It’s Just Business ep 238: Just Get Me To the Airport, Put Me On a Plane

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October 27, 2026

We discuss:

AI-created Overview:

This is an episode of It’s Just Business, hosted by Chris and co-hosted by Steve. It covers three main stories.

Cold open: weather. Steve notes a very dry year in the Houston area and a light hurricane season, and recalls that the one storm to hit the U.S. passed over his former home near Hurlburt Field in the Florida Panhandle.

1. Jalen Hurts’ blood clot and the Eagles’ handling of it

  • What happened: Before the London game, an ultrasound found a clot in Hurts’ calf. Team and London doctors cleared him to play. He flew across the Atlantic, was reportedly told to stay awake for about 36 hours, and played. A follow-up in Philadelphia found the clot had moved. He was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary emboli and is out for the season.
  • Sources: Yahoo Sports (Chris Swick) and ESPN (Tim McManus), both dated October 20.
  • League and union response: The NFL quickly concluded the Eagles acted appropriately and won’t be punished. Chief medical officer Allen Sills called the care “very conservative,” and Jeff Miller dismissed criticism as “uninformed and unfounded.” The NFLPA has called for a full investigation.
  • Hosts’ views:
    • Steve calls it negligent and says it put Hurts’ life at risk for a nationally televised game. He contrasts it with RG3’s knee injury, which was career-threatening but not life-threatening. He objects to the injury being listed as a “calf injury” and thinks the NFLPA should pursue legal action or arbitration.
    • Chris frames it around two themes: the team putting availability over health, and how fast the league tried to bury the story. He predicts a slow-burn story with more revelations. He notes the NFL left itself room to reopen the case by limiting its finding to injury-reporting procedure. Even cynically, he argues, it’s a bizarre way to treat a $65–75M investment.

2. Brewers vs. Rays World Series: a “nightmare” for MLB and TV

  • Source: Sporting News, citing USA Today’s Bob Nightingale. Milwaukee led the series 1–0 at recording.
  • TV problem: Two small-payroll teams with limited national followings, and no New York, LA, Boston or Chicago team. The hosts expect possibly record-low ratings, lower ad revenue and possible makegoods to advertisers. Casual viewers will check scores on their phones rather than host watch parties.
  • Labor angle (the bigger story to both): A lockout is expected about a month after the Series. Two low-payroll finalists undercut MLB’s argument that competitive balance requires a salary cap.
    • Chris calls it a textbook case of recency bias: a statistical anomaly that “writes the contract.”
    • Steve, a Dodgers fan, predicts hard-cap talk will fade in favor of luxury-tax changes.
  • Asides: Tampa–St. Pete is roughly the 11th-largest media market but has a bottom-tier payroll. Milwaukee is the more lovable story (Bob Uecker, the Fonz statue, the Happy Days trivia bit). The Rays didn’t sell out playoff games.

3. The NBA tightens betting rules and adds AI monitoring

  • Sources: CNBC, plus an October 16 report listing specifics. Note that “Stern” in the transcript is corrected to Adam Silver.
  • New restrictions apply through the NBA’s sportsbook partners:
    • No opening-tip bets
    • No parlays combining player “unders”
    • No unders on players expected to play under 12 minutes
    • No first-basket bets or certain micro-props on missed shots
  • Other measures:
    • An internal AI platform that cross-references game data, injury reports, social media and betting data to flag suspicious activity
    • Betting-integrity training for teams and rookies, led by former NFL player and retired FBI agent Charles Tillman
  • Silver’s positions: He wants more data access and market control, supports a national federal framework (there are about 40 jurisdictions now), and treats prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi as equivalent to sportsbooks.
  • Hosts’ views:
    • Steve says it’s late but the right move, ahead of the NFL and MLB. Despite his conservative leanings, he concedes federal regulation fits Congress’s interstate-commerce power.
    • Chris highlights Silver lumping prediction markets with sportsbooks as notable. He frames AI as an arms race where bad actors stay a half-step ahead, guesses AI agents may already place a large share of bets, and compares it to Wall Street’s race for faster trading connections. The segment ends with a riff on a Terminator-style scenario of AI agents gaming markets.

Sign-off: Washington is on its bye, “and won’t lose this week.” The next episode is in two weeks, likely with a World Series ratings recap.

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