It is NBA All-Star Game weekend, and those who are into Halls of Fame know exactly what that means!

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced today the Finalists for the Class of 2022.

The Finalists are:

Leta Andrews:  Andrews is one of the most successful basketball high school coaches of all-time, coaching from 1962 to 2014 with a lifetime record of 1,416-355.  She is already a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, and has been a Finalist three times before.

Swin Cash:  Cash was a two-time NCAA Champion at Connecticut and a three-time WNBA Champion, two with Detroit and one with Seattle.  Cash was also a four-time All-Star. WNBA 20^th and 25^th Anniversary Team Selection, and is also a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist with America.  Cash is a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Michael Cooper:  Playing all of his 13 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, Cooper helped L.A. win five NBA Titles, while earning five NBA All-Defensive Selections and the 1987 Defensive Player of the Year.

Hugh Evans:  Evans was an NBA referee from 1972 to 2001 and he officiated in 35 NBA Finals Games.

Manu Ginobili:  Playing his entire pro career with the San Antonio Spurs, Ginobili helped take the team to four NBA Championships, while individually going to two All-Star Games.  Internationally, Ginobili led Argentina to Olympic Gold in 2004, Olympic Bronze in 2008, and he also took his country to Silver at the 2002 FIBA World Cup.  He has an excellent shot of entering as a first ballot inductee.

Tim Hardaway:  Hardaway was a former WAC Player of the Year at UTEP, and professionally was a five-time All-Star known for his time in Golden State and Miami.  A five-time All-NBA player, Hardaway also won Gold for the United States at the 2000 Olympics.

Bob Huggins:  Huggins took Cincinnati to the Final Four in 1992, and West Virginia in 2010.  Still coaching the Mountaineers today, Huggins presently has a career record of 913-393.

Marques Johnson:  Johnson won the NCAA Title at UCLA in 1975 and was named the National College Player of the Year in 1977.  Professionally, he had his best seasons with Milwaukee, where he went to four All-Star Games, and was twice a Second Team All-NBA player.  Johnson also played for the Clippers, where he went to his fifth All-Star Game.

George Karl: Karl is one of nine NBA Coaches wo have won 1,000 Games with a Coach of the Year Award (2013 with Denver).  He also was the Head Coach for Seattle, Milwaukee and Sacramento with a lifetime record of 1,175-824.

Marianne Stanley:  Stanley coached Old Dominion to a National Championship in 1985, and she also coached Penn, USC, Stanford and California.  In the WNBA, she was named the WNBA Coach of the Year in 2002 with Washington, and she is currently the Head Coach of the Indiana Fever.  Stanley is a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Lindsay Whalen:  Whalen was one of the best women’s player in Golden Gopher history, and she went on to have a stellar WNBA career, winning four titles with the Minnesota Lynx, earning three First Team All-Star selections and five trips to the WNBA All-Star Games.  She was also named to the WNBA 20^th and 25^th Anniversary Team and internationally she won two Olympic Gold Medals with the United States (2012 & 2016).

Also announced was the following:

Reggie Minton won the John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dick Ebersol won he Curt Gowdy Transformative Media Award 

Mechelle Voepel won the Curt Gowdy Media Award.

Walt Frazier won the Curt Gowdy Electronic Media Award.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the four new Award winners and this year’s Finalists.

Wrestlemania season is coming soon, and there is nobody better to be named as the headliner for the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2022 than the Undertaker.

A native of Texas, Mark Callaway debuted for the WWE as the Undertaker at the 1990 Survivor Series, and at the 1991 Survivor Series, he beat Hulk Hogan for his first World Heavyweight Title.  Since that time, the Undertaker appeared in countless main events, won three more World Titles and headlined multiple Wrestlemanias, most notably amassing a 21-match win streak.

He was given an official retirement last year on an episode of Monday Night RAW. 

The Undertaker was ranked at #2 on our last list of those to consider for the WWE Hall of Fame.  Following Wrestlemania, we will be revising our list, and removing all those who were chosen, and reworking the list based on your votes and comments.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the Undertaker for this impending honor.

Most athletes do their daily "work" just because they want to. Their profit is fitness and health, perhaps a small amount of fame in their own region and sometimes a little hand money.  But we all know that there is quite a small group of sports celebrities that earn a fortune with their talent. Their financial success is partially beyond belief. 

Martials arts pay off!

Let's have a look at the highest paid athletes of the world: Who has had the biggest salaries in 2021? The business magazine Forbes presents us a ranking that leaves the ordinary citizen amazed. Not only soccer players are included in this exclusive community, but also basketballers, footballers and MMA pros.  In fact, the first place is taken by the Irish martial artist Conor McGregor. He is the first martial arts fighter who leads the famous Forbes list since the ranking began in 1990. For his efforts McGregor in the past twelve months, he received 22 million US Dollars. But that's by far not all! From his advertising partners, among them the whisky brand Proper No. Twelve, 158 million US Dollars are added. That means the fighter earns 180 million Dollars per year. 

A story of earning of winning

In total, the top ten highest-paid athletes earned 1.05 billion Dollars in 2021. That is 28 percent more than in 2020. The good news for the average citizen is: You too can profit financially from professional sports – through sport betting. But forget about the millions and billions of the sport celebrities, because all bookmakers have fixed limits for payouts. Ranging approximately from 100,000 per week to 1.16 million per day, depending on your provider's country. On relevant betting sites like arabianbetting.com you can compare the individual portals and chose the one with the best conditions. For example, have a look at the best betting portals of the Middle East and North Africa, compare their bonus systems and gather a lot of useful tips from betting experts. Learn how to play anonymously – and get to your chosen platform within a few minutes. The German soccer player Max Kruse takes advantage of both opportunities: He earns his money at 1. FC Union Berlin – and is a part-time poker player. His live poker winnings currently amount to 133.313 US Dollar. 

The income of a superstar

Cristiano Ronaldo, a superstar among the soccer players, also lost his heart at the poker table. Not because he earns to little, no, just for the fun of it. Concerning his income, he just dethroned Messe as the highest-played soccer player of the world! Currently he is working at as an attacker for Manchester United. Here the Portuguese earns 70 US Dollars a year, just as he formerly did at Juventus Turin. Besides there are about 349 million people following him on Instagram. As one of the most successful influencers of the world, Ronaldo is requested by numerous companies as an advertising medium. His advertiser deals