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New York Times
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Carolina avoids further infamy, and a CFP battle heats up
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Don't throw your college pitcher too long today. Finally, for a night, there is peace in Carolina. A 3-1 series deficit isn't ideal, sure, but gone are the Hurricanes from a strange, ignominious place in the sports world — losing 15 straight conference final games. Quickly: Now comes the harder part: doing it again, especially against a Panthers team that has steamrolled everyone in front of it during this postseason run. Game 5 is tomorrow. Big playoff night tonight, too. More on that in a bit. Let's keep moving: Osaka, Fritz lose Naomi Osaka and Taylor Fritz, two of the biggest names in the French Open, are already heading home after first-round defeats yesterday. Osaka fell to No. 10 seed Paula Badosa in a loss that left her near tears. Fritz, the world No. 4 and top American men's seed in this tourney, came up short against Germany's Daniel Altmaier. Fritz has already had a great year, but clay isn't his best surface. Advertisement Fight over CFP intensifies The fabric of college football is changing by the day, as the College Football Playoff — freshly expanded to 12 teams this past year — could move to 14 or even 16 in the near future, and the power conferences continue to squabble over the overall number of teams and automatic bids assigned to each conference. From the outside, it appears a 14-team format would mostly benefit the Big Ten and SEC, while 16 teams could even odds a bit. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said yesterday his members are intrigued by a 16-team format. It's a mess. Clark out 2 weeks Caitlin Clark suffered a strained quadriceps and will miss at least two weeks, the Fever announced yesterday. It's tough for Clark, an MVP favorite, and Indiana, who most expect to make the playoffs this year. If she misses the prescribed two weeks, it'll only be four games lost, though. Stay tuned. More news 📫 Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters. As the NBA and NHL playoffs inch closer to a conclusion, the summer's most prominent sport — baseball — continues a slow burn in the background. I want to talk about two things (three players, really), based on our fresh Power Rankings published this morning: Baseball season is incredibly long, yes, but barring unforeseen circumstances I suspect we'll be talking about all three of these guys in September. See the full Power Rankings here. Almost finished: 📺 NBA: Knicks at Pacers 8 p.m. ET on TNT/Max I mean, yes. This has been an incredible series. I have no idea what will happen. Just don't turn it off if someone goes up by 20. Huge news, too: Tyrese Haliburton's dad will be allowed in the building. 📺 NHL: Stars at Oilers 8 p.m. ET on ESPN Another great series! Edmonton appears in control here, but that's more of a gut feeling than anything. Or maybe it's because Connor McDavid is scoring again. Get tickets to games like these here. Keith Law penned a fiery, must-read column on a new problem emerging in the baseball ecosystem: College coaches cannot be trusted with their pitchers' arms. Read it here. Jaelan Phillips was going to be a superstar in the NFL. Then he missed most of the last two seasons with injuries. How did he cope? As Dan Pompei writes today, it was mostly music … and fantasy novels, and his cat. Great story. Advertisement Novak Djokovic said he hopes to have a similar sendoff to Rafael Nadal's warm goodbye at the French Open this week. I thought his comments were interesting. Laurie Whitwell published an incredible account of Manchester United's disaster season. There is already tremendous pressure on next season. Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on Nadal's emotional farewell to the French Open and Roland Garros. Read it if you missed it. Most-read on the website yesterday: The live blog from Thunder-Timberwolves. Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
New York Times
08-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Are the Celtics and Panthers cooked?
