Keep Your Eyes On This Site with Lindsay Gibbs

about you. It's Monday, June twenty third, and on today's show, we'll be talking with Lindsay Gibbs, creator of the women's sports newsletter Powerplays, about her process in choosing, researching and writing about topics, the challenges of being your own boss, and why knowing history and context in women's sports is more important than ever. Plus a Hoops and gayshit Soft Tarred launch WNBA Portland Tees is an announcement the Sad Facks about Title nine at fifty three, and a friend

of the show bids farewell to the beautiful game. It's all coming up right after this welcome back slices. Here's what you need to know today in Hoops's Pride Month rolls on. We got to start the week off strong with some hoops and gay shit. Many have speculated about the nature of the quote unquote friendship between Dallas Wing's rookie Page Beckers and her former Yukon teammate Azy Fudd.

While on Saturday, Fud gave the world a definitive answer, the Yukon super senior took to Instagram to post a mirror selfie in a salon chair while she was getting her hair done and on her phone case backwards because of the mirror were the words Page Becker's girlfriend in pink letters. Doesn't get much clearer than that. We'll link to a friend of the show coach Jackie Jay's video about the photo and our show notes so you could

see it for yourself. Now, let me assure you there are basketball gays across the world absolutely losing it right now because this is a friends to lover her story for the Ages. Fud and Beckers have been friends for a long ass time. For a story by USA Today's Sidney Henderson. The two first met in twenty seventeen while they were trying out for the USA Basketball women's U

sixteen national team. They've seen each other through a ton, including an unfortunate number of knee injuries, and they were teammates at Yukon from twenty twenty one through this past college season, when they led the Huskies to the program's twelfth NCAA championship together. Now, I'm categorizing this as a hard soft launch because Beckers isn't in the picture, and I think you got to be together in the photos

for a true hard launch. But it is the second hard soft launch from this pair because they did a cute little take on those recent trending videos about restaurant bills. I don't know if you've seen this, but we'll link to it in the show notes if you didn't. In the video, Fud asks Beckers how much the meal costs. Becker's replies two hundred dollars, and Fud replies, Oh, that's not that bad. Cut back to an exasperated Beckers with the bill, and Fud captioned it princess treatment every time

I'm with her. That's a soft launch, y'all, and it definitely had people talking. But the phone case, now we're really cooking with gas. It is officially official, and I love this couple. So I am so happy for these young ladies, but I do want to remind people that

they are just that young ladies. They were both born after the year two thousand, so when we're talking about them, and when we're talking about the relationship that Fud seems to have revealed to us, let's be mindful of their age, and let's try to be kind and offer grace to not just them, but all the spoonworthy relationships that we like to stand. But in the meantime, we do have to figure out their couple name. Is it Bud, is

it Paisy? Is it age? Or, like friend of the show er fight Masters said on their hilarious podcast Jocular First, Yeah, I think we're going to need to work on it. Send us some suggestions if you've got them so far. I'm into Paisy more hoops. Remember last week when we told you about Chicago skystar Angel Reese trying to turn her trolls into some merch. Well she's done it. She's officially made merch with the word me bounds case you're

wondering where the word comes from. Some trolls started to use mee bounds to describe Reese's boards because her critics like to claim that her rebounding stats are only impressive because she grabs her own misses, a theory that's been proven wrong. By the way, Yes, she does miss a few layups, and yes she does benefit from those, but she does plenty of work on the defensive boards too, And on Thursday, she officially released a new batch of

merch on her website using the term me Bounds. The new line includes sweatshirts, t shirts, and hats with the Meebound slogan, and multiple pieces also include the line anything that comes off that board, It's mine the cherry. On top of all of this is that re shared that part of the proceeds from the merch sales will go to the Angel ce Reese Foundation to help fight cyberbowling. Talk about turning lemons into lemonade. Salute Angel. More w News. New York Liberty star John Qwell Jones is out for

