Nikki Garcia Wants An Older Man, Conor McGregor Starts A Girl Band, Baby Seals & Ride The 'Dente!
I almost got a puppy this weekend.
If you know me in real life or follow me on social media, you probably know I lost my dog, Lucy, last month after her battle with cancer. She was my best friend for almost 16 years and, truly, an incredible animal. At some point, I will publish her story on OutKick, but it's taking me a while to write. Because every time I sit down to write it, I turn into a little crybaby b*tch.
Because Lucy meant so much to me, I told myself and my husband that I was going to wait a while — maybe a year or so — before getting another dog. My heart isn't ready for a puppy, and neither is my house.
But then Friday rolled around… Valentine's Day. I posted one of my favorite pictures of Lucy on my Instagram story. She was 10 years old at the time, smiling next to her "I Love Lucy" heart-shaped pillow on my bed. Just a few minutes later, Wags & Walks (a rescue here in Nashville) posted a photo of a new litter of puppies.
One of them looked just like Lucy as a puppy. And she was lying next to a heart pillow. My heart skipped a beat.
I mean, how is this not meant to be?
Y'all, I had to meet this dog. It felt like a sign.
I told my friends and family to talk me out of it, but they all encouraged me to go get her. Well, everyone except my husband. He would rather wait a while, as we originally discussed. But when I told him later that night that I couldn't stop thinking about the puppy and that I wanted to go meet her when she was available on Sunday, he said to me what all great husbands say to their wives:
"Whatever will make you happy, babe. I can't tell you no."
I won't draw out the suspense. We did go to the shelter on Sunday morning, but we didn't get to meet her. By the time we arrived, someone had already adopted this puppy, signed the paperwork and left with her. So they were probably waiting at the door when the shelter opened.
We did get to play with her brothers and sisters, though (none of whom looked like Lucy at all), and I think I might have succeeded in giving my husband just a little bit of puppy fever. So this is a step in the right direction.
Do I need my new dog to look like my old dog? No. But I was bummed this one didn't work out. I know the right pup will come along eventually. And when it does, I also know my husband won't tell me no.
So there's my life update. How are y'all? Email me at Amber.Harding@outkick.com with your own dog stories or just let me know what you're up to. Meanwhile, let's get to some Nightcaps, shall we?
Nikki Garcia Wants An Older Man
Nikki Garcia (formerly known by her WWE stage name, Nikki Bella) has revealed what she's looking for in a man — age and experience.
Fresh off finalizing her divorce from professional dancer Artem Chigvintsev, Nikki is officially on the prowl. She and her sister Brie took their podcast, cleverly named The Nikki and Brie Show, to New Orleans during Super Bowl LIX week. That's where they took it upon themselves to scout out the male talent. And that includes some football players …but not the current ones.
"Where's the retired ones? The ones that have some wisdom and age?" the 41-year-old Nikki asked.
Brie and guest Rocsi Diaz had a different idea — instead of trying to talk Nikki into "having fun with a young one."
But Nikki stood her ground, saying she didn't want to have to "train" her new man.
"I want my body rocked," she declared.
Listen, I'm happily married. But if I weren't, I'd be right there with Nikki on this one. As a woman in my mid-30s, the idea of dating a man in his early- to mid-20s sounds awful to me. Truly awful.
I know there's some 22-year-old guy out here reading this like, Well we don't want you, either! And baby, that's fine.
The maturity gap, the financial instability, the fact that I'm going to have to train you in bed and teach you how to do your taxes, the TikTok addiction… I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
But I digress.
Single fellas over 40, it sounds like Nikki Bella/Garcia is open to finding love again. Now's your chance!
Conor McGregor Started A Girl Band
Conor McGregor is a busy dude. In addition to battling sexual assault allegations, the Irish MMA fighter is selling whiskey, beer, clothing, training programs and sports recovery products. He also recently starred in the Road House remake and bought a pub in Dublin.
It seems the guy is doing just about everything except MMA fighting.
So what do you do when you've already tried just about every business venture known to man? You start a girl band, obviously.
Yes, Conor McGregor has started a girl band — called Sweet Love (Lord, that's awful) — that he promises to be the biggest thing since the Spice Girls! And, predictably, the band really just looks like he bought the Spice Girls off Temu, and they forgot to ship the redhead.
So I went to Sweet Love's Instagram page, and it sent me down a rabbit hole. I learned that they recently toured with S Club 7. S CLUB 7! (Except they call themselves "S Club" because there are only five of them now. One died, and another one quit because she was very sad about the one who died.)
Do you remember S Club 7? They were formed in 1998 by Simon Fuller after he was fired as manager of the Spice Girls (a revenge band!), and they got pretty popular with kids in the U.S. a couple of years later when they got their own TV show. That ballad, "Never Had A Dream Come True," once had 12-year-old Amber in a chokehold.
But in case you hadn't heard, there ain't no party like an S Club party.
Now they're all, like, 50 years old, but I bet they can still party. Not sure if they can still breakdance, though. But if they're looking for new members, I hear there's a pretty good breakdancer from Australia looking for work.
Millennials, I hope you all enjoyed that walk down Memory Lane. But let's get back to Sweet Love. Is Conor Mcgregor's new girl band any good?
Truthfully, I have no idea. Because they haven't released any original music yet, and the only videos on their Instagram page are of them lip-syncing around a kitchen counter.
They also post bikini photos, which I'm guessing is how Conor found them.
C'mon, Conor, I know you're spending all your money on lawyers right now, but we've got to up the budget over here.
Remember When P. Diddy Did This?
If you're under 30 or over 50, you're probably hating Nightcaps today. And for that I apologize. But if you want Millennial nostalgia, I got this all day, baby.
This whole Conor McGregor girl band stunt reminded me of that time, like 20-25 years ago, when P. Diddy went through a girl band phase. (I don't know which stage name he was going by at the time — P. Diddy? Puff Daddy? Puffy? Brother Love? Puff The Magic Diddy?)
Anyway, before we all found out he was a creep and a sex trafficker (ALLEGEDLY, for legal reasons), he was signing girl groups to Bad Boy Records.
First, there was Dream. And I won't lie, this one kind of slapped:
The green, blue and purple eyeshadow is giving me PTSD. But these days, teenage girls are using $600 Dyson blowdryers and asking for Botox for Christmas, so I much prefer the former. Make awkward cool again!
This band actually had some relative success, though, and a couple of songs on the Billboard Hot 100. Then, Diddy launched a much less successful girl band called Danity Kane, which largely crashed and burned. And I think they did an ad for PETA once, which is just embarrassing.
The Best Girl Bands, Ranked:
- Spice Girls
- The Supremes
- Bananarama
- TLC
- Destiny's Child
Agree? Disagree? Did I forget anyone? Want me to shut up about pop music from the early 2000s (but the Supremes and Bananarama are OK)? Email me at Amber.Harding@outkick.com.
Ride The 'Dente!
We'll move on from that. Because if you're a grown man at work right now, and you watched all of those videos, people are going to start thinking you're weird.
Here's a person who IS weird. Some Lib in Pennsylvania says she's going to leave the country! Not because of Donald Trump or Elon Musk or the Gulf of America, though.
No, this woman is FIRED UP and APPALLED over a Chili's commercial.
I'm pretty good at ignoring morons on the Internet (my mute game is strong), but when you pick a fight with Chili's, buddy, you pick a fight with me. Because few things can turn my gray skies blue quite like a Skillet Beef Queso and a Presidente Margarita on happy hour.
So I scoured the Internet to find out what commercial this terrorist was referring to, and I found it. If you watched the Daytona 500 this past weekend, you might have already seen it. But if not, please enjoy.
That was equal parts terrible and awe-inspiring. And you know what? It worked.
Y'all meet me at Chili's in an hour. We'll toast a ‘Dente to another whiny Lib fleeing the country. (She won't.)
One More Thing: Baby Seal!
A baby seal ventured into the big city this weekend, after somehow making its way into downtown New Haven, Conn. Police officers got a call about a possibly injured seal pup on Sunday afternoon. The adorable critter was in the middle of the street, on his way to one of the city's popular pizza joints.
"We assumed he was here to try the clam pizza, but I can't confirm that," the responding officer wrote. "We're just happy he's safe."
The seal was "lethargic, dehydrated and in thin condition," so they took him to an aquarium.
"He's showing interest in fish, though he is still not eating on his own," an aquarium spokesperson told NPR. "He is being fed fish formula and is getting fish school (where we teach them that fish are food) daily."
"Listen, lady, you need to send me to pizza school," the seal responded, probably.
Can a person keep a baby seal as a pet? Asking for a friend.
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.