Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're celebrating Saint Patrick's Day by rewatching the Fugitive again just to see Richard Kimball evade the Feds during the Chicago Saint Patti's Day Parade. Classic cinema moment. Should I just realize that movie is older than producer meiche? Damn? It's Monday, March seventeenth, Happy Saint Patti's Day. Today's show is a veritable sports smorgasboard, surfing, shooting, swimming, soccer, and also some sports that don't start with an S two. There's just so much stuff to talk about. We'll be reacting to selections Sunday and our first look at the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament bracket. We'll be talking NWSL opening weekend and sharing a few standout stories from a busy weekend of sports that you may not have caught. Plus, I finally had a little bit of time to catch up on our very overflowing inbox, so I'm going to respond to a handful of emails and voicemails from U slices as well, and we'll reveal the big surprise we teased on Friday. It's all coming up right after this Welcome back slices, Happy Monday. Here's what you need to know today. First up, college hoops, and yesterday the stage was set for what could be one of the most exciting NCAA tournaments of all time. So much talent, so many stars, so much parody. In fact, as Holly Row mentioned on ESPN Selection Sunday Show, there were thirteen regular season champions and twelve of them lost in their conference attorneys. Tough job for the committee, whether you agreed with their choices or not. As far as entertainment goes, the bracket reveal did not disappoint. Given us the goods. We got TikTok dances, ecstatic celebrations, six teams going to the tourney for the first time, subsidei from squads who didn't like their seeds, and impeccable ad libbing from host l Duncan riffing on every team's reaction. You can, of course find the full bracket online and we'll link to it in our show notes as well. But how about some big takeaways. Let's start with Corey Close and the UCLA Bruins snagging the overall number one seed for the first time in program history. Now, Don Staley and South Carolina not impressed with that decision. They've been the overall number one every year since twenty twenty one. But the game Cocks still a number one seed and their path to the final four looks damn good, so Don Staley can be happy about that. The other two top seeds Texas and USC, and if all four top seeds advanced to the final four, we'll get a fourth matchup of the season between USC and UCLA and a fourth matchup between Texas and South Carolina. A couple more things to watch for. In Region four. Spokane Yukon is the number two seed. They'll meet Arkansas State, so congrats to those first time dancers. Sorry, your reward is a date with pagemakers in Yukon. More importantly, on that side of the bracket, we could get a rematch of last year's Elite eight contest between Yukon and USC. Yukon won that one eighty to seventy three. Now to bummer not to get that game later in the turn tournament because Juju versus page will be a ratings bonanza. It still will be wherever we might get it, but I'd like to see that later in the tournament. Also of note, Yukon will have to head west for the Sweet sixteen for a third straight season now. Coach Gina Oriama criticized the super Regional format when it debuted in twenty twenty three. Now he and his Huskies will have to travel across three time zones for a third straight time if they advanced to the Sweet sixteen. Meantime, over in Region two Birmingham, we got Duke and North Carolina as the number two and number three seeds respectively. That's a fun rivalry setup in that region. Another number two seed to watch for TCU in Region three Birmingham. So this is a pretty unreal story because you remember we told you that last year they needed to hold open tryouts for students just to fill a roster, and now they're a two seed in the NCAA tournament this year. Also, Haley van Litt, the star there a transfer to TCU for her final year, could face her former team and coach at Louisville in that region. And if you're wondering why you haven't heard Notre Dame mentioned yet, it's a three seed for the Fighting Irish, who looked like world beaters for much of the season, but lost three of their last five games. The good news for Hanna Hidalgo, Olivia Miles and company, they still get to host their first two games in the tournament. Two more cool stories back in Region one Spokane Harvard the ten seed, they'll take on number seven Michigan State. Now Harvard beat Columbia seventy four to seventy one on Saturday to win the Ivy League Tournament for the first time in school history, receiving the automatic bid and returning to the Ncaattorney for the first time in eighteen years. Now Harvard coach Carrie Moore took over this program three years ago after the retirement of legendary head coach Kathy Delaney Smith, who led the team to multiple NCAA tournament appearances over forty years at the helm of that program, including, of course, the team's historic upset of the number one Stanford Cardinal as a sixteen seed in nineteen ninety eight, the first ever number sixteen beating a number one in NCAA Men's or women's tournament history, and still the only time it's happened in the women's bracket. Also shout out to producer Miches alma mater, William and Mary on their first CAAA Championship win thanks to a sixty six sixty three win over Campbell on Sunday afternoon, giving them also their first NC double Attorney bid in program history. Meish not only bald there, they now do color commentary for the team's broadcasts. The fighting Miches are going to take on high point in the first four Now the most important part of the selection Sunday show, in my opinion, obviously the cutaways to each team reacting to its fate. I have a couple winners, NC State and UNC Greensboro. We love the dancing, the Michigan Wolverines because they had a dog partying with them. Iowa State Cal Berkeley and first timers Fairley Dickinson, who all looked appropriately psyched. Love their enthusiasm. And finally USC they had a huge crowd, cheerleaders, a baby, a mascot, and this giant window that took up the whole back wall. It was a beautiful scene, very cool. As for the losers of the announcement reaction the Carolinas South and North Carolina? Were they bummed? Were they mad about their seeds? Where they asleep? Did they not know they were on camera? Between the Carolinas and Ohio State, it looked like a funeral, not a selection Sunday show. Perk up, y'all. I don't care if you're bummed about your seed. When you get camera time on ESPN, you make it hot, honey, You twerk, you jump, you scream, You're going dancing. Be excited all right now that we do know who's going dance. In a reminder to all of you, Top sixteen teams will host at home. Then half the field will had to Birmingham, Alabama for the Sweet sixteen and Elite Eight. The other half will do their Sweet sixteen and Elite eight in Spokane, Washington. Final four will be in Tampa, Florida. So start clearing out your calendar now. Two of the first four games kick things off on Wednesday. Two unrivaled hoops. ROSEBC defeated the Laces in the first semifinal Sunday Night sixty three fifty seven behind an unrivaled record thirty nine points from Chelsea Gray, including the game winning three have a night Chelsea. Notably, Kalia Copper still out for roseb C and Angel Reese was sidelined as well. After injuring her surgically repaired left hand in the team's regular season finale. No word yet on whether she'll be available for that title game. In the second semi final, a massive upset, the five to nine Vinyl BC taken out top seed thirteen to one Lunar Owls seventy three to seventy on a game winner from Deerka hanby Ifisa Kllier put up thirty six, but her team just couldn't get it done. Just the second l of the season for the Owls and they come up short of the final. So it'll be ROSEBC versus VINYLBC in the unrivaled title game tonight at seven to thirty pm Eastern. Each player on the championship club will earn a cool fifty thousand dollars to College Hockey, where next weekends Frozen four is set and all four top seeded teams are in, though not without a few fireworks. In the regional finals, Number one Wisconsin had to come from behind to defeat Clerkson, entering the first intermission down one nothing before going on to win the contest four to one. Number two Ohio State, the defending national champions, also had to battle back from a one to zero deficit to Saint Lawrence, but went on to win that one six to one. Looking ahead to this weekend's Frozen Four, which begins Friday in Minneapolis, it'll be Wisconsin meeting number four Minnesota in the semi finals, while Ohio State will face off against number three Cornell. I think we know who I'm rooting for. Let's go Red. Also, I have to shout out Cornell defender Rory Gilde. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor in twenty sixteen that led to optic nerve Glioma was sidelined from any contact sports for a year due to chemotherapy and lost the majority of her eyesight in her right eye. And yet she is still playing at the highest level. Y'all. This is like the cutting edge, but with a better outcome. What a movie. By the way, shout out Douglas Dorsey, Kate Moseley, the Pemchenko Twist. If you guys haven't seen that, please come on. Okay, back to real life. This year will mark the sixteenth overall Frozen Four appearance for both Wisconsin and Minnesota, who shared the NCAA record. Like I said, that gets going on Friday to soccer and opening weekend of the NWSL on Friday and Saturday. The usual suspects lit up the score sheet with highlight reel goals, and some teams with sleepy off seasons looked to still be asleep on the pitch, like the Chicago Stars, who got whooped by defending champs Orlando Pride six nothing. On Friday. Barbara Banda had two goals and an assist to help the Pride to their highest goal count in a single match and the most goals ever by a team in an NWSL opening weekend match. Sigh just week one, Sarah just week one. Elsewhere, the Washington Spirit defeated the Houston Dash two to one, and the Casey Current beat the Portland Thorns three to one behind an opening minute goal from reigning MVP tem Mushawinga and a Michelle Cooper banger from forty yards out. The other three Saturday matches, Utah Royals versus BFC Seattle Rain versus Got Them, and North Carolina Courage versus Racing Louisville all ended in one to one draws. Speaking of Racing Louisville, we goofed like big time. We somehow left them out of our NWSL preview last Thursday, and I have to say a big thank you to Deb from Chicago who called us out and for a very good reason.

Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're celebrating Saint Patrick's Day by rewatching the Fugitive again just to see Richard Kimball evade the Feds during the Chicago Saint Patti's Day Parade. Classic cinema moment. Should I just realize that movie is older than producer meiche? Damn? It's Monday, March seventeenth, Happy Saint Patti's Day. Today's show is a veritable sports smorgasboard, surfing, shooting, swimming, soccer, and also some sports that don't start with an S two. There's just so much stuff to talk about. We'll be reacting to selections Sunday and our first look at the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament bracket. We'll be talking NWSL opening weekend and sharing a few standout stories from a busy weekend of sports that you may not have caught. Plus, I finally had a little bit of time to catch up on our very overflowing inbox, so I'm going to respond to a handful of emails and voicemails from U slices as well, and we'll reveal the big surprise we teased on Friday. It's all coming up right after this Welcome back slices, Happy Monday. Here's what you need to know today. First up, college hoops, and yesterday the stage was set for what could be one of the most exciting NCAA tournaments of all time. So much talent, so many stars, so much parody. In fact, as Holly Row mentioned on ESPN Selection Sunday Show, there were thirteen regular season champions and twelve of them lost in their conference attorneys. Tough job for the committee, whether you agreed with their choices or not. As far as entertainment goes, the bracket reveal did not disappoint. Given us the goods. We got TikTok dances, ecstatic celebrations, six teams going to the tourney for the first time, subsidei from squads who didn't like their seeds, and impeccable ad libbing from host l Duncan riffing on every team's reaction. You can, of course find the full bracket online and we'll link to it in our show notes as well. But how about some big takeaways. Let's start with Corey Close and the UCLA Bruins snagging the overall number one seed for the first time in program history. Now, Don Staley and South Carolina not impressed with that decision. They've been the overall number one every year since twenty twenty one. But the game Cocks still a number one seed and their path to the final four looks damn good, so Don Staley can be happy about that. The other two top seeds Texas and USC, and if all four top seeds advanced to the final four, we'll get a fourth matchup of the season between USC and UCLA and a fourth matchup between Texas and South Carolina. A couple more things to watch for. In Region four. Spokane Yukon is the number two seed. They'll meet Arkansas State, so congrats to those first time dancers. Sorry, your reward is a date with pagemakers in Yukon. More importantly, on that side of the bracket, we could get a rematch of last year's Elite eight contest between Yukon and USC. Yukon won that one eighty to seventy three. Now to bummer not to get that game later in the turn tournament because Juju versus page will be a ratings bonanza. It still will be wherever we might get it, but I'd like to see that later in the tournament. Also of note, Yukon will have to head west for the Sweet sixteen for a third straight season now. Coach Gina Oriama criticized the super Regional format when it debuted in twenty twenty three. Now he and his Huskies will have to travel across three time zones for a third straight time if they advanced to the Sweet sixteen. Meantime, over in Region two Birmingham, we got Duke and North Carolina as the number two and number three seeds respectively. That's a fun rivalry setup in that region. Another number two seed to watch for TCU in Region three Birmingham. So this is a pretty unreal story because you remember we told you that last year they needed to hold open tryouts for students just to fill a roster, and now they're a two seed in the NCAA tournament this year. Also, Haley van Litt, the star there a transfer to TCU for her final year, could face her former team and coach at Louisville in that region. And if you're wondering why you haven't heard Notre Dame mentioned yet, it's a three seed for the Fighting Irish, who looked like world beaters for much of the season, but lost three of their last five games. The good news for Hanna Hidalgo, Olivia Miles and company, they still get to host their first two games in the tournament. Two more cool stories back in Region one Spokane Harvard the ten seed, they'll take on number seven Michigan State. Now Harvard beat Columbia seventy four to seventy one on Saturday to win the Ivy League Tournament for the first time in school history, receiving the automatic bid and returning to the Ncaattorney for the first time in eighteen years. Now Harvard coach Carrie Moore took over this program three years ago after the retirement of legendary head coach Kathy Delaney Smith, who led the team to multiple NCAA tournament appearances over forty years at the helm of that program, including, of course, the team's historic upset of the number one Stanford Cardinal as a sixteen seed in nineteen ninety eight, the first ever number sixteen beating a number one in NCAA Men's or women's tournament history, and still the only time it's happened in the women's bracket. Also shout out to producer Miches alma mater, William and Mary on their first CAAA Championship win thanks to a sixty six sixty three win over Campbell on Sunday afternoon, giving them also their first NC double Attorney bid in program history. Meish not only bald there, they now do color commentary for the team's broadcasts. The fighting Miches are going to take on high point in the first four Now the most important part of the selection Sunday show, in my opinion, obviously the cutaways to each team reacting to its fate. I have a couple winners, NC State and UNC Greensboro. We love the dancing, the Michigan Wolverines because they had a dog partying with them. Iowa State Cal Berkeley and first timers Fairley Dickinson, who all looked appropriately psyched. Love their enthusiasm. And finally USC they had a huge crowd, cheerleaders, a baby, a mascot, and this giant window that took up the whole back wall. It was a beautiful scene, very cool. As for the losers of the announcement reaction the Carolinas South and North Carolina? Were they bummed? Were they mad about their seeds? Where they asleep? Did they not know they were on camera? Between the Carolinas and Ohio State, it looked like a funeral, not a selection Sunday show. Perk up, y'all. I don't care if you're bummed about your seed. When you get camera time on ESPN, you make it hot, honey, You twerk, you jump, you scream, You're going dancing. Be excited all right now that we do know who's going dance. In a reminder to all of you, Top sixteen teams will host at home. Then half the field will had to Birmingham, Alabama for the Sweet sixteen and Elite Eight. The other half will do their Sweet sixteen and Elite eight in Spokane, Washington. Final four will be in Tampa, Florida. So start clearing out your calendar now. Two of the first four games kick things off on Wednesday. Two unrivaled hoops. ROSEBC defeated the Laces in the first semifinal Sunday Night sixty three fifty seven behind an unrivaled record thirty nine points from Chelsea Gray, including the game winning three have a night Chelsea. Notably, Kalia Copper still out for roseb C and Angel Reese was sidelined as well. After injuring her surgically repaired left hand in the team's regular season finale. No word yet on whether she'll be available for that title game. In the second semi final, a massive upset, the five to nine Vinyl BC taken out top seed thirteen to one Lunar Owls seventy three to seventy on a game winner from Deerka hanby Ifisa Kllier put up thirty six, but her team just couldn't get it done. Just the second l of the season for the Owls and they come up short of the final. So it'll be ROSEBC versus VINYLBC in the unrivaled title game tonight at seven to thirty pm Eastern. Each player on the championship club will earn a cool fifty thousand dollars to College Hockey, where next weekends Frozen four is set and all four top seeded teams are in, though not without a few fireworks. In the regional finals, Number one Wisconsin had to come from behind to defeat Clerkson, entering the first intermission down one nothing before going on to win the contest four to one. Number two Ohio State, the defending national champions, also had to battle back from a one to zero deficit to Saint Lawrence, but went on to win that one six to one. Looking ahead to this weekend's Frozen Four, which begins Friday in Minneapolis, it'll be Wisconsin meeting number four Minnesota in the semi finals, while Ohio State will face off against number three Cornell. I think we know who I'm rooting for. Let's go Red. Also, I have to shout out Cornell defender Rory Gilde. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor in twenty sixteen that led to optic nerve Glioma was sidelined from any contact sports for a year due to chemotherapy and lost the majority of her eyesight in her right eye. And yet she is still playing at the highest level. Y'all. This is like the cutting edge, but with a better outcome. What a movie. By the way, shout out Douglas Dorsey, Kate Moseley, the Pemchenko Twist. If you guys haven't seen that, please come on. Okay, back to real life. This year will mark the sixteenth overall Frozen Four appearance for both Wisconsin and Minnesota, who shared the NCAA record. Like I said, that gets going on Friday to soccer and opening weekend of the NWSL on Friday and Saturday. The usual suspects lit up the score sheet with highlight reel goals, and some teams with sleepy off seasons looked to still be asleep on the pitch, like the Chicago Stars, who got whooped by defending champs Orlando Pride six nothing. On Friday. Barbara Banda had two goals and an assist to help the Pride to their highest goal count in a single match and the most goals ever by a team in an NWSL opening weekend match. Sigh just week one, Sarah just week one. Elsewhere, the Washington Spirit defeated the Houston Dash two to one, and the Casey Current beat the Portland Thorns three to one behind an opening minute goal from reigning MVP tem Mushawinga and a Michelle Cooper banger from forty yards out. The other three Saturday matches, Utah Royals versus BFC Seattle Rain versus Got Them, and North Carolina Courage versus Racing Louisville all ended in one to one draws. Speaking of Racing Louisville, we goofed like big time. We somehow left them out of our NWSL preview last Thursday, and I have to say a big thank you to Deb from Chicago who called us out and for a very good reason.

Wait for it, so listening to your NWSL preview list and got all the way to the end and was like, wait, they're missing a team. So I went back just to make sure that I wasn't when I was ordering my coffee, like not paying attention to Sarah, like not including Racing Louisville in the fourteen teams that you guys previewed. Total gut plunch to any Racing Louisville fan, and you're probably wondering, well, what are you doing not being any Star fan in you live in Chicago, and that would be a good question. But my daughter plays for Racing Louisville and she's a rookie this year.

Wait for it, so listening to your NWSL preview list and got all the way to the end and was like, wait, they're missing a team. So I went back just to make sure that I wasn't when I was ordering my coffee, like not paying attention to Sarah, like not including Racing Louisville in the fourteen teams that you guys previewed. Total gut plunch to any Racing Louisville fan, and you're probably wondering, well, what are you doing not being any Star fan in you live in Chicago, and that would be a good question. But my daughter plays for Racing Louisville and she's a rookie this year.

OMG, Deb and Deb's daughter, who I believe based on my internet sleuthing skills, is Elajas. We are so sorry. And what's weird is that I actually, like have a soft spot in my heart for the racing team and for Louisville because of my Red Stars ownership years. I watched the team play in Louisville in the twenty twenty one Women's Cup with Racing PSG and Bayern Munich, and again later that season against the Spirit in the NWSL Championship. It is a beautiful stadium, wonderful people. I actually became buddies with Racing cohwn Or Chris Harding and Superstar chef ed Lee on those trips. So I'm just not sure how we forgot so our deepest apologies. Just here is your very belated preview. Consistency was the name of the game for Racing this offseason, as they returned the players responsible for nearly seventy five percent of the club's total minutes and goal contributions from last year. They also added former NWSL Rookie of the Year Britney Balser and Canadian national player Janine Sonis formerly known as Janine Becky, plus