Hardwood Headlines, Legal Sports Report, Around the MLB | NewsWire, 7/28/25
Shemar Stewart is having troubles before he even plays a snap. And he’s seeing what’s happened to the stars of this football team, by the way. Right. The Higgins stuff wasn’t super smooth. The Hendrickson stuffs not smooth. But why pay him that big number? Well, you’ve got Trey Henderson, who’s an absolute superstar at edge. You always you always build a defense. Why haven’t the Bengals been back to the Sur Bowl in the last four years? It’s real simple. Game time decisions only on Sports Grid. Y’all know where I’m going and you can call it Nick Byas all you want. I’m taking the Knicks to come out of the East. I look at this New York team and think that Mike Brown is an upgrade over Tom Thibodeau. You may disagree, I don’t care. I look, the fact of getting Yabusele and Clarkson off the bench is going to make the Knicks more dangerous. Betting above the rim only on sports grid. Your approach with Martin Hampton is if you’re going to draft him aggressively and early, you better be patient because it might take half a season before he really takes over this backfield. And it might never happen this year. Depending on how Harris performs. Gadsden and so far, not fantasy relevant at this time. Again, a more run heavy offense. Hampton and Najee Harris very intriguing. But the ADP I think on both of them is slightly off. Fantasy sports today only on sports grid. Tarik Skubal another incredible performance. I mean almost going seven eigt innings again striking out a ton. I mean, I kind of felt like the Tigers really wanted that win. There’s a bit of narrative to it that people like to buy into or, you know, kind of I don’t wanna say push narrative, but the fact that he’s doing what he did last year, but better and is now in a spot to repeat like there’s something to be said. Newswire only on Sports grid. Hey everyone, welcome to News Wire here on Sports Grid. Adam Kaufman in for Craig Mish today. Now, obviously if you were tuning in here on this Monday, you knew this a new look sports grid and new look Newswire. We’ve got you of course no longer. Earlier in the morning. It is now noon to 130 eastern. That’s right. An hour and a half, not just an hour. So that much more news and things to talk about across the entire landscape. That is professional, collegiate and the legal elements of sports betting, gambling, fantasy, you name it. Let’s dive on in with some of the headlines, some of the things that are happening of late across sports, all levels for that matter. And ironically, we begin the world of basketball. I know it’s baseball season. It’s football season, even golf. But basketball Jontay Porter, who you may remember dating back to last year in the NBA season. Season had been banned from the league. That’s right. Not suspended. Banned from the league for his role in a gambling scandal that involved betting on his own games while his sentencing date is approaching. We have learned it is going to be December 10th in New York sentencing for felony wire fraud. He could serve up to four years in prison, as you can see on that graphic there, Porter is still hoping to play professionally in Greece this coming season. We will see how that works out for him. We’ll know more obviously in a matter of months, if not weeks in an interim basis. Now get the baseball. Aaron Judge for the Yankees. Those stumbling Yankees of late avoided serious injury. Good news, obviously for judge and the Yankees, but he is still on the injured list. That stint began just a couple of days ago. The two time MVP on the ten day IL flexor strain in his right elbow. Let’s hear from Judge Aaron. When did you first start feeling something in your arm? Just felt a little something trying to throw out a runner at the plate in Toronto. You kind of feel something, but you kind of feel knicks and stuff throughout your whole body throughout the whole season, so you really don’t think much of it. Aaron and talked about you were having some difficulty throwing yesterday. Was that the biggest turn of events for you that you needed to get it checked out, or what told you that this could be something more serious than just a little a little ache? Yeah. Just not being able to throw the past couple days, you know, kind of want to take it through the off daye how it went. And I was pretty adamant about playing yesterday and. You know, then I think it just kind of came down to a point where, you know, I got to make a play for the team and not be able to do it. You know, that would kind of hurt. But, you know, got it checked out and got the news. And now we just go from here. I mentioned judge, the two time MVP. That includes last year. He is no longer, at least as of right now, the American League MVP favorite had been a massive favorite throughout the majority of the year. This injury and the recent onslaught of home runs out of Cal Raleigh, which really has not slowed down before. During pre all star break, Raleigh is now an ever so slight favorite looking at FanDuel -115 as opposed to -110 for judge. And that continues to fluctuate during his absence. Speaking of those Yankees, remember the MLB trade deadline is approaching. It is Thursday, but moves are underway across Major League Baseball. A couple of recent ones, kind of relatively minor ones, but moves no less by New York. We have seen them drop to now five and a half games behind the Blue Jays for first in the East despite holding a wild card position. Of course, they added third baseman Ryan McMahon, an all star last year from the Rockies, for a pair of minor league pitchers, plus acquired journeyman utility fielder Ahmed Rosario from the nationals for a pair of minor leaguers as well. Nowe Royals, they brought in a veteran outfielder, Randal Grichuk, from the Diamondbacks six team. In 12 years, he has really bounced around the bigs. Not again. A high impact addition. Much bigger news for the Royals is a guy that they are not acquiring, but rather keeping, and that is Seth Lugo. A lot of people wondered with the Royals, you know, sitting at a state of mediocrity for a good chunk of this season. Would they be sellers? Would they potentially in a walk year, get rid of Seth Lugo? Well, he is sticking around. Good thing too, because, you know, Lugo has been exceptional. All star Gold Glove winner last year, Cy Young runner up in his first season with Kansas City, has arguably been just as good, if not even a little bit better this year, as you see from ESPN’s Jeff Passan. It is a multiyear contract extension that Lugo is on the verge of finalizing now. More on baseball going back to yesterday, the Mets gave up a pair of leads, rallied, though, to win four three in San Francisco in Sunday Night Baseball. Juan Soto, the go ahead, two run homer late. Feel like you guys are finally getting the length out of this lineup that it’s built for. I feel like we’ve been getting that since day one. I think they’ve been doing a really good job. Everybody has a role in that, in that lineup, so we all play as a team players. We if we got to get more, get them over, we get them over. If