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Liquidity issues would make President Joe Biden's proposed "billionaire tax" difficult to execute, Tyler Goodspeed, former acting chairman and vice chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, told Yahoo Finance Live in a recent interview.

I think my main reaction is, it strikes me as a little bit gimmicky in an election year, he said. Look, if you think that billionaires should be paying more in taxes, then I think you should be seriously considering an elimination of the step up in basis at the time that the estate tax is levied.

Bidens 2023 proposed budget would impose a mandatory minimum tax rate of 20 percent of cumulative income, including unrealized investment income that currently is untaxed, for people worth more than $100 million.

For too long, our tax code has rewarded wealth, not work, and contributed to growing income and wealth inequality in America, The White House said in a press release. Under current law, when an American worker earns a dollar of wages, that dollar is taxed as they earn it. But when a billionaire earns income because their investments increase in value, that gain is too often never taxed at all.

Goodspeed, who currently serves as a Kleinheinz Fellow at Hoover Institution at Stanford University, noted that the bills provisions to increase taxes on unrealized returns may be difficult and possibly counterproductive.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Brandenburg Premier Dietmar Woidke and Elon Musk attend the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. Patrick Pleul/Pool via REUTERS

There are lots of issues when you start taxing unrealized capital gains, he said. How do you value some of those assets? A lot of those assets are not perfectly liquid. And how do you handle cash flow issues that some of these folks may have to liquidate some of those assets, some of those illiquid assets, in order to pay that tax liability even if it's stretched out over several years.

Under current federal tax code, most assets are only subject to taxes after they are sold and the gains are fully appreciated. Certain exemptions apply for the sale of a house which has been occupied by the owner for two or more years and other illiquid assets.

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However, a large percentage of billionaires wealth is held in unrealized stocks and securities, which are generally not subject to federal income taxes. Back in 2019, for example, about 99% of billionaire Warren Buffetts $85 billion net worth is tied to his conglomerate holding company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B).

If dividends from capital gains are taxed, they are generally taxed at a preferred, lower rate than other income. This is part of the way that wealthy individuals can amass fortunes in the twelve-figure range while paying a comparatively small tax rate.

U.S. Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young and U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson (R-IA) speak before a U.S. House Budget Committee hearing on U.S. President Joe Biden's budget plan for the fiscal year 2023, in Washington, U.S., March 29, 2022. Roberto Schmidt/Pool via REUTERS

An analysis from OMB and CEA economists released last year estimated that the wealthiest 400 billionaire families in America paid an average of just 8.2 percent of their income in federal taxes.

I think there are more efficient ways to go about making sure that the highest income tax, highest income households are paying their fair share, Goodspeed opined.

Pundits view the budget as unlikely to pass an evenly split Senate, especially after Senator Joe Manchin came out in opposition to the bill.

I think at the end of the day, the probability of this stuff passing is pretty close to zero, Goodspeed said. And that's why I think it is, for the most part, election signaling, that this is a political document first and foremost.

Ihsaan Fanusie is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @IFanusie.

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Billionaire tax: There are more efficient ways to make the rich pay more, economist says - Yahoo Finance

Thirty-one years after the loss that ended his college career, former North Carolina forward Pete Chilcutt still isnt over it.

The most painful part isnt even that a Tar Heels team stacked with future NBA first-round draft picks went cold against an opponent with lesser talent. The dream title-game scenario they flushed away is what haunts Chilcutt most.

Had heavily favored North Carolina defeated Kansas in the 1991 national semifinals, the Tar Heels first NCAA tournament matchup with hated rival Duke would have come two nights later in the national title game. North Carolina instead went home, allowing a Blue Devils team the Tar Heels beat by 22 in the ACC tournament to overpower Kansas and capture Mike Krzyzewskis first national championship.

I have thought about that so many times, Chilcutt told Yahoo Sports. Duke won another one the next year and really took off. Thats where it started for them. I think it wouldve been one of the epic finals of all time if wed been able to get in there and perhaps change history. Who knows what wouldve happened to Duke down the road if wed have been able to knock them off and not let them get that first title?

Duke and North Carolina have combined to make 55 NCAA tournament appearances and reach 19 Final Fours since 1991, yet it has taken until now for them to finally cross paths on college basketballs biggest stage. On Saturday night, it will be Blue Devils vs. Tar Heels from New Orleans in the highest-stakes game in this iconic rivalrys history.

For North Carolina, its a chance to double down on the bragging rights attained when the Tar Heels spoiled Dukes tribute to Mike Krzyzewski in his final home game. For Duke, its an opportunity to avenge that humiliating loss and move one step closer to sending Krzyzewski into retirement with a sixth national championship.

While North Carolina and Duke have frequently produced highly ranked teams in the same year, they havent often come close to facing off in the NCAA tournament. Only four other times have they advanced to the Elite Eight in the same year. Only in 1991 did they both reach the Final Four.

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They might have played in the title game that year had Rick Fox not missed 17 of 22 shots, had Dean Smith not gotten ejected and Roy Williams not outcoached his mentor.

And, to hear the former Tar Heels tell it, had that Duke-Carolina matchup actually happened, the team that won the national championship that year might have worn a lighter shade of blue.

We thought we were the better team, former North Carolina forward George Lynch said. We had respect for them, but we knew we could beat them.

UNCs Hubert Davis celebrates on the court with teammates after the Tar Heels defeated Temple 75-72 in NCAA East regional championship game on March 24, 1991. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

In October 1990, as the new college basketball season drew near, the national pecking order could be summed up in eight words: There was UNLV, and there was everyone else.

Jerry Tarkanians Rebels returned Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon and the core of a team that won 35 games the previous year and blitzed Duke by 30 in the national title game. They opened the season No. 1 in both polls and a favorite to become college basketballs first repeat champ since John Woodens UCLA dynasty.

Duke and North Carolina began the season in the next tier of teams behind UNLV. Both had aspirations of contending for the national title even though the Blue Devils were replacing three players who started alongside Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley and the Tar Heels were coming off an underwhelming 13-loss season.

That was the standard when I went to Carolina, Lynch said. We played for Final Fours and national championships. Anything else was a bust.

As Duke and North Carolina sprinted out of the starting blocks fast and then ascended to the top of the ACC standings, both rivals kept track of the others progress. That was your measuring stick, Lynch said. Everything they did, we watched. Everything we did, they watched.

The first of two head-to-head matchups that season went to Duke. So did the second, clinching the ACC regular season title for the Blue Devils. The scoring of Laettner, playmaking of Hurley and versatility of a young Grant Hill were tough for North Carolina to handle, as was Dukes trademark pressure defense.

When the Tar Heels got a third crack at Duke a week later in the ACC title game, they came out determined not to let the Blue Devils celebrate a third time at their expense. Behind 25 points from Rick Fox and turnover-free point guard play from King Rice, North Carolina raced out to an early lead and cruised to a 96-74 win.

"I honestly thought it was the best Duke team in modern days, legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith told reporters that day. "That's what makes it so satisfying."

Carolina Tar Heels joke after their 96-74 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament victory over Duke on March 10, 1991. Holding plaques are, from left: Pete Chilcutt (32); Rick Fox (44), tournament MVP; King Rice (21), and Hubert Davis (40). (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Smith surely assumed he didnt have to worry about that Duke team anymore after that game, but that turned out not to be the case. The Blue Devils ripped through the NCAA tournaments Midwest region, winning all four games by at least 14 points. North Carolina followed a similar path of destruction in the East region, overwhelming its first three opponents before surviving a close call against Temple in the Elite Eight.

With unbeaten UNLV also blowtorching its way to Indianapolis, the Final Four featured three of the top six teams in the 1991 seasons final AP poll. On one side of the bracket were UNLV and Duke, the two teams that met in the previous years national title game. On the other were North Carolina and Kansas, who emerged from the Southeast region by upsetting higher-seeded Indiana and Arkansas.

Who did the Tar Heels expect to meet in the title game if they had managed to defeat Kansas?

UNLV was so intimidating that year, Chilcutt said. So I dont think we anticipated a Duke rematch.

And yet

If you had taken a poll asking us who we wanted to play, Lynch said, wed have said we wanted Duke.

Ask North Carolina players from that team what happened against Kansas, and to a man they insist they didnt overlook the Jayhawks. They swear that the Roy Williams-coached team had their respect, that they werent caught day-dreaming about a title-game showdown with Duke or a chance to take down mighty UNLV.

We spent no time thinking about the possible matchup, Hubert Davis said Tuesday. Our focus and our attention was on Kansas.

What derailed the Tar Heels was an off night from their three senior starters. Fox needed 22 shots to score 13 points. Chilcutt shot 2-for-8 from the field and Rice finished with more turnovers (three) than baskets (one).

A series of defensive stops fueled a North Carolina second-half surge that trimmed a 10-point deficit to one, but the Tar Heels never regained the lead. On one end of the floor, Fox left the potential go-ahead mid-range jumper short. On the other, Sean Tunstall buried a 3-pointer to ignite a quick 7-0 Kansas spurt that left North Carolina playing from behind again.

Davis 25 points in a losing effort was the lone bright spot for North Carolina. Mark Randall had 16 points and 11 rebounds against Chilcutt for Kansas, prompting a running joke from Davis over the years.

He always tells me, You got Mark Randall into the NBA! Chilcutt said with a laugh. They had some good players, but we just didnt perform. We kind of laid an egg.

To add to North Carolinas misery, Smith was ejected in the final minute for just the third time in his storied career. With Kansas already up five and heading to the foul line for four free throws, Smith shook hands with Roy Williams and congratulated Kansas players on his way off the floor.

As Kansas finished off a 79-73 victory, Grant Hill recalled that Duke was in the RCA Dome Hallway, getting ready to run out for our warmup. Hill said that Krzyzewski brought the Blue Devils back to their locker room, concerned that the Tar Heels loss could diminish the hunger of his players.

I dont remember exactly what he said, but it was basically that he didnt want us to have a built-in excuse to lose, Hill said. What I mean by that is the rivalry was so competitive you almost had a built-in out. They lost. Now its OK for us to lose.

1991: Duke players Grant Hill and Christian Laettner high-five each other in celebration during the NCAA championship game against Kansas in 1991. Duke defeated Kansas 72-65. (Photo by Focus on Sport via Getty Images)

Of course, Duke didnt lose. In fact, the Blue Devils went on to secure one of Krzyzewskis most iconic victories. Christian Laettner exploded for 28 points to help the Blue Devils halt the Runnin Rebels 45-game win streak and pull off a stunning upset. Two nights later, Duke brushed aside Kansas to capture the programs first national title.

Once we won and beat Vegas, we didnt care who we played, Hill recalled. We were so fired up and excited. That was a huge confidence boost and validator.

Though the Laettner-Hurley-Hill core led Duke to back-to-back national titles in 1991 and 1992, there was a silver lining for North Carolina. Lynchs class channeled its frustration into leading a title run of North Carolinas own in 1993.

That it has taken so long for North Carolina and Duke to be part of the same Final Four again is a painful reminder to the 1991 Tar Heels of what might have been.

As celebrated and successful as both programs have been, Davis said, for us to not have met in the Final Four is very surprising.

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The one that got away: How North Carolina blew its shot at Duke in the 1991 title game - Yahoo Sports

The first time she glanced at an NCAA men's tournament bracket earlier this month, Kelly Sullivan realized she overlooked one detail when choosing a wedding date.

Hey, she warned fianc Zach Boehmer, the Final Four is on the same day as our wedding.

College basketball has been a lifelong passion for Sullivan and Boehmer, but the Des Moines couple doesnt support the same team.

Sullivan fell in love with Duke in second grade watching J.J. Redick bombing threes in a cutoff T-shirt. Ever since, she has been the type of diehard fan who makes certain shes in front of a TV whenever Duke plays, who lies awake the night before big Duke games and who buys Duke jerseys for her college roommates to sway them to root for her team.

Boehmer is as fiercely devoted to North Carolinabasketball as his fiance is to Duke. While his twin cousins introduced him to rooting for the Tar Heels as a young boy, it was watching the Ty Lawson-Danny Green-Tyler Hansbrough teams mow through college basketball en route to the 2009 national title that made his blood run Carolina blue for life.

Zach Boehmer and Kelly Sullivan are getting married Saturday, when Duke faces Carolina in the Final Four. Things could get awkward for the couple during the wedding reception. (Special to Yahoo Sports)

When Boehmer took Sullivan to dinner for their first date in 2018, the conversation between the recent University of Northern Iowa grads soon shifted to basketball. Boehmer gritted his teeth and stayed quiet when Sullivan revealed that she was a big Duke fan because he wanted the date to go well. Then he pulled out a Tar Heels-themed wallet to pay for dinner, and Sullivans face went pale.

I really never thought Id end up with a Carolina fan, Sullivan said. Like ever. It was a worst-case scenario for me, but I liked him and I liked that he knew about sports. Plus, I thought that Id eventually convert him

Thats never going to happen, Boehmer countered.

Im still working on it, Sullivan replied.

At first, Sullivans realization that they were getting married on Final Four Saturday seemed like it could affect only her favorite team. Whereas talent-laden Duke beat Gonzaga and Kentucky in non-league play and won the outright ACC regular-season title, North Carolina required a late-season surge just to make the NCAA tournament.

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Then the Tar Heels annihilated Marquette in the first round of the NCAA tournament. And upset reigning national champion Baylor two days later. And surged late to defeat UCLA in the Sweet 16. Pretty soon Duke and North Carolina were on the precipice of their first NCAA tournament clash, an epic Final Four matchup with rivalry bragging rights, Mike Krzyzewskis coaching future and a spot in the national title game all hanging in the balance.

Every game we were like, Uh-oh, Boehmer said. Theres a chance that this is going to happen.

