Feel Good Friday: Ariel Helwani and Brett Okamoto
We can all use some feel-goods these days; Front Row will bring you all the feels, every Friday, through the goodness of familiar ESPN faces
Front Row is expanding on “FGF” goodness every Friday as we put our own spin on the segment by highlighting the “good” being done by familiar faces from around ESPN who are helping to make others – and themselves! – feel good. This ongoing series showcases even more ways that ESPN is #OneTeam, signifying how we are all in this together.
One of the regular Friday highlights now ingrained in the noon ET SportsCenter is a segment called “Feel Good Friday.” It’s self-explanatory.
Today the co-anchors are Elle Duncan and Matt Barrie. SportsCenter’s Feel Good Friday feature focuses on the Splash Sisters, the San Diego women’s basketball players – in their 80s and 90s – who are staying fit while staying home.
This week on Front Row, we hear from ESPN MMA Insiders Ariel Helwani and Brett Okamoto. Each will be involved in the coverage surrounding UFC 249: Ferguson vs Gaethje, which streams exclusively on ESPN+ PPV tomorrow at 10 p.m. ET, live from VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.
Big hello all the way from Nova Scotia, Canada. Been a crazy times out here but your content has helped get me through it all. My son is now obsessed with this so Dad doesn’t get a turn haha and you heard him, he’s the champ! Stay safe!#helwaniboxing pic.twitter.com/OnA2W5jUz0
— Adam Arsenault (@AdamArsenault) April 30, 2020
Helwani talks about starting Helwani Boxing, born out of missing the boxing training he typically does. Recently, he posted a video of himself and his kids having fun and being active “boxing” with the headband-and-ball device. Thousands of fans agreed and started posting their own Helwani Boxing videos (see an example above) and ESPN even featured it on SportsCenter.
Helwani demonstrates #HelwaniBoxing here. He explains the inspiration for the activity, which even has a logo designed by David Adam Le Batard (brother of ESPN commentator Dan Le Batard) in the video below.
ESPN MMA Insider Brett Okamoto explains that “Fight Island,” his original song (see Instagram post above) about the “magical, fantasy” island where UFC President Dana White says he will stage events should the quarantine continue to keep sports on lockdown, was born out of boredom. For thousands of fans, it hit them in “the feels,” including a special call out from UFC athlete Darren Till. Okamoto explains in the video below.
– Ardi Dwornik
