WELCOME TO THE SCROLL by Brett Cooper 

Welcome to your weekly round-up of everything I’m loving on my feeds and beyond! These are the stories that have kept me inspired, made me laugh, and more. Hopefully it gives you some insight into the ways my algorithm - and brain - seem to work.

So without further ado, let’s dive in.

STORIES FROM X

Nico Iamaleava

So I don’t know if anyone else follows college football drama, or maybe it’s just my husband and now by default me, but WE MUST talk about Nico Iamaleava.

This is an insane story that touches on humility, knowing who to trust, and understanding what it means to be part of a team. TLDR; one day this will probably be an iconic sports movie like THE BLINDSIDE… maybe I should get on that and go ahead and option the rights. ANYWAY.

Nico was the quarterback at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, or UT/Tennessee, whatever you call it in your household. 

And they were paying him 2.4 MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. A YEAR. To play college football.

And I get it, I’m glad the athletes at these schools get paid because at places like Tennessee and the other SEC schools, they bring in millions. So it seems only fair, and Nico’s deal was more than fair.

But apparently not to him or his dad. He wanted FOUR million a year.

So, a couple of weeks ago, he started a negotiation strategy and skipped a Tennessee practice, basically creating an NFL style hold-out - which had never been done in college football.

And Tennessee, understandably, was displeased. They had no interest in paying him 4 million dollars, so they refused and thought the situation would go away.

But then, in a conversation with the Tennessee coaches, head coach of the Oregon Ducks told them that Nico and his family had reached out to them - and presumably other teams - to try and get a better deal ahead of the transfer portal opening on April 16. All because he wanted more money. Over a million more.

This blew the ENTIRE situation wide open. Suddenly everyone was talking about Nico and this insane unprecedented move for a college athlete, and one by one, every school that Nico had talked to that had allegedly shown interest backed out and publicly said, no we’re good.

AND THEN Tennessee followed suit. They said, we’re moving forward without him because no one is “bigger than Power T.” And considering that Nico was skipping practices, not playing in games, and trying to strong-arm them into an INSANE deal that he didn’t deserve frankly, he was definitely trying to overshadow and take advantage of the team and the coaches who had already given him an incredible contract.

And let’s just say, fans have feelings. Very BIG feelings, like this one:

But Nico isn’t going to go completely without, even though most of the other schools publicly backed out and said they didn’t want him on their teams, UCLA threw him a bone.

A 1 million dollar bone, and as of yesterday, he committed.

Just think about that. He went from 2.4 million dollars a year as the quarterback on one of the most iconic and beloved SEC teams, where he was making millions more on endorsements and basically could have gone anywhere in the NFL if he played well, to going to UCLA for around a million a year.

And I say this as a BRUIN! A UCLA GRAD! Like I’m sorry, UCLA football just doesn’t mean as much as Tennessee or SEC football. He screwed the pooch.

But as this commenter said, it’s not fair to lay ALL the blame on Nico. He’s 20 years old, and someone else is advising him. His father.

Nico’s dad decided his son needed and deserved more, he played a dangerous game, and possibly wrecked Nico’s reputation forever.

And the thing is, he’s done it before. Listen to what happened to Nico’s younger brother in high school:

So it’s a trend - clearly a WIDESPREAD one. This is like a Hollywood momager or dance mom. A parent putting themselves in the driver's seat of their child’s career for financial gain when they are completely out of touch with the market, the industry, and the damaging effects this could have on their child’s dream.

And who knows how this will turn out for Nico. This will obviously be a major learning experience, and I hope he takes the opportunity to seek out mentors and advisors who have his best interests at heart, hopefully ones that are more humble than his father seems to be.

And this won’t be easy. Breaking away from family is hard. Learning that your parents might not know EVERYTHING is hard. Knowing who to trust is even harder.

But unfortunately, there WILL be times in life where you will be given bad advice and be led astray. People you trusted and handed the reins to might betray you or let you down. You can’t change the past, but you can choose how you move forward and learn from it.

Hopefully this puts a fire under Nico’s ass. I hope he plays better than ever, hires a REAL team, and is able to separate family from business to preserve those relationships, because I can’t imagine their house is very peaceful at the moment…

TIKTOK BOOKMARKS

Shaming Husbands

If you spend any amount of time scrolling social media, I’m sure you’ve encountered people talking about their spouses or significant others - and unfortunately, a lot of the time, it is done in a negative light.

And a lot of the time - most of the time - it’s coming from women. Posting about their icks. Making fun of things their husband or boyfriend does. Airing out grievances. 

Anecdotally, I feel like this has been on the rise as people get far too comfortable oversharing, and they’re of course egged on by the social media landscape of other women who cheer for them, say YAS QUEEN we HATE MEN, or whatever the sentiment might be.

We are social creatures, we want affirmation and attention, and many are getting that through shaming their loved ones.

Which is why it was so refreshing to see this pop up as a trend:

@alexandracolleen

you’re talking to the wrong girl

Yes. Shouldn’t that be common sense? 

And not even for social media, but just in your day to day life. Why would you want to air out issues, icks, or concerns about the person you’ve committed your life to in ANY sort of public way? If you have a problem, talk TO THEM. Or call your mom.

Don’t make it into an attention, clout chasing grab to make yourself feel validated or affirmed.

As that poster alluded to, respecting your marriage and your partner should include respecting their privacy and feelings. Shouldn’t be that hard to understand.

But of course it’s easy to get caught up in the moment, especially in a social setting where everyone is venting or DISHING about their lives and spouses, but in those environments, I think it’s best to sit back. You don’t have to shame THEM obviously for how they choose to speak, but you can set an example of someone who cheers your SO on and loves them loudly even when they’re not in earshot.

INSTAGRAM

The Revival of Print Media

So I saw this NYT Style article come across my Instagram feed, and I was IMMEDIATELY intrigued. Take a look at the headline:

And basically the headline tells you everything you need to know. Print is making a comeback in a huge - but independent - way. These are not Vogue magazines or off-shoots of Sports Illustrated, even though those publications are also coming back to print:

But the magazines that the NYT featured are different. They’re small, independently funded, “luxury,” and are highly tailored to small dedicated audiences.

Here are some clippings from the piece:

And unsurprisingly, a big theme here is authenticity and creative independence. Guess that really is driving EVERY industry and its disruptors in 2025!

I love it. And I think it speaks to what a lot of consumers and readers have been missing. In a world that is overrun with digital media and content that moves at basically the speed of light, a lot of people are trying to slow down and ground themselves.

Hence the trend of moving out of cities. Milkmaid dresses and frolicing in fields. Buying flip phones. It absolutely makes sense that print would take off again.

Now for some extra context as to why I was so interested in this article is that Alex has been desperate to make some sort of print magazine for YEARS. 

For example, if you don’t know, he also worked at Daily Wire and wanted to make one there, and now he’s been pitching a magazine to me and the team basically every week, and I’ve kind of kicked it down the road because print is hard. Creating physical goods that we send out is a lot harder than filming videos, hence why I’m not full-time in the merch business, lol!

But I love the intersection of modern and nostalgia. I love the idea of creating a physical, tangible item, and I love writing.

So who knows, maybe one day The Scroll could be arriving at your doorstep. For his part, Alex will make something like this happen if it kills him.

And this event - and this book - perfectly coincided with this episode I did on Chappell Roan and the comments she made about marriage and motherhood on “Call Her Daddy.”

Time and time again, with every study, across DECADES, research shows that men and women who get married and start families are happier. It doesn’t mean they automatically have no problems or no stress, actually quite the opposite, but they have a deeper purpose that drives them and a deep rooted love, commitment, and community that keeps them grounded, and that’s what Chappell seemed to miss.

But interestingly, another actress on the same podcast got it right. You’ll have to watch to find out who!

Also, if you’re interested in watching the UVA panel, I’ll link it here! I had such a great time, and I am so grateful that so many of you came and stayed to chat afterwards!