Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're fifty
Speaker 1: percent Pym's Cup and fifty percent Purple Drink, but we
Speaker 1: still haven't gotten our hands on a ben yet. It's Friday,
Speaker 1: February seventh, and on today's show, we'll be kicking it
Speaker 1: with Callie Bronson, former Cleveland Brown's assistant coach now senior
Speaker 1: director of High Performance and USA National Football Operations. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about getting the US ready for flag football in
Speaker 1: the Olympics, getting to contribute to a global movement, what
Speaker 1: she learned from the NFL, and how she handled being
Speaker 1: on a staff with a problematic, high profile player, plus
Speaker 1: how not to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports
Speaker 1: Day and NWSL WNBA crossover in the Rose City, and
Speaker 1: bracket season is back, Baby, It's all coming up right
Speaker 1: after this Welcome back slices, Happy Friday. Here's what you
Speaker 1: need to know today in idiotic news. Trump signed an
Speaker 1: executive order on Wednesday banning transgender athletes from participating in
Speaker 1: Girls in Women's sports. The quote keeping Men Out of
Speaker 1: Women's Sports order mandates that schools and institutions receiving federal
Speaker 1: funding must abide by the new administration's interpretation of Title
Speaker 1: nin where quote unquote, sex is defined as the gender
Speaker 1: a person is assigned at birth, worth noting. On his
Speaker 1: first day in office, Trump issued an executive order declaring
Speaker 1: that the US government would only recognize two sexes, limiting
Speaker 1: the definition of a male or female to a person's
Speaker 1: reproductive cells at conception, and requiring that the federal government
Speaker 1: used the term sex instead of gender. Trump will allegedly
Speaker 1: lean on the Department of Education to help investigate and
Speaker 1: enforce this new executive order, presumably the same Department of
Speaker 1: Education he's seeking to dismantle. Also no word yet on
Speaker 1: how they plan to investigate whether someone is a girl
Speaker 1: or a boy and how to enforce that. In a
Speaker 1: statement about the executive order, NCAA President Charlie Baker said, quote,
Speaker 1: we strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards
Speaker 1: would best serve today's student athletes instead of a patchwork
Speaker 1: of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end,
Speaker 1: President Trump's order provides a clear national standard.
Speaker 2: Baker continued.
Speaker 1: The NCAA Board of Governors is reviewing the executive order
Speaker 1: and will take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in
Speaker 1: the coming days. Subject to further guidance from the administration,
Speaker 1: the Association will continue to help foster welcoming environments on
Speaker 1: campuses for all student athletes.
Speaker 2: We stand ready to assist.
Speaker 1: Schools as they look for ways to support any student
Speaker 1: athletes affected by changes in the policy.
Speaker 2: End quote.
Speaker 1: It's not lost on us, y'all that Trump announced this
Speaker 1: executive order on National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
Speaker 2: The cruelty is the point.
Speaker 1: Even though we had a feeling this was coming, even
Speaker 1: though we dreaded that this might be coming, it is
Speaker 1: still extremely upsetting. We're sending love to all the athletes
Speaker 1: and all the families affected, and we will certainly still
Speaker 1: be covering this issue more in the future. Trans Girls
Speaker 1: and Women in Sport are girls and women in Sport.
Speaker 1: In NWSL news, the Denver expansion franchise has become the
Speaker 1: fastest new side in league history to reach five thousand
Speaker 1: season ticket deposits. Denver received fifty two hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: deposits only three days after being named the NWSL's sixteenth
Speaker 1: team on January thirtieth. That's a huge show of support
Speaker 1: and further proof that fans in the Mile High City
Speaker 1: were eager for their first women's pro sports team in
Speaker 1: a major national league.
Speaker 2: Do you live in the Denver area?
Speaker 1: We'll link to the site where you can sign up
Speaker 1: for season tickets in our show notes in NWSL and
Speaker 1: WNBA news, it was announced on Thursday that the Portland
Speaker 1: Thorns and the Cities yet to be named WNBA expansion
Speaker 1: team will train together at a brand new seventy five
Speaker 1: million dollar training facility that's expected to open ahead of
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty six WNBA season, part of a larger
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty million dollar project. Both teams are
Speaker 1: owned by the Bethal family, who purchased the Thorns in
Speaker 1: January of twenty twenty four and then won the bid
Speaker 1: for the WNBA's fifteenth team in September of the same year.
Speaker 1: Struction will take place in stages, with the training facility
Speaker 1: coming first, but eventually the family hopes to build out
Speaker 1: a broader campus that will function as a dedicated center
Speaker 1: for women's sports performance and recovery. Per Thorn's release, the
Speaker 1: completed twelve acre campus will include a sixty three thousand
Speaker 1: square foot training facility, a seventeen thousand square foot practice
Speaker 1: gym with two full sized basketball courts, two full sized
Speaker 1: soccer pitches with an outdoor training zone, a five thousand
Speaker 1: square foot strength and training facility with top of the
Speaker 1: line equipment, an outdoor turf zone and a yoga pilate's room.
Speaker 1: Dedicated dressing rooms for THORNSFC and WNBA Portland, a dining
Speaker 1: room with a full time chef and nutritionist, dedicated rooms
Speaker 1: for players, families and team meeting rooms and social media.
Speaker 2: Content rooms, and more.
Speaker 1: One other cool tidbit, the Bethals are working with Workspace
Speaker 1: Property Trust to repurpose a former Nike office complex west
Speaker 1: of Portland in order to minimize environmental impact While building
Speaker 1: out this vision, We'll link to the Thorns release and
Speaker 1: mockups for the facility in our show notes. We love
Speaker 1: these facility wars. Y'all keep battling to be the best teams.
