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Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where I'm honored.

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Speaker 1: The WNBA has awarded me their inaugural Pulitzer Prize, the

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Speaker 1: PWHL has created and given me its first ever Edward R.

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Speaker 1: Murrow Award, and the NWSL honored me with their maiden

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Speaker 1: Journalist Oscar. These are all very real and legitimate honors

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Speaker 1: and certainly not invented to appease the maniacal desires of

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Speaker 1: a narcissistic, dementia riddled overlord. It's Monday, December eighth, and

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Speaker 1: on Today Show you'll hear my conversation with the Washington

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Speaker 1: Spirits new President of Soccer Operations, Hailey Carter. We spoke

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Speaker 1: on Thursday about her decision to leave the Orlando Pride

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Speaker 1: for DC the league, rejecting the long term deal the

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Speaker 1: spirit agreed to with Trinity Rodman, and what comes next

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Speaker 1: for the team's efforts to keep trend, as well as

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Speaker 1: Haley's take on the NWSL's gender policy plus raise it

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Speaker 1: to the Raptors, a wave of fun, and the College

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Speaker 1: Cup finale is here. It's all coming up right after

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Speaker 1: this Welcome Back Slice. This is Happy Monday. Here's what

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Speaker 1: you need to know today Let's start with college soccer,

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Speaker 1: as the Women's College Cup concludes tonight, with number one

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Speaker 1: Stanford set to take on number three Florida State in

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Speaker 1: an all acc title game. Both teams reached the championship

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Speaker 1: game by recording one nil wins in their semi final

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Speaker 1: contests on Friday, with Stanford defeating Duke and Florida State

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Speaker 1: overcoming TCU in a dramatic and controversial semi TCU was

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Speaker 1: somehow not awarded a penalty in that game after a

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Speaker 1: Florida State defender blocked a shot with her arm. Then,

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Speaker 1: in the final seconds, TCU forward seven Castain had an

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Speaker 1: incredible one B one opportunity, but Florida State's keeper came

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Speaker 1: away with a clutch save to secure her team's spot

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Speaker 1: in tonight's championship contest. The title game is a rematch

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Speaker 1: from twenty twenty three, two years ago, Florida State defeated

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Speaker 1: Stanford five to one, so we know the cardinal will

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Speaker 1: be looking for a little revenge Tonight. That game gets

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Speaker 1: underway at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City at seven pm Eastern,

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Speaker 1: and you can catch it on ESPNU. You'll likely be

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Speaker 1: warmer at home than those in attendance forecast for the

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Speaker 1: game is twenty nine degrees to College Vibes. Where the

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Speaker 1: second round of the Ncaattorney is complete and the field

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Speaker 1: has shrunk from sixty four to sixteen teams. That includes

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Speaker 1: fifteen of the top sixteen teams making it through. That's right.

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Speaker 1: In three of the four regions, all four top seeded

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Speaker 1: teams advanced. The outlier is cal Poly, which upset number

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Speaker 1: five BYU in five sets in round one, then upset

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Speaker 1: number four seeded USC again in five sets in round two.

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Speaker 1: If cal Poly wants to see their Cinderella run continue,

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Speaker 1: they'll have to upset number one seed Kentucky. They meet

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Speaker 1: on Thursday. We'll have more on those third round matches

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Speaker 1: before they get underway later this week. And don't forget

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Speaker 1: to check in on your brackets in the ESPN Volleyball

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Speaker 1: Championship Challenge. I'm currently sitting in a sad tie for

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Speaker 1: fifteenth place, but it's not over till it's over. To

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Speaker 1: the World seven Soccer Tourney held over the weekend in

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Speaker 1: Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was the first ever North American

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Speaker 1: edition of the seven B seven footy tournament, with the

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Speaker 1: San Diego Wave defeating Mexican pro club Tigrisfeminil three nil

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Speaker 1: in the final on Sunday afternoon. With the win, San

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Speaker 1: Diego earns a big prize two million dollars, which comes

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Speaker 1: out to about fifty five thousand dollars per player after

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Speaker 1: the winnings are split fifty to fifty with the club itself.

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Speaker 1: For its runner up finish, Tigrisfeminil earns a cool million dollars.

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Speaker 1: The competition featured eight teams, including The Wave and Kansas

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Speaker 1: City Current of the NWSL, along with club teams from Canada, Mexico, Brazil,

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Speaker 1: and Columbia. And even before winning it all and taking

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Speaker 1: home all that cash, it was clear San Diego was

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Speaker 1: having a lot of fun down in Florida. We'll link

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Speaker 1: to a few videos of the team's intros and celebrations

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Speaker 1: in the show notes. You can check them out and

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Speaker 1: pick up a few new dance moves Toops. Yukon retired

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Speaker 1: Sue Bird's number ten jersey on Sunday ahead of the

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Speaker 1: Huskies one O two thirty five win over to Paul

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Speaker 1: Byrd is just the third Husky to have her number retired,

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Speaker 1: joining Swin Cash and Rebecca Lobo. Now you might not

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Speaker 1: know this, but when Bird arrived at Yukon in nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety eight, the Huskies weren't yet known as a dynasty.

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Speaker 1: At the time, the program had won just one NC

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Speaker 1: Double A title in nineteen ninety five. Well Byrd went

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Speaker 1: on to lead the program to two more national titles

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Speaker 1: and helped secure the foundation for the huskies decades long

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Speaker 1: run of success, which now is up to a total

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Speaker 1: of twelve NC DOUBLEA titles. More college hoops will flash

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Speaker 1: back to a pair of games from last Thursday's Big

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Speaker 1: acc SEC Challenge. First, number three South Carolina just eked

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Speaker 1: past number twenty two Louisville seventy nine to seventy seven.

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Speaker 1: Gamecocks were led by Medina Ocott, who had twenty three

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Speaker 1: points and thirteen boards in the win. Then a ninety

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Speaker 1: three seventy seven comeback victory for number five LSU over Duke.

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Speaker 1: Late in the game, Flage Johnson hit a trey to

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Speaker 1: score three of her eighteen points on the night, then

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Speaker 1: turned to the Duke bench to chirp at head coach

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Speaker 1: Kara Lawson, who was Johnson's coach for the twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: five FEEBO Women's America Cup. This past summer. Now, Johnson

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Speaker 1: didn't see a lot of playing time for Team USA

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Speaker 1: during the tournament. She played twenty minutes in the quarterfinals,

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Speaker 1: but just three minutes in the semis and another three

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Speaker 1: minutes in the finals. LSU coach Kim Moulkey addressed Johnson's

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Speaker 1: words for after the game, saying, in part, I was

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Speaker 1: happy for Flage. I was happy. You know, she didn't

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Speaker 1: have a good experience at USA Basketball with Kara this summer,

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Speaker 1: and so she's had this date circled and then later

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Speaker 1: Flage lost a lot of confidence this summer playing with

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Speaker 1: USA Basketball, and it's my job when I get her

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Speaker 1: back on campus to bring her back to where she

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Speaker 1: can help us do what we need to do at LSU.

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Speaker 1: End quote. For her part, Flage wrote on social media

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Speaker 1: the next day, quote, I was fired up in the moment,

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Speaker 1: but I have nothing but the utmost respect for coach

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Speaker 1: Kara Lawson, the coach I won my first gold medal under.

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Speaker 1: Don't get it twisted, She's a legend. End quote. Probably

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Speaker 1: makes sense for Flage to stay on the good side

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Speaker 1: of the woman who will be leading Team USA at

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Speaker 1: the twenty twenty eight Olympics. And while we're on the

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Speaker 1: topic of flage. There's a nice Kendra Andrews feature on

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Speaker 1: her over ADESPN dot com. We'll link to it in

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Speaker 1: the show notes if you want to check it out.

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Speaker 1: A couple more notable performances this weekend in college hoops.

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Speaker 1: On Saturday, Olivia Miles had a fifteen point ten rebound,

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Speaker 1: eleven assists triple double to lead TCU pasted UTEP ninety

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Speaker 1: to forty five. On Sunday, Lauren Betts led UCLA pasted

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Speaker 1: Oregon fifty nine with a twenty four point fourteen rebound outing,

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Speaker 1: and the nation's leading scorer, Audie Crook stayed hot, putting

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Speaker 1: up thirty points to lead Oklahoma State in a one

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Speaker 1: oh five to fifty two defeat of Northern Illinois. I

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Speaker 1: also got a shout out Northwestern's Gray Sullivan, who had

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Speaker 1: thirty seven points to keep her team minute with number

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Speaker 1: twenty three Ohio State, though the Buckeyes did get the

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Speaker 1: win seventy nine to seventy. This weekend soops also featured

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Speaker 1: a historic outing from University of North Texas standout Megan Nestor,

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Speaker 1: who put up thirty four points and thirty one rebounds

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Speaker 1: to lead her team to an eighty one to fifty

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Speaker 1: two victory over Texas Southern on Saturday. It's just the

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Speaker 1: third thirty thirty game in Division one history since the

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one eighty two season. To hockey and the

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Speaker 1: p WHL, the Seattle Torrent secured the expansion sides first

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Speaker 1: ever win on Friday, and it was a thriller. The

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Speaker 1: team was down one to oh late in the third

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Speaker 1: period to the visiting New York Sirens when they turned

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Speaker 1: things around after a major penalty was called on New

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Speaker 1: York with just under four minutes to play. Lex Carpenter

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Speaker 1: tied the game with one minute, twenty four seconds left

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Speaker 1: on the clock, and then twenty two seconds later, Hillary

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Speaker 1: Knight scored the game winner. But while Seattle took the w,

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Speaker 1: the team's hometown paper took back to back El's as

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Speaker 1: The Seattle Times not only took the story about the

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Speaker 1: wind below the fold, but also got the team's name wrong,

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Speaker 1: as the headline proclaimed quote late penalty helps Sirens secure

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Speaker 1: teams first victory end quote oof. Elsewhere in the PWHL,

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Speaker 1: we told you last week that Ottawa Charge head coach

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Speaker 1: Carla McLeod has been diagnosed with breast cancer and will

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Speaker 1: be missing some games as she undergoes treatment. While McLeod

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Speaker 1: was back behind her team's bench for last Thursday's three

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Speaker 1: to one away loss to the Toronto Scepters, which also

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Speaker 1: coincidentally happened to be the Scepter's annual stick It to

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Speaker 1: Cancer theme night. The game began with former Sceptors goalie

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Speaker 1: Erica Howe, a breast cancer survivor, herself, wearing mclod's Canada

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Speaker 1: jersey for a ceremonial puck drop. Mclod was then recognized

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Speaker 1: during the third period and given a rousing standing ovation

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Speaker 1: from the crowd. After the game, McLoud said she was

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Speaker 1: overwhelmed and grateful for all the support she's received, saying,

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Speaker 1: quote it's just been this whole, massive wave of just

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Speaker 1: love end quote more PWHL. On Friday, Vancouver Sarah Nurse

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Speaker 1: was placed on long term injury reserve retroactive to November

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Speaker 1: twenty first, after she missed three games with an upper

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Speaker 1: body injury. With Nurse out for the foreseeable future, the

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Speaker 1: Golden Eyes activated Mollia Schier from its reserve player list,

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Speaker 1: signing her to a standard contract. The PWHL's long term

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Speaker 1: injury policy means Nurse will miss a minimum of three weeks,

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Speaker 1: but it's not yet clear whether it should be out

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Speaker 1: for much longer than that, and of course, because it's Hoki,

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Speaker 1: we likely aren't going to get more information than the

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Speaker 1: vague upper body designation either. Nurse will also miss this

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Speaker 1: week's Rivalry Series games, with Canada set to face off

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Speaker 1: against the US this Wednesday and Saturday in Edmonton, Alberta.

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Speaker 1: The PWHLS offer the week to accommodate the international games,

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Speaker 1: with the regular season resuming in just over a week.

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Speaker 1: To figure skating, Alyssa Liu when yet another competition over

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Speaker 1: the weekend, claiming gold at the Grand Prix Final, the

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Speaker 1: biggest prize in figure skating other than the Olympics and

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Speaker 1: World Championships. Leo won the competition in Japan with an

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Speaker 1: overall score of two hundred and twenty two point four

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Speaker 1: to nine points, and she solidifies herself as a strong

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Speaker 1: podium contender ahead of the Milan Courtina Olympics, which get

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Speaker 1: under way in February. But before then, Leo still needs

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Speaker 1: to book her spot on Team USA. The official roster

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Speaker 1: will be selected after the US Championships in January, with

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Speaker 1: Leo and fellow American Amber Glenn, both expected to secure

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Speaker 1: their spots on the team. More Winter Sports News. Cross

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Speaker 1: country skier Jesse Diggins officially qualified for her fourth Olympics

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Speaker 1: over the weekend, securing her ticket to Italy, following back

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Speaker 1: to back podium finishes at a World Cup stop in Trondheim, Norway,

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Speaker 1: including a win in the skiathalon on Saturday. While Diggins

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Speaker 1: has won a lot in her career, that victory actually

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Speaker 1: marked her first ever in Trondheim, a notoriously tough venue.

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Speaker 1: All Right, after the break, it's Haley Carter stick Around

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Speaker 1: joining us now. She's a former VP of Soccer Operations

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Speaker 1: for the Orlando Pride newly named president of Soccer Ops

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Speaker 1: for the Washington Spirit. She's a former United States Marine

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Speaker 1: Corps officer who made multiple deployments and earned several military

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Speaker 1: awards and decorations. Former pro soccer keeper with the Houston

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Speaker 1: Dash and former coach as an assistant for the Afghanistan

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Speaker 1: women's national team and as a goalkeeper coach for the

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Speaker 1: Antigua and Barbuda women's national team. A former Houston Business

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Speaker 1: journal forty under forty, an advocate for Vets for Guns reform,

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Speaker 1: and a lifetime Girl Scouts member. It's Haley Carter. Hi Haley,

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Speaker 1: Hi Sarah.

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Speaker 2: How are you thanks for having me on?

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Speaker 1: Do you have to sign up to be a lifetime

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Speaker 1: Girl Scouts member or do you have to just be

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Speaker 1: in it for long enough that you achieved that status?

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Speaker 2: A little bit of both, okay, a little bit of both.

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Speaker 1: Are there requirements for the rest of your lifetime to say?

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Speaker 2: It's service? Right?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Service?

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Speaker 1: Good to know. I didn't realize that there was a

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Speaker 1: lifetime option. I quit after Brownies. I started with the Brownies.

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Speaker 1: I never even advanced to the Girl Scouts.

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Speaker 3: Did you have a fun troop? Did you camp? Did

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Speaker 3: you like to outdoors things?

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Speaker 1: I didn't even get to that. I just remember sitting

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Speaker 1: and standing in a gym and like looking in like

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Speaker 1: a fake mirror that was supposed to be like a pond, and.

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Speaker 2: Across the bridge.

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Speaker 1: That's all I remember. In cookies.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's all you go and cookies and cookies.

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Speaker 1: That's fair yeah, fair well. I would like to think

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Speaker 1: that your service to women's sports counts toward that lifetime

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Speaker 1: membership because you've certainly done your part, as I just mentioned,

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Speaker 1: across so many different spaces in the women's sports world.

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Speaker 1: But most recently until this new gig, you helped lead

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Speaker 1: the Orlando Pride to the franchise's first ever NWSL championship

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four. What helped you decide I want

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Speaker 1: to make this move to the Spirit, and it's a

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Speaker 1: move that is kind of like the next step for me.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: I think the opportunity to come and work for Michelle.

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Speaker 3: Michelle is setting the standard in terms of investment in

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Speaker 3: women's sports, and not just women's soccer, but women's sports

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Speaker 3: and the recognition that, you know, women athletes are different.

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Speaker 3: It's not just like revolutionary concept, but Michelle is someone

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Speaker 3: who who really really walks the walk, and so the

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Speaker 3: opportunity to come and be a part of what she's

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Speaker 3: growing and her effort and the excitement around.

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Speaker 2: That was who's going to say no to that?

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Speaker 3: But also this particular position right coming in as president

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Speaker 3: of Soccer Operations is a very clear promotion. I get

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Speaker 3: the opportunity to operate and function at a bit more

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Speaker 3: of a strategic level and really start to drive a

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Speaker 3: long term vision with the Washington Spirit and the larger

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Speaker 3: Kaniska portfolio and find best practices and to be able

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Speaker 3: to have an influence in the women's game that that

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Speaker 3: can impact both what's happening in the NWSL, but also

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Speaker 3: what's happening in other leagues and across other continents and

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Speaker 3: within other clubs was really exciting for me, Like that

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Speaker 3: is a no brainer. And I'm at the point in

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Speaker 3: my career as well where, you know, being able to

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Speaker 3: operate at a little bit of a higher level, take

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Speaker 3: a step back a little bit from the day to

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Speaker 3: day and really to fil on leading leaders was something

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Speaker 3: else that made this position really appealing for me. So

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Speaker 3: to be able to come in and congratulate, you know,

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Speaker 3: Nathan on his promotion to full time permanent general manager,

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Speaker 3: to come in and work with James Hawkin and Audrey

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Speaker 3: and this collection of very very talented staff, you know,

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Speaker 3: to come in and also work with this highly talented

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Speaker 3: roster of athletes, and in a city that you know

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Speaker 3: is really really weaving a narrative together with the club,

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Speaker 3: and you know, DC has become this cultural like melting pot,

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Speaker 3: and the club has become an icon i think, within

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Speaker 3: the city and to be a part of that is

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Speaker 3: really exciting. And to be a part of, you know,

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Speaker 3: the longer term vision that Michelle has and that kem

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Speaker 3: soone on the business side has is is really making

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Speaker 3: this club a dynasty. And of course that you want

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Speaker 3: to win championships, right, That's why we exist.

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Speaker 2: We exist to win.

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Speaker 3: But I think success can be defined in so many

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Speaker 3: more terms when you're thinking about women's professional sports, and

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Speaker 3: you know, or are we are we rethinking how we

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Speaker 3: generate revenue? Are we thinking what the commercial streams are?

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Speaker 3: Are we rethinking what the fan experiences are?

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Speaker 2: Like?

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Speaker 3: Those are all pockets of defining success. So you know,

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Speaker 3: of course we want to win on the field. We

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Speaker 3: want to win internationally. We want to win domestically, right,

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Speaker 3: we want to beat Gotham and Champions Cup, right and

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Speaker 3: and you know get to the FIFA Club World Cup.

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Speaker 3: We want to win n w CELL Championships and shields.

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Speaker 3: But also we want to be setting the standard in

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Speaker 3: these other things too, right, So building athletes brands and

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Speaker 3: and building the team's brands and getting getting fans to

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Speaker 3: a place where you know, Washington has this really incredible

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Speaker 3: like heritage and history within the NWSL is one of

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Speaker 3: the original NWSL clubs, and you know, helping the fans

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Speaker 3: base become.

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Speaker 2: Really excited about and loyal to the club.

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Speaker 3: You know, when you look at women's professional soccer for

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Speaker 3: a long time, like fans are fans of players and

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Speaker 3: not necessarily of clubs. So to create an atmosphere where

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Speaker 3: fans are really really excited about the club. All of

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Speaker 3: these things, you know, together are really sort of what

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Speaker 3: drove my decision.

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Speaker 1: What are your biggest takeaways from your time in Orlando

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Speaker 1: that you think will help you in this next step?

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Speaker 3: You know, I think the ability to reinvent yourself every season.

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Speaker 3: You know, I was even talking about this with Yael

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Speaker 3: the week of the.

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Speaker 1: Final the GM of Gotham.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, we were talking about like leadership within

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Speaker 3: your club and how difficult but how important it is

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Speaker 3: to be able to reinvent yourself every season. And every

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Speaker 3: season is a new chapter and you have a long

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Speaker 3: term strategy, but what worked last season isn't going to

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Speaker 3: work this season. What worked last season on the field

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Speaker 3: isn't going to work this season. How you lead you

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Speaker 3: you might have to evolve that over time. And I

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Speaker 3: think that's probably one of my biggest takeaways is that

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Speaker 3: each season brings a different set of challenges and and

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Speaker 3: you know you're going to have to adjust to that

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Speaker 3: and it's just like working with players, right, Like every

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Speaker 3: player is different, you got to meet them where they are.

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Speaker 2: Staff are the same way.

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Speaker 3: Like, in order to optimize everyone's performance, you have to

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Speaker 3: be really cognizant of that. And I think I think

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Speaker 3: the other biggest takeaway, and I said this from day

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Speaker 3: one in Orlando and I and I bring it with

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Speaker 3: me here is you have to focus on doing the

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Speaker 3: right things and doing things right and being really detail

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Speaker 3: oriented about that and recognizing that they're not these revolutionary concepts.

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Speaker 3: You don't change cultures and improve cultures with these big

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Speaker 3: action items and steps. It's like the day to day interactions,

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Speaker 3: every conversation you have with an athlete, every conversation you

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Speaker 3: have with a fan, every conversation we have with each

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Speaker 3: other as staff. That is where doing things right and

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Speaker 3: doing the right things starts to come into play.

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Speaker 1: And it's kind of wild to me how people seem

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Speaker 1: not to understand that about culture. Often it's about gimmicks,

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Speaker 1: and it really comes down to just basic principles of

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Speaker 1: how you want to be treated and how you want

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Speaker 1: to and it's a day to day Yeah, But I

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Speaker 1: feel like your background as a player probably influences that

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Speaker 1: and as a coach, like You've been able to come

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Speaker 1: at this from every single angle, so you probably recognize

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Speaker 1: where there are barriers to communication, where there are different

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Speaker 1: needs and wants from the different levels, whether that's front

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Speaker 1: office down to players and everything else. So how do

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Speaker 1: you see that growth of your own career up into

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Speaker 1: the front office level influencing the decision making and how

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Speaker 1: you want to interact with the other people on the team.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, every leadership experience that I've had, whether

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Speaker 3: it was as a marine, whether it was as a

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Speaker 3: pro player, whether it was working in corporate life, you know,

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Speaker 3: whether it was as a coach, Which every experience that

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Speaker 3: I've had informs my decision making and it also informs

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Speaker 3: how I interact with people. Right, So I see this

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Speaker 3: a lot about, you know, hiring former players into executive roles.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I even saw a comment on social media

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Speaker 3: about it today or yesterday around my announcement, And I

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Speaker 3: think something that's really important to remember is that being

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Speaker 3: a former player is not the.

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Speaker 2: Qualifier, m right.

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Speaker 3: It's a qualifier, yes, And I have a whole bunch

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Speaker 3: of other qualifiers and a few initials that run after

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Speaker 3: my name that say that I'm capable and competent to

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Speaker 3: do the thing that I'm doing, but it informs how

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Speaker 3: I treat people, and it forms my decision making. I remember,

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Speaker 3: you know, my experiences in the NWSL are very, very

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Speaker 3: different than some of the experiences of athletes now, but

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Speaker 3: there are a lot of things that are very common.

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Speaker 3: And I have the ability to relate to athletes in

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Speaker 3: ways that if you haven't spent time as a player

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Speaker 3: in the NWSL, you'll struggle with. And I think that

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Speaker 3: that matters, right, It matters to be able to have

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Speaker 3: a conversation and say, listen, I know where you're coming from.

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Speaker 3: I have sat on that side of the table before,

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Speaker 3: but also be able to have a hard conversisation and say,

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Speaker 3: you know, perspective matters, and I'm going to give you

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Speaker 3: a little bit of my perspective and yeah, we might

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Speaker 3: just have to agree to disagree.

