Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're still screaming like her superfan Lil Luca. We haven't quite accepted that she hung up her boots for good yesterday. Wait, did somebody tell Luca? No, it's fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. On today's show, we'll wrap up a busy weekend in sports, say O refar to the Paralympics and get fired up about a new rugby league. Plus one half of the hotly contested Rookie of the Year race sees her season end early. We'll explain it's all coming up right after
this welcome back. Here's what you need to know today. The Paralympics concluded on Sunday, and of course, it was the women who led Team USA. Of the one hundred and four total medals the US will bring home from Paris, fifty six percent were one in women's events and eight percent were one in mixed gender events. As for gold medals, sixty one percent came from the women. Two of those
gold medals belonged to swimmer Jessica Long. After winning gold in the S eight four hundred meter freestyle last week, she won the say one hundred meter butterfly on Saturday. She now holds four golds in the event. All time, she has earned eighteen total golds in Paralympic competition. She's a thirty one time medalist. And you want to know the wildest part. She won her first gold medal at age twelve in Athens in two thousand and four. She's thirty two now. That is a long two decades of
dominance in sitting volleyball. The three peat is complete. Team USA won its third straight Paralympic gold medal, defeating China three cets to one in the final, and there was a little deja vu given that the US team's previous two gold medals also were one against China. The US women's wheelchair basketball team came up just short of a US four peat in Olympic and Paralympic basketball. They fell to the Netherlands sixty three forty nine in the final.
Rose Hollerman was the top scorer for the US and said postgame quote, as a team, I don't really think that we peaked and we have a lot left in our tank. I never felt we got into that flow state as a team, but I'm proud that we finished with a silver medal. There's a lot more left for us, and that's a great feeling as a team that we can get back to work. End quote. That team has now won three straight Paralympic medals. We got some dude
news in the Paralympics. Paris long jump gold medalist Tara Davis Woodhall's husband Hunter now has a gold medal of his own. Hunter won the men's T sixty two to four hundred meter race at Stad de France on Friday, and the two were, of course, unbelievably adorable. In the post race interview, they made their gold medals kiss Trey Romantique. We'll put the link to that interview in the episode
notes in case you missed it. Meanwhile, I spent the weekend wondering what the hell my husband and I have ever done. Certainly not back to back gold medals, that's for sure. That's a wrap on the Paralympics, folks. It was another spectam tacular display of talent, creativity, and competitive fire from a crop of exceptional athletes. We hope you enjoyed all the events and you'll be tuned in again when the Games hit the US in twenty twenty eight.
That's right, Los Angeles, twenty twenty eight. In the meantime, be sure to follow your faves and keep up with their other competitions, because the work don't stop when the Paralympic flame is extinguished. To the WNBA and the weekend had some bad news for my Chicago Sky and rookie phenom Angel Reese. She's done for this season with a wrist injury. Angel posted about the news on social writing quote, what a year. I never would have imagined the last
bucket of my rookie season would be a three. But maybe that was God saying give them a taste of what they'll be seeing more of a year two. Lol. Through it all, I've showed that I belong in this league, even when no one else believed. All I've ever wanted was to come into the w and make an impact. I can confidently say I've done that and will strive to keep doing so. I'm filled with emotions right now that I have a season ending injury, but also filled
with so much gratitude for what's next. Although this has got timing and not mine, I'm finally able to give myself a physical and mental break. Quote. God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers. You'll still see me being the biggest cheerleader on the sideline and unrivaled league, see you soon. So interesting to see and hear that she hopes to be back for that unrivaled league, but a bummer that she'll see her season end earlier, and
she mentioned it. There were some question marks about how she would measure up at the WNBA level before the season started, and while there are plenty of conversations to have about how her efficiency isn't always the same as her efficacy, she has certainly shushed a lot of haters with what she's been able to do in her rookie season, including setting a WNBA record with fifteen consecutive double doubles, notching twenty six double doubles in total, the second most
in a season in WNBA history, the first player in league history to record three consecutive games of twenty or more rebounds. In thirty two and a half minutes tonight, she averaged thirteen point six points, thirteen point one rebounds, one point nine as sis, and one point three steals. Oh and those thirteen point one total rebounds plus the five point one offensive rebound she averaged per game, both the highest averages by any player in WNBA history in
those categories. Unbelievable. It's just the beginning for Shytown Barbie, and I'm sad for the long haul. In the meantime, though, she might have a bright future, but her absence will be very much felt in the present. The Sky entered Sunday barely clinging to the eighth playoff spot, and they're trying to fight off teams like The Dream and the Mystics. Doing so without Angel Reese will be a tall task.
More injury dues to keep an eye on, as Las Vegas as to star Asia Wilson was ruled out of a finals rematch against the New York Liberty on Sunday. It's her first missed game since twenty nineteen. She took a hard spill and injured her right ankle in the final minutes of Friday's game against the Connecticut Sun. Now Aces coach Becky Hammond told press that the team's approach will be very cautionary, that it's just a tweak no long term concerns, but we do not like seeing Asia
walking around in a boot. Vegas Is next game is Wednesday against the Indiana fever, so she'll have a few days to rehab and see how things feel. We've spoken a lot about the wear and tear on players like Wilson played for Temosa and Paris, how banged up their bodies must be. So we're really hoping the best for Asia, especially with the playoffs looming. In some positive news, another
one a record broken. That is, on Saturday, Skyler digg and Smith top Sue Birds record for most assists in a single season in Storm history in Seattle's win over the Phoenix Mercury. She's now got two hundred and twenty seven and counting. Not bad for her first year in a Storm uniform. Digg And Smith currently sits fourth in the league and assists per game, behind Caitlin Clark, Alissa Thomas,
and Natasha Cloud. Speaking of Cloud, with six assists and that Mercury loss to the Storm, she moved into the league's top ten all time in assists and shout out to across the timeline for this Nugget. Attendance in the WNBA this regular season is now over two million total, just the fifth season to reach that mark in the first since two thousand and three. Two tennis on the
hard courts at Flushing at Osbelarus's Arena. Sablenka defeated American Jessica Bagoula in straight sets in the singles final on Saturday. Sablenka finished the job just a year after losing to Coco Goff in the final. It's her third career Grand Slam title and her first ever at the US Open. Also in mixed doubles, friend of the Show Taylor Townsend and her partner Donald Young lost in the mix final in the last match of Young's career. The two runner
ups have been good friends since childhood. Both are Chicago natives Whoop woop and Townshend even became a left handed player due to Young's influence. They were given a wild card into the Open, and when asked about the decision to play with him, Townshend said him winning Junior Wimbledon, Junior Australian Open, going on to the tour, breaking out on tour, and then coming home and being able to bring that accomplishment to us and being able to see
that stuff. It was the closest that I ever had to being near anyone that was doing this at this level. So when he asked me to play. I just felt like it was an honor to be able to close that book for him because he kind of opened that for me. Such a wonderful sentiment. They're up at the US Open. Ain't a bad way to go out, So congrats to young in college volleyball, y'all, it is a scary time to be a top seed. We have seen some wild stuff at the beginning of this season, and
we got another upset this weekend. This time it was Miami beating number one Texas in a five set shocker. Texas won the first two sets, but then the Hurricanes came through in a big way, winning the final three sets and defeating last season's national champs. Meantime, we did get a step in the right direction for preseason number three Wisconsin, who started the season a shocking and three. They got in the win column with two big victories over the weekend, defeating TCU and Baylor in the Big
Ten Big Twelve Challenge. To soccer, Alex Morgan's final footy match got all the coverage it deserved. The Sunday night tilt between her San Diego Wave and the North Carolina Courage aired on all of the league's media partners CBS Sports Network, Paramount Plus, NWSL Plus Prime Video, ESPN two, and Local TV all carried the game, the first time a women's sporting event was shown across multiple outlets simultaneously
in the US. We're going to talk more about Alex and the very sudden end to her legendary career a little bit more this week. Sunday also saw Gotham FC honor Shanad Fairley. Fairley originally retired back in twenty sixteen, and in twenty twenty one, she went public with her story of alleged sexual coersion by former Portland Thorns coach Paul Riley, sparking league wide investigations that led to several suspensions, lifetime bands from the league of four coaches including Riley,
and the forced sale of the Thorns. The reckoning reshaped the NWSL and ushered it into a new era of player empowerment and a much needed revamp of player safety rules and resources. In twenty twenty three, Fairly, after nearly seven years away from the game, came back, and she came back to a new look NWSL that she'd helped create, signing with Gotham and helping them win the NWSL Championship plus going to the World Cup as a member of
the Ireland national team. In June of this year, she announced her retirement from soccer due to post concussive syndrome, but said she was grateful and at peace that her career included a final chapter on her own terms. On Sunday, she was celebrated with a fan fest, a meet and greet with fans, and a Gotham win. They defeated the
Houston Dash two to one. Those two players getting honored on the same day feels very appropriate as they both had such a tremendous impact on helping bring to the forefront the issues with the NWSL with toxic coaches and environments, and changing the landscape of professional women's soccer in the United States. So to Alex Morgan and Shineade Fairley, the league and all of its players and fans owe you
a great debt of gratitude. Finally, in NWSL news, last week, the Washington Spirit announced that former Los Angeles Laker and Hall of Famer Magic Johnson joined the ownership group headed by Michelle King. Now this isn't the first women's franchise that Magic is invested and He's also got chairs in
the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks. In celebration of the new venture, Magic attended the Spirit Game against the Portland Thorns at Audi Field over the weekend and was off in this little side area just off the field, so when Trinity Rodman scored a goal in the sixtieth minute, she made sure to show him some love. After the equalizer, she ran over to a spot on the sideline, hit a slam dunk Selly and then high fives and hugs for Michelle and Magic. We'll link to that video in our
episode notes if you didn't see it. And finally, an NWSL news congrats to the league on an attendance milestone. On Sunday, the league total regular season attendance went past one and a half million for the first time in history, with seven regular season weeks of games remaining pretty awesome. In surfing, eighteen year old American Katie Simmers won the World Surf League Championship over the weekend, defeating reigning Olympic gold medalists and defending World champ Caroline Marks in the
best of three finals. With the win, Simmers becomes the youngest ever female World champ in the sport by six days Chris and Moore was nearly one week older when she won her first world title back in twenty eleven. Two Hockey, the Professional Women's Hockey League, enjoyed a spectacular inaugural season last year, breaking multiple attendance records for women's hockey. And they did it all without team names and with
generic jerseys. But that is about to change. The social accounts and websites for every PWHL team that's Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, New York, Boston and Minnesota have been teasing a big announcement that's expected to beat names and logos, so look for that on social media today. Rugby, a new women's professional rugby league Women's Elite Rugby, will play its inaugural season in twenty twenty five, with teams in New York,
San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Denver and the Twin Cities. The existing women's Premier League was established in two thousand and nine, but the players aren't paid. Doctor Jessica Hammond Graff, who's the president of the new wer and a former international rugby player, set up the decision to launch a pro league quote for fifteen years, women's rugby players and the Women's Premier League have played in an amateur pay to play cross country league, and the consensus is that model
is no longer sustainable. We are so proud of everything the WPL has done since two thousand and nine to become such a strong blueprint for us, and we're ready to take our bold, exciting and empowering sport to the next level. End quote. The WER is driving excitement for its first season with the twenty twenty four WER Legacy Cup.
Now that's featuring the top four WPL teams and they say it's to honor quote the founding people who dedicated their energy and time to the growth of women's plus rugby. So this past Saturday, the number three Colorado Gray Wolves beat the number two New York Rugby Club and the number one Berkeley All Blues beat the number four Life
West Rugby. So that sets up a Legacy Cup Vinyl next Saturday in Greensboro, North Carolina between the All Blues and the Gray Wolves, and you could check that out and get super excited for the upcoming Women's Elite Rugby League next year. Finally, just a little more dude news, as it was a big weekend for NFL habs, husbands and boyfriends. Congrats to mister Simone Biles aka Jonathan Owens on a touchdown in my Chicago Bears win over the Titans.
Told you Coach Low and congrats to Sophia Smith's fiance aka Michael Wilson on scoring a touchdown in his Cardinals loss to the Bills. We're gonna make some money. We'll be right back with more good game with Sarah Spain. Welcome back, slices. We got another really good question from one of you. Ria Jankowski wrote, I saw on Instagram post on Together about athletes who have competed in both the Paralympics and Olympics, which was interesting included the years
they competed in each. I didn't expect to see multiple athletes who competed in the Olympics after having competed in the Paralympics. Tell us more about them, sure thing, Ria, Alex take it away.
Yeah, thank you so much for asking the question, Riya. So for those who didn't see it, and we'll make sure to link to it in our show notes Together posted about the fourteen women who have competed at both the Olympics and the Paralympics. And to be completely honest, I didn't know a bunch of these athletes, So shout out to together for raising it to my attention to And so I'll back up for a second and say
these athletes essentially fall into two categories. The first is athletes who initially competed at the Olympics as non disabled athletes and then sustained a disability and returned to the Games, this time as Paralympians. So Canada's Kate O'Brien is a great example of this. She competed at the Olympics in twenty sixteen in track cycling, and then she had a very serious accident while training in twenty seventeen, but went on to make her Paralympic debut a few years later.
She's now a two time medalist and even picked up bronze this week in Paris. Then there are a bunch of athletes with disabilities who have competed at both the Olympics and Paralympics, sometimes even in the same year. For example, you have two table tennis players, Melissa Tapper of Australia and Bruna Alexandra of Brazil, who competed in Paris just a few weeks apart, first competing at the Olympics and
then competing at the Paralympics. So shout out to Together for posting that, and shout out Ria for asking the question.
Good stuff, al and maybe sometime we'll have a conversation about the interesting times when para Olympians have actually been denied the ability to compete in the Olympics because their process were considered like beneficial. That's an interesting angle there too.
Yeah, absolutely, thank you slices.
Keep them coming. We love those questions. We love to keep putting al to work. We got to take a quick break when we come back. Frick and Frack Newparlan Fonse and sponsorships gone very wrong. It's coming up next. Welcome back, slices. So last week we asked you for your best name twin stories and listener Julia Frick has one. She sent us an email that reads, in part, my name is Julia Frick. I'm currently playing lacrosse at the
Division III level at Bridgewater College. When I first got here as a freshman, I was the second Julia to come on to the team because the other Julia was a year older than me. She got to go by Julia, and I was blessed with any and all nicknames that revolve around frick. This includes, but is not limited to, frick, frick delicious, Frickster, and frickles. That's my favorite, by the way. Fast forward to this year. I'm a senior, I've adjusted to the name, and boom, we have a freshman come
in with the last name Fricks. As soon as I escape being part of a pair of Julia's, I became a pair of fricks. Okay, what the frick? First of all, and also Julia's again, that's hilarious. We love this Julia, and it does feel like a perfect opportunity for a frick and frack duo name. I mean, you're a senior, your teammates a freshmen. You could pretty much cause everyone to call her whatever you want. So I think you're frick and she's freck. That's it. Take her under your wing,
show her the ropes. What it's like to go by a name that isn't your first name. I say, no, Julia's never again to a Julia on that team. It should always be a different name. Thanks for sending that. In last week. I also told you all about how soccer's top honor. The Ballon d'Or award for the Player of the Year often trips people up because of its
French name. Well, right on schedule, Friend of the Show Sidney LaRue had to call out her boyfriend Dave for his absolute butchering of the name, and she posted it on her insta take a listen. I need to know what you just said to me. Why are so many people not nominated for what I said? I was the f on Instagram.
I keep saying, all these people are a big name nominated for the Balloon d'Or, and I wanted to know what it is.
Ah, Yes, the balloon door perfect Dave. Finally, last week I told you about my fun filled trip to New York for the US Open and the New York Liberty Game, And my week included getting to spend a lot of time with my girl, Jess Smith, formerly of Angel City. Now she's the president of the WNBA expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries. Well, we went to dinner on Tuesday and she was talking about how the next morning she was going to go on TV and announce the team's
partnership and jersey sponsor. Now she wouldn't leak the news of the deal at dinner, so I started guessing progressively more ridiculous sponsors, k y Jelly only fans, you get the picture. The whole table got in on the game and it had me thinking, what are the worst or most flat out wrong sponsors for a women's pro sports team? Which is where you come in slices because you know that we love that you're listening, but we want you
to get in the game every day too. So our good gameplay of the day is what's the worst sponsor you can think of for your favorite women's sports team? Send it to us good game at wondermedianetwork dot com, leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two o four fifty seventy, or hit me up on Twitter at Sarah Spain or on Instagram at Spain two three two three. By the way, the Valkyrie sponsor was JP Morgan Chase and their jersey sponsors Chase Freedom, but that's not as funny.
Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review as well. It's super easy watch this little contract dispute between DirecTV and Disney, rating zero out of five stars. Review the worst viewers are getting totally screwed during a crucial time in the sports calendar. This weekend, producer Meisch couldn't watch half the WNBA games, and last week my friends and I had to leave a sports bar to watch a college football
game at my house. The bar was airing stock racing that looked like it was from a county fair because they couldn't get access to the game. Not cool. And to make matters worse, the disclaimer that pops up on DirecTV customers screens is so passive, aggressive and finger pointy. It says Disney wants you to miss out on Monday night football on ABC and ESPN while DirecTV works to reach a new agreement. My eyes just rolled so far back there in my ass. Enough of the games, get
a deal figured out. Thank you now it's your turn, rate and review. Thanks for listening, slices, See you tomorrow. Good game, NWSL, Good game Angel Reese, Thank you, Erradic September weather that makes everyone sick me she got a tickle at the back of her throat all weekend. Mean she gotta keep that thera flew on deck. 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 iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network. Our producers are Alex Azzi and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Jenny Kaplan, Emily Rudder, Brittany Martinez and Grace Lynch. Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain.