going to hit the green and roll off or something. So believe it or not, Scotty Scheffler is one of the best short game people in the world. Obviously, that's why he's number one and he's winning multiple tournaments. His ball striking has been impeccable. He rarely makes bad shots, but when he does, man, does he recover. He can putt and he can chip. That is huge. That's why he keeps on winning. He is a multi tooled person. I don't know, but he's also three to one and the next person's like ten to one. Like it's, it's, you know, he's leading by several lengths, this horse race. Right. But if you're looking from my opinion, if you're looking from out some outside of the outside of him, two names kind of come to mind is Hideki Matsuyama. He's won multiple championships. He usually plays well in the US Opens. He is an extremely good ball striker. Irons are on point and he is very good at chipping on very difficult greens. And then you also have somebody, again, this is way down the list, but like somebody like Keegan Bradley, same thing. You have to be accurate with your driver, which he is, and you need to be good with your short game, which he is. So those are my three guys. I'm going because Royal Tiger's in the Luke. Tiger's in the tiger. No, I want Roy McElroy because his divorce just got called off. So he's going to be. Yeah. How does that work? Yeah, it's all marketing. Probably it's a campaign, like calling your ex. Rory is going to be in a heated mindset from all that, probably the past couple of months going through all that. So he's ready to take a. Take a dub and maybe get that out of the headlines. Elon Musk say the most ironic is the most likely or something like that. So some crazy things happening. That's all the news. Can focus on getting that out of the news. And Rory now winning the national championship. Who knows that can happen. Derek. So my boy Dustin Johnson really let Luke down last time we talked about this. So I'm not going to pick him again. He appears to have taken that live money and all the stuff that people say that come with the guaranteed money. He seems to be living that life and doesn't seem to care much about golf anymore. Good for him. Yep. Good for him. Some names I'll throw out. You know, I always like Cam Smith. He's got a great putter. Hasn't done too much. I seem to always throw his name out there. Well, I mean, in the British Open last year when he won it, or two years ago. It was two years ago. Same thing with him. Like, undulated greens putting from off the green onto the green. Like, he's very good at that. And there, he fits that mold. Yep. I'm going to take Matt Fitzpatrick as well. Pretty good odds, 40 to one. He's a major championship winner, and he's, you know, in, in form. And then obviously, I'll always take Brooks Kafka. So I don't think, you know, he. It's. It's funny if there is a clip going around this week of Xander Schofley talking about playing against Michael Jordan. Yeah. And obviously, Michael Jordan is not a professional golfer. And he said he started, Xander said he started talking smack to Michael Jordan. And when he started doing that, Michael Jordan beat him straight up in the last four holes to lose the match. I read. I've read something that he got beat by, and it was straight up, no, no points. He was getting strokes, but he lost. He lost without the strokes. Oh, wow. Yeah. So some people just have a championship mindset, like, you know, I don't think Brooks and this golf course are going to get along very well. However, you know, he's probably going to put himself to win on Sunday. Definitely a long episode. But here's something else that's interesting about golf right now. So here in Cleveland, Ohio, one of, if you belong to a country club, the member guest is always a fun event. You bring in a guest, you play couple day tournament against the field and all this stuff at Barrington. That's an aurora up here in Cleveland. Very nice course. Jack Nicholas Course, believe it or not, a live player lives here in northeast Ohio named Jason Koch Rack. He belongs to another club called Lake Forest, but he is playing in the bear. And so I had a conversation with Nate, our CFA, and I'm like, because Nate's playing in the bear this weekend. And I'm like, so if you. If you were playing against Jason Koch Rack, and Nate's used to be a hockey player, so he likes chirping and stuff. I'm like, he'd be chirping. He's like, you have no idea. I'd probably get punched by the end of the nine holes. And, like, some of it's like, hey, man. Like, hey, I'm glad you're doing well on the live, but, like, so you chose to play in the bear over the US Open. Like, did you try and qualify? You just. I mean, definitely a step sideways, man. Going from the live and playing here at the bear. Yeah, like, come on. And playing on the up tees, too. Come on, man. For $300 in pro shop credit. So anyway, I thought that was pretty funny. You know, you're gonna have. You're gonna have an elite golfer in that tournament. Good luck, guys. But he's gonna be given. I think he's. I think his handicaps, like, plus six. So he's giving. He's giving three strokes on each side, the front nine and the back nine, so very interesting. I'm just not as Bougie as you guys. You know, all the country clubs. Yeah, you are. You just don't know it yet. That's right. Well, I don't know if I ever want to, you know. I'm just going to stay scrappy. That's what I'm going to do. All right, man, let's take this. All right, well, Victor Hovland, I think, could also make some noise. He seems feisty this week, but thanks for listening. This week, if you guys have any questions, comments, show ideas, hit us up at info connect and we'll talk to you next time. The opinions expressed in the podcast are for general informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any investment, legal, financial, or tax strategy. It is only intended to provide education about the financial industry. Please consult a qualified professional about your individual needs.