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Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where, like Brianna Stewart,

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Speaker 1: we're using our intro to send a clear message abolish ice.

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Speaker 1: It's Monday, January twenty sixth. Then on today's show, we're

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Speaker 1: putting our very own producer Alex Azie in the hot

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Speaker 1: seat to help set the stage for our big show

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Speaker 1: field trip to Italy. The two of us are headed

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Speaker 1: to the Olympics next week, so it's high time Alex

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Speaker 1: starts sharing her wealth of Olympic knowledge. She'll tell us

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Speaker 1: what it's really like to cover the games on the ground,

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Speaker 1: why you should never hear the word olympiad during the

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Speaker 1: upcoming games, the one country in which she got nabbed

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Speaker 1: for speeding, and some winter Olympic.

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Speaker 2: Fun facts that might impress your friends.

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Speaker 1: Plus dunking is a breeze, go frost yourself, and athletes

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Speaker 1: using their platforms to speak out.

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Speaker 2: It's all coming up right after this welcome back slices.

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Speaker 1: Here's what you need to know today. Let's start with

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Speaker 1: college hoops, and we're down to one undefeated team in

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Speaker 1: Division one women's basketball. On Sunday, number five Vanderbilt and

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Speaker 1: their perfect season ran into a buzz saw in number

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Speaker 1: two South Carolina. The game Cock scored an impressive thirty

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Speaker 1: three points in the first quarter and led the Commodore

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Speaker 1: start to finish, earning an easy one oh three seventy

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Speaker 1: four win. South Carolina was led by Tanaia Latson and

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Speaker 1: Tessa Johnson, who combined for forty one points and five

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Speaker 1: three pointers. Sunday's win was a bit of revenge for

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Speaker 1: South Carolina. Last Thursday, the game Cock saw lengthy win

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Speaker 1: streak end when they fell to number sixteen Oklahoma. They

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Speaker 1: had the lead with twenty seconds left to play, but

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Speaker 1: sooner Reagan Beers tied things up at seventy five and

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Speaker 1: pushed the game to overtime, and that's where things really

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Speaker 1: went south for South Carolina. Ou outscored them nineteen to

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Speaker 1: seven in overtime to win the game ninety four eighty two.

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Speaker 1: After the lost game, Cocks coach John Staley told the

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Speaker 1: media that her team quote ran into a team that

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Speaker 1: actually wanted to.

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Speaker 2: Win more and they made winning plays than we didn't.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's not really rocket science, it's really a

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Speaker 1: very simplistic thing.

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Speaker 2: End quote. According to reports, Staley led an intense post game.

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Speaker 1: Practice session after that loss, and whatever happened between Thursday

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Speaker 1: and Sunday, the game Cock certainly seemed back on their

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Speaker 1: game over the weekend. They improved to twenty and two

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Speaker 1: Vandy now twenty to one on the season.

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Speaker 2: With Vandy's l the cheese stands alone perfect.

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Speaker 1: Yukon continued their statement making season with a ninety two

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Speaker 1: to fifty two win Overseat and Haul on Saturday.

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Speaker 2: Their wind streak now at forty three games.

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Speaker 1: Y'all sophomore Sarah Strong led the Huskies on Saturday with

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Speaker 1: seventeen points, followed closely by freshman Blanca Kenyonez, who put

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Speaker 1: up sixteen. The team will once again put their perfect

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Speaker 1: on the line Wednesday night against Xavier. More College Hoops.

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Speaker 1: Number ten Iowa took down number twelve Ohio State on Sunday,

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Speaker 1: beating the Buckeyes ninety one seventy. It was a bittersweet

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Speaker 1: win for the Hawkeyes though senior guard Taylor McCabe went

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Speaker 1: down with the leg injury in the first quarter. No

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Speaker 1: word yet from the team on the severity of that injury.

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Speaker 1: And it's been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad

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Speaker 1: week for Number eleven Kentucky. They dropped their third in

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Speaker 1: a row on Saturday, falling to unranked Georgia seventy two

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Speaker 1: sixty seven. The loss followed a Thursday night defeat at

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Speaker 1: the hands of number sevenventeen Tennessee sixty fifty eight, and

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Speaker 1: is seventy one to fifty nine loss to unranked Mississippi

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Speaker 1: State last Sunday.

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Speaker 2: More of basketball.

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Speaker 1: As you mentioned in the show intro, Unrivaled co founder

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Speaker 1: Brianna Stewart made a statement ahead of the missed seventy

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Speaker 1: six to seventy one win over Vinyl on Sunday, holding

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Speaker 1: up a sign reading abolish Ice.

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Speaker 2: During her intro.

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Speaker 1: After the game, Stewey told ESPN quote, We're so fueled

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Speaker 1: by hate right now instead of love, so I wanted

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Speaker 1: to have a simple message of abolish ice, which means

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Speaker 1: having policies to uplift families and communities instead of fueling

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Speaker 1: fear and violence.

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Speaker 2: End quote.

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Speaker 1: We'll put a link to that ESPN article in the

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Speaker 1: show notes. More Unrivaled Breezebec's Dominique Malonga recorded her first

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Speaker 1: dunk in a game on us soil over the weekend,

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Speaker 1: throwing down a one handed jam in the first quarter

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Speaker 1: of her team's seventy five sixty eight win against the

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Speaker 1: Lunar Owls. While Malonga's dunking prowess has long been hyped,

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Speaker 1: the six sixty four didn't dunk in her rookie season

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Speaker 1: with the WNBA Seattle Storm. We'll link to a video

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Speaker 1: of her dunk in the show notes and don't forget

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Speaker 1: the Unrivaled schedule continues through Monday nights, so there are

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Speaker 1: two games on the slate tonight beginning at seven and

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Speaker 1: thirty pm Eastern, with the league's two worst teams, the

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Speaker 1: number seven Lunar Owls and number eight Hive Tippin off first,

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Speaker 1: followed by a matchup between two of the league's best teams,

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Speaker 1: the Number one Laces and Number three Breeze. Even more unrivaled,

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Speaker 1: the league is announced that the wildly popular one v

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Speaker 1: One Contest, which co founder in Feast the Callier won

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Speaker 1: during last year's inaugural season, is making its triumphant return.

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Speaker 1: The competition will take place over three days beginning February eleventh,

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Speaker 1: and just like last year, the tournament will use a

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Speaker 1: bracket style knockout round. Each game will end when one

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Speaker 1: player reaches eleven points or at the end of ten minutes,

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Speaker 1: whichever comes first.

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Speaker 2: The winner will take.

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Speaker 1: Home two hundred thousand dollars, with the runner up receiving

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Speaker 1: fifty grand and the two remaining semi finalists pocketing twenty

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Speaker 1: five k each. And if you're placing wagers, remember last

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Speaker 1: year's one v one turned into a battle of unicorns.

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Speaker 1: Erique Agunbalwale was the only guard that made the final

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Speaker 1: four to soccer. The US women's national team kicked off

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty six with a six nothing win in a

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Speaker 1: friendly against Paraguay over the weekend. The scoreboard was stagnant

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Speaker 1: in the first half nothing nothing, but in first tap

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Speaker 1: stoppage time, Raylan Turner scored in her debut game with

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Speaker 1: the national team. In the second half, the floodgates opened

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Speaker 1: and the US poured it on. Trinity Rodman, who made

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Speaker 1: her highly anticipated return to the national team just two

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Speaker 1: days after resigning with the NWSL's Washington Spirit in a

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Speaker 1: groundbreaking deal, scored in the fifty sixth minute, earning her

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Speaker 1: twelfth international goal. It was her first time wearing the

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Speaker 1: captain's armband, and Rodman, who earned her forty eighth cap

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Speaker 1: in the win, led the least capped starting lineup for

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Speaker 1: the US women's national team in twenty five years, with

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Speaker 1: an average.

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Speaker 2: Of just nine point six caps.

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Speaker 1: Ahead of the game, the team honored a player with

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Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty five national team caps, the recently

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Speaker 1: retired Kristin Press, among those who joined her on the

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Speaker 1: field her dog Bob love to see it. The national

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Speaker 1: team takes the field again on Tuesday for a friendly

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Speaker 1: against Chile at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara, California. The

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Speaker 1: pair of January friendly Saturday and tomorrow are the team's

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Speaker 1: final tune up ahead of the She Beliefs Cup in March.

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Speaker 1: Also over the weekend, coach Ema Hayes led some new

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Speaker 1: slip a little bit ahead of schedule. In a press

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Speaker 1: conference day before the Paraguay Friendly, she revealed that her

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Speaker 1: team will be playing longtime rivals Japan in a series

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Speaker 1: of friendlies April eleventh, fourteenth, and seventeenth. The day after

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Speaker 1: her slip, the team made the official announcement in acute video,

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Speaker 1: with US women's national team legend Meghan Rappino playing the

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Speaker 1: role of her home city of Seattle, who will host

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Speaker 1: the April fourteenth game.

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Speaker 2: We'll link to the video in the show notes.

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Speaker 1: The last time the US and Japan played was it

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Speaker 1: last year she Believes Cup, when the usbel two to one,

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Speaker 1: the first loss for the team under Hayes to the NWSL.

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Speaker 1: The North Carolina Courage announced a new head coach on Saturday.

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Speaker 1: Former Lebties national team and club player Mack Lynd brings

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Speaker 1: nearly a decade of experience as a head coach and

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Speaker 1: manager in Sweden, most recently leading the Swedish side b

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Speaker 1: K Hawcken women. North Carolina had been without a full

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Speaker 1: time head coach since firing Shawn Nejas last summer. Linda

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Speaker 1: said to start working with the team immediately, with preseason

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Speaker 1: training camp now underway to the slopes. On Sunday, Mikaela

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Speaker 1: Schiffrin won the final World Cup slalom race before the Olympics,

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Speaker 1: securing the slalom season title and becoming the first alpine

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Speaker 1: skier in the six decade history of the World Cup

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Speaker 1: to earn nine season titles in one discipline. Five of

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Speaker 1: Schiffrin's seven slalom wins this season have come by more

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Speaker 1: than a full second, so she should be super confident

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Speaker 1: heading into the Olympics in that event.

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Speaker 2: And there's more. Her slalom victory came one day after

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Speaker 2: she made her official return to the giant slalom podium,

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Speaker 2: her first top three finish in the event since she

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Speaker 2: sustained that puncture wound while competing in Vermont November twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty four. Sweden Sarah Hector won that race, with American

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Speaker 2: Paula Moltzen coming in second.

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Speaker 1: That's Moltzen's fourth podium of the year. With twenty four

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Speaker 1: thirty seven races on this year's World Cup schedule now complete,

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Speaker 1: Schiffrin is also in control of the overall World Cup title.

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Speaker 1: That award is likely to come down to the final

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Speaker 1: World Cup races of the year. Following the Olympics, to

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Speaker 1: the ice and icy jewels for some very well deserving athletes.

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Speaker 1: On Thursday, the PWHL and Paris Jewelers Canada unveiled the

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty four to twenty five walter Cup Championship rings.

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Speaker 1: Presented to back to back champs. The Minnesota Frost athletes

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Speaker 1: received the Customs Sterling silver rings in a private ceremony.

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Speaker 1: Features an f for Frost made of purple amethyst precious gemstones,

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Speaker 1: the gemstone of resilience, strength, and evolution. According to the

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Speaker 1: team's press release, The purple Frost logo is surrounded by

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Speaker 1: one hundred and ten lab grown diamonds and ooh boy

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Speaker 1: does it sparkle. On one side of the ring has

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Speaker 1: the player's name and number, and the other side the

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Speaker 1: words back to back for their repeat Walter Cup wins.

