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The NFL draft is just over a week away. It's one of the best times of the year for football fans as speculation is rampant and football is all over the news cycle. Fans across the league get excited to add young talent to their rosters, convincing themselves that their team's draft picks were all a steal and that they will impact the league for years to come.

However, this year is a bit different. There's no can't-miss prospect at the top of the draft, and there's even uncertainty with the No. 1 pick. That uncertainty has even bled down to the quarterback prospects. We don't know which quarterback will go first, and we don't know where and when quarterbacks will go off the board. However, if you believe the betting odds, quarterbacks might not go as early as we're accustomed to.

The last draft where a quarterback didn't go first overall was 2017 when the Cleveland Browns selected Myles Garrett. In the four drafts since then, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence were the first overall picks.

The last time a quarterback didn't go in the top 10 of the draft was in 2013, when the Buffalo Bills took EJ Manuel at 16. In the eight drafts since then, 19 quarterbacks have been drafted in the top 10 of their respective drafts.

This is not surprising. There is no position more important in sports than quarterback. There is also no bigger advantage in sports than an elite quarterback on a rookie contract. If a team can hit on a quarterback in the first round, it immediately opens a five-year window where they can build a team around their cheap quarterback and compete.

Oddsmakers aren't convinced Malik Willis goes in the top 10 of the NFL draft. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)

However, despite the history of quarterbacks going very early in drafts, oddsmakers aren't convinced that will be the case this year. Malik Willis is the favorite to be the first quarterback drafted, but his over/under is set at 10.5. Kenny Pickett has the second-best odds to be the first quarterback drafted, and his over/under is 12.5.

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If you look at the top 10 of the NFL draft, there are plenty of teams where a quarterback makes some kind of sense. There has been some rumbling about the Lions at pick No. 2 being interested in a quarterback. That would be a bit surprising. However, the Carolina Panthers at No. 6 seem desperate for a quarterback. The Giants pick twice in the top 7, but they seem content to give Daniel Jones another year. Are the Falcons content with Marcus Mariota? What about Seattle and Drew Lock?

You could pencil a quarterback into any of these slots, and it wouldn't be surprising. However, are any of these quarterbacks good enough prospects to warrant that type of investment? I could just as easily see the Lions waiting until the 32nd pick to nab a quarterback, if they take one at all. The Panthers have been linked to Mayfield in recent days, with Ian Rapoport calling them the "most likely spot" for the former first overall pick. Maybe the Falcons and Seahawks are willing to give Mariota and Lock a chance and then reevaluate the position next offseason, when the quarterback prospects are projected to be much better.

History tells us that quarterbacks will go early, but oddsmakers aren't convinced that will be the case this year. If you think recent history will continue, betting Willis to go before pick 11 or Pickett to go before pick 13 seems like a good bet.

There's a whole list of players that oddsmakers are projecting to go before quarterbacks or in the same range as quarterbacks:

Aidan Hutchinson, over/under pick 1.5

Travon Walker, over/under pick 3.5

Ikem Okwonu, over/under pick 3.5

Evan Neal, over/under pick 4.5

Kayvon Thibodeaux, over/under pick 5.5

Ahmad Gardner, over/under pick 5.5

Charles Cross, over/under pick 7.5

Jermaine Johnson, over/under pick 9.5

Malik Willis, over/under pick 10.5

Kyle Hamilton, over/under pick 10.5

Garrett Wilson, over/under pick 10.5

Drake London, over/under pick 10.5

Derek Stingley, over/under pick 11.5

Kenny Pickett, over/under pick 12.5

Jameson Williams, over/under pick 13.5

Jordan Davis, over/under pick 14.5

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NFL draft betting: Oddsmakers aren't convinced a quarterback goes in the top 10 - Yahoo Sports

A few hours after writing about the anonymous BetMGM bettor who nailed a Marcus Smart Defensive Player of the Year bet at 500-to-1 odds for $50,000, I received a message on Twitter from Garrett Seliga, the guy who placed the wager.

