Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're setting
Speaker 1: a timer every ninety minutes to remind ourselves to reapply
Speaker 1: our sunscreen. Over here at Big Citrus Enterprises, we're still
Speaker 1: on summer break and living the good life. But that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean we're leaving y'all contentless. So on today's show,
Speaker 1: it's a Big Citrus summer hang where we're talking about
Speaker 1: our favorite summer sports traditions. Storylines will be watching in
Speaker 1: the WNBA, and a couple events going on while we're
Speaker 1: out of office, lounging at the pool. It's all coming
Speaker 1: up right after this Welcome back slices. I'm joined now
Speaker 1: by producer Meshin, producer Alex. What's up Big Citrus Yo? Hello,
Speaker 1: we consider summer peak big Citrus time. Yeah, we're right.
Speaker 2: I feel like citrus is a winter fruit.
Speaker 1: Is it? That's what I'm wondering. It feels like I'm
Speaker 1: using it a lot now. But I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: in certain places, whether that's you know, Florida or otherwise,
Speaker 1: that are year round nice. It can be really any
Speaker 1: time of year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the citru I mean where I'm at, the oranges
Speaker 3: have been juicy. The lemons and the limes have been flavorful.
Speaker 3: We've been using a lot of them. A lot of
Speaker 3: the summer stuff we like to cook has a lot
Speaker 3: of citrus in it. So yeah, I think we're at
Speaker 3: our best right.
Speaker 1: Now, cutting a lot of wedges to put in drinks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just me, Yeah, baby, that's right. We're recording this on
Speaker 1: June twenty fifth, just a couple of days ahead of
Speaker 1: the start of our summer break and what will eventually
Speaker 1: be the start of season two. We're very excited about
Speaker 1: season two for the show, but we need a little
Speaker 1: bit of rest. So if somehow, some way by the
Speaker 1: time you're listening to this and this episode drops, I
Speaker 1: don't know. Caitlin Clark was shockingly traded to the Connecticut
Speaker 1: Sun in exchange for Blaze, the mascot or Wimbledon decided
Speaker 1: to replace all the ball kids at this year's tournament
Speaker 1: with rescue dogs. Please make it happen. Just know that
Speaker 1: me and Mish and Alex haven't quite gotten there yet,
Speaker 1: so our conversation is mostly going to be about what's
Speaker 1: going on in sports while we're taking our break, and
Speaker 1: one of those things is a couple weeks of WNBA
Speaker 1: action before the All Star break. We're gonna come back
Speaker 1: and get you all the stuff you need before All
Speaker 1: Star weekend. But in the meantime, Misha, I gotta ask
Speaker 1: what storylines you're gonna be keeping an eye on during
Speaker 1: the break. I know you're gonna be taking your trips
Speaker 1: to King's Dominion for roller coaster rides and everything else,
Speaker 1: but I know you'll be watching W two.
Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, I think you know where I'm gonna start.
Speaker 3: Sarah Washington, miss Sticks, Like you said, we're recording this
Speaker 3: on June twenty fifth. June twenty fourth is the day
Speaker 3: they slayed the Giants. They took out the Minnesota Lynx,
Speaker 3: the number one team at this time in the WNBA,
Speaker 3: and my Sticks are kind of good on the low,
Speaker 3: Like what's up with that? They're just not consistent, and
Speaker 3: I think that's the part that's still kind of pinching
Speaker 3: me in the ass. But I feel like I can
Speaker 3: say that about all the teams this year that are
Speaker 3: in spots five through thirteen. So it's not just a
Speaker 3: Mystic specific thing, but there's just a lot of really
Speaker 3: great basketball being played. I think Seattle, you know I'm
Speaker 3: keeping eyes on them. After all of the waterworks and
Speaker 3: shared sentiments between Nekka Guomakay and Skyler Diggins after Mekka
Speaker 3: one Western Conference Player of the Week. It really put
Speaker 3: me in my fields, but it also made me realize,
Speaker 3: like this is one of those teams. They're trying to
Speaker 3: figure some things out still, but they feel like they're
Speaker 3: gonna continue to steadily get better and better and better
Speaker 3: with the two of them driving the ship well.
Speaker 1: And Gabby Williams, Yes, has been unreal. If you are
Speaker 1: not watching Gabby Williams and what she's been doing in Seattle,
Speaker 1: you are missing out in one of the best stories
Speaker 1: of the season so far.
Speaker 3: Oh Man absolutely like talk about a player who could.
Speaker 3: She makes it look effortless on the floor too. That's
Speaker 3: the part that gets me. She's so fluid in her movement.
Speaker 3: She's so athletic, but she can do so many different things.
Speaker 3: She can attack the basket, she can hit a mid range.
Speaker 3: Has been struggling with that three ball as of late,
Speaker 3: but facilitating extremely, extremely well for that squad. So I'm
Speaker 3: keeping my eyes on them for sure. And then the
Speaker 3: Golden State Valkyries.
Speaker 1: Yeah, be so th real fight Jess Smith is.
