who

The Open: Justin Rose headlines 16 players who made it to Troon the,open,justin,rose,headlines,players,who,made,it,to,troon,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-majors,golf-pga-tour,golf-dp-world-tour,liv-golf

On: July 3, 2024 By: admin

Englishman Justin Rose will head back to The Open Championship at Royal Troon after carding an 8-under 134 at Burnham and Berrow—one of the four qualifying sites scattered across the British Isles.

It will mark Rose’s 19th appearance in golf’s oldest major, with his best finish coming in 2018, when he tied for second at Carnoustie. The 2013 U.S. Open winner also played at Royal Troon in 2016, tying for 22nd.

“Sometimes you take it for granted—you’re exempt, you turn up and play for many years, but as you get older, things get a little harder, so in some ways, it’s good to have to qualify because it makes you appreciate The Open a little more and how special it is,” Rose said after.

“Coming back to Burnham and Berrow was also special—first time back here since 1997. I was grateful to be back here and walk down memory lane.”

Rose played spectacularly, tying fellow Englishman Dominic Clemmons—an amateur—atop the leaderboard. Mexican Abraham Ancer and Swede Charlie Lindh will join these two players in The Open from Southwest England.

Ancer, Lindh, and Indian Anirban Lahiri finished at 5-under, putting this trio in a 3-for-2 playoff to determine who would go to Royal Troon. But Lahiri failed to make par on the first extra hole, while the other two managed to do so, thus ending Lahiri’s bid of returning to The Open.

Miracles at Dundonald Links

Amateur Jack MacDonald, who grew up minutes from Royal Troon, drained a 25-footer for birdie on the first playoff hole to clinch a spot in the 152nd Open field. He defeated Swede Tim Widing, who has a pair of wins on the Korn Ferry Tour this season, and fellow Scotsman Daniel Young.

But that was not the only magic produced at Dundonald on Tuesday.

Ángel Hidalgo, who hails from Spain and has never played in a major championship, drained a 120-yard wedge shot for an eagle two on the par-4 9th—his final hole of the day—to leap up to 5-under overall and book a ticket to Troon. Talk about clutch.

At 26 years old, Hidalgo has never won on the DP World Tour, but he does have one victory to his name on the Challenge Tour—the European equivalent of the Korn Ferry Tour.

“I’m still shaking,” Hidalgo said of his miraculous shot.

Ángel Hidalgo, The Open — Ángel Hidalgo reacts to his miraculous final shot that got him into the 152nd Open.

“The second shot was perfect distance. It was the first time all day I had a full club and at that type of moment. With nerves I prefer to have a full club. I didn’t see the ball go in but to be honest I don’t care. I just jumped and cried with my caddie, and we deserve it. We fight a lot. All this year we’ve not really had any luck so for it to finally take place in The Open would be a really good gift.”

Meanwhile, Englishman Sam Hutsby did not need any late miracles. He earned medalist honors at Dundonald thanks to a brilliant 8-under 136 over 36 holes. Hutsby finished three clear of Hidalgo and Irish amateur Liam Nolan, who hails from Galway on Ireland’s west coast. It will mark Hutsby and Nolan’s first major appearance.

“It’s hard to process the fact that I’m going to The Open,” Nolan said.

“I’m looking forward to everything: the crowds, it being in Scotland, the Home of Golf, and, yeah, I just can’t wait to go.”

Playoff at Royal Cinque Ports

Matthew Southgate set the pace and won medalist honors in Southeast England, fighting back tears after he made it to Royal Troon. But Royal Cinque Ports saw plenty of other drama unfold on Tuesday.

Australian Elvis Smylie and Spanish amateur Jaime Montojo finished at 3-under par, thus booking tickets to Ayrshire. But this serves as a full-circle moment for Smylie, the left-hander from the Gold Coast.

“Just saying that I’ve qualified for The Open gives me goosebumps,” Smylie said.

Elvis Smylie, The Open, Final Qualifying — Elvis Smylie poses with an Open flag after making it to Royal Troon.

“The last time I went to The Open was at Royal Troon in 2016, when I was 14 years old. Going there as a spectator eight years ago and now going back as a competitor—I don’t know what to say. I just can’t wait for the experience. I’ve already FaceTimed my dad, who’s back in Australia, and he said he will book a flight over. My mum is already over here commentating on Wimbledon, so everyone will come and watch me at Troon. I’m very excited.”

Both Smylie and Montojo will make their major debuts at Royal Troon.

A playoff between LIV Golf’s Branden Grace—the first man to shoot a 62 in a major championship—Jamie Rutherford and Spanish amateur Luis Masaveu determined the final spot from Royal Cinque Ports.

Masaveu won with a birdie on the second extra hole, becoming the 16th amateur to clinch a spot in this year’s Open field.

Nevertheless, a notable name did not qualify from Royal Cinque Ports: 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell. Thomas Detry also failed to finish among the top four.

West Lanchasire sends three Englishmen to Royal Troon

Sergio Garcia headlined the field at West Lancashire, and for the second year in a row, the 2017 Masters champion came up short. He will not make his 100th major championship start; he will do so at Augusta National next April instead.

So, with Garcia not making the cut, West Lanchasire saw two Englishmen finish atop the leaderboard instead: Sam Horsfield of LIV Golf and amateur Matthew Dodd-Berry.

Horsfield and Dodd-Berry finished at 6-under par.

“It’s the greatest moment of my career and everything that I’ve been working towards, even though I should have probably done it a year earlier and played at Royal Liverpool,” Dodd-Berry said.

The Open, Final Qualifying, West Lancashire — From left to right: Sam Horsfield, Matthew Dodd-Berry, Daniel Brown, and Masahiro Kawamura pose during Final Qualifying for The Open at West Lancashire.

“I’m really excited to get to Troon.”

Horsfield is also eager to head to Ayrshire for the 152nd Open.

“I always say to everyone that The Open is my favorite major,” Horsfield said.

“I’d never had that feeling before, the one when they call your name on the first tee—that was the coolest experience. I’m really looking forward to getting back and hopefully continuing to play well. These are the stages you want to play on.”

Englishman Daniel Brown and Japan’s Misahiro Kawamura finished their 36 holes one stroke behind Horsfield and Dodd-Berry at 5-under, thus rounding out the four spots awarded at West Lancashire.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

5 NFL coaches who deserve to be on the hot seat before the 2024 season even starts nfl,coaches,who,deserve,to,be,on,the,hot,seat,before,the,season,even,starts,sbnation,com,front-page,nfl,dot-com-grid-coverage

On: June 28, 2024 By: admin

The 2024 NFL season is nearly upon us, and it’s shaping up to be an exciting one. While we’re all looking ahead to how our teams will look and hopefully improve this year, it’s important to remember one of the constants of the NFL: While some teams will get better, others will regress. Not everyone will be taking the anticipated step forward, and some will be taking a step back.

On that note, it’s a good opportunity to check in on some of the most volatile coaching situations in the NFL. I delved through the 32 head coaches to come up with my top-five hottest seats in the league heading into 2024. Many of these names won’t be terribly surprising, as several were considered candidates to be let go this offseason, but a couple were a little more challenging than others.

Mike McCarthy

I think I speak for most NFL fans when I say that we were shocked when Mike McCarthy wasn’t fired after the Dallas Cowboys’ most recent playoff defeat. He’s back for 2024, coming off the loss of another key coordinator in Dan Quinn and a thoroughly disappointing offseason marred by a failure to take action on quarterback Dak Prescott’s contract. To put it simply, the Cowboys have been suspiciously lax in addressing veteran departures and the multiple holes on the roster.

While I think the draft class has the potential to be good, it’s a tough assignment for any rookie offensive lineman to come in and play right away. Tyler Guyton and Cooper Beebe could be thrust into the spotlight immediately to plug holes, and I’m not sure that will produce great results — at least, not right away. The receiving corps is incredibly thin after CeeDee Lamb, and the lack of urgency to address running back led to an uninspiring reunion with late-career Ezekiel Elliott.

I’m not sure any of these things are explicitly McCarthy’s fault, but we all know who will get the blame if Dallas regresses in 2024.

Matt Eberflus

Matt Eberflus is in a strange situation with the Chicago Bears. In many ways, it would’ve made sense for the Bears to make a clean break and start fresh with a new head coach in 2024. The team is very much in the midst of what feels like a perpetually ongoing rebuild, and Eberflus’ abysmal 10-24 record through two seasons doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. At the same time, the roster has been far from competitive and Eberflus can argue that he didn’t get any say in the previous quarterback decision. Sure, fair enough.

All that being said, expectations will be through the roof for Chicago in 2024 thanks to an aggressive offseason headlined by the addition of No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams at quarterback. If things don’t take off quite as fast as hoped and the Bears are once again picking near the top of the NFL Draft, the pitchforks will come out — and Eberflus will be the one on the pointy end.

Dennis Allen

Have you noticed a theme so far? The first three coaches on this list, Dennis Allen included, are all guys who were in danger of being fired at the end of the 2023 season. Allen has been a largely uninspiring coach for the New Orleans Saints, clawing his way to an under-.500 record over two seasons despite possessing one of the oldest and most expensive rosters in the NFL and playing in a division that has been pretty much wide open for the taking.

The expensive acquisition of Derek Carr was supposed to be the necessary move to get the Saints back on top in the NFC South, but the team ultimately fell short once again. Allen likely has a Week 18 Falcons collapse to thank for keeping his job heading into 2024, but things are looking considerably more dire for the Saints this season. The roster has continued to age and thin out thanks to years of cap shenanigans. New Orleans has an even tougher path to the playoffs this season, and three straight misses would almost certainly mean the end for Allen.

Robert Saleh

It seems like the signing of Aaron Rodgers, and his subsequent injury, probably saved Robert Saleh’s job in 2023. Perhaps Rodgers really would have lifted the New York Jets to playoff contention and renewed faith in Saleh’s leadership, but his injury essentially gave Saleh a free pass. While it’s clear Saleh is a great defensive mind and he’s put together a top unit in New York over the past two seasons, the offense has continuously held the team back.

Saleh is an abysmal 18-33 over his three seasons, and you’d expect pretty much any other coach to be shown the door in that situation. That means that 2024 is probably “playoffs or bust” time for both Saleh and the entire regime in New York. The Jets will obviously be better with a healthy Aaron Rodgers, but can they really compete with the top contenders in the AFC? Are they a better team than the Chiefs, Ravens, Bills, or Texans? Can Aaron Rodgers actually stay healthy? Will he retire mid-season to do ayahuasca and go on darkness retreats? A playoff berth alone may not be enough to save Saleh’s job given the expectations around the team.

Brian Daboll

It’s pretty unusual to see a coach coming off an AP Coach of Year award just two seasons prior entering the season on the hot seat, but the New York Giants are an unusual team. Brian Daboll worked magic in New York to get the team to a 9-7-1 record, playoff berth, and upset victory over the Vikings in 2022, but things completely fell apart in 2023. The Giants were among the league’s worst offenses and were near the bottom defensively as well, with Daniel Jones performing poorly coming off his extension before spending the majority of the season on IR.

New York is in a difficult spot heading into 2024, as the team chose to pass on a quarterback upgrade for another huge need, a wide receiver upgrade. That might have been the best choice for the team, but it probably wasn’t the best choice for Daboll’s job security. I still believe Daboll is a good coach and wouldn’t be shocked if he bounces back this season, but he’ll have to pull out some more of that 2022 magic to overtake the Eagles or Cowboys in the playoff race.

WNBA All-Star Game: 7 players who deserve to make it wnba,all,star,game,players,who,deserve,to,make,it,sbnation,com,front-page,wnba,2024-wnba-playbook,all-womens-sports,wnba-content,dot-com-grid-coverage

On: June 26, 2024 By: admin

The WNBA announced the early leaders of WNBA All-Star fan voting last Friday, with A’ja Wilson leading all players with 217,773 votes. But while the Aces star is one of the top players in the league, and a fan favorite, she doesn’t need the votes to appear in the All-Star game.

In a unique WNBA rules quirk related to their season taking place in the summer, during Olympic years, players like Wilson who have already been selected to represent the United States automatically earn spots in the All-Star game. All 12 Team USA Players will be All-Stars.

For the remaining spots, fans account for 50% of the voting, while players and media each account for 25% of voting. Voting for fans closes on June 29. The top 5 Team USA players and the top five non-USA vote-getters earn starting spots. Then, WNBA coaches select seven more players from a pool of the next 36 highest vote-getters, and “Team USA” squares off against “Team WNBA.” Those seven players will come off the bench, while the seven players remaining from the Olympic roster will come off the bench for Team USA.

For context, Caitlin Clark is the highest vote-getter among non-Team USA players in first returns, with 216,427 votes.

Here are seven players who aren’t playing for the United States that deserve one of those 12 All-Star spots.

Dearica Hamby

Hamby has two All-Star appearances to her name, in 2021 and 2022, but neither of those seasons compare to what she’s doing for the Sparks this year. Hamby spent her career as a sixth player for Las Vegas, but has become a star for Los Angeles.

In Hamby’s best season with the Aces in 2020, she averaged 13 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals. This summer, Hamby is averaging a double-double with 17.8 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Hamby is one of four WNBA players to average a double-double, is third in the league in rebounds, and 10th in points per game.

Jonquel Jones

2024 WNBA Commissioner’s Cup - Minnesota Lynx v New York Liberty

New York’s Jones is often overshadowed by her Liberty co-stars Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu — both USA team members — but her impact can’t be overlooked.

This is Jones’ best season since she was named MVP for Connecticut in 2021. The 6-6 forward is averaging 16.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.2 blocks per game. She impacts every aspect of the game for the Liberty, and has helped them to a 15-3 record, which is the best mark in the WNBA. Jones is an elite defender, and on offense she is able to stretch the floor by shooting 43.6% from beyond the arc. Her overall shooting percentage is additionally the best in the WNBA at 59%.

Arike Ogunbowale

The Wings are struggling this season, largely due to injuries to players like Satou Sabally and Maddy Siegrist, but Ogunbowale has been the bright spot for the 3-13 Dallas squad. She’s having the kind of season that would put her in contention for MVP, if she was playing for a winning team.

Ogunbowale is second in the league in points per game – behind Wilson, who is playing for Team USA – and is having the best statistical season of her six-year career. The guard is averaging 23.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.7 careers – all career-highs.

Kayla McBride

McBride has been an All-Star three times, with her last appearance coming in 2019. It’s time for the Minnesota guard to make her return, thanks to a historic shooting performance so far this season.

McBride is leading the WNBA in 3-pointers made, with 3.3 per game, and is shooting 46.4% from beyond the arc – the best mark of her career. In a win over the Storm on June 10, McBride made seven 3-pointers for a season-high 32 points. McBride is also 17th in the league in scoring, and is the second-highest point-getter on the Lynx, after Napheesa Collier. She’s certainly earned the nickname “Kayla McBuckets,” and an All-Star bid.

Dijonai Carrington

Connecticut’s Carrington has proved herself as an elite on-ball defender, starting with an impressive display against Caitlin Clark in the season-opener, where she forced 10 turnovers. Carrington is always called on to guard the best player on the opposing team, and she almost always delivers. She’s also having a solid offensive season, averaging 12.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

Carrington’s offensive numbers aren’t as strong as other potential All-Stars, but she’s one of the most complete players in the league. Her intense defense should give the fourth-year player an edge.

Ezi Magbegor

Magbegor won’t play for Team USA, but she will be in the Olympics, playing for Australia. She should play against the United States in the All-Star game as well, after starting the season as the WNBA’s leader in blocks. She’s averaging 2.5 per game, which is more than Wilson, who was named Defensive Player of the Year last season.

Magbegor has always been a solid defender — her play earned the Storm star her first All-Star bid last season — but she’s made offensive strides as well. The center is averaging 13.3 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, to go with her 2.5 blocks.

Angel Reese

Four players in the WNBA are averaging a double-double: Wilson, Collier (both Team USA members), Hamby, and Reese. The rookie is also leading the WNBA in offensive rebounds, by a wide margin. She’s averaging 4.7 offensive boards per contest, which is 1.5 more than Magbegor, who ranks second.

On top of it all, Reese is still getting better every game, and her last performance of 25 points and 16 rebounds in a win against Indiana put the LSU grad in elite company. Reese is only the second rookie after Wilson to record 25 points and 15 rebounds in a game. On the season Reese is averaging 13.2 points, 2.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

Even with 12 players earning automatic All-Star bids, the talent pool in the WNBA is deep. And Team USA will have its hands full with whoever earns a spot on Team WNBA. Last time the two squared off – in 2021 – it was Team WNBA that secured the win, 93-85 thanks to 26 points from Ogunbowale. Make sure to cast your vote before June 29, and your favorite player could play spoilsport this time around.

Chiefs Super Bowl ring error; who’s the Bryson DeChambeau of the NFL chiefs,super,bowl,ring,error,who,s,the,bryson,dechambeau,of,the,nfl,sbnation,com,front-page,nfl,dot-com-grid-coverage

On: June 17, 2024 By: admin

We have passed the midway point in June and have just over a month to go until NFL training camps kick off in earnest. Thankfully House of the Dragon is back to help us bide a bit more time.

The offseason drought makes talking about the NFL a bit more challenging than usual but that only makes it more fun. Michael Peterson and RJ Ochoa are once again up for the latest edition of The Skinny Post to discuss all things Football League of National.

Some required reading so that all of the jokes and points hit you properly:

The Kansas City Chiefs are probably mad at their ring designer
Bryson DeChambeau won the U.S. Open on Sunday
There is a new fantasy football punishment everyone has thoughts on

Let’s begin.

The Kansas City Chiefs messed up their Super Bowl rings and that is hilarious

Michael:

If I didn’t make it abundantly clear in the first edition of The Skinny Post, I am a Chargers fan so this bit of news was a real juicy morsel when it dropped last week. Now let’s be frank, I’d trade my life savings and the deed to my house if it meant the Chargers could win a Super Bowl in my lifetime but that won’t stop me from dunking on the Chiefs when I can.

This is one of those moments.

Kansas City unveiled their latest Super Bowl rings and while they’re as gorgeous as you’d expect, there was a minor mistake that was missed. Inside the ring, the Chiefs listed all of their opponents they defeated en route to winning the championship along with their seed for the postseason. However, the Chiefs engraved a “7” next to the Dolphins, denoting them as the seventh seed. Here’s the thing: The Steelers were the seventh seed while the Dolphins were the sixth seed.

I cannot express just how embarrassing this must be for the back-to-back Super Bowl champs. It’s so embarrassing they may end up finishing last in the AFC West this season. The expected ridicule will simply be too much for Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid.

It was a great dynasty while it lasted though!

RJ:

Objectively speaking, the ring thing is a disaster. Nobody can change my mind on this.

In our day and age where teams focus on the symbolism and meaning behind things like how many diamonds are in the ring and whatnot, messing up a crucial detail is a bad look and hilarious from the outside. What’s more is that it seems like the reason Kansas City put the seeds in the first place was to emphasize how tough their path to their latest title was given that they beat the Buffalo Bills (No. 2), Baltimore Ravens (No. 1) and San Francisco 49ers (No. 1). They literally beat both No 1 seeds and that is in fact ridiculously impressive.

So with this being the case… the mistake in question actually makes their playoff path look less impressive. The flub makes the Dolphins look worse than they were, which is once again hilarious given everything involved. Ultimately a detail on your third Super Bowl ring in five years is the pinnacle definition of rich people problems, but imagine being the person who signed off on this getting the phone call about it all once the internet saw the rings.

Under the radar players who could completely change perception with a title

RJ:

As noted up top, Bryson DeChambeau won the U.S. Open on Sunday, his second major championship. Incidentally both of them are U.S. Open victories.

I am a massive golf fan (shout out to our colleagues here at SB Nation over at Playing Through for being a daily read of mine) and in case you aren’t then what you need to know is that Bryson was a bit, um, unpopular over the last few years.

It is difficult to explain exactly why Bryson was so not liked, given that it is a lot of things. His personality rubbed people the wrong way (he had a lot to do with that), but in the last year or so he has really turned things around.

DeChambeau lost golf’s most recent major championship (the PGA Championship at Valhalla) to Xander Schauffele by one stroke, and even as someone who appreciates Xander a ton I was so bummed for Bryson. It was confusing.

Watching Bryson get it done on Sunday at Pinehurst and taking down a fan favorite like Rory McIlroy in the process and being overwhelmingly happy for Bryson was such a weird sequence of emotions given everything up to this point. In the spirit of this… I wanted Michael and I to take a shot at figuring out which NFL players could elicit similar emotions.

Ultimately I think that the answer is Kirk Cousins. Netflix’s Quarterback really elevated Kirk’s reputation for a lot of people and his season-ending Achilles injury last year while he was playing great football seemed to pull even more people into his corner. Then there is also the fact that his new team in the Atlanta Falcons drafted Michael Penix Jr. right after paying Kirk to join them in the first place.

Imagine if Kirk led the Falcons to the Super Bowl this season? If Kirk was the person to slay the 28-3 demons? If Kirk were the one to do it all? Given everything that has happened up to this point?

Dare I say it would be Bryson DeChambeau winning the U.S. Open at Pinehurst.

Michael:

I’m going to hop into your neck of the woods and use Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott as my choice here.

Prescott is widely viewed as one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. Depending on who you ask, he probably varies anywhere between the top 15, top 10, and even the top 5 of NFL quarterbacks during some stretches of the season. The unfortunate part is that, despite being on a team that had both a top-5 offense and top-10 defense over the past three seasons, Prescott has not been able to guide the Cowboys out of the Divisional Round in three consecutive playoff appearances. He’s 2-5 in the playoffs and 1-3 since 2021. Those numbers are not becoming of a team that has been one of the best regular-season clubs of the past 10 years and has 12 wins in each of the past three seasons.

So similar to what you had to say about Kirk Cousins, the recent narrative around Prescott and the Cowboys could be flipped on its head were they to win their first Super Bowl since 1995. The thing is, maybe they need to stop being so successful during the regular season so the pressure isn’t nearly as high come the postseason? Maybe they should barely squeak into the playoffs and then they can play with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Thoughts? Prayers? Sounds like a steel-clad plan to me.

How we would approach the McDonald’s fantasy football eating punishment

Michael:

Alright so I loved this story when you sent it to me.

A guy got last place in his fantasy football league and his punishment was that he has to spend 24 hours inside a McDonald’s. However, he has the opportunity to “eat his way out” by consuming menu items, each of which are paired with a time amount that gets taken off the clock. So for example, if he eats a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, he gets 45 minutes taken off the clock. If he consumes an entire hotcakes and sausage combo meal, he gets an hour taken off.

Here is the full structure:

I finished in last place in fantasy football, and tomorrow I have to do my punishment.
I have to sit on a McDonalds for 24 hours unless I can eat my way out of it. Here’s the key I was given by a league mate for what I can eat to shorten my time pic.twitter.com/uhgidj67yb

— Joe DeLeone (@joedeleone) June 14, 2024

So now let’s talk how I would personally attack this thing.

If I began at the crack of dawn, I would start with a plethora of Sausage McMuffins with Egg. Normally I’m just an Egg McMuffin guy, but the additional sausage would provide 15 more minutes off the clock and that little slab of meat added won’t affect my overall stomach capacity. I would gorge myself on those until I simply couldn’t anymore. Maybe that’s six or seven of them which amounts to about 5 hours already gone. From there, I’d intermittently nap to pass the time and digest. When I wake, I’d consume another McMuffin or switch to the double cheeseburgers as the morning turns to afternoon.

While a McDouble is only 30 minutes off, a double cheeseburger is 45 minutes. I’m not entirely sure what the difference is between the two, but it can’t be much of anything so we’re going with the item that takes more time off the clock.

If I can get out of there before the sun sets entirely, I’d be happy (and grossly full).

RJ:

Full disclosure: I sent this to a lot of people on Saturday morning, coincidentally while I was in the drive-thru at McDonald’s of all places. Life can be funny like that.

But my perspective on this is that the goal should not be to get out of there as quickly as possible. My goal would be to spend something like 7-8 hours physically in the building and spend the time writing, reading or watching something. Determining that getting out in an hour is the first step of acceptance here. You’ve got to lean into the ordeal.

Understanding that I’m trying to shave about 16 hours off I feel the need to say that as a kid I really enjoyed the hash browns from McDonald’s. I would eat around four in a single sitting… as a kid.

With the belly of an adult I really think that this would be the cheat code for me as my child-like order of four would knock out an hour at a time. Hash browns are also really small relative to everything else so I think I could do about 16 over the course of my first hour. After some time to settle I think I could repeat this and boom, half the time I want to take off is now gone. Presto, baby.

For the record I do not think I have had an actual hamburger from McDonald’s since around the time that I was crushing hash browns with regularity (as a Texan I am a Whataburger loyalist). That being said I think a cheeseburger is an easy mountain to climb four times to take another two hours off. Six to go.

I think at this point you kind of have to accept that this is where things start to suck so I would just do the “Big Breakfast with Hotcakes” three times to drag myself across the finish line.

Boom. Done. Easy.