Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we've seen
Speaker 1: so much marketing for the Wicked movie. We're holding space
Speaker 1: for Ariana Grande and Cynthia Revo to come on the show.
Speaker 2: Group chat call us. It's Tuesday, November twenty sixth.
Speaker 1: Then on today's show you'll hear from Kansas City current
Speaker 1: center back Alana Cook, who joined us at our live
Speaker 1: show in case plus bear failure and as God is
Speaker 1: my witness, I thought turkeys could fly. It's all coming
Speaker 1: up right after this welcome back slices. Here's what you
Speaker 1: need to know today in college basketball news, there's a
Speaker 1: new number one in the Associated Press poll. After knocking
Speaker 1: off defending champion South Carolina head coach Corey Closes UCLA
Speaker 1: squad sits atop the poll for the first time in
Speaker 1: program history. The Game Cocks slid to number four and
Speaker 1: Southern Cal falls to number six following the Trojans loss
Speaker 1: to Notre Dame on Saturday. We'll put a link to
Speaker 1: the full AP poll for week four in our show
Speaker 1: notes Soccer news, and it's news that we are simply
Speaker 1: not emotionally capable of handling.
Speaker 2: Right now, We're going.
Speaker 1: To tell it to you and then we're going to
Speaker 1: try to forget about it for as long as possible.
Speaker 1: Two times FIFA Women's World Cup champion and twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four Olympic gold medalist, Alissa Nayer has announced her retirement
Speaker 1: from international soccer. The two upcoming games in Europe during
Speaker 1: this international window will be her last for the US
Speaker 1: women's national team. She will be back with her club,
Speaker 1: the Chicago Red Stars next season. In Pro Volleyball Pro
Speaker 1: Vibes news, the Pro Volleyball Federation held the draft for
Speaker 1: its second season on Monday. The draft consisted of five
Speaker 1: rounds and the order was set for each round by
Speaker 1: a draft lottery. Back in October, the Atlanta Vibes selected
Speaker 1: Nebraska opposite hitter Merit beeson number one overall after trading
Speaker 1: with the Indie Ignite to get the first pick. Louisville's
Speaker 1: Anna de Beer went number two to Indie, and Creighton's
Speaker 1: Norris Sis went third to the Orlando Valkyries. We'll link
Speaker 1: to the full draft results in our show notes and
Speaker 1: add it to your calendar now. Year two of PVF
Speaker 1: play begins January ninth. In softball, the gms and coaches
Speaker 1: for the inaugural season of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League
Speaker 1: have been announced, including legendary players kat Oustman and Lisa Fernandez.
Speaker 1: We'll link to the full list in our show notes.
Speaker 1: AUSL starts play in June of twenty twenty five. We
Speaker 1: got to take a quick break. When we come back,
Speaker 1: you'll hear from Kansas City current and US Women's National
Speaker 1: team player Alana Cook. She joined us at the Westport
Speaker 1: Cafe in Kansas City on Saturday morning, where we held
Speaker 1: a brunch and a live taping of the show for
Speaker 1: some wonderful brands, sponsors, and team execs. Some of the
Speaker 1: folks who make this show possible were there too, so
Speaker 1: shout out to Laura Corni, founder and CEO of D
Speaker 1: Blue Sports and Entertainment, and Jesse Katz, the head of
Speaker 1: Iheartwomen's Sports, for getting the audience all warmed up for us.
Speaker 1: Our conversation with Ilana is coming up next. Joining us here,
Speaker 1: We've got center back for the casey current. Alana Cook,
Speaker 1: also a US Women's national team member. Proud Stanford alum,
Speaker 1: previously played for Paris Sanderman and the Seattle Range. She
Speaker 1: was named the NWSL Best eleven in twenty one, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two and was a finalist for NWSL Defensive Player
Speaker 1: of the Year in both seasons.
Speaker 2: Made her senior.
Speaker 1: Women's national team debut in twenty nineteen. Has twenty nine
Speaker 1: total caps. She's a dog mom and a plant mom.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of cook Hi everybody. So the current
Speaker 1: acquired you in a trade this summer. What's the toughest
Speaker 1: part about joining a team midseason?
Speaker 3: I would say the toughest part is probably being able
Speaker 3: to kind of wrap up with another team with unfinished business.
