Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're turning
Speaker 1: trolling into trademarks like Angel Reese. It's Tuesday, June seventeenth,
Speaker 1: and on today's show, Big Citrus is reconvening to discuss
Speaker 1: Misha's trip to this year's athlete Ally Summit, the revolving
Speaker 1: door of WNBA players on short term contracts, and how
Speaker 1: one NWSL team's bold move has us considering the role
Speaker 1: of women's sports and activism going forward. Plus PWHL free
Speaker 1: agency is a go a TimewARP of a schedule, and
Speaker 1: a proven formula that finally determines the gayest team in
Speaker 1: the WNBA. It's all coming up right after this welcome
Speaker 1: back slices. Here's what you need to know today. Let's
Speaker 1: start with the PWHL, where the expansion Draft is done
Speaker 1: and the free agency's signing window is now open. As
Speaker 1: of Monday, all eight teams can begin signing free agents
Speaker 1: and making trades. Just a reminder, free agents were not
Speaker 1: eligible for selection as part of the expansion Draft, so
Speaker 1: we could see a lot of big moves or lots
Speaker 1: of players just resigning with their existing teams. Some of
Speaker 1: the biggest names to keep tabs on are Toronto's Hannah
Speaker 1: Miller and Natalie Spooner, Ottawa's Theresa Venizeva, Boston Susannah Topany,
Speaker 1: and Minnesota's Matti Rooney and Mikayla Cava.
Speaker 2: As of this.
Speaker 1: Recording, there are already reports from the athletics Hailey Salvian
Speaker 1: that Hannah Miller is signing with Vancouver, so it seems
Speaker 1: like we can expect some big news to report soon.
Speaker 2: To the WNBA, there are six, count them, six.
Speaker 1: WNBA games tonight, and wouldn't you know it, the league
Speaker 1: space to mount nicely say you can watch them, just kidding.
Speaker 1: If there's ever a time to borrow your neighbors tablet,
Speaker 1: it's tonight. There are two games at seven pm Eastern
Speaker 1: and three at eight pm Eastern, and one ten pm
Speaker 1: Eastern contest.
Speaker 2: First the seven pm games, the.
Speaker 1: New York Liberty will look to start a new win
Speaker 1: streak when they tip off against the eight and three
Speaker 1: Atlanta Dream, while the two and eight Connecticut Sun are
Speaker 1: traveling to the five and five Indiana Fever. Then at
Speaker 1: eight pm, the struggling Las Vegas Aces take on the
Speaker 1: ten and one Minnesota and for a third straight game,
Speaker 1: the Aces are going to be without Asia Wilson. Wilson
Speaker 1: was placed in concussion protocol last week. No word yet
Speaker 1: when she's expected to return. Also at eight pm Eastern,
Speaker 1: the Red Hot Golden State Valkyries are traveling to the
Speaker 1: Dallas Wings, where Page Beckers is back and could have
Speaker 1: a nice little on court reunion with former Yukon teammate
Speaker 1: Caitlin Chen, who was re signed by the Balks over
Speaker 1: the weekend. Also at eight Big Citrus bragging rights are
Speaker 1: on the line with Mesha's four and seven Washington Mystics
Speaker 1: taking on my three and seven Chicago Sky.
Speaker 2: Battle of the Struggle Squads. Let's do this, meche.
Speaker 1: Finally, at ten pm Eastern and West Coast battle between
Speaker 1: the La Sparks and the Seattle Storm. We'll link to
Speaker 1: the full WNBA schedule in the show notes so you
Speaker 1: can drop some x's and o's to figure out your
Speaker 1: game viewing plan. The onew team not in action tonight
Speaker 1: the Phoenix Mercury. They're back in action tomorrow against the
Speaker 1: Sun and they're currently enjoying the return of some of
Speaker 1: their biggest names. Alyssa Thomas came back from injury last week,
Speaker 1: followed by the return of Kalia Copper on Sunday. The
Speaker 1: Mercury's leading score last season, underwent a knee procedure in May,
Speaker 1: which kept her out for the first eleven games. In
Speaker 1: the mercury seventy six to seventy win over the Las
Speaker 1: Vegas Aces Sunday, Copper played eighteen minutes, recording eleven points.
Speaker 2: Glad to see a backca and not just because you're
Speaker 2: on my fantasy roster.
