Winter Games Diary: Women’s Hockey is Dominating & Abby’s Borrowing Euros

Summary

Podcast Summary: Welcome to the Party

Episode: Winter Games Diary: Women’s Hockey is Dominating & Abby’s Borrowing Euros
Date: February 17, 2026
Hosts: Abby Wambach & Julie Foudy
Specials Guests: Billie Jean King (via video), Marissa Tanden
Theme: Celebrating women’s sports, especially at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, with a mix of behind-the-scenes Olympic stories, highlights of sporting achievements, and a proud celebration of the US women’s teams.

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Episode Overview

This high-energy episode is a celebration of women’s dominance at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, a deep-dive into standout athletes and emotional Olympic moments, plus signature party-style storytelling from hosts Abby Wambach and Julie Foudy. The show features special guest Marissa Tanden reporting live from Milan, Billie Jean King via video, honest discussion about inequities in women’s sports coverage and pay, as well as personal, often hilarious stories from the ground. Warm, candid, and community-driven, this episode anchors sports talk around empowerment—and fun.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Abby’s Olympic Experience & Borrowed Euros (00:53 – 07:40)

• Abby shares her excitement about attending her first Olympic event since retirement and her wonders at being in Milan for the Games.

• Story: Abby realizes she forgot her USA gear and balks at a $275 jersey:

  “I mean, last week I was trying to find a USA Hockey jersey, but they’re $275. And I was like, I have children that are going to college. I cannot spend $275 on a jersey.” — Abby Wambach (02:03)

• Touring Milan, Abby joins Sarah Nurse’s (Canadian hockey player) family for a Duomo tour but has no cash for the tip, leading Nurse’s family to spot her €10:

  “At the end of the tour... Sarah’s family ended up having to chip in my share of the tip because I didn’t have the euros on me. I asked the guide, ‘Do you do Venmo?’ and he said, ‘What is Venmo?’ in this hilarious Italian accent.” — Abby Wambach (06:47)

2. Women’s Hockey: Total Dominance at the Olympics (03:13 – 09:14)

• Abby and Julie rave about the US women’s hockey team’s performance:

  “The freaking hockey team… watching it in person. It’s so physical, and it’s so fun to watch them move their bodies on these little blades. It’s incredible. So hard. And they are so good and so young.” — Abby Wambach (06:01)

• USA vs Sweden Semifinal:

  • US beats Sweden 5–0, with a 31–1 aggregate over six teams; no goals allowed since Feb 5.
  • Shoutout to veterans (Kendall, Hilary Knight) and mixed with young talent.

• Billie Jean King’s appearance in the stands noted as a broadcast highlight; BJK’s role in founding the PWHL is acknowledged.

3. Highlights & Headlines Section (09:14 – 15:28)

a. Basketball — Unrivaled 1v1 Finals

• Chelsea Gray wins $200,000, more than her WNBA salary last season.

  “Chelsea Gray…keeps stacking wins… the $200,000 payday is more than Chelsea Gray made in the WNBA last season.” — Julie Foudy (11:14)

• Frustration at the wage gap:

  “That’s upsetting. That’s upsetting. But I’m very happy that she made that. Got that payday.” — Abby Wambach (11:52)

b. College Hoops Drama

• Coaches from Texas and Tennessee harshly criticize teams’ toughness.

  “Gosh, I just like, I just don’t think it ever works in the long run. Unless of course, you want to lose your teams fast.” — Abby Wambach (12:54)

• South Carolina beats LSU; Dawn Staley’s 500th win; Kim Mulkey’s heated sideline antics and decade-old refereeing grudges spark laughs.

  “Let it go, Kim. I’m trying to, I’m trying to.” — Julie Foudy (15:28)

c. Must-Watch Documentaries

• Premieres of documentaries on the PWHL’s inaugural season and Gold Medal Girls of X Games.

4. Special: Marissa Tanden’s Olympic Dispatches (26:02 – 45:39)

a. Atmosphere in Milan

• “The energy and just the fan base is just so, so cool. And watching people actually win medals in person… is just so different.” — Marissa Tanden (26:02)

b. Critique of Olympic Coverage

• NBC and the world feed focus too much on male athletes during women’s hockey, mic’ing up men instead of centering the record-breaking women.

  “We had the Tkachuk brothers mic’d up instead of really anyone else that was present that could have been mic’d up. A player. Or Billy [Jean King] or...” — Marissa Tanden (27:05)

c. Figure Skating Judging Controversy

• U.S. favorites Madison Chock & Evan Bates are edged out for gold by a French team amid suspect judging.

  “I think for me, I would probably use the word controversy…it is just like dance, which is completely subjective…there is this large gap where one judge—who obviously is scoring his own country’s pair—is able to influence the judging this much.” — Marissa Tanden (29:44) “This is what pisses me off about figure skating. Like, this happens. We had the skate gate in what, 2002?” — Julie Foudy (32:02)

d. Skiing: Triumphs and Heartbreaks

• Federica Brignone (Italy): Double golds after major injury, at age 35, with minimal pre-Olympic races.

  “She’s doing so at 35...I think 35 is pretty impressive.” — Marissa Tanden (34:01)

• Mikaela Shiffrin: Only two Olympic wins despite dominance; hopes rest on her final slalom.

e. The Upset Olympics

• Discussion about favorites not always clinching gold in high-stress Olympic environments.

f. Mother-Son First: Sarah Schleper & Lassie Giola

• First mother-son duo competing at the same Winter Olympics for Mexico.

