I don't know how allowing DSD XY in female sports could be more controversial than transgender in female sports. I don't buy that at all. It's a culture war because of the way it's been politicized, propagandized, and blown out of proportion. The propagandized framing is "men in women's sports!" - it's pretty easy to be against that, but it's a lot more complicated than that when you get into these exceptional cases. Some politicians in Congress based virtually their entire campaign on it. Really? All of the problems we have to deal with, and that's the number 1 issue? The 0.006% or the population, and whether or not they should be allowed to play women's sports? It's arguing about the color of fabric on the desk chairs of the Titanic.
Trans, to me, is unrelated to DSD XY. Trans is about people growing up as male/female, and then deciding they identify much more strongly with the other sex. Bruce Jenner was an Olympic medalist. If he had decided to transition to Caitlyn fifty years ago and then competed as a woman, people would have been understandably upset. The pollsters are tapping into those fears. Trans is not the same as women with DSD who are identified as female at birth, grow up as girls, play on girls' teams, and have no idea they've got a rogue Y chromosome -- or perhaps sex-chromosome mosaicism where some cells are XX but others are XY. Where do you draw the line? What will girls have to do to prove they're 100% female? Pretty soon it's straight out eugenics, and little girls are getting booted from Brownies because they don't seem feminine enough!
Bay Area soccer team be good at soccer challenge (impossible) Final from DC.#WASvBAY #BayFC pic.twitter.com/FdDaZWUWGG— Bay Football Club (@wearebayfc) March 29, 2025
And rightfully so. The second Washington goal resulted from a free kick on a phantom foul. Oshoala fairly challenged Rodman shoulder to shoulder. Rodman milked it and got the ref to call a foul. Hatch scored on the poorly defended subsequent free kick. For me, that was the only meaningful referee error that negatively impacted Bay FC. Montoya is up to his old ways. He switched out four starters from last week's lineup that was easily the team's best game in its short history. Why? Then he made only two subs at halftime, leaving three in his pocket. He gloated in the post-game interview that the team dominated the second half. No goals, no points; nothing to brag about.
We were only able to watch the first half because the Amazon Prime replay was terrible (kept pausing every five minutes). Disagree on the foul. Oshoala stuck her right arm in to slow Rodman down. Rodman did milk it, but it was a foul. Oshoala is under the scope of referees because she fouls a lot. She needs to adjust her game, along with learning how to pass the ball. Boade looks a shell of herself from last year. I do agree the number of changes didn't help. Washington had their way with Bay FC in the first half. Team is solid, but I'm not sold on the number of changes per game and on the new 2-5-3 lineup. Add a young GK and it may take sometime for the team to come together.
Bay FC is off to a slow start with the coaching tinkering too much. He decided to sit Anderson in the first half and start Menges. Menges is too slow with her distribution and not fast enough. Sub out Menges at half made a huge difference, along with taking out Oshoala who was ineffective against a strong Chicago defense. Add poor games Malonson and Dahlkemper (really the first one in a Bay FC uniform). Still not a fan of Huff other than her corner kicks. She should have been subbed out instead of Baily. Team is off to a slow start to the season like last year. Fortunately for them, there is a lot of parity.
To be fair to the coach, this game looked like a shoo-in for Bay FC, facing an opponent with a miserable record. I also wondered if heat was a factor for some of our players. I don't know what conditions were like on the field, but it was miserable in the stands, and I think our players suffered for that, whereas Ludmila seemed unstoppable. We'd get the ball and start doing crosses that somehow rarely amounted to anything. From my vantage point, it looked like every time Chicago got the ball they'd head straight for goal. Whatever, it worked!
Tough start to the season for Bay FC. Struggling scoring goals and making mistakes which lead to goals. Not a good combo. Also, I'm not a big fan of their new GK and starting a rookie in central midfield. Their midfield is a big problem (not able to create space or maintain possession) which leads to a lot of long balls. Still time for the team to find it's footing...