The Beat of Sports

The FBI investigation into college basketball is continuing but somehow all of the coaches involved with the story have gone unscathed like Sean Miller and Bill Self. But could that change as more and more evidence is being found? Richard Hale our sports legal expert talks about the latest with the investigation and why Sean Miller has survived so long. Then he and Marc turn their attention to the latest involved Tyreek Hill and the abuse allegations that came out last week.

Yes the Philadelphia 76ers are on the best teams in the NBA and have the potential to play in the NBA Finals, but the process the means of tanking to build a team failed. Yes Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid were drafted but all of the other important pieces came via trade or free agent signing.

Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson recently signed an endorsement deal with cbdMD, a company that produces CBD products. The PGA Tour sent out a statement to all members warning them about CBD because of the risk of failing a drug test. Marc talks about how Watson could be a good test case to see if more athletes could start endorsing CBD products as it becomes more and more common in society.

The AAF has come and gone but it has shown that there is a demand for spring football and it proves that there are players that can play in a professional football league that isn't in the NFL, but in the US that structure doesn't exist. Marc talks about how for sports like basketball and soccer all over Europe there is more than one professional league for players to play in.

The AAF crashed and burned, so how do we get to that point. Conor Orr from Sports Illustrated joins us to talk about the final days of the Alliance, how it went from a tech start-up merged with a football league to one that cut meals on team planes and left players stranded when it was all done.

LPGA pro Lexi Thompson recently went golfing with President Donald Trump and radio host Rush Limbaugh, afterwards she was bombarded with negative and hateful comments on social media. This led to Thompson taking a leave from social media. Marc talks about what is going on with society that even if you don't agree with someone politically but are associated with them you deserve hate thrown at you.

Despite many efforts made by businesses to get money owed to them by the Alliance of American Football they've been told to give up because there is no money to give out. Marc talks about how guys like Charlie Ebersol and Tom Dundon knew what they were doing and don't care that people aren't getting money owed to them.

The Magic season has ended and now the focus for the front office moves onto making decisions about free agents to be Nikola Vucevic and Terrance Ross. Josh Robbins from The Athletic joins the show to talk about what the Magic might do during the offseason. He talks about whether or not bringing back Vucevic would hamper the growth of Mo Bamba.

Marc hates the Houston Rockets, in a basketball way. He appreciates watching them play because they are so good BUT he cannot stand watching them complain, constantly. And the same can be said about the Golden State Warriors. This series is a mix of the top 2 teams that will complain throughout the entire game.

While the NBA is in the middle of playoffs the ratings have dropped and not just during the playoffs but the regular season as well, but why? Is it all to do with LeBron James joining the Western Conference? Austin Karp covers sports ratings for the Sports Business Journal joins the show and talks about why he thinks the NBA is experiencing a decline. He and Marc talk about the potential of a Warriors fatigue and if that is a factor. Plus they talk about where the Orlando Magic rank in the television rankings.