Korda excited for 'demanding' U.S. Women's Open
Titans new LT Dan Moore Jr. talks landing with the team, reflects on his 2024 season, and more
Tennessee Titans LT Dan Moore Jr. discussed how he ended up landing in Nashville with his new team. Moore also discussed his 2024 season in small detail, saying that he is looking forward positively and has had good discussions with Titans OL Coach Bill Callahan.
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Forbes
7 minutes ago
- Forbes
UFC 316 Fight Card: Odds, Lines, Prop Bets, Predictions And Picks
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - JUNE 05: (L-R) Opponents Merab Dvalishvili of Georgia and Sean O'Malley face ... More off during the UFC 316 press conference at Prudential Center on June 05, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC) Saturday's UFC 316 fight card features two bantamweight title fights at the top of the marquee. In the main event, men's UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili meets the man he took the title from, Sean O'Malley, in a rematch. Meanwhile, in the UFC 316 PPV card co-headline, Julianna Pena begins her second stint as the women's 135-pound champ against former PFL lightweight champion Kayla Harrison. Also appearing on the main card is high-profile free agent signing Patchy Mix. Mix faces Mario Bautista in a bantamweight bout. We look at the betting odds, line movement, prediction, picks, and prop bets for the UFC 316 PPV card, which takes place on Saturday, June 7 from Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The UFC 316 PPV fight card streams on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - JUNE 05: (L-R) Opponents Merab Dvalishvili of Georgia and Sean O'Malley face ... More off during the UFC 316 press conference at Prudential Center on June 05, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC) Merab Dvalishvili (19-4), a long-time training partner of former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling stepped into the spotlight of the promotion's 135-pound division in September 2014 when he scored a unanimous decision win over then-champion Sean O'Malley in the main event of UFC 306. The 33-year-old Dvalishvili joined the UFC in 2017 as much-hyped prospect. At the time, Dvalishvili was 7-2 and had won and defended the Ring of Combat bantamweight crown. Dvalishvili did not have a smooth start to his UFC run, losing his first two fights. Falling to Frankie Saenz by decision, and the second, to Ricky Simon, via submission. In September 2018, things clicked in place for the Serra-Longo Fight Team product, and he has not lost since. Heading into UFC 306, Dvalishvili was on a 10-fight winning streak. Prior to his matchup against O'Malley, Dvalishvili had defeated Marlon Moraes, Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, and Henry Cejudo. The win over O'Malley stretched his winning streak to 11 straight. Dvalishvili extended that streak to 12 when he defended his title with a unanimous decision win over the previously unbeaten Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311. Sean O'Malley (18-2-0-1) was 7-0 with six finishes when he got the chance to fight for a UFC contract on the first season of Dana White's Contender Series back in 2017. O'Malley, scored a first-round knockout, and a UFC contract that night. He went 4-0 in his first bouts with the promotion, picking up three fight-night bonus awards for his efforts, including a brutal one-punch KO win over UFC veteran Eddie Wineland at UFC 250. The win over Wineland put O'Malley at No. 14 in the UFC bantamweight rankings and got him a fight against Marlon 'Chito' Vera. Vera won that fight by TKO, handing O'Malley the only defeat on his record. The loss to Vera knocked O'Malley out of the rankings, but he bounced back in his next fight, knocking out Thomas Almeida and earning another fight-night bonus in the process. He followed that win with a TKO win over Kris Moutinho. Despite those back-to-back wins, O'Malley remained unranked when he next stepped into the Octagon for a December 2021 matchup against Raulian Paiva. O'Malley wrapped that fight up with a knockout at the 4:42 mark of the first round. That victory put