Happy Friday Fam! We’ve got a Final Four weekend ahead of us, and we’re getting down to crunch time in the NBA and NFL. Let’s take a closer look at some sports, but first, let’s look at a Los Angeles robbery.

p.s. make sure you read to the end today, because we want to buy you a drink!

One Big Thing: Robberies

💰️ We’re talking ROBBERIES… IN LOS ANGELES… and we’re not talking about the robbery from Easter Sunday where $30 million went missing. We’re talking about the Dodgers robbing their own fans! After Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run for the Dodgers on Wednesday, the ball was collected by long-time fan Ambar Roman.

Roman was quickly escorted by security and was separated from her husband. Security teams started pressuring her with hardball tactics and tried to intimidate her into giving up the home run ball the could be worth $100k in exchange for two signed hats. The Dodgers wouldn’t let Roman talk to her husband and they told her they wouldn’t authenticate the ball if she wanted to leave with it, essentially deeming it worthless.

Roman was practically forced to take a trade of two signed hats, a signed bat and a signed ball in exchange for the home run ball. She said she’s not trying to extrort anyone for money but believed it could have a been a fairer transaction.

Here’s the thing: THE DODGERS SPENT OVER A BILLION DOLLARS IN FREE AGENCY THIS YEAR. They couldn’t hook two people up with some season tickets or like $10k? That’s absolutely absurd. AT LEAST LET THE PEOPLE MEET OHTANI…that didn’t even freaking happen!

ABSOLUTELY ABUSRD BEHAVIOR!

[END RANT]

Headlines

👑 Bronny James is never going to be the King James that his father is, but they both could be playing in the NBA at the same time. Bronny is entering the 2024 draft and the transfer portal. After an underwhelming freshman season at USC, partially due to having a cardiac arrest event in the preseason, Bronny will still attempt to meet with teams and enter the draft. If he decides that he would like to maintain his eligibility and return to college basketball next year, his plan would be to switch schools since USC’s head coach took a new job at SMU. It also doesn’t seem that it’s a requirement for Lebron and his son to be on the same team next year, but I’m assuming it will happen before LeBron retires.

🐯 LSU’s women's basketball program will need to do a little rebuilding next season. The team's star forward Angel Reese has declared for the WNBA draft, and now their point guard Hailey Van Lith has entered the transfer portal after spending one year at LSU after transferring from Louisville.

😎 Did you guys know a solar eclipse is passing over the US this weekend? While this isn’t a sporting event on its own, unless you’re like skydiving during it or something, it impacts some events. First, you can learn more about the eclipse here. Secondly, if you want eclipse glasses so you don’t burn your corneas and retinas, you can buy them at your local ACE Hardware or even get them for free at Warby Parker, Smoothie King, or Sonic Drive-ins. Because the eclipse starts around 2 pm ET and will impact the daylight for over an hour, the New York Yankees are moving back their Monday afternoon matchup against the Miami Marlins. Gametime was originally at 2:05 pm ET but will not be played at 6:05 pm ET. Who knew an eclipse could alter so many things?

🫡 The Big East can give a big salute and thank you to Seton Hall, as Seton Hall gave a little redemption to the conference after winning the NIT last night. Seton Hall finished 4th in the Big East and was practically the first team left out of the NCAA Tournament. The Hall defeated Indiana State 79-77 and after going on a final 9-0 scoring run to end the game. If you want to talk about winners… the head coach of UConn, Dan Hurley, played college ball at Seton Hall. Looks like it could be championships all around !

Highlights

🏀 Nikola Jokic had an impressive night for the Denver Nuggets as he recorded another triple-double double having 36 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. The only problem was it wasn’t enough. The Clippers narrowly escaped at home with a 2-point win. Paul George led LA with 28.

🏀 The Knicks came out firing after a lower-scoring loss against the Miami Heat the other night. New York beat the Sacramento Kings 120-109 and got 35 from Jalen Brunson, 31 from Josh Hart, and 21 from Donte DiVincenzo.

🏀 After a little smack talk back and forth between the Warriors and Rockets, the Warriors dusted Houston on Houston’s home court 133-110. Klay Thompson and Steph Curry both scored 29 points.

🏒 The Winnipeg Jets beat the Calgary Flames 5-2 last night. Winnipeg got a hat trick from Gabriel Vilardi, who scored the 1st goal and the final 2 goals.

🏒 Akil Thomas scored his first NHL goal last night and got crushed directly after the shot. With the help of Akil Thomas, the LA Kings won 2-1 against the San Jose Sharks.

🏒 Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov recorded his 90th assist last night. Connor McDavid already hit the mark this year, and this season is just the eighth season in NHL history to feature multiple 90 assists players. The last time it happened was in the 1995-96 season.

⛳️ Check out this hole-in-one by Jordan Spieth at the Valero Texas Open yesterday. 199 yards on a dime!

What Should You Be Watching Today?

PGA Tour

⛳️ Round 2 of Valero Texas Open, streaming all day on ESPN+ and on the Golf Channel from 4-7 pm ET.

NHL

🏒 6 games are streaming on ESPN+ today. See if your team is on the schedule.

NBA

🏀 Kings @ Celtics, 7:30 pm ET on NBA TV

🏀 Timberwolves @ Suns, 10 pm ET on NBA TV

Women’s Final Four

🏀 1-seed South Carolina vs 3-seed NC State, 7 pm ET on ESPN

🏀 1-seed Iowa vs 3-seed UConn, 9 pm ET on ESPN

MLB

⚾️ LA Dodgers @ Chicago Cubs, 2:20 pm ET on ESPN+

⚾️ NY Mets @ Cincinnati Reds, 6:40 pm ET on Apple TV+

⚾️ Houston Astros @ Texas Rangers, 8:05 pm ET on Apple TV+

Enjoy your Friday and if you get to happy hour, we’d like to buy you a drink! Help 5 friends sign up using the link below and we’ll send you a gift card to pay for your next round!

-The Daily Breakroom