Queens' Tea with Laurel Pfahler: Previewing Cincinatti | S2 Ep9
Bridget
0:20
Welcome to a special episode of the Queen's Pitch podcast. My name is Bridget
Kara
0:25
and I'm Kara. We have a special guest with us today. I'm going to call it like, a chat with the queens of both of the Queen cities, even though I think our Queen city is the Queen city. But today we have Laurel Pfahler
Bridget
0:37
with what is it, Cincinnati FC? Did I get it right?
Laurel
0:41
FC Cincinnati
Bridget
0:42
FC. I know I was gonna 2s say Cincinnati today with us. Thank you for coming on with a quick notice. Yeah.
Laurel
0:51
No problem. Happy to talk with two queens. Yeah, like you said, the other Queen city. But I'm gonna say that we're the Queen city. So, so. But
Bridget
1:00
I think there's enough queens to go around, you know, in a city. But, you know, I think we were here first. But anyway, we'll go along with that. I think I read today that y'all have been that I'm gonna start out with the goalie because I'm a big goalkeeper person. And so can I talk about your goalie? I didn't even have a stellar season this year.
Laurel
1:19
Yeah, it's Romans all Antonio. You know, people are crediting his success to his new mustache that he had this year. But, uh, no, he's been he's been really solid and goal since he joined the team. He was the first round draft pick and 2022. And you know, he's still working on some things with his distribution. And that's always kind of the talking point with him. But he I mean he's solid. He is a just wonderful shot shot stopper and a good leader in the back too. I think he's really grown in that area. You just see him commanding the defense a lot more than, you know, his first year in 2022. He's really grown in that way. But yeah, he's been he's been a really solid, uh three clean sheets in MLS play and then another one in Concacaf Champions Cup. So yeah that's what
Bridget
2:06
the clean sheets that I had read about I was like oh no. So I mean I guess I'm only going to score on him. He won't have any more after this weekend. But 1s the thing is it's tough. And then you have I don't know how to say his name.
Laurel
2:18
Yeah, yeah. Matt me as good. The defender of the year last year. Uh, which, I mean, if you look at those clean sheets, you do have to really credit the the center backs. They've been really strong Matt Miazga Myles Robinson he was out the last let's see game I guess he only missed one with the US men's national team. And then Ian Murphy. He's a third year player that I think really took a big step last year. And expectations were pretty high for him this year. So yeah they've been they've been pretty outstanding back there. I
Bridget
2:49
think the center backs are a big deal. We're getting better this year with ours. So we have Milan and we have Privett on our back line, thinking that things that's going to keep it the same way it is and they're both super tall, so that helps us out a little bit. I don't know if we have, you know, the same stellar line they all have, but we have one that's been playing pretty well this year.
Kara
3:08
And so in your opinion, Laura, what are Cincinnati's prospects this season? Do we see another run for Supporters Shield or top of the conference?
Laurel
3:16
I think they're going to be up there. I mean they're leading the the league right now. I think it's kind of surprising that they're doing as well as they have, just it doesn't feel like they've really been clicking on offense yet. They've actually I think the three sheets is kind of surprising considering, you know, I was a little concerned about the defense. Just I knew the center backs were going to be strong. And then their defensive midfielder, Obi Noah Obi, is I think he's one of the best defensive midfielders in the league. So those pieces are really strong. But the wing backs this year, they're very attack minded, which is what FC Cincinnati wants. But Luca Ariano is new this year and he's he is switching from having played as a right winger like an inverted winger with he grew up through Velez in Argentina and then was with Vasco da Gama and Brazil, and now he's converting to a left wing back, which is I just thought with, you know, making a transition to a new country, a new team. He's still pretty young now, switching a new position. I was a little concerned. I think they're still kind of susceptible on that. Side of the field defensively. But. And then they got DeAndre Yedlin as their right wing back which really solidified that spot. And that was you know a late addition that kind of came out of nowhere I mean I had heard some rumblings that he might be coming. But then when they got it done it was pretty like, okay, they're they're serious here now. But you know, I think he kind of helps out that right side defensively. And he provides what they wanted going forward. But then they lost Junior Moreno in their midfield. He I think had been a big part of their defense in the past. And they replaced him with Puka Pavel. Who is he doesn't he didn't play a lot of defense. Like if you looked at his previous experience he came from the Czech Republic, more of a not a ten, but he he was really involved more attacking side. So he's working on his defense. But it was just like a lot of the additions that seemed like oh no, like these are really attack minded players. I don't know how that's going to help the defense. And I think the center backs and Obi has been injured, so I guess they've done pretty well trying to fill the void with him gone. But I guess they you know, it's it's been better than expected just with, with all those new pieces.
