2024 OutKick Victory Lap: Best Moments From A Year Of Being Fearless

PublishedDecember 31, 2024 10:14 AM EST|UpdatedJanuary 2, 2025 3:22 PM EST

Victory lap time.

With a presidential election looming, we knew 2024 was going to be a monumental year for OutKick, but we had no idea that this site would play a role in the election of Donald Trump.

But 2024 turned out to be more than Trump.

The Caitlin Clark phenomenon exploded in front of our eyes as she went from dominating the NCAA Tournament to the WNBA. OutKick was there dissecting every moment and fighting back when ESPN lunatics went after her.

By the end of November, the numbers told the story of OutKick's huge year:

— 21% growth year over year

— 34 million total multiplatform views

— 64% YOY growth on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

— Video views were up 94% YOY

From the digital side, to the writers, editors, management, marketing, social, the interns (now known as "College Associates"), graphics department, the IT team, Clay Travis, Lara Travis, our teammates at Fox News Digital and Fox News Media and many more, it has been a total team effort.

Surviving on the Internet is not for the faint of heart. Websites fail. They disappear.

OutKick proved in 2024 that it's here to stay, and it will be a site that will be at the forefront of the intersection of sports, culture and politics.

OutKick goes viral at the Women's Sweet 16 for noticing something strange…

OutKick traveled to the NCAA Women's Sweet Sixteen and Final Four to cover the mania surrounding superstar Caitlin Clark. But while we were there, we noticed something interesting.

Prior to Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes taking on the LSU Tigers in the Elite Eight, the entire Hawkeyes team stood proudly during the United States National Anthem. However, the LSU team was nowhere to be found.

OutKick reporter Dan Zaksheske captured this moment on video and it quickly went viral.

The video led to a national discussion about patriotism and sports, and Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry stated that athletes who don't stand for the national anthem shouldn't be allowed to play.

OutKick dared to ask the question that no one else wanted to ask

The NCAA Women's Final Four was a massive celebration of women's sports, with Caitlin Clark helping to deliver interest and enthusiasm never before seen for any women's sporting event.

That made it the perfect time to ask about a major issue facing women's sports: the travesty of allowing males who identify as girls and women to compete with and against women.

Yet, even with the topic gaining national attention, not one media member brought it up at any point during the women's NCAA tournament. Well, not one media member who doesn't work for OutKick.

Dan Zaksheske asked South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley about allowing transgenders to compete in women's college sport and the video went mega-viral, amassing over 27 million views on X.

OutKick launched the "Ricky Cobb Show"

What happens when you take the guy who runs the ultra-successful Super 70s Twitter account and turn his brain into a daily digital talk show? This year we found out.

Moments of the Year, according to the OutKick Staff

— Nick Femia from the Dan Dakich production team says:

My nominations for moment(s) of the year - Dan showing his RANGE via interviews with the likes of Charles Barkley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Bob Costas, Dan Hurley, Herbstreit, etc.

— OutKick's NFL Senior Insider® Armando Salguero takes a moment to reflect on his year:

I get a kick out of telling people what's about to happen. To that end, I'm glad I wrote the Daniel Jones era was over after the Giants lost to Carolina, and a week later he was benched and days later was released.

I enjoyed reporting on how seismic changes were about happen with the New York Jets and days later the general manager was fired, and national media began writing about an uncertain future for QB Aaron Rodgers. I also loved being perhaps the only national reporter to explain how the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs are conservative America's team — from their traditional Christian values, to their refusal to bow to Pride Month or calls to sanction kicker Harrison Butker for a commencement speech, which I reported on first.

Oh, yes, writing about the Trump celly dance in the NFL was fun, too — especially when other national media generally avoided the subject.

— Amber Harding takes a Victory Lap:

1. This piece that I wrote after the election:

Democrats Sacrificed Themselves On Altar Of Identity Politics | Amber Harding

Election Night 2024 was an unmitigated disaster for Kamala Harris and the Democrats. But with their relentless commitment to identity politics, they started digging their own grave a long time ago.

https://www.outkick.com/analysis/democrats-sacrificed-themselves-altar-identity-politics-amber-harding

2. Giving OutKick readers a weekly look inside the female brain in Womansplaining.

3. While I was only a small part of this and Dan Z deserves almost all the credit (hat tips to AA and Trey, too), I think our coverage of the SJSU story and its potential impact on the future of women's collegiate sports is monumental.

— Gambling guy Geoff Clark didn't break character when asked for his favorite moment of 2024:

I hit the $1 exacta that paid out $163.25 for the 6-10 (Dornoch and Mindframe) in the 2024 Belmont Stakes at the Saratoga Race Course.

Editor's Note:

Yes, Geoff gave out that bet before the Belmont Stakes. Congrats to those who listened. This free website gave you a big winner.

— From Mark Harris:

My most proud moment of 2024 had to be talking to a professional golfer who was forced to compete against Hailey Davidson in U.S. Open qualifying. Her honesty about the ridiculousness of the situation, OutKick being one of only a few places willing to publish it, and us continuing to be the tip of the spear when it comes to trans athletes in women's sports is important, and something I don't think anyone on our team takes for granted.

READ: Female Golfer Speaks Out After Losing To Trans Player In Qualifier: 'Not A Backup For Mediocre Male Athletes'

— John Simmons says this is a moment he won't soon forget:

The highlight of my year with OutKick was when Mina Kimes called me a racist for asking her some questions (that's the whole point of being a reporter, right?). What started as an innocent inquiry about her opinion of Tim Walz's masculinity turned into a full-blown attack on my character and our website. While her words certainly stung, I also viewed it as a badge of honor. After all, an ESPN employee slandered me for daring to challenge her progressive worldview. In this business, it doesn't get much better than that.

— Zach Dean takes a Victory Lap of his own:

I’ll go ahead and say Nightcaps correctly discovering Anna Paulina Luna in August, months before she became a star in Congress, would be my proudest moment. Can’t wait to tell my Journalism 101 professor from college.

That’s two years in a row we’ve nailed a star before she was a star. Gia Duddy (2023). APL (2024). Ahead of the trends.

— Sean Joseph from the OutKick Culture Department shares an interview that he nailed down back in May:

OnlyFans Model Who Appeared In Boob Grabbing Fake Traffic Stop Video With Nashville Cop Talks With OutKick

— David Hookstead reports:

I made it another year in DC without being shot. Seems like it should be high on the list as a miracle.

— Bobby Burack says:

I am pretty proud of our election coverage. And exposing AI and the American oligarchs. Very proud of our election coverage.

The Elites And Climate Cultists Don't Care That AI Is Destroying The Power Grid | Bobby Burack

— L.A. native Alejandro Avila attended his very first Rose Bowl, and it turned out to be Nick Saban's swan song.

I'd like to throw in our Rose Bowl coverage from Alabama-Michigan.Might get lost in the fold since it was Jan. 1. Ha.

— OutKick College Football Insider®Trey Wallace says:

My best moment: Covering the retirement of Nick Saban, and the ripple effect that it had on college football, which we’ve never seen before, and maybe ever again.

— Matt Reigle

I’m gonna be as vain as possible. My favorite part of this year was doing The Gripe Report. Hearing from readers and blowing off steam has been a blast (and I feel like it’s a service because I’ve received many messages of thanks on behalf of spouses and significant others).

Editor's Note:

We told the writers to be as vain as possible, or as serious as they'd like. Reigle, who might be the kindest employee at OutKick, understood the assignment.

— Gunz writes:

My top moment from OutKick this year was when I was able to turn the pain of my Yankees losing the World Series into a massive W by blaming it on rapper Fat Joe and then proceeding to go viral.

You see, (and over 7 million people did see it across my social media accounts) it wasn't the Yanks' fault they got smoked by L.A. in 5 games, but rather, it was Fat Joe's horrendous Game 3 pre-game performance in which he not only was atrocious, off-key, a good 10 seconds behind the actual song playing, but THEN Fat Joe decided to walk all over the Yankees pitching mound - a big "no" when it comes to disrupting the baseball gods.

In the end, my "Fat Joe Curse" video would go super-viral as I was just astonished at what I had just watched. The Dodgers would even reference Mr. Joe's curse in their World Series victory parade because, of course, they would.

But true geniuses turn their losses into wins, and that's what I did by making sure that if my Bronx Bombers were fizzling out and going to ruin my baseball offseason bragging rights, then I sure was going to win by delivering some content, baby.

The New York Yankees Had Fat Joe Open World Series Game 3 And Fans Aren't Happy

Never forget Clay Travis helped send Alyssa Milano's son & his travel ball buddies to Cooperstown after lefty Alyssa begged her fans to pay their way

Hookstead landed a Tim Dillon interview which was huge because Dillon doesn't do many interviews, according to Hook

— From Joe Kinsey:

This is a true story: Tim Dillon's management team contacted me to ask us to swap out a photo we were using of Tim in a post I wrote.

No problem, but wait, now I have a request.

Knowing that Hook's a huge Dillon fan, I asked the rep if Tim had 15 minutes to talk with OutKick. She didn't say no.

A week or so later, David Hookstead was chatting up one of the biggest culture comedians of this era. Credit goes to Hook for taking that interview and turning it into multiple clips that ran on social media over several days.

Screencaps' readers donated $5,000 to hurricane relief

In October, a team of Screencaps' readers, and our very own Amber Harding, participated in a 200-mile Ragnar Relay road race across Kentucky. Readers were asked to donate in the name of their favorite runners as they pounded the pavement. By the time the team crossed the finish line near Rupp Arena, they had raised $5,000 for the Red Cross in 32 hours, six minutes and 25 seconds.