Sophie Cunningham Dances In Her Bikini & Best Reactions To Bill Belichick UNC Debut

What a Labor Day weekend it was for this bitter, jaded Tennessee fan!

I mean wow. All I really needed to be happy on Saturday was a Vols win over Syracuse and Joey Aguilar looking like he has some potential. A simple request.

So imagine my elation when Tennessee wins by 19, Alabama gets upset in Tallahassee and UCLA gets flat-out embarrassed in front of a sparse crowd with Nico Iamaleava still overthrowing receivers like his life depends on it.

Remarkable.

Look, maybe it's unbecoming for a lady to wish ill upon others. But when it comes to Tennessee Football, I have suffered enough to justify more than a few smug celebrations over the plight of other teams' fans — especially that nasty team in Tuscaloosa.

Will I be singing the same tune 12 weeks from now? History says probably not. So you bet your sweet ass I'm going to enjoy this high while I can.

Let's do some Nightcaps, shall we?

Rough Debut For Bill Belichick

If Saturday was the ice cream sundae, then Monday was the cherry on top.

See, in addition to being a bitter, jaded Tennessee fan, I'm also a bitter, jaded Miami Dolphins fan. On the bright side, no one can ever accuse me of being a frontrunner.

But as a Dolphins fan, I spent two decades watching this so-called "evil genius" Bill Belichick dismantle my football team and bully around the rest of the AFC East every… single… miserable… year.

So you'll excuse me if watching Bill do a losing press conference under a baby shower balloon arch was the funniest damn thing I've seen in a long time. The decorations had me cackling.

Look, I've been on record saying this move to college ball makes absolutely no sense. And I'd still be saying that even if he didn't lose by 34 points in his collegiate debut.

This is a 73-year-old surefire Hall of Famer with millions of dollars, a hot young girlfriend and absolutely nothing to prove. If I were him, I'd take my eight Super Bowl rings and f*ck off to some private island where I'm sipping Mai Tais all day with my toes in the sand — completely unburdened by whatever is happening in the ACC. 

I know, I know. He just loves the game, it's all he's ever known, he lives for football …blah blah blah. Make a couple million a year as a consultant or something and live your damn life, Bill. There's just no reason for a rich grandpa in his 70s to subject himself to this sort of stress and humiliation.

This guy gets it:

Yet here he is. Looking like a fool underneath a balloon arch.

At least social media has been really entertaining, though!

Let's Check In On Beyoncé

I actually have no idea what Beyoncé is up to. Still pretending to make country music, probably. 

But I just had to share with you guys this insane hat she wore during a recent concert.

In related news, I may have found my Halloween costume this year.

Sophie Cunningham Seems To Be Healing Up Just Fine

Fresh off her MCL surgery, Sophie Cunningham isn't letting anything get her down — not the haters, not all the fines for criticizing WNBA refs, and certainly not the giant knee brace she has to wear for the foreseeable future.

Everyone's favorite enforcer took to social media on Labor Day to dance in her bikini and let us know her recovery is going just fine.

Sophie also said she's "starting to feel like me again so y'all better watch tf out."

(Instagram: @sophie_cham)

I'm not sure what we're supposed to be watching out for, but I can assure you that whatever it is, OutKick will cover it.

Good for you, Sophie.

Kentucky Fried Jelly Beans

OK, not really. But that does sound like something you could scoop up at the Expo Center during the State Fair.

In the latest effort of fast food chain gimmicks comes Colonel Sanders with fried chicken, sweet corn and gravy-flavored jelly beans — which are almost certainly disgusting.

I almost made a bold statement that jelly beans should be sweet and not savory. But then I remembered that, as a kid, I was obsessed with the buttered popcorn Jelly Bellies. I even had a Jelly Belly "gumball" machine in my room that I filled ONLY with the buttered popcorn ones.

I realize this is a controversial opinion in the junk food world, and I run the risk of my email inbox erupting with the same fervor as the great Nightcaps Pop-Tart Flavor War of December 2023. But 

Gravy, corn and chicken, though? I don't know. I truly don't understand the fascination with combining foods that ought not be combined. Mac & cheese ice cream, mustard and Skittles, Pepsi and Peeps! (Yes, these were all real things.) You people are sick.

You know who would love these jelly beans, though?

Speaking of, new South Park episode tomorrow. I'm going to go out on a wild limb and predict that they make fun of Trump's penis.

ICYMI: Watch My Interview With Python Hunter Taylor Stanberry

Try not to get whiplash from the extreme change of subject, but thank you to everyone who has taken the time to check out my interview with Taylor Stanberry.

In case you missed it, she is the winner of the 2025 Florida Python Challenge, where she captured 60 Burmese pythons in 10 days in the Florida Everglades. She runs an exotic animal sanctuary in South Florida, and she catches, rescues, removes and relocates snakes for a living — including the very venomous kind. She's a badass.

And her Instagram is great.

We talked about everything from how exactly Taylor captures snakes, avoiding alligators while trudging through the swamp barefoot, her conservation work and the wild pickup lines she gets in her DMs.

This is the first edition of an ongoing series for OutKick Outdoors, where I interview impressive, outdoorsy guys and gals with great stories to tell. We're talking everything from hunters and fishermen to hikers, winter sport athletes and adventurers of all kinds. The goal is to grow this into a weekly series.

Watch the whole interview (and subscribe!) here:

Last week, I asked y'all to share with me suggestions for people you'd like to see featured on OutKick Outdoors, and I've already received a ton of great recommendations. Thank you for that! If you haven't already, drop me an email at Amber.Harding@outkick.com and let me know what you think!

Now let's open the mailbag.

We Must Protect The Dogs (Even The Fictional Movie Ones)

Last week, I talked about how my rescue dog Rocky had to get some dental work done (a root canal and an extraction) for some broken teeth he had before we adopted him. Once they got him under anesthesia and did diagnostics, the dentist called to tell me the damage was more extensive than we originally thought — and that it was consistent with "a blow to the head."

I don't know anything about Rocky's life before we rescued him in March except that he was dumped at a kill shelter in Alabama sometime before his first birthday. But obviously, it devastates me to find out someone may have hurt him. 

Fortunately, he's all fixed up now, and he has a whole lifetime of being absolutely spoiled rotten ahead of him. (Plus, he's a Vols fan now that we saved him from Alabama.)

Michael M. Writes: I have to say, I'm soo sorry about Rocky and his teeth. I absolutely can't stand the thought of something/someone hurting a dog, especially a dog as awesome as Rocky. I've been the same way about all my dogs. I'm one of the weird people who feels worse for a dog getting hurt/killed than for a person.

That said, are you familiar with the new movie "Good Boy"? I haven't seen it and likely won't, just because I don't like the idea of a dog even being terrified. I know the dog is the hero and evidently doesn't die, but still. I would sooner go into a haunted house myself than a dog.

Is there something wrong with me? Lol.

Amber:

There's nothing at all wrong with you, Michael. In fact, you're in the majority here. Apparently, a whole bunch of people on the internet wanted to make sure the dog survived that movie before committing to watching it.

One time I told my mom about those dumb Terrifier movies that my husband and I decided to watch last Halloween. (In case you're unfamiliar, they are about a demonic clown who murders people in the most brutal ways you could possibly imagine.) 

My mom said, "I don't know how you watch those gory horror movies!"

"Because they aren't real, Mom."

She said: "Well, you won't watch a movie if the dog dies, and that's not real, either."

Mom had me there. That's a great point. I can't explain why it's different, but I do know that I'm not alone here.

Owen K. Blesses Us With His German Shepherd

I read your article on OutKick about Rocky’s procedure and what was the likely cause. I know he’s a very lucky dog now. I bet y’all feel like y’all are the lucky ones.

BTW, this is Frankie our German Shepherd. He was found in an open field, and we scooped him up.

Amber:

This photo made me (literally) LOL because it's a very familiar sight. I don't know what it is about those working line Sheps, but those derpy boys love them some belly rubs.

Case in point:

Cheers To Buddy And To Gene In The Rock For Saving Him:

Good on you for fixing the big guy up. We went through something similar with our little guy, a 20-pound Pom mix. He actually rescued himself. He started hanging out on my daughter's front porch and wouldn't leave. The owner (or I should say abuser) showed up and tried to shake my daughter down for money for keeping "his" dog, but when he tried to pick Buddy up, the dog bit him.  

Buddy turned out to have lots of bad habits, and we found out why on his first vet visit. He walked a little funny and seemed blind in one eye, but his x-rays showed the outer signs were scarcely half of it. The non-load bearing portion of his hip was healed in 4 shattered pieces, and his eye was blind because the orbit had been broken and detached his retina. The vet told us she didn't know how he survived the latter. The brain swelling should have killed him. She also opined that the only impact likely to break his hip that way was being "kicked like a football." 

It turns out they were all "red badges of courage." He got it all from trying to defend the lady of the house against the violent jackass whose hand he bit. Bravest little dog I ever heard of, but oh my, what a price he paid. Check out the hip, the damage is obvious.

Vince Lombardi once posited that, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." Somehow, God, doggy preparation, and lucky opportunity led Buddy to my daughter, and thence to a forever home where the only defense needed is from persistent mailmen and petulant cats. He's been with us for 9 years now, and he was maybe 5 when he adopted us, so he's very long in the tooth. I'll hate it when we finally lose him, but for now, he's still pretty spry and lives to go walking with us, old bones and all.

May Rocky live as full and charmed a life. Here's to dogs.

Amber:

I know "we don't deserve dogs" is an overused cliché. But some people REALLY don't deserve dogs. And I hope karma treats them accordingly.

Good on you, Gene, for saving Buddy. I hope he has many, many more years.

Stuff I Liked

OutKick Nightcaps is a daily column set to run Monday through Friday at 4 p.m.

Follow me on X / Twitter at @TheAmberHarding or email me at Amber.Harding@OutKick.com.