Welcome back to “I’m Curious!”

The newsletter is back up and running post-birthday and there is plenty to tackle.

Let’s get right to it.

As always, feel free to either read through or flip around as you see fit!

Here’s the Table of Contents.

Table of Contents

• Welcome back to “I’m Curious!”

  • The Most Curious Thing This Week: Spirit Survive the Summit

  • The Photo Bay

    • The Occupation Looms Behind Andi Sullivan

    • Studies in Light: Hal Hershfelt

    • What Exactly Is Melissa Kössler Doing?

    • A Smile Showdown: Leicy Santos vs. Carson Pickett

  • My Reporting: A Trinity Rodman Renaissance (for The IX Sports)

  • Other Sports Takes: LeBron James and The Last Decision

  • Something Good I Ate: Sonoran Dog at Nationals Park

And here’s Peach!

The Most Curious Thing This Week

It’s a game where the winner may well have been outplayed.

The Washington Spirit kept their shots on target and weathered a late push from the visiting Denver Summit, holding on to win 1-0 in DC on Sunday night.

In a recurring theme that popped up both on the road against North Carolina two weeks ago and against Boston Legacy last weekend, the Spirit were able to control most of the possession early, only to fall back on some late defending to hold a lead through some nervy moments.

The Spirit tried to create early by focusing on advancing the ball up the wings but Denver’s defense was able to adeptly clear Washington’s efforts to get the ball toward the middle of the field in front of goal.

But with a starting lineup heavy on defensive-minded players, it took until halftime, when Spirit head coach Adrián González substituted on star attacking midfielder Leicy Santos, for Washington to start creating some of its best chances.

The turning point came about an hour into the match, when the Spirit were able to pepper Denver’s goalkeeper Abby Smith with chances. Two 59^th minute chances from winger Trinity Rodman and then from Santos did not bear any fruit.

But moments later, the Summit advanced the ball near the 18-yard box. When the Spirit won possession, left back Kate Wiesner was able to settle it and start a progression down the left side of the field. Midfielder Rebeca Bernal received the first pass, drifted toward the left sideline and shot a ball forward across the center line to a streaking Rodman.

On her first touch, Rodman shot a ball across the field to striker Sofia Cantore. She gathered the ball just outside Denver’s 18-yard-box, and arced a shot in between Denver’s defenders Kaleigh Kurtz and Natasha Flint. The ball may have taken a deflection off Flint, but caromed off the bottom of the crossbar and into the net.

After the game, Rodman told me she saw an opportunity and took it. 

“I saw her in between the center backs and I finally saw the early ball, so I just wanted to hit it first time,” Rodman said. “And I was a little tired, so I wasn’t ready to dribble in that moment. But I think whenever you see the [striker] in the middle of the center backs, really high, just hit it into the space, and usually they’ll make something happen out of it. Especially Sof. Sof has been needing a goal too so I am really happy for her.”

It's Cantore’s fourth goal of the season, but her first since scoring two against the Orlando Pride on May 2^nd . And she told reporters after the game that the dry spell has taken a bit of a toll.

“I was struggling with the fact that I didn’t score a lot, because I play as a [striker.]”

But Cantore was clear that a goal like this definitely helps a lot with her confidence. 

“I agree with Trin, I needed this goal,” Cantore said.

From there, the Spirit sat back, going without a shot for over twenty minutes. In that time, the Summit nearly had a chance at an equalizer. Denver’s new star midfielder Lindsey Heaps, the U.S. national team stalwart in just her second game since her return to the NWSL this summer, went down in the box after contact with Washington’s Rebeca Bernal.

The referee initially awarded a penalty kick before checking the monitor and concluding along with VAR that the contact did not merit a penalty.

And in stoppage time, Denver had four near misses on shots from well within the 18-yard box, capped by a chance from forward Ally Brazier that hit the crossbar.

Summit head coach Nick Cushing credited Heaps, the club’s new arrival, for making a difference.

“The majority of our chances we have in this game involve Lindsey Heaps, because she’s world class,” Cushing said.

He was open about liking a lot of what he saw from his team in the expansion club’s first-ever trip to Audi Field.

