🚨 We’d love your feedback!

Hello! As you might know, we’re Stanford MBA students who are passionate about making sports more accessible to everyone. We’re just getting started and would love your feedback on how we’re doing here.

We’d also love if you shared this newsletter with your friends. For every friend you refer, we’ll plant a tree. 🌲

Starting Five

The five sports topics that will be discussed at water coolers across America

1. Threepeat! Michigan Does it Again

The Scoop: In 2020, Michigan was coming off their worst season in recent memory, and High School Senior JJ McCarthy tweeted a promise to Michigan fans: the team would become great. On Saturday, 110,000 of those fans witnessed Michigan beat their rivals OSU for the third year in a row, earning them a spot in the Big Ten Championship and keeping their undefeated National Championship hopes alive.

After a game-sealing interception, Michigan fans flooded the field to celebrate a team that battled through adversity all season to finish 12-0. The two teams despise each other, and in the aftermath Michigan players posted videos to mock their opponents, coaches waved the opponents off the field, and even the official Twitter account parodied old tweets to drive home their victory. This is why we love college football: the drama, the pettiness, the memories to last a lifetime.

Conversation Starter: Do you appreciate the pettiness and hatred of rivalries?

2. Top Teams Survive, Their Hopes Stay Alive

The Scoop: Rivalry week, aside from matching up top teams, also allows struggling teams to play spoiler against their most hated nemesis. Alabama, Washington, and FSU survived potential season-spoiling against their rivals over the weekend. Alabama needed a hail-mary pass with just seconds left to sneak by Auburn, Washington kicked a field goal as time expired to win the Apple Cup over Washington State, and FSU had to come back from a 12-point deficit to escape a loss against Florida in Gainesville. With all three eyeing a potential spot in the 4-team college football playoffs, a loss would have ruined their season, but all three survive and look to make a final statement in their Conference Championship games next weekend.

Conversation Starter: Does ruining a rival’s season make up for earlier disappointment?

3. History Made! Cowboys DaRon Bland Breaks “Pick-Six” Record

The Scoop: 24 year-old DaRon Bland had big shoes to fill when All-Pro Cornerback Trevon Diggs was ruled out for the season with a torn ACL, but he stepped up in a big way. Opposing offenses targeted Bland, thinking he was a downgrade, but he made them pay, consistently intercepting passes and returning them for touchdowns. With this historic “pick-six”, his fifth of the season, Bland broke the record for most interceptions returned for touchdowns in a single season! With 6 games to go he will look to add to his total to truly stamp his place in the history books.

Conversation Starter: Do you have a favorite random record?

4. Giants, Patriots Mid-Off Ends in Fitting Fashion

The Scoop: Many sports fans love following the best teams and the biggest games. The Patriots and Giants were simply…not that. Both offenses have been allergic to the end zone this season, and this game was no different. The most exciting part was watching the father of Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito celebrate the game’s lone touchdown pass with pure joy and pristine Italian gesticulation. In a game where both teams seemingly were trying to lose, it was only right that it finally ended with a missed Patriots field goal from only 36 yards out. 

Conversation Starter: Are sports only fun when teams are good, or do you enjoy watching the bad teams too?

5. An Obituary for the PAC-12

The Scoop: Due to Conference realignment, the PAC-12 Conference will no longer exist next year. Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington are moving to the Big 10, Stanford and Cal are off to the ACC, and Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah will join the Big 12. Washington State and Oregon State are the only teams left, and will be playing without a conference next year unless something changes.

In this last week of the season, the PAC-12 went out in style, sharing this video commemorating years of great competition, top teams, and memorable moments. Things will look different next football season, but until then, we have one last hoorah for the conference as the 12-0 Washington Huskies and 11-1 Oregon Ducks match up next Saturday for the Conference Championship and a potential College Football Playoff spot on the line. 

Conversation Starter: Do you support conference realignment, or will you miss the regionality of the current conferences?

“Sports” Moments of the Weekend

One thing we love about sports is the funny moments they deliver, here are some rapid fire viral memes, videos, and posts for your enjoyment!

The Packers didn’t get their Turkey because Fox seared a Lions logo into it

Now THIS is how you troll a rival

Even NFL Players slack off on the job

Pile up in the tunnel!!!

That’s a locker room that knows how to celebrate a win

All the players got ejected, here’s all that’s left

What We’re Watching this Week

If you're at a bar, they might be showing these games. Here's what you should know:

Monday Night Football

Chicago Bears (3-8) vs Minnesota Vikings (6-5) (Monday Night at 8:15 ET): With the Lions losing on Thanksgiving, the Vikings have a chance to make up ground in the playoff race. Bears Quarterback Justin Fields is back from injury and looks to make things difficult for a Minnesota defense that has struggled defending the pass this season.

College Basketball

ACC vs SEC Challenge: After the Big 10 and ACC shuttered their annual basketball challenge last season, the ACC and SEC are kicking off a new annual contest for conference supremacy, matching up teams based off their finish last season. Tuesday and Wednesday, we will see 14 ACC vs SEC face offs including, #10 Miami vs #16 Kentucky, #7 Tennessee vs #14 UNC, #9 Duke vs #20 Arkansas, and #12 Texas A&M vs #24 Virginia. See here for more information.

NBA In-Season Tournament

• For the first time, the NBA is hosting an in-season tournament. Teams were drawn into 6 groups of 5 and will play 4 games in the group to qualify for an 8-team knockout round. The winning team will get monetary rewards split among players and staff.

• This week is the last round of group-stage games and teams fight for a spot in the quarterfinals. Follow the live bracket here.

Get Others in the Game

Know someone else itching to up their sports convos easily? Share this with them! For every referral you send our way, we'll:

🌲 Plant a tree in your name! We choose to plant trees in developing nations to not only alleviate climate change, but to help end hunger and poverty by rebuilding local farming ecosystems.

💸Enter your name in for a chance to win a $500 Amazon Gift Card. We guarantee 1 in 1000 people in (and every referral gets you another entry)

Your Wish is My Command

What do you think of today’s email?
As you know, we are just getting started, and your opinion matters to us! Please share feedback, ideas, or insights on how we can make this even more useful for you! Use this link or just respond directly to the email!

Until next week,

The Fastbreakk