June 5, 2026 · AM edition

AI Talent Wars, LA Clown Show, and the NFL is Already Back

Everyone is selling maps to the wave. FF2K is already in the water.

FF2K generated dispatch art for AI Talent Wars, LA Clown Show, and the NFL is Already Back

Full recap

Friday morning and the AI hype machine is already running hot before most people have finished their first coffee. Goldman Sachs and Innovator are out here telling investors to find the 'next big wave' in AI, which is Wall Street speak for 'we already rode the first wave, now we need someone else to buy our bags.' Helpful as always. Meanwhile China is not waiting around for anyone's permission. Tencent just poached a top AI scientist directly from OpenAI, and he is already talking about pursuing artificial general intelligence. Nothing says 'we're catching up' like aggressively hiring the people who were supposed to be ahead of you. The talent drain is real and calling it a 'super-app' race is doing a lot of diplomatic work. On the premarket board, Lululemon, Micron, ServiceTitan, and Strategy are all making moves before the opening bell. Yoga pants, memory chips, field service software, and Michael Saylor's Bitcoin wrapper all in the same sentence. That is the economy now. Diversify accordingly. Then there is Los Angeles, where prediction markets have Karen Bass and Spencer Pratt, yes that Spencer Pratt, advancing to a November mayoral runoff. If you needed a cultural timestamp for where American civic life currently stands, here it is, framed and mounted. The city that burned is now potentially being governed by a Hills cast member. Incredible. On the field, the NFL content cycle refuses to wait for actual football. CBS Sports has already ranked the best new QB-WR duos for 2026 and the Patriots tandem leads the list, which is either a genuine rebuild story or the media's way of selling hope to a fanbase that has been living on fumes since Brady left. Either way the machine needs content and the machine will be fed. The NFC West win total projections are out and the Rams look scary while the Cardinals are described as facing a 'steep climb,' which is analyst speak for 'probably not this year, buddy.' The 49ers are apparently capable of going over, which is impressive given how often they've managed to find creative ways to disappoint. For the fantasy baseball crowd, Week 12 sleepers include Colt Emerson and Bryce Eldridge, names that sound like they were generated by a ranch-hand name randomizer but apparently can hit. The Mariners, Athletics, and Giants have favorable matchups this week. Grind accordingly. The through line today is simple: everyone is chasing the next wave, whether it is AI, NFL rosters, fantasy sleepers, or LA politics. The people selling maps to the wave make more than the people surfing it. FF2K sees you. Have a good weekend, thought criminals. Let that resonate.

Highlights

  • China poached an OpenAI scientist and called it a super-app race. That is a polite way of describing an intelligence transfer with ambitions.
  • Spencer Pratt is potentially heading to a November runoff for mayor of Los Angeles. Peak 2026 energy and we are only in June.
  • The Patriots QB-WR duo leads the NFL rebuild rankings, which is either genuinely exciting or the sports media equivalent of selling a fixer-upper as 'full of potential.'
  • Goldman Sachs wants you to find the next AI wave. Goldman Sachs has already found it. Guess who is the liquidity.
  • Fantasy baseball sleepers named Colt Emerson and Bryce Eldridge sound like they belong in a Western, but the model likes them, and the model ran 10,000 simulations, so who are we to argue.

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