Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're wondering
Speaker 1: if Simone Augustus is still holding out her hands for
Speaker 1: that clipboard. If you didn't see the Kim Maulky temper
Speaker 1: tantrum moment from the weekend, we'll link tu ite in
Speaker 1: our show notes. It's Tuesday, February fourth. Then on today's
Speaker 1: show will be chatting with Boys and Sports Steph Strack
Speaker 1: and Wisconsin cross country and track athlete Maggie Munson about
Speaker 1: the bill they're reintroducing in Congress this week, what it
Speaker 1: takes to fight for Title LAIN enforcement, and how you
Speaker 1: can help support the changes they're fighting for. Plus Oklahoma
Speaker 1: Softball goes national, the start of a new franchise player era,
Speaker 1: and the potential return of a comment It's all coming
Speaker 1: up right after this Welcome back slices. Here's what you
Speaker 1: need to know today to the WNBA, the ownership group
Speaker 1: of the Philadelphia seventy six ers of the MNBA has
Speaker 1: submitted a bid to bring a WNBA team to the city.
Speaker 1: We've heard a lot of rumblings of a potential Philly
Speaker 1: WNBA team in the last year. Made it official, and
Speaker 1: that's not all folks. The Athletic also reported that the
Speaker 1: owner of the Houston Rockets has submitted a bid. It's
Speaker 1: shaping up to be a competitive contest for the league's
Speaker 1: sixteenth team, with Nashville, Detroit, Charlotte, Austin, and Denver also
Speaker 1: in the conversation, WNBA is already expanding to the Bay
Speaker 1: Area this year and Toronto and Portland in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: To soccer and the continued fallout following Spain's twenty twenty
Speaker 1: three World Cup win, the trial for former Spain football
Speaker 1: boss Luis Rubialis began on Monday. He faces up to
Speaker 1: four years in prison if he's found guilty of assault
Speaker 1: and coercion. On the first day of the trial, World
Speaker 1: Cup winner Jenny Hermoso testified, saying that she did not
Speaker 1: consent to the kiss that is at the center of
Speaker 1: the charges. Quote. I think it was a moment that
Speaker 1: tainted one of the happiest days of my life end quote.
Speaker 1: The judges also indicated that former Spain women's coach and
Speaker 1: current Morocco coach Jorge Wilda, along with other Federation officials,
Speaker 1: should stand trial for their role in pressuring Hermoso to
Speaker 1: defend us following the World Cup. The trial is expected
Speaker 1: to last through February nineteenth. Will keep you updated as
Speaker 1: it progresses to softball. USA Softball announced on Monday that
Speaker 1: Patty Gasso has been named head coach of the national
Speaker 1: team for the twenty twenty five to twenty twenty eight
Speaker 1: quadrennal that, of course, includes the twenty twenty eight Los
Speaker 1: Angeles Olympics. While Gaso is the seventh woman to lead
Speaker 1: the US softball national team at any time, she will
Speaker 1: become the first female head coach of the US Olympic team.
Speaker 1: Gaso has been head coach of the University of Oklahoma
Speaker 1: team for thirty seasons, winning eight national titles. She'll continue
Speaker 1: in that role while balancing her new Team USA responsibilities.
