…Although we still have two months before the performer at this forthcoming Super Bowl is revealed, I’m reading all the thinkpieces and rankings to see who it might be. My money is on Dua Lipa, but I have basically never won a bet in my life, so your guess is as good as mine.
If you have YouTubeTV, call yourself Mr. Unlimited, because you now have ESPN Unlimited at no extra charge. Technically it’s being rolled out (slowly) right now, but you’ll have it soon! If you don’t know, now you know: ESPN Unlimited is a streaming platform that gives you access to all linear ESPN content. In my day, we called this cable.
Our friend Maddy Sells, the star behind “WAG Talk” announced she’d be spearheading her own vertical at the equally enjoyable Enjoy Basketball. It’s called “Enjoy Her Game.” No Covergirl but their content will be easy, breezy, beautiful etc. And most importantly, no hot takes!
Real ones have been knowing about the Valkyries’ Gabby Williams, but some fans are newer to the Gabby party, and to those of you, I say welcome. Pour a glass of wine, turn on some Steve Lacy, and get acquainted with her in this Vogue feature by Hannah Jackson.
Cristiano Ronaldo is getting his closeup. He’ll allegedly star in a scripted series about a UK soccer agent. Actor Damian Lewis and fellow soccer legend Thierry Henry will also act in the show, which is titled “Day 1s.”
Forward this to someone who can't quite put their finger on what it is about Ted Lasso.
“Go Off” is a special edition of our daily newsletter, featuring my thoughts, takes, and general vibes, presented to OffBall readers every Wednesday.
I watched the first season of Ted Lasso in 2020 with the rest of the world. Now, that particular era feels less real than Santa Claus or Australian accents (no offense, but I just don’t buy it). We were all experiencing mild psychosis from being cooped up in our apartments during peak Covid. I bought like three bleached sweatsuits from someone on Instagram. Amidst a pandemic, political unrest, and dire race relations, people yearned for an escape.
A new soccer show with an SNL funny man at the helm. A midwestern charming dolt whose entire sports knowledge existed between the pages of an American football playbook gets a job coaching a soccer team in one of the soccer capitals of the world. And oh yeah, the best part? There’s no real conflict, no stress. Just heartwarming pollyanna after what felt like months of dieting and only eating our greens.
The second season came in 2021, and I personally had very little appetite for sweets. You can’t only eat dessert, after all. But I toughed it out, because many shows have a sophomore slump. Danny Roja’s “football is life” lost its charm. What was worse, they took a character everyone loved, Nate, and made him a villain for reasons I can never explain. The writing became self-aware in a bad way. They tackled more therapy-based plot lines, fewer soccer ones.
When season three was released in 2023, I couldn’t get through the first episode. I don’t even know what happens, aside from what I saw online, like this after-school PSA, er, scene from the show.
Now, with the upcoming release of season four (August 5), I have to admit, I’m a little scared. Especially since Ted will be coaching a women’s soccer team, and I’m a women’s soccer stan.
Sports shouldn’t be about toxic positivity. Good sports TV (just like real sports storylines) is about heartbreak, triumph, beating the odds. It’s not after school PSAs and finales wrapped up in a perfect bow. It’s not about touching difficult subjects with white gloves, or approaching things with a smile and a “dance like no one’s watching.”
I hope I’m wrong, but I am bracing myself for some of the mushiest, honeyest Ted Lasso-isms yet (“...there’s a reason that the rearview mirror is smaller than the windshield,” for instance) at a time when it’s more important than ever to treat women’s sports as equal to men’s. If you love women’s sports, you have to be able to critique certain things about the sport, the players, the teams, just like you would men’s. Sometimes, the respect is shown in the disdain.
What I want to see is comedy. I want less “believe in yourself”, “be curious, not judgemental” and more sillies. In jogging my memory about this show, (since it’s been a few years) I found a YouTube video called “Ted fights back with kindness & humor” and I can’t quite tell which parts are even supposed to be funny. Well, I can, because the music shoves down your throat when you’re supposed to feel sad or happy or laugh. But otherwise, I’m confused by the whole thing.
Anyway, I’m hoping, praying, and choosing to Believe (ha ha…) that they’ll treat this next season as the comedy it should be. Especially because women’s sports never benefit from toxic positivity.
Or, honestly, this.
I feel like every time I hear something new about Under Armour, I think about this meme.
They’re either crushing it or they’re giving up on basketball (goodbye, Kelsey Plum and Steph Curry). They’re either clickclacking or struggling to make sales. This time, it’s more good than bad, it seems.
They’re using some non-traditional branding approaches to partner with stars like country music singers (Parker McCollum) and rappers-turned-run-enthusiasts (Gunna). Is it working? I don’t know, I’m not the expert, you’d have to ask my colleague, Dan, for an answer on that. But I am interested.
Especially because the ads and assets surrounding UA athlete and Spanish soccer star Ferran Torres have been good.
From golf to scripted hockey series to Justin Jefferson, I’m kind of surprised to find out Under Armour is low-key everywhere right now.
And to be honest, you love to see it.
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