O'Malley back in the rankings. O'Malley's next bout ended in a no contest, when an eye poke in the second round left Pedro Munhoz unable to continue. Then, in October 2022, O'Malley was matched up with former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan. He entered that contest as the +230 underdog to the -275 ex-champ. The pair went the three-round distance, with O'Malley getting the split decision nod. That victory set up O'Malley to face Sterling in August 2023. O'Malley has not fought since his loss to Dvalishvili. He is the No. 1 fighter in the official UFC bantamweight rankings. When the betting odds opened for UFC 316, the defending champ was a -325 betting favorite over the former champ. Today, Dvalishvili is listed at -275, while O'Malley comes in at +225. O'Malley has picked up 93 percent of the bets and 91 percent of the handle. Yes, O'Malley has the striking to catch Dvalishvili and turn out his lights, but let's remember, in their first meeting, O'Malley only managed to throw 89 significant strikes. In his win over Vera, O'Malley attempted a whopping 356 significant strikes. The difference between Dvalishvili and Vera was pressure. Vera was happy to stand with O'Malley, while Dvalishvili used his chain wrestling and forward pressure to put his opponent on the back foot and keep him there for almost the entire 25 minutes of that meeting, landing six takedowns on 15 attempts and racking up 10:03 of control time. Simply put, I don't think O'Malley and his team can put together a game plan that will allow the former champ to avoid the pressure of the current champ while also accumulating enough damage to sway the judges in O'Malley's favor. The betting pick is for Dvalishvili to grind out a decision win. For those looking for value on an upset, the pick is O'Malley via knockout, but be sure to place that wager in an amount you're willing to lose. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - JUNE 05: (L-R) Opponents Julianna Pena and Kayla Harrison face off during the ... More UFC 316 press conference at Prudential Center on June 05, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC) Julianna Pena (12-5) earned her UFC contract by winning Season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter. A member of Team Tate, Pena knocked out Jessica Rakoczy in the first round of their November 2013 matchup. The win moved Pena's record to 5-2. Pena ran off three victories after that, beating Milana Dudieva, Jessica Eye and Cat Zingano before Valentina Shevchenko ended her winning streak with a January 2017 armbar submission. In October 2017 Pena announced her pregnancy. When she returned to action in July 2019, Pena defeated Nicco Montano by decision. A submission loss to De Randamie in October 2020 followed. In January 2021, Pena submitted Sara McMann. Pena, sitting at No. 3 in the women's bantamweight rankings, earned a shot at Amanda Nunes and her bantamweight title in December 2021. She entered that contest as a -650 underdog to the champ, who was the -1000 betting favorite. In one of the more shocking upsets in UFC title fight history, Pena submitted Nunes in the second round, ending the Brazilian's title reign. Pena's time at the top of the division was short, as Nunes won their July 2022 rematch by decision. Pena was set to face Nunes in a trilogy bout at UFC 289, but an injury knocked the former champ from that scrap. Nunes defeated Pena's replacement, Irene Aldana, on that card and then retired. When Pena returned to action it was at UFC 307 where she defeated then-champion Raquel Pennington via split decision. She makes her first defense of that belt at UFC 316. A two-time Olympic gold medal winner in judo (2012 and 2016), Kayla Harrison (18-1) made her MMA debut in the 155-pound division with PFL in 2018. Harrison ran over her first six opponents, picking up three submissions, two knockouts, and a decision before winning the women's lightweight title by defeating Larissa Pacheco by decision. In November 2020, Harrison defeated Courtney King by TKO in a 145-pound scrap. Shen then moved back to 155 pounds. In 2021, Harrison won the PFL 155-pound tournament with a submission win over Taylor Guardado. By 2022, Harrison