Speaker 3: Yes, they they've surprised a lot of people. But I'll
Speaker 3: tell you what. They didn't surprise me.
Speaker 1: And you know why.
Speaker 3: When we first talked about this team, you remember what
Speaker 3: I said, this is a team full of six players
Speaker 3: of glue players and temmy fact. Ben actually echoed those
Speaker 3: sentiments not too long ago in a postgame press conference, saying, like,
Speaker 3: we're a bunch of role players. We know how to
Speaker 3: do what we need to do individually for their group
Speaker 3: to be successful.
Speaker 1: And we talked about a team of a lot of
Speaker 1: European players and whether their style of play might be
Speaker 1: different enough that it just takes some other teams off
Speaker 1: their game for a little while before they could figure
Speaker 1: it out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I've just been so extremely impressed with that squad.
Speaker 3: I hope they keep it up. Natalie Nicasse is pressing
Speaker 3: all of the right buttons. She's finding a way to
Speaker 3: give everybody, you know, whether it's somebody who gets signed
Speaker 3: on a hardship contract and comes in for a second,
Speaker 3: or you know, somebody who's on for the long run
Speaker 3: of the season, Like she's given these players individual confidence
Speaker 3: to go out there and be great in whatever it
Speaker 3: is they're trying to do. So very very impressed with
Speaker 3: the Valkyries.
Speaker 2: I hope we someday get the behind the scenes story
Speaker 2: about what happened leading into the Valks first season, because
Speaker 2: I just remember during free agency it was like crickets
Speaker 2: over there and we're like, why are they not signing
Speaker 2: any big players? Why don't any of the stars want
Speaker 2: to go there? And I'm so curious now how much
Speaker 2: of it was intentional of Natalie having a vision of
Speaker 2: what she wanted versus were there players that she really
Speaker 2: did want to sign and just weren't willing to maybe
Speaker 2: sign a longer deal because they wanted to be a
Speaker 2: free agent after one season, Like, I just want to
Speaker 2: know the answers.
Speaker 1: Right, That's what I was wondering. If they had any
Speaker 1: conditions around joining the team whereby they wanted to have
Speaker 1: people on longer deals where they were sure they could
Speaker 1: use them to continue to build, that they could have
Speaker 1: fans grow attached to members of the roster that they
Speaker 1: knew would stick around, And if that was really difficult
Speaker 1: at a time when most of the players in the
Speaker 1: league don't want to be signed past this season, that
Speaker 1: could be one explanation for why they struggled to get
Speaker 1: those players. But yeah, I think It's a great point, Alex,
Speaker 1: because we were watching from Afar, like both questioning what
Speaker 1: they were doing on there and also questioning top players
Speaker 1: for not wanting to go to a place with incredible resources,
Speaker 1: great leadership, super ton of support from the men's side,
Speaker 1: Like we thought it would be really cool to be
Speaker 1: one of the first players in a valx Jersey, even
Speaker 1: if they didn't win a ton right away, and they're
Speaker 1: winning a lot more than some other teams that players
Speaker 1: chose instead.
Speaker 2: I did just pull up the Valk's salary cap cheat
Speaker 2: sheet courtesy or her hoop stats. And even without signing
Speaker 2: those big name players though, they weren't able to get
Speaker 2: anyone on a longer contract except for Carla Lay and
Speaker 2: Kate Martin, both of whom are on contracts that they
Speaker 2: signed as rookies. Everyone else is either an unrestricted or
Speaker 2: restricted free agent next year, so still could be a
Speaker 2: very different look team.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, that's just a guess from me that
Speaker 1: they might want folks to sign longer term content to be,
Speaker 1: you know, a part of this process for longer, but
Speaker 1: they also might be thinking, we just need to put
Speaker 1: out a team this first season. Once everybody sees the fans,
Speaker 1: season ticket holders, the vibes at Balhalla. We're gonna get
Speaker 1: some of those free agents to come start that new
Speaker 1: part of their career post new CBA with us here,
Speaker 1: and boy are those wins gonna help with that. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And well, one thing that we did find out this week,
Speaker 3: we know who's not going to be headed to Golden State.
Speaker 3: It's not gonna be Subrinian Sq. I know there were
Speaker 3: so many people before the draft, the expansion draft, and
Speaker 3: things were like, is Sabrina going to return to the
Speaker 3: Bay and become the franchise. It's not happening, she told.
Speaker 3: I think it was the post. She told some publication
Speaker 3: that she's she plans on spending the rest of her
Speaker 3: WNBA career in New York. What's valid?
Speaker 1: Valid?
Speaker 3: They got a good thing going over there. But I'm
Speaker 3: right there with you, Alex. I hope that one day
Speaker 3: we do get a Golden State documentary so they can
Speaker 3: tell us exactly all the ins and outs and everything
Speaker 3: that happened behind the scenes. But I'm extremely, extremely impressed
Speaker 3: with them.
Speaker 1: By the way, I love sab saying that for loyalty reasons,
Speaker 1: but girl.
Speaker 2: What you're doing, I feel so must.
Speaker 1: Leverage use your leverage to make them pay your ass.