four to six weeks. She re entered a right ankle sprain in a contest against the Phoenix Mercurant Thursday, and the team confirmed that after evaluation, she'll have to sit out at least the next nine games, and that means she's likely missing the WNBA All Star Game in mid July. The Liberty are currently hold and strong at second in the league standings, and Jones is the team's top rebounder

and third leading scorer. She had already missed two games previously due to an injury to the same ankle, so never great to have a key piece on the sideline, but it does feel smart to make sure she has time to fully recover before the playoff push begins in the second half of the season. Speaking of the All Star Game in the second half, first returns are in on the fan All Star voting and per league announcement. Indiana feverstar Caitlin Clark leads all players with almost five

hundred and sixteen thousand votes, no surprise. There also no surprise, the Minnesota Lynx's Novisa Collier is right behind her with almost four hundred eighty five thousand. The Fevers Aliah Boston, Las Vegas Aces Asia Wilson and New York Liberties Brianna Stewart round out the top five, and Dallas Wings rookie

Page Beckers is in sixth. Indiana's Gamebridge Fieldhouse is going to play host to the festivities July eighteenth to nineteenth, and with four Fever players in the top ten of voting right now and eight Fever players in the top forty, the home squad is looking to be very well represented

and can you believe it even more. WNBA News the league filed trademarks last week for the Portland Fire name and one for a p logo, hinting that the league's next expansion franchise will revive the Fire name from the franchise that played back in two thousand to two thousand and two. Additionally, the official WNBA Portland Twitter slash x account released a post on Friday with the graphic that read quote July fifteenth, the countdown is on end quote.

So putting two and two together looks like we'll be getting a name and a logo drop for the WNBA's fifteenth franchise in the coming weeks. WNBA Portland will start playing twenty twenty six, along with fellow expansion team, the Toronto Tempo. To the NWSL friend of the show, Megan Klingenberg finally did it. She officially retired from professional soccer last week via a post on Instagram. The caption red quote now available for charity matches, Sunday brunches, and pool parties,

preferably all on the same day end quote. The post slides include a heartfelt goodbye letter which reads, in part quote, this isn't a surprise, but it still feels big to say it's time I'm retiring from football. It's taken me a lot of time and reflection to arrive at this place, but I've come to realize something important. For so long, I thought that soccer gave me purpose, joy and light. But it was never soccer. It comes from within because joy,

purpose and fulfillment aren't found in what you do. They're rooted in who you are. Soccer simply gave me the space to live it. End quote. Kling's letter continues later quote, I've played with fire, with grit, and most of all, with joy, and through it all, I've grown into a person I'm proud to be Now. I feel full, grateful, at peace. It's time for something new to excite me the way soccer always has, because the purpose hasn't changed, just the stage. End quote. Klingenberg had quite the career

on the domestic and international level. She amassed seventy five caps with the US women's national team, played every minute in the squad's quest to win the twenty fifteen World Cup. Is a two time NWSL Shield winner and won the NWSL Championship with the Portland Thorns twice. Twenty seventeen and twenty twenty two. She is sticking around the game, though. She was named one of the hosts of the US

Soccer podcast earlier this month. We'll link to where you can listen to the first couple episodes, including an interview with Becky Soarer, Brunn and Lindsay Heaps. You can find him in our show notes. We'll miss Ciena out on the field kling, but congratulations and if you didn't hear it, go back and listen to our interview with her a couple weeks ago. She was great to Hockey. PWHL Seattle

has named its first head coach, Steve O'Rourke. O'Rourke has got over fifteen years of coaching experience, most recently spending two and a half seasons with the Ontario Hockey Leagues Oshawa Generals. In a team statement, O'Rourke said, in part quote, I'm incredibly excited to be joining the Professional Women's Hockey League. This is something I've thought about since the league was

first announced. To now be given the opportunity to work with the best players in the world and be part of a professional league that is thriving both on and off the ice is truly amazing. Being from the West and having played hockey in Washington State, I've seen firsthand how much the game has grown in this region. The passion and support for hockey here is real, and I'm proud to now be part of it in a new way.

End quote. Finally, in softball, the first trade and athletes Unlimited Softball League history has happened as Volts outfielder Mackenzie Clark has been sent to the Blaze in exchange for outfielder Sierra Briggs. Clark has started all ten games for the Volts this season, hitting two home runs with five runs batted in and five runs scored. Briggs has started in five games and appeared in ten for the Blaze.

Back at LSU, she was the first player in college softball history to win back to back Gold Clubs all Right Slices. Today marks the fifty third anniversary of Title nine, and Accelerate Equity founder and certified Slice Pamela Seideman shared some disappointing truths about compliance more than a half century

into the law's life. Pamela rodas quote Accelerate Equity analyzed newly released data from the Department of Education for twenty twenty three twenty twenty four and found that nationwide, colleges provided five hundred million dollars less in athletic aid to women than they did to men. In addition, only fourteen percent of colleges and universities and less than eleven percent

of NCAA schools comply with the law. Our Gender Equity Dashboard is a free public resource that shows how every college is doing it providing equal treatment to women athletes. We launch the Gender Equity Dashboard to bring visibility to the issue of ongoing and equity in college sports, which will get worse if the House versus NCAA settlement is

allowed to stand. The dashboard makes it easy for users to see if women are getting an equitable number of roster spots and athletic scholarships at any college as the law requires. Users can also see how spending on men's and women's sports and on recruiting compares at any school. End quote, Pamela, this is exceedingly useful. Thank you. We'll link to the dashboard in our show notes so you can see if your college is in compliance. We got

to take a quick break when we come back. My conversation with Lindsay.

School of the Arts. Along the way, she's worked at America's Next Top Model, taught screenwriting, nannied and wrote a historical fiction novel about real life Hall of Fame tennis players who survived the singing of the Titanic. Mama Tamo the Dog recent tattoo getter. It's Lindsay Gibbs. Hi, Lindsey, Hi, Sarah, how are you. I'm good.

a little bit more since financially. So if they're financial backers out there, come fine.

doing that show the first time around. What stands out to you about what's changed, both in the sports world and also in the coverage of it.

an astronomical number. And here we are three years later, you know, with two hundred and fifty million dollar valuations for NWSL clubs and WNBA clubs. So that's the biggest thing. But I think, honestly, what strikes us is how much things are the same as far as so many of those conversations that we had. I mean, in our very first episodes of Burn It All Down, we talked about racism,

intersectional coverage of athletes in the WNBA. We talked about the anti trans legislation and transphobia and the threat that was posing. You know, we've been covering these issues, so I think what's what's striking is that the spotlight is bigger, the checks are bigger, but this has all been here, it's all been happening, and I think that's something we're both proud of. And it can be a little frustrating

as well. And you know, you feel like you, just as I'm sure you do on this show, you just want to yell out every single day like I told you so? Like can I just get a T shirt that just says I told you so? But that doesn't really do any good, but it might make me feel better.

But what became more and more part of my job and what I pushed to cover more and more at think Progress was women's sports and the ways that women's sports in general just covered every single political issue that you needed a lens through, right, It all kind of intersected at this point, and since there were fewer people covering it, it just became more and more a part of what I was doing on a day to day basis. When Think Progress was shut down, I got an opportunity

through substack to launch a newsletter. And when I was asked what I wanted to be about, I just wanted it to be about women's sports, but it it was you know, that's it's a niche, but it's very broadly yes, as you know, right, we know that, yes, like people true we started, people were like, well enough to talk about it.

Why have historically women's sports been so marginalized and you know, to the extremes banned by governments for women because they were afraid of the power it would give to women. And so that's where kind of the name power plays came from. And it became my hope to kind of look at history of women's sports, the present day of women's sports, and the power structures and media coverage of that and try and take a big picture of view of the growth that was happening.

an individual. So a lot of my life is about creating infrastructure. It's about working on my mental health and physical health. When you work for people and you go to an office every day and you have people tell you what to do, and the kind of the executive functioning part of your job is outsourced a little bit, I find that I can be more tired and unhealthy

and get through the day. But when it's just me, I really have to take care of myself in ways that I've never had to take care of myself before, and so that's interesting to find. But I'm five and a half years in this and I don't have the exact answers of what my process is, which is probably the problem. But I'm always working on three or four reported stories at a time. I'm always following all the current things that are happening when things are at their peak.

