😳 Scared of heights? Don’t open this.

It’s Thursday, Boston.

🌊 If you’ve ever complained about not being able to swim in the Charles — now’s your chance. Registration for City Splash, a.k.a. the only day that locals are allowed to swim in the river, opens this morning. 

🔐 Note: If the link isn’t open when you’re reading this, check back because it will be by morning’s end. Happy swimming <3.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• LET’S GO, CELTICS!

• The marathon’s new era

• A Cape Cod flamingo

Up first…

OUT & ABOUT

Don’t look down in the Seaport

Imagine jumping off the top of the ICA, falling 50 mph, somersaulting midair, and gracefully landing in the Boston Harbor. Yeah, we can’t either. 

But that’s exactly what 24 of the world’s elite high-divers will start doing today in preparation for the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series this weekend, which marks the 100th event since the inception of the series in 2009.

Here’s what to know: 

🎨 Diving boards: Out. Roof of the ICA: In. Red Bull athletes are no strangers to wild stunts, so it’s only fitting they’ll be launching themselves from the ICA’s roof. The men’s and women’s platforms stand around 90- and 70-feet high, respectively, with Boston Harbor water temps sitting just shy of 60 degrees. 

🏊 Olympic diving ≠ cliff diving. “Cliff diving is the crazy extreme version” of Olympic diving, said Red Bull diver Ellie Smart. Unlike the controlled environment of an Olympic diving pool, with cliff diving, you never quite know what elements you’ll encounter, be it weather, wind, what you’re jumping off of, or how deep the water is. And then there’s the added bonus of figuring out how you’re going to get out of the water, especially after you’ve jumped off a cliff.

😬 And when a dive goes wrong, it can get ugly real fast. Smart’s worst dive happened during her first season when she got lost in the air and landed on her back from a 20-meter jump. “I actually got welts [on my back], like it, like bubbled [from the impact]. It was crazy,” she said. In some cases, a poor entry can knock a diver unconscious.

🌊 Boston’s unique challenge? The wind and tides. “There’s a moment when the tide starts to go down that we don’t have enough water for safety,” said Orlando Duque, the sports director of the Red Bull Cliff Diving Series (and a pretty epic diver himself). This means all the dives have to happen in a specific window, which can be challenging “because if it gets windy, it takes the divers longer to do their dives,” he said. 

😅 And yes, even professional divers can be scared of heights. “There’s never been a time I’ve gone up there and I’m 100% comfortable,” said Rhiannan Iffland, serial winner of the Cliff Diving World Series. “But it’s one of the things I also love about it.” Even Smart admits to having a fear of heights and open water despite conquering wild dives like this one off a lighthouse or this one off a flying helicopter. 

👀 Want to see for yourself? The practice round starts June 7 at noon, with the final competition on June 8 from noon to 4 p.m. Bonus: It’s free and open to the public.

POP QUIZ

❓What’s the world record for the tallest cliff jump ever?

😀 Thanks for playing! Now as a reward, enjoy this GoPro video of the jump (and by enjoy, we mean try not to throw up).

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🏀 LET’S GO CELTICS! Our beloved C’s will face off against the Dallas Mavericks tonight in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, and the city (including the Pru) is undeniably psyched. While the Celtics are entering the Finals with an Eastern Conference sweep and an injury-free starting lineup, stars like Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving (booooo!) make the Mavs a pretty formidable opponent. A few things to know: Tickets to next week’s mega watch parties at TD Garden go on sale today at 10 a.m.), and the MBTA will be running a free special event train to North Station, plus extra Green Line service during championship game times. 

💔 President Biden's border action hits close to home. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden took executive action to crack down on border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico, largely restricting entry for non-citizens and impacting access to asylum. The action has drawn some praise from politicians for tackling the migrant crisis (of which Mass. has faced unique challenges). But it’s also worried and angered many local immigration organizations and migrants, some of whom arrived just days ago, fleeing violence and humanitarian crises in their home countries.

🦄 The Boston Marathon has entered a new era. In honor of Global Running Day on Wednesday, the B.A.A. announced that the Boston Marathon is refreshing its iconic unicorn logo. Overall, the new logo isn’t that different, though the unicorn is facing a new direction and looks a little more chic. The most notable change comes with the prominent addition of the Bank of America logo, which real ones will remember upset some runners when it was featured on this year’s medal design. And according to these IG comments, the logo change isn’t going down too easy either.

🍕 Two iconic local spots have closed their doors. Join us in saying a big R.I.P. to two classic Boston spots. First up, Tenderoni’s Fenway, one of two locations of the Italian concept by local restaurateur Tiffani Faison, has officially served its last pie after opening in late 2022. Thankfully, their High Street Place location is still up and running. Meanwhile, Downtown dive bar Silvertone Bar & Grill also shut its doors after nearly 30 years in business, which owner David Savoie attributes to a significant drop in office lunch and afterwork crowds. We’re pouring out a Miller High Life. 

ONE LAST THING

A strange visitor

Whoever said that New England beaches aren’t as nice as the ones down South has clearly never talked to this flamingo. Let us explain. 

This week, a single flamingo was spotted hanging out in the water off of Cape Cod, marking the first wild sighting of the bird in Mass. history — they’re only rarely seen as far south as Florida, and mostly hang out in the Caribbean. The sighting comes just days after a flamingo was also spotted on Long Island.

Suffice to say, the whole thing took birding social media by storm.

Why was it there? Long story short, experts really don’t know, but it might be that this bird was displaced by Hurricane Idalia in 2023. But we prefer to think that it’s just enjoying the Cape’s charm. 

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🦩 Thanks for reading! This sighting also marks the first time we’ve ever used the flamingo emoji in the B-Side. What a week!

🥯 The results are in: With 22% of the vote, B-Siders have proclaimed that “everything but the bagel” products are the most iconic Trader Joe’s item, although many were nominated. One reader said: “Unexpected Cheddar taught me to expect more from my cheese.”

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].