In Praise of Badass Women, A Recurring Feature

This week's episode of Ready to Play* on The Waterfront Radio (which drops today, a day or so later than normal, because we had some production challenges, namely that our only producer was required by the man to do work) features tunes related to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The DJ got into the spirit (pun only intended after the fact) by attending yesterday's match between the Portland Thorns and the hometown team (which is the Washington Spirit).

*I hadn't realized how all over the place it is until I listened to it all the way through this morning. If you like your radio eclectic, you'll enjoy.

The episode kicks off with Beyonce's "Run the World (Girls)", as it's a celebration of badass women. That sort of celebration is something we do here, too. Which is a nice segue into the topic of this post. 

The Golden State Valkyries won their first WNBA championship on Halloween, defeating the Atlanta Dream in Game Seven, 68-63.

Natalie Nakase is the Valks' head coach. After stints as an assistant with teams as disparate as the Los Angeles Clippers, Las Vegas Aces, Tokyo Apache (Japan), and Agua Caliente (G-League), she was named the first coach in Golden State's history on October 10, 2024.

She was named WNBA Coach of the Year after leading her expansion squad to a 23-21 record and a berth in the playoffs. Nakase was the first coach of an expansion squad to win the award. And she was just getting started.

The Valkyries finished the 2026 regular season with a 32-12 record, good for second overall in the 15-team league, one game behind the Minnesota Lynx. Golden State topped an up-and-coming Dallas Wings team, two games to one, in the quarterfinals, then easily dispatched the defending champion Aces in a three-game semifinal sweep.

Nakase's bunch were crowned champions after a brutal seven-game series with a very tough Atlanta Dream team, who took a step up this year after adding Angel Reese to a talented roster. Neither team led by more than one game in the back and forth set. True to form, all four Valks victories came with the winning score under 70, and all three of the Dream's wins happened when they were able to push the pace and get the game closer to 80+.

That's Golden State in a nutshell. Nakase herself was a hard-nosed, undersized (5'2") point guard who walked on at UCLA and became a three-year starter. Her team mirrors her on the court - they play their asses off. The Valkyries were 14th in the WNBA in points per game and dead last in shooting percentage. They took and made fewer free throws than all but one team. They were middling in rebounding stats. No Valk was in the league's 30 in points per game, nor top 20 in rebounds per game, and not a single starter cracked the top 50 in field goal percentage.

At the same time, they led the league in Defense Rating and Net Rating, were tops in turnovers created, and 4th in steals. They were the slowest team in terms of pace. It's a goddamn grind to play Natalie Nakase's team, and every contributor knows and plays her role. Every coach dreams of getting her/his players to sacrifice for the collective. 

In Norse mythology, valkyries are meant to be fierce woman warriors who escort the dead from the battlefield to Valhalla. According to legend, they have no named leader, but work as one. Damn. I guess Natalie Nakase's a valkyrie her ownself. And she might just fuck around and be one of the first women to be an NBA head coach. Maybe she'll take over for this guy, who'd probably vouch for her.

EMERGENCY TRIBE SPORTS POST (UPDATED)

Marls texted me on Sunday in the wake of W&M's dispiriting 41-14 home loss to Holy Cross on Saturday with a take that requires further inquiry.

"This could be the worst team in Tribe history."

To which I replied "Onassis!"

In my defense, we were in the midst of a comedy rhombus with London-based Whit riffing on the fact that the Commanders' third-string quarterback is a fella with Greek heritage. Speaking of dispiriting losses.

Marls got me thinking, and one doesn't have to go too deep to determine that - at the very least - this Tribe team is in the conversation for worst team in the lifespan of Gheorghie's as Tribe fans. That dates back to the autumn of 1988, when Whit, Jersey Dave, and I first walked the sylvan grounds of The College of William and Mary.

That year, the ninth of Jimmye Laycock's 38 seasons in Williamsburg, the Tribe was an independent playing at the I-AA level. W&M left the Southern Conference in 1977 when the NCAA divided its top division into I-A and I-AA.

The 1988 edition of the Tribe had an up and down campaign. Two years removed from Laycock's first NCAA Tournament appearance, W&M lost a close opener at UVA before running off three wins in a row, including a 10-3 win on the road against 17th-ranked JMU. They lost a heartbreaker at no. 9 Delaware, beat New Hampshire and tied no. 17 Villanova before heading to Sanford Stadium in Athens to take on Georgia.

That game against the Bulldogs is one of the vivid memories of my freshman year. We listened to it on the radio in my dorm room. I assume Whit and Dave were there, but I can't be certain of that part. W&M was tied with mighty Georgia, 7-7, at the end of the first quarter and we could dream. Fate had other ideas, and UGA outscored us 35-10 in the second frame on the way to a 59-24 victory. Still, there were positive takeaways from the game. Only Mississippi State scored more points against Georgia that season. And the Tribe generate 462 yards in total offense to a team that allowed an average of 355 against an SEC schedule that year.

Lots of offense and not a ton of concern with defense, the hallmark of the Laycock era, made for an entertaining rooting experience during my time in Williamsburg. W&M finished the 1988 campaign with home wins against Wofford and Colgate before falling to Richmond in the oldest rivalry in the South. That year, the school decided to decline a bid to the I-AA playoffs and accept the opportunity to play against a team of Japanese All-Stars in the first-ever Epson Ivy Bowl in Yokohama, Japan, where W&M won, 73-3.

W&M had two more excellent seasons in 1989 and 1990, reaching the NCAA Tournament both years and advancing to the quarterfinals in my junior year before falling to Central Florida. The 1991 team lost all five of its games against ranked opponents (including a 59-35 Natrone Means-led doozy of a game against I-A no. 20 UNC) and missed out on the postseason. That season did have a silver lining, though. I spent the season working in the press box for home games, responsible for tracking each drive and compiling the drive chart for the working media. One of those ink-stained wretches was Dave Fairbank of the Daily-Press. After the final home game of the season, a 35-13 hammering at the hands of a much-faster Samford squad, my Sports Information Office colleagues and I adjourned to Paul's Deli with the aforementioned Fairbank and a few other scribes, where I got my first taste of drinking beers with professionals. No idea if OBX Dave remembers that afternoon, but I certainly enjoyed the parts of it I recall.

Jesus. Where was I? Right, the really terrible 2026 William and Mary football squad. Sorry, got wandering down memory lane for a minute. 

Bottom line: this is the worst W&M team of my Tribe-rooting lifetime. The 2012 and 2017 teams went 2-9, but both of them were competitive. The 2012 team lost six games by a touchdown or less, led Maryland until the final minutes in College Park, and lost in double-overtime on the road against no. 4 JMU. The 2017 squad was bad, but they were in the game in the fourth quarter on all but two occasions (against top-ranked JMU and no. 21 New Hampshire).

The insane ending to W&M's season-opener notwithstanding, the campaign has been one miserable outing after another. To wit:

• A week after benefitting from four Villanova turnovers and 15 Wildcat penalties in their wild win, W&M nearly blew a 22-0 fourth quarter lead at home against Delaware State, stopping the Hornets on downs in the final 90 seconds to preserve a 22-15 win. The Tribe was outgained by a 366-187 margin, recorded 10 first downs to DSU's 26, and almost lost despite a +5 turnover advantage.
• Two wins in two and feeling good headed to Lehigh. Until the Mountain Hawks scored 30 points in the game's first 21 minutes and cruised to a 44-20 win. Only got outgained 486-342 in this one, so...progress?
• Not so fast, my friend. Woeful Fordham came to town the following week, their 0-3 record in tow, and proceeded to put 52 points on W&M. They've scored 37 in their other five games combined. The Rams rushed for 428 yards that day. They've gained 417 total in their remaining contests to date. Their win against the Tribe remains their only victory on the season.
• The less we say about the following week's 62-7 loss at Duke, the better. We will note that Marls was in Durham with his Duke-alum wife and chose not to wear green and gold. No dummy, Marls.
• Holy Cross coming to town at 1-4 with a defense that had allowed at least 30 points in each of its first five games seemed ripe for a get-well opportunity for W&M. Ah, well, nevertheless. The Crusaders led, 31-7, early in the third quarter and won, 41-14. The Tribe gained 31 yards on 29 carries and 253 total yards against a team that had allowed an average of 412 coming into the matchup.
• W&M is being outscored by an average of 20.17 points per game (and they've fucking won twice!). Opponents are outgaining the Tribe 479.2 to 294.3 yards per game (269.0 to 91.3 on the ground). Jesus (William) Mary and Joseph.

