Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we just want Asia Wilson to have all the balls. On today's show, we'll be talking with Phil Landis aka Big Randy about the Solheim Cup, the state of women's golf, and being a dog guy, plus a new woman in bronze red carpet, advice, and lots of balls. It's all coming up right after this. Welcome back, my little slices. Here's what you need to
know today. We mentioned yesterday Asia Wilson becoming the first WNBA player to score one thousand points in a season, but we need to spend a few more minutes talking about the postgame celebration and all the high jinks. After the game, Wilson was gifted the game ball with her parents by her side, a very wholesome, family friendly moment
until Ace's teammate Sidney Colson came along. Colson had a field day on social media, writing on Twitter, quote, that's now two balls you've been able to take home with you this season, Asia Wilson. Asia replied with quote, just adding another pair, and that's when missus Wilson. Asia's mom entered the chat, writing in all caps, Asia Asia played it off with a classic defense, saying someone hacked my account. Mom.
Now that might be an excuse that some naive dorm room mamas would believe, but not me and not missus Wilson either, I'm sure, But back to the balls. Asia's not so undercover boob Bam Autebio tweeted out after the game as well.
He wrote, hope.
Everybody finds a thousand reasons to smile on this lovely Sunday. A apostrophe thousand stop. It's Hispanic Heritage, a mont celebrated in the US from September fifteenth to October fifteenth. The month recognizes the contributions, influence, and achievements of this Hispanic and Latine community that includes our girl, Diana Tarassi, whose
mother was born and raised in Argentina. She's in action tonight with her Phoenix Mercury taken on the Sparks at ten thirty pm Eastern, and it could be the second to last regular season game of her incredible career. Ew I hate it so much. We got four more WNBA game tonight, including the two seed Minnesota Links taken on the three seed Connecticut Sun at seven Eastern and the four seed Las Vegas aces taken on the five seed
Seattle Storm at ten Eastern plus. The Mystics, Sky, and Dream are all in action tonight two as they continue to fight for that last playoff spot.
Little update on where that three way race stands.
The Mystic, Sky and Dream are all thirteen and twenty five right now. DC holds the eighth seed for the moment they win the tiebreaker because they've got a better combined head to head record against Chicago in Atlanta. Chicago's got the ninth spot thanks to a two to one head to head record against Atlanta, and the Dream are hanging on.
To the tenth spot.
Got it, It's not all that important.
Just watch the games and see who wins. We'll figure it out. More hoops.
It had been a couple weeks since we got the latest Unrivaled reveal, but on Monday, the new three on three league announced the twentieth player to sign on, and it's Courtney Vander. Salute Slutie, y'all. The talent in this league is going to be so good. Every game is basically going to be a three on three All star game. I'm pumped to soccer and the Under twenty World Cup. The US and Germany faced off in an epic quarterfinal round match.
On Monday in Colombia.
Down two zero to two minutes left, tem USA pulled off a comeback for the ages, with Florida State's Jordan Dudley scoring in the eighth minute of stoppage time and Utah Royals rookie Ali Sentnor finding the equalizer in the ninth to force overtime. After a scoreless thirty minutes of extra time, the US won the ensuing penalty kickshootout three to one, and they'll advance to the semi final round for the first time since twenty sixteen, where they'll take
on North Korea. It's a promising result for the US given how much the youth national teams have struggled in recent seasons. Tmusa last won the U twenty World Cup in twenty twelve.
To College hoops were.
Less than fifty days from the start of women's college basketball, and over the weekend, Don Staley and the defending champion South Carolina game Cocks appeared on ESPN's College Game Day announcing some big plans for this season.
Take a listen for this group, for this team to will we call it raven.
What's the repeat tour?
Let's go last.
That's right, the repeat Tour looks like the rest of women's college hoops has been put on notice.
We've got some statue newspeople.
If you're a longtime listener of the show, and by long time, I mean however long we've been on, which is like a month and a half, then you know that we're into women's statues. And last Friday, Oklahoma softball coach Patty Gasso, a National Fast Pitch Coaches Association Hall of Famer, was honored in bronze outside the school's love field.
During her thirty one seasons at Oklahoma, Gasso has won eight national championships, including four in a row, and has advanced to the postseason every single year.
She's also been named Big Twelve Coach of the Year.
On fifteen different occasions and is the winningest active coach in NCAA softball history.
We love this.
More statues of women, More statues of women, Yes to the red carpet Our. Rugby queen Alona mar was at the Emmys on Sunday night, giving espnW her advice for young athletes.
Take a listen.
First off, try mini sports out rugby might not be for you, but try rugby, trick, soccer, try dance, whatever it is, just to see where your bodies people of I think as women, sometimes our bodies are looked at something to be objectified, and our bodies are so much more than that, and sports can show us what they can do. So try it all out. Also, remember like strength is really powerful and your body is meant for a purpose.
