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.
TreVeyon Henderson in February 2026 at Super Bowl LX. (Adam Hunger/AP Content Services for NFL)
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST WITH MATT FORTE, FEATURING TREVEYON HENDERSON
TreVeyon Henderson is a running back with the New England Patriots. He was a second-round draft pick in 2025 and in his rookie season helped New England to an AFC championship and a trip to Super Bowl LX. In college at Ohio State, he led the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2024.
Today on the podcast, TreVeyon joins Matt Forte to talk about his rookie season in the NFL, being bold for Jesus, proclaiming his faith at the Super Bowl, and the importance of keeping Christ at the center of his marriage.
San Diego Padres player Gavin Sheets rounds the bases after hitting a home run, May 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
San Diego Padres slugger Gavin Sheets made Major League Baseball history last week when he became the first player to hit three go-ahead, three-run, ninth-inning home runs in the same season. What’s more, he accomplished the feat before the middle of May.
He continued his hot start to the season by following it up with three home runs over the weekend against the Seattle Mariners, including two in Sunday’s game.
“It’s a cool honor. You think of all the players in the National League, and to win that for a week is pretty exciting,” Sheets told MLB Network. “But, more importantly, we played really good baseball and had two really good series on the road.”
Since arriving in San Diego before last season on a minor-league deal, Sheets has provided much-needed spark and versatility to a Padres lineup looking to keep pace with the division-rival Los Angeles Dodgers. He made the opening-day roster last year and responded with the best season of his career: a .252 batting average, 19 home runs and 71 RBIs — all career highs. The Padres reached the postseason, but lost to the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card round.
Sheets has picked up where he left off, batting .254 this year with nine home runs and 21 RBIs in 44 games played, and he’s a key reason the Padres are sitting just a half-game behind the Dodgers in the NL West standings. He’s also considered one of the leaders in the clubhouse despite being in only his second full season with the club.
“I think it’s something that’s organically happened,” he told MLB Network. “Last year I came in and built relationships with the guys around here. It’s such a great clubhouse and such a great culture. Everybody just wants to win. I think there’s a respect factor when you go about things the right way and put in the work.”
There was a time earlier in his career when he would’ve let those numbers and that success define him. That mindset crumbled and his perspective shifted entirely during the pandemic-shortened season in 2020.
Sheets was drafted in the second round by the Chicago White Sox in 2017 out of Wake Forest and quickly began ascending the minor league system. He put together his best pro season in Double-A in 2019 and earned an invitation to major league spring training in 2020. Then the pandemic brought everything to an abrupt halt.
“I remember thinking, ‘This is OK. This isn’t the path I had. This isn’t the way my plan was going, but that’s OK. Baseball is going to come back and we’ll be fine,'” he said in a Sports Spectrum “I Once Was” video.
Later that June, baseball did resume — though in an abbreviated, 60-game season without fans. The minor league season was canceled, but some players were asked to report to what was essentially extended spring training to play intrasquad games against teammates. But not everyone would be participating. Some players in the organization would stay home without structured baseball activity for the time being.
A bunch of guys started getting calls about when to show up to the facility and getting relayed logistics about the season and their assignment. Sheets’ phone never rang.
“I had made baseball this idol in my life,” he said in the video. “All of my plans in all my mind, my relationships, everything was in this idol that I’d created, and I didn’t know what to do. It was a mix of emotions — anger and questioning. It was the first time that I’d really searched for God, in that moment.”
It was also the first time he realized baseball would go on whether he was a part of it or not. That was a hard pill to swallow.
“So, this thing that I had put my identity in, I’m sitting at home watching it go on. I’m watching these guys play and I’m not a part of it, and it’s not slowing down,” he said while speaking at a chapel event last month for Christian Unified Schools of San Diego. “I realized I’m putting my identity in something that doesn’t care for me.”
He soon thereafter received a text message from his college coach, Tom Walter, whom he hadn’t spoken to in about a year. The message included a story about a pastor and a farmer that was meant to provide comfort and remind Sheets to trust in God when things happen that we don’t understand.