  “This is actually Sarah’s seventh Olympics, which is insane...and now they’re the first mother and son to ever compete in the same one.” — Marissa Tanden (43:02)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On USA Hockey’s Physicality:

  “It’s just a totally different experience watching it in person. It’s so physical, and it’s so fun to watch them move their bodies on these, like, little blades.”
  — Abby Wambach (06:01)

• Confronting the Wage Gap:

  “She earned $196,267 with the championship-winning Las Vegas Aces and made more of that in her 1v1. Let’s go, Chelsea Gray.”
  — Julie Foudy (11:38)

• On Scholarships for Team Unity:

  “When we got it right, we got the medical staff right, we got the training staff right, we got the equipment manager right...Such a big family that becomes part of the team.”
  — Julie Foudy (18:57)

• On Figure Skating Scandal:

  “This is what pisses me off about figure skating. We had the skate gate in what, 2002?”
  — Julie Foudy (32:02)
  “There is this large gap where one judge—who obviously is scoring his own country’s pair—is able to influence the judging this much.”
  — Marissa Tanden (29:44)

• On Olympic Spirit:

  “Sometimes the Olympics are letting you rise to the occasion in a way that you normally wouldn’t.”
  — Marissa Tanden (35:57)

• On Sarah Schleper:

  “She’s 46 years old, doing, y’all, the Super G…she became the oldest alpine skier to compete at the Olympics. Finishing last. But God bless her, Sarah…”
  — Julie Foudy (44:31)

• Concluding with Celebration:

  “[Alana] Myers Taylor... She is now tied with Bonnie [Blair] and we also talked about that this is her fifth Olympics and she had never won an Olympic gold medal...She says, ‘I want to model for [my sons], that they can do anything they want to do in life and that a disability is not going to stop them.’”
  — Julie Foudy (46:55)

• Legendary Family Cheer:

  “On three—USA, USA, USA! Are you ready?” (Swaggy the dog included)
  — Julie, Abby & family (49:23)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Abby’s Milan Stories & Borrowed Euros: 00:53–07:40
• Women’s Hockey Semi & Olympic Atmosphere: 03:13–09:14
• Basketball & College Hoops Highlights: 09:14–15:28
• Marissa Tanden from Milan: 26:02–45:39
  • Broadcast inequities: 27:05
  • Figure skating judging controversy: 29:44
  • Italian skiing triumph: 33:00
  • Mother-son duo: 42:30
• Alana Meyers Taylor Wins Gold: 46:51–48:42
• Family USA Cheer: 49:19–49:34

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Overall Tone & Takeaways

Celebratory, irreverent, and empowering, this episode is a love letter to women’s sports, the athletes, and their supporters. Abby’s and Julie’s warmth and candor welcome listeners to the “party,” while Marissa brings expert analysis and on-the-ground excitement. The hosts never shy from tough issues—like judging scandals or pay gaps—while keeping everything rooted in community and joy. And as always, they end with a literal cheer, rallying everyone around a USA chant.

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This episode is essential listening for anyone following the Milan Olympics, passionate about women’s sports, or seeking the camaraderie and inside-view only legends like Abby and Julie can provide.

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For more:
Full episode and extras available on the “Welcome to the Party” YouTube channel or wherever you get podcasts.

Transcript

[Narrator/Ad Voice]

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[Abby Wambach]

It was cute because nobody really recognized me. And then I went over and I saw the three Wynn brothers and then everybody recognized me. They were like, wait a second.

[Julie Foudy]

I was like, this is what pisses me off about figure skating. Like, this happens. We had the skate gate in what, 2002. Every race feels like life or death almost. And it could be Alana Meyers Taylor. We've been following this. She was sitting in second place.

[Abby Wambach]

She won.

[Marissa Tanden]

She won.

[Abby Wambach]

Attention, the party is about to comm.

[Julie Foudy]

Welcome to the party. What's up, party people? I'm Julie Foudy.

[Abby Wambach]

And I'm Abby Wambach. Hi, Jules.

[Julie Foudy]

Hi, abs. Look at you in a hotel room in Milan.

[Abby Wambach]

Let's go. Let's go. The Olympics. The Winter Olympics. You know, I was, wait, why do.

[Julie Foudy]

I have all the USA gear on? And you're just coming back from the game and you're beige and khakis.

[Abby Wambach]

Listen, I forgot to, like, bring dude USA gear. I got to the stadium and I was like, oh, my gosh. I mean, last week I was trying to find a USA Hockey jersey, but they're $275. And I was like, I have children that are going to college. I cannot spend $275 on a jersey.

[Julie Foudy]

I need shoes on the baby. Shoes on the bab baby.

[Abby Wambach]

Seriously. So I was thinking about it last week, but then I forgot. And then on the way to the game, I was seeing everybody in USA gear. And I was like, oh, my God, I am not even remote. Glennon had this gorgeous fur. Like, fake fur. It's not real fur. Blue. Like electric blue. And I was like, well, at least one of us is. Is in the uniform. But it's been amazing. And also we were talking about how this is the first Olympic event since I've retired that I've been witness to, which is kind of.

[Marissa Tanden]

What.

[Abby Wambach]

And cool.

[Marissa Tanden]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

Olympic game that you've been to?

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, my gosh. I bet you had all the feels.

[Abby Wambach]

I. I did, and it was. It was cute because nobody really recognized me. And then I went over, and I saw the three Wynn brothers, and then everybody recognized me. They were like, wait a second. I'm like, I'm not walking around with my jersey on here, you know? And it was incredible. We were. I was so excited to go to the hockey. The women's hockey game. They are just freaking so good. And the city I've never been to. Milan also.

[Julie Foudy]

Right.

[Abby Wambach]

The city itself is just awesome. And not too cold, so I'm happy about that.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, good.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah. We. We sight. We went on a sightseeing tour today. This morning. And then we went to the women's hockey.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, you did already?

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

Let's go.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah, I know. That's why I'm very exhausted. And Glennon was gonna be on this with me, but she's sleeping.

[Julie Foudy]

She's like, peace out.

[Marissa Tanden]

Good night.

[Abby Wambach]

She's. Well, she. She. She hasn't slept in two days. She didn't sleep on the flight.

[Julie Foudy]

Are you in the same room she's in right now? So you're trying to whisper.

[Abby Wambach]

She's sleeping. She's in the room right back there. I'm. I'm like, in the closet.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, God.

[Abby Wambach]

Nobody puts baby in the closet.

[Julie Foudy]

Okay.

[Narrator/Ad Voice]

And.

