June 2, 2025 • 16 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: sports journalist and host of the first ever daily women's sports podcast, iHeart's "Good Game with Sarah Spain," Sarah Spain! Sarah's first book, Runs in the Family, comes out this week from Simon and Schuster.
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask AI” and audio rebuses.
Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.
Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. This mini
puzzle is in honor of our guest today, Sarah Spain,
host of Good Game with Sarah Spain, a podcast all
about women's sports. We're gonna lead into Sarah Spain's alliterative
name and ask what professional athletes have first and last
names that start with the same sound. There's WNBA star
(00:23):
Caitlin Clark. Who else can you come up with? During
the break? It could be current athletes, past athletes, male
female athletes, any sport, including table tennis, the illiterative Tatville tennis.
We'll talk more about that and puzzling puzzles after the break.
(00:46):
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast, the Dry Patch of
Grass in your Boston Pops Outdoor Puzzle Concert. I'm your host,
AJ Jacobs, and I'm here as always the chief puzzle officer,
Greg Puliska Greig. Before the break, we asked listeners if
they could we that SI.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Sorry. I usually I'm more cheerful. I feel because I
was like people with a litter of names that I
almost drew a complete blank. So I feel ashamed of that.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I say it was a sigh of shame.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, do you want to repeat what it was you? Yes,
my sigh interrupted you. I apology. Yes.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
The idea we wanted listeners to come up with athletes
with alliterative names. So Caitlyn Clark was the example. Anyone
else come to mind?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, I came up with so my my wife's organization
is having their big annual gala in their big annual
gala is in this month of May, and a guest
this year is the great Bill Bradley.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Oh, very good.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So that's the first name that came to mind. And
then I was totally stuck. There got to be hundreds
of these and I'm just failing miserably.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
But well, I'll help you out. I'll help you. Don't
feel bad. It makes me feel good that you'll only
got one Lisa Leslie, Mikhayla Roney, Ronda Rousey good. And
the men's we've got Barry Bond's sports entertainer.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Paul Cogan, the albatross around the neck of the Mets. Okay, good,
so you're good.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
You got to Well, all of this is to lead
up to another alliterative person, Sarah Spain, host of Good
Game with Sarah Spain, a daily iHeart podcast, that gives
you the lowdown on all things women's sports. Welcome, Sarah Spain.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
You know, Greg said he wanted to talk liberty, so
I thought for sure he'd say John quell Joe.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Right, my shame continues.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Well done. Well, we've got lots to talk about, Sarah,
not just alliteration. By the way, are you You're wearing
a T shirt this Shakespeare Company bookstore, so I know
you're a book person, a word person. Are you a
word puzzle fan at all?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
I am?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
In fact, when I was younger, I used to have
just the stacks of the magazines that you could buy
at grocery stores and seven eleven's and stuff like that,
and everything from the logic puzzles to the acrosstics to
crossford puzzles. As long as it doesn't have numbers, I'm
into it.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Well, you're in the right place, we have, a guess.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
But not maybe the right job.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
There's a lot of statistics and numbers and sports, and
I try to avoid them unless they're written directly in
front of my face because I'm a numbers person.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And yeah, i've been, I've been.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I mostly do crossword puzzles and then of course the
word will and the connections and all those things every day.
But I missed the time to sit and just go
through those books, stacks of them.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Facts I love.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, published probably by Penny Press and other alliteratives most.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Likely, Yes, there you go, and the non aliter alliterative
Will Schwortz, I believe. Used to sometimes have collections of
those that were more of a book that you bought
at a bookstore. I would buy those and do those two.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, well we had delight. I didn't even know you
were a puzzle fan, so uh, props to us and
Neely for for booking it. I did know that you
love words. For instance, on your podcast, you point out
why is it w NBA for Women's National Basketball Association
and not also m NBA for Men's National vet Well
(04:16):
it's not parallel.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
So get me started, AJ, I mean, listen, this is
how come we have college sports teams that are like
the women game cocks.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Or cowboys away they do that time.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
The mascots are often just masculine, and then they just
throw a lady in front, oftentimes to no sense whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yeah, this is a lifelong struggle, AJ.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Really all right, well you're working you're doing it. I
love that. I guess it would be game hands should
be the proper one, right, cow Girls. We mentioned Caitlin
Clark in the intro, the player for Indiana Fever, who
was a rookie last year. You talk in your podcast
about the Caitlin Clark effect, a huge boost on the
(05:01):
audience and the tension. Why do you think she electrified
audiences so much?
