Why this summer is the perfect time to start caring about sports
From the World Cup to the Knicks’ win, sports talk is everywhere right now.
I’m not a Knicks fan (and I’m not trying to become one), but the communal aspect of sports is part of what makes them so electric. Once upon a time, I wasn’t as interested in sports as I am now. Since my partner Matt watches just about every sport on the planet, I wanted to speak his language. ESPN is always on our TV so I felt like I started to gain some knowledge through osmosis. Soon enough, I had push alerts about the Lakers on my phone. When Matt would tell me, “LeBron’s not playing today,” I’d quickly cut in to say, “I know, I already got that alert. It’s his ankle.” It continued to snowball, and I even waited in line for two hours to meet my celebrity crush Austin Reaves.
This piece by senior correspondent Alex Abad-Santos captures that same feeling: Sports at their best are easy to step into and fun to care about. And this summer, there’s so much to get into whether it’s the World Cup, the WNBA, women’s volleyball, or my personal favorite: baseball. Sports are meant to be fun, and this is the perfect argument for letting yourself dive in.
There’s an escaped giraffe on the run in Texas. Why was she there at all?
You may have seen the many memes about Gracie the giraffe’s escape from a Texas ranch, but what seems like a lighthearted story has a much darker reality behind it. It turns out she comes from an exotic animal breeding operation connected to a bigger system of private ownership.
Reporter Kenny Torrella digs into how Texas has become a major hub for exotic animal breeding, the scale of the industry, and the uncomfortable legal and ethical gaps that allow endangered or vulnerable species to be kept and traded. To learn more from Kenny’s animal welfare reporting, check out some of his coverage on our Instagram here and here.
How to turn casual friends into close ones
This piece made me think about how easy it is to confuse being social with actually feeling close to people. Here, culture reporter Kyndall Cunningham argues that making friends and actually becoming close are two completely different skills.
What I liked most is that the advice isn’t just “put yourself out there!” Instead, it’s about being a little more intentional. Follow up on the thing someone mentioned three weeks ago. Tell them you had fun after hanging out with them. Ask for a favor. The little things do indeed matter.
Check out this piece if you’ve been wanting more out of your friendships or if you just want a sign from the universe to text someone that you want to hang out!
10 reasons why the World Cup is the greatest sporting event on Earth
I’m going to close out with one more recommendation to watch sports this summer. This is a really great breakdown of why the World Cup actually lives up to the hype.
Senior editorial director Bryan Walsh tells us why the World Cup feels different from basically every other sporting event: It’s truly global, impossible to predict, and somehow always delivers endearing moments like Europeans in awe of American culture.
Lastly, I’ll say it’s just great because it’s fun to scream with people who are on your side.
