Dick’s Sporting Goods has looked like Dick’s Sporting Greats lately, roughly doubling its sales in the past 10 years. That’s in part due to the youth sports market, which has turned into an absolute juggernaut. According to the Aspen Institute:

• Youth sports are a $40 billion annual market in the US.
• In 2024, the average US sports family spent more than $1,000 on their child’s primary sport.
• That’s a 46% increase from 2019.

Diamonds are a sports retailer’s best friend: If you’re searching for a magical spring, look no further than the fountain of youth baseball. Per Aspen, the average family’s annual spending on the sport jumped nearly 70% from 2019 to 2024. Dick’s positioned itself right in the middle of the action, selling young ballplayers everything but the grass stains.

It’s not just luck. Dick’s has been investing in technology. In 2016, it acquired GameChanger, a score- and stat-keeping app popular with youth sports teams that makes nearly $150 million in annual revenue, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Rewarding steps, rethinking footprints

A couple weeks ago, the flagship Dick’s app even challenged AI heavyweights Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini at the top of the iPhone App Store’s most downloaded chart, buoyed by a viral post that touted a feature on the app that lets you turn fitness milestones into loyalty points. The app has also been lauded for its product notifications and reservation system.

Dick’s also plans to roll out dozens of new megastores it calls “Houses of Sport,” which are built to keep customers engaged and in the store, kind of like Bass Pro Shops, but replace the spinnerbaits with sliding mitts.

Smaller size: Dick’s acquired competitor Foot Locker last year with plans to close a slew of underperforming stores. But store testing revealed that scaling back on inventory turned some of them around. Now, the slimmed-down “Fast Break” concept will roll out ahead of the next back-to-school season and is expected to drive growth for Dick’s.

What’s in stock? Dick’s stock has outpaced the S&P 500 since 2020, but it’s down nearly 3% in the last year, partly due to growing pains from the Foot Locker acquisition.—BC

Energy Secretary Chris Wright says gas prices will remain elevated while Strait of Hormuz is unsafe. On ABC News yesterday, Wright said there are “no guarantees in war at all,” and acknowledged there would be “some elevated pricing” at the gas pump until the war ends—although hopefully not the $5-per-gallon average that he reminded viewers was hit during the Biden administration. Separately, the Energy Information Administration, which is part of the Department of Energy, forecast that gas prices wouldn’t return to pre-war levels until 2028. In an interview with the Financial Times yesterday, President Trump said that NATO member nations should send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to help the US reopen it, and that if they failed to do so, it could be “very bad for the future.” There remains no timeline for the war’s end.

FCC chairman threatens to revoke broadcast licenses over “news distortions.” In an X post on Saturday, Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, threatened to revoke broadcasters’ licenses over their coverage of the Iran war, accusing them of “running hoaxes and news distortions.” With his post, Carr shared a screenshot of a Truth Social post made by President Trump, in which he criticized a Wall Street Journal article’s headline for saying five US refueling planes were struck by Iran. Trump lodged the accusation that the WSJ and “other Lowlife ‘Papers’ and Media actually want us to lose the War.” The FCC does not regulate newspapers, the internet, or TV networks. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression criticized Carr for “his shameless willingness to bully and threaten our free press.”

One Battle After Another dominated the Oscars. The Paul Thomas Anderson film has no more battles to win after taking home six Academy Awards last night, including best picture and best director. Sinners, its toughest rival, went home with four, including best actor for Michael B. Jordan, best original score for composer Ludwig Göransson, and best cinematography for Autumn Durald Arkapaw, the first woman to win the award. KPop Demon Hunters won best animated feature and best original song for “Golden.” Jessie Buckley completed her sweep of best actress awards after winning the Oscar for her work in Hamnet. See the complete list of winners here.—HVL

A dog in need just gave ChatGPT the PR boost that the Ring camera people dreamed of.

Paul Conyngham, a tech entrepreneur and machine-learning expert in Sydney, Australia, really loves his senior rescue mutt, Rosie. In 2024, she was diagnosed with mast cell cancer.

Per The Australian, Conyngham spent thousands of dollars on the usual course of treatment—chemotherapy and surgery—which had poor results. Then, he turned to ChatGPT:

• The chatbot recommended immunotherapy, and provided guidance for finding an appropriate pharmaceutical.
• Then, Conyngham sought out scientists who could sequence Rosie’s genome, which was necessary for finding a drug that she specifically would respond to.
• The dog dad ran Rosie’s DNA sequencing data through the AI program AlphaFold.

After the team identified a drug that would work for Rosie, its manufacturer refused to supply it. But they found a nanomedicine pioneer to create a custom mRNA injection for her. Conyngham said Grok designed the final construct for it.

Results may vary

AI tools played a critical role, but Conyngham’s extraordinary determination, including major investments of his own time and money, ultimately made this possible.

According to Conyngham, after beginning the custom treatment in December, Rosie’s tennis-ball-sized tumor has shrunk by half, and she’s enjoying a higher quality of life, but her cancer wasn’t cured. Critics, including popular science communicator and cancer survivor Hank Green, are concerned that this one feel-good case study doesn’t generalize well.—HVL

Heads up, Fed’s up: The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates alone at its meeting this Wednesday, but there’s still some mystery afoot. Investors will watch how the central bank addresses the war in Iran, weak jobs numbers, and whether high oil prices could stoke inflation by seeping into the rest of the economy. The producer price index reading for February will also be released on Wednesday.

Sláinte: Grab your green clothing and pour a pint of the black stuff. St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow, or as it’s known to many Americans, “I Can’t Remember Which Way to Face This Claddagh Ring Day.” The holiday falls on a Tuesday this year, but US consumers are still expected to spend $7.7 billion, mostly on food and drinks, according to a National Retail Federation survey. That’s $700 million more than last year. Feel free to blast The Dubliners all day at work and yell “no, nay, never” at anyone who asks you to turn it down.

This way lies Madness: A wild World Baseball Classic wraps up this week, with the USA set to appear in tomorrow night’s championship game. They will face either Venezuela or Italy, depending on how tonight’s semifinal game goes. Then, March Madness is upon us: the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments tip off this week, with the first round set for Thursday and Friday, respectively. That means your brackets should be in shambles by Thursday and Friday evening, respectively.

But wait, there’s more:

• Nvidia’s annual GPU Technology Conference (GTC) begins today with a keynote from CEO Jensen Huang. It ends on Thursday.
• US and Chinese trade officials are meeting in Paris this week to lay the groundwork for President Trump’s state visit to Beijing later this month.
• Micron Technology, General Mills, Williams-Sonoma, and Macy’s report earnings on Wednesday.
• Disney’s Bob Iger will officially hand the chief executive mouse ears to Josh D’Amaro on Wednesday. Iger will stay on as a board member and senior advisor until December 31.
• FedEx delivers results on Thursday.
• Eid al-Fitr, an Islamic holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, is on Thursday or Friday, depending on when the waxing crescent moon appears.
• Movies out on Friday: sci-fi flick Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling; horror-comedy Ready or Not 2: Here I Come; children’s book-turned-movie The Pout-Pout Fish; and Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man (on Netflix).

In news that only Lucille Bluth could be unreservedly happy about, women who are baby boomers and older are set to inherit $40 trillion of the “great wealth transfer”—primarily by outliving their husbands. Here’s the back-of-the-cocktail-napkin math reported by CNBC:

• Between 2024 and 2048, approximately $124 trillion will be bequeathed from baby boomers and older generations to their heirs, according to data from Cerulli Associates.
• Of that total, $54 trillion will go to surviving spouses.
• Ninety-five percent of that amount will go to women, with older women set to be the largest beneficiaries, as their average life expectancy exceeds that of US men.

Some experts caution that if the spouse who handled the finances predeceases their partner, inheriting the money may be more fraught than comforting. In other words, if you think a banana costs $10, seek help now.—HVL