we got to bring him in, we bring it in. You know, it’s we’re all trying our best out there. We definitely we needed to come through. But at the right, at the right moment, the right time. We we’ve been doing it. Clutch win for the Mets up a game and a half on Philadelphia in the National League East. Meanwhile the Giants continue to struggle. That is now seven games behind the division leading Dodgers in the NL West. Now those Dodgers they dropped two in a row at Fenway against the Red Sox yesterday, a winnable game that they lost late. Alex Bregman did his best Soto impression with late two run homer. I feel like we believe that we’re a good team. We believe that we’re a playoff team, and we believe when we play at a high level that we can play with anybody. And I think this group has a lot of confidence in one another and just got to continue to focus on execution. And Roman hits that triple and you’re kind of going up there kind of just needing to drive a run in there, kind of make you a little more relaxed. Going for sure. Obviously simplifies your approach. Right? You try and hit the ball in the air to the big part of the field, and Roman has been awesome. As for times on base, last night gets on his first at bat today and then hits a big triple. It’s awesome. He’s he’s he’s doing it. He’s he’s going to be a special, special player. So it’s definitely fun hitting in front of or behind him in this lineup. And reminds me of earlier in my career when Jordan Alvarez got called up. That’s my player count for him. It’s a pretty good one. Yeah, yeah, incredibly high praise for Roman Anthony. And I guess maybe I should say it was Soto doing a Bregman impression, since, of course, that Red Sox game happened first in the afternoon. Believe it or not, the Detroit Tigers won a game. Detroit really had been struggling, as we know, losers of 12 of 13, but snapped a six game skid ten four blowout win of the major league leading Blue Jays at home. Toronto had won eight of nine. Both these teams still kind of heading in opposite directions, but we got the reverse yesterday and manager A.J. Hinch at the Tigers awfully happy about it. It’s a sense of accomplishment, you know? I mean, obviously we’ve needed, you know, a good feeling at the end of the day all week, you know. And then if you go back, if you want to you can keep going. So like obviously it’s a it’s a fun win. It’s a good win. You know I thought our crowd was was incredible sticking behind these guys. Obviously not the cleanest win at the end but who cares. You know you end the day happy. Salvage a win in this series against a really good team. You know, the last thing I wanted to see at the end of the game was Springer, Bichette and Guerrero. But that’s you know, the celebration inside is legit because we won the game today and get on to the next series. Let’s get you to some NFL news before we run out of time here in the opening segment. So the Chas reached a four year, $114 million extension with two time Pro Bowler Rashawn Slater makes him the highest paid offensive lineman in NFL history based on average annual value, $28.5 million to move on over Tristan Worth’s Bengals rookie Shemar Stewart finally signed his rookie deal, ablo practice with his team for the first time for Cincinnati four year, fully guaranteed contract just south of $19 million. Much of that received in a signing bonus ten and a half as well. So pretty good day, obviously, for the Bengals rookie Browns QB real quick Kenny Pickett hurt his hamstring at practice, had been splitting first team reps with Joe Flacco. Even the rookie Dillon Gabriel got some as well. Jaguar Sanders, who as we know plummeted in the draft. No first team reps out of him yet. We’re going to get to some NBA and WNBA when we come back. New casinos and not sure what to play. Well, try blackjack first. It has a lower house advantage compared to other table games, making it especially player friendly. Now go get lucky. See you in Las Vegas. Let’s get lucky. What do we always say? Follow the money. They just gave Derrick Henry an extension. Do you think the Baltimore Ravens are concerned about it? Doesn’t seem like it. And if the Baltimore Ravens aren’t concerned, then we shouldn’t be concerned either, because Derrick Henry is a freak of nature. He’s a special, special boy. That’s what he is. Derrick Henry is unbelievable. And every year and then this year, too, he’s going to get undervalued in drafts. He’s going to go after Ashton Genti fantasy sports today only on Sports Grid. Talk to any player. Hey, you used to get 18 sacks. Got seven last year. Maybe it’s a defensive scheme. I don’t like it at e end of the season. Oh, he’s got to earn his trust back. No, he doesn’t just show up at camp the next year and start to dominate once again and everybody will forget. You’re telling me in game number one the Miami Dolphins going deep. Tyreek Hill six catches 144 yards and two touchdowns. Oh man we’re still working process. No you’re not. The minute you get back on the field dap it up get after it and have a good season. The early line only on sports grid. Ronnie’s not going to be an all star Ronnie is one of the most notable names in the league, and legitimately going from people’s conversations of why is he ever allowed on an NBA court to no. Ronnie is like the ninth man on the Lakers, but that is a legitimate leap that I think people would genuinely respect quite a lot. G betting above the rim only on sports Grid. Back on Newswire here on Sports Grid. It’s smarter to be on Sports Grid. Thanks for hanging out with us again Adam Kaufman in for Craig Mish today let’s bring in our first of a few guests that we have on this program. It is Carlin Gay on Twitter at the Carlin Gay. He is from Sporting News. Carlin, welcome back to the show, Adam. Appreciate you having me. Hope you’re staying cool up there in the northeast. Yeah, as best I can anyway. You know, I think the heat wave is behind us, but I’m not rushing away. Summer. I’ll take the heat over the cold any day, believe me. So we’re going to get to some WNBA. Let’s start on the men’s hardwood, though, with a big story. Relatively big story out of Chicago with Billy Donovan sticking around. It’s going to be a multiyear extension for a guy that has been at the helm. Kind of disappointing, honestly. Tenure with Chicago to date. Obviously he’s been there for five years already. And, you know, had a brief overture in the offseason from the Knicks as well. But 195 and 205 in Chicago, two straight 39 and 43 seasons. A third straight loss in the Play-In tournament. Just the one trip to the postseason. I’m not giving good numbers here, so I think it’s a good way to take us in. Carlin to was this the right move for Chicago? But let me start with saying, by the way, anytime we get some NBA news this time of the year, it’s good for you and I who are hoop heads. We’re just dying for anything. That’s right. Billy Donovan story. Is that so? You have a coach in you know where the numbers that you write off aren’t good, but they’re also not terrible. Like it could be a lot worse if you look at situations around the