Speaker 1: A little more w news as Chicago Skystar Angel Rees
Speaker 1: turned in attempted trolling into a money making opportunity. Reese's
Speaker 1: critics have oft claimed that her rebounding numbers are buoyed
Speaker 1: by grabbing her own missus, actually leading reporter Stephen Noe
Speaker 1: to publish a report last season disproving the theory. We'll link
Speaker 1: to that story in our show notes, but as we know,
Speaker 1: folks do their own research. So the trolling has continued,
Speaker 1: including people calling Angels rebounds me bounds. But she turned
Speaker 1: their trash talk into a trademark idea, officially filing to
Speaker 1: trademark the word mee bounds on Saturday for t shirts, sweatshirts,
Speaker 1: and hats, and she posted this video thanking the trolls
Speaker 1: for the idea.
Speaker 2: Whoever came up with the mee bounce thing, y'all ain't
Speaker 2: that up?
Speaker 1: Because rebounds, met mound, cree bound, keep rose brow reading.
Speaker 2: Anything that comes off that board.
Speaker 3: It's fine.
Speaker 2: It's fine, and a brand sire there. Whoever came up
Speaker 2: with that. The trolling I love when I'll do it
Speaker 2: because like the ideas, be good.
Speaker 1: We'll link to the trademark notice and the video in
Speaker 1: the show notes to softball, where we've got two AUSL
Speaker 1: games tonight with all four teams in action in Wichita, Kansas.
Speaker 1: The top ranked Bandits are taken on the number two Talons,
Speaker 1: followed by the number three Volts against the last place Blaze.
Speaker 1: We'll link to the full au schedule in the show notes.
Speaker 1: And don't forget to check and see if they're coming
Speaker 1: to a city near you. Remember this first season as
Speaker 1: a barnstorm and tour, so they might be playing in
Speaker 1: your city. We got to take a quick break. When
Speaker 1: we come back, get out the juicer. It's time for
Speaker 1: Big Citrus.
Speaker 2: Welcome back slices.
Speaker 1: It's time to bring Big Citrus back together.
Speaker 2: Producer Mish, how are you? I'm good? Happy to be back.
Speaker 2: Producer Alex feeling good.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, happy to be here.
Speaker 1: I mean as good as we can be right now,
Speaker 1: which is not great, Bob, But we're here together talking
Speaker 1: and me. I want to hear about this trip you
Speaker 1: just took that looked really awesome. You went out to
Speaker 1: an athlete Ally event, and we've talked about them in
Speaker 1: a past show. Actually, they're a nonprofit LGBTQ athletic advocacy
Speaker 1: group based in the US, and they try to make
Speaker 1: athletic communities more inclusive, less discriminatory, and help athletes to
Speaker 1: advocate for the community and LGBTQ plus equality.
Speaker 2: So I want to hear about the trip you took.
Speaker 2: I saw the.
Speaker 1: Little photos from your plane ride, but I want to
Speaker 1: hear more.
Speaker 3: Yes, the athlete Ally Athlete Activism Summit. This has been
Speaker 3: the highlight of my summer so far. And that is
Speaker 3: saying a lot, because I've done a lot of cool
Speaker 3: shit this summer already. But basically, athlete Ally had the
Speaker 3: summit for student athletes for college university administration in outside
Speaker 3: of the athletic space and for coaches to come and
Speaker 3: meet in Portland, Oregon and talk about some really important
Speaker 3: topics like nil in that house versus NC DOUBLEA settlement
Speaker 3: and how that affects folks, how to help those kids
Speaker 3: that were in attendance navigate the NIL space, But also
Speaker 3: more important things like what do we do now that
Speaker 3: trans folks are literally under attack in the NC double
Speaker 3: A space, that there are folks who aren't allowed to
Speaker 3: play anymore, folks who are getting cut from teams, folks
Speaker 3: who are seeing repercussions on their college campuses. How can
Speaker 3: we support people in the core community at large, How
Speaker 3: can we take advantage of intersectionality within different identity groups
Speaker 3: and marginalized groups, and how can folks work together to
Speaker 3: make campuses more welcoming spaces and frankly think about the
Speaker 3: future of.
Speaker 2: Sport in a different way.
Speaker 3: There were a lot of really important and really smart
Speaker 3: questions that were asked this weekend by kids and adults alike.
