Weekend emails from us are going to look a little bit different from now on. Because we are lazy (and less people read emails on weekends) we’re going to provide you a sort of weekend guide: what to watch, things to read, funny internet stuff. You get it. We hope you like it and find it useful. If you don’t, you can complain to Paul on Twitter - @PaulCostanzo, or just email us and I’ll give you his cell phone number.
What Everybody Will be Watching
The final four college basketball teams are playing in the Final Four on Saturday
That headline seems pretty self explanatory. Villanova and Oklahoma play at 6:09 and Syracuse and North Carolina are scheduled to tip at 8:49. All games are on TBS, Very Funny. By the way, what the heck is up with these start times at major sporting events? Games don’t start on the 9s . . . they should start at the 00s and 30s . . . maybe the 15s if you’re feeling crazy. But that is it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to shout at clouds and tell unruly teens to get off my lawn.
The final four women’s college basketball teams are playing in the Final Four on Sunday
Same thing, only somebody in women’s college basketball scheduling has some sense to them. UCONN and Oregon State tip on ESPN at 6 p.m. SHARP and Washington and Syracuse follow at 8:30, also on ESPN. Connecticut hasn’t lost a game in what feels like 37 years and I wouldn’t expect them to this weekend.
Take me out to the balllllllll game
Baseball is back and you better watch the first three games of the year on Sunday because there won’t be 4,857 more played this season. That’s a lie, there will be exactly 4,857 more baseball games played this season.*
*excludes playoffs and game 163s
Pistons vs. Bulls for a large quantity of marbles
It’s not for all of the marbles, but it’s a huge matchup Saturday night between two teams fighting for their playoff lives.
Warriors attempt to be nice
We know we’ve been all over this team, as has every other sports media outlet, but Sunday night the Warriors -- coming off a surprising loss against the Celtics -- will take on Portland and if they win they’ll be 69 (nice)-8, needing to go 4-1 in their last five to break the NBA wins record, with two games remaining against the Spurs. Unfortunately the game against Portland on NBA TV and we can’t watch it.
Read these things
Giant stadiums are awesome, until you play in them
The Final Four is being played at NRG Stadium (get it! N R G -- energy!) in Houston, which is ginormous. Great, right? Sure, except for the part where it’s hard to shoot a basketball in this disorienting building, which could be a bit of a big deal. Basketball is setup to reward teams that don’t rely on jump shots. Sometimes they don’t fall, and the more balanced teams find ways to win despite that. But getting hot and hitting those jump shots is what makes basketball so exciting, because it allows basically every team to have a puncher’s chance. So playing in stadiums that essentially take jump shots out of the equation seems like a bad idea for the biggest games of the season.
There are three teams that aren’t UConn at the women’s Final Four
The final result is all but confirmed at the Women’s Final Four, but FiveThirtyEight has a nice breakdown of the three teams that still could be UConn, and by “still could beat” we mean they still haven’t lost in this tournament, or played UConn.
Leicester City is an underdog like we haven’t seen in American sports
If you’ve paid any attention to the Barclays Premier League ever, you know that while the games are competitive and the soccer is entertaining, really only the five giant (read: super rich) clubs -- Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool -- have realistic shots at winning the title each year. Except for this year, when Leicester City’s amazing early-season run turned into an amazing half-season run, then a legitimate title run, and now would be considered a near certainty if it were any of the big clubs that held the same lead at the same time. Bill Barnwell breaks down how impossible this actually is, and names 10 other unlikely champions, a lot of them you’ve never heard of because stuff like this simply doesn’t happen here.
Best of the Rest
Sometimes with Steph Curry you just need to be safe and have the entire team guard him.
James Harrison will hump you so hard. Soooooooooooooooooo hard.
Karl Anthony Towns is a problem.
Tim Tebow doesn’t take weekends off
He remains a free agent during them.
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