Hey y’all! It’s Ian.
It’s a great day to talk sports, but it’s even better sharing it with y’all.
Guess what?! It’s my first column! I cannot tell you how unbelievably excited I am that I get to share this with the world. I want to thank Substack for giving me the platform, and to everyone who has encouraged and stuck with me, thank y’all too.
(By the way, I’m going to repeat what I wrote in the Welcome Email. If you’ve already read that, you should probably skip this part. If you haven’t, subscribe for free so it’s sent right to your inbox, or check the About page on my Substack Website.)
I started this newsletter to reconnect with my passion for writing. Over middle school, I started to write less and less, until it became something I never did. So I thought, what better way to reconnect with writing than forcing myself to write about something I love at least once a week? That’s where this newsletter came in.
I try to make every column funny and engaging and try to help non-sports fans understand sports players and lingo. I try to include pop culture references when I can, both to be funny and to make this column more relatable. No matter what, there will always be jokes, view that as a good or bad thing.
Hopefully, you enjoy this newsletter as much as I do.
Currently, we are 100% free, but if you want to show your support, you can pledge a future subscription. No money will be charged unless I turn on paid. Or don’t pay any money and just show your support - it really does mean a lot.
Now, back to the column. Here’s a little trivia: what’s the only thing better than writing about sports? Writing after a weekend when both my Bulldogs and Falcons won! My Georgia Bulldogs won their (American college football) game after a dominant performance by quarterback Carson Beck, who threw for 389 yards and 4 touchdowns. It’s hard to not dominate when you look like this, I guess.
The Atlanta Falcons won their (American professional football) game on a game-winning field goal, after scrapping out a win against Houston, who have my favorite nickname in all of sports, the Texans. It’s just so simple, yet so funny.
Ok, but enough about my teams. Let’s get to the Four.
Dillon Gabriel takes over the Red River Rivalry [American college football]
Last year, Dillon Gabriel helplessly watched from the sidelines as his Oklahoma Sooners were absolutely dismantled by Texas. For 364 days, the memories of that beatdown festered in his head. The feeling of paralysis - stuck on the sidelines due to a concussion - stuck with him. He knew that when his chance came next year, he would be ready.
A little background - every year, the University of Oklahoma Sooners and the University of Texas Longhorns play a rivalry game. In college football, rivalries are a really big thing. Army-Navy, Florida-Georgia, Alabama-Auburn, Michigan-Ohio State, these games are more than football. These games are life.
The Texas-Oklahoma rivalry game is called the Red River Rivalry (named after the Red River) and it's usually one of the biggest games of the year. This year was no different. Both teams came in ranked highly, Oklahoma at #12 and Texas at #3. (I know I said highly, but you want to be ranked the lowest - 1 is the best, and there are 133 teams. But when you are ranked low, people say you are ranked highly. Rankings are weird.)
In 2022, Texas capitalized on a struggling Oklahoma team that had just changed coaches, beating them 49-0.
This Saturday, Oklahoma quarterback* Dillon Gabriel made sure that wouldn’t happen again.
With a little over a minute left in the game, Oklahoma was down by 3 points at their own 25 with no timeouts left. Texas had just taken the lead on a field goal, and Oklahoma had to go at least 50 yards in 1:15.
And somehow, they did it. Scratch that: Dillon Gabriel did it. He picked apart the Texas defense in the final seconds, delivering clutch throw after clutch throw, until, inevitably, he threw a touchdown to Nic Anderson with 15 seconds left. He had led his team a full 75 yards in a minute to take the lead.
In the postgame interview, he absentmindedly deflected the praise, saying that it was a team effort. He fooled no one. Thanks to him, Oklahoma now has a 70% chance to make the playoffs, something they haven’t done since 2019.
This was Dillon Gabriel’s moment, and everyone knew it. Final Score: 34-30, Oklahoma.
WNBA Finals Game 1 Reaction: Aces roll behind Gray [Professional women’s basketball]
There is a very real chance that this year’s WNBA* Finals are the most anticipated Finals ever. Two superteams, filled with stars, going mano a mano for the chance at history. On one side are the New York Liberty, whose roster includes current WNBA Most Valuable Player* (or MVP) Breanna Stewart, 2-time All-Star* and the current three-point contest champion Sabrina Ionescu (pronounced yo-NESS-koo), 1-time MVP and 4-time All-Star Jonquel Jones, and 5-time All-Star Courtney Vandersloot.
