December 4, 2025 • 37 mins
Founder of Watch Party PHL and host of the Everyone Listens to This Jawn podcast, Jen Leary joins Sarah to discuss Watch Party PHL’s latest events, outfitting actress Aubrey Plaza in women’s sports gear, the city’s deep-rooted women’s sports lore, and Philly jargon. Plus, mom on mom goals, smoke with no fire, and a dictionary that ducking rocks.
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The NCAA Volleyball Tournament schedule is here
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Front Office Sports’ article on the WNBA’s CBA proposal is here
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The Athletic’s article on the WNBA’s CBA proposal is here
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The AUSL 2025 Expansion and Allocation Draft results are here
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Forbes’ full 30 Under 30 Sports Class of 2026 is here
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Joey Maldonado’s calendar of events is here
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Dana Rudolph’s review of Kid Olympians is here
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CNN’s article on the Minnesota Aurora 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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Mark as PlayedTranscript
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 really
regretting quitting tennis after seeing Sportico's list of top earning female.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Athletes for the top five all in tennis. Sorry, mom
and dad.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
It's Thursday, December fourth, and on today show we'll be
talking to the founder of Watch Party phl and host
of that Everyone Listens to This John Podcast, Jen Leary,
about creating community for women's sports fans in Philly, preparing
for the arrival of a Philly WNBA team outfitting actress
Aubrey Plaza and women's sports gear and popular Philly jargon,
plus a hattie up North, a goat starts, a wildfire,
(00:35):
and a dictionary the ducking Rules. It's all coming up
right after this. Welcome back, Slaicys. Here's what you need
to know today. A great night of college hoops tonight
thanks to the acc SEC Women's Challenge. At seven pm
Eastern tonight, Number two Texas host Number eleven UNC on
(00:58):
ESPN two on ESPN also at seven Eastern, Number three
South Carolina visits Number twenty two Louisville at nine pm
Eastern on ESPN two. It's number eighteen Notre Dame visiting
number thirteen Ole Miss and on ESPN also at nine
pm Eastern, Number five LSU faces its first test of
the season and first top one hundred team, Number fifty
(01:19):
one Duke to College Vibes and the first round of
the NCAA Tournament. Did you get your ESPN Volleyball Championship
Challenge bracket in? I hope so, because I'm looking forward
to taking you down. Games start at three pm Eastern.
We'll link to the schedule in the show notes. You
can catch all the action on ESPN Plus, including top
seed Nebraska starting their tournament run by taking on Long
Island at eight pm Eastern to the WNBA, and details
(01:43):
of the league's latest CBA proposal. Per friend of the
show Annie Costable of Front Office Sports, the league is
offered up maximum based salaries into the seven figures, with
minimums at two hundred and twenty five thousand up, but
they've proposed cutting team housing, a benefit provided to players
since twenty sixteen. Under the current CBA, players are guaranteed
team housing or a monthly stipend to help cover housing costs,
(02:05):
and perhaps the biggest proposed change, pushing training camps from
late April up to as early as mid March, a
move that would expand the season footprint and help accommodate
seasons with more games, but would create potential scheduling conflicts
for players competing in off season leagues and for incoming
rookies playing in the NCAA tournament. The twenty twenty sixth
WNBA draft is currently set for April thirteenth, one week
(02:27):
after the National Championship Game, that that could change. A
story from Friends of the Show Ben Pickman and Sabrina
Merchant of The Athletic also adds that sources say new
proposals from the WNBA allow total compensation to rise with
increased revenue and tie the salary cap to revenue growth.
But per the story quote, however, sources say the WNBA's
current salary structure proposal would result in the players receiving
(02:50):
less than fifteen percent of total league revenue. That percentage
would decrease over the life of the CBA based on
the league's revenue projections. The WNBA is per proposing a
system in which a portion of league revenue would be shaable,
with fifty percent of that portion going to players. Sources
with knowledge of the negotiations said how that metric is
determined is unclear, but it would result in a projected
(03:12):
one point two million dollars of total compensation for max
players in the first year of the agreement, with that
figure expected to rise significantly end quote. Just like the
current CBA, the current league proposal includes a percentage of
revenue termed cost of revenue that's taken off the top
before any is shared with players, So in this new proposal,
players still wouldn't be taking a percentage of total revenue.
(03:33):
The league presented its latest proposal last weekend, and the
union countered with its proposal on Tuesday, with The Athletic
reporting that hang up persists regarding what makes up the
segment of league revenue that will be sharable with the
players and what percentage of that revenue will be shared.
On Wednesday, WNBPA president nek Ogumaki told The Athletic quote,
I don't feel like there's any cultivation of a culture
(03:53):
of trust. We don't feel valued in these talks as
they stand today. I feel like we've been heard but
not listened to, and I'm hoping that that changes in
this forty day extension because what we want to do
is get a good deal done.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
We'll link to those stories from Front Office Sports and
the Athletics so you can read more about the reported
details of the proposals, including a mandatory draft combine and
non birthing parental leave to the PWHL, which just weeks
into season three, is already dreaming of more PWHL. EVP
of Business Operations Amy Sheer told CNBC Sports this week
(04:26):
that the league could welcome quote two to four new
teams as soon as next year.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Said Sheer, quote.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
If I was a betting woman, I'd say it before teams,
and then I think we'll hold at twelve.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
For a bit. End quote. Come on, Chicago, Come on Chicago.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Meantime on the ice, two time PWHL champion Kendall Coinschofield
added to her resume with her first PWHL hat trick,
putting the biscuit in the basket thrice to lead her
Minnesota Frost passed the Ottawa Charge five to one.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Tuesday night, the.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Frost scored a trio of goals in seven minutes to
set a new PWHL record for fastest three goals to
open game. Heading into Wednesday night's games, the Frost are
tied with the Boston Fleet and New York Sirens atop
the PWHL leaderboard, each team with six points on the
young season to the NWSL. In the Portland Thorns end
of season roster update, the club revealed it's still quote
(05:15):
unquote in discussion with forward Sophia Wilson, who sat out
the twenty twenty five season on maternity leave. Wilson signed
a contract in March of twenty twenty four through the
twenty twenty five season, with a player option for twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
More ONWSL.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
A shake up at the top for the Orlando Pride
in Washington Spirit, two weeks after her departure from the
Pride was announced. Exec Hayley Carter has been named the
President of Soccer Operations for the Spirit, per a team
release quote, Carter will serve as the club's senior sporting executive,
responsible for defining and executing the long term vision and
strategic plan for the Spirit Soccer operations. In this role,
(05:51):
she will oversee technical, performance and player development functions, working
closely with ownership and the NWSL to align strategy, culture,
and resources for sustained success end quote. Carter, a former
pro player for the Houston Dash and international coach before
joining the Pride front office, told Friend of the Show
Jeff Casoof of ESPN that keeping Trinity, Rodman and DC
is on the top of her to do list and
(06:12):
a priority for Michelle Kang as well.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Trin is a top priority, not just for me, not
just for Michelle and the Spirit, but for the entire league.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Michelle knows it, You know it, We know it.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Michelle's made it absolutely clear that we will do everything
in our power to retain and keep Trin in a
Spirit kit. We are actively working with the league on
solutions that allow us to retain Tren while obviously balancing
that competitive piece. Trin is an asset. It's bigger than
one team. This is about the NWSL's ability.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
To keep its best players. End quote.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
The Spirit also announced the promotion of Nathan Minyon to
general manager on a permanent basis. Speaking of Michelle King,
On Tuesday, US Soccer announced the launch of the Kang
Women's Institute, made possible because of a fifty five million
dollar grant to US Soccer from Washington Spirit owner Michelle King.
The first of its kind platform hopes to accelerate advancements
in the women's game through science, innovation, and the sharing
(07:04):
of best practices. Per release from US Soccer quote. A
recent analysis shows that only six percent of published research
in sports and exercise journals is focused exclusively on women,
a disparity that has left generations of female soccer players
training undermodels built for male physiology. This gap has contributed
to disproportionate injury rates, limited health guidance, and systems that
(07:25):
do not reflect the realities of the women's game.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
End quote. Gotta love Michelle.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Kang putting all that money to good use to the
AUSL ahead of a twenty twenty six season that will
feature six teams instead of four. On Monday, Athletes Unlimited
Softball held a two team expansion draft for incoming squads,
the Cascade and the Oklahoma City Spark, each of the
original four teams, The Bandits Blazed Talents and Volts protected
five athletes ahead of the draft, but everyone else was
(07:52):
up for grabs. The Spark won the coin toss and
selected unprotected talents player Maya Brady number one overall. Brady,
the niece of former NFL great Tom Brady, missed part
of last season to injury and ultimately played in six
games for the championship winning talents, with one home run,
one double, and five RBI. The Cascade drafted pitcher Sam
Landry with their first selection. Landry was drafted first overall
(08:14):
by the Volts in last year's draft. Then, all six
teams participated in the Allocation Draft, in which they selected
from a pool of athletes who opted to be considered
for selection from other pro leagues and teams, plus players
from the AUSL twenty twenty five reserve pool. Forty three
total players were selected. You can check out the full
results via the link in our show notes to Forbes
and its thirty under thirty class of twenty twenty six.
(08:36):
The list features several female athletes, including Coco Golf, Nijerie Kennedy,
Eleah Boston, Pagebeckers, and Trinity Rodman. Will link to the
full list in the show notes and finally to tennis.
On Tuesday, The Athletic reported that forty four year old
tennis goat Serena Williams had re entered the International Tennis
Integrity Agency's registered testing pool, a move that signaled a
(08:58):
potential return to the Within hours, countless blogs and social
media accounts had posted the news exciting tennis fans across
the globe. Alas, the twenty three time Major champion quieted
the din, posting on Twitter quote, OMG, y'all, I'm not
coming back.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
This wildfire is crazy? End quote.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
But why subject yourself to random testing and a required
response to a whereabouts check in at any given time
every day? Unless she is thinking about coming back? Consider
me unconvinced that the wildfire is a mirage. You know
the old saying, where there's smoke, we got to take
a quick break when we come back.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Listen to This John with Jen.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Leary joining us now.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
She's the founder of Watch Party PHL host of the
Everybody Listens To This John podcast, a Philly firefighter and
founder of Redpaw Emergent and See Relief Team and nonprofit
org that's dedicated to rescuing pets from residential disasters in
southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. She did her underrat
at Thomas Jefferson University and got her master's at American.
She's a dog and cat mom and she took her
(10:13):
human mom to Laser tag for her seventy first birthday.
It's Jen Leary, Hi, Jen, to know the number one
rule of laser Tag.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
That was my first time playing laser Tag.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Establish higher ground, if there are places to climb, get high,
that's the key to every You're welcome.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
I wish we would have talked before I took her
because I was not good at it.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
So tell us about Watch Party PHL. What are the
origins and what is it?
Speaker 5 (10:42):
Okay? So Watch Party PHL started out.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
As a monthly watch party two years ago, right around
the time when a bunch of the women's sports bars
were opening up and for very similar reasons. Right, So,
I wanted to watch the NCAA Championship game, but there
was no place to watch, and so I decided that
after much back and forth, I decided I was going
(11:06):
to do it myself. So I reached out to a
couple local bars in the area and said, Hey, if
you know, if I get a bunch of people together
to watch the championship game, can we do a watch
party here? And so that started. It was Iowa versus
South Carolina. So Dawn Staley, you know, North Philly born
(11:29):
and Reeze and Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
So it was a big game.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Philly showed up and it's just been a roller coaster ever.
Since it started as once a month quickly turned into
several a month because that was so we went right
from the NCAA Championship game to the w NBA season.
It was the Olympics that year, so we did a
host of Olympic watch parties all over Philly, all days,
(11:56):
all hours really, and people kept showing up, and two
years later we're now opening Philly's premiere women's sports hub.
This may hopefully yours crossed, and it's been a wild ride,
but it's been pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
So it's a humble goal of like, hey, I need
a bar to promise me the audio is going to
be on and then I'm going to have good viewing
and that the screens are going to be big enough
and enough of them. So pretty humble start. But did
you have any bigger goals when you launched it, or
if you look back and you're honest about that moment,
was it just about like, hey, let me get some
people together.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
To watch It was twofold, right, It was, of course,
you know, bring together a community of women's sports fans
in Philly. Because what I had noticed, like during COVID
the WNBA bubble really got me through WNBA Twitter was
They were my friends, they were my outlet. They were
(12:51):
what I looked forward to every day, and when COVID ended,
I kind of lost that community. I still wanted to
watch with people, but now out you know, I couldn't
find anybody in Philly that was watching it. I definitely
couldn't find any place, not even with the volume on,
but with it on period. And so Number one was
finding that community and building that community. Number two was
(13:14):
always show the WNBA and WSL and anyone that would
listen that Philly is a women's sports town, right and
that if we build it, they will come. What I
found quickly was that there were other people throughout the
city and behind the scenes doing the same thing that
I was trying to do, which was to show them
this right. So like Natalie Plaza and her and Aubrey
(13:36):
Plaza and then their sister Wanda and Alex Sykes. There
were a bunch of people on city Council and around
the city like Connor Barwin from the Eagles, who were
all working independently, and so part of what I wanted
to do was bring everybody together and let us focus
our energies together instead of separately. Because we had ended
(13:59):
up up talking to the same people and kind of
doing the same things and running in the same circles separately,
and so these last two years was really about building
those networks and bringing everybody together.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
I love that natural sort of organizer to you, obviously, yes,
And also like, if the end goal is to bring
more of this to your city, you can do more
all together, as opposed to it being some sort of
like ego or money push where it's about who's doing
what and getting the credit for it. So it's cool
you've been able to bring all these people together. You know,
(14:33):
Philly fans get.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
A bad rep.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
You know, we all hear about, you know, throwing batteries.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
At Santa and snowballs.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Snowballs, all right, snowballs whatever. What do you actually think
is the quintessential Philly sports fan?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Tell us what you're really like.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
I mean, I'm Philly born and raised, right, I bleed green.
I have the first Eagle Super Bowl score tattooed on
my calves, like I am Ride or Die for Philly
and one I'm finding out, like we all know, Philly
is rid or Die for the men's sports. And part
of this building this hub in Philly for women's sports
is to show people that we are ride or die
(15:10):
for women's sports too. So we want to be able
to build this like generational sports fandom into women's sports
fandom here when it comes so twenty thirty, we're going
to spend the next five years making sure that the
Philly fans are just as Philly for the WNBA team
that gets here as we are for the Eagles or
(15:32):
the Sixers or the you know, the Flyers or whoever.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
Right, And so.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
We may get a bad rep, but like it really
is like an honor. When someone says that, we take
that with a lot of pride.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
I bet you do. Yeah, that's very Philly.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I do have to say that usually when people try
to claim that any team or person or city or
fan base is worse than the other, I say, every
fan base has morons, and every fan base has school people.
And if you just get a story or two that
usually sticks, whether that's you know, Buffalo Bills fans jumping
through tables or assaulting Santa, that'll usually stick.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
And it's sports lore, right.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
People love that, right, which is perfectly brings me to
my next question. Every city does have its sports lore
and we know a lot of the men's sports lore
out of Philly. Do you have women's stories, teams or
athletes that already make up the fabric of Philly sports
history that will be a part of telling the story
of Philly when these teams arrive.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
So part of what's going to happen at the Hub
is that we are going to showcase the history of
women's sports because it's been around a long time, starting
back in like the eighteen hundreds, there was the Casey
Kerr Girls who came here from Ireland and played the
(16:51):
first professional women's soccer game here in Philly. There's the
Dolly Vardins, which was the firstfeestional women's African American baseball
team who played here. Then you have like the Philadelphia Fox,
which was a women's soccer team in the seventies, the
Philadelphia Rage, the Independence I played on the National Women's
(17:15):
Football League in two thousand and two thousand and one.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Yeah, so that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
So there's some stories to tell. You mentioned the Hub.
So Phillies first women's sports bar called Marsha's opened in September.
You're looking to open your own space. You've been raising
money you wanted to be a sort of cafe by day,
bar by night. So tell us more, is it going
to be called the Hub's what's the vibe? Where's it
going to be all this stuff?
Speaker 4 (17:39):
So the plan is to make it the premier spot
for women's sports. Right, So, like you said, cafe by day,
coworking space, We're going to have an event space. We're
going to have a podcasting space. Women's sports on all
day long, So come in in the morning, get your coffee.
The latest women's sports news is on the televisions, you know,
(18:01):
if there's a Women's European League game on, we'll be
showing that. Then we'll transition at night to restaurant bar,
obviously showing an all the games that we can find.
More than that, we want it to be like a
space that really is like the house of women's sports,
a place where women's sports lore and history and future
(18:26):
all comes together, and it's a place where people can
come and feel like they are a part of that,
a part of that community, but also a part of
that history.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
You know, it feels like throughout this whole time you've
really centered community as the place to start when trying
to bring people together establish and move forward with some
sort of momentum and appeal to the major pro league.
So what did you understand about the power of community
of bringing people together in terms of being able to
sell Philly as the place that major leagues should bring
(18:58):
new teams.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Well, I mean, like you said earlier, I'm organizing is key, right.
I've always been an organizer, past jobs and president volunteer positions,
and so organizing is how you get a movement started, right,
and we really are building that movement here in Philly,
And you can't do that without buying from the community,
(19:21):
you know, you really, we worked really hard building that community.
As soon as I announced in last two marches ago
March twenty twenty four, that I was going to do
this watch party thing, we immediately started building that community,
going to different events throughout the city, handing out information,
talking to people trying to find out what they wanted
(19:44):
to see with this.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
And then once we.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Decided we were going to do the Hub, we did
the same thing, but we did it with our partners.
So we've been for the last two years collaborating with
women's rec leagues from around the city, men's and women.
We've been partnering with bars, We've been partnering with local
women and black owned businesses and merchants to sell their stuff,
(20:08):
and so all of this was a way to build
that community, help uplift the women's sports and the sports
community here in Philly. But also leading to the Hub,
we wanted to make sure that they were still involved
in that. So it's been a process of bringing in
them those folks as advisory board members and just making
(20:32):
sure that when we open, we're not taking away from
the people that helped us early on. We're uplifting them together.
So a lot of the bars and breweries that we
have held our watch parties in, we're going to bring
in their beer as the beer that we sell at
our hub. A lot of the merchants that had like
small business merchants that have been at our watch parties
(20:54):
will help sell their merchant our hub, like it really
is going to be women's sports centric community.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
There's a lot of good stuff come in Philly's way.
You mentioned the WNBA team in twenty thirty and Unrivaled's
first tour stop is going to be in Philly. Two
games set to be played there January thirtieth. I'm really
hoping to make it out there. I'm leaving for the
Olympics in Italy a couple days later, but I'm trying
to do a quick pop out and back because Kate.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Scott and some of my other friends I know are
going to be out there.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Jane McManus that I want to be out there for,
but tell me what's planned for that Unrivaled day.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
So I just quickly want to give a shout out
to the Philadelphia's Sisters, to Alex and Wannas Sykes and
Starla and Ashlee and all the people that are working
with them behind the scenes. They have laid the groundwork
for now having WNBA team and they were the main reason.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
That Unrivaled is coming here.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
So it's because of them that women's sports is really
beginning to blow up here in Philly. And so we've
been working with them to make this unrival Old weekend
like really exciting and uh something that people are going
to want to come back to and remember. And so
what we have planned so far is, uh, we have
(22:12):
a tailgate that we're doing before the event across the
street at Stateside, which was Exfinity Live and so for
anyone who wants to come and and you know, enjoy
the vibe and be a part of history. They can
come to that tailgate prior to the Unrivaled team, and
then for anyone who doesn't have tickets, they can stay
(22:34):
there and watch the game, and anyone who does the
tickets will go over to the stadium. And then we're
building a package for the rest of that weekend. And
so we're gonna have events on Saturday, We're gonna have
events on Sunday, so that you know the people that
are coming, they they have something to do that entire
(22:55):
weekend wekend.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
We don't want people to.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Come and go. We want them to home and enjoy
the city. See why we love.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
It so much.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
You mentioned the Philadelphia Sisters, led by actor and comedian
Wanda Sykes, her wife Alex Sykes, who has experience in
sports and business, and also lawyer Ashley Lukenheimer, and they
made it their mission to bring a WNBA team to Philly.
They were honored along with you by the Philadelphia City
Council recently for your efforts. So tell me how did
you get introduced to them and start working together?
Speaker 5 (23:27):
So funny story.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
So I went to Unrivaled last February for a women's
sports fandom conference. Lindsay Gibbs was there. Who I know
you interviewed, Yeah, I love her to death. It was
a bunch of women's sports bar owners, watch party organizers, media,
(23:51):
lots of people in the women's sports field. We all
went for conference and then an unrivaled game just the
a fun women's sports weekend in Miami, And while I
was there, I decided that I was going to open
this hub. I talked to a bunch of people who
were opening bars at that moment, so Chelsea from Jolene
(24:16):
Jolene in Atlanta, and then Alan Cloud from Athena Keihi's
in New York, and listening to them just inspired me
to immediately come home and tell everyone that.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
We were opening this hub.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
But before I did that, I randomly DMed Alex in
the middle of the night because we had been introduced
by an a potential investor and we were talking back
and forth loosely on DM on Instagram. I DMed her
that night. When I got home, I was like, what
do you think about, you know, investing in Philly's at
(24:55):
the time, Philly's first women's sports bar, and she DMed
me back immediately and was like, call me and we
have been working together ever since.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
She's that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
Yeah, she's a great person. The whole team she built
as they're just great people. They want nothing but the
best for Philly and women's sports here in Philly, and
it's really been such a privilege to work with them.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
You also mentioned Aubrey Plaza and her sister. How'd you
get connected to them?
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Same thing through a potential investor. We had talked once
or twice over zoom. Well, they all live in on
the West Coast, but they they're from Delaware, so they
come back here regularly. I believe they have an apartment
in the city, and so we had gone back and forth,
Natalie and I for a while, and she was in
(25:51):
town in Philly over the summer, so we decided to
get together for coffee and just talking about out like
the potential they're starting investment organization for women's sports, and
so she was telling me about that and kind of
where they are at in the process, and she was like,
(26:13):
you know, I love what you guys are doing. I
really want to help you in some way. You know,
we're not quite ready to invest yet, but you know,
I'm sure Aubrey can do something to bring some eyes
to your you know what you're doing. And I had
had my Philly as a Women's Sports Town T shirt
on and she's like, I bet Albs would wear that
(26:34):
T shirt to the New York Liberty game. She's going
on Friday. I think this was a Tuesday. And it's like,
you want what, like, you want this off my back?
Speaker 5 (26:42):
My back?
Speaker 4 (26:43):
And she was like, well, let me take a picture
and see. So she took a picture, she texted Aubrey.
Aubrey texts back like, Pierre, I'll wear it.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
Sorry.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
I don't know if you can curse, but do And
so I took it off in the middle of you know,
twenty fourth and love.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
It was something underneath, but no judgment.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
If not, I'd attack down. Pond gave it to her.
She took it home, washed it, overnighted it, and that.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
Friday she wore it to Liberty game.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
They put her up on the big screen sports sign
YEP and it, you know, it blew up. And so
since then, yeah, this this little shirt has.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
Really sold out.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Right initially and initially got to get him to make reinforcements.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
Yeah, so we did.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
So the shirt the phrase was ours, Like I use
it on all of our press. I used it, I
think when I was talking to you in the beginning here, Like,
Philly is a women's sports town, right, but it was
designed by a local woman owned shop and so she
go Ham is the name of it. She designed all
the shirts, and like she's a one person like organization, right,
(27:53):
and so she got inundated with orders for the T shirts.
Speaker 5 (27:58):
But she's a trooper.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
We made it all work, and so we when the
Unrivaled announcement happened, we may we put out unrival T shirts.
We've been dropping off T shirts for all the big
five women's basketball teams around the city. They've been wearing
them to their games. Yeah, it's been an amazing partnership.
It's been great for marketing, and it really embodies what
(28:22):
we're we want to do here. We want people to
know Philly is a women's sports town. And you know,
there's no better way to do that than to wear
it proudly on your chest.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Uh. We are all going to have to get to
know Philly a little better now that women's sports will
be you know, they'll be part of our larger community.
And I know Philly kind of has its own language.
So we're going to do a quick speed round so
we could try to keep up with the language coming
out of your city. I'm gonna start with boole. Tell
us about bool?
Speaker 5 (28:51):
Think you mean like what bull?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Bull? I have no idea b o U L bool.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
It's like I don't even like guy kid, like what's
up yet?
Speaker 5 (29:03):
Like, what's up kid? What's up?
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Bowl?
Speaker 2 (29:06):
What's up?
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Bull?
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Okay? Uh jeet geet?
Speaker 5 (29:10):
Did you eat?
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Did you?
Speaker 4 (29:12):
That's very very South Philly?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Okay. Water ice, I mean you.
Speaker 5 (29:19):
Know were we talking like w O O d R
water ice?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Well, of course you say water water, but what is
water ice?
Speaker 5 (29:27):
It's water ice.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
It's like you know, uh, ice made of water?
Speaker 5 (29:32):
Wait, like you literally don't know what water ice is.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I know what water is, and I know what ice is,
and I know that ice is made of water. I
don't know what water ice is as opposed to ice
made of other liquids.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
Okay, Well, so it's like like a slushy, but like
a harder slushy consistency. Oh, it's like flavor icy Yeah,
like an icy but.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Like a popsicle, but like a long, skinny stick of ice.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
It's usually in a cup. It's in a cup softer
than an icy Okay.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
So icys are in a cup like seven eleven. But
then there's also like a long stick of ice that's
like flavored that you like hold in your hand, that
looks kind of like a light saber but smaller.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
You are blowing my mind right now.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
This is this is a Philly so at least it's
not a Chicago thing.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
Do you know what tomato pie is?
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Like a pizza.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
It's so it's a square, so it's like Sicilian pizza,
square thick piece of pizza, but it's only got tomato
sauce on it. Okay, it is so filly tomato pie.
Oh you're missing out.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
I gotta try that. I just looked up water ice.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Water ice is basically like sorbet but with ice, yeah,
or like it's like Italian ice kind of yeah yeah yeah, Okay,
we have Italian ice in Chicago.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
Okay, so that's what.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
I don't call it water ice whatever that is, okay.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Last one, the word that means everything, John yep yep.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
So that means everything, right, So I mean I don't know,
it's like hand me that John, yo. You know or
like that John was really good or yeah, you can
use it anywhere. Like I'm telling you the amount of
ways and times that we use John in the firehouse
(31:37):
in Philly. Like people think it's like they don't really
use that. It's so it's you know, hipster, it's a
hipster word. No, no, no, like for real, for real. John
is what we say all the time for anything.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Well, I notice on your Instagram your podcast is everybody
listens to this John. You often say everybody's watching this John.
You definitely we have posted about like John just being
like a substitute for thing, Yes, multiple different times. So
I trust you when you say John means everything. What's
next for Jen Larry? What's next for Watch Party phl You.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Know, we go into the winter, we're going to keep
doing more watch parties, and we're looking at spaces really
trying to solidify investors and get a space and get
open by May twenty twenty six. We want to be
open in time for FIFA. The n MLB All Star
(32:34):
Game is coming here that same time. The PGA Tour
is going to be right outside of Philly at that time.
The NCAA, I think Championship or playoffs are coming here,
and then Philadelphia is having its big two hundred and
fiftieth anniversary that spring summer as well, and so we
really have a goal of being open for all those things.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
So those are all men's events, but we'll forgive you
because there will be a lot going on in the
city and a lot of enthusiasm for just being in
the city to attend things. And you're offering people a
space to get their women's sports fix while either enjoying
or ignoring the men's World Cup and MLB All Star
and other things.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
They can choose.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
We can like both, or we can ignore the other
ones and just go to your bar and watch women's sports.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
Insteent right, Well, we'll do a little bit of both.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
We're still going to show some men's sports, especially the Eagles.
Like again, die hard lead Green, diehard Eagles fan, So
we want to showcase. Yes, we're going to be women's sports,
but we're also on to showcase local athletes and local
teams as well, and so we're gonna, you know, work
it into the schedule as best we can.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Well, thanks so much for the time you're making me.
Really need to figure out how to get this Unrivaled
weekend on my calendar, so.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
It should come. You should come. Thank you for your time.
This is fun.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Thanks again to Jen for taking time. I'm really going
to try to make that late January unrivaled.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Trip would be a blast.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
We got to take another break when we come back,
make like a mummy and wrap it up.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Welcome back, Slices.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Wanted to let you know that super Slice Joey Maldonado's
calendar of events has been updated with the college soccer
and college volleyball tournament schedules, plus Love Major League Volleyball,
Unrivaled AU Basketball, and PWHL. We'll link to it in
the show notes again so you can bookmark it and
check it often.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Thank you. Joey.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Also shout out to Slice Dana Rudolph, who, by the way,
shares an alma mater with producer Alex Wellesley but married
a Cornellian. Let's go red, and she alerted us to
the potentially first ever queer mom scoring on queer mom
goal in PWHL history, Brian Jenners scoring on Emerens mash
Meyer in the Ottawa Vancouver game on October twenty sixth.
We haven't put that stat through the pucks Engay shit
(34:53):
fact checker.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
We're just gonna trust you on it, Dana.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Dana also brought to our attention an incredible children's book
about Winter olymp kid Olympians that includes the cutest illustration
of friends of the show Marie Filip Pulin and Laura
Stacy with their pop Arlow. Dana reviewed the adorable and
very inclusive book on her blog Mombian. We'll link to
it in the show notes so you could check it out.
Could be a good Christmas gift. Speaking of, we'll be
(35:17):
rolling out a good Game gift guide in an episode,
coming up with lots of ways to spread the love
for women's sports this holiday season. We always love that
you're listening, but we want you to get in the
game every day too, So here's our good game play
of the day. There's a great article about our show
side the Minnesota Aurora in CNN detailing the team's launch,
great success, commitment to inclusive culture and values, and ongoing
(35:39):
efforts to eventually become a pro team.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
You can check it out via the link in.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Our show notes, and we want to see screen grabs
of good game at the top of your Spotify. Repped
are you in the top five percent of listeners. Let
us know and if you use the iHeart app, Apple
Podcasts or another app to binge our show. Just write
my top podcast over our show logo, Share it far
and wide and see if anyone notices it's homemade. We
(36:03):
always love to hear from you. Hit us up on email,
good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a
voicemail at eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy
and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review slices.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
It's easy.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Watch Merriam Webster's take on the Spotify repped rating ten
out of ten.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Word nerds approve review.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
If you're not already following Merriam Webster on socials, you've
missed out on a whole lot of great content getting
inspiration from current events, making political or social statements through
word of the day definitions and more.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
And on Wednesday, ol.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Admin got in on the wrapped trend with posts including
you use the correct version of effect effect seventy seven
percent at the time and milestone your phone's autocorrect, finally
stop changing it to ducking and my favorite, your texting
age is sixty three.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
You spell out you.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
And use punctuation Okay, boomer, okay boomer, indeed period Now
it's your turn. Y'all rate and review. Thanks for listening,
See you tomorrow. Good Game, Jen, Good Game, Jet, and
John you dry Winter Air. My fingers are littered with tiny,
little bleeding cracks. To paraphrase Taylor Swift, It's death by
(37:15):
a thousand paper cuts. 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.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
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 Rudder, Britney Martinez 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 really
regretting quitting tennis after seeing Sportico's list of top earning female.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Athletes for the top five all in tennis. Sorry, mom
and dad.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
It's Thursday, December fourth, and on today show we'll be
talking to the founder of Watch Party phl and host
of that Everyone Listens to This John Podcast, Jen Leary,
about creating community for women's sports fans in Philly, preparing
for the arrival of a Philly WNBA team outfitting actress
Aubrey Plaza and women's sports gear and popular Philly jargon,
plus a hattie up North, a goat starts, a wildfire,
(00:35):
and a dictionary the ducking Rules. It's all coming up
right after this. Welcome back, Slaicys. Here's what you need
to know today. A great night of college hoops tonight
thanks to the acc SEC Women's Challenge. At seven pm
Eastern tonight, Number two Texas host Number eleven UNC on
(00:58):
ESPN two on ESPN also at seven Eastern, Number three
South Carolina visits Number twenty two Louisville at nine pm
Eastern on ESPN two. It's number eighteen Notre Dame visiting
number thirteen Ole Miss and on ESPN also at nine
pm Eastern, Number five LSU faces its first test of
the season and first top one hundred team, Number fifty
(01:19):
one Duke to College Vibes and the first round of
the NCAA Tournament. Did you get your ESPN Volleyball Championship
Challenge bracket in? I hope so, because I'm looking forward
to taking you down. Games start at three pm Eastern.
We'll link to the schedule in the show notes. You
can catch all the action on ESPN Plus, including top
seed Nebraska starting their tournament run by taking on Long
Island at eight pm Eastern to the WNBA, and details
(01:43):
of the league's latest CBA proposal. Per friend of the
show Annie Costable of Front Office Sports, the league is
offered up maximum based salaries into the seven figures, with
minimums at two hundred and twenty five thousand up, but
they've proposed cutting team housing, a benefit provided to players
since twenty sixteen. Under the current CBA, players are guaranteed
team housing or a monthly stipend to help cover housing costs,
(02:05):
and perhaps the biggest proposed change, pushing training camps from
late April up to as early as mid March, a
move that would expand the season footprint and help accommodate
seasons with more games, but would create potential scheduling conflicts
for players competing in off season leagues and for incoming
rookies playing in the NCAA tournament. The twenty twenty sixth
WNBA draft is currently set for April thirteenth, one week
(02:27):
after the National Championship Game, that that could change. A
story from Friends of the Show Ben Pickman and Sabrina
Merchant of The Athletic also adds that sources say new
proposals from the WNBA allow total compensation to rise with
increased revenue and tie the salary cap to revenue growth.
But per the story quote, however, sources say the WNBA's
current salary structure proposal would result in the players receiving
(02:50):
less than fifteen percent of total league revenue. That percentage
would decrease over the life of the CBA based on
the league's revenue projections. The WNBA is per proposing a
system in which a portion of league revenue would be shaable,
with fifty percent of that portion going to players. Sources
with knowledge of the negotiations said how that metric is
determined is unclear, but it would result in a projected
(03:12):
one point two million dollars of total compensation for max
players in the first year of the agreement, with that
figure expected to rise significantly end quote. Just like the
current CBA, the current league proposal includes a percentage of
revenue termed cost of revenue that's taken off the top
before any is shared with players, So in this new proposal,
players still wouldn't be taking a percentage of total revenue.
(03:33):
The league presented its latest proposal last weekend, and the
union countered with its proposal on Tuesday, with The Athletic
reporting that hang up persists regarding what makes up the
segment of league revenue that will be sharable with the
players and what percentage of that revenue will be shared.
On Wednesday, WNBPA president nek Ogumaki told The Athletic quote,
I don't feel like there's any cultivation of a culture
(03:53):
of trust. We don't feel valued in these talks as
they stand today. I feel like we've been heard but
not listened to, and I'm hoping that that changes in
this forty day extension because what we want to do
is get a good deal done.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
We'll link to those stories from Front Office Sports and
the Athletics so you can read more about the reported
details of the proposals, including a mandatory draft combine and
non birthing parental leave to the PWHL, which just weeks
into season three, is already dreaming of more PWHL. EVP
of Business Operations Amy Sheer told CNBC Sports this week
(04:26):
that the league could welcome quote two to four new
teams as soon as next year.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Said Sheer, quote.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
If I was a betting woman, I'd say it before teams,
and then I think we'll hold at twelve.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
For a bit. End quote. Come on, Chicago, Come on Chicago.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Meantime on the ice, two time PWHL champion Kendall Coinschofield
added to her resume with her first PWHL hat trick,
putting the biscuit in the basket thrice to lead her
Minnesota Frost passed the Ottawa Charge five to one.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Tuesday night, the.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Frost scored a trio of goals in seven minutes to
set a new PWHL record for fastest three goals to
open game. Heading into Wednesday night's games, the Frost are
tied with the Boston Fleet and New York Sirens atop
the PWHL leaderboard, each team with six points on the
young season to the NWSL. In the Portland Thorns end
of season roster update, the club revealed it's still quote
(05:15):
unquote in discussion with forward Sophia Wilson, who sat out
the twenty twenty five season on maternity leave. Wilson signed
a contract in March of twenty twenty four through the
twenty twenty five season, with a player option for twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
More ONWSL.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
A shake up at the top for the Orlando Pride
in Washington Spirit, two weeks after her departure from the
Pride was announced. Exec Hayley Carter has been named the
President of Soccer Operations for the Spirit, per a team
release quote, Carter will serve as the club's senior sporting executive,
responsible for defining and executing the long term vision and
strategic plan for the Spirit Soccer operations. In this role,
(05:51):
she will oversee technical, performance and player development functions, working
closely with ownership and the NWSL to align strategy, culture,
and resources for sustained success end quote. Carter, a former
pro player for the Houston Dash and international coach before
joining the Pride front office, told Friend of the Show
Jeff Casoof of ESPN that keeping Trinity, Rodman and DC
is on the top of her to do list and
(06:12):
a priority for Michelle Kang as well.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Trin is a top priority, not just for me, not
just for Michelle and the Spirit, but for the entire league.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Michelle knows it, You know it, We know it.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Michelle's made it absolutely clear that we will do everything
in our power to retain and keep Trin in a
Spirit kit. We are actively working with the league on
solutions that allow us to retain Tren while obviously balancing
that competitive piece. Trin is an asset. It's bigger than
one team. This is about the NWSL's ability.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
To keep its best players. End quote.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
The Spirit also announced the promotion of Nathan Minyon to
general manager on a permanent basis. Speaking of Michelle King,
On Tuesday, US Soccer announced the launch of the Kang
Women's Institute, made possible because of a fifty five million
dollar grant to US Soccer from Washington Spirit owner Michelle King.
The first of its kind platform hopes to accelerate advancements
in the women's game through science, innovation, and the sharing
(07:04):
of best practices. Per release from US Soccer quote. A
recent analysis shows that only six percent of published research
in sports and exercise journals is focused exclusively on women,
a disparity that has left generations of female soccer players
training undermodels built for male physiology. This gap has contributed
to disproportionate injury rates, limited health guidance, and systems that
(07:25):
do not reflect the realities of the women's game.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
End quote. Gotta love Michelle.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Kang putting all that money to good use to the
AUSL ahead of a twenty twenty six season that will
feature six teams instead of four. On Monday, Athletes Unlimited
Softball held a two team expansion draft for incoming squads,
the Cascade and the Oklahoma City Spark, each of the
original four teams, The Bandits Blazed Talents and Volts protected
five athletes ahead of the draft, but everyone else was
(07:52):
up for grabs. The Spark won the coin toss and
selected unprotected talents player Maya Brady number one overall. Brady,
the niece of former NFL great Tom Brady, missed part
of last season to injury and ultimately played in six
games for the championship winning talents, with one home run,
one double, and five RBI. The Cascade drafted pitcher Sam
Landry with their first selection. Landry was drafted first overall
(08:14):
by the Volts in last year's draft. Then, all six
teams participated in the Allocation Draft, in which they selected
from a pool of athletes who opted to be considered
for selection from other pro leagues and teams, plus players
from the AUSL twenty twenty five reserve pool. Forty three
total players were selected. You can check out the full
results via the link in our show notes to Forbes
and its thirty under thirty class of twenty twenty six.
(08:36):
The list features several female athletes, including Coco Golf, Nijerie Kennedy,
Eleah Boston, Pagebeckers, and Trinity Rodman. Will link to the
full list in the show notes and finally to tennis.
On Tuesday, The Athletic reported that forty four year old
tennis goat Serena Williams had re entered the International Tennis
Integrity Agency's registered testing pool, a move that signaled a
(08:58):
potential return to the Within hours, countless blogs and social
media accounts had posted the news exciting tennis fans across
the globe. Alas, the twenty three time Major champion quieted
the din, posting on Twitter quote, OMG, y'all, I'm not
coming back.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
This wildfire is crazy? End quote.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
But why subject yourself to random testing and a required
response to a whereabouts check in at any given time
every day? Unless she is thinking about coming back? Consider
me unconvinced that the wildfire is a mirage. You know
the old saying, where there's smoke, we got to take
a quick break when we come back.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Listen to This John with Jen.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Leary joining us now.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
She's the founder of Watch Party PHL host of the
Everybody Listens To This John podcast, a Philly firefighter and
founder of Redpaw Emergent and See Relief Team and nonprofit
org that's dedicated to rescuing pets from residential disasters in
southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. She did her underrat
at Thomas Jefferson University and got her master's at American.
She's a dog and cat mom and she took her
(10:13):
human mom to Laser tag for her seventy first birthday.
It's Jen Leary, Hi, Jen, to know the number one
rule of laser Tag.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
That was my first time playing laser Tag.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Establish higher ground, if there are places to climb, get high,
that's the key to every You're welcome.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
I wish we would have talked before I took her
because I was not good at it.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
So tell us about Watch Party PHL. What are the
origins and what is it?
Speaker 5 (10:42):
Okay? So Watch Party PHL started out.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
As a monthly watch party two years ago, right around
the time when a bunch of the women's sports bars
were opening up and for very similar reasons. Right, So,
I wanted to watch the NCAA Championship game, but there
was no place to watch, and so I decided that
after much back and forth, I decided I was going
(11:06):
to do it myself. So I reached out to a
couple local bars in the area and said, Hey, if
you know, if I get a bunch of people together
to watch the championship game, can we do a watch
party here? And so that started. It was Iowa versus
South Carolina. So Dawn Staley, you know, North Philly born
(11:29):
and Reeze and Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
So it was a big game.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Philly showed up and it's just been a roller coaster ever.
Since it started as once a month quickly turned into
several a month because that was so we went right
from the NCAA Championship game to the w NBA season.
It was the Olympics that year, so we did a
host of Olympic watch parties all over Philly, all days,
(11:56):
all hours really, and people kept showing up, and two
years later we're now opening Philly's premiere women's sports hub.
This may hopefully yours crossed, and it's been a wild ride,
but it's been pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
So it's a humble goal of like, hey, I need
a bar to promise me the audio is going to
be on and then I'm going to have good viewing
and that the screens are going to be big enough
and enough of them. So pretty humble start. But did
you have any bigger goals when you launched it, or
if you look back and you're honest about that moment,
was it just about like, hey, let me get some
people together.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
To watch It was twofold, right, It was, of course,
you know, bring together a community of women's sports fans
in Philly. Because what I had noticed, like during COVID
the WNBA bubble really got me through WNBA Twitter was
They were my friends, they were my outlet. They were
(12:51):
what I looked forward to every day, and when COVID ended,
I kind of lost that community. I still wanted to
watch with people, but now out you know, I couldn't
find anybody in Philly that was watching it. I definitely
couldn't find any place, not even with the volume on,
but with it on period. And so Number one was
finding that community and building that community. Number two was
(13:14):
always show the WNBA and WSL and anyone that would
listen that Philly is a women's sports town, right and
that if we build it, they will come. What I
found quickly was that there were other people throughout the
city and behind the scenes doing the same thing that
I was trying to do, which was to show them
this right. So like Natalie Plaza and her and Aubrey
(13:36):
Plaza and then their sister Wanda and Alex Sykes. There
were a bunch of people on city Council and around
the city like Connor Barwin from the Eagles, who were
all working independently, and so part of what I wanted
to do was bring everybody together and let us focus
our energies together instead of separately. Because we had ended
(13:59):
up up talking to the same people and kind of
doing the same things and running in the same circles separately,
and so these last two years was really about building
those networks and bringing everybody together.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
I love that natural sort of organizer to you, obviously, yes,
And also like, if the end goal is to bring
more of this to your city, you can do more
all together, as opposed to it being some sort of
like ego or money push where it's about who's doing
what and getting the credit for it. So it's cool
you've been able to bring all these people together. You know,
(14:33):
Philly fans get.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
A bad rep.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
You know, we all hear about, you know, throwing batteries.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
At Santa and snowballs.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Snowballs, all right, snowballs whatever. What do you actually think
is the quintessential Philly sports fan?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Tell us what you're really like.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
I mean, I'm Philly born and raised, right, I bleed green.
I have the first Eagle Super Bowl score tattooed on
my calves, like I am Ride or Die for Philly
and one I'm finding out, like we all know, Philly
is rid or Die for the men's sports. And part
of this building this hub in Philly for women's sports
is to show people that we are ride or die
(15:10):
for women's sports too. So we want to be able
to build this like generational sports fandom into women's sports
fandom here when it comes so twenty thirty, we're going
to spend the next five years making sure that the
Philly fans are just as Philly for the WNBA team
that gets here as we are for the Eagles or
(15:32):
the Sixers or the you know, the Flyers or whoever.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
Right, And so.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
We may get a bad rep, but like it really
is like an honor. When someone says that, we take
that with a lot of pride.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
I bet you do. Yeah, that's very Philly.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I do have to say that usually when people try
to claim that any team or person or city or
fan base is worse than the other, I say, every
fan base has morons, and every fan base has school people.
And if you just get a story or two that
usually sticks, whether that's you know, Buffalo Bills fans jumping
through tables or assaulting Santa, that'll usually stick.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
And it's sports lore, right.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
People love that, right, which is perfectly brings me to
my next question. Every city does have its sports lore
and we know a lot of the men's sports lore
out of Philly. Do you have women's stories, teams or
athletes that already make up the fabric of Philly sports
history that will be a part of telling the story
of Philly when these teams arrive.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
So part of what's going to happen at the Hub
is that we are going to showcase the history of
women's sports because it's been around a long time, starting
back in like the eighteen hundreds, there was the Casey
Kerr Girls who came here from Ireland and played the
(16:51):
first professional women's soccer game here in Philly. There's the
Dolly Vardins, which was the firstfeestional women's African American baseball
team who played here. Then you have like the Philadelphia Fox,
which was a women's soccer team in the seventies, the
Philadelphia Rage, the Independence I played on the National Women's
(17:15):
Football League in two thousand and two thousand and one.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Yeah, so that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
So there's some stories to tell. You mentioned the Hub.
So Phillies first women's sports bar called Marsha's opened in September.
You're looking to open your own space. You've been raising
money you wanted to be a sort of cafe by day,
bar by night. So tell us more, is it going
to be called the Hub's what's the vibe? Where's it
going to be all this stuff?
Speaker 4 (17:39):
So the plan is to make it the premier spot
for women's sports. Right, So, like you said, cafe by day,
coworking space, We're going to have an event space. We're
going to have a podcasting space. Women's sports on all
day long, So come in in the morning, get your coffee.
The latest women's sports news is on the televisions, you know,
(18:01):
if there's a Women's European League game on, we'll be
showing that. Then we'll transition at night to restaurant bar,
obviously showing an all the games that we can find.
More than that, we want it to be like a
space that really is like the house of women's sports,
a place where women's sports lore and history and future
(18:26):
all comes together, and it's a place where people can
come and feel like they are a part of that,
a part of that community, but also a part of
that history.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
You know, it feels like throughout this whole time you've
really centered community as the place to start when trying
to bring people together establish and move forward with some
sort of momentum and appeal to the major pro league.
So what did you understand about the power of community
of bringing people together in terms of being able to
sell Philly as the place that major leagues should bring
(18:58):
new teams.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Well, I mean, like you said earlier, I'm organizing is key, right.
I've always been an organizer, past jobs and president volunteer positions,
and so organizing is how you get a movement started, right,
and we really are building that movement here in Philly,
And you can't do that without buying from the community,
(19:21):
you know, you really, we worked really hard building that community.
As soon as I announced in last two marches ago
March twenty twenty four, that I was going to do
this watch party thing, we immediately started building that community,
going to different events throughout the city, handing out information,
talking to people trying to find out what they wanted
(19:44):
to see with this.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
And then once we.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Decided we were going to do the Hub, we did
the same thing, but we did it with our partners.
So we've been for the last two years collaborating with
women's rec leagues from around the city, men's and women.
We've been partnering with bars, We've been partnering with local
women and black owned businesses and merchants to sell their stuff,
(20:08):
and so all of this was a way to build
that community, help uplift the women's sports and the sports
community here in Philly. But also leading to the Hub,
we wanted to make sure that they were still involved
in that. So it's been a process of bringing in
them those folks as advisory board members and just making
(20:32):
sure that when we open, we're not taking away from
the people that helped us early on. We're uplifting them together.
So a lot of the bars and breweries that we
have held our watch parties in, we're going to bring
in their beer as the beer that we sell at
our hub. A lot of the merchants that had like
small business merchants that have been at our watch parties
(20:54):
will help sell their merchant our hub, like it really
is going to be women's sports centric community.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
There's a lot of good stuff come in Philly's way.
You mentioned the WNBA team in twenty thirty and Unrivaled's
first tour stop is going to be in Philly. Two
games set to be played there January thirtieth. I'm really
hoping to make it out there. I'm leaving for the
Olympics in Italy a couple days later, but I'm trying
to do a quick pop out and back because Kate.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Scott and some of my other friends I know are
going to be out there.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Jane McManus that I want to be out there for,
but tell me what's planned for that Unrivaled day.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
So I just quickly want to give a shout out
to the Philadelphia's Sisters, to Alex and Wannas Sykes and
Starla and Ashlee and all the people that are working
with them behind the scenes. They have laid the groundwork
for now having WNBA team and they were the main reason.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
That Unrivaled is coming here.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
So it's because of them that women's sports is really
beginning to blow up here in Philly. And so we've
been working with them to make this unrival Old weekend
like really exciting and uh something that people are going
to want to come back to and remember. And so
what we have planned so far is, uh, we have
(22:12):
a tailgate that we're doing before the event across the
street at Stateside, which was Exfinity Live and so for
anyone who wants to come and and you know, enjoy
the vibe and be a part of history. They can
come to that tailgate prior to the Unrivaled team, and
then for anyone who doesn't have tickets, they can stay
(22:34):
there and watch the game, and anyone who does the
tickets will go over to the stadium. And then we're
building a package for the rest of that weekend. And
so we're gonna have events on Saturday, We're gonna have
events on Sunday, so that you know the people that
are coming, they they have something to do that entire
(22:55):
weekend wekend.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
We don't want people to.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Come and go. We want them to home and enjoy
the city. See why we love.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
It so much.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
You mentioned the Philadelphia Sisters, led by actor and comedian
Wanda Sykes, her wife Alex Sykes, who has experience in
sports and business, and also lawyer Ashley Lukenheimer, and they
made it their mission to bring a WNBA team to Philly.
They were honored along with you by the Philadelphia City
Council recently for your efforts. So tell me how did
you get introduced to them and start working together?
Speaker 5 (23:27):
So funny story.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
So I went to Unrivaled last February for a women's
sports fandom conference. Lindsay Gibbs was there. Who I know
you interviewed, Yeah, I love her to death. It was
a bunch of women's sports bar owners, watch party organizers, media,
(23:51):
lots of people in the women's sports field. We all
went for conference and then an unrivaled game just the
a fun women's sports weekend in Miami, And while I
was there, I decided that I was going to open
this hub. I talked to a bunch of people who
were opening bars at that moment, so Chelsea from Jolene
(24:16):
Jolene in Atlanta, and then Alan Cloud from Athena Keihi's
in New York, and listening to them just inspired me
to immediately come home and tell everyone that.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
We were opening this hub.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
But before I did that, I randomly DMed Alex in
the middle of the night because we had been introduced
by an a potential investor and we were talking back
and forth loosely on DM on Instagram. I DMed her
that night. When I got home, I was like, what
do you think about, you know, investing in Philly's at
(24:55):
the time, Philly's first women's sports bar, and she DMed
me back immediately and was like, call me and we
have been working together ever since.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
She's that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
Yeah, she's a great person. The whole team she built
as they're just great people. They want nothing but the
best for Philly and women's sports here in Philly, and
it's really been such a privilege to work with them.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
You also mentioned Aubrey Plaza and her sister. How'd you
get connected to them?
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Same thing through a potential investor. We had talked once
or twice over zoom. Well, they all live in on
the West Coast, but they they're from Delaware, so they
come back here regularly. I believe they have an apartment
in the city, and so we had gone back and forth,
Natalie and I for a while, and she was in
(25:51):
town in Philly over the summer, so we decided to
get together for coffee and just talking about out like
the potential they're starting investment organization for women's sports, and
so she was telling me about that and kind of
where they are at in the process, and she was like,
(26:13):
you know, I love what you guys are doing. I
really want to help you in some way. You know,
we're not quite ready to invest yet, but you know,
I'm sure Aubrey can do something to bring some eyes
to your you know what you're doing. And I had
had my Philly as a Women's Sports Town T shirt
on and she's like, I bet Albs would wear that
(26:34):
T shirt to the New York Liberty game. She's going
on Friday. I think this was a Tuesday. And it's like,
you want what, like, you want this off my back?
Speaker 5 (26:42):
My back?
Speaker 4 (26:43):
And she was like, well, let me take a picture
and see. So she took a picture, she texted Aubrey.
Aubrey texts back like, Pierre, I'll wear it.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
Sorry.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
I don't know if you can curse, but do And
so I took it off in the middle of you know,
twenty fourth and love.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
It was something underneath, but no judgment.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
If not, I'd attack down. Pond gave it to her.
She took it home, washed it, overnighted it, and that.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
Friday she wore it to Liberty game.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
They put her up on the big screen sports sign
YEP and it, you know, it blew up. And so
since then, yeah, this this little shirt has.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
Really sold out.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Right initially and initially got to get him to make reinforcements.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
Yeah, so we did.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
So the shirt the phrase was ours, Like I use
it on all of our press. I used it, I
think when I was talking to you in the beginning here, Like,
Philly is a women's sports town, right, but it was
designed by a local woman owned shop and so she
go Ham is the name of it. She designed all
the shirts, and like she's a one person like organization, right,
(27:53):
and so she got inundated with orders for the T shirts.
Speaker 5 (27:58):
But she's a trooper.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
We made it all work, and so we when the
Unrivaled announcement happened, we may we put out unrival T shirts.
We've been dropping off T shirts for all the big
five women's basketball teams around the city. They've been wearing
them to their games. Yeah, it's been an amazing partnership.
It's been great for marketing, and it really embodies what
(28:22):
we're we want to do here. We want people to
know Philly is a women's sports town. And you know,
there's no better way to do that than to wear
it proudly on your chest.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Uh. We are all going to have to get to
know Philly a little better now that women's sports will
be you know, they'll be part of our larger community.
And I know Philly kind of has its own language.
So we're going to do a quick speed round so
we could try to keep up with the language coming
out of your city. I'm gonna start with boole. Tell
us about bool?
Speaker 5 (28:51):
Think you mean like what bull?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Bull? I have no idea b o U L bool.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
It's like I don't even like guy kid, like what's
up yet?
Speaker 5 (29:03):
Like, what's up kid? What's up?
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Bowl?
Speaker 2 (29:06):
What's up?
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Bull?
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Okay? Uh jeet geet?
Speaker 5 (29:10):
Did you eat?
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Did you?
Speaker 4 (29:12):
That's very very South Philly?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Okay. Water ice, I mean you.
Speaker 5 (29:19):
Know were we talking like w O O d R
water ice?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Well, of course you say water water, but what is
water ice?
Speaker 5 (29:27):
It's water ice.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
It's like you know, uh, ice made of water?
Speaker 5 (29:32):
Wait, like you literally don't know what water ice is.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I know what water is, and I know what ice is,
and I know that ice is made of water. I
don't know what water ice is as opposed to ice
made of other liquids.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
Okay, Well, so it's like like a slushy, but like
a harder slushy consistency. Oh, it's like flavor icy Yeah,
like an icy but.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Like a popsicle, but like a long, skinny stick of ice.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
It's usually in a cup. It's in a cup softer
than an icy Okay.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
So icys are in a cup like seven eleven. But
then there's also like a long stick of ice that's
like flavored that you like hold in your hand, that
looks kind of like a light saber but smaller.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
You are blowing my mind right now.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
This is this is a Philly so at least it's
not a Chicago thing.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
Do you know what tomato pie is?
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Like a pizza.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
It's so it's a square, so it's like Sicilian pizza,
square thick piece of pizza, but it's only got tomato
sauce on it. Okay, it is so filly tomato pie.
Oh you're missing out.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
I gotta try that. I just looked up water ice.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Water ice is basically like sorbet but with ice, yeah,
or like it's like Italian ice kind of yeah yeah yeah, Okay,
we have Italian ice in Chicago.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
Okay, so that's what.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
I don't call it water ice whatever that is, okay.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Last one, the word that means everything, John yep yep.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
So that means everything, right, So I mean I don't know,
it's like hand me that John, yo. You know or
like that John was really good or yeah, you can
use it anywhere. Like I'm telling you the amount of
ways and times that we use John in the firehouse
(31:37):
in Philly. Like people think it's like they don't really
use that. It's so it's you know, hipster, it's a
hipster word. No, no, no, like for real, for real. John
is what we say all the time for anything.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Well, I notice on your Instagram your podcast is everybody
listens to this John. You often say everybody's watching this John.
You definitely we have posted about like John just being
like a substitute for thing, Yes, multiple different times. So
I trust you when you say John means everything. What's
next for Jen Larry? What's next for Watch Party phl You.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Know, we go into the winter, we're going to keep
doing more watch parties, and we're looking at spaces really
trying to solidify investors and get a space and get
open by May twenty twenty six. We want to be
open in time for FIFA. The n MLB All Star
(32:34):
Game is coming here that same time. The PGA Tour
is going to be right outside of Philly at that time.
The NCAA, I think Championship or playoffs are coming here,
and then Philadelphia is having its big two hundred and
fiftieth anniversary that spring summer as well, and so we
really have a goal of being open for all those things.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
So those are all men's events, but we'll forgive you
because there will be a lot going on in the
city and a lot of enthusiasm for just being in
the city to attend things. And you're offering people a
space to get their women's sports fix while either enjoying
or ignoring the men's World Cup and MLB All Star
and other things.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
They can choose.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
We can like both, or we can ignore the other
ones and just go to your bar and watch women's sports.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
Insteent right, Well, we'll do a little bit of both.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
We're still going to show some men's sports, especially the Eagles.
Like again, die hard lead Green, diehard Eagles fan, So
we want to showcase. Yes, we're going to be women's sports,
but we're also on to showcase local athletes and local
teams as well, and so we're gonna, you know, work
it into the schedule as best we can.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Well, thanks so much for the time you're making me.
Really need to figure out how to get this Unrivaled
weekend on my calendar, so.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
It should come. You should come. Thank you for your time.
This is fun.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Thanks again to Jen for taking time. I'm really going
to try to make that late January unrivaled.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Trip would be a blast.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
We got to take another break when we come back,
make like a mummy and wrap it up.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Welcome back, Slices.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Wanted to let you know that super Slice Joey Maldonado's
calendar of events has been updated with the college soccer
and college volleyball tournament schedules, plus Love Major League Volleyball,
Unrivaled AU Basketball, and PWHL. We'll link to it in
the show notes again so you can bookmark it and
check it often.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Thank you. Joey.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Also shout out to Slice Dana Rudolph, who, by the way,
shares an alma mater with producer Alex Wellesley but married
a Cornellian. Let's go red, and she alerted us to
the potentially first ever queer mom scoring on queer mom
goal in PWHL history, Brian Jenners scoring on Emerens mash
Meyer in the Ottawa Vancouver game on October twenty sixth.
We haven't put that stat through the pucks Engay shit
(34:53):
fact checker.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
We're just gonna trust you on it, Dana.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Dana also brought to our attention an incredible children's book
about Winter olymp kid Olympians that includes the cutest illustration
of friends of the show Marie Filip Pulin and Laura
Stacy with their pop Arlow. Dana reviewed the adorable and
very inclusive book on her blog Mombian. We'll link to
it in the show notes so you could check it out.
Could be a good Christmas gift. Speaking of, we'll be
(35:17):
rolling out a good Game gift guide in an episode,
coming up with lots of ways to spread the love
for women's sports this holiday season. We always love that
you're listening, but we want you to get in the
game every day too, So here's our good game play
of the day. There's a great article about our show
side the Minnesota Aurora in CNN detailing the team's launch,
great success, commitment to inclusive culture and values, and ongoing
(35:39):
efforts to eventually become a pro team.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
You can check it out via the link in.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Our show notes, and we want to see screen grabs
of good game at the top of your Spotify. Repped
are you in the top five percent of listeners. Let
us know and if you use the iHeart app, Apple
Podcasts or another app to binge our show. Just write
my top podcast over our show logo, Share it far
and wide and see if anyone notices it's homemade. We
(36:03):
always love to hear from you. Hit us up on email,
good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a
voicemail at eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy
and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review slices.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
It's easy.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Watch Merriam Webster's take on the Spotify repped rating ten
out of ten.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Word nerds approve review.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
If you're not already following Merriam Webster on socials, you've
missed out on a whole lot of great content getting
inspiration from current events, making political or social statements through
word of the day definitions and more.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
And on Wednesday, ol.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Admin got in on the wrapped trend with posts including
you use the correct version of effect effect seventy seven
percent at the time and milestone your phone's autocorrect, finally
stop changing it to ducking and my favorite, your texting
age is sixty three.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
You spell out you.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
And use punctuation Okay, boomer, okay boomer, indeed period Now
it's your turn. Y'all rate and review. Thanks for listening,
See you tomorrow. Good Game, Jen, Good Game, Jet, and
John you dry Winter Air. My fingers are littered with tiny,
little bleeding cracks. To paraphrase Taylor Swift, It's death by
(37:15):
a thousand paper cuts. 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.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
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 Rudder, Britney Martinez and Gianna Palmer.
Production assistants from Avery Loftus and I'm Your Host Sarah
Spain
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Sarah Spain
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