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TOGETHER WITH
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Good morning. Well, we somehow got through this pandemic winter and made it to spring. Please clap.
In other
news, we’ve reached the Final Four in our Greatest Product of All Time
Tournament: Next week, Microsoft Windows will face Lego, and the iPhone
will face Google Search. Something tells us the Apple vs. Google matchup
will determine the ultimate winner.
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NASDAQ
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13,215.24
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+ 0.76%
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S&P
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3,913.10
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- 0.06%
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DOW
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32,627.97
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- 0.71%
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GOLD
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1,744.50
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+ 0.69%
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10-YR
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1.726%
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+ 1.50 bps
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OIL
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61.44
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+ 2.40%
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*As of market close.
Here's what these numbers mean.
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Covid: The CDC relaxed
its distancing guidelines for children in school from six feet to three
feet, with a few caveats. The policy change is aimed at getting more
kids to go to school in-person.
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Markets: The Dow and S&P snapped a two-week winning streak, while the Nasdaq has dropped four weeks out of the last five.
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Government: President Biden and VP Harris addressed
the recent spike in anti-Asian violence following the killing of eight
people, including six women of Asian descent, in metro Atlanta. "Our
silence is complicity. We cannot be complicit," Biden said.
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Patrick Smith/Getty Images
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The best three weeks in sports is back. The first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament kicked off
yesterday in Indiana, finally adding some non-Covid madness (lookin' at
you Oral Roberts) back to the month of March and filling the hole
created by the pandemic last year.
The tournament is big money
For the NCAA: The D1 men’s tournament accounted for 79% of the $1.1 billion the organization brought in during the 2019 fiscal year.
For schools: The
NCAA has a pool of money that factors in results of the men’s
tournament, dishing out one “unit” for each game a team plays until the
Final Four. The further a team advances in the tournament, the more
money the team’s conference is paid by the NCAA on a rolling 6-year
basis.
- As of
2019, each unit was worth $280,000, which means that a run to the Final
Four could generate around $1.1 million for a conference every season
for the next six years.
One March participant that is conspicuously absent from this agreement: women’s teams. The NCAA still doesn’t factor the performance of a school’s women’s basketball program into its total March Madness revenue distribution.
The women’s
tournament isn’t revenue-generating, according to the NCAA. But TV
ratings are on the rise—more than 3.6 million viewers watched the 2019
championship game, up 24% from 2016—which means a more lucrative
broadcast deal could be on the horizon. The women’s tournament kicks off
tomorrow in a “bubble” in San Antonio.
For gamblers: Research from PlayUSA projects that this year’s tournament could generate as much as $1.5 billion in legal bets. For context, Legal Sports Report estimated that $462.4 million was legally wagered on this year’s Super Bowl.
- Investors
are getting in on the action. Yesterday, shares of Barstool Sports
owner Penn National Gaming and sports betting app DraftKings jumped 4.9%
and 6.5%, respectively.
+ Some fun bracket math to take you into the weekend.
According to the NCAA, the odds of filling out a perfect bracket are
1-in-9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (if you just guess or flip a coin) and
1-in-120.2 billion (if you know a little something about basketball).
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Francis Scialabba
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In the US...we’ve
now administered more than 100 million doses, a goal President Biden
set out to achieve in his first 100 days in office (it’s his 59th
today). Nearly a quarter of all Americans have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Across the world...we’re
getting close to half a billion vaccine doses administered. As of last
night, 133 countries had given out more than 420 million shots.
The latest headlines
Astra drama: The WHO urged the world to continue using AstraZeneca’s vaccine following blood clot concerns in Europe. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson got the Astra shot yesterday to show it can be trusted.
Third waves: The German health minister warned that Covid-19 cases are rising at an “exponential rate”
and the pace of the vaccine rollout isn’t fast enough to prevent a
third wave. Paris entered lockdown mode yesterday. Meanwhile, Brazil’s
health system is in a state of crisis as cases surge.
More eligibility: Florida is opening up vaccine eligibility to anyone 50 or over starting Monday.
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Francis Scialabba
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The Chinese
government is putting the Technoking on notice. It’s a) banned Teslas
from entering military complexes and housing compounds and b) curbed the
use of Teslas by military staff and employees of key state-owned
companies, per multiple reports.
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The explanation: Beijing thinks
Teslas could be the 21st-century version of the Trojan horse. The
government is reportedly worried that the cars’ built-in cameras could
collect sensitive data and potentially send it back to the US.
If you’re
having déjà vu, it’s because the White House has blocked Chinese tech
companies from operating in the US due to similar concerns over
snooping. Remember Huawei?
Why it matters for Tesla: China is a critical market
for the company, so it wants to avoid any political controversies as it
makes inroads. Chinese sales accounted for about 21% of Tesla’s total
revenue in 2020, and with a new Shanghai Gigafactory churning out the
Model 3 and Model Y, it wants that share to grow.
Big picture: Yesterday, the US and China wrapped up two days of talks in Alaska. It didn’t go well.
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How is a fresher, more balanced gin actually made?
To help answer that excellent ques-gin, let’s first talk about how the brightest gins are not made.
Most gins out there boil down their botanicals—a rough process you would only subject an innocent potato to.
Bombay Sapphire does things differently—or should we say, delicately.
They’ve perfected a unique production process known as vapor-infusion, using steam from the rising alcohol vapor during distillation to gently extract the flavors of all-natural and sustainably-sourced botanicals.
The result? A vibrant and beautifully balanced liquid worthy of the Bombay name.
Friends, your standard G and T doesn’t have to be a mix of boiled down juniper and a splash of bubbles. Level up with Bombay botanicals, premium tonic, and your favorite garnish.
Your Saturday just got better with Bombay.
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Giphy
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Stat: The Simpsons will air its 700th episode
Sunday evening. It would take another 12 years for the show to hit
1,000, but never say never—it’s been renewed through 2023, which means
it’ll hit at least 757 episodes.
Quote: “If the value increases, they could have an extremely valuable fart on their hands.”
Film
director Alex Ramírez-Mallis told the NY Post he thinks the buyer of his
farts could see a significant return on their investment. For some
context: He’s selling a year’s worth of fart audio clips recorded during quarantine as an NFT. You can also buy individual fart recordings for $85 a toot.
Read: Tuna’s last stand. (Hakai Magazine)
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Francis Scialabba
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The “no laws
when you’re drinking Claws” lifestyle may be lost to 2019, but hard
seltzer has since updated its bio from “trend” to “staple.” Nielsen
found there are more than 65 brands in stores this year, up from 26 in 2019.
This week, rapper Travis Scott’s Cacti Hard Seltzer hit shelves and promptly sold out. Topo Chico, owned by Coca-Cola, and Spindrift have announced their hard seltzers will arrive within the next two months.
Is there room for so many tall cans?
White Claw
and Truly dominate the hard seltzer scene, with a combined 75% market
share as of last June. But that might not matter for brands entering the
space, because there’s more seltzer sommeliers than ever: Total US
sales more than doubled from 2018 to 2020 to $4.1 billion.
Zoom out: We’ll find out soon whether post-Covid life is more American Pie
or apple pie, but expect hard seltzer to play a big role either way:
Research company Bernstein estimates hard seltzer will make up more than
15% of the beer and cider market by 2024.
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The Fed will wind down its pandemic-era policy that loosened banks’ capital requirements.
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The DOJ is investigating Visa’s potentially uncompetitive behavior in the debit card market, per the WSJ.
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Some brands are cutting ties with YouTube star David Dobrik after a woman said she was raped by a member of Dobrik’s Vlog Squad in 2018.
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Facebook
stock gained more than 4% after CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday
that the company should be able to navigate Apple’s new privacy update
smoothly.
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World Happiness Report: People are still happy.
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Francis Scialabba
Today's puzzle, created by Amber Lewis, can be completed in a snip-snap by those with a tip-top puzzle game.
Difficulty: 7.1
Favorite clue: “‘Gritty’ intro” (5 letters)
Play the crossword here
+ Think you have what it takes to make your own crossword? Spoiler: You do. Check out our tutorial, and then be sure to submit. If we select your crossword, we'll also send you the iconic Brewneck sweatshirt.
Read it Here >>
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March 20
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| FEATURED BIOGRAPHY
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| Maud Lenora Menten
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| FEATURED EVENT
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| 1995
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| AUM subway attack
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| MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY
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1957: American filmmaker Spike Lee, who was known for his uncompromising and provocative approach to controversial subject matter, was born. [Take our film buff quiz.]
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Joe Biden just got humiliated by one challenge that made Americans question everything
Sean Hannity could not believe what he just got caught doing on camera
SPORTS WITH BALLS POLL: Do You Have a Favorable or Unfavorable Opinion of Colin Kaepernick?
Rush Limbaugh’s replacement was named and you won’t believe who it is
Joe Biden said three words that will come back to haunt Democrats in 2022
SATURDAY 3.20.2021
BREAKING NEWS
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| ADVERTISEMENT |
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HOT
MIC Catches Dem Admitting GOPs Worst Nightmare is Coming True
Liberals Worst Nightmare! Trump to Announce 2024 REVENGE
Tour? (sponsor)
Florida
Gov: Vaccine Passports “Terrible Idea”, State Mandate “Totally off the
Table”
Trump-era
official says Biden is preparing to go ‘soft on China’
Deepfake
videos are becoming easier to make but dangerously difficult to identif
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