Dez Reads. All Bets Are Off.

When the line between the court and the casino starts to blur, you know it’s been an interesting week.

Mark here, stepping in as Josh wraps up yet another week of managing the world’s biggest problems. In between various crises, he had time to lead us with a story straight out of Scorsese – mobsters, NBA legends, and the uneasy marriage between sports, money, and morality. Mike follows with a viral therapy session that hits him a little too close to home as a young New York Jets fan whose heartbreak went national, proving misery really does love company.

Jen lightens things up with a feel-good tale from Scotland’s World Porridge Championships (yes, that’s real), and Nathaniel returns to his long-running cinematic feud as Warner Bros. Discovery puts itself up for sale.

Finally, I look at what happens when the future malfunctions and why even our digital hiccups show just how far innovation has come.

Halloween is right around the corner, and whether you’re tricking, treating, or just relaxing, we wish you a frightfully good weekend.

Thanks, as always, for reading along with us.

Here we go.

House Always Wins

NBC News. Inside the federal gambling case that ensnared NBA stars and mobsters.

This will be a very cool Scorsese movie someday.

Detroit Pistons legend and 2004 NBA Finals MVP Chauncey Billups is one of several NBA players and coaches wrapped up in an illegal gambling, wire fraud, and money laundering ring driven by the Mafia.

The high-tech poker cheating scheme is the most interesting element of this conspiracy; the point shaving and gambling fraud begs many questions. Not least of which: When are sports leagues going to reckon with the tension between promoting sports betting every second of every game, while still maintaining the integrity of American sports?

– Josh Culling

Gang Green Therapy Session

BroBible. Young New York Jets Fan Goes Viral For Hilariously Summing Up The Brutality Of Jets Fandom

Going viral for all the wrong reasons. You know a video has gone extremely viral when you have people from all parts of your life sending you the same video. For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, there is an extremely popular video circulating the internet of a young NY Jets fan reacting at MetLife Stadium with a simple but relatable response to the game he just watched: “I hate this team. I was born into this, and I, I’m not gonna ever … I’m always a Jets fan, but, like … I hate this team.”

I have never related to a sports clip more in my life and I think that is why it has gone so viral. Just absolute raw emotion from a fellow NY sports fan that had no choice in who they root for just getting crushed by his team’s inability to make football fun or even watchable. That raw emotion is probably why it has hit the algorithms of my college friends, hometown friends, colleagues and even my wife’s friends. All of them have taken the time to send this clip to me with different additional commentary.

– Mike Bova

Oats of Glory

There Are Thousands of Michelin Stars, But Only One World Porridge Champion

I grew up on Scott’s Porridge Oats. They are creamy, comforting and my ultimate feel-good food. My Scottish grandfather and I could never agree on how to flavor them: I preferred honey, much to his horror, while he swore by salt, much to mine. I can only imagine his reaction to the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Championship. He’d be astonished by what today’s competitors are doing with a breakfast food he prepared in its traditional way: Scottish oats, water, salt, and plenty of stirring with a spurtle.

That was perfection to him. I love this story because it celebrates how a quirky local competition, which was born to revive tourism in a struggling Highlands town, has grown into a thriving global event. There’s even been a recent documentary made. Who says porridge isn’t everyone’s comfort food? And if you don’t know what a spurtle is or own one… You should!

– Jen Hirshon

The Studio That Lost the Plot

NBC. Warner Bros. Discovery puts itself up for sale

*sigh* I’m back again for Act Three of airing my grievances with Warner Bros. Discovery. Back in March, I said they were drifting toward an outcome anyone who loves movies would despise – a sale. I just didn’t think it would happen this fast. With CEO David Zaslov effectively putting a “for sale” sign on the studio, WBD is entertaining bids from a few buyers in an ever-shrinking market.

What sucks is the admission that the culture lost the room. You don’t sell a major Hollywood studio like this when you’re confident in your creative engine. Maybe a sale brings a reset under someone who values craft over boardroom-created spectacle, but it could also deepen the cynicism I’ve warned about. I wanted WBD to prove me wrong, but they’ve proved the script right. Regardless of who wins the bid, I’ll offer a shameless plug of my playbook from the summer; maybe the new owners will take a look.

– Nathaniel Beach

Update Needed

OB Daily. AWS Outage Leaves $2,000 Smart Beds Overheating and Stuck Upright

When Amazon Web Services went down last week, it didn’t just interrupt streaming, shopping, or banking. It left people literally trapped in bed. Owners of the Eight Sleep Pod woke up to find their smart mattresses overheating or stuck upright after the system lost its cloud connection.

It’s easy to laugh at the absurdity, but it’s also proof of how far we’ve come. Not long ago, tech integration meant a phone alarm or a Nest thermostat. Now we live in homes that adapt, anticipate, and learn… And of course, occasionally glitch. Even the smallest bugs show just how seamlessly AI has already embedded itself in daily life, or in this case, nightly sleep.

This story reminds me of the Waymo that got pulled over without a driver – not a sign of dysfunction, but of a world in transition. I’ve always believed AI is the future, and moments like this show that even its hiccups signify how deeply it’s taking hold. The growing pains are real, but so is the progress.

As the world evolves, it tells us that the future doesn’t break; it updates. Or at least that’s the hope of Eight Sleep’s CEO.

– Mark Emerson

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