Speaker 1: Also worth remembering, Oklahoma's Devin Park, which is the host
Speaker 1: of the College World Series every year, will also be
Speaker 1: the site of the twenty twenty eight Olympic Tournament. In
Speaker 1: athletes in limited news, AU Pro Hoops Season four starts
Speaker 1: tomorrow after season three in Dallas, Texas. This year's four
Speaker 1: week stretch of five on five Runs will take place
Speaker 1: in Nashville, Tennessee for the first time, and there's a
Speaker 1: new way to tune in on opening night, five bars
Speaker 1: across the country are hosting Watchpark for fans. Participating bars
Speaker 1: include watch Me Sports Bar in Long Beach, California, the
Speaker 1: Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon, Rough and Tumble in Seattle, Washington,
Speaker 1: the ninety nine Ers Sports Bar in Denver, Colorado, and
Speaker 1: a bar of their own in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There are
Speaker 1: two games on opening night, tipping off at six pm
Speaker 1: and eight thirty pm Eastern. So if you're in any
Speaker 1: of those cities I just listed, go catch the action
Speaker 1: with some friends, and if you don't have any friends
Speaker 1: to go with, go make some new ones. AU's post
Speaker 1: about the watch parties includes addresses for the five bars,
Speaker 1: so we'll link to that in our show notes, and
Speaker 1: we'll link to the full AU Pro Hoops schedule. All right, y'all,
Speaker 1: we're still recovering from those huge WNBA free agency moves
Speaker 1: over the weekend, but with the dust settling a bit,
Speaker 1: we wanted to share a wild stat with all of you,
Speaker 1: so producer Alex called in some help from across the
Speaker 1: timeline for this one. We were curious, with so many
Speaker 1: franchise players on the move, which WNBA player has now
Speaker 1: been with the same team for the longest time. The
Speaker 1: name at the top of that list since Sue Byrd
Speaker 1: retired is Diana Tarassi, who's played for the fe Mercury
Speaker 1: since getting drafted in two thousand and four, meaning that
Speaker 1: Gal's been wearing purple and orange since this year's draft
Speaker 1: class was wearing diapers. If DT comes back, she'll stay
Speaker 1: on top, but if she retires, here's where it gets interesting.
Speaker 1: So up until last week, the next names on the
Speaker 1: list were, in order, Britney Griner, who'd been with the
Speaker 1: Mercury since twenty thirteen, Alyssa Thomas who'd been with the
Speaker 1: Sun since twenty fourteen, Jewel Lloyd with the Storm since
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, Kelsey Plum with the Aces since twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: and Brianna Jones who'd been with the Sun also since
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. You might remember from our free agency recap,
Speaker 1: all five of those franchise players are moving on to
Speaker 1: new teams. And then there's a Lena Deladon. This is
Speaker 1: an interesting one. She's been loyal to the Mystics since
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, but she's missed a bunch of seasons, so
Speaker 1: her availability has been inconsistent. And then she skipped last
Speaker 1: season with no word yet on whether she plans to
Speaker 1: come back. So who's the current planning to play this year?
Speaker 1: Longest tenured player at one team. That brings us to
Speaker 1: the new guard of franchise players Indiana's Kelsey Mitchell, Las
Speaker 1: Vegas Is Asia Wilson, Washington's Ariel Atkins, and Seattle's Mercedes Russell,
Speaker 1: who have all been with their current team since twenty eighteen. Now,
Speaker 1: Russell is technically a free agent, but the other three
Speaker 1: of all signed contracts that will bring them back for
Speaker 1: an eighth straight season this year. So congrats on that achievement, Asia, Kelsey,
Speaker 1: and Ariel and maybe Mercedes, unless, of course, DT comes back,
Speaker 1: and then we'll see you back here in another decade
Speaker 1: or two. Shout out to across the timeline for the
Speaker 1: assist on this one. If you don't already follow them
Speaker 1: on all of the platforms, what are you waiting for?
Speaker 1: We'll link to their accounts in the show notes. We're
Speaker 1: going to take a quick break. When we come back,
Speaker 1: we chat with Stephan Maggie about how to call out
Speaker 1: title nine BS stick around joining us now. She's the
Speaker 1: founder and CEO of Voice in Sport, a digital platform
Speaker 1: keeping girls and women in sport and elevating their voices
Speaker 1: and the Voice in Sport Foundation, a global nonprofit supercharging
Speaker 1: sports science and research and advocating for equality. She has
Speaker 1: over eighteen years of experience at the intersection of sports,
Speaker 1: lifestyle and technology, spending fourteen plus years at Nike and
Speaker 1: some time at Rag and Bone, where she served as
Speaker 1: a board member and CEO. Over the last few years,
Speaker 1: she and the Viz Advocates, a group of young women
Speaker 1: in high school and college, have tackled Title nine reform
Speaker 1: and successfully become a leading voice on Capitol Hill. Her
Speaker 1: commutes to DC are long because she lives in Alaska.
