Sports & Entertainment Beat

Welcome back to the Spotlight, and Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanzaa to all those who are celebrating holiday season.  Hard to believe that 2022 has nearly come and gone, and we are all a year older, and I would hope I played a small part in making you a year wiser (jury is out one whether that would be from reading the Spotlight or thinking better of reading the Spotlight).  Of course, no New Year’s celebration would be complete without a retrospective on the year that was.  I tried to get Ryan Seacrest to take it from here, but it turns out that this is this one gig in which he has no interest. So, here I am, with my tuxedo (or what the moths left of it over the past 3 years) hanging up in the closet, to give you an oversimplified account of where we came from and where we might be going (call me Joshstradamus). 
 
Up first, Argentine football/soccer star Lionel Messi closes out the year on a high note, claiming the FIFA World Cup earlier this week in a match for the ages over Kylian Mbappé and the French side.  Speaking of messy, the artist formerly known as Kanye West (and currently known as unemployable), showed us that the marketplace of ideas has no place for hate, and the marketplace of consumer brands has no place for him. And while Chris Rock’s facial soreness from “The Slap” at the Oscars has abated, the memory of that incident is sure to last for years to come.  Meanwhile, the sports and entertainment world proved itself for the um-teenth time a force for good and united in support of the resilient people of Ukraine and against Russian aggression and authoritarianism.  Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals expanded over the course of their first year (a freshman fifteen, if you will) and, in their sophomore year. show no signs of slowing down or reducing their influence over athletes and universities. An NFT went from a three letter word to a four letter word with the crypto collapse. The number of copyright infringement claims in pop music have continued to build like a good chorus hook (and that’s only the ones that we hear about) while private equity investment in music copyrights reached stratospheric levels. And pickleball went from punchline to powerhouse, garnering widespread investment from entertainers and athletes alike.   
 
Happy Holidays, y’all – see you next year!