"Hey Greg, saw your article check my pinned tweet," he said.

Upon verifying that he was indeed the lucky bettor, I asked Seliga if I could interview him, to which he agreed.

I wasn't sure what type of bettor I would encounter. Would he be one of the countless YOLO personalities who represent such a large chunk of gambling Twitter?

After nearly an hour of conversation, I knew that the $50,000 had made its way into the right hands. The 25-year-old Seliga impressed me with his modesty and his sharp, disciplined approach to betting.

The following is a snapshot of that conversation:

Garrett Seliga: I'm a supply-chain student at Penn State University right now. I work a full-time job as well, as a preventative maintenance contract manager. I've always loved sports and following betting markets is something I've been passionate about for a very long time. It's a lot to juggle between all three, but I manage to make it happen, I guess.

GS: I'm in front of a computer all day, so I'll throw in my headphones and just listen to podcasts. NBA-wise, I listen to You Better You Bet. Deep Dive podcast. Establish the Run, they have a lot of good basketball content, as well. Buckets is another one.

When I get home from work, I'll usually hop on my computer and start diving into more advanced statistics and just try to read as much as I can. Then I'll connect with my buddy, Ben, and we'll go back and forth, just spitballing betting ideas and trying to forecast some things.

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GS: It was a little bit of both. Initially, I took a position on Bam Adebayo. I had him on my bet slip at 80-to-1 and never ended up placing it. Then it was basically a FOMO thing, where I grabbed him in early March at 16-to-1. I still thought there was some room for him to get down to a favorite, as he did towards the end. I was looking at other guys, too, and I really started digging into that market as we got into the last two months of the season and people were starting to talk about the Defensive Player of the Year award.

With every sport, I try to understand media members and how the votes are ultimately decided. Defensive Player of the Year was pretty interesting, because I kept hearing about how the Celtics' defense was historically good and how well they were doing. When I got into it and broke it down, I also grabbed Robert Williams III at 33-to-1. I thought he was going to be the one that ultimately won because he was playing for the best defense in the league and had the counting stats and the advanced stats. When we got into the research, everyone was saying how [Smart] was the glue to the defense. He had some advanced stats that were pretty good. It was like, "Oh yeah, 500-to-1 is implying significantly below 1%," and we thought there was value in that bet and it was an off-market price.

Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart was 500-to-1 in early March to win Defensive Player of the Year. (Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports)

GS: I was actually not very confident at all, to be honest. I still thought you could make a really good case for Bam and Mikal Bridges. Bam's biggest knock was his playing time. If he would have played a full season or close to it I think he was another guy well-deserving and would have gotten a lot more votes. Bridges was a super durable player and I could definitely make the case for him, too.

GS: BetMGM offered me a cash-out for $9,233 [in late March]. I just looked at it and figured, "Hey, I'm never gonna remember this hundred dollars. It's not gonna mean much to me in the long run. If I just let it ride and it wins, that money could benefit me." I don't believe in taking most cash-outs unless it's a life-changing amount of money.

GS: It didn't really feel real or process that it was a good bit of money that I had just won. Just being right on the bet and having things go my way, I think that was the biggest thing. It wasn't so much celebrating money. At the end of the day, I'm very grateful and I'm definitely going to appreciate it. Putting in a lot of work between school and work and everything betting-related is very stressful, so having an extra payoff like that was pretty nice. It felt very rewarding.

GS: Yeah. Last year, the NFL draft was my biggest hit I'd had, and that was Trey Lance to go third overall. That was about $8,000. It was mostly third overall pick for Lance and then Mac Jones over his draft position.

GS: Reinvest it. I do have student debt, unfortunately, so I'm sure some of that could go back into there. But just about all of it's gonna be reinvested. I know a lot of athletes usually have some sort of foundation. I'm not too sure if [Smart] has something like that, but I'd definitely be interested in contributing to that, if possible.

