Ep. 260: Fleur-de-lis, Storm v. Aces Game 3!!!, and Coco and the City Girls: Important Updates on Hockey, the WNBA Playoffs and Tennis

Welcome to Burn It All Down, the sports podcast you need. Today on the show, I have Cherine and Lindsay with me. We will be doing a wrap up of Women's Sports. There is so much happening in hockey, in basketball, in tennis, in soccer, we have got you covered. Also, we have a lot of great content over on our Patreon. This week, Jess and Brenda and I talk about our experiences going to the U.S. open to see Serena's last match, you don't want to miss that conversation. But before we get into our discussion today, we wanted to take a minute to recognize two really pressing concerns around climate change that are affecting communities that we love here on the show. Cherine, thanks, Samira. Bogasán has been hit with one of the worst natural disasters in its history. One third of the country is underwater, that's larger than the size of Texas. Heavy rains and monsoon season and melting glaciers in the north of the country are due to climate change, and have wreaked havoc and destroyed whatever aggregarian infrastructure was developed in the heart of the country. The catastrophic events have killed more than 1,200 people, a number that is on the rise, including 453 children. Over 33 million people have been displaced, and the amount of damage is unfathomable. And I don't have the words to describe the English and horror, while witnessing this is upsetting in a way that is very hard to explain. The places you know and love and miss so much are completely destroyed, but we can offer campaigns and organizations to donate, which we will keep in the show notes, including the first ever menstrual relief campaign called Mavari by two women in Bogasán. The concern now, or one of the main concerns, is water-borne diseases. And I think as we move forward to think about not only immediate relief efforts, but ongoing help with rebuilding and supporting communities as they need it. We also wanted to raise awareness for the situation in Jackson, Mississippi. Jackson, Mississippi, has been without running water after its main water treatment plant has left nearly 180,000 residents in the city and surrounding areas with no clean water. Now, water crisis is not new for Jackson, Mississippi, a city that is over 82 percent black. They have been under a boilwater notice since July. Last year, they were under a boilwater alert for 225 days. It is a declared state of emergency. There continues to be no running water, no clean drinking water, especially in the poorest and blackest areas of that community. There are really great mutual aid organizations doing the work to distribute water. The Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition is a coalition of over 30 organizations in the state. We will link in our bio to their donation page. I also want to shout out Operation Good, who is taking donations through cash up under the hashtag #OperationGoodMS from Mississippi and the Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity of Mississippi is also accepting monetary contributions via cash app Paypal or Venmo, all at the same tag IAGE of MS. Lastly, the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund on Paypal at MRFF is a reproductive justice group who is both looking out for water needs as well as continuing to do the mutual aid work towards supporting people for reproductive freedom because all of these things are compounding. We send all of our love to Jackson, Mississippi, to Pakistan and to all of the communities that are feeling the brunt of these effects of not only climate change, but policy decisions that are harmful and hurting people that are being rendered disposable in the eyes of the state and of the world. Lindsay Shreen, I have to admit there is so much happening in the world of women's sports I can hardly keep up. I was barely keeping up with just the US Open and WNBA playoffs, but then women's soccer friendlies were happening. You guys told me there's hockey things going on, so I thought the best thing to do was talk about the biggest storylines, so let's start with hockey. I assume Shreen, you have a lot to say about hockey, I know nothing about what's happening in hockey. At least you didn't know Canada actually won gold over the USA. The IHF championships were held in Denmark, listen, we've been, this is not our first time at this rodeo, so I just want to say we love this, we love women's hockey. I don't like seeing Hillary night sad, but silver is a great color for a lot of people. It looks good. It goes with everything. Now I know those games can get a little zesty. Was it a zesty game, was it a close game, was it a walk in the park, what was the vibe like this year? I would definitely Canada would never say it's a walk in the park, it's to play the Americans, I mean in a pre-game, the United States actually won in the preliminary round, also the Americans beat Canada. Five two, so if you add together the scores USA one, Canada beat USA two one in the final, but USA beat Canada five two in the round robins, so who's the real winner is what I'm saying? Lindsay, I like in the points you're bringing. It's just math, it's just math, you know. It's math. Fortunately, hockey doesn't actually work like that in culminative to scores, but wouldn't it be fun if it did like soccer though? Absolutely not. I can only handle one at a time. I would literally, no, my gosh, I'm getting stressed to thinking about that. And again, like this is a rivalry is the best in sports in my opinion. Like this is incredible and so many of the players are teammates and play either in the PHF or the PWHP together, mostly the PEDUP, but you love to see it. I mean two one, it's a close game, anyone's called Brienne Jenner scored twice for Canada and then Kendall Clinges, Goyfield got the player of the game. Like they're undeniably incredibly talented. So that's that and for now, in the meantime, we have women's professional hockey, some things to gab about the PHF schedule comes out early in September, but we don't have it right now. New expansion team in Montreal, if you some of you missed this news is called the force. Now PWHPA, Jaina Hufford, who is the, you know, main consultant, some would call it president of that organization, regardless, Jaina Hufford is a legend and hockey. You know, PWHP is leading the foundation for Viable League. There's 18 months have been working on a business plan. I have a source that tells me there's a possible showcase and October has yet to be announced. Information not released. Well, traditionally this season starts in February, as far as men's hockey goes, I don't know, like there's a tweet that I want to add in our show notes. And I'm going to read it to y'all because I literally can't stop laughing. There's a lot of buzz about transfer and everything like that and, you know, the Stanley Cup