Speaker 1: It's Steph Strack and joining her. She's a track and
Speaker 1: cross country athlete at Wisconsin, running the six hundred meters
Speaker 1: eight hundred meters mile on steeplechase and the five and
Speaker 1: six k and cross. A five time academic All Big
Speaker 1: Ten honoree, and UW Voice and Sport Chapter President. She
Speaker 1: cliff dives bike rides and speaks on Capitol Hill. It's
Speaker 1: Maggie Munson. Hey, Maggie, Hi, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: having me. Maggie, what's the six hundred meters We didn't
Speaker 1: have that in my day.
Speaker 2: Oh well, that's an indoor only event for the big ten.
Speaker 2: So if you're on a two hundred meter track, it's
Speaker 2: three laps and it's basically an all out four hundred
Speaker 2: and then you keep going for another two hundred.
Speaker 1: No thank you. I was a college track athlete and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't know what the hell the six
Speaker 1: hundred meters is, but congrats to you, and no, thank
Speaker 1: you that one. Thanks so much for joining. I want
Speaker 1: to start local and then get national. So let's get
Speaker 1: to Wisconsin. Maggie. University of Wisconsin recently celebrated fifty years
Speaker 1: of women's track and field, one of the most successful
Speaker 1: programs on campus, but now there's potential Title nine compliance issues.
Speaker 1: There's a proposal for a two hundred and eighty five
Speaker 1: million dollar Camp Randall Sports Center redevelopment project, and in
Speaker 1: the original letter of intent from the university, they promised
Speaker 1: that they would deliver facilities for track and field and
Speaker 1: cross country on par with the peer institutions. But the
Speaker 1: current plans are definitely prioritizing the football team and not
Speaker 1: giving equitable training and competition resources to track and field
Speaker 1: and cross country. So tell us how you first heard
Speaker 1: about this project and how it's affecting your team. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. So we used to practice in an indoor track.
Speaker 2: It was a two hundred meter track and we called
Speaker 2: it the Shell. And we've known for years that the
Speaker 2: shell was going to be torn down. It was over
Speaker 2: seventy years old, getting pretty dusty, and it didn't hold
Speaker 2: up compared to incredible indoor facilities at Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota,
Speaker 2: and so we knew that we were going to get
Speaker 2: a new indoor track, but what the university is currently
Speaker 2: offering would actually be a step back. The track that
Speaker 2: they're proposing is not intended to be a competition venue,
Speaker 2: and we've been hosting our home meets in Chicago, so
Speaker 2: it's about a three hour drive from campus to home meet.
Speaker 2: We lose out on a lot of those hometown supporters.
Speaker 2: And the proposed facility also would not offer spaces for
Speaker 2: high jump and pole vault, and offering no facilities for
Speaker 2: events that we sponsor and the ones that we are
Speaker 2: good at. We just had a heptathlete win the Big
Speaker 2: Ten title and high jump is a part of that
Speaker 2: and I think that it's a shame to decrease those
Speaker 2: facilities and elevate those for football when we have a
Speaker 2: proven record of success.
Speaker 1: Yeah, your facility was already demolished. So where are you
Speaker 1: practicing now?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it was torn down in early fall, and
Speaker 2: we did not have anywhere to go up to the
Speaker 2: end of last semester. And Wisconsin gets pretty cold in
Speaker 2: the winter. As a distance runner, we can run outside,
Speaker 2: but sprinters in twenty degrees is just not feasible.
Speaker 1: That's not long jarp in frozen sand, right.