Speaker 1: I mean they think you might be going to the bay,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to up the amount that you're getting.
Speaker 3: Maybe there's other things happening behind the scenes that we
Speaker 3: don't know about in our preview too.
Speaker 1: Alex, I'm sure you're gonna be watching the w in
Speaker 1: between checking for the first ripe tomatoes of your harvest
Speaker 1: in your garden this summer. So what are you gonna
Speaker 1: be keeping an eye on?
Speaker 2: Phoenix Mercury. I did not expect them to beeed third
Speaker 2: in the standings as of this recording, and uh, I
Speaker 2: just want to see if they can keep it going.
Speaker 2: I think it's so funny though. I was thinking back
Speaker 2: to our early season predictions and we're recording this on
Speaker 2: the day that it was confirmed that Dowana Bonnor no
Speaker 2: longer with Indiana. They waved her there's a chance she
Speaker 2: could be heading to Phoenix, of course to join her
Speaker 2: wife Alyssa. But I had this crazy prediction that if
Speaker 2: the Fever won a title it would be because of
Speaker 2: the off season signing that was Dowanna Bonner. Butcause early
Speaker 2: on in the season it mightense they were saying, hey,
Speaker 2: she's the glue in the locker room. Hey, her leadership
Speaker 2: is invaluable. Clearly it did not work in the long
Speaker 2: term or even the short term. So I'm super curious
Speaker 2: to see if she ends up with that Mercury team, because,
Speaker 2: as we've seen before, just because you get a star
Speaker 2: player doesn't necessarily always mean that the results are going.
Speaker 3: To continue going up and up.
Speaker 2: But as for the Mercury, they've been really making it
Speaker 2: work with a lot of pieces, and I think it
Speaker 2: also speaks to how good of a player Alsa Thomas is.
Speaker 2: Right like, she during her time at Connecticut was continually
Speaker 2: somebody that should have been in the MVP conversation. Sometimes
Speaker 2: she was, sometimes she wasn't, but it was just the respect.
Speaker 2: She didn't always get it despite her very good play.
Speaker 2: And I think she's showing, hey, it doesn't matter where
Speaker 2: I am, I can still bring these same results.
Speaker 1: Especially important with Colliacopper missing so many games to start
Speaker 1: the season. This is a team that we were like,
Speaker 1: oh no, they lost Danna Tarassi, They're gonna be without
Speaker 1: Britney Griner. This is going to be a completely different look.
Speaker 1: How is this gonna work? And between Alyssa Thomas and
Speaker 1: of course to Sabi the Unicorn doing what she does.
Speaker 1: They have outperformed my expectations a ton, and they were
Speaker 1: for sure one of the teams I was keeping an
Speaker 1: eye on two to your point, sitting up there in
Speaker 1: third with Ka out for as long as she was
Speaker 1: and with a completely new look roster trying to figure
Speaker 1: things out has been so impressive.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then just thinking about adding Dewana Bonner.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all of that, it's just.
Speaker 3: Completely unfair, completely insane. But to your point out, you know,
Speaker 3: at the beginning of the season, I don't know if
Speaker 3: I was thinking that she was going to be the
Speaker 3: reason they wanted championship per se, but I did think,
Speaker 3: you know, she was gonna have a very particular kind
Speaker 3: of impact on this squad, and I'm kind of sad
Speaker 3: to see that it didn't work out that way. But
Speaker 3: of course, you know, we never know what's actually happening
Speaker 3: in the locker rooms behind the scenes. But I think
Speaker 3: Indiana's made it decision about what path they're going to follow.
Speaker 3: They're going to be behind Caitlin Clark, which is a
Speaker 3: I think that's a pretty pretty good plan, pretty damn
Speaker 3: good plan. And Dowana Bonner, I think also deserves to
Speaker 3: in year sixteen, this far into her career, to be
Speaker 3: somewhere that she feels really good about being. She feels
Speaker 3: like she fits, she feels like she's able to contribute
Speaker 3: the way she wants to contribute. So it's sad, but
Speaker 3: I also feel like this is the best.
Speaker 1: For both parties. And if you look at the advanced
Speaker 1: statistics around Lexi Hall, she is whop been. When she
Speaker 1: is on the court, the team is playing significantly better.
Speaker 1: I don't have the plus minus in front of me,
Speaker 1: but her presence on the court changes the style of
Speaker 1: play and that works better for them. Even though Dewanna
Speaker 1: Bonner is an incredible player, and sometimes it's about fit,
Speaker 1: it's about style, and I think they came into the
Speaker 1: season expecting things to look different with Bonner out there,
Speaker 1: and at least the silver lining is that they figured
Speaker 1: out pretty quick it wasn't going to work. And instead
Speaker 1: of her sitting on the bench all see and resenting
Speaker 1: the decision to go there, and the team being fractured
Speaker 1: because they know that they've got this all star sitting
Speaker 1: there not being really used right, she's out. Hopefully she
Speaker 1: finds a better spot. Although to your point earlier me.
Speaker 1: If it ends up being the Mercury, the rest of
Speaker 1: the league is going to be cursing the Fever for
Speaker 1: not figuring out how to keep her on the roster.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: For sure. Well, in between literally laying down horizontally and
Speaker 1: doing absolutely nothing for as long as possible during this break,
Speaker 1: potentially getting up occasionally to pet my dogs, I will
Speaker 1: be watching some w and one of the things I
Speaker 1: will be watching is the Atlanta Dream you just mentioned, Alex.
Speaker 1: The Phoenix Mercury are in third, and the Atlanta Dream,
Speaker 1: a team that I did not expect to be ballin
Speaker 1: with a new roster, brand new pieces to try to
Speaker 1: fit together, is getting it done. And a lot of
Speaker 1: that is Alisha Gray. Holy shit, is that girl on
Speaker 1: one right now? It reminds me of the Gabby Williams.
Speaker 1: If you are not watching Dream games as painful as
Speaker 1: it is because of that court, I don't know what.
Speaker 3: I agree, I disagree.
Speaker 1: I liked the idea of it, and then I tried
Speaker 1: to watch a Sky Dream game where the Sky we're
Speaker 1: wearing light blue with navy accents, and the Dream we're
Speaker 1: wearing navy with light blue accents, and the court was
Speaker 1: navy with blue accents, and I was like, I don't
Speaker 1: know what's happening. What am I watching right now? So
Speaker 1: other than the court, which is a nice idea but
Speaker 1: sucks in practice, I'm really enjoying watching this team. And
Speaker 1: you should be watching Ali Schagray and watching Britney Griner
Speaker 1: on a new squad and finding your way Ryan Howard, whoa.
Speaker 1: I mean? Also nice whenever you can play my Chicago Sky,
Speaker 1: because you're probably gonna set some sort of three point
Speaker 1: record because our perimeter defense is can trash. It's just
Speaker 1: team after team plays the Sky and then comes out
Speaker 1: of there with some new record for efficiency from beyond
Speaker 1: the arc. But yeah, I've just been really surprised by
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Dream. Yeah.
Speaker 3: With Ali Chagre is current averaging the most points per
Speaker 3: game she's averaged in her entire career, nineteen point seven
Speaker 3: per game. She's the sixth leading scorer in the Wright.
Speaker 3: Now you mentioned Ryan Howard, the twelfth leading scorer in
Speaker 3: the Wright. Now it's seventeen point seven. Like that's a
Speaker 3: two headed monster if I've ever seen one. And it's
Speaker 3: just it's the confidence. I think we've watched both of
Speaker 3: these players grow over the past few years, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean, trying to figure out how to be
Speaker 3: the top people on a team for a franchise, be
Speaker 3: the leaders. And when you're younger it can be a
Speaker 3: little bit harder to step into that role. But they're
Speaker 3: really figuring it out, coming into their own and it's
Speaker 3: a beautiful thing, man, It's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1: The other one, I'm gonna be keeping an eye on
Speaker 1: the Las Vegas Aces. Listen, y'all. You know I'm not
Speaker 1: keeping an eye in the sky because it's painful, but
Speaker 1: the fact that the Aces only have two more wins
Speaker 1: than my sky at the time of this taping tells
Speaker 1: you just how dire things are for a team that
Speaker 1: should be much better than that.
Speaker 2: Say, I'm gonna make a bold pretty By the time
Speaker 2: people are listening to this, I think they're going to
Speaker 2: be even in the stand ins.
Speaker 1: The sky and the Aces. Good Lord for that one.
Speaker 2: I'm full of bold predictions.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean you you were the one
Speaker 1: who came up with the idea of ball dogs at Wimbledon,
Speaker 1: which I'm here for. No, but I mean, this is
Speaker 1: still a team with Jackie Young, Asia Wilson, Chelsea Gray,
Speaker 1: Jewel Lloyd You should not have that much talent on
Speaker 1: the court and be sitting at six wins. You should
Speaker 1: not be able to misuse that much talent at this
Speaker 1: point in the season. We should have started to figure
Speaker 1: it out by now. Six and seven is just not acceptable.
Speaker 1: And I know Becky Hammond comes with a tremendous resume.
Speaker 1: I'm not blaming her, but also she's not blame less
Speaker 1: in trying to figure out how to get these folks
Speaker 1: together and get a game plan to get them out
Speaker 1: of this hole.
Speaker 3: I'm stumped when it comes to this group because there
Speaker 3: have also been moments where they've played their asses off right,
Speaker 3: Like I think distinctly back to that last game they
Speaker 3: played against the Indiana Fever, it looked like they were
Speaker 3: starting to get their lives together a little bit. But
Speaker 3: there's just something, some piece is missing, some connection is missing.
Speaker 3: When you have one of the best the sisters, the
Speaker 3: best point guards in the history of basketball, and you
Speaker 3: have one of the most prolific scores in the history
Speaker 3: of basketball and jewl Loyd, it doesn't make sense to
Speaker 3: be why that's not clicking. And then you've got Asia Wilson,
Speaker 3: who admittedly by her own account, has struggled a little
Speaker 3: bit offensively. Aliah Boston gave her the work. I can't
Speaker 3: lie to you. Aliah Boston gave her the work. The
Speaker 3: other night she did.
