Olympics Edition — Day 3: A real super Sunday
From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)
Good morning!
Feeling the post-Super Bowl blues? We have just the fix: Another full day of Olympic action — and Bad Bunny’s electric halftime show on repeat. Fittingly, today’s newsletter is equal parts Big Game recap and the latest from Milano Cortina. Let’s dance.
🥇 | 🥈 | 🥉 | Total | |
| 🇳🇴 Norway | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 🇺🇲 USA | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 |
NFL
🏈 It’s all grand, and it’s all green
The GIST: The best course of action in life’s big moments? A return to the classics, like Dunkin’s star-studded Super Bowl commercial and the Seattle Seahawks’ defense-focused gameplan in last night’s 29–13 Vince Lombardi Trophy–clinching win over the New England Patriots. Let’s dig into the deets.
💚 Seahawks put on defensive masterclass: The best scoring defense in the league leaned into its bread and butter yesterday, shutting down the Patriots’ offense and tossing in six sacks, three turnovers, and a defensive touchdown to boot. In fact, New England didn’t score a single point until the fourth quarter. Turns out defense really does win championships.
- The Patriots D held off the quarterback Sam Darnold–led Seahawks offense for much of the game, too. And that’s when having a world-class kicker came in handy: Seattle’s Jason Myers knocked through an NFL–record five field goals.
- As for the game’s MVP, running back Kenneth Walker III ran for a whopping 135 yards, finding holes in the Patriots defense with the perfect combination of patience, speed, and elusiveness.
🎤 Bad Bunny sparks joy in halftime show: It’s Benito’s casita, and we’re all just living in it. The pop star’s high-energy love letter to Puerto Rico started with his bop “Tití Me Preguntó,” featured guest appearances from Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, included a literal wedding, and ended with a powerful message: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.” Consider the mic, dropped.
PRESENTED BY Amazon Prime
🌞 The perfect morning pick-me-up
😴 Today is the Monday of all Mondays — between staying up late for the Big Game and waking up early to catch the sports action happening across the pond, GIST HQ is in need of an extra shot of joe.
Enter: Prime to the rescue.
- ⚙️ The coffee machine of your dreams? It’s on Prime.
- ☕ Cute mugs? Find them on Prime.
- 🫧 A handheld frother? You bet that’s on Prime.
Shopping on Prime is the ultimate sports lover hack — with their fast, free shipping, a caffeinated day of cheering is just a few clicks away.
🥇⛷️ American Breezy Johnson earned the U.S.’s first medal of the Games yesterday, winning the alpine skiing downhill final shortly after her teammate, Lindsey Vonn, crashed in competition.
- Already skiing on a ruptured ACL, Vonn was airlifted off the mountain and underwent surgery on her fractured leg. She’s in stable condition, reassuring news after a very scary fall.
🥇⛸️ The U.S. defended their team figure skating gold yesterday, narrowly edging out Japan for the top spot thanks to a tremendous (but not perfect) free skate by the Quad God, Ilia Malinin. The 21-year-old phenom will compete for an individual medal later this week.
🥌 The American mixed doubles curling team of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin is through to the playoffs for the first time and will compete in the semis today, clinching their spot with yesterday’s win over Sweden. Two Cory/Koreys are better than one.
🏒 Forward Auston Matthews will captain the U.S. men’s hockey team, with resilient defenseman Charlie McAvoy and two-time defending Stanley Cup champ Matthew Tkachuk (pronounced kuh-CHUCK) serving as alternate captains. Elsewhere, the legendary Sidney Crosby will captain the enemy Team Canada.
🥇💨⛸️ Italian speedskater Francesca Lollobrigida set an Olympic record to win the women’s 3,000m on Saturday, earning the host country their first-ever women’s speedskating gold and first gold of the Games. All in a day’s work for this supermom.
🥇🏂 Austria’s Benjamin Karl successfully defended his parallel giant slalom gold yesterday — and promptly ripped off his shirt to celebrate. Not your average Winter Olympics celly.
PRESENTED BY Toyota
✨ The NFL went all in this year — and so did Toyota. They showed up all season long for fans, communities, and girls dreaming of game day.
- Whether it’s lighting up a youth football field (literally) or giving the best high school flag football players the opportunity to play on the sport’s biggest stage, Toyota’s drive for meaningful change goes far beyond a bedazzled Toyota Tundra.
💌 Their message? The future of football belongs to everyone.
Event | ⏰ | 👀 |
| 🏅⛷️ Women’s freestyle skiing slopestyle final | Today at 6:30 a.m. | 🇨🇳 Eileen Gu; 🇺🇸 Avery Krumme; 🇨🇦 Megan Oldham |
| 🏅⛸️ Women’s speed skating 1,000m final | Today at 11:30 a.m. | 🇺🇸 Erin Jackson, 🇺🇸 Brittany Bowe |
| 🏅🏂 Women’s Big Air snowboarding final | Today at 1:30 p.m. | 🇳🇿 Zoi Sadowski-Synnott; 🇯🇵 Kokomo Murase; 🇦🇹 Anna Gasser |
| 🏒 Women’s hockey prelims | Today at 2:40 p.m. | 🇨🇭 Switzerland vs. 🇺🇸 U.S. |
✏️ Putting the student in student-athlete
Canadian figure skater Madeline Schizas went viral over the weekend after sharing her request for a homework assignment extension. The 22-year-old McMaster University senior mixed up a deadline, writing to her professor “I was competing in the Olympic Games yesterday and thought the reflection was due on Sunday, not Friday.”
- Yes, Schizas got her extension and, after competing in the team event the last few days, will have some time to hit the books while waiting for next week’s women’s singles action. Brains and brawn.
Today’s email was brought to you by Alessandra Puccio and Lisa Minutillo. Fact-checking and ops by Elisha Gunaratnam. Ads by Alessandra Puccio and Lisa Minutillo. Managing edits by Lauren Tuiskula. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.