Slow Tuesday, huh? Nothing going on? No one got engaged or anything?

Just kidding, I’m sorry. I know that’s the only thing on your timeline right now, so I’ll keep this brief.

Congrats to Taylor. Congrats to Travis. Congrats to Taylor’s lawyers, who are about to draft the most legendary prenuptial agreement of all time. Wishing them the best, though.

In other news, did anyone see that HABOOB in Arizona last night?! On our morning Zoom call, many of my coworkers were just learning the word “haboob,” so I got to tell them about the old strip club by my former house in Arizona that advertised “the best haboobs in the Valley.”

I lived in Phoenix for four years, so I saw my fair share of dust storms. But this one was particularly big.

Not as big as Taylor’s rock, though.

Sorry, I promised we were done with that. Ready for some Nightcaps? Let’s get to it!

Apparently We’re Still Talking About Sydney Sweeney

More people are rushing to the defense of Sydney Sweeney, but this time, it has nothing to do with her jeans commercial. 

No, friends, we’re revisiting the bathwater soap controversy. In case you don’t remember, she teamed up with Dr. Squatch earlier this year to sell soap that is allegedly (but almost certainly not actually) made from her dirty bathwater. A few folks got their panties in a twist over it.

But I honestly thought the Internet had moved on to more things to complain about, like the Cracker Barrel logo, Trump stopping murders in Washington D.C. and Dave Portnoy not being allowed to go to a football game.

Apparently, though, we’ve come full circle. And Matt Rife, for one, is absolutely SICK AND TIRED of people giving Sydney sh*t for turning her bathwater into soap.

“I keep seeing people mad at Sydney Sweeney for noooothing,” he wrote on X over the weekend. “She’s learning that the internet is full of absolute garbage losers who will twist anything you say into a c*nty misinterpretation People are awful.”

At first, I was like where on earth did that even come from? That bathwater soap was released like three months ago.

But then I learned it was actually Sydney who brought the topic back into the spotlight in an interview she did with  The Wall Street Journal last week.

“I think it’s important to have a finger on the pulse of what people are saying, because everything is a conversation with the audience,” she said. “It was mainly the girls making comments about it, which I thought was really interesting. They all loved the idea of Jacob Elordi’s bathwater.”

I have no earthly idea who Jacob Elordi is or why anyone would be interested in his bathwater, but according to Google: “Sweeney was referring to how in Elordi’s 2023 movie Saltburn, Barry Keoghan’s character drinks bathwater after Elordi’s Felix had pleasured himself in the tub. Fans ended up creating a ‘Bathwater Candle’ inspired by the moment.”

So Sydney is throwing the girlies under the bus! 

For the record, I wouldn’t buy anyone’s bathwater in any form, but this reminds me of the time Gwyneth Paltrow sold a candle that smelled like her vagina. So apparently there’s a market for anything. 

Capitalism, baby! Buy your perv soap or your “good jeans” or your genitalia candles or whatever you want. 

Or don’t. I don’t care.

But Let Me Just Say Something About That Gap Ad

I saw some folks on X referring to this new Gap advertisement, which features a bunch of dancing people wearing jeans, as the “retaliation” to the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ad that broke everyone’s brains.

So I was like, OK… let’s see what this is all about.

Y’all, there is nothing “woke” about this ad. It’s just a bunch of hot people dancing in denim. 

The main women in this commercial, I’ve discovered, are from a girl pop group called KATSEYE. I’m not familiar with their work, and most of OutKick’s audience probably isn’t either. But they have almost six million followers on Instagram, so they aren’t nobody.

I’d also like to point out that this isn’t a “retaliation” for the AE ad. Gap has been doing dancing people ads for decades.

See this one from 1998:

And this one:

Anyway, my point is that some of the whiny, engagement-hungry conservatives on X need to cool it. Because calling everything that doesn’t suit your preference “woke” is pretty much like leftists calling everything they don’t like “Nazi” or “fascist.”

And getting our panties in a twist over a harmless commercial is decidedly very snowflake-y.

Don’t be like them. Be better.

Little Leaguer Shares His Dream Job

The Little League World Series represents everything that’s good about America. Green grass, hot dogs, baseball… and a reminder not to risk your life savings on a group of 12-year-olds.

But really, I love the Little League World Series. It’s so wholesome, and fun to watch these kids get their moment in the spotlight. Every once in a while, we get a sound bite for the ages.

Although I’m not sure anyone can ever top Big Al Delia, who hits dingers.

A legend. And still hitting dingers.

Maybe members of the 2025 class will grow up to realize their big league dreams. Or maybe they’ll someday achieve the life every kid dreams of… getting a job as an actuary.

I’ll be honest, I had no idea what an actuary even does. So I Googled it. And I still have no idea. All I know is it has something to do with math.

In college, I took what I call “sports reporter math.” By any other name, it’s 100-level statistics — just enough to understand how to calculate an ERA and pass my math requirement at the University of Tennessee.

But I’ll be honest with you: one time my over-sharing accountant let slip how much he makes in a year. Let’s just say it’s a lot closer to a million than what I make in a year.

And I thought, Why the f*ck did I decide to be a journalist?!

The sacrifices I’ve made for you guys, I tell you what.

In related news…

I’m Starting A Podcast!

OK, podcast is a strong word. Let’s call it an “interview series” — at least for now.

But whatever you want to call it, it will be a series on OutKick Outdoors, where I interview impressive, outdoorsy guys and gals with great stories to tell. The goal is to grow this into a weekly series.

And the first installment drops tomorrow!

Y’all are gonna love my first guest. Her name is Taylor Stanberry. She is the winner of the 2025 Florida Python Challenge, where she captured 60 Burmese pythons in 10 days in the Florida Everglades. She runs an exotic animal sanctuary in South Florida, and she catches, rescues, removes and relocates snakes for a living — including the very venomous kind. She’s a badass.

Follow her on Instagram here.

Stay tuned to OutKick Outdoors tomorrow for that interview, and if you have any suggestions for future guests, email me at Amber.Harding@outkick.com. I’m looking for all sorts of outdoorspeople and adventurers — anyone from hunters to anglers, watersports enthusiasts, hikers and everything in between.

Now let’s open the mailbag. But first…

An Update On Rocky

Rocky is fine. But a trigger warning here for those who love animals and hate people who hurt them…

Last week, I told y’all that my German Shepherd, Rocky, had to have a root canal and a tooth extraction to remedy some dental damage he had before we adopted him in March.

Well, I took him for that procedure on Friday, and while he was under anesthesia, the dentist gave me a call. She told me once he went under, and they were able to do the diagnostics, there was actually a lot more damage than we originally thought. There were several more fractured and dead teeth — all on the right side, the same side as his damaged, floppy ear — and all of those dead teeth needed to be extracted.

“I don’t mean to alarm you,” she told me, “but this damage is consistent with a blow to the head.”

Y’all, when I tell you I teared up right then and there on the phone, I’m not kidding. I was devastated to hear that. It makes me sick to know that his previous owners may have hurt him before dumping him off at the shelter. I must have hugged him all night (much to his annoyance) once I picked him up from the dentist.

Rocky is bouncing back well from his procedure, albeit with fewer teeth on his right side. Fortunately, he has two of the best pet parents around (if I do say so myself) now. And he will be loved and spoiled rotten for all the rest of his years.

I hope karma has already found his previous owners, who never deserved my sweet, majestic boy in the first place.

More On Dogs Eating Animals

Although Rocky is a sweet baby, he’s still a dog. And as I outlined in Nightcaps a couple of weeks ago, he got himself a rabbit in our backyard.

Michael C. Writes: Your story of Rocky killing a rabbit reminds me the time my dog swallowed a vole whole.

I was walking him on trails behind my house about an hour before I was to leave for the airport for a 10-day trip to Italy. I was trying to tire him out before the dog sitter came. As we were walking, he chased and swallowed a vole before I had a chance to prevent it. I didn’t tell my wife or the dog sitter about it and just hoped for the best. To my knowledge there were no issues for him while we were on the trip.

Jon D. Gives Livvy And Taylor Their Flowers

Last week, I talked about Livvy Dunne, who tried to claim that she understands the hate Taylor Swift gets from male sports fans because she, too, dates a professional athlete. 

I explained that — while I have nothing against Livvy whatsoever — the idea that male sports fans hate on her like they hate on Taylor Swift is laughable. Male sports fans adore Livvy Dunne. And it’s because she markets herself as a sex symbol to men, while Taylor markets herself to girls and women.

Jon Writes: Your analysis of the Olivia vs. Taylor dynamic is extremely accurate. How each markets herself (and what each actually does for a living: gymnast/model vs. singer of breakup songs) has a great deal to do with the appreciation/tolerance by most men of each.

As I limit my social media exposure to what you and the OutKick gang generously curate for me daily, and as I meter my NFL-watching to contests of interest to me (all Steelers games, a smattering of others), I don’t suffer from over-Swiftie-ness. (There is no such thing as over-Dunne-ness. [Zing!])

So I’m going to compliment both of these smart, talented, savvy ladies at once with the trait I may find most attractive of all: They support their men.

To my knowledge, Taylor has never once undercut Travis in public since they became a thing. And whether it’s just good business or not, she’s in-person to watch him play more than I figure her schedule should really allow.

Meanwhile, Olivia’s jump-up-and-down excitement over Paul being drafted first, getting called up to the bigs (if that’s what you call the Pirates), earning the start in the ASG, etc. just melts my old, cynical heart. Joy is a beautiful thing.

As an aside, that’s something I think is awesome about you, too, Amber: how you write about your husband and your adventures together.

In the end, we marry or commit to partners in this challenging life. It’s one of the best things we humans do. It’s good to see two highly influential ladies follow that path.

Amber:

Thank you, Jon. I will make sure my husband reads this email and knows that he owes me a nice date night.

Stuff I Liked

OutKick Nightcaps is a daily column set to run Monday through Friday at 4 p.m.

Follow me on X / Twitter at @TheAmberHarding or email me at Amber.Harding@OutKick.com.