Bridget
5:38
I thought somebody had told me that you weren't as big this year as you were last year, but you just started listing all the names off, and I kind of got scared. I'm like, wait a minute. You know, first of all, I can't say half the names on our team. Your team's got even harder names, so props to you for being
Laurel
5:53
you. I didn't really answer her question. Like I went and talked about all the players, but where we thought they were going to be. Yeah, we thought that they'd be, you know, dropping off a little bit in some of these areas and they've been better defensively than expected. And then the, you know, for them to still be at the top of the table without their attack really doing a lot. Pretty, I guess. Pretty impressive. I think they'll they'll be strong going forward. And it's understandable what those pieces that you brought in, like maybe the chemistry's not 100% there, especially with late additions. Like as you said, Yedlin came in pretty late. So but we know he's a talented MLS player. So I mean, that makes sense, especially at the beginning of the season, to be not where you ideally want to be in the attack. But then again, they also had some extra games. What we're
Kara
6:36
playing the Concacaf champions, I think in the
Laurel
6:38
end maybe that'll end up helping the attack, like just having those extra games, like right now it's not showing and it's really I mean, they're creating a lot of chances. They look really good until they get to that final third and the shots just I mean, I can't believe that they only have one goal, I think from a for the forward position right now. And Aaron Penza was a player. He looked really good in preseason. It was scoring a lot of goals in preseason and I know it's preseason. But you know, he he scored six goals in 12 league games last year as a summer addition and doing as well as he did in preseason. You kind of just expected him to, you know, keep going and have a bunch of goals already. But he's had a couple more than a couple, like just clear chances that he just sent straight to the goalkeeper. And it's like, I don't know what's going on with the finishing right now, but you assume that that'll come along. Maybe that's just the, you know, early season struggles, but
Bridget
7:37
you know, they have a little bit of those problems too on our team. I don't know if you've scouted us out, but we have some problems finishing as well. So 1s hopefully, hopefully it won't be a game of who can finish this weekend. So hopefully both teams will learn how to do that soon. Anyway, it'd
Laurel
7:52
be interesting I guess. So they've had two little struggles, um, at TCL Stadium already this year and then seemed like they could have won at least two nothing, three nothing. Probably against New York City FC over on Saturday. And uh, just ended up with the one goal or one nothing win. But so yeah, it's been you know, the home fans are waiting for those goals and those are coming. And so
Kara
8:14
we don't know if you've been keeping an eye on Charlotte and. If you might, what can you preview? Anything that we might see from Cincinnati this weekend? I've
Laurel
8:23
been trying to catch up on Charlotte. They're pretty young from what, like being gone with a lot of young players, it seems. So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how. I mean, I've seen Cincinnati's kind of they're playing around their formation a little bit right now. I think just trying to figure out how to get Corey Ballard as their other forward alongside Aaron Penza. He replaced Brandon Vasquez, who, you know, two years ago was an MLS, MLS best 11 player. So Corey Baird was brought in. It seemed like he was supposed to be kind of a dub piece at forward with intentions of bringing in more of a true replacement for Brandon, but he Corey had eight goals last year with Houston. And so, you know, it's not like they were bringing in or nobody. But they're trying to figure out how to get him going. He's had a lot of chances and just hasn't been able to finish. And so they've kind of played around with their formation. So I'm really curious how they will attack Charlotte. And maybe you guys have some insight into just like what works well against Charlotte, but they're just trying to. So they normally play a three. Let's see three, four, one two. They're kind of switching it around where Corey Baird is playing more alongside Luca Acosta. So it's more of a like a I don't know that they've been calling it a 3 or 2 one, but that's more what it looks like with Aaron Penza the lone forward up top. So I'm I guess uh, as I'm studying Charlotte a little bit more, maybe I'll get some insight into what what might work better against them. But, uh, typically, it seems like they do. They just do the formation that they think works best for them. They're not so much worried about the opponent. They can adjust in game if they need to. But do you guys have certain areas of weakness that teams are attacking right now? I would
Kara
10:12
say typically that we know that transition games, if it's you know, if that's what we're playing, then we can get caught out just because people aren't back yet, you know, in their spots and covering. But I will say that Dean Smith's defense this year is a completely different team than what we've had last year. Two of the goals I know that came against us, not this past weekend, but the one before were on set pieces. Um, headers and set pieces were just the back line. There was holes and something wasn't right back there. But typically we've had one of the best defenses for goals against. That's a nice stat for us to have.
Laurel
10:49
Record last
Bridget
10:50
year. You were right. We're not used to it. Not
Laurel
10:54
to do. But we
Kara
10:55
do have Yeti. Arun was gone last week for international duty and he is a key piece in our backline. But we had a new signee essentially from the second team crown. Legacy came up and he got first team minutes starting a gel page row. So he's a young player but he had some. He had a good game this past weekend against Columbus. And you know Columbus is a tough team. And oh I'm not going to go into that game. But again like,
Laurel
11:22
well
Bridget
11:25
it was the last game of our lives and we weren't even playing. Yeah.
Laurel
11:28
The guy sitting next to me because your game was going on well obviously something was playing and there was an MLS soccer com reporter next to me that had he was trying to keep an eye on that game. And FC Cincinnati. Well he's in the stadium. And so he had his screen up. And I'm like trying to look over because he's like oh my gosh. Like there's been two injury. Some thugs already and a red card. And like it was man that was crazy.
Kara
11:54
If the falling down thing this this weekend like if you vote on you have to get up within a certain time. Like if that was last week, it would have been even worse. You know what I mean? Everybody would have been all for medical help because every time they fell down, it was like, let's stop. It was, it was it was insanity. It was definitely yeah, we get the real refs. Not mad. So you had
Laurel
12:13
16 minutes a first half stoppage time. Yeah.
Bridget
12:17
There was a yellow card. So that was fun too.
Laurel
12:21
It was good times. I'm sick for for our team. Although that they say that was like you know they rigged it for us. But you know that's how we roll. We've taken some flak from Columbus fans this week. So I do promise you that, uh, typically the Charlotte is always
Kara
12:37
the underdog.
Laurel
12:39
Look, I mean, I don't think we've ever really had accusations of a rigged game, because why would anyone rig something for Charlotte? So, um, but we also, I mean, you know, it's always interesting to see to that when Columbus and Cincinnati come again. Like, that's the big rivalry right? So like they're both
Kara
12:57
really tough teams. And to me like what we saw last weekend was not easy I guess. You know the injuries okay. May have played a big part in that. But I mean I think it's just going to be another tough match this weekend. But we will hopefully get to see for our side the debut of our new yep. Winger Leal, who was gone to
Laurel
13:19
Israel playing for their national team last week. And so he has an debut for the crown. We've seen nothing for him, but that's the thing to look forward to this weekend for us, other than how he played for Celtic in Scotland, we don't know what he's going to bring to the crowd specifically, so that's kind of a big unknown for how he'll play with our current players up top. And then also the other DP that we have right now is Enzo Petty, and he's been out on injury, so it's doubtful, I guess, or hopeful that
Kara
13:49
we might see him this weekend. So that really changes our you know. We don't know what we're going to see because of that. But I will say that Patrick Agyemang, he's six four, six, five, really tall, really physical player, not in like fouling. He's just a big, tall guy and he plays aggressively and he will get in between the defender and the ball. And he's been really great on the attack the last two games where he's gotten like full 90 chances. So that's been kind of that's something to watch out for I would say for Cincinnati. But again, he's only a second year MLS player because he came up from Crown Legacy last year.
Bridget
14:28
Yeah, we do have a lot of young players. When you think about it on the team, I think I would think one of our biggest weakness is just like she said, transitions. Like if you catch us off guard, then we have a hard time catching up. So that's the big thing. Hopefully we can work better on, you know, doing better on that and then we don't shoot the ball enough for me in my opinion. So like our shots don't go. If you can keep us from shooting, you just keep us off balance. We're not going to just shoot. We don't just shoot the shoot, you know? Well, sometimes, but, you know, for for the most part, they don't shoot a lot. So they like to have set pieces. They like to get things in order. So if you kind of throw them off that that's one of the things. It's a very gritty game. I feel like with Cincinnati. Yeah,
Laurel
15:05
I've seen a lot of things pretty strong in the box. So Charlotte's going to need to take her shots and I need to shoot from outside a little bit. But yeah, I mean last year I remember Charlotte got ahead. What was it like? I think it was. They were I've seen since I fell down to nothing and ended up coming back in the second half to draw. So the home. Yeah. Three. Nothing was a little you know better. And I've seen Cincinnati's favor but I know they've gotten some
Bridget
15:31
tough games. Yeah we didn't like that three nothing game at home but we were tired. We're gonna blame that on being tired. And we played like three games
Laurel
15:37
in a row right before the telecast. I made them look really tired when he dribbled through about six defenders,
Bridget
15:43
and then I thought he did. Best goal of the year
Laurel
15:45
that I've seen. That's
Bridget
15:46
all I can keep remembering. I was gonna ask you about it, and I'm like, I don't want to bring that girl up because it's like a nightmare, you know what I mean? I just really don't get to see that this weekend. Yeah. I just hope that we don't see any girls like that anymore. But we, you know, in MLS is it seems like there have been a lot of girls like that, like we have Westwood have like, you know, really you know banger last week and then it just seemed like those are the goals that are being made. They're not easy goals anymore. It's like you're going to like you said, you have to shoot outside of the box and get it in. So. Well,
Laurel
16:13
Lucho has he's looked really good. Like I always feel like he gets off to a slow start and then all of a sudden he's. You know, I think he has five goal contributions, and maybe it's four. I don't know. He's done pretty well. He scored the game winner against New York City FC. And that was a good goal too. And yeah he
Bridget
16:32
he scares me I feel like he takes more like I feel like he's scored more goals than our whole team last year. And then Kara's like, please don't say that. You know
Laurel
16:39
I put that that that that
Bridget
16:41
I get scared. I'm like, no, please, no. But hopefully we'll do a better job with the Divas this year.
Laurel
16:46
Well, he's just one of those players that like if if the team's not doing well, he's just going to do it himself. And so that's what you saw. And I goal against Charlotte at home last year was just I mean they were already I think that was the last goal. So it's not like they do already. But just like I'm gonna like he was on a roll. He was making his MVP push and and he wanted the Golden Boot to he was up there at the time for the Golden Boot. But yeah he'll just they'll just decided gonna do it and go for it.
Kara
17:14
Bro. You have anything for us that you want to ask about Charlotte before we go on? Just looking at the roster. You mentioned the names, like just. Yeah, I think that's what's hard to keep
Laurel
17:25
track of. Charlotte is like, I just can't say the names. And so like, I'm like, it's hard. We can
Kara
17:30
help with that. Which who do you want us to pronounce other than our new Israeli player? Because that's the one word
Laurel
17:35
more broadly
Bridget
17:37
I was gonna say half of our half, our fan base. Can't say the names correctly either, so don't worry about that. We make up nicknames thing. Otherwise it'd be hard. Well,
Laurel
17:45
who would you say are like the biggest key player? Like, who are the biggest key for this game, you think for you guys?