So Abbott Elementary Cheryl Lee Ralph came with some real wisdom for espnW two.
Everybody told me that sports was not for me. I was actually Athlete of the Year in my high school, not because I did anything other than try. I tried. I did not win, but I tried when nobody else would try. But I also wrote a letter to the Regent of New York and I said, why can't girls have a coach for track? And they said, okay, let's
think about that. To this day, Uniondale High School our track team, we are the champions every year because somebody wrote a letter and asked the question, why can't we have a coach.
By the way, to the Young People Listing or parents of Young People Listing, Title nine demands that your daughters get the same resources and opportunities as your sons. So if they don't have a coach or a field or equipment and the boys do, that is illegal. Complain and if complaining doesn't work, threaten to sue and actually follow through.
That's the only way things change. Okay, So before we get to this golf interview, we understand that golf can be confusing for the non golfers out there, So before we dive in with an expert, just a quick explainer on how the Solheim Cup works because we're going to talk a bit about that tournament that just happened. So it's a three day competition with teams and each team has twelve players. First two days are a combination of what's called foursomes and four balls.
So in the foursome.
Stage, two golfers from the same team are strategically put together to compete against two golfers from the opposing team, but there's one ball between the pair and they play alternate shots until the end of the hole. In the four balls stage, instead of two balls, each player plays her own ball and the lowest score from each team is the one that's counted. Final day of is simple. One player from team Europe competes against one player from
Team USA, each with their own ball. We told you there were a lot of balls to day.
You keeping up? Okay? Great? When we come back, it's tea time with Phil Landis joining us now.
He covers golf for the website No Laying Up. Is a proud Miami of Ohio, a lum and has an adorable pup named Arthur that's turned him into a dog guy. It's Phil Landis aka Big Randy. What's up Phil, Randy? Randy Phil?
Yeah, take your pick there, Sarah. I am great. I am just back. I got in late last night, Sunday night, from a wonderful week outside of our nation's capital covering the Solheim Cup. It's one of my favorite events. This was the third one I went to, but I missed Arthur. You know, I looked forward to those hugs when I walked in the door. Yeah. Good research there, and I'm really happy. Let me just say congrats to you and your whole team on getting this podcast up off the ground.
I know that is no small feet and I'm very honored to be here today.
Thank you.
I want to get back to Arthur later, of course, because I'm a certified dog person as well. But I want to start with the Phil Randy thing. Your name is Phil Landis you go buy Big Randy? Why do you have two names?
Yeah? Great question one I asked myself a lot. It actually goes back to my time in Oxford, Ohio at Miami and when I was in school. I'm dating myself a little bit. But we would watch the Real World. I'm guessing maybe Sarah you watched as well. I don't know if you remember the San Diego season. Two of the main guys were Brad and Randy. Randy was tall. They called him Big Randy. And so in our disgusting off campus house which fourteen guys lived in, we had
one bathroom on the second floor. And yeah, one time we lost like the main door to the bathroom facility, and so this created like a sightline. One of my buddies his desk situated such that, you know, without that door, when he was working at his desk, he could kind of see into the restroom. And he was a very outgoing guy and would just love to chat with you. And I'm more of an introvert, and especially when I'm in the bathroom, Sarah, just doing whatever and one day extroverted bathroom.
I'm gonna be honest with you. I don't care how converted you are. I'd like you to be an introvert in the bathroom at all times.
Well, one day, you know, I was in there and he must not have seen me walk in, because he, Hey, wh who's in there in the bathroom? What's going on? I was like, Oh my gosh, I don't you know, I'm not necessarily want to have a chit chat right now. The first name that popped into my mind, I'm assuming because we just watched The Real World recently, was like, it's Randy. And he didn't know Randy, so that kind of cut the conversation off at the past. Well, you know,
I don't know what I was thinking. Of course, as I walked out of the bathroom, he's like, Phil, you idiot, and I was like, I don't know. So they started calling me. You know, we'll fast forward, no laying ups, getting off the ground. We have jobs in the quote unquote real world, and I don't know, it just seemed
maybe prudent to use a pen name an alias. I wasn't sure, you know, I'm very conscious of like, hey, don't say or put anything in writing that like you wouldn't want on the front page of the New York Times, and I thought, hey, if I go by Randy, you know that gives me at least one extra layer of cover.
And mm hmm.
Yeah. Now fast forward ten years, and I think we've been fortunate, no laying ups, kind of grown in prominence. H And I think a lot of people in the golf world know me as Randy and it's like, I shock people. I'm like, well, my real name's Phil. They're like, WHOA, I didn't know.
Just created a second life for anonymity that now you don't really want anymore, because now you want publicity for the coverage you're doing and the things you're writing about.
That's exactly right.
That is the most dude story ever, by the way, no bathroom door yelling out a random name that isn't yours and then just deciding to live by it.