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Speaker 1: Well, that line of communication seems to be the thing

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Speaker 1: for me. Having been in the ownership side of the

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Speaker 1: Chicago Color Neutral Stars former Red Stars, and having been

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Speaker 1: a former athlete and being on the media side. You know,

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Speaker 1: I haven't touched everything, but I've been in enough spaces

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Speaker 1: to understand that so much of It is just why

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Speaker 1: doesn't this group communicate to this group why they're making

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Speaker 1: these decisions so that this group doesn't make assumptions about

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Speaker 1: why those decisions are being made, And why doesn't this group,

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Speaker 1: before they make those decisions, ask this group how it

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Speaker 1: might impact and affect them and if they have any input.

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Speaker 1: It seems pretty simple. It's like basic collaboration, right. But

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Speaker 1: I think the either power dynamics or Caste system or

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Speaker 1: disconnect has been really problematic across the history of the

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Speaker 1: NWSL in a lot of ways. And I wonder if

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Speaker 1: you think now looking across the league, and obviously you're

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Speaker 1: not inside each franchise to understand it, but how do

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Speaker 1: you think the league is doing now when it comes

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Speaker 1: to listening and addressing athlete wants and needs and connecting

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Speaker 1: front offices and decision makers with players so that even

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Speaker 1: if it is a decision that the players aren't going

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Speaker 1: to like, they can say, hey, let me tell you

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Speaker 1: why we did this because we don't have this money,

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Speaker 1: or because this supplier is always late, or because you

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Speaker 1: know what I mean, the x's and y. So that

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Speaker 1: I just talked to Brandy Chastain about this, and it's

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Speaker 1: something I experienced, you do feel a little differently once

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Speaker 1: you get to become the man and you're like, oh,

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Speaker 1: so not everything we hate these people for is their fault,

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Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, perspective members, Yeah it does.

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Speaker 3: I think you touched upon the reason I wanted to

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Speaker 3: get back involved in the NWSL when I like joined

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Speaker 3: Orlando and why even moving into this position is so important.

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Speaker 3: And it's because what you're describing is not rocket science, right,

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Speaker 3: women ask leads. We want to know. We want to

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Speaker 3: know the why, we want to know the how. And

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Speaker 3: you have to recognize that if you want to work

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Speaker 3: in this space, like you have this collection of highly intelligent,

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Speaker 3: highly invested women who care about the sports, who care

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Speaker 3: about fans, who care about brand building and revenue generation.

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Speaker 3: They want to be a part of the solutions. So

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Speaker 3: why would you not engage them on things?

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Speaker 2: Right?

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Speaker 3: And I think that that's true, whether it's it's working

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Speaker 3: with the league in the sporting staff, or it's the

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Speaker 3: sporting staff working with the players within their clubs. We

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Speaker 3: have to be comfortable one having difficult conversations, right. You know,

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Speaker 3: from a leadership perspective, it's taking me a long time

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Speaker 3: to get here, but you know, I've been leading people

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Speaker 3: for two decades, but getting to the point where you know,

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Speaker 3: you recognize you're going to make some decisions that are

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Speaker 3: probably going to hurt some people that you care about,

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Speaker 3: and you have to remind yourself that you're making those

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Speaker 3: decisions because those are the decisions that are in the

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Speaker 3: best interests.

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Speaker 2: Of the most people.

435
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,159
Speaker 3: You know, you have to be comfortable with being misunderstood

436
00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:08,000
Speaker 3: and not always getting the opportunity to communicate or defend yourself. Right,

437
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:12,680
Speaker 3: But when you can increase the collaboration between players and staff,

438
00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,480
Speaker 3: you can increase collaboration among players themselves, you empower them

439
00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:18,480
Speaker 3: to sort to some of the conflict and some of

440
00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:23,960
Speaker 3: the problems that they navigate. It's powerful stuff. And but

441
00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:28,160
Speaker 3: you're right, it's not. This is like basic leadership, basic

442
00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:33,160
Speaker 3: human interaction. You know, like we live in one giant

443
00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:36,000
Speaker 3: human system, and if we're not meeting each other on

444
00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:38,280
Speaker 3: that level and we're not thinking about the things that

445
00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:40,600
Speaker 3: impact one another on that level, then.

446
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:42,439
Speaker 2: What the hell are we doing?

447
00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:42,880
Speaker 3: Right?

448
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,320
Speaker 1: You know? And it just feels like such an obvious

449
00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:48,200
Speaker 1: predictor of success, and yet people either want to take

450
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:50,960
Speaker 1: the shortcuts or you know, go around the part where

451
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,280
Speaker 1: the humanity lies. Yeah, you know, you talked about tough conversations.

452
00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:56,440
Speaker 1: We're at this major pivot point for the NWSL in

453
00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:59,520
Speaker 1: the global soccer landscape, one of the leagues that is

454
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:01,960
Speaker 1: competing for the top talent in the world, trying to

455
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,679
Speaker 1: figure out how to contend for those players with money,

456
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:09,720
Speaker 1: with experience, with parody, with competitive balance, and Trinity Rodman

457
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:11,920
Speaker 1: is one of the biggest conversation points right now. You've

458
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,000
Speaker 1: said already that keeping Trend in DC is a top

459
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:17,639
Speaker 1: priority for you, for Michelle Gang, and for the league itself,

460
00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:19,800
Speaker 1: which is so very true. So what can you tell

461
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,440
Speaker 1: us right now about the team's efforts to resign her.

462
00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:27,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, so, you know, there's been a lot of collaboration obviously,

463
00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:29,919
Speaker 3: you know, with the league, and we've talked about this

464
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,720
Speaker 3: like we're trying to be creative, trying to do everything

465
00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:35,359
Speaker 3: in our power to retain Trend and work with the

466
00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:38,280
Speaker 3: league to be collaborative and come up with solutions that

467
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,200
Speaker 3: are that are going to enable us to keep her

468
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:45,000
Speaker 3: in a Washington kit. She's not just important to the club,

469
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:47,280
Speaker 3: She's important to the entire league. And I think that

470
00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:50,159
Speaker 3: there are quite a few athletes that we've lost. You know,

471
00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,159
Speaker 3: whether it's Alyssa Thompson, it's it's Naomi Germa. There are

472
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:55,840
Speaker 3: athletes that are going overseas that we have to be

473
00:23:55,920 --> 00:24:00,400
Speaker 3: serious about thinking about that retention. And I think us

474
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:04,000
Speaker 3: women's national team players matter so much to the growth

475
00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:08,000
Speaker 3: of the NWSL's brand, to the growth of women's soccer

476
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:10,720
Speaker 3: in this country and the awareness of women's soccer. We've

477
00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,280
Speaker 3: got a World Cup in twenty twenty seven, We're going

478
00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:16,320
Speaker 3: to be hosting a World Cup in twenty thirty one.

479
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,320
Speaker 3: You know, there's the Olympics coming up in twenty twenty eight.

480
00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:25,320
Speaker 3: The ability to showcase talent here is vital to our

481
00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:29,640
Speaker 3: success and so, you know, I'm thankful that the conversations

482
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:30,600
Speaker 3: are happening.

483
00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:33,600
Speaker 2: Among owners around.

484
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,520
Speaker 3: You know, how do how do we not just retain

485
00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:37,800
Speaker 3: but how do we attract the world's best talent? And

486
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:45,160
Speaker 3: you know, pragmatically speaking, respecting why the salary cap exists,

487
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:49,240
Speaker 3: but also acknowledging where the market is at and strategically

488
00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:51,520
Speaker 3: thinking about as a league, when we say we want

489
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:52,800
Speaker 3: to be the best league in the world, what does

490
00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,960
Speaker 3: that mean and does it mean parody or does it

491
00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:59,320
Speaker 3: mean we've got the most you know, top fifty players

492
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,360
Speaker 3: in the league, and fans want to be entertained, and

493
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,760
Speaker 3: players want to entertain them. So you know, our ability

494
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:08,960
Speaker 3: to retain them and pay them what they're worth is

495
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:14,159
Speaker 3: going to be increasingly important as we move forward. So again,

496
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:17,400
Speaker 3: you know, trend is a priority. Michelle's made that abundantly clear,

497
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:19,960
Speaker 3: and we have I think, you know, if you look

498
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,280
Speaker 3: at the things that are happening in the news cycle

499
00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:24,680
Speaker 3: and conversations.

500
00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:26,840
Speaker 2: Like, we're doing everything that we can to keep trend

501
00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:27,520
Speaker 2: here in the league.

502
00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:29,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think when you have someone that

503
00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:31,760
Speaker 1: can capture the zeitgeist the way Trinity has, even above

504
00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,359
Speaker 1: and beyond some other very big stars, understanding what that

505
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,040
Speaker 1: means to a league, and I think I have a

506
00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:39,760
Speaker 1: lot of empathy for Jessica Berman and others in the

507
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,640
Speaker 1: NWSL talking about how much the salary cap has increased

508
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,360
Speaker 1: in recent years already and not getting so far over

509
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:47,320
Speaker 1: your skis because of the growth of the league that

510
00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:49,119
Speaker 1: you then put so much money in that you're not

511
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:52,240
Speaker 1: making the revenue to offset. On the other hand, this

512
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,240
Speaker 1: pivot point and this moment where you keep these players

513
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:57,159
Speaker 1: and you establish this league as a place to be

514
00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:00,159
Speaker 1: will in the long run create so much more or

515
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:03,440
Speaker 1: return on investment then penny pinching now because you're worried

516
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:07,439
Speaker 1: about overextending and then losing in the battle of dominance

517
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,679
Speaker 1: across the globe and then becoming an afterthought or a

518
00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:12,920
Speaker 1: second rate league. And so I think that balance is

519
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:14,960
Speaker 1: probably going to be the toughest decision they have to make.

520
00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:17,639
Speaker 1: You mentioned the stuff in the news. The NWSLPA is

521
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:21,160
Speaker 1: filed a grievance against the nwsl for rejecting an agreed

522
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,439
Speaker 1: upon deal between Trinity and the Spirit, alleging that it

523
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,080
Speaker 1: violated the spirit of a rule in the CBA. And

524
00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:28,919
Speaker 1: I'm wondering, do you know if there's a mechanism in

525
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:31,960
Speaker 1: place that would see that grievance result in the contract

526
00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:35,119
Speaker 1: being upheld, or do you still have to restructure it

527
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:37,760
Speaker 1: regardless of the outcome of this grievance filing.

528
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,399
Speaker 3: You know, I think we're all waiting to see, you know,

529
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 3: what happens. Right now things are between the NWSLPA and

530
00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:50,680
Speaker 3: Trinity and the NWSL And you know, while that's pending,

531
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 3: we're still working in the background to think about creative

532
00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:58,640
Speaker 3: resolutions that will allow us to retain talent, not just Trinity,

533
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:01,000
Speaker 3: but other talented players the league that could be coming

534
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:04,000
Speaker 3: up on free agency. And you know, even if you

535
00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:06,159
Speaker 3: look at the players that we've lost, they've not been

536
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,639
Speaker 3: on free agency. They've gone for very large transfer fees.

537
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:13,159
Speaker 3: But you know, I think we'll continue to work in

538
00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,480
Speaker 3: the background with the league to see what the options are,

539
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:20,120
Speaker 3: and in the meantime, the Players Association and the NIPSL

540
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:21,520
Speaker 3: will have to work through trends agreements.

541
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 1: You might understand this and I don't, because you're now

542
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:25,800
Speaker 1: in the nitty gritty of the CBA stuff. I presume

543
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:27,760
Speaker 1: because of this trend stuff. But I saw that the

544
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,439
Speaker 1: Utah Royals signed a player and labeled it as a

545
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:35,720
Speaker 1: salary cap exempt contract. Yeah, yeah, how does that happen?

546
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:37,879
Speaker 1: And why couldn't you just be like, okay, trends salary

547
00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:39,320
Speaker 1: cap exempt, we won't counter.

548
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:42,520
Speaker 3: I was asked about this by a few staff members.

549
00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 3: So salary cap contracts exist in the new CBA. They're

550
00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:49,920
Speaker 3: very similar to what under the previous CBA was referred

551
00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,520
Speaker 3: to as supplemental roster. So these are athletes who ares

552
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:58,879
Speaker 3: signed to league minimum contract salaries. There are no signing bonuses,

553
00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,720
Speaker 3: there are no individual performan's bonuses outside of lead bonuses

554
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,880
Speaker 3: and the agent fees capped at ten percent. The minimum

555
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,560
Speaker 3: length of a salary cap ZIMP contract is one month.

556
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:10,720
Speaker 3: The maximum length is one year. Wow. This so this

557
00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:15,679
Speaker 3: is not a new, a new mechanism for signing players.

558
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,919
Speaker 3: It's been around since that the new the new CBA,

559
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,040
Speaker 3: and and it is just it. It's a guaranteed contract

560
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,479
Speaker 3: and there are a couple of limitations to it.

561
00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:27,439
Speaker 1: But I think we all just got excited when we

562
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:29,280
Speaker 1: saw that that existed because.

563
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:31,680
Speaker 3: Right, well, because traditionally when you see when you see

564
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:35,120
Speaker 3: teams report on it, yeah, they'll just report a player

565
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 3: has been signed to a contract through the end of

566
00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 3: twenty twenty six. Uh, you don't necessarily delineate between whether

567
00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:48,880
Speaker 3: it's a long term contract or a salary cap exempt

568
00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:51,640
Speaker 3: contract because there's really there's really no need to do that.

569
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 3: But they did do that, and so I got questions

570
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 3: from a few people, and I was like, well, what

571
00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,520
Speaker 3: is the question? And they were like, well, can't we

572
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,240
Speaker 3: just sign Trend to a salary captain and contraction And

573
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:07,000
Speaker 3: I'm like, no's not how it works. So it's interesting

574
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 3: to me, but it is an outline run a CBA.

575
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:10,920
Speaker 3: So I would encourage everyone to go and read the

576
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:11,600
Speaker 3: new CBA.

577
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:14,760
Speaker 1: And yeah, you mentioned the transfer fees that often take place,

578
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:18,320
Speaker 1: and especially around Naomi Germa leaving for instance. And then

579
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:20,960
Speaker 1: as these transfer fees continue to go up, the conversation

580
00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:23,480
Speaker 1: is often, well, we hear what the transfer fee number is,

581
00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:26,440
Speaker 1: but not the player's salary, and often the transfer fee

582
00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:28,400
Speaker 1: is more than the salary. I imagine that that's in

583
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:31,120
Speaker 1: part because teams and leagues don't want to set new

584
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,200
Speaker 1: precedents for salary. They need to know how much they

585
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:35,760
Speaker 1: need to pay to get that player, but then they

586
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,560
Speaker 1: don't necessarily want to say this is the new going

587
00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:41,160
Speaker 1: rate for a salary. What do you make of the

588
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:44,800
Speaker 1: idea that a league or team could be exchanging a

589
00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:47,840
Speaker 1: number bigger than what the actual athlete sees for the

590
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 1: services of that athlete.

591
00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think outgoing, outgoing, what we're seeing more than

592
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,080
Speaker 3: likely you're looking at salaries that are going to exceed

593
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:01,000
Speaker 3: the transfer fee that's paid to the end of WSL

594
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:05,120
Speaker 3: club incoming, right, we have to navigate the cap.

595
00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:09,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so that that is the natural reality of things.