Speaker 1: She did.
Speaker 3: I saw a social media post where it was like,
Speaker 3: Aliah Boston belongs in the rage baiting Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: Something she does. It was a good night for bigs.
Speaker 1: Camilla Cardoza that same night really went off. Yah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: the bigs. The Bigs had a night of it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's time to start questioning whether there's a
Speaker 1: Deerica Hamby curse.
Speaker 3: Occur.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that ever since Deerica Hanby left and
Speaker 1: said there was some bad things going on over there,
Speaker 1: that team hasn't seen a title.
Speaker 3: It could be that, or it could be the back
Speaker 3: to back curse, you know what I mean, because though
Speaker 3: they had some success that that season, right after the
Speaker 3: back to back, it's I don't know. It's hard, man.
Speaker 3: It changes your psyche once you know you can do it.
Speaker 3: It's like, are there more moments where you say, ah,
Speaker 3: it doesn't matter as much, or ah, this little detail
Speaker 3: isn't as important. You know.
Speaker 1: It's it's hard.
Speaker 3: It's hard to win a championship, and it's even harder to,
Speaker 3: you know, have a successful season year in and year out.
Speaker 1: So I don't know.
Speaker 2: I also wonder if Kelsey Plumb is just sit in
Speaker 2: LA thinking to herself every time she sees another L
Speaker 2: pop up on the screen, like what's changed? Line is.
Speaker 1: Well? I mean, needless to say, there's gonna be a
Speaker 1: lot to watch in the w while we're gone, and
Speaker 1: I will be watching Page Becker's highlights. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'm willing to commit to full Wings games, but
Speaker 1: I'm gonna work with Shade because Page is looking good.
Speaker 2: It's kind of like when you get invited to a
Speaker 2: JV game for someone that you really love and you're like, oh,
Speaker 2: I really want to go support you, but also like.
Speaker 1: The ball is bad. Yeah, the ball is bad. They'll
Speaker 1: figure it out, hopefully, because I need her to be
Speaker 1: on a team that's thriving, because she looks damn good
Speaker 1: and she is smooth with it right now, and so
Speaker 1: it's fun to watch except for then, you know the
Speaker 1: rest of the game that's happening around her. We got
Speaker 1: to take a quick break when we come back. More
Speaker 1: happenings while we're on hiatus. Stick around. We're also going
Speaker 1: to be off for a couple other sporting events. We're
Speaker 1: gonna be off for all of Wimbledon, which will be
Speaker 1: fun to watch just as a fan and not try
Speaker 1: to get into the show, because tennis is one of
Speaker 1: the hardest things for us to put into the show
Speaker 1: because of how often the games happen and when we record,
Speaker 1: so we're always like, oh, they might be playing again
Speaker 1: at five am in Europe or whatever before we get
Speaker 1: back on the air. So it'll be fun just to
Speaker 1: watch and to catch the games that we're interested in.
Speaker 1: We're gonna miss a US women's national team friendly against
Speaker 1: our neighbors to the north, Canada. I'm not sure who
Speaker 1: to root for there. I mean, I will be rooting
Speaker 1: for our team, but not our country. Does that make sense?
Speaker 3: It does, in fact, I understand.
Speaker 1: I'm right there with you, like the idea of our team.
Speaker 1: I'm into our actual country. No, So I'll just root
Speaker 1: for each individual US women's national team member and somehow
Speaker 1: not the whole. Also, every time I go to Canada,
Speaker 1: I have such a good time and I'm like, maybe
Speaker 1: I should be Canadian. There's so really nice and fun.
Speaker 1: We've all that plus we've got a lengthy break for
Speaker 1: the NWSL that leads to a bunch of different sort
Speaker 1: of summer exhibition matches, a couple quote unquote cups that
Speaker 1: honestly feel tenuous. I don't know what they are. I
Speaker 1: don't know what they're for. I don't know what happens
Speaker 1: if you win or lose them. I think they're just
Speaker 1: trying to keep these players active during what is a
Speaker 1: very very long international break. And of course, Alex, the
Speaker 1: question is always like, where's that fine line between staying
Speaker 1: in shape and staying ready for when the season comes back,
Speaker 1: versus overuse for a bunch of players that are playing
Speaker 1: more soccer than ever.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2: I feel like every time I get to this point
Speaker 2: in the NWSL season, I look at some of the
Speaker 2: programming that they put up in place of the NWSL
Speaker 2: games and I just want to be like why. And
Speaker 2: I maybe shouldn't admit this as somebody that's you know,
Speaker 2: worked in this space for a while, but I sometimes
Speaker 2: look at it and I'm like, what is this? Why
Speaker 2: are they playing it? What's the stakes?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: Uh, it's and it's hard to on that.
