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Good morning! Watch out for the shopping bag today. Coming up:
Tee Times, Pt. II: Rory’s easy excellence
A “cool” thing about writing a daily sports newsletter is that each day is a new chance to be wrong. Yesterday, in our preview, we made two points: Defending champion Rory McIlroy was coming into this Masters with plenty of questions around him. We also mentioned that Matt Fitzpatrick, the talented Englishman, could be a contender.
Then they started playing golf:
- McIlroy looked incredible, free of the pressure the last decade brought at Augusta National. He looked free and easy en route to a five-under 67, which ties him with Sam Burns for the lead. Everyone should be scared of Rory.
- Fitzpatrick was … fine, finishing with a two-over 74, tied for 40th. Not out of it, but also not exactly in it at the moment. He, along with other big names like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, will have work to do just to make the cut. Maybe DeChambeau’s new 3D-printed iron will help.
- The biggest eyebrow-raiser? Patrick Reed, the LIV defector/PGA returnee who’s two shots off the lead after a three-under 69 yesterday. Reed occupies, let’s say, an interesting niche in golf. Uber-talented yet, at some point, nearly universally loathed. This could be a reintroduction, though.
The second round starts in a bit. Per BetMGM, McIlroy (+280) is now the favorite. We’ll have more this weekend and in our special Masters newsletter.
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Solutions? The NBA’s slight MVP problem
Our newest anonymous poll, this one via NBA players, released its first set of answers today, and I thought it both highlighted and rendered moot one of the biggest talking points in the league right now: the harrowed 65-game rule.
As my colleague Zach Harper expertly pointed out Wednesday, the rule itself — mandating that any player eligible for a postseason award must play 65 games in a season — looks pretty dumb right now. The current players ineligible for honors: Cade Cunningham, Anthony Edwards, Luka Dončić (pending appeal) and possibly Victor Wembanyama. These players have partly defined this season, and they won’t be honored? At all?
- And yet, according to a majority of the NBA players polled, Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander deserves a second straight MVP award. A total of 159 players voted, and 39 percent selected SGA. Nikola Jokić was second with 21.4 percent, and all of the possibly ineligible players were possible answers here, too.
- To be clear, Gilgeous-Alexander is quite deserving. His numbers are nearly identical to last year’s campaign and Oklahoma City has the best record in basketball. If anything, it’s boring how good he and the defending champs have been. He has scored 20-plus points in an NBA record 140 straight games now. That’s absurd.
Read the full story of his season, and the history of this anonymous poll, here.
News to Know
Frozen: Wisconsin, Denver win classics
Wisconsin and Denver will play in the men’s college hockey national title game after respective stunning wins in last night’s Frozen Four games. In the early matchup, the Badgers shocked a heavily favored North Dakota team, 2-1, thanks to aggressive puck pressure. The nightcap was even better, with Denver outlasting Michigan — two teams with 19 titles between them — in a double-overtime instant classic. Let’s hope the final lives up to those.
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NFL defends itself amid anti-trust report
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice opened an investigation into whether the NFL has employed anticompetitive tactics via its media rights deal. This all comes as the league prepares to negotiate new deals, including what’s expected to be a bigger share for streamers. A league spokesperson vociferously denied the charge to The Athletic yesterday. Read the full comments (and context) here.
A time beef?
As a two-way player, Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani receives extra time in between innings to get ready to pitch. During a game Wednesday, the Blue Jays seemed to take offense to the leeway after George Springer approached the home plate umpire to chat about it. It’s not the first time, either, as the Jays made similar overtures during last year’s World Series. Read the full backstory here.
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More news:
- Lionel Messi and Argentina have committed to play at Auburn. Yes, a real sentence.
- Meanwhile, Neymar is in talks to join FC Cincinnati. 👀
- The WNBA officially approved three cities for expansion teams: Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia.
- Scary scene in Minneapolis yesterday: Tigers center fielder Parker Meadows was carted off the field after colliding with left fielder Riley Greene during Detroit’s loss to the Twins. Read our full story.
- The NBA cleared the Kings of tanking against the Warriors on Tuesday. OK then.
- 76ers center Joel Embiid underwent an emergency appendectomy yesterday, which could actually end his season. Tough.
- With a 4-1 win last night, the Utah Mammoth are just four games away from becoming the first NHL team in the cap era to finish a season with zero shootouts. Mind-bending, to be honest.
Watch Guide
📺 Golf: The Masters
8:30 a.m. ET on CBS, ESPN and Prime Video
Round 2 is here, and you can start watching pretty early. See our full guide here.
📺 MLB: Giants at Orioles
7:15 p.m. ET on Apple TV
These two continue to fascinate me. Baltimore is .500 in the early going, though there is plenty of reason for optimism. San Francisco remains part of the Tony Vitello experiment. Good choice.
📺 NBA: Timberwolves at Rockets
9:30 p.m. ET on Prime Video
I like this matchup of mid-tier Western Conference playoff teams. Minnesota is locked into the sixth seed with two games left, while Houston could be anywhere from Nos. 3 – 5. Anthony Edwards is questionable to play, though.
Get tickets to games like these here.
Pulse Picks
Alex Ovechkin might actually retire this offseason. Sidney Crosby sounds endearingly sad about that. Aw, you guys.
Compelling: Was Angels outfielder Jo Adell’s three-robbery night in Anaheim the best defensive game in MLB history. Jayson Stark sought answers the way only he can.
The story of Red Sox rookie Tyler Samaniego’s frantic late call-up, and subsequent electric debut, made me tear up.
Sabreena Merchant has a WNBA mock draft for us, where UCLA’s players rose and other stars — like LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson and UConn’s Azzi Fudd — dropped. See the picks.
There is a new FIFA World Cup ticket scandal. Seriously.
In the NHL, the Norris Trophy race is closer than ever. How do we even decide who wins?
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: “The Beast,” free to read in The Athletic’s app.
Most-read on the website yesterday: The Masters Round 1 live blog.
📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, and check out our other newsletters.