This week: Y’all, I’m still recovering from the weekend. How does Sarah Spain and Holly Rowe do this?
Saturday I went to Chatham to take in the last home game for the Chicago Winds then zipped back to Edgewater to watch the Chicago Sky at Whiskey Girl. After a solo Mother’s Day brunch I went back to Whiskey Girl to watch the Chicago Stars. Then went home to listen to the PWHL playoffs as I painted and waited for my daughter.
We finally have info on WNBA All-Star tickets - not like All-Star weekend is just over a month away. No one needs to book travel or a hotel room. Check it out if you want a package or just a ticket to the game. Wish me luck landing a ticket.
— Veronica
Chicago’s .500 weekend
TDLR: In the win column - The Chicago Sky! The Chicago Tempest! In the loss column - The Chicago Stars. The Chicago Winds.
The Tempest Win! This is the first win for the franchise! Last season we went 0-10. Now we are tied for second place at 1-1. Congrats!
I’ve spent a lot of time pondering what to do with the WER and their anti trans player policy. Since the teams themselves have publicly demanded for a policy that includes trans woman, I’m gonna go with that. To support the team. Demand the league be more inclusive. And keep holding them accountable. I think means I need a nice pro trans athlete pin to go on my Tempest hoodie. If you know a good one, send me a link!
Chicago Sky: The Sky beat the renewed Portland Fire in their inaugural game. Is it inaugural if the team existed before? Inaugural game of their new era.
Skylar, Kamilla, and Rickea showed up! Skylar and Kamilla both had double doubles, while Rickea was strong in her Sky debut with 19 points and 7 rebounds. My friends who were at the Portland game said the Sky looked great.
Look, I’m a life long Chicago sports fan. I know now to get too excited after an opening win. I also know that once in awhile the Sky front office gets it right. Perhaps by accident, but this does look like a great team. I’m skepticism is lowered, but not cured. We still have to see what happens when the rest of the team gets healthy.
Chicago Stars: I walked into Whiskey Girl and we were already down 0-1. The Mother’s Day brunch start time meant the bar was pretty chill. Heck, Sauce and Bread was super chill cause I guess everyone took their mom to a pancake brunch. Timing.
The Stars needed better time management. According to the stats, we ended the match with a 53.4% possession percentage to KC’s 46.6%. Where we had more time, they obviously had more goals. Congrats to Temwa Chawinga on her hat trick. The last two goals were pretty to watch, even if they hurt.
At the bar the topic of Mal’s return to the pitch took center stage as we watched the Stars fail to score or even look threatening. She returned to full training on May 1st according to the team’s Instagram account. How long will it take for her to feel ready? And how much will the poor performance of the team impact her timetable? Mal would infuse new energy into the team, but given the weaknesses of the squad, I doubt it’ll be enough to turn the team around this season.
Next year is the Women’s World Cup and that gold star must be her actual goal. Thus I don’t expect to see her rush back to the pitch. We are 2-7 and have scored ZERO goals in each loss bringing us to a -14 goal differential. This is embarrassing and I’ve never felt like Mal is the type of player eager to play in this scenario.
Chicago Winds: I was a huge fan of Chicago’s last women’s football team, the Force. What I loved about it is that the players’ families showed up HARD. And the Winds families are no different. The stands were filled and lots of cheering going on. Loved it.
I made it a goal to get down to see the Winds play their final home game of the season. From my place it was a solid 45 minute drive. The field they played on is right next to a Red Line stop, so that was also a possibility. For next season, their website could be updated on travel info - red line accessibility, parking as the lot was full by the time I pulled in. Yay! But also, confusing! I asked a few folks who were walking and they said they parked in the strip mall lot and I was like, “Nope. That’s a recipe for a tow!” There was plenty of parking on the street to the north. Just needed some support.
NACHOS! One of the many factors in me rating a stadium or sporting experience is access to nachos. A+ here. Tamales+ had their food truck there and what I got was excellent.
The game. We held Atlanta to a scoreless game until the third quarter when Atlanta broke out with two touchdowns. A 14-0 loss feels like a close game and compared to some of the other losses, it really does. But we let a lot of opportunities fall through our fingers and that made the score loom larger than it really was. We had an opportunity to score at the end of the game, but just couldn’t do it.
The hard part of semi-pro ball is that life will get in the way with next year’s roster. Which is unfortunate as a bit more practice to gel would absolutely help. Excited for the third season in 2027!
Other news
Togethxr hosts a great women’s sports calendar. It can help with the Sunday Scaries, by planning out your watch appointments and includes which app you need to use. Or be like me and just head to the local bar.
Google calendar has an option to add the WNBA to your calendar. Go to your calendar, click “Add calendar” on the main left-of-screen menu, then select “Browse calendars of interest” from the submenu that appears. Under basketball is the WNBA! Now to work on the other sports.
Allyson Felix on birthing children in the USA. [archive link]
While this newsletter and the larger project of supporting women’s sports is my passion project, I still need to buy groceries and buy nachos at games.
An additional way to support this newsletter is to subscribe, share on socials, and forward to your friend who keeps inviting you to women’s sporting events.