Speaker 1: We love to see it more. WNBA News free agent
Speaker 1: Tiffany Hayes is headed to the Golden State Valkyries. The
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four to sixth Woman of the Year signed
Speaker 1: with the WNBA's thirteenth team and will rock Valkyrie Violet
Speaker 1: this upcoming season. After coming out of WNBA retirement last
Speaker 1: year to join the Las Vegas Aces. She's a twelve
Speaker 1: year vet and is currently hooping in the Unrivaled Basketball
Speaker 1: three on three League with former Aces teammate Kate Martin,
Speaker 1: who also moved from Vegas to the Bay this offseason.
Speaker 1: Hayes brings flat out scoring ability and a veteran presence
Speaker 1: to a team that's mostly composed of youngsters and some
Speaker 1: excellent glue players, led by first time WNBA head coach
Speaker 1: Natalie Nicasse. In Unrivaled News, the bracket for the league's
Speaker 1: Won on one tournament dropped, and mile my, there are
Speaker 1: some intriguing matchups coming our way. Kaylea McBride versus d
Speaker 1: Jna Carrington, Jackie Young versus Rakia Jackson, Tiffany Hayes versus
Speaker 1: Courtney Williams, and those are all just the first round.
Speaker 1: We can't wait to see where this tournament goes. It
Speaker 1: starts on Monday, and while originally it was billed as
Speaker 1: a winner take all, the site now reads that the
Speaker 1: winner will earn two hundred thousand dollars for them sols
Speaker 1: and ten thousand dollars for each player on their basketball club,
Speaker 1: plus runner up gets fifty k and semi finalists get
Speaker 1: twenty five thousand. Of course, because the folks behind the
Speaker 1: scenes know we welcome the possibility of maximum chaos. Co
Speaker 1: founders Defisa Collier and Brianna Stewart are on opposite sides
Speaker 1: of the bracket. And get this, there's even a bracket challenge,
Speaker 1: just like in college hoops, but with a twist. We'll
Speaker 1: link to the instructions on how to fill yours out
Speaker 1: in our show notes. We happen to notice that the
Speaker 1: version on the Unrivaled website has a super dark background,
Speaker 1: so if you print it out, you're not gonna be
Speaker 1: able to see what you write. But thankfully, super Slice
Speaker 1: Joey Maldonado saves the day again. He independently of the
Speaker 1: Unrivaled one being posted, made one himself and it has
Speaker 1: a white background, So if you go to My Blue
Speaker 1: Sky you'll find it, or we'll put the link in
Speaker 1: my show notes. That's an easier one to print and
Speaker 1: fill out and share. Some Unrivaled games tonight two. We
Speaker 1: love these Friday night faceoffs. First up, it's the six
Speaker 1: and zero Lunar Owls versus My Phantom BC at seven
Speaker 1: to fifteen pm Eastern, followed by roseby C versus Miss BC.
Speaker 1: More games Saturday too, we'll link to the schedule in
Speaker 1: our show notes. The college softball season kicked off yesterday,
Speaker 1: so there are a bunch of teams ranked and unranked
Speaker 1: hitting the diamond today. Too many to preview, so we'll
Speaker 1: link to the day's full schedule. You guessed it in
Speaker 1: our show notes to pro Vibes. League one Volleyball is
Speaker 1: back tonight. Love Atlanta faces Love Salt Lake at nine
Speaker 1: pm Eastern at Maverick Center in Salt Lake City. You
Speaker 1: can watch that live on Love dot com and Dezone.
Speaker 1: Love's got two other games tomorrow as well. We'll link
Speaker 1: to the schedule in our show notes. And don't forget
Speaker 1: it's Love with the BLOVB. Don't be don't be googling
Speaker 1: Love dot com. I don't know what's on that site.
Speaker 1: More vibes. The Pro Volleyball Federation's got two games tonight.
Speaker 1: First up is Grand Rapids Rise versus Club is Fury
Speaker 1: at seven Eastern, streaming live on YouTube. Then it's Vegas
Speaker 1: Thrill at San Diego Mojo, starting at ten oh five
Speaker 1: pm Eastern on Volleyball World TV.
Speaker 2: PVF has two other games tomorrow.
Speaker 1: We'll link to the schedule in our show notes elsewhere
Speaker 1: in the sport adjacent sphere, The met Gala's reviving its
Speaker 1: host committee tradition this year, and a few of our
Speaker 1: faves were tapped to service members. Team USA gymnasts Simone Biles,
Speaker 1: wnba U, Unrivaled player Angel Reese, and Team USA sprinter
Speaker 1: Shkari Richardson all made the list, which also includes folks
Speaker 1: like mister Biles, Regina King, Jenell Money and Moore.
Speaker 2: Lebron James is the honorary chair.
Speaker 1: The committee will support the evening's festivities and help set
Speaker 1: the tone for this year's dress code. Tailored for You
Speaker 1: a nod to the museum's super fine tailoring Black Style
Speaker 1: Costume Institute exhibit. Can't wait to see what looks they
Speaker 1: put together. Finally, in college hoops, a couple of big matchups
Speaker 1: going down this weekend. On Saturday, number eight Ohio State
Speaker 1: tries to bounce back from a sixty five fifty two
Speaker 1: loss to.
Speaker 2: Top ranked UCLA the other night.
Speaker 1: They traveled just a few more miles to play number
Speaker 1: seven USC and then on Sunday, Number four Texas host
Speaker 1: number two South Carolina for an SEC showdown. We'll link
Speaker 1: to the full weekend schedule in our show notes finished
Speaker 1: up Day two of Radio Row Slices, and I have
Speaker 1: to say I'm leaving the ick behind and finding just joy.
Speaker 1: So many old friends and colleagues, athletes that I've covered
Speaker 1: in the past, and people that I am so glad
Speaker 1: to finally meet in person. As long as I steer
Speaker 1: clear of that outkickstage, just joy the rest of the
Speaker 1: way out. Also, I got to quickly chat with Sabrina
Speaker 1: and Escu. We talked unrivaled in Phantom BC as she
Speaker 1: hustled between interviews.
Speaker 2: Try to get her. We'll be sure to grab.
Speaker 1: Her for the show soon when she's not hawking products
Speaker 1: and overscheduled. As for last night, I continued to take
Speaker 1: all the res and bop around the French Quarter, heading
Speaker 1: back to see my guy at Aaron Rose for another
Speaker 1: frozen Irish coffee, then off to the Davenport Lounge at
Speaker 1: the Ritz for a Pims cup that's a New Orleans specialty.
Speaker 1: That's the spot where the chiefs are stay in this year,
Speaker 1: and listen to some jazz from local legend trumpeter Jeremy Davenport.
Speaker 1: Then it was off to hear some live piano at
Speaker 1: Lafitte's blacksmith's shop built in nearly seventeen hundreds. It's alleged
Speaker 1: to be the oldest structure used as a bar in
Speaker 1: the US. Good times always there. I took a risk.
Speaker 1: I ordered the frozen foodoo Dackery, which is called Purple Drink.
Speaker 1: It is made with bourbon and ever Clear, but somehow
Speaker 1: just tastes like a purple jolly rancher.
Speaker 2: Very dangerous. Just had one.
Speaker 1: I did some sightseeing on Bourbon Street. Always some good
Speaker 1: people watching there, grab some food, hung out with some friends.
Speaker 1: Enjoyed the scene and things are only going to get
Speaker 1: hotter and busier and crazier as we get closer to
Speaker 1: the weekend and the big game.
Speaker 2: And speaking of the big game, quick props.
Speaker 1: Two former Cornell football players are facing off on Sunday,
Speaker 1: Hunter Nours out of the Chiefs and Jalx Hunt of
Speaker 1: the Eagles, both in their rookie NFL season. So either
Speaker 1: way this weekend Cornell wins. Hope y'all enjoyed the game.
Speaker 1: We're going to take a quick break and when we
Speaker 1: come back. Callie Bronson joined me on Radio Row to
Speaker 1: talk about what she learned from the NFL that she's
Speaker 1: brought with her to the world of women's flag football.
Speaker 3: Joining US now.
Speaker 1: She's a barrier breaking coach at the college and professional
Speaker 1: levels who just joined USA Football as the Senior Director
Speaker 1: of High Performance and National Team Operations after spending five
Speaker 1: seasons with the Cleveland Browns in the NFL, acting as
Speaker 1: chief of staff and assistant wide receivers coach. She's the
Speaker 1: first woman ever to coach an NFL position group in
Speaker 1: a regular season game. She was a two time champion
Speaker 1: with the DC Divas in the Women's Football Alliance as
Speaker 1: a free safety and running back, and a two time
Speaker 1: gold medalist with the US women's National American Football team.
Speaker 3: It's Calie Bronson. What's up, Callie?
Speaker 1: Well, that's a lot DC Divas. Yeah, how'd you feel
Speaker 1: about that?
Speaker 4: Name?
Speaker 3: Was favorite?
Speaker 4: Yeah, let's just say I wasn't on a lot of
Speaker 4: the advertisements. I didn't fit the Diva mold, but I
Speaker 4: still repped when I had to.
Speaker 1: You know. Is that the same league that had the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Lady Bells.
Speaker 4: Or that Yeah, a long time for two years. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and now they're the fansoms I believe.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, shout out to my sister. Katie always weasel
Speaker 1: it in. I don't think she talks enough about how
Speaker 1: cool it was that she played professional football for two years. Okay,
Speaker 1: I want to first start with this new gig because
Speaker 1: you're overseeing USA Football's US national team program.
Speaker 3: What does that mean?
Speaker 2: What do they do?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Okay, Well, so obviously the big news that came out
Speaker 4: was flag footballs in the Olympics. I think to preface
Speaker 4: that and rewind like there's always been We've always had
Speaker 4: national teams. I played for the women's sacle national team,
Speaker 4: and obviously in the past few years we fielded flag
Speaker 4: national teams both men and women, adult and junior national teams. Well,
Speaker 4: obviously now it's in the Olympics. Everybody's talking about it.
Speaker 3: Big deal. Men and women adult national teams are in
Speaker 3: the Olympics.
Speaker 4: So with that happening, we're seeing such a shift and
Speaker 4: a growth in the sport. So really my job is
Speaker 4: to figure out our process, both player evaluations, to player selection,
Speaker 4: to coach selection, to how we practice, how we train.
Speaker 4: So we're really kind of taking our operation and souping
Speaker 4: it up to get to the point where over the
Speaker 4: next few years we're putting together the perfect operation for
Speaker 4: our national teams.
Speaker 3: To go and win gold in LA.
Speaker 1: And You're coming from the NFL, so they want someone
Speaker 1: that knows how things run at the very highest level
Speaker 1: of football and to bring those standards to flag exactly.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, and I always I've already done it,
Speaker 4: you know, I'm in week three. So I go back
Speaker 4: to a lot of the stuff I dealt with as
Speaker 4: a chief of staff, you know, putting these processes in place,
Speaker 4: and understanding what's going to be the best and really
Speaker 4: like the role all of us, everybody on the high
Speaker 4: performance team, our job is to just create the best
Speaker 4: possible environment for our players and our coaches.
Speaker 3: That's sick.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about the timing of the Olympics,
Speaker 1: Because whenever I talk to women athletes, like you know,
Speaker 1: Sue Bird is like, of course, I'm jealous that right
Speaker 1: now people are making millions of dollars and they have
Speaker 1: the best resources that they're flying charter and they're you know,
Speaker 1: do you wish that you would have had a shot
Speaker 1: at it.
Speaker 3: At the Olympics. I think about it all the time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, just just in general, I think about
Speaker 4: sports for women right now and how amazing it is.
Speaker 4: I mean, what an awesome time to be a female athlete,
Speaker 4: Like whether it be Olympic level or even what we're
Speaker 4: seeing in a WNBA, Like, it's so cool to see.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I mean, of course those of us who
Speaker 4: are competitors and put our bodies on the line are
Speaker 4: a little jealous, but I'm also so excited. It's so
Speaker 4: cool to see how this has grown. And it's late,
Speaker 4: it's overdue, but it's happening, and we have to keep
Speaker 4: driving that momentum.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm definitely a little bittersweet.
Speaker 1: I also like to convince myself that if all these
Speaker 1: things had been around when I was a kid, I
Speaker 1: would have worked harder and then I would have been
Speaker 1: at the level of being in the Olympics, even though yeah,
Speaker 1: probably isn't true. Okay, tell me about this Champions Rising documentary.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so obviously they followed our national teams last year,
Speaker 4: going through the whole process. I love it because it's
Speaker 4: going to be a great way for the random person
Speaker 4: who wants to learn more about what the national teams
Speaker 4: are because it follows the whole journey from trials to
Speaker 4: training camp all the way through competition, so you get
Speaker 4: such a great view of what it is to be
Speaker 4: a national team player, but also what our process is.
Speaker 4: I get so many questions, especially since I took this job,
Speaker 4: on what our operation is all about, and hey, I
Speaker 4: never heard of this. This like gives such concrete legitimacy
Speaker 4: to what we do and how it works. You watch that,
Speaker 4: you're like, this is a full on operation, and it is.
Speaker 4: We're the national team. So I think it's awesome. It's
Speaker 4: coming out. It'll be on the YouTube channel. The trailer
Speaker 4: came out, I encourage everybody to watch the trailer because
Speaker 4: I think that's a great little snippet of what it's
Speaker 4: going to be about. But when it comes out on
Speaker 4: YouTube channels and through USA Football, I encourage everybody to
Speaker 4: watch it.
Speaker 3: I think if you have any.
Speaker 4: Questions about what we're about and what it is, it's
Speaker 4: a great foundation for what the national team is and
Speaker 4: you get to see the sport from some pretty cool
Speaker 4: angles too.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean, it.
Speaker 1: Just feels like the ability to film in places and
Speaker 1: have more documentaries of every kind has allowed us to
Speaker 1: see the legitimacy and value of things that previously weren't
Speaker 1: given that treatment because it was primarily focused on men's
Speaker 1: sports and also goes documentary is much rare, and also
Speaker 1: with streaming there's more space to put.
Speaker 3: Them, yep, and I'm looking forward to watching that.
Speaker 1: Okay, I want to I want to ask you what
Speaker 1: you find most exciting about the current moment for women's
Speaker 1: slag football.
Speaker 4: Yeah, a lot, to be honest, I'm excited about a lot.
Speaker 4: But the biggest thing is like where we are and
Speaker 4: how competitive it is, you know, watching these women play
Speaker 4: and even even the girls on the junior national team.
Speaker 4: It's come such a long way and it's it's only growing.
Speaker 4: So what I'm most excited about is being at this
Speaker 4: point and looking back in a couple of years and
Speaker 4: then looking back as we go to LA and being like, wow,
Speaker 4: we we just built.
Speaker 3: Something very special.
Speaker 4: Because the other thing that's being that I take as
Speaker 4: a task of mine is yeah, we need to go
Speaker 4: win gold, right, and we need to take it. You know,
Speaker 4: a great two great teams to LA, but we want
Speaker 4: to grow this for globally. We want every team that
Speaker 4: shows up in LA to be competitive. We want every
Speaker 4: game to be you know, close and competitive in this
Speaker 4: display of the amazing athletes that are part of it.
Speaker 4: So part of our approach these next couple of years
Speaker 4: is to continue to grow the game and help in
Speaker 4: our capacity to do that and help these other countries
Speaker 4: get to a point where when we go to La
Speaker 4: everybody who watches.
Speaker 3: Flag football is like, wow, I have to tell you.
Speaker 1: The only flag football name I know men's are women's
Speaker 1: is Deanna Flores.
Speaker 3: Freaking badass. She's a friend.
Speaker 1: We were on the Gatoray Women's Advisory Board together, Mexican
Speaker 1: national team quarterback. Okay, so I'm like, Okay, Mexico's got
Speaker 1: to be great because they've got Tana.
Speaker 3: Is that true?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, great, they got a good team and they
Speaker 4: have they have done a great job with the sport
Speaker 4: of football too, because I know when when I both
Speaker 4: coached and played on the on the tackle team, the
Speaker 4: national team have a great women's tackle team too. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 4: they definitely deserve their flowers and their respect in that regard.
Speaker 4: And it's always a pretty competitive matchup anytime the US
Speaker 4: national teams team up with with Team Mexico.
Speaker 3: So it's the win, of course. Great. Good to know
Speaker 3: it's right.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of times, when say, for instance,
Speaker 1: there's developments in the softball world, softball players are excited,
Speaker 1: but also men who play baseball don't necessarily want to
Speaker 1: be diverted to something if baseball is their love.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about flag football being the thing
Speaker 1: that's getting pushed for women and what it might mean
Speaker 1: for tackle football for women.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Well, so one of the things I like to
Speaker 4: say when when when this comes up is they're vastly
Speaker 4: different sports, so I mean vastly tackle versus flag.
Speaker 3: So it's not gonna be for everybody, right, there are.
