Good morning! Today is Monday, April 28. Here’s what happened over the weekend in the world of sports.

HOLA AMIGOS!

I’ve enjoyed reading the Remix each morning along with the rest of you and hearing from our wonderful guest writers, but I thought I’d step back in and kick off the week by telling you all about Madrid!

La Caja Magica is the site of the Madrid Open– the translation, “Magic Box”, is a very literal description. A giant, concrete cube houses the clay courts on which this tournament is played. It’s probably the most unusual sporting facility I’ve been to, with the cold gray interior providing a stark contrast to the beautiful color of that aforementioned clay.

While there have been a few great matches– American Tommy Paul won a thriller against the young Brazilian Joao Fonseca– it feels like we’re still waiting on a moment of magic. The best moment so far was in round two, where I was able to witness 24-year-old Matteo Arnaldi take down Novak Djokovic:

Either way, I’m very much enjoying the city and it’s many bocadillos. But it wouldn’t be a true update from Madrid without a little fútbol… Real Madrid took on rival FC Barcelona in the final of the Copa del Rey on Saturday in a game to remember. With seemingly the entire city huddled around the television, Madrid lost a heartbreaker 3-2 in overtime. Sitting in first place in La Liga and still alive in the semifinals of the Champions League, Barcelona has a chance to win three trophies this spring. On the other side, Real is entering a state of transition– manager Carlo Ancelotti is expected to leave the club at the end of this season and take over the Brazil national team.

THREE STARS OF THE WEEKEND

There were so many awesome games played the last few days, it would be impossible to recap all of them. So with apologies to Jarren Duran stealing home (!), Steph Curry putting the Warriors on his back, and this awesome San Francisco Giants walk-off Little League home run, here are the Remix Three Stars of the Weekend:

1. Aaron Gordon: The Nuggets forward caught Nikola Jokic’s airball and dunked it with less than 0.1 seconds remaining to beat the Clippers in game four. Take a look at the rare (maybe first-ever?) playoff dunk buzzer-beater:

2. Eugenio Suarez: The Diamondbacks third baseman became just the 19th player in Major League history to hit four home runs in a game. He’s now leading all players with 10 dingers on the season.

3. Gabriel Landeskog: The Av’s captain missed almost three seasons with a knee injury. After returning right before the playoffs, Landeskog scored this beauty and Colorado tied their series against Dallas:

THREE NOT STARS OF THE WEEKEND

And on the other side of things…

1. Jax Ulbrich and the prank call heard ‘round the world: You can read the 21-year-old’s apology note here. Otherwise, I’ll let the official statement explain this bizarre situation:

2. Bill Belichick: What is going on between Coach Belichick and his girlfriend Jordan Hudson? There’s already been some strange reports about email chains and Hudson’s role at UNC. Now, we get this uncomfortable moment during yesterday’s CBS Sunday Morning interview, where Coach Belichick was promoting his new book:

3. The refs (if you’re a Pistons fan): Was Tim Hardaway Jr. fouled on this game-winning shot? The post-game report by the NBA referees admitted they missed the crucial call:

PLAYOFFS CHECK-IN

Let’s check the scores of each first round matchup in the NBA and NHL playoffs:

NBA:

• Oklahoma City swept Memphis. The Thunder await the winner of LA-Denver

• Golden State leads Houston 2-1

  • Will Jimmy Butler be healthy and available the rest of the series?

• Minnesota leads LA Lakers 3-1

  • Anthony Edwards and Naz Reid have been absolutely spectacular! And JJ Redick may be getting desperate, as he made no substitutions for the entire second half yesterday

• LA Clippers are tied 2-2 with Denver

• Cleveland leads Miami 3-0

• Boston leads Orlando 3-1

• Indiana leads Milwaukee 3-1

  • And to make things worse for the Bucks Damian Lillard is out with a serious Achilles injury.

• New York leads Detroit 3-1

NHL:

• Winnipeg is tied 2-2 with St. Louis

  • The Blues have chased goalie Connor Hellebuyck from the game in each of their wins. The pressure is officially on for the top-seeded Jets…

• Dallas is tied 2-2 with Colorado

• Vegas is tied 2-2 Minnesota

• Los Angeles is tied 2-2 with Edmonton

  • Leon Draisaitl scored in OT yesterday to tie things up and keep every series even in the Western Conference

• Toronto leads Ottawa 3-1

• Florida leads Tampa Bay 2-1

• Washington leads Montreal 3-1

• Carolina leads New Jersey 3-1

  • Andrei Svechnikov scored a hat trick yesterday to give the Canes a commanding lead over the Devils

NFL DRAFT RECAP

By now, we’ve all heard about Shedeur Sanders and his shocking drop to round five of the NFL Draft. The plot twist may have occurred sooner than expected, but Shedeur’s story is just beginning; whether you like it or not, the unusual Cleveland Browns quarterback room will be in the headlines well past this weekend. Outside of the quarterback drama it was a pretty standard draft. If you’re one of those football fans who likes to know where every player who was picked or analyze the selections with post-draft grades, I’m guessing you’ve already read those articles. So to keep today’s theme going, here are my three favorite stories: (1) I like what the Chicago Bears are building on offense, (2) Kansas City drafted a guy named Royals, and (3) defensive end Barryn Sorrel became an instant fan-favorite in Green Bay.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Longtime baseball executive Walt Jocketty passed away on Saturday at the age of 74. When your resume begins with, “traded for Mark McGwire and drafted Albert Pujols”, that’s already remarkable. But as the general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals from 1994-2007 and the Cincinnati Reds from 08-16, Jocketty made so, so many organization-defining decisions. A three-time MLB executive of the year, Jocketty spent 50 years working in the game of baseball. “He had great relationships with his scouts and advisers, tremendous respect for them, and an ability to synthesize information. But what I liked about Walt is there wasn’t much of an ego you could identify. He was a people person, and I think that’s why he had success,” said his longtime colleague Sandy Alderson.

Welcome to Wrexham! The Welsh football team was bought by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2020, and have earned a promotion in each subsequent season. Their latest triumph over the weekend brings the Red Dragons into the Championship Division for the first time since 1982. Now just one level below the Premier League, we may actually see this Hollywood fairytale compete in the highest level of the game next year!

Speaking of the Premier League, congratulations to Liverpool on winning the league title with four games to play. It’s Liverpool’s 20th time winning England’s top division, tied for first all-time with Manchester United. Arne Slot is the fifth manager ever to win the Premier League in their first year in charge.

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

NHL PLAYOFFS:

• Lightning @ Panthers, 7 PM on ESPN

• Avalanche @ Stars, 9:30 PM on ESPN

NBA PLAYOFFS:

• Cavaliers @ Heat, 7:30 PM on TNT/Max

• Rockets @ Warriors, 10 PM on TNT/Max

Aaron Gordon, during Saturday’s post-game press conference: “It was a nice pass.”

Reporter: “Was it a pass?”

Nikola Jokic, laughing: “No, no it wasn’t.”

Hasta luego, that’s all from me– back to our guest writers for the rest of this week. Be careful while I’m gone, watch out for the tarp monster!