Kickstart: The Waterboy

UCLA student Finn Barkenaes is making history in this year's March Madness college basketball tournament. He's not a starter for UCLA and not a star reserve coming off the bench, although you'll see him alongside players at every game.

Barkenaes is UCLA's head student manager and he just signed a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal with Niagara Bottling, marking the first time a student manager has been selected for an NIL sponsorship.

That's right — the bottled water company just partnered with a waterboy. He even has the title of the first official "Niagara Waterboy."

"This unprecedented move highlights hydration as an essential part of athletic performance," Niagara said in making the announcement. "He will champion high-quality hydration, cheer on his team and continue to make sure his team is geared up for peak performance via social media and on the court."

The campaign positions "hydration as the real MVP." It also could extend the potential for NIL relationships beyond student athletes. Neither Niagara nor Barkenaes — who lists himself as a business economics student on LinkedIn — have said how much money was involved in the agreement. (If you're unfamiliar with it, an NIL contract is a recent addition to college sports and allows students to cash in on companies who use their likeness in marketing.)

Barkenaes had a signing day ceremony at Niagara Bottling's headquarters in Diamond Bar, Calif. He will represent Niagara for the length of the NCAA tournament, regardless of how far UCLA goes.

If you're already lamenting your March Madness picks, Matthew McMullen from the Alliance for American Manufacturing is out with a theory on how to select winners next year: Go with the teams representing the highest number of manufacturing jobs.

"This is hardly an exact science. But, thanks to U.S. Census Bureau data, we can look up employment numbers for each congressional district and then assign those numbers to each school based on its declared zip code," AAM says.

That process calls for upsets such as Norfolk State over Florida and a Final Four that would include the University of Akron in Ohio, home to the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering and nearly 56,000 factory jobs, including a wide range of plastics and rubber companies.

When LPGA players tee up for the biggest women's golf tournament in the Los Angeles area in April, they'll be on a course surrounded by land scarred by wildfires early this year. Organizers of the JM Eagle La Championship presented by Plastpro want the event to provide some relief to the area.

The April 17-20 event — backed by Walter and Shirley Wang, the couple behind plastic pipe maker JM Eagle and door maker Plastpro — is providing free admission to all those affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires as well as first responders and members of the military.

JM Eagle and Plastpro also are donating $6.5 million to relief groups including the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and the California Fire Foundation. JM Eagle previously donated $1.5 million toward recovery efforts and is adding $5 million now.