Not Everything Needs a Controversy
Plus: A family affair, the NFL owner starter kit, and golf graphics gone wrong.
Here are six things we’re discussing to start the week …
What I Can’t Ignore 🙉: It’s become crystal clear as this World Cup advances that the internet can’t let a big sports moment pass without controversy or conspiracy theories. Every game now has some sort of massive viral outrage. Red card reviews! A ball that (maybe) hit the overhead camera wires! Games rigged for Argentina! I’m convinced that many of the people that gripe the loudest about diving ruining soccer are the same ones complaining about Swiss forward Breel Embolo’s blatant second yellow card from Saturday night.
The global soccer powers have already given us plenty of real things to gripe about, and no, it’s not because FIFA has secretly ordered refs to avoid calling fouls on Lionel Messi. It’s the bribery that influenced the bidding for the 2018 (Russia) and the 2022 (Qatar) World Cups. It’s racketeering and wire fraud that led to the 2015 indictment of 14 officials. It’s gaslighting everyone about human rights violations in Qatar four years ago. It’s the blatant cynicism of the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, and the pricing of 2026 tickets to exclude even middle-class families.
Let’s not forget those things, but also, can we please just enjoy the final few games of a World Cup that miraculously has the four best teams on the planet still competing??
What I Learned This Week 🧑🧑🧒: Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon sparked controversy last week by having the names of his wife and five children (one as young as 7 years old) engraved on the Stanley Cup alongside his players. Defenseman Joel Nyström played 38 games for the team last season and didn’t make the cut.
Detroit Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch has put a half-dozen of his kids on the Cup, but they all worked for the team. On the other hand, in 1984 the owner of the Edmonton Oilers had his father’s name engraved, and the NHL later covered it with Xs.
We highly doubt the NHL will have anything to say about Dundon, but in case you were curious (as we were), here are the rules for Stanley Cup names:
- There is space for up to 55 names and teams have to add any player that played 41 regular-season games, or one Final game.
- After that it’s up to team discretion to add other players, management, owners’ kids, etc.
- All names must be approved by the NHL and Hockey Hall of Fame.
Sportico Story of the Week 🏈 : Four NFL teams have been sold in the past decade, and three of the buyers have previously been minority owners of a different team. The latest is tech billionaire Vinod Khosla, who just reached a deal to buy the Seattle Seahawks for a league-record $9.61 billion (news broken by Sportico on Saturday evening!). Those deals give investors familiarity with the league, and vice versa.
David Tepper: Pittsburgh Steelers 🏭 ———> Carolina Panthers 🐱
Josh Harris and David Blitzer: Steelers 🏭 ———> Washington Commanders 🪖
Vinod Khosla: San Francisco 49ers ⛏️———> Seattle Seahawks 🦅
Video That Made Me Laugh ⛳: Golf has some of the best broadcast enhancements in sports, and the lines that help viewers read greens are largely great, but also… LOL 👇
Video the Made Me Cringe 🏌️: With LIV Golf in a state of limbo, there’s been a lot of speculation about whether Bryson DeChambeau, one of the sport’s biggest stars, might try his hand at YouTube golf. DeChambeau has become a popular creator on the video platform, and many wonder if he might be able to do that full time, while occasionally playing the major pro tournaments.
This past week, video surfaced of the 32-year-old filming… something at a course in Canada and it’s bleak. I’d be shocked if he wasn’t full-time on either LIV or the PGA Tour next year.
Non-Sportico Story of the Week 🎾: I enjoyed this short New York Times story about why Czechia is dominating women’s tennis. In case you missed it, there were four women from Czechia in Wimbledon’s final 16, including the two finalists. I had assumed that this was legacy of Martina Navratilova, who defected from Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and redefined the sport. Turns out, neither Wimbledon finalist knew anything about her until they were already dominating youth ranks. The truth appears to be something much simpler, a commentary on how Czech kids learn to play the sport, and where bigger countries like the U.S. may be starting them off on the wrong foot.
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.