GS: I grabbed Jordan Poole at 500-to-1 for Finals MVP. Drew Dinsick made some really good cases throughout the year on the Suns, so I've had some pretty good numbers in my pocket with the Suns. I personally think if we're looking at a Suns-Warriors Western Conference finals, Poole could be a good way to get some exposure to the Warriors. For a team that has a good shot at making the Finals, I thought that was a pretty good number. And I thought it was funny that it was at 500-to-1, so I'm testing my record out on those bets. Hopefully, I can get to 2-0.

GS: I'm gonna put Smart out there. Bridges. Down low, I'd have Gobert. It's a toss-up between Williams and Jaren Jackson Jr. Uh, wow ... let's go with Jaren Jackson Jr. because his counting stats were very good this year and he could definitely get me a big block. And let's go with Bam, out of respect. He's versatile in his switches and his ability to guard.

GS: I'd say just keep playing how he's playing. He plays with a ton of heart, he's hustling, he's diving for balls. He reminds me of Jalen Ramsey. He's in your face and he's just an annoying guy to go up against.

GS: He's got that dawg in him, absolutely.

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NBA betting: Meet the bettor who cashed a 500-to-1 ticket on DPOY Marcus Smart - Yahoo Sports

Texas Instruments Incorporated TXN is scheduled to report first-quarter 2022 results on Apr 26.

For first-quarter 2022, the company anticipates revenues between $4.5 billion and $4.9 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same is pegged at $4.71 billion, suggesting growth of 9.9% from the year-ago reported figure.

TXN expects earnings of $2.01-$2.29 per share for the first quarter. The consensus mark for the same is pegged at $2.17 per share, indicating an improvement of 16% from the prior-year reported figure. The figure has been unchanged over the past 30 days.

The company surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, delivering an earnings surprise of 12.4%, on average.

Texas Instruments Incorporated Price and EPS Surprise

Texas Instruments Incorporated price-eps-surprise | Texas Instruments Incorporated Quote

Texas Instruments strengthening momentum across the Analog and Embedded Processing segments is expected to have benefited its first-quarter performance.

The companys robust signal chain and power product lines might have continued driving growth within the Analog segment in the to-be-reported quarter.

Growing customer adoption of analog and embedded technology has been resulting in increasing chip content per application. This might have aided the industrial and automotive markets in the first quarter.

A solid demand environment in the industrial, communication equipment and enterprise systems markets is likely to have continued aiding the top line in the quarter under review.

Robust product portfolio strength and expanding manufacturing capabilities are anticipated to have supported the quarterly performance.

Solid investments in growth avenues and competitive advantages are expected to have been positives.

Further, its deepening focus on accelerating free cash flow generation is anticipated to have been a tailwind in the quarter under discussion.

Yet, weakness in the personal electronics market is expected to have remained a headwind.

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Further, intensifying market competition and coronavirus-related uncertainties are likely to have been concerns in the first quarter.

Our proven model predicts an earnings beat for Texas Instruments this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But thats not the case here. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

It has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), at present.

Here are some stocks that you may consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings this season.

Apple AAPL has an Earnings ESP of +1.78% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Apple is scheduled to release second-quarter fiscal 2022 results on Apr 28. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AAPLs earnings is pegged at $1.43 per share, suggesting an increase of 2.1% from the prior-year reported figure.

Cisco Systems CSCO has an Earnings ESP of +0.84% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present.

Cisco Systems is set to report third-quarter fiscal 2022 results on May 18. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CSCOs earnings is pegged at 0.86 cents per share, which suggests an increase of 3.6% from the prior-year reported figure.

Analog Devices ADI has an Earnings ESP of +2.17% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present.

Analog Devices is scheduled to release second-quarter fiscal 2022 results on May 18. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ADIs earnings is pegged at $2.12 per share, which suggests an increase of 37.7% from the prior-year reported figure.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

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What's in the Cards for Texas Instruments' (TXN) Q1 Earnings? - Yahoo Finance

AHL's San Diego Gulls to Debut Facial Ticketing and Concession PaymentsByAndrew CohenApril 20, 2022

The American Hockey Leagues San Diego Gulls will debut facial recognition ticket admission and concession payments for tonights game against the Abbotsford Canucks at Pechanga Arena in San Diego. The deployment is the first of its kind through a partnership between facial verification company PopID and ASM Global, which operates more than 300 sports and entertainment venues.

