Watch this space for the latest from GWD HQ, and keep your FOMO to a BM (that means Bare Minimum).
"See up there? That's where your misfortune will come down from." (credit below)
We’re spotlighting a round we recently ran called “I’m Stumped.” The premise was simple: every answer contained the name of a tree. You see, we were celebrating Joyce Kilmer’s birthday, duh. The round gave us another excuse to ask about that Harry Styles-Chris Pine spitgate thing, plus we totally learned about the origin of the term “gumshoe.” Also, for all you sportsball fans, this round gave us an excuse to ask about the Toronto Maple Leafs…somebody’s gotta do it! Anyway, check out the rabbit hole that specific question led us down.
It hasn’t been that long since ‘The Drake Curse’ was a thing. A couple of years ago, both single-sport athletes like tennis champion Serena Williams and professional face puncher Conor McGregor and ENTIRE TEAMS lost when the rapper rolled up to support them or took selfies wearing their gear.
In January 2019, Drake posted a photo of himself in a University of Alabama hoodie and the next day they lost college football’s National Championship to Clemson. In April of that year, Drake took a pic with Paris Saint-Germain defender Layvin Kurzawa, and a couple of days later, the club suffered their biggest defeat in almost two decades. That same month, Drake wore a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey to one of their playoff games, and the Canadian club was throttled by the Boston Bruins 6-4. (The Bruins eventually won the series.)
The Leafs have either forgiven Drake or they’ve forgotten about the Curse, because just last month, they collaborated with October’s Very Own — also known as OVO — on a line of jerseys and other team merch. “[OVO] has partnered with the National Hockey League on an ongoing brand partnership celebrating the Icons of Hockey,” the brand wrote in an Instagram post. “As one of the longest standing hockey franchises, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been an integral part of Canada’s sports heritage since 1917.”
That first OVO release featured retired Leafs players Doug Gilmour and Curtis Joseph in the new drip, which included OVO and Toronto-branded sweaters, scarfs, varsity jackets, and other gear.
The Leafs are currently in second place in their division, so this whole OVO thing doesn’t seem to have hit them too hard — at least not yet. The Alabama Crimson Tide did win the National Championship the following season, and Paris Saint-Germain have won Ligue 1 two out of the last three years. On the other hand, 59-year-old Doug Gilmour hasn’t played ONE SINGLE MINUTE of hockey since he showed up in OVO’s Insta.
Really makes you think.
Featured image courtesy of: The Come Up Show, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0