A weird email, kind of about sports

If you’re reading this, it’s because you signed up to follow along as I work to start a sports bar in SF centered on women’s sports. Thanks for being on the ride.

Theoretically, this is an email reminding you about The Changeup + Barebottle’s watch party on Sunday for the USWNT vs. Iceland friendly. So let’s do that first:

Sunday 10/27 
USWNT vs. Iceland
Barebottle in Bernal Heights (1525 Cortland Ave., SF)
Kickoff at 2:30 but The Changeup will be there by 2, so come early to grab a Barebottle beer or a smash burger from the Shmash’d truck outside

As with all of our watch parties, kids are welcome. Dogs too! If you want my kid to pet your dog, she would be delighted to do so.

I can’t wait to see you, and I especially can’t wait to see you after this week in my life.

It feels strange to talk about non-Changeup life in these newsletters. For most of its (near) existence, The Changeup has been my secret second identity. When I started this newsletter back in April, only a small circle of people knew I was working on opening a women’s sports bar. Even once I started writing here, it’s still felt like a parallel universe; after the regular workday, after kid chauffeuring and dinner and story time, I slip into my Changeup suit and live in that world for as long as I can stay awake.

But, it’s not actually a different world, so I’ll awkwardly and briefly share that early last Saturday morning, our condo building caught on fire. (We don’t yet know how or why.) All people and pets are safe. Our things are smoky but also safe; they’ll come back to us eventually. Our property is a bit of a mess but also mostly intact. (If you’re one of the people reading this who knows me in real life and this is how you’re finding out … sorry?! This week has been a lot.)

This doesn’t have much to do with The Changeup — and it has everything to do with The Changeup. The best part of my weekend last weekend was knowing that on Sunday night, I’d get to take a break from post-fire logistics and watch Game 5 of the WNBA finals at Willkommen with some of you. And I expect the best part of this weekend will be gathering at Barebottle to cheer for Mal Swanson’s 100th cap and cry at Kelley O’Hara’s retirement with other people who get it.

One thing I love about sports is that there’s a rhythm to them, a schedule. Seasons have a certain number of games, games have a certain number of minutes. I may not know what I’m getting when I sit down to watch a game, but I know — give or take an OT — how long I’m getting it for. For the most part, sports go on. (It’s exceptional when they don’t — it’s why that canceled NBA game and then the canceled NCAA tournament in 2020 made the pandemic feel so real for so many of us all of a sudden.) No matter what else might be happening, the sports schedule keeps its own time.

So: It’s a tremendous joy and relief for me to know that come Sunday at 2:30, the USWNT will be playing. And come Sunday at 2:30, I know where I’ll be: at Barebottle, with a smash burger, watching my faves take the pitch, hopefully with you.

I told you it would be a weird one.

To sports?!

-Kimra