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! I will accept dried fish for soccer tickets. Look, this feels mean. But after a most consequential night of playoff hoops and hockey, looking at our results through the lens of the losers is more important. Even more importantly: How cooked are these guys? 👨🍳 Simmering: The Winnipeg Jets This is a team that dominated the regular season yet barely escaped the first round. A 3-2 home loss to the Stars last night was again nerve-wracking, but Dallas is not St. Louis — namely because Mikko Rantanen is a Star. He scored all three goals last night. At 0-1, Winnipeg might already be in trouble. Advertisement On a rolling boil: The Denver Nuggets Yes, this series is 1-1, but did you watch that game last night? Every missed opportunity for Oklahoma City in Game 1 came back karmically in a 149-106 Game 2 win, an astounding contest from wire to wire. Nikola Jokić scored just 17 points and fouled out. The Thunder had eight players in double figures. So, yes, a tie series — but maybe not for long. Hard sear: The Florida Panthers Time and time again, the Maple Leafs have the opportunity to embody their past failures, and every time they course correct. Toronto's 4-3 win last night over the defending champs puts them up 2-0 in what we thought — and could still be! — a dogfight. Broken thermometer: The Boston Celtics We've had over 12 hours to process the Knicks' 91-90 win last night and I still can't reconcile what I saw. It's as if I'm cooking a nice cut of beef, the thermometer reads 135 degrees and yet the inside of the steak looks like rubber. Boston is still very much alive in this series, but to squander two 20-point leads at home to these Knicks is unfathomable. Another defending champion down 2-0. Another final play thwarted by Mikal Bridges. I have no idea what happens from here. BRUNSON HITS TWO FREE THROWS. BRIDGES TAKES THE BALL AWAY. KNICKS TAKE 2-0 SERIES LEAD. — NBA (@NBA) May 8, 2025 I'll be sad when we have fewer fantastic playoff games every night. Let's keep moving: This may be one of the more interesting Pulse Polls we've ever done, because it's a circle back to a poll we ran last summer on a similar topic. It also *serious tone* portends to the world at large. An overwhelming number of you, as I suspected, think NBC using AI to recreate Jim Fagan's voice is lazy and cheap. I agree — I'm of the mind that AI should be used for utilitarian purposes, not creatively. Two points to make in this specific case: Still, with all due respect to Fagan's memory, it feels silly to focus so much on that past in this regard rather than moving forward. Find a new voice to anchor your basketball coverage for decades to come. Is that so hard? Thank you, as always, for voting. Cowboys get another weapon George Pickens, the mercurial uber-talented Steelers wide receiver, is heading to Dallas in exchange for a third-round pick and a fifth-round pick, the Cowboys announced yesterday. The Athletic's Dianna Russini reports the two sides had been discussing the deal since before the draft, which checks out after Pittsburgh acquired DK Metcalf earlier this offseason. The deal makes sense for Dallas, but I still don't know what's happening with the Steelers. We'll have more on that this weekend. Advertisement Also: Emergency trade pod! Yes, Jerry Jones seems desperate. Tickets for fish, please The story of Bodø/Glimt is incredible: a small Norwegian club, playing near the top of the world, finding itself in the semifinal of a European soccer tournament. Premier League blueblood Tottenham Hotspur travels north today for their second-leg matchup, and some fans in the stands will have traded dried fish and reindeer meat for tickets. I love it, and I'm a Spurs fan. Read more here. More news 📫 Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters. 📺 NBA: Warriors at Timberwolves 8:30 p.m. ET on TNT/Max One question lords over everything here: Can Golden State survive without Steph Curry? He will miss at least the next three games with the hamstring injury he suffered in Game 1. Minnesota has an opening here down 1-0. 📺 NHL: Oilers at Golden Knights 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN Let's see how much of a lead Las Vegas can open up here before the eventual third-period Edmonton barrage. It's eerie at this point. Get tickets to games like these here. Two years ago, Nic Enright couldn't see his future, exhausted from cancer treatments. He's now on the verge of making the major leagues. Incredible story here. Keith Law's first MLB mock draft of the season is out, which is cause for celebration. Yes, there's another elite Holliday in the pipeline. Read his picks. Eno Sarris identified 10 stats that should worry MLB teams. He's so good at this. Let's not lose sight of the fact the Islanders won the NHL Draft Lottery on Monday. We have a fresh mock draft in light of it. See the picks. Rustin Dodd drank coffee like Dan Campbell, an absolute caffeine sicko. It did not go well, but it was interesting. Tyrese Haliburton laughs at the 'overrated' jabs, but in truth, he was miserable early this season. Jared Weiss has a wonderful story on how Haliburton recaptured his joy. It shows. Advertisement Is Dabo Swinney back? Did he ever leave? Seth Emerson writes about Swinney's second wind in the NIL era. Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The George Karl story. Most-read on the website yesterday: Our live blog from the PSG-Arsenal match. Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
