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I don't think people realize how insane a Knicks championship parade would be.
Take the chaos that you've seen outside the garden.
Take that time to Trillium.
It would be manhandling.
The city would have to shut down.
You would need Batman, Spider-Man, the Avengers, everybody to calm us down.
It would be pure chaos.
And I can't wait.
What's up, you guys?
I'm Rachel Demita.
And welcome to the Courtside Club.
Today is a very special episode because this is our season one finale.
You guys, we have racked up 45 episodes this season.
And honestly, I've had an amazing time.
We've had the most incredible guests.
I couldn't have asked for a better roster and just better people to have on my show
for season one of Courtside Club.
Today, I'm joined by sports media personality and host at I Am Athlete,
30 Under 30, the lovely Ashley Nicole Moss.
Ashley, welcome to the Courtside Club.
I'm excited to be here.
You've had some of my friends on here.
So I'm excited to join the people who had the honor of being on the platform.
So you had Jalen Rose on the show, which is a really good friend of mine, also one of
So I saw the episode, loved it.
And I was like, you know what?
I'm going to do it, too.
Just trying to be like Jalen when I grow up, basically.
I feel like I could have talked to Jalen for like three hours straight, but I tried not
to go on too long.
And also, he's a busy man, so I didn't want to keep him.
But I was so excited to have you on.
I've been following your career journey.
And even I feel like in the past year, you've done some amazing things.
Obviously, we are both females in the sports world.
So wanted to pick your brain on some things.
NBA-related, sports-related, and then also talk about your background a little bit.
Yeah, let's do it.
I wanted to go over some NBA headlines right now and get your take on it.
I know that you're a host at I Am Athlete.
You are surrounded by a lot of opinionated people.
But today, we're going to focus on your opinions on some of these topics.
First off, I want to start with one that I'm actually having a hard time understanding
And it's this Draymond Green-Dylan Brooks beef that's going on.
You and me both, I have no idea where it started.
I mean, I know where it started.
I just don't understand how it's gotten to this point.
It seems a little dramatic.
But I mean, the NBA-
Just a little bit.
A little petty, a little dramatic, a little bit high school, a little bit college maybe,
depending on what school you went to.
But I mean, the NBA thrives on storyline.
The NBA thrives on storylines like this and rivalries like this, if you want to call it
Draymond doesn't call it that.
Dylan calls it that.
So they have a whole different definition of the word.
But it's interesting, to say the least.
You're on TikTok.
You know that audio where it's like, my life's kind of boring right now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's not any drama.
Should I start some drama?
That's how it feels like for me.
I mean, it seems a little, you know, Draymond's going on his podcast and blasting Dylan and
Dylan then, you know, is firing back.
And, you know, my thing is, is Draymond, listen, I know you're a champ and all that stuff.
Love that for you.
But you can't go on your podcast and, you know, pop off out of the mouth like that and
That's not how that works.
So, you know, it's a little bit of, what's the saying?
Don't let your mouth write a check.
Your ass can't cash.
But like Draymond says, rivalries are born in the playoffs.
And right now there is no real rivalry between these two teams.
So it's fun in the regular season, though.
I think Dylan Brooks kind of just.
It's on everybody's list.
It's probably the most hated NBA player in the league right now.
People just don't like him.
And then you have a guy like Draymond who is fiery no matter what you're talking about.
So you pick anything with him and he's going to run with it.
Somebody else who I feel like kind of keeps that Draymond energy is Patrick Beverly.
And I love that he has a podcast now as well, which is it's funny, though, because he started
this podcast and then I feel like I've heard less from him.
I'm like, he has his own platform.
Like, correct me if I'm wrong.
He has his outlet.
But I feel like he's like toned it down.
He has an outlet to kind of get his his takes off, his thoughts off.
It's like a virtual diary, journal, whatever you want to call it.
So, you know, anything that he thinks about saying in a press conference or, you know,
an interview postgame, pregame, whatever, he's probably like, you know what?
I'm going to save it for the podcast.
Why should I give this away, you know, for free?
Let me let me save it for my own platform.
So listen, I I'm not.
I'm not mad at the whole new media game.
I love the athletes are kind of in the space where they can, you know, take their own narrative
and kind of grab a hold of it and tell it the way they want to and share stories, you
know, the way they want to and have conversations the way they want to.
I think it creates a more diverse, you know, atmosphere when it comes to the world of sports.
You get so many different perspectives and nobody knows the game better than, you know,
the guys and the women who have played the game.
So I think they deserve a platform as much.
As, you know, the rest of us do.
So I'm not mad at all.
I like the podcast wars.
Who would you love to see start their own podcast or YouTube channel or Twitch channel?
Dame because Dame doesn't really talk a lot.
So I feel like Dame would be a good one.
I feel like Steph Curry would be a good one.
Jimmy Butler would be hilarious.
Like Jimmy would have a great podcast, great YouTube channel.
He is a character.
I just imagine like all types of blogs and pranks.
And I don't know if he would talk as much trash.
I feel like he would throw like jokes people's way.
But I don't know if he would have like a full blown podcast war with somebody.
Giannis would be a great channel just straight dad jokes and him discovering America's finest
things like Oreos for the first time.
I think that'd be great too.
It should be like Giannis Tries.
It's a whole YouTube channel where he's just trying new like American things.
Don't give that away for free.
That was actually a really good idea.
Assign me as EP, please.
Moving on to a little bit of a more serious topic.
Obviously, one of the biggest stars in the league, John Moran, has found himself in some
hot water lately.
I feel like there's been multiple things that kind of led up to this last Instagram live
flashing, you know, a gun to all of his followers.
Now we're seeing from the team that he is stepping away from the team indefinitely and
getting counterattacks.
I think he's going to be able to take that out.
I think he's going to be able to take that out.
I think he's going to be able to take that out.
I think he's going to be able to take that out.
What what is your take on that?
How you think the team is kind of going to recover from this and also just seeing how
how Nike's handle handled the situation, how the NBA has handled the situation.
I mean, when I spoke about this a few days ago, when I think the first the news first
came out, you know, about, you know, him brandishing the gun on IG Live and we everyone
was having multiple conversations and things like that.
Obviously, the actions are wrong.
But I'm somebody who.
Believes that, you know, topics and sports players specifically, there's layers to things.
And I think that anybody who witnessed, you know, that action live or saw the video of
that and then also took into consideration the other things that he's been involved with
allegedly, you know, prior to that, I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure
out that there's something not right.
It's not normal behavior.
You and I don't go around, you know, acting like that.
Most people don't go around acting like that.
There are a lot of guys.
In the NBA who make the same amount, if not more money than John Moran and have been in
the game a lot longer, don't go around and acting like that.
So I think multiple things can be true.
I like to use this saying a lot.
Two things can be true at the same time.
He can have made a mistake and have have to pay the repercussions of that mistake, whether
good or bad in this situation.
You know, Powerade pulls, you know, their their ad with him and that's on hiatus.
He's affecting his team because they don't know when he'll return.
And although they're, you know, right now,
hosting and staying afloat and winning games, the team's better with John Moran.
I know, you know, people like to say, oh, it doesn't matter.
It matters, especially when you get into the playoffs.
But I think that also he's not OK.
And I think that we can't pick and choose when we are advocates for mental health, especially
when it comes to the world of sports.
We have to look at things as bigger pictures and as whole pictures.
And it's easy to see that he's not OK.
Whatever reason that is, whether it's stresses at home or just stresses with,
you know, managing this complete rise.
I mean, this cat is a huge rise in his career from last season to this season, the signature
shoe and all the attention.
If he's not handling those things well and he looks to other sources to go ahead and
ease that, that's not healthy.
I think that most people could see that, yes, the actions were wrong, but it's deeper than
And I'm glad that he's going and, you know, putting himself first and taking care of himself
and doing what he needs to do to be better.
For the long term, not only for his career, but for his personal life.
I was thinking about that as well when the news first came out that he was seeking counseling
or going to therapy.
And my kind of first thought, if I'm just being honest, I'm like, how would therapy
OK, don't don't do this on Instagram.
And then I started thinking about it deeper.
And I think one of the biggest things that maybe he takes out of getting this help in
this counseling is who he surrounds himself with and what people he might need to cut
It's really something that's really hard to do because I again, I don't know all the
situations, but whoever he is surrounded by, who is hyping him up when he's in situations
that are not good for an NBA player to be in are not people who are out for your best
And so cutting off people who you might have been around since you were a child, you know,
no one wants to be that person who's changed or who forgot, you know, forgot the small
In the hood, we call it going Hollywood.
You know, that's something that you hear a lot is, oh, you Hollywood now.
But I think that the biggest lesson you can learn and listen, Jaws only 23.
I think we forget that sometimes, especially a lot of young guys in the NBA because they
have grown people responsibility, right?
You have adult responsibilities, but you're still not quite an adult.
You're an adult in age, but you're not quite an adult at 23.
I was an adult in age, but I was not an adult.
It was the furthest thing from it.
So I think that you have to look at your life and the people in it as assets.
And liabilities, you know, who's adding, who's subtracting.
And that's a lesson, unfortunately, that you have to learn with trial and error.
It's not something that you just wake up one day and you say, oh, they're good for me.
They're bad for me.
It's you unfortunately have to learn it through situations for job.
This is his situation.
And also, look, you can remove all the people you want from your life.
But if you yourself do not have healthy practices to managing stress, to managing fame, to managing
your career, whatever it may be in your life.
You could you can get rid of everybody.
You'll still have the same problem.
