The Unsettling Rise of Stalking In Sports + WNBA Showing Postseason Vibes

Summary

No Offseason: The Athletic Women's Basketball Show

Episode Title: The Unsettling Rise of Stalking In Sports + WNBA Showing Postseason Vibes
Date: August 19, 2025
Hosts: Zena Keda, Sabrina Merchant
Guest: Carson Kessler (Senior Investigative Writer, The Athletic)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the hosts tackle two major topics: the current electric vibes overwhelming the pre-playoff WNBA landscape and a deep dive into the disturbing rise of stalking cases involving athletes — particularly women’s basketball players. Investigative reporter Carson Kessler joins to discuss their recent reporting on the issue, providing context, harrowing details, and insight into how leagues and players are coping with these threats.

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WNBA's Record-Breaking Weekend and Postseason Energy

(Begins ~03:23)

Key Points

• Historic performances: Paige Bueckers becomes the fastest rookie in WNBA history to reach 500 points and 100 assists.
• Expansion success: The Golden State Valkyries (“the Valks”) set a record for most wins by an expansion team.
• Intensity across the board:
  • Multiple games went down to the wire — Atlanta vs. Seattle, Las Vegas vs. Phoenix, Indiana vs. Connecticut (Indiana erases a 21-point deficit to win in OT), and Minnesota vs. New York.
  • Notable performances: Kelsey Plum ties Caitlin Clark’s record for most 20-point, 5-assist games in a season; A’ja Wilson posts the most 30-point games under age 30.
• Playoff-level competition months before postseason:

  “You can tell that the postseason vibes are in the air.”
  — Zena Keda (03:28) “Every game felt so competitive… it’s like reaching, honestly, a little bit too high of a pitch right now because we had a lot of regular season left before we actually hit the playoffs and the intensity is really picking up.”
  — Sabrina Merchant (04:31)

Timestamps & Notable Quotes

• [04:31] Sabrina Merchant sums up the tension:

  “It’s like reaching, honestly, a little bit too high of a pitch right now…”

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Injury Woes and Team Dynamics

(05:57–08:12)

The Liberty and Fever Slide

• Liberty’s struggle: Brianna Stewart out, tough travel stretch drops them to #5 in power rankings.
• Fever’s misfortune: Without key players Sydney Colson, Aari McDonald (both out for season), and Sophie Cunningham’s new injury, the team faces “a lot of holes that need filling.” Caitlin Clark’s possible return is a rare bright spot.

Notable Quotes

“As much as I believe in Kelsey Mitchell’s ability to hit buzzer-beaters in overtime, there is going to be some taller guards, some bigger guards, some more thought-out schemes…”
— Zena Keda (08:12)

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The LA Sparks: Offensive Fireworks, Defensive “Performance Art”

(08:52–11:15)

• Sparks praised for dynamic offense, but defense is “something akin to performance art.”

  “If a team finds an action that they like against the Sparks, the Sparks will not accommodate it… it’s kind of amazing… the Sparks have managed to make this run and get back into playoff contention when one side of the ball is so terribly bad.”
  — Sabrina Merchant (08:52)

• Defensive breakdowns lead to wild, high-scoring games where no lead is safe.

  “You watch a game like with the Sparks involved and it’s super fun because everybody’s getting lots of points… the Sparks let everything be possible. There is always a chance.”
  — Sabrina Merchant (09:44)

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FEATURE INTERVIEW: The Unsettling Rise of Stalking in Women’s Sports

(Begins ~13:23)

Why Cover Stalking in Sports?

[14:39]:

• Kessler highlights a lack of prior deep reporting despite high-profile cases involving Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, and Emma Raducanu.

  “…my editor really hadn’t seen any piece out there that really explored why is this happening? Has it risen? Who are these people who are being stalked? Who are the stalkers?”
  — Carson Kessler

The Scope of the Problem

[15:23]:

• At least 52 stalking cases since 2020 found via court filings, interviews, and media reports — likely a severe undercount.
• Stalking is heavily underreported due to stigma, difficulty in prosecution, and the emotional toll on victims.

  “…it’s something that a lot of people don’t report and it’s underreported for a variety of reasons…it takes a big amount of confidence and bravery to come out about something like this.”
  — Carson Kessler

Why So Much Is Underreported

[16:55]:

• For years, athletes kept quiet — only recently, social media has allowed for community, solidarity, and increased openness:

  “Gabby Thomas, Simone Biles…posted about this group of men that would accost them at various airports…so many other athletes commented sharing very similar experiences…”
  — Carson Kessler

Case Study: Kiki Rice

[18:18]

• UCLA’s Kiki Rice stalked for years; stalker lived in a U-Haul outside campus, loitered with flowers and notes.
• Kiki amassed evidence and secured a five-year restraining order.

  “He rented a U-Haul, parked it outside of UCLA campus to live inside so he could be closer to her...”
  — Carson Kessler

The Limits and Burdens of Restraining Orders

[21:13]:

• The burden of evidence and ongoing vigilance falls on the victim.
• Stalkers often flaunt orders; Kiki’s stalker continued online contact, even tried to get the order overturned.

  “The burden really falls on the victim…they are responsible for gathering all that evidence…”
  — Carson Kessler

The Ambiguity of Social Media

[25:15]:

• Social media intensifies delusions of a relationship and increases vulnerability, while at the same time offering a place for athletes to share and support one another.

  “It is a delusion…social media in particular can lead fixated strangers like this to believe they’re connected to individuals in ways that they aren’t.”
  — Carson Kessler

Demographics of Stalking

[26:20]:

• Women athletes are mostly stalked by men, often with sexual or romantic delusions (“erotomania”); men are stalked less frequently and primarily by women, motivated more by infatuation.

Measures Taken by Leagues and Organizations

[28:24]:

• LPGA has an “emergency red button” for golfers; other sports up budgets for security or partner with firms to monitor social media for red flags.

  “WNBA, WTA, NCAA…partnering with a third party that is monitoring comments to all athletic figures and kind of looking for those red flags…”
  — Carson Kessler

Are These Steps Enough?

[29:48]:

• No one solution — leagues, schools, and individual vigilance needed; but as Kessler warns:

  “You can’t create a perimeter around someone’s life. There’s so many areas where these athletes are exposed.”
  — Carson Kessler

• The risk to women’s sports community:

  “This is the best thing about social media…women’s athletes, is that accessibility and feeling like I’m right there with you… I really, really do hope that something happens …they can’t have their journey, their growth be visible because of a few sour apples …that would really, really suck.”
  — Zena Keda (31:16)

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Mailbag & Listener Q&A: What Defines a Rookie in the WNBA?

(Begins 34:39)

• Question: Is Cameron Brink technically a rookie after only playing 15 games in her first year?
• Answer: In WNBA, once you set foot on the court, you’re a rookie, regardless of games played. If you miss the whole season due to injury (never suit up), you keep rookie eligibility for the following year.

  “Once you take foot on the court for a second, you have established yourself as a rookie.”
  — Sabrina Merchant (35:42)

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On Stalking’s Emotional Toll and Victim Blaming:

  “You kind of have to be cocky enough to be like, yeah, I think they’re obsessed with me. And that feels uncomfortable.”
  — Zena Keda (13:31)

• On Defensive Struggles in LA:

  “What is happening on the defensive end in LA?…it’s kind of amazing honestly, that the Sparks have managed to make this run and get back into playoff contention when one side of the ball is so terribly bad.”
  — Sabrina Merchant (08:52)

• On the Risk to Fan-Athlete Accessibility:

  “If people take advantage of that access… it’s going to, I think, fundamentally change the way fans are able to interact with athletes and the whole ecosystem of the sport too.”
  — Sabrina Merchant (30:52)

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Conclusion

This episode blends the excitement of a WNBA season bursting with unprecedented competitiveness and record-setting performances with a sobering investigation into the real threats athletes — especially women’s basketball players — face from stalking and online predation. Carson Kessler’s journalism exposes both the prevalence and complexity of the problem, highlighting everything from flaws in restraining-order enforcement to the tough trade-offs leagues and athletes must navigate between safety and authentic connection with fans.

Recommended further reading: Carson Kessler’s investigative series on stalking in women’s sports at The Athletic.

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For questions or mailbag topics, listeners are encouraged to write in — the show will continue to address fan curiosities and clarify WNBA/NCAA rules in future episodes.

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End of Summary

Transcript

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[Zena Keda]

Hello everyone and welcome to no off season. I'm Zena Caida.

[Sabrina Merchant]

And I'm Sabrina Merchant.