596
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 3: What's interesting to me about the transfer market is you know,

597
00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:17,480
Speaker 3: you're seeing how quickly things and I've been an active

598
00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:21,360
Speaker 3: participant in driving the transfer fee rate up. So I

599
00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:24,760
Speaker 3: recognize that, but I think what I'd really like to

600
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,280
Speaker 3: see within the transfer fee space, and I think we're

601
00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:31,080
Speaker 3: starting to approach it, is not just that top number

602
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,200
Speaker 3: continuing to increase. I think in this transfer window upcoming

603
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:36,160
Speaker 3: or at least by next summer, you're going to see

604
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:40,120
Speaker 3: over two million dollars easily. But what I'd really like

605
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:43,120
Speaker 3: to see is is that bottom number start to increase.

606
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,719
Speaker 3: When you look at the total number of the amount

607
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:48,840
Speaker 3: of money spent on transfers and then the number of

608
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:50,920
Speaker 3: transfers that are made in the women's game, the vast

609
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:55,200
Speaker 3: majority of transfers are still free transfers. And what I

610
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:56,880
Speaker 3: would really like to see is I'd like to see

611
00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 3: us get to a place where that that bottom number

612
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:03,880
Speaker 3: starts to increase, so that you know, you start talking

613
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,440
Speaker 3: about athletes are playing their active participants really in like

614
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:10,720
Speaker 3: the business of women's sports and generating revenue for clubs.

615
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:14,520
Speaker 3: And because when you take the salary cap out of it,

616
00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,680
Speaker 3: in a traditional sense, you're you're normally able to take

617
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 3: that transfer fee and flip it so that now you're

618
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:25,680
Speaker 3: converting that to player salaries on the other side of

619
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:29,240
Speaker 3: it when you receive it. So I think the more

620
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:32,800
Speaker 3: money we can see in transfers, but not these singular

621
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:35,520
Speaker 3: high end transfers. But you know, it's like the eighty

622
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,920
Speaker 3: twenty rule right. Right now, twenty percent of the transfers

623
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:40,840
Speaker 3: are creating eighty percent of the revenue. But if you

624
00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,440
Speaker 3: start to shift that balance a little bit, I think

625
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:47,480
Speaker 3: it could be really exciting for players to be able

626
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 3: to be active participants in that. And in many cases

627
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 3: they get a percentage of transfer fees. Right, So things

628
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:55,760
Speaker 3: can get a little bit complicated in the NWSL when

629
00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:57,560
Speaker 3: you do that because of the cap. But just thinking,

630
00:31:57,640 --> 00:31:59,280
Speaker 3: this is the global game, so we've got to take

631
00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:03,200
Speaker 3: considerations like that in even if it's like forty fifty

632
00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:06,520
Speaker 3: thousand dollars transfer fees like those are good numbers.

633
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, get some money going on each of those transactions. Yeah.

634
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:12,960
Speaker 1: You know, you've coached at the international level and obviously

635
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,040
Speaker 1: you need to have this bigger understanding of the global

636
00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:18,080
Speaker 1: game just to do business. But also presumably in the

637
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 1: future if you're working with Michelle Kang's larger group of

638
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:23,400
Speaker 1: investments and teams that she owns as supposed to just

639
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:25,360
Speaker 1: the spirit which I think I read in the future

640
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:27,480
Speaker 1: that might be the case, right, Yeah, absolutely, starting with

641
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,360
Speaker 1: the spirit and then moving. But because of that, I

642
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:32,840
Speaker 1: think you have a maybe more well rounded view of

643
00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:36,360
Speaker 1: the global game than a lot of Americans. We're used

644
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,600
Speaker 1: to salary caps and drafts. Yeah, so the NWSL got

645
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:42,000
Speaker 1: rid of one, but we're clinging to the other. Yeah.

646
00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:46,360
Speaker 1: And Baseball MLB is the major league right now in

647
00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:48,719
Speaker 1: the US that does not have a salary cap, and

648
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:53,200
Speaker 1: salaries are huge, but still a functioning league. Jessica Berman, Commissioner,

649
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:56,040
Speaker 1: made sure to point out during her comments at NASAL

650
00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 1: Championship that successful American leagues have salary caps. That's why

651
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 1: we have one. And you're competing in places and against

652
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:05,840
Speaker 1: places that don't have them. And when the NWSL is,

653
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:09,240
Speaker 1: with each move, aligning more with the global calendar and

654
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,880
Speaker 1: the global game, do you think it should start thinking

655
00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,240
Speaker 1: about getting rid of a salary cap in order to

656
00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:17,240
Speaker 1: not be restricted in these transfers and negotiations.

657
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:21,040
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think that it's a valid point right around

658
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:25,800
Speaker 3: the americanisms of a draft, and we ended the draft,

659
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:29,520
Speaker 3: we opened up you know, free agency. You know, I

660
00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:32,080
Speaker 3: think it's a valid point about the salary cap. And

661
00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:35,800
Speaker 3: again the Board of Governors is exploring options to think

662
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:43,320
Speaker 3: about how can they compensate athletes And to your earlier point,

663
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 3: pragmatically speaking, right, if you've got a finite number of

664
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:50,320
Speaker 3: dollars and talent, retention isn't always just about payroll, right,

665
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:54,200
Speaker 3: It's also about working for qualified staff, having qualified coaches,

666
00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:57,160
Speaker 3: having best in class training facilities, having best in class

667
00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:01,000
Speaker 3: match facilities, you know, making sure or that from a

668
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,760
Speaker 3: player care side, that they're getting the support and the

669
00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,120
Speaker 3: resources that they need. Right, So you want to make

670
00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:08,480
Speaker 3: sure that you're investing in all of those things. But

671
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:12,279
Speaker 3: it is clear, you know, based on work that the

672
00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:14,960
Speaker 3: League has done and presented to the Board of Governors,

673
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:18,040
Speaker 3: that we do need to be asking ourselves those questions.

674
00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:20,719
Speaker 3: And I do think that the Board is doing a

675
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:24,480
Speaker 3: very good job of trying to think very critically about

676
00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:28,759
Speaker 3: how to navigate them and navigate them responsibly. I think

677
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,239
Speaker 3: it's going to be very, very difficult to see the

678
00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:34,239
Speaker 3: end of an end of a salary cap, but I

679
00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:39,840
Speaker 3: do think that there's certainly interests to, you know, innovate

680
00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:42,520
Speaker 3: a little bit in terms of how how do we

681
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:43,280
Speaker 3: retain that talent?

682
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:45,240
Speaker 2: What does it really mean? What does it really require.

683
00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:49,120
Speaker 3: So I certainly don't have all of the answers, and

684
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 3: I'm not privy to all of it. I've seen some options,

685
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:55,040
Speaker 3: but I think what matters is that the conversations are

686
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:59,600
Speaker 3: being had, and I think what's happening and what's happened

687
00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:02,319
Speaker 3: in the last share with talented athletes going overseas, like

688
00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:06,080
Speaker 3: people are paying attention and leaders are paying attention. They

689
00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:09,359
Speaker 3: don't necessarily have the answers, yet they want to make

690
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:13,160
Speaker 3: sure that they're making decisions responsibly and they still have

691
00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 3: to be concerned about the sustainability of the league long term,

692
00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:18,120
Speaker 3: and I respect that.

693
00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:19,680
Speaker 2: I respect that about the board.

694
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:21,879
Speaker 1: I think I've said over and over on this show,

695
00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:23,600
Speaker 1: it's very hard to be at the top of women's

696
00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:26,200
Speaker 1: sports with exponential growth right now because every deal you

697
00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:28,799
Speaker 1: make looks stale a month later, and it's hard to

698
00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:31,400
Speaker 1: protect necessarily, and so everyone's mad at you when you're

699
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:33,200
Speaker 1: the end. But it sounded great at the beginning. But

700
00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:35,600
Speaker 1: that's part of the innovation and the forward looking that

701
00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:36,880
Speaker 1: you need to have if you're going to operate in

702
00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:39,120
Speaker 1: this space. A couple last questions for you, because I

703
00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:41,759
Speaker 1: know you're busy, lady. I wanted to ask you about

704
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,200
Speaker 1: this because a month or so ago, when an NWSL

705
00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:46,719
Speaker 1: player penned an op ed about the league needing to

706
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:50,960
Speaker 1: publish an official gender policy with specific requirements for participation,

707
00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:53,440
Speaker 1: I was messaging a whole lot of people about it,

708
00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:54,800
Speaker 1: and a friend told me that you should be in

709
00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:57,000
Speaker 1: my first call to talk about it on the show.

