by Julian Spivey
The 2022 U.S. Open, golf’s third major tournament of the year, begins today at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. and it seems as if the biggest story of the weekend might not be the on course play itself but what’s going on in the world of golf at large.

The sport of golf is undergoing a massive schism with some of its biggest names leaving the PGA Tour for the off-shoot league LIV Golf, which offers fewer rounds, tournaments and a lot more money, but is primarily funded by a Saudi Arabian wealth fund controlled by the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – the guy who played a major role in the death of The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  

There’s a multitude of controversies surrounding LIV Golf – some of it to do with players taking what is essentially blood money from a murderous group of bad dudes with terrible rights violations against its own people and some of it to do with the fact that the PGA Tour has been the bloodline of major golf for almost a century.

It truly feels for the first time in my life watching golf that there’s a group of good guys vs. bad guys. The good guys are the ones sticking with tradition and not leaving for greedy blood money. The bad guys are obviously the golfers who’ve opted to join LIV Golf. The hardest part of it for a longtime golf fan like me is some of the now bad guys are guys I’ve spent decades rooting and cheering for – like six-time major winner Phil Mickelson. Mickelson is probably one of the most irritating defectors from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf because he’s one of the only ones doing so who’s openly spoken of the horrible things the Saudis have done, but he’s still OK taking their money.

The LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour aspect of this year’s U.S. Open is one that definitely is playing out in the media, but I’m anticipating how the crowds at The Country Club are going to react – if the ushers and folks presiding over the tournament will even let them react to those players who have chosen LIV Golf. I suspect the crowds will be cordial because the tournament will probably require them to be so, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if the average fan doesn’t care as much whether these players choose to earn their living, as long as they’re continued to be allowed in the major tournaments.

A potentially more interesting aspect this weekend might be how golfers react to each other. Rory McIlroy, steadfast in his loyalty to the PGA Tour, has been taking shots at LIV Golf all week long. In a moment earlier this week during a practice round Jordan Spieth, also sticking with the PGA Tour, reportedly completely blew off fellow competitor Kevin Na, who was one of the first defectors to LIV Golf to resign his PGA Tour status.

There are 15 LIV Golf golfers competing in the U.S. Open this weekend – 13 of whom competed in the LIV Golf Invitational last weekend and Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed, who have pledged to make their LIV Golf debuts in a couple of weeks when the series has its first United States event. Among the LIVers in the major tourney this weekend are two former U.S. Open champs DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson. As well as major winners like Reed, Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Louis Oosthuizen.

I frankly hope all 15 of these golfers miss the cut (something they don’t have to worry about in their new series), though it might be better for TV ratings and dramatic storylines if one of them is neck-and-neck with say McIlroy, Spieth, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, etc. come Sunday.
​
I know who I’ll be rooting for this weekend … any and every one of the good guys. 

The 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs has reached it final series and it features two teams that will either end a championship drought or officially call themselves a dynasty. Both the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning have been the top teams in the National Hockey League (NHL) in recent years. The Avalanche have been an excellent regular season team the past couple of years, but have ran into tough luck in the playoffs getting eliminated in the second round the last two seasons.  For the Lightning, after being swept out of the playoffs as the number one overall seed in the first round in 2019, they have been on a mission to establish themselves as the next great dynasty in the NHL.

While Colorado and Tampa Bay have never met in the Stanley Cup Final, they do pose some similarities that could have the potential to make this year’s Stanley Cup Final an all-time classic. The Avalanche are playing in their first Stanley Cup Final since 2001 and are looking to win their third Stanley Cup since moving to Denver from Quebec, Canada in 1995. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay is looking at NHL immortality as they look to become the first team to win at least three straight Stanley Cups since the early 1980s New York Islanders, who won four straight titles. Let’s break down the matchup and see which team has the better forwards, defensemen, goalie and coaching.

Forwards: Colorado has a strong forward core led by captain Gabriel Landeskog and superstar Nathan McKinnon. Both players are participating in their first Stanley Cup Final. The Avalanche do have a player with Stanley Cup Final experience in Andre Burakovsky, who won a Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals in 2018. The duo of Landeskog (8 goals and 17 points in the 2022 playoffs) and McKinnon (11 goals and 18 points in the playoffs) will be key in leading the Avalanche to win. Outside of Burakovsky, another player who could be a wild card at forward for Colorado is Mikko Rantanen. Rantanen only has five goals in the playoffs but can dish out excellent passes as he has 12 assists in the playoffs.

Tampa Bay will counter with Steven Stamkos, who has 15 points (9 goals, 6 assists) in the 2022 playoffs. Also, former Hart Trophy (regular season MVP) winner Nikita Kucherov can be dangerous anytime he can touch the puck (7 goals + 16 assists = 23 points). The X factor for the Lightning is left winger Ondrej Palat, who scored two game-winning goals in the Lightning’s win over the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final.  

Advantage: I love both teams forward core. It is very tough to call. While Tampa Bay’s experience in these championship format is important, Colorado’s forwards can give Tampa Bay problems. Also, the Lightning could be without Brayden Point, another key forward for Tampa Bay. I will give the slight edge to the Avalanche.

Defensemen: Colorado has a mostly young defensive core led by Cale Makar, a former first round pick in 2017. He leads the team in scoring by a defensemen in the postseason (5 goals + 17 assists = 22 points).  At just 23 years of age, Makar is just getting started with a career with potential Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman) awards in sight.  Devon Toews is another key for the Avs’ D. He took on the Lightning in the 2020 Eastern Conference Final as a member of the New York Islanders.

The Lightning have two excellent defensemen in Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh. Another key defenseman to keep an eye out is Mikhail Sergachev, a young defenseman acquired by Tampa Bay in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens in 2017. All he has done is help the Lightning have one of the best defensive cores in the NHL.

Advantage: I have to take experience over mostly youth in this category. Makar and Toews are really good, but Tampa Bay’s experience is key.

Goaltending: The Avalanche have had to play multiple goalies during this playoff round. Even though they have played less games than the Lightning, they have had to use two goaltenders, Darcy Kuemper and Pavel Francousz. They have been really good, but neither have Stanley Cup Final experience.

On the other hand, some would consider Tampa Bay’s goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy the best goaltender on Earth and they might be right. Last year’s Conn Smthe Winner (MVP in the Stanley Cup Playoffs) has a chance to join some elite company as a starting goaltender to win three straight Stanley Cups. He would join New York Islander legend Billy Smith as the only goaltenders to win all their series for at least three years in a row.

Advantage: This one is not close. While Colorado is lucky two of their playoff series wins were sweeps, I do not see them match up very well against Vasilevskiy. Tampa Bay has a clear advantage in the goalie department.

Coaching: Jared Bednar is in his sixth season as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche. The rise of the Avalanche and Bednar could not have been scripted any better. In Bednar’s first season, the Avalanche were the worst team in the NHL. But through major trades, the Avalanche were back in the playoffs two years later and now on the cusp of capturing hockey’s top prize.

Jon Cooper’s tenure as coach of the Lightning is currently the longest running in the NHL. Cooper has been head coach for Tampa Bay since 2013. He led the Lightning to a Stanley Cup Final in 2015, which they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games. More playoff failures would continue until 2020 when the Lightning hoisted the Stanley Cup for the second time ever and then repeat the feat in 2021. Cooper’s legacy in Tampa Bay is already sealed but it could be an even bigger legacy if Tampa Bay wins their third straight Stanley Cup.

Advantage: Jared Bednar and Jon Cooper are easily the two best coaches in the NHL today.  While I do think Bednar is a great coach and the right fit for the Avalanche, what Jon Cooper has done with the Lightning is truly special. I would give the slight edge to Cooper and the Lightning.

Prediction: As said earlier, I think this final series has the makings of an all-time classic. Colorado is looking to end a drought while Tampa Bay is seeking NHL history by trying to win a third straight title. I like Colorado especially at home where they play the first two games. However, watching a three-peat in the NHL today would be amazing for the Lightning and the sport of hockey.

Lightning will win in six games.

Game one of the NHL Stanley Cup Final starts tonight (June 15) in Denver on ABC at 7 p.m. (CST).  

by Julian Spivey
The NASCAR Cup Series held its inaugural race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, Ill., just outside of St. Louis, on Sunday, June 5 and it was certainly an exciting afternoon on track.

Joey Logano would go on to win the track’s first Cup Series race after a hard fought battle with Kyle Busch in the waning laps of the event, but perhaps the biggest story of the race was the on-track actions between Ross Chastain and Denny Hamlin and then later Chastain and Chase Elliott in the first half of the race and the reactions from the drivers postrace.

On Lap 64, Chastain after a hard multiple lap battle with Hamlin drove his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet hard into Turn 1 of the track behind Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and contacted Hamlin’s bumper sending the No. 11 into the wall.

This might have been overdriving by Chastain or it might have been Chastain losing patience with Hamlin holding him up. It was hard to tell, but the replay didn’t look great on Chastain’s part.

Hamlin would show his displeasure with Chastain soon after by driving him down the track all the way to the track’s apron near the grass.

On Lap 101, Chastain tried to force his car into a three-wide position shortly after a restart and contacted the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driven by Elliott spinning out the No. 9.

This incident felt like a racing deal to me, but it was less than halfway through the race and Chastain likely didn’t need to be that aggressive at that point.

On the subsequent restart Elliott showed his displeasure with Chastain by bumping the side of Chastain’s No. 1 and sending it up the track. Hamlin right behind this incident would do the exact same thing. Then Hamlin would essentially block Chastain for quite a while making it hard for Chastain, who had to meet minimum speed to remain in the race, to make that minimum speed (he would meet the speed though and wound up finishing the race in sixth position).

I felt like Elliott’s response and Hamlin’s initial response to Chastain’s aggressive driving was fine. The drivers police themselves and that’s the way it should be. If either had even spun out or wrecked Chastain I would’ve felt it the kind of payback you frequently see in NASCAR. It’s been part of the series as long as I’ve been a fan and almost certainly decades before.

I felt like Hamlin’s constant trolling of Chastain throughout the race after his initial move to run him down toward the apron was childish and unnecessary, but after nearly two decades of watching Hamlin compete it wasn’t surprising.

After the race Chastain was contrite and manned up about his poor driving during the race. He told Fox Sports’ pit reporter Jamie Little: “It was just terrible driving. At this level, I’m supposed to be better than that. I cannot believe I just made so many mistakes back-to-back. I just absolutely drove over my head today. It’s unacceptable.”

The admission of fault did little to appease Hamlin who’s promised retribution in the future. Payback is one thing. Payback is almost to be expected by Chastain and the entire field and sport. But in a postrace interview with Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass Hamlin said: “You gotta fence these guys hard to get their attention. It’s going to have to be meaningful.”

That “fence these guys hard” answer is completely out of line and it’s something NASCAR needs to focus on and proactive about with Hamlin.

I’ve always been a fan of the self-policing Hamlin speaks of and the “boys have at it” mentality of NASCAR racing, but in the past it’s mostly been something the drivers have handled well and as safely as possible. Saying you’ve got to “fence these guys hard” is pretty damn close to saying, “if he gets hurt I don’t care.”

We have to keep in mind that auto racing is a dangerous sport, and the governing body doesn’t need its drivers going around saying they’re going to put other drivers in potential harm’s way and “fence these guys hard” is potentially doing just that. Hamlin should know better than this as he’s one of the drivers who’s been hurt the most by over-aggressive driving by his competitors. Hamlin broke a vertebra in his back in a 2014 Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. and had to be airlifted to a local hospital after he and Logano essentially got into a pissing contest racing for the win at the end of the race. So, Hamlin knows firsthand the dangers of the sport. This makes his postrace comments at Gateway on Sunday even more infuriating.

If Hamlin wants to spin out Chastain at the Sonoma Raceway road course this upcoming weekend or at a short track in the future I think that’s fine. I think Chastain would probably admit it’s comeuppance for how he raced Hamlin this past weekend. I don’t think NASCAR should or would step in at that point either.

But I do believe NASCAR needs to speak to Hamlin and let him know his actions toward Chastain will be watched closely and if he does something severe like “fencing him hard” he should be punished severely, probably more severely than any driver has ever been punished for intentionally wrecking another competitor. The sport can’t take safety lightly and drivers threatening to “fence guys hard” should not be tolerated.

 
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index would have you believe the NBA Finals, beginning tonight (June 2) on ABC at 8 p.m., are going to be such a cake walk for the Boston Celtics that there’s truly no reason to even tune in (unless you’re a Celtics fan, of course). ESPN’s BPI gives the Celtics an 86 percent chance to win the NBA Finals, which seems ludicrous to me. I think the series is basically a toss-up with the seasoned Warriors veterans mixed in with some great young role players and the Celtics team that’s never had a single player play in a Finals game before matching up. Exactly where do the advantages lay with each team. Let’s try to figure that out.

Point Guard: Stephen Curry (Warriors) vs. Marcus Smart (Celtics)

So, here’s the key matchup of the NBA Finals in my opinion. You have the Warriors best player and shooter Steph Curry matching up against the current NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year in Marcus Smart. Best shooter in league history versus Defensive Player of the Year is tantalizing. I think Smart is going to hound Curry like we’ve never seen Curry hounded before and it’s going to be huge for the Celtics chances to win the title. Curry won the newly created Western Conference Finals MVP award scoring 24 points per game and 42 percent from three-point land against the Dallas Mavericks. I kind of doubt his numbers will be that good against Smart, who keep in mind injured Curry the last time they played toward the end of the regular season causing Curry to miss most of the final month of the season. But Curry will have some games where he likely goes full Curry too. If Smart can keep those Curry games to three or less the Celtics likely win this thing.

Advantage: Warriors – listen I know the praise I just heaped upon Marcus Smart, but I’ll have to see him actually do it before I can go against the greatest shooter I’ve ever seen play the game.

Shooting Guard: Klay Thompson (Warriors) vs. Jaylen Brown (Celtics)

The two-guard matchup between Klay Thompson and Jaylen Brown is probably the most equal positional matchup of the series. Both players are arguably their respective team’s second best player and scoring option – though the Warriors do have moments when Jordan Poole or Andrew Wiggins can be that instead of Thompson. The Celtics don’t really have that luxury. Thompson was so-so for most of the Western Conference Finals against Dallas until he went off for 32 points and eight 3-pointers in the clinching game five of the series. Brown has averaged 23 points per game this postseason, second on the team to Jayson Tatum’s 27 per game. At least half of the Celtics nightly offense comes from Brown and Tatum. Brown has had a better all-around postseason than Thompson, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Brown is the better of the two in the Finals, but I just can’t write off Thompson, especially if he plays more like game five of the WCF than the first four games of that series in the Finals. I hate pushes when doing position-by-position comparisons, but I feel I have no other choice here.

Advantage: Push

Small Forward: Andrew Wiggins (Warriors) vs. Jayson Tatum (Celtics)

Andrew Wiggins has been HUGE for the Golden State Warriors this postseason and his defense on Jayson Tatum in the Finals could be one of the major deciding factors on which team wins the championship, but if you’re ranking the best players in the Finals based on both regular season and postseason performance Tatum is the best player in this series and despite Wiggins great output for G.S. in the playoffs this one isn’t close.

Advantage: Celtics

Power Forward: Draymond Green (Warriors) vs. Al Horford (Celtics)

Al Horford is going to score more points in the NBA Finals than Draymond Green. I’d be confident in that. Horford has averaged 12 points per game this postseason. Green has averaged 8.7. Horford’s likely going to out rebound Green too. But as Green goes so do the Warriors and it’s hard to measure his intangibles and intensity on the court. Green also leads the Warriors roster in assists per game, as his part in the team’s amazing passing skills is crucial to their offensive flow. One thing that also can’t be measured is how badly will Horford want to win a title after playing in the most postseason games in NBA history of any players to previously have never reached the championship round. I think this matchup will be pretty close this series, but Green is more important to the overall play of the Warriors than I believe Horford to be for Boston.

Advantage: Warriors

Center: Kevon Looney (Warriors) vs. Robert Williams III (Celtics)

I have to be straight with you – I didn’t get to catch all that many Celtics games this season, so I don’t know a whole lot about their big man Robert Williams III. He’s been injured for part of the playoffs and has only started half of Boston’s games on their run to the Finals. He’s put up almost eight points per game, 5.5 boards per game and two blocks per game. Those numbers would’ve had him likely able to steal a push out of this matchup with Kevon Looney before I saw the way Looney absolutely dominated the boards and paint for the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals against the Mavericks. Looney was basically putting up a double-double in every game of the WCF and if he can bring that intensity and output to the Finals he’ll clearly have the advantage in this matchup.

Advantage: Warriors

Bench: Jordan Poole, Otto Porter, Gary Payton II, Andre Iguodala, Nemanja Bjelica, Jonathan Kuminga + more (Warriors) vs. Grant Williams, Derrick White, Daniel Theis, Payton Pritchard (Celtics)

The Warriors have the deepest bench in the entire league and it’s only getting deeper as it seems Otto Porter, Gary Payton II and Andre Iguodala are all returning from injury just in time for the Finals. I don’t know how much Iguodala will actually play, but Porter and Payton have been massive parts of the Warriors bench success all season. Jordan Poole is clearly the best player coming off the bench in this series for either team and at points in the playoffs – mostly in the earlier rounds he was the best player in a Warriors jersey for multiple games. He’s been the Dubs third leading scorer this postseason with 18.4 points per game. While the Warriors can run 12 different guys on the court the Celtics seem content playing about an 8-man rotation, so three guys coming off the bench. The Celtics best bench player this postseason, but especially in the Eastern Conference Finals has been Derrick White, who averaged over 14 points per game and shot 35 percent from behind the arc in the final four games of the ECF. The depth of the Warriors bench might provide huge dividends in the Finals as it’ll allow the starting five to rest, whereas Tatum and Brown are going to have to play almost every minute of every game. At least the Celtics have youth on their side.

Advantage: Warriors
 
Coach: Steve Kerr (Warriors) vs. Ime Udoka (Celtics)
Steve Kerr has now coached the Warriors to six of the last eight NBA Finals and already has three rings to his coaching resume. This is the very first season as the main guy on the sideline for Ime Udoka. There’s truly not much of a comparison here. It’ll ultimately be up to what the athletes do on the court, but how could I possibly go with Udoka over Kerr here?

Advantage: Warriors
 
Prediction: Warriors over Celtics in 7

So, ESPN’s BPI basically has the Celtics as a championship lock. My position-by-position breakdowns have the Warriors with an advantage at every single position with the exception of small forward and shooting guard (and I even gave G.S. a push there). So, why do I have the Celtics pushing this championship series to a game 7?

There are three key reasons:

1. I can’t completely get ESPN’s BPI out of my head. I don’t exactly understand why it has the Warriors as such massive underdogs, but there are numbers and formulas that go into deciding these things and ultimately I can’t completely disregard them just based on the Warriors experience and how things look to me on paper. There has to be something to this massive disparity. 

2. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are that good. The duo is averaging 60 points per game over the postseason. There’s not a whole lot needed from the rest of the team when your stars are carrying that much of a load. I need to see how the Warriors defense plays against these two before I have complete confidence in the Dubs. 
 
3. Marcus Smart on Steph Curry could be what this series comes down to and not only do I worry about Smart’s Defensive Player of the Year skills on Curry, I also somewhat worry about him getting into Curry’s head and just being an all-around nuisance. 

The NBA celebrated its 75th anniversary this season by unveiling its list of the 75 greatest players in league history (except the list featured 76 players due to a tie in the voting - ties are dumb!). Honestly it was a pretty good list the league compiled, but Eric and I thought we could improve on it ever so slightly and we definitely wanted it to be a ranked list instead of listed alphabetically like the league's was. We want you to know that George Gervin was better than Carmelo Anthony and so on. So, we hope you enjoy our additions, don't hate our omissions and respect the fact that when we celebrate 75 years of the NBA we aren't going to throw an extra player at you! - JS

by Julian Spivey
For much of the first round of the NBA Playoffs I found myself annoyed with the number of times the officials would go over to the replay system to try to determine whether a foul was a common foul or a flagrant foul.

There are two reasons why it’s so annoying to me: the first is the time it takes to review the play. Basketball doesn’t quite have the pace of play issue many other sports do (in fact, it’s probably the best sport when it comes to pace of play), but we still don’t need unnecessary stoppages. But the biggest annoyance is most of these fouls just shouldn’t be flagrant fouls. I understand wanting to keep the athletes of the sport safe, but what constitutes a flagrant foul has seemingly gotten out of hand in the NBA and nothing showed this to me personally than the utterly ridiculous flagrant-2 foul assessed to Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green on a foul on Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke during game one of the Western Conference semifinals on Sunday, May 1.

Late in the second quarter of Sunday’s game, Clarke went up for a shot at then hoop and was hit on the head by Green and then grabbed by his jersey and brought toward the floor by Green. The grabbing of the jersey may have been unintended based on my viewing of the replay. But one thing that was incredibly clear to me based on watching the replay multiple times is that Green had no intention of hurting Clarke as he even made a successful attempt to hold Clarke up from hitting the hardwood harder than he wound up doing.

The play was an obvious foul by Green. There’s zero doubt about that. But I didn’t even think it should result in a flagrant-1 call. It’s the kind of thing that would’ve been a common foul when I grew up watching the NBA in the ‘90s and early ‘00s and it was the kind of thing that would’ve made players in the eras before that laugh their asses off if an official attempted to eject them from a game for.

Despite my view that Green’s foul should’ve been a common foul resulting in Clarke shooting two free throws I wasn’t surprised the officials wanted to review it for a flagrant because as I said at the beginning it’s what they seem to do these days any time there’s even the slightest contact deemed more than common. But I never in a million years thought flagrant-2, which comes with an automatic ejection, was even in the conversation. So, I was incredulous when Green was awarded the flagrant-2 and ejected. It’s the worst flagrant-2 call I’ve ever seen in NBA history and that’s something that just can’t happen in the postseason when these games mean so much to the teams playing. Luckily for the Warriors it didn’t end up having a huge impact on their game one outcome as they wound up narrowly beating the Grizzlies 117-116 to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

The decision to call a flagrant-2 foul and eject Green from the game on Sunday was one that was confusing to many both currently in the game and legends of the game. Portland Trail Blazers All-Star guard Damian Lillard tweeted: “We gotta have better context with these rules man.” Los Angeles Lakers legend and Hall of Famer James Worthy tweeted: “Man, things have changed. Back in the day, the foul that [Draymond Green] committed would have been two free throws ONLY.”

The flagrant-2 foul rule is stated in the NBA rulebook as: “If contact committed against a player, with or without the ball, is interpreted to be unnecessary and excessive.”

That leaves too much of for interpretation for me, and evidently for Lillard and others too. I think a flagrant-2 should have to have some sort of ill-intent behind it – which is also something that would be up for interpretation, but in this scenario would’ve allowed the officials to see, “Hey, Green is obviously trying to hold Clarke up from hitting the deck, so surely there’s no ill-intent.”

The biggest issue with the seemingly constant checking for flagrant fouls that’s going on in the NBA for me is the pussification of the game. Is there no such thing as a “hard foul” anymore? When athletes are getting tossed from games for the kind of stuff that would’ve been “play on, boys” in the days of Kevin McHale, Bill Laimbeer and Kurt Rambis than I’m afraid we’re losing something in today’s game. Again, the league has a responsibility to keep players as safe as possible, but who was hurt on Sunday? Maybe Clarke’s jersey? The league needs to get a grip. 

by Julian Spivey
Hoping to cash in on the moment everybody has been talking about since the Academy Awards aired on Sunday, March 27 UFC President Dana White has reached out to recent Best Actor Oscar-winner Will Smith and superstar comedian Chris Rock about a undercard fight during the Fourth of July weekend UFC 276 event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card for that event has yet to be announced.
​
As everybody knows Smith walked onto the stage at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles during the Oscars ceremony on Sunday night and open-hand slapped Rock in the face after the former “Saturday Night Live” comedian cracked a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head. The “King Richard” star then returned to his front-row seat at the ceremony where he began to yellow obscenities at Rock about keeping his wife’s name out of his mouth. Rock kept the ceremony going by announcing the nominees and winner of the Best Documentary Feature category despite looking stunned throughout the experience.

UFC President Dana White is no stranger to controversy and is all about making money but has never really stooped to the celebrity fighting stuff that you’ll frequently see in other fighting sports like boxing.

“This matchup was simply too good to pass up,” White said in a press release. “It’s all the country is talking about and if we can get these two giants of Hollywood into the octagon I think it would be huge for our pay-per-view numbers. If Smith and Rock sign on the dotted line we’re going to be breaking records with this event.”

According to Rock’s representatives, the comedian is considering the offer because he’s already going to be in town doing a show at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace the next day. Smith’s representatives were quoted as saying, “he’ll have to ask Jada first.” 

by Julian Spivey
​
The Atlanta Braves made the decision to move on from the face of their franchise Freddie Freeman on Monday, March 14 when they acquired All-Star and Gold Glove-winning first baseman Matt Olson from the Oakland Athletics for four prospects, including two of their highest ranked minor leaguers in their system. Freeman is a free agent whom the Braves decided they weren’t going to be able to sign to a deal. I almost wrote “decided they weren’t going to be able to afford,” but that’s just not true.

Freeman has only been with the Braves franchise for his career, which has included the last 11 seasons in the big leagues. He was a five-time All-Star with the franchise, the 2020 National League Most Valuable Player and played a major role in the team winning its first World Series title in more than a quarter-century in 2021.

There had been a bit of a strain between Freeman and the organization going all the way back to last Spring Training when it was expected the team would re-up with Freeman well before his free agency even came around this offseason. When the team didn’t re-sign him quickly after the season before the lockout that lasted more than three months it was a bigger sign a reunion between him, and the Braves might not happen to the chagrin of much of the team’s fan-base.

The biggest hang-up in a potential deal between the Braves and Freeman seemed to be a sixth-year, which would’ve had Freeman in a Braves uniform at the age of 38.

Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who had been hugely popular among the Braves fan-base during his tenure with the team – something that may well change now, told The Athletic writer David O’Brien that the “team had to be put together and he decided last night (Sunday, March 13) to move forward [from Freeman]” to do so.

It’s never easy for a team to lose the face of its franchise, which Freeman has been for a decade since the retirement of life-long Brave Chipper Jones after the 2012 season. Braves fans have essentially been on “Freeman Watch” ever since the season ended – and especially since the end of the lockout last week and free agency ramped back up – and I know Monday was incredibly emotional for them. However, there are two things I hope we don’t see from the Braves fan-base: 1) don’t blame Freddie Freeman for not re-signing with the team. This is the organization’s fault. They had the means to sign him and if they were going to, they should’ve locked him up well before the end of the 2021 season. Please don’t boo one of the team’s all-time great players when he returns in another uniform to Truist Park in Atlanta. 2) don’t be hard on Matt Olson. It’s not Olson’s fault that Freeman is no longer with the Braves, and he shouldn’t be compared to Freeman.

The fact that the Braves could make such an acquisition in Olson in replacing Freeman is an amazing move by Anthopoulos and the team. If you’re going to lose an All-Star the best way to replace them is by gaining another All-Star. And, honestly, Olson might be a scarier fit in the Braves lineup than Freeman. Last year Olson’s power numbers were better than Freeman’s. Olson hit eight more home runs than Freeman and drove in 28 more runs and that was with an arguably lesser lineup of hitters around him. Olson’s batting average was 29 points lower than Freeman’s. Olson has averaged 35 home runs over the last three full MLB seasons (ignoring the 60-game shortened season of 2020). Freeman averaged 26. More importantly Olson will be 28-years old when the 2022 season begins next month, where as Freeman is 32. The Braves have Olson locked up for the next two seasons but hope him being from a suburb of Atlanta will sway him into signing on long-term.

As of the writing of this article on late Monday, March 14 Freeman hasn’t signed a deal with any franchise.

by Julian Spivey
It occurred to me recently with the 2022 NASCAR season beginning this weekend that there has been an influx in celebrities joining NASCAR as team owners lately. This is something that I’m not sure many novice followers of the sport really knew about so I wanted to profile some of the big names owning teams within the sport. 

Joe Gibbs
Joe Gibbs isn’t new to NASCAR. He’s been around so long and so successful that he’s actually already been inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame making him the only person on this list to appear in two professional sports hall of fames, as he’s also enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Gibbs led the NFL’s Washington football franchise to three Super Bowl titles during the ‘80s and early ‘90s and is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. Gibbs created his NASCAR team Joe Gibbs Racing in 1992, one year before his first retirement from the NFL, and hired future Hall of Fame driver Dale Jarrett as his first driver. Jarrett would reward Gibbs with the 1993 Daytona 500. Gibbs has won five NASCAR Cup Series championships with three different drivers (Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch) and likely isn’t done winning titles as a NASCAR owner. He currently fields four cars in the Cup Series driven by Busch, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. 

Brad Daugherty
Brad Daugherty is another celebrity team owner that has been involved with NASCAR for a while now as co-owner of JTG Daugherty Racing, which fields the No. 47 Chevrolet driven by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The team began racing in the 2008 Cup Season and has been active ever since with one win as a team coming in 2014 with A.J. Allmendinger at Watkins Glen Raceway. Daugherty may not be as big of a household celebrity name as the other celebs on this list, but he was college basketball star at the University of North Carolina and the No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick in 1986 for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Daugherty was a five-time All-Star for the Cavs and his jersey No. 43, which he selected as a lifetime fan of Richard Petty, is retired by the organization. 

Michael Jordan
Speaking of All-Star NBA players from the University of North Carolina, Michael Jordan entered the NASCAR Cup owner fray in 2021 after being a life-long fan of the sport, which calls North Carolina its center and home, when he joined NASCAR Cup superstar Denny Hamlin to form 23XI racing. The 23 in the team, of course, comes from Jordan’s retired Chicago Bulls jersey number. The XI being the roman numeral of 11, Hamlin’s career-long car number. The team enlisted Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr., the Cup Series only African-American driver, as its driver for its inaugural season and he rewarded the team with its first win (and the first of Wallace’s Cup career) late in the 2021 season at Talladega Superspeedway. 23XI racing has added veteran and former champion Kurt Busch as a second car for the 2022 season in the No. 45 Toyota. No. 45 was the second jersey number Jordan wore in the NBA when he returned from his first retirement in 1995. 

Pitbull
Pitbull, the Miami-born Latin hip-hop star known as “Mr. Worldwide,” signed on as a co-owner of the Trackhouse Racing Team with former NASCAR driver Justin Marks before its inaugural season in 2021. The hitmaker with known for No. 1 songs like “Give Me Everything” and “Timber” co-owns the No. 99 Chevrolet driven by Daniel Suarez, the Cup Series’ only active Hispanic driver. In late 2021 Trackhouse Racing Team bought assets from the folding Chip Ganassi Racing Cup team and have added the No. 1 car driven by Ross Chastain for the 2022 season. 

Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is one of the greatest boxers of all-time and known for his perfect 50-0 career record. The 44-year old is also known for his love of making money, which has earned him the nickname “Money” Mayweather and has become the name of his NASCAR Cup Series team The Money Team, which is making its debut in the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 20 with driver Kaz Grala who’s making his second career Daytona 500 start after a 28th place finish for Kaulig Racing in last year’s event. The Money Team has been rumored for multiple years now, but never got things together until formally announcing a run for this year’s Daytona 500 title just 15 days before qualifying for the event. TMT Racing plans a part-time schedule in 2022 with hopes of becoming a full-time Cup Series team for the 2023 season.  

Emmitt Smith
There are many athletic legends and even a globally popular hip-hop superstar owning rides in the NASCAR Cup Series, but there are also big names giving love to teams in the Xfinity Series, which is kind of a minor league feeder series to the Cup Series. This season NFL Hall of Famer and the league’s all-time rushing leader Emmitt Smith is partnering with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports for a full season run in the No. 34 with Iwuji, a Navy man currently serving in the Navy Reserve, behind the wheel. The team initially wanted to run the No. 22 in recognition of Smith’s Dallas Cowboys jersey number, but the number was owned by another team. But with Iwuji being the only full-time African-American driver in the Xfinity Series the team decided the No. 34, which was the number driven by Wendell Scott when he became the first African-American driver to win a NASCAR race in 1963, was a fitting option. 

by Julian Spivey
The NASCAR Cup Series 16-driver playoff field is always nearly impossible to predict in its entirety because of the “win-and-you’re-in” qualification that can lead to surprises. For instance, I didn’t predict Michael McDowell in the playoffs last season (who honestly did?) but he was the first to clinch a spot by winning the 2021 Daytona 500. This season is particularly hard to predict because of the new car introduced into the series that all teams are having to get used to on the fly and there’s no telling which drivers and teams will adapt the quickest. 

1. Kyle Larson
Kyle Larson absolutely curb-stomped the competition in 2021 in his first season with Hendrick Motorsports on his way to winning 10 races and the Cup Series title. It was the best season for any NASCAR driver in more than a decade. With the new cars this season I don’t know if that success or even half of it will transfer to 2022, but I do know Larson has had wide success driving multiple different kinds of cars and if anybody can adapt to a new car quickly it could likely be him. We might be looking at the first repeat champion of the sport in more than a decade. 

2. Chase Elliott 
Chase Elliott surprisingly struggled in defense of his 2020 Cup Series title last season. Yes, he won multiple races, but both came at road courses where he honestly might be able to win some of those blindfolded (he’s on pace to become the greatest road racer in NASCAR history). He’s averaged three wins a year over the last four seasons, so I’d probably expect him to be around that number again in 2022. 

3. Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin has been to the Championship 4 in the last three seasons, but thus far has not won a championship in his career. I don’t really know what that says about him, but I do know he’s averaged five wins a year over the last three seasons. He should be a threat to win another handful or so races in 2022. 

4. Martin Truex Jr. 
Martin Truex Jr. has averaged almost five victories per year over the last six NASCAR seasons and has been Mr. Consistent. He’s appeared in the Championship 4 in four of the last five seasons with a championship in 2017 and three runner-ups, including last year when he won four races. I don’t see any reason why Truex would be taking a step back at this point. 

5. Ryan Blaney
I had been waiting for Ryan Blaney to really bust through in the Cup Series. He had one a race in each of the four previous seasons before 2021 but had never had more than one win in a season until scoring three last year. I think he’s going to be a threat for at least that many wins in 2022 and could be a championship caliber threat. 

6. Joey Logano 
Last season was a bit of a struggle for Joey Logano, certainly more than he’s used to. His only win came in the inaugural dirt track race at Bristol Motor Speedway, which was a bit surprising in itself. He’s now the veteran at Penske Racing and primed for a big year. 

7. Kyle Busch 
Kyle Busch found Victory Lane twice in 2021 after having gone most of the 2020 season without winning until the end of the year. He still appeared to be scuffling more than one is used to seeing from Busch, but he was always vocal the lack of practice time affected him greatly. Now that NASCAR is back to weekly practices, I think we’ll see a bit of the old Busch again. 

8. Alex Bowman
Hendrick Motorsports has been so dominant lately that all four of its drivers feel like automatic locks to make the playoffs. Alex Bowman had a career year in 2021 with four wins but struggled in the playoffs and failed to make it out of the first round. I think he can make it two rounds further in 2022. 

9. William Byron
There were times in 2021 when William Byron was the most consistent driver in the Cup Series. He posted 12 top-5s and 20 top-10s during the season. His one win came early in the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the third race of the year. His consistency will get him to the playoffs, but he’ll need to find his way to Victory Lane more often to be a real title threat. 

10. Kevin Harvick
It was quite shocking when Kevin Harvick went winless last season, especially after having led the Cup Series with nine wins the year before. He still pointed his way into the playoffs last season. Keeping Harvick out of the playoffs seems impossible and I’m sure he’ll find his way back to Victory Lane soon. 

11. Tyler Reddick
I bet Tyler Reddick gets his first career Cup Series win this season in his third full-time season. The two-time Xfinity Series champion seems to be getting better the more he runs in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet and pointed his way into the playoff field last season. 

12. Christopher Bell 
Christopher Bell won his first career Cup Series race in his sophomore season last year and he surprised people by doing it at the Daytona road course (which, unfortunately, won’t be on the schedule this season). Bell is bound to get more comfortable at the Cup level and I think he’ll have multiple wins this season. 

13. Austin Cindric 
Austin Cindric is a rookie in the NASCAR Cup Series this year as he takes over the No. 2 Roger Penske Ford left behind by Brad Keselowski, who moved over to co-own Roush Racing. It’s always risky to predict a rookie into the playoff field, but the Cup Series has six road course races these days and five of those come before the playoffs and Cindric is a road racing ace. I think he’s going to win at least one road race this season and clinch a playoff spot. 

14. Kurt Busch 
Kurt Busch is the definition of consistency. He has won exactly one race in each of the last six seasons. So, why not win one this season? The only issue might be warming up to a new team as he moves over from the defunct Ganassi Racing to a second car added to the 23XI Racing team. I don’t think it’ll be a hard transition for him and his addition to the team will most likely make the whole organization better. 

15. Darrell Wallace Jr. 
This the one of the 16 drivers I’m predicting to make the field that I’m the least confident about. Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. got his first Cup Series win late last season at Talladega Superspeedway in a rain-shortened event, but he looked prime to win that race even if it went to the finish. He’s become quite the superspeedway driver and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him win one of those four races this season in his second year with 23XI Racing. 

16. Brad Keselowski
This is going to be the hardest season Brad Keselowski has had since his rookie year in the Cup Series. It’s not going to be easy for him and he may not win a race. Roush Racing had been behind the field for quite a while now when it comes to performance – and that might change this year with the new car, but it might also continue. If the team struggles to keep up with the field Keselowski will have to focus on pointing his way into the playoff field, but I think he can and will do that.