Good morning, all! It’s the Friday!!!
Odds are in on the next coach of the New York Giants and you can place a wager too. I break it all down in the above video.
Here are some other thoughts as the sports world mourns:
Tragedy in North Carolina, as NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, 55, and his family were among seven people who died in a plane crash at a suburban Charlotte, NC airport. Pray for all those who were impacted by this accident. At times like these and what transpired over the weekend, we are reminded of how fragile life is.
Maybe the Bears build their dream stadium in northwest Indiana, maybe not. Meanwhile, The Athletic is reporting we could know as soon as Monday whether the Kansas City Chiefs are leaving Missouri and building a new domed stadium in Kansas. The Kansas Department of Commerce admitted on Thursday it is in “active discussions” with the Chiefs about such a stadium. A Kansas City sports station also reported the Chiefs move across state lines is imminent. The Chiefs lease at Arrowhead Stadium expires in January of 2031. My hunch? The Chiefs leave for Kansas!
Get ready for a football weekend. The action starts tonight with the start of the College Football Playoffs. Oklahoma hosts Alabama at 8 EST on ABC and ESPN. The Sooners are 1.5-point favorites. The winner gets to play number one seed Indiana.
There are Saturday NFL games with the big one in primetime, as the Indiana Bears host the Green Bay Packers. You have the usual compliment of Sunday NFL action and Monday Night Football to wrap up the weekend.
For as strong as the MLBPA is, we are reminded of the disjointed NFLPA. There have been issues with the leadership of the association and now this: NFLPA lawyer Heather McPhee, the union’s associate counsel, has filed a federal lawsuit against the former executive director of the union and two current executives. She is alleging that the three conspired to prevent her from cooperating with a criminal investigation into the union’s finances. This is a story that will not go away, no matter how much the NFLPA tries to sweep it under the rug. This thing could get ugly. Stay tuned.
The Chicago Cubs announced Thursday they had signed Tyler Austin to a contract. Austin, 34, had been playing baseball in Japan. He has not played in the majors, since 2019 with Milwaukee. Playing for the New York Yankees, Austin homered in his first MLB at bat on Aug. 13, 2016. His home run came with two outs in the last of the second inning against Tampa Bay. The next batter, Aaron Judge, homered in his first MLB at bat. Both home runs came off of Matt Andriese. Austin has 33 career homers in MLB. Judge, who turns 34 on April. 26, has 368.
Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins and Liverpool FC, is selling the NHL’s Penguins to a family-run Chicago-based investment firm. No sale price has been announced, but Forbes has valued the Penguins at $1.75B. Now the Sox will have enough money to sign free agent third baseman Alex Bregman.
I thought this would be a busy week on the MLB free agent front, but I was wrong. There are still many big names on the board, including Bregman, Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, Ryan O’Hearn, Bo Bichette, Framber Valdez, Ranger Suárez and J.T. Realmuto.
In case you’re wondering, each Los Angeles Dodger earned $485K for winning the World Series. Back in the day, when the perennial champion New York Yankees would acquire a new player, a veteran would approach that player and tell him, “Don’t mess with our money.” In other words, play hard to help the Yankees win another World Series. The players winning share back then might be $5,000. That’s when most players were making $25,000 per year.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Thank you for being a subscriber and have a fantastic Friday!
DAN
