{"id":62044,"date":"2025-05-19T10:22:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T10:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/62044\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T10:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T10:22:11","slug":"the-top-5-moments-from-a-remarkable-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/62044\/","title":{"rendered":"The top 5 moments from a remarkable Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning! Use a conforming driver today.<\/p>\n

Sunday! What a day<\/p>\n

It is hard for me to remember a non-football Sunday that felt so momentous. We saw a champion crowned, two flabbergasting upsets and two decisive Game 7 routs. We\u2019ll talk about all of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019re going reverse chronologically, starting with last night\u2019s late game:\u00a0<\/p>\n

1. Not like this, Leafs.
There may be no NHL blueblood that knows more playoff pain than the Toronto Maple Leafs, a reality that was true entering last night\u2019s Game 7 matchup against the defending champion Panthers. And yet this one, a 6-1 home loss, may go down as the most painful chapter in an almanac full of them. Three Florida goals in the second period put it on the edge. Three more in the third, including two late, made it embarrassing<\/a>. This Leafs core has now lost six straight Game 7s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Panthers get the Hurricanes next, while Toronto has to deal with franchise-altering decisions this offseason. Woof.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2. Scottie Scheffler is pretty good.
The PGA Championship was plagued by a strange first two rounds, in which no-names were in contention and the game\u2019s elite were complaining about mudballs. And then Scheffler, the world\u2019s best golfer, hit the gas Saturday and (mostly) cruised yesterday to a five-shot victory. This stat, from Brendan Quinn\u2019s excellent story<\/a>, illustrates it all:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scheffler\u2019s 15 total individual PGA Tour wins since his first (2022 WM Phoenix Open) are as many as those of Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas \u2014 the official world golf ranking\u2019s Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 players \u2014 combined.<\/p>\n

His celebration with his son, Bennett, showed us a new side of the man<\/a>. And his only true competition yesterday? Jon Rahm, who charged back to tie with Scheffler on the back nine, only to collapse \u2014 5 over par in the final three holes. Rahm admitted<\/a> the lights got too bright.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alonzo Adams \/ Imagn Images<\/p>\n

3. The young Thunder are here.
People around basketball might tell you this Nuggets-Thunder series was the actual NBA Finals. A little hyperbolic for my taste, but it speaks to the talent present (the top two MVP candidates) and the quality of this matchup. If the claim is true, Oklahoma City, winner of 68 regular-season games, is your exit-poll NBA champion after blasting<\/a> the Nuggets in Game 7 yesterday, 125-93.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was brilliant (35 points), and the Thunder defense was nasty<\/a>. They\u2019ll face Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves with a chance to go to the finals. Extremely, extremely fun stuff ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a quick news break before finishing up:<\/p>\n

News to Know<\/p>\n

Yanks take Subway Series
It\u2019s hard to compete with the Knicks right now in New York, but a Subway Series when the Mets and Yankees are both good is a stirring second-place finisher. The Yankees\u2019 8-2 win last night clinched the series for the Bronx Bombers, and Cody Bellinger \u2014 who\u2019s helping the Yanks move on<\/a> from Juan Soto \u2014 had six RBIs. A true winner is all of us, who get to watch a rivalry reignited<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WNBA probing comments toward Reese
The WNBA is investigating alleged hateful comments from the stands at Indiana\u2019s Gainbridge Fieldhouse over the weekend directed at Sky center Angel Reese. Fever star Caitlin Clark and Reese got into a skirmish during the game, which sparked boos from the home crowd. The WNBA, Fever and Sky all released statements condemning the comments. More details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More news<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi is not having a good time<\/a> after Inter Miami\u2019s second straight loss.
\nOne last golf item: Testing found that both the drivers for Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler were nonconforming<\/a>. Both had to swap clubs before the tournament.
\nThe Dodgers released franchise mainstay Chris Taylor yesterday. It\u2019s the end of an era<\/a>, though expected.
\nKansas City promoted<\/a> top prospect Jac Caglianone to Triple A. He could be in the big leagues this year.
\nAstros starter Hayden Wesneski will have Tommy John surgery, a tough blow<\/a> for an already beleaguered Houston rotation.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb\u00a0Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sunday, Cont.: The first time ever?<\/p>\n

Now, about those upsets:\u00a0<\/p>\n

4. Down go the Aggies
Texas A&M\u2019s softball team entered the NCAA Tournament as its No. 1 overall seed after winning 48 games in the vaunted SEC. After a 6-5 loss to Liberty last night, the Aggies became the first No. 1 overall seed ever to lose in the regional round. And it\u2019s not like this is an NCAA Tournament basketball game, either \u2014 this happened on home turf for A&M. Just brutal. Read our full recap<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

5. Maybe he doesn\u2019t know any better?
One of my favorite bits in professional sports is when a rookie, or a team of youngsters, pulls off something incredible due to sheer talent and inexperience. The whole \u201cthey don\u2019t know how hard this actually is\u201d bit. We saw the ingredients for it yesterday at Indy 500 qualifying, where first-timer Robert Shwartzman, a former F1 prospect, took pole position in one of the biggest upsets in the event\u2019s history. The 25-year-old is the first rookie to win the pole in 42 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the only surprise of the day, either. Jeff Gluck has more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What to Watch<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa WNBA: Storm at Wings
8 p.m. ET on NBA TV
No NBA or NHL games tonight, so why not get a glimpse at Paige Bueckers in her new home?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa MLB: Royals at Giants
9:45 p.m. ET on MLB Network
Two really good teams mired in two great divisions. Kansas City has star power but sits just four games above .500. San Francisco is one game back in the fearsome NL West. Good early season matchup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Get tickets to games like these here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pulse Picks<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very funny to realize Bill Belichick\u2019s love life derailed an actual interesting football story: Belichick coaching a college football team. David Ubben and Justin Williams spoke to players and coaches to figure out how the NFL\u2019s GOAT is actually prepping for college success<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our NFL staff also picked a must-watch game for every team this upcoming season. Click<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alec Lewis has a fun story this morning on Vikings rookie Tyler Batty, who is an actual cowboy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Juicy: \u201cNo Dunks\u201d picked the best landing spots<\/a> for Giannis Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen does not have the fastest car in F1 right now. But he remains the sport\u2019s most electrifying talent, which was on display yesterday<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on Journalism\u2019s big win<\/a> at The Preakness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most-read on the website yesterday: The Thunder-Nuggets live blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.<\/p>\n

(Top photo: John E. Sokolowski \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,8085,155,49,48,4475],"class_list":{"0":"post-62044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114534006533289322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}