Kara
17:51
Well, it really depends on who you have up top, whether either it's Enzo or Patrick. I mean, they're going to be people to watch because Enzo really likes to hold up play. Patrick does that as well. But I would say Patrick is more willing to take on and dribble two defenders, but also take some physical contact because again, he's a big, tough guy and so he's a little trickier. He will drag defenders and so he can score goals. He's been instrumental in getting some penalty calls this this season. However they haven't all gone our way on those, which has been kind of a tough a tough thing for him because it hasn't led to any goals for him. His play is versatile that way, but it is very physical and so it's tricky. The other thing too, is we have Kieran Vargas back. He had a good game last week against Columbus and some shots on goal, but I would say are we seeing his top top form? No. But he does tend to favor crosses shots outside the box so he can be. Devastating in those circumstances. But I would say, like, there's no one person that is like the goal scorer right now because with Carol Swirsky leaving like that kind of that's open right now is for the taking. Who is going to step up creativity wise. You know we're we're short on wingers a pretty obviously in the team. So we've had Tomasz come in from Crown Legacy. And so he's been playing last few games because we had Kerwin had an injury two weeks ago. You know we also saw Brek Johari come up and he was playing winger for that too. And he's kind of been mostly in the midfield kind of playing a number ten role but a little more flexible. They've all kind of been rotating a little more, making runs inside the box. You can't not like one person is just playing where they're constantly making crosses. I think that's true of Kerwin, but not necessarily true of anyone else. Tavares is a little more willing to take some people on to get around them for our attack. It's it's been not set. I would say that's still those final balls especially have been not there as well. And other than that, I mean the midfield, I feel like we're probably going to see Deion. He's our new player from France and he had an excellent game. Man of the match last week he took contact. That led to the red card for Derrick Jones. He's also he had some key moments key passes in. I think he had an assist to let that lead to a goal or almost goal that maybe got called off or didn't get counted or something. He can hold the ball like he can really defend well, but his passing is really excellent in that midfield. And for a new player, that's his creativity and his just being able to come in and have that chemistry is fantastic. And then we've also seen so Diarra and Scott Arfield have kind of been trading off. Usually if you see one you don't see the other. But Arfield has been in there. To me. If you don't see the midfield then they're probably doing their job. So you should think that they kind of have that invisibility. And then Westwood, he's the one that scored the goal last week so he can be dangerous outside the box for sure. Yeah. But most of the time you're going to see I would say crosses come in from our fullbacks either Gary Ronan, Joe Pedro or on the other side, Nathan Byrne because that's been him making runs, him trading off with Kieran Vargas and making those crosses into the box. So we've our play in the past hasn't been getting as many men in the box. I would say that's changing this year. But again, we're so new under Dean Smith and what he wants to see and then potentially with what players we put in because we still have some roster slots open that I think they're hoping to fill in the summer window, that it's hard to tell as much.
Laurel
21:34
So it sounds like maybe a defensive battle.
Bridget
21:39
That's what I'm thinking. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, it's gonna be a lot. And that's. That's the player I was gonna say. If you if you're gonna control anyone, you're gonna have to figure out how to control. Which I don't want to tell you about. Um. Yeah. You're wrong. Because he is. He does everything for us. He's literally, you know, our left back. But he takes our crosses. He takes our corners, he'll take our set pieces. So if he's on the field, he's everywhere. So if you can't, he'll be the one that I think you don't have to control to keep it. If you're gonna get to through the defense. Do I have to control him? We
Laurel
22:07
really rely on him since he was
Kara
22:08
tracking Messi, and then two weeks ago, he was limiting opportunities for in senior and Bernardeschi in that one. So Aronian is he's very talented with with that kind of
Laurel
22:19
play. So
Bridget
22:20
how did you get started covering FC Cincinnati. See I did it right. Yeah. 1s So I'm a freelance reporter by like I used to work for newspapers in Florida and I had a young child. I had a two year old at the time when it just started getting it was just tough having a young child and being a sportswriter. So out of paper where I couldn't say no to assignments. So I decided to quit my job and full time freelance. We moved back. My family's from the Cincinnati area, and my husband's family is from Dayton, just north. So we moved back and I just decided I was going to freelance. So I covered the Cincinnati Bengals for the Dayton Daily News locally. And then when FC Cincinnati started, someone from a local TV station, I had worked with him before. He was actually a previous letter editor for me in Florida. He reached out and was like, hey, I know you like soccer. Do you want to cover up Cincinnati for us? So I started with wcpo.com covering the team and then when they got into MLS in 20, I guess in 2018 when they got the bid to MLS, The Athletic asked me if I could cover for them. So I started doing some stories for them. I would do like two features a week and um, during the pandemic, they both wcpo.com and The Athletic stopped their freelance coverage of, well, there wasn't a lot of sports going on for a while, but even when it came back, like they both had kind of stopped using freelancers. So I
Laurel
23:49
had gotten on to Patreon. It's just a creator content platform where they kind of manage your subscriptions. So I was able to bring in income doing it that way and keep covering the team. And then yeah, ended up kind of launching it into a WordPress site. Queen City Press dot net. You get the.com, somebody is holding on to that one. I started when the team launched in 2016 and been doing it ever since.
Bridget
24:15
That's pretty cool. That's really exciting that he just took that on. You were like, yeah, I'm going to do it. And we keep running with it.
Laurel
24:22
I had started, I didn't want to quit. So I like soccer better than football. I love covering the Bengals. And you know, kind of the goal for most sports writers to cover the NFL is, you know, the top sport in America. But I grew up playing soccer and I just love soccer. So I'm glad I have that niche that I can keep covering. FC Cincinnati
Bridget
24:44
I think it's cool that you're a woman that covers it. You know, there's not a lot of females that are covering the teams where like we got to talk to her. So
Kara
24:52
thank you. And you have a long history in sports as well. So can you talk about it a little bit about how you've seen maybe things as a woman in sports and then maybe how it's changed or what's different about it in
Laurel
25:04
soccer? Yeah, I mean, there's not a lot of women that cover, you know, with the Bengals. There's there are since I Enquirer has a female beat writer that covers the team. So that's she started maybe three years ago. So that's been nice. I've had, you know, another female in there. But yeah, most of the time it's just me and a bunch of guys. And I covered spring training when I was in Florida and I covered the New York Mets. And that was just like, they don't care that you're a female reporter. Like they like, I was pregnant, covering spring training and, you know, waddling around and, you know, some a lot of the interviews in baseball, like if you're talking to the manager, there's a couple the people next to the manager can kind of sit on the bench next to them. Well, they would never let me. I'm like, I'm pregnant. Can I sit there like, but they're like, I'd still be in the back, like holding my recorder or trying to, like, I was so uncomfortable. But yeah, they were cutthroat that New York media. But, you know, and I would say in the locker rooms like, and then it's so different because we really only have access to the locker rooms after games. Whereas like in the NFL, you're just a regular. I think the players just get more comfortable, like they know that you're going to be there. You know, the Bengals are really good. I've been in like baseball clubhouses where you feel like they're just purposely trying to make you uncomfortable, you know, the towels and whatever. But you know, for the most part, like I just feel like because we are in there all the time with the NFL, I feel like you are able to kind of build that respect with the players a little bit more easily. They kind of understand who you are and that you're there for a job. And so I feel like, I guess I feel like I've kind of settled in more there where I was like an MLS, like there's no players that are, you know, come from Europe and other countries where they have like no locker room access over there. That's completely new for them. And then we're coming in just, you know, once a week after games or whatever. And it's just like uncomfortable almost for them. And so it's just, you know, I think that's somewhere that MLS kind of needs to grow. It would be nice like. If we had more access through the week where, you know, there were opportunities for us to be around the players and then to kind of get to know us better. But especially as the a female, I just think being in their locker room, they're just not used to it. And so that's a little different. I don't know if that answers your question, but
Bridget
27:32
that's a like for us we don't I think it's a little different. I think Charlotte FC has done a little differently. We don't get access to the locker room. That's one thing. They don't allow the press in at all. Like so you have no access to the locker room. They do let us throughout the week we can go to the headquarters and we get player access that way. So you get to see them on the field like during, you know, practice time. And then they also like they're doing something new this year where they're bringing players out before some of us. So you get to talk to each of the players. So that way you get more comfortable. Like you said, you build a relationship with them. I don't know if it was in a locker room with them. It'd be super weird as well. I mean, I guess they're trying to deal with things that they don't want to talk to you, you know? So we've been fortunate that way. And then after the games they let you they'll there's certain players that want to speak or that they'll let them speak to them, bring them over after they're done with the locker room. So that way they get to focus on themselves before. So I think we've been very blessed with Charlotte FC to be able to have that access with them and then if we want to talk to them, otherwise we just ask. You go to the communications department and they'll set it up that
Laurel
28:31
