How many times have you heard at a wedding from the bride or groom, “I married my best friend”? Or have at least heard this phrase thrown about? If you’re in a relationship and this isn’t the case, you might be questioning if your partner is the one since they aren’t your best friend. If so, don’t panic. You’re actually in the majority.
A Colorado University study on friendship found that only 14% of people considered their romantic partner as their best friend. The research team looked at the data drawn from a national survey on friendship in 2022. The participants they analyzed were 940 people in romantic relationships, aged 18 to 85, from a wide array of backgrounds that had said in their survey that they had at least one person they considered their best friend.
In the survey, each participant was asked to list up to seven people they considered friends, without being told whether to include romantic partners. Each person they named could be assigned multiple labels such as “close friend,” “romantic partner,” “best friend,” and others. Other data that was collected included the participants’ routine interactions with each person they listed along with well-being outcomes such as loneliness, social support, and stress.
Out of the group, around 36% included their romantic partner in their friend list. Within that sample, 39.5% gave their partner the “best friend” label, translating it to 14.4% of the total group. The rest of the people in the survey either didn’t list their partner at all or didn’t give them the “best friend” label. On top of that, there were some participants who did label their romantic partner as their best friend who also named other people as their best friend, too. So if you’re concerned about having your old college roommate, your lifelong pal from high school, or Alan from work as your best friend and not your spouse, it’s a not a true sign of trouble.
@faganchelsea God bless his bffs because i will not be watching formula 1 with him
“It is not technically the main focus of the study, but I did think it was interesting that some people (about 25% of the sample) labeled more than one person their best friend,” said Natalie Pennington, the study’s author, to PsyPost. “Sometimes socially I think there is this feeling of ‘I can only have one best friend’ and so I liked seeing that people didn’t always adhere to that.”
The results of this study can show that we don’t have to put our romantic relationships at the highest, isolated pedestal and that it probably isn’t very healthy if you do. Being in a married or committed relationship also doesn’t address the growing loneliness epidemic in the United States, which is considered a public health risk.
There are some benefits to solitude, but many mental health experts, including Arthur Brooks, an expert on happiness and professor at Harvard University, believe that having a mix of different friendships is key to feeling happy and balanced. This includes utility friendships (think your work buddy or the cashier you always chat with at the grocery store), pleasure-based friendships (the guy you invite to the party because he always makes you laugh, or the woman who likes true crime podcasts like you do), and “perfect” friendships (the friendships that grow from the first two into a relationship in which both persons are invested in the well-being of the other).
If your partner is your best friend, that’s not necessarily a bad thing at all though. However, regardless of your relationship status, if you’re not feeling fulfilled and are feeling lonely, it might be worth your time to look for other connections. There’s likely someone looking for someone like you as you are searching for someone like them.
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Ketel Marte was brought to tears during an MLB game after facing a shameful fan taunt.
Baseball manager's poignant support for a player brought to tears after shameful fan taunt
Whether they’re expecting perfection from their favorite players or, worse, behaving callously toward opposing teams, sports fans often forget that athletes are human beings. But athletic competition has the ability to unify and uplift, even amid such painful and unpleasant encounters. Take, for example, a major-league baseball game held June 24, 2025 between the home team Chicago White Sox and visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.
A shameful low point occurred when Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte was at bat in the seventh inning. Per ESPN, a fan reportedly yelled out a comment regarding Marte’s late mother, Elpidia Valdez, who died in a 2017 car accident in the Dominican Republic. Team personnel, including manager Torey Lovullo, then requested the 22-year-old fan be ejected. (Though he was remorseful and admitted his actions were inappropriate, according to an ESPN source, he was nonetheless banned indefinitely from all MLB ballparks.) "We commend the White Sox for taking immediate action in removing the fan," the MLB said in a statement. Marte reportedly declined to comment.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
While the fan’s behavior is inexcusable, it did spark a powerful and inspiring moment. After hearing the comment, Marte was visibly upset, prompting Lovullo to walk on the field, put his arm around him, and offer some words of encouragement. "[I said,] 'I love you, and I’m with you, and we’re all together, and you’re not alone,'" Lovullo said in a post-game interview, as documented by The Rich Eisen Show. "'No matter what happens, no matter what was said or what you’re heard, that guy is an idiot.’"
According to Arizona Republic, Lovullo heard the fan’s comment but didn’t want to repeat it. “I looked right at [Marte] when I heard,” he said. “I looked right at him, and he looked at the person, as well. He put his head down and I could tell it had an immediate impact on him, for sure."
Elsewhere in the post-game interview, the manager called the moment "terrible" and reflected on why he stood up for Marte. "Fans are nasty, and fans go too far sometimes," he said. "I love my players, and I’m gonna protect them…I’ve known Ketel for nine years. He’s had some unbelievably great moments and some hardships as well and some really tough moments in his life. I know those. At the end of the day, we’re human beings, and we have emotions. I saw him hurting, and I wanted to protect him."
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
The following day, the Chicago White Sox X account sent out a message in support of Marte, writing, "We’re with you" and "Baseball is family." On The Rich Eisen Show, the show's host addressed the need to eradicate this kind of toxic athlete-fan interaction: "I was hearing [people saying], 'There’s no place for this in major league baseball.' There isn’t. There’s no place for this in our society. I understand that people are saying the MLB has got to do something about this. Fans have a right to heckle players—this is something that has happened forever…But there is a line."
In another recent, depressing sports moment with a beautiful coda, let’s look to Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the eventual champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the first quarter, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon—a devastating injury that could potentially sideline him for most of the 2025-2026 season. Following the game, in a lovely display of sportsmanship, Thunder point-guard and league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went to the Pacers locker room to check on his competitor. In a press conference, he said, "You just hate to see it, in sports in general. But in this moment, my heart dropped for him. I can't imagine playing the biggest game of my life and something like that happening. It’s so unfortunate."
- YouTubewww.youtube.com