
    A. Always Dreaming
    . For the fifth straight year, the post-time favorite won the Kentucky
    Derby. Trained by Todd Pletcher with jockey John Velazquez on board, Always
    Dreaming triumphed at Churchill Downs last Saturday by 2 and ¾ lengths over
    33-1 long shot Lookin at Lee. Two more races for Always Dreaming and then
it will be time to make babies. He is +300 at    MyBookie.ag to win
    the Triple Crown.
    
B. Boston
    . Boston strong? More like Boston wrong. Orioles' outfielder Adam
    Jones was the recent victim of racial slurs at Fenway Park, but he received
    a standing ovation prior to his first plate appearance the next day.
    
        Baltimore (Miley) is a +163 underdog
    
    at Washington (Strasburg) on Wednesday night, per BetOnline Sportsbook.
    
C. Canelo Alvarez
    . Alvarez dominated an all-Mexican matchup with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last
    weekend in Las Vegas. All three judges had Alvarez posting a shutout; 10-9
    in each round for a total score of 120-108. Now he is in line for a
    showdown with unified middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin.
    
D. Djokovic, Novak
    . As every American knows right now, when things aren't going well you fire
    people. It's no different in Serbia, apparently. Struggling mightily in
    2017, Djokovic gave his entire team the boot last week. The world No. 2 at
    least managed to win his opening match in Madrid on Wednesday, in three
    tight sets over Nicolas Almagro.
    
E. Everest
    . Officials in Nepal are mulling an age limit for climbers on Mount Everest
    after an 85-year-old recently died while attempting to regain his record as
    the oldest person to scale Everest. Min Bahadur Sherchan set the record in
    2008 at 76 years old but was surpassed by 80-year-old Yuichiro Miura in
    2013. R.I.P.
    
F. Fox
    . The Bears made a curious move by trading up from No. 3 to No. 2 in the
    NFL Draft and selecting quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Now they won't even
    have the benefit of intercepting former QB Jay Cutler in the upcoming
    season. Cutler unofficially retired when he agreed to do TV for Fox in
    2017.
    
G. Giants
    . You know it's not your year when your best player gets injured in a
    dirt-bike accident. And it hasn't been for Madison Bumgarner-less San
    Francisco, which is the worst team in Major League Baseball right now at
    11-23.
    
H. Harman, Brian
    . When Dustin Johnson wins, we all win, because when Dustin Johnson wins we
    get to see Paulina Gretzky on golf telecasts. Unfortunately, Harman sank a
    28-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole of last week's Wells Fargo
    Championship to beat Johnson by one stroke.Johnson is a +700 favorite at
    
        Bovada Sportsbook
    
    to win THE PLAYERS Championship.
    
I. 
    Inside the park
    . Ezequiel Carrera hit some kind of home run during Toronto's loss at Tampa
    Bay last Saturday. Whether it was over the wall or of the inside the park
    variety, perhaps no one will ever know. Carrera rounded the bases just in
    case while outfielders presumed the ball had ricocheted back into the field
of play only after clearing the wall.    5Dimes Sportsbook has
    Toronto (Liriano) as a +139 home underdog against Cleveland (Salazar) on
    Wednesday.
    
J. John Daly
    . Daly won a Champions Tour tournament last Sunday for his first win in 13
    years. It had that same, national holiday type feel as Bartolo Colon's
    first career MLB home run in 2016.
    
K. Kerr, Steve
    . Does any person in the world have a better job than Kerr right now? He
    gets paid to do nothing, watches his team potentially power its way to an
    NBA title, and receives official credit in the record book for all of
    Golden State's wins.
    
L. Lionel Messi
    . An Iranian man who looks so much like Messi was causing such a commotion
    in the streets that he was detained earlier this week and had his car
    impounded. Police just need to tell him to shave his beard and take off his
Barcelona jersey. Problem solved. FC Barca is +250 at    BookMaker to win La
    Liga.
    
M. Manny Machado
    . Machado is batting just .226 this season, but he leads the league in most
    f-bombs in a single post-game press conference. Baseball fans are not
    worthy of all the entertainment provided by that Orioles-Red Sox series.
    
N. New York Rangers
    .The Rangers trailed for a grand total of 13 minutes and 10 seconds after
    five games against Ottawa and still found themselves behind 3-2. They
    trailed almost the entire way on Tuesday and lost Game 6 4-2 to see their
    season come to an end.
    
O. Out
    . Tony Parker is out for the rest of the playoffs because of a ruptured
    quadriceps. The Spurs were also without Kawhi Leonard in overtime on
    Wednesday, but they still won Game 5 110-107 to take a 3-2 series lead.
    
