Happy Thursday!

This week's theme is "Chilly." Snowstorms and freezing temperatures have been making headlines nationwide, impacting even the sports world. In today's edition, we'll cover:

• Athletic puffer jackets 🧥

• A caffeine king gets his win ☕️

• Hypothermic fans ☃️

Before reading, we would love it if you answered 4 easy questions about SportsBall at this survey link. We appreciate you readers so much and improving this email for your enjoyment is something we think about every day. This is the only thing we’ll ask you to do this quarter we promise. 🤞

THIS PAST WEEK ⏮

Super Wildcard Weekend Roundup 🏈

From freezing weather to streaming battles, here’s the breakdown of the important stuff from this past week in the NFL.

Kansas City Chiefs 26 - Miami Dolphins 7

It was -30 degrees in Kansas City… that’s all you need to know. If I’m on the Dolphins and used to playing in 85 degrees down in South Beach, I would likely have boycotted this game.

The main drama here was in the streaming… Peacock (owned by NBC) had exclusive rights to the game meaning you could only watch if you had a subscription to the second-worst streaming service in the world.

This forced fans to buy a new subscription and eventually “set a record for the most streamed live event in US history” with 23 million viewers. Congrats to NBC, you really earned this one. ☝️ Here’s their cringey press release patting themselves on the back for screwing America.

Detroit Lions 24 - LA Rams 23

The Detroit Lions achieved their first playoff victory since 1992, bringing joy to a city long accustomed to sporting disappointments. To illustrate the length of this wait, here's what was going on in 1992:

• Cartoon Network was created 📺

• CDs passed cassette tapes in popularity 💿

• Fax was used more than email 📠

This win opens a treasure trove of storylines to explore. Let's start with our favorite coach, Dan Campbell, known for his over 1000 mg daily caffeine intake, who has finally clinched a victory.

Or Jared Goff, a quarterback whom his previous team, the Rams, seemed eager to trade, triumphing against that very team in the playoffs.

The most compelling story might be that of the Lions' General Manager, who began as a social media intern in the NFL and got to witness his lifelong dreams come to fruition on Sunday.

Buffalo Bills 31 - Pittsburgh Steelers 17

This game was rescheduled from Sunday to Monday due to the field looking like this on Saturday.

The team got creative and paid the fans to come dig the snow out of the stadium for $20 an hour, an offer the hard-working people of Buffalo couldn’t pass up. 

By game time, the field was miraculously clear although the stands still had a light dusting of snow ⬇️

Buffalo went on to win thanks to an amazing performance from their quarterback Josh Allen and some help from fans throwing snowballs at the opposing team. ☃️

The scores of the remaining games were…

• Green Bay Packers 48 - Dallas Cowboys 32

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers 32 - Philadelphia Eagles 9

• Houston Texans 45 - Cleveland Browns 15

LEARNING MODULE 💡 

Prime Day Every Day

Let’s take a plunge into the complicated and boring world of Regional Sports Media Rights.

Every professional team in the NHL, MLB, or NBA has their games broadcasted by a local media conglomerate. For instance, when you watch an SF Giants game, you're tuning in via NBC Sports, no matter your streaming method.

It’s the same as the Kardashians (original version) being produced by E! but being able to be streamed on platforms like Peacock and Hulu.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest local media conglomerates in America, Diamond Sports Group (comparable to our E! in the example), went bankrupt last year. This left local sports teams in jeopardy of having their games axed from television.

For over 9 months, regional sports have been waiting for their knight in shining armor to save them. And guess who burst through those castle doors?

Amazon of course.

That’s right, the same people you get generic batteries from just bailed out the failed sports network and will begin broadcasting baseball and basketball games on Prime Video. It certainly feels weird, like getting a coffee from O’Reilly Auto Parts, but it’s all part of Amazon’s big plan to further infiltrate the world of sports.

The silver lining though I guess we can flip between Reacher and Warriors games during commercial breaks!

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK 🏆

Kristin Juszczyk

When you’re an athlete WAG during the coldest football week of the year, an obvious predicament presents itself. Dressing cute or dressing warm.

Kristin Juszczyk is here to let you do both. As an NFL wife herself - to 49ers Kyle Juszczyk (You-s-check) - Kristin has become an incredible seamstress, making player-themed puffers for cold weather occasions.

It’s no small responsibility keeping Taylor Swift warm in a -30 degree stadium. A task that, if failed, might get you on an unsavory FBI list. But Kristin stepped up to the plate and made the coolest jacket you’ll see this year.

She’s done similar pieces that are just as amazing as you can see below ⬇️

• Simone Biles puffer vest for the Green Bay Packers

• Taylor Lautner bomber jacket for the Detroit Lions

• Her own puffer for her husband’s game

We also love to see a promotional king in her husband Kyle, responding to every viral tweet saying “made by my wife” to capitalize on that exposure.

We love a man who supports his woman loud and proud. This is a welcome change from the energy Simone Biles’ husband put out recently on The Pivot podcast, citing himself as “the catch” in the relationship 🤔.

THIS NEXT WEEK ⏭

Australian Open 🎾

If you’re a night owl, you may as well throw on some tennis in the background as the first of four major tournaments of the year is underway. Since it’s in Australia, the time change has most of these matches taking place in the middle of the night.

The tournament's fourth round begins today, and matches will be leading up to the Final next Sunday. Most will start around 6 PM PST and go through midnight each night.

NFL Playoffs 🏈

Only 8 teams left in the playoffs with the quarterfinals coming up this weekend. Thankfully none of these games will be below 0 degrees this time 👍

Saturday

Houston Texans vs. Baltimore Ravens - 1:30 PM PST
Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers - 5:15 PM

Sunday

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Detroit Lions
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills

Thanks and see you next week!

— Riley and Claire

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