…In his Halloween-themed episode, featuring Friend of OffBall™ Katie Nolan dressed as Alysa Liu, Torre facilitated the ultimate meeting of the Steves: Kerr and his doppelganger, Steve Gillis. It starts with Pablo lightly razzing Gillis for being coy about trying to look like the Golden State coach, and ended with a group chat featuring both Steves. They’re friends now. 

By now you probably know the Brewers are baseball’s world champs (unless you ask Noah Lyles), and this image, by photographer Carmen Mandato is the world champ of photos. I’m absolutely obsessed with her photography now, and you should be, too. 

New theory: Anthony Edwards has an Adidas-equipped studio in his house, orange backdrop and all. It’s the only explanation for how they push out his A3 promos so fast. Like this one, which features a dollar store Timmy C, and a Denver-based Bizarro Ant.  

When I was in Paris, I was lucky enough to be interviewed by a reader-turned-friend of the newsletter, Michael Boamah. You can read that interview here and tell me my takes are good or bad or make fun of my big forehead or whatever. 

Have you heard about the Mbappé-China drama? If not, our friend Daniel-Yaw Miller has you covered. Basically, the soccer legend called Mao Zedong “some dictator.” Which got himself in some hot water, and put On’s stock in the toilet. Do we really expect soccer stars to understand geopolitics, though? We barely expect politicians to understand them. 

Five years ago, Lisa Sahakian ditched her reality TV job to turn her pipe dream into reality with Ian Charms. The fun-out-loud homemade jewelry and apparel brand exploded across music and pop culture at large. Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, Joe Jonas, Jennie from BLACKPINK—name a celeb, they’ve probably worn Ian Charms. Eventually, athletes and celebrity sports fans wanted in, and now, Sahakian is charming the sports world. OffBall Special Contributor Megan Armstrong caught up with her below.

Megan Armstrong: When did you start noticing the sports world embracing Charms?

Lisa Sahakian: I felt like the sports world found Ian Charms as opposed to the other way around. It was a lot of random [stylist] pulls, like the Lewis Hamilton one, or team stylists reaching out. And then it becomes a bit of word of mouth.

MA: You have the Ferrari tee, the Michael bracelet, and the Michael ring in honor of your late dad, plus the Danili necklace in honor of the middle name you share with your dad and brother. Five years ago, when we first met, you told me that he lost it when Dua Lipa wore Charms while speaking to Elton John on an Instagram Live. Since his passing, have you seen someone in the sports sphere wearing Charms that felt like a sign from him?

LS: I knew the Timothee thing would've had him freaking out. That was so fun watching the game itself in a room with guys who are screaming about the score, and I'm screaming every time  the camera slightly pans to a blurry image across Timothee’s hand. That's exactly how my dad and I would watch that game.

MA: Can you walk me through the first time you saw Timothee wearing the “Champian” ring?

LS: Literally during Game 4 [of the NBA Finals]. I was like, "Oh my God." I'd given it to him so long before that. I Googled him and realized he'd been wearing it nonstop for, like, a month or two before, just out and about.

But the ring, I noticed, was too big on him because he kept taking it off and switching it between fingers. It was kind of funny to see during the Finals games — switching from hand to hand while he's nervous. I was like, "Oh, it's his little fidget thing,” which I liked.

MA: I remember Pete Davidson rocking Charms at Wimbledon.

LS: That was his first piece I made him, and it has Lorne Michaels in the pendant. He wore it on that date [with Phoebe Dynevor at Wimbledon], and all the people were like, "Oh, the pendant has his girlfriend in it." And then there were articles on Page Six that zoomed in and they're like, "It's actually a weird photo of Lorne Michaels, not his girlfriend.” So that was an iconic sports moment, too. When he got it, his stylist said, the moment he opened it, he FaceTimed Lorne. That’s one of those ones that goes in the journal.

MA: If you could make a custom charm for an athlete or sports icon, who would it be?

LS: I mean, LeBron would be iconic. I would obviously do basketball beads, but I wanna make him laugh [with] the bedazzled rhinestone pendant with a photo of his biggest nemesis.

MA: How did the customs for the Los Angeles Kings come about?

LS: That kind of happened through my boyfriend's family. His mom has worked with [Kings owners] AEG for a while, but she works with the WAGs of the Kings. So we did the key chains with custom hockey beads because we've never done hockey. And then in the pendants were all the players, and their wives would wear it on their bags, which is so cute.

MA: Have you caught yourself watching more sports now that custom orders and partnerships are hitting?

LS: For sure. It's funny because I never gave a f*ck about the Knicks, obviously.  I'm L.A.-born and raised, and now I'm so hooked into it. I was just like, oh, okay, the celebs walking through the tunnel to get to their seat is a huge moment. It reminded me of — you know when before the Met [Gala], everyone's trying to see them coming out of their hotels? It’s like that. 

MA: What aspect of Charms most lends itself to sports culture?

LS: Sports culture is not subtle at all. The male football and basketball players, especially, and I would argue a lot of them do too much when they're coming through the tunnel. But it's definitely in the same realm. They love the whole show of it. 

I wasn’t really in touch with the drama of sports, but jewelry is such a big part of sports culture. Even lucky charms and [superstitions], that’s another thing. A lot of them will wear the same things or have their specific thing that they think is good luck. But I think definitely just the flashiness, just like if someone's in an Ian Charms necklace. I feel like it says a lot about them. That’s a type of person.

MA: What type of person?

LS: Confident, loud, with their own interests. If someone's so interested in literally anything that it can get them super excited and it brings them together with the community, that's Ian Charms.

MA: What influence do you envision Ian Charms having in the sports sphere?

LS: I want it to be this weirdo disruptor. I think I want it to enter the same way it has entered other pop culture worlds, which is through a celebrity angle. You'll find out about it because your favorite celeb will be wearing it or your favorite celeb’s team will be wearing it. Ian Charms is so noticeable because they're so colorful, and it’s like wearing a jersey. It’s signaling what you support. 

This Halloween week hasn’t been as spooky as those past, I have to say. We had a team of elves, nay goblins, scouring the internet to find out which players wore costumes at all! We’re gonna need a better showing next year. Anyways, here’s what we found. 

Christen Press and Tobin Heath as the Grinch and Cindy Lou are probably my personal favorites. I actually can’t believe that’s Tobin. 

Jaedyn Shaw and Midge Purce dressed up as Smoke and Stack from “Sinners,” which is a sentence made in a lab for me. Trinity Rodman as Patrick Starr is important, too. 

The (American) footballers need to step up their games, but at least Oklahoma State understands the assignment. 

Imma let you finish, Cowboys, but East Tennessee has the spookiest helmets in the game.  

And in the NFL, Jared Goff did his best Bobby Boucher. While the 49ers (and their WAGs) did their best Step Brothers and cartoon superheroes. 

Wemby always shows out on Halloween, and his ‘stumes are always absolutely freakish (positive). He’s got something planned for Saturday. 

All in all, these select few did a great job, but I’m gonna need some to see some more hits this weekend. 

Spend a lot of money, because Game 7 is so worth it.

Reserve a seat on the Tyrese Maxey bandwagon. It’s filling up fast.

Support your local newspaper. Just like Brewers fans.