It's not so much that the Tribe are losing. That happens. It's more that they've been absolutely uncompetitive for four consecutive weeks, the last two against dreadful teams at home. It's frankly embarrassing, and we've never been able to say that about W&M football in my 38 years of rooting for the Green and Gold.

Maybe it gets better, as the Tribe face a poor N.C. Central team and winless Georgetown in the next two. There's no evidence that it will though, and in fact, it sure seems that this staff is ill-equipped to deal with the realities of modern college football, which means we could be in for a long stretch of dismal football.

Onassis!

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November 7 Update

One month later, and we can conclusively say that it did NOT get better. Since we last checked in on the Tribe, here's what's happened:

Despite being outgained, 439 to 221, while allowing 6.6 yards per carry and 282 rushing yards and losing the turnover battle, 2-0, W&M somehow managed a 17-14 win on the road at N.C. Central. Some smoke and mirrors shit.

The magic did not repeat itself the following weekend, when Mike London's boys couldn't hold a fourth quarter lead on Homecoming Weekend against a middle Georgetown squad. The Hoyas took possession at midfield with 1:27 remaining and scored 49 seconds later without using a timeout. The point after gave the visitors a 28-27 victory. The winning touchdown came on a 4th and goal from the 10. 

W&M got the ball back with two timeouts remaining (having taken one on defense before Georgetown's touchdown) and promptly threw an interception on the first play of their drive. 

As has become customary, the Tribe allowed Georgetown more total yards than their season average (416 versus 328.9) and gained fewer yards than the Hoyas opponents average (352 versus 389). It's goddamn uncanny at this point

The Green and Gold traveled to Hamilton, NY seeking a rebound at Colgate, where the Raiders were coming off three consecutive losses. W&M gave up 519 yards and gained 142, allowed 30 first downs while picking up 7, and got boatraced, 37-0. You won't believe this, but Colgate came into the game averaging 341.8 yards of total offense and allowing 302.5

This weekend, Lafayette brought its 3-5 record to Williamsburg, and W&M pounced on the Leopards immediately. The Tribe led, 14-0, after Andrew King scampered 39 yards for a touchdown with 11:44 remaining in the second quarter. The home team had gained 186 yards on 16 plays at that point, ripping off 11.6 yards per snap.

W&M ran 39 plays over the game's final 41:44. The Tribe managed 94 yards over that span. Meanwhile, Lafayette kicked a field goal late in the second quarter, scored on a 50-yard run in the third, then drove 80 yards in seven plays before finding the end zone on a 12-yard pass with 4:41 remaining. W&M had two cracks at a comeback, but gained a single yard on seven plays while punting and turning the ball over on downs. The Leopards closed out their 19-14 victory with a trio of kneeldowns. 

What of the yards gained and allowed, you ask? I'll give you one guess, friends! Lafayette outgained the Tribe, 401-275. On the season, the Leopards average 323.8 and allow 412.1. Same as it ever was for the 2026 William and Mary outfit.

When we wrote the initial portion of this post, we concluded that this year's team is the worst since 1988, when my fandom began. Now, we're prepared to amend that, regardless of what happens the next two weeks, this is the worst team in the school's history, dating all the way back to 1693.