Speaker 2: Exactly, exactly, So we do. We were practicing at University
Speaker 2: of Wisconsin Whitewater, which is about forty five minutes away,
Speaker 2: for the first few weeks of January, and then our
Speaker 2: alums graciously donated a warehouse facility in Lodi, Wisconsin, which
Speaker 2: is forty minutes from campus. We have a good setup
Speaker 2: in there, but I mean, it's not ideal to have
Speaker 2: to travel forty minutes each way in the middle of
Speaker 2: a busy semester.
Speaker 1: Not at all. And I'm looking at the planned new
Speaker 1: track the drawing of it. It's a recreational running path
Speaker 1: above a football field. It's what you'd get at a
Speaker 1: gym in a city where there isn't enough space. So
Speaker 1: they're stacking things on top of each other. That's not
Speaker 1: remotely a facility that you could practice in. Is that
Speaker 1: what they're showing you as the ultimate end goal for
Speaker 1: what you guys would use.
Speaker 2: As of right now?
Speaker 1: Yes, I want everyone to picture this. It's literally like
Speaker 1: one of those things that race walkers or like old
Speaker 1: people get their laps in and get their steps in
Speaker 1: along the top of something that it doesn't have anything
Speaker 1: in the middle. It's just like a balcony basically overlooking
Speaker 1: a field where the football players would get all the
Speaker 1: good stuff. This is like so infuriating. So Steph, beyond this,
Speaker 1: which we know is not okay, can you tell us
Speaker 1: what data you have to back up your argument that
Speaker 1: Wisconsin might be in violation in other ways of Title nine?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, this is not just a local issue at the
Speaker 3: University of Wisconsin. This is a national issue that we're
Speaker 3: seeing across all of our chapters at Voice and Sport,
Speaker 3: and it's why we've written the Fair Play for Women
Speaker 3: Act is really to try to get after the real
Speaker 3: issues that women are facing at college institutions, and Wisconsin's
Speaker 3: a great example. She's talking about equitable treatment across facilities
Speaker 3: which is one thing we look at when we're looking
Speaker 3: at Title nine and Title nine violations. But the other areas.
Speaker 3: The other two areas are around participation opportunities for women
Speaker 3: athletes at schools, and there needs to be proportional participation
Speaker 3: opportunities for girls and boys. And the second is scholarship
Speaker 3: opportunities and that needs to be proportionally equitable for girls
Speaker 3: and boys. So unfortunately, when we look at the EADA data,
Speaker 3: which is public, anybody can go look up their school.
Speaker 1: Which is Equity and Athletics Disclosure, right.
Speaker 3: You can go to the website, you can look up
Speaker 3: your school. You can calculate your numbers, and although it's
Speaker 3: not used for titleline compliance, you can get a good
Speaker 3: idea of whther or not your school is likely in
Speaker 3: a violation or not. So Maggie can speak to the
Speaker 3: exact numbers here for Wisconsin, but both on the participation
Speaker 3: and scholarship side show that there is a gap for
Speaker 3: girls and women in sport at Wisconsin.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so what you're speaking to is this basically three
Speaker 1: pillar system. To be in compliance with Title nine, you
Speaker 1: have to adhere to the three components. Accommodating student interest,
Speaker 1: which is opportunities to participate, proportional financial assistance, which is
Speaker 1: scholarships and things like that, and then equal benefits and opportunities.
Speaker 1: So tell us, Maggie, what we know about the scholarship
Speaker 1: dollars and the participation opportunities at Wisconsin. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So the most recent data we have is from the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three school year, and
Speaker 2: that shows a deficit of fifty three roster spots for
Speaker 2: women and a loss of seven hundred and thirty eight
Speaker 2: thousand scholarship dollars. And that's just in that one year.