710
00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:59,239
Speaker 1: She said, you don't know, Hailey. I'm like, I don't

711
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:02,000
Speaker 1: know how, but we've ever met, Like all the different

712
00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:04,839
Speaker 1: places in space, ship's passing and that's passing in the night.

713
00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:07,440
Speaker 1: So I'd love to hear your take on the leagues.

714
00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:10,719
Speaker 1: Our practice is our policy approach, how they've sort of

715
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:12,799
Speaker 1: handled things, and whether you think there's any merit to

716
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:14,600
Speaker 1: needing to write it down. Yeah.

717
00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:17,400
Speaker 3: So I think, first off, historically the NWSL has been

718
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:23,400
Speaker 3: an inclusive space, and I think women's sports in particular

719
00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:28,719
Speaker 3: and women's sports leagues provide a platform for various social initiatives,

720
00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:31,560
Speaker 3: and to be honest, that's what has historically made the

721
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:32,439
Speaker 3: NWSL great.

722
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:34,359
Speaker 2: It's what it's made. It's great for fans, it's been

723
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:35,280
Speaker 2: a welcoming place.

724
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:40,160
Speaker 3: I think the frustrating thing for me about a month ago, right,

725
00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:43,360
Speaker 3: and not gonna give that particular athlete the airtime, But

726
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:47,440
Speaker 3: the issue for me is that so much of it

727
00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:57,920
Speaker 3: is tied to racism. It targets very specific athletes, and

728
00:36:58,600 --> 00:36:59,520
Speaker 3: we don't need more.

729
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:02,760
Speaker 2: Gatekeepers in women's sports.

730
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,560
Speaker 3: And I think Sarah Gordon is an athlete I will

731
00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:10,120
Speaker 3: give a lot of air time too, because I think

732
00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:14,320
Speaker 3: she was incredibly courageous and brave and speaking out in

733
00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:16,600
Speaker 3: the way that she did. And it should not be

734
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:19,280
Speaker 3: lost on anyone that she is a black woman athlete

735
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:23,520
Speaker 3: defending other black women athletes, and it is not Sarah

736
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:28,440
Speaker 3: Gordon's job to have to come in and educate anyone

737
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:34,080
Speaker 3: or defend other black women athletes. And I think for

738
00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:36,200
Speaker 3: her to come in and do that speaks very highly

739
00:37:36,239 --> 00:37:40,319
Speaker 3: of her. And you know, the risk that she was

740
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:43,160
Speaker 3: willing to take to do that, I think should be

741
00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:47,239
Speaker 3: applauded and recognized. But I also think that as leaders

742
00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:49,920
Speaker 3: in the league, and I think that's why I've just

743
00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:52,799
Speaker 3: been so outspoken about it, is that we have a

744
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:58,440
Speaker 3: responsibility to protect and advocate for those athletes as well.

745
00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:02,000
Speaker 3: And you know, I think from a policy standpoint, the

746
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:05,400
Speaker 3: Players Association is is is working with the league, and

747
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:08,040
Speaker 3: the league is working with other various stakeholders to ensure

748
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:11,200
Speaker 3: that we continue to create a space where our athletes,

749
00:38:11,239 --> 00:38:15,160
Speaker 3: all of them, can thrive, recognizing that all of them

750
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:17,440
Speaker 3: are eligible to compete in the end of WSL, and

751
00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:22,920
Speaker 3: recognizing that we're not creating a space that excludes people.

752
00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:29,120
Speaker 3: And I think between the transphobic and racist attacks is

753
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:33,719
Speaker 3: disappointing and I don't I just I don't think that

754
00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:36,839
Speaker 3: it has any place in women's sports or the end

755
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:37,319
Speaker 3: of SL.

756
00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:41,840
Speaker 1: So the Players Association made T shirts for Championship weekend

757
00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:44,000
Speaker 1: that read you come for one of us, you come

758
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:46,160
Speaker 1: for us all, which is actually I'm actually wearing it

759
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:47,520
Speaker 1: right now. I just remember it. I put it on

760
00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:52,200
Speaker 1: this morning. Yeah, yeah, and uh, I think it did

761
00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:55,000
Speaker 1: say so much that Sarah said in her remarks for

762
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:58,640
Speaker 1: Angel City that person doesn't speak for the league, but

763
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:00,920
Speaker 1: I speak for all of us, and I say everybody

764
00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:05,840
Speaker 1: is welcome. And it is an interesting idea to attempt

765
00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:07,840
Speaker 1: to speak for all by putting an op ed in

766
00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:11,160
Speaker 1: a national paper when so few seem to agree with

767
00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:14,279
Speaker 1: the person who will not get airtime. And that is

768
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:16,480
Speaker 1: the only reason I wonder whether a policy in black

769
00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:20,040
Speaker 1: and white is necessary, because it protects against those kind

770
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:22,960
Speaker 1: of op eds. And at the same time, I'm very

771
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:25,919
Speaker 1: curious during the current climate whether putting something in black

772
00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:27,840
Speaker 1: and white that allows a quote to be put on

773
00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:30,839
Speaker 1: a chiron on TV or an infographic to be made

774
00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:35,160
Speaker 1: that that allows bad actors to create a dialogue around

775
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:37,759
Speaker 1: a space that has not had a problem and will

776
00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 1: not have a problem if it continues its inclusive policies

777
00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:43,399
Speaker 1: the way that it has. And so my most gracious

778
00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:47,680
Speaker 1: read of our practice as our policy is we don't

779
00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:49,719
Speaker 1: need to write it down. We have been inclusive and

780
00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:51,560
Speaker 1: we will continue to be so. And by not putting

781
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:53,840
Speaker 1: a policy in black and white, we don't offer ourselves

782
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:58,000
Speaker 1: up to potential negative effects that we've seen across other

783
00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:01,440
Speaker 1: spaces when somebody or an administration wants to get involved

784
00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:04,040
Speaker 1: and muck around. Is that maybe too generous?

785
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:06,160
Speaker 3: I think that's a very no. I think that's a

786
00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:10,719
Speaker 3: very fair read. And you know, I think that arguments

787
00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:14,520
Speaker 3: can be made on both sides. But I think that's

788
00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:19,880
Speaker 3: a very fair and very gracious read. But you know,

789
00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:24,440
Speaker 3: I think we would be remiss not to consider all

790
00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:28,680
Speaker 3: aspects of that right and and I think bad actors

791
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:34,799
Speaker 3: could potentially target a space historically has not has not

792
00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:35,919
Speaker 3: had this problem.

793
00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:38,120
Speaker 1: And they usually do so when it's handed to them,

794
00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:43,040
Speaker 1: they're not they're not understanding, investigating, or learning. They wait

795
00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:46,279
Speaker 1: for it to be easily served up. And that might

796
00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:48,640
Speaker 1: be what I also, I think it's worth mentioning that

797
00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:51,279
Speaker 1: because the league has acted in an inclusive way, that

798
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:54,000
Speaker 1: allows for a more gracious read than had it been

799
00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:57,560
Speaker 1: the opposite. Right, If it had been exclusive, I would

800
00:40:57,600 --> 00:40:59,680
Speaker 1: not give them a generous read on why they might

801
00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:01,960
Speaker 1: consider not actually making it an official practice.

802
00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:04,640
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's also it's also really important that

803
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:09,640
Speaker 3: in Orlando, right, we had athletes who navigated things quite frequently,

804
00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:13,279
Speaker 3: and we really had to set the tone and how

805
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:16,359
Speaker 3: we were going to respond. And I will stand by

806
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:23,279
Speaker 3: the strategy that we celebrate our athletes and we don't

807
00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:24,799
Speaker 3: give time to things that.

