Top 5 Sporting Events in April

Chris gets the credit for the idea. Rich runs with it. The top five sporting events of April, presented by Hyundai, land on the show with a full countdown.

Number five is the start of the NBA and NHL playoffs. Rich leans into the pacing difference, noting the NBA makes you wait four days between games while the NHL runs every other night. He also pokes at the play-in tournament points, wondering where they live in the standings ledger, and concludes they float in some Superman II phantom zone. He closes the entry by reminding everyone that it is NBA Finals, plural, but Stanley Cup Final, singular.

Number four is WrestleMania, and Rich turns the floor over to TJ Jefferson. TJ frames WrestleMania as wrestling's Super Bowl, the grandfather of them all, now in its 42nd year. The added weight this year is ESPN's first time broadcasting it. TJ and O'Shea Jackson Jr. will lead ESPN2's pre-show coverage on the Friday before Mania. TJ calls it a full-circle moment given how many hours he has spent watching both ESPN and WWE.

Number three is the Final Fours, plural, men's and women's. Rich runs the schedule straight through. Women's semifinals Friday, men's Saturday, women's title game Sunday, men's championship Monday night at an absurd start time. Cut down nets. Trophies handed out.

Number two is the NFL draft. Rich talks about what the league has built by turning the draft into a traveling road show. Each host city reframes its own cityscape as a draft hall, and Rich calls hosting it the honor of his life.

Number one is the Masters. Rich calls it a tradition unlike any other and leans on the argument that separates it from every other major, namely that the location never rotates. Augusta is the star. No lead is safe. No deficit is too large. Rich admits most viewers finish watching and pick up a club thinking they could win the jacket themselves, and for most, including him, the result is a pond.

A bonus entry lands at the end. Normally baseball opening day would make the list, but that now sits in March. So Rich pivots to his new favorite pastime, the show-created Major League Baseball standings between the staff's teams. The Yankees beat Seattle the night before behind Cam Schlittler. The Mets and Red Sox both lost. Rich holds a two-game lead on Chris Brockman in the loss column and the Red Sox are already four back. TJ's bandwagon Yankees-Dodgers hat, a real product from Lids sold as an April Fools joke, gets the treatment it deserves.