Unusual Ef’Pod episode 40: Romance

Jessie and Megan are back to talk about the new sensation hitting the Twittersphere. Okay, it's just our twitter accounts. They team up to review "Challenge," a book that Jessie found involving football and romance. Be prepared for plot discussions, favorite quotes, and the cringeworthy reality of the novel (which is one of a five part series!). Make sure you have headphones in while listening to this one, because the book could get us an explicit rating.

From a Special One's wink to a sweet encounter in a supermarket, our guests share stories of how fútbol, in its routine and normalcy, its community and joy, provided escape or romance, connection or courage. Sometimes, as October and Nikki agreed, even the sounds of boots hitting balls can be beautiful!

The trio talked about inequities in CONCACAF teams and their own conflicts over whether a team with the support and infrastructure like the USWNT should be playing friendlies (during a pandemic. With fans.) against Colombia, whose players are still fighting to be paid even a fraction of what their men's side makes. And before we even get to the match itself, we're still talking about the anthem, and the issue(s) with performative allyship on a USWNT whose players show remarkable strength and unity when battling issues that affect their white players, but have yet to realize that racism cannot and should not be confronted by Black players. Oh and that anthem? Not about the troops. Not even a little bit. Join us for this and more, and as always, follow and comment to let us know what you think.

Jessie Loach, Megan Smith, and Kirsten Schlewitz talk about whether futbolers' lives should put at risk of COVID (hint: they shouldn't) and a new feud was created when neither Kirsten or Megan had seen Newsies so couldn't go with Jessie on her Aston Villa journey!

It’s Episode 36, but you won’t know that from Megan and Jessie’s introduction, which has our podcasters taking full advantage of their Home Alone status without the steadying hands of Kirsten and Sonja.  Megan and Jessie discuss the dizzying ups and downs- and more downs- of women’s football, starting with the unacceptable situation in Utah, where Dell Loy Hansen and his team deserved to be used as penalty kick practice targets, and ending with some positive news. The Brazilian Football Federation, Confederação Brasileira de Futebol, finally pledged to pay their men’s and women’s teams equal wages. Your move, everyone else. As always, you can listen to the episode below on Megaphone or find us on your favorite podcasting app (we are under “All for XI”)!

Sonja, Jessie, and Megan come together to record the episode many have been waiting for since we covered 21 Thunder: Canadianism. We learn about tattoos, gangs, and prison systems while comparing our respective countries.

Sonja and Megan team up for the best podcast episode ever (we think)! Take a listen to learn why Sonja is pretty much Rihanna, what the cure for COVID-19 is, and our opinions on season restarts (or one out of the three). In this episode, we explore what the quarantine is doing to our mental health as well as what we think about season restarts. We ponder on how winning a championship this year feels versus a "normal" season.

Join Kirsten, Jessie and Megan as they choose a team of characters from their childhoods, to face Disney XI!

Jessie, Megan, and Kirsten got together a couple of weeks ago to discuss coronavirus and BLM, and their connections to football.

Oatmeal spoons: our own version of "spoon theory" as it applies to mental health. Kirsten, Jessie, & Sonja share their stories, mixing in a lot of laughter.