808
00:41:24,719 --> 00:41:25,799
Speaker 2: Don't deserve our time.

809
00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:29,320
Speaker 3: Agreed, Yeah, we're not going to give credibility where credibility

810
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:29,799
Speaker 3: isn't due.

811
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:32,280
Speaker 1: All right, We're going to close with a three question

812
00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:35,719
Speaker 1: speed round. Do you own any capes or do you

813
00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:38,520
Speaker 1: think you'll need any capes in order to work alongside

814
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:39,080
Speaker 1: Michelle King?

815
00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:42,920
Speaker 2: Ah? I mean I have one of those sleeveless blazers.

816
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:44,759
Speaker 3: Does that count like a half of li it sort

817
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:46,799
Speaker 3: of thing like, yeah, I've got one of those.

818
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:49,040
Speaker 1: Okay, I need to see a few more. I need

819
00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:50,719
Speaker 1: to see a side by side with Kang at some

820
00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:53,920
Speaker 1: point very soon, just to establish that one two punch.

821
00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:56,759
Speaker 1: What is the most marine thing about you?

822
00:41:57,160 --> 00:41:57,920
Speaker 2: My tattoos?

823
00:41:58,000 --> 00:41:58,440
Speaker 1: Lots of them.

824
00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:02,360
Speaker 2: I've got sleeves, I know. Yeah, tattoos for sure. I

825
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:04,359
Speaker 2: even have a krusty devil dog on my arm.

826
00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:07,480
Speaker 3: My tattoo artists begged me for years to be able

827
00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:08,560
Speaker 3: to do it, and I told him he could do it,

828
00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:09,800
Speaker 3: but it had to be really crusty.

829
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:13,120
Speaker 2: He's like smoking a cigar. It's pretty serious, devil dog.

830
00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:17,240
Speaker 1: And it's not about how you fold your clothes or

831
00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:19,760
Speaker 1: being on time all the time. It's the tats.

832
00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:22,120
Speaker 2: It's the tats for sure. It's the tats.

833
00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:26,840
Speaker 1: Okay. Last question, what's the secret about DC? You believe

834
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:28,920
Speaker 1: you already know even though you just arrived.

835
00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:32,319
Speaker 3: I have already figured out where are my friends at

836
00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:35,000
Speaker 3: the State Department work that helped me expedet my green cards.

837
00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:40,880
Speaker 1: There we go. Very necessary, very necessary, Hayley, It was

838
00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:43,160
Speaker 1: great to finally meet you in chat. I look forward

839
00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:47,280
Speaker 1: to seeing all the magic take in DC and God's

840
00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:49,279
Speaker 1: speed and keeping turn around. I know a lot of

841
00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:51,319
Speaker 1: other teams would be maybe happy to see her get

842
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:53,480
Speaker 1: the hell out of here, but what she brings for

843
00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:55,920
Speaker 1: the league and what she does for soccer in this

844
00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:58,919
Speaker 1: country is worth keeping. So I hope it works out. Yeah,

845
00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:03,200
Speaker 1: thank you, Thanks again to Haley for taking the time.

846
00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:05,600
Speaker 1: We got to take another quick break when we come back.

847
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:18,040
Speaker 1: Mom momb mommy, I've open welcome back slices. We love

848
00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:19,480
Speaker 1: that you're listening, but we wanted to get in the

849
00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:21,759
Speaker 1: game every day too, So here's our good game play

850
00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:24,839
Speaker 1: of the day. Watch the College Cup championship game tonight

851
00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:27,920
Speaker 1: between Stanford and FSU. A reminder that the title game

852
00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:31,560
Speaker 1: starts at seven pm Eastern on ESPNU, and keep those

853
00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:34,640
Speaker 1: pictures of your unrivaled draft coming. I want to post

854
00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:37,839
Speaker 1: some shots of the prettiest and most chaotic that we get.

855
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:39,880
Speaker 1: We always love to hear from you, so hit us

856
00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:42,800
Speaker 1: up on email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or

857
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:44,719
Speaker 1: leave us a voice smail at eight seven two two

858
00:43:44,719 --> 00:43:48,399
Speaker 1: oh four fifty seventy, and don't forget to subscribe, rate

859
00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:52,240
Speaker 1: and review. It's easy. Watch a mother daughter duo taking

860
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:57,680
Speaker 1: the pitch together, rating fifty four combined years of skills review.

861
00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:00,799
Speaker 1: Thirty eight year old Hazana Parnell and her sixteen year

862
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:04,040
Speaker 1: old daughter Rameya Osborne played for Hednesford Town in the

863
00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:07,560
Speaker 1: Women's FA Cup, a year long knockout tournament opened to

864
00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:11,680
Speaker 1: hundreds of eligible clubs across England's football pyramid. Mom Has,

865
00:44:11,719 --> 00:44:14,480
Speaker 1: a former national team player for England at the youth level,

866
00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:17,400
Speaker 1: was lured back into play after retirement and brought her

867
00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:20,080
Speaker 1: footy playing daughter to training, where she was added to

868
00:44:20,120 --> 00:44:23,120
Speaker 1: the roster as soon as she turned sixteen. Hednesford was

869
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:24,880
Speaker 1: knocked out in the second round, but there was a

870
00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:28,840
Speaker 1: lifetime highlight earlier in FA Cup play as daughter Rameya assisted,

871
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:31,640
Speaker 1: Mom has for a goal and there's nothing quite like

872
00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:34,319
Speaker 1: calling for the ball from your daughter or your mother.

873
00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:36,120
Speaker 1: Take a listen to a bit of an interview the

874
00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:38,480
Speaker 1: duo did for the BBC's Radio five.

875
00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:41,040
Speaker 4: Remeya is calling for the ball, she'd be like mom,

876
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:45,200
Speaker 4: and then you'll see them looking around like mom.

877
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:46,080
Speaker 1: She's saying mom.

878
00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:48,239
Speaker 4: And then after the game they will come and ask

879
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:52,719
Speaker 4: are you re her mom? And I'll say yeah, mom.

880
00:44:52,920 --> 00:44:55,000
Speaker 1: That mother and daughter are playing in the FA Cup.

881
00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:56,279
Speaker 1: All I have to say for my mom and I

882
00:44:56,320 --> 00:44:58,200
Speaker 1: as we once played in a mother daughter field hockey

883
00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:01,040
Speaker 1: game and I accidentally gave her a black guy. Oops.

884
00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:04,560
Speaker 1: Now it's your turn, y'all rate and review, Thanks for listening,

885
00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:07,920
Speaker 1: See you tomorrow. Good game, Hayley, Good game, Sue Bird.

886
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:11,680
Speaker 1: You you that styrofoam packing stuff that you use to store

887
00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:14,240
Speaker 1: Christmas decorations and it breaks into tiny little white pieces,

888
00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:15,880
Speaker 1: and then it sticks to your hands and your clothes,

889
00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:17,919
Speaker 1: you know, because of static electricity, and then it leaves

890
00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:19,960
Speaker 1: you looking like a walking pile of dandruff when you're

891
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:23,400
Speaker 1: just trying to display your national lampoon Christmas village. Get

892
00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:28,280
Speaker 1: off Me, Get off Me. Good Game with Sarah Spain

893
00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:31,040
Speaker 1: is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep

894
00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:33,600
Speaker 1: Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the

895
00:45:33,640 --> 00:45:36,960
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

896
00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:40,560
Speaker 1: Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are alex Azie

897
00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:44,560
Speaker 1: Grace Lynch, Taylor Williamson, and Lucy Jones. Our executive producers

898
00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:48,040
Speaker 1: are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder.

899
00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:51,640
Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rudder. Britney Martinez and Gianna Palmer.

900
00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:55,600
Speaker 1: Production assistants from Avery LOFTUS and I'm Your Host Sarah

901
00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:55,880
Speaker 1: Spain