Over those final two weeks, W&M plays at home against 1-9 Bucknell and on the road against old rivals Richmond. Lord have mercy if they can't win the first one, 'cause there will be no mercy whatsoever against Spidey, who'll likely be smarting from a three-game losing streak.

My prediction? Pain.

Am I...Maturing? Let's Ask Sir Patrick Stewart.

I sat down at my desk to write a very Schadenfreudian post reflecting on the results of the midterm elections and the across-the-board shock from the right wing at the depth of their drubbing. I had a lot of material. And I was ready to use it. 

A funny thing happened on the way to the online forum. I realized that I'm wearing my What Would Dolly Do? t-shirt. Dolly would most certainly not mock people in their time of despair. Hell, we ourselves wrote not six weeks ago about how she went about quietly and intentionally doing the right thing. She wasn't perfect. For example, I'm sure she once said, "bless your heart" to someone in a fit of pique. Which probably landed like a megaton bomb on its target.

In any case, I felt like a dick wearing this shirt and mocking people's pain. Even if they deserve it. So I cast about for another topic. Wouldn't you know it, another Dolly-like example showed me the way. Not a clone, per se, though he did nearly run afoul of The Borg.

Sir Patrick Stewart passed last week at the age of 86. Much as with Dolly Parton, I'd heard stories about Stewart's kindness and genuine caring for his fellow man. And just as in Dolly's case, I didn't know the half of it.

Upon news of his death, story after story flooding social media that revealed the great actor's character, most in moments seen by just a very few. Here are some of the remembrances and videos I found most fascinating, and in a couple of cases, just silly (which also says a lot about the classically trained actor's sense of his own self-importance):

Sir Ian McKellan remembered his friend.

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A post shared by Ian McKellen (@ianmckellen)

A fan recalls a story from 2009.

Patrick Stewart story: Night before my GCSE Chemistry, I waited for Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart backstage after Waiting For Godot. Patrick asked what’s in my bag, I told him about my exam. So Stewart and McKellen told the Green Room to “shush” as they both tested me on the Periodic Table. RIP

[image or embed]

— Alexander Fox (@alexanderfox1.bsky.social) October 29, 2026 at 4:04 PM

Here he is answering a fan's question about the things outside of acting that make him proudest. He talks about his work combatting domestic violence and PTSD.

I think he could've been a member of Monty Python's Flying Circus if he'd chosen that path.

Here he is at the National Press Club answering an important question about Jean-Luc Picard's accent.

A story about his penis, as told to Graham Norton while Hugh Jackman looks on, jaw dropped.

Thomas Lennon on Rich Eisen's show talking about working with Stewart on a commercial.

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As with Dolly, we'd do well to remember Sir Patrick's kindness and generosity of spirit. 

Bluenami

Deceased Nag and Cudgel Alert, Journalism Edition

Just in time for the holidays, primo Washington D.C., snoop Bob Woodward drops another doorstop about the powerful folks in whose orbit he’s circled for the past five decades. His twenty-fourth book, however, is a bit of a departure. 

Rather than scrupulous reporting about the current President and power brokers and recent events, he presents a memoir of his life’s work. Woodward discloses previously unidentified sources and back stories that went into the making of many of his bestsellers, from his early days at the Washington Post investigating Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal to Donald Trump’s two terms in office. 

The book is titled “Secrets: A Reporter’s Memoir” and within its 592 pages is a litany of prominent and behind-the-scenes figures who leaked sensitive information and provided invaluable background, a kind of celebrity kiss-and-tell for the D.C. journalism set. There’s Henry Kissinger and former CIA director William Casey over here, and Sen. Lindsey Graham over there. There’s career government insiders such as Brent Scowcroft and Lawrence Eagleburger and Bush 41 counsel C. Boyden Gray and former Nixon lawyers who defended him publicly but were privately repulsed by the man. There’s a slew of operatives and high-level advisors that Woodward cultivated as sources and who provided info for years, if not decades, and are still doing so. He had confidentiality agreements with many of them, promising not to reveal their identities until after they died, though he said some who are still alive gave him permission to name them. 

I’ve kvetched about Woodward previously, so this may come off as warmed over grump casserole with a fresh balsamic drizzle. The man’s reporting chops and access are impeccable, but I find his practice of holding onto information for books rather than daily newspaper reporting to be problematic, if not harmful to the public at large. Granted, that’s frequently how he gets the access and info he does, by agreeing not to publish in real time, but it feels like insider back-scratching. 

Woodward has often said that if he learned something that had immediate impact, the paper takes precedence and he would report it. However, that doesn’t quite square with his practices. For example, he sat on conversations with Trump in the early days of the COVID pandemic when Trump told him that he’d been briefed on the virus’s potential severity, then watched as the President dismissed and downplayed the disease in the coming months as millions were affected. He learned that Trump had quietly sent Vladimir Putin personal COVID tests during the height of the pandemic and had regular conversations with Vladdy after he was out of office, material that wasn’t made public until another book’s release just before the 2024 election. 

I have less issue with this upcoming book than many of his previous ones. Yeah, it’s a bit of a vanity project, but a guy of Woodward’s stature is entitled to a victory lap. The fact that he pulls back the curtain on who talked to him and how he obtained the stories he did actually encourages me, that people in power are still willing to talk to reporters. Whether driven by a sense of civic duty or ego and status is irrelevant. Woodward reminds us that reporting, quality reporting, remains essential, even if the person doing so causes molars to grind.

In Our Joe Marler Era

I first became acquainted with Joe Marler via the Netflix docu-series Six Nations: Full Contact. At the time of the second season, which covered the 2024 tournament, Marler was nearing the end of his playing career. He'd later retire from both international and club rugby in November of 2024 after earning 95 caps and three Six Nations titles for England and winning two English Premiership Rugby trophies in 286 appearances for Harlequins. mostly as a prop.

On the show, he came across as the type of garrulous big fella (he was listed at 6'0", 264 lbs in the lineup for his final match for England - just look at that absolute unit at right) with which you'd be familiar: funny, reveling in taking the piss, aware of his mass and the size of his physical and psychological presence. In the context of a rugby squad, he fit like a glove.

Enjoy this 10-minute interlude of Marler winding up various opponents, referees, and teammates while in uniform.

The next time I caught him was in a far different environment. Marler competed in the first season of Celebrity Traitors in 2025 alongside UK sports and entertainment royalty like Stephen Fry, Celia Imrie, Tom Daley, and Nick Mohammed. He made it to the show's final four contestants before being banished. 

On Traitors, he was phenomenal, a burly body with an inquisitive, kind, and slightly off-kilter mien. He held his own in a group of outsized personalities and sharp minds, even though he claimed in an interview with The Guardian that his secret to success was, "A hybrid of being dumb and being able to play dumber than I am got me as far as it did – plus my competitive nature."

And now, it seems the big lad is taking over. 

Marler and comedian Jake Bhardwaj started their podcast, Joe Marler Will See You Now, a year ago. The conceit of the show is that Marler is a psychiatrist who questions/interviews guests from a broad range of pursuits. In the show's short run, guests as diverse as Prince Harry, Tom Hiddleston, Usain Bolt, the aforementioned Fry, Imrie, and Mohammed, and the criminally camera-shy Jason Kelce (we kid because we love - the recent Kelce episode kills, as you'll see below - he and Marler are kindred spirits separated by an ocean).

Here are a couple of bits from that Jason Kelce appearance with Marler and Bhardwaj:

The say a rolling stone gathers no moss, and it seems that's true for a rolling 19 stone. The BBC just announced that Marler and his Celebrity Traitors castmate and now fast friend Joe Wilkinson (an English comedian and actor) are filming a six-episode travel series that follows the pair as they navigate British waterways in a barge.

In addition to the podcast and the buddy travelogue, Marler also works as Performance Director for Team England Rugby (TER). TER was established by former England players as a mechanism to enable players to communicate collectively with the England Rugby Football Union, the nation's governing body for the sport. Marler's remit in the role is to advocate for the player welfare in negotiations with the RFU.