And it's also on him to kind of maybe surround himself with better people.
So basketball is better when he's in it.
So I hope he gets the healthy needs.
I think that's something that's true across all sports, celebrity news.
We are never going to have the full story.
The only thing that we can really analyze and we don't even have the full story here
is what these players are doing on the court.
We could say this person had a good game.
Game tonight or he was a step slow on defense or he wasn't shooting very well.
We can see all of that.
But the extracurricular things, we're never going to have all of that information.
So even what is published to us is still the tip of the iceberg.
What you're talking about.
Something that was interesting to me is when Nike came out with their statement about him
and said, you know, we are kind of supporting him and he's going to get help.
A lot of people came back and was like, where was this?
Energy with Kyrie and the the situations are completely different.
Yeah, completely.
And it made me start to think of, OK, we are learning more and more about these athletes
and who they are as people and and these different athletes sticking up for what they believe in,
whether it's right or wrong.
Where is that line going to be when it comes to the brands?
Like, is that in their contract that this, this and this?
And this, this and this is the repercussion for that.
I mean, I've never signed a multimillion dollar Nike deal.
Not yet, at least.
But yeah, I mean, whenever you sign like a deal with a brand of any level and it's a
partnership, it's not like a one off.
There are things you can and cannot do.
Now, is that already preexisting in athletes contracts?
I mean, I would assume so.
Like if you, you know, God forbid, murder somebody, I think Nike can drop you.
There's something that is a clause for that when it comes to other things, you know, in
terms of self self-expression or, you know, freedom of speech, things like that.
Um, I would assume it's in there.
If not, it probably will be eventually.
I think the comparison between the jaw and the Kyrie thing is very far fetched.
I mean, John right now, listen, both situations are wrong, but they're wrong for different
What John did, you know, more so put a stain on his brands and the brands that are tied
to his brand as John Moran.
It put a stain on the NBA.
Which also is tied to the brand that is John Moran Kyrie, whether you agree or disagree
with how it was done, insulted, whether, you know, directly, indirectly, whether purposefully
or unpurposefully a group of people, you know, a religion, a cultural group of people, which
is not even remotely close to the same thing.
So while I can understand people trying to make that correlation, it's very much apples
It's not quite the same thing.
You are from New York.
How are we feeling about the Knicks this season?
I'm excited, man.
I think a lot of people thought we were going to be dead in the water.
You know, I think it's very impressive.
You know, you bring Josh Harden, you bring Jalen Brunson in and, you know, great guys,
But, you know, whenever you bring new guys into a situation, especially a situation like
the Knicks that, you know, those guys have already kind of been percolating together
for a few seasons.
You always run the risk of the camera.
Chemistry not being there.
We've seen that, you know, when super teams are formed or not even super teams, just new
teams are formed in general.
And the chemistry is an issue.
Look at Kyrie and Luka.
Look at the big three multiple ways in Brooklyn.
You look at the situation with the Lakers.
You know, sometimes you throw a bunch of players together and you hope it works with what's
already existing.
And sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.
And you always run that risk.
So for the Knicks, it's very impressive that Jalen Brunson.
Was able to be implemented into the system seamlessly.
It seems like you bring Josh Harden, same situation, seamlessly being, you know, kind
of integrated into their system and it works.
I mean, you see what the game looks like without Jalen Brunson.
I was one of the people who were a little apprehensive about the money that he was being
given, you know, in the talks of him joining the Knicks only because not because I don't
think he is worth it, but only because the Knicks have other areas they need to go ahead
Address down the line and you never want to put all your money into one entity.
We did that with Carmelo Anthony and we didn't win anything.
So I'm not saying Carmelo and Jalen are making the same money, but it's kind of the same
foundation, but it's turned out to be an incredible situation.
Are the Knicks championship contenders?
Not yet, but I definitely think that this is a team that can make some noise in the
playoffs depending on the matchup and whether they come out of the first round or not.
That obviously depends on the matchup.
But I think whatever.
Team that they play, they'll definitely give them a hard time.
It's not going to be a sweep.
It's not going to be, you know, an easy matchup for any team.
The team is tough.
And when they step on the court, they believe they can win and they want to win.
And I think that's the biggest difference maker from this season and last season for
How important is it to you that New York has a good basketball team?
So I feel like for the league, it's so important and we've been missing it for so long.
And there was a sliver of hope with Brooklyn.
The fan base is nowhere near what the Knicks fan base is.
And, you know, my manager's on here listening and you're like a diehard Brooklyn fan.
But it's just not the same.
It's not the same as the Knicks.
I've been to the Barclays.
It's not the same.
It's super important.
I mean, you know, sports in general are better when New York teams are winning and they're
You know, whether it's football, baseball, basketball.
I mean, it's the mecca of sports.
It's the toughest sports media market, I would say, in the country.
You know, all eyes.
That microscope is different.
That lens is different.
And it's better when they're in the conversation.
You know, the league is better when the Knicks are winning, when the Knicks are relevant.
They've always been relevant, obviously, to New Yorkers in the city of New York.
But across the league, you know, it's better when they're relevant.
It's better when they're on primetime.
So it's super important.
I mean, obviously, you know, New Yorkers, real New Yorkers or Knicks fans want a championship
You know, we want to parade.
We want to experience, you know, what a lot of other teams have experienced in the past.
I think that the Knicks get closer and closer every season.
I think they're a superstar away from making that happen.
It's just a matter of being a team that people want to go to.
I think that's been the biggest fault against the Knicks.
You know, it's an extremely expensive city to live in.
And the media is not kind.
So if you also add to that a team that's kind of in disarray, whether it's the front office,
whether it's coaching, whether it's, you know, the team really is not that appealing.
It's hard to go ahead and get a Dame or a Bradley Beal or a LeBron or a KD.
I think that now, you know, people are looking at the Knicks differently.
They're looking at the Knicks as like, this team, this team could actually be something
relatively very quickly.
I may want to go there.
I think that's the biggest thing.
And that's what's going to take the Knicks to the next level.
The future's bright in New York.
New York, not Brooklyn.
We're talking the other side of the bridge.
Manette, what's your most memorable moment at MSG?
Probably Carmelo's announcement, you know, when they announced him as a Knick for the
You know, Melo was a Brooklyn kid.
I know Baltimore also claims him, but he was born in Brooklyn first, went to Syracuse.
And, you know, when he came to New York and they played, you know, on Coming Home and
the whole arena went black and you just saw the lights of the phones and he walks out
for the first time in Madison Square Garden, surrounded by friends and family and just
And it was really cool.
You know, there's something special about being from New York and playing for New York,
working in New York, whatever the case may be, seeing a mount, seeing a level of success
in the city you come from.
And I'm sure that's the same across the board.
If you're from L.A., it's probably really cool, like playing, you know, at the Staples
or around the crypto arena or whatever the case may be.
So that was a really dope moment because it was like a full circle.
You know, the kid from the projects is now playing in the world's most famous arena in
the city he grew up in.
That was probably up there for me.
That was really dope.
He's like the perfect player for New York as well because he has that confidence that
he can just like cut through any of the noise, but has that edge on the court.
So it was a it was a good time in the NBA.
Here on Courtside Club, we like to take a halftime break and I have a little game for
you if you're down.
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So this is a reoccurring segment here on Courtside Club.
It is your starting fives.
So I'm going to start.
Start off with your current NBA players, your starting five.
All right, I'm putting that Steph Curry.
I'm going to go Bam Adebayo.
Oh, that's a wild card.
I like it, though.
Yeah, I'm going to go Bam Adebayo at center.
Actually, you know what?
I think I'm going to put Steph at the two.
And maybe I'm going to put Dame as the point guard.
I'm going to switch up the splash brothers a little bit.
I'm going to put Dame, Steph.
I got two spots left.
You got your three and your four.
Let me go LeBron James.
Let me go Kevin Durant.
That's a gritty starting five.
I got two just assassins, handle-wise, shooting-wise, but I also got the height.
I got the shooting also from KD.
I feel like that's a team I can win a chip for sure.
So what about you?
I'm going to go LeBron James.
I'm going to go LeBron James.
I'm going to go LeBron James.
I'm going to go LeBron James.
I'm going to go LeBron James.
I got one from Katie.
I feel like that's a team I could win a chip for sure.
So what about your NBA players of all times?
I'm going Allen Iverson.
Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant, my two favorite players.
Yes, those are my, those are my two.
So they're going to be on my team.
I got AI, I got Kobe.
I'm going to go teammate.
I'm going to go Kobe.
