Speaker 1: I packed my car. I packed my car it'sad to
Speaker 1: God and grabbed.
Speaker 2: My dunks coffee. Able to get this, I packed my CA.
Speaker 2: I apologize to everyone.
Speaker 1: Welcome to good game with Sarah Spain, where a bunch
Speaker 1: of massholes have already claimed the Connecticut's son as their team.
Speaker 2: I can hear them now.
Speaker 1: I packed my CA outside the garden, grabbed my Dunk's
Speaker 1: coffee to watch the squad wicked time. Okay, that was
Speaker 1: deeply embarrassing and I'm sorry to understand why I never
Speaker 1: made it to SNL.
Speaker 2: I promise I have better accents than that.
Speaker 1: One helped me Affles and others either way, bad accent
Speaker 1: or not very cool scene to see that sold out
Speaker 1: game at TEDD Garden. On today's show, we're going to
Speaker 1: talk with Athletic staff writer Steph Young about whether the
Speaker 1: NWSL is doing too much and what she's learning about
Speaker 1: the San Diego Wave hiring Landon Donovan, Plus a roller
Speaker 1: coaster of a ride for a US Women's national team legend,
Speaker 1: and a blockbuster nw USL trade.
Speaker 2: But first, here's what you need to know.
Speaker 1: Today in NWSL soccer, some big player moves. The Seattle
Speaker 1: Rain have acquired midfielder Jalen Howell and fifty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in allocation money from Racing Louisville in exchange for Ford
Speaker 1: Bethany Balser. Howell was the number two overall pick in
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty two draft, and she's served as Louisville's
Speaker 1: captain since last year.
Speaker 2: Bethany Bosser's trajectory a little different.
Speaker 1: After going undrafted in twenty nineteen, she signed with the
Speaker 1: Rain and went on to win Rookie of the Year
Speaker 1: in her debut season. She went to Spring Arbor University
Speaker 1: and is the first ever Naia player to compete in
Speaker 1: the NWSL, and she's developed into a good one, one
Speaker 1: of the Rain's most consistent contributors. Her thirty three goals
Speaker 1: are third most in club history. She's also known for
Speaker 1: calling out the bs that she sees. Back in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, back before the NWSL had a CBA, she
Speaker 1: wrote on Twitter quote, why is equal pay important? I
Speaker 1: got a fifty dollars gift card to Chipotle for winning
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year in twenty nineteen. Thankfully, these days
Speaker 1: they do have a CBA and the NWSL's Rookie of
Speaker 1: the Year is guaranteed at least five thousand dollars in
Speaker 1: bonus money, which is certainly better than three burritos and
Speaker 1: Asida guac. This is good news for Racing in that
Speaker 1: they need scoring help and Bethany Baltzer can give it
Speaker 1: to them, but it's tough to tell how the players
Speaker 1: are feeling about it. After the trade was announced, both
Speaker 1: players posted on social media. Howell said she's quote shocked
Speaker 1: to say the least, but added she's quote so incredibly
Speaker 1: excited to join the Rain.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, Bolster was a little more cryptic.
Speaker 1: She wrote quote people will write the narrative they want
Speaker 1: to write, but the truth will always come to light
Speaker 1: end quote. In a separate post, she shouted out Louisville, saying, quote,
Speaker 1: I will do everything in my power to help push
Speaker 1: this team forward. Some other Racing Louisville news as Jack
Speaker 1: Harlowe joins the club's ownership group. In case you don't
Speaker 1: know who he is, looking at you, producer Alex. He's
Speaker 1: a rapper, singer and Louisville native. I really can't believe
Speaker 1: you don't know who that is. Alex Catchy Catchy songs.
Speaker 1: Also in the NWSL, GOTHAMAFC fans were dealt a rollercoaster
Speaker 1: of emotions after the club announced it did sign US
Speaker 1: women's national team led Heather O'Reilly to a one day
Speaker 1: contract as an injury replacement player to play in the
Speaker 1: club's Monday night friendly match against women's Super League side Chelsea.
Speaker 1: If you remember, O'Reilly spent a year playing for Arsenal,
Speaker 1: the Cross London rival of Chelsea, which made this an
Speaker 1: extra fun signing. Actually, just in case you didn't already
Speaker 1: know that, let's do a quick refresher on the legendary
Speaker 1: career of the woman known as Hao. All you young
Speaker 1: is out there, start googling, because she's one of our faves.
