🏈😳 Sunday is gonna hit DIFFERENT

Happy Friday, Boston!

💅 Your next manicure is on us. You’ve probably seen these gorgina intricate nail designs all over your FYPs. But did you know Allston’s Tiny Chaos Studios will teach you to make your own in a step-by-step class? Become a B-Side Member, come back tomorrow, and enter our giveaway for a pair of tickets (over $100 in value) to any nail class! 

👀 What’s on tap today:

• A bucket load of ballot Q’s

• $5 MFA tickets

• We hear (local) wedding bells!

Up first…

SPORTS

We’re SO back … on the couch

Football fans, Swifties, clear your Sundays. Football is BACK. The Pats kick off their season at Gillette against Tom Brady’s own Las Vegas Raiders at 1 p.m. Sunday.

So whether you know how to ball … or just know Aristotle, here’s your season primer: 

💅 The team got a MAJOR offseason revamp. Coming off of last season’s dismal 4-13 record (for the second year in a row), let’s just say a revamp was sorely needed. Former Patriot Mike Vrabel replaced Jerod Mayo as head coach, and he didn’t waste much time overhauling the roster with over 50% turnover from last season. Flashy newbies include Stefon Diggs, Milton Williams, and No. 4 draft pick Will Campbell. 

🤩 Plus, our baby QB Drake Maye is stepping into the spotlight. After a few promising moments of greatness during his rookie season, Maye is fully entrenched as starting QB, hopefully showing us the moves that earned him the No. 3 pick. 

🏈 Will all that change = a winning record? TL;DR: We have lots of reasons to be hopeful, but we wouldn’t clear our calendars for the playoffs just yet. As with any major overhaul, it’s tough to predict how all these new pieces will gel, and analysts aren’t exactly thrilled about the Pats’ odds. Local experts have them ending the season with a 9-8ish record, which could just eek them into a Wild Card slot. 

😅 Just don’t expect our seventh ring. Fox Sports gives the Pats a measly 1.6% chance at winning it all this year. (So you’re saying we have a chance …)

🚉 Either way, getting to the games will be cheap. Thanks to the MBTA, you can nab $20 round-trip commuter rail tickets from South Station to Gillette for any home game. They’ll drop the Monday before game days at 11 a.m., and will likely sell out fast. The agency is also adding additional trains to its regular schedule for three home games in September, and one in December. If you go, make sure to say hey to Tom Brady for us.

🙄 More interested in football *vibes* than X’s and O’S? The Great American Beer Hall is hosting a week one watch party, and Cisco in Seaport has you covered with a bash for week two on Sept 14. Here are the best places to catch the rest of the season around Boston. As always … GO PATS!

QUICK QUESTION!

🏈 Let’s hear your predictions: How are the Pats going to do this year? 

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🗳️ The 2026 ballot question field is PACKED. AG Andrea Campbell’s office certified a record-breaking 44 (of 47) proposed ballot Q’s this week, including some that would bring back rent control(!), allow same-day voter registration, and scale back Mass.’ income tax. But obviously, not all 44 will appear on the 2026 ballot — each one still needs at least 74,574 signatures to move onto the next round. That said, the huge field does indicate a shift toward using the Q’s as a more direct alternative to Beacon Hill for passing new legislation.

🧑‍⚖️ Harvard nabbed a major legal W over President Trump. A federal judge in Boston ruled against Trump’s nearly $3 billion in funding cuts to the university over its (alleged) poor handling of campus antisemitism. Judge Allison D. Burroughs didn’t mince words in her ruling, saying that, while Harvard could’ve done better at handling antisemitism on campus, the Trump admin used the issue as a “smokescreen” for its massive funding cuts (and she barred them from doling out more). Is this a win for Harvard? Yes. Will Trump actually restore the funds? … TBD.

🚔 Mayor Wu is cracking down on Mass. and Cass. crime. Per a BIG update to Wu’s safety strategy, the area will see a slew of changes: A beefed-up police presence of nearly 100 new police academy grads, ramping up the city’s needle cleanup efforts, a plan to “decentralize” treatment and recovery services, and the addition of cameras to hotspots for 311 and 911 calls. The changes dropped the night before a major City Council hearing on the growing issue, as public discourse is reaching a fever pitch.

🖼️ Going to the MFA just got cheaper. The museum announced a new promo offering pay-what-you-wish $5 minimum admission after 5 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month, dubbed “third Thursdays.” On those nights, you’ll be able to explore the galleries until 10 p.m. while enjoying cultural programming and live music. They’re kicking it off with a Latinx Heritage Month celebration on Sept. 18 with live music, dance performances, and gallery talks, with celebrations for Diwali, Hanukkah, the Lunar New Year, and more are coming down the pike.

THINGS TO DO

Weekend plans

🤌 Saluti to the end of feast season. Consider this your last chance to double fist arancini and meatballs in the North End streets this summer: The San Gennaro Feast kicks off today through Sept. 7.

🍕 Find Boston’s carb match made in heaven. Introducing: This pizza bagel pop-up with Brick Street Bagels and The Salty Pig on Sept. 6 that puts Bagel Bites to SHAME. 

📚 Visit the Athenaeum fo’ FREE. Unfamiliar? It’s basically if the BPL and MFA had a baby … AND it’s hosting a community day open house Sept. 6 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

✨ Watch your fave green queen on the big screen. We’re holding space for this sing-a-long outdoor screening of “Wicked” on Sept. 6. We double dare you to (try to) hit the high note in “Defying Gravity.” 

🖼️ Spruce up your empty walls. Loved Allston Christmas? You’re gonna be OBSESSED with the Speedway’s new digs market on Sept. 7 — it’s basically a market for people who just moved! Expect 100+ local businesses selling affordable art, decor, and other goodies. 

🥒 Let your pickle freak flag fly! Chocolate, cheese, pickles, miso, kombucha — if it’s got funk, it’s on the menu at the Somerville Fermentation Festival on Sept. 7.

🎨 Paint away your Sunday scaries. This mindful watercolor painting class at Faneuil Hall on Sept. 7 might be the most ~chill~ art class you’ll ever take (it literally starts with a meditation).

🧶 Take this as your sign to start a new *project*. Hats? Gloves? Perhaps a sweater? Get all the crafting inspo you need at the Boston Fiber Festival Market on Sept. 7 at SoWa Power Station.

ONE LAST THING

We hear (local) wedding bells! 

Something must be in the water … because we have news of not one, but possibly TWO mega pop stars tying the knot in New England. 

We wouldn’t blame you if you had no idea Noah Kahan had a GF, let alone a fiancée — the longtime relationship has been v private save a few sneaky mentions. But this week, Kahan’s people confirmed he married his longtime partner on Aug. 23 in a small, private ceremony in Vermont (obv). 

Meanwhile, remember that pipe dream about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce getting married in Rhode Island? Well, according to a Page Six “insider,” it’s actually happening next summer. Now, it is Page Six, so take it with a grain of salt, but if true, Gov. Dan McKee will be STOKED.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

💒 Thanks for reading! Now THAT’S a local angle. 

🎶 The results are in: 33% of readers said Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” was the song of the summer. But to the reader who said “it was Ben Platt’s Diet Pepsi cover,” you have a special place in our hearts.

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