Latest / The Sports Hangover Daily / Wemby Goes 41 & 24 in Historic Conference Finals Debut | May 19, 2026
Transcript
- Welcome to The Sports Hangover Daily, I'm Michael Benatar. Today on the show: Aaron Rodgers is back at the Steelers facility and already throwing to new toys, Wembanyama just put up one of the most ridiculous playoff stat lines you'll ever see, the Canadiens survive Game seven in overtime to advance, and the Steelers' quarterback room is about to get very awkward. Let's get into it. So Aaron Rodgers finally signed the deal. One year, up to twenty-five million, about twenty-two million guaranteed, and he was one of the first guys in the building Monday morning before seven AM. That's the part I love. Say what you want about the man — and people say a lot — but when he commits, he shows up. His first throw in team periods? A completion to Michael Pittman Jr., his new receiver. Very on brand. Very Aaron. Here's the context. His old coach, Mike McCarthy, is now running the show in Pittsburgh after Mike Tomlin stepped down following nineteen seasons. So Rodgers and McCarthy are reunited. They won a Super Bowl together in Green Bay. They know each other's tendencies, each other's blind spots, each other's egos. That familiarity could be a weapon or a disaster — there's no in-between with these two. But the real story isn't the reunion. It's the quarterback room. Pittsburgh now has Rodgers, Will Howard, Mason Rudolph, and rookie Drew Allar, who they just drafted in the third round. McCarthy typically carries three quarterbacks into Week one. So somebody's getting cut or traded, and that conversation is gonna get uncomfortable fast. Rodgers is the starter — that's not a debate. But Allar is the future, and Howard played solid football last year. Rudolph's probably the odd man out, but even that's not clean. This locker room won the AFC North last season. There's ego in that building. And now you've got four guys who all think they should be holding the clipboard — or the ball. Sticking with the NFL — Anthony Richardson is still a Colt, apparently. Despite requesting a trade, there's been almost zero market for him. Indianapolis met with him once it became clear nobody was calling, and now they're just gonna move forward together. Which is awkward. "Hey, we know you don't wanna be here, and we know nobody else wants you either, so — welcome back!" That's a rough summer for everybody involved. Jacoby Brissett is holding out from Cardinals OTAs. He's supposed to be the starter in Arizona, but he wants a raise to match that status. Can't blame him. If you're the guy, pay me like the guy. We'll see how long that standoff lasts. And in Green Bay, the Packers quietly loaded up this offseason. They added Micah Parsons and Zaire Franklin to a roster that already has Jordan Love. Franklin said he saw Green Bay as one of his best opportunities because of the talent around him. That NFC North is gonna be a bloodbath. Over to the NBA — Wembanyama put up FORTY-ONE points and TWENTY-FOUR rebounds in a double overtime win over the Thunder, one twenty-two to one fifteen. San Antonio leads the Western Conference Finals one game to nothing. That stat line is stupid. He's twenty-two years old and he just became the first player since Wilt Chamberlain in nineteen sixty to go for forty-plus and twenty-plus in a conference finals debut. He hit a twenty-eight-foot three to tie the game at one oh eight with twenty-six seconds left in the first overtime. That's not a basketball play. That's a cheat code. Dylan Harper had twenty-four, eleven, and six with SEVEN steals — a Spurs franchise record. First rookie to put up fifteen-plus points, five-plus boards, and five-plus steals in a playoff game since Magic Johnson in nineteen eighty. He started because De'Aaron Fox was out with an ankle issue and played like he'd been there ten years. SGA had a rough night — twenty-four points and twelve assists but shot seven for twenty-three. Alex Caruso had thirty-one off the bench and hit eight of fourteen from three, and it still wasn't enough. Oklahoma City has a problem. Chet Holmgren went two of seven for eight points. That's your second star going invisible in the biggest game of the year so far. And in the NHL — the Canadiens survived. Montreal three, Buffalo two in overtime in Game seven. Alex Newhook scored at eleven twenty-two of the extra period on a low wrist shot from the top of the left circle. He's the second player in NHL history to score multiple Game seven series-clinching goals in the same postseason, joining Nathan Horton back in twenty eleven. Montreal ends a fourteen-season playoff drought in the most dramatic way possible and moves on to face Carolina in the Eastern Conference Finals. Here's my Hangover Take for today. The NFC North is the best division in football right now, and it's not close. Green Bay just added Micah Parsons to a roster that already had Jordan Love and a top-five defense. Detroit's got Dan Campbell and a roster built to win now. Minnesota's running a real quarterback competition between J.J. McCarthy and Kyler Murray — Justin Jefferson said he's excited to watch it play out. And Chicago is — well, Chicago's still figuring it out, but even they've got young pieces. Three teams in that division could make the NFC Championship Game. The Packers might've made the biggest move of the offseason by landing Parsons, and nobody's really talking about it because Rodgers and Pittsburgh suck up all the oxygen. Keep sleeping on Green Bay. I dare you. That's your hangover. Go hydrate. I'll see you tomorrow.