Speaker 2: So if you have seven hundred thirty eight thousand one year,
Speaker 2: think of that, multiply the cross year after year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and just to remind people, Title nine is a law,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean everyone's following it. It is, in fact,
Speaker 1: very hard to get places to comply. During the fiftieth
Speaker 1: anniversary just a couple of years ago, there are these celebrations,
Speaker 1: but ultimately what it did is cause a lot of
Speaker 1: us to dive deeper into the numbers and be like, well, shit,
Speaker 1: we're fifty years in and we're not even close to
Speaker 1: this being adhered too. So, Maggie, we know Title nine
Speaker 1: compliance is willful and the only real way to get
Speaker 1: the Department of Education to recognize, see and then act
Speaker 1: when schools are not abiding by the law is basically
Speaker 1: to sue them or threaten to sue. So is that
Speaker 1: your planner or are you trying other avenues to try
Speaker 1: to work with the school.
Speaker 2: I am working with the Wisconsin Athletic Department, and I
Speaker 2: want them to be able to choose the right decision
Speaker 2: and advocate for women. But I also am very committed
Speaker 2: to doing what it takes to ensure that title mine
Speaker 2: is followed.
Speaker 1: God, that was the most badass threat I've ever heard,
Speaker 1: so like nice and gentle, I would love for them.
Speaker 1: They have the opportunity to choose to not f around
Speaker 1: in find out, but I'm willing for that to happen. Steph.
Speaker 1: There's a petition to hold the university accountable to revise
Speaker 1: their current building plans. It has over six thousand signatures already.
Speaker 1: Have you been able to or has anyone been able
Speaker 1: to engage in meaningful conversations with the school or the
Speaker 1: stakeholders of this project.
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, you know they have been open to conversations, and
Speaker 3: that really is the point of the VIZ Advocate program.
Speaker 3: Maggie's the president, She's gathered her club and her chapter members,
Speaker 3: and we have had and held a meeting with the
Speaker 3: Athletic Department and the Athletic Director in that that conversation
Speaker 3: was a very open conversation where we walked through the
Speaker 3: gaps that we feel like we are seeing and the
Speaker 3: potential violations of Title nine. And we've asked for a
Speaker 3: second meeting to go through the data that they've found.
Speaker 3: They have brought in a third third party that last
Speaker 3: year to evaluate how they are as a school, and
Speaker 3: we would love to see that data and that's what
Speaker 3: we've asked for next, you know, and this is why
Speaker 3: we've built the program, is like, let's have conversation. Let's
Speaker 3: put the data in front of the leaders that are
Speaker 3: making those decisions and ask them to make a different decision,
Speaker 3: so we'll see, as Maggie says, is what happens.
Speaker 1: Or at least have proof that they knowingly made the
Speaker 1: decision with full understanding of the impact that it would
Speaker 1: have on other student athletes. They can't play dumb if
Speaker 1: you force them to look at the plans that they've
Speaker 1: made and the outcome it will have Maggie, does it
Speaker 1: feel like if this moves forward as is, this will
Speaker 1: ultimately amount to asking the team to compete with lesser
Speaker 1: facilities and resources, or that it's actually a step toward
Speaker 1: getting rid of the program altogether.
Speaker 2: You know, that's one thing that a lot of alumni
Speaker 2: and stakeholders are fearful of, and it would be a
Speaker 2: big shame, especially for the running community in Madison. We
Speaker 2: have a really engaged group of runners and fans in
Speaker 2: the city of Madison who have supported us for years
Speaker 2: that we've had the team. We've won numerous Big Ten titles, titles,
Speaker 2: we have so many Olympians, we have a really rich
Speaker 2: winning tradition and making do with less is something we
Speaker 2: could do, but it's going to cause the downfall of
Speaker 2: our success and it's something that we shouldn't have to do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm your head coach. Ed Nuttycombe, which is a
Speaker 1: great name, has been a twenty six time Big Ten
Speaker 1: Coach of the Year. Like, this is a great program
Speaker 1: that has had a ton of success. So it's not new,
Speaker 1: it's not up and coming. It's something that has brought
Speaker 1: so much prestige to the school. So the idea that
Speaker 1: they would be willing to so callously throw you into
Speaker 1: a warehouse forty minutes away without a bigger plan really
Speaker 1: says something about how much they prioritize things like football
Speaker 1: over over track and field. You know, track and field
Speaker 1: is one of the few sports where men and women
Speaker 1: participate together. We're very intertwined, practice together, air coaches, travel,
Speaker 1: compete together. Have you seen this treatment of other sports
Speaker 1: at the school, particularly women's only sports like field hockey
Speaker 1: or spaces where they're separate or does it feel like
Speaker 1: you just happen to get this the brunt of this
Speaker 1: because of the facility you were in.