had amassed a 15-0 record. However, her unbeaten ended in the finals of the 2022 PFL lightweight tourney when Pacheco scored a unanimous decision win over Harrison. The ex-champ fought once more for the PFL, beating former UFC fighter Aspen Ladd via decision in November 2023 in a 150-pound catchweight fight. In January 2024, the UFC announced it had signed Harrison and that her promotional debut would take place in the 135-pound weight class. Harrison impressed in that performance, submitting former UFC women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm by submission in the second round at UFC 400. In her next, and most recent, outing, Harrison defeated Ketlen Vieira via unanimous decision. Harrison is the No. 2 ranked fighter in the official UFC women's 135-pound rankings. When the betting odds opened for the UFC 316 co-main event, Pena was a +500 underdog to the -700 Harrison. Today, Harrison is the -750 favorite over the champ, who is the +525 betting underdog. Pena has earned 89 percent of the bets, while 63 percent of the money is on Harrison. Pena is a tough fighter, and that toughness will be tested on Saturday when she faces Harrison at UFC 316. The concern on the Harrison side of the equation is her ability to make 135 pounds and rehydrate and recover. The weight cut will be tough, there's no doubt about that, but Harrison has been a high-level athlete for a long while, and she knows her body and how far she can push herself. That's a plus in this matchup; it could also mean that she will pace herself against Pena so that she does not overextend herself and run out of gas. Harrison is the better athlete and has more routes to victory than Pena. The betting pick is a Harrison win, either by late submission or decision. With the odds being what they are, the value pick is Pena to win via upset, but that's a wager that one should be careful in making. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - JUNE 05: (L-R) Opponents Kelvin Gastelum and Joe Pyfer face off during the UFC ... More 316 press conference at Prudential Center on June 05, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC) Kelvin Gastelum (19-9-0-1) has been with the UFC since April 2013, when he won Season 17 of 'The Ultimate Fighter' with a split decision over Uriah Hall. The victory over Hall put Gastelum's professional record at 7-0. Gastelum dropped to welterweight for his next UFC fight. He remained unbeaten through 2014, losing his first fight in January 2015 when Tyron Woodley defeated him via split decision. Gastelum missed weight for the Woodley matchup, coming in at 180. It was not his first issue on the scale as a member of the UFC roster. He also came in heavy for his June 2014 win over Nico Musoke, weighing 172.75. Weight issues have plagued Gastelum throughout his UFC career, as he has struggled at times to make welterweight and middleweight. Gastelum's career has been up and down since his loss to Woodley. Since that 2015 clash, his record stands at 8-8-0-1, and he has not won more than two fights in a row. The 33-year-old is a very talented fighter, but his struggles to make weight and consistency issues inside the cage have hurt him. The high point of Gastelum's career is his 2019 interim UFC middleweight title fight opposite Israel Adesanya, a bout that recently enshrined the two men in the UFC Hall of Fame. Gastelum has a 3-6 record dating back to April 2019, when he faced Adesanya. He is coming off a June 2024 unanimous decision win over Daniel Rodriguez. Joe Pyfer (13-3) had a first go at gaining a UFC contract in 2020 at a Dana White Contender Series event. At the time, the 23-year-old was 7-1. His only career loss to that point was a second-round submission setback to Jhonoven Pati under the Ring of Combat banner. Pyfer lost the ROC middleweight championship in that outing. Pyfer faced Dustin Stoltzfus on that DWCS card. Pyfer looked good in the early going of that matchup, walking down his foe and looking to land powerful strikes. With a bit over two minutes left in the first round, Pyfer scored an easy takedown on Stoltzfus, who calmly looked to set up a submission while Pyfer did his best to create openings to land heavy ground