Sports & Entertainment Beat

I write this piece still licking my wounds from a rough week that saw my alma mater University of Wisconsin Badgers lay an egg against James Madison University in the first round of the Men’s NCAA basketball tournament (we’re still unquestionably the superior Madison) and come up one goal short against Ohio State University in the Women’s NCAA Hockey National Championship. That misfortune is to say nothing of my utterly destroyed NCAA tournament brackets.

But no matter.

Just ahead this early Spring weekend is a full slate of opening weekend Major League Baseball games, where I can once again rebuild my hopes (perhaps only to have them dashed in a few months’ time) while digging into Cadbury Mini Eggs (only the U.K. version will do). But before that sheer Easter candy bliss, I share the following with you: my Peeps.

• • Tennessee becomes the first of these United States to pass legislation entitled the ELVIS Act, that is targeted at Artificial Intelligence (AI) imitations of musical acts. Quite the bit of hypocrisy from the Volunteer State. They turn a blind eye to fat guys with long sideburns, rhinestones and gyrating hips to impersonating an artist, but when a machine gets in on the act, all bets are off. 
     
  • Iowa Hawkeyes Guard Caitlin Clark has been a TV ratings machine over the past few months of college basketball. Advertisers and sponsors have already taken note, but now Ice Cube is offering $5 million for her to play 10 games for his 3-on-3 basketball league, Big3.  Somehow that offer isn’t as shocking as the approximately $75,000 base salary she stands to make next year in the WNBA.
     
  • The NFL is planning to take a regular season game on the road to Brazil, to be streamed exclusively on Peacock. I guess Amazon carrying the game would have been a little too on-the-nose.