league and you compare them to what Chicago has and a roster that was pretty imbalanced prior to them selling off Zach LaVine and selling off DeMar DeRozan, the Vucevic deal didn’t quite pan out the way they wanted to. Outside of the one year where he had things rolling in the second season when they got together, that quote unquote big three for Chicago. They got together. They were rolling. And then Lonzo Ball gets hurt and everything falls off the cliff. And you know I don’t know if that’s Billy Donovan’s fault right. Like I think he got the best of what he can out of this roster a lot of injuries a lot of mismatches between players a declining superstar in DeMar DeRozan. Declining superstar in Zach LaVine. And to get to the play in tournament with a chance to try and go through to the playoffs. Credit Billy Donovan for what he’s done now. Would I give him the extension? Probably not. I would have let him play it out and see what we had at the end of the year and said, all right, let’s see how you do when your job is on the line. But maybe Chicago is kind of going the other way and saying, hey, this is a business with a lot of volatility. We have a coach that we think we believe in. We just got to find him a roster that he can actually work with and maybe see what he’s going to be able to do. This is a rebuilding process in Chicago. So that timeline is going to be a little longer to figure out exactly what Billy Donovan could do with a good team. Just be patient. If you’re Chicago Bulls fan, and I know you’ve been tired of hearing that. You haven’t heard. You’ve been hearing that since Derrick Rose went down with the knee injury. Right. Be patient. I’m saying it again be patient. I think Billy Donovan is a good coach who, by the way, is going into Hall of Fame in a couple of months. So just be patient. You have a good coach now. You just got to get a good roster. Blame the front office, not Billy Donovan, by the way. Producer Frankel. Blame me because I’m going to go off rundown already. But like you said, hoop had starving for basketball news this time of year. We will get into women’s basketball. But are you buying into. Look, it’s best shape of your life season in in football, right? That’s all we’re hearing out of training camps. But are you buying into, you know, the media tour around Luka Doncic right now and all the weight loss and best shape of my life and like, cover of Men’s Health, all this stuff. Listen, Adam, I’m on the same Luka Doncic plan. I lose weight if I don’t eat too much the day before, and I don’t bloat. And then I take a picture. And then the day after I have a bag of chips, I’m back to my normal weight, which is way above average. So for Luka Doncic, I will say this right, like this is his time. And I and I think I told Craig on this very program when the trade happened. Right. Everyone’s going to blame Niko, you know, for Niko Harrison, the GM of the Dallas Mavericks, for what happened with Luka Doncic. You don’t trade away a generation of talent, right? Like everyone blamed him, kicked his back end at the time. But I said that now the pressure is actually on Luka Doncic because not only did Niko say. You’re trading away a top five player, someone that you expect to be, as you know, an all time all 75 team player. When that happens, you know, in a couple of years, his name is supposed to be on that list, but he can’t do that without championships. And now he’s going to a place in LA where you can’t just be okay. It’s not good enough to just win an MVP in the regular season. It’s not good enough to have a bunch of all stars to your name. It’s not good enough to have all NBA to your name. You got to win championships. You have to complete the mission. So now Luka Doncic in that role been traded. He’s been tested. He’s been challenged. So this is just the first part of things. Now he has to go out on the court and actually prove it. And with this Lakers team, I don’t know if they’re ready to do that just yet. They’re going to have to continue to build around him. The LeBron James anchor to them right now. And I call him an anchor. You know only in basketball sense of a roster I know he’s one of the greatest players of all time. But right now Luka Doncic is dreams. He’s probably a little bit of an anchor because you have this one year with LeBron James right now to figure out whether or not you could be good enough to win a title, in my opinion, probably not. And then after that, you can really see what you have with Luka. So Luke is kind of, you know, you could lose all the way he wants. He could shut all the pounds he wants. Maybe he plays in EuroBasket coming up in a couple of months and looks great doing it, and everybody will be excited about him going into a regular season. Potential MVP candidate Luka Doncic, right? Like he’s going to be the betting favorite. Most likely when you go into the league, into the into the NBA season. But we’ve also seen this story before Adam. Right. He’s been the MVP you know leader the last couple of years and it hasn’t panned out. So now it’s time for results for Luka Doncic. Forget about the men’s health cover. Let’s get you on to the Almanac cover of the year 20 2526 with an NBA title holding it at the end of it, 7 to 1 MVP odds on Luka Doncic. Right now. If anybody does want to buy in and invest, yeah, I’m actually surprised. It’s not like 5 to 1 at this point in time. All the narrative. But hey, listen, the Knicks hope to be championship contenders. The Liberty in New York already are. Breanna Stewart though has hurt her leg and, you know, not going to rush back. It doesn’t appear to be a serious injury, however, is traveling with the team on this four game trip. Liberty are right back in action tonight. Eight point favorites against a Dallas team that they’re already ten wins better than absent Stewart. Should the Liberty still roll in this game? They should. And you know it’s not about just this game, Adam. It’s about the rest of the league. The year for the Liberty. They just got to be healthy getting into the playoffs. And by the way they have been kind of sitting there waiting in the wings. Can she get to this team that puts them over the top. You’re now talking about a top five player. And I’m not stuttering a top five player in the world being added to this already a championship caliber team. So if the Liberty are healthy, they’re going to challenge the Lynx in the finals once again. And if we get that finals matchup, it’s going to be blockbuster. Well, we’re out of time here real quick. Those two teams you just mentioned Liberty and Lynx. They play on Wednesday. Do you expect that’s a finals preview. The Lynx got to send a message in that game right. Like and if we’re going to give the MVP trophy by the way which is well deserving for Napheesa Collier, she has to show up and have a big game. I’m going over on all of her totals in that game. Carlin gay the Carliny on Twitter from Sporting News A regular here on Newswire. Carlin really appreciate the time. Look forward to chatting with you a lot more in basketball season when the men roll around as well. Casinos and not