Page 29 of Home of the Brave

“The dog that joined the race,” I smiled. “That was pretty funny.”

She laughed, “Right.”

“And that one guy that admitted to cheating on his girlfriend," I cringed. “That was terrible.”

“But viral.”

“You want me to get one of the guys to admit to cheating on camera?”

She wrinkled her nose. “No, they better not be! But you never know what someone might say.”

“So always be filming,” I guessed.

“That,” she agreed. “Remember the muffin man from the Summer Olympics?”

I laughed. “Yes! The swimmer. That was amazing.”

“Might have been my favorite part of that whole Olympics; all the athletes trying to get a chocolate muffin,” she chuckled. “Maybe we could get the guys to try local food places?”

“I have seen quite a diverse selection of restaurants.” I didn’t hate the idea, but I didn’t love it either. “We’re planning on them playing mini stick games while answering questions.”

“Mini hockey sticks?” she asked.

“Yeah, they’re about this big,” I held my hands up about two feet apart. “Kind of takes you back to your youth travel days. We’d have mini stick games in the halls of our hotels.” I smirked, “Until our coaches or parents found us.”

She smiled along. “Cute.”

“It is,” I defended. “It’s a hockey thing.”

“It’ll probably be better than the quick questions you’ve been doing. I checked your views on the cab ride over, and it might gain some attention for a bit, but you can’t do it for the next two weeks.”

“Well, once the games start––”

“In a week.” She gave me a stern look. “We’ll lose interest long before then if we don’t diversify.”

I dropped my head back and stared at the ceiling. “I don’t want to talk to them.”

“The men?”

“Yes,” I groaned.

“I know. It sucks. You have connections with the women and have been doing so much to raise awareness of their league. It’s not fair, but it is what it is.”

“I know,” I leaned forward. “Plus, now we have to beat Joe.”

“Of course we do,” she grinned.

“Men covering the women and women covering the men,” I cringed. “How progressive.”

“That’s how they’ll spin it, but it’s still sexist at the root.”

This was not how I expected my day to start, nor for this event to go. Changing things last-minute wasn’t completely unheard of, but it was the first time it had so directly affected me. We were trained to adapt and pivot on the spot, and I would. I’d make it work just like I always did, but I was beyond frustrated.

“Anything about the players I should know?” Cambrie sat up and picked up her phone again. “I went through the rosters and tried to memorize at least the captains, but I’m not super familiar with most of them.”

“Most of them are really nice. Only a few divas. Some of them are pretty shy. Hockey generally doesn’t get the attention it deserves, so they’re not always the most media-trained.”

She grinned. “Love that.”