[Julie Foudy]

And my understanding, too, as we knew the Kinger was there, she actually. She actually sent a video. And so let's see if we can play that video. Welcome to the party. We're just a continuation of our party. Guys, look at this.

[Abby Wambach]

This is unbelie. The US Is playing Sweden right now. It's only one period gone, but it's a party.

[Julie Foudy]

And I think Abby's in the crowd somewhere.

[Abby Wambach]

I'm gonna try to find her.

[Julie Foudy]

Did. Did you find her, Abby?

[Abby Wambach]

No. Okay, so here's the deal. Glenn and I went up during one of the intermissions in between periods to go find her. And there was no. Like. It's evidently unknown to us mortals, us mere mortals, how to get to the skybox. I could not find it. And then everybody I asked did not speak English. So it was a failed attempt. And by the. By the third period, Glennon, she started to do this and was really.

[Julie Foudy]

Did you want to catch that on tv?

[Abby Wambach]

Well, she was suffering, like. And I'm like, look, we are. We just got here, like, less than 24 hours ago, so.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah, exactly.

[Abby Wambach]

And Glennon hasn't slept, and I just. I'm hoping that I'm not talking too loud, so I'm going to put the mic really close to my mouth.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah, that actually sounds better. Oh, bless her, Glennon. Okay. But the women, so that's good.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah, we tried. And the freaking hockey team, that. It's just a totally different experience watching it in person. Like, it's so physical, and it's so fun to, like, watch them move their bodies on these, like, little blades. It's incredible. It's so hard. And they are so good and so young. Like, they have such a young team. And also a few veteran players, like, Like Kendall and Hillary Knight.

[Julie Foudy]

Alex Carpenter. Yep.

[Abby Wambach]

So I got to this. This Duomo tour, the. The incredible cathedral here, and Sarah Nurse's family. Two members of Sarah Nurse's family were in.

[Julie Foudy]

She's the Canadian hockey player, my core group.

[Abby Wambach]

Canadian hockey player. And at the end of the tour, I feel kind of embarrassed, but not really, because it ended up working out that Sarah's family ended up having to chip in my share of the tip because I didn't have the euros on me. I asked the. The guide, I said, do you do Venmo? And the guide said, what is Venmo? What is Venmo? And he said it in this. A hilarious Italian accent. And I just was like, oh, shoot. I. I'm stuck here. And she threw in. She threw in €10 for me. So Sarah Nurse.

[Julie Foudy]

I'm gonna tell Sarah's family that I know where you live to get that €10 back.

[Abby Wambach]

I owe you. I owe you €10. I know it. And I pay my debts. I promise.

[Julie Foudy]

She does. She's good. She's good for it. She's good for it.

[Abby Wambach]

But the city is. The city is bustling, man. It's really. It's been awesome.

[Julie Foudy]

Billy Nomates over here. Julie Nomates over here, who has. Is not in Italy, decided that I needed to at least feel like I was at the Olympics with my swag on. So I'm excited you both got to go. And even though you didn't ultimately connect to the King or Skybox, which they might have. They might have actually put bouncers on you and said, nope, you can't come in. I know they did go to her in the game. They. They showed her, which was cool. So that was great. And talked about how she was so instrumental in founding the pwhl. So Kinger. Kinger and Alana got a little bit of love there. I was like, go to Abby, too. Abby's in the States.

[Abby Wambach]

Well, I was. I was sitting right behind. We, like, just got in our seats and the Swedish goalkeeper, like, we were right behind the goalkeeper from Sweden in the first period. And I, like, look at Glennon. And I was about to tell her, when the puck comes towards the glass, the goal is to not flinch. And a puck comes towards the glass right as we sit down. And I was like.

[Julie Foudy]

And you flinched. So usa, we. We should probably give the score. For those of you who don't know you, you will probably know by the time this airs on Tuesday. USA beat Sweden in that semifinal, five to nil. So the US have now outscored six teams by a combined 31 to one.

[Abby Wambach]

Wow.

[Julie Foudy]

And they haven't a lot of goals since the second period of their first game against Czechia on February 5th. So let's go one more. As Kendall Coyne would say, one game at a time. Coming up, we've got more from Milan and Cortino. Of course, we aren't done yet. And we've got our go to guy for the Olympics, Marissa Tanden standing by. But before we bring in Marissa, let's get this party started with the highlights and headlines. You'll want to celebrate this week in women's sports. I don't know. I heard it's true. There are other sports happening right now outside of the Olympics. Even though Declan, my son, was like, mom, you have not left that couch for two weeks. He said the other day, I was like, what's wrong with that? I'm fine on the couch with my computer watching the Olympics all day, every day. Okay, topic one, unrivaled had its 1v1 finals. And it wasn't 50 shades of gray, Abby. It was just two. Seriously, there was $200,000 on the line. So this was serious business. In the finals of the unrivaled 1v1 tournament. And the finals came down to two grays, Chelsea Gray and Alicia Gray, and a best of three showdown. And it literally became a battle of attrition. There were hands on knees, gasping for air. I mean, 1v1, you would know basketball, I don't know as well because I'm not such a great basketball player, but it looks like it's a lot of work. But in the end, it went to three games. It was the Aces star, Chelsea Gray. He pulled it out in dramatic style. She knocked down a three pointer in the third game to take it seven to six and pocket the $200,000. And as the runner up, Alicia Gray will take home 50K. And I mean, Chelsea Gray. Can we just talk about. I mean, the woman just keeps stacking wins. She was unrivaled finals MVP last year. Add that to the four WNBA titles, Chelsea has a WNBA Finals MVP, a Commissioner's cup champions ship in MVP, and crazy enough, the $200,000 payday is more than Chelsea Gray made in the WNBA last season.

[Marissa Tanden]

That's not that.

[Abby Wambach]

That's not right.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah, yeah. She earned $196,267 with the championship winning Las Vegas Aces and made more of that in her 1v1. Let's go, Chelsea Gray.

