Final Monday of June. We\u2019re here. We\u2019re in it. We\u2019ve got less than 48 hours left, and then the \u2018ol calendar gets a big flip.<\/p>\n
Feels like we were just talking about Memorial Day<\/a>, and now we\u2019re a few days away from the big 2-5-0. The Fourth of July<\/a> always feels like the last hurrah for the first part of the year, right? The rest of the month is quiet.<\/p>\n August is really quiet.<\/p>\n And then, the second half of the season cranks up the heat. Football. More football. Labor Day-Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas. Playoff baseball.<\/p>\n We go from 0 to 100 real quick. I\u2019ve always said the second half of the year is when we thrive as a country. But I don\u2019t want to get ahead of ourselves.<\/p>\n This is a big week. July is a big month. This is a big birthday for this great country, even though I\u2019m sure the Libs will try to ruin it.<\/p>\n Not on my watch! Let\u2019s roll.<\/p>\n Welcome to a Monday Nightcaps \u2014 the one where Sophie Cunningham shoots a message<\/a> to the WNBA haters as the Fever take a week off. What a run for our girl. What a star.<\/p>\n What else? I\u2019ve got the best #content you may have missed from a loaded weekend, an unfathomable Fenway Park proposal, and how about the GOLF this weekend?<\/p>\n Viktor Hovland beat Scottie<\/a> in a playoff this morning, and it was electric. How did Scottie miss that putt?!<\/p>\n OK, grab you a waffle iron for National Waffle Iron Day, and settle in for a Monday \u2018Cap!<\/p>\n I\u2019m not the biggest fan of waffles, but I will say, hotel waffles are elite. I don\u2019t know how they do it, but they somehow make them taste 100 times better than they actually are.<\/p>\n In the grand scheme of things, waffles are waaaaaaaaay down the list of breakfast foods<\/a>. Frankly, they don\u2019t even crack the Mount Rushmore:<\/p>\n And that concludes the breakfast portion of our Monday class. You\u2019re welcome!<\/p>\n OK, let\u2019s get this thing moving with Sophie Cunningham giving the haters<\/a> the finger(s) as the Fever take the week off:<\/p>\n For those who missed it over the weekend, Sophie went on her podcast and absolutely torched<\/a> the rudderless WNBA. Just stuffed them into a locker. It was a bloodbath.<\/p>\n Some fun quotes:<\/p>\n Incredible. In case you\u2019re wondering, Sophie is currently climbing the charts in terms of popularity \u2026 rapidly. A quick check of the WNBA\u2019s Fanatics website shows her jersey at the top with a \u201cMost Popular\u201d label slapped under it.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t have actual numbers because the WNBA doesn\u2019t provide those (neither does Fanatics), but her No. 8 jersey is currently No. 1 on the site. No idea if that\u2019s in chronological order or not, but regardless, she\u2019s on the move:<\/p>\n Look out, world. Sophie\u2019s coming. And for only a measly $100! Plus, \u201cFREE Jersey Assurance,\u201d whatever that means.<\/p>\n The First Lady is making me buy a $700 sectional couch on Facebook Marketplace tomorrow, so I\u2019ll have to skip this one for now. And, perhaps, take out a second mortgage. Awesome.<\/p>\n OK, let\u2019s get to the best #content from a big weekend. First up? Ever swing and miss at a ball that drills you in the chest?<\/p>\n What a weekend. How about my Red Sox<\/a> sweeping the Yankees? You wanna see an absolutely incredible stat?<\/p>\n Try this one for size:<\/p>\n The Yanks are now 1-18 in their last 19 June games at Fenway Park. How is that even possible? Can we somehow blame Pride Month?<\/p>\n This Red Sox team is so hilariously bad, which makes last night\u2019s walkoff \u2014 and this weekend\u2019s sweep \u2014 even funnier. This version of the Red Sox have no business sweeping anyone. Amazing.<\/p>\n Perhaps we should\u2019ve known this was bound to happen when we saw THIS take place last night:<\/p>\n Lordy. Yankees fans getting engaged at Fenway? What\u2019s happening here? Could you IMAGINE if the tables were turned and Sox fans tried that at Yankee Stadium? No shot. None. Zero.<\/p>\n Treason.<\/p>\n OK, a couple quickies on the way out. First? We\u2019ve gotten a couple emails this morning about our coverage of Caitlin Clark.<\/p>\n EUROPEAN WORLD CUP INSTAGRAM INFLUENCERS CAN STAY AFTER BACKING THE BLUE, CAITLIN ATTACKED & A STEAK RACK!<\/a><\/p>\n From Mike S:<\/p>\n I get that it\u2019s June and it\u2019s too early to start breaking down every game on the football schedule this September, but Jesus, we seem to do a lot of WNBA in this newsletter and for the life of me I can\u2019t understand which of your readers are so enthralled with it that they pay that much attention to it? I literally scroll past everything that either has the words \u201cWNBA\u201d or the image of a female basketball player in it. Completely irrelevant to what I\u2019m assuming is 90% or more of your base of readers. Am I wrong?<\/p>\n Yes, you are wrong. I see the numbers. I see the charts and the analytics and the fancy graphs. I see the engagement time. Joe is off this week, so I\u2019ll go ahead and echo what I\u2019m sure he\u2019d say \u2026<\/p>\n The Google algo drives the content, and you guys drive the content. If you aren\u2019t clicking on something, we\u2019re gonna stop writing about it. If people aren\u2019t searching for it, we\u2019re gonna stop writing about it.<\/p>\n Neither of those things are true when it comes to Caitlin Clark. Not the WNBA.<\/p>\n Caitlin Clark.<\/p>\n And yes, it\u2019s June. What in the world are we supposed to be covering right now? The World Cup<\/a>? I\u2019ve seen the numbers on that one, and, trust me, our readers are far more interested in Caitlin Clark getting mugged on a basketball court than they are with anything that happens on the pitch. I promise.<\/p>\n