☀️ Good morning! Welcome back to The Nosebleeds.

💸 Show me the money. There was certainly no money saved in the world of sports this past week.

🚨 Game time. Let’s get it.

🤑 Dinner on them

No showing in the Eastern Conference Finals gets you the largest contract in NBA history apparently, as Jaylen Brown has re-signed with the Boston Celtics on a five-year, $304 million deal. My kid is 100% playing basketball.

Justin Herbert became the highest paid quarterback in the NFL with his five-year, $262.5 million contract. Herbert’s $52.5M per season tops Lamar Jackson’s recent extension by a half million, and makes Patrick Mahomes ($45M) and Josh Allen ($43M) the 7th and 8th highest paid quarterbacks, respectively.

• Could Joe Burrow be making $60M per season in the near future?

Kylian Mbappe was offered $776 million earlier this week to join Saudi Arabian soccer club Al-Hilal (which included a $332M transfer fee to Paris Saint-Germain, meaning the entire offer totaled $1.1 billion). However, it has been reported that Mbappe has turned down the mega-offer from the Saudi’s, and the rumor is that he will join storied Spanish club Real Madrid in the near future.

• Big Mood:

Sebastian Aho re-signed with the Carolina Hurricanes on an eight-year, $9.8M AAV (what seems to be miniscule in comparison) contract. A very good player on one of the league’s top teams is locked up for the long-term.

🦄 Sho-time never ends

Every week, Shohei Ohtani does something we’ve never seen before. And his performance this week was no different.

The Los Angeles Angels were facing the Detroit Tigers in a doubleheader on Thursday. Shohei was the starting pitcher for game one of the doubleheader and proceeded to go out on the mound and toss a complete game one-hit shutout. How did Ohtani follow that up in game two? He hit two homers. Ho hum.

Those alien stories we heard from some US government officials earlier this week? Yeah, pretty sure they were talking about this guy 👽️ 

🩼 Pain

NFL Training Camps have begun, and that means two things:

1. Apparently every rookie is destined to be a Hall-of-Famer.

2. Injuries.

You hate to see any injuries, but especially ones that occur to the stars of the game before any actual football has been played.

• Joe Burrow went down in heap at Bengals practice on a non-contact play on Thursday and immediately grabbed his lower right leg. Burrow got carted off and had Bengals fans thinking their season was over before it even began. Fortunately, it sounds like Burrow did not sustain a serious injury—it is reportedly just a calf strain, and he should be good to go for Week 1.

• Jalen Ramsey was not as lucky as Burrow, as he has sustained a knee injury bad enough that surgery is required. Ramsey’s ACL is “intact” but he will still be out 6-8 weeks.

• Garrett Wilson has been absolutely lighting it up at NY Jets training camp with his new QB Aaron Rodgers. But Wilson left practice today limping and may have suffered an ankle sprain. The young superstar receiver says he’s OK, though.

🩸 Bloody Good Play(s) of the Week

There is only supposed to be one Bloody Good Play of the Week, but as a certified Golf Guy™️ I just couldn’t leave this second play out.

He’s the GOAT for a reason. Lionel Messi debuted for Inter Miami earlier this week and introduced himself to the MLS with this vintage Messi free-kick goal.

• 94th minute, free kick, for the win.

• Messi went on to put up two goals and two assists for Inter Miami in their following match. The guy is simply too good for MLS.

All week long, Messi’s free kick was destined to stand alone on top of the Nosebleed Sports Play of the Week podium. That was until PGA Tour player Nick Hardy hit one of the craziest golf shots I have ever seen.

• Broken club to like eight feet. Un. Real.

🤔 F1 Trivia

Max Verstappen has won seven F1 races in a row and counting.

• Question: Which driver holds the record for most consecutive race wins?

Answer at the bottom.

👀 Weekend Watchlist

🏎️ Formula 1 is on its way to Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday. Make sure to catch the Sprint Qualifying Race on Saturday too!

• Red Bull and Max Verstappen look to continue to dominate the grid.

• Lando Norris and McLaren look to build on their recent success and achieve their third straight podium finish.

⚾️ Multiple MLB series this weekend have significant playoff implications.

• Ohtani and the Angels head to Canada to face the Blue Jays only three games behind the Jays for the final wildcard spot.

• The Rays look to right the ship against the Astros in Houston this weekend. The Rays have given up their division lead to the Baltimore Orioles, and currently boast the second worst July record in baseball.

🫡 See y’all next week (we’re thinking on Tuesday)!

Trivia Answer: Sebastian Vettel with 9 (Belgium 2013 - Brazil 2013).

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