New England Steels A Win

And just like that, It’s Friday. We’ve got to check in on a few scores, talk about some recruiting stories, and figure out why our golf balls won’t be going as far, and we’ll fill our Friday with a little extra golf drama.

Vamos!

Patriots Exceed Expectations

👀The New England Patriots did not look like a team that just lost to the LA Chargers 6-0 less than a week ago. Bailey Zappe and Co. came out firing and threw three first-half touchdown passes against the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s a good thing Zappe threw them in the first half as the Pats got blanked in the 2nd while the Steelers tried to produce a comeback effort.

📈 Zappe was 19/28 for 240 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT

😕 The Steelers offense is back to its old ways of not producing. The Steelers collected a measly 264 total yards on offense, 190 of which came from the air. Backup QB Mitch Trubisky completed 22 of 35 passes for 1 TD and 1 INT

👎️ Mathematically, neither team has been eliminated from the playoffs. The Patriots are 3-10 and would need to win their next 4 and the rest of the AFC would need to have some wild losses. The Steelers are sitting on the outside of the playoff picture and 2 back to back losses aren’t helping them find a way into a wild card spot.

NBA In-Season Tournament Semi-Finals

Pacers Top Bucks In Early Game

🏀 In the first game of the in-season tournament semifinals Tyrese Halibruton and Indiana Pacers got a 128-119 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

👉️ Haliburton scored 27 and Myles Turner scored 26 for the Pacers while Giannis scored 37 and Damian Lillard scored 24 for the Bucks.

🎢It was a roller coaster ride throughout the game. The Bucks had a two-point lead at the end of the first and the Pacers would lead by 13 heading into halftime. Milwaukee would come back and grab a lead during the third quarter but Indiana would close out the game with a 17-9 scoring run in the final 4 minutes.

Lakers vs. Pelicans Was Anything But A Rollercoaster

🙃 It’s a good thing this wasn’t an actual playoff game for the Pelicans, because they got smushed. The Lakers pummeled the New Orleans 133-89 and have advanced to the in-season tournament final.

👀LeBron scored 30 points in less than 25 minutes of play through the first 3 quarters and he took a seat for the rest of the night.

💪 The Lakers had a great night of defense, holding the Pelicans to a 35.8 shooting percentage.

In-Season Title Game

The title game will be played tomorrow night in Vegas.

Standing Ovi-ation

The Washington Capitals long time face of the franchise Alex Ovechkin became the 16th NHL player to ever reach 1,500 career points. It came on a secondary assist where Dylan Strome scored and the Caps were up 4-3.

It was actually Dylan Strome’s 100th goal and Strome said Ovi can have the puck for this milestone.

The Dallas Stars would eventually win in a shootout.

Big-Time Recruits Making Different Decisions

College Basketball

Dylan Harper, a 6’6” guard who plays for Don Bosco Prep and is a 5-star recruit for the class of 2024 could commit to big-time schools like Duke or Kansas, but he’s deciding to do things a little differently. Harper has decided to stay in New Jersey.

That’s right, Harper is following five-star small forward Airious Bailey (Air Bailey.. helluva name) to………

RUTGERS

Harper said to reporters after making his decision “We’re gonna be better than the Fab Five”.

I hope Harper realizes that a member of the Fab Five coaches another Big 10 team.

The Prime Influence

Deoin Sanders sent a bunch of good offensive linemen packing when joined Colorado University as the football team’s head coach. Prime’s son Shedeur was on the move practically every game, trying to find ways to complete passes and not get sacked. Were UC Boulder fans afraid that Deion would never be able to get top recruits on the offensive line?

FEAR NOT. IMG Academy’s big man/5-star recruit/19th-ranked player in the 2024 ESPN 300/ top-ranked OT… Jordan Seaton has committed to the University of Colorado Boulder.

Seaton was also considering Alabama, Ohio State, Florida, Oregon, Tennessee, and Maryland. The Big 12 better watch out!

Does Golf Suck or Do You Suck At Golf?

Don’t kill the messenger, but seriously, what’s the question?

You’ve probably heard by now that Jon Rahm has opted to leave the PGA Tour and join LIV Golf for the 2024 season. While Rahm doesn’t necessarily need more money, the deal to bring him over will make Rahm an estimated $600 million. That’s more than the entire purse of the PGA Tour last season.

Still, even with the money being offered, you might be surprised to see Rahm leave the tour. Especially since in 2022, he said the format of LIV, the shotgun starts, and the no cuts, were not appealing to him.

So what changed? The PGA Tour and LIV are supposed to be merging, though no one has any true update on the framework and if Rahm doesn’t need this big of a payday, why would he make the change?

It seems like a few things influenced Rahm. He’ll make a sh*t ton of money, he’ll partially own his own LIV squad, he’ll play at new venues in new countries, and the tournaments will take almost a ¼ of the current amount of time he plays competition golf. More money, less “work”, and more time with family…. TELL ME YOU WOULDN’T.

So what’s the other story floating around the golf world?

ROLLBACK.. and we ain’t talking about WAL-MART and their smiley face rolling back prices.

We’re talking golf ball rollback.

What is it? The USGA and R&A (golf’s main governing bodies in the US and UK) have announced they will “update the testing conditions used for golf ball conformance under the Overall Distance Standard” which “aims to reduce the impact increased hitting distances have on golf’s long term sustainability”.

Wait, wtf does this mean? It means new testing conditions will be 125-mph clubhead speed, a spin rate of 2200 rpm, and a launch angle of 11 degrees. The previous conditions, which were established 20 years ago, were 120 mph, 2520 rpm, and a 10-degree launch angle.

Dude seriously, what are you talking about? Okay, I’ll try to explain it this way. Golf tech has gotten so good that governing bodies have to set a limit on how good it can be. Driver heads can’t be too big, shafts have to be a certain length, golf balls can’t fly super far, etc.. Currently, they set a standard of 120 mph club head speed, 2520 rpm of spin, and a 10-degree launch angle when you’re testing golf balls. If you dial these in when testing a ball, the ball can’t fly more than 317 yards. Yes, if you’re Bryson or another big hitter, you’ll swing faster and the ball will fly farther.

Now these governing bodies are changing the testing standards as pro golfers are getting faster swings. The new standards to test will be set in 2028 and using a fast club head speed, less spin, and slightly higher launch angle, the ball can’t travel farther than 317 yards.

Why are they doing this? It’s the governing bodies’ efforts to make golf “sustainable”. For the pros, they hit the ball so far, tournaments can’t keep pushing tees back or making courses longer as they are running out of real estate.

How does this impact you? Good question, they say this will take about 5 yards off of a driver for normal golfers and you practically won’t have any difference in yardage with your 5-iron and anything below that. The initial proposal was to have to have pros play with a different ball but the manufacturers seemed to be against that, probably for financial reasons. I know one thing.. I don’t need to hit the ball a lesser distance than I do right now. Maybe this is a Rory McIlroy problem, but it certainly ain’t a problem for me.

That’s all for today. Get out there and enjoy our happy hours… unless you're a Patriots fan…

If you’re a Pats fan, enjoy your Zappe hours! 😂 

-The Daily Breakroom

p.s. get some good Karma for the football weekend and share this link with your friends.