Saturdays looming showdown between Duke and North Carolina might be the most anticipated Final Four game in years, but for many couples getting married on Saturday night, its also a major headache. Overtaxed brides and grooms in the Raleigh-Durham area and beyond are having to figure out how to allow guests to watch the game without detracting from a day thats supposed to be all about them.

Emily Izakowitz is a Durham-based event planner hired months ago to organize a wedding for Saturday evening. Since the bride, groom and members of both families are North Carolina alums and avid Tar Heels fans, Izakowitz is still sorting through how to handle the game coinciding with the wedding reception.

I expect it will make things more interesting than normal, Izakowitz said. Basically, it's really not ideal!

Its also difficult for 40-year-old Matthew Horsnell, who has literally rooted for North Carolina since he was in diapers. His dad watched the 1982 national championship game between North Carolina and Georgetown with Horsnell on his lap.

Theres a brick outside the Dean Smith Center bearing the name of Horsnell, his brother and their father. The trio also have matching Tar Heels tattoos on each of their ankles. Horsnell sheepishly admits he cried when the Jerry Stackhouse-Rasheed Wallace Tar Heels lost to Arkansas in the 1995 Final Four and again when the Vince Carter-Antawn Jamison team fell to underdog Utah in 1998.

When Horsnell told his dad over the phone last year that he was getting married outside Nashville on April 2, he remembers hearing the clicking of keyboard keys in the background. When the noise stopped, Horsnells dad told him, You know thats Final Four weekend, right?

At the time, Horsnell dismissed the possibility that North Carolina could make it that far with a thin roster and Hubert Davis in his first year as head coach. A year later, being wrong has left him in the stressful position of trying to figure out how to follow the biggest Duke-North Carolina game in history without taking away from his wedding day.

In the end, Horsnell has chosen starting his marriage off happily over the thrill of watching North Carolina try to send Krzyzewski into retirement with a heartbreaking loss.

Its arguably the biggest game in the history of the rivalry, but its also the biggest day of my life, Horsnell said. While I would love to be watching the game and Im not going to lie, Ill probably be keeping track of the score Im not going to bring a tablet or phone into the reception. Im going to sit and enjoy that moment with my friends and family and the love of my life.

While Horsnell has given his dad and a groomsman whos a diehard Duke fan a pass to leave a little bit early, he has assigned one member of his wedding party to stay until the end.

Thats my brother, Horsnell said. Hes going to be whispering score updates in my ear.

Whereas Horsnells bride-to-be doesnt share his love for basketball, Trent Brown isnt in quite so difficult a predicament. Brown and his fiance, Grace Smith, are both North Carolina alums whose relationship blossomed because of their mutual love of the Tar Heels.

Brown and Smith met in August 2015 as North Carolina freshmen living on the seventh floor of Hinton James residence hall. Nearly two years later, they began dating during the 2017 NCAA tournament and stormed Franklin Street together after the Tar Heels captured the national title.

Over the past five years, theyve sat side-by-side at North Carolina games together. Brown asked Smith to be his girlfriend while walking across North Carolinas soccer field and proposed overlooking that very same spot just over three years later.

Its a really cheesy UNC story, Brown said with a chuckle.

North Carolina's matchup against rival Duke will be on at the wedding reception of Grace Smith (right) and Trent Brown this weekend. "By the time it starts, the ceremony, speeches and toasts will be over. After that, man, were going to be drinking beer, dancing and hopefully watching us win, Brown said.

When North Carolina rallied to beat UCLA in the Sweet 16 last Friday night, Smith recognized that the possibility of the Tar Heels facing Duke during their wedding was no longer far-fetched.

Do we need to start figuring this out? she asked Brown.

Fearful of jinxing North Carolina ahead of its Elite Eight matchup with Saint Peters, Brown responded, Were going to figure this out on Sunday at 7 p.m.

Their salvation it turns out will be a friends projector and Browns mobile hotspot. Their venue in downtown Raleigh doesnt have WiFi, so Brown and Smith are hopeful that setup will work.

We care so much that it wasnt even a question, Brown said. It was obvious we were going to be watching the game. By the time it starts, the ceremony, speeches and toasts will be over. After that, man, were going to be drinking beer, dancing and hopefully watching us win.

Thats the solution that Zach Boehmer and Kelly Sullivan also chose, even if the game inevitably will leave one of them dejected on their wedding night. Theyve acquired a projector and intend to watch the game alongside their friends and family during their reception.

Weve promised each other well be civil, Sullivan said. It will definitely be our first test as husband and wife.

Since Sunday afternoon, Boehmers and Sullivans phones have been buzzing nonstop with friends and family razzing them about the game, asking if theyre nervous or if theyre still on speaking terms. Boehmer laughs right along with them, admitting it almost seems like destiny that North Carolina and Duke would meet for the first time in the NCAA tournament on their wedding day.

As a North Carolina fan of more than 15 years, Boehmer wants to see his Tar Heels win, but he admits that this week hes more torn than usual.

There would be nothing greater than Coach K losing his last game to North Carolina, Boehmer said. But at the same time, its our wedding day, I want my wife to have the best day and to not end the day upset.

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Wedding day blues: Duke, Carolina fans getting married this weekend face incredible predicament - Yahoo Sports

Billy Eppler, the New York Mets general manager of 4 1/2 months, thinks Im trying to bait him into tabloid fodder.

Were sitting behind home plate, along with a smattering of front office staff and beat writers, watching an intrasquad game at the Mets Port St. Lucie, Florida, complex. Carlos Carrasco, who was acquired in a trade alongside Francisco Lindor ahead of the 2021 season, versus Chris Bassitt, picked up in the As fire sale this offseason.

I tell him that a week ago I was on the other side of Florida to see the New York Yankees, where reporters pressed chairman Hal Steinbrenner on whether he felt pressure to spend more on payroll to keep up with the Mets.

To Hal? Eppler clarifies with some incredulity.

Thats right; because people say the Mets are setting the pace for sports in New York City these days.

Im not starting that, Eppler says with a laugh. Im not even biting on that.

OK, maybe he was smart to sidestep any explicit rivalry-making so soon into his career with the Mets, but it wasnt intended as a trap. Eppler spent years in the Yankees front office, rising to assistant GM during a time when they assured themselves playoff berths by simply outspending the competition year in and year out. For 15 straight seasons from 1999-2013, the Yankees fielded the highest payroll, winning three World Series, losing two more and missing the postseason only twice.

In 2015, Epplers last season in the Bronx, Hals Yankees outspent the Mets by more than $100 million. But now, Eppler returns to a New York sports landscape that has a new titan at the ownership level. The 2022 Mets, if all goes according to plan, are trying to be the New Yankees.

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen attends a news conference at a COVID-19 vaccination site at Citi Field, the home of the Mets, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

First off, it starts with Steve Cohen.

Thats Max Scherzer bonafide ace, World Series champion, and the kind of guy who makes a whole clubhouse more competitive. And for as much as he knows about how baseball looks from atop the mound, he also has one of the best 30,000-foot views of the game of any player after taking on a central role in collective bargaining this offseason. Ask him what he likes about this team, and he knows to go right to the top.

