The Sports Superlatives - Issue No. 47

November 22, 2024

🏆 The Superlatives 🏆

The High Schooler Forging Paths in Basketball: Kaleena Smith

Kaleena Smith is the number one ranked women’s high school basketball player in the country.  The 16-year-old point guard also recently signed a brand deal with Adidas. We see you sis… we were just worried about getting our driver’s licenses, meanwhile, she is getting her bag. This is the first brand signing under the newly appointed President of Women’s Basketball for Adidas, Candace Parker. We hope this is the first of many doors to open for Kaleena!  

The Basketball Player forging Paths for High Schoolers: Jaylen Brown

Boston Celtics’ shooting guard Jaylen Brown has proven through his foundation work that he is committed to creating and shaping better education for underserved youth. In addition to his foundation, 7uice, Jaylen is a MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow. Through this partnership with MIT, Jaylen has been able to develop a course that is centered on AI and STEM. The course is designed for middle and high school aged students. Love when our favs support the kiddos -they are the future after all!

⚽️ Shipping Them So Hard: Last weekend (November 16-17), the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) wrapped up an exciting round of playoffs. Not up to speed on how the postseason works in NWSL? We’ve got you, girly! Ok, so the playoffs consist of four quarter final matches, with winners of those matches progressing to compete in two semifinal matches. Teams that win the semis head to the championship. Pretty standard stuff, right? Ok… now for the highlight:

After beating the Kansas City Current, 3-2, the Orlando Pride will return to Kansas City to play in the soccer club’s first NWSL final appearance. They will face off against the Washington Spirit who beat NY/NJ Gotham FC (Ha! Never thought we’d see a team acknowledge being from Jersey).  The game went into OT and came down to a penalty shootout where the Spirit Goalie saved three consecutive penalties, positioning the Spirit to get the W. 

The 2024 NWSL championship game will take place at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 23 on CBSand Paramount+. Tune in and support the girlies!

🏈 Playing in a Winter Wonderland: Last Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers had a divisional win against the Baltimore Ravens that had people wondering if the Steelers were Super Bowl contenders. Last night during Thursday Night Football… they lost 19-24 against the Browns. Yep, those Browns, that hail from the lands of Cleveland… first of their name, last of their division. Now, we are going to give Russell Wilson and the Steelers the benefit of the doubt because by the end of the game it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas on the field. Those conditions could not have been easy to play in… but we expect more from this team that’s leading their division with an 8-3 record. Not sure field goals will win a super bowl.

🏒 “You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don’t Take”: Alex Ovechkin really took that saying from Michael Scott (😉) to heart because he is on the hunt to surpass The Great One’s record of 894 career goals, currently sitting at 868. Goals 867 and 868 were achieved in the Washington Capitals’ 6-2 win over the Utah Hockey Club on November 18th, but the record chase is now on a 4-6 week hiatus after Ovi left that game early with a broken fibula. But once he’s back, be sure to watch out for his teammates setting up every empty-net opportunity for him to make up for the lost time.

🏀 And Just Like That… there are no undefeated teams left in the NBA. Well, you know what they say “life imitates the NBA, which imitates the NFL”... which is why there are no undefeated teams in either league at this point. Ok, so we def made that saying up; but the point still remains. After a 15-0 start, the Cleveland Cavaliers were defeated by the Boston Celtics. The game started out as a blowout, but the Cavs fought back to make it a close game that they only lost by 3 points. 

Two days later, the Celtics continued to hold the spotlight by volunteering to escort the elderly on a White House tour…no, wait…that’s POTUS Joe Biden welcoming the Celtics for their championship White House visit. Sorry for the confusion. Regardless, it really just served as a reminder of who the reigning champs are… like a little pit stop, if you will, before they proceed to destroy the Wizards. Oh and FYI, Biden’s Secret Service code name is Celtic…so this was clearly all planned.

Aight Aight, enough on the Celtics; people might start to think we’re fans. What else can we talk about? Oh, the Warriors are leading the West (Cavs and Warriors leading their conferences?!?! What year is it, 2015-2016?). The Sixers are bottom feeders, meaning they’re sitting pretty at the bottom of the Eastern conference (more on that in tea). LeBron is done with social media...which means he can finally focus on basketball. We’re joking; he’s always focused, which is why this should scare everyone else. That’s all we got. If you wanna watch something other than football this weekend, this is what we suggest:

• Warriors vs Spurs 11/23 at 8:30pm - The Warriors are looking like a throwback, see for yourself

• Lakers vs Nuggets 11/23 at 10:30pm - Social-medialess LeBron should make for some entertainment

• Celtics vs Timberwolves 11/34 at 3:30pm - Tatum, Brown, Ant-man…say less.