Speaker 2: I mean, I would say that all non revenue sports
Speaker 2: are definitely feeling a pinch. I mean, the women's and
Speaker 2: men's cross country and track teams are obviously disappointed. We're
Speaker 2: a very intertwined team. We hang out all the time
Speaker 2: in practice, outside of practice, and yeah, there are other
Speaker 2: sports that are certainly feeling the tin shows budget cuts,
Speaker 2: especially amidst this changing and disable a Our women's Kinnis
Speaker 2: team only just got their own locker room last year,
Speaker 2: So yeah, I would say that there are other sports
Speaker 2: that are affected, but the track team has done a
Speaker 2: good job of banning together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, to demand better. My collegiate team, it felt like
Speaker 1: the men and women were treated equally on the track team.
Speaker 1: Does it feel that way to you or is it
Speaker 1: ever feel like the men's side gets better resources or
Speaker 1: treatment or anything.
Speaker 2: Oh, I would say that we are all one as.
Speaker 1: A track team. That's good. Okay, stuff zooming out. So
Speaker 1: we have this individual situation at Wisconsin that clearly needs
Speaker 1: to be remedied, but it's part of a larger issue
Speaker 1: which I spoke to, which is that Title nine is
Speaker 1: a is a law and name, but not often enough
Speaker 1: in practice. So you're reintroducing a bill that relates to
Speaker 1: Title nine, but is a bigger picture look at how
Speaker 1: we're treating female athletes. It's called the Fair Play for
Speaker 1: Women Act. You're reintroducing it on February fifth in DC
Speaker 1: with Senator Chris Murphy and over two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: women athletes and VIZ advocates. So tell us why it's
Speaker 1: a reintroduction and tell us what the bill is asking for.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is one thing that I've learned a lot
Speaker 3: over the last few years. Policy takes time. On average,
Speaker 3: a bill can be three to five years past. So's
Speaker 3: we're in it for the long run, and the more
Speaker 3: voices that we have at the table at Capitol Hill,
Speaker 3: the stronger we're going to be as a collective. But
Speaker 3: when you really take a step back, the Fair Play
Speaker 3: for Women Act is really trying to address the real
Speaker 3: issues that girls and women are facing across the country.
Speaker 3: And those real issues right now are lack of education
Speaker 3: around Title nine, lack of enforcement of schools when they're
Speaker 3: not in compliance, and then lack of data transparency. So
Speaker 3: like those three pillars are the Fair Play for Women Act,
Speaker 3: and the goal is really to make sure that there's
Speaker 3: less discrimination against women in public institution around sports. And
Speaker 3: if you just look at the Government Office of Accountability,
Speaker 3: so they did a study. They looked at all of
Speaker 3: the NCAA schools and found that ninety three percent of
Speaker 3: the schools are offering fewer opportunities to women. So while
Speaker 3: Maggie's experience is not good, it's unfortunately pretty standard and
Speaker 3: that's why we have to get at the roots of
Speaker 3: the problem and really get after introducing the Fair Play
Speaker 3: for Women Act. So not much has changed in this reintroduction,
Speaker 3: but we're working on bringing in more sponsors and getting
Speaker 3: more momentum behind the bill, and it's really really important
Speaker 3: right now because the House a couple of weeks ago
Speaker 3: actually passed another bill, and that bill kind of goes
Speaker 3: under the name of protecting girls and women in sport.
