This Book Could’ve Been a Pamphlet with Maitreyi Anantharaman

The Distraction: A Defector Podcast

Defector Media

Sports, Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 31 July 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Maitreyi Anantharaman of Defector joins Drew and Roth to break down the latest in the WNBA: expansion, the Aces’ fall from grace, the Caitlin Clark problem - or not, as the case may be - and more. She’s got a book in the works called, You Can’t See Me: Inside the New Golden Age of Women’s Basketball. And then, with a brief stop off in Detroit to check in on the Lions & Tigers (oh my), they open up the Fun Bag to answer real questions from real listeners, like you!

Do you want to hear your question answered on the pod? Well, give us a call at 909-726-3720. That is 909-PANERA-0!

Stuff We Talked About

Are the Minnesota Lynx inevitable?
How Paige Bueckers rookie campaign compares with Clark’s
Cameron Brink’s return from an ACL tear
Is the talent pool deep enough for five future expansion teams?
Why are people, in general, so weird about Clark? Will they ever stop?

Sponsors

- Green Chef, where you can get 50% off your first month, then 20% off for two months with free shipping

Credits

- Hosts: Drew Magary & David Roth

- Producer: Brandon Grugle

- Editor: Mischa Stanton

- Production Services & Ads: Multitude Podcasts

- Subscribe to Defector!

About The Show

The Distraction is Defector's flagship podcast about sports (and movies, and art, and sandwiches, and certain coastal states) from longtime writers Drew Magary and David Roth. Every week, Drew and Roth tackle subjects, both serious and impossibly stupid, with a parade of guests from around the world of sports and media joining in the fun! Roth and Drew also field Funbag questions from Defector readers, answer listener voicemails, and get upset about the number of people who use speakerphone while in a public bathroom stall. This is a show where everything matters, because everyone could use a Distraction. Head to defector.com for more info.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Come back.
0:22.0	This drag. I'm true. That's raw. That you do. Roth. Oh, good, man. How are you? Welcome home. I'm, oh, well, thank. Yes, I have a story. I was working from the road last week. I'm, I vowed, I'm not going to do that anymore. Like, I was, I was on the occasion. My mom, well, we were visiting my mom.
0:23.6	My mom ran out a beach house, blah, blah, blah, blah.
0:29.0	And I often, like, work mornings, you know, whenever we do that.
0:33.2	But I'm going to stop doing that because it turns out when you try to do a working vacation,
0:35.8	that's not actually a vacation, Roth.
0:40.2	What a, what a magical epiphany that is to have at 48 years old.
0:44.2	I'm more or less in agreement with you on that. Like there's an, I'm at this point, like,
0:50.0	a house broken enough as somebody who works online that like I'm used to just opening my laptop and looking at it for 90 minutes after breakfast, regardless, even if I'm on vacation. I also don't pee inside. I am good enough to know when I have to go make water, I bark at my wife that I have to go outside. And she places you on a wee-wee pad and gives you a little treat? Let's bring My-3 into this. Our guest is My-3. Do you use the bathroom, My-3? Is that something you like to do? Not the ramen is here as our guest. Hi is my three. Do you use the bathroom, My Three? Is that something you like to do?
1:11.6	Anatharaman is here as our guest.
1:14.1	Hi, my three.
1:15.5	Hello.
1:16.3	How you doing?
1:17.0	Hey, that might be the most enthusiastic greeting a guest has given us in like three months.
1:22.3	So that's great.
1:23.3	My Three is here to talk to us about the W and, of course, about the Detroit Tigers and perhaps
1:28.9	the lions, although we'll see if we can squeeze that at the end.
1:32.5	But first, I got to tell you guys a story and it's a story about weed.
1:37.7	Oh, no, that's not, is that allowed?
1:39.5	Can we talk about that?
1:40.4	Yeah, I know. Very, very naughty. Anyway, so I'm at this beach house with my wife and my kids and my mom.
1:47.1	And the night before we leave, I got to get the car ready outside, right? So, you know, I flip down the seats and get us ready for packing. because we're going to leave early the next morning because it's a long drop.
	...

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