Fans can register for the optional facial recognition services at Pechanga Arena by uploading a selfie and form of payment to PopID. PopIDs software will integrate into point-of-sale devices at the arena's ticketing gates and concession stands, allowing ticketed fans to enter the arena and pay for food and beverages by simply standing in front of the facial verification kiosks.

The deployment of this technology in our venues represents the beginning of a revolutionary change in the entertainment world, ASM Global CEO and president Ron Bension said in a statement. The PopID platform will allow us to eliminate the dependence on cards and phones at our events and ensure that every guest interaction is secure, speedy and seamless.

PopID announced its multi-year partnership with ASM Global in March. Other ASM Global-operated venues with upcoming plans to debut facial verification include the Fresno, Calif.-based Save Mart Center and the Ontario, Calif.-based Toyota Arena, as well as the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai. ASM Global is a subsidiary of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which operates major sports venues such as Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Pechanga Arena, originally known as the San Diego Sports Arena, is the latest among a growing list of sports venues to adapt facial recognition to serve fans. The New York Mets are offering facial ticket admission at Citi Field through the clubs deal with Wicket, a first for an MLB team. Mets VP of technology solutions Oscar Fernandez told SportTechie that the team has a longterm roadmap to deploy facial payments at concession stands. LaLiga club Osasuna also recently partnered with dasGate to become the first Spanish soccer club to offer facial ticketing earlier this month.

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Yahoo Sports' Apollo Global Interested in Financing Twitter Buyout - SportTechie

When Tesla (TSLA) reports earnings on Wednesday, all eyes won't be on whether Elon Musk comments on his bid for Twitter on the earnings call (or if he is even on the call) but rather how big of a hit the company will experience due to a Shanghai factory production shutdown.

"With Berlin and Austin key factories now online and producing Model Y's in a quickly ramping pace, the main question for tomorrow is just how bad the China production issues are and what that means for deliveries in 2Q and the rest of the year," said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

Ives thinks the hit to Tesla could be sizable.

"We estimate that roughly 50k units are now reduced for the June quarter for starters given the last three weeks of shutdown and depending on how aggressively Tesla can ramp back production could be impacted further over the next month. Musk & Co. are in a tough spot, as there are so many variables around 2Q China production that will certainly weigh on guidance for the rest of the year and thus has been a clear overhang on the stock over the past month," the closely watched analyst said.

Tesla is expected by Wall Street to deliver $17.76 billion in sales for the quarter and earnings of $2.26 a share. A year ago, Tesla produced sales of $10.4 billion and earnings of $0.93.

The Street is modeling for Tesla's earnings to reach $10.64 in 2022, a number that could be at risk given the China factory shutdown.

Indeed Tesla investors are entering the quarter nervously.

Shares of the EV maker are down about 4% since April 4.

The stock has come under increased selling pressure as Musk put in a $43 billion bid last week to buy Twitter.

But Wall Street is generally staying upbeat on Tesla despite the array of distractions for Tesla. Ives still rates the stock at an outperform with a $1,400 price target.

"We remain bullish on the Tesla story as the company navigates near-term production issues with strong consumer EV demand our focus for 2022 and beyond," Ives said.

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Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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One big challenge facing Tesla that has nothing to do with Elon Musk's Twitter bid - Yahoo Finance

Tune into baseball for long enough in 2022 and youre almost assured to come across an unfamiliar term. The sweeper is the newest weapon being deployed against MLB hitters.

It is revitalizing the repertoires of some prominent pitchers and could have, um, sweeping implications for the seasons of the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees two of the franchises most invested in it.

But what is a sweeper, exactly?

Its a variation of breaking ball distinguished by horizontal movement more across than up and down. Sweepers are essentially a subset of sliders, an endpoint on a spectrum that includes traditional sliders in the middle and hard, darting cutters on the other end.

The pitch is not new so much as it is increasingly prominent and intentional. And if teams are making a point of bending sliders into sweepers, maybe we should make a point of understanding the difference.

If a style of pitch is going to become a pitch with its own name, one of the most prominent people who needs to be convinced is Harry Pavlidis. He founded the pitch classification service Pitch Info and oversees research and development for Baseball Prospectus.

Pitch Info has, this season, added sweeper as a distinct pitch category in addition to slider, curveball, cutter and so on. The difference, to Pavlidis?

Movement, he told Yahoo Sports via email this week. The sweeper, as the name implies, sweeps laterally more than a conventional slider, which will tend to move but several inches less than the sweeper.

Visually, its easy to catch on. Heres a (very good) traditional slider from New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, courtesy the omnipresent PitchingNinja Twitter account.

And heres Corey Kluber throwing what we are learning to call a sweeper.

See how its defining movement is veering off to the side instead of diving? If you were mimicking the shape of a traditional right-handed slider in your car, youd power over a blind hill that slopes slightly to the left. If you were mimicking a sweeper, youd take an exit ramp on the right and loop under the highway.

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As Pavlidis points out, sweepers have been sweeping away batters in America and Japan for years. Yu Darvish is one of the most prominent pitchers who has deployed the pitch.

Weve seen it for years, its prevalent in NPB, and pitchers have been throwing it in MLB, he said.

Klubers diabolical version helped him earn his two Cy Youngs in Cleveland. It was just particularly difficult to label. Many gave up and just called it a breaking ball. Others dubbed it a slurve. Pavlidis said the sweeper may be nothing more than a rebrand of slurve. That particular designation tended to carry a negative connotation, an accusation that a pitcher was struggling to separate two supposedly different pieces of his arsenal.

Not every variation on a pitch merits its own name. What makes the difference? For one, teams and pitchers themselves are adopting the term. And the league is noticeably adopting the pitch.

The Dodgers, who have added it or transformed existing pitches into it with Blake Treinen, Julio Urias and others, call the pitch a sweeper. The similarly enthusiastic Yankees had called it a whirly in 2021 before sweeper took hold in the industry.

Pavlidis also cited the increasing sophistication of pitch data that allows his group and the public at large to identify key differences that make a sweeper a sweeper, to the point where they can be separated out even when a pitcher also throws a regular slider.

One of those factors is the grip. This close-up view of Tampa Bay Rays starter Drew Rasmussen shows the transition from traditional slider to sweeper, what Pavlidis called a full reorientation of the seams.

This is how granular a revolution can be in baseball now. And its why sweepers definition and proliferation go hand in hand.

The change makes the sweeper grip two-seamed, a shift that gives the pitch its crucial, hitter-fooling qualities. That advanced information that helps identify the pitch can also help savvy evaluators and coaches identify and recreate those underlying qualities.

New Dodgers acquisition Andrew Heaney has added a "sweeper" and thrown it more than anyone else in baseball. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

When the Los Angeles Dodgers World Series favorites who often shop in the future Hall of Famer aisle made homer-plagued Andrew Heaney the biggest addition to their starting rotation, every baseball nerds spidey sense went off. They must know they can make him better. At Baseball Prospectus, Michael Ajeto quickly and accurately predicted the plan.

Ditch the curveball. Add a sweeper that pairs better with the arm-side run of Heaneys fastball.

His blistering start for the Dodgers two starts, 10 1/3 innings, 16 strikeouts and only one unearned run has made Heaney the face of a zeitgeist-y moment for the sweeper even though his is a pretty borderline example of the form.

Among the more textbook examples: Blue Jays starters Alek Manoah and Jose Berrios, Dodgers relievers like Treinen and Evan Phillips, and a parade of Yankees including Lucas Luetge and surprise star Nestor Cortes.

As Kluber has demonstrated so effectively for the past decade, sweepers and two-seam fastballs can look identical for much of their flight to the plate, then slay hitters by zigging or zagging in opposite directions. That concept is known as tunneling, and its a major part of the logic for adding a sweeper. So is seam-shifted wake. That daunting phrase is still a new frontier in baseball research with a lot of extremely technical questions we cant yet fully answer, but the gist is this: Because of how balls thrown with that two-seamed grip interact with the air when spinning, sweepers move in ways that hitters eyes and brains dont expect. Its the same force involved in making sinkers and changeups difficult for hitters to square up.

At least in the public sphere, were still in the process of figuring out the impact of the sweeper. Does it help counteract a league of hitters that has worked to lock in on lifting the ball and hitting home runs? Is it perhaps an easier wipeout pitch to master without the use of sticky substances?

As front offices dig deeper into the numbers to find new advantages, there will be more realizations to come. May they all have names this catchy.

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He's throwing a what? The 'sweeper' is MLB's latest pitching weapon - Yahoo Sports

Vagit Alekperov, president of Russian oil company Lukoil.Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Putin signed a new decree on April 16 that requires Russian companies to remove their listings from overseas exchanges.

Now, billionaires won't be able to collect foreign-currency dividends from depository receipt programs.

The decree also means foreign holders of the canceled receipts must receive normal shares placed in non-resident accounts in Russia.

In a blow to Russia's richest business people, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on April 16 that requires Russian companies to remove their listings from overseas stock exchanges.

The likes of Vladimir Potanin Russia's richest man will now have to adjust the ownership structure of their businesses, Bloomberg reported.

That means Russian billionaires who own the companies listed abroad won't be able to collect foreign-currency dividends from the depository receipts.

Trading of depositary receipts on foreign exchanges also must cease within days, though the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, London Stock Exchange and other top international bourses had already frozen Russian stocks after Putin launched his war on Ukraine in February.

In addition, the decree that Putin signed means foreign holders of the canceled receipts must receive normal shares placed in non-resident accounts in Russia.

The ban on overseas listings is the latest blow to Russian billionaires, who have already been targeted by Western sanctions as well as Moscow's own capital controls that restrict the ability to move money abroad.

"The rights of shareholders who believe in Russia and have invested in the Russian market for many years and who cannot hold Russian shares directly, are being hurt," a tycoon told Russian news outlet Kommersant this month. "They have nothing to do with politics, and there is a risk that their property rights will simply be lost."

Meanwhile, the UK's tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs, announced Tuesday that it would revoke the Moscow Stock Exchange's recognized status, piling on to the unprecedented sanctions the British government has placed upon Russia.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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Putin signs decree to remove Russian stocks from overseas exchanges in huge blow to the nation's billionaires - Yahoo Finance

Investors should lean toward owning stable stocks amid the increasingly volatile economic backdrop and hope for the best, fancies Goldman Sachs.

Goldman strategist Ben Snider said in a new note Tuesday that stable stocks or ones that sport low share price and earnings growth volatility are a must-own in this current moment. The strategist said the investment bank's basket of stable growth stocks has outperformed the S&P 500 by five percentage points during the past six months as economic risks such as rising inflation have risen.

These types of stocks "appear to have room to run," said Snider.

The valuations on these stable stocks look attractive, too.

Snider added, "Stable stocks also trade with undemanding valuations, supporting the likelihood that they will outperform if the macro environment grows increasingly challenging. Stocks with stable share prices and stable earnings growth generally trade with a valuation premium relative to more volatile peers and to the typical S&P 500 stock. However, relative valuations today are much lower than they have generally been during the last few years."

Snider's call comes against a backdrop of slowing economic growth, stubbornly high inflation and elevated geopolitical risk. That cocktail has Wall Street increasingly worried about a recession within the next two years.

"Our analysis of historical G10 episodes suggests that although strong economic momentum limits the risk in the near-term, the policy tightening we expect raises the odds of recession. As a result, we now see the odds of a recession as roughly 15% in the next 12 months and 35% within the next 24 months," said Jan Hatzius, Snider's colleague at Goldman, on Monday.

Earlier this month, Deutsche Bank's Matthew Luzzetti became the first economist from a major Wall Street firm to predict a U.S. recession. Others such as Goldman have since piled on.