New York Times
07-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The NBA's unbelievable second round continues, plus a Champions League classic
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic' s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Be overrated today. The Upside Down: Home-court advantage is for suckers Each spring, NBA rights holders bless us with melodramatic ads for the playoffs. Big drama! Every night! Tune in for every second and consume every ad! Please! Most of the time, each game isn't a must-watch, especially this early in the postseason. We still have eight teams left. Flukes can still linger at this point. And yet, this year? The ads were correct. The second round is cooking. No home team has won a game. Even down to the minutiae, nothing has gone as expected. Teams with long breaks look lost. Teams with no rest look fresh. Nothing is real. Last night's slate was the best we've had so far: In the late game, the Warriors outpaced the Timberwolves 99-88 in a contest that wasn't as close as that 11-point margin suggests. And they did it largely without Steph Curry , who left the game in the first half with a hamstring injury. Minnesota scored just 31 points in the first half. Draymond Green hit four 3-pointers, Jimmy Butler and Buddy Hield were electric and Anthony Edwards — the prince who was promised — came out flat. Golden State 1, Minnesota 0. The earlier game was even more shocking. The top-seeded Cavaliers entered the game missing three key contributors and still opened up a massive early lead over the Pacers, who had already stolen Game 1 in Cleveland on Sunday. Donovan Mitchell had 48 points, but it wasn't enough to stop Tyrese Haliburton, Mr. Overrated , from swiping a Game 2 win with what can only be conveyed in video form. Just look at the situation here: Pacers down two, 12 seconds left, Haliburton at the line with a chance to make it a one-point game with plenty of time to foul. Instead, this happens: TYRESE HALIBURTON WINS GAME 2 FOR THE PACERS 😱🤯 WHAT. A. WILD. PLAY. — NBA (@NBA) May 7, 2025 With that, the Pacers are up 2-0 . Unbelievable. This is the first time in NBA history all road teams have won Game 1 in the second round. Let's move on to our other playoff sport: News to Know Oilers, Canes surge The NHL also put on some excellent playoff action last night, with two impressive comebacks to boot. In Las Vegas, Edmonton — in true Oilers fashion — overcame an early deficit with three third-period goals in a 4-2 win over the Golden Knights to take a 1-0 series lead. Ditto for the Stanley Cup favorite Hurricanes, who needed overtime to outlast Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals, 2-1. Inter stuns Barca in CL classic In what is already one of the best Champions League matches ever played, Inter Milan topped FC Barcelona 7-6 on aggregate yesterday, despite blowing two separate 2-0 leads over both legs of this semifinal matchup. I thought it was over after Raphinha punched in an 87th-minute goal, which gave Barca a 6-5 aggregate lead with mere minutes to play. Instead, Francesco Acerbi tied it in the 93rd to force extra time, where Davide Frattesi ended it in the 99th. Just an incredible game I wish I could watch again. Akron ineligible for postseason The Akron football team will not play in a bowl game next year, the NCAA said, as a result of the program's poor Academic Progress Rate score. It's the first time in over 10 years a program has incurred such a penalty. The Zips have not played in a bowl game since 2017. Read more . More news Defense attorneys in the ongoing Hockey Canada sexual assault trial grilled the complainant yesterday. We had multiple writers on scene in Ontario. Sue Bird is the new managing director for the USA women's national basketball team , sources told The Athletic . An F1 surprise: Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes resigned yesterday, effectively immediately. More details here . The Yankees designated Carlos Carrasco for assignment yesterday. They have a few candidates to take his spot in the rotation. Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur will play their next match two days earlier after discussion with the Premier League. Read our full report. 📫 Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters. Pulse Polls: A new AI slant? From a PR perspective, NBC was doing everything right. After reacquiring NBA rights last summer, the network retooled its once-beloved coverage by hiring smart talent and, of course, bringing back 'Roundball Rock,' which is a home run. And then yesterday, news trickled out of a possible snag: In trying to truly harness the nostalgia of all this, NBC said it will use AI to recreate Jim Fagan's voice for promotional materials. Fagan, who died in 2017, was the classic voice of the network's 1990s promos. There's a lot to parse here. Feelings on AI, nostalgia for the 90s, etc. Before I opine, I want to know how you feel about it. Do we think this is: Harmless and cool. You're overreacting, Branch. Lazy and cheap. Stop living in the past, NBC. Make your voice heard here . We'll publish the results tomorrow. What to Watch 📺 UCL: Arsenal at Paris Saint-Germain 3 p.m. ET on CBS/Paramount+ If this is anything like yesterday's Inter-Barca match, it's must-watch stuff. And don't forget about Declan Rice's heroics against Real Madrid in the quarters. PSG is up 1-0 on aggregate right now. A win puts them through to the Champions League final. 📺 NBA: Knicks at Celtics 7 p.m. ET on TNT/Max We are back with both upset series tonight, and I'm choosing this one because I am most curious if New York's Game 1 performance was a fluke. In Oklahoma City, I know Nikola Jokić will keep Denver in the series. Boston still feels like the favorite here, but the moxie of this Knicks group is unimpeachable. 📺 NHL: Stars at Jets 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN Yes, I'm picking against the No. 1 series in our power rankings, but I do this to help you plan your night. Panthers-Maple Leafs airs simultaneously with our pick above, so turn on ESPN early if you care more about the pucks. Either way, a stellar night of TV. This is Game 1 of what should be a great series. Get tickets to games like these here . Pulse Picks Thousands of you clicked on this wonderful story about George Karl yesterday … which actually published this morning. Apologies for that. You can read it here now, I promise . Just call him Mr. Nugget: Aaron Gordon has been Denver's most clutch player in this surprising playoff run. Behind him, the Nuggets won't go quietly against the NBA's best team. The Magic and Rockets are not so different, as John Hollinger writes — both full of promise and both dealing with the same problems . James Mirtle thinks Panthers center Sam Bennett should be suspended for his hit on Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz . I agree. Aaron Judge may be the best right-handed hitter in modern history, as Jayson Stark detailed . We're expanding on this tomorrow, too. Here's a name to remember for next year's Premier League campaign: Liam Delap , the Ipswich Town star every elite club wants . Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday : Jeff Zrebiec's column on the Justin Tucker saga. Read it here . Most-read on the website yesterday : The Champions League live blog . Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication. (Top photo: AP Photo / Abbie Parr)
New York Times
05-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The Jets' unbelievable Game 7 comeback win, plus Caitlin Clark's return home
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Avoid overtime today. I've always believed that, mentally, the road team in a Game 7 is actually the favorite. Unless we're in the finals, a home team should theoretically never see a Game 7; it's the whole purpose of home-field/court/ice advantage. The pressure is on the favorite to not screw it up. We had two Game 7s yesterday across both hockey and hoops, and though we had a split result — one home win, one away win — I still think my theory holds true. Let's start on the ice, which was the better game by far: 🚨 TIE GAME 🚨 WINNIPEG SCORES WITH 1.6 LEFT. 🎥 @Sportsnet — The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 5, 2025 It was an unbelievable game that had me standing four feet in front of my TV with my hands on my head, with no rooting interest on either side. Winnipeg moves on to play Dallas, which used some home Game 7 magic of its own in the first round. And less than two seconds away from an away Game 7 win. Fun series. Proving the road Game 7 theory? Steph Curry and the Warriors, who pushed past the Rockets in Houston, 103-89. Curry scored 19 second-half points after a bad first half. Buddy Hield poured in 33. This felt like a real vets-vs.