On the other are the Las Vegas Aces, who boast of 2-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, 5-time All-Star Chelsea Gray, 2-time All-Star Kelsey Plum, 2-time All-Star Jackie Young, and 2-time MVP and 7-time All-Star Candace Parker (currently out with an injury).
See what I mean?
Game 1 was Sunday. In pro basketball, each championship isn’t just one game, it’s usually 5 or 7. These are called the Finals. The first team to win 3 or 4 games respectively, wins the championship. I like the system, but it does mean every game is just a little less important.
The Aces clearly don’t agree. They played Game 1 like it was the most important game ever. They were a machine, placing perfect passes, cutting* at the right time, and hitting all kinds of threes* - it was, honestly, some of the best basketball, men or women, I’ve ever seen played. All four of the Aces’ best players were on point. They all ended the game with at least 19 points, an incredible feat that is hardly ever achieved.
In my opinion, Chelsea Gray played the best of everyone. She is such a natural leader, and her passes were on point this game. There’s a reason they call her the point GOD. Her fadeaway shot*, by the way - Un. Stoppable. She ended the game with 20 points, 6 rebounds*, and 9 assists*.
To their credit, the Liberty put up a fight, and ended the first half up 3. Through the first half, they looked more comfortable, dumping passes down to Jones and Stewart in the post* (who ended the game with 16 and 21 points, respectively), who either scored or passed for an open three-pointer.
But in the end, it was simply not enough. After the half, the Aces came out firing, outscored the Liberty by 10 points in the 3rd quarter, and never looked back. Final Score: 99-82, Aces. Catch Game 2 tomorrow at 9 PM EST.
Biles dominates in return [Gymnastics]
If you had tuned in to the all-around Gymnastics final of the 2020 Olympics, you may have noticed something odd. The USA’s crown jewel, one of the best gymnasts ever, Simone Biles, was missing. “Ok,” you said, trying to trick yourself into being calm. “Maybe she just got eliminated.” But eventually, you realized something: there was no way that Simone Biles would get eliminated. In a panic, and with the maximum amount of effort needed to watch sports at home, you lifted yourself up, grabbed your phone, and typed “simobe biled whrre is she”. You instantly learn that she had withdrawn from the competition, an important precedent for athlete self-care.
Biles cited “the twisties” as her reason for withdrawing from the competition. Despite the ignorance sniping of people worldwide, she calmly explained what the twisties are and why she withdrew. They are, according to her, “the strangest and weirdest thing and also feeling,” which would make a beautiful haiku if it was a few syllables longer. The Twisties are a dangerous mental health problem where gymnasts lose the ability to do simple moves they have practiced time and time again. This often occurs for the first time in the air. She made a brave choice to withdraw herself from the event, and it was the right one.
But now, she’s back.
In the Gymnastics World Championships this past weekend, she medaled in five events - getting gold in four of them - to reclaim her spot as the best gymnast in the world. When she did make mistakes, she laughed and shook them off. She just seemed so comfortable in her element, even after taking two years off. It was so incredibly fun to watch.
Oh yeah, and she’s now the most decorated gymnast ever.
Rest in peace Dick Butkus [American professional football]
On October 5, 2023, the legend that is Dick Butkus passed. He was 80 years old. It was a peaceful death, one in his sleep.
He meant so much to so many people, but perhaps the best showing of his impact was that the hapless Chicago Bears, his only team for eight full years, suddenly put up 40 points and blew out the Washington Commanders less than 7 hours after he passed. Even on a team full of 20-somethings, who only know Butkus from YouTube and their grandparents’ stories, they fully understood Butkus’ impact. He was one of one.
To understand Butkus, you could look at the stats. They are little (the NFL did not track defensive statistics for a long time), but they are impressive: 119 games played, 119 games started, 25 fumbles recovered*, and an incredible 22 interceptions*, but they do not tell the full story.
You could look at his accolades: 8-time Pro Bowler, 5-time All-Pro*, and he’s in both the All-60s and All-70s teams the NFL put together. He is in the Hall of Fame of course. But these accolades don’t tell the full story.
The best way to understand Butkus is to look at what people said about him. Howie Long called him “immortal.” Jarrett Payton called him a “remarkable man” who was “always there when he needed him.”
But perhaps someone not known for being a nice person, Brian Bosworth, said it best when he tweeted, “spent my youth trying to play this game like him. [I] was humbled to be named Butkus Award Winner [in] ’85 & ‘86. His kindness was matched [by] his ferociousness. Heroes exist and Dick Butkus was mine. God Bless you my friend.”
That line, “his kindness was matched with his ferociousness,” may be the best line I’ve ever heard about Butkus. No one has ever presented such a stark contrast on and off the field - he was a killer on the field, a samaritan off it. He was a family man, who loved his three children and five grandchildren to death. He was a modestly famous actor, appearing in“MacGyver,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “The Love Boat,” “Night Court” and “The Bernie Mac Show”.
But on the field, he was a killer. He tackled with malintent, is probably the best way to say that. He wanted you to remember every hit. He made sure he was known. Many people were surprised when they saw him portray characters so different from who he was, a cold-blooded killer.
I honestly don’t have much else to say, other than RIP to a legend. My prayers are with his family and friends.
*Hey, so if you’re down here, you didn’t understand any of the complicated jargon I was using. That’s fine! I am here to help. I’m working on a “Casuals Guide” for any of y’all who don’t understand that stuff, including all of those phrases and more. But for now, refer to these footnotes.
- Quarterback (American football) - In football, the quarterback is the player who throws the ball. The most famous quarterback is Tom Brady.
- WNBA (basketball) - The Women’s National Basketball Association.
- Most Valuable Player - an award voted on at the end of the year, deciding who was the best or most important player in the league. It’s hard to explain because there are no set criteria. Many times, the MVP does not go to the Most Valuable player, but the best one (2008 Kobe Bryant, for example). One player gets this award every year.
- All-Star - This is called many names (Pro Bowler in the NFL, for example), but they all mean the same thing. In every league, there is an exhibition (unofficial) game played in the middle of the season. In this game, the best players from the entire league are invited to play. So the fact that the Aces and Liberty have so many All-Stars is just incredible.
- Cutting (basketball) - when a player without the basketball in their hands suddenly runs in an angular direction across the court. Many times the phrase “cut” means run to the basket, then get a pass, and shoot the ball.
- Three(pointer) (basketball) - on a basketball court, there is a semi-circleish line 24ish feet away from the basket. Any shot behind that line is worth three points. A made shot of this variety is called a “three” or “three-pointer”.
- Fadeaway shot (basketball) - when a player shoots while jumping backwards, turning their body diagonally upwards and facing the hoop. For a long time, a good fadeaway was the mark of a great player. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant possessed great fadeaways.
- Rebound (basketball) - grabbing the ball after someone shoots and misses. Great rebounders include Charles Barkley, Moses Malone, and Dennis Rodman. Great rebounders who play in the league currently include Rudy Gobert, Clint Capela, and Jarrett Allen.
- Assist (basketball) - passing to someone who directly makes a shot. Great assist-ers include Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, and Magic Johnson. Great assist-ers who play in the league currently include Trae Young, Chris Paul, and Nikola Jokic.
- Fumble recovery (American football) - when a player in possession of the ball loses it and another player picks it up. This can be a player on either team.
- Interception (football) - when a quarterback throws it, and someone not on his team catches it. Linebackers like Dick Butkus do not usually get many interceptions, so it is incredible he was able to get so many.
Wow. Well, that was a lot. I honestly did not expect how much work that would be. But I honestly did not expect how much fun that would be! I am hooked. I hope you are too because that was awesome. I can’t wait to keep doing this. Hopefully next time it won’t be so much work, though.
Before I go, there were a few big sports things that happened that I didn’t mention:
(F1 Car Racing) Max Verstappen clinched the F1 championship on Saturday. He now has 14 consecutive wins when starting in first place.
(Soccer) Scott McTominay scored two late goals to lift Manchester United over Brentford. He scored both after the 90th minute (in soccer, after the 90th minute, there are like 4-8 minutes of extra time added).
Oh yeah, and Jimmy Butler showed up like this to NBA media day:
Well, it looks like that’s it. I’m going to run through all my YouTube plug stuff really quick: If you enjoyed it, could you maybe subscribe? It shows your support and really does mean a lot. Like I said earlier, currently The Four Point Play is 100% free, so if you enjoyed this, there really is no reason not to subscribe. You could also do me a huge favor and share this post if you think someone you know might enjoy it. You could also leave a comment if you wanted to. I love getting feedback (criticism and positive) and it helps me improve this newsletter so much when I know what to work on.
FYI: I’m going to end every column off with a variation of this phrase, changing the end part slightly:
Good morning, good afternoon, and good night. Wherever and whenever you read this, I hope:
your next birthday cake tastes really good.
Farewell and until next time,
Ian
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.