I have said in past issues that I love a storyline. I cannot help it. It is probably the most honest thing I can tell you about why I do this work. And right now, if you are a sports fan or a sports communications professional or simply a person with a pulse, the volume of storylines happening simultaneously is genuinely hard to keep up with.
Let me start with New York.
The Knicks won the NBA Championship on Saturday night, defeating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5. Their first title in 53 years. Jalen Brunson, a 6-foot-2 point guard who has spent his entire career being told he is too slow, not athletic enough, and not built to lead a team to a championship, finished with 45 points and was named Finals MVP. At his introductory press conference with the Knicks in 2022, Brunson said: “Everywhere I’ve gone since high school, it’s always been ‘Jalen Brunson’s good, but...’ Always that ‘but.’” He answered that on Saturday night in San Antonio in front of the whole league.
The Nova Knicks story is its own thing entirely. Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges won NCAA championships together at Villanova in 2016 and 2018, and on Saturday became the first trio of teammates in history to win both an NCAA title and an NBA championship together. The kind of full-circle narrative that you genuinely could not write in advance.
And then there is Jose Alvarado. A Brooklyn native who starred at Christ the King High School in Queens, went undrafted out of Georgia Tech in 2021, and was traded to his hometown Knicks at the deadline this past February. After the final buzzer Saturday night, Alvarado went on Instagram Live from the locker room and said: “I wasn’t even supposed to be in the league, and I got a ring now.” Before he was in the NBA, Alvarado won the 2021 ACC Tournament with Georgia Tech and gave an interview where he said: “A lot of people doubted me. I wasn’t supposed to be in the ACC, and they took a chance on me.” That quote aged incredibly well. He finished the playoffs with a plus-85 plus/minus in 18 games.
Outside of New York, sports has not slowed down for a single day.
The FIFA World Cup opened this past Thursday across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the first time the tournament has ever been held across three countries and the first time it has come to North American soil since 1994. The United States women’s national soccer team played two matches in Brazil this past week, losing 2-1 in São Paulo on June 6 and coming back to win 1-0 in Fortaleza on June 9 in a game that ended with eight red cards shown to Brazil in the final minutes. The Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. Lewis Hamilton won the Spanish Grand Prix yesterday for Ferrari, his 106th career victory and his first race win in nearly two years, which has suddenly made the 2026 Formula 1 championship conversation significantly more interesting. The WNBA season is underway. And Love Island is on television, which is not sports, but I cannot in good conscience leave it out.
Eyes are genuinely glued to screens right now. Sports is at a high that does not come around often, and it is happening all at once.
From a communications standpoint, that density is both the challenge and the opportunity I wrote about in Issue 05. But what I keep coming back to right now is something more specific. The moments that are cutting through this crowded calendar are not the ones with the biggest marketing budgets behind them. They are the ones with the best stories underneath them. Brunson answering years of doubt with 45 points in a Finals closeout game. Alvarado winning a ring in his hometown. Hamilton, at 41, winning his first race for Ferrari after a year that had been described by some as a career low point.
The story has to be there first. The platform and the timing matter enormously, but they cannot manufacture what was not already real. That is the part of this work I find myself thinking about the most right now, because the moments that are landing right now all have something genuine at their center, and the audiences watching can feel it.
What a week to be paying attention.
You can also read this issue and subscribe to Built in Public on LinkedIn: Built in Public
Built in Public is a newsletter where Amani Marie documents her growth as a young sports public relations professional in real time. It focuses on what she is learning, what she is observing across the industry, and the people and work that stand out.
Some issues will examine moments in sports and how they are communicated. Others will reflect on career development, access, and what it takes to build in this space over time.
This is intended to be a space for learning, sharing perspective, and tracking progress along the way.
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.