Welcome back to “I’m Curious!”

Welcome back to “I’m Curious!”

And I’m really back! Sorry for taking two weeks away. In the time since Edition 13, I have received word that Scripps News is shutting down its channel and I’m being laid off, effective mid-November.

Most of my spare time has been spent job searching, so I haven’t even had much time to be curious about much beyond whether companies are hiring and if they have a position where I might fit.

If you have any leads on anything in news, PR, communications, marketing, any sort of content, or of course, anything sports, please reply to this newsletter and send ‘em my way!

The Most Curious Thing This Week

It’s the happy Latin pop earworm that is “OMG” by Candelita. The song, which dropped in June, is sung by José Iglesias, who, in addition to being the aforementioned Candelita, is also an infielder for the New York Mets.

The song launched a hot streak for the Mets, one of several things the Mets have relied on this year as good luck charms. (Somehow that list also includes the McDonald’s character Grimace and a World War II veteran named Seymour Weiner… I love sports.)

It’s such a bop that FIU stadium namesake Pitbull dropped a remix this past Friday.

The Mets, meanwhile, have gotten hot at just the right time. After playing two rain-delayed games for their lives two weeks ago in Atlanta, the Mets snuck into the playoffs as the sixth and final seed. They made it by 3-seed Milwaukee with a clutch game-winning home run by their star hitter Pete Alonso and then made fairly easy work of 2-seed Philadelphia, beating them in 4 games.

They’re up against the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers and their record-setting star Shohei Ohtani in the National League Championship Series. LA took the first game of the series but the Mets will be hoping they have a bit more magic in them.

But even if this is the end of the road for them, they have really reminded people of the true purpose of baseball: having fun.

With all of their inside jokes, an attitude that says “we’re just glad to be here,” and the infectious, happy beats of José Iglesias, the Mets have truly become America’s team.

(Well, at least until they meet the Yankees if the Bronx Bombers take care of Cleveland over on the American League side. Then they’ll become the team of everyone in America other than me. I may appreciate fun, but never at the Yankees’ expense.)

My Reporting

With the clock ticking on my time at Scripps, I figured I would try to take advantage of the special access they provide for soccer. Between that and soccer usually prompting a lot of curiosity on my part, it seemed like a good fit.

And it was.

I headed back into DC to cover my old friends the Washington Spirit as they hosted Racing Louisville FC. The Spirit have locked in a berth in the 8-team playoff and, thanks to some favorable results elsewhere on this week’s schedule, clinched at least one home playoff game.

Racing Louisville is in its fourth season. In each of their first three seasons, they finished 9^th . This year, the first in which the league expanded its playoffs from 6 teams to 8, they currently sit… you guessed it, 9^th . Entering this one, they could tie Bay FC for 8^th with a win. With only two games left after Sunday, this was particularly crucial for them.

I leaned a lot into photography to cover this game. With a 5 pm kickoff, I got day shots, night shots, and of course, sunset shots. Let me walk you through what I saw.

It was a picture-perfect day for a game, with the sun shining and the mercury hovering in the high 70s. 

Nothing unusual about the warmups but as always, I got some nice closeup shots of people from both teams.

Washington was playing its first game without one of its anchors, midfielder Andi Sullivan. The former U.S. national team player suffered an injury last game against Orlando that ended up being a torn ACL in her knee. With a 6+ month recovery time, it’ll be a long and arduous road for Sullivan, who had improved her play and seemed on track to potentially earn another national team callup.

For the pre-match photo, the starting XI for the Spirit all held up one finger on their right hands and two on their left, showing they were playing for Sullivan, number 12.

From the opening whistle, it was all Spirit early on. They had lots of shots in the first 15 minutes but just as many near misses.

In a brief stoppage about 15 minutes in, players headed to their benches and I could hear Louisville coach Bev Yanez making tactical adjustments and telling her players to shift their approach.

It worked, as Louisville controlled most of the next 15 and had a few good chances of their own.

But things stayed scoreless until the 36^th minute. Washington rookie Makenna Morris pressured very close to the goal, capitalizing on an errant pass by Louisville goalkeeper Katie Lund. Morris got the ball right in front of a wide-open net and blasted it in to open the scoring. (And I mean blasted. Look at this!)

Less than ten minutes later, Morris did it again, potting a second goal set up by teammate Rosemonde Kouassi dribbling deep down the left side and crossing the ball right to the middle of the field.

In the second half, it was more of the same as Kouassi drew a penalty for Washington, which striker Ashley Hatch buried to make it 3-0.