-rookies moment, where a young, talented Rockets team simply wasn't ready for the Game 7 moment. Curry's been doing this for a decade. The Warriors now get one whole day of rest before playing the Timberwolves in Minnesota in what should be a fantastic second-round matchup. Let's keep it on the basketball court: Clark's ear-shattering return A very cool thing the WNBA is doing right now: having its teams play preseason games in select college arenas, largely where its star players already have an adoring fan base. Yesterday's event was top billing: Caitlin Clark's return to Iowa, where the Fever trounced the Brazilian national team by 64 points. More important were the decibels, 117 of them, roared by the home fans for the 23-year-old who already has her Hawkeye jersey retired. Scott Dochterman has more from a wild scene. Advertisement Scottie shot what? Scottie Scheffler won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson yesterday, a feat that's not surprising on its own. Scheffler is the world's best golfer right now who won seven times last year. No, it was him finishing at 31-under par in a wire-to-wire victory, and his four-day total of 253 tied the record for the lowest ever on the PGA Tour. He won by eight strokes. Gabby Herzig further explained the 'video game' performance. I'm not even that good on PGA2K25. In London, an outlier The London City Lionesses are headed to the Women's Super League after securing a promotion yesterday, making it the lone independent club set to play in the WSL next season — all others are attached to a Premier League team. London City is owned by Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang, who bought the club two years ago with the express intent of making the WSL. Read more on the historic day. More news 📫 Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters. 📺 NBA: Knicks at Celtics 7 p.m. ET on TNT/Max Our flashiest playoff matchup so far, though I'm curious how close this series will actually be. Boston is an extreme matchup problem for New York, which admirably survived a physical series against the Pistons. Can't fall too far behind last year's champ, Knicks. More on this game in a scroll. 📺 NHL: Panthers at Maple Leafs 8 p.m. ET on ESPN Toronto did well enough surviving the Battle of Ontario in six games, but the real challenge is here. The defending champs head north, full of vim and vigor, intent on making a team with playoff trouble its prey. This will be fun. Get tickets to games like these here. It's easy to forget about Brad Stevens, who left his role as Celtics coach four years ago to instead run the entire organization. He has helped build a dynastic operation in his image. Jay King found out how his Butler blueprint guided an NBA juggernaut. Our NFL beat writers pinpointed each team's best value pick in the draft. Yes, Shedeur Sanders is on the list. Advertisement David Ubben read Bill Belichick's new book and has a full report. Insightful, fun … but not exactly a tell-all. Dan Mullen will tell you he could've worked at ESPN for another 20 years. So why did he leave for UNLV of all places? Christopher Kamrani paid him a visit. Is European soccer ready for championship rings? The shift is starting. Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari debut hasn't been exactly smooth, which was ever-present as he sassed his team over the radio yesterday. Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Gregg Popovich's four lessons on leadership. Most-read on the website yesterday: USMNT legend Carli Lloyd was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame yesterday and … took the opportunity to apologize to her teammates. Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
New York Times
04-05-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
As F1 battles for America's attention, how healthy is the sport?
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! May the Fourth be with you today. Formula 1 was in a different place when the Miami Grand Prix debuted in 2022. The sport was coming off one of its greatest championship chases ever, the barnburner between Lewis Hamilton and the victorious Max Verstappen at the end of 2021. TV ratings had popped the previous season and were still on the way up. The inaugural Miami race was a showpiece event for F1, attracting bunches of American celebrities. (Remember Martin Brundle, Sky Sports' 'grid walk' man, getting snubbed by Venus and Serena Williams and then mistaking Paolo Banchero for Patrick Mahomes? What a blending of sports cultures that afternoon was.) Today is the race's fourth running. The past few years, F1's business in America has gone from booming to … maybe we'd call it plateauing, but with reasons for hope. Consider: F1's challenges are not just domestic. The FIA, which oversees the actual racing, is in the throes of what one recently resigned executive called a 'governance crisis.' F1 is also in a uniquely vulnerable, complicated position as it relates to American tariffs. The on-track action this year has been interesting, though. While F1 has its share of dud races and had a big one in Japan a month ago, the championship race so far is a compelling duel between McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Verstappen's Red Bull, the dominant constructor of the past three seasons, is struggling to find an adequate No. 2 driver and position Verstappen for wins. The legendary Hamilton is floundering at Ferrari. Advertisement That's all a mixed bag. So, how is F1 really doing? I asked Luke Smith, The Athletic's senior writer covering Formula 1 and contributor to the free Prime Tire newsletter: If F1's momentum in late 2021 was a 10 out of 10, what is it now? 