The text also read: “You’ve always risen to the occasion. This will be no exception. Hang in there. Love you, brother.” Reading it made him break down in tears.
“I just thank God,” he said. “I just felt His presence for the first time where I needed Him the most, where I called out to Him. It was the first time where I felt myself giving my whole path to God, giving my whole future to God, giving my whole life to God and just saying, ‘I can’t do this on my own.'”
Later that summer, while visiting his grandparents, his grandfather fell and broke his leg. Because baseball had been put on pause, Sheets was able to stay home for several weeks and help care for him alongside his grandmother. Then his aunt — whom he described as being like a second mother to him — became ill and passed away later that same summer. He was there with her when she took her final breath.
“Being there and being with my family and realizing that God had greater plans than I could’ve ever imagined,” he said in the video. “The plans that I had for myself were not even half of what God had planned for me.”
That season made him realize he wasn’t using baseball or his platform to glorify God, and that needed to change. Sheets continued training on his own, and used the time to learn how to play outfield in an effort to make himself more valuable to a roster. He made his major-league debut the following year — at a position he had never played before, which he learned while being at home during the pandemic.
“Now I’m here to share my journey and how it all took a turn for a path that was even greater than I expected,” he said.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
The much-anticipated Western Conference Finals between what many consider the NBA’s two best teams tipped off on Monday, and it lived up to all the hype and more.
The No. 2-seeded San Antonio Spurs, led by Victor Wembanyama, outlasted league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, 122-115, in two overtimes in Game 1 to notch a road victory and seize early control of the seven-game series.
San Antonio battled to a seven-point halftime lead, but a fourth-quarter surge from the Thunder sent the contest to OT tied at 101. The Spurs finally pulled away in the second overtime to cap the instant classic.
The Last 15 Minutes of Game 1: Oklahoma City Thunder vs San Antonio Spurs 🍿🎬 PURE CINEMA pic.twitter.com/1XsgZkXswV
— Not Locked On Fantasy Basketball (@MaarkyBoy) May 19, 2026
Game 1 marked the first real adversity the Thunder have faced in this year’s playoffs. After winning the NBA Finals a season ago for the first time since the franchise has been in Oklahoma City, the Thunder cruised to two four-game sweeps in the first two rounds of these playoffs. OKC dispatched the Phoenix Suns in the first round and the Los Angeles Lakers in the second. Only two of those eight wins came by less than 10 points.
An unexpected star for the Thunder during the team’s dominant run has been 23-year-old second-year guard Ajay Mitchell. The 2024 second-round pick started the last two games of the series with the Suns and each of the four games against the Lakers, and the crafty lefty has performed admirably. He’s averaged 17.1 points, 4.9 assists and 4.0 rebounds so far in these playoffs while shooting 35.1% and providing stout defense in more than 30 minutes per game. Each of those totals is an improvement on his season averages.
After that Game 3, Gilgeous-Alexander was asked about what the former UC Santa Barbara standout brings to the team.
“He’s a gamer,” SGA said of Mitchell. “Works super hard, never shaken by the moment. He’s just ready for his opportunity and he takes full advantage of it. It might be a shock to the world, but it’s no shock to us. We knew who Ajay Mitchell was the day he stepped foot in the building, and he’s just showing it to the world.”
Mitchell was born and raised in Belgium until he moved to France at age 17 to advance his basketball career. In France, he played briefly with Wembanyama, who now provides the opposition on Mitchell’s path to a second straight title.
During his postgame press conference after Game 3 against the Lakers, Mitchell was asked to reflect on where basketball has taken him in life.
“It’s been more of just being grateful,” he said. “I think looking back to where I was, looking back to myself as a little kid in Belgium just dreaming of playing in the NBA, and then God putting me in those positions, I just truly feel grateful for those opportunities. I feel like I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder, and every time I step out on the court I just want to prove myself and be a winning player and help my team win.”
Mitchell writes “All glory to God” in his Instagram bio, and he’s been known to post about faith on the social media platform. In January, he opened up about his journey with His Huddle.
“Faith plays an important role in my basketball career,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure and stress from basketball, and being able to pray and talk to God about it really helped me throughout the years. Praying and talking to God helps me remind myself of what I’m grateful for.”
Mitchell spent his youth attending church in Belgium, but it wasn’t until his time in college with the Gauchos that a true relationship with God blossomed. Now as a rising NBA star, he wants to use his platform to tell others about all that Christ has done.
“The impact I would like to have is just to be able to share God’s Word,” he told His Huddle. “Understanding that God sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins really changed my perspective. It helped me to seek forgiveness from God, and also forgive others.”
Mitchell wasn’t in the starting lineup for Game 1 against the Spurs on Monday and registered a quiet four points on 2-of-5 shooting with five assists, four rebounds and two steals. He did lead the Thunder bench with 34 minutes played and was +7 on the night.
The Thunder hope he can return to the kind of production he exhibited in the first two rounds of the playoffs as they seek to bounce back in Game 2 in Oklahoma City on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Aaron Ashby, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
As the calendar ticks toward summer and the first quarter of the 2026 MLB campaign draws to a close, a record-setting season may be brewing in Milwaukee.
Brewers relief pitcher Aaron Ashby has already notched eight wins (with no losses) this season in just 21 appearances, currently two more than any other pitcher in baseball, starter or reliever. Those eight wins are also already a career high for the 27-year-old in his fifth year at the MLB level.
Ashby boasts an impressive 2.17 ERA so far in 2026, nearly matching his career-high 2.16 ERA during his breakthrough season a year ago. His hot start has been so hot, racking up so many wins, that he’s actually accomplished something that hasn’t been done in modern MLB history, which is saying something for the oldest major professional sports league in the United States. According to OptaSTATS, he is the first to collect two more relief wins than any other MLB pitcher had total wins at the end of any given day.
After Friday night, the @Brewers' Aaron Ashby now has 8 wins this year – all in relief. No one else in MLB has more than 6 wins.
It's the first time in the modern era a pitcher had at least 2 more relief wins than any other MLB pitcher had total wins at the end of any given day. pic.twitter.com/bBVianwJfU
The record for the most wins by a relief pitcher in MLB history is 18, set by Roy Face of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1959 (57 appearances). The number seems astronomical, but Ashby is nearly halfway there and it’s only May.
It’s uncommon for this to occur with relief pitchers, because their appearances are often so short. For example, Ashby’s longest appearance this season was on May 1, when he pitched 2.2 innings against the Washington Nationals. It wasn’t even one of his eight wins.
Ashby’s expertise on the mound this season has helped Milwaukee to a 26-18 record, good for second in a competitive National League Central. But now, as his performance is drawing attention from every corner of the baseball world, the lefty originally from Kansas City will continue to be steadied by the steadfast love of Jesus.
“I recently became a father,” Ashby wrote in a devotional for the Spring 2026 edition of Sports Spectrum Magazine, “and it’s helped me gain a new glimpse into how much Christ loves us. … My wife and I look down on [our son] with this love we didn’t even know was possible — and that’s how God looks down on us.”
Before becoming parents, Ashby and his wife, Avery, struggled with fertility issues. It was a time that drove them to cling to God’s Word in Psalm 23.
“To go through that valley of darkness (v. 4) and then see it redeemed,” he wrote, “it feels like we’re now in a moment of green pastures (v. 2).”
“We never understand what God’s doing when we’re in the midst of a tough time. We don’t know the full picture like He does,” Ashby wrote of the darkness of infertility. “If you’re in a low moment and wondering what God is doing right now, let me encourage you to be prayerful and lean on someone around you.
“… You’ll soon look back on what you experienced and know God was with you through it all, giving you confidence that He actually never leaves your side.”
Confident in God’s presence, Ashby will seek to continue his hot start and keep Milwaukee on its playoff trajectory. The Brewers begin a three-game series on the road against the division-leading Chicago Cubs (29-18) on Monday at 7:40 p.m. ET.
