"Megan Rapinoe"

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Speaker 1 John? Yes. Happy holidays.
Happy holidays to you, Will, and happy holidays to all of our listeners here at Smartlist.

Speaker 1 Happy holidays to all of our listeners of Smartlist, the podcast where Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and I bring on a surprise guest every week. Well, surprise to the other two.
And then we just...

Speaker 1 There is no format. If you're expecting me to roll out a format, there is none.
We just kind of talk until it's done. So,

Speaker 1 all right, it's an all-new episode of Smartlist. Let's go.
Smart.

Speaker 1 Smart.

Speaker 1 Let us.

Speaker 1 Smart.

Speaker 1 Less.

Speaker 1 What do you got in the thermos today, Jason? Yeah, what is in the thermos?

Speaker 1 It's more electrolytes. But what about my super tacky?

Speaker 1 Oh, Dodgers. Oh, Dodgers.
Was that a Father's Day gift? This is like this kind of thing you buy at a sporting good checkout line. Do you wear New Balance as well? Sorry, Sean.

Speaker 1 Is New balance not cool no i think new balance because by the way i own new balance with the extra cushion one

Speaker 1 oh my god oh my god he has new balance he does of course he does

Speaker 1 he's got new balance by the way so do i they're very comfortable by the way most days if jason walked by you and you didn't know he's an actor if i didn't know he's an actor and somebody said guess that guy's profession i'd say male nurse yep for sure

Speaker 1 most days

Speaker 1 what about you drinking diet coke at how old are you 65 Dude. Why would you do that? I just turned 50.
You know that. Sean, what are you drinking?

Speaker 1 It's water all the time. I don't have electrolytes.
What's the university that you're pimping on your shirt?

Speaker 1 University of California.

Speaker 1 New California.

Speaker 1 Did you spill some cranberry juice on yourself at the airport and you needed a new t-shirt just for the trip?

Speaker 1 Ducked into the Hudson News. Look, I couldn't get the cranberry down fast enough.
Do you think he drinks cranberry juice because of yeast infections? Yes. No, it's bladder infections.

Speaker 1 isn't it supposed to be for bladder infections cleans your kidneys out bladder infections bladder infections yeah no but i it clean my kidney have you guys ever had a kidney stone i'm gonna open up every episode with an ailment i have no but i do hear that that's from dehydration and so that's why i drink a lot of electrolytes that's right that by the way that's really good because you get it like spinach it all has to do with um

Speaker 1 I can't remember. I can't remember what it's called.
Oh, you can't remember, Wolf? Great story. Definitely make us wait as you try to remember.

Speaker 1 But no, if you guys have never had a kidney stone, it's it's like

Speaker 1 peeing out a baby. I can't wait to get back to this.
Now, listen,

Speaker 1 I don't know what to say about our special guest because I'm about to start with an apology. I want to, I'm going to apologize, we're all going to apologize.

Speaker 1 This person, um, I am so in awe of this person, I'm very starstruck. Is this Bonnie Vera? And dumbfounded.

Speaker 1 It's not Bonnie Vera, but boy, you're going to be embarrassed when Vernon shows up on the show.

Speaker 1 I owe him a huge apology. You owe Justin Vernon of Bonivera.

Speaker 1 I did a bit that was just, it

Speaker 1 had nothing to do with him or his band. So this person.
I was just in a mood. This person has won so many accolades in their career and is just piling them on.

Speaker 1 This person has, and I'm, again, I'm just, I don't know where to start. I'm, I'm giddy.

Speaker 1 This person has been named FIFA Soccer Player of the Year multiple times, has won the Ballon d'Or, has won, I think, two World Cups.

Speaker 1 This person is a complete badass, is a social activist, is the coolest person, and I'm so excited.

Speaker 1 Please say hello to O Megan Rapino. What?

Speaker 1 Oh, Megan Rapino. Nice.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. I've always wanted to meet you.

Speaker 1 Good. How are you? I'm such a huge fan.
How rare is this?

Speaker 2 Good morning. Good afternoon.
Whatever it is. I've been trying to be quiet over here, but I'm dying at everything.

Speaker 1 Well, to Jason's point, we apologize for the rambling up at top. And definitely, we're going to get back to

Speaker 1 Sean's passing kidney stone. Oh, we can't wait, Sean.

Speaker 1 Listener, I wish you could see how Megan has kindly matched her hair color to her tie-dye shirt.

Speaker 1 It is something that

Speaker 1 is looking great.

Speaker 2 Look at that.

Speaker 2 I had a big pod today, so I had to get it.

Speaker 1 I hope that big pod goes well. It must be after ours.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 um megan

Speaker 1 so great to meet you i'm so first of all i want to say and this is going to date the day that we we recorded this but i want to say are you excited because one of your old teams leon is playing in the semifinal uh the men's squad is playing the semifinal against byron munich today i know is that something that you were you watch are you do you watch any of the champions league the dudes Yeah, I'm definitely following the Champions League.