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Speaker 1: Everything about the ceremony looked super special. But I do

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Speaker 1: think the Frost missed out on a layup of a

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Speaker 1: marketing campaign. Do you remember that movie How to Lose

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Speaker 1: a Guy in Ten Days? Matthew McConaughey, he's got like

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Speaker 1: a marketing campaign for diamonds. Frost yourself, hello? Maybe for

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Speaker 1: title number three on the ice. On Sunday, the Frost

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Speaker 1: seized every opportunity in a game against the New York Sirens.

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Speaker 1: Minnesota found the back of the net six times best

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Speaker 1: in New York six to two. Before the puck dropped

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Speaker 1: in Saint Paul, the fans and the crowd made their

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Speaker 1: voices heard chanting ice out Now will link to a

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Speaker 1: video of the moment. In the show notes, the Wind

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Speaker 1: bumped the Frost from fourth up to second in the

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Speaker 1: PWHL standings. They are to get on Wednesday, a nine

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Speaker 1: pm Eastern puck drop against Vancouver, a game that's also

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Speaker 1: going to be the Frost seven Rings celebration game, a

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Speaker 1: chance to celebrate the two time champs and send off

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Speaker 1: the Olympic bound athletes playing in their final PWHL game

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Speaker 1: before the Milan Courtina games.

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Speaker 2: Get it seven rings, two championships, five Olympic yep, you

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Speaker 2: get it anyway.

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Speaker 1: You can watch it live for free on the PWHL's

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Speaker 1: YouTube channel. To tennis, where the field is narrowing. At

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Speaker 1: the Australian Open, Coco Golf lost a set to Carolina

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Speaker 1: Muhova on Sunday, but rallied to win the match. World

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Speaker 1: number three Golf is now set to face her first

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Speaker 1: big test at the tournament.

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Speaker 2: On Tuesday morning, Melbourne time Monday night our time.

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Speaker 1: Golf is set to play number twelve Elinas Fitolina, who

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Speaker 1: upset number eight Mira Andreava to advance to the quarterfinals.

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Speaker 1: Now we're recording this before a big match on Sunday

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Speaker 1: night our time before Madison Keys and Jessica Pagoula. One

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Speaker 1: of those Americans is going to be sent back home

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Speaker 1: to the US. Also, Naomio Soaka has withdrawn from the

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Speaker 1: tournament citing an abdominal injury. She made the announcement on Saturday,

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Speaker 1: just hours before her third round match was set to begin,

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Speaker 1: noting that she'd played through pain.

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Speaker 2: In her previous match.

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Speaker 1: In a statement via Tennis Australia at the sport's national

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Speaker 1: governing body, Osaka said, quote, it's an injury. I've had

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Speaker 1: a couple times before and I thought I could push

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Speaker 1: through it, but I warmed up and it got a

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Speaker 1: lot worse end quote. Wishing Osaka a quick recovery, we

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Speaker 1: hope to see her back in action soon. Her withdrawal

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Speaker 1: meant that AUSSI pro madison Inglis gets a walk over

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Speaker 1: into the fourth round, where she'll need every bit of

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Speaker 1: hometown support in a tough one against world number two

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Speaker 1: egos Fiontech. We'll keep you updated as the remaining women

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Speaker 1: work their way towards the finals this coming Saturday. To football,

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Speaker 1: flag football, the University of Nebraska recently announced the edition

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Speaker 1: of women's flag football as a women's intercollegiate varsity sport.

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Speaker 1: The announcement coincides with the nc doublea's approval of women's

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Speaker 1: flag football as an NCAA Emerging sport for women, which

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Speaker 1: means in part that there are now at least forty

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Speaker 1: schools sponsoring flag football at the varsity level. Nebraska's athletic

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Speaker 1: department says they'll now start looking for a head coach

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Speaker 1: and they hope to build a fifteen player roster this spring,

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Speaker 1: with plans to add more players to the team as

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Speaker 1: they get closer to competition. They'll play the our inaugural

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Speaker 1: season in the spring of twenty twenty eight, and that

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Speaker 1: season will include a minimum of twelve games from January

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Speaker 1: to May. It's all happening, of course, ahead of the

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Speaker 1: LA twenty twenty eight summer games, where flag football will

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Speaker 1: make its Olympic debut.

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Speaker 2: Slices.

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Speaker 1: Before we take a break, I want to take a

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Speaker 1: minute to mention the athletes that have been speaking up

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Speaker 1: in light of the murder of Alex Preddy by Ice

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Speaker 1: in Minneapolis on Saturday. As I mentioned earlier in the show,

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Speaker 1: Brianna Stewart held up an abolish Ice sign during her

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Speaker 1: intro at Unrivaled Saturday Night, and several other athletes, including

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Speaker 1: Sam Coffee, Angel Reese, Natisha Heideman, and Tierna Davidson posted

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Speaker 1: about the incident. There was also a moment of silence

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Speaker 1: for Alex pretty before the New York versus Minnesota PWHL

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Speaker 1: game in Saint Paul on Sunday, and after the game,

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Speaker 1: friend of the show Kelly Panic spoke about their murders. Now,

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Speaker 1: in the past, I've talked about the responsibility of athletes

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Speaker 1: to speak up on issues of racism, police brutality, LGBTQ rights,

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Speaker 1: and more, while also acknowledging that not every single athlete

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Speaker 1: is built for activism more frankly mature and informed enough

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Speaker 1: to feel comfortable tackling controversial or heavy issues. Still agree

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Speaker 1: that there are some more suited than others to take

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Speaker 1: up the mantle, But in this moment, it feels like

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Speaker 1: silence cannot be a choice. You can leave the speech

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Speaker 1: giving to others if necessary, but she got to show

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Speaker 1: up prepared with a sentence, a written statement, or at

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Speaker 1: the very least, an actual heartfelt response to what we're

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Speaker 1: witnessing now. On Tuesday, days before Pretti's murder, but after

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Speaker 1: the death of Renee Good, American tennis star Amanda Anisimova

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Speaker 1: was asked how she felt about representing America at the

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Speaker 1: Australian Open. She said she was always proud to represent

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Speaker 1: her country and it was nice to see American players

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Speaker 1: doing so well. The reporter persisted, asking quote in the

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Speaker 1: context of the last year of everything that's been happening

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Speaker 1: in the US. Does that complicate that feeling at all?

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Speaker 2: End?

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Speaker 1: Quote, Anisimova replied, quote I don't think that's relevant.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: She may not have been prepared to speak on the

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Speaker 1: issue in that moment, but saying she wanted time to

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Speaker 1: collect her thoughts on it or she would have a

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Speaker 1: statement about it later, would have been better than dismissing

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Speaker 1: the question as irrelevant.

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Speaker 2: It is relevant, and American.

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Speaker 1: Athletes better get used to being asked these kinds of

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Speaker 1: questions and hopefully having thoughtful answers to them. To have

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Speaker 1: a platform in this moment is to have the chance

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Speaker 1: to help create change, no matter how small. And at

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Speaker 1: the upcoming Olympics, you can bet that American athletes will

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Speaker 1: be in the spotlight, expected to answer questions about the

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Speaker 1: government murdering its own citizens, about Trump threatening to take

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Speaker 1: over Greenland, and about the next Olympics LA twenty twenty eight,

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Speaker 1: and whether the US should be allowed to host. Now,

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Speaker 1: not all of them will be able to perfectly articulate

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Speaker 1: their thoughts or deliver a rousing speech that inspires, but

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Speaker 1: all of them better have something to say or they're

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Speaker 1: going to be complicit in downplaying the seriousness of what's

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Speaker 1: going on at home now. It might not be fair

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Speaker 1: for these athletes to risk making headlines or getting criticism

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Speaker 1: or pushback during their one shining moment. Maybe they'll think

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Speaker 1: it's a distraction during the culmination of all their hard work.

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Speaker 1: But fairness has sort of gone out the window at

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Speaker 1: this point.

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Speaker 2: And if they're.

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Speaker 1: Wearing the flag and supported by and endorsed by America,

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Speaker 1: if they have the privilege of benefiting from the sport

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Speaker 1: foundation and facilities and traditions and history and investment by

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Speaker 1: this country in pursuit of global glory and victory, then

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Speaker 1: they should also be able to answer to their country's

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Speaker 1: ugliest moment. I mentioned Kelly Panic speaking after Sunday's game.

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Speaker 1: Take a listen to what it sounds like to hear

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Speaker 1: an athlete step into the moment and speak from the heart.

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Speaker 3: I just wanted to take the time to recognize I

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Speaker 3: think what's been happening in our state.

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Speaker 2: With you know, Alex and or A thinking about their families.

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Speaker 3: It's obviously really heavy. I think people have been asking

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Speaker 3: a lot. I think of us, you know, what it's

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Speaker 3: like to represent our state and our country.

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Speaker 1: And I think what I'm.

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Speaker 3: Most proud to represent is, you know, the thousands, ten

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Speaker 3: thousand people that show up on the coldest dage of

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Speaker 3: the year to stand and fight for what they believe in.

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Speaker 3: For the people that you know are it might not

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Speaker 3: really truly affect them on a personal level, but it

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Speaker 3: affects their neighbors, it affects our communities, affects our community

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Speaker 3: as a whole. And I think it's just really important

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Speaker 3: to acknowledge that we're really lucky to be able to

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Speaker 3: get to play this game. And I'm really happy that

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Speaker 3: you know, people showed up today and hopefully provided them

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Speaker 3: a couple hours worth of joy, community togetherness. And I

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Speaker 3: think it's just really important for us to acknowledge, you know,

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Speaker 3: what's happening in our community, but also the amount of

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Speaker 3: hope and strength. I think that the people of Minnesota

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Speaker 3: are showing and standing up for what's right amongst the

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Speaker 3: unnecessary and just horrifying things that are happening.

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Speaker 1: Good for her and all the athletes who have already

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Speaker 1: stepped up, and honestly, the same goes for all of

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Speaker 1: us in whatever way we can, especially those of you

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Speaker 1: with conservative friends and family. Now is not the time

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Speaker 1: for more shame and anger. But it's also not the

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Speaker 1: time to ignore. It's time to call them and ask

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Speaker 1: are you still for this? Can you still support this?

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Speaker 1: Because right now, in this moment, we need more than

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Speaker 1: all of us who have already been speaking up to

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Speaker 1: speak up. We need all those people who have decided

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Speaker 1: enough is enough. And if that's some of your friends

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Speaker 1: and family, it's on you to call them. It's on

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Speaker 1: you to reach out. All Right, we gotta take a

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Speaker 1: break when we come back. Producer Alex shares all her

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Speaker 1: Olympic tips ahead of our trip to the Milan Courtina Games.

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Speaker 2: Stick around joining us now.

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Speaker 1: She's a producer for the award winning, wildly popular, totally indispensable,

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Speaker 1: first of its kind podcast Good Game with Sarah Spain.

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Speaker 1: Previous stops include NBC Sports, where she ran the on

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Speaker 1: her Turf editorial blog, and before that was a senior

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Speaker 1: Olympic and Paralympic researcher, traveling to more than fifteen countries

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Speaker 1: to report on competitions and interview athletes, coaches, and sports administrators.

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Speaker 1: A Wellesley grad where she was on the field hockey

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Speaker 1: team and studied American studies with a minor in cinema

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Speaker 1: and media studies.

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Speaker 2: She's a member of the.

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Speaker 1: Stranger Than Fiction Improv troupe, an artist, and a cat mom.

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Speaker 1: She's a spreadsheet queen and my future Olympics Shirpa. It's

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Speaker 1: alex ASII Ali, our very first paid guest.

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Speaker 4: Oh man, that's true, our very first paid guest. And

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Speaker 4: I loved hearing my little intro. I've only had to

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Speaker 4: sit through three hundred plus for other folks before getting

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Speaker 4: my own.

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Speaker 2: That's right. I didn't dig too deep.

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Speaker 1: I did mostly stuff people would be able to find

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Speaker 1: for themselves as opposed to personal information. I've acquired over

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Speaker 1: to spending hours and hours and hours with you for

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Speaker 1: the last two years.

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Speaker 5: I'ch appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: You are sitting in an interview seat today to help

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Speaker 1: set the stage for our big field trip to Italy

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Speaker 1: next week, which, holy.

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Speaker 2: Shit, next week next week.

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Speaker 5: That I was like, shit.

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Speaker 1: You have years of experience covering the Olympics and Paralympics,

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Speaker 1: so I can't wait to pick your brain about all

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Speaker 1: things rings, especially being a newbie.

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Speaker 2: I want to start at the beginning. A very good

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Speaker 2: place to start.

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Speaker 1: Your first job out of college was actually Olympics focused

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Speaker 1: Were you already a big fan before that gig?

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Speaker 2: Was that a goal or happenstance?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm actually going to go back to before I

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Speaker 4: graduated from college, because in a weird way, I knew

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Speaker 4: exactly what I wanted to do while I was still

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Speaker 4: in college, which was work.

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Speaker 5: On the Olympics.

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Speaker 4: And so I'm going to start, actually, I think at

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Speaker 4: the twenty ten Vancouver Olympics, because back when I was younger,

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Speaker 4: I have like vague memories of watching the Olympics with

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Speaker 4: my family, But when Vancouver came around, I just remember

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Speaker 4: coming home from school. I was in high school at

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Speaker 4: the time, coming home from school and just turning on

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Speaker 4: the Olympics and watching them all night long and just

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Speaker 4: being like, how on earth do I make this my job?

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Speaker 4: And so fast forward to the twenty twelve London Games.

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Speaker 4: I was in college at the time, and I got

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Speaker 4: an internship with NBC and it was a fantastic internship. Sarah,

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Speaker 4: You're going to be jealous because we were based at

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Speaker 4: thirty Rock in New York in Studio eight h like

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Speaker 4: on the SNL stage because SNL wasn't filming during the

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Speaker 4: summer and so they needed places for us to work,

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Speaker 4: and so I was literally working from SNL's headquarters working.

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Speaker 5: On the Olympics.

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Speaker 4: And again I was like, how do I make this

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Speaker 4: my job and not just a two week long internship?

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Speaker 4: And yeah, fast forward, I ended up interning during the

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Speaker 4: Sochi Games in twenty fourteen. I actually took a semester

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Speaker 4: off of college to do that, and then graduated in

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Speaker 4: twenty fifteen and started full time as a researcher.

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Speaker 2: I presume college was okay with that.

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Speaker 1: That was like an association with the school that you

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Speaker 1: took the time off, You didn't just not show up

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Speaker 1: for class.

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Speaker 4: Well, funny you ask that, because NBC ended up partnering

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Speaker 4: with a lot of colleges so that students could take

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Speaker 4: two weeks off from college to work the Olympics. When

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Speaker 4: I approached Welsley about that and was like, Hey, is

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Speaker 4: it cool if I do this thing for a few

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Speaker 4: weeks and then come back. My dude was like, absolutely not.

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Speaker 4: So I had to take the full semester off from school. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: and then I just took some extra classes to make

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Speaker 4: up the time.

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Speaker 1: You know, I actually recommend to people all the time,

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Speaker 1: if they have the ability to do so, that taking

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Speaker 1: a gap year before going to college is like the

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Speaker 1: best possible way to actually make sure you take advantage

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Speaker 1: of the very expensive time you're in school and have

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Speaker 1: a better appreciation for what you're going to afterwards in

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Speaker 1: the real world and potentially start the thing about what

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Speaker 1: you want to do as opposed to just running it

437
00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:03,879
Speaker 1: straight through from kindergarten to college and then popping out

438
00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,760
Speaker 1: and being like, oh, so you kind of got a

439
00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:08,480
Speaker 1: little taste of the real world.

440
00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:10,920
Speaker 4: I was just going to say, though, I also did

441
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:12,800
Speaker 4: a gap year too, and I did that after the

442
00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:14,879
Speaker 4: London Olympics, and so I did a full year in

443
00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,199
Speaker 4: AmeriCorps actually, And one of the funny things about that

444
00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:19,960
Speaker 4: was I decided to take the gap year because I

445
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:21,639
Speaker 4: was like, I don't know what I'm doing with my life.

446
00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:23,760
Speaker 4: I don't know where I want to go from here?

447
00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:25,440
Speaker 4: Am I taking advantage of all of the things I

448
00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:27,560
Speaker 4: want to be taking advantage of? And then I worked

449
00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:29,359
Speaker 4: the London Olympics and was like, I want to work

450
00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:31,080
Speaker 4: at the Olympics. How do I do that as fast

451
00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:33,040
Speaker 4: as I possibly can? Why on earth am I doing

452
00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:36,240
Speaker 4: this gap year? It ended up still being a good experience.

453
00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:38,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, where did you go for AmeriCorps.

454
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:40,520
Speaker 4: I was based in Mississippi and ended up doing disaster

455
00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:43,400
Speaker 4: relief projects, but got sent up to New York because

456
00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:45,560
Speaker 4: it was the same year that Hurd Kane Sandy happened.

457
00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:46,679
Speaker 2: Wow.

458
00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:49,840
Speaker 1: Okay, well, Alex, you lived many lives before you even

459
00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:54,080
Speaker 1: left Wellesley. You know, you mentioned that Vancouver was really

460
00:20:54,119 --> 00:20:56,919
Speaker 1: the games that ignited the passion for you. Do you

461
00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,840
Speaker 1: remember an athlete or a specific moment or memory from

462
00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,280
Speaker 1: those games or maybe one after that where you were like, oh,

463
00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:06,919
Speaker 1: this is special. Like I remember being a kid with

464
00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:10,119
Speaker 1: my family being obsessed with the figure skating. We watched

465
00:21:10,119 --> 00:21:13,200
Speaker 1: everything but forever reason in my household, it was Brian

466
00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,440
Speaker 1: Boyd Toddo versus Brian Orser. It was Katerina vid, it

467
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:19,320
Speaker 1: was Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. I mean, there were

468
00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:21,720
Speaker 1: these very rich stories and these athletes you got to

469
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:23,320
Speaker 1: know really well during those games, and those are the

470
00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:24,919
Speaker 1: ones that stand out to me that I watched with

471
00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:25,880
Speaker 1: my family every night.

472
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:27,439
Speaker 2: Yeah.

473
00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:31,520
Speaker 4: I really remember the women's moguls competition there. It was

474
00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:36,840
Speaker 4: Hannah Carney versus a Canadian Jen Hile. I actually don't

475
00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:39,040
Speaker 4: remember who won gold right now, though.

476
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:43,000
Speaker 1: We'll have to ask our senior Olympic researcher speaking of

477
00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:46,919
Speaker 1: a researcher, that was your job from twenty fifteen to

478
00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:50,600
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. You were an Olympic and Paralympic researcher,

479
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:53,720
Speaker 1: and I had no idea that there was such incredible

480
00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:57,040
Speaker 1: lore to this job at NBC Sports. So a handful

481
00:21:57,119 --> 00:21:59,960
Speaker 1: of former Olympic researchers went on to super high rank

482
00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:05,080
Speaker 1: jobs in entertainment. Jeff Zucker, NBCCO, Dick Eversoll, NBC Sports Chairman,

483
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,200
Speaker 1: Terry O'Neill, who was executive producer at ABC Sports and

484
00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,360
Speaker 1: NBC Sports, Jamie Horowitz, who was the VP of Programming

485
00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:14,560
Speaker 1: at ESPN. So, I guess my first question, Alex is

486
00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:16,280
Speaker 1: what are you giving us your two week's notice to.

487
00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:19,680
Speaker 5: Leave and go run NBC U maybe two weeks after

488
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:20,240
Speaker 5: we get back.

489
00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:22,720
Speaker 2: No, perfect, Yeah, get this Olympics trip first.

490
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:25,560
Speaker 4: My goal is to end up not being canceled, which

491
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:27,880
Speaker 4: not every member of that list can say.

492
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:29,320
Speaker 2: That is a great point.

493
00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:32,399
Speaker 1: Okay, So tell us exactly what the job entails and

494
00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:34,240
Speaker 1: why perhaps so many of the people who did it

495
00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:35,520
Speaker 1: went on to such great fame.

496
00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:37,760
Speaker 2: Sure, so, the.

497
00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:39,480
Speaker 5: Job of being an Olympic researcher.

498
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,439
Speaker 4: There's nothing like it in the sports world, and it

499
00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:46,160
Speaker 4: actually dates back to nineteen sixty eight when Dick Eversall

500
00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:48,520
Speaker 4: was the first ever Olympic researcher. So we are very

501
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:52,880
Speaker 4: much talking pre internet, pre cell phone, pre I'm sure

502
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:55,560
Speaker 4: like interlibrary loan that's probably existed for longer than that,

503
00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:59,600
Speaker 4: but who knows. Anyway, the idea of being that NBC

504
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,560
Speaker 4: to this today has spent a lot of money for

505
00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:05,840
Speaker 4: the rights to the Olympics, and yet even at such

506
00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:07,879
Speaker 4: a large company, there are not that many people that

507
00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:10,720
Speaker 4: are focused on the Olympics as their full time job,

508
00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:14,119
Speaker 4: and so you need somebody, usually a recent college grad,

509
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:17,600
Speaker 4: to get in the trenches, go to competitions, get to

510
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:20,320
Speaker 4: know these athletes, figure out what the storylines are, whether

511
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:23,200
Speaker 4: or not there have been rule changes, all of these

512
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:26,959
Speaker 4: very specific things about these very niche sports, so that

513
00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:30,480
Speaker 4: come games time, you can educate the masses that work

514
00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:33,439
Speaker 4: for the company about what they need to know in

515
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:35,840
Speaker 4: order to cover the games. So pretty much all of

516
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:38,080
Speaker 4: the work that you do is internal. You're basically doing

517
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:41,440
Speaker 4: a lot of journalism type things, but instead of publishing

518
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:45,080
Speaker 4: it for everyone to see, you are informing.

519
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:46,240
Speaker 5: The people that you work with about how it.

520
00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:48,800
Speaker 1: Works, and was there ever a thought to publishing any

521
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:50,320
Speaker 1: of it. Was there ever a thought of like the

522
00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:53,320
Speaker 1: Olympic researcher should have a blog in advance, or was

523
00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:56,240
Speaker 1: the goal to keep all the information that you're getting

524
00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:58,840
Speaker 1: secret so that you and only you, and by you

525
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,800
Speaker 1: I mean NBC Sports and its reporters and analysts and

526
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,639
Speaker 1: broadcast folks have it in their back pocket to drop

527
00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:05,720
Speaker 1: during the coverage.

528
00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:08,879
Speaker 4: It was a very funny transition to writing scripts or

529
00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:12,080
Speaker 4: bios and hearing these great commentators use.

530
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:13,360
Speaker 5: Them and be like, oh, they're.

531
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,200
Speaker 4: Using what I wrote to you know, maybe a couple

532
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:17,960
Speaker 4: of years down the line, being like they're using what

533
00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:19,800
Speaker 4: I wrote and feeling like I want a way to

534
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:21,360
Speaker 4: I want a way to be.

535
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:23,720
Speaker 5: Able to publish the stuff byself and take a little

536
00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:24,240
Speaker 5: bit of credit.

537
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:27,320
Speaker 4: That might just be an ALEX problem, but in general,

538
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:29,000
Speaker 4: I think, you know, it's nice to be able to

539
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 4: take ownership of the work that you do, for sure.

540
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:33,640
Speaker 1: But I guess my point is that they do want

541
00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 1: it to sort of be a cache of information that

542
00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:39,720
Speaker 1: gets plucked from when the games are airing, as opposed

543
00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:42,280
Speaker 1: to something that they might use to create content in

544
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:43,359
Speaker 1: the build up to the games.

545
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:45,919
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's used all over the place.

546
00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:49,600
Speaker 4: It's used with these pre Olympic shoots, even identifying which

547
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,480
Speaker 4: athletes are going to be invited to those shoots based

548
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:54,760
Speaker 4: on their results from the year before. Do we expect

549
00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:56,760
Speaker 4: that they're going to be a contender next year? Do

550
00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:58,359
Speaker 4: we expect that they're even going to make the team?

551
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,280
Speaker 4: That was always a really big calculus because when you're

552
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,480
Speaker 4: sending out a crew to do a feature profile on somebody,

553
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:07,520
Speaker 4: spending thousands and thousands of dollars to do that, you

554
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:09,240
Speaker 4: want to make sure that they're making the team and

555
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,280
Speaker 4: that the profile doesn't you know, crash and burn and

556
00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 4: die on the cutting room floor, which often happens.

557
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:17,800
Speaker 2: Sort of like Dan versus Dave. Do you remember? Does

558
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:19,160
Speaker 2: everyone remember who's old enough?

559
00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:23,119
Speaker 1: If you don't remember, there was this incredible, like Rebok

560
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:27,520
Speaker 1: campaign for Dan versus Dave, these two decatholtes that we're

561
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:30,720
Speaker 1: going to go up against each other, both American.

562
00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:33,720
Speaker 2: And then Dave Dan Dan.

563
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:38,120
Speaker 1: Didn't qualify, so then it was just Dave versus everyone else,

564
00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:42,320
Speaker 1: which was unfortunate and I'm sure killed Rebok in terms

565
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:44,439
Speaker 1: of like the spend that they put in so you

566
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 1: are not only giving a bunch of information that will

567
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:48,840
Speaker 1: be used during the games, but you're really helping them

568
00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:51,080
Speaker 1: plan strategy for the coverage.

569
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:52,239
Speaker 2: Who do you want to focus on?

570
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:53,800
Speaker 1: Who do you want to do b roll with at

571
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:55,760
Speaker 1: home before the games even start, so that you have

572
00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:58,119
Speaker 1: something to run of them, you know, going for a

573
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:00,240
Speaker 1: jog with their dog or playing with their kids that

574
00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:04,119
Speaker 1: you can do in the future stories before they compete. Okay,

575
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:06,439
Speaker 1: so all of this is going on mostly in the

576
00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:08,080
Speaker 1: months before the Olympics happen.

577
00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,240
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, yeah, Usually about a year out is when

578
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:12,560
Speaker 4: the main preparation starts.

579
00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,040
Speaker 1: Tell me about the travels then, like how long were

580
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:17,440
Speaker 1: you on the road without stopping back home and where

581
00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:18,919
Speaker 1: did all the different travels take you.

582
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,600
Speaker 4: I think my longest ever trip without going home in

583
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:25,240
Speaker 4: between was in twenty seventeen. So this was in the

584
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:27,920
Speaker 4: lead up to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in twenty eighteen,

585
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:32,680
Speaker 4: and I was gone for seven weeks. I went to Switzerland,

586
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,800
Speaker 4: the Netherlands, Finland. I did a little like three day

587
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:40,720
Speaker 4: trip in Barcelona, which was vacation with my roommates because

588
00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 4: it was going to be cheaper to stay there for

589
00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:46,680
Speaker 4: NBC than to send me back across the ocean. Yeah,

590
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:48,480
Speaker 4: and it was a wild trip. I think one of

591
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:51,240
Speaker 4: the things that I discovered along the way was that

592
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:54,760
Speaker 4: in some ways, winter athletes, for whatever reason, like they

593
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:58,399
Speaker 4: have careers outside of the Olympics, playing their sport in

594
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:00,640
Speaker 4: a way that summer athletes don't w which I think

595
00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:03,000
Speaker 4: is surprising given that the Summer Olympics tend to be

596
00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:05,840
Speaker 4: a bigger deal and that summer sports in general are

597
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:07,000
Speaker 4: more accessible.

598
00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,679
Speaker 5: And more popular. But the World Cup circuit in the

599
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,520
Speaker 5: winter sports world is something that I think really allows

600
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:16,040
Speaker 5: athletes to just compete year after year after year.

601
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:18,000
Speaker 4: You know, so many of the sports that we talk about,

602
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:20,320
Speaker 4: even on this show, they have this World Cup calendar

603
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:22,479
Speaker 4: that goes from October till March.

604
00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 5: So it's five.

605
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,520
Speaker 4: Months where you're traveling and you're earning a paycheck, and

606
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:29,760
Speaker 4: so for our preparation, a lot of times you would

607
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 4: you know, hit up an early World Cup stop in Canada,

608
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,560
Speaker 4: then you would go find them in Europe, and then

609
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 4: you would finish the year back in the US, and

610
00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:40,399
Speaker 4: so you'd be seeing these athletes over and over and

611
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:42,960
Speaker 4: over again on the winter side and on the summer side.

612
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:46,080
Speaker 4: There were very few sports with a similarly robust calendar

613
00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:46,359
Speaker 4: like that.

614
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, so when you say career outside of the Olympics,

615
00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:51,879
Speaker 1: you mean a career in their sports exactly, whereas in

616
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:54,719
Speaker 1: the summer games, unless you're you know, basketball are one

617
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 1: of the ones where there's an established professional league, you're

618
00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:58,720
Speaker 1: more likely to be the one where we see the

619
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,160
Speaker 1: commercial where you got to work at home depot, Yes,

620
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:04,240
Speaker 1: because you needed to in order to supplement the couple

621
00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:06,919
Speaker 1: times a year that your event is competed in a

622
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,440
Speaker 1: way that manifests any money or acclaim.

623
00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:10,560
Speaker 2: That's interesting.

624
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:12,200
Speaker 4: Yeah, we've even seen that with some of the track

625
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:15,240
Speaker 4: and field athletes right the start of athlows right, like

626
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,040
Speaker 4: they're trying to have track and field in a new

627
00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:18,560
Speaker 4: look way.

628
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:20,680
Speaker 5: But for swimming.

629
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:22,960
Speaker 4: In track and field, I think they're really still kind

630
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,360
Speaker 4: of in this early discovery stage where it's like, how

631
00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 4: do we make money on this sport outside of the Olympics,

632
00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:32,800
Speaker 4: And for whatever reason, it still is a work in progress.

633
00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:35,639
Speaker 1: And a handful of the winter sports where that's possible

634
00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:38,280
Speaker 1: tend to be dominated by countries like the ones you

635
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,880
Speaker 1: mentioned Nordic countries, and they tend to have really high profile,

636
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:46,240
Speaker 1: big money sponsors, right, they're sort of seen as sports

637
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:48,760
Speaker 1: of the elite almost. It feels like that's what you're

638
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,360
Speaker 1: talking about, right, like skiing and stuff like that, because

639
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,400
Speaker 1: I don't know that Bob's letters and otherwise are really

640
00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:56,680
Speaker 1: making a career out of it quite as much, even

641
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:58,040
Speaker 1: though they might be busy competing.

642
00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:01,840
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that the price is consistent enough in

643
00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:03,920
Speaker 4: the national team funding if you're on the A team,

644
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:06,480
Speaker 4: and people don't realize that, like depending on how good

645
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:08,600
Speaker 4: you are, and I'm talking about the US here, like

646
00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:11,080
Speaker 4: there are usually different levels of national team funding, so

647
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,560
Speaker 4: the A team versus B team versus C team, and

648
00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:16,920
Speaker 4: so depending on how you get ranked, and that's usually

649
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:21,080
Speaker 4: based on your previous results, that might determine what type

650
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:23,480
Speaker 4: of expenses you can afford during the course of a year.

651
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:25,280
Speaker 5: But I think for most winter.

652
00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:27,640
Speaker 4: Sports they're at a point where if you're getting that

653
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:30,480
Speaker 4: kind of a team funding, you're able to at least

654
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 4: be supporting yourself through that year, even if you're not

655
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:36,400
Speaker 4: necessarily making a lot of money to save it for

656
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:37,040
Speaker 4: down the road.

657
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:40,000
Speaker 1: What are some of your favorite stories that you uncovered

658
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:43,160
Speaker 1: as a researcher while you're out on your travels so.

659
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 4: One that immediately comes to mind is the story of

660
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 4: Hannah and Marissa Brandt, who are hockey players. And this

661
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,240
Speaker 4: is a story that I uncovered at the twenty seventeen

662
00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:55,080
Speaker 4: Ice Hockey World Championship. And this was the World Championship

663
00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:57,360
Speaker 4: that was in the news because the US was threatening

664
00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 4: to boycott it over their dispute with USA Hockey about

665
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 4: their contract and their pay.

666
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:04,520
Speaker 5: And all of the other benefits that the players wanted.

667
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,800
Speaker 4: And as I was at that tournament, you know, there

668
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,479
Speaker 4: was this boycott conversation that was happening, but also I

669
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 4: was focused on the larger picture of what does this

670
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 4: tournament mean for next year's Winter Olympics. And so as

671
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:22,360
Speaker 4: a researcher, I would always have just a million different Lexus,

672
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:26,480
Speaker 4: Nexus alerts, Google alerts, other notifications coming in anytime that

673
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:29,520
Speaker 4: something about one of my specific sports or athletes got mentioned.

674
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:30,920
Speaker 5: So I remember getting one.

675
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,239
Speaker 4: It was talking about this athlete who was born in

676
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 4: South Korea but then adopted by an American family and

677
00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:41,880
Speaker 4: grew up playing ice hockey. And after graduating from college,

678
00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,640
Speaker 4: she got a call from South Korea saying, hey, we

679
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:46,560
Speaker 4: have a team for the Olympics, but we don't have

680
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,640
Speaker 4: very many hometown hockey players. Are you interested in coming

681
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:54,040
Speaker 4: here and playing with the national team? And this young woman,

682
00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:56,880
Speaker 4: her name was Marissa Brandt said sure, like I'd love

683
00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:59,920
Speaker 4: to come and try out. And so then later that night,

684
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:02,680
Speaker 4: after reading this story, I was watching the US play

685
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,120
Speaker 4: and one of the players that scores a goal that

686
00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:08,880
Speaker 4: night is named Hannah Brant, and I'm like, I've seen

687
00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:12,560
Speaker 4: that last name, and so I end up interviewing Hannah

688
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:16,320
Speaker 4: a few days later, and what she tells me is that.

689
00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:17,040
Speaker 5: That's her sister, Marissa.

690
00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:22,560
Speaker 4: And so her parents in the early nineties were trying

691
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:26,520
Speaker 4: to get pregnant and initially struggling, and so they started

692
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:30,080
Speaker 4: looking into adoption, moved forward with adopting this young girl

693
00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:32,920
Speaker 4: from South Korea, and then as they were going through

694
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:36,560
Speaker 4: that process, got pregnant and gave birth to Hannah. And

695
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:39,320
Speaker 4: so these two sisters grew up together and they ended

696
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,600
Speaker 4: up both making their Olympic debut in twenty eighteen, Hannah

697
00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,000
Speaker 4: for the US and Marissa for South Korea.

698
00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 2: Amazing, yeah, and it was really fun.

699
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:49,920
Speaker 4: I ended up getting to go out to Minnesota to

700
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:52,200
Speaker 4: shoot with them and their families and get to know

701
00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:53,400
Speaker 4: them and their dogs.

702
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:57,120
Speaker 5: By the time that the Olympics came around, though, that was.

703
00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,360
Speaker 4: The time that North Korea and South Korea ended up

704
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,400
Speaker 4: having their uni fied Korea team, and so I feel

705
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:03,920
Speaker 4: like the story kind of ended up going under the

706
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,640
Speaker 4: radar a little bit because people were more interested in

707
00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:10,240
Speaker 4: the fact that Marissa was playing with some North Korean teammates, right,

708
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,000
Speaker 4: which can happen with a lot of stories where things change.

709
00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:16,800
Speaker 4: But it was still a really really interesting one to

710
00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:19,160
Speaker 4: uncover and so happy that I got to kind of

711
00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:20,280
Speaker 4: follow through with both of them.

712
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 2: Tell me about Naomi the Gnome.

713
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,600
Speaker 4: So when I was first starting on my Olympic researcher journey,

714
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:28,120
Speaker 4: this was back in twenty fifteen, I realized I was

715
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:31,480
Speaker 4: going to be traveling a lot by myself, and I'm

716
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:33,800
Speaker 4: not really that big of a selfie person, but I

717
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:38,920
Speaker 4: didn't want to just take photos of the Eiffel Tower, yeah,

718
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:40,240
Speaker 4: And so I was like, Okay, I want to find

719
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:41,800
Speaker 4: a way to make them unique. And so I found

720
00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:44,480
Speaker 4: Naomi the Nome, a little toy nome at my local

721
00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:48,880
Speaker 4: toy store, and Naomi accompanied me to so many places

722
00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:53,320
Speaker 4: several Olympics, and then I lost her at the Grand Canyon,

723
00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:55,920
Speaker 4: which was very sad. I'm still looking for her. If

724
00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:58,920
Speaker 4: anyone own minds a little blue nome at the Grand Canyon,

725
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 4: please find me. And then I got Norma, so Nomah

726
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 4: number two. Norma hasn't seen nearly as much of the

727
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:07,160
Speaker 4: world as Naomi though.

728
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:10,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, you and Naomi, So you have a secret Instagram

729
00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:15,360
Speaker 1: where you were documenting your travels for years with Naomi.

730
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,080
Speaker 1: Mostly almost the whole instagram is Naomi in like the

731
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:20,920
Speaker 1: most beautiful settings and doing really cool stuff. You and

732
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:23,920
Speaker 1: Naomi witnessed three world records in person in twenty sixteen

733
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:27,920
Speaker 1: while you were at the swimming event. They're really beautiful

734
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,960
Speaker 1: pictures too, and it really documents like all the amazing

735
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:33,400
Speaker 1: cool things you got to do while you were.

736
00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:33,960
Speaker 2: On this job.

737
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:36,920
Speaker 1: Did you ever feel unsafe on the job you were

738
00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:39,880
Speaker 1: a young woman traveling alone. Were you in any countries

739
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:42,600
Speaker 1: where you didn't really feel like you could handle yourself?

740
00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:44,840
Speaker 1: Or did you ever forget to book a hotel or

741
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:46,800
Speaker 1: couldn't track down the app that you were being sent

742
00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:47,280
Speaker 1: to talk to.

743
00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:51,160
Speaker 4: I did once lose my passport at an Italian airport.

744
00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:53,200
Speaker 4: In fact, I think the Italian airport that I am

745
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:57,000
Speaker 4: flying into and out of, so I just remember I

746
00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:59,400
Speaker 4: dropped it somewhere in between trying to check into my

747
00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:02,280
Speaker 4: flight at the Air France counter and then realizing I

748
00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:05,320
Speaker 4: needed to go to like the Ala Talia counter, and

749
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:08,200
Speaker 4: the amount of joy I felt when I heard them

750
00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:11,400
Speaker 4: paging passenger ATSI over the intercom.

751
00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:13,399
Speaker 5: I was like, that's me, let's go.

752
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:17,239
Speaker 1: I did that in the airport in Ireland. But yeah,

753
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:18,720
Speaker 1: it feels real nice when they.

754
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:20,920
Speaker 2: Oh my god, set your name over the speakers.

755
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:22,800
Speaker 4: It was like one of my first research trips, and

756
00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:25,040
Speaker 4: I was imagining having to like write home to my

757
00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:27,440
Speaker 4: boss and be like, I'm so sorry you hired me, Like,

758
00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:29,600
Speaker 4: please get the State Department on the line.

759
00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:31,719
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, how old were you when you were

760
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:32,480
Speaker 2: doing this job.

761
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:34,680
Speaker 5: I think I was twenty three when I started.

762
00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:37,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm so impressed you were doing this internationally at

763
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:38,520
Speaker 1: that age.

764
00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:40,279
Speaker 5: Well, I think it's an interesting thing.

765
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:42,919
Speaker 4: Even as we've been preparing for this Milan Courtina trip

766
00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:45,320
Speaker 4: of ours for the Olympics. Like, I've always been someone

767
00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:47,480
Speaker 4: where I care a lot about knowing how I'm getting

768
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:50,920
Speaker 4: from point to A to point B, and like as

769
00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:52,799
Speaker 4: long as I know where I'm staying and how I'm

770
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:55,120
Speaker 4: getting from place to place like I'll let the rest

771
00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,919
Speaker 4: of the details fall into place as they come. Yeah,

772
00:34:57,920 --> 00:34:59,640
Speaker 4: but I care a lot about that, And I did

773
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:01,360
Speaker 4: have a cup of other funny ones, like I was

774
00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:02,960
Speaker 4: in Finland and thought that I was going to be

775
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:04,759
Speaker 4: able to take a bus from the hotel I was

776
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,759
Speaker 4: staying at the at to the venue, and then I

777
00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:11,040
Speaker 4: realized nope, Like that's not going to work. So I

778
00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:14,040
Speaker 4: ended up renting a car and then there was like

779
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:15,920
Speaker 4: a blizzard. I ended up in a snow bank.

780
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:17,320
Speaker 5: I went back. I was like, Hi, do you have

781
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:19,760
Speaker 5: four wheel drive? They gave me a new car.

782
00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 4: To date, that is still the only place I've ever

783
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:25,080
Speaker 4: gotten a speeding ticket was in Finland, and I never

784
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:26,640
Speaker 4: actually got the ticket. I think it was too much

785
00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:29,000
Speaker 4: work for them to track me down. They just let

786
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:29,879
Speaker 4: hurt snow that I had.

787
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:33,879
Speaker 1: To find they might be might I know someone who

788
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:35,800
Speaker 1: just didn't pay a ticket in Italy?

789
00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:37,200
Speaker 2: Thinking like well, I don't live there.

790
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:39,359
Speaker 1: And then like it kept going up and they were

791
00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:42,279
Speaker 1: getting notices like five thousand dollars. At some point I

792
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:44,040
Speaker 1: got time and it all added up, and then finally

793
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:46,160
Speaker 1: the one was like you're just not allowed here because

794
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:47,800
Speaker 1: you've refused to pay No.

795
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:49,160
Speaker 5: It's okay.

796
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:51,600
Speaker 4: In my defense, I tried really hard to figure it out,

797
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:53,319
Speaker 4: and I think they were like, just not worth it.

798
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:56,240
Speaker 2: Well, we'll find out. Also trying to go to Finland.

799
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:58,080
Speaker 4: They do their speeding tickets based on income, and they

800
00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:01,680
Speaker 4: probably were like.

801
00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:03,239
Speaker 2: You're okay, You're okay, You're okay.

802
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:05,520
Speaker 1: Kid, all right, we got to take a break more

803
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:06,719
Speaker 1: with Alex right after this.

804
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:13,920
Speaker 2: Okay.

805
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:16,880
Speaker 1: So now you've done all these months of travel and

806
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:19,840
Speaker 1: all this preparation in advance, what does the actual Olympics

807
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:22,080
Speaker 1: look like for you? Both in terms of how all

808
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 1: the work you did manifests on the air and with

809
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:26,480
Speaker 1: the people that are presenting the games, but also like

810
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,799
Speaker 1: are you still in someone's ear during events.

811
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:32,800
Speaker 2: Saying like, oh, say this or remember this fact. Yeah.

812
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:36,520
Speaker 4: The transition from being a researcher to getting to the

813
00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:41,080
Speaker 4: Olympics was very strange and not always like the most fun,

814
00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:43,680
Speaker 4: because you would go into it as an expert, as

815
00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:46,200
Speaker 4: one of the people that knew the most about all

816
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:49,120
Speaker 4: of these weird, niche sports, and you would essentially hand

817
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:51,520
Speaker 4: over your work to the commentary team and to the

818
00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:54,040
Speaker 4: producers and to the research room, which was this huge

819
00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:57,360
Speaker 4: other effort where NBC would have researchers in a variety

820
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,319
Speaker 4: of different sports, and then I would actually work with

821
00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:02,680
Speaker 4: different studio hosts. I would essentially be assigned to a

822
00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:06,000
Speaker 4: studio show and help write scripts and fact check them

823
00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:08,480
Speaker 4: and do different research for athlete interviews and help come

824
00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:11,759
Speaker 4: up with questions and help with pronunciations and all of

825
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:14,960
Speaker 4: these other things. And it was about the Olympics as

826
00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:16,800
Speaker 4: a whole, not just the sports that I had focused

827
00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 4: on in the lead up to the games. And so

828
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,680
Speaker 4: it was a real shift from like being at the

829
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:22,960
Speaker 4: venue and speaking to athletes to all of a sudden

830
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,200
Speaker 4: being in the studio and helping talent make sure that

831
00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:29,800
Speaker 4: they were sounding their best. And I really enjoyed the experience,

832
00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:33,239
Speaker 4: but it was a very different shift from what I

833
00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:34,720
Speaker 4: had been doing the lead up to the Games.

834
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,080
Speaker 1: So when you're there covering the games or working the games,

835
00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:41,200
Speaker 1: do you ever share space with the athletes in your

836
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:44,279
Speaker 1: previous gigs or have you more just been in like

837
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:45,360
Speaker 1: a truck somewhere.

838
00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:49,560
Speaker 4: Usually I was based at the International Broadcast Center, which

839
00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:51,799
Speaker 4: is this big building that gets built at sometimes there

840
00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:54,720
Speaker 4: are even multiple at the Olympics, and it's basically shared

841
00:37:54,719 --> 00:37:56,799
Speaker 4: by all of the different rights holders and non rights

842
00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:00,800
Speaker 4: holder media to do their variety of shows, and NBCs,

843
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:02,799
Speaker 4: of course, is always the biggest section of it with

844
00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:04,480
Speaker 4: its own cafeteria.

845
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:06,280
Speaker 1: So you're more likely to spend time with other journalists

846
00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:08,839
Speaker 1: covering the games than being in the same space as

847
00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:11,160
Speaker 1: we see athletes, like the dining area or the Olympic

848
00:38:11,239 --> 00:38:12,239
Speaker 1: village or things like that.

849
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:12,840
Speaker 5: Exactly.

850
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:15,040
Speaker 4: Yeah, the only time we'd really see athletes was if

851
00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:17,319
Speaker 4: they came through after winning a medal to come on

852
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:17,719
Speaker 4: the show.

853
00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:20,279
Speaker 2: So can we sneak into the Olympic village?

854
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,640
Speaker 5: That's not something I have experience with, Sarah.

855
00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 1: I have a lot of experience sneaking into things, So

856
00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:30,080
Speaker 1: perhaps I will introduce you to my experiences traveling, which

857
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:32,400
Speaker 1: involves a lot of times sneaking into places I haven't.

858
00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:35,000
Speaker 2: Been invited and having a grand old time. So we

859
00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:36,680
Speaker 2: shall see.

860
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:39,680
Speaker 1: We'll actually link to a story that you sent me

861
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:42,200
Speaker 1: from the Hollywood Reporter. It was a twenty twelve story,

862
00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:44,160
Speaker 1: but it had a lot of the stories of some

863
00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:47,279
Speaker 1: of the famed former researchers and some of their experiences,

864
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:49,200
Speaker 1: some of their wild times on the job.

865
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:50,399
Speaker 2: So we'll link to that in the show notes.

866
00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:53,040
Speaker 1: If people want to read all the many ways the

867
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:56,719
Speaker 1: job has sent people on wild goose chases and otherwise. Oh,

868
00:38:56,719 --> 00:38:58,759
Speaker 1: I want to talk big picture, because you know, the

869
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:01,480
Speaker 1: job of covering the Olympic, not just for senior researchers

870
00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:06,680
Speaker 1: but really anyone feels daunting and overwhelming when you're approaching

871
00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:09,200
Speaker 1: these games. Are you thinking to yourself, Oh, this is

872
00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:11,120
Speaker 1: an easier sport to cover, this is going to be

873
00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:14,080
Speaker 1: a harder one, or like, are you processing in your

874
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,720
Speaker 1: head how you'll approach different sports differently.

875
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:19,840
Speaker 4: Yeah, I definitely think that I had favorite sports and

876
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:22,000
Speaker 4: least favorite sports by the end of it, which didn't

877
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:24,200
Speaker 4: have very much to do with what was happening on

878
00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:27,080
Speaker 4: the actual field of play, but more about how easy

879
00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:28,799
Speaker 4: my job was going to be when I was there,

880
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:30,640
Speaker 4: and how many athletes I'd be able to speak to.

881
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:33,279
Speaker 5: And there are some weird.

882
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:35,920
Speaker 4: Quirky ones, like swimming versus track and field was one

883
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:38,960
Speaker 4: that always baffled me a little bit, and so I

884
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 4: think it speaks to the personality of the athletes, but

885
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:46,239
Speaker 4: also some of the like physiology and sport performance side

886
00:39:46,239 --> 00:39:46,640
Speaker 4: of things.

887
00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:47,600
Speaker 5: So for swimmers, for.

888
00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:51,399
Speaker 4: Example, when they're done racing, they would then come through

889
00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:53,520
Speaker 4: this area which is called the mixzone, and for folks

890
00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:56,240
Speaker 4: that aren't familiar, this is an area where they're getting

891
00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:58,480
Speaker 4: interviewed and you go through and you're kind of talking

892
00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:00,880
Speaker 4: to the TV and then to the why services and

893
00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:03,000
Speaker 4: then to all the press people, and so it's this

894
00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:05,759
Speaker 4: long line of fences and at a big competition like

895
00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:07,560
Speaker 4: it can take a while to get through to everyone

896
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:11,160
Speaker 4: that wants to speak with you. And swimmers, though, never

897
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:13,759
Speaker 4: wanted to stay very long, like they wanted to immediately

898
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:15,840
Speaker 4: get to the cool down pool and do their post

899
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:18,799
Speaker 4: race workout and all of these things, while track and

900
00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:21,600
Speaker 4: field athletes would just hang out for so long and

901
00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:24,319
Speaker 4: have conversations with you, and I'm like, I feel like

902
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:25,880
Speaker 4: your bodies aren't that different.

903
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:28,480
Speaker 5: I never quite figured that one out will.

904
00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:32,239
Speaker 1: Track athletes are the coolest, obviously, the most attractive, the

905
00:40:32,239 --> 00:40:35,600
Speaker 1: best bodies, the hottest in general, and I do wonder,

906
00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:38,440
Speaker 1: you know, there are people who do doubles or multiple

907
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:41,480
Speaker 1: events in track, but it's a little less prominent than

908
00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:43,560
Speaker 1: in swimming, where it feels like some of the folks

909
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:47,320
Speaker 1: are competing in several races, which means lots of prelimbs

910
00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:50,080
Speaker 1: and finals, and maybe there's a little bit more of

911
00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:51,719
Speaker 1: a demand to be on a schedule to get their

912
00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:54,640
Speaker 1: body at the exact right spot for those moments. Because also,

913
00:40:54,719 --> 00:40:57,680
Speaker 1: like swimmers taper in a way that track athletes don't

914
00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:00,640
Speaker 1: do as much they do, but it's not quite as

915
00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:02,640
Speaker 1: regimented as it is on the swimming side.

916
00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:05,120
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it maybe has to do a little

917
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:05,560
Speaker 5: bit more with.

918
00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:09,000
Speaker 4: Like the cool down protocol, like swimmers always cool down.

919
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:11,879
Speaker 1: Right, like lactic acid and like things like that may

920
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:14,160
Speaker 1: be processed differently in swimming than they do in track

921
00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:15,000
Speaker 1: for whatever reason.

922
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:17,239
Speaker 4: Yeah, And part of me is wondering, like how much

923
00:41:17,239 --> 00:41:19,520
Speaker 4: of that is actually about the physiology and how much

924
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:22,440
Speaker 4: of it's about the tradition, like just what we've always done.

925
00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:24,640
Speaker 2: Sounds like something to research.

926
00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:25,800
Speaker 5: Alex, Yeah, I wish I could.

927
00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:28,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, so do you.

928
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:31,040
Speaker 1: Is it like an internship where adventure you're expected to

929
00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:32,880
Speaker 1: leave or would anyone be like, no, I would like

930
00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:35,360
Speaker 1: to be a senior Olympic researcher for my career.

931
00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:40,279
Speaker 4: It's a really funny question. I think you kind of

932
00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:42,839
Speaker 4: graduate from it in the same way that you can't

933
00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:46,040
Speaker 4: stay in college forever, despite what athletes with nil deals

934
00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:49,960
Speaker 4: would like to do. And so I ended up having

935
00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:52,440
Speaker 4: an interesting experience. So Tokyo was supposed to be my

936
00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:56,799
Speaker 4: like kind of third Olympics, but then the games were postponed,

937
00:41:56,840 --> 00:41:59,640
Speaker 4: and so just as athletes were dealing with the ramifications

938
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:02,080
Speaker 4: of them being postponed, I was kind of at home

939
00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:03,880
Speaker 4: being like, oh my god, I have to do this

940
00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:06,600
Speaker 4: for another year. Like I'm ready to do something else

941
00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:09,160
Speaker 4: with my life. I'm a little burnt out. And that's

942
00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:11,640
Speaker 4: actually when the opportunity to switch into women's sports came

943
00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:14,560
Speaker 4: up for me, because I had a manager that was like, hey,

944
00:42:15,239 --> 00:42:17,239
Speaker 4: thought that this might be a good opportunity for you,

945
00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:19,279
Speaker 4: and so he pitched it to me and I was like, sure,

946
00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 4: let's do it.

947
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:23,880
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, So you stopped being the senior Olympic and

948
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:26,239
Speaker 1: Paralympic researcher. You moved down to be the editor of

949
00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:28,839
Speaker 1: NBC Sports on Her Turf, which was an editorial blog

950
00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:32,279
Speaker 1: dedicated entirely to women's sports. Then a senior editor covering

951
00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:34,840
Speaker 1: women's sports for The Messenger, then the producer of Queen's

952
00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:36,680
Speaker 1: of the Court podcast with friends of the show Cheryl

953
00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:39,439
Speaker 1: Swoops and Jordan Robinson. So now you've like pivoted from

954
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:41,359
Speaker 1: like the Olympics for my life, and I travel all

955
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:43,160
Speaker 1: the time, and I'm learning about all.

956
00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:44,919
Speaker 2: These different sports and people too.

957
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:47,480
Speaker 1: I'm just focused on women's sports and presumably doing a

958
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:51,120
Speaker 1: lot of it from home, or from at least this country.

959
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:54,600
Speaker 1: What surprised you most about transitioning from covering the Olympics

960
00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:56,279
Speaker 1: to covering women's sports full time.

961
00:42:56,760 --> 00:42:58,720
Speaker 4: I think I had a few revelations when I first

962
00:42:58,719 --> 00:43:01,360
Speaker 4: made the switch. One was when I first entered the

963
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:03,719
Speaker 4: women's sports world. I kind of was probably a little

964
00:43:03,719 --> 00:43:05,440
Speaker 4: bit cocky in the sense of like, I know a

965
00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:07,960
Speaker 4: lot about women's sports because I've been covering women's athletes

966
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:10,560
Speaker 4: for years, and then was like, actually, I know nothing

967
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:13,200
Speaker 4: about the history of the WNBA and the ABL and

968
00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:15,799
Speaker 4: all of the women's soccer leagues that preceded the NWSL,

969
00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:18,759
Speaker 4: And so I loved personally diving into the history of

970
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:20,600
Speaker 4: all of those and kind of figuring out how they

971
00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:22,719
Speaker 4: had led to this current moment in time that we're

972
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:27,160
Speaker 4: in now. But I think I also didn't fully appreciate

973
00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:29,880
Speaker 4: just how little money there is in the women's sports space,

974
00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:33,880
Speaker 4: And that's why advocating for more jobs in women's sports

975
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:36,319
Speaker 4: is a huge priority for me, because I've seen how

976
00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:38,919
Speaker 4: good it can be. On the other side, it does

977
00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:43,200
Speaker 4: not need to be this bad, and yet it is

978
00:43:43,239 --> 00:43:45,920
Speaker 4: still clearly not a priority for a lot of outlets

979
00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:49,560
Speaker 4: to cover women's sports with. Forget resources that are equivalent

980
00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:51,520
Speaker 4: to what they're covering men's sports with, but just with

981
00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:53,120
Speaker 4: you know, professional dignity.

982
00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:56,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think you know, as someone who's been

983
00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:58,680
Speaker 1: in the women's sports space at least in part for

984
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:02,560
Speaker 1: my entire career, noticing the difference between showing up for

985
00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:06,560
Speaker 1: an NBA All Star or an NBA Finals versus the

986
00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:12,160
Speaker 1: women's side, or production meetings or TV pre production, you

987
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:14,759
Speaker 1: could really see the difference. And the Olympics was something

988
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:17,279
Speaker 1: we talked about all the time as an example of

989
00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:19,640
Speaker 1: this is what it looks like when you give people

990
00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:22,000
Speaker 1: a chance to care when you do feature stories on

991
00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:24,280
Speaker 1: women athletes and you tell them the star stake stats

992
00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:26,000
Speaker 1: and stories in advance, and then they tune in in

993
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:28,920
Speaker 1: the millions because you told them there was value in it.

994
00:44:29,280 --> 00:44:30,960
Speaker 1: And we would use the Olympics all the time to

995
00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:32,879
Speaker 1: talk about what we needed to do for the rest

996
00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:35,279
Speaker 1: of the women's sports world to kind of engender the

997
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:37,640
Speaker 1: same response, and it was always so frustrating to see

998
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:39,920
Speaker 1: that the model was there and it just wasn't invested

999
00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:43,000
Speaker 1: in and followed across the women's sports space. So yeah,

1000
00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:47,080
Speaker 1: it's interesting to have those side by sides and then.

1001
00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:48,800
Speaker 2: To be like, oh, what I wouldn't give for the

1002
00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:49,920
Speaker 2: budget I had.

1003
00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:52,920
Speaker 1: Trapsing around the globe while I'm trying to do this

1004
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:55,279
Speaker 1: for the women's sports leagues here, Okay, before we get

1005
00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:57,200
Speaker 1: to some fun facts, people can oppress their friends with

1006
00:44:57,600 --> 00:44:59,600
Speaker 1: zooming ahead to our trip and buy ahead.

1007
00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:01,879
Speaker 2: I mean, one week, what the fuck?

1008
00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:04,880
Speaker 4: We have entered the mode now where if we need something,

1009
00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:06,400
Speaker 4: we probably can't order it online.

1010
00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:08,960
Speaker 5: Yeah, Sarah, we just to go to a story at Mode.

1011
00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:11,600
Speaker 1: Also, this weekend, I intentionally went to as many stores

1012
00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:13,200
Speaker 1: as I could to buy things instead of doing it

1013
00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:14,520
Speaker 1: online so I could shop local.

1014
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:16,480
Speaker 2: And then I ended up multiple times being like you

1015
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:18,719
Speaker 2: don't have anything at stock, I'm trying.

1016
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:20,440
Speaker 1: To help you, and then going home and having to

1017
00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:24,080
Speaker 1: order it online. But anyway, I digress. What is like

1018
00:45:24,200 --> 00:45:26,640
Speaker 1: the best advice you could give someone like me going

1019
00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:30,440
Speaker 1: to their first Olympics in terms of managing the workload.

1020
00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:33,560
Speaker 1: There's events every single day. We'll be covering the expectation

1021
00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:38,560
Speaker 1: for access to the athletes, the travel the like, oh,

1022
00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:40,440
Speaker 1: I'm standing next to a bob sled run and oh

1023
00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:42,279
Speaker 1: there they went, and that's all I really saw.

1024
00:45:42,400 --> 00:45:43,759
Speaker 2: What does this mean for how I'm going to talk

1025
00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:44,040
Speaker 2: about it?

1026
00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:46,560
Speaker 1: Like, what are the things that you learned that you're like, Oh,

1027
00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:49,440
Speaker 1: someone who's never been here in person would never know

1028
00:45:49,520 --> 00:45:50,920
Speaker 1: that that's how it actually works.

1029
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:53,680
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I think one of the interesting things that's

1030
00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:57,240
Speaker 4: different even from like most sports leagues in the US,

1031
00:45:57,320 --> 00:45:59,239
Speaker 4: but a lot of Olympic sports are hard to watch

1032
00:45:59,239 --> 00:46:02,520
Speaker 4: in person. So alpine skiing is a really interesting example.

1033
00:46:02,640 --> 00:46:05,000
Speaker 4: So for folks that aren't familiar, there are five alpine

1034
00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:08,200
Speaker 4: skiing events, and then the individual events. You have everything

1035
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:10,240
Speaker 4: from the downhill, which is the one where they start

1036
00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:12,600
Speaker 4: at the top of the mountain and they go straight

1037
00:46:12,640 --> 00:46:15,239
Speaker 4: down as fast as they can, and then you have

1038
00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:17,480
Speaker 4: the swallow where they're going around a bunch of gates.

1039
00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:20,480
Speaker 4: And you can watch most of a slalom in person

1040
00:46:20,560 --> 00:46:23,319
Speaker 4: because it's a much shorter distance race that's happening in

1041
00:46:23,320 --> 00:46:26,120
Speaker 4: a smaller area, and so most of the race happens

1042
00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:29,040
Speaker 4: close to the finish line versus a downhill. You basically

1043
00:46:29,080 --> 00:46:30,880
Speaker 4: get to see three seconds of the race as they

1044
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:32,960
Speaker 4: enter and then cross the line, and so you're watching

1045
00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:35,719
Speaker 4: most of it on TV, and so yeah, there will

1046
00:46:35,719 --> 00:46:38,360
Speaker 4: definitely be events Sarah that we will be able to

1047
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:40,840
Speaker 4: see more or less of, But because you have Alex

1048
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:44,040
Speaker 4: on your side, I did try to prioritize the ones

1049
00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:46,520
Speaker 4: that we could see a little bit more of. But nice,

1050
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:49,320
Speaker 4: see how it goes, See how it goes. In terms

1051
00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:52,440
Speaker 4: of athlete access, it's a really funny thing. And I

1052
00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:55,759
Speaker 4: often felt like this camaraderie with the athletes when I

1053
00:46:55,840 --> 00:46:58,120
Speaker 4: was a researcher because it was a weird feeling to

1054
00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:02,000
Speaker 4: spend all of this time preparing for something literally countless

1055
00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:04,680
Speaker 4: nights and so many trips in all of these interviews,

1056
00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:06,880
Speaker 4: only for it to be over in a second. And

1057
00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:09,840
Speaker 4: at least for me, I had two weeks of broadcasts

1058
00:47:09,960 --> 00:47:12,440
Speaker 4: to make it worth it. But for so many athletes

1059
00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:15,520
Speaker 4: it is over so much faster than that, And in

1060
00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:18,120
Speaker 4: some ways, I think it's made watching and reporting on

1061
00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:21,800
Speaker 4: like quote unquote regular sports like not as much fun.

1062
00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:25,319
Speaker 4: Like I'm like whatever, Like there's always next season, Like

1063
00:47:25,320 --> 00:47:27,640
Speaker 4: it's not that far away, you know.

1064
00:47:28,120 --> 00:47:30,680
Speaker 1: That's literally the only thing that gets me through like

1065
00:47:31,080 --> 00:47:33,120
Speaker 1: the other sports is I'm like, it's gonna be okay,

1066
00:47:33,160 --> 00:47:35,800
Speaker 1: they have another shot, Like the Olympics tears me apart

1067
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:36,719
Speaker 1: because I'm like.

1068
00:47:36,719 --> 00:47:39,719
Speaker 2: No, is, they're one chance and they got hurt or

1069
00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:40,520
Speaker 2: this dumb thing up.

1070
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:43,760
Speaker 1: It's not fair, like once someone falls starts oh my god,

1071
00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:44,960
Speaker 1: I can't, I can't.

1072
00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:47,200
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think it's one of those things where

1073
00:47:47,960 --> 00:47:53,080
Speaker 4: I was always a big supporter of showing losses in

1074
00:47:53,120 --> 00:47:56,160
Speaker 4: addition to victories, Like I think sometimes especially if the

1075
00:47:56,200 --> 00:47:59,920
Speaker 4: games are tape delayed and that's unavoidable literally based on

1076
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:03,120
Speaker 4: like the time zone of it, things would change based

1077
00:48:03,160 --> 00:48:05,960
Speaker 4: on like who would win and who would lose. And

1078
00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:09,960
Speaker 4: I just remember so much more of the losses because

1079
00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:12,480
Speaker 4: they stick with you and you remember how painful it

1080
00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:17,319
Speaker 4: was for those athletes, and there's something that's really relatable

1081
00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:20,200
Speaker 4: in seeing somebody struggle in those moments. I don't always

1082
00:48:20,239 --> 00:48:22,600
Speaker 4: think it has to be like gratuitous in terms of

1083
00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:25,160
Speaker 4: like showing them cry forever and ever and ever, right,

1084
00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:28,239
Speaker 4: But sometimes I think it can feel a little bit

1085
00:48:28,239 --> 00:48:29,120
Speaker 4: like too much winning.

1086
00:48:29,520 --> 00:48:31,840
Speaker 1: That's also like human nature, though we tend to remember

1087
00:48:31,880 --> 00:48:36,120
Speaker 1: the negatives more intimately than the positives, which is, you know,

1088
00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:38,360
Speaker 1: something we can be intentional about trying not to do.

1089
00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:40,920
Speaker 1: But it is the thrill of victory the agony of defeat.

1090
00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:43,320
Speaker 2: It's not one or the other, like they go together.

1091
00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:45,840
Speaker 1: And that's the reason that the Games are so thrilling

1092
00:48:45,880 --> 00:48:48,840
Speaker 1: to us is because we know that at any time,

1093
00:48:49,040 --> 00:48:51,560
Speaker 1: like things can go terribly for someone who was expecting

1094
00:48:51,600 --> 00:48:54,720
Speaker 1: to win, or be surprising and joyful for someone.

1095
00:48:54,600 --> 00:48:55,560
Speaker 2: Who wasn't all right.

1096
00:48:55,600 --> 00:48:57,239
Speaker 1: So before we let you get to the other side

1097
00:48:57,280 --> 00:48:59,640
Speaker 1: of the bike, we need like a fun factor to

1098
00:48:59,719 --> 00:49:01,960
Speaker 1: the people can impress their friends with when the Olympics

1099
00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:06,400
Speaker 1: start up and they're just casually overbeer dropping these incredible effects.

1100
00:49:07,640 --> 00:49:10,120
Speaker 4: Okay, so one of my favorites is basically, if you

1101
00:49:10,160 --> 00:49:13,560
Speaker 4: hear the term Olympiad during the Winter Olympics, something's gone

1102
00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:18,120
Speaker 4: terribly wrong. So the term games of the blank Olympiad

1103
00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:21,120
Speaker 4: will use Paris for example, Paris was the Games of

1104
00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:25,240
Speaker 4: the thirty third Olympiad. Olympiad measures a period of time,

1105
00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:30,200
Speaker 4: and so the Winter Olympics don't use that at all.

1106
00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:33,759
Speaker 4: An Olympiad is a four year period versus the Winter

1107
00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:36,879
Speaker 4: Olympics are counted based on like the number of Winter

1108
00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:40,520
Speaker 4: Olympics that have happened. So these why is there a difference, Sarah,

1109
00:49:40,520 --> 00:49:47,800
Speaker 4: I'm providing a fact, not a reasoning here. Interesting, okay, yeah, yeah,

1110
00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:50,960
Speaker 4: So these will be the twenty fifth Winter Olympic Games.

1111
00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:52,840
Speaker 4: I always used to joke like they could be the

1112
00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:55,960
Speaker 4: Winter Games of the thirty third Olympiad. We're still technically

1113
00:49:55,960 --> 00:49:58,200
Speaker 4: in the thirty third Olympiad, but don't call them the

1114
00:49:58,239 --> 00:50:00,000
Speaker 4: twenty fifth Olympiad or anything like that.

1115
00:50:00,160 --> 00:50:03,239
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, okay, good to know, good to know. Anything else.

1116
00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:07,879
Speaker 4: There's only one opening ceremony and only one closing ceremony,

1117
00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:11,680
Speaker 4: So if you hear anyone say opening ceremonies, that's wrong.

1118
00:50:12,040 --> 00:50:14,600
Speaker 1: But what about this time when there are multiple opening

1119
00:50:14,680 --> 00:50:16,880
Speaker 1: ceremony in different cities.

1120
00:50:18,440 --> 00:50:21,319
Speaker 4: I think this Olympics may be the only exception to

1121
00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:24,200
Speaker 4: the rule, But only if you're referring to the multiple

1122
00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:26,000
Speaker 4: locations of the opening ceremony.

1123
00:50:26,360 --> 00:50:27,920
Speaker 2: You'll never know if that's what I'm referring to.

1124
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:30,600
Speaker 1: You'll just know that you can't say, Sarah, opening ceremonial

1125
00:50:30,680 --> 00:50:32,440
Speaker 1: like I was referring to all of them in all

1126
00:50:32,440 --> 00:50:32,920
Speaker 1: the cities.

1127
00:50:34,920 --> 00:50:37,520
Speaker 4: And then, finally, people that follow me on Blue Sky

1128
00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:40,240
Speaker 4: will know that this is something I'm extremely passionate about.

1129
00:50:40,360 --> 00:50:43,560
Speaker 4: But it is that you only become an Olympian once you.

1130
00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:45,160
Speaker 5: Compete at the Olympics.

1131
00:50:45,680 --> 00:50:47,560
Speaker 4: And so if you see anyone out there, even if

1132
00:50:47,600 --> 00:50:50,520
Speaker 4: they're an athlete saying I'm an Olympian, I just qualified.

1133
00:50:51,640 --> 00:50:52,279
Speaker 2: No they're not.

1134
00:50:53,200 --> 00:50:54,640
Speaker 5: They have to actually compete.

1135
00:50:54,760 --> 00:50:59,000
Speaker 4: But once they compete, there's the saying, once an Olympian,

1136
00:50:59,080 --> 00:51:02,120
Speaker 4: always an Olympia, And so there's no such thing as

1137
00:51:02,120 --> 00:51:03,120
Speaker 4: a former Olympian.

1138
00:51:03,440 --> 00:51:04,480
Speaker 5: They're always an Olympian.

1139
00:51:05,400 --> 00:51:08,520
Speaker 1: So sitting on the bench with a team that wins

1140
00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:10,840
Speaker 1: and earning a medal, you're still an Olympian even though.

1141
00:51:10,719 --> 00:51:13,960
Speaker 5: Technically you didn't compete, Yes, you are. Basically our rule

1142
00:51:14,080 --> 00:51:15,960
Speaker 5: was you had to be on a start list. And

1143
00:51:16,200 --> 00:51:18,279
Speaker 5: there are some crazy cases.

1144
00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:22,040
Speaker 4: Where athletes got injured in training right ahead of competition,

1145
00:51:22,239 --> 00:51:23,799
Speaker 4: and it's a really hard call of like are they

1146
00:51:23,800 --> 00:51:24,880
Speaker 4: an Olympian or are they not?

1147
00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:26,359
Speaker 5: And it's not.

1148
00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:29,120
Speaker 4: Always super clear like how the IOC defines it versus

1149
00:51:29,239 --> 00:51:33,000
Speaker 4: USOPC versus NBC. So we would usually do some emailing

1150
00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:35,400
Speaker 4: around and see what other people were thinking on those issues.

1151
00:51:35,640 --> 00:51:37,040
Speaker 1: But I know you, this is a stickler for you

1152
00:51:37,040 --> 00:51:39,520
Speaker 1: because you don't like people to be jinxed, especially first

1153
00:51:39,560 --> 00:51:40,640
Speaker 1: time Olympia.

1154
00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:43,399
Speaker 2: Don't say it. They're not an Olympian yet.

1155
00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:47,719
Speaker 4: They just qualified one hundred percent because I just think

1156
00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:49,520
Speaker 4: of how sad they would be if something were to

1157
00:51:49,560 --> 00:51:52,200
Speaker 4: happen between now and them competing to not be able

1158
00:51:52,239 --> 00:51:53,879
Speaker 4: to call themselves that down the road.

1159
00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:57,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, any other fun facts.

1160
00:51:57,080 --> 00:51:58,360
Speaker 5: I'm gonna save those for Italy.

1161
00:51:58,640 --> 00:52:03,280
Speaker 1: The Fato Figos Fato Figos on site in Italy.

1162
00:52:03,400 --> 00:52:05,400
Speaker 2: All right, well, we got a week to figure the

1163
00:52:05,400 --> 00:52:06,160
Speaker 2: rest of the shit out.

1164
00:52:06,200 --> 00:52:09,319
Speaker 1: Alex I feel much more confident, mainly just because I

1165
00:52:09,320 --> 00:52:11,200
Speaker 1: have my Olympic shrip. But with me, I don't really

1166
00:52:11,239 --> 00:52:12,920
Speaker 1: have to know anything. I could just show up just

1167
00:52:12,960 --> 00:52:14,920
Speaker 1: as cooless as I am right now, and then just

1168
00:52:15,000 --> 00:52:17,160
Speaker 1: ask you a million questions. Where are we supposed to be,

1169
00:52:17,160 --> 00:52:18,360
Speaker 1: what are we supposed to be doing, What do we

1170
00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:19,160
Speaker 1: do when we get there?

1171
00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:20,200
Speaker 2: It's going to be great.

1172
00:52:20,600 --> 00:52:23,040
Speaker 4: I love that, And honestly, that's the advice I'd gift

1173
00:52:23,040 --> 00:52:25,360
Speaker 4: to anyone, whether they want to cover women's sports or

1174
00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:29,120
Speaker 4: the Olympics or anything, is just keep asking questions. Like

1175
00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:32,120
Speaker 4: it is not a problem in the journalism space to

1176
00:52:32,160 --> 00:52:34,439
Speaker 4: not know the answer to something. The problem is when

1177
00:52:34,440 --> 00:52:37,840
Speaker 4: you think you know the answer and you proclaim it

1178
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:39,759
Speaker 4: as if it is fact. And so I love it

1179
00:52:39,800 --> 00:52:41,920
Speaker 4: when new people enter the Olympic world or the women's

1180
00:52:41,920 --> 00:52:45,920
Speaker 4: sports world and they ask legit, genuine questions that they

1181
00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:48,120
Speaker 4: notice because they haven't been there for as long.

1182
00:52:48,280 --> 00:52:50,319
Speaker 5: So keep doing it. We'll rely on you.

1183
00:52:50,600 --> 00:52:54,200
Speaker 1: And sometimes those people actually bring our mind to something

1184
00:52:54,239 --> 00:52:56,160
Speaker 1: that we just take for granted and we go, actually,

1185
00:52:56,160 --> 00:52:57,120
Speaker 1: I don't know why that's that.

1186
00:52:57,160 --> 00:52:59,640
Speaker 2: Way, or actually we shouldn't do it that way anymore.

1187
00:52:59,840 --> 00:53:02,160
Speaker 1: The fact that you noticed it allows us to have

1188
00:53:02,160 --> 00:53:05,720
Speaker 1: a conversation about potentially changing it. Yes, all right, Alex,

1189
00:53:05,760 --> 00:53:07,400
Speaker 1: get over to the other side and start editing.

1190
00:53:07,160 --> 00:53:09,440
Speaker 2: This episode, big pee poop.

1191
00:53:12,239 --> 00:53:14,319
Speaker 1: Thanks again to Alex for joining me on this side

1192
00:53:14,320 --> 00:53:16,120
Speaker 1: of the mic. We got to take another break when

1193
00:53:16,160 --> 00:53:25,960
Speaker 1: we come back helping moms achieve their Olympic dreams. Welcome back, Slices.

1194
00:53:26,040 --> 00:53:27,600
Speaker 1: We love that you're listening, but we wanted to get

1195
00:53:27,600 --> 00:53:29,399
Speaker 1: in the game every day too, So here's our good

1196
00:53:29,480 --> 00:53:31,960
Speaker 1: game play of the day. Follow Norma the Gnome, the

1197
00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:34,800
Speaker 1: successor of Naomi the Nome once again. All right, p

1198
00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:38,359
Speaker 1: Naomi you can follow on Instagram at Asi Artwork. It's

1199
00:53:38,480 --> 00:53:40,960
Speaker 1: really producer Alex behind the camera, but it's more fun

1200
00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:42,560
Speaker 1: to pretend that this little nome is making its way

1201
00:53:42,560 --> 00:53:45,040
Speaker 1: around the world. And Norma has been on a slight

1202
00:53:45,080 --> 00:53:47,680
Speaker 1: social media hiatus for a few years and was on

1203
00:53:47,800 --> 00:53:51,120
Speaker 1: that old private account before, but here's open. She'll pull

1204
00:53:51,120 --> 00:53:53,120
Speaker 1: a Lindsay Vaughn and have an epic comeback in Milan

1205
00:53:53,200 --> 00:53:55,800
Speaker 1: Courtina on the account that you can all follow.

1206
00:53:56,040 --> 00:53:57,240
Speaker 2: We'll put it in the show notes.

1207
00:53:57,680 --> 00:53:59,040
Speaker 1: We love to hear from you, so hit us up

1208
00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:01,320
Speaker 1: on email Good Game at one under medianetwork dot com

1209
00:54:01,440 --> 00:54:03,200
Speaker 1: or leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two

1210
00:54:03,400 --> 00:54:06,480
Speaker 1: four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe a rate

1211
00:54:06,520 --> 00:54:07,120
Speaker 1: and review.

1212
00:54:07,400 --> 00:54:08,360
Speaker 2: It's easy slices.

1213
00:54:08,440 --> 00:54:11,960
Speaker 1: Watch for All Mothers Plus Keeping Moms in the Game,

1214
00:54:12,560 --> 00:54:16,400
Speaker 1: rating five stars for doing what it takes. Review for

1215
00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:19,040
Speaker 1: All Mothers Plus the org, co founded by friend at

1216
00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:22,440
Speaker 1: the Show Former Olympic runner Alicia Montano, has awarded Bring

1217
00:54:22,480 --> 00:54:26,040
Speaker 1: the Babies Changemaker grants to five TMUSA moms headed to

1218
00:54:26,080 --> 00:54:29,040
Speaker 1: the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Friend of the Show,

1219
00:54:29,080 --> 00:54:32,520
Speaker 1: Bob's Letter, Alana Meyers Taylor Fellow Bob's Letter, Kaylee Armbruster

1220
00:54:32,640 --> 00:54:37,000
Speaker 1: Humphreys Skeleton slider Kelly Curtis, and curling sisters Tara Peterson

1221
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:40,520
Speaker 1: and Tabitha Peterson Lovic. Each recipient will get five thousand

1222
00:54:40,520 --> 00:54:43,319
Speaker 1: dollars to help pay for essentral family travel expenses things

1223
00:54:43,360 --> 00:54:47,200
Speaker 1: like airfare, lodging, milk, transport, and childcare. Thanks to presenting

1224
00:54:47,239 --> 00:54:50,360
Speaker 1: partner baby gear brand Joy, and also several other corporate

1225
00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:53,680
Speaker 1: and individual donors like former track and field great Alison

1226
00:54:53,719 --> 00:54:56,600
Speaker 1: Felix introducing the first Olympic nursery at the Paris Games.

1227
00:54:56,960 --> 00:54:59,200
Speaker 1: You know, moms are going to look out for one another,

1228
00:54:59,400 --> 00:55:01,640
Speaker 1: and that's just what Alicia is doing. We'll be looking

1229
00:55:01,640 --> 00:55:04,640
Speaker 1: out for those mamas and they're bambinos out in Italy.

1230
00:55:05,280 --> 00:55:07,200
Speaker 2: Now it's your turn, y'all rate and review.

1231
00:55:07,600 --> 00:55:07,920
Speaker 3: Do it?

1232
00:55:08,040 --> 00:55:10,720
Speaker 1: Scroll down five stars, tell us you love us, Thanks

1233
00:55:10,719 --> 00:55:11,200
Speaker 1: for listening.

1234
00:55:11,280 --> 00:55:11,960
Speaker 2: See you tomorrow.

1235
00:55:12,320 --> 00:55:15,640
Speaker 1: Good game, Alex, Good game, Brianna Stewart and other athletes

1236
00:55:15,640 --> 00:55:18,840
Speaker 1: speaking out You finish speeding tickets.

1237
00:55:19,080 --> 00:55:20,160
Speaker 2: You'll never catch her.

1238
00:55:21,680 --> 00:55:24,160
Speaker 1: Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports

1239
00:55:24,160 --> 00:55:27,279
Speaker 1: production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You

1240
00:55:27,320 --> 00:55:30,279
Speaker 1: can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

1241
00:55:30,280 --> 00:55:33,640
Speaker 1: wherever you get your Podcasts production by Wonder Media Network.

1242
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:37,240
Speaker 1: Our producers are Alex Azzi and Bianca Hillier. Our executive

1243
00:55:37,239 --> 00:55:40,880
Speaker 1: producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder.

1244
00:55:41,120 --> 00:55:43,960
Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rudder, Lucy Jones, Britney Martinez and

1245
00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:47,560
Speaker 1: Gianna Palmer. Production assistant from Avery Loftus and I'm Your

1246
00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:48,640
Speaker 1: Host Sarah Spain