Haterade: don't cross woso queers
plus: hot basketball couples, martha stewart, & sports MILFs
Apologies for the lack of culture reading yesterday. That newsletter is actually done and ready to go but I spent the day dealing with some family stuff and forgot to send it; I will get it out mid-week a a little bonus so I don’t overwhelm your inboxes. I have some really good content planned this week, some of which I tease in this week’s link-roundup.
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Before we get into the ranting, aka “Haterade,” I loved this reflection on being “a hater” from
:“That's how I go into most art: looking for reasons to love it. I know this will shock some of you, but for me being a hater is an occupational hazard, a negative externality of taking in the art that makes up our culture and gives context to our lives. It is never the occupation itself.”
I feel similarly! I hate because I love. I hate because I care. I hate because I have hope that things can be better. And with that, onward!
Actor Sophia Bush came out publicly this past week, with a long essay and cover story in Glamour. There is a lot for late-in-life sapphics to relate to in Bush’s story, including how the signs were screaming at her for years but she didn’t notice (comphet’s a real drag), and the freedom and joy that comes with finally understanding yourself and living authentically and openly. She even uses the word “queer” to describe her sexuality, adding that she “can’t say it without smiling,” which I love because so many people shy away from any kind of labels (as former Spice Girl Mel B did recently when discussing her five-year relationship with a woman, saying, “I don’t want to put a label on it, but I’ve always thought women are beautiful.”).
Bush also finally confirmed her relationship with former USWNT player Ashlyn Harris, documenting in detail the process of falling in love with her close friend—likely as a PR attempt at damage control. If you’ve been reading this newsletter for any period of time, you will know that the Harris/Bush relationship reveal came with a lot of tabloid-style drama because the divorce announcement came the week of Harris’ then-wife Ali Krieger’s last ever NWSL game, just before Krieger’s retirement press conference was set to happen (Krieger went on to win her NWSL championship in her final game).
The timeline of everything immediately came under scrutiny, as Krieger posted about being in her “Beyonce Lemonade era,” her brother Kyle gave an interview implying that she had been “blindsided” by the divorce, and Krieger went on Julie Foudy’s podcast to say that she found out about the divorce filing from her teammate during practice after a People magazine story dropped. With Bush’s essay, new details have emerged about the timeline, prompting internet sleuths to do even more digging and again call foul on the narrative from Harris and Bush that there was no overlap between Harris’ two relationships.
I do want to empathize with Bush being outed before she was able to share her truth with the world on her own terms; that opportunity should never be taken from anyone and I’m truly sorry she had that experience. But the reason I am posting about this in my weekly sports roundup is because, as someone whose algorithm follows both mainstream queer discourse and queer sports discourse, the contrast between how general sapphics have received the Bush essay versus how sports sapphics have received the Bush essay is, frankly, hilarious. Woso queers are the ultimate haters (complimentary).
Sports queers ride HARD for Ali Krieger (they’ve even given Harris a nickname: “Trashlyn”). So do Krieger’s teammates and former teammates, which should also tell you a lot about how all of this might have gone down. The most brutal memes, however, are the ones implying that Jojo Siwa is a younger version of Ashlyn Harris and the jokes about Sophia Bush enjoying the lesbian canon event of having her first sapphic relationship with a “hey mamas” soft butch with a million red flags.
Welcome to woso fandom, it’s brutal (and fun) out there.
Shoutout to Sophia Bush’s mom though, who I would now die for apparently.
But let me introduce you to my favorite gay sports mom, Jewell Loyd’s mom Gwendolyn. She would like to welcome the WNBA players to training camp (Also: maybe Jewell Loyd is getting a signature shoe??).
Sports-related reading
At
, names the 97 athletes, 32 officials and technicians, and 18 scouts who have been killed in Israel's war on Gaza.Patriots owners Bob Kraft pulled his support from Columbia, his alma mater, among the ongoing protests against Israel’s war on Gaza. Dave Zirin wrote a few years ago about how he tried to convince a Super Bowl audience that his AIPAC politics were aligned with the goals of the Civil Rights Movement.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Russia must compete as "individual neutral athletes." Should the same apply to Israel? A careful analysis of International Olympic Committee's public statements justifying Russian strictures points to yes, writes Jules Boykoff
Athlete Ally joined 400+ athletes, 50+ orgs and 300+ scholars in calling on the NCAA Board of Governors to ensure trans athletes are welcome and included in NCAA athletics. Signatories, including Layshia Clarendon, Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird, and WNBA coach Cheryl Reeve, all echoed what Dawn Staley said during MarchMadness: trans women belong in sport.
Terrorist threat stops Nashville disc golf tournament with transgender player Natalie Ryan (I’m speaking to Natalie on Monday and I’ll have a larger newsletter about this issue next week)
Katelyn Burns writes about the study on trans women's athletic disadvantages that should change the debate (more on this study from me soon, too): “The finding that trans women athletes are at a relative disadvantage in many key physical areas relating to athletic ability and perform worse on cardiovascular tests than their cisgender counterparts could be the first step in fighting back against the conventional wisdom conservatives have spread that trans women’s participation is inherently unfair.”
I did not have Martha Stewart shouting out Caitlin Clark on my Bingo card but here we are.
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