Speaker 1: Info, right. I think for soccer too, it's like you'd
Speaker 1: have to ask all these individual players who are not
Speaker 1: on their national teams and not playing in these friendlies
Speaker 1: and not playing in these cups, would you rather have
Speaker 1: games every once in a while because training straight through
Speaker 1: for a month plus y woof, And for them it
Speaker 1: might actually be better and more interesting to play a
Speaker 1: friendly against Brazil or some other country than it is
Speaker 1: to literally just be in whatever city they're in for
Speaker 1: a month and a half straight of going to practice
Speaker 1: every day with no games on the horizon to look
Speaker 1: forward to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, we need to sign out our own
Speaker 2: good game with Sarah Spain end up USL player survey
Speaker 2: to get their thoughts on this, because I do want
Speaker 2: to hear their thoughts and I think that probably their
Speaker 2: input is the most important, and in the past, I
Speaker 2: will say it hasn't necessarily felt like their voices are
Speaker 2: being heard, even just when you consider the whole length
Speaker 2: of the season and the fact that they conclude their
Speaker 2: season in November, have December off, and then are literally
Speaker 2: back at preseason very early on in the new year.
Speaker 2: To me, I'm just like, that doesn't always feel like
Speaker 2: a recipe for success when you then also couple it
Speaker 2: with all of the injuries that we see, and so
Speaker 2: finding that balance between players staying in shape, having competitive opportunities,
Speaker 2: not having to just run sprints on the field with
Speaker 2: their teammates at their home fields.
Speaker 1: Yeah, did you hear, Misha, just remembering what running a
Speaker 1: sprint was?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 3: No, thank you.
Speaker 1: I know. They skipped out of those whatever they could.
Speaker 1: They were like, oh my arm, odd thing is broke.
Speaker 3: Oh no, I did them. I was mad the whole time,
Speaker 3: but I did them. I did them in soccer and
Speaker 3: in basketball. Actually I did them in soccer when we
Speaker 3: were playing in the heat outside. I still don't understand
Speaker 3: why people decide to do that on purpose. I love
Speaker 3: to watch, I love to watch, but yeah, the thought
Speaker 3: of training for a month street running sprints and just
Speaker 3: being outside in this swampy weather, don't We've talked about
Speaker 3: the heat wave, y'all.
Speaker 1: Mesh, you've never sound so washed before.
Speaker 3: Oh. I'm leaning into it these days.
Speaker 1: I'm leaning And imagine how I feel.
Speaker 2: I've been playing in a field hockey league the last
Speaker 2: couple of years, and I think I'm not gonna play
Speaker 2: this year. I think I'm ready.
Speaker 1: Why no, no, no, please do it for me, Do
Speaker 1: it for me as someone who literally this morning spent
Speaker 1: like five minutes telling my trainer how sad I am
Speaker 1: that I can't go out and compete in anything. We
Speaker 1: were trying to list off things I am physically allowed
Speaker 1: to do, and we ended on like golf and bowling,
Speaker 1: like I can't even he won't even let me play pickleball.
Speaker 1: And that's for like old people who can't walk. They're like,
Speaker 1: everyone's playing pickleball. Now you can play, so you're one hundred.
Speaker 1: Not you, though, Sarah, your shit's too fucked up, So like,
Speaker 1: please play for me.
Speaker 3: Well, Alex, you play in the league, and I'll play
Speaker 3: pickup for the rest of the summer and we'll count
Speaker 3: that as our win.
Speaker 1: For Sarah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess so. I just the problem with this
Speaker 2: league is that it is an adult league, as in
Speaker 2: eighteen plus, as in current college students are playing in it.
Speaker 2: And last year my team was old, washed up people
Speaker 2: playing against the current college students.
Speaker 1: It was you don't like getting your ass beat.
Speaker 2: It was just not fun. No, no, I really don't.
Speaker 3: So what I'm hearing is you need to recruit Alex.
Speaker 3: What I'm hearing is there needs to be some strategy
Speaker 3: behind your approach.
Speaker 2: I know, but you guys. In addition to not wanting
Speaker 2: to play in the league, the league also has a
Speaker 2: tournament where you play four games on a weekend in
Speaker 2: the middle of.
Speaker 1: The day, and I'm like, sounds amazing. That's all I
Speaker 1: want to do. That's all I want to do with
Speaker 1: my weekend. I play sport all day, all weekend.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, Sarah, you do a freaky Friday moment and.
Speaker 1: Go, oh my god. I would trade bodies with a
Speaker 1: young person who still got all working original parts, and
Speaker 1: I would just play sports original.
Speaker 2: You said all my parts are original.
Speaker 3: I know, I'm out of the count.
Speaker 1: I would just play sports for forty eight trade hours
Speaker 1: without taking a break. Oh the joy. So we'll be
Speaker 1: missing or maybe not missing some of those soccer games. Plus,
Speaker 1: the swimming World Championships are also going to get underway
Speaker 1: before we get back for season two, and they're actually
Speaker 1: worth keeping an eye on, even if you usually save
Speaker 1: your lap watching for the Olympics. Alex, can you tell
Speaker 1: us a little bit of why this is one of
Speaker 1: the most anticipated World Championships in a while?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: For sure.
Speaker 2: So big picture here is that I think sometimes when
Speaker 2: you're a fan of a team in the WNBA or
Speaker 2: and WSL, You're like, I get to see my favorite
Speaker 2: athletes every week during the season, three times a week
Speaker 2: during the season, and for swimming outside of the Olympics,
Speaker 2: you really only get to see the best athletes in
Speaker 2: the world go head to head twice during the World Championships,
Speaker 2: which are in odd numbered years. It's this summer, and
Speaker 2: then you're going to have to wait another two years
Speaker 2: until the best in the world are back in the
Speaker 2: pool together. And so summer Macintosh absolutely killed it at
Speaker 2: Canadian trials a couple of weeks ago, three world records.
Speaker 2: A lot of times also athletes are not peaking for
Speaker 2: their national team trials, they are peaking for the World
Speaker 2: champion So a lot of questions and excitement around what
Speaker 2: she could continue to do and the records that could
Speaker 2: continue to fall at the World Championships.
Speaker 1: Summer.
Speaker 2: Macintosh is still so young, She's eighteen years old, and
Speaker 2: I think sometimes in a lot of sports, not just swimming,
Speaker 2: there's this sense of like they're only going to continue
Speaker 2: to get better and better and better. And as Katie
Speaker 2: Ladeki has shown, she is still an incredible athlete, but
Speaker 2: it has been hard for her to get back to
Speaker 2: some of those times that she set at a similarly
Speaker 2: young age. Katie, though, has been swimming some of the
Speaker 2: fastest times that she has had in a very long time,
Speaker 2: and so I'm really excited to see her back in
Speaker 2: the pool competing at such a big event.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have to admit that even as an athlete myself,
Speaker 1: I wasn't completely aware of the age ranges for women
Speaker 1: and when they're at their peaks, and particularly for sports
Speaker 1: like swimming, track and field, there are plateaus that occur
Speaker 1: for a lot of women at certain ages, and the
Speaker 1: current system is sort of set up along the lines
Speaker 1: of peaks for men, which happened in their early twenties,
Speaker 1: and for a lot lot of women, their peaks happen
Speaker 1: very young, before puberty really hits and takes its toll
Speaker 1: and some of the changes hormonally happen, and then later
Speaker 1: in their late twenties is another peak for women. So
Speaker 1: to your point, Summer Macadosh may be hitting it right
Speaker 1: now at eighteen, and then might plateau for a while
Speaker 1: and might never get back to what she's doing now.
Speaker 1: Hopefully that's not the case, because what we've seen from
Speaker 1: her so far has been truly unbelievable. And whenever you
Speaker 1: have someone coming around kind of near the tail end
Speaker 1: of a legendary figure like Katie Ladecci, who you think
Speaker 1: will never be caught up to, will never see her
Speaker 1: records touch, will never be you know, in the same
Speaker 1: conversation with anyone else, and then this person starts to
Speaker 1: show up at the tail end and you're like, ooh,
Speaker 1: we might be in for something even more special or
Speaker 1: a real challenge here. It's just so fun. So rarely
Speaker 1: do I make time for swimming World Championships, but this
Speaker 1: is one worth tuning into. So without NWSL, PWHL, volleyball,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of sports on hiatus right now. We've
Speaker 1: got our WNBA, We've got another couple of things to watch,
Speaker 1: but we will have more time to play. So Alex
Speaker 1: will be playing field hockey. I have made that assignment.
Speaker 1: I'm not your boss, but I'm going to tell you
Speaker 1: that you have to do it. Mesh, gotta keep playing
Speaker 1: pick up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I gotta find an outdoor court that's not
Speaker 3: like straight up cement or straight up assphole. That's my
Speaker 3: only thing.
Speaker 1: I need, Clay, what are we doing here? She's like,
Speaker 1: I'm not good on the hardcourts anymore.
Speaker 3: No, because the way my back and my neck and
Speaker 3: spine have been feeling, it's giving your you're doing a
Speaker 3: little too much. It's it's too much impact. But maybe
Speaker 3: that just means I need to move indoors and it's
Speaker 3: hot to outside, so it's giving that anyways, Okay, And
Speaker 3: they still run pick up inside the local La Fitness,
Speaker 3: so I'm had to get in there with you.
Speaker 2: Hey, what I want you to do? You know that
Speaker 2: new w NBA initiative where they're painting a w NBA
Speaker 2: three point line. Yeah, I want you to go rogue
Speaker 2: neighborhood court, bring up the can of spray paint.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, make your own line and then start school.
Speaker 1: And some people do you guys have any summer competition
Speaker 1: traditions with friends or family that aren't part of the
Speaker 1: leagues you're in.
Speaker 2: Last year, I had a great one with a friend
Speaker 2: whose father knows a lot about archery, and so to
Speaker 2: celebrate the Olympics, I've got to try archery for the
Speaker 2: first time, which was so fun, so fun, so fun.
