…Maybe? Maybe not? They’re probably bluffing, but the SEC has laid out a world where LSU is no longer in it. In their lawsuit against LSU (regarding NFL players returning to college — it’s a whole thing) the league said officials will meet Thursday to determine the school’s SEC future. Guess we’re gonna find out if it really means more or not. And, in other college football conference drama, the MAC is filing an appeal about the loss heard round the world.
Peyton and Eli Manning released their Heist-themed ManningCast schedule. Would you believe me if I told you Anne Hathaway, Paul Rudd, and Jon Hamm are all in it, but Jim and John Harbaugh acted everyone else under the table? Football coaches can be anything these days.
I know a lot of parents feeling a bit insane about how to handle, pay for, and encourage their kids to play youth sports right now. Don’t worry, I’m not going to give you advice. Billie Jean King, Abby Wambach, and Julie Foudy will do the honor in their latest edition of ‘Welcome to the Party.’
Unrivaled is touring around the country in a big giant bus and doing fancy reveals for their upcoming in-season stops. No one was surprised to learn NYC would be the first leg of their tour, but the unveiling of Boston as their second city was an exciting development, since the city doesn’t have a women’s hoops team. See you Jan 8, Beantown.
There’s a mad dash to become the next big sports destination. What does that mean exactly? It means building hotels, getting record numbers of tourists to come to town, hosting big events, and erecting the fanciest stadiums in the world. These six cities have their eyes on the prize.
Forward this to the biggest Charlotte Day Wilson fan you know.
NYCers! We’re partnering up with Mejuri for another watch party during the women's US Open Final.
WHERE: The Spaniard
WHEN: Sept 12, 3:30-6:30pm!
Mejuri and OffBall want to celebrate everyone from diehards to new fans who have discovered a renewed sense of fandom and love sports. Come for the match, stay for the cocktails, Mejuri giveaways, and much more!
I’ve been literally counting down the days and minutes until the NFL begins, so I figured ahead of the season, which begins tonight, some predictions might be fun.
Below are my (count them) 18 (!) unsolicited, random, nonsensical (but also realistic) NFL predictions.
Jordan Love has a huge year (no reason for this prediction other than I would like to see it). So does Lamar Jackson (probably not but I will let myself believe otherwise).
Jaxson Dart country album.
A.J. Brown is unhappy in New England, too.
Tom Brady gets eye color-changing surgery and we all pretend his eyes have always been that color.
Myles Garrett and Chloe Kim get engaged. Please.
Nathan Fielder attends a game, causing NFL guys to learn about him. He becomes very beloved by bro-culture, a la comedian Tim Robinson.
This one came from our social team, who say Mack Hollins will arrive at the stadium on a horse. Because what other stunt is there left for the man to pull off?
Aaron Rodgers season-long vow of silence starting…now. D.K. Metcalf thinks it’s cool but does not participate himself.
Someone invites me to a game and pays for everything and I stay in a penthouse at the Four Seasons.
All-British halftime show. The league will work to win over those who are still mad the halftime show wasn't in English last year. It will be Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, and Olivia Dean. Those three artists will also go to the NFL games in London.
Jayden Daniels, Frances Tiafoe, and AJ Dybantsa move in together and give us a DC sports reality show.
Bo Nix becomes an ordained man of the cloth, starts his own congregation in Denver.
Fernando Mendoza overtakes Kirk Cousins as the Raiders’ starting QB. (Easy one)
Bills lose in the AFC Championship (not even really a prediction at this point, no offense).
Something bad happens to someone (I won’t go into details, but something bad is going to happen).
Polymarket becomes the official prediction market partner of the NFL.
Someone is finally brave enough to ask Matthew Stafford about his veneers.
In anticipation of her EP “Patchwork,” which she put out earlier this year, I spoke to Canadian recording artist Charlotte Day Wilson. She’s someone I’ve been a huge fan of for years, and whose unique neo-soul sound earned her features on tracks with the likes of Drake and Daniel Caesar and Kaytranada. Many of her songs, including her 2017 solo, “Work,” is still on most of my playlists. But there was a time in her life when it was more likely she’d become a professional athlete than a musician.
Ashtyn Butuso: So, first, I want to hear a little bit about what your musical process is like.
Charlotte Day Wilson: It can be quite different every time, but I play a bunch of instruments, I sing. so it's kind of like any combination of all of those things or some of those things. I spend a lot of time writing songs at the piano and then maybe bringing a fully fleshed song to the studio and producing it out in that way, or sometimes in the studio by pressing record and just seeing what happens. It's different every time.
AB: I realized the other day that to me [your music] is like a more modern Des’ree. It reminds me of her song “You Got to Be.” I'm curious about who your inspirations are.
CDW: It's so hard for me to answer that question…I think we can't escape our influences whether they're conscious or subconscious. And I think for me, I've been a student of great music my whole entire life. So I don't know, it's very wide-ranging, but the most influential genre for me is soul. And Motown.
CDW: Those are the memories that I have the most vividly of being completely transported from a young age listening to.
AB: Which song or album of yours do you feel the most proud of when you listen to it?
CDW: I do feel really really proud of “Patchwork.” I'm proud of all of my projects, but I think, as the artist, when you think of the music, you don't think of the music as this objective entity. It's like you remember how you were and who you were when you made the music. And I would say working on this music is the happiest time of my life. Just like knowing that I created something out of a really positive space, you know what I mean?
AB: It's nice to hear that someone feels like they're having the happiest time of their life right now because that feels like that's not happening that much right now. I first became a fan of yours because of Daniel Caesar's “Freudian.” That's when I first heard your stuff. I'd love to know who your favorite collaborator has been.
CDW: I have some collaborators that have been really consistent over my whole career. People who have been there to span the entirety of it and I think those people are very important to me BADBADNOTGOOD and Saya Gray and Jack Rochon.
AB: Let's shift to sports a little bit. What has been your relationship with sports?
CDW: So, I grew up playing hockey very competitively. In Canada, men's goes up to triple A and women's goes up to double A. That's what I played growing up...then, also, at that time was playing every sport at school. So, outside of school I was playing hockey, but in school I was playing basketball, softball, badminton, and I can't remember what else, but I loved sports from an early age.
CDW: Because hockey was this intense it almost felt like a career already and there was a lot of pressure on it and basically when I turned 18 was starting to really get into my artistic side and I gave up hockey. I also wasn't good enough to get a scholarship to a good American university. If I had been, I maybe would have continued, but I decided to just go to university and do the liberal arts program and study music as well. And then I kind of stopped exercising completely like I didn't do any activity for almost five years. I think I was a little bit traumatized by how intense the hockey program was.
CDW: Also with hockey, I had gotten a couple concussions. And then during the pandemic, I got another concussion just from goofing around. I really felt like I wanted to start playing sports again. And I picked up tennis [during the pandemic] because it was the socially distanced one and it was also no bonking my head or falling really. I have just been absolutely obsessed with it ever since. I would say it's truly an obsession.
AB: Just playing it?
CDW: In terms of players that I love to watch I'll always turn on Mukova; I love her game. As a Canadian, Bianca Andreescu. But of course I love watching — we literally just followed each other last night on Instagram because she has a really cool modern style, she's American — Hailey Baptiste.
AB: Which is your favorite tournament to watch?
CDW: I've only been to the US Open and Toronto — the National Bank Open it's called. I really want to go to Indian Wells.
AB: In terms of other sports, I don't know if you're watching the PWHL or you're watching the Raptors or you're going to be at Tempo games, do you have relationships with other teams or sports?
CDW: I'm so excited for the Tempo. and my partner and I are mega WNBA fans. She’s been watching it for longer than I have. It’s just the best league. It’s so juicy. And also I think it's interesting to watch what happens to all of these players who, they've dedicated their lives to this, and now they're about to be properly compensated for it, and what that does their sense of self and how they carry themselves. It's just so interesting to me.
CDW: I have this strong vision in the next 10 years I'll just become one of those weird regulars that's at every game. I'm such a fan. When you do music for your whole career, I'm not starstruck…there's no one that you could put me in a room with and I'd be like, "my God." Maybe some of my favorite artists of all time, but terms of contemporaries, I'm not a fan like that to very many people anymore. It's just the veil has lifted for me. So sports is where I really fan out. And I think it's really nice to still have that feeling.
AB: It’s romantic!
CDW: Yeah. Exactly.
AB: Last topic here. You have a sandwich shop, which is not typical for most recording artists. what is something that you really had to learn in owning a sandwich shop? Something that kind of was a challenge.
CDW: I've never seen myself as just a musician or just a singer, you know what I mean? I consider myself very lucky and I've worked really really hard to have the career that I have. I enjoy business in general and I think it's the same with picking up tennis. I just like being a student. I like learning something new. I like being the dumbest person in the room on a certain subject. I think like an obsessive person, too. So once I set my mind on something, I'll probably see it through.
I would say the challenge that I've learned along the way to deal with is different communication styles in the restaurant industry. I don't think they've been encouraged to communicate vulnerably or openly in the same ways as artists do. So, that's something that I've been trying to just encourage within our space is let's all just talk about how we're feeling. Matty Matheson is a friend of mine and I had asked him for advice before I opened the shop and he said the most important thing is: you have to really care about caring for people and the only way to care for people in hospitality is if you care for each other within the space.
@thefader Who wants to play doubles? 🎾 #charlottedaywilson
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