Speaker 3: And I think being able to transition to another team,
Speaker 3: another system that's that's already going and that's already so
Speaker 3: well formed. I was stepping into a group that was
Speaker 3: already so successful, and you know, you just want to
Speaker 3: step into the group and make it better. And so
Speaker 3: you know, you kind of have to find your role,
Speaker 3: find your place in that and figure out, you know,
Speaker 3: the new new scheme, the new tactics and all that. So,
Speaker 3: to be fair, everyone here made it so incredibly easy,
Speaker 3: but you know, it's it was nerve wracking a little bit.
Speaker 3: I stuffed on the plane and I said, okay, this
Speaker 3: is this is a new adventure.
Speaker 1: One of my faves Kayla Sharples, who was on the
Speaker 1: Red Stars when I was an owner, also got traded
Speaker 1: mid season, and she said that they forgot to turn
Speaker 1: off her Slack access for her old team, and she
Speaker 1: had to tell them like, hey, guys, I can't see
Speaker 1: any of this stuff, so get me out of here.
Speaker 2: Did that happen?
Speaker 1: Did you have proprietary information that they forgot to take
Speaker 1: from you?
Speaker 3: Fortunately we were done playing Seattle by that point, but
Speaker 3: I did still have the huddle access for a little bit.
Speaker 2: We got to work on this team.
Speaker 3: They're working on their defending this week. Nice. Oh good,
Speaker 3: good good good.
Speaker 1: Coming here to Casey, you were reunited with lat Gwandanovski,
Speaker 1: who was the former head coach of the national team,
Speaker 1: now here head coach again in Kansas City.
Speaker 2: After some time away he came back.
Speaker 1: Are there any big differences you notice between vladco as
Speaker 1: national team head coach versus club coach.
Speaker 3: I would say I think he thrives in this environment
Speaker 3: because I think he does best when he has just
Speaker 3: the constant touch points with players. He's someone who's so
Speaker 3: detail oriented, so he dives into every single detail. You know,
Speaker 3: I'll get video clips where it's kind of like if
Speaker 3: your hips were maybe thirty more degrees open, like could
Speaker 3: you have gotten to this ball? Or like can we
Speaker 3: work on your foot like the two steps you took
Speaker 3: getting to the ball. So I think it just benefits
Speaker 3: him so much to get to be in the environment
Speaker 3: every day, to get to see us every day, and
Speaker 3: every time we have time to do extras, I'll say, oh,
Speaker 3: black O, do you have anything for the center backs?
Speaker 3: He goes, do I have anything? Like okay, yeah, let's
Speaker 3: do something. So I just think, yeah, him being able
Speaker 3: to work with us every day and really implement his system,
Speaker 3: you know, you see the success on the field.
Speaker 1: He's always described as a player's coach. Even when the
Speaker 1: national team was struggling, there was a real reticence I
Speaker 1: think to blame him or point fingers or be critical
Speaker 1: because the players love working with him. What's something you
Speaker 1: can tell us about him, like behind the scenes? What
Speaker 1: makes him such a great players coach?
Speaker 3: Uh? Honestly he I know he said this in interviews
Speaker 3: that he feels like he laughs so much. But the
Speaker 3: man is goofy, like you wouldn't know it from his
Speaker 3: sideline demeanor, very serious and interviews, very serious. But he
Speaker 3: loves a good joke. He loves to tell stories. He
Speaker 3: is He's just a good dude. So he really is
Speaker 3: a players coach. We love having him, We love having
Speaker 3: in the environment, and.
Speaker 1: I'm sure very nice to have him be here and
Speaker 1: want you want to make a trade for you and
Speaker 1: validate that he.
Speaker 2: Believes in your skill set. That's really cool.
Speaker 1: Speaking of skill sets, Tim Wuchawenga, holy shit, Oh there's
Speaker 1: kids in here.
Speaker 2: Sorry, MVP of the league.
Speaker 1: I have to imagine you two make each other better
Speaker 1: in practice. Can you tell us about that? Because that
Speaker 1: must be intimidating. It doesn't have an outcome, but you
Speaker 1: have to see it every day as opposed to just
Speaker 1: like once a week.
Speaker 3: On the flight over here when we landed, I took
Speaker 3: this deep sigh of relief and I was like, I
Speaker 3: will never have to defend him what schwinga in a
Speaker 3: game at least for the next three years, and then
Speaker 3: I will follow her wherever she goes. But no, I
Speaker 3: think we love it just the competition. Every single day
Speaker 3: we take our we face our hardest battles in training,
Speaker 3: and by the time we get to the weekend, you know,
Speaker 3: we know we've prepared, we're over practice and we know,
Speaker 3: we face the best. We go against the MVP every day.
Speaker 3: There's nothing we're gonna see on the weekend that we
Speaker 3: haven't prepared for. So it's an epic battle every time.
Speaker 3: And you know, we always like say, if you're not
Speaker 3: thinking three steps ahead, she's probably already gotten you beat.
Speaker 3: I remember one day we did a drill that you
Speaker 3: had to start and you would run basically sprint forty
Speaker 3: yards and try to like, as a defender, I would
Speaker 3: have to beat the attacker to the spot and try
Speaker 3: to defend a cross and flack one's going on a
Speaker 3: beat her there. I was like, I would have to
Speaker 3: beat her up right here to be able to beat
Speaker 3: her forty yards. But so you know it, you learn
Speaker 3: some of the dark arts of defending. But yeah, she
Speaker 3: makes us all better.
Speaker 1: Okay, we love I love the dark arts. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: not above cheating. Kansas City as a town does such
Speaker 1: a great job of around this team. What does it
Speaker 1: mean to you as a player to know you're getting
Speaker 1: sold out crowds at your stadium, that there's so much
Speaker 1: integration around the town and that there's a real belief
Speaker 1: that you're a part of this fabric of this town.
Speaker 1: That's full of sports teams as opposed to a newer
Speaker 1: addition or something people are still learning about.
Speaker 3: I think it gives us a really deep sense of
Speaker 3: purpose knowing that the community rallies behind us and that
Speaker 3: they support us so much. I think we know we
Speaker 3: owe it back to them. The support we get is immense,
Speaker 3: you know. I always get this like really warm feeling
Speaker 3: talking about the fans at the games. I think it
Speaker 3: drives us forward so much. When we talk about having
Speaker 3: home field advantage, we mean it that when the songs
Speaker 3: play after we score, when the crowd's cheering and chanting
Speaker 3: for us, we can feel like a tangible momentum shift,
Speaker 3: and you can see it in the other team's face
Speaker 3: that they know they're under the gun. And so I
Speaker 3: think it's just it's such an incredible feeling, even just
Speaker 3: being recognized around the city or having people come up
Speaker 3: to us and tell us how much they appreciate what
Speaker 3: we're doing. I think it really is centering and grounding
Speaker 3: for us to know that, yes, this is soccer, this
Speaker 3: is our job, but it has such a bigger impact
Speaker 3: and we get to touch so many lives, We meet
Speaker 3: so many people, and I think for me My favorite
Speaker 3: part about this job has always been getting to meet people,
Speaker 3: getting to meet the community and be a part of that.
Speaker 3: So what they've created here it's incredible.
Speaker 1: I also think it's really impressive to create a culture
Speaker 1: and a brand and an identity so quickly. In women's sports,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of ketchup because there isn't nostalgia.
Speaker 2: There aren't traditions.
Speaker 1: You haven't been going to the games with your grandparents
Speaker 1: since you were a kid.
Speaker 2: Maybe producer Misha has because they were.
Speaker 1: Born when the WNBA started, which is so gross. But
Speaker 1: most people are finding and choosing to be a fan
Speaker 1: as opposed to being born into it. And Kansas City
Speaker 1: has done such a good job of establishing tradition and
Speaker 1: establishing moments where the identity of being a fan feels
Speaker 1: bigger than just I come and watch. Sometimes it's I
Speaker 1: am a current fan, This is who I am.
Speaker 2: Are the players aware of that? Are the players are aware.
Speaker 1: Of creating lore in the early stages of something that
Speaker 1: hopefully will be around for century plus.
Speaker 3: I don't think it's front of mind necessarily, but I
Speaker 3: think you hit the nail on the head. I think
Speaker 3: being a fan here there's a sense of like belonging
Speaker 3: community that comes with it, and that's something that I
Speaker 3: felt when I played at PSG. I think all of
Speaker 3: kind of the European teams, they have their ultras where
Speaker 3: they're absolute, die hard, insane fans like that is it's
Speaker 3: their religion, and I think for a lot of them
Speaker 3: that it's that community. It's the feeling like you're a
Speaker 3: part of something and you're all believing in something together.
