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What If Dance Was On SportsCenter? This Pro League Will Make Sure It Is
Plus, It’s Met Gala Day
…On our website. In honor of the Met Gala tonight, our site editors worked their fingers to the bone to craft the perfect and complete takeover of all things fashion and sport. Pregame the main event with some light reading. I heard Anne Hathaway is going to wear an upcycled OG Anunoby jersey.
Every year, Spotify features an artist on a limited edition F.C. Barca El Clásico kit. This year, the jerseys will feature our All American B*tch, Olivia Rodrigo. Good 4 U, girl!
Am I the last person to know these two certified buckets have been besties since childhood? The Indiana Fever’s Raven Johnson and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards have been training together since they were 14, and you’re just now telling me? They’ve been talking sh*t to each other for 10 years, and you didn’t think I should know that??? Thanks a lot!
Grammy winner Ed Sheeran became part-owner of his hometown team, Ipswich Town F.C., in 2024, and watched in horror as they were relegated that season. This weekend, The Tractor Boys (yes, that’s what they call themselves) just clinched promotion back to the Premier League. Ed (and the team) is ecstatic, it appears. Pure class, mate.
A lot of really sick stuff was going on at the Miami Grand Prix this past weekend. One of those aforementioned sick things was Serena Williams’s mini love letter to Lewis Hamilton. Most of the other cool stuff involves yachts and champagne.
Forward this to someone who can cut a rug. We should start saying cut a rug again.
“Dance isn’t a sport” I remember hearing my classmates (usually boys, let’s be real) say to me growing up. As a kid, I only danced briefly and very casually before I began to dedicate every waking moment to my (fruitless) soccer career, but I belonged to a dance family, and I love arguing, so I always felt impassioned enough to tell the ignorant classmates (boys) they were ill-informed.
Many (many, many, many) years later, it feels like society has a better grasp of what makes a sport. Dance isn’t as disrespected as it once was, but traditional sports fans still have to go out of their way to learn about it. Dance historically is not on SportsCenter. But what if it was? That’s the watershed moment it feels like we’re on the cusp of, thanks to the International Dance League.
So, I want to take this moment to come out publicly as being #proprodance (sorry to get political).
I went to the debut competition of the debut season in midtown Manhattan this weekend, and it was eye-opening for a few reasons. First, it’s clear the league/teams have large enough fandoms to fill a ballroom in NYC, and second, the founders have managed to bring in huge partners and cultural icons.
Beauty brand e.l.f. sponsored the event, which meant each fan had a goodie bag on their seats. Honda Stage had branding everywhere, along with a literal Honda automobile in the building.
Saweetie played a halftime show. I asked co-founder Connor Lim who was playing halftime at the remaining five series, and he said I’d have to wait and see.
I also asked what he would tell fans of the “Big Four” sports, to get them to understand how special IDL is, and he said not only are these the best dancers in the world, but the dancers involved in this league are choreographing our favorite music artists. If that doesn’t make your ears perk up, I don’t know what will.
It was also a cultural celebration in many ways. New Zealand’s crew, “Royal Family,” is known for their “polyswagg” style. “1Million,” the team from Seoul, to a dummy like me, was like the best of the best of Kpop choreography.
“Brotherhood,” the team from Vancouver, was breathtaking. If you need immediate dopamine, start this stream at 2:46:12 (then keep going, then go back and watch the ones you missed).
The next series is in Vancouver on May 23.
After a season that wasn’t the NBA’s most interesting (that seems fair to say, right?), the playoffs have been delivering…and then some. Actual basketball aside, which was very good, (did you see this play?) we got some of the best memes in a while. It’s not always fun to be online, but it has been for the NBA playoffs.
I can only imagine we’ll get loads more S-tier memes like the one above, especially considering the Knicks will be playing the 76ers, and Knicks fans and Philly-based fans are two of the most insane (positive, mostly) groups of people alive.
Plus, we’re going to see this years-old (but somehow unbeknownst-to-me) beef between two of the most boisterous bigs in the league.
It turns out KAT is unstoppable, post DWP2 appearance, so Joel has his work cut out for him.
And if you even think about selling your tickets to Anne Hathaway or Timothée Chalamet, Joel Embiid will excommunicate you from the fanbase.
Speaking of, we will definitely be seeing more of Anne Hathaway.
Lock in for OKC/Lakers.
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