Don’t Be Dumb, A$AP Knows Ball

…Well, Lily Zhang knew. That’s exactly what helped her hone her supreme skills as a table tennis prodigy growing up in California. Time to stop watching Netflix while your clothes are in the dryer.

Balenciaga has a new creative director at the helm. His first order of business? A sports collab, of course. The Italian luxury brand has linked up with the NBA to produce a collection of swagged-out merch, from varsity jackets to boots to track pants to key chains. Everybody start saving up now. 

Between the holiday season and academic finals, college football often runs into difficulties when it comes to planning the final weeks of each season. But Jay Busbee makes an impassioned case for reducing the amount of waiting time between the College Football Playoff semifinals and the Natty, for the love the game, for the sake of the fans and for the good of the on-field product itself. 

James Nnaji unintentionally became the most polarizing player in men’s college basketball when Baylor announced his signing on Christmas Eve, despite him already having been drafted into the NBA in 2023. ESPN lifts the lid on his fascinating life journey up until that point, from picking up a basketball for the first time aged 12 in Nigeria to adjusting to living in Hungary, to reaching the NBA, and finally to Baylor… and all the weirdness in between. 

Creators are flooding to college football. This creator-led agency hosted Sketch, Snapback Sports, and others in a $6M mansion at the VRBO Fiesta Bowl.

If you’re a lover of all things music, sports and culture (as all of you here undoubtedly are), then you’ll agree this has been a blessed week. We got new music from J.Cole and confirmation of his upcoming (and hopefully not final) studio album, The Fall-Off, coming in Feb. 

And today, shortly after this newsletter finds its way into your overflowing inbox, comes the arrival of Don’t Be Dumb, the latest album of everyone’s favorite multi-hyphenate rapper, designer, model and girl dad, A$AP Rocky. We gladly accept these blessings to get us through the long slog that is January. 

Not only is A$AP all of those things as well as being Rihanna’s husband, but he’s also one of the biggest sports lovers out there—and not in a celebrity-says-they-like-sports-to-be-relatable kinda way. Trust me. I know someone who knows someone who says they know him.

He’s been popping up in EA Sports’ FIFA video game commercials since 2013. That’s three whole years before all your 2016 throwback pics.

Since 2023, he’s held the role of creative director of Puma’s major Formula 1 partnership, lending his design skills to elevating team merch and fanwear with a streetwear twist.

For a while, Rocky was even chasing his own Ryan Reynolds-Wrexham type dream. He was set to acquire Tranmere Rovers (a team in the fourth tier of English soccer)—that’s Timothée Chalamet-levels of ball knowledge—as part of a U.S consortium, before the deal fell through last year. 

Remember last year, when he popped out at Dyckman for championship night chaos?

Plus, his new music even works perfectly for hype college football edits. Watch this and tell me you don’t feel anything:

If you’re anywhere near social media you’ll have seen that it’s officially 2016 again. What feels like yesterday was in fact now 10 years ago, and everyone is posting their favorite throwbacks.

2016 was also an iconic year for sports.

LeBron and Kyrie brought the championship home for the city of Cleveland. 

The Rio de Janeiro Olympics took place, and Usain Bolt cemented his GOAT status by clinching the “triple-triple”, winning gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay for the third consecutive Games.

Leicester City, out of absolutely nowhere, stormed to the Premier League title (despite 5000-1 odds at the beginning of the season) in the most improbable victory that created instant sporting folklore.

Feeling old yet? Wait till you hear how old your fave Gen Z athletes were in 2016. Paige Bueckers was 14. Wemby was 12 (and already well over 6 ft tall). Lamine Yamal was EIGHT. 

Catch you in 2036 to recap what a great year 2026 is about to be for sports.

Wake up at 7am EST/stay up until 4.30am PST on Saturday to watch Manchester United vs. Manchester City. 

Listen to A$AP’s Don’t Be Dumb and let us know what you think, or listen to your favorite J.Cole songs to get ready for The Fall-Off in Feb. 

Book a warm weather trip to the Cayman Islands and work out like a pro athlete at Palm Heights Athletics.