Speaker 2: I don't think that's happening again this summer. But sometimes
Speaker 2: you get a good volleyball game together on the beach,
Speaker 2: which we play with more than two players on each
Speaker 2: side of the court because it's so hard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's required if you're not a professional level player.
Speaker 1: It's hard with four, it's hard with six. It's hard period.
Speaker 1: Ever since Gina Davis was trying to get to the
Speaker 1: Olympics and archery, that's been like a dream of mine
Speaker 1: to just be like an old ass archer because I
Speaker 1: was really good in summer camp. I haven't tried it
Speaker 1: and I don't know thirty years, but I feel like
Speaker 1: I still got it.
Speaker 3: You probably do. It's mind over matter.
Speaker 2: Is that on the list of allowed activities?
Speaker 1: Maybe archery is my sport. I mean I completely jacked
Speaker 1: up my arm, my shoulder and javelin. But give it
Speaker 1: a shot. Means do you have a summer competition?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's giving. I will be having a little drink
Speaker 3: or drink and playing spades as much as possible. Yeah,
Speaker 3: with friends, with family, with strangers. It don't matter. As
Speaker 3: long as you don't renig be good.
Speaker 1: Okay, do you take their money?
Speaker 3: No, I don't play for money because when you when
Speaker 3: you introduce money for me, it gets to a different
Speaker 3: level that I don't really want to tap back into
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, I've left that version of
Speaker 3: me in the past because I guess that person is
Speaker 3: what you would call a red ass Sarah. That person
Speaker 3: I would call that he is not a kind person.
Speaker 3: Playing for money, no, So I'm just gonna keep it cool.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna keep it cute, play for fun, play for
Speaker 3: for for bragging rights. But spades is my go to.
Speaker 3: And then what's the what's the game with the little
Speaker 3: It's a little ball with like feathers on the back
Speaker 3: of it and you hit it with a bad as
Speaker 3: that's the one.
Speaker 1: That would be a shuttlecock.
Speaker 2: Oh, I have so many badminton fun facts.
Speaker 1: Why am I not surprised that Mesh couldn't remember a shuttlecock?
Speaker 1: Not interested? Shuttle that cock on out of here, because
Speaker 1: I ain't interested. Badminton's fun. That's what we used to
Speaker 1: play a lot and my parents place in Michigan growing up,
Speaker 1: we had a net. We kind of tried for volleyball,
Speaker 1: and then we realized that we were racket people because
Speaker 1: we all grew up playing tennis, so we became badminton folks.
Speaker 1: We do have a croquet set up in Michigan that
Speaker 1: is that is a sport I can still play. So
Speaker 1: maybe I'll start just challenging. Maybe I'll get really good
Speaker 1: at croquet, and then I'll wear the outfits from the
Speaker 1: movie Heathers, which is well before your time. But I
Speaker 1: could put on a cute little pleated skirt and just
Speaker 1: roll some people in croquet. Who's Heather Heathers. There were
Speaker 1: several Heathers in the movie. You'll have to go back
Speaker 1: and watch it.
Speaker 2: I have a neighbor who has a I want to
Speaker 2: say professional croquet court, but I actually don't know what
Speaker 2: a professional croquet court is. But it is an ass
Speaker 2: stroked her corquet field. And he has people over fairly regularly,
Speaker 2: a couple times a week, and they all wear their
Speaker 2: croquet whites.
Speaker 1: I'll be right over.
Speaker 2: I think he's a Trump supporter, so not so much.
Speaker 1: Oh, flight canceled. All right, I'm excited to watch and
Speaker 1: play whatever I'm still allowed to play. I'll be living
Speaker 1: vicariously through both of you. We got to take a break, y'all.
Speaker 1: When we come back. Holy guacamolely welcome back slices. Even
Speaker 1: though we're out of office, we still love hearing from you,
Speaker 1: so hit us up on email Good Game at wondermedianetwork
Speaker 1: dot com or leave us a voicemail at eight seven
Speaker 1: two two oh four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe,
Speaker 1: rate and review. It's real easy watch having perfectly ripe
Speaker 1: avocados but no lines, rating one out of one missed
Speaker 1: opportunities review. Finding an avocado at a perfectly ripe stage
Speaker 1: is basically a miracle. Not too hard, not too brown,
Speaker 1: perfect for guak, you think, and then you're halfway through
Speaker 1: chopping it up when you realize, wait, do I have
Speaker 1: any limes? No? The answer is no, and so your
Speaker 1: gualk becomes just avocado with cilantro, holopeno and onions, And
Speaker 1: to be honest, it's still delicious. But everyone, especially some
Speaker 1: min nosrat, knows you need salt, fat, heat, and acid.
Speaker 1: So on that note, I'm going to get some limes
Speaker 1: for the next batch. It's almost time for my Fourth
Speaker 1: of July party. Good Game, Fourth of July, Good Game.
Speaker 1: Fireworks also you know what you fireworks got a lot
Speaker 1: of scared dogs in this house. Good Game with Sarah
Speaker 1: Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with
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Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Production by Wonder Media Network. Our producers are Alex Azzi
Speaker 1: and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz,
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Speaker 1: is Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain