Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're screaming I'm a Golden guy before cannonballing into the deep end of the pool. We're still on summer break, but Big Citrus got you. Today we're bringing you a special episode we're calling Summer Squeeze. Consider it our gift to you books, music, movies and getaway rex as the day's heat up and your office Summer Friday's policy kicks in and don't forget. We'll be back to our normal daily schedule next Monday
with the start of season two. For now, settle in as producers Alex and Misha join me for a good old, Big Citrus chat about our favorite summer activities and getaways, and some reflections on season one of Good Game with Sarah Spain that's coming up right after this welcome back slices. I'm joined now by producer Misha producer Alex for a Big Citrus Summer Squeeze. What's up y'all? Hi? Hello?
Oh, can't wait for this.
I know. Let's start with talking a little about season one. I'm just gonna start by saying my favorite thing about season one. Well, I have to do too. I can't just say one. My two favorite things about season one are number one, how quickly the slices assembled. It felt like we had this community within a week or two, which was really incredible. People were completely bought in and
loved what we were doing right away. And number two, the words of affirmation from frickin' legends, like having legendary female athletes, business women, coaches, just like people who know their shit telling us from pretty much day one, Oh my god, I love this show. This is what we've needed. This is so great. We love how you're covering it, the shouts for you all and you're producing Everybody raving
like how is this a daily show? The quality is so high for something that gets turned around every day, Like I just hearing it from the people that I respected and that mattered the most. Like, I think that's what stands out to me from season one is it felt like we just hit the ground running right away.
Yeah.
I totally feel that. The number of times that I've reached out to a guest to be like, hey, can we book you on the show, and their responses of course, I already listen every day. I'm like I'm a slice and they're like, hey, producer Alex, I'm like, I'm used to being a nobody.
And you know who I am and your face that's the more wild part because one of my highlights from season one was going to that end of USL Championship with you, Sarah and going to the media day and running into Slice Stacy and having Stacy be like are you Producer was like.
Yeah, you're like you want an autograph?
Like, I didn't say all that. I didn't say, but I'd definitely say that's one of my highlights.
It was super cool.
Yeah, I'm just really excited for season two and for all the existing slices to tell everyone they know about the show so we can make the community even bigger, because that's just it's just been really, really fun. I had a friend the other day ask me if I if we've basically had my top five guests on, Like if I could make a list of the people I most want on, And I was like, oh, hell no. We got some big fish we still have out in the pond. One of them is more of a swimming goat.
Simone Biles needs to get her ass up on this show. There's a couple of folks that we still have on our wish list, so plenty to shoot for in season two.
I just want to need to know where every single person that you mentioned in the need to Know is friend of the show? Simone Dial, Yeah, i'd been in the show, Kitlyn Clark a friend of the show, Asha Wilson.
Eventually, we're not gonna be able to say that every single time because we've had someone on. Friends of the show will have to be more selective, or the entire script will be made up with friends of the show, or.
We have a disclaimer at the top that just says be aware everyone we're about to talk about on our show.
Aware everyone is a friend of the show.
Or it will be like not friend of the show.
We'll just shout them out when they haven't come on yet. What's that phrase, stranger's just a friend you haven't met yet. That's that's what our show motto is. Someone who hasn't been on the show yet is just a friend of the show we haven't had on yet. Let's talk about our break y'all. First of all, I'm so proud of both of you the amount of work that we put
into this show. I tried to describe it to someone the other day, and I was like, it's kind of like trying to do a very short sports center with three people. Yeah, Like that's a great like ne to know is short, it's not a full half hour an hour show, but it's a lot of work. It's the team of three to go across every single team, league, news outlet, social media. And that's why we do it
because it doesn't exist anywhere. You literally can't open a website, turn on a show, turn on a TV, listen to a podcast other than ours, and get the news of the day every day. And so it's it's worth it. But I'm proud of us, and we deserve this break.
Do y'all don't know the half we've been going through it for y'all, but for you know, like you said, the purpose of making sure that this exists somewhere, because we all talked about it at the very beginning, how frustrating it was for whatever sport to have to go scouring and searching, and that's just not the environment we want for women's sports.
The thing we all love that we.
Want so many more people to love too. We don't want it to be hard for them to access what we see, and.
We want to do it right, which I'm not going to call it any other shows, but we work really hard to make sure we're pronouncing names right, to make sure we're getting stats correct, to get the context around things. Because it's also really important to be a show that proves that you can give the same extreme high quality to women's sports as men's sports have been getting for years. It's not just about being a fan and a cheerleader. It's about giving it journalism and giving it the value
that we know the games and the players have. I also have to shout out some slices helping us in that regard. Yes, Joey Malda NATO's calendar remains unparalleled and so helpful, and he just did that himself. Patch yourself on the back Aaron Ra's spreadsheet of everything we've ever recommended, all the sites we've sent people to, the books that
have been featured on our show. We're going to put links to all those in the show notes of this episode too, because we need to keep having new listeners recognize that that stuff is out there and that they can use it, because damn, those are some good slices. Super slices for sure.
We had Lindsay gibbson a couple days ago, and she mentioned keeping track of the women's sports calendar is a full time job, and that's something that Mish and I have honestly kind of struggled with a little bit. How do you plan a daily show while also planning for a month in advance for also planning oh, by the way, the Olympics our next winter. Yeah, the long term short term planning of it all. When you have so many
leagues and teams all happening at the same time. It goes back to the same thing, right, Like women's sports is treated as a eat. It's not a beat.
It's not a beat.
It's forty seven beats.
It's all the beats. Yeah, yeah, many beats. I just did a radio hit this week and the guy was like, so good game with Sarah Spain. You know, as someone who's not in the women's sports space, is there enough content to fill a show every day? And I was like, Bro, don't you worry, don't you worry.
I'm gonna yes stand that though, because there is so much content still though that is not being reported on the fact that so many WNBA teams don't have a full time beat reporter who that is their sole job during the season. That means that there are press conferences, that there are practices that people aren't going to. And thus, you know, we rely on a lot of great sites and great reporters for putting the need to know together.
And so I am sure that there are plenty of stories out there that just aren't being told because there aren't reporters in the room.
For sure.
It's not that there's not enough content though, it's just that there needs to be more of it.
Yes, I completely agree on that, and we're doing our best. But like we keep asking, if there's more you want to see of something, if there's more of a certain sport, a certain athlete, a certain league, let us know, because we also want to make sure we're giving the slices what they want. Yeah, speaking to giving people what they want. We wanted a break, which is what we're taking. So let's talk about some fun summer stuff first, mesh favorite summer activities, I mean.
Playing pickup, playing basketball.
Though it hurts now definitely that there are people don't know this in the DMV area, there are a lot of like hidden little beaches in little spots and little cuts. I'm not going to give you all the details because I would like them to say pretty you.
Know, pretty empty, Okay, Rick Steves, We're not like putting out a guidebook.
But definitely going to some of those little beaches and going on hikes.
The DMV is an excellent.
Area for going on a hike, but when it's ninety seven degrees, maybe not so. Hoping for some cloudier days and cooler days to do that.
What about you, Ele, I just like existing outside during the summer, being able to go outside and not bring a sweatshirt or down coat or hat and gloves and winter boots. It just feels so freeing. I love walking on the beach. I love eating outside at all the restaurants. I love my garden. I love having bonfires and having friends over. So just trying to spend as much time as possible outside while I can.
That is one thousand percent my answer. Being from Chicago. I spend so many weeks in the winter making lists of what I want to do when it gets warmer, and that when it gets nice out, I'm like, all right, I gotta bike along the lakefront and have flat fire and have everyone over for like dinner in my backyard and all this other stuff. So yeah, and I love
taking There's a park not far from my house. It's about an hour round trip, like thirty minutes each way to walk the dog there, and then once we're there, there's amazing like ponds and lily pads and creatures and just it's beautiful. And when it's cold out, I don't want to spend an hour just getting there and have it be kind of sad looking. But in the summer, I just want to spend as much time there and
go up to my parents' place in Michigan. They've got a spot about ninety minutes outside Chicago where we can just let the dogs run free and lay in a hammock and read a book and you know, do all that stuff. So I'm really excited for that, which brings me to summer getaways. Do you have favorite summer getaways, because I'll give you my answer, which is I try
not to leave Chicago in the summer. I will if there's an amazing like European vacation or some opportunity to go do something that's scheduled during the summer, I'll leave. But I dig my heels in and I try to spend all of July and August if possible in Chicago enjoying summer.
