Sports Love Stories Destined For The Hallmark Channel
The meet-cutes that led to love. Cue the snowfall.
Photo credit: Instagram.com/instyle and instagram.com/julieertz, BigStock
Holiday love stories are bringing home the bacon for the Hallmark Channel and Netflix this holiday season, so it’s only a matter of time before ESPN jumps on board.
You heard it here first,
The Last Night’s Game Team
1. Timing is everything. A few divorces and a handful of years couldn’t keep these two star-crossed lovers apart. Jennifer Lopez and former MLB (Major League Baseball) player and broadcaster Alex Rodriguez had been friends for years. They dated, married and divorced other people and then they were both single. Then there was the text that changed everything. ARod was nervous during a dinner together so he excused himself and went to the bathroom to readjust his thoughts. Then and there he sent his dinner date JLo a text that said “You look sexy AF” and the rest is history. WHY HAS HALLMARK NOT MADE THIS MOVIE?
2. We’ve all heard it before, a girl falls in love with a bad boy and then the bad boy breaks the girl’s heart. That and one bad pickup line bring us to our next couple. After a very public relationship with golfer Tiger Woods, skier Lindsey Vonn was introduced to NHL (National Hockey League) player P.K. Subban at the ESPYs. It was at that event that he told a reporter "It's hotter outside than Lindsey Vonn looks today, which is pretty hot." Well, the line worked. The two, who started dating in 2018 and were engaged in the summer of 2019. The wedding is on hold thanks to COVID. The couple’s passion for each other and their charitable efforts are something to admire. HEART EMOJI
3. Do you know that plotline where two members of royalty happen to run into each other at a coffee shop? This is the same but different. Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe are the unofficial first couple of women’s sports. The two have been dating since meeting at the 2016 Summer Olympics and are a fixture in the Seattle sports scene. They’ve been featured on the cover of InStyle Magazine and were the first same-sex couple to grace the cover of ESPN’s Body Issue. The outspoken and seriously fashionable duo seem to have it all including a plethora of championships and safety deposit boxes for all their gold medals. The two, who were engaged in 2020, also have each other’s backs. During the Women’s World Cup, Bird, who plays for the Seattle Storm (WNBA - Women’s National Basketball Association), came to Rapinoe’s defense in her battle with President Trump, penning an essay titled “So the President F—ing Hates My Girlfriend.” ROM-COM WRITTEN ALL OVER IT
4. The love story that started with an awkward first dance. Tennis greats Steffi Graff and Andre Agassi started dating after the French Open in 1999 but their story goes back years before that. In 1992 both Graff and Agassi (who tried to pick up Graff the year before at the French Open) were winners at Wimbledon. It used to be a tradition for the two winners of Wimbledon to dance with each other at the Wimbledon Champions’ Ball. But as luck would have it, that was the year they decided to cancel the dance due to “lukewarm receptions from modern players.” It all worked out in the end as the two married in 2001 and are still together. FATE WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS
5. Our final story is a modern storyline of a virtual, long-distance relationship. Together Julie and Zach Ertz have a Super Bowl championship, two World Cup victories and what do they have to prove it? A Visa commercial. The Philadelphia Eagles tight end (NFL - National Football League) and the soccer star met at a Stanford baseball game in 2012 when he offered her sunflower seeds. They had their first date at Chipotle and the rest is history. Married since 2017, together they too have bared it all for ESPN’s Body Issue. With both of them being at the pinnacles of their careers, they live the saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” They say they’re lucky to have three months a year in the same city. WHEN FACETIME IS YOUR FRIEND
All The Cool Kids Are Doing It - 5 Things You Need To Know About Esports
The NBA is launching its esports league this week. Therefore, we're keeping you in the know on the sport that’s all the rage and slowly taking over the world.
The NBA is launching its esports league this week. Therefore, we're keeping you in the know on the sport that’s all the rage and slowly taking over the world.
Never stop learning,
The Last Night’s Game Team
5 Things You Need To Know About Esports
1. Esports are based on multiplayer video games. Professional gamers play in tournaments and online. Online play will attract over 100,000 viewers who watch through Twitch, owned by Amazon (which is where you can also watch NBA 2K live), or YouTube. If you think that’s odd, on Sundays we all gather around to watch guys play football on TV. Same same but different.
2. Tournaments are often dictated by the game (i.e. Call of Duty) or esports gaming leagues (i.e. NBA 2K or Major League Gaming). Games are categorized by PC (computer) or console (i.e. Xbox).
3. Corporations are following the trend. Players resemble race car drivers with sponsor logos all over their tournament clothes. Coke and Nissan are on board and Red Bull has a massive portfolio of esports teams. WHY RED BULL?
4. The NBA (National Basketball Association) is making history as the first North American major professional sports league to have its own esports league, which starts Friday. The NBA 2k League features the best players of the NBA 2k video game. SCHEDULE & MORE
5. In the case of NBA 2K, the players can make between $32,000 - $37,000. Not only are they paid generously for their six-month contract but they receive funds to relocate to whichever town they’re playing for. Living arrangements, health insurance and a retirement plan are also perks of the gig. We may need to consider a career change. MAKING BANK
Still not convinced of the esports phenomenon? A gamer named Ninja, leads all athletes worldwide in social media engagement, beating athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James and Shaq. RANKINGS
What’s on tap today?
Now that you’re caught up with what the cool kids are doing, here’s what everyone will be talking about today including the Met Gala, a first for a long-time star and why you’re going to need your passport in 2019. READ
Making It Happen
This is no early April Fool’s prank; here’s what’s happening in sports so you can create conversation all weekend long.
This is no early April Fool’s prank; here’s what’s happening in sports so you can create conversation all weekend long.
Like a boss,
The Last Night’s Game Team
MLB (Major League Baseball)
If your Thursday was a home run. By all accounts, Opening Day in baseball was a success. It started with a home run on the first pitch of the season and ended with a visit from Jennifer Lopez in the broadcast booth, where her former baseball player boyfriend, Alex Rodriguez, was broadcasting the Los Angeles Dodgers – San Francisco Giants game.
College Basketball
If your mama taught you to respect your elders. The final four is Saturday night and it features Villanova (#1) vs. Kansas (#1) and Loyola Chicago (#11) vs. Michigan (#3). The teams may have met their match but so has Sister Jean. The 98-year-old nun and chaplain for Loyola has been challenged by Michigan’s “Fab Five” legend and former NBA (National Basketball Association) player Jalen Rose’s grandma. The 100-year-old Grandma Rose loves her some Michigan basketball and told Sister that “it’s been fun but Loyola’s time is up.” A little shade thrown from her elders.
Overtime
The Los Angeles Rams (NFL – National Football League) have made a lot of noise in the offseason with on-field acquisitions but this one made history. The Rams hosted cheerleading tryouts this week and their new squad will feature the first two male cheerleaders ever in the NFL. You’ll see Quinton and Napoleon, both professional dancers, on the sideline this the fall. (Other teams have stuntmen, but not actual male cheerleaders/dancers).
Sideline stat
The NCAA (governing body of college sports) allocates $3,000 - $4,000 for players’ families to attend the final four and the national championship game. The money is for travel costs, hotel rooms and meals. The funds allow Kansas player Udoka Azubuike’s mom to see her son play for the first time. Her visa was approved for travel from Nigeria. Also on Kansas, Svi Mykhailiuk, whose parents travelled from the Ukraine to see him play on Saturday. MORE
Coaches’ corner
Zeke Upshaw of the Detroit Pistons G League developmental league collapsed on the court on Saturday and later died. Last night, the Detroit Pistons honored Upshaw posthumously with an honorary call-up. Being called up means he’ll officially be memorialized in the record books as a player for the Detroit Pistons.
What to watch
March Madness continues tonight with the final four in the women’s bracket. Unlike the men’s bracket, all final four teams started off the tournament ranked #1 in their division – UConn, Notre Dame, Louisville and Mississippi State.
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