The Sport Superlatives - Issue No. 23

June 7, 2024

🏆 The Superlatives 🏆

Most Supportive Spouse: Jonathan Owens

US Olympic Gymnast Simone Biles went home with her 9th All-Around Title at the US Championship and her man, Jonathan Owens, was seen in the stands with her family excitedly cheering and recording his wife’s performance. The newlywed couple took some heat after Owens sat down with the crew on the Pivot podcast when he said he didn’t initially know who Biles was when they first met. Fans of Biles weren’t too pleased with the comments from the Chicago Bears safety. But as we saw Simone on the sideline of most of his games last season, we’re sure we’ll see Simone’s hubby in the stands giving that support right back to her in the Paris Olympics… She still has to do the trials, but what’s a goon to a goblin? IYKYK.

Most Shady Spouse: Savannah Jones

LeBron James’ wife, Savannah, recently launched a podcast with business partner and friend April McDaniel called Everybody’s Crazy (they’re not wrong crying laughing emoji). LeBron hopped on IG Live with them to show a bit of love and help promote the show and caught some shade in the process. After making a comment about not being able to see his hairline Savannah threw him a look like she was about to roast Sir James… but she reeled it in. It was nice of her to bite her tongue because we all know how sensitive he is about his hair… what’s left of it anyway.

🏀 It’s FINALly That Time: The NBA Finals are underway! After two relatively quick conference finals (can you say: “hurry up and wait’?), the series between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks kicked off last night at the Boston Gardens. NBA fans and commentators have been bored out of their minds for about a week as they twiddled their thumbs and [im]patiently waited for the finals to begin. 

With all this time on their hands, think-pieces galore surfaced with predictions, analyses, and betting strategies…but guess what? WE DON’T BELIEVE Y’ALL…jk, some of them are bound to be decent. We suppose the NBA production team [incorrectly] expected a bit more of a fight in the Conference Finals, but oh well, at least both teams are well-rested. 

Game 1 took place last night (Thursday) and the Celtics defended their home court and took the W. The Jays (Tatum and Brown) lived up to their hype and sent a message to the Mavs. Kyrie seemed a bit uneasy trotting up and down the court of his ex-team…even though he previously had no trouble stomping their logo into oblivion. Where’d that energy go? We’re guessing he didn’t get a chance to sage away all that bad juju this time.

Speaking of exes, Porzingis returned to the Celtics lineup coming off the bench, but managed to still make a statement against his former team. It’s giving wife swap…but make it permanent. Let’s see if the Mavs can adjust next game and come up with some answers for the Celtics’ defense. Watch Game 2, Sunday, June 9th on ABC.

🎾 Something Old and Something New: So once again, old faithful, Iga Swiatek, has advanced to the French Open Finals. She beat Coco Gauff (again), in straight sets to play for a chance at her fourth French Open title. She’ll play 14th-ranked Italian, Jasmine Paolini, who is making her Grand Slam finals debut.

We hate to be the bearers of well-known news, but let’s see if you can spot a pattern: 2022 French Open Champ: Iga Swiatek, 2023 French Open Champ: Iga Swiatek…2024 French Open Champ?… You do the math. But hey, a collapse on the big stage is always possible, and Paolini has been playing some great tennis…miracles can happen. Feel free to watch for yourself on Saturday, June 8th.

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Now on the Men’s side, the early exit of Nadal, coupled with the withdrawal of Novak Djokovic (due to injury), has left the field open for a new champ! For the first time since 2015, someone other than Djokovic or Nadal will take home the trophy. Hmm, the Australian Open really might’ve been the start of some kinda butterfly domino effect! Anywho, the Men’s semifinals are being played today, probably as you are reading these very words. Carlos Alcaraz will take on the Australian Open Champ, Jannik Sinner, and Casper Ruud will battle it out with Alexander Zverev. The winners will play each other in the Finals on Sunday, June 9th.

🏒 Twinsies! The final series to crown the 2024 Stanley Cup Champions is set – The Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers both took down their opponents in Game 6, closing out the conference series with 2-1 wins.

The President’s Trophy-winning Rangers did their best in Game 6 with a late goal by Artemi Panarin with 1:40 left in the game followed by pulling their goalie to give them the 6v5 man advantage. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to capitalize, but the President’s Trophy curse lives on!

On the Stars and Oilers side, we think Stars fans are still trying to figure out what happened. The Stars had 34 shots on goal with one successful goal, and the Oilers had 10 shots on goal and two successful goals. For us math people out there, the Stars were 3% successful, and the Oilers were 20% successful. It was a tough break, but maybe Dallas also wants a Canadian team to win the Cup?

Puck drops on Game 1 this Saturday at 8 PM EST!

🏀 Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner: So, in Saturday’s matchup between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky, Caitlin Clark was knocked to the ground by a shoulder check from Sky guard, Chennedy Carter. The foul was later upgraded to a Flagrant 1, after the game. This has done nothing to help beat the “WNBA players are jealous of Caitlin Clark” allegations. 

As the league and many others have flocked to coddle…we mean, defend their poster child, some have pointed out that the WNBA has always been this way. The players will always defend their spots and their jobs and compete….did nobody watch Love and Basketball??? 

Nobody gets a pass. Respect is earned. But it seems that because Clark is highly credited for the increased viewership in the WNBA, many “fans" expect everyone else to bow down…and that’s just not going to happen. But back to you, Chennedy girl, we can’t defend that shove you pulled. Maybe next time, at least try to make it look like a basketball play. Sheesh.

🏈 Dusty Feet, Please Don’t Bother Me: Now, not sure why people keep volunteering their hygiene routine or lack thereof, but they should probably stop. The Kelce brothers recently shared on their podcast that they don’t wash their feet. Travis did attempt to save face by saying he does after training camp (and we are assuming game days, but maybe we shouldn’t make that assumption).

Jason went on to talk about how he does not touch his feet unless he can actively see dirt. This likely means he also does not put lotion on them either… so he’s just out here with unwashed, ashy feet. I guess if Jason’s wife and Tay Tay are fine with it that’s all that matters. But even Jesus had his feet washed and we recommend people try it. Do it for Jesus. If it’s not your thing, fine, but remember it's ok to not share everything. 

Your sports term of the week is: screen

IRL Example: It’s like when you’re trying to get out of an awkward conversation, so your friend takes one for the team and steps in to distract the undesired party while you make a clean break for it!

The WNBA girlies have been everywhere lately… and now they’re in our pockets because we are rushing to find pieces to copy this effortlessly chic look from WNBA Seattle Storm’s Skylar Diggins-Smith. 

Don’t worry, we bookmarked the links because sharing is caring. 

For cute, dark baggy jeans we love this pair from ASOS. Amazon has a cream sweater vest tunic that you can order in a variety of colors or patterns if you want to put your own spin on it.

Gap has a cute blue button-down to go underneath, and we cannot forget about the sunglasses because they are definitely giving! We like these gold-rimmed glasses from Free People. 

Now most of us will have to put this outfit on hold until there are cooler temps but you girlies in the Pacific Northwest with the 50-70 degree weather like Skylar should jump on it ASAP!

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!

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