On our special tribute podcast today, I discuss the brief, but brilliant career of Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers, who passed away yesterday at the age of 77.

Sayers was voted into the Football Hall of Fame the first year he became eligible despite playing only 7 seasons in the NFL. At 34, he was the youngest player ever inducted. 

On our special podcast today, I am joined by New York Times bestselling author and lifelong New York Mets fan Gary Myers to pay tribute to Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver.

Seaver passed away yesterday at the age of 75. He was the greatest Met who ever lived and one of the best pitchers in MLB history.

Seaver was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on January 7, 1992, with the then highest percentage of votes with 98.84%. He was named on 425 out of 430 ballots. Three of the five ballots that had omitted Seaver were blank, cast by writers protesting the Hall's decision to make Pete Rose ineligible for consideration. One ballot was sent by a writer who had failed to notice Seaver's name. The fifth "no" vote was cast by a writer who said he never voted for any player in their first year of eligibility.

Seaver is one of two players enshrined in the Hall of Fame with a Mets cap on his plaque, along with Mike Piazza.

Nicknamed “The Franchise”, Seaver won 311 games, posted a career ERA of 2.86, threw 3,640 strikeouts, and won 3 CY Young awards.

On today's podcast, Jim is joined by FanSided NBA Junior Editor and Phoenix Suns Reporter Gerald Bourguet to breakdown down the resume of former Phoenix Suns forward Shawn Marion.  First, Jim and Gerald discuss the undefeated bubble Suns and what it was like covering a team in the Orlando bubble (2:11), before attempting to describe just how ugly Marion's shooting motion really was (11:38). Next, we discuss Marion's 2006 NBA season and his especially dominant second round playoff performance against the Los Angeles Clippers (19:09), the similarities his career shares with both Ralph Sampson and Jamaal Wilkes (27:07), and just how rare some of his career numbers really are (38:36). Finally, Jim and Gerald rank Marion among the other top forwards of the 2000s (50:46), before making a final call on whether or not Marion deserves to be in the Basketball Hall of Fame (65:08). 

On today's podcast, Jim breaks down the 22-year Hall of Fame resume of recently retired NBA swingman Vince Carter.  Jim talks about the best dunk in Olympic basketball history (4:16), before providing an overly detailed retelling of the 2000 slam dunk competition (13:48). Next, Jim tells us where Vince Carter lands on his list of top dunkers of all-time (27:34) and breaks down just how impressive and improbable having a 22-year career in the NBA really is (31:49). Then,  Jim hits on Carter trading 50-point games with Allen Iverson in the 2001 NBA playoffs (39:28) and why Carter only making two All-NBA teams is pretty unimpressive considering the caliber of players that puts him in company with (42:54). Finally, Jim decides whether or not Vince Carter belongs in the Basketball Hall of Fame (47:35).