January 21, 2025 • 39 mins
Big Citrus reconvenes to talk about the debut of Unrivaled hoops, volleyball star Haleigh Washington’s elite trolling, and our show’s new side, Aurora FC. Plus, two women pop the cork on a new snowboard trick, an underfrog story for the ages, and stop putting things off, people!
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Watch goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher learn she's been named Player of the Year here
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Watch Chloe Kim’s winning snowboard halfpipe run here
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Check out Haleigh Washington’s MLV-inspired “Mad-Libs” here
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Follow the Minnesota Aurora FC on social! Bluesky: @mnaurorafc.bsky.social Instagram: @MNAuroraFC
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Check out Rory the Aurorasaurus here
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Leave us a voicemail at 872-204-5070 or send us a note at goodgame@wondermedianetwork.com
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Follow Sarah on social! Bluesky: @sarahspain.bsky.social Instagram: @Spain2323
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Follow producer Misha Jones! Bluesky: @mishthejrnalist.bsky.social Instagram: @mishthejrnalist TikTok: @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 we're trying
to figure out what we need to do to get
into that Taylor Swift Caitlin Clark suite. You know, I
make a killer hot onion dip. It's Tuesday, January twenty first,
and on today's show, we'll be diving into the debut
of Unrivaled, trying to figure out what the hell is
going on in pro women's beabs, and celebrating a contract
extension for the highest paid women's basketball coach in history.
(00:23):
Plus underfrogs, double corks, and a big teal dinosaur. It's
all coming up right after this welcome back slices. Here's
what you need to know today. Unrivaled tipped off on
Friday with Nafisa Collier's lunar owls defeating Branda Stewart's missed
(00:45):
eighty four to eighty. Now, because the league uses the
elam ending, every game ends with a basket, not a buzzer.
The winning score is determined by adding eleven points to
the leading teams score at the end of the third quarter.
Whoever hits that total first wins. The mist led seven
three sixty seven heading into the fourth, but the Lunar
Owls pulled out a fourth quarter comeback with Skyler, Digg
(01:05):
and Smith draining the game winning three after a big quarter,
so in the Battle of Unrivaled Founders, Fee came out
on top to grab the first win in Unrivaled history.
Shout out to Amy Clerkson, Joey Maldonado, Kim Cook, and
the rest of the slices on Team Lunar.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Owls Hoo Doo, who.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
After the first week ind of play Alex's Lace has
got the only dub of the big Citrus squads. But
lots more season to go and we'll have lots more
on the debut of Unrivaled later in the show.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
By the way, while lots of w stars are.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Playing in Unrivaled and AU hoops this offseason, there are
plenty playing overseas and I want to shout out the
Chicago Sky for sending us updates on their players, including
two that are having huge januaries. Kennedy Carter has scored
at least thirty points in every game but one for
her Wuhan team over the past two weeks, including back
to back forty point games on January tenth and twelfth,
(01:52):
and Kamila Cardoso scored career highs of forty points and
seventeen boards to help per Shanghai team to a win
on January eighteenth.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Well on those players overseas as well.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
To college basketball, South Carolina coach Don Staley has signed
a contract extension, making her the highest paid coach in
women's soups either college or the WNBA. The contract, which
runs through the twenty twenty nine to twenty thirty season,
includes a base salary of four million dollars a year,
plus other bonuses.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Here's an interesting nugget.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Though, if Staley were to leave South Carolina prior to
the end of the contract, she would osc one hundred
percent of the remaining compensation left on the deal, but
not if she leaves the game Cocks to take a
coaching gig in the.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
WNBA or the MNBA.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Sticking with college hoops, Paige Becker's became the fastest Yukon
Huskies women's basketball player to reach two thousand points, accomplishing
the feat in one hundred and two games, passing Maya Moore,
who got to two thousand and one aw eight. Becker's
achieved the milestone during the Huskies ninety six thirty six
blowout of Seaton Hall on Sunday, Becker shouted out everyone
behind the scenes who's helped her on the journey when
talking to SNY after the game.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
But it's been a beautiful journey, and I've seen so
many people invest a lot and do a lot for me,
and I just really want to their hard work, because
everybody sees the two thousand points, but NOBB sees the
two thousand days of hard work. So it's just a
testimony to everybody who's invested in me.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Couple upsets Sunday and women's college hoops to mention as
fifteenth ranked Tennessee fell to unranked Vanderbilt seventy one to
seventy on a last second put back from Vandy's michaelab Blake's,
who led the Commodorees with twenty three points in the win. Also,
number nine Ohio State fell to unranked Penn State sixty
two to fifty nine. Four Lady Lyons scored in double
digits to hand the Buckeyes their first.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Loss of the season.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Lady Lyons, Yeah, we still got to do a show
on ending the whole Lady nicknames in college sports uugh
to soccer. Kristin Press has agreed to a one year
contract extension with Angel City FC. Press was the club's
first ever signee ahead of its debut season in twenty
twenty two, but she missed most of twenty twenty two
and all of twenty twenty three after tearing your ACL.
(03:51):
After four surgeries, she returned to the field in twenty
twenty four and played in nine games for the club.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Some more angel City news.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Former Portland Thorns and Lynn's national team coach Mark Parsons
has been named Angel City's new sporting director and general manager,
replacing Angela Hugley's Mangano, who mutually parted ways with ACFC
in December to take a role with the Houston Dash.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
The first order of business for Parsons hire a new
head coach.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
More soccer, Alyssa Nayer was named the US Soccer twenty
twenty four Female Player of the Year. Now, if you
haven't watched it, check out the adorable video of national
team teammate and last year's Player of the Year Naomi
Germa breaking the news to nayor they pranked her into
thinking that she was surprising Naomi with the award.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
It's really cute.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
We'll link to it in our show notes to snowboarding
competing at the locks Open in Switzerland over the weekend,
Americans Chloe Kim and Matti Mastro became the first women
to land a double cork ten eighty in a snowboard
halfpipe competition to finish first and second on the podium, respectively.
If you're wondering what exactly double cork ten eighty means,
ten eighty is for the three full rotations done while
(04:54):
in the air, cork means that one rotation is off axis,
and double cork means two of their rotations are off axis.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
We'll link to the video.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Of Chloe's winning run in the show notes so you
could see it for yourself. Also in snowsports News, cross
country skier and friend of the show, Jesse Diggins extended
her overall World Cup lead this weekend, winning a ten
k freestyle in France in what was a monumental day
for US cross country skiing. While Diggins has put the
US women on the map in cross country during the
last decade, the US men aren't exactly well known contenders.
(05:24):
But on the same day Diggins one Ben Ogden placed
third in the men's ten k, marking the best ever
day for US cross country skiing at an event not
held on US soil. So shout out to the Bros
for doing their part to the Professional Women's Hockey League
aka the PWHL. Quebec City hosted the fourth of nine
stops of the PWHL Takeover Tour on Sunday, and competing
(05:45):
in front of a sold out crowd of eighteen two
hundred and fifty nine, the Montreal Victoire defeated the Ottawa
Charge two to one to take sole possession of the
top spot in the PWHL standings. Catherine Dubois, who's from
Quebec City, opened scoring for the Victoire in front of
more than one one hundred family and friends in attendance
to wrestling. At last week's NCUBLEA convention, all three divisions
(06:06):
voted to make women's wrestling the organization's ninety first championship sport.
Women's wrestling was previously part of the NCAA's Emerging Sports
for Women program, but it now gains official NCUBA status.
The first NCAA Women's Wrestling Championship will be held in
twenty twenty six. Women's wrestling is the sixth Emerging sport
to earn NCAA championship status, joining rowing, ice hockey, water polo, bowling,
(06:30):
and beach volleyball. Finally, we haven't forgotten about the Australian Open,
but due to the time difference, it's really tough to
update you on scores, so we're keeping an eye on
the action and also we're sending our best wishes to
Naomi Osaka who had to pull out due to injury.
Want to share a quick underdog story from the TCU
hoops program where.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Should I say under frog story?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Last year, first year had women's hoops, coach Mark Campbell
had to hold open tryouts from the TCU student body
after injuries and a shortage of players forced the horn
Frogs basketball team to forfeit two games. Four students who
became known as the Underfrogs joined the team and helped
TCU finish the season. Now, one of those players, Ella Hamlin,
returned to play for the team this season and got
(07:14):
a big surprise from Coach Campbell last week.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Take a listen, Ello, When there's adversity, most people run
away from it. The Underfrogs diversity hit and you guys
decided to step up so we could continue our season
and I appreciate you, Ellah more than you know. Hey,
(07:38):
by Ella, thank you for stepping up with the plate
and coming back and being a huge part of this team.
But Ella, you've earned.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
A full right scholarship.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
So cool.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
After getting through last year's struggles, the horn Frogs are
now thriving, sitting at nineteen and one on the season
and ranked ninth in the country.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
We're going to take a quick break when we come back.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Big Citrus convenes to dig into the debut of Unrivaled,
discuss a volleyball star who shares our concerns, and remind
all of y'all to grab a slice stick around.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Welcome back Slices.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
We felt like it was time for Big Citrus to
convene about a couple things that we watched over the
weekend and a couple of things we have some serious
questions about. But let's start with the debut of Unrivaled.
What did we like, What surprised us, what didn't.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Go our way? Like I don't know winning a game.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Let's start with what we liked, Alex, what stood out
to you It was.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Just so fun, Like everything about it just felt fun.