[Zena Keda]

And today on the show, we're turning our attention to something a little different. Since 2020, there have been at least 52 stalking cases involving sports figures, including many prominent women's basketball stars. What's fueling this rise in stocking and how is it impacting the larger sports landscape? We're going to get into it. We're going to be joined by senior investigative writer for the athletic, Carson Kessler, who recently wrote a big investigative piece on all of this. But first, it was a weekend for the history books. Paige Beckers became the fastest rookie in WNBA history to reach 500 points and 100 assists. And the Valks shout out to the Bae set a new WNBA record for most wins by an expansion team. Now it was an intense weekend of games. Once again, the stacks, the amount of games happening at the same time. I know, I know some of you guys are feeling the same frustration, but it is what it is. There's just too many games going around, too much talent. You can tell that the postseason vibes are in the air. Sabrina, I got to ask, what caught your eye this weekend?

[Sabrina Merchant]

I mean, a couple more record breaking performances. You've got Kelsey Plum tying a record with the most 20.5 assist games in a season, tying Caitlin Clark's record actually from last year. You got Asia Wilson, I think setting a record for the most 30 point games under the age of 30. Just a lot of big, big numbers. I mean Admittedly, there are more games now, so players have more opportunities to set records. But the fact that these are all happening with still a month left in the regular season tells you that there are still very impressive performances and like they can make these marks a lot higher. But I think just what you said about the postseason spirit being in the air, every game felt so competitive. I mean, you've got like Friday night, you've got that Atlanta Seattle game going down to the wire, while Las Vegas Phoenix is going down to the wire and it's like, which one are you tuning into? You've got the Indiana game earlier, that super tight Dallas LA going down to the final possession. Like Paige Becker's, literally game winner at the buzzer. That rims out right. Indiana coming back from 21 points down against Connecticut over the weekend. Just Minnesota, New York, like all of those fans in Minnesota who brought these ridiculous signs about like New York needing referees help to win the finals and then proceeding to shoot like 20 more free throws than the Liberty on that game day. It's just there's a lot of intensity happening right now and you can feel it. I think it's like reaching, honestly, a little bit too high of a pitch right now because we had a lot of regular season left before we actually hit the playoffs and the intensity is really picking up and I just don't want anything to get a little too heated before the games really matter.

[Zena Keda]

Yes. I mean, there are so many competitive games. I was looking at that Fever sun game right before the Valks game that did not end up being very competitive after a riveting 25, 25 first half that was pretty tight. But overall, the mighty have fallen. Liberty are all the way down to five in your Sabrina Scale rankings and the Fever have slid down to 8. Now we know that injuries are playing a key part in all of that, of course, the Liberty without star Brianna Stewart, and then the Fever picked up another injury in Sophie Cunningham. What's going on with these two teams? Break it down for us.

[Sabrina Merchant]

So the Liberty have that really challenging stretch of schedule. You know, back to back in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, the Aces just waiting for them, eager to pick up a good win in that second night of a back to back. Then they have to go to Minnesota where the Lynx fans are just, just rear inter welcome them, you know, and even without Nafisa Collier, if you don't have Briana Stewart, that's a really, really tough matchup. And honestly, one of the more fun games we've watched this season, even without both of those potential MVP candidates. So the Liberty, I think, just get a little healthier. The schedule probably ease up a little bit. You know, they've got some games against the teams that are outside of playoff contention coming up, but the Indiana paper, just like, it's, it's so sad what's happening there. You've already lost Sidney Coulson, Ari McDonnell for the full season. Sophie Cunningham suffers. Looks to be a pretty bad injury. Like, they ruled her out for the game pretty immediately. Odyssey Sims, the hardship queen, picking up this pieces. Her and her and Kelsey Mitchell just put on an absolute show in that second half against Connecticut, I think set a franchise record with a 21 point comeback that they end up completing in overtime to win that game and stay in what has become an increasingly crowded playoff picture at the bottom, you know, trying to get those seven and eight seeds. So Indiana, like, how do they respond if Sophie is unavailable for a longer period of time? Like, that's, that's a much trickier question to answer. But the Liberty, I'm, I'm less worried about just because they have so many more reinforcements coming in. Like the cavalry is on its way, you know, But Indiana, like, who is supposed to fill in all these pieces? We heard a report that Caitlin Clark is supposed to come back to practice during the Fever's week off. So how that goes, you know, if she can potentially return to play soon after that. But like, there's a lot of, A lot of holes that need filling on the Indiana Fever. And it's one thing to come back from 21 points down against the Connecticut sun, who have the worst record in the wnba. It's quite another thing as the schedule again picks up.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah, as much as I believe in Kelsey Mitchell's ability to hit buzzer beaters in overtime, there is going to be some taller guards, some bigger guards, some more thought out schemes to ensure that a scorer like Kelsey Mitchell does not get those opportunities. So I can imagine that things are going to just be a little bit more difficult in that backcourt for the Fever. Ooh, they've. They've gone this season for sure. Now, you also wrote about the Sparks in your power rankings this week. And I love this because you praise their offense, but you called their defense something akin to performance art, which is hilarious. So what is happening on the defensive end in la?

[Sabrina Merchant]

I wish I could tell you what is happening on the defensive end in LA Cena. I wish I understood what is trying to be accomplished. You know, I can't really figure out what the Sparks are trying to take away on any given possession, any given game plan. Adjustments few and far between. Like if a team finds an action that they like against the Sparks, the Sparks will not accommodate it. They will just let you run it over and over and over again. So you saw that, I think against the Golden State Valkyries, a game about it a week and a half ago where Golden State runs high screen guard runs into the lane two, collapse on the guard, all of a sudden the bigs open for a three. That happened about 35 times during that game. We saw it against New York Liberty when they'd run a simple off ball action to get Emma Meesiman defended by a guard. And did the Sparks figure out a way to change that? No. Emma Meesman was just guarded by a smaller player 35 times during that game, just finishing over smaller guards over and over and over again. So it's kind of amazing honestly, that the Sparks have managed to make this run and get back into playoff contention when one side of the ball is so terribly bad. Because their offense, as you mentioned, really fun, really good. Kelsey Plumb scoring, creating at very high levels. Julia Olivan's been fantastic playmaker. Derrick Hamby like putting herself in old WNBA consideration. Azari Stevens has improved on basically every part of our offensive game since last season. And yet, you know, you see a game like the one against the Dallas Wings are up by double digits in the fourth quarter and just blowing a 12 to 14 point lead just to make it seem like you won another clutch game. But you watch a game like with the Sparks involved and it's super fun because everybody's getting lots of points and you see like they're up by eight points with three minutes left and you think this is plenty of time for the other team to get back in. Whereas most of the time you watch a game where you know your team is down by eight points and you think, well, there's, there's no chance that we're going to make this deficit up the next. Not against the Sparks. The Sparks. Let everything be possible. There is always a chance.

[Zena Keda]

No, it's such a good point. Like even watching them again against Washington this weekend, like there is this factor of on offense you're like, you don't know who's going to score and then on defense it's like you don't know who's going to defend. There was like so many times in which switches should have happened, peel switches should have happened. You know, Sonia Citron's coming off a curl cut and it's like, okay, where's the person stepping up on the head?

[Sabrina Merchant]

Seems like someone should be on Sonya Citron. Like that should be number one item on the scouting board.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah, there were, there were some questionable moments in that game.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Maybe we put a body on Kiki Irifan, you know, to box her out on the offensive glass. It's not like that's something that Kiki Areafen does well.

[Zena Keda]

You know, Irafen had four offensive rebounds in that game, I believe, and it was like easy work for her. I was like, you think, you think top of the scout, like let's box her out. But it's a lot of a bit of a question mark when it comes to the defense in la. But that is for Lynn Roberts to figure out. But right now we are going to talk about stalking with senior investigative writer from the Athletic Carson Kessler on the other side of this break.

[Carson Kessler]

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[Sabrina Merchant]

I think what gets me most about.

[Carson Kessler]

This whole journey that I've been through is just how many jigsaw pieces come together to help someone like me. I've met people who have just packaged.

[Sabrina Merchant]

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[Carson Kessler]

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[Sabrina Merchant]

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[Zena Keda]

Joining us now is the Athletics senior investigative writer Carson Kessler. Carson, welcome to the show and thank you so much for being here.

[Carson Kessler]

Thank you so much for having me.

