THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST
WITH JASON ROMANO, FEATURING JERRY COLANGELO
Jerry Colangelo is the former owner of the Phoenix Suns in the NBA and the Arizona Diamondbacks in Major League Baseball. In 1998, he brought MLB to Arizona and served as chairman and CEO of the 2001 team that won the World Series.
Colangelo began his career in professional basketball in 1966 with the Chicago Bulls, working as a scout and marketing director before becoming the youngest general manager in the NBA in 1968, when he took a role with the Suns. Throughout his time in Phoenix, when he also owned the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, Colangelo won four different NBA Executive of the Year honors (1977, 1982, 1990, 1994).
He also served as the director of USA Basketball for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 FIBA World Championship, and later became the chairman of basketball operations and a special advisor for the Philadelphia 76ers. Currently, Colangelo is the chairman of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Today on the podcast, we talk to Jerry Colangelo about trusting in Jesus, being bold in sharing his faith, starting chapel services at NBA games, and the legacy he wants to leave.
Anthony "Spice" Adams in 2010. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST WITH MATT FORTE & JASON ROMANO, FEATURING ANTHONY “SPICE” ADAMS
Anthony “Spice” Adams is a former NFL player who was selected in the second round of the 2003 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers. He spent four seasons with San Francisco, then signed in 2007 with the Chicago Bears, where he would spend the last five years of his career. He was teammates with our host, Matt Forte, for four seasons in Chicago.
Today on the podcast, Anthony “Spice” Adams joins us to talk about his family background, his draft day experience, the challenges of playing nose guard, and the humorous moments he and Forte shared as teammates. They discuss the importance of camaraderie in the locker room, the highs and lows of game-day rituals, and the adrenaline rush that follows a game.
Cincinnati Reds outfielder Austin Hays, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
It’s been a whirlwind couple of seasons, but outfielder Austin Hays is finding solid footing once again — this time with the Cincinnati Reds. After missing the first 16 games due to a calf strain, he’s provided a jolt to the Reds offense, hitting .361 with three home runs, nine runs batted in and a stolen base over nine games.
In his debut with the team on April 15, he went 2-for-4 with four RBIs, including a three-run home run against former Reds pitcher Luis Castillo during a four-run fifth inning that propelled Cincinnati to an 8-4 come-from-behind win.
Hays picked up where he left off in spring training, where he finished with a .310 batting average to go along with three home runs and a team-leading 14 RBIs over 16 games.
“It doesn’t always work that quickly when a guy comes back, but I think we just missed him,” Reds manager Terry Francona said following Hays’ debut.
Hays was the only player the Reds added via free agency this past offseason when he signed a one-year contract for $5 million. He not only provides an extra source of power and production in the lineup, but at 29 years old and in his eighth season as a big leaguer, he provides a steady veteran presence for a young, energetic roster hungry to make it back to the postseason.
But Hays’ journey to Cincinnati has been anything but linear.
In 2023, he was named to the American League All-Star team as a member of the Baltimore Orioles, ultimately slashing .275/.325/.444 with 16 home runs and 67 runs batted in. He not only brought consistent offense but shined defensively as well, recording six defensive runs saved in left field — good for fourth among all AL outfielders.
But the Orioles dealt Hays to the Philadelphia Phillies at the 2024 trade deadline, aiming to bolster their roster with pitching. Hays, meanwhile, was brought in to help the Phillies counter left-handed pitching, and he delivered when healthy — batting .328 with an .894 OPS against southpaws.
Yet a tough stretch of injuries, including a hamstring strain and what he described as a “mysterious” kidney infection, limited him to just 22 games in Philadelphia, where he hit .256 with two home runs and six RBIs. Members of the Phillies organization praised him for battling through the infection.
Through the ups and downs of baseball, Hays has said his peace comes from his faith in God, which really started to blossom when he and his wife, Samantha, became Christians in 2020.
“During the 2020 season, we were here at our home and just felt like something was missing,” he said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast in March 2024. “We had just completed the first full season in the big leagues, felt like we were finally established, have everything you could want materialistically, and we just didn’t feel whole.”
They attended a Pro Athletes Outreach event in 2020, heard the Gospel and were saved.
“Couldn’t really describe what that feeling was like and the connection Sam and I had together,” he said. “We were looking at each other and asking, ‘Is this real? Are we both feeling this right now?’ We finished the three days there and just really felt like we were completed and we were whole and we had accepted Jesus into our lives.”
Wanting to make sure they weren’t just riding the high of the event, they got plugged in with a church near their home in Florida and continued to grow in their faith. Eventually, he and Samantha were baptized together.
“It’s been a great three years since that day,” he said in 2024. “We’ve grown a lot in our faith and continue to grow every day.”
Now, Hays hopes his play on the field can reflect the peace he’s found through a relationship with God.
“I can take everything that comes with baseball, I can take it to God,” he said. “I don’t have to do it myself. I don’t have to manage it myself and feel like I have to be in control of everything because, ultimately, baseball is a very difficult sport.”