probably i'm gonna go kareem let's take kareem aldujabar um i don't know i feel like four in
the five i would still ride it out with lebron and kd i feel like that'd be like a nice
yeah kobe iverson kareem lebron and kd that would be a crazy team that's like the mom stars
i'm taking i think i'm taking that i think i'm gonna take that one you're producing a new
space jam right here yeah that would actually be kind of sick actually oh wait i forgot jordan
oh we're both getting hype and we both forgot i know i totally forgot jordan i'm probably gonna
take lebron out and put jordan in his spot so it would be yeah i'm gonna go kobe iverson jordan
katie kareem yeah that's what i'm gonna go with that that's my little controversial i know but i
but i love it i like it yeah i'm gonna take that i need the height too
of i need the height of kareem and katie so i'll take it yeah okay last but not least
starting five players or celebrities that you've interviewed
your favorites interview if i've met them does that count like if i've had a conversation with
them or i had to like sit down and interview them if the conversation was that great then
like put them at the top and go for it all right i'm going iverson again i'm going chris brown
okay um chris brown would be at the top
two Iverson will be at the one I'm gonna put two chains in there I'm gonna put two chains at the
three he's pretty good hooper yeah he's six five nice and lean he's a good hooper um I'm gonna go
I'm gonna put Penny Hardaway in the conversation as well so I got I got Iverson Penny Hardaway
Chris Brown two chains I don't know if I have anybody really big enough to do center though
that's the only thing these are just your favorites okay so I'm gonna have to let's
position this I gotta position this yeah we'll play small ball okay so last spot I'm gonna give
that to I don't know if he can hoop but I'm gonna say Jadakiss because that was one of my favorite
interviews I love that I don't know if Jada got handles or I don't know what he can do on the
court but I enjoyed speaking with him so I'm gonna have a conversation I couldn't even tell
you how tall he is he could also like play on the court Jada's like my height so he's like 5'10
you know yeah it's true fat joe
put fat joe in there he was a good one because there's a few people like Jim Jones I'll just do
a whole New York Rucker Park type thing I'm just gonna put all the New York rappers in the group
together that's how I'm gonna do it you'll have to do that at some point it will be the Ashley
Nicole Moss celebrity basketball game and you can choose the players who are playing
for sure I love that yeah you talked about Allen Iverson said he was one of your favorite players
and you spoke to him but didn't interview him not yet he's on my list you know I had a list
of people I still had the list actually it's in the back of one of my journals that I had as a kid
kid as a teenager but um when I really like figured out like okay I'm gonna go to college
to study journalism I wrote down all the people that I would love to interview and I've been
scratching them off little by little Jada Kiss was on there so I scratched him off
Kobe Bryant was on there unfortunately I never got to interview him before his you know passing
um and Allen Iverson's also one of the names on those lists and I feel like the Iverson one could
be percolating soon so I'm gonna have to do that I'm gonna have to do that I'm gonna have to do that
I'm excited to get the possibility but I met him a few times and I was starstruck I don't get
start there's only been two people that I've ever really been like intimidated by or starstruck by
obviously if I met Beyonce I would pass out but like that hasn't happened to me yet so I don't
have to worry about that yeah but I met Iverson and it was like because it's like weird seeing
somebody it's so surreal seeing somebody who you had on your wall like as a kid and you were
watching and I had like the Iverson dress and all those things now he's standing in
front of my face and it's like wow you're Allen Iverson and then my first big interview in the
basketball world was Pat Riley and I was like 21 years old and I'm interviewing Pat Riley he has
this very like godfather just like aura about him he walks in like hair slicked back perfectly like
suited up and just smelling like seven thousand dollar cologne I don't even know what he was
wearing but like he comes in it's just like so like Don Corleone you just feel like so like
overwhelmed and I'm a Knicks fan so I'm like I'm gonna have to do that I'm gonna have to do that
I'm like does he know like he is the nicest guy though he's so intelligent and and honestly like
when it's not business he's so warm and inviting he has such a good energy about him and he made
me feel so comfortable but I remember him walking up in my direction and I'm just like oh my god
it's Pat Riley like what do I do like what do I do what do I say but um those are the two people
that like when I met I was a little like got a little sweaty hands a little like oh my god okay
I think I think we're the same person because
AI was my favorite player growing up as well and I have yet to interview him but I met him
and when I met him I honestly didn't even know what to say a friend of mine who is friends with
him is like I'll introduce you I had nothing to talk to the man about so I just shook his hand
yeah and I was like I just want to say thank you so much for everything that you did for the game
of basketball like a huge fan ever since I was a child like I appreciate you like thank you
and he just said thank you like he was really nice but he was like I don't know I don't know
it was a quick like shake your hand super nice and then I ran off listen less words less
embarrassment that's all that's it's always a safe bet so you did the right thing because I did
the same yeah so so you you talked about getting in into the space you were writing down all the
people that you wanted to interview where did you see yourself going obviously both of us are kind
of coming up in this new wave of media right and and when I was in college really the only way
to be in sports or be hosting at all was to go to a local news station and kind of work your way up
and I did it differently I started on YouTube but we're seeing like the way that the media is
changing is is faster than ever it's something new every single year where did you see yourself
when you were coming up when I was graduating college I I believe that before I even walked
across the stage or when I was walking across the stage ESPN would be there waiting for me with like
hey you did great in college congratulations you did your thing come to ESPN so like
that's where I thought I was going and lo and behold that didn't happen um ESPN didn't come
calling me until I was 29 years old so that was seven years after graduation um so I think you
quickly learned that your ideal path is not the path that you're about to take so you better
buckle up so for me you know I had to do a little bit of everything you know I started
at um the CW actually it was my first internship I was talking about things like Taylor Swift's
shoes and Harry Styles and so and so like things that I could care less about but I mean I was
learning you know how to produce I was learning how to be on air and then I went to NBC and I was
working for like a small little show that was on the channel um down here in Miami and we were
covering Pop Warner football it wasn't NFL it wasn't college we were covering little kids so it
was Snoop Dogg's team and you know I had to treat that like it was the Super Bowl um and then from
there I went to radio and you know coming from television you know at the time radio was kind
of like a downgrade and it wasn't something that I was like overly enthusiastic about doing because
it's like I'm I was on camera like I was on TV why would I want to do radio but I say this now
like in hindsight obviously hindsight is 2020 radio was such a great way to really
perfect yourself as a journalist whether it's you know you want to sit down and you talk to people
or you want to be an analyst you want to be a host because radio you don't have anything else to focus
on except what comes out of your mouth and radio fans will call you up and curse you out and tell
you you don't know anything Tom Brady is the GOAT like they are not afraid to like really go at you
but for me it taught me how to be quick it taught me how to um be our more articulate it just
it was really a good kind of crash course from the beginning stages the baby stages in my career
up until Sports Illustrated when it was like okay now you're with the big dogs and you gotta
you gotta do your a-game but yeah my journey was a lot of different things that I never thought I
was gonna have to do like at all I never thought I had to do any of that the more you talk the more
similar we are the more similar I realize that we are because my first internship
was at Entertainment Tonight it was also just entertainment things and I learned there that
it's not what I wanted to do I fell into sports like later down the road and I feel like your
radio with my YouTube because I was getting shredded online on YouTube because that was
my first time that I got direct input of how I was doing with everything that I was doing
and I in college studied broadcast journalism and I took that kind of typical of newsy
podcast voice that I had learned from college and at Entertainment Tonight to YouTube and man did
they let me know why is she talking like that why does she sound like this welcome today it's seven
o'clock like nobody tells you nobody talks like that like nobody warned us yeah it's it's bad and
it also but you know what I feel like you and I both having that interaction with people that
direct interaction prepares you because it gets harder you know the platforms get
bigger and it gets harder and as you know you know you're already coming in a deficit and you're a
woman and then you add into the fact being a black woman or being a woman of color it's a double
deficit and you know Twitter unfortunately back you know 20 years ago it didn't exist so you could
go ahead and make mistakes so yeah people may be like cursing you out at home in their living room
but you don't have to hear it now if somebody wants to say you suck they just DM you or they
tweet you or whatever and it's right there but having that exposure
to that unfortunate side of it early on in my career I feel like has made it drastically easier
for me to deal with it now now I don't care do you just have thick skin is it something that you
ignore do you take any comments like into consideration most of the time no because
they're not coming from people who like really are trying to give constructive criticism they're
coming from people who just want to troll you so I mean if you see something you know in the mix
of chaos that's relatively good
you know constructive I may take it to heart and maybe that's not a bad idea but for the most part
I've learned that I know they say don't read the comments and don't feed the bears at the zoo but
human nature is like oh let me see what everyone's saying about this and then you regret it like two
seconds later but I noticed that you know tapping a tough skin I feel like is is a weird terminology
because people are human you know you can be the strongest person in the world but you still have
feelings and if somebody cuts you in a way that
um you know triggers something in you it's gonna hurt your feelings I don't think that makes you
weak we're all human so yeah there are sometimes things that kind of fall through the wayside where
I'm like ouch that kind of like it's 8 a.m why are you coming at me like that hurt my feelings
but for the most part I think you have to consider the source and a lot of the times the source is
if we flip roles you couldn't do what I do so that's that's kind of how I looked at it you
know what I mean you are
at I Am Athlete now what are your goals on that platform how are you liking the guys
it's cool you know I think it's different you know when you come from an entity like Sports
Illustrated it's a little bit more traditional and a little bit more structured um going to
something that's more new media and more of a kind of everything it's like a startup can be
frustrating at times because certain things that you know were set in stone at SI is not going to
be the case here um but you know I think that big reason is that I'm not going to be able to do it
myself and I think that I'm going to have to make the right choice I've done it myself and I think
that I just have to do it myself because it's not going to be the same as doing it on qualsi
right now or that's the other way around and so I think it's a little bit more different
yeah definitely I think it's I think it's a little bit like you said there's a lot of risk big
rewards and I think that like you said the landscape of sports is changing which kind of
you know was one of the things that was in the background of my when I made the decision to go
there you know I have to pick between a few different places and ultimately that's what I
landed on um I think that for me my goal is to make the platform as diverse in conversation
as possible I think when you have a platform that really only adheres to men and you know the people
the cast and the guests that they get and you know that trickles down to the fan base i think
that you miss a big chunk of conversations that you can be have women see things differently you
know women have you know different emotions about things you know women you know have different
mindsets and and conversations that they can add to things or input that they can add to things and
i think that the more that we kind of merge these worlds together and make it so that women and men
can coexist as long as the foundation is at the same and for us at i'm athlete it's prioritizing
athletes as people first i feel like why can't we have men and women on the same platform and
they're one's not the host and the guys are the analysts like i think the landscape is changing
and i hope that you know my time at i'm athlete kind of proves that that can be you know beneficial
and it can be successful so that's really you know what i want to get out of it i love that
a lot of people ask me like is it difficult
being a woman in sports and i've heard even from some of the interviews that you've done
that you don't like that question and yeah i hate that question i i don't i don't i don't like it
either because and and i've always said this i've said you're you're scrutinized more as a woman
but you're also different so you stand out just because you're a woman so if you know your stuff
you have to know your stuff like that's the one thing you can't get away with not being prepared
but if you know your stuff you can earn that respect and i've always kind of looked at it
as a challenge and even having my show of course i've always kind of looked at it as a challenge
again it's like i'm a female host i'm the one host and i talk to men and women but hopefully
new people who are coming to watch this show are okay listening to my voice even though
you know i'm not a man in the industry and so i feel like what you're doing at i'm athlete just
you know proves that also with prior it was all men yeah and they did a great job yeah you know
and you're not you're gonna just elevate that a little bit more i think that's the key word i
think women can do that too i think women can do that too i think women can do that too
and not destroy them i mean you let some man call it and it's like oh my god there's a woman
on here it's over i can't watch this show anymore it's the it's you know women elevate things they
don't destroy things they think that if you're a woman like you said who's done their research and
they know what they're talking about and they're just as well versed in whatever the topic is if
it's nfl if it's nba if it's you know a storyline with a particular player i think having multiple
voices in general you know elevates a conversation because you
welcome different perspectives when you bring a woman into the conversation
you know that elevates it even more from a multitude of different angles because like i
said women and men are different fundamentally we're humans but there's also drastic differences
between us so when people ask me how does it feel to be a woman in sports i hate that question
because you guys don't ask men that now what's my experience like being a woman in sports is a
different question what is it like being a woman in sports it's just like such a lazy question to
they don't ask male designers like what's it like being a man in fashion right or like on the red
carpet when you used to ask women all the time what are you wearing they don't ask that to men
like men get questions about so your film does a lot of sense in that film like what was it like
your preparation you ask me what dress am i wearing it's just not yeah yeah it's it's not
cute i'm not a fan you were recently named to forbes 30 under 30 which is an amazing accomplishment
thank you what did that make you feel like you were a woman in sports you were a woman in sports
what did that feel like was that on your list that you made in college it was it was very sweet
30 under 30 has been on my vision board since i was i want to say 22 21 i was a senior in college
when i made that board so i had to be like 21 22 um and it's funny because when i was 28 i had
there's multiple steps to like being named 30 under 30 you first get nominated and then if you
pass the nomination stage then there's like this whole
form you fill out with all these questions and things like that and i remember getting nominated
and filling out the form and then not getting selected to be a final class and i remember being
so disappointed and thinking to myself oh my god i only have one year but if i already made this far
i probably won't make it this far again this is my one shot and then the same you know process
happened again last year so i filled it out and in my head i'm like there's no way i'm making this
like whatever i'm just gonna be like i'm gonna be like i'm gonna be like i'm gonna be like i'm gonna be
fill it out you know it's it's a it's an honor with you know me type of thing and then yeah and
then i remember waking up the morning that they were announced and again usually the time before
that i woke up real early to check forbs and i'm like looking you know like when you audition for
a play at school and like you run to the hallway and you're like looking through your like i had
double triple check and my name was spelled wrong i wasn't on that list this this time around i woke
up minding my business i wasn't even pressed about it my phone's
blowing up and i'm like shoot like what did i do last night that i don't remember like i was
freaking out like i was like what did i do and everyone's congratulating me and i'm like what
the hell like what is happening and i get on twitter and there's the announcement and it was
very surreal because i think that you know you envision things for yourself and you hope that
they can come true and you manifest these goals for yourself it's a very surreal moment when those
things actually come full circle and you're like oh okay did it okay that's
pretty cool so yeah it was a good day it was a good day it's wild that you found out on twitter
they don't send you like an official they do email or i found it i checked it they send you an
official email like congratulations you made it to four but i was so like on i was so sure i wasn't
gonna make the list that i didn't even bother checking the email i went on twitter like a
normal day to check like who was traded who was this whatever whatever right i'm looking at my
mentions i'm like why is everybody congratulating me what the hell is going on here and then i found
and then the email and all this stuff was in my mailbox and i'm like oh yay yeah it was funny
