The Good Sport Guide to Women's Sports in NYC: July 13th - 19th
Everything you should know, watch, and do as a women's sports fan in NYC.
Happy Monday, beautiful readers. I grew up playing soccer, and though I haven’t played in years, I dream about it all the time. They are stress dreams—I’m trying so hard to run and get the ball, but my legs are moving in slow motion. Playing other sports recreationally is super fun for me, but the idea of returning to soccer makes me nervous. Too many concussions. Too much youth girls’ sports trauma. Too much my inner child would take it personally if I played badly.
It’s sorta sad that I spent so much of my childhood doing something that now haunts me as a stand-in for whatever stressful thing is going on in my adult life. I would ask who hurt me, but I literally know: Coach Redacted and a few Redacted girls...
And yet, I miss playing! Maybe it’s that I’ve been watching some of the men’s World Cup, or dreaming about going to Brazil for the women’s next summer. Perhaps it’s not too late to heal my personal relationship with the beautiful game. Or perhaps I need to ask my therapist if we can tackle that time I was backpedaling during a game and tripped while the ball was nowhere near me.
Anyways…Here’s your newsletter.
NYC women’s sports news & culture
Here’s what you should know this week.
Meet our new baseball team: The NY Heights. The Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) unveiled the names and logos for the four inaugural teams ahead of opening day on August 1st. Each team’s identity is inspired by a local legend. Our New York City team is the NY Heights, in honor of women’s and civil rights activist Dorothy Height. Height was known as the godmother of civil rights; she served as the president of the NCNW for 40 years. She focused on anti-lynching and criminal justice reform, and literacy and employment programs.
Gotham FC is officially moving to Queens. The team will start playing at Etihad Park, NYCFC's new $780M stadium, in 2028. This news joins an already packed announcement collection from the club: the new $35 million dedicated training facility, signing Sam Kerr, and the Queens Classic happening this Wednesday. Not everyone is jazzed about this; some longtime Jersey fans are feeling left in the dust and unseen in their commitment to the club during their tenure in the Garden State. I dug into the move, the club’s vision, the people pushing it forward, and more on this week’s podcast episode.
Let me tell you about Shoe Gate. The Liberty played Toronto last night, and things got chippy fast between the Tempo’s Marina Mabrey—self-proclaimed crash-out queen and one of the best shit talkers in the W—and our Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, who is not someone I would ever want to have beef with, let me just say that. Both got techs for a dust-up earlier in the game. And then shoe gate happened. JJ lost a sneaker during the fourth quarter, and the next thing we saw was Mabrey getting hit in the back with it. Who threw it?? You guessed it: Laney! This led to her ejection from the game.
Credit: Yahoo Sports People assumed she threw it on purpose, but in the post-game interview, Laney made it clear that wasn’t intentional:
“I would never intentionally try to hit someone with a shoe, especially while they're not looking… Teammate was without a shoe, so I did my best to try and get it to her. Unfortunately, it did hit someone.” - Betnijah Laney-Hamilton on Shoe Gate
I like that she said, “especially if they’re not looking.” It speaks to the ethos that she would consider throwing the shoe if she had been looking, which is honorable.
What to watch this week
Wednesday 7/15
⚽ Gotham FC hosts the Washington Spirit at Citi Field for the Queens Classic at 8:00 pm ET. You can get $15 tickets thanks to Gotham and Mayor Mamdani here. Watch on ESPN.
Thursday 7/16
🏀 The Liberty are at the Dallas Wings at 9:00 pm ET. Watch on WNBA League Pass.
Saturday 7/18
🏀 The Liberty are at the Indiana Fever at 8:00 pm ET. Watch on WNBA League Pass.
⚽ Gotham FC hosts the Seattle Reign at 12:00 pm ET. Watch on ABC.
🏉 The Exiles travel to face Bay Breakers at 8:00 pm ET. Watch on the Women's Sports Network.
The Scene Report
Here’s some fun stuff going on in the NYC W sports scene.
Snatch Magazine—created by artist, designer, and Good Sport podcast alum Sophia Mitropoulos—just announced the theme for Issue 3: Recreational Sports! The pitch window is open until 7/17. Find all the submission guidelines and info here.
Froot Hoops is celebrating its fourth anniversary with a ball + beach day! RSVP here.
And that’s a wrap…
New pod episode coming Thursday about WBB x fashion, and then I’m taking a week off from the pod to attend my girlfriend’s family reunion <3 Slay for me. Have a great week!
Love,
Christiana