Your Sports Roundup: Kansas and Usher Crush at LVIII

Photos courtesy of Instagram

Super Bowl LVIII marks the end of another NFL season with the first repeat champion in 20 years: the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City eked out an overtime win over the San Fransisco 49ers, 25-22. Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and his bestie, Patrick Mahomes, brought the game home in the second half. Mahomes is objectively great and if you hear that he’s playing you should understand his team has a very good chance of winning.

Usher handled halftime. I’m an aging Gen Xer about the same age as Usher, and watching him perform and entertain showed me there’s vitality, agency, passion, performance, confidence, and courage still within me. At least it seemed so for about 13 minutes. Dancing like Usher went out the window for me when we were both about 15.

But all the real action happened earlier on Sunday with Women’s College Basketball and Caitlyn Clark falling short of the NCAA Women’s scoring record, while South Carolina continued their winning ways with an impressive victory over UCONN and the less than healthy Huskies. Notre Dame, and fantastic freshman Hannah Hidalgo, were pushed into overtime against Florida State but had enough to win over a conference foe. Louisville and Syracuse went back and forth until the very end with the Orange getting the W.

Meanwhile, Angel Reese and them let Alabama know what a team full of hoopers looks like at their best.

What I’m still waiting to see with my own eyes is JuJu Watkins, the impressive freshman from USC. Get Watkins on TV, please. 

The vitality of Women’s College Basketball happens to be occurring just as my daughter aspires to play college basketball. Bearing witness to the evolution of the women’s game will be a highlight of my sports watching life right along with seeing Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, Tiger Woods, The Fab Five, Michael Vick, Jerry Rice, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr, The Dream Team, Barry Sanders, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James in their prime.

The WNBA is busting at the seams with talent and will have to expand: A’Ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, Watkins, Reese, and more. The arguments against the growth, value, and support of women’s basketball is rooted in sexism and white supremacy—and we know anything we can attach sexism and white supremacy to is the opposite of worthy.