Congrats on all of that.
That is a circus tail, but it landed us where we are, which is where we're gonna go with Big Randy. We're gonna go with Big Randy, which I assume is what everyone was calling you at the Solheim Cup.
You mentioned you just got back.
Great result, great highlights, some logistical issues. Let's start with something quickly I was curious about in the lead up to the tournament. I was talking about this on the show Can you explain the whole tie last year? But it counts as a win for Europe. I'm confused by that.
Yeah, of course, So the rules of and this goes back really the precedent was set on the men's side with the Ryder Cup, which stretches back way further than the Solheim Cup on the women's side. But each you know, you play twenty eight matches across three days, and each match is worth one point, and so if the US team wins, they get that full point. Obviously in Europe gets zero points. Well, if a match gets to eighteen or through eighteen and it's tied, then they split that point,
so half point each way. They don't play it off for the full point. And so it creates a situation where, because there's an even number of matches and even number of points, you could have a fourteen to fourteen result when it's all said and done. And so for whatever reason, they decided, hey, we don't want to do a tiebreaker out on the course, and so they default to whoever won the Solheim Cup the prior playing they will retain
the cup in case of a tie. And so this year in Washington or Gainesville, Virginia where the Solheim Cup was, the US coming into the week knew they had to win fourteen and a half points because another tie they would not get, they would not trophy.
This sounds very European, Randy.
This sounds like, you know, the place where they liked the soccer and the football with the ties all the time. In America, we absolutely would have made a tie breaker.
There would be a winner every time.
No one's walking away just keeping the trophy because you didn't beat them for it.
I don't like that.
I'm not a fan of that. But there were other things that I was a fan of. We saw a lot of really good play. What were some standout moments for you?
I think, I mean, gosh, it's hard not to just kind of run through the team. USA play the big highlight once again. They had done so also last year in Spain. But they jumped out to an early lead. They got out to a commanding through Friday and Saturday.
At the end of Friday, excuse me, they were up six to two, and so you saw Roseang was finally playing like the top ten player in the world that she is, but was starting to match the heavy, heavy expectations that have been placed upon her due to a sterling amateur career, a great run in college, she won her very first professional start on the LPGA Tour, and so I think she has carried this weight for the last year plus, like, hey, you know, when are you
going to start winning all these majors? And that can be a burden. She's twenty one years old. But this week we got a glimpse of Roseang at her absolute best. She went four and oh she was the leading point getter on either side, and she just had a lightness about her. And I think that was the real takeaway. You looked all across Team USA, and I'll credit the
captain Stacy Lewis Roseng. Nellie Corda is somebody that you know, it doesn't usually give you a lot of joy, a lot of fist pumps, a lot of smiles on the golf course, and that's fine right week to week, whatever your style is. Yep, yes, exactly. But it was just fun to see Nellie in a team environment. And she said afterward in her press conference, like this is about the most fun I've ever had playing golf, and it's show awesome.
Yeah, ask about that.
So first of all, Roseng, I believe only the fourth USA player to ever go four and oh in a Solheim Cup, so it's not common to win every matchup,
every head to head, so very impressive. And then to your point about Nellie, you know, I was just at the US Open talking to a couple former tennis players who said that the most joyful time for them was the team tournaments like the Olympics or now like the Billy j and Kingcup, because they do get to be playing with and alongside and rooting for the people that they usually are just traveling and spending all of their time with, but competing against.
Does it feel like that's the same story here for these golfers.
Absolutely, And I think every woman would tell you that, not only this week, but probably that's ever competed in a Solheim Cup. Is it's such a nice departure from the week to week grind that is individual stroke play golf, and you're just in your own little world. You know, most of them travel with a caddy and they might have some type of support system, perhaps parents, a coach, you know, whatever it is. But it can be very insular, and when you're not playing the greatest, it just can
turn into a burden. It's a very mentally challenging game, just as much as physically. And so you get to a Solheim Cup and you get to be a part of a team environment, and some of these players, like saying who went to Stanford, spent two years in college and had a great time at Stanford. You know, she was very that that was a very conscious choice on her part to get that college experience because she wanted to be part of a team. And so every two years and we can get into that, Sarah like, wait,
you said they played last year. I can explain that.
I trus Man, I was confused on that too, But I'm like, all right, buy Anny all most of the time and then occasionally back to back.
We'll just let it ride.
They love being able to be a part of a team, to have eleven teammates, to have a captain, to have assistant captains. It's I think it reminds it brings them back to their youth and some of their when golf was truly fun right before it turns into a professional grind and just getting back to it like you just saw that this week with Tamosa, And again, I think that's a credit to the environment that Captain Stacy Lewis was able to create for the team.
There's a lot of pressure playing for the rest of your team, but there's also so much excitement around doing well on behalf of your team, and that includes some of the enthusiasm for other people's play that we saw, you know, rooting for each other, and we even saw that with the caddies. You need to explain to us the backstory of the shirts off Celly that went viral. Holing out from eighty six yards very impressive, but doesn't usually result in caddies ripping their shirts off.
Can you talk to us about that moment and how that.
Yeah that I think that was a first for the Solheim Cup. Unfortunately I was not there in person on that whole I did not see it in person. I'm disappointed. I was laughing. I think Max home and I'm sure somehow the term like tarps off.
Yeah, turns to the shirt yeah.
I'm I'm you know, maybe I'm just old. I had never heard that sound.
I think it's from a show that I actually just started watching one or two episodes of that centers around a small Canadian town and they say tarps off a lot. I think that's that might be the origin. I forget the name of it right now. I'm only like two episodes in, but it's got that vibe of like inventing a little bit of new slang for like Broie, but like kind of mocking it. I'll remember when when you're done telling this tale of the tarps off Selly.
So as best I know, and I won't claim to have this ironclad, this was kind of like secondhand that I was getting. I guess Megan Kang and her caddy had some type of bet, and I think the caddy had lost and Meghan was like, hey, I don't want It was like a monetary bet. She's like, I don't want the money if we hole out this week, and meaning Meghan and her playing partner who happened to b Allison Lee who made the Eagle, She's the one who hold out. You guys need to take take the tarps off.
And that's exactly what happened, both Megan's caddy and Allison's Caddie got into it now, Sarah, one of my favorite parts of this is, of course this is an American versus European competition, and part of Europe is you know, the United Kingdom Britain. Yeah, and the British golf writers
especially can be a little bit dodgy. You know, they very much like their golf tradition, and so part of the fun for me was just seeing their Yet you know, oh, this should never happen in a Solheim Cup, and I'm like, come on, it's good fun exactly. I think it pulls in the common viewer and was certainly one of the highlights of the week.
Okay, so correct me if I'm wrong.
Though, I saw a clip of a player from the European team.
Lighting up a heater in the middle of her round. Is that real?
So that would be Charlie Hall, England's Charlie Hall, who I have a few things to say about this. Yes, she is a smoker, I believe in one of her practice rounds she was smoking actual cigarettes. She had at one point had gone to somebody in the gallery looking for a lighter, was provided a lighter. She also had some type of I call it like a vaporrig. I don't know what the official term for it is. Charlie is a magnetic presence. Her Instagram account is a trip.
She's one of the most recognizable people on the LPGA A tour. But I will say I think she gets a little bit pigeonholed with this fascination. Oh my gosh, this this young woman. You know, she's smoking on the golf course. It's such a throwback today's of old. But I will say Charlie is a fantastic golfer, eleventh in the world. And I think her story, her personality, she has such a great sort. In fact, we're like efforting.
We would love to do more of an in depth profile on Charlie because her whole deal is just an amazing person.
For those people trying to argue that golf is a sport not a game, being able to just light up a heater from a fan in the middle of year round isn't really helping. But fine, yeah, fine. The show I was thinking of is called Chorsy. For those who are wondering, it's called Shorzy. If anyone wants to watch. I've enjoyed Marky, Yeah, I've enjoyed the first couple episode and definitely.
Some tarps off.
Let's talk Lexi Thompson, probably her last Solheim Cup.
She's announced her plans to retire after this year.
An eleven time LPGA Tour winner, a major champion, a two time Olympian, longtime Stalheime Cup team member. Can you talk about the legacy that she's leaving on the game of golf when she's done, and if you're surprised at all that at twenty nine she's hanging them up.
Gosh. I think with everything Lexi there, it is such a shade of gray with her and it is such a mixed bag. I'll say her legacy is one she is widely beloved and respected by her peers and the fans of the LPGA Tour. I don't think anybody signs more autographs for anybody, especially kids. Lexi is very giving of her time while she's out on the golf course.
Where it gets a bit mixed is Lexi's always had a little bit of a frosty relationship with the media and you know, however you feel about that, it's it's part of her legacy. I think in terms of actual golf, she's been one of the foremost American women of the last fifteen years. I think she's been a very important
part of American women's golf. She started at a very young age, and so for that reason, again, I was saying, how much of a grind this can be imagined getting out onto tour as a professional at fourteen years old. I've been doing it for fifteen years. You know, that's a heck of a career for anybody in any field.
Especially if you start to get worse, right, and you aren't guaranteed to get better.
It doesn't really matter the age you're at it.
You might just feel like, well, I guess I peaked at seventeen or whatever.
Now I know, And she did win a major fairly early. She's had major heartbreaks, is really has what has defined her play in the last several years. But I don't blame her for wanting to take a step back from golf. I think we'll still see her in events. I think she'll be very choosy about where and when and on what terms she plays. I don't think this is a
cold retirement from golf. But at age thirty, it's like, hey, you've proved yourself in professional golf and you're still not even thirty years old right now, she's nine, And so for that, I'm like, I'm a bit envious of her, though the gold is truly her oyster, and I really hope she's able to whatever it is that makes her happy, professionally, starting a family, whatever it may be. I think she deserves to go pursue that.
Yeah, And the nice thing about golf is if you change your mind, if you're mostly still got your body parts working, you can always come back Senior tour or come later like you got plenty of years left. It's not quite the same as other sports when you say goodbye.
No, and they would gladly have her back again, just because she's such a fan favorite and she still draws crowds. You know, you men kind of be in out of form relatively speaking. She is still one of the biggest attractions any golf tournament you go to, And so, yeah, if she wants to come back, she will be welcomed back, and honestly, she'll probably be a Solheim Cup cap in sooner than later.
Nice, very cool.
It seemed like quite a crowd there, but maybe some trouble accommodating.
How was it in person?
And did it feel like the organizers expected maybe fewer fans or just didn't have their shit together.
Yeah, I didn't have their shit together Friday, and it's a totally unforced air. I hate that it dominated the first day headlines because it should have been about the golf. It was perfect weather, Robert tren Jones Golf Club was a great host venue. You had twenty excuse me, twenty four of the best golfers in the world. They had just played a very tight Solheim Cup the year prior in Spain. All the focus should have been on the golf.
But the LPGA Tour, you know, Commissioner Molly Marcusseman, she addressed the media Saturday morning. Okay, so Friday was the shit show. And really my first whiff of it was we were walking out to the first t six forty five am in the morning. That is like the pinnacle, at least for Friday of the Solheim Cup. It's that first t experience. It should be rocking, it should be packed. They have a DJ, you know, the music's going. It's
really the best atmosphere anywhere in women's golf. And we walked out there and in the stands were at least half empty, and it's like, guy, like, holy shit, what's going on here? And you come to find out all of these thousands of fans who they had directed to a parking facility and the plan was to use charter buses to get them to the golf course, well, they
quite simply just didn't have enough buses. And whether that was just a gross negligence and planning, whether that was hey, we didn't quite expect that many people Friday morning, I don't think it matters, because it just had to be better and so right.
The ultimate results is that we end up with being able to without that context, either blame the product and say it didn't draw or use the same excuses we've seen for years in women's sports, which is a constant underestimation of interest, and that results in saying, oh, everything's sold out in twenty four hours.
Okay, well that's a lost profit.
If you sold out everything immediately, that means you didn't make enough, you didn't account for enough, and we use that as a positive and instead, what it ultimately does is point to final numbers that allow people to keep under investing.
It's so frustrating, it's.
So frustrating and I'll just say from our perspective, like with no laying up, this has been an event. We've been telling everybody in our audience, Hey, this is a wonderful event. If you're going to come to one event, if you live in the area, get out to the Solheim Cup. And a lot of those people were having a nightmare situation, you know, to two and a half, three and a half hours just waiting in a line to get on a bus to get to the golf course.
And you just can't help but feel like, how many people this would have been their first impression of women's golf and you just don't get a duel over on that, and it's frustrating, well, and it's totally frustrating.
The Cup presentation from NBC left a little something to be desired to what happened there.
Just short I think Stacy Lewis got picked up on somewhat of like a hot mic being like is that it it just Sarah for anybody that's ever listened to our podcast. Part of the problem in my opinion with the women's game in golf right now is I don't
think they're broadcast partner. Who is NBC Golf Channel? I just don't think that they are in a position where, hey, the LPG you see women's sports growing everywhere, right, we are there is a wave here that can be profitable for people too, you know, like it's not just out of like, oh the goodness of our heart, we want to do this. It's like, no, this is business, right, there is interest, and you just don't see the broadcast partner investing or really giving a damn at the end
of the day about the product. And I think that's a massive problem. And the bus issue, the logistics, it kind of speaks to we have real reservations about like, hey, is the LPGA as an organization, are they equipped with the resources, the manpower, the will to like catch this wave because you go back to the start of the season, Nelly Korda having won five straight events, like that should have been.
Ever, should have been huge, It should have been everywhere.
Yeah, and it just you know, on the heels of Caitlin Clark, and there's so much good stuff happening in soccer right and it just feels like man between between the organization, between the broadcast partner, it just felt like a wasted opportunity where you have this young photogenic, marketable American star like guys. It was served up on a silver platter to you, and I feel like it was a bit of a wasted opportunity.
Yeah, I was gonna say.
You know, one of the things that the LPGA has quote unquote struggled with or had to try to figure out a way to monetize and really popular is a lot of foreign born players that were starring in their tournaments, and a lot of them that weren't native English speakers. Made it a little bit harder to stir up interest in America. But then you get someone like Nelly Korda doing something like that and you're like, Okay, here's your moment, Like what are you doing with it? And the answer
was not much. I'm just wondering, how can the LPGA take advantage of this moment? What can they do, how do they get you know, you do see Nelly in some commercials, You've seen her get out to some events where she's interacting with people, But like, it feels like there's so much more that they could be doing with some of the names that are coming out right now.
And I think that's a great way to put it there. It seems like there's more they can be doing, because I don't want to say they haven't done anything. You know, there is effort, and it's not because of a lack of effort. I just think and listen. If I had all the answers, I would probably not be sitting here. You know, I'm just a guy behind the microphone it spewing opinions. But in my opinion, I think, listen the
LPGA Tour. Mike Wan was a charismatic, beloved commissioner of the LPGA Tour who resigned that position to go become the head of the United States Golf Association. And I like Molly Markusseman. I've I've played a pro am with her. She's she was so easy to talk to. But you just wonder with that transition of power, you know, I think there was real momentum, and it just gets back to, you know, from from the top down, is the LPGA
Tour doing enough to and can they do enough? And that's the thing, like we don't know because there's not great transparency, But you just wonder about the resources, the manpower, you know, how much money is at their disposal to really get creative that they're in a TV contract that was negotiated for him years ago by the PGA Tour, and they just get short shrift at every turn.
It feels like, creatively though, there's so many spaces that they haven't tried.
There's so many things they haven't tried.
There's some really cool independent creators and folks that have smaller shows. There was a great sketch that was kind of flipping on its head the idea of a men's only club and it was a women's only club, but she was bringing your boyfriend. We'll link to it in our show notes for the people who haven't watched. It was really clever, just showing all the ways that in little baby steps, you can go and try to play golf and you'll still feel like you aren't welcome.
That could be anything from nothing at.
The pro shop for you, to the women's locker room being like a couple stalls while the men's is this like gorgeous, luxurious spa. And the sketch did it in a way that felt much more young and compelling than simply complaining.
And it feels like.
There are a lot of opportunities to do cool, young, interesting stuff.
And I'm going to talk about this later in the show.
Not always do I agree with them, like a partnership with Barstool, but there are other interesting, compelling people and places that want to bring these athletes to light, and I just feel like they're getting in their own way sometime.
What about a paired LPGAPGA tour.
I know a lot of people we've had that, But what if we had both sides bringing all their top ranked players and you really had the draw of seeing that these women are doing. Like, honestly, what more people at home can relate to than watching the guys with their drives that you're never touching no matter how many times you practice.
Yeah, God, there's a lot to unpacked there. No, no, no, it was it was all spot on. Let me start with your last point about the potential of a mixed you know, female male event. They have gotten that going. It's it's at the end of the year and it is an exhibition event. Okay, I apologize. My dog Arthur is starting to bark if that's in the pack, and I literally.
Just let my dog in the room and out just to prevent him from crying. He doesn't know where he wants to be, but it's near here, so we're both in the same boat.
I'm guessing the male man might be visiting right now. So there is a mixed event at the end of the year. They put you know, they can create their own teams, but they put one female with one male and you play thirty six holes and it's great, but it's not you know, there's really no stakes to it. It doesn't happen.
The best men weren't there when they did it, right, the top ranked women were, but most of the top ranked men weren't.
Yeah, you had a handful, but certainly not like hey, just going down the line. And the men's game is so fractured right now too that that's.
Whole live and everything else.
Yeah, can of worms where I wanted to go with this though. And Stacy Lewis, who is a great voice and a huge proponent, I think probably the most important voice really right now in the women's game. She came out but prior to the Solheim Cup and said, Hey, the President's Cup, which people might not know the President's Cup, it's actually happening next week on the men's side, and it's essentially like the Solheim Cup or the Ryder Cup, which is the PGA equivalent. The President's Cup is team
USA versus the entire world minus Europe. And you mentioned earlier the strength in women's golf in Asia between Japan, Korea, Thailand, China's beginning to emerge. They have so much talent there. And so what Stacy's point was, and this is a drum that I will beat too, is the President's Cup should be a mixed event with that feeling of hey,
this is a major event. Yeah, you could take you know, truly, six of the top American men, six of the top American women, six of the top international men, six of the top international women, and it would be a wonderful event, I think. And the President's Cup has been dominated by
the United States. They've only lost one time going back to the nineties, and the President's Cup needs a refresh I think as is, like, it's not competitive, and if you introduce the international women, who are as a group extremely strong, all of a sudden you have a much more captivating President's Cup. I love this.
I think that's a great idea.
That's an area. Yeah, that would be awesome to see.
Do you have any ideas for listeners who want to get into watching and supporting women's golf.
What are a couple first steps? Obviously follow no laying up, listen, read, et cetera.
But what are some good places to go and first steps to take an entry point?
Well, I have to be brutally honest sometimes my biggest frustration is being a fan of women's golf can be a can be a bit of a challenge because the broadcasts are you know, sometimes it's tape delayed. Sometimes it's you just never quite know what platform is it on Golf Channel, is it on Peacock, is it here? Is it there? I just want to warn people it can be a bit of a challenge right now, and that's
part of our frustration. But we are we have made a big commitment to you know, our goal is, Hey, we've we've been doing this for years on the men's side. There's no reason we shouldn't be giving as much equal attention on the women's side. There are a number of wonderful people out there. I would say beth Anne Nichols, who writes for Golf Week, has been and somebody that's covering the LPGA tour for twenty years. She's kind of like the og meg Atkins at the at website called
the Frida Egg is doing really good things. Gabby Herdzig for anybody that subscribes to The Athletic, she is a wonderful golf writer. So there are journalists and there are people covering the game, but it could use a lot more creativity. The video that you mentioned earlier, I believe was Hallie Ledbetter.
Yes, that was it.
Yeah, that's a wonderful video. It's more of a one off at this point, so like part of part of my like I wish I could sit here, Sarah and just be like, oh go here, go here, go here. These are all wonderful. It's a challenge right now, and that's something that you know, it takes a village, but I think it starts with like the LPGA Tour has to have a real vision, in a real drive, and that allows people like us at no laying up to like, hey we bring us along, you know, like let's let's
we're all in this together, let's elevate the game. So I love that.
It's a challenge, which means it's an opportunity.
So yes, hopefully there are people listening who are women's golf fans that are thinking to themselves I've got ideas, I've got creative approaches, I've got my own sketches, I've got my own thoughts that can can do something and follow.
No laying up.
Listen, watch to all your stuff, and maybe even pitch y'all on some content if they want to get involved and add their own take, cause it's really I have to admit, like I used to play golf a lot, not as much lately, but when I get into it, I'm into it.
It's just hard.
There's not a lot of entry points, and it feels like it needs to ride the wave of women's sports fandom right now, like you mentioned, and we need some more opportunities to do so.
But no laying up.
Love that the coverage is as much about the women as the men, and love that you're bringing some of the fun to it. So thanks so much, Randy, Phil, Phil, Randy Big Phil, Randy for coming on.
I'm going to go make sure Arthur is okay. But I did just want to add one thing. If you go to LPGA dot com check out their schedule. If you live around an area where the LPGA hosts an event, that's a great way to get introduced to the game and I'll say in my experience, you know, bring a child, bring bring friends. It is such a welcoming environment. The players are so available for autographs. They'll you know, they they'll high five you. It's just a wonderful first access point.
So I should have mentioned that, get out and watch the golf, you know, follow somebody that you've heard of, follow somebody that you've never heard of. I think you'll have a really good time.
So I love it.
Er.
You gave us a lot of names.
Yeah, you gave us a lot of names to follow, and now we've got to find some tournaments to get to as well. Go check on Arthur, give them a boot for us, and welcome to the world of being a dog person.
You're late, but I'm glad you made it better.
Late than number. Thank you, Sarah.
Thanks again to Phil for taking the time. And another quick thought on the LPGA here before we move on. It involves their merchandise partnership with Barstool Sports, and justa heads up that this is going to mention rape culture, sexual harassment, and allegations of sexual abuse. So a few weeks ago, I was kind of poking around some golf sites reading a bunch of LPGA coverage, and I was
surprised to see an LPGA times Barstool merchandise club. Now, if you're not familiar with barstool, they're a sports website. They've got blogs, podcasts, videos, and a really heavy social media presence. They are wildly popular, especially with white men and college kids. They've been at the heart of some pretty big controversies, including founder Dave Portnoy being the subject of investigation in which two women accused him of sexual assault.
He made a video saying to the CEO of the site investigating him, quote your head is going to be on my spike, and he encouraged his millions of followers to harass the author of another story on the investigation. Portnoy was also charged with violating the National Labor Relations Act and has been caught on tape using multiple racist slurs. They have a recurring series grading the attractiveness of female high school and junior high teachers who rape their male students.
A twenty ten blog post read, if you're a size six and you're wearing skinny g you kind of deserve to be raped, and Portnoy said of the SIT's quote unquote, blackout parties just to make friends with the feminists. I'd like to reiterate that we don't condone rape of any kind at our blackout parties. However, if a chick passes out, that's a gray area. Barstool has published nude photos of an athlete's toddler child and commented on the kids genitalia size.
They've sexualized, harassed, and threatened female reporters, including saying one should quote unquote be sleeping with one eye open and should watch her back. They'll turn their army of fans against anyone who speaks ill of the site or challenges their work. In fact, there's a good chance just me saying this will result in an attack from the barstool folks, even though everything I've said is proven and is fact.
The site can also be very funny. The site has rallied its rabid followers to do some great things, like raise a whole lot of money for good causes. The college campus accounts tap into a certain culture that's particularly hard to resist for young folks who want to fit in, have fun, see the funny videos, and be in on all the jokes and stories around school. It feels risky and raunchy and provocative. It's a thrill for young people or for people who have decided that the world is
too sanitized or quote unquote woke or safe. Barstool highlights behind the scenes fights and disagreements between coworkers, kind of like a reality show, and they've done a really good job turning employees into characters that fans want to follow and know more about. One of their podcasts consistently gets
the top guests. They've got a hold on a young audience that brands are dying to get to, which I guess explains why the LPGA would want to be in business with them, despite their long history of misogyny and their lengthy list of former partnerships that blew up and ended in either controversy or lawsuits. I reached out to the LPGA and they came back with this statement quote.
Female athletes and leagues deserve broader mainstream coverage and to be elevated By attending LPGA tournaments and covering our athletes. Barstool Golf has helped and shown a commitment to expanding the reach of women's golf as they've done for the men's game. The LPGA is dedicated to growing the game and providing more opportunities to women in golf. It's critical
that we engage new and younger audiences. We are trying collaborations with the range of platforms that will allow us to promote the sport and celebrate women's golf, further elevating the women's game and our athletes.
End quote.
Now, folks want to watch, or read or listen to barstool that's on them. There's a lot of content out there that's not my favorite or I don't agree with, but it's not my culture into I do, however, worry about major companies, especially companies serving women, getting into the business of barstool, and mostly I worry about it extending the time that girls and young women spend under the
thumb of misogyny. Today's culture is so much better than the one that I came up in my twenties, where every single sports blog was half sports and then half hot wives and girlfriends, hometown hotties, top ten hottest sports reporter lists. It was inescapable, and the only way to be in on the sports jokes and enjoy the culture of sports was to accept or even join the bro culture that was mocking women and it's not like that anymore.
I want girls and young women to get to a place earlier in life where they align with women, support women, uplift other women, and care more about becoming leaders themselves than impress and serving men. And I know that male leadership is still the norm. I know that proximity to power and centuries of patriarchy pushes us to prioritize serving and pleasing and earning the respective men in order to move up the latter and find success and be accepted
and liked in the rooms where things happen. But if we break away from that earlier and younger, we can create more spaces that are run by women, with cultures that serve everyone better. I remember when I read Glennon Doyle's Untamed, and I wished that I had had it decades earlier, so I could identify all the ways that I had internalized misogyny and I had doubted myself and
other women because of what society ingrained in me. While that book and so much more content like that, is out there now, and I hope that women in their teens and twenties are reading it, talking about it, sharing.
It, and living it.
Because when we sell out to places with popularity that's earned through racism, misogyny, and rape culture. We continue to tell women that success can only come by abandoning our morals, our standards, our self respect, and our safety, and that cannot.
Be the way. We got to take another break. Stick around. You're back. We're back to welcome back. We love that you're listening, but we want to get you in the game every day too. So here's our good game play of the day. If this is it, we don't want to believe it, but the Phoenix Mercury keep telling us.
So Thursday could really be Diana Trossi's last regular season game.
We want to hear from you. What is your favorite DT memory.
We'd especially love to hear your beautiful voices, So leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy. A favorite basketball moment, a favorite off the court moment, a quote, really, anything that you love and remember best about DT. Or you can hit us up on email if that's more your jam. Good game at Wondermedia neetwork dot com, and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Like Shimshady thirty three, who wrote in part after the first few episodes, it quickly moved into my
regular daily rotation of podcasts. If you've ever watched Theah on ESPN, you know she's funny, knowledgeable, and relatable. Well topics and guests have range and are entertaining. I consider myself a sports scal so it's nice to have a podcast tailored to me, not a pod where one in every twelve episodes is tailored to me. FYI, that's literally not tailored. That's TJ Max Clearance rack. This is not
your Homeboys podcast. Five stars, Thanks Shim Shady. This is a podcast for your homeboy, your homegirl, your home non binary, and everybody in between. And we're glad that you feel like it's meant for you. One more rating, Dogs Infinity out of five stars.
Listen.
John Oliver's Emmy speech, as disjointed as it was, touched a lot of hearts, and he shouted out the beloved family dog that he and his.
Wife just lost.
It was a dog that was there through moves and babies and a pandemic, and anyone who is a dog person can relate, even newbie dog guys like Big Randy. As the mother of three, two of them getting a little long in the tooth. I really see every day that I get with them as a gift because they never live long enough. And it's probably why sometimes you might hear them contribute to the show because I just feel bad making them go anywhere. I just want them
near me at all times. You truly do not deserve dogs. Go rescue one or twelve. I promise it'll change your life. Okay, now your turn, rate and review. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. Good game, Phil, Good game, Asia's mom, you not having a coach for a whole ass high school team. 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, 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