Good Sport NYC Guide: May 11th - 17th
Zohran loves women sports. Libs go 2-0 opening weekend. And more. Here's what to know from last week + what to watch this week if you're a women's sports fan in NYC.
Welcome to the first edition of the weekly Good Sport NYC newsletter! I’m writing this in the common area of my gym as I watch highlights from the Liberty game that just ended. I didn’t work out at all this week because I was locked tf in on launching Good Sport’s first pod episode (Liberty season preview with Christina Cooper, not too late to listen btw), so my arms feel especially noodle-like as I type. And yet: There is joy in my heart! NYC feels at its best when the Liberty are playing…and winning, of course.
Here’s what to expect from this newsletter: Each week, I’ll recap some highlights from the prior week, and I’ll round up everything you can watch if you’re a women’s sports fan in our city for the week ahead. I’ll also plug community events, cool articles, etc. for you to check out as they come on my radar. Bonus sends will come randomly and include longer-form pieces…speaking of which, if you have an idea for a longer piece you’d like to read or want to write, hit me tf up. I’d love to get other voices involved in Good Sport :)
5 things to know from last week
Mayor Mamdani is in a very women’s sports time in his life. He hit a double header and attended the Liberty season opener Friday night AND the Gotham FC match on Saturday. Legend.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani with legends Sue Bird and Ali Krieger at the Gotham FC game, and with Ellie the Elephant at the Liberty game. Marine Johannes HIT the three this weekend. The Lib’s Guard hit 11 threes in the first two games of the season, a new franchise record. Plus, she scored a new career high of 25 points in a game. The Libs are 2-0, and Johannes has been electric, shining and stepping up while we’re missing starters Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally. Allez! I said allez because Johannes is French <3
The Exiles stand with trans athletes. While walking onto the field on Saturday for their match against the Bay Breakers, the New York Exiles rugby players held up trans pride flags that read “LET THEM PLAY LET THEM PRACTICE”. This follows the WER’s decision to ban trans athletes from playing in the league, a policy that teams, athletes, and fan bases are rightfully speaking out against. Rugby is for everyone.
Jaedyn Shaw had the best game-day fit of the week. The Gotham forward wore a custom outfit in partnership with LỰU ĐẠN in honor of her Vietnamese heritage for AANHPI month. She then scored our only goal of the match, which ended in a draw against the Boston Legacy.
Jaedyn Shaw in LỰU ĐẠN. Photo credit to Gotham FC. The Liberty has a huge bar network that plays all away games. Here’s part 1 and part 2 of that list. A personal anecdote from one such bar, Singer’s, is that I won game tickets in a raffle they held last year … among many other prizes … a story I need to tell on the pod soon. Guys not going to lie I rock at raffles.
What to watch this week
Tuesday 5/12
🏀 The Liberty take on the Portland Fire in Portland at 10 pm ET. Watch it on local TV on channel My9, or on the Liberty livestream.
Thursday 5/14
🏀 The Liberty take on the Portland Fire in Portland at 10 pm ET. Watch it on local TV on channel My9, on Amazon Prime, or on the Liberty livestream.
Fun note: I’ll be there in person in Portland!
Friday 5/15
⚽ Gotham FC takes on the Seattle Reign in Seattle at 10 pm ET. Watch it for free on Victory+.
Sunday 5/17
🏉 The Exiles take on the Chicago Tempest at home at 2 pm ET. Watch it on the Women's Sports Network.
Before you go
We’ll have our second podcast episode coming later this week, which will be a general state of the union episode on women’s pro sports in NYC. Thank you to everyone who listened to our first episode and subscribed. I so appreciate the love this project has received in its first few days <3 Our launch post is here ICYMI.
One note because I know some people are new to Substack: There is a free tier and a paid tier for Good Sport NYC, and every subscriber is perfect and beautiful regardless of your plan. What’s the diff?? A paid sub will get you bonus material, Discord access (coming soon), early access to events and merch, and more fun stuff. If you have thoughts on pricing (like, I’m not paying right now but would if it were X price), tell me! I’m learning as I go here and building this thing in public, so your feedback is super important to me. The $ we earn from paid subs will go towards the costs it takes to run this thing, and hopefully help me to bring in more people to help in the future :)
Thanks for reading!! Catch ya later.