Give The People What They Want

Whether you're at the office or lying on a beach somewhere during this holiday week, today's conversation starters are a universal language.

Who needs Rosetta Stone?
The Last Night's Game Team

PS – We heard you! The Sports Curious podcast is now live on iTunes, with new content every week. Tune in to be in the know because you never get a second chance at a first impression. LISTEN

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NBA (National Basketball Association)

When Hollywood is calling your name. On Friday LeBron James said peace out to the Cleveland Cavaliers and last night he said hello to the wild west. He signed a deal for $154 million over four years with the third team of his career, the Los Angeles Lakers. His new locale has some calling him LA-bron. Also interesting about the deal? The coach of the Lakers, Luke Walton, was drafted the same year as James (2003). TWITTER WENT CRAZY

Overtime

In the wake of LeBron’s signing, Lakers ticket prices have skyrocketed and all Cleveland Cavaliers fans have to look forward to next season are free TUMS, which the company will giveaway to fans to calm their heartburn from the King James rejection. ALWAYS A SILVER LINING

Sideline stat

Wimbledon starts today and the main attractions are Serena Williams and her daughter Olympia, who took some time off to visit friend Duchess Meghan Markle this weekend. The Wimbledon seeding committee used their discretionary powers to seed Williams at #25, even though she’s not among the top players in the world after her maternity leave. Who to watch on the men’s side? A #1 seeded 36-year-old Roger Federer, who hasn’t been seeded that high in a decade. SCHEDULE

Coaches’ corner

While traditional powerhouse countries like Germany, Portugal, Argentina and Spain have been eliminated from the World Cup, host country Russia has advanced. In one of the two games yesterday that came down to penalty kicks, Russia became the lowest ranked team to ever advance with their win over Spain. BUT THEY DIDN’T PARTY LIKE THE CROATIAN FANS

What to watch

In a battle for the ages, Brazil and Mexico play each other this morning in the World Cup. We’ll find out if Brazil will advance to the next round under the leadership of Neymar, the last of the notable global soccer superstars still standing after Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s teams were both eliminated.

The 5 Things You Need To Know About The World Cup

Nearly half of the world’s population watched the last World Cup, which happens every four years. Therefore, the topic of soccer is going to be unavoidable for the next month.

If you can’t beat 'em, join 'em,

The Last Night’s Game Team

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The Five Things You Need To Know About The World Cup

1. Starting tomorrow and for the next month, the world’s eyes will be on Russia as they host the best 32 teams in the world in their fight for the global title. Not in the battle? A team from Italy and the U.S. It has been 60 years since the Italians failed to qualify for the World Cup and 32 years for the Americans. BUT WHY?

2. FOX paid over $400 million for the broadcasting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup. Despite shelling out that cash, 8 of the 12 broadcasters will be calling games from a studio in Los Angeles, not live from Russia. Guess they forgot to include funds for a travel budget? On the bright side, Aly Wagner will become the first woman to call a men’s World Cup soccer game. KUDOS ALY

3. With the United States out of the tournament, who should you cheer for? How about Team Iceland? They’re the smallest country to ever qualify for the men’s World Cup (population 330,000), it’s their first time ever playing in a World Cup AND their coach was a dentist up until two years ago, so give it up for the underdog. (Not to be confused with the under bite – obligatory dentist joke). WHO TO ROOT FOR

4. Three of the best soccer players in the world also happen to be three of the highest paid athletes on earth, but what’s the one thing they all have in common besides big bank accounts? No World Cup trophy. You can catch Lionel Messi (Team Argentina - #2 in the world in getting paid), Cristano Ronaldo (Team Portugal - #3) and Neymar (Team Brazil - #5) as they fight for the one thing they can’t buy. LAST CHANCE

5. The host team automatically qualifies for the tournament so Russia is in. What’s also in right now in Russia? Smiling. Apparently workers who will interact with the influx of tourist (ex. train workers) have been learning how to smile in hopes of dispelling the stigma that Russians aren’t friendly. SAY CHEESE  

Bonus: Announced this morning – a joint bid by Canada, Mexico and the United States to host the 2026 World Cup has been successful. Canada and Mexico will host 10 of the games and the U.S. will host 60. MORE

Let’s talk about today

Living life in the present? Here’s what everyone is bantering about over their bacon this morning including an epic championship day, a scholarship surprise and they spent how much on booze in the past week? READ

Fly The Flag

You’re in for a treat because it’s Friday and you’re going to be the one in the know all weekend long.

We’re Olympic ready,

The Last Night’s Game Team

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Winter Olympics

When karma catches up with you. With a last ditch effort, Russia tried and failed to overturn the ban on their athletes in the Winter Olympics. Russia is banned from competing over doping allegations, but some athletes were invited to compete after proving they were clean.

When luck is not on your side. Team U.S.A.'s athletes vote for who is going to carry the flag in the Opening Ceremony. This year's vote was a tie between speed skater Shani Davis and luge slider Erin Hamlin, both competing in their fifth Olympics. The winner, Hamlin, was chosen by a coin toss. After losing, Davis sent a controversial tweet calling the coin toss "dishonorable." Guess he's not much of a gambler. 

If your dad ever said nothing good happens after midnight. While you were sleeping, the Olympic Opening Ceremonies happened without you. You can catch the replay at 8 pm EST tonight on NBC and here are the Olympic events to watch this weekend.

Overtime

What do you get when you cross Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers quarterback), actor Bill Murray and actor Josh Duhamel? A good looking, funny guy with one heck of a throwing arm? Unfortunately no, but they're all golfing in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The golf tournament, which is this weekend, is where professional golfers and amateurs mix and the who’s who of celebrities and athletes hit the links together.

Sideline stat

MLB (Major League Baseball) spring training is set to begin next week, but in a rare turn of events, a majority of free agents (players who aren’t committed to teams) remain unsigned. The MLB Players Association will put on their own spring training for unsigned free agents in hopes they will be picked up by a team.

Coaches’ corner

The NBA (National Basketball Association) trade deadline was yesterday and it left the league in shock because the Cleveland Cavaliers basically traded away their entire team, minus LeBron James. The team, which has been in the NBA finals the past three years, has been pretty terrible this season. Was this the doing of King James? Only time will tell

After you follow Last Night's Game on Instagram, go follow these Olympic athletes for a behind the scenes look at the Winter Olympics.