Burn It All Down

In this episode, Shireen Ahmed, Lindsay Gibbs and Jessica Luther delve into expansion teams. But first, they share their favorite Halloween treats. Then, inspired by the newest NHL team, the Seattle Kraken, they discuss how expansion teams come to be, what makes them successful and how they can bring fandom to new places. They also explore challenges to expansion, including why the WNBA has been u...

In this episode, Shireen Ahmed is joined by journalists Jashvina Shah and Evan Moore to talk about their new book Game Misconduct: Hockey's Toxic Culture and How to Fix It. They discuss how they came to collaborate and write this book, pushback from fans and publishers and the importance of community for fans and players on the margins in hockey. This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelb...

In this episode, Jessica Luther and Amira Rose Davis are together -- in person! -- to breakdown two (of countless) harmful myths in sport. First: that all coaches are altruistic, good and have a strong moral compass (using Urban Meyer as a perfect example of how this is not true). Second, that women's sports exist only to be inspirational. Following this discussion is a preview of Shireen Ahmed's...

This episode is a roundtable discussion about memes, teams and vaccines. Dr. Amira Rose Davis is joined by Dr. Candis Smith, Dr. Courtney Cox and Dr. Brooklyne Gipson to chat about recent comments from some NBA players about vaccinations, while considering political education, athletes' platforms, disinformation in social media and the "surprising" plot-twist of "shut up and dribble." This episode...

In this episode, the entire Burn It All Down squad reunites for a fall sports round-up spectacular! At the top of the show, Amira Rose Davis, Brenda Elsey, Shireen Ahmed, Lindsay Gibbs and Jessica Luther first share what they want to carve into a festive pumpkin. Then, they parse through the beautiful chaos that is fall sports and offer their insight and commentary on women's college soccer, women...

In this Hot Take, Shireen Ahmed talks with Kamila Hinkson, Staff Editor at The Athletic covering Major League Baseball. They discuss the wild conclusion to the MLB regular season, Shireen's heartbreak over the Toronto Blue Jays and who Kamila thinks will take the World Series crown. This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelby Weldon is our social media and website specialist. Burn It All...

In this hot take, Shireen Ahmed and Brenda Elsey discuss the horrifying story that Meg Linehan and Katie Strang reported on 9/30 in The Athletic about the allegations of sexual coercion and harassments by former head coach of the North Carolina Courage, Paul Riley. This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelby Weldon is our social media and website specialist. Burn It All Down is part of th...

In this episode Lindsay Gibbs interviews Cat Osterman, 3x Olympian and legendary softball pitcher with many many championships under her belt. They discuss Cat's recent retirement announcement from Athletes Unlimited, Tokyo 2021 Olympics, college softball's rising popularity and her hopes for a sustainable professional softball league. This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelby Weldon is...

In this episode, Lindsay Gibbs, Amira Rose Davis and Brenda Elsey take at the history of reproductive justice in women's sports and they ways that athletes have been leaders in this movement today. They also discuss the institutional support they'd like to see from teams and leagues for reproductive health, abortion and mothers. Following this discussion, there's a preview of Lindsay's interview w...

In this Hot Take, Lindsay Gibbs interviews Meghann Burke, former WSA and WPS soccer player, now lawyer and Executive Director of the NWSL Players Association, who is pushing for the league's first CBA. They discuss their recent #NoMoreSideHustles campaign, the need for better player health and safety, fair contracts and livable wages, and how the Players Association stands with other labor movemen...

In this episode, Amira Rose Davis interviews sportswriter Dave Zirin about his most recent book "The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee Changing the World," which tells the stories of athletes and teams across the country who contributed to rising tide of political action through sport. They also talk about what it has been like to write about sports and politics in this moment, the impact of celebr...

In this episode of Burn It All Down Brenda Elsey, Amira Rose Davis and Jessica Luther start the show with their favorite Met Gala looks. Then, prompted by the documentary LulaRich, they take a deep dive into the world of athleisure. They discuss the evolution of the athletic wear fashion, how multilevel marketing often (MLM) targets working class women with false promises, the politics of who gets...

In this episode, Lindsay Gibbs is joined by Courtney Stith and André Carlisle, hosts of the Diaspora United Podcast. This interview is all about the NWSL on-the-field action. The talk about Sydney Leroux's magic, which other players are having standout seasons and which teams they think will advance to the playoffs. This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelby Weldon is our social media an...

In this episode, Lindsay Gibbs, Shireen Ahmed and Jessica Luther start the show with a few of their favorite U.S. Open moments. Then, they discuss the off-the-field mess in the National Women's Soccer League, including a high turn over of coaches, broadcasting issues and an overall lack of transparency and accountability. They also talk about what changes are vital for the league to improve. Follo...

This episode opens with words from Khalida Popal (in an interview with CNN), former Capitan of the Afghanistan Women's Football Team. Then, Shireen Ahmed talks with Kelly Lindsey, former coach of the Afghanistan Women's Football Team about how Khalida, Kelly and a small and formidable group of people were able to evacuate Afghan footballers, other athletes and vulnerable people to safety in recent...

**TW: This episode contains content about domestic violence and sexual assault** In this episode, Shireen Ahmed, Brenda Elsey and Jessica Luther start the show with their most memorable first day of school moments. For the main topic, they discuss how Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse (DVSA) reports are handled (and ignored) in sports. They talk about the various actions and in-actions taken by p...

In this episode Jessica Luther interviews journalist Chloe Angyal about her new book Turning Pointe: How a New Generation of Dancers Is Saving Ballet from Itself. They discuss if ballet is a sport, an art or both, how gender and race impact dancers' success, and how safety and equity in ballet has a long ways to go. This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelby Weldon is our social media an...

In this Hot Take, Jessica Luther interviews Kelly Crowley, a two-sport Paralympic athlete -- winning two gold medals in swimming at the 2004 Athens Games and two bronze medals in cycling at the 2012 London Games. They discuss Kelly's lifelong sport career as well as what her favorite moments, so far, of the Tokyo 2020/21 Paralympics. She also shares which events she's most excited about before the...

In this episode, Amira Rose Davis and Brenda Elsey start the show with their favorite football/soccer chants. Then, the historians talk in-depth about global football academies and the intentional invisibility of what goes on at them, which is exploitation, child labor, racial abuse and sex trafficking veiled as a school. They also discuss who is benefiting from this system and why reform is so sl...

In this episode, Amira Rose Davis talks with Motoko Rich, New York Times Tokyo Bureau Chief, about reporting on the 2020/21 Tokyo Paralympics. They discuss Japan being the first and only nation to host the Paralympics twice, the impacts of Covid-19 on the games as well as on the country and what disability activists in Japan want from these games. This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shel...

This episode is a re-air of a 2018 interview (from Ep. 44) with an update regarding the 2020/21 Tokyo Paralympic Games. Dr. Amira Rose Davis talks with Dr. Jonna Belanger, A U.S. Paralympics Track & Field Classifier and Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Penn State University. They discuss how the Paralympic classification system determines an athlete's eligibility to...

In this episode Jessica Luther, Amira Rose Davis, Lindsay Gibbs and Brenda Elsey preview the 2020/21 Tokyo Paralympic Games, which start TODAY, August 24, and close September 5, 2021. First they discuss some of the major storylines around the games, including fights for equity for disabled athletes, who is "inspiration" for?, and how the Paralympics show disparities between nation-states. You'll a...

This week, Burn It All Down is featuring conversations about the 2020/21 Tokyo Paralympic Games, which start Tuesday August 24. This episode is re-airing two interviews from September 2020, with updates at the end. Jessica talks with Kristen Duquette, disability advocate and a 5x American Paralympic record holder and Lacey Henderson, a track and field Paralympian and host of the podcast Picked Las...

In this episode Shireen Ahmed interviews Canada Women's National Soccer Team stalwart Diana Matheson, who is responsible for the game-winning goal in stoppage time to clinch the bronze medal for Canada in the 2012 Olympics. They discuss Diana's journey into playing professionally, the building of the Canadian program, an overdue professional league, and if, in fact, history was made right at the 2...

Sparked by the conversation around football legend Lionel Messi leaving FC Barcelona after 21 years, Brenda Elsey, Shireen Ahmed and Lindsay Gibbs talk about gratitude, loyalty and the idea that athletes should owe anything to coaches, teams, organizations or fans. They discuss how the media demonizes athletes who leave teams and how often these stories are gendered and racialized. They also discu...