[Zena Keda]

I am going to tell you this was like one of those stories and one of those things where I Thought about this, having played in a basketball team that was not popular. Yale women's basketball was not taking over the state of Connecticut, that's for sure. But we dealt with our fair share of stalkers. We've dealt with our fair share of uncomfortable encounters. And it is. It's a really weird position to be in because I realize in order to admit that someone's stalking you, like, you kind of have to be cocky enough to be like, yeah, I think they're obsessed with me. And that feels uncomfortable. And I think that you laid it out perfectly in the sense that you explained within your piece about stalking around athletes that it's not an incident, it's a pattern of incidents. And that is what makes it so particular, is that you basically have to experience this multiple times before you can say, this is the evidence to support I am being stalked. And this is uncomfortable. I want to get into, where did you start with this? How did you even come up with wanting to cover this very particular. I don't know. I wouldn't even call it an epidemic, but maybe amongst athletes.

[Carson Kessler]

Yeah. So we had seen some pretty high profile instances of stalking involving Caitlin Clark, Paige Beckers, Emma Raducannu. And my editor really hadn't seen any piece out there that really explored why is this happening? Has it risen? Who are these people who are being stalked? Who are the stalkers? So he really asked me and my team to kind of try and answer those questions as best as possible and really dive deeply into the issue.

[Zena Keda]

Now I just kind of threw out the word epidemic, but I don't know how big of a problem this is. So tell us a little bit. Let's take it from the start. You know, what did you find and how big of a problem is this?

[Carson Kessler]

Right. So that's the really tricky part of this whole thing is we were able to find through court filings, interviews and media coverage 52 instances of stalking since 2020, which doesn't seem like a huge number when you put it out there. But the thing is, we know it's happening at much higher rates and there's likely many, many more cases. It's, as you mentioned early, it's something that a lot of people don't report and it's underreported for a variety of reasons. It's an extremely hard crime to prosecute, and many don't think it's worth going through all that trouble, reliving all that trauma for things not to be taken seriously. Also, like you said, I think it takes a big amount of confidence and bravery to come out about something like this. I think oftentimes athletes probably want to just push this aside and focus on the thing they love the most. So we think that the number would be significantly higher, as experts told us as well, that the number is definitely increasing in recent years.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Yeah. So you sort of hit on a few of the reasons why this would be an underreported crime. And, you know, among them, just like having to express, like, the vulnerability of what this has done to an athlete. Right. Going through the process of actually talking about this particular incident, I think you said because it's difficult to prosecute. Right. Just like the. I think you talked about this actually on our colleague Richard Deitch's podcast last week. If the punishment for stalking is actually severe enough to deter it going forward, what are some other reasons you think, why it might be underreported?

[Carson Kessler]

I think some other reasons probably are. Up until now, I don't think there were many athletes that spoke openly about it. So I think a lot of people thought maybe they were alone in this or dealing with this privately seemed like a better way to cope. And I certainly think with social media, while we are seeing social media amplify these events, it also is serving as a space for other athletes to commiserate and be there for one another in sort of a united way, so they're able to share experiences. For example, Gabby Thomas, Simone, Biles, all of them had posted about this group of men that would accost them at various airports when they were traveling. And so many other athletes commented sharing very similar experiences. And I think that that means a lot to people. So I think people are definitely opening up more about it. And even in the comments in our series, like, non athletes are coming out and saying, you know, I had a stalker, like, thank you for writing this. It's really scary situation. And I think the more people talk about it and are aware of it, hopefully law enforcement and the courts are able to see, you know, this is a real issue and maybe look at prosecuting these things differently or handling them in a different way.

[Sabrina Merchant]

In terms of one of the cases that you actually reported on pretty thoroughly that is relevant to our particular purposes. On no off season, you lead off the story with this stalking incident with Kiki Rice, who during a game, as she's warming up, she says she feels like she feels eyes on her. And why don't you just tell us a bit more about that incident and what you found in your investigation?

[Carson Kessler]

Yeah, yeah, that was definitely one that stuck out because it had been going on for several years and was still going on at the time that we were reporting. So, you know, in Los Angeles Superior Court, those records are published. When it comes to temporary restraining orders, the public is able to access them. And so we were able to get a really detailed account of what exactly Kiki was dealing with. And some scary stuff in there. I mean, this individual traveled cross country to la, rented a U Haul, parked it outside of UCLA campus to live inside so he could be closer to her. He would on several occasions loiter outside of the practice facilities with flowers and handwritten note. So, yeah, I can only imagine if I'm Kiki, a college student, that I'm really at the pinnacle of my athletic career right now. The last thing I would want to be dealing with is a fixated individual like this. But unfortunately, you know, she was able to gather evidence that this was happening for a long period of time through police reports, social media exchanges, and was able to go to the court and get a five year restraining order.

[Zena Keda]

I want to follow up on the restraining orders, but I first want to, like, get back to. I opened this up thinking about like the frivolity of it when you're young and you're thinking like, oh my God, is someone obsessed with me? But to the point that it starts in that way, right? And you're thinking that it's something that's minor or not that serious. And depending, especially if you're a male or female, how you see these interactions, you might not take them seriously. And then as I'm reading your series, I'm seeing just the seriousness of this. And Sabrina, you hit on it perfectly, using the word vulnerability. Like it can get incredibly scary. And I think the evidence in Kiki's case, the messages that were being written about them having a cosmic connection and him seeing one video and saying that, you know, they were meant to be and he was doing all this work to become a dedicated husband for her. I mean, it gets really serious really quickly and you end up with these restraining orders or these protective orders. But that feels almost as frivolous as the original of like, oh, they're obsessed with me. Do these protective orders actually do something to make the athletes feel safe? Or is it just a piece of paper that they're supposed to believe that is going to protect them? How do these protective orders actually play out? What are the pros and cons there?

[Carson Kessler]

Right. I think that's definitely a protective order or a restraining order is definitely the first line of defense when anyone's dealing with a stalker. It's like what you're told to do by law enforcement. I mean, at some point, UCLA police basically said, we, we can't protect you off campus. So the next, you know, kind of next part for Kiki would be going to the court and getting restraining order. And when it comes to the restraining orders, the burden really falls on the victim. Like, they are responsible for gathering all that evidence, which is often, over time, like you said, a pattern and showing that there's legitimate harm or that they are in harm's way. And then, like you mentioned many times, the restraining orders are not. Not followed. And in this case, you know, this individual still was contacting her on social media, sending emails to her family, sending emails to her, which is in direct opposition to the restraining order. He was also trying to. Once he finished a mental diversion program, which got the criminal charges dismissed, which is separate from the temporary restraining order case, he was trying to terminate the restraining order, which I found very interesting that this is a part of, you know, the legal process that the stalker could go and say, I want to have this terminated. And it kind of requires the person that's being stalked, Kiki, in this case, to relive everything, to have to then prove again that you are still feeling at risk. Luckily, you know, this restraining order, his request was denied, and the restraining order stays in place for the next five years. But if in five years, when that comes and goes, if Kiki still feels at risk or feels that she's vulnerable to this individual, the burden will be on her to file for that request to be renewed. So it's. It really is a heavy burden when it comes to the victims themselves.

[Sabrina Merchant]

When you're reporting out a story like this and going through the details of everything Kiki Stalker did and like, contacting him and trying to get his side of the story, I guess. How do you balance the presentation of that? So you're not like, encouraging copycats or sort of like valorizing, you know, his point of view in that sense?

[Carson Kessler]

Yeah, I think this is one of the, you know, the trickiest areas. And, you know, it's kind of our journalistic responsibility to get both sides of the story. And so not knowing the mental status of this individual, I wanted to make sure all of my requests for comment were very clear, very straightforward. And I tried to set up a phone call with him. Didn't happen. So we were communicating via email, and he, you know, said his piece, said that he didn't believe that he had been harassing her. He. He got a legal ticket. Like he was just a fan. So it seems like there's a level of accountability that's missing there. But yeah, it's a really fragile thin line that you're walking when you're trying to contact these individuals and get their point of view. Because definitely you want Kiki to also have a big say in how the story is told as well.

[Zena Keda]

I'm not gonna lie, that was part of the. One of the pieces where the stalker says that the materials were distorted. And I was like, sir, what. I'm looking at the emails written and what was said. How can you distort something like that? But I think that lends into a great question of like, what does this look like? Perhaps the stalker in case, doesn't see this as stalking. Material or behavior of a stalker. What does stalking look like? What contributes as stalking these days, especially with social media being available and people feeling as if they're connected to these athletes because they follow them, they interact with them through their posts, etc. What does it look like these days?

[Carson Kessler]

Yeah, I definitely think there's a big mental health aspect involved. Like, I'm not a psychiatrist, but there's definitely. It is a delusion, as many psychiatrists and psychologists told us. And social media in particular can lead fixated strangers like this to believe they're connected to individuals in ways that they aren't. And so in this case, we see so many athletes chronicling their lives, their personal lives, their career on social media because that's just part of the landscape nowadays. And it can lead these individuals who are often motivated by romantic or sexual interest, to develop these very deep rooted delusions when it comes to relationships. And it's very interesting to try to, you know, think about that from variety of angles because, you know, you're dealing with someone who's ostensibly in a mental health crisis in a way, so. But that's no excuse for stalking someone. So it's a really interesting issue to try and, you know, morally and ethically put together in your head.

[Sabrina Merchant]

When you were cataloging like the stalking incidents regarding female athletes, did you find that a majority of their stalkers were men or women?

[Carson Kessler]

Yeah, the majority were, were definitely men. There were a few instances of women stalking other women. There's an example of the Purdue basketball coach who has been stalked by a female individual who was on, I believe, a basketball team with her several, several years past. And then when it comes to male athletes being stalked, because that also is part of this, females are stalked at a much higher rate. But there are certainly many cases of male Athletes being stalked. And I believe that number is probably severely undercounted because there's the whole issue with, am I this big, burly male athlete and I'm going to come out and say I'm scared of this woman that's stalking me? I mean, I think that that would be a difficult thing to try to piece together. But in those cases, those are mostly female stalkers. And whereas men are stalking women, there's often a sexual component, erotomania. Whereas when men are being stalked by women, it's more of a romantic relationship type stalking infatuation.

[Zena Keda]

And there is a factor socially of as a man, which goes all the way back to the beginning of is this person just obsessed with me? Am I proud of that? You know, is this cool that I've got fans, I've got quote, unquote groupies? How do you categorize these people versus someone that's crossed the line versus not? So my last question to you is just like, the parameters, particularly around these women's basketball players, Because I thought your series did a good job, especially of talking about how the measures that different organizations that these athletes show up in have done, like the LPGA button, the player portal button. I thought that was really cool, if you want to explain that. But in your research around this and the parameters and the measures put in place to protect athletes, what did you find from that regard?

[Carson Kessler]

Yeah, I think that's another really tricky area. The lpga, for example, added this red emergency button to their player portal. So, you know, golf is one of those sports where you're really exposed. I mean, groupies can follow you from hole to hole, and all that's separating you is a string, a rope. So, yeah, there is definitely very high security when it comes to those tournaments. But in terms of other leagues and universities, we saw some universities had raised their security budgets for both home and away games. And then some of the leagues like the wnba, WTA and the NCAA all really are focusing on social media as an area to explore because a lot of these threats or obsessions originate from social media. So they're partnering with a third party that is monitoring comments to all athletic figures and kind of looking for those red flags where that behavior may turn into a dangerous physical threat, and then reporting those on to law enforcement, which they've done in several cases.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Now, just based on your research, does it seem like enough is being done to deter this potential threat? Or are women's sports. I don't know. I guess, is something bad gonna happen further if, like, more measures aren't taken, do you think?

[Carson Kessler]

I think that's a hard question to answer because, you know, when you think, what can these leagues and universities do? I think there is a limit to what they can do there. Like, I think one line and the piece is you can't create a perimeter around someone's life. So there's so many areas where these athletes are exposed. I think it's going to take a variety of league action, university action, and action when it comes to the athlete and just the security measures that they're implementing in their own life, whether that's, you know, having enough resources to hire private security or if they're not at that level, just being ultra aware of what you're posting on social media, making sure where you're posting is not a place that you routinely go to, or there are no symbolic figures that maybe people could geolocate where you are, just being ultra aware of where you are, who you are and who you're around and who may be watching your social media on the other side.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Right. And that kind of changes the dynamic of women's sports because I think one of the things that fans of women's sports like so much is the accessibility that they have to athletes, that they seem like normal people. Right. That you can engage with them on social media and even in real life. And if people take advantage of that access, of that connection, then it's going to, I think, fundamentally change the way fans are able to interact with athletes and the whole ecosystem of the sport too.

[Carson Kessler]

Right? Yeah, absolutely.

[Zena Keda]

That's exactly what I was thinking. Sabrina. I feel like this is the best thing about social media, and particularly the best thing about women's athletes, is that accessibility and feeling like I'm right there with you. I've been on your journey. I get to know you, I get to interact with you. And I really, really do hope that something happens in which, you know, these athletes don't feel as if they have to have some sort of measured version of themselves show up on the Internet. They can't have their journey, their growth be visible because of a few sour apples in the group like that. That would really, really suck. But I'll say this, everyone go read this series. It is fascinating. We touched on a lot here. We didn't even get into the scams. People paying 50k. 50k to people they think are athletes. Yeah, I'm just teasing just a little bit. Go read it. Really well done. Thank you so much, Carson, for joining us and breaking stuff down.

[Carson Kessler]

Thank you so much for having me.

[Zena Keda]

Of course.

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[Carson Kessler]

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[Zena Keda]

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[Zena Keda]

No, no, no, no.

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[Zena Keda]

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[Sabrina Merchant]

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[Sabrina Merchant]

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[Zena Keda]

All right, before we get out of here, we want to say thank you to our listeners for your comments, your support, your questions. Don't think they're going unnoticed. They're just going down in our notebook. Okay. So that we can get to them as the shows continue. But we do have another mailbag episode planned, so definitely keep sending those in and we will make sure that we take a note and we get to them. So if you've got a question, reach out to us on social media, leave a comment wherever you're listening or email us at no [e-mail] wow. No off seasonheathletic.com man, speaking is hard work, guys. That's why you gotta leave us a five star review so I can keep getting better at it. But before we get to that full episode of questions, let's reach into the mailbag right now for a segment we're calling Explain the Game. Our listener Justin recently emailed asking is Cameron Brink technically a rookie? I know in MLB you need to reach a playing time minimum in order to lose rookie status. So Sabrina, I believe that last season Cam played a total of 15 games, right? Right.

[Sabrina Merchant]

And that was a 40 game season, so less than half of the season. But in the wnba, once you take foot on the court for a second, you have established yourself as a rookie. So Cameron Rink was a rookie in 2024. There is no playing time minimum. She was eligible for all rookie awards last season. Obviously did not get those because she only played 15 out of 40 games and it was a dramatically good rookie class that had a lot of promising members ahead of her on the all rookie team. That means she is not eligible for all Rookie Awards in 2025 because she's already completed her rookie season in 2024. Had she been injured before the start of the season, like let's say Georgia Amor, who, you know, got injured during the preseason, did not play at all during this mystic season. Georgia will be a rookie in 2026 because she did not play any regular season games in 2025 even though she was under contract for that year.

[Zena Keda]

Got it. Got it. Okay, well that is helpful to know because it's also helpful to know even though Cam was technically a rookie, like I think a lot of people also forgot about that. But even 15 games in, her statistical presence on the defensive end was still top 10 in the rookie class overall. And I think a lot of people also get confused by the rookie aspect because of age as well. With all these European players coming over and they're, you know, 30 year old rookies or you know, 28 year old rookies. And it's technically sometimes really young, like.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Dominique Malanga being 19 as a rookie.

[Zena Keda]

Exactly. Or being exactly the opposite end of the spectrum. But it's as you mentioned, the second you step foot into a WNBA game, you count as a rookie. So thank you, Justin for that question and hopefully it helped some other folks, you know, figuring out can Cambrink kind of make up for the year that she had or the year she didn't have out on the court? Well, she's doing that from a basketball perspective. But from an awards perspective, the rookie options are out for now. So now it's all about trying to get those all Stars, getting those awards, getting those first teams, all the above. Um, but thank you Sabrina for answering that question. And again, if you have something that you need for us to explain regarding things around the wnba, please reach out. We'll get to them in our next mailbag or possibly in our next Explain the Game segment. So that's all we've got for you guys today. We will be back on Friday with lots more to discuss around the wnba. Until then, if you haven't already, please follow our show. Subscribe. Tell your friends, tell your mama, tell your cousins, tell your co workers, be a good Samaritan and share this. Please subscribe. We want to hear from you guys. Definitely leave comments, all the above and of course head on over to our partner, the Yahoo Sports Hub for more content. Sports.yahoo.com Womens Sports on behalf of the Athletic Carson Kessler, Sabrina Merchant, I'm Zena Keda thanking you for listening. We will see you next time. No off season is hosted by Zena Keda with Chantelle Jennings, Sabrina Merchant and Ben Pickman. It's produced by Tanika Burrell. Our executive producers are Andrea B. Scott and Cassius Fleming. Our theme music is by Marcus Bagala. Monica Compton is our video editor. Shannon Ryan is managing editor of women's basketball at the Athletic. Jessie Burton is our head of audio and Tim McMaster is director of audio operations.

[Sabrina Merchant]

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[Zena Keda]

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[Carson Kessler]

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