the good, the bad, and the ugly: things are rough out there

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Before we get into this edition of the good, the bad, and the ugly, I wanted to share a few items of my own, in case you missed them.

I’m gonna be honest, there’s not a whole lot.

Over 2,000 athletes, coaches, parents, and advocates have signed a letter calling for trans inclusion in sports. Signers include R.K. Russell, the first openly gay NFL player; Brianna Turner of the Indiana Fever (WNBA); Chelsea Wolfe, BMX cyclist and U.S. Olympian; C.J. Jackson, professional hockey player in the PWHL; and Maya Reddy, professional golfer and former collegiate athlete, and many more. The open letter, addressed to lawmakers and sports organizations, was released ahead of an expected ruling today from the Minnesota Supreme Court in Cooper v. USA Powerlifting—a landmark case challenging USA Powerlifting’s discriminatory ban on transgender athletes that could affirm the rights of trans athletes to compete in Minnesota under the state’s Human Rights Act. 

The Washington Spirit are offering free and discounted tickets to furloughed federal workers. “The halls of government may fall silent, but your service and sacrifice echo louder than ever in this region,” the team said in a social media post.

A BDS win: After calls for a boycott from UK running companies, Saucony has ended its sponsorship of the Jerusalem Marathon. This is especially notable because Saucony had been using members of the IDF who had actively participated in the genocide of Gaza as brand ambassadors for the event. (It had also been reported that Reebok had ordered Israel to remove the company’s logo from the national football team kits, but the company now denies that happened and the Israel Football Association says Reebok reversed its decision following a call with the chairman.

The Women’s Professional Baseball League, which will begin play in 2026, has announced their first four teams—Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. It will be the first professional women’s baseball league since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s and 1950s. I love that there will be a pro women’s baseball league, but I’m not going to lie about the fact that I have some questions and concerns (many of which I’ve been asking around about for the last few months without much success). It’s VC-funded, which always gives me pause. They’re playing at a neutral location(s) rather than the teams having local venues, the salary cap is $95,000 per 15-person team (with pay being determined by game and player experience), and while players supposedly get equity in the league it’s unclear what that cut looks like.

Not only that, you have the primary investor and league chair giving quotes to the media like this one: “On one hand, this is an emerging sport in that it doesn’t exist. On the other hand, it’s America’s national pasttime. There’s nothing emerging about it.” I’m sorry but WHAT? If women’s baseball doesn’t exist, where is the pipeline for this league coming from? If women’s baseball doesn’t exist, who has been playing on the U.S. Women’s National Baseball Team all these years, and who have they been facing in the international Women’s Baseball World Cup? If women’s baseball doesn’t exist, what sport have I been covering for the past 10+ years?

Anti-trans Democrat Seth Moulton was booed at Boston’s No Kings rally this past weekend. Moulton recently announced that he was running to unseat longtime Senator Ed Markey, who showed up to the rally draped in a trans flag.

Karim Zidan writes about attending a panel on trans inclusion in sport that included viewpoints from each side of the debate, something that initially concerned him. I found his report interesting to consider, as he found value in the format. I was not there, but in reading about how it played out, I thought about why it worked the way it did and I believe it was likely due to the balance of voices on the panel—only one was an anti-trans voice, which meant that voice was outnumbered but that there were also a variety of perspectives that could dismantle the misinformation.

So much bad, so much ugly. To the point that I’m not even really entirely sure how to differentiate the two sections but let’s try.