Speaker 1: During her fourteen year tenure with the national team, she
Speaker 1: won three gold medals, competed at three World Cups, took
Speaker 1: home trophy in twenty fifteen, retired from professional soccer in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, but in twenty twenty two, the first year
Speaker 1: she was eligible to be inducted into the National Soccer
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, she was on the player ballot for voting,
Speaker 1: and that same day she unretired in order to join
Speaker 1: Irish club Shelbourne FC, and only retired players are eligible
Speaker 1: for the Hall. Of fame, so the organization had to
Speaker 1: retract her name for the ballot, at least for now.
Speaker 1: All that to say, we were really excited to see
Speaker 1: O'Reilly back out on the field, and Gotham fans and
Speaker 1: players were super psyched to see her play. Chelsea players
Speaker 1: maybe less psyched. Less than an hour before kickoff, Gotham
Speaker 1: announced that she was no longer available for selection, and
Speaker 1: a few minutes later Hather O'Reilly posted that she didn't
Speaker 1: pass her physical. She wrote, quote, my heart is too big.
Speaker 1: The machine couldn't handle it. End quote, ultimate bummer. Chelsea
Speaker 1: went on to win the friendly three to one. Finally,
Speaker 1: before we leave the pitch, an update on Angel City
Speaker 1: defender and New Zealand national Ali Riley. Earlier this summer,
Speaker 1: Riley was ruled out of the Paris Olympics due to
Speaker 1: an ongoing nerve injury, and during a Q and A
Speaker 1: with a local girls' sports organization, the thirty six year
Speaker 1: old said she's not sure if she'll ever be able
Speaker 1: to play again. She later took to social media to
Speaker 1: clarify she's not saying goodbye to soccer without a fight,
Speaker 1: writing quote, I'm not giving up and I'm not going anywhere.
Speaker 1: My goal is to play for my club and country again,
Speaker 1: and I will think about that as I do my
Speaker 1: rehab every day for as long as it takes. In
Speaker 1: basketball news, yesterday, the WNBA Seattle Storm announced that free
Speaker 1: agent forward Gabby Williams signed a rest of season contract.
Speaker 1: Williams was the one who gave USA Basketball fits in
Speaker 1: the gold medal game at the Olympics, en route to
Speaker 1: a metal for herself and team France. She was also
Speaker 1: named Best Defensive Player of the tournament and selected to
Speaker 1: the All Star Five. She'll join the team back in
Speaker 1: Seattle next week. With France hosting this year's Olympics, she
Speaker 1: opted to set out the first portion of the WNBA
Speaker 1: schedule to prepare with her national team, and she'll now
Speaker 1: rejoin the Storm after playing for Seattle in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two and a portion of twenty twenty three. Seattle's currently
Speaker 1: in the WNBA playoff picture, teetering on the edge of
Speaker 1: the top four in the standings. Williams will be a
Speaker 1: welcome addition to the veteran corps that includes Jewel Lloyd, Skyler,
Speaker 1: nigg And Smith and neck Ogo McKay. All Right, So
Speaker 1: I mentioned at the top when I was doing that
Speaker 1: terrible accent that the Connecticut Sun Los Angeles Sparks game
Speaker 1: a sellout at TD Garden and producer Alex was actually
Speaker 1: at the game.
Speaker 2: Alex, what do we miss?
Speaker 3: All right, y'all? So I am recording this from my
Speaker 3: car after the game, and Wow, that was just such
Speaker 3: an electric environment. As a kid that grew up in
Speaker 3: New Hampshire watching sports at the Garden, it was wild
Speaker 3: to realize that this was the first time in my
Speaker 3: life that I was able to travel to that venue
Speaker 3: and watch women's sports, and more than nineteen thousand people
Speaker 3: were there with me too. One of the first things
Speaker 3: I noticed was that the Connecticut Sun traveled with their
Speaker 3: own floor, like literal home court advantage. Pretty cool to
Speaker 3: see that they were in a different state, in a
Speaker 3: different venue and still playing on their own court. I
Speaker 3: actually asked head coach Stephanie White about that after the game,
Speaker 3: and she shouted out the team staff for pulling off
Speaker 3: such a logistically challenging event. As for the game itself,
Speaker 3: listen seeing Dowana Bonner deny someone in person, it's different.
Speaker 3: Shout out to Emily Adams at the Hartford Current who
Speaker 3: did the math on this. But this was actually the
Speaker 3: first game in her five years with the Sun that
Speaker 3: Dowanna came off the bench. Emily asked White about that
Speaker 3: after the game, and I'm gonna roll that clip because
Speaker 3: it's a good one.
Speaker 2: Deb volunteered on how to come off the bench.
Speaker 4: No, she understands that it's about winning, and she also
Speaker 4: understands that there's a motion involved when it.
Speaker 2: Comes to starting or not star.
