Welcome back to “I’m Curious!”

It has been just over one year since the first edition of “I’m Curious” hit your inboxes. I originally aimed to write something every week and to be honest, having kept it to an average of about one every two weeks is something I’m really proud of. I’ve used this newsletter as an outlet for sports takes, an incentive to go report on sports, and a platform to tell a lot of cool and interesting stories.

Some of you have been reading since day one while some of you are new to this or maybe even reading it for the first time. No matter what, thank you for reading.

Our country and the world are actively being destroyed, including even just today, and I hope that this newsletter can serve as just as much of a reprieve from the worst of it for you as it is for me.

Here’s to more great stories in year two!

The Most Curious Thing This Week

It’s the Savannah Bananas!

They came to Washington, D.C. last week and, thanks to some close friends (including at least one friend of the newsletter!), I was able to go see them play and put on their show. 

I have to be honest. I did not come to as positive a conclusion about my Bananas experience as I would have liked to.

Growing up, I adored the Harlem Globetrotters. I went every year to watch them when they came to town and cracked up every time.

The Savannah Bananas aim to do the “sports as comedy” thing the Globetrotters do, but do it like if a team like the Globetrotters was created now.

Sadly, that means that, instead of being pretty timeless and rooted in vintage humor like slapstick comedy, the Bananas play with a short attention span in mind.

Every ten seconds or so, blaring music would change from one track to another, as all 40,000 fans in the stadium were fighting for control of the aux cord.

All of it —

PINK PONY CLUB! I’M GONNA KEEP ON DANCING AT THE PINK PONY CLUB! 

All of it —

YOU MAY HATE ME BUT IT AIN’T NO LIE! BABY BYE, BYE, BYE!

All of it felt geared for an audience of kids and tweens whose idea of a lengthy literary epic is an episode of Skibidi Toilet.

IT’S FUN TO STAY AT THE WHYYYYYYYYYY-M-C-A! IT’S FUN TO STAY AT THE WHYYYYYYYY M-C-A-A!

Because the teams consist of former lower-level college players, guys who maybe briefly played indie ball and semi-pro players, the actual baseball is not good. And unlike basketball, where your individual skill can shine brightly against lesser competition, in baseball there isn’t much you can do to raise the quality of the show.

Sure, there were flipping catches and a guy who pitched on stilts, but—

WOOP! WOOP! THAT’S THE SOUND OF THE POLICE! WOOP! WOOP! THAT’S THE SOUND OF THE BEAST!

--but it was tough for it to cover up the pretty low-quality game unfolding in front of a sellout crowd of 40,000 at Nationals Park.

@thesavbananas

Stay for the fish at the end🐟 @Dakota“STILTS”albritton #savannahbananas #bananaball #fishinginthedark #fypcountry

Now, don’t get me wrong. The work the Bananas do as a team is wonderful. They keep actual face value ticket and merchandise prices fairly cheap. They do a ton of work to incorporate kids and even babies into the show, giving them moments they’ll remember for a lifetime. Their charity arm Bananas Foster does wonderful work with adoption and foster care.

YEAAAAAAAAH-EE YEAH! YEAH! QUE NO PAREN LA FIESTA! DON’T STOP THE PAAAAAARTAYYYY!

It’s just that it was very clearly not for me. I thought things could have been much more spaced out. I wished there was more room for their jokes and bits to breathe.

All of the fairly cringey TikTok dances, insane gimmicks, wild player intros, and marketing tie-ins made it feel like the embodiment of late-stage capitalism.

WHOPPER! WHOPPER! WHOPPER! WHOPPER! JUNIOR DOUBLE TRIPLE WHOPPER! FLAME-GRILLED TASTE WITH PERFECT TOPPERS! I RULE THIS DAY!

As time went on, I definitely found at least some value in the show. They have come up with some thoughtful and entertaining changes to turn baseball into Banana Ball. The break they took to play a game called “Pass the Bill,” where both teams lined up along the base lines to physically hand off two men named Bill to each other, was particularly funny. Their dancing base coach Maceo put on a show on the field for pretty much two hours straight as the game unfolded.

@thesavbananas

Plot twist: This was filmed by crazy Steve🤪 @Maceo Harrison @Coach RAC #savannahbananas #drakeandjosh #baseballboys #bananaball

And they do a truly fantastic job of making a lot of people very happy and satisfying them as fans as customers. They recognize the fans are their life blood and treat them with the love and care they deserve. It’s just not necessarily for me.

My Reporting

Soccer

Two teams ranked among the ten best in the world squared off Wednesday, as the U.S. women’s national soccer team hosted their counterparts from Canada in the nation’s capital.

The friendly between the two nations, hosted at Washington’s Audi Field and billed as the “Continental Clásico,” was the final match for both national teams before a three-month break from international competition.

The U.S. dominated the game in a 3-0 pasting of the Canadian side. The Americans put two goals past Canada’s goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan in the first half, with both goals coming from more defensive-minded midfielders. 

Midfielder Sam Coffey scored the first one for the U.S. in the 17^th minute when a free kick from teammate Rose Lavelle bounced off U.S. defender Avery Patterson to Coffey, who brought the ball down and hit it through a crowd from about ten yards out.

In the 36^th minute, it was another opportunity off Lavelle’s foot, a corner kick over the middle, that found the head of leaping midfielder Claire Hutton, who headed it in for her first ever international goal.

The win came despite missing nine of the starting eleven players from the roster that won the Olympic gold medal in Paris last year. 

It’s part of an effort by national team coach Emma Hayes, who passed one year at the helm in May, to expand the pool of potential players for the team. Recent camps have included many players who received their first call in to train with or play for the national team. For this slate of three games in late June and early July, Hayes almost exclusively called in players who play for teams in the United States, while those who play in Europe received a break.

“I’m all about improving the whole ecosystem,” Hayes told me postgame. “And I think more opportunities for more players at the national team level will improve the NWSL because it gives players hope and belief that if they’re going to perform, they’re going to get an opportunity.”

Hayes singled out some of the first-time call-ups, including defender Izzy Rodriguez of the Kansas City Current, and defender Jordyn Bugg and midfielder Sam Meza of the Seattle Reign as examples.

“I don’t know whether they’re going to be called in again, but I know that they understand what it takes and it will give them the ambition and the appetite to be here. And they know I watch every game, so it matters what you’re doing in your club.”

U.S. defender and team captain Naomi Girma said she was excited to see the young players develop with the national team.

“I think we always say that’s what we need as a program. We need younger players coming in and I think Emma [Hayes] does a really good job of giving them that trust, but also confidence. And I think that’s why you see them going out and playing like their best self,” she said.

For her part, Girma, who was one of the only European-based players after a transfer this winter to Chelsea, said that playing with the national team in this window worked well for her, despite it coming during the European offseason.

“I think, for me, it was good. Transferring in the middle of the year, I didn’t play a full season in Europe, so I think it made sense for me to come in,” she told me. 

Midfielder Rose Lavelle played a role on two goals, including getting credit for an assist on the one scored by Hutton, making it easy to forget that this recent international break is her first with the national team of 2025. The 30-year-old was away from the team for six months while recovering from an ankle injury.

It’s a familiar theme for Lavelle, who has dealt with several injury absences in her career but, when healthy, is among the best players in the world.

As much as the stat line and highlights hid the effects of her latest injury, Lavelle said she feels like she’s still on her way to back to full strength. 

“I think I still have some things I don’t feel 100% at, so I don’t know when that will be. I’m trying to give myself some grace after being out for a little bit to get back to that 100% but I think these games definitely helped me gain some confidence and know that I’m on the right path to getting there,” Lavelle said. 

As far as what those things are, she admitted she’s holding herself to a high standard. 

“I think, physically, just getting my fitness back, my quickness back, my touch technically. Maybe I’m being a little harsh but I feel like there’s a lot of things, honestly.”

After looking outmatched by the Americans for most of the 90 minutes, Canada made it clear that it might be time to head back to the drawing board.

Canada’s coach Casey Stoney is even newer to her team than Hayes is to the U.S. team. She took over in January as a permanent replacement after previous coach Bev Priestman left in the aftermath of a scandal in which coaches had been using drones to spy on the trainings of opposing teams.

Stoney called her team’s performance “inexcusable.” And she said that her players may have to change things outside their time with the national team.

“I think, too many individual poor performances, collectively poor. I think you can tell every single one of their players is starting every single week for their clubs. I have a problem that my players aren’t. Some of them are out of season, which it showed, and not playing enough minutes in their clubs, so that needs to change. And that’s going to be a strong message moving forward: get playing or you won’t get picked,” Stoney said. 

Stoney was direct in saying that some of her players may need to move elsewhere to allow them to get enough playing time to improve their games and fitness.

“If they’re not playing, then they need to change clubs. Very simple. I can’t have the amount of players that we’ve got in our squad not playing significant minutes week in and week out.” 

Canada’s striker Jordyn Huitema, who plays for the Seattle Reign, said giving up two early goals off set piece plays was “disappointing and unlike us.”

Huitema also found reasons for optimism.

“While the score line looks bad and we definitely hold ourselves to a higher standard than what we put out there today, I think it gives a lot of improvements to make in the future, which will only make us a better team. So you can look at the negatives of this day, and I’m sure that we’re gonna look at them for a little bit, but obviously, there’s a lot of takeaways positively as well to move forward and improve on,” she said.

The 24-year-old took her questions in a mixed outfit, still wearing her team Canada shorts and socks but rocking the U.S. jersey of her club teammate.

“It’s my bestie from Seattle. She’s got mine. I’ve got hers: Sam Meza. I mean, I’m so proud of her. Her journey is really special and I think, being front row to witness that—very proud of her,” Huitema said. 

“I don’t swap jerseys very often, but this one is definitely special. And she’s a very special player.”

As far as special moments during Wednesday’s game, though, it’s hard to top U.S. defender Tara McKeown. 

It has been a long road to the national team for the 26-year-old center back. She entered the league as an attacking player and was converted into a defender before the 2023 season.

McKeown grew into the role, improving to the point where she earned iron woman status for 2024, playing every single minute of the season without ever being subbed off.

This was a home game for her as well, since she plays for the Washington Spirit, and late in the second half, fans began chanting to urge Hayes to put McKeown in.

There have been no shortage of emotional moments for McKeown at Audi Field. Longtime readers of the newsletter may remember that, in a previous edition, we detailed her dramatic game-tying goal late in the second half of last year’s NWSL quarterfinal playoff game vs. Bay FC.

McKeown scored a goal, rare for a center back, and did it on the day of her sister’s wedding, which she had to miss in order to play in the game.

In the 86^th minute, coach Emma Hayes gave the crowd their wish. McKeown came on. And despite playing in less than 10 minutes of action, she was able to assist on Yazmeen Ryan’s goal in the 89^th minute.

It came just moments after the sold-out crowd of over 19,000 fans serenaded her with a rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

Yes, as if it wasn’t nice enough to play in front of your home fans and assist on a goal, it was also McKeown’s birthday.

Postgame, she was still buzzing when asked about what it was like to be out there.

“I love playing here. I love playing for this team,” she said. “And to do it all on my birthday, I feel like that’s once in a lifetime. It was so much fun.”

MSNBC

Zohran Mamdani Interview

Last week, I happened into an unlikely honor. I was able to produce the first national TV interview with New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani after his shocking result in the first round of last week’s Democratic primary. He sat down with MSNBC’s Jen Psaki the day after the primary election.

Mamdani stormed from longshot status to a commanding win that prompted top challenger Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former governor, to concede the primary before the later rounds of ranked choice voting were released.

It was a fascinating and shocking rise for the 33-year-old state assemblyman, who won over New Yorkers with a combination of progressive policies like free buses and a basket of baby supplies for parents of newborns, humorous videos featuring influencers and lighthearted stunts, and a willingness to challenge establishment forces rallying to defend Cuomo.

@zohran_k_mamdani

I’m freezing…your rent as the next mayor of New York City. Let’s plunge into the details. #newyears #coneyisland #polarbear #nyc #Brooklyn... See more

At the same time, both Cuomo and Republican voices leaned into an aggressive fear campaign targeted at New York City’s large Jewish population, attempting to use Mamdani’s Muslim faith and vocal criticism of Israel to accuse him of antisemitism. 

It has many Jewish Americans on edge, particularly after an interview in which Mamdani was asked about the pro-Palestinian phrase “globalize the intifada.” (Mamdani has not actually used the phrase himself in campaigning or advocacy, but an answer he gave in a podcast appearance made many Jewish leaders feel he did not sufficiently condemn the phrase. The Intifada, an Arabic term meaning “uprising” or “shuddering,” is primarily used outside the Arab World to refer to two violent surges in resistance against Israel in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.)

In the days leading up to Mamdani’s win, as well as in the days that followed, both Democrats and Republicans engaged in a major uptick in anti-Muslim rhetoric. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) tied Mamdani to “global jihad,” a term he never used but one falsely associating Mamdani with fundamentalist Islamist terror groups. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) called Mamdani “little Muhammad” in a tweet and called for him to be deported. (Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents but moved to New York when he was seven years old. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018.)

Wednesday’s interview was a testimony to the ability of a team to come together, as a committee of show staff, including me, worked on questions that balanced politics, policy, and a wide range of points of view.

In the end, we asked Mamdani about the significance of his unexpected win and what it should teach the Democratic Party, then addressed both the concerns of Jewish Americans as well as the rise in Islamophobia and anti-Muslim rhetoric coinciding with Mamdani’s surge in support.

“I know that Jewish New Yorkers, like Jewish Americans, are fearful in this moment of antisemitism. They are fearful, especially after the horrific attacks that we saw in Washington, D.C. and Boulder, Colorado,” Mamdani said.

“Ultimately,” Mamdani added, “it’s through the conversations I’ve had with Jewish New Yorkers that I have developed a proposal for the Department of Community Safety that would include an 800% increase in funding for hate crime prevention programs. Because ultimately, we cannot simply say that antisemitism has no home in this city or no home in this country. We have to do more than talk about it. We have to tackle it.”

Mamdani heads to the general election, where he will face incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who smoked cigars on a video with antisemitic streamer Sneako, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who once dismissed Jews building huts to celebrate Sukkot as “these people and their fucking tree houses,” and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, who once accused Orthodox Jews of being a tax burden by saying, “all they do is make babies like there’s no tomorrow and who’s subsidizing that? We are.”

Just some editorializing and opining on my part, but I doubt there will be as much attention on what they think about Jews as there has been around Mamdani.

Soccer Resistance

In an intersection of my work and my interests outside work, I wrote about the political resistance unfolding in American soccer for my first digital piece for MSNBC.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has cozied up to President Donald Trump ahead of next year’s FIFA World Cup, set to be played in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. 

But American fans have demonstrated against ICE raids, like Nashville SC fans did in May, or called for abolishing ICE, like Los Angeles FC fans did last month.

In the face of raids that have stoked fear across Los Angeles, their NWSL club, Angel City FC, handed out shirts saying “Immigrant City Football Club” for fans and had players and staff wear them pregame.

I also folded in some reporting from my trip to the Bay Area a few weeks ago. It did not make it into the last edition of the newsletter but I interviewed a pair of drag queens, both of whom are immigrants from Latin America, for this piece.

Here was my main take:

You can read my piece in full here.

Something Good I Ate

I haven’t been taking as many pictures of my meals lately but I snuck one in of my lunch yesterday. It’s from a local favorite, the Italian Store here in Arlington, VA.

The Italian Store comes about as close to a New York/New Jersey-style deli as any other place in the DC area. It offers rich, satisfying subs full of fresh cheeses and cured meats.

I ordered my usual favorite—the Capri. It comes with prosciutto, Genoa salami, spiced capicola ham, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, sweet peppers and hot peppers. There are a few bread options and I go for the soft roll and also get it without the hot peppers.

It’s savory, sweet, spicy and soothing all at the same time. And I ate half of it, so once I hit send on this, I’m heading to the fridge to get the other half.