April 18, 2025 • 41 mins
Briana Scurry, one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, joins Sarah to break down the battle for the USWNT’s No. 1 keeper job, shares the tough decision to pawn her Olympic medals after sustaining a career-ending concussion, and the importance of financial literacy in women’s sports. Plus, the PWHL Draft is heading north, the least competitive race of all time, and a Canadian icon makes Canadian history.
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Want a gymnastics refresher? Listen to Sarah’s interview with Trinity Thomas here
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USA Hockey’s broadcast schedule for Women’s Worlds can be found here and the full tournament schedule can be found here
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The NWSL schedule can be found here
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Get your 50% discounted virtual passes for the BOWS 2025 Summit here, using code Slices2025
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Watch Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce destroy the field at Parents Day here
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Send us questions about women’s hoops and the WNBA at goodgame@wondermedianetwork.com
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Follow Sarah on social! Bluesky: @sarahspain.com Instagram: @Spain2323
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Follow producer Misha Jones! Bluesky: @mishthejrnalist.bsky.social Instagram: @mishthejrnalist
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where the Price
of Eggs has us paint and potatoes for the Easter
hunt this weekend. The prices are too damn high. It's Friday,
April eighteenth, Happy Friday, Slices. On today's show, we'll be
chatting with US women's national team legend and two time
Olympic gold medalist Briana Scurry about the battle for the
new number one keeper on the national team. Briana breaks
(00:22):
down the player's head coach Emma Hayes has to choose
from talks about what separates the greats from the goods,
teaches me a thing or two about possession and shares
the financial literacy lessons she's passing on to the next
generation of footy phenoms. Plus, it's almost time to crown
some champs on the mat. The PWHL draft is headed
north of the border. And always remember, no matter where,
no matter when, Shelley and Fraser Price will will pure
(00:45):
ass in a race that's all coming up right after
this Welcome Backslices. Here's what you need to know today
in gymnastics News. On yesterday show, we got you ready
(01:06):
for the National Collegiate Women's Championship semi finals with Trinity Thomas.
But if you miss those last night, be sure you
tune into the National Championship tomorrow four on the floor,
as they call it, the final team competition, where the
four top teams compete for the national title. You can
catch the competition starting at four pm Eastern on ABC.
And if you need a refresher on who to look
out for and how to be a smarter viewer, go
(01:29):
back and listen to that interview with Trinity. We'll link
to it in our show notes. In NWSL news, Angel
City FC has found its new head coach Bayern Munich.
Alexander Strauss will depart Germany to join the undefeated LA
side on June first. His hiring completes a search that
began when the franchise fired previous coach Becky Tweed in December.
Strauss's run with Byron has been stellar after getting the
(01:52):
job there in twenty twenty two. His squads have won
back to back frown Bundesliga titles and they're currently in good.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Shape to earn a third.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
He'll take over an ACFC team sitting at fourth in
the NWSL standings. Speaking of the NWSL, there's a whole
lot of league action to look forward to tonight and tomorrow,
with seven games in total. Tonight kicks off with the
Chicago Stars at Utah Royals at nine thirty pm Eastern
on NWSL Plus, then the Portland Thorns at Seattle Rain
at ten pm Eastern on Prime Video, followed by a
(02:21):
Top five battle between Gotham FC and Angel CITYFC. That's
ten thirty Eastern back on NWSL Plus. Then on Saturday
there are four more games starting at two pm. We'll
link to the full NWSL schedule in our show notes
more pro soccer. The Northern Super League's first game was
storybook stuff you remember. Earlier this week, Canadian soccer legend
(02:41):
Christine Sinclair was on the show gushing over her former
NWSL opponent and Team Canada teammate Quinn about them joining
the NFL and their potential to be the face of
the league. Well, Quinn lived up to the hype, scoring
the first goal in NFL history via a penalty kick
in the twenty first minute on Wednesday night at BC Place.
That score proved to be the difference as their Vancouver
(03:02):
Rise FC side took a one nil victory over Calgary
wild FC just feels right to have a Canadian legend
go down in the record books with the first ever tally.
The NFL continues its inaugural weekend tomorrow as AFC Toronto
takes on Montreal Ross FC at four pm Eastern.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
You could stream that on ESPN Plus.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
In International Hockey News, Team USA cruised past Germany three
not then yesterday to punch a ticket to the semifinals
of the Women's World Championship. Kelly Panic, Lacey Eden, and
Alex Carpenter each put one in the back of the
net for the Stars and Stripes in the victory. Hillary
Knight assisted on Carpenter's score, raising her World Championship record
assist tally to fifty one. The semi finals are tomorrow.
(03:44):
As of this recording, we don't yet know the game
the US will be playing in, so we'll link to
the full schedule in the show notes. That game will
be on NHL Network. In Pro Hockey News, the PWHL
Draft is headed to Ottawa. The league made the announcement
earlier this week, bringing the festivities back to Canada, where
the inaugur ol draft took place in twenty twenty three.
The draft will be at the city soon to be
opened hard Rock Hotel on June twenty fourth, and players
(04:06):
have until May eighth to declare and become eligible for selection.
You might remember us mentioning the PWHL's Gold Plan their
effort to deter tanking.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Here's a refresher. So the draft order has.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Decided based on how many points a team earns after
being mathematically eliminated from the postseason. So once a team
gets bounced, they've got to keep trying and earning points
if they want to snag the number one pick. This
discourages squads from tanking toward the end of the season.
Looking at you, MNBA in hoops, the WNBA Players Association
and AFLAC have renewed their partnership and as a result,
(04:39):
this year's All Star Weekend winners will walk away with
more dough in their pockets thanks to the insurance Company's contribution.
The victor of the three Point contest at the Indiana
Fever's Gainbridge field House in July will receive sixty thousand bucks,
and the Skills Challenge winner will get fifty five thousand.
That brings the total prize money to one hundred and
fifteen thousand dollars, up from one hundred ti ten thousand
(05:00):
last season. These earnings now equal the hall that MNBA
players bring in for the same events at their All
Star break per their league CBA. Speaking about the deal,
WNBPA president Neka Ogumakay said, the move is quote not
just about the rewards. It's about building a future where
our value is undeniable.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
End quote. Well we hear a good game, never denied it.
Go get that money. Honeys slices. Listen up. We have
a special offer for you.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
So Next Tuesday, April twenty second is the Business of
Women's Sports Summit in New York City. This event is
put on by Laura Currenti and Deep Blue Sports. You
might remember them as one half of the partnership with
iHeart that created this whole iHeart Women's Sports Network. And
you can watch the event via live stream and using
the slices twenty twenty five code will give you fifty
(05:48):
percent off those virtual passes to watch online.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
This lineup is so worth your time. Let me just
give you a couple names.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Chelsea Clinton, Azy Fudd, Sue Brd, Meghan Rapino, Flage Johnson,
Lauren Betts, aj Andrews Kerrey Champion, Ari Chambers, Kia Clark,
Allison Felix, Lori Hernandez, Olivia Miles, Monica McNutt, Renee Stubs,
Briana Scurry, Yours truly and so many more. So had
to Bose twenty twenty five. Dot splash that dot com
and use the code slices twenty twenty five. For the discount,
(06:19):
we will put the link in our show notes. It's
Bows twenty twenty five. Dot splash that dot com. You
can fine it in our show notes and use the
code slices twenty twenty five. Also a quick note about
the WNBA draft and outfit changes. Shout out to Slice
jen Ford for reminding me that Rakia Jackson was the
og fit change artist at the WNBA draft. So if
(06:41):
you remember during our draft reaction show, Aaron Foley and
I couldn't remember if anyone before Page Beckers had done
the change up from the carpet to the stage, and
of course it was miss Orange Carpet herself, Rakia Jackson.
Just one year earlier, she swapped out a redfit for
a silver one midway through the draft, both designed by
Tasha hartzog No wonder they put her in charge of
(07:01):
Orange carpet interviews this year, So thank you Jen and
Yes pagebackers and Rikia Jackson. We got to take a
quick break when we come back. My conversation with US
women's national team legend Brianna Scurry, and uh, one.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Thing before we jump in.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
So early on in the interview with Brianna, I admit
to a shortcoming. I admit that I just realized she
only has one en in her name, not two, and
I've been spelling it wrong all this time. But then
I start patting myself on the back for at least
saying her name right, if not spelling it right. You know,
she's always called Brianna Scurry, and I know that's not right.
But the problem is, guys, apparently the version I was
(07:41):
using for most of the interview Brianna Scurry also is
not right. So I said, right too, Brianna, at least
I'm saying your name right, and like, I get points
for that, and then proceed to say Brianna the whole
damn interview. And you know what, I tried to at
least come up with an excuse. It's like, oh, maybe
it's like Chicago is coming out, but that's not it,
(08:05):
I just lock it up. And the thing is, she
doesn't even correct me, and I feel like it must
be at this point, She's like, listen, I'm too tired
of this like to even correct you anymore.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I'm too tired to correct people anymore.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I'm just gonna let you take false credit for getting
it right like a chump and not even say anything.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
I guess my point is stay humble, y'all, because the
learning never stops even while you're midway through congratulating yourself.
So sorry, Briana, I got it now, Bryanna scurry, I
got it.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I promise all right.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
That interview with Briana is next back in a second
joining US now one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time.
A two time Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion,
(08:55):
she played for the US women's national team from nineteen
ninety four to two thousand and eight, competing in four
World Cups and three Olympics, including starting and playing in
every minute of the team's five matches of their gold
medal winning run at the ninety six Olympic Games and
playing every minute of their triumphant ninety nine World Cup run.
Her career total of one hundred and seventy three international
appearances is the second most among female soccer goalkeepers and
(09:15):
the fifteenth most of any American female player. She was
a founding player for the Atlanta Beat of the WUSA,
was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in
twenty seventeen, and wrote a memoir, My Greatest Save. She's
been a coach, gm owner, and analyst. And she appeared
as herself an air Bud World. Pop It's Brianna Scurry, Hi, Brianna.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Hello, how are you?
Speaker 4 (09:35):
That's that was one of the most fantastic intros I've
heard in a long time.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Great, I need to watch I need to watch Air
Bud World.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
You totally need to watch.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
That's how the young is that The only way the
little kids know about me is if they saw me
the air Bud movie.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Well, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I last saw you, No Big Deal at the Vice
President's house in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Oh, Yes, okay, just no, biggie.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
You were signing your name to the guestbook with your number,
and other people like, oh, should I write my number?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
I'm like, only if you're Briana Scurry, Like, what do
you mean? You're junior high number.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
No, I.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
I have to ask the most important question first, What
happens more often your name is misspelled or mispronounced?
Speaker 4 (10:15):
Mispronounced almost every single time?
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Yeah, yeah, it's okay.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah, I have to admit I've been misspelling it for
most of the time. I thought there were two ends,
but I've been saying it right.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
So I do get points for that.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
But you can take points for that.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I take one end. Where have I been? At least
I've been saying it right.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Okay, So it's it's a great time to have you
on to talk about the US women's national team. They
are currently looking for their next Briana Scurry. Not that
that's easy to find, but they are looking, and after
passing of the baton from you to Hope Solo to
a Lissa they air the team is really on the
hunt for a keeper and without a true number one,
clear number one for the first time in a really
long time. So I want to talk about some of
(10:57):
the players in the mix and what Emma Hayes is
looking for. But I want you to educate us a
little first. I think the average soccer player is pretty
adept at watching shot stopping. We can understand a great save,
we can understand a mist save that probably.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Should have been made. What else should we be watching
for with these keepers to help us sort of understand
their role in the larger style and strategy of a
team and whether they're great or not.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
I think one of the nuances you need to watch
for is something that most people don't even think about,
and that's communication with their back line, in particular the
central defenders. So Tmusa often plays with the four back
and so the two central defenders are really vital to
defending because if the goalkeeper is not communicating with them
(11:42):
vocally and directly, and you know that they're understanding her,
then weird stuff happens. I mean, the untrained eye may
not be able to tell if it was a communication
error that caused something, but I can. So what I
would say is one of the most important things other
than the shot stopping, obviously is important, is a communication
(12:03):
because what ends up happening is if you have bad communication,
you end up with way more shots, right, which is
not good?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, yeah, fewer shots, fewer goals usually not always.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
There's a great story from ESPN's Jeff Kasoof, writing about
the battle for this keeper position, and in it he
says that Emma Hayes has said on many occasions she
expects their keeper to be comfortable on the ball to
help the Usman's national team possess in deeper spaces.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Can you explain what that means?
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Yes, So, when you have possession of the ball in
your defensive end or on a free kick such as
a goalkick, Emma wants the goalkeeper to be able to
be part of that possession triangle or that possession stance.
Not just a goalkeeper that kicks the ball forward and
out of the danger zone. She wants the goalkeeper to
be positioned well so that she can get the ball
(12:58):
at her feet and redistribute as well. So if you
have the goalkeeper that can do that well, then you
always have numbers up in the back.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Got it.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
So on the ball means playing on the ball like
a field player, yes, picking it up and kicking or not.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Redistributing that position, yes, yes, to receive the ball and
to get us get the team out of danger if
there's pressure on one side or the other.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I mean, that's certainly something we notice, is which teams
are able to go back and forth to their keeper
and really incorporate it to reset a play versus when
it feels like it's the last resort. And there's certainly
some very when you're younger in soccer, they're like, never
kick it toward your own goal, and when you get
older you have to actually use that to help set
things up. Okay, So Jane Campbell is one of the
(13:42):
only two players vuying for the job who has major
tournament experience, but it's not much. She was an alternate
a last year's Olympics. She plays for the Houston Dash,
which is attempting to build an identity as a possession
oriented team.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
How does that.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Style fit with what you just told us with Hayes
wanting a keeper who can be a part of that
and be on the ball.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Well, for Campbell, it's a great advantage. I mean, she's
going to be working on that daily with her team
and so she'll have a better understanding. Not only that,
but she'll also have a lot more confidence in being
able to command that presence that you need to have
in the back as a as a goalkeeper who can
use her feet incredibly well. I've always liked Jane Campbell.
(14:22):
She's fantastic, But what I fear is the fact that
she does have to make so many saves in a game.
It is truly a mountain of saves that she has
to make. I don't know if that's from a lack
of quality from her club team, her defense, or if
it's a lack of communication on her part to her backs.
(14:44):
Like I said earlier, like she has a lot of
emergency situations on her team, and that's usually not a
good thing. And unfortunately the Dash, you know, they struggle
a little bit throughout the seasons. But she has a
great advantage on a team that won't strug, which is
the national team, to be able to be comfortable on
(15:04):
the ball.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, so when it's a possession oriented team, they want
to control and be tactical in their approach, but often
push up toward the opposing team's goal. That's different in
the sense of teams that maybe are trying to rely
more on one or two players that are just really
fast or really skilled, where then they're not worrying as much,
or they're not maybe able to depend on their whole
team to set things up.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
They have to take more chances.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
That's kind of the difference between a possion oriented team
and another team.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Yes, that is definitely the difference between the two.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
Also, in the course of a game, if you're a
possession oriented team, you're letting the ball do the work
as opposed to your individual players doing the work.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
And what you're also doing is.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
You're moving that opposing team, that opponent around the pitch
at will. You're shifting them from one side to the other,
which then opens up that potential for that fourward two
streak through there somehow, you know, make a diving run
or a slice run through the back. And so if
you're a team that can say, you know, have a
(16:04):
slower tempo and then spring the attack, which is what
that's called, you you can do that more easily as
a team that possesses the ball versus a team who
has just a lot of raw talent and it's expecting
there forwards to truly make make something happen. Over the
course of a game, the possession orientation team will most
(16:25):
likely win and do.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Better right because they're tiring out the opponent who's running around,
whereas their tactical and pinpointed passes are moving the ball
up without them having to be the ones making those runs.
Let's talk about some of the other keepers in the mix.
So besides Campbell, there's Utah's Mandy McGlenn, Manchester United's Fallin
Tellus Joyce, North Carolina's Casey Murphy, and then Angel Cities
Angelina Anderson. Murphy is the only other player besides Campbell
(16:49):
with major tournament experience. She has the most twenty eight
years old, She's got twenty caps. She was the backup
keeper for last year's Olympics and the twenty twenty three
World Cup, so most experienced, but she has not received
a call up twenty twenty five. Do you think that
is Emma giving others a chance or do you think
the window has closed a bit on Murphy as being
a viable contender for the spot.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
I have really thought about this because I also noticed
that she hadn't gotten called up at all this year yet,
and so part of me is wondering if Emma's seeing
something in her form that she's not exactly loving, or
she is, you know, just trying to give other people
a chance. At this point, I would say that it
(17:30):
might be she's not in favor with Emma and she's
looking for someone who has a little bit more of
maybe a presence in the back like Jane Campbell does
with her feet, and so in that case, you know,
Campbell might have catapulted over Murphy in the in the
lineup because she was actually in front of her when
(17:52):
Emma came in. Came in, Murphy was number two and
Campbell was three or four. And now it seems like
the reverse has happened, and I feel like maybe Emma
just doesn't have the same feeling about Murphy as she
does with Campbell.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Now, the Courage are the most possession oriented team in
the league, so you would think that Murphy would be
best suited to the style Emma's looking for. Is there
something about her game that you think just might not
be a fit.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Well, you you definitely want to do your number one thing,
which innimbus case is possessed the ball. But if she
sees a dramatic difference in between her shot stopping abilities
versus another goalkeeper's shot stopping abilities and her ball her ballwork,
it could be too big of a mountain too to overcome.
She might be the best with the ball at her feet,
(18:40):
but if her shot stopping is dramatically, you know, lower
in quality than another goalkeeper. Then that's going to hinder
her a little bit. But it's hard to say because Emma,
you know, she keeps her keeps her car close to
the vest, and you just don't know what she's what
she's doing, and she doesn't always tell you, which is great,
so we're left to try to figure out what would
(19:01):
exactly her cards read. But she's doing a lot of
different things and she has time. That's the nice thing
also about it.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
She has time.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Yeah, with a particular time or in the international window
with the Olympics and World Cup, it's a great time
for her to be looking. Thank you, Alyssena or for
timing this well. Mandy McGlenn had a thrilling goalkeeper assist
on opening weekend that caught people's attention. We got very
excited about how they were using her in that play.
But Hayes has said she needs to work on reading
(19:28):
the game in possession and knowing when to play short
or go long. What have you seen from McGlynn.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I've seen a lot of talent.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
I've seen a lot of potential and for me with
the goalkeeping, a lot of it has to do with
the potential of that player. Can that player grow their
way into the position. Does a coach feel confident that
they want to put the time in to her in
order for her to come along, because when you come
into an environment like the national team, it forges, you know,
(19:56):
into a champion. You can't you can't help but have
that be the case, and if you don't have the
goods coming in, then it's going to be difficult. And
I think Emma definitely sees some potential in her and
we'll see, because it's sometimes the popcorn doesn't pop, you
know what I mean, And.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
You don't know that in the beginning.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
And so for me, the best you know, indicator of
a high quality goalkeeper, you really can't tell until the
actual tournament starts, when the heat is on, Yes, exactly
and at its.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Highest, Yeah, fallon tell us Joyce earning a lot of
excitement and praise. But Hayes had the same feedback as
she did about McGlenn knowing when to possess, not playing
the ball too long too often, but also said that's
sort of inevitable in a debut, you're kind of just
wanting to get it the hell away from you.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Was off exactly, a little nervous, You're like, get away,
not over your house is on fire, tell us. Joyce
a little bit of a late bloomer. She's twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
She just got her first call up to camp last November,
but she has made some spectacular plays. Her nickname is
the octopus because of her marine biology background.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
She likes to do diving.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
But also after that double save we just saw from
her last week, it has a double meeting.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
It looks like she's got eight arms and legs out there.
What have you seen from her?
Speaker 4 (21:13):
You're absolutely right, she is the octopus out there. I've
seen her make some saves that are absolutely outstanding in
league play, and it is great that she's not getting
her opportunity. I feel like maybe before Emma came in,
there wasn't any really any real room for her to
crack into that group, and now she's been able to
do it because you know, Emma's trying a lot of
different things now, so now is her chance to shine.
(21:36):
So if she can come along really quickly with the
ball at her feet and show that she's more comfortable,
then I think she'll be able to stay.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
And the longer she gets to stay.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
The more potential she has to, you know, evolve and develop,
and I feel like for the goalkeeping crew, I mean,
that's a big shoes.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
To fill for any funny.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
I mean, the history of the national team goalkeepers is
all hall of famers.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
So yeah, no big deal. That's the thing.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Right, So what I would say to these young ones
that Emma's talking about the ability to know when to
play far and long and when to keep possession. It
really comes down to confidence, it really does. And so
if you can just even if your heart is like
fluttering like crazy and you're like, you know, I want
to kick it, get kick a wide or kick it far.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Just fight, fight against that feeling.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
And just try to see if you can, if you
can manage it, and then and try to do what
coach says, because you know, if you can, you'll find
yourself on the team.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Well, I think confidence and communication and connection which will
only come when they finally decide who it is and
that person gets a lot of reps with their back line,
with their defenders, with the folks that they need to
have confidence in along with themselves. Right, because you can
have a lot of confidence in yourself and then tee
up the wrong players in spots that aren't good for
them or that expose their weaknesses. Angela Anderson finally she
(22:56):
got called up as a training camp player for the
national team, you know. In interestingly, she kind of sat
back in her rookie season in the NWSL with angel City,
then got an opportunity to start, then got replaced again.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Now she's back playing.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So she's been in and out sort of like actually
with Valentelli's Joyce, Right, Valentelli's Joyce might end up being
the best one of the bunch, but was behind Mary
ERPs for so long we just didn't quite know what
you had. Maybe Angelina Anderson just needs a little more time.
She's kind of like on the outskirts of this group
because she's just a training camp player.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
But have you seen anything from her you like I do.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
I see that she's got great potential as well. I
see that she understands the game, but I really, for me,
there's a little bit of a psychological edge to her.
So if she can come in and really make the
most of the opportunity and grab it by the horns
and really go for it, like tellus Joyce did her
last game, I feel like.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
She's in the mix as well.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
I mean, because if you're continuing to get invited into
the camp, and you can perform well at every session,
which is hard to do.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
It's hard to go from peak to peak.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
But if you can do that as a young goalkeeper,
then there's no telling how long your runway could be.
And so, you know, I feel like all of these
young keepers have a great advantage over say Campbell or
Murphy because they're just coming in and they're unaware, and
they're out there just doing their thing, and they're not
worried about the past or what has come before them
(24:23):
as much as maybe some of the older goalkeepers are.
But Anderson's definitely got a lot of potential there. She
can easily come along and do what Emma's asking her
to do. I have full confidence in her because as
a goalkeeper who is in and out, in the in
and out, that's a psychological tell if you're able to
handle that. So she's got the mentality, she just needs
(24:45):
to show it in her inner game. When Emma's watching.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I hear dog over there?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Are they they want to be a part of the interviewer,
tell us the name, tell us the kind.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Her name is Mazie.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
She is a one year old Nova Scoti duck Tolling
retriever sure which is able common breed.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
We all are very familiar with sure Nova Scotia duck Tolling. All.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Yeah, she's gorgeous. She's absolutely amazing, but she is a
little temperamental. She doesn't like when mommy is in her
office and she's not Misha.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Alex, what do you think should we toss her? Or
be okay?
Speaker 4 (25:22):
With a couple of footprints, you would love to toss
the doggie.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I got to the doggie red card, red card. Now
that we have tossed the dog to do, as Alex
put it, a dog zoe at denying an obvious goal
scoring opportunity. That's what your dog was doing with this podcast.
You know, you mentioned Emma keeping her cards close to
the vest, and while that certainly means that those of
us who are media have lots of questions about what's
(25:48):
on her mind, do you have a sense of how
much she actually communicates for thoughts and expectations to the players,
specifically these potential keepers, or how much they also feel
like they're sort of left to wonder.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
From what I know of Emma, I've known her for
a long time, I'm actually thrilled that she got this job.
So I was like hopping up and down when she
came in because I knew her style and her her
personality would really be a great advantage to the team.
I feel like she's probably talking to them. I mean,
I think she's a very vocal coach. She's communicative with
her players, and she has been in the past and
(26:22):
she is now. And I feel like she's letting them
know where they stand, which as a player is all
you really can ask for, right, I mean, if you
if you understand what the coaches is expecting of you
and is demanding of you, then you can you can
deliver it. So I'm sure she's letting them know, especially
the younger ones, because you know, it's a it's a
(26:42):
deep it's a deep into the pool, getting tossed in
the camp and at a time like this, and it's
really really can be psychologically, you know, stressful. So I
think having communication, she's she's good about that.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
And I think you can also tell players here's what
I'm looking for, here's what I want, and also we
are I'll understand that there's some bit of magic, there's
the eye test, some subjective feeling about a player that
might be willing and able to step up in those moments. So, yes,
this is what I want, but it's not going to
come down to do I had eight of those and
she had seven, so clearly it's me right. But those
(27:15):
lines of communication do, I think make the psychological side
of it easier because you just do your best to
meet the expectations of what they want and that's all
you can do.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Absolutely So, besides just.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Now in this moment becoming our go to analyst on
the battle for the number one keeper on the US
coland national team, you also.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Do other things.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
You're very busy with your own work, and you actually
recently signed on as an ambassador for Gainbridge. Can you
tell us a bit about this partnership and what you're
going to do together.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Absolutely, I'm really excited about this partnership with Gamebridge, and
in part because my journey through finance has been a
very interesting one and this gives me the opportunity to
talk about it more So. Gamebridge is trying to accomplish
is they're trying to obviously fund more women's sports, not
only soccer, but basketball, tennis, golf, all over the book,
(28:03):
all over the globe for women's sports, and so I'm
just feeling really really excited and very honored to be
the soccer representation of the Ambassadorship because, you know, athletes,
in particular female athletes, A their windows are shorter and
B their income is less over time, and so understanding
(28:25):
finances and getting an understanding and a feeling for for
you know, finances is really important. It's something that I
didn't necessarily understand when I was playing. So I feel
like I'm one of a perfect example to help game
Bridge spread the word throughout this country for female athletes
to understand the importance of having financial aptitude, and game
(28:46):
Bridges really helped me with that already.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, you're going to host clinics, help with the opportunities
for women and girls to play, and then empower women
to reach their financial goals, which, to your point, is
something that I think. It's it's funny because it's almost
like men's sports when they have millions and millions, you're like, yeah,
you need a financial advisor because you got to not
you know, blow it all. At the same time, they
have millions and millions of dollars, there's a little bit
of room for error there, whereas on the women's side.
(29:09):
We you know, when I was in the ownership side
of the Red Stars, we were working really hard to
try to set up these like financial literacy meetings, and
we ran into some issues with who's the sponsor and
if it's not our sponsor, we can't do it with
the other banks. And it's like, Okay, we just want
the players to get to have some conversations about this
stuff and help them with this. But you know, financial
literacy is particularly of interest to you, and you mentioned
this because you had some real financial hardship after the
(29:33):
concussion that ended your career. You retired suddenly without planning
ahead for it. Because of the concussion in twenty ten,
you had headaches and neck pain, insomnia, depression, memory loss.
It really sidelined you from everything in life, not just soccer.