Speaker 4: And so she came to us and talked to us
Speaker 4: and she's like, look, I don't mind coming off the bench.
Speaker 4: I just want to win. I want to figure out
Speaker 4: what our best lineup is, our best rotation is, and
Speaker 4: I'll be ready to go no matter what. And so
Speaker 4: that's leadership, right, that's sacrifice, that's putting the team above
Speaker 4: everything else. And so I'm thankful to her for that moment.
Speaker 4: I don't know if I still like it right, you know,
Speaker 4: I think we're still trying to find out, like what
Speaker 4: is the right combination.
Speaker 3: Also, this quote from Djna Carrington, who led the Sun
Speaker 3: with nineteen points, is going to stick with me for
Speaker 3: a long time. Asked after the game about the environment,
Speaker 3: she said, quote, it felt great. It felt like what
Speaker 3: every night should feel like and so wal Tonight was
Speaker 3: the Garden's first WWNBA game. It's pretty obvious it is
Speaker 3: most certainly not going to be the.
Speaker 2: Last awesome stuff. Alex. I'm glad you made it. There
Speaker 2: are two w NBA games today.
Speaker 1: The Phoenix Mercury are traveling to Atlanta, while Las Vegas
Speaker 1: is hosting the Minnesota Links.
Speaker 2: That should be a good one.
Speaker 1: Minnesota and Vegas are currently battling to secure home court
Speaker 1: advantage in the playoffs, two of the best teams in
Speaker 1: the league.
Speaker 2: Check that one out.
Speaker 1: Besides the Storm signing Gabby Williams yesterday, it was relatively
Speaker 1: quiet day in WNBA trade news, while we told you
Speaker 1: about a blockbuster trade in the NWSL, which might have
Speaker 1: you wondering which league's trade deadline came and went. So
Speaker 1: it's time for another installment of no Dumb Question.
Speaker 5: Was yesterday the NWSL trade deadline?
Speaker 2: No, it was actually the WNBA trade deadline. Weird.
Speaker 5: I haven't seen any WNBA superstars on the move, but
Speaker 5: there were a couple NWSL trades this past.
Speaker 2: Week, right, I get your confusion. Now.
Speaker 1: There was indeed a lot more NWSL trade action this
Speaker 1: week than in the WNBA, and not just Balter and Howell.
Speaker 1: We also saw Carson Pika traded to Orlando from Racing
Speaker 1: Louisville and Alexa Spanstra sent to Portland from Kansas City.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, pretty quiet on the hoops front.
Speaker 1: That's not all that surprising, though, because big WNBA in
Speaker 1: season trades are pretty rare to pull off.
Speaker 2: Why because it's something.
Speaker 1: Called a salary cap that's the max total salary of
Speaker 1: all players that a team has on the books. For example,
Speaker 1: let's say you've got five players and one hundred dollars
Speaker 1: salary cap. Each player can only get an average of
Speaker 1: twenty dollars. Of course, you pay some players more than others,
Speaker 1: but it all has to end up at one hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: Lots of other professional sports leagues have what are called
Speaker 1: soft caps that allows teams to exceed the allotted amount
Speaker 1: for a bunch of different reasons, and if they exceed
Speaker 1: a certain amount, they could pay what's called a luxury tax,
Speaker 1: basically a penalty for each dollar that they're over the softcap. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the WNBA has a hard cap. It's one million, four
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty three, two hundred dollars. The only reason
Speaker 1: w teams can exceed that cap is if the league
Speaker 1: grants them hardship or emergency hardship exceptions. Other than those allowances,
Speaker 1: they can't go over for any reason, even a dollar over.
Speaker 1: That makes it pretty tough to find complimentary salaries for
Speaker 1: a swap. So if you remember before the All Star Game,
Speaker 1: we had the Sky sending Marina Maybrey to the Sun
Speaker 1: for Rachel bannonm and Mariah Jefferson. That was a pretty
Speaker 1: rare trade for a player with a bigger contract remakes
Speaker 1: over two hundred k. That trade resulted both from Maybury
Speaker 1: asking out and also the Sun being able to send
Speaker 1: over two players in return.
Speaker 5: So why do NWSL teams have more freedom to spend?
Speaker 2: Well, the NWSL has this thing called allocation money. Well
Speaker 2: what is allocation money?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great question, And like I said, there
Speaker 1: are no dumb questions, But there are especially no dumb
Speaker 1: questions about the NWSL's allocation money because even the smartest people.
Speaker 2: In the room still struggle with that one.
Speaker 1: It's pretty tricky, but basically, it's an extra sum of
Speaker 1: cash that doesn't count towards the salary cap, and it
Speaker 1: can go towards paying high level players that meet certain criteria.
Speaker 1: This includes players that have had say, more than three
Speaker 1: appearances for their national team in the previous two years,
Speaker 1: or domestic players who have completed at least five seasons
Speaker 1: in the NWSL. The league's actually in the process of
Speaker 1: phasing allocation money out, but teams still have the option
Speaker 1: to use what they have left until December of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six. Allocation money's also historically been in the way
Speaker 1: NWSL teams have paid international transfer fees. That's when they
Speaker 1: pay money to an international club to bring their top
Speaker 1: talent to the States to play for their team, and
Speaker 1: teams can simply trade allocation money to other teams instead
Speaker 1: of players to sweeten or even out deals.
Speaker 5: That makes sense, But wait, I'm still a little confused
Speaker 5: about why the WNBA doesn't have a lot of trades
Speaker 5: at the deadline.
Speaker 2: Can you explain it to me? Like I'm five?
Speaker 1: Yeah, long story short, it's hard to trade big name,
Speaker 1: highly paid players in the WNBA and have the salary
Speaker 1: numbers match up to avoid one of the teams in
Speaker 1: the trade exceeding that hard cap. That's why most trades
Speaker 1: involve bench players with similar lower salaries, and that's why
Speaker 1: we just don't see that much movement in the WNBA
Speaker 1: during the season.
Speaker 2: At all, with trades and especially at the trade deadline.
Speaker 2: Got it good. We're gonna take a quick break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, We're gonna talk soccer and a
Speaker 1: side of Battlestar Galactica with The Athletic.
Speaker 2: Step Young joining us now.
Speaker 1: She's a staff writer for The Athletic covering professional women's
Speaker 1: soccer and the US women's national team, and a regular
Speaker 1: contributor to the Full Time with Meg Lenihan podcast. She
Speaker 1: played soccer at MIT. She's a fan of Fried Okra,
Speaker 1: and last week she narrowly avoided death when she almost
Speaker 1: washed down her meal with a giant's wig from a
Speaker 1: bottle of hot sauce. Fun fact, She's got her law
Speaker 1: degree from Boston College, which makes her Steph Young esquire.
Speaker 2: Steph, thanks for coming on, Thank you.
Speaker 6: I need to make a point. I have not passed
Speaker 6: the bar in Massachusetts. I cannot represent you. Don't ask
Speaker 6: me for legal opinions.
Speaker 1: I had no idea that that was your background. First
Speaker 1: of all MIT, and then like super impressive, I mean,
Speaker 1: and then here you are covering soccer, which a lot
Speaker 1: of recovering lawyers actually go into sports.
Speaker 2: So I guess that checks out.
Speaker 6: Yeah, there's a lot of disgruntled ex lawyers in sports writing,
Speaker 6: like you'd be shocked by. It's very disproportionate compared to
Speaker 6: like the population. So something's happening there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, good readers, good writers, and get sick of going
Speaker 1: to court and or arguing things and decide to argue
Speaker 1: sports instead.
Speaker 2: Okay, important questions.
Speaker 1: First, your name on social has always confused all of us.
Speaker 2: What is thrace? Is it a brace?
Speaker 6: But fore no, it's embarrassing. It's a reference to a
Speaker 6: Battlestar Galactica character, but it's also a name of historical
Speaker 6: region in ancient Greece, So take your pick.
Speaker 2: Okay, but the Battlestar Galactica one is what you were
Speaker 2: going for. Yeah.
Speaker 6: Yeah, And then I started writing under the name Freelance,
Speaker 6: and then it's such a hassle to kind of change
Speaker 6: all the associations with the name when you built some steam
Speaker 6: and you know, it was the same reason why I
Speaker 6: didn't change my name when I got married. It's like,
Speaker 6: also it would be a little weird because my wife
Speaker 6: is Waldeman Freed, and I don't think Steph Waldman Freed
Speaker 6: really suits me.
Speaker 1: But it sounds like a professor. Okay, so it's just
Speaker 1: it's you and Dwight Schrute. Bears beats Battlestar Galactica.
Speaker 6: Bears beats Battlestar Galactica.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's how we'll remember it. And then also, why
Speaker 2: exactly are you a horrible soccer goose?
Speaker 6: Oh that's just a reference to geese kind of being
Speaker 6: anarchists in general. And the header of my Twitter it's
Speaker 6: from a It's a game called untitled Goose game, where
Speaker 6: you are a goose who goes around annoying people. This
Speaker 6: goose is holding glasses hostage. And it's usually a reference
Speaker 6: to my partner in crime at the Athletic Midlin, a
Speaker 6: hand who I annoy and delight in equal measure.
