salary cap

The Rundown: Five Things to Know About Kyrie Irving

Today we bring you an insight into the underdogs that have stolen America’s hearts, Cleveland Cavaliers. Everybody knows LeBron, but what do you know about the guy who hit the game winning three-point shot in game seven? Raise your hand if you’ve heard of Kyrie Irving? You will now.

Happy Hump Day,

The Last Night's Game Team  

Five things to know about Kyrie Irving

  1. Kyrie Irving said G’day mate when he was born in Melbourne, Australia where his dad Drederick Irving was playing professional basketball.
  2. Irving played the role of “Uncle Drew” for a Pepsi MAX advertising campaign. He pranked unsuspecting players when he dressed up as old man, entered into neighborhood pickup games and dominated. The four-part series has over 70 million views on YouTube.
  3. Irving sang in his high school choir, but ultimately choose to pursue basketball instead of the performing arts. We bet he’s a great addition to team karaoke.
  4. Irving is the first point guard to have a signature shoe with Nike since Penny Hardaway in the early 1990’s. His brand is the fastest growing shoe brand in Nike history and has released two versions. The aptly named ‘Kyrie 2’ is out now.
  5. Irving brought the viral “running man challenge” back to life by breaking it down with his own version, during practice no less.
  • Career highlights for extra credit – Irving was the #1 pick in 2011 NBA draft; drafted by Cleveland Cavaliers out of Duke University after his freshman year. He has an NBA Championship, All-Star Game MVP, three-time all star, three-point competition champion, NBA Rookie of the Year and will play for Team U.S.A. in the Olympics. Last year during the playoffs he was in the hospital after having knee surgery and this year he was leading the Cavaliers to a championship. Talk about determination.

NBA (National Basketball Association)

  • The party continues. Fresh off the plane from celebrating their win as a team in Vegas, the Cleveland Cavaliers will celebrate with their city with a victory parade is this morning. Want to see the support a team gets after breaking 52-year championship drought? Tune in to the parade at 11 am EST.  
  • Pick me! The NBA draft is on Thursday. Unlike baseball and football, there are only two rounds for a total of 60 picks. Philadelphia 76ers have the first pick and Ben Simmons is considered to be the top pick after one year at LSU. You can catch the draft Thursday at 8 pm EST on ESPN or stream it live here.  

Soccer

  • That hurt. Argentina dominated Team U.S.A. 4-0 in last night’s semifinal game in Copa America Centenario. In the game, superstar Lionel Messi broke a record for goals scored by an Argentinean player in international play. Argentina will move on to face the winner of Chile/Columbia game (tonight), while the U.S. will play the loser in the third place game on Saturday. The championship game will be on Sunday.

Overtime

  • The line up for ESPN The Magazine's annual Body Issue has been announced. This issue of the magazine features tasteful photos of 10 men and nine women athletes au naturel.  Notable athletes featured include Dwayne Wade (NBA), Vince Wilfork (a 325-pound NFL player), Conor McGregor (UFC) and retired diver Greg Louganis will be the oldest athlete at age 56. The issue will feature Team USA duathlete Chris Mosier, who will be the first transgender athlete to pose. The issue hits the newsstands July 8th.

Sideline stat

  • The salary cap has gone up from $71.5 million to $73 million for the upcoming NHL (hockey) season. The NFL’s salary cap is $143.28 million (2015) and NBA's is $70 million (2015).

Coaches’ Corner

  • What is a salary cap? In professional sports a salary cap is an agreement that puts a limit on how much teams can spend on player salaries. This is a method put into place to keep costs down but is mostly to minimize the disparity between teams that have a lot of money to spend on players and those that don’t, with a goal of keeping the sport competitive. To get really technical, MLB (Major League Baseball) does not have a salary cap but a luxury tax system, which is punishment for larger teams that spend too much money.  Click here to read more.

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The Rundown: Five Hilarious Reasons To Miss a Game

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Bed bugs are in the news which leads us to the five most hilarious, ridiculous and mostly painful reasons that caused an athlete to miss a game.

We’re like a circus monkey; always entertaining and sometimes cute.  

This sh*t is bananas,

The Last Night’s Game Team

Five most ridiculous reasons athletes have missed games

  1. Next time call Papa John’s. Detroit Lions wide receiver Nate Burleson broke his arm in a car crash where he was trying to prevent pizza from sliding off the front seat.
  2. Burnt to a crisp. Baltimore Orioles outfielder Marty Cordova missed a game due to severe burns he suffered from tanning bed exposure.
  3. Giddy up. New York Yankees great Wade Boggs strained his back while putting on cowboy boots which caused him to miss games.
  4. Some serious rift. Detroit Tiger relief pitcher, Joel Zumaya injured wrist/forearm playing Guitar Hero, missing three playoff games.
  5. Arachnophobia. Baseball player Glenallen Hill had a serious fear of spiders. He woke up in panic after having a dream about spiders and fell through a glass table next to his bed.

We can’t make this stuff up.

NFL (National Football League)

  • Look under the mattress. An arbitrator's ruling revealed that the NFL made a 'small' accounting mistake, not accounting for $120 million in ticket revenue over the past three years. This will increase the salary cap for each team by $1.5 million, bringing the salary cap to an estimated $155 million this upcoming season.

NBA (National Basketball Association)

  • Midnight snack. Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving played only nine minutes against Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday before exiting the game with flu-like symptoms. Turns out Irving didn’t have the flu but had an encounter with bed bugs the night before at the team hotel. The team stayed at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City (mind you the hotel is also rumored to be haunted). Irving said "I got three hours [of sleep]. Just imagine how freaked out you'd be if you saw friggin' five, big-ass bed bugs just sitting on your pillow.” Amen Kyrie, amen.

For the record, after getting a good night’s sleep. Irving played on Monday and scored 30 points.

UFC (Ultimate fighting championship)

  • Fight night. Injury has forced lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos to drop out of his scheduled fight vs Connor McGregor on March 5th. McGregor is the UFC’s biggest draw and will still fight, taking on fan favorite Nate Diaz.  

Soccer

  • Goooooal! FIFA, the international governing authority of soccer, is set to elect a new president on Friday at 2 am (EST). Previous president Sepp Blatter was forced to resign amidst a global bribery scandal.

Overtime

  • It’s safe to say that New York Knicks interim coach Kurt Rambis may not understand Twitter. Coach came under fire recently when he ‘liked’ a pornographic image from his Twitter account. Knicks have stated his account was hacked and are working with Twitter to determine who hacked the account. That’s the story and we're sticking to it. 

Sideline Stat

  • LSU freshman phenom and projected #1 pick in NBA draft, Ben Simmons, did not start Saturday vs Tennessee due to academic issues. Simmons sat out a whole four and a half minutes to learn his lesson. (A game is 40 minutes long).

Coaches’ Corner

  • What’s the salary cap? A salary cap is a wage cap, a limit on how much a team can spend on athletes’ salaries. Teams are penalized if they spend above the determined amount. The cap was established to help even out the talent on teams so that teams with a lot of money wouldn’t have a competitive advantage and win everything.  
 

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