way. Yeah, absolutely. I have availability, availability through the week, but it's more like, okay, we know on Thursdays we get them in kind of a press conference setting. It's it's just and in the NFL and Major League Baseball it's so much more it's just more informal where you can go up to whoever you want to in the locker room. And, you know, of course they can say like, hey, I'm not up for it today or I got to do, you know, I got to go lift weights or whatever. Like, you know, that happened, but I just feel like you just kind of get to know them on a more like they just start getting more comfortable with you. And sometimes if you have something that you do need to ask, that's a little more awkward, like in a press conference setting. Like I just I don't know anything about MLS. It's just like it's so controlled. It kind of doesn't create these things that I'm sure. Have
Kara
29:21
you faced any discrimination like just over your course of your career? Not anything necessarily specific as a female. Have you have you faced anything that you would say? Yes. This was blatant or I felt discriminated against. I
Laurel
29:35
would say there have been I'm not going to like name names or anything. It hasn't been enough that I've seen since then, but there have been professional athletes where you could just tell, like they were purposely trying to make me uncomfortable because I'm female. I would say it's really only been two instances that I can think of over 20 years of covering that. Well, I guess I mostly started college coverage, but probably like the last 15 years of covering professional sports and I would say more. It comes from some of the readers sometimes, like just some of the comments that I feel like the female reporters get it. Like, I mean, I obviously I posted it's kind of out there that I had my suspension or my credential suspended for two weeks with FC Cincinnati over a completely ridiculous situation. That shouldn't have been what it was, but some of the comments there were, because it didn't. You know, I didn't really say what happened. The club didn't really put out like exactly what happened. Some of the comments were like, what do you do about that player? And I'm like, you know, that's not anything any of the the men have to deal with when they are covering these teams. Like, I know that, you know, they're covering a male sport, but I just feel like it's it's so different, like some of the comments that that female reporters get. But you know, we're always having to also like. You know, I just feel like we're judged so differently than the male reporters. But I don't know, I just I guess I've kind of gotten used to it and know that those are roles that I don't mean to give any, uh, credibility to. It's
Bridget
31:13
like you're held to a different standard, you know, and they double check everything you do. You know, they don't think that you know what you're talking about because you're female. I feel you on that
Laurel
31:24
sometimes. I know, like my old paper in Florida. Like some of the comments, like, sometimes it wouldn't even be something I wrote. It'd be like a headline, like, you don't know anything about baseball. Why are you covering this? And it's like, I did not write that headline. Like, if you read my story, I clearly knew what was going on. But, you know, someone else that wrote a bad headline, kind of, I don't know, that would just drive me crazy. So the usual trolls
Kara
31:48
is what you have to deal with. In case any of our listeners aren't sure what Laurel's referring to. You can go to her Patreon. Patreon dot com forward slash Queen City Press and read. She has two posts on there referring to her that what she's speaking about recently with FC Cincinnati. So you can go read about that if you're
Laurel
32:10
interested. Yeah, I figured I might. You know that little elephant in the room? So 2s now you're
Bridget
32:17
back now though. So thankfully the fan. I feel like the fans got behind you. They supported you and you're back now. So that's what matters the most is that you're you're going or going to move forward with it. Right? Yeah.
Laurel
32:29
But the become a national news story, which was very awkward for me. But it was I did receive a lot of support that was very helpful during what was pretty difficult time for me. So
Kara
32:42
from what I saw, you handled it with absolute professionalism. So I know that was a really tough situation. And we we know this tiny, small minutia of it, you know, so but still wow.
Laurel
32:52
Glad we're past that just for you and everything so that you're able to get back to what you know, your job and everything. So if it's okay, I'd like to ask like, we know you're a parent, how does it change things with being. Uh, because we are both parents doing this job. And even though we are
Kara
33:11
fans not getting paid for anything,
Laurel
33:14
you know, how does that change for you? I would say because sports is like at night and you have to take a lot of time away from your family. Is there anything that, uh,
Kara
33:22
you'd like to address, like how how it is for you making those choices, I guess.
Laurel
33:27
Yeah, I guess that goes back to, like, why I went the freelance route. Like, I'm committed to FC Cincinnati and I, you know, go to all the home games. But I do take, you know, in the, in the summer I take a vacation and I just have to I love my family and I'm not going to have all this time with my young kids for, you know, they're going to grow up. And so I do when I, you know, I do take vacation and there's other story assignments because like I cover the Bengals sometimes I do say. Hey, sorry. My kid's got this game. I can't, you know, there's a press conference like I did miss when Joe Burrow actually signed his. Like I had already written the story of his contract extension, like everyone knew that was coming. So I wrote the story when it happened, and it took like 2 or 3 days before they actually announced it and did a press conference with him. And it was on a Saturday, and the team was like, it was kind of going to be last minute. We didn't know exactly the timing of it. I was like, I will watch the live stream, but I'm going to my kid's soccer game. And so I do. You do have to make sacrifices sometimes, and because I am a freelancer, I have that flexibility where I can say like, hey, I can't do this today. But yeah, it's just, you know, trying to balance it as best you can and you have to make choices sometimes. And I'm mostly there for all the offseason stuff. But yeah, there are times when I put my family first and I don't think I don't think I'm a bad reporter because of it. I agree
Bridget
34:54
with you. We have a we have a friend that Carol Walton, she's a freelance writer for the Charlotte Ledger that covers Charlotte FC. And she's the same situation you are. She went on vacation and but so she'll sometimes we'll cover the press conferences. But if there's something that breaks and she's not, she's on vacation. People like will attack her and be like, why aren't you on it? Why aren't you on? Oh, you're on another vacation with your family, you know? And she's like, look, I have a life too. Like I can't get 24 seven, do it all the time. So I feel like they're not they're not telling the men that like, oh, you're out playing golf this morning. You can't cover, you know, like, we're not going after them, but it seems like it's a double standard in my world. But we feel your pain on that because we, we want to record stuff. We want to do stuff. But it's like, no, we have kids. We have my kid has a soccer game and her soccer games are going to Trump may go into a press conference. I'm going to always be present for my kid. That's just the way life goes. Luckily, we don't get paid for that. We don't get paid. If we don't show up, it's okay,
Laurel
35:47
but it's a little harder for you. So you're saying 2s absolutely me, especially right now since I've, I have
Kara
35:54
a five and a half week old.
Laurel
35:56
So 2s yeah, I had my daughter in 2017. She was born in September, so I missed the whole end of that season. They were just in offseasons. I was only in USL at the time, but like it was it. I felt like I missed so much. But I mean baby but yeah. Well, thank you so much Laurel, for chatting with us. And you know, best of luck to both teams this weekend. And because, you know we'll be we're planning to be there.
Bridget
36:25
Yeah. Yeah we have been way better. And there's not a 16 minute force out.
Laurel
36:30
Yeah sure. Yeah. I'm unfortunately not making because it's Easter the next day I hadn't planned on I, we actually were looking at going down as a family because of spring break for our kid, but, um, yeah, just with the Easter the next day and it's. Yeah. And when I realized that it was Easter, we kind of immediately said, no, probably not a good time, but hopefully I'll get down there sometime, because last year I was on vacation when when they played down in Charlotte. So. If we are about now. When you do come, I will. Hopefully, hopefully next year. It works out on the the schedule a little better for me, but because the
Bridget
37:07
thought about it 1s will let you know if we make it earlier too. Yeah,
Laurel
37:10
definitely let me know all the the good places to go. And you don't have to eat Skyline Chili. But everyone, everything. I know everyone from here likes it and understands that if you if you're not from here, then what is that stuff on spaghetti?
Bridget
37:27
Yeah. No. We tried. My daughter and I, we went to Cincinnati a couple of years ago. Um, we tried it. It was a it wasn't our favorite. It wasn't our favorite thing to eat. But there's a lot of little places out there that it's really nice. We would just a market that's, like, older than. I don't know. It's like it's supposed to be like 100 years old. I don't even know the name of it. But it was it was really nice little place. And so it's really cute. Like I was telling her care before we started recording. I love this Cincinnati stadium. It's it's it's awesome. It's a really good environment. I still think art is better. Of course, but if I had to say, I say I like I like it better than DC.
Laurel
38:02
I don't think bias is apparent. Yeah, yeah, DC was I like that stadium. It's just the they've got all these different eating sections like on the ground, like on the pitch and it just seemed odd.
Bridget
38:14
Thank you again. Our 20 minutes ran over a little bit. But thank you for your time today on your spring break. And we, uh, look forward to this weekend. Thanks for
Laurel
38:24
having me. Anytime. Thank you.
Kara
38:26
Bye bye.