February 23, 2026
The U.S. Olympic Hockey Team beating Canada was adorable. Not because it was unexpected — but because somewhere in Toronto a guy wearing three layers of flannel whispered, “This was our year.” Beating Canada in hockey is like beating Italy in pasta or France in complaining. It’s not just a loss; it’s a national identity crisis. For once, the Americans were faster, tougher, and slightly more polite about it. And you know it hurt because Canadian fans were calm. Too calm. Except for the guy Bartstool Sports posted about who chain sawed his TV. That’s when you know it stung.
Now that the Winter Olympics are over, we all return to pretending we never screamed at curling at 6 a.m. For two weeks, we became experts in luge aerodynamics and snow texture density. Then — poof — it’s gone. The Olympics are like that friend who visits, inspires you to “live boldly,” and then leaves you alone with NBA box scores. Still, there’s something beautiful about a sporting event where gold medals are decided by thousandths of a second and where people voluntarily ski uphill. I already have withdrawals from that Olympic music on NBC. However, I can’t wait until the 2028 Olympics in LA!
The Lakers losing to the Celtics yesterday was, of course, extremely calm and rational. Lakers fans handled it with maturity and perspective. No one suggested trading half the roster. No one questioned the coaching staff’s life choices. And absolutely no one brought up 2008. Losing to Boston is just another game, right? Completely normal. Definitely not something that reopens historical wounds dating back to black-and-white television. I’m sure it was perfectly normal for all those Laker fans to be jumping off the Santa Monica Pier last night after they were totally outclassed by the Celtics in every facet of the game. Of course they also had to do it on a night they honored Pat Riley. Then they proceeded to dishonor him by getting smoked by their biggest rivals.
Meanwhile, the NBA continues to bravely attempt to fix tanking, which is impressive considering tanking is just math wearing a hoodie. The league flattened lottery odds, added a play-in tournament, and still somehow teams wake up in March with “precautionary soreness.” It’s not losing — it’s “asset management.” If there were an Olympic sport for strategic underachievement, a few front offices would podium. This really isn’t even a top 5 issue in the NBA. However, clearly, Adam Silver cares more about his gambling and TV partners than the fans, who probably don’t mind tanking to a degree because it gives teams hope of competing and finding the next star.
UCLA upsetting Illinois was a lovely reminder that the Bruins still enjoy ruining someone else’s bracket before the bracket even exists. Illinois probably prepared for a competitive game. Instead, they got a UCLA team that looked like it had been quietly rehearsing for March in a dimly lit gym somewhere. West Coast basketball heard the doubters and politely responded with defense. It’s also a big relief for Mick Cronin, who had it rough earlier in the week when he through out one of his players from a game, then scolded a reporter for no good reason. His act is still wearing this with a lot of the Bruin faithful, but for the time being, UCLA is off the bubble in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology. They are projected as the last 4 bye’s currently. I still have a hard time seeing them last long in the Tournament, but we’ll find out soon enough.
The Dodgers starting spring training 2–0 means the dynasty is clearly intact and baseball might as well skip to October. Every March, Dodgers fans convince themselves this is the deepest roster in human history. Every year, they’re not entirely wrong. The vibes are immaculate. The payroll is heroic. The optimism is irrational. It’s baseball season again. The Boys in Blue will need to find a way to limit the innings of their starting pitchers though, to preserve them for the postseason. Those guys threw a ton of critical innings late in the year, and were stretched to the max in 2025.
And then there are the Angels — who apparently believe spring training games are a private members-only experience. Not televising them is a bold content strategy. “You can’t criticize what you can’t see.” It’s like baseball’s version of disappearing texts. Maybe the idea is to protect fans from forming expectations. In that case, mission accompli. I would however really like to see this survey that Arte Moreno is talking about, where winning is apparently not in his fan bases top 5 priorities. The Halos are not exactly a data and analytics driven team, so pardon me if I’m somewhat skeptical of the interpretation of the data.