sure what to play well, try blackjack first. It has a lower house advantage compared to other table games, making it especially player friendly. Now go get lucky. See you in Las pages. Let’s get lucky. What do we always say? Follow the money. They just gave Derrick Henry an extension. Do you think the Baltimore Ravens are concerned about it? Doesn’t seem like it. And if the Baltimore Ravens aren’t concerned, then we shouldn’t be concerned either, because Derrick Henry is a freak of nature. He is a special, special boy. That’s what he is. Derrick Henry is unbelievable. And every year and then this year, too, he’s going to get undervalued in drafts. He’s going to go after Ashton Genti fantasy sports today only on Sports Grid. Talk to any player. Hey. Used to get 18 sacks. Got seven last year. Maybe it’s a defensive scheme. I don’t like it at the end of the season. Oh, he’s got to earn his trust back. No, he doesn’t just sw up at camp the next year and start to dominate once again and everybody will forget. You’re telling me in game number one the Miami Dolphins going deep. Tyreek Hill six catches 144 yards and two touchdowns. Oh man we’re still working process. No you’re not. The minute you get back on the field dap it up get after it and have a good season. The early line only on sports grid. Ronnie’s not going to be an all star Ronnie is one of the most notable names in the league, and legitimately going from people’s conversations of why is he ever allowed on an NBA court to no. Ronnie is like the ninth man on the Lakers. But that is a legitimate leap that I think people would genuinely respect quite a lot. Jay, why betting above the rim only on Sports Grid? Welcome back to News Wire here on Sports Grid. It is time for the newswire sports grid. Sound off. Expectations are pretty high this year going into the football season for the Los Angeles Rams I know there’s no Cooper Kupp anymore obviously. But you know they have made changes like bringing in Davante Adams. You still have Puka Nacua and of course quarterback Matt Stafford. Now there were questions earlier in the offseason. Could Stafford you know potentially be a Raider wind up with Pete Carroll. Didn’t work out despite Las Vegas pursuit they land Geno Smith Stafford of course continues on with the Rams. And already there are some injury concerns dealing with his back. Head coach Sean McVay weighed in, but the ultimate goal is Houston and being mindful of that. So we’ll take it a week at a time with him. So I did want to be able to, you know, let you guys know about that. Based on sitting down with Reggie and with Matthew and talking with Doctor Watkins. Feel like that’s the smart thing to do, you know, a week at a time with him. So you don’t anticipate that he will practice at all next week? No, do not anticipate that. And but I don’t have any more concerns. You know, the goal in mind is Houston. And I do think that this is the best plan for him. And, you know, wanted to let you guys know about that. Well, it’s just I mean, if you had hoped and expected that he I’m not a doctor. I know, but so I’m giving you the information that I know. It does not worry me. You know what I probably should have done is say we’re taking it a week at a time, but I don’t have any reason to be concerned based on the information that’s been given. And with that being said, you know, I don’t think we can be smart enough with somebody like Matthew. And I think it’s best for him, best for our football team. And, you know, and that’s kind of the plan that we’ll have moving forward. And training camps are underway across the NFL and over in Cincinnati. Shemar Stewart, the defensive end who was taken in the first round 17th overall, had been waiting had been I’m not going to call it a holdout, obviously, but he hadn’t signed that first contract, that rookie contract, yet. But after his time at Texas A&M finally, pen to paper, just south of $19 million on the four year deal and happy Stewart to get out there. What do you feel like was the main reason you were able to agree on the things that you guys were kind of going back and forth this week? I just needed to be on the field as soon as possible. I need to start learning, start getting better. It’s a long season ahead. I need to be ready. How did it feel to be out there today? It was great. You know, getting to play the game I love again for the first time since last year. For real. So it was a great feeling. Did you expect to play that many reps? I think Zach said you had about ten reps in first team. It wasn’t that much, but it was a good start. You know, I got to get acclimated to the playbook and stuff. The heat man, do y’all see me? I was back there. I actually accidentally put some Gatorade on my face thinking it was some water. I burnt my eyeballs for a little bit, but other than that. But like the heat was, he was. It got me at first, but I got used to it. Over in Denver, the Broncos are getting ready for their season and expectations are high there that they will, you know, not only compete obviously for another playoff spot in the AFC West, but could they even potentially unseat the Kansas City Chiefs. Now we know Kansas City has won the division what nine straight years Denver has, you know, made a marked improvement from year one to year two under Sean Payton. A big part of that obviously the performance of the rookie Bo Nix at quarterback last year, a five and a half win total entering the year, winds up being all in a ten and seven season for Denver. So again highly overachieved. But it sets that bar pretty high for this upcoming year. And they’re going to have to ward off the Chargers as well. But for Denver entering the season with a win total over under of nine and a half. Which by the way is plus money right around plus 110 to the over. If you think we’re in for another ten win season. Payton you know he had a lot of success with the New Orleans Saints for many years. He’s heard the noise. He’s heard the hype. He’s heard the expectations. Right now he’s just sitting back and waiting for week one. How much do you wait these practices the last four days versus what you’re about to embark on? Well, they all mean something, you know, and I think a lot is you’re just slowly building up a resume of what you’re doing technique wise. Obviously, when you get into full pads. Guys will play differently or step up a little differently, and you get maybe a little cleaner evaluation. And it’s probably more relative to the interior lines, but it all goes into the process. Now, if you ask me, I think more likely we’re looking at Denver as a potential wild card team, and that’s not a hot take. All of us expect a 10th straight division title out of the Chiefs, the defending champions of the AFC, who, of course, were embarrassed by Philadelphia in the Super Bowl last year, but essentially a pick’em on Denver to just make the playoffs. That may be worth considering. We’ll be back. Legal sports report time. My mind I was able to think and process. And finally, if I let him get back up, he’s going to get back up. I was like, let me finish this right now. And I