Why Sports Podcast?! 06032024 - NBA Finals, Justin Jefferson, Caitlin Clark

Justin Jefferson has signed a new contract with the Minnesota Vikings worth $140 million, making him the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history. The Dallas Mavericks are headed to the NBA Finals to play against the Boston Celtics. The Negro League records are now officially part of the Major League record book. There were also some fights and the passing of legends Bill Walton and Larry Allen. Overall, it's an exciting time in sports. the Minnesota Viking as well is when it comes to Justin Jefferson the two sides have agreed to a new extension there that goes are probably worth 140 million dollars 110 million guaranteed for JJ there the massive contract makes Jefferson the highest pay receiver in NFL history and highest paid non-cuban NFL history and it makes perfect sense because when he came in at 24 that was CBS sports and TNT sports respectively highlighting some of the big news from this past week what's good everyone it's the Y sports podcast it's your boy out in Spain and man I cannot wait to get into this past week in sports it's been a little bit of everything as you heard at the top as we record this on June 3rd Justin Jefferson just became the highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history the Dallas Mavericks are on their way to the NBA Finals to play the Boston Celtics starting this Thursday and the Negro League records are officially part of the Major League record book we will talk about that as well Kaitlyn Clark and Channity Carter had a bit of a had a bit of a scrap this past weekend and we have to talk unfortunately about two legends passing away and all of that and more as we cover this episode of the Y sports podcast and again we'll talk about it a little bit later but our condolences first and foremost from the Y sports podcast to the families of the legend Bill Walton who passed away last week and Larry Allen who suddenly passed away this this afternoon or this morning I don't know family vacation to Mexico two of the old-time great athletes in sports and we'll pay homage to them at the end of our episode today so first and foremost let's talk about it let's talk about Justin Jefferson highest paid non-quarterback in the history of the NFL if you didn't get a chance to hear from the start he signed a 140 million dollar contract extension for four years including 110 million dollars guaranteed last year he turned down a deal that was going to give him 28 million dollars annually now my man signed a contract for over 30 million dollars this year actually 35 million dollars per year what first and foremost congratulations to Jay Jettis I mean you deserve that and more clearly one of the best wide receivers in the game he's one of those guys that rightfully so will reset that market for wide receivers Jamar Chase is coming up C.D. Lamb it's coming up to the big ones that came in that draft class as well so it'll be very interesting to see where their contracts go but first and foremost to the Minnesota Vikings what an amazing job for them to keep one of their great young studs in their in their city and again for Minnesota we talked about it a couple weeks ago making sure they maintain guys like Anthony Edwards that future is looking bright in Minnesota they have probably the best player in the game and now they have one of the they have people will argue but definitely one of if not the best wide receiver in and Justin Jefferson and I think right now this is probably as good of a time to sign that contract now that you've reset the clock on the quarterback may it be Sam Donald may it be the rookie that they just drafted from from Michigan there's going to be a need for Justin Jefferson and right now when you look at when you look at what's around him now with their with their tight end Hutchinson and Jordan Addison who was drafted last year they've got a lot of great weapons in place with the clear number one so it'll be important for whoever's that wide receiver to get this team going and right now you're paying you're paying a rookie contract you paying minimum contracts to to the to Sam Donald who was there now so you've got a chance to really invest in Justin Jefferson right now and putting other great players around him I do love this contract I do think it's going to reset the market and it's going to be interesting to see how a team like Cincinnati responds who they oh they have just paid their quarterback so it's going to be enough to see how much money do they want to invest in keeping a Jamar Chase because again nobody's here to argue that Jamar Chase ain't worth the money but for Cincinnati to have paid that much they would put a good portion of that salary cap to two players two awesome players but you know they don't have that luxury like in Minnesota again they just they let go of Kirk Cousins they just reset it that quarterback paying clock so this contract fits very well for them you wonder about CeeDee Lamb you wonder if that press guy's going to be there next year and if he goes is it can he find himself in a similar situation get in that bag and while the Cowboys look to find another quarterback that can throw him the ball and truly pay him what he's worth and for the Cowboys too they got Micah Parsons coming up personally I love them both I would I think I would lean towards Micah Parsons and he's he is so rare as far as that game-breaker but that is going to be something for Dallas to look at as well but I love this deal for Justin Jefferson very happy for him I think for Minnesota they need a new face of their team and they got it they can invest very highly in him it's amazing that four wide receivers were picked ahead of him in the draft and all he does is just literally make big play after big play he is just so explosive and he's one of those guys where you would want an elite store to give him that ball he wouldn't make he won't make any quarterback look good because he is that awesome and he's he will now have those expectations of what a big-money contract is and especially with them not having that big-name quarterback he's going to ask to be the leader especially offensively within that team so I look forward to seeing him not just emerge as another great big-money player but I look forward to seeing him emerge as a leader now within the Minnesota Timberwolves so very happy for him like I said highest paid non-quarterback in the history of the league he just surpassed Nick Bosa in that regard so again you're looking at guys now as we are resetting that market in various areas especially with wide receivers defensive pass rushers those are probably two of the key positions outside of quarterback in the game of football so they are getting rightfully they're getting they're getting paid rightfully so and it'll be interesting to see you know how the cap goes for the next couple of years to kind of adjust to these big quarterbacks or to these big to these big signings again you want to sign your quarterback which will now cost you over like around 50 million dollars now you throw in these wide receivers who are going to prop these elite wide receivers we're going to probably average 30 to 35 I mean damn that goes happy that goes damn near a good portion of your salary cap so it'll be interesting to see how it'll adjust over time and to see how teams will go about these big wide receivers moving forward do they become trapped do they become prime trade candidates or are they going to be somebody you can't invest it like I said for Justin Jefferson I think this worked out timing worked out beautifully for them I know they would like to still have Kirk Cousins is he still better than what they have currently going on right now but the face of this franchise is indeed Justin Jefferson and he got the big money and I think Minnesota can afford to do that so as we talked about earlier the NBA Finals are now set as we transition now our talk from football to basketball the Boston Celtics they sweep the Indiana Pacers I didn't expect to sweep I did not it's I thought Indiana was gonna win at least one game does Lord know Boston try to hand them three but kudos to Boston and they will be the favorites against the Dallas Mavericks who just dominated the Minnesota Timberwolves and I tell you all credit to Dallas you know it's one of it's funny when you look at the playoffs you're not just looking at how you you know but how many games you win and get to that point but you really do look at the past I I love Dallas's past for them to go through a tough team like the Clippers for them to go through the number one seed Oklahoma City and for them to go through the most exciting team in the NBA in the Minnesota Timberwolves they have kept it cool they have just been consistent definitely more consistent than the Boston Celtics right now Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic are playing on another level right now and if you're asking me who's better those two versus Jason Brown and Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum I'm gonna pick Luka and Kyrie they're they have been more consistent now when Jason goes off he's amazing Jalen is still a great ballplayer but that level of consistency that we're seeing with the Dallas Mavericks now I like them so much in this series to finish this job and winning the NBA championship and then oh my god what happens to the Boston Celtics after that again Boston Boston is a favorite as they should be there's the overall number one seed they've been the best basketball team all year long but there's something about how Dallas has been playing in these playoffs especially these last two games taking out these very talented young teams in the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves there's a lot of excitement happening right now Jason Kidd has done an amazing job with this team Kyrie Irving has found his game found his swag not since his time in Cleveland has he been at this kind of level right now and then you throw in Luka Doncic who oh my goodness he's becoming the steel of that draft so many years ago he is he is the man I'm telling you I can't wait to see this series I'm looking forward to it starts this Thursday on ABC again our pick for the podcast we are going to go with the Dallas Mavericks I again I just think they're playing more consistent I think they're just overall playing better now again for Boston they've got the rest it'll be interesting to see if Porzingis comes back and it'll be all eyes are gonna be on Jason Tatum can he be it can he take his game to the next level because nobody's here doubting his game he is awesome he is legitimate he is a badass but when it comes to these playoff moments guys like Jalen Brown has been more visible guys like Kyrie Irving guys like Luka Doncic have been more visible I'm looking forward to seeing if Jason Tatum can be more visible my prediction will be wrong if Jason Tatum shows up and becomes the series MVP if not if you take everything as we are going right now I like the I like the Dallas Mavericks to find their way to winning their second ever NBA championship so now let's shift gears to the WNBA and for this we'll play this little clip so this got a little physical and got a little chippy Carter made her back it and then it just kind of seemed I don't know again full disclosure I didn't really see the game before you know what led to that but she just kind of came up and just gave her a shoulder bump and and walked away so I don't know if Kaitlyn was chirping at her I don't know if it was it just seemed it just seemed that for that moment it does it did seem out of place now um Kaitlyn Carter's brought a lot of eyes to this game and I think we've talked about that and what she's done has been amazing and I think and I said this last week too Kaitlyn Clark has done a lot but I I don't think we should ever forget the great there was there's been talent in the WNBA there's a lot of great talent in the WNBA just Kaitlyn Clark for whatever reason has been the reason people have wanted to look more so not sure if this is jealousy or what have you um but I will say this there's no place for that in sports there's no place to do that I don't think you want to make a statement and everything else like that now again we're talking about games in May or in June so I'd like to think some of this pettiness will go away as the season gets through because it feels like you're trying to make a statement to Kaitlyn Clark that being said it'll be something to watch at the NBA you know as they're watching these games last week Angel Clark Angel Reese excuse me she took a nasty foul last week as well so these rookies have garnered more attention than most rookie classes in the WNBA probably this has been the most focused draft class in the WNBA history so I think there's going to be a lot of established players who've been there they know their game they've done their game but now it feels like oh we're getting the respect because Kaitlyn and Angel Reese are doing their thing so it was interesting I think it is something to be mindful of as we go through this season um but I don't know if it's a good thing we're talking about it but it feels like you know when something like this happens in the NBA we talk about it when something like this happens in the WNBA we only talk about it if it gets to an extreme level right Candace Parker legend she just retired she had that fight with Plymouth Pearson all those years ago and it feels like only then will we talk about it so and as weird as this is gonna make this sound there's something about this that provides a little bit of normalcy to the WNBA that has been missing like we can't talk about them like we would talk about other sports but now we've got some chippiness now we got a little bit of an attitude based on a high draft pick and again I don't know let me let me not even put that on Kennedy Carter I don't know if that's what that was it felt like it is that's what it looked like but I can't read her mind but there is something about it that we can still keep talking about it and this is how the WNBA can kind of build their stories now now it's going to be interesting now Chicago and Indiana was always going to be a featured matchup because they had the two most talked about rookies Angel Reese with Chicago um Kaitlyn Clark with Indiana so it's going to be interesting now when these two teams match up because here's now that thing this is how rivalries get started this is how things build and build and these are the things that keep people coming back and because now people are starting to get that investment so again there's no place for it I don't get like I don't like cheap shots I don't like cheap shots at all but I will say this this is how rivalries get started and when you have two of I mean in your game you have those two then rivalry goes back all the way back to high school but probably more notably and that time at LSU and Iowa when they played two times at the tournament of course LSU won the national championship in 2023 Iowa knocked out LSU in the Elite 8 this year so it's going to be interesting it'll be something to monitor as we go continue to go through the season this year to see how many more people make their attacks or you'll do that do those little fouls on the Kaitlyn Clark's on the Angel Reese's of the world to the Cameron Brinks of the world the Rekia Jackson you know that very talented rookie class it'll be interesting to see how these teams respond to that as we continue to move forward so then that will now take us to another interesting story that that I'm very interested in to that came big over this past week the major the Negro Leagues have now their record book has truly been integrated with Major League Baseball it started back in 2020 but now as we are standing here today there is there is now a new hit leader in Josh Gibson or at least the average he's now the king of batting averages in Major League Baseball and I think when you look at how this shifts everything now as far as you know how we've always used to make the Negro Leagues out they've been looked at in the history books um let it let me be very clear I I love the Negro Leagues I love before I really started watching baseball and seeing the stories about the you know guys like Josh Gibson they there were they were as elite as elite can be and unfortunately with the country the way it was they were never going to get the credit or never get the opportunity to play in the majors to show what they can do so it always bothered me when people try to say what their accomplishments were I was a little bit minor because it wasn't at the level the major leagues well quite frankly the major leagues wasn't at the level it could have been because they did not allow African-American players and again of such significant talent to play so there was always felt like the major league was not as good as it could be and the make and the Negro Leagues always you always would hope they would get that opportunity so we cannot go back in time we cannot change anything in that regard but it is great to see that they do get this recognition it is great to see that they are now and now it's not just major league baseball this feels like baseball history right now still have a lot of work to do but it's very cool to kind of see this shaping up the way that that it is right now and it's and again as we look at the new Negro League stats and everything like that here again this coming from Yahoo the career batting average it was tied top at 367 it is now Josh Gibson at 372 Josh Gibson now also has a career the highest career slugging percentage overtaking Babe Ruth and Babe Ruth had 690 Josh Gibson 718 and I tell you the real winner of this is Josh Gibson because if you didn't know now you know Jackie Robinson is our hero my hero my favorite ballplayer of all time and he is as awesome as awesome can be but Josh Gibson was a dude on another level he had some issues and you know we didn't get a chance to see his game but let me be very clear Josh Gibson read him Google him that dude can do everything and he and with these with them taking with the Negro Leagues being part of the major league baseball record just to see the records he is a part of if not number one at least in the top five single-season on base percentage Barry Bonds of course is the all-time leader with six 609 and 582 respectively in 2004 2002 Josh Gibson now moves up to the third with 564 single season OPS Josh Gibson now has the two best records of all time it was Barry Bonds and now when you go into pitching records guys like Satchel Paige get they truly get their recognition on how good he was as well so to be honest and actually now that I'm looking at this too they did increase Willie Mays his career hit total to now 3293 to include his season with the Birmingham Black Bears so there's so many things that have now been added to this game and really provides a complete look about baseball now again I can only wish and can only go back in the time to see how these guys would have done against each other and not and not separate but that goes on to what our country was back then and as I look at these records as I look at these amazing players and how they are now going to get recognized I hope now everyone takes that opportunity to take a look at the lead at these guys watching their games going to those museums and learning more about the Negro Leagues and just the thing that this isn't a charity thing this isn't just oh we're trying to know these these men were as good of ball players as you could ever find in the game and this is not to take away from the legends of Major League Baseball like the Ty Cobb like the Babe Ruth of this world but there were other great players that they didn't get a chance to play against and I would have loved to have seen that now I'm glad their records are now included here so I think it'll I think it still has kind of torn opinion because you know what the Negro Leagues it was so special but they were on their own now they kind of lose a little bit of that identity now joining Major League Baseball records but I think this ultimately is a great thing for baseball and again probably no other sport has been more rooted to how America is than baseball when segregated in the 30s then they they were one of the first sports that started to expand especially getting Latin players getting Asian players and now you get to see that more global game that is baseball and as they're continuing to evolve this is a I think still a great day for this for this sport and I think they'll this will be highlighted quite a bit as we move forward in the world so then that takes us finally to our last stories of the day and these will end up being tributes today to what I mean when we initially started you know playing for the show it was just gonna be about Bill Walton but we couldn't ignore the sad passing of Larry Allen so we'll start with Bill first legendary player from UCLA two-time world champion once with the Trailblazers the another in the 80s with the Celtics but he he's one of those guys that it's so special that we get to know him not just as a great player definitely one of the greatest college basketball players of all time injuries kind of got him in the in the NBA but he's also a tremendous broadcaster I was just telling my wife's the other day as we just celebrated Memorial Day last week I would get home from our barbecue with my friends I would come home and this is when the NBA was in the afternoon and we had the three o'clock games and you hear Bill Walton doing commentary with Mark Albert or I'm talking man I'm blanking on the other guy the Tsar the Tsar right and you know it's never easy to see a legend pass away and especially somebody that is so revered and so loved to hear all the outpouring everybody from Rich Eisen to Stephen A. Smith Michael Wilbon you know guys that not just played with them like Larry Bird but guys that actually worked with him all those years in broadcasting he just seemed to have a really cool laid-back attitude about him that was just something that was easy as a listener to just be attached to and be a hold of and I always enjoyed listening to him on the NBA on NBC and then getting to hear him more in college and when he was doing ESPN college games and everything else like that there's a just an attitude there was just such a swag to him that I always enjoyed listening to and then when I got a chance to see him play like man he was amazing especially his time with UCLA and those great Bruins teams so again from our from our family to to the Walton family our condolences of course probably most people know his son Luke Walton who formerly played in the NBA again very sad day for him 71 years old but man he lived a hell of a life man and then that just takes us to our other one and that is Larry Allen who sadly passed away today now as y'all know I'm a Steeler fan so it's hard for me to give any credit to anybody else especially the Cowboys and especially the Ravens but let me tell you something in 92 I he Larry Allen was probably one of the first offensive linemen I knew by name now I grew up in Washington so we were so always heard about the Halls like one of the greatest offensive lines of all time but that guy it felt like he got taken to another level when the Cowboys had their had their dynasty in the 90s when they won their three championships and Jimmy Johnson the great coach he was he built his teams from the inside out he knew the importance of having a great offensive line and there was probably none better for the Dallas Cowboys Ben Larry Allen that guy was as athletic as he came as it comes and he was one of those guys that as I really started again in the sport I really started to understand the value of an offensive line I always got that basic understanding from watching the arm the rescuing slash commanders back in the day but when you see Larry Allen and you got to see how well the Dallas Cowboys truly became world champions with Troy Aikman with Emmett Smith Michael Irvin the time that Troy had to throw or the holes that Emmett got to run through was behind that offensive line angered by Larry Allen Hall of Fame guard again he was one of the first true offensive linemen I got a chance to know by name and really got to follow his career and you know actually got to follow him and I know John Madden is in heaven right now opening the pearly gates for for Larry Allen because John Madden loved him some Larry Allen and so when he did those replays and he got a chance to do those focus on Larry Allen he loved it because he loved following how well that offensive line blocked he loved following how that big guy can move and with Larry Allen he can move not only can you knock people down but he can knock you down and run and chase you and chase and get the next guy out of the way so his teammates can score again very sad very it was very sudden today so again our condolences to the late Larry Allen 52 years old man that is oh another another thing to be sad about but I will say this to the families we are praying for you and we wish you nothing but the best unfortunately during this this time of transition so I know it's a little bit of a solemn way to end the Y sports podcast but as much as we love to talk about our sports we got to make sure we honor those that gave us you know the things to enjoy in the first place and it's always tough to talk about legends that have passed on but it does give us an opportunity to give them their flowers and give them the love that they they rightfully deserve at least on the sporting fields and again to his family and to their families again we as fans we only do what they did on the field but to off the field that's that's where we will never be able to know about and that's where we truly feel for you guys because I know he meant they meant to you so much more than just what they did on the field so again thank you all listening thank you all again for listening it's been the Y sports podcast check out our wrestling podcasts we're going to be doing that later on today and we'll be talking about the 10-year anniversary of Seth Rollins making making option B and turning on the shield and quite frankly it's one of the biggest days in wrestling history because it has kind of set the stage to what we have today between the architect the head of the table and John Moxley but thank you all so much for listening again it's the Y sports podcast can't wait to do it again soon it's your boy Alvin Spence we'll see you when we see you next time peace