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Good morning! Happy Opening Day to you and yours.
LeBron? Beef Court? The King and ESPN walk into a bar
If you want a peek behind the proverbial Pulse curtain, my brain resembles “Always Sunny” character Charlie Day as I write this. It’s all connected, man.
Just consider these three things that happened yesterday:
1. LeBron James airs it out — James’ feud with Stephen A. Smith has been burbling for what feels like months now (fact check: three weeks), and just as the din was quieting, James appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” yesterday for a wide-ranging interview with ESPN’s other star. James casually slammed Smith multiple times throughout the conversation. You can read all his comments here.
2. ESPN shutters L.A. “SportsCenter” — Just hours later, the network announced the Los Angeles-based version of “SportsCenter” is no more, with operations moving back to Bristol, Conn. Just to tally the current state of the business: ESPN is giving large amounts of money to Smith and McAfee while contracting other parts of its operations. These aren’t direct cause-and-effect situations, but it is an accurate portrayal of where the network is.
3. James hits a game winner — McAfee’s show is based in Indianapolis, where James’ Lakers played the Pacers last night in a key game in the NBA playoff race. The Lakers eked out a great win thanks to, of course, James:
LEBRON FOR THE WIN AT THE BUZZER 🔥
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 27, 2025
Just to recap: Arguably the greatest basketball player to ever live spent his Wednesday accelerating his feud with one ESPN personality via another one’s show, on ESPN airwaves, before adding a game winner to his resume. Oh, and James announced a new podcast deal yesterday, too.
I don’t know if I’ve ever had a day as productive (or weird) as that one. Let’s keep going, I guess:
Feedback Loop: Empire defeated?
By pure mathematical probability, this was easy to predict: Most of you think a team not named the Los Angeles Dodgers will win the World Series this year. A 70-30 split, in fact.
I think I agree. Two things:
- It is simply hard to repeat. Baseball season is so, so long, and no matter how talented and deep this Dodgers team is, luck is always a factor. Injuries are, too, and then the playoffs can be a crapshoot. The odds are still against them, no matter what Vegas says.
- That 29.5 percent is still huge. I can’t remember a recent season where one team was so clearly “supposed” to win a title. Vegas does show this well. BetMGM’s futures odds look like this: Dodgers (+200) … Braves and Yankees (+900). Hello, gap.
We’ll get our first glimpse of these guys in 2025 tonight. More on that in a bit.
News to Know
Willard’s uneasy leverage
Maryland coach Kevin Willard has been a quote machine over the last week, and it continued yesterday as he addressed rumors about possibly leaving the Terps — who play in the Sweet 16 tonight — for Villanova. Last week, Willard was open about wanting Maryland to invest in the program in order for him to stick around, which mirrors the incredible honesty we saw from now-former McNeese State coach Will Wade last week. Yesterday, given the opportunity to back off his comments, Willard instead obfuscated. My read remains: If Maryland ponies up, he’ll stay. If not, he’s gone. Read more context here.
Eala continues run
Little-known tennis player Alexandra Eala continued her spectacular run at the Miami Open, beating Iga Świątek yesterday in two sets to win her third consecutive match against a Grand Slam champion. Eala is a 19-year-old wild-card entrant from the Philippines, where she is already the most accomplished women’s tennis player in the country’s history. Incredible stuff. Next up for Eala: either 2024 U.S. Open finalist Jessica Pegula or 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu. Also: Świątek needed extra security yesterday after getting harassed over the weekend.
More news
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Watch and Listen
📺 MLB: Tigers at Dodgers
7:10 p.m. ET on ESPN
For the general audience, this is the best game of Opening Day. See the new evil empire try to build on last year’s boffo success. The day’s slate starts at 3 p.m., though, so pick your spot.
📺 NCAAM: No. 4 Arizona at No. 1 Duke
9:39 p.m. ET on CBS
Watch the title favorites face off against old nemesis Caleb Love with an Elite Eight trip on the line. And, just as with baseball, we have a solid lineup of games tonight, too.
Get tickets to games like these here.
Pulse Picks
Stephen Nesbitt brings us a more local MLB Opening Day story: on the Bednar brothers, two MLB pitchers at crossroads in their careers, told through the eyes of their father. So, so good. Read it here.
Speaking of MLB pitchers: Jim Bowden ranked all 30 teams’ rotations from top to bottom. Spoiler: The best teams have the best rotations.
Austin Mock’s prediction model rated NFL offseasons. Let’s go Raiders?
What is World Sevens Football? Megan Feringa explains what could be a new niche obsession.
Philip Buckingham has a fun story on the former soccer players trying to become referees. The guys are ready to receive the grief they once gave to officials.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on Stanford firing football coach Troy Taylor in light of a bullying scandal.
Most-read on the website yesterday: Keith Law’s predictions for the MLB season, of course.
(Top photo: Trevor Ruszkowski / Imagn Images)