caught him with that left hook. And then I caught him again with that right hook, just to make sure the job was done. Because I was calculating his hands, wasn’t touching the ground and his knees weren’t touching the ground, but I know he was still going down to make sure he wasn’t getting back up on. I had to let those last two off and Combat Sports report only on Sports Grid. He’s just only 2300 points behind. So even if he does win at Memphis, he’s still going to be behind Scottie Scheffler in the points by 300. So what I mean I want Scottie Scheffler to show up in Memphis. But does he need to if Rory’s not showing up. And the third place guy, even if he wins, isn’t going to pass him the smiley show only on Sports Grid. What do you make of the season that Barkley had last year, as he piled on the yards to get over 2000? And what could that look like this year? His year could have been much better with different circumstances here. So he was great. I assume he’ll be great again. You want to take Jahmyr Gibbs? I don’t have an issue with it, but you know Barkley. Yeah. You’re going to lose the tush push fantasy sports today. Only on sports grid. Big fish is the best player in the WNBA. She is running away with the MVP award. Why is that? Caitlin Clark. Injured A’ja Wilson not playing at A’ja Wilson level. But it’s more about the fact about what’s around her. It’s been an issue. So to me you know fish is almost like the MVP because everyone else is like going down in some way, shape or form. Betting above the rim only on sports grid. Welcome back to News Wire here. And as I mentioned it is time for the legal sports report portion of the program where we all get just a little bit smarter. Quite frankly, we welcome in Pat Evans who is on Twitter at Pat Evans. Pat good to see you. Good to see you Adam. I love chatting with you. All right. Likewise. Let’s get into some of what is happening in the in the gambling and gaming and casino world across, you know, the legal ends of this. And we go to the state of Ohio, where governor Mike DeWine basically is, you know, the I’ll let you go more in depth, but, you know, kind of the quick bullet on this is. Yeah, not into it. DeWine does not want you know, he’s he’s concerned about, you know, addictions surrounding online gaming does not want to see, you know, legalized gambling obviously happening there in Ohio. You know, what do you make of what we’re hearing right now versus where we’re going? Yeah, it’s really interesting situation there with the governor in Ohio because he’s kind of been really aggressive when it comes to taxing sports betting. I mean, you know, initially it launched in Ohio with a 10% tax rate. That’s very reasonable. The industry love that rate. But then less than a year after sportsbooks launched, DeWine proposed to double it. And so it passed in. The budget went to 20%. Then this year, two years later, he decided he wanted to propose in his proposed budget to double that again from 20 to 40%. Lawmakers then didn’t go along with it. In fact, last year they put out a report that said, you know, the first tax hike was way premature. Then they also in that same report said, hey, you know, it’s a good idea to increase taxes online casino. And so that last year we saw an online casino bill kind of the first one get introduced. It didn’t do anything. Then we had two more. One in the House, one in the Senate introduced this year. There was a hearing on it. I, you know, didn’t move, but it got the conversation started. Well, DeWine now comes out and says, no, it’s not a good idea. We don’t like it. I don’t like the idea of giving people access in Ohio, 24 over seven on their couches, on the commutes, wherever they might want to gamble. He doesn’t like that idea. And so he said, you know, I never or I don’t like to use the word veto, but if it passes, it probably would get vetoed. So that’s a really kind of a, you know, interesting situation there, because you’ve got lawmakers saying this is how we should raise taxes if we’re going to raise taxes on gambling, which he certainly does. But that’s probably because he doesn’t like the sports betting side of it. So yeah, this will be an interesting fight. The industry, of course, had trouble this year moving online casino bills anywhere across the country. Kind of similar concerns from lawmakers, governors, whoever saying you know what the problem? Gambling might be too big of a risk when it comes to online casino. Certainly there are a lot of gamblers, be it professionals or even recreational gamblers that are, you know, really taking exception to the introduction or at least the, you know, proposal that is the one big, beautiful bill act and the ramifications that it could have on people’s taxes. And I mean, look, it’s things like this, it’s going to bring back the world of prevalence of bookies. Right. You know, less online and more behind the scenes, so to speak. You know what? What are the latest hurdles that we’re seeing here. Yeah. So in the one big beautiful bill that passed both the Senate and the House, you had a kind of a throwaway addition by a lawmaker in one of the committees that took out the 100% gambling loss deduction on taxes. So, you know, before it passed, if a gambler lost $100,000, but $100,000, you broke even, he deducted that 100% of losses. This simple throwaway addition took that deduction limit from 100% to 90%. So even if you break even, you still have to pay taxes on $10,000 of winnings. Which, you know, of course gamblers are pretty upset about. Well, the House Ways and Means Committee then held a field hearing last week in Las Vegas. Sure enough, they heard lots of people upset about that tax change. And you’ve got a couple proposals in both the Senate and the House saying, hey, let’s change it back to 100%. It’s they’re very simple bills literally just cross out the 90%, rewrite 100%, and we’ll see if it passes. You know, it was interesting. The Ways and Means Committee in the House was saying, you know, we know where this is from. It’s the Senate. The Senate passed it. It’s their fault. Which Rep. Dina Titus, who’s from Nevada, introduced one of these bills, said, you know, that’s not true. You know, the House passed it too. What are you talking about? We knew exactly what was in these bills. You wouldn’t allow amendments to change it back, etc. So yeah, I think it’s got a lot of bipartisan support. So it is possible that it does go ahead and pass and change tax back to 100% deduction ability for gamblers. But you know, anything can happen in the legislative action. And it’s much easier to pass something once and then not worry about it than have to go back and change it. So it’ll be interesting to see what happens. And if they do ultimately end up getting 100% back. Sure enough, as you mentioned, lots of gamblers are upset and a lot of politicians to back, you know, to the GOP side of it. They said, you know what? We didn’t we didn’t know what we were passing. We didn’t mean to do that. Which is interesting to hear lawmakers say that, especially when it’s something as big as the one big bill. But yeah, we’ll see what happens. As we know, you can gamble on what feels like just about everything. And depending on where you live, there’s a growing menu of items, including, of course, micro betting for people that don’t know what micro betting is. I mean, you’re like, you might enter a game saying, I want to, you know, I like this team on the money line. I like this team with its total. I like this player prop. We’re talking about extreme in-game betting, like the next pitch is going to be a strike or a ball, or it’s going to exceed 87 miles an hour. Next, play in a football game. All of that, and you know, it does introduce a question, I suppose, of, you know, when is enough enough? What’s too much? In new Jersey, one lawmaker is looking at micro betting, wants it banned, doesn’t see any place for it in in that state. How do you see that. Just that market and its future ultimately in that state and elsewhere? Yeah. I remember when I first started covering this industry, you know, when not every I mean, not every state is legal still, but you know, when just a few states were legal, you had a lot of operators talking about the potential and the engagement that you could get with micro betting. But on the flip side, you do see the people like this lawmaker saying, I don’t know. That’s a lot of engagement. That’s more increasing for or increases the impulsiveness of it. You know, yeah, when you’re watching a football game, you’re like, oh, is this a run two seconds later? Is it a pass? What? You know, so it is that kind of thought process kind of similar to the online casino aspect of if you can place I don’t know how many you know. Yeah. To your point, pitches, how many pitches are there in a game? If you can place that many bets that quickly, where is that going? And that is what this lawmaker is thinking. And it does just kind of go along with a huge array of bills that have passed in new Jersey this year. They’re taking a hard look at the gaming industry and saying, let’s change it. They increased taxes a little bit. They banned the sweepstakes operators. They also passed a bill that prohibits sportsbook advertising on college campuses. And so that’s what you’re looking at is just a lot of kind of furthering the regulations on sports betting and gambling as a whole, which I think kind of again, looking back at Ohio, you’re going to see more and more states, kind of look harder at placing a little bit tighter guardrails because, you know, there is a lot of national nationwide headwinds against online gambling, whether it is sports betting or online casino, and you’re starting to see things at the federal level going, maybe we need nationwide framework on advertising, on problem gambling, you know, things that need to be in place to make sure this is a safe industry, safer than maybe it is regulated state by state. So you’re seeing some states, including new Jersey, which of course has a long history of gambling industry, kind of tighten it up a little bit. And it will be interesting to see, because I think, you know, now that you have these micro bets on legal sportsbooks. Yeah. What does it do ultimately to maybe send people back to the offshore books if you’re banning it legally? So kind of there are things to weigh whether or not it passes or not. At the legislative level in new Jersey, as you mentioned, so much history there in new Jersey. Could it be a, you know, a state that ultimately dictates the future for other states? A, you know, a state that leads by example, so to speak? It certainly could be. I mean, a lot of states look at them as kind of a standard bearer of, of gambling regulations. Again. Pat Evans legal sports report on Twitter at Pat Evans. Pat, I got to tell you, you know, back before gambling was even legal friends of mine, we’d go out to dinner, go to sports bar, look at the TV. It’s, you know, throw a buck on the table. It’s the next commercial going to be a car ad, a movie trailer, a furniture ad, a beer rat. We’re a micro betting before we even knew what we were doing. Thanks a lot, man. My mind. I was able to think and process. And finally, if I let him get back up, he’s going to get back up. I was like, let me finish this right now. And I caught him with that left hook. And then I caught him again with that right hook, just to make sure the job was done. Because I was calculating his hands wasn’t touching the ground and his knees weren’t touching the ground, but I know he was still going down to make sure he wasn’t getting back up on. I had to let those last two off and Combat Sports report only on Sports Grid. He’s just only 2300 points behind. So even if he does win at Memphis, he’s still going to be behind Scottie Scheffler in the points by 300. So what I mean I once Scottie Scheffler to show up in Memphis. But does he need to if Rory’s not showing up. And the third place guy even if he wins isn’t going to pass him the smiley show only on Sports grid. What do you make of the season that Barkley had last year, as he piled on the yards to get over 2000? And what could that look like this year? This year could have been much better with different circumstances here. So he was great. I assume he’ll be great again. You want to take Jahmyr Gibbs? I don’t have an issue with it. But you know. Barkley. Yeah. You’re going to lose the tush push fantasy sports today. Only on sports grid. Big fish is the best player in the WNBA. She is running away with the MVP award. Why is that Caitlin Clark injured. A’ja Wilson not playing at A’ja Wilson level. But it’s more about the fact about what’s around her. It’s been an issue. So to me you know fish is almost like the MVP because everyone else is like going down in some way shape or form. Betting above the rim only on sports grid. Here on Newswire Adam Kaufman in for Craig Mish and let’s go to baseball. I know we did a lot of baseball off the top of the show, sort of looking at the trade deadline or things that happened over the weekend. Now, of course we got a whole week in front of us. Whole slate of Monday baseball. And yes, that trade deadline is only a few days away here to hang out for a couple of segments. Justin Perry, who you know from shock quality bets from hoops HQ as well when we’re talking basketball with him. He is on Twitter at Justin Perry in the number eight. Justin how you been? Adam? Good. Glad to be here. And it’s baseball season. We are more than halfway through the crunch time of the year. Everyone’s talking about who’s holding, who’s going to be the number one seed, who’s going to make the playoffs in those exciting wild card races. It is starting to be, I think, the time where everyone starts to filter in and really pay attention to what’s going on in the MLB, so I’m excited. I’m loving it. How about you? I mean, I’m having fun watching it. I’m not sure I’m having a lot of fun betting it, but that’s that’s another story altogether. The Mets will tell you what though. I was on the Mets yesterday and they finished off their sweep of the Giants still out west against San Diego, starting that series tonight. But this is now seven straight wins for the Mets. And it was really only a few weeks ago that I was having a conversation, maybe even on this show about, hey, the Mets, they’re struggling right now. Do we do we jump off the ship? Do we, you know, put our our our stock in Philadelphia. Who’s going to. It’s like nah you know blips happen ebbs flows certainly bettors of baseball know that. But teams go through it just the same. And now New York is riding that hot streak and has one of the best records in all of Major League Baseball. The question ultimately is, though, are we buying? I honestly think we are buying a little bit here on the Mets. I’m excited about some of the young talent. We saw Mercurio go for what, four for four yesterday in that game, leading the way for the big win alongside, of course, Juan Soto, who I believe still, even as a Yankee fan, I know he is one of the best baseball players on the planet, at least one of the best hitters on the planet, for sure. And so you start pairing up all these factors. You have Pete Alonso, who is just another behemoth hitter at shortstop with Lindor, is basically a cheat code. There are very few power hitters like him playing in the middle infield right now and baseball. Now all of a sudden, you’re fixing Francisco Alvarez’s swing down in the minors and he’s coming back up, and you’re going to have him battle out for spots against Luis Torres. I think this is going to be a really good second half for the Mets. I’m a big Francisco Alvarez fan. I think he’s been waiting to sort of get his swing back. There was some controversy about how he was really doing in terms of the hitting coach with the Mets, and he went down to the minors and now is just, you know, swinging. Everything’s going for extra base hits. So if they can add in another bat, they added Mercurio, they have everything cooking. All they need is to not let up more than three runs in the start. And all of a sudden things start falling into place for the Mets. They have a little bit of question marks around some starting pitching, but could we see a move maybe? I don’t know, they’re definitely still one of the favorites in the National League that I think is more open than people maybe give credit. Even the central feeling kind of open. Now, I know that’s not the Pittsburgh Pirates who did take two of three against Arizona. Paul Skenes actually got run support. Imagine that. But at the top of that division, we got three teams that are starting to heat up. You know, there was a little bit of a dip there for the Cubs briefly, but atop the division or tied for the top of the division with the Brewers right now, six and four over their last ten, seven and three Milwaukee in its last ten. Same as Cincinnati with four straight wins. Who is you know, six and a half back in the division. Likely not going to win it but is in the mix for one of those wild card spots. As we sit here with about a third of the season left, how do we go about handicapping this division? Well, this is maybe the toughest question in baseball right now between for me, it’s the Brewers and the Cubs. I’m a big fan of the Cubs. I took a little bit of Cubs to win the pennant at plus 900 about a month ago. I just I thought they had a lot of juice going with Suzuki, with Tucker, with Shaw, with I mean then bottom of their lineup. Pardon the I don’t know if you can hear the sirens. My apologies. But the bottom of the lineup is so dominant as well with Horner and Swanson. And I mean, you’re not even talking about some of their best talent in PCA. There’s just so much to go off of with this team. I’m honestly really excited about what they’re able to do night in and night out. So I’m kind of there. I think, you know, the problem with me for the Brewers, Adam, is that their offense always seems to lack a little luster there. They always win on the back of the pitching. They seem to do very well at home. And then, you know, they seem to get Seemed to raise the pitching level and they can’t really raise the offense in the in the same way. And they fizzle out. So I’ll take the Cubs. I just I have so many questions around Yelich, Felix Contreras. There’s just a lot of guys who’s still so young. Can they actually continue to do it? I think I take Seiya Suzuki and Kyle Tucker to sort of lead the way there with a little bit more experience for the NL central. You got some people that are not happy with you right now coming your way. So it’s, you know, you say nice things about Soto and the Mets as a Yankees fan. It just upsets the apple cart in the whole city. So let’s talk about the Diamondbacks, who again, are are a struggling team. They’re not a good team. They’ve already started selling off pieces. And it sort of feels like we’re right at the beginning of it. Right? Like Geno Suarez could be on the move. Zac Gallen could be on the move, Merrill Kelly could be on the move and so on. But how substantial does this fire sale get for a team that isn’t going to make the playoffs? I mean it would take a borderline miracle for that. You know, a few games below 500, though. But this isn’t like the dumpster fire that exists around Major League Baseball. For some of these teams. You have pieces to build around for the future. And they’re just saying maybe prospects are the way to go. Yeah, I mean, right now, especially with Suarez, I think the asking price is pretty high. And they haven’t made an offer to him to resign him. So I think they are expected to move him. They’re listening to competing offers. Third base is I mean, you know, from just the perspective of looking around the league, it is not a position where you can just find this type of production easily. I we just saw the Yankees go and get McMahon from Colorado and I’m honestly thinking that’s a good fit. So I expect them to cash in. This is exactly what you want to do. I fans or people who like this composition of players might be disappointed, but you want to get this haul back. You want to build the right way. You want to see if you can get a diamond in the rough, or even a true stud prospect to continue to look to the future. Ketel Marte at second base is such a great piece, and they have a lot of young talent already. They should be looking to continue to build. Traditionally, I think it’s the right call. We’re going to hit a break here in a moment. We’ll get your thoughts on this on the other side. But just to start the process and to fill you in a tweet from Jeff Passan ESPN that Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase has been placed on Non-disciplinary paid leave as part of MLB’s sports betting investigation class A, the second Guardians pitcher on leave tied to the investigation, joining Luis Ortiz. Now this is a multiple time all star, a Cy Young candidate, top three vote getter last year. What’s it mean for now? We’ll come back. To casinos. I’m not sure what to play. Well, try blackjack first. It has a lower house advantage compared to other table games, making it especially player friendly. Now go get lucky. See you in Las Vegas. Let’s get lucky. What do we always say? Follow the money they just gave Derrick Henry extension. Do you think the Baltimore Ravens are concerned about it? Doesn’t seem like it. And if the Baltimore Ravens aren’t concerned, then we shouldn’t be concerned either, because Derrick Henry is a freak of nature. He’s a special, special boy. That’s what he is. Derrick Henry is unbelievable. And every year and then this year, too, he’s going to get undervalued in drafts. He’s going to go after Ashton Genti fantasy sports today only on Sports Grid. Talk to any player. Hey. Used to get 18 sacks. Got seven last year. Maybe it’s a defensive scheme. I don’t like it at the end of the season. Oh, he’s got to earn his trust back. No, he doesn’t just show up at camp the next year and start to dominate once again and everybody will forget. You’re telling me in game number one the Miami Dolphins going deep. Tyreek Hill six catches 144 yards and two touchdowns. Oh man we’re still working process. No you’re not. The minute you get back on the field dap it up get after it and have a good season. The early line only on sports grid. Bronny is not going to be an all star. Bronny is one of the most notable names in the league, and legitimately going from people’s conversations of why is he ever allowed on an NBA court to no. Bronny is like the ninth man on the Lakers, but that is a legitimate leap that I think people would genuinely respect quite a lot. G betting above the rim only on sports Grid. We’re talking baseball here on Newswire with Justin Perry from Shot quality. And just to again, if you are only just joining us, fill you in on some breaking news out of Major League Baseball. Jeff Passan ESPN tweeted out only a couple of minutes ago that Emmanuel Clase, the Guardians closer and former all star Cy Young contender. All of it has been placed on leave by the team, specifically non disciplinary paid leave as part of MLB sports betting investigation, which also includes a teammate there, Luis Ortiz, the right hander. And that leave passing has added only seconds to go is through August 31st. That is more than a month, so class A is going to be off the field seemingly for quite a while here. And I guess the good end of it for the Guardians is this is already a team that wasn’t going anywhere, you know, wasn’t going to be a playoff team unless the Tigers, you know, continue to lose 12 out of every 13 the rest of the way. But eight games back in the division, not really sniffing a wild card spot right now. Guardians. You know it’s not this like death blow to them for this season, but it’s certainly impactful for any type of selling off pieces at the trade deadline. And just what what this means, you know, not only for the team but the sport and just gambling, right. Professional gambling and legalized gambling going forward. Investigation after investigation. Justin. Yeah, it’s not great. I think that’s the first thing we want to make sure that I think the process is in place for legalized gambling are proper, you know, even if it might hurt a bottom line, we want to make sure that people and the integrity of our institutions are protected first, or else what are we really gambling on? Right at some level is my perspective, my personal perspective. So look, I think there’s going to be a lot of discussion on both sides. And I, you know, the clear cut truth is without the regulation, if this is happening, we don’t catch it. But the other side is without the permeation of gambling in our sports culture. Would it happen at all? So that’s that’s the tug of war that you’re going to hear a lot of between the sides. And I’m not 100% sure who’s perfectly right, but there definitely needs to be something done so that we don’t keep seeing players lost. We don’t keep questioning, wait, did I did I make a bet where that player played like, you know, what’s going on? Can I trust can I trust players to be playing with integrity? I think that is the biggest fear that of course, every commissioner has. Every time a player goes on this list. And I don’t think that the month is really going to be it. I’m guessing that’s like the total guess. That’s the initial amount to figure out what is actually going on, what is actually transpired, and then within that period expected to announce, you know, an actual punishment. I would assume these two pitchers who share a workouts, bullpen equipment, training days likely did this together. Not 100%. No, no, I mean, obviously, but like you have to think, is there an even bigger problem in Cleveland? So I hate all these questions. To tell you the truth, Adam, I don’t want to have to ask them at all. I don’t have to wonder any of these things about, honestly, something I find as a enjoyable hobby that has a profitable potential. So it’s difficult. It’s difficult to stomach and deal with. But I think you have to trust Major League Baseball to just do it right. And yeah, price is up on David Bednar and good luck getting a closer in the market now right. She’s so yeah. And I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see those guys the rest of the year. But we’ll see how it ends up playing out obviously. Meanwhile the Tigers obviously have really been struggling, but they did get an important win yesterday to end a six game slide. Continue to have one of the best records in all of baseball, not unlike the Blue Jays the team that you know you know finally Detroit was able to take down Toronto has been red hot. This team has the best record in all of baseball, not just the American League. And also happens to be in arguably my favorite spot today starting off the slate, the Blue Jays in Baltimore with Bassett on the mound. I love that spot for Toronto today. But putting that aside, are you fading Detroit? Are you buying Toronto? Yeah, I’m I like this Toronto team a good deal. I think it’s hard to go against Detroit given the slide. A lot of times you see people sort of pile against it. But I think you want to trust this Toronto offense that has really propelled this team forward time and time again. Guerrero, Barger, you also have Bichette playing at some of his best level. They got Lucas at the top of that lineup really propelling some of the run scoring forward gets on base a lot. I really like what they’ve done. And Springer comes in and he’s still swinging. Really great bat. So this is a one through five dangerous lineup even a little bit deeper. They just lost Kirk might hurt them a bit because he’s a quality bat. But I still think you want to stay on the Toronto Blue Jays. They are a sneaky team to maybe meet either the Yankees or the Astros, who are, I think, the top two right now in the Al Championship Series. Didn’t even have enough time with this breaking news for you to tell me all the different reasons why Aaron Judge for MVP should be viewed as free money at -110. I tell you again, Justin Perry shot quality on Twitter at Justin Perry in the number eight. Justin, thank you so much. Thanks, Adam. See you soon.
Adam Kaufman is joined by special guests Carlan Gay, Pat Evans, and Justin Perri to talk the top headlines in basketball, the biggest stories in Legal Sports Report, and the latest around the MLB this week.
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