[Abby Wambach]

That's upsetting. That's upsetting. But I'm very happy that she made that. Got that payday. Topic number two, college hoops. We're gonna head to Jules. Number four, Texas, holds on to beat number 21, Tennessee, 65 to 63 on Sunday. The win comes just four days after a 16 point loss to Vanderbilt to which Texas head coach Vic Schaefer said his team has no heart and was probably the softest team I've had in years. Ouch. Glad they bounced back, but yikes. And ironically, Tennessee's head coach Kim Caldwell made headlines on February 8th about a week ago by harshly criticizing her team's effort after her historic 93 to 50 loss to South Carolina. She said, and I quote, the team had a lot of quit in them, adding that they struggle to stay composed when things go wrong and just quit on you. Note to both coaches. Yeah, okay, don't do that.

[Julie Foudy]

Don't do that.

[Abby Wambach]

Gosh, I just like, I just don't think it ever works in the long run. Unless of course, you want to lose your teams fast. I mean, hearing both of those statements made me cringe. You know, there's just lots of better ways to get through to your, your team than go to the press with stuff like how far gone must it be? If that's because that feels like a nuclear last option, maybe. Anyways, that's.

[Julie Foudy]

I was like when both of those them said that, even Dawn Staley, she was asked about it because it was against South Carolina and her presser.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah, yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

When the Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell said that and she goes, oh. She goes, I don't know if I would have done that in public. I'm like, no, no, don't do that. Note to both coaches. I know coaching is hard. I know it's hard, but don't do that if you want to keep your team. I agree Sorry. Keep going.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah. Onto Saturday, number three, South Carolina held on to defeat number six, LSU. Dawn Staley wins her 500th game as a Gamecocks head coach. LSU had beaten. No, that's so many wins. LSU hadn't beaten South Carolina since January of 2012. And if my math is mathing, that's 14 years. For those of you counting at home, that is 14 years. It seemed like this could have been LSU's chance to break the streak.

[Julie Foudy]

So close.

[Abby Wambach]

They got to within one six times in the second half. And the LSU fans, they gave Malaysia Full Wiley a standing ovation when she checked into the game. The former GameCocks finished with six points and four steals in 13 minutes. It can against her former team. And Kim Mulkey making headlines again. She went nuts at the end of the third quarter and had to be held back. She could be seen mouthing at the refs. The daily W Sports reporting also saying that it's because of a beef that started in 2016 when she was a coach at Baylor and they lost to Oregon State in the Elite eight. Jules, I wonder who is going to tell Kim that holding on to that for 10 years isn't healthy at all.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah, agree, but maybe that shouldn't be me because literally I still blame the ref from and I'm bitter. I wake up at night, I have cold sweats. I'm gonna admit it all. The 2000 Olympic gold medal we lost thanks to the ref and the Norwegian Viking biatches. But she missed a handball.

[Abby Wambach]

It's not their fault.

[Julie Foudy]

But yeah, they literally had to hold Kim Mulkey back from the referee and. And now we know why ten years later. Let it go, Kim. I'm trying to. I'm trying to.

[Abby Wambach]

Do you think that. Do you think that that's her trying to fire her team up or really like her just losing it? So weird.

[Julie Foudy]

Probably a little bit of both.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah, a little bit of both. Okay. Topic three, two cool documentaries to watch just dropped yesterday. February 16th. Hello Sunshine alongside Ally Financial and the Lida Hill Philanthropies. If Then Initiative announced the next chapter of the Rise, a five part documentary series series chronicling the growth of women's sports. Two highly anticipated feature length documentaries. The inaugural season of the Professional Women's Hockey League and the gold medal Girls of X Games will premiere as we said, on February 16. And the PWHL doc follows the historic inaugural season of course of the PWH PWHL and all the amazing athletes and what they had to do to actually get the league going and they follow the Minnesota Frost and other teams to the first championship. And the league's founding BJK and Alana Kloss are executive producers on the PWHL doc as well. That is our party starter and we are gonna say ciao, Abby, go get your sleep and enjoy Milan, because coming up, we are in the final stretch of the Olympics, so it's the perf time for our party buzz with Marissa Tanden. Marissa has been all over the biggest Olympic stories, sharing behind the scenes details and crazy storylines. Abs, we know, and I'm so thankful that we got to be part of such an amazing team for so long, but we know what it takes to be part of a team. And QuickBooks on the Intuit platform gives business owners access to a team. And that team is composed of Intuit AI and trusted experts for the assistance you need. So doing it yourself no longer means hallelujah. Doing it alone. And Abs, I, as the winner, Olympics get going. I get, I get really excited. Like, I would like to rewind the clock 20 years and see if I could do them. And then I realized, like, that's a terrible idea. But I realized too that, like, the reason I care so much about the Olympics is because it brings me back all these wonderful emotions about our group. Because, as you know, when you go to Olympics, you have your players. Of course, that needs to be in lockstep and cohesive. But your team is so much bigger than just the players. Like, when we got it right, we got the medical staff right, we got the training staff right, we got the equipment manager right, we got the gyms and obviously the coaching staff. Like, such a big family that becomes part of the team. And if that wasn't all clicking, we weren't clicking and we weren't winning. And that is so true. And that's the really cool thing about QuickBooks and what they're offering is that you can stop doing your critical business jobs alone and outdo it with QuickBooks on the intuit platform as your partner. Learn more about Intuit [e-mail] okay, Jules.

[Abby Wambach]

I still remember the first World Cup I traveled to as a player. Not just the Games, but like the feeling of the city itself. Like everywhere you went, there were flags and windows and strangers talking about soccer at coffee shops, kids juggling balls on the sidewalks. Like, the whole place felt alive.

[Julie Foudy]

And Abs, can you imagine if we'd been able to stay with our teammates at one home base, get up and make breakfast together, Chocolate chip pancakes? Anyone booking a house on airbnb would have made all the difference. And I'm telling you, my chocolate chip pancakes are really good.

[Abby Wambach]

I mean, totally. Like, hotels are fine, but having your own space during something that intense would just hit differently.

[Marissa Tanden]

Right.

[Abby Wambach]

That's honestly what I look forward to when I book a home on Airbnb. Space, comfort, and a feeling like where you're staying is a destination in and of itself. Right?

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. And as we know, if you live in a city and that's about to host big World cup moments, because that's coming, that is soon, opening up your home on airbnb is such a powerful way to be a part of that experience. Fans are coming from all over the world, Abs. Looking to stay close to the action and in the real neighborhoods, soaking in the culture.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah. Your home, Jules. Your home, especially with a few touches of local sports pride, can help make their trip unforgettable. If you've thought about hosting your home on Airbnb, this is your sign to check it out.

[Julie Foudy]

That's right. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how [e-mail] host Abigail.

[Abby Wambach]

What's up?

[Julie Foudy]

I think you know this already, but it's worth repeating because I'm obsessed with it. I've been trying to buy less clothes because same I feel like I have a lot and I know I just want to consume less and.

[Abby Wambach]

Yes.

[Julie Foudy]

And I'm actually loving and wearing the ones I own. And that's why I've been obsessed with quints lately, because I've gotten a few of their items and they're really well done. Everything makes you feel kind of elevated. Right. And you end up reaching for it over and over again. I got one of their cashmere sweaters recently and so good, so soft. Yeah. And as you know, this week hasn't been cold, but other weeks have been colder here in California, and it has become my go to. It's soft fits and it just looks expensive in the best way. And they have gorgeous colorways for every single one. My preference actually is kind of a neutral one called oatmeal, but I'd sno, which is unlike me, but I'd stock up on all of them. Quint has got 100% organic cotton sweaters, premium denim with stretch so you're not dying in your jeans all day, and luxe cotton cashmere blends that are perfect for that weird in between weather. And it's all designed to actually last, not fall apart after three washes. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to Quince.com. welcomeToTheParty for free shipping on your orders and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com. welcome to the party. To get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com welcome to the party. Abby.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

I am so excited about our new sponsor, Goodles, because.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah, I said Goodles. Do you like Goodles?

[Julie Foudy]

A gooder noodle is Goodles. Good old.

[Marissa Tanden]

Or.

[Abby Wambach]

Or it could be a play on noodles because it's pasta. So it could be Goodles. Is it goodles or is it good?

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, good call. I say good. Oh, cool. Good old. It's amazing. This brand of Mac and cheese is a game changer. Party people. They have all the deliciousness right. Of your favorite boxed Mac and cheese brands, but they're better for you. Every serving of Goodles Mac and cheese has protein, fiber, with prebiotics. Who does that? It's amazing. And vitamins and minerals from real plant sources. It has the taste of the ultimate comfort food, but with the vitamins and proteins that we all want for a well balanced diet. And I got so into it. I don't know if you can see these, Abby. I started making just batches of them over the weekend for the family that we could just keep eating. Their marketing is brilliant. Shall we dance Is this one. It's called this. This one is a mover and a shaker. Oh, hey. This one is called Queso. Tell me more. Tex Mex style. That's just three of them. They're really. They're really funny names. And I did a taste test of all three.

[Abby Wambach]

You like the shell one the best?

[Julie Foudy]

Which one?

[Abby Wambach]

The.

[Julie Foudy]

Shall we dance?

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

No, no, It's Caciot Caccio de Pepe. It was so good. It had like a little peppery pepe, a little, A little bite to it. It was really good. Pro tip. You don't have to use all the cheese that goes into it. You can use like 3/4 of it. That's what I did. Cacio de pepe. Actually, I used all the cheese. The other ones, I'm not like an ooey gooey Mac and cheese gal. I used all the cheese and I was like, oh, I probably would cut it to three quarters. But if you love ooey gooey, that was really good. But really, it is really good. But Goodles is also clean label purity award certified, which means it's been tested for over 400 different contaminants. And Goodles meets Their highest standard, which is amazing. There is something for everyone. With an amazing variety of flavors. Literally, there are so many. I'm gonna every weekend try three or four, including vegan and gluten free options.

[Abby Wambach]

I'm trying to go gluten free these days.

[Julie Foudy]

There, they have it for you. Okay, so. And they. Sometimes they don't even do them as Mac and cheese. They just do protein packed noodles.

[Abby Wambach]

Oh, nice. Right?

[Julie Foudy]

Okay. You need some goodles Mac and cheese in your life. Trust me, party people, you and your whole family will love them. I've been eating it all weekend. Pick up goodles on your next shopping trip. It's available nationwide at Target and Walmart, plus any other major grocery stores and retailers. Okay, party people, time to find out all the buzz around the party that is Milan Cortina. Let's dig in and welcome in Marissa Tanden. Because a lot has been going on, we Talked about the U.S. women's hockey team advancing to the gold medal match earlier. Marissa, you were over in Milan. How was it? And thank you for joining us.

[Marissa Tanden]

Yeah, of course. Thanks for having me. I was in Milan. It is incredible on the ground over there. The, the energy and just the fan base is just so, so cool. And watching people actually win medals in person, like I've been watching it on TV forever, but watching it in person is just so different.

[Julie Foudy]

It's actually kind of weird for me because I've covered or played in like 11 Olympics. I counted. So. And obviously I played in three, covered eight between summer and winter. And so there's not many that I've been home watching like this. And it's fascinating to be able to consume it because when you're at the games, you're not seeing any of the NBC coverage and. Or hearing any of the commentary, which I think adds such a layer that is so fabulous. So it's actually been really fun for me to watch it from this side, from the American side and, and consume it all, which is. Which is fabulous. But I am a little jealous because Abby was out there right now. Billy's out there. Julie, no mates over here is just back home.

[Marissa Tanden]

Yeah, I will say, I will say Billy being at the Women's Team USA Women's hockey game today was a big conversation actually online, given the fact that NBC took a lot of time out of the broadcast to focus on men throughout the game, which was tough. Yeah, we had, we had the Tkachuk brothers mic'd up instead of really anyone else that was present that could have been mic'd up. A player Or Billy or.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah, they did. They did go to Billy and talk about her. But no, Mike and Abby was there as well. I'm sure there was a ton of.

[Marissa Tanden]

Yeah, and we had like an actual interview during gameplay of. Of men's hockey players, which was. And it just. It was just an interesting choice. I think we've seen them bring up the NHL players every single women's hockey game, even before the men were even on the ground in Milan, which has been a tough. I think it's a tough angle for it.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah, I agree. And I mean, and I. And I love NBC and I commentate for them for the summer Games, of course, but, like, similar to the summer Games, like, they kept cutting. This is world feed, though, not NBC. They kept cutting to Tom Cruise. And I'm like, there's all these amazing. I was getting mad during the telecast and I was like, why do we keep cutting to Tom Cruise? And they're like, we have no control over the world feed for that. Because I'm like, there's Tobin Heath and there's Abby Wambach and there's a million amazing legends in the building right now. Lauren Holiday, Lauren Chaney Holiday. And we're not cutting to any of them. Like, let's cut to them anyways. So. But this one felt like they were trying to promote, obviously their US Men's Games as well. But yeah, I agree, it was too much. When there's other people you can be highlighting. Marissa, I don't know if you saw this. Saw them too live. But the ice dancers from the United States that were heavily favored to win the gold medal, Madison Chalk and Evan Bates, as Kendall Coyne calls it, losing gold, taking silver. And there's a bit because they came in as the favorites and seem to pull off a mistake free. Really good run. That. Do you call it? Runs no Dance Program.

[Marissa Tanden]

Program.

[Julie Foudy]

They seem to pull off a animal mistake free program. Can you call this. There's been a lot of debate about the French judge being nationalistic. Can you call this a judging scandal? Is that too aggressive?

[Marissa Tanden]

I would say. I think for me, I would probably use the word controversy. Right. Because figure skating when it comes to judging is very subjective, especially when it comes to ice dance. When you look at figure skating in terms of sort of like the men's individual or pairs, a lot of that is very much about technical execution and how hard your skills are. But when it comes to ice dance, a lot of it really is art. It is just like dance, which is completely subjective. However, the big issue I've seen a lot of people talking about sort of this eight point change between the French judge and the rest of the judges in terms of kind of how big his spread was that he judged for the French couple that won. And I think the other interesting part about it is that you. You do see a couple of other judges that also scored the French pair higher than the. Than the American pair. And what is odd is that from a viewer standpoint, when you're looking at it and you're not a figure skater and you're not a figure skating judge, there are moments in that French pair's final that you look at it and you say, I saw them fall out. They were not mistakes executing these correctly. They were visible mistakes to an untrained eye. And so I think that is where the controversy has become such a big deal. They could have challenged the score within 24 hours of the actual scores being finalized, which they ultimately decided not to do. And Team USA has said that they're going to support the decision of Madison and Evan to not do that and to focus on this. But I think also one of the bigger things that we heard Madison Bates talk about is sort of the idea that the judging needs to be a little bit more transparent for fans that are watching from home, because it does feel like an upset. That was shocking. And. And they did ask her, when they watched the, you know, when they watched the French pair go, did they think that they had the gold medal? And they said yes. So I think the tough part is that it does feel like there is this large gap where one judge who obviously is scoring his own country's pair is able to influence the judging this much. And it's tough. I do think, like, from an, you know, an untrained eye, it didn't. It looked like there was a clear winner, and it's not who ended up standing on the top step of that podium.

[Julie Foudy]

I was like, this is what pisses me off about figure skating. Like, this happens. We had the skate gate in what, 2002?

[Abby Wambach]

Yes.

[Julie Foudy]

Where again, a French judge was like, well, I felt a little more pressure to, you know, to vote for the Russian pair. And. And then they had to award all four of them after that and disqualify the judge. But I. I'm like, come on. Anyways, I did feel awful. Okay, I'll move on from that. I'm calling it a scandal. I don't care what anyone says. Come on, let's be better people. I also feel awful for Michaela Shiffrin, but because she's raced in two races. She hasn't podiumed yet. But we have to talk about the Italian skier, Federica Brignone. I mean, she should absolutely be celebrated. So do you want to give the party people some background on her?

[Marissa Tanden]

Yeah, absolutely. I think this is one of my favorite stories actually, so far out of this because there's been also. One of the things that's been really fun about this Olympics is Italy has really been performing very well on their. On home turf, basically home ice, home snow, however you want to put it. But when it comes to Frederica, she was actually also going through this same injury that we've seen so many of our skiers have to deal with this year, which was she previously had a turned, you know, torn ACL and a fractured leg.

[Julie Foudy]

And she was able to in April of 2025.

[Marissa Tanden]

And I think what's wild about this too is we're looking at it and we're seeing so many women dealing with the same injury and being able to rehab it and being able to get back on their skis and get into Olympic level competition. And it's just wild. It's wild to see how, how quickly they're able to do this. And she's doing so at 35. We've talked a lot about, about Lindsey Von's age and about that injury for her, and I think 35 is pretty impressive.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. And like, literally, I read somewhere that she only was able to get in like two pre Olympic races, like trial runs, before she was even able to ski. And now she's a double gold medal winning skier back to back, which is just wild.

[Marissa Tanden]

It's an, it's an insane feat to be able to do something like that. Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

Super G on Thursday. Giant, solemn gold on Sunday. Back to back, slow. It is hard to believe, though, Marissa, that the winningest skier in the sport has only. And that's Mikaela Shifrin has only two victories in 12 Olympic races across four Olympic Games. And she's planning on one more race in Cortina. So let's go, Michaela. It's one of her strongest, the slalom. She's won, what, seven of the eight World cup races this season in the slalom. So come on.

[Marissa Tanden]

I, I hope to see her do it. I will say it has been a theme of these games that we're seeing favorites come in and not actually have this sort of lay down win. We saw it with Ilya Malinin. We've seen it with how tight the fight was for gold for the US in the figure skating team. Event. We saw it with the figure skating dan ice dance pair that we just talked about. We're seeing a lot of people who, you know.

[Julie Foudy]

Chloe.

[Marissa Tanden]

Kim.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah, exactly, Kim.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah.

[Marissa Tanden]

We're seeing a lot, a lot, a lot of this where it's interesting. I think, you know, there's a lot of different elements of it and. And sometimes I think there's the element of Olympics. Like, you know, competing on the Olympic stage can be a very intense situation. But also on the other side of the. You've got people who are, you know, with an Italian skier being able to do this on her home turf, with a Kazakhstan figure skater being able to bring home gold for his country. Sometimes the Olympics are letting you rise to the occasion in a way that you normally wouldn't.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. Which is what I love, particularly about Winter Olympics, because there's just so much on the line. And we joke about this in a sense that it's like it does feel. Abby and I were saying earlier, it's like every race feels like life or death almost. And it could be. That's the crazy thing, right. Outside of maybe curling, but, I mean, they're sweeping for their lives. Maybe, but it's intense.

[Marissa Tanden]

It is. I will say one of my favorite things about the Winter Games is when I was kind of doing the series, prepping for the Games and talking about the history of each other of them. So many of them come out of sort of like just. We were either frozen somewhere and really bored, which is curling, which happened in Scotland, or we were like doing war games and survival games. So like biathlon. And we wanted to ultimately figure out who was best at it. And I think that's why the Winter Olympics seem so. So intense. Is so much of the history of those sports comes from just like literal survival.

[Julie Foudy]

Yes. I. I hadn't thought of it that way, but yes, maybe. Or like a dare gone bad. I don't know.

[Abby Wambach]

Yes, Jules?

[Marissa Tanden]

Yes, ma'.

[Abby Wambach]

Am. It's the busiest time of the year, clearly. And we gotta break through the busiest time of the year with what our favorite thing is. The new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus. Powered by Peloton iq. Yes. The new Peloton Cross Training Tread plus is honestly, it's like their most elevated equipment with real time guidance. It has endless ways to move either alone or with your favorite instructors. We love this thing. It's cross training reimagined with features designed to help you reach your goals. Seemingly effortless.

[Julie Foudy]

I was just going to say maybe not entirely effortless, but not because that's the point.

[Abby Wambach]

Exactly.

[Julie Foudy]

Shouldn't be effortless.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah, we gotta be doing effort here. Peloton helps you achieve more in less time. It's all about sustainability. Right? And with peloton's features that help you plan, they help you stay motivated, they help you achieve your peak performance. You can let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push, walk, go, like, while peloton handles the rest. And I'm the kind of person that needs to be told what to do while working out because it is harder for me to get motivated. Um, and honestly, in the past five.

[Julie Foudy]

It'S very hard for you to get motivated for a minute to win it. However, keep going, carry on.

[Abby Wambach]

Exactly. Honestly, in the past five or so years of trying all sorts of classes or workouts or fitness trends, nothing has really stuck for me the way that this peloton has. Same as my family. My family. Like, it's almost like you walk downstairs to get on the thing and somebody's on it. It's like, now I have to wait. It offers seriously endless ways to train for a well rounded routine. No matter how busy you are, let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push, and go explore the new peloton cross training tread.

[Julie Foudy]

[e-mail] okay, party people, today we have got to Abigail shout out the people who kept us literally on the field. Oh. Throughout our careers. So literally. The people who taped us up, rebuilt us, rehabbed us, got us back out there. And we were always able to perform at our best thanks to the medical professionals who always had our backs and our knees and your ankles and the list goes on and on. And that's absolutely the case with legendary skier Lindsey Vonn. And as we've been following and talking about her epic return to the 2026 Winter Games, she's already, as we know, one of the goats. But now she's coming back after devastating injuries. And I'm thrilled to watch her because we know she's gonna crush at the Olympics and Milan.

[Marissa Tanden]

Yep.

[Julie Foudy]

And Lindsay's amazing medical team and the entire USA medical team will be wearing awesome uniforms from figs. This company makes kick ass scrubs normally. And then their Olympic uniforms are next level. They are the official outfitters of Team USA's medical team. And the great news is you can wear the Team USA collection too. It's cool, it's functional. Ups your scrub game for sure. Check out the limited edition Team USA collection and get 15% off your first order at wear figs.com with code FIGS RX F I G S R X. That's wherefigs.com code FIGS RX I'm actually.

[Abby Wambach]

Going to go get those right now. That sounds so exciting. Okay, so Jules, party people, if you're listening to this show, chances are you're already thinking about the World Cup. Yeah, I know I am. And that's why I use Shipt. With Shipt, you can get the same day grocery delivery from stores you already shop at, which means no last minute runs when you rather just be on the couch glued to the tv, as I certainly will be during the World Cup. You can order from places like Safeway, Albertsons. It's not just grocery stores, but other essentials too. And you're connected to a real shopper with Shipt who actually pays attention to the details. You can text one on one. If you're picky about brands size, dietary needs, which I am at the very specific ripeness level of bananas, which is the.

[Julie Foudy]

It's true, it's huge.

[Abby Wambach]

Please let me be able to eat them the day that I get it or not. Get me some green ones because I've got a few and I just need these to ripen a little bit longer. If you have an annual Ship membership, you can place as many orders as you want, get zero delivery fees on orders over $35, unlock exclusive deals, and even request your favorite shoppers again. Download the app or order now at ship.com. that's S-H-I-P-T.com.

[Julie Foudy]

Okay, another one of my favorite stories and it's the mother son combo.

[Marissa Tanden]

Yes.

[Julie Foudy]

Sarah and Lassie. Can you tell us about that as well? Did you. Were you able to even like see them or get. Well, you weren't in Cortina.

[Marissa Tanden]

Yeah, I wasn't in Cortina. So I only was able to see. I actually just saw hockey and speed track, but. Or short track, but with. With the skiing couple, like the skiing pairing here of this mother son Olympic story. I think it's really cool because this is actually Sarah's seventh Olympics, which is insane.

[Julie Foudy]

And. Yeah, let me just set it up for you a little bit. Mexico. Sarah Schlepper, who Marissa just said is in her seventh Olympics for Mexico, and her son Lassie Giola, they're officially the first mother son duo to compete at the same Winter Olympics. And Sarah, before she competed for Mexico, she did four Olympics for the United States of America.

[Abby Wambach]

Yes.

[Marissa Tanden]

And this is something that a lot of people didn't realize that you could do. I've seen a lot of people under the misunderstanding that you can't change the country that you compete for after you've competed in one Olympics, which is not the case, actually. We see a lot of nationality changes in terms of which country you represent across many, many sports, especially in figure skating, actually, especially in pairs. But yeah. So she has had this insane sort of legendary run of how many Olympics she's attended, competing for multiple countries. And then she taught her son how to ski, and at 18, he's making his Olympic debut. And she had kind of come out of retirement at a certain point, came back, and now they're. Now they're the first mother and son to ever compete in the same one.

[Julie Foudy]

And she's 46 years old, doing, y', all the Super G, which she's. She's racing at the Olympics in the Super G. And beyond being the first mom son combo to race, she became the oldest alpine skier to compete at the Olympics.

[Marissa Tanden]

Incredible.

[Julie Foudy]

Finishing last. But God bless her, Sarah, I think.

[Marissa Tanden]

Sometimes it's like, you know, last is competed, you cross the finish line. Incredible.

[Julie Foudy]

Okay. Marissa, you are a rock star, my friend. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome home.

[Marissa Tanden]

Thank you.

[Julie Foudy]

Did you. Did you bring any USA gear? Unlike Abby? It appears.

[Marissa Tanden]

I didn't.

[Abby Wambach]

We actually.

[Marissa Tanden]

Actually the. The stores don't have the USA gear inside the main, like, inside the main stores that they have. They have just all Olympics branded gear. But I did get a pretty sick Milano Cortina hockey jersey that I'm very happy with. So very happy. A lot of Olympic gear, but no USA gear.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. Okay, well, she's gonna have to go General Olympic gear. She didn't bring anything. I was like, sister, come on. I had to wear this for her.

[Abby Wambach]

I love it.

[Julie Foudy]

She did find the Wynn brothers. I don't know if you saw that. So.

[Marissa Tanden]

Oh, I'm obsessed with them. Oh, good.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. And they're from Rochester. Who knew?

[Marissa Tanden]

Oh, really? I didn't know that.

[Julie Foudy]

I didn't either. They knew her right away. They were like, abby, oh, my God, I love them. They're so good on Insta.

[Abby Wambach]

Oh, good.

[Julie Foudy]

Okay, Mariss. Thanks, darling. Appreciate you.

[Marissa Tanden]

Thanks for having me. Thank you so much.

[Julie Foudy]

Okay, party people, you get just me, because as we talked about, Abby is in Milan, BJK is in Milan, and Julie is not. So don't forget party people. Describe to subscribe to the welcome to the party YouTube channel. Click that little bell icon. So you get updates when new episodes go live. And if you can take one minute, we would so appreciate it. If you can rate, leave a comment subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And be sure to follow us on Instagram, YouTube and wherever you get your socials at. Welcome to the party show where myself, the Kinger and Abby will bring the party straight to your feed and you can email us. We'd love to hear from you at party people. Questionsmail.com Shout out to our friend Kate Diaz for her amazing theme music which she wrote and composed herself. Wait, wait, hold on. Before we go, Asia's in my ear. This is our producer because Alana Myers Taylor, we've been following this. As we were recording, she was doing her monobob run. She was sitting in second place. Asia, what did you say?

[Abby Wambach]

She won.

[Marissa Tanden]

She won.

[Julie Foudy]

Stop it. She won gold, you guys. This is amazing and I have no one to celebrate it with except myself. Where are you, Abby and Kinger? She won. We had Alana Myers Taylor on the podcast. She was talking about the fact that one she didn't even know that with a medal of any sort she would be, she would tie Bonnie Blair to become the most decorated US Best female winner Olympic athlete ever. She is now tied with Bonnie and we also talked about that this, this is her fifth Olympics and she had never won. She has a lot of medals. She had never won an Olympic gold medal. Alana Meyers Taylor, let's go in the model Bob. Yes, this is Monday, February 16th. This goes out on Tuesday. But that is so huge because we were tracking that as we were recording. So thrilled for her. And if you haven't watched that episode, you should go listen to it because she is just amazing. She's doing all of this on the road with her two sons, Nico and Noah. They're three and five years old. Both have disabilities, both are deaf, one has down syndrome and as she calls it her Myers Taylor traveling circus. She says I want to model for them, that they can do anything they want to do in life and that a disability is not going to stop them. And she's not even done. She could actually become the most decorated US female winner Olympian ever in her race in the two woman bobsled runs. The metal runs happen on Saturday, February 21st. So I think it's at 1205pm Pacific. We're going to be checking that out. I'm just so thrilled for her.

[Abby Wambach]

Yes.

[Julie Foudy]

Congratulations, emt. Since it's just me to close out our usa, usa, USA chair, I had to bring in some backup. So Izzy, my daughter is home from Oregon for a couple days and Sir Declan Sawyers is also in the house. Come on, let's go. You want to bring Swaggy in? There's Deck. There's Izzy. Oh, you're gonna get Swaggy too. Swaggy, put your paws in. Izzy, put your paws in. On three. Do you guys know how it goes from the soul? We're gonna go on three. USA. USA. USA. Are you ready on three?

[Abby Wambach]

USA. USA. Is it? Is it?

[Marissa Tanden]

You go 1, 2, 3.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. And then from the soul. Are you ready? Swaggy, put your paw in on three. One, two, three.

[Abby Wambach]

Usa. Usa.

[Julie Foudy]

Usa. Yes.

[Abby Wambach]

Welcome to the Party is an independent production brought to you by Treat Media. Treat Media makes art for humans who want to stay human. Initial Digital is our production partner and you can also watch our full conversations on the welcome to the party YouTube channel and follow us at welcome to the Party show on Instagram and TikTok. Thanks for listening.