“It’s a difficult place to come. These are top of the league, been in two finals. And I thought we were the better team,” Cushing said. “I thought it was pretty even, small margins in the first half. I said to the team at halftime, this is playoff football. This reminds me so much of a playoff game.”

While the Summit came away emptyhanded, the stats indicate that Cushing has a case. Denver doubled Washington’s expected goal total, 1.4 to 0.7, while taking more shots and racking up 35 touches in the opposition box compared to Washington’s 20.

But in crediting Washington, Cushing went back to a term he had used at several points in his postgame press conference: world class. 

“It’s a great finish from Cantore. World class. You get world class finishes from world class players. So we didn’t win the game tonight.”

The Photo Bay

Free DC: The Occupation Looms

The Washington Spirit have had an excellent year. The club used a second-half push to get in prime shape to reach last year’s NWSL Championship game and are currently in first place in the 2026 standings.

But their city has struggled mightily in the same span. In early August of 2025, President Donald Trump sent National Guard troops into Washington, DC, to occupy the city. The illegal occupation has loomed over life in the District, with U.S. troops posted on street corners and in parks as U.S. forces destroy our White House and tear up our Reflecting Pool. The combination of troops and damage can sometimes make it feel more like Baghdad or Kabul than Washington, DC. 

It has come amidst the continued trampling on the rights of the nearly 700,000 U.S. citizens who call the District of Columbia home. They still have no voting representation in Congress despite paying full federal taxes and face a Republican Congress (with several anti-democracy Democrats joining them) who have repeatedly voted to nullify laws passed by DC’s government and to try to strip these Americans of their right to a home rule democracy. 

As the Spirit serve as a beacon for Washington on the field, the federal government is trying to destroy the city just beyond Audi Field’s gates.

Here, we have a bit of a parallel that doesn’t require looking more than a few feet off the pitch. Spirit midfielder Andi Sullivan, the team’s captain and one of its longest-tenured players, also a leader in community advocacy, prepares to launch a corner kick. Right behind her, on the railing at the front of the section, banner with a DC flag and “Free DC” written underneath.

With President Trump extending the illegal occupation, first through the end of 2026 and now until 2029, don’t expect the Spirit, or their fans, to let up in representing their city.

Studies in Light: Hal Hershfelt

Spirit head coach Adrián González has spoken before about midfielder Hal Hershfelt’s willingness to take on any task or play any position. After her performance in a win against Seattle in May, González compared Hershfelt to a Jeep for her versatility.

On Sunday, he deployed her as an attacking midfielder in the first half of the game, asking her to be part of the front line of a high press on Denver’s goalkeeper and defenders while putting her in a role where she was forced to create chances in combination with players on the right wing.

Offensively it was a mixed bag, while on defense Hershfelt created quite a bit of pressure.

“I have fun kind of going high in the press, just like, getting people by surprise a little bit, I think. Like if I have a minute to charge the keeper, I will. I don’t care. So, I feel like that was a little fun for me,” Hershfelt told reporters after the game. 

She said she also appreciated the challenge of venturing beyond her usual defensive-focused role further back on the field.

“I like being pushed out of my comfort zone. Like playing as a higher [central midfielder], playing as [an attacking midfielder.] I mean, sometimes it’s not perfect, definitely because I’ve had to kind of switch my mindset when I’m up there. But today I felt good up there.” 

From where I was shooting behind Denver’s back line and goalkeepers, it made Hershfelt one of the closest Spirit players available. And with a 7pm kickoff in the middle of the summer, the lighting changed by the minute. Take these two photos.

Here, we have the sun shining directly on Hershfelt as she carefully tracks Denver’s goalkeeper Abby Smith.

Compare the ‘golden hour’ light and yellow/orange tint of the first shot to this one from just a couple of minutes later, when the sun had dipped slightly lower and the tint became a lot bluer as the sunlight was swapped out for the white stadium lights.

What Exactly Is Melissa Kössler Doing?

Bench players often trickle out in small groups in the minutes before the starting lineups walk out together. In Denver’s case, the substitutes mostly walked out together. And Summit striker Melissa Kössler walked out dancing to… something.

Her moves didn’t exactly match up with the music in the stadium but seemed to offer a bit of entertainment to her teammates.

A Smile Showdown: Leicy Santos vs. Carson Pickett

As players walk out, it’s often a matter of timing them just right and hoping they are either walking past or standing in front of you at just the right angle.

Usually, most players are in a good mood leading up to game time and in this case, each team offered a player with a big smile as they prepared for Sunday’s kickoff.

For Denver, we have Carson Pickett, the reserve fullback who seemed to be taking in the beautiful summer evening in DC.

And for Washington, we have Leicy Santos, who we learned after the game was navigating a small knock and thus making a rare appearance on the bench in an effort to give her some rest and manage her minutes.

It didn’t seem to dampen her mood, though, as she was all smiles while chatting with teammates before the game.

My Reporting: A Rodman Renaissance (for The IX Sports)

We’re back to freelancing this week, this time with a recap of Trinity Rodman’s stellar July stretch, again for The IX Sports.

Hardly a year ago, she was still nursing her lingering back injury, had been off the field for months, and faced some uncertainty about what her career or skill level would look like.

Now, she has been putting up stats that leave her on track for a career year. And in July, she has already scored four goals and added two assists in a five-game span. 

It includes some reporting I was able to do at training last week before the game.

Another factor I dug into was her ability to build up other, ancillary skills, including her physical strength and her defending.

You can read the full piece here.

Other Sports Takes and Things of Note: The Last Decision

I’ll take a moment here to note a big sea change over in men’s sports, specifically in the NBA.

LeBron James, one of the best players in the history of basketball, has announced what he is calling his “last decision,” that he’d be signing a two-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers after seriously considering retirement.

The 76ers were not really hyped up as a potential destination for the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, with his former teams the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers, as well as the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors reported as some of his top options.

But in Philadelphia, LeBron will get to pursue a fifth NBA championship with a lineup full of immense talent. He slots in with star point guard and two-time All-Star Tyrese Maxey, All-Rookie First Team swingman V.J. Edgecombe, former NBA MVP center Joel Embiid, and the team’s new acquisition from the Boston Celtics, five-time All-Star Jaylen Brown.

That is a hell of a lot of talent. Players have often been derided for trying to chase rings, from LeBron’s original 2010 Decision to form a superteam in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, to Kevin Durant joining the Warriors in 2016 to team up with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

But personally, I have no problem with it. Philadelphia has a lot of talent, but most of it is homegrown or has been acquired through good trades and signings. Even LeBron fits in that, as he took the lowest salary he could to help them build a good team. And the 76ers have not won a title since 1983, so LeBron has a chance to help snap a long title drought.

The thing that strikes me is just the duration of LeBron’s career. He debuted in 2003, when I was just eight years old, and is now set to keep playing after my 31^st birthday last week.

Entering his 24^th NBA season, LeBron has played at an elite level throughout. He has never averaged below 20 points, 5 rebounds, or 5 assists per game in any season of his career. Unlike Michael Jordan, he did not lose any time to retirements. While his total number of games played per year has dipped, he has never missed any major time with injuries.

He played in the NBA at the same time as guys like Karl Malone and Kevin Willis, who both debuted in the early-to-mid-1980s and are now in their 60s and just a few years away from being eligible to collect Social Security.

As this NBA season starts up, he will be facing the likes of AJ Dybantsa and Cameron Boozer, top picks born in 2007 who may well be playing into the 2040s. We may eventually have a 60-year span in which the NBA features a player who faced LeBron James.

While the suggestion from LeBron is that he will retire after his two-year deal, I welcome him to play on, retire… do whatever he wants, really. He has earned it.

Something Good I Ate

On Friday night, I snuck out to a baseball game, to see the Washington Nationals take on the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

Between some seemingly short-staffed concession stands and a larger-than-usual crowd for a postgame Jason Derulo concert, every stand had incredibly long lines.

I opted for the shorter line at the “Taste of the Majors” stand, but even there, it took a long time for the operators to obtain and grill hot dogs.

Given the wait, I opted for the regional hot dog of the weekend with “the works.” It was an Arizona-themed “Sonoran Dog,” wrapped in smoked bacon and covered in pinto beans, onions, tomatoes and salsa verde.

The thing was an absolute mess, but I was very hungry and it tasted pretty good. I appreciated the chance to try a style of hot dog that is not usually available in DC and took full advantage.