You eventually had to get occipital nerve surgery and it
was this very, very long journey for you that ultimately
(29:54):
resulted in financial issues as well. Can you talk a
little bit about that. I know it's something you've written
about in your book and spoken about, but it does
make you sort of really well qualified to speak to
people about these unexpected moments and how they can affect
more than just your dreams as an athlete.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
That My my financial journey is one for the books,
if you will. And it's been up and down, you know,
all over the place. And that particular time after that
head injury, you know, the last thing I was thinking
about at the time was my money and my finances.
I was just thinking more about trying to get better
and how I would do that. And so because I
was declared temporarily totally disabled, I couldn't work. And so
(30:33):
it got to a point where, because the funding was
running low on on the on the checks I was
getting from from the insurance company, I was really struggling
because I really couldn't work.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
And so for me, the only thing of.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Value that I had at the time were my medals,
and so I made their really difficult and very very
you know, hard to hard to fathom decision of pawning
them because at the end of the day, I had
bills to pay, and so I had to do it.
And it pained me so much to do that, but
I was actually, you know, I felt I had no
(31:10):
other choice, and so I did that.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
But I did eventually.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Get them back within a rather relatively short amount of time,
and I have them today. But you know what, that
that journey, that experience has really made me more focused
on finances for myself and and and over time. How athletes,
in particular female athletes, a lot of times the athlete
(31:35):
doesn't think about tomorrow or after their career when they're
in it. It's almost like it's a taboo thing to do.
Like if I'm thinking about after my career, I'm gonna,
you know, my presence somehow exactly thinks yourself. And I'm
here to with Gamebridge to try to you know, the
spell that myth that your your athletic window.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Your game window is only.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
So big, so long, several years and if you're lucky,
it's ten years, but your life after is orders of
magnitude more So, let's be logical about that and bring
that thinking into the present. And I think Gamebridge is
going to really help me reach all these young ladies
who are playing sports and help them understand that I.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Want to ask you a personal question. You can answer
with whatever detail or blow me off entirely. But I'm
sort of fascinated by people's ingrained messaging around money. I
think if you grow up and you have a family,
whether you're rich or poor or somewhere in between, that
always says, we always find a way. Your approach is that,
And if you have a family that is very tight
(32:42):
with money, or is always worried about losing it, or
goes through these big ups and downs, you tend to
have that approach even in times of abundance. Do you
have that understanding of your relationship with finances from young
through to now, because you've said it's gone up and down,
do you tend to have the same attitude of all
work out or oh my god, regardless of other things
(33:03):
are good or bad.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
I love this question. It's so interesting.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
So I know from understanding psychology and sociology and economics
and all of that that my belief systems around money
came from my family and my parents, and so in
my household when I was younger, money was burning a
hole in your pocket basically, So the thought was, you know,
(33:30):
once you had some money, you had to figure out
how to spend it. There wasn't a lot of conversation
around how to save it. And so over time I
adopted a similar mentality because that's what I was taught,
and it wasn't until you know, in my early adulthood
that I realized that I needed to try to do
the opposite of burning it all and letting it burn
(33:51):
a hole in my in my pocket and try to
save some And so, yes, I definitely feel like you
understand what you're taught from an early time in your life,
and what I think what people need to do with
those belief systems that no longer suit them, especially around finances,
is they have to leave them there and get rid
of them and make new ones. And so it's always
(34:13):
a better thing to understand your belief systems and examine
them to see if they still suit you or not.
And so for me now, saving is very important obviously
making connections and delivering great value to people, so that
I know the dollars I earn are have been earned
(34:33):
by me and that I am worthy of them, and
that I am also as an African American woman, I'm
worthy of having wealth. And it took me a long
time to understand that and to even believe that, because
in society there's not a whole lot of examples of that.
And I want to try to try to be one
as much as I can and go forth and try
(34:54):
to explain to young ladies that your money is your
responsibility and in order to wield that power, you have
to understand understand the power, and so hopefully I'll help
them help them realize that.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Yeah, I've mentioned I have this book coming out June third,
and there's a lot of stuff in it about emotional
DNA and the language and messaging that we inherit and
then can decide with intention to pass on or that
it no longer suits us.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
And it really is a powerful tool to be.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Able to understand how that's leading your decision making subconsciously
and then to decide that doesn't apply to me anymore.
Or maybe that worked for my grandparents and it serves
some role in the life that they were in.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
But today and right now, it is not a.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Useful like line to keep repeating in my head about
whatever it is, money or otherwise. So I love that
you're understanding of all that stuff and you know all
the psychology behind it, because it is so important, and
especially as a female athlete, you cannot be like, this
money's burning a hole in my pocket.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Let me go ahead get rid of it, cuz exactly.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Yeah, you know, you've also talked about concussion research and
you've testified it front of Congress about it. Are there
measures that you would like to see embraced by US
soccer or the larger global soccer forces as immediately as possible.
Do you think we're behind on figuring out.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
I do think we're behind, And what I would love
to see on a global scale in soccer is more
research dollars being poured into testing and figuring out the
statistics for women, in particular women women footballers. Most of
the research and most of the information that we have
the body of work is essentially around men, and even
(36:34):
more narrow is around NFL football players and how they
you know, how they evolved in how their brains have
changed over the course of having a bunch of hits.
But in soccer, people say it's non contact, but I
beg to differ. You know, there's a lot of collisions
that happen, and now the research is showing that, you know,
many many concussions happen, you know, but potentially by the
(36:57):
by the dozens, if not by the hundreds.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
And everything else.
Speaker 4 (37:01):
Absolutely, and just like you know, going into a tackle
hard and maybe your neck moves a little bit fast,
or somebody just barely nicks you and you're not ready,
and you're changing direction. Your brain is sloshing around in
your skull all the time, and so it becomes impaired
over time.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
It's that repetitiveness that's the issue.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
And if the soccer community can put more information and
more research into how this affects female footballers over the
course of the years, then it would be more safe
in the future for not only men, but also for
women as well.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
I'm glad Michelle Kang's donation is in part going to
that kind of research. For newest and latest partnership with
US Soccer will be about studying, you know, women athletes
and the bodies of women. I mean, we know men's
brains are smaller at science, so obviously they're going to
interact differently with just so little reverse anchorman. Okay, got
to let you go, but I have to ask you
(37:56):
just last thing. What do you do for joy these days?
What's your happy place or your happy activity?
Speaker 4 (38:01):
Well, one of the things I do for joy as
of late in the last year is my little puppy.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Yeah, amazing, she's amazing, she really is. I love her.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
She's dear to me. But also what I do for
joy is I really continue to be physical. So I
like to lift, I like to go for walks, you know,
I like to do things like that. And then also
i'm a mom. Now, I'm a bonus mom. I got
two amazing step children, and trying on the mom's shoes
(38:30):
is one of my favorite hobbies since it has They're
twenty two and eighteen.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Okay, okay, you got them at a decent age, right, Yes,
the damage is done, you take it exactly.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
I'm just trying to fine tune things. I'm just trying to,
you know, polish and provide clarity where I can.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
How new is this with your partner wife?
Speaker 3 (38:51):
Yes? My wife? Yes?
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Okay, you made it legal. Okay. How long have you
been a bonus mom?
Speaker 4 (38:56):
I've been a bonus mom for going on seven years now,
to be seven years in June, and so I'm.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Still learning enough to have some authority.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Absolutely to be more fun anyway.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Yeah, no, now you got to be Now, you gotta
be bad cops sometimes too. You don't exactly the one
that takes them out, you know, for Candy.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
When Mom's gone.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Well, Brian, it's so great to talk to you always,
and I feel so much more informed about this keeper battle.
I'm just really even more excited to watch all these
different players try to make their run for it.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
I don't know why, but the octopus is leading the
way for me.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
I just I like the idea of someone with a
great nickname taken over for uncle, Uncle nayor.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Thank you so much for the time.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
We really appreciate it absolutely, thanks for having me appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Thanks so much to Briana for joining us.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
We have to take another break when we come back
and Olympian faces some less than stiff competition.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Welcome back, Slices.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
We always love that you're listening, but we want you
to get game every day too, So here's our good
gameplay of the day. They're so nice, we got to
promote them twice. Tune into the National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics
Championship tomorrow four pm Eastern on ABC and get your
second screen ready because you also got to watch game
two of the Northern Super League AFC Toronto and Montreal
Roses FC. That's also at four pm Eastern. You can
(40:20):
catch that on ESPN.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Plus.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
We always love to hear from you, so hit us
up on email. Good game at wondermedianetwork dot com and
don't forget. We're still looking for questions about the WNBA
and women's soups as we approach that season, so keep
them coming and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
It's easy.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
Watch three time Olympic gold medalist Shelley and Fraser Price
competing in the Parents' Day race at her son's Ion School,
rating ten out of ten.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Lol's review.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
One week after announcing that she's not retired, she'll race
one final season this year. Jamaican sprinter Shelley and Fraser
Price stepped to the starting line on Wednesday for a
very important race, the one against the other parents at
her son's school. We'll link to the video in our
show notes so you can watch it for yourself, but
just picture this. The race starts and almost immediately Shelley
(41:07):
Anne is the only person still in the frame. The
other parents are trailing so far behind, and then she
literally runs out of the frame.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
The drone filming cannot keep up.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
Quick reminder here, so Fraser Price is the third fastest
woman of all time, winning gold in one hundred meters
at both the twenty eight and twenty twelve Olympics. She's
a ten time world champion, and she originally said she
planned to retire after the twenty twenty four Paris Olympics,
but last week she posted a video on Instagram with
the headline unfinished Business to signify her return to the track.
