Former NBA star and current Twitter sensation Rex Chapman is expanding his media footprint to CNN’s new streaming service.

On Tuesday, CNN+ announced that Chapman will host a weekly show. He joins a growing roster of talent that includes former Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, NPR host Audie Cornish, and MSNBC reporter Kasie Hunt, along with several CNN personalities like Anderson Cooper and Kate Bolduan.

In its official announcement, CNN described Chapman’s upcoming program as “intimate conversations with athletes, entertainers and everyday heroes as Chapman looks for the silver lining beyond today’s toughest headlines.”

Chapman has a compelling personal story to share, as well, one that could inform this new show. Various injuries sustained during his NBA career led to an opioid addiction that required several visits to drug rehab and an eventual arrest for shoplifting.

Yet he’s reinvented himself as a major Twitter presence with an account that has more than one million followers and regularly shares humorous videos, historical information, stories of people making a difference in culture and, of course, some basketball content.

Following a 12-year NBA career with the Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards (then the Bullets), Miami Heat, and Phoenix Suns, Chapman got into broadcasting as an analyst for University of Kentucky basketball, NBA TV, and TNT.

More recently, Chapman has hosted a basketball podcast with actor Josh Hopkins and an interview podcast talking with athletes about their encounters with the law. He’s also hosted a show on Adult Swim titled Block or Charge, based on his popular series of tweets with video clips of various collisions, accidents, and mishaps.

According to CNN+, Chapman’s show will be part of the service’s catalog at launch. An exact premiere date for CNN+ hasn’t yet been announced, though plans are for the service to debut “in the first quarter of 2022.” So, sometime between now and April, presumably.

One of the most recognizable and famous men on the planet joined Peyton and Eli on Monday Night Football’s “ManningCast” last night.  Dwayne “The Rock Johnson” was a fantastic guest, especially considering the game itself was not particularly interesting.  The Rams essentially dominated the game with the Cardinals not being able to get out of their own way at times.

However, some viewers were much more interested in the background of Johnson’s screen than they were with the game.  It looked as though “The Rock” had his own rock, that was actually a large dinosaur skull.

In time Johnson was asked about it. He told the Manning brothers the skull was named Stan and it is the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever to be excavated by a paleontologist.

If anyone were to have a house ornament like this it makes sense that Johnson is the one to have it casually sitting behind him.  Thanks to the worldwide web, viewers were able to discover Stan the T-Rex was sold for over $30 million in 2020. Per National Geographic:

“Now, an auctioneer’s hammer has thrown Stan’s future into question, with the dinosaur bones sold off to the highest—and, so far, anonymous—bidder, stoking fear among experts that this beloved T. rex may be lost to science.

On October 6, the London-based auction house Christie’s sold the T. rex for a record $31.8 million, the highest price ever paid at auction for a fossil.”

It looks like all of that Fast and Furious money can get you some pretty cool stuff.

Mike Mayock was fired by the Las Vegas Raiders from his general manager position on Monday.  Mayock spent just three seasons with the Raiders, but it was certainly an eventful ride.

Besides the issues with Jon Gruden and his e-mails that ensued this season, Mayock himself also made some poor decisions when it came to top draft picks.  The Raiders ended up cutting two of Mayock’s first round picks, Henry Ruggs and Damon Arnette, as a result of their actions off the field.

The firing of Mayock brings a plethora of questions that were discussed on WFAN’s Carton & Roberts. 

What next step does Mayock make?  Could he try to go back to NFL Network, or would he take another job as an executive?

Carton & Roberts pointed out that Mayock may have a little “stink” on him if he were to try and go back to television as a draft expert seeing as he essentially failed at that position for an NFL team. 

While the stink may wear off if Mayock were to lay low for a while, it could also make it difficult for other television personalities to be hired by NFL front offices.  Louis Riddick, of Monday Night Football, has apparently shown interest in front office positions.  Craig Carton hypothetically asked if Mayock’s failure have a ripple effect on tv personalites in the same way Urban Meyer’s failure could have a ripple effect on NFL teams hiring college coaches?

Other than trying to go back to television, it is also possible Mayock goes for a lower-level position in the NFL.  It will be interesting to see how the NFL’s teams and networks respond to Mayock’s availability.