strikes. With the clock ticking down, Stoltzfus stood and went for a slam takedown. Pyfer landed with all his weight on his extended right arm, causing an injury that ended the fight. Pyfer recovered from that injury, but he did not fight again until he earned a first-round knockout win over Austin Trotman on a Cage Fury fight card. The UFC gave Pyfer a second opportunity to earn a contract in July 2022. Pyfer faced Ozzy Diaz on a DWCS card. Pyfer was a +100 betting underdog at that event. Pyfer didn't mess around on the feet against Diaz. He scored a takedown inside the first minute and then worked for a submission until Diaz reversed Pyfer with two minutes left in the round. Diaz could not keep Pyfer on the mat, as Pyfer worked back to his feet, where he scored with low kicks and an effective jab. In the second stanza, Pyfer pressured Diaz and then, showing off his power, ended the fight with a powerful left hook that put his opponent on his back. In awarding Pyfer a UFC contract, UFC CEO Dana White said, "If you want to get into the UFC, and this is where you want to be, act like Joe Pyfer. Okay? Be Joe Pyfer. Be excited to be here. Be fired up to fight. Try to finish the fight. Try to win. Be Joe Pyfer, and you will get into the UFC." Pyfer put together a 3-0 run under the UFC banner between September 2022 and October 2023, scoring three stoppages and two 'Performance of the Night' bonuses. Seeing promise in Pyfer, the UFC booked him in a main event against veteran Jack Hermansson in February 2024. Pyfer was a favorite in that matchup, but he fell short, as Hermansson's veteran skills showed gaps in Pyfer's game. Pyfer rebounded from that loss with a first-round knockout win over Marc-André Barriault at UFC 303. The odds have held on this matchup with Gastelum at +310 and Pyfer at -400. Bettors are siding with the veteran. Gastelum has 75 percent of the bets and 63 percent of the handle. Gastelum has one of the best chins in the business, and if Pyfer gets too aggressive and thinks he will be able to put his opponent away based on his power, things might get tricky for the younger fighter. Pyfer's best bet is not to chase the knockout here but to use his power to rack up damage while being sound defensively. The betting pick is for Joe Pyfer to beat Kelvin Gastelum by decision. However, for those who do not have faith in Pyfer's fight IQ, a Gastelum upset win via decision is a value betting pick to think about. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - JUNE 05: (L-R) Opponents Mario Bautista and Patchy Mix face off during the UFC ... More 316 press conference at Prudential Center on June 05, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC) Patchy Mix (20-1) comes too the UFC following his release by PFL. The 31-year-old Mix is riding a seven-fight undefeated streak. He won the interim Bellator bantamweight title in April 2023 with a knockout victory over Raufeon Stots. Then, in November 2023, Mix unified the Bellator 135-pound titles with a submission victory over Sergio Pettis. In his most recent outing, Mix defended his crown with a split decision win over Magomed Magomedov in May 2024. Mix's only professional defeat came in September 2020 when Juan Archuleta defeated him via unanimous decision in a contest for the vacant Bellator bantamweight crown. Mario Bautista (15-2) has been with the UFC since 2019. The 31-year-old opened his UFC run with a 2-2 record, but he is unbeaten since early 2022, with a run of seven straight wins. In his most recent outing, Bautista defeated Jose Aldo via split decision at UFC 307 in October 2024. The opening odds for this matchup had Mix as the -175 favorite over Bautista, who came in at +145. Today, Mix is the -200 betting favorite and Bautista is the +165 betting underdog. Mix has 51 percent of the action and 75 percent of the handle. Mix enters UFC 316 coming off a long layoff. His last bout took place in May 2024 when he went five rounds in beating Magomed Magomedov in defense of his Bellator bantamweight belt. When you combine that layoff with the fact that Mix is taking this fight on short notice, there is some room for concern when it comes to Mix's fitness level. However, Mix and his team know how important this fight is to his career and future UFC prospects, so I believe he will be ready for his Octagon debut. I expect Bautista to move forward and to look to overwhelm Mix with striking. However, that pressure could allow Mix to implement his game plan of getting the fight to mat and working his ground skills (Mix has 13 submission wins). The betting pick is for Mix to win via decision, with a chance of picking up a submission. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - JUNE 05: (L-R) Opponents Vicente Luque and Kevin Holland face off during the ... More UFC 316 press conference at Prudential Center on June 05, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC) Vicente Luque (23-10-1) enters UFC 316 as the No. 14 fighter in the official UFC welterweight rankings. The 33-year-old has been with the UFC since July 2015. Luque had some good winning streaks in his early days with the UFC, putting together winning runs of four fights, six fights, and four fights, but whenever he stepped up to face top-level competition, he faltered. The opponents who ended Luque's winning runs were Leon Edwards, Stephen Thompson, and Belal Muhammad. Luque is 2-2 since losing to Muhammad in 2022. He has wins over Rafael dos Anjos and Themba Gorimbo, while his losses have come via knockout against Geoff Neal and Joaquin Buckley. In his most recent outing, Luque earned a technical submission stoppage over Gorimbo. That fight took place in December. Kevin Holland (27-13-0-1) was 12-3 when he earned his shot at a UFC contract on a Dana White's Contender Series card in June 2018. Despite getting a win, UFC CEO Dana White did not offer Holland a contract. However, Holland got the chance to fight for the UFC in August 2018 when Thiago Santos needed a short-notice opponent. Holland has been one of the more active UFC competitors since losing that contest by decision, fighting at middleweight and welterweight. Holland followed the loss to Santos with an 8-1 run, a stretch that included five victories between May 2020 and December 2020. His last win of that run was a 'Performance of the Night' bonus-winning knockout of ex-Strikeforce champion Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza. Holland's career has been up-and-down since the highlight-reel win over Souza. He has a 5-7-0-1 record since then, never winning, or losing, more than two fights in a row. Holland is 2-2 in his past four outings with a submission win over Michal Oleksiejczuk, a corner stoppage TKO loss to Roman Dolidze, a submission setback to Reinier de Ridder, and most recently, a decision win over Gunnar Nelson in March. When the lines opened on this contest, Holland was a -200 favorite over the +165 Luque. The betting line has moved on this one. Today, Holland is -275 to Luque's +220. Luque has earned 73 percent of the bets, while Holland has picked up 61 percent of the handle. Holland is a talented fighter, but the problem with Holland is his consistency. At points, it seems as if Holland is more interested in booking fights and earning a paycheck than he is interested in being competitive in those bouts. And while Luque has had his ups and downs, he seems to take his career more seriously than Holland. Holland has an advantage in height and reach in this bout, and if he can use those strengths, he has a good chance of picking up the win. However, Luque is effective in spots where Holland struggles, mainly in takedown defense. The betting pick in this bout is to go where there is value, and that is Luque to use his wrestling to grind out a decision win over Holland. Sean O'Malley by KO/TKO or DQ +450 O'Malley by Decision/Technical Decision +600 Patchy Mix by Submission +200 Merab Dvalishvili by Submission +800 O'Malley by Submission +2500 *All bets and odds via BetMGM Saturday, June 7, 2025 Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey Main Card: ESPN+ PPV Preliminary Card: ESPN and ESPN+ Early Prelims: UFC Fight Pass and ESPN+ Early Prelims: 6:00 p.m. ET Prelims: 8:00 p.m. ET Main Card: 10:00 p.m. ET Stay tuned for more coverage from the UFC 316 fight card. Including live UFC 316 results, reactions, recaps and video highlights during Saturday's event.