Speaker 2 I missed the game yesterday. I don't know what happened.
I I don't know where I was. I just blanked on it.
I saw the Barcelona disaster.

Speaker 2 That was really something to watch at the highest level of international soccer. I was like, oh, God.

Speaker 2 But I'm a big fan of Lyon. Obviously, I played there and,

Speaker 2 you know, friends with, or friendly at least with the president there, Jean-Michelle Alas. He's kind of a character and sort of just an interesting person in sports.
I always appreciate that.

Speaker 2 So hopefully they do well.

Speaker 1 And not only, so you played there. I mean, you only played there for a year, but you know those people and you did play there.
And then you went back and you won the World Cup in Lyon, at that, right?

Speaker 1 I mean,

Speaker 1 how was that?

Speaker 2 It was really cool. It was actually, we played the French team.
in the quarterfinals. That would have been something if we played them in the finals.

Speaker 2 And I had this kind of sneaking suspicion that like, of course they wanted to win, but the French also like really loved our team too. I feel like we're everything the French want to be.

Speaker 2 Like they want to be more outgoing. They want to be more whatever, but they're just still like a little bit caught in their

Speaker 2 insecurities or something. So, once they were knocked out, I feel like everyone kind of piled on us.
And to do it in a place that I had played in a beautiful stadium in France was pretty cool.

Speaker 1 Well, and then you were just such a standout, and you did such amazing things. It was a great team, and you stood out on a great team.

Speaker 1 The thing that I love the most is maybe my favorite celebrity, your very famous celebration, standing proud and sounding tall, like doing that, that pose, which is so cool.

Speaker 1 So rad. And I'm such a football fan, so it was great.
Just watching, it was just unbelievable watching that. That was so exciting.

Speaker 1 And I always wonder, like, because I can imagine the adrenaline and the rush and the buildup and working so hard in all the years.

Speaker 1 And then you get, and you've won it a couple of times, but that was such a crowning achievement, that 2019 World Cup. It was so tough.
And you guys played so well. It was such a great team.

Speaker 1 At the end of that, what is that come down like? Is that tough? Is it gradual? Is it a month later? Like, ooh,

Speaker 2 you know?

Speaker 2 This one just felt so different because it just was about so much more than sports.

Speaker 2 So it's almost like, I don't know, I don't even feel like we had that kind of come down because even when the sports were over, like even just with the equal pay stuff and the way the team, you know, sort of acted during the tournament and the way we kind of held ourselves and all the stuff with the president and like all this, it just felt like it was just a really happy, joyous moment, not only for us, but like for everyone.

Speaker 2 So I didn't really feel the come down in this one, which was kind of nice because you want that feeling to last for a while.

Speaker 1 Will, what was your come down like, Will? Because yours is from 2010 and last year, right? The last

Speaker 1 time.

Speaker 1 That was a long come down.

Speaker 1 Megan, excuse my ignorance, period. We do it all the time, by the way.
We have to do it all the time. Remind me.
We'll assess as we go. Remind me how things resolved

Speaker 1 with the whole the president thing and the equal pay thing and how that, how did that whole plane land?

Speaker 2 The equal pay thing is still ongoing. We're basically like in the appellate process right now, which is

Speaker 2 takes

Speaker 2 a long time in normal times, in the best of times. And so obviously now everything is kind of slowed down, but that's still going.

Speaker 1 So wait, so that's an appeal. So then what was the initial ruling?

Speaker 2 So the initial rule, basically the judge out of California, which we disagreed with this, but he ruled on summary judgment for pretty much all of the financial part of the lawsuit and said essentially that

Speaker 2 we had chosen the type of contract that we wanted.

Speaker 2 And now we're upset that it didn't pay us as much, which in reality, if we could have had the same contract as the men, we would have taken it because it would have paid us three times more.

Speaker 2 So essentially, he said we actually made more money, but I'm like, we won literally three times as much and played more important games and won two World Cups and all of that.

Speaker 2 So it was kind of the idea of like, we worked twice as hard and earned the same amount of money. And so he's like, oh, yeah, you earned the same amount of money.

Speaker 1 We're like, I don't think that's how discrimination works. You sort of missed,

Speaker 2 you kind of missed the general premise of discrimination.

Speaker 2 So he just ruled on those. There was a couple other like travel and the where, you know, the type of hotels we stay and charter planes and stuff like that that were still left open.

Speaker 2 So those need to be, we either need to go to trial or settle on those before we can formally appeal the other one.

Speaker 2 So, we're kind of working on those right now in the hopes that then pretty soon we can appeal. But then, all of the court dates have been set back and you know, because of COVID.

Speaker 2 So, we can't really do anything right now.

Speaker 1 And again, forgive me for Jason's ignorance, but I'm going to ask a question.

Speaker 1 Sure, Jason. But the suit is against U.S.
soccer, right? Yes. And

Speaker 1 they're trying to hold back. Now, what's crazy to me is women's soccer in this country draws far more viewers than men's soccer, and yet they're fighting for the right to pay you less.

