Episode 246: NBA Play-ins and Playoffs
In this episode, Jessica Luther, Amira Rose Davis and Lindsay Gibbs talk NBA Playoffs. But first, the team shares updates on their pets. Then, they discuss the benefits of the play-in format to the NBA playoffs, why they love to see emotion from athletes like Patrick Beverly and the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Celtics' momentum, how Covid-19 is impacting the series and predictions on who is going to win it all.
Following this discussion, you'll hear a preview of Jessica's interview with ESPN reporters Paula Lavigne and Tom Junod about their recent story on a Penn State football player who terrorized women in the 1970s.
Next, they burn the worst of sports this week on the Burn Pile. Then, they celebrate those making sports better including Torchbearer of the Week Trinity Thomas, NCAA champion in the all-around, bars and floor. They wrap up the show with What's Good in their in their lives and What We're Watching in sports this week.
This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelby Weldon is our social media and website specialist. Burn It All Down is part of the Blue Wire podcast network.
Transcript
Jessica: Welcome to Burn It All Down, the feminist sports podcast you need. I'm Jessica, and today I'm joined by Amira and Lindsay. On this week's show, we’re going to talk about the NBA playoffs. Then as always we'll have the burn pile, this week's torchbearers, what’s good in our world, and what we're watching this week. But first, before we get into all of that, I would like an animal update. How are our animals doing these days? Lindsay, please tell me about Mo.
Lindsay: Mo is very happy that I'm healed from COVID and that we can go back out into the world again. It was a long week and a half where I did not have energy for walks and could not take him to the usual things that I take him to when I don't have energy for walks or time for walks. So, we had a good weekend. We went to the dog bar on Saturday and then on Sunday for Easter we went over to my aunt's and I brought him and she has a little puppy, so they played, so that was fun. So he had lots of outings. Even though I'm feeling better today, it's raining and like 40 degrees today. So, no long walks for us today either. And it's all fine. He's all tired out.
Jessica: Aw. Wow, I'm so glad I asked about this, because now I'm very happy now I know all that about Mo. [laughs] Amira, please tell me about my second favorite dog in Austin, and your tiny little friend.
Amira: Yeah, Scooby's good. We got Tux up– [Scooby barks in the background] [laughter] Oh, there’s Scooby.
Jessica: He knew! He knew!
Lindsay: He heard his name! Oh my god.
Amira: [laughs] He knew. Exactly. [Scooby barks] He’s still barking. So, Tuxedo, who's Tux for short–
Jessica: That’s how animal nicknames go, man.
Amira: Although Mike inexplicably calls him Rex, which is also Zachary's name of his dinosaur stuffy, is named Rex. And so Zachary is very mad about this confusion over the name.
Jessica: [laughs] The proprietary name, Rex.
Amira: Yes, exactly. I have an addendum to that. I didn't know Zachary had names for his stuffed animals, and so he was reciting them in the car the other day and he said, “My little green dinosaur I call Shot because that's what they gave me when I got my vaccine.”
Jessica: Aww! That is very cute.
Lindsay: Oh my god.
Amira: When he got his COVID vaccine at Texas Children's, they were giving out stuffies, so he called his dinosaur Shot. [laughs] And I was like, your brain is adorable. Anywho. So, the dog and the kitten are doing very well together, which is literally a surprise to me. They both mostly sleep on Samari. She's just like a huge giant pillow with braids.
Jessica: Aww. I love that for everybody.
Amira: Tux is…He’s a cat, man. Like, we're not cat people. And then we have a cat and then…So, it's an adjustment, but he's cool. He's fitting in with the chaos. He snuggles with the boys. He really just likes to be held, like Scooby. He's a big baby. But Tux is actually a baby – Scoob is five and thinks he's a baby and wants to curl up on you. So, Scooby has to be a big brother now, and he got Tux down from a place that Tux shouldn't be the other day, and Samari was like, “He's maturing!” [Jessica laughs] So, that's what's happening in our house.
Jessica: I love that Samari as the oldest child is now relating to Scooby as the oldest animal. That's lovely. Ralph really likes cold weather. We are like, I don't know, in the 80s these days. He's not a fan. He's not a fan of that. But he's doing well. He's just a perfect dog, and I love him endlessly. I don't have any good stories though. He's just the same old Ralph has always.
The NBA playoffs have started. We will get to who is in and who is playing whom, but first we're going to back it up a little bit and discuss the play in tournament, which is now in its second year. So, for those who might not know, the play in tournament is a series of winner take all games that feature the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th seeds in both conferences. This new format allows 20 of the league’s 30 teams to compete in the postseason, and it adds this degree of randomness. So, in the first set of games, it's the 7 seeds versus the 8 seeds; whoever wins gets the 7th seed berth in that conference. And then the 9th and the 10th play against each other; whoever wins that then challenges whoever lost the 7th versus 8th, and then whoever wins that gets the 8th seed. So the idea is that you could go into this game as a 7 seed and lose and not actually make the playoffs. Same with the 8 seed. Actually, this year we saw neither 8 seed made it in. So there's this randomness to it. The idea I believe is that it keeps everything more competitive as you move through the season, right? So that at the end of the season people are still trying to make it into the 8th, 9th, 10th spots so they can play into the playoffs.
So, without this expanded field, the western conference’s eight teams would have been filled like a month ago. There was a concrete example I read from the Washington Post's Ben Golliver. He talked about the New Orleans Pelicans. They started the season…Apparently, they won 1 game and lost 12. With no play in, the Pelicans would have had little reason to consider bringing back Zion. They might not have rolled the dice to trade for CJ McCollum. Their season would have effectively been over in November. And here they are in the playoffs now. So, I want to know if you guys…Are you pro play in at this point? There are people who hate the fact that 20 of the 30 teams are making the playoffs. But I do get it. I get what the NBA is trying to do here, what the league is trying to do here. So, Linz, tell me what your thoughts are on the play in format.
Lindsay: Yeah, I absolutely love it. First of all, I think it's very interesting in NBA – and I didn't really understand this the first couple of years – but like, the play in is not the playoffs. It's different. So it's not actually 10 teams making the playoffs. Although if you're a 10th seed, you have a chance to make the playoffs, but you have to get through this tournament. So, I really like the way it's set up to still give the higher seeds big advantages and multiple tries and home games and things like that. It's not simply one game, right? If you’re the top two seeds, you can get two chances to win that game. So I really like that. And overall, I think it was like last Tuesday, the games were a little bit of a blow out and I was not that into it. And I was like, well, maybe this isn't as good as I thought it was.
But then Friday's games were really, really exciting, and it was really fun. I was like, I'm paying attention to the Pelicans and Hawks who I haven't watched all season, right? And I'm getting really invested in them. And, you know, the first round of the playoffs, like, 16 teams play. You're not getting that much focus on one or two teams like casual fans are, because…I mean, I'm just kind of scanning the scores and tuning in when it's a close game. So I really liked getting invested in those games. And I mean, the knockout theory, it's a very good setup, you know? I like it when sports mean something, and automatically they really mean something. So, I’m a huge, huge fan.
Jessica: I also think it's interesting, like, teams that are maybe the 9th or 10th seed, they could be on a streak and they could actually be the better team at that point in the season. And then they get to play their way into the playoff. Like, I think that idea is nice.
Amira: Yeah. And I mean, like, even in the naming, as Lindsay said, a play in is not a playoff. And I think the biggest thing about a playoff is you know if you lose, you go home. And while that's true in a play in kind of, I like the idea and the mentality that you're playing into a spot. And like Lindsay said, what I'm most taken in is, like, I love complicated bracketology, [Jessica laughs] and I just love that if you're the top seed who are in these playoffs games – which, a lot of times when people get all pearl clutchy about new adjustments to things, even if it's like going to the college football format, right? Everybody’s always worried about that first team out, that first team out. And so in this, they're very worried about these 8 seeds who have to like now, you know, play to retain their spot. But like, as Lindsay said, it's set up in a way where if you're a 9th and 10th seed, you have to win all the games that you play in order to get into the playoffs. But if you're the top seed, you have to win one of those games. And I think that that's a really smart concept.
And I think, like many things that we're seeing across sports, there is this reality that even if it doesn't feel like it, because we're very enmeshed in sports, there has been a decline in viewerships and in numbers in terms of people caring. We've gone through a pandemic, like, sports are sports, you know? And a lot of people are thinking about all these ways to make their product of sports that they're selling more enticing. We talked about this at the Olympics when we watched skateboarding kind of captivate us, or speed climbing. And I think that this is one of the ways that the NBA is pulling in people. So you're not just rolling into these long game series – which are fun and spicy in their own right. But there is this immediacy. It captures a little bit of that March Madness chaos. So, I'm with Lindsay. I enjoy it. I'm never going to say no to chaos.
Jessica: Yeah. And this year, both 7 seeds won their games and are the 7 seeds in the playoffs. And both 8 seeds lost both of their games and didn't make it in. And the 9th seeds are in the playoffs. So, it just sort of goes to what you all were talking about. I did want to talk about one specific…Well, the end, the aftermath of one specific play in game. The Timberwolves beat the Clippers 109-104 and I did not see any of this game. All I saw was the Twitter reaction to the Minnesota Timberwolves reacting to their win, to the celebration. Patrick Beverley in particular jumped on the scorers table, threw his jersey into the crowd and cried in celebration for Minnesota winning. They had beat his former team, the Clippers. He explained his exuberance by saying, “Just had to get to where we need to get to. I know some people, they speak about class and everything. These are the same people two years ago when everyone was throwing up the fist for George Floyd to bring some love to a state and a city that's been hurting for a couple of years, pandemic. We deserve this moment.” Wow.
People had so many feelings about the Timberwolves reacting this much to winning their play in game. And it just made me think…Amira has recently talked about Naomi Osaka at Indian Wells. It's a beautiful discussion in episode 242 about emotions there. And then this weekend Aaron and I were watching the Austin FC game that was a mess, mess, mess. They got down and then in the last 10 minutes of regulation, they came back. The equalizer goal was scored by this guy named Danny Hoesen. He barely played last year because he was injured. This was only his second time on the field this year. We were screaming when he scored this goal, like, scared the dog, the whole thing. And then they panned to Hoesen and he's just flat faced, nothing, giving us nothing. This is not fair at all! Aaron and I were like, what's wrong with him? Why isn’t it he happy like we're happy? The dude is still playing a game. They had only equalized. They still had a goal to go if they're going to win, which they ended up doing it. And it just made me think, like, Beverley, Naomi, Danny. I want to know, like, when are emotions and which emotions are okay? And why?
Lindsay: I want genuine emotions that, you know, don't actively hurt people. Do you know what I mean? [Jessica laughs] Like, you draw the line at like fits of rage, right? Like, Bridges threw his mouthpiece at somebody, like, don't do that. You know what I mean? That's gross. But like in general, If you're an athlete and what helps you is staying stoic and staying on beat, if that's your genuine feeling, like, I want you to do that. If you're an athlete who wears their heart on their sleeve, who needs to emote, to pump out, I want to see you do that. That's why I always say I like villains and I like good sportsmanship. I like whatever is really genuine from the athlete. So, I loved it. I mean, look, very few athletes end up winning at all, right? Like, end up in the championship. So, are we literally saying there's only one time you can ever really celebrate? No, that's bullshit! Now, like I said, I think some athletes – especially if they're more veteran, you know, they're more businesslike. I like seeing that too. That can be fun too. But it's the joy, like…Sports are so damn stupid if the athletes don't care if they win or lose.
Jessica: [laughs] Yes! Yes.
Lindsay: If you just think about sports, just like, as they are, they're ridiculous. So like, the only thing that makes them worth anything is caring if you win or lose. And so please celebrate, please cry and be upset when you lose. Please have emotions! Like, it matters. I want it to matter.
Jessica: Yeah. And that's so interesting when I'm thinking about like how Aaron and I were so excited about this Austin FC game that really meant almost nothing. Like, we as fans were emoting on such a high level for a game that didn’t…Like, what does it really even mean? So yeah, the idea that like Patrick Beverley's not going to do his thing after they win, but for him was a personal win and a big deal. Amira, how do you feel about this?
Amira: I'm like in this kind of mixed zone, because I feel like there's sometimes a disconnect between the emotional resonance as somebody watching it, like y'all just said, we go through all of those very big emotions and all of us have very big emotions, so we are oftentimes crying and cheering and laughing. And I think that you can see that disconnect that I've seen it in terms of people who are like so mad at a loss that they are then looking at the athletes who play for their favorite sports teams and mad that they're talking to people on the other team that they have been friends with their entire lives. [laughs] Like, that they're going to hug or saying good game to, because this is their job. And at the end of the day, like, yeah, they're mad, but sometimes you process that differently. You know, I think about that immediacy a lot, is like what the camera's catch in terms of emotion is a sliver. It is a moment. Sometimes it's just a snapshot and then boom, you're off to like 60 Minutes or something, you know?
And I think that there's also a difference when there's high stakes games, you can have immediate emotional reaction, and that might change by the time you get in front of cameras – or by the time you get in front of a media presser after, and we've talked about this through like Naomi before. Maybe you're not ready. Maybe the next morning you would be more tempered. And so I think a lot about this. I know I'm emotional, but sometimes my emotions don't necessarily make sense or they're not legible. Like, I'm the type of person who cries when I'm frustrated but I'm thinking about, if somebody had a camera in my face, what those tears would mean mediated through a lens, versus how I'm feeling in the moment. And so that's what I think about when it comes to emotions. But I think for me, it's part and parcel of just generally feeling like we want our sports a certain way and we want reactions to map onto ours. And sometimes they do, and when they do you get that high, that ecstasy of feeling like, oh my god, Austin FC just did this improbable comeback and I'm getting these capital letters texts from Jess and I'm excited and Jessica’s excited and the players are excited and that's exciting, right? And then sometimes when they're a little out of step with each other, I find that we sit in this disconnect.
Jessica: Yeah. You all are so smart. So, let's talk about the actual playoffs. I'm going to start with the western conference. So, on the western side we have Phoenix is the overall one, versus the New Orleans Pelicans, which we talked about; Memphis versus Minnesota, we just talked about; Golden State versus Denver, and Dallas versus Utah. I did want to talk about Minnesota over Memphis. Minnesota actually won the first game against Memphis. This is this incredible CBS Sports lede about this game. It said, “Behind an extraordinary performance from Anthony Edwards in his playoff debut, the Minnesota Timberwolves took a 1-0 lead in their first round series with a 130 to 117 victory against the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday. Edwards, who doesn't turn 21 until August–” so then I felt like the oldest lady who's ever lived, “Edwards, who doesn't turn 21 until August, scored 36 points on 12-for-23 shooting, with six assists, one steal and two blocks, leading the Wolves to their first Game 1 victory since 2004. This is also the first time Minnesota has led in a playoff series since 2004.” And I'm bringing this up because, in a lot of the write-ups on Beverley, there people that were like, “Well, they're just going to go get stomped by Memphis when they get to the next round” – and look at this! Amazing.
I also want to shout out Karl-Anthony Towns. He's been through a lot. This man had a great game: 29 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks. The other thing with Memphis…I’ve talked about it before. I love Ja Morant. He had an amazing two arm dunk. He scored 32 points in the game. But I also wanted to mention, he is so wild, Aaron and I were watching clips of him last night, because the New York Times had this great piece about him called ‘A Magician Up There.’ And what they did was interview all these people who “fly” in their jobs – aerialists, skateboarders, skydivers – and asked them to watch clips of Ja Morant and then describe what it's like to watch him fly on the court. It's just delightful. So I think that is going to be a really exciting matchup to keep watching, to see if Memphis can actually pull this out behind Ja, or if Minnesota does what everyone said was unthinkable when they won their play in game. The other thing in the western conference is Dallas. Luka's injured, and no one knows when he's coming back, and that team just can't seem to win without him, I feel like. Do you guys have any western conference thoughts?
Lindsay: I will just say the Warriors look really good. [laughs]
Jessica: They do. They do.
Lindsay: So much fun to see Steph, Klay and Draymond playing well together. And Steph and Klay are just pure joy out there on the basketball court, and the Warriors…You know, I'm pumped for them. I am pumped for them.
Jessica: Yeah. Yeah. Good luck to Denver, is what we're saying. [laughs]
Amira: [laughs] Good luck to Denver.
Lindsay: Sorry, Jokić. Love you, but… [laughs]
Jessica: Amira?
Amira: Yeah, no, I don't care about the western conference. [laughter]
Jessica: Totally fair. So, let's do eastern. Miami's top seed overall, playing Atlanta. They won their first game. Boston v Brooklyn, Milwaukee and Chicago, Philadelphia and Toronto. Amira, the Celtics are 1-0 over the Nets. Tell us about it.
Amira: It was chaos. I feel like the series is going to be epic and I'm not sure I can handle it. [Jessica laughs] First of all, I just wanted to remark on the remarkable turnaround that the Celtics team has had. They looked fairly in disarray at the beginning of the season. Then they hired a new coach, Ime Udoka, who is also known as Nia Long's husband, and he's the first head coach of African descent. He has got these folks playing good, like, together. He’s coaching, like, you're like, ah, coaching! That's what it looks like! They're the #2 seed. They had the ability to be the #1 seed, lost a pivotal game there. But I think it was like midway through the season they had like a 6% chance of getting the 1 seed in the east, and the fact that they were like within a game of doing that and actually going into the final week of the season and had a share of the #1 position is a remarkable turnaround. He was named coach of the month in March and in April.
Jessica: Oh, wow.
Amira: Him and Monty Williams, who coaches for the Phoenix Suns, were the only two coaches to have a double kind of coach of the month this season. And there's only one other coach in Celtics history that has ever got coach of the month twice since they started giving that award out in 1982. And so he's really in rarefied company, which I think speaks to just the effect that is happening in Boston, that he's having on the team, that the team is having as they gel together. Which brings us to their series with the Brooklyn Nets, which of course is like Kyrie versus Boston. And he's enjoying kind of playing into that of course. There was a fan who caught him flipping the double bird.
Jessica: [laughs] We love those emotions.
Amira: But as many people noted on Twitter, maybe Boston fan should try cheering Kyrie, because the booing doesn't seem to be helping. [laughter] Because he was playing magnificently. And I saw, Lindsay, you live tweet this game, so I know that you at least had it on for the end of the chaos too.
Jessica: Buzzer beater.
Amira: But I will just say, if you haven't watched the ending of that game, the buzzer beater play is one of those plays that was like…I mean, I said I like chaos and confusion, and that to me was perfect, because every time I thought somebody was going to pull up for a shot, they didn't, they passed. And I was like, SHOOT IT! And then they wouldn’t! And I was like, WHAT ARE YOU DOING! And then they did. And it was just like a roller coaster of emotions. But it's nice. It's nice to be like, oh my gosh, I like this team.
Jessica: Uh oh, I can already see Amira’s…Like, this is going to be a rough go for her, especially if they go deep in these playoffs. It’s going to be a journey.
Lindsay: Can I just say how tough this series is though? Because like–
Amira: So tough.
Lindsay: I want to root against both of them. [laughter]
Amira: Well it's not tough in that way for me! [laughter]
Lindsay: I mean, even though I like Kevin Durant a lot, you know, it's fun to root against Brooklyn because they're the super team, right?
Jessica: The whole narrative.
Lindsay: And it's fun to root against Boston because they’re Boston. And it's really weird though, because it's like, Boston's kind of got these lovable guys, but they're on Boston! So I feel very conflicted throughout this. I'll just root for the typical chaos. I'll root for the typical chaos.
Jessica: The other series in the eastern conference that we wanted to talk about is Philly versus Toronto, in part because, y’all, we're still in a pandemic, and this is the series that is reminding us of that. Yeah, Linz?
