…That he will not perform on a laptop this time. Justin Bieber is set to play the FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show — something non-Americans are low-key confused about, but something I’m high-key excited about. Oh and Madonna, Shakira, and BTS will be there too, no big deal. All packed into 20 minutes! 

Renee Montgomery has dubbed Atlanta the Hollywood of the South (I mean, isn’t Hollywood really the ATL of the West?), which is perfect for an absolute star, like Angel Reese. The Athletic’s Brian Hamilton writes about how business in ATL is booming for the Bayou Barbie.

Every year I play multiple fantasy leagues and every year I forget I’m in multiple fantasy leagues and my teams suffer. But that’s all about to change, now that we have College Football Fantasy on Yahoo. Right? Right?? Right????

WNBA fans have long been begging for a reality show where we could get BTS looks at our favorite players off the court. And ESPN delivered! The first two episodes of ‘Life in the W’ are available starting July 24th. Thank GOD we’ll have something to watch post-Love Island. 

The Women’s Pro Baseball League has announced its first four teams. The Boston Hunters, the New York Heights, the Los Angeles Queens, and the San Francisco Firebells will all play on neutral territory at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. BRB, turning on ‘A League of Their Own.’

Did you know in other countries, they have different music artists? Confusing to wrap our big old American noggins around, but it’s true. You definitely knew there’s nothing quite like a hype song, as evidenced by the 2009 hit “We Ready” by Archie Eversole and Bubba Sparxxx, which should be America’s sports anthem, if you ask me.

In other countries, they like to listen to songs to get hyped for sports, too. They also eat food. Just like us! Anyways, Spotify was nice enough to offer OffBall an inside look at the most streamed unofficial anthems in each of the remaining World Cup countries, ranked by number of streams.  

7. In Switzerland, they’re hey ho-ing to Bring En Hei, by Baschi. This song was written in 2006 and it definitely sounds like it was written in 2006 (neutral). It translates to “bring it home” which make it the obvious choice for the best Swiss World Cup anthem. It’s got the hopeful piano and melody that you might find in a U2 song (even if by surprise on your iPhone randomly one day), only the singers are good at making watches and hot chocolate.

6. In Belgium, they’re listening to “Ta fête” by Stromae, even though I contend they should be listening to Angéle’s new single. The thing about about Stromae is he’s gonna make a song about dancing. That you can dance to. This one also happens to be about kicking a**.

5. In Norway, the vibes are girlie pop. Which, honestly explains a lot about Erling Haaland. “Henda mot himmelen” by Madeléne is kind of bubblegum pop meets country in the craziest (positive) sounding language you’ve ever heard.  

4. As expected, Argentina’s anthem is kind of a banger. Although I feel like Spanish-speaking countries are at an unfair advantage — impossible for their language not to sound cool. “Pa’ La Selección” by La T y la M is a Latin/Cumbia pop song and it’s equal parts hype and chill somehow. 

3. “Freed From Desire” by Gala, Molella, and Phil Jay being a big hit in France was a head-scratcher the first time I heard it. No disrespect, of course, because it doesn’t appear to be French, and if I didn’t know any better the lyrics seem to be biblical in some ways. Thankfully this helped explain it a bit! And it has Buddhist roots for those curious. 

2. In Spain, we’ve got another girly pop vibe with “SUPERESTRELLA” by Aitana. The title translates to, you guessed it, “superstar,” a likely name for a hype song. It’s probably the catchiest song on the list, if you ask me. 

1. And it will be no surprise to our lovely readers to learn the most-streamed World Cup anthem in England is “Wonderwall” by Oasis. They’ve described the meme favorite to be about an “imaginary friend who you think will come save you from yourself,” but I wonder if it isn’t just about Harry Kane. Though it doesn’t exactly get me (or my coworker, below) fired up to watch a sport, I do understand its emotional draw. 

And, if you’re curious, if America hadn’t been booted from the tourney, we’d be on the list, and our banger would be Take Me Home, Country Roads. 

The Butterfly Effect is crazy, because Bri Lewerke bought a cheap camera one random day in 2016 and now she takes photos of some of the most famous athletes in the world. I don’t actually think that’s the Butterfly Effect, but everyone who does the trend on social media uses it wrong, too, so…sue me! Lewerke worked part-time at Nike after college and decided she’d throw her hat in the ring to shoot the WNBA All-Star Game in 2018 — the perfect time to have gotten into the league, by the way. It was early enough that you can say you knew it was special before many others, and a time when you could really make opportunities for yourself within the media industry. Fast forward to now, we met at the Super Bowl, but I’ve followed the Indianapolis-based photographer for years. 

Now, Lewerke is one of the most well-known sports photographers in the game. Indiana’s got shooters, and I don’t even mean Caitlin Clark (coincidentally Caitlin seems to be one of her favorite subjects). And she’s not new to working with high-profile athletes, so she focuses on building their trust first and foremost. 

“The most important thing is that these athletes trust me. Especially as women, having a camera in your face can be a really vulnerable experience. I want to show these women in their most genuine and authentic light, and make sure they feel good about the work,” Lewerke said.

I asked her what her favorite photo ever was and she said she had 10-15. For brevity, she called out the extreme closeup of JuJu Watkins’ bun. 

“I think it shows a level of detail and magnifies this identifying part of her that fans don't often get to see on TV, social media, or even attending the games in person,” Lewerke told me. 

And when she isn’t shooting basketball games, she’s working BTS on a sports film shoot about the Little 500, which I imagine is like the Indy 500, only quieter, (and with bicycles and a famous reputation as the inspiration for an Oscar-winning movie, I’ve just been told!). That’s right, she’s about to have an IMDB page (is that how it works?). 

Follow the Home Run Derby Truck as it goes on tour. I personally need to see this thing IRL.  

Find your beach, like Jordan Love. 

Do some sports-based yearning. Or flirt. At the very least fangirl.