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Well, I'd like to say she's like the match on
top of a bonfire. If you threw it and there
wasn't enough built, it wouldn't be so big. So of
course there's twenty five plus years of the WNBA building
upon these stars that came before her.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
But I think it's as.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Simple as her doing something that is impossible to not understand.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
She shoots it from far away.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
You don't need to know who she's playing against. You
don't need to know the name of her team or
the other team. You don't need to know whether they're
playing good defense, or really anything about basketball. You can
just see that she's shooting from really, really far away
and often with the clock running out, and then.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Celebrates in a bold and brash and exciting way. That's
really it.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
It's like Steph Curry in the MNBA as far as
fans who really got interested because they could see he
was doing something that not everyone can do. So I
think it's just opening the door Ajar being excited by
watching her shoot from basically half court, and then once
you step through the door, saying, oh wow, there's lots
of others and things to see here.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Right, they're like a party in the room. I didn't
even know.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Exactly Gateway drug.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
If you will there you go, Well, we're going to mainline.
I don't know if that's the right. All right, all right,
a family puzzle show. We are going to sip. We're
in savor a puzzle. This one is about the w
n b A It's called hoops Groups, And every answer
(06:27):
is going to be a rhyming phrase where one of
the words is the name of a w NBA team. So,
for instance, if I gave you the clue bad luck
for Minnesota's w NBA team, that might be Linx Jinks.
So they're all going to have the team. And then
so are you ready for clues?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
All right?
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And by the way, these are often fictional. I'm not
saying there is a jinx on links so don't get me.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
There was.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Oh right, if you consider officials jigs.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
My physical therapist is from Minnesota and she we have
this fight every time I see her. Now, it's great.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
College style housing for Seattle's w NBA team.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Mmm, okay, I see what you're doing there. That would
be uh, dorms for the Storm.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
That's right, storm dorm or dorm doorm Storm Hammerheads and
Great Whites owned by Los Angeles' WNBA.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Team Hammerheads increased Whites. Oh Los Angeles, I thought you
said Las Vegas. I really I really doubted myself for
a second. There we're talking about the Spark Sharks.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
That is correct, exactly while we're on Vegas. Let me
try a Vegas. Well, I'll scroll down to that. Oh,
this is what the Las Vegas team has on their
sneakers to keep them from falling off.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Also, the name of one of the teams in the
new un run three on three league this is the
Aces Laces.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Oh, there's a Lace's team.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
There's a Laces in the three on three off season
league called Unrivaled and they have a really cool logo.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
And where are they from?
Speaker 4 (08:12):
So unrivaled is everybody just goes to Miami for eight
weeks and plays against each other, so they're not affiliated
with cities yet, though. The belief is that they might
keep getting more popular and then spin off and try
to get owners to buy and put them in cities
to sort of.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Like an off season league. That's very cool.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I also love the boldness of calling it unrivaled rival league.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Yes, yes, yes, but it's three on three, so I
guess it's a technicality that they're really riding.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Oh very good. Okay, I thought you meant three teams
on three, but no, you're three. Yeah, oh very cool.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
This is a.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Catholic woman who lives in a convent who prays for
Connecticut's w NBA team.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
She should be praying hard this season. If there's a
team that deeds divine intervention.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
This season, it is the Sun. So they need help
from a son's nun.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
There you go. And by the way, I was listening
to a previous Good Game episode where you talked about
an WNBA fan at the announcement of a new pope.
So an actual nun.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yes, yes, she was. Actually this was wild.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
So yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
First of all, I'm from Chicago, so my phone has
not stopped blowing up with memes about the Chicago Pope.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
We will never shut up about this.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Other than New York, we were the last place you
should have delivered history making. We got Obama, we got Peyton,
we got Jordan, and now we've got dup Hope. But yeah,
this woman was a nun in the crowded Saint Peter
Square and on the back of her phone that she
had lifted to take video of the new Pope, it
had an Orlando Pride NWSL, which is women's professional soccer
(09:50):
sticker on the phone, which I just loved and I
would have been shot by except for my mom was
actually a theology major in college and has several very
good friends that became nuns. They listened to my show
and they're fans of sports and really into it. So
I don't know why I always think nuns and priests
and such are not regular people.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
But the Pope was at the White Sox.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
World the White Sox, Yeah, so you know, they.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
They're just like us.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Pope, they are, they are fantastic.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
But I have to share a story on the same thing.
I went to a Jesuit high school in California and
our college counselor, father Clemo, ran the football pool. Yes, right,
so he was encouraging us high school kids to show
up with you know, a couple bucks and bet on
football with him.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Wants us to gamble.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Also, I would never trust the outcome of a religious
leader alleging that that, you know, God wasn't on his side, right,
I don't know. I just would feel like if he
ever lost, I would question his connection.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, what kind of poll does he ask?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah or she?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
What if we finish up with a couple of w
NBA players teams?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (10:57):
And some of these are present playing current players, some
are past legends. This is a woodwind instrument owned by
a former New York Liberty star, Rebecca. It's her first name.
These are all last names.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Yes, I was a I was a clarinet player. But
I'm familiar with the woodwinds. So this would be Lobo's Obo.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
That's right, Lobo's Obo exactly. And I know Greg have
been wanting to talk about the Liberty, so I'm I'm
giving there we go.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I was listening to your you know your your sort
of preseason warm up episode, and I'm psyched for the Liberty.
I have to say, I feel like Natasha Cloud might
even be an upgrade from Courtney Vandersloot.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Yeah, different style, but defensively very different body type, much taller.
Slute is such a great facilitator. Thought interesting in terms
of just a steadying president who sets up the offense.
But Natasha, as the kids would say, she's got rizes
anything else. He is bringing personality and excitement to a
team that already has plenty.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And her girlfriend is on the team too. That was
a very c little bit of tea you.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Shared that nw has that ever happened on a men's team?
Has there been a couple on a men's professional.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
You know, we talk about that a lot aj that
one thing people really are sleeping on in women's sports
is that they're sleeping together, and that that is a
very fun twist. And oftentimes announcers who don't quite know,
we'll say, what great sportsmanship that those two opponents are
so kind to each other, and we're like.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
They're together, right?
Speaker 4 (12:28):
But no, But in the p WHL, which is women's hockey,
in the WNBA and the NWSL, in all these leagues,
there are these great stories in back Courtney Vanderslleute, who
he just mentioned, who used to be on the Liberty
came back to my Chicago Sky where she used to
play with her wife, and her wife was the one
who she assisted on a three and it helped her
break a record.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
How can you.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Now we don't know that it's never happened in men's sports,
We don't, We don't know. I imagine it surely has,
but it's you know.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
We don't get the fun of being nosy about it though,
So where's the fun in that?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
No fun at all? All right?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
How about all right? Two more? What about these are
some Burger King burgers eaten by Phoenix Mercury Star Khalia.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Former Chicago Sky And I'm not sad about it still,
Actually I am Khalia Coppers whoppers.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
That's it? You got it?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
All right?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Well, let's end with how about a chain of luncheonette
restaurants owned by Atlanta Dreamstar Britney. So we're sticking with
the burgers.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
This is someone who I accidentally called Gritney Briner the
other day, and I decided that should be a nickname
for when she's playing extra aggressive, when she's real Gritney.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Or making pickles. When she's making pickles.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Very good, very good. This would be Griner's Diners.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You got it all right? Well Sarah, you Cruz.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
What a fun game?
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Oh thank you? Well we are the to have you,
uh and we are lucky we get to have you
come back tomorrow, So don't go I do We'll do.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
The Professional Women's Hockey League where they had no team
names last season.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yeah, that'll be a little tough.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
They had they just they started the league and they
just were named for the cities. New York played Montreal.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Oh I see, But what that's cool about it was
they actually intended to have names, but the copyrights leaked
and the fans were so unimpressed by and they hadn't
really fleshed out what was the real meaning behind it all,
which you really need when you launch on your team
in logo, Like we've got all these old teams like
the Dodgers and the Knicks and the Yankees that no
(14:41):
one really cares about the name and why it's sort
of weird. But now when you launch a new on
the entire internet wants to know exactly why you chosen right,
And they didn't have good.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Stories for it, so they just scrapped it.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Went with city names and gave themselves a year to
come back and have the proper logos and colors and stories.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
And I think that was a good idea by them.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Barriage, all right, yeah, and you can make it more
of a contest with although then you'll end up with
do you remember, like exactly exact sample. I was going
to say there was some ship in the British Navy.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
That's now I'm not gonna lie. That logo and that
merchou would be fire.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
I think if you ever actually named a team that
you'd sell a lot of merch right.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Right, I might like it better than the New York Sirens. Yeah, mcbo.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
All right, this is the extra credit for the folks
at home. This is a data about the Washington w
NBA team. This is data and numbers about the Washington
w NBA team. Thank you listeners, Thank you Sarah. And
if you have thirty seconds please, we would love it
(15:51):
if you would rate the puzzler on your favorite podcast platform,
because it really it just makes a difference, believe it
or not. That's the way these algorithms work. And we'll
see here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle
you puzzlingly.
Hello, puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. This mini
puzzle is in honor of our guest today, Sarah Spain,
host of Good Game with Sarah Spain, a podcast all
about women's sports. We're gonna lead into Sarah Spain's alliterative
name and ask what professional athletes have first and last
names that start with the same sound. There's WNBA star
(00:23):
Caitlin Clark. Who else can you come up with? During
the break? It could be current athletes, past athletes, male
female athletes, any sport, including table tennis, the illiterative Tatville tennis.
We'll talk more about that and puzzling puzzles after the break.
(00:46):
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast, the Dry Patch of
Grass in your Boston Pops Outdoor Puzzle Concert. I'm your host,
AJ Jacobs, and I'm here as always the chief puzzle officer,
Greg Puliska Greig. Before the break, we asked listeners if
they could we that SI.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Sorry. I usually I'm more cheerful. I feel because I
was like people with a litter of names that I
almost drew a complete blank. So I feel ashamed of that.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I say it was a sigh of shame.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, do you want to repeat what it was you? Yes,
my sigh interrupted you. I apology. Yes.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
The idea we wanted listeners to come up with athletes
with alliterative names. So Caitlyn Clark was the example. Anyone
else come to mind?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, I came up with so my my wife's organization
is having their big annual gala in their big annual
gala is in this month of May, and a guest
this year is the great Bill Bradley.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Oh, very good.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So that's the first name that came to mind. And
then I was totally stuck. There got to be hundreds
of these and I'm just failing miserably.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
But well, I'll help you out. I'll help you. Don't
feel bad. It makes me feel good that you'll only
got one Lisa Leslie, Mikhayla Roney, Ronda Rousey good. And
the men's we've got Barry Bond's sports entertainer.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Paul Cogan, the albatross around the neck of the Mets. Okay, good,
so you're good.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
You got to Well, all of this is to lead
up to another alliterative person, Sarah Spain, host of Good
Game with Sarah Spain, a daily iHeart podcast, that gives
you the lowdown on all things women's sports. Welcome, Sarah Spain.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
You know, Greg said he wanted to talk liberty, so
I thought for sure he'd say John quell Joe.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Right, my shame continues.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Well done. Well, we've got lots to talk about, Sarah,
not just alliteration. By the way, are you You're wearing
a T shirt this Shakespeare Company bookstore, so I know
you're a book person, a word person. Are you a
word puzzle fan at all?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
I am?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
In fact, when I was younger, I used to have
just the stacks of the magazines that you could buy
at grocery stores and seven eleven's and stuff like that,
and everything from the logic puzzles to the acrosstics to
crossford puzzles. As long as it doesn't have numbers, I'm
into it.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Well, you're in the right place, we have, a guess.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
But not maybe the right job.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
There's a lot of statistics and numbers and sports, and
I try to avoid them unless they're written directly in
front of my face because I'm a numbers person.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And yeah, i've been, I've been.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I mostly do crossword puzzles and then of course the
word will and the connections and all those things every day.
But I missed the time to sit and just go
through those books, stacks of them.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Facts I love.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, published probably by Penny Press and other alliteratives most.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Likely, Yes, there you go, and the non aliter alliterative
Will Schwortz, I believe. Used to sometimes have collections of
those that were more of a book that you bought
at a bookstore. I would buy those and do those two.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, well we had delight. I didn't even know you
were a puzzle fan, so uh, props to us and
Neely for for booking it. I did know that you
love words. For instance, on your podcast, you point out
why is it w NBA for Women's National Basketball Association
and not also m NBA for Men's National vet Well
(04:16):
it's not parallel.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
So get me started, AJ, I mean, listen, this is
how come we have college sports teams that are like
the women game cocks.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Or cowboys away they do that time.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
The mascots are often just masculine, and then they just
throw a lady in front, oftentimes to no sense whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yeah, this is a lifelong struggle, AJ.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Really all right, well you're working you're doing it. I
love that. I guess it would be game hands should
be the proper one, right, cow Girls. We mentioned Caitlin
Clark in the intro, the player for Indiana Fever, who
was a rookie last year. You talk in your podcast
about the Caitlin Clark effect, a huge boost on the
(05:01):
audience and the tension. Why do you think she electrified
audiences so much?
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Well, I'd like to say she's like the match on
top of a bonfire. If you threw it and there
wasn't enough built, it wouldn't be so big. So of
course there's twenty five plus years of the WNBA building
upon these stars that came before her.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
But I think it's as.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Simple as her doing something that is impossible to not understand.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
She shoots it from far away.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
You don't need to know who she's playing against. You
don't need to know the name of her team or
the other team. You don't need to know whether they're
playing good defense, or really anything about basketball. You can
just see that she's shooting from really, really far away
and often with the clock running out, and then.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Celebrates in a bold and brash and exciting way. That's
really it.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
It's like Steph Curry in the MNBA as far as
fans who really got interested because they could see he
was doing something that not everyone can do. So I
think it's just opening the door Ajar being excited by
watching her shoot from basically half court, and then once
you step through the door, saying, oh wow, there's lots
of others and things to see here.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Right, they're like a party in the room. I didn't
even know.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Exactly Gateway drug.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
If you will there you go, Well, we're going to mainline.
I don't know if that's the right. All right, all right,
a family puzzle show. We are going to sip. We're
in savor a puzzle. This one is about the w
n b A It's called hoops Groups, And every answer
(06:27):
is going to be a rhyming phrase where one of
the words is the name of a w NBA team. So,
for instance, if I gave you the clue bad luck
for Minnesota's w NBA team, that might be Linx Jinks.
So they're all going to have the team. And then
so are you ready for clues?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
All right?
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And by the way, these are often fictional. I'm not
saying there is a jinx on links so don't get me.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
There was.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Oh right, if you consider officials jigs.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
My physical therapist is from Minnesota and she we have
this fight every time I see her. Now, it's great.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
College style housing for Seattle's w NBA team.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Mmm, okay, I see what you're doing there. That would
be uh, dorms for the Storm.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
That's right, storm dorm or dorm doorm Storm Hammerheads and
Great Whites owned by Los Angeles' WNBA.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Team Hammerheads increased Whites. Oh Los Angeles, I thought you
said Las Vegas. I really I really doubted myself for
a second. There we're talking about the Spark Sharks.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
That is correct, exactly while we're on Vegas. Let me
try a Vegas. Well, I'll scroll down to that. Oh,
this is what the Las Vegas team has on their
sneakers to keep them from falling off.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Also, the name of one of the teams in the
new un run three on three league this is the
Aces Laces.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Oh, there's a Lace's team.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
There's a Laces in the three on three off season
league called Unrivaled and they have a really cool logo.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
And where are they from?
Speaker 4 (08:12):
So unrivaled is everybody just goes to Miami for eight
weeks and plays against each other, so they're not affiliated
with cities yet, though. The belief is that they might
keep getting more popular and then spin off and try
to get owners to buy and put them in cities
to sort of.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Like an off season league. That's very cool.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I also love the boldness of calling it unrivaled rival league.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Yes, yes, yes, but it's three on three, so I
guess it's a technicality that they're really riding.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Oh very good. Okay, I thought you meant three teams
on three, but no, you're three. Yeah, oh very cool.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
This is a.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Catholic woman who lives in a convent who prays for
Connecticut's w NBA team.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
She should be praying hard this season. If there's a
team that deeds divine intervention.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
This season, it is the Sun. So they need help
from a son's nun.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
There you go. And by the way, I was listening
to a previous Good Game episode where you talked about
an WNBA fan at the announcement of a new pope.
So an actual nun.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yes, yes, she was. Actually this was wild.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
So yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
First of all, I'm from Chicago, so my phone has
not stopped blowing up with memes about the Chicago Pope.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
We will never shut up about this.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Other than New York, we were the last place you
should have delivered history making. We got Obama, we got Peyton,
we got Jordan, and now we've got dup Hope. But yeah,
this woman was a nun in the crowded Saint Peter
Square and on the back of her phone that she
had lifted to take video of the new Pope, it
had an Orlando Pride NWSL, which is women's professional soccer
(09:50):
sticker on the phone, which I just loved and I
would have been shot by except for my mom was
actually a theology major in college and has several very
good friends that became nuns. They listened to my show
and they're fans of sports and really into it. So
I don't know why I always think nuns and priests
and such are not regular people.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
But the Pope was at the White Sox.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
World the White Sox, Yeah, so you know, they.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
They're just like us.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Pope, they are, they are fantastic.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
But I have to share a story on the same thing.
I went to a Jesuit high school in California and
our college counselor, father Clemo, ran the football pool. Yes, right,
so he was encouraging us high school kids to show
up with you know, a couple bucks and bet on
football with him.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Wants us to gamble.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Also, I would never trust the outcome of a religious
leader alleging that that, you know, God wasn't on his side, right,
I don't know. I just would feel like if he
ever lost, I would question his connection.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, what kind of poll does he ask?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah or she?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
What if we finish up with a couple of w
NBA players teams?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (10:57):
And some of these are present playing current players, some
are past legends. This is a woodwind instrument owned by
a former New York Liberty star, Rebecca. It's her first name.
These are all last names.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Yes, I was a I was a clarinet player. But
I'm familiar with the woodwinds. So this would be Lobo's Obo.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
That's right, Lobo's Obo exactly. And I know Greg have
been wanting to talk about the Liberty, so I'm I'm
giving there we go.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I was listening to your you know your your sort
of preseason warm up episode, and I'm psyched for the Liberty.
I have to say, I feel like Natasha Cloud might
even be an upgrade from Courtney Vandersloot.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Yeah, different style, but defensively very different body type, much taller.
Slute is such a great facilitator. Thought interesting in terms
of just a steadying president who sets up the offense.
But Natasha, as the kids would say, she's got rizes
anything else. He is bringing personality and excitement to a
team that already has plenty.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And her girlfriend is on the team too. That was
a very c little bit of tea you.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Shared that nw has that ever happened on a men's team?
Has there been a couple on a men's professional.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
You know, we talk about that a lot aj that
one thing people really are sleeping on in women's sports
is that they're sleeping together, and that that is a
very fun twist. And oftentimes announcers who don't quite know,
we'll say, what great sportsmanship that those two opponents are
so kind to each other, and we're like.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
They're together, right?
Speaker 4 (12:28):
But no, But in the p WHL, which is women's hockey,
in the WNBA and the NWSL, in all these leagues,
there are these great stories in back Courtney Vanderslleute, who
he just mentioned, who used to be on the Liberty
came back to my Chicago Sky where she used to
play with her wife, and her wife was the one
who she assisted on a three and it helped her
break a record.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
How can you.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Now we don't know that it's never happened in men's sports,
We don't, We don't know. I imagine it surely has,
but it's you know.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
We don't get the fun of being nosy about it though,
So where's the fun in that?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
No fun at all? All right?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
How about all right? Two more? What about these are
some Burger King burgers eaten by Phoenix Mercury Star Khalia.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Former Chicago Sky And I'm not sad about it still,
Actually I am Khalia Coppers whoppers.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
That's it? You got it?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
All right?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Well, let's end with how about a chain of luncheonette
restaurants owned by Atlanta Dreamstar Britney. So we're sticking with
the burgers.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
This is someone who I accidentally called Gritney Briner the
other day, and I decided that should be a nickname
for when she's playing extra aggressive, when she's real Gritney.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Or making pickles. When she's making pickles.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Very good, very good. This would be Griner's Diners.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You got it all right? Well Sarah, you Cruz.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
What a fun game?
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Oh thank you? Well we are the to have you,
uh and we are lucky we get to have you
come back tomorrow, So don't go I do We'll do.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
The Professional Women's Hockey League where they had no team
names last season.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yeah, that'll be a little tough.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
They had they just they started the league and they
just were named for the cities. New York played Montreal.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Oh I see, But what that's cool about it was
they actually intended to have names, but the copyrights leaked
and the fans were so unimpressed by and they hadn't
really fleshed out what was the real meaning behind it all,
which you really need when you launch on your team
in logo, Like we've got all these old teams like
the Dodgers and the Knicks and the Yankees that no
(14:41):
one really cares about the name and why it's sort
of weird. But now when you launch a new on
the entire internet wants to know exactly why you chosen right,
And they didn't have good.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Stories for it, so they just scrapped it.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Went with city names and gave themselves a year to
come back and have the proper logos and colors and stories.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
And I think that was a good idea by them.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Barriage, all right, yeah, and you can make it more
of a contest with although then you'll end up with
do you remember, like exactly exact sample. I was going
to say there was some ship in the British Navy.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
That's now I'm not gonna lie. That logo and that
merchou would be fire.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
I think if you ever actually named a team that
you'd sell a lot of merch right.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Right, I might like it better than the New York Sirens. Yeah, mcbo.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
All right, this is the extra credit for the folks
at home. This is a data about the Washington w
NBA team. This is data and numbers about the Washington
w NBA team. Thank you listeners, Thank you Sarah. And
if you have thirty seconds please, we would love it
(15:51):
if you would rate the puzzler on your favorite podcast platform,
because it really it just makes a difference, believe it
or not. That's the way these algorithms work. And we'll
see here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle
you puzzlingly.
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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