Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're also
Speaker 1: proudly wearing a Mystic's jersey court side, even when the
Speaker 1: sticks are playing against our girlfriend. Check the video in
Speaker 1: the show notes if you missed that fun little page
Speaker 1: and asy moment. It's Tuesday, June twenty fourth, and on
Speaker 1: today's show, Big Citrus is celebrate and pride with the
Speaker 1: PowerPoint Party, well the audio version of a PowerPoint party anyway,
Speaker 1: plus a graduation to remember the night when hockey dreams
Speaker 1: come true, and a story that reminds us once again
Speaker 1: that sports are political.
Speaker 2: It's all coming up right after this. Welcome back, y'all.
Speaker 2: Here's what you need to know today. Let's start with golf.
Speaker 1: Australia's Minji Lee won the KPMG Women's PGA Championship on
Speaker 1: Sunday in Frisco, Texas, competing through windy and hot conditions.
Speaker 1: It marks Lee's third career major title, following her Evan
Speaker 1: Championship win in twenty twenty one and US Women's Open
Speaker 1: win in twenty twenty two. Lee entered Sunday's final round
Speaker 1: with a four stroke lead and managed to stay on
Speaker 1: top of the leaderboard all day.
Speaker 2: With the win.
Speaker 1: She takes some one point eight million dollars, part of
Speaker 1: a record twelve million dollars total perse to hockey. The
Speaker 1: PWHL Draft is tonight, beginning at seven pm Eastern at
Speaker 1: the hard Rock Hotel in Ottawa. Now, if you're confused
Speaker 1: about all the drafts they are having, the last one
Speaker 1: was the expansion Draft.
Speaker 2: This is the draft Draft.
Speaker 1: It's going to consist of six rounds, with all eight teams,
Speaker 1: including expansion sides Vancouver and Seattle, making one pick per round.
Speaker 1: The New York Sirens pick first based on the PWHL's
Speaker 1: Gold Plan, which allows teams to earn points after being
Speaker 1: eliminated from playoff contention.
Speaker 2: You remember that that's the.
Speaker 1: PWHL's clever way of preventing teams from tanking. Their draft
Speaker 1: dods actually improve with more wins after they're bounced, not
Speaker 1: more losses. One hundred and ninety nine players from fifteen
Speaker 1: countries declared for this draft. Top prospects include Patty Cosmier,
Speaker 1: winner Casey O'Brien out of Wisconsin, and Clarkson defender Hailey Win.
Speaker 1: Fans in the US can catch it on the PWHL
Speaker 1: YouTube channel, and Canadians can tune in on tsn more.
Speaker 1: PWHL Boston Fleet coach Courtney Kessel is departing the team.
Speaker 1: She's been hired as the new head coach of the
Speaker 1: Princeton women's hockey team. It marks a return to Princeton
Speaker 1: for Kessel. Prior to being hired as Boston's first coach
Speaker 1: ahead of the inaugural p WHL season in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: she spent four seasons as an assistant coach with the
Speaker 1: Tigers under then head coach Kara Gardner Moury. The Princeton
Speaker 1: job opened up last month after Gardner Morey was hired
Speaker 1: as GM of the PWHL's Vancouver expansion team. During her
Speaker 1: two years leading the Fleet, Kessel compiled a twenty seven,
Speaker 1: nineteen and eight record, which included a Walter Cup Finals
Speaker 1: appearance in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: Four to the WNBA.
Speaker 1: There are four games tonight, including three the tip off
Speaker 1: at eight pm Eastern. This late includes the number one
Speaker 1: Minnesota Links, who are traveling to the number nine Washington
Speaker 1: Mystics for their first meeting of the season. While the
Speaker 1: Mystics are just four and six on the year, they
Speaker 1: are fresh off a thrilling ot win against the Dallas
Speaker 1: Wings on Sunday, buoyed by rookie Sonya Citron, who had
Speaker 1: twenty seven points in the win, including the game winning
Speaker 1: three porter with just twelve point two seconds remaining in overtime.
Speaker 1: Another notable moment in that game, rookie Page Beckers became
Speaker 1: the fastest player in WNBA history to record two hundred
Speaker 1: or more points and fifty or more assists. It took
Speaker 1: the Wings rookie just eleven games. The previous record was
Speaker 1: shared by three players, Houston Comets legend Cynthia Cooper Dyke,
Speaker 1: former Charlotte stinguard Andreastnson, and Caitlin Clark, each of whom
Speaker 1: reached the mark in twelve games. Speaking to Clark at
Speaker 1: ten PM Eastern tonight, her Indiana Fever tip off against
Speaker 1: the Seattle Storm Fever, looking to end a three game
Speaker 1: losing streak. Clark has been uncharacteristically cold from beyond the
Speaker 1: arc of late, shooting one of ten from three point
Speaker 1: range in the Fever's lost to the Aces on Sunday,
Speaker 1: and she's one of seventeen from deep over her last
Speaker 1: two games. The Storm, meanwhile, are coming off a win
Speaker 1: against the number two New York Liberty on Sunday, with
Speaker 1: neck Ogumaka recording twenty six points in that win. Ogumkese
Speaker 1: teammate Scaler Diggins sang her praises in the postgame presser,
Speaker 1: it was some real heartfelt shit. We'll link to that
Speaker 1: video in our show notes, and we'll link to the
Speaker 1: full WNBA schedule as well. Finally, a shout out to
Speaker 1: our show side, the Minnesota Aurora, who clinched a fourth
Speaker 1: straight USLW League playoff berth and secured their fourth straight
Speaker 1: Heartland Division title on Sunday thanks to a one to
Speaker 1: one draw against River Light FC. The Aurora still have
Speaker 1: two regular season matches left ahead of the playoffs. They'll
Speaker 1: look to keep their unbeaten streak intact, a streak that
Speaker 1: dates back to the club's inception in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: All Right slices one last piece of news that's pretty recent.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 1: Senegal's Prime Minister has announced that several players and team
Speaker 1: officials from their women's basketball team had their visas denied
Speaker 1: ahead of coming to the US, which caused them to
Speaker 1: scrap plans to train here for the upcoming Afro Basket tournament.
Speaker 1: Senegal has finished either first or second in four of
Speaker 1: the last five Afro Basket Championships. The tournament, which will
Speaker 1: take place in the Ivory Coast beginning July twenty six,
Speaker 1: determines Africa's champion and entry into the Feeble World Cup
Speaker 1: next year in Germany. Senegal is one of thirty six countries,
Speaker 1: most of them in Africa, to whom the Trump administration
Speaker 1: delivered a deadline last week demanding that they commit to
Speaker 1: improve their vetting of travelers and address the status of
Speaker 1: their nationals who are in the US illegally, or face
Speaker 1: a ban on their citizens traveling to the US. If
Speaker 1: action isn't taken, the country will join the twelve nations
Speaker 1: already on Trump's travel ban list. Now, the Trump Administration's
Speaker 1: attack on immigrants has already affected foreign athletes here in America.
Speaker 2: You might remember back in.
Speaker 1: April there were four Zambian players in the NWSL that
Speaker 1: didn't travel with their Zambia national team due to fears
Speaker 1: around new travel measures taken by the Trump administration and
Speaker 1: in light of several countries issuing travel advisories that warren
Speaker 1: travelers looking to come to the US. The story of
Speaker 1: the Senegalese visas being denied, combined with existing and threatened
Speaker 1: travel bans. The NWSL story, plus deportations and ice raids
Speaker 1: across the country have many questioning the US's future responsibilities
Speaker 1: as of the Men's World Cup and the Summer Olympics.
Speaker 1: Trump's travel band policy makes exceptions for quote any athlete
Speaker 1: or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing
Speaker 1: a necessary support role, and immediate relatives traveling for the
Speaker 1: World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined
Speaker 1: by the Secretary of State end quote, but doesn't mention
Speaker 1: any exceptions for fans, extended family, or friends intending to
Speaker 1: travel to the US for the events. Will of course
Speaker 1: continue to follow this story and how it affects female
Speaker 1: athletes and sporting events in the future.
Speaker 2: Both big and small. We got to take a quick break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, I assigned some homework and Big
Speaker 1: Citrus delivered.
Speaker 2: Welcome back slices.
Speaker 1: I'm now joined by the rest of Big Citrus, producer Mes,
Speaker 1: producer Alex.
Speaker 2: Hey, you do what's up?
Speaker 3: Hello?
Speaker 1: So, I don't know if y'all were aware of this
Speaker 1: during COVID lockdowns, but it is a much more recent
Speaker 1: thing to me. I'm told that the young folks started
Speaker 1: throwing PowerPoint presentation nights over zoom, and the trend has
Speaker 1: continued to the point where oldheads like me have learned
Speaker 1: about it. But I didn't know that it started back
Speaker 1: in the COVID days. I just know that of late,
Speaker 1: I've been seeing all these clips where people have parties
Speaker 1: and their friends are assigned the job of teaching each
Speaker 1: other via PowerPoint a variety of things. It could be
Speaker 1: like silly interests, childhood talents, secret passions. I've seen presentations
Speaker 1: from the attractiveness of animated characters being ranked to someone
Speaker 1: describing a summer spent working at a sausage factory, a
Speaker 1: deep dive into romance novels, a presentation on which friends
Speaker 1: would die in what order during a zombie apocalypse and
Speaker 1: how specifically they would die. The possibilities are truly endless.
Speaker 1: But since I'm never wanted to turn down a theme
Speaker 1: party and I have not yet thrown one of these parties,
Speaker 1: we're doing it here and it is an audio medium,
Speaker 1: so we will have to just picture the slides in
Speaker 1: our minds as this is happening. But I have assigned
Speaker 1: each member of Big Citrus Toring a brief presentation on
Speaker 1: the intersection of pride and women's sports in honor of
Speaker 1: Pride Month and PowerPoint parties and Alex, I'm opening up
Speaker 1: the floor for you to start with your presentation, tell
Speaker 1: us what it's about, and teach us something new.
Speaker 4: I'm so pleased to be here with you today for
Speaker 4: this important presentation that I would like to title not
Speaker 4: kissing your sister Colon when your teammate becomes your dreammate.
Speaker 2: I love it. Ten out of ten yep, already in
Speaker 2: bought in, Thank you so much.
Speaker 4: Please know that if this was a visual medium, it
Speaker 4: would be a pink background with lots of little.
Speaker 3: Hearts like Cli style hearts.
Speaker 2: Yep. Cool.
Speaker 4: So for this story, we have to go back to
Speaker 4: the year twenty fifteen. A young alex Azzi was embarking
Speaker 4: on her first Olympic research trips and as a new researcher,
Speaker 4: I was getting sent to the weirdest possible sporting events
Speaker 4: Canoe World Championships, Triathlon World Championships, and the euro Hockey Championships.
Speaker 4: We're the best European f field hockey teams gathered together,
Speaker 4: and I want you to imagine me looking down these
Speaker 4: rosters and trying to figure out which athletes do I
Speaker 4: need to interview? Are there any names on this roster
Speaker 4: that I've already heard of? And while looking through England's
Speaker 4: field hockey roster, I came across an interesting name and
Speaker 4: then I saw it again, Kate and Helen Richardson Walsh.
Speaker 4: And in the year twenty fifteen, I thought to myself, huh,
Speaker 4: look at these sisters that made England's field hockey team together.
Speaker 3: Wow, what an athletic family.
Speaker 2: Great geens. Parents must be so proud.
Speaker 4: Well, dear slices. They were not sisters, they were wives.
Speaker 2: What they were wives and they were the lives and teammates.
Speaker 2: Can you do that?
Speaker 5: Is that allowed?
Speaker 4: Well in the year twenty fifteen, It really hadn't been
Speaker 4: done before. And it was this moment where I just
Speaker 4: remember staring at it and I think I shot off
Speaker 4: a couple of emails.
Speaker 3: To be like like, oh my god, they're married.
Speaker 4: I play the safeteen together. It felt like my world
Speaker 4: had just opened up. And so Kate and Helen. They
Speaker 4: went on to become the first same sex married couple
Speaker 4: to ever win an Olympic gold medal at the twenty
Speaker 4: sixteen Rio Olympics. And I loved just being able to
Speaker 4: see them enjoy their journey together as both teammates and wives.
Speaker 4: I think just to think back to twenty fifteen, though
Speaker 4: for a minute the Supreme Court had just ruled on
Speaker 4: gay marriage, Like I struggle sometimes to realize, like, it
Speaker 4: was not that long ago that in many states across
Speaker 4: the US, people still did not have the right to
Speaker 4: get married. This was before the days of Sue Bird
Speaker 4: and Meghan Rapino and Christy Lewis and Sam Kirk, Wanna
Speaker 4: Bonner and Alyssa Thomas and Tobyheath and Christen Press and
Speaker 4: I love, love, love seeing all of these couples that
Speaker 4: are now out, but back in those days it was
Speaker 4: still a brand new thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1: I love that you can remember that moment, because I
Speaker 1: do think as it becomes more commonplace and we see
Speaker 1: queer women athletes in all sorts of spaces, and we
Speaker 1: see a lot of these great relationships that come out
Speaker 1: of these teams and competitions, we sometimes just take it
Speaker 1: for granted and forget how recent it was, that it
Speaker 1: was a novelty, or that you would be excited by
Speaker 1: the prospect that they felt comfortable enough and safe enough
Speaker 1: to come out with it, particularly on the same team.
Speaker 1: I remember the early responses to Ali Quigley and Courtney
Speaker 1: van der Slut and like just the idea of, like, well,
Speaker 1: how could they be teammates?
Speaker 2: Though? That's got to be a mess, you know, because hetero.
Speaker 1: People think everybody has to act like them in relationships
Speaker 1: and can't handle things like you know, mature, responsible women.
Speaker 1: But also how exciting it was for those early moments
Speaker 1: of Courtney feeding Ali for three pointers or them having
Speaker 1: a great play together.
Speaker 2: It just felt like really special. Wow.
Speaker 5: Ugh, the gays gotta love it.
Speaker 2: God love it.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for your presentation. Al the hearts look great.
Speaker 1: I wish everyone could see it. I mean, it's really
Speaker 1: multiple slides photos of all these couples together, some that
Speaker 1: I've never seen before. I'm sure people would love to
Speaker 1: see some of these personal Well there's vacation photos you
Speaker 1: got there, while wedding photos oh those were never made
Speaker 1: public either. I can't imagine how many of the footy
Speaker 1: and gay shit people out there would really love to
Speaker 1: be looking at these slides.
Speaker 2: So really good reporting.
Speaker 3: Sticks engay shit, yeah, sticks enga shit.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of, like having played field hockey,
Speaker 1: the most field hockey term like you know, obstruction e
Speaker 1: gay shit.
Speaker 3: Or third party engashit.
Speaker 2: That's a whole different conversation.
Speaker 1: I don't know if we're quite ready for the first throuple,
Speaker 1: but it's happening.
Speaker 5: Well, neither is.
Speaker 2: That's why there's a third party rule.
Speaker 5: I think we might be ready.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm sure it's happening, and I look forward to
Speaker 1: the first throuble to come out. But yeah, the third
Speaker 1: party rule, you know, probably playing with the wrong side
Speaker 1: of the stick.
Speaker 2: That's also a rule in field hockey.
Speaker 1: Okay, there's a lot of material in field hockey, all right,
Speaker 1: all right, a raised ball more in the men's space.
Speaker 2: But you know, is that a thing? Yeah, stick and
Speaker 2: I don't stick. Interference.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it feels like, uh, you know, that could be
Speaker 1: a nice way to describe someone cheating on you.
Speaker 2: All right, mesh, your turn. Let's see this presentation.
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 6: Well, uh, I don't know what my slides look like,
Speaker 6: because I don't know if I can compete with everything
Speaker 6: Alex has got on hers already imaginary.
Speaker 1: I don't know that.
Speaker 2: Come on, there are all those grape photos.
Speaker 6: Gosh, so my presentation we're gonna call this and sorry,
Speaker 6: it's not as fun as yours. Candice Parker's coming out arc.
Speaker 6: It's significance in parallels to lead growth A presentation by
Speaker 6: Misha Jones.
Speaker 2: Do you write a thesis? I did?
Speaker 5: It sounds that way.
Speaker 2: It certainly sounds that way. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Do you have cliff not cliffs notes? You have footnotes?
Speaker 2: I might.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna have to cite some things, and you got perfect.
Speaker 6: Let's let's all get in the time travel machine here
Speaker 6: and time travel back to the year two thousand and six. Okay,
Speaker 6: I was nine. All right, Let's let that sink in
Speaker 6: for a second.
Speaker 2: Insert baby crying noises.
Speaker 1: He sounded like a baby goat for some reason, instead
Speaker 1: of it, I mean, I was Were you a baby goat?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Period.
Speaker 6: But I'd already been, you know, a basketball fan at
Speaker 6: this point. But this was around the time that I
Speaker 6: really started to become kind of a student of the game.
Speaker 6: This was the same year that Maryland won the national championship.
Speaker 2: I was all over that.
Speaker 5: My dad was a duchie. He went to Duke, and
Speaker 5: I just I relished in that.
Speaker 2: I really did.
Speaker 6: But this was the time I started to get serious
Speaker 6: about it. And I was watching college who was specifically
Speaker 6: very intently, and there was a player by the name
Speaker 6: of Candace Parker. He was absolutely ripping shit at Tennessee
Speaker 6: under the legendary Pat Summit, as we all know, rest
Speaker 6: in peace. But because she was so good, it was
Speaker 6: at the point where both me and my older boy cousin,
Speaker 6: So I'm talking like if I'm nine, he's twelve thirteen,
Speaker 6: and that's like the age where boys start to.
Speaker 5: Get really just gross.
Speaker 6: But we were both obsessed, like mutually obsessed with Candace Parker,
Speaker 6: albeit for different reasons. I loved her game and he
Speaker 6: just kind of loved her. He was in love, wanted
Speaker 6: to marry her.
Speaker 2: House she's secuting, Yeah.
Speaker 6: But he also really appreciated the hoop, and that's something
Speaker 6: I still look back really fondly on. So shout out
Speaker 6: to him. I love you, Jazz. But from her college
Speaker 6: days ripping shit. She got drafted in O eight and
Speaker 6: then she had a whole husband, y'all. She was married
Speaker 6: to him in two thousand and eight. Some of y'all
Speaker 6: might not even know that, but was married him in
Speaker 6: two thousand and eight while being a baby hair player
Speaker 6: in the court.
Speaker 5: Fellow basketball player.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I went to Duke.
Speaker 6: We won't you know, name drop him just you can
Speaker 6: google if you want to. But she was also at
Speaker 6: the same time being the baby haired assassin the on
Speaker 6: the court. We know that she was the first player
Speaker 6: to ever don't ever forget it. I'm gonna say it
Speaker 6: every time I get an opportunity, the first player to
Speaker 6: ever win Rookie of the Year in MVP and only
Speaker 6: and only thank you, Sarah Spain. But in all of this,
Speaker 6: she was becoming to me the face of the league,
Speaker 6: not just to mee to a lot of people, and
Speaker 6: was presented in this super like high fem way off
Speaker 6: the court, and the w as a whole was still
Speaker 6: in this era where it catered to the male gaze
Speaker 6: a lot. And let me be clear when I when
Speaker 6: I'm making this distinction, I'm not saying this to say
Speaker 6: that being queer equals immediately being traditionally masculine presenting, or
Speaker 6: that Candice still doesn't give the girls a fem look,
Speaker 6: because you know, it still feels like she does, and
Speaker 6: her flavor, though, is just more hers to me than
Speaker 6: it once was. But at any rate, a lot of
Speaker 6: players were in that boat, were being made to where
Speaker 6: these straight girl get ups Sue Byrd as we know,
Speaker 6: has has talked at length about this, but other glaring
Speaker 6: examples for me at that time were like Orlena Larkins
Speaker 6: if you don't know who Orlna Larkins is, look her up,
Speaker 6: she's a Cooper.
Speaker 5: But it's also not giving them.
Speaker 6: And then Tamor Young, like for folks who don't know
Speaker 6: TAM's game, I'm talking love and hip hop Tamra Young, right,
Speaker 6: and so it's it's again not giving them. Diana Maki, Yeah, like,
Speaker 6: matter of fact, we should link to to all the
Speaker 6: draft photos from the year to two thousand and nine here,
Speaker 6: because it's just so glaring and honestly, to me, as
Speaker 6: gay as the W is in present day, that early
Speaker 6: era of like straight passing. This is the real reason
Speaker 6: the W holds the title of the gayest league ever.
Speaker 6: To me, that that's really truly why, because so many
Speaker 6: players started out in that closet or in the wrong
Speaker 6: closet per se fashion wise, and then slowly stepped out
Speaker 6: of it, which is you know, that's that's the story
Speaker 6: of a lot of people, myself.
Speaker 5: Included, very relatable, painfully relatable.
Speaker 6: I could pull out so many pictures for y'all and
Speaker 6: put them in this slide.
Speaker 5: I'm not gonna do it way. I'm not gonna play
Speaker 5: myself like that.
Speaker 2: Can you give us one?
Speaker 1: If we're gonna put all these players on blast? Can
Speaker 1: you give us one meche in a pink Easter dress
Speaker 1: at age?
Speaker 2: Y'all? I can, I can give you one.
Speaker 5: I gotta I gotta scour.
Speaker 6: I gotta scour the phone because I've tried to get
Speaker 6: rid of his ones that haven't been burned.
Speaker 2: Oh I forgot.
Speaker 1: You're old enough that none of your photos were actually
Speaker 1: photos sprinted out.
Speaker 2: All of your photos are digital.
Speaker 3: They're all on Instagram.
Speaker 5: They're on Instagram and Facebook.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 4: Yeah, did you have any of the family members that
Speaker 4: would like for Christmas be like here you got me?
Speaker 3: It was like a frilly dressed.
Speaker 5: They were like, yeah, absolutely, Yeah. It was an actual problem.
Speaker 5: But you know, the straight passing of it all very relatable,
Speaker 5: not just to me, but to a lot of queer people.
Speaker 5: And back to Canadace.
Speaker 6: She was the example of this, right she, like I said,
Speaker 6: she was the face of the league, and at that
Speaker 6: time she also had a baby named Leila, so it
Speaker 6: was further cementing kind of that picture perfect. I have
Speaker 6: a husband I have a daughter, and I'm I've got
Speaker 6: it all kind of thing, which is still a thing.
Speaker 6: And I'm very proud of you if you're straight and
Speaker 6: that's your vibe. But for Candace, you know, time went
Speaker 6: on and she didn't have a man no more. They
Speaker 6: went through divorce, finalized that in twenty eighteen, and turns
Speaker 6: out that she had met somebody named Anna Petrokhova.
Speaker 5: They played together.
Speaker 6: It was the gayest trope. I feel like we're starting
Speaker 6: to understand how gay this trope actually is.
Speaker 2: Teammates still lovers, yep.
Speaker 6: They were together on ummc Ekaterinberg back in twenty twelve
Speaker 6: and just got closer and became close enough to marry.
Speaker 2: Someone told her to put a body on her and
Speaker 2: she sure.
Speaker 5: That blocks out and she did.
Speaker 6: And it feels like we just talked about this trope
Speaker 6: right with Azy and Page, and I hope we continue
Speaker 6: to talk about it. But yeah, I can't speak to
Speaker 6: what made her feel comfortable going public with her marriage.
Speaker 6: But as Alex said, at that time, tides were starting
Speaker 6: to change. Like twenty fifteen, like you said, we got
Speaker 6: gay marriage legalized in the WNBA.
Speaker 5: There were also players who had kind of been and still.
Speaker 6: Work queer, but their number became more steady and more visible,
Speaker 6: and I think that was really important. But at one
Speaker 6: point Candace actually put a post on Instagram to let
Speaker 6: the entire world know that she was in this relationship.
Speaker 2: It was two years before she did that.
Speaker 6: They were, you know, doing their own thing privately for
Speaker 6: a while, and it got to a point where Candace
Speaker 6: just said, I want to tell the world about it.
Speaker 5: And I remember the day I saw the post about Petra.
Speaker 2: It unearthed a.
Speaker 6: Whole lot of emotions for me that I just didn't
Speaker 6: even realize I was holding on to. I was out
Speaker 6: at this point, but it still felt kind of like
Speaker 6: a personal validation and a big step not just for her,
Speaker 6: but for a generation of people who had been locked
Speaker 6: in with Candace in her journey. And you know, this
Speaker 6: version of the w y'all where queer players and people
Speaker 6: are openly celebrated, like it feels way more aligned with
Speaker 6: the real culture and real spirit of women's basketball and
Speaker 6: a person generally speaking, And then to put the bow
Speaker 6: on it twenty twenty three, If you haven't seen the
Speaker 6: documentary Candice Parker Unapologetic, this is the thing that wrapped
Speaker 6: it all up in a bow. For me, hearing about
Speaker 6: her journey from her was just so cathartic. So if
Speaker 6: you haven't seen it yet, go give it a watch
Speaker 6: on Hulu for all you premium subscribers. But from being
Speaker 6: the straight passing face of the league to being exactly
Speaker 6: who she was and still a legend, one of the
Speaker 6: legends of the game, it's such a such a wonderful
Speaker 6: arc to be able to take a step back and observe.
Speaker 6: And you know, she retired in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: We all know.
Speaker 5: I'm still sad about it.
Speaker 6: But in conclusion, her journey is a prime example of
Speaker 6: the one that this entire league and its players have
Speaker 6: been on. And yeah, her going public with her wifey,
Speaker 6: it really healed something to me. So I'm glad we're
Speaker 6: all here and can celebrate it.
Speaker 4: It. I distinctly remember that day that she posted that
Speaker 4: instagram of her wife. Yeah, And while I always want
Speaker 4: people to feel comfortable to come out as soon as possible,
Speaker 4: as soon as makes sense for them, it also represents
Speaker 4: the level of trust behind the scenes that she was
Speaker 4: able to keep that to herself. Yeah two years because
Speaker 4: I know I was in a lot of group chats
Speaker 4: that day being like, did you know this about candis?
Speaker 3: Did you know this about Candace?
Speaker 4: Yeah? And I didn't know that about Candace. And I
Speaker 4: think that speaks to the people in her circle that understood, hey,
Speaker 4: this is important for her to be able to do
Speaker 4: on her own time, in her own space. Yeah.
Speaker 6: And the other really important distinction I want to make here,
Speaker 6: because my presentation was kind of all about the coming out,
Speaker 6: it's still Pride Month, and I want to be very
Speaker 6: specific in saying, if you're listening to this, you.
Speaker 5: Also don't have to do that.
Speaker 6: You also don't have to feel like you have to
Speaker 6: tell everybody because you can also just be yourself. And
Speaker 6: I feel like we've entered into a space, into a
Speaker 6: time in twenty twenty five. Well, that's also an option
Speaker 6: I think with Asy and Page. You know, I'm glad
Speaker 6: that they gave people something that you on in terms
Speaker 6: of soft hard launching their relationship, but I also.
Speaker 5: Know that if they didn't, we all would have been
Speaker 5: just fine, you know.
Speaker 1: What I mean. I see both sides of it for sure,
Speaker 1: And anybody who doesn't want to come out, it's not
Speaker 1: your responsibility to give that to others. And also the
Speaker 1: more people who are openly, joyfully, boldly themselves at a
Speaker 1: time when folks are trying to push back on that.
Speaker 2: The more it frees up others to be that for themselves,
Speaker 2: like you, seeing Candace do that, it really did something
Speaker 2: for you.
Speaker 1: So I love hearing that really quick story before my
Speaker 1: presentation that you just reminded me of.
Speaker 2: When I was just at the espnW sum at.
Speaker 1: Canada, the great Sam Rappaport, one of my favorite people
Speaker 1: who has completely changed the face of the NFL with
Speaker 1: her Women in Football forum, getting women coaches hired and
Speaker 1: is now working with USA Football and tennis and much
Speaker 1: for other places, talked about how for the first eight
Speaker 1: or so years I think her working at the NFL,
Speaker 1: she wasn't out and she literally kept post it notes
Speaker 1: in her desk reminding herself of the lies that she
Speaker 1: told one person about how she spent her vacation or
Speaker 1: her holiday or her weekend, so that she could remember
Speaker 1: and tell the same lie to someone else if they
Speaker 1: asked how things had been in her time off and
Speaker 1: she made a joke, she was like, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I used to dress like Sarah And I.
Speaker 2: Was like okay, okay, I'm like yeah, it's giving straight.
Speaker 1: I get it, but you know, it is funny the
Speaker 1: idea of you saying like they were in the wrong closet,
Speaker 1: Like she was in the wrong closet, you know, and
Speaker 1: she got to be herself and come out. And she
Speaker 1: actually told a really moving story about the first person
Speaker 1: she sort of came out to, not intentionally, just it
Speaker 1: happened to be was Roger Goodell. He looked across at
Speaker 1: a space and she had decided to finally bring her
Speaker 1: girlfriend and not hide it. She grabbed her girlfriend's hand,
Speaker 1: looked up at him, and he walked over with this
Speaker 1: giant smile and hugged her. And I guess he has
Speaker 1: a gay brother and had always been inclusive and she
Speaker 1: wasn't really worried about it, but it was still like
Speaker 1: the very top of the food chain was saying, this
Speaker 1: is great, this is wonderful, and it really helped her
Speaker 1: feel more comfortable everywhere else. So love to hear those stories,
Speaker 1: especially when they sort of maybe defy your expectations.
Speaker 4: What I take away from that is we need coach
Speaker 4: Jackie to make a new video series.
Speaker 5: Is she gay?
Speaker 4: Or does she just host a women's sports podcast feature
Speaker 4: you and see how it turns out.
Speaker 2: Oh, all they're gonna say I'm gay. Plenty of people have.
Speaker 1: My friend Ali actually was just in town this past
Speaker 1: weekend for Pride here in Chicago, and we were just
Speaker 1: talking about the show and all this stuff, and she's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I figured out what you are.
Speaker 2: You're a dikon And I'm like, I don't know what
Speaker 2: that is.
Speaker 1: And she's like, a dicon is like an icon for
Speaker 1: gay women who's straight that like this the gays are
Speaker 1: trying to turn and or at least are appreciative that
Speaker 1: they're like an ally and in the gay space.
Speaker 2: And I was like, I'll take it. I love it.
Speaker 1: Not the ratish kind, the other kind. Yes, I could
Speaker 1: also be a ratish That's fine, so delicious.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: My presentation is called when it comes to Allies, we
Speaker 1: need more awls than Alley's. This presentation is picture it
Speaker 1: uh plain white page. It's a it's a nod to
Speaker 1: my age, and it features Clippy the paper clip, which
Speaker 1: used to be this animated paper clip that assisted you
Speaker 1: if you were using Microsoft Office. And next to Clippy
Speaker 1: is Chippy, Clippy's boyfriend, So the two of them are
Speaker 1: actually walking us through this presentation and the reason I'm
Speaker 1: centering gay men here is because as I was thinking
Speaker 1: about the ally portion of pride and women's sports intersecting,
Speaker 1: I realized that the role of women allies is, and
Speaker 1: for a long time has been, far less necessary on
Speaker 1: the women's side than the role of male allies on
Speaker 1: the men's side. And actually, my friend Patrick Burke, who
Speaker 1: helped co found You Can Play. He's now actually vice
Speaker 1: president of player Safety at the National Hockey League, but
Speaker 1: wrote on his site for you Can Play back at
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen quote. A few months ago, a reporter called
Speaker 1: me and said he wanted to talk about the LGBT
Speaker 1: sports movement for a PC he was doing. We establish
Speaker 1: a convenient time, exchange numbers and hopped on a call.
Speaker 1: It turns out the piece was on Britney Griner, an
Speaker 1: elite female basketball player who's a lesbian. We talked for
Speaker 1: a half hour, so he was a really good guy
Speaker 1: and had a lot of good question When we got
Speaker 1: to the end of the call, he asked if there
Speaker 1: was anything we hadn't talked about that I wanted to mention. Well,
Speaker 1: I responded, we should probably talk about the fact that
Speaker 1: two straight guys just spent thirty minutes talking about the
Speaker 1: issues lesbian athlete space, and he goes on to write
Speaker 1: about how the male allies in the LGBTQ plus space
Speaker 1: needed to take a step back and stop centering themselves
Speaker 1: in the conversation and allowing more athletes to speak up
Speaker 1: for themselves. He understood the power of the male ally,
Speaker 1: but he also understood that it was the same voices
Speaker 1: coming up over and over again.
Speaker 2: Back in twenty thirteen.
Speaker 1: It was Chris Kluey, Brandon McCarthy, Brennan I and Badejo.
Speaker 1: It was these great voices that were so necessary, but
Speaker 1: he was hoping that more of the actual folks living
Speaker 1: the experiences would come out and speak on it. And
Speaker 1: I'm looking back at that article in twenty thirteen, and
Speaker 1: the problem is the same. We still have these great
Speaker 1: male allies, Steve Nash, Michael Strahan, John Sally. Now we've
Speaker 1: got Kaylen Saunders. He's a defensive tackle for the New
Speaker 1: Orleans Saints. He's hosting an LGBTQ plus youth friendly football camp,
Speaker 1: and he's partnered with a former NFL player who came
Speaker 1: out as bisexual after he was done playing.
Speaker 2: R K Russell.
Speaker 1: You might know of Caylen Saunders because his brother Cameron
Speaker 1: is one of Taylor Swift's backup dancers and is in
Speaker 1: the LGBTQ community. But I'm thinking about this and we're
Speaker 1: getting still all these years later after that article about
Speaker 1: let's center more of the actual athletes, mostly male allies,
Speaker 1: because the men who come out are usually coming out
Speaker 1: after retirement, and even then it's usually not the stars.
Speaker 1: So still the boldest and loudest and most influential voices
Speaker 1: on the men's side are usually the allies that have
Speaker 1: the highest profile and are trying to convince other folks
Speaker 1: to be more welcoming. On the women's sports side, players
Speaker 1: have been out in far greater numbers and for much longer,
Speaker 1: and it's allowed us to center more of the actual
Speaker 1: women in the conversations, which has been great. So going
Speaker 1: way back, it used to be mostly rumors, you know,
Speaker 1: like we all know baby Diedrichson, like there was always like.
Speaker 2: Her friend that she lived with and spent a lot
Speaker 2: of time with, but people knew.
Speaker 1: But Billy Jean King, not surprisingly was one of the
Speaker 1: very first out professional women athletes, and it was not
Speaker 1: a voluntary decision. She was actually publicly outed by her
Speaker 1: former secretary, and when given the choice, she decided she
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna lie. She was going to be honest about
Speaker 1: it and face the repercussions with sponsors and everything else.
Speaker 1: Same year, Martina Nevertulova, Brianna Scurry, LPGA player Muffin Spencer
Speaker 1: Devlin in nineteen ninety six came out, Sue Wicks in
Speaker 1: two thousand and two the first out WNBA player Brittany
Speaker 1: grin Or Simone Augustus, sueberg Men and Rapino Babi Wanback.
Speaker 1: They're all, you know, starting to come out in waves
Speaker 1: as we get closer and closer to the current time,
Speaker 1: and I realized that the allies in women's sports that
Speaker 1: are now truly necessary are the ones who are advocating
Speaker 1: for transfolks. The new battle in women's sports for allyship
Speaker 1: and for public support is not for acceptance of gay teammates,
Speaker 1: but standing up for transfolks. And that's not to say
Speaker 1: it's simple for queer women athletes these days. They are
Speaker 1: still facing pushback from everything from the Trump administration to
Speaker 1: laws to everything else, but it is so much more
Speaker 1: accepted in the women's space that it feels like now
Speaker 1: even marginalized folks like queer women are having to step
Speaker 1: out and advocate for even more marginalized folks like trans
Speaker 1: athletes in the battle. So I think it's very clear
Speaker 1: why allyship is about safety and community for those who
Speaker 1: will not naturally be afforded it, and men's sports doesn't
Speaker 1: offer that, and that's sad. The male sports space is
Speaker 1: not a space that says you can be you here,
Speaker 1: but the women's sports space, in part because of stereotypes
Speaker 1: around sport and toughness and masculinity and everything else, allows
Speaker 1: that first step of saying it makes sense that you're
Speaker 1: here and will allow it.
Speaker 2: But then once you're in it, it's really.
Speaker 1: About the community that's created, the inclusion, and all of
Speaker 1: these things that are so much more natural in a
Speaker 1: space full of women than they are in a space
Speaker 1: full of men. And I just am sad for the
Speaker 1: men's space that I can read an article from back
Speaker 1: in twenty thirteen and we can be almost nowhere when
Speaker 1: it comes to more really high big name professional men
Speaker 1: being out, and we can see the numbers for women
Speaker 1: going up and up, and the conversations evolving and becoming
Speaker 1: more sophisticated.
Speaker 2: I just wish that that were the case for men
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 4: I want to shout out American volleyball player Eric Shoji,
Speaker 4: the US men's team captain, who just last week came out. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and so I was super excited to see that, and
Speaker 4: his comments on Instagram are just flooded with support from teammates.
Speaker 3: And other folks in volleyball world. So shout out to him.
Speaker 1: There's a minor league player who was in the White
Speaker 1: Sox system. I think he is not anymore though a
Speaker 1: year or two ago. That came out, and I think
Speaker 1: baseball is a real tough one. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: good old boys in that sport, and I was really
Speaker 1: impressed and proud of his decision to come out and
Speaker 1: make it known. And you know, his name's Anderson Comas.
Speaker 1: I would be very interested in following his career in
Speaker 1: the hopes that his talent is enough to get him
Speaker 1: to the next level and that he won't be held
Speaker 1: back by that admission.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and since we're doing shout outs, I got to
Speaker 6: give a shout out to Kevin Maxon, who I had
Speaker 6: the chance to meet at the Athlete Ally Athlete Activism
Speaker 6: Summit last weekend.
Speaker 2: Was the Jaguars.
Speaker 6: One of the Jaguars strength coaches in the NFL and
Speaker 6: actually was the first out male coach in major men's
Speaker 6: pro sports. So he was just he was such a
Speaker 6: wonderful spirit, and he spoke so openly about the different
Speaker 6: ways like he had been challenged. But also you know
Speaker 6: about how in some of these locker rooms or with
Speaker 6: some of these players, in his experience in the NFL,
Speaker 6: it was actually a very welcoming space, and so they might.
Speaker 5: Be fewer and further between, but you know, folks are
Speaker 5: folks are working on it.
Speaker 2: Progress is being made, for sure.
Speaker 1: I just think as I sat to think about a
Speaker 1: presentation that was going to be on allies in the
Speaker 1: women's space, I realized that we are able to shine
Speaker 1: a spotlight on the very people that we want to
Speaker 1: center as opposed to needing to hold up allies to
Speaker 1: support them, and that it's not the case in the
Speaker 1: men's space. Yeah, excellent presentations. If anyone wants to invite
Speaker 1: me to their PowerPoint party for real, I kind of
Speaker 1: want to make slides.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm kind of insulted that I haven't been invited
Speaker 4: to a power I know me party.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I have heardy friends, where are you guys?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have to admit I'm usually the one who's
Speaker 1: making all the party plans and inviting everyone and forcing
Speaker 1: them into weird costumes and themes. So I guess it's
Speaker 1: my own damn fault. Time for me to I'm gonna
Speaker 1: wait till the winter. It's too nice out for a
Speaker 1: PowerPoint party. When the cold weather hits, It's on, all right,
Speaker 1: We got to take another break when we come back.
Speaker 1: Some of your favorite activations from Pride Month welcome back Slices.
Speaker 1: Earlier this Pride Month, we asked you for your favorite
Speaker 1: activations across different sports and we loved hearing your stories.
Speaker 1: A lot of you love the tifos at Angel City
Speaker 1: and god MFC games. In fact, it was a lot
Speaker 1: of NWSL teams that snagged the bulk of the praise.
Speaker 1: Here's a few highlights of what Chelson in Super Slice
Speaker 1: Amanda Valo wrote, quote, I'd like to give my shout
Speaker 1: out to the new home team, Denver NWSL. They don't
Speaker 1: have a name, players or coaches yet, but on their
Speaker 1: website they've provided a resource guide for celebrating Pride Month.
Speaker 1: Some might say this is rainbow washing or pandering for business,
Speaker 1: but I'm choosing to believe it's more than ticket sales.
Speaker 1: They're jumping ten toes into building community, and like some
Speaker 1: of us, they just came out of the womb knowing
Speaker 1: they're gay.
Speaker 2: End quote. Love that.
Speaker 1: Moe O'Donnell, who co owns a bar in Salt Lake City,
Speaker 1: wrote in saying, quote, I know it's surprising, but the
Speaker 1: Utah Royals actually did a lot of cool stuff for
Speaker 1: their Pride match on June thirteenth. First, they actually had
Speaker 1: a pride match, which in twenty twenty five shouldn't be
Speaker 1: an act of bravery, but it is. The Utah Mammoth
Speaker 1: and the Utah Jazz both received threats from Utah legislature
Speaker 1: to pull some of their funding that's paid for by taxpayers,
Speaker 1: simply because they posted pride logos on their Instagram and
Speaker 1: released pride merch. The RSL Slash Royal's community outreach team
Speaker 1: went around to local LGBTQ plus owned businesses here in
Speaker 1: Salt Lake City and presented them with some merch and
Speaker 1: offered tickets.
Speaker 2: Free of charge to the game. It was actually really
Speaker 2: cool to have them reach out and come to my bar.
Speaker 1: We got to be part of presenting a very large
Speaker 1: Pride flag on the field at the game that day.
Speaker 1: Hopefully it helps some people feel included in ways that
Speaker 1: we haven't felt much lately. The personal cherry on the
Speaker 1: top for me was when my friend Leslie decided that
Speaker 1: she wanted to make sure the mascot Clio felt the
Speaker 1: Pride as well by giving her.
Speaker 2: A big smooch end quote.
Speaker 1: Okay, well now we're talking about kissing mascots, so we're
Speaker 1: really in my wheelhouse here.
Speaker 2: Thanks for that, y'all.
Speaker 1: We love that you're listening, but we always love when
Speaker 1: you get in the game too. So here's our good
Speaker 1: game play of the day. Now that we've heard your
Speaker 1: favorite Pride activations from this year, we want to know
Speaker 1: your favorite memories related to Pride, all things LGBTQ plus
Speaker 1: and women's sports from years past, so send them in.
Speaker 1: You heard our big Citrus highlights, now we want to
Speaker 1: hear yours. Hit us up on email good game at
Speaker 1: wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a voicemail at eight
Speaker 1: seven two two four fifty seventy, and don't forget to subscribe,
Speaker 1: rate and review.
Speaker 2: It's easy. Watch the San Diego Wave throwing a high school.
Speaker 1: Graduation ceremony for mel Barsennis class ranking one of one review.
Speaker 1: The NWSL San Diego Wave held the high school graduation
Speaker 1: ceremony for seventeen year old forward Melanie Barsenis, complete with
Speaker 1: all the traditions, wearing a cap and gown and a
Speaker 1: stole with the Wave logo. Barsennis quote unquote graduated by
Speaker 1: walking through a tunnel of her teammates with Pomp and
Speaker 1: Circumstance playing in the background. Two years ago, Barsenas became
Speaker 1: the youngest player in NWSL history when, at the age
Speaker 1: of fifteen, she signed with the Wave. The San Diego
Speaker 1: native has been homeschooled since elementary school, but recently completed
Speaker 1: her studies.
Speaker 2: We love it.
Speaker 1: Who among us hasn't been celebrated by our professional sports
Speaker 1: team on the day we graduated from high school? Meish
Speaker 1: al Yeah, me neither. Now it's your turn, rate and review.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, See you tomorrow. Good game, Minji, Good game, Melanie,
Speaker 1: You Utah legislature hating on Pride logos. Good Game with
Speaker 1: Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership
Speaker 1: with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You could find us
Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network. Our producers are
Speaker 1: Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett,
Speaker 1: Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our editors are
Speaker 1: Emily Rutter, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and Gianna Palmer. Our
Speaker 1: associate producer is Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah
Speaker 1: Spain