that's a very 2022 way of finding out and i love it very much
ashley before i let you go i have some buzzer beaters for you okay break down your ideal
courtside outfit oh i'm super simple um probably a nice pair of like stiletto boots not too high
black um a camel pants or a jean probably knowing me though and if it's winter time
i'm a big leather pant girl so like a leather pants um probably like a nice form-fitting white
t-shirt and fly jacket on top of it like hair slipped up in a bun baby hair scoop earrings
very simple i'm not the girl who's going to a game courtside in a gown and
a full face of makeup like i'm actually you know me i only have some sunglasses on with it too
because like i i don't want to see anybody else with the game i'm focusing i don't need the lights
any of that just nice and simple like chic cool not trying too hard like i'm here very dualipa
that's what i envision it a very dualipa type of look i love that courtside at msg yes who was one
person dead or alive that you would love to sit courtside with probably i mean i was gonna say
bob marley but i feel like he wouldn't be a big basketball fan he was into soccer and stuff like
that probably jay-z that'd be cool i feel like jay-z would be a good one um i feel like obviously
beyonce or rihanna would be a good one she'd be a fun person to watch a game with if you had like
all three of them yeah well you probably have to have rihanna and then beyonce and then jay-z on
the other side you gotta yes the whole rock nation family yeah i love like that i like that
and what is one event in history that you would have loved to have been courtside for
it could be sporting or other i would have loved to have been courtside for kobe bryant's last game
at the staples center when he dropped the 60 points and it was you know the mamba out and
the mic drop and you know i watched kobe in the very beginning of his career i followed his entire
career and and to have been able to be there and witness you know his last foul the house that
and i remember it's i'm a highly emotional person like it's like one of like my downfalls
depending on who you ask um i'm a true capricorn i'm very like icy on the inside at times
but there have been a few like things not pertaining to me that have made me cry in my
life and watching that game i remember being in my living room with my parents and my friends
watching it and i was like bawling like a baby like i was legit tearing up it was such a
it was tears of joy
it was tears of sadness that i was never going to see him poop again and and just knowing that
like i watched this person become the legend that is kobe bryant and you know i was part of that in
some way and watching his final career was just i mean final final game of his career was just so
surreal and it was you know none of us obviously knew that you know he wouldn't be with us much
longer but it was honest it was probably one of the best moments of nba history that i can think
of like in recent times it was it was a good one for sure
i feel grateful that we we've witnessed lebron kobe and and for me a part of mj's era not
not the full thing i was too young i feel like for the bulls era but like this is a great time
in sports and we were you know there for that so not only that but one day we'll tell our kids that
we watched yannis come into the league and we watched imbeed and we watched uh you know some
guys on yoke when manana did i say his last name correctly when you did when he comes when he comes
into the league we'll be able to say we'll be able to talk about the frenzy that he caused before he
even stepped foot on a court i mean we've been able to witness some incredible basketball players
some incredible talent that will definitely go down in the history books and you know i can't
wait to pull what my dad used to pull on me back in my day jordan used to do that all right i got
heard you heard you the 90s knicks i heard you got it i got it maybe it'll be like the 2020s
knicks like we're building it i'm telling you right now if the knicks win a championship before
i have children i will tell my kids the story every single day that mommy watched the knicks
it was a 50 year drought plus but she watched it happen it was a long time coming but it happened
they probably won't believe me you know whether it happens again or not but i would have to i would
have the game saved on dvr blu-ray dvd vhs like it would be everywhere you you also better you
better be there in your leather pants oh i would be there at the parade first of all i don't think
people realize how insane a knicks championship parade would be like take a knicks fan and take
the chaos that you've seen like outside the garden like on those videos when like the knicks
won their one playoff game in like first eight years take that chaos where it's like kevin
don't you regret not coming to the knicks take that time to trillion it would be man the city
would have to shut down for like a week straight it would be chaos you would need batman spider-man
the avengers everybody to like calm us down it would be pure chaos and i can't wait yeah i hope
it happens i hope we're around for it i'm saying your lips to god's ears that's all i know actually
before i let you go
everybody know where they can find you on social media and anything else they should be on the
lookout for nice and simple at ash nicole morris on instagram and twitter um anything that comes
up with me career-wise any updates things like that um i post there so nice and simple cool
love it thank you so much this is amazing thank you i had fun now i can tell jaylen that he and
i did the same podcast i know i love that next time we'll be in person too i have to come for
i'm scheduled to come to miami anyway soon nice so yeah let me know we'll do some fun stuff
thank you guys so much for watching this episode of courtside club and thank you so much for tuning
in all season long just a reminder once again this was our season one finale so we will be taking a
little bit of a break before season two make sure that you guys tune into my social media pages it's
at r a demita and at courtside club pod on instagram and twitter and i'll see you guys next
you guys can follow along there for any updates on when season two will be launching also make
sure that you stay tuned because the courtside club merch will be dropping very very soon and
you guys don't want to miss out on it it's a limited edition drop we have some amazing
hoodies and t-shirts and hats coming out for you guys so i hope that you enjoy it have an amazing
march madness and i'll see you guys in just a little bit for season two of courtside club bye