The basketball was fun, the energy around it was really fun.
I feel like I'm blanking because I'm such a critical
person and I want to say something critical here, but
I don't really have that much to say.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Ah, we foiled, Alex. Don't worry.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
We'll give you a couple of minutes and something is
certain to come to mind that you would like to
fix me.
Speaker 6 (08:59):
What about you, oh buddy.
Speaker 7 (09:02):
I think that was the most fun I've had watching
basketball in a very long time. I believe the homie
Megan el Hall, who writes and does all the things
we love you. Meghan also tweeted this and put it
on Blue Sky that she was just standing in the
middle of her living room the entire time and couldn't
sit down. That was entire That was me, like I
(09:23):
need blue light glasses. For how long I was standing
in front of my television. My head was hurting, But
it was because I couldn't turn away, not for a second.
Because in a game like that, and it's something we
all talked about coming into it, of course, but I
think seeing that pace in practice was just different.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
I think I agree with Alex.
Speaker 7 (09:42):
On the energy tip, and I kind of feel like
the reason why I love it and a lot of
people loved it is because we knew we were gonna
get the vibe that these players witness and practice every
single day they witness in the offseason when they're training
with each other or overseas if they had previously gone
overseas to play for other teams.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
But I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 7 (10:00):
Because there are things that I thought happened that I
don't see happen as often in my opinion on WNBA
stages at WNBA games and those kind of platforms. And
at risk of putting this in two simplistic terms, it
felt like when I go to La Fitness to play pickup,
there's no cameras out there unless somebody trying to get
you on Instagram.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
Getting your ankles broke.
Speaker 7 (10:21):
But you know, when I'm at La Fitness, I might
say a few things that I probably wouldn't say if
you know. I was at a college basketball game on
the court in front of thousands of people, and.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
I think we were getting more organic reactions.
Speaker 7 (10:33):
I think the celebration from Skylehi Digg and Smith was
probably my favorite one I've seen in years.
Speaker 6 (10:38):
Just I thought our head was about to roll off
her soldier for a second.
Speaker 7 (10:40):
But I'm not mad at her, because that's the kind
of energy that you draw from three on three knowing
that you didn't get a single second of rest that
entire game unless you were literally on the bench resting.
It's just such a fun brand of basketball, it really is.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I completely agree. A couple things stood out to me.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
The intimacy, Like you talked about the way that the
behind the scenes has given us a look at how
these players all interact off the court, and then the
way that they are establishing this new brand of whatever
team it is that they just created.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
We're seeing them for the first time.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Talk about like what do we want our fans to
be called, what's our little like calling card or thing
that we say if we win a game, how do
we interact? And how is our team different than the
other ones? Like all those fun things give us a
peek inside that makes us more interested in what we're watching.
And then really impressive to give us a new format
and have it feel really seamless, to have the rule
changes feel like they make the game a better watch.
(11:34):
One free throw worth two points instead of sitting and
watching someone watch shoot too.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
It keeps it moving, you know.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
The elam ending felt organic, It felt fun, and exciting.
It felt like the thing that you're excited to see
at the end of every game. It can be tough
to introduce people to a new format, new court size,
new rules, new expectations, and instead, Unrivaled has done such
a good job along the way of teaching us and
showing us how things are going to go that when
it or we were ready for it, and even the
(12:01):
things we weren't ready for or used to yet felt
really thought out.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
It just felt really smart.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
And sometimes when you see new iterations of things, you're like, Oh,
they're trying stuff out.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
It'll work itself out. We're gonna get to volleyball after this.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Like the first couple Love games, I was like, these
camera angles suck. I'm not enjoying this, and they have
since fixed that. Unrivaled seem to have most of it down,
except for maybe how long the games are, because I
noticed that the time slots that they have set on
television ain't working. That's not gonna have it, bro dudes,
pranks and jokes is gonna get run into every single
(12:34):
time or whatever the hell show is scheduled to run after.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
Except they have postgame shows I know, and pregame shows.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Which is amazing. What a world.
Speaker 7 (12:43):
Yes, Candace in Renee on one panel, I know chef's
kiss no notes.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yes, I mean you give me Candace Park and Renee Montgomery.
I'm gonna listen all day. But shout out to Lauren Jabarro.
I was not familiar with your work, and I think
she did a really nice job of setting them up
and setting up the league. I think it's a really
fun show. It's a really good pre and post game.
And then the last thing I'll say is that I
just in an interview with someone talking about the growth
of women's sports, and when I was thinking very honestly
(13:10):
about my own investment, I realized how much my excitement
about Unrivaled came from my knowledge about Unrivaled because of
this show, and because of the amount of work we've
put in since we first heard about it, telling you
about all the different steps, from the player announcements, to
the teams, to the rules to everything else. That very
first day when I sat down to watch it, I
had so much information about the players and the teams
(13:32):
and everything that it made me really excited. And it's
such a microcosm for women's sports that if you give
people the names the stakes, the players, the rules, the backstories.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
All those things. They're going to be fired up for it.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
And there's so many awesome opportunities for us to do
that with these new leagues or even existing leagues, and
this show is like, I just like, I'm so grateful
to this show for giving me the time and making
it my job to watch and care about this stuff
instead of a side thing that I used to always do.
Try trying to follow it along with having to cover
every other men's sport that I was covering. So I
just noticed immediately the first day that I was like
(14:07):
so down for this because I knew so much about it.
Me should anythink surprise you?
Speaker 4 (14:11):
You know?
Speaker 7 (14:13):
The thing that surprised me is not the format, it's
not the rules, it's.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
None of that.
Speaker 7 (14:19):
It's and I want to be extremely I want to
be extremely clear here. I revere Lisa Leslie. I love
Lisa Leslie. I one of the goats, but if I
had to hear boom boom room one more time, I
was gonna lose it.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I don't think Lisa knows what that's used for.
Speaker 6 (14:39):
I don't think.
Speaker 7 (14:39):
I don't think she does, and it's not her fault.
It's not her fault, but I hope somebody has told her.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
Lisa.
Speaker 7 (14:44):
People are interpreting this in a completely different way. And
we did mention that Unrivaled is very gay, so okay,
but also.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, oh no, I'm not during the game.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
By the way, the night two of Unrivaled, there were
no boom boom rooms dropped far as I remember, so
I think someone did get to Lisa and explain to her.
Speaker 7 (15:03):
I was just I was just surprised it lasted so long,
agree because I just knew somebody was gonna one of
the researchers gonna be like, hey.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
So we're seeing on.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
True story. When I was a researcher, I would google
or search on Twitter for the commentator. I was working
with mid broadcast to make sure that there wasn't anything
that was slipping by us.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
That's really smart al so that like if if you
don't know and they don't know, but a whole bunch
of other people know, you can whisper in there and
be like, oh, by the way, mentioned to everyone like
I'd like to apologize for or I was unaware of,
or in the future.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I very smart.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Everyone needs an Alex on their side to just be
like double checking for all the potential errors.
Speaker 6 (15:45):
Thousand and then the other thing.
Speaker 7 (15:47):
That didn't necessarily surprise me because I knew that they
both had very strong rookie years, but it surprised me
the prominence in the dominance that they both displayed.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
Kate Martin and Rakia.
Speaker 7 (16:00):
Jackson people people, we knew that this was gonna be
great for the young players to be competing with the
elite of the elite, the best of the best on
this kind of stage. But they didn't just compete, they excelled.
I thought there were moments where Rakia Jackson looked like
the best player on her team. I thought there were
moments where Kate Martin fit in like a glove with
(16:21):
anybody they put her on the floor with and made
reads on closeouts, which for folks who don't know what
closeouts are, or when you catch the ball and the
defense is running out at you, what decision do you
make as an offensive player. I thought her decision making
was excellent on and off the ball. So not necessarily
surprised by that, But I hope other people are really
paying attention to what they're doing and the rest of
(16:42):
the rookiesing young players as well.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
I was not surprised by Jewel Lloyd and Kalia Kopper,
both of whom I was so fired up to watch
in this and who came through as expected.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Same with Skyler Diggens.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
You and I mentioned that like, it's gonna go off
and it's gonna be dramatic and fun to watch when
it does. I honestly was surprised that my Phantom team
looks so trash.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
Now, I'll tell you what, but the system we used
was official, Sarah.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I'm not going back on it. I love my squad.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
I'm giving them some time to get it together. I
don't think so too Sobbly it's going to be, you know,
putting up eleven every game. I think she could do better.
I want to see Marina Maybury out there. She did
not play, and there were some concerns about both health
illness and physical health like injuries heading into that game.
There were a lot of jokes about the whole team
eating Marina's food and getting bubble guts and her just
(17:32):
taking out the team with whatever. That weird bow tie
shrimp chicken pasta business that looked like Croston Flakes.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
Was the mac and cheese she may look fire. That's
what I saw.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Her second round looked good, and I would like to
think that future efforts from Marina defeed her team will
not result in them getting blown the fuck out. But
that was a terrible start, and I'm enthusiastic and optimistic.
My concern is mainly my concern during our draft, which
was I want to see how Britain deals with that
up and back and having to be mobile in a
(18:04):
way that like, if you can use her the right
way and get her dominant inside, she'll be helpful, but
she also might result in a lot of mismatches and
and also a lot of breakaways that she doesn't get
back for. So that's my biggest concern with my phantom.
I did not think that they would get absolutely dusted,
and they did.
Speaker 6 (18:20):
The first blowout and.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Get it the record books, Yeah, get it out of
the way. I guess all right, Alex, have you come
up with any negative feedback by this point?
Speaker 5 (18:31):
Yeah, it only took me eight minutes, folks. I didn't
realize how small the venue Wayfair was, and I don't
actually have anything necessarily against a small venue, but to me,
the issue with it is that the camera angle you
don't see people behind the player benches. I think maybe
(18:52):
there's one rower too.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I think there's just a couple for VIPs and then
the rest of the crowd is all on the other side.
Speaker 5 (18:58):
Yeah, it gives vibes of like twenty twenty Wobble Season.
The camera angle, it feels like half of the screen
is kind of that empty chunk, and so I just
felt like the visual picture was a little bit off
for me. Once I started paying attention to the basketball,
it went away, but I just was wondering, like, could
they shift the camera angles a little bit to focus
(19:20):
more in on the players as opposed to that empty space.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Real Yeah, I get that.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
It didn't really bother me because I was aware and
there were enough camera angles that shifted to show that
there were fans behind both baskets and right on the
court and behind the benches that couple rows of VIPs
or whatever. I think you could tell that there were
fans because the players were looking toward the other side
of the court, and when the camera flips around to
(19:45):
show highlights, you could see them. So it didn't really
bother me, particularly because I think those big led screens
that they had were pretty beautiful and striking and the
graphics that they used and the way they like rolled
it out kind of made for a cool vibe.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
But yeah, I could see that anything else. Any complaints
me shrather than our team's not winning.
Speaker 7 (20:03):
Yeah, my biggest complaint, and it's a complaint that resonates
at every level of basketball, so it's not new.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
But the officiating.
Speaker 7 (20:14):
Left much to be desired for me because in three
on three basketball, in my.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Head, you let you let the mothers play. That's how
I feel about it.
Speaker 7 (20:25):
I feel as though this is a setting where they
would probably want that to Nobody wants to get hurt,
of course, but let them hoop. Let's not give them
the same guardrails that I feel like the WNBA and
other leagues sometimes can It's okay if things get a
little chippy. It's it's sport, just okain. Safety is is
first and foremost, But let them hoop and shoutouts.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
So you want to European European style a.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Little bit closer to that coach we always hear about
from the players.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Is they talk about it?
Speaker 7 (20:54):
Yes, they talk about it because they they're capable of that.
And I think the more that we show folks who
are tuning in whether they be casual fans who are
just getting hit to women's basketball or folks who've been
around for a.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
While, like, we want to see that.
Speaker 7 (21:05):
That's just it speaks to the athletes that they are
and shout out to slice Amanda Marquez who hopped on
Instagram Live. I was on Instagram Live for all of
five minutes that second game on Friday night, just.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
To see, you know, folks wanted to kick it and watch.
Speaker 7 (21:20):
And she mentioned the same thing that it felt like
in some games at the start they were letting them hoop,
and then it got we're calling tickie tag fouls. I
just want to balance so that the players know what
to expect, Yeah, so that the coaches know what to expect,
and so that the.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
Viewers know what to expect.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
But if there's a bad call, we do get Skyler
Diggens doing the bunny hop. I don't know if y'all
saw that highlight, but if you didn't, go find Skyler's
reaction to a call she didn't like.
Speaker 7 (21:43):
But the other thing we also got was long reviews,
which I also hope can be nipped in the bud
because again pace of play, but also pace of you know,
the run of show and all those things, but all
in although I still got to give unrival like a
nine point nine point seventy five out of ten for
your first weekend.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Congrats Unrivaled on a tremendous debut weekend. And shout out
to the fandom ghost gang. The Ghosties. Hang in there, y'all.
We're gonna be okay. Okay, you're gonna get your shout
outs when we get our first win.
Speaker 7 (22:14):
All right, Rose, we gone bloom too. Don't you worry
about it? Oh, you worry about it.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
It was cute, wasn't it. Yeah, this is cute.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I mean, you took two l's, but you still have
time to belie. Okay, that's all I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
As of the time we recorded this episode, of the
time we.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Recorded this episode, you've taken two el's.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
That's fine. Time to grow. Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Next topic, we mentioned last week that there is allegedly
a new volleyball league joining the existing professional women's volleyball leagues,
called Major League Volleyball, and our response was, Okay, like,
we're usually pretty fired up about new professional women's leagues,
but we're just trying to figure out where there is space,
(22:56):
where there is coverage. Where are the journalists to tell
us about and report on this league? Where's the funding,
where's the investment? Where are the players? Like, are they
all going to eat each other up instead of some
of these folks that are passionate about this coming together
and trying to create one, maybe two, preferably one really
great league with all the best talent. And Haley Washington,
(23:19):
a professional player for love volleyball, not only read our
minds in terms of our concerns, but brought some serious
sass in a post about the news of the new league.
She wrote on Instagram, build your own pro volleyball league.
This just in coming year, a brand new professional women's
volleyball league, the superlative synonym for pro volleyball league with
(23:43):
key investors like TikTok, influencer, random pop celebrity, a volleyball
player important enough to make this seem legit, launching in
cities like Midwest City and nickname of a city.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Why support when you can compete?
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Another superlative coming soon sponsored by RPDWSTM rich people disenfranchising
women's sports. Look out WNBA, You're next. So safe to
say She's not a fan of the announcement She had
a couple fun, sort of mad libs style posts where
(24:19):
people filled in you know, these superlatives, TikTok influencers, names
of cities to create their own league, and y'all, I mean,
I can't blame her. I understand that if you are
already money invested, plans made, you know, diving into this,
it is very hard to see other people beat you
to the punch and get things up and running. But
(24:41):
when that happens, don't you have to revisit your plans
and figure out if you can join. As opposed to, to
her point, competing, you're not supporting women's volleyball if you're
adding another competitor unless there's something we're missing, and we
do not have a lot of information about this Major
League Volleyball league. But unless there's something we're missing, it
sure doesn't feel like it's bringing something new, different, better,
(25:05):
and if anything, it's just going to take away attention
and money from the leagues that are already trying to
make it. Alex, I know you did a little bit
of research on this, so tell me what you found
out about Major League volleyball and also how it fits
into the mix with PVF Love Au Volleyball, and I
don't know are there other leagues were missing?
Speaker 5 (25:22):
So big picture here? What are the things to know
about this new Major League Volleyball Is that the first
team in it is a team that already exists in
the PVF, the Omaha team. So the Omaha team would
be leaving the PVF and enjoining MLV. Next thing to note,
there has already been an MLV. There was a semi
pro women's league that existed from nineteen eighty seven to
(25:44):
nineteen eighty nine with the same name. This one's totally unrelated,
but just reminds me of acronym soup like in women's hockey,
where we are seeing the same acronyms used over and
over again because there have been so many leagues and
iterations that they have run out of new ideas. So
we have this landscape with potentially four leagues. I don't
really know what to make of it. On the one hand,
I think in the last five years or so we
(26:07):
have seen a fantastic change in the women's sports landscape,
which is that investors are no longer in it for charity.
They're no longer in it because they have a daughter
who they want to help inspire and show her that
there's a path for women to compete in the sport.
We also have a landscape where investors are looking to
make money.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Now, I think we.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
All know that a lot of leagues, a lot of teams,
you're not making money those first few years. You are
investing with the idea of making money down the road.
And so on the one hand, there is a competitive
financial marketplace here, and so to say support, don't compete
is to ignore that reality of like, we do want
(26:47):
it to be a financial investment. At the same time,
someone is going to emerge as the winner down the road,
and so right now it feels like the stakes are
rising to jockey and gain position.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yeah, and like you said, there are benefits to competition.
It makes salaries go up, It increases a drive toward
investment and resources, and it makes it important to get
the right TV deals and grab the best players and
give them incentive to choose you. But it also dwindles
the pool of total money that goes to the players
(27:21):
that are the best. It bifurcates our attention and our interest.
For instance, we've seen a lot of great publicity around Love.
They've done a good job of telling us who they are,
their build up. They also have this incredible massive youth
system that's built, so it's a massive organization beyond just
the pro side, and that makes it easy for us
to say, oh, this looks like a thing that's putting
(27:43):
a lot of money behind. This has great investors, can
be watched on ESPN, etc. Whereas PVF I'm not quite
as familiar with. They haven't done as good of a
job of breaking through mainstream to get us to understand
their model, their teams, et cetera. Au volleyball has existed
for a couple of years, they have that different individual
and team model that's part of a larger athletes unlimited
(28:03):
organization that we're familiar with. MLV stepping into a crowded
space and will have to separate itself somehow, And it
just feels like to me, to your point, the competition
can raise everybody's level, but some of these people have
to drop off sooner rather than later so that they
don't take everyone down with them.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
I think we've honestly already seen it with the PVF
salaries in the PVF rose this year, and I would
say that in some ways, they're probably artificially inflated that
the players that are playing in that league. If there
was only one league, those players would not be making
nearly as much as they currently are. But the league
raise salaries in order to try to attract more better
players that are marketable, and in large part that didn't succeed.
(28:46):
When you look at the US Olympic roster from this
last summer, the team that won silver, they are either
playing with love or they are overseas. And so I'm
curious about why someone thinks that they might be able
to win the best players in the world with this
new iteration a volleyball.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
I mean shit, you got I mean just that.
Speaker 7 (29:02):
My initial thought was exactly what you open. This part
of the conversation with Sarah is what is the intention?
Is the intention to be able to look back and
say I did this, I was the one that made
the league, or we were the one who made the
league and satisfy your pride and your ego, or is
it the growth of the game as a whole and
the viability of a professional league in the United States
(29:23):
in the long term?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Full stop?
Speaker 7 (29:27):
I agree that the sooner that folks start to communicate
and collaborate on a single thing, the better it'll be.
That's not to say there can't be something happened in
one portion of the year and something else happening in another.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
Portion of the year.
Speaker 7 (29:41):
When Hayley's post pointed to the WNBA, for me, that's
kind of what we're moving towards, and so I think that's,
you know, a viable option in the long term. But
I just don't I hope that the folks who are
in the decision making positions are asking themselves that question first, like,
is our intention about the game as a wh whole
or is our intention about making us money over here
(30:03):
and you know, being.
Speaker 6 (30:05):
Able to say that we did it.
Speaker 7 (30:06):
I think that's a question a lot of folks who
get into the sports space need to ask themselves, especially
in the women's sports space.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
I agree with that.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
I just want to point out though, that as women's
sports continue to become more of an economic opportunity and
not a cause or something that is about supporting and promoting,
we do have to reconcile that you can both be
mission focused and capital focused.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
We don't need to demand that everybody who wants to
get in the women's sports space is doing it for
good reasons because we don't demand that in the men's
sports space.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
We just know that it's a place that people make money.
Speaker 7 (30:39):
Is that something we should change? Are we okay with
that on the men's side.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I'm not saying it's great, but in a capitalist society,
and when we demand the things that we want to
see in women's sports, we're demanding them in part because
we understand that we operate in a capitalist society and
it hasn't worked for women's sports to be a cause.
It has to be about the numbers too, if we
want to grow in the way that we've seen other
sports grow. Now that's not to say I want people
getting involved purely for the money who don't care about
(31:04):
the end product or the players. I'm just saying that
it is maybe a little pollyanna ish to expect that
these folks who probably have a ton of money and
time sunk in this, will just say this could be bad,
let's stop. What instead should be the recognition that both
it will be bad for the sport, the players and
the industry, and also will not make the money because
now it's way too crowded of a marketplace and they
(31:25):
won't be able to separate themselves. I want to see
people who both are doing the right thing for women's
sports and supporting and promoting the players and the economy
of it, and also are doing it in a way
that will make the money, because that's how the league
stay alive and the players continue to get to get
paid to play.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah, all right, Well, if anyone knows anything.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
About MLV, shoot is a message, tell us what the
fuck is up? Literally, if you got a good mad libs,
fill out that mad lib that Haley Washington posted on
her Instagram and send us your best version. By the way,
Haley was just on Carrie Champions podcast on January eighteenth.
Great conversation. Check it out Naked Sports with Carrie Champion.
(32:04):
That's another show right here on the Iheartwomen's Sports Network.
You can listen to Carrie's long interview with Haley. All Right,
finally we got to discuss the Minnesota Aurora FC.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
We dropped that on y'all on Friday.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Don't worry, We're gonna give you a whole bunch more
information on why we're investing, why we're asking you to
get involved, what to expect. We're gonna have some interviews
with one of the heads over there and a former
player and just give you everything you need to know
as to why you'd want to get involved with the Aurora.
But big ups to the slices who have already emailed
us with their ownership receipts and are already on board.
Andrea Megan g Aaron Michelle Megan h Matt Stacy, Hadley Collin.
(32:39):
There's a bunch of you. We appreciate your messages, keep
them come in and don't forget. Every slice who buys
a Slice of the Aurora, we'll get a special hat
commemorating our collab with them, and you could only get
the hat if you're an owner, So send us a
receipt of your ownership purchase along with your name and
address and you'll be in no timeline yet on the hats.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
I'm working on it, but that will be come in
your way.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
And yeah, I just wanted to talk with Big Citrus
about this investment.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
I'm just excited about the idea of having.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
A little team for the show where we'll be checking
in on how they're doing, finding out about some of
their players and their biggest games, their mascot, y'all, their
mascot is Rory the Aurora Saurus, and it is a
giant teal dinosaur. And you know, I am literally obsessed
already the Aurora Saurus.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I couldn't be more in and.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I just love the idea of checking in. Also, like,
without even meaning to, we've bandwagon a winner. This team
has never lost the game, like we just wanted to
support them, and unlike my phantom, we got ourselves a winner.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Y'all. Yeah, yeah, it's super cool.
Speaker 7 (33:48):
The mascot is easily the I won't say the best
because Ellie exists, but you.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Know, and.
Speaker 7 (33:56):
Benny, Okay, that's I'm gonna let you I'm not even
I'm not even involved on that one, but we know
Sarah loves Benny. The mascot reminds me of the dragon
from dragon Tails. Yes, yes, the dragon from dragon Tails,
and it warms my heart.
Speaker 6 (34:12):
It touches a special place in my heart.
Speaker 7 (34:15):
But the thing that I think is the coolest is
from all the people who have emailed us telling us, oh, yeah,
by the way, I already invested in these months ago,
will we lay to the party?
Speaker 6 (34:24):
Are bad? Like theists on top of it? That was
so crazy to me.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Yeah, it was really cool.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
We got a handful of slices that were like, hey,
can we still get the hat if we already invested
several months ago?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
And I'm like, hell, yeah, you can. That's so rad.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
I think I mentioned this last week, but the Northern
lights have been elusive to me. There were many nights
last summer where Chicago had these freak occurrences of northern
lights that never happened here, and everyone that I fucking
know saw them.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
And I drove to a.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Night SkyPark that supposedly like registered as one of the
darkest areas an hour away from Chicago, I drove to
the I drove like all these places that I didn't
freaking see them.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I went to Iceland and I didn't see them. So
you know what, if I got to buy my way.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Into the northern lights for now until the universe and
Mother Nature wants to gift me with the real thing,
I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 6 (35:13):
Uh, but if you could ghost it by a natural phenomenon.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
I know.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
I got earthquakes when I lived in LA didn't want
any of those. I'm hidden in the crawl space due
to alleged tornadoes coming all the way to Chicago. No
thank you, ma'am, but I can't get a freaking Northern light.
No anyway, jump in, get involved. It feels so good
to put your money where your mouth is when it
comes to women's sports and to just you know, have
(35:41):
a team that we're gonna follow along with and root for.
I do need to tell Salmon Bay FC that I'm
not cheating on you and your crest that I want
to live in.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
You're my side piece, Salmon Bay, Okay.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
And if I get out there to the beautiful place
of teal waters and mountains with a beautiful salmon colored
sky that you have in your crest, I'm gonna make
that my home too.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Okay, just putting that out there. I don't want anyone
to think I'm gonna be a one team kind of woman.
All Right, We got to take a break.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
When we come back, We're maricondoing the gout A twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Welcome back. We love that you're.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Listening, but we want you to get in the game
every day too. So here's our good game play of
the day. Invest in the Aurora, send us those receipts,
or you could just follow them on social and get
familiar with the team at mn Aurora FC on Instagram,
Blue Sky and Twitter. Like we said, if you can't
afford to invest right now, you could still be a
part of the fun and follow along. You could still
(36:43):
love Rory the Aurora Sourus. You could still get on
board with the Northern Lights. So if you can and
you have the means, invest and join us. Otherwise, just
give them a follow. We always love to hear from you.
Hit us up on email, good game at wondermedianetwork dot com,
or leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two
oh four fifty seventy.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
And don't forget to subscribe. Rate and review.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
It's so easy watch doing a chore or project you've
been putting off. Rating five out of five Cozy Booknooks review.
This is your sign right now to do that little
project or cleanup you've been putting off for months, maybe
even putting off for years. This past weekend, I finally
organized and cleaned up the book nook in my bedroom
so I can actually find books on my shelves faster,
(37:24):
and so I can actually use the daybed to sit
and read instead of using it to store boxes of
crap that I've been putting off. Going through fun fact,
for everyone, that box of stuff that's sitting in the corner,
it's been there so long that it's basically a piece
of furniture to you, it's just a box. To everyone else.
You know, when they come to your house, they can
see it, right, they can see the box. Go get
it and clean it out and keep whatever, Toss whatever,
(37:46):
donate to what you need to do. That closet of
clothes that you don't wear. Throw on a great podcast
series or an audiobook and get in there and start cleaning.
If you haven't worn stuff in years, somebody else will,
so box it up, throw it in your car, give
yourself a week deadline to donate it. Put a little
reminder on your phone after a week that shit's got
to be donated. Research has actually shown that living in
(38:07):
a cluttered environment increases stress, and that clutter can make
it difficult to focus on a particular task.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
We know this.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Walking past like a freshly cleaned living room or a
kitchen or whatever. It literally makes me feel lighter. When
I walk past my booknook the last couple of days,
I like literally felt joy looking at it. So get
to it. Carve out a couple hours and just finally
do that thing. And if the thing you're putting off
actually takes just minutes, do it right now. This podcast
is over in one minute. When we're done, just go
do it. It'll feel so good to cross it off
(38:34):
the to do list. Now it's your turn. Rate and review.
Scroll down to the stars, hit five and leave us
a nice review. Thanks for listening, See you tomorrow. Good
Game Dot's daily Good Game Pagebeckers Hugh, the Koreta Scott
King classic Getting Bumped by the Inauguration.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Now that's dope. By the way, we use a lot of.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Today, but I think you can recognize why we were
recording this the night of January twentieth. Good Game with
Sarah Spain is an iheartwomen's sports production in partnership with
Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
You can find us on the.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
iHeartRadio app, 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 we're trying
to figure out what we need to do to get
into that Taylor Swift Caitlin Clark suite. You know, I
make a killer hot onion dip. It's Tuesday, January twenty first,
and on today's show, we'll be diving into the debut
of Unrivaled, trying to figure out what the hell is
going on in pro women's beabs, and celebrating a contract
extension for the highest paid women's basketball coach in history.
(00:23):
Plus underfrogs, double corks, and a big teal dinosaur. It's
all coming up right after this welcome back slices. Here's
what you need to know today. Unrivaled tipped off on
Friday with Nafisa Collier's lunar owls defeating Branda Stewart's missed
(00:45):
eighty four to eighty. Now, because the league uses the
elam ending, every game ends with a basket, not a buzzer.
The winning score is determined by adding eleven points to
the leading teams score at the end of the third quarter.
Whoever hits that total first wins. The mist led seven
three sixty seven heading into the fourth, but the Lunar
Owls pulled out a fourth quarter comeback with Skyler, Digg
(01:05):
and Smith draining the game winning three after a big quarter,
so in the Battle of Unrivaled Founders, Fee came out
on top to grab the first win in Unrivaled history.
Shout out to Amy Clerkson, Joey Maldonado, Kim Cook, and
the rest of the slices on Team Lunar.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Owls Hoo Doo, who.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
After the first week ind of play Alex's Lace has
got the only dub of the big Citrus squads. But
lots more season to go and we'll have lots more
on the debut of Unrivaled later in the show.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
By the way, while lots of w stars are.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Playing in Unrivaled and AU hoops this offseason, there are
plenty playing overseas and I want to shout out the
Chicago Sky for sending us updates on their players, including
two that are having huge januaries. Kennedy Carter has scored
at least thirty points in every game but one for
her Wuhan team over the past two weeks, including back
to back forty point games on January tenth and twelfth,
(01:52):
and Kamila Cardoso scored career highs of forty points and
seventeen boards to help per Shanghai team to a win
on January eighteenth.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Well on those players overseas as well.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
To college basketball, South Carolina coach Don Staley has signed
a contract extension, making her the highest paid coach in
women's soups either college or the WNBA. The contract, which
runs through the twenty twenty nine to twenty thirty season,
includes a base salary of four million dollars a year,
plus other bonuses.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Here's an interesting nugget.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Though, if Staley were to leave South Carolina prior to
the end of the contract, she would osc one hundred
percent of the remaining compensation left on the deal, but
not if she leaves the game Cocks to take a
coaching gig in the.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
WNBA or the MNBA.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Sticking with college hoops, Paige Becker's became the fastest Yukon
Huskies women's basketball player to reach two thousand points, accomplishing
the feat in one hundred and two games, passing Maya Moore,
who got to two thousand and one aw eight. Becker's
achieved the milestone during the Huskies ninety six thirty six
blowout of Seaton Hall on Sunday, Becker shouted out everyone
behind the scenes who's helped her on the journey when
talking to SNY after the game.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
But it's been a beautiful journey, and I've seen so
many people invest a lot and do a lot for me,
and I just really want to their hard work, because
everybody sees the two thousand points, but NOBB sees the
two thousand days of hard work. So it's just a
testimony to everybody who's invested in me.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Couple upsets Sunday and women's college hoops to mention as
fifteenth ranked Tennessee fell to unranked Vanderbilt seventy one to
seventy on a last second put back from Vandy's michaelab Blake's,
who led the Commodorees with twenty three points in the win. Also,
number nine Ohio State fell to unranked Penn State sixty
two to fifty nine. Four Lady Lyons scored in double
digits to hand the Buckeyes their first.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Loss of the season.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Lady Lyons, Yeah, we still got to do a show
on ending the whole Lady nicknames in college sports uugh
to soccer. Kristin Press has agreed to a one year
contract extension with Angel City FC. Press was the club's
first ever signee ahead of its debut season in twenty
twenty two, but she missed most of twenty twenty two
and all of twenty twenty three after tearing your ACL.
(03:51):
After four surgeries, she returned to the field in twenty
twenty four and played in nine games for the club.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Some more angel City news.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Former Portland Thorns and Lynn's national team coach Mark Parsons
has been named Angel City's new sporting director and general manager,
replacing Angela Hugley's Mangano, who mutually parted ways with ACFC
in December to take a role with the Houston Dash.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
The first order of business for Parsons hire a new
head coach.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
More soccer, Alyssa Nayer was named the US Soccer twenty
twenty four Female Player of the Year. Now, if you
haven't watched it, check out the adorable video of national
team teammate and last year's Player of the Year Naomi
Germa breaking the news to nayor they pranked her into
thinking that she was surprising Naomi with the award.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
It's really cute.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
We'll link to it in our show notes to snowboarding
competing at the locks Open in Switzerland over the weekend,
Americans Chloe Kim and Matti Mastro became the first women
to land a double cork ten eighty in a snowboard
halfpipe competition to finish first and second on the podium, respectively.
If you're wondering what exactly double cork ten eighty means,
ten eighty is for the three full rotations done while
(04:54):
in the air, cork means that one rotation is off axis,
and double cork means two of their rotations are off axis.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
We'll link to the video.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Of Chloe's winning run in the show notes so you
could see it for yourself. Also in snowsports News, cross
country skier and friend of the show, Jesse Diggins extended
her overall World Cup lead this weekend, winning a ten
k freestyle in France in what was a monumental day
for US cross country skiing. While Diggins has put the
US women on the map in cross country during the
last decade, the US men aren't exactly well known contenders.
(05:24):
But on the same day Diggins one Ben Ogden placed
third in the men's ten k, marking the best ever
day for US cross country skiing at an event not
held on US soil. So shout out to the Bros
for doing their part to the Professional Women's Hockey League
aka the PWHL. Quebec City hosted the fourth of nine
stops of the PWHL Takeover Tour on Sunday, and competing
(05:45):
in front of a sold out crowd of eighteen two
hundred and fifty nine, the Montreal Victoire defeated the Ottawa
Charge two to one to take sole possession of the
top spot in the PWHL standings. Catherine Dubois, who's from
Quebec City, opened scoring for the Victoire in front of
more than one one hundred family and friends in attendance
to wrestling. At last week's NCUBLEA convention, all three divisions
(06:06):
voted to make women's wrestling the organization's ninety first championship sport.
Women's wrestling was previously part of the NCAA's Emerging Sports
for Women program, but it now gains official NCUBA status.
The first NCAA Women's Wrestling Championship will be held in
twenty twenty six. Women's wrestling is the sixth Emerging sport
to earn NCAA championship status, joining rowing, ice hockey, water polo, bowling,
(06:30):
and beach volleyball. Finally, we haven't forgotten about the Australian Open,
but due to the time difference, it's really tough to
update you on scores, so we're keeping an eye on
the action and also we're sending our best wishes to
Naomi Osaka who had to pull out due to injury.
Want to share a quick underdog story from the TCU
hoops program where.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Should I say under frog story?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Last year, first year had women's hoops, coach Mark Campbell
had to hold open tryouts from the TCU student body
after injuries and a shortage of players forced the horn
Frogs basketball team to forfeit two games. Four students who
became known as the Underfrogs joined the team and helped
TCU finish the season. Now, one of those players, Ella Hamlin,
returned to play for the team this season and got
(07:14):
a big surprise from Coach Campbell last week.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Take a listen, Ello, When there's adversity, most people run
away from it. The Underfrogs diversity hit and you guys
decided to step up so we could continue our season
and I appreciate you, Ellah more than you know. Hey,
(07:38):
by Ella, thank you for stepping up with the plate
and coming back and being a huge part of this team.
But Ella, you've earned.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
A full right scholarship.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
So cool.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
After getting through last year's struggles, the horn Frogs are
now thriving, sitting at nineteen and one on the season
and ranked ninth in the country.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
We're going to take a quick break when we come back.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Big Citrus convenes to dig into the debut of Unrivaled,
discuss a volleyball star who shares our concerns, and remind
all of y'all to grab a slice stick around.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Welcome back Slices.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
We felt like it was time for Big Citrus to
convene about a couple things that we watched over the
weekend and a couple of things we have some serious
questions about. But let's start with the debut of Unrivaled.
What did we like, What surprised us, what didn't.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Go our way? Like I don't know winning a game.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Let's start with what we liked, Alex, what stood out
to you It was.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Just so fun, Like everything about it just felt fun.
The basketball was fun, the energy around it was really fun.
I feel like I'm blanking because I'm such a critical
person and I want to say something critical here, but
I don't really have that much to say.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Ah, we foiled, Alex. Don't worry.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
We'll give you a couple of minutes and something is
certain to come to mind that you would like to
fix me.
Speaker 6 (08:59):
What about you, oh buddy.
Speaker 7 (09:02):
I think that was the most fun I've had watching
basketball in a very long time. I believe the homie
Megan el Hall, who writes and does all the things
we love you. Meghan also tweeted this and put it
on Blue Sky that she was just standing in the
middle of her living room the entire time and couldn't
sit down. That was entire That was me, like I
(09:23):
need blue light glasses. For how long I was standing
in front of my television. My head was hurting, But
it was because I couldn't turn away, not for a second.
Because in a game like that, and it's something we
all talked about coming into it, of course, but I
think seeing that pace in practice was just different.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
I think I agree with Alex.
Speaker 7 (09:42):
On the energy tip, and I kind of feel like
the reason why I love it and a lot of
people loved it is because we knew we were gonna
get the vibe that these players witness and practice every
single day they witness in the offseason when they're training
with each other or overseas if they had previously gone
overseas to play for other teams.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
But I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 7 (10:00):
Because there are things that I thought happened that I
don't see happen as often in my opinion on WNBA
stages at WNBA games and those kind of platforms. And
at risk of putting this in two simplistic terms, it
felt like when I go to La Fitness to play pickup,
there's no cameras out there unless somebody trying to get
you on Instagram.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
Getting your ankles broke.
Speaker 7 (10:21):
But you know, when I'm at La Fitness, I might
say a few things that I probably wouldn't say if
you know. I was at a college basketball game on
the court in front of thousands of people, and.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
I think we were getting more organic reactions.
Speaker 7 (10:33):
I think the celebration from Skylehi Digg and Smith was
probably my favorite one I've seen in years.
Speaker 6 (10:38):
Just I thought our head was about to roll off
her soldier for a second.
Speaker 7 (10:40):
But I'm not mad at her, because that's the kind
of energy that you draw from three on three knowing
that you didn't get a single second of rest that
entire game unless you were literally on the bench resting.
It's just such a fun brand of basketball, it really is.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I completely agree. A couple things stood out to me.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
The intimacy, Like you talked about the way that the
behind the scenes has given us a look at how
these players all interact off the court, and then the
way that they are establishing this new brand of whatever
team it is that they just created.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
We're seeing them for the first time.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Talk about like what do we want our fans to
be called, what's our little like calling card or thing
that we say if we win a game, how do
we interact? And how is our team different than the
other ones? Like all those fun things give us a
peek inside that makes us more interested in what we're watching.
And then really impressive to give us a new format
and have it feel really seamless, to have the rule
changes feel like they make the game a better watch.
(11:34):
One free throw worth two points instead of sitting and
watching someone watch shoot too.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
It keeps it moving, you know.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
The elam ending felt organic, It felt fun, and exciting.
It felt like the thing that you're excited to see
at the end of every game. It can be tough
to introduce people to a new format, new court size,
new rules, new expectations, and instead, Unrivaled has done such
a good job along the way of teaching us and
showing us how things are going to go that when
it or we were ready for it, and even the
(12:01):
things we weren't ready for or used to yet felt
really thought out.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
It just felt really smart.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
And sometimes when you see new iterations of things, you're like, Oh,
they're trying stuff out.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
It'll work itself out. We're gonna get to volleyball after this.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Like the first couple Love games, I was like, these
camera angles suck. I'm not enjoying this, and they have
since fixed that. Unrivaled seem to have most of it down,
except for maybe how long the games are, because I
noticed that the time slots that they have set on
television ain't working. That's not gonna have it, bro dudes,
pranks and jokes is gonna get run into every single
(12:34):
time or whatever the hell show is scheduled to run after.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
Except they have postgame shows I know, and pregame shows.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Which is amazing. What a world.
Speaker 7 (12:43):
Yes, Candace in Renee on one panel, I know chef's
kiss no notes.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yes, I mean you give me Candace Park and Renee Montgomery.
I'm gonna listen all day. But shout out to Lauren Jabarro.
I was not familiar with your work, and I think
she did a really nice job of setting them up
and setting up the league. I think it's a really
fun show. It's a really good pre and post game.
And then the last thing I'll say is that I
just in an interview with someone talking about the growth
of women's sports, and when I was thinking very honestly
(13:10):
about my own investment, I realized how much my excitement
about Unrivaled came from my knowledge about Unrivaled because of
this show, and because of the amount of work we've
put in since we first heard about it, telling you
about all the different steps, from the player announcements, to
the teams, to the rules to everything else. That very
first day when I sat down to watch it, I
had so much information about the players and the teams
(13:32):
and everything that it made me really excited. And it's
such a microcosm for women's sports that if you give
people the names the stakes, the players, the rules, the backstories.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
All those things. They're going to be fired up for it.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
And there's so many awesome opportunities for us to do
that with these new leagues or even existing leagues, and
this show is like, I just like, I'm so grateful
to this show for giving me the time and making
it my job to watch and care about this stuff
instead of a side thing that I used to always do.
Try trying to follow it along with having to cover
every other men's sport that I was covering. So I
just noticed immediately the first day that I was like
(14:07):
so down for this because I knew so much about it.
Me should anythink surprise you?
Speaker 4 (14:11):
You know?
Speaker 7 (14:13):
The thing that surprised me is not the format, it's
not the rules, it's.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
None of that.
Speaker 7 (14:19):
It's and I want to be extremely I want to
be extremely clear here. I revere Lisa Leslie. I love
Lisa Leslie. I one of the goats, but if I
had to hear boom boom room one more time, I
was gonna lose it.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I don't think Lisa knows what that's used for.
Speaker 6 (14:39):
I don't think.
Speaker 7 (14:39):
I don't think she does, and it's not her fault.
It's not her fault, but I hope somebody has told her.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
Lisa.
Speaker 7 (14:44):
People are interpreting this in a completely different way. And
we did mention that Unrivaled is very gay, so okay,
but also.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, oh no, I'm not during the game.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
By the way, the night two of Unrivaled, there were
no boom boom rooms dropped far as I remember, so
I think someone did get to Lisa and explain to her.
Speaker 7 (15:03):
I was just I was just surprised it lasted so long,
agree because I just knew somebody was gonna one of
the researchers gonna be like, hey.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
So we're seeing on.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
True story. When I was a researcher, I would google
or search on Twitter for the commentator. I was working
with mid broadcast to make sure that there wasn't anything
that was slipping by us.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
That's really smart al so that like if if you
don't know and they don't know, but a whole bunch
of other people know, you can whisper in there and
be like, oh, by the way, mentioned to everyone like
I'd like to apologize for or I was unaware of,
or in the future.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I very smart.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Everyone needs an Alex on their side to just be
like double checking for all the potential errors.
Speaker 6 (15:45):
Thousand and then the other thing.
Speaker 7 (15:47):
That didn't necessarily surprise me because I knew that they
both had very strong rookie years, but it surprised me
the prominence in the dominance that they both displayed.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
Kate Martin and Rakia.
Speaker 7 (16:00):
Jackson people people, we knew that this was gonna be
great for the young players to be competing with the
elite of the elite, the best of the best on
this kind of stage. But they didn't just compete, they excelled.
I thought there were moments where Rakia Jackson looked like
the best player on her team. I thought there were
moments where Kate Martin fit in like a glove with
(16:21):
anybody they put her on the floor with and made
reads on closeouts, which for folks who don't know what
closeouts are, or when you catch the ball and the
defense is running out at you, what decision do you
make as an offensive player. I thought her decision making
was excellent on and off the ball. So not necessarily
surprised by that, But I hope other people are really
paying attention to what they're doing and the rest of
(16:42):
the rookiesing young players as well.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
I was not surprised by Jewel Lloyd and Kalia Kopper,
both of whom I was so fired up to watch
in this and who came through as expected.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Same with Skyler Diggens.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
You and I mentioned that like, it's gonna go off
and it's gonna be dramatic and fun to watch when
it does. I honestly was surprised that my Phantom team
looks so trash.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
Now, I'll tell you what, but the system we used
was official, Sarah.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I'm not going back on it. I love my squad.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
I'm giving them some time to get it together. I
don't think so too Sobbly it's going to be, you know,
putting up eleven every game. I think she could do better.
I want to see Marina Maybury out there. She did
not play, and there were some concerns about both health
illness and physical health like injuries heading into that game.
There were a lot of jokes about the whole team
eating Marina's food and getting bubble guts and her just
(17:32):
taking out the team with whatever. That weird bow tie
shrimp chicken pasta business that looked like Croston Flakes.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
Was the mac and cheese she may look fire. That's
what I saw.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Her second round looked good, and I would like to
think that future efforts from Marina defeed her team will
not result in them getting blown the fuck out. But
that was a terrible start, and I'm enthusiastic and optimistic.
My concern is mainly my concern during our draft, which
was I want to see how Britain deals with that
up and back and having to be mobile in a
(18:04):
way that like, if you can use her the right
way and get her dominant inside, she'll be helpful, but
she also might result in a lot of mismatches and
and also a lot of breakaways that she doesn't get
back for. So that's my biggest concern with my phantom.
I did not think that they would get absolutely dusted,
and they did.
Speaker 6 (18:20):
The first blowout and.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Get it the record books, Yeah, get it out of
the way. I guess all right, Alex, have you come
up with any negative feedback by this point?
Speaker 5 (18:31):
Yeah, it only took me eight minutes, folks. I didn't
realize how small the venue Wayfair was, and I don't
actually have anything necessarily against a small venue, but to me,
the issue with it is that the camera angle you
don't see people behind the player benches. I think maybe
(18:52):
there's one rower too.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I think there's just a couple for VIPs and then
the rest of the crowd is all on the other side.
Speaker 5 (18:58):
Yeah, it gives vibes of like twenty twenty Wobble Season.
The camera angle, it feels like half of the screen
is kind of that empty chunk, and so I just
felt like the visual picture was a little bit off
for me. Once I started paying attention to the basketball,
it went away, but I just was wondering, like, could
they shift the camera angles a little bit to focus
(19:20):
more in on the players as opposed to that empty space.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Real Yeah, I get that.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
It didn't really bother me because I was aware and
there were enough camera angles that shifted to show that
there were fans behind both baskets and right on the
court and behind the benches that couple rows of VIPs
or whatever. I think you could tell that there were
fans because the players were looking toward the other side
of the court, and when the camera flips around to
(19:45):
show highlights, you could see them. So it didn't really
bother me, particularly because I think those big led screens
that they had were pretty beautiful and striking and the
graphics that they used and the way they like rolled
it out kind of made for a cool vibe.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
But yeah, I could see that anything else. Any complaints
me shrather than our team's not winning.
Speaker 7 (20:03):
Yeah, my biggest complaint, and it's a complaint that resonates
at every level of basketball, so it's not new.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
But the officiating.
Speaker 7 (20:14):
Left much to be desired for me because in three
on three basketball, in my.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Head, you let you let the mothers play. That's how
I feel about it.
Speaker 7 (20:25):
I feel as though this is a setting where they
would probably want that to Nobody wants to get hurt,
of course, but let them hoop. Let's not give them
the same guardrails that I feel like the WNBA and
other leagues sometimes can It's okay if things get a
little chippy. It's it's sport, just okain. Safety is is
first and foremost, But let them hoop and shoutouts.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
So you want to European European style a.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Little bit closer to that coach we always hear about
from the players.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Is they talk about it?
Speaker 7 (20:54):
Yes, they talk about it because they they're capable of that.
And I think the more that we show folks who
are tuning in whether they be casual fans who are
just getting hit to women's basketball or folks who've been
around for a.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
While, like, we want to see that.
Speaker 7 (21:05):
That's just it speaks to the athletes that they are
and shout out to slice Amanda Marquez who hopped on
Instagram Live. I was on Instagram Live for all of
five minutes that second game on Friday night, just.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
To see, you know, folks wanted to kick it and watch.
Speaker 7 (21:20):
And she mentioned the same thing that it felt like
in some games at the start they were letting them hoop,
and then it got we're calling tickie tag fouls. I
just want to balance so that the players know what
to expect, Yeah, so that the coaches know what to expect,
and so that the.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
Viewers know what to expect.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
But if there's a bad call, we do get Skyler
Diggens doing the bunny hop. I don't know if y'all
saw that highlight, but if you didn't, go find Skyler's
reaction to a call she didn't like.
Speaker 7 (21:43):
But the other thing we also got was long reviews,
which I also hope can be nipped in the bud
because again pace of play, but also pace of you know,
the run of show and all those things, but all
in although I still got to give unrival like a
nine point nine point seventy five out of ten for
your first weekend.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Congrats Unrivaled on a tremendous debut weekend. And shout out
to the fandom ghost gang. The Ghosties. Hang in there, y'all.
We're gonna be okay. Okay, you're gonna get your shout
outs when we get our first win.
Speaker 7 (22:14):
All right, Rose, we gone bloom too. Don't you worry
about it? Oh, you worry about it.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
It was cute, wasn't it. Yeah, this is cute.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I mean, you took two l's, but you still have
time to belie. Okay, that's all I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
As of the time we recorded this episode, of the
time we.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Recorded this episode, you've taken two el's.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
That's fine. Time to grow. Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Next topic, we mentioned last week that there is allegedly
a new volleyball league joining the existing professional women's volleyball leagues,
called Major League Volleyball, and our response was, Okay, like,
we're usually pretty fired up about new professional women's leagues,
but we're just trying to figure out where there is space,
(22:56):
where there is coverage. Where are the journalists to tell
us about and report on this league? Where's the funding,
where's the investment? Where are the players? Like, are they
all going to eat each other up instead of some
of these folks that are passionate about this coming together
and trying to create one, maybe two, preferably one really
great league with all the best talent. And Haley Washington,
(23:19):
a professional player for love volleyball, not only read our
minds in terms of our concerns, but brought some serious
sass in a post about the news of the new league.
She wrote on Instagram, build your own pro volleyball league.
This just in coming year, a brand new professional women's
volleyball league, the superlative synonym for pro volleyball league with
(23:43):
key investors like TikTok, influencer, random pop celebrity, a volleyball
player important enough to make this seem legit, launching in
cities like Midwest City and nickname of a city.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Why support when you can compete?
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Another superlative coming soon sponsored by RPDWSTM rich people disenfranchising
women's sports. Look out WNBA, You're next. So safe to
say She's not a fan of the announcement She had
a couple fun, sort of mad libs style posts where
(24:19):
people filled in you know, these superlatives, TikTok influencers, names
of cities to create their own league, and y'all, I mean,
I can't blame her. I understand that if you are
already money invested, plans made, you know, diving into this,
it is very hard to see other people beat you
to the punch and get things up and running. But
(24:41):
when that happens, don't you have to revisit your plans
and figure out if you can join. As opposed to, to
her point, competing, you're not supporting women's volleyball if you're
adding another competitor unless there's something we're missing, and we
do not have a lot of information about this Major
League Volleyball league. But unless there's something we're missing, it
sure doesn't feel like it's bringing something new, different, better,
(25:05):
and if anything, it's just going to take away attention
and money from the leagues that are already trying to
make it. Alex, I know you did a little bit
of research on this, so tell me what you found
out about Major League volleyball and also how it fits
into the mix with PVF Love Au Volleyball, and I
don't know are there other leagues were missing?
Speaker 5 (25:22):
So big picture here? What are the things to know
about this new Major League Volleyball Is that the first
team in it is a team that already exists in
the PVF, the Omaha team. So the Omaha team would
be leaving the PVF and enjoining MLV. Next thing to note,
there has already been an MLV. There was a semi
pro women's league that existed from nineteen eighty seven to
(25:44):
nineteen eighty nine with the same name. This one's totally unrelated,
but just reminds me of acronym soup like in women's hockey,
where we are seeing the same acronyms used over and
over again because there have been so many leagues and
iterations that they have run out of new ideas. So
we have this landscape with potentially four leagues. I don't
really know what to make of it. On the one hand,
I think in the last five years or so we
(26:07):
have seen a fantastic change in the women's sports landscape,
which is that investors are no longer in it for charity.
They're no longer in it because they have a daughter
who they want to help inspire and show her that
there's a path for women to compete in the sport.
We also have a landscape where investors are looking to
make money.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Now, I think we.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
All know that a lot of leagues, a lot of teams,
you're not making money those first few years. You are
investing with the idea of making money down the road.
And so on the one hand, there is a competitive
financial marketplace here, and so to say support, don't compete
is to ignore that reality of like, we do want
(26:47):
it to be a financial investment. At the same time,
someone is going to emerge as the winner down the road,
and so right now it feels like the stakes are
rising to jockey and gain position.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yeah, and like you said, there are benefits to competition.
It makes salaries go up, It increases a drive toward
investment and resources, and it makes it important to get
the right TV deals and grab the best players and
give them incentive to choose you. But it also dwindles
the pool of total money that goes to the players
(27:21):
that are the best. It bifurcates our attention and our interest.
For instance, we've seen a lot of great publicity around Love.
They've done a good job of telling us who they are,
their build up. They also have this incredible massive youth
system that's built, so it's a massive organization beyond just
the pro side, and that makes it easy for us
to say, oh, this looks like a thing that's putting
(27:43):
a lot of money behind. This has great investors, can
be watched on ESPN, etc. Whereas PVF I'm not quite
as familiar with. They haven't done as good of a
job of breaking through mainstream to get us to understand
their model, their teams, et cetera. Au volleyball has existed
for a couple of years, they have that different individual
and team model that's part of a larger athletes unlimited
(28:03):
organization that we're familiar with. MLV stepping into a crowded
space and will have to separate itself somehow, And it
just feels like to me, to your point, the competition
can raise everybody's level, but some of these people have
to drop off sooner rather than later so that they
don't take everyone down with them.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
I think we've honestly already seen it with the PVF
salaries in the PVF rose this year, and I would
say that in some ways, they're probably artificially inflated that
the players that are playing in that league. If there
was only one league, those players would not be making
nearly as much as they currently are. But the league
raise salaries in order to try to attract more better
players that are marketable, and in large part that didn't succeed.
(28:46):
When you look at the US Olympic roster from this
last summer, the team that won silver, they are either
playing with love or they are overseas. And so I'm
curious about why someone thinks that they might be able
to win the best players in the world with this
new iteration a volleyball.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
I mean shit, you got I mean just that.
Speaker 7 (29:02):
My initial thought was exactly what you open. This part
of the conversation with Sarah is what is the intention?
Is the intention to be able to look back and
say I did this, I was the one that made
the league, or we were the one who made the
league and satisfy your pride and your ego, or is
it the growth of the game as a whole and
the viability of a professional league in the United States
(29:23):
in the long term?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Full stop?
Speaker 7 (29:27):
I agree that the sooner that folks start to communicate
and collaborate on a single thing, the better it'll be.
That's not to say there can't be something happened in
one portion of the year and something else happening in another.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
Portion of the year.
Speaker 7 (29:41):
When Hayley's post pointed to the WNBA, for me, that's
kind of what we're moving towards, and so I think that's,
you know, a viable option in the long term. But
I just don't I hope that the folks who are
in the decision making positions are asking themselves that question first, like,
is our intention about the game as a wh whole
or is our intention about making us money over here
(30:03):
and you know, being.
Speaker 6 (30:05):
Able to say that we did it.
Speaker 7 (30:06):
I think that's a question a lot of folks who
get into the sports space need to ask themselves, especially
in the women's sports space.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
I agree with that.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
I just want to point out though, that as women's
sports continue to become more of an economic opportunity and
not a cause or something that is about supporting and promoting,
we do have to reconcile that you can both be
mission focused and capital focused.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
We don't need to demand that everybody who wants to
get in the women's sports space is doing it for
good reasons because we don't demand that in the men's
sports space.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
We just know that it's a place that people make money.
Speaker 7 (30:39):
Is that something we should change? Are we okay with
that on the men's side.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I'm not saying it's great, but in a capitalist society,
and when we demand the things that we want to
see in women's sports, we're demanding them in part because
we understand that we operate in a capitalist society and
it hasn't worked for women's sports to be a cause.
It has to be about the numbers too, if we
want to grow in the way that we've seen other
sports grow. Now that's not to say I want people
getting involved purely for the money who don't care about
(31:04):
the end product or the players. I'm just saying that
it is maybe a little pollyanna ish to expect that
these folks who probably have a ton of money and
time sunk in this, will just say this could be bad,
let's stop. What instead should be the recognition that both
it will be bad for the sport, the players and
the industry, and also will not make the money because
now it's way too crowded of a marketplace and they
(31:25):
won't be able to separate themselves. I want to see
people who both are doing the right thing for women's
sports and supporting and promoting the players and the economy
of it, and also are doing it in a way
that will make the money, because that's how the league
stay alive and the players continue to get to get
paid to play.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah, all right, Well, if anyone knows anything.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
About MLV, shoot is a message, tell us what the
fuck is up? Literally, if you got a good mad libs,
fill out that mad lib that Haley Washington posted on
her Instagram and send us your best version. By the way,
Haley was just on Carrie Champions podcast on January eighteenth.
Great conversation. Check it out Naked Sports with Carrie Champion.
(32:04):
That's another show right here on the Iheartwomen's Sports Network.
You can listen to Carrie's long interview with Haley. All Right,
finally we got to discuss the Minnesota Aurora FC.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
We dropped that on y'all on Friday.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Don't worry, We're gonna give you a whole bunch more
information on why we're investing, why we're asking you to
get involved, what to expect. We're gonna have some interviews
with one of the heads over there and a former
player and just give you everything you need to know
as to why you'd want to get involved with the Aurora.
But big ups to the slices who have already emailed
us with their ownership receipts and are already on board.
Andrea Megan g Aaron Michelle Megan h Matt Stacy, Hadley Collin.
(32:39):
There's a bunch of you. We appreciate your messages, keep
them come in and don't forget. Every slice who buys
a Slice of the Aurora, we'll get a special hat
commemorating our collab with them, and you could only get
the hat if you're an owner, So send us a
receipt of your ownership purchase along with your name and
address and you'll be in no timeline yet on the hats.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
I'm working on it, but that will be come in
your way.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
And yeah, I just wanted to talk with Big Citrus
about this investment.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
I'm just excited about the idea of having.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
A little team for the show where we'll be checking
in on how they're doing, finding out about some of
their players and their biggest games, their mascot, y'all, their
mascot is Rory the Aurora Saurus, and it is a
giant teal dinosaur. And you know, I am literally obsessed
already the Aurora Saurus.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I couldn't be more in and.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I just love the idea of checking in. Also, like,
without even meaning to, we've bandwagon a winner. This team
has never lost the game, like we just wanted to
support them, and unlike my phantom, we got ourselves a winner.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Y'all. Yeah, yeah, it's super cool.
Speaker 7 (33:48):
The mascot is easily the I won't say the best
because Ellie exists, but you.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Know, and.
Speaker 7 (33:56):
Benny, Okay, that's I'm gonna let you I'm not even
I'm not even involved on that one, but we know
Sarah loves Benny. The mascot reminds me of the dragon
from dragon Tails. Yes, yes, the dragon from dragon Tails,
and it warms my heart.
Speaker 6 (34:12):
It touches a special place in my heart.
Speaker 7 (34:15):
But the thing that I think is the coolest is
from all the people who have emailed us telling us, oh, yeah,
by the way, I already invested in these months ago,
will we lay to the party?
Speaker 6 (34:24):
Are bad? Like theists on top of it? That was
so crazy to me.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Yeah, it was really cool.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
We got a handful of slices that were like, hey,
can we still get the hat if we already invested
several months ago?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
And I'm like, hell, yeah, you can. That's so rad.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
I think I mentioned this last week, but the Northern
lights have been elusive to me. There were many nights
last summer where Chicago had these freak occurrences of northern
lights that never happened here, and everyone that I fucking
know saw them.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
And I drove to a.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Night SkyPark that supposedly like registered as one of the
darkest areas an hour away from Chicago, I drove to
the I drove like all these places that I didn't
freaking see them.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I went to Iceland and I didn't see them. So
you know what, if I got to buy my way.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Into the northern lights for now until the universe and
Mother Nature wants to gift me with the real thing,
I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 6 (35:13):
Uh, but if you could ghost it by a natural phenomenon.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
I know.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
I got earthquakes when I lived in LA didn't want
any of those. I'm hidden in the crawl space due
to alleged tornadoes coming all the way to Chicago. No
thank you, ma'am, but I can't get a freaking Northern light.
No anyway, jump in, get involved. It feels so good
to put your money where your mouth is when it
comes to women's sports and to just you know, have
(35:41):
a team that we're gonna follow along with and root for.
I do need to tell Salmon Bay FC that I'm
not cheating on you and your crest that I want
to live in.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
You're my side piece, Salmon Bay, Okay.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
And if I get out there to the beautiful place
of teal waters and mountains with a beautiful salmon colored
sky that you have in your crest, I'm gonna make
that my home too.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Okay, just putting that out there. I don't want anyone
to think I'm gonna be a one team kind of woman.
All Right, We got to take a break.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
When we come back, We're maricondoing the gout A twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Welcome back. We love that you're.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Listening, but we want you to get in the game
every day too. So here's our good game play of
the day. Invest in the Aurora, send us those receipts,
or you could just follow them on social and get
familiar with the team at mn Aurora FC on Instagram,
Blue Sky and Twitter. Like we said, if you can't
afford to invest right now, you could still be a
part of the fun and follow along. You could still
(36:43):
love Rory the Aurora Sourus. You could still get on
board with the Northern Lights. So if you can and
you have the means, invest and join us. Otherwise, just
give them a follow. We always love to hear from you.
Hit us up on email, good game at wondermedianetwork dot com,
or leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two
oh four fifty seventy.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
And don't forget to subscribe. Rate and review.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
It's so easy watch doing a chore or project you've
been putting off. Rating five out of five Cozy Booknooks review.
This is your sign right now to do that little
project or cleanup you've been putting off for months, maybe
even putting off for years. This past weekend, I finally
organized and cleaned up the book nook in my bedroom
so I can actually find books on my shelves faster,
(37:24):
and so I can actually use the daybed to sit
and read instead of using it to store boxes of
crap that I've been putting off. Going through fun fact,
for everyone, that box of stuff that's sitting in the corner,
it's been there so long that it's basically a piece
of furniture to you, it's just a box. To everyone else.
You know, when they come to your house, they can
see it, right, they can see the box. Go get
it and clean it out and keep whatever, Toss whatever,
(37:46):
donate to what you need to do. That closet of
clothes that you don't wear. Throw on a great podcast
series or an audiobook and get in there and start cleaning.
If you haven't worn stuff in years, somebody else will,
so box it up, throw it in your car, give
yourself a week deadline to donate it. Put a little
reminder on your phone after a week that shit's got
to be donated. Research has actually shown that living in
(38:07):
a cluttered environment increases stress, and that clutter can make
it difficult to focus on a particular task.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
We know this.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Walking past like a freshly cleaned living room or a
kitchen or whatever. It literally makes me feel lighter. When
I walk past my booknook the last couple of days,
I like literally felt joy looking at it. So get
to it. Carve out a couple hours and just finally
do that thing. And if the thing you're putting off
actually takes just minutes, do it right now. This podcast
is over in one minute. When we're done, just go
do it. It'll feel so good to cross it off
(38:34):
the to do list. Now it's your turn. Rate and review.
Scroll down to the stars, hit five and leave us
a nice review. Thanks for listening, See you tomorrow. Good
Game Dot's daily Good Game Pagebeckers Hugh, the Koreta Scott
King classic Getting Bumped by the Inauguration.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Now that's dope. By the way, we use a lot of.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Today, but I think you can recognize why we were
recording this the night of January twentieth. Good Game with
Sarah Spain is an iheartwomen's sports production in partnership with
Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
You can find us on the.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
iHeartRadio app, 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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