New York Times
11 minutes ago
- New York Times
How the Pacers pulled off another dramatic comeback
It wasn't looking good for the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night in Oklahoma City. The Eastern Conference champs had nine turnovers in the first quarter and then topped that by committing 10 in the second quarter. It was the most turnovers by a team before halftime in a postseason game in the league's play-by-play era, which began in 1997. Advertisement Indiana's defense couldn't contain NBA MVP and Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was doing whatever he wanted offensively. The Thunder were dominating the Pacers in the paint. Indiana trailed OKC by 15 points with 9 minutes, 42 seconds remaining. So what happened? How did the Pacers stun the Thunder with a 111-110 Game 1 win? Here's a look at some of the key fourth-quarter moments: • After a Jalen Williams dunk at 9:42, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle calls a timeout and subs in Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Obi Toppin and Myles Turner. • Immediately after entering, Nembhard scores and is fouled by Alex Caruso. Nembhard makes the free throw. Thunder 94, Pacers 81. • At 8:47, Toppin makes a 3-pointer to make it 96-85. • Turner hits a 3-pointer with 7:47 left, cutting the lead to 96-88. • Toppin and Turner make 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to pull Indiana within 98-94 with 6:16 left. • Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams each make free throws to increase the lead to six points (102-96) with 5:25 remaining. • Gilgeous-Alexander's two free throws with 2:52 left push the Thunder's lead to 108-99. • Nesmith and Nembhard hit back-to-back 3s. The Pacers now trail 108-105 with 1:59 left. • At 1:07, Pascal Siakam blocks Gilgeous-Alexander's layup attempt. • Nembhard misses a stepback 3, but Siakam grabs the offensive rebound and scores with 48 seconds left. Thunder 110, Pacers 109. • With 12.3 seconds remaining, Gilgeous-Alexander misses a short jumper just outside the paint, and Nesmith grabs the rebound. • Haliburton hits the game-winning 2-pointer with 0.3 seconds left. For the winners, Indiana outscored OKC 32-16 in the final 9:42. The Pacers only used six players in those minutes, with all of them scoring. 'When it comes to the moments, he wants the ball,' Turner said of Haliburton. 'He wants to be the one to hit that shot. He doesn't shy away from the moment, and it's very important this time of the year to have a go-to guy. Advertisement 'He just keeps finding a way, and we keep putting the ball in the right positions. The rest is history.' For the losers, the Thunder shot 4 of 16 in those closing minutes. Gilgeous-Alexander went 2 of 4 from the field (with a big miss at the end), but everyone else combined to shoot 2 of 12. (Photo of Aaron Nesmith, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Haliburton: Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)
New York Times
12 minutes ago
- New York Times
The Surprising Joy of Lego's $5 Mini Builds
Early on the morning of my 34th birthday, I found myself at Target in search of shampoo to get through a weeklong trip visiting a friend. There I was, standing in the checkout line, when something small caught my eye. Without hesitation, I grabbed it. It was a $5 Lego Mini Build of a Star Wars TIE Interceptor. This was no ordinary impulse purchase. It was a bell tolling me back to a long string of elementary school birthdays, when Lego sets always made their way into my hands — an occupational hazard of having two grandfathers who were engineers. I couldn't pinpoint the last time I'd bought myself a Lego set, but the year certainly began with 19. As soon as I got back, I spilled the mere 48 pieces of the TIE Interceptor set across the desk in my friend's guest room. Hour by hour, I'd return to it over the course of the day, snapping together a few more pieces, following one more half step in the instruction booklet, until finally, just before midnight, the build sat completed in the palm of my hand. These small sets — known in the Lego community as polybags — have since become a checkout-aisle purchase on every Target trip I make. For the low price of $5, I can briefly go back in time and enter the meditative trance of clicking bricks. Before that fateful Target run, I hadn't consciously decided to stop buying Lego. It was a thing that just kind of happened. First, people stopped buying sets for me, assuming I'd grown out of them. Then I stopped spending what little money I managed to make as a kid on Lego. And gradually the habit left my life entirely. It certainly didn't help that, as an adult, I've almost always lived in small New York apartments, which offer relatively little space for me to spread out and assemble massive sets and even less space to store them once completed. The other issue is that most of the sets I might want — the sprawling Rivendell set from The Lord of the Rings, or the mammoth Titanic, or a Millennium Falcon the size of a large pizza — cost several hundred dollars. An X-Wing Starfighter in pursuit of a TIE Interceptor. Rebecca Hartje Polybag sets represent, for me, the perfect balance of everything I loved about Lego without any of the obstacles that made me stop buying sets in the first place. They are so small that I can effectively build them on my lap. Once completed, they take up virtually no space, fitting neatly in a drawer or discreetly on a shelf. I don't mind looking at them, and their diminutive size makes them oddly adorable as I stash them away in surprising corners of my apartment. Most importantly, they are $5 — a sum of money just below the threshold where I begin to mentally account for my spending. Considering the cost of some big sets, you might think that $5 wouldn't get you very far in the world of Lego, but these are some of the most rewarding dollars I've spent. These sets are the perfect impulse purchase. I never finish one and ask myself, 'Did I really need this?' Rarely do quick, little treats deliver so thoroughly on their promise. Polybags usually have anywhere from 50 to 100 pieces. Some include a minifigure. And almost all of them are from big, banner Lego themes, like Star Wars or the Lego Creator line. They often include an ingenious repurposing of pieces from other sets: The thrusts on an X-Wing Starfighter, for example, seem to be lightsaber hilts from larger Star Wars sets. This season, I'm particularly fond of the Botanicals Mini Build, Field Flowers, four stalks from different plants that now live in a tiki cocktail glass in my living room. And as a bird nerd, I also like the Lego Creator Tropical Toucan and the bed of flowers sitting at its feet (which has crept up in price to roughly $10). A tropical toucan with a bed of flowers is one of three builds possible in this set. Alexander Aciman/NYT Wirecutter And I am not alone in my love of these little sets. 'I do often grab a Lego polybag in the checkout aisle if the theme catches my eye,' says Wirecutter writer and resident AFOL (Adult Fan of Lego) Joshua Lyon. 'The bag tends to sit unopened on my desk. Months, sometimes years later, I'll find the little treasure buried under office detritus, and that's what delights me — Lego polybags are small and inexpensive enough to become a surprise treat at some point down the line.' Something about the constraints of the size, and the need for polybags to be both satisfying to build and satisfying to behold when completed, traces along the edges of minimalism. They're like the haiku of Lego sets. They always feel very thoughtfully designed. As a result, polybag sets rarely seem incomplete, too small, or dissatisfying. A polybag set is exactly what it is supposed to be, no more, no less. They certainly never feel like tawdry, corporate money grabs. Some fanfare surrounds polybag releases, too. According to Joshua, many of the most sought-after polybags are Star Wars –themed. The downside of their popularity is that some polybags tend to sell out quickly. (I had to visit three different Targets before I finally found a mini Millennium Falcon. ) This set is surprisingly complex and rewarding to build for how few pieces it uses, and it yields a colorful and adorably small display piece. What I like most about a polybag is that putting one together is a bit like a mindfulness exercise. If I go slowly, building one can last for an entire hour-long episode of TV. If I am away on a trip, something about sitting in a hotel room alone and snapping bricks together over the course of an hour can feel grounding. I am always present when working on a polybag set, even when I am physically elsewhere. Although I usually find mine at Target, they're also available for purchase at Walmart and Barnes & Noble. If there's a particular set I'm after that is either sold out in stores or from a previous season, I can usually find it on eBay for slightly more than the $5 retail price. All 77 pieces of the Field Flowers polybag prior to assembly. Alexander Aciman/NYT Wirecutter The botanicals don't look quite like real flowers, but they are also impossible to overwater. Rebecca Hartje All 77 pieces of the Field Flowers polybag prior to assembly. Alexander Aciman/NYT Wirecutter At times, these smaller sets can feel like a gateway to more aggressive investment in larger Lego sets. I certainly feel a greater magnetic pull toward the Lego aisle in stores now, whereas previously I would have absentmindedly passed it by altogether. The fact that Lego officially calls polybags Recruitment Bags only reaffirms that their true purpose is to reel in lapsed Lego fans and still-uninitiated children. But larger sets will always lack the ephemerality of polybags — the fleeting, paper-crane-like nature of a Mini Build, which is the reason I love them so much to begin with. They enter my life almost as quickly and as easily as they come together. Fortunately for me, the constraints of real estate and square footage also help keep me in check. But if you ever come over to my apartment and dare to open my medicine cabinet, you might just find a TIE Interceptor pointed right at you. This article was edited by Hannah Rimm and Megan Beauchamp. From a van Gogh piece to a retro radio, these are our favorite Lego sets for adults. Our kid testers, and their parents, loved these Lego sets. Our resident Lego obsessive tested nine sets of the flashy, fake flora. Here's what to know before you make (or give) your own garden of earthly delights.
