Anyone paying attention to the fight for women’s sports already knows that Riley Gaines isn’t backing down. And as the nation starts to wake up, she’s no longer alone.

The 12-time All-American swimmer and tireless women’s advocate has become a household name by doing something simple but radical: she’s speaking the truth. Now, Gaines is teaming up with XX-XY Athletics, the only athletic brand unapologetically championing biological women, to launch a collaboration that’s as bold and brave as she is. 

The retro-inspired Be Bold collection is infused with red, white, and blue to showcase unapologetic pride in this nation. But the brand and the styles aren’t just fashion — they represent a cultural pushback. And according to XX-XY founder Jennifer Sey, the timing couldn’t be more perfect.

“The first drop launched on June 23rd, the anniversary of Title IX. So it’s a celebration of all that Title IX represents, the opportunity it presented for women and girls across the country,” Sey told The Daily Wire in an exclusive interview. “And it sort of highlights the fact that we need to continue to fight to uphold it. We’re not going backwards.”

Not long before the collection’s June release, the Department of Education ruled that the University of Pennsylvania violated Title IX by allowing a biological male to compete on the women’s swim team, therefore robbing female athletes of records, awards, and their dignity. 

The school was forced to apologize and restore honors to athletes like Gaines. Shortly after, the Supreme Court announced it would hear two landmark cases involving men competing in women’s sports. Sey said it’s all proof that the cultural tide is turning, and that this collection will help capture that truth.

“The world is shifting under our feet,” she said. “That’s in large part due to Riley’s work.”

Sey has a background in standing up for what’s right. A former elite gymnast and the first whistleblower in her sport to expose abuse, she spent decades at the helm of major brands like Levi’s before founding XX-XY Athletics in 2023 with a singular mission: to stand up for real women.

“I looked around at all the big brands pretending to champion female athletes, and none of them really did. They make money off of it, but behind the scenes, they treat women with astonishing disregard,” she said.

With Be Bold, Sey is hoping to turn that hypocrisy on its head.

The collection wasn’t just inspired by Gaines. It was built with her.

“She was totally involved,” Sey said of the line of fitness apparel. “The red, white, and blue color scheme? That’s all her. The name Be Bold? That’s how she signs her books. We leaned into her favorite pieces and her signature style.”

XX-XY Athletics

Gaines’s go-to item is the cropped performance tank, Sey says, stressing that all the pieces both make a statement and support real athletes who need their sportswear to work as hard as they do. These are high-quality items designed for female athletes who have both principles and high standards.

Another standout from the collection is the oversized concert tee, a nod to both Gen Z-approved oversized street style and old-school Americana. The back of the tee features the 37 words of Title IX, a fashionable protest.

XX-XY Athletics

And for the non-athletes, there are plenty of options for a more casual look, like a vintage-inspired velour tracksuit straight out of 1972.

“When I was on the national team in the very early 80s, velour tracksuits were our dress sweats that we wore to march out at major international competitions,” Sey recalled. “So we definitely allude to them with some of the styling…we definitely use 1972 as a grounding point.”

XX-XY Athletics

This collection isn’t just about Riley, nor is it just a fashion statement. It’s about offering a platform to female athletes who’ve been abandoned by major brands and sports teams too afraid to take a side.

“One of the things we pride ourselves on is we scoop up athletes that no one else will touch. We will platform and empower the female athletes,” Sey said. “So they don’t feel so alone. Oftentimes they’re the only ones on their team or in their community [speaking up]. But when they realize there’s this network of women across the country who are doing the same thing, it’s incredibly powerful to have that.”

XX-XY Athletics

Sey says Gaines will continue working closely with the brand to identify and support more athletes who have the courage to speak up.

“At the end of the day, we’re all about supporting female athletes. I mean, that’s what it comes down to,” she said.

XX-XY’s gear isn’t just for show. A runner recently completed the Boston Marathon in under three hours wearing one of their tanks. That same style shows up in the new Be Bold collection, but this time reimagined in patriotic hues.

The idea behind Be Bold is simple but subversive: give everyday Americans an easy way to express support for truth, fairness, and biological reality without having to say a word.

“The reason I started the brand, or at least part of it, was I felt like if we could create something really cool that was also world-class products, we could give people an easy way to sort of rep their advocacy,” Sey said. “The mainstream brands do this. Why can’t we do it?”

Sey, who’s been targeted by critics and called every name in the book. But she says the backlash isn’t stopping her. 

“Noisy doesn’t mean right,” she said. “You’ve got to screw up your courage and stand by women and girls.”

The Gaines collaboration is just the beginning. Sey teased more limited-edition drops on the horizon, plus a deeper partnership with Riley that goes beyond just appearing in ads.

XX-XY Athletics

When asked where she dreams of seeing pieces from the Be Bold collection show up, Sey didn’t hesitate.

“We would love to see someone wear any item atop a podium at an NCAA championship,” she said, “Or walking into the Supreme Court wearing a Title IX tee, that would be amazing, right?”

As the legal battles heat up, broader cultural beliefs continue to influence how this topic is perceived in the general public. Sey says the silent majority is finally starting to speak up. 

“You know, I think this movement for common sense is sort of billed as right-wing by the mainstream media. But the fact is, it’s not. It’s a really broad-based coalition. You can’t have 80% of Americans [agreeing] and have it only be the right. It’s just regular people.”

The Be Bold collection is available now at xxxyathletics.com.

Link

An All-American season as a freshman immediately raised Dillon Thieneman’s profile. A coaching change at Purdue led him to the transfer portal and a perennial playoff contender.Those in Las Vegas for Big Ten media days spoke highly of their new Ducks teammate.LAS VEGAS — Before former Purdue football safety Dillon Thieneman became a Duck, Oregon’s coaching staff labeled him a snake.

That’s the designation Dan Lanning and company put on their upcoming opponents’ best players. They assigned Thieneman to that portion of the animal kingdom prior to last season’s Oct. 18 game at Ross-Ade Stadium.

Thieneman’s five tackles did not stand out in the 35-0 Oregon victory. By a more analytical measure, Thieneman’s only PFF grades lower than that night’s 51.2 came in the blowout losses to Notre Dame and Indiana.

Lanning, though, was eager to add the Westfield grad. He fit a need on a perennially playoff-caliber roster. He also checked off the same intangibles which made him a leader at Purdue.

“When you really get to know Dillon, that’s when you fall in love with Dillon,” Lanning said Wednesday at Big Ten media days. “What kind of worker he is, what he does. Those are the things that tape don’t tell, but you can figure it out quickly through the relationship — hop on the phone, having the guy to visit, being around his family.”

Lanning said his staff maintains a “heightened awareness” of players performing well across college football. That awareness increases when those players enter their name in the NCAA transfer portal. He likened it to the NFL free agency dynamic.

Thieneman’s performance and credentials over his first two seasons made him one of the highest-profile defensive players available. Regardless, once he committed, he still needed to prove himself all over again to a new group of teammates.

Relive Purdue basketball’s Final Four run with our commemorative book.

As the Ducks tell it, he accomplished that by simply picking up where he left off as the hardest worker on the Boilermaker roster.

“That dude sets the tone, whether it be off the field, or getting extra treatment, extra reps in,” Oregon linebacker Bryce Boettcher said. “It’s an all-the-time mindset. And he is one of the guys that comes downhill, flies to the ball and plays with a lot of effort. That’s what you want from any guy on your defense, especially safety — a dude that can cover from the rook and set the tone on someone early.”

Tight end Kenyon Sadiq said Thieneman’s technique and football knowledge showed up during spring practices. He only got around to those attributes, though, after mentioning Thieneman’s work ethic and diligence to be the first to arrive and the last to leave.

“It’s rare you see something like that — especially from a person of his caliber, if that makes sense,” Sadiq said. “He’s very level-headed and a very nice person.”

Those descriptions of Thieneman’s demeanor and commitment align with the reputation he built over two Purdue seasons.

Thieneman represented more than merely another home-grown talent pried away by one of the sport’s elite. His freshman All-American season portended a building block for a bright future. He completed a family trilogy of Boilermaker safeties who arrived under the radar and graduated at the top of the depth chart.

Now, the best thing Purdue can say about the end of Thieneman’s career is — unlike tight end Max Klare at Ohio State or punter Keelan Crimmins at Illinois — they aren’t scheduled to play against him.

The Ducks, though, see him as a potential key piece in their pursuit of a repeat Big Ten Conference championship.Get IndyStar’s Purdue coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Boiler Update newsletter.

Link

WASHINGTON — Congress advanced a comprehensive bill to set national standards for student-athlete pay on Wednesday, backed by bipartisan Alabama lawmakers.

Dubbed the SCORE Act, the legislation would provide guidelines on name, image, and likeness, or NIL, deals. It passed out of two House Committees Wednesday in mostly party-line votes. The bill has some Democratic support, including from Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, who said it will help streamline the NIL process for students, universities and conferences.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the NIL bill 30-23 with all Republicans voting for it and all Democrats opposed. From the Education and Workforce Committee markup, the bill passed 18-17 with one GOP member joining Democrats to oppose it.

As a former walk-on University of Alabama football player, Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Birmingham, who sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said it’s important for college athletes to get paid without becoming employees, which the bill prohibits.

“What we’re trying to do here is meet the needs of the college athlete,” Palmer told Alabama Daily News.

Palmer introduced an amendment during Wednesday’s Energy and Commerce markup that would require student-athletes to make progress toward an undergraduate degree within five years to be eligible for NIL compensation. He said most student-athletes don’t pursue professional sports after college.

“We shouldn’t make the colleges an academic form of a minor league sports franchise,” Palmer told ADN. “It really should be about helping every athlete develop their full potential, whether as an athlete or academically, professionally, when they leave school.”

Palmer withdrew the amendment since the topic falls under the jurisdiction of the Education and Workforce Committee, but the conversation on how to ensure college athletes continue to pursue academic degrees will be ongoing as part of the bill, lawmakers said.

The Alabama Republican said he appreciated how Nick Saban emphasized the importance of academics when he was Alabama’s football coach.

“That ought to be the focus of every college and the treatment of their athletes to make sure whether they go to the NFL or the NBA or Major League Baseball, (or) whatever it is that that individual, male or female, leaves there equipped for life,” Palmer said.

The federal bill would overrule any state NIL laws. Student-athletes would be able to hire agents to represent them in NIL agreements. Agents would be required to register with an interstate intercollegiate college association, like the NCAA.

The SCORE Act also requires Division I schools to offer college athletes academic and health services.

Student-athletes would be prohibited from being employees of universities, conferences, or athletic associations.

Though the legislation has some bipartisan support, Energy and Commerce’s top Democrat said the NIL bill is “nothing more than a major giveaway to the National Collegiate Athletic Association and conferences.”

“The SCORE Act gives the NCAA and conferences nearly limitless and unchecked authority to govern how athletes get paid, if they can transfer schools, and how much time they can be required to spend training, traveling, and competing,” Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., D-NJ, said at Wednesday’s markup.

Five attorney generals from Tennessee, D.C., Florida, New York and Ohio sent a letter to lawmakers Tuesday opposing the college sports legislation.

“The SCORE Act is a misguided effort that will enshrine in federal law the arbitrary and biased authority of the NCAA at its worst,” the attorneys general wrote.

UA Athletic Director Greg Byrne and the SEC commissioner previously expressed their support for the NIL bill. The SCORE Act will now move to the House floor.

Link