Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're still
Speaker 1: in our fields thinking about Sophia Smith crying while talking
Speaker 1: about Christine Sinclair's impact on her during the duo's postgame
Speaker 1: interview Friday night. On today's show, we'll get you all
Speaker 1: up to date on the final weekend of NWSL regular
Speaker 1: season action, Who squeezed in, who got squeezed out, and
Speaker 1: the playoff seating ahead of this weekend's quarterfinals. Plus the
Speaker 1: return of No Dumb Questions, some mother daughter duos you
Speaker 1: should Know, and Sneaky Rips. It's all coming up right
Speaker 1: after this Welcome Back, Happy Monday. Here's what you need
Speaker 1: to know today at NWSL News. The playoff picture is
Speaker 1: complete and it came down to the wire. Here's how
Speaker 1: the final seeding and the last two playoff spots shook
Speaker 1: out in the final weekend of the season. First, the
Speaker 1: Portland Thorns beat Angel City three nil on Friday. They
Speaker 1: end up grabbing the sixth seed. BAFC locked up the
Speaker 1: seventh seed with a three to two win over the
Speaker 1: Houston Dash on Saturday. That was their eleventh win of
Speaker 1: the year, the most regular season wins in an expansion
Speaker 1: season in NWSL. History, and they became just the second
Speaker 1: expansion team to qualify for the playoffs in their first year. Meantime,
Speaker 1: the Chicago Red Stars lost to the Kansas City Current
Speaker 1: three to one on Sunday. That drops the Red Stars
Speaker 1: down to the eighth and final seed. Now that things
Speaker 1: are set in stone, this weekend's quarterfinal matchups look like this.
Speaker 1: Number one Orlando Pride versus number eight Chicago Red Stars,
Speaker 1: Number two Washington Spirit versus number seven BFC, number three
Speaker 1: got them FC versus number six Portland Thorns, and number
Speaker 1: four Kansas City versus number five North Carolina Courage. We'll
Speaker 1: link to the full standings and the first round schedule
Speaker 1: in our show notes. Okay, back to Friday and that
Speaker 1: Portland postseason clinching win. It was a special game for
Speaker 1: reasons beyond that playoff berth Legendary Canadian forward Christine Sinclair,
Speaker 1: the greatest scorer in the history of the game, was
Speaker 1: playing in the last regular season NWSL match of her
Speaker 1: career for the Thorns and her last game in Portland,
Speaker 1: and both she and Nike met the moment first. Sinclair, Okay, so,
Speaker 1: she scored a goal in the sixteenth minute of the game,
Speaker 1: a perfect bookend for her regular season career in the
Speaker 1: NWSL because she scored in her very first game and
Speaker 1: her last, which happened to be her two hundredth. We
Speaker 1: love those round numbers, and we love the emotion from
Speaker 1: Sophia Smith postgame, as Sinclair and her little triple Espresso
Speaker 1: protege tried to get through an interview together without crying
Speaker 1: but couldn't take a listen the brief pauses you hear
Speaker 1: are Soph's crying breaks. I mean there's yeah, there's not
Speaker 1: a lot of words.
Speaker 2: I just sink has mentored me in so many ways.
Speaker 1: I don't even think she knows it. Look what you did. Sorry,
Speaker 1: It's okay.
Speaker 3: She's the best for a reason and she's I mean,
Speaker 3: she is Portland and it's not going.
Speaker 1: To be the same. I'm not like dying. As for Nike,
Speaker 1: the brand stepped up. They sent out t shirts to
Speaker 1: some of the keepers who are undoubtedly celebrating the all
Speaker 1: time leading international goal scorers retirement. Houston dashkeeper Jane Campbell
Speaker 1: posted hers to Instagram, and the tea read quote It's
Speaker 1: a great day to be a keeper. Sinclair is retiring
Speaker 1: with a card that said, in part, cheers hope you
Speaker 1: find comfort in knowing that sink will never score on
Speaker 1: you again. Ugh, it's so good. Also a record of
Speaker 1: note in the Kansas City Current Red Stars game we
Speaker 1: mentioned the regular season finale gave the Current something to
Speaker 1: celebrate as the team set a new NWSL single season
Speaker 1: team scoring record, adding three goals on Sunday to reach
Speaker 1: fifty seven, breaking the previous record of fifty four goals
Speaker 1: held by the twenty nineteen North Carolina Courage. So remember
Speaker 1: during the WNBA when there was records being broken, we
Speaker 1: told you about the context of how many games they
Speaker 1: were broken in. That's worth noting here too, because teams
Speaker 1: played twenty six matches this season in the NWSL. That's too,
Speaker 1: more than the twenty nineteen season that saw the Courage
Speaker 1: set that record for goals. And also that expansion team
Speaker 1: record we mentioned from BFC that was done in four
Speaker 1: more games than when the Waves said it last year.
Speaker 1: Still impressive, but good context to have. Casey Current also
Speaker 1: set another record in yesterday's game. That was for the
Speaker 1: number of different goal scorers they've had this season. Eighteen
Speaker 1: different players have put the ball in the back of
Speaker 1: the net. Some more NWSL congratulations are in order for
Speaker 1: Red Stars midfielder Shay Groom, who has celebrated yesterday for
Speaker 1: hitting one hundred and fifty regular season appearances in her
Speaker 1: nine year NWSL career. She suited up for four other squads, FC,
Speaker 1: Kansas City, Skyblue, FC, RAINFC, and the Houston Dash. Some
Speaker 1: NWSL attendance news to report. In the last week of
Speaker 1: the regular season, the league officially passed two million regular
Speaker 1: season attendees for the first time in league history. A
Speaker 1: sellout crowd at Providence Park for that last regular season
Speaker 1: match for Christine Sinclair that we mentioned that helped put
Speaker 1: the league over the two milli mark. According to a
Speaker 1: league statement, eighty nine matches this year have se seen
Speaker 1: over ten thousand fans compared to just fifty five last year,
Speaker 1: and league wide average attendants exceeds eleven thousand fans per
Speaker 1: match for the very first time in history. Keep showing
Speaker 1: up and showing out people. Finally, not all good news
Speaker 1: in the NWSL. Due to concerns around player well being
Speaker 1: and safety. Regarding field conditions, the league and the Players
Speaker 1: Association moved Sunday's game between San Diego Wave and Racing
Speaker 1: Louisville from the Wave's snap Dragon Stadium to Racing's Lynn
Speaker 1: Family Stadium, now attacking third at CBS. Sportswriter Sandra Herrera
Speaker 1: is reporting on x that the Wave has quote accruede
Speaker 1: finds throughout the twenty twenty four NWSL season due to
Speaker 1: ongoing field concerns, Snap Dragon Stadium has been asked for
Speaker 1: changes timing and consistent poor conditions led to a last
Speaker 1: minute change in venue for the final week of regular
Speaker 1: season play end quote. Glad to see a strong stance
Speaker 1: against unacceptable playing conditions by both the league and the PA,
Speaker 1: and this is yet another reminder that teams and organizations
Speaker 1: will be expected to step things up as the level
Speaker 1: of play, the popularity of the game, and the amount
Speaker 1: of investment keeps growing. College hoops news, Yeah that's right, baby,
Speaker 1: College basketball is back. Two season opening matchups are going
Speaker 1: to be played at Paris, France today as part of
Speaker 1: the AFLAC WE Play event OHI we Number twenty Mississippi
Speaker 1: will take on number three USC and then number seventeen
Speaker 1: Louisville will face number five UCLA. Both games are at
Speaker 1: Adidas Arena, the eight thousand seat home for the EuroLeague's
Speaker 1: Paris Basketball. You can watch the action on ESPN starting
Speaker 1: at noon Eastern today and lots more to come this
Speaker 1: week on one of the most highly anticipated college basketball
Speaker 1: seasons maybe ever. In WNBA news on Friday, the Indiana
Speaker 1: Fever announced that Stephanie White will be the franchise's next
Speaker 1: head coach. This comes, of course, after the Fever parted
Speaker 1: ways with Christy Sides last week, followed by the news
Speaker 1: that White was leaving the Connecticuts on you remember anti costable.
Speaker 1: Chicago Sun Times reported this a couple of weeks ago. Well,
Speaker 1: it came to fruition, and it's really not a surprise.
Speaker 1: White is no stranger to Indiana or to the Fever organization.
Speaker 1: She's homegrown. In nineteen ninety five, she was named Miss
Speaker 1: Basketball for the state of Indiana. She stuck around and
Speaker 1: played at Purdue, helping them to a national championship in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine, and then was a member of the
Speaker 1: Fever's inaugural roster in two thousand, playing there through two
Speaker 1: thousand and four. White was part of the coaching staff
Speaker 1: for the Fever from twenty eleven to twenty sixteen, serving
Speaker 1: as head coach for the last two years of her tenure,
Speaker 1: and now she's back in a statement white set of
Speaker 1: the new gig. Quote, I am incredibly proud and honored
Speaker 1: to return home to Indiana and lead the Fever during
Speaker 1: such a pivotal moment in this franchise's history, as well
Speaker 1: as during such an important time throughout women's athletics, She continued.
Speaker 1: This franchise has and always will be committed to winning,
Speaker 1: and I look forward to working every day to help
Speaker 1: deliver another WNBA title to the greatest basketball fans in
Speaker 1: the world. End quote. Can't wait to see how she
Speaker 1: and this young, hungry Fever squad mesh. In twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: more WNBA news, the Chicago Sky filled their head coach
Speaker 1: vacancy as well. The organization announced that Tyler Marsh will
Speaker 1: be the team's fourth head coach in three years. Yep,
Speaker 1: you heard that right. This Marsh's first professional head coaching job,
Speaker 1: but his resume is full. He most recently spent three
Speaker 1: seasons as an assistant on Becky Hammond's staff and won
Speaker 1: back to back WNBA titles with the Aces. He was
Speaker 1: the head of player development there as well, and has
Speaker 1: been credited for helping players like Asia Wilson and Jackie
Speaker 1: Young hone their skills He's also done stints with the
Speaker 1: mnba's Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors, as well as four
Speaker 1: G League teams now. Shortly after the news broke, sky
Speaker 1: Forward Angel Rees took to Twitter to approve of the move,
Speaker 1: posting a tweet that read just w In response, friend
Speaker 1: of the Show and Aces guard Sidney Colson quoted Reese's
Speaker 1: tweet and typed, excuse me, we're grieving. Have some respect.
Speaker 1: Sid fired off a barrage of other cackleworthy tweets and
Speaker 1: responses after the news broke. So we'll link to our
Speaker 1: account on x in our show notes so you can
Speaker 1: take a look for yourself. More hoops. Unrivaled, the new
Speaker 1: three on three league coming in twenty twenty five, announced
Speaker 1: that it's expanding from thirty players to thirty six for
Speaker 1: season one. Per co founder and Ifisa Collier, the league
Speaker 1: out did expected financial projections and can afford to carry
Speaker 1: more players in its first season instead of having to
Speaker 1: wait to expand as initially planned. The league will still
Speaker 1: have the same six teams excuse me, sorry, basketball clubs,
Speaker 1: but each club is gaining an extra player. The news
Speaker 1: came just before Unrivaled unveiled the thirtieth player to join
Speaker 1: the league, Aliah Boston. So buckle up, folks, this means
Speaker 1: we still have six more names to go. We'll link
Speaker 1: to the first thirty in our show notes more basketball news.
Speaker 1: A week ago, you may recall that I conducted a
Speaker 1: very scientific poll about whether it's possible to be both
Speaker 1: a superstar and a dog, and a fair number y'all
Speaker 1: weighed in saying that only Kelsey Plum aka Plum Dog
Speaker 1: can be both. And now Plum is gaining lifetime dog status,
Speaker 1: specifically lifetime Husky status. That's because her alma mater, the
Speaker 1: University of Washington, announced over the weekend they are retiring
Speaker 1: her jersey number ten. She's the first women's hoops player
Speaker 1: to receive that honor from the school. Volleyball. On Friday,
Speaker 1: for the first time in eleven years, Nebraska volleyball beat
Speaker 1: Wisconsin in Madison. The number two Huskers swept number seven
Speaker 1: Wisconsin at the UW Fieldhouse twenty five, twenty one, twenty five,
Speaker 1: twenty two, twenty five nineteen, ending the Badger's twenty five
Speaker 1: match win streak at home while they were at it.
Speaker 1: Nebraska followed that up with another three zero sweep on
Speaker 1: Sunday take it out Northwestern. They improved a twenty two
Speaker 1: to one on the year. Wisconsin bounced back with the
Speaker 1: sweep of Illinois yesterday. They are now sixteen to five
Speaker 1: and zero. Meantime, another disappointing outing for the defending national
Speaker 1: champion Texas Longhorns, as they dropped a five setter to
Speaker 1: unranked Oklahoma. The Longhorns have gone to five sets in
Speaker 1: their last three home games against Texas, A and M,
Speaker 1: Missouri and Oklahoma, and have lost each time. They started
Speaker 1: the season at number one after winning it all last year,
Speaker 1: and now they're number nine in the AVCA Coaches pol
Speaker 1: likely to drop even further after the loss to the
Speaker 1: Sooners on Sunday. Finally, baseball news women's baseball is joining
Speaker 1: the US pro sports scene. The Women's Pro Baseball League
Speaker 1: WPBL announced in a statement that the league will launch
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six and is working to secure a
Speaker 1: national broadcast deal for its inaugural season, which will include
Speaker 1: a regular season, playoffs and championship throughout the summer. While
Speaker 1: the WPBL seeks to be a national league with teams
Speaker 1: based across the US in the future, for the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty sixth season, It will consist of six teams, predominantly
Speaker 1: in the Northeast. The league is co founded by Justine Siegel,
Speaker 1: the first woman to coach professional men's baseball in the
Speaker 1: US when she joined the MLB's Oakland Athletics in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1: She's also the founder of a nonprofit organization called Baseball
Speaker 1: for All, which helps girls play in coach baseball across
Speaker 1: the country. We got to take a quick break when
Speaker 1: we come back the latest edition of No Dumb Questions.
Speaker 1: Welcome back, Slices. We have been so busy over here
Speaker 1: with post finals, liberty celebrations, the NWSL playoff push, and
Speaker 1: my trip out to the espnW summit, so we haven't
Speaker 1: had time to tie up some final WNBA related questions.
Speaker 1: Y'all sent in, but we would never leave you hang in.
Speaker 1: Here is the latest edition of No Dumb Questions. All right, meshe,
Speaker 1: we're dealing with hoops here, so I'm calling you in
Speaker 1: to help me answer this very not dumb question from
Speaker 1: certified slice Alyssa Obradovich. She's full of good questions, and
Speaker 1: this time, she says quote. After an amazing w season
Speaker 1: and nail biting finals, there's a lingering question that keeps
Speaker 1: bugging me. How are we talking about the need for
Speaker 1: the league to expand the talent that gets cut and
Speaker 1: the lack of bench depths on teams like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Chicago,
Speaker 1: et cetera. If the league is as talented as it's
Speaker 1: ever been, and so talented to expand to at least
Speaker 1: three new teams, how are we still discussing the lack
Speaker 1: of benches? Y'all make it make sense. Thank you, Melissa
Speaker 1: as always for the question. Meche. My thought on this
Speaker 1: is that's a really good question and very not dumb,
Speaker 1: and I don't have the specific answer that maybe an
Speaker 1: expert on expansion and league bench depths would have. But
Speaker 1: my hunches that some of those players that we see
Speaker 1: sitting there that are not getting in in those big
Speaker 1: games in the playoffs are young players that still need
Speaker 1: time to develop that those teams want to have on
Speaker 1: their roster and claim the rights to and develop, but
Speaker 1: they don't feel are ready to go in those moments.
Speaker 1: So it's accurate to say in those games they don't
Speaker 1: have a bench to go to, or there's a big
Speaker 1: drop off when they go to the bench, And that
Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't talent that's growing there,
Speaker 1: it's just not quite ready yet. I think the request
Speaker 1: for more bench spots on w teams tends to be
Speaker 1: so that you can allow for that young development and
Speaker 1: also have more players that you think can impact immediately.
Speaker 1: What's your take on it.
Speaker 2: I wholeheartedly agree with that. I think that, to me,
Speaker 2: is a huge part of it. And then the other part,
Speaker 2: you know, a big part is coaches and people who
Speaker 2: are gms and making decisions for what players that team
Speaker 2: select to be on teams. Those folks are still extremely fallible, right, Like,
Speaker 2: nobody is perfect. The WNBA is still a very young
Speaker 2: league comparative lead to a lot of pro sports leagues
Speaker 2: in the US, and not to mention like even leagues
Speaker 2: and teams that have been around longer still can't seem
Speaker 2: to get it right. For example, around here, we have
Speaker 2: this MNBA team called the Wizards, and it feels like
Speaker 2: they haven't gotten anything right since the.
Speaker 1: Day out we're born.
Speaker 2: So it's just the fact of the matter is like,
Speaker 2: that's what makes sports so hard, that's what makes a
Speaker 2: championship so difficult to win. And then you know, there's
Speaker 2: also the fact that the WNBA Players Association just opted
Speaker 2: out of a CBA. A lot of what people are
Speaker 2: talking about right now is pay. How much money are
Speaker 2: these players making. Yes, we've seen improvements, but for those
Speaker 2: middle tier players that don't necessarily come and expecting to
Speaker 2: be a star, or you know, that don't necessarily stick
Speaker 2: on a roster, they still don't really get paid the
Speaker 2: kind of money that they need to be able to
Speaker 2: sustain themselves. And some of those folks still opt to
Speaker 2: play overseas. So if we want to talk about talent,
Speaker 2: there's still plenty of talent out there that's been on tap.
Speaker 2: You look at AU, you know a lot of the
Speaker 2: players that have played in there that aren't in WNBA
Speaker 2: rosters right now.
Speaker 1: Like, there's still so many different buttons that can be pressed.
Speaker 2: But I'm hoping that, you know, with this new CBA,
Speaker 2: we'll see a little bit of that change as well.
Speaker 1: I think also worth noting if you were watching, particularly
Speaker 1: at the end of the season, there are also injuries
Speaker 1: that really change the players that are available. So when
Speaker 1: you look at people getting pulled off the bench and
Speaker 1: the drop off in quality that might be just by
Speaker 1: virtue of not being as talented, not having as many
Speaker 1: minutes not being as comfortable and crunch time, especially big
Speaker 1: pressure games. But it also might be players that you
Speaker 1: normally wouldn't be going to if everybody was healthy, So
Speaker 1: that's worth considering as well. It's a great question, and
Speaker 1: I do think I know that there are players that
Speaker 1: are a little bit worried about the potential drop off
Speaker 1: in quality when we do expand in the next two
Speaker 1: years three full teams, and that's something to keep an
Speaker 1: eye on. I also we are looking at this upcoming
Speaker 1: college basketball season as an unbelievable batch of talent, both
Speaker 1: in the kinds of players that will be coming into
Speaker 1: the league next year in pagebackers, but also the sophomore class.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, we were talking about this on the show
Speaker 1: last week. The kind of swagger and confidence and style
Speaker 1: of play we're seeing from young players and young athletes
Speaker 1: coming up across sports, but particularly in basketball, where they're
Speaker 1: training to dunk in high school, not because of what
Speaker 1: they're watching at the pro level. We're just in a
Speaker 1: different league than we used to be, and I think
Speaker 1: with each passing year we are going to see the
Speaker 1: influx of talent coming in being more ready. We talked
Speaker 1: about that with the rookie class this year in the
Speaker 1: w you know, these are players with nil deals that
Speaker 1: are essentially already almost behaving as professionals at the collegiate level,
Speaker 1: and the expectation for their talent and their skill set
Speaker 1: makes them much more ready to make a difference in
Speaker 1: the league right when they arrive than before. And I
Speaker 1: think we're going to see that probably made even more
Speaker 1: clear with the incoming classes over the next couple of years.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I feel like from when I first came
Speaker 2: to consciousness, because the league started basically the same year
Speaker 2: I was born, to now, the level has only gotten
Speaker 2: better exponentially.
Speaker 1: It seems like every year.
Speaker 2: I think this season, at the beginning of the season,
Speaker 2: one of the things I was saying was the middle
Speaker 2: was so wide because we had never seen seen that
Speaker 2: much depth, the opportunity for so much parity. Because another
Speaker 2: thing we need to be looking at is the franchises
Speaker 2: that this league has.
Speaker 1: Right There's some franchises like.
Speaker 2: The Phoenixes, the Vegases, you know, the ones that are
Speaker 2: able to give players everything they need to be functioning
Speaker 2: professionals without having to worry about X, Y and Z.
Speaker 2: We're also seeing a discrepancy in that as well, So
Speaker 2: I think that also plays into what kind of players
Speaker 2: you can bring into your organization.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm.
Speaker 2: So excited for the next about three years of WBA basketball, folks.
Speaker 1: Get ready gonna be awesome. By the way, I heard
Speaker 1: you try to sneak in how young you are, and
Speaker 1: it's been a real long time since we hit you
Speaker 1: with that baby noise, So let's go ahead and do
Speaker 1: that right now.
Speaker 2: I'm editing today's episode for those who are on the so,
Speaker 2: so this is this is doubly cruel, actually.
Speaker 1: Baby noise going in. We got another question from Alexandra
Speaker 1: Hand who wrote new w Fan. But my quick analysis
Speaker 1: is Connecticut it's a hard place to have a team,
Speaker 1: a place with not tons to do or amenities. Arena
Speaker 1: that's not very big, and after seeing them in a
Speaker 1: community gym before the playoff game, seems to facilities aren't
Speaker 1: as good as some other teams. Considering travel bringing in
Speaker 1: fans and players, has there been consideration to move to
Speaker 1: a bigger city sort of nearby, like Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland.
Speaker 1: I get Yukon and their dominance being initial reasoning, wondered
Speaker 1: your thoughts. First of all, I love that Cleveland is nearby.
Speaker 1: That's hilarious to me. I guess it's just like all
Speaker 1: kind of in the middle. Alex We chatted with you
Speaker 1: a little bit about this after you went to the
Speaker 1: W game at TD Garden in Boston. This is your
Speaker 1: neck of the woods, your nape of the neck, your
Speaker 1: neck of the nape. What are your thoughts?
Speaker 3: First off, I want clarification from slice Alexandra. She gives
Speaker 3: off such big state energy. Yes, in California, Texas, Alaska
Speaker 3: for sure, Philadelphia, far away from Connecticut. Actually, let's make
Speaker 3: this clear, Yukon in stores, also far away. It's a
Speaker 3: full forty five minute drive to get from Yukon to Uncasville, Connecticut,
Speaker 3: which is where the Sun plays. So you know, yeah,
Speaker 3: there's a Yukon connection, but it's not quite as simple
Speaker 3: as oh, we're just going down the road. Forty five
Speaker 3: minutes to me feels like long drive at this point
Speaker 3: in my life. Bigger picture though, I'm going to go
Speaker 3: back to Emily Adams, who writes for the Hartford Current,
Speaker 3: when she came on the show a couple weeks ago,
Speaker 3: and she talked about how the Sun has a really
Speaker 3: unique ownership structure, right they are owned by a tribe,
Speaker 3: and even if they weren't owned by a tribe, it's
Speaker 3: not just like, oh, let's pick up this team and
Speaker 3: move them, you know, like the owners have not only
Speaker 3: a say in it, but the say in it.
Speaker 1: And so if the.
Speaker 3: Tribe wants to keep the team right where it is,
Speaker 3: that's going to be where the team stays.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: I don't know enough into their thinking and business decisions.
Speaker 3: I think it's likely that we will see the team
Speaker 3: continue to play more games like they did this year
Speaker 3: in Boston, given what a big success that was. But
Speaker 3: I do think that there's also an interesting point here,
Speaker 3: which is that I don't think most players for Connecticut
Speaker 3: actually live in Connecticut outside of the WNBA season. And
Speaker 3: that's probably true for a lot of WNBA teams. This
Speaker 3: season is so short that your home base doesn't necessarily
Speaker 3: need to be the franchise where you play, but I
Speaker 3: think that's especially true for players from Connecticut, and so
Speaker 3: I think a bigger priority for the team compared to
Speaker 3: where they play is what amenities they have, because those
Speaker 3: are the things that players are willing to travel for
Speaker 3: and want to travel for, and are willing to say okay,
Speaker 3: Connecticut's going to be my home for these four months,
Speaker 3: but I also have a dedicated locker room.
Speaker 1: I agree with you on that. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: also not just for the players, but in terms of
Speaker 1: like fans, not having a ton to do, not being
Speaker 1: a destination where it's like, Oh, I'm going to go
Speaker 1: to New York catch a Liberty game and do all
Speaker 1: these other things. Is part of what she's saying. And
Speaker 1: I don't know what the WNBA bylaws are in terms
Speaker 1: of if they do have any power to take a
Speaker 1: team from existing ownership as a result of any metrics, right,
Speaker 1: whether it be you need to provide a stadium with
Speaker 1: x amount of fans, or you need to have amenities
Speaker 1: or whatever like as we see in other leagues, sometimes
Speaker 1: there are expectations of you need to be able to
Speaker 1: hit these marks, or you need to be able to
Speaker 1: invest as much money or prove this much attendance whatever
Speaker 1: in order to keep a team. I don't know what
Speaker 1: the rules are on the w on that. It doesn't
Speaker 1: feel like Connecticut's at risk of that right now. In
Speaker 1: the past, Miche, it really did feel like that connection
Speaker 1: to Yukon basketball was so huge for them. But now
Speaker 1: we are seeing the game be so much more of
Speaker 1: a national game, both at the professional level and also
Speaker 1: fandom across the college game that you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: a worthwhile exploration to consider if it would be better
Speaker 1: served being in a place like Boston. But I would
Speaker 1: imagine because of and again I do not know this,
Speaker 1: but because of the tribal ownership and that specific to
Speaker 1: that state, that land, that area, I don't know if
Speaker 1: it would require a change of ownership in order to
Speaker 1: be able to function in any other state.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm honestly not sure either. This is, you know,
Speaker 2: not my wheelhouse. But what I will say to add
Speaker 2: on to the points you've both already made, is that
Speaker 2: I've been to connecticuts on games and yes, while it's
Speaker 2: it's out there, you know, it is even a drive
Speaker 2: from the nearest airport. I can't remember which one it is,
Speaker 2: but I've done the drive myself and it's you know,
Speaker 2: it's not insignificant, but the vibe inside the arena, like
Speaker 2: the fans show up and show out worth hating.
Speaker 1: I just looked up the Chicago Sky Arena only seats
Speaker 1: about four hundred more than the Connecticut Sun and that's
Speaker 1: in a massive city that has other options. So I
Speaker 1: think a lot of it too is what's the space
Speaker 1: in which you're playing based on your average attendance. The
Speaker 1: Sky do sell out a lot of games, but not
Speaker 1: all of them, So would they rather have a packed
Speaker 1: building every game or have the kind of place that
Speaker 1: if you're not filling it out, the energy isn't quite there.
Speaker 1: Because going to a Sky game when it's sold out
Speaker 1: or close to is a great time, which is what
Speaker 1: you're saying about going to a Sun game, And so
Speaker 1: in some ways maybe it's a matter of growth when
Speaker 1: you need it and continuing to grow as there's demand
Speaker 1: for it. Not a dumb question though from newfan Alexandra
Speaker 1: hand I just rhyme that we'll keep taking all your
Speaker 1: not dumb questions, so make sure you keep sending them.
Speaker 1: Good game at wondermedianetwork dot com is where you can
Speaker 1: ask us questions about really anything. It doesn't even need
Speaker 1: to be about sports. Maybe we'll give you some advice
Speaker 1: on life too. Try us, try us. We got to
Speaker 1: take another break. When we come back, we dive into
Speaker 1: the gene pool and resurface with some mighty oppressive duos.
Speaker 1: Welcome back, Orange slices. If you remember when Lebron and
Speaker 1: his son Bronni took the court together for the Lakers
Speaker 1: in their season opener. We asked you for your inspiring
Speaker 1: mother daughter duos in sport. Not necessarily a plan at
Speaker 1: the same time, that's pretty wild, but just famous mothers
Speaker 1: and daughters in sport, and you guys came through with
Speaker 1: a few. Olga Harvey, the CEO of the Women's Sports Foundation,
Speaker 1: reached out with a pair of mothers and daughters that
Speaker 1: have been a part of the Foundation's celebrations in the past,
Speaker 1: starting with Patty and Jalen Koff, both mogul skiers. So
Speaker 1: Patty won a pair of titles on the World Pro
Speaker 1: Moguls Tour, and her daughter Jalen competed at the twenty
Speaker 1: eighteen and twenty twenty two Winter Olympics in women's moguls
Speaker 1: and two silver in twenty twenty two. And the other
Speaker 1: was Tana and Coco Vandaway So. Tana is a nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy six Olympic swimmer, also won silver and volleyball in
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighty three Pan American Games, and her daughter Coco,
Speaker 1: you might remember, former pro tennis player. She was the
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen US Opened doubles champion with Ash Bardi, and
Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen made it to the Australian Open and
Speaker 1: US Open semi finals and singles, reaching a career high
Speaker 1: singles ranking of world number nine. Shouts to the Coffs
Speaker 1: and the Vandeways. Also certified slice and regular emailer Pamela
Speaker 1: Mudway chimed in. She wrote, quote sent up from Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: I have to mention Beth Craig and Barbara Singleton. So
Speaker 1: this is a good one, Pamela. So these are Boston
Speaker 1: Marathon competitors. This mother daughter duo became the first mother
Speaker 1: daughter duo to run the race as one team with
Speaker 1: a racing chair. They went to the name Team Babzie.
Speaker 1: And this was Beth Craig, the daughter running the twenty
Speaker 1: six point two while she pushed her mother, Barbara, who
Speaker 1: has multiple sclerosis, in especially designed three wheeled chair known
Speaker 1: as a team Running Chair. You might have heard of
Speaker 1: Team Hoyt and their marathons. Pretty cool, as Pamela says,
Speaker 1: wicked awesome, Alex, I think you had a few too,
Speaker 1: right mother daughters.
Speaker 3: Absolutely I do. And I went back to the record
Speaker 3: books as well as my own personal memory to find
Speaker 3: a few examples of mothers and daughters who competed at
Speaker 3: the same time in the same event, and we go
Speaker 3: all the way back to the nineteen hundred Paris Olympics.
Speaker 3: Mary Abbot and her mother, Margaret Abbot. They both competed
Speaker 3: in women's golf as some of the first women to
Speaker 3: compete at the Games.
Speaker 1: I was trying to figure out what sport was likely
Speaker 1: to have a mother and daughter in an Olympics. Golf
Speaker 1: makes sense and get this.
Speaker 3: So Mary became the first American woman to win Olympic gold.
Speaker 3: Her mom finished tied for seventh. But Mary only traveled
Speaker 3: to France to study art and music, and it was
Speaker 3: only once she was in France that she discovered that
Speaker 3: the Olympics were having a golf event and that she
Speaker 3: decided to enter. And to be clear, she was a
Speaker 3: talented golfer. It's not like she just like learned how
Speaker 3: to pick up a club on the day of the
Speaker 3: golf tournament at the Olympics. But like wild story, there
Speaker 3: only something that could happen in the nineteen hundreds.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, I feel like I really would
Speaker 1: have thrived in nineteen hundred sports.
Speaker 3: What a time to be alive.
Speaker 1: Thanks exactly.
Speaker 3: My other example is a personal story from back in
Speaker 3: the day of doing Olympic research. So in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 3: I went to the Women's World Championship in ice hockey
Speaker 3: and I interviewed Alexandra of vaf Fina, who competes for Russia.
Speaker 3: And I think women's hockey players of my generation, for
Speaker 3: the most part, they all got into the sport because
Speaker 3: they had a brother or father who played and got
Speaker 3: them into the game. But that was not the case
Speaker 3: for Alexandra. She got into the sport because her mother, Lubov,
Speaker 3: played and her mother competed for Kazakhstan, and she competed
Speaker 3: at the two thousand and two Salt Lake Games. Alexandra
Speaker 3: was eleven at the time, and she told me about
Speaker 3: how she used to write notes for her mom and
Speaker 3: hide them in her gear bag before big games. Yeah,
Speaker 3: which so adorable on its own. But then as Alexandra
Speaker 3: got older, she started playing on the same club team
Speaker 3: as her mom, and they were even on the same
Speaker 3: line together for a few years. I'm like, oh, amazing,
Speaker 3: fantastic story.
Speaker 1: That is a great story. I once played field hockey
Speaker 1: alongside my mom actually was opposite my mom and a
Speaker 1: mother daughter game in seventh or eighth grade, and I
Speaker 1: accidentally gave her a black eye. Oh my gosh, sorry mom. Anyway,
Speaker 1: shout out to the moms and the daughters. If you
Speaker 1: have any others, you can always send them to us,
Speaker 1: because you know, we always love that you're listening. But
Speaker 1: we want you to get in the game every day too,
Speaker 1: So send us those. And we have another good game
Speaker 1: play of the day, specifically timed to this likely very
Speaker 1: stressful election week. So in addition to reminding you yet
Speaker 1: again to make sure you vote on Tuesday, make a plan,
Speaker 1: take the time off work, find your polling place, you
Speaker 1: know the drill, we also want to crowdsource some feel
Speaker 1: good to offset the post voning nerves. So we're counting
Speaker 1: on you for the slices. So tell us Number one,
Speaker 1: what's your go to trick for relieving anxiety or settling nerves.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's like one thing, like listening to music or
Speaker 1: snuggling your dog. Maybe it's a three step plan, some
Speaker 1: breath work, a walk, some tea. Whatever it is, share
Speaker 1: it with us and maybe it can help others find
Speaker 1: some calming tricks. Number two what's your favorite, don't need it,
Speaker 1: but always buy it. Retail therapy, purchase that non necessity
Speaker 1: that gets you if you see it in a store
Speaker 1: every single time. Pumpkin spice candle, quirky dish towel, cool
Speaker 1: match books. I'm just naming mine now. I definitely will
Speaker 1: buy pretty much every pumpkin spice or vanilla cake or
Speaker 1: any like super sweet, deserty smelling candle that I see.
Speaker 1: And I have an endless supply of dish towels and
Speaker 1: match books. Mesh alex, do you have that go to that,
Speaker 1: Like you see it in a store and you're like,
Speaker 1: I do not need this, I have too many of these,
Speaker 1: and yet I will be buying it.
Speaker 3: I really love enamel pins of cats and plants and fruits,
Speaker 3: and a few years ago I was like, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: learn how to do digital art so that I can
Speaker 3: make enamel pins. But then once you get into that,
Speaker 3: you need to order thousands of them, like a company
Speaker 3: won't just print you one pin, and so I kind
Speaker 3: of gave up on that. I think it's the only
Speaker 3: time I've ever given up on an art hobby, and
Speaker 3: so instead I will just keep buying them.
Speaker 1: That's the most Alex answer I've ever heard.
Speaker 2: Mesh for me, I try not to buy non necessities
Speaker 2: a lot, because I'm the kind of person.
Speaker 1: Once I start, it's it's gonna be hard to stop.
Speaker 2: And I'm usually stopping in like a I don't know
Speaker 2: target or a place that has everything you already need
Speaker 2: in there. But one thing I find myself like stockpiling
Speaker 2: is incense, which tends to be really useful.
Speaker 1: Actually, for the first question, you asked our.
Speaker 2: Listeners, which is a trick for relieving anxiety and settling nerves.
Speaker 2: Something about a good and sense stick that smells good,
Speaker 2: Not none of those janky ones you get from the
Speaker 2: gas station.
Speaker 1: No real ones. Yeah, the real ones, the real time.
Speaker 1: I got some in Bali and Japan this year, so
Speaker 1: I'm also on the I just like nice smelling things.
Speaker 1: I'm more candle than in sense, but I like both.
Speaker 1: So let us know yours. You heard ours, Send them
Speaker 1: to me on social at Sarah Spain on Twitter or
Speaker 1: slash x or at Spain two three two three on Insta,
Speaker 1: or hit us up on email good game at wondermedianetwork
Speaker 1: dot com. You could also always leave us a voicemail
Speaker 1: at eight seven two, two oh four fifty seventy. We
Speaker 1: could all use those tips on retail therapy and what
Speaker 1: we can do to stay kamala and carry on ala.
Speaker 1: As the VP said on SNL this weekend, don't forget
Speaker 1: to subscribe rate and review slices. It's easy. Watch that
Speaker 1: thing where you're searching for a good radio station and
Speaker 1: you briefly get tricked by Christian rock rating zero out
Speaker 1: of five teasingly good guitar riffs review. So usually I
Speaker 1: have either a podcast locked and loaded or a Spotify
Speaker 1: playlist ready to go. But in my bathroom, I actually
Speaker 1: have an old school radio that's like a rolling button
Speaker 1: on the side to change the volume, and the station
Speaker 1: kind of old school, like that old and it's usually
Speaker 1: just stuck on ninety three XRT. Shout out to the
Speaker 1: Goat radio station in Chicago. But every once in a
Speaker 1: while they're on a commercial break and I spin the
Speaker 1: wheel for a little shower tune and it goes like this,
Speaker 1: add add crappy smooth groove song, add DJ talking, add
Speaker 1: bad rock song, ad ooh, this guitar riff sounds promising,
Speaker 1: what is this? Do I know this song? What? And
Speaker 1: then suddenly indescribable, uncontainable, all powerful, untamable, awestruck, We fall
Speaker 1: to our knees as we humbly proclaim you are amazing. God.
Speaker 1: That's not an actual song. It just made it up.
Speaker 1: But damn it. They tricked me again with the freaking
Speaker 1: guitar riffs, and I'm like, oh, I think this might
Speaker 1: be a good song. Do I know this? Damn it?
Speaker 1: Christian rock gets me every time. Now it's your turn,
Speaker 1: rate and review. Thanks for les and slices. See you tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Good Game Sync, Good Game, Ksey Current excu sneaky Christian Guitar.
Speaker 1: Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
Speaker 1: production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
Speaker 1: can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
Speaker 1: our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive
Speaker 1: producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder.
Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and
Speaker 1: Lindsay Cradowell. Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Sarah Spain