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Bodybuilding Icon Bev Francis Reveals Real World Behind ‘Love Lies Bleeding’

With the release of Rose Glass’s new film, Love Lies Bleeding, this month, I think it’s safe to say that female bodybuilding is having a moment. By the mid-1980s, which is when the film is set, female bodybuilding was just beginning to crest the peak of its popularity. Gyms and health clubs were opening up in every corner of the U.S. and competitive bodybuilding federations were finally including women’s competitions. When George Butler’s 1985 documentary Pumping Iron II: The Women premiered at Cannes, it became apparent that the niche sport was becoming a little less niche, at least for a little while.

The film introduced the world to professional female bodybuilding and, in turn, introduced the world to the women — both seasoned professionals and the newcomers to the sport — who compete. One of those newcomers, Australia’s Bev Francis, an accomplished professional powerlifter turned bodybuilder, took the bodybuilding world by storm. Francis, who was the most muscular competitor in the film, had a physique that people weren’t used to seeing in the sport and, subsequently, didn’t know how to handle. Following the release of the film, Francis would become one of the biggest stars in bodybuilding, not because of how many times she won but because of how jacked she was and because of how she kept competing, despite what people thought about her.

As someone who’s obsessed with strength sports and strength sports history, I was immediately enamored with Francis’ athleticism, tenacity, and “Say whatever you want, but I’m doing me” attitude. I reached out to Francis to see if she’d be interested in talking about her career, her involvement in the film, and her future in strength sports, and, thankfully, she agreed.

Our conversation was long and had many diversions — mostly about the excitement of getting stronger! — but here you’ll find the highlights so you can get to know this legend a little better.

Stef: I think our community of readers might be learning about you for the first time, so I think it’s good to start with the basics. You began training in track and field in college, and then you branched out into powerlifting after. And on top of that, you were going to school to be a physical education teacher. How did you get interested in sports in the first place, where did the obsession begin, and what were your early experiences playing sports like?

Bev: I’ve just always loved physical movement. I started with dance, which was the first organized thing I did, because my mom was a dancer when she was young. And my sister, who is my closest sibling in age, but still seven years older than me, was in dance class. My mom used to take me along in the little stroller, and as soon as I could walk, basically, I was dancing on the sidelines, and I obviously loved that. So Mom enrolled me. I was like three and a half, four, that’s when I started dance. It was ballet, classical ballet, tap, and some ethnic dances. We did things like Highland Flings, Irish Jigs, and Polish mazurkas, and all those things. I just loved all that, and I continued doing classes until I was about 15.

Once I was at school, I was playing any sport that was available. I was always good at physical education, I was always a fast runner, I always had really good hand-eye coordination, and I was just good at sports. I was always doing something athletic, physical. And at school, I really loved track and field. I wasn’t fabulous at it, I was fast, but not the fastest. I could throw well, but not the furthest. I was always up there, but not the best at anything. So by the end of school, I had to choose a career. And again, I’m talking graduating in 1972 from high school, so careers for women, if you were going to be out and doing a job, you had to wear stockings, skirts, and heels. That wasn’t me.

So, I chose the only thing I thought I could wear casual clothes doing, and also that I was interested in, and that was physical education teaching. And my family was a bunch of teachers. I mean, Mom had been a dancer, but she taught dancing after she stopped. My father was a teacher, one of my brothers was a teacher, and my sister was a teacher. It just ran in the family. And it was also a way for me to get a tertiary education, because I could get what’s called in Australia a studentship. The education department is run by the state government, and they gave scholarships to do the teacher training, and you had to teach for a certain number of years. We didn’t have enough money for me to go to university, but with that studentship I could.

It was perfect. I got paid to do a course that I wanted to do, and get into a job that I wanted and felt comfortable in. And when I went to university, you did every sport imaginable in your physical education course. Ones that I’d done before, and ones that I hadn’t. And while I was at the university there was a coach, he was a world renowned coach, and I started training with him just for fitness. I told him straight out, “I’m not an athlete.”

Stef: Wow, you were so wrong.

Bev: Yeah. And I wanted to learn from him, because as I said, he was a genius coach. He was the coach for Roger Bannister, the first four-minute miler. Franz Stampfl was his name. And he was the person who saw something in me. He thought that I could be better if I trained specifically for throwing [shot put], and told me to do that, I would have to weight train.

I said, “I’ll do anything that I have to learn.” So he started me off with weight training, and I found my niche. I just got stronger and stronger, and I loved it and just fell in love with the whole idea of strength training and everything that went with it. My throws got further, my sprinting got faster, my jumps got better. I saw that everything was helped by strength, and that flowed into life…your confidence, everything gets better as you get stronger. Strength just became a lifelong love for me.

Stef: I know in your powerlifting career, you broke records. And not only that but you were able to get totals that people are still aspiring to lift right now. You mentioned your coach got you into weightlifting, which I think is kind of common for people who played other sports and then become strength athletes. Can you tell me a little more about that training transition?

Bev: The two main lifts that he regarded as essential for power training, for the throws, were the squat and bench press. They were the two basic movements. And of course, you’ve only got to add deadlift to that, and you’ve got powerlifting. So, it was a little bit later that we did some deadlifting, as well as curls, leg extensions, lat pull downs, and everything else. But the basis of the training was massive amounts of squats and bench press.

Stef:
What drew you to eventually competing in powerlifting in the first place? Can you talk a little bit about your experiences as a female powerlifter in the 1970s and early 1980s?

Bev: It was actually very easy. I didn’t choose powerlifting…powerlifting chose me. My teammates [the other women Stampfl trained alongside Bev] and I were getting strong, and we were breaking shot put, discus, and javelin state and then national records. We were getting publicity in the papers over two years, and one of the things the articles were saying and we said is, “We’re stronger. That’s why we’re breaking records. We’re doing all this lifting.”

It was probably in the end of 1976 or early 1977, the Powerlifting Association in Victoria, that’s the state in Australia where I live, contacted our coach and had seen the articles in the paper, and they were trying to get women’s powerlifting going. They called up our coach and said, “You have some strong girls. Would they like to compete in a powerlifting meet?” They had to explain what a powerlifting meet was. And we thought it sounded like a fun activity to do. The three of us went along, and we all broke the Australian records. And there were no world records ratified at that time, but they informed me that my lifts were the best on record in the world for my weight class. So it was like, “Okay, this sounds like the sport for me.”

After that, I just started winning. I won every contest that I went into, which is kind of nice when you find you can win something. That’s how I got into powerlifting. And I stayed in it until I’d already moved to the U.S. I did my last two contests for Australia while I was living in the US. And then by that stage, I’d done [Pumping Iron II: The Women], and the movie had been released.

I got a couple of injuries, and I’d won six world championships, and this bodybuilding thing was all around me. And people were saying, “You can’t do it.” At the same time, I had all these fans saying, “You’re the best. Come back and do more.” But I felt like I’d conquered the world in powerlifting, and it’s hard on the body to keep going year after year at that level. So bodybuilding, even though it’s hard, it’s hard in a different way. It’s just pain, but it’s not that heavy. It’s pain of reps after reps and the burning and the intensity, but it wasn’t putting that heavy load constantly on my spine. I thought, enough with powerlifting, and let me give my full attention to bodybuilding now, and show all these non-believers that a powerlifter actually can sculpt their body and become the best bodybuilder in the world.

Stef: Your bodybuilding career began with that invitation from George Butler, right?

Bev: Yeah, because I had no intention of getting into bodybuilding. When he asked me to do the movie, they wanted that extreme body to give the movie some punch, and it sure did. I mean, if you’re asked to be in a movie, you do it. I was an amateur athlete! A schoolteacher! A world-class athlete, but still, it’s a very exciting prospect to be asked to be in a movie. And it came at a perfect time because I had partially torn my Achilles tendon, and recovery from Achilles tendon surgery is very long. It’s basically a year. I knew I was going to be out of action from throwing, from running, from even squatting, because I didn’t have the flexibility after the surgery. My ankle was pretty much locked, and I had to gradually get the flexibility back.

My training was completely different. And I had this opportunity, and my coach was like, “Yeah, take it.” So that’s what I did. And as I said, I threw myself fully into it. I had to learn how to diet and everything, because I had no idea how to diet. And also, I had no respect for bodybuilding at the time. Bodybuilding doesn’t take the effort of running, jumping, throwing, lifting. I thought it’s not athletic, it’s just posing. Of course, I soon learned the training for bodybuilding is really, really tough, and especially when you throw in reduced calories. My respect for bodybuilding grew. And as I said, I was coming to this stage where I was getting injured, and it was getting tough on my body. I preferred to retire while I was ahead, while I was a winner.

Stef: You were originally doing both, and then you made the official switch, right?

Bev: That’s what I did. 1983 was when I tore my Achilles tendon and couldn’t do anything. And that’s when the movie came along, so it was perfect timing. I was still able to do the World Powerlifting Championships in 1983, and in 1984, I moved to the US just before the World Powerlifting Championships that year. During that time, in 1983 and 1984, I was doing bodybuilding, and I was doing exhibitions. And after the movie wrapped, I came back to contests in 1986. That’s when I started bodybuilding and no powerlifting.

It took me three years of training to reshape my body, to get that V-taper, to bring my waist in, to bring my back out, to bring my shoulders up, to do the things I had to do for bodybuilding.

Stef: How would you describe your experiences in the bodybuilding community? I’m interested in how it was interacting with other bodybuilders, even your direct competition.

Bev: My track and field group was a family and we still are. And that was one of the genius moves of Franz [Stampfl], creating a group dynamic and to have a group that trains together. But with bodybuilding, I was in my gym, and everybody else was in their own gym. It’s rare to have someone who’s a competitor who’s in the same gym, especially at the professional level, because they’re all over the country. For example, in the movie, Rachel [McLish] and I were cast as direct antagonists, but we’d never met. And, in fact, we did not have a conversation during the time of Pumping Iron II. We never spoke.

However, after the movie we were both called for guest posing, and sometimes we went to the same place. We spoke, and I actually wrote her a letter just to tell her I had nothing but the greatest of admiration for what she’d done for women’s bodybuilding, and that it was certainly not my choice that we were cast as enemies. And she responded very positively to that letter. At one stage over the next couple of years, when I had to go to where she lived in Palm Springs for an exhibition, she had called the Gold’s Gym there and left six messages for when I got in there for me to contact her and her husband. Steve [Bev’s former husband and training partner] and I ended up going and meeting them for lunch, going to their house, and going out with them. And she’d visit our gym in New York.

I also always got along really well with Cory Everson, she was Ms. Olympia when I finally came into Ms. Olympia in 1987. She’s kind of goofy like I am, we both like to goof around and have fun, and she’s very down-to-earth. We just loved each other from the time we met, and we stayed friends. I still have cards that she would send me before the contest saying, “You and me first and second.” Or, “Equal first, let’s beat all the others.” And, “I’ve got an idea, let’s mess around in the posedown.” Which we did. I would jump in front of her and pose, and she’d pick me up and push me aside. The audience loved it. We’re still friends today. Leanne [Bev’s partner] and I went and stayed at her house in LA a couple of years ago on our way to New York.

But as I said, it’s harder in bodybuilding because you don’t have a group that you train with every day who you also compete with. The people I train with every day in the gym are just regular people. Steve was my training partner, and other people in the gym would come to the Olympias and support me.

Stef: I’ve learned a lot about how much sacrifice and hard work it takes. I know you’ve spoken about how much training you had to put into it, and on top of that, being a bodybuilder can be really expensive. Given how much you had to give to the sport, what kept you coming back year after year?

Bev: Well, I mean, it’s pretty simple. I wanted to win. That’s pretty much it, I wanted to be Ms. Olympia. I mean, I was really happy that I won the World Championships, because I was world champion in two sports, that’s pretty cool. World champion powerlifter and world champion bodybuilder. I’m in two Hall of Fames. I’m in the Bodybuilding Hall of Fame and the Powerlifting Hall of Fame, which is pretty cool, too. But yeah, I wanted to win.

I mean, and that was the thing that allowed me to do the part of the training that I didn’t like, the part of changing, becoming more “feminine.” I mean, it’s nice to have someone actually say, “You look pretty.” Or to look at pictures and go, “Wow, you actually look gorgeous in this picture with the makeup.” Because I never used makeup, and I had short nails. I looked like a classic lesbian, even though I wasn’t a lesbian. I was straight as a ruler until just a few years ago.

For years, I tried to make sure that my hairstyle and my makeup appealed to the judges. Even my body, I had to bring it in, I had to lose muscle every year. I had to diet, not only to lose body fat, but to lose some muscle, to bring my body into more feminine lines. Because as it’s been quoted at and many, many times, the rule book states that judges must remember they’re judging a female bodybuilding competition. So I had that thrown at me.

Stef: We’re still having these conversations about what female athletes can and can’t do, and I think that that’s in every sport. People often talk about how you were ahead of your time. How do you feel about that? What does that mean to you?

Bev: I’m very proud of that now. I certainly didn’t go out to change the world. From the time I was a little kid, I wanted to do what I wanted to do. I was a very determined little bugger. I was a difficult child, and I was a complete tomboy, as they called it. I never wanted to be a boy, I wanted to be a girl on my own terms. I wanted to be a strong girl, I wanted to be a brave girl, I wanted to be a smart girl, I wanted to be an achieving girl. And I could see no logical reason why any of that shouldn’t happen, I couldn’t see any reason why I couldn’t do anything that any guy could do.

And that’s just how I thought from the time I was little. I mean, I was the perfect client for Franz because he was totally for women being so much better than they were, and he believed that the key to it was women getting strong. He said, “Women are nowhere near their potential, and the one thing they can do to increase their performances is weight train and get strong.” And I didn’t see limits. Just, How strong can I get? There was no limit, and it was very encouraging.

My family was good about it. I had a very traditional family, Dad was a school teacher, Mom was a homemaker. She cooked, sewed, knitted, crocheted, preserved, made jams, all the things that a really traditional housewife would do. And Dad would never let her work, even though we had five kids in the family and were struggling on one salary. Very traditional in that way. And yet, I mean, when I was a kid, always, I wanted to go rabbit hunting with him, shooting. I would go chopping wood with him and help in the backyard when he was doing his concreting and everything. All the boys had to learn how to cook basic meals and iron their shirts. And it’s like, “You’ve got to learn to take care of yourself, and you’ve got to be able to do everything.” When I started lifting and getting strong, Dad was just proud, his strong daughter. And Mom, the only concern Mom had was, “Be careful, make sure you warm up right. Don’t hurt yourself.” That was all. Otherwise, they were proud as punch of me. I had the support of my family, and I was very, very fortunate, because so many people, when they’re going into the world to do what they want to do, they don’t have that.

I guess I was never scared, I was just, “Fuck everybody.” But I had enough support that I could do it. And women should be allowed to look whatever they want to look like, and do whatever they want to do. God’s sake, men do. I just wanted that freedom. I wanted freedom for myself and for me to feel that I’ve helped free other women, or give an example of what you can do and be happy about it. That has made me feel good.

Stef: I think that that’s interesting, especially in terms of something like female bodybuilding, where gender presentation is heavily policed. I can see how you coming in during that time and saying, “No, I’m going to look this way, and I’m still going to compete. And you’re not going to push me out until I say I want to be out.” That is extremely important. I have a feeling that it impacted not just female bodybuilding, but also just female sports in general.

Bev: I hope so. I mean, when I was competing, Martina Navratilova was a very muscular woman, and she was the only other one that I really looked at who looked… Not similar to me, but looked like she didn’t give a fuck what people thought of her. And I liked that. But beyond that, I didn’t have any role models. I just wanted to do what I wanted to do.

Stef: It’s important to just go forward anyway. I imagine that’s how you kind of coach your clients now.

Bev: Oh, yeah. I mean, you’ve got to decide what you want. I tell kids, with social media and everything the way it is these days, I tell them that, if you’re into sport as a career, first of all, make sure you’ve got a backup. Because unless you’re the best in the world, there’s not a lot of money in it. But if you’re into sport as a career, don’t go into it because you think you’re going to be famous or rich, don’t go in it for those reasons. If you are going into it for those reasons, you’ll never be able to put in the work that you need to be the best in the world. The only way you’re going to be able to put in the work that you need, is if you love it. If you’re willing to do that work for nothing, even pay to do the work. If you’re willing to pay to do the training and to go through what you have to do to do your sport, that’s the only way you’ll ever be able to put the effort in to make you the best that you can be. And that’s all you can be, the best you can be. If you don’t love it, if you just like it, but you think you’re going to be famous, then you may as well go get another degree right now. Go for something else, and just do your sport for fun, because you’ll never be on top.

Stef: That’s a really good point. And could be said about a hundred things outside of sports, too.

I’m going to switch gears a little bit. When I first started learning about who you are, I didn’t expect to find out that you’re now in a relationship with another woman. I know you’re not into labels, so I’m not going to use any. But I have to say just personally as a queer person, it’s always a little bit of a relief to find out there are people like you involved in the things you love to do. So, finding out about you, and other strength athletes who are openly queer or trans, like Rob Kearney who is a very famous gay strongman and Laurel Hubbard who is a trans woman who competed in the Olympics for the U.S. lifting team, is helpful in feeling that there’s a place for us in the sport. I know that you just kind of kickstarted your powerlifting career again and technically, you’re not in the kind of profession where you would need to come out. But I’m just wondering how you feel about being a queer athlete. Do you feel proud to be a queer athlete? Does that ever come across in your mind that you are now part of our very small pantheon?

Bev: If it had been 30 years ago, it would’ve been very awkward, because it wasn’t accepted. I hate categories, I don’t like names for things and categories. And it’s just that people are different. And there’s this whole black gray, dark gray, lighter gray, white in both gender and sexual preference. And I don’t know, I don’t like it being chopped up so much. I’m very happy that it’s a much more accepting world. But as I said, personally, I don’t like all the labels, I don’t see a necessity for them. Other people do, and that’s their choice. So what am I? I’m a woman.

Stef: You don’t even have to define that if you don’t want to, I’m not asking that.

Bev: Yeah, no, but I’m happy to. I’m a female who has a girlfriend, has a female lover, and I have had male lovers in the past, and that’s about it.

Stef: Listen, you’re not alone. That’s pretty common.

Bev: Well, that’s just it, I know. And I love the diverse world. Wouldn’t it be boring if everyone was the same?

Stef: Yes, it would be. And yes, it is accepted to a certain degree. I live in the U.S., so I don’t know the differences between the U.S. and Australia. But it is accepted to a certain degree, and there’s a lot more freedom now to a certain degree. But I still think there’s a lot more change that needs to be made, obviously.

Bev: Absolutely. Yeah, I was going to say, it depends what area you’re in, it depends what town you’re in. I do think the LGBTQ community is a fun community to be in because they’re more open and accepting of differences in so many ways. I really like being in that community. I like being queer.

Stef: Yeah, me too. All right, last question. So, like I said, you recently jump started your powerlifting career again in 2022. And you broke records again, because you’re older.

Bev: Yes, it was the age group as well as the weight class.

Stef: So, what’s the future? What’s your plans? Are you going back into that now?

Bev: I think I will. After that year I was feeling good and strong, but the next year, Leanne, my partner, wanted to do the Great Victorian Bike Ride. It’s at the end of the year, and it’s a five-day bicycle ride, and you camp on the way. It’s over hundreds of miles, and you’re riding about 70 miles a day. I had to train for that, because I’m not an endurance athlete, I’m a power athlete. I’ve been a sprinter, a shot putter, a powerlifter, and a bodybuilder. I’m not a long distance runner or a cyclist, so I really had to train for that. You can’t train for bike riding, ride miles and miles, and then come and do a heavy squat workout. So, I lost some of that strength over that year, and I had a couple of bad bouts of bronchitis and COVID, which knocked me around a little bit.

I’m just building back up now. I just turned 69, and I’m hoping I can wait until next year when I’m 70 and go into the younger part of the age division and compete. Try and break maybe some records in that division, also. I really would like to go back and try a little bit of shot putting again, but I have to get a little bit more spring in my legs before I go for that. So yeah, I’m not ready to lie down and die yet.

I had always wanted to do a marathon, and that’s what I said when I was young. I wanted to start training when I was 40, I’d put 10 years, and at 50, run a marathon. But during those years, my knees deteriorated rapidly. I had six arthroscopic surgeries, three on one knee, three on the other, and then finally had two full knee replacements. My legs took a battering in terms of losing strength, losing snap and power. I’ve also had chronic Achilles tendon problems my whole life. And if I run too much, my Achilles pain flares up. I just decided that, unfortunately, that dream probably won’t ever come true. That’s why I was happy to do the bike riding. At least I did the Great Victorian Bike Ride, which was to me quite an accomplishment.

Now, I’d like to go back into more powerlifting events and see what I can do.

See Bev Francis in Pumping Iron II: The Women now available on YouTube. 

“Under Pressure” Re-Centers the Identity of the U.S. Women’s World Cup Team

Last year, in collaboration with the global players’ association, FIFA implemented the Social Media Protection Service (SMPS), in an effort to shield players, teams, coaches, and officials from online abuse during international tournaments. According to FIFA, the service “worked” during the 2023 Women’s World Cup, reporting and hiding more than 400,000 abusive comments. But it wasn’t until last week that the full extent of the abuse became known. According to the SMPS’ tournament analysis:

  • 1 in 5 players at the Women’s World Cup received targeted discriminatory, abusive, or threatening messages
  • Homophobic, sexual and sexist abuse accounted for almost 50% of detected verified abusive messages
  • Players at the Women’s World Cup were 29% more likely to be targeted with online abuse than players at the Men’s 2022 World Cup in Qatar

The numbers are staggering, but especially so for the US Women’s National Team. According to SMPS, the USWNT were subjected to the most online abuse of any team in the tournament… more than twice as much as any other team in the field. The report notes spikes in abuse coinciding with American matches against Portugal and Sweden. And, though the SMPS report doesn’t name her explicitly, it’s likely that Megan Rapinoe is the US player mentioned as one of the most targeted individuals during the tournament.

A day after the report was released, Netflix dropped Under Pressure: The U.S. Women’s World Cup Team, a limited docuseries on the team’s pursuit of a fifth World Cup Championship. Though docuseries was developed long before the World Cup and, by extension the SMPS report, the timing of it feels serendipitous. It feels like an answer to a question that no one knew to ask.

Under Pressure re-centers the identity of the USWNT. It asks the audience to put aside whatever it is that makes you believe that these women are, to quote one FOX Sports analyst, “polarizing,” and see them for who they truly are. Mothers. Daughters. Wives. Girlfriends. Footballers. Competitors. Americans. Under Pressure tells the story of this team, through the eyes of its past and present stars, and, in the process, reaffirms their humanity.

The docuseries follows the USWNT from its formation to pre-tournament friendlies to the World Cup. It does so from four different perspectives: Alex Morgan, the experienced veteran, working to balance her role as a team captain with her responsibilities as a mother; Lynn Williams, the then-three time NWSL champion still striving for that elusive World Cup cap; Kristie Mewis, the veteran Gotham FC midfielder, looking to finally be on the right side of the bubble; and, Alyssa Thompson, the teenage rookie, experiencing every step for the very first time. Other USWNT players make appearances — Lindsey Horan, Rapinoe, Sofia Huerta, Emily Fox, Savannah DeMelo — but much of the film centers around those four, to positive effect. Focusing on too many players could’ve made the series unwieldly. Instead, the narrative manages to be both expansive and tightly constrained.

Kristie Mewis and Lynn Williams talk, while sitting on a table with the New Zealand city skyline behind them.

For me, it’s Williams and Mewis — both “bubble players” who could or could not make the final roster — that make Under Pressure worth watching. Despite making their first appearance at the World Cup in 2023, both are veteran professional players who bring a lot of perspective to their time on the USWNT.

Williams is a fighter: she’d been left off the USWNT roster for the World Cup once before — in 2019, a moment she called “devastating” — and comes into camp fighting for her spot. She brings a compelling mix of empathy and candor to Under Pressure that instantly makes the audience trust her as a narrator. For example, when Mallory Swanson goes down with an injury, Williams is truly heartbroken for her teammate while admitting, “on the other hand, you recognize that, as a forward, there is now a spot that is opened up and needs to be filled.”

Mewis comes to the team having watched, in 2019, as her younger sister, Sam, accomplish the goal they shared: playing for the USWNT in a World Cup. But a knee injury that Sam Mewis had been playing on since 2017 finally forced her out the game in 2022… leaving her sister with a lot of survivor’s guilt about her time with the national team. Getting to see the sisters’ relationship — which hasn’t always been as strong as it is now — and watching Kristie Mewis grapple with her guilt, was one of the most compelling aspects of Under Pressure.

“I would literally do anything for her to have her career back. I’d give up mine if I could,” the elder Mewis admits.

Queer fans will delight in the window Under Pressure offers into Mewis’ relationship with Australian national team star, Sam Kerr. Mewis brings the same sense of awe that she has about being part of the national team to her relationship with Kerr. It’s like she really can’t believe that Kerr loves her (to which, I wonder, “has Kristie Mewis not seen herself?”). But Kerr truly does love Mewis: so much so that she keeps the news of her national team selection a secret until Mewis knows her fate. They are absolutely adorable together and I loved getting this glimpse into their love story.

(Sidenote: In Under Pressure, Mewis admits that she doesn’t foresee a future where she and Kerr will continue to have a long distance relationship. Yesterday, The Athletic reported that Mewis is on her way to join Kerr in London. Giving up a slot on a championship winning squad to move to one of the worst teams in the Women’s Super League? That’s love.)

Unlike other docuseries of this sort (i.e., The Last Dance), Under Pressure doesn’t look for drama. It actually seems to studiously avoid it. In someone else’s hands, I imagine a series that spends more time on the Swanson or Becky Sauerbrunn injuries — seizing on the drama of going from being the USWNT’s leading scorer or the USWNT’s captain to being forced from the roster — but Under Pressure doesn’t dwell on it. There’s no footage of other players — Casey Krueger, Tierna Davidson, Adrianna Franch, or Taylor Kornieck — who participated in training camps but ended up on the wrong side of the bubble. We don’t get to see any of those bubble players have tear-filled Facetime calls with head coach Vlatko Andonovski. Admittedly, I didn’t know how to feel about those omissions at first. Sports are a rollercoaster and the highs come with some painful lows; showcasing those felt necessary. But we all know how this story ends — with the USWNT being ousted from the World Cup earlier than it ever has — and, ultimately, that heartbreak felt like the one worth focusing on.

The absence of drama in Under Pressure also means that no one should come to the series hoping to get answers for what went wrong. If anything, Williams and Mewis’ commentary — Williams on the lack of substitutions and Mewis on the last minute request that she take a penalty vs. Sweden — only underscores the level of confusion that existed within the ranks. But there’s no spicy commentary from players in Under Pressure and no deep interrogation on the choices that were made. It’s frustrating, but I suppose that the only true closure for that kind of loss comes in 2027.

Despite the intense match that ended the USWNT’s run, Sweden attacking midfielder Kosovare Asllani was nothing but effusive with praise for the team afterwards, sending a clear message to the haters: “don’t talk shit about the U.S. team women.” She knew, as does the rest of the women’s soccer community, that the USWNT are pioneers… that their efforts, both on the pitch and off, are raising the game for everyone.

The USWNT fight for equal pay inspired teams from around the world to do the same. The pushback, by American players, to the abusive environments within their club teams steeled the spine of other nations, as their players stood up to abusive environments created by their federations. The team’s greatness has forced other federations to step up and invest in the women’s game. Losing a World Cup cannot undo that legacy.

But it is that legacy that those who subjected the team to so much online vitriol, loathe. They can’t have the world believing that women are equal, so they attack. Somehow, those disingenuous attacks have become the narrative about this USWNT. Under Pressure feels like the start of the pushback. It begins the work of re-establishing this team as more than just pawns in someone else’s narrative. It is a retelling and a reclaiming of this team’s identity… and to that, I can only say: LFG.

Under Pressure: The U.S. Women’s World Cup Team is now streaming on Netflix.

Every WNBA Team’s 2024 Season Rollout Promo, as Ranked by Brittney Griner Dunks

For years, a common lament among WNBA players and fans has been about the league’s marketing. It’s an issue that has, seemingly, confounded much of the WNBA’s leadership, including NBA commissioner Adam Silver. It’s a multi-faceted problem but, for me, one of the central questions that the league has to answer: how does it sustain public interest in a league that plays, primarily, during the summer?

“The hardest part is because we don’t play [a season] as long as the guys, and then when we have an off-season, a lot of us go overseas, we go dormant for like five or six months,” Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell told ESPN earlier this year. “If we could find a way to cultivate [more] marketing expansion for us in the offseason, that would be dope.”

To the league’s credit, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has been proactive in addressing this issue, developing developing a plan that prioritizes marketing and increased visibility through merchandising. Already, the WNBA offseason has given us the 2024 Draft Lottery and the announcement of changes to the Commissioner’s Cup. But perhaps the biggest assist in keeping the WNBA front and center in the minds of sports fans will come thanks to future WNBA players. We’re already seeing the guessing game around the futures of prominent NCAA players like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, Stanford’s Cameron Brink, LSU’s Angel Reese, UCONN’s Paige Bueckers and South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso gain traction in the media. Each of those players have a decision to make: declare for April’s WNBA Draft or exercise their extra year of college eligibility. It’s probably the most talked about draft class since Elena Delle Donne, Brittney Griner and Skylar Diggins were part of the “Three to See” in 2013.

