Music, especially hip hop, is a genre that has been influenced by William Jonathan Drayton, Jr., aka Flavor Flav (aka Flavor, flavor).
The 31-year-old Steffens was born into a water polo family in Northern California and came just months after Flav was nominated for his fourth Grammy Award as part of Public Enemy, the legendary hip-hop group that fought the establishment and then carved out its own niche.
Thirty years later, Flav and Stevens were reunited at the Paris Olympics, two veterans in their chosen fields winning new fans in their own right: Stevens is captain of the U.S. women's water polo team, and Flav, 65, is the team's sponsor and official spokesman.
You've probably seen a lot of Flavor Flav these past few days. If so, that means you've seen more women's water polo than usual. That's synergy. It's the magic that revitalizes a niche sport and lifts an old career.
Right now, high up in the muggy heat of the Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis, Flav is waving his arms around, his water polo cap on and his gold-hued watch-face sunglasses shining, yelling his customary hype man line: “Yyyyeahhhh boyyyy” to the women playing against Greece.
Stephens is under the chlorine, feet thrashing, slamming, trying to rise out of the water, swinging his throwing arm like a threatened cobra, deltoids and determination trying to close the distance between the ball and the net.
“These are my daughters,” says Flaiv, the trademark watch around his neck indicating that it's, you guessed it, water polo time.
“His energy and positivity is contagious,” said Stephens, who has scored more goals at the Olympics than any other women's water polo player in history, “and we want to bring that to our games. We want to be fun to watch.”
The U.S. women's team has won three consecutive Olympic gold medals in water polo and is seeking a fourth in Paris — dynasty territory — but the women's team doesn't get the attention or funding given to, say, the men's basketball team.
That's where the synergy comes in. Partnerships between sponsors and Olympic athletes are at a much lower level than they were in the 2000 Olympics. According to Steffens' agent, Brant Feldman, he competed in the Olympics in London in 2012 and Rio in 2016. On May 4, at Feldman's urging, Steffens posted a photo of his team on Instagram with a message asking for renewed support.
“Many of my teammates are not only awesome champions, but also teachers, business owners, coaches, and physician assistants,” Stephens wrote. “Most Olympians need second (or even third) jobs to pursue their dreams (me included!), and most teams rely on sponsors for travel, lodging, nutrition, rent and board, and living expenses in this day and age, especially in women's sports.”
Feldman had the post seen by a friend, talent manager Rhiannon Rae Ellis, who had one client in particular in mind.
“I have crazy ideas,” Ellis says, “and Flav is on board with almost all of them,” so she asked, “Why not sponsor an Olympic athlete?”
And Flav said, “Let's do it with the whole team.”
He later commented on Stephens' post: “Hey there, as a father of a daughter and a supporter of all women's sports I will sponsor you, anything you need. I will also sponsor the whole team. My manager is in contact with your agent.”
What's unfolding here in Paris is different from all the self-promoting corporate synergy NBCUniversal creates every time you see Kelly Clarkson or Snoop Dogg or the Minions while watching the Olympics. If you can win a gold medal for creating synergy from scratch, Give it to Feldman and Ellis. Flaiv signed a five-year sponsorship deal with USA Water Polo, making financial contributions to the team and promising to uplift women and the sport. Within two weeks of Stephens' Instagram post, Flaiv was spotted wearing a “USA Water Polo” shirt at Yankee Stadium. His Instagram has become a water polo treasure trove.
“Flavor Flav is the first celebrity to do something like this,” Feldman says, referring to Flav's partnership with a national sports governing body (in this case, USA Water Polo). “Maybe this will become the norm in the future.”
As if to prove that point, on Sunday, US rugby player Ilona Maher posted a video to Instagram asking former NFL player Jason Kelce if he would publicly endorse her team. Maher began her pitch with: “Women's Water Polo has Flavor Flav as a huge fan.” (Kelce quickly endorsed.)
A few weeks ago in Berkeley, California, Flav jumped into the pool to practice with the team and was filmed and posted to everyone's social media accounts.
“This ain't easy,” Flav said as he tread water with women a third his age. The video, posted to Flav's Instagram, has been viewed at least 121,000 times.
“I read the comments [on the post], “We've had people of color asking about water polo and wanting to start playing,” said Ashley Johnson, the first Black female goalkeeper to be selected for the Olympic water polo team in 2016. “It's a different community than the conversations, the conversations they have about our sport that I've seen my whole time on this team.”
Water polo combines elements of many sports: the passing of basketball, the speed of hockey, the strategy of soccer, the pitching of baseball and the physicality of rugby, judo and wrestling. Women players glide like dolphins and fight like grizzly bears.
“The first thing everyone should know about water polo is that even when warming up, we never touch the bottom of the pool. It's all down to our own power, our own strength,” Stephens said.
During a dinner in Los Angeles before the Olympics, Stephens asked Flav what a gold medal would mean to him.
“And he immediately said, 'Honestly, every time I step on that stage, that's what the Olympics means to me,'” Stephens said. “That's my mentality, so I was really happy.”
In Paris, Stephens and his teammates have continued their rigorous training sessions and “granny sleep schedule”, with matches on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week.
Meanwhile, Flave was living his best life. In preparation for the Olympics: Appearing on a terrace overlooking the sunset in Ibiza, Taylor Swift concert in Hamburg (“Flavor, flavorHe later arrived in Paris and presented the US ambassador to France with Public Enemy merchandise, after he toured his residence. (Apparently there was synergy here too, as Flav's Instagram account reposted a State Department travel guide for Americans heading to Paris.)
The past few days,”Flavor, flavor” bells seem to be rung by passers-by as regularly as church bells.
“Another thing I'm doing for the team is putting everyone on a Virgin cruise after water polo is over,” Flav said at a press conference here on Friday, the only U.S. national team press conference scheduled with a non-athlete. (Flav isn't a spokesman for Virgin Voyages; he just loves the cruise line. But it's all a combination: According to Ellis, he got Virgin to provide the team and staff with an all-expenses-paid, seven-night cruise anywhere in the world. “Maybe more companies will pitch in now,” Ellis added via text message.)
On Saturday, women's water polo During the game against Greece, First Lady Jill Biden sat front row center while Flav was in the stands. Representatives from the team and the United States Olympic Committee arranged for Biden and Flav to meet during the third quarter, and the two embraced in the stands as NBC broadcast the game. (Synergy, synergy, synergy.) The First Lady praised Flav for his commitment to women's sports.
“They've won three gold medals in a row,” Flav told Biden, “and I'm just rooting for them to get the fourth.”
Following the match, which the U.S. won 15-6, the First Lady and her delegation met with the players in the players' lounge on the lower level of the Aquatics Center.
“That's incredible,” Biden told his team, marveling at their capabilities. “It's a learning experience because most of us have never seen this before. I mean, I don't know how you have the power to pull it off!”
“I wouldn't trade jobs,” Steffens said with a laugh, suggesting Biden's job is much tougher. “We each have our own path.”
But at this Olympic moment, all the lanes seem to intersect in the pool.
