TV Shows Love Talking College Hoops

…And all you need to fill it out are your ears. Lots of athletes make music these days. It’s up to you to decide which are bangers, and which make your ears bleed. 

Deion Sanders wants to bring the NFL preseason to college. Sanders thinks spring games should be played against actual opponents—after a few days of matching up in practice, of course. And Syracuse said they’re down to go Prime Time in the springtime. 

Cameron, The Inviter. Cameron Brink DM’d Tyler, The Creator, to invite him to a Sparks game, and he responded pretty much how you’d expect. Guess you could say the future looks less odd and more just him at a basketball game. 

Mookie Betts bought a bowling team. And since it’s common knowledge he can bowl a perfect game, might we suggest he tries his hand at pitching? 

Fast Company named their 10 most innovative companies, and many of them are sports-adjacent. Looks like sports are the present and the future. Hop in or eat our dust.

As a sports fan, one of the small joys in life occurs when you’re watching a TV show or film and a character mentions a team you love. This last week, if you’re a White Lotus-watcher, you saw this shot and immediately saw the meme potential. So did social media, by the way. 

One of White Lotus’ subplots is whether Lochlan Ratliff will choose his mother’s alma mater, UNC, or follow in his dad’s footsteps at Duke. 

Sports have become a part of pop culture in many ways, and because of its welcoming nature, March Madness seems to be the event that’s most often referenced. 

Earlier this year, in Oscar-winning film, A Real Pain, Jessie Eisenberg sported a Hoosiers hat for much of the duration. Some people don’t know he’s a real hoopshead and he’s been going to Indiana games forever. He even played one-on-one against Tyra Buss back in the day. 

Because sometimes writers are not “sports people,” they don’t quite nail the references. A few of the funniest mentions occurred in the early 2000s. Not surprising, considering everything from that era feels funny and/or surreal (raise your hand if you were wearing sock buns and business casual attire to the club).

In Gossip Girl, when Nate Archibald suggests they watch Villanova whoop a** on Notre Dame, Raina Thorpe quips back and says, “My father and I, we’re Notre Dame fans.” Nate is beside himself as if these two schools have a storied hundred-year rivalry. It’s not like the teams love each other, but nonetheless, a random pull for the show. 

A similar thing happens in Gilmore Girls, not when Rory’s dad Chris watches UK/Alabama men’s hoops, but when two men in a bar (who are these men, anyway?), attribute JJ Redick’s “96% free throw average” as being the key to Duke winning it all this year. Usually, someone would refer to that as a “free throw percentage,” but we have to give it to the Thespians for even attempting the line. 

Soaps even love hoops. The Bold and the Beautiful did a whole segment on the ineffable betrayal of having a loved one copy your bracket. People have died for less on those shows (don’t worry, they always come back to life somehow). 

Speaking of brackets, this SNL sketch with Amy Poehler and Peyton Manning will always be a classic. 

@huggyattack

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And just in case our international audience doesn’t really understand the references here, remember in Succession when Roman Roy attempts to buy his father’s love with the purchase of Heart of Midlothian aka the Scottish soccer team he thinks his dad loves, only to find out his dad loves Hibs, and Hearts are their biggest rivals? Brutal stuff. 

We should be talking more about Puma. Well, we are, but maybe you should, too. 

Earlier this week, the Premier League told 25-year-long partner Nike they were running out to grab milk. They never came back. 

Then the league announced they’d be partnering with Nike competitor Puma to supply the official ball, starting next season. Puma also supplies the match balls for La Liga and Serie A. The brand’s increasing dominance is in part a result of Nike’s desire to pull out of certain partnerships to focus on its turnaround plan, but this shift might also indicate a minor (major? you be the judge) boost in the market for Puma in general, which has got used to finishing behind the Swoosh and Adidas over the years. 

The German brand is increasingly flexing its fashion muscles too, revealing a Balenciaga collab for its Speedcat sneaker at Paris Fashion Week. Puma also brought athletes to Barbados to celebrate Fenty x Puma with Queen Rih herself, hosting a sporty field day at her old school that included Puma athletes like Skylar Diggins-Smith and track & field star Charokee Young.

Somebody give ‘em a whistle because Trinity Rodman and Ben Shelton are official. And the internet is being really chill and not freaking out at all.