Cameron Brink Told Me About Dorodangos

…Amidst his current sneaker free agency period, Stephen Curry’s shoe collection will be listed on Sotheby’s and sold to the highest bidder, with the proceeds going to benefit Oakland’s youth. Looks like you’re gonna need a bigger closet.  

Noah Lyles heard his wife, Junelle Bromfield, was planning a wardrobe change at their wedding and knew he had to do the same. Vogue details how the track star and “artistic director” planned his big day. 

Angel Reese’s stardom knows no bounds. Not only is it lefting her to heights never reached before by women athletes, it’s now taken her to Barbados, where she recently shot a Victoria’s Secret campaign. Elle’s Madison Rexroat profiled her here. 

They call him Jack Draper because his pants fit so well. That’s not true, but it could be. In our pesky kid brother newsletter, SportsVerse, Daniel-Yaw Miller explains why Jack is tennis’s Most Fashionable Man. 

MLB Clubhouse is a new YouTube channel aiming to bring baseball to the Next Gen of fans. Featuring shows like “Doug-Out,” a stop-motion animated show that tells baseball stories, iPad kids are in for a treat. Screen time be danged!

“Go Off” is a special edition of our daily newsletter, featuring my thoughts, takes, and general vibes, presented to OffBall readers every Wednesday.

Cameron Brink, whose extracurricular activities include being a tunnel walk standout, a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, an actress, and an amateur baker, is no stranger to a side quest. She also has many goals for her day job, with the upcoming W season a month away to the day. Among them are becoming an All-Star, gaining notoriety for her defensive prowess, and, as is true for so many of us, getting enough protein.

We chatted about how her partnership with Optimum Nutrition helps her handle the protein part (especially necessary because of the demanding number of back-to-back games the players must endure this year), and how she wants to start writing the other goals down so that she actually focuses on them. 

Plus, we covered what she’s watching and listening to, wedding planning, her affinity for, and her thoughts on how to keep young girls engaged in organized sports. 

Ashtyn Butuso: I wanted to first say that in my research, I was watching the Optimum Nutrition commercial, and I saw that you had some acting chops. Do you think that will be something you pursue at some point? 

Cameron Brink: I love that you say that because I think they were very patient with me throughout that day. I can confidently say I will not ever be acting because it would be a pain to whoever had to watch it. But I can appreciate all forms of acting and performing. And because I think it's so difficult. 

AB: What are your professional goals on the court this year? 

CB: I mean, obviously, the main goal is winning a championship. I would love to be an All-Star. I would love to be recognized for my defense. Everyone tells me I never write down my goals. So, maybe this will make me write them down. I'm usually like, “whatever happens.” But I do believe in writing your goals down. 

AB: Especially, as the season shifts into spring, it's a good time to get those written down and get movin’. Speaking of not getting movin’, are you bingeing any TV right now? 

CB:  This was a little unorthodox. I watched the Peaky Blinders movie and now I'm going back and rewatching Peaky Blinders [the series]. 

AB: I don't know anyone else who loves Peaky Blinders. I love Peaky Blinders. 

CB: Really. Okay, so, I watched the first episode a couple nights ago. And now I'm going to commit to it. 

AB: You're in for a treat. I'm so excited for you. 

CB: Yeah, I like it. And– what's his name? 

AB: Cillian Murphy! 

CB: Cillian. He's so cute. When you said acting, I was like, I don't understand how they're so in the moment. And [he’s] so shy in person. I love it.

AB: What else are you into? Where are you shopping?

CB: I just bought some beautiful Fendi bags…from this website called FashionNica. Every Wednesday, they drop new vintage items. I highly recommend it. 

AB: And what’s something that people would be surprised to learn about you? 

CB: I like to bring someone a baked good of some sort. It's very much a love language of mine to bring people things! 

AB: April is going to be very busy for the W so you may not have as much baking time. Let’s say swag won championships. Who would you want the Sparks to sign?

CB: Oh, I have to go with Skylar Diggins. I think she's just so badass and so swaggy and her fits are just always so put together. She just embodies “badass.” And she is Mama Bear, you know? And I only, like, played [with her] briefly. I wasn't even a part of Unrivaled the first year because of my knee injury, but I was on Skylar's team, and she took me under her wing. That's a great question. 

