The Sport Superlatives – Issue No. 51

December 22, 2024

🏆 The Superlatives 🏆

The Most Into Video Games: Woody Johnson

Gamers are gonna game, but New York Jets’ owner Woody Johnson apparently takes gaming very seriously. OK… well… he takes the player ratings on NFL Madden seriously. Reportedly, during the offseason Woody passed on a trade for wide receiver Jerry Jeudy (now with the Cleveland Browns) because of Jerry's rating on Madden NFL. The Jets have yet to confirm this report… but we don’t blame them because that would be kind of… embarrassing. 

The Least Into Video Games: Ja’Marr Chase

During a press conference, Ja’Marr Chase said that he would not want to be on the cover of Madden NFL. While he would not confirm that he believes in the Madden curse… he certainly didn’t debunk it either. We don’t blame him… Better safe than sorry!

🏈 Rest and Vitamins: There were no real surprises in week 15 of the NFL season. We got to see a Pennsylvania showdown where the Philadelphia Eagles won against the Pittsburgh Steelers. On Sunday, the Buffalo Bills also delivered the Detroit Lions their second loss of the season. Unfortunately, the Lions got pretty banged up during that game with a number of their players sustaining injuries and being taken out of the game.

Speaking of injuries… KC Chiefs QB, Patrick Mahomes, left the game during the 4th quarter with an ankle injury. However, he returned to the field for week 16 during their face off against the Houston Texans… and is expected to again (4 days later) on Christmas day when they play the Steelers. Hope Mahomes is using the RICE method between games… 

Anywho, speaking of Christmas day, the Baltimore Ravens will face off against the Texans during a Beyoncé  concert… we mean an NFL game… in Houston. This comes just four days after Baltimore played the Steelers. Yep.. four teams will have a grueling schedule of two games just four days apart. Whew, we’re tired just looking at the schedule. Nothing a little vitamin Bey can’t cure (yes, we do crack ourselves up!). 

🏀 Consolatory Cups: The in-season Emirates NBA Cup tournament is over and done (thank the Lord). The Milwaukee Bucks emerged victorious over their worthy, albeit young, opponents, the OKC Thunder. The game started out with such promise and ended with Giannis carrying the NBA Cup MVP Trophy. Now, the whole squad is $500,000+ richer, Doc Rivers finally has another trophy, and Darvin Ham is the undisputed champ (when it comes to NBA Cup games). We’re sure you’re dying to know what those already rich superstars will be doing the extra cash they pocketed. Well, apparently, they’re donating it towards the advancement of our lovely newsletter…their words not ours. Ok, ok, we’re joking, but we can dream. Dame said some of his earnings will be headed to the support staff (aww, how sweet). Meanwhile, Giannis said his money was already gone (and by the way big bro Thanasis was celebrating, we’re guessing he got a cut). Either way, congrats to them; who doesn’t love a good consolation prize from a consolation tournament? Hey, maybe they can ride this high into another [actual] championship. 

Speaking of the regular season, don’t forget to tune into the NBA Christmas games…Beyoncé concert be damned (uh oh…we can hear the hive a-buzzing).

🏈 December-January Madness: The NCAA Football playoffs are underway. The top four teams (Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, and Arizona State) already got bye-bye-byes into the quarterfinals… so they, like us, were watching the other peasants earn their scraps. The remaining teams battled it out this weekend for the chance to advance to the quarterfinals. Who survived the first-round cage match? Texas, Ohio State, Penn State, and Notre Dame. Truth be told…the games weren’t very competitive. Honestly, we won’t judge you if you decide to sit these first two rounds out and just skip straight to the semifinals. 

This year marks the beginning of the new tournament format that saw the top 12 ranked teams advance into a March-Madness-but-make-it -football type tournament. Why the switch up? Maybe the NCAA Football powers that be wanted to make things a bit more objective. Or perhaps they just want to draw out the inevitable (you know, the part where the top 4 teams are the ones that make it into the semifinals, regardless). Either way, we’re not Boomers, so we’re open to something new…*sigh*... but December-January Madness just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Maybe December Dogfight? Oh, wait no, they love their dogs… and the alliteration isn’t quite right.  December Delirium? January Jumble? Ah, we’ll keep thinking of names, and you can continue to watch the tournament (if you’re feeling masochistic). Here’s the schedule and bracket.

🏐 Happy Volley-days:  While the NCAA football tournament might be making most of the headlines, there’s another tournament underway that, up until now, has been equally as underwhelming. Now, when we say underwhelming, we mean the top 4 teams made it to the semifinals, as expected…but then, things got interesting. DUN DUN DUUUUN…. No, but seriously, the first semifinal game was a showdown between the best blocking team (Louisville) and the best hitting team (Pitt)… and defense reigned supreme. Louisville defeated the University of Pittsburgh in a 4-set battle. After splitting the first two sets, Louisville completed a comeback win in the 3^rd set which, seemingly, caused Pitt to self-destruct in the 4^th set. Despite having the National Player of the Year on their side, this makes 4 straight semifinals appearances and losses for Pitt. Hmm, what’s that we hear? Could it be the sound of incoming personnel changes and job loss?

Penn State vs Nebraska was a totally different match. Nebraska came out swinging (literally and figuratively) in the first two sets. Penn stopped the bleeding by narrowly winning the 3rd set.  It seemed like Nebraska would seal the deal in the 4th set, but perhaps they got a bit ahead of themselves, because they lost two match points after being up, 22-16. Eventually, Penn came back to win the set, 28-26. That 4th set loss was like the punch that took Nebraska’s breath away, cuz they never rebounded. Penn ended up winning, making it a reverse sweep, and advancing to the finals. Nebraska can, perhaps take solace in two things: their Libero broke a school record and they almost won the match. Eh, scratch the second one, because in the ever-applicable words of Brandy: almost doesn’t count.

Watch Penn State and Louisville battle it out (instead of football, of course) Sunday, December 22 at 3pm on ABC. 

🦿I am Titanium: American World Cup ski racer, Lindsey Vonn, is set to return to the World Cup this weekend. The 40-year-old and four time World Cup champion retired five years ago and underwent multiple knee surgeries. After having parts of her bone removed and replaced with titanium, Vonn worked to rehab and train in preparation for this upcoming World Cup race. Her decision to compete has been met with quite a bit of skepticism and criticism based on her previous injuries as well as her age. Although men in the sport have been known to compete after the age of 40, reportedly, no woman over 34 years old has won a World Cup race. To those haters, Vonn is basically saying ‘chill out, I got this’. We wish her luck during her race! Her determination is certainly motivating… time to start those New Year’s resolutions early and get a little exercise in. 

👨🏾‍🍼Daddy Issues: Soo… soccer star and Olympic gold medalist, Trinity Rodman, took to the Call Her Daddy podcast to let the people know that her daddy, NBA hall of famer Dennis Rodman, isn’t winning any parent of the year awards….past or present. In the interview, Trinity spoke about her rollercoaster relationship with her “father” saying, “he’s not a dad. Maybe by blood, but nothing else”. Well, this set the internet’s ‘he-man woman haters club’ ablaze. Many 80s Pistons fans, 90s Bulls fans, and fellow absentee fathers united to tell Trinity to keep that info to herself and/or stop using her Dad’s last name. Now, I don’t know about y’all, but a name change isn’t worth the trouble, and even marriage didn’t get me to convert. So, we don’t blame her for keeping her given name (y’all act like she’s an ex-wife) and speaking her truth. Her father did finally enter that chat, albeit 22 years late, to say the following: “sorry I wasn’t the Dad you wanted me to be but either way I still tried…” Maybe send it directly to her next time, Dennis. Regardless, we hope the two can find some sort of common ground (if that’s what they want).

☃️ Merry Christmas, You Filthy Animals: In the Boston Celtics’ loss to the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night, Celtics’ Coach, Joe Mazzulla, was hit with a technical foul for “aggressively pursuing and directing inappropriate language toward a game official”. When asked about the confrontation in the post game press conference, Mazzulla said he was basically just spreading some holiday cheer and wishing them all well. Hmm, over here we like to stick to the wise words of Ursula and not “underestimate the importance of body language”...We saw you, Joe…and there was nothing cheerful about it. But hey, with the $35,000 fine he had to pay for his little outburst, we’re sure he contributed a pretty penny to someone’s holiday bonus. Cheers to that!

Your sports term of the week is: Back Row Attack

IRL Example: It’s like how someone can be a back seat driver, and talk all they want, but they better not hop over that center console into the driver’s seat.

There is something so festive, yet posh, about wearing red in December and that’s a perfect way to describe how Olympic track star Sha’Carri Richardson looks in her Essence Magazine spread. We love all her looks, but can't get enough of her in the monotone red outfit! Matchy-matchy is back in, and Amazon has you covered on recreating the look just in time for the holidays! 

Don’t worry we found the dress on Amazon that can make it just in time for Christmas!

Don’t forget to complete the look with red tights and red suede pumps - also on Amazon!

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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