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1. The NFL held a media call Wednesday regarding several media issues as the 2023 season gets ready to kick off. Among the more notable highlights:
• The decision to not allow Sunday Ticket viewers to control the games they watch on the multiview channel, which I wrote about last week, is YouTube’s, not the NFL’s. This is highly disappointing since YouTube TV viewers were given the ability to pick the games they wanted to watch on one screen during the NCAA tournament.

Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America
The bets have begun to roll in on the Ryder Cup, and this one surrounds superstar Justin Thomas, a former PGA Tour pro and a tattoo.
Let the Ryder Cup shenanigans begin. The event doesn’t start until Sept. 29 at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome, but that didn’t stop fans from making wagers.
Justin Thomas was one of the six Ryder Cup captain’s picks made by Zach Johnson on Tuesday, and it caused some interesting reactions. CBS Sports reporter and former PGA Tour pro Colt Knost loved the Thomas pick.

Ahead of Alabama’s season opener this weekend, head coach Nick Saban opted not to release a depth chart for the first time in his Alabama coaching career. Saban said he made the decision to eliminate “distractions” from the team, but it led to an awkward conversation with the media explaining his decision.
Some college football analysts did not appreciate Saban’s tone to the media during this conversation. ESPN’s Paul Finebaum said he doesn’t think Saban needed to decline giving a depth chart and overthought how secret he needed to be to the media.

Oklahoma has the most famous third-string quarterback in college football. Though he’s yet to throw a pass for the Sooners, plenty of fans are familiar with the man who wears No. 14, solely because of his name: General Booty. 
Booty, a redshirt sophomore, likely won’t see that much playing time this season as he sits behind Dillon Gabriel and Davis Beville on the depth chart, but he’s still got a substantial social media following, and he’s parlaying that notoriety into NIL deals.

Before Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young was one of the best signal-callers of his or any generation, he was a fringe starter and occasional backup struggling to find his way in the football world. He languished with the USFL’s Los Angeles Express, the Buccaneers and the 49ers before finally breaking out with San Francisco at the age of 31.
He is, in short, one of the few legends who can empathize with the plight of 49ers-turned-Cowboys quarterback Trey Lance. However, that wasn’t the reason Young was so put off by San Francisco’s trade on Friday.

There hasn’t been much parity atop the college football rankings in recent seasons, but these teams aren’t completely flawless.

We’ve seen some pretty bad umpiring in Major League Baseball in 2023 and we haven’t shied away from ripping the guys in blue when they make really awful calls. 
But we’re also able to admire an umpire who can be really good at their job, or at least have really good form on a throw back to the pitcher. 
That brings us to Joe Wolf, who worked behind home plate in Tuesday night’s Rangers–Mets game in New York. He went viral during the game when he stepped aside from Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez and threw a ball back to the pitcher. 
Check this out: 

Jim Wolf, Arm Action.

Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images
Let’s rank the 16 teams still standing in the 2023 men’s FIBA World Cup by their championship chances.
The 2023 men’s FIBA World Cup is loaded with NBA talent all over the field. The United States is seeking redemption after a disastrous seventh place finish in this tournament in 2019, and a young roster impressed in group play by finishing undefeated.

Former Olympic cyclist Inga Thompson joined Riley Gaines on the ‘Gaines For Girls‘ podcast to discuss transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, specifically trans cyclist Austin Killips.
Thompson, who represented the U.S. in the Olympics on three separate occasions, has spoken out against Union Cycliste Internationale’s (UCI) transgender participation policy in the past. In fact, it led to her being removed as director of Cynisca Cycling team.

Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images
Lou Hedley is the Aussie tattoo dad about to take over punting for the Saints.
Punters with personality always develop a cult following — hell, look at Pat McAfee. There’s something inherently funny about punting with swagger, and it causes these players to get elevated to folk heroes. Lou Hedley, the Saints 30-year-old punter from Australia, took his craft from the deserts of Western Australia, to a tattoo shop in Indonesia, a stop in Miami, and now to the NFL.
Yeah, people are going to fall in love with this guy.