AB: Speaking of Unrivaled, it seems like you just finished it and now we’re going into the craziest time for the WNBA ever. But you are also having to find time to plan your wedding. 

CB: I'm very lucky to have the best wedding planner. And my mom, my best friend, my maid of honor, my fiancé's mother. I have this badass group of women around me that are helping me. I'm also not the most particular person. 

AB: I think that's the perfect attitude (as someone who was a mess on their wedding day). Semi-related because it may affect your playlist: I'm asking everyone I talk to what their prediction for Song of the Summer is.

CB:  I don't even listen to country, but there's this country song that I cannot stop listening to. And my dad—he was born in the South, so I guess he's kind of country…but there's this song. It's like, “I love it, I love it, I love it.” It's popular on TikTok right now. It's bad I know that, but I think I'm going to be listening to more country music.

AB: It feels like country is having a moment. I have been listening to the new Kacey Musgraves single nonstop. 

CB: I love her. She's amazing. 

AB: Her single is having a moment on Reels and TikTok, too. I have my own curiosity about this because I just wrote about this the other day. Do you have a Finsta? 

CB: I do have a Finsta…[laughs] but I don't use it. I kind of keep it just to be like, “I don't know if people will start posting.” I have some friends that do post on their Finstas. But I think what a lot of them do post on is close friends.  

AB: When you were at Stanford, my magazine, Flagrant Mag, profiled you, and you told us you hated basketball growing up. I think other young girls have those same feelings about sports. How do we keep those girls in sports?

CB: That's such a good question. You would love my mom because that's her whole point. My mom tried so hard to nail that in my head; these young, amazing girls come to my basketball camp every year, what can we do to just keep them involved?

I think the more people show up authentically in pro sports…like Alysa Liu…She just got such a cool, artsy demographic of younger girls and boys to dip their feet in the water of sports. I don't know if that's an accurate take, but I think we have to see all different types of people and different expressions of who they are. Kind of put out there so other people say, hey, I kind of vibe with them. 

Sports are scary. And even when I was playing basketball, I was just so embarrassed to look stupid. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I do think a bit with this generation people are afraid to put themselves out there.

So I think we're taking a step in the right direction. 

AB: You mentioned art. So I know that you do art. Can you tell me about your art? 

CB: It's not art that requires skill, that's for sure. 

AB: There's no way that's true. 

CB: I give so much credit to my fiancé because I feel like he's totally brought out this side of me. We always say, it sounds so stupid, but we're kind of like child versions of ourselves with each other. And I think that's why we work so well together. And when I was a kid, I was like, I'm going to be an artist. Like, I love art. I'm like, that's what I thought my thing was going to be. And then, since we've been together for five years. He's totally rekindled that for me.

He makes Dorodangos. They’re Japanese. He goes down to a creek near his house in the bay and gets sand, dirt, and mud. And we form these really rough balls.

But then you end up taking a little spice jar, and you just continue to shape the ball with the jar until it's a perfect sphere. And then eventually, the friction from the spice jar, makes it shiny on its own. And it gives this varnish, lacquered look to it. And so, that's one thing I do with him, which I think is really cool. And we gift them to people. Like he makes these little metal stands. I think Stephen and Ayesha Curry — he's in the Bay with them, so he sees them more than I do —  they have a couple on their desk. 

Remember the 2000s, when we watched American Idol, Madonna kissed Britney Spears, we ranked our eight friends in order on our social profiles, and Punk’d was one of the craziest shows we’d ever seen? 

Foul Play with Anthony Davis feels like that. It’s a reminder that nothing hits like a good ol’ fashioned prank show. 

I found myself watching it when it came on after an NCAA tournament game during the first round — in a crowded bar, with no audio, nonetheless, and I was kind of captivated. I don’t know what this says about me. Perhaps that I have the sense of humor of a teenage boy.  

Most recently, AD (with the help of LeBron) pranked Draymond Green, and crazy enough, Draymond held his composure better than I’ve ever seen him do so on the court. 

The (old) episode I watched previously featured Mookie Betts pranking the Los Angeles Dodgers’ manager. 

This isn’t even a sponcon, and I will be seated for all future episodes.