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In 2020, the Mets ranked 12th in payroll. Behind the Cincinnati Reds. They hadnt won a postseason game since 2015. But that fall, hedge-fund billionaire Cohen bought the team from the Wilpon family that had long since become a punchline and a punching bag for frustrated fans.

By opening day, theyd added 27-year-old superstar shortstop Lindor and signed him to a $341 million,10-year extension. Their payroll was third in baseball, behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Yankees. But inking that deal on the eve of the season marked the highpoint of a summer that unraveled from there for Lindor and the Mets. After spending 114 days in first place, the team plummeted, eventually missing the postseason entirely.

But if 2021 proved that you cant guarantee success by spending money, this offseason proved that wont stop Cohen from trying.

A GM search that initially looked like the latest episode in the long-running errors of occasionally comedic nature emanating from Queens led them to the eminently reasonable and respectable choice of Eppler, coming off a short stint with a talent agency after five ineffective years with the Angels. He then hired the beloved Buck Showalter, who was managing the Yankees before many of the leagues players were even alive.

And while some big-market teams seemed content to wait out the pre-lockout free-agent frenzy, the Mets splurged. In a matter of days, Cohen committed a combined $254.5 million to Starling Marte, Mark Canha, Eduardo Esocbar and Scherzer whose $43.3 million per year in a three-year deal is the highest average annual value in MLB history.

The rest of the owners responded by adding the so-called Cohen Tax to the new CBA a fourth luxury threshold with higher-than-ever penalties in an effort to curb the Mets' spending. On the first day that spring training camps were officially open, Cohen nonchalantly told reporters that the tax mattered to him only in so much as he enjoyed the honorific "It's better than a bridge being named after you, he joked and that the Mets eventual payroll would probably surpass it.

When I had a meeting with him, I immediately got the grasp from him that he wants to win, Scherzer said. On the teams where Ive been in Detroit with Michael Ilitch, in D.C. with Ted Lerner [its] the same type of atmosphere. Those guys are going to do whatever it takes to win. And so the whole organization functions much differently when we feel the presence of the ownership.

In Detroit, Scherzer and the Tigers made it all the way to the World Series in 2012, coming up just short on the strength of an aggressive push by the late Ilitch patriarch. A few years later, the Lerners made him the second-highest paid pitcher ever, and in 2019, Scherzer helped bring D.C. its first championship.

So I got that same type of vibe from Steve. He wants to win. He wants to win now.

WEST PALM BEACH, FL - MARCH 25: New York Mets infielder Francisco Lindor signs autographs for fans before an MLB spring training game between the New York Mets and the Houston Astros at The Ballpark of The Palm Beaches on March 25, 2022 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Doug Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

A 2.7 WAR season is nothing to scoff at, but theyll do it anyway in New York if youre the $341 million man whose winning smile was supposed to be emblematic of the Mets future. Last year, Lindor learned how hard it can be to live up to the expectations created by a record-setting contract, and how little patience is left in a borough that has been waiting 35 years for another title while their proverbial big brother racks up rings.

My expectations were to be in the playoffs, to win in the playoffs, Lindor said recently. I thought we had a good team last year. We and then he corrected himself I just didn't perform.

Lindor stops short of ascribing an inverse causal relationship between expectations and performance. How heightening the former could impede the latter. Maybe he worries thatll sound like an excuse to an unforgiving fan base that didnt much care for his production or his attitude in the worst moments of last season. But just in case, he demurs on even acknowledging that the hope is only heightened this year.

Weve got better players than we had last year, but still the goal is to be in the playoffs no matter what.

Youll hear a lot of that around spring training camps self-serious accountability toward greatness. It costs nothing to project optimism ahead of opening day. Maybe itll even sell a few more tickets.

What, do you go into the season expecting to get your butt handed to you? Showalter says, echoing and lightly mocking the platitude. You always think about the best-case scenario.

That was while were out on the field, watching batting practice. But back in his office, just before a game against the Houston Astros, he cops to the cliche.

Its not true, is it, that all teams start the season with the same expectations?

Of course not, Showalter smiles. Its just a good thing to say.

Hired after the lockout began, the 65-year-old manager with meticulous attention to detail and a curious mind has had only a condensed spring training to get to know his team. He says you cant force that kind of thing. So far its been a lot of listening, asking players how they handled certain in-game situations on other teams, or here before him. When he does talk, its about the details not missing signs, showing up on time, the minutiae of rundown rules and remembering to always pick up your teammate.

Soon, hell invite the three players with the most service time into his office, set out a blank notebook and ask them how they want the clubhouse to function this season so they can police themselves.

Which is not to say he doesnt come with wisdom. Something he heard Yankees pitcher David Cone say to the media several decades ago stuck with him. New York fans live and die by their baseball teams. And what Cone recognized was that, even at their most jaded and judgmental, they cant wait to cheer for you.

Theyre waiting to embrace you, Showalter told Lindor recently. You got to give them something to embrace.

New York, he tells players, is all about survival.

Pressure is a privilege, Eppler says.

Play better, is Showalters universal solution.

Were just big kids playing baseball, Scherzer says of letting it all get to you. If you think about it more than that, you start frying your brain.

But just because something is simple doesnt mean its easy.

The thing that I have the most respect for, Showalter says, is teams and coaches that win when theyre expected to.

JUPITER, FLORIDA - MARCH 21: Manager Buck Showalter #11 of the New York Mets looks on from the dugout in the fifth inning against the Miami Marlins in the Spring Training game at Roger Dean Stadium on March 21, 2022 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)

The manager considers his career for a moment, and how he got so comfortable with the ruthless New York media.

Maybe its cause I know Im not getting out of this alive, he jokes, but of course its not really. But while Im here, I know how lucky I am.

I dont realize until later that Im not sure if he means in the skippers seat for the New York Mets, or, like, life in general. Before I can think to ask, Showalter, who has managed for 30 years and never won a championship, is saying something else.

My goal is to win the last game that we play in the World Series, then come into my office, shut the door and listen to them celebrate, he says. Thats the best-case scenario for me.

Ten years after Showalter last managed the Yankees, but long before today, Eppler was flying back to the city from visiting his family in Southern California for the holidays. He was new to working in the Yankees front office and could hardly call himself a New Yorker yet. But as his plane descended, he looked out at the gloomy, gray city below him.

Early January in New York is not a pretty time. Sunsets before 5 p.m., muddied snow lining the streets.

Its that moment that comes back to Eppler when thinking about why he ended up back here. Leadership has always been appealing to him, the chance to foster the careers of players and personnel, setting them up for success. He calls it the long game, doing his best to benefit the younger generation, so he can look back someday, and feel like people were better because I got to be around them and help them.

But here here with the Mets? Maybe its obvious: all the talent; all the money; the fact that it can feel good, if you let it, to know people expect you to win. And that moment, looking out the plane window at the city some 17 years ago.

