Ball Girl #053: Who had a longer dry spell than me in quarantine?

It's been 20 YEARS since they won a Stanley Cup. But tonight, they have a chance to change all that and get someeeee- some being a mother-flippin CHAMPIONSHIP.

Can I have your number?

• 2,267: Number of names engraved on the Stanley Cup. To get their name engraved, a player must have played at least 41 games for the championship team during the regular season or played in at least one game of the Stanley Cup Finals.

TL; DR:

🏀 NBA Draft concluded last night and the Orlando Magic had the #1 pick overall. They cashed in their lottery ticket for Paolo Banchero, a forward from Duke and the potential future face of their franchise.

⚾ There is BEEF in the Bronx: Behind 6-3 in the 9th, the NY Yankees beat the HOU Astros 7-6 in a WILD walk-off win.

🏒 The Colorado Avalanche clinched an OT win in Tampa Wednesday night giving them a 3-1 series lead.

🏌️Day 1 of the 2022 Traverlers Championship kicked off yesterday, and Rory McIlroy currently leads the pack. Meanwhile LIV v PGA drama intensified

NBA

2022 NBA Draft is in the 📖s!

This is like being back in PE where team captains get to pick players for their kickball team...only the team captains are the team GMs and our little leaguers are 17-22 year old man-childs

• The First Pick: Orlando Magic selected Paolo Banchero, a 6’10’’ forward from Duke as #1 overall— who FYI finished his Freshman year. This the second #1 pick to come from Duke in the past five years— somebody pass me the i phone charger cause we got a POWER HOUSE. Banchero has size AND ball-handling skills making him a lethal weapon on any offense.

• The Biggest Winner, Detroit Pistons: the Pistons had the #5th pick and used it to draft Jaden Ivey (a Point Guard from Purdue)- a man who makes and takes shots. People are comparing him to Ja Morant. He’s that good. He should make an excellent dynamic duo with Cade Cunningham to generate some effective offense for the Piston’s next season.

• The Biggest Loser, Sacramento Kings: with the #4 pick overall, Sacramento had a chance to draft Jaden Ivey themselves— so why didn’t they? Well,Ivey PUBLICALLY proclaimed how much he didn’t want to go to Sacramento. Big ego blow to the Kings. So to save face, they selected Keegan Murray a forward from Iowa instead but did they just find the golden ticket in their willy wonka chocolate bar only to let it go?

• The Best Outfit: Basketball players have more SWAG than any other athletes (hot take?) and they showed up and showed out for the draft. Below are just a few of our favorite looks from a man’s version of the red carpet.

The red floral print has got me meltingggg

And Chet Holmgren's jewelry was Popping off

• The Costumes (AKA Worst Outfits): some are born with swag. Other’s learn swag, and others fail to replicate it….

Paolo Banchero was the #1 pick overall so okay maybe he deserved a CRAZY look? But his crayola colored suit with diamond "Ps" that looked like little 🍆s was....a lot.

Meanwhile Dyson Daniels is apparently a plate of take-out that I covered in aluminum foil.

NHL

My heart rate on Wednesday night was the highest its been since I ~retired~ from college sports

• Game 4 was an emotional rollercoaster. One thing about the Avalanche, is that they will always find a way to score. Down by 2? No problem. Headed to OT? Just give them a couple minutes.

• The Lightning thought they had the game in the bag on Wednesday after taking a 2 goal lead but the Avs are just too good. They came back to tie it and then after hitting the crossbar TWICE in OT, Nazem Kadri finally put in the game winner right under Vasy’s arm. And he buried it — the puck got stuck in the netting so no one even knew it went in at first.

• Onto game 5… where the Avs have a shot to secure the Cup. And they just might do it.

MLB

BEEF in the Bronx

• Okay let me set the scene for you… The New York Yankees are comfortably #1 in the MLB. The Houston Astros are neck and neck with the the Dodgers, Mets, and Padres for #2.

• The highly anticipated Yankees / Astros 4-game series kicked off last night. Highly anticipated? Yes… The Yankees and the ‘Stros have BEEF. The ‘Stros knocked the Yanks out of the playoffs in 2017 and in 2019. On top of that, 2017 was the year of the Astros’ cheating scandal AND the year that HOU’s Jose Altuve swiped MVP from NY’s Aaron Judge. Judge is a large human but Altuve is part of the lollipop guild (pic below… haters will say it’s photoshopped).

• Game 1 was WILD. The ‘Stros were up 6-3 until the 9th when Aaron Hicks hit a 3 run bomb to tie it up 6-6. Then, Aaron Judge lined a single to secure the Yankees’ 7-6 W.

If you think Baseball is boring, you haven't watched the Braves rally in the 9th 👀

• The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 last night in DRAMATIC walk-off fashion: Down 2 runs in the 9th, the Braves managed to tie the game up. Then, with two outs, Adam Duvall hit line drive up the middle to score William Contreras in a bang-bang play at the plate.

• Earlier in the game, Braves’ SS Dansby Swanson, who struggled at the plate early this season, hit two homers… I think it’s safe to say Swanson is back!

Shohei👏🏼can👏🏼do👏🏼BOTH

• I mean is this guy human? After hitting 2 bombs with a career high 8 RBIs on Tuesday, Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani turned around and pitched 8 innings with a career high 13 strikeouts on Wednesday… KING🤯

Golf

Rory back on top!

• After Day 1 of the 2022 Traverlers Championship at TPC River Highlands, Rory McIlroy sits in 1st place with 62, finishing 8-under for the day. We’ll see if he can hold onto the lead through the weekend especially because the field is stacked with Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, and Jordan Spieth. That said, Rory has been playing well with his last six tournament finishes being T5, 1st, T18, 8th, 5th, and 2nd, plus his stellar 47-foot birdie on the 7th hole yesterday; betting odds have McIlroy taking 1st.

LIV Golf Update

• Four-time major winner, Brooks Koepka, has officially joined LIV Golf, now joining Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and Bryson DeChambeau. Our favorite punchlines from LIV’s latest addition: Kopeka’s response when asked why he stayed with the PGA Tour up to this point - “There's been no other option to this point, so where else are you going to go?”…Savage.After joining LIV, Koepka commented "My only joy in life is beating Bryson DeChambeau, so naturally when he joined the LIV Series, I was going to have to go too.” We love a good rivalry.

Must Watches This Week

Friday, June 24:

• 7:05pm ET, Houston Astos @ New York Yankees, MLB: The Yanks’ pulled out a crazy 7-6 walk-off win in Game 1. Grab your popcorn because you won’t want to miss espisode 2 of Beef in the Bronx.

• 8:00pm ET, Tampa Bay Lightning vs Colorado Avalanche: The Avs have a shot at hoisting the cup after this game… Let’s see if this squad can pull the rug out from under the defending champs.

Sunday, June 26:

• 8:00pm ET, Tampa Bay Lightning vs Colorado Avalanche: This will be a good one, if it even happens… see above.

Time Out for the Tea

A closed Book(er)

• Kendall Jenner and Devin Booker have officially called it quits… for now, at least. The two got together first in June 2020. “’Kendall feels like they're on different paths,’ one source shared, while another said that the two ‘have had discussions about their future but they are not on the same page’” (via Entertainment Tonight). Jenner and Booker had recently become more public with their relationship, spotted together in Italy for Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker’s wedding in May (pictured below).

Brittney and Cherelle Griner finally permitted to speak on the phone… and the US Embassy fails to pick up the phone

• Brittney Griner (WNBA star) and wife, Cherelle, have not spoken since February when Brittney was first detained. The two were finally permitted to talk, and the US Embassy in Moscow completely dropped the ball, failing to pick up the call…11 times. Allegedly, the desk where the phone rang was understaffed that day. It was the couple’s fourth anniversary.

Gronk announces retirement… and an emotional message with it

• Rob Gronkowski (played in the NFL for 9 seasons for the New England Patriots, then 2 seasons for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) has officially announced he is done playing professional ball…accompanied by a super emo Instagram caption.

Tim Anderson Tea

• Just watch….Aaaaaand now you understand (if you didn’t before) why we advise against falling for a baseball player.🗑