Parade goes on all summer until the season starts again. So Adam Herman on Twitter wrote, "Every woman's hockey biography is like she has a master's in biochemistry and is a cancer researcher at Sloan Kettering. And every men's bio is like, his favorite serial is Fruit Loops." It's a great tweet. It's so apt because in one of the things that I think is really important to recognize is because, you know, now women's professional hockey in North America is growing more solidly, the most convenient place and best place for so many players to play is D1, is NCAA. So they stay there and they get educated. The women's hockey players are arguably the most educated in the world. They like have master's degrees. And in fact, Dr. Courtney Cito, friend of the show, did a paper about this within his gamble about how educated these players are. It's really great point because one of the things that happens like with the WNBA and the strength of their union is that women athletes oftentimes aren't leaving college early. And so they are getting four years in a system but four years of education. For recording this right after Labor Day, I'm thinking about unions right now. I think it's really interesting to see how that shows up and manifests and then the ability to not only unionize but collectively organize with ideas that have been tried out in classrooms for four years. And so I'm really interesting to see how this lead comes together. I have a question about Montreal force. Do they have their team yet or are they going to have to do a expansion draft? There's expansion drafts right up there as like the most stressful things to me. It's like when you're playing Go Fish and you like Miss Deal or something or in spades and somebody's like, oh, you just take a random card or like, you know, whatever. When you're playing cards and there's a Miss Deal and then somebody just gets to select one of your cards. How did we get to Go Fish? I don't know. I'm trying to use an inclusive card game. I was going to say space, not everybody plays space when everybody was black. You know what I'm saying? Like, when somebody gets to choose something from your hand and you don't really have control over that, I find it quite nerve wracking. And when the NWSL did their expansion draft, can you imagine just getting to pluck? Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I mean, this might be a reflection of a mere competitive side. I'm not quite sure. Have you ever played the Uno where you get to write in your own rules and people like switch hands and then like take care of the whole thing? Yes, it's absolute chaos. Exactly. And that's how I feel about expansion drafts. You see the vision, Shreen. Well, unfortunately, I won't be able to offer you that chaos in this regard. The roster is already up. Okay. Do we know their design? Yeah. Is it cute? Like the logo is out. It's very much a flower deli. Uh-huh. A flower deli? Uh-huh. Flower of the lake. Uh-huh. No. Flower deli is the symbol in the Kabeqwa flag. Wow. It's very French looking. It looks like the tip of a sword that they used to use and like- Ler, day, lease. De, de, lease. De, lease. Not lease. Le. That's what you sign when you rent an apartment. This is flea. Does it mean flower at all? Flower means flower deli. Okay. See? Okay. I know thing. You're basically bilingual at this point. Yeah. Thank you. See me. The look was interesting. It's like an F that's swirling. It's a curvy F. I'm looking at now. It's like a curvy F-tron. But it's half of the flow of deli if you look at it. Well, that makes mercency, I guess. Um, the colors in my room, which I love, because my hue looks good in these type of burgundyish colors. I'm excited to go to a game this year. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if anyone heard that. That's a big move. I do have to say Hillary Knight. I mentioned her before. Incredible player. We'll talk about it later in the show. No spoilers. So, uh, those updates were great. And Lindsay, you've moved. Yes. I'm excited. I'm excited for the. For the move. A big news was Brianna Decker. Was moving to the PH app. That was a big news. That's a big move. Incredible player. No spoilers. And Lindsay, you have more hockey news. Uh, yeah. A couple of updates. First, I just want to note that USA women's hockey team. It's somehow been five years since that like historic campaign to like, uh, boycott. What is that? Right. Yeah. It was a 2017 when they did that big campaign. You know, they, they boycotted the world championships. They weren't going to play until they got an equitable deal from USA hockey. They are kind of did a one year quicky deal last year. And then they were hoping to negotiate a new contract before the world championships this year. Didn't happen, but USA hockey is still paying them. Like, they've extended that contract until they can come up with a new deal. But I think that's an important labor fight to keep our eyes on. As we were here in Labor Day, one thing to notice, like, they don't get bonuses unless they win gold. So like, they got no bonus from winning the silver, which just like, I bet the men get bonuses for silver. I don't know. I haven't seen that contract. But that just seems like peak like women exceptionalism there. Like unless you get gold, uh, you get nothing. But anyways, yes, sled hockey. There was a big tournament going on in sled hockey. So it was also over the last week or so. And Green Bay was constant. It was the first ever women's world challenge. US did win this defeating Canada five to one. And the captain, Erica McKee said it's the greatest feeling in the world. It's like we won the Stanley Cup. Kudos to Alex A. Z over at on her turf for her continual coverage of the fights in sled hockey. It's very important to note that women's sled hockey is not part of the Para Olympics. And so there's an ongoing fight to get that into the Para Games. And it's this catch 22. They say there aren't enough women's teams to be a part of the Para Games. But countries aren't going to invest in Para programs for women unless it's in the Olympics, right? So another excuse is that it's technically a co-ed sport on the men's side. Like women can technically be on the team, but are usually just told no. There have been three women total since Para hockey debuted in the 94 winner games. There's even a free roster spot that can go to a woman. So men's only teams max out 17 players. Crossers can expand to 18 athletes. If a woman is included, nobody uses that extra point. So the point is like there's far too much sexism and we need to be investing in the women's game. This world championship world challenge, I guess it was called. It included USA, a team from Canada, a team from Great Britain. And then a team world composed of players from seven different nations. And just got to hope that more things like this keep coming. And just kudos to all of the women in Para hockey who continue to fight for this. And one thing I really hope is labor is that we can combine these fights. And I know that the USA women have a lot. A lot on their plate is they're fighting for, you know, basic respect. But I really hope that they can include the Para team in their fight and start fighting for more for them as well. Because as we always say solidarity labor solidarities, it's the only way we all win. It's the only way forward. And now all y'all know what's going on in the world of women's hockey and beyond. Now I want to pivot to the WNBA. But before we get into the playoffs, I wanted to note that this past Monday marks 200 days that Bernie Griner is not home. The WNBA PA using Labor Day to call attention to that fact and calling on all members of labor unions to recognize their union member who was still behind bars in Russia. Lindsay, I know you just had a great newsletter recentering Britney in this moment. What are any updates that you might want to share about BG? Yeah, just a couple of updates, as we were off air for a lot of the summer and went a lot of the stuff with her trial was happening. So a quick update, you know, she has been sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia, which is fucking devastating. 10 years was the max sentence, but four to five is much more normal and a lot, a lot of people get off with just parole. So it was considered an extremely severe sentence, so anyone in your life who's like, well, she broke the law, you know what I mean? Like, there's still clearly very retaliatory and political bullshit going on. It's been really hard, I think, to cover this story because I think everyone's using it to push their own narratives. You know, everything gets conflated and convoluted a lot. I think it's just important to keep in mind like the terrifying thing that an authoritarian regime is holding her hostage right now. There's some conversation that I feel like has just been like, well, why doesn't Biden just call Putin up? And I don't think like that's helpful because Putin wants to exploit and is very skilled at exploiting tensions within the United States. And the more he sees that we're kind of attacking each other over this, the more he's going to want to exploit that for his political benefit. So I think it's something important to keep in mind when we're talking about it. The same time I think it is absolutely key that we continue to bring up Reiner's name, continue to let the administration know that we will be supportive of whatever deal they end up having to make. If this is we want her to be home as soon as possible. There is a deal that the US has proposed seems like they're waiting for Russia to kind of respond for a prisoner swap. The prisoner Victor boot, who is in the United States is someone that Russia really wants out. So that's hopefully motivation on their part, but they're dragging their feet. They're trying to see what else they can get. They're playing a really bad faith game right now, and it's absolutely devastating. So I just think it's important when the WNBA playoffs, it's really exciting. Everything's really great, but this season forever has an asterisk by it. Nothing will be whole until Brittany Griner's home again. And we have to keep her at the forefront. And I think there's a responsible way to do that. And it's just by keeping the facts of the story in mind and just keeping centering her home. I've said it before my only hot take about all this is like she needs to be home. Amen. I get really frustrated when I see people, you know, exploiting this for whatever narratives. And the most bad faith stuff is of course the racist who are just saying she's getting what she deserves. She hates America, and there's plenty of that in the comment sections and the bullshit trolls. Yeah. And Amira Amira has talked about this before, the terrible memes. Awful. But it's also really interesting when all these policy experts emerge through TikTok. Yeah. It's so fascinating. But you know, they're like experts in everything. Yeah. All of a sudden. Everything. Marketing, economics, constitutional law, climate change. And then just like I saw somebody be like, if only we cared about Brittany Griner, the way we cared about Brittany Spears. And I was just like, I just don't know that like, like do not have the capacity to care for more than, okay. You know what? I don't know that Brittany Spears is like the model that we want anyone's life like to be like. She was in that concertorship for like 10 years before anybody gave a fuck like racism and sexism are absolutely part of this. I don't want to diminish their part of the story. But I just, I think there's a response a way to talk about that. And I think the response was just a center that she needs to come home. Absolutely. And thank you for recenting Brittany as we turn to the WNBA playoffs. We are now at the point of the playoffs where we are down to four teams or in the semi finals. The Las Vegas aces and the Seattle storm are duking it out. So are the Chicago sky and Connecticut sun. I don't know how we're feeling about best of five series. I always feel like they're too short because here we are with the potential. Before you even hear this that game four is played on Tuesday night will have already decided these series. If not what I'm rooting for because I'm rooting for chaos is that both of these series are pushed to a game five. But here are where things stand now. We have seen three games a piece Seattle took the first game over Las Vegas and then Vegas took the next game. Then game three which many people are calling the most thrilling game of the playoffs that I actually miss. But return to my phone to absolute calamity like you know when my mom is texting me about this. Like everybody is watching because she was like I should have left the room when Sue hit the three. And then Dr. Marazez who's had on the show was at the game and I got a million messages from them that was like no conspiracy. How with point two seconds left can you end down the ball and put the shot like everybody was in their feelings. It was great to see game three was devastating for the storm because they had it won multiple times in the last like seven seconds. And there was a complete kind of collapse in their defense by as a Magdebore who had had a phenomenal game. And if you're a WNBA and are like you know that name you know that potential. But she had a what people are calling like a JR Smith like brain like freeze at the end of that game where she stopped playing defense on Jackie young. Maybe she thought the game was over and she didn't want to like foul or something. We don't know like they're just like she completely stopped playing defense against Jackie young and allow Jackie young to just get that layup with like point eight seconds left on the clock and send the game into overtime where the ace is just steamrolled. And then the sky and the sun have also been very spicy games. Lindsay for you watching what has been the most surprising or exciting thing to come out of these WNBA playoffs. So for best teams right there were four super lead teams all year and how cool that like we got to we were getting to see them do get out right like this is what you want. I do agree we need best of seven in the semis in the finals like these are two. Too short like because it's so fun to see the adjustments that coaches make the adjustments that players make you learn so much about players and teams from these longer series. That's why the playoffs are so different from the regular season to me one of the most shocking things that's happened so far is Kurt Miller kind of benching John well Jones in key minutes in the game. It's between the Connecticut sun and the Chicago sky Howard Magdal over locked on women's basketball had a great podcast that came out kind of diving into that decision and whether the ramifications this could have for the franchise long term and what it means. I mean if this is a men's sport the benching of an MVP during key moments would be news and note where is he like it would be like overkill the talk that's a huge deal. You know ultimately though Candace Parker is just turned back the clock like you know I hope we get a couple more years of her playing at this level because like we're going to be talking about her as the greatest of all time like she's going to should be in those conversations and her play I think has just been like revolutionary and I'm sitting here really wanting to see in the finals her match up against Asia Wilson because I think like those are right now to me I mean Brianna Stewart's right there. They're the three best players Asia Wilson Brianna Stewart and Candace Parker but you know Chelsea Gray I think she's been the best point guard by far of these playoffs so when you're talking about the who the torch gets passed to there's been like is it a Courtney Vanderslute who courses like legendary and you know absolutely but I think Chelsea Gray is established herself as the best point guard in the league in these playoffs. And to me Asia Wilson on the aces is established herself as the best player in the postseason I still think it's neck and neck with her and Stewie for the MVP will know who that is probably maybe by the time this is announced they both have phenomenal regular seasons but I think in the playoffs Asia's been better and so it's just so good for the league to have the four best players to have the superstars really showing up and showing out and the only thing I wish is that these games weren't back-to-back double headers every time if they didn't schedule it so that we had more time to talk into process right like I know in the NBA playoffs it's like by this point like each game gets its own dissection yeah and I want that because I think like that's what we deserve at this point well and you also tweeted a really pointed tweet that like Tuesday today which is the day we're recording this we have so many things stacked up we have cocoa. The U.S. Open still continuing we have women soccer friendly with the United States in action today and then we've both of these WNB playoffs and I think Lindsey tweeted something like spread the joy around like this is a lot for a Tuesday. Yeah, Lunes has the has the sky in the Aces meeting in the final Shrine do you have a wager on who's emerging from the semi finals this week no I'm excited to watch me and I haven't been following it's close at bit of a chaotic summer so I didn't get to watch as closely as I can but for me there's no question the WNBA finals are legitimately probably the most exciting it's also the time of year like word traditionally we don't usually get playoffs at this time. It's hyped at a different level and it's so exciting. I mean I have been feeling some kind of way about the superb stuff like her leaving and you know like the retiring of these incredible players. I also actually wanted to say that my one of my favorite things about this is Lindsey's tweets Lindsey's reactions to everything is like hilarious between her and Erie Chambers it's like okay I'm good. And then there's Howard and there was like analysis and this and that and these guys are out here being like hysterical and like the analysis voice is the analysis that's my professional serious voice. At the end of the day your professional journalist you're this you're everything that in the end of the day you're like oh my god this game. I mean three lead changes in the last seven seconds not good for blood pressure like I was like this is probably the best game I've ever seen and I hate it. That's how I was feeling. I do want to say that I did actually pick the storm to win it all. I was going to say that but I didn't haven't watched enough. But game three like they had it won but the way they collapse in that Tina Charles was two free throws two key free throws. At the end like giving up that layup like they had their big win and then they let it go and I don't really know how you recover from that. But if anyone can it's superb and Joel Lloyd and Brandon Stewart. Well we will be watching to see what happens. I hope you all are too. As she mentioned this was a tremendous week because we got superb we got Candace Parker. And at the same time we had Serena playing absolutely out of her mind over the US open and winning games. Everybody is prepared to do like a first match send off and she won and she won to get on Wednesday. And so it was magnificent to see all this happening concurrently and just like these forces turn back time as Lindsey so aptly put it. As I mentioned we have a special patreon episode where me Brenda and Jessica are reacting to watching Serena at the US open. So you can check out a elongated conversation over there but I do want to just briefly touch on some of the stuff that's going down in the US open space and in women's tennis. I don't know if everybody got the chance to see the one sister's play doubles again or you're checking the miraculous play of cocoa golf which is part of my joy. But there's also story lines that you know I think we should all keep our eye on. Lindsey you've news about Azarenca yeah I just want to draw tense my fact that Azarenca has kind of used her platform to talk about how. Female players are exploited in professional tennis like left and right by coaches by other stakeholders and I think it's really important she's. Member of the WTA players council she said in the women's game particularly I see so many coaches that make their players dependent on them and I think it's very dangerous it's manipulative to I wish that kind of subject was talked about a little bit more. The kind of impetus for this was a few in a fair the French former number 39 file charges against her former coach for rape and sexual assault between 2012 and 2015. As someone who's covered tennis for well over a decade now and used to extensively cover this sport. There's always been discussions of these players in their early 20s late teens right like in relationships with their coaches the you know these older male coaches and. Nobody really talks about that openly because you don't want to like out someone's business and it's there's power and balances there Pam Shriver recently came out and told her full story about being exploited and realizing that the relationship she was in with her coach was inappropriate. And I was just really happy to see as a rank using her platform to talk about this because it is a really big problem on the WTA tour and it's not talked about and it's it's tough to talk about publicly when the player themselves isn't talking about it you know and by the time it comes to light they're usually in their 20s and their adults but. Anyways thank you as a rank up yes thank you for mentioning that the US open is rolling merely along by the time this airs on Thursday that day will have the semifinals upon us with Saturday September 10th of course at 4 p.m. Eastern being the women's finals and will crown a new champion there has been some magnificent tennis being played on both the men's and women's side I know last night so Monday night. Frances big foe see how far was phenomenal as he beat Rafa and it was just some of the shots are just beautiful just gorgeous tennis being played on the women's side there's a lot to love. I'm excited of course to see Coco match up with Caroline Garcia owns your boys playing terrific and this has been a really exciting open even with all of the space we held for the pomp and circumstance and celebration of serena. There's just some really great tennis happening lastly as we come to the end of our roundup I want to briefly touch on women's soccer friendlies are happening upon us she and I don't know if you watch Canada in action and if you did how did they look yeah we're 10 months away from a woman's world cup you know this is big times happening word. In Australia I did want to say that the team looks great the roster looks great you know the vets are there but I will say that Canada played the Mattel does. And anytime you're anywhere near Sam Kerr there's a reason to like make sure that you're properly connected your formations are right attacking Canada is missing quite a few defenders because of injury. So could he should be canon arguably one of the best defenders in the world wasn't playing the national was out jade revier was out and I mean even Ashley Lawrence was unavailable due to personal reasons so when we're looking at that we're like okay well what does this team look like they still want to one but like Canada's the only big champions and so right now I know in the recent. I'm a friendly against us they lost in in in the conquer calf but I think it's important to realize that we're just constantly moving forward the new hashtag we can. I love that I don't usually like cheesy hashtags although I use them all the time I do like it was like you do. I mean I you know how I you know it is I'm very cheesy both of you know this but at the same time Canada soccer and talked a lot about it on the show and I have is imploding in a way that with the teams with the organization had Nick Vontis. As being called out there's a joint letter sent out so while the women are competing in the men are competing they're also actively advocating for their own selves or questioning the organization for which they have zero trust. And can we blame them so this is all happening at the same time as these high performance athletes are trying to keep you know you know upper echelons of the world stage so I just wanted to remind everybody that those things are ongoing and we will keep you updated. Yeah and on the United States side you know fresh off that one zero conquer Catholic free off of Canada they head into two friendlies this week versus Nigeria they're an action today the day we record. I know there's been a lot of kind of eyes on this team because of coaching decisions and formations and style of play a lot seems very up in the air still how this team lines up who even makes the roster. And I think that this series of friend loose has actually gone a long way to I don't think it has settled anything but at least it didn't feel like the sky was falling. They like could play Sophia Smith looks tremendous and of course my eyes are on Sam coffee who is playing with the team and hopefully gets her first cap tonight if she does she'll become the 250th player to earn a cap for the United States women's national team. When she was told this by a reporter she was like oh do I get like a special prize or something and so now I really want to get her cap so we can like send her edible range winner special prize or something for doing that. But yeah that's what's going on over here so I don't really think we got a lot of answers to questions but I'm not feeling as barrier head under the blankets and scream about the state of like say the midfield in the national team. Please tweet us let us know what you have your eye on other things happening in the world of women sports college sports is upon us there's just so much to enjoy we hope you are enjoying it as well. Every deep playoff run starts with building an amazing team doing the same for your business doesn't take a room full of scouts you just need indeed. Don't spend hours on multiple job sites looking for candidates with the right skills when you can do it all with indeed. Hate waiting indeed US data shows over 80% of indeed employers find quality candidates whose resumes on indeed matches their job description the moment they sponsor a job. Something I love about indeed is that it makes hiring all in one place so easy because with virtual interviews indeed saves you time. You can message schedule an interview top talent all in one place indeed knows that when you're growing your business you have to make every dollar count. That's why when you sponsor a job you only pay for quality applications from resumes in our database matching your job description. Visit indeed dot com slash blue wire to start hiring today just go to indeed dot com slash blue wire that's indeed dot com slash blue wire. Terms and conditions apply cost per application pricing not available for everyone need to hire you need indeed. This week I chat with Victoria Jackson about college sports chaos what does name image likeness look like in its second year. What about realignment there are schools that are completely in eligible like fam you I'm looking at you so check out my conversation with Victoria out now about college sports chaos. It's because these are professional sports and they're competing and so part of it too is competing for talent right because you have to win and that's the mission right it's not serving students who play sports. The mission is to be the best and to win and that means making money. It is now time for everyone's favorite segment the burn pile and I'm going to kick it off because my burn has been just living rent free in my head for the last 24 hours cocoa goff is having amazing US open run. She is playing phenomenally she's into the quarters and in her last match after winning the first set seven five she was down in the second set. Five three before pulling off four straight games to eventually win seven five. Of course the gentleman was going she got emotional and excited as she got those big big points and saves coming down the stretch which included screaming of course she wagged her finger did the Montomo not today and she also did a motion across her neck which is the point of my burn here today it was a real hashtag to America's moment. There were so so many people so many white people under the comment section of ESPN's post about cocoa the WTA's post about cocoa the US opens post about cocoa immediately running to say some boiler plate template of Oh I really wanted to share for cocoa too bad I really liked her but then she was aggressive or then she showed no class somebody said she should be censored and find if the US open doesn't discipline her now then she'll think it's okay to play with such aggression and here's this coded language that we're so familiar with. It doesn't get to be fiery doesn't get to be passionate doesn't like she's winning huge points when her back is against the wall. You want her to just like pour a cup of tea and a saucer what is happening here but the thing about it is a lot of people especially honed in on this gesture with her hand and decided she was like being aggressive and wanting to kill her opponent despite like a very nice hug at the net and lots of smiles and nothing at all that would suggest that and so after it did lead to though my favorite thing which is a number of black women getting on Twitter to respond to these trolls to say no she was just saying period like period sis like from city girls cocoa herself tweeted to reaffirm that she was doing it saying she did city girl song stuck in her head so when she got a point she said period because that's what was on her mind but it led to the funniest press conference I've ever seen in which cocoa golf tries to explain to a very aging white male tennis media who exactly the city girls are just listen to try to explain. I don't know what you want to call me that was like a period like city girls period like city girls city girls summer period that's what it is JT young Miami don't know what I'm 53 years old. It's like period you see I got my net. It's a kind of lighthearted burn it's familiar we've been here before we understand how this is racially coded I want cocoa to keep shining keep living her joy keep saying period sis because we got you we know what you meant and absolutely per period you are playing lights out keep balling cocoa and for the rest people have something to say about the passion she plays with fuck that burn it down. Let's stay in the tennis world because there are some other burnable things happening over there Lindsey what's you have for us. Quick out of tears which is that cocoa and her opponent said the nicest things about each other before and after the match like they're clearly like really really good friends and there's so much respect between them so it's just like people just they're racist they're sex and they're also just dumb like. Speaking of racist sexist and dumb my record I hope that this is the last time that we ever have to burn her not because she's stopping doing shitty things or sing shitty things but because with serena's involvement away from tennis she's no longer relevant and people can stop interviewing her I'm mad that I'm having to talk about her because I am mad that people interviewed her and then gave her a platform and made her. Bullshit headlines because it just didn't mean that happened and in a way that said oh we should feel sorry for her it is pure clickbait bullshit so anyways Margaret court 124 majors before the open air of tennis so before tennis was professionalized and most of her majors are one in Australia before most top players traveled to the Australian open on a regular basis. Because these were the old in days and it's far it's hard to get to Australia so she did not compete against full fields and 24 titles is great it's good but it is not what serena did and the real mark for serena the past was Steffi graphs 22 she did that she has 23 period and a discussion. Margaret court decided to come forward and say serena I've admired her as a player but I don't think she has ever admired me I came back after two babies after having her the first baby I went three out of the four slams serena hasn't won a slam since having a baby. She also said the press and television today they don't want to mention my name the honor has not been there for what I do in my own nation I've been given titles but they would still rather not mention me well it's because she's racist and homophobic there's a there's Margaret court arena at the Australian open like she was getting all of the accolades like she was an important part of tennis history and was being treated as such until she decided to just openly oppose same sex marriage everywhere and you know be pro apartheid and do all this stuff and people like man we don't really want her to be an ambassador of the sport right like we're not taking away her titles it even renamed the damn court yeah she's bullshit so it's just her playing the victim do not go and blame your religion on this bullshit like do not pretend is because you are Christian it's because you're a bigoted asshole like that's why and those things don't have to go hand in hand they just do for you so I was so mad to see these headlines especially because she's gotten so much respect in the tennis community until she's the one who stepped up so hopefully for the last time Margaret court burn alright sure any bring us home my god merit Paulson is trash we've been here before we know this but I mean what what I love about journalism and just permit me a second to say that people are constantly doing this work to keep up with the stories and keep digging because we know that we've all of this was unearthed when megalena henna the athletic with Katie strang did all of this reporting which was so critical and important but we know that there's more there we know that there's a way more filth and it needs to be laundered and just recently I'm reading from an espn article it was reported that in 2019 the Portland thorns own our merit Paulson engaged in an effort to dissuade Paul partly for applying from a manager's job with the U.S. women's national team this came after four years almost four years after Riley was fired by that N. W. S. Salteen for causing an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment now the reason that merit Paulson didn't want him to get that job because then he would have to disclose the reason for why he was fired and merit Paulson didn't want anyone to know why because he did fuck all about it this is essentially an effort to save face we know that systems of oppression like the swaying systems of violence against women and sexual violence in particular men are complicit in this people with power complicit in this and merit Paulson is just one such person I was looking back and there's an article from 2008 for bleacher report that friend of the show Dave Zyron wrote and he the title was a merit policy and this type of meritocracy in with regards it was a play on words with merit Paulson is specifically he's not interested despite what press releases have been released and he said in an open letter this is about saving face and saving money this is about power it's about control he doesn't give a shit I was happy to see former Portland thorns player Alex Morgan blast them on Twitter blast this report she blasted the team which couldn't have been easy because I mean nobody loves to do that that's a part of their history and I know that I'm sure I don't know that but I'm sure the players are raw like there's players with principle who are like the captain for team Canada plays for Portland thorns this cannot be an easy situation someone who has led this country with principle and integrity to be associated with that it's horrible and it puts the players in a terrible position again merit Paulson is trash I started there I'm going to come back full circle there will be more about this I'm sure but in the meantime I want to take all of this a lack of transparency complicit way the impunity which way men function like this those who are directly involved in causes abuse and this harm I want to take all of that shit and I would put it on the burn pile burn after all that burning let's light up some torchbearers of the week we'll start with some honorable mentions Shrine Hillary night folks Hillary night of team USA scored during the IH up tournament to clinch an O2 goal but while doing that reached 87 points breaking the record of highest points at the women's world night beat Haley wicked hyzer's record of 86 amazing absolutely I'll go next I just want to shout out John wall the NBA player got very candid with his mental health journey this past week he talked about contemplating suicide while dealing with personal loss and injury and his vulnerability and pushing this forward conversation is is really helping to destigmatize both mental health and suicide ideation and I think that it's a really big deal for John wall to get real in this way I hope that it continues to represent a shift in in this culture about supporting people dealing with this and certainly certainly not kicking them when they're down just a reminder we'll drop the suicide hotline links in our show notes should you or anybody you know need to call them and please please please dial the number if you need somebody to talk to and thank you john wall for setting that example Lins who got don staley for canceling the BYU home and home series with South Carolina and women's basketball last week if you need to go back and re-listen to that we've burned the racism at BYU against a black Duke volleyball player and their handling of this and don staley in making this decision to cancel the BYU home and home series said I just wanted to make sure our players didn't have to endure that because if something happened of that manner I don't have the words to comfort them shireen well I may or may not have mentioned it but Canada defeated team USA21 at the ii HF Women's World Championship gold medal game in Denmark congratulations Canada love seeing Sarah nurse with more hardware I can get behind that drum roll please boom boom do we have a tambourine girl no five years in like five drum roll not a tambourine shape no but I feel like trust I feel like you have a tambourine no no anyways the torch bear of the week is none other than the goat herself serena Williams thank you for a magnificent week a phenomenal career for everything you have done and you have meant for all you have inspired I mean we're seeing it right now from cocoa to tiapha wearing a goat sweatshirt and talking about how you winning let him into tennis and made him believe he could we're watching your legacy unfold in real time and we wish you the best on this evolution we cannot wait to see what you do next all righty what's good in your world let's see what you got going on uh I'm enjoying every single second of the hot drama filled mess it is the don't worry darling uh movie it is amazing if you don't know this is a movie with Florence pew and Harry styles and I mean I it is just great celebrity gossip it is just they all look like they they hate each other like I need a play by play on like what went down on that set it looked like Harry style spit on Chris pine yesterday like like shit is like it's gone this prime who looks like a hostage in every single shot you see would not be there and then of course like Harry styles and live your wild are apparently together but they won't stand next to each other because they don't want people to get couples photos of them but also that means they're acting like they've never met before like that's really awkward Florence pew won't do any of the press for the movie like and that's awkward although she looks phenomenal it's just like I need more I mean pardon usually like disappointed because Olivia wilde's directorial debuts have been like really good and she was getting all this great you know a claim and and now this is just gonna kind of ruin everything but just like also just like don't I know men do it but like don't sleep with your leading man like during it it just complicates things like wait a little bit and also I don't know I'm just gonna enjoy the petty gossip I'm just gonna enjoy it it's okay to enjoy it I'm just loving it is my favorite thing has been watching another two america's like all these like we were this one person tweeted y'all just invent new white people every day that was Florence pew who I love I think she's the best actress I told you no but it's so funny yeah so funny because everybody now has to do primers of everybody and it is just a wide I knew nothing about this until like two days ago and now it's like all I can think about absolutely uh although next so obviously my what's good was getting to go to the U.S. Open the atmosphere was amazing um traveling with Jess was was great and to see Brenda and Martin and Frank and Millery and I saw Ellie Jean surprised her and Kurt Streeter and just it was Howard Bryan Mary Crillo it was like a fun reunion it felt like a summer camp reunion I really you know how I am big on summer camps so that was a really great week um we also had a birthday party here this weekend for Zachary my mom got me like a huge ass bounce house I couldn't fit in our backyards we had it in our front yard it was wild we had a face painter come I had my nieces for the weekend it was chaos our house looks like a tornado hit it um but we had a good time fun was had my kid is happy you know what more can you ask for and and classes have started at UT they actually started two weeks ago but I've been in denial um so now I will pretend the semester is actually starting um and I really like my class and oh and I watch hacks finally I went through two seasons the other day um and I really like that show and I sobbed at the end of it because I am a big softy but I really did enjoy hacks so that is one of my recommendations should you be looking for a new show to binge shearing oh wait sorry one more thing I also absolutely want to shout out one of my many moms Nancy her birthday is this weekend on September 11th um and so I want to send her lots of love and a very very happy birthday happy birthday mom listen to this is it the sex song oh my god yes it's called narco uh that is not the sex uh trumpet player now I know I have a you know partial I'm partial to strings I play the chalo for a long time I love that kind of stuff but this trumpet is blowing me away okay so basically Edwin Diaz is a pitcher for the mats went to the mound but the team brought out Timothy trumpet to play this live and it was wild I've I'm not a big mats person don't care I look really cute in this uh tronoblige's jersey I'm wearing it's very sweet but other than that but this is life changing I'm thinking about playing this I I want this essentially as our theme song wherever we as burn it all down go anywhere I would love that I was also thinking seriously about having it play as I walk into my classroom this week which is my segue so class to start this week at tronoblige metropolitan university I'm teaching three it's a bit wild just a tip to students please don't email me on labor day I'm a cuteie like you know member I'm not be checking your emails on labor day Monday don't email me keeners I appreciate you don't email me on Monday you can email me on Tuesday classes and start your Thursday anyways all this to say I'm very excited I also went to Grenada which was amazing it's literally the most beautiful place on earth if you tell me not Meg from your country's better I will fight you I'm sorry this is a spice aisle I love this place it was gorgeous there's actually a beach called BBC and it is the most beautiful place on earth it's named after somebody used to own a club Brian be something so that's why it's called that I just was like this is not a real place it's it's like a postcard so my husband family was there Jeffrey got married congratulations to Jeffrey and Samantha I never actually met Samantha before so she's walking down the aisle and there's this like excited hijabi woman going like this she's like who'd at who's at my wedding is that matter after obviously but anyway it was tons of fun um and yeah I wanted to say happy birthday to my best friend Aaron her birthday is on Wednesday she's got a job with the city and I was planning on showing up with balloons and feather boas and I think I'm not gonna do that because she doesn't want me to do that at her workplace I don't know why I was like you know thinking about I have a friend who dresses up as homey the clown from in living color I'm like that can be a possibility she's like please don't do that so anyways it's fine other than that I'm just I'm excited about the fall y'all know this is my favorite time of year I love autumn I love the leaves I love everything I love the promise of you know my birthday season which also happens to be in winter but I love all of that so just generally I'm excited I'm really excited it's will be my first time teaching in front of students like with them because I only taught online so I'm very excited about that to see them in person in a mirror if you have tips tell me if any of y'all have tips just tweet them at me I love this class very deal I'm teaching sports journalism and everybody in this show is actually on my syllabus and um actually Lindsay you threw me for a bit of a loop because I had you with another power plays when covering the coverage I love that one and I think it's really important for sports journalists to understand but you're Brittany Griner recent one now I because of you I was fighting in the system to change it to add another one so can you please stop doing that so yeah also I like how you played a song and we just glazed over the fact that I was like oh that's the sex song that's trendy you're like yeah no that is not I'm talking about that thread you do what I was talking about right let's see I know we were talking about it's the last thing I'll say there is a reddit post this guy made where he basically talked about how he felt really uncomfortant his love making so he like made a playlist for confidence and for rhythm for two years he's been uh playing this certain playlist and there's one particular song that really like allows him to climax and it's like his favorite song and he recently found out his girlfriend hates this song and he's like devastated because he's like feeling like what happened for the last two years and then he said he tried it without the song but she could still tell that he was thrusting to the rhythm of the song and all of this is really funny as soon as you hear what the song sounds like and it has gone so viral that including the person who made this song retweeting it that is now the number one song on TikTok viral music charts and now you know what we're watching this week well we already told you lots of WNVA playoffs we're watching women's soccer friendlies we're watching the us open Thursday night if we have those game 5s they will be happening then and the us open women's final of course is on Saturday September 10th for PM Eastern that's it for this episode of Burn It All Down this episode was produced by Tressa Verstagg Shelby Weldon is our web and social media wizards Burn It All Down is a part of the Blueire podcast network follow us on Facebook Twitter Instagram we're in all of those places listen subscribe and rate the show apple podcast it just modify google play tune in you know the deal wherever you get your podcasts for show links transcripts check out our website burnitalldownpod.com you'll also find a link to our merch at our bonfire store there and if you want to become a sustaining donor to our show please visit patreon.com/burnitalldown as a reminder we have special extended and video segments over there this week again Jess me and Brenda talk about our experience at the us open to cut information in the full extent of this podcast I highly recommend you checking out our patreon community as Brenda always says burn on not out and we'll see you next week flame thrower's flame with the famous to the screen and show no yeah you