Speaker 3: And I think that's what's being built here. It's for
Speaker 3: a long time, like you said, the NDWUSL and women's
Speaker 3: sports has been only die hard fans because it's people
Speaker 3: who have wanted to buy every streaming service and who
Speaker 3: want to, you know, do every single thing, jump over
Speaker 3: every hoop to be able to support. And I think
Speaker 3: now we're doing such a great job of making it
Speaker 3: so accessible and making it just a part of the
Speaker 3: identity of the city. Is you know, I live in
Speaker 3: Kansas City. Of course I support the current people are
Speaker 3: going to start to be born into that that fandom,
Speaker 3: so it's really exciting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And also the cool thing about being part of
Speaker 1: something newer is you do get to establish some of
Speaker 1: the firsts. The first title will be Yours the first
Speaker 1: river goal was this year.
Speaker 2: We'll always I'm obsessed with river goals and you should
Speaker 2: get so.
Speaker 1: Vanessa de Bernardo, who is also on the Red Stars,
Speaker 1: back when I was there, uh told me that the
Speaker 1: team has a little fun with you being a vegan
Speaker 1: and that you get made fun of.
Speaker 2: I'm a vegetarian.
Speaker 1: I just got back from Spain literally like eight hours ago,
Speaker 1: and I ate only potatoes and cheese because everything has
Speaker 1: like some sneaky ham in it. Over there, nobody likes
Speaker 1: sneaky ham. Have you convinced your players, your teammates to
Speaker 1: get on board? Have you made them many vegan feasts?
Speaker 1: Can you get them over to the plant side?
Speaker 3: I love sharing every time I get food and my guys,
Speaker 3: do you want to try my tofu? And shockingly no
Speaker 3: one says yes. I'm still I'm still on the path.
Speaker 3: The one thing that actually the whole team loves and
Speaker 3: they have begged for me to ask for more of
Speaker 3: for them, is the vegan chicken fingers that we get
Speaker 3: from our chef. So one by one I will convince
Speaker 3: them by chicken fingers to the dark side.
Speaker 1: One chicken finger at a time. Have you mastered being
Speaker 1: an athlete? On a plant based diet because I just
Speaker 1: after like seven years, was like, I guess I should
Speaker 1: see if I'm getting enough vitamins. And it's not as
Speaker 1: important for me as for you, but I feel like
Speaker 1: you probably have to be very intentional.
Speaker 3: Yes, eating is like one of my biggest joys in
Speaker 3: the world, you know, and I think as athletes sometimes
Speaker 3: it becomes almost a bit of a chore. We do
Speaker 3: jokes sometimes, like I am eating strictly for sustenance. I'm
Speaker 3: like putting down eighteen pancakes at seven in the morning
Speaker 3: so that I can run for ninety minutes. But we
Speaker 3: were so well supported. I work really closely with our
Speaker 3: chef and our nutritionist and we'll do blood labs all
Speaker 3: the time to make sure that you know, I'm hitting
Speaker 3: those numbers. Have you know, the right vitamin D levels,
Speaker 3: We test for B twelve, We test kind of all
Speaker 3: the things that and if you can diet, you know,
Speaker 3: you might struggle to get So we work so closely
Speaker 3: together that it's really taken that off my plate. Yeah,
Speaker 3: And basically they've just give given me a plan and
Speaker 3: all I really have to do is follow it. So
Speaker 3: it has become a lot easier since being here and
Speaker 3: kind of having that resource, having that guidance. I think
Speaker 3: before it was kind of like I feel good, so
Speaker 3: I hope I'm doing it. But it's been really nice
Speaker 3: to kind of have the ability to check in and
Speaker 3: have the I'm a big data person, I'm a nerd
Speaker 3: at Stanford. It's nice to have kind of that scientific feedback. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Remind me of the name of your major at Stanford.
Speaker 3: Oh dear, it's called symbolic systems. Yeah, which explain that
Speaker 3: to us. It means nothing to anybody, no, no, no,
Speaker 3: tell us. But my concentration was human computer interaction, so
Speaker 3: kind of looking at the brains as a symbolic system,
Speaker 3: right like kind of like a computer, and just kind
Speaker 3: of seeing what that interaction between technology, society people is,
Speaker 3: how we integrate that, how it works best.
Speaker 1: And it's a pretty fascinating thing right now with AI
Speaker 1: understanding the implicit bias because it is ultimately the result
Speaker 1: of humans, and so that same bias that we have
Speaker 1: ends up being computerized and when it becomes data, people
Speaker 1: believe it's fact, but it's got the same bias as
Speaker 1: everything else that we bring exactly.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, look at me, got it.
Speaker 2: I went to Stanford. Sure didn't.
Speaker 1: You spent four seasons with the Rain, You won the
Speaker 1: Shield in twenty twenty two, you made it to the
Speaker 1: title game in twenty twenty three, came so close. What
Speaker 1: would you say the biggest thing you learned from your
Speaker 1: time in Seattle was.
Speaker 3: I think one of the things that I took away
Speaker 3: from that was just getting to be around such incredible players.
Speaker 3: You know, I got to play under people who had
Speaker 3: been there for you know, since the beginning of the league,
Speaker 3: and I think they brought such unique perspectives. They had
Speaker 3: persevered through everything that the league has gone through, you know,
Speaker 3: whether that was Laura Harvey or Megan Rappino. I think
Speaker 3: you get to be around people who understand greatness and
Speaker 3: understand what it means to win and win in all
Speaker 3: conditions when on the national team, win in the league
Speaker 3: when the salary was six thousand dollars. So I think
Speaker 3: they just taught me a level of grit and perseverance
Speaker 3: and really how to be a professional that I'll carry
Speaker 3: through with the rest of my career.
Speaker 2: What players in the league who are playing right now
Speaker 2: do you look to to learn from.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think, you know, I absolutely looked to
Speaker 3: pino A, Jefs, Fishlock right, who's still playing. So I think, yeah,
Speaker 3: just pretty much all the veterans of the league. I think,
Speaker 3: like I've said, they've they've gone through such trial and
Speaker 3: tribulation to be here and to have built the league
Speaker 3: to what it's at. I think they were so fortunate
Speaker 3: that all of them have been so grateful in being
Speaker 3: you know, I think you can be bitter in that
Speaker 3: situation that they had to suffer to get the league
Speaker 3: where it is now and to see rookies come in
Speaker 3: making probably seven times what they made is rookies. But
Speaker 3: we're fortunate that pretty much all of them are willing
Speaker 3: to give back and willing to mentor and willing to say, Okay, great,
Speaker 3: we did our job getting the league here, like now
Speaker 3: it's your turn. How are you going to push it?
Speaker 3: And mentoring us to be able to do that.
Speaker 1: And I think the key to assuaging that bitterness is
Speaker 1: to have the youngsters appreciate and understand that without them
Speaker 1: you wouldn't be getting the things that you're getting. I
Speaker 1: thought you might drop Tierna and Naomi just because those
Speaker 1: are your stand for girlies.
Speaker 3: I do love them.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, I answered it for you so they won't
Speaker 2: get mad at you later.
Speaker 1: Recently, Lily Johannes announced her decision to play for the
Speaker 1: US instead of the Netherlands. Big round of applause. Screw
Speaker 1: you a Dutch, Sorry Netherlands. You actually had a decision
Speaker 1: to make too. You went to a camp for England
Speaker 1: and you allultimately chose the US. I don't blame you.
Speaker 1: US is the best, but it's a tough team to
Speaker 1: make and a tough team to stay on. It requires
Speaker 1: a lot of self confidence to make that choice. What
Speaker 1: was going through your mind when you made that decision.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I'm obviously very proud to have you
Speaker 3: know both heritages and be able to represent either one.
Speaker 3: I think it took me a while to feel really
Speaker 3: comfortable with decision, But when I sat there and I
Speaker 3: really thought about it, I knew whether I never played
Speaker 3: another game with the US, or whether I played five
Speaker 3: hundred more win or lose, I would always be so
Speaker 3: proud of what I'd contributed and what I was able
Speaker 3: to achieve with that crest. And I think I knew
Speaker 3: that that was the most important, that that was always
Speaker 3: going to bring me pride, and that was always going
Speaker 3: to be something. It didn't matter what team we were playing.
Speaker 3: I was always going to be ready, willing and excited
Speaker 3: to give everything I had to the program and to
Speaker 3: represent this country.
Speaker 1: Five hundred would top Christine Lully even so, I think
Speaker 1: that's actually the number you need to.
Speaker 3: Talk Chris lay into my late twenty twenty time twenties, Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1: How do you balance being in the moment for club
Speaker 1: and valuing winning an NWSL title, winning Defender of the year,
Speaker 1: the prizes and accomplishments of the club level, while also
Speaker 1: understanding that there are larger goals with the national team.