Speaker 1 And it also seems strange that that's like saying, well, why don't we just piss off the people who are actually bringing us the revenue that is paying our salaries? Right, right.

Speaker 1 It just doesn't, it doesn't add up.

Speaker 2 I know. It actually really is bizarre and just sort of shows that, you know, the kind of deep-rooted and it things have changed a lot over the last, I don't know, probably eight years or so.

Speaker 2 We weren't always this popular, always making this much money.

Speaker 2 But, you know, the sort of unwillingness to shift or the lack of ability to shift and realize that you're actually underselling this product that wins all the time.

Speaker 2 You know, particularly in this time as, you know, social justice starts to become more of a... nationwide conversation and pay equity and women and all of that.

Speaker 2 I'm kind of like, you guys are just still digging in. Like, this is really bad business, you know, even just from like a ruthless business perspective.

Speaker 2 I'm like, put your money into social causes and like, you know, get behind women and get behind winners and all of that. So, especially, I mean, we're winning World Cups.
We're doing all the things.

Speaker 2 It's crazy.

Speaker 1 It's one of those things that you want to be like, hey, if you were their friend, you'd want to be like, hey, you know what?

Speaker 1 Even despite what you think, this is going to look really bad for you down the road. History will not reflect well on you.

Speaker 1 Like all the, like, even if you, and it's crazy you don't want to pay us, but even if you don't want to, you should just for self-preservation reasons.

Speaker 2 That's what I keep saying. I know.
I'm like, listen, I just deserve it because, like, this, you know, I'm good at what I do, and the team is good, and we draw ratings and this and that.

Speaker 2 But I'm like, even just over the course of these, you know, number of years, you know, the stance that they took on kneeling and all that, they've had to walk that back.

Speaker 2 The whole pay equity issue, it just seems like one PR nightmare after another.

Speaker 2 I mean, the last thing they sort of did was, I think it was in March, put in their legal brief that just inherently women are like lesser than men.

Speaker 2 And I was like, oh God, this can't be the argument that you're making.

Speaker 1 Like, this is crazy.

Speaker 2 I was like, oh, my God, they said it out loud. This is insane.

Speaker 1 What are you doing? So, this is U.S. soccer.
So, there's a distinction between obviously Olympic soccer, which is amateur and none of the athletes get paid.

Speaker 1 But for World Cup, the athletes do get paid. Is that correct?

Speaker 2 So, it's different on the men's side and the women's side. So, for the men's side, it is an amateur tournament.
I think you can have like two, you know, professional players or overage players.

Speaker 2 It's like an under-23 tournament, as to not take over the whole Olympics and make it like another World Cup. So, that's what the men do.
But for us, it is a fully professional tournament.

Speaker 2 So, we have the World Cup and then the Olympics are supposed to be the year after, but we get paid fully for both. Gotcha.
Yeah. So, on the women's side, it's fully professional.

Speaker 2 On the men's side, it's still an amateur tournament.

Speaker 1 I got you. And that concludes our interview.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I don't know. It seems like it's just real simple math.

Speaker 1 You know, the television stations that are airing your games, they should just simply look at the ad rates, and those are predicated on ratings.

Speaker 1 And if you guys are getting higher ratings and therefore higher ad rates, you guys should have a commensurate share of that. It just doesn't, I don't understand why they would mess around with

Speaker 1 solid, indisputable numbers. And when we say they, it's the U.S.

Speaker 1 soccer what?

Speaker 2 Federation. Federation.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's a non-profit, like governing body, basically.

Speaker 1 Do you have to deal with them on a daily, weekly, monthly basis? And is that weird now? And what is that like?

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's gotten a little icy over the years.

Speaker 1 I mean, I can't imagine.

Speaker 2 It's always been kind of awkward because we've always been like, low-key, y'all just hating on us and like discriminating against us. And so we know that.

Speaker 2 And now, as we've gotten more organized and, you know, our union is really strong now and we kind of have the structures around us to really fight it appropriately.

Speaker 2 It's just difficult because they are still the bosses. And it's like, that's the only national team we can play for.
But in turn, we're the only players that are going to play for you.

Speaker 1 So it's awkward all around. But it seems completely fruitless on their side since you guys hold 100% of the leverage.
All you guys have to do is say, guess what?

Speaker 1 We're not playing, effectively striking. And then they can try to say, oh, we'll just get different players.

Speaker 1 And And then they'll go out there and they'll realize, Oh, the best players are the ones that are saying that they don't want to play.

Speaker 1 So they would never field a team of people who didn't know how to play. So why don't you just say, Guess what? Here's the price.

Speaker 1 And if you don't pay it, you can have these people that don't know how to play very well. But then they have to keep saying, Guess what? And then they're going to be like, What?

Speaker 1 But I think here's the thing: man,

Speaker 1 what you guys should make. And that's a game nobody ever wins.
Guess what? Guess what? Okay, guess what?

Speaker 1 Guess what? But you know what? You should do is find a country, find some rogue nation and say, and sell your services and say, hey, hey, do you guys want to win the World Cup every time?

Speaker 1 Because we've got 11 players or what, a deep squad of 20, right?

Speaker 1 Yeah. And here we go.
And we're, and just take it to the highest bidder and have some country that will be, you know, like, I don't know, like Andorra, you know, up in the Pyrenees.

Speaker 1 And they're like, yeah, we'll have a winning World Cup team.

Speaker 1 Let's take that. No problem.

Speaker 2 Yeah. I mean, our contract is coming up.

Speaker 1 I think our contract is up next year.

Speaker 2 So that is definitely a time where we're sort of done

Speaker 1 taking the pay cuts. And that would be before the next World Cup, right?

Speaker 2 That's once every four years. Four years before.
Yep.

Speaker 1 Good. I can't wait.
I really hope you guys turn the screws on them. Stick it to them.
Yeah.

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Speaker 1 Can I ask a dumb-dumb question when I watch soccer? Because last time I played, I think I was like five or six years old.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I always watch you guys play, and I'm fascinated. It's you never, ever stop running, ever.
How many effing miles do you think you run in a game?

Speaker 1 Because the only other game like basketball, you never stop moving either. But like football, baseball, golf, they're all kind of like leisure.
But this is like you don't stop running ever.

Speaker 1 Don't even mention golf.

Speaker 1 A lot of walking. A lot of walking.
Yeah. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 It's a lot. It's like, it's like six to eight, depending on your position, it's like six to eight miles a game.
But it is just the constant. The field is so big.

Speaker 2 You're constantly running really far to do it.

Speaker 1 What about if we lobby to make it shorter? I wouldn't hate it. I wouldn't hate it.
So can I ask you one question?

Speaker 1 So just to get back and kind of put a final, put it to bed about the whole equal pay thing. And not that I want to put it to bed.
I want it to be out there and I want you to win and crush these guys.

Speaker 1 But at the same time, I watched that documentary about that guy, Nico Anelka. He's a very famous soccer player.
Yeah, really great.

Speaker 1 It's cool, right? Yeah.

Speaker 1 French guy.

Speaker 1 Interesting. Super interesting.
Guy from Paris.

Speaker 1 And he played for a bunch of different teams. And part of the reason was, it seems to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, was that he was a guy who always, he valued himself

Speaker 1 and he was like, I'm really great and I should play at the best place. And he ended up at one point, he left, he sort of defied the rules and that

Speaker 1 were kind of some written and some unwritten about player transfers. And he decided to leave PSG to go to Arsenal.

Speaker 1 And the French Football Federation, who had groomed him, he'd come up through the French national program, were so pissed off. that he did that and that and he won because he had a case.

Speaker 1 He was like, look, these were my services. I should be in charge of my services.

Speaker 1 and the the law states that i can do this they were so mad that when it came time to pick the uh world cup team of 1998 that played in france

Speaker 1 they didn't pick him for the team and he was an incredible striker he should have been on that squad now they won anyway but he should have been on that squad and he fell victim it seemed to me a lot too he was an outspoken guy super smart guy and he was a trailblazer in a lot of ways and he was an individual and i think that you know

Speaker 1 not to embarrass you but i think that you share a lot of those same traits, that you understand you're, you said it before, you're a great player. You're, that's such an understatement.

Speaker 1 You're such an incredible athlete. You're such a great footballer, and you're such a great role model.
And you are willing to put yourself out there on the line.

Speaker 1 And that's got to be scary when it's the president of the United States or fighting U.S. soccer for the equal pay.
It puts a target on you a little bit, right? And does that ever,

Speaker 1 and sometimes does it feel like you're taking a lot of the weight, but you know that it's the right thing to do because you're opening the door? Does that occur to you at certain points?

Speaker 1 Because I think it takes a lot of courage and I am truly in awe of what you do. Yeah, great.
Oh, thank you.

Speaker 1 No, sorry. That was for Megan.

Speaker 1 That was for Megan. Sean.
That was young.

Speaker 1 Oh, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 Oh, go ahead.

Speaker 2 Oh, I was like, do tell us

Speaker 2 the incredible backpack that you have to carry.

Speaker 2 I think it's a little bit of both, to be honest. I think that there are certain personalities and people who are just better suited.
And I do think that I have a little bit of that.

Speaker 2 You know, Nico had a little bit of that.

Speaker 1 You guys are very, you're different people. I'm not saying you're the same, but yeah.

Speaker 2 But I do think that there's certain personalities that handle it a little bit better or just more comfortable in it for whatever reason. I think too, being, you know, sort of growing up and maturing.

Speaker 2 on a team full of very powerful women where normally if you're a woman and you're elite in whatever you do, I say this a lot, like you're one of the only ones.

Speaker 2 You're either, you know, the, you know, CEO in the office or, you know, you're sort of one of one or one of very few.

Speaker 2 And so I think as a, as a woman growing up in the world and as a female athlete, I sort of had this unique experience, as we all did on the team, of growing up in our own echo chamber where we don't have to live in the world as an elite woman who's one of one.

Speaker 2 We live in a world where there's 23 or 25 of us. And so we kind of get that confidence from each other almost.

Speaker 2 And so we grow up almost in this bizarre echo chamber of positivity positivity and like encouragement for each other.

Speaker 2 And then, I don't know, I mean, I think we grew up too, like, we've had so much media around us all the time,

Speaker 2 you know, since a very young age on this team. We're constantly in the media.

Speaker 2 We constantly have pressure because no matter if we're playing a friendly or in the World Cup, we're always expected to win.

Speaker 2 And that's just kind of the deal when you play on the women's national team. And so, we're sort of uniquely suited.

Speaker 2 Once we get to these big moments, I think that's a strength we have actually over a lot of other teams is that we do a lot of media at home. We do a lot of sponsorship deals.

Speaker 2 We do a lot of brand deals. We do a lot of appearances.
We're kind of constantly out there. And so when we get to these bigger moments, we're a little bit more suited for it.

Speaker 2 And in terms of like the speaking truth to power thing, I just feel like, you know, being as successful as we've been. So we have that kind of like positive feedback of like, yes, we're elite.

Speaker 2 Yes, brands want to work with us. It's like almost like brands are paying us more to just show up and like talk to people than our own federation is paying us to actually go win the damn world cup.

Speaker 2 Like it's, it's kind of crazy. And so I think that like weird reality of those two things, then we get in, you know, in front of the federation or whatever it is.

Speaker 2 And we're like, no, this is not, this is not right. This is not kind of what should be happening.
And then the president thing was just so, that was the weirdest.

Speaker 1 Yeah. How did that resolve? Like, what was the final?

Speaker 1 Well, he got distracted looking at another shiny object, probably somewhere else.

Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly. I mean, basically he said what he said, like, you know,

Speaker 2 basically just shut up and win before you talk. And we were like, hold our beer.
Did that. And then it was kind of like, oh, sorry, I didn't hear anything else from you after that, after we won.

Speaker 2 I think actually the White House administration tried to reach out sort of backdoor of like, hey, can we do some kind of like bipartisan, like, you know, whatever?

Speaker 2 Cause Pelosi had said stuff, like, you guys are more than welcome to come to the Hill. I think Schumer as well.

Speaker 2 So they were like, maybe we can do some kind of bipartisan thing. And we're like, we're not fucking going.

Speaker 1 We already told you, and we're going to tell you again, we're not going. It's just, but, you know, what Will was talking about, you know, your courage to

Speaker 1 be the

Speaker 1 figurehead of something that you're clearly right on at the risk of being a target

Speaker 1 and having to deal with whatever consequences may come is just, you know, it's not unique, but it is rare.

Speaker 1 But it is, it's so needed nowadays.

Speaker 1 More so, I mean, it's always been needed, but more so now than ever, I would imagine. And

Speaker 1 for all the young girls that are watching you as well, to see that,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 we're not a pain in the ass. We are speaking truth to power.
We are right.

Speaker 1 And there should be no fear about coming forward and saying that you are right when you have the ability to judge whether you are right or you are wrong. Like you're not just popping off.

Speaker 1 You know, you have a good point. It's vetted and

Speaker 1 deal with the consequences,

Speaker 1 whatever they are. It doesn't matter as long as we're standing up for what is correct.
We need that so much today.

Speaker 2 And I think I do understand that and sort of, I think, especially in the last three or four years, it seems like, you know, every time we speak up or I speak up and say something, it's kind of the same people being mad.

Speaker 2 You know, like even when I knelt, it was like, okay, all of these particular kind of people are mad. I must be doing something right.
It's like, it's, it's nobody who looks like me.

Speaker 2 It's nobody who's, you know, like black. It's nobody who, you know, is in sort of a position, maybe they're marginalized or whatever.
So I think I do understand.

Speaker 2 and take very seriously the fact that my voice does have impact and it has outsized impact i mean i'm just one person but for whatever reason have this platform and live in a country that glorifies sports and glorifies celebrities so that the impact is going to be outsized anyways and so basically all i have to do is you know i mean be educated and know what i'm talking about but just say the things because there's a lot of other i feel like when i'm saying these things i'm saying it for a lot of people that don't have those voices so it's like that's kind of my responsibility with the impact that I can have.

Speaker 2 And other people will have a different responsibility with the impact that they can have as well.

Speaker 1 What was your degree in when you graduated? Because you're a super smarty.

Speaker 2 Oh, dear.

Speaker 2 Nothing super smarty. I did, I think it was sociology and a minor in political science, but mostly like sociology.

Speaker 1 I was pretty.

Speaker 1 Those are both super smarty. Yeah, same, same.
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 But it's true. Like you speak with such a sort of, there's such a clarity and sort of, you're so sober in the way that you talk about stuff and so direct.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Um, and it really makes sense and it's really easy to identify with. And I think it's super important.

