Unsportsmanlike Conduct – Ep 143: Vikings QB Drama, NFL RB Payday & Westbrook Retires 📱

Farace and Tim are back for Episode 143 of Unsportsmanlike Conduct, with Anthony possibly jumping in if the Wi-Fi, the schedule, and his attention span all decide to act right for once. This week is NFL-heavy, so we’re keeping it clean: football first, NBA second, and blind rankings wherever the wheel decides to ruin someone’s night.The NFL block opens in Minnesota, where the Vikings chose Kyler Murray over J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy says the decision was “out of his control,” which is technically true, but usually the way you put it in your control is by being better than the guy they’re paying $1.3 million while Arizona pays most of his money to not play there. The guys will dig into whether Minnesota just told us what it really thinks of McCarthy, whether Kyler can revive his career, and how awkward this gets if the former No. 10 pick spends the season holding a clipboard with a fake smile.Sticking with football, the running back market is suddenly alive again. Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs both got paid, so the old “running backs don’t matter” argument needs to be dragged back into court. Maybe average backs don’t matter. Maybe replaceable backs don’t matter. But when you’re talking about game-changing weapons like Bijan and Gibbs, teams are clearly still willing to open the checkbook. So the real debate is simple: if you’re starting a franchise today, are you taking Bijan or Gibbs?The football block also brings Dan Orlovsky’s quarterback trait rankings, which are basically seven different ways to make fans angry before dinner. Arm strength, ball placement, mechanics, decision-making, pocket presence, second-reaction creativity, rushing — pick a category and somebody is getting disrespected. We’re not reading the whole thing like homework. We’ll hit the categories that cause the most damage and let Farace, Tim, and possibly Anthony turn it into exactly the kind of argument this show was built for.Then there’s the CBS booth situation, where Tony Romo’s future has shifted from “still being assessed” to J.J. Watt stepping in alongside Jim Nantz while Romo is on leave. Is Watt ready for the No. 1 booth? Is this temporary? And how weird is it going to be the first time Nantz tees up a big game without Romo jumping in like he just discovered Cover 2 on live television?Once football gets its time, we move to the NBA, starting with Russell Westbrook retiring after 18 seasons. Russ walks away as a former MVP, nine-time All-Star, nine-time All-NBA player, and the all-time triple-double king. The résumé is ridiculous, but so is the debate around him. Where does he actually rank among all-time point guards? Was he one of the most explosive players ever, or do the lack of a championship and late-career fit issues pull him down? This is where Tim tries to sound reasonable and someone immediately mistakes that for being right.The NBA schedule release is also on the board, and the league did not exactly hide what it wants us arguing about. Knicks banner night against LeBron and the Sixers? Christmas Day at MSG? LeBron returning to L.A. with Philly? That is not a schedule. That is drama with dates attached. The guys will hit the biggest games released so far, the matchups worth circling, and whether the NBA Cup is finally becoming something people care about or still needs more chaos to sell it.The Lakers sale also gets time after the franchise hit a $12.5 billion valuation, which is no longer a sports business story and is now cartoon villain money. The guys will talk about what that means for franchise values, whether normal billionaires are now priced out like regular people trying to buy playoff tickets, and whether new ownership changes how aggressive the Lakers get in the Luka era.Business as usual.#NFL #NBA #UnsportsmanlikeConduct #RussellWestbrook #PopCulturePros