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Today, exactly how excited should we be about the WNBA’s new media rights deal? Idiocracy is upon us, Drew Magary sticks it to Alexi Lalas, France is filing a complaint with FIFA against Argentina, and we say "Bye, Bob” to one of the greats.

Here we go.

Yesterday, news broke that the WNBA will receive $200 million per year in an 11-year media rights deal negotiated by the NBA. That means the WNBA will be pulling in about $2.2 billion over the life of the deal, an increase of $140 million per year.

That sounds like a huge jump for the WNBA, and a step in the right direction when it comes to WNBA player salaries, which are hamstrung by a CBA that gives WNBA players revenue shares only if certain financial goals are met. On the other hand, NBA players get a 50-50 share of all revenue related to the game, including media deals, ticket sales, and merchandise sales. More than any other reason, this is why WNBA players make so much less than their NBA counterparts.

Still, all of this sounds like the WNBA is headed in the right direction until you learn that the entire media rights deal was for approximately $75 billion, with the WNBA getting a measly 2.9 percent of the entire deal. With WNBA games selling out across the country and setting records in TV viewership, that seems like a pretty low number.

WNBA executive director Terri Jackson is not happy:

The WNBA’s Players Association is expected to opt out of its current CBA, which means the current contract with the league will expire on October 31, 2025. That gives the WNBAPA around a year to negotiate a new deal. And it couldn’t come at a better time for the player’s union.

For years, the few women working in sports media have been insisting that if sports networks actually put women’s sports on their broadcasts, giving the audience a chance to get to know the players, the rivalries, the beefs, and the triumphs, people would watch. In 2024, more than half of all WNBA games have been sellouts, and the average audience on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, and CBS has more than tripled the average audience from 2023, going from around 460,000 viewers to 1.32 million per game. Maybe network execs should listen to women more often.

While the WNBA is at least 25 years behind the NBA in terms of marketing and exposure, thanks to the men in power who decided that no one wanted to watch women’s sports, this is the time the NBA should be investing in the league more than ever, not relegating them to less than three percent of the media rights revenue negotiated, largely, for the men. Before you tell me that “the WNBA doesn’t make any money” and “the NBA makes so much more money than the WNBA!” please remember that, as recently as the early 1980s, the NBA was in danger of going under entirely, when sixteen of its 23 teams lost money. It was only an $800,000 check from CBS that year that kept many of the teams in business.

Marketing makes a difference. It’s time for the NBA to believe in the WNBA as much as the fans do.

I’m doing my level best not to write about the Republican National Convention because, frankly, I can’t take any more of the awful political news this country manages to churn out on a daily basis. But have you guys seen Idiocracy?

When I saw this clip of Hulk Hogan introducing the Republican Nominee for President of the United States, all I could think of was President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho who, I must say, is a highly preferable option to Donald Trump.

It certainly is a choice to have a guy who had a sex tape go public and who was banished from the world of pro wrestling for using a racial slur be the guy to introduce your presidential nominee. The only real surprise here is that we’ve gotten to Idiocracy in less than one-fifth of the time the movie predicted.

Look, there may have been a time, briefly, in like, 1994, that I appreciated Alexi Lalas. By 1998, however, I was completely over him. Ever since FOX brought him on, inexplicably, as America’s soccer expert, I’ve been incandescent with rage every time he opens his mouth. I say this as a former club soccer kid who was watching international soccer back when we had to turn the antenna on top of our house to get Spanish-language channels out of Chicago to get any soccer at all.

Over at SF Gate, Drew Magary sums up how most of us feel about Lalas:

I disagree with Lalas being an “accomplished player.” Outside of being famous for not holding his position for the USMNT, the highlight of his pro career was playing for Calcio Padova for two years, in which they finished 14th and 11th in Serie A, respectively. He never played anywhere near the level of the guys he analyzes, like Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun, Tim Weah, or Matt Turner, but he loves to talk like he did. Normally, I’m a huge advocate of saying that one doesn’t have to have played a sport to be a good analyst or announcer, but in Lalas’ case, I make an exception. FOX tries to put him on par with Carli Lloyd, but she has two Olympic golds and two World Cups, whereas Lalas had the distinction of being the most recognizable guy on a US team that really had no business being in the World Cup in the first place. You can see how much Clint Dempsey hates Lalas by his facial expressions every time Lalas speaks.

Plus, he’s been doing stuff like this all week:

I’m sure that FOX thinks Lalas is one of those guys that people love to hate watch, and that people tune in just to see what he’s going to say, but that is not the case. I hate hate watching him. I listen to Dempsey at halftime and change the channels every time Lalas opens his stupid gob. And I know I’m not alone. And now he’s aligned himself in support of a guy who has been adjudicated a rapist by a jury of his peers and has many more allegations of assault besides those. If FOX really feels like they need someone from the 1994/98 USMNT to explain soccer to America, go get Tab Ramos or Eric Wynalda or someone more likable.

Fire Alexi Lalas into the sun.

The biggest story that came out of Argentina winning Copa América on Sunday night was unticketed fans rushing the gates and trashing Hard Rock Stadium ahead of the final. But what happened after the game was at least as bad, if not worse.

France has filed a complaint with FIFA over the “victory” song Argentina sang after the match. Argentinian midfielder Enzo Fernandez posted a video of the team singing a song rife with racial and discriminatory language to his social media accounts. I’m not going to post the lyrics, but you can read them here if you’re interested. The gist of the song is that the Black players on the French team aren’t really “French,” but are from African countries, and then, for no reason, takes a shot at Kylian Mbappé’s sexuality. The whole thing is disgusting. What’s more, it makes little sense, as France was busy playing in Euros while Argentina was playing in Copa América. Sort of like if the Mets beat the Mariners and then chanted “Yankees suck!” in the locker room. Weird.

Fernandez has posted an apology, but at least one of the guys of African heritage on the French team is his Chelsea teammate, Wesley Fofana. Chelsea, to their credit, says they’ve begun disciplinary action against Fernandez. An Argentinian government official suggested that, as captain, Lionel Messi should apologize for the song, and that got him ousted from his job, which shows you how serious Argentina is about making amends. Meanwhile, both CONMEBOL and FIFA have been mostly silent on the issue, which is disappointing but far from surprising.

Meanwhile, here’s what Argentina’s Vice-President posted on Twitter:

From Google Translate:

International football: It’s super-racist, but otherwise fantastic!

I’m not old enough to remember the original Bob Newhart Show, but I did watch and love Newhart as a kid, which I think is one of the best things about Bob Newhart: He was funny to kids and funny to adults at the same time. My AP History teacher played some of his historical stand-up for us in high school, and it was then that I learned to appreciate him as a comedian and king of the deadpan delivery. As a Cubs fan whose family has lived in and around Chicago for over 100 years, I loved that he never forgot his team or his city.

Bob Newhart was at Wrigley several times in his last few years, and I was always happy to see him there, and that he lived long enough to see the team win the World Series. So many of our older loved ones didn’t. Those of you who watch For All Mankind(which everyone should watch!), know the importance of The Bob Newhart Show and “Hi, Bob!” to the storyline.

I’ll miss Bob Newhart like I’ll miss so many parts of my childhood and early adult years. I can’t remember a time before Bob Newhart, and the world is certainly poorer for having lost him.

He was also responsible for perhaps the greatest series finale of all time (thoughSix Feet Undermight be my all-time favorite):

RIP, Bob.

Have a great weekend. See you all on Monday.