The Beat of Sports

Orange County Public Schools' decision to spend $2 million of its federal CARES Act money to pay for Covid-19 tests of all high school football players is worthy of a debate.

We fall for it all the time. A team hires a new coach and we all get flooded with the cliches and assumptions. We hear words like culture, commitment, dedication, tempo and energy. We listen to assistant coaches blabber about understanding what we want done. And we get players talking about how the coaches have been great and you can feel everyone getting on board.

The Sunday slate of NFL action is in the books, what did we learn? The Bucs lost but it was to the Saints, Fitzpatrick did what he does, and the Jaguars are kings of Florida...no really they won. All of that plus the Browns still stink, the Cardinals are fun, and who wouldn't want to play for Ron Rivera.

The longtime NFL writer and author Jason Cole joined the Beat Of Sports this week to discuss his new book, Elway: A Relentless Life. He and Marc discuss how Elway ended up where he did in the draft, plus his post playing career in the front office of Denver.

We're still a week away from the start of the UCF football season but Gary Parris joins the show to talk why he thinks Dillion Gabriel can take another step in year 2, more of the Heupel system we will see, and more.

One of the wildest sports stories this week was talk of an NCAA Tournament in the spring that would feature EVERY team. Mike O'Donnell joins the show to talk about that ridiculous story, what happened to James Harden, and what makes the Heat so good right now.

Orange County Public Schools announces plans to test all football players and coaches for COVID-19, and Austin Lyon joins the show to talk about what the this means and how different protocols in different counties could make for an interesting season.

This season will be different for Florida State as Mike Norvell gets ready for his first year in Tallahassee. 'Nole legend Keith Jones joins the show to talk about the upcoming season as well as look back at the teams he played on.

As the NFL gets ready for the 2020 season, David Purdum joins the show to talk about things to look for when it comes to wagering on the season. He discusses the first time Tom Brady is an underdog, Teddy Bridgewater the king of covering, and more.

In Marc the sports world came to a halt, and then sports fans had to deal with the slow return of the NBA, and then start of a baseball season. But after months of waiting we finally have the return of the NFL.