It just looked tough, for lack of a better word, Eppler says. And it inspired me as somewhat of a challenge and somewhat of like, I belong here.

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Big budget, big talent: Can the Mets take ownership of New York from the Yankees? - Yahoo Sports

Yahoo Sports Senior NFL Writer Charles Robinson and Yahoo Sports Columnist Shalise Manza Young discuss the quarterback situation for San Francisco. All signs point to Trey Lance being the starter in 2022. Does it make any sense to hang on to a $24 million dollar backup quarterback? Hear the full conversation on the You Pod to Win the Game podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.

CHARLES ROBINSON: San Francisco. It's just like the Baker conversation west. San Francisco says-- and again, I think it's gamesmanship. It's just like what Cleveland's doing. Just sort of a different way to present it. San Francisco is saying, eh, maybe Jimmy will be back. Maybe Jimmy Garoppolo is not gone. We don't want to just get rid of him to get rid of him. He's got value. And right now, he's recovering from a shoulder surgery on his throwing shoulder. And teams are reticent to offer us anything, so we're going to just play it out. And maybe Jimmy will be on our roster. It's not really-- Cleveland realistically, functionally can't have Baker back in that-- I don't think you can really have him back in that quarterback room next season. Jimmy could, though, for San Francisco. He totally could be back there. I wrote today that I think they're bluffing. I think they're playing the game. They're playing that chess move, the Jimmy Garoppolo chess move right now to try and draw out a trade. However, I do think that if this advances far enough down the road, and there really isn't anything out there, and they really, truly go, hmm, maybe we will just bring him back and we'll figure out the $24 million we owe them in base salary, which, God, just seems completely unlikely. But I'm just going to play it out. I don't know, man. I just don't. To me, you bring him back, even if you're like Trey Lance is our starter. And to me, I feel like they're indicating Trey Lance is definitely going to be the guy. He's going to be the starter for us. They're not coming out and just straight up saying it. But there's a reason why they're ready to move on from Jimmy, and that's because they're ready to go with Trey. I just don't know about bringing somebody back in the organization that we can say whatever we want about him, they still had a little playoff run in them. They still had some success with him. SHALISE MANZA YOUNG: He brought them to the NFC Championship game. He got them-- CHARLES ROBINSON: Shalise, you can't tell me-- you covered the Niners. And Trey Lance goes out there. Let's say they bring Jimmy back. Whatever the circumstances are, figure it out. Forget the money or whatever. For whatever reason, he's still there. You can't tell me that you or I covering the team wouldn't sit there and, say, Trey Lance gets off to a rough start-- SHALISE MANZA YOUNG: Yeah. CHARLES ROBINSON: --and they go 1 and 2 out of the gate, you and I are going to be sitting in the press box next to each other, and we're gonna be going, yeah-- SHALISE MANZA YOUNG: Which one of us is writing it's time for Jimmy to come back? CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah, right. That's exactly it. That is exactly right. That's the conversation. One of us has got the binoculars. And I'm like, is he putting his helmet on? Is he warming up? What's going on on the sidelines? Is he talking to the coaches right now? What's Jimmy doing? SHALISE MANZA YOUNG: And then behind the scenes, what are the teammates saying? CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah. SHALISE MANZA YOUNG: Guys who were on the team from last year to the coming year, and they were part of seeing Jimmy get them to the NFC Championship game. If they do get off to a 1 and 2 start, or whatever the case may be, are they chirping behind the scenes and saying this is ridiculous? Jimmy got us to where we got to last year with Jimmy, so what are we doing with Trey? He's not ready, or whatever the case may be. It's a really complicated situation. But the 49ers spent so much to get Trey Lance. He had his redshirt year, so to speak. So in a way, you kind of have to go with him. But having a $24 million backup is a hard pill to swallow. But then like we just said, the minute Trey stumbles, the fans are going to be screaming for Garoppolo. CHARLES ROBINSON: Which is why-- SHALISE MANZA YOUNG: The media might scream for Garoppolo. CHARLES ROBINSON: Which is why-- don't you agree that, fine, play the chess game. Play it out. Do what you got to do. But at the end of the day, you do have a luxury that Cleveland doesn't. You can cut the guy, and you get all that money. You get all the base money. If Cleveland cuts Baker, they lose the 18-- that's gone. They've got to pay that no matter what. They're screwed. Now San Francisco, what you get is a big old hole in your cap that then you can use for a contract extension for Deebo Samuel. You can use that money to extend guys. I'm just like, there's just no way. You can't do this. You have to get that guy off the roster.

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Could Jimmy Garoppolo still be on the 49ers next season? | You Pod to Win the Game - Yahoo Sports

Imagine gliding into space in a pressurized capsule via a huge balloon the size of a football stadium. That's how one startup plans to take tourists on suborbital journeys 100,000 feet above Earth.

Passengers will be able to observe stunning views during a six hour journey. They will also be able to sip on cocktails from a bar aboard the vessel. (Yes, there's a bathroom.)

The voyage will happen "very gently and smoothly" and provide passengers "the quintessential astronaut experience," Jane Poytner, co-founder and co-CEO of Space Perspective, told Yahoo Finance Live.

"It's a completely different experience," she added, noting the panoramic views from the capsule are life-changing.

"You will have that incredibly black sky. When we take you up predawn, you'll get the most outrageous star gaze you've every seen," said Poytner. "It is profoundly moving."

Space Perspective

"It really changes the way you see the world forever, and that will actually have a trickle effect across society as an increasing number of people go," she added.

Seats cost $125,000 each, including a $1,000 refundable deposit. The cost is comparatively less expensive than Virgin Galactic's (SPCE) $450,000 voyages 262,000 feet above the earth, which are expected to commercially launch late this year.

"Remember we're at the very beginning of the industry. Every industry that has changed the world, like aviation, like computers, when they start out, it was very difficult to imagine a vast number of people using computers or airplanes," said Poytner. "The same is going to be true for space travel. It's just going to take a little bit of time for the price to come down as it scales."

Space Perspective is planning its first piloted test flight in 2023 and initial commercial voyages in 2024.

Ines is a markets reporter covering stocks from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre

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Space tourism: Huge balloon with a bar to take tourists to space for $125,000 a ticket - Yahoo Finance

Step aside Apple and Google, Nvidia may be the new king of tech, one analyst contends.

"Nvidia may be the most important technology company today," said Evercore ISI analyst C.J. Muse in a new note on Monday. The analyst reiterated an Outperform rating on Nvidia with a $375 price target.

Shares of Nvidia rose slightly in afternoon trading Monday to $277.

Muse's upbeat take on Nvidia comes hot on the heels of the company's closely watched GTC conference, where it held nearly 1,000 sessions that included more than 1,600 speakers.

"Beyond having best-in class hardware accelerator solutions with its GPUs, Nvidia is broadening its portfolio and deepening its expertise across DPUs and CPUs, along with other areas such as connectivity and interconnects to put all of the pieces together. Then to ensure these complex solutions run seamlessly, Nvidia is continuing to pioneer software both at the foundational level and application specific level which is key to the companys TAM [total addressable market] expansion and the overall democratization of AI. Events like GTC hammer these point home, with various customers and ecosystem partners highlighting the advancements they are driving along with NVDA, and clear roadmaps for continued growth for the next decade plus," Muse explained.

One area Nvidia is doubling down on is its autonomous driving platform.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 08: Cameras are visible on the exterior of an Nvidia self-driving car inside the Nvidia booth during CES 2019 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 8, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs through January 11 and features about 4,500 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to more than 180,000 attendees. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

At Nvidia's conference last week, CEO Jensen Huang touted the companys $11 billion vehicle-tech order pipeline over the next six years.

Automotive will surely be our next multibillion-dollar business, Huang told Julie Hyman and Dan Howley in a Yahoo Finance Presents interview. The $11 billion is going to be quite a significant business for us just in the car. But if you look at the totality of AV, I think this is going to be one of the largest AI industries in the world.

During the conference, Nvidia put the potential market for auto-related software, hardware and data-center services at $300 billion.

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Points out Evercore ISI's Muse, "Advancements across in vehicle technologies, data center capabilities, connectivity, and AI/simulation (Omniverse) are enabling a transformation in the automotive industry today, leading to an estimated $2 trillion opportunity from the monetization of car services over the coming decade (largely led by Autonomous Driving and/or Mobility-as-a-Service)."

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

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Tilray Inc

LEAMINGTON, Ontario, March 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tilray Brands, Inc. (Tilray Brands or the Company) (Nasdaq | TSX: TLRY), a leading global cannabis-lifestyle and consumer packaged goods company inspiring and empowering the worldwide community to live their very best life, today announced that the Company will release financial results for its third quarter fiscal 2022 ended February 28, 2022 before financial markets open on April 6, 2022.

Tilray executives will host a live conference call and audio webcast to discuss these results at 8:30 am Eastern Time, details of which are provided below.

Live Conference Call and Audio Webcast:

Date/Time: Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at 8:30 am Eastern Time.

Call-in Number: (877) 407-0792 from Canada and the U.S. or (201) 689-8263 from international locations. Please dial in at least 10 minutes prior to the start time.

A telephone replay will be available approximately two hours after the call concludes through April 22, 2022. To access the recording dial (844)-512-2921 from Canada and the U.S. or (412) 317-6671 from international locations and use the passcode 13728025.

There will be a simultaneous, live webcast available on the Investors section of Tilrays website at http://www.tilray.com. The webcast will also be archived. Additionally, Tilray's third quarter earnings call will be syndicated live to retail investors on the Public.com app.

Tilray shareholders will be able to submit and upvote questions for the upcoming conference call to the executive team via shareholder Q&A platform Say Technologies.

To submit questions ahead of the conference call, please visit the Say platform (https://app.saytechnologies.com/tilray-2022-q3/) Tilray shareholders and brokers with Say can participate directly in their investing app or broker website. The Q&A platform for Tilrays upcoming conference call on April 6, 2022 will remain open until 24 hours beforehand.

About Tilray Brands

Tilray Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq | TSX: TLRY), is a leading global cannabis-lifestyle and consumer packaged goods company with operations in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, and Latin America that is changing people's lives for the better one person at a time. Tilray Brands delivers on this mission by inspiring and empowering the worldwide community to live their very best life and providing access to products that meet the needs of their mind, body, and soul while invoking wellbeing. Patients and consumers trust Tilray Brands to deliver a cultivated experience and health and wellbeing through high-quality, differentiated brands and innovative products. A pioneer in cannabis research, cultivation, and distribution, Tilray Brands unprecedented production platform supports over 20 brands in over 20 countries, including comprehensive cannabis offerings, hemp-based foods, and craft beverages.

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For more information on how we open a world of wellbeing, visit http://www.Tilray.com.

ContactsFor media inquiries, please contact:Berrin Nooratanews@tilray.com

For investor inquiries, please contact:Raphael Gross 203-682-8253Raphael.Gross@icrinc.com

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Tilray Brands to Announce Third Quarter Fiscal 2022 Financial Results on April 6, 2022 - Yahoo Finance

Unix Hash

Shenzhen, China, March 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ethereum and Bitcoin are among the top two cryptocurrencies in the market. The Ethereum vs. Bitcoin debate has been raging for some years now. Google searches for "Ethereum merge" just hit an all-time high. Some expert crypto analysts believe that Ethereum may overtake Bitcoin in the coming years, as it continues to grow and be accepted worldwide. According to Yahoo Finance, Ethereum could eventually pass Bitcoin in market cap because its smart contracts are a more versatile alternative to Bitcoin.

Ethereum is a decentralized platform upon which different applications can be built, enabled, and supported by the collective value and effort of the people who use it. These applications are not only limited to managing financial transactions alone but also contract negotiation and other forms of agreement.

With a focus on decentralization and security, Ethereum blockchain produces blocks within a given period that fix the computational power needed to mine automatically. However, many people consider these features as bugs to be fixed in future updates because these features make mining less profitable.

However, there are now new ASIC mining hardware setups that are specially designed to mine Cryptocurrency. Miners can use these computers to mine any cryptocurrency that operates through proof of work.

ASIC miners can generate or mine more ether as compared to the GPU miners, however that efficiency comes along with a high cost as these computers are relatively expensive than GPU mining. If you want to know more about the best GPU for mining, ASIC, and other high performance mining hardware then you can visit Hushi.

There are several key distinctions between mining Ethereum and mining Bitcoin. While they were both designed with different purposes in mind, the former is not a direct derivative of the latter. This article explores the reasons for their differing natures, highlighting some crucial differences between Ethereum vs. Bitcoin.

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Bitcoin Basics

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer, decentralized payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority. It was released in 2009 by an individual or a group named "Satoshi Nakamoto."

Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency of all time, allows people to do secure transactions so that no one will be able to uncover the identity of a person sending or receiving Bitcoin. Payments are made using cryptography; hence all transactions are secured on the blockchain, and the network nodes can verify their legitimacy.

Although bitcoin wasn't the first try at an online currency of this sort, it was the most successful in its early years, and it has become something of a precursor to virtually all other cryptocurrencies that have been developed over the past decade. Many people believe Bitcoin to be a better alternative to conventional electronic transactions.

Ethereum Basics

Ethereum is a blockchain technology that was created in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency that provides ether tokens. This is similar to bitcoins in the Bitcoin network. However, the functionality of Ether is more than just enabling digital currency. Ether is the most established, open-ended decentralized software platform.

Ether is being used to build and deploy decentralized applications whose back-end code runs on a computer network consisting of a collection of machines rather than a centralized server. According to Dragonfly Research, Ethereum is the 'MS-DOS' of blockchains.

Ether tokens are used to pay for services like computational power needed before new blocks can be added to the blockchain or transaction fees paid via smart contracts.

This platform has its own programming language that runs on blockchain and allows developers to create and run distributed apps. The two most common purposes of Ethereum are cryptocurrency trading and running decentralized applications on the Ethereum network.

What are Smart Contracts?

Smart contracts are simply pieces of code that have been written on the blockchain. When certain conditions have been met, they will initiate automatically and proceed to do what they were programmed. They can be used as a part of an agreement and provide real-time security to all parties involved in an exchange.

Bitcoin vs. Ethereum

BTC and ETH both have one thing in common - they are both digital currencies - but that's where the similarities end. Ether is not meant to replace bitcoin as much as it was created to allow for the more efficient and decentralized running of smart contracts and dApps on their platform, which aims to facilitate distributed applications.

More importantly, both digital currencies are greatly different with respect to their overall aims. Bitcoin is better known for being a form of currency created purely for monetary use and lacks any potential use cases other than that.

That is not the case for Etherit has been primarily used as "gas" for Ethereum's platform, and its value was gained as more developers began creating applications that run on top of Ethereum's blockchain. However, the overgrowing popularity of Ethereum has pushed it ahead in the competition to all other cryptocurrencies, and it has gained significance from a trading perspective. Now, Ethereum is very close to Bitcoin in terms of rankings and total market cap.

Mining

When it comes to Ethereum vs. Bitcoin mining, there are some crucial differences between them. The reason is the same: both digital currencies don't share a common purpose at first.

The Bitcoin miners validate the crypto transactions by solving a complicated math puzzle to add a new block to the blockchain. First, this process is called "Proof of work." Ethereum miners do the same but work on a different transaction form, and their process of validation is called "Proof of stake."

In Ethereum mining, an individual can mine or validate transactions based on the number of Ether he/she owns. That means the best Ethereum miner with more coins holds more mining power in Ethereum mining.

Fees

The transaction fee for Bitcoin is optional. You can choose to pay more money to get it prioritized by the miners and make sure your transaction gets through faster. Otherwise, it will go through anyway.

On the other hand, though, when you create an Ethereum transaction, you must specify how much Ether you're willing to spend in order to have the computation take place that adds your transaction onto the blockchain which is necessary to send transactions on Ethereum. It's called "gas," and what it drives is known as a "transaction."

In simple words, Ethereum-based transactions tend to be far faster than Bitcoin transactions, while there's a steep cost that comes with that convenience which one must provide in Ether for a successful translation. Many people consider it a drawback of Ether when it comes to Bitcoin vs. Ethereum fees.

Time

In a blockchain, the block time is used to determine how quickly everyone in the network sees new transactions or how much time it takes to mine a block. The block time of Bitcoin is 10 minutes. On the other hand, Ethereum can verify transactions in 10 seconds.

Hashing Algorithms

Hashing algorithms are part of what makes blockchain technology difficult to hack and ensure its security. Cryptographic hash functions maintain their privacy and ensure the security of the systems. Bitcoins use a hashing algorithm called SHA-256, whereas Ethereum uses the Ethash hashing algorithm.

How many BTC and ETH are currently in circulation?

Bitcoin and Ethereum's monetary supply isn't even comparable. There are approximately 18.99 million bitcoins currently in existence, whereas Ethereum has approximately 120 million ether tokens circulating around.

Although the number of ethers in market circulation amounts to more than 120 million, its current market capitalization is still lower than Bitcoin's, which is valued at $844 billion as opposed to Ethereum's $375 billion valuations.

Bitcoin vs. Ethereum Daily Transactions

There are roughly 262,000 daily Bitcoin transactions taking place every day, whereas Ethereum processes roughly a 1.1million transactions every day.

Final Verdict: Bitcoin vs. Ethereum

Which is better, Bitcoin or Ethereum? There is no clear winner. The truth is that it depends entirely on your requirements. When choosing between both cryptocurrencies, it's important to consider what you hope to accomplish with either currency. If you're looking for a decentralized peer-to-peer transactions system, you may be better suited to opt for Bitcoin. Ethereum, on the other hand, seems like a stronger choice if you wish to create and build applications and smart contracts with a cryptocurrency platform.

This article was provided by Hushi, a global leader in manufacturing computer hardware for mining Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital currencies. They've focused on creating a number of core competencies related to mining digital currency products to become an innovator in the fields of ASIC designs and chip manufacturing.

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Two thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine days after the U.S. mens soccer team played its last World Cup game, it qualified for the 2022 edition of the planets preeminent sporting event.

With a 5-1 thrashing of Panama on Sunday and then a 2-0 loss in Costa Rica on Wednesday, the USMNT the teams popular acronym clinched one of 32 places at this years tournament, and unleashed months of excitement that American fans so dearly missed in 2018.

The 2022 World Cup, though, will be unlike any other men's World Cup. It wont be the nationwide summer celebration of soccer that used to arrive every four years.

Heres everything you need to know about it and about the U.S. team that will participate.

The 2022 World Cup begins Nov. 21 in Qatar, a peninsular emirate on the Persian gulf where summer temperatures often top 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

To avoid hazardous heat, FIFA, global soccers governing body, decided in 2015 to move the tournament out of its traditional summer window and to the cusp of winter. It will interrupt European club soccer seasons, rather than fall during their offseasons, as it had since its inception in 1930. No previous mens World Cup ended later than July 30.

Qatar won a sensationally shady bid for hosting rights way back in 2010. Years later, with many suspecting corruption, American investigator Michael Garcia produced a 430-page report that did not offer proof that Qatar had essentially bought the World Cup, but did detail loads of questionable behavior. Various high-ranking soccer officials who took part in the 2010 vote have since been banned from the sport or indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Qatar World Cup has provoked ethical and logistical concerns. Human rights groups have highlighted the gulf states systemic exploitation and mistreatment of migrant workers, thousands of whom have helped build World Cup stadiums and infrastructure from scratch. Fans worry about everything from LGBTQ+ rights and womens rights in the host country to its hotel shortage. FIFA has known all along that Qatar, whose size would make it the 49th-biggest U.S. state, could be too small to host the worlds grandest single-sport tournament.

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But organizers have never wavered. Foreign fans, including thousands of Americans, are still buying tickets. And the geographically condensed nature of the tournament will have its benefits: All eight stadiums are within 40 miles and 50-minute drives of one another, in and around Doha, the Qatari capital.

Twenty-nine of the 32 spots are accounted for. The qualified teams are (sorted by confederation and listed best-to-worst):

SOUTH AMERICA: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, EcuadorEUROPE: France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, England, Netherlands, Denmark, Croatia, Switzerland, Poland, SerbiaAFRICA: Senegal, Morocco, Cameroon, Tunisia, GhanaNORTH/CENTRAL AMERICA: U.S., Mexico, CanadaASIA: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Qatar (hosts)

The final three berths are up for grabs in playoffs in June. Costa Rica will face New Zealand for one of the three. Australia will play the United Arab Emirates for the right to take on (and probably lose to) Peru for another spot.

The third will go to either Wales, Scotland or Ukraine. The Ukraine-Scotland playoff semifinal was postponed from March until June because of the war. The semifinal winner will meet Wales a few days later for a win-and-in playoff final.

Italy, shockingly, lost to North Macedonia and failed to qualify for a second straight mens World Cup. Colombia, Chile, Nigeria and Egypt will also be absent. Sweden was the next-best European team to miss out. Russia was banned after its invasion of Ukraine.

Among players, Egypts Mo Salah and Norways Erling Haaland are the biggest stars who wont be present.

The 2022 World Cup draw is Friday. (Photo by FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

The U.S. will learn its group stage opponents at the World Cup draw, which takes place this Friday, April 1 in Qatar. The listed start time is noon ET (FS1, Telemundo). The actual drawing of the 32 teams into eight groups will likely happen closer to 12:30 or 1 p.m.

The U.S. will be seeded in Pot 2 out of 4, meaning it will match up with one top seed, and one team each from Pots 3 and 4. The pots, which will be based on the FIFA rankings released Thursday, will be as follows:

POT 1: Qatar, Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain, PortugalPOT 2: Netherlands, Mexico, U.S., Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Uruguay, CroatiaPOT 3: Senegal, Japan, Iran, Serbia, Morocco, South Korea, Poland, TunisiaPOT 4: Canada, Cameroon, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Peru/Australia/UAE, Costa Rica/New Zealand, Wales/Scotland/Ukraine

The simple analysis goes like this:

Qatar is the prize from Pot 1. It is seeded as the host, not as a top-eight team in the world. Its group will almost certainly end up being the weakest.

Non-European teams cannot draw nations from their own confederation meaning the U.S. wont get Canada or the Costa Rica-New Zealand playoff winner from Pot 4. This also means, for example, that if it gets South Korea from Pot 3, it cannot get Saudi Arabia from Pot 4.

The USMNTs dream draw is Qatar-Tunisia-Wales/Scotland/Ukraine (or Ecuador from Pot 4).

The USMNTs dream draw that doesnt include Qatar is Spain/Portugal-Tunisia-Saudi Arabia or Spain/Portugal-South Korea-Ghana.

The USMNTs nightmare draw is either Brazil-Serbia-Wales/Scotland/Ukraine or France-Serbia-Peru.

FIFA released the official procedures for the draw last week, if youd like to climb into the weeds.

Fox and Telemundo have TV and digital streaming rights in the U.S.

Beginning Nov. 21 and ending Nov. 28, throughout the first two rounds of the group stage, there will be four games per day in four standalone windows, at 1 p.m., 4, 7 and 10 Qatar time which is 5 a.m., 8, 11 and 2 p.m. ET. (The U.S. east coast is eight hours behind Qatar in the fall and winter.)

The final group matches, the Round of 16 and the quarterfinals will kick off at either 11 a.m. ET or 2 p.m. ET. The semifinals are at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Dec. 13 and Wednesday, Dec. 14. The final is at 11 a.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 18. (The full pre-draw schedule is here.)

Group stage kickoff times will be assigned after the draw. FIFA typically tries to accommodate major markets and maximize TV viewership at home, so unless the USMNT draws Japan or Korea, its games will likely start at 11 a.m. or 2 p.m. ET, not 5 a.m. or 8.

If work will interfere with your weekday viewing, take solace in this: One of the first two U.S. games will take place on either Thanksgiving (Groups G and H), Black Friday (Groups A and B) or that weekend (Groups C, D, E and F).

A lot. The rosters that opened the 2022 cycle and clinched qualification for the U.S. featured just four players from the team that lost in Trinidad on Oct. 10, 2017. The player pool has gotten younger and more talented. The team culture has improved significantly under head coach Gregg Berhalter, who was hired in December 2018. Theres also a new general manager former USMNT striker Brian McBride and a new sporting director former USMNT striker Earnie Stewart. And above them, theres a new CEO (Will Wilson) and president (former USWNT midfielder Cindy Parlow Cone).

The changes came slowly, in stages, but were ultimately sweeping, and this USMNT will look nothing like the one that failed to qualify five years ago.

Realistically, probably not. Theoretically, theres a slim chance.

The more reasonable statement would be that the Americans are semifinal dark horses in large part because theyre so young. This past summer, when they beat Mexico in a manic Nations League final, and then again at the Gold Cup two months later, they were the youngest team in program history, and the youngest national team in the world. Their best players Christian Pulisic (23), Tyler Adams (23), Weston McKennie (23), Sergio Dest (21), Brenden Aaronson (21), Gio Reyna (19), Yunus Musah (19), Ricardo Pepi (23) are all youthful and still growing.

The true contenders remain several steps ahead of the U.S. The favorites, per BetMGM, are:

1. Brazil (+550)2. France (+550)3. England (+700)4. Spain (+750)5. Germany (+900)6. Argentina (+1000)7. Belgium (+1000)8. Portugal (+1000)

Brazil and Argentina are the best bets at those odds. Both ran through South Amerias qualifying gauntlet undefeated.

Eight months out, there appear to be roughly 13 near-locks for the U.S. squad, assuming health especially with rosters potentially expanding from 23 to 26. Heres our projection:

(Roster bubble players in italics)

GOALKEEPERS: Zack Steffen, Matt Turner, Ethan Horvath

FULLBACKS: Sergio Dest, Antonee Robinson, DeAndre Yedlin, Joe Scally

CENTER BACKS: Walker Zimmerman, Miles Robinson, Chris Richards, Aaron Long

MIDFIELDERS: Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Luca de la Torre, Gianluca Busio, Kellyn Acosta

WINGERS/ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS: Christian Pulisic, Brenden Aaronson, Gio Reyna, Tim Weah, Paul Arriola

STRIKERS: Ricardo Pepi, Jesus Ferreira, Josh Sargent, Jordan Pefok

ALSO CONSIDERED: Sean Johnson (GK), John Brooks (CB), Tim Ream (CB/LB), Reggie Cannon (RB), George Bello (LB), James Sands (CB/CM), Christian Roldan (CM/everywhere), Sebastian Lletget (CM/AM), Jordan Morris (W), Caden Clark (W/AM), Gyasi Zardes (ST)

Likely in early November. FIFA hasnt yet set a roster deadline, but in 2018, it was 10 days before the first match. (Preliminary rosters of 35 players were due a month in advance, but those dont usually reveal much.)

European clubs, however, will play matches on the weekend of Sunday, Nov. 13, and wont be required to release players to their national teams until Monday, Nov. 14, which will complicate and condense preparations. Berhalter will likely name a squad, convene a group of the squads MLS-based players and others in the U.S., then travel to Europe and eventually Qatar to meet up with the European-based players.

If one of them gets injured after being named to the roster, he can be replaced up until 24 hours before the start of his teams first match, per tournament regulations.

Typically, all of this would happen in May and June. Thered be an extended stateside training camp, sendoff friendlies, media extravaganzas and more. None of that will be possible ahead of Qatar.

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