August 28, 2025 • 32 mins
This is girlhood.
Today’s episode of The GIST of It is all about the Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL), a first-of-its-kind women’s pro league launching in 2026. It’s a tale of girlhood, community, and sports — and that sounds an awful lot like the founding principles of The GIST, meaning co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Steph Rotz are the perfect duo to break down everything you need to know now that the league has hosted open tryouts. A home run, indeed.
Show notes:
More on The GIST:
☎️ Leave us a voicemail! Call us at 1-437-564-5579 or hold down on this link
🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
Today’s episode of The GIST of It is all about the Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL), a first-of-its-kind women’s pro league launching in 2026. It’s a tale of girlhood, community, and sports — and that sounds an awful lot like the founding principles of The GIST, meaning co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Steph Rotz are the perfect duo to break down everything you need to know now that the league has hosted open tryouts. A home run, indeed.
Show notes:
More on The GIST:
☎️ Leave us a voicemail! Call us at 1-437-564-5579 or hold down on this link
🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
What's up, justters, Welcome or welcome back to another episode
of the Gist of It. Today's Thursday, August twenty eighth.
As some would say, August slipped away like a moment
in time. We're your co hosts. I'm Ellen Hyslop and
I am Steph Rots And on today's episode, we're not
really going to be talking about Taylor Swift and Travis
Kelsey's engagement. We are so happy for them, in my
(00:30):
opinion stuff. They are the posh Spice and David Beckham
of our generation that we so needed, and I'm really
so thrilled for them. But we have bigger things to
move on to. We've got our audible that I'm so
excited to chat about because it's so tea. We have
a really great personal training session question that feels totally
(00:51):
up Stuff's ally. But I'm also thrilled because we are
chatting today about the Women's Pro Baseball League or the WPBL,
which is a brand new women's baseball league set to
launch next year. And I don't know about you stuff,
but they have started marketing, at least to me already.
I have been getting these girlies tiktoks and I am
(01:11):
fired up and really freaking excited. We've talked a lot
about softball on this podcast beforehand, but women play hardball too,
and we're so thrilled that we're getting back into this baseball.
There's a lot of context here. The league is swinging
into their inaugural season with a bang. More than six
hundred women from ten different countries showed up for tryouts
(01:32):
last weekend, and the league has already sold more than
twenty thousand dollars worth of hats in just a week.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
You love to see it. Women play baseball too, and
of course women's sports are the moment. They're a movement.
It's never gonna stop. And women's baseball it just makes
sense that it's next, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And those girls are cool, They're so cool there. So
I think all women and all girls are cool period. Girls,
women's girls totally.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You are like other girls. We want to be like
other girls.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Who make that clear, Yes, we love girls. And then
but then when you add a layer of girls playing sports.
But then to me, yeah, for whatever reason, girls who
play rugby, softball or baseball, I truly bow down. I
go you're the ultimate cool girl really?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And basketball, yeah, I was gonna say, and basketball on
top of that, but I think basketball is more mainstream
and more people play it, so it feels like baseball, softball,
and rugby to me, feels more niche and therefore more cool.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
I was on a work call this week and I
was meeting someone like formally for the first time over
a video call, and I was wearing my T shirt
that Jimmie Lee Ratre, who's a women's hockey player, gave
me that said women in sport are here to stay.
And this was us chatting, getting to know each other
before we dived into or dove into the actual agenda.
And so she immediately said, love your T shirt. I
play softball, and I said, you're so cool. Tell meymore.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
There's I'm sort of combo between women's hockey and women's
softball handshake, handshake, similar movement potentially with the stick in
the bat well.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Uh. Haley Wickanizer, who was a gold medalist women's hockey player,
also played in the Olympics. Was it for softball?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
It was in the two thousand and two Australia Olympics. Oh,
I love sorry. That was a deep cut, deep cut
that was that was ten year old Ellen coming out.
That's how long I've been in the sports world for baby,
and I have an audible to call, please auzzing. I
(03:37):
want to get right into it. I know that we
were thinking we talked to something about something else, but like,
I need to call an audible and talk about it.
So as as I think you know, Steph. Obviously, I
play golf. I have been a golf fan for a
very long time of both the PGA and the LPGA,
and my favorite golf event is the Ryder Cup. Are
(04:00):
you familiar with the Ryder Cup?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I get the hats. I feel like they're everywhere.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
You know, You're like, I am familiar with their fashion. Actually, so,
the Ryder Cup is a tournament that happens every two
years that's between the US and Europe. But what's really
cool about this tournament is that it's a team tournament.
And the reason why I love the format of this
tournament so much is that golfers generally play individually. It's
(04:25):
an individual sport, but when they come together for the
Ryder Cup, they're on a team and they get so
uber competitive and it's just this new level unlocked that
we see with the athletes and the players And what's
also interesting about the Ryder Cup stuff is that everybody
in the US and Europe wants to make their respective teams,
but they don't get paid. They literally don't get No,
(04:48):
they don't get paid to participate in the Ryder Cup.
In comparison to any other tournament. It's this is for
the pride of your country or for your continent. This
is for the pride of being some of the top
players in the world. They don't get paid, so there's
no purse for the winner even now. Oh yes to
my understanding, Like I hope I'm saying that right, But
(05:10):
they don't get paid at least in terms of a salary.
So the Ryder Cup is a big freaking deal in golf,
but I think outside of golf too, because it's also
so entertaining, you know, the fashion because they all get
dressed up at a gala beforehand and then they wear
the same clothes and all the wags get into it.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Whatever.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Have you watched Full Swing on Netflix?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I have not, okay, but I know that you have.
I did cancel my Netflix. So if anyone shoul really
Netflix Freedomflix sealar trying to trim those monthly expenses Oh my.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Goodness, I truly could never because that's where my favorite
sports docuseries are and I'll be coming back over and
over and over again, as you all know. So anyway,
I'm a Netflix sport docuseries fiend, and Full Swing is
all about men's golf. So second season of Full Swing,
I believe Bessie so far a full swing This last
season and the second season incredible. Part of the reason
(06:05):
why it's so incredible stuff is that it covered the
twenty twenty three Ryder Cup, and so the whole kind
of storyline in Full Swing was how are these PGA
golfers doing in the lead up to the Ryder Cup?
Are they going to make the team? The way that
you make the Ryder Cup team is very interesting. The
top six players per rankings automatically qualify for each continent,
(06:30):
So the top six Americans qualify for the US, the
top six Europeans qualify for Europe. Then there's a captain
of each team. Sometimes the captain is good enough to
play on the team. Sometimes the captain is a wily
veteran knows that he shouldn't be on the team and
doesn't select himself to be on the team. The captains
get to select the remaining six spots because there's twelve
(06:52):
spots on the team. So there's the ranking picks for
the top six, then there's the captain picks for the
bottom six on both the US side and the European side.
And what's very interesting about this stuff is that the
captains could just go, Okay, we're just going fully by
rankings and I'm taking the top twelve. But oftentimes there's
(07:12):
some gamesmanship as to, Okay, what's the culture going to
be like in the dressing room, how does this person
play on a team as opposed to an individual, all
of this sort of stuff. So in the second season
of Full Swing, Keegan Bradley, who is an American golfer,
was basically on the bubble of making it to the
(07:33):
Ryder Cup. The entire storyline around Full Swing was is
Keegan Bradley going to make the Ryder Cup? He made
a surge at the end of the season. He was
playing incredibly good enough to technically be ranked as the
eleventh best American in hopes of him making this Ryder
Cup team. Zach Johnson is the captain. Zach Ultimately, stef
(07:57):
doesn't choose Keegan Bradley in favor of somebody like Justin Thomas,
who had a worse year, who I personally think is
a loser after his tampon incident with Tiger God.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
God, that's Justin.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Thomas, and he was in one of the top golfers.
Golf in any sport, there's a little bit of a
boys club, even though the boys want to get into it,
there's this like old boys club. How do they talk?
Are they the top players? Whatever? He can Bradly more
low key, not necessarily in the mix with someone like
(08:31):
a Scottie Scheffler or Colin Morikawa or Brooks Koepka. He's
kind of on that periphery, but he's good enough to
be there. He, despite his wins throughout the season, doesn't
get selected by Zach Johnson, and everybody is up in
arms because he is a good player. What happens in
the twenty twenty three Rider Cup stuff Tmosa loses Europe wins.
(08:54):
Nobody expected that to happen. Fast forward to twenty twenty five. Sorry, guys,
I'm like, really milky, but I am passionate about it.
Fast forward to twenty twenty five. Guess who gets selected
as captain Stefph that dude, Keegan Bradley. Hegan Bradley gets
selected as captain, and I'm going, in my mind, this
is the ultimate fucking karma. Like, people knew that he
(09:15):
was a fan favorite, people knew that he should have
been on that Ryder Cup team. He was great on
Ryder Cup teams past. He needed he should have been
a part of it. So he gets selected as captain.
Then wouldn't you know what comes out Wednesday afternoon? And
I'd say he's had a pretty quiet season this year.
Wouldn't you know Wednesday afternoon stuff, They're coming out with
the captain's picks for the Ryder Cup. Keigan Bradley did
(09:37):
not put himself on the team, so he opted twelve players.
So he's not going to be one of the twelve players.
And so my and you know what, he didn't have
as good of a season this year, but he still
is such a good team player and still is one
of the best players in the game. And so I'm wondering,
you're Kegan Bradley. You got completely snubbed in twenty twenty three,
(10:03):
you are deciding on the team in twenty twenty five,
And granted there are better players out there. Would you
put yourself on that tee?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Oh gosh, no, of course you're not. I don't know.
That's a really tough question.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
It's it's I saw that today and I was like,
this is golf teeth. It's that is tea to me.
I cannot believe that he didn't put it himself out there,
especially because, literally, I kid you not, the entire storyline
of Full Swing was around Keegan Bradley and the US
being like, oh, we made some bad picks at the end, Juan, that's.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Part of it. Maybe he's just a little bit petty,
has such a good head on his shoulders that he
wants what's the best for the team. I have no idea.
I can't tell you which one of the two ways
is gonna go. H go.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I'm feeling some type of way about it. But what
I am excited about is that the Ryder Cup happens
every September, and this year is happening on US soil
in New York. It's going to electric. We're going to
be covering it. I highly recommend tuning in if you
do not like golf. This is the golf tournament to watch.
On the women's side. The comparable is the Solheim Cup,
(11:11):
and so that happens in alternate years to the men's side.
So all I can say is, get ready for some drama.
Get ready. Okay, we're gonna get into the women's Pro
Baseball League in a minute. But I wanted to do
(11:32):
some live fact checking on the Ryder Cup purse. I
thought that I was right, and for the most part
I am. There is no purse in the Ryder Cup.
But for the first time in history, in twenty twenty five,
on the US side, players apparently per the Internet, per
Ai will receive a combined five hundred thousand dollars to
be allocated towards charity and personal compensation. The European team
(11:55):
will not receive similar payment. So that's that quick. Aside
from five hundred thousand is nothing to these people.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Either, because it's above all twelve.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah exactly, it's among all twelve. And these guys have
paychecks of millions of dollars coming in throughout the year,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
So none of them are going to take it. They're
gonna go They're going to.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Give all that to charity, which I think is so great.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I love how you trust the Ai at the top.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah, I go, per Ai, you just go grab to me.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It's what Wikipedia used to be, where teachers would say
you can't trust Wikipedia and you can't use it as
a source. That's what I say about AI, me and
my colleagues today. Boom AI was wrong.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Oh yeah, No, here's the thing, right, you have to
be smart with it. I think that you can use
it as a tool, but you have to say, Okay,
how am I diving deeper? How am I fact checking?
How am I using my brain as a human and
how can I make it help me be better at
what I do? Anyway, that's a totally different podcast for
another day. Let's talk about baseball.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Let's talk about baseball. Okay, So we're going to bring
you up to speed on the launch twenty twenty six
launch of the Women's Pro base which is just the
tale of girlhood and community that companies like the GISTs
were founded upon. It. It's just such a perfect thing
that I'm so happy we get to talk about and
that we exist in this moment in time.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yes, so try it's just wrapped, which is why we
want to give you a look at this league and
a preview of this league. So let's answer some questions.
There are a few questions that we want to chat
about today. One what is the Women's Pro Baseball League?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Great question, So the Women's Pro Baseball League or we
can short form it to w PBL. I feel like
I'm going to mix up the P and the bee
as I'm saying it, so apologies if I do. It
was founded by trailblazer Justin Siegel, largely working by herself.
She has been advocating for women in baseball for twenty
six years. She's the founder of Baseball for All, and
(13:46):
in two thousand and nine became the first female coach
of a pro men's team, helming the Brockton Rocks. And
producer's note from our New England girl Lauren, she says,
it's an iconic team in mass.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
So in Massa Tuo SAT's baby baby, So six teams
are going to compete in the inaugural season, very similar
to our beloved PWHL, and that inaugural season starts in
May twenty twenty six, so very short term from here.
It will be the first US pro baseball league since
the All American Girls Baseball League ended in nineteen fifty four.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
And yes, right, that's the league that inspired the iconic
movie Aligue of their Own. So it has been since
the a League of their Own days, yes, hat lea since.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Not to kind of bring it back to that, but
kind of like since the days of the war when
women were like, wait, all of the men are at war.
We can play sports, we can do our own stuff,
we can play organized baseball. And so it's really cool
that we're finally getting back to the place where there's
enough interest in women playing baseball too, because there is
(14:50):
this different talent pool because softball has become so popular
since then as well. And really the goal is to
create a professional path for women baseball players because it
is a completely different sport from softball.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
So another one of these questions that people might have
going into the launch of this league is why can't
these women just play pro softball. I'm not one of
those people, but let's answer it.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I think it's so cool Steph when you say just
play pro softball. Oh my god, they can play pro softball,
you know what I mean? Like that, I feel like
is only something that's been made of recently in a
large part to Athletes Unlimited and everything that they've created
over there and the Athletes Unlimited Softball team, they just
wrapped up a successful season on the diamond and have
the Individual Focus All Star Cup underway, which is really cool.
(15:39):
This was their first year where they were in teams specifically,
and then next year they're going to be but like
still hosting in specific markets. Next year, the teams are
going to be quote unquote more traditional in terms of
their setup and that they're going to be situated and
stationed in specific cities. So it's very cool to be
clear though too. What's a little bit confus using here
(16:00):
is that we've chat about this on the podcast Major
League Baseball. So MLB has partnered with Athletes Unlimited Softball.
MLB is not connected to the WPBL at all, and
in any shape or form. This has not come as
a surprise. It's a startup league. They've got to prove
themselves first, and Athletes Unlimited has been proving themselves for years.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And there are no sanctioned baseball programs at the high
school or collegiate level for women, so there is less
of a pipeline, if you will, for this professional talent.
Of course, women love to play baseball, and women play baseball,
but you really do have to go out of your
way to continue to play the game as you age
(16:43):
throughout the sport. Baseball for All says that about one
hundred thousand girls play youth baseball every year in the US,
but that number does dwindle to one thousand wow, come
high school, which is a huge drop off.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
That's very interesting, SEF and I would love if we
had more space to double click on that of is
that a huge drop off because they're starting off with baseball,
maybe playing on some boys teams, and then potentially moving
into softball where they're playing with girls. So they're still
kind of staying in the mix, but potentially moving out
of hardball. Because again, those are very different sports. They
(17:17):
require very different strategies, very different skill sets. We can
get into some of those nuances, but again for another podcast.
In twenty twenty two, Brown University student Olivia Pichardo became
the first woman on an NCUBA Division one baseball team.
Very cool. She was just eighteen years old and made
(17:39):
the team as a walk on through tryout. She wasn't
even recruited, and in spring twenty twenty three, she made
history once again that season as the first woman to
play in a D one game, coming in as a
pinch hitter.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
So walk on tryouts. That how she made her name.
So let's talk about the trials for this league. Who
is trying out and that is more than six hundred
women from across ten countries, like we said at the
top of the podcast, tried out for the WPBL in
this week's four day showcase hosted at Nationals Park in DC,
which is home of MLB's Washington Nationals.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
The player pool I think was really varied steph which
I find so interesting. Here there are some super well
known names which we'll get into in a minute, but
then there was also women in their forties and fifties,
which is well considered past the prime for pro athletes,
but they played baseball and they love it. So the
pool was whittled down to one hundred players during those
(18:34):
four days.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So down from six hundred to one hundred basically. Yeah,
let's go over some of those names and the stories
that we want to highlight from tryouts. So Monette Davis
is the Little League World Series being on. We've talked
about her on the podcast before. Who became the first
girl to earn a win in a shutout at that
tournament back in twenty fourteen as a picture as just
(18:55):
so revolutionary, just she was the twenty fourteen did Press
Female Athlete of the Year, an award that's been won
by you know, Simone Biles, Galen Clark, just some casual
company there. She's been on the cover of Sports Illustrated,
She's won an s B. Just the exact type of
superstar that the WPBL needs.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Did you see what I shared on social of the
catcher who she played with at that twenty fourteen World Series.
She went out and did the first pitch at the
Nationals park to him, and he plays for the Washington Nationals.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Now was inception. I couldn't follow a story.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
She when she was on the Little League World Series. Okay,
her catcher who she played with in the Little League
World Series now plays for the Washington Nationals. She was
invited out to do the ceremonial first pitch a couple
of weeks ago, and she threw it to her teammate
from the Little League World Series who now plays in
Major League Baseball. So I think, not only is that
(19:58):
sweet stuff, but I also say that's a really great
depiction of the opportunities for boys in baseball versus the
opportunities for girls in baseball. In theory, they both should
have been on that Little League World Series game, and
then they both should have had an opportunity to play pro,
you know what I mean. And so I feel like,
now Monet with the WPBO, she can do that. And
(20:21):
what's interesting too is that she's tried out as a
center fielder, shortstop, and a pitcher. So she's coming in
and saying wherever you need me, put me in.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
And for her too, she quote unquote wanted to start
her adult life and move on, but her family and
friends convinced her to try out, which I think is
really nice.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So nice. We always need those family and friends. The
second name that you have to know is Kelsey Whitmore.
I'm obsessed with her. You might recognize this name through
the Savannah Bananas and the Savannah Venias are the viral
social forward baseball team that's a part of a league
that's really all about making baseball fun and accessible for all.
(21:00):
And there's some excellent players who play in the Savannah Bananas.
They just happened to want to have fun at the
same time and make baseball just a little bit different.
She is the first girl to ever play with the
Savannah Bananas. She is an Elite Division one softball player
at cal State Fullerton, but baseball is her choice, like
if she could choose, she would be choosing baseball. And
(21:21):
then in addition to the Savannah Banana she's also had
some time in the minors with the Staten Island Fairyhawks.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
And Davis with the first player that we talked about,
and what Moore the second have signed already to the WPBL,
so they're guaranteed spots in the team. So that is
something to make it out here.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Very smart, very very smart of the WPBL. That's the
way to lock them in. There are also folks like
the Bowden sisters. They are both doctors in their thirties
who took time out of their life saving jobs to
train and to try out. They did not make the cut,
but I think that they were just delighted to be
(21:57):
able to try out for something like this and to
be able to see where women's pro baseball could go.
And I think to, I don't know, contribute to the
fandom in one way too, So I feel like that's
so so interesting and honestly, stuff so reminiscent of so
many early sports, like you know what I mean, like
on the college side, on the men's side, on the
(22:19):
women's side, this is kind of how things started. It's
just people going out and trying out.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
And you know what, when you said or when we
talked about too at the beginning that there was older
women quote unquote older women trying out too, I feel
like you're like, why not, you know, like, when are
you going to ever be able to say that you
did this, that you're a part of this. It's just
such a full circle moment. And I do love how
you age, you start stop caring a little bit more
as well, you know what I mean, You just do it.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I love that it is so much you just do.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
It because for so many of the women at the tryouts,
this might have been the first time that they were
ever on a diamond exclusively of women who wouldn't want
to experience that.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Oh it makes me so happy. The draft is going
to be in October for those one hundred players. Then
from there they'll be practicing and gracing our screens.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
In May twenty twenty six, raighty, it's time for our
personal training, sessh. This is where we would love to
answer your heart hitting questions about anything, and we mean
anything in the sports world.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
If you'd like to be featured on a future episode,
call us and leave us a voicemail. We love hearing
your voices at one four three seven, five, six, four
five five seven nine that is linked in the show notes.
Email us at pod at the sports dot com, or
feel free to message me or stuff on Instagram. She's
at Sephanie Rots. I'm at ellen ethan gist. We had
two submissions this week. We couldn't decide libras. We couldn't decide.
(23:49):
We said we need to do both. It's all about
balance and they're on two completely different sports and so
it felt nice. So Seph, why don't you share?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Our first one was gonna say thank you so much
and I was gonna dips that. Okay, So the first
one comes from Instagram DM from Silky or silk or silk.
It's hockey, so I'm gonna go silky.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Silky mids, silky gloves. We're so sorry because there was
no calling in. But she is new heir from the
Netherlands and so very cool, very Dutch, and so that
is why we're so sorry. We're we don't know your name,
but welcome, Silky, but welcome to North America. We are
(24:31):
so excited to have you here.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
And Steph take it away, okay, quote Hi, Ellen and Steph.
Does the just have a platform slash recommendations how to
find a community to play fantasy hockey with p WHL
and or NHL. I don't have any real life friends
here in the Netherlands or NL who follow North American hockey. Thanks,
Silky or Silk or Silk.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Steph. I'm really curious as a hockey girl if you
can share your experience.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
I have no ever played fantasy hockey in my life,
like you mentioned, just never been asked before. I would
absolutely love, love, love to be in a fantasy league
for the PWHL, but I simply just don't know where
to find one. And if anyone listening has a league
and wants to invite me or Silky, can you holler?
(25:20):
Because I need this in my life.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
We need it. I love this question because I feel
like it plays to a lot of why we started
the gist and to your experience to stuff how women
are so often left out of this additional kind of
gamification and community side of sports simply because we're women,
and we're not thought of to be asked to participate
(25:43):
or to have fun in these types of things. The
open by saying you were part of the just fantasy.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I was part of the just fantasy. It was just
the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Sorry I cut you off.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
It came back to me in a dream.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yes, continue. We had a fantasy hockey one regular season
and then we did one for the playoffs. Turns out
that was highly illegal, but we were new, really, yeah,
it was the early days. We were new. We were
trying new things. We were giving away cash prizes that
was not allowed, and so we're changing things up. And
so what I am going to say here is that
if you're looking to play fantasy hockey period, or if
(26:15):
you're looking to get in on hockey PWHL or NHL,
Yeahoo has a great fantasy platform and I think does
the best job for hockey. And then also fan Duel
is a really great place when you're looking at game
to game odds how you want to be betting. And
they do invest in the PWHL as well as the NHL,
which I really appreciate. They also invest in international women's hockey,
(26:36):
which is really unique. The other thing that I just
want to say, and that our marketing team is probably
going to get really mad at me for but we
are launching something in Q four that I think will
solve this for you and thankfully for you, Silkey and
the rest of our community. That is going to launch
(26:56):
before the NHL season and before the pwaelse season. No way,
and I think that we'll have a solution for you.
And that's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
That's not going to be illegal.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
It's not going to be illegal, and it's for the
gisters because we get questions like this a lot and
it's like, wait, we could be the solution here.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
I can't believe that that was illegal for contacts folks
just much smaller. And I remember being, oh, yeah, it
was like forty people. It was like forty people in
a room. I totally showed up completely under prepared.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Yes I was.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
I just totally wrote on the coatails of the person
that I was sitting next to who I worked with
at the time, and was totally inexperience. But it was
a great, great time.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
So much more fun than doing it with boys. We
did a snake draft fantasy for the playoffs, and then
we also did it for the regular season. I've never
had so much fun. The girls were ready to rock,
they were ready to go, and I'm like, let's do
it again. So anyway, that's all I'm gonna say, and
then let's talk about some of the other things that
we have been getting questions about. In the last week
of August. There is college football, and it's week zero
(28:04):
of college football. And as someone who really had to
cut I knew the like Cole's Notes of college football.
But then when we launch our college newsletter, which we
recently rolled out or rolled up rather into sports news,
I was like, sorry, what is this week zero? Why
is there week zero? Why did it even start it?
And so like, what is happening? Because college football is back,
(28:27):
but it's not really back back, if you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Is it a preseason?
Speaker 1 (28:32):
No week zero? What the heck is? So basically what
I've learned is that week zero is technically the opening
weekend of college football, but not everyone plays, which is
not like any other weekend. Week zero was last weekend
when five games kicked off on Saturday, August twenty third.
So the NCUBA rules state that the first games of
(28:52):
college football season take place this Saturday, before Labor Day
aka this weekend. But because the NCAA is a crapshoot
and there's so many teams, some of those teams actually
got permission to play in Week zero and to play
early during Week zero as well. For the most part,
they're not big teams, they're not big names, and so
(29:14):
not a lot of people pay attention. However, when there's
the International Games, that's where people are really leaned in.
So one of our writers, Katie, was actually in Ireland
last week in Dublin to watch number seventeen Kansas State
and number twenty two Iowa State face off on August
twenty third.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Do these games count towards the season or they exhibition games?
Speaker 1 (29:36):
So they do count, so it's not like they're an
extra game on each team schedule. They'll make up for
the early week with an extra week off, so an
extra bye week later in the season.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Oh and then they can focus on school.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Lovely, it really just feels like an appetizer to the
main course. But it's an appetizer that leaves you wanting more,
is what I will say.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
All right, speaking of wanting more, are there any week
one quote unquote Week one games.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Like I know, so now is the Saturday before Labor Day,
so now is like, okay, it's officially starting. It's officially
week one as opposed to week zero. It's so silly.
There are a lot of big games this weekend, but
we wanted to call out three of them, defending champs
Number three Ohio State versus quarterback Arch Manning and number
one Texas that Saturday at twelve pm Eastern. Arch Manning
(30:22):
related to the Mannings of Peyton and Italy the same
yes relation. Number nine LSU versus number four Clemson Saturday
at seven thirty pm Eastern, and number six Notre Dame
versus number ten Miami Sunday at seven thirty pm Eastern.
So they're sneaking in something on Sunday when the NFL
is not fully in its season.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yet sneaking it in, just like we snuck in two
personal training.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Soosh, our producers might be mad. O. We had today's episode.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Thank you so much for tuning in. We'll be back
in your feed with the new podcast on Thursday because
we will be off for Labor Day weekend. We hope
you enjoy a long weekend. We will be enjoying a
long weekend and meantime, please rate, review, subscribe, That us
a personal training sesh, all of that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
This episode was edited by Savannah Hold and produced by
Lisa Mantillo, Alexandra Puccio, and Lauren Tuscala. Again, I'm Ellen
Hslav
Speaker 2 (31:15):
And I'm Steph Rotts, and we will chat week again
on Thursday,
What's up, justters, Welcome or welcome back to another episode
of the Gist of It. Today's Thursday, August twenty eighth.
As some would say, August slipped away like a moment
in time. We're your co hosts. I'm Ellen Hyslop and
I am Steph Rots And on today's episode, we're not
really going to be talking about Taylor Swift and Travis
Kelsey's engagement. We are so happy for them, in my
(00:30):
opinion stuff. They are the posh Spice and David Beckham
of our generation that we so needed, and I'm really
so thrilled for them. But we have bigger things to
move on to. We've got our audible that I'm so
excited to chat about because it's so tea. We have
a really great personal training session question that feels totally
(00:51):
up Stuff's ally. But I'm also thrilled because we are
chatting today about the Women's Pro Baseball League or the WPBL,
which is a brand new women's baseball league set to
launch next year. And I don't know about you stuff,
but they have started marketing, at least to me already.
I have been getting these girlies tiktoks and I am
(01:11):
fired up and really freaking excited. We've talked a lot
about softball on this podcast beforehand, but women play hardball too,
and we're so thrilled that we're getting back into this baseball.
There's a lot of context here. The league is swinging
into their inaugural season with a bang. More than six
hundred women from ten different countries showed up for tryouts
(01:32):
last weekend, and the league has already sold more than
twenty thousand dollars worth of hats in just a week.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
You love to see it. Women play baseball too, and
of course women's sports are the moment. They're a movement.
It's never gonna stop. And women's baseball it just makes
sense that it's next, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And those girls are cool, They're so cool there. So
I think all women and all girls are cool period. Girls,
women's girls totally.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You are like other girls. We want to be like
other girls.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Who make that clear, Yes, we love girls. And then
but then when you add a layer of girls playing sports.
But then to me, yeah, for whatever reason, girls who
play rugby, softball or baseball, I truly bow down. I
go you're the ultimate cool girl really?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And basketball, yeah, I was gonna say, and basketball on
top of that, but I think basketball is more mainstream
and more people play it, so it feels like baseball, softball,
and rugby to me, feels more niche and therefore more cool.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
I was on a work call this week and I
was meeting someone like formally for the first time over
a video call, and I was wearing my T shirt
that Jimmie Lee Ratre, who's a women's hockey player, gave
me that said women in sport are here to stay.
And this was us chatting, getting to know each other
before we dived into or dove into the actual agenda.
And so she immediately said, love your T shirt. I
play softball, and I said, you're so cool. Tell meymore.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
There's I'm sort of combo between women's hockey and women's
softball handshake, handshake, similar movement potentially with the stick in
the bat well.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Uh. Haley Wickanizer, who was a gold medalist women's hockey player,
also played in the Olympics. Was it for softball?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
It was in the two thousand and two Australia Olympics. Oh,
I love sorry. That was a deep cut, deep cut
that was that was ten year old Ellen coming out.
That's how long I've been in the sports world for baby,
and I have an audible to call, please auzzing. I
(03:37):
want to get right into it. I know that we
were thinking we talked to something about something else, but like,
I need to call an audible and talk about it.
So as as I think you know, Steph. Obviously, I
play golf. I have been a golf fan for a
very long time of both the PGA and the LPGA,
and my favorite golf event is the Ryder Cup. Are
(04:00):
you familiar with the Ryder Cup?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I get the hats. I feel like they're everywhere.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
You know, You're like, I am familiar with their fashion. Actually, so,
the Ryder Cup is a tournament that happens every two
years that's between the US and Europe. But what's really
cool about this tournament is that it's a team tournament.
And the reason why I love the format of this
tournament so much is that golfers generally play individually. It's
(04:25):
an individual sport, but when they come together for the
Ryder Cup, they're on a team and they get so
uber competitive and it's just this new level unlocked that
we see with the athletes and the players And what's
also interesting about the Ryder Cup stuff is that everybody
in the US and Europe wants to make their respective teams,
but they don't get paid. They literally don't get No,
(04:48):
they don't get paid to participate in the Ryder Cup.
In comparison to any other tournament. It's this is for
the pride of your country or for your continent. This
is for the pride of being some of the top
players in the world. They don't get paid, so there's
no purse for the winner even now. Oh yes to
my understanding, Like I hope I'm saying that right, But
(05:10):
they don't get paid at least in terms of a salary.
So the Ryder Cup is a big freaking deal in golf,
but I think outside of golf too, because it's also
so entertaining, you know, the fashion because they all get
dressed up at a gala beforehand and then they wear
the same clothes and all the wags get into it.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Whatever.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Have you watched Full Swing on Netflix?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I have not, okay, but I know that you have.
I did cancel my Netflix. So if anyone shoul really
Netflix Freedomflix sealar trying to trim those monthly expenses Oh my.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Goodness, I truly could never because that's where my favorite
sports docuseries are and I'll be coming back over and
over and over again, as you all know. So anyway,
I'm a Netflix sport docuseries fiend, and Full Swing is
all about men's golf. So second season of Full Swing,
I believe Bessie so far a full swing This last
season and the second season incredible. Part of the reason
(06:05):
why it's so incredible stuff is that it covered the
twenty twenty three Ryder Cup, and so the whole kind
of storyline in Full Swing was how are these PGA
golfers doing in the lead up to the Ryder Cup?
Are they going to make the team? The way that
you make the Ryder Cup team is very interesting. The
top six players per rankings automatically qualify for each continent,
(06:30):
So the top six Americans qualify for the US, the
top six Europeans qualify for Europe. Then there's a captain
of each team. Sometimes the captain is good enough to
play on the team. Sometimes the captain is a wily
veteran knows that he shouldn't be on the team and
doesn't select himself to be on the team. The captains
get to select the remaining six spots because there's twelve
(06:52):
spots on the team. So there's the ranking picks for
the top six, then there's the captain picks for the
bottom six on both the US side and the European side.
And what's very interesting about this stuff is that the
captains could just go, Okay, we're just going fully by
rankings and I'm taking the top twelve. But oftentimes there's
(07:12):
some gamesmanship as to, Okay, what's the culture going to
be like in the dressing room, how does this person
play on a team as opposed to an individual, all
of this sort of stuff. So in the second season
of Full Swing, Keegan Bradley, who is an American golfer,
was basically on the bubble of making it to the
(07:33):
Ryder Cup. The entire storyline around Full Swing was is
Keegan Bradley going to make the Ryder Cup? He made
a surge at the end of the season. He was
playing incredibly good enough to technically be ranked as the
eleventh best American in hopes of him making this Ryder
Cup team. Zach Johnson is the captain. Zach Ultimately, stef
(07:57):
doesn't choose Keegan Bradley in favor of somebody like Justin Thomas,
who had a worse year, who I personally think is
a loser after his tampon incident with Tiger God.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
God, that's Justin.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Thomas, and he was in one of the top golfers.
Golf in any sport, there's a little bit of a
boys club, even though the boys want to get into it,
there's this like old boys club. How do they talk?
Are they the top players? Whatever? He can Bradly more
low key, not necessarily in the mix with someone like
(08:31):
a Scottie Scheffler or Colin Morikawa or Brooks Koepka. He's
kind of on that periphery, but he's good enough to
be there. He, despite his wins throughout the season, doesn't
get selected by Zach Johnson, and everybody is up in
arms because he is a good player. What happens in
the twenty twenty three Rider Cup stuff Tmosa loses Europe wins.
(08:54):
Nobody expected that to happen. Fast forward to twenty twenty five. Sorry, guys,
I'm like, really milky, but I am passionate about it.
Fast forward to twenty twenty five. Guess who gets selected
as captain Stefph that dude, Keegan Bradley. Hegan Bradley gets
selected as captain, and I'm going, in my mind, this
is the ultimate fucking karma. Like, people knew that he
(09:15):
was a fan favorite, people knew that he should have
been on that Ryder Cup team. He was great on
Ryder Cup teams past. He needed he should have been
a part of it. So he gets selected as captain.
Then wouldn't you know what comes out Wednesday afternoon? And
I'd say he's had a pretty quiet season this year.
Wouldn't you know Wednesday afternoon stuff, They're coming out with
the captain's picks for the Ryder Cup. Keigan Bradley did
(09:37):
not put himself on the team, so he opted twelve players.
So he's not going to be one of the twelve players.
And so my and you know what, he didn't have
as good of a season this year, but he still
is such a good team player and still is one
of the best players in the game. And so I'm wondering,
you're Kegan Bradley. You got completely snubbed in twenty twenty three,
(10:03):
you are deciding on the team in twenty twenty five,
And granted there are better players out there. Would you
put yourself on that tee?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Oh gosh, no, of course you're not. I don't know.
That's a really tough question.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
It's it's I saw that today and I was like,
this is golf teeth. It's that is tea to me.
I cannot believe that he didn't put it himself out there,
especially because, literally, I kid you not, the entire storyline
of Full Swing was around Keegan Bradley and the US
being like, oh, we made some bad picks at the end, Juan, that's.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Part of it. Maybe he's just a little bit petty,
has such a good head on his shoulders that he
wants what's the best for the team. I have no idea.
I can't tell you which one of the two ways
is gonna go. H go.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I'm feeling some type of way about it. But what
I am excited about is that the Ryder Cup happens
every September, and this year is happening on US soil
in New York. It's going to electric. We're going to
be covering it. I highly recommend tuning in if you
do not like golf. This is the golf tournament to watch.
On the women's side. The comparable is the Solheim Cup,
(11:11):
and so that happens in alternate years to the men's side.
So all I can say is, get ready for some drama.
Get ready. Okay, we're gonna get into the women's Pro
Baseball League in a minute. But I wanted to do
(11:32):
some live fact checking on the Ryder Cup purse. I
thought that I was right, and for the most part
I am. There is no purse in the Ryder Cup.
But for the first time in history, in twenty twenty five,
on the US side, players apparently per the Internet, per
Ai will receive a combined five hundred thousand dollars to
be allocated towards charity and personal compensation. The European team
(11:55):
will not receive similar payment. So that's that quick. Aside
from five hundred thousand is nothing to these people.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Either, because it's above all twelve.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah exactly, it's among all twelve. And these guys have
paychecks of millions of dollars coming in throughout the year,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
So none of them are going to take it. They're
gonna go They're going to.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Give all that to charity, which I think is so great.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I love how you trust the Ai at the top.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah, I go, per Ai, you just go grab to me.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It's what Wikipedia used to be, where teachers would say
you can't trust Wikipedia and you can't use it as
a source. That's what I say about AI, me and
my colleagues today. Boom AI was wrong.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Oh yeah, No, here's the thing, right, you have to
be smart with it. I think that you can use
it as a tool, but you have to say, Okay,
how am I diving deeper? How am I fact checking?
How am I using my brain as a human and
how can I make it help me be better at
what I do? Anyway, that's a totally different podcast for
another day. Let's talk about baseball.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Let's talk about baseball. Okay, So we're going to bring
you up to speed on the launch twenty twenty six
launch of the Women's Pro base which is just the
tale of girlhood and community that companies like the GISTs
were founded upon. It. It's just such a perfect thing
that I'm so happy we get to talk about and
that we exist in this moment in time.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yes, so try it's just wrapped, which is why we
want to give you a look at this league and
a preview of this league. So let's answer some questions.
There are a few questions that we want to chat
about today. One what is the Women's Pro Baseball League?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Great question, So the Women's Pro Baseball League or we
can short form it to w PBL. I feel like
I'm going to mix up the P and the bee
as I'm saying it, so apologies if I do. It
was founded by trailblazer Justin Siegel, largely working by herself.
She has been advocating for women in baseball for twenty
six years. She's the founder of Baseball for All, and
(13:46):
in two thousand and nine became the first female coach
of a pro men's team, helming the Brockton Rocks. And
producer's note from our New England girl Lauren, she says,
it's an iconic team in mass.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
So in Massa Tuo SAT's baby baby, So six teams
are going to compete in the inaugural season, very similar
to our beloved PWHL, and that inaugural season starts in
May twenty twenty six, so very short term from here.
It will be the first US pro baseball league since
the All American Girls Baseball League ended in nineteen fifty four.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
And yes, right, that's the league that inspired the iconic
movie Aligue of their Own. So it has been since
the a League of their Own days, yes, hat lea since.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Not to kind of bring it back to that, but
kind of like since the days of the war when
women were like, wait, all of the men are at war.
We can play sports, we can do our own stuff,
we can play organized baseball. And so it's really cool
that we're finally getting back to the place where there's
enough interest in women playing baseball too, because there is
(14:50):
this different talent pool because softball has become so popular
since then as well. And really the goal is to
create a professional path for women baseball players because it
is a completely different sport from softball.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
So another one of these questions that people might have
going into the launch of this league is why can't
these women just play pro softball. I'm not one of
those people, but let's answer it.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I think it's so cool Steph when you say just
play pro softball. Oh my god, they can play pro softball,
you know what I mean? Like that, I feel like
is only something that's been made of recently in a
large part to Athletes Unlimited and everything that they've created
over there and the Athletes Unlimited Softball team, they just
wrapped up a successful season on the diamond and have
the Individual Focus All Star Cup underway, which is really cool.
(15:39):
This was their first year where they were in teams specifically,
and then next year they're going to be but like
still hosting in specific markets. Next year, the teams are
going to be quote unquote more traditional in terms of
their setup and that they're going to be situated and
stationed in specific cities. So it's very cool to be
clear though too. What's a little bit confus using here
(16:00):
is that we've chat about this on the podcast Major
League Baseball. So MLB has partnered with Athletes Unlimited Softball.
MLB is not connected to the WPBL at all, and
in any shape or form. This has not come as
a surprise. It's a startup league. They've got to prove
themselves first, and Athletes Unlimited has been proving themselves for years.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And there are no sanctioned baseball programs at the high
school or collegiate level for women, so there is less
of a pipeline, if you will, for this professional talent.
Of course, women love to play baseball, and women play baseball,
but you really do have to go out of your
way to continue to play the game as you age
(16:43):
throughout the sport. Baseball for All says that about one
hundred thousand girls play youth baseball every year in the US,
but that number does dwindle to one thousand wow, come
high school, which is a huge drop off.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
That's very interesting, SEF and I would love if we
had more space to double click on that of is
that a huge drop off because they're starting off with baseball,
maybe playing on some boys teams, and then potentially moving
into softball where they're playing with girls. So they're still
kind of staying in the mix, but potentially moving out
of hardball. Because again, those are very different sports. They
(17:17):
require very different strategies, very different skill sets. We can
get into some of those nuances, but again for another podcast.
In twenty twenty two, Brown University student Olivia Pichardo became
the first woman on an NCUBA Division one baseball team.
Very cool. She was just eighteen years old and made
(17:39):
the team as a walk on through tryout. She wasn't
even recruited, and in spring twenty twenty three, she made
history once again that season as the first woman to
play in a D one game, coming in as a
pinch hitter.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
So walk on tryouts. That how she made her name.
So let's talk about the trials for this league. Who
is trying out and that is more than six hundred
women from across ten countries, like we said at the
top of the podcast, tried out for the WPBL in
this week's four day showcase hosted at Nationals Park in DC,
which is home of MLB's Washington Nationals.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
The player pool I think was really varied steph which
I find so interesting. Here there are some super well
known names which we'll get into in a minute, but
then there was also women in their forties and fifties,
which is well considered past the prime for pro athletes,
but they played baseball and they love it. So the
pool was whittled down to one hundred players during those
(18:34):
four days.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So down from six hundred to one hundred basically. Yeah,
let's go over some of those names and the stories
that we want to highlight from tryouts. So Monette Davis
is the Little League World Series being on. We've talked
about her on the podcast before. Who became the first
girl to earn a win in a shutout at that
tournament back in twenty fourteen as a picture as just
(18:55):
so revolutionary, just she was the twenty fourteen did Press
Female Athlete of the Year, an award that's been won
by you know, Simone Biles, Galen Clark, just some casual
company there. She's been on the cover of Sports Illustrated,
She's won an s B. Just the exact type of
superstar that the WPBL needs.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Did you see what I shared on social of the
catcher who she played with at that twenty fourteen World Series.
She went out and did the first pitch at the
Nationals park to him, and he plays for the Washington Nationals.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Now was inception. I couldn't follow a story.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
She when she was on the Little League World Series. Okay,
her catcher who she played with in the Little League
World Series now plays for the Washington Nationals. She was
invited out to do the ceremonial first pitch a couple
of weeks ago, and she threw it to her teammate
from the Little League World Series who now plays in
Major League Baseball. So I think, not only is that
(19:58):
sweet stuff, but I also say that's a really great
depiction of the opportunities for boys in baseball versus the
opportunities for girls in baseball. In theory, they both should
have been on that Little League World Series game, and
then they both should have had an opportunity to play pro,
you know what I mean. And so I feel like,
now Monet with the WPBO, she can do that. And
(20:21):
what's interesting too is that she's tried out as a
center fielder, shortstop, and a pitcher. So she's coming in
and saying wherever you need me, put me in.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
And for her too, she quote unquote wanted to start
her adult life and move on, but her family and
friends convinced her to try out, which I think is
really nice.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So nice. We always need those family and friends. The
second name that you have to know is Kelsey Whitmore.
I'm obsessed with her. You might recognize this name through
the Savannah Bananas and the Savannah Venias are the viral
social forward baseball team that's a part of a league
that's really all about making baseball fun and accessible for all.
(21:00):
And there's some excellent players who play in the Savannah Bananas.
They just happened to want to have fun at the
same time and make baseball just a little bit different.
She is the first girl to ever play with the
Savannah Bananas. She is an Elite Division one softball player
at cal State Fullerton, but baseball is her choice, like
if she could choose, she would be choosing baseball. And
(21:21):
then in addition to the Savannah Banana she's also had
some time in the minors with the Staten Island Fairyhawks.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
And Davis with the first player that we talked about,
and what Moore the second have signed already to the WPBL,
so they're guaranteed spots in the team. So that is
something to make it out here.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Very smart, very very smart of the WPBL. That's the
way to lock them in. There are also folks like
the Bowden sisters. They are both doctors in their thirties
who took time out of their life saving jobs to
train and to try out. They did not make the cut,
but I think that they were just delighted to be
(21:57):
able to try out for something like this and to
be able to see where women's pro baseball could go.
And I think to, I don't know, contribute to the
fandom in one way too, So I feel like that's
so so interesting and honestly, stuff so reminiscent of so
many early sports, like you know what I mean, like
on the college side, on the men's side, on the
(22:19):
women's side, this is kind of how things started. It's
just people going out and trying out.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
And you know what, when you said or when we
talked about too at the beginning that there was older
women quote unquote older women trying out too, I feel
like you're like, why not, you know, like, when are
you going to ever be able to say that you
did this, that you're a part of this. It's just
such a full circle moment. And I do love how
you age, you start stop caring a little bit more
as well, you know what I mean, You just do it.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I love that it is so much you just do.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
It because for so many of the women at the tryouts,
this might have been the first time that they were
ever on a diamond exclusively of women who wouldn't want
to experience that.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Oh it makes me so happy. The draft is going
to be in October for those one hundred players. Then
from there they'll be practicing and gracing our screens.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
In May twenty twenty six, raighty, it's time for our
personal training, sessh. This is where we would love to
answer your heart hitting questions about anything, and we mean
anything in the sports world.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
If you'd like to be featured on a future episode,
call us and leave us a voicemail. We love hearing
your voices at one four three seven, five, six, four
five five seven nine that is linked in the show notes.
Email us at pod at the sports dot com, or
feel free to message me or stuff on Instagram. She's
at Sephanie Rots. I'm at ellen ethan gist. We had
two submissions this week. We couldn't decide libras. We couldn't decide.
(23:49):
We said we need to do both. It's all about
balance and they're on two completely different sports and so
it felt nice. So Seph, why don't you share?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Our first one was gonna say thank you so much
and I was gonna dips that. Okay, So the first
one comes from Instagram DM from Silky or silk or silk.
It's hockey, so I'm gonna go silky.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Silky mids, silky gloves. We're so sorry because there was
no calling in. But she is new heir from the
Netherlands and so very cool, very Dutch, and so that
is why we're so sorry. We're we don't know your name,
but welcome, Silky, but welcome to North America. We are
(24:31):
so excited to have you here.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
And Steph take it away, okay, quote Hi, Ellen and Steph.
Does the just have a platform slash recommendations how to
find a community to play fantasy hockey with p WHL
and or NHL. I don't have any real life friends
here in the Netherlands or NL who follow North American hockey. Thanks,
Silky or Silk or Silk.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Steph. I'm really curious as a hockey girl if you
can share your experience.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
I have no ever played fantasy hockey in my life,
like you mentioned, just never been asked before. I would
absolutely love, love, love to be in a fantasy league
for the PWHL, but I simply just don't know where
to find one. And if anyone listening has a league
and wants to invite me or Silky, can you holler?
(25:20):
Because I need this in my life.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
We need it. I love this question because I feel
like it plays to a lot of why we started
the gist and to your experience to stuff how women
are so often left out of this additional kind of
gamification and community side of sports simply because we're women,
and we're not thought of to be asked to participate
(25:43):
or to have fun in these types of things. The
open by saying you were part of the just fantasy.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I was part of the just fantasy. It was just
the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Sorry I cut you off.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
It came back to me in a dream.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yes, continue. We had a fantasy hockey one regular season
and then we did one for the playoffs. Turns out
that was highly illegal, but we were new, really, yeah,
it was the early days. We were new. We were
trying new things. We were giving away cash prizes that
was not allowed, and so we're changing things up. And
so what I am going to say here is that
if you're looking to play fantasy hockey period, or if
(26:15):
you're looking to get in on hockey PWHL or NHL,
Yeahoo has a great fantasy platform and I think does
the best job for hockey. And then also fan Duel
is a really great place when you're looking at game
to game odds how you want to be betting. And
they do invest in the PWHL as well as the NHL,
which I really appreciate. They also invest in international women's hockey,
(26:36):
which is really unique. The other thing that I just
want to say, and that our marketing team is probably
going to get really mad at me for but we
are launching something in Q four that I think will
solve this for you and thankfully for you, Silkey and
the rest of our community. That is going to launch
(26:56):
before the NHL season and before the pwaelse season. No way,
and I think that we'll have a solution for you.
And that's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
That's not going to be illegal.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
It's not going to be illegal, and it's for the
gisters because we get questions like this a lot and
it's like, wait, we could be the solution here.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
I can't believe that that was illegal for contacts folks
just much smaller. And I remember being, oh, yeah, it
was like forty people. It was like forty people in
a room. I totally showed up completely under prepared.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Yes I was.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
I just totally wrote on the coatails of the person
that I was sitting next to who I worked with
at the time, and was totally inexperience. But it was
a great, great time.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
So much more fun than doing it with boys. We
did a snake draft fantasy for the playoffs, and then
we also did it for the regular season. I've never
had so much fun. The girls were ready to rock,
they were ready to go, and I'm like, let's do
it again. So anyway, that's all I'm gonna say, and
then let's talk about some of the other things that
we have been getting questions about. In the last week
of August. There is college football, and it's week zero
(28:04):
of college football. And as someone who really had to
cut I knew the like Cole's Notes of college football.
But then when we launch our college newsletter, which we
recently rolled out or rolled up rather into sports news,
I was like, sorry, what is this week zero? Why
is there week zero? Why did it even start it?
And so like, what is happening? Because college football is back,
(28:27):
but it's not really back back, if you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Is it a preseason?
Speaker 1 (28:32):
No week zero? What the heck is? So basically what
I've learned is that week zero is technically the opening
weekend of college football, but not everyone plays, which is
not like any other weekend. Week zero was last weekend
when five games kicked off on Saturday, August twenty third.
So the NCUBA rules state that the first games of
(28:52):
college football season take place this Saturday, before Labor Day
aka this weekend. But because the NCAA is a crapshoot
and there's so many teams, some of those teams actually
got permission to play in Week zero and to play
early during Week zero as well. For the most part,
they're not big teams, they're not big names, and so
(29:14):
not a lot of people pay attention. However, when there's
the International Games, that's where people are really leaned in.
So one of our writers, Katie, was actually in Ireland
last week in Dublin to watch number seventeen Kansas State
and number twenty two Iowa State face off on August
twenty third.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Do these games count towards the season or they exhibition games?
Speaker 1 (29:36):
So they do count, so it's not like they're an
extra game on each team schedule. They'll make up for
the early week with an extra week off, so an
extra bye week later in the season.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Oh and then they can focus on school.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Lovely, it really just feels like an appetizer to the
main course. But it's an appetizer that leaves you wanting more,
is what I will say.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
All right, speaking of wanting more, are there any week
one quote unquote Week one games.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Like I know, so now is the Saturday before Labor Day,
so now is like, okay, it's officially starting. It's officially
week one as opposed to week zero. It's so silly.
There are a lot of big games this weekend, but
we wanted to call out three of them, defending champs
Number three Ohio State versus quarterback Arch Manning and number
one Texas that Saturday at twelve pm Eastern. Arch Manning
(30:22):
related to the Mannings of Peyton and Italy the same
yes relation. Number nine LSU versus number four Clemson Saturday
at seven thirty pm Eastern, and number six Notre Dame
versus number ten Miami Sunday at seven thirty pm Eastern.
So they're sneaking in something on Sunday when the NFL
is not fully in its season.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yet sneaking it in, just like we snuck in two
personal training.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Soosh, our producers might be mad. O. We had today's episode.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Thank you so much for tuning in. We'll be back
in your feed with the new podcast on Thursday because
we will be off for Labor Day weekend. We hope
you enjoy a long weekend. We will be enjoying a
long weekend and meantime, please rate, review, subscribe, That us
a personal training sesh, all of that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
This episode was edited by Savannah Hold and produced by
Lisa Mantillo, Alexandra Puccio, and Lauren Tuscala. Again, I'm Ellen
Hslav
Speaker 2 (31:15):
And I'm Steph Rotts, and we will chat week again
on Thursday,
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