Hot Seats, Wagon Wheels, and Disappointing Balls

Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we want to see Ellie the Elephant crash every New York based studio show Charity checked Colbert off the list, but what ABOUTSNL the view the two The possibilities are endless. On today's show, another WNBA team is searching for a head coach, The Red Stars lose a color and a few stars, and what happens when you have to pass a test to creep? It's all coming up right after this Welcome back. Here's what you need to know today in NWSL news.

Going forward, they.

Will be known as the Chicago Stars Football Club, with a logo that includes a red star at the center of a soccer ball. Per a release from the team quote, the star at the center of the crest represents the club's players, past, present and feutre Placing the players at the heart of the club has been a priority for the new Chicago Stars FC ownership group since the start of their tenure last year, and the star and the crest is a symbolic representation of.

That commitment end quote.

Other elements of the logo are nods to Chicago landmarks like the Chicago Theater Marquee and the Wrigley Field Marquee and the blue of Lake Michigan. Per the statement, the Chicago Stars FC will continue to dawn the Red Star's name and crest for the remainder of this season and into the playoffs, before fully transitioning.

To the new crest at the beginning of next year.

To the WNBA, reminder of the New York Liberties ticker tape parade is today. Can't wait to see the scenes coming out of that celebration. You know that Ellie's gonna eat just like she did Tuesday night on The Late Show. And I am a massive, super huge major Stephen Colbert fans so hearing him talk about the Liberty win and then hold Ellie's purse while she danced awesome. Here's a little snippet of his monologue.

Their mascot Ellie the Elephant, all right? Why an elephant not a particularly New York animal. You could have easily have gone with Ronda the rat. You know her cashphrase, I just had one thousand babies.

Okay, love you, Steven, be my friend, please best friend. Okay more WNBA. The Washington Mystics announced on Wednesday that the team is parted ways with general manager Mike Tebow and head coach Eric Tibo. Mike Eric's father was hired as Washington's head coach and general manager ahead of the twenty thirteen WNBA season and served in that role until twenty twenty two, a tenure that included the Mystics twenty

Of the month. End quote. Hell of a tease. Annie some more.

WNBA Diana Trossi, in an interview with the Associated Press, said she's still deciding whether she wants to play another season. She said, quote, I don't take retirement lightly. I know the minute I say it or announce it, whether it's you know, in a month or two months, I'm going to mean it.

End quote.

So you're telling me, there's a chance you're telling me maybe that wasn't it.

Listen, I get it. Deciding when you're done as hard and whatever. She decides.

Props to the Mercury for giving her flowers this season. It's never a mistake to celebrate greatness in the moment. And we got even more hoops news. Asia Wilson's statue already stands outside South Carolina's Colonial Life Arena, and now her jersey will hang inside. The former Gamecock women's basketball star and MVP of the twenty twenty four WNBA season will have her number twenty two retired on February second,

Here's a snippet. So I want to tell you when you come and to see us eat a day because your your jersey is going to be retired. Do you guys want me to cry today?

No way, y'all know this, But Wilson's resume is legit nuts. She's the program's all time leading scorer, a Wooden Award winner, a Natesmith Trophy winner, a Wade Trophy winner, a three time SEC Player of the Year, and the star that led the squad to its first national title back in twenty seventeen. That's a bad motherfucker. Congrats Asia. Okay, you didn't think I was just gonna let the Red Stars name and logo change sit without editorializing, did you nah?

Okay?

For those who don't know, I'm a longtime Red Stars fan and I spent several years as a minority owner of the team.

So I have some thoughts.

Okay, First, I understand the desire to rebrand, to break away from previous ownership and establish a new era for the team under the new regime, but I think you could do that in a many more meaningful ways than by downgrading a strong brand. All that money for the rebrand could go to things that directly benefit the team and the players instead of symbolically centering them with the logo.

I will be thinking about that every time I look at it.

Beyond that, Red Stars, which was a nod to the four stars in the Chicago city flag and the old crest, which had elements of the Chicago flags, stars and stripes, was frankly pretty fire, and there was really a ton of unmet potential there for Chicagoans or even just tourists who will snap up anything and everything with the Chicago flag on it. The Red Stars could have made bank capitalizing on that with merch something I said many times

Instead, it now just feels simplistic.

The name and the logo and merch at least what's out right now it kind of feels like a club team, a high school level travel team, and pretty much every year the Red Stars kits were voted best in the league and the crest was iconic.

Now it's a soccer ball.

I hope in the future of the team takes bigger swings and tries to get more modern.

This is just the first pass.

Maybe feedback will inspire a couple more things that feel a little bit more interesting and creative.

Also worth noting, when.

I was with the team, we talked about needing to address the high percentage of Latin fans that attended and supported the Chicago Fire of the MLS, but how the Red Stars team struggled to attract that same support and fan base. So I think it's great that the team seems aware and is working to address that. But announcing the rebrand with the caption somos Chicago Stars FC and announcing the merch capsule collection with I'm going to get this completely wrong, by the way, because I speak French.

It just feels.

Forced, awkward, like we want to attract Spanish speaking fans, so every other sentence will be in Spanish.

Meh.

I honestly hope to be proven wrong with future merch drops or maybe just the benefit of time, but for now, dropping a giant ball in ours and saying Tadda's hitting hard a little too soon after the whole Boss Nation Balls FC debacle.

We got to pay some bills.

When we come back, we say yes and to WNBA ratings, welcome back slices, some more good WNBA news. The WNBA announced that Game five of the Liberty Links Finals series averaged two point one five million viewers, making it the most watched Finals game in twenty five years, which brings us to yet another installment of Yes and The twenty twenty four WNBA season is certainly one for the record books thanks to the crowds and the big viewership numbers, But with so much focus on the current moment in

Point twenty five million people.

Now, a lot has changed in the media space in the last three decades, so comparing ratings from then and now, when viewers have more choices than ever and sports leagues have more competition than ever, isn't exactly a fair comparison.

And let's be clear, the numbers this year were huge.

We love to see them, and also, this is what we've been telling you as possible for led tooral years. The WNBA Finals were up one hundred and fifteen percent over last season per ESPN, and Game five provided the WNBA with its largest audience ever on an NFL's when competition in the sports space is especially tough, and the WNBA delivered all.

Season long too.

A total of thirty two WNBA television windows top one million viewers this season. That's more than twice as many as a previous season, and no surprise, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever played in most of those. So yes to this year's viewership wins and to the huge numbers from years past. We got to take another break when we come back Alex gets vetted.

Welcome back slices. We love that you're back. We're back too.

We love it for us. Shout out to a friend of mine from college, Joe Graham. Joe, thanks for listening. He heard the episode where Alex admitted to creeping on a Facebook page called dorm Room Mama's, where she likes to eavesdrop on the trials and tribulations of moms just trying to parent their college age kids from AFAR, and Joe helpfully suggested another Facebook group that Alex might be into, called After the Drop Off Slash Parenting through the College Years. Alex,

Well, I just have to say, dorm Room Mamas there was no barrier for entry. You just click join and they accept you. And that is because I have come to learn dorm room Mamas I believe is a front. Well, no one in Dormy Mamas except for the admin, is allowed to post links.

Oh my gosh, but the admin posts a bunch of links.

Yes, constantly like oh by your child this Halloween snack pack.

Probably getting like affiliate money.

Yes exactly. Yes, I've discovered a scam.

Wow, dorm room mama's affront.

After the drop off parenting through the college years different vibe. There is a survey you have to answer in order to be admitted, which I was not expecting.

What did it ask you?

So?

The first question was how many college age children do you currently have?

Question? Did you answer honestly?

How many K through twelve children do you currently have? And then question for you was what is the sum of those two numbers? I assumed to get rid of robots. I did answer honestly. I said zero, although I did mention that I, you know, sometimes will mentor students who are looking forward to college, which is true. It's true, I know people in high school and college.

Okay, we'll call that mentorship knowing people in high school and college.

Wait, okay, so you were honest and they admitted you to the girl admitted me.

Yes, I was fully expecting not to get admitted, but I was admitted despite having no college age children.

So Alex with zero children but knows people in high school and college enters the group.

Do you have any good takeaways so far?

Is it giving you the same good goss as you were getting from dormer mamas?

Okay, I have to say, in order to get pleasure from goss, I see it the same way I see comedy. I want to punch up, not down, Like I don't want to be like laughing at people's misery. Right, and honestly, so much of the stuff on both of these groups, I just feel so much for both the parents and the kids. I just want them to have the resources that they need to succeed at this time in their

Oh my god, yep.

Honestly, though my favorite was a wait.

Wait, we're not moving on from that yet. I have so many questions. Did they just get fed up and go get married? Is the school in Vegas? Did they Did they do the little White Chapel thing?

Does it not have a three day waiting period like they do up north to make sure you're not cousins first?

Do they hate their family members? Why wouldn't they invite them? Why wouldn't they tell them? Why would they get married for no reason?

Also?

PSA for me, nobody should get married before the age of I don't know twenty eight what. I feel so bad for this mom all No, probably she sucks, though, because why would you not tell your mom you're getting married unless she sucked?

One commenter though, I love this. This says so much about student loans and where we are in that she writes call financial aid and report the change of circumstances. They may now qualify for eight if they may not have before.

Amazing, so helpful.

I really hope that they get some additional financial lay out of this huge life decision.

Can I tell you that I once went to a wedding that was all the invitations sent were for an engagement party.

So it was a surprise.

He was going to propose, right, and so we were all going to be there for the proposal. And to be honest, not a super close friend, so I was surprised.

That we would get invited.

But it was at this beautiful Terzo Piano modern wing of the Art Institute, and it was going to be a beautiful night. We were like, all right, we'll show up. It ended up being their wedding. They had not even told their family that it was their wedding, and so when I asked, like, oh, why the surprise, they were like, we just really wanted to do it for ourselves and not have a ton of input from like family members about where we.

Should do it and how we should do it. And I was.

Happy for them because it was beautiful and wonderful. Weirdly enough, Jason Derulo performed at it, but I okay, hilarious side note on that. So the whole thing's like a surprise, and then the husband gets up on stage during the reception and he's like, I have one surprise that even my wife doesn't know about and she's like, oh my god, what and he's like, we have a very special performance, and she.

Goes, is it Beyonce. Now here's the thing.

If you ask is it Beyonce, there is no answer other than yes, that will not.

Be a disappointment.

There's almost nobody that you could say after that, like no, it's Jason Derulo, which like cool if.

You didn't just ask if it's Beyonce.

Did he sing marry Me?

No, he didn't. Is that a Jason Derulo song?

I just googled it. I don't want to make it sound like I come off just knowing all of Jason Drouola's songs off the top of my head.

I didn't know that was a Jason Drulo song.

The only thing I remember him singing because it was like the hit song at the time, so obviously this was like I think twenty thirteen or something was talk Dirty to Me. Arguably good song, but hilarious, hilarious that there's this like fancy ass wedding and he's like, talk

We just want to do this ourselves.

So I guess maybe that young man and his girlfriend just wanted to do it for themselves.

Although again, wait a couple of years, kids, please, I beg of you.

Please, You're not even a fully formed human yet at twenty three, twenty two, twenty one.

Aren't anything else Alex from after the drop off?

Nothing to report. But if anyone else knows of any good gossipy Facebook groups that aren't a front for as on affiliate links like, I would love to hear about it.

Thank you again, Joe Graham for sending us that. We got a lot of joy out of that.

We love that you're listening, but we want you to get in the game every day too, and not just by sending us Facebook groups that Alex can creep on. We have other good game plays of the day. Today is a big one. Early voting now open in about half of states, including here in Illinois and in Virginia where Misha lives.

So, Misha, have you voted yet?

Hell?

Yeah, look at you? Would you do? I went in person right around the corner. Here, easy breezy, beautiful cover girl, all that, so handle your business people. I love that.

So I highly recommend early voting for the majority of people. It helps cut through a lot of the bs, It makes the returns come in faster, YadA YadA, all the good stuff anyway, So I tell other people to do that, and then I always reserve the right to, like go

Vote do it.

We'll link to a full list estates that offer early voting in the show notes, so check it out see if you're one of them. Get out and vote now if you can, and if you can't do early voting, make sure you have your voting plan for November fifth figured out. I was actually just listening to Megan Repino and Sue Bird's show and they realize that they're both registered in Washington, and in Washington they mail you a

So make sure you have your shit figured out.

As always, we love to hear from you slices, so hit us up on email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a voicemail eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe.

Rate and review slices. It's easy.

Watch Darius Rutgers WNBA and Indiana Fever Appreciation.

Post rating five out of five.

Wagonwheels review it has been a while since I have seen something this wholesome meal. Darius Rucker literally poured his whole heart into a tweet after the end of the WNBA Finals. It is so sweet. It's super long, so we're going to link to the whole thing in our show notes, but here's part of it.

Quote. Dear Indiana Fever and the WNBA, I want to thank you.

For an awesome summer of joy, agony, screams of happiness, cries of despair, and countless hours of armchair coaching and saying we know exactly why we lost my girlfriend. And I watched every Fever game and got to see how truly great the basketball play in your league really is.

End quote.

Rucker then went on to name a slew of his favorite Fever players and hoopers from other teams, plus a bunch of excellent nicknames that he clearly has made up for them, and he ended with this quote. And now, watching the finals with the microwave Sabrina Nescu, Stewie, Brianna Stewart, and Zeppelin John Quell Jones go five games and overtime against the Assassin Court Williams and Feezy Nafisa Kallier was icing on the cake. Just want to thank all of

Man, I am so.

In end quote, We're so glad you're in, Darius, and we're so glad you gave us some completely made up nicknames. I have never heard anyone called Jokewell Jones, Zeppelin or Zabrina the microwave.

But I'm here for it. I am here for it, Darius.

All right, now it's your turn, slaves this Please go rate and review our show. I promise it's super helpful. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. Good game, Ellie, good GAMEBA fans, those of you who have been watching for twenty eight seasons, and those of you who just tuned in cut disappointing balls. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,

Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain