Yesterday in Sports 06 24 26

Hey, I'm Chris Horvidell and this is Yesterday in Sports. The show that gets you caught up on the biggest things that happened yesterday, why they mattered, and what you need to know before pretending you watched every second of it. Here we go. Welcome to Yesterday in Sports, I'm Chris Horvidell and we've got a busy show today, the NBA Draft. Last round took place last night, Cristiano Ronaldo ended his World Cup drought in historic fashion and the NFL made a big decision regarding the 2026 Supplemental Draft. We're also going to talk a little bit about NordVPN, but more on that later. We start with the NBA Draft because Washington now has its next centerpiece. The Wizards took BYU forward A.J. DiBanso with the number one overall pick Tuesday at Barclays Center, making him the first BYU player ever to go number one overall. DiBanso, a top-ranked player coming out of high school, spent one year at BYU, put up 25.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists per game while shooting 51% from the field. That's the kind of production that makes him more than just a projection pick. He was the best scorer in college basketball, he has NBA size on the wing, and now he goes to a Wizards team that badly need a player worth building around. Utah took Kansas guard Darren Peterson at two, Memphis took Duke forward Cam Boozer at three, Chicago took North Carolina's Caleb Wilson at four, and the Clippers took Illinois guard Keaton Wagler to round out the top five. The bigger trend, however, may have been college dominance. Nine of the first 10 picks were college freshmen, and the first 20 picks all came from college basketball. In an era where we've seen the G League, overseas prospects, and alternate paths grow, the draft swung back hard towards the college game, and you have to think the NIL has a lot to do with that. The other big angle here is Milwaukee. After the Giannis trade, the Bucks used their new draft capital to begin the post-Antonacumbo era, taking Braden Burries from Arizona at 10, Nate Ament from Tennessee at 13. So for Washington, this was the start of a new era. For Milwaukee, it was the first steps forward after the end of the Giannis era. Now to the World Cup, where Cristiano Ronaldo finally got on the board and made history doing it. Portugal beat Uzbekistan 5-0 in Houston, and Ronaldo scored twice in the first half. That made him the first player ever to score in six different World Cups. He scored in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022, and now 2026. That's a ridiculous timeline. At 41 years old, after a rough opening draw against Congo and a lot of criticism about whether he should even be starting, Ronaldo responded with two goals, a man-of-the-match performance, and made a very, very clear message. His first goal came in the 6th minute, his second in the 39th. Nuno Mendes also scored, Uzbekistan had an own goal, and Rafael Leal added the fifth goal late. Context matters here, Ronaldo has gone 10 major tournament games without a goal and Portugal looked flat in their opener. Now, Portugal has four points from two matches, a plus-five goal differential, and a final group game against Colombia that suddenly has real stakes at the top of Group K. Not to mention that Ronaldo's World Cup total is now 10, which moves him past El Zebio for the most by a Portuguese player. It's not a messy Mbappe record conversation, but in terms of longevity, nobody has ever done this before. Speaking of Group K, Colombia also handled business. They beat DR Congo 1-0 in Guadalajara with Daniel Munoz scoring the winner and Colombia is now into the round of 32 with a game to spare. So that group is suddenly very clear at the top, Colombia is through, Portugal is in strong position and their meeting now becomes about seething in momentum. Now to the NFL where one of the stranger off-season stories got even stranger. The league has decided not to hold the 2026 Supplemental Draft, which means Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Soresby will not be entering the NFL in that way. This is important framing here because this isn't Soresby not entering the Supplemental Draft, this is the NFL deciding there won't be a Supplemental Draft at all because of Soresby. That leaves his immediate NFL path on pause. Soresby has been trying to use the Supplemental Draft process after his college eligibility situation became complicated. Normally the Supplemental Draft is for players whose eligibility changes after the regular draft. Teams can bid future draft picks and if they use a 4th round supplemental pick, they lose their 4th rounder in the next regular draft. The NFL actually hasn't held one since 2023 and it won't be holding one in 2026 now either. That matters beyond Soresby because it raises a real question as to whether the Supplemental Draft is becoming less of a true pathway and more of a historical mechanism the league only uses when it absolutely wants to. Though you have to understand the rationale here because this basically lets the NFL punt on deciding what to do with Brendan Soresby for a year. For the quarterback however, it is kind of a brutal procedural outcome. For teams, it removes a chance to evaluate a quarterback outside the normal draft cycle. And for the league, it creates a precedent worth watching the next time a player's eligibility gets complicated in April. Sticking with the NFL, the Falcons made a major move for their offense. Atlanta agreed to a 3-year, $54 million contract extension with tight end Kyle Pitts, including $36 million fully guaranteed. The deal replaces the franchise tag and keeps Pitts under contract through 2028. This is a fascinating one because Pitts' career has been a constant argument between production, potential, injuries, and quarterback instability. He came into the league as the fourth overall pick in 2021, had a 1,000-yard rookie season, then spent the next few years in a situation where he never fully got unlocked. Last season, he finally delivered the kind of year Atlanta had been waiting for. 88 catches, 928 yards, and 5 touchdowns. That's why the Falcons did this. Pitts is still only 25, he's a matchup problem, and when you put him, Drake London, and B. John Robinson on the field together, Atlanta has a core of skill position players that can be very difficult to defend if the quarterback plays good enough. It also shows that the Falcons are willing to pay their own guys. They already made a major investment in London, and now Pitts gets his deal. The offense is expensive, talented, and quite frankly, officially out of excuses. In baseball, the Phillies gave us one of the wildest endings of the night. Philadelphia scored eight runs with two outs in the ninth inning to stun the Nationals 14-9 in Washington. Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott both homered in the inning, and the Phillies turned what looked like a frustrating road loss into one of the most dramatic wins of the season. The thing about an inning like that is it changes the clubhouse feel immediately. It's not just one swing, it's the lineup refusing to let the game end. Walks, extra base hits, pressure, mistake after mistake, and suddenly the other team can't get the final out. For Washington, it's the kind of loss that lingers. For Philadelphia, it's the kind of win that gets replayed in the dugout all week. Before we get out of here today, I wanted to take a second to talk about something that hit a little bit closer to home. Many of you know Matt Miller from his NFL Draft coverage at ESPN, but I've known Matt for a long time. Years ago, Matt worked for me at NFL Draft Blitz, and I've had the chance to watch his career grow from those early days into becoming one of the most recognized voices covering the draft today. Yesterday, it was announced that Matt was seriously injured in a car accident. Thankfully, the worst-case scenario didn't happen, but he has suffered permanent injuries, and there's a long road to recovery ahead. The sports world can feel pretty small sometimes, and this is one of those reminders that behind every byline, podcast, television appearance, and social media account is a real person trying to deal with real life. Matt is genuinely one of the hardest-working people I've met in the industry, and myself and everyone else here at Underdog Podcasts are behind him and rooting for him. We're thinking about you, buddy, and we've all got your back. And quickly, a bit about NordVPN. Whether you're traveling, streaming, working on public Wi-Fi, or just trying to keep your online life a little more private, NordVPN is one of the simplest tools that makes sense to have running in the background. That's it for today. Dibanza goes number one, Ronaldo gets back on the World Cup scoresheet, Colombia advances, the NFL cancels the supplemental draft, Kyle Pitts gets paid, the Phillies pull off a ridiculous ninth-inning comeback, and collectively, our thoughts are all with Matt. I'm Chris Horvathal, and that's it for today's show about what happened yesterday. We'll see you tomorrow.