WWJD: What would Joe do? Read a personal blog from Joe about his...

WWJD #19: Las Vegas Sports Whip Around

https://franchisesportsmedia.com

In a day and age where the sports world is ever changing and full of uncertainty, the post-quarantine Las Vegas sports scene is coming into focus.

New UNLV football head coach Marcus Arroyo FINALLY had his team together. On Monday, June 8th, the new Rebel’s Commander and Chief was able to have his team on campus and in the Fertitta Football Complex for the first time since late February. Armed with his entire staff, the 2021 Rebel football team started to get ready for their upcoming season.

He also landed his fourth commitment in the Rebel ’21 recruiting class in JSerra High School, running back Sammy Green. The 5’9, 180 lb Green has a world of potential and seems to be a natural fit for Arroyo’s offense. Green chose UNLV over Arizona St., Kansas, FAU, UCLA, and USC. He is the second-highest-rated running back in program history and said that the deciding factor for him was the genuine feeling he got from the Rebels coaching staff.

UNLV Athletics also started their caravan tour featuring Arroyo, running back Chuck Williams, and defensive end Nate Neal. The caravan will take the trio around Las Vegas to various stops so they can meet and greet with fans and generate even more buzz about the UNLV football program.

Speaking of generating some buzz, local Las Vegas high school football players are creating a ton of buzz in the recruiting world with offers and commitments.

Over the past month or so, local Las Vegas high school football players have been front and center in the recruiting world. First, Las Vegas Centennial High School wide receiver Gerick Robinson committed to Colorado State. The electric receiver has been named All-NIAA 1st team each of the past two seasons. He also holds offers from San Deigo State, Idaho, and Nevada. Robinson’s father, Gerald, played for UNLV from 1987-1990.

Next up was the countries top tight end, Mo Matavao from the state champion Liberty Patriots. Matavao chose Oregon over Georgia, UCLA, and others. In total, Matavao had over 40 offers and expects to have an even bigger season in 2021. His teammate, Zyrus Fiaseu, a running back and outside linebacker, chose San Deigo State over UNLV, Boise State, Hawaii, and Nebraska.

Desert Pines High School wide receiver Michael Jackson, one of the nation’s top receiving threats, committed to USC last month. Jackson also held offers from Oregon, UNLV, Cal, Arizona, Minnesota, Arizona St., and UCLA.

“Well their moving on up…”

The Las Vegas Raiders will officially hold their 2021 training camp at their brand new Henderson team facility. The new team headquarters is all but ready for the team to host their first training camp in their new home city, or as Raiders owner Mark Davis said, “the new capital of Raider Nation.”

The plan was for the team to host camp in Napa, California, but due to COVID-19, the NFL said that teams need to host their training camps at their team headquarters for health and safety reasons.

The team’s leader, quarterback Derek Carr, has been gathering some teammates and hitting a local park to get in some reps. He has been organizing workouts for a little over a month, and it has been relatively quiet to the public, but videos and news started to leak, and it eventually became public.

This is a good sign for the Raiders. Carr has rookies, first-year, and other veteran teammates working out with him since the team was unable to hold any offseason workouts due to the pandemic. Thus far, Carr has looked sharp and seems excited about having new weapons to throw to.

My Ran-DUMB Sports Thoughts:

Major League Baseball and MLBPA need to get on the same page and fast if they want to have any type of season. The two sides can’t come to terms on an agreement to get the season started amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. The main sticking point seems to be how much the payers will get paid.

The owners want to pay extremely prorated contracts while MLBPA disagrees. I don’t blame the players one bit. Why should they take even less than what they would be getting while putting themselves at even greater risk? They are the ones who will be out on the field, while the owners can stay home and collect their cash.

Both sides also can’t agree on the number of games that would be played, which also dictates how much of a pay cut the players would have to take. As the summer starts and as we approach the 4th of July, I dont’ feel as strongly as I once did about a baseball season. I hope I am wrong.

Lastly, I will leave with this:

I see certain people getting upset that most of society has had enough. We have had enough of the hunting down of black and brown people. We have had enough of senseless attacks and being treated unfairly. We have had enough of not being heard and having our protests turned into something they are not, which takes away from what is actually being protested.

I don’t agree with any senseless killings that have happened in the wake of the protests. But I also don’t agree with the senseless killings that have been happening for over 400 years.

I have friends and people whom I consider family that work in law enforcement. I respect and honor the job that most police officers do. I feel that most of the police are generally good-hearted and go into the job with the best interest in mind.

But you always have those few people that ruin it and corupt it for everyone. Those are the ones that I am talking about. “All cops aren’t bad,” I agree with that, but not all black and brown people are criminals, drug dealers, gang members, or worse.

Keep that at the forefront of your mind.

Today, I was reminded by Jalyssa of the Bible passage Luke 15, the parable of the lost sheep.

To summarize it, a shepherd leaves his flock — 99 sheep — to search for one lost sheep, for it was the one that needed him most.

How does this pertain to anything? It does when it comes to the “Black Lives Matter” vs. “All Lives Matter” statement.

You see, it isn’t that the 99 doesn’t matter, and it isn’t that all other races don’t matter. It’s that right now, Americans need to stand up and say they believe that black lives matter — those Americans need us most.

Those human beings need us most.

And at the same time, police lives matter. They are human beings, too.

These concepts are not mutually exclusive.

Peace✌????

WWJD WWJD WWJD WWJD WWJD WWJD WWJD WWJD WWJD WWJD WWJD WWJD

-Joe Arrigo – Franchise Sports Media

Follow The Franchise on social media

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

Joe Arrigo

Joe Arrigo is the co-founder and VP of Franchise Sports Media. Joe has been in media since 2004 when he became the morning host on KKUU and mid-days co-host on KXPS in Pam Springs. After his time in Palm Springs, Joe became the operations manager when he built, programmed, and was on-air for KQCM. He has also had stints on-air in various markets, including Fresno. Joe became the producer and co-host for The Beast 980 (KFWB), a sports talk station in Los Angeles, before moving to Vegas in 2015. In 2019 he founded Franchise Sports Media with TQ.

All author posts