Author/Founder of Power Plays, a no-BS newsletter about women’s sports. Subscribe here: powerplays.news
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With just a week or so left in the WNBA regular season, the race for the final postseason slot as well as playoff seedings is in the last lap. We break down for our Ball-Knowers every possible permutation and what games matter the most down the stretch.
THIS TIEBREAKER OMFG
did anyone else just about lose it?
holy shit i thought espn was going to tell us that BJK passed away. my heart actually stopped. my heart goes out to her for the loss of her brother, though. i just would have rewritten the intro to that announcement.
New HANG UP and Listen @slate.com features @louisathomas.bsky.social talking about the revamp of U.S. Open mixed doubles. Plus ESPN DTC and why NFL teams are so eager to bench first-round QBs now. Good listening imo @benlindbergh.bsky.social @lindsaygibbs.bsky.social slate.com/podcasts/han...
About to plan my entire weekend around Rybakina/Vondrousova. #yesplease
Just obsessed with Iga and Casper. Obsessed.
Ten (1 0 !) years ago today, at @texasmonthly.bsky.social, @dansolomon.com and I wrote a piece titled "Silence at Baylor," that looked at sexual assault in the Baylor football program: www.texasmonthly.com/arts-enterta...
If it ends up taking weeks, even months, to get the news? OH WELL STILL BETTER DO NOTHING, THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION.
1. In an alarming move, the Trump administration has banned trans coverage for federal employees and their families, including youth and adults. It mandates faith-based conversion therapy coverage. It is one of the largest removals of coverage in the US. Subscribe to support our journalism.
My ADHD is triggered *so intensely* by states of limbo. Waiting for official news on something that will majorly impact my life? Better get ABSOLUTELY NOTHING DONE while waiting.
I AM SO EXCITED FOR @watchpartyphl.bsky.social!!!
Giri Nathan DISHES on Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in this EXCLUSIVE interview: defector.com/giri-nathan-...
NEWS: Fever veteran Sophie Cunningham will miss the rest of the 2025 season, including the playoffs, with a right knee injury, the team announced on Tuesday.
what an absolute nightmare season for the fever. wouldn't wish this on anyone.
JASMINE PAOLINI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Showing their hand… The quiet part out loud again They wanted to inflict this on black and brown folks. They’re shocked 😳 that white people are being affected and speaking out— so it’s “fake”!
I want my little cousin to get to experience a goal celebration so badly but at least the game has been extremely exciting!!
I saw it was delayed initially but I left to drive to the Courage game and had just assumed it had started long ago.
Wait the Current/Pride game *just* kicked off??!!
For the first time ever I’m at a Courage game as a fan!! Brought my 11yo cousin for her first NWSL experience. Fun sharing it with her. Will be more fun when the sun goes down I can’t see anything rn lol.
Thank you so much!
Thank you!
For Power Plays I talked with Christen Press about many things, including the beauty of trauma and the gift of failing and the podcasting evolution of Preath. open.substack.com/pub/powerpla...
This is such a great interview!
For Power Plays I talked with Christen Press about many things, including the beauty of trauma and the gift of failing and the podcasting evolution of Preath. open.substack.com/pub/powerpla...
I am sorry but this is so embarrassing for everyone involved how has this been on the home page all day 😭😭😭 www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...
if there’s NOT an off-field issue with Nahas then it makes today’s presser completely inexcusable and the club really owes him an apology
Mboko!!!!!!! 😭😭
thanks i hate it!!!
As someone who has covered/followed this team for eight years, it's so disheartening to watch management reduce the club to a meme. It doesn't have to be this way.
From numerous angles, media tried to get more information on why the NC Courage fired Sean Nahas last night. Other than 10 uses of the phrase "a multitude of factors," the Courage had remarkably little to say about a huge change one day before a game, & days after a 5-week break ended:
Yeah I think the tone was off. I understand they are limited in what they can say and that it has probably been a really tough 24 hours. But still!
headline of the century lmao
WELL THAT WAS WEIRD
That press conference left a lot more questions than answers and certainly isn't going to give anyone the impression that this was a normal, performance-based firing.
Closest thing to a direct answer in the Courage presser was when I asked if this was related to Nahas's absences in June (which were said to be health-related), comms said "We have no cause to say that the two are related." Also: "We can't comment on process and it was a multitude of factors."
Comms at this point is answering more questions than Bowley himself, to say they won’t be answering further questions about internal processes leading to Nahas’s firing. Nor tactical approach to the game, actually.
Someone start selling “multitude of factors” merch
Amazing/awful that he fell for this
She's Baaaaaack! Naomi Osaka will play for a big title for the first time in over 3 years after defeating Clara Tauson, 6-2, 7-6⁷, in Montreal. The 27yo, who is now guaranteed a seeding at the US Open, will play 18yo phenom Victoria Mboko in the championship match.
Definitely sudden. bsky.app/profile/chri...
If I had a dime for every time an #NWSL coach was mysteriously dismissed just days before their team traveled for a game in Houston... I’d have four dimes, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s now happened at least four times (Benstiti, Ward, Potter, Nahas)
The Courage have a road game in Houston in less than 48 hours. This timing and the wording of the statement indicate that this was a pretty sudden move.
