August 30, 2024 • 21 mins
We’re kicking off the long weekend with Paralympic records, Chicago Sky drama, and a juicy question about WNBA couples. Plus, producer Mish gives an insightful and analytical answer about whether the Aces will three-peat, while producer Alex goes off vibes alone.
- A few Paralympic events to watch today (Friday, August 30):
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- 7:30 am ET: USA Wheelchair Rugby vs. Japan
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- 10:00 am ET: USA Wheelchair Basketball vs. Germany
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- 11:45 am ET: Swimming Finals
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- 3:55 pm ET: Track & Field Finals
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- For U.S. viewers, a full Paralympic TV schedule can be found here
- The full WNBA schedule – including tune-in info – is here!
- The full NWSL schedule – including tune-in info – is here!
- All U.S. Open results and upcoming matches can be found here
- Want to become an investor in the Minnesota Aurora? Details here
- A longer list of Caitlin Clark’s WNBA records:
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- WNBA rookie record for most assists in a season
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- WNBA rookie record for made threes
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- WNBA rookie record for most games with 25+ points, 5+ rebounds, and 5+ assists
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- WNBA single-game assist record
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- 1st player in league history with 25+ pts, 10+ assists, 5+ rebounds, 5+ steals, and 3+ blocks in a game
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- Indiana Fever single-game assist record
-
- Indiana Fever single-season assist record
-
- Fastest player in league history to 400 points and 200 assists
- A longer list of Angel Reese’s WNBA records:
-
- WNBA rookie record for most games with 15+ rebounds
-
- Recorded the first double-double by a rookie in a WNBA All-Star Game
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- WNBA record for most consecutive games with a double-double in a single season
-
- First player in WNBA history to post 20+ rebounds in 3 consecutive games
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- First player in WNBA history to post both 10+ offensive and 10+ defensive rebounds in multiple games
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- First player in WNBA history to log 165+ rebounds, 30+ assists, and 25+ steals through their first 15 games
- Watch the Portlandia 911 Beets Emergency sketch here
- Want more WNBA stats? Check out Across The Timeline here
- Send us your Paralympics questions! Send us a note at goodgame@wondermedianetwork.com or leave us a voicemail at 872-204-5070
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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 looking
for two more friends to help us recreate the Indiana
Fever's team handshake, a five way DApp innovation at its finest.
How did we not think of that before? On today's show,
we'll talk about the historic performance we just saw at
the Paralympics, check in on your faith in the Las
Vegas Aces, ask if you ever think about dying at
(00:21):
a basketball game, and dive deep into the special Rookie
Season's Angel recent Kaitlin Clarker have it. It's all coming
up right after this Welcome back slices, Happy Friday. Here's
what you need to know today. Some really awesome news
(00:43):
out of the Paralympics. As Zakiya Kudu Dotti, who you
heard Alex mention a couple episodes ago. That's the taekwond
athlete that the International Paralympic Committee helped escape from the Taliban. Well,
she just won the first ever Paralympic medal for the
refugee Paralympic team, despite the ban on women in sports
in her country, in the first race of their first
(01:04):
Paralympic Games. On Thursday, American swimmer Christy Rolly Crossley, who
uses they, them and she her pronouns, broke a world record.
The thirty seven year old single mother of three posted
a world record time of twenty seven point two eight
seconds in the fifty meter freestyle for the S nine class,
which includes athletes with weakness, limb loss or coordination difficulties.
(01:25):
A few hours later, Raleigh Crossley won silver in the final,
finishing point two eight seconds behind China's Chen Yee, who
set her own world record for her classification. Athletes classified
as both S nine and S ten compete against each
other in this event. Raley Crossley is expected to contend
for a medal in three more individual events, plus one
or two relays ahead of the Paralympics. The New York
Times profile Rally Crossley. We'll link to it in our
(01:48):
show notes. Because their disability isn't always as obvious as
some of their competitors, she's had to face accusations of
gaming the classification system. Quote. I've become a lightning rod
of sorts where people are like, she's so fast, and
they I don't see the disability all the time. End quote.
Remember Sarah Adam, the American wheelchair rugby player Alex told
you about earlier this week. While she's the first woman
(02:08):
to represent the US in the mixed gender sport of
wheelchair rugby, and she scored six tries in Team USA's
fifty one forty eight win over rival Canada on Thursday.
Plenty more Paralympic events to look forward to this weekend.
We'll let you know what's on deck in our show
notes to Hoops. There are four WNBA games today, all
with playoff implications. We'll give you the full schedule in
(02:28):
our notes, but we've got a spotlight one matchup in particular.
It's the Indiana Fever at the Chicago Sky seven thirty
Eastern on Ion and League Pass Caitlin Clark versus Angel
Reese for the last time in the regular season, Number
seven versus Number eight. It's a duel between two squads
with playoff hopes that are trending in sort of opposite directions.
(02:50):
This one's going to have some fireworks, and if Clark
and Reeser involved, probably some records are going to get broken.
To something else to note, this game is going to
be the Sky's first ever Barbie theme game. Chicago became
the first WNBA franchise to partner with Mattel's Barbie this week,
and per a team press release, the partnership is meant
to celebrate women athletes, with the goal of championing women
(03:11):
in sports and encouraging girls to pursue their athletic passions.
Smart move when you got Shytown Barbie aka Bayou Barbie
aka Podcast Barbie aka Angel Reese on the roster. Also
some more news out of Chicago. Point guard Dana Evans
is looking to leave the franchise. Evans first drived in
twenty twenty one in a trade orchestrated by then head
coach and GM James Wade. After Wade's departure, as well
(03:33):
as that a veteran point guard, Courtney Vanderslute, many anticipated
it would be evans time to shine this season. With
the emergence of Kennedy Carter and Lindsay Allen, her minutes
have dwindled, but there's been some conflicting messages in the
last couple of days. Here's how it unfolded. So during
media availability on Wednesday, Evans told reporters that she wasn't
happy with her role on the team, but said she
had not requested a trade. But on Thursday, She took
(03:56):
to Twitter to clarify, writing, quote, I initiated trade talk
a couple months ago, but after the Olympic break, I
said I would go ahead and finish the season strong
with Chicago end quote. So it seems like Evan's sustaining
put for now, all right. So we've got those four
games tonight, and then there are six WNBA games this weekend,
including two big ones on Sunday, a three to four
(04:17):
matchup between the Seattle Storm and the Connecticut Sun at
one pm Eastern, and then at four pm Eastern, a
five to six matchup between the Las Vegas Aces and
the Phoenix Mercury to the NWSL. The Case Current have
acquired defender Kayla Sharples in a trade with BAFC in
exchange for keeper Jordan Silkowitz and fifteen thousand dollars in
allocation funds. With the move, BAFC get to shore up
(04:38):
their depleted goalkeeper position and eliminate the position redundancy created
when they acquired defender Abby Dalkemper via a trade on Monday. Sharples,
who spent most of her career with the Chicago Red
Stars before leaving a free agency to launch the expansion
BAFC team heads back to the Midwest and joins a
third place KC squad. BFC are in action tonight, actually
against the fifth seed Portland Thorns at ten pm Eastern.
(05:01):
That's streaming on Prime Video. There are six more NWSL
games over the weekend, including the top of the table
Orlando Pride hosting number four seeded New York New Jersey
Gotham f s Orlando's riding an eighteen game unbeaten regular
season streak dating back to last year. That game is
at six pm Eastern on Sunday, streaming on Paramount Plus.
(05:21):
In USL Super League news, Brooklyn's home opener on Saturday
against the Carolina Ascent has been postponed. So during installation
of the soccer turf, the league and the team identified
that there were deficiencies making the field surface unplayable and
had to postpone the game. No makeup date has yet
been announced, and there are no other USL games on
the schedule for this weekend. They'll get back an action
(05:41):
next week. Finally, one last piece of soccer news, so,
speaking of the USL Super League, there's a league below
that the USLW a pre professional league and the Minnesota
Aurora is in that league. They're the largest independent, community
owned women's soccer team in the US, and they're doing
another round of selling community shares. So if you've ever
(06:01):
wanted to own a soccer team, for one hundred bucks,
you can be an investor and part of that club.
We'll throw a link in our show notes if you
want to get involved. In volleyball news, Nebraska's berg and
Riley has signed an NIL deal with Red Bull, joining
Texas superstar Madison Skinner and pitt National Freshman of the
Year Olivia Babcock, who also have been given wings. In tennis.
(06:22):
The US Open rolls on this weekend. Results are coming
too fast and too furious to update here, but we'll
be sure to link to a schedule in our show
notes so you can keep up. The opens b Open
campaign continues this weekend, too. Started in twenty twenty, it's
a social responsibility campaign that amplifies the voices of underrepresented communities.
So the HBCU and LGBTQIA plus communities have already been honored,
(06:44):
and this weekend's events include celebrations of the Hispanic and
Latin American communities and Asian American Pacific Islander culture. We're
going to take a quick break on a scale of
ted Lasso to the nineteen eighty miracle on ice. What's
your level of belief? We'll find out next Welcome back
(07:06):
my little slices. Yesterday we asked y'all to weigh in
on the state of the Las Vegas Aces and while
some of you have lost all altogether at a three pet,
others refused to stop believing. We asked, if you had
to put a percentage on it, what odds do you
give in the aces to win it all again? We
got everything from zero percent all the way up to
seventy five percent. At Clean forty five said twenty three percent.
(07:29):
Three peten ain't easy and had a gift of my
beloved Michael Jordan love that at Coorea, Cubs fans said
seventy five percent because they have the MVP of the
w at jd Man didn't give a percentage, but did
give some solid analysis saying they're doing the classic post
title hangover team that flips the switch at the right time,
so it sounds like he still believes. And finally at
(07:52):
our d Mansini came through with the gold quote twenty
two percent because three peating is hard and twenty two
is the one you can count on for sure when
it comes to this team. End quote. Ain't that the
damn truth? Asia Wilson right now trying to put this
whole team on her back, which is what led us
to this conversation in the first place. Forty two points
the other night and an Aces loss that dropped them
down to fifth at the time, and they got to
(08:14):
battle their way back if they want to get a
three peat. Now, before we even get into three peats,
let's do a quick refresher on the history of just
back to back titles in the WNBA. So when the
Aces won last year, they became the first team to
go back to back since the Sparks did it in
one and o two, And the only team in WNBA
history to three peat has been the Houston Comets. They
(08:35):
won the first four titles in league history ninety seven
to two thousand. So this is an enormous feat that
they're trying. But they certainly have the talent for it.