Speaker 4: Gonna be plenty of women who currently play in the
Speaker 4: in the tackle leagues around the US and even around
Speaker 4: the world who don't need to venture into the space.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 4: I know it's a feeling because it's in the Olympics,
Speaker 4: but they're vastly different sports, not going to be for everybody.
Speaker 3: But what we're we're.
Speaker 4: Looking at is the transition of athletes from every sport,
Speaker 4: so men and women, you know, basketball players, Like what
Speaker 4: are the translatable skills that make a successful flag football
Speaker 4: player that exists in other sports? I mean, that's where
Speaker 4: a lot of that talent pool is going to come from.
Speaker 4: So we've we've kind of started looking into all those
Speaker 4: things and it's been really exciting because you know, to
Speaker 4: that point, it's not going to be for everybody, and
Speaker 4: that's okay. You know, well, tackle football have resources still Yeah,
Speaker 4: of course, yeah, absolutely, and and and tackle still falls
Speaker 4: under us at USA Football. You know, we are the
Speaker 4: governing body of football in the In the US, it's
Speaker 4: flag and tackle. So we have not forgotten about tackle.
Speaker 4: It's near and dear to my heart, so I certainly
Speaker 4: haven't forgotten about it. But we're very invested in all
Speaker 4: those things.
Speaker 1: You're very small, were you always very small? I can't
Speaker 1: picture you're wrapping someone up and taking him down.
Speaker 4: I have some perfect form, I have some pictures, and
Speaker 4: yes I worked on my form, but I was a
Speaker 4: little beef heer back then, in a good way, like
Speaker 4: I think. I think when I was playing, I was
Speaker 4: one fifty five, one sixty on this frame. I had
Speaker 4: some muscles I've leaned out in my retired years.
Speaker 3: None of the sports I played allowed tackling.
Speaker 1: It didn't always stop me, though, and I don't wish
Speaker 1: I'd had more opportunity, don't doubt that.
Speaker 3: I want to ask how you first got into football. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I grew up loving the game because my dad loved
Speaker 4: the game, so he went to University of Miami, and
Speaker 4: so I grew up watching like the glory days of Miami,
Speaker 4: like Larry Kocher was the head coach, and all those
Speaker 4: guys come through the Hurricane program, and so that's what
Speaker 4: we did on Saturdays. We watched Miami Hurricane football and
Speaker 4: we used to go to games, and we used to
Speaker 4: go down for spring practice because we still he still
Speaker 4: had a house down there in Coral Gables.
Speaker 3: So it was kind of ingrained in me from the
Speaker 3: jump to love football.
Speaker 4: I mean, baseball was my first love because I grew
Speaker 4: up watching Cal Ripken in Baltimore and that was hard.
Speaker 4: It's hard to shy away from that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4: But football always like had a different pool on me.
Speaker 1: And then you got into soopta because they wouldn't let
Speaker 1: you play fastball, let me play football.
Speaker 3: And you don't have to answer this if it's sensitive.
Speaker 1: You were raised by your dad, Yeah, solo dad?
Speaker 3: Yeah, how come? Well? My parents got divorced early on.
Speaker 4: My mom was kind of going through some stuff personally,
Speaker 4: and it was just the right decision. And I tip
Speaker 4: my hat to my dad every day for making hard
Speaker 4: decisions like that. But it really made me who I
Speaker 4: am today, and I'm so grateful for him. Tough things
Speaker 4: for families to go through but necessary things and I'm
Speaker 4: just I'm so happy to call him dad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so you play softball in college, but then
Speaker 1: you get back into football.
Speaker 3: You've always had this like love of it.
Speaker 1: And in twenty nineteen, you became the first woman to
Speaker 1: coach full time in Division one college football as an
Speaker 1: offensive quality control coach for Dartmouth. Yep, that was my
Speaker 1: number one choice. I did not get in, but that's okay.
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed where I went. Will not hold it
Speaker 1: against them for the rest of my life, even though
Speaker 1: I saw to him. What do you think coach Buddy
Speaker 1: Teven saw in you back then? Yeah?
Speaker 4: I remember when we met. We met at the Manning
Speaker 4: Passing Academy. They're doing a clinic for women and girls
Speaker 4: down in Thibodaux, Louisiana at Nicols State University.
Speaker 3: It was like early August. It was so hot.
Speaker 4: I just I remember that part, and I remember Buddy.
Speaker 4: We just clicked.
Speaker 1: Like.
Speaker 4: We sat there the night before the camp with a
Speaker 4: whiteboard and he and I went through. He had never
Speaker 4: really done a camp for women and girls before. She
Speaker 4: was like, how advanced did we go?
Speaker 3: Whatever?
Speaker 4: So I sat there in the locker room with him,
Speaker 4: and we were writing everything, all the stations down on
Speaker 4: a whiteboard and it was just one of those things
Speaker 4: that felt so organic and so easy, like we saw
Speaker 4: things the same way, we communicated the same way. He
Speaker 4: was a very like organized I need to know what's
Speaker 4: happening at all times.
Speaker 3: That's how I operate.
Speaker 4: And so then the next day at the camp, just
Speaker 4: rolling around, he could see how much fun I was having.
Speaker 4: And a week later I got a call and he said,
Speaker 4: I don't know what it is, but I I want
Speaker 4: you to be a part of our football program. Could
Speaker 4: come up in intern for us during camp, and I
Speaker 4: told him, I said, I share the sentence, the sentiment,
Speaker 4: you know I I I was so honored to work
Speaker 4: with you. And even in those two days what I
Speaker 4: learned was incredible. So kind of took off from there
Speaker 4: and even when I left Dartmouth, but he was one
Speaker 4: of my closest friends. We didn't stop talking and we
Speaker 4: were always in touch and somebody had considered a really
Speaker 4: close front.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he tragically passed away in a bike accident, but
Speaker 1: had a great, great resume of helping make the sport
Speaker 1: more safe, yes, and more equitable and divorse absolutely and
Speaker 1: So the reason you were ready for that job is
Speaker 1: you played college softball and then you transferred to George Mason.