        San Antonio is a +7 road underdog
    
    on Thursday, according to MyBookie.ag.
    
P. Porzingis, Kristaps
    . "My Twitter account was hacked" is the present day's "I don't know how
    that performance-enhancing drug entered my body." Porzingis was the most
    recent athlete to use the former excuse after his account tweeted "LA
    Clippers" with three smiley faces last week. Further investigation suggests
    Porzingis may have been trying to send a direct message to L.A.-based model
    Abigail Ratchford instead of making a public tweet. In other words: great
    idea, not great execution.
    
    Q. Quitness
    . The respective treks by Cleveland and Golden State through the Eastern
    and Western Conference have been giant snooze-fests. In fact, the only
    interest in the Cavaliers' first eight playoff games came when LeBron James
    faked drinking a fan's Dortmunder Gold beer during last Monday's win over
    Toronto. Great Lakes Brewing tried to capitalize on the incident via social
    media, but this is the same company that produced "Quitness" beers when
    LeBron bolted Cleveland for Miami. Hell will freeze over before LeBron and
    his legal team let Great Lakes Brewing capitalize on him.
    
    R. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 
    Stenhouse Jr., who is dating Danica Patrick, won a Monster Cup race for the
    first time in his career last Sunday, triumphing at Talladega Motor
    Speedway. An ensuing USA Today article was titled, "With Talladega
    win, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. no longer just Danica's boyfriend." No, it doesn't
    matter how many races you win; you will always be just Danica's boyfriend.
    And that's not a bad thing.
    
S. Sidney Crosby
    . For the Penguins, nothing is more typical than losing Crosby to a head
    injury. For the Capitals, nothing would be more typical than losing Game 7
    of a conference semifinal playoff series at home after winning Game 6 on
    the road. The former has already happened (but Crosby has returned since
    missing just one contest). The latter could happen on Wednesday, when Game
    7 takes place in Washington.
    
        The Capitals are -190 favorites
    
    , as indicated by Bovada Sportsbook.
    
T. 
    Tottenham
    . Well, that will just about stick a fork in Tottenham Hotspur. The Spurs
    lost to West Ham United 1-0 last weekend before English Premier
    League-leading Chelsea crushed Middlesbrough on Monday. The Gunners now
    trail the Blues by seven points on the EPL table with only three matches
    remaining.
    
U. U.S. Open
    . Tony Romo has retired from football and will hit the CBS booth this fall.
    His athletic endeavors are not entirely over, however, as the former Dallas
    quarterback tried to qualify for next month's U.S. Open on Monday. Romo
    shot a 75 at Split Rail Links & Golf Club in Texas, finishing T40 out
    of 117 golfers-six shots away from what was necessary to advance. For
    whatever it's worth, he probably would have beaten Tiger Woods.
    
V. Vladimir Tarasenko
    . The Blues' star forward lit the lamp in just one of six games against
    Nashville in the Western Conference semifinals. He scored twice in St.
    Louis' Game 2 victory but otherwise produced just one assist (in this past
    Sunday's season-ending Game 6 loss). The Predators are -120 favorites at
    
        BetOnline Sportsbook
    
    to win the Western Conference.
    
W. Wes Wilcox
    . The Hawks rarely make noise this time of year. When they do, you can be
    sure it's regarding some kind of transaction as opposed to a deep playoff
    run. That is exactly the case now, as Atlanta-which lost to Washington in
    the first round-removed Wilcox from his general manager duties. Wilcox will
    remain on board as some kind of special advisor to ownership, whatever that
    means.
    
X. Xhaka, Granit
    . "It's my style of play and nobody can make me change that. Even if I get
    another red card, then that happens." That's what Xhaka recently had to say
    about his extensive disciplinary history (he has been sent off nine times
    in the last three years and has received 11 cards for Arsenal this season).
    The Gunners beat Manchester United 2-0 last weekend to end the Red Devils'
    25-match unbeaten streak in the English Premier League.
    
Y. Yankees
    . The Yankees actually lost on Tuesday, thus ending a streak of six
    straight wins. Perhaps equally surprising is that Aaron Judge failed to go
    yard in a 5-3 lost to Cincinnati. New York is +600 at
    
        GT Bets
    
    to win the American League Pennant.
    
Z. ZO2 Prime
    . A pair of the new Lonzo Ball shoes will set you back only $495. Lonzo's
    dad and unofficial Big Baller Brand spokesperson, LaVar, said earlier this
    week that 495 people have already bought the shoes. It sounds like LaVar
    was confusing the number of buyers with the price.
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