Speaker 2: I'm sure, perfect, perfect.
Speaker 1: So many of our long standing questions have been answered already,
Speaker 1: let's get to some new questions. We are very much
Speaker 1: still riding an Olympic high. US women's national team went
Speaker 1: from their lowest ever fee for ranking pregames to right
Speaker 1: back up where they feel most comfortable, number one in
Speaker 1: the world. Should the team actually be the favorite for
Speaker 1: every international tournament going forward until something changes?
Speaker 6: No, absolutely not anything can change between any tournament. I
Speaker 6: mean for any team you go from the World Cup
Speaker 6: to now huge swing. I look at stuff like Mexico
Speaker 6: not qualifying during the last CONCA CAFF qualifiers and then
Speaker 6: having a friendly and beating the United States. It's not
Speaker 6: quite the same, but you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 6: Anything can happen the investment. The margins are so small now.
Speaker 6: Hate the term like the world has caught up. The
Speaker 6: world's been caught up for a while, like you need
Speaker 6: to catch up to where we are already are in
Speaker 6: the narrative, So like it really is going to come
Speaker 6: down to like much finer margins than at least amongst
Speaker 6: probably the top ten fifteen twenty teams, rather than like
Speaker 6: who can invest the most. Now it's a lot more
Speaker 6: complicated than that.
Speaker 1: In Spain is still a very good side that we
Speaker 1: thought in advance of the Olympics.
Speaker 2: It's very difficult for teams.
Speaker 1: Teams have never won both a World Cup at an
Speaker 1: Olympic in the same back to back years, so I
Speaker 1: think there are some people who still might see them
Speaker 1: as a better team if they were to go head
Speaker 1: to head, although like you said, it really is dependent
Speaker 1: on every single tournament who's available for each team who's
Speaker 1: healthy and all of that. Obviously, the Triple Espresso front
Speaker 1: three of Trinity, Rodman, Mouse, Swanson and so Smith are
Speaker 1: major faces of this team, alongside another youngster in Naomi Germa.
Speaker 1: Those feel like the leaders going forward. I was listening
Speaker 1: to an episode of Full Time with Meglenahan and almost
Speaker 1: cried when you admitted that we might not be seeing
Speaker 1: Alyssa they or the next time we come around to
Speaker 1: a major international tournament, because even though she's incredible, she
Speaker 1: would be thirty nine for the next World Cup, which
Speaker 1: is a lot of pressure to put on a body
Speaker 1: at that age to be your main keeper. But who
Speaker 1: are then the true leaders of this team, not just
Speaker 1: in play, but in voice and everything else going forward?
Speaker 2: If we start to lose some of those standbys.
Speaker 6: I actually don't feel pretty, you know, any trepidation from
Speaker 6: a leadership standpoint. It's pretty clear by now that there's
Speaker 6: the next generation of leadership, not just on the way
Speaker 6: but kind of in place. We see it with Naomi Gherma,
Speaker 6: who's like the obvious number one, like armband candidate, she's
Speaker 6: worn it before. I think Tiana Davidson quiet leader. I
Speaker 6: think we might still have roosevel in there. She is
Speaker 6: twenty nine and she does tend to get beat up
Speaker 6: in that midfield, but she still be here. You know,
Speaker 6: I think Trini Rodman kind of underrated.
Speaker 2: Leader up there.
Speaker 6: You need to have that balance between someone who's maybe
Speaker 6: in the more quiet HEADSPACEAOMI or a Tyrna, and the
Speaker 6: someone who's there to just be like take the energy
Speaker 6: to one hundred and ten percent, And that feels like
Speaker 6: a Trinity Rodman.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think there's leadership all over the field, So
Speaker 6: in that aspect, I'm actually not worried at all.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Do you expect this iteration of the team in the
Speaker 1: next couple of years to be as involved in social
Speaker 1: and political stances. We have an election coming up, We
Speaker 1: will have all those conversations around Corbin Albert or other
Speaker 1: intersections with this team, And it feels like in the
Speaker 1: past it was very clear that they were going to
Speaker 1: lead not just their own team, but the world sort
Speaker 1: of in making sure there was equal pay and all
Speaker 1: sorts of other major issues that intersect with women's sports.
Speaker 2: Do you see those representatives on this squad?