Speaker 3: It's HR twenty eight, and this offers another opportunity for
Speaker 3: people to really protect girls and women with the real issues,
Speaker 3: an anti trans bill, which is HR twenty eight.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about that. You talked about how hard
Speaker 1: it is to get bills through, and yet all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, we very quickly are able to pass through
Speaker 1: something to address what is alleged to be about ten
Speaker 1: athletes out of five hundred thousand at the NCAA level.
Speaker 1: That bill, of course addresses K through twelve as well,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't feel like and it has never been
Speaker 1: the biggest issue for women's sports. There are countless other
Speaker 1: issues that we for decades and decades have been demanding
Speaker 1: a response to and has gone sort of unheard. So
Speaker 1: when you're talking to lawmakers, when we're having conversations with
Speaker 1: folks to try to explain the importance of the Fair
Speaker 1: Play for Women Act, how often do you have to
Speaker 1: sort of refocus them on the real issue and how
Speaker 1: much is it about whether they care about the issue
Speaker 1: or whether they're using some sort of bill or policy
Speaker 1: for political gain.
Speaker 3: Well, I absolutely think that HR. Twenty eight is not
Speaker 3: a bill that is actually protecting girls and women in sports.
Speaker 3: So to be clear that that is seeking to amend
Speaker 3: Title NIINN to define sex based solely on an individual's
Speaker 3: reproductive biology and genetics at birth. It's not getting after all,
Speaker 3: the issues we just spent twenty minutes talking about, which
Speaker 3: are the real issues that young girls are facing in
Speaker 3: public institution around sport. Right, So I think that unfortunately
Speaker 3: it's that bill is being used in a way that
Speaker 3: is not appropriate for really the issues that all these
Speaker 3: girls are facing today. So when we go in to
Speaker 3: have conversations with how sinceenive members, with people like Maggie
Speaker 3: that are leading their chapters, we start from a place
Speaker 3: of education, educating the House and seniate members of where
Speaker 3: the real issues are and then using data and showing
Speaker 3: them the numbers. But unfortunately, this conversation around transgender athletes
Speaker 3: has really become like a lightning bolt that people are
Speaker 3: using to pass like anti trans legislation through sport, and
Speaker 3: it's really disappointing to see the vote was like two
Speaker 3: hundred and eighteen to two hundred and six, so you know,
Speaker 3: the country is divided and split, but it passed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's very frustrating to me that maybe like fifteen
Speaker 1: or ten years ago, if I would google something in
Speaker 1: women's sports trying to find an athlete or a fact,
Speaker 1: it would just be the hottest athletes, Like that was
Speaker 1: the only result I would get. And now we're like
Speaker 1: slightly moving past the hottest ranking lists, and instead when
Speaker 1: I google things in women's sport, it just comes up
Speaker 1: trans issues because that's what's like flooding these conversation spaces.
Speaker 1: It's so frustrating that we continue to avoid the real
Speaker 1: things in pursuit of these bullshit male gaze garbage takes
Speaker 1: on what's actually happening. You know, Maggie, you're balancing schoolwork, track, friends, fun,
Speaker 1: You're doing forty minutes each way just to get to practice,
Speaker 1: and you're working with VIZ and lobbying in DC. So
Speaker 1: why was it important to you to be an activist
Speaker 1: and to speak out about this now, especially when you're
Speaker 1: in the midst of having this very short window of competing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I have a really great opportunity to
Speaker 2: leave Wisconsin athotics better than I found it, and I
Speaker 2: feel that teleline is morally right. I want expansion of
Speaker 2: opportunities for me, but not just me, I want it
Speaker 2: for all the girls that will come up.
Speaker 1: After I leave. That's freaking awesome, Maggie. You're giving me
Speaker 1: a mild amount of hope, not a lot. It's hard
Speaker 1: to muster right now, but knowing that there are people
Speaker 1: like you doing this now while you're still in school
Speaker 1: is awesome. And Steph, thank you for rallying all these
Speaker 1: badass girls and women across the country to do this.
