…There’s a new San Francisco treat in town: the WNBA fan reading this. See you at the 1017 WNBA All-Star in The City. We can stay in my old apartment, next door to the combination Taco Bell/KFC.
Whoa, is that Aryna Sabalenka? No? Ok, well that impression might get you the top spot at this Aryna Sabalenka look-and-act-a-like competition, hosted by that funny guy on SNL, featuring Saby herself as an esteemed judge. Next Friday at 5pm.
Weird stuff going on in the NBA these days. Jeannie Buss’s family is throwing her under themselves with their latest statement on the sale of the Lakers to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner. At first it seemed like the NBA granted Steve Ballmer absolution in the Kawhi Leonard Saga, but it seems that’s not exactly true. Here’s everything we know.
Roger Goodell says he’s sure the NFL will have a non-American team someday. And the internet seems mostly mad that they’ll have to accommodate time zones abroad. I understand the frustration, but I’m a little tired today, so I’ll deal with this when the time comes.
Spanish midfielder Rodri got a warm welcome from FC Barcelona fans after the club stole him from rival Real Madrid — on Olivia Rodrigo’s Instagram account. Since Rodri is IG-less, fans took to the popstar’s page to welcome him.
Forward this to the friend with the worst takes you’ve ever heard.
I sat down with one of my favorite accounts on the internet: Freezing Cold Takes. Fred Segal, the mind behind the perfect account, has spent years of his life finding bad takes, calling them out, and telling the story behind them. And he means no harm, by the way. We’ve all had dumb takes. Some of us are dumb enough to publish them on the internet. I’m surprised but happy to find out none of my dumb takes are in his upcoming book, Freezing Cold Takes: College Football: An Incomplete History of the Game's Most Inaccurate Statements and Predictions. But what I was mostly excited to find out was, what are some of the worst takes of all time, and how does Segal go about keeping track of them? Read on below.
Ashtyn Butuso: I want to start with the origin story of Freezing Cold Takes. Did you have the wherewithal to think, "Oh my god, this is such a good idea." Or were you kind of like, "I'm just messing around and seeing what this can be?”
Fred Segal: I was just messing around. It was, I'm going to say November 2015, and I would see a sports personality post about something saying this team's going to win this game or whatever and I’d kind of remember it. And then when they didn't win the game, I'd be like, oh that guy got that wrong. And then like a couple weeks later, that same personality would write “just like I predicted…” and then post something that they got right and then repost it to show everyone they got it right. And I was just like, wait a second, dude. You just got the last two wrong that I saw!” Then I was just like, I'm just going to post what they get wrong from now on just to mess with them…Everyone seemed to like it a lot more than I thought they would and it just blew up.
AB: What were you doing before Freezing Cold Takes?
FS: I was an attorney during that time. I probably was doing freezing cold takes.
AB: An attorney! No wonder you were keeping the receipts.
FS: Well, what helped me was as an attorney, I figured out how to use the search terms really well from Twitter search because I used to search case law on this program and it was a lot of the same language, the same type of stuff that you use to search.
AB: You don’t have to divulge too much, but is your new book straight up a bunch of freezing cold takes or is there commentary?
FS: I don't just list the cold takes…that's exactly what I did not want to do. I didn’t want it to be an extension of my feed at all… It goes through the background of what was going on at the time and then what happened afterwards and then kind of some of the backlash too. And I think that part people really enjoy because they will see what was going on at the time.
AB: Apart from writing a book, where are the other crazy places creating this account has taken you?
FS: Well, interacting with all these people from sports media who I never thought I would interact with or even talk to. They all know the account. And it’s in their head a lot. I've been on NFL Network and ESPN and doing stuff just like this.
Now, my favorite thing is when people I thought were famous back in the day…follow the account. A TV star from a show I used to watch in the ‘90s. That's my favorite; I have such an emotional attachment to all the shows I used to watch when I was growing up. And then just getting myself into the sports ecosystem. I never thought I would personally be in there.
AB: My read is that you almost come from an analytical point of view, where you want to make a point that hot takes can be bad. Does that feel accurate?
FS: I don't know if it gets that deep. I think that there's just a person for everything. You know, there's a person in your friend group who likes to talk about politics too much, there's a person who's always into the news. I'm the old takes guy. I don't know if I'm necessarily trying to prove a point. Online, there's a tendency for everybody to promote themselves and all the things they're doing. So it's kind of just a buffer to keep them honest.
AB: Keep them grounded a little bit. People are complex. Nobody's ever always right, always wrong.
FS: Right. Exactly. I don't insult people at all, no matter what they're like.
AB: What are a couple of your all-time worst takes?
FS: Okay, I don't think there's a worst take ever, but I think my favorite ones… they're really bad. Do you remember Auburn-Alabama game in 2013?
AB: The kick six.
FS: You remember? Good. Right before the kicker went out, the game clock ran out…and Nick Saban, the coach of Alabama, argued that there was one second left on the clock. They gave it to him, and he sent out the kicker to kick a 57-yard field goal. And then someone wrote, "If you're Saban, why not try a 57 yard field goal? Nothing to lose."
AB: Oh my god, noooo! I was watching that game with an Alabama guy who played for Nick Saban a couple years before that and I went to Oregon State, so, it didn't matter to me but, boy was that an interesting game to watch.
FS: I have an Oregon State one in the book…
AB: Don't say it.
FS: Back in the 80s, when Oregon State football was one of the worst teams in the country…
AB: Yes.
FS: Washington was ranked like top 10 and they were like 40, and [Oregon State] won and that was one of the ones I feature in the book.
AB: Yes! Do you have one that you're keeping an eye on for this season?
FS: Well…the best stuff usually comes from week one or week two. That's when everybody overreacts. When a team plays well the first week, you seem to assume that that's how they're going to play the whole rest of the time is very good. But it just doesn't turn out that way.
I’d like to include this portrait of Oluchi Okananwa. It’s special to me because my work always focuses on the athlete beyond their jersey. This image represents the duality of athletes and the role they play in fashion and art today. She and I also came together on the creative direction for this shoot which is something I enjoy when I truly collaborate with the athletes who I’ve built relationships with.
Capturing the raw energy and connection between Alvin Kamara and Russell Westbrook at the AMIRI show was a real privilege behind the lens. This shot means a lot to me because it's more than just two sports legends. It catches that genuine moment where their worlds aligned right in the middle of Fashion Week.
Last year I took a similar close-up of Paige's eyes. I wanted to see if I could get even more detail this year. I love shooting details like this with players because it shows women's sports in ways we don't usually get to see them.
Sports culture lives in its people, and that’s the stories that I'm often after. Faces, rituals, gestures, moments of connection, unconscious things that people do that reveal their passions. It all reveals how deep someone’s devotion goes. I feel lucky to have met a lot of people across the world that feel this devotion to sport in a unique way, and that’s what still brings me to working in the intersection of sports and culture. It’s the people, and that feeling of what it means to be part of something.
The freshly crowned “King of New York” admires his new hardware!
I parked myself in the second row on a unique angle waiting for NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson to exhale and glance over and I snapped at the perfect moment.
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