💬 8. In the years following the iconic 2021 race, Verstappen's domination led to an underwhelming on-track product, but we're back at a point where F1 seems super competitive. Right now, McLaren is the quickest team, yet it faces regular pressure from Red Bull, Ferrari and even Mercedes. It's impossible to say right now which driver is going to win the world championship. Off track, the TV numbers in the United States, while modest compared to other sports, have been up through the early part of the season. The sport is attracting more sponsors than ever, which means teams are earning more money than ever. The 'dropped' marks right now largely surround the future. It's not clear how good the competitive product will be next season, and the FIA has been turbulent. But with good racing, good financials and a young, fan-friendly grid, F1 remains in good health in 2025. Vroom vroom. Rantanen crushes Denver's dreams Denver was well on its way to a picture-perfect day. The Nuggets had just demolished the Clippers in Game 7, and the Avalanche held a 2-0 lead over the Stars in the third period. Enter: Mikko Rantanen. Rantanen, who spent 10 seasons in Denver, cut the lead in half with 12 minutes to play in regulation. Six minutes later, he had done it again. Wyatt Johnston slotted one home from the doorstep moments later to give Dallas its first lead. A Stars avalanche. The clincher? An empty-net score for – you guessed it – Rantanen. Three goals and an assist for Rantanen in the third period alone. You couldn't write a more poetic script. The Stars advance to face the winner of tonight's Blues vs. Jets Game 7. More on that later. Advertisement Sovereignty wins the Derby Sovereignty used a late surge to pull ahead of the favorite Journalism and win the 151st Kentucky Derby on a muddy track last night. Yes, that's Sovereignty over Journalism. Sometimes sports are just one giant metaphor. In his return to the Derby after a three-year suspension, Bob Baffert saw his horse take an early lead before fading all the way to 15th. Not quite the photo finish we saw a year ago. More news: 📺 NHL: Blues at Jets, Game 7 7 p.m. ET on TBS The pressure is on everyone here, but man oh man is it on Winnipeg and, in particular, Connor Hellebuyck. The Presidents' Trophy winners have their best shot ever to win the Stanley Cup, largely thanks to Hellebuyck, the best goalie in the world. But there's no way around it: The American backstop has been awful in this series and looked lost in a 5-2 loss in Game 6. Buckle up. 📺 NBA: Warriors at Rockets, Game 7 8:30 p.m. ET on TNT The Warriors have let a 3-1 series lead slip away and now face a decisive game on the road. Fred VanVleet is turning in such a professional seriesfor Houston, and Golden State might not have an answer for Alperen Şengün inside. High, high drama here. Whoever wins ought to be exhausted by the time they face the Timberwolves. Get tickets to games like these here. The secret to keeping elite athletes on their game and us regular humans productive? Deep breathing. (Read this and others below free.) Sapiens appropriately melted a lot of brains. I was late on Homo Deusbut it does a good bit of that too. Still timely! — Chris Sprow If you're ever in New Orleans, go to Hungry Eyes. I ate there this week and will be dreaming of the meal for weeks to come. — Chris Branch Four lessons on leadership from Gregg Popovich. Some gems in there from one of the greatest coaches of all-time. Advertisement Visit Manhattan in late April or early May. Central Park is in bloom and the city feels reborn in the sunshine. By far the best time to be in the city. — Jacob Robinson Flying through airports that are not undergoing runway construction and dealing with a shortage of air traffic controllers. — Alex Kirshner Finding the perfect recipe to use up ingredients you already have on hand. (It was this one, but with sweet potato, for me.) — Torrey Hart Lamine Yamal. Cooper Flagg. A cricket player who made his professional debut at age 12. A look at 10 teens who are taking over the world of sport. Found a band this week called Vantana Row, who did a full one-day tour in the Bay Area recently, playing mini-shows out of their van. Here's a low-fi clip of them covering the Friends theme song. Their latest album 'TXTS ULTIMATE' is brilliant. Unpleasant, sure — but also creative, vulnerable and genuinely emotional (things that punk tends to lack, imo). And yeah, I said punk. Maybe it's something else. Don't know, don't care. If they would hate being featured here (I think they would) it's punk to me. — Levi Weaver Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our newser on the complainant's first testimony in the Hockey Canada trial. Most-read on the website yesterday: Derby results. Neigh, bro. 🐴 Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