Speaker 1: And while at George Mason, that's when you started playing
Speaker 1: with the DCDA. So you're playing alongside women in their
Speaker 1: twenties with full time jobs while you're at college. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's how much you wanted to get back into football.
Speaker 1: How did you translate playing to being ready for an
Speaker 1: opportunity at Dartmouth when that opportunity presented itself.
Speaker 4: It's a great question, and I think it's something that
Speaker 4: a lot of former players can can attest to. But
Speaker 4: when I was playing, I was such an analytical I
Speaker 4: saw the game from a way that I wanted to
Speaker 4: learn every facet of it was as a film study nerd.
Speaker 4: I really wanted to learn the game schematically. And I
Speaker 4: played both sides of the ball, so that really helped me.
Speaker 4: Understanding defense has made me a better wide receiver, you know,
Speaker 4: understanding the wide receiver position and the specifics that going
Speaker 4: too that made me a better defensive back.
Speaker 3: So I just I was like a football junkie. I
Speaker 3: loved it.
Speaker 4: And even on the field, you know, the resources in
Speaker 4: women's stockle are not where they need to be, so
Speaker 4: some of us had to step up and be coaches
Speaker 4: during practice, you know. And I just always had a
Speaker 4: knack for it. I was coaching high school softball at
Speaker 4: the time, trying to make some money while I was
Speaker 4: in school and all so forth, and so I loved
Speaker 4: coaching because coaching is just teaching, And to me, coaching
Speaker 4: is teaching on something that you're like massively passionate about,
Speaker 4: Like that's coaching. So I was like, I love football,
Speaker 4: I love the coach, and that's kind of how it intertwined.
Speaker 3: And it's amazing. Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 1: How do you decide when you're with the Browns and
Speaker 1: you're getting a lot of publicity as one of the
Speaker 1: few coaches in the NFL women coaches, how do you
Speaker 1: decide whether to just do the work or to lean
Speaker 1: into what representation means for other women and how you're
Speaker 1: in flos might impact future generations.
Speaker 4: I think it's important to find the balance because at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, you're not gonna be in
Speaker 4: that position of influence if you're not doing the work
Speaker 4: and you're not doing your job, you know, So so
Speaker 4: I think it's a balance. It's like I always say,
Speaker 4: like with some of the women who jump in there,
Speaker 4: it's like finding a way to be passive and aggressive
Speaker 4: at the same time.
Speaker 3: So knowing I'm very passive aggressive as joking, I will
Speaker 3: I'm gonna that's my follow up. I'll be asking no.
Speaker 4: But it's it's it's one of those things where you
Speaker 4: do need to use your platform. I always tell like
Speaker 4: some of the women who come in, like when you
Speaker 4: get asked a question when you do something, if you
Speaker 4: do a podcast, if you do an event, are you
Speaker 4: doing it for yourself or you're doing it for the
Speaker 4: greater good. If you're going to answer that question you're
Speaker 4: doing it for the greater good, then it's worth your time.
Speaker 4: If you're doing it for yourself and your self promotion,
Speaker 4: go back to work, like pick up something to do,
Speaker 4: because I think that that's that's where you have to
Speaker 4: get really careful. But I think anything you do to
Speaker 4: promote women in football, and it's for the benefit of
Speaker 4: anybody else who wants to get in or who is
Speaker 4: currently in, you should do it.
Speaker 3: Absolutely use your platform.
Speaker 1: I've talked to coach Low about this Lori Locust, and
Speaker 1: she said the problem is like if you're getting a
Speaker 1: ton of attention that other people around the same position
Speaker 1: aren't getting. It can isolate you, and it can make
Speaker 1: you feel othered in a way that doesn't bring you
Speaker 1: to the team.
Speaker 3: And a huge part of being one of the only women.
Speaker 1: On the staff is to make sure that you can
Speaker 1: be a part of the squad and not always on
Speaker 1: the outside. And so she was very careful and continues
Speaker 1: to be very careful about what publicity she does do
Speaker 1: and how she uses her platform, and then also not
Speaker 1: othering herself.
Speaker 4: And I agree, and I think you just have to
Speaker 4: be selective in the things you do. You know, at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, you got hired to do
Speaker 4: a job. It's cool that it created this platform for you.
Speaker 4: It's actually great that it did. But I always found
Speaker 4: too like doing a really good job at what you
Speaker 4: do and then getting promoted, that's a bigger message than
Speaker 4: anything else.
Speaker 3: So always choose job and work first, and it's okay
Speaker 3: to say no to things. Yeah.
Speaker 1: While you're with Cleveland, the team acquired quarterback to Shan
Speaker 1: Watson after he was sued by more than two dozen
Speaker 1: female massage therapists for sexual arrassment and sexual assault. He's
Speaker 1: settled twenty claims of sexual misconduct. I often find that
Speaker 1: marginalized groups are expected to a advocate for themselves and
Speaker 1: their peers, while members of the offending group aren't taken
Speaker 1: to the path for their silence and their complicity. I
Speaker 1: don't expect you to talk specifically about Watson. I just
Speaker 1: wonder whether you felt a particular burden as a female
Speaker 1: member of that coaching staff, either to speak out or
Speaker 1: express or displeasure or or otherwise. Did people demand something
Speaker 1: of you they didn't demand of others.
Speaker 4: I would say this, I have so much respect for
Speaker 4: Kevin and Andrew Berry already. How they handled that situation
Speaker 4: internally was even more respectable. You know, I didn't. I
Speaker 4: didn't feel marginalized. I didn't feel like I couldn't, you know,
Speaker 4: say my piece. I didn't, you know, I never felt
Speaker 4: that way. I think between the two of them, internally
Speaker 4: they hand you tell our lesteners who they are. Andrew
Speaker 4: Berry is the general manager of the Cleveland Browns and
Speaker 4: Kevin Stefanski's the head coach, and you know, I think,
Speaker 4: you know, they really care about the people around them,
Speaker 4: and they understand, you know, certain decisions and there's controversy
Speaker 4: behind them.
Speaker 3: I would say I never felt isolated.
Speaker 4: I never felt not supported, I never felt unheard, and
Speaker 4: that's a credit to them as leaders.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, I feel like it's frustrating when I've
Speaker 1: been in the space of speaking out about issues like that,
Speaker 1: or even when there were issues at ESPN, people would
Speaker 1: come to me and be like, how do you keep working.
Speaker 3: There when this guy did this?
Speaker 1: Sure, and I'm like, are you asking all the men
Speaker 1: why you're not? And we can't be the ones being
Speaker 1: victimized and also the ones expected to put our next
Speaker 1: on the line, our jobs on the line, and have
Speaker 1: nobody else step.
Speaker 3: Up, so and I will.
Speaker 4: I'll say this too about those two I and continue
Speaker 4: to still have so much faith in their leadership and
Speaker 4: what they would do that at the end of it all,
Speaker 4: if they felt it was the right thing for the organization,
Speaker 4: I was with them, you know. And that's how I
Speaker 4: feel about them as individuals and leaders. I would run
Speaker 4: through a brick wall for both of them. So if
Speaker 4: it's a direction they wanted to go, I'm right there.
Speaker 3: I'm with you. Then why did you know it was
Speaker 3: time to leave?
Speaker 4: Honestly, this opportunity is what made me start considering it.
Speaker 4: I didn't really have any you know, it's gonna be
Speaker 4: the NFL forever. And you know, other people had expected
Speaker 4: for what the next five to ten years of my
Speaker 4: life were supposed to be in the NFL. When this
Speaker 4: opportunity came up, I just saw this as an incredible
Speaker 4: opportunity that.
Speaker 3: Was once in a lifetime.
Speaker 4: And as I continue to talk to the people that
Speaker 4: you say football and what they envisioned for this role,
Speaker 4: I had to ask myself, like, if I look back
Speaker 4: in a year or two years or three years and
Speaker 4: pass this up, would I be okay with it? And
Speaker 4: I didn't feel like I would be. This is something
Speaker 4: really special and it's going to change. You know, it's
Speaker 4: not just the Olympics. It's going to change the nature
Speaker 4: of American football in the United States and in the world,
Speaker 4: like American football is in the Olympics, which makes a
Speaker 4: big statement. And we at this point have the opportunity
Speaker 4: to build it how we want it to be, and
Speaker 4: open it up how we want it to be, and
Speaker 4: educate people on how we wanted to be and get
Speaker 4: coaches up to speed. Like it's such a special thing
Speaker 4: that when I do look back in five or ten
Speaker 4: years and we get past the Olympics. It's something that
Speaker 4: you can literally say like, I'm so proud I was
Speaker 4: a part of that. So it was hard for me
Speaker 4: to say no, like honestly.
Speaker 1: And you've got the talent that if you change your
Speaker 1: mind on the NFL it's calling again, you can always
Speaker 1: go back. Of course, what was the biggest lesson you
Speaker 1: learn from your time in Cleveland?
Speaker 4: I learned a lot, But I would say one of
Speaker 4: the things I really respected about coach Stefanski is he's
Speaker 4: so cool, calm and collected through everything. And I said
Speaker 4: this to him he or two when I was the
Speaker 4: chief of staff. I was like, I need to learn
Speaker 4: composure from you because as chief of staff, you have
Speaker 4: so much going on, and I always, you know, I
Speaker 4: would let myself. Biggest thing I took away was that
Speaker 4: part you got overwhelmed a lot. It was it was
Speaker 4: just a lot, you know, and you didn't want to
Speaker 4: always react to things.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: It's like it's like in the game when the.
Speaker 4: Quarterback throws an interception and they immediately zoom in on
Speaker 4: the head coach, yeah, you know, And I was like, Okay,
Speaker 4: who would I be in that situation?
Speaker 3: And so I literally I told him, you know.
Speaker 4: Year two, I was like, that's what I'm gonna work
Speaker 4: on this year because I think in order to lead people,
Speaker 4: they need to see that, even in times of trial,
Speaker 4: you're unshaken.
Speaker 3: And that's who he is.
Speaker 4: So I really worked on that with him, and I
Speaker 4: mean we saw it all the way through I mean
Speaker 4: twenty twenty three season.
Speaker 3: Everything, We went.
Speaker 4: Through four or five quarterbacks, all this stuff, and Kevin
Speaker 4: every meeting, even behind closed doors, unshaken. So I've really
Speaker 4: tasked myself with that. That's the biggest thing I took away.
Speaker 4: It is like, how can I be a leader that
Speaker 4: went things go awry and the boat starts to rock.
Speaker 4: Everybody's looking like she's cool, So I'm cool. Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1: Final two questions honest answer, no bias. Who will win
Speaker 1: the first Olympics and women's flag football the US?
Speaker 3: Okay? Who will win a Super Bowl? First? The Chicago
Speaker 3: Bears or the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1: The Cleveland Browns, God damn it bias that there was
Speaker 1: a ton of bias. Clean honest answer, y'all don't even
Speaker 1: have a quarterback situation figured out.
Speaker 3: The Cleveland Browns figured out, oh we do dog pound.
Speaker 1: The Leeland Browns figure out is what the fans have
Speaker 1: been saying for literally decade, and they'll do it again
Speaker 1: this year. It's fine. They've been telling the Bears that too. Callie,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for the time. We're looking forward to
Speaker 1: seeing everything.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: We have to take another quick break. When we come back.
Speaker 1: We celebrate Black History Month by introducing you to a
Speaker 1: pioneering softball player.
Speaker 2: Welcome back, Slices.
Speaker 1: It's Black History Month, and throughout February, we're going to
Speaker 1: shine a spotlight on some black women's sports pioneers you
Speaker 1: might not know about. Since college softball season just got underway, feels.
Speaker 2: Fitting to start there.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: We're certain you've heard of Jackie Robinson, the man who
Speaker 1: broke Major League Baseball's color.
Speaker 2: Barrier, but who led the way in softball.
Speaker 1: One of the women who took the field first was
Speaker 1: Billy Harris. If you've seen a League of their Own,
Speaker 1: Harris as one of the real life players that inspired
Speaker 1: some of the show's characters. According to an excellent article
Speaker 1: by Veronica Wells in Essence magazine, Harris discovered softball through
Speaker 1: a piece she read about a couple of local Arizona
Speaker 1: softball teams back in nineteen forty seven. From there, she
Speaker 1: started working on her skills. As she practiced on the
Speaker 1: side of the road. One day, a stranger came up
Speaker 1: to her and asked if she'd like to try out
Speaker 1: for a team called the Sunshine Girls.
Speaker 2: She made the team and the rest was history.
Speaker 1: In her long career, which lasted until she was seventy
Speaker 1: four years old, she threw seventy no hitters, pitched four
Speaker 1: perfect games, and scored one hundred and twenty three runs.
Speaker 1: Some folks even called her the Jackie Robinson of softball.
Speaker 2: Of course, it wasn't all peaches and cream.
Speaker 1: During the time she played, she was often the only
Speaker 1: black woman on her team. Segregation meant she was mistreated
Speaker 1: commared to her white teammates, and sometimes her teammates were
Speaker 1: the ones being racist and showing hostility toward her. Despite
Speaker 1: that and so much more, she went on to become
Speaker 1: the first African American woman inducted into the USA Softball
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. Fast forward to present day, and we've
Speaker 1: got so many talented black softballers to cheer on, like Ottissi, Alexander,
Speaker 1: Nijerie Kennedy, and MICHAELA.
Speaker 2: Edenfield, just to name a few.
Speaker 1: But there's still work to be done to ensure that
Speaker 1: young black kids are welcomed in the sport, believe it
Speaker 1: or not, In the year twenty twenty four, Olivia Madkins,
Speaker 1: Columbia Softball's first ever black softball player, took the field. Now,
Speaker 1: does that mean Columbia softball has been intentionally biased since
Speaker 1: the program's first team was formed in nineteen ninety eight.
Speaker 1: Not necessarily, but it just goes to show that there
Speaker 1: have always been opportunities that.
Speaker 2: Could have gone to black players and didn't.
Speaker 1: So hats off to Billy forgetting in the game back
Speaker 1: in the late forties, and more power to Olivia and
Speaker 1: other athletes still breaking down barrier today. We always love
Speaker 1: that you're listening, but we want you to get in
Speaker 1: the game every day too, So here's our good game
Speaker 1: play of the day. Fill out your unrivaled one on
Speaker 1: one tournament bracket and give us your logic as to
Speaker 1: why you picked the way you did. We'd love to
Speaker 1: know who you got and see if any slices can
Speaker 1: correctly pick the last couple players standing. Find the bracket
Speaker 1: in our show notes, and let us dot your thoughts
Speaker 1: by hitting us up on email. Good game at wondermedianetwork
Speaker 1: dot com or leave us a voicemail talking about it
Speaker 1: eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy. Don't forget
Speaker 1: to subscribe, rate and review too, everybody.
Speaker 2: It's real easy.
Speaker 1: Watch the WNBA and O Pill partnership rating five out
Speaker 1: of five. Keep doing the damn work review with so
Speaker 1: many companies already bowing down to the dictatorial directives and
Speaker 1: threats from above that are trying to erase progress. Shouts
Speaker 1: to the WNBA for pushing ahead with important initiatives like
Speaker 1: the one with over the counter daily oral contraceptive OPILL
Speaker 1: and nonprofit organization Black Women's Health Imperative Level the Court,
Speaker 1: which launched on Tuesday, kicks off with a spring campus tour,
Speaker 1: stopping at the University of Texas at San Antonio and
Speaker 1: then three historically black colleges and universities. A rep for
Speaker 1: OPEL told Despnsri Chambers that the Black Women's Health Imperative
Speaker 1: chose schools end quote states where there is more restricted
Speaker 1: access and restrictive laws surrounding what girls, women and those
Speaker 1: who can become pregnant can and cannot do unquote. The
Speaker 1: tour is just the first of several planned events and
Speaker 1: opportunities to provide Black women with more information and options
Speaker 1: surrounding their reproductive healthcare. WNBA Chief Growth Officer Coley Edison
Speaker 1: told Chambers, quote, the WNBA has always said that women's
Speaker 1: health is society's health. We're really trying to mirror the
Speaker 1: work our players are already doing.
Speaker 2: End quote. Now it's your.
Speaker 1: Turn to rate and review. Thanks for listening, Have a
Speaker 1: great weekend, See you next week. Good Game, Cali, Good Game,
Speaker 1: Billy Harris. You anti science, anti intellectual, anti common sense,
Speaker 1: anti humanity policies. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an
Speaker 1: iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
Speaker 1: and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by
Speaker 1: Wonder Media Network, our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones.
Speaker 1: Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan,
Speaker 1: and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez,
Speaker 1: and Grace Lynch. Our associate producer is Lucy Jones and
Speaker 1: I'm your host Sarah Spain