Not to be outdone, the teams are stepping up their efforts to keep the WNBA in the conversation. This week, each of the league’s 12 teams dropped their schedules for the 2024 season — and some of them were 🔥🔥🔥. Of course, you know we had to talk about it! So I got together with my fellow WNBA obsessive, Carmen, to rank our favorites and discuss which ones were fire and which ones just flamed out.

Atlanta Dream

Carmen: The budget on this!?!??

Natalie: Hands down, without question, my absolute favorite of the bunch. The thing I love most about it is how drenched it is in the culture… black culture generally but also Atlanta black culture specifically. The Clark Atlanta Marching band, the Atlanta Drum Academy… it speaks to a franchise that really is trying to engrain itself into the identity of the city.

Carmen: I agree! And that’s obviously also speaking back in ticket sales, didn’t Atlanta have one of the highest amount of sell outs last year? Especially for a team that still in its growth era.

Natalie: They did!

Carmen: Exactly!! I don’t know if I share in it being my favorite, but I respect what it’s doing to stand on business and hold it down for the Black South.

Rating: 3.5 Brittney Griner Dunks
3.5 Brittney Griner Dunkings

Chicago Sky

Carmen: We’re gonna have to group all these slideshow formats together in their own bottom tier.. because…

Natalie: Right? So disappointing.

Carmen: Yes!

Natalie: They just brought a WNBA legend in as head coach and this is all they’re giving?!

Carmen: Teresa Weatherspoon gave more hype in the NY Liberty Player of the Year video for Breanna Stewart last year!! RELEASE THE SPOON!! Give the fans what they want.

Natalie: RELEASE THE SPOON!

Rating: 1/2 of a Brittney Griner Dunk

One Half of a Brittney Griner Dunking

Connecticut Sun

Carmen: This the one team without a video that I am still going to rank high because that graphic is CHILLING. That graphic says “We’re coming for what we are owed.”

And I love it. Let’s put a hurting on em CT!!

Natalie: I appreciate that perspective because I looked at it and thought, “is this orange because the sun want to be playing in October?” (The WNBA Finals, this year, ran from Oct. 8 to 18). Otherwise, what is this Halloween ass schedule release?

Carmen: They’re thing that goes bump in the night! They’re under your bed!
(But I like your manifestation approach. If you see it, you can believe it. And I believe in them.)

Rating: 2 Brittney Griner Dunks

Two Brittney Griner Dunkings

Dallas Wings

Natalie: So, I love this one from Dallas… mostly because I love the source material that it’s taken from… but then I wondered if it’d hit differently for people who didn’t know? Did you recognize the homage to the Little Rascals Nike commercials?

Carmen: I was just going to say! This is so nostalgic!! But also I grew up in the 90s, the original commercials are iconic to me. Plus… SHERYL SWOOPES!

This is one of my favorites, a WNBA promo made for WNBA fans. Truly.

Natalie: But do you think the kids will know? Like Maddy Siegrist and Veronica Burton of the Dallas Wings were born in 2000. You think they appreciate a good homage to those Kyla Pratt led Little Rascals ads?

Carmen: hahaaa, yeah I guess I wasn’t as worried about them (whoops!) But I mean I’m ranking from my POV — but I do see the point that may not have the widest spread appeal…

Natalie: It’s right in my wheel house though. I literally have been asking the WNBA to bring back the Little Rascals commercials for years!

Carmen: So you do get it!!!! Give em their props Natalie! They did the thing.

Natalie: Oh no, I love it for me…. but, you know, I want everyone to get it.

Rating: 3.5 Brittney Griner Dunks

3.5 Brittney Griner Dunkings

Indiana Fever

Natalie: So this one was… not my favorite….

For a couple reasons: first, especially when compared to some of the other teams, it just wasn’t that creative. It looked like a video that you might see before the Fever announce their starting lineups on game nights.

Also? It featured a lot of players and, honestly, once WNBA free agency players kicks off in January, some of them might not be members of the team…so that really undermines the whole thing.

Carmen: That’s such a brutally honest fact! Sorry but it made me laugh.

Natalie: AND! They’ve got the #1 pick in the draft… and there’s so much buzz on whether Caitlin Clark will declare for the draft or not… I think the Fever had an opportunity to take advantage of that buzz and missed it.

Carmen: Extremely fair! It’s a very straightforward approach. I saw people saying the voice over hyped them up? But I was… not one of them.

Rating: 1.5 Brittney Griner Dunks
1.5 Brittney Griner Dunkings

Las Vegas Aces

Natalie: So, on the one hand, this is an exquisitely designed calendar… like really beautiful… but I kept wondering where the rest of Las Vegas’ announcement was?

Carmen: I love my Aces dowwwwnnnnnnnnn. You know that. Everyone knows that.

But for a team as charismatic and video-friendly and social media heavy as Las Vegas, every single part of this was a snooze. I wondered… did they not get the memo? Did they not know all the other teams were going with videos? Did someone leave them off the social media manager group chat?

Natalie: Exactly! The Aces have been absolutely killing the social media game for the last couple of years and now, when so many teams are dropping their most creative works, the Aces are just phoning it in. It’s disappointing.

Carmen: I guess there’s an argument to be made that when you’re the first back-to-back champ in 20 years (and have been celebrating as such for months now), you don’t have to hustle for ticket sales and attention.

So I’m willing to give them a pass, but this is definitely not the caliber of what I expect of them.

Natalie: No passes from me! You’re slippin’, Vegas! Don’t let this be a harbinger of what’s to come on the court!

Rating: 1 Brittney Griner Dunk
1 Brittney Griner Dunking

Los Angeles Sparks

Natalie: Apparently Los Angeles was also left off the social media manager group chat?

This is LA — HOLLYWOOD! — and this is all they’re giving? This is disappointing.

Carmen: See how I almost want to give them less credit than the Aces, because… do they even have an excuse? There’s no ring for them to fall back on.

Natalie: They need a new social media team… that’s the excuse…

Rating: 1/2 of a Brittney Griner Dunk

One Half of a Brittney Griner Dunking

Minnesota Lynx

Carmen: Ok so! I’ve never played Grand Theft Auto, but even I immediately recognized the video cover, which has got to be a win.

And? Using the opportunity to highlight reel your best moments against the other teams, including the back-to-back champs? That’s gutsy. I like gutsy.

Natalie: Yeah, I wasn’t feeling this one at all… I recognized the GTA iconography right away — there’s a new GTA game coming out soon so the timing is serendipitous — but I’m not sure that the identity of the Minnesota Lynx connects with what I think about when I see Grand Theft Auto.

Carmen: hahaaaaaaa well I guess both are dynasties of their genre?? But I agree, the connection is thin.

Natalie: And Minnesota, as a franchise, has been so good about embracing Minneapolis iconography… like Prince, First Avenue…. that it would’ve been nice to see them tie into something more uniquely them.

Rating: 2.5 Brittney Griner Dunks
2.5 Brittney Griner Dunkings

New York Liberty

Carmen: Ok hilariously, I am not usually a fan of Breanna Stewart personality cult content (I respect her as a baller!! She just always seems a little uncomfy on camera)… so I was so impressed that the Liberty was able to find a way for her to be comfortable! I had no idea she was this funny.

Natalie: I’ve always thought the same thing about Stewie… it feels like we haven’t really gotten to know her personality… but it definitely comes out here. I wonder if this collab got started because of Sabrina Ionescu’s appearance on First We Feast’s Snacked earlier this year. That ended up being my favorite media hit that Sabrina’s ever done — the first where I walked away feeling like I knew her — and we get some of that here with Stewie, too.

And, of course, you know I’ve got to shout out my fellow NC State alum, Ari Chambers, who stands in for Sean Evans at the Hot Ones host. Ari is really EVERYWHERE these days and I love to see it.

Carmen: Yeah I was gonna say! Obviously, the bonus points here are for Ari Chambers being her fine self. (Respectfully!)

Natalie: How would you do on Hot Ones? Could you run through the wings of death?

Carmen: Oh yeah no, I hate hot things. I’m going out in round one. I’m assuming that you, a Southener, would hold your own.

Natalie: Oh, absolutely not. Did you ever watch Loot, the Maya Rudolph series on Apple TV+?

Carmen: hahhaaaaaa yes, I see where you’re going here…

Natalie: I’d be like Maya Rudolph’s character when she appears on the show.

Rating: 4 Brittney Griner Dunks
Four Brittney Griner Dunkings

Phoenix Mercury

Carmen: Well…. since we are ranking by BG dunks… I guess. 💀

Natalie: I love BG. You love BG.

Sophie Cunningham, though? A choice.

Carmen: I do feel contractually obligated when discussing Sophie Cunningham to bring back my favorite WNBA photo of all time.

Anyway, chubby bunny is a cute game! The fire is cute! Brittney Griner is a joy always! And that’s about all I have to say.

Natalie: Yeah, it’s cute, I guess. The question it left me with is, “does this franchise really not know if this will be Diana Taurasi’s last season?” Because if it is the last ride for her — and I believe it should be — then you start this schedule announcement with her and making sure she has the send-off that her career merits.

It should’ve been the beginning of DT’s farewell tour… with highlights from her best performances against the other franchises..

Carmen: Well Natalie, that would require Diana Taurasi to know in December if it’s her last season, and I think you might be once again asking too much of her.

If that announcement comes, it’s coming at the start of the new season at the earliest.

Natalie: Fair point.

Rating: Two Brittney Griner Dunks

Two Brittney Griner Dunkings

Seattle Storm

Carmen: This one is my favorite, hands down. It’s the reason I started watching all the other rollout videos. It is so so smart, and timely to what the internet is talking about right now, and unexpected — Seattle wears green, not pink.

Every part of this was so phenomenally executed to me, in terms of just pure digital media business saavy. And it comes with a burn book version of the schedule? And then they made individual burn book pages for each of the other teams mascots?

I’m sorry, I know I keep going on and on… this, for me, was the complete package.

I guess I’m a Storm fan now.

Natalie: Which burn book page was your favorite?

Carmen: I think Prowl of the Minnesota Lynx auditioning for Cats and not getting the part is legitimately funny.

Natalie: I agree, 100%. I laughed out loud.

I really liked this one too because, as you pointed out, it’s so unexpected from this franchise and because the timing is perfect. If they can catch the wave of Mean Girls fans who are amped for the forthcoming movie, then all the better for the Storm.

Carmen: Exactly!!

Rating: 4 Brittney Griner Dunks

Four Brittney Griner Dunkings

Washington Mystics

Natalie: You gonna have to take this one because it feels like this announcement was made for the femmes.

Carmen: hahaahaaa.

I think if they were going for a make up approach, they needed it to look more clearly like Fenty — taking some of the Grand Theft Auto approach that we see with the Lynx or Mean Girls with the Storm, or even Hot Wings with the Liberty. I picked Fenty because it’s become iconic to young Black audiences that are also WNBA fans and is seen as “cutting edge” in make up, which… I think (think?) was what the Mystics were going for?

But this comes across as generic, in the bad way. Choosing make up to promote your WNBA team was already a risk! And if you were going to do it, you needed to do it well. This one is super not it.

(Even though I would, personally, wear some of those lipstick colors!)

Natalie: I lived in DC for a while and tried to remember if Lip Lab was a DC institution because that would’ve made sense, at least… but it is not? I’m not sure what the connection is.

It was lipstick, it was not DC… it was not for me.

Carmen: Yeah it just doesn’t hit!

Natalie: I kept waiting for Tina Thompson to pop out. Cause if you’re doing a lipstick ad for the WNBA, Tina Thompson needs to be there, but nope.

Carmen: oooooooooh yes! That could’ve saved it! Or some go-go music.

Natalie: YES!

Carmen: That’s what I want for them next year.

Natalie: Also? I don’t know if you’ve seen any of the news from DC but there’s a shift happening in the city: the Wizards (MNBA) and Capitols (NHL) might be moving to Northern Virginia. Leaving the Mystics — who would be moving back to the Capitol One Arena (after moving to a new, smaller venue a few years back — as THEE DC team.

So it was a perfect opportunity to really take that mantle and, instead, we got lipstick.

Carmen: A wash.

Rating: 1 Brittney Griner Dunk

1 Brittney Griner Dunking

Candace Parker and Wife Anna Petrakova-Parker Are Having Another Baby, Basketball Wives Takeover Nearly Complete

Feature images of Candace Parker and Ana Petrakova-Parker announcing their pregnancy and second child, via Candace Parker on Instagram.

Candace Parker is making something of a habit out of celebrating her engagement with her wife, Ana Petrakova-Parker, in a big splash. As you might remember, Parker first announced her marriage to Petrakova-Parker on their two year wedding anniversary in 2021 by sharing a pregnancy announcement for their first son, Airr Larry Parker. It broke the gay internet (or at least the gay internet of my household!! Around here we respect standing on business and gay growth!)

Now it’s their fourth wedding anniversary, and Candace Parker and Ana Petrakova-Parker here to announce that another baby is on the way!

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A post shared by Candace Parker (@candaceparker)

First things first, that caption? What a way for Candace Parker to announce a new baby. It’s legend shit. A work art. This is the ESPN Emmy Award-winning six-part, 12-hour Michael Jordan: The Last Dance documentary of captions.

Layering onto the obvious connections between Parker’s own storied basketball career, the future Hall of Famer and college basketball great is the only WNBA player in history to win three different WNBA Championships for three different teams and its nearly impossible to look up a top ten stat in the history books without finding her name, is the fact that Parker and Ana actually both met while also playing basketball. The two were teammates for UMMC Ekaterinburg in Petrakova’s home country Russia. Parker also recently spoke warmly and lovingly in her own ESPN documentary, Unapologetic, that growing up playing basketball with her father and two brothers at their local court were some of her fondest childhood memories. Her eldest daughter, Lailaa, comes from Parker’s previous relationship with former NBA player and Duke star Sheldon Williams. That’s just a whole lotta basketball going on!! Tying all those threads together into a carousel of images announcing their newest baby is a chef’s kiss. But of course, I’d expect nothing less from one of the greatest to ever play the game.

Being able to watch Candace Parker grow into herself, and invite us in on that journey, has been.. there are no words for that kind of joy. I am so happy to see the GOAT living her truth out loud. I am so happy for her family.

A whole entire starting five coming from your within own fam?? That’s something to be proud of.

BREAKING: Jess Fishlock and Tziarra King Got Married in a Soccer-Star-Studded Wales Wedding

Yesterday at the light-filled Sant Ffraed House, a venue which reportedly offers unparalleled views of the Welsh countryside, an epic wedding took place. The event drew guests from all over the country, spanning multiple professional women’s sports teams. It was, of course, the royal wedding of Welsh footballer Jess Fishlock, 36, and Tziarra King, 25, who are currently teammates on the National Women Soccer League’s OL Reign.

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A post shared by Zee (@tziarraking)

Attendees of this notable event included soccer superstars Megan Rapinoe (who recently retired from the OL Reign) and Ali Krieger, Megan Rapinoe’s legendary basketball girlfriend Sue Bird, OL Reign teammate Lauren Barnes and OL Reign manager Laura Harvey.

jess & tziarra at their wedding, megan rapinoe, ali krieger and sue bird a tthe wedding

Jess Fishlock is Welsh and a player on the Welsh National Team, and many of her WNT teammates were also present including Laura O’Sullivan, Gemma Evans, Sophie Ingle (gay), Angharad James (gay), Rachel Rowe, Kayleigh Anne Marie Green and Lily Woodham (gay). Also present were WNT “ambassador & centurion” / retired footballer / Watford FC Manager Helen Ward, Scottish footballer and Arsenal midfielder Kim Little and Lewes F.C. midfielder Kirsty Barton.

Fishlock and King have been teammates on the OL Reign since 2021, when King was traded from Utah Royals FC after one season, which’s where she’d launched her post-college club career. Fishlock began playing for the Reign in 2013, after playing with the Melbourne Victory, Bristol Academy WFC, AZ Alkmaar and Cardiff City LFC. But Fishlock was sent on loan to the FA Women’s Super League side Reading FC in August 2020, so she didn’t meet King until Fishlock returned, a few months after preseason training camp began in 2021. After weeks of building a friendship, their first date was at a Bellevue steakhouse.

Fishlock and King announced their engagement in October of 2022, and the two were shocked by all the subsequent attention. “People love us!” Jess Fishlock told the Seattle Times. “I was a little surprised by how many people were really happy and a lot of messages we’d get are just ‘We love seeing it,’ ‘The visibility is super helpful for us’ and that ‘it means so much that we can see a queer relationship.’ Whatever you want to call it is totally fine with us, we’re who we are, we’re in love and that’s it.”

The couple had what appears to be some sort of bridal shower this past June. (Ali Krieger commented “Well I must have missed my invite😭😩” on the post about the ambiguous bridal-themed event.)

The couple entered the party to the sweet dulcet tones of Bruno Mars’ “Marry You,” a song that was also prominently featured at the wedding of Burt Hummel and Carole Hudson in 2010. Sue Bird, Ali Krieger and Megan Rapinoe all posted delightful instagram slideshows and collages from the event. It appears that everybody danced really hard, and that is important.

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A post shared by Sue Bird (@sbird10)

We wish the happy couple many happy returns and endless joy and laughter for the rest of their lives forever!!!!

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A post shared by Megan Rapinoe 🏳️‍🌈 (@mrapinoe)

My First Powerlifting Meet Confirmed It’s a Sport for Misfits Like Me

All day the day before my first powerlifting meet, I ate an atrocious amount of protein and carbohydrates and as much sodium as I could possibly cram in: eggs cooked over easy, sausage links, home fries, chocolate chip pancakes the size of a dinner plate, Publix fried chicken, an full-size bag of cheddar Sun Chips, probably about five or six string cheese sticks, a couple of mini ice cream sandwiches, and a personal size barbeque chicken pizza.

The night before the meet, I put out everything I needed so I didn’t have to think about it at all. I laid out my underwear, socks, t-shirt, and competition singlet, and I packed my gym bag with my wrist wraps, deadlift socks, extra clothes and shoes to change into after the meet, and some other miscellaneous things like deodorant and additional hair ties.

I put out the cooler bag I’d use to carry three bottles of Body Armor Flash IV and two of my favorite energy drinks out on the kitchen table and put my intra-meet snack — an entire, full-size Bauducco chocolate chip Panettone — next to it so I wouldn’t forget anything.

I prepared a small breakfast of a couple of hard boiled eggs, some cold brew with a scoop of protein powder in it, and some instant oatmeal to eat as soon as I was showered and dressed.

And right before I went to bed, I realized I hadn’t packed the brand new bottle of strawberry-flavored glucose tablets I was advised would come in handy between events, so I got up to put those in my bag also.

When I woke up at 6 a.m. the next day, I didn’t feel anxious or stressed out. I just got up and showered, ate my breakfast, and put on my competition singlet for the first time since it was delivered to my house a few weeks before. My partner and I got in the car and made the 45 minute drive over to the venue. She was a little concerned about my lack of emotions about the whole thing, but I just didn’t really have any. In the weeks leading up to the meet, I mostly worried about my place in the powerlifting community and if it was appropriate for me to take up this kind of space as an amateur. And eventually, I finally moved to a place where I just felt like the whole thing was “just for fun” and a way for me to get a baseline of where my strength truly is currently. I didn’t feel any performance anxiety or think about how I might fail. I’d been powerlifting for over a year, and I’d performed these lifts four times a week for the majority of that time. There was always the chance I might not hit my third and final try at the maximum weight we’d choose but even if it happened, I knew I’d have a supportive group of people around me to remind me that I still kicked ass. Nothing was enough to make me jittery.

Then I got to the meet. If you’ve never been a participant in a powerlifting meet before, there’s not a lot that can prepare you for what’s happening in the hour or so before the meet backstage when all the other competitors arrive.

My strength coach, Vinny, definitely tried to warn me. He said there’d not only be other competitors but also their coaches and possibly some friends and a ton of gear and water bottles and snacks lying around everywhere. There’d be people stretching and trying to hype each other up. He said there’d be mostly “good vibes” but like any sporting event, people would also be getting ready to do what they came there to do.

As soon as I walked in, I found the rest of the crew from my strength gym and put my stuff down to get settled. Even with the warning, I quickly got overwhelmed. Vinny was also helping with the event, and the other coach from the gym who’d be helping me out for the day wasn’t there yet. The representatives from the U.S. Powerlifting Association (USPA) did their quick rules briefing, and after that, my nerves kind of took over.

It all of a sudden seemed like a lot to remember: Make sure your form is correct, keep track of where you are in line to lift, warm up backstage but be judicious about when you do that, make sure you’re 100% platform ready when you’re next in line to lift, make sure your wrist wraps are not too high on the palms of your hands when it’s time to bench, you can celebrate your wins on the platform but not too hard, don’t use profanity at all (this is a family event)…the list seemed to go on and on. On top of that, the first lift of powerlifting meets is always the squat, which I wasn’t competing in this time around, so I’d have a lot of time to sit around and think about all this shit.

For a few moments, I just stood by the little space we all claimed for our strength gym team members and stared out into space. I don’t fully remember what was going on in my head, but I don’t think it was much. It was just a mess of swirling thoughts, of not knowing how to move forward. When I felt a friend from my strength gym, Mari, put her hand on my back, my uneasiness had me almost on the verge of tears. But her checking in on me and reassuring me in that way still wasn’t enough to fully bring me back down.

Brendan, my close friend who got me into this whole mess in the first place, saw me and said with a slight laugh in his voice and a funny look on his face, “Hey brother, you all right? You’re just kind of…sitting there.” I laughed immediately and started feeling like I was back: “No man, I’m not but we’re here. We’re gonna do this.”

Right as I said that, the coach who would be helping Brendan and me out throughout the meet, our friend who is also named Brendan, came running up to us shouting “Are we ready, guys? Are we ready to crush it?” That’s when the nerves actually started to dissipate. Things were suddenly less chaotic and more ordered. I could feel my whole body getting more acclimated to the space, to the people around me, and to the tasks at hand — the same tasks I’d done a hundred times over. The first event finally began, and since I wasn’t competing in it, I went out to watch my friends from the gym and the other competitors take their turns squatting.

I always think about how distinct powerlifting and strength sports are from other kinds of sports in general and other kinds of singleton sports like tennis or swimming or gymnastics in particular. There is a competitive edge to some degree. People do want to break state and national records, they want to earn “Best Lifter” medals at meets, and they want titles.

But the competition against others, the fact of winning in the way that you’d win a baseball game or tennis match or swim meet, is not what really draws people to strength sports to begin with. What draws most of the people I know, most of the people I’ve read about, and myself even is the mentality that you’re just trying to get the best of yourself. You’re trying to beat your own numbers, perfect the movements, and overcome stagnation.

It’s an interesting dynamic compared to how we grow up thinking about the competitive nature of sports. In some ways, sports definitely do have positive effects on how we grow physically and emotionally. Some athletes are great at taking the wins with the losses, and most, if not all, are in it for the love of the game. But on the other hand, there is an enormous amount of value placed on winning that sometimes sours what seems to be the overall purpose of competing in sports. I don’t know how athletes in more competitive sports balance these disparate feelings because I’ve never been a serious-ish athlete until now, but I imagine it’s difficult, and I imagine that kindness and compassion between players is often hard to maintain.

In my experiences in strength sports so far, I’ve seen nothing but kindness and compassion and enthusiasm for fellow competitors. For a while, I thought it was just that I lucked out on having someone like Brendan in my life who could introduce me to Vinny and the rest of the community at my strength gym. I thought I was lucky for falling into that community so quickly and seamlessly. And I still do think I am.

But watching how other athletes treated each other at the meet, how they’d perform their lifts and then try to find the best view of the platform to watch other people lift and cheer them on as they did it, made me realize it’s a culture thing. If you’re always trying to get the best of yourself, then it tracks that you’d want the same for the other members of your sports community. That divestment, whether it’s conscious or subconscious, from our traditional view of what it means to win makes it so much easier to just have fun, do your best, and enjoy the show. Watching this happen throughout each and every one of the squat flights (or sections) of the meet made me feel so enthusiastic and honored to not only do my lifts but to share the platform with all of the other competitors there. Eventually, I totally forgot I was overwhelmed in the first place.

The rest of the meet — save for one momentary hiccup with my deadlift socks that actually turned out to be totally fine — felt simultaneously long as hell and super quick. After the squat flights, it was time for all of us to bench press and time for my lifting to get started. When I was waiting to do my first bench press attempt on the platform (a very easy 120 pounds), I looked out and noticed my partner managed to grab the last seat left in the front row, and my dad and stepmom, who had also come out to support me, weren’t too far behind here. Flanking the outskirts of the crowd was Brendan, his partner, and some of our friends who’d come to see us, too. That first bench press attempt was my first experience in an athletic competition as an adult, and so many people I love were there to see me crush it. So I had to.

I flew through that 120 pounds as expected, then with Vinny and other Brendan’s guidance, I set my sights on 132. I’d never done more than 130 pounds in the gym before, so that would be the first of hopefully multiple personal records for me that day. I waited my turn and came back to the platform to push 132 for the first time. Smooth as hell, barely any resistance from my body. After 132 moved so fast, we decided to go to 137 and a half (the weight in competition is done in kilograms, so sometimes there are fractions). This one moved a little slower than the first two, but I’d done much rougher lifts throughout the course of my 15 months practicing the sport.

the author Stef Rubino holding a sports drink and a panettone

As the bench press flights concluded, I was, naturally, feeling confident as hell. I’d completed all three attempts with perfect scores, denoted by three white lights on a screen at the end of each attempt, for my form. Backstage, we were all making jokes and talking shit, eating our snacks (yes, we — but mostly I — managed to eat about 3/4ths of that Panettone by the time the meet ended) and rehydrating. Nearly everyone there was attempting the biggest lifts of their lives that day, but the pressure to perform, to win, was absent in every interaction I was part of or witnessed. It was just a bunch of people fucking around and lifting heavy ass stuff in front of an audience — no big deal.

Or at least, that’s how it felt. Before the deadlift flights even began, I was already sure this was one of the funnest days of my life regardless of the slightly rocky beginning. Not because I was succeeding in what I’d been training to do or because I knew for sure there was space for me in the realms of both strength sports and athletics in general, but because it confirmed everything I believed about the community before the meet happened: Powerlifting and strength sports might have some true prestige in our society at large eventually, but they’ll never fully break away from their “freak show” beginnings. And they’ll never get rid of the misfits who take them on.

Everyone started getting ready to line up for the deadlift flight. We set my first attempt at 220.5 pounds — easy breezy, I’d done that for reps in the gym many times. My goal for deadlifts that day was to hit 250 pounds because I’d failed that weight in the gym about three weeks before. Vinny and I chalked it up to a bad day, but it made us think maybe we should save it for the meet. After my first attempt, we went up to 237 pounds, another safe weight for me. It was time to make a decision — do we only go up a little bit or do we potentially blow it out and go for 259? Vinny, other Brendan, and I decided to go for 259 even though I was lifting without a powerlifting belt. Generally, a powerlifting belt is helpful in accomplishing big lifts and hitting maxes, but up to that point, I’d never trained with one, and we just decided to do the meet without it.

I waited for the nerves to come back again, but they never did. I went backstage to wait my turn, ate a couple of glucose tablets to make sure my energy level didn’t fail me, and drank a bunch. Before I knew it, I was back out on the platform doing my little pre-deadlift set up. For some reason, I closed my eyes in the middle of the lift, but I didn’t struggle…it just floated up slowly and much smoother than any max lift/weight I’d hit in the gym. The lift was good. I’d hit all three attempts again. Vinny came running up to me to hug me as I was walking away from the platform, and I could hear my partner, my parents, and my friends still screaming for me.

In retrospect, Vinny, other Brendan, and I agree we played my third attempts at both bench press and deadlift a little too safe, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter, does it? I surpassed my goals, I set three new personal records, and most importantly, I saw what dedication and commitment to something I’d never even thought about doing before last year could do. Weightlifting has made me physically stronger than I’ve ever been, and it has also shown me how that kind of commitment — the kind that is outside of the realms of things that come easy to me — can transform the way I understand myself and my abilities entirely. It’s shown me that doing something hard and something that doesn’t really come naturally to you will make you feel capable of doing almost anything.

the author Stef Rubino wearing a gold medal at a powerlifting meet

At the end of every meet, there’s an awards presentation where people are given USPA medals for their performances in their age, weight, and event divisions. Brendan and I joked a lot about getting medals in the weeks leading up to the meet, but I don’t think either of us really expected to get any. Just like most of the day, though, the opposite turned out to be true, and we both received gold medals in our divisions and subdivisions. I also learned my stats will soon be on Open Powerlifting along with the stats of famous (in the powerlifting world) athletes I’ve come to revere over the last year and change and, of course, my brothers Vinny and Brendan, many of the members of my community at the strength gym, and all of the wonderful strangers and acquaintances I competed with the weekend before last.

