Refs scared

Not that anyone involved cares but shutting down midtown the day after the Tony’s is such an awful thing to do to the theatre community

I get that Hayes has the most influence over NWSL governance out of any league but I struggle to square her focusing so much on their processes while also praising Michelle Cooper and Avery Patterson for bringing energy that Lily Yohannes and Lindsey Heaps struggled with early on Saturday.

There are other questions I think for Tuesday but in terms of the physicality it really only took the U.S. exactly 20 minutes to start giving as good as they were getting but also that period is when all the goals were scored

Rewatching Saturdays US game with non weekend eyes and there’s a very funny moment in like the 37th minute where Brazil wins a foul and Trinity Rodman is so annoyed she kicks the ball away and then for good measure also kicks away the back up ball sitting on its ball cube

I get that watching it isn’t always fun but the USWNT genuinely did schedule this trip to get their ass beat and it’s really okay in a friendly context so long as no one gets hurt

I don’t like it when the tall young man makes mistakes

England’s ability to flop between the major tournaments where they genuinely consistently get really good results is a marvel to me

You’re going to be hearing this a lot from me this month - the Challenge Cup is in my beloved Columbus, and I’m gonna be there! Pregame with us on Thursday for trivia, drinks, prizes, and maybeee a Buckeye appearance you won’t want to miss: www.eventbrite.com/e/just-women...

The ironic women's soccer angle to the Bears likely moving to Indiana is this past Illinois legislative budget round gave the Stars this big hope that they could finally use their new equity mechanism to pivot Bears tax breaks in Illinois towards their own stadium. But it's simply not happening.

Speaks to how dumb this whole thing has been that I’m just like whatever man see ya

Only good for 79-3 is crazy

I had such a blast in DC in ‘22 but I can’t lie that 5pm local kick last year was a dream for media

Not a perfect science but I do believe if you make a woman bleed her own face blood on the court, that’s a flagrant 1

I am on junket TikTok all the time and have naturally been getting Euphoria stuff this week - v cool to see Maryland native Darrell Britt-Gibson (Bishop’s actor) in Spirit gear

Texas Tech is like the TCU women’s basketball of softball and the way they operate in the new era of NCAA sports is working

Phoenix Mercury not good

Saw the Myles Garrett news on the ESPN chyron during this softball game and I said “are you seeing this??” to my gf and she thought I meant Texas kinda raking

Chicago Stars pep band

Nothing like a summer afternoon five setter that ends with a Brazilian teenager sending Novak djokovich home 👨‍🍳😘

Great game in golden state tonight

Perfect Coco Gauff match for peak enjoyment. Tricky, interesting, lot of variety, but the result never in doubt

The music cues they run in Minnesota are insane

We’re in real silver lining mode in Skytown rn but breaking 100 ain’t nothing I suppose

Please tell me any of you were also watching whatever that was from Phoenix over the course of that third quarter

I will say, I do not think he did a good job, nor was it *smart* for Richard Feuz to admit on record that a key factor to his signings was saving money for ownership, but I do think that says as much about ownership than whoever is in the GM role

Ope

Felt like I was being rude when I didn't put rybakina in my short list of top line Roland Garros contenders in today's newsletter but now she's out in the second round so, maybe simply the truth.

Emma Hayes confirms that she currently sees Ashley Sanchez as a winger (which is true), which puts her in competition with players like Swanson and Thompson in addition to someone like Bethune, which is a tough list to jump.

Triple espresso as teased, Olivia Moultrie must be good to go, Croix returns in lieu of Coffey, out with injury, fun group

It’s been so long

Alexia leaving Barcelona is one of those “the only constant in sports is change” moments

She’s gonna get her coins in doubles but Taylor Townsend drawing coco Gauff in the first round is so brutal

Man, it’s nice to see Mal Swanson out there again

I know the new Mercury logo isn’t everyone’s favorite but their retro jerseys are also wacky so maybe it’s just baked in

That was a really fun game, pretty remarkable team sequence late with tired altitude legs from Washington to reach their first Concacaf W Champions Cup final. Second straight year it’s an NWS vs. Liga MX Femenil champ game.

Funniest goal of the night

There’s officially too much happening

Shelby Hogan is a very capable backup but losing AKB would very much change Gotham’s short term outlook, especially combined with other defensive injuries

Marie Philip Poulin PWHL champion yes this is good this is correct

It was interesting watching their presser yesterday, local media flat out told them American teams don’t do well in Pachuca usually because the altitude is tough

Bad time for Gotham to come out this flat

I know the games gotta get played but kinda wild the NWSL is running league games concurrent to two of their flagship clubs competing in the semifinals of a regional champions cup competition

If any team or individual athlete has particularly bad luck or is performing particularly badly for no particular reason you simply must assume it’s because I like them

What do you mean Mal Swanson is 28 and Bunny Shaw is 29

Very much enjoyed being one of the 72 people who work in sports media in Chicago who caught LJ’s talk at the art institute last Friday

I like that Wemby does the penalty kick exhale before shooting free throws

This Sky team healthy isn’t something to mess with and I hope we get it this season

That’s the worst possible thing that could’ve just happened for the Chicago Sky, hope Jackson is okay