Gray Areas and Loopholes with Jeff Kassouf

Sarah Spain (0:01)

Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where if Zendaya can wear a team-issued rally shirt, you can too. Screw your game day fit, get behind the home team already. It's Wednesday, October 28th, and on today's show, ESPN soccer reporter Jeff Kassouf joins us to discuss his annual survey of NWSL general managers, the latest updates to grievances between the league and the Players Association, and what to expect heading into decision day weekend. Plus, Ballon d'Or history, the US-Canada rivalry rekindles, and the Valkyries are one game closer to victory. It's all coming up right after this.

Welcome back, Slices. Here's what you need to know today.

Let's start with the WNBA finals, where the Golden State Valkyries hold a three games to two lead over Atlanta Dream after winning game five Monday night at Ballhalla 64-55. Kia Stokes, aka the Warden of Valkyries, was huge for the Valks, putting up 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, and earning deafening MVP cheers from the crowd after the game. A crowd that included Zendaya, leaving number one fan Paige Becker in shambles on the socials. In case you missed it, Paige recently said if she could change lives with anyone for a day, it would be Tom Holland, Zendaya's husband. Yeah, you do the math. Speaking of math, Veronica Burton added 13 points, eight rebounds and four blocks for the Valks in the victory, which got them one win away from the title in just their second season. After the game, Golden State coach Natalia Nkase was asked about the team's strong defensive effort all season long, and she heaped praise onto Stokes. Take a listen to some of what she said.

Natalia Nakase (1:45)

I know Keia Stokes won't take full ownership of that matchup, but she is our anchor though. She is our last communication in the back, and she's dangerous at that rim. And I think like she said, she's just head down, blue collared. I mean, it's just a different way you could win. You know, like she has to defense win championships. Yeah, that was part of what our identity was from the jump. This is how we feel we could win it.

And more importantly, Keia Stokes will be, you know, our MVP. I heard Chance, I heard Keia tonight. Bahala, I appreciate you guys. That type of love that came for Keia Stokes, chanting Keia, Keia, Keia. I mean, couldn't be more proud.

Sarah Spain (2:30)

Meantime, Angel Reese and Dream Head Coach Carl Smesco called out the officiating Monday night, criticizing the amount of contact allowed on Reese, who finished with just seven points, going two for eight from the floor. Take a listen to Smesco's comments.

Karl Smesko (2:44)

I mean, I do want to have Angel's back here. Like, the contact they allow on Angel compared to everybody else is just ridiculous. It's just ridiculous. And we should have gone to the foul line six to eight more times just on that.

Sarah Spain (3:00)

Reese was still effective on the boards in this one, snagging 15 rebounds, but she'll need to be a factor offensively for the Dream to get back in this series. Ryan Howard did her part for Atlanta, putting up 20 points, including three made threes.

The series now heads back to Atlanta for the now infamous 1230 p.m. matinee game on Thursday. After Monday night's win, Veronica Burton and Keia Stokes were asked if they had a message for Valkyries fans, given that tip-off will be 930 a.m. California time. You just have to listen to their responses.

Natalia Nakase (3:31)

Yeah, Colin's sick.

I recommend it. Yeah, right. Y'all know how to fake a cough, and then we all do that.

Sarah Spain (3:38)

With the quick turnaround for the Atlanta Hawks game Thursday night at State Farm, if the Valks do win on Thursday, they might not be able to celebrate on the court. Said ESPN's Ramona Shelburne on NBA Today, I've heard there are discussions about whether there's enough time to turn the arena over in time for the fans to celebrate on the court. It could be moved to a practice court. Woof. It's bad enough they're playing the game mid-afternoon. Hoisting the trophy on a practice court would add insult to injury.

To the NWSL, on Tuesday ESPN's Jeff Kassouf published the outlet's third annual survey of NWSL general managers or the highest ranking soccer executive at all 16 clubs to get their thoughts on a variety of topics. Some of the biggest takeaways, a large majority of GMs, 13 in total, think the league should either eliminate the current $600,000 net cap on transfers or increase the amount allowed. Right now, the NWSL sets an annual limit for each team's transfer spending and as transfer fees continue to rise, with multiple recent transfers over a million and a half dollars, most GMs think they need a higher limit in order to better compete with European clubs. Also 15 of 16 GMs say the league should implement charter flights. Super curious who the loan holdout on that one was. Fewer GMs say rule breaking is a problem compared to last year's results, but 7 of 16 still answered yes to the question that rule breaking is quote unquote widespread with salary cap circumvention listed as the most common form of cheating. Looking ahead to the 2027 Women's World Cup, 13 GMs predicted that the US will win the tournament, while the three outliers all picked Host Nation Brazil as the favorite. Those are just some of the takeaways. We'll get into plenty more in just a few minutes with Jeff, who told me before the interview there wasn't just one GM dropping all the F-bombs. Those quotes in his story came from several potty-mouthed execs. We'll link to the full report in the show notes if you want to dive in and see which questions earned those spicy responses.