The Final Final Podcast - Episode 20: MLB Wrap-up, NBA Season Review, NFL Midseason Recap by Carter Thomson

(01:04 - 07:29) The NFL has its first Covid-19 outbreak as the Tennessee Titans have had over 10 total personnel test positive to this point, postponing their Week 4 Matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers; (07:30 - 24:48) NFL Week 3 recap with some fantastic matchups including a duel between our two most recent regular season MVPs, and a look ahead to Week 4 with some intriguing matchups on paper; (24:53 - 34:30) NBA Finals Game 1 in the book has the Lakers absolutely throttling the Heat and it doesn't get any better for them as two starters go down with injuries. Can they rally and make this a series or is it all Lakers in this Bubble?; (34:33 - 43:02) MLB Wild Card Round just about wrapped up in this new postseason bubble with 16 teams. Who's moving on, who looks poised for a strong postseason with all these extra teams participating this year?; (43:05 - 50:47) FINAL and FINAL FINAL thought of the episode including the first major American Sports Champion and why I think the College Football committee got it wrong in sticking with a 4 team playoff instead of trying out the 8 team playoff this season

(1:43-15:50) All the major injuries suffered in Week 2 of the NFL season, lots of big names and guys lost for the season including the top two picks in every fantasy league this year; (15:52-38:30) Week 2 NFL recap, Seahawks and Packers look strong to start the year while the Falcons find a way to top their 28-3 Super Bowl choke, followed by a look ahead to Week 3 matchups with a potential game of the year on Monday Night Football; (38:32-45:53) College Football is fully back now, Pac-12 has opted back into a Fall season, SEC football started this week and we go over each Badger game and just check wins off the schedule one by one; (45:55-52:51) NBA Conference Finals has both series at 3-1 with Lakers and Heat up respectively, will we be seeing Lebron James face one of his former teams in the NBA Finals this year? Wouldn't that be a perfect storyline for the NBA Bubble; And of course my FINAL and FINAL FINAL thoughts for the episode including why we have a great redemption story underway in the Stanley Cup Finals

(1:45 - 24:08) NFL Week 1 Recap - Aaron Rodgers has a stellar opening week performance, Russell Wilson lives up to the MVP hype against the Falcons, Brady and the Bucs struggle against the Saints among other notable Week 1 headlines; (24:09 - 31:00) NBA Conference Finals set with the Miami Heat up 2-0 on the Celtics already and the Lakers set to take on the resilient Nuggets; (36:13 - 43:48) MLB Postseason approaching and we have teams in the playoffs that wouldn't have had a chance in a normal 162 game regular season, should be a fun postseason bubble; (43:50 - 49:12) BIG 10 Football is BACK! October 24th weekend, keep it in mind. Looks like begging does work out sometimes!

(00:57-16:18) - NBA's Historic Playoff Boycott in light of the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha Wisconsin. My opinion on the situation and my own thoughts on what is being fought for and being brought to light by the Athlete community; (19:55-39:13) The NFL Season is FINALLY here! I finish up my record predictions with the AFC/NFC East and go through all 14 teams I believe will be making the Playoffs; (39:14-49:59) MY MVP, DPOY, etc. etc. predictions here. I also give a cop out Super Bowl pick which I'm sure you can guess if you're an avid listener to the podcast; (50:00-52:53) FINAL Thought: BIG 10 Football is back? Is it not back? Either way hopes are way too high and ready to be crushed followed by my FINAL FINAL Thought!

The NBA Bubble season has been a massive success, brilliant all around from the games to the continued social justice movement and now we are in the Playoffs which has got everyone fired up / NFL Training Camp in full pads in underway and the safety concerns have turned into safety fortunes as the results have been better than expected to this point and I continue with my record predictions, this week the AFC-NFC South / Baseball has continued even if teams get left behind / Half of College Football is canceled and I guess we won't see Wisconsin make the College Football Playoffs in 2020 / My FINAL and FINAL FINAL thoughts which include Baseball's "Unwritten Rules" and how Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson can be the college football savior

The MLB's season has started, but how long will it be around? With a recent coronavirus outbreak with one team, how does that affect the rest of the league in terms of continuing the season? / The NBA's restarted season starts tomorrow and all signs are pointing up for a successful conclusion to their year where we'll have an NBA Champion / The NFL's training camp has started but the question is how many guys will show up with the option to take the year off for personal safety reasons with the unfortunate unique year we've had

Major College Football decisions have been made in recent weeks including the canceling of an entire conference and the possible devastation of small school sports program / I finally get to my problem with the NFL 100 All-Time Running Backs list including a few snubs I think need to be added in replace of a few names / My AFC & NFC West record predictions for the 2020 NFL season and the first Half-a-Billion dollar man in not just the NFL but in all major sports

The NBA Bubble is set up and ready to go. I talk about what I think the biggest obstacles teams will have to deal with in this isolated NBA restart to finish off the season / Nascar has done a fantastic job every step of the way supporting Bubba Wallace throughout this BLM movement and is showing everyone who they really are / We have an MLB season / The NFL is starting to make changes in preparation for the 2020 season, will they have to make more than just canceling 2 preseason game? And Cam Newton is a New England Patriot. What does that mean for him and the Tom Bradyless Patriots?

I take a step back from sports to discuss the Social Justice movement sweeping across the nation including learning for the first time about Juneteenth which I wish I had known about long before this year / I share my own story about white privilege and how its opened my eyes even more this year and how I can continue to learn / Encourage others to join this movement, don't make enemies by alienating those who aren't yet with us, encourage and teach them to join us now / FINAL FINAL Thought - this isn't going away, we don't want it to go away, keep talking, keep listening, keep pushing, keep saying their names: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many before them.