five rookies from the collegiate ranks. It's also the second year Bevan is at the Helm as head coach. We'll see what she can do with a talented squad. Thank you, deb for keeping us honest. Back to the action. So yesterday, Angel CITYFC and the San Diego Wave closed out the first week of games with a one to one draw. It was some fancy footwork and a fine finish from Melissa Thompson that tied that one up after the Wave took an early lead. One note on that game. Late Saturday night, Angel City Sidney LaRue, front of the show, posted on social media that she would be stepping away from the game for her mental health. She wrote, in part, quote, to everyone who has supported me, loved me, and believed in me. Thank you. This isn't goodbye. I will be back just like always in true Sid fashion. End quote. We're sending you love and sending you support. Sid. There is nothing brave or stronger than knowing when to take care of yourself and knowing when to ask for help. More NWSL news. NWSL Boston announced on Friday that it's officially changing its name from Boston Nation FC to something else. The team expects to release the new name in the coming weeks, and they posted a statement that read quote, Boston, You've waited long enough. We are changing our club name dash coming soon FC. End quote. One of my favorite Boston sports fan friends texted me quote, going to have to make it coming soon, FC, Jersey, wtf are they doing? End quote, which is a fair point, I mean the whole You've waited long enough only to make them wait some more an announcement of an announcement. Yeah, that's tough, and so is the fact that they've lost months of runway where they could have had an established name, branding and merch because of their false start launch. Better to fix it, though, and get it right. So here's hoping they do. We're rooting for your Boston or coming soon FC. All right, we gotta take a quick break when we come back alone branden surfing for two and doing it all. Welcome back, slices. Let's continue our smorgasboard of sports. Shall we a sports giz board if you will? And I will First a shout out to the NYU women's basketball team, who ran their win streak to sixty in a row with their victory on Saturday over Gettysburg College in the Elite eight of the Division three NCUBA Championship Tournament. The Violets will face the University of Wisconsin Stout in the national semi final on Thursday. Side note, I had no idea that the NYU mascot was the Violets. Also, I got a shout out Brnn Greenwald of Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who competed in two nc DOUBLEA Division two championship meets in one day. She started Saturday with swimming, setting a personal best in the one hundred free prelimbs, then drove to the track meet, thankfully just five miles away, and set another personal best, this time in the high jump at five foot eight. She missed at five point ten, ended up tying for eighth place and becoming an All American in track. She then rushed back to the pool and finished eighth in the one hundred free in All American finish and swimming as well in the same day. And if you're impressed by all that, I didn't even mention that on Wednesday she set a Division two record in the fifty free style event prelimbs and then won it all to become the fifty free national champion. So shout out to Brent Greenwalt, I guess you can have it all. Speaking of having it all, I want all the starches. So don't forget about our delicious bracket challenge. Starch Madness. Thank you for the recipes you've already sent, including something called tater pigs. Which I'm really excited about. Keep them coming. I'm already getting pumped about cooking up some spuds and cobs and whatever else you might send my way. Good game at one nder medianetwork dot com is where you send the recipes. Once we make the bracket, you'll vote for a final four, and then I'll cook them, eat them and Declara winner. All right, slices, It's time for another edition of Where Else but Women's Sports? For this one, we head to Portugal, where Jeanne de Fay, an Olympic bronze medalist in surfing, is currently competing at stop number three on the World Surf League Tour, the twenty twenty Fivemeo Ripcurl Pro, while sixteen weeks pregnant. And she's not just competing at the event. Defay actually won her opening heat and her round of sixteen heat, moving on to the quarterfinals. Where else but women's sports do we see doubles competing in singles, like fellow surfer CHRISA Moore competing at the Paris Olympics last summer and then days later announcing that she was pregnant. Or tennis legend Serena Williams winning the twenty seventeen Australian Open while carrying first child Alexis. Or beach volleyball star Carrie Walsh Jennings, who won gold in the twenty twelve Olympics while pregnant with her third child. Well, that was or of a triple competing in a doubles situation, but it counts. So fist, pump and whorah to jo Anne Hope. The run continues elsewhere. Big high fives to Dana Holtzpurt and fantastic freelance sports writer Roger Sherman, formerly of Espianation and the Ringer, who combined to alert me to the results of the NCUBA Rifle Championships down in Lexington, Kentucky. Roger wrote on Blue Sky Quote today in Gender and Sports. At the NCUBA Rifle Championships, one of the few NCUBA sports not separated into men's and women's championships, female shooters won both individual championships and five of six metal spots alone. Braden reached the podium alongside them end quote alone. Braiden is wild. So I dug into the results myself and with the caveat that were going off names and appearance, and we don't know if any of these athletes identify as non Binaria or otherwise, it does appear that the winners and five of six medal finishers in both individual events were all women. Just that one sneaky braiden. Anyway, we love to see it. We have to take another break. When we come back, we announce our big reveal, Welcome Back Slices. On Friday. We promised you a big reveal, and here it is our first merch drop. Let's go. We teamed up with the awesome folks at Breaking Tea to create a Sarah Spain Slash Good Game collection, starting with four T shirts. I'm a slice, good game, good game for you, ask me about women's sports, and my own personal motto unf withable. You can find the shirts at Breaking Tea and via the link on our social media posts where we're modeling the Goods Today show the world. You're a fan of the best daily women's sports show in the universe, also the only, but still absolutely the best. I literally cannot wait to run into someone in the real world wearing our merch I think I might literally cry. And since I'm already getting vulnerable, I do have to say thank you to all of you, Slices. Thank you for listening, for supporting us, for asking for ways to connect with us and the show, for doing your homework when we give you the good game play of the day, for demanding merch and wanting to wear it. We are just really, truly so grateful. Me, mish Alex, the whole team. It just feels like existing as an empowered and confident woman in America in twenty twenty five is already sort of an active resistance and talking about supporting and promoting the badass women that make up the sports world, including queer women, trans women, women of color, and any other folks marginalized by gender or who want to throw up a middle finger to those who wish to put us in a certain lane or category. It just feels more necessary than ever, so we want to keep doing it and your support allows us to. So Thank you, so so so so much, Slices. We love you, We hope you love the merch, we hope you buy it in Rocket, and we cannot wait to run into you wearing it. Also speaking to merch, as you may have heard over the last few weeks during the shows, I've been busy, I've been traveling and I am headed back out of town again to New York for a couple of days, but when I get back, I will be home for two whole weeks and those good game times Aurora FC collab hats will finally be sent out. So thank you for your patience, and don't forget Aurora FC kicks off their season in May. Woo. We love that you're listening, but we want you to get in the game every day too, So we've got another good game play at the day. Besides, of course going checking out the merchant buying it. I mentioned that starch Madness bracket, so send us those recipes. But there's also another bracket deserving of a super shout out, and it's from Slice Amanda Vallo. She is constantly sending us the funniest, most creative content, and this time she created something she's calling the Good Game Goat Team Bracket Challenge. Now, if we were doing this behind the scenes, we might have some squabbles about it team or two that's missing or one that we would rather see in there, But honestly, she did a damn good job with her selections and she saved us the time of doing it ourselves. So we're rolling with her picks. Okay, and today I'm going to announce the left side of the bracket. Then tomorrow I'll reveal the right side, and I'll post the bracket on social Instagram, Blue Sky, Twitter X all those and put the links in the show notes tomorrow. So if you want to make your voice heard and vote for your go team, fill it out, snap a pick and send it to us a good game at Wondermedia neetwork dot com. Don't worry, I'll remind you of all that tomorrow when I post the bracket. Today, I'm just going to give you the left side top left, including some paraphrase notes from Amanda's fantastic descriptions. Number one seed the ninety nine ers who left a legacy off the pitch as they embraced the roles of mentors, advocates, broadcast announcers, in studio analysts, investors, team owners, etc. Taken on. Number four seed the Rockford Peaches of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League, showing us what's possible before it was possible and give it us a damn good movie. Number two seed Yukon basketball, the Sue Bird and Diana Tarasi era, an undefeated season, multiple national championships, and one of the most entertaining and engaging on off the court partnerships in life. Versus number three seed, the twenty eleven World Cup champion Japanese national soccer team, who brought joy and hope to an entire nation and countless others in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami. All right bottom left side of the bracket. Number one seed the dream On Team ninety six US Olympics Basketball, who delivered on the biggest stage under the pressure cooker of a home Olympics. Basically, they quote unquote ushered it cruz skating through the tournament to gold in the atl and helped launch the WNBA. They take on number four seed Susan Butcher's I did Arod sled Dog team, four time winners of the famous race. In nineteen eighty five, Susan fended off a crazed moose but lost two of her dogs. The team staged to comeback for the ages, winning the next three consecutive I did Arod races. You're pulling on my heartstrings with this one, Amanda, and you know it. Moving on the number two seed, Golden Girls twenty four US Olympic gymnastics team gold medal winners with Moxie, they lapped the field despite their average age of twenty two years versus number three seed. The twenty twenty four US Women's Olympic rugby team that won a bronze medal helped grow momentum for a professional women's rugby league and gave us a loan Omar. Okay, that's a hell of a collection of goat teams and that's just one half of the bracket. The other half and your chance to decide who survives in advances will come tomorrow. For now, start thinking about your favorites and thanks again, Amanda. We always love to hear from you, so hit us up on email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review slaces. It's easy watch. Friend of the show Madeline Hill of the Sports Gossip podcast sharing a picture of seventy two year old Bill Belichick and his twenty four year old girlfriend doing the airplane rating minus infinity out of ten. Can't unsee review. Apparently old Bill and his girlfriend Jordan were doing beach yoga together and she wanted to share a bunch of pictures with the world, and the one that made it out to my eyeballs via Madeline's Blue Sky account was Bill on his back, legs up extended and Jordan in a white bathing suit with cutouts, balancing on his feet, back arched, arms up, flying like an airplane, just like my mom does with her grandkids. So yeah, now it's your turn, rate and review. Thanks for listening, y'all, See you tomorrow. Good Game, UCLA, Good Game, Vinyl BC you NCAA tournament selection committee setting us up for USC Yukon in the damn Elite eight. Come on man. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iheartwomen'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 Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez, and Grace lynch Our associate producer is Lucy Jones, and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain.

OMG, Deb and Deb's daughter, who I believe based on my internet sleuthing skills, is Elajas. We are so sorry. And what's weird is that I actually, like have a soft spot in my heart for the racing team and for Louisville because of my Red Stars ownership years. I watched the team play in Louisville in the twenty twenty one Women's Cup with Racing PSG and Bayern Munich, and again later that season against the Spirit in the NWSL Championship. It is a beautiful stadium, wonderful people. I actually became buddies with Racing cohwn Or Chris Harding and Superstar chef ed Lee on those trips. So I'm just not sure how we forgot so our deepest apologies. Just here is your very belated preview. Consistency was the name of the game for Racing this offseason, as they returned the players responsible for nearly seventy five percent of the club's total minutes and goal contributions from last year. They also added former NWSL Rookie of the Year Britney Balser and Canadian national player Janine Sonis formerly known as Janine Becky, plus five rookies from the collegiate ranks. It's also the second year Bevan is at the Helm as head coach. We'll see what she can do with a talented squad. Thank you, deb for keeping us honest. Back to the action. So yesterday, Angel CITYFC and the San Diego Wave closed out the first week of games with a one to one draw. It was some fancy footwork and a fine finish from Melissa Thompson that tied that one up after the Wave took an early lead. One note on that game. Late Saturday night, Angel City Sidney LaRue, front of the show, posted on social media that she would be stepping away from the game for her mental health. She wrote, in part, quote, to everyone who has supported me, loved me, and believed in me. Thank you. This isn't goodbye. I will be back just like always in true Sid fashion. End quote. We're sending you love and sending you support. Sid. There is nothing brave or stronger than knowing when to take care of yourself and knowing when to ask for help. More NWSL news. NWSL Boston announced on Friday that it's officially changing its name from Boston Nation FC to something else. The team expects to release the new name in the coming weeks, and they posted a statement that read quote, Boston, You've waited long enough. We are changing our club name dash coming soon FC. End quote. One of my favorite Boston sports fan friends texted me quote, going to have to make it coming soon, FC, Jersey, wtf are they doing? End quote, which is a fair point, I mean the whole You've waited long enough only to make them wait some more an announcement of an announcement. Yeah, that's tough, and so is the fact that they've lost months of runway where they could have had an established name, branding and merch because of their false start launch. Better to fix it, though, and get it right. So here's hoping they do. We're rooting for your Boston or coming soon FC. All right, we gotta take a quick break when we come back alone branden surfing for two and doing it all. Welcome back, slices. Let's continue our smorgasboard of sports. Shall we a sports giz board if you will? And I will First a shout out to the NYU women's basketball team, who ran their win streak to sixty in a row with their victory on Saturday over Gettysburg College in the Elite eight of the Division three NCUBA Championship Tournament. The Violets will face the University of Wisconsin Stout in the national semi final on Thursday. Side note, I had no idea that the NYU mascot was the Violets. Also, I got a shout out Brnn Greenwald of Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who competed in two nc DOUBLEA Division two championship meets in one day. She started Saturday with swimming, setting a personal best in the one hundred free prelimbs, then drove to the track meet, thankfully just five miles away, and set another personal best, this time in the high jump at five foot eight. She missed at five point ten, ended up tying for eighth place and becoming an All American in track. She then rushed back to the pool and finished eighth in the one hundred free in All American finish and swimming as well in the same day. And if you're impressed by all that, I didn't even mention that on Wednesday she set a Division two record in the fifty free style event prelimbs and then won it all to become the fifty free national champion. So shout out to Brent Greenwalt, I guess you can have it all. Speaking of having it all, I want all the starches. So don't forget about our delicious bracket challenge. Starch Madness. Thank you for the recipes you've already sent, including something called tater pigs. Which I'm really excited about. Keep them coming. I'm already getting pumped about cooking up some spuds and cobs and whatever else you might send my way. Good game at one nder medianetwork dot com is where you send the recipes. Once we make the bracket, you'll vote for a final four, and then I'll cook them, eat them and Declara winner. All right, slices, It's time for another edition of Where Else but Women's Sports? For this one, we head to Portugal, where Jeanne de Fay, an Olympic bronze medalist in surfing, is currently competing at stop number three on the World Surf League Tour, the twenty twenty Fivemeo Ripcurl Pro, while sixteen weeks pregnant. And she's not just competing at the event. Defay actually won her opening heat and her round of sixteen heat, moving on to the quarterfinals. Where else but women's sports do we see doubles competing in singles, like fellow surfer CHRISA Moore competing at the Paris Olympics last summer and then days later announcing that she was pregnant. Or tennis legend Serena Williams winning the twenty seventeen Australian Open while carrying first child Alexis. Or beach volleyball star Carrie Walsh Jennings, who won gold in the twenty twelve Olympics while pregnant with her third child. Well, that was or of a triple competing in a doubles situation, but it counts. So fist, pump and whorah to jo Anne Hope. The run continues elsewhere. Big high fives to Dana Holtzpurt and fantastic freelance sports writer Roger Sherman, formerly of Espianation and the Ringer, who combined to alert me to the results of the NCUBA Rifle Championships down in Lexington, Kentucky. Roger wrote on Blue Sky Quote today in Gender and Sports. At the NCUBA Rifle Championships, one of the few NCUBA sports not separated into men's and women's championships, female shooters won both individual championships and five of six metal spots alone. Braden reached the podium alongside them end quote alone. Braiden is wild. So I dug into the results myself and with the caveat that were going off names and appearance, and we don't know if any of these athletes identify as non Binaria or otherwise, it does appear that the winners and five of six medal finishers in both individual events were all women. Just that one sneaky braiden. Anyway, we love to see it. We have to take another break. When we come back, we announce our big reveal, Welcome Back Slices. On Friday. We promised you a big reveal, and here it is our first merch drop. Let's go. We teamed up with the awesome folks at Breaking Tea to create a Sarah Spain Slash Good Game collection, starting with four T shirts. I'm a slice, good game, good game for you, ask me about women's sports, and my own personal motto unf withable. You can find the shirts at Breaking Tea and via the link on our social media posts where we're modeling the Goods Today show the world. You're a fan of the best daily women's sports show in the universe, also the only, but still absolutely the best. I literally cannot wait to run into someone in the real world wearing our merch I think I might literally cry. And since I'm already getting vulnerable, I do have to say thank you to all of you, Slices. Thank you for listening, for supporting us, for asking for ways to connect with us and the show, for doing your homework when we give you the good game play of the day, for demanding merch and wanting to wear it. We are just really, truly so grateful. Me, mish Alex, the whole team. It just feels like existing as an empowered and confident woman in America in twenty twenty five is already sort of an active resistance and talking about supporting and promoting the badass women that make up the sports world, including queer women, trans women, women of color, and any other folks marginalized by gender or who want to throw up a middle finger to those who wish to put us in a certain lane or category. It just feels more necessary than ever, so we want to keep doing it and your support allows us to. So Thank you, so so so so much, Slices. We love you, We hope you love the merch, we hope you buy it in Rocket, and we cannot wait to run into you wearing it. Also speaking to merch, as you may have heard over the last few weeks during the shows, I've been busy, I've been traveling and I am headed back out of town again to New York for a couple of days, but when I get back, I will be home for two whole weeks and those good game times Aurora FC collab hats will finally be sent out. So thank you for your patience, and don't forget Aurora FC kicks off their season in May. Woo. We love that you're listening, but we want you to get in the game every day too, So we've got another good game play at the day. Besides, of course going checking out the merchant buying it. I mentioned that starch Madness bracket, so send us those recipes. But there's also another bracket deserving of a super shout out, and it's from Slice Amanda Vallo. She is constantly sending us the funniest, most creative content, and this time she created something she's calling the Good Game Goat Team Bracket Challenge. Now, if we were doing this behind the scenes, we might have some squabbles about it team or two that's missing or one that we would rather see in there, But honestly, she did a damn good job with her selections and she saved us the time of doing it ourselves. So we're rolling with her picks. Okay, and today I'm going to announce the left side of the bracket. Then tomorrow I'll reveal the right side, and I'll post the bracket on social Instagram, Blue Sky, Twitter X all those and put the links in the show notes tomorrow. So if you want to make your voice heard and vote for your go team, fill it out, snap a pick and send it to us a good game at Wondermedia neetwork dot com. Don't worry, I'll remind you of all that tomorrow when I post the bracket. Today, I'm just going to give you the left side top left, including some paraphrase notes from Amanda's fantastic descriptions. Number one seed the ninety nine ers who left a legacy off the pitch as they embraced the roles of mentors, advocates, broadcast announcers, in studio analysts, investors, team owners, etc. Taken on. Number four seed the Rockford Peaches of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League, showing us what's possible before it was possible and give it us a damn good movie. Number two seed Yukon basketball, the Sue Bird and Diana Tarasi era, an undefeated season, multiple national championships, and one of the most entertaining and engaging on off the court partnerships in life. Versus number three seed, the twenty eleven World Cup champion Japanese national soccer team, who brought joy and hope to an entire nation and countless others in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami. All right bottom left side of the bracket. Number one seed the dream On Team ninety six US Olympics Basketball, who delivered on the biggest stage under the pressure cooker of a home Olympics. Basically, they quote unquote ushered it cruz skating through the tournament to gold in the atl and helped launch the WNBA. They take on number four seed Susan Butcher's I did Arod sled Dog team, four time winners of the famous race. In nineteen eighty five, Susan fended off a crazed moose but lost two of her dogs. The team staged to comeback for the ages, winning the next three consecutive I did Arod races. You're pulling on my heartstrings with this one, Amanda, and you know it. Moving on the number two seed, Golden Girls twenty four US Olympic gymnastics team gold medal winners with Moxie, they lapped the field despite their average age of twenty two years versus number three seed. The twenty twenty four US Women's Olympic rugby team that won a bronze medal helped grow momentum for a professional women's rugby league and gave us a loan Omar. Okay, that's a hell of a collection of goat teams and that's just one half of the bracket. The other half and your chance to decide who survives in advances will come tomorrow. For now, start thinking about your favorites and thanks again, Amanda. We always love to hear from you, so hit us up on email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review slaces. It's easy watch. Friend of the show Madeline Hill of the Sports Gossip podcast sharing a picture of seventy two year old Bill Belichick and his twenty four year old girlfriend doing the airplane rating minus infinity out of ten. Can't unsee review. Apparently old Bill and his girlfriend Jordan were doing beach yoga together and she wanted to share a bunch of pictures with the world, and the one that made it out to my eyeballs via Madeline's Blue Sky account was Bill on his back, legs up extended and Jordan in a white bathing suit with cutouts, balancing on his feet, back arched, arms up, flying like an airplane, just like my mom does with her grandkids. So yeah, now it's your turn, rate and review. Thanks for listening, y'all, See you tomorrow. Good Game, UCLA, Good Game, Vinyl BC you NCAA tournament selection committee setting us up for USC Yukon in the damn Elite eight. Come on man. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iheartwomen'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 Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez, and Grace lynch Our associate producer is Lucy Jones, and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain.