‘Court Queens’ tells story of women’s basketball from 1800s to modern day WNBA

ALL RIGHT. CELEBRATING THE PLAYERS, TEAMS AND THE HISTORY OF WOMEN’S BASKETBALL. THAT’S THE TOPIC OF COURT QUEENS, A COFFEE TABLE BOOK CO-WRITTEN BY SACRAMENTO NATIVE THE PRIDE OF RIVER CITY HIGH SCHOOL AND THAT CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM WAY BACK WHEN. WE’LL GET TO THAT IN A MINUTE. JORDAN ROBINSON, THANKS FOR COMING IN. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING ME. THIS BOOK IS SO BEAUTIFUL. IT’S JUST LIKE A BEAUTIFUL BOOK THAT YOU GUYS PUT TOGETHER. THANK YOU. I MEAN, IT WAS SO FUN TO PUT TOGETHER TO LOOK AT ALL THESE OLD PHOTOS TO GET TO THE 1800S ALL THE WAY TO 2025. IT WAS SO FUN. AND I THINK THAT, YOU KNOW, RIGHT OR WRONG, A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK OF LIKE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL AND WNBA BEING A RELATIVELY RECENT OCCURRENCE. BUT YOU’RE RIGHT, YOU GO ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE 1800S. YOU HAVE SOME INCREDIBLE BLACK AND WHITE PICTURES OF PEOPLE PLAYING IN LIKE LONG SKIRTS, HIGH HEELS, SOMETIMES IT’S CRAZY, BUT LIKE WAY BACK WHEN, THERE WERE WOMEN PLAYING THAT GAME. YES, I LOVE THAT WE TOUCH ON, YOU KNOW, WHEN BASKETBALL WAS INVENTED, WOMEN STARTED PLAYING IMMEDIATELY AFTER. AND ALL THE WAY UNTIL NOW, WHEN WE SEE SOMEONE LIKE AJA WILSON GETTING MVP IN THE WNBA, IT STARTED WITH THE WOMEN IN LONG DRESSES AND AND TAKING SCORE ON A CHALKBOARD. THIS THIS BOOK IS SO INTERESTING BECAUSE THE PUBLISHER ACTUALLY CAME TO YOU. USUALLY YOU GO OUT AND YOU’RE LIKE PITCHING THIS IDEA YOU’VE HAD FOREVER. THEY CAME TO YOU LIKE, WE’VE GOT THIS IDEA BECAUSE PEOPLE LOVE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL, ESPECIALLY RIGHT NOW. YEAH, THEY WANTED TO CAPITALIZE ON THE MOMENT AND, AND THIS MOMENTUM IN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL THAT’S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW CAN TURN INTO A BOOK. AND EVERYONE HAS BEEN LOVING IT. THE FEEDBACK HAS BEEN SO POSITIVE BECAUSE THERE’S A LOT OF NEW FANS THAT NEED TO KNOW THE HISTORY OF WHERE IT ALL STARTED. IT MAKES IT MORE FUN WHEN YOU KNOW A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND. OKAY, SO TO YOUR BACKGROUND, I ALLUDED TO IT, BUT LIKE YOU GREW UP AROUND HERE. YEAH, I DID, I WENT TO RIVER CITY HIGH SCHOOL. I PLAYED BASKETBALL AND MY FAMILY STILL LIVES HERE. SO IT’S BEEN SO FUN TO BE BACK HOME. AND THIS IS SUCH A FULL CIRCLE MOMENT. I WAS JUST IN MY JOURNALISM CLASS AT RIVER CITY HIGH SCHOOL, RUNNING THE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER, AND NOW I HAVE A BOOK. LIKE WHAT? I’M PRETTY SURE I SPOKE TO YOUR CLASS AT SOME POINT, AND THEN, YOU KNOW, YOU OBVIOUSLY GREW UP IN THE TIME OF THE WNBA AND THE MONARCHS. I MEAN, I COULD GO THROUGH ALL THE NAMES. IT WOULD TAKE LIKE THE NEXT MINUTE TO DO IT. LIKE THAT WAS A REALLY GREAT TIME UNTIL IT WASN’T AROUND HERE. I KNOW, BUT THAT’S MY FIRST MEMORIES OF THE WNBA. SO NOW I GOT TO MEET TASHA WHILE COVERING THE WNBA DRAFT. AND I FANGIRLED I DON’T FANGIRL TOO OFTEN, BUT THAT WAS LIKE MY IDOL GROWING UP HERE IN SACRAMENTO. AND AS A POINT GUARD, I’M A LITTLE HEIGHT CHALLENGE IF YOU CAN’T TELL. SO THAT WAS LIKE MY MICHAEL JORDAN. SO I LOVED THE MONARCHS AND THEY WERE SO SPECIAL TO SACRAMENTO. AND SHE STILL HAS GONE ON TO DO INCREDIBLY GROUNDBREAKING. SHE GETS OUT OF BED AND SHE BREAKS MORE GROUND. SO PEOPLE HAVE A CHANCE TO COME OUT AND EACH IN PERSON AND TO CHECK OUT THIS BOOK IN PERSON AT AN EVENT THAT’S GOING ON TONIGHT. SO LET’S LET EVERYBODY KNOW THE DETAILS SO THEY CAN GET GET IN ON THAT. IT’S GOING ON AT THE GUILD THEATER TONIGHT FROM SIX UNTIL SEVEN. THE TICKETS ARE $40.95. WE SHOULD JUST ROUND THAT UP TO 40. YEAH, YEAH, I KNOW THERE’S SOME TAXES AND FEES IN THERE, BUT IT GETS YOU A COPY OF THE BOOK. YEAH. AND THAT’S IMPORTANT. YOU GET A COPY OF THIS BEAUTIFUL BOOK. IT’S A GREAT COFFEE TABLE BOOK. AND THERE’S SO MUCH GREAT HISTORY THERE. AND THE AMAZING THING IS, AND THIS IS BECAUSE YOU’RE SO GOOD AT YOUR JOB, YOU, YOU AND YOUR CO WRITER WROTE THIS IN ONLY FOUR MONTHS. YES. AND IT’S REALLY GOOD. YEAH. THANK YOU SO MUCH. BEST OF LUCK AND NICE TO