Speaker 1 I think you're honestly, again, I know I'm so gushingly like Starstruck, but I just think you're such an incredible role model across the board. And

Speaker 1 so, what city's best to party in?

Speaker 1 Beautiful segue.

Speaker 1 No, I want to ask you a question about Sue Bird.

Speaker 1 The best, right? Yeah.

Speaker 1 She's the best. The best.
So Sue Bird is also, you is your partner, but also a phenomenal athlete. And what is that like in a household? You guys constantly compete over everything.

Speaker 2 We don't actually constantly compete, but it is just, it's just humble pie all day long for me because she's so much more accomplished than I am.

Speaker 2 I'm like, my mom actually said when we first started dating, she did, you know, her obligatory quick Google search and she was like, well, you used to be a lot more impressive.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I was like, well, yeah, you're right.

Speaker 2 I'm like, oh, it's so cool. I have, we know, I've like won an Olympic gold medal.
And Sue's like, I have four. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And your mom's like, you're like, we're coming over for dinner. Mom's like, well, is Sue coming? Yeah.

Speaker 2 It's like, just, this isn't a one, a one person thing. Right.

Speaker 2 We're actually, I mean, we're both competitive, obviously, being, being athletes, but we. very much value leaving that where it is in in the sports and just doing other things and getting out of it.

Speaker 2 Neither of us are like, eat, breathe, sleep, like the sports all the time. Yeah, that was my next question.

Speaker 1 Like, because you know, I always say, like, doctors don't run home and watch reruns of ER. No.
So I can't imagine you guys. I've never heard you say that.

Speaker 1 I've literally never, and I've known you for 20 years. We've been friends for 20 years.

Speaker 1 Okay. I have a lot of those kind of thoughts running through my head.
But it's true. Like, you probably don't run home to go just watch endless sports things on TV.

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Speaker 1 So you've been playing football as we call it. Soccer, it's soccer.
Jason and Sean call it soccer, but we call it football.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, as the people who know.

Speaker 1 Yeah, the people who know.

Speaker 1 So you've been doing it since a very young age at a very high level.

Speaker 1 And, you know, I have a good friend of mine who we had on the podcast a little while ago who played hockey for 22 years professionally.

Speaker 1 And I knew watching him kind of retire and what that was like that all of a a sudden, so you've been doing this thing at this highest level and you're still doing it.

Speaker 1 And like you said, like you know what your year is, you know what your tournaments you're going to play. You know what your season is.
And

Speaker 1 that's a very, it's a very strange existence, right? Yeah. And then you, because it's, but it's all you know so far.
Well, to that point, I always think that too.

Speaker 1 Like, you know, you, you, you can only watch so many documentaries about sports figures who all but talk about what they're going to do after they can't play anymore. And is that on your mind?

Speaker 1 And what does that look like? Hopefully it's not for years and years because you're young and in incredible shape. Thank you.

Speaker 1 But, you know, do you think about that and what does that look like for you?

Speaker 2 Thank you. Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I definitely think about it, especially, you know, I'm closer to the to the end of it than the beginning of it.

Speaker 2 And I'm trying to, you know, prepare as much as I can and sort of do other things. I mean, the pandemic, frankly, has been,

Speaker 2 you know, that's been the silver lining for me is is to do a lot more of other things. And what do I like? And what do I not like? And how much media do I like?

Speaker 2 And do I want to be in sports or other things?

Speaker 1 Will you go into politics, please? Yeah. Politics, yeah.

Speaker 1 I was thinking the same thing. Why keep saying that? Please.

Speaker 2 I don't know. It seems like you're not.

Speaker 1 Well, but you studied political science. Please be a senator from California for us and then become president.
Where do you live? California?

Speaker 2 We're in Seattle right now, and we spend a lot of time like out in the Connecticut area, New York area. That's where Sue's from.

Speaker 1 But you're from California.

Speaker 2 But from California, yeah. So I think about it, I mean, I think it'll, it'll have to be,

Speaker 2 I'm sure it'll be hard. I'm sure I'll need therapy for it.

Speaker 1 And like, you know, oh, existential prizes, like, for sure. Like, that's.
I have the number for you. Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 2 I'm going to need that.

Speaker 2 You know, I get asked the politics question a lot. And I do think the mold for politicians is totally breaking apart, which I think is amazing.
We need more younger people, first of all.

Speaker 2 And we just need more people from different kinds of walks of life. And it can't just be this sort of entrenched club that never kind of breaks up.

Speaker 2 It seems like a lot, though. I don't know.
I can't imagine being like vetted and fact-checked for my whole life, never thinking I was going to be a politician and then trying to be a politician.

Speaker 2 They'd be like, all these receipts are not okay.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 but we'll see. I think that whole sort of puritanical, you know, resume, I think, is less necessary in today's

Speaker 1 day and age as far as like, well, I can't run to be a politician because because i i smoked grass in 10th grade like i don't i think trump kind of blew that out of the water so as long as you're uh clear-headed and common sense and fair uh i think you've got a really good shot there's a flushing i think that's that's happening god willing um

Speaker 1 smoke grass

Speaker 1 smoke

Speaker 1 that's what the kids are doing i hear jason the grass jason what the fuck man they're smoking the weed jason the guy whose iphone light is always on by mistake you know and you're like hey grandpa she's why is my battery two percent

Speaker 1 what the what's a tick tock

Speaker 1 but wait what you you and you're talking about a couple things that you're learning that you like to do what what is one of them um like do you want to follow in the footsteps of a kaepernick who started it you know got a deal and maybe in media and anything like that or

Speaker 2 I do have a lot of interest in sports media and the storytelling around sports media. I think that such a better job could be done, especially with female athletes.

Speaker 2 You know, whereas with male athletes, you get a thousand stories every day about everything. And that's what drives the excitement and the fandom of the game.

Speaker 2 It's not like people, you know, show up to the Lakers game and everyone's a die-hard basketball fan, knowing all the plays. No, people just like to be entertained, right?

Speaker 2 And so, if you know, you know, the story of, you know, whatever player, not even LeBron James, because he's the best, but you know, like a Javel McGee or, you know whatever any of these other players like you just know so much more about them you get hooked in the storyline and then all of a sudden you're in right the olympics did a great job of that right that rune arlich thing going way back olympics does a great job but they always do like you know i got into football i'm a liverpool supporter because my writing partner champi

Speaker 1 we started watching champions league and he would say this is like sort of eight years ago and he started saying oh this guy's great because he came over he used to play with this other manager and he started telling me the stories

Speaker 1 of these guys who were playing. And once I got into that, once that clicked, and I was like, oh, Jürgen Klopp used to be the manager at Baricia Dortmund.
He won there, and then he came to think.

Speaker 1 And I'm like, You're in. Yeah, the stories are a lot more like for me.
I know you wouldn't know it by looking at me or knowing me that I'm not that huge of a sports follower.

Speaker 1 Who's Michael Jordan? Who's Michael Jordan?

Speaker 1 So he's a basketball player.

Speaker 2 He's the last dancer.

Speaker 1 He's the last dancer.

Speaker 1 And so, but like to what Will, that's hilarious. It's got dancer in the title.
I must watch it. I love it.
So, no, so Scotty.

Speaker 1 Scotty.

Speaker 1 So, no, but to Will's point,

Speaker 1 I find those stories fascinating. Like all those documentaries, like about the athlete's stories.
Sure, the games are interesting to watch and fun to watch.

Speaker 1 I don't do deep dives in the statistics of sports or whatever, but I agree with you. Like the people's stories are what fascinate most people, the story behind the story.

Speaker 1 Megan, are you too young to remember indoor soccer?

Speaker 2 Kind of, yeah. I mean, I know it a little bit, but yeah, like is it the MISL?

Speaker 1 Megan and I are both too young to know that. I don't know what happened to that, but it is awesome.
I mean, you basically play it inside a hockey ring and you put like astroturf down on the ice.

Speaker 2 It's like hockey soccer.

Speaker 1 It's just bananas. I loved it.

Speaker 1 I loved it. I remember that.
Arena football? Is that still around? No, arena football is gone. So I'm going to ask you the question.

Speaker 1 This is usually what Sean asked, but I'm going to ask it because he hasn't, which is, what do you, what do you.

Speaker 1 We're not letting him get in there. I'm not going to let him.
I just want to hang out with you and Sue and me and Smith.

Speaker 1 Well, me too. So what do you guys do when you hang out? What's your favorite thing to do? But everybody wants to know, what do you guys do?

Speaker 2 What do you actually do?

Speaker 1 What do you actually do? Pets? Anything?

Speaker 2 No, no pets.

Speaker 2 I mean, I can't even keep a plant alive.

Speaker 1 It would just, it's just like, we travel so much.

Speaker 2 And then, like, a lot of my friends and teammates have pets. And I'm like, you're just dropping money into the boarding of the animals and like the daycare situation.

Speaker 1 You don't have to spend a ton of time working out, do you?

Speaker 2 I bet you don't. Yeah, we work out a lot, but that's only like a few hours a day.
Honestly, our hobby really is we're pretty big foodies.

Speaker 2 So, you know, being in Seattle and we spend a lot of time in New York. That's like my idea of a, you know, what do you want to do? Or we're like, what's your ideal night?

Speaker 2 Like just a really good pre-cocktail. If I'm feeling really feisty, I might start with a Manhattan, but I can only have one because those things are like right to your face.

Speaker 2 And then just like a really good dinner and then, you know, the unnecessary stop after dinner, which you never need and you always take.

Speaker 1 That's the smoking grass part. It's the summer grass.

Speaker 1 Listening to the rock and roll, you kids. Yeah.
Sean likes to smoke a lot of grass. Yeah, I used to.
I can't do it anymore. And then he giggled, but but you laugh too much.

Speaker 1 I laugh all the time. I'm the easiest audience.
So does Ruppino make ruppini? Hey, yo.

Speaker 2 I don't like broccoli very much.

Speaker 2 Ruppini is good, though. Yeah.
And I definitely will drink Pinot Noir till the day I die.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 You snuck in there that, yeah, yeah, yeah, we work out, but that's only a few hours a day. And then you moved on.
So can we back up to that? Yeah.

Speaker 1 What does one do to work out when you're a top athlete? What do you have to do to maintain that much? Yeah. well, I mean, I start out with.
No, Sean, sorry again for Megan. Did you?

Speaker 1 No, no, no, not enough for you, Sean. So, what are you guys doing too? Is it just basic cardio? Are you guys you're not pushing weight?

Speaker 2 No, we're not pushing a lot of weight. We're more in like the, we do a lot of Pilates.
Actually, Pilates. I feel like as you get older, you need to do a little less, but do it a lot smarter.

Speaker 2 Um, so a lot of Pilates, a lot of like strengthening of the little muscles, um, the stretching. We definitely lift weights, but it's more body weight or kind of lighter weight.

Speaker 1 Um, Will, what are you going to blast today? Is today back and buys? I did, well, you know, smart ass, here's what I did. I did a lot of stretching.

Speaker 1 I did some neuromuscular trigger point therapy today for my hips, which is because as you get older,

Speaker 1 a lot of rubber band stuff I do

Speaker 1 with the spiky ball, I do a lot of little muscle kind of stuff like that. And I'm getting into I'm 50, okay? Tell your body, though, that you're working out a bunch, would you?

Speaker 1 Oh, Jerry.

Speaker 1 Well, Megan, we've taken way too much of your time. This has been so freaking cool.

Speaker 1 Whatever you want to do, if you're running for any kind of office, whatever you're doing, you've got at least me and I think these two guys as

Speaker 1 you can announce it here. Please announce it here.

Speaker 1 We will do anything that you ask us to do.

Speaker 1 You're just so cool. And thank you for taking the time and just so much success in everything you do.
Not that you need our good tidings, but you got them. And yeah, thank you so much.

Speaker 1 It was an honor to have you on the show. Thank you for doing this.
Yeah, I really wanted to meet you. So it was really fun for me.

Speaker 2 Oh, you guys are too sweet. Too sweet.
We'll have to do this again. Yes, fantastic.
And I announced my presidency run.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Can't wait.
Perfect. All right.
Well, let's take her out with the O Megan Rapin.

Speaker 1 Goodbye.

Speaker 1 Bye, Megan. Good guys.
Thank you. See ya.
Thank you. Bye-bye.

Speaker 1 What a rad human being, right?

Speaker 1 I really, I was so shocked when, I I was so surprised genuinely when you brought her on because I

Speaker 1 really am a fan and what a voice she is, not only in sports, but just in the world. And yeah, and I just hope she keeps that momentum going.

Speaker 1 In other words, like keeps her pulpit, bully pulpit in front of her.

Speaker 1 You know, like once once soccer goes away, I'd love for her to still have some sort of high-profile position like politics so that she can keep

Speaker 1 charging forward with stuff. Yeah, I don't think that when she retires, that's not going to be the last you hear of Megan Rapino.

Speaker 1 She even knows it about herself, which was really cool, which she said, I think there are certain people and certain personalities who that happens to, that, you know, that she's got a sort of a bigger-than-life persona.

Speaker 1 She knows what's right and what's wrong, and she's outspoken, and she's got that voice, and she's got that swagger, and all of that shit. It's just dope.
Yeah. Can I say that?

Speaker 1 Yeah, the kids are saying it for sure. They don't say it anymore, Jason.
No, they don't. While they're smoking their grass.
They're not like, oh, that grass is dope.

Speaker 1 No. You know, she's inspirational and is so good for young women.

Speaker 1 Young men. Yeah.

Speaker 1 I want my boys to listen to her, you know? Yep, yeah. Anybody.
Well, get them a subscription to Smartless. I should, right? It's expensive, but worth it.
It's worth it.

Speaker 1 I hope we have her back again

Speaker 1 when she wins the next World Cup. When's the next big competition for them?

Speaker 1 World Cup doesn't come around for another year, I think she's a three years World Cup is, so I guess the Olympics, Tokyo, which was supposed to be this year. Yep.

Speaker 1 And that got, so it'll be next summer. Yep.

Speaker 1 Yep. Let's go to Tokyo.
That would be so fun. And we'll do, we'll do Smartless from Tokyo.
You heard it here first.

Speaker 1 But that, well, that was super exciting for me because I've always wanted to just even meet her, let alone talk to her. So that was great.
That was amazing. Great episode, right? How cool was she?

Speaker 1 Great. Very, very well done.
Very, very cool. Our cool factor has gone up a little bit more.
Thank you. Finally.
Thank you. That's what it took.
Nice going, Roy.

Speaker 1 Hey, Jason.

Speaker 1 Bye.

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