Louisville had a bit of hope midway through the second half after Emma Sears got them on the board. But the Spirit held Racing Louisville at bay, with striker Lena Silano booting in an exclamation point goal after being subbed on late in the game.

For the first time, I hung around on the field postgame to capture pictures and footage. Soccer, perhaps more than any other sport, becomes a bit of a catch-up after the game. Players go meet fans, take a seat on the grass as they cool down from the several-mile run they went on during the game, and even chat with players from the opposite team who they may know.

Washington’s Ashley Hatch, who scored the team’s penalty kick goal, received a framed special jersey postgame to honor the fact that she played in her 150^th NWSL game. It was a happy little affair with the fans who stayed after the final whistle cheering and Hatch being surrounded by her husband and other loved ones.

Athletes are always human beings and always deserve that level of respect. But when the clock strikes midnight and the superhuman goal-scorers and shot-stoppers turn back into regular ol’ twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings, it becomes clear as day that these are just people at the end of a long work day.

Later, down in the bowels of Audi Field, we reporters got some sound from players postgame. I hung back and let others ask the questions in this portion, saving mine for press conferences later.

I love to cover visiting teams. Not all of them have many reporters covering them regularly and I love to learn about all the other teams, each with their own universe of stories—different players, different coaches, different systems. In DC, they also relegate those interviews to a medical exam room, so it’s usually a pretty intimate affair.

And with the Spirit only losing once at home this season, I often conduct interviews after losses or draws, where interviews can be difficult but net some valuable answers. I can learn a ton.

A handful of reporters had questions for Louisville defender Arin Wright, mostly because her appearance was relocated to the main press room. I snuck in at the end and got some real candor from her.

“I think people need to take this game, throw it in the trash,” Wright said. “Don’t even think about it, because at this point in the season, there’s only a few games left. You can’t focus on or worry about what just happened. You have to focus on the next game.” 

Outside of a couple of questions off a Zoom call, I had Louisville head coach Bev Yanez largely to myself postgame. In addition to asking about the game itself and the context of being on the outside looking in of the playoff hunt, I was able to pick her brain a bit and learn about everything from in-game adjustments to how she’s trying to use some of her key players.

On the field, I could hear Yanez delivering the big takeaways as her team was circled around for the postgame huddle. Over the PA announcements and other conversations, I could hear four words come through more clearly than any others: “do or fucking die.”

With two games left and them needing to net one win in the standings over Bay FC, she’s not wrong.

In our chat, I asked about keeping the team motivated after a gutting loss like this. I mentioned the “do or die” games coming up, and both of us kept it PG.

“It’s my job,” Yanez said. “I’m gonna dig, I’m gonna do whatever I can to continue to motivate this group, because if there’s one thing I fricken’ believe, it’s that this group can make the playoffs and that still hasn’t changed even with the result tonight.”

Here’s the full chat in case you want to get a sense of how this work gets done or the ins and outs of Racing Louisville:

Over on the Spirit side, it was more crowded and more joyous, as the trio of Makenna Morris, Ashley Hatch, and midfielder Hal Hershfelt took questions from the local press.

It was a good chance for me to test out what I learned last time from Jonathan Tannenwald of the Philadelphia Inquirer: the most interesting thing is often what goes into being as good of an athlete as some of these folks are.

The 23-year-old Hershfelt is a rookie out of Clemson and a redhead who embodies the fiery stereotype. In his postgame comments, coach Jonatán Giraldez said Hershfelt has a lot of energy but needs to work a bit on reining it in and using it selectively.

I followed on that and asked her about how it is in her head, and the battle she has with her energy. With her teammates smiling and keeping back laughter, Hershfelt answered.

“I’ve definitely had to learn how to pick and choose my moments to dial it up. I think especially with my position in midfield, I feel like it takes a lot of positional discipline, sometimes, especially tonight when I’m a single 6 [defensive midfielder],” she said. “So when I do play with too much energy sometimes, I find myself in an area where I shouldn’t be, and then I have to run like, 70, 80 yards back instead of like, 20.”

And I followed it up by asking Hatch about getting to 150 games and what it took to get there.

“Mostly my teammates, supporting me through all of the ups and downs throughout the years. There’s been lots of highs and lots of lows,” Hatch said.

She went on to credit coaching and technical staffers for keeping her healthy, as well as her family and her husband.

As far as where the big picture frame might go, Hatch wasn’t as certain.

“I’m not sure yet,” Hatch laughed. “Probably somewhere on a wall but I’m not sure yet.”

Other Sports Takes and Things of Note

WNBA Finals! - WNBA season is nearing its climax and it’s an elite matchup. The New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx are squaring off in a showdown between the top two teams in the regular season after both made their way through their respective playoff brackets.

New York is carried by its top trio of guard Sabrina Ionescu, forward Breanna Stewart and center Jonquel Jones. In the playoffs, rookie Leonie Fiebich has taken on a larger role.

Minnesota, meanwhile, centers around Defensive Player of the Year Napheesa Collier and a whole array of three-point shooters.

So far, the series is even at 1-1, so Tuesday night starts off a best-of-three that will crown a champ.

Despite some strong help from guard Courtney Williams, the Lynx struggled in game 2 to keep pace with the Liberty. Even their game 1 win took a miraculous comeback, erasing a 15-point lead in the final five-and-a-half minutes.

The Lynx have a few advantages, including playing the next two games at home, and legendary 4-time WNBA champion coach Cheryl Reeve.

But the Liberty, despite not winning a championship in any of their 28 WNBA seasons, have looked stronger for most of the series and will host the deciding game 5.

It might be my homer-ism, but I lean toward the Liberty here.

College Football Fun - 2007 was the greatest season in college football history. There were a ton of upsets, including Division 1-AA Appalachian State shocking 6^th -ranked Michigan in the Big House. 2024 may well be on 2007’s heels with its levels of craziness.

New conferences have fueled some chaotic, dramatic matchups, including Oregon holding on to beat Ohio State with tactics including taking an intentional penalty for too many men on the field. 

Boise State slots in at 15 in the AP poll, with the home field advantage of their blue turf. At this point, they may be on track to claim the College Football Playoff spot for teams in the lower-tier Group of 5 conferences. Considering the year of college football in 2007 kicked off with Boise State shocking Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, it’s a nice callback.

And in a bit of news that would make any red-blooded American proud, both Army and Navy are ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time since 1960.

There’s plenty of time for more chaos and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Net Profits - It has been a big moment for NHL goalies to get their paydays. Two goalies have been chasing opportunities to break Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price’s record 8-year, $84 million contract: Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers.

Swayman held out through most of the preseason, ultimately “settling” for an 8-year, $66 million deal of his own. Not bad for a guy who turns 26 next month and already has both an All-Star appearance and a share of a William Jennings Trophy for guarding the pipes for the team with the fewest goals allowed.

Down the Northeast Regional line atop Penn Station, Rangers fans are hoping this won’t be the last season Igor Shesterkin locks things down at Madison Square Garden. The 2022 Vezina Trophy winner for best goaltender will be a free agent after this season and turned down a deal that would have set the record, an 8-year, $88 million contract. 

Now, it will be up to Shesterkin to make sure he looks the way he has in the Rangers’ two wins so far. The Russian pitched a shutout in the season opener on the road in Pittsburgh, stopping all 31 shots. He saved 31 again, allowing one goal in Monday’s win at home against Detroit.

But he allowed six goals in a high-scoring 6-5 overtime loss to the expansion Utah Hockey Club.

If Shesterkin is who he has been in the two wins so far, he may have made a smart play driving a hard bargain. But if he ends up looking more like the guy who gave up six goals to an expansion team, he may regret not taking a massive deal.

Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde, however, leans toward the former after seeing Shesterkin play Monday night.

“He’s special,” Lalonde said. “I can see why he turned down the 88 [million dollars.] Good agent.”

Something Good I Ate

I didn’t get to share any food from Portland with you. That was the second half of my Pacific Northwest journey but with the layoff news coming down before I got home, I haven’t shared anything from there yet. 

Portland is a much better food city than Seattle. It might kinda play second fiddle to Seattle otherwise, but when it comes to food, Portland has that locked down.

We’re getting fancy with it here, as this is a pizza from Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty, an elevated pizza spot across the river and north of Downtown Portland with an old-school vibe but new-school pizza.

Pies are about $30 a pop but have plenty of thought and care put into them. Alongside two other avant-garde pies, one with gold potatoes as the main topping and another with sungold tomato confit and summer squash, the winner was a sweet corn pizza pie.

In addition to sweet corn, it had frisée greens, sage, Ragusano cheese, and corn cream. Put it all together and you get a delicious combo of savory and sweet. Finely toasted pizza crust holds the veggies and dairy products in a delicate harmony. And you get a truly lovely pizza pie.