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🏈 The End of the Line

🏈 The End of the Line

December 23, 2022

Good morning and happy Friday BTP family! Christmas is just two days away so make sure you secure those last minute gifts and groceries and please make sure to stay warm while doing so! Last night the Jaguars beat the Jets 19-3 in what may have been Zach Wilson's last game ever as a Jet? We have a couple flashback Friday stories today for you guys as well! First off we take a look back at the time Michael Jordan told Magic and Chuck that he was building the greatest team in basketball history. Then we take a deep dive into Antoine Walker's lifelong gambling debts. Whatever it may be, we have it all here on Beyond The Press! Have a great weekend!

Happy Holidays!

END OF THE ROAD?

Zach Wilson's Career is in Serious Jeopardy

Zach Wilson may have that dog in him, but it’s not translating to the gridiron. Wilson is just 20 months removed from going 2nd overall in the 2021 NFL draft, one pick behind Trevor Lawrence, who’s living up to his reputation, and nine picks ahead of Justin Fields, who looks to be breaking out. After a few special moments in his rookie year, this sophomore season has been incredibly disappointing.

This loss to the Jags, while not as bad as his horrific outing against the Patriots a few weeks ago, might have been the nail in Wilson’s coffin. Wilson was replaced in the third quarter by an undrafted, run-first gadget QB in Chris Streveler, who immediately got more first downs in his first drive than Wilson had all game.

The most painful part of this situation for Jets fans is that going into their last three games of the 2020 season, they were in control of the first overall pick and could have drafted Trevor Lawrence. But the Jets out-Jets-ed themselves, winning two of their last three games, including a monster upset over the Rams, to give Jacksonville the pick.

It’s an incredible missed opportunity for the Jets as nearly all of their other high picks made under GM Joe Douglas have worked out incredibly well. But in football, the quarterback is the hardest position to get right, and unfortunately, it looks like the Jets are back to the drawing board.

GAMBLING DEBTS

Antoine Walker Owed How Much in Gambling Debts?

Antoine Walker is an NBA champion, a three-time All-Star, and apparently, a big fan of games of chance. According to a 2009 report, after already paying $178M in gambling debts, Walker ran up another tab of $882,500 at three Las Vegas casinos and faced felony court charges after writing the casinos bad checks.

You might think after earning over $100M in NBA contracts that paying a $1M debt wouldn’t be all that difficult, but for Walker, it wasn't so simple. By May 2010, Walker was forced to declare bankruptcy after accumulating debts of $12.7M with only $4.3M of total assets. He even had to sell his championship ring to help pay it off. His lavish lifestyle and gambling certainly played a role, but the biggest issue with his finances was his failed property investments.

Through his business, Walker Ventures, Walker invested heavily in real estate, specifically undeveloped land. Unfortunately, the timing was terrible, and when the recession hit, Walker owed the banks a lot of money and needed to sell his properties at major losses to help cover it.

However, this story has a happy ending. Just three years after declaring bankruptcy, Walker announced he was debt-free. Nowadays, in addition to his job at FS1, he works with young athletes to manage their money so they don’t make the same mistakes he did.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY

MJ Calls His Shot to the Dream Team

Even when surrounded by the best players in the world, MJ’s confidence in himself never wavered. According to Larry Bird and Magic Johnson’s book “When the Game was Ours,” during the 1992 Dream Team's Olympic run, MJ already knew he was an all-time great, despite being just eight years into his career.

During one night at the Hotel Ambassador’s game room, Magic Johnson reportedly asked his fellow teammates what the best-ever NBA squad was, and MJ's answer really pissed him and Barkley off. MJ told them matter-of-factly: “you haven’t even seen the best NBA team of all time yet. I’m just getting started. I’m going to win more championships than all of you guys…Let’s have this conversation after I’m done playing.”

Magic was furious that he thought any team could be better than his iconic 1987 Lakers and angrily told MJ he wouldn't win five titles. Meanwhile, Barkley said he was “going to steal at least one of them from [him].” But wouldn’t you know it, MJ proved them both wrong.

Even though Jordan was a back-to-back NBA champion and a three-time regular season MVP at the time, his claims were still bold even by his lofty standards. But whether it’s calling your shot in a room full of Hall of Famers or beating the 2nd overall pick in a game of one-on-one at 50 years old, it's unwise to ever doubt the man.