…Are you not entertained? …. Well, are you not? Maybe a discussion for another day. For now, let’s join Dan Shafer in pouring one out for the Freak who saved basketball in Milwaukee.

The big news out of Barclays Center yesterday was that Julius Randle (and fam!) are coming back to New— Alright, alright, my Nets fan editor tried to slide that one through, but it was indeed all happening in Brooklyn last night, where AJ Dybantsa went to Washington with the first overall pick, as expected, and the Draft Day fits were in midseason form, also as expected. 

‘Twas the night of the NBA draft, and we were dreaming about a soccer bar in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Everyone’s been asking if the World Cup will make America fall in love with soccer, and the answer just might be found at Casuals Soccer Hall.

Somewhat lost amid all the heart-melting stories during the first fortnight of the World Cup was all the Ronaldo hate. Well, the 41-year-old had a resounding answer to his haters (actually he had two). Madison Hammond, the writer of our cousin OffBallFC newsletter, has thoughts. It’s almost as if she had a premonition.

Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame didn’t account for an expanded World Cup. Since the warmup matches kicked off, this tournament has become an extended influencer factory. From ballers like Vozinha and Tim Payne to superfans like Freddy and Lumumba Vea you never know who’s going to take over your timeline next.

I’ve been doing a lot of Cannes-dropping this last week, which I get to do only by the grace of SPORT BEACH CEO Beth Sidhu, the architect of what the New York Post (accurately) describes as “one of the most transformative beachfront activations at Cannes Lions in recent years.” Alexandra Steigrad’s interview is full of gold, our favorite nugget being the early days when Beth would scramble to assure partners they weren’t buying into Fyre Fest 2.0. You can follow my daily dispatch from SPORT BEACH at Cannes by signing up here.

I knew weeks ago I would interview Katie Nolan at Cannes, but I didn’t write any questions. I didn’t plan much for it at all. Because when you talk to Katie Nolan, you don’t need questions. She and I can pretty much talk for hours without a lull (maybe that isn’t a surprise at all, if you know either of us). But I mostly just figured the most interesting conversation would come naturally. We are both in the South of France (brag), interviewing/being interviewed by (me the former/her the latter) interesting people. Katie’s podcast “Casuals” and her daily radio show, “Fan Service,” are both part of the Sirius family (the headliners, if you ask me, and everyone else probably). 

She’s someone I’ve felt ineffably inspired by ever since I found her on “Garbage Time.” She’s someone I am not afraid to gush about her, I’ve told her this 100 times myself, and in fact I think we first became friends because I slid into her DMs (someone fact check me, go through my DMs). She has such a way of entertaining her audience while provoking critical thought, and also welcoming people into her space all at once. And just like “Casuals” aims to pique the interest of those curious about or just starting with sports, it also addresses and retains the interest of diehards, too. She’s a master of sports storytelling, a discourse machine, in a good — great — way. 

Anyway, in the musical stylings of Interview Mag (we’re pretending I’m a celebrity, here) here’s a chat between Katie and I about Cannes, music, and other stuff. 

Ashtyn Butuso: Here we are at Cannes, babe. 

Katie Nolan: Yes! It's hot. And they warned me. They were like, "It's gonna be sunny. It's gonna be hot." I was like, "How hot can it really be?"

But then I've been, like, been watching the news. The news is like, "This is the hottest it's been in France since 2002," or something like that. 

AB: They're swimming in the Seine. 

KN: I don't think they should do that. The Olympics taught me I don't think you're supposed to do that unless they specifically clean it out for you to do that. [Gestures into the distance]

What body of water is this? 

AB: I almost just Googled, "What sea is this?" 

KN: Perfect. We sound stupid. Cut this out. 

AB: None of this is going in (lie). What's your favorite part of Cannes so far? 

KN: The gathering of people. It's been fascinating to see. I flew over here, Hoda Kotb was on my flight, so that was pretty neat.

AB: Did you take a PJ? 

KN: No. Oh, no, no. And then in the lobby of my hotel, I saw Keke Palmer, who in my mind, is my best friend. 

AB: Did you say something to her?

KN: No, because I was too scared that she'd go, "I don't like you." And I was like there goes the myth. 

AB: She would never do that. 

KN: I couldn't run the risk. 

AB: Have you ever met someone, a celebrity, that did that to you? 

KB: Not that I’ve noticed. I'm sure they've done a good job of concealing it. 

AB: You know what I wanna know, that I randomly woke up and thought about? I don't know what kind of music you listen to. 

KN: Wow and I don’t know what kind of music you listen to. 

AB: Maybe we should figure it out. Are you listening to Olivia Rodrigo? 

KN: I do love her. I think if I were younger, she'd be my aesthetic. I'd be an Olivia Rodrigo girl. Her purple vibe–

AB: Are you a purple girl? 

KN: I like purple. I guess I don't really ever wear it. Brown is becoming my new- I’m way into brown.

AB: Dude, brown's mine too. Welcome. 

KN: It's why we're friends. But yet we know nothing about each other.

I’m pulling up my current playlist. I've got some Bad Bunny. CKY. Are you familiar with CKY? Lola Young. Doja Cat. Laufey. Midnight Sun — I'm having a Midnight Sun summer, Zara Larsson. 

AB: Let me set a scene, this is a long story that I’m telling for some reason but, okay, Clive Davis, that famed producer died. 

KN: Yeah, which I thought happened a long while ago. I'm so sorry to that man, to quote my best friend [Keke Palmer]. 

AB: I did too! Anyway, then I was watching an interview with Diane Warren talking about how she and Clive were tight, and then she was like, ‘Yeah, I wrote this song called ‘Because You Loved Me’ ’and I was like: record scratch! I thought Celine Dion wrote that. Celine was my family’s cleaning music. Was there a particular CD that was playing at your parents' house when you were doing chores or whatever? 

KN: Yes. It was Bonnie Raitt. The Immaculate Collection, Madonna's greatest hits. And… Paula Abdul! 

AB: Yes! Paula Abdul. 

KN: Those were the three cassettes z— because I'm older than you. I’ve been listening to Edith Piaf while I’ve been here. A lot of [accent] ‘La Vie En Rose.’ 

AB: She's so sad. 

KN: Yeah, it is not good French Riviera music. But just being in France, hearing a lot of French, it made me wanna hear that song. 

AB: Who have you been chatting with while you’ve been here? Are you doing your shows live? 

KN: We pre-taped ‘em before we left. 

AB: You are so smart. 

KN: So I could fully focus on brand integration. And advertising. 

AB: Ah ha…And how are you integrating with the brands? 

KN: Oh, I’m really doing it. I'm doing it organically, authentically. 

AB: Right yeah and are you leveraging AI? 

KN: I'm not. 

AB: Oh. Let's get you leveraging some AI. 

KN: But really, part of the podcasting thing, part of my whole ethos, is the human element of stuff is what I love most. 

So while AI is great in areas of the business I'm sure, not for me in this area. You can tell when something's a bot. 

KN: And I don't want. So I'm actually embracing mistakes. That's my new era. Cause if you think about it, the opposite of artificial intelligence is…human stupidity. And so I'm really leaning into that. 

AB: Oh my God, this is huge for me. 

KN: Yeah, this is big. It's a big moment for people like us who make dumb mistakes. 'Cause you go at least it's proof it’s not AI generated. 

AB: What activations have you hit up here? Have you been over to the Pinterest cabana? They have tattoos. 

KN: Like real tattoos? 

AB: Wait, do you have tattoos? 

KN: No. I'm afraid of needles. But I could get a little something…I'd probably pass out. But maybe that would make me a better candidate.

AB: [Laughs] “DON’T WAKE ME UP!” 

KN: I’d wake up and go, "A Penis? A Pinterest penis?" [Laughs]

AB: What did you do yesterday while I was at Pinterest? 

KN: I was at a thing. Daniel Sturridge was there. They didn’t have the [World Cup] game on. I was like, "Surely he would want to watch some soccer." 

AB: Did you say hi?

KN: No! I’m like “I love you from afar. Please don't look this way. I'm so nervous.” 

AB: I think you need to walk with a bit more hubris. But speaking of the World Cup, how do you feel about the USMNT? 

KB: I've made fun of this team for so long. 

AB: I'm anti-making fun of them now.  

KN: No, me too. I've done a full pivot. 

AB: But here's what's annoying about this: We can't be fair-weather fans. 

KN: But the thing is, what happened, I think, was that a lot of sports were always using women as a punchline. And our women are so dominant, that it was finally a place where we could make fun of the boys for stinking. It was just us taking out generations of them taking it out on us. And I think now that's out of our system. Now I'm full in and I'm actually not okay with anyone making fun of them. 

AB: I really like that point of view, because I've been trying to figure out why we are so anti-them, and what has it been, what's been the reason?

KN: Yeah and now we can never abandon them. We have to support them forever.