Very excited to have @heyjordanr.bsky.social in @us.theguardian.com today (!!) for a State of the Union on the WNBA’s ongoing labor battle.
How we got here, what’s the latest and more ahead of a March 10 deadline that has given a high-stakes situation even higher stakes:
episode graphic with promo photo of Eli Tsé in the Spirit’s new banger cherry blossom shirt
🌸NEW POD🌸
We got to chat with new Washington Spirit defender, Elisabeth 'Eli' Tsé! We discussed her journey into soccer, choosing soccer over figure skating, path to the Spirit, and more!
🟢 open.spotify.com/episode/2X0U...
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Lost in the outrage over "giants was floundering" is "third on the table"
Returned to my lacrosse roots (!) and took in the WLL/PLL doubleheader in DC this weekend. First time watching sixes live! It is capital-F Fast.
Going to be a lot of fun to watch this format at LA 2028.
great minds!
I often joke that the lines at the Anthem for the pop/indie girl concerts are DC’s hottest club but the line for the Lorde concert hours after Rose Kouassi’s 90+8’ winner against San Diego on 10/5 might actually have been DC’s hottest club
Adrian Gonzalez, Hal Hershfelt and Kaylie Collins speak at a Spirit kit reveal event
At the Spirit’s kit reveal event, Hal Hershfelt and Kaylie Collins were asked for the best places they’ve seen people wearing Spirit jerseys in DC.
Collins: a yoga class recently
Hershfelt: the Lorde concert at the Anthem
An afternoon NWSL kit take: All of these designs could also plausibly work in a collection of stretchable fabric covers for middle school textbooks [complimentary] [mostly]
NWSL kits are out! Some good! Some meh. Some questionable.
But some swings were taken! Which is more than can be said about some previous seasons. Better than red, white and blue t-shirts.
Norway setting a record for golds at the Olympics ... Bodø/Glimt beating Inter Milan in the Champions League ... the stage is being set for SENTIMENTAL VALUE to pull a Best Picture upset at the Oscars
I am giving my annual post-Olympics MVP award to the Wikipedia nerds who manage the updates to each event/country-specific page. Thank you for your service!
However many Olympics-related pages you think there are on Wikipedia, the answer [at least 337,684] is probably higher
Extremely predictable (in fact, predicted by basically everyone) but still a little shocking that Team USA had its best Winter Olympics ever and the Trump administration didn’t celebrate any of the winners until the men’s hockey team, which they are celebrating A LOT
Do you want my thoughts on the Washington Spirit and D.C. United?
This is where they're going to be. Introducing Green Line Soccer:
I just got off a flight and the first notifications I saw upon my phone clicking back into service were four Alysa Liu Gold Medal push alerts. The world is still a beautiful place
Wellness check on Noted Arsenal Fan Anne Hathaway, please
Politico Playbook excerpt: Naturally, the White House greeted the news of Springsteen's tour in equally robust fashion. "When this loser Springsteen comes back home to his own City of Ruins in his head, he'll realize his Glory Days are behind him and his fans have left him Out in the Street, putting him in a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out because he has a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his brain," White House comms director Steven Cheung said in a statement to Playbook. Roll on May 27.
Thinking deeply about the White House giving an Anti-Springsteen quote that cites four separate Springsteen songs from different parts of his catalogue to prove just how much they're Anti-Springsteen
episode graphic with items from the Washington Spirit x Rose Room Collective collaboration
🌸NEW POD🌸
The Spirit recently dropped a first-of-its-kind collab with a supporters’ group, so we had to talk with Aaron Bland, @roseroomco.bsky.social co-founder and artist, about how it all came to be.
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Tara's "No" after the missed double loop will haunt me for the rest of my days
Turning on the Olympic women’s figure skating short program final group
FIFA store teal shirt that says We Are New York New Jersey
Finally: The perfect shirt to wear to World Cup matches at New York New Jersey Stadium this summer
Elana Meyers Taylor holding up the American flag after winning her first gold medal. she's overcome with joy
Meyers Taylor said her children's disabilities — both of her sons are deaf and Nico has Down syndrome — have created some "unique challenges" on the road. Nico experiences sensory overload at times and becomes overwhelmed, she said. The boys don't particularly sleep well on planes and then there's keeping up with their specialized treatments and medical equipment while on tour."
"I thought it would get much easier as they got older and it has not," Meyers Taylor, 41, said at the USOPC media summit in October. "Bigger children, bigger problems. Now that they're both walking, they're both up. They don't want to sit on planes, they don't want to stay still. They don't want to sit for meals or anything like that. So it is absolute chaos."
Meyers Taylor hugging her two sons after winning the gold medal
Elana Meyers Taylor.
Wins medals in 4 Olympics (bronze in 2010, silver in 2014/18/22)
In 2020 & 2022, she has kids. Both have special needs. She lives on the road with them, flying around the world for months at a time to compete in bobsled.
And THEN! At 41! She wins her first gold.
American hero.
And another bites the dust?
The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
NEW: Minnesota United CSO Khaled El-Ahmad on adding James Rodriguez to “evolve the culture,” a late-winter surprise in a “mentally tough” moment amidst Metro Surge.
“This is the right place for him because of the community, how we stand up for each other.”
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
"At these Olympics, a whopping 600 kilograms of pasta (or roughly 1,300 pounds) will be served each day across the three cafeterias in the athletes’ villages."
Stories About Food at Major Sporting Events remains one of the most fun genres of Story:
Shoutout to Andrew Torgashev, the figure skater who Johnny Weir reports has been "calming down" at these Olympics by watching the [notoriously calm] show Game of Thrones
“The supplies ran out in just three days,” an anonymous athlete told Italian newspaper La Stampa. “They promised us more will arrive, but who knows when.”
An "Only-at-the-Olympics" headline and an "Only-at-the-Olympics" lead image:
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Adam Runnalls knits during the Olympics
Maddie Mastro Instagram post showing her knitted hat and scarfñ
Ben Ogden Instagram holding knitting needles
BBC Sport Instagram story of Tom Daley sharing message for Breezy Johnson
An Olympic plot I'm loving: Everyone loves to knit!
Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern, Ben Ogden, Maddie Mastro and Adam Runnalls have talked about their creations. Breezy Johnson, who knits her own headbands, even got a message from Tom Daley saying he wants to have a "knit and natter" next week in Milan
episode graphic with photo of croix bethune biting her gold medal
🚨EMERGENCY POD🚨
Ummm we did NOT expect that! Annie, Ella & André sat down to discuss/crash out/process the Spirit trading Croix Bethune.
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