At least once a day for the past year, I’ve thought about how unexpected and utterly strange it is that the twists and turns of my life led me here. But I don’t think it’s so strange anymore. Sometimes we just need to do something so out of leftfield from who we’ve become to bring us back to some of the things that matter most to us. For me, some of those are endless curiosity and eternal learning, community and brotherhood and love, passion, and the ability to connect with a diverse group of people through some shared experiences and values. Weightlifting has been bringing me there for the last 15 months, even on the days I’m convinced I don’t have it in me to make it to the gym. Now I don’t envision a future where it’s not part of my life.

WNBA Star Kahleah Copper’s Engaged To Swedish National Team Member Binta Drammeh, Look at That Love!!

Feature image of WNBA star Kahleah Copper getting engaged to Swedish Nation member Binta Daisy Drammeh by @kees2life via Kahleah Copper on Instagram

Three-time WNBA All-Star, 2022 Finals MVP, style icon, and all around superstar Kahleah Copper is engaged to Swedish National Team member Binta Daisy Drammeh! And look at that melanin!! Look at those bronze tones!!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz4C7akLzCF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

Noted WNBA commenter and founder of the sports media production company HighlightHER Ari Ivory said it best in the comments of the post, “it should be a crime to be this fine together” (extremely facts!). I personally wanted to scream “BARBIE” when I saw the photos but I somehow restrained myself, you are welcome and don’t say Santa is the only one to give you presents this holigay season.

Other WNBA stars such as Los Angeles Sparks’ Zia Cooke, reigning Las Vegas Aces’ Alicia Clark, and Copper’s Chicago Sky teammate Emma Meesseman all shared love on the post as well. With Jackie Young (also of the Aces, and Copper’s teammate on Team USA) hilariously snitch-tagging on Kahleah to their mutual friend Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings, saying “you know we been waiting 😂.“

A comment exchange between Jackie Young (congrats!! you know we been waiting), Arikew Ogunbowale (facts) and Kahleah Copper (I been thinking bout y'all all week. Wait till I tell y'all how stressful it was!!)

It’s very cute to see Kahleah Copper, a player known for having ice in her veins when the game’s on the line, the person who you always want to have the ball in her hand for the last basket, admit that she was stressed out. But love that does that to a person! (Or so I’ve been told! I still maybe personally believe that Love Is a Lie but only for myself, never for Kahleah and Binta!!)

Binta Drammeh is a regular in the Euro circuit. In the past, Copper played with the Barcelona team, I’m imagining that’s how the two players first met though it’s unconfirmed. Born in Skaggetorp, Drammeh is a forward with the Swedish National Team. And y’all I just love seeing diasporic Black love??? It’s giving Love and Basketball with a passport?? I’m smiling from ear-to-ear.

On behalf of everyone at Autostraddle, congratulations to Kahleah Copper and Binta on your engagement! I’m wishing y’all a lifetime of happiness and shea butter or coconut oil (whatever is your preference) to keep that melanin gleaming bright.

Syd Colson and TP Are Laughing All the Way To Becoming the Faces of the WNBA

Feature image of Syd Colson & TP of the Syd + Tp Show via Togethxr

It started out as a joke. The Syd + TP Show, a sketch comedy which will air its season finale Monday on the Maximum Effort Channel and is available for streaming on Fubo, has a simple premise: Syd Colson and Theresa Plaisance (TP), both career bench warmers in the WNBA, are setting out to become “The Faces of the League.”

When I say “bench warmer,” I don’t take it lightly. Statistically speaking, the WNBA is one of the most exclusive professional sports leagues in the world. The talent pool of women basketball players, even at an elite level, outpaces the size of the league by almost every measure. Nearly half of the first round draft picks often don’t make it out of training camp and onto final rosters.

That’s a heavily talked about topic among fans, how to better grow the league to support player talent, and one that’s handled with surprisingly serious heart in this season of Syd + TP when it turns out that TP was unexpectedly cut from her team this year. Syd Colson and TP have a combined 20 years of WNBA experience. Both are previous WNBA champions. To stay in this league for this long, including contributing from the bench: that’s no laughing matter, it takes hard work and grit.

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A post shared by TOGETHXR (@togethxr)

And yet, laugh Syd and TP do. Syd in particular has built a beloved fanbase across her TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter with her quick wit, memes, and gay jokes a plenty. She saw a kindred spirit (someone to always laugh at her fart jokes) in TP when both played for the Las Vegas Aces in 2022. She knew right away that fire chemistry needed to be caught like lightning in a bottle, and so The Syd + TP Show was born. The quest to become “the faces of the league” is a light framework that takes them everywhere from interviewing WNBA G.O.A.T. Sheryl Swoops, to a gay bar to pick up girls with queer heartthrob E.R. Fightmaster, even running their own basketball clinic for kids!

Directed by the incredibly talented and longtime Autostraddle favorite Carly Usdin — The Syd + TP Show makes excellent use of Syd and TP’s natural timing. Following a loose script that leaves plenty of room for improv, Syd + TP is funny in the same way as when your friends told you “get in loser, we’re going shopping,” so you hopped in the car, but you don’t quite know where we’re going or what will happen. Still the next thing you know, you’re the kind of giddy where your laughter is coming out more like wheezes and even the smallest thing (someone pronounces a word a certain way, you all see the same sign) has you doubled over. Because what always matters in those moments is who you’re with, that’s how the memories are made. That’s the The Syd + TP Show. (I haven’t tried it yet, but I bet it would go great with an edible, just saying if that’s your thing.)

And so yes, it started out as a joke. Syd Colson and TP — not Candace Parker, Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Sue Bird, iconic WNBA players with national commercials, sponsorships, and shoe exclusives — they were going to be the next faces of the league.

Then last month, the Las Vegas Aces were staring down the barrel of their back-to-back championship, a feat that had not been pulled off in the league in over 20 years. They were up 2-1 in the finals series against the New York Liberty. If they could pull off one more win, they’d be written into history. And then between games three and four, two of the five Las Vegas Aces starters were injured (another first in league history). The mood sombered. Coach Becky Hammon said she wasn’t worried, she knew who was in her locker room. WNBA teams don’t have deep benches, and suddenly it felt like the whole world was watching Syd Colson.

Syd, a previous national college champ with Texas A&M, in addition to her previous ring with the Aces, knew what she had to do. The Aces were down by 10 when Coach Hammon called her to the floor. Syd gets the ball on a pass from Jackie Young, pump fakes Sabrina Ionescu, then runs right past her into the lane as if it was made for her and floats in the basket. The crowd goes wild (the crowd was me, at home, I went wild). For every minute she played, Syd’s defense smothered Ionescu. On offense, a behind the back pass from Syd to Alicia Clarke makes every highlight reel.

The next morning Sydney Colson woke up a back-to-back champ. And do you know who every basketball fan was talking about?

The face of the league.

After her celebration tour wrapped (including a sit down on The Daily Show for Syd and a segment on the Tamron Hall Show with special guest lesbian legend Robin Roberts for Syd and TP both), I was lucky enough to get a few minutes with Syd and TP to talk about their primed-to-be cult classic sketch show. I was not prepared to laugh this much.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Carmen: Sorry, just to slightly geek out for a second, it’s really just… I’m a HUGE Aces fan … I’m actually a new WNBA fan, which is going to be part of the interview, but I’ve been on the road for both of the championships and feeling really proud and excited for you guys.

TP: You joined at a good time!

Carmen: I won’t lie, I really picked a great moment. In Autostraddle’s office, we decided to build a WNBA Fantasy League after BG got detained last year, and just got really serious about being like, “We should be putting our money where our mouth is and actively supporting the league.”

We have two or three people on our team who are women’s sports fanatics and they were like, “We will teach the rest of y’all how to do this, join this league, it’ll be fun. Do whatever.” And I got really into it. The first year in the fantasy league I finished almost in last place, but this year I came in third.

TP: Oh nice.

Syd: Look at you. Come on progress.

Carmen: My growth was very real!

Syd: It was!

Carmen: So I picked a good time. Okay. But I can use that to pivot! Syd, TP, what’s really great is your show is… first of all, hilarious.

Syd: Thank you.

Carmen: It makes our team laugh weekly! But the premise of it, for our readers who are going to be catching on, is that both of you want to learn how to be the face of the league, right?

You both have had very long WNBA careers. A lot of times, not necessarily.. in any way that is… I don’t mean anything by this… but you’re not necessarily getting a lot of starter time, right? You spend a lot of time sitting on the bench, but —

Syd: How rude Carmen.

TP: What? I didn’t see my career going that way.

Carmen: Okay! I’ve never done a sports interview before. I don’t know the protocols of —

Syd: We’re kidding.

TP: We have a TV show about self-proclaimed bench warmers.

Carmen: Yeah, but I didn’t want to be the one to say it! It’s all a kind of thing like, “You can say it, but I can’t say it.”

Syd: No, we literally do not care.

Carmen: What does it mean to both of you to be the face of the league? Let’s start there. You were like, “I’m going to make the show. We’re going to become the face of the league.” What does it mean to be the face of the league?

Syd: For us, it’s just really funny because our director for the show had to come up with an idea.

Carly had to figure out a way to put all these ideas we had for things that we wanted to do on the show and make all of those parodies or sketches, or whatever we wanted to do, make it make sense and for there to be an overarching goal. Give it a frame.

And so, Carly, they were like, “What about … ” This is how the conversation went with Togethxr, apparently, and Carly, before we were even in on it. It was just what about if we have them try to become the faces of the league and they’re two bench warmers? That could be hilarious.

And then we move the episodes in a direction of either they’re working toward it and they’re doing well or they hit some bumps in the roads, yada yada yada. And so, for us, when Carly got on the first call with us and had to pitch to us this idea, we laughed immediately. We were like, “This is hilarious and this is right up our alley.”

TP: And like you, they were also very delicate in coming out about what that was. They were like, “I think the world of you guys.” They’re also a big W fan for years and years and years. Loves sports, loves women’s sports.

So they pitched us, they said, “We think the world of you guys, we think y’all are great basketball players, so please don’t think anything of it.” And then when they said, “Y’all are going to be the faces of the league, self-proclaimed.” We thought it was great. We were like, “We couldn’t have planned this out better ourselves.”

Carmen: What I loved about this is that in one of your more recent episodes, you were like, “We’re going to manifest it.” But it really did become manifestation! By the end of the WNBA season we weren’t just making the joke on our website or in our group chat. We were like, “Everyone’s talking about lesbian legend, Syd Colson. Syd Colson’s the face of the league.”

I think that that’s been really amazing. So I wondered… were you, as you’re building this little sketch show, were you like, “You know what’s going to be great? In the end, this is exactly what’s going to happen. The morning after the championship, you know who everyone’s going to be talking about? Syd Colson.”

TP: The face of the league.

Carmen: The face of the league!

Syd: In the most modest way or the most humble way, and not just about myself but about us, I knew last season that TP was hilarious. Once I became teammates with her, I [originally] only knew her in passing or through other people or about her. We had never had a real conversation. Once I met her and just got to know her for real, once I could tell how funny she was and how talented I felt like she was, I was like… it’s funny, once Carly pitched the premise, but I was like, “it’s going to be funny because we are actually funny people.”

I don’t know, neither one of us have ever met a stranger, a lot of people just gravitate toward our energy. And so I thought the combination of us having a fan base in the WNBA already, especially people from Las Vegas who saw us on social media, their social media platform, because Chris, our social media guy, is just outstanding.

TP: Incredible.

Syd: He helped me in 2019 get my social media bigger. He propelled so much for me. But the joke was that I saw it forming. [I knew] that we would be talked about because the show is going to be good. Our writer, Sheeds, is wonderful. Our producers Kwani —

TP: Top notch.

Syd: …Renie, Kayla, Togethxr, who was the one who even got this stuff rolling with me. There were so many people, our agent, Gina, that saw the vision and we all were like, “It’s going to actually come to fruition. People are going to laugh at the log line.” But yeah, I think for me I was like, “Yeah, this —”

Carmen: This is a hit.

TP: And it all happened so quickly!

Syd: We shot 10 episodes in 12 days. We did a week before training camp this past season, and then during the All Star break in Vegas.

Carmen: That also speaks to the quality of your natural chemistry, right? Watching it, I thought y’all spent the whole off season doing this. I was like, “Oh, they’ve been working on this.” I just watched the most recent episode where you guys get to interview Sheryl Swoops.

I was falling off the couch. It is so good!! And I think part of that is watching you, obviously you guys already feed off each other well, but watching you feed off of each other and then also be in front of a great and go: “So, I want to be the face of the league.”

She’s like, “Of what?” And TP goes, “The W.”

It killed. It’s so good. And then later when, and Sheryl lists her accomplishments and gets to “four-time, back to back to back to back champion of the Houston Rockets,” and Syd’s like, “I’m from Houston.”

Not to quote you guys back to you guys, but for our readers.

TP: We love it.

Carmen: Part of what I’ve really been drawn to about your show is what also brought me to the W to begin with. There are so many personalities. I think that’s what The Syd + TP Show does well.

What’s great about the W is the basketball’s amazing. But also around the sport, y’all have such big personalities on and off the court. You’re really warm people and the league feels like that throughout. You guys bring that energy all the time. And I think the show does a good job of representing that.

Syd: Thank you.

Carmen: I wondered if that was part of what you were hoping for. What is the hope? Were you like, “I’m hoping to bring more people into the W. I’m hoping to … ” I know Syd has joked about wanting to get on Insecure before. “I’m hoping to springboard this into something.”

Syd: No, yeah, that wasn’t a joke. I dead ass wanted to be on Insecure.

TP: She wasn’t joking.

Carmen: That’s not a joke at all. Dead serious. Issa, you have to call Syd. That’s not a —

Syd: Dead serious.

Carmen: It could work! I think that you should be on the next Issa Rae project. I could see you on Rap Sh!t. I can see this for you.

Syd: Well, I got to meet her after game four [of the 2023 WNBA finals] in New York. I caught a side profile and I thought it was Issa but then she had turned. I’m like, “Is this Issa?”

And I don’t get excited about celebrities! I’m just that kind of person. I’m like, “We all just people. I don’t care.” But I respect and admire her so much because of how she went about her business. And that she started on Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl and did it with her friends and brought people up with her. I respect people who do stuff like that. They don’t just go aim for the biggest stars. They bring their friends who are talented and want to work and have ambition. And so for me, I was like, “I’ve got to get a picture with her.”

Carmen: Okay, but did you shoot your shot? Were you like, “Issa, I’m really funny. Have you seen my TikTok?”

Syd: No, no, no. I told her what I just told you. I told her that I admire her and I watched her for a long time. And I was —

Carmen: Well, I’m going to say, it in case one day this interview ever gets read by her people, that you’re hilarious online and on TikTok and maybe Issa should hit you up. Just throwing that out there.

Syd: Thank you, Carmen.

Carmen: No problem. This is, I think in basketball they call that an assist.

TP: Not you dropping lingo!

Carmen: Listen, you don’t move from number eight to number three in the fantasy league by faking it!

TP: All right. You did your homework.

Syd: Not playing with us.

Carmen: Right?

Syd: She said Big Carmen, not the Little One.

Carmen: Not the Little One!! That’s what I’m talking about.

Carmen: I think this is actually a great pivot to something else that I wanted to hit up, which is this: a lot of our readers… We have some readers that are really hardcore, they love sports. And we have other readers where, I won’t lie, we kind of baited the lesbian audience. We were like, “Here are, 35 WNBA players you could be thirsting after on Instagram. And while you’re reading that, by the way, we’re going to start doing a weekly column and start building the conversation because the league is amazing and you should all be paying attention.”

If you were to try and sell someone who maybe is gay and really enjoys watching, I don’t know, hot women sweat on each other… but hadn’t built their way into sports yet, what would you say?

Syd: For queers.

Carmen: Yeah.

Syd: I think that… Did you have something you were about to say?

TP: Yeah. Grab a power tool.

Carmen: Grab a power tool??

TP: Grab a power tool. Grab any kind of ball sport, take a picture, see how you feel about it. If it’s your vibe, drop that power tool. Stick to sports. Do your heritage justice.

That’s right. Embrace what’s ours. Women’s sport, power tools.

Syd: It belongs to us.

TP: It’s ours. We don’t embrace it enough.

Syd: We don’t. But yeah, I think I would do something along those lines. It’s like on, not even a funny note it’s like, yeah… come and support people who are like you, you relate to them in some way. You all have something. Just the way, Issa Rae, “I’m rooting for everybody black.”

You have this connection with people from afar that even though you don’t necessarily know them, you might know something about their plight or about a struggle they’ve gone through or just what it’s like to be in their shoes a little bit, from one vantage point. And so, I don’t know, I think it would just be cool to have a way to have an in with the sport through this connection that we share.

And I think it helps, too, that you get to know some people off the court. You start seeing some people’s personalities, or like what we’re doing [on the show]. Or if you see somebody who models, or you see somebody who, I don’t know, is pursuing something else because so many of us in the W are so multifaceted and we’re multi-hyphenates.

So, if you see them elsewhere and you know that they play, it’s a perfect opportunity to be like, “All right, let me go check this person out in real life.”

TP: That sounds great, yeah.

Syd: And then when you get to a WNBA game, a lot of the time, especially depending on the city, people love it so much that they want to come back. You’re like, “Dang, I did not know that end game experience would be like that.” Then you’re drawn in, and hopefully that’s how we keep building.

Carmen: I love that. And I think that’s the thing, right? Once you start watching it, you’re like, “Oh, I did not know the game would be this exciting.” In the Autostraddle office it became infectious. It was the finals this year, and we were leaving work early to watch. We were like, “All right, we are done. It is time we wrapped here.”

Syd: Right?

Oh, here’s a better pitch for it. Come to a W game… There are always a lot of gay people, there are always a lot of people in the stands. You can meet your man, your woman, your nonbinary person, come to a WNBA game. It could be the love of your life. The love of your life is sitting next to you.

TP: You can meet your stud.

Carmen: They could be sitting next to you, or they could be on the court. Some of us have a goal of being a WNBA Wife.

TP: Your stud muffin.

Carmen: Some of us are aspirational, okay?

TP: You got to manifest it. Show up to a WNBA game. Manifest it.

Syd: Manifest. Yeah. You can have your life good. Come to a W game. Do your, what’s it called?

Carmen: Sageing?

Syd: Sage the room. Sage the arena.

TP: Find the stud muffin of your dreams.

Carmen: Listen, you guys manifested being the face of the league. So I can manifest being a WNBA wife.

Syd: You absolutely can.

The Syd + TP Show will air its season finale this Monday on the Maximum Effort Channel and is available for streaming on Fubo.

I Never Thought I’d Love Powerlifting; Now I’m Training for My First Competition

When I first started strength training, I didn’t expect to be here. I didn’t think I’d ever care about any of this. Now, I’m in the last week of training for my first actual powerlifting meet coming up in a few days, and I’m still shocked I’m doing it in the first place.

I started lifting weights last August as more of a necessity than the fulfillment of some deep desire to be stronger and more agile. My knee was in a lot of pain, and after the orthopedic surgeon I was referred to by my primary care doctor diagnosed me with osteoarthritis, he suggested I find some kind of recreational movement routine that I’d want to stick with. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do. Both my job and the community organizing work I did outside of work took a lot of my time and energy, and I didn’t want to have another thing in my schedule that would prevent me from having time to do other things I really cared about (like reading or hanging out with my partner or talking shit with my friends in the group chat). But after a little while, I caved and asked my good friend, Brendan, about strength training.

Before last August, Brendan and I rarely ever spoke about the fact that he’s been strength training for about 20 years and competing in strength training events for over 10. It just wasn’t part of our bond. What brought us together was teaching, initially, but what really brought us together was a general disdain for most old school pedagogical priorities, a couple of bad break ups and our subsequent “dating” phases afterwards, leftist political beliefs, and our shared understanding that most of modern life is completely absurd. A love and respect for strength sports was never part of the equation. He would compete and, sometimes, he’d win, and I’d be happy for him as I am any friend who is doing something that makes them happy. I’ll be honest in saying I really didn’t care about it beyond that. Actually, I’ll come entirely clean here in saying I didn’t understand why he liked it so damn much.

I didn’t grow up in what you’d call a sports-dominant household. My parents liked sports, my dad played intramural sports when I was a kid, and my mom went to the gym and walked and ran on the treadmill a lot, but they weren’t fanatics or anything. When they got my brother and me involved in sports, no one was forcing us to foster a good relationship to the act of athleticism itself. To be fair, I think this had more to do with the limited time my parents had because of work and raising kids, but still, teaching us how to develop healthy relationships with sports and exercise was just not an imperative. And as a result, even when I was playing, I never considered myself much of an athlete. I’m not saying that gives me an excuse to wholesale write sports off as a possible interest, but I do think — coupled with the trauma of how I was treated as a fat kid — this lack of connection is what kept me away from sports for a long time. I can’t remember the last time I participated in an athletic competition prior to this meet, but I couldn’t have been over 15 or 16 years old.

Even though I know I could’ve and should’ve asked Brendan what drew him to strength sports at any time before last year, I think a lot of that background kept me from doing so. At its most basic, strength training is simply the act of picking something up and putting it back down. Sure, there are about a million ways to pick the thing up and another million ways to put the thing back down. But if we’re being real about the sport itself, it is just up, down, up, down, up, down. I can’t say the thought of doing it necessarily bored me, though that description does make it sound very boring. It was more the misunderstanding of the culture and the sport itself that made me think it was all…kind of pointless beyond an exercise in ego and vanity. I could see it was much more than that for Brendan, but with all of the sports-related emotions (or lack of emotions) compounded, I never felt the urge to think about strength sports beyond the limited conversations we had about his involvement in them.

After my diagnosis, I was quietly sitting on that new revelation until Brendan mentioned he was working with his strength coach, Vinny, to help alleviate some pain he was also experiencing in his knees. The two of us had been complaining to each other and making jokes about our physical states for months, and hearing about him trying to do something about it made me feel like I could do the same through strength training. A week or so went by before I asked him for Vinny’s contact information, and then I jumped into my new life.

Everyone around me keeps saying they just can’t believe how quickly I latched on to all of this, and I can’t either. Although I rarely talk about it with anyone besides my partner, I cried almost every day I went to the gym for the first month of going. Not because of the pain and not even because of the fact that I was truly, truly not used to pushing my body to do that kind of work. It was more because of the fact that I thought I was losing so much time doing something I really didn’t want to do. It used to be difficult to pinpoint exactly how that started to change and when I started to actively desire going to the gym, but once it happened, I was suddenly all-in. And by all-in, I mean, embracing Vinny’s gentle nudges pushing me toward training in powerlifting, buying actual gear I needed for strength training, taking creatine, and researching everything I could about the history of strength sports and how the hell up, down, up, down, up, down became so interesting. I was never thinking about competing though.

Compared to other competitive sports, powerlifting is a fairly recent phenomenon. Unlike Olympic weightlifting which has been around since 1896, powerlifting didn’t gain much traction as a sport until the late 1950s. While general weightlifting has a much longer history that dates back to Ancient Greece (and probably earlier than that), weightlifting was used, to some degree, as a part of sports training and it was kind of a means to an end: to build muscle and endurance in those muscles so athletes could use them to do other things like run long distances, wrestle other athletes, jump over obstacles, swim as fast as possible, etc. A combination of factors over many years led to the emergence of powerlifting as a more serious competitive sport. In the 19th century, the circus and “freak show” acts of demonstrating feats of strength to a live audience helped precipitate an interest in body sculpting and physical culture. Many of the early physical culturists — both men and women! —  insisted on the importance of some kind of weighted movement in order to build a muscular-looking physique and to build strength. Championship weightlifting and bodybuilding evolved from the emphasis that was placed on weight training by popular practitioners of physical culture, then Olympic weightlifting was developed in response, and interest in powerlifting grew in response to that.

Where Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting differ is in their movements. Olympic weightlifting originally consisted of three lifts: the Clean and Press, the Snatch, and the Clean and Jerk. Outside of Olympic weightlifting, people were doing a lot of other strange lifts (like one of my personal favorites, the Zercher squat). Most famously, they were doing what would become known as the “Strength Set”: the Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlift. As more and more interest turned away from Olympic weightlifting toward powerlifting, national (and a little later, international) competitive powerlifting was born when the first meet was held in 1964 under the auspices of the York Barbell Company. In a powerlifting meet, the only lifts performed are the Strength Set, and you’re scored based on a variety of factors. In regards to the lifts themselves, you’re given three attempts at each of them, ideally with each attempt increasing in weight as you go. For each one, you’re scored on your ability to both perform the lift with good-to-perfect form and your ability to listen to the commands for each lift.

In this meet, I will only be participating in the Bench Press and the Deadlift because I’m not very confident in my Squat (but I’ve promised the boys I’ll squat next time). In addition to that, all competitors are split into body weight and age divisions. For instance, I’ll be competing in the super heavyweight (above 230 pounds) sub-masters (ages 33 to 39) divisions. That means when it comes to handing out prizes for best lifts, my direct competitors will share these same divisions with me. Although this is starting to change with the inclusion of more and more trans people in powerlifting, competing is similar to competing in any other sport in that it’s separated by sex. I don’t identify as a woman, but I will also be in that division since I don’t have the option of competing as non-binary.

When Brendan suggested we do this meet together back in August and record parts of our journey as Patreon-only episodes for our podcast, Fat Guy, Jacked Guy, I was hesitant for a few reasons, not least of all of the fact that I’d have to compete in the women’s division. While I understand the particular reasons and tensions that make it so difficult to desegregate strength sports, I don’t know if I’ll be able to fully parse through the feelings involved with competing in the women’s category until the meet ends and I can begin processing it. Aside from that, my hesitancy mostly came from the fact that, once again, I truly did not expect to be here and, also, I couldn’t help but feel like I shouldn’t be here at first. A year and some change of powerlifting felt like nothing compared to the people I know who have spent years and years working at this, improving their strength and their lifts, and just putting the time and dedication into it all in a way I felt like I wasn’t. I don’t wholly subscribe to the idea of imposter syndrome, but it does feel so odd that something similar to it was popping up in regards to something I never thought I’d be thinking about in my whole entire life. I told Brendan I’d talk to Vinny about it, but mostly, I was trying to buy time…until a couple days later when I hesitantly agreed to do the meet.

We started training for it almost immediately, and even though I had already agreed (and paid) to do it, I was still feeling very unsure about having to compete for a while. Then, something Vinny said to me kind of shook me out of how self-conscious I was feeling about it: “A year is a long time. You’ve been coming here every week, four days a week without letting anything get in the way of that for over a year. If you break it down, that’s a lot. And that’s what dedication is. You’re a part of this community now like everyone else.”

That’s when it finally clicked: It was easy for me to go all-in on this because I liked doing it, sure, but also because of the culture, the skill, and especially, the community of our little strength gym who made doing the hard work of getting stronger some of the most fun I’ve ever had in sports. And really, powerlifting hasn’t changed much from its very early circus and “freak show” roots: The people involved in powerlifting exist and compete on the margins of sports themselves, and the people drawn to the margins usually have some “freak”-like qualities also. That’s another aspect of this that I think makes it easy to be in the gym. You’re just hanging out with other misfits like you who are participating in this sport that was specifically designed for misfits anyways. Unlike most sports and, really, most of the places we have to be in our lives, so many of us get to show up to our barbell gyms as our full selves — whether our full selves are novices or professionals, super knowledgeable or just learning, unsure of what to do or fully organized with a plan — and become quickly integrated into those communities because of a shared desire to get stronger and because so many people are just like us or were just like us at some point. The joy this new reality has given me is one I could’ve never prepared for. How could I possibly feel like I don’t belong? People have been showing me for over a year that everyone, including me, has a space here.

Tomorrow, I take the platform — actually, the same exact platform as my brother, Brendan, with our brother, Vinny, coaching us and many of the other misfits from our little strength gym competing alongside us — to see what year and some change has done to my body, my drive, and my spirit. I’m so excited for what’s to come.

“Candace Parker: Unapologetic” Shows That Behind Every GOAT Is a Love Story

For nearly all of the greatest moments in Candace Parker’s storied basketball career, her daughter, Lailaa, has been there.

During Parker’s first year in the WNBA, when she collected the Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awards — a feat that hasn’t been matched since — Lailaa was there (albeit in utero but still, that counts!). When Parker returned to the court, just 53 days after giving birth, Lailaa was there. And when opportunities arose for Candace Parker to play abroad… either in Yekaterinburg, Russia or Dongguan, China or Istanbul, Turkey… Lailaa was there. She got to witness it all: the championships, the individual accolades, the Olympic gold medals. She had a front row seat to watching her mother become one of the greatest to ever play the game. And when her mother stepped into the fullness of her love for Anya Petrakova by proposing in 2019, Lailaa was there, holding the cake that said, “will you marry us?“

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But Lailaa’s brother, Airr, won’t get to experience any of that. He won’t get to witness the dizzing heights to which his mother has risen. With his mother’s pledge that she won’t return to basketball unless she’s healthy, it’s possible that Airr will grow up without any tangible, first-hand memories of his mother in her element. He won’t get to see her play alongside a new generation of players who were all molded in her image.

With that in mind, it’s helpful to think about Unapologetic, the new ESPN documentary about Candace Parker from Joie Jacoby, as less of your average sports documentary and more of a gift from a mother to her son. It is a tangible way for Airr to learn about his legacy. It is an opportunity for him to one day see the moments and people that shaped his mother into the person that she is. He’d get to see, as Lailaa had, how his family came to be. That the audience gets to witness the usually guarded and stoic Candace Parker be open and vulnerable, isn’t for our benefit, it’s for his.

“For me, I didn’t share for a long time and it wasn’t because I was ashamed. It was because I wanted to keep that personal to me,” Parker admitted during a recent interview. “But it was just a moment where, when [Petrakova] was pregnant with our son, it was like, I don’t want our son to ever think that I don’t love our family and that I’m not proud of our family.”

But while Unapologetic may ultimately be a testament to a mother’s love for her son, the journey it takes the audience on is one worth relishing.

It’s easy to take it for granted today, in this new world of young athletes, their NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) deals, and women’s college basketball exceeded the reach of the men’s game — but when Candace Parker came onto the scene, the world had never seen anything like her. A female player from Naperville, Illinois, who could dunk a basketball when she was only a sophomore in high school? The broader sports world clamoring to find out where a female recruit would go to college? It was unprecedented.

Unapologetic follows Parker’s journey from Naperville to Knoxville where she played for the legendary Pat Summitt. Parker’s always been candid about the special relationship she had with Pat. Anytime she talks about her, the admiration and love is evident. The documentary is at its most affecting when Parker is able to lean into the emotion of the story and, with Summitt, the emotions are summoned so easily. There’s a mix of pride and profound sadness that flashes across Parker’s face when she recalls that, even while in the throes of early onset dementia, Pat never forgot her name.

The documentary’s high point, undoubtedly, is the story of Parker finding love with her former UMMC Ekaterinburg teammate, Anya Petrakova. We finally get some insight into the build-up towards her infamous 2021 Instagram post revealing that she was married and expecting a child.

Parker’s journey to making that post wasn’t an easy one. In college, she had a high profile relationship with then-Duke star Shelden Williams and the pair would marry in 2008. They’d divorce eight years later but the expectations of Parker — of who she was, of who she should love — persisted, making it difficult to fully embrace her truth. In Unapologetic, Parker talks about the difficulty of coming out to her family and recalls talking to her brother about Anya without using any identifying pronouns.

I’ve known of Candace Parker since she dunked that basketball in 2001. She’s always seemed otherworldly to me… like, with her talent, she just exists on a different plane than the rest of us. But to hear her talk about her queerness in Unapologetic, to hear her unabashedly fawn over her wife? Candace Parker has never felt more real.

We also get to see the toll that Parker’s on the court greatness has taken on her body. Women’s basketball fans have always been privy to conversations about the price that athletes pay for year-round play — playing in the WNBA from April to October and then spending the rest of the year playing overseas — but rarely have the consequences been shown in such stark terms. Parker recounts eight knee surgeries and a shoulder surgery. One doctor reports that Parker has a tear or fissure in the covering of one of the discs in her back, and another doctor shares that there’s no cartilage left in her knee. I couldn’t help but to recall her pledge to return to basketball only if she could play without pain and wonder, particularly with the foot surgery she had last season, if that’s even possible for her.

But where Unapologetic falters is that it never seems to want to go deep enough. There’s a passing mention of Parker’s divorce from Shelden Williams, but the documentary offers explanation for how the relationship fell apart or what their relationship is like as co-parents. While Parker acknowledges the difficulty of coming out, her parents who, had until that point been fixtures in the documentary, disappear and little is said about them or their reaction. When Parker talks about being left off the Olympic roster in 2016, why does Parker avoid calling out then-coach Geno Auriemma? It’s not like she hasn’t done it before. I can appreciate that Parker didn’t want to “badmouth people,” but those notable omissions make it hard to appreciate the full scope of the trials she’s had to face.

Even within the confines of the narrative Unapologetic creates, there were plenty of opportunities to offer more perspectives, and it never does. How much more enriching would Parker’s stories about Tennessee have been if the documentary had featured Pat Summit’s longtime assistants, Holly Warlick or Mickie DeMoss? Who could’ve spoken with more perspective about Parker’s relationship with Pat than Pat’s son, Tyler?

Where are Parker’s would-be teammates from that 2016 Olympic team to speak out her omission? Where are her teammates (besides Chelsea Gray) from her championship runs with the Los Angeles Sparks and the Chicago Sky? Particularly if the documentary was going to include the outcome of The Athletic‘s 2019 anonymous player poll where Parker was voted “most overrated,” why not bring on the players that know Parker best to counteract that narrative? And, no shade to Ramona Shelbourne or Jemele Hill, but why feature them instead of reporters who have covered women’s college basketball and the WNBA over Parker’s storied career?

I understand that this is Candace Parker: Unapologetic and, at the end of the day, it’s her perspective that’s going to be valued the most. But I think adding more voices and providing more context would’ve enriched the story immensely. It just felt like a missed opportunity.

There’s a moment, late in the documentary, that’s stuck with me: Candace Parker is at an event, celebrating the release of her new shoe for Adidas.

As Parker is autographing her shoe, the fan notices the “For Pat” text on it and inquires who Pat is. After I got over my shock, I was reminded that in order for legacies to persist, people need to share their stories… and Unapologetic is Candace Parker’s story. Maybe it doesn’t document her story as fully as I’d like to see it, but if it creates a space for future players — or even just Airr — to learn about Candace Parker and expand on her legacy? It’ll have been a worthwhile creation.

Candace Parker: Unapologetic is now streaming on ESPN+ and wherever you watch ESPN.

The World Needs More Megan Rapinoes

Megan Rapinoe’s first touch during Saturday night’s NWSL final was a good one.

It happened in the game’s first minute: after volleying between the teams, the ball falls to the feet of OL Reign’s Sofia Huerta. The right back sends the ball across the pitch and Rapinoe races to catch it. She’s found new vigor in these playoffs — a spryness that belies her 38 years — and it’s evident again in the championship.

She settles the ball at her feet, dribbles up, and challenges Gotham’s backline. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees her teammate, Jordyn Huitema, making a run into the box and she sends the ball in to meet her. Gotham defender Ali Krieger spots the run as well and rushes to close the gap. With Krieger at her back, Huitema extends her leg but can’t get a foot on the ball, so Gotham reclaims possession. It’s an early reminder — as if Gotham or soccer fans needed one — that in the big moments, Megan Rapinoe always shows up.

That is, until she couldn’t.

Just a few minutes later, Rapinoe slips on the pitch. She masks it well and even chuckles when her teammate, Rose Lavelle, approaches but you know… you just know… she’s done. She had, to quote Rapinoe’s own diagnosis later, “fucking yeeted [her] Achilles.”

For the next 10 minutes or so, it felt like everyone, including the players on the pitch, was in disbelief. They played pensively — unable to complete passes, repeatedly turning the ball over — until the shock of what happened wore off. We all knew that this would be Megan Rapinoe’s last game but, suddenly, we’d been cheated out seeing Rapinoe in her element last time. The storybook wasn’t supposed to end this way.

Far, far away from San Diego’s Snap Dragon Stadium, I watched the scene play out and teared up. I wasn’t ready yet. I wanted more time. I wanted more time to watch Rapinoe play but, more than that, I wanted more time for her on these big stages. I know that there will be players who come after Rapinoe who match or exceed her achievements on the field, that’s the nature of sport. But what I began mourning, as Megan Rapinoe laid on the pitch, was the loss of something rarer that her soccer accolades. Ninety minutes sooner than I’d expected, I had lost the rare white athlete — hell, the rare prominent white person — willing to use their privilege unselfishly to advocate for black people.

Megan Rapinoe didn’t always speak out on racism. It wasn’t her fight… or, at the very least, it wasn’t a cause she felt as intimately as LGBT politics, pay equity, and sexism, she admits in her autobiography, One Life. But in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri, Rapinoe felt called to do more… but first, she had to learn more, so she read everything she could get her hands on.

“After reading everything I could about social and racial injustice, it became clear to me not only how deep the roots of white supremacy went, but also that it was the system from which all other inequalities came,” she writers in her memoir. Echoing the words Fannie Lou Hamer, Rapinoe realized that “nobody’s free until everybody’s free” and, as such, the fight against racial injustice was truly her own. And so, on September 4th 2016, just three days after Colin Kaepernick knelt for the first time, Megan Rapinoe joined him.

The blowback was immediate. Rapinoe was surprised, I was not. But she’d grown up a white woman in Redding, California and I’d grown up as a biracial black girl in the South. I knew intimately the cost of a white person loving black people; it was the first and only lesson my grandfather taught me. Rapinoe writes, “There is a particular kind of baffled outrage reserved by white people for other white people they consider to be ‘betraying’ their race, and that week I felt the full force of it.”

By the time that the Reign arrived for a mid-week match with the Washington Spirit, the club’s conservative owner ensured that Rapinoe wasn’t given the opportunity to protest: he had the anthem played while teams were still in the locker room. The owner blasted Rapinoe via press release for the anticipated show of “disrespect” and Rapinoe responded, in kind, post-game.

(Sidenote: It’s worth noting that the Washington Spirit players spoke out against their owner’s actions, noting how it distracted from their playoff focus. The captain of that Spirit squad? Ali Krieger. Two months later, despite leading the Spirit to their first-ever NWSL Final, Krieger was traded.)

Despite the blowback, Rapinoe was determined to continue her protest, even when she put on the Team USA kit during the post-Olympic friendlies. Her teammates were quietly supportive but no one joined her in kneeling. For Crystal Dunn, one of the team’s few black players, it didn’t feel like a choice.

“I also remember telling her that I had to stand because I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Dunn admitted during a 2020 roundtable on racism in soccer. “I’m scared for my job. I’m scared that it’s going to look differently if a black girl on the team kneels.”

While it is impossible to be certain, it’s more likely that Dunn was right… that as a black woman, she would’ve face stiffer penalties for having protested. Kaepernick, of course, stands out as the most notable example of the penalty of black activism but even within the women’s soccer space evidence exists. Kaiya McCullough was forced out of the NWSL for speaking up about the abuse she suffered. Likewise, it’s largely believed that tension between Christen Press and the U.S. federation — which resulted in her omission from the USWNT, even before her injury — is due, in part, to the formal complaint she filed against her abusive Coach Rory Dames. Dunn almost certainly would’ve had her career ended.

Rapinoe’s persistence was met with U.S. Soccer’s resistance. After kneeling prior to a friendly versus Thailand, U.S. Soccer issued their own press release chastising Rapinoe, without naming her directly, and setting an expectation that players and coaches would stand while the national anthem was played. Ahead of the team’s next match, against the Netherlands, Rapinoe was pulled from the starting line-up.

Too often, this is where solidarity stops and why so much activism on behalf of oppressed groups feels performative. Allies are happy to support just causes right up until the moment that it inconveniences them, right up until the moment where they themselves have something to lose.

If Rapinoe had relented in that moment, I wouldn’t have begrudged her. The chorus of boos that pelted her when she subbed on against Netherlands felt like too much for any one person to take. Besides, she’d already done more than any prominent white athlete had to speak out on racial injustice. But with the world watching, Megan Rapinoe stood firm: she was more than an ally, she was an accomplice.

Rapinoe put her career on the line, giving up the safety of her own privilege to raise awareness and start a conversation about racial justice in this country, and she paid a price for it. Following the Netherlands match, she was told not to dress for year’s remaining USWNT four matches. She went months without playing and when she turned up for camp in January 2017, she had to shake off some rust. U.S. Soccer used that a situation that they created as a pre-text to disinvite Rapinoe from the next camp and, by extension, from being rostered for the 2017 SheBelieves Cup.

By March 2017, U.S. Soccer enacted a policy compelling members of the national team to stand for the anthem. To not do so, e-mails from the federation would later reveal, would’ve meant an immediate suspension for three national team camps or games. A second infraction would result in a yearlong suspension. Only after Rapinoe agreed to abide by the policy was she invited to return to the USWNT.

Three years later, U.S. Soccer would apologize to Rapinoe and repeal the policy. U.S. Soccer Federation president Cindy Parlow Cone admitted they hadn’t listened to a word Rapinoe said missed the point entirely.

Megan Rapinoe retires from the game of soccer having accomplished more than anyone could’ve ever imagined. A ten year career with her club team. Two hundred caps for the USWNT. Two World Cups. An Olympic gold. The Ballon d’Or (football’s most prestigious individual award). Three NWSL Shields. Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year. The Presidential Medal of Freedom.

But, to me, what she did back in 2016 and what she’s done with her advocacy since, is what I’ll remember most. It’s the rarity of seeing a white woman on such a tremendous stage say that black lives matter and be willing to sacrifice her own standing to make the point. It wasn’t performative, it was real… a true willingness to sacrifice for the greater good. She understood that her whiteness gave her privilege and she leveraged it at every possible opportunity.

Rapinoe’s star has risen beyond the soccer world so, no doubt, when she recovers from this Achilles injury, she’ll still have a microphone and she’ll still fight the good fight. Lest anyone doubt her strength, Saturday was a stark reminder: after her injury, she stayed on the pitch — in what must have been excruciating pain — and cheered on her club. Then, when they lost, she hobbled onto the field to comfort her teammates… and as Gotham celebrated, she wrapped Ali Krieger in a warm embrace and congratulated her on the win. Even an injury can’t sideline Rapinoe being her indefatigable self.

But I wonder if anyone — in soccer, in sport, or on a similar high profile stage — will advocate for others as Rapinoe has done. Who will leverage their privilege to advocate for others, even if it makes others uncomfortable, even if it costs themselves something in the interim?

The world needs more Megan Rapinoes, I hope we didn’t see the last one in San Diego.

Watch Ali Krieger and Megan Rapinoe Play Their Last Game: An Everything You Need Mega Post

NWSL Championship preview: Megan Rapinoe #15 of OL Reign and Ali Krieger #11 of NJ/NY Gotham FC go up for the header

Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger will play each other in the NWSL finals. The NWSL championship game airs live on CBS and Paramount+ on Saturday at 8PM ET/5 PM PT. (Photo by Ira L. Black — Corbis/Getty Images)

Back in September, Ali Krieger sent a text message to Megan Rapinoe, hoping to make her schedule work to see the legend on the pitch one last time. The prospect thrilled Rapinoe, who wondered if she could return the favor by working Krieger’s last game into her schedule.

“When is your last game for the Gothams?” Pinoe texted.

“November 11th,” Krieger shot back. It was a confident response: at the time, Krieger’s team, NY/NJ Gotham FC, had dropped to fifth place in the standings. There was still a question of whether Gotham would make the playoffs at all so the idea that they’d make it to the NWSL’s November 11th championship? It was a bold assertion.

Rapinoe laughed in response and then the significance of the date seemed to strike her. The Reign were in a better position than Gotham but not by much: they’d just won their first game after dropping three in a row. But, never short on confidence, Rapinoe quipped back, “Well I guess that’s my last game too.”

And now, two months after that text exchange, the prophesy has been fulfilled: Megan Rapinoe and the OL Reign will face Ali Krieger and Gotham FC for the NWSL Championship. It’s a fairytale ending for the pair who have been part of this league since its inception and who have won nearly every piece of hardware available in women’s soccer except this one.

Both will retire as legends, but only one will finish their career as an NWSL champion.

NWSL Playoff Format

The NWSL playoffs have a pretty simple format: the top six teams in the league — as determined by point standings and, if necessary, goal differential — advance to the playoffs.

The top two teams get opening round byes, leaving the other four teams to battle it out in the quarterfinals. The winner of those games move onto face the league’s top finishers at their home fields in the semifinals. Then, of course, the winners of the semifinal match-up in the finals. Seems pretty simple, right? It would… if not for the international break.

The international break is a period, pre-determined by FIFA, when players leave their club teams and join their national teams for international duty. It causes upheaval and a pretty unnecessary detour in the middle of the seasons and, importantly for what we’re discussing today, the playoffs, that a lot of players want to see changed. On a playoff edition of their podcast, “The RE-CAP Show,” NWSL legends Tobin Heath and Christen Press both urged the NWSL to change the format.

How’d the OL Reign and Gotham FC Get Here?

The road to the championship isn’t easy for any team but one would be hard-pressed to argue that Gotham’s road to San Diego — the franchise’s first ever trip to the finals — wasn’t more hard won. After all, last year they finished 12th in the league. Twelfth out of 12 teams! From worst to… maybe, possibly… first!

Alexa, play that song that goes, “started at the bottom now we here…”

Still, though, the Bats (as they’re affectionally known) barely squeaked into the playoffs. In the end, they finished tied in overall points with the Orlando Pride but won the sixth and final spot in the playoffs by goal differential.

In the opening round, Gotham drew the North Carolina Courage. The home team was short-handed: North Carolina was playing without future league MVP Kerolin who had torn her right ACL in their regular season finale. Kerolin’s absence was just too big of a hole to fill in the short time the Courage had to prepare. Without the Brazilian superstar, the Courage didn’t have that potent offensive threat and Gotham’s defense allowed them to control the game. The Bats won their quarterfinal match-up (2-0) and advanced to the semifinals against the defending champion Portland Thorns.

In their semifinal match, Gotham defense was relentless… and it wasn’t just their stellar backline, it was everyone. There wasn’t a moment when Thorns’ forward Sophia Smith got on the ball and wasn’t immediately surrounded by four Gotham players. Did that exhaust the Gotham frontline? I think so because their offense just wasn’t as potent… but you could also chalk that up to the torrential rain and the artificial pitch. At any rate, Gotham escapes with a goal in extra time from Liverpool transfer Katie Stengel and advance to the franchise’s first ever finals.

On the other side of the pitch, OL Reign’s championship run is built on the back of its veterans.

Megan Rapinoe, Jess Fishlock, Lauren Barnes and Head Coach Laura Harvey have been with the OL Reign (formerly known as the Seattle Reign) since its inception. That’s unheard-of in professional sports. But while they’ve been together a long time, have won the NWSL Shield (the regular season trophy) three times and been to the finals twice before; the NWSL Championship is the one title that’s eluded them.

Thanks to their fourth place finish this season, the OL Reign were able to host their quarterfinal game in Seattle. They had a difficult draw, playing Angel City who came into the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the league under new head coach Becki Tweed. But, for the first time since Sept. 3, OL Reign’s star midfielder Rose Lavelle was available for action… and right away, you could see her impact on the pitch. The Reign were able to stifle the usually potent Angel City offense and get the ball into their attacking third. Late in the game, Phoebe McClernon drives the ball inside to a running Veronica Latsko who heads the ball in for a 1-0 victory. The win was the first Reign playoff victory since 2015.

But Latsko’s not done! She become the first player in NWSL history to score in back-to-back playoff games since 2019, when, against the San Diego Wave, she sends a cross in that — somehow! — finds its way into the back of the net. The look of absolute shock and dismay of Latsko’s face, even as she celebrates her goal, might be one of the highlights of the 2023 season for me. The Reign defense is, once again able to stifle a potent offense and keep Alex Morgan and the San Diego Wave from capping off their Shield-winning season with a trip to the finals.

Championship Storylines

With their storied careers, their imminent retirements and with Krieger and Rapinoe having manifested this championship match, it’s understandable that they’re the story that everyone’s talking about.

But those aren’t the only storylines that I’m invested in.

The Returns of Sinead Farrelly and Mana Shim

Most of the women who have changed the game of women’s soccer, you know. They become so ubiquitous that even if you’re not a soccer fan, you recognize them. Mia Hamm. Brandi Chastain. Abby Wambach. Brianna Scurry. Megan Rapinoe. Ali Krieger. Alex Morgan. Even if you’re not a fan of the beautiful game, you recognize them. Their legacy precedes them. But Saturday night, two absolute gamechangers will put on the Gotham FC kit and compete for a championship… and not nearly enough people watching will know who they are.

Back in 2021, Sinead Farrelly and Mana Shim both came forward and shared the story of the abuse they experienced under their former head coach, abuse that drove them both away from the game.

The fallout was cataclysmic and necessary. Coaches were fired, some owners were pressured to sell, the NWSL began an immediate investigation, US Soccer tapped Sally Yates (yes, that Sally Yates) to conduct a separate inquiry. Farrelly and Shim’s courageous testimony brought long overdue changes to the game.

Once they were both able to see that change was possible — Shim still serves as chair of US Soccer’s Participant Safety Taskforce — they were able to recapture their love for the game. Farrelly returned to the NWSL in March, after an eight year break from soccer, and Shim returned in June.

“Returning to the NWSL has been one of the most challenging, transformative, eye-opening experiences of my life. I’m here to tell you that if you have the courage to step outside of your comfort zone and face that shadow, whatever it might be in your world, you can receive peace in exchange. You can receive joy, something I personally feared I might never feel again while playing soccer. The journey back was neither smooth nor linear, but it has been worth every difficult experience and hard lesson I learned to get to where I am now.”  — Sinead Farrelly

Sinead Farrelly and Mana Shim are heroes. Perhaps if they raise an NWSL trophy on Saturday, the world will start to recognize them for the gamechangers they are.

Is This OL Reign Coach Laura Harvey’s Last Stand?

Head coach Laura Harvey of OL Reign at Snapdragon Stadium on November 10, 2023 in San Diego, California.

(Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

Other than the NWSL finals, the big news in women’s soccer right now is the anticipated hiring of Chelsea manager Emma Hayes to lead the USWNT. For non-soccer fans, it’s hard to quantify how big of a hire this but, simply put: Emma Hayes is largely considered to be the best coach in women’s soccer today. After the conclusion of Chelsea’s season, she’ll be working to restore the USWNT to its former glory, as well as rebuilding a depleated US Soccer youth system.

Hayes’ move leaves an opening at Chelsea and, assuming that Hayes takes her team along with her, it’s probably one of the best jobs in all of women’s sports. Does OL Reign coach Laura Harvey — an England native with coaching/managing experience at Birmingham City, Arsenal, OL Reign and the US U-20 team — take a shot at that position?

Whatever happens in Saturday’s match, Harvey’s been a candidate for the USWNT head coaching job twice now and hasn’t gotten it… and, on some level, that’s got to frustrate her. Does she look elsewhere for other international coaching opportunities? Does she ride off into the sunset with Megan Rapinoe, a player that’s been central to her life, both professionally and personally?

Is That Your Pitch?

Questions about the soccer pitches usually revolve around one thing: grass or artifical turf.

(There was also the time that “baseball diamonds” was an option but soccer fans like to purge that from our collective memories.)

Despite grass being the preferred playing surface for most players, OL Reign and the Portland Thorns still play on artificial surfaces so there was a chance the NWSL championship would be played on turn (to their credit, the Thorns are pushing for changes to their stadium). But, thankfully, back in July the NWSL announced that this year’s championship would be held at the home of the San Diego Wave, at Snapdragon Stadium… which boasts a grass pitch.

Crisis averted, right? If only.

The Wave share a stadium with the San Diego State University Aztecs and remnants of the previous night’s football game lingered on the field. The Aztec insignia, the hashmarks, divots… all fully visible during Sunday’s match. It was absolutely dreadful. It looked like no effort had been made to prepare the pitch to host the NWSL semifinals. It fell so far below the standards you’d expect for a professional sports club…. the Wave and the NWSL should’ve been embarrassed.

So what’s the pitch in San Diego going to look like on Saturday? Is it possible to rehab that field in time? Hopefully so, but more important for me, at least, how do we begin to set new expectations about facilities in the NWSL? Is there going to be a move away from turf, permanently? How are we negotiating use of these shared facilities and are NWSL teams getting priority in their use?

And Finally, Which Players Are Gay in the NWSL Championship Game?

NY/NJ Gotham FC

Michelle Betos

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Sinead Farrelly

Sinead Farrelly poses for a portrait during a Republic of Ireland Women squad portrait session at O'Reilly Hall in UCD, Dublin.

(Photo By Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Ali Krieger

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Kristie Mewis

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Kelley O’Hara

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Delanie Sheehan

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Mana Shim

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OL Reign

Quinn (who uses they/them pronouns)

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Jess Fishlock & Tziarra King

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Megan Rapinoe

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Nikki Stanton

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How To Watch the NWSL Championship Game

The NWSL championship airs live on CBS and Paramount+ on Saturday at 8PM ET/5 PM PT. Do yourself a favor and skip the pre-show.

It’s Official: Exceptionally Cute Soccer Couple Sam Kerr and Kristie Mewis Are Engaged

Australian soccer player Sam Kerr and American soccer player Kristie Mewis, who have been in a public relationship since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, have confirmed to People Magazine that they are, in fact, engaged.

This comes after some time of fevered speculation within the passionate lesbian women’s soccer community.

In late October, 32-year-old Kristie, who plays on the U.S. women’s national team and as a midfielder for Gotham FC, posted the photo below, and there wasn’t really any mistaking that ring on her finger for anything other than an engagement rock. Another photo in the dump showed Kristie and Sam, who is 30, on a boat together with a bottle of champagne. An engagement celebration at sea? Seemed possible!

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The comments section was alive with a lot of ring emojis and congratulations along with assumptions that perhaps the post was a soft launch. Some fans pointed out that the final photo in the carousel “looks professional,” like perhaps it was part of some sort of engagement photo shoot.

Sam, who plays on the Australia national team and is a forward for Chelsea, also had done an Instagram post fueling engagement speculation in the comments at the end of September:

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A post shared by Sam Kerr (@samanthakerr20)

(Scroll to the fourth photo in Sam’s September photo dump above to see a band on her ring finger (it might look like it’s on the right hand, but because it’s a mirror selfie, that’s definitely the left). These posts also lead Vogue Australia to speculate: “Is this football’s soft launch of the century?”

Kristie and Sam have been an especially adorable soccer couple, whether it’s Kristie cheering Sam on from the stands and posing with fans, gushing about each other in interviews or posting very cute Instagram carousels.

Chelsea's Sam Kerr (left) poses with girlfriend Gotham FC's Kristie Mewis after victory in the Vitality Women's FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, London. Picture date: Sunday May 15, 2022. (Photo by John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)

(Photo by John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)

Mewis told People Magazine that her fiancée has “just been everything” to her “my biggest supporter, always listening to me nag and complain all, all of my crazy antics.”

This is an inspiring tale for long-distance lesbian couples everywhere — do not let an ocean get in the way of your potential marriage prospects!

On Saturday, November 11th, Kristie and her team will be facing the OL Reign in the NWSL Championship game, a hotly anticipated contest that will also be the final NWSL game for legends Ali Krieger and Megan Rapinoe. What a time to be alive!

Gay for Play: The Best Queer Sports Movies of All Time

When someone says “queer sports movies” what titles come to mind? Bend It Like Beckham? A League of Their Own? Love and Basketball? Bring It On?

If your first thought is subtext, you’re not alone. These films still hold a grasp on our collective hearts unlike any queer sports movies where the queerness is explicit. Despite queer people’s major involvement in sports — especially in women’s sports — Hollywood has long neglected our stories.

That’s finally starting to change.

Today NYAD, the true story of lesbian swimmer Diana Nyad, was released on Netflix and it joins a series of other recent sports movies that aim to fill in this long-held gap. In Hollywood and beyond, more queer sports movies are being made every year, but there still aren’t enough. You’ll notice this list is lacking in trans movies — something I’ve personally tried to change with my trans girl soccer movie but after two failed development processes, no luck. You’ll also notice, despite the very queer WNBA, there isn’t a single movie here about women’s basketball — something my far more successful friends have tried to change, also no luck.

Nevertheless, as we ask for more, let’s celebrate what does exist. This list has queer women testing their physical limits, queer men confronting their toxic masculinity, and even a few cute and sporty gay romances. The definition of sports is nebulous, but I decided not to include movies about dance or skateboarding and only one movie from the canon of queer cheerleading. There are also quite a few queer sports movies not available or not yet released in the U.S. that I wasn’t able to watch!

Brush off your cleats, pump up your balls, and join us in celebrating the very best explicitly queer sports movies of all time.

Queer Sports Movies Not Yet Released In the U.S.:
Golden Delicious (dir. Jason Karman, 2022)
Marinette (dir. Virginie Verrier, 2023)
Summer with Hope (dir. Sadaf Foroughi, 2022)

Queer Sports Movies Not Currently Available In the U.S.:
Ciao Bella (dir. Mani Maserrat-Agah, 2007)
Guys and Balls (dir. Sherry Hormann, 2004)
Like It Is (dir. Paul Oremland, 1998)
The Shiny Shrimps (dir. Maxime Govare and Cédric Le Gallo, 2019)
Zen In the Ice Rift (dir. Margherita Ferri, 2018)

Queer Movies That Feature Sports But Don’t Center Sports:
Absent (dir. Marco Berger, 2011)
Blue Jean (dir. Georgia Oakley, 2022)
Breakfast with Scot (dir. Laurie Lynd, 2007)
The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy (dir. Greg Berlanti, 2000)
Crush (dir. Sammi Cohen, 2022)
The Half Of It (dir. Alice Wu, 2020)

Queer Sports Movies That Didn’t Make the Cut:
1:54 (dir. Yan England, 2016)
Beautiful Boxer (dir. Ekachai Uekrongtham, 2003)
Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story (dir. Steven Hilliard Stern, 1997)
Bruised (dir. Halle Berry, 2020)
Boys (dir. Mischa Kamp, 2014)
Eleven Men Out (dir. Róbert I. Douglas, 2005)
Like a Virgin (dir. Lee Hae-Jun and Lee Hae-young, 2006)
Morgan (dir. Michael D. Akers, 2012)
The Pass (dir. Ben A. Williams, 2016)
Summer Storm (dir. Marco Kreuzpaintner, 2004)

The Top 12 Queer Sports Movies of All Time

12. Handsome Devil (2016)

dir. John Butler

Queer Sports Movies: Nicholas Galitzine and Finn O'Shea sit next to each other wearing matching button down shirts and striped ties in Handsome Devil.

If you liked “can you play basketball and do the school play,” you’ll love “can you play rugby and be gay.” This Irish charmer may hit familiar beats but it’s noteworthy for being the rare coming-out-age movie to center friendship and mentorship over romance. It also features a wonderful performance from Andrew Scott in the classic role of gay English teacher.

11. Play It to The Bone (1999)

dir. Ron Shelton

Woody Harrelson and Antonio Banderas listen to a phone at a boxing gym in Play it to the Bone.

Universally panned upon its release, and still disliked by most today, Ron Shelton’s least known sports movie isn’t exactly an undiscovered masterpiece. That said, I do think it’s deserving of a better reputation — especially since its 90s sexism and homophobia have aged into something that feels more like commentary than offense. Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson play best friends and has-been boxers who get the chance to fight each other for a title shot. The movie follows the two of them on their road trip to Vegas for the fight, alongside their shared ex-girlfriend, played by Lolita Davidovich, and a horny stranger played by Lucy Liu. At one point, Banderas’ character admits that in the past he’s tried being “a fag.” Maybe intended as a homophobic joke — and certainly crass — Banderas, who got his start portraying queer characters in Almodóvar films, grounds the moment in reality. His character reads now simply as a bisexual man — a bisexual man trapped in the toxic world of boxing.

10. Cassandro (2023)

dir. Roger Ross Williams

Queer sports movies: Gael Garcia Bernal smiles and shrugs in a wrestling ring in Cassandro

Based on the true story of Saúl Armendáriz a.k.a. Cassandro, this crowdpleaser set in the world of lucha libre wrestling is an unabashed celebration of flamboyance. Gael García Bernal plays the title role, an exótico who finds strength in his overt queerness, and through that embrace of self achieves success. Bernal is joined by a fantastic supporting cast that includes Raúl Castillo, Bad Bunny, and queer icon Roberta Colindrez. Most male-led queer sports movies center masc athletes who keep their queerness hidden; Cassandro is a femme icon who chose to be loud and proud.

9. Battle of the Sexes (2017)

dir. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Emma Stone as Billie Jean King smiles at a woman while on a tennis court.

Speaking of icons, Billie Jean King is a queer icon, a tennis icon, and an icon of the sports world at large. This movie does her legacy justice with pathos and charm. Focusing on her much-publicized match against Bobby Riggs, the film acts as both a portrait of King and a rallying cry for women’s sports. It also features a very sultry haircut scene between Emma Stone as King and Andrea Riseborough as her hairdresser and lover Marilyn Barnett. This Hollywood tale may brush over the pricklier aspects of King’s story — especially with Barnett— but it’s still a rousing story of lesbians, tennis, and putting an annoying straight man in his place.

8. Punch (2022)

dir. Welby Ings

Queer sports movies: a teenage boy practices with a punching bag his reflection visible in the mirror beside him.

This recent New Zealand film hits many familiar beats of both queer coming-of-age movies and boxing movies. It also happens to hit them with the skill of a champion fighter. By focusing on specificity of character, the film grounds its clichés. This is a beautifully crafted film that’s emotional yet never maudlin. It also touches upon the specific challenge of today’s queer youth who are exposed to celebrations of Gay Pride while still facing discrimination — overt and subtle — from within their communities.

7. Signature Move (2017)

dir. Jennifer Reeder

Fawzia Mirza and Sari Sanchez kiss in a market while wearing lucha libre masks.

Before Jennifer Reeder was making idiosyncratic horror features and Fawzia Mirza was embracing full auteur status, they teamed up for this late-in-life coming-of-age lucha libre romance. Mirza plays Zaynab, a Pakistani lesbian lawyer who is training as a wrestler on the side. Her life is complicated when she begins a romance with a woman played by Sari Sanchez who challenges her to fully embrace herself. One-third romcom, one-third family dramedy, and one-third queer sports movie, all the pieces click for an entertaining, nuanced, and heartfelt experience.

6. Sarah Prefers to Run (2013)

dir. Chloé Robichaud

A side profile of a teen girl running.

Days of Happiness director Chloé Robichaud’s debut feature follows another ambitious woman at a different stage in her life. As Sarah cautiously steps into young adulthood, all she wants to do is run. She gets offered a position on the track team at McGill, and, in order to shoulder the financial cost, enters into a questionable, and possibly dangerous, financial agreement with an older male roommate. The film lives in Sarah’s point-of-view, never providing easy answers while still making Sarah’s queer feelings obvious even as they elude Sarah herself. Grounded in a melancholy realism, Robichaud’s film is a quiet and painful tribute to the complex simplicities of youth. It also has an all-time great queer karaoke scene.

5. Backspot (2023)

dir. D.W. Waterson

Devery Jacobs looks into the camera in a push up position

This film hasn’t been released yet, but I was lucky enough to see it at TIFF! When putting together this list, I couldn’t decide whether to include cheer. I would never question the athleticism required, but I also wouldn’t question the athleticism required for dance and I decided I had to leave that off. Well, D.W. Waterson’s debut starring Devery Jacobs, Kudakwashe Rutendo, and Evan Rachel Wood, made the inclusion of cheer undeniable. This is an excellent film about a young athlete pushing her body, her mind, and her personal life to the limits and should be in any future conversations of the best queer sports movies. (Full disclosure: I know D.W. and Devery but, even with my bias, I really think you’re all going to love this when it comes out next year.)

4. Mario (2018)

dir. Marcel Gisler

Queer sports movies: two male soccer players take a selfie on the pitch

While a lot of films on this list embody that classic sports movie triumph, this Swiss drama takes a harsher look at homophobia in professional sports. New player Leon immediately catches the eye of star player Mario, but their budding romance quickly gets in the way of their chances at advancing to professional soccer careers. The film wisely avoids melodrama, focusing instead on the painful day-to-day experience of having to lie about who you are in order to play the sport you love.

3. NYAD (2023)

dir. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin

Annette Bening as Diana Nyad smiles while in the water next to a boat

When I saw this film at TIFF, I used it as an excuse to examine transphobia in sports. But now that the real-life Diana Nyad has changed her stance on trans women inclusion in athletics, I just want to celebrate it as a remarkable entry in the canon of queer sports movies. Annette Bening as Nyad and Jodie Foster as Bonnie, Nyad’s best friend and coach, have a crackling friendship chemistry. It’s the sort of relationship between two older queer women rarely shown on-screen. And the swimming sequences are as exceptional as the character development. The film’s directors have a history in extreme sport documentary and use those skills to immerse us in Nyad’s mission. It’s an exhilarating experience and wonderful portrait of a woman who tested the limits of not only her own body but the human body.

2. Personal Best (1982)

dir. Robert Towne

Two women arm wrestle while staring into each other's eyes.

This is the classic queer sports movie and it’s a classic for a reason. Starring Mariel Hemingway and Patrice Donnelly as track and field competitors to lovers, Robert Towne’s film is a sweaty, sexy, groundbreaking masterpiece of athletics and lesbianism. While not without its moments of casual 80s bigotry, overall the movie holds up as a portrait of two women who bond over their desire to be the very best. This movie is Capricorn4Capricorn representation and, as a queer woman Capricorn myself, I love it dearly.

1. The Novice (2021)

dir. Lauren Hadaway

Isabelle Fuhrman sits in a boat by herself in the middle of a lake in The Novice.

Pulsing with raw energy, Lauren Hadaway’s feature directorial debut was inspired by her own experience rowing crew. This is a movie made by an athlete, made by an artist, who approaches her craft as a filmmaker with the same attention to detail as her ambitious protagonist approaches her sport. Isabelle Fuhrman plays Alex, a college freshman we learn little about beyond her compulsive need to be the best novice on the crew team. By stripping down the story to bare essentials, Hadaway trusts in her cinematography, sound design, and stunning lead performance. This is the best queer sports movie of all time, because it commits to an athlete’s point of view. Everything but the goal of being the best is mere distraction. We are with Alex as she trains, as she pushes, as she destroys herself for a singular purpose. It’s a frightening portrait of athletic determination and a stunning cinematic achievement.

What are your favorite queer sports movies of all time?

The WNBA Finals Were Dramatic!! But Luckily, Gays Love Drama

WNBA Finals 2023 left to right, top row: A'ja Wilson, Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart. Left to right, bottom row: Sad Colson and Kierstan Bell, Chelsea Gray, and Syd Colson.

The 2023 WNBA Finals. Left to Right, Top Row: A’ja Wilson by Sarah Stier/Getty Images, Jonquel Jones by Sarah Stier/Getty Images, Breanna Stewart by Sarah Stier/Getty Images. Left to Right, Top Row: Syd Colson and Kierstan Bell via Las Vegas Aces, Chelsea Gray via Las Vegas Aces, Syd Colson by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

Whew, we had a time last night!! The 2023 WNBA Finals have come to a close, and they ended in the most dramatic way possible.

The Las Vegas Aces, after facing brutal last minute injuries sidelining two of their starters (including last year’s finals MVP and queer basketball legend-in-the-making, Chelsea Gray), managed to hold their composure under historic circumstances and walked way with a one point lead at the buzzer to become the first WNBA team in 21 years to be back-to-back champions. From the Aces bench, including Syd Colson and Kierstan Bell, who rose to the occasion when their team needed them both, to Liberty stars Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones — of course whenever the sports drama has reached its hottest temperature, you can bet the gays are the center of it. After all, the WNBA is the gayest league for the reason. 😉

So Natalie, Carmen, and Heather got together to discuss the 2023 WNBA Finals, along with what’s coming up for next year! It’s only roughly 195 days until the next W season. Not too early to start counting, right?

Heather: The Aces won the 2023 WNBA Championship in Game Four, without Candace Parker, Chelsea Gray, and Kiah Stokes. How are you feeling with this surreal ending we could have never, ever predicted?

Carmen: I literally texted Natalie on Tuesday night that Becky Hammon had suggested to the press that she might start Syd Colson and I almost threw my phone across the couch (Syd I am sorry! I never should have doubted you, I love you! A national championship and now two WNBA rings — that’s THE FACE OF THE LEAGUE right there!!!). I am huge Aces fan, and I have spent the better part of the last two years calling Chelsea Gray my fantasy wife. I was devastated by her injury, and worried that an Aces bench that was out of practice for game-time scenarios wouldn’t be able to raise the bar during a high stakes finals game. I have never been more happy to be wrong.

Natalie: Listen, I know the Las Vegas Aces players were on Twitter late last night dunking on everyone who doubted them… and no doubt, if I’d been regularly using social media, I would’ve been a prime target for a colorful @ from Syd or A’ja or whomever because after the loss of Chelsea and Kiah, I definitely thought we were headed back to Vegas for a Game 5.

Heather: It is honestly amazing that the Aces — the Aces!!!! — are celebrating like they were the underdogs in this series. THE ACES.

Natalie: I said this when the injury report was released the day before: I thought they could withstand the loss of Chelsea Gray… as difficult as that is to imagine… but losing Kiah Stokes? She’s not giving you alot offensively — they even subbed Sabrina on her, defensively, in Game 3 — but she opens things up for A’ja in a way that so many don’t appreciate. I really thought they were in trouble.

I did not think they could win until, right before the game, Carolyn Peck does this “if I was the coach of the Aces” thing…and I get fired up…and I think, “okay, well, maybe the Aces can pull this out?”

Heather: I agree with both of you completely. I kept thinking about Natalie’s two-year worry about the Aces short bench, too. Like that the bench players just aren’t conditioned as well as players who see a lot of minutes. And the Liberty have run teams into the ground in the late third and early fourth quarters. That speech from Carolyn Peck. She got HERSELF so fired up that she stood up, and then I stood up, and I could hear Chiney going to church in the background. Right up until that point, I thought FOR SURE we’d be going to a Game Five.

When Chelsea Gray went down, I honestly thought I was going to be sick — and not just because of the way ESPN just casually followed her into the locker room where she was in agonizing pain. For me, at that point, I just knew in my guts the Aces deserved it and might not get it. And boy they showed me!

Carmen: I spent hours, literally hours on Sunday and Monday scrolling every social media account for even one update on Chelsea Gray. I thought it was over. Not because the Aces didn’t earn that ring, in my mind there was no doubt that they did, but because the cruelty of random fate and injury had done them in.

Natalie: So let’s start with the Aces: what do you think they did right… not just in Game 4 but throughout this series? What put them over the top?

Carmen: For me, the Aces championship story in these finals runs through Alysha Clark. What they did right was get Alysha Clark in the off-season.

I don’t know if Becky Hammon specifically knew when she got her that AC had spent years as Stewie’s practice partner for the Storm when and knew her moves like the back of her hand, but there was no better defensive match up for Breanna Stewart than the person whose job it was to learn her every move for season-after-season.

Natalie: That’s such a good point, Carmen. Her defense was so crucial last night… and, boy did I dissolve into a pile of tears during her post-game interview with Holly Rowe when she talked about her dad.

What do you think, Heather? What gave the Aces the edge in this series?

Heather: For me, the difference between the Aces and the Liberty in these finals was, frankly, mental toughness. The Aces were just better prepared to play a Championship, which is so disappointing from a Liberty perspective because they brought in vets with so much Championship experience. But, you know, from the second the Aces stepped on the floor in Game One, it was evident that they were in the headspace to own the series.

Losing MVP had the exact opposite effect on A’ja Wilson than it did on Alyssa Thomas, and the Aces were able to back up that belief in her in a way that the Sun weren’t for AT there at the end. It’s kind of amazing that the Aces were able to really cultivate that chip on their shoulder, as the most talented and deeply resourced team in the league, but aspirational too.

They also were able to exploit those weaknesses the Liberty have shown all season — and in some cases, for several seasons. The decision to create a whole set of plays that allowed Jackie Young to get switched off Laney and take it at Sabrina, for example. I’m going to give Sun coach Stephanie White some credit here: She drafted a blueprint that showed how to make Sabrina’s weaknesses GLARING, and the Aces simply ran with and mastered that.

And then, also! When we talked about the Commissioner’s Cup, I think we all agreed that the Liberty bench won that game for them. But now, like Carmen said, it was the Aces bench that came through big. Syd Colson with five fouls in the WNBA Finals?! Come on!

Natalie: So, to piggyback a bit off your point, Heather: I remember back in 2009, the Lakers are in the MNBA Finals and they go up two games on the Orlando Magic and, at this point, no team has come back from that big a deficient in the Finals so everyone’s ready to crown the Lakers king…except Kobe Bryant who looks morose after Game 2.

Back in the press room, some reporter asks him why he’s not smiling or why he’s not happy… and Kobe says, “what’s there to be happy about? Job’s not finished.” That’s the mood that the Aces, but especially A’ja Wilson seemed to approach this series with… just each and every day, they keep pressing like they still had work to do.

Heather: Absolutely.

Carmen: A’ja also talked about that in the press room after the game! She was saying that over the course of the season, she’d been hooked up with Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes, two women who were a part of one of a previous WNBA back-to-back championships (the late 90s and early 00s Houston Comets had a historic FOUR-peat!!). The reporter asked A’ja what words of wisdom did Cynthia and Sheryl impress upon her. Her answer was simple: “Each game, be better than your game before.”

That feels completely aligned with what you’re saying Natalie. The work was not done. Keep going. Don’t get comfortable.

Natalie: But the other thing — and I think the most significant piece — is that the team has vocal leadership. Chelsea Gray has some sort of foot injury… we don’t know yet what it is… but she’s out there on the floor, with her scooter, trying to lift her team up during their practice. She’s joking around with Kiah Stokes and challenging her to a shooting contest. On game day, she’s still in the huddle coaching up her team. Back in games 1 and 2, you saw that with Candace Parker, too. She can’t play but she’s coaching her teammates when they come to the sidelines, pointing out vulnerabilities of the Liberty.

New York has some great players — future first ballot hall of famers — but they don’t have any vocal leaders, and that’s the whole ball game.

Heather: That is 100% it.

Does it feel to y’all like the right team won? That’s what it feels like to me. That’s not always — or even often — a thing in sports. For me, the Liberty are my team, but I would have been absolutely heartbroken if the Aces hadn’t won. They deserved this.

Carmen: I think… I actually went into the finals having accepted in my heart that the Liberty could win it all. In the regular season match ups, they beat the Aces 3-2 in a best of five (if you include the Commissioner’s Cup, and I absolutely think you should). If the Liberty had straight out played the Aces, and they had the potential to do so, then I would have been happy for Jonquel Jones. I would have been happy to give it to the Liberty and see this rivalry between the two teams unfold.

But once the games got going it felt like, if the Aces were going to lose, they were going to lose because of the once-in-a-generation injuries. Literally never before in the WNBA has a team lost two starters due to injury between finals games. And that would have been much harder to swallow for me. Getting out played is one thing, but losing because of something that was out of your control?

Natalie: So, I don’t know that I feel like there’s a right team… but in these playoffs, the Aces were the better team. I think we all came into the playoffs, having seen how the Liberty had played the Aces during the regular season, believing that New York had a real chance of winning the championship. They may have split the series but Las Vegas won close games, New York won in blow outs.

But the playoffs kicked off and the Aces just kicked it into another gear. They went into Playoff Mode and just looked so good. I don’t think the Liberty shifted into that mode — which isn’t to say they did poorly. They advanced through a minefield, having to play the Mystics and the Sun, but they looked like the team they’d been.

So, I don’t know if there’s a right team… but you want the better team to win these things, right? And if the Aces had lost because of the injuries to Gray and Stokes, I would’ve felt a way about the Liberty victory.

Heather: Exactly! I expected that we’d get the same Liberty team that we saw after the All-Star break through the end of the regular season — but that’s not who we got at all. We got the earlier season Liberty but with JJ playing lights out. (Laney was always playing lights out.) In addition to what went right for the Aces, I’m so curious what y’all think went wrong with the Liberty. Breanna Stewart’s never lost a championship series that she played in (her team lost one when she was at with her Achilles rupture). I hardly recognized her on offense in these entire playoffs. To a lesser extent, that was true of Vandersloot too.

Carmen: My hope for the Liberty is that this is a learning experience and a stage setting for a big comeback in the seasons to come. I don’t know if any one single went wrong beyond — they don’t have that history yet together as a team. This a group of players where three members of their starting five just got put together in the off-season. Now yes, those three players come with elite championship pedigree. But together? They are still new to this, as a team. They have to find that group mettle, I think.

Heather: I think that’s so true.

Natalie: Last night I saw a stat from Kevin Pelton of ESPN that noted that Stewie’s effective field goal percentage over the course of these playoffs was the lowest of any 10 game stretch of her entire career. HER WHOLE CAREER… she’s never done worse than this.

Carmen: Wow!

Heather: Somehow that stat makes me feel better because I kinda thought maybe I was just being too critical. To me, it felt like Stewie was 5 for a thousand in these playoffs from the field.

Natalie: We’ll have exit interviews with the Liberty soon so, maybe, we’ll find out for sure what’s going on… but I wouldn’t be surprised if she was nursing some sort of injury.

Heather: I had also wondered if maybe she was mentally somewhere else because her wife’s about to have a baby? Or if the MVP blowback got inside her head? It just hasn’t made any sense.

Natalie: That’s exactly what I was going to say. I think the MVP announcement hurt her more than even Alyssa Thomas.

Heather: I think there’s a lot of truth there.

Natalie: Stewie is not Sabrina Ionescu…. and what I mean by that is that Stewie doesn’t walk through the world oblivious to what’s going on around her.

Heather: LOL it’s true though!

Natalie: Sabrina thinks, for instance, that she earned that NBA 2k24 cover — and even now if you asked her, she’d still say that. Stewie’s introspective enough to look at the vote totals in the MVP race and to hear the chatter from other players in the league, commentators and even people on social media… and start to doubt whether or not she’d earned it.

And I think that messed with her, mentally, a bit.

Heather: Absolutely. The thing about Sabrina — I mean, last night’s Aces sign-off is exactly indicative of what you’re saying. Sabrina and her whole nighty-night thing. Twice this season, she did that after players left the floor with serious injuries. Most recently with Chelsea Gray, and then earlier this season, in a June game against the Dream. I just want to shake her! Like what are you DOING.

I see Syd Colson getting some flack for responding the way she did — when it’s Sabrina who should be getting questioned there! And, as you said, that’s not Stewie. She’s way more aware than all that.

Natalie: Listen, I love a shit-talker… but there have to be moments that humble you, as a player… and watching someone go down to injury should be one of those moments.

Heather: Agree!

Carmen: ABSOLUTELY. And Syd talked about it this morning as well, this started with Sabrina trash talking to Syd — specifically. Syd just got the last word.

Heather: I’m sorry I cannot get over the fact that the whole world is talking about lesbian legend Syd Colson today. The literal reverend of WNBA queer weddings.

Natalie: How can the world not be talking about the face of the league?!

Carmen: THE!! FACE!! OF!! THE!! LEAGUE!!

I am so proud of Syd, I could burst. And then she went on IG Live for nearly two hours last night? I watched the entire press conference and the Aces champagne party and photo shoot, all from Syd. A true community service.

Heather: Hahaha!

Natalie: I will say, though, there have been a couple of moments where I felt like, “okay, I love the Aces but y’all doing too much.” Like, I love Syd… but don’t talk harp on Sabrina’s shit-talking when you have Kelsey Plum on your team. Sabrina’s timing was inappropriate, obviously, but let’s be for real.

Heather: Was KP voted biggest trash talker in that Athletic poll, Natalie? I can’t remember.

Natalie: KP was top 3, behind Courtney Williams and Diana Taurasi.

Heather: Yeah that checks out.

Speaking of Kelsey Plum, Natalie, you saw her comments about everything the Aces have overcome this season. Her list was… interesting. “We’ve been hurt, sued, arrested – you name it.” Some of those things? Not like the others. I am so curious what you think about that comment.

Natalie: I was so pissed when I saw that video. So pissed.

I know, in the run-up to games, players and coaches say things to get the team fired up… things you wouldn’t say in mixed company… and that feels like one of those things.

Heather: I am so relieved to hear you say that.

Natalie: Like, injuries are their own thing right? The Aces have definitely dealt with that, but “sued and arrested?” Like, WTF, Kelsey!

Heather: Yes!

Natalie: We shouldn’t mistake accountability for adversity.

Carmen: That part. Heavy on that part.

Heather: Nailed it in one sentence. I’m with you that the Aces were probably trying every kind of mental storytelling tactic in the world to get themselves into the brainspace to believe they could win without Chelsea — but some of those calls are coming from inside the house, KP.

Natalie: Riquna Williams was arrested for some shit she did. She did that… that’s no one else’s fault. No one’s penalizing you unfairly. She did something stupid and she got arrested for it, and not for the first time, either!

The Aces are being sued for some shit that that front office did. Y’all lost a draft pick, your coach was suspended for two games… that’s because of something THEY did. The Aces aren’t being unfairly targeted. No one’s trying to punish them unfairly. They did this to themselves.

Heather: Yep, all that! And, frankly, if the Aces weren’t both incredibly successful and otherworldly charismatic, the blowback for that second thing would have been much worse. I hope it still does get worse, actually, not for the Aces players but for Becky and the front office because what they did to Dearica Hamby is not okay.

Natalie: 100%.

Heather: Becky Hammon is a brilliant coach — and she’s also benefitting enormously from the Aces players charisma.

Natalie: And what made me the most upset about what Kelsey said… Dearica did an interview this week where it’s clear that the thing she wants most of all is just an apology. Like just some acknowledgement that she was treated unfairly.

Heather: The whole vibe from Dearica, this entire time, has been plain and simple heartbreak.

Natalie: Absolutely. And so to see her just cause trivialized this way, by someone who I’m sure she thought was her friend… I just really hate that and I hope that Kelsey apologizes.

Heather: Me too. It’s extra weird because Kelsey was so vocally supportive in the beginning. I just hope Hamby knows there’s people out here who can both cheer the Aces championship for the players, and still want accountability for what that organization did to her.

Sometimes I get the impression that Kelsey Plum just starts talking and can’t stop.

Natalie: I think you’re right, Heather. I hope that she apologizes to Dearica, preferably publicly but, at the very least, privately. I mean, if I was KP and I was just recently married to some dude in the NFL… I would be very concerned about how my team treated other women who experience unexpected pregnancies.

Heather: MMHMM.

Natalie: Since we’re talking about things that pissed me off, now seems a good time to talk about the new coaching hires in the WNBA which have me mad for different reasons. The Chicago Sky have made it official: Teresa Weatherspoon, the New York Liberty legend, will be their new head coach.

And the Phoenix Mercury have hired Nate Tibbetts… whose qualifications to be the highest paid coach in the WNBA seem to be that he’s: 1. the son of a famed high school girls coach and 2. a girl dad.

Which would you like to talk about first?

Heather: Yes, good. I have drawn up a little chart.

A four quadrant chart that is hand drawn by Heather and has T-Spoon in the quadrant for Excited and Deserved, and "white man" under angry and not deserved.

Let’s talk about T-Spoon first so I can do some breathing exercises to prepare to control my rage about TIBBETTS.

Carmen: Heather, this charttttttt!

Heather: So true, right? Just correct math/science.

Carmen: That’s a peer-reviewed researched academic journal article right there. The fact that Nate Tibbetts of… my daddy was a girls high school basketball coach fame… is now the highest paid coach in the league? It’s galling on every level.

Natalie: What do y’all think about the hire? How do you think T-Spoon will be able to handle the mess that James Wade left in Chicago?

Carmen: I am so excited to see T-Spoon coach Kahleah Copper and Courtney Williams. It is a level of Black Queer Excellence that sends me into a fever.

Like, ok I am a stereotype of myself, but imagine the three of them all next to each other?? And tell me you don’t break out into a sweat.

Heather: I am personally so thrilled for T-Spoon and for the Sky players. Her whole career and mentality are going to fit in so well with that scrappy underdog trash-talking roster. Exactly what you’re saying, Carmen, and really you can even zoom that back to what you were mentioning about A’ja earlier.

When she wanted to talk to someone about back-to-back championships, what did she do? She called Dawn Staley who connected her with Sheryl Swoopes. Those are the originals, you know? Those are are 96 Olympic Team pre-WNBA heroes! T-Spoon is in that WNBA class, the 1997 one, the originals. She is part of that C. Vivian Stringer to Carolyn Peck to Dawn Staley lineage of Black women who have done it all and have more to offer these current W players than anyone. I think there’s going to be an adjustment period, because Chicago is a — to quote Padma Lakshmi — messy, messy, mess, mess. But I also know she’s got what it takes to turn that locker room into a real sisterhood.

Natalie, you said the hiring made you mad for a different reason than Tibbets, which is absolutely the name of a cartoon mouse, in my opinion.

Natalie: I think Becky Hammon and Teresa Weatherspoon should have coaching jobs in the NBA. Full stop. I don’t think the WNBA is a step down from the MNBA but I think if you put in the work at an organization, you should be able to rise up through the ranks and that’s clearly not happening for women in the MNBA.

I’ll focus on T-Spoon: While with the New Orleans Pelicans, she was a players’ coach… like all the players just had nothing but great things to say about her… and she developed a particularly strong bond with their star Zion Williamson.

Heather: I’m glad you’re talking about this, Natalie, because I always forget the MNBA exists.

Natalie: The actual coach of the Pelicans was intimidated by that bond, and she was forced out of New Orleans because of it.

Heather: Good lord!

Natalie: And this is noteworthy because the critique that men make about female head coaches is that the players won’t follow a woman, right? But in New Orleans, they all love T-Spoon. They would’ve run through walls for her. So she’s proven herself — she’s disproven that canard — and still, she gets dismissed.

Heather: And at the exact same time some guy who’s never had a head coaching job or coached women at all is coming into the league making more money than anyone.

Natalie: RIGHT!

Heather: Some *white guy.

Natalie: It’s like salt in the wound, Heather. Muffett McGraw said it well, “women are judged on their success, men on their potential.”

Heather: My fists are clenched.

Natalie: THEY PUT THAT HE’S A GIRL DAD IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT!

Heather: Yeah, Stacy read that announcement to me and I wanted to punch a hole in the sun. Like the literal sun. Not the CT Sun.

This is the kind of thing that you always know is happening, in terms of race and gender, and sometimes you just get a crystal clear apples-to-apples and it’s just too much to handle. It’s sickening. I wish BG would leave so we could go back to fully hating the Mercury.

Natalie: Longtime WNBA reporter, Michael Voepel, has a great thread on Twitter about this that I’d direct people to…

But, yeah, that Phoenix Mercury coaching selection just left me incensed. I also want to say, because this has gotten left out of the discussion as well: I’m sad for Nikki Blue.

Heather: Me too. Big time. She didn’t even get a chance.

Natalie:This is the second time in her coaching career that she’s been passed over for a job that should’ve been hers and I’m really heartbroken for her.

Heather: I hope she gets the call again, at an organization that’s not as toxic as the Mercury because I think she showed so much poise and promise in an impossible situation.

One of the things that made me laugh the most these past few weeks is that the lead-up to women’s college basketball is full of WNBA draft class predictions for next year. It’s silly for so many reasons because it’s way too early for that, we have no idea how this season will play out, we don’t know who’s gonna stay or go — and, at the same time, it feels pretty awesome because this is always how it is with men’s sports. I honestly never thought I’d see the day this was happening in women’s basketball and that’s thrilling.

Natalie: I saw that…as well…and, especially because the players have that extra COVID year, it’s hard to know what anyone will do in the college game. I can’t imagine Angel Reese leaving LSU early after signing that NIL deal with Reebok. I wonder if the great turnout of that exhibition with DePaul will make Caitlin Clark think twice about leaving. It’s really hard to know.

But what about the players we do know about? Her Hoops Stats has put together a list of 2024 WNBA free agents: who are the most coveted players on that list?

Heather: Well, we’ve been talking all year about the Skylar Diggins-Smith Sweepstakes, and she’s still probably the biggest difference-maker with the most wide-open courting window. BG has already said she’s going back to Phoenix. I’d be shocked if DeWanna didn’t go back to CT to play with AT under Stephanie White, after such an amazing year. Candace is probably done at this point, right? I also find it hard to think about Nneka Ogwumike leaving LA at this point. That probably leaves Jonquel Jones as the biggest question mark in my mind. I do think her best shot at a championship next year is with the Liberty, and I also think the Liberty’s great super team experiment is a whole waste if they don’t lock her up.

Carmen: LMAO wait because I was writing other things but — did Heather just casually throw in mid-paragraph that Candace Parker might retire instead of re-signing? Because that stopped me cold in my tracks.

Heather: I didn’t want to jump scare you! Carmen’s like “Well you did!”

Carmen: You did!!

Heather: Maybe I’m wrong! I want to be wrong! She can play forever in my heart! I told Stacy, straight up, if Candace came back for the playoffs, I was going to stop cheering for the Liberty.

Carmen: I think Candace is coming back for one more season. I don’t think she will end her career on a ring that she won after being sidelined for half a season on an injury. I think if she’s still able to ball, she’ll do one more year as a contract extension, try to help the Aces make a history-making three-peat, and take her big goodbye tour.

Heather: That would be a storybook ending for the ages!

Carmen: It will depend on her physical ability, which of course none of us know about! But I think her heart isn’t done yet, if I had to guess.

Heather: That feels so right to me. You could see it was excruciating for her to not be out there in the playoffs.

Carmen: Yeah I think the hope is always that you get to go out on your own terms, especially at that level. Like thinking about the MNBA, you want Candace Parker to have a going away campaign similar to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade. You don’t want her to have to go away like Carmelo Anthony — who basically had to make a retirement video after no team would pick him up (not that that would ever happen to Candace! But you know what I mean.)

I have a friend who still talks about how, as a kid, his dad drove him across state lines so that he could see Jordan play one last time. That’s what I want that for Candace.

Heather: I love that.

Natalie: I don’t want to overstate things from last night but it definitely felt like… Candace Parker seemed a bit removed from the celebrations. Certainly nothing like we’d seen from her after the wins in Los Angeles or Chicago. I just remember watching her and seeing her kinda instruct all the other players on how to really take in this moment.

I want her to run it back for one more year. If she can play, I want her to give the league a year to thank her for what she’s done for the game. I mean, it was incredible to see… every time they’d announce something great that A’ja Wilson had done, they’d show a leaderboard of players who’d accomplished the same thing and Candace would always be at the top of the list.

Heather: Yes!

Natalie: She deserves to have what Syl had and what Sue had.

Heather: She absolutely does. And I hope she doesn’t have to share it with DT!

Carmen: Sadly, that might be out of our control.

Natalie: DT’s too stubborn to admit it’s her time to hang it up.

Carmen: But speaking of the Phoenix Mercury, my top two hopes for people leaving their teams are Skylar and BG. Let’s move them literally any place else.

Chicago could use a big, just saying. Imagine Brittney Griner with Kahleah Copper and Courtney Williams, under the mentorship of T-Spoon. IMAGINE IT.

Natalie: Heather, I’m definitely with you on Skylar… I think her, Jordin Canada and Natasha Cloud are the biggest free agents out there and it’s interesting that they’re all playing the same spot.

I think the Liberty have to get Jonquel back. I wonder how much of a toll losing, in back-to-back years against the Aces, has taken on her.

Heather: I am hopeful about JJ because it took her half a season to find her footing in NY and once she did, she was the dominant post player we’ve seen in the most shining moments of her career. I have to think she’ll want to build on that. You know, and as much as Kelsey Plum has mouthed off in the last week, she is right that the Liberty never seemed to get to the place where it was anything more than business for them. KP said, “They’re individual players, they’re not a team” and she’s right.

Carmen: I think Jonquel’s future in New York is so bright. I really do. I hope she stays, I think she’s going to be a franchise player for them — she’s a Black lesbian who’s from the Caribbean, playing on a WNBA team based out of Brooklyn. The fact that marketing department hasn’t yet landed on the obvious just kills me. But I think after her play throughout the backhalf of the season and the playoffs, they absolutely will.

Heather: I just saw something about this exact thing!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Andscape (@andscape)

Carmen: Oooooooh okay, Shana Renee Stephenson!!! Even more reason JJ should stay. I believe that Shana Renee will get it right. This video is exactly what I’m talking about.

Natalie: So, that’s a wrap on the 2023 WNBA season!! What do we do to keep ourselves busy for the next month or so until the college season starts?

Carmen: I’m excited for the college season! Let’s go Gamecocks! 🐔

Heather: Me too! It’s gonna be a great Lady Vols year, I just feel it!

Natalie: It’s going to be a fight in the SEC for sure! I’ve got the NWSL playoffs to tide me over until college basketball gets back in full swing but I’m looking forward to it.

Thanks for hanging out with me this season, Heather, and shout out to Carmen, for showing us that she’s learned so much about the game in such a short time. This has been great!

Heather: It has been an absolute honor. I have enjoyed every single second. A highlight of my entire year. I adore you both.

Natalie: Remember, if you’re looking for Heather’s work, you can check out her newsletter.

Thank you for doing us! We’ll see you again next season!

WNBA Finals Preview: The (Gay) Battle of the Superteams

Feature photo of the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty, the two teams facing off in the WNBA Finals 2023, by Michelle Farsi/Getty Images

It’s been a little over a week since we got together for our last WNBA chat and so much has happened! Two semifinals wrapped up, the league added another franchise (and has a 14th on the horizon), Dearica Hamby filed a lawsuit against her former team and, on top of all that, we’ve got the WNBA Finals on the horizon!

So, of course, Heather and Natalie had to sit down and discuss it all and make their final prediction of the season about who will take it all.

Heather: We’ve had SO MUCH W news this week!

Natalie: SO MUCH!

Heather: Where should we even start today?

Natalie: Well, I think we have to start with the biggest news since we last talked: the WNBA is finally getting a 13th team. Yesterday, Cathy Engelbert announced that, starting in 2025, the league will have a team located in the Bay Area. The team, which doesn’t have a name yet, will be owned by the same team that owns the Golden State Warriors and will play their games in the Chase Center in San Francisco.

News about the expansion had gotten out thanks to a piece by Marcus Thompson II for The Athletic but yesterday it was finally confirmed. How do you feel about the WNBA expanding to the Bay Area?

Heather: You know, of course, that my main dream was to see the W back in Charlotte — and not just for you, but not NOT for you. But you made such a great case for a Bay Area expansion the last time we talked, I couldn’t help but get so excited when the announcement finally came down. I think it’s going to be great for the league. The Phoenix Mercury already announced a new standalone state of the art practice facility, similar to what the Aces have and the Storm are getting (though less stylish than both). Teams are really going to have to up their games if they want to attract veteran players now, especially with the expansion.

Plus! The rumor is that Portland is next on the list, which is, obviously, an excellent choice. Portland is such a women’s sports city and such a queer stronghold. And once the left coast is all settled, I will still be cheering for more W action down south. More teams is more roster spots too, and thank goodness for that because these cuts are getting harder to handle every year. What’s your feelings now that we know for sure, and what are you hoping are the next steps beyond this?

Natalie: So, can I be honest and say that I’m both excited and a little disappointed? I mean, obviously, I’m thrilled to see the W expanding… it’s been long overdue. And, certainly, if ever there was a man who had shown a real, genuine love for women’s basketball, it’s Golden State’s majority owner, Joe Lacob. He is a true fan and I believe he’ll be a good steward of the game moving forward.

I’m excited for Bay Area sports fans who, one year after the debut of their new NWSL club, will have a WNBA franchise to cheer on right in their backyard.

Heather: Yes, all great points! What’s got you feeling disappointed?

Natalie: But I’m also a bit remiss that the team’s not going to be in Oakland. There was a substantial push to bring a team to the Oakland that was led by some prominent queer women, including Rebecca Kaplan, a member of the City Council, and former WNBA great, Alana Beard… so I would’ve loved to see that be successful. Plus, I think there’s been an exodus of sports teams from Oakland — first the Warriors moving to San Fran and now it looks like the Athletics are on the verge of leaving — that it would’ve been nice for the new team to truly have been part of that city.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CyB6Ll2uosP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I’m still excited about the new team, though, and I’m hoping that the Portland team — which, according to The Athletic, seems to be in the final stages of approval — will come online for that 2025 season as well.

Heather: I agree. It feels like a W team in Oakland could have been the beginning of a real sports renaissance there too, which is so wild to really think about in terms of the overall trajectory of women’s sports.

Natalie: Absolutely . Two more questions on this: first, we heard a lot of potential cities named as possible sites for WNBA franchises. Were you surprised that San Francisco and, particularly, Portland, beat out the other cities?

Heather: That’s a great question. I don’t feel like it’s a coincidence that they’re in cities with NWSL teams. There’s been a lot of symbiotic growth in NY/NJ because of the crossover of Gotham FC and the Liberty, and I could easily see that becoming more common all around the country. Portland surprised me the least because of the popularity of their women’s soccer team and also just the general vibe I mentioned. The thing that surprises me about the Bay Area is that it is SO EXPENSIVE. WNBA players are underpaid, especially younger players, and that’s one of the most expensive places in the world to live. I also feel like it’s going to make players even more adamant that they need charter flights all the time because that’s a lot of cross-country flying. I’m overall really excited and hopeful, but I do think the choice of places with higher costs of living is going to exacerbate a lot of the conversations the players have been trying to push for a while now. Which, honestly, is probably a good thing for them.

How old am I talking about the cost of living? I just want all these athletes to be okay!

Natalie: LOL. That’s such a Heather response, though.

I think you’ve hit on a really important point about the growth of women’s sports that I want to seize on: the growth of the NWSL and the WNBA… I really could talk for hours about this…. but the one thing I want to mention here is that women don’t have to be in competition with each other for dollars. I think a lot of times it feels like we’re fighting for the scraps but let’s be clear: women’s sports are the whole meal… the whole damn buffet... and people and cities should be fighting for the opportunity to invest in it. The NWSL and the WNBA can and should thrive and grow together.

Heather: Heck yes! I could LISTEN to you talk about this for hours! Your passion for this is making me a soccer fan!

Natalie: The second thing I wanted to ask on this…you are one of the most creative people I know and, so far this Golden State WNBA team does not have a name (though, apparently, it’ll be “Golden State________________”)…. What’s your pick for the new name of this team?

Heather: Oh my gosh, what a brilliant question. I’m going to think on this but right now the only thing that’s stuck in my head is that tomboy lesbian bear who’s the mascot of Golden Crisp cereal. I was also thinking maybe some kind of feminist play on Warriors, like Themyscirans (the Amazon warriors in Wonder Woman) but that’s only funny to me personally and maybe like three other people. Do you have any ideas?

Natalie: 🤣

Someone I saw suggested the Valkyries and that idea’s kinda stuck with me. I’m not even sure that makes sense… I think I just want to imagine a team whose mascot is Bisexual Icon Tessa Thompson.

Heather: SOLD! Give me the merch!

Natalie: When we last talked, teams were still making their way through the playoffs: the Las Vegas Aces swept the Dallas Wings in three games and the New York Liberty dispatched the Connecticut Sun in four. Before we talk about the Finals match-up, let’s pause for a moment and talk about the Wings and the Sun. What’d you think of their post-season performance and what pieces do you think they need to advance beyond the semifinals next season?

Heather: You know, you said something that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. (This happens all the time, by the way.) That the way the MVP voting was announced, the timing of it, it just wasn’t fair to those players.

I think it was least fair to Alyssa Thomas because I don’t think she, DeWanna, or the team really recovered from the blow of her losing that award, despite getting the most first place votes and doing things no one had ever done in the league before (and, as AT herself said, will likely never be done again, unless she does it). AT went down after getting tangled up with Jonquel Jones in Game 4, the last one of the series, and had to be basically picked up and carried off the floor by two trainers. I was crying outraged, furious tears while it was happening because it was just so unfair. You never see her like that, and after the blow of the MVP thing and how it was clearly affecting her, I was livid on her behalf. And if I’m at home cry-yelling at my TV on her behalf, when she’s playing against my own team, how much more must the Sun have been affected by that?

I hope they figure it out before next season because I think it was a major factor in the Sun not at least pushing that series to a Game 5. They had what it took to beat the Liberty, they really did.

Natalie: I definitely think the timing of that announcement really had a negative impact on the spirit of that Sun team. They’d just been through so much all season, with the roster changes, the head coaching change and the injury to Bri Jones, that it felt like it was just the last crushing blow. To their great credit, they still fought… I’m not sure if they had what it took to beat the Liberty or if AT just wills that team to believe it… but they were on the precipice of pushing that series to a Game 5.

Heather: 100%

Natalie: There’s some cause for optimism in Connecticut. I think Stephanie White is absolutely the right coach for that team and she’s got DeWanna Bonner playing like she’s in her prime. Hopefully Bri will recover fully and be able to run it back. Olivia Nelson-Ododa stepped up during the series with the Liberty so I’m excited to see how she improves in the off-season and what she can do in the future. But the Sun need better guards…or at least more consistent guards… so I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do in free agency.

Can you imagine a team with Natasha Cloud and Alyssa Thomas on it? My Lord.

Heather: My eyes just bugged out of my head like a cartoon wolf, lol.

Natalie: What about the Wings?

Heather: The Wings? I just don’t think they had the talent to match up to the Aces. They played their kind of basketball, they got great numbers out of their best players, and so much effort — but the Aces were just too much for them. In fact, in these playoffs, the Aces have looked like that unstoppable team we saw at the beginning of this season.

Natalie: I think they actually had the pieces to give the Aces a run for their money but there’s a level of experience that comes with playing in the playoffs and the Wings just didn’t have that. The Aces were steady, even in down moments, and never lost sight of what their job was. The Wings, on the other hand, looked every bit like a team that had never been there before. They started to doubt themselves and their coaching and they fell apart.

Heather: Yep! The last play of the last game of the series, Arike got into a little squabble with Coach LT about the play she drew up. They were down by three. Then you could see Arike and Satou out there changing the play in real-time in the last few seconds. The wheels came off in the end — but they do have a lot to be excited about!

Before we talk about the Finals: Dearica Hamby has filed a discrimination lawsuit with the Nevada Equal Rights Commission and the EEOC due to the way she was treated by Becky Hammon and the Aces after announcing that she was pregnant. I’m curious about your thoughts on that, and I’m curious, in light of what we heard from Skylar Diggins about not even being able to access the Mercury facilities after giving birth — what do you think the WNBPA needs to push for to make sure players are protected and cared for when they choose to have children? What does the W need to be forced to do, because clearly they’re not going to do it unless it’s strictly mandated?

Natalie: So, I’m glad we’re talking about this. First, can I say that I was really surprised to see this from Hamby? Not that it’s not warranted — obviously it sounds like it was — but there are very few players in the W who would risk running afoul of the league by doing this so, honestly, I just want to praise Hamby’s courage. It’s such a brave thing.

Heather: So brave!

Natalie: I think, when this story came up at the start of the season, and the Aces were stripped of the draft pick, there were still so many questions that went unanswered. Like how an investigation took place without talking to any of the current players. I guess I’d assumed that the WNBA were just being cagey — as is their wont — and that at least the people involved understood what happened and why the Aces were dealt that level of punishment… but obviously that didn’t happen.

Heather: Right, part of Hamby’s lawsuit is the allegation that the WNBA didn’t even really investigate at all.

Natalie: I think you’re right that the W needs to be forced to do something… and they won’t be until the Players Association spells out what’s needed to protect the rights of mothers explicitly in the CBA.

Heather: I think that’s absolutely correct.

Natalie: To be honest, I think the league has kinda rested itself on the idea that players are either lesbians who won’t carry children and/or players who will wait on kids until after they’re done playing… and so, as part of the last CBA, you saw the allowance for freezing eggs. But now the league has to grapple with what it means to have mothers, and in particular, mothers who will carry their children, in the league…. and that’ll have to happen in the CBA.

Heather: I’m glad you said it because I think that’s 100% completely and totally true. Imagine telling WNBA players in 1997 that, ultimately, the league would WANT them to be lesbians.

I can feel Lisa Leslie’s glare on the back of my neck.

Natalie: LMAO.

Heather: I hope Hamby cleans up in this lawsuit. I know this sounds dramatic, but I think this could be Billie Jean King huge when we look back on it in the future. Women’s sports are only going to grow and get more and more popular, and leagues and teams have got to figure this out. If you can’t point to the damn WNBA as an exemplary organization in the way it treats mothers, who can we hope for?

Natalie: Absolutely right. #JusticeforDearica

Heather: I want to hear your thoughts on this, and I am also really curious what you think about — I guess I would almost call it animosity that players and coaches have expressed toward the sports media about how they’ve been pushing the Liberty/Aces narrative all season. Even Stewie was like, “Well, I guess y’all are most excited of all about the match-up since you haven’t stopped talking about it from the moment I signed here.”

Natalie: Honestly, since we’ve last talked, there’s been a lot of complaining from the two teams in the WNBA Finals. They want to complain about the media hype of this match-up, they want to complain about them being called superteams…. to which I just want to say, “STFU.”

Heather: I’m nodding!

Natalie: I am genuinely sympathetic to players on most issues but this feels like peak rich people problems, right? Like, c’mon… Breanna Stewart moved to a whole ‘nother coast and partnered with another former MVP and a championship winning point guard… like if that’s not a superteam, I don’t know what is.

Heather: She and JJ and Vandersloot have literally said they plotted this team together to win a championship while hunkering down in the Russian winters when they were playing overseas together! She’s the one who sent out all those cryptic emojis!

Natalie: Right! She has fed into this hype at every possible opportunity and now she’s like, “well, this is your narrative.” GIRL PLEASE!

Heather: Hahahaha!

Natalie: And while the reality is, three-fifths of that Aces starting line-up was drafted to that franchise so they’re only partially a superteam. Adding Chelsea Gray to your roster of three number one picks and then adding Candace Parker and Alysha Clark in the following off-season… like c’mon.

WORDS MEAN THINGS!

Heather: I am doing praise hands at you like I am back in the Baptist church of my youth.

Also, do you know how many players and teams would chew off their own hand for a chance to have the kind of publicity these teams have had?

Natalie: Absolutely.

I think they feel like being a superteam dilutes their success somehow or that by talking about the “media narrative,” they’re lowering those super-expectations… but like, it’s just ridiculous to me.

One superteam is about to lose in the WNBA Finals… that doesn’t mean they weren’t super.

Heather: It also doesn’t mean they didn’t have to beat some seriously excellent teams to get here. The Liberty could easily have lost to either the Mystics or the Sun if just a few variables had been different.

Natalie: 💯

Heather: Well, and now we are here! First game Sunday! What are you expecting to see from both teams? What would excite you the most?

Natalie: What would excite me most is a five game series, of course. The more basketball the better. If the Finals go five games, that’ll leave just 13 basketball-less days until women’s college basketball kicks off.

Heather: HELL YES.

Natalie: But I think these are teams that know each other very well… they can say whatever they want but not only did we anticipate this match-up, so did they. I think they’ve been getting ready for this all season long.

I’m expecting a dominant performance from Chelsea Gray to be honest. I’ve said all along that I think the greatest weakness of the Liberty is their guard-play on the defensive end of the floor…and so I think as active as Chelsea and Kelsey Plum can be on the perimeter, it’s to the Aces benefit. Every time down the court, they’ve got to run Sabrina ragged…hit her with one screen after another…to throw off her rhythm.

For the Liberty, I’m expecting a dominant performance from Jonquel Jones. I just don’t think the Aces have a good answer for what she can do off the boards.

What about you?

Heather: You nailed it. You and I always get people riled up by saying Sabrina Ionescu can’t play defense, but Sabrina Ionescu can’t play defense. Probably my favorite non-play moment of the entire playoffs was when Tiffany Hayes told Sabrina, “You can’t guard me, you can’t guard me” — and during the playback, Rebecca Lobo was trying to read her lips in slow-motion. She was like, “She’s saying something to Ionescu. She’s saying… you.. can’t… guard… me.” And then Lobo cackle-laughed and said, “IT’S TRUE!” So that’s a huge weakness no matter who the Liberty are playing, but especially the Aces backcourt because there’s not a weak link! I mean they really might be the greatest backcourt in WNBA history! Their best hope for Jonquel is to get her in foul trouble, because she’s playing her MVP caliber ball right now. She is absolutely feasting on the boards.

Natalie: Yeah, I agree there: if the Aces can goad JJ into committing a couple of fouls early in the game, that’d be to their advantage. But I think as we saw in the series against the Sun, when she had to guard AT, JJ’s gotten better at playing aggressive defense without fouling… so it won’t be as easy to goad her into those fouls as it used to be.

Heather: I’m actually hoping everyone plays their best and no one gets hurt. This feels like a pretty huge moment for the sport so I want close games, great play, and — like you! — five games.

I also wish Monica McNutt and Pam Ward were calling the games, but that’s one dream too far. 🤣

Natalie: SAME!

Do you have a prediction?

Heather: I do! I think it’s going to go: Aces, Liberty, Liberty, Aces, Aces.

What about you?

Natalie: Oh gosh. I really don’t know.

I’ll say this, though: I think if this series goes five games, the Aces will win. If this series ends early, the Liberty are your champions.

So I think the Liberty in 4 or the Aces in 5.

Heather: You know, that’s a GREAT guess. That feels so true.

Natalie: It is exciting to not know what’s gonna happen.

Anyway, thanks for coming out of Autostraddle-retirement for this conversation, Heather. I’ve loved this conversation so much and I know our readers appreciate hearing from you any chance they get.

Heather: Natalie, it is my pleasure. I have missed talking to you about more than I can say!

Natalie: Remember, if you’re looking for Heather’s work, you can check out her newsletter and you can follow our in-game commentary over on Bluesky (Heather, Natalie).

Now, as usual, we round out this week for our look at WNBA fits with our fashion maven, Dr. Carmen Phillips! Who dressed to impress since we last spoke, Carmen?

Carmen: I’m sad Dallas is gone for many reasons, but at the top of that list is that no on left is doing drip like this:

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Also this is technically the post is a little old but I missed it, so it’s new to me! I have never wondered before now if the person behind the @leaguefits account is a lesbian — the account is 85% NBA related, but they include the W every now and again, so I had assumed they were a male ally — until just now… Because this is a top tier gay joke. I’m rethinking everything.

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WNBA Playoffs: MVP Feelings and Semifinal Drama

Feature image photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The WNBA Semifinals are in full swing! The Aces lead the Wings 2-0 and the Liberty and Sun are tied 1-1. We’re heading to the visiting team arenas for Game 3 in both series. AND the MVP votes have been counted. As always, Natalie and Heather are here to chat it out.

Also, just a quick note that this is Heather’s last week at Autostraddle, but! She and Natalie will 100% be finishing out this year’s WNBA season with their weekly chats.

Heather: Good morning, Natalie! My gosh, we have so much to talk about! I don’t even know where to start! Where do you want to start? I will, as they sing in Sister Act 2, follow you wherever you may go!

Natalie: So, first of all, I love that movie…and second of all, you’re absolutely right. I was just thinking about how much WNBA news there is to cover — two semifinal series, the MVP award, the prospect of a new WNBA franchise, the rumors about a new coach in Chicago — and I’m not sure where to start.

But I guess we’ll talk MVP: the results of the closest MVP race in league history were announced just prior to last night’s game twos and, just as you’d predicted in the pre-season, Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty collected the trophy. The award is Stewie’s second — after winning in Seattle in 2018 — but New York’s first ever MVP. How’d you feel, both about the award and the timing of its announcement?

Heather: This is an awesome place to start because it touches so many of the things you just mentioned. So, when I said I thought Stewie would be MVP, I also thought I’d want that to be true by the time we got to this point in the season. Because I thought I wanted the Liberty to win the championship most of all. But! Wow! I was wrong! As usual, the WNBA season just gets into my heart and shakes it all up like a tossed salad because I love these players, this sisterhood, so so much.

Of course, I see the argument for Stewie. I thought the way she picked up her daughter, Ruby, at the press conference and said, “This is for you, Ruby” was just the sweetest thing. But, honestly, she’s my third choice now that we’re here. I do think Alyssa Thomas deserved it. Once you opened my eyes to thinking about the MVP in a way that rewards not just the best player on the best team, but also should be open to honoring players that are having unreal, record-breaking seasons, AT shot right up to the top of my list. Followed very closely by A’ja, because I do believe the Aces are still the best team in this league. Also, and we’ll get to this, there’s a very real chance AT and the Sun will be in those finals with the Aces, over the Liberty, which makes AT’s case even stronger. Both she and Aja seemed kinda furious and devastated and that broke my heart. So, I guess I Monkey’s Paw-ed myself. I got what I said I wanted, but now it’s not what I want! I’m so curious to hear how you feel about how these votes shook out this way.

Natalie: Yeah, I’ll admit that I was pretty disappointed in the outcome of the MVP. I don’t want to take anything away from Breanna Stewart — she is an incredible player and is one of the greats in the W — but, if I had a vote (and again, neither of us do), she would’ve been third on my list, behind AT and A’ja. As you noted, Alyssa Thomas just had a historic season…and when you break that many records, when you really are the most valuable player on your team…I feel like that’s something worth recognizing. And if voters aren’t going to go with the player making history, then traditionally the award has gone to the best player on the best team which is A’ja Wilson.

I’m really perplexed by it, to be honest, because if you look at their stats, they’re pretty even: in some categories, A’ja’s ahead, in other categories Stewie has a slight lead. But when you look at efficiency, when you look at field goal percentage…A’ja just has an edge…and it doesn’t make sense to me that she wasn’t the pick (if they weren’t going to give it to AT).

I think the voters weighed the losses that the Aces took to New York this season heavily and that might have given Stewart the edge in the end…I really don’t know.

Heather: I agree with all this. I think there are so many reasons A’ja ended up in third place that have nothing to do with her actual play. Like, if she hadn’t won last year, would she have won this year? Probably! If there wasn’t Aces backlash because that team is so unapologetically who they are? Probably! If the Aces had taken any of those last games against the Liberty, if Stewie was leading a team that isn’t in NYC, and on and on.

Natalie: Here’s my question for you: Stewart won the equivalent of the Electoral College. She was not the winner of the most first places votes (Thomas edged her out 23-20). She was not the winner of the most second place votes (Wilson edged her out, 25-23). And she was not the winner of the most third place votes (Thomas won that, 25-17). What do you think that says about the way voting is done and do you think it needs to change?

Heather: Oh my god, calling it the Electoral College is SPOT-ON. I think the voting is completely convoluted. There’s also no reason for it. Based on my understanding, players are rewarded 10 points for a first-place vote, seven points for a second-place vote, five points for a third-place vote, three points for a fourth-place vote and one point for a fifth-place vote. We do this on the TV Team, right? When we’re voting for best movies and stuff. And we do it to adjust for the fact that we haven’t all seen every queer movie on earth; we all have different tastes; we want to be able to, say, honor movies that are so good and important but don’t have big budgets. We vote that way to accommodate a lot of built-in structural issues. None of those things apply to MVP voting.

I also read this hasn’t happened — where the runner-up finished with more first place votes than the winner — since Lauren Jackson and Sheryl Swoopes in 2005. So yeah, I do think the league needs to look at this process. How about you? What would you change if you could?

Natalie: I hadn’t heard that about LJ and Sheryl Swoopes. That’s an interesting stat to know. I agree that the league needs to look at the process…and expand the media pool (give us votes!)…and, most of all, find out whatever idiot gave that fourth place vote to A’ja Wilson and make sure they’re never allowed to vote for anything ever again. Not MVP, not All-Star, not even American Idol….that person should be banned!

Heather: Hahahaha! Me and you and Dawn Staley agree on that!

Natalie: The other thing I’d change about it is the timing of the announcement. I get that the league wants to be able to give the MVP trophy to the MVP on the court…and to make a splash with that presentation…but it can’t be announced on a game day moving forward. It’s just too much. I think the emotion of it all carried over into all the candidates’ performances last night and I don’t think we got better play because of it. I thought Stewie came out flat, AT just wasn’t herself and A’ja was overly aggressive and got herself into a little foul trouble early. The league did those players a big disservice with the timing of that announcement. Give them a day to absorb the news and to recover from the disappointment, if necessary.

Heather: There is no doubt in my mind that’s the correct move. You could see it all over A’ja and AT last night, how heartbroken they were.

So, let’s jump into what’s happening in the semifinals! The Aces lead the Wings 2-0 heading to Dallas for game three, and the Liberty and Sun are split 1-1 heading to Connecticut. These games have been unreal. On the Aces/Wings side of things, the Aces look more locked in and cohesive than they have all season. On the other side, the Sun are absolutely not backing down; they really believe they’re going to those finals and that they deserve to be there.

Natalie: The Liberty/Sun match-up has been fun to watch…which is a thing I can say because I’m invested in the outcome quiet like you are. I think the Mystics, though they lost that opening round series 2-0, exposed a vulnerability of the Liberty — in terms of responding to an aggressive defense — and the Sun have just picked that up and are running with it. They stumbled a bit last night…as I said, AT just wasn’t herself out there and, tbh, neither was Bonner. Rebecca Allen got in early foul trouble and that really hampered her ability to contribute.

I’ve been saying, since the early part of this season that the Liberty’s vulnerability was at the guard slot. As great as Courtney Vandersloot’s vision is on the offensive end of the court and as great of a shooter as Sabrina Ionescu can be, when it comes to defense, they’re lackluster. There was a point last night when Tiffany Hayes yelled, “you can’t guard me!” at Sabrina and I was just like, “well, in fairness, she hasn’t really proven that she can guard anybody.”

Heather: Hahaha, Natalie!

Natalie: Listen, it’s true. The girl can shoot the lights out but her defense is lackluster at best

Heather: The Liberty’s defense and shot selection is absolutely KILLING THEM. It was obvious from the minute game one kicked off that a major part of Connecticut’s plan was for Tiffany Hayes to take it to Sabrina, and hat’s off to Stephanie White, because that was the exact right move. Sabrina’s really only able to play any kind of solid defense when there is serious help, but with AT and Bonner on the floor, Stewie and JJ can’t really jump off and help her because you can’t leave either of them open for a second. At first Hayes was just blowing up Sabrina on the baseline, which is Sabrina’s biggest weakness, but last night, she was just eating her lunch all over the court.

One-one-one, Sabrina’s defense is an ENORMOUS liability, which you and I have been saying since day one.

Natalie: What do you think helped the Liberty get the win last night?

Heather: The fact that AT and Bonner were out of it, was the biggest factor. And a close second is the play of Betnijah Laney on both sides of the ball. I feel like the main thing Stacy and I have been yelling at the TV during these games is THANK YOU, LANEY. She’s scoring all over the floor, her defense is so beautiful and tough, she’s getting the absolute hell beat out of her and not getting her head down about it, she’s keeping everyone else’s heads up. Laney has been the heart of this team for years now and she still is, in my opinion. Did you hear that stat in the third quarter last night — the third quarter of game two! — that it was the Liberty’s first transition points of the entire series? Stephanie White is running circles around them! What do you think we’re going to see as the series moves to CT? What do both of these teams have to do if they want to make it to the finals?

Natalie: I think you’re right about Laney: she’s so instrumental to the Liberty’s success because she’s contributing in all facets of the game. I think if New York is going to win this series, it really does depend on Laney being in her bag. The other thing I think is important is Jonquel Jones staying out of foul trouble. The way that she’s been guarding AT has been really brilliant: Thomas really chases the contact on her release and JJ backs off at exactly the right moment so she doesn’t give AT that contact, which throws off her shot, and keeps JJ out of foul trouble.

Heather: YES!

Natalie: On the other side, I think Thomas and Bonner need to come back, dialed in. Hopefully Natisha Hiedeman can rebound from whatever got sick during last night’s game…and contribute both defensively and as a zone buster, when the Liberty slide back into that defense.

Heather: Yep, I think that’s it! I was honestly praying Hiedeman just got hit in the stomach or something — “just” got hit in the stomach — and isn’t dealing with some kind of stomach bug that wrecks the team, or a concussion, which I am always on the lookout for now.

Natalie:Absolutely.

On Friday, the Wings will also host their first WNBA Semifinal game since the franchise arrived in Dallas. The home team is down 2-0 to the defending champs. Do you think they’ve got a shot of making this a series?

Heather: I do not.

Natalie: Heather!

I mean, you’re right, but you’re supposed to be the optimistic one here!

Heather: I know! That’s how good the Aces are! They steal my optimism! (While also giving me life? It’s very confusing.) Plus, like you, I wanna see A’ja’s revenge tour.

I looove the Wings and I think they’ve got so much to be proud of this season. I think they’ve got such a bright future ahead of them. I think Satou is gonna be an A’ja caliber player. But the Aces are locked in somehow even more than they were last season. They look like that untouchable team again.

Natalie: Last week I said that A’ja Wilson has been the best player of these playoffs but the Dallas Wings have been the best team of these playoffs…and…well…only one of those things is true right now.

Heather: But you were absolutely correct when you said it!

Natalie: A’ja Wilson has been, continues to be, phenomenal. Back to back to back 30 point games in the playoffs…the first time it’s ever been done in WNBA history….there really aren’t enough superlatives for her.

Heather: Absolutely.

Natalie: And what’s crazy about it: you saw in the post-game interview how emotional she was about not getting the MVP. She was clearly hurt. But she came out there and did the work.

Heather: You could seriously tell from the second she walked into the building yesterday — and you said this, too, at the time — that she came to take care of business.

Natalie: Do I think the Aces are an untouchable team? Not yet. Don’t get me wrong: they’ve looked very good through these first two games but I’m still waiting for a game where their core four are clicking at the exact same moment.

In Game One, you had Kelsey show out but then she struggles with her shot in game two. Conversely, Chelsea Gray locked lackluster in game one but shot the lights out in game two. So, while I think the Aces look very good, I still think there’s another gear that they can shift into…and, frankly, that should be scary for the rest of the league.

Heather: That really is terrifying.

I’m curious what you think Candace Parker would add to this conversation, if she hadn’t gotten hurt.

Natalie: Look, I think Kiah Stokes is a decent post player — and obviously, A’ja feels really supported by her on defense…so much so that she wanted to share her DPOY trophy with Kiah — but Kiah Stokes is not a scoring threat.

Heather: I’m nodding.

Natalie: You put Candace Parker in that game and the defense has to stick to her…because she can score from anywhere on the floor…and that’d open things up for A’ja so much more.

Heather: Yep!

Natalie: And now I’m just heartbroken thinking of what could’ve been.

Heather: Oh no! She’s still gonna get another ring!

Natalie: She probably will but you and I have been watching Candace Parker playing since she arrived in Knoxville. You know this isn’t how she wants to win another ring.

Heather: You’re right, of course. I think that’s why we both felt so sick when she got hurt. And it was like she knew too.

Okay I gotta pull us up out of this nosedive of feelings! Hey, Cathy Englebert’s finally moving on expansion?

Natalie: YES! According to reporting from The Athletic, the league is close to announcing a new WNBA franchise in the Bay. The team would play in Oakland and would be owned by the same group that owns the Golden State Warriors.

Heather: I can’t believe we’re finally getting some real details! How does Oakland feel for the expansion?

Natalie: It feels ideal. Jacob Low, the owner of the Warriors, has a strong history of supporting women’s basketball so it doesn’t feel like one of those situations — like Vegas, TBH — where a WNBA team is just a stalking horse to lure other sports franchises to the area.

Heather: I agree!

Natalie: I think there’s been a groundswell of support from the community in Oakland, including, of course, LGBT support, and that’s encouraging to see. I am a little weary about the San Francisco/Oakland of it all — according to The Athletic, they’d actually play their games at the Chase Center in San Fran — but hopefully it gets sorted in a way that keeps the team accessible to everyone.

Big year for Bay Area sports fans: first the announcement of an NWSL franchise and now this!

Heather: And you know a women’s sports-only bar is gonna open up to accommodate that, another huge win for the community. I’m frankly shocked that Cathy’s finally moving on this, and really, really relieved. The players and the fans need to actually SEE something happening because the league is at a tipping point. This feels like an excellent first step.

Natalie: Do you think it’ll only be one franchise that’s announced?

Heather: I’m really hoping for two, another east coast team, in Charlotte preferably. Sorry, that’s in North Carolina, for all you non-Southerners. A Charlotte/Atlanta rivalry would be so much fun.

Natalie: It really would. I only asked that question because, after reviewing hundreds of cities…if all we end up with is one extra team? I mean, I’m happy for Oakland but still…

Heather: Mmmhmm. It would be very cool to see Cathy doing more than the BARE MINIMUM.

Natalie: The other big news this week is that New York Liberty legend, Teresa Weatherspoon, might be on her way back to the W. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that T-Spoon is in negotiations with the Sky to take over as that franchise’s new coach. What do you think of this development?

Heather: Well, I bleeping LOVE Teresa Weatherspoon. And I am a firm believer that these star players who have continued to dedicate themselves to the league for their whole careers deserve these huge opportunities more than anyone. I mean, Carolyn Peck was the first Black head coach to win a NCAA championship in 1999 and then it didn’t happen again until Dawn Staley. It’s RIDICULOUS that there are still so many barriers to Black women getting head coaching jobs, even in the WNBA, and I would love for T-Spoon to take this chance and just absolutely crush it.

This Chicago team, as it is right now, feels like a great fit for her personality. The energy, the understanding of individual player needs and how those intersect with all the team needs, the experience, the gravitas. I want this for her so badly! Do you think it’s a good fit?

Just to drive this point home — sorry, I know I talk about college basketball too much — but T-Spoon lost her Louisiana Tech coaching job to Tyler Summitt, who was a child that was completely unqualified for that position, and who had an affair with one of his players. So.

Natalie: So, personally, I’m of two minds about this: on the one hand, I’m thrilled that Teresa Weatherspoon is coming back to the W. As you noted, when you think about the energy of this Sky team — the scrappy, never-say-die, fight and swagger — there are very few people who embody that more than Teresa Weatherspoon. So it feels like a good fit…I can’t wait to see how she molds Kahleah Copper into the MVP-level talent that we all know she can be.

That said, this is twice now…first with Becky and now with Spoon…where the NBA continues to play in the face of these female coaches. Hammon had done the work, T-Spoon had done the work. They deserve the opportunity to advance in the NBA if that’s what they want to do and the NBA seems content to limit them, repeatedly. What do these women have to do to get a shot at a head coaching job in the NBA? Have Hall of Fame careers? They’ve done that. Win championships as a coach? Becky’s done that. Be absolutely beloved by the players they coach? Spoon definitely did that. Like, what the fuck, do these women have to do?!

Heather: AMEN.

Natalie: The same thing that got Teresa Weatherspoon ousted at LA Tech is keeping her out of the NBA job she’s paid her dues to get…and I can’t blame her (or Becky) for being tired of these NBA owners passing them over and saying, “fuck it, I’ll just go back to the W, where I’m respected and appreciated.”

Heather: That’s absolutely right. No one could have said it better.

What’s your prediction for what’s gonna happen Friday, in both the Aces/Wings game and the Sun/Liberty game? Dp the Aces wrap it up and go home and rest? Do the Wings pull out at least one? Do the Sun start a home sweep? Do the Liberty figure it out and look like the Liberty again?

Natalie: I really want the Wings to win at least one game in this series but I don’t feel confident enough in their performance thus far (stop arguing with the refs! it’s messing up your game!) to predict it. So, yeah…I’m going with the Aces to close out that series on the road.

Heather: Teaira! You already got benched once for standing there talking to the refs while the game plays out on the other end of the floor!

Natalie: This is what I’m saying! She and Satou both got undone by the refereeing last night.

I think the Sun rebound from their disappointing performance in Game 2 and take Game 3 at home. I’m not betting on a sweep in Connecticut, though…I think we’re heading to a Game 5 between the Sun and Liberty.

What do you think?

Heather: You said last night that it’s almost impossible to imagine it NOT going to a game five. I hope it does, honestly, because, while I don’t think it’s the best thing for either team that’ll face down the Aces, I think it’ll be great for the game and also great for Alyssa Thomas. The Liberty really dominated the major nationally televised games this year, which of course is a factor in the MVP voting, because it’s also a factor in everything that hits social media and SportsCenter. I want the Liberty to win, but I also want what’s best for women’s basketball, and I really do have nothing but love and respect for AT.

Now it’s time to turn it over to Carmen for her lusty fashion pick of the week!

Carmen:

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And all I have to say about that is, respectfully and lovingly to Natasha Howard’s partner, but: Lord I have seen what you have done for others. And I would like that for me.

Heather: 😂

Natalie: Amen!

WNBA Playoffs: The Greatest Show on Earth

Feature image photo by M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Whew, the WNBA Playoffs are closing out round one with some real nail-biters. Natalie and Heather are here and queer to break it all down. Heather has lost her voice from yelling at the TV.

Natalie: Well, Heather, we delayed our regular WNBA chat by a few days so that we could get the opportunity to talk about the second games of all the first round series…and boy did that Washington Mystics/New York Liberty game make it worth the wait! Have you recovered from that exciting game yet? Have the cats forgiven you and Stacy for scaring them?

Heather: Natalie, I have been sleepless with excitement, ready to talk to you about last night’s games! The whole night was everything I love about being a fan of the W. The bonkers close game that literally could have gone either way two dozen times between the Liberty and the Mystics. The super intensity that went into that game, especially from Natasha Cloud, who backed up every word she spoke after game one. The way the Liberty crowd gave her a roaring standing ovation when she left the floor. The way the players from both teams lifted each other up after the games.

And then over in the Wings/Dream game, that same thing. The game wasn’t close, but the way the players came together to love on each other after it. LT crying over their on the sidelines. Arike’s ten million watt smile somehow dialed up even brighter. I was thinking about you all night, and about how we talk often about how our love for the game and the player outweighs any love for a single team. I was OVERWHELMED with emotion.

And, lololol, no, my cats are still so annoyed! It was Shout O’clock during that Liberty game! (It was also my wife side-eyeing me the whole night because as much as I love the Liberty, I couldn’t help but be so proud and impressed with the Mystics.) How are YOU feeling this morning?

Natalie: A little heartbroken? Like you said, most of the time my love for the game outpaces everything else…so I’m thrilled to have an exciting close game like we had with the Liberty and Mystics and then to have a great performance like the Wings had last night against the Dream…but the first team I ever cheered for in the WNBA was the Washington Mystics so it’s hard to watch them go out and not feel a little melancholy about it.

Plus, I adore Natasha Cloud — it’s Bisexual Awareness Week so I have to celebrate the WNBA’s BiCon — and as great as it was to see her dominate last night…as she walked off, there was a definite feeling like, “oh this is over.” I don’t know whether we’ll see her in a Mystics jersey again and I’m more sad about that than the Mystics actually losing that series.

Heather: Absolutely. That makes so much sense. I mean even Natasha Cloud said this week that she has a hard time imagining herself not in a Mystics jersey. They were the only team to look at her seriously out of college and she has been their beating heart through so much adversity. I think there are very few people in the world who are exactly who they say they are, and Natasha Cloud feels like one of those rare human beings. After the game, Sandy Brondello said something you and I have touched on a few times: the Mystics are a three seed without those injuries. It is, exactly as you said, heartbreaking to see their run and maybe this team as we know it come to and end.

If they’d forced a game three, I think they could have beaten the Liberty by 15 at home.

Natalie: I don’t know about 15 but I think it would’ve been close…especially if they’d gotten Shakira Austin back for that game. But it’s all just conjecture now: the Mystics are gone fishing, as they say in the MNBA, and the Liberty await their second round opponent.

What do you think the off-season holds for the Mystics? What changes do you think they need to make to be competitive next season?

Heather: So, I think the first thing is something you have talked about a few times: They’ve gotta figure out if Eric Thibault is their guy. He did some good things this year, including coaching the Mystics into being an absolutely ferocious defense. He’s a good half-court guy and he coached the team through a tough year. But is he the future? I don’t know. He struggles to make in-game adjustments, he out-thinks himself, he’s not great with his rotations, which is especially important when you’re playing with so much of your roster on minutes restrictions.

The other thing the Mystics have to do is think about life beyond EDD. And, look, I really love EDD as a player and a person. I was so impressed with the way she came out back when there were still only a few openly gay players in the league. (Obviously being a tall white goddess-looking person helped her be able to do that!) I think she is almost unstoppable when she’s healthy. But her poor body simply isn’t able to hold up for a whole WNBA season, so the Mystics have got to start thinking of her as icing on cake and not the cake itself, I think.

Also maybe look into what their floors are made out of?! How do they have so many huge and lingering issues? It’s like they’ve been cursed. I’d love your read on what would make the Mystics shine again next season.

Natalie: Coming into this season, I think the Mystics were very focused on trying to recapture the spirit of that 2019 team that won the championship but, as we learned last night, it’s very hard to recapture that magic. I think they do need to start thinking of the Mystics as Shakira Austin’s team and build around her. When she was playing overseas and during the earlier part of the season when she was healthy, Austin was delivering at an All-Star level and I think she could be that centerpiece moving forward.

Heather: I think that’s absolutely right.

Natalie: Like I said, I think Cloud’s done in Washington so they’re going to be looking for a PG. Do the Mystics make a case to Skylar Diggins that they’re the best destination for her or do they look ahead to the draft to see what talent is available to them? Maybe they do both…which would allow Sky to lead the offense and give a rookie time to adjust to the league.

But, after finding out what Cloud wants to do, I think you’re spot on with noting that the Mystics have to decide if Eric Thibault is their guy. I’m not sure he is, personally, and I’m also not confident in Mike Thibault’s willingness to make that call.

Transitioning over to the second game of last night’s double-header, I woke up this morning and was reviewing my notes from last night’s Wings/Dream game and had a thought: “A’ja Wilson has been the best player in these playoffs but the best team has been the Dallas Wings.” I’m curious what you think about that?

Heather: I agree with you COMPLETELY. It has been so long since I watched a team actually peak at the exact right time, but every single piece of the Wings puzzle has fallen exactly into place and they are all playing their best games and individuals and as a team. The whole starting line-up in double digits in the playoffs? They beat Atlanta on paint points, second chance points, fast break points, bench points. And I mean, think about that. All starters in double digits and the bench outscoring Atlanta’s bench 35-12!

There was this little hiccup that happened at the end of the Wings season where Coach LT benched Teaira McCowan because she had just lost the plot. She was giving up on plays, stopping to constantly argue with the refs, head down and taken out of the game. And LT didn’t start her. I thought that was so bold and just prayed it wouldn’t backfire — and it absolutely did not! McCowan has been playing like a damn STAR ever since then.

There is something so satisfying about a team like the Wings. They’re so good and they’re also so explosively fun — and, perhaps best of all, they’re not some precision machine manufactured to win a championship. They’re a team that has pieced together a kinda weird combination of players and have made it work. I am SO PROUD of them. And I honestly cannot wait to see them roll into Las Vegas. I think the Aces are gonna have their hands full!

I’m interested in what you think about what’s worked for the Wings, what you think their chances are against the Aces. And I’m also very curious about whether or not you think the Dream should move on from Tanisha Wright? That’s been a real hot topic for the last 12 hours.

Natalie: It’s hard to assess the Wings’ chances against the Aces…I mean, if the team that played last night shows up in Las Vegas? The defending champs are in some serious trouble. You know Satou Sabally’s my favorite player in the league so I was thrilled to see her have that AMAZING game in Game One of the series…but seeing them last night was such a thrill. Everybody was contributing, everyone was playing hard-nose defense…even Arike has been a star defender during this series.

Heather: Yes yes yes!

Natalie: Seeing a player like Awak Kuier come into the game and just do things that you didn’t even know she was capable of?! I loved it. The Wings’ play reminded me of — forgive another MNBA reference — the Spurs teams that Becky Hammon was on the sidelines for…just beautiful team basketball.

Heather: That’s suuuuch a great comparison.

Natalie: That said, while I understand completely the excitement that must come from this franchise finally getting over that playoff hump…popping bottles might have been a little too much. I know the players were saying “we’re not done yet” but when you’re popping champagne, it feels like you’re celebrating before the race is over.

Heather: So fair. I actually, when I saw that on Instagram, I was like, “Is it someone’s birthday?”

Natalie: To your question about Tanisha Wright, my answer is complicated. Do I think she’s a very good coach with the potential to be great? Yes…and I think the owners of the Dream think that as well. But I do worry that she’s lost the locker room and I don’t know if even the best coach can come back from that.

What are the twitter streets saying about Tanisha Wright’s future in Atlanta? What do you think?

Heather: I think what she needs is just a little more experience, which is the tough thing about the W. The shots are so short and fleeting. Her struggles have come from interpersonal player stuff and from not having a good feel for her rotations. The way she pulls all her scorers out at once! Or whoever’s got the hot hand!

Weirdly Twitter seems most upset about the lack of playtime and growth from Haley Jones. And I guess I say “weirdly” because it actually is still kind of a new phenomenon for so many people to be so invested in women’s college basketball that they have these attachments before players even get into the W, even if they don’t play on teams they root for in college. It’s wild! I guess I would love to see Coach Wright get one more year, but I also understand the pressure on teams like Atlanta. They don’t have these facilities and money like the Aces, the Liberty, the Storm, so to bring in big players — to contend in the Skylar Sweepstakes, for example — you gotta be able to offer a serious chance to compete.

Natalie: I understand those critiques about how Wright’s used Haley Jones (and Laeticia Amihere for that matter). I thought it was clear last night that Crystal Dangerfield was giving Danielle Robinson fits and Jones is just sitting there on the Dream bench. Would she do better than Danielle Robinson? I don’t know but it’s hard for me to imagine her doing worse. And to clearly need size on the interior and leave Amihere on the bench, not just in this series but throughout the season, feels like malpractice.

And, to your point about translating college fandoms…you’re right that there are a lot of college fans who — this year in particular — have followed their college faves into the W and so you hear a lot of criticism because those fans just want to see their faves play (as opposed to doing what’s best for the team/franchise). We’re only going to see more of that in the future…so I think one of the things a coach/GM is going to have to do is decide if those critiques are legitimate or not.

Heather: I think that’s spot on. Everything you said. Spot-on.

And! Natalie, this first round excitement isn’t even over! We’ve got the Lynx/Sun in a do-or-die game three TONIGHT.

Natalie: We do! A lot of the talk leading into the game has been about the 2-1 format in this best of three series which puts the final game on the lower seed’s home court. What are your thoughts on that?

Heather: It’s the WNBA being cheap-o’s again, is what I think! How can it not be 1-1-1? It’s very clearly the most fair thing!

The damn Mystics deserved a chance to have last night’s game on their own court!

Natalie: I think you’re right and it’d certainly be my preference, but also it’s weird to me that people are so upset about this: first, it’s so much better than the single elimination match-ups that the WNBA used to have for the first round of the playoffs and second, if playing on someone else’s home floor meant they were more likely to win, Connecticut wouldn’t be playing in Minnesota today.

What are you expecting to see tonight? What do the Lynx have to do to upset the Sun?

Heather: Tonight I am expecting to see a superheroic playoff performance from Alyssa Thomas that defies all the odds of the universe and her own body. There was this moment in game two where DeWanna Bonner, AT’s fiancee, got hit so hard in the nose she was bleeding through multiple towels. They took her to the back to stitch her up, and during a timeout, they asked AT about her, and she said, basically, “She’ll be fine. She’ll be back. We know what we have to do.” And I was just like, “Man what a goddamn competitor!” I have watched her dominate playoffs with basically no working joints and three broken bones. I expect her to show out tonight, in this year of all years.

But I also don’t expect the Lynx to just roll over. There’s a storied history in that arena. The names in those rafters are their own Hall of Fame. Napheesa Collier has blown me away this year and I assume she’s gonna do it again tonight. The Sun are 14-6 on the road this year and the Lynx are 9-11 at home (although some of that is their wacky 0-6 start). If the Lynx want to win, they’ve got to own the paint. That was the difference between Game 1 and Game 2. In Game 1, the Sun had 16 fast break points and 12 second chance points from killer rebounding. (To the Lynx’s 3 and 3 points each.) In Game 2, that was reversed. The Lynx had 15 second chance points to the Sun’s 5. And the Lynx have got to take care of the basketball. They turned the ball over NINETEEN TIMES in that first game.

Natalie: Heather Hogan coming thru with the stats! I love it!

Heather: I’m preparing for our career as announcers, when we take over from Rebecca and Ryan.

Natalie: Ha! If only!

Heather: What do you want to see tonight?

Natalie: Like you, I’m expecting AT to have a Natasha Cloud-like game. No one wants to win more than her and she is going to lay it all on the line to get Connecticut to the next round of the playoffs. For the Lynx, one thing we’ve talked about before is their lack of consistency. In Game 2, they had Kayla McBride show up in a big way with 28 points and 8 rebounds but can she bring that same energy to Game 3? Diamond Miller’s been a non-factor in these playoffs…can she step up? Are the Lynx going to get contributions from Tiffany Mitchell or Aerial Powers? If they can have someone other than Phee step up, then they’ve got a shot…otherwise, AT’s going to carry the Sun to victory.

Heather: I agree completely! I’m so excited! My cats less so. They are ready for a return to quiet nights!

Natalie: I bet they are.

One more thing before we talk fashion: So far we’ve seen the WNBA announce the winners of the three post-season awards: Sixth Player of the Year went to Alysha Clark of the Las Vegas Aces, Stephanie White won Coach of the Year in her first year with the Connecticut Sun and Jonathan Kolb of the Liberty took home Executive of the Year.

We don’t have votes (though the WNBA really should give us votes!) but if you had a vote, would you have come down on the side of the majority?

Heather: They really should give us votes! I feel like my only quibble is with Coach of the Year. I think it should have gone to Latricia Trammell because what she has done with that Wings team has been a joy to behold. I don’t think anyone had them going this far at the beginning of the year. Getting all those players to work together in a way no one else has been able to do? Making an unusual style of play not only succeed, but dominate? With players who don’t have a whole lot of postseason experience, besides Natasha Howard?

And I guess my fear is that Stephanie White is going to get this because of AT’s play, while AT gets overlooked for MVP. I think Stephanie White has done an AWESOME job in Connecticut but I think their success is more about AT and DeWanna. I am so curious to hear what you think about this!

Natalie: So, I actually thought the more controversial choice was Alysha Clark for 6th Player of the Year…and the voting wasn’t even close! I’m not sure who I would’ve voted for, ultimately, but I definitely would’ve had Kalani Brown and Dijonai Carrington as my final two. Clark’s done some amazing things in these playoffs so that makes it hard to criticize the choice but she was not who I would’ve picked.

Heather: Kalani Brown would have been my first choice too.

Natalie: Though, to add to your conspiracy theory, maybe they gave Clark 6th POY because A’ja Wilson is not going to win MVP either.

Heather: I really hope she does, though. These playoffs have only made me believe A’ja deserves it even more.

Natalie: It’s a regular season award.

Heather: I know :(

Natalie: So I’m still in the AT 4 MVP camp but if we’re ranked voting, it’s 1. AT 2. A’ja 3. Stewie 4. Jewell.

Heather: I literally cannot argue with that in any way!

It also just circles us back to what I was flipping out about when we first sat down today: We are in the presence of so much women’s basketball greatness right now!

Natalie: We really are. And only two months until the start of women’s college basketball!

Heather: I have a countdown clock going! And now let’s pass it over to Carmen!

Carmen: I do believe that the Dallas Wings heard that I called Chicago the top-to-bottom swaggiest team and said, we would like to have a word with you. Because this??? No misses.

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But speaking of Chicago, going the next nine months without Courtney Williams… has, ahem… left me bereft.

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Heather: Aww classic!

Carmen: And then, I know that I don’t often shout out the NY Liberty in my weekly duties. It’s not a reflection of their playing skill! Fashion is not everyone’s calling! HOWEVER… these SLAM t’s??? Pure fire. And the fit of Stewie, Stefanie Dolson, and Betnijah Laney walking into the arena to receive them? Wheeeeweeeee. The Liberty are not just out there playing like champions, they’re starting to dress like them to.

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It’s WNBA Playoff Season, Baby!

Feature image photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The WNBA regular season has come to a close, and playoffs start THIS WEDNESDAY. Luckily, just today, Spectrum and Disney got their greed worked out and ESPN is back on TVs for people in NYC and LA. Now we can watch all the ups and downs and drama and magic! But first, Natalie and Heather are here to wrap-up the final games and peep the playoffs.

Heather: Natalie, we made it through the whole WNBA season and neither of us suffered any serious injuries from leaping around and shouting! And now the playoff field is set, games start this very week, and the season’s awards will start rolling out soon. How are you feeling?

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Natalie: Well, while I might not have suffered any serious injuries, my fantasy team was not so lucky and I ended up having an abysmal season. Just week after week of not having half my roster due to injuries. But not you! Congratulations for winning our Autostraddle Fantasy League for the second year in a row!

Heather: I would like to thank DeWanna Bonner and also Alexis Morris for making DeWanna Bonner so mad at the beginning of the season!

Here’s to us plus-35s!

Natalie: Here, here!

But to answer your question more directly, I am so excited about these playoffs, in large part because the final games of the regular season gave us a preview of what the playoffs hold in store. Chicago edging out Connecticut in overtime and Washington beating New York at the buzzer! It’s just a reminder that playoff basketball is here and there’s far more parity in the league than the standings might suggest. How are you feeling heading into these playoffs?

Heather: Exactly like that! I was honestly so excited for the Mystics yesterday (don’t tell Stacy) because they completely leveled the playing field with that AMAZING buzzer-beater win. Their health issues have been heartbreaking this year, as you’ve talked about with so much heart, so to see them heading into the playoffs with a more full roster and a big win? What a triumph. And they still didn’t have Shakira Austin!

The Sky win was exciting in very similar ways. That team thrives on being counted out and then showing out. Plus Kah signed a huge contract extension over the weekend and has to be feeling super confident. I started this season thinking no one could beat the Aces in a series and now I really do think something magical and nuts could happen! Maybe even — especially even?? — to the Liberty.

Natalie: Don’t let Stacy hear you talking like that!

Since you brought up the Sky we should acknowledge that we were both wrong in our predictions last week. We both said that we thought the Chicago Sky would be on the outside looking in, come playoff time, but they won 5 of their last six to beat out the Los Angeles Sparks for that 8th and final playoff slot. First, were you surprised to see the Sky come on so strong and second, what do you think the future holds for the LA Sparks?

Heather: I kinda loved being wrong about them! Total Sky move to show us!

I was actually really surprised and sad for the Sparks, but I do think they have a lot to be excited about for the future. I can see a world where the Sparks get the second pick in the draft and Angel Reese comes out and ends up there, which feels like a good fit in a whole lot of ways. They played with such a hurt roster ALL YEAR so that will likely be better next season. Curt Miller continues to drive me nuts but there’s no denying he’s a great coach. Their fan base stays hyped year-round. I’ll be shocked if they miss the playoffs again next year. How about you?

Natalie: I mean, I think reforming that franchise into a really professional organization was always going to take time but the injuries this year truly did not help. They’ve got big decisions ahead of them: two of their most consistent players this year, Nneka Ogwumike and Jordin Canada, are both at the end of their contracts. I can’t imagine Nneka playing anywhere else but I truly, truly hope the franchise doesn’t try to lowball her as this league is wont to do with players they feel like won’t go elsewhere (see also: the Vanderquigs in Chicago). Give Nneka the SUPERMAX deal she deserves.

Heather: Imagine trying to lowball NNEKA OGWUMIKE.

Natalie: Canada’s going to be a challenge as well because she’s had such a great season and shown such incredible improvement under Curt Miller’s system. But, with Jewell Loyd, Kahleah Copper, and Betnijah Laney already signing their extensions with their respective franchises, the market for veteran scoring guards is scarce…so Canada could definitely see some enticing offers from other franchises. If the Sparks want to keep Canada in LA, they’re going to have to slide up to the table with a legit deal.

Heather: I absolutely agree with both of those things — and maybe it’s naive, but I think the Sparks will pay up for both of them.

Speaking of Laney, Copper, Loyd — were you surprised to see them all get contracts done by the end of the season? I especially want to hear your thoughts on Laney.

Natalie: I was, actually…especially in the case of Jewell Loyd who I think we’d heard a lot of rumblings that she might be interested in playing for her hometown team, the Chicago Sky. But while I think the Sky are going to get better eventually because Dwyane Wade has joined that ownership group…it’s still hard to look at that franchise — without the draft picks and without the facilities — and think that their future, in the short term is going to get better. Loyd’s going to stay in Seattle and continue to lead that franchise through their evolution.

I think it’s telling, though, that Loyd and Copper both signed just two year deals.

Heather: Absolutely agree.

Natalie: I was surprised by the Laney signing as well…if only because I think she’s improved her stock so much this season — she’s the lynchpin of that New York defense — that I think that she could’ve fetched a premium. I’m surprised she didn’t at least try to test the market in free agency to see what opportunities were out there. I think she deserves more money than what New York is paying her, TBH.

But, look, I think there are a lot of things that go into these decisions, beyond the money. I think Laney’s someone who’s been a journeyman (journeywoman?) in the league…moving from Chicago to Indiana to Atlanta and finally to New York…and I think, after going through that, there’s some security to knowing where you’re going to be and who you’re going to be playing with.

Heather: I agree with that too! I assume one of the main selling points was that they’re going to try to keep this whole team together and try for some kind of dynasty situation.

However! One thing I’ve learned about Laney in the past years is that she is an excellent negotiator and money manager, thanks to her mom (also a basketball legend). Like she kept her own house when she got married over the summer because she’s accruing even more equity in it before she sells it in the NYC real estate market. She was just casually explaining that during Team USA training this year. I also think, like you mentioned, she’s improved her stock even more this year. It’s so telling that in that Athletic player survey, she’s one of the top players that other players says is underrated, and when you get announcers who watch all the games, they are nothing but endless praise for her. If you follow the WNBA simply by the highlights, you might miss her contribution, but if you watch the league, you know she’s crucial.

As a Liberty fan, I am THRILLED she’s staying.

Natalie: I bet you are!

I was going to add though…obviously, I think money matters and I want to see these players paid commensurate with their talents…but I also think, once you get to this level, these players want to win. And whether the Liberty do it this year or next year, Betnijah Laney’s as close as she’s ever been to a championship…and I can’t imagine that doesn’t figure into her calculus somehow.

Heather: Do you also get the sense — this kind of goes along with what you were saying about the two-year deals — that the players are kind of expecting this league to get remade in the next few years, money-wise?

Natalie: I absolutely do. The league’s going to add at least two franchises and renegotiate their TV deal soon and I think everyone expects that to be a windfall for the W. After that, I fully expect the Players’ Union to opt out of the CBA and negotiate new terms for their deals.

Heather: That feels so exciting! These players deserve so much more!

Natalie: So, shall we turn our attention to the playoffs? What first round match-up has you most intrigued?

Heather: I’ll tell ya: I think the Mystics have a real shot to upset the Liberty! A lot of the commentary on Sunday was about how Stewie and JJ weren’t shooting well, but they weren’t shooting well because the Mystics absolutely stymied them with their physicality. The Liberty had no answers for getting pushed around, it got them frustrated and frazzled, and they stayed that way. One of the Liberty’s great strengths is they just wear people out. You saw this in the Chicago game last week. Even if other teams can hang in there a full half or three quarters, they eventually just run out of juice. That also happened with the Mystics but they didn’t give up. There was never second they thought they were out of that game. Even that last second out of bounds play, complete confidence. So much of high seeding is a psychological impact on your opponents, and now what do the Mystics have to be afraid of?

Also, of course, nothing delights me like Post-Season Arike.

Natalie: Obviously, that win against the Liberty yesterday on New York’s home court has to have the Mystics believing that they’ve got a chance to pull the upset in this series. To have beat the Liberty without Shakira Austin…to have outscored New York in the paint…those are things that build your confidence.

(Not that this team needs that boost because I think Natasha Cloud and Brittany Sykes are convinced that they can beat anyone, anywhere, at any time.)

Heather: I love that about them!

Natalie: But something about yesterday felt like…and I’m sorry to make a college basketball comparison but it’s just what came to mind first…do you remember when South Carolina lost to Kentucky in the SEC Championship in 2022?

Heather: Oh I sure do.

Natalie: I don’t know that South Carolina wins the championship that year if Kentucky doesn’t upset them in that SEC championship. They’d been kinda coasting through their schedule, easily dispatching their opponents, and taking for granted that they need to really fight to win a championship. That loss shifts South Carolina into a different gear and establishes a different level of focus…and they don’t lose again.

That loss to the Mystics felt like that SEC championship to me.

Heather: That’s such a good comparison and a way more optimistic read than mine! I like it!

Natalie: I don’t want to count out this Mystics team. Cloud and Sykes have been a dynamic duo to watch and Elena Delle Donne can light any team up at any moment…and, obviously, if they can get Shakira Austin back, that’s huge. But I think that was a loss at the exact right time for the Liberty and I’m expecting them to come into the playoffs with a renewed focus.

Heather: That’s a great read. I’m just so excited for this series now, even more than I was. Let’s touch on the other match-ups! Aces vs. Sky. Today ESPN called the Gray-Plum-Young backcourt the best in WNBA history.

Natalie: We’ve underestimated the Sky already and they’ve proven us wrong but I’m not sure they have enough to get past the Aces in that first round match-up. That hill just feels insurmountable. They got swept by Las Vegas in the regular season and the Aces are 19-1 at home. What do you think?

Heather: I think you’re absolutely right. The Sky exceeded expectations snagging a play-off spot. The Aces would need to have a historically terrible collapse for the Sky to actually win a series against them.

Natalie: What about the Minnesota-Connecticut series? Who do you expect to come out on top in that series? Connecticut won their regular season series, 3-1.

Heather: I think Alyssa Thomas isn’t going to win MVP, and I think on some level she knows that, and is going to keep — in her own words — “making it look easy” to do impossible things. I haven’t had a good read on Minnesota all season, so I won’t pretend to have some sudden insight into them now. Napheesa Collier hasn’t cooled off and if anyone in this league knows how to get the most out of players in the playoffs, it’s Cheryl Reeves. These two teams are similar in the sense that they both feel like they still have something to prove. The Lynx might take it to three games, but I think the Sun win. How about you?

Natalie: This is an interesting series to me because these teams feel like two sides of the same coin to me. Both teams are kind of work horse teams that aren’t necessarily going to be flashy but they’ll grind it out to get the win. But the big difference between them is the consistency. Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner are going to show up for Connecticut every night and Tiffany Hayes is a reliable scoring option. Compare that to Minnesota where Collier’s the team’s lone consistent scoring threat. You’ll have a game where Diamond Miller will show out or Kayla McBride or Tiffany Mitchell will have an outstanding game…but the very next game, those players are MIA.

Heather: You nailed it.

Natalie: So I think this series could go three games, if the Lynx can show some consistency, but if they look like the team that lost to the Fever yesterday? The Sun are going to close it out early and get some rest before they face the winner of that Mystics/Liberty series.

Did you think that regular season closer between Dallas and Atlanta was a good harbinger of what fans can expect from their playoff series?

Heather: Your thoughts on the Lynx/Sun us honestly a perfect segue to the Dream vs. Wings. Atlanta lost by almost 20 yesterday, meaning — I’m pretty sure — they dropped all their games to the Wings this year. On paper, that just doesn’t seem right. It feels like the Wings and the Dream are actually a perfect match-up. Arike/Sabally/McCowan vs. Howard/Gray/Parker. It seems like it could be a 125 pt per team shoot-out! The Wings keep destroying the Dream in the paint. They had 46 points in the paint to the Dream’s 28 yesterday, and almost twice as many rebounds (29 v 17). And I don’t think Atlanta has an answer for that because Dallas is a damn factory of stellar post play. McCowan, Howard, Kuier, Brown — and if all four of them somehow manage to get in foul trouble or run out of steam, just slot Satou Sabally down there! The Dream don’t have an answer for that, I don’t think.

Natalie: I think when the Wings were putting together this roster in the off-season, I was admittedly perplexed because “who needs that many post-players?!” But there seems to have been a method to Dallas’ madness because their post-rotation really does wear on other teams…and they just beat them into submission. And you can help in the post, either, because you give Satou space to work or you leave Arike out to do Arike things…

Heather: That’s absolutely correct!

Natalie: Even if the Dream were operating at their best and I don’t think anyone thinks they are, the Wings would be a difficult match-up for them. I’m expecting Dallas to take it home.

Heather: Me too! I do have a lot of hope for the Dream though! I really do! But maybe not this year.

So I think we’re both saying the top seeds will likely advance in all rounds? And I’m saying, of all those, the Mystics scare me the most.

Natalie: I’d agree with you.

Heather: Last week, we found out about Carly Usdin’s new series, The Syd + TP Show!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw5mLUTvoev/

Natalie: This is quite the glow-up for Carly…from talking about the travails of Jenny Schechter on To L And Back to this?

Heather: If we suffer, we shall also reign!

This show really does look so good and gay. I have watched the trailer about ten times and cackled every time. Syd Colson belongs on TV.

Natalie: Syd Colson was absolutely made for this.

You and I have talked, for years, about how great a reality TV series based on the W would be but I’m not sure this is what we had in mind. But still, I love it.

Heather: Oh no, we were thinking Hard Knocks — this is like Clown Knocks. Gotta start somewhere.

Natalie: In fairness I vacillated between Hard Knocks and Basketball Wives but yes.

Heather: To stay on theme, Carmen’s out of the office, but here’s my nomination for Fit of the Week.

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Natalie: Always the Aces.

Heather: I understand why people hate them. They are too charismatic for anyone else to compete.

Natalie, it has been the most fun talking through this whole season with you every Monday, an absolute highlight of my entire summer!

Natalie: It’s been my absolute pleasure!

Heather: Next week we’ll see how smart we are about post-season basketball!

Natalie: Fingers crossed for great basketball and no injuries!

Heather: Here, here!

It’s the Final Week of the WNBA Regular Season, Let’s Talk it Out!

Feature image photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

The final week of the regular season is upon us, and there’s four teams left fighting for three play-off spots. Also? Plenty of drama around the W’s restrictions on charter flights in the post-season. Get in here and talk it all out with Natalie and Heather!

Heather: Well, Natalie, my dear friend, we have arrived at the last week of regular season play in the WNBA! How are you feeling heading into this final week? The Atlanta Dream, Washington Mystics, Los Angeles Sparks and Chicago Sky are all vying for the last three playoff spots. And we’ve had playoff charter drama before the playoffs have even started. The W is finishing strong!

Natalie: I’m anxious.

I don’t like to call myself a fan of any particular team in the WNBA but if I had to chose, it’d be the Mystics…who I became a fan of a long time ago because they drafted Chamique Holdsclaw. And loving the Mystics over the years has been hard but when Elena Delle Donne came to town and the franchise started to see a resurgence and eventually a WNBA championship…it felt like all those years of toil were worthwhile. And while they’d struggled in the last couple of years to recapture that light, it felt like, coming into this season, it was prime time for things to come together.

And then the wheels came off…and then you thought they’d gotten the wheels back on…only for them to fall off again.

Heather: That’s honestly a perfect metaphor for the Mystics.

Natalie: I mean, to finally have some joy about having their full roster back — for one game! — and then to see the wheels come off. Ariel Atkins and Shakira Austin get hurt against Las Vegas and then Kristi Toliver goes down on an non-contact injury after fighting so hard to come back. And then, not too long after that Queen Egbo gets hurt as well. I’m just gutted for this team and for KT in particular.

We’ve talked a little bit about whether Eric Thibault truly deserves to be head coach of this team…well, he’s got a prime opportunity to prove himself by motivating this team over these next three games…because they looked absolutely dejected after that game in LA.

Heather: Absolutely!

Natalie: What are you looking at down the stretch, especially for those teams still in the hunt for those remaining playoff slots?

Heather: For me, my eyes are on the Dream this week. (Another Chamique Holdsclaw team!) They have been impressive in so many ways this season, but August was an absolute disaster for them. They’ve lost seven of their last nine, and finally pulled up out of it with a win against the Mercury last week. Every game they have this week is winnable. They’ve got the Storm, the Mystics, and the Wings (who could be resting starters by Sunday because they’ve already locked up their playoff spot and Teaira McCowan seems tired.) They’re young, Tanisha Wright is obviously really frustrated with them, but if they can turn it on, I can really see them making the playoffs for the first time since 2018. And I think that would be HUGE for them heading into next year.

The team my heart goes out to the most? The Chicago Sky! I think if James Wade had stayed they’d have already locked up their spot in the playoffs. Now they’re the team with the worst record that’s still in the hunt. I love a team of underdog scrappers, and it’s gotta be extra hard to fall so far from that championship just two years ago.

Natalie: Well, in fairness, only like two players are left from that championship squad (I’m exaggerating, of course, but not by much).

Since we talked last, one additional team has been eliminated from playoff contention and that’s the Indiana Fever. Not content to sail off quietly into the off-season, though, the Fever came out and put on an absolute showcase on Sunday, beating the playoff-bound Dallas Wings. It was a true late season reminder of what this team is capable of: Kelsey Mitchell *and* Nalyssa Smith both going AWF for 30 points each, Aliyah Boston doing it all: 13 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks! Erica Wheeler dishing out 11 assists. Grace Berger giving quality minutes off the bench, along with Victoria Vivians who was CRUCIAL on the defensive end. They were really just great.

I think we’ve talked a lot about the apparent conflicts within the Fever lineup this season — and rightfully so — but it’s worth noting that, irrespective of what happens over their last three games, the Fever have won more this year than they had in the last two years, combined. They’ve gotten so much better and, at least to me, seem to be on the right path. But, I suppose the question is, as this team looks toward the future: does this team believe that?

What do you think, Heather? What moves (if any) are you expecting to see from the Indiana Fever in this off-season?

Heather: Oh boy, what a great question. I have such an enormous amount of affection for this team. The way they came out and handed it to the Wings this weekend, even after they were out of playoff contention is honestly a perfect microcosm of what they accomplished this season. Completely counted out, but they believed in themselves, and were determined to give it everything they had every minute of the game. I’ve said this about a billion times this season, but the tenacity and mental toughness they have exhibited — I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team lose so many close games, or mount so many shocking comebacks (only to end up losing by a bucket or two) — in a single season. They’ve never given up and I have so much respect for that. They won, what? Five games last season. And 12 this season? Not ideal, but something to be proud of!

I think, first and foremost, they’ve gotta figure out what’s been happening in that locker room and address it. If you can’t play with Aliyah, you can’t play in Indiana. She is the future of that franchise and she’s proven over and over and over again why she deserves to be that player. I don’t know where Christie Sides falls in that conversation, I think she’s done some things really well this season, like keeping the team believing in themselves, but I don’t know if she’s ever had a good handle on interpersonal player dynamics. I think the young players from this year are going to be so much better next year with some rest and a full season under their belts. Indiana could use a sharpshooter from behind the arc. I’m not saying Caitlin Clark! Even though I guess her boyfriend just got a job with the Pacers?

What about you? You were ready to clean house earlier this season!

Natalie: You made so many great points, I hardly know where to start agreeing with you…but I suppose the most important point is “if you can’t play with Aliyah, you can’t play in Indiana.” That’s it. Point blank, period. If there’s a player in the locker room not willing to do that then, I’m sorry, even if they’re a very good player, they’ve got to move along. Of course, the quandary is that a bunch of those players are going to have to take pay cuts to go elsewhere because no one’s going to pay them what Indiana can. I like the idea of a sharpshooter behind the arc…and, certainly, Clark fits that bill, but I’d also like to see Lin Dunn do some wheeling and dealing — especially if some of those players want out — and get some veteran leadership in that role.

Heather: Yes!

Natalie: Obviously, Skylar Diggins is at the top of the list for me.

I know she wants to win a championship so maybe it’s not in the cards but — and I say this as someone who’s watched Skylar since her days with the Irish — I think she’s gotten a bad rap. She’s developed a reputation in the league that isn’t really fair.

For lack of a better descriptor, she’s not Liz Cambage. Skylar works hard to make things work — she gives All-Star level effort — but when the front office doesn’t want to make moves to put them in a position to win, she wants to move on to the next thing. When you talk about the situations she’s forced her way out of (Tulsa, Dallas)…are there people really suggesting that both those franchises weren’t absolute shitshows during that time? Those front offices were a mess but Skylar still gets blamed.

I think there’s an opportunity in Indiana to rewrite her narrative…I don’t know how enticing that is for her, though.

Heather: I agree completely. I think the Skylar Diggins Sweepstakes is going to be one of the most exciting and game-changing things about this off-season. I think Skylar wants to win and I think Skylar wants to finally be respected in the way she deserves. I think those will be the biggest factors in her decision.

Natalie: I want to go back to something you said earlier about the Chicago Sky and how they would have already locked up their spot in the playoffs if James Wade hadn’t abandoned them during the season…because I’m not sure I believe that?

I think the start that they had surprised a lot of folks out of the gate and people, including myself, who had doubts about the way this team was built, were like, “maybe I was wrong?” But ultimately, they’re exactly where I thought they were going to be…maybe slightly better. After everything the Sky lost in the off-season — Candace Parker to Vegas, Courtney Vandersloot to New York, Allie Quigley to quasi-retirement, Azurá Stevens to Los Angeles, Emma Meesseman to international commitments — Wade kinda created this patchwork quilt of a team…which, in my mind at least, was never going to be a contender.

Compare that to Minnesota, who, before the season started, I thought was going to be a playoff team. Sure, they had no answer for the loss of Sylvia Fowles but they had Napheesa Collier back and strong rookie talent in Diamond Miller. Plus they’d gotten Tiffany Mitchell in the off-season? I thought they were a lock for the play-offs. But then they start the season, 0-6, and, again, I’m thinking, “maybe I was wrong?” But fast-forward to now and the Lynx are comfortably in the playoffs.

Heather: I think “patchwork quilt” is the exact right way to describe what he put together there! I’m not sure what this particular Sky team could have done, but I do love a Courtney Williams, Kahleah Copper, Marina Mabrey trifecta because I love it when a bunch of players who have been constantly overshadowed, and who clearly have chips on their shoulders about it, get together and go full Bad News Bears. I think what I wanted for them probably outshines what they were really capable of doing.

Natalie: I just think they were three versions of the same player…and I’m not sure that was ever going to work out.

Heather: Totally fair and I guess what that means is that… I have a type? 😂

Natalie: LOL.

What do you think about the turnaround the Lynx have had?

Heather: Well, I’ll be honest: It has shocked the heck out of me. I know, historically, anyone who has ever underestimated Napheesa Collier has been made to look like a clown, so I’ll just go ahead and put on my red nose! And also ask forgiveness from Diamond Miller for underestimating her too. But! In my defense! The Lynx dropped, like, their first seven or eight games of the season! They didn’t even win a game until June! Just a few weeks ago they were the only team in the playoff hunt with a losing record! And now they’re at .500, on a stunning upward trajectory, and neither Phee nor Diamond show any signs of slowing down. What happened? What shifted and led them here, do you think?

Natalie: I mean, we forget that Phee was out for most of last season…and she rushed back to play only because she wanted to be part of Sylvia Fowles’ farewell tour. I think that sometimes, when you’re recovering from an injury or in Collier’s case, a pregnancy, rushing back only prolongs your recovery…so I think a lot of what we’ve seen is just Phee regaining her form.

I said that Miller was going to be a high caliber player straight out of the gate but the person that’s surprised me most is Dorka Juhasz. It is so hard to make it in the WNBA…so much so that now we’re seeing first round picks being waived. But Dorka was picked by Minnesota, with the 16th pick, in the second round and players drafted that “low” hardly ever see WNBA rosters. But Dorka hung in there and has been absolutely showing out for the Lynx this season, including getting double doubles in these last two crucial games. An absolute steal for the Lynx.

Heather: That’s such a great point! I’ll be so excited to see what happens with them this week and likely in the playoffs. This is the time of year where veteran coaching REALLY makes a difference, and Reeves just pulled down her 300th (!) win.

So, if you’re one of the teams that has locked up a playoff spot, how are you treating this week? I especially want to hear your feelings on the Aces, who have all of a sudden given Syd Colson some real minutes.

Natalie: I think there’s still a battle for positioning within those standings but, if I’m at the top of the table — like the Aces, the Liberty or the Sun — I’m resting players. Sandy Brondello did this a bit over the weekend by resting Sabrina Ionescu and I wish that other coaches would follow suit. Give a player a game off just to give their body that extra recovery time. Is it going to help your regular season record? Probably not…but is it going to extend your players’ capacity heading into the most important games of the season? Absolutely.

Heather: I think you’re absolutely right, and I think Becky really started to realize that losing the Liberty a few times in a row. The Liberty’s bench, like you and I both said, has been the difference-maker in the Aces games and Becky Hammon’s gotta know that.

Natalie: The Aces leaked a few pictures over the weekend during a practice session and Candace Parker was in them. Do you think it’s a false flag operation or could we really see CP return for the playoffs?

Heather: Oh my gosh, I am so glad you brought that up! I feel like I am in the biggest Candace Parker mystery-solving spiral of my life! I have never had less access to what is going on with her playing ability! It made me so hopeful we really will see her, even in limited minutes, for the playoffs. I know that’s not what’s best for my team, but I think it’s what’s best for women’s basketball and one of my all-time favorite players. I was already buzzing with excitement for the next few weeks and those pics really did send me over the edge.

You think we’ll see her?

Natalie: Gosh, I hope so. With her — and even with the Toliver injury — I just keep thinking, “this can’t be how it ends.”

Heather: I know. ☹️

Natalie: Both those players are towards the tail ends of their careers. Both have lucrative jobs in basketball outside the WNBA. Neither have to be playing, you know? They’re working to get on the floor because they’re competitors who absolutely love this game. I want better for both of them than to have injuries be the way their careers end.

Heather: I could not agree more. I did an air-punch!

Natalie: You mentioned it earlier but to talk about it a little more: another big WNBA story last week — and, honestly, this feels like it’s been a story every week, TBH — is playoff travel. Back in April, the league announced the expansion of its charter flight program to include “flights for all postseason games beginning with the start of 2023 WNBA Playoffs through the WNBA Finals.” Seems simple enough to understand, right? But over the last week, it appears that the league has added a few caveats to that policy. And by few…I mean, enough to render Cathy Engelbert’s previous promise absolutely meaningless.

In a memo obtained by Howard Medgal of The Next, the league stipulated that “between rounds, Teams will have the option to charter from the home market or directly to Game 1 of the following round (only one route permitted, not both).” It’s a little complicated to understand but, one thing’s for sure: it’s not the ALL that teams were promised back in April. But yesterday, the WNBA Players Association seemingly affirmed that Engelbert would be held to her promise.

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What do you make of this latest development in the WNBA’s travel saga?

Heather: When this news broke, that there were actually all these wacky stipulations around charter travel for the playoffs, after Engelbert had so clearly promised, repeatedly, that every team would be able to travel by charter in the post-season, my main feeling was just complete annoyance. I haven’t had any strong feelings about Cathy Englebert one way or another until this season, and now I am just not very high on her whole deal. Truly, screwing up BG’s travel and security was enough to make me side-eye her for a long time, but it has just been thing after thing after thing this season, where she seemingly broke a promise, or went back on her word, or — honestly, more accurately — used confusing, obfuscating language in the original promise knowing full well it was going to cause trouble when she later “clarified.”

It’s just so amateur hour, you know? These are professional athletes who are bringing in more money and viewers than ever, and it sucks that they’re constantly having to fight their own commissioner to be treated with respect and honesty. ESPECIALLY when nearly every player in the W who has spoken on this issue says that travel is their #1 concern going forward. Like, what did Cathy think was going to happen? She KNEW everyone was expecting charter flights in the post-season! She’s seen the outcries on social media from the players! Did she think she was going to release these bonkers travel rules and everyone would just shrug and accept it?

Natalie: You’re right to note that: ESPN conducted a survey of the players recently and travel was their #1 issue and I was listening to The Athletic‘s new women’s basketball podcast and they previewed a wider player survey that echoed those results. So, clearly, this is a big issue…

And I don’t think Cathy Englebert is stupid…I don’t think she’s being obtuse…I think she’s doing this on purpose. I think it’s a strategic business move. If statement after statement, survey after survey reiterates that players want these charter flights, why offer them up to the players and get nothing back in return? Why not hold out for as long as you can — especially with the new TV deal and CBA talks on the horizon — so that you can get some concession from players around salaries or benefits or whatever?

Heather: Yep, I think that’s absolutely right! And as a person on the players’ side, it makes me so grumpy!

Natalie: Also, what gets lost in all this…Cathy Engelbert has to be responsive to the players but she works for the owners. She ends up taking a lot of heat that should be directed at them. The truth is, the owners could change the rules on charter flights tomorrow if they wanted to….but they don’t. There’s clearly not a majority among the owners on the subject of charter flights…and even the ones who have voiced support for it seem reticent to push the issue…so I think players should reserve a bit more of their anger for their bosses.

Heather: That’s such an important point, and one I would do well to remember when thinking about these things because, for example, it’s not like Cathy Englebert is keeping Skylar Diggins out of the Mercury practice facilities. These owners should be shouldering a lot more responsibility in taking care of their players.

Natalie: There are three spots left in the playoffs but four teams. Which team is on the outside looking in at this time next week?

Heather: Chicago. Who do you think?

Natalie: Yeah, I agree. I will say, though…they might be able to sneak in if the Mystics can’t will themselves to victory against the Mercury.

Heather: That would be a stunning upset!

Natalie: I just think, emotionally, the Mystics are TIRED.

Heather: Except Natasha Cloud who has never been tired a minute of her life!

Natalie: And Brittany Sykes too. If Washington makes it into the play-offs, it’ll be on the backs of their relentlessness.

Heather: And whatever devil is in charge of the curse that’s been placed on EDD’s body.

Natalie: It never rests!

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