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Today’s Rundown

Everything you’ll get from today’s edition, and more:

• 🔥 Soooo will Jimmy finally play basketball now?

• 🔴 Ohio State promotes a long-time employee

• 🐅 What’s going on with Brian Kelly?

• 🫣 Who hit a game-winner in Cleveland..?

On This Day

On This Day…

🍓 Darryl Suspended for Drugs

Darryl Strawberry was one of baseball’s most talented players of all time, but he was also one of its most troubled. On this day in 1995, Strawberry was suspended from baseball for 60 days for a positive cocaine test.

Strawberry was suspended three total times in his career for substance abuse. Now, Strawberry has been clean and sober for 20 years!

Trivia Time

🧠 Test your sports knowledge…

Yesterday’s Trivia Answer: (D): TIMMY SMITH! How many of you got that one right? It was 1988 when Washington and Denver faced off in the Super Bowl. Smith ran for a record 204 yards! He rushed for 2 TDs and the Redskins (at the time don’t sue me) destroyed the Broncos 42-10.

Before We Dive In…

👀 Here’s Yesterday’s MUST-See’s

• 🥹 Neymar is back on the pitch for Santos… beautiful

• 🎵 Jimmy announcing his presence in the West

• 🔥DARIUS GARLAND LOGO GAME-WINNER

• 👀 First look at Luka in his new threads

The Hot Stove

Another BLOCKBUSTER Trade

🏀 Jimmy Butler to the Warriors!

What to know: We’ve known for a while that Jimmy Butler had played his last game in a Miami Heat uniform, yesterday he found his new home: The Golden State Warriors!

The Warriors acquired Jimmy Butler in exchange for Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schroeder, Kyle Anderson, and a protected first-round pick! There’s four teams involved in this trade, but the skinny of it is that Jimmy is on the Warriors, Wiggins and ‘Slo-Mo’ Kyle Anderson are going to Miami, and Dennis Schroeder is heading to Utah.

If you’re looking at this from Miami’s perspective, they can’t be too mad at all…right? From the outside, it seemed like Jimmy was just a distraction this past season and was begging to leave, so getting anything at all for a guy begging to leave is great. Wiggins can have an instant impact. This Miami team may not have any All-NBA caliber players, but Miami has always been a gritty team, and they have a whole lot of grit right now.

Golden State on the other hand has been looking for a true running mate for Steph, and this could do the trick. Jimmy is a proven killer in the postseason, and both of them being on the court together will most certainly take some pressure off of the other. A locker room with Draymond and Jimmy both will be fun to monitor, but this is no doubt another blockbuster trade in what will go down as one of the most memorable trade deadlines (weeks) of all time!

The landscape of the Western Conference has had seismic shifts. The Thunder still seems to be the favorite but with little postseason success. with their young core, who knows what will happen. All I know is this, we will be in for some postseason FIREWORKS!

College Football

🏈 Ohio State Stays In-House for OC

What to know: Since their national championship victory just a few weeks ago, Ohio State has had both of it’s offensive and defensive coordinators poached. To fill their offensive coordinator position, the Buckeyes stayed in-house, promoting former Ohio State standout and NFL veteran Brian Hartline.

Hartline served as the co-offensive coordinator under Chip Kelly last season as the Buckeyes, but has been with the staff since 2017. Hartline played at Ohio State from 2006-2008, before spending six seasons with the Miami Dolphins and one season in Cleveland. He has worked himself up the ranks at Ohio State, starting as a quality control coach, then being promoted to WRs coach, passing game coordinator, and co-offensive coordinator. Hartline was technically the OC in 2023, but head coach Ryan Day was the play caller.

Hartline is known as one of the best recruiters and developers in all of college football. Since joining the staff, Hartline has coached and recruited the following WRs: Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jameson Williams, Terry McLaurin, Parris Campbell, Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr., and now Jeremiah Smith Jr. and Emeka Egbuka. Wow. That’s a list!

The interesting thing will be whether or not Ryan Day takes back the play calling, but it seems as though Hartline is going to be the guy. Nothing has been mentioned from Day about taking back the responsibility, so all signs point to Hartline taking it on.

College Football

🏈 Did Brian Kelly Abandon a Former Player?

What to know: A few years back, LSU defensive back Greg Brooks Jr. was diagnosed with brain cancer. Brooks Jr. stepped away from the program in September of 2023 to have surgery to remove the brain tumor, but the surgery went disastrously. The procedure south and Brooks Jr. was left with “catastrophic neurological injuries” that left him permanently disabled. Brooks Jr. filed a lawsuit in August against LSU and Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, LA.

The lawsuit accuses the Tigers coaching staff of encouraging him to practice after he showed symptoms in practice, along with claiming the LSU medical staff misdiagnosed him and waited too long to send him to a neurological specialist. The file also alleged the surgeon who removed the tumor wasn’t qualified. During an interview with Good Morning America earlier this week, Brooks Jr’s father, Brooks Sr., called out the LSU head coach.

Brooks Sr. claims he hasn’t heard from LSU during his son’s recovery, “Specifically, Brian Kelly. My son almost lost his life. Coach, where were you? Forget about football. Pick up the phone and say you love the kid, man.” Brooks Jr. is currently cancer-free and has learned to write and speak again through rehabilitation, but more than a year after the surgery, he is still isolated to a wheelchair and cannot walk.

LSU head coach Brian Kelly emphatically denied the accusations in a press conference yesterday, claiming he has been a part of Greg Brooks Jr.’s care and support, saying “The comment struck a nerve with me. It hit my heart.”

Quick Hitters

• 💪 Pete Alonso signs back with the Mets

• 🤝 Kings acquire center Valanciunas from Wizards

• 🏀 Bulls and Lonzo Ball agree to two-year extension

• 🤝 Kuzma heading to Bucks, Middleton to Wizards in return

What We’re Watching

🏀 TNT Double Header to soothe all of our souls…

• Mavericks @ Celtics (7:30 PM): nothing like a Kyrie Irving homecoming in Boston

• Warriors @ Lakers (10:00 PM): Steph vs LeBron always gets the crowd going

⛳️ Day 1 of the Waste Management Phoenix Open! One of the rowdiest Tournaments on TOUR! Going to be a fun few days! Here is a live look at the LEADERBOARD!

🏒 A few really good matchups at the top of the standings

• Golden Knights @ Devils (7:00 PM)

• Hurricanes @ Wild (7:30 PM on Hulu)

• Panthers @ Blues (8:00 PM)

🏀 College Basketball ranked action:

• Men’s: (18) Maryland vs Ohio State (7:00 PM on FS1)

• Women’s: (5) UConn vs (19) Tennessee (6:30 PM on ESPN), (24) Vandy vs (4) Texas (9:00 PM on SECN)

⚽️ Fútbol!

• Liverpool @ Tottenham Hotspur (3:00 PM on Paramount)

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