“I can take everything that comes with baseball, I can take it to God.”
He noted how much failure is a part of the game of baseball, even for the best players. A career .263 hitter, he fails nearly 75% of the time, which would be unacceptable in most lines of work. But with baseball, it’s all about perspective.
“With that much failure, I can’t go at it alone,” he said on the podcast. “I can’t go at it by myself. You’re not equipped to do that as an individual. To be able to take it all to Christ and say, ‘I don’t want to do this alone and I don’t want to have to go about it by myself. I want to glorify You in everything that I do on the field.’
“Whether I play good or play bad, I’m alive in Christ and my identity is known from within. It’s known in front of the Lord that I’m living my life the way I was intended to no matter how my game is going on the field that day.”
Hays and the Reds (12-13) are off Thursday before starting a three-game series in Colorado on Friday.
Skip Schumaker in December 2023. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
THIS IS THE GET IN THE GAME PODCAST
WITH SCOTT LINEBRINK
Skip Schumaker is a former MLB player who spent eight years with the St. Louis Cardinals (2005-12, helping them win the 2011 World Series), one season with the Los Angeles Dodgers (2013), and his final two years with the Cincinnati Reds (2014-15). He later got into coaching and became the manager for the Miami Marlins in 2023, winning NL Manager of the Year honors that year, before stepping away from the role after the 2024 season.
Skip joins the show today to discuss his journey through baseball, including defining moments in his career, the importance of leadership and communication, and the impact of faith on his coaching style. He shares insights on transitioning positions, the significance of servant leadership, and how he finds purpose after retirement. The conversation highlights the importance of relationships in baseball and life, and the impact of giving back to the community.
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) drives past a Bucks defender, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
The Indiana Pacers have improved on their regular-season record each of the three full seasons star guard Tyrese Haliburton has been with the franchise. A year ago they made the postseason for the first time in four years, won a playoff series for the first time since 2014, and advanced all the way to the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals.
This spring, with a 50-32 regular-season record and the No. 4 seed in the East, Haliburton and the Pacers are positioned for another deep playoff run.
Haliburton had a relatively quiet game in Indiana’s 117-98 Game 1 victory Saturday against its first-round opponent, the Milwaukee Bucks, yet still nearly compiled a triple-double; he scored 10 points, dished out 12 assists and snagged seven rebounds.
Drafted No. 12 overall by the Sacramento Kings out of Iowa State in 2020, Haliburton was traded to the Pacers mid-way through the 2021-22 season. In Indiana, he’s become one of the best passers in the NBA and a two-time All-Star (2023, 2024). He averaged 9.2 assists per game this regular season (the third-most in the league) in addition to his 18.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game.
Haliburton was a member of Team USA’s gold medal-winning basketball team at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and as his fame has grown, he’s continued to speak about the importance of faith in his life. At a press conference earlier this month, he was asked about the chapel services NBA teams hold before games.
“Chapel is a big part of my game-day routine,” Haliburton said. “It started my rookie year with Harrison Barnes. As my vet, he always made sure I was going to chapel. … That 15-20 minutes I get every day to step aside and talk about what really matters — which is my Lord and Savior — I think it’s very important for me. I think we’ve built a little bit of a community within our locker room too.”
He continued later, “It’s a super cool thing that we do here in the NBA and I always appreciate it. So (chapel has) been a big part of my success and, honestly, my sanity throughout this year. It’s been an up-and-down year, but I know that coming back to the [Bible], coming back to my peace really there always makes me feel at peace and knowing the bigger picture.”
Haliburton writes “To Him be the glory forever” in his X bio, and this summer in an interview with GQ said his Bible was the first of 10 items he can’t live without.
“Over the last two years, my religion has become very important in my life,” he said in the video. “Just understanding that I’m made in the image of God, in a world where you have a bad game and they’re killing you on social media, or confidence goes up and down, I can always come right here. [The Bible] is my peace.”
Haliburton admitted he’s never truly read the Bible until recent years, knowing only the isolated verses athletes commonly reference. However, as the 25-year-old Oshkosh, Wisconsin, native has established himself in the NBA, God has been at work in his heart to draw him closer to Himself.
“Growing up we didn’t go to church a lot, but we understood God’s place in our lives,” Haliburton told NBA.com last year. “Now that I’m an adult I guess — I own a house now and live on my own — I go to church on Sunday every chance I can. I go to chapel before games.”
God has even used Haliburton’s life as a witness to his own parents, John and Brenda.
“Tyrese is humble and very blessed,” John told Andscape in December 2023. “We give God the praise and the glory. Tyrese is nothing without the mercy of God. He knows how to handle it. He knows where he comes from.”
Tip-off for Game 2 between the Bucks and Haliburton’s Pacers is set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET in Indianapolis, as Indiana will try to secure a commanding two-game lead in the best-of-seven series. And one thing is for certain: 60 minutes before tip, Haliburton will be in chapel, learning about and worshiping God.