I'm also doing one or two historical posts per month.

So I'm you know, keeping up with the calendar of the women's sports which is you know, is a full time job itself, and looking at what, you know, what history I can tie in and what big picture stories I can kind of connect together, whether that's through original reporting like some pieces I'm working on maybe about the North Carolina Courage and kind of what they've been going through the past few years, or other stories that are in the in the mix that don't want.

when Texas was in the Final four. And so I think in that way, I'm always hoping that Power Plays isn't going to keep you up to date with everything, but I hope it adds context to the biggest women's sports stories of the day, and that's the word I keep coming back to as my my beacon is context. What context can I add that I think is missing

from the telling of this story. And I think now with the way women's sports media coverage is boomy but also taking on lives of its own, that isn't always productive, I think that context. Although I have doubts about where my place in the media ecosystem falls with all the changes we've seen, I do think that context is more important than ever.

You use the kind of fact checking and reporting that so many places maybe don't do, and the interviews that you do as well. We try to do that a lot here to producer. Alex is especially good about being like well an important thing to note about that record is it's you know, based on this and there was a different number of games in the schedule, or this is the first year they've allowed this, or things like that,

which takes time and effort. And I wonder, when you're doing all that work, if you have the same go to sources, if you have people that make introductions for you. Because you are just yourself, You're not a big outlet. You're having to reach out and find folks to give you the information that you need to provide the context. Do you have a process for that?

stories come from me just wondering. And I think that Another thing that I try and do is take advantage of the fact that I am an independent source and don't have to follow the same reporting formats that more traditional outlets do, so I can kind of take readers on a journey with me that says, I don't know everything about this topic, but let's see what we can find together.

analysts and women's sports in every single way. But I think what I can do is combine it together a love for the game and acknowledgment of the history, a curiosity to find out more, and a progressive viewpoint that I'm very very confident in and committed to and open about because I just don't see any reason to be to hide that. I mean, I worked at a progressive new political newsroom, so I've been lucky to be in spaces where expressing a viewpoint as long as it's you know,

their facts to back it up, It's been encouraged. And I've taken that with me into power plays and I think run with it. You know, I'm not going to both sides the anti trans issue. That doesn't mean I'm not going to give some grace or try to handhold or hopefully provide lifelines to people who don't understand the

issue fully and want to learn more about it. And I certainly don't want purity tests for anything in women's sports, because I think we're all learning and growing and trying to figure out things as we go and I certainly am not perfect. But I'm not going to pretend that there is great merit to taking sports away from transgender youth like that's just not.

powerful than I think a lot of people are willing to admit. So we need more strong voices like yours. Do you have a dream athlete or team or topic that you'd love to interview or write about?

You know, I did a story that was just archival research on you know, Major League volleyball and former iterations of Pro women's volleyball. I think there's so many valuable lessons to be learned from leagues that have launched and

quote unquote failed or shut down. And I think that what these women went through and the ways they the word sacrifice I think is maybe too reductive, but the ways they persevered and held hope for women's sports during times when it was anything but in vogue to do so, I think just sets such a great example. And it's why I think history you can't fully appreciate any of these moments in women's sports without understanding some of the history. And I don't know that history either until I go

back and look for it. I didn't grow up in a world where women's sports was the norm. I grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, in a place where I watched ACC basketball, but that meant men's basketball. North Carolina Targhills won the national championship the women Charlotte Smith on a buzzer beater. I didn't hear that about that till like ten years ago, you know, like I didn't experience

these moments in real time. I'm angry about it, and I want to do the research on what I missed and figure out how we can make sure that engaged sports fans and people who love women's sports or are open to loving women's sports don't miss out on these things being part of their lives and their media total. It's going forward.

very clear thing to fall in love with. And I think if folks had introduced me to more opportunities in the women's side, I would have been really compelled by it. We have to take a quick break more with Lindsay Gibbs after this. Do you have a favorite of your many newsletters that you've written, maybe one or two that you might suggest to listeners who are not yet subscribed.

by the men in charge of them. And it looks at this ongoing narrative that we hear that women's sports are losing money and they're on the brink, and we as men are just trying to save it with our generosity. And it looks at how that narrative pushing has helped those men in power keep the power structures as they are and has really not been the truth of the women's sports movement. And like I said, I revisit that

time and time again. I think that when you really get down to it, people like Adam Silver publicly dismissing the popularity of a league that they have financial investment in and are apparently the leaders of baffling it's something you don't see. So the question needs to be why are they doing this? And I think the answers are pretty clear. And then one I wrote more recently is about it's not capitalism holding back women's sports, it's male fragility.

taken off network television for almost twenty years. Women's INCAA Final. Once again, these are not decisions that are based on capitalism.

If you look back at stars, there are examples of you know, of course we have Kaitlin Clark the way that she helped sell out arenas all across the college sports landscape, but there was a similar phenomena with Candice Parker and with Britney Griner that was chronicled in like the New York Times, where away arenas would have five times their typical attendance when these players were at the

peaks of their athletic prowess. The problem was there wasn't the infrastructure to follow them to the WNBA and to keep maximizing upon that popularity. It wasn't these there simply wasn't the exposure. I think a part of the Kaitlin Clark effect that doesn't get talked about as much is I mean, women's sports is incredibly lucky to have Caitlin Clark. I am incredibly lucky to be living and working in this space during her time. There is something singular about her,

don't get me wrong. But also there was this ecosystem there to capitalize on it in a way there would not have been seven years ago. She really did come at a time where it was possible to capture the attention in the way that she has. And so I think that you need to look at all of these forces in context. And I think that newsletter about the ways that capitalism and male fragility have worked in tandem to keep women's sports marginalized once again, there's a lot.

I provide a lot of facts and data that I think are really useful.

spectacular than any previous star had been. And actually, there's a New Yorker story out this week about Caitlin Clark that compares Michael Jordan and Kaitlyn Clark and the timing of their arrival and everything else, and whether it's their singular excellence that has propelled them or a combination of factors,

and that kind of context is what's so necessary. And I think the reason you point out those two stories and why I've been drawn to your work and David Barry, and why in my presentations over the last few years, in particular, when asked to speak on the growth of women's sports, I always come back to intention. That the product is consistently blamed without any discussion of the intention to bury it, ban it, prevent it, whole it back.

And that comes back to the male fragility you mentioned in that one newsletter that so many times across history we've dug a little deeper and found out that women were thriving and excelling, and then men got pissed about it, and they decided to banish them to a side channel where literally banish them from playing, and without that information, we will keep having these cycles where we're trying to convince people that the product is worthy when the problem

is actually the system that it lives within. And so I love that you're consistently beating that drum and bringing the facts and the information to back it up.

same people who are championing it. Right now. It's gone person And if we haven't studied history, if we haven't looked at what's happened to these other leagues, what's happened to these other stars, what's happened to these other rating cycles, We're we're going to miss it.

this stuff. So I think you're completely right about that. We have to be very wary. I want to ask you about your subscribers. You're at nearly twelve thousand. That's a lot. A lot of folks dream of turning their sports writing into a full time gig. Are you able to support yourself with power Plays? Do you find that you're adding other gigs to supplement Can people see you and be like, Oh, she's living the dream and how did you figure out how to do it?

good enough for my attention span. I have been fully focused on growing and thriving financially and really growing a business as much as just maintaining what I have as I had to put my attention elsewhere, but it has I do. I am a full time sports reporter, primarily work in women's sports. I do take some freelance projects. I have been co slates, hang Up and listen podcasts for a while now, and that is a gig that isn't just women's sports, but is some women's sports. But yeah,

this is my life. I don't have I tell people, I don't have a trust fund, I don't have a rich partner, I don't have anything besides the work that I do on a day in, day out basis, and I am able to make it work. I'm very lucky. I have very patient and graceful subscribers, and I am working on giving back to them a lot. And the rest of this year is really going to be focused on growing and giving back to the power Place community. And I'm so excited for it because I'm so grateful

for the support I've gotten. But do I want more? Yeah, it's time to get more.

get an audience. You have to figure out your bills and expenses and your taxes for the things that are write offs. How do you manage sort of lindsay the reporter writer who just wants to do that, versus understanding that lindsay the business person has to show up often enough to get that work out there.

I'll let you know. Now, listen, the hardest thing for about every single thing about this job is against what's natural to me, as far as the amount of self promotion is necessary, as far as holding yourself accountable to deadlines, as far as you know the business acumen required, and just the kind of day to day maintenance it's all really difficult, but I think that's ultimately where the beauty in life lies, because ultimately I am choosing this, I

have chosen this path. I do love what I do, and there's just a lot of discomfort that comes with it on a day to day basis for me, and I think when we're younger or any age, really, there can be this myth that living the dream involves just joy and comfort and ease at all times. And I think that I've really come to understand that living the dream involves daily discomfort.

go too long in between stories. It will affect people's interest in it if you do have you know, not enough content or whatever. You know, eventually you do have to put work up. But it's not like working for somewhere where it's like a story a day, a story a week, whatever that is. So there's a lot of ways to also reframe the story for yourself that you've found a way to best use your skills and still have a little nudge every once in a while when required to make sure you get it out there.

The pressure can still impact that, you know, every single part of their jobs they have to continue to work at in order to sometimes even stay at a level lower than their best. You know, depending on what you are. And I think there's so many great lessons. I am the farthest thing from an athlete.

really important. All right, last question. You mentioned that some big things are coming up. You've been on like a little bit of a heatus over there, So anything you could tell us about or are you just going to give us the big tease of keep your eyes on this site, keep your eyes on this site.

Trump administration. I think we were getting very different things from women's sports during the first Trump administration, then maybe we're getting now. And I am asking myself the question of what do what does it that even want from my favorite athletes right now? And I don't know, but I think it's something that we should all wrestle with together and openly. There's a lot of historical uh you know, beats coming up. I will be at WNBA All Star, so very excited for that.

in our world right now. And that's making me a little bit more empathetic to people who are not where I am as far as acceptance and education and tolerance. And it's made me want to be a little bit more open and graceful and content being in the gray area. And I like it when I end up in unexpected places.

in the show notes so you can see it. Also an update Dana and other slices. We did joke in that interview that we haven't heard from Marcus lately, and it turns out that's for the best because producer Alex checked in on his social account and he appears to be an actual Nazi. So hunt for Marcus is officially over. Let's go ahead and let Marcus live and die in

his little wholesomewhere in hell. We always love that you're listening, but we want you to get in the game every day too, So here's our good game play of the day. Follow Lindsay on social media and check out our newsletter power plays. We'll link to both of them in our show notes. She's almost at thirteen thousand subscribers, so maybe if a couple of you subscribe, it'll put her over

the top. We love to hear from you. Hit us up on email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com, or please leave us a voicemail so we can hear your Endie Jelic Voice at eight seven two two four fifty seventy, and don't forget to subscribe, Rate and review. It's real easy watch. Friend of the show. Jennifer King, working the sidelines for the Women's National Football Conference Championship game, rating

five out of five stars a natural review. The WNFC played its title game on Saturday, and if you tuned in, you might have noticed a familiar face. Jennifer King, the first black woman to be named a full time NFL coach, got the sideline reporter assignment for the game and she did it. Damn good job. We'll link to her postgame interview with members of the winning squad, the Texas Elite Spartans in our show notes. We love seeing folks try something new and let me tell you, sideline reporting might

look easy, but it is not an easy gig. So kudos to Jennifer for expanding her horizons. Hopefully we see her on more broadcasts in the future. Now it's your turn, y'all rate and review. Come on, go do it, Come on five stars, say something nice. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow. Good game, Lindsay, Good game, Jennifer, you Marcus. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports

production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You could find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our Executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rutterer. Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch and Gianna Palmer. Our associate producer is Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain