The Sport Superlatives - Issue No. 10

March 8, 2024

Do you love sports? Want to find a way to fit more sports into your week? We’ve got you. From keeping up with your work colleagues to impressing hot dates, our newsletter aims to keep you in the know regardless of your fandom level or the reason. That’s your business, sis!

🏆 The Superlatives 🏆

The Budding Brand Partnership: Barbie and PWHL 

Mattel Canada and the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) have announced a new partnership for the league’s first season. The brand plans to lean into the women’s empowerment movement that inspired the Barbie movie with a co-branded video series and activations in arenas across Canada. As women’s sports continue to break attendance records, we can’t wait to see more brand partnerships take shape in this space!

The Biggest Brand Partnership Breakup: Nike and Tiger

After a 27-year partnership, Nike and Tiger Woods decided to separate in early 2024, ending one of the biggest sponsorship deals of all time. The partnership generated around $660M in revenue throughout almost three decades. With the help of Nike, Tiger brought a new level of popularity and excitement to the sport of golf. And while the two may have split, the impact of such an iconic partnership will not be forgotten.

🏈 It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye: Jason Kelce called a press conference earlier this week to announce his retirement. The 36-year-old Center played his entire 13-year career with the Philadelphia Eagles. During his teary-eyed farewell speech, Jason thanked his teammates, family, and his wife and said that he plans to spend time playing daddy daycare with his three daughters. On his podcast hosted with his brother Travis, he later admitted that he will likely have a little FOMO next season because he thinks the Eagles are going all the way. We will certainly miss Jason’s fashion and antics on the field, but we can’t wait to see what he does next!

🏒 Look Ma, One Hand: The Atlantic Division leader of the NHL Eastern Conference, the Florida Panthers, faced off against the New Jersey Devils on March 5th. During the game, the Devils’ Right Wing, Timo Meier definitely showed us he knows how to handle his stick. During the second period, Meier tied the game after winning a puck fight against two Panthers.

Then, breaking away, he kicked the puck to his stick and sent in a one-handed goal past Panthers’ goalie Anthony Stolarz. As impressive as the play was from Meier, the Panthers were victorious in the end, continuing their recent six-game winning streak. 

🏀 Take Me Out, Coach: The NBA has been riddled with injuries this week, but what can you expect with a grueling 82-game season. 

• Karl Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves has suffered a left knee injury which sucks because his team is tied for 1st place in the West, and he’s kind of a big part of that. 

• Victor Wembanyama is out for at least one game with an ankle sprain, which is fine because his team is dead last in the West. Enjoy your rest, Wemby, you’ve earned it. 

• LeBron James left the game early as his team played the Kings on Wednesday night due to a lingering left ankle injury that has thus far been attributed to wear and tear. I guess time catches up with all of us eventually, but it’s still Long Live the King over here (see below.)

• Cleveland Cavaliers' Evan Mobley is also out for at least a week with a left ankle sprain. Something in this NBA water is weakening ankles…maybe more milk??? 

• And lastly, for anyone who has been reading the book about the rise and fall of Ben Simmons’ career, here’s the latest chapter. He’s out for the rest of the season with a back injury. Luckily, his team probably won’t notice, as he’s only played 15 games this season.

👑 Also in King James News: Congrats to LeBron for making history by becoming the first player to score 40,000 points in the history of NBA basketball. It went down on Saturday night as the Lakers took on the Denver Nuggets. I mean, what more can he do? 

🍀 Buckle Up, Celtics: The Celtics remain the number 1 seed as they sit pretty atop the Eastern Conference standings, but their loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night snapped an 11-game-winning streak and showed a chink in the glowing Celtics armor. The understaffed Cavs managed to overcome a 22-point deficit to beat the Celtics, and it has people wondering how they will perform in the postseason. It seems like they were a bit too cocky, and the game served as a much-needed slice of humble pie.

We’re So Done, No Cap: Earlier this week, the Denver Broncos formally announced their plan to release Russell Wilson from the team. Russell was picked up by the Broncos before the 2022 football season for a five year $243M deal with $161M guaranteed. So, while Russ is about to have a come-up like a gold digger without a prenup, the Broncos will be stuck with an $85M dead cap. This means they won’t have much pocket money when it is time to draft and recruit new players.

The Broncos are reportedly already ‘seeing other people’ and have met with several prospects for the QB position, but TBH, the team hasn’t had much luck with QBs since Peyton Manning’s retirement in 2015. Over the last eight seasons, the Broncos have gone through 12 different starting QBs. We’re not saying they get around, but…*cues ‘Around the Way Girl’ by LL Cool J*

Ciara’s hubby doesn’t know where he’s going to end up yet, but we heard the Phillies Triple-A team has a job posting on Indeed for an open catcher position. If he can’t find a home on a team in the NFL, maybe he can dust off his old baseball uniform. 

Not Your Average Girl in the Videos: NBA Clippers Player Paul George was gabbing with his friends and ‘nem on his podcast and shared that Nicki Minaj once asked him to be in one of her music videos. When asked why he didn’t live out his groupie fantasies, he blamed it on scheduling conflicts. But he also jokingly said his wife, Daniela, gave him that look… you know the one! Doesn’t sound like we’ll be seeing Pauly in any music videos anytime soon.

Your sports term of the week is: free agent.

IRL Example: You’ve been in a relationship for a little minute, but you aren’t married and there are a few suitors interested in you. Now you have to decide if you want to stay home or if you would rather be in these streets. Decisions, decisions.   

Are you all feeling this resurgence of the relaxed/ baggy army cargo pants? Specifically, we like how British race car driver Lewis Hamilton rocked his army pants with a mesh shirt.

Jordan Clarkson and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander were also spotted rocking camo pants recently, pairing them with black outwear:

Want to get in on this trend? Well, it’s our duty to supply you with all the lewks. 🫡🫡🫡 Here are a few that have us standing at attention. Atten-hut!

Get your camo pants and feel confident that this closet staple will come in handy for years to come.

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