Speaker 3: And I think my biggest takeaway from my experience is
Speaker 3: that the.
Speaker 2: Kids are the kids are gonna be all right. The
Speaker 2: kids are gonna be just fine.
Speaker 3: But to give you an idea of what we did,
Speaker 3: we had this really cool kind of field trip vibe
Speaker 3: going on. We went to a place called Sciomania Lodge.
Speaker 3: It's actually in Washington I'd never been to Oregon or Washington,
Speaker 3: so I got to check both those off the list,
Speaker 3: and so we were in there. We had big group
Speaker 3: sessions with folks like Lesia Clarendon, who was on a
Speaker 3: panel talking about masculinity and how that's affected their journey
Speaker 3: as an athlete. We had folks like coach Jackie j
Speaker 3: who we just had on the podcast talking about Yeah.
Speaker 3: I got to spend a lot of one time with
Speaker 3: both Jackie and Lesia and talk about, you know, the
Speaker 3: different ways they're trying to have impact and advocate for
Speaker 3: the things that they want to advocate for, and all
Speaker 3: in all, it was just it was cathartic, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. I think I expected going in for
Speaker 3: it to be more about the kids, and it ended
Speaker 3: up really touching my heart as well, because you know,
Speaker 3: we're all on our own journeys, and I'm on, you know,
Speaker 3: a very specific journey to me with my gender and
Speaker 3: identity and things, and I got to connect with other
Speaker 3: folks who feel that same way and had the same
Speaker 3: kind of questions and thoughts and struggles and challenges, and
Speaker 3: so all in all it was wonderful. We got to
Speaker 3: go on a hike through Skimania's trails.
Speaker 2: Was about a two mile hike. It was gorgeous.
Speaker 3: I don't know if either of you have ever been
Speaker 3: into the mountains in Washington, but I've just never seen
Speaker 3: anything like that.
Speaker 2: I'm talking with the snowcaps. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Like I actually when I was in Switzerland posted photos
Speaker 1: and someone was like, you know, it's not quite the same,
Speaker 1: but if you go to Washington, there's like areas of
Speaker 1: the United States that we underappreciate, yea for how much
Speaker 1: they have that similar beauty of the Alps.
Speaker 2: And it really made me want to go there. So
Speaker 2: I'm jellyfish yes. From from the plane to actually being there,
Speaker 2: it was. It was remarkable. It was remarkable.
Speaker 1: Wait to have a quick question for you, because you
Speaker 1: talked about how you really seem to learn from both
Speaker 1: the students and the people who were running the panels
Speaker 1: and the conversations. Is there a specific conversation that stands
Speaker 1: out to either a question that no one really had
Speaker 1: an answer to but really made you think, or something
Speaker 1: where someone offered up a solution that you were like, wow,
Speaker 1: I never thought about that.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. I just mentioned that masculinity panel. It was about
Speaker 3: all the ways masculinity has affected both CIS and transigender
Speaker 3: career non binary folks in the sports space and the
Speaker 3: ways masculinity is shaped in our adolescence, how that can
Speaker 3: affect the way we move in the world and in
Speaker 3: our sport.
Speaker 1: Are you speaking about masculinity as a quality that can
Speaker 1: be held by any gender?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 3: Okay, yes, absolutely, And I think that was a big
Speaker 3: root of the conversation, right, A big bullet point in
Speaker 3: there is that masculinity doesn't belong to.
Speaker 2: Just a concept, it's just theer.
Speaker 3: Indeed, And I think I was really touched by Lesia
Speaker 3: Clarendon's openness and willingness to be really transparent, which we
Speaker 3: expected nothing less.
Speaker 2: Right is just that's that's what he's known for.
Speaker 3: But I was really touched by a question an athlete
Speaker 3: named Maggie asked a non binary athlete asked, lay, how
Speaker 3: do you exist in the in between when everybody in
Speaker 3: your life wants an answer to your identity questions and
Speaker 3: you don't have one, And that is okay to you,
Speaker 3: but it's not okay to other people who want to
Speaker 3: put you in a box. How do you protect your
Speaker 3: peace and also educate folks and bring them into your world?
Speaker 3: To the level that you want them to be in
Speaker 3: your world. And Lay was just really open and honest
Speaker 3: about the fact that even at thirty five, thirty six,
Speaker 3: however old Lay is, it's still hard, right, But there's
Speaker 3: so much power and so much creativity and so many
Speaker 3: answers we can get just from trans and gender career
Speaker 3: people who are living in that intersection.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that really touched me.
Speaker 1: I'm actually really interested in this too, because I think
Speaker 1: when I was growing up, there was so little conversation
Speaker 1: about gender and presentation and identity that it felt like
Speaker 1: even if you weren't unsure of your identity, I was
Speaker 1: sure I was a woman and a girl, but I
Speaker 1: was so frustrated by the expectations for girls that I
Speaker 1: often had a friend and we would literally joke about
Speaker 1: how we were like, let's start something new, called it
Speaker 1: where we can be whatever the hell we want and
Speaker 1: play sports.
Speaker 2: We made little cards as a joke.
Speaker 1: I think we were in like fourth grade or fifth grade,
Speaker 1: and we were like already aware of how bullshit it
Speaker 1: was that we were expected to be certain things and
Speaker 1: we weren't.
Speaker 2: We were really funny and outgoing.
Speaker 1: We wanted to play sports all the time, we didn't
Speaker 1: want to have to wear skirts to certain events. And
Speaker 1: it wasn't because I thought I wasn't a girl, but
Speaker 1: it was because I knew what a girl was was bullshit.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting and it will be interesting to see
Speaker 1: how kids these days either are able to truly embrace
Speaker 1: an identity that's more complicated or just be the identity
Speaker 1: that's simple and easy but feels more open and less restrictive.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And the last thing I'll say on this point
Speaker 3: is the part of that question that really touched me
Speaker 3: that Maggie asked was that I was about to raise
Speaker 3: my hand and asked the exact same question. And this
Speaker 3: kid is this kid is twenty one? Yeah, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean, I'm damn near thirty. I know you're
Speaker 3: gonna call me a baby again. Okay, insert crying noise.
Speaker 2: All right, but it's.
Speaker 1: Only someone who's a couple of years away from thirty
Speaker 1: says I'm damn near something.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, I try to go in reverse, I'm.
Speaker 4: Also damn near thirty.
Speaker 3: Okay, in the opposite Yeah, all right, But it was
Speaker 3: just moments like that that really brought, you know, filled
Speaker 3: my cup and I want to give a shout out
Speaker 3: to all the folks who organize that, from Hudson who's
Speaker 3: the founder executive director, to Sydney Fellow, William and Mary
Speaker 3: Alum who had the logistics on Locke at f Ujah,
Speaker 3: Anna Bathe, doctor Anna Bath, excuse me, doctor joe Lyne,
Speaker 3: Jordan Lexton, everybody who was involved in making that such
Speaker 3: a wonderful experience.
Speaker 1: And you got to see Jenny at the sports bra
Speaker 1: and I got to see Jenny at the sports Brau.
Speaker 2: I had never been to those Jelly Braga y'all. You
Speaker 2: got to get their aceet a sip.
Speaker 4: All right, Misha, someone that has ten states left on
Speaker 4: my list, of which Oregon and Washington are two. I'm
Speaker 4: very jealous of that entire weekend.
Speaker 2: That sounds amazing.
Speaker 3: I'm jealous as you get to do it for the first.
Speaker 2: Time, Alex, Yeah, I want to do it over again.
Speaker 2: All right? What you got for us today?
Speaker 4: I have been thinking a lot as we have been
Speaker 4: celebrating these players that are coming back to the WNBA.
Speaker 4: Caitlin Chen re signing with the Valkyries after getting waived
Speaker 4: earlier this season, Aery McDonald playing three games in Indiana,
Speaker 4: Hayley Jones playing four games, with the Phoenix Mercury. You know,
Speaker 4: these are players that we watched in college. We want
Speaker 4: to have success in the W and then their time
Speaker 4: in the W is cut short because of roster limits.
Speaker 4: And it actually reminded me of a question that we
Speaker 4: got a few weeks ago from Slice Samantha Lee. She wrote,
Speaker 4: love the Show. I have a question about WNBA waving
Speaker 4: players and getting players in on two week injury international
Speaker 4: backfill contracts. Are there players who continue to practice with
Speaker 4: the team and so are in the system to fill
Speaker 4: those roles? How are they paid? Or how do you
Speaker 4: stay in shape, etc. To be ready to fill those
Speaker 4: roles if you're not playing. Is there a lower division league?
Speaker 4: I don't know about. I so appreciated this question because
Speaker 4: it brought me back to my early days of covering
Speaker 4: the W back in twenty twenty one, and I distinctly
Speaker 4: remember I was on a press conference with Cheryl Reeve
Speaker 4: and somebody asked her, Hey, Cheryl, how does it feel
Speaker 4: to go without male practice players for a second straight year?
Speaker 4: Because at that point, the WNBA didn't have male practice
Speaker 4: players coming in. It was still COVID times, and so
Speaker 4: they wanted to just limit the amount of exposure that
Speaker 4: players had, and she went on a little rant. I
Speaker 4: don't want to even call it a rant because it
Speaker 4: was just a Cheryl Reeve truth to power moment, and
Speaker 4: she talked about how she didn't want to have male
Speaker 4: practice players, that she wanted to have female practice players,
Speaker 4: and that people just assume that they use male practice
Speaker 4: players because men are better. It's actually because they are
Speaker 4: not allowed to use female practice players. And it's a
Speaker 4: little bit convoluted, but essentially the reason does make sense,
Speaker 4: where the WNBA Players Association doesn't want teams stashing players
Speaker 4: as practice players and not paying them, and so.
Speaker 1: They can from going to other teams right exactly where
Speaker 1: they might get paid.
Speaker 4: And so it's one of those things where it makes sense.
Speaker 4: And yet I don't think that the way that it
Speaker 4: is being implemented and also the result is fair. In fact,
Speaker 4: I would argue that it is exploiting players. So Cassandra
Speaker 4: Negli of Yahoo Sports wrote a great story We'll linked
Speaker 4: to it in the show notes, and she looked at
Speaker 4: Aary McDonald's journey in the WNBA and how when she
Speaker 4: got cut earlier this season by the Sparks, she went
Speaker 4: home in her childhood bedroom and was working out with
Speaker 4: her brother. And so the reality for these players is
Speaker 4: that when they are not playing on WNBA teams, they
Speaker 4: are paying their own way. They're trying to find free
Speaker 4: gym time, They're looking for old friends and coaches that
Speaker 4: they can work out with because they have to do
Speaker 4: it all on their own. And so then you see
Speaker 4: that Airy got paid just six four hundred dollars for
Speaker 4: three games with Indiana, and it's like the math doesn't
Speaker 4: math here. I hope that it's something that they are
Speaker 4: considering in their current CBA negotiations. I realize that they
Speaker 4: are way bigger fish to fry here, but it feels
Speaker 4: to me like, because these roster spots are so hard
Speaker 4: to make, it almost becomes a pay to play model
Speaker 4: where only the players that are able to kind of
Speaker 4: cobble it together on the back end are able to
Speaker 4: stay in shape to get.
Speaker 2: Those call ups.
Speaker 4: Cassandra also interviewed the Dream General manager to ask, Hey,
Speaker 4: as a GM, how are you dealing with calling in
Speaker 4: these players? And he basically said he has two lists.
Speaker 4: One of the players that he knows our state side
Speaker 4: that could be on a flight in ten hours in
Speaker 4: order to get to tomorrow's game and then also his
Speaker 4: additional list of players if they have more time. So
Speaker 4: anyway to answer your full question, Samantha, it's not a
Speaker 4: fair system as it works right now, and part of
Speaker 4: the reason is that WNBA rosters are capped at twelve players,
Speaker 4: which is not nearly enough to meet a team's full
Speaker 4: season long needs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when players get hurt instead of being able to
Speaker 1: go to a bench that should be deep enough to
Speaker 1: be able to have the players that are there every
Speaker 1: single day and have been all season get thrust into action,
Speaker 1: they sometimes need to get those hardship players also worth noting,
Speaker 1: and I want to have her on the show. There's
Speaker 1: a woman I've been a handful of times named Fatima
Speaker 1: A and she runs the Women's Premieer Basketball Association, and
Speaker 1: she really wants to try to make this essentially a
Speaker 1: minor league system, a G league type system for the
Speaker 1: w so that there can be a concurrently playing league
Speaker 1: at a lower level that will feed players up and
Speaker 1: back the same way the glegists in the NBA. So
Speaker 1: that'll be worth keeping an eye on and seeing if
Speaker 1: she's able to do that. We actually have so much
Speaker 1: more we can talk about when it comes to WNBA
Speaker 1: policy around a variety of things.
Speaker 2: But thank you for clearing that up. Al.
Speaker 1: We'll get back to you on another one in the
Speaker 1: future too, because I'm sure there's more questions coming in
Speaker 1: from slices. What I want to talk about today was
Speaker 1: something I mentioned on yesterday's show, Angel City FC responding
Speaker 1: to the immigration raids in Los Angeles. At their home
Speaker 1: game against the North Carolina Courage on Saturday. You remember,
Speaker 1: their player's staff and management were wearing Immigrant City T shirts,
Speaker 1: and the team also handed out ten thousand of those
Speaker 1: shirts to fans and flew in one of their owners,
Speaker 1: whose pop star and actress Becky g to read a
Speaker 1: statement before the game. It was also a statement that
Speaker 1: they handed out on cards to all their supporters. It
Speaker 1: read quote, the fabric of this city is made of immigrants.
Speaker 1: Football does not exist without immigrants. This club does not
Speaker 1: exist without immigrants. This was one of a couple different
Speaker 1: things done across the women's sports space in response to
Speaker 1: these raids. Earlier this week, the NWSL Players Association and
Speaker 1: the WNBA Players Association released a.
Speaker 2: Joint statement about the raids.
Speaker 1: Their statement read, in part quote, we stand with all
Speaker 1: people seeking safety dignity and opportunity. No matter where they
Speaker 1: come from or where they hope to go, every person
Speaker 1: deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. We know
Speaker 1: not every situation is simple, but offering compassion should never
Speaker 1: be up for debate.
Speaker 2: End quote.
Speaker 1: Now, neither the WNBA nor the NWSL the leagues themselves
Speaker 1: have issued a statement about the raids or supporting immigrants,
Speaker 1: but a few clubs, including that Angel City we just
Speaker 1: mentioned and then the Chicago Stars FC, have released statements
Speaker 1: and offered up links to resources. Also on the men's side,
Speaker 1: we saw in LA last weekend that fans of the
Speaker 1: MLS team LAFC made an abolish ice TFO and they
Speaker 1: unfolded in the stands before kickoff and then sat in
Speaker 1: silence throughout the game against Sporting Kansas City. I guess
Speaker 1: there are rules that potentially could have had that TFO
Speaker 1: taken down, and it wasn't, so it sounds like at
Speaker 1: the very least LAFC was in supportive or at least
Speaker 1: wasn't going to end their statement. Meantime, the Dodgers and
Speaker 1: other major men's pro teams in LA have been criticized
Speaker 1: for their relative silence and in action In fact, the
Speaker 1: Dodgers even told pop artist Nessa, who performed the national
Speaker 1: anthem at a Dodgers game on Saturday, that she couldn't
Speaker 1: perform it Spanish, but shout out to her because she
Speaker 1: did it anyway, and she posted it behind the scenes
Speaker 1: video of her being told that she should sing it
Speaker 1: in English and then her singing it in Spanish anyway
Speaker 1: to rousing applause from the folks in the stands. So
Speaker 1: we'll link to her post about that situation in our
Speaker 1: show notes. And the reason I want to talk about
Speaker 1: this quickly was, first of all, massive shout out to
Speaker 1: Angel City because it takes a lot of guts and
Speaker 1: bravery in this moment, and also because it reminded me
Speaker 1: of the Minnesota Lynks a couple of years ago, who
Speaker 1: really put themselves out there as a team and as
Speaker 1: an organization in full, from coach, owner, players on down.
Speaker 1: Several notable instances of that that you may or may
Speaker 1: not recall was back in twenty sixteen. On July ninth,
Speaker 1: the captains for the Links came out in black warm
Speaker 1: up shirts that read Change Starts with US, Justice and Accountability.
Speaker 1: That was after the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling, Filando Castile,
Speaker 1: and five Dallas police officers. In twenty twenty one, coach
Speaker 1: Cheryl Reeve was outspoken after the shooting death of Dante Wright.
Speaker 1: She's also talked to out the rights of transgender women
Speaker 1: and nine binary athletes.
Speaker 2: She's been out on.
Speaker 1: Front of a number of major issues, and of course
Speaker 1: we know about Maya Moore's work to help with the
Speaker 1: wrongfully imprisoned. So the links sort of became this place
Speaker 1: in sports, this team in sports that you knew was
Speaker 1: going to step out in front of these things. And
Speaker 1: it feels like angel City, at least in this case
Speaker 1: and in their short history, have sort of established themselves
Speaker 1: as a team that's going to do that too. And
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing I want to say is
Speaker 1: that I just have a question about whether women's sports
Speaker 1: will still be able to have this position in terms
Speaker 1: of society and the intersection of these major issues with sport,
Speaker 1: because with new investment comes potentially more conservative owners. We're
Speaker 1: at the very least owners who don't come from or
Speaker 1: know the women's sports space the same way and might
Speaker 1: be reticent to allow for protests and activations like this. Also,
Speaker 1: more coverage means more eyeballs from everyone, and that includes
Speaker 1: the administration. There is now more weight than ever in
Speaker 1: using women's sports as a political not just when it
Speaker 1: comes to trans inclusion, but everything. And I worry about
Speaker 1: the ability for teams to stand up understanding they will
Speaker 1: be under a microscope that's much closer to the one
Speaker 1: that men's teams are under when they want to make
Speaker 1: statements like this. And I really hope we see these
Speaker 1: teams and these players and these coaches and these owners
Speaker 1: continue to be on the forefront of this because we
Speaker 1: saw how powerful it could be in flipping the Senate.
Speaker 1: We've seen how much of a difference it makes in
Speaker 1: sports where there's so many different people from every single race, religion,
Speaker 1: background coming together to watch and care about something, and
Speaker 1: how it gets them to discuss things they might not
Speaker 1: otherwise talk about. And I don't know, I just I'm
Speaker 1: a little worried and I'm hopeful at the same time
Speaker 1: about what the future could look like for activism in
Speaker 1: women's sports. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think it's an interesting moment because this move by
Speaker 4: Immigrant City FC, also known as ahel City, is different
Speaker 4: to me in some respects from the Minnesota links in
Speaker 4: twenty sixteen, and it's one of those things that I
Speaker 4: think maybe newer fans to the w don't realize because
Speaker 4: they think, oh, the WNBA is this really progressive league,
Speaker 4: And I think there's a slight correction that's needed there.
Speaker 4: Of the WNBA is a league with very progressive players
Speaker 4: that the league has at time attempted to hold back.
Speaker 4: And you can even point to that twenty sixteen example
Speaker 4: when initially the league fined those Minnesota players for wearing
Speaker 4: those shirts, along with players from other teams that did
Speaker 4: the same thing. Following their lead. The finds were ultimately rescinded,
Speaker 4: but it shows you that this is a league that
Speaker 4: has been led by players, and so the fact that
Speaker 4: the Angel City show up support for immigrants, as far
Speaker 4: as we know, has been led kind of by the
Speaker 4: front office feels different to me. Of course, it has
Speaker 4: the player support as well, but I do think that
Speaker 4: it's important to note who's leading those conversations and what
Speaker 4: it means about the structures that they're operating within.
Speaker 1: I completely agree it's worth noting, and Glenn Taylor has
Speaker 1: never stepped in or tried to stop anything that was
Speaker 1: said or done by the Links players, so while the
Speaker 1: league itself, and I think when we think of that,
Speaker 1: we think front office, commissioner, etc.
Speaker 2: Hasn't always been in step.
Speaker 1: There has been a belief from a lot of players
Speaker 1: that their owners will align with them or at least
Speaker 1: support them in those moments, which isn't always the case
Speaker 1: in other leagues.
Speaker 2: So I agree with you.
