Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, the daily women's
Speaker 1: sports show you've always wanted. Even more than coach Cheryl
Speaker 1: Reeve wants us all to stop asking about the Olympic
Speaker 1: roster at links games.
Speaker 2: We're going to tell you all about us at a.
Speaker 1: Few, but first we start every show by giving you
Speaker 1: what you need to know today. The US women's national
Speaker 1: soccer team played its final Olympic sendoff match last night
Speaker 1: against Costa Rica in Washington, DC, and that's it for
Speaker 1: tune ups. Next time they play, it's for keeps. The
Speaker 1: opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics is just over one
Speaker 1: week away on Friday, July twenty six, but Olympic soccer
Speaker 1: actually begins a few days before that, so the US
Speaker 1: opens up its tournament on Thursday, July twenty fifth with
Speaker 1: a Group B matchup against Zambia. Episode two of the
Speaker 1: eight part Docuseriies in the Arena Serena Williams drops tonight
Speaker 1: on ESPN Plus, and it details her struggle to keep
Speaker 1: up momentum after her first Grand Slam, and also her
Speaker 1: sperience competing with older sister Venus when she was the
Speaker 1: world number one. It has been really fun to watch
Speaker 1: so far, and it also feels really good to be
Speaker 1: in an era where female legends like Serena are getting
Speaker 1: their flowers while they're still here. We're only two years
Speaker 1: removed from her retirement and we already have this multipart
Speaker 1: doc which is so great. Cameron Brink, former Stanford women's
Speaker 1: basketball star and rookie with the WNBA's La Sparks, did
Speaker 1: an amazing photo shoot and interview with Flaunt magazine. Now
Speaker 1: you should be but if you're not yet familiar with
Speaker 1: Cameron Brink, I think this tweet sort of sums her up.
Speaker 1: Quote it's like the Cameron Diaz Factory decided to put
Speaker 1: out at Kevin Durant.
Speaker 2: Just check out the photo shoot and it'll make sense.
Speaker 1: This is just another example of the incredible versatility of
Speaker 1: all these WNBA athletes, and especially this rookie class. They're
Speaker 1: bringing so much flavor, so much personality, and really handling
Speaker 1: the bright spotlight so well. And if you just remember
Speaker 1: the early days of the w where players look like
Speaker 1: they were exclusively allowed to shop at Ann Taylor, it
Speaker 1: feels like things are just really different now. Of course,
Speaker 1: we wish we were watching Cameron on the court as well,
Speaker 1: but she's currently out with an ACL tear, and that
Speaker 1: injury also means she's no longer able to compete in
Speaker 1: three x three at the upcoming Paras Olympics, which is
Speaker 1: a super bummer. Speaking of three on three, we're continuing
Speaker 1: to get details about the thirty players that are participating
Speaker 1: in this new Unrivaled Basketball League. We're getting one new
Speaker 1: player named every day. And the league, if you haven't
Speaker 1: heard about, is created by the New York Liberties Brianna
Speaker 1: Stewart and the Minnesota Lynx is Nefisa Collier. It's going
Speaker 1: to be a three on three format and tip off
Speaker 1: in Miami in January of twenty twenty five. And the
Speaker 1: cool thing about this is it's going to offer all
Speaker 1: these WNBA players a chance to stay and play in
Speaker 1: the US during the offseason. You could see all the
Speaker 1: players that they've been out so far at www Dot
Speaker 1: Unrivaled dot Basketball. We got two WNBA games tonight, and
Speaker 1: that's before the Olympic break takes over. So Alicia Gray
Speaker 1: in the Atlanta Dream hit the road to face the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Links. Links are without their star and Olympia and
Speaker 1: Nafisa Colliers. She's missed the last four games with Planner
Speaker 1: fashion pain in her left foot dream are just outside
Speaker 1: the playoff picture right now. Meanwhile, Minnesota's flirting with third
Speaker 1: place in the standings. Game tips off at one Eastern
Speaker 1: on League Pass, So go ahead, take a long lunch
Speaker 1: break and watch that. And we've also got Caitlin Clark
Speaker 1: and the Indiana Fever heading down south to play Arique
Speaker 1: Agunbowalle and the Dallas Wings.
Speaker 2: The Fever are in a.
Speaker 1: Battle with the Chicago Sky for eighth seed, and that's
Speaker 1: a last playoff spot come end of the regular season. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the Wings are talented, but struggling and inconsistency has pushed
Speaker 1: them down to last place in the league. The only
Speaker 1: good news about that is producer Misha's mystics aren't last anymore.
Speaker 1: But we'll talk some about that later. Game tips off
Speaker 1: at seven thirty pm Eastern on ESPN. Also, of course,
Speaker 1: WNBA All Star Game is this weekend, with the US
Speaker 1: Olympic team taking on the All Stars. We'll get more
Speaker 1: into that the next couple of days as we're getting
Speaker 1: pumped and excited for Phoenix. Okay, okay, we've waited long enough.
Speaker 1: Let's make this about US hi we're so excited you're here,
Speaker 1: and we're so so pump to get the chance to
Speaker 1: bring you awesome women's sports takes, debates, conversations five days
Speaker 1: a week. As far as I know, there's never been
Speaker 1: a daily women's sports podcast, and if you know of one,
Speaker 1: definitely do not write in and tell me about it.
Speaker 1: I don't want to know. I really want to consider
Speaker 1: myself your first. Now, usually we'd dive into the day's
Speaker 1: biggest stories or we'd have a guest on.
Speaker 2: But I feel like that would be a little forward, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, you don't even know me, and I certainly
Speaker 1: can't introduce a whole other person already. I haven't even
Speaker 1: bought you dinner, So I feel like maybe a little
Speaker 1: for play, right, It's like, take a little moment to
Speaker 1: get to know each other.
Speaker 2: I'm Sarah Spain.
Speaker 1: You might know me from seeing me on Around the
Speaker 1: Horn on ESPN, perhaps intentionally, or maybe just at an
Speaker 1: airport or a gym or in a restaurant, because that
Speaker 1: show is everywhere and it's the one with the little
Speaker 1: faces in the boxes. If you haven't seen it, maybe
Speaker 1: you saw me on Sports Center Outside the Lines. E's
Speaker 1: sixty highly questionable Dan Levittard show, my old podcast on ESPN.
Speaker 2: That's what she said, My.
Speaker 1: Old radio shows Spain and Fifth it's Izzy in Spain,
Speaker 1: Spain and Prim the trifecta.
Speaker 2: YadA, YadA, YadA.
Speaker 1: Maybe we even listened to back when I started my
Speaker 1: career in Chicago at ESPN one thousand or Mouthpiece Sports.
Speaker 2: Maybe we even met at a bar in La in
Speaker 2: my twenties.
Speaker 1: The point is, I have been at this for a while,
Speaker 1: like twenty years, and that's included spending the last fourteen
Speaker 1: covering both men's and women's sports for ESPN. And I'm
Speaker 1: looking around as we start this show and thinking about
Speaker 1: how I've really dreamed of the kind of women's sports
Speaker 1: landscape that we have today. And I know that we
Speaker 1: saw ways to go, but it is really awesome watching
Speaker 1: the rest of the world catch up to those of
Speaker 1: us who knew the product was great and that the
Speaker 1: audience would be there if we just gave it a chance.
Speaker 1: And so between media coverage and merch and streaming services
Speaker 1: so we can watch more games, social media accounts dedicated
Speaker 1: solely to women's sports, all of that plus this massive
Speaker 1: shift in societal expectations have really changed the game entirely,
Speaker 1: and perhaps that biggest change is society. Over the years,
Speaker 1: I've watched the media and just America at large slowly
Speaker 1: stop requiring that women leave their identities at the door
Speaker 1: in order to be welcomed into sports.
Speaker 2: It was bad. It was really bad, y'all.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, youngsters, you would not last an hour
Speaker 1: in the asylum where they raised me when I tell
Speaker 1: you that if you used to google best female athletes,
Speaker 1: you only got lists of the hottest ones.
Speaker 2: That is not an exaggeration.
Speaker 1: Top results every time, not the best athletes, but the
Speaker 1: hottest female athletes. And the same with media hottest sportscaster
Speaker 1: list or endless blogs about which women you want to
Speaker 1: have sex with and also why women were ruining sports.
Speaker 1: Now that's just my Twitter mentions, just kidding, sort of,
Speaker 1: But for real, I've watched the landscape change, and they've
Speaker 1: stopped demanding the sort of homogenized idea of drinking beer,
Speaker 1: eating a steak, and quoting bro movies as the only
Speaker 1: acceptable identity for people who love sports. Society has started
Speaker 1: to let women, athletes and fans and media be multi dimensional,
Speaker 1: be queer, straight, virtuous, villainous, funny, serious, fashionable, sporty, feminine, masculine,
Speaker 1: and that was the secret sauce to all of it.
Speaker 1: It was never about being one of the guys or
Speaker 1: trying to copy men's sports. It was about being authentic
Speaker 1: and genuine and just letting women's sports be their own thing.
Speaker 2: And that's what we want to do here on Good Game.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about how sometimes things look a
Speaker 1: little different in women's sports. Those where else but women's
Speaker 1: sports moments? Where else but women's sports do we see
Speaker 1: a player help launch a brand new professional hockey league,
Speaker 1: lead her team to the first ever championship win in
Speaker 1: that league, and then take a victory lap with her
Speaker 1: ten month old son in her arms. That's Kendall Coin
Speaker 1: Schofield and the PWHL. Where else but women's sports can
Speaker 1: we hear announcers calling to opponents embracing postmatch good sportsmanship
Speaker 1: instead of the truth, which is they're dating and they
Speaker 1: got to go back to the same house.
Speaker 2: One of them's a winner and one just took a
Speaker 2: huge l. I can't wait to get into that.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to talk to some power couples about
Speaker 1: those moments. Those are really cool only women's sports moments.
Speaker 1: Players that are dating married exes who really can hate
Speaker 1: each other.
Speaker 2: I want to talk about that.
Speaker 1: I also want to talk about embracing new superstars while
Speaker 1: remembering that what's happening.
Speaker 2: Now took decades and decades to build.
Speaker 1: I'm here because women before me were covering sports when
Speaker 1: they weren't even allowed inside locker rooms. And the athletes
Speaker 1: are here because for centuries women just wanted to play
Speaker 1: without the pay and the fame and the celebrity and
Speaker 1: the coverage and the sponsorships. And because of all those women,
Speaker 1: today's athletes are getting these incredible opportunities. It's a little
Speaker 1: segment we're gonna call Yes and because in a previous life,
Speaker 1: I wanted to be a comedian.
Speaker 2: Actually I still do.
Speaker 1: So if Louren Michaels is listening, and I'm sure he is,
Speaker 1: I will blow this podcast off to be on Saturday
Speaker 1: at Live in a second, won't even think about it twice.
Speaker 1: Very happy about this opportunity, though, so if Lauren is
Speaker 1: not listening, my time at Second City and my time
Speaker 1: in improv taught me these magical words, this way of
Speaker 1: approaching life. Yes and and it's a secret to everything
Speaker 1: right now in women's sports, we need to be coming
Speaker 1: from a place of yes, and both in the sense
Speaker 1: of sort of yes, we're getting more investment and attention
Speaker 1: than ever and we still want more, and in the
Speaker 1: sense of yes, we've been here for decades doing this
Speaker 1: and welcome aboard. We're so glad that you're here now too. Yes,
Speaker 1: Caitlin Clark, and let me tell you about maya more. Yes,
Speaker 1: Simone Biles and do you remember Dominique Dawes. So yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna yes and some stuff in women's sports so
Speaker 1: we can remember the greats who pave the way and
Speaker 1: give context to what we're watching now. We're also going
Speaker 1: to do some of the mythologizing that we always see
Speaker 1: in men's sports but we don't do enough of in
Speaker 1: women's sports. The Good Game Hall of Fame is going
Speaker 1: to help us spread the word about great women's sports
Speaker 1: lore that should be common knowledge. Stories like if you
Speaker 1: haven't heard this one, the traffic jam and the ninety
Speaker 1: nine Ers women's soccer team. The players were stuck on
Speaker 1: their bus complaining about all the traffic that they were
Speaker 1: in as they were trying to get to their World
Speaker 1: Cup opening game at Giant Stadium, only to find no
Speaker 1: doubt that the traffic was for them, seventy eighty nine
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy two fans en route to watch their game.
Speaker 1: That's such a cool story. Faudy talks about it. Julie
Speaker 1: Foudy of the ninety nine ers team, sitting on the bus.
Speaker 1: What is all this traffic? We're going to be laid
Speaker 1: to the game. Oh my god, it's for us. Now.
Speaker 1: If we need to know about I don't know, Derek
Speaker 1: Jeter's infamous gift bags and a Rod's alleged centaur painting,
Speaker 1: then I think we should know about the ninety nine
Speaker 1: US traffic jam, and I think we should know about
Speaker 1: so many other great moments in women's sports.
Speaker 2: Lord too.
Speaker 1: It's hard in part because we know it can be
Speaker 1: tough to find coverage of those moments of the games
Speaker 1: and the events that you're watching. I know we're all
Speaker 1: sort of trading jokes on social and dipping into group
Speaker 1: chats to spill the tea about stuff, and scanning different
Speaker 1: websites looking to find an update on a roster drop
Speaker 1: or an injury. Well, we want to be all that
Speaker 1: good stuff. We want to be all that good stuff
Speaker 1: plus unbelievable stats and facts, infuriating what the facts and
Speaker 1: takes on all the latest news and events, all the
Speaker 1: things you're trying to cobble together for social media and friends,
Speaker 1: and all these once a week podcasts all in one place,
Speaker 1: and we want to hear from you, our listeners, our
Speaker 1: good gamers, our gg our Spain.
Speaker 2: I don't know what we're gonna call you guys. We
Speaker 2: need a name. We need a name for the We
Speaker 2: need a name for our listeners. What do you want
Speaker 2: to be called?
Speaker 1: You're gonna be with us here every day, right, five
Speaker 1: days a week. Right, You're gonna be here, so uh,
Speaker 1: you deserve a quality name. So email or call us
Speaker 1: tell us what you want to be called. Eight seven
Speaker 1: two two oh four fifty seventy is the number to
Speaker 1: call us. Eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy.
Speaker 1: Or you can email us good Game at wondermedianetwork dot com,
Speaker 1: or you can always hit me up. I'm at Sarah
Speaker 1: Spain on Twitter or x or whatever we're calling it
Speaker 1: these days, and I'm Spain two three two three on Instagram.
Speaker 1: You can also hit up my amazing producers who are
Speaker 1: going to be joining me every day with their insight,
Speaker 1: their experiences, their knowledge. They're very important fact checking. Alex
Speaker 1: Azzi and Misha aka MJ Jones. And by the way,
Speaker 1: for those of you that know me well, I did
Speaker 1: not only hire Mish because their name is MJ. But
Speaker 1: it didn't hurt my obsessim with Michael Jordan knows no bounds.
Speaker 1: And if you're gonna be named MJ, you it just
Speaker 1: like bumps up your resume. Just a couple of dotches. Okay,
Speaker 1: I've talked enough about you. Now talk about yourselves, MJ.
Speaker 1: Tell everyone everything they need to know about you, your
Speaker 1: entire life story.
Speaker 2: You have thirty seconds or less.
Speaker 3: Woof well first and foremost, just happy to be here. No,
Speaker 3: I am a former d one hooper. That's why I
Speaker 3: claim to fame. Played for about sixteen years now. I
Speaker 3: want to play pickup. I just kind of run corner
Speaker 3: at the corner and shoot threes and try to stay
Speaker 3: out of the way.
Speaker 2: Not about defense, any defense, Oh never.
Speaker 3: I didn't play defense when I was a college athlete. No,
Speaker 3: absolutely not. Yeah, not a defensive stalwart, but yeah, I
Speaker 3: grew up with the WNBA. I grew up watching athletes
Speaker 3: like Serena in Abby Womba and Alison Felix in their prime.
Speaker 3: So I feel so lucky now to be working in
Speaker 3: a job where that's my priority. Women's sports is my priority,
Speaker 3: because I just feel like, you know, this space opens
Speaker 3: up the conversation to so many fun, entertaining, educational and
Speaker 3: important stuff.
Speaker 2: That we all need to be talking about. So just
Speaker 2: happy to be here, Happy to be working with.
Speaker 3: Sarah and Alex, and can't wait, can't wait, keep doing
Speaker 3: this thing.
Speaker 1: Love it Okay, Alex. Everything that everyone needs to know
Speaker 1: about you thirty seconds least.
Speaker 4: Oh man, Well, I am also extremely excited to be here.
Speaker 4: Also a college athlete, though I would say that maybe
Speaker 4: doesn't impact my identity as much as it does for
Speaker 4: other college athletes. I played field hockey at Wellesley, which
Speaker 4: was a women's college, and honestly, the part of it
Speaker 4: that impacted me the most, though, was going to a
Speaker 4: women's college where we didn't have to share resources with
Speaker 4: a football team. We didn't have to share resources with
Speaker 4: men's basketball teams.
Speaker 2: Wellesley, the Lady Anything, the Lady stick holders. What's the
Speaker 2: Wellesley mascot? The blue? The blue? What you ask? We
Speaker 2: don't know. Cornell's big Red. I'm like, big Red.
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 2: And then we just have a bear, which no one explains.
Speaker 4: But yeah, that experience impacted my perspective to be able
Speaker 4: to say, what would the world look like if women's
Speaker 4: sports were the priority? And I interned at my first
Speaker 4: Olympics in twenty twelve because I was a huge Olympics
Speaker 4: nerd still am, and I remember on day one of
Speaker 4: that I was like, how do you make this your
Speaker 4: full time thing? And in retrospect, I think I loved
Speaker 4: working on the Olympics and wanted to work on the
Speaker 4: Olympics because it was the only way in the year
Speaker 4: twenty twelve that you could get paid to cover women's sports,
Speaker 4: maybe not exclusively, but certainly more than most sports industry
Speaker 4: jobs at that time. And I'm still around ten years later.
Speaker 1: And still an Olympics expert. I'm so excited that this
Speaker 1: show is starting with the Olympics about to start, because
Speaker 1: Alex is going to shine with every little detail and
Speaker 1: fact and I'm sure great stories about interviews and re
Speaker 1: search and trips and everything you've done around the Olympics
Speaker 1: in the past. So pumped for everything that y'all are
Speaker 1: going to bring to the table and the conversation and
Speaker 1: just so excited to get started.
Speaker 2: And yeah, that's us, just a.
Speaker 1: Couple of folks standing in front of a podcast Mike
Speaker 1: asking you to love them. We're good game with Sarah Spain.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us. After the break, the Bird's the word,
Speaker 1: Sue Bird. We're back and we have an extra special
Speaker 1: guest that's going to join us on Friday.
Speaker 2: But we wanted to give you a little bit of.
Speaker 1: A tease because she's so special and technically I believe
Speaker 1: a little bit my boss in this new endeavor, so
Speaker 1: we want to make sure she feels very appreciated. It's
Speaker 1: the legendary Sue Bird. So a couple things we talked
Speaker 1: about that I want to just give you a little
Speaker 1: tease of one.
Speaker 2: I'm so pumped about.
Speaker 1: I somehow miss this, despite pretty much stalking Sue and
Speaker 1: all of her social media and all of her announcements,
Speaker 1: I had not heard about this new show that she
Speaker 1: and her fiancee, Meghan Rapino, and their production company are
Speaker 1: putting together. And when she dropped this news during our interview, well,
Speaker 1: I mean you could basically hear me squealing.
Speaker 2: Here it is.
Speaker 5: We recently announced we're going to do like a reality
Speaker 5: show around the dating lives of of women's athletes.
Speaker 2: No way, where did you announce it? How do miss this?
Speaker 5: It's like a touch more, which is me and Megan's
Speaker 5: production company in partnership with Together, but also partnership with
Speaker 5: Bunna Murray. Does I mean they're like the wizards of this?
Speaker 1: Oh my wait wait wait wait wait more details details.
Speaker 5: Basically yeah, I mean we're going to follow you know,
Speaker 5: any female athlete that wants to be a part of it.
Speaker 5: We're going to follow their dating lives. So whether it's
Speaker 5: people who are in relationships mary, partner, husband, white, doesn't matter,
Speaker 5: all the above, everything in between, single dating, you know, singing,
Speaker 5: mingled and just like, yeah, we don't want it to
Speaker 5: be it's not gonna it's not gonna start out as
Speaker 5: some salacious thing.
Speaker 2: So it's going to turn into Fantasy Island.
Speaker 1: It's going to turn Remember you remember that show, wasn't
Speaker 1: it Fantasy Island?
Speaker 2: America can't stop talking about Temptation Island.
Speaker 5: I never watched it.
Speaker 2: I never literally watched it with my dad. I don't know.
Speaker 2: Weird that was when we were growing up. It was
Speaker 2: like they sent couples to a place.
Speaker 1: And they were like, either this will bring you closer together,
Speaker 1: or you'll all start having sex with each other instead,
Speaker 1: Like I feel.
Speaker 2: Like that's like that. I feel like that could be
Speaker 2: this show. It's like, hey, we have a bunch of them.
Speaker 2: I might have teammates. You might have teammates dating.
Speaker 5: You might have you know, like inter league dating.
Speaker 2: Yeah, different sports, you name it.
Speaker 1: I also really enjoyed talking to Sue about the current
Speaker 1: state of the WNBA and just how close she was
Speaker 1: to being one of the beneficiaries of all of the
Speaker 1: hard work she put in in her twenty years in
Speaker 1: the league, and whether there was like a little bit
Speaker 1: of a mixed vibe about just how much the league
Speaker 1: has blown up this year. You really like made the
Speaker 1: WNBA what it is today. You and many many others
Speaker 1: are such a huge part of why these current athletes
Speaker 1: are getting unprecedented levels of coverage and endorsements and support
Speaker 1: and love. What percentage of you, be honest, is proud
Speaker 1: and happy for them, and what percentage of you is
Speaker 1: jealous that you retired right before all of this.
Speaker 5: I'm in a pretty good place about it. I'll say,
Speaker 5: like I'll say, like I was gonna say ninety ten,
Speaker 5: then I was gonna say eighty twenty, So we'll go
Speaker 5: eighty five. Just the difference eighty five to fifteen. I mean,
Speaker 5: of course there's a part of me that wishes I
Speaker 5: could play, but simultaneously, I don't wish I could play
Speaker 5: at forties three, Like if I was twenty three, Uh,
Speaker 5: forget it. I would love to be able to go
Speaker 5: back in time and be a twenty three year old
Speaker 5: right now. Absolutely. I actually said that recently to someone
Speaker 5: who was like, I was like, dang, I was born
Speaker 5: too soon, and They're like, yeah, but you could have
Speaker 5: been born earlier and it would be even worse. And
Speaker 5: I was like, okay, good point. Yeah, So yeah, of
Speaker 5: course I think someone will be lying if they said
Speaker 5: they wouldn't want to go back like any WNBA player
Speaker 5: who is now retired and play right now. It's everything
Speaker 5: we always thought or always wanted.
Speaker 2: We always knew that.
Speaker 5: The one thing I know, I always said throughout my career.
Speaker 5: It's like at times we will be like what needs
Speaker 5: to change in marketing and in business and in this
Speaker 5: and then that, and I'm like, yeah, I don't know,
Speaker 5: but what I do know is the product on the
Speaker 5: floor like that has sustained like that has not just
Speaker 5: sustained that has gotten better. We've done our part.
Speaker 1: You can hear the full interview with the legendary Sue
Speaker 1: Bird on Friday's episode, so make sure to come back.
Speaker 1: But while we're talking WNBA here and this new look
Speaker 1: extra popular, more broadcasts, more eyeballs, more sponsors than ever,
Speaker 1: I feel like some ticket holders are starting to feel
Speaker 1: the pain of the league's increase popularity in the worst
Speaker 1: possible way, which is their pocketbook, their ticket prices. And Misha,
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk to about this. I know you're
Speaker 1: a huge WNBA fan, and I'm sort of torn, as
Speaker 1: I often am with things like this, where when you
Speaker 1: hear about teams and folks complaining about so far, the
Speaker 1: Sky and the Mercury sending out messages about increasing season
Speaker 1: ticket prices for next year. When you hear about this,
Speaker 1: you understand people being upset and being like, I used
Speaker 1: to bring my whole family it was affordable. I've been
Speaker 1: here forever supporting the team, and now they're gonna jack
Speaker 1: up the prices. And then you also are like, oh, yay,
Speaker 1: the WNBA is making more money and they're able to
Speaker 1: support the players and pay better salaries that take jets
Speaker 1: to the games instead of commercial, Like, what's your initial reaction.
Speaker 3: My initial reaction is it's a necessary evil, right, it's
Speaker 3: you know, I'm coming into this from a situation where
Speaker 3: my parents were taking me to WNBA games when I
Speaker 3: was two feet long for you know, five cents in
Speaker 3: a smile from a little baby.
Speaker 1: Like it was that we need a check mark for
Speaker 1: every time me she reminds us of how young she is,
Speaker 1: because you know what, there's gonna be a noise.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be like a baby like. I don't know
Speaker 2: what that was.
Speaker 1: That's sound of more like a goat, but you need
Speaker 1: like a baby noise for every time Mesh reminds all
Speaker 1: of us that she's the youngest one here.
Speaker 2: She was in diapers when the WIBA started. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: carry out.
Speaker 3: We're gonna get a little button that I can press
Speaker 3: every time I come on like that go. You know,
Speaker 3: initial reaction, it's a necessary evil. I hate that it's
Speaker 3: probably going to price people out of certain seats. The
Speaker 3: hope is that they can figure out a way to
Speaker 3: make sure that the gen and Mission big sections that
Speaker 3: most folks who are bringing families those can remain a
Speaker 3: little bit more affordable. But then those folks who want
Speaker 3: to sit courtside and flash all the Gucci and Prada
Speaker 3: and all that stuff.
Speaker 2: Young can pay a few extra dollars.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I always feel bad for the diehards
Speaker 1: that get priced out, but I think this bothers me
Speaker 1: a lot more when it's a men's league that's been
Speaker 1: around forever and they're really just taking advantage of fans
Speaker 1: and doing it repeatedly year after year in ways that
Speaker 1: don't feel like necessitated by the market or any other reason.
Speaker 2: In this case, it feels sort of necessary. But it's
Speaker 2: a bummer. It's a bummer for a lot of folks.
Speaker 2: But like you said, you got to get that money.
Speaker 1: And like I think, if you ask those diehard fans
Speaker 1: if they wanted the players that they love to get
Speaker 1: paid more, and they wanted better marketing and you know,
Speaker 1: uniforms and merch and all the things that cost money
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, they would say yes. And unfortunately it's
Speaker 1: our money that's paying for it. We'll get into more
Speaker 1: conversations about that as we get more information from the
Speaker 1: different teams that are potentially thinking about up in those prices.
Speaker 1: But we come back we have to probe into the deepest,
Speaker 1: darkest corners of your soul.
Speaker 2: We're just like you know, ask you a question, You're
Speaker 2: still here and so are we. Oh my god, I
Speaker 2: love that for you and for us.
Speaker 1: We've had such a good time talking at you today,
Speaker 1: but we do want to hear back from you, because
Speaker 1: otherwise we're definitely going to think you're just not that
Speaker 1: into us. So in honor of the next episode of
Speaker 1: the Serena doc hitting Tonight, I want you to tell
Speaker 1: us the female athlete that you most would like to
Speaker 1: see a documentary about. Hit us up on our email
Speaker 1: good Game at Wondermedia network dot com or on social
Speaker 1: at Sarah Spain on Twitter. I will post this question
Speaker 1: and tell us who you want to see a doc about.
Speaker 1: We want to hear your answers. Maybe we can convince
Speaker 1: some folks to make them. We also always want to
Speaker 1: hear your guest and topic suggestions, your questions, whatever else
Speaker 1: is on your mind, So you can leave us a
Speaker 1: voice message that we might play on the show at
Speaker 1: eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy or again
Speaker 1: email us good Game at wondermediaetwork dot com. Just a reminder,
Speaker 1: you can follow me on Instagram at Spain two three
Speaker 1: two three there's that MJ thing again. Or follow me
Speaker 1: on Twitter x at Sarah Spain, follow producer Mesh on
Speaker 1: Twitter ig and TikTok at Mesh the Journalist no O,
Speaker 1: or you in journalist because I think Mesh believes that
Speaker 1: they're some sort of startup company. And you can follow
Speaker 1: producer Alex on Twitter at buy alex Azi.
Speaker 2: Let's be a l e x a zz I.
Speaker 1: Okay, before you go, We love that you're here and
Speaker 1: you're listening, but we want you to get in the
Speaker 1: game every day too. So here's our good game play
Speaker 1: of the day and it's a super super easy one.
Speaker 1: Just subscribe to the podcast. Just subscribe to Good Game
Speaker 1: with Sarah Spain. It's really important that you subscribe and
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Speaker 1: way you don't ever miss a show. We would also
Speaker 1: love it if you would help us out by rating
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Speaker 2: It's super easy. You just scroll down.
Speaker 1: Wherever you're listening until you see the stars, click five
Speaker 1: a be and leave us a review and we might
Speaker 1: even read it on the show.
Speaker 2: Don't be scared. Rating and reviewing is super easy.
Speaker 1: In fact, I will show you twizzlers rating five out
Speaker 1: of five stars.
Speaker 2: Review Delicious Ropes.
Speaker 1: Of Joy, Eat them alone or drink your orange crush
Speaker 1: through a Twizzler straw. Don't sleep on Twizzlers see Super
Speaker 1: Easy Go, give it a try and thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: Good Game, Serena, Good Game, cam Brink you ACLS. Good
Speaker 1: Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production
Speaker 1: in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can
Speaker 1: find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our
Speaker 1: producers are Alex Azzi and Nisha Jones. Our executive producers
Speaker 1: are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan.
Speaker 2: And Emily Rudder.
Speaker 1: Our editors are Jenny Kaplan, Emily Rudder, Brittany Martinez and
Speaker 1: Grace Lynch.
Speaker 2: Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah
Speaker 2: Spain