Edition 07

A quick rundown of the biggest stories in sports—without assuming you know every player, rule, or stat. Whether you’re at happy hour, in the office, watching with friends, or on a date with a sports fanatic, you’ll have something to contribute to the conversation.

Okay, first things first: sorry I ghosted you last week.

I know, I know. I was missed. 😉 But in my defense, I was doing something very important: fantasy football drafts.

Mock drafts. Real drafts. Family league. Work league. At one point, I genuinely forgot which players I owned where.

But I’m back—and honestly, I picked a pretty good week to return because…

THE NFL IS LESS THAN A WEEK AWAY.

We survived the offseason. Fantasy rosters are drafted. Group chats are already talking trash. And Sundays are about to have plans again.

Quick Playbook update: Now that football season is here, Fi’s Playbook is moving to Tuesdays! 🏈 Since NFL games run from Thursday through Monday night, this way I can give you the full rundown of what happened, what actually mattered, and what everyone will be talking about that week.

Basically, your Tuesday sports cheat sheet. Starting September 8th.

Now, let’s catch up.

If you hear people talking about Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers this week, this is why.

The NBA officially found that the Clippers and Kawhi violated league rules by using outside business opportunities and endorsement deals to give Kawhi additional money beyond his NBA contract. Basically: NBA teams have strict rules about how much they can pay players, and you can’t just find creative ways to sneak them extra money on the side.

And the punishment? Brutal.

The Owner, Steve Ballmer, was fined $30 million, and was suspended from team and league activities for a full year. The team lost FIVE future first-round draft picks. Kawhi himself has to pay the league $700,000.

Why it matters: First-round picks are how teams get some of the best young players entering the NBA. Losing five of them is basically the league saying, enjoy dealing with this problem for YEARS.

This is not a slap on the wrist. This is a full-on spanking.

While I was busy staring at fantasy rankings, college football quietly came back and immediately reminded everyone why Saturdays in the fall are unhinged.

Bill Belichick and North Carolina opened the season with a win over TCU in Dublin, Virginia absolutely handled NC State 34–8, and USC started its season with a 42–26 win over San Jose State.

And now we get the first real packed weekend of college football.

If you’re not a college football person, you don’t need to suddenly memorize 100 schools. Just know this: college football fans are deeply emotionally attached to 18-to-22-year-olds they have never met.

You will understand soon enough.

The FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup starts Friday in Berlin, and Team USA is chasing its fifth consecutive world title.

They’ll have to do it without A’ja Wilson, who withdrew ahead of the tournament, but the roster still includes stars like Breanna Stewart, Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers.

If you’ve been watching the WNBA, consider this the international version: everyone stops being rivals for a few weeks and suddenly plays for their country.

And yes, Team USA is still the team everyone wants to beat.

🏀 FIBA Women’s World Cup (Friday, Sept. 4 - USA vs. China)
Team USA begins its quest for a fifth straight world championship. With A’ja Wilson out, we’re going to get a really good look at the next wave of American stars.

🏈 College Football Week 1 (Saturday - Sunday)
College football is officially rolling, and now we’re getting into the good stuff. Clemson vs. LSU is one of the biggest games to know this weekend, with both teams ranked and an early season statement on the line.

🎾 US Open (All weekend)
One of the final chances for golfers to earn valuable FedEx Cup points before the PGA Tour playoffs.

🏈 NFL KICKOFF (Wednesday, Sept. 9 - Patriots @ Seahawks - 8:20PM ET)
THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

The 2026 NFL regular season officially begins.

Check your fantasy lineups. Cancel your Wednesday night plans. Football season has arrived.

🏀 The Clippers got absolutely HAMMERED. $30 million fine. Five first-round picks gone. Their owner suspended for a year. All because of the Kawhi Leonard salary-cap situation.

🏈 College football is already bringing the drama. We’re only heading into Week 1, and No. 11 LSU vs. Clemson is already giving us a big ranked matchup.

🎾 Naomi Osaka is moving on at the US Open. She survived the three-set match against Katerina Siniakova to reach the third round.

⚾️ September baseball has arrived. There’s roughly one month left in the MLB regular season, which means playoff races and Wild Card standings actually matter now. If someone starts talking about “the Wild Card race,” just know we’ve entered baseball crunch time.

🏀 The WNBA is on pause - but for good reason. The league is taking a 16-day break while many of its stars head to Berline for the FIBA Women’s World Cup. The eight WNBA playoff teams are already set; seeding will be decided when the league play resumes.

NEW SECTION ALERT. Because let’s be real—sometimes the drama off the field is just as entertaining as what’s happening on it. And who doesn’t love a little tea?

So from now on, I’ll be keeping you caught up on the sports gossip you didn’t know you needed to know.

And for our first cup… we’re starting STRONG.

This happened earlier this year, but the tea is simply too good to leave in the past.

Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and NFL reporter Dianna Russini found themselves at the center of affair allegations after photos surfaced of them holding hands and looking very cozy at a resort in Arizona.

The catch? They’re both married.

Then older photos surfaced appearing to show Vrabel and Russini kissing at a NYC bar back in 2020, and naturally, the internet went into full detective mode.

But here’s where the tea gets even better…

Dianna has a son named Michael.

As in… Mike Vrabel.

I KNOW.

Before we get too carried away: reports say her son was actually named after her brother, Michael—not Vrabel. But you can imagine what the internet did with that little piece of information.

Old tea? Maybe.
Good tea? Absolutely.

I wish I had some insightful sporting event to report back from over the past two weeks.

Unfortunately, my couch report is mostly:

mock draft → panic → change strategy → mock draft again → real draft → immediately question every decision I made.

I have spent an unreasonable amount of time deciding which grown man is going to score imaginary points for me on Sundays.

And after all of that research, I’m sure one player I didn’t draft will score 40 points Week 1 while someone on my roster pulls a hamstring in warmups.

Fantasy football is beautiful.

Anyway, I’m ready for football.

The NFL has 272 regular-season games before we even get to the playoffs.

Which means starting next week, there is going to be an absolutely absurd amount of football happening.

And somehow your boyfriend/husband/brother/coworker will still insist he needs to watch all of it.

If someone starts talking about the Kawhi situation, casually hit them with:

“I’m more interested to see how the Clippers recover from losing five first-round picks than the actual Kawhi punishment”

Then walk away.

No further explanation needed.

Last week I abandoned you for fantasy football drafts.

This week, I return just in time for the best part of the sports calendar.

College football is back. The US Open is rolling. Team USA is playing for another world championship. Baseball is heading toward the playoffs.

And most importantly…

THE NFL STARTS NEXT WEEK.

Fantasy lineups will be set. Parlays will be placed. Relationships will once again be tested by Sunday Ticket.

We are so back.

Now you know. 💚