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It’s Thursday again!

A great night to go out on the town, and an even greater morning for SportsBall subscribers. In this week’s installment, an NBA 🏀 superstar just makes a game-changing move off the court. The US takes a humbling beatdown on the golf ⛳️course while on the other side of the world, two Korean golfers ⛳️ dodge military duty for a swing at glory.

But wait, there's more! MLB's ⚾️ playoffs are in full swing and the NHL 🏒 is back with a vengeance. We have a great little intro to hockey at the bottom you won’t want to miss.

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🏆 Athlete of the Week: Damian Lillard

Damian (Dame) Lillard has been one of the best players in the NBA 🏀 for a decade. If you’re familiar with Steph Curry, Damian is just like that just without the winning. The main problem is that he’s been playing for the Portland Trailblazers his whole career — a team that continuously fails to make good decisions and build a solid team around him — which goes back to our conversation about how teams are run.

For years, Dame has remained unwaveringly loyal to the Blazers, refusing to request a trade and showcasing his commitment to building something in Portland rather than shipping off to a better situation. This past week it finally came to an end. After sacrificing most of his career to the loyal fans in the northwest, Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. In Milwaukee, he’ll have the chance to compete for a championship and achieve greatness with the backing of a team that truly invests in winning.

Although the decision was difficult, Damian left Portland (Rip City) as one of the most loyal players the league has ever seen. Here’s his departing letter to the fanbase.

⏮ This Past Week

Revisionist History: Revolutionary war doesn’t go so good

Last week we introduced the Ryder Cup ⛳️, a USA vs. Europe golf tournament with the teams picked by captains from each side. In terms of success and victory, the weekend couldn’t have gone worse for the Americans. The Stars and Stripes lost handily by a score of 16.5 to 11.5 — and since the scoring system is very weird, we had to do some research to find out that this was quite the blowout. Regardless of the outcome, the tournament boasted raucous scenes from fans and players alike, making it an incredible tournament for viewers. Too bad it aired at 1:30 AM PST every morning due to time zones. Some of our favorite moments were the following:

Viktor Hovland in the team picture post-victory
Viktor is one of the best young golfers in the game and easy to love regardless of your country. That is if you exclude being legally loved. Viktor, pictured below, was the only player rolling solo in the celebratory team picture.

The fan taking a dip in the course pond
The tournament ends, the crowd cheers, and Colonel Sanders’ doppelganger jets for the pond. Even the perpetrator seemed surprised to get away with it.

He does it again
If you’re a fan in America and rush the field, odds are you’re getting tackled by security and sent to jail for the night. As luck would have it, this is not the case across the pond. The KFC fried chicken man got a pass and strutted through the course not once, but twice, with the support of the crowd behind him. It’s weird because our friend Brett did this a month ago without the same positive feedback from the other patrons and course employees…

It’s more than a game

As the Ryder Cup captured the attention of the Western golfing world, the Asian Games ⛳️ — the Ryder Cup equivalent for all Asian countries — was underway in China. In most circumstances, this event won’t provide much drama but this year couldn’t have been more different.

In South Korea, every man must serve in the military at some point between the ages of 18 and 28. There are very few exemptions from the service but one of them is winning an Olympic medal or a gold medal at the Asian Games.

Enter Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim, Korean professional golfers on the PGA tour. The two competed together for their country last weekend at the Asian Games, and although they were the heavy favorites to win, there was major pressure on the duo. Win, and you can continue your professional golf career. Lose, and you drop everything to join the military.

Luckily, the tandem prevailed, winning by an astronomical 25 strokes and taking a huge weight off the backs of the pair. Sungjae Im was even quoted, “This has been the longest four days of my career.” No kidding!

This isn’t the first situation of famous South Koreans facing leaving their profession to serve, with Tottenham player Son Heung-min using the COVID sports hiatus to serve and three members of the mega-pop boy band BTS having served.

Fading stars

Two of the big stories in football 🏈 , both in college and the NFL are beginning to fizzle. First, the University of Colorado and Coach Prime lost another game to USC on Saturday, giving them their second straight loss and dropping their viewership numbers by about 2 million from the week prior. If the excitement for Colorado were a Twitter trend it would be the coy Kevin James meme; on its last legs. We will be winding down our coverage on the team unless there are some big stories coming out of Boulder.

Taylor’s house again

Taylor Swift ⭐️ attended her second straight Travis Kelce 🏈 game last Sunday as the Chiefs took on the Jets. The NFL rolled out the red carpet, seeing dollar signs like Scrooge McDuck. They knew Taylor's presence would draw eyes, especially from new demographics.

They were right. The game scored the highest ratings this season, with cameras focused on Taylor, Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively and Hugh Jackman in the box throughout. They even tracked Taylor as she left the stadium post-game again (without Travis btw).

Despite the extra attention from the NFL, this matchup seemed to lack that electric excitement of last week. Some fans were even irked the league is leaning so heavily into off-field drama, detracting from the on-field product.

Our take? We don't expect Swift back for the Chiefs' next game against the Vikings. She's likely to exit the spotlight before it loses its shine. It’s also speculated that she only went to the Jets game so that when you google “Taylor Swift Jets” her private jet emissions numbers won’t pop up in lieu of the game. Playing chess, not checkers.

⏭ This Next Week

MLB Playoffs 

The MLB ⚾️ playoffs are finally here and If you’ve been following along you know who was on the cusp of getting in. Long story short, our Seattle Mariners had a nice little collapse and were promptly left out of the race along with the Chicago Cubs while the Marlins and Rangers made final pushes to get in. The standings for the playoffs are as follows. For those who are both curious and missed it last week, see our “how to make the playoffs tutorial” from two weeks ago.

Over the next month, these teams will play within their “league” and eventually two lucky contenders will meet in the World Series (championship). You’ll notice that there are teams crossed out above. That’s because over the last three days, those teams have already been eliminated 😳. Things move fast around here! Tune in throughout this next week to catch some of the matchups you see below.

NFL matchups

Nothing is really tickling our fancy this week on the NFL 🏈 schedule. Most of the games look fairly mid but there is one to keep an eye out for.

The Sunday Night Football game at 5:20 PM PST (think Carrie again) is a huge matchup between 2 of the top 5 teams in the league, the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys. If you’re so inclined to go to a bar and watch a game to hone your knowledge, this would be the one. Some of us even get Monday off work for Indigenous Peoples’ Day so we may be more inclined to let loose…

💡 Learning Module: Hockey season preview

Hockey is so back. The NHL 🏒 regular season starts this week and we have you covered on all you need to know. We’ll give you a walkthrough of the basics, how big the league is, why you’re going to want to watch, and a few players to keep your eye on this season.

Basics of the NHL
The NHL is made up of 32 total teams, including 7 from Canada. Just like the NBA, NHL teams play 82 regular season games from October through June. Many NHL franchises share arenas with NBA teams, converting the venue from basketball to hockey setup on off-nights.

The NHL's championship trophy is the iconic Stanley Cup - no not the Stanley Cup with a handle that we're used to seeing. Last season, the Vegas Golden Knights captured their first-ever Stanley Cup title to enter this season as defending champions. Though the Golden Knights don't play in Vegas' new Sphere, hopefully we can catch a watch party there soon! 👀

NHL games are played in three 20-minute periods with two 15-minute intermissions in between. Unlike other major sports, hockey doesn't have frequent stoppages and play pauses. This creates a fast-flowing, continuous game action that can be both exciting and challenging for newcomers to follow.

How big is the NHL and why don’t I hear about it much?
The NHL is by far the smallest of the four major leagues in American sports. A few weeks back, we discussed the NFL’s breadth and size ($165B industry) that dominates media throughout the country. Not quite the case for hockey. Each team is worth $1B on average, making the league worth around $33B and one-fifth the size of the NFL. Below is a chart of each league and team’s value, where you can see that the NHL is much smaller.

Money talks, and hockey's just not as loud as other major sports in the US. Less TV deals, smaller salaries, and pricier gear means fewer resources to grow the game. But it's not all about the Benjamins. Geography matters too.

Get this - only 28% of NHL players are American. The majority are Canadian (42%) or European. The Americans who play often come from icy states like Minnesota, Michigan, and New York, not warm weather spots like California or Florida that give us the best football, baseball, and basketball athletes. Makes sense...the cold weather breeds hockey!

What does this mean for fans? Well, unless you're from a northern state, you probably didn't grow up around a ton of hockey. No local role models making the NHL to look up to. Harder to connect with players when most come from Canada or overseas. The talent is world-class but feels foreign to many sports fans.

So while money's a big factor, the geography of where players come from also impacts hockey's reach. But we're here to bridge that gap!

Why to start watching
Hockey is fantastic. Maybe we’re just biased here at SportsBall but unlike other sports, there’s an inherent, overt athleticism that’s magnetizing to the eye.

Three more reasons to tune in for 2023:

Players to know
We could spend plenty of time on 100 different players and what they bring to the table. But let’s just start with 4 big ones this year.

If you’re in a city and trying to see your first hockey game, respond to this email and we’ll recommend some local games on the schedule that will be most exciting.

🧭 Season Tracker

We want to officially welcome you all to your first SportsBall playoffs! The MLB postseason has officially begun (as you saw above) and it will be a great intro to the excitement and pressure this time of the year has to offer. Hockey and basketball will start in the coming weeks as well; we’ll make sure you’re prepared.

Thank you all for reading and supporting, another week in the books! Please feel free to respond to this email if you want to see more of one sport or another; we want to make sure all our bases are covered. Have a great weekend 🤘

— Riley and Claire