Welcome to another episode of Sports Are Fun!

Every week on Sports Are Fun! presented by Amazon Business, co-hosts soccer legend Kelley O'Hara, sports journalist Greydy Diaz, and JWS intern BJ serve up their hottest takes on the biggest women's sports headlines.

This week, the Sports Are Fun! crew is joined by retired NWSL star Darian Jenkins. And with the WNBA season tipping off last weekend, women's basketball naturally dominated conversation.

Firstly? The Caitlin Clark flagrant foul heard around the league — and the fallout that subsequently followed it.

"First game that we want to go over is Fever vs. Sky," O'Hara introduced. "Caitlin Clark had a triple-double. Angel Reese had a double-double. And the Fever won. But what everyone's been talking about is the foul that Caitlin Clark committed on Angel."

"The flagrant," corrected BJ.

"Excuse me," O'Hara said. "So Caitlin Clark had a foul on Angel Reese under the basket. It got upgraded to a flagrant one. Aliyah Boston came to her defense, because Reese got up and was kind of going for Caitlin. A lot of chatter around this, and I liked the spice."

"It's the game," Diaz said, jumping in. "It was a basketball play, as they both said. However, it was flagrant. It happens in basketball. I think it was the reaction that we saw on social media that really elevated it."

"This is a rivalry, everyone," quipped BJ. "This rivalry feeds families. We love it."

"She's a spicy player. I love seeing the passion," Jenkins said of Reese. "We should be excited about that, especially in women's sports."

"I feel like it's always, 'We'll play nice, be proper, don't swear,'" she continued. "You never see that in the men's game. They're heated all the time."

"At the end of the day, these are physical players," echoed Diaz. "Caitlin Clark is physical. She was physical last year, she's physical this year. It's a grown woman's game."

Along with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, the Sports Are Fun! hosts additionally cover WNBA tip-off, the surging San Diego Wave, the PHWL Finals, and so much more!

'Sports Are Fun!' condemns allegedly hateful remarks from Indiana fans

The rivalry between second-year WNBA stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese was on full display at the Indiana Fever's opening weekend game against the Chicago Sky. But it was the crowd's response to it that hit a nerve with the Sports Are Fun! hosts.

"It was a foul, flagrant foul, obviously," BJ said. "But I would be remiss if I didn't say that what is unacceptable is the Fever [fans'] behavior — bad statements, bad sportsmanship, bad slandering on Angel."

"There's no space for that sort of behavior," Diaz agreed. "There are kids at that game... It's unacceptable."

"You can you can heckle, we're all for that," O'Hara chimed in. "But if there's somebody saying hateful things, racist things, it's got to be reported."

"Just on a human level. You can be a fan of the game, but you see something wrong, check it," Jenkins said. "These women worked so hard to get where they are. If you're stooping that low, you should not be allowed at a game."

Sports Are Fun! podcast graphic featuring Kelley O'Hara.
'Sports Are Fun!' places Kelley O'Hara at the intersection of women's sports and fun. (Just Women's Sports)

About 'Sports Are Fun!' with Kelley O'Hara

'Sports Are Fun!' is a show that’ll remind you why you fell in love with women's sports in the first place.

Join World Cup champ, Olympic gold medalist, and aspiring barista Kelley O'Hara as she sits down with sports journalist Greydy Diaz and a revolving cast of co-hosts and friends. Together, they're talking the biggest, funnest, and most need-to-know stories in the world of women’s sports.

From on-court drama to off-field shenanigans, to candid (and silly) chats with the most important personalities in the space, this show screams "Sports Are Fun!"

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The Orlando Pride has acquired forward Darian Jenkins from the Kansas City Current. In return, the Current will receive $75,000 in allocation money and the Pride’s 2023 second round draft pick.

“We are very proud to be able to welcome Darian to our Club. We have followed Darian’s progress for some time and felt that this was the right moment and the right deal to be able to bring her to Orlando,” Pride General Manager Ian Fleming said. “It is a new and exciting era for the Pride and Darian’s qualities fit the vision we have for the future of our organization. We are pleased that she is going to be a part of it.”

Jenkins spent one season in Kansas City, finishing tied for the team lead with three goals through 23 appearances. Prior to that, Jenkins had been with the OL Reign. While there, she made 23 appearances, scoring four goals and adding one assist.

The former No. 7 overall pick by the North Carolina Courage in the 2017 NWSL College Draft, Jenkins helped the Courage to the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship in 2018.

The 27-year-old will reunite with former head coach Amanda Cromwell in Orlando. Under Cromwell at UCLA, Jenkins finished with 29 goals and 12 assists in 76 appearances. She also led the Bruins in scoring as a freshman en route to their 2013 NCAA Championship.

Cromwell was named head coach of the Pride in early December.

Jenkins will join a younger forward group in Orlando that includes 2022 draft pick Mia Fishel, another UCLA graduate.

Darian Jenkins is a forward for OL Reign of the NWSL. Below, she spoke with Just Women’s Sports about the ongoing protests against systemic racism, what allies can do to catalyze change, and her thoughts on the upcoming NWSL Challenge Cup. 

What are your reactions to all the events taking place in the last week?

This has been a really long time coming. Obviously, what’s happened to black people in this country has been terrible, and people are finally beginning to protest with us, and to see how wrong all of this is. And it’s not just the murders. People are starting to really reflect and realize that small and big injustices are committed against black Ameircans every day. They’re starting to understand the history of black people in this country. I think it’s great it’s happening, and I’m really proud that I can be part of it.

What should individuals do who want to make more of a difference? 

Every movement needs to have voices behind it, but really the biggest thing is people actually taking action. I know blackout Tuesday had 25 million black squares that were posted, but that’s the lowest, bare minimum of effort you could put into wanting change. Take whatever money you can and donate it to all of these great causes you can find on social media. That’s important. And vote, for your mayors and all the representatives and our president, most importantly.

What would be your message to white allies in America specifically? 

The biggest thing is that non people of color need to take time to educate themselves and those around them. A lot of people of color are very much over trying to explain things and feeling like they’re required to always share their story. There’s plenty of resources for people to go find out how they can help. There’s documentaries to watch and books to read, from Toni Morrison to James Baldwin. Interviews with a lot of people who can very eloquently spell it out and give you a good perspective. Ultimately, I just think everybody needs to really take initiative and put everything that they’re re-tweeting and posting into action.

How does the country move forward and what needs to change?

Well definitely police reform. I feel like that’s the biggest thing. Derek Chauvin had 17 misconduct complaints against him. It’s pretty sad that people are able to go on with their jobs after that. And there needs to be better education on when to use force. When is it ever necessary to knee on somebody’s neck while they’re handcuffed on the ground? Right now, a lot of conversations are opening up. And we need to be able to talk about these difficult things. I know it’s uncomfortable. Believe me, for the people that are the ones getting murdered, it’s extremely uncomfortable. But I think it’s important to ask yourself the tough questions and really reflect.

Shifting topics, what are your thoughts on the upcoming Challenge Cup?

We’re all excited. It’s been a long time coming and we’re happy to be able to get full games under our belt. Everybody’s really looking forward to it and there’s good energy. Everyone’s excited to be back in a team environment, even just to have somebody to pass the ball with. I know I can’t seem to find a cement wall where I won’t get yelled at.

There’s obviously been a lot of change. We’re all just focusing on the day by day and getting prepared, as it’s going to be a pretty heavy schedule once we all report to Utah. Games every three days, less than that for some teams even. The energy is good and everyone’s really looking forward to the tournament, but for now our focus is on the day by day and really just being as well prepared as we can.

Has your team moved into the next phase of group training at this point?

Yes, we have been playing 11 v 11. We are actually in Montana right now. We’re hosting pre-season here actually, because we were originally planning to go to Utah but they ended up changing it, just because we weren’t sure if housing was going to work out. We decided to go where it would be a little more calm and quiet and we could very much have our own space and time to go where we weren’t as restricted to go on the field.

How do you feel about playing without fans?

It’s a bummer, because it creates such a good atmosphere, but safety is first, and we want to protect not only ourselves and our staff, but everybody else that supports us. We’re really happy that CBS is streaming our games this year. It’s important to have a really good platform where games are easy to watch. I think streaming is huge for women’s sports in general. We never really get the media attention or any of that. So for us to be the first sport back when I know the world is hungry for sports and entertainment, I think it’s really going to be great for women’s sports. We’re all pretty happy about that.

What do you expect from players and from yourself too, after such a long layoff?

I think we’re all just really excited. Like I said before, I think all of the teams have really good energy and you can see that everybody’s really looking forward to getting back into team training. When we’re able to play in games, we know it’s going to move really quickly and have such a quick turnaround. I think everyone’s just stoked and preparing as well as they can. Because it’s such a short, condensed time, people are really going to bring their A game from the start. It’s going to be really good competition.