Whoa.
agree to disagree. sykes' contract was up after this season. their focus is on the youth core. i think it's smart.
this was the last year of skyes contract; zero guarantee she would come back next season, and they were able to get a first-round pick for her; likely improve their draft position for next year in the process; they want to go all in on youth and build around the rookie core, this streamlines that
Still gives you options for trades, etc. And this trade makes it more likely they have better draft position.
i get why fans are sad about slim leaving but big picture i love this for them
i think the mystics are cooking
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When I saw the headline I assumed the “civil rights” bit was going to be some clunky metaphor, but no, this WSJ columnist is sincerely urging Caitlin Clark to sue for reverse race discrimination under a hostile work environment theory www.wsj.com/opinion/the-...
Trinity Rodman 😭😭😭
That smile says it all—she’s back. Ali Riley is officially off the SEI list 🙌
Not sure if a tournament has more consistently delivered bad penalties than this one. Which, naturally, is a tournament won by England.
wow wow wow wow wow the pens at this tournament are truly… something and mostly something not good lmao
Oh god oh god oh god
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The immensity of this reporting cannot be overstated. @propublica.org made an archive of reported, fact-checked info on each of the individuals sent to prison in El Salvador. Trump admin knew that only *six* had been convicted of violent offenses.
I just don't get it bsky.app/profile/838c...
“It’s about this time every match she gets injured. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.”
I asked Kiki Iriafen postgame about rocking a Chamique Holdsclaw shirt pregame. She said she didn't know the video, which was shown during a timeout, was coming. But she wanted to "pay homage" to Holdsclaw after breaking her rookie double-doubles record. @thenext.bsky.social #WNBA
Lmao and the Liberty get Meesseman now too??
"I had to come back for the insurance because they informed me I'm on COBRA" - Venus Williams I just want to gloat for a second because I've said MANY times on the podcast that Venus is sticking around for the insurance 😂😂😂
Crying happy tears because Venus Williams just won a singles tennis match in 2025 and I’m so happy for her and so so mad I wasn’t in DC to see it live 😭😭😭
Bari’s key insight as an entrepreneur is that there is a bottomless demand for rich people to have their existing opinions sold back to them as forbidden knowledge
About 99% sure this violates the Olympic charter when it comes to government interference!!!! Also I’m going to be sick.
Chloe Kelly's shinpad today has Lucy Bronze bandaging her own leg
"I'm trying to get off the bench," she said. "If I liked coming off the bench, there would be something wrong. That's not my mindset.” www.espn.com/soccer/story...
Ooooooohhhhh I think I love this.
"voters are why I lost" is the funniest possible thing for a politician to say.
“There’s nothing suspicious behind this door,” says man who is lighting the door on fire, surrounding the door with a moat, and placing dozens of crocodiles in said moat, all while firing missiles at everyone in a 3-mile radius.
Hey so idk but this seems absolutely batshit!!!!!!!!!!!!
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, most remembered for playing Theo Huxtable on ‘The Cosby Show,’ passed away Sunday. But his legacy spans much more than one character. I wrote about how I’ll remember him best. www.theringer.com/2025/07/21/t...
Total and per-game attendance has increased 33% since 2022 through the quarterfinals. 25 matches have had attendance at 95% of venue capacity or higher. '22 only had two thru the QF. Despite the lack of a Wembley/Old Trafford-size venue, Switzerland '25 is blowing England '22 out of the water.
A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. "Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die" Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:
I’ll never forgive Cathy and the wnba owners for putting me in a position to think the thought, “Dave Portnoy is making great points.”
Every WNBA All-Star is wearing a WNBPA “Pay Us What You Owe Us” shirt
Yes, there’s plenty of action occurring on the court, but for those mascot enthusiasts out there, there’s lot of interactions like this occurring just feet from the floor. Doppler (Storm) was just fixing the hair of Lightning (Wings).
Studbudz bts
all the angles of the Ann-Katrin Berger save are unreal #WEuro2025
Had to capture and post this. Ariane Hingst experienced every emotion possible in one penalty shootout
If it’s recency bias just let me have it lmao.
The best goalie performance I’ve ever seen???
Omg omg omg
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY BATSHIT #euros
Don’t know where Katja is on BlueSky but this has us dying 🤣 #WEURO2025
I want to cry lmao.
Look I love free soccer but this is my pre-All Star nap time and I am very worried that I’m about to lose it.
Thanks to @lindsaygibbs.bsky.social, I now know Rickea Jackson has impeccable taste with her collab with Cheez-Its open.substack.com/pub/powerpla...
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Coldest things in the world 🥶🥶 1. Antarctica 2. Liquid nitrogen 3. Chloe Kelly laughing at the Sweden keeper before making her penalty 4. Outer space
a bat flew into the NBC booth at the British Open and the commentator decided to turn his jacket into a Bat Defense Tent and hide under it
Asked some questions about the Spirit's GM search yesterday and how it'll impact the team's talks with Trinity Rodman. The latest on that front:
International tournaments are happening worldwide. As the Euros and WAFCON earn praise for record attendance and facilities, Copa America is grappling with the opposite. Brazil’s Marta & Kerolin are drawing attention to poor tournament planning & asking CONMEBOL to do better.
Mo'ne Davis hasn't played organized baseball since 2020, when she was with the Anderson Monarchs. But next month, she'll make her baseball comeback, in a tryout for the newly-created Women's Pro Baseball League. "I’m just not done playing at all," she said: www.inquirer.com/sports/mone-...
Here in Indy doing some really important reporting: Cheryl Reeve’s son is a studbudz viewer. Cheryl says that any appearance of her in the stream that may or may not exist is AI generated.
@lindsaygibbs.bsky.social and @thecutback.com.web.brid.gy.
