Last weekend, I went down to San Diego for my close friends’ annual Kentucky Derby party - reliably one of the most fun weekends of the year. This year was a bit more “mature” than prior years, with the arrival of a few new babies amongst the friend group, but rest assured - there were still plenty of mint juleps consumed and beer die played.

The most interesting part of the day, though, (and the inspiration for this blog post) might have been the half-hour before the race itself: the horse auction.

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It was in mid-March that I started hearing the rumblings, lunchtime comments from ski and snowboard friends at work:

“I wanted to go up to Mammoth this weekend, but decided to skip it since there just isn’t much good snow”

“We went to Tahoe but I kind of wish we hadn’t since it was really slushy”

I have to admit, I initially gaffed these comments off. Surely a little less pow was just a first world problem??

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For the 2026 season, Major League Baseball introduced its challenge system to great fanfare, with the Automated Balls/Strikes (ABS) system serving as a backstop to overturn (or validate) calls made by the umpires.

In doing so, MLB finally formalized the definition of the strike zone - no longer would it be “knees to letters” at the discretion of umpires - now it ranges from 27% to 53.5% of the batter’s measured height.

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Earlier today, the Team Report Cards compiled by the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) leaked and were published by The Athletic, despite the NFL winning a grievance in arbitration that blocked the NFLPA’s release of the data.

This legal aspect added some intrigue to what has otherwise been a customary dump of data - one that clearly bothers the owners of the NFL’s 32 franchises!

As a reminder, these report cards are where players score their own teams on a variety of player experience dimensions from A+ to F-:

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On Wednesday night, as I watched the Hoos smoke Georgia Tech in a 94-68 win, the perfect blog post idea popped into my head.

In December, I wrote a fun post identifying some of the (early) changes in Virginia’s playing style under new head coach Ryan Odom. At the time, the differences in pace of play and shot distribution really stood out, for good reason! But what I hadn’t yet caught onto were the differences in rotation, lineups, and substitution patterns… until the Georgia Tech game made that crystal clear.

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Last week, the Dodgers signed Kyle Tucker to a 4-year, $240M contract - adding him to their already back-to-back winning lineup, and keeping him away from the Mets and Blue Jays, two of their biggest three-peat threats.

Around the same time, I read an article talking about how the WNBA was set to miss a negotiating deadline between the league and the players’ association - with the two parties at a bit of an impasse over how to share revenue over their next collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

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In the spring of 2024, I started a new job in West Hollywood and quickly noticed something amusing on my commute home: it was almost always warmer at my office than at my house in Santa Monica. On many evenings, the temperature would drop five or even ten degrees between WeHo and the coast.

Nerd that I am, I decided this microclimate was worth mapping myself. That decision sent me down a year-long rabbit hole involving DIY temperature sensors, two separate deployment attempts, and about $100 spent - none of which produced the data I needed!

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The Virginia Cavaliers are 7-1 to open 2025–26 and have topped 80 points in all of their games thus far. For a program long defined by a slow, deliberate pace and box scores in the 50s and 60s, that’s a huge change! For reference, the Cavs reached 80 points just two times in 32 games last season.

The elephant in the room here, of course, is that Tony Bennett is no longer with us, and with his departure, the Pack Line defense and Mover-Blocker offense have gone by the wayside. I shall forever be loyal to Tony and in his debt for a decade of amazing memories, but at the same time, I’m grateful that the University has brought in a new coach with his own style, looking to put his own stamp on the program.

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A week ago, LeBron made his season debut for the Lakers, posting an 11/3/12 line in 29 minutes against the Jazz. The outing was particularly notable because it marked the first time any NBA player has ever competed in their 23rd season - a remarkable feat of longevity.

A few days later, I found myself watching the Washington Wizards at my parents’ house in an “Emirates NBA Cup” match against the Atlanta Hawks. It was some pretty bad basketball, to be honest - but the extreme youth of the Wizards, especially given LeBron’s recent milestone, caught my eye.

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Last Sunday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York unsealed an indictment against two Cleveland Guardians pitchers, Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, for rigging pitches.

In the scheme, Clase and Ortiz would intentionally throw pitches, usually for balls, often below certain speed levels, so that “prop bets” on those individual pitches would pay off for their co-conspirators, who would then kick back a slice of the winnings.

We first became aware of something going on when the two players were originally suspended in June, but I wanted to look a little deeper into the story now because it is just that crazy! And the specifics within the indictment are very helpful for confirming what was going on.

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