Good morning! My name is Max Krupnick, and I’m your first Remix (Remax?) guest host of the week.

My day job is at Harvard Magazine, where I get to profile athletes and semi-athletes, in addition to analyzing college sports. At night, I argue about the Cardinals with Ben and my other STL buddies. I’ll be with you for the next three days. I hope you enjoy! Let’s begin with some in-person reporting.

THE BOSTON MARATHON

You see it before you hear it. Pedestrians walk three-wide across the Mass Ave Bridge. Bike racks are stacked beyond full. Police barricade roads. Then, noise careens through Back Bay’s row houses: pop music from oversized speakers, cowbells rung by untired wrists, an occasional air horn. Finally, you see a river of people flowing through the streets of Boston, neon shoes trodding at eight miles per hour. 

The first 126 runners to push off from Hopkinton, MA are considered professionals. This part of the race looks like the Olympics. The competitors clump into packs, testing who can go fastest without burning out. 

But then, the dam breaks. 32,000 runners, staggered throughout the morning, begin their trek. Spectators pile along the course, wearing jerseys, waving flags, and hoisting signs. Salesmen hawk their wares (lemonade), and people party on their patios.

I positioned myself on Hereford Street, just a block away from the iconic final turn. At this point, the runners know they are mere minutes from finishing. Each person handles that differently. Some have their heads down, taking small steps, willing themselves forward. Others pump up the crowd. Runners pass five or six at a time. Arms bounce; knees raise; nipples chafe.  

Running is perhaps the most individual sport. Your legs determine your time. But an urban marathon like Boston is the epitome of community. Consultants on lunch break, kids excused from school, and families traveling from afar all crowd the sidewalks, whooping for runners we don’t know. 

As the runners stream by, it strikes me that each person has a story. Each carved hours out of their weeks to run. Each watched their diets, wondering how to best fuel themselves. Each wanted to quit. But as I stand on Hereford, they all blend together. If completing a marathon is a triumph of the individual, the Boston Marathon is a triumph of the many. I can cheer for that.

🏃🏃🏃

For those keeping score at home, 28-year-old Kenyan John Korir took home the men’s title with a time of 2 hours, 4 minutes, 45 seconds (4:45 per mile. Sheesh!) John’s brother, Wesley, won the Boston Marathon in 2012. On the women’s side, Kenyan 31-year-old Sharon Lokedi set a new course record of 2:17:22.

MLB

A few blocks over, the Red Sox prevailed in the sock drawer battle, defeating the White Sox 4-2 in a rare 11:00 A.M. game. Boston starter Walker Buehler didn’t want to chance the Marathon traffic, so he stayed in a nearby hotel for his 7:15 A.M. call time. He said today was the earliest he had arrived since 2017, when his AA Tulsa Drillers faced Jack Flaherty’s Springfield Cardinals in an early “SpongeBob Squarepants Day” game. Buehler’s nine strikeouts over seven innings make me think his strategy worked.

Atlanta ace Spencer Strider is back on the injured list after... playing catch? Man, I love MLB injuries. Strider missed most of last season after damaging his UCL. There’s a lot of drama surrounding the Braves, who have stumbled to an 8-13 start, good for last place in the NL East. This weekend, injured star center fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. took to social media to call out manager Brian Snitker, who did not pull right fielder Jarred Kelelnic after an embarrassing mistake. Kelenic admired what he thought was a home run; once the ball landed short of the stands, he tried to make it to second, but was thrown out. 

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal has the breakdown: 

Rosenthal writes more, concluding, “This controversy, like most fueled by social media, might very well have a short shelf life. But the issue raised by Acuña is the kind that might expose a rift in a team that is almost one-third Latin.” Not the clubhouse vibes you want as the season is revving up!

Elsewhere in MLB, Miami’s Max Meyer struck out 14 Reds, the most Ks by a pitcher so far this season. Nasty stuff from the sophomore righty.

NBA

Mavericks GM Nico Harrison admitted at a press conference yesterday that he underestimated how much Mavs fans loved Luka Dončić, who he traded to the Lakers in February. "I did know Luka was important to the fan base. I didn't quite know it to what level.” Injuries marred the Mavs in the second half—the team was eliminated from postseason contention by the Grizzlies on Friday. 

The Pistons won their first playoff game since 2008, tying the series with the Knicks at one. Detroit snapped a fifteen-game playoff losing streak and hadn’t won more than 23 games in a season since 2018-19. It’s a fun time to be a Detroit sports fan.

Other scores from last night: Los Angeles Clippers 105, Denver Nuggets 102

NHL

The Jets defeated the Blues 2-1, taking a 2-0 series lead. And the Capitals survived a scare from the Canadiens. Washington blew a 2-0 lead in the third period, but the NHL’s top career scorer secured the win two minutes into overtime: 

Other scores from last night: Dallas Stars 4, Colorado Avalanche 3 (OT); Los Angeles Kings 6, Edmonton Oilers 5

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

The legal saga between the NCAA and its student-athletes might be winding down. In 2021, the Supreme Court restricted the NCAA’s ability to restrict its athletes’ incomes. By that fall, students in five major sports were able to transfer once without penalty and receive compensation for their name, image, and likeness. Four seasons of NIL have made the upper-echelon of college sports resemble pro leagues, as NIL collectives—loosely affiliated schools—hand out unregulated sums of money to star players. (Shameless plug for a story I wrote this past fall called “The End of the Ivy League,” which charts how the eight-school conference is navigating NIL-era sports.)

Yesterday, the NCAA passed a proposal that would allow schools to directly pay their athletes, pending judicial approval of the class action lawsuit settlement. Any school that opts into the settlement will be able to give $20.5 million to their athletes annually (22 percent of Power Five schools' average athletic revenue). It’s not a done deal yet: recruited athletes want to ensure their roster spots will be protected, and walk-ons worry that such opportunities will disappear in the coming years. 

But for now, schools still can’t directly pay players, and talented players will jump to the pros as quickly as possible. So, it’s no surprise that Duke freshman Cooper Flagg declared for the NBA draft yesterday. (His estimated $4.8 million NIL value pales in comparison to $13 million he’ll make if he goes 1-1.) The consensus National Player of the Year is projected to be drafted first overall in June. The Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards, and Charlotte Hornets each have a 14% chance of landing the phenom. Personally, I think it would be funny if the Dallas Mavericks pull off their 1.8% lottery ticket.

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE:

• Bucks (0) @ Pacers (1), 7:00 P.M.

• Grizzlies (0) @ Thunder (1), 7:30 P.M.

• Timberwolves (1) @ Lakers (0), 10:00 P.M.

NHL PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE:

• Devils (0) @ Hurricanes (1), 6:00 P.M.

• Senators (0) @ Maple Leaves (1), 7:30 P.M.

• Panthers (0) @ Lightning (0), 8:30 P.M.

• Wild (0) @ Golden Knights (1), 11:00 P.M. 

MLB:

• Full slate today! The pitching matchup of the day is Dodgers @ Cubs (7:40 P.M.), where Dustin “Big Red” May and Shōta “The Throwing Philosopher” Imanaga will square up. 

“The original runner of the marathon died, so it’s a little weird we honor him by everyone else doing the same thing and living.” —A Marathon observer in a very entertaining roundup

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