Intro for February 6, 2026

Dear Gossips,

The Olympics have begun in Milano-Cortina, with the opening ceremony beginning at 2 PM ET, but events have already begun, from women’s hockey to curling to snowboarding. This weekend is also the Super Bowl in the US, between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. I could not care less who wins. Rooting for the grass, honestly. But it is also Bad Bunny Bowl, with Bad Bunny ready to perform the halftime show.

Bad Bunny appeared at a press conference in conjunction with Apple Music yesterday. Some halftime performers try to unite the room, others don’t even pretend like they’re going to appeal to a chunk of the US football audience (see also: Kendrick Lamar). Bad Bunny, I think, is in the latter group. I think he’s very aware of the timing and meaning of him, a Latino artist who comes from Puerto Rico—a place many Americans have to be constantly reminded is part of America—and speaks Spanish as his first language performing the Super Bowl halftime show amidst such division in the US. How could he not be? There’s a whole anti-halftime show happening with Kid Rock. Let’s just ignore that, shall we?

The collision of sports and entertainment has been at the forefront of pop culture for the last couple months thanks to Heated Rivalry, which has f-cked up everyone’s algorithms with actual hockey clips. I wish the robots in my phone would stop confusing my interest in HR with a desire to see actual hockey clips. I cannot support the NHL, I’m sorry, I can NOT, the league is the villain of the Game Changers book series for a reason! I actually can’t wait to see the real NHL cope when the second season of HR comes out, and they have to deal with being the villain. But you know what is kind of working on me?

The Professional Women’s Hockey League. It’s a totally different vibe! Ditto for women’s Olympic hockey, which started yesterday with wins from Teams USA, Italy, and Sweden. I will not watch your chirping supercuts, robots in phone, but I WILL watch ladies scoring goals (geo-blocked for the US). Keep sending that stuff my way. Hockey without toxicity I can get behind.

Anyway, it’s going to be a busy sports weekend, and a busy pop culture weekend. We will have the Olympics, and all the celebrities who turn out to watch the Olympics. We will have the Super Bowl, and all the celebrities who turn out to watch the Super Bowl. We will have Bad Bunny performing, which I’m sure a bunch of us will have to explain to our older relatives (again). There will be a bunch of movie trailers for summer 2026. There will be many celebrities doing commercials of varying degrees of quality.

And through all of it, no one will question the time, money, and attention given to sports. It is an accepted part of culture, that we will live for the Super Bowl, for the Olympics, and no one will ever call it frivolous or a waste of time, no matter how obscure the sport you get hooked on this Olympic cycle may be. Just something to keep in mind when regularly scheduled awards season activities resume and everyone complains about how long the Oscars are.

Live long and gossip,

Sarah