Speaker 6: Maybe maybe not as much. I spoke to Tuna Davidson
Speaker 6: about this before the Olympics, where you know, she didn't
Speaker 6: say this, but it was implied. The personal is political, right,
Speaker 6: That's kind of the base adage that you learn in
Speaker 6: like poly PSI. And she was talking about how there's
Speaker 6: not as many out queer athletes on the team at
Speaker 6: the moment and how that could kind of affect the
Speaker 6: calculus of who's going to speak out on what, and
Speaker 6: it could be the same for any other issue. And
Speaker 6: I do think that this team will always have some
Speaker 6: politicization around it, just because the nature of how we
Speaker 6: treat women women in athletics, roles sports, the role of
Speaker 6: women's sports in our world. They're going to make it
Speaker 6: a political topic whether we like.
Speaker 1: It or not.
Speaker 6: In terms of the team taking the lead and speaking
Speaker 6: out on those political issues. Yeah, I do think we are, like,
Speaker 6: let's see what happens over the next two or three years,
Speaker 6: and then in the next big news cycle around the
Speaker 6: World Cup, who knows who's got what to say?
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's always the awful possibility of a man
Speaker 1: being at the top of US soccer again and then
Speaker 1: having to start fighting for things all over again. It
Speaker 1: is notable that the biggest changes in how this women's
Speaker 1: team were treated were in part due to finally having
Speaker 1: a woman on top.
Speaker 2: So fingers crossed that.
Speaker 1: We will continue to see positive leadership over there.
Speaker 2: That's helping even things out a little bit more.
Speaker 1: Speaking of leadership, let's switch to some NWSL topics. San
Speaker 1: Diego Wave assigning Landon Donovan their interim head coach. This
Speaker 1: is their second interim head coach after firing Casey Stony.
Speaker 2: Not a lot of coaching experience and no coaching experience
Speaker 2: with women.
Speaker 1: You actually went to the presser, What did you learn,
Speaker 1: what did you hear?
Speaker 2: What do you think about the move?
Speaker 6: Well, we are talking on a Monday, and that was
Speaker 6: when the San Diego Wave had their first open media
Speaker 6: availability with Landon Donovan and he basically confirmed that this
Speaker 6: is an interim position, although he said that the door
Speaker 6: could be open for more, but that's in the future.
Speaker 6: Let's see how it goes and at the end they'll
Speaker 6: talk if one side is like, wouldn't want to go forward,
Speaker 6: no hard feelings. He talked a lot about wanting to
Speaker 6: come in and stabilize the team, which a little bit
Speaker 6: is like, well why is the team destabilized? And it's like, okay,
Speaker 6: why did they fire Casey Stony at that point, and
Speaker 6: why did they have, you know, an interim set up
Speaker 6: through Paul Buckle, who was only committed through this time window,
Speaker 6: and why is now the team on another Those are
Speaker 6: all much bigger questions, but personal to Donovan, he talked
Speaker 6: about wanting to form personal connections, get up to speed.
Speaker 6: He did admit it was a steep learning curve. There's
Speaker 6: pros and cons to that kind of admission, right, It's like, well,
Speaker 6: if you know it's steep, then why did the team
Speaker 6: not hire someone more knowledgeable at the same time for
Speaker 6: an interim position? Who can you get who wants to
Speaker 6: come to San Diego for three months for a tempt job?
Speaker 6: You know? So a lot going on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Are there any updates on the Jill Ellis accusations
Speaker 1: and whether the league plans on any further investigation, because
Speaker 1: obviously she was involved in a part of the larger
Speaker 1: investigation into all of the league in the last couple
Speaker 1: of years, But then when those former employees went public
Speaker 1: with it, it sort of felt like there was a
Speaker 1: quick refusal from the team and from Elis herself. And
Speaker 1: now it's sort of died down a little in terms
Speaker 1: of whether there will be any falloup from that.
Speaker 6: Last I heard, we were waiting on any reply from
Speaker 6: the San Diego WYE former employee Britnell Elorado, her legal
Speaker 6: team filing a response in court responding to Jill Ellis's
Speaker 6: filing alleging defamation, and I think that's where we are.
Speaker 6: We'll just have to see how they respond.
Speaker 1: Yeah, NWSL and the Players Association of agreed to terms
Speaker 1: on a new CBA that will reportedly run through twenty thirty.
Speaker 2: It's just been reported.
Speaker 1: In fact, the players union posted a cryptic message on
Speaker 1: social media saying, you know, any news concerning the players'
Speaker 1: lives will be shared by.
Speaker 2: Them, And we're all like, what what does that mean?
Speaker 1: And it was like, Oh, they're just talking about the
Speaker 1: league regarding the CBA.
Speaker 2: What have you heard about the agreement?
Speaker 1: And how important is it that they do have that
Speaker 1: in place when they renegotiate TV rights again in a
Speaker 1: few years.
Speaker 6: I think it's going to be pretty important. I think
Speaker 6: it's a good sign that they renegotiated early. First of all,
Speaker 6: it's basically a mid season renegotiation, and it seems like
Speaker 6: both sides were pretty willing to talk about it. The
Speaker 6: actual negotiation probably was really hard and took a long time,
Speaker 6: but it's a good sign that both sides were like, yeah,
Speaker 6: we recognize that a lot of changes happened since twenty
Speaker 6: twenty two when the last CBA was ratified. Things are
Speaker 6: very different. There's a two hundred and forty million dollar
Speaker 6: broadcast deal in place that was not in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 6: so let's talk about what that means in terms of
Speaker 6: benefiting the players. I'm sure the PA came to this
Speaker 6: being like, we helped build this league. You're generating value
Speaker 6: two hundred and forty million dollars of value off of
Speaker 6: our work, so we deserve a cut of that rightly.
Speaker 6: So I think we should probably expect to hear more
Speaker 6: pretty soon. It seemed like in the PA's announcement they're like,
Speaker 6: we'll announce that, you know, in a minute, and probably
Speaker 6: waiting right waiting for like the Olympics to die down,
Speaker 6: that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it does feel like having them aligned and
Speaker 1: having them have an agreement in place when they do
Speaker 1: renegotiate again is just huge because there won't.
Speaker 2: Be any holding out from the players in those agreements.
Speaker 1: Speaking at twenty thirty, do you think Heather O'Reilly will
Speaker 1: still be available as an entry replacement player that season.
Speaker 6: I think Heather O'Riley will be available from her side,
Speaker 6: She's probably always going to be available. Athlete Blaine like her.
Speaker 6: I wonder if she just shoots up in the middle
Speaker 6: of the night, thinking, like where else can I play? Right?
Speaker 6: Just furiously practicing wallball at three am?
Speaker 2: Case, just in case. Let's talk at NWSL scheduling. There
Speaker 2: was a lengthy Olympic break this year.
Speaker 1: They didn't have regular season games during the break, but
Speaker 1: they still had games. So the NWSL teams played clubs
Speaker 1: from LEGA, MXLF EMANIL is part of a new Summer Cup.
Speaker 1: They're also going to have this CONCACAF w champions Cup
Speaker 1: games between NWSL teams and clubs from North America, Central
Speaker 1: America and the Caribbean. Is this the NWSL doing too
Speaker 1: much or do you think it's wise for them to
Speaker 1: keep players in action during that break.
Speaker 6: Well, there's two parts to that, right. One is, as
Speaker 6: you mentioned, an action during the break, So that's kind
Speaker 6: of more of a training question, right, it's a loading
Speaker 6: question where you actually don't want to have too long
Speaker 6: of a break. You need some kind of regular like
Speaker 6: to stay in the flow of thing so that you're
Speaker 6: not out for two weeks then trying to rev back up.
Speaker 6: So from that perspective, maybe you know, trying to load
Speaker 6: these players could be fine. On the other side is
Speaker 6: you know, it's been a huge topic this year and
Speaker 6: last year fIF pros brought up a lot about you know,
Speaker 6: a busy calendar and how the calendars are not built
Speaker 6: player first and how they should actually be built around
Speaker 6: you put in brakes for players first, and then you
Speaker 6: add in fixtures instead of doing fixtures first, and then
Speaker 6: where can we shoehorn in you know, a week goth
Speaker 6: for people. Yeah, I think I take it that. I
Speaker 6: think it was Bethany Baltzer actually who tweeted something about
Speaker 6: like they're not getting extra compensation.
Speaker 2: They did, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but but it was clearly not enough for her
Speaker 1: to even know that you were getting, right, extra compensation, And.
Speaker 6: It speaks to like the organization around it, right, that
Speaker 6: should have been communicated clearly to players about like this
Speaker 6: is what you're going to get for your labor related
Speaker 6: to you know, maybe a good thing. They have another
Speaker 6: CBA coming out soon.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I do think it's interesting in terms of the increasing
Speaker 6: globalization of women's football because we also had Arsenal and
Speaker 6: Chelsea here with the Washington Spirit and then this Leiga
Speaker 6: m AGAs partnership. I think we're going to only see
Speaker 6: more of that. So it does behoo of the league
Speaker 6: and the Players Association will certainly be watchdogs on this
Speaker 6: in terms of balancing out the load brakes benefit the
Speaker 6: players while also not drastically increasing injury risk.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at that Olympic schedule being
Speaker 1: packed so type, plenty of injuries there, including Grace Chanda,
Speaker 1: who was supposed to join the Orlando Pride but unfortunate
Speaker 1: was put on the season ending injury list. What do
Speaker 1: you make of how that might affect the Pride the
Speaker 1: second half. I mean, they're already top of the table,
Speaker 1: best team all season, but that would have been a
Speaker 1: pretty nice addition for them.
Speaker 6: It would have been a nice addition. But I think
Speaker 6: something people don't take into account with additions or changes
Speaker 6: is that sometimes it's fine to just go with the
Speaker 6: vibe that's been working. We saw this actually in the
Speaker 6: Olympics where Marta was suspended for two games and then
Speaker 6: she got to come back for the gold medal match.
Speaker 6: But she didn't start, and I think part of that was,
Speaker 6: you look at they got through it without her. They
Speaker 6: made it that far. You don't want to kind of
Speaker 6: mess with the equilibrium. Obviously, this is a club and
Speaker 6: not a tournament, so the calculus is a little bit different.
Speaker 6: But not having a player available who you didn't already
Speaker 6: have in the first place, it sucks. You don't want
Speaker 6: any player to be injured. But at the same time, you,
Speaker 6: especially with the way the Pride have pinned this season,
Speaker 6: you're kind of like, I think that'll be fine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so right now, top of the table, Pride, current Spirit,
Speaker 1: Gotham kind of packed up there. Do you expect to
Speaker 1: shake up or for any of those teams to drop
Speaker 1: off as we get back into games?
Speaker 6: Ooh boy, what a question, especially in the Anything can
Speaker 6: Happen League. Uh, yeah, that's a great question. I'm actually
Speaker 6: really interested in kind of this seven through ten, Like
Speaker 6: with the way, for example, there's quarterfinals this year for
Speaker 6: the first time with end of BISEL playoffs, so you
Speaker 6: just need to be in the top eight if you're
Speaker 6: racing Louisville, your Bay, you're San Diego way, even Angel
Speaker 6: City in eleventh. Like I'm kind of always more interested
Speaker 6: in the bottom of that because the top four, I'm like,
Speaker 6: you're fine, you're blowing people out of the water.
Speaker 1: You can take care of yourself, so you're not worried about,
Speaker 1: for instance, like a Gotham having a bunch of players
Speaker 1: that had played through that very tough Olympic schedule and
Speaker 1: are now coming back.
Speaker 6: That's always yeah, we're coming back again to like a
Speaker 6: loading issue.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 6: I think the players are having their break now.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 6: I could see that having an impact with them trying
Speaker 6: to be you know, worked in carefully. You don't want
Speaker 6: to drop them into ninety minutes right away depending on
Speaker 6: where they are. But I think one Carlos Samuros is
Speaker 6: a coach who has been cognizance. You don't hire all
Speaker 6: these players, sign them for this season not knowing that
Speaker 6: there's an Olympic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: So let's quickly talk about that final playoff spot. Right now,
Speaker 1: BAFC are sitting in that eighth spot, but the Red Stars,
Speaker 1: Wave and Angel City are just a couple points behind
Speaker 1: but still in reach.
Speaker 2: And you mentioned.
Speaker 1: Racing even so you got to put one prediction out
Speaker 1: there who ends.
Speaker 2: The season in that eight spot. We you.
Speaker 6: Oh boy, you know what, I will bank on continuity
Speaker 6: over change, so I might boost angel City up there.
Speaker 6: There bays at eighteen points, angel City's only at fifteen,
Speaker 6: so four teams within all within like this three point range.
Speaker 6: Angel City just got Kristin Press back, and I don't
Speaker 6: want to bet against that.
Speaker 2: Never bet against press. Predictions are uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: We appreciate you despite that, putting one out there, Steph,
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for the time.
Speaker 2: Really appreciate talking to you.
Speaker 6: Thanks for having me on and exposing my sordid lawyer past.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much again to Steph for taking the time
Speaker 1: to chat with us.
Speaker 2: We got to pay the bills.
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Speaker 1: Watch Avocado Mash rating two out of five stars. Review
Speaker 1: You're not fooling anybody, Avocado Mash. I asked for avocado, delightful,
Speaker 1: slightly firm slices of joy, not mushy mash. That's part avocado,
Speaker 1: part whatever else you put in there to take up space.
Speaker 2: Listen. I'll take you. I'll take you over.
Speaker 1: No avocado, but you're no slices mash and everybody knows.
Speaker 2: I love my slices. Now it's your.
Speaker 1: Turn, subscribe, rate and review. Thanks for listening, slices, See
Speaker 1: you tomorrow. Good game, Steph, Good game, Heather, O'Reilly you
Speaker 1: that super sad feeling you get when you get your
Speaker 1: hopes of about something only for it not to happen.
Speaker 2: Stupid physicals.
Speaker 1: Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
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