• Credit Petra Kvitová, the ubiquitously well-liked Czech, for winning the Miami Open, her biggest title since Wimbledon 2014.
• Credit Daniil Medvedev for his sustained hardcourt excellence, winning the Miami Open men’s title. (Fun fact: he has won 19 career titles. And has never won the same title twice.)
• Credit the USTA for this excellent April Fool’s tweet.
• Here’s a long piece on the WTA and its China dilemma.
• Lots of late-coming mail on pickleball, which, in keeping with the times, is a great force of polarization. We’ll get to it next week….
Onward….
Author: Michael
Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani set a bit of unwanted MLB history on Wednesday during L.A.’s clash against the Mariners. Ohtani, who was featuring as both a hitter and pitcher as he so often does, was called for a pitch clock violation in both roles during the same game.
Early on during Wednesday’s clash against Seattle, home plate umpire Pat Hoberg issued a pitch clock violation against Ohtani, giving a free ball to Cal Raleigh.
Later on, the two-way star was up at the plate against Mariners’ Matt Brash.
Former Nebraska interim head coach Mickey Joseph had his assault case dropped on Wednesday after his accuser refused to share her testimony in court.
It was an interesting twist to the months-old case centered on accusations of strangulation and physical assault against Joseph.
The domestic assault case against former Nebraska football coach Mickey Joseph has been dismissed after the alleged victim declined to testify.
— Sam McKewon (@swmckewonOWH) April 5, 2023
Since the former coach’s arrest on Nov.
San Diego State basketball’s run to the national championship involved turning every game into a rock fight and getting the ball to Matt Bradley. The senior guard was the Aztecs’ leading scorer in 2022/23, but averaged just 12.6 points per game.
Despite his lack of scoring prowess, Bradley established himself as one of the most valuable players in the country. As he went, both offensively and defensively, as did San Diego State.
And in the era of Name, Image and Likeness, breakout stardom directly correlates to financial compensation.
Rob Pelinka’s series of trades has led to not only wins, but also a team the Lakers can keep intact for the 2023-24 season.
As teams jockey for playoff positions, three players are putting the finishing touches on their MVP cases.
Aaron Rodgers may look like a 39-year-old NFL quarterback, but inside, Rodgers has the soul of a yoga instructor that weaves her own dreamcatchers and keeps pink Himalayan salt in her spice rack.
For all those invested in Rodgers’ spiritual journey off the field and appreciate the longtime Packer’s insight on tripping out on psychedelics, the QB hit a new milestone this week.
The hotly discussed free agent was spotted, via TMZ, on Wednesday shopping for healing crystals at Los Angeles’ Topanga Rocks.
Aaron Rodgers looking for jewels.
Bubba Watson has been one of the most colorful personalities in professional golf for more than a decade. Now, he’s transitioned to the LIV Tour, so he’s making his first appearance in Augusta since joining the highly controversial new pro golf league.
The annual Masters Par 3 contest is one of the fun staples of the week — mostly because it almost always produces some fun, ridiculous and seemingly impossible shots.
On Wednesday, the two-time Masters champion hit one of the most wild shots we’ve seen in a while.
Take a look for yourself:
An excellent ace for Bubba Watson.
In the midst of a remarkable year, Real Madrid star Karim Benzema added to his reputation as a giant killer with a hat trick to defeat rival Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semifinals.
The French striker ran away with the Ballon d’Or award in October based on his uncanny prowess on the biggest stage in elimination games, a trend that continued Wednesday in a 4–0 win over Barça.
Real Madrid entered the second leg at the Camp Nou facing a 1–0 deficit against the La Liga leaders, but Benzema decimated the Barcelona defense with three second-half goals.
When you have more money than you know what to do with, you sometimes make absurd purchases.
File this story under that premise.
Mavericks wing Reggie Bullock bought an island in Belize for $2 million and named it after himself.
The five-acre island’s name is “Bullock Island,” and he plans to build a resort on it for his family and friends to vacation. Bullock reportedly made the purchase a year ago, but the news of his self-named island went viral over the last 24 hours.
Bullock told Marc Spears of Andscape that he saw the purchase as an investment.