Welcome back to The Varsity, my twice-weekly private email about the business dealings surrounding your favorite sports leagues and teams and the selfless heroes and heroines who run it all. Happy NBA Finals Game 1 Day to all who celebrate. (Mavs in six…)

My partner Peter Hamby took to Puck’s infamous #general Slack channel this morning to call the Woj vs. Shams Twitter Scoop Wars “the worst rivalry in sports.” Fair enough, but I actually love watching the competition between these two -information brokers. A couple days ago, of course, Shams Charania singled out ESPN commentator and LeBron co-podcaster JJ Redick as the frontrunner to become the Lakers’ next head coach. This morning, however, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski scored a most palpable hit with his scoop that the Lakers actually have their coaching sights set on UConn’s Dan Hurley. We’ll see if Shams strikes back…

Meanwhile, I appreciate that some of you illicit forwarders have toned down your behavior since being sent Marchand’s homemade kombucha. Anyone else I catch will receive a pair of front-row tickets to his one-hour special, Marchand to the Beat of His Own Drum. (You’ll need to bring a poncho.)

Let’s get to it…