Yeah, I'm the exact same way. I don't leave New Hampshire during the summer, especially because I can't leave my garden for more than two days, Like I'll have way too much work to do when those tomato suckers come in and getting unwieldy by the time I get home.
So I don't know.
If I'm gonna put up with the New Hampshire winter, then I get the reward that is in New Hampster summer.
That makes sense. It's funny.
I love to get away in this area if you haven't noticed. And there's actually this company that used to be called Getaway House that's actually now called Postcard that has these little tiny cabins, and one of them is in the Shenandoah Valley, which is about an hour and a half from me, So it's kind of a getaway, but not really.
It's not that far.
And I love love doing those tiny cabins, standing in a tiny cabin for a couple of nights.
Have you ever done a little a frame?
A little a frame?
I always dream of staying in an a frame. They look so cute. You know what I'm talking about.
Yeah, I know what you're talking about.
It looks like it's a tangle, like yeah, but yes, I would love to do that too. But the tiny cabins are pretty much the same vibe. But they have this one window of them that's like just window, Like the entire wall is just window.
And I love to just be in the forest and in.
The woods and that sounds magical.
It's great postcard sponsored.
Can I tell you that Shannandoah Valley sounds like made up to me? Places? Well, okay, So we talked about this one time, because y'all like to write in the show. When we're talking about places, you'll say down in or over in from where you are, and I'm like, that's
not where I am. And so Alex was telling us how Swans are like a big thing in Boston and we're like, okay, sure, Like how the part of the country you're in, you just like know places and names that are like normal, like Shannandoah Valley that sounds like fake is part of like a little house on the Prairie script like or some like move book I read as a kid, like, Oh, we spent our summers in the Shenandoa vout it's something fake.
I can't assure you it's very real.
Okay, it's like the Ozarks. Yeah, the Ozarks. Those are you know, they're real. But where are they?
That's a great question.
And where's Martha's vineyard? Is it in New Hampshire?
No, Martha's been hard to get to. It's off the coast of Massachusetts.
I should know where the Ozarks are though, because I hate that show up.
I love Jason Bateman Highland in the United States of America. Can I get a little.
More Google helping?
Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma?
Oh? Oh, I did say night.
I was way off. I thought it was out easy.
Oh jeez. The more you know, this is.
What I'm saying. There's just places that people refer to that like they go on vacation and stuff, and they sound like fake places.
Like all the islands off of South Carolina. I'm like a nag's head.
What Hilton Head? I used to go to Hilton Head? I know that one. Anyway, we've really lost the plot here. The point is Alex and I aren't going anywhere, and Misha's going to the imaginary land of Genisilvay, which brings me to my next topic. Summer is the best season, yay or nay?
Yes, absolutely.
I was born in the summertime, so how could any other time be better?
Che which reminds me back when you're young, it sucks to have a summer birthday because you don't get to have a celebration in class. But when you get older, there is nothing better than a summer birthday because you can throw the killer parties when it's warm out, when everybody's got time off. Like my birthday bash. Every year is a destination. I have rented out a roller skating rink for a Studio fifty four party. I've done a
full overboard themed boat party. I did a full day of Saturday Night Live that included going to Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger Saturday Night Live museum Harry carries I'm on a boat. I have a long string of extremely involved costume parties, and in the summer people will show up.
Also a costume party in the summer versus for Halloween. By Halloween, it might be too cold to where you're a good costume.
Yeah, oh, I'll wear it anyway.
I know you will.
A well, not anymore now that I'm older, I wear Ellie the Elephant costumes, but back in the day, it could be zero degrees and I would still have on the tiniest sluttiest Halloween costume.
I get sick every single time I try to do that. So, yeah, I'm messing up the original with some sweatpants underneath or something.
I don't really imagine you putting on the tiniest slutdies.
Yeah, something with the something with no sleeves.
Yeah, let's expand our definition of slutty.
Yeah right, yeah, ye crying sleeves, hilarious without sleeves.
Oh, we'll look at you. Were you guys summer camp kids?
Absolute folutely. I was in every camp, every single camp.
Like day camps or did sleep away like parent trap style, Oh.
Not like not like going away to stay there camps like you have this this gym called the Freedom Center that had basketball camps and softball camps and all swimming camps and all sorts of stuff where you try to, you know, pawn your kids off to camp counselors for the day and then pick them up afterwards.
So that was my vibe, not so much sleep away. I wasn't driving with that, I know.
I wasn't why not you didn't like to leave your parents.
Exactly exactly as an only child. There's some serious attachment stuff happening there that I've gotten out of. But at that age, it would have been more work to try to get me to stay away.
You know, I did the full parent trap, not only like sleep away camp, but my day you still had a trunk.
Yeah.
Do you guys even know about this? Kind of like Harry Potter, Sure, that's too young for me.
Jk Rowling.
By the way, I'm so old. I'm talking original parent trap, not the Lindsay Lohan version, the Hailey Mills that I've already sung the song from a previous episode. Yeah Let's get together. Yeah yeah, Yeah. Anyway, you got a full ass trunk. It wasn't even a suitcase, and you just filled it with your clothes, your snacks, your books, your whatever. And it was like you were going away for years, but it was really like two weeks.
Man. I really wanted to be a summer camp kid.
Went to horseback riding camp twice. Ooh yeah, horseback riding camp. Some camp named after an Indian tribe that I can't remember the name of that was in the middle of nowhere. And then Misha eventually got older and I had to be in every single basketball, field, hockey track, like sports became year round for aau and everything.
When that started up, Oh, it was every other summer camp I was.
I was there.
We were in the four games a day, somewhere in the middle of South Carolina, somewhere in the middle acc no ac never shy.
As like bleachers that your parents had to sit on with no back on them.
The little courts that are put together like puzzle pieces that you know, any little edge of it could be up and trip you.
And you know. It was a time though.
I was getting my ass what by Sean Bradley's sister who was like six seven couldn't hit a damn shot to save her life, but she would just throw it up there, get her own rebound, and then keep shooting until she finally me, oh man, those are the days we got to take a quick break. More coming up after this? All right, what else are you going to be doing? Give me some either, Like let's say the slices out there have a couple months this summer that
they want to fill. What are your book TV music recommendations.
Music I gotta give it to this artist named k One okay kwn, their name is stylized, but she's just dropped an album. I just dug into it. I'm living my very best life. It's given me what I needed to give me for the summer. So definitely k One. I started watching The Sopranos, so I'm gonna like finish the Sopranos. I'm on a mission to like finish all the shows that people are like, this is the best
show in the history of television. I want to finish them all so I can actually have a informed opinion about it.
Did you watch mad Men yet?
I haven't.
That's on my top two for you for that like list is.
Mad Men and Veep and Veep Okay, okay, heard you heard you?
Yeah?
But the Sopranos, it's interesting, it's of its time, so I'm I'm recognizing that very quickly.
But other recks I would give people.
I don't know if people want to cry during the summer, I can cry any time.
Of the year.
So this is us, Like people say it's cheesy, People say this that once you get into this is us, you're staying in. So I would definitely say that and then on Hulu.
It doesn't really fit the season that we're in.
But if you haven't seen The Great North on Hulu, it's one of my favorite animated shows.
It's almost as good as Bob's Burgers. Almost.
And you and your Bob's Burgers, man, I.
Can pay that ring telling for you right now, thank you.
What's what's like? Very briefly, very briefly, what's the premise of Bob's Burgers. They work at a burger place.
Bob is the dad, Linda's the mom, three kids.
They work and live on top of a burger place that Bob runs. And it's about all the antics and things they get into together.
Okay, and I can watch it as a vegetarian.
Yeah, it's animated. No animals were hurt in the making of the show.
No animals were harm you know what, though, I will cry about some damn animated animals too. You could put googly eyes on a lamp and I will cry about that. Pixar prove to us all you could literally animate a pencil. You could animate a piece of poop. If it has eyeballs in a mouth and something tragic happens to it, I will be crying within minutes.
So I came across a dead bird the other day. I was like, we need to have a funeral for the bird, like in the office, Like that's what I need for closes this moment.
That's me. I don't even kill spiders. I trap them and bring them outside because I don't want to kill them because I feel sad, real softy over here. Alex, what are your res.
Well, Sarah. I am working on your previous assignment of watching Friends. I have made it through season one, episode one.
You Got a Ways to Go?
The last trink is hard for me.
Yeah, I mean it's of its time. Yeah, you said about the Sobranos, it's an interesting show. I'd be curious if I liked it if I started it now. There's a lot of stuff that you bring the nostalgia of when you originally watched it, or even just the memory of having seen it already. You know, we all have comfort shows that you rewatch when you don't want to tax your brain with something new. So when I flip it on at like a hotel, usually if it's on,
I'm like, oh, yeah, I remember this. It's not like ooh, let me be thrilled and delighted by this brand new content. So it's a different journey for you right now.
Yeah, I'm curious to see how the journey progresses. I do rewatch a lot of stuff, and the reason for that, I mean, there are probably a lot of reasons for it. But I often am making art while I watch TV, and so my hands and eyes are often busy, and so it's almost like I'm consuming TV as an audio form, and it allows me to rewatch it because then I'll sneak up glances and like see things I never saw. But it makes it hard to kind of get into new shows.
Yeah, I'll use music or podcasts for something that's that involved, but I will do rewatches when I need to, like go through emails or something, because I don't like watching new shows that are really good and missing key points, like, for instance, you don't want to turn away for even a second of Veep or Girls five EVA or thirty Rock. Those are shows that have jokes within jokes within jokes within jokes, and you will miss them if you're not
fully paying attention. And they're so smart that I try it to look away. Okay any more Rex al Okay. Books, If you haven't read TJ. Klun's The House in the Crilliancy Have you there if you read it?
No, it's on my list.
Yeah, it's delightful. You feel better every time you read it. The characters are so endearing. It's great as an audiobook too. So honestly, anything by TJ. Klune, He's probably been my author of the year.
All Right, we got to get out of here. We've given them too many RECs. I have just a couple. I'm gonna start with books. These are really easy. Runs in the Family by Sarah Spain. I don't know if you ever heard of her. Oh oh, oh, who's that?
Yeah?
You should read the book. I know I haven't mentioned it at all on the show. I wrote a book, and I'm going to tell everyone about it until I die. Please read it, Please order it. There's an audiobook too.
I'm pretty sure Mish and I both thought that it was a book about women's sports until like month four working on this podcast, when we thought to be like, Sarah, what's your book about?
Yeah, honestly, it'd be way cooler if it was in terms of like joint promotion. But I contain multitudes. I can write about men as well. The Three Lives of Kate K by Kate Fagan, oh and The fast Track Inside the Surging Business of Women's Sports by Jane McManus, the three members of the Trifector releasing a book in the same year, all of which are fantastic. You should read all of them. Three Lives of Kate K is a sapphic mystery thriller, a lot of lesbian love, Hollywood magic, mystery, intrigue,
and it's written in a very clever way. And of course Jane McManus's book The Fast Track is a brilliant look at women's sports. So read all of those and then music. So I'm going to give a couple musical recommendations and hopefully they cover a couple different genres for people. The first is my go to, which is sort of like indie singer songwriter kind of emo stuff. Camp. If you don't know camp with two a's, listen to Camp.
They will make you very happy, especially just cruising around on a summer day or sitting in it, having a picnic in a park. I would start with all the Debts I Owe and By and By those are two songs that if you're not pulled in by those, I don't know what to tell you. Mountjoy. I always talk
about them. They're my friends, and they're the best, and they're so so talented, and just a couple of years ago they were the tiny little font on the bottom of the fest poster, and now they're at the top, headlining, and I'm so proud of them, and their new album is so good for them. I would start with silver Lining, Strangers and Highway Queen, but literally everything by Mountjoy makes me so happy, so listen to all of it. And then Joy Ola Decunn, whose name I can never say right,
but I hope I said it right. It's spelled Ola d ok u N. I first saw actually at a fest with Mountjoy and Camp and she is so talented. She's so thoughtful. Her songwriting and the way she writes about the world as a black queer woman just so talented and has a little bit of like a Tracy Chapman esque vibe to her in terms of writing about the times, social issues and all the other stuff. And then the Dip start with the song Sure Don't Miss You.
They sound old school, It's like a rhythm funk blues band. It sounds like it's decades old, but it's current. It's so good, So listen to the dip start with sure don't miss You, and then Caine Coolto is this extremely special and unique like hip hop artist who has an incredible like life that started where he was suppressed in his queerness and his beliefs because of religion, and then his sense come out and he has this song KFC Santoria that is the nastiest hook, the most catchy beat.
I heard it once and I was like, what is this and instantly needed to look it up. I haven't listened to a ton of his other stuff yet. I've just dived in, but I want you to know that the song starts with him saying extra crispy, you want my thick, deep fried, juicy looking breast wings, thick thighs. You want my thick, deep fried, juicy look and breast wings.
I'm like if a hill billy hick was a big booty bitch wearing a little fem fit with which he asked shit born a South Florida man, I'm a palm beach git, but I was raising Kentucky on some moonshine, drink too many ku Klux Kardashians. Koch got that rash again. Oops, can't stop scratching it. That shit's viral. That's how the song starts. It is oh so good. It is so good. As soon as I heard Ku Klux Kardashians, I was like,
what's happening? It's just you gotta you gotta listen to this saga the summer.
For me, I'm gonna have to Wow. That was Yeah.
Wait till you hear an actual rapper doing It's really gonna blow your mind. All Right, lots to read, watch and listen to. We gotta take another quick break when we come back. Even though it's summer vacation, you slices are still getting some homework. Welcome back, slices. We 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 ahead of our season two launch next week. Please send us your ideas for the show.
What do you love about it or hate? What do you want more of or less? Are there any guests you're just dying to hear from. Let us know. Think of it as your good Game with Sarah Spain summer homework. Hit us up on email. Good Game at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a voice spail at eight seven two two four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Come on, it's so easy watch saying goodbye to Season one, rating twelve out of twelve months
of Good Game, Magic Review. It's time to cueue up old lang Syne, as the inaugural season of Good Game with Sarah Spain is officially coming to a close. Remember back in the day early on when I shared all those Taylor Swift Easter eggs? Or what about when we used a chime sound effect instead of a pencil scratch during the first couple weeks of the Need to Know
and people universally hated it? Or how about when we realized that folks didn't limit their fucking around in finding out to Fridays, thus ending the segment around and find Out Fridays and ushering in a new era of calling out people shit pretty much any damn day we want. It's been a year, y'all, and now it's time to say goodbye. Got a tuck Season one into bed, some nice, cool crisp sheets for summer. Can be a little eyemask. Good night wait, wait, don't go to sleep yet. Season one.
I'm not ready to say goodbye. Let's just do like one more Season one episode this week, Just like one more. Then we'll officially be ready to put season one in the rear view mirror. Whoof that was close. I'm terrible at goodbyes. Now it's your turn, y'all rate and review, Thanks for listening, See you in a couple of days.
Good Game, Season one, Good Game Summer. Break you that thing where your ice cream starts melting down the sides of your cone and like all over your hands, But if you eat it faster, you'll get a brain freeze chill ice cream literally. 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 Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rudder, Brittany Martinez, Grace Lynch, and Gianna Palmer. Our Associate producer is Lucy Jones, and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain.