The Sport Superlatives - Issue No. 27

July 5, 2024

🏆 The Superlatives 🏆

The First Female NHL Assistant: Jessica Campbell

Jessica Campbell was recently announced as an assistant coach for NHL Seattle Kraken. Yep, you read that correctly. We’re still hitting firsts for women in the sports world. Coach Campbell is not new to being the first, as she was also the first woman to coach in AHL (American Hockey League) history. During her time with the AHL, Campbell spent two seasons as the assistant coach with Seattle’s affiliate team Coachella Valley. We can’t wait to see what she does with the team as she continues to smash through the glass ceilings within sports!

The First Female CEO in NBA: Cynt Marshall 

Not too long ago, the Dallas Mavericks lost in the NBA finals against the Boston Celtics. But we still want to give Dallas their flowers because back in 2018, they hired the first female CEO in the history of the NBA, Cynt Marshall. The former AT&T executive was personally called by Mark Cuban to join the NBA club as CEO. She also said in an interview that once she realized she was the first Black woman CEO, she had no intention of being the last. We love a woman who reaches back to pull up the next one!

⚽ Can’t Win Them All: COPA America, also known as America’s Cup, is a football (read: soccer) tournament. This year, COPA had 16 nations participating across the continental US, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. 

Currently, eight teams have now progressed and will be competing in the quarterfinals for a spot in the semifinals. Missing from the eight is the United States Men's National Soccer Team (USMNT). Despite the team's promising start with a win over Bolivia, the USMNT was eliminated Monday, July 1st, after losing games to both Panama and Uruguay in Kansas City, MO… How embarrassing, am I right? Fans and spectators have been about as shy as Channing Tatum in Magic Mike, sharing their opinions via any media platform that will let them. The people are saying they’re done with all the broken promises (promises) and are calling for USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter’s job. Guess we will have to see if Berhalter will continue leading the team. While we wait to see how that cookie crumbles, check out the rest of the quarterfinal matches this weekend! 

🏅Passport to Paris: Team USA’s roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics is filling up! Athletes from Track and Field, Tennis (shout out to Coco!), Swimming, Gymnastics, and many more have competed here in the US to see who will make it to the Olympic stage. While we are so excited to see all of these hard-working competitors, we must admit that the women’s gymnastics team is kinda stealing the show right now. 

After an amazing competition, Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezley Rivera will be heading to the Olympics. Four of the five competed in Tokyo and have been referring to this year’s Olympic Games as their “redemption tour” and we have no doubt that these ladies are going to leave everything they have on the mat.

🎾Your A** is Grass: It’s grass court season, and the freshly mown lawns of Wimbledon are open for business! That’s right, the third Grand Slam tournament of the year began on Monday, and there have already been some shocking upsets.  Fifth-ranked American heiress, Jessica Pegula, was knocked out in her 2nd round matchup against Wang Xinyu, and the reigning champion, Markéta Vondroušová, toppled out in the first round as she played a Spanish newbie, Jessica Bouzas. Other than those little slip-ups (pun intended, because that Wimbledon grass stays wiping people out), the top players (including our fave, Coco) are still in it to win it as they head into the 3rd round!

On the Men’s side, Djokovic seems to have hopped off the surgical table and headed right for the courts. After having surgery for his knee injury, he’s back at it and looking good…except for that gray knee sleeve, which is a clear violation of the Wimbledon all-white dress code clutches pearls in Downton Abbey (jk, he got permission). And while it’s been looking all good for him as he cruised into the 3rd round, the same can not be said about Andrey Rublev. The sixth-ranked Russian lost in the first round to 123rd-ranked Argentine, Francisco Comesana. Oh, but Rublev did not go down without a fight….with himself. Andrey was seen whacking his knee in anger when things weren’t going his way. It’s giving tantrum, and we see anger management in his future. 

On a high note, two-time Wimbledon Champ Andy Murray has announced his retirement and was given a lovely tribute video as he played his doubles match (with baby bro bro) in front of an adoring home crowd. He (and everyone in the stadium) was moved to tears as he graced the center stage for one of the last matches of his career. At 37 years old, Murray was known for battling for women’s sports and equality off-court and battling hard for every point on the court. Enjoy your freedom…we mean retirement, Andy!

🏈 👰🏻‍♀️ Take Me Down to That Little White Church: San Francisco 49ers running back, Christian McCaffey, and former Miss Universe Olivia Culpo tied the knot last weekend on June 29th. The couple held their ceremony in Olivia’s home state, Rhode Island, and had what they describe as a traditional New England wedding. From the chapel ceremony, the beautiful reception venue, Ocean House, fashioned with a blue and yellow color palette, to her Dolce & Gabbana wedding dress, there is one word that comes to mind to describe the couple’s wedding: Classic. Congrats to the two lovebirds - we love seeing a blind date success story!

🏀 ...And Then There Were Two: The three amigos are no more. The Golden State Warriors' core three: Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson, have been dismantled. LeBron’s 2015-2018 hopes and dreams have been realized..albeit four Championships too late. Warriors haters rejoice! Klay Thompson has signed a deal with the Dallas Mavericks and will now be coupling (throupling??) up with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving instead (where our Love Island fans at?). There is talk that Thompson was unhappy in his last season as a Warrior and felt disrespected. Well, hopefully, he finds what he’s looking for in Dallas…but we all know the grass isn’t always greener. Steph did, however, send his fellow Splash Bro off with a lovely Insta-tribute…so there’s that. 

Your sports term of the week is: trials

IRL Example: It’s like when you try on every outfit in a store, in order to find your perfect match…well, more like your 5-10 best matches…hey, a girl needs options.

As much as we like to spotlight our favorite looks of the athletes, we also love a fashionable WAG moment (that’s Wives and Girlfriends for those that didn’t watch The Game on CW back in the day - Sunbeams unite!).

… and can we just say that Tolami Benson, girlfriend of Bukayo Saka, is definitely having a moment! We love this preppy tennis core look from her as she cheered for her man, her man, her man!

Want to lean into the look? We found some pieces for you to live your best WAG (or HAG) life. These all-white pieces offer a crisp, clean look together, but can also be paired with other pieces all summer long!

We love the addition of a baseball cap to give the look a preppy vibe (plus, it doubles as a great way to protect your face from the sun -we love a sun-responsible hottie!)

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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