He's been outspoken in recent years about his own mental health struggles. A June 2025 article in The Independent noted, "The Harlequins prop admitted he would direct his emotions, which manifested into “rage and anger” out on Daisy, his wife of eight years, with whom he shares four children: Pixie, Maggie, Felix, and Jasper. “She was heavily pregnant at the time, and I would wreck the house,” Marler recalled. “It was like, f***, I’m actually destroying all that’s good around me.”"

Amidst the general geniality and humor in his podcast, Marler makes it a point to try to remove the stigma associated with men seeking help for mental health issues. For that reason and many more, I'm rooting for the former loose head prop to make it even bigger. Somehow, I think he's gonna be just fine.

Wrenball: A Preview

It isn’t starting from scratch, but Year Three of the Brian Earl Experience* with William and Mary basketball comes awfully close. The Tribe returns no significant players from last season’s 20-win group, and Earl and his staff brought in 13 new players. 

*Photo may not be the correct Brian Earl, but coaching in Williamsburg does tend to change a fella

It’s a stark departure from his first two teams in Williamsburg, where there were contributors and holdovers both from the previous regime and from his first season that helped integrate the newcomers. “In the last four years, from Cornell to here, is a completely different world,” Earl told reporters on conference media day and likened recruiting now to “speed dating.” 

He continued, “We do a lot of work to make sure we’re bringing in the right caliber player but also character kid to the university and asking the right people the right questions about these things. So it is very different and we’re hoping we made some of the right choices.” 

The choices will be on display starting Nov. 2, when the Tribe opens at home against Division III Bridgewater. The new group is heavy on guards and wings capable of playing Earl’s up-tempo style that features full-court pressure, spacing and perimeter shooting. He said that “virtually everyone on the roster will make an open 3,” but described the team’s makeup as a mix of shooters and creators. 

Earl said that W&M is a little longer and more athletic than his first two teams, which he hopes will translate to effective defensive pressure and more transition baskets on offense. Expect scoring balance similar to last season, when the Tribe had six players average between eight and 12 points per game and was 31st nationally in scoring (83.1 ppg) and 44th in effective field goal percentage – a stat that reflects both two- and three-point shooting. 

Among the notable additions are 6-4 graduate transfer Tre Blassingame (pictured at left), 6-5 graduate transfer Josh Baldwin, 6-6 sophomore Gavin Ward, 6-8 sophomore Jesse McIntosh, 6-7 junior John Roland and 6-10 junior Stas Sivka. Blassingame, an Idaho native, was a member of Fairleigh Dickinson’s 2023 NCAA Tournament team as a freshman and played his next two years at the University of Idaho, where he averaged 3.9 points and shot 38 percent from 3-point range last season. Baldwin played three years at Cornell, Earl’s former school, and averaged 7.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Ward was a standout junior college player in South Carolina and averaged 17.8 ppg while shooting 42 percent from deep. McIntosh is an Australia native who averaged 7.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in his one season at South Dakota. Roland was an all-conference Division II player in Florida who averaged 13.9 points and nine rebounds per game. Sivka is a Slovenian who played his first two years at George Mason and provides size inside. 

Others expected to see minutes are 6-4 junior Nilavan Daniels, who played two years at Providence, and 6-3 soph Jayden Daniels, who began his career at West Virginia. The Tribe’s non-conference schedule is highlighted by a game at defending national champ Michigan, a trip to Ole Miss and contests against traditional rivals Richmond, James Madison and Delaware before diving into the Coastal Athletic Association schedule at the end of December. W&M was picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll, which is where it finished a year ago. 

Given the newness of the roster, expect Earl to tinker with lineups and playing time over the first two months to identify effective combinations and player rotations. Blassingame said it’s been a good group that’s eager to learn and improve. “I think ultimately when you have a bunch of guys who don’t really care about (their statistics),” he said, “who want to see the program excel, who want to see wins in the win column, it’s easy for guys to buy in.”