Lindsay: Yeah. So Toronto, you know, in Canada, they've got their tougher COVID guidelines then we've had in the States throughout.
Jessica: Yeah. Those smarties up in Canada with their public health or whatever.
Lindsay: Who have found out that we're not done with this pandemic yet, which also, like, we got another remind that we're not done with this pandemic during the play in when Paul George was a scratch for the Clippers game. And that was one game, right? The play in. And he got COVID, so he had to sit out of that game. So, definitely not done. Anyways, Toronto, you can't get in there if you don't have like the full vaccine. And Matisse Thybulle, you know, big time player on the 76ers, he only got his first shot and never got his followup vaccine and so he's not going to be able to go to Toronto and play in these away games.
Jessica: Wow.
Lindsay: It's sad reading his comments, because it really shows just what a lack of understanding of what a vaccine is and does, you know? He says, like, when I got the first shot, I assumed like the vaccine meant you couldn't get it or spread it, you know? And so he was very disappointed when he found out you could still get COVID with the vaccine and still spread it. It just lessened the degrees. And so he didn't get his second shot and he had to break the news to his teammates and everything. And now he's going to miss out on these really big playoff games. And I think I’m a little bit past being mad at people for the lack of vaccine, like, that emotion has worn off. And I'm just sad, you know? It just makes me sad about the lack of information and about the fact that like we're still here. But the way the 76ers crushed Toronto in that game one…Maybe it's the break Toronto needs to even things up. But he will not be playing games three, four, or if it goes to game six, game six.
Amira: It’s interesting to think about this from like a competitive standpoint, because one of the things…Like, Kyrie had such a good game, and somebody was on Twitter like, of course he's playing out of this world – he sat out half the season. [Jessica laughs] You know, obviously because of his refusal. Like, this to me seems like a strategy that's very grounded in logic, especially if you have a superstar. Basketball is a game of streaks. You have to get hot at the right time. And I feel like, especially with some of the aging superstars that we see, it’s like, if you know you got like three, four good months in, I would set out the first half of the bum ass season too. I mean, I'm not saying I would do it because I didn't get vaccinated, but I would find a reason to not play.
Jessica: Yeah. Rest your body.
Lindsay: But this is when you want to play, you know what I mean? [laughs] Like, we’re the playoffs.
Amira: Exactly. Yeah. Which is like, just why Toronto…That’s a different thing. But I was thinking about that in terms of Kyrie, like, he he's been chilling. [laughs]
Jessica: Yeah. He's ready to go now that he finally can. Before we get here on this, I want to know who do you think is going to win the whole thing? Amira, is your heart set on Boston?
Amira: I can't make predictions because I feel like a jinx.
Jessica: Okay. Okay, Lindsay?
Lindsay: I mean, I want the Suns to win it. That's a very lovable team. They got very close last year, and I would love to see Chris Paul win a championship, even though he's very annoying sometimes. But Suns are the best regular season team. I'm rooting for them to win it all. I don't know if that's a prediction, but that's what I want to happen.
Jessica: Yeah, I agree. I will say, when I was reading about Golden State and how they played in that first game, I was like, uh oh, we might be seeing them in the end. But yeah, I agree. I was thinking that it would be nice for Phoenix to pull this one out.
Amira: Okay, ready?
Jessica: Amira Rose, what are you doing?
Amira: Do you see three-year-old Samari?
Lindsay: Oh my god.
Jessica: Oh, that's Samari!
Samari: Go, Celtics!
Jessica: [laughter] Okay, we have to have that.
Amira: This is back when she didn't spite me by not cheering for my sports team.
Jessica: For this week's interview, which drops on Thursday, I spoke with ESPN reporters Paula Lavigne and Tom Junod about their deep dive into a Penn State football player who terrorized women in State College and near his home in Long Island in the late 1970s. We talked about how they came to this story, why it was important to tell four decades after the fact, the complications of memory and remembering, the long lasting effects of trauma, and what if anything is different now than in 1979.
Paula Lavigne: You're right. It's incredibly tough, because memory is a very…I dunno, it’s a tricky thing.
Tom Junod: It taught me a lesson about suppression, because I think that the rule in this story was the people who either suppressed it – mostly the players and the coaches – or who had it suppressed – people like Karen – had more trouble remembering it, you know, 40 some odd years later, than people like Betsy, who as Paula just said, owned it.
Jessica: Now it's time for everyone's favorite segment that we like to call the burn pile, where we pile up all the things we've hated this week in sports and set them aflame. Lindsay Gibbs, what are you burning this week?
Lindsay: Gosh, this just feels like such like a retro, classic type burn. Do you know what I mean? Like, sometimes we have these burns that I'm just like, wow, how are we still burning this stuff? But anyway, Kenny Shiels, he's the head coach of the Northern Ireland women's soccer team. And after they lost 5-0 to England, he said in a press conference – like, this was not off the cuff, he was asked about this and there's a microphone right in front of his face. There was no hot mic situation. [Jessica laughs] He said, “I felt England struggled a bit, a wee bit at times, to open us up, until the psychology of going 2-0 up in the women's game. I'm sure you will have noticed, if you go through the patterns, when a team concedes a goal, they concede a second one in a very, very short space of time right through the whole spectrum of the women's game, because girls and women are more emotional than men.”
Jessica: [laughs] Sorry. It's not funny.
Lindsay: “So they take a goal going in not very well.” And I need to read this whole quote. So I'm just gonna keep going. “When we went down 1-0, we tried to slow it down to give them time, to get that emotional imbalance out of their heads. That's an issue we have, not just in Northern Ireland, but all of the countries in the world.” [laughter]
Jessica: Oh my gosh! This man coaches women.
Lindsay: He’s been head coach for two years of this team. If you're a Burn It All Down listener, you don't need to be told, like, “women are not more emotional than men.” Men also, when they do something like concede a goal, are very likely to concede a goal right after. I was watching at the end of the Celtics-Nets game, there were a couple of possessions where there was two turnovers like in one possession, do you know what I mean? And it made me think back to this, right? How, like, during these intense moments, you lose your concentration a little bit. And so it's just absolutely ridiculous for him to blame this on being women. Maybe, sir, if your team was having such a problem with this, maybe it has to do with your coaching and not the entire gender.
Amira: Yeah. He's not coaching. They’re too emotional to receive his coaching. [laughter]
Lindsay: Yeah. I cannot believe we are still here. And I want to note that this game was played in Northern Ireland in front of a record crowd of 15,348 fans. And so after such a historic night, for you to spew this bullshit? And then I'm not even going to read his apology, because it was not an apology. This is a theory that he has and truly believes and felt the need to tell the world about. Burn!
All: Burn.
Jessica: “In and all the countries of the world.” Amazing. [laughter] Dr. Davis, what do you want to torch?
Amira: Yeah, I'm going to continue Lindsay's line here about theories that people have and feel the need to tell the world about. This one being one Cameron Newton, [laughter] who is just back on his ashy-headed bullshit, appearing on a Barstool podcast. He just decided, you know, come to him for updated insights on gender roles and courting and things of that matter. And so after kind of like talking about bad bitches, “everybody wants to be a bad bitch,” but then also maybe a boss chick? It was very confusing. There was no consistency here. It was just like, women, different types of women. He lamented the fact that everybody was trying to – everybody meaning women here – was trying to either be a bad bitch or a boss chick or out there doing their own thing. And like Lindsay, I'm just going to read you exactly what he said. “Now, a woman for me is handling your own, but knowing how to cater to a man’s needs, right? And I think a lot of times, when you get the aesthetic of ‘I'm a boss bitch, I'm a this, I'm a that…’ No, baby, but you can't cook. You don't know when to be quiet. You don't know how to allow a man to lead.” I mean… [laughs]
Jessica: Wow.
Amira: It's just so ashy. Why are you doing this? Nobody has time for your bullshit. This is literally how I feel, because in inevitably we go through a cycle where everybody goes back to him being like, “A female talking about routes? LOL.” Blah blah blah. Just keep your ashiness over there. You're dressed like Willy Wonka. And so now, because you just have a news cycle, there was like another podcast that he recorded before this that was released where he's talking about the lingerie football league. And he was like, “Yeah, like, I want competitive opportunities. Like, let a woman just be in her aesthetic and do it. It doesn't always have to be ass and tits.” And people are like, “See? He's not sexist.” He's like, it doesn't have to be ass and tits. I was like, just stop asking him about women. Stop asking him about anything! [laughter] I know, Linz. And it's like, I just want you to stop being so ashy, like, please find some lotion and go somewhere. Thank you.
And so that was really like an annoying burn, but I do want to draw attention and put a little like double burn on the pile, because the Washington…Commanders? Yeah. That's them. The Washington Commanders are yet again displaying signs of toxicity. Big surprise here. These are about financial regulations. Basically, there's a congressional investigation who sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission alleging that the Washington Commanders basically from the top down – Dan Snyder and all his cronies down – that they have been keeping two sets of books, not sharing revenue with the NFL, and not reimbursing many reimbursable expenses to fans. Part of why this is so annoying is because a lot of people are like, oh, this is going to be the needle. First of all, I feel like he’s just teflon, like, this isn’t.
But if it is, that doesn't make me feel good. Why is the harm and toxic workplace that you have created for all of your women employees who are like, “Hey, stop being sexist,” and all these people who are like, “Stop being racist,” and all of this in your toxic workplace. But the thing that's really going to bring you down is because you’re cookin’ the books? It's just…The things we get upset about disproportionately is annoying. And so whether we're talking about Dan Snyder – who is also ashy in his own right – or we're talking about Cameron Newton, I was just like all of it to stop, because like, we have so much on our plates right now. The last thing we need is people fucking around and being foolish. And that is what I want to burn.
All: Burn.
Jessica: So, last week I burned the Portland Timbers front office for pressuring Madison Shanley not to wear her ‘YOU KNEW’ shirt before singing the national anthem before a Timbers game. I briefly addressed the way the club handled the report of domestic violence by one of their players, Andy Polo. Well, time to dive in more to this, because last week friends of the show Jules Boykoff and Dave Zirin had a piece about the Polo case at The Nation. They've done all the work here. I'm just going to burn what they found. First, when a friend of Polo's partner called the police in May, 2021, reporting that Polo was hitting his partner, it wasn't just the police who showed up to the scene. Two members of the Timbers staff did as well. One of them being Jim McCausland, a former Portland police detective, and the current head of security for the Timbers. The cops ended up only citing Polo in part because they felt there was a “safety plan in place.” And also because – they literally wrote this in the report – the two Timbers employees were at the scene.
Second, Dave and Jules have listened to the full recording that Polo's partner made of Timbers employees, including Christine Mascal, an attorney and former prosecutor hired by the Timbers to represent Polo, trying to pressure her, the partner, to drop the charges. Mascal, whom they note “resigned from the Oregon Crime Victims Law Center, a victim advocacy group, amid allegations that she blamed an alleged rape victim for the crime, uses the fact that Polo being suspended would be a financial hardship for his partner,” which feels particularly sinister to say to someone because of the fact that DV victims are often forced to make choices about their own safety because they are tied financially to the person who's harmed them. It's a hard enough decision to make without pressure from a lawyer and a professional sports team.
And finally, the Timbers didn't want to answer Dave and Jules’ questions, instead pointing them to the MLS investigation of the Timbers' response to the report against Polo, which found that the Timbers didn't purposefully cover anything up. But, plot twist, the law firm who did that investigation has worked for MLS for decades. And so as Dave and Jules note, “the firm functions more as an advisor or a partner to the league rather than a neutral investigator whose own financial wellbeing would not be harmed by finding fault with the team.” In the end, the MLS only fined the Timbers $25,000 for failing to report the incident to the league. That is $75,000 less than what the owner of the Timbers was fined for publicly disagreeing with the refs a few years back.
This all feels bad. It's particularly on my mind right now because my team that I clearly can't say enough about, Austin FC, has a top player, Cecilio Domínguez, who is currently indefinitely suspended by the league for “possible off-field misconduct, pending an MLS investigation.” There's still no definitive word on what this possible misconduct actually is. Y'all know that I would really like to know. So I don't know if it's gendered violence or any kind of violence at all. But I do know that the Polo case, the Timbers’ response and the MLS investigation into all of it doesn't make me feel confident that whatever comes out about Domínguez will be the full and accurate story. And that's a shitty feeling as a fan. So I just want to burn it all. Burn.
All: Burn.
Jessica: Now to highlight people carrying the torch and changing sports culture. First, we have some remembrances this week. Amira?
Amira: Yeah. Rest in peace to Estela Virgen Rodríguez Villanueva, who’s a Cuban judoka who won two silver medals at the Olympic Games in Barcelona and Atlanta, and four medals at the Pan-American Game, two of them gold.
Jessica: Lindsay?
Lindsay: Yeah. Rest in peace to Shirley Spork, one of the founders of the LPGA and a prominent teaching pro in woman's golf, who passed away last week. She was 94. And somehow it was only two weeks ago that she was inducted into the LPGA hall of fame. We've got to make sure we get these pioneers their flowers before they're gone.
Jessica: Yes. And also rest in peace to Freddy Rincón, former Colombian soccer captain, who recently died in a car accident. Rincón played in three World Cups – ’90, ’94 and ’98 – and scored 17 goals in 84 games for Colombia. All right. Now to our torchbearers. Amira?
Amira: Jacky Hunt-Broersma is running 102 marathons in 102 days, and is on track to beat the world record of consecutive marathons, which is currently at 100. Her completion of the Boston Marathon this week – we’re recording this on marathon day, on Patriots’ Day, shoutout to my Massachusetts folks. That is marathon number 92 for Jacky. She's competing in the para division as a below the knee amputee and is raising money for Amputee Blade Runners, an organization that gives out running prosthetics since these prosthetics can cost tens of thousands of dollars and insurance companies often consider them a “luxury” that they will not cover. We will put her GoFundMe link in our show notes, but for now, go Jacky.
Jessica: I love that Lindsay?
Lindsay: Yeah. WNBA draft was last week. We want to shout out Kentucky's Rhyne Howard, who went to the Atlanta Dream as the first pick. Ameshya Williams-Holliday who went 25th overall at the Indiana Fever – she's from Jackson State and was the first player to be selected from an HBCU in 20 years. And overall, there were just huge viewership numbers: 403,000 viewers, 20% more than last year's draft, the most viewed draft since 2004. And my interview last week was with Jackie Powell from Bleacher Report, and we talked all about the WNBA draft. So go check that out if you missed it.
Jessica: Amira.
Amira: Yeah. Sopron Basket are the EuroLeague champions for the first time ever. The team was led by Gabby Williams, who was named the final four MVP.
Jessica: The Vancouver All My Relations won the 2022 All Native basketball tournament. Shenise Sigsworth and Karalee Antoine both put up 19 points for Vancouver, and Sigsworth was named the MVP. After the game, Vancouver assistant coach Montanna Howe said, “We've dealt with a lot of adversity and also being from an urban community, it's really challenging for us to feel connected. And this is everything to us.” Linz?
Lindsay: Choi Min-jeong dominated at the ISU World Short Track championships, winning three of four individual gold medals to take the overall tournament champion title.
Jessica: Can I get a drumroll, please?
[drumroll]
Amira, who are our torchbearers this week?
Amira: Yeah, I got some NCAA gymnastics champions to crown. Oklahoma went from last place after one rotation to winning the program's fifth national title. They just edged out Florida with a 198.2 points to the Gators 198.075. I mean, that is really, really, really tight. Also, shoutout to Suni Lee from Auburn who won the beam title, and Utah's Jaedyn Rucker who won vault. And my girl, Trinity motherfucking Thomas from Florida won the all around title, the bars, and the floor. She is your multiple champion, and she is our torchbearer of the week.
Jessica: All right. What is good with y'all this week? Linz, what's good?
Lindsay: COVID negative, so that's good.
Jessica: Yay!
Lindsay: I feel like I've lost the last two weeks of my life, so I'm very excited to get back to work stuff. I haven't been this excited to work in a while. [laughter] I getto go to my coworking spot for like the first time in a month, because between NCAA tournament stuff and then COVID, I haven’t been. So yeah, I mean, honestly, you know, being able to get back into a groove, the weather’s…Well, it was nice for the weekend. It's bad today, but anyways, I'm just feeling good and excited. You know, able to think about the future.
Jessica: I love it. Amira, what’s good?
Amira: I finally got my medications filled. [laughs] So happy. It's been the longest two weeks of my life. Me and Jess got to see Howard Bryant yesterday, our friend Howard Bryant’s in town to do the Deford lecture here at UT. So we had a very nice dinner. It was nice to see Howard. We talked about teenagers for a very long time. I also finished a book deadline thing that was like really important, and I'm feeling kind of good about that. We're approaching the time of year where I'm like confused because I don’t have as much on my plate is usual. And I'm like, what do I do? So there's things coming to an end. Prodigies is airing its final episode today, the day we're recording this. But we'll still be telling you about it because I want everybody to go binge it now that everything's out.
But that experience is coming down to a close, as well as end of school stuff. But I did want to also give a very special shout out to Paulina, who we've had on the show before, and who is finishing up her dissertation at Penn State on not only winning multiple fellowships and kicking ass, but also having a beautiful baby girl, Elena Alessandra, who is the cutest, most meme-able baby who always gives the funniest, most expressive looks already. I'm just so excited for her and her partner, Andy, and their family. So, shoutout to you, Paulina.
Jessica: That's lovely. I went to the University of Idaho last week and I just want to thank everyone who brought me and who came out, specifically Dr. Rebecca Scofield. We've gotta have her on Burn It All Down. She studies the gay rodeo, and I just want to hear her talk about that for like an hour. But also, she told me that they're just getting back into the swing of in-person events, and so she was prepping me. She's like, maybe 15 people will show up. That would be really great. And there were like 60 to 70 people there. So, thank you so much to everyone who came. And also, I just want to tell everyone that I'm currently obsessed with an HBO show called Minx.
Amira: There’s a lot of penises. [laughs]
Jessica: So much dick. Like, FYI, so much dick in that show. But it's so, so good. To me, it reminds me so much of Glow, the wrestling show that I loved. It feels like the cousin of that. It even has the same guy who's like a sad sack husband as a sad sack husband in this one, that was in Glow. It's wonderful. But also – I feel like this is too much information for the world – but in one of the final episodes, there is a very erect penis that you get to see a lot. It's a plot point. There's nothing erotic about this at all. And I was like, that can't be real. Like, is that his actual, incredibly hard dick? And I was trying to Google it and could not. And Google kept warning me that I was veering into bad–
Amira: Yeah, I was about to say, you were just Googling…? [laughs]
Jessica: All I did was type in the actor's name, the word Minx, and then Google was trying to warn me that I might be stumbling onto things that I didn't necessarily want to. [laughter] And I still don't know the answer, so I will have to continue to do that difficult research. But Minx is wonderful and everyone should watch it. So, what we're watching this week: obviously the NBA playoffs have started, baseball is back, and the NWSL Challenge Cup group stage is still ongoing.
That's it for this episode of Burn It All Down. This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelby Weldon does our website, episode transcripts and social media. You can find Burn It All Down on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you want to subscribe to Burn It All Down, you can do so on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play and TuneIn – all of the places. For more information about the show and links and transcripts for each episode, check out our website, burnitalldownpod.com. From there you can email us directly or go shopping at our Bonfire store and get you some Burn It All Down merch. As always, an evergreen thank you to our patrons for your support. It means the world. You can sign up to be a monthly sustaining donor to Burn It All Down at patreon.com/burnitalldown. On behalf of all of us here, burn on and not out.