Author: Michael

Talk about a rookie mistake!
Hall of Fame college basketball coach Rick Pitino’s cell phone won’t stop blowing up after he was caught giving it out live on televison.
The newly hired St. John’s University men’s basketball coach was part of a montage of celebrities that were courtside at Madison Square Garden this past Sunday to see the New York Knicks defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

So yesterday I was enjoying the Knicks game n someone read my lips on TV giving out my phone number.

The crowd rose as it recognized the moment. Late in overtime, the Lakers clinging to a three-point lead against Memphis, LeBron James gathered the ball on the left side of the floor. Dillon Brooks, the latest in a long line of LeBron irritants, who last week dismissed James as “old” and vowed not to respect him until he scored 40, pressed up against him. James squared up. He drove left. He took four dribbles, dipped his shoulder into Brooks and, with Xavier Tillman closing, muscled a right-handed runner off the backboard.
Bucket. Foul. Game.

Heat star Jimmy Butler exploded for 56 points on Monday night to lead No. 8 seed Miami to a 3–1 series lead over the No. 1 seed Bucks.
Butler, who has earned the moniker of “Playoff Jimmy” for the way that he’s elevated his game when the lights are brightest, put on an astonishing performance—even for him. The six-time All-Star’s performance was so good on Monday night that basketball analyst Charles Barkley called it “the best performance” he’s seen since he’s been on television.

The New York Jets have the 15th overall selection in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft. The team has made a lot of noise so far this offseason, finally acquiring Aaron Rodgers in a blockbuster trade with the Green Bay Packers. As part of the deal, the two teams swapped first-round picks, so the Jets went from No. 13 to No. 15 overall.
Gang Green could go in a few different directions in Round 1. However, the folks at SI Sportsbook believe the best bet is at offensive line (-250). As you might expect, O-line is also among the list of the team’s first-round needs at Sports Illustrated.

The Jets were finally able to pull off a blockbuster trade with the Packers on Monday that landed them one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game—Aaron Rodgers. 
The 39-year-old QB now joins the AFC East, which should be a lot of fun now with four signal-callers who provide no shortage of storylines. 
This move should also make the Jets contenders for the division title and their fans have to be feeling really good the day after the news broke.

Photo by Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
From the course itself to the changes in format, here are five things to watch this weekend in Azerbaijan

Will the Baku City Circuit offer up more drama?
One of the first things to watch for this weekend is the track itself. The Baku City Circuit takes drivers through the streets of Baku at incredible speeds, and offers numerous challenges for both the drivers, and the teams.

Tyree Wilson recently surpassed Will Anderson Jr. as the odds-on favorite to be the first defensive player off the board in the 2023 NFL draft.
That steam is a result of shortening odds that Wilson, an edge rusher from Texas Tech, is selected second by the Texans or third by the Cardinals. Wilson has the second-best odds to go No. 2 to Houston (+250) behind Kentucky quarterback Will Levis (-133) and to go No. 3 to Arizona (+250) behind Ohio State signal-caller C.J. Stroud (+225). Anderson, an edge rusher out of Alabama, is the top-ranked player on SI’s big board.

LeBron James and the Lakers took a commanding 3–1 series lead over the Grizzlies on Monday night with a thrilling 117–111 overtime victory at home. 
It was a historic night for James, who finished with 20 points (including a game-tying layup with 0.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter) and 22 rebounds for the first 20–20 game of his legendary career. He became the oldest player in NBA history to have a 20–20 stat line in a playoff game since Wilt Chamberlain did it in 1973 at age 36.

Last year, in this space, we presented a bleak picture of the 2022 quarterback class. And even that assessment landed short of what wound up happening. I said at least a couple would get picked in the first round, because that is how it always goes. Then, it didn’t go that way at all—only Pitt’s Kenny Pickett went in the first 32 picks, and he wound up being the only quarterback taken in the first 70.
A year later, things aren’t that bad for teams that punted last year and waited for this year.
But the 2023 class isn’t exactly perfect. It has potential, to be sure.

It’s a scene straight out of Hunter Renfroe’s boyhood dreams: As he trots into a major league baseball dugout, jersey stretched across his chest, fans swarm him. In the dreams, they are yelling his name. In reality, they are yelling someone else’s. “Mike!” they beg. “Can we get an autograph?”
He smiles. “Not me,” he says patiently.
He doesn’t blame them: He and his Angels teammate Mike Trout both see the resemblance—although Trout, the 10-time All-Star and three-time MVP, has not yet been asked to sign anything for Renfroe, a journeyman.