It's just a matter of whether they can put it
all together. So, Mesh, can they do it? What's your
percentage of belief right now? Sarah I've got to go
a little bit lower than everybody else.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I gotta give them a fifteen percent chance, and I'm
gonna tell you.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I'm gonna tell you why. Okay. I've considered a lot
of things.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
First and foremost, how many other teams I think actually
have a shot at winning a title, And in my opinion,
there's five. I agree with Tarika Foster Rasby. If you
haven't listened to that episode, go back and listen to
that episode. But I think the Liberty, the Links, the Sun,
and the Fever have a chance. And of those teams,
I put them in there because I think they got
a little bit the magic going on. I'm starting to
(09:20):
believe in the Fever, Okay, but I think of those
five teams, Vegas has like the fourth best chance, So
I'm putting them at fifteen. Fever probably a like ten.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Honestly, by the way, I mean, the Fever also just
got the goat bump of Simone Biles right and Gabby
Thomas showing up at their game, and like I think
touching them they might have rubbed off like an extra
couple percentage points ye of likelihood of winning.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
It's like the cheese touch, but for greatness. People my
age will know what that is.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Sorry, what wait? Hold on? What's the cheese touch? Oh?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
If I'm not mistaken, is that Captain underpants? Y'all tweet
at us?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Okay, I've actually seen half of a cap underpants with
my nephew, and I've touched a lot of cheese. I
think it's actually diary but wimpy kid though, Diary of
a wimpy kid yep. Based on my immediate Google search,
I'm now going to look into cheese touching a carry on.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
The other thing for me that I had to consider
is we keep comparing this ACES team to the Aces
team of last year, and they're just not the same team.
The circumstances are not the same. And if you look
at the numbers, last year, they averaged like almost ninety
three points a game, held opponents to eighty ish.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
This year they're averaging eighty.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Seven, so not bad, but opponents are like right at
their heels averaging like eighty three, so you know, the
margin for error is a lot smaller. And last year
we have four players averaging double figures. This year they
don't have that. So you know, Becky said it herself,
she doesn't think this team's played its best ball. I
don't think they have either, But I don't know if
their best basketball is going to be enough because other
teams have also added some pieces. You look at Minnesota,
(10:54):
They've got a lot of Smith, Courtney Williams, Indy Caitlin Clark. Obviously,
I'm a big fan of Temmy fag Benle Connecticut with
Rena Maybrie New York, their whole bench is better. So
I think Vegas might still have that same depth problem
we talked about a lot last year.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
But end of the day, they did come away with
the title. So what do I know? I want to
ask you real quick about the four players in double digits.
Chelsea Gray last year was sitting solidly at fifteen a game,
and this year she's just not on that same pace.
She's She's actually sixth on the team and scoring at
just eight a game. Do you think that's entirely about
(11:28):
her injury or you're seeing something different in this team
in terms of style strategy. You know, the way the
players are getting set up where they're just not going
to her as much. I think she's still settling in.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I mean, if you even look at how she performed
during the Olympics, she was still Chelsea Gray, but she
wasn't point guard level Chelsea Gray. And so I still
think again, because there's so many situational things that have changed.
Asia Wilson is still doing Agie Wilson things, but you're
not getting the production from Kelsey. You're not getting the
same production from Jackie. Even though you get it in moments,
it's not as consistent as it was. And for Chelsea Great,
(12:00):
you know, she's the point God, she can dish that thing.
That's her number one, A one in her game. And
I mean as far as the scoring goes, I think
that happens once she's able to open up the floor
for the rest of her teammates. And because that's been
so hard right now, we're also seeing her numbers in
the points for a game.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Call them struggle a little bit. But I haven't lost
all faith. Haven't lost all faith. Yeah, she's about to
assists down from last year's average as well, which might
just be about other teammates finishing or like you said,
just getting in a rhythm. Also worth doting that this
is a team that had a lot of Olympians on it.
They're so they're tired they're so tired. The little ice
(12:36):
bath a little They're like mesh in college. They just
want to rest on defense instead of showing up. Oh,
that's when they're That's when they're getting their legs. They're
getting their legs back. You know. They They might be
exactly what our one listener said, which is hangover title
team that comes back and turns it on right when
it matters most. I would not be surprised at all.
(12:58):
But I also I'm looking around the league and seeing
other teams that just look better right now, Al, what's
your take? What's your percentage of belief in the Aces?
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Nine five percent?
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Wow? Oh is she coming here to take? Al? Do
we get an analysis or you just gonna drop that
and walk away.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
I think that this Ace's team loves nothing more than
people underestimating them. I think it fuels them. I always
go back. There was this great headline, a nineteen ninety
nine Denver Post story, Your Girl Loves the Archives. The
headline was Becky Hammond, Everybody's all American. No one will
(13:39):
ever underestimate Colorado State's Becky Hammond ever again. Oh a
few weeks after that, she went undrafted, And I think
that energy is just something in the locker room that
fourth place vote Asia Wilson always has. They just want
people to count them out so they can come back
and prove everyone wrong.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Okay, some of the twer just to our questions is
going to end up on their pinterests Eaten good Forward,
which we established on the show, might replace the bulletin
board at the very least screenshots. The screenshots of those
zero percentage points are going up in the Ace's locker
room for sure. I like that analysis, Alex. We got
(14:19):
to take another break when we come back the return
of No Dumb Questions. Welcome back, Slices. It's time once
again for no dumb questions, and we got a couple
(14:39):
of not dumb questions from you, slices. Let's start with
certified slice Alyssa Obradovich, who's back with another one. She wrote,
I've got a burning question after Tonight's huge Fever win
over the Sun, the real fans want to know, assuming
the Sun spends the night in Indianapolis, does Carrington stay
at the team hotel or with Smith Alyssa from Champagne, Illinois. Okay,
(15:00):
this is a juicy wanta lessa. Let's dive in for context,
Dja Carrington at the Connecticut Sun is dating Indiana Fever
forward Melissa Smith. Their relationship dates back to their college
days playing together at Baylor. They were on a break
at one point last year and they were like off,
but they're back together now. They're posting supportive messages on
Insta about each other, and they're making little cutesy videos together,
(15:21):
so they seem quite happy. So your question is, did
Djna skip the team hotel with the fever and crash
at Smith's house in Indy? Meish? This topic is hoops
and gay shit both of your accounts. What say you?
That's a mess?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Oh, so per Djna's TikTok if you haven't already looked.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Oh, we did some research. Yeah, we did some research.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Okay, we can't prepared today at DJA Carrington, she's not
very hard to find on there. But she stayed with
Melissa the night before the game, and did it get
ready with me from Melyssa's house. So i'd rephrase your questions.
Did Carrington stay at the team hote to or spent
another night?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Oh that is some good research. Also, I am way
too competitive for that shit.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah, that's literally what I was about to say, I'm like,
kudos to y'all, because if I'm planning against my girl
the next day.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
We're not together. No, I had the tiger all night.
I'm thinking about ways to destroy you. Mm hmm, I'm
tearing you apart. I'm sorry. But also, yeah, they don't
see each other that much, so I guess, like, does
your horniness override your competitiveness? And I don't know. I
do have to say in college occasionally, if I was
like in the mood to get some action, I would
have to like tamper down my tendency to get a
(16:36):
little aggressive at things like beer pong and try to
be a little more lady like. So I might seem
like someone someone would want to take back to their
dorm slash frat.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
This TMI is that over.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Here you ain't even got to worry about that, That's right.
I mean, listen, I would make a great lesbian. I
think my competitiveness would just add to my attractiveness, not
as much with the dudes I've found. Goodness gracious. Yeah,
I'm going to say that she stayed there both nights
because you know what, if you're always traveling in different places,
you just want to you just want to hang and
spend some special time. It's like on The Bachelor of
(17:10):
the Bachelorette when they get to go to the fantasy
suite and it's like, even if they're not going to bone,
you still need to take that time to just like
hang and like catch up. I'm sure that that's exactly
what happens.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I don't know nothing about the batch.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
That's all right, Moving on, here's our not dumb question
number two at Aaron Underscore raw tagus on X and
asked for no dumb questions. Now that Caitlin Clark holds
the most threes by a rook and Angelica has a
consecutive double double streak record, how many records do these
rooks have? Well, listen, we actually have a whole list
of their records courtesy of the good folks at across
(17:43):
the timeline. You can follow them and should follow them
on X at WBB timeline. And I hope you're ready, Aaron,
because to be honest, if we listed all of their accomplishments,
we would be here for hours like marathon tantric stingstyle.
If you know, you know, and by the I want
you all to know that Misha didn't know because she
interrupted our recording to be like stingstyle, is that like
(18:06):
bullet points in the list, No mesh. Sting, the musician,
frontman for the Police and excellent solo artists as well,
is known for publicly discussing his marathon sex sessions that
go on for hours. They are called tantric sex. And
now you know as well, and now we all know. Okay,
let me give you the highlights from these records and
(18:27):
we'll put the full list in our show notes. Here
we go. Angel Reese rookie record for the most games
with fifteen plus rebounds, the first double double by a
rookie in a WNBA All Star Game, WNBA record for
consecutive games with a double double in a single season,
first player in WNBA history to post twenty plus rebounds
in three consecutive games. Caitlin Clark rookie record for most
(18:48):
assists in a season, Indiana Fever single game assist record.
As you mentioned, Aaron the rookie record for mad threes.
Also the fastest player to four hundred points and two
hundred assists, faster than tier Sabrina Enescu, Don Staley. Pretty
good and like I said, the list goes on on
and on, so go check it out in the notes.
(19:08):
It's been a truly epic summer for these two sensational rookies,
and I'm hoping their teams hang on to those last
two playoff spots because we'll get to see them the postseason.
Then two, we love that you're listening, but we want
you to get in the game every day too, So
our good gameplay of the day is more not dumb questions.
Send him to us. That was super fun. I want
to do more of that, So more not dumb questions
sports related, not sports related. We'll answer them all. You
(19:30):
just heard me. I'll answer anything. So hit us up
good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a
voicemail at eight seven to two two oh four fifty seventy,
or hit us up on social and don't forget to subscribe,
rate and review. It's so easy. Slice is just watch
Sam Coffee's beat Squish Mellow rating five out of five stars. Review.
(19:52):
A family friend of the US women's national team gold
medal winning player Sam Coffee sent her a very special
Squish Mellow Stuffy in honor of their win. It was
a beat and then They sewed a gold metal onto
it and wrote a card saying, way to beat everybody
so good. We love a pun, We love a stuffy heck,
we also love beats, except for that thing where you
(20:14):
forgot you eight beats and then you think you're dying
when you poop out red. Beat shits. Shout out to
Portlandia nine to one beats, emergency sketch beats, But what's
your problem? We'll link to it in case you're not familiar.
But I digress beat stuffy with a cute message, adorbes.
We're into it now. It's your turn, rate and review.
Thanks for listening, slicnes. See you Monday for a very
(20:36):
special Labor Day episode that you're not gonna want to miss.
Good Game, Sarah Adam, Good Game, Christy Roley, Crossley, fuck you,
Beat Shits. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart
women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
(20:59):
our producers are Alex Azzi and Misha Jones. Our executive
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Our editors are Jenny Kaplan, Emily Rudder, Brittany Martinez and
Grace Lynch. Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your
Host Sarah Spain
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're looking
for two more friends to help us recreate the Indiana
Fever's team handshake, a five way DApp innovation at its finest.
How did we not think of that before? On today's show,
we'll talk about the historic performance we just saw at
the Paralympics, check in on your faith in the Las
Vegas Aces, ask if you ever think about dying at
(00:21):
a basketball game, and dive deep into the special Rookie
Season's Angel recent Kaitlin Clarker have it. It's all coming
up right after this Welcome back slices, Happy Friday. Here's
what you need to know today. Some really awesome news
(00:43):
out of the Paralympics. As Zakiya Kudu Dotti, who you
heard Alex mention a couple episodes ago. That's the taekwond
athlete that the International Paralympic Committee helped escape from the Taliban. Well,
she just won the first ever Paralympic medal for the
refugee Paralympic team, despite the ban on women in sports
in her country, in the first race of their first
(01:04):
Paralympic Games. On Thursday, American swimmer Christy Rolly Crossley, who
uses they, them and she her pronouns, broke a world record.
The thirty seven year old single mother of three posted
a world record time of twenty seven point two eight
seconds in the fifty meter freestyle for the S nine class,
which includes athletes with weakness, limb loss or coordination difficulties.
(01:25):
A few hours later, Raleigh Crossley won silver in the final,
finishing point two eight seconds behind China's Chen Yee, who
set her own world record for her classification. Athletes classified
as both S nine and S ten compete against each
other in this event. Raley Crossley is expected to contend
for a medal in three more individual events, plus one
or two relays ahead of the Paralympics. The New York
Times profile Rally Crossley. We'll link to it in our
(01:48):
show notes. Because their disability isn't always as obvious as
some of their competitors, she's had to face accusations of
gaming the classification system. Quote. I've become a lightning rod
of sorts where people are like, she's so fast, and
they I don't see the disability all the time. End quote.
Remember Sarah Adam, the American wheelchair rugby player Alex told
you about earlier this week. While she's the first woman
(02:08):
to represent the US in the mixed gender sport of
wheelchair rugby, and she scored six tries in Team USA's
fifty one forty eight win over rival Canada on Thursday.
Plenty more Paralympic events to look forward to this weekend.
We'll let you know what's on deck in our show
notes to Hoops. There are four WNBA games today, all
with playoff implications. We'll give you the full schedule in
(02:28):
our notes, but we've got a spotlight one matchup in particular.
It's the Indiana Fever at the Chicago Sky seven thirty
Eastern on Ion and League Pass Caitlin Clark versus Angel
Reese for the last time in the regular season, Number
seven versus Number eight. It's a duel between two squads
with playoff hopes that are trending in sort of opposite directions.
(02:50):
This one's going to have some fireworks, and if Clark
and Reeser involved, probably some records are going to get broken.
To something else to note, this game is going to
be the Sky's first ever Barbie theme game. Chicago became
the first WNBA franchise to partner with Mattel's Barbie this week,
and per a team press release, the partnership is meant
to celebrate women athletes, with the goal of championing women
(03:11):
in sports and encouraging girls to pursue their athletic passions.
Smart move when you got Shytown Barbie aka Bayou Barbie
aka Podcast Barbie aka Angel Reese on the roster. Also
some more news out of Chicago. Point guard Dana Evans
is looking to leave the franchise. Evans first drived in
twenty twenty one in a trade orchestrated by then head
coach and GM James Wade. After Wade's departure, as well
(03:33):
as that a veteran point guard, Courtney Vanderslute, many anticipated
it would be evans time to shine this season. With
the emergence of Kennedy Carter and Lindsay Allen, her minutes
have dwindled, but there's been some conflicting messages in the
last couple of days. Here's how it unfolded. So during
media availability on Wednesday, Evans told reporters that she wasn't
happy with her role on the team, but said she
had not requested a trade. But on Thursday, She took
(03:56):
to Twitter to clarify, writing, quote, I initiated trade talk
a couple months ago, but after the Olympic break, I
said I would go ahead and finish the season strong
with Chicago end quote. So it seems like Evan's sustaining
put for now, all right. So we've got those four
games tonight, and then there are six WNBA games this weekend,
including two big ones on Sunday, a three to four
(04:17):
matchup between the Seattle Storm and the Connecticut Sun at
one pm Eastern, and then at four pm Eastern, a
five to six matchup between the Las Vegas Aces and
the Phoenix Mercury to the NWSL. The Case Current have
acquired defender Kayla Sharples in a trade with BAFC in
exchange for keeper Jordan Silkowitz and fifteen thousand dollars in
allocation funds. With the move, BAFC get to shore up
(04:38):
their depleted goalkeeper position and eliminate the position redundancy created
when they acquired defender Abby Dalkemper via a trade on Monday. Sharples,
who spent most of her career with the Chicago Red
Stars before leaving a free agency to launch the expansion
BAFC team heads back to the Midwest and joins a
third place KC squad. BFC are in action tonight, actually
against the fifth seed Portland Thorns at ten pm Eastern.
(05:01):
That's streaming on Prime Video. There are six more NWSL
games over the weekend, including the top of the table
Orlando Pride hosting number four seeded New York New Jersey
Gotham f s Orlando's riding an eighteen game unbeaten regular
season streak dating back to last year. That game is
at six pm Eastern on Sunday, streaming on Paramount Plus.
(05:21):
In USL Super League news, Brooklyn's home opener on Saturday
against the Carolina Ascent has been postponed. So during installation
of the soccer turf, the league and the team identified
that there were deficiencies making the field surface unplayable and
had to postpone the game. No makeup date has yet
been announced, and there are no other USL games on
the schedule for this weekend. They'll get back an action
(05:41):
next week. Finally, one last piece of soccer news, so,
speaking of the USL Super League, there's a league below
that the USLW a pre professional league and the Minnesota
Aurora is in that league. They're the largest independent, community
owned women's soccer team in the US, and they're doing
another round of selling community shares. So if you've ever
(06:01):
wanted to own a soccer team, for one hundred bucks,
you can be an investor and part of that club.
We'll throw a link in our show notes if you
want to get involved. In volleyball news, Nebraska's berg and
Riley has signed an NIL deal with Red Bull, joining
Texas superstar Madison Skinner and pitt National Freshman of the
Year Olivia Babcock, who also have been given wings. In tennis.
(06:22):
The US Open rolls on this weekend. Results are coming
too fast and too furious to update here, but we'll
be sure to link to a schedule in our show
notes so you can keep up. The opens b Open
campaign continues this weekend, too. Started in twenty twenty, it's
a social responsibility campaign that amplifies the voices of underrepresented communities.
So the HBCU and LGBTQIA plus communities have already been honored,
(06:44):
and this weekend's events include celebrations of the Hispanic and
Latin American communities and Asian American Pacific Islander culture. We're
going to take a quick break on a scale of
ted Lasso to the nineteen eighty miracle on ice. What's
your level of belief? We'll find out next Welcome back
(07:06):
my little slices. Yesterday we asked y'all to weigh in
on the state of the Las Vegas Aces and while
some of you have lost all altogether at a three pet,
others refused to stop believing. We asked, if you had
to put a percentage on it, what odds do you
give in the aces to win it all again? We
got everything from zero percent all the way up to
seventy five percent. At Clean forty five said twenty three percent.
(07:29):
Three peten ain't easy and had a gift of my
beloved Michael Jordan love that at Coorea, Cubs fans said
seventy five percent because they have the MVP of the
w at jd Man didn't give a percentage, but did
give some solid analysis saying they're doing the classic post
title hangover team that flips the switch at the right time,
so it sounds like he still believes. And finally at
(07:52):
our d Mansini came through with the gold quote twenty
two percent because three peating is hard and twenty two
is the one you can count on for sure when
it comes to this team. End quote. Ain't that the
damn truth? Asia Wilson right now trying to put this
whole team on her back, which is what led us
to this conversation in the first place. Forty two points
the other night and an Aces loss that dropped them
down to fifth at the time, and they got to
(08:14):
battle their way back if they want to get a
three peat. Now, before we even get into three peats,
let's do a quick refresher on the history of just
back to back titles in the WNBA. So when the
Aces won last year, they became the first team to
go back to back since the Sparks did it in
one and o two, And the only team in WNBA
history to three peat has been the Houston Comets. They
(08:35):
won the first four titles in league history ninety seven
to two thousand. So this is an enormous feat that
they're trying. But they certainly have the talent for it.
It's just a matter of whether they can put it
all together. So, Mesh, can they do it? What's your
percentage of belief right now? Sarah I've got to go
a little bit lower than everybody else.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I gotta give them a fifteen percent chance, and I'm
gonna tell you.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I'm gonna tell you why. Okay. I've considered a lot
of things.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
First and foremost, how many other teams I think actually
have a shot at winning a title, And in my opinion,
there's five. I agree with Tarika Foster Rasby. If you
haven't listened to that episode, go back and listen to
that episode. But I think the Liberty, the Links, the Sun,
and the Fever have a chance. And of those teams,
I put them in there because I think they got
a little bit the magic going on. I'm starting to
(09:20):
believe in the Fever, Okay, but I think of those
five teams, Vegas has like the fourth best chance, So
I'm putting them at fifteen. Fever probably a like ten.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Honestly, by the way, I mean, the Fever also just
got the goat bump of Simone Biles right and Gabby
Thomas showing up at their game, and like I think
touching them they might have rubbed off like an extra
couple percentage points ye of likelihood of winning.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
It's like the cheese touch, but for greatness. People my
age will know what that is.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Sorry, what wait? Hold on? What's the cheese touch? Oh?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
If I'm not mistaken, is that Captain underpants? Y'all tweet
at us?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Okay, I've actually seen half of a cap underpants with
my nephew, and I've touched a lot of cheese. I
think it's actually diary but wimpy kid though, Diary of
a wimpy kid yep. Based on my immediate Google search,
I'm now going to look into cheese touching a carry on.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
The other thing for me that I had to consider
is we keep comparing this ACES team to the Aces
team of last year, and they're just not the same team.
The circumstances are not the same. And if you look
at the numbers, last year, they averaged like almost ninety
three points a game, held opponents to eighty ish.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
This year they're averaging eighty.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Seven, so not bad, but opponents are like right at
their heels averaging like eighty three, so you know, the
margin for error is a lot smaller. And last year
we have four players averaging double figures. This year they
don't have that. So you know, Becky said it herself,
she doesn't think this team's played its best ball. I
don't think they have either, But I don't know if
their best basketball is going to be enough because other
teams have also added some pieces. You look at Minnesota,
(10:54):
They've got a lot of Smith, Courtney Williams, Indy Caitlin Clark. Obviously,
I'm a big fan of Temmy fag Benle Connecticut with
Rena Maybrie New York, their whole bench is better. So
I think Vegas might still have that same depth problem
we talked about a lot last year.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
But end of the day, they did come away with
the title. So what do I know? I want to
ask you real quick about the four players in double digits.
Chelsea Gray last year was sitting solidly at fifteen a game,
and this year she's just not on that same pace.
She's She's actually sixth on the team and scoring at
just eight a game. Do you think that's entirely about
(11:28):
her injury or you're seeing something different in this team
in terms of style strategy. You know, the way the
players are getting set up where they're just not going
to her as much. I think she's still settling in.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I mean, if you even look at how she performed
during the Olympics, she was still Chelsea Gray, but she
wasn't point guard level Chelsea Gray. And so I still
think again, because there's so many situational things that have changed.
Asia Wilson is still doing Agie Wilson things, but you're
not getting the production from Kelsey. You're not getting the
same production from Jackie. Even though you get it in moments,
it's not as consistent as it was. And for Chelsea Great,
(12:00):
you know, she's the point God, she can dish that thing.
That's her number one, A one in her game. And
I mean as far as the scoring goes, I think
that happens once she's able to open up the floor
for the rest of her teammates. And because that's been
so hard right now, we're also seeing her numbers in
the points for a game.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Call them struggle a little bit. But I haven't lost
all faith. Haven't lost all faith. Yeah, she's about to
assists down from last year's average as well, which might
just be about other teammates finishing or like you said,
just getting in a rhythm. Also worth doting that this
is a team that had a lot of Olympians on it.
They're so they're tired they're so tired. The little ice
(12:36):
bath a little They're like mesh in college. They just
want to rest on defense instead of showing up. Oh,
that's when they're That's when they're getting their legs. They're
getting their legs back. You know. They They might be
exactly what our one listener said, which is hangover title
team that comes back and turns it on right when
it matters most. I would not be surprised at all.
(12:58):
But I also I'm looking around the league and seeing
other teams that just look better right now, Al, what's
your take? What's your percentage of belief in the Aces?
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Nine five percent?
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Wow? Oh is she coming here to take? Al? Do
we get an analysis or you just gonna drop that
and walk away.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
I think that this Ace's team loves nothing more than
people underestimating them. I think it fuels them. I always
go back. There was this great headline, a nineteen ninety
nine Denver Post story, Your Girl Loves the Archives. The
headline was Becky Hammond, Everybody's all American. No one will
(13:39):
ever underestimate Colorado State's Becky Hammond ever again. Oh a
few weeks after that, she went undrafted, And I think
that energy is just something in the locker room that
fourth place vote Asia Wilson always has. They just want
people to count them out so they can come back
and prove everyone wrong.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Okay, some of the twer just to our questions is
going to end up on their pinterests Eaten good Forward,
which we established on the show, might replace the bulletin
board at the very least screenshots. The screenshots of those
zero percentage points are going up in the Ace's locker
room for sure. I like that analysis, Alex. We got
(14:19):
to take another break when we come back the return
of No Dumb Questions. Welcome back, Slices. It's time once
again for no dumb questions, and we got a couple
(14:39):
of not dumb questions from you, slices. Let's start with
certified slice Alyssa Obradovich, who's back with another one. She wrote,
I've got a burning question after Tonight's huge Fever win
over the Sun, the real fans want to know, assuming
the Sun spends the night in Indianapolis, does Carrington stay
at the team hotel or with Smith Alyssa from Champagne, Illinois. Okay,
(15:00):
this is a juicy wanta lessa. Let's dive in for context,
Dja Carrington at the Connecticut Sun is dating Indiana Fever
forward Melissa Smith. Their relationship dates back to their college
days playing together at Baylor. They were on a break
at one point last year and they were like off,
but they're back together now. They're posting supportive messages on
Insta about each other, and they're making little cutesy videos together,
(15:21):
so they seem quite happy. So your question is, did
Djna skip the team hotel with the fever and crash
at Smith's house in Indy? Meish? This topic is hoops
and gay shit both of your accounts. What say you?
That's a mess?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Oh, so per Djna's TikTok if you haven't already looked.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Oh, we did some research. Yeah, we did some research.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Okay, we can't prepared today at DJA Carrington, she's not
very hard to find on there. But she stayed with
Melissa the night before the game, and did it get
ready with me from Melyssa's house. So i'd rephrase your questions.
Did Carrington stay at the team hote to or spent
another night?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Oh that is some good research. Also, I am way
too competitive for that shit.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah, that's literally what I was about to say, I'm like,
kudos to y'all, because if I'm planning against my girl
the next day.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
We're not together. No, I had the tiger all night.
I'm thinking about ways to destroy you. Mm hmm, I'm
tearing you apart. I'm sorry. But also, yeah, they don't
see each other that much, so I guess, like, does
your horniness override your competitiveness? And I don't know. I
do have to say in college occasionally, if I was
like in the mood to get some action, I would
have to like tamper down my tendency to get a
(16:36):
little aggressive at things like beer pong and try to
be a little more lady like. So I might seem
like someone someone would want to take back to their
dorm slash frat.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
This TMI is that over.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Here you ain't even got to worry about that, That's right.
I mean, listen, I would make a great lesbian. I
think my competitiveness would just add to my attractiveness, not
as much with the dudes I've found. Goodness gracious. Yeah,
I'm going to say that she stayed there both nights
because you know what, if you're always traveling in different places,
you just want to you just want to hang and
spend some special time. It's like on The Bachelor of
(17:10):
the Bachelorette when they get to go to the fantasy
suite and it's like, even if they're not going to bone,
you still need to take that time to just like
hang and like catch up. I'm sure that that's exactly
what happens.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I don't know nothing about the batch.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
That's all right, Moving on, here's our not dumb question
number two at Aaron Underscore raw tagus on X and
asked for no dumb questions. Now that Caitlin Clark holds
the most threes by a rook and Angelica has a
consecutive double double streak record, how many records do these
rooks have? Well, listen, we actually have a whole list
of their records courtesy of the good folks at across
(17:43):
the timeline. You can follow them and should follow them
on X at WBB timeline. And I hope you're ready, Aaron,
because to be honest, if we listed all of their accomplishments,
we would be here for hours like marathon tantric stingstyle.
If you know, you know, and by the I want
you all to know that Misha didn't know because she
interrupted our recording to be like stingstyle, is that like
(18:06):
bullet points in the list, No mesh. Sting, the musician,
frontman for the Police and excellent solo artists as well,
is known for publicly discussing his marathon sex sessions that
go on for hours. They are called tantric sex. And
now you know as well, and now we all know. Okay,
let me give you the highlights from these records and
(18:27):
we'll put the full list in our show notes. Here
we go. Angel Reese rookie record for the most games
with fifteen plus rebounds, the first double double by a
rookie in a WNBA All Star Game, WNBA record for
consecutive games with a double double in a single season,
first player in WNBA history to post twenty plus rebounds
in three consecutive games. Caitlin Clark rookie record for most
(18:48):
assists in a season, Indiana Fever single game assist record.
As you mentioned, Aaron the rookie record for mad threes.
Also the fastest player to four hundred points and two
hundred assists, faster than tier Sabrina Enescu, Don Staley. Pretty
good and like I said, the list goes on on
and on, so go check it out in the notes.
(19:08):
It's been a truly epic summer for these two sensational rookies,
and I'm hoping their teams hang on to those last
two playoff spots because we'll get to see them the postseason.
Then two, we love that you're listening, but we want
you to get in the game every day too, So
our good gameplay of the day is more not dumb questions.
Send him to us. That was super fun. I want
to do more of that, So more not dumb questions
sports related, not sports related. We'll answer them all. You
(19:30):
just heard me. I'll answer anything. So hit us up
good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a
voicemail at eight seven to two two oh four fifty seventy,
or hit us up on social and don't forget to subscribe,
rate and review. It's so easy. Slice is just watch
Sam Coffee's beat Squish Mellow rating five out of five stars. Review.
(19:52):
A family friend of the US women's national team gold
medal winning player Sam Coffee sent her a very special
Squish Mellow Stuffy in honor of their win. It was
a beat and then They sewed a gold metal onto
it and wrote a card saying, way to beat everybody
so good. We love a pun, We love a stuffy heck,
we also love beats, except for that thing where you
(20:14):
forgot you eight beats and then you think you're dying
when you poop out red. Beat shits. Shout out to
Portlandia nine to one beats, emergency sketch beats, But what's
your problem? We'll link to it in case you're not familiar.
But I digress beat stuffy with a cute message, adorbes.
We're into it now. It's your turn, rate and review.
Thanks for listening, slicnes. See you Monday for a very
(20:36):
special Labor Day episode that you're not gonna want to miss.
Good Game, Sarah Adam, Good Game, Christy Roley, Crossley, fuck you,
Beat Shits. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart
women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
(20:59):
our producers are Alex Azzi and Misha Jones. Our executive
producers are Christina Everett. Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder.
Our editors are Jenny Kaplan, Emily Rudder, Brittany Martinez and
Grace Lynch. Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your
Host Sarah Spain
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