Welcome back to “I’m Curious!”

It’s been a busy last few weeks here for me.

I hope you’ve been staying sane and taking care of yourself the best you can.

Let’s jump in!

The Most Curious Thing This Week

It’s Rory McIlroy’s win at the Masters.

I’m not a golf guy. I’ve had moments and eras here and there where I’ve at least followed it but it’s been at least a decade before I’ve cared at all about any golf tournament.

But Rory McIlroy pulled me back in.

Over the years, I have become jaded about the game. I’ve watched Saudis buy their way into the golf world with LIV Golf and watched the PGA fold to their money and try to merge with them. It’s also very hard not to watch it with the taste of politics hanging over it, considering it’s the president’s favorite game.

Years ago, I watched eagerly as the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson ruled over golf. Rory McIlroy was the last star golfer to win me over that way. In the early 2010s, he won major after major but then faded. Even at his peak, he never won the Masters. And year after year, he would come close but inevitably collapse just before he could grab the green jacket.

In 2011, he collapsed, shooting an eight-over-par 80 to fall out of contention in the final round. In 2012, when he shot a 77 and a 76 on the final two days to fall from third to 40^th . From 2014 to 2022, he finished in the top 10 at Augusta seven times but never in first.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I loathe most of the pageantry around the Masters and Augusta National. It’s way too white, rich and WASPy for my taste. The fact that it took them well into the 21^st century to so much as let a woman join the club paired with the other array of no-fun rules (no cell phones? In 2025?) mean I’ve never bought into the Masters lore.

But… when I saw Rory McIlroy hang around the top of the leaderboard entering Sunday, I knew there would be some drama.

I had no idea what I was in for when I tuned in midway through McIlroy’s back-9. Hole after hole, he seesawed in and out of the solo lead. Every shot felt like either the moment he would finally cruise toward his first Masters win or fall into the most heartbreaking collapse yet.

At the 18^th hole, McIlroy had a short put he needed to make for par to win the entire tournament. Somehow, he missed.

It forced him into a tiebreaker with Justin Rose, which required playing the very same 18^th hole again. Just moments after it was the site of his biggest fumble of the weekend, he would need to conquer it and outshoot Rose to get the green jacket that had eluded him for so long.

After Rose and McIlroy matched similar shots to get to the green, Rose missed a potential birdie allowing McIlroy yet another opportunity to win it all. On a shorter birdie putt than the one he missed the first time, McIlroy dropped it in the hole. The crowd at Augusta hung with bated breath just like the millions of us watching at home. They erupted. Rory erupted. And one of the biggest curses in golf history was no more.

McIlroy became just the sixth golfer ever to win a career Grand Slam winning the Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship. He joins Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in golfing immortality.

McIlroy’s win offered so many viewers a throwback, to a time when golf was much easier to love and before it became such a stinging reminder of all the world’s toughest issues.

I’m not sure you’ll catch much golf on my TV going forward but seeing McIlroy wear down my jaded cynicism for the game and make me fall in love with it is something I won’t forget any time soon.

My Reporting

MSNBC

There has been no shortage of news for us to cover at work. 

A handful of big stories I’ve helped cover stand out to me, though.

First, there were the “Hands Off” protests on April 5^th . Organizers say roughly three million people came to thousands of protests across the country, focusing on criticizing the policies and actions of President Donald Trump and his close adviser, businessman Elon Musk.

The protests came just days after Sen. Cory Booker from my home state of New Jersey delivered a 25-hour marathon speech meant to signify his refusal to engage in business as usual in the Senate. 

We were able to bring those two stories together. I helped produce our summary of the week’s developments, including Booker’s speech and the protests, having a hand in both the writing process and the video search process for our anchor Jen Psaki’s monologue. 

Thanks to a group that included friends, family, old reporting sources and even complete strangers, I helped ensure that we could use video from protests all over the country. It was striking to see so many people gather not just in big, liberal cities, but even in small towns and rural areas that are traditionally very conservative and vote heavily Republican. 

It was a stark reminder that no community is truly a monolith and that, when things line up, people will readily take to the streets. 

I also helped produce the interview we did tied to that segment with Sen. Cory Booker, who was a bit better-rested after his daylong speech. He offered an emotional reflection on the week and acknowledged that Democrats in Washington need to do more to fight back.

“All of us have tried things, stumbled, struggled, and tried to figure out how do we honor the traditions and really the decorum of the Senate, and yet at the same time, show that we are fed up and want to fight,” Booker said.

Then, this past Sunday, I had the opportunity to produce our segment on the tough week for the U.S. economy caused by the uncertainty around tariffs. It felt especially good because not only did it go smoothly on air, I could see the ways I’ve grown even in just a couple months on the job.

There were small things that went right because I had the foresight to correct my mistakes before they made it on air. Whether it was changing some wording to make it easier to read or making sure the banners near the bottom of the screen came up at the right time, I could see my own progress, which was great.

I also don’t know if I ever thought I’d see the day where a billionaire tells millionaires how happy he is that some billionaires made billions of dollars because the market has alternated between crashing and trying to make up its losses but… I feel like I’m seeing a lot of things in America for the first time.

NWSL

No home games in DC lately but I decided to try to cover a game from the comfort of home despite not having a tie to either club. I’ve been trying to make sure I cover the rest of the league as well and that led me to Sunday’s matchup between NJ / NY Gotham FC and the North Carolina Courage.

Both clubs have struggled to meet their preseason expectations. Neither team had a win entering Sunday’s game in New Jersey, despite both of them making it to the playoffs last season.

It was an evenly matched affair early on, but two goals late in the first half by Gotham’s forward Esther González proved to be the turning point. Gotham dominated the second half, with rookie Lilly Reale netting the team’s third goal of the day as the 2023 champions cruised to a 3-1 victory.

Postgame, Gotham coach Juan Carlos Amoros shared that the scoring surge occurred after some midgame tactical shifts, as a few players swapped positions or took on a slightly different role in the team’s formation.

Two of the team’s forwards playing along the wings swapped positions in the first half. Starting left wing Gabi Portilho moved to the right side while starting right wing Ella Stevens moved to the left. Stevens ended up lobbing a ball over the middle that Esther found for the club’s first goal of the day.

“I think when we came back to [midfielder] Sarah [Schupansky] as a 10 (attacking midfielder), Esther as a 9 (striker), Ella on the left and Gabi on the right, we were back into control, we were able to control the game, to get those goals,” Amoros said.

On the other side of the pitch, North Carolina struggled to adapt to some of Gotham’s tactical shifts. The Courage have a talented collection of players and aimed to boost an offense that struggled to score goals last season by acquiring U.S. national team attacker Jaedyn Shaw. But only one other club, Racing Louisville, have scored fewer goals than the Courage so far this season.

North Carolina’s head coach Sean Nahas told me postgame that finishing remains a problem for the club.

“We’ve got to take our chances. We’ve created chances in games. We just don’t convert them,” Nahas said.

Nahas added that repeatedly falling short can create a bit of a domino effect that has rattled his team. 

“When we create those chances and then we don’t convert them, and then a team scores, we’re looking around at each other like, ‘alright, how are we going to get back into this?’ And waiting for something to happen instead of going and taking it,” he said.

It was also an emotional day for Gotham as their forward Midge Purce returned for her first game since tearing her ACL over a year ago. Purce received a round of applause when she was substituted into the game in the second half. But even though the 29-year-old Harvard alum is known for being energetic and outspoken, she seemed pretty grounded about her return when asked about it postgame.

 “It felt good. I don’t think I have a really sensationalized idea of what happened yet,” Purce said, later adding that “it felt good mostly to just be with the team again.”

Other Sports Takes and Things of Note

The Cruz Curse: Is it possible to feel sorry for Houston sports? As a Yankee fan, the bar is exceedingly high after the Houston Astros cheated to beat the Yankees in the 2017 and 2019 American League Championship Series and then cheated to also win the 2017 World Series.

But Houston sports have suffered at the hands of one of the stranger curses in the sports world: the presence and support of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas.)

In 2018, Cruz attended the deciding game 7 of the NBA’s Western Conference Finals, rooting for the Houston Rockets. They lost at home to the Golden State Warriors, who headed onto the NBA Finals.

In 2019, Cruz attended the college basketball national championship rooting for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. They lost to the University of Virginia, who won the title that year.

Cruz attended the 2024 Sugar Bowl last January, watching the Texas Longhorns lose 37-31 to the Washington Huskies, who advanced over Texas to the national championship game.

Cruz attended Texas A&M’s football opener in August against Notre Dame. The Aggies lost 23-13.

Cruz attended the final two Astros game of the 2024 season, watching the club get swept in two games by the Detroit Tigers in the AL Wild Card series. 

And earlier this month, Cruz attended this year’s college basketball national championship game, rooting for his hometown University of Houston Cougars. In a late-game collapse, the Cougars lost the game and the title to the Florida Gators.

Cruz has also felt no need to keep it to Houston sports teams. Last weekend, he joined President Donald Trump in a trip to Miami to root for Bryce Mitchell, a Texas-born UFC fighter who loves Adolf Hitler and denies the Holocaust happened.

Mitchell also aligns himself closely with Trump, having said he would “take a bullet and die” for him.

In the second round, Mitchell’s opponent Jean Silva choked Mitchell out, submitting him right in front of Trump and Cruz, then went to celebrate right in front of them after beating their fave.

On the first night of Passover, mind you.

If I could offer a tip to Sen. Cruz, don’t root for cheaters and Hitler lovers. That might help reverse the curse.

WNBA Draft: While there’s an argument against drafts in sports and in favor of players choosing where they get to play, the WNBA Draft is arguably the best of all of them. It’s much lower-key than the NBA or NFL Drafts and has produced some wonderful, emotional moments.

Heck, last year University of Iowa guard Kate Martin was there as a fan to cheer on her friend and teammate Caitlin Clark, only to get selected while sitting in the crowd.

@brwsports

The moment Kate Martin went from the audience to the draft stage 🥹🔥 #wnba #wnbadraft

And that happened again this year, after a pretty prophetic remark from the first overall pick, UConn guard Paige Bueckers. After the Dallas Wings selected her, Bueckers remarked that two of her UConn teammates there to support her, Kaitlyn Chen and Aubrey Griffin, should also be drafted.

A couple of teams agreed, with the Golden State Valkyries selecting Chen and the Minnesota Lynx selecting Griffin, both in the third round.

@espnw

Kaitlyn Chen’s teammates were all smiles when her name was called 🥺#wnba #sports #basketball #wnbadraft

Several players who have helped define college basketball in recent years saw their names called: Georgia Amoore, formerly of Virginia Tech and Kentucky, went 6^th to the Washington Mystics and Hailey Van Lith, formerly of Louisville, LSU and TCU, went 11^th to the Chicago Sky, where she’ll reunite with her former LSU teammate Angel Reese.

But in a bit of a divergence from some of the men’s leagues, one controversial prospect went undrafted. TCU center Sedona Prince, finishing college after seven seasons at places including Texas and Oregon, was regarded as a likely pick.

Prince gained fame in 2021 after making a TikTok video calling out the lackluster facilities for women’s players in the NCAA basketball tournament compared to men’s players. In the process, she became an influencer who was involved in some very public romantic relationships. But several exes of hers have accused her of being abusive to them, and many instances of toxic and abusive behavior have played out publicly on their social media accounts.

In men’s leagues, teams are more likely to overlook allegations of abuse and misconduct and select players anyway (e.g. Joe Mixon in the NFL, Mitchell Miller in the NHL).

It was unclear whether any team would take the plunge and draft Prince, knowing her history of alleged abuse and toxic behavior. Nobody did. Prince went undrafted.

There is still a chance a team may sign Prince to a training camp contract and give her a shot as an undrafted player to possibly make a roster to start the season.

But it was encouraging to see an alleged abuser actually held to account and face consequences for their alleged actions.

Jackie Robinson Day: On Tuesday, I spent most of my day off playing MLB: The Show, specifically their Negro Leagues mode. I saw it as a good way to honor the fact that it marked 78 years to the day since Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier as the first Black player in the modern era in the historically white leagues.

Thousands of players never had that chance, having played or peaked years before Robinson reintegrated the game. Their legacies have languished for many years but MLB has aimed to atone for its sins, thoroughly researching Negro League statistics and incorporating them into MLB’s record books.

But in 2025, MLB has shied away from diversity and from acknowledging what Robinson did. Their statement did not acknowledge what Jackie Robinson actually did or that he was a Black man. The league folded to anti-inclusion policies put in place by the White House, scrapping references to their diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs.

They have sat idly by as the Pentagon tried to erase Robinson’s record as a military veteran from their official website. The Dodgers, Robinson’s club, then went to celebrate their World Series title with the president who has tried to wipe Robinson’s record of service away.

In a moment like this, I found it especially important to commit Black baseball history to memory. Doing so helped me learn more about names I vaguely knew, like Oscar Charleston or Turkey Stearnes. I had no idea, for example, that the likes of Negro League legend Buck O’Neil and even white baseball legend Honus Wagner praised Charleston as the greatest player they had ever seen. 

But I also learned about players I had never heard of before, like Rap Dixon and Leroy Matlock, the latter of whom was a pitcher with pinpoint control in the vein of Greg Maddux. 

If you’re at all a gamer, I would recommend downloading MLB: The Show, specifically one of their 2023, 2024 or 2025 games, all three of which have Negro Leagues content. It’s engaging, fun and super educational.

When it first came out in 2023, I produced a segment on it with the game mode’s host, the affable and passionate Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick.

Something Good I Ate

I have been trying to eat healthier lately and haven’t taken a ton of pictures, so time to go back into the archive. Because this is definitely something I would think twice before eating now.

In September 2021, I ended up in Cleveland, Ohio, on a trip after leaving a job. Down the street from where I was staying, there was a barbecue joint that served the local classic known as a Polish Boy. It’s a hot dog on a bun (usually a link of kielbasa, topped with French fries, barbecue sauce and cole slaw.

A double check tells me that the spot I got it from was called Real Smoq’ed BBQ, and while it’s not one of the original Polish meat spots that created the Cleveland specialty, it did it as well as I could have imagined. It was so tasty but I’m sure it’s still putting a hit on my cholesterol, three-and-a-half years later.