🥊 Speaking of Elder Abuse: Influencer turned boxer, Jake Paul, and actual boxer, Mike Tyson, took to the ring last Friday (in a beautifully curtained AT&T Stadium) to slap each other around in return for a few [ten million] bucks. Unfortunately, Netflix wasn’t prepared for the streaming numbers, and the fight was unwatchable and glitchy for many viewers aka paying customers (sigh, did they learn nothing from that first Love is Blind reunion?) Apparently, the fight itself was giving WWF, because those who were able to watch thought it seemed staged…or scripted. The match went the full 8 rounds and ended in a unanimous decision in favor of Jake Paul. Many internet sleuths have decided that Magic Mike needed the money, and Jake Paul liked the attention, so it was a win-win for them…but the fans? Well, they’re pissed…and Netflix is on the receiving end of their wrath.

⚾️ Wait a Minute, Y’all thought They was Finished? Yes, the MLB season ended before you could don your Harry Potter costume. So what? That doesn’t mean baseball can’t still be relevant in November. MLB powers-that-be announced the year-end individual awards and sprinkled the news throughout the entire week. Way to drag it out! Monday: Rookies of the Year… Tuesday: Managers of the Year…. Wednesday: Cy Young awards… and on Thursday and Friday and Saturday…oops, sorry, but the Craig David vibes were undeniable. No really, on Thursday, they announced the biggest (arguably) award of them all: League MVP(s). To nobody’s surprise, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani were unanimously named MVP’s of their respective leagues. Congrats to everyone…and Congrats x 2 to Shohei, who just keeps winning (minus the whole gambling thing at the beginning of the year that everyone has forgotten about). Click here to see all the winners.

🎙Football Carter: Beyonce Giselle Knowles-Carter decided she was not done with us for 2024. She said [in our imagination], “look, I know it’s been a trying year… let me give the girlies something to look forward to for Christmas”. She announced via Instagram that she will be performing at halftime during the Christmas day Houston Texans v Baltimore Ravens football game. Apparently, the announcement had the football girlies in a tizzy and the ticket demand increased immediately after the post. For those of us that won’t be in Houston for the Bey concert… we mean game… it will also be streamed on Netflix. It will be one of two NFL games set to stream live on Christmas day. Hopefully Netflix gets its act together and works out the kinks for their live-streams. Not sure the Beyhive will forgive them if they glitch during her performance like the platform has done for pretty much every live-stream attempt.

beyonce

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🕒 Tardy for the Party:  Apparently there is trouble in Philly. No, we’re not talking about the crime you’re used to. There has already been plenty of media attention surrounding Joel Embiid this season (the season has barely begun, sigh). All this plus the 2-12 record resulted in a private team meeting that is, of course, public knowledge. In said meeting, Tyrese Maxey called out his teammate and face of the franchise, Joel Embiid, for always being late. Now, I don’t know about you, but in my line of work, that’s a fireable offense. Either way, it’s pretty sad when your underlings have to call you out on your ish. When asked about the meeting, Embiid simply acted as if everything was blown out of proportion…yea, ok. Well, that’s fine, Joel…you don’t have to talk about it, but you definitely should try to be about it.

Your sports term of the week is: Assist

IRL Example: It’s like doing all the research for a project that someone else presents. When the presentation goes well, they may get all the credit, but you did the heavy lifting.

There is something to be said about a nice suit. A suit is like an instant confidence booster. It can make one feel powerful and in full boss mode. Wearing one can also feel bold and sexy…. No? That’s just us? Mmmk whatever you say but clearly these ladies agree with us:

Sports journalist, Taylor Rooks, served us class and sass all in one outfit. Her skirt suit is a perfect nod to retro styles but it still feels fresh and modern. 

Need a similar suit for your next big meeting or presentation? Asos has a similar boucle suit that is perfect for winter:

If you’re looking for a more bold powersuit, we suggest you check out University of Texas’ Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach Sydney Carter’s collab with OlarsGrace. Coach Carter is known for her fashion on the court and we are excited to support her as she leans a little more into the fashion world!

… And remember… suits aren’t just all work and no play. One of our fav USA gymnasts, Jordan Chiles, stepped out in a silver suit at the 2024 GQ Men of the Year party last week. Her decision to forgo a top and pair the suit with patent heels makes the look sultry and the perfect party outfit.

Not sold on suits yet? Suit yourself we guess!

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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