Yahoo Sports AM: Vice President Aaron Rodgers?
In today's edition: Kennedy-Rodgers 2024, Nick Saban goes to Congress, former Jags employee sent to prison, and more.
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🚨 Headlines
🏀 Tickets punched: No. 21 Saint Mary's (West Coast), Charleston (CAA), Oakland (Horizon) and Wagner (NEC) for the men; No. 5 Texas (Big 12), Green Bay (Horizon), Portland (West Coast) and South Dakota State (Summit) for the women.
🏈 Heisman duo: Derrick Henry is signing a two-year deal with the Ravens, where he'll join fellow Heisman winner Lamar Jackson. Track all the latest free agency news.
🏀 Payne to be fired: Louisville plans to fire men's basketball coach Kenny Payne after he went 12-52 in two seasons, AP reports.
⚽️ Barça, Arsenal advance: Barcelona beat Napoli and Arsenal squeaked past Porto on penalties to advance to the Champions League quarterfinals.
🏒 Rempe suspensed: Rangers enforcer Matt Rempe has been suspended four games for elbowing New Jersey's Jonas Siegenthaler in the head.
🇺🇸 Vice President Rodgers?
Aaron Rodgers, who said he wants the Jets to eliminate outside noise in 2024, is now… possibly running for vice president?
The news: Rodgers is on a short list of potential running mates for third-party longshot candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who confirmed his interest to The New York Times.
Kennedy has reportedly been speaking "pretty continuously" with Rodgers over the past month.
The domain name "kennedyrodgers.com" was registered last week via GoDaddy, the Times reported.
Publicly aligned: Rodgers, 40, is a vocal supporter of Kennedy, 70, and frequently mentions him in interviews. They share similar views on COVID-19, have both promoted vaccine skepticism and conspiracy theories, and recently went hiking together.
If Kennedy chooses Rodgers to join him on the campaign trail, it would pose a major conflict for the Jets, who owe him $35 million in fully guaranteed money this year.
The four-time MVP and future Hall of Famer is under contract through 2025 and recently said he hopes to play "two or three or four more years" in the NFL.
The Jets and presidential politics: Team owner Woody Johnson served as former President Trump's ambassador to the U.K. from 2017 to 2021 and was recently seen with Trump at a rally in South Carolina.
It's uncertain whether Kennedy, a former Democrat, will pull more votes from President Biden or Trump if he's on the ballot this November, though most polling suggests he'll hurt Biden more.
So we could soon be living in a world where Kennedy, paired with the Jets QB, helps Trump, backed by the Jets owner, retake the White House — while the Jets miss the playoffs for the 14th straight year.
Tweet of the day: 'The vice president of the United States plays QB for the Jets' is the plot of an Adam Sandler movie with a 9% on Rotten Tomatoes — @AdamStites_
🎓 Nick Saban goes to Congress
Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reporting from Washington, D.C…
On Capitol Hill, within a U.S. Senate building and in front of several sitting senators and political figures, college football's most legendary living coach stumped for college athletes to be paid, just not as employees; attributed his retirement to the current unregulated nature of the college athletics pay system; and criticized booster-led collectives that, he says, have transformed the sport into a "pay for play" industry.
In a teal suit and dotted blue tie, former Alabama coach Nick Saban spoke as one of nine members as part of a roundtable discussion organized and led by Sen. Ted Cruz, the lawmaker's attempt to highlight the need for congressional action related to college athlete legislation.
Two months removed from announcing his retirement, Saban offered a thundering message to the college sports world: Pay the players — but with limitations.
"I'm for student-athletes being able to share in some of this revenue," he said. "I don't want them to be employees, but I want them to share in the revenue some kind of way."
At some point before his retirement decision, his wife Terry approached him with a question: Why are we doing this?
"She said, 'All [the players] care about is how much you're going to pay them. They don't care about how you're going to develop them, which is what we've always done. So why are we doing this?'" Saban said. "That was kind of a red alert that we really are creating a circumstance that is not beneficial to the development of young people, which is why I always did what I did."
🏈 Former Jags employee sentenced to prison
Former Jaguars employee Amit Patel was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison on Tuesday for a $22 million embezzlement scheme committed while he was with the team from 2018-23, Jeff writes.
What they're saying: "He did not need that money," prosecutors said of Patel, 31, who stole $22.2 million while overseeing the Jags' virtual credit card program. "He had fun with it. He lived it up … Under these circumstances, a lengthy prison sentence is warranted."
Spending spree: Most of the money funded Patel's gambling addiction, with $20 million transferred to FanDuel and $1 million to DraftKings. There were a few more creative expenditures, too.
He spent $600,000 at Apple, $278,000 on travel, $69,025.26 with Ticketmaster and $47,113.92 on Tiger Woods' Scotty Cameron putter from the 1996 U.S. Amateur.
He also paid $2,200 for a game-used Trevor Lawrence jersey on eBay. Just go and grab one from the locker room!
What's next: In addition to his prison sentence, Patel must pay the Jaguars more than $21 million in restitution and attend Gamblers Anonymous meetings.
🌎 The world in photos
Arlington, Texas — Chase Dougherty, riding Mandate, competes during The American Rodeo at Globe Life Field.
Seattle — Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak looks on during warm ups.
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — Red Bull's Max Verstappen makes a pit stop during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Sisteron, France — The peloton during Stage 6 of the 82nd Paris-Nice cycling race.
📆 Mar. 13, 2022: Brady's back
Two years ago today, Tom Brady unretired, announcing his return to the NFL just 40 days after initially calling it quits, Jeff writes.
Brady: "These past two months I've realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands. That time will come. But it's not now. ...Unfinished business LFG."
⚾️ 1943: MLB approved a rubber-less ball amid the war-related rubber shortage. It turned out to be a dud*, requiring numerous tweaks throughout the summer to avoid returning to the dead-ball era.
🏀 1998: Valparaiso's Bryce Drew nailed a buzzer-beating three to upset Ole Miss in one of the most memorable moments in March Madness history.
*Stan the Man: Stan Musial seemed unaffected by the bounce-less ball, batting .333 through April even as averages were down significantly in both the AL (.210 from .257 the previous year) and NL (.238 from .249). He'd go on to win the batting title with a .357 average, 27 points better than anyone else.
📺 Watchlist: Six tickets to the dance
Six more March Madness tickets will be punched tonight, with three men's and three women's conference title games headlining Championship Week action, Jeff writes.
Men — Southland: Nicholls vs. McNeese (5pm ET, ESPN2); Patriot: Lehigh vs. Colgate* (7pm, CBSSN); Big Sky: Montana vs. Montana State (11:30pm, ESPN2)
Women — Big Sky: Northern Arizona vs. Eastern Washington (5pm, ESPNU); American: Rice vs. East Carolina (7pm, ESPNU); Mountain West: No. 21 UNLV vs. San Diego State (10:30pm, CBSSN)
More to watch:
⚽️ Champions League: Atlético Madrid (0-1) vs. Inter Milan (4pm, Paramount+); Borussia Dortmund (1-1) vs. PSV (4pm, Paramount+) … For the last two spots in the quarterfinals.
🏀 NBA: Nuggets at Heat (7:30pm, ESPN); Lakers at Kings (10pm, ESPN)
🏒 NHL: Kings at Blues (7:30pm, TNT/Max); Capitals at Oilers (10pm, TNT/Max)
🎾 Tennis: Indian Wells (2pm, Tennis)
⚾️ Spring training: Red Sox at Yankees (1pm, MLB); Mariners at Dodgers (4pm, MLB)
*Can they make it four straight? Colgate is in the Patriot League title game for the seventh straight year, including wins in each of the last three. A fourth consecutive victory would break a tie with Holy Cross (three straight from 2001-03) for the conference record.
🏀 NBA trivia
Nikola Jokić is hurtling towards his third NBA MVP, something only eight other players have done.
Question: How many can you name?
Hint: Four played for the Lakers.
Answer at the bottom.
🚴🏼 Is this the future of cycling?
Dutch cycling team Visma-Lease a Bike unveiled a radical new helmet last week that's designed to make riders faster in time trials — and looks like something out of "Star Wars."
What's next: The Giro Aerohead II helmet has caused quite the stir and is now under review by cycling's governing body.
Trivia answer: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6 MVPs), Michael Jordan (5), Bill Russell (5), LeBron James (4), Wilt Chamberlain (4), Magic Johnson (3), Larry Bird (3), Moses Malone (3)
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