Speaker 1: But also there is more top down progressivism in women's
Speaker 1: leagues than say men's. Even where we consider the NBA
Speaker 1: a very progressive league, it's really only in relation to
Speaker 1: other leagues because the MNBA still has a majority of
Speaker 1: owners who donated to the Trump campaign and would consider
Speaker 1: themselves Republican and conservative.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm gonna yes, and your yes, and sera, Yes,
Speaker 3: I do think you're right. I think the w and
Speaker 3: a lot of women's forts leagues do have owners that
Speaker 3: don't desire to step in and be in the way
Speaker 3: of you know, advocacy. But this goes back to the
Speaker 3: conversation we've had on the show before. I would love,
Speaker 3: I would love for us to get to a place
Speaker 3: where those folks who are the owners, those folks who
Speaker 3: do have the decision making power, are also the ones
Speaker 3: who are most closely aligned with the people on the
Speaker 3: front lines of these fights. So I just want to
Speaker 3: put that out there. I know we've had discussions about
Speaker 3: when money gets into the system, into the mix, sometimes
Speaker 3: things change. Sometimes you know their concessions and compromises you
Speaker 3: have to make with people. But I want, and I
Speaker 3: really hope for women's sports and all of sports, frankly,
Speaker 3: that we get to a point where we do have
Speaker 3: people in positions of real, real, real power who are
Speaker 3: making decisions and have advocacy at the heart of those decisions.
Speaker 1: Completely agree, and frankly, I'm torn on whether I want
Speaker 1: this administration and a whole bunch of the country to
Speaker 1: keep ignoring women's sports so that they can keep thriving
Speaker 1: in this way, or whether I don't want to wish
Speaker 1: for them to be irrelevant in that way. But I
Speaker 1: do worry about what it means when you get in
Speaker 1: the crosshairs of Donald Trump and this administration and the
Speaker 1: literal ways that they can and have financially and otherwise
Speaker 1: restraint did their enemies, and so I understand why in
Speaker 1: this particular moment there might be some concern about just
Speaker 1: how much you want to step up and step out.
Speaker 1: But props to Angel City for being willing to take
Speaker 1: a really big first step in that way, in this
Speaker 1: moment in their city. All Right, we got to take
Speaker 1: a break when we come back. The easiest add to
Speaker 1: Kart decision I've ever made welcome Max Slaces. We love
Speaker 1: that you're listening, but we want you to get in
Speaker 1: the game every day too. So here's our good game
Speaker 1: play of the day. I talked about those shirts Angel
Speaker 1: City handed out, Well, they are now on sale, with
Speaker 1: net proceeds going to Camino Immigration Services, an organization that
Speaker 1: provides free and low cost immigration legal services. We'll link
Speaker 1: to both the t shirts and Camino Immigration Services in
Speaker 1: our show notes. And we always love to hear from you,
Speaker 1: so hit us up on email good game at wondermedianetwork
Speaker 1: dot com or leave us a voicemail at eight seven
Speaker 1: two two O four fifty seventy.
Speaker 2: Don't forget to subscribe a rate and review too, y'all.
Speaker 2: It's real easy. Watch The Fruit Slice Guide.
Speaker 1: To the Gayest teams in the WNBA, rating twenty two
Speaker 1: out of twenty two points for the gayest squads, the
Speaker 1: Phoenix Mercury and the Dallas Wings. Review The Fruit Slice Magazine,
Speaker 1: a quarterly publication featuring exclusively queer writers, artists, and creators,
Speaker 1: released a handy guide to hoops and gay Shit on
Speaker 1: their insta a few weeks ago, catching the eye of
Speaker 1: a number of WNBA players. The guide breaks down each
Speaker 1: of the teams in the league by gayness, assigning points
Speaker 1: for openly gay players plus four, a player with a
Speaker 1: them pronouns plus one, an openly gay head coach plus two,
Speaker 1: legend points for a notable retired gay player associated with
Speaker 1: the team plus two, a gay mascot plus one, and hilariously,
Speaker 1: a half a point for Isabelle Harrison, who identifies as
Speaker 1: straight but is dating her Liberty teammate Natasha Cloud. We'll
Speaker 1: put the link to the Instagram post in our show
Speaker 1: notes so you can see just how gay your team is. Also,
Speaker 1: be sure to peep the comments from players underneath, especially
Speaker 1: the links Alena Smith, who wrote, so sorry to disappoint,
Speaker 1: but this is me coming out publicly as straight. I
Speaker 1: am a strong ally though. Now it's your turn rate
Speaker 1: and review. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. Good game,
Speaker 1: Collia Copper, good game, athlete, ally h you stick to
Speaker 1: sports crowd, we never will. Good game with Sarah Spain
Speaker 1: is an iHeart Women's Sports production in partnership with Deep
Speaker 1: Blue Sports and Entertainment. You could find us on the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are Alex Azzie
Speaker 1: and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz,
Speaker 1: Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rudder,
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Speaker 1: is Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain