Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where any company
Speaker 1: that's making money off of Pride while canceling DEI policies
Speaker 1: is dead to us. It's Monday, June second, Happy Pride
Speaker 1: Month slices. On today's show, we'll be chatting with former
Speaker 1: LPGA pro and Quiet Please podcast co host Mel Reid
Speaker 1: about her irish goodbye to professional golf, coming out because
Speaker 1: a company pissed her off, and giving a middle finger
Speaker 1: to the expectation that women in golf should be quiet
Speaker 1: plus depleted rosters, a debut worthy of a fine wine.
Speaker 1: And if I give you this sign, it's time to
Speaker 1: steal home baby. It's all coming up right after this
Speaker 1: welcome back slices. Here's what you need to know today.
Speaker 1: Let's start with softball, where the semi finals of the
Speaker 1: Women's College World Series are set. The number six Texas
Speaker 1: Longhorns were the first team to clinch a spot, upsetting
Speaker 1: number two Oklahoma, the four time defending champions, four to
Speaker 1: two on Saturday. It marked the Longhorns first ever win
Speaker 1: against Oklahoma at the College World Series in Texas's two
Speaker 1: previous appearances in the tournament in twenty twenty two and
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. They lost all five times they got
Speaker 1: matched up with the Sooners, which included two sweeps in
Speaker 1: the best of three finals. Texas Tech, in its World
Speaker 1: Series debut, also clinched a spot in the Semis thanks
Speaker 1: to a three to one win over UCLA on Saturday.
Speaker 1: But while Texas Tech is making the program's first tournament
Speaker 1: and semi finals appearance in Oklahoma City, the Semis are
Speaker 1: familiar territory for Red Raiders star pitcher Nijerie Kennedy, who
Speaker 1: made the World Series semi finals with Stanford for two
Speaker 1: straight seasons before she transferred to Texas Tech last year
Speaker 1: as part of a record one million dollar contract signed
Speaker 1: with the university's nil collective. Kennedy allowed just four hits
Speaker 1: in that win over UCLA, but the highlight had to
Speaker 1: be pinch runner Mikayla Garcia stealing home at the top
Speaker 1: of the bitinning. It's the third time the Red Raiders
Speaker 1: have and home this season. Will link to the play
Speaker 1: in the show notes. Sunday afternoon's elimination game between Tennessee
Speaker 1: and UCLA was a marathon, but after nine innings, the
Speaker 1: Lady Vowles down the Bruins to become the third team
Speaker 1: moving onto the semis and send UCLA home. This one
Speaker 1: had a couple lengthy video reviews, one that upheld a
Speaker 1: crucial time run by UCLA's Megan Grant in the top
Speaker 1: of the seventh inning, and one that confirmed that a
Speaker 1: long ball out to left field by Tennessee's tailor Panel
Speaker 1: in the bottom of the ninth did not leave the field.
Speaker 1: It was ruled a double and not a game winning homer.
Speaker 1: In the end, Tennessee senior Laura Meeler hit her second
Speaker 1: walk off winner of the year, a walk off single
Speaker 1: to beat UCLA five to four. In extras on the
Speaker 1: play by play call, Beth Mowens mentioned that Meeler transferred
Speaker 1: from Middle Tennessee State because she wanted a chance to
Speaker 1: plan a bigger stage, and she didn't just play. She
Speaker 1: saved the Bowls season Tennessee advances. By the way, if
Speaker 1: you want to know more about the controversial review that
Speaker 1: upheld Megan Grant's homer and understand why everyone's talking about
Speaker 1: Appendix G today, we'll link to a USA Today story
Speaker 1: detailing the call. In our show notes. The final game
Speaker 1: Sunday night saw the four time defending champion Oklahoma Sooners
Speaker 1: playing with their season on the line in an elimination
Speaker 1: game against Oregon, Sydney Sanders crushed two home runs to
Speaker 1: help Oklahoma to a four to one win, knocking out Oregon.
Speaker 1: Sooners head to the Semis for a ninth straight year
Speaker 1: and keep their hopes for five alive to soccer at
Speaker 1: The US women's national team defeated China three to nil
Speaker 1: in a friendly in Saint Paul, Minnesota on Saturday, with
Speaker 1: goals from Katerina Macario, Sam Coffee and Lindsay Heaps. A
Speaker 1: little history was also made in the win when Low
Speaker 1: Labanta became the oldest player to ever debut for the
Speaker 1: US women's national team at thirty two years and seventy
Speaker 1: four days old. She entered the match in the seventieth
Speaker 1: minute and per ESPN, completed all of her pass attempts.
Speaker 1: Next up for the US women's national team as a
Speaker 1: friendly against Jamaica Tuesday in Saint Louis. Ahead of the match,
Speaker 1: the team will celebrate the career of recently retired legend
Speaker 1: and friend of the Show Becky sowerbrun to Golf and
Speaker 1: the US Open. Maya Stark is your Winner at Aaron Hills.
Speaker 1: The twenty five year old, who represented Sweden at the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four Paris Olympics, is the third Suite to
Speaker 1: win the US Open. The win is her first at
Speaker 1: a major. She finished second behind Nelly Korda at last
Speaker 1: year's Chevron Championship. A little more context on this tourney.
Speaker 1: Among the one hundred and fifty six golfers in the
Speaker 1: US Open field, three of them were just sixteen years old,
Speaker 1: including Star in the Making asterisk Tally from the Athletic
Speaker 1: Tally is quote the California prodigy who racks up junior wins,
Speaker 1: who finished runner up at both the US Women's Amateur
Speaker 1: and US Girls Junior at just fifteen, who not just
Speaker 1: made the cut at last year's US Open as the
Speaker 1: youngest player in the field, but also contended through two days.
Speaker 1: She then took all that expectation and made a late
Speaker 1: run at ANWA last month to finish just one off
Speaker 1: the lead. Tally is an undeniably a star in the
Speaker 1: making end quote. I highly recommend checking out the full
Speaker 1: story on Tally by Brody Miller, who writes about the
Speaker 1: pressure put on young women in golf to be quote
Speaker 1: unquote saviors of the game, especially young American players. He
Speaker 1: references thirty year old Lexi Thompson's retirement speech last year,
Speaker 1: in which she said, quote, Since I was twelve as
Speaker 1: a golfer, my life has been a whirlwind of constant attention, scrutiny,
Speaker 1: and pressure. The cameras are always on, capturing every swing
Speaker 1: and every moment on and off the golf course. Social
Speaker 1: media never sleeps, with comments and criticisms flooding in from
Speaker 1: around the world. It can be exhausting maintaining a smile
Speaker 1: on the outside while grappling with struggles on the inside.
Speaker 1: End quote. It's a really interesting piece. We'll link to
Speaker 1: it in our show notes to the WNBA, where we've
Speaker 1: unfortunately got a few new injuries to report. This year's
Speaker 1: number one overall draft pick, Paige Becker's, was placed in
Speaker 1: concussion protocol after her Dallas Wings lost to the Chicago
Speaker 1: Sky on Thursday. Becker's missed the second of their back
Speaker 1: to back with the Sky on Saturday and will be
Speaker 1: reevaluated after Tuesday's game against the Seattle Storm. Meantime, the
Speaker 1: injuries in Indiana are adding up. In addition to Caitlin Clark,
Speaker 1: who's still out for at least another week with a
Speaker 1: quad injury. The Fever are also now without Sydney Coulson
Speaker 1: and Sophie Cunningham, who both went out during a loss
Speaker 1: on Friday to the Connecticut Sun. The good news is
Speaker 1: On Sunday, Fever coach Stephanie White said Coulson and Cunningham
Speaker 1: received good news from their MRIs. She called both of
Speaker 1: them day to day and said they should return quote
Speaker 1: sooner rather than later. The team is still looking to
Speaker 1: add a player on a hardship contract, though, We're keeping
Speaker 1: an eye on veteran Golden State Valkyries guard Tiffany Hayes
Speaker 1: as well. She got hit in the face again in
Speaker 1: Sunday night's game against the Minnesota Lynx and went to
Speaker 1: the locker room immediately with a towel over her face.
Speaker 1: Now you'll notice, I said again. She also took a
Speaker 1: shot to the nose and came up bleeding in the
Speaker 1: Valx duel with the Washington Mystics back on May twenty first.
Speaker 1: The action she saw against the Link Sunday was her
Speaker 1: first since that game against DC. Also over in Phoenix,
Speaker 1: five time All Star Alyssa Thomas missed her second game
Speaker 1: in a row on Sunday, dealing with an injury to
Speaker 1: her calf. We'll continue to keep you updated on these
Speaker 1: Hoopers and on any other notable injuries in the meantime.
Speaker 1: Has anyone asked the WNBA for comment? More WNBA We
Speaker 1: got a only in Women's sports moment over the weekend
Speaker 1: with the Chicago Skuys Courtney vander Slute setting franchise records
Speaker 1: for both career points and field goals, breaking the previous
Speaker 1: mark set by who else but her wife, Ali Quiggley.
Speaker 1: Now you may remember back in twenty twenty, Slute also
Speaker 1: set the WNBA record for most assists in a single
Speaker 1: game with a pass to Quiggly. Caitlin Clark best died
Speaker 1: the mark in a game last year. But we'll always
Speaker 1: have the memory of the Vander Quiggs connection, and we
Speaker 1: will always celebrate only in Women's sports moments like breaking
Speaker 1: your own wife's record. Here's hoping one day the m
Speaker 1: NBA can celebrate moments like that too. Still more hoops.
Speaker 1: A hand full of Sunday games kicked off Commissioner's Cup
Speaker 1: play in the WNBA, including the seven to zero New
Speaker 1: York Liberty putting in absolute beat down on the now
Speaker 1: one in six Connecticut Sun one hundred to fifty two.
Speaker 1: That is the second largest margin of victory in WNBA history.
Speaker 1: As for the largest margin of victory, that still belongs
Speaker 1: to the Minnesota Lynx who beat up on the Indiana
Speaker 1: Fever one eleven to fifty two back in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: Ps I gotta shout out the Liberty for celebrating mascot
Speaker 1: Ellie the Elephant's fifth birthday in style. Besides all the
Speaker 1: celebrations that they had for her, they got her that
Speaker 1: blowout win. And if anyone deserves a blowout win, it's
Speaker 1: my girl. Ellie. To tennis and the French Open, where
Speaker 1: five American women advance to the fourth round, which concludes today.
Speaker 1: By the time you hear this, Coco Goth will either
Speaker 1: be on too the quarterfinal round or out of the tournament.
Speaker 1: I guess there's a third option two in the event
Speaker 1: that her match, which started at five am Eastern, is
Speaker 1: still in progress. You could be an earlier bird who
Speaker 1: listens to our show right when it hits. Or maybe
Speaker 1: the match is just really long. Maybe the match is
Speaker 1: setting the world record for longest tie break ever recorded
Speaker 1: and is still in progress as you listen to these words,
Speaker 1: never say never. As for the rest of the field
Speaker 1: IGAs Fontek, Elina Spittolina King wen Zen and Arina Sablenka
Speaker 1: already clinched quarter final berths. On Sunday, we'll link to
Speaker 1: the full Fronch Open schedule and results in the show notes.
Speaker 1: If I said all of those names correctly the first time,
Speaker 1: I should get a gold star more French Open. We
Speaker 1: mentioned last week that, for a second straight year, on
Speaker 1: Jaburg called out tournament organizers for continually prioritizing men's tennis
Speaker 1: when scheduling night matches. Coco Goff supported Jabur's remarks after
Speaker 1: her second round win, saying the tournament needed to quote
Speaker 1: unquote improve its scheduling. While on Friday, French Open director
Speaker 1: and former player Omlee Moresmo pushed back against the idea
Speaker 1: that they were discriminating against women, as during a press conference,
Speaker 1: why women's matches were the only ones placed during the
Speaker 1: noontime slot, which is typically less attended, She replied, quote
Speaker 1: the funny thing is that it's the same questions year
Speaker 1: after year end Quote yeah, no, shit, sherlock. The questions
Speaker 1: are the same because the problem is the same. Former
Speaker 1: pro Pam Schreiver called out Moresmo in an episode of
Speaker 1: the Tennis podcast over the weekend, Take a listen.
Speaker 2: It's extremely triggering, painful and disappointing to have a player,
Speaker 2: a former WTA Tour player who got to number one
Speaker 2: in the world, it's in the Hall of Fame, who
Speaker 2: basically earned her fifteen million plus prize money, not including
Speaker 2: all the endorsements, exhibitions, every opportunity that she had on
Speaker 2: the back of the original nine led by Billy Jean
Speaker 2: King Furthered along by Martina and Chrissy. And to have
Speaker 2: a tournament director with that CV that background basically slapping
Speaker 2: women's tennis the modern day version twenty twenty five is
Speaker 2: horrendous to hear.
Speaker 1: We got to get Shrever on the show. Absolutely spot
Speaker 1: on More Tennis. There was also a very cool, serendipitous
Speaker 1: moment at Roland Garris on Thursday, as Venus Williams, Sloane Stevens,
Speaker 1: and Cocoa Goff all ended up sitting together at the
Speaker 1: TNT desk. Stevens is currently nursing a foot injury, so
Speaker 1: she's doing commentary for the tournament alongside Williams and others.
Speaker 1: When Goff sat down, she spoke about what it meant
Speaker 1: to be at the table with Venus.
Speaker 3: You, Serena, the reason I started this sport, and like,
Speaker 3: being here is surreal. I didn't know that you were
Speaker 3: going to be at the nest, so I'm really happy
Speaker 3: to be here. And yeah, I'm having a little moment here,
Speaker 3: so I'm trying to get the words out, but honestly,
Speaker 3: it means a lot to be here and hear that
Speaker 3: from you. And yeah, I never would have thought when
Speaker 3: I pick up a racket, I would be here, sitting
Speaker 3: here with you and having this conversation.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you're here, you and Sloan. There's so
Speaker 1: many generations of girls who are picking up rackets. Stevens
Speaker 1: later posted a photo of the trio at the desk
Speaker 1: on her Instagram, writing quote, this isn't just a photo,
Speaker 1: It's a page in the history books. We got to
Speaker 1: take a quick break. When we come back. My conversation
Speaker 1: with mel Reed, who I caught up with last week,
Speaker 1: stick around joining us now. She's a recently retired professional
Speaker 1: golfer on the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour,
Speaker 1: now at broadcaster for NBC and other networks, and co
Speaker 1: host of The Quiet Please with Melan Kira podcast right
Speaker 1: here on the Iheartwomen's Sports Network. A Darby, England native,
Speaker 1: she won her first LPGA Tour event in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: the shopwrit LPGA Classic, and reached her highest ranking that year,
Speaker 1: thirty ninth in the world. Now she's a mama and
Speaker 1: a broadcaster who calls the broadcast booth a cage. We're
Speaker 1: going to work on the It's Mel Reid.
Speaker 4: Hi, Mel, how you doing. I actually thought my word
Speaker 4: ranking was higher than that, so that makes me feel great.
Speaker 4: So thank you. Wikipedia says, what do you want to
Speaker 4: just like might be done in the world.
Speaker 1: It's some perfect in my head. Let's talk about that
Speaker 1: our word that I used in your bio, a word
Speaker 1: you seem to be uneasy about saying aloud. On the
Speaker 1: first episode of your podcast, you said you just irish
Speaker 1: goodbye to your golf career, and you actually hoped everyone
Speaker 1: on your team had already heard about it. But if not, well,
Speaker 1: here I am on my podcast. I'm done. So what's
Speaker 1: your beef with saying the word retired.
Speaker 4: It's not even the beef of saying the word retired.
Speaker 4: It's the fact that, like I feel like every player
Speaker 4: that retires has like a big sing and dance about it,
Speaker 4: and that's not my style. So I just wanted to
Speaker 4: just go out quietly and not have a big fuss
Speaker 4: about it. So I just didn't tell anyone. I just
Speaker 4: I The rumor was kind of getting around between players
Speaker 4: because I was doing a little bit more broadcast and
Speaker 4: a few players strove past me, like Nelly and stuff,
Speaker 4: and I was like, yeah, dude, I'm done.
Speaker 1: Nelly Porter decent person to have inquiring about your career.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 4: But yeah, so I did tell most of my team.
Speaker 4: I forgot to tell like one member, which was pretty significant,
Speaker 4: but I did. I did. I was pretty good at
Speaker 4: telling most of my team. But yeah, it's kind of
Speaker 4: been in the works for a few years, so yeah,
Speaker 4: I did mention it.
Speaker 1: So this is a weird question potentially, But as someone
Speaker 1: who really enjoys attention and loves to talk about myself,
Speaker 1: what is going on inside when you're like, I just
Speaker 1: don't want people to even care or know that I've done.
Speaker 1: I just want to do it quietly and disappear, Like
Speaker 1: what what is that?
Speaker 4: No? I love attention on myself as well. I do.
Speaker 4: I just I don't know it's just the whole like
Speaker 4: I feel it. Players that retire they get like big
Speaker 4: bunch of flowers and like a big parade, and I
Speaker 4: just didn't really want that. I just wanted to kind
Speaker 4: of listen. I'm sure at some point in the next
Speaker 4: couple of years, because I'll be on tour still obviously
Speaker 4: with broadcasting, I'll get like a bunch of players and
Speaker 4: like we'll have some beers and like go to a bar,
Speaker 4: and that can be my retirement party. I just didn't
Speaker 4: want this whole like song and dance about it all.
Speaker 4: I just wanted to just believe quietly on my own terms. Plus,
Speaker 4: Plus I am very good at an Irish exit on
Speaker 4: a night, and so it just felt fitting for like
Speaker 4: a twenty year career to do it.
Speaker 1: You actually thought about retiring in twenty twenty two. You
Speaker 1: were frustrated by an injury, but after a few months
Speaker 1: of thinking about it, you actually came back to the
Speaker 1: tour and said you felt some joy and playing. Did
Speaker 1: you feel like you got to go out on good
Speaker 1: terms the last year or so of playing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I've thought about retirement for a while.
Speaker 4: To be quite honest with you, I thought about it
Speaker 4: firstly back in twenty twelve, and then I've kind of
Speaker 4: thought about it a lot. It's funny, I don't think
Speaker 4: I was meant to be a golfer, like I just
Speaker 4: I grew up playing teen sport and I really missed
Speaker 4: team sport, and so I've always kind of struggled with
Speaker 4: the isolation of golf and be on your own quite
Speaker 4: a lot. It's not really my it's just so against
Speaker 4: the grain of my personality. But I created like some
Speaker 4: really good friendship groups out there, and I did I
Speaker 4: create a good team around me to make it as
Speaker 4: enjoyable as possible. But there's always been in the back
Speaker 4: of my mind, like I wanted to do something else
Speaker 4: with my with my life in terms of a career
Speaker 4: outside of golf, and so I've always kind of been
Speaker 4: very proactive, Like broadcasting is kind of the natural direction
Speaker 4: that a lot of people go in. I actually I
Speaker 4: generally really enjoy doing broadcasts. I love I love the
Speaker 4: team aspect of it. I love talking about golf. I
Speaker 4: obviously love watching golf, and that hopefully is going to
Speaker 4: kind of lead me into other stuff that I'm also
Speaker 4: very interested in. But yeah, I mean, it's not easy
Speaker 4: to retire, like even when I knew, I knew years ago,
Speaker 4: like I probably should have retired or wanted to retire,
Speaker 4: But it's quite hard to step it into the comfortableness
Speaker 4: of not being a professional athlete anymore. It's a bit
Speaker 4: of an identity thing, like I still should a little
Speaker 4: bit like saying to people like I'm an ex professional athlete.
Speaker 4: I still like, I still call myself a professional athlete.
Speaker 1: So we're going to hang on for that forever an athlete. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know you mentioned in there that isolation, and I
Speaker 1: heard you talking on your podcast about how it used
Speaker 1: to be different, how it felt like, And I think
Speaker 1: in particular, you were talking about the European Tour. You
Speaker 1: played together, you hung out together, you traveled together. If
Speaker 1: you if you miss the cut, you'd find yourself at
Speaker 1: a pub with some other players talking about how shit
Speaker 1: you played and how it felt like, particularly coming over
Speaker 1: to the LPGA. And in recent years it's got more
Speaker 1: professional in a way that's great in some ways, but
Speaker 1: also does make it less of a friendship of a
Speaker 1: group activity. Is that part of what contributed to you
Speaker 1: kind of losing the love for it a little?
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely, I think that you know, especially when you're
Speaker 4: on tour as long as I am, Like a lot
Speaker 4: of my friends quit or kind of got pushed out
Speaker 4: of the game as well. So a lot of the
Speaker 4: ogs were not there anymore that I grew up with,
Speaker 4: or I was kind of the young one around the group,
Speaker 4: they'd all gone. I think that in Europe, it's listen,
Speaker 4: there's a cultural difference, you know, with such a global
Speaker 4: tour in the LPGA. If a lot of reasons are
Speaker 4: like a lot of things about that is incredible, majority
Speaker 4: of it is incredible, but there's a lot of cultural differences.
Speaker 4: And so that was one thing that I kind of
Speaker 4: struggled with because in Europe, you know, if you don't
Speaker 4: play well, you do you kind of go to dinners anyway,
Speaker 4: And if you play well or don't play what, you
Speaker 4: go to dinners and you have a beer. And you know,
Speaker 4: you wouldn't have a beer as of players if you
Speaker 4: were kind of playing good or whatever. But like if
Speaker 4: you miss the cut, of course you can have a
Speaker 4: couple of beers and like the caddies joined you, and
Speaker 4: like it's just a very yeah, you just shoot the
Speaker 4: shit and just forget about it and reset for next week.
Speaker 4: That's the thing like about golf is just consistently you're
Speaker 4: just moving on all the time. And so yeah, I
Speaker 4: definitely did struggle with that In America. I obviously found
Speaker 4: like my group over here that kind of are a
Speaker 4: little bit still old school like that, but it's really
Speaker 4: tough and it's so competitive out there now that you
Speaker 4: just I feel like it gets so regimented and you
Speaker 4: just have to be one hundred percent all the time
Speaker 4: to compete because the talent and the work ethic and
Speaker 4: the commitment from these young athletes is just a joke
Speaker 4: and they are just so good and they just travel
Speaker 4: really well. They don't have any responsibilities. My life has
Speaker 4: obviously changed with having a little boy, and so I
Speaker 4: think that kind of I was like, is it worth
Speaker 4: Is it worth the commitment? I'm gonna have to recommit
Speaker 4: myself And it just was a no for We spoke
Speaker 4: about it as a family, and for us it wasn't.
Speaker 4: I didn't love it enough. I would rather grind at
Speaker 4: something else that I truly loved. That took me away
Speaker 4: from that my family.
Speaker 1: You mentioned your son Kai, So you and your wife
Speaker 1: Carly had your first kid in twenty twenty three, He's
Speaker 1: already been around the globe supporting mom out on the course,
Speaker 1: and you actually said in an interview that ever since
Speaker 1: you found out she was pregnant, golf became secondary. And
Speaker 1: did taking pressure off the game at all impact your
Speaker 1: play positively or negatively?
Speaker 4: Yes, no, I think Listen, it's not I have so
Speaker 4: I didn't give birth to Kai. I actually don't know
Speaker 4: how these women do it and then come back and
Speaker 4: play like I can do it.
Speaker 1: I don't know when they do it period.
Speaker 4: Not to mention just any woman doing that exactly. I
Speaker 4: honestly a whole newfound respect for women. And so we
Speaker 4: found it quite difficult on the road with him because
Speaker 4: Carli was still working full time and so she yes,
Speaker 4: she can work remote, but it's it's just a lot,
Speaker 4: and like, yeah, we do get daycare on the LPGA,
Speaker 4: but it's a certain amount of hours and the daycare
Speaker 4: women are unreal. But it's still a lot to kind
Speaker 4: of navigate that and I'm trying to do my training
Speaker 4: to a certain degree in that. But Carli's not off
Speaker 4: till five and so it was just a lot for us.
Speaker 4: But look, it gives you a whole new perspective, and
Speaker 4: I think that having Kai in a lot of ways,
Speaker 4: I was like, like I just kind of alluded to earlier,
Speaker 4: like I could recommit myself, and I could, I couldn't
Speaker 4: still compete. I still felt like I was more than
Speaker 4: good enough to compete, but I was not willing to
Speaker 4: sacrifice the time with my family for something that I'm
Speaker 4: not that like, my heart has not been in it
Speaker 4: for a while, and so it was it was almost
Speaker 4: the push that I needed was from him and my family,
Speaker 4: because like I wasn't brave enough to take that step before,
Speaker 4: whereas with him, he naturally just getting me that push,
Speaker 4: and so I'll forever. It's a shame that he won't
Speaker 4: be able to kind of see me play in like
Speaker 4: my prime, but I'm old and I'm quite happy for
Speaker 4: him to watch with something else.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you'll have them out there when you're playing
Speaker 1: for fun too.
Speaker 4: That'll be fun.
Speaker 1: Your podcast is named quiet Please dual meaning, but in
Speaker 1: part because of the expectation for women to stay quiet,
Speaker 1: especially in the very traditional space of golf, and you
Speaker 1: didn't come out publicly as gay until twenty eighteen. I
Speaker 1: wonder if there were fears about how that might impact
Speaker 1: your career or endorsements or support in the golf community
Speaker 1: and the traditional space that you were in.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Look, I think that everybody's before I kind of
Speaker 4: get into this. I think everyone's story is different. I've
Speaker 4: been very lucky that I've got a very supportive family
Speaker 4: who literally don't care. I have a gay brother. So
Speaker 4: I came out because I literally had a contract ripped
Speaker 4: up in front of me when I introduced my partner
Speaker 4: to a company. They literally lived up in my face.
Speaker 4: And at the time, I was skin I had no money,
Speaker 4: like I needed that contract. And my manager at the
Speaker 4: time kind of rang me and was like, you know
Speaker 4: swear on this podcast, right, oh yeah, hell yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4: She was like what the did you do? And I
Speaker 4: was like, I literally introduced like my girlfriend at the time,
Speaker 4: and she was like, well, don't do that because you
Speaker 4: just lost the contract. And I was like, well for
Speaker 4: you basically.
Speaker 1: Right, So wait I need to So you were in
Speaker 1: a room with a person an your girlfriend at the time,
Speaker 1: and then they literally took a piece of paper you
Speaker 1: were about to sign and they tore it in your face.
Speaker 4: Yeah, dude, what the fuck. We went to dinner, going
Speaker 4: to the bathroom and they were asking my girlfriend, like,
Speaker 4: do the man have a boyfriend? And she was like no,
Speaker 4: And then I obviously had a couple of drinks and
Speaker 4: I just I'm so unfiltered it anyway, and I just
Speaker 4: didn't like the way they kept when I was back,
Speaker 4: they kept asking the question. I thought, fuck this, So
Speaker 4: when yeah, my boyfriend's right here, and I just she
Speaker 4: said it like that, thinking it would go down really well,
Speaker 4: and it just went down like a shit sandwich. So
Speaker 4: but let's ask us, Oh god, probably twenty fourteen or fifteen.
Speaker 1: That's insane to me, Yeah, do you want to name
Speaker 1: these people? And can we call them?
Speaker 4: It's behalf I.
Speaker 1: Mean bad enough if behind the scenes a company is
Speaker 1: like I don't think we want to go in that direction.
Speaker 1: But in front of you, and yeah, it was meeting her.
Speaker 4: It was a blessing in a way, because I don't
Speaker 4: want to be aligned with a company like that. Of
Speaker 4: course they don't. They don't, we don't represent the same values.
Speaker 4: It's actually a business exchange. And I hate that I
Speaker 4: did that for a lot of my career because that
Speaker 4: was the only opportunity that women had, and I hated
Speaker 4: it from day one. I was like, I don't want
Speaker 4: to represent this company, but I'm going to have to,
Speaker 4: and so one of my friends encouraged me to kind
Speaker 4: of just like, hey, why don't you You're so open
Speaker 4: about it, like you don't care, you've got thicked skin.
Speaker 4: I think it would be really good, and I was
Speaker 4: a little bit nervous, obviously, but at the end of
Speaker 4: the day, it's who is a part of me, A
Speaker 4: big part of me and my life. I'm certainly not
Speaker 4: ashamed of it, and I think that there should be
Speaker 4: more representation in the space, especially at that time, because
Speaker 4: you know I I didn't have represent growing up, and
Speaker 4: so I kind of was very you know, I kept
Speaker 4: myself very you know, my private life quite private to
Speaker 4: start with, and it shouldn't be like that if you
Speaker 4: don't feel like you want to be like that, if
Speaker 4: that makes sense. So I just found it very important
Speaker 4: and look, it's it's done me a world of good
Speaker 4: and now I represent myself with companies that align with
Speaker 4: my values. I have a sick agent in Cassette who
Speaker 4: has literally changed my life and has just been incredible
Speaker 4: at giving me like the confidence to and the branding
Speaker 4: in that sense. And so it's funny, like I was
Speaker 4: at the lowest of lows and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: you kind of take this step into the unknown. And
Speaker 4: it's funny what then gets attracted to you? And I
Speaker 4: know that sounds so cheesy and no cliche, but it's
Speaker 4: so true, Like once you come to people get more
Speaker 4: comfortable around you, it's weird, and then all this thing
Speaker 4: just starts attracting to you. And yeah, just in a
Speaker 4: much better space obviously now, like an incredible space.
Speaker 1: And I met your agent, Cassette at the Deep Blue
Speaker 1: Sports conference. She obviously with Always Alpha and Alison Felix
Speaker 1: and was on a panel there as well. But I
Speaker 1: was listening to speak on that panel and I jotted
Speaker 1: down your name almost immediately as someone I wanted to
Speaker 1: have on the show. It was just thinking that you
Speaker 1: seem like the kind of person who might actually be
Speaker 1: able to enact change in the LPGA to help usher
Speaker 1: women's golf into more modern times. We've talked about it
Speaker 1: on the show. We had Tisha allin on and it
Speaker 1: just seems clear to me that there are things you
Speaker 1: can do to honor the traditions of a sport while
Speaker 1: also recognizing that it doesn't serve women and the current
Speaker 1: world anymore to be so tightly connected to traditions that
Speaker 1: fly in the face of what we all want to
Speaker 1: stand for. And they're being left behind as this women's
Speaker 1: sports revolution is happening because they aren't willing to stand
Speaker 1: for anything besides golf. And I wonder what you would
Speaker 1: like to see change if you were put in charge?
Speaker 4: Oh go, where do I start? Listen. I just want
Speaker 4: to kind of say, like, I feel like the LPGA,
Speaker 4: with the resources that they have, we're not the Opgasol right, Like,
Speaker 4: we don't have a billion to TV deal. And I
Speaker 4: think being on the board for a couple of years
Speaker 4: it opened my eyes to actually, we do do a
Speaker 4: pretty decent job with the resources and the help that
Speaker 4: we have, like the way that we get supported, we do,
Speaker 4: we do a pretty good job. But I feel like
Speaker 4: I feel like in women's sport it's changed, but I
Speaker 4: feel like golf, you're right, is kind of getting stuck
Speaker 4: in the mud behind. And it's so frustrating for me
Speaker 4: because I feel like women's golf, especially we're almost too
Speaker 4: scared to make a mistake, that we're not brave enough
Speaker 4: to kind of leap into the unknown. And I'm like
Speaker 4: they're almost too scared to lose something, and I'm like,
Speaker 4: but we're already losing, Like let's try something new, Like
Speaker 4: let's get why don't we have like free admission for
Speaker 4: two years, Like we need to get people through the gate.
Speaker 4: That's number one. Like we need to do better job
Speaker 4: at marketing. That's number two. Like I think broadcasts needs
Speaker 4: a revamp, like it's it shouldn't be burtoned ties and shirts,
Speaker 4: like it needs to be more chilled. Like the WNBA
Speaker 4: do a great job at that they have three mates
Speaker 4: on the board, on the panel and the you know,
Speaker 4: shooting the ship, like we have that in golf, but
Speaker 4: that we're not allowed to express that because it's very like, well,
Speaker 4: this is how you have to act and you've got
Speaker 4: to do this. And so I'm I feel like I'm
Speaker 4: I'm even in the short space that I've been in broadcasts,
Speaker 4: like why I do try and get as much of
Speaker 4: my personality within reason as possible. I obviously can't say
Speaker 4: gone air, but I would like to. But yeah, I
Speaker 4: mean there's so many things that I think we're such
Speaker 4: a global tour. We have so many unreal stories that
Speaker 4: are not being told. But we first of all need
Speaker 4: to get people through the gate, like when you turn.
Speaker 4: We need better TV, like we need way more TV
Speaker 4: than we have. We need weigh more cameras point of view,
Speaker 4: We need it to be an event, like we want
Speaker 4: people to go there because it's a sick event, like
Speaker 4: live music there and way more chill like local vendors,
Speaker 4: like local radios that like, we need more of a
Speaker 4: like an event and entertainment vibe every single event.
Speaker 1: It's interesting you talk about being afraid to make a mistake,
Speaker 1: because I've seen both sides of that. So I spend
Speaker 1: about an hour after the espnW summit in New York,
Speaker 1: which was a week after the Deep Blue One, talking
Speaker 1: to a woman who had been hired by the LPGA
Speaker 1: for the first in house marketing team they've ever had.
Speaker 1: She just talked about how it feels like they're on
Speaker 1: the one hand saying we want new ideas, we want
Speaker 1: to change, and on the other hand, when you come
Speaker 1: up with those ideas, they don't actually enact them for
Speaker 1: fear to your point of making a mistake. On the
Speaker 1: other hand, they took a swing on something like having
Speaker 1: a merch collab with Barstool Sports that makes zero sense
Speaker 1: to me and is very clearly a mistake, but they
Speaker 1: were willing to take a swing on no pun intended.
Speaker 1: I am wondering who's advising them, because if you're so
Speaker 1: afraid of stepping in it and then you literally do
Speaker 1: the thing that is the most obvious to any woman
Speaker 1: sports fan not to do, who the hell's in charge
Speaker 1: over there? I take some swings on good shit and
Speaker 1: don't partner with.
Speaker 4: Barstool dity son on my wife. My wife is smart, ironic,
Speaker 4: like I do follow what barstall and I'm like, I've
Speaker 4: bought a couple of things and she literally is that
Speaker 4: Carli hates it. She's like, dude, what the so Like,
Speaker 4: obviously Carli's big sports person, and she's like, no, absolutely not.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I know, I don't know. I think that
Speaker 4: there's been a few ideas that they brought to the
Speaker 4: board and we were just like, absolutely not, and they
Speaker 4: did them anyway, and it's just like, come on, guys, like,
Speaker 4: I don't know, listen, I'm not I understand that, like
Speaker 4: I'm The thing is that we have to understand as well, right,
Speaker 4: And this is a little bit controversial to say, but
Speaker 4: I'm going to say it because I believe it. We're
Speaker 4: a member's own tour, so we have the majority vote
Speaker 4: on the board. Okay, I was on the board for
Speaker 4: two years. Dude, I haven't got a fucking clue anything
Speaker 4: about business. I haven't really got a clue about marketing.
Speaker 4: But I'm making these massive decisions and I'm like, I'm
Speaker 4: obviously going to go off a motion because I'm a player,
Speaker 4: you know. So we've got these seven players in there
Speaker 4: that are all emotion and then you've got these business
Speaker 4: you know, men and women who actually know what they're doing,
Speaker 4: and we're taking the lead. And I'm like, that's not
Speaker 4: get rid of us. We should have like a player union.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're both a little bit of both. I think
Speaker 1: it's been great, and over the course of this podcast,
Speaker 1: I've talked to a lot of current or retired players
Speaker 1: that want to have a better connection to ownership in
Speaker 1: front office so that they at least understand why decisions
Speaker 1: are being made. And then I think it's really necessary
Speaker 1: for ownership in front office to hear from players so
Speaker 1: they make better decisions that center to serve the players.
Speaker 1: So I think both is great, But I get.
Speaker 4: Your point point.
Speaker 1: Make sure people who are doing the research and understand
Speaker 1: the metrics and everything else are making.
Speaker 4: These exactly exactly. And so I think that, you know,
Speaker 4: the LPGA, we do have a kind of a little
Speaker 4: bit of staleness in there which I think we need
Speaker 4: to revam. Like I think we've started to do a
Speaker 4: little bit of our social media, but I mean we're
Speaker 4: so far behind still, like it's going to take a while.
Speaker 4: It's going to take a while. I think it's definitely
Speaker 4: moving in the right direction now with some of the
Speaker 4: people that we've hired, but it's a long road, but
Speaker 4: we'll see.
Speaker 1: New Commissioner Craig Kessler has just been announced. What do
Speaker 1: you know about him or do you have hopes for
Speaker 1: the idea just a new error might just naturally ask
Speaker 1: and demand for change.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've heard some really good things about him. He
Speaker 4: did a great job at Top Golf. I think it
Speaker 4: was I so a few of my friends. So I
Speaker 4: met Carl when she worked at the PGA America, and
Speaker 4: so I know a bunch of friends that kind of
Speaker 4: worked with him, said very high highly of him. Carli
Speaker 4: actually went to a speaking engagement with him. He was speaking,
Speaker 4: she said that he hild the room, which for Carli
Speaker 4: to say that means that he must have been pretty impressive,
Speaker 4: and so listen, I'm very hopeful for him. Like I said,
Speaker 4: everything I've heard about him is very positive. You know,
Speaker 4: hiring is kind of the easy part. It's now like
Speaker 4: what kind of strategy is he going to have to
Speaker 4: uplift the LPGA to where it needs to be in
Speaker 4: the next kind of five ten years. So yeah, I'm
Speaker 4: always willing to give him. We're gonna obviously give him
Speaker 4: a massive chance. I think he's the change that we need.
Speaker 4: He's young, he's obviously very driven, he's hungry, and he's
Speaker 4: very charismatic for what I'm hearing, and I think that
Speaker 4: that's all the ingredients that we need for someone to
Speaker 4: lead us.
Speaker 1: Sure, we saw Nelly Korda last year have this unreal
Speaker 1: run that brought a ton of attention to her. It
Speaker 1: really helped the tour to have one player, particularly an
Speaker 1: American player, who was dominant enough for people to say, oh,
Speaker 1: I know that name, Okay, now I want to go
Speaker 1: watch I've been hearing about this person. That's tough in golf.
Speaker 1: To your point, so many different people are winning. It's
Speaker 1: very international, so some of them are not native English speakers.
Speaker 1: You're trying to sell folks on a new name every week.
Speaker 1: The Tiger Woods effect, the Nelly Quarter effect, is really
Speaker 1: what golf can benefit from. It is such a mental game, though,
Speaker 1: So does it feel like it's really not about who's
Speaker 1: the best golfer on any given year, it's who can
Speaker 1: mentally show up event after event and be consistent enough
Speaker 1: to put up the right score.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think it's a bit of both for sure. I
Speaker 4: think Nellie is getting a lot more comfortable with her
Speaker 4: life outside of golf. She's obviously getting a lot more
Speaker 4: attention and doing like sports citistraining went to Macgarla. So
Speaker 4: I think she's eccessing comfortable for Nelly, like she's not
Speaker 4: that comfortable in that space, Like she kind of wants
Speaker 4: to keep her head down play golf. She's kind of
Speaker 4: opposite to Jess, her sister, in that sense. So I
Speaker 4: think she's definitely finding her feet still in that kind
Speaker 4: of setting. But she I mean a lot of people
Speaker 4: talk about Geno Titsico being like the best player in
Speaker 4: the world, and I would not disagree, But for me,
Speaker 4: the whole package is Nelly and then I've got to
Speaker 4: give up for my homegirl, Charlie Hall. So she's stopped
Speaker 4: ripping darts now, so she's in a much healthier place.
Speaker 1: I saw you interviewing her on the course recently. But
Speaker 1: she is someone we want to have on the show.
Speaker 1: I am not a fan of cigarettes, but the idea
Speaker 1: that she's just ripping darts, and not only that but
Speaker 1: just taking them from spectators as she's walking the course,
Speaker 1: she's siggs to smoke during I mean, normally you wouldn't
Speaker 1: imagine you'd need to make a rule against smoking a
Speaker 1: cigarette mid round because who's doing it? But she is.
Speaker 4: Yeah, she stopped ripping darts now though, So she was
Speaker 4: a vapor and then she found she thought that she
Speaker 4: found out vapiing was bad, so then she went to
Speaker 4: ripping darts because that's not healthier. Yeah, not good either,
Speaker 4: And then now she's ripping and now she's not ripping darts,
Speaker 4: but she's I don't know what she's so, I don't
Speaker 4: know what she's doing, but she's one of my favorite people.
Speaker 4: I've known Charlie since she was like thirteen. Nothing that
Speaker 4: comes out of her mouth surprises me. We need one
Speaker 4: hundred percent. She's she's incredible. She's so good for the game.
Speaker 4: I actually think she can move the needle more than
Speaker 4: Nelly with her personality, So.
Speaker 1: Just got to get some of those scores where people
Speaker 1: need to pay attention in exactly she just yeah, she's
Speaker 1: she's so close to really, really, really really breaking through.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I think it's any amount of time she
Speaker 4: wins a major and she would be an unbelievable winner,
Speaker 4: like it would be god knows what she would do.
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about the emotional side of golf,
Speaker 1: the mental side of golf, and what do you have
Speaker 1: to bring to the course every single day to consistently
Speaker 1: get those scores. And in twenty twelve, you mentioned earlier
Speaker 1: in the interview that you thought about retiring. Then your
Speaker 1: mom passed away tragically in a car accident, and it
Speaker 1: had a really profound effect on your golf career and
Speaker 1: you as a person.
Speaker 4: You talked about.
Speaker 1: Sort of losing a little control, getting in with a
Speaker 1: partying crowd, rebelling a little bit, and acting out, And
Speaker 1: if you're willing to talk about it, I wonder if
Speaker 1: you could take us back to that time, how did
Speaker 1: you find your way out of that?
Speaker 4: That's a great question. I think that grief is a
Speaker 4: funny thing. I think it's so individual and the way
Speaker 4: that it happened like they were watching me. My parents
Speaker 4: used to watch me at pretty much every golf tournament,
Speaker 4: and it was on the way back to the hotel.
Speaker 4: So I think for me, the problem is like when
Speaker 4: you're a professional athlete and I was obviously pretty highly
Speaker 4: ranked to the time, you're getting called left right and
Speaker 4: center right. So everyone has an agenda, you know, even
Speaker 4: though they mean, well, everyone has an agenda because you know,
Speaker 4: I needed to play this tournament because they had paid
Speaker 4: me all they I need to do this for a
Speaker 4: sponsor if I haven't forbid, but if I have any
Speaker 4: advice or anyone is just like just take him in
Speaker 4: it and just like figure out, like what is best
Speaker 4: for you. I think that I actually, you know, stories
Speaker 4: get exaggerated. I really did, honestly try my best to
Speaker 4: kind of navigate both sides of like being a professional
Speaker 4: athlete and also like trying to grieve my mother. So
Speaker 4: I got out of it because my remember, my best
Speaker 4: my best friend, she's like a sister to me. Brand
Speaker 4: she called me up one day and she was like,
Speaker 4: all right enough, she was like, you're being a dick.
Speaker 4: You're just doing everything half half like I we're going
Speaker 4: to sort this out, Like just come up and see
Speaker 4: me and we're gonna go sort it out. And she
Speaker 4: lived in Scotland at the time and introduced me to
Speaker 4: a couple of people, like a couple of people that
Speaker 4: I actually brought in onto my team. And that was
Speaker 4: the biggest game changer. It was actually somebody not forcing
Speaker 4: me to get over the grief or forcing me to
Speaker 4: talk through the grief. They were just allowing me to grieve.
Speaker 4: It's probably the best way I could explain it. And
Speaker 4: I just thought, right, I'm not going to be that
Speaker 4: person that grief takes over you so much that ruined
Speaker 4: your life. Like if this has happened to me, whether
Speaker 4: I like it or not, I'm going to use it
Speaker 4: as a superpower, Like I'm going to make this my superpower,
Speaker 4: and everything I do from now on, obviously I'm going
Speaker 4: to have dips some human being, but like everything I
Speaker 4: do for now on is because of this superpower. And
Speaker 4: that's honestly what it was. And I truly believed that
Speaker 4: I felt like it gave me more grit, it gave
Speaker 4: me more fight, It made me a better human being,
Speaker 4: if I'm honest, more understanding human being, and so I
Speaker 4: have such a horrific thing that would never wish on
Speaker 4: anybody I saw, you know, like I never would have
Speaker 4: moved to America if my mum was still alive, because
Speaker 4: we were so close as a family. But I felt,
Speaker 4: you know, I needed to make that change and I
Speaker 4: needed to grow apart separately, and so I never would
Speaker 4: have met Carli, never would have had Kai, And so
Speaker 4: everything kind of happens. You know, you can take it
Speaker 4: how you want, but it moved me and direct actions
Speaker 4: that I chose the right path. In the end. There
Speaker 4: was a time there where I was just being a
Speaker 4: bit of you know, I just wanted to forget everything,
Speaker 4: but I wasn't gonna let it beat me. So I've
Speaker 4: got to give credit to kind of my best mate
Speaker 4: for that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're the youngest of seven by eleven years, so
Speaker 1: your years sibling is eleven years older than you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have like a sixty I have like a
Speaker 4: seven year old sister.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so you're like a mistake.
Speaker 4: Mistake. I was a hammock. There was a there was
Speaker 4: Shagan and a hammock. Yeah, and a hammock broke and
Speaker 4: very awkward. Yeah, it broke. My dad likes to tell
Speaker 4: me a lot when he's strong. Then I had to
Speaker 4: do with who you became.
Speaker 1: But I'm curious. I'm curious because being the baby of
Speaker 1: the family then you lost your mom so much younger
Speaker 1: than your siblings, how did that affect your relationship with
Speaker 1: them or how you all dealt with the grieving.
Speaker 4: It's funny really, because I felt like I'm only really
Speaker 4: close with three of them. I felt like they all
Speaker 4: had their own families, and so I felt like all
Speaker 4: the way through my life, like when I was, you know,
Speaker 4: a baby, they were teenagers. When I was a teenager,
Speaker 4: they were in college. When I got to college years,
Speaker 4: they were having kids, and so I kind of feel
Speaker 4: like I've always skipped a step, so a lot of it.
Speaker 4: I kind of felt like I was not like an
Speaker 4: only child, but they were doing things and I was
Speaker 4: trying to constantly catch up. Really, but I feel like
Speaker 4: now now that I've got Kai and I'm married, we're
Speaker 4: kind of on the same space again, So we're closer
Speaker 4: now than we ever have. I feel, you know, it's
Speaker 4: just at that age now we're kind of all the similar. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it was interesting. I felt my brother and sisters are
Speaker 4: all very different. But I felt that I kind of
Speaker 4: took on a lot of the grief and tried to
Speaker 4: make sure that they were okay because I didn't have
Speaker 4: any responsibility. I wanted to make sure my dad was good.
Speaker 4: I actually moved back in with my dad for a
Speaker 4: couple of years just to make sure he was solid.
Speaker 4: And then I was kind of like I am the
Speaker 4: younger one, but I felt like I was the older
Speaker 4: one at the time because I was trying to do
Speaker 4: all I could to make sure that they were okay,
Speaker 4: so that they were okay around the kids. I guess
Speaker 4: I don't know, I just that's just the responsibility I took.
Speaker 4: I took on a lot of emotion, and now I
Speaker 4: wanted to do that, like I'm that person. I would
Speaker 4: rather sacrifice my kind of mental health and make sure
Speaker 4: they were good. And so I felt like I did
Speaker 4: certainly take on that role, which I think is another
Speaker 4: reason I needed to go to America. I was to
Speaker 4: just breathe a little bit.
Speaker 1: Get back to the path.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like I did feel like I give
Speaker 4: up a few years just to make sure everyone was okay,
Speaker 4: but I was more than that was my choice. And
Speaker 4: I'm very grateful to do it yet one hundredcent.
Speaker 1: So now you have this new path in front of
Speaker 1: you that's not playing broadcasting, podcasting, being a mom. I
Speaker 1: think in the past you've done a clothing line and
Speaker 1: a nonprofit. Like, what else is there ahead of mel Reed?
Speaker 4: Oh? Lots of things. Really, I really want to host
Speaker 4: an LPGA event. I really want to run. I want
Speaker 4: to put my money where my mouth is and run
Speaker 4: like a.
Speaker 1: Sick lpg money where your mouth exactly. Yeah, I'll just
Speaker 1: argue and founder exactly, get all the people on board
Speaker 1: for that, exactly.
Speaker 4: I love doing the panel stuff. I think it's really
Speaker 4: important that women uplift other women, and especially with the
Speaker 4: movement of women's spot right now, it's just a really
Speaker 4: powerful group to be among. I love doing that kind
Speaker 4: of stuff. I love doing broadcasting. I'm loving the podcast
Speaker 4: with Kira. So yeah, I don't know. I kind of
Speaker 4: still fund on my feet in the broadcast space. Obviously,
Speaker 4: I'm so new to it, but I'm hoping that that
Speaker 4: will kind of lead into other things and hopefully get
Speaker 4: more eyes on women's golf. So yeah, I guess I'm
Speaker 4: just kind of figuring out in this space. What. I'm
Speaker 4: kind of gonna lean towards it the minute. I'm leaning
Speaker 4: towards everything, So I'm just doing It's a whole new challenge. Yeah,
Speaker 4: a whole new challenge, right, And so I still have
Speaker 4: that athlete mentality of like I want to be the best,
Speaker 4: want to be the best. Like, yeah, it's frustrating, but
Speaker 4: it's great because I'm so driven to make change and
Speaker 4: it's something that's extremely important to me. So yeah, I'm
Speaker 4: enjoying this new spaceman and this new way life and
Speaker 4: it's really exciting.
Speaker 1: Well, I, like I said, I believe in you to
Speaker 1: help make some change. So I look forward to seeing
Speaker 1: where you put your voice. I think the LPGA has
Speaker 1: a product that could really be great if it's just
Speaker 1: gets a little braver. It's all edgier. So thanks so
Speaker 1: much for giving me some time.
Speaker 4: No, I appreciate it. Thanks for honestly, thank you so
Speaker 4: much for having me on easy anytime, anytime. I like
Speaker 4: talking so did.
Speaker 1: Thanks again to Mel for taking the time and chatting
Speaker 1: with us. We have to take another break when we
Speaker 1: come back.
Speaker 4: I actra surprised they're wearing pants.
Speaker 1: Welcome back, slices. Let's tie a bow. On the one
Speaker 1: hundredth annual Scripts Spelling Bee, which is a sport in
Speaker 1: our book. Last year's runner up, Faisan Saki won this
Speaker 1: year's B by correctly spelling a clerci small.
Speaker 5: Let's hear it a E C L A I R
Speaker 5: C I S S E M E n T if
Speaker 5: that is correct.
Speaker 1: Zaki became just the fifth runner up in a century
Speaker 1: and the first since two thousand and one to come
Speaker 1: back and win a later B. His enthusiasm and his
Speaker 1: carefree approach nearly cost him the title, but after he won,
Speaker 1: he said, quote, I decided to have fun with this
Speaker 1: B and I did well, and here I am end quote,
Speaker 1: sort of following the footsteps of Simone Biles and USA
Speaker 1: Gymnastics in Paris. Stop stressing, just have fun and let
Speaker 1: the winds come. You love to see it. By the way,
Speaker 1: we got a couple more slices who shared the word
Speaker 1: they went out on as a kid. Amanda Valo went
Speaker 1: out on ghost, she forgot the H and Jane Burns
Speaker 1: got burned by roommate. But Burns quote redemption came with
Speaker 1: a victory in the Drake Journalism School Spelling Bee, and
Speaker 1: you bet I still have that little trophy. End quote, Jane,
Speaker 1: I want you to know I won the annual Tutoring
Speaker 1: Chicago Celebrity Benefit Spelling B two years ago, and my
Speaker 1: little B trophy is very prominently displayed and always will be.
Speaker 1: I really needed that after that whole aerial up in
Speaker 1: junior high. Oh and the trophy also came with a
Speaker 1: mug that reads I'm silently judging your spelling, which I love.
Speaker 1: We love that you're listening slices, but we want you
Speaker 1: to get in the game every day too. So here's
Speaker 1: our good game play of the day. If you want
Speaker 1: to pre order my book, today is officially the last
Speaker 1: day to do it. Why is that, Well, after today,
Speaker 1: it won't be a pre order, It'll just be an
Speaker 1: order because it comes out tomorrow.
Speaker 4: You guys.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited tonight. I'm actually having a fun launch
Speaker 1: event at my local bookstore, Volumes Book Cafe. And if
Speaker 1: you haven't ordered the book yet, maybe consider supporting a
Speaker 1: local independent bookstore in your neighborhood or another neighborhood. Because
Speaker 1: there's Powells in Portland, City Lights in San Francisco, the
Speaker 1: Strand in New York, the aforementioned Volumes in Chicago, or
Speaker 1: there's another Chicago fave, the fantastically feminist Women and Children
Speaker 1: First Bookstore. Fun fact that store actually inspired the bookstore
Speaker 1: on Portlandia called Women and Women First. You can order
Speaker 1: the book from the website for any of those spots,
Speaker 1: and then you make sure your cash goes to the beautiful, cozy,
Speaker 1: welcoming spaces that we all love to have on our
Speaker 1: street and in our neighborhoods. But you got a shop
Speaker 1: there to keep them on your street and in your neighborhoods.
Speaker 1: So go support them and me we'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you, so hit us up on email good game
Speaker 1: at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a voicemail at
Speaker 1: eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy, and don't
Speaker 1: forget to subscribe, rate and review. It's easy slices. Watch
Speaker 1: current softball players watching the NCAA Championship game from forty
Speaker 1: three years ago ten out of ten home runs review.
Speaker 1: Ahead of this year's Women's College World Series, NCUBLEA Softball
Speaker 1: put out a very fun video of current players watching
Speaker 1: video of the first ever nc DOUBLEA Championship softball game
Speaker 1: back in nineteen eighty two. UCLA won that game defeating
Speaker 1: Fresno State to nothing. But the biggest takeaway was that
Speaker 1: players in that era didn't wear helmets, and that's not
Speaker 1: the only thing that's changed. Take a listen.
Speaker 2: Nineteen eighty two NCAA Division One Women's Softball Championship.
Speaker 4: This is so retro.
Speaker 1: I actually love it. I've seen a lot of old
Speaker 1: UCLA games. I don't think I've seen this Fresno State.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, my mom played for them.
Speaker 2: Extra surprised they're wearing pants.
Speaker 4: I know, I was kind of expecting shorts.
Speaker 1: I like the headband. Wait, this is the game? Yeah, way,
Speaker 1: where's her helmet? Did don't wear helmets? No helmets is insane?
Speaker 4: Is that Debbie Doom on the mound?
Speaker 1: I think so? Yeah? I loved it. Oh wow, I
Speaker 1: mean the hair down is definitely like a winning choice.
Speaker 4: The uniforms I'm low Keychael.
Speaker 1: We'll link to the full highlight video in the show notes,
Speaker 1: and we really recommend you watch it. It's super fun.
Speaker 1: Now it's your turn rate and review, y'all. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: See you tomorrow. Good game, Mel, good game. Queer community.
Speaker 1: You to whichever company ripped up that contract in front
Speaker 1: of Mel Big Mistake, Big Huge, Good Game with Sarah
Speaker 1: Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with
Speaker 1: Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You could find us on
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are Alex Azie
Speaker 1: and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz,
Speaker 1: Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rutter,
Speaker 1: Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and Gianna Palmer. Our associate producer
Speaker 1: is Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain