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Personal Briefing

πŸŒ…Personal Briefing - Friday, June 26, 2026

Good morning. Here's your personal read.

πŸƒTraining

Training data unavailable today - Strava may be down.

☘️Notre Dame Sports

🏈Football

The recruiting board has a big day today: five-star interior offensive lineman Albert Simien (Lake Charles, La., a top-15 overall 2027 prospect) announces his commitment this morning on SportsCenter, choosing among Notre Dame, Texas A&M, LSU, Ole Miss and Nebraska. Momentum swung hard to the Irish after his June 20-21 official visit - On3's prediction model puts ND's chances around 94% - but it isn't official until he says so. Watch for it; we'll confirm the result tomorrow.

There's already a fresh name on the board. Four-star defensive lineman Segun Alexander - a 6-foot-4 lineman out of Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School (Ga.) who recently reclassified from 2028 into the 2027 class - committed to Notre Dame coming out of his official-visit weekend (June 19-21), picking the Irish over a strong list that included Texas A&M, Clemson and Georgia. He's another building block on a defensive line haul that's drawing national "best in the country" reviews, joining EDGE Abraham Sesay among the 2027 front-seven group.

That continues a hot stretch on the trail - last weekend's headliner was four-star wideout Julius Jones Jr., the legacy pick who committed early (June 22) alongside his 2028-class brother Andre. Off the field, sophomore CJ Carr remains the QB1 as the program counts down to a September opener with real CFP expectations.

Upcoming:

  • Fri Jun 26 (today) - 5-star OL Albert Simien commitment announcement (ND the heavy favorite)
  • Sun Sep 6 - season opener vs. Wisconsin at Lambeau Field (Shamrock Series), 7:30 ET, NBC/Peacock

Last Result: Offseason - no games until September.

πŸ€Women's Basketball

No news to report! Here's recent information in case you missed a previous newsletter:

The standing headline is Niele Ivey's first gold as a USA Basketball head coach - Team USA beat Canada 90-72 on June 16 for the FIBA U18 Women's AmeriCup, with incoming Irish freshman Isabella Sangha taking silver on the other sideline for Canada. Ivey has since turned to the 2027 recruiting class, hosting blue-chip guard visits through the summer. The roster returns star guard Hannah Hidalgo to headline a remade group after last season's Elite Eight run.

Upcoming: 2027-class recruiting visits through the summer; season opens in November. Last Result: Team USA (Ivey) 90, Canada 72 - U18 AmeriCup gold, June 16.

πŸ₯Lacrosse

No news to report! Here's recent information in case you missed a previous newsletter:

Both programs are deep in the offseason. The men closed a terrific 2026 in the NCAA national championship game, falling to top-seeded Princeton 16-9 on May 25. The lasting headline: defenseman Shawn Lyght won the 2026 Tewaaraton Award - the first defensive player in the award's history to take the trophy - and has eligibility left, giving the Irish a star to build around. Kevin Corrigan returns for another season at the helm.

Last Result: Men - lost NCAA championship to #1 Princeton, 16-9 (May 25).

πŸ”΄Utah Utes

🏈Football

Morgan Scalley's 2027 class keeps growing through the recruiting dead period. Bingham High edge rusher Monson Tukuafu (6-3, 230) committed to the Utes on June 25, becoming the class's 17th pledge and sixth in-state commit. He posted 47 tackles and 3 sacks as a junior and earned Deseret News 6A honorable-mention honors, picking Utah over a slate of Pac-12 and Mountain West offers. The class - anchored by last week's headliner, four-star in-state WR Jaxton Itaaehau - now sits around 11th in the Big 12.

On the field, Scalley remains the head coach and will make his Rice-Eccles head-coaching debut in the opener, with Devon Dampier leading a quarterback room that added UMass transfer Brandon Rose.

Upcoming:

  • Thu Sep 3 - vs. Idaho (Rice-Eccles, Scalley's HC debut)
  • Sat Sep 12 - vs. Arkansas (home)

Last Result: - (offseason)

🀸Gymnastics

No news to report! Here's recent information in case you missed a previous newsletter:

The Red Rocks are deep in the offseason and won't compete again until January 2027. Utah finished its 2026 campaign ranked 10th nationally and, for the first time in 51 years, missed the NCAA Championship - by the narrowest of margins (0.125). Avery Neff headlines the program's future after a standout sophomore season (2026 Big 12 and Region 2 Gymnast of the Year, multiple perfect 10s). Head coach Carly Dockendorf is signed through 2031.

Upcoming: Season opens January 2027.

πŸ“‹Around the Program

  • A rule change that hits Utah harder than most. The NCAA Division I cabinet unanimously approved a new age-based eligibility model (June 25): athletes get five seasons within five years, doing away with redshirts and injury waivers, effective for those first enrolling in fall 2027. The wrinkle that matters in Salt Lake City - the eligibility clock freezes for athletes serving an official religious mission, a carve-out with outsized relevance for Utah and BYU given their large Latter-day Saint missionary populations.

🌰Ohio State Buckeyes

🏈Football

No news to report! Here's recent information in case you missed a previous newsletter:

The latest on-field-adjacent news was the NBA Draft, where program all-time leading scorer Bruce Thornton went No. 31 to the Houston Rockets (June 24) - Ohio State's first NBA pick since 2023. On the football side, Ryan Day will bring WR Jeremiah Smith, DB Jaylen McClain and QB Julian Sayin to Big Ten Media Days, where the Buckeyes appear July 29. The next recruiting domino is five-star DL Marcus Fakatou, who has said he'll announce the first week of August, with Ohio State viewed as the frontrunner over Georgia and Texas.

Upcoming:

  • Sat Sep 5 - vs. Ball State (12:30 ET, BTN) - season opener
  • Sat Sep 12 - at Texas (7:30 ET, ABC)

πŸ“‹Around the Program

  • Ohio State is chasing a half-billion-dollar budget. Athletic director Ross Bjork said Thursday (June 25) that the Buckeyes aim to become the first college program with a $500 million annual operating budget - "very soon." The context: a record $336.1M in FY25 revenue (up from the prior $279.5M high), roughly $320M in expenses, a ~$16M surplus, $21.3M distributed to athletes in revenue-sharing, and a $125M Woody Hayes Athletic Center expansion. It's a marker of how far the financial arms race in college sports has run.

🌐Whip-Around

The home World Cup reaches its first true knockouts this weekend, and the NHL holds its draft tonight.

⚽World Cup / Soccer

The 48-team tournament (USA/Canada/Mexico co-hosts) is closing out the group stage, and the elimination rounds are here.

  • The USA is through as Group D winners. After the wins over Paraguay (4-1) and Australia (2-0), the Americans wrapped group play Thursday night against TΓΌrkiye in what was effectively a dead rubber - the group already won, TΓΌrkiye already eliminated - so Pochettino rotated heavily and rested Christian Pulisic. None of it changed the math: the U.S. advances as the group winner.
  • The Round of 32 begins Sunday, June 28 with South Africa vs. Canada at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles - the first elimination game of the tournament.
  • The USA's knockout match is set for Wednesday, July 1 at Levi's Stadium in the Bay Area, against a third-place qualifier still to be determined as the final group results land. (Winning Group D was the goal precisely to set up a more navigable draw.)
  • Context: no true giant fell in the group stage - Brazil, Argentina, France, Germany, Spain, Mexico and the USA all advanced. The lasting Cinderella story remains Cape Verde, the ~525,000-population debutant that held Euro champion Spain to a 0-0 draw, while TΓΌrkiye and South Korea were the biggest names sent home.

πŸ€NBA

The post-draft trade market is wide open. The headliner: LaMelo Ball has been traded from Charlotte to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Minnesota lands Ball and Josh Green to pair an elite playmaker with Anthony Edwards; the Hornets get Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round pick, three future pick swaps and second-round picks - a full rebuild-style haul. It follows the Giannis-to-Miami blockbuster from draft week, and there's more coming: free agency officially opens Monday, June 30.

πŸ“‹Around the Leagues

  • NHL Draft - tonight. Round 1 goes tonight (Fri, June 26) at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, with the Toronto Maple Leafs holding the No. 1 overall pick (they won the May lottery). Penn State winger Gavin McKenna is the consensus projected No. 1. Rounds 2-7 follow Saturday.
  • Tennis: Wimbledon starts Monday, June 29. Jannik Sinner is the men's top seed and defending champ; Aryna Sabalenka headlines the women's field. The big absence is Carlos Alcaraz, out with a wrist injury.
  • Golf: the Travelers Championship (signature event, TPC River Highlands) runs through June 28. Eric Cole leads after Thursday's opening 63 (-7), with Scottie Scheffler a stroke back at -6.

🎬Film & Cinema

🎬Now & Notable

The box office this weekend is a two-horse story: Supergirl (Craig Gillespie, with Milly Alcock) opens wide and is tracking to roughly $47-50M, while Toy Story 5 is projected to hold No. 1 in its second frame (~$80-90M) after a record $160M domestic / $312M global debut. (Those are pre-weekend projections - the actuals land after the weekend.) Early reviews single out Alcock while finding the film around her uneven.

The cinephile pick, though, is on streaming and available now: India Donaldson's Good One - one of the most assured American debuts of recent years (Sundance, Cannes Directors' Fortnight) - landed on MUBI this week. A quiet, precisely observed Catskills camping drama about a teenage girl, her father, and his oldest friend. Prioritize it.

πŸ†Industry & Festivals

The most interesting festival item is pure cinephile catnip. At Annecy (the animation festival closes Saturday, June 27), the Brothers Quay - honored with an honorary Cristal - revealed two new projects: a 10-minute commissioned tribute to Krzysztof KieΕ›lowski, marking 30 years since his death, and an untitled feature inspired by Carl Orff's Musica Poetica. New work from the stop-motion twins is always an event.

On the business side, a development worth a cinephile's raised eyebrow: Google is investing roughly $75M in A24 to build AI filmmaking tools through an A24 Labs / Google DeepMind partnership - think AI-generated storyboards. A24's Scott Belsky frames it as preserving creative control rather than cutting costs; coming on the heels of Backrooms becoming the label's biggest-ever hit, it puts a beloved indie brand at the center of the AI-in-filmmaking debate.

Meanwhile in Bologna, Il Cinema Ritrovato closes its 40th edition Sunday, June 28, capping a run that opened with a definitive 4K Sunrise restoration (Murnau, screened with a live orchestra before ~7,000) with world premieres of restored Chaplin shorts, A Dog's Life and Shoulder Arms.

πŸ“‹On Your Radar

  • MUBI (now): Good One (India Donaldson) - the month's essential arthouse pick.
  • MUBI (July): Julian Radlmaier's Phantoms of July as a worldwide exclusive, with a Radlmaier mini-retro, plus library additions The Deer Hunter, The Third Man and Amores Perros.
  • Criterion Channel (July): a Harry Dean Stanton centennial retrospective (18 films), a Jonathan Demme set, and all 17 episodes of The Prisoner.
  • Repertory now: the 4K Sunrise and restored Chaplin shorts at Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna (through June 28).

πŸ“šReading

πŸ“šReading

Reading data unavailable today.

πŸ”οΈTreasure Valley

🍽️Food & Drink

  • Xin Chao (Vietnamese) is coming to Meridian. A new Vietnamese concept from owner An Van Nguyen is moving into the former Urban Fox space at 2970 N. Eagle Rd., with plans for rooftop seating plus indoor dining, per city permits. No firm open date yet.
  • The Foundry is planned for the former Loose Screw space in Meridian. A new restaurant is slated for 1511 W. McMillan Rd. (Suite 100), the old Loose Screw Beer Co. location - the brewery brand still runs its downtown Meridian spot.
  • Reminders from the pipeline: the Boardwalk additions in Garden City (Ground Rules sports bar, Spitfire Tacos + Tequila) are open, with Peregrine Overlook (rooftop bar) and Eagle's The STIL + Bumble Coffee still slated for July.

πŸŽ‰Events & Things to Do

  • Today-Sat, Jun 26-27 - Eagle Fun Days, downtown Eagle. 55th annual: free parade, car show, kid zone, vendor market, live music.
  • Today-Sat, Jun 26-27 - Boise Mountain Bike Festival @ Eagle Bike Park & Bogus Basin. Demos, film screenings, group rides; benefits local trail groups.
  • Sat, Jun 27 - Boise Music Festival @ Expo Idaho, Garden City. 15th annual, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Marshmello, Sean Paul, Everclear and Eve 6 across five stages. (Ticketed.)
  • Sat, Jun 27 - MGK with Wiz Khalifa @ Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater, Nampa, 7 p.m. The "Lost Americana" tour rolls into the valley - the weekend's big touring show. (Ticketed.)
  • Sat, Jun 27 - Salsa Under the Stars @ JUMP, 1000 W. Myrtle St., Boise. Free beginner lessons 6-8 p.m., social dancing to 11:30 p.m.; Latin music, beer/wine. ($15 advance / $20 door.)
  • Sat, Jun 27 - Capital City Public Market, 827 W. Main St., downtown Boise. Weekly farmers/art market, 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (Meridian Dairy Days also wraps its final day at Storey Park.)
  • Wed, Jul 1 - Alive After 5 @ The Grove Plaza, downtown Boise. Free concert series, 5-8 p.m.

πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ July 4 lead-up (Sat, July 4 - 8 days out):

  • City of Boise "America 250" @ Ann Morrison Park. Vendors from 6 p.m.; Boise Philharmonic 9 p.m.; patriotic drone show 10:15 p.m.; fireworks 10:30 p.m. (synced to 107.1 FM). Park closed to vehicles all day; no personal fireworks.
  • Downtown: pancake breakfast (7 a.m.) and Zamzows Patriotic Pet Parade (9 a.m.) at Cecil D. Andrus Park; the Idaho 4th of July Parade steps off at 10 a.m.
  • Meridian Independence Day Celebration @ Storey Park. Food trucks from late afternoon; fireworks ~10:20 p.m. from Meridian Speedway.
  • Kuna 4th of July @ Bernie Fisher Park. A Freedom Fun Run on the Greenbelt, then park festivities from 6 p.m. (food trucks, DJ); fireworks ~10:15 p.m. Kuna is an official "America 250 Ambassador City" this year.
  • Boise Hawks play at Memorial Stadium (Garden City) with post-game fireworks around the holiday.

πŸ”—Worth Reading

Generated on Friday, June 26, 2026

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