Speaker 1: There is a World Cup coming up that I imagine
Speaker 1: you still would like to get back onto. That you
Speaker 1: were part of the twenty twenty three World Cup team,
Speaker 1: You're not part of this Paris Olympic team. I've heard
Speaker 1: players talk about how there's so much focus on the
Speaker 1: national team that you can underappreciate your accomplishments at club level. Here,
Speaker 1: I think the investment in teams is changing that. I
Speaker 1: think the excitement, enthusiasm, the TV deals, the way that
Speaker 1: people are appreciating the clubs now.
Speaker 2: In a way that they didn't even ten years ago,
Speaker 2: changes that.
Speaker 1: But that doesn't erase the fact that we still think
Speaker 1: of the national team as the highest place for accomplishment.
Speaker 1: How are you able to focus on both getting yourself
Speaker 1: prepped in in the mindset to try to remake that
Speaker 1: national team, but also value what you're doing now.
Speaker 3: I think it's I mean, it's easier said than done,
Speaker 3: but I think the only way to the national team
Speaker 3: is to value the little things, the day to day
Speaker 3: stuff in your club. Everything that I'm being asked to do,
Speaker 3: with the current that I'm being asked to work on
Speaker 3: folks on to get better on. Those are all things
Speaker 3: that are going to put me in a better position
Speaker 3: to perform and to be ready and to be able
Speaker 3: to be called in for the national team. It's one
Speaker 3: of the reasons that I really wanted to be here
Speaker 3: was I knew that the development, the learning, the growing,
Speaker 3: that the commitment to all of those things, those will
Speaker 3: put me in the best position to be the best
Speaker 3: player in person that I could be. And you know,
Speaker 3: if I'm doing that, the hope is that's enough to
Speaker 3: get me called in. And if it's not, I know
Speaker 3: that at least I've developed, I've grown, and I've done
Speaker 3: everything in my power to be able to do that.
Speaker 3: But like you said, I think the investment in clubs
Speaker 3: now the it's you know, the raising the bar in
Speaker 3: terms of standards of facilities, in terms of salaries, everything.
Speaker 3: I think people are able to be so much more
Speaker 3: invested in their clubs. It's not just if you want
Speaker 3: to have a long term career, you have to be
Speaker 3: on the national team. So I think, you know, the
Speaker 3: younger generation is now starting to really really value that
Speaker 3: club experience. There. You know, we get to be in
Speaker 3: the club environment so much more than I think in
Speaker 3: the early stages of the league the national team players
Speaker 3: got to be. So it has been exciting I think
Speaker 3: to see that shift and to see the younger players
Speaker 3: really want to do both and want to be invested
Speaker 3: in both.
Speaker 2: Are you still doing your morning mantras?
Speaker 3: Always?
Speaker 2: Can we hear one?
Speaker 3: Oh? Those are private? Okay? Right, Sorry, I can't give
Speaker 3: with my secrets.
Speaker 2: Okay, fair enough, fair enough.
Speaker 1: While everybody it's working for her, so feel free to
Speaker 1: adopt it if necessary.
Speaker 2: Your mom's a great support system for you, you've said.
Speaker 1: She even sometimes sends you tape of opponents that are
Speaker 1: coming up to help you prep. She also has a
Speaker 1: habit of sending one particular kind of text. If you
Speaker 1: have a bad game or lose, can you tell us
Speaker 1: what that is?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's usually just like a heart. That's how I
Speaker 3: know I've had a terrible game. If I have like
Speaker 3: a game, it's there's critique, But if it was bad,
Speaker 3: it's a heart, and I'm like, oh that okay, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna have to go review the film very quickly.
Speaker 1: It's like the opposite of no notes. It's like all notes,
Speaker 1: but I'm just gonna stick with a heart.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You once said that some of the best advice you've
Speaker 1: gotten is come up for air.
Speaker 2: Why did that resonate with you?
Speaker 3: I think in a profession like this, we're constantly demanding
Speaker 3: more of ourselves. Where you know, sometimes in the middle
Speaker 3: of the season, you feel like you're under the think,
Speaker 3: you're in the think, you're you're almost in war, right,
Speaker 3: it's game after game after game. Midweek, you're in practice,
Speaker 3: you're you know, you're doing a double day, you're doing this,
Speaker 3: that and the other. And I think sometimes that can
Speaker 3: get heavy, that can weigh on you. If you're not
Speaker 3: performing well, if the team's not doing well. It's easy
Speaker 3: to dwell in those low points, and I think when
Speaker 3: I heard that quote, it was kind of a reminder
Speaker 3: of you know, you don't have to carry all of
Speaker 3: that heaviness all the time, right. The point is to
Speaker 3: climb your obstacles, not to carry them. And I think
Speaker 3: you come up for air, you get perspective. You can
Speaker 3: kind of you know, see the see the bigger perspective
Speaker 3: and see what you're doing, and then you can hone
Speaker 3: back in and kind of narrow down what you're working on,
Speaker 3: break it into little bits. But if you don't come
Speaker 3: up for air, right, I think you're you're drowning rather
Speaker 3: than being able to kind of bit by bit paddle
Speaker 3: paddle your way out.
Speaker 1: That might be useful for the next four years and
Speaker 1: one and a half months Speed round to close. You're
Speaker 1: still taking piano and saxophone lessons. Saxophone, yes, okay, what's
Speaker 1: the go to song? If someone's like, play us something,
Speaker 1: show us you can play Okay.
Speaker 3: See I'm still like hot cross Buns amazing. Yeah. My
Speaker 3: instructor I started in Seattle and this man was so kind.
Speaker 3: I would as a high achieving athlete, I'm not used
Speaker 3: to being bad at things, and so I was like,
Speaker 3: I need to the term I was, I like to
Speaker 3: need to microdose failure, like I need to go be
Speaker 3: bad at something and like have a low stakes failure
Speaker 3: because then you know, when you're failing on the like
Speaker 3: in practice, you just you're you're better able to deal
Speaker 3: with it. So I was like, let me go do saxophone.
Speaker 3: I'm in this lesson and he's like okay, like put
Speaker 3: this key here and blow and I would go and
Speaker 3: just absolutely no noise would come out, and he was like,
Speaker 3: you're doing so great. It's like, no, what, No, I'm not.
Speaker 3: He was like okay, I mean, yeah, you're right. I
Speaker 3: was like, just just give it to me straight.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 3: He was like, yeah that was bad. But Hot Cross Buns, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's so funny to come out of a saxophone.
Speaker 1: It's so funny to use that song because I was
Speaker 1: all stayed in clarinet in case Saymon was wondering, and
Speaker 1: I tried to take up guitar in college and I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, I'm unwilling to play Hot Cross Buns
Speaker 1: for two hours and be impressed. I immediately want to
Speaker 1: know the best and most important songs, and I have
Speaker 1: no patience at this age.
Speaker 3: I said, how long will it take me to be
Speaker 3: able to improve? He said A long time right. I
Speaker 3: don't like that answer.
Speaker 1: Noah, Literally, Mish and I producer mich and I were
Speaker 1: just exchanging looks because literally yesterday we had a conversation
Speaker 1: about how they're taking up piano to fail so that
Speaker 1: they can learn how to be bad at something and
Speaker 1: be okay with it. I am still unwilling to do that,
Speaker 1: but I am going to take this note from both.
Speaker 2: Of you and think about it. Once I find something
Speaker 2: i'm bad at.
Speaker 3: Start there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just getting I can just do math every day
Speaker 1: and I get reminded math is hard.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Last question, Your dog Bo shares a birthday with Do
Speaker 1: they have anything in common?
Speaker 2: They're both tauruses.
Speaker 3: I actually don't really know how it came to be
Speaker 3: that we decided his birthday was Roses. I simply think
Speaker 3: Rose said his birthday should be mine, and we all said, okay. Honestly,
Speaker 3: they're both the goofiest, quirkiest, long legged, skinny little things
Speaker 3: you've ever seen, athletic silly humans. Rose level. I feel
Speaker 3: like people know now it is the biggest pranker I've
Speaker 3: ever met in my whole life. So I would like
Speaker 3: to think Bo has gotten some of that silliness I
Speaker 3: love about him.
Speaker 1: If anyone doesn't know anything about Rose and they want
Speaker 1: to get to the heart of it, just google Rose
Speaker 1: Celine Dion Yes, and that will be everything you need
Speaker 1: to know. Alana, thanks so much for giving us time.
Speaker 1: Congrats on such a great season.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Thank you guys, a lot of cook everybody.
Speaker 1: Thanks again to Alana for hopping on and joining us.
Speaker 1: We got to take another break stick around welcome back slices.
Speaker 1: As always, we love that you're listening, but we want
Speaker 1: you to get in the game every day too, So
Speaker 1: here's our good game play of the day. You remember
Speaker 1: that Billa Jean King cup mascot we fell in love
Speaker 1: with back in Malaga. Well, I was on a flight
Speaker 1: with one of bjk's team members back to the States
Speaker 1: raving about this thing. We called it Bali Jen King,
Speaker 1: But it turns out her name is Nettie King and
Speaker 1: she's got an insta at Nettie King underscore BJK Cup.
Speaker 1: That's Nettie, n Ettie. This thing is wild. Just hit
Speaker 1: follow I promise you won't be disappointed. Also, thanks to
Speaker 1: everyone who sent in Thanksgiving, TV and movie Rex including
Speaker 1: a voicemail suggestion from a certified slice named Michelle out
Speaker 1: of Lexington, South Carolina.
Speaker 4: Take a listen, Hello, Senior Slices, this is Michelle, thanksgiving
Speaker 4: me The recommendation one that maybe you're not familiar with
Speaker 4: that I've always enjoyed. It's called What's Cooking?
Speaker 3: With a question mark.
Speaker 4: I see that it streams on Prime, so you should be.
Speaker 3: Able to find it.
Speaker 4: It's got a wonderful, pretty female dominated cast, and don't
Speaker 4: watch it when you're hungry, or you will go and
Speaker 4: absolutely gorge yourself on food. So if you haven't seen it,
Speaker 4: definitely given a watch.
Speaker 3: Love the show.
Speaker 2: Thanks good looking out Michelle.
Speaker 1: Some others that got lots of mentions on social media
Speaker 1: w Kripe and Cincinnati Turkey's Away, How I Met Your Mother,
Speaker 1: The Slapsgiving Episode, The West Wing, Shibballeth, all of the
Speaker 1: bobs Burgers Thanksgiving apps. I have literally never seen a
Speaker 1: single episode of Bob's Burger's, and everyone is raving.
Speaker 3: Is that your show? Meiche Yes, and you're absolutely insane
Speaker 3: for having never seen an episode. I cannot you know that?
Speaker 3: That's my ring tone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, on my mind.
Speaker 1: It's so good it's worth watching it's the ultimate relaxation
Speaker 1: decompression show, and everyone loves the Thanksgiving ups, so okay,
Speaker 1: that's a good one. And then a lot of people
Speaker 1: shouted out episodes of Cheers, Gilmore, Girls, Darman, Greg, The
Speaker 1: New Girl, Roseanne, Gossip Girl, and Mad About You.
Speaker 2: Tons of votes.
Speaker 1: Two for the movies Pieces of April, Dutch and Home
Speaker 1: for the Holidays, and obviously the Goat, planes, trains, and automobiles.
Speaker 2: So thanks slices.
Speaker 1: The couch is calling and we now have a very
Speaker 1: long list of things to watch this week. You can
Speaker 1: always email us at good Game at wondermediaetwork dot com
Speaker 1: or leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two
Speaker 1: o four fifty seventy.
Speaker 3: Now, while you're.
Speaker 1: Lounging around watching all those shows this holiday week, don't
Speaker 1: forget to pick up your bone and subscribe, rate and review.
Speaker 2: It's super easy.
Speaker 1: Watch trying something new, rating five out of five. We're terrified,
Speaker 1: but this is good for us review. Just like a
Speaker 1: lot of cooks said, the best way to handle failure
Speaker 1: and learn how to survive and grow from loss is
Speaker 1: to be intentional about failing. The older we get, the
Speaker 1: more we're used to competence and the harderness to do
Speaker 1: things we're bad at, or to try things you've never
Speaker 1: done before. But that kind of stagnancy isn't just boring
Speaker 1: and unhealthy, It's likely to set you up for some
Speaker 1: major anxiety when you got a new challenge or some
Speaker 1: sort of activity in front of you that you cannot avoid.
Speaker 1: So get used to trying new things, get used to
Speaker 1: sucking at stuff when you start, and then learn how
Speaker 1: great it feels when you improve. Now it's your turn,
Speaker 1: rate and review. Thanks for listening, See you tomorrow when
Speaker 1: we chat with beloved US women's national team legend and
Speaker 1: Angel City co owner Lauren Holliday. Good Game, Milana, Good Game, UCLA.
Speaker 1: You the fear of up get in Losers were micro
Speaker 1: dosing failure. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart
Speaker 1: women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 1: You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
Speaker 1: our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive
Speaker 1: producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder.
Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rudder, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and
Speaker 1: Lindsay Cradowell. Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your
Speaker 1: Host Sarah Spain