The Golden Knights’ historic ascension, plus Buffalo Bills drama

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While You Were Sleeping

The Knights’ swift ascension

Two champions in two nights makes a good week, no? There was some eerie symmetry between these NHL and NBA playoffs — we’ll get to that — but there was a massive difference in their title-clinching games.

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For the Golden Knights, there was no difficulty last night. It was a romp.

• Las Vegas is Stanley Cup champion after a 9-3 rout over the upstart Panthers. The Knights win a ring in just their sixth season of existence, making them the fastest to ever win an NHL title. They enter an impressive group of quick-winning expansion franchises like the 2001 Diamondbacks (fourth year) and the 1971 Bucks (third).
• The Knights are also a shining example of how the NHL’s tweaked expansion draft rules worked. The franchise was able to build a great team immediately. They made the Stanley Cup Finals in their first season and are winners in season 6. The Seattle Kraken have played just two seasons and made a playoff appearance this year. This is good for hockey.

Jonathan Marchessault is your Conn Smythe winner after scoring 25 points in these playoffs. He was one of those expansion draft adds, and it’s fitting he won this honor against the team that left him unprotected. It’s been a long, bumpy ride here for Marchessault.

And about that symmetry: Two teams from South Florida — the Panthers and Heat — entered this postseason as lowly No. 8 seeds and blitzed into their title series … and both got bounced in five games. Maybe tweak that special potion for next year, when the Panthers have a real chance to contend again.

Jesse Granger has an inside look at what is often the best part of any championship: the party. Pierre LeBrun went all the way back to 2014 in his recounting of how the Golden Knights built a champion from the ground floor.

Standoffs

Drama in Buffalo already

The first week of NFL mandatory minicamps usually brings a lot of slow-mo social media footage and … not much else. Guys in helmets doing normal practice stuff. Things did not start normally in Buffalo.

Stefon Diggs was not at practice, which could either be a signal of brewing discontent or nothing at all. Bills coach Sean McDermott strangely did nothing to downplay the seriousness of the matter, saying he’s “very concerned” about Diggs’ absence. There are two reads here:

• Diggs is unhappy and may want out. This is the guy who forced his way out of Minnesota, and he hasn’t participated in any Bills offseason activities after storming out of the stadium following last season’s playoff loss to the Bengals. Should the machine start cooking up jersey photoshops? Maybe.
• What McDermott did not mention is that Diggs was in the facility yesterday. The receiver left before practice began, which opened up more questions. Did he not get some answers he was looking for? No one gave any further details. For what it’s worth, Josh Allen and Von Miller don’t seem worried.

Congrats to the Bills for making minicamp noteworthy. All eyes will be on today’s practice to see if Diggs shows up.

Briefs

The A’s really did it
Yesterday was a day in Oakland. Hours after the Nevada senate passed a public funding bill for the A’s new stadium in Las Vegas, the current team — a moribund group that’s suddenly turned into the 1927 Yankees — saw nearly 28,000 fans pack the Coliseum in an act of defiance toward team owner John Fisher. It was an incredible, uplifting and bizarre scene. Most of those fans donned “SELL” shirts, cheering for the team and for Fisher to be gone from the franchise.

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Meanwhile, the A’s beat the Rays — MLB’s actual best team, by the way — 2-1 for their seventh straight win. Oakland had 12 wins a week ago. They’re still 19-50, but man, what a fun moment for a jilted fan base. Just listen to them here.

PGA commish taking break
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan is “recuperating from a medical situation,” the tour announced late last night with no further detail. Monahan’s absence comes a week after the PGA Tour’s shocking merger that still has the golf world reeling. Monahan came under significant fire immediately after the announcement and was still catching strays this week.

MLB to play at Negro League field
A source confirmed to The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly that the Giants and Cardinals will play a regular-season game next year at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., where the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues used to play. The game represents another step into history for MLB, which began playing Field of Dreams games in Dyersville, Iowa, two years ago. The game will honor Willie Mays, the Giants legend who previously played for the Barons.

Dudes Rock

The best use of free time

It takes a certain level of sports sicko to let the concept of advanced statistics invade your daily life. Ever go to the grocery store and get two of a certain item so you save a future trip? That’s Grocery Trip Efficiency (GTE). Etc etc. It can permeate your entire day.

David Hruvosky, a 22-year-old college student, is the best of sickos like us. In his down time, Hruvosky reached sports niche nirvana:

• Finding the weirdest high school baseball fields in America,
• Plotting each on detailed and often hilarious infographics, and
• Of course, coming up with a custom set of advanced statistics to compare fields.

Stephen Nesbitt wrote a wonderful story on Hruvosky yesterday, which is worth a read for the graphics alone. Just look at this one from West Virginia:

I had an out-loud cackle at the 152-foot fence and the note above it. It’s just genuine fun, and the project has evolved from a boredom activity to Hruvosky’s senior thesis at Bowling Green. Dudes rock.

Pulse Picks

The teens are at it again. This time, they’re mocking up the future of F1 via the “Moonaco Grand Prix.”

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Peter Baugh goes inside the Nuggets’ title celebration, “an immaculate moment” painted by love, cigars and champagne.

Justin Ray has a bevy of fun golf facts and analysis for this weekend’s U.S. Open. More on this tomorrow.

Former Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer is facing another sexual assault allegation. See the details here.

Jason Jones reports live from the Black Student Athlete Summit, which has gone from a 70-student event to a celeb-studded affair.

How should we evaluate college quarterbacks as RPOs take over the game? Diante Lee breaks it down.

(Photo: Dave Sandford/ Getty Images)