Speaker 1: We will be thinking of you and standing with you
Speaker 1: when you go reintroduce this bill, and we'll be hoping
Speaker 1: and for common sense and folks who actually want to
Speaker 1: hear about the issues instead of supporting their political record.
Speaker 1: So we appreciate you, guys, both forgiving us some time.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 3: We hope you join us. Anybody can join. It's on
Speaker 3: February fifth at Capitol Hill at two pm.
Speaker 1: All right, anybody can join if you're nearby or closer
Speaker 1: than Alaska. Get on out there, Maggie. I'll have to
Speaker 1: check and see when you're competing in Chicago next. That's
Speaker 1: where I am so I can come. I can root
Speaker 1: you guys on. Thanks so much to Maggie and Steph
Speaker 1: for taking the time to chat with us. We have
Speaker 1: to take another break, come back, Welcome back, slices. We
Speaker 1: love that you're listening, but we want you to get
Speaker 1: in the game every day too, So here's our good
Speaker 1: game play of the day. If you're in the DC area,
Speaker 1: join Steph and Maggie along with other Voice and Sport
Speaker 1: advocates tomorrow when they advocate for gender equity and sport
Speaker 1: on Capitol Hill. We'll link to the details in our
Speaker 1: show notes. And if you live further away, you can
Speaker 1: still support their work by donating to the Voice and
Speaker 1: Sport Advocate program. We'll link to that in our show
Speaker 1: notes too. We always love to hear from you. To
Speaker 1: hit us up on email good game at Wondermedia neetwork
Speaker 1: dot com, or leave us a voicemail at eight seven
Speaker 1: two two oh four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe.
Speaker 1: Rate and review. It's easy watch a parade full of
Speaker 1: many New York liberty fans, rating five out of five
Speaker 1: Scenes of joy review. My sister and her family are
Speaker 1: on vacation in the Bahamas, and they went to the
Speaker 1: annual Junior junk Anew which is a kid's parade. And
Speaker 1: among the many groups of dancers and revelers and all
Speaker 1: these incredible costumes were these kids celebrating hometown hero John
Speaker 1: Quell Jones, who is of course Behaman, and celebrating the
Speaker 1: New York Liberty's first WNBA championship. And there were kids
Speaker 1: dunking little mini basketballs on a giant float that said Delayed,
Speaker 1: not Denied on the front and had pictures of John
Speaker 1: Quell and the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty.
Speaker 1: There were these packs of kids carrying basketball art that
Speaker 1: said MVP. A girl decked out as Lady Liberty, another
Speaker 1: girl wearing an elephant hat, and there were even little
Speaker 1: mini referee. He's running around so cute, as Ari Chamber says,
Speaker 1: the WNBA is so important. My sister grabs some photos
Speaker 1: on some video and send him to me, so we'll
Speaker 1: link to him in the show notes. Now it's your
Speaker 1: turn rate and review. You can do it, I promise
Speaker 1: we ask you every day, like follow up Pashadi who
Speaker 1: gave us five stars and wrote starting the day with
Speaker 1: women's sports and some solid humor is all I could
Speaker 1: ask for. I've been recommending the show to all my
Speaker 1: friends and seriously questioning the relationships I have with those
Speaker 1: who don't immediately love it as well. That's a very
Speaker 1: good way to judge character, pasht. We fully endorse that
Speaker 1: if they don't like our show out thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: See you tomorrow when we get ready for the college
Speaker 1: softball season with a no Dumb Questions episode with Reporter
Speaker 1: Rhiann and Potkey Good Game Staff, Good Game, Maggie Hugh.
Speaker 1: Schools that still prioritize men's sports. Good Game with Sarah
Speaker 1: Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with
Speaker 1: Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1: Production by Wonder Media Network. Our producers are Alex Azzie
Speaker 1: and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz,
Speaker 1: Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rutterer. Our editors are Emily Rutterer,
Speaker 1: Britney Martinez, and Grace Lynch. Our associate producer is Lucy
Speaker 1: Jones and I'm your host Sarah Spain.