BASKETBALL

The Dallas Wings selected the 6’5″ University of Texas star, Charli Collier, with the #1 pick in the WNBA Draft on Thursday.

FOOTBALL

The Washington Football Team may ultimately change their name after next season, but they want the season ticket holders to be part of the process. The team sent lists of different names to season-ticket holders asking them to vote. For the full list of possible names, click here.

The NFL announced it will be partnering with Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings, and FanDuel marking the league’s gradual acceptance of sports betting. The five-year deal is worth just under $1 billion dollars.

BASKETBALL

Stephen Curry had a big night on Monday when he became the Golden State Warriors’ all-time scoring leader. After posting 53 points (and marking the 18th time he’s made 10 or more 3-pointers in a game),  Curry broke the record held by Wilt Chamberlain (who recorded 17,783 points in his career).

FOOTBALL

Julian Edelman retired after a 12-year career in New England. Edelman was a seventh-round draft pick in 2009 and transformed from playing quarterback in college to one of the great wide receivers in Patriots history. He has three Super Bowl championships and won the MVP in Super Bowl LIII (one of only seven wide receivers to win MVP in a Super Bowl).

NCAA

The NCAA Board of Governors issued a statement backing transgender athletes, saying “it won’t hold championship events in locations that aren’t ‘free of discrimination”.

GOLF

Hideki Matsuyama won the coveted Masters becoming the first Japanese male golfer to win a major. In addition to donning the coveted Green Jacket, the win is estimated to be worth $600 million to the intensely private 29-year-old.

BASKETBALL

The Portland Trailblazers Enes Kanter had the crowd going wild on Saturday night when he pulled in 24 points and a franchise-record 30 rebounds in a win over the Detroit Pistons. Kanter became only the fourth player in the NBA with 30 rebounds in a game joining Dwight Howard, Andrew Bynum, and Kevin Love. After the game, Kanter said, “I was so happy when I looked at the bench and everybody was up, everybody was cheering, everybody was smiling, everybody was supporting their teammates. That’s what we’re all about. That’s what Blazers basketball is all about, just supporting each other.”

Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore (an e-commerce titan) signed a letter of intent to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Lynx for an estimated $1.5 billion. If the sale goes through, Lore and Rodriguez would take over in two years.

GOLF

The 2021 Masters begins today with the best golfers in the world vying for the coveted Green Jacket.

Absent from the tournament is Tiger Woods who is still recovering from a horrific car crash in February. It’s been reported he was driving at 85 mph in a 45 mph zone.

BASKETBALL

Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant did not disappoint in his return Wednesday night, after a 23-game absence, against the New Orleans Pelicans. He scored 17 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field in a 139-111 win.

FOOTBALL

Nike and Apple’s Beats by Dre suspended their endorsement deals with Houston Texans’ quarterback Deshaun Watson due to a growing number of sexual assault and sexual misconduct allegations against him.

Aaron Rodgers had so much fun taping his segments as the guest host of Jeopardy he is lobbying to make it a full-time gig and believes he’ll have no trouble both hosting and playing football. Rodgers said, “I don’t think I’d need to give up football to do it. They film 46 days a year. I worked 187 this year in Green Bay. That gives me 178 days to do ‘Jeopardy!’ So I feel like I could fit 46 into that 178 and make it work. It would be a dream job for sure, and I’m not shy at all about saying I want the job. That’s how I went into it. I want an opportunity to be in the mix.”  

OLYMPICS

BASKETBALL

Baylor is the new Men’s College National Champion after beating Gonzaga pretty handily and spoiling their hopes of a perfect season. Baylor 86, Gonzaga 70.

FOOTBALL

To no one’s surprise, the NY Jets traded their quarterback (and former first-round pick), Sam Darnold, to the Carolina Panthers for a sixth-round pick this year and a second and fourth-round next year. After it was announced that the Jets had the #2 overall pick in the 2021 draft, rumors swirled that the team would trade Darnold, as they are prepared to select BYU quarterback Zach Wilson.

Speaking of quarterbacks, Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers began a two-week stint as the celebrity guest host on “Jeopardy”. In 2015, Rodgers won “Celebrity Jeopardy” and afterward mentioned he wanted to honor the memory of the iconic Alex Trebek by hosting. From all accounts, he did a great job and said he prepared for the position by watching film, the same way he prepares for an NFL game.

BASKETBALL

UCLA heroically attempted to take down #1 favorite Gonzaga but lost in a spellbinding overtime thanks to Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs’ game-winning three-pointer as time expired. Watch these last few seconds of the exciting 93-90 win.   Gonzaga will now face #1 seed Baylor (who easily defeated Houston) on Monday night at 9:00 pm ET in the Championship game.

Stanford took home the title in the Women’s Championship defeating Arizona 54-53. This is the Cardinal’s first title in 29 years.

BASEBALL

28-year-old White Sox DH rookie Yermín Mercedes had zero career hits with only one at-bat before this season, but on Saturday night he had the most impressive start to a career in Major League Baseball history with eight consecutive hits (the first eight of his career).

BASKETBALL

The Final Four is set. #11 UCLA continued its remarkable run after beating #1 Michigan (51-49) and will now face #1 Gonzaga (who trounced #6 USC 85-66). Rounding out the top 4 is #2 Houston taking on #1 Baylor. UCLA will be making its 18th Final Four appearance, only trailing North Carolina which has racked up 20 Final Four appearances. For more on each team and what to expect this weekend, click here.

In the Women’s tournament, #1 South Carolina will face off against #1 Stanford, while #3 Arizona will play #1 UConn.

In other NCAA news, the Supreme Court will review an antitrust case allowing member schools to offer student-athletes education-related compensation. The NCAA is asking the court justices to overturn this ruling to “preserve the amateur nature of college sports”.

FOOTBALL

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians promised the team he would get a tattoo if they won the Super Bowl (which they did beating the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9). Arians proved he is a man of his word and revealed on Twitter his new tattoo.

BASKETBALL

Houston and Baylor moved on in the men’s bracket of the NCAA tournament. Gonzaga vs USC and Michigan vs UCLA will battle it out tonight for spots in the Final Four.

In the women’s bracket, UConn narrowly beat out Baylor to clinch their 13th straight Final Four appearance, however, the win was not without controversy. With seconds left Baylor’s DiJonai Carrington attempted a game-winning basket but appeared to be fouled. The refs did not call it, and UConn came away with a 69-67 win.

In addition to the officiating, people are also talking about the post-game press conference where Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey (who wore her face mask under her chin the entire game) stated the NCAA should get rid of COVID testing for the Final Four.

BASEBALL

The New York Mets offered All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor $325 million for 10 years, but Lindor is reportedly asking for $385 million.

HOCKEY

The Buffalo Sabres continue their 18 game winless streak after blowing a three-goal lead against the Philadelphia Flyers.

BASKETBALL

After a full weekend of NCAA basketball, the Elite Eight is set. #12 Oregon State and #11 UCLA continue their remarkable runs and will face #2 Houston and #1 Michigan respectively. No.3 Arkansas faces #1 Baylor and #6 USC takes on #1 Gonzaga.

In the women’s field, five of the top eight seeds continue their run. #1 UConn will battle it out vs #2 Baylor, while #4 Indiana faces #3 Arizona. Rounding out the tournament is #6 Texas vs #1 South Carolina, and #2 Louisville vs #1 Stanford.

In a feel-good moment from the weekend, a 94-year-old Grandmother spent the pandemic studying the NBA and decided her favorite player is the Philadelphia 76ers Danny Green. Danny repaid her enthusiasm by sending her a signed jersey. Watch her fantastic response on Twitter.

FOOTBALL

The NFL Draft is fast approaching (April 29th) and teams are busy trading to maximize their options. Over the weekend, the Miami Dolphins maneuvered to gain a handful of future draft picks. Notably, they traded their #3 overall pick to the San Francisco 49ers (who are likely to grab an elite quarterback) for a bunch of 2021, 2022, 2023 picks. Click here for how it all went down.

In other NFL news, the league is expected to add another regular-season game (so 17 games instead of 16). They will then shorten the preseason to three games from four.