November 27, 2025 • 31 mins
Celebrate Thanksgiving the Good Game way, with Sarah and producer Alex running through a Holiday Hot Take Speed Round and sharing their chaotic Turkey Day traditions. Plus, NWSL stars including Trinity Rodman and Jaedyn Shaw roasting turkey (and sometimes the entire holiday), friends of the show like Rebecca Lobo and Jessica Mendoza weighing in on sides and controversial condiments, and Slices sharing traditions from gravy-drinking to marathon Macy’s parade streaks. This episode has a Little Citrus, a lot of laughs, and plenty to be thankful for. Plus—coooookies! Happy Thanksgiving, Slices!
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You can find the 2012 Spiderman-Uncle Sam Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade "mishap" here
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The Sparkled Ginger cookies recipe is here
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The Rumnog Pecan cookies recipe is here
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The Taylor Swift Chai cookies recipe is here
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The Chocolate Mint Marvels cookies recipe is 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.com Instagram: @Spain2323 TikTok: Spain.Sarah
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Follow producer Alex Azzi! Bluesky: @byalexazzi.bsky.social Instagram: @AzziArtwork
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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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 thinking
about our second plate of food before we finished our first.
It's Thursday, November twenty seventh. Happy Thanksgiving. On today's show,
it's time for a little Citrus, and we're not talking
about the Lemons zest and your Brussels recipe. Producer Alex
and I are going to run through a speed round
of holiday hot takes and share some of our Thanksgiving traditions.
You'll hear some holiday hot takes from your favorite NWSL
(00:23):
stars and some friends of the show, and we'll even
share some takes from you. Slices plus cookies, whether you're
out for a morning walk, stuck in traffic, driving to
the in laws, or in a spare bedroom hiding from
your family. We hope this special episode is something to
be thankful for today. It's coming up right after this
(00:46):
Welcome back Slices. It's time for the latest edition of
Little Citrus and I'm joined now by producer Alex. What's up,
Alex Lee?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
I can't believe it's already Thanksgiving. The beginning of the
year took forever, and then the middle was just a
full sprint, and now I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait wait, I'm not ready. I've got to find my
boxes of Christmas decorations.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I think my family's Christmas decorations are still out, because
that's the way we roll.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Wow, you're one of those.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh yeah, one of those.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
The house next to ours has had giant ornaments on
the trees out front year round for two straight years,
and it is rentals, so the people who live there
don't care, and the guy in charge definitely doesn't care.
So we get that gift every day when we get home.
Thank you very little.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I love that you're thinking of it as a gift.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Of course. Yes, the spirit of Christmas is with us always.
We're gonna do a holiday hot takes speed round. But
before we get to specific holiday hot takes I came
up with, I wanted to ask if you had any
personal holiday hot takes.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Okay, so this should be not surprising based on what
I just said, but I think that people's holiday lights
should stay up until Daylight Savings Time begins again in March.
What because it's just so dark all winter that a
little bit of extra light.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
In January and February.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Just to me, it always feels like as soon as
Christmas is done and people take their lights down, I'm like,
it's dark at four pm in January.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Like, please just treat me to a little bit of twinkle.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
It is it is dark and sad. That sounds like
a Hallmark movie. Treat me to a little bit of twinkle,
or like a really bad Christmas carol.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Treat me to a little bit of twinkle. Col In
the Town that kept its Lights on till.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
March writes itself, really put it into chat GPT and
see what happens. I fall somewhere between you and Taylor Swift.
I think we all remember that. In the song Lover,
Taylor inexplicably says we could leave the lights up till January, which, like,
who doesn't leave the lights up till January? What kind
of psychopath? The day after Christmas is like, well, I
guess that's it. Let's spend our holiday weekend taking down
(02:53):
Christmas lights. But also March. No, that's that's too much.
That's way too much. I think instead we need to
invent a holiday in February, because Valentine's Day isn't really
a holiday, and we go way too long in the dark, cold,
sadness of the early year months that if we just
(03:13):
invented a cool holiday where we all could get together
and celebrate and be happy. I think it would really
break up that shit. So that's my vote.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Sarah, you're talking about my birthday.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
But okay, oh okay, sorry, my bad.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Mid February birthdays are great.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
As soon as I get an invite, maybe I'll put
it on my calendar as a.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Holiday that would require me to be organized. So keep
on win maybe maybe.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Waiting colon the Sarah Spain story of party invites. Okay,
let's get to the holiday hot take speed round. We
will speed through these as that is the intention of
a speed round. So I just need a brief either
yes or no or answer to these Alex family turkey trot,
admirable or cringe admirable. I say admirable too. Is turkey
(03:58):
the worst part of Thanksgiving dinner?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
As a vegetarian?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I feel like I need to preface all of these
by saying I am a vegetarian and you, Sarah, are
also a vegetarian. So take that with a grain of
salt or a little bit of gravy. But yes, turkey
is the worst part of Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
I'm gonna go no, I actually enjoyed turkey when I
ate meat, and there are far worse things which we
will get to. Now, what is the worst side dish
of Thanksgiving?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Okay, I'm gonna say cranberry sauce. And I have to
say I'm going out on a limb here because I
feel like I want to come across as somebody that
like seems to like cranberry sauce. It's usually the healthy
Thanksgiving side, but I just I never enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I never enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
It's really not very healthy. It's like full of sugar
and it's no. The worst side is by far one
of those green bean castroles that uses cream of mushroom
soup in it and then as faked onion strings on top,
speaking of unhealthy, and like why and then also where
and then who? And then what? And I just think
any castrole where you dump a can of soup in
is not cooking. Sorry, get the hell out of here. Okay, Alex,
(04:56):
should sweet potato dishes be sweet or savory.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Somewhere in between, somewhere in between for sure, or maybe
offer both. I love sweet potatoes, so I would eat
both of them.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Okay, I think that might be one of my holiday
hot takes is I have no judgment. Actually that's not true.
I'm about to be very judgy. Most sweet potato dishes
are amazing, whether sweet or savory. I prefer savory, but
there are sometimes that sweet sweet potato dishes are also delicious,
which brings me to the next question. Should marshmallows be
on vegetables?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Absolutely not?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
And I say that again as a vegetarian. Marshmallows are
not usually vegetarian. And so you take one of the
only things I can eat at Thanksgiving dinner and you
add something I can eat.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
So no, Yeah, most people don't know that marshmallows have
gelatin in them. But even if you use vegan marshmallows,
they still shouldn't be on vegetables. And this is coming
from someone who loves us more. But I do not
want you to put your shitty ass marshmallows on top
of my sweet potatoes and then a bunch of like
brown sugar and shit. They taste delicious on their own.
Do not ruin them like that? Okay, Alex? What time
(05:54):
should the Thanksgiving meal be served?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I don't know if I have a hot take on this.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
It just needs to be after I have finished cleaning
in the morning, because that is how I spend Thanksgiving morning.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
No, my house just does not clean in general, and
so like.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
We have to stuff stuff in the closet, sweep the floors,
make it look presentable. So as long as people like
RSVP with when they're coming and come after that time,
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
I have getting a real picture of your house. It
is a hoarder's delight, full of Christmas lights year round,
deeply chaotic. My take on when the Thanksgiving meal should
be served is somewhere between two and four PM. Okay,
it should not be lunch, and it should not be dinner.
It should be that sort of middle time. You should
(06:36):
have a couple of little light bites and stuff throughout
the day as you're getting organized in cooking and hanging out,
and then you should eat it and then sit for
a couple hours, get hungry and have suport. Okay, Alex.
Should dressing up or expecting people to look nice at
Thanksgiving be allowed?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
No, I think people should come as they are. I
just in general don't love dress codes, especially when I
try to enforce like really specific things like a wedding
dress code. I think is fine because you're kind of
telling people like what to expect to make sure that
they feel prepared.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
But no, I don't want.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Anyone getting judged at Thanksgiving dinner based on their clothes.
They're allowed to get judged on their political beliefs and
other things.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Okay, I agree with the last bit for sure. I
actually love a dress code. I think it's very helpful
and informative, and I really enjoy things like costume parties
or even things that have sort of a theme where
everybody can get out the clothes that they've been wanting
to wear that are specific to that thing. So I
love a dress code. But I think when you have
a holiday that is mostly about eating, Like we could
say it's about being thankful and family and whatever, but
(07:40):
like it's really mostly about eating a lot, you should
not expect people to wear anything with buttons or zippers.
So if you want them to dress up, but you
allow them to wear stretch pants, I'm fine with that.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Okay, I'll sign on to that. I'm good with that too, all.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Right, Alex, Is it okay to leave the table early
to watch football or another live sporting event.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
It depends on what you're leaving, and it depends on
if it's a women's sporting event, and I don't think
there are any women's sporting events on Thanksgiving, so the
answer is probably no. Like, if you want to watch
a replay of the NWSL championship, maybe wait till the
dinner's done.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I said live specifically because replays will not be allowed.
You definitely can't leave the table to watch your replay.
But also I feel like sometimes there might be women's
basketball on Thanksgiving. Okay, all right, good point, But my
answer remains the same, which is that we are now
able to record and watch things later, and so no,
I don't think you should leave the table early to
watch sports. This is a once a year event with
your family and friends, and you can avoid spoilers by
(08:36):
staying off your phone for a little bit and watching
the game once the dinner is over. Maybe that's a
hot take for a sports reporter. But that's my take. Also,
my sister and I thankfully our NFL teams are playing
against each other on Friday, so we don't have to
leave the table. We can just wait till the next
day to fight each other. Alex are the turkey sandwiches
out the same night or the next.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Day, definitely next day. I mean, my family doesn't use
do turkey sandwiches. Actually, we don't do turkeys. Maybe this
is getting into more hot take territory, but I always
feel like I'm way too full after Thanksgiving dinner, which
may be served anywhere between twelve pm and three pm
to your earlier point to actually then eat dinner.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Now we have an answer, Okay, I know.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
I guess so, but like Sarah, to give you a
sense of my family, like we kind of tell people
like anytime after one and then like we don't know
when they're going to show up, like it's a real
chaotic mess.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Good lord, Alex, Yeah, not great. The picture you're presenting
for me is giving me anxiety, and I'm not an
anxious person.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I will say.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Another holiday hut take is that I did take off
the last two Thanksgiving and did not spend it with
my immediate family, and that was kind of great too.
This year wasn't able to make it happen. I love them,
but sometimes taken off is better option.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I have a friend who does a solo trip to
somewhere in the world every Thanksgiving instead of going home,
which I kind of love. I think it's amazing. I say,
I'm not a turkey sandwich person anymore, but I say
turkey sandwich is our next day. The night of you're
just eating straight up whatever was served as is, and
the next day is when you can and recreate and
remix it. In my opinion, all right, better holiday to
bring a significant other home for the first time Thanksgiving
(10:06):
or Christmas?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I have so much personal experience on this topic. I
feel like Thanksgiving, the whole family's there. You might as
well just get it out of the way, get all
the uncomfortable stuff, and then that way you can actually
enjoy Christmas with them and like they're all in on
the end jokes.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
I think Thanksgiving is better one because it's like a
one day event, usually maybe two if you have to
go somewhere far away and you're staying an extra day
before or after. But also it's just like a meal.
There's things to do, and you're not expecting your family
then to buy a present or somehow figure out what
level of present they might be getting for your significant other.
And again I think Christmas is like a drawn out
(10:43):
sequence of events and also probably to your point, involves
a lot more inside jokes and traditions and family things
that you're immediately thrusting someone into. So I think Thanksgivings
a better just like hit it and quit it, go eat,
and then leave kind of situation for that very first meeting.
But this is important. The better holiday to come out
to your family Thanksgiving for Christmas.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
I'm gonna say Thanksgiving so that for Christmas they can
give you a bunch of good gay shit presents.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, I think the same answer applies. It's like, you know,
when in doubt, if things get awkward, let me go
reheat the cranberry, or like, oh, I think I just
saw something that needed to be cleaned up in the kitchen,
and you get the hell out of there. Instead of Christmas,
where they're giving you really strange gifts relating to the
significant other you do not have of the other sex
or something like that, that just makes things even more awkward. Also,
(11:32):
if you're going to kill your grandma, I feel like
Thanksgiving is a less painful holiday to have that memory
than Christmas.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
But there's a Christmas song devoted to it, you know
that is true?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Grandma got run over by my gay news all right,
who we actually like? Did speed round the speed round.
I'm very proud of us. We rarely do that too,
before we take break any like memorable, quirky or sweet
family Thanksgiving traditions other than I guess, cleaning the house
and rearranging the Christmas lights that have been up all year.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Yeah, I mean, okay, so mine is going to be
a little bit of a PSA. But my most memorable
family Thanksgiving was just a couple of years ago when
a fire started and I put it out. I was
the hero of the day with the fire extinguisher. Everyone
else was frozen in time, just staring, and I made
sure that the house didn't catch on fire. And so
(12:20):
that's my PSA is one make sure that you have
a fire extinguisher, like everyone should have one in their house,
in their kitchen. You never know when you're gonna need it.
And it's a lot better than having to call the
fire department to put out a huge ass fire.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
So that's more of a memorable Thanksgiving moment that you
knew not to turn into a tradition.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Exactly exactly one hundred percent, how about you.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
We used to have a tradition where the whole family
went to the gym together because we didn't turkey trot
because it's cold, and also because some of us are
not allowed to run for many, many, many many times
mentioned injuries on the show that I've told you about before.
But we don't do that any more now that there's
like kids and a whole lot more going on. But
it used to just be my parents, my sister, and
(13:05):
I and we would all haul ask to the gym
and get a good workout in. So we are that
annoying family.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
The family Gym Day is like maybe the least relatable
thing I've ever heard.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Ah, well, don't worry, we don't do it anymore. What
about something sports related that you're thankful for this Thanksgiving?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Well, I think just being at the NWSL Championship this
past weekend and meeting a lot of slices and hearing
from folks that listen to the show, I was just
really thankful that we still get to create this thing
every day, even when it makes me very tired and
a little bit cranky. I'm proud to be here, I'm
proud of what you've built, and I'm grateful for all
(13:44):
of our slices.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Ah, I love that mine is actually very related to that.
I am thankful for you, Alex, and especially so with
meiche being gone and us looking for the rest of
our big citrus grove to regrow an orange will, because yeah,
it was just so nice to get so much incredible
feedback from so many different people at NWSL Championships. And
(14:08):
that's because I think this show is something that people
really care about and that is a lot and thanks
to you and all the work that you do. So
I am thankful for our show and for you, and
I'm thankful that hopefully the interviews will be done soon
and we will get a third person to help us,
because this is a lot of work. Okay, we got
to take a quick break when we come back. Is
(14:29):
turkey actually trash? We're two non meat eaters, so we
certainly think so. But we asked the meat eating experts
just in case that's coming up after this Welcome back slices.
With NWSL Championship weekend falling just days before Thanksgiving, we
decided to ask some of the league's top stars for
their biggest holiday related hot take, and we've compiled some
(14:51):
of their answers for you to hear. The Washington Spirits
Trinity Rodman says the bird is not the word. We
need a holiday hot take. It could be like Christmas
decorations don't go up till December, Cranberry sauces trash, Turkey sucks,
Turkey is horrible.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Sorry, that's that's I don't think that should be a
hot take. Turkey, I don't care how you cook. It
is so dry. I don't care. I don't care. It
should be something else. I would prefer steak over turkey
on Thanksgiving. There's my hot take. I'm passionate about.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Very hot spirit teammate Aubrey Kingsbury might have the hottest
holiday take I've ever heard. I actually hate turkey. Like
the Thanksgiving meal itself kind of sucks, so all of
it or just the turkey. Yeah, Like it's kind of
just like gross vegetables that no one feels it want
to eat. That is definitely the hottest holiday hot take
(15:46):
I've ever heard. Gross The text shirts you don't like
mashed potatoes, No, you like sweet potatoes. I like sweeo potatoes.
It's like the only thing I'll eat, but I'll usually
eat ham and like stooptatoes and like dinner rolls. Oh
my god, I'm gonna put someone on the job. Of
photoshopping you a whole thing, just a ham and rolls.
But that's about it. And it turns out Aubury should
(16:09):
hang out with Gotham's Lily Real because she feels the
same Thanksgiving.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
For me, I'm just not a huge fan of the
foods my family does a lot of. Like I mean,
we'll have the traditional foods like turkey and you know,
obviously potatoes, gravy, all of that. I'm just not a
fan of gravy. Therefore, the turkey taste a little dry.
So for me, I like to get like some steaks.
My dad will whip up some steaks on the grill,
(16:36):
and that's definitely something that I eat on Thanksgiving and
honestly every day, but like, yeah, definitely on Thanksgiving for
me replacing those foods.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
You're not alone. Yeah, I've had a lot of folks
come in and just really the old Thanksgiving me. Oh no,
it makes me wonder if you just have that taste
palette or maybe your family. I think my mom absolutely
crushes a Thanksgiving spread, so I need to go do
a proper one. I think my family is not. Yeah, well,
the hot take turned into you throwing your family.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Yeah, the bus and honestly, that's not even at my
family because I don't even help. So it's like you
got to bring something to the table before you can
trash it.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Meantime, not a real hot take from Gotham's Jaden Shaw
because it sounds like her family's doing it right.
Speaker 6 (17:17):
I do love Thanksgiving food, However, I am in a
Blazian household, so I get a little bit of Asian
food within the American tradition of Thanksgiving, so I can't complain.
I can't complain about the Thanksgiving food unfortunately for you guys.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
And finally, the Spirits Kroi Bathun will have to make
do with whatever US Soccer has.
Speaker 7 (17:35):
To offer albeit camp for Thanksgiving, so I'm missing out.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure they'll put together something real nice.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
They probably will, I hope.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
So we also asked a few friends at the show
to share their holiday hot takes, and front office sports
reporter Anti Costable got right to it.
Speaker 7 (17:56):
Really isn't much of a hot take, But yeah, I
think Turkey's disgusting, as I think many people do, but
we're all maybe just too you know, embarrassed to admit it.
So I want to empower everyone to admit that turkey
is not it, and if your plate isn't filled with sides,
(18:22):
you're doing it wrong.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
The Athletics Lindsay Schnell sent us two hot takes. One
is that if you make the full meal and you
get to the end and you still want to order
a pizza, there's no shame in that, which is an
incredibly hot Thanksgiving take. But in her second holiday hot take,
she doesn't just highlight problems, she doles out solutions.
Speaker 8 (18:39):
Okay, not only is turkey trash, turkey is not worth making,
save your taste buds and roasted chicken using Molly Baz's
chicken pastrami recipe from her cookbook. And then if you
are fortunate enough to have leftovers, go into Bona Petit's website,
look up their turkey a trasini recipe and sub roasted chicken.
(19:04):
For that, your life will never be the same.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Former Round the Horn producer Josh Bard also came with solutions.
Speaker 9 (19:11):
Let me tell you about the Thanksgiving thing I'm least
thankful for. It's white, lumpy, and is it merely my
socially inept uncle? It's mashed potatoes. Why am I picking
on something so uninsulting as mashed potatoes. Point blank, they
are the worst way to prepare a potato. Here's a
list of a better ways to eat a potato, fried Comma, french,
fried comma chips, roasted baked, double baked, hasselback, scalloped, fried comma,
(19:33):
hash browns, fried Comma tots, fried kama, lockys, fried comma, roasty, nioki,
potato skins, smashed, a grotten boiled, and even vod gooded.
If you want a vehicle for butter or gravy, you
can do better with a biscuit, a dinner roll, or
a slurp of the plate.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
USA Today's dancy armor does not have time for one
particular dish that makes its way to most Thanksgiving tables.
Speaker 10 (19:54):
Pumpkin pie is trash. You heard me, trash, complete cash.
I don't care if you smother it in whooped cream,
ice cream or both. It tastes disgusting and the texture
is gross. Give me apple pie any day, but particularly
on Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Friend of the show, Ultra Marathon or clean Knnikan wants
you to show some respect for an oft criticized condiment.
Speaker 11 (20:20):
So I know we're all trying to eat fewer processed foods,
But can we stop being so disrespectful to cranberry from
a can? Okay, that gel is top notch. I don't
really want whatever you've been concocting on your kitchen stove with,
you know, orange zest, and I don't need ginger, and
I just want something with lines in the side that
(20:41):
spreads like a jelly, because at the end of the day,
I need something to help choke down this turkey.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
ESPN's Ari Chamber submitted a questionable side dish suggestion.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Okay, y'all are going to think I'm absolutely nuts. Macaroni
and cheese great, right, but you know what makes it better?
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Catch up on macaroni and cheese. I love it. Give
it a shot, Give it a shot. I guess we
did ask for hot takes, Ari, but you know, Wnba
Legend and esp had broadcaster Rebecca Lobo and her family
tried to create a new tradition for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 12 (21:12):
So this isn't really a hot take and it's not
really about food. But a few years ago our family
tried to start sort of a new tradition when we
had our kids were younger, maybe like middle school and
elementary school, and we had all the family over, their
cousins and everybody, and we had everybody gave them a
piece of paper write down what they were thankful for.
And then we took those pieces of paper and we
put them in a mason jar that my husband affectionately
(21:35):
termed jar jar.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Thanks.
Speaker 12 (21:37):
Star Wars fans will appreciate that. And then after dinner,
we were going to take each one of these slips
of paper out and read what everybody was thankful for.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
It seemed like a sweet thing to do.
Speaker 12 (21:47):
Anyway, the first one that got pulled out and read
turned into everyone else in the family roasting what that
person had written. And if you're from a big fan
family with a lot of kids, you totally get that.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
That's how you show love.
Speaker 12 (22:03):
Anyway, it turned into a roast fest of everyone making
fun of what they were thankful for on Thanksgiving. So
we had to retire jar Jar.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Thanks Rebecca, you got to get the jar out of
retirement for no other reason than the name. It's too
good to die. That's hilarious. It sounds like something that
would absolutely happen at my family's house. Speaking of traditions, Yeah,
who sports. Maggie Hendrix thinks the hottest take is to
throw tradition out the window and do what you want
as long as it involves watching sports.
Speaker 13 (22:33):
My Thanksgiving take is that the only tradition you should
be beholden to is watching football and watching women's basketball.
Other than that, if you want to eat meatballs, you
should eat meatballs.
Speaker 14 (22:46):
If you want to sit on your couch all day
and not talk.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
To anybody, you should do that.
Speaker 13 (22:50):
Don't stick with any traditions that don't work for you,
and happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I vote Maggie for Mayor of Thanksgiving. And softball legend
and ESPN broadcaster Mendoza said, throw tradition out the window
when it comes to the meal too.
Speaker 15 (23:04):
Screw the turkey and do some homemide. Tomali's what I
love about breaking out the corn husky.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, your massa who does the.
Speaker 15 (23:11):
Wats of Larna Thanksgiving me come on all the all
the good stuff and you basically fill it with whatever
you want. So you get the corn husky, You get
your massa, lay it down and shoot I mean forg
the turkey and take all the yummy sides, whether you
want your stuffing, your cranberries, whatever, Throw it inside the Tamali,
wrap it up, throw it in the steamer, and within
(23:32):
minutes you have a homemade, yummy, Mexican style Thanksgiving dinner.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
I can already hear everyone inviting themselves over to Jess's
house right now. Also, a friend at the show, Jane McManus,
messaged and said, we are spatchcocking the turkey, and not
just because we like to say spatchcock.
Speaker 14 (23:51):
I think because we're really too lazy to have to
deal with an entire turkey. Is that my younger daughter
decided she wants to dispatchcock it and what that basically
means is that you just pound it flat. I'm intrigued
by this. I'm excited that we're going to be doing it.
I hope we have a pan large enough to put
this spatchcocked turkey into the oven. But you know what,
(24:15):
if not, it's going to be a fun story for
next Thanksgiving and maybe everyone will be thankful that we
haven't spatchcocked another turkey.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
You know what they say, Jane, it's either a good
day or a good story. I think you're going to
have at least one of those. We also asked you
slices for some holiday hot takes and some quirky Thanksgiving traditions.
And we got some real winners. You Drew nineteen seventy
seven thinks turkey gets a bad rap. He said, turkey
is better than most people think. The major problem is
they overcook it. Sam Fell's aka Fellsgate on Blue Sky disagrees.
(24:47):
He said we've had ribs instead of turkey since I
was fifteen. Put it on my tab ninety two said
our tradition is not doing the turkey and Thanksgiving food.
Two pounds of carneidas, beans, rice, and tortillas. Call it
a day, avoids the whole stress of buying all the
Thanksgiving supplies, supports local business, whole day for ourselves. Boom
Lgpens eighty seven on Blue Sky said, my father in
(25:08):
law and I toast the holiday with a cup of gravy.
It's the only day every year we get to eat
as much as possible and not feel bad about it.
Rough drinking a cup of gravy is wild. Get after
it though, to you. Garry Kramer on Blue Sky said,
I drink too much and pick a fight with my
sister in law about politics and current events. Sounds about right. Slice.
(25:28):
Michelle Dee writes, quote, this is one of my favorite holidays,
not only because it means getting the family together. But
my birthday is the twenty sixth. This means there's birthday
cake on Turkey Day, allowing me a better dessert option
besides pumpkin pie. The highlight of the meal is my
mom's stuffing. She'll cook up a small stuffing patty for
me while the turkey is cooking and come left over time.
The best item is cold stuffing, which grosses out my
(25:50):
partner but is something I look forward to all year
end quote. I would agree with the stuffing thing. My
mom's stuffing is a highlight of the meal, and ever
since my husband and I went vegetarian, she goes to
the trouble of making two versions, one for us and
one for everyone else, which is very sweet. You can't
do Thanksgiving without stuffing, in my opinion. Super slice Aaron
Raw writes, quote, I don't know if this is a
new tradition or not, but Lord help me. My middle
(26:12):
daughter decided she wanted to run a five k that
helps people. FYI, she hates running, but she's a softball
pitcher and wants to improve her endurance. So she and
I are working a program to run a five k
on Thanksgiving. The money goes to a nonprofit animal rescue.
Now I'm a person who runs a five k on Thanksgiving.
What Yeah, I'll do just about anything for my kids,
including getting up and training with them at five am
(26:33):
because that's when she has time. So you know, I'm
listening to you on my five am training walks. She runs,
I walk end quote. We do love a tradition that
allows for more good game listing time, Aaron, So props
to your daughter super Slice. Megan Flood has quite the
tradition many years in the running. She writes, quote, My
favorite Thanksgiving tradition is going to the NYC Macy's Thanksgiving
(26:53):
Day Parade in person. I grew up going to the
parade every year with my family and then listening to
Alice's Restaurant Massacre on the drive home. I think in
my lifetime I have been to probably twenty four to
twenty six parades. I'm thirty two. I haven't been since
twenty twenty one because of work and other reasons, so
I'm excited to be able to go back this year.
My hot take is that once it's twelve thirty pm
Eastern on Thanksgiving, I'm good for the holiday. Moving right along,
(27:16):
to the Christmas season end quote. Enjoy the parade, Megan,
and here's hoping for more floats and gayshit this year.
If y'all don't remember Spider Man making a meal out
of Uncle Sam's caboose, we'll link to that in the
show notes. And finally, super Slice, Amanda Valo takes us
home with a little Thanksgiving theme GGFU quote, good game,
turkey trotters, good game backyard football games. F you being
(27:38):
stuck at the kids table because you're single and don't
have a spouse, preach, Amanda, we got to take another
break when we come back. Cookies, Welcome back, Slaces. We
love that you're listening, but we want you to get
in the game every day too. So here's our good
(27:58):
game play of the day. Make cookies. You remember our
episode with Maggie Hendrix's Queen of Cookies, and we asked
y'all for your favorite recipes. While Panda with Cookie appropriately
came through. You may remember her from the famous Tater
Pigs of starch Madness bracket fame. Well turns out Tater
Pigs isn't all Panda makes, she writes, quote, you threw
(28:19):
up the cookie signal in this morning's episode, and I've
never written an email to a podcast so fast in
my life. It's Panda with cookie, not Panda with muffin.
I bake a metric ton of cookies. But these are
my usual holiday slash end of the year slash. It's
skink cold recipes. They are all vegan or veganized and
most come from the cookbook duo of Isamaskowitz and Terry
Hope Romero. All can be used as the perfect dessert
(28:41):
after a classic winter tater pig end quote. We'll put
the links to all three cookie recipes in the show notes.
They look amazing, Sparkled Ginger rumnog Pecan and Taylor Swift
Chai Yum. Also, Lindsay Schnell came back this time with
cookie solutions. We'll link to the chocolate mint Marvel's recipe
(29:01):
that she swears by and fun fact, she got the
recipe from a source while on a reporting trip. And
of course, once Maggie Hendrick's heard we were looking for recipes,
she had to chime into so she sent a pumpkin
blondies recipe that she's going to be making for her
family this Thanksgiving week. We'll throw that in the show
notes as well, make them, eat them, send us a pick, enjoy.
We always love to hear from you, so hit us
(29:22):
up on email, good game at wondermedianetwork dot com, or
leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two oh
four fifty seventy, and don't forget to subscribe, Rate and review.
It's easy. Watch the old Demi Levado favorite dish clip
rating ten out of ten. Never gets old review back.
In twenty fifteen, a reporter asked pop star Demi Levado
(29:42):
a seemingly innocuous question and got an answer that lives
on Take a listen.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Uh, your favorite dish?
Speaker 16 (29:49):
My favorite dish. I like mugs because they're very comfortable
in your hand, and they hold the hot things that
you don't have to touch, so you know, coffee or
hot tea.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
It's giving miscongeniality. Describe you're a perfect dig it. That's
a tough one.
Speaker 13 (30:14):
I'd have to say, April twenty fifth, because it's not.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Too hot, not too cold. All you need is a
light jacket. Whatever your favorite dish, stuffing, mashed potatoes, a ramakin,
a salad plate. I hope you get to enjoy it today.
Now it's your turn slices, rate and review. Go on
click five stars. Tell us why you're thankful for us.
It really helps the show. Thanks for listening and Happy Thanksgiving,
(30:40):
good game gathering with loved ones, good game trip to
fan induced post meal nap in your favorite recliner. You you
people not being grateful for the turkeys that died for
your Thanksgiving spread. Don't eat them, then go vegetarian. Save
the turkeys. Stick to the sides. They're better anyway. Good
Game is Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production
(31:02):
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, our
producers are alex Azzie, Grace Lynch, Taylor Williamson, and Lucy Jones.
Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan
and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez
(31:23):
and Gianna Palmer. Production assistants from Avery Loftus and I'm
Your Host Sarah Spain
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're thinking
about our second plate of food before we finished our first.
It's Thursday, November twenty seventh. Happy Thanksgiving. On today's show,
it's time for a little Citrus, and we're not talking
about the Lemons zest and your Brussels recipe. Producer Alex
and I are going to run through a speed round
of holiday hot takes and share some of our Thanksgiving traditions.
You'll hear some holiday hot takes from your favorite NWSL
(00:23):
stars and some friends of the show, and we'll even
share some takes from you. Slices plus cookies, whether you're
out for a morning walk, stuck in traffic, driving to
the in laws, or in a spare bedroom hiding from
your family. We hope this special episode is something to
be thankful for today. It's coming up right after this
(00:46):
Welcome back Slices. It's time for the latest edition of
Little Citrus and I'm joined now by producer Alex. What's up,
Alex Lee?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
I can't believe it's already Thanksgiving. The beginning of the
year took forever, and then the middle was just a
full sprint, and now I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait wait, I'm not ready. I've got to find my
boxes of Christmas decorations.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I think my family's Christmas decorations are still out, because
that's the way we roll.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Wow, you're one of those.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh yeah, one of those.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
The house next to ours has had giant ornaments on
the trees out front year round for two straight years,
and it is rentals, so the people who live there
don't care, and the guy in charge definitely doesn't care.
So we get that gift every day when we get home.
Thank you very little.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I love that you're thinking of it as a gift.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Of course. Yes, the spirit of Christmas is with us always.
We're gonna do a holiday hot takes speed round. But
before we get to specific holiday hot takes I came
up with, I wanted to ask if you had any
personal holiday hot takes.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Okay, so this should be not surprising based on what
I just said, but I think that people's holiday lights
should stay up until Daylight Savings Time begins again in March.
What because it's just so dark all winter that a
little bit of extra light.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
In January and February.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Just to me, it always feels like as soon as
Christmas is done and people take their lights down, I'm like,
it's dark at four pm in January.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Like, please just treat me to a little bit of twinkle.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
It is it is dark and sad. That sounds like
a Hallmark movie. Treat me to a little bit of twinkle,
or like a really bad Christmas carol.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Treat me to a little bit of twinkle. Col In
the Town that kept its Lights on till.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
March writes itself, really put it into chat GPT and
see what happens. I fall somewhere between you and Taylor Swift.
I think we all remember that. In the song Lover,
Taylor inexplicably says we could leave the lights up till January, which, like,
who doesn't leave the lights up till January? What kind
of psychopath? The day after Christmas is like, well, I
guess that's it. Let's spend our holiday weekend taking down
(02:53):
Christmas lights. But also March. No, that's that's too much.
That's way too much. I think instead we need to
invent a holiday in February, because Valentine's Day isn't really
a holiday, and we go way too long in the dark, cold,
sadness of the early year months that if we just
(03:13):
invented a cool holiday where we all could get together
and celebrate and be happy. I think it would really
break up that shit. So that's my vote.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Sarah, you're talking about my birthday.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
But okay, oh okay, sorry, my bad.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Mid February birthdays are great.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
As soon as I get an invite, maybe I'll put
it on my calendar as a.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Holiday that would require me to be organized. So keep
on win maybe maybe.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Waiting colon the Sarah Spain story of party invites. Okay,
let's get to the holiday hot take speed round. We
will speed through these as that is the intention of
a speed round. So I just need a brief either
yes or no or answer to these Alex family turkey trot,
admirable or cringe admirable. I say admirable too. Is turkey
(03:58):
the worst part of Thanksgiving dinner?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
As a vegetarian?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I feel like I need to preface all of these
by saying I am a vegetarian and you, Sarah, are
also a vegetarian. So take that with a grain of
salt or a little bit of gravy. But yes, turkey
is the worst part of Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
I'm gonna go no, I actually enjoyed turkey when I
ate meat, and there are far worse things which we
will get to. Now, what is the worst side dish
of Thanksgiving?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Okay, I'm gonna say cranberry sauce. And I have to
say I'm going out on a limb here because I
feel like I want to come across as somebody that
like seems to like cranberry sauce. It's usually the healthy
Thanksgiving side, but I just I never enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I never enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
It's really not very healthy. It's like full of sugar
and it's no. The worst side is by far one
of those green bean castroles that uses cream of mushroom
soup in it and then as faked onion strings on top,
speaking of unhealthy, and like why and then also where
and then who? And then what? And I just think
any castrole where you dump a can of soup in
is not cooking. Sorry, get the hell out of here. Okay, Alex,
(04:56):
should sweet potato dishes be sweet or savory.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Somewhere in between, somewhere in between for sure, or maybe
offer both. I love sweet potatoes, so I would eat
both of them.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Okay, I think that might be one of my holiday
hot takes is I have no judgment. Actually that's not true.
I'm about to be very judgy. Most sweet potato dishes
are amazing, whether sweet or savory. I prefer savory, but
there are sometimes that sweet sweet potato dishes are also delicious,
which brings me to the next question. Should marshmallows be
on vegetables?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Absolutely not?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
And I say that again as a vegetarian. Marshmallows are
not usually vegetarian. And so you take one of the
only things I can eat at Thanksgiving dinner and you
add something I can eat.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
So no, Yeah, most people don't know that marshmallows have
gelatin in them. But even if you use vegan marshmallows,
they still shouldn't be on vegetables. And this is coming
from someone who loves us more. But I do not
want you to put your shitty ass marshmallows on top
of my sweet potatoes and then a bunch of like
brown sugar and shit. They taste delicious on their own.
Do not ruin them like that? Okay, Alex? What time
(05:54):
should the Thanksgiving meal be served?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I don't know if I have a hot take on this.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
It just needs to be after I have finished cleaning
in the morning, because that is how I spend Thanksgiving morning.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
No, my house just does not clean in general, and
so like.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
We have to stuff stuff in the closet, sweep the floors,
make it look presentable. So as long as people like
RSVP with when they're coming and come after that time,
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
I have getting a real picture of your house. It
is a hoarder's delight, full of Christmas lights year round,
deeply chaotic. My take on when the Thanksgiving meal should
be served is somewhere between two and four PM. Okay,
it should not be lunch, and it should not be dinner.
It should be that sort of middle time. You should
(06:36):
have a couple of little light bites and stuff throughout
the day as you're getting organized in cooking and hanging out,
and then you should eat it and then sit for
a couple hours, get hungry and have suport. Okay, Alex.
Should dressing up or expecting people to look nice at
Thanksgiving be allowed?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
No, I think people should come as they are. I
just in general don't love dress codes, especially when I
try to enforce like really specific things like a wedding
dress code. I think is fine because you're kind of
telling people like what to expect to make sure that
they feel prepared.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
But no, I don't want.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Anyone getting judged at Thanksgiving dinner based on their clothes.
They're allowed to get judged on their political beliefs and
other things.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Okay, I agree with the last bit for sure. I
actually love a dress code. I think it's very helpful
and informative, and I really enjoy things like costume parties
or even things that have sort of a theme where
everybody can get out the clothes that they've been wanting
to wear that are specific to that thing. So I
love a dress code. But I think when you have
a holiday that is mostly about eating, Like we could
say it's about being thankful and family and whatever, but
(07:40):
like it's really mostly about eating a lot, you should
not expect people to wear anything with buttons or zippers.
So if you want them to dress up, but you
allow them to wear stretch pants, I'm fine with that.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Okay, I'll sign on to that. I'm good with that too, all.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Right, Alex, Is it okay to leave the table early
to watch football or another live sporting event.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
It depends on what you're leaving, and it depends on
if it's a women's sporting event, and I don't think
there are any women's sporting events on Thanksgiving, so the
answer is probably no. Like, if you want to watch
a replay of the NWSL championship, maybe wait till the
dinner's done.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I said live specifically because replays will not be allowed.
You definitely can't leave the table to watch your replay.
But also I feel like sometimes there might be women's
basketball on Thanksgiving. Okay, all right, good point, But my
answer remains the same, which is that we are now
able to record and watch things later, and so no,
I don't think you should leave the table early to
watch sports. This is a once a year event with
your family and friends, and you can avoid spoilers by
(08:36):
staying off your phone for a little bit and watching
the game once the dinner is over. Maybe that's a
hot take for a sports reporter. But that's my take. Also,
my sister and I thankfully our NFL teams are playing
against each other on Friday, so we don't have to
leave the table. We can just wait till the next
day to fight each other. Alex are the turkey sandwiches
out the same night or the next.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Day, definitely next day. I mean, my family doesn't use
do turkey sandwiches. Actually, we don't do turkeys. Maybe this
is getting into more hot take territory, but I always
feel like I'm way too full after Thanksgiving dinner, which
may be served anywhere between twelve pm and three pm
to your earlier point to actually then eat dinner.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Now we have an answer, Okay, I know.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
I guess so, but like Sarah, to give you a
sense of my family, like we kind of tell people
like anytime after one and then like we don't know
when they're going to show up, like it's a real
chaotic mess.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Good lord, Alex, Yeah, not great. The picture you're presenting
for me is giving me anxiety, and I'm not an
anxious person.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I will say.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Another holiday hut take is that I did take off
the last two Thanksgiving and did not spend it with
my immediate family, and that was kind of great too.
This year wasn't able to make it happen. I love them,
but sometimes taken off is better option.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I have a friend who does a solo trip to
somewhere in the world every Thanksgiving instead of going home,
which I kind of love. I think it's amazing. I say,
I'm not a turkey sandwich person anymore, but I say
turkey sandwich is our next day. The night of you're
just eating straight up whatever was served as is, and
the next day is when you can and recreate and
remix it. In my opinion, all right, better holiday to
bring a significant other home for the first time Thanksgiving
(10:06):
or Christmas?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I have so much personal experience on this topic. I
feel like Thanksgiving, the whole family's there. You might as
well just get it out of the way, get all
the uncomfortable stuff, and then that way you can actually
enjoy Christmas with them and like they're all in on
the end jokes.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
I think Thanksgiving is better one because it's like a
one day event, usually maybe two if you have to
go somewhere far away and you're staying an extra day
before or after. But also it's just like a meal.
There's things to do, and you're not expecting your family
then to buy a present or somehow figure out what
level of present they might be getting for your significant other.
And again I think Christmas is like a drawn out
(10:43):
sequence of events and also probably to your point, involves
a lot more inside jokes and traditions and family things
that you're immediately thrusting someone into. So I think Thanksgivings
a better just like hit it and quit it, go eat,
and then leave kind of situation for that very first meeting.
But this is important. The better holiday to come out
to your family Thanksgiving for Christmas.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
I'm gonna say Thanksgiving so that for Christmas they can
give you a bunch of good gay shit presents.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, I think the same answer applies. It's like, you know,
when in doubt, if things get awkward, let me go
reheat the cranberry, or like, oh, I think I just
saw something that needed to be cleaned up in the kitchen,
and you get the hell out of there. Instead of Christmas,
where they're giving you really strange gifts relating to the
significant other you do not have of the other sex
or something like that, that just makes things even more awkward. Also,
(11:32):
if you're going to kill your grandma, I feel like
Thanksgiving is a less painful holiday to have that memory
than Christmas.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
But there's a Christmas song devoted to it, you know
that is true?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Grandma got run over by my gay news all right,
who we actually like? Did speed round the speed round.
I'm very proud of us. We rarely do that too,
before we take break any like memorable, quirky or sweet
family Thanksgiving traditions other than I guess, cleaning the house
and rearranging the Christmas lights that have been up all year.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Yeah, I mean, okay, so mine is going to be
a little bit of a PSA. But my most memorable
family Thanksgiving was just a couple of years ago when
a fire started and I put it out. I was
the hero of the day with the fire extinguisher. Everyone
else was frozen in time, just staring, and I made
sure that the house didn't catch on fire. And so
(12:20):
that's my PSA is one make sure that you have
a fire extinguisher, like everyone should have one in their house,
in their kitchen. You never know when you're gonna need it.
And it's a lot better than having to call the
fire department to put out a huge ass fire.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
So that's more of a memorable Thanksgiving moment that you
knew not to turn into a tradition.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Exactly exactly one hundred percent, how about you.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
We used to have a tradition where the whole family
went to the gym together because we didn't turkey trot
because it's cold, and also because some of us are
not allowed to run for many, many, many many times
mentioned injuries on the show that I've told you about before.
But we don't do that any more now that there's
like kids and a whole lot more going on. But
it used to just be my parents, my sister, and
(13:05):
I and we would all haul ask to the gym
and get a good workout in. So we are that
annoying family.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
The family Gym Day is like maybe the least relatable
thing I've ever heard.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Ah, well, don't worry, we don't do it anymore. What
about something sports related that you're thankful for this Thanksgiving?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Well, I think just being at the NWSL Championship this
past weekend and meeting a lot of slices and hearing
from folks that listen to the show, I was just
really thankful that we still get to create this thing
every day, even when it makes me very tired and
a little bit cranky. I'm proud to be here, I'm
proud of what you've built, and I'm grateful for all
(13:44):
of our slices.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Ah, I love that mine is actually very related to that.
I am thankful for you, Alex, and especially so with
meiche being gone and us looking for the rest of
our big citrus grove to regrow an orange will, because yeah,
it was just so nice to get so much incredible
feedback from so many different people at NWSL Championships. And
(14:08):
that's because I think this show is something that people
really care about and that is a lot and thanks
to you and all the work that you do. So
I am thankful for our show and for you, and
I'm thankful that hopefully the interviews will be done soon
and we will get a third person to help us,
because this is a lot of work. Okay, we got
to take a quick break when we come back. Is
(14:29):
turkey actually trash? We're two non meat eaters, so we
certainly think so. But we asked the meat eating experts
just in case that's coming up after this Welcome back slices.
With NWSL Championship weekend falling just days before Thanksgiving, we
decided to ask some of the league's top stars for
their biggest holiday related hot take, and we've compiled some
(14:51):
of their answers for you to hear. The Washington Spirits
Trinity Rodman says the bird is not the word. We
need a holiday hot take. It could be like Christmas
decorations don't go up till December, Cranberry sauces trash, Turkey sucks,
Turkey is horrible.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Sorry, that's that's I don't think that should be a
hot take. Turkey, I don't care how you cook. It
is so dry. I don't care. I don't care. It
should be something else. I would prefer steak over turkey
on Thanksgiving. There's my hot take. I'm passionate about.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Very hot spirit teammate Aubrey Kingsbury might have the hottest
holiday take I've ever heard. I actually hate turkey. Like
the Thanksgiving meal itself kind of sucks, so all of
it or just the turkey. Yeah, Like it's kind of
just like gross vegetables that no one feels it want
to eat. That is definitely the hottest holiday hot take
(15:46):
I've ever heard. Gross The text shirts you don't like
mashed potatoes, No, you like sweet potatoes. I like sweeo potatoes.
It's like the only thing I'll eat, but I'll usually
eat ham and like stooptatoes and like dinner rolls. Oh
my god, I'm gonna put someone on the job. Of
photoshopping you a whole thing, just a ham and rolls.
But that's about it. And it turns out Aubury should
(16:09):
hang out with Gotham's Lily Real because she feels the
same Thanksgiving.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
For me, I'm just not a huge fan of the
foods my family does a lot of. Like I mean,
we'll have the traditional foods like turkey and you know,
obviously potatoes, gravy, all of that. I'm just not a
fan of gravy. Therefore, the turkey taste a little dry.
So for me, I like to get like some steaks.
My dad will whip up some steaks on the grill,
(16:36):
and that's definitely something that I eat on Thanksgiving and
honestly every day, but like, yeah, definitely on Thanksgiving for
me replacing those foods.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
You're not alone. Yeah, I've had a lot of folks
come in and just really the old Thanksgiving me. Oh no,
it makes me wonder if you just have that taste
palette or maybe your family. I think my mom absolutely
crushes a Thanksgiving spread, so I need to go do
a proper one. I think my family is not. Yeah, well,
the hot take turned into you throwing your family.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Yeah, the bus and honestly, that's not even at my
family because I don't even help. So it's like you
got to bring something to the table before you can
trash it.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Meantime, not a real hot take from Gotham's Jaden Shaw
because it sounds like her family's doing it right.
Speaker 6 (17:17):
I do love Thanksgiving food, However, I am in a
Blazian household, so I get a little bit of Asian
food within the American tradition of Thanksgiving, so I can't complain.
I can't complain about the Thanksgiving food unfortunately for you guys.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
And finally, the Spirits Kroi Bathun will have to make
do with whatever US Soccer has.
Speaker 7 (17:35):
To offer albeit camp for Thanksgiving, so I'm missing out.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure they'll put together something real nice.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
They probably will, I hope.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
So we also asked a few friends at the show
to share their holiday hot takes, and front office sports
reporter Anti Costable got right to it.
Speaker 7 (17:56):
Really isn't much of a hot take, But yeah, I
think Turkey's disgusting, as I think many people do, but
we're all maybe just too you know, embarrassed to admit it.
So I want to empower everyone to admit that turkey
is not it, and if your plate isn't filled with sides,
(18:22):
you're doing it wrong.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
The Athletics Lindsay Schnell sent us two hot takes. One
is that if you make the full meal and you
get to the end and you still want to order
a pizza, there's no shame in that, which is an
incredibly hot Thanksgiving take. But in her second holiday hot take,
she doesn't just highlight problems, she doles out solutions.
Speaker 8 (18:39):
Okay, not only is turkey trash, turkey is not worth making,
save your taste buds and roasted chicken using Molly Baz's
chicken pastrami recipe from her cookbook. And then if you
are fortunate enough to have leftovers, go into Bona Petit's website,
look up their turkey a trasini recipe and sub roasted chicken.
(19:04):
For that, your life will never be the same.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Former Round the Horn producer Josh Bard also came with solutions.
Speaker 9 (19:11):
Let me tell you about the Thanksgiving thing I'm least
thankful for. It's white, lumpy, and is it merely my
socially inept uncle? It's mashed potatoes. Why am I picking
on something so uninsulting as mashed potatoes. Point blank, they
are the worst way to prepare a potato. Here's a
list of a better ways to eat a potato, fried Comma, french,
fried comma chips, roasted baked, double baked, hasselback, scalloped, fried comma,
(19:33):
hash browns, fried Comma tots, fried kama, lockys, fried comma, roasty, nioki,
potato skins, smashed, a grotten boiled, and even vod gooded.
If you want a vehicle for butter or gravy, you
can do better with a biscuit, a dinner roll, or
a slurp of the plate.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
USA Today's dancy armor does not have time for one
particular dish that makes its way to most Thanksgiving tables.
Speaker 10 (19:54):
Pumpkin pie is trash. You heard me, trash, complete cash.
I don't care if you smother it in whooped cream,
ice cream or both. It tastes disgusting and the texture
is gross. Give me apple pie any day, but particularly
on Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Friend of the show, Ultra Marathon or clean Knnikan wants
you to show some respect for an oft criticized condiment.
Speaker 11 (20:20):
So I know we're all trying to eat fewer processed foods,
But can we stop being so disrespectful to cranberry from
a can? Okay, that gel is top notch. I don't
really want whatever you've been concocting on your kitchen stove with,
you know, orange zest, and I don't need ginger, and
I just want something with lines in the side that
(20:41):
spreads like a jelly, because at the end of the day,
I need something to help choke down this turkey.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
ESPN's Ari Chamber submitted a questionable side dish suggestion.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Okay, y'all are going to think I'm absolutely nuts. Macaroni
and cheese great, right, but you know what makes it better?
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Catch up on macaroni and cheese. I love it. Give
it a shot, Give it a shot. I guess we
did ask for hot takes, Ari, but you know, Wnba
Legend and esp had broadcaster Rebecca Lobo and her family
tried to create a new tradition for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 12 (21:12):
So this isn't really a hot take and it's not
really about food. But a few years ago our family
tried to start sort of a new tradition when we
had our kids were younger, maybe like middle school and
elementary school, and we had all the family over, their
cousins and everybody, and we had everybody gave them a
piece of paper write down what they were thankful for.
And then we took those pieces of paper and we
put them in a mason jar that my husband affectionately
(21:35):
termed jar jar.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Thanks.
Speaker 12 (21:37):
Star Wars fans will appreciate that. And then after dinner,
we were going to take each one of these slips
of paper out and read what everybody was thankful for.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
It seemed like a sweet thing to do.
Speaker 12 (21:47):
Anyway, the first one that got pulled out and read
turned into everyone else in the family roasting what that
person had written. And if you're from a big fan
family with a lot of kids, you totally get that.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
That's how you show love.
Speaker 12 (22:03):
Anyway, it turned into a roast fest of everyone making
fun of what they were thankful for on Thanksgiving. So
we had to retire jar Jar.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Thanks Rebecca, you got to get the jar out of
retirement for no other reason than the name. It's too
good to die. That's hilarious. It sounds like something that
would absolutely happen at my family's house. Speaking of traditions, Yeah,
who sports. Maggie Hendrix thinks the hottest take is to
throw tradition out the window and do what you want
as long as it involves watching sports.
Speaker 13 (22:33):
My Thanksgiving take is that the only tradition you should
be beholden to is watching football and watching women's basketball.
Other than that, if you want to eat meatballs, you
should eat meatballs.
Speaker 14 (22:46):
If you want to sit on your couch all day
and not talk.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
To anybody, you should do that.
Speaker 13 (22:50):
Don't stick with any traditions that don't work for you,
and happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I vote Maggie for Mayor of Thanksgiving. And softball legend
and ESPN broadcaster Mendoza said, throw tradition out the window
when it comes to the meal too.
Speaker 15 (23:04):
Screw the turkey and do some homemide. Tomali's what I
love about breaking out the corn husky.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, your massa who does the.
Speaker 15 (23:11):
Wats of Larna Thanksgiving me come on all the all
the good stuff and you basically fill it with whatever
you want. So you get the corn husky, You get
your massa, lay it down and shoot I mean forg
the turkey and take all the yummy sides, whether you
want your stuffing, your cranberries, whatever, Throw it inside the Tamali,
wrap it up, throw it in the steamer, and within
(23:32):
minutes you have a homemade, yummy, Mexican style Thanksgiving dinner.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
I can already hear everyone inviting themselves over to Jess's
house right now. Also, a friend at the show, Jane McManus,
messaged and said, we are spatchcocking the turkey, and not
just because we like to say spatchcock.
Speaker 14 (23:51):
I think because we're really too lazy to have to
deal with an entire turkey. Is that my younger daughter
decided she wants to dispatchcock it and what that basically
means is that you just pound it flat. I'm intrigued
by this. I'm excited that we're going to be doing it.
I hope we have a pan large enough to put
this spatchcocked turkey into the oven. But you know what,
(24:15):
if not, it's going to be a fun story for
next Thanksgiving and maybe everyone will be thankful that we
haven't spatchcocked another turkey.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
You know what they say, Jane, it's either a good
day or a good story. I think you're going to
have at least one of those. We also asked you
slices for some holiday hot takes and some quirky Thanksgiving traditions.
And we got some real winners. You Drew nineteen seventy
seven thinks turkey gets a bad rap. He said, turkey
is better than most people think. The major problem is
they overcook it. Sam Fell's aka Fellsgate on Blue Sky disagrees.
(24:47):
He said we've had ribs instead of turkey since I
was fifteen. Put it on my tab ninety two said
our tradition is not doing the turkey and Thanksgiving food.
Two pounds of carneidas, beans, rice, and tortillas. Call it
a day, avoids the whole stress of buying all the
Thanksgiving supplies, supports local business, whole day for ourselves. Boom
Lgpens eighty seven on Blue Sky said, my father in
(25:08):
law and I toast the holiday with a cup of gravy.
It's the only day every year we get to eat
as much as possible and not feel bad about it.
Rough drinking a cup of gravy is wild. Get after
it though, to you. Garry Kramer on Blue Sky said,
I drink too much and pick a fight with my
sister in law about politics and current events. Sounds about right. Slice.
(25:28):
Michelle Dee writes, quote, this is one of my favorite holidays,
not only because it means getting the family together. But
my birthday is the twenty sixth. This means there's birthday
cake on Turkey Day, allowing me a better dessert option
besides pumpkin pie. The highlight of the meal is my
mom's stuffing. She'll cook up a small stuffing patty for
me while the turkey is cooking and come left over time.
The best item is cold stuffing, which grosses out my
(25:50):
partner but is something I look forward to all year
end quote. I would agree with the stuffing thing. My
mom's stuffing is a highlight of the meal, and ever
since my husband and I went vegetarian, she goes to
the trouble of making two versions, one for us and
one for everyone else, which is very sweet. You can't
do Thanksgiving without stuffing, in my opinion. Super slice Aaron
Raw writes, quote, I don't know if this is a
new tradition or not, but Lord help me. My middle
(26:12):
daughter decided she wanted to run a five k that
helps people. FYI, she hates running, but she's a softball
pitcher and wants to improve her endurance. So she and
I are working a program to run a five k
on Thanksgiving. The money goes to a nonprofit animal rescue.
Now I'm a person who runs a five k on Thanksgiving.
What Yeah, I'll do just about anything for my kids,
including getting up and training with them at five am
(26:33):
because that's when she has time. So you know, I'm
listening to you on my five am training walks. She runs,
I walk end quote. We do love a tradition that
allows for more good game listing time, Aaron, So props
to your daughter super Slice. Megan Flood has quite the
tradition many years in the running. She writes, quote, My
favorite Thanksgiving tradition is going to the NYC Macy's Thanksgiving
(26:53):
Day Parade in person. I grew up going to the
parade every year with my family and then listening to
Alice's Restaurant Massacre on the drive home. I think in
my lifetime I have been to probably twenty four to
twenty six parades. I'm thirty two. I haven't been since
twenty twenty one because of work and other reasons, so
I'm excited to be able to go back this year.
My hot take is that once it's twelve thirty pm
Eastern on Thanksgiving, I'm good for the holiday. Moving right along,
(27:16):
to the Christmas season end quote. Enjoy the parade, Megan,
and here's hoping for more floats and gayshit this year.
If y'all don't remember Spider Man making a meal out
of Uncle Sam's caboose, we'll link to that in the
show notes. And finally, super Slice, Amanda Valo takes us
home with a little Thanksgiving theme GGFU quote, good game,
turkey trotters, good game backyard football games. F you being
(27:38):
stuck at the kids table because you're single and don't
have a spouse, preach, Amanda, we got to take another
break when we come back. Cookies, Welcome back, Slaces. We
love that you're listening, but we want you to get
in the game every day too. So here's our good
(27:58):
game play of the day. Make cookies. You remember our
episode with Maggie Hendrix's Queen of Cookies, and we asked
y'all for your favorite recipes. While Panda with Cookie appropriately
came through. You may remember her from the famous Tater
Pigs of starch Madness bracket fame. Well turns out Tater
Pigs isn't all Panda makes, she writes, quote, you threw
(28:19):
up the cookie signal in this morning's episode, and I've
never written an email to a podcast so fast in
my life. It's Panda with cookie, not Panda with muffin.
I bake a metric ton of cookies. But these are
my usual holiday slash end of the year slash. It's
skink cold recipes. They are all vegan or veganized and
most come from the cookbook duo of Isamaskowitz and Terry
Hope Romero. All can be used as the perfect dessert
(28:41):
after a classic winter tater pig end quote. We'll put
the links to all three cookie recipes in the show notes.
They look amazing, Sparkled Ginger rumnog Pecan and Taylor Swift
Chai Yum. Also, Lindsay Schnell came back this time with
cookie solutions. We'll link to the chocolate mint Marvel's recipe
(29:01):
that she swears by and fun fact, she got the
recipe from a source while on a reporting trip. And
of course, once Maggie Hendrick's heard we were looking for recipes,
she had to chime into so she sent a pumpkin
blondies recipe that she's going to be making for her
family this Thanksgiving week. We'll throw that in the show
notes as well, make them, eat them, send us a pick, enjoy.
We always love to hear from you, so hit us
(29:22):
up on email, good game at wondermedianetwork dot com, or
leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two oh
four fifty seventy, and don't forget to subscribe, Rate and review.
It's easy. Watch the old Demi Levado favorite dish clip
rating ten out of ten. Never gets old review back.
In twenty fifteen, a reporter asked pop star Demi Levado
(29:42):
a seemingly innocuous question and got an answer that lives
on Take a listen.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Uh, your favorite dish?
Speaker 16 (29:49):
My favorite dish. I like mugs because they're very comfortable
in your hand, and they hold the hot things that
you don't have to touch, so you know, coffee or
hot tea.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
It's giving miscongeniality. Describe you're a perfect dig it. That's
a tough one.
Speaker 13 (30:14):
I'd have to say, April twenty fifth, because it's not.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Too hot, not too cold. All you need is a
light jacket. Whatever your favorite dish, stuffing, mashed potatoes, a ramakin,
a salad plate. I hope you get to enjoy it today.
Now it's your turn slices, rate and review. Go on
click five stars. Tell us why you're thankful for us.
It really helps the show. Thanks for listening and Happy Thanksgiving,
(30:40):
good game gathering with loved ones, good game trip to
fan induced post meal nap in your favorite recliner. You you
people not being grateful for the turkeys that died for
your Thanksgiving spread. Don't eat them, then go vegetarian. Save
the turkeys. Stick to the sides. They're better anyway. Good
Game is Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production
(31:02):
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, our
producers are alex Azzie, Grace Lynch, Taylor Williamson, and Lucy Jones.
Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan
and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez
(31:23):
and Gianna Palmer. Production assistants from Avery Loftus and I'm
Your Host Sarah Spain
Host
Sarah Spain
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