The latest economic data sheds light on the recession calls.

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Inflation readings continue to run red-hot as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and deals with soaring prices for energy. The Producer Price Index (PPI) for March recently showed a worrying 11.2% advance spanning the past 12 months.

Goldman's economists led by Hatzius expect annual average U.S. real GDP growth to slow from 6% in 2021 to 3% in 2022. The team sees 2% growth for 2023.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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Goldman Sachs thinks these are the best stocks to buy right now - Yahoo Finance

It's been years since Colin Kaepernick sat down for an on-the-record interview about the NFL, and it was something of a coup for the "I Am Athlete" show to get him recently after Kaepernick was in the Miami area for a workout.

He sat down with hosts Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson, Adam "Pacman" Jones and Brandon Marshall for a brief talk that packed quite a bit of punch, especially when it comes to Kaepernick disputing many of the lies that have been spread about him.

Kaepernick has been traveling all over of late, working out with current and former players and posting some of the footage online.

First and foremost, he said without hesitation that he's willing to sign with a team as a backup quarterback, debunking one of the most-repeated untruths about what he would or wouldn't do to get another chance.

"I know I have to find my way back in. So, if I have to come in as a backup, that's fine," Kaepernick said. "But that's not where I'm staying, and when I prove that I'm a starter, I want to step onto the field as such."

The 34-year-old also did a bit of role playing, with Marshall in the role of an NFL general manager raising some of the so-called reasons a team has yet to sign Kaepernick.

"Let me come in and compete," Kaepernick said. "Let me come in, compete, show you what I can do."

Marshall brought up the "distraction" trope parroted by many league-friendly media members, that Kaepernick's presence might somehow be too much for a new team to handle. Marshall also brought up the "this is a $16 billion industry" and asked what a team is supposed to say to its fan base if it signs Kaepernick.

Marshall played the role perfectly, especially on the fan base question. Because what was unsaid, what is almost always unsaid when that comes up, is that the phrase "NFL fan base," like the words "Midwest voter" or "rural," is a euphemism for conservative, white and fine with Blacks as long as they're entertaining us and not asking for things like equality or to be treated with basic human decency.

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During his appearance on the "I Am Athlete" podcast, Colin Kaepernick was peppered with questions potential NFL suitors would ask him. He was ready. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage,)

That's who the league wants to appease, and at this point (*gestures toward the annual and failed tinkerings with the Rooney Rule*) it's clear that nearly all of the team owner class agrees with them.

Forget the inspiration that Kaepernick provides to Black fans. Forget the fact he's been banned while numerous other players who have actually broken the law or are facing more than 20 civil suits for sexual impropriety have been welcomed back. Forget that he's a hero to an untold number of people because while he unwittingly became a new face of the ongoing civil rights movement, he's only leaned into it since. Forget that Kaepernick supporters have money to spend and devices to watch games as well, and a good number of them would instantly become fans of the team that signed him.

Kaepernick had the perfect response for that bad-faith argument, one that highlights the NFL's obviously performative actions.

"You have 'end racism' in the back of your end zones, you've got 'Black lives matter' on your helmet. Everything I've said should be in alignment with what you're saying publicly," he shot back, with Johnson murmuring in support like Grandmama on Sunday when the preacher is on a roll. "It's a $16 billion business when I first took a knee, my jersey went to No. 1. When I did the deal with Nike, their value increased by $6 billion. Billion, with a 'B.'

"So if you're talking about the business side, it makes sense. If you're talking about the playing side, let me compete. You can evaluate me from there."

Were the NFL team owner class actually committed to helping eradicate anti-Black racism in this country, it would heed Kaepernick's words and realize how foolish the league looks trying to pass off end zone paint as substantive action, especially when it's been completely silent on actual civil rights issues it could have influenced. Like in Arizona, host of Super Bowl LVII, where state legislators have passed several anti-democratic voting restrictions, which almost always disproportionately affect Black, Hispanic and Native voters.

Were the owner class actually concerned with racism on a level beyond stenciling in the end zone, it would acknowledge that fans have supported Kaepernick's right to protest for awhile now.

Were all members of the owner class actually committed to winning, one of them would have signed Kaepernick years ago. At his best, he was the prototype dual-threat quarterback that has risen to prominence in the league in the years since.

It is great to see videos of Kaepernick on the field with other players, eager to line up with a man who has lost his career because he was tired of seeing videos of Black men that looked like him and his teammates killed by police, and those police getting paid vacation for doing so. It's also great that his debut book, a children's title called "I Color Myself Different" made it to the New York Times bestseller list underscoring, again, that the number of people who don't like Kap isn't as large as the owner class wants you to believe.

The reality is, however, he probably waited too long to tell his side. The reality is those owners or coaches who may have been willing to bring Kaepernick aboard have cowered long enough that now they can tell media it's just been too long since he last played, and that's why he has gone unsigned.

That's a useful new excuse, and this one actually has an air of believability, because how many NFL players really do spend five years out of the game and come back? And they'll hope no one asks the proper follow-up question, noting that Kaepernick has been keeping himself in shape and was free to be signed at any point. (Looking at you, Pete Carroll.)

They'll find people willing to believe that lie, because there are still people who hate Kaepernick and will believe every lie told about him, from salary demands he never made to statements he never said to team workouts he's never gotten.

The owner class wouldn't have it any other way.

Here is the original post:

Colin Kaepernick dismantles NFL's hypocritical yet effective messaging against him in rare on-record interview - Yahoo Sports

A top State Department official appeared to negate any chance of a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis, saying in a Tuesday interview that he sees no hope for negotiations to end the war given that Russian President Vladimir Putins forces seem intent on bringing as much violence to Ukraine as they possibly can.

I wish I saw an opening for diplomacy right now, but I dont, said State Department Counselor Derek Chollet in an interview with Yahoo News Skullduggery podcast.

Chollet has been one of Secretary of State Antony Blinkens top advisers during a whirlwind period in which Russias invasion has spurred an international crisis and led to allegations of war crimes by U.S. officials, including President Biden.

Chollet noted that placing diplomacy front and center was among the foundational principles of the Biden administrations approach to foreign policy and and, boy, we tried really hard before the invasion to find a diplomatic way out of this.

But, he said, Russian officials spurned U.S. efforts and the on-again, off-again talks among Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have gone nowhere.

They have not progressed to this point in a way that Im optimistic about having some sort of diplomatic solution, he said. I think the Russians seem very intent on basically bringing as much violence to Ukraine as they possibly can.

New graves for people killed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at a cemetery in Irpin, Ukraine. (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

The comments by Chollett, who served as an assistant secretary of defense for international security during the Obama administration, are especially noteworthy given that he now serves at the senior undersecretary level at State, the department whose primary mission is to conduct diplomacy.

But the path to any kind of diplomatic off-ramp has been complicated by the brutality of the Russian invasion combined with continued uncertainty about what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys government would accept as part of a negotiated settlement.

I mean, this is the Russians perpetrating these actions, right? Perpetrating these atrocities, Chollett said. So thats why our position has been, we are going to do whatever we can to support the victims of this invasion, the Ukrainians.

Story continues

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting on Monday outside Moscow. (Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via Reuters)

Asked if U.S. officials would back a settlement that accepts the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea and a possible referendum in the eastern regions of the country in exchange for a Russian withdrawal, Chollett replied: First, its not clear to me what the Ukrainians are going to accept. And I think, first and foremost, this is not for us to dictate the terms to the Ukrainians on what they should accept in terms of defending their own country. ... Theyre going to have to make decisions as a sovereign state about what they would accept.

Moreover, Chollett said, he believes Putins original aim went far beyond control of Donbas, the eastern region of the country where the Russians have mounted a major new offensive. Instead, he said, it was to take down the Ukrainian government.

More:

U.S. official: No clear path to negotiate an end to Russia's war in Ukraine - Yahoo News