(41:37):
Safe to say, if she races like she did at
Zion's Parents' Day, she has a few more ws coming
her way this season. Also, this wasn't the first time
she was competing at Parents' Day. There's video of the
last time too, and on Instagram she wrote quote, they
haven't banned me yet, so I'm at the line.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
It's so good. You gotta watch. Okay, now it's your turn.
Please rate and review. Go give us five stars, say
something nice.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Thanks for listening, y'all. See you next week. Good game, Briana,
Good game, Quinn. You confidently mispronouncing something over and over
and over again. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an
iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,
(42:19):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by
Wonder Media Network, our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones.
Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan
and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez
and Grace Lynch. Our associate producer is Lucy Jones and
I'm Your Host Sarah Spain
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where the Price
of Eggs has us paint and potatoes for the Easter
hunt this weekend. The prices are too damn high. It's Friday,
April eighteenth, Happy Friday, Slices. On today's show, we'll be
chatting with US women's national team legend and two time
Olympic gold medalist Briana Scurry about the battle for the
new number one keeper on the national team. Briana breaks
(00:22):
down the player's head coach Emma Hayes has to choose
from talks about what separates the greats from the goods,
teaches me a thing or two about possession and shares
the financial literacy lessons she's passing on to the next
generation of footy phenoms. Plus, it's almost time to crown
some champs on the mat. The PWHL draft is headed
north of the border. And always remember, no matter where,
no matter when, Shelley and Fraser Price will will pure
(00:45):
ass in a race that's all coming up right after
this Welcome Backslices. Here's what you need to know today
in gymnastics News. On yesterday show, we got you ready
(01:06):
for the National Collegiate Women's Championship semi finals with Trinity Thomas.
But if you miss those last night, be sure you
tune into the National Championship tomorrow four on the floor,
as they call it, the final team competition, where the
four top teams compete for the national title. You can
catch the competition starting at four pm Eastern on ABC.
And if you need a refresher on who to look
out for and how to be a smarter viewer, go
(01:29):
back and listen to that interview with Trinity. We'll link
to it in our show notes. In NWSL news, Angel
City FC has found its new head coach Bayern Munich.
Alexander Strauss will depart Germany to join the undefeated LA
side on June first. His hiring completes a search that
began when the franchise fired previous coach Becky Tweed in December.
Strauss's run with Byron has been stellar after getting the
(01:52):
job there in twenty twenty two. His squads have won
back to back frown Bundesliga titles and they're currently in good.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Shape to earn a third.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
He'll take over an ACFC team sitting at fourth in
the NWSL standings. Speaking of the NWSL, there's a whole
lot of league action to look forward to tonight and tomorrow,
with seven games in total. Tonight kicks off with the
Chicago Stars at Utah Royals at nine thirty pm Eastern
on NWSL Plus, then the Portland Thorns at Seattle Rain
at ten pm Eastern on Prime Video, followed by a
(02:21):
Top five battle between Gotham FC and Angel CITYFC. That's
ten thirty Eastern back on NWSL Plus. Then on Saturday
there are four more games starting at two pm. We'll
link to the full NWSL schedule in our show notes
more pro soccer. The Northern Super League's first game was
storybook stuff you remember. Earlier this week, Canadian soccer legend
(02:41):
Christine Sinclair was on the show gushing over her former
NWSL opponent and Team Canada teammate Quinn about them joining
the NFL and their potential to be the face of
the league. Well, Quinn lived up to the hype, scoring
the first goal in NFL history via a penalty kick
in the twenty first minute on Wednesday night at BC Place.
That score proved to be the difference as their Vancouver
(03:02):
Rise FC side took a one nil victory over Calgary
wild FC just feels right to have a Canadian legend
go down in the record books with the first ever tally.
The NFL continues its inaugural weekend tomorrow as AFC Toronto
takes on Montreal Ross FC at four pm Eastern.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
You could stream that on ESPN Plus.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
In International Hockey News, Team USA cruised past Germany three
not then yesterday to punch a ticket to the semifinals
of the Women's World Championship. Kelly Panic, Lacey Eden, and
Alex Carpenter each put one in the back of the
net for the Stars and Stripes in the victory. Hillary
Knight assisted on Carpenter's score, raising her World Championship record
assist tally to fifty one. The semi finals are tomorrow.
(03:44):
As of this recording, we don't yet know the game
the US will be playing in, so we'll link to
the full schedule in the show notes. That game will
be on NHL Network. In Pro Hockey News, the PWHL
Draft is headed to Ottawa. The league made the announcement
earlier this week, bringing the festivities back to Canada, where
the inaugur ol draft took place in twenty twenty three.
The draft will be at the city soon to be
opened hard Rock Hotel on June twenty fourth, and players
(04:06):
have until May eighth to declare and become eligible for selection.
You might remember us mentioning the PWHL's Gold Plan their
effort to deter tanking.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Here's a refresher. So the draft order has.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Decided based on how many points a team earns after
being mathematically eliminated from the postseason. So once a team
gets bounced, they've got to keep trying and earning points
if they want to snag the number one pick. This
discourages squads from tanking toward the end of the season.
Looking at you, MNBA in hoops, the WNBA Players Association
and AFLAC have renewed their partnership and as a result,
(04:39):
this year's All Star Weekend winners will walk away with
more dough in their pockets thanks to the insurance Company's contribution.
The victor of the three Point contest at the Indiana
Fever's Gainbridge field House in July will receive sixty thousand bucks,
and the Skills Challenge winner will get fifty five thousand.
That brings the total prize money to one hundred and
fifteen thousand dollars, up from one hundred ti ten thousand
(05:00):
last season. These earnings now equal the hall that MNBA
players bring in for the same events at their All
Star break per their league CBA. Speaking about the deal,
WNBPA president Neka Ogumakay said, the move is quote not
just about the rewards. It's about building a future where
our value is undeniable.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
End quote. Well we hear a good game, never denied it.
Go get that money. Honeys slices. Listen up. We have
a special offer for you.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
So Next Tuesday, April twenty second is the Business of
Women's Sports Summit in New York City. This event is
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might remember them as one half of the partnership with
iHeart that created this whole iHeart Women's Sports Network. And
you can watch the event via live stream and using
the slices twenty twenty five code will give you fifty
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This lineup is so worth your time. Let me just
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we will put the link in our show notes. It's
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code slices twenty twenty five. Also a quick note about
the WNBA draft and outfit changes. Shout out to Slice
jen Ford for reminding me that Rakia Jackson was the
og fit change artist at the WNBA draft. So if
(06:41):
you remember during our draft reaction show, Aaron Foley and
I couldn't remember if anyone before Page Beckers had done
the change up from the carpet to the stage, and
of course it was miss Orange Carpet herself, Rakia Jackson.
Just one year earlier, she swapped out a redfit for
a silver one midway through the draft, both designed by
Tasha hartzog No wonder they put her in charge of
(07:01):
Orange carpet interviews this year, So thank you Jen and
Yes pagebackers and Rikia Jackson. We got to take a
quick break when we come back. My conversation with US
women's national team legend Brianna Scurry, and uh, one.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Thing before we jump in.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
So early on in the interview with Brianna, I admit
to a shortcoming. I admit that I just realized she
only has one en in her name, not two, and
I've been spelling it wrong all this time. But then
I start patting myself on the back for at least
saying her name right, if not spelling it right. You know,
she's always called Brianna Scurry, and I know that's not right.
But the problem is, guys, apparently the version I was
(07:41):
using for most of the interview Brianna Scurry also is
not right. So I said, right too, Brianna, at least
I'm saying your name right, and like, I get points
for that, and then proceed to say Brianna the whole
damn interview. And you know what, I tried to at
least come up with an excuse. It's like, oh, maybe
it's like Chicago is coming out, but that's not it,
(08:05):
I just lock it up. And the thing is, she
doesn't even correct me, and I feel like it must
be at this point, She's like, listen, I'm too tired
of this like to even correct you anymore.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I'm too tired to correct people anymore.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I'm just gonna let you take false credit for getting
it right like a chump and not even say anything.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
I guess my point is stay humble, y'all, because the
learning never stops even while you're midway through congratulating yourself.
So sorry, Briana, I got it now, Bryanna scurry, I
got it.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I promise all right.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
That interview with Briana is next back in a second
joining US now one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time.
A two time Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion,
(08:55):
she played for the US women's national team from nineteen
ninety four to two thousand and eight, competing in four
World Cups and three Olympics, including starting and playing in
every minute of the team's five matches of their gold
medal winning run at the ninety six Olympic Games and
playing every minute of their triumphant ninety nine World Cup run.
Her career total of one hundred and seventy three international
appearances is the second most among female soccer goalkeepers and
(09:15):
the fifteenth most of any American female player. She was
a founding player for the Atlanta Beat of the WUSA,
was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in
twenty seventeen, and wrote a memoir, My Greatest Save. She's
been a coach, gm owner, and analyst. And she appeared
as herself an air Bud World. Pop It's Brianna Scurry, Hi, Brianna.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Hello, how are you?
Speaker 4 (09:35):
That's that was one of the most fantastic intros I've
heard in a long time.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Great, I need to watch I need to watch Air
Bud World.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
You totally need to watch.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
That's how the young is that The only way the
little kids know about me is if they saw me
the air Bud movie.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Well, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I last saw you, No Big Deal at the Vice
President's house in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Oh, Yes, okay, just no, biggie.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
You were signing your name to the guestbook with your number,
and other people like, oh, should I write my number?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
I'm like, only if you're Briana Scurry, Like, what do
you mean? You're junior high number.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
No, I.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
I have to ask the most important question first, What
happens more often your name is misspelled or mispronounced?
Speaker 4 (10:15):
Mispronounced almost every single time?
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Yeah, yeah, it's okay.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah, I have to admit I've been misspelling it for
most of the time. I thought there were two ends,
but I've been saying it right.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
So I do get points for that.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
But you can take points for that.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I take one end. Where have I been? At least
I've been saying it right.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Okay, So it's it's a great time to have you
on to talk about the US women's national team. They
are currently looking for their next Briana Scurry. Not that
that's easy to find, but they are looking, and after
passing of the baton from you to Hope Solo to
a Lissa they air the team is really on the
hunt for a keeper and without a true number one,
clear number one for the first time in a really
long time. So I want to talk about some of
(10:57):
the players in the mix and what Emma Hayes is
looking for. But I want you to educate us a
little first. I think the average soccer player is pretty
adept at watching shot stopping. We can understand a great save,
we can understand a mist save that probably.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Should have been made. What else should we be watching
for with these keepers to help us sort of understand
their role in the larger style and strategy of a
team and whether they're great or not.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
I think one of the nuances you need to watch
for is something that most people don't even think about,
and that's communication with their back line, in particular the
central defenders. So Tmusa often plays with the four back
and so the two central defenders are really vital to
defending because if the goalkeeper is not communicating with them
(11:42):
vocally and directly, and you know that they're understanding her,
then weird stuff happens. I mean, the untrained eye may
not be able to tell if it was a communication
error that caused something, but I can. So what I
would say is one of the most important things other
than the shot stopping, obviously is important, is a communication
(12:03):
because what ends up happening is if you have bad communication,
you end up with way more shots, right, which is
not good?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, yeah, fewer shots, fewer goals usually not always.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
There's a great story from ESPN's Jeff Kasoof, writing about
the battle for this keeper position, and in it he
says that Emma Hayes has said on many occasions she
expects their keeper to be comfortable on the ball to
help the Usman's national team possess in deeper spaces.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Can you explain what that means?
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Yes, So, when you have possession of the ball in
your defensive end or on a free kick such as
a goalkick, Emma wants the goalkeeper to be able to
be part of that possession triangle or that possession stance.
Not just a goalkeeper that kicks the ball forward and
out of the danger zone. She wants the goalkeeper to
be positioned well so that she can get the ball
(12:58):
at her feet and redistribute as well. So if you
have the goalkeeper that can do that well, then you
always have numbers up in the back.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Got it.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
So on the ball means playing on the ball like
a field player, yes, picking it up and kicking or not.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Redistributing that position, yes, yes, to receive the ball and
to get us get the team out of danger if
there's pressure on one side or the other.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I mean, that's certainly something we notice, is which teams
are able to go back and forth to their keeper
and really incorporate it to reset a play versus when
it feels like it's the last resort. And there's certainly
some very when you're younger in soccer, they're like, never
kick it toward your own goal, and when you get
older you have to actually use that to help set
things up. Okay, So Jane Campbell is one of the
(13:42):
only two players vuying for the job who has major
tournament experience, but it's not much. She was an alternate
a last year's Olympics. She plays for the Houston Dash,
which is attempting to build an identity as a possession
oriented team.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
How does that.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Style fit with what you just told us with Hayes
wanting a keeper who can be a part of that
and be on the ball.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Well, for Campbell, it's a great advantage. I mean, she's
going to be working on that daily with her team
and so she'll have a better understanding. Not only that,
but she'll also have a lot more confidence in being
able to command that presence that you need to have
in the back as a as a goalkeeper who can
use her feet incredibly well. I've always liked Jane Campbell.
(14:22):
She's fantastic, But what I fear is the fact that
she does have to make so many saves in a game.
It is truly a mountain of saves that she has
to make. I don't know if that's from a lack
of quality from her club team, her defense, or if
it's a lack of communication on her part to her backs.
(14:44):
Like I said earlier, like she has a lot of
emergency situations on her team, and that's usually not a
good thing. And unfortunately the Dash, you know, they struggle
a little bit throughout the seasons. But she has a
great advantage on a team that won't strug, which is
the national team, to be able to be comfortable on
(15:04):
the ball.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, so when it's a possession oriented team, they want
to control and be tactical in their approach, but often
push up toward the opposing team's goal. That's different in
the sense of teams that maybe are trying to rely
more on one or two players that are just really
fast or really skilled, where then they're not worrying as much,
or they're not maybe able to depend on their whole
team to set things up.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
They have to take more chances.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
That's kind of the difference between a possion oriented team
and another team.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Yes, that is definitely the difference between the two.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
Also, in the course of a game, if you're a
possession oriented team, you're letting the ball do the work
as opposed to your individual players doing the work.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
And what you're also doing is.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
You're moving that opposing team, that opponent around the pitch
at will. You're shifting them from one side to the other,
which then opens up that potential for that fourward two
streak through there somehow, you know, make a diving run
or a slice run through the back. And so if
you're a team that can say, you know, have a
(16:04):
slower tempo and then spring the attack, which is what
that's called, you you can do that more easily as
a team that possesses the ball versus a team who
has just a lot of raw talent and it's expecting
there forwards to truly make make something happen. Over the
course of a game, the possession orientation team will most
(16:25):
likely win and do.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Better right because they're tiring out the opponent who's running around,
whereas their tactical and pinpointed passes are moving the ball
up without them having to be the ones making those runs.
Let's talk about some of the other keepers in the mix.
So besides Campbell, there's Utah's Mandy McGlenn, Manchester United's Fallin
Tellus Joyce, North Carolina's Casey Murphy, and then Angel Cities
Angelina Anderson. Murphy is the only other player besides Campbell
(16:49):
with major tournament experience. She has the most twenty eight
years old, She's got twenty caps. She was the backup
keeper for last year's Olympics and the twenty twenty three
World Cup, so most experienced, but she has not received
a call up twenty twenty five. Do you think that
is Emma giving others a chance or do you think
the window has closed a bit on Murphy as being
a viable contender for the spot.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
I have really thought about this because I also noticed
that she hadn't gotten called up at all this year yet,
and so part of me is wondering if Emma's seeing
something in her form that she's not exactly loving, or
she is, you know, just trying to give other people
a chance. At this point, I would say that it
(17:30):
might be she's not in favor with Emma and she's
looking for someone who has a little bit more of
maybe a presence in the back like Jane Campbell does
with her feet, and so in that case, you know,
Campbell might have catapulted over Murphy in the in the
lineup because she was actually in front of her when
(17:52):
Emma came in. Came in, Murphy was number two and
Campbell was three or four. And now it seems like
the reverse has happened, and I feel like maybe Emma
just doesn't have the same feeling about Murphy as she
does with Campbell.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Now, the Courage are the most possession oriented team in
the league, so you would think that Murphy would be
best suited to the style Emma's looking for. Is there
something about her game that you think just might not
be a fit.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Well, you you definitely want to do your number one thing,
which innimbus case is possessed the ball. But if she
sees a dramatic difference in between her shot stopping abilities
versus another goalkeeper's shot stopping abilities and her ball her ballwork,
it could be too big of a mountain too to overcome.
She might be the best with the ball at her feet,
(18:40):
but if her shot stopping is dramatically, you know, lower
in quality than another goalkeeper. Then that's going to hinder
her a little bit. But it's hard to say because Emma,
you know, she keeps her keeps her car close to
the vest, and you just don't know what she's what
she's doing, and she doesn't always tell you, which is great,
so we're left to try to figure out what would
(19:01):
exactly her cards read. But she's doing a lot of
different things and she has time. That's the nice thing
also about it.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
She has time.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Yeah, with a particular time or in the international window
with the Olympics and World Cup, it's a great time
for her to be looking. Thank you, Alyssena or for
timing this well. Mandy McGlenn had a thrilling goalkeeper assist
on opening weekend that caught people's attention. We got very
excited about how they were using her in that play.
But Hayes has said she needs to work on reading
(19:28):
the game in possession and knowing when to play short
or go long. What have you seen from McGlynn.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I've seen a lot of talent.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
I've seen a lot of potential and for me with
the goalkeeping, a lot of it has to do with
the potential of that player. Can that player grow their
way into the position. Does a coach feel confident that
they want to put the time in to her in
order for her to come along, because when you come
into an environment like the national team, it forges, you know,
(19:56):
into a champion. You can't you can't help but have
that be the case, and if you don't have the
goods coming in, then it's going to be difficult. And
I think Emma definitely sees some potential in her and
we'll see, because it's sometimes the popcorn doesn't pop, you
know what I mean, And.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
You don't know that in the beginning.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
And so for me, the best you know, indicator of
a high quality goalkeeper, you really can't tell until the
actual tournament starts, when the heat is on, Yes, exactly
and at its.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Highest, Yeah, fallon tell us Joyce earning a lot of
excitement and praise. But Hayes had the same feedback as
she did about McGlenn knowing when to possess, not playing
the ball too long too often, but also said that's
sort of inevitable in a debut, you're kind of just
wanting to get it the hell away from you.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Was off exactly, a little nervous, You're like, get away,
not over your house is on fire, tell us. Joyce
a little bit of a late bloomer. She's twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
She just got her first call up to camp last November,
but she has made some spectacular plays. Her nickname is
the octopus because of her marine biology background.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
She likes to do diving.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
But also after that double save we just saw from
her last week, it has a double meeting.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
It looks like she's got eight arms and legs out there.
What have you seen from her?
Speaker 4 (21:13):
You're absolutely right, she is the octopus out there. I've
seen her make some saves that are absolutely outstanding in
league play, and it is great that she's not getting
her opportunity. I feel like maybe before Emma came in,
there wasn't any really any real room for her to
crack into that group, and now she's been able to
do it because you know, Emma's trying a lot of
different things now, so now is her chance to shine.
(21:36):
So if she can come along really quickly with the
ball at her feet and show that she's more comfortable,
then I think she'll be able to stay.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
And the longer she gets to stay.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
The more potential she has to, you know, evolve and develop,
and I feel like for the goalkeeping crew, I mean,
that's a big shoes.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
To fill for any funny.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
I mean, the history of the national team goalkeepers is
all hall of famers.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
So yeah, no big deal. That's the thing.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Right, So what I would say to these young ones
that Emma's talking about the ability to know when to
play far and long and when to keep possession. It
really comes down to confidence, it really does. And so
if you can just even if your heart is like
fluttering like crazy and you're like, you know, I want
to kick it, get kick a wide or kick it far.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Just fight, fight against that feeling.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
And just try to see if you can, if you
can manage it, and then and try to do what
coach says, because you know, if you can, you'll find
yourself on the team.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Well, I think confidence and communication and connection which will
only come when they finally decide who it is and
that person gets a lot of reps with their back line,
with their defenders, with the folks that they need to
have confidence in along with themselves. Right, because you can
have a lot of confidence in yourself and then tee
up the wrong players in spots that aren't good for
them or that expose their weaknesses. Angela Anderson finally she
(22:56):
got called up as a training camp player for the
national team, you know. In interestingly, she kind of sat
back in her rookie season in the NWSL with angel City,
then got an opportunity to start, then got replaced again.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Now she's back playing.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So she's been in and out sort of like actually
with Valentelli's Joyce, Right, Valentelli's Joyce might end up being
the best one of the bunch, but was behind Mary
ERPs for so long we just didn't quite know what
you had. Maybe Angelina Anderson just needs a little more time.
She's kind of like on the outskirts of this group
because she's just a training camp player.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
But have you seen anything from her you like I do.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
I see that she's got great potential as well. I
see that she understands the game, but I really, for me,
there's a little bit of a psychological edge to her.
So if she can come in and really make the
most of the opportunity and grab it by the horns
and really go for it, like tellus Joyce did her
last game, I feel like.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
She's in the mix as well.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
I mean, because if you're continuing to get invited into
the camp, and you can perform well at every session,
which is hard to do.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
It's hard to go from peak to peak.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
But if you can do that as a young goalkeeper,
then there's no telling how long your runway could be.
And so, you know, I feel like all of these
young keepers have a great advantage over say Campbell or
Murphy because they're just coming in and they're unaware, and
they're out there just doing their thing, and they're not
worried about the past or what has come before them
(24:23):
as much as maybe some of the older goalkeepers are.
But Anderson's definitely got a lot of potential there. She
can easily come along and do what Emma's asking her
to do. I have full confidence in her because as
a goalkeeper who is in and out, in the in
and out, that's a psychological tell if you're able to
handle that. So she's got the mentality, she just needs
(24:45):
to show it in her inner game. When Emma's watching.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I hear dog over there?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Are they they want to be a part of the interviewer,
tell us the name, tell us the kind.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Her name is Mazie.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
She is a one year old Nova Scoti duck Tolling
retriever sure which is able common breed.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
We all are very familiar with sure Nova Scotia duck Tolling. All.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Yeah, she's gorgeous. She's absolutely amazing, but she is a
little temperamental. She doesn't like when mommy is in her
office and she's not Misha.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Alex, what do you think should we toss her? Or
be okay?
Speaker 4 (25:22):
With a couple of footprints, you would love to toss
the doggie.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I got to the doggie red card, red card. Now
that we have tossed the dog to do, as Alex
put it, a dog zoe at denying an obvious goal
scoring opportunity. That's what your dog was doing with this podcast.
You know, you mentioned Emma keeping her cards close to
the vest, and while that certainly means that those of
us who are media have lots of questions about what's
(25:48):
on her mind, do you have a sense of how
much she actually communicates for thoughts and expectations to the players,
specifically these potential keepers, or how much they also feel
like they're sort of left to wonder.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
From what I know of Emma, I've known her for
a long time, I'm actually thrilled that she got this job.
So I was like hopping up and down when she
came in because I knew her style and her her
personality would really be a great advantage to the team.
I feel like she's probably talking to them. I mean,
I think she's a very vocal coach. She's communicative with
her players, and she has been in the past and
(26:22):
she is now. And I feel like she's letting them
know where they stand, which as a player is all
you really can ask for, right, I mean, if you
if you understand what the coaches is expecting of you
and is demanding of you, then you can you can
deliver it. So I'm sure she's letting them know, especially
the younger ones, because you know, it's a it's a
(26:42):
deep it's a deep into the pool, getting tossed in
the camp and at a time like this, and it's
really really can be psychologically, you know, stressful. So I
think having communication, she's she's good about that.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
And I think you can also tell players here's what
I'm looking for, here's what I want, and also we
are I'll understand that there's some bit of magic, there's
the eye test, some subjective feeling about a player that
might be willing and able to step up in those moments. So, yes,
this is what I want, but it's not going to
come down to do I had eight of those and
she had seven, so clearly it's me right. But those
(27:15):
lines of communication do, I think make the psychological side
of it easier because you just do your best to
meet the expectations of what they want and that's all
you can do.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Absolutely So, besides just.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Now in this moment becoming our go to analyst on
the battle for the number one keeper on the US
coland national team, you also.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Do other things.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
You're very busy with your own work, and you actually
recently signed on as an ambassador for Gainbridge. Can you
tell us a bit about this partnership and what you're
going to do together.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Absolutely, I'm really excited about this partnership with Gamebridge, and
in part because my journey through finance has been a
very interesting one and this gives me the opportunity to
talk about it more So. Gamebridge is trying to accomplish
is they're trying to obviously fund more women's sports, not
only soccer, but basketball, tennis, golf, all over the book,
(28:03):
all over the globe for women's sports, and so I'm
just feeling really really excited and very honored to be
the soccer representation of the Ambassadorship because, you know, athletes,
in particular female athletes, A their windows are shorter and
B their income is less over time, and so understanding
(28:25):
finances and getting an understanding and a feeling for for
you know, finances is really important. It's something that I
didn't necessarily understand when I was playing. So I feel
like I'm one of a perfect example to help game
Bridge spread the word throughout this country for female athletes
to understand the importance of having financial aptitude, and game
(28:46):
Bridges really helped me with that already.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, you're going to host clinics, help with the opportunities
for women and girls to play, and then empower women
to reach their financial goals, which, to your point, is
something that I think. It's it's funny because it's almost
like men's sports when they have millions and millions, you're like, yeah,
you need a financial advisor because you got to not
you know, blow it all. At the same time, they
have millions and millions of dollars, there's a little bit
of room for error there, whereas on the women's side.
(29:09):
We you know, when I was in the ownership side
of the Red Stars, we were working really hard to
try to set up these like financial literacy meetings, and
we ran into some issues with who's the sponsor and
if it's not our sponsor, we can't do it with
the other banks. And it's like, Okay, we just want
the players to get to have some conversations about this
stuff and help them with this. But you know, financial
literacy is particularly of interest to you, and you mentioned
this because you had some real financial hardship after the
(29:33):
concussion that ended your career. You retired suddenly without planning
ahead for it. Because of the concussion in twenty ten,
you had headaches and neck pain, insomnia, depression, memory loss.
It really sidelined you from everything in life, not just soccer.
You eventually had to get occipital nerve surgery and it
was this very, very long journey for you that ultimately
(29:54):
resulted in financial issues as well. Can you talk a
little bit about that. I know it's something you've written
about in your book and spoken about, but it does
make you sort of really well qualified to speak to
people about these unexpected moments and how they can affect
more than just your dreams as an athlete.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
That My my financial journey is one for the books,
if you will. And it's been up and down, you know,
all over the place. And that particular time after that
head injury, you know, the last thing I was thinking
about at the time was my money and my finances.
I was just thinking more about trying to get better
and how I would do that. And so because I
was declared temporarily totally disabled, I couldn't work. And so
(30:33):
it got to a point where, because the funding was
running low on on the on the checks I was
getting from from the insurance company, I was really struggling
because I really couldn't work.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
And so for me, the only thing of.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Value that I had at the time were my medals,
and so I made their really difficult and very very
you know, hard to hard to fathom decision of pawning
them because at the end of the day, I had
bills to pay, and so I had to do it.
And it pained me so much to do that, but
I was actually, you know, I felt I had no
(31:10):
other choice, and so I did that.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
But I did eventually.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Get them back within a rather relatively short amount of time,
and I have them today. But you know what, that
that journey, that experience has really made me more focused
on finances for myself and and and over time. How athletes,
in particular female athletes, a lot of times the athlete
(31:35):
doesn't think about tomorrow or after their career when they're
in it. It's almost like it's a taboo thing to do.
Like if I'm thinking about after my career, I'm gonna,
you know, my presence somehow exactly thinks yourself. And I'm
here to with Gamebridge to try to you know, the
spell that myth that your your athletic window.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Your game window is only.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
So big, so long, several years and if you're lucky,
it's ten years, but your life after is orders of
magnitude more So, let's be logical about that and bring
that thinking into the present. And I think Gamebridge is
going to really help me reach all these young ladies
who are playing sports and help them understand that I.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Want to ask you a personal question. You can answer
with whatever detail or blow me off entirely. But I'm
sort of fascinated by people's ingrained messaging around money. I
think if you grow up and you have a family,
whether you're rich or poor or somewhere in between, that
always says, we always find a way. Your approach is that,
And if you have a family that is very tight
(32:42):
with money, or is always worried about losing it, or
goes through these big ups and downs, you tend to
have that approach even in times of abundance. Do you
have that understanding of your relationship with finances from young
through to now, because you've said it's gone up and down,
do you tend to have the same attitude of all
work out or oh my god, regardless of other things
(33:03):
are good or bad.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
I love this question. It's so interesting.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
So I know from understanding psychology and sociology and economics
and all of that that my belief systems around money
came from my family and my parents, and so in
my household when I was younger, money was burning a
hole in your pocket basically, So the thought was, you know,
(33:30):
once you had some money, you had to figure out
how to spend it. There wasn't a lot of conversation
around how to save it. And so over time I
adopted a similar mentality because that's what I was taught,
and it wasn't until you know, in my early adulthood
that I realized that I needed to try to do
the opposite of burning it all and letting it burn
(33:51):
a hole in my in my pocket and try to
save some And so, yes, I definitely feel like you
understand what you're taught from an early time in your life,
and what I think what people need to do with
those belief systems that no longer suit them, especially around finances,
is they have to leave them there and get rid
of them and make new ones. And so it's always
(34:13):
a better thing to understand your belief systems and examine
them to see if they still suit you or not.
And so for me now, saving is very important obviously
making connections and delivering great value to people, so that
I know the dollars I earn are have been earned
(34:33):
by me and that I am worthy of them, and
that I am also as an African American woman, I'm
worthy of having wealth. And it took me a long
time to understand that and to even believe that, because
in society there's not a whole lot of examples of that.
And I want to try to try to be one
as much as I can and go forth and try
(34:54):
to explain to young ladies that your money is your
responsibility and in order to wield that power, you have
to understand understand the power, and so hopefully I'll help
them help them realize that.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Yeah, I've mentioned I have this book coming out June third,
and there's a lot of stuff in it about emotional
DNA and the language and messaging that we inherit and
then can decide with intention to pass on or that
it no longer suits us.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
And it really is a powerful tool to be.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Able to understand how that's leading your decision making subconsciously
and then to decide that doesn't apply to me anymore.
Or maybe that worked for my grandparents and it serves
some role in the life that they were in.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
But today and right now, it is not a.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Useful like line to keep repeating in my head about
whatever it is, money or otherwise. So I love that
you're understanding of all that stuff and you know all
the psychology behind it, because it is so important, and
especially as a female athlete, you cannot be like, this
money's burning a hole in my pocket.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Let me go ahead get rid of it, cuz exactly.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Yeah, you know, you've also talked about concussion research and
you've testified it front of Congress about it. Are there
measures that you would like to see embraced by US
soccer or the larger global soccer forces as immediately as possible.
Do you think we're behind on figuring out.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
I do think we're behind, And what I would love
to see on a global scale in soccer is more
research dollars being poured into testing and figuring out the
statistics for women, in particular women women footballers. Most of
the research and most of the information that we have
the body of work is essentially around men, and even
(36:34):
more narrow is around NFL football players and how they
you know, how they evolved in how their brains have
changed over the course of having a bunch of hits.
But in soccer, people say it's non contact, but I
beg to differ. You know, there's a lot of collisions
that happen, and now the research is showing that, you know,
many many concussions happen, you know, but potentially by the
(36:57):
by the dozens, if not by the hundreds.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
And everything else.
Speaker 4 (37:01):
Absolutely, and just like you know, going into a tackle
hard and maybe your neck moves a little bit fast,
or somebody just barely nicks you and you're not ready,
and you're changing direction. Your brain is sloshing around in
your skull all the time, and so it becomes impaired
over time.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
It's that repetitiveness that's the issue.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
And if the soccer community can put more information and
more research into how this affects female footballers over the
course of the years, then it would be more safe
in the future for not only men, but also for
women as well.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
I'm glad Michelle Kang's donation is in part going to
that kind of research. For newest and latest partnership with
US Soccer will be about studying, you know, women athletes
and the bodies of women. I mean, we know men's
brains are smaller at science, so obviously they're going to
interact differently with just so little reverse anchorman. Okay, got
to let you go, but I have to ask you
(37:56):
just last thing. What do you do for joy these days?
What's your happy place or your happy activity?
Speaker 4 (38:01):
Well, one of the things I do for joy as
of late in the last year is my little puppy.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Yeah, amazing, she's amazing, she really is. I love her.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
She's dear to me. But also what I do for
joy is I really continue to be physical. So I
like to lift, I like to go for walks, you know,
I like to do things like that. And then also
i'm a mom. Now, I'm a bonus mom. I got
two amazing step children, and trying on the mom's shoes
(38:30):
is one of my favorite hobbies since it has They're
twenty two and eighteen.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Okay, okay, you got them at a decent age, right, Yes,
the damage is done, you take it exactly.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
I'm just trying to fine tune things. I'm just trying to,
you know, polish and provide clarity where I can.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
How new is this with your partner wife?
Speaker 3 (38:51):
Yes? My wife? Yes?
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Okay, you made it legal. Okay. How long have you
been a bonus mom?
Speaker 4 (38:56):
I've been a bonus mom for going on seven years now,
to be seven years in June, and so I'm.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Still learning enough to have some authority.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Absolutely to be more fun anyway.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Yeah, no, now you got to be Now, you gotta
be bad cops sometimes too. You don't exactly the one
that takes them out, you know, for Candy.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
When Mom's gone.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Well, Brian, it's so great to talk to you always,
and I feel so much more informed about this keeper battle.
I'm just really even more excited to watch all these
different players try to make their run for it.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
I don't know why, but the octopus is leading the
way for me.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
I just I like the idea of someone with a
great nickname taken over for uncle, Uncle nayor.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Thank you so much for the time.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
We really appreciate it absolutely, thanks for having me appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Thanks so much to Briana for joining us.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
We have to take another break when we come back
and Olympian faces some less than stiff competition.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Welcome back, Slices.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
We always love that you're listening, but we want you
to get game every day too, So here's our good
gameplay of the day. They're so nice, we got to
promote them twice. Tune into the National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics
Championship tomorrow four pm Eastern on ABC and get your
second screen ready because you also got to watch game
two of the Northern Super League AFC Toronto and Montreal
Roses FC. That's also at four pm Eastern. You can
(40:20):
catch that on ESPN.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Plus.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
We always love to hear from you, so hit us
up on email. Good game at wondermedianetwork dot com and
don't forget. We're still looking for questions about the WNBA
and women's soups as we approach that season, so keep
them coming and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
It's easy.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
Watch three time Olympic gold medalist Shelley and Fraser Price
competing in the Parents' Day race at her son's Ion School,
rating ten out of ten.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Lol's review.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
One week after announcing that she's not retired, she'll race
one final season this year. Jamaican sprinter Shelley and Fraser
Price stepped to the starting line on Wednesday for a
very important race, the one against the other parents at
her son's school. We'll link to the video in our
show notes so you can watch it for yourself, but
just picture this. The race starts and almost immediately Shelley
(41:07):
Anne is the only person still in the frame. The
other parents are trailing so far behind, and then she
literally runs out of the frame.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
The drone filming cannot keep up.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
Quick reminder here, so Fraser Price is the third fastest
woman of all time, winning gold in one hundred meters
at both the twenty eight and twenty twelve Olympics. She's
a ten time world champion, and she originally said she
planned to retire after the twenty twenty four Paris Olympics,
but last week she posted a video on Instagram with
the headline unfinished Business to signify her return to the track.
(41:37):
Safe to say, if she races like she did at
Zion's Parents' Day, she has a few more ws coming
her way this season. Also, this wasn't the first time
she was competing at Parents' Day. There's video of the
last time too, and on Instagram she wrote quote, they
haven't banned me yet, so I'm at the line.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
It's so good. You gotta watch. Okay, now it's your turn.
Please rate and review. Go give us five stars, say
something nice.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Thanks for listening, y'all. See you next week. Good game, Briana,
Good game, Quinn. You confidently mispronouncing something over and over
and over again. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an
iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,
(42:19):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by
Wonder Media Network, our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones.
Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan
and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez
and Grace Lynch. Our associate producer is Lucy Jones and
I'm Your Host Sarah Spain
Host
Sarah Spain
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