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Former ESPN personality Samantha Ponder took to social media to complain about her daughter allegedly competing against a trans athlete during a middle school basketball game. “It’s happened many times now living in NYC … yet another basketball game today where my middle school daughter is guarding an obviously naturally born boy in a girls tournament,” Ponder, 39, wrote via X on Sunday, October 19. “The parents cheer while the boy is physical and dominant against the girls. The all girls team loses.” Ponder and her husband, former NFL quarterback Christian Ponder, share three children: daughter Scout, 11, son Robinson, 8, and daughter Price, 7. “We’ve taught our kids to never make fun of the kid … to always be kind and loving,” Samantha continued. “That the parents are the problem. That no kid is born in the wrong body. But if I’m honest, watching my daughter get posted up by a boy whose parents have deceived him in this way is maddening.” She concluded, “To everyone saying ‘just move!’ I understand the sentiment but IMHO NYC is the greatest American city that has lost its way. I want to fight for truth and love. I don’t want to give in to insanity and darkness. This is still America.” In response to her tweets, one follower commented, “and my guess is that ESPN would not allow you to say those things on the air.” Samantha responded, “forget on air. I would never try to do that. they wouldn’t let me say that on social media.” In August 2024, Samantha was fired by ESPN in what The Athletic described as a “cost-cutting move.” At the time of her firing, Samantha was reportedly entering the final year of a three-year contract worth more than $3 million. She had worked at ESPN since 2011, most notably serving as the host of Sunday NFL Countdown since 2017. Before her termination, Samantha made her stance on trans athletes known, retweeting her support for anti-trans inclusion on social media on multiple occasions. “I don’t really think me losing my job was solely because of that, but the timing of it almost certainly was,” Samantha said on “The Sage Steele Show” podcast in July. “I was told after the fact privately that most people at the top of the company did agree with me on the issue but there is a loud activist group at Disney and they were not happy with me. I can say all that and tell this part of the story and still tell you, Sage, it’s one of the best things that ever happened to me.” She continued, “I was on that hamster wheel and I was not going to jump off on my own. I needed to get kicked off. As much as the part of the reasoning behind it is legit crazy, I feel no bitterness or even frankly sadness. I had a great career, I was 20 years in the business. I met some awesome people and there are still some really great people there. Never thought this would kind of be the way out but should have spoken up a long time before, I should have been a lot more courageous when I knew what was right.” Samantha, who homeschools her children, previously explained the decision to raise her family in New York City. “The #1 question I get from strangers on the internet is ‘how do you raise kids in NYC?!?’ and even though that would be considered a rude question for any other city someone calls home, I totally understand the confusion,” she wrote via Instagram in July. “There are things about raising kids here that are undeniably hard. But so far, the good vastly outweighs the bad.” She added, “I didn’t grow up this way, but I already see how growing up here has helped our kids to feel capable, curious and confident … and I’m so grateful to call the city our classroom ❤️.”
