Ollie Jung

At this point next week, Sam Darnold will represent the future of an NFL franchise. We’ve waited a while: The former Trojan quarterback’s professional future has been the talk of the entire football universe ever since his 27-yard bomb nestled into Deontay Burnett’s arms against Penn State in January 2017. After over a year of constant scrutiny and wild swings of opinion, the time for speculation is almost over.

Welcome, friends. It’s the best time of the year. That might sound like a strange thing to say to sports fans when we just finished watching March Madness and the Masters Tournament and are still two weeks away from the NFL Draft. But it’s true: The Stanley Cup Playoffs kicked off on Wednesday, meaning one of the greatest, purest spectacles in the sporting world is now underway.

When I wrote my column previewing the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 2018 season last week, I didn’t even consider discussing the “other” L.A. team based less than an hour southeast in Anaheim. In my mind, there wasn’t much to discuss: The Angels haven’t made the playoffs in four years, and a combination of injuries and ill-advised contracts have mired them in mediocrity since Josh Hamilton’s third and final ill-fated campaign with the Halos what feels like an eternity ago.