'So This Is How It Feels'
You can't believe anything you see online, but these are facts: the Knicks are NBA Champs, Scottish fans are having fun in Boston, and Jacob has a hidden talent.
The World Cup is underway and the Knicks are NBA Champs. Here are some things we’re talking about on Monday…
Non-Sportico Story Of the Week 🏀: I loved this essay—love letter, really—written by my friend Matt Flegenheimer about the Knicks celebrations across New York City on Saturday night. Matt is a lifelong Knicks fans and on Sunday morning we asked him whether he remembered writing it.
What I Don’t Understand 😵💫: The UFC event on the White House lawn on Sunday was a bizarre spectacle for myriad reasons, ranging from dramatic and patriotic to absurd and grotesque. But by far the weirdest part was a since-deleted tweet from former UFC champion and broadcast analyst Daniel Cormier, that appears to show DMs from Eric Trump asking which matches are fixed. Here’s a screenshot 👇
Trump has denied sending these DMs and called them fake. Cormier told TMZ that he was “hacked or something” but has offered very little else in terms of explanation. I’m not buying that convenient excuse, but I also have no faith that the powers that be in UFC or the U.S. Government will do anything to find out.
Sportico Story of the Week 🎭: My colleague Sara wrote a great column on Monday about the increased blend of social media content and advertising. You may have read this viral (and terrifying) Vulture story from a few weeks back that posited that “90% of what you see on the internet is advertising in disguise.” Sara gives the topic a sports focus, starting with Nike and expanding into other viral content that might not be as genuine and organic as it looks.
What I Loved 🎥: So while we at Club Sportico contend that most internet advertising sucks, occasionally it rocks. Here are two examples, one from Fanatics and one from ‘47, about Knicks fans.
What I (Also) Loved 👗: I am very very very skeptical about all these viral accounts claiming to be Europeans learning about American culture (read Sara’s story above!). But I’m choosing to believe that these incredible videos of Scottish fans in Boston are genuine. Here’s the Tartan Army on the march, hyping a local police officer, playing bagpipes at their Airbnb, and enjoying Boston’s one famous slide.
And here, via BBC, the group taking over Fenway Park 👇
What I Loved The Most 🧢: Thanks to all of you who came by our NYC studio last Thursday for our live hang with Backyard Sports and Substack. The night had some great moments, including a full account of the real reason your favorite childhood video game is coming back. It involves a private investigator, Reddit stalking, and of course, Taylor Swift.
But I’ll never forget Jacob putting on the Pablo Sanchez costume and hitting the New York streets on a 99-degree day.
Club Sportico is a community organized by Sportico, a digital media company launched in 2020 to cover the business side of sports. You can read breaking news, smart analysis, and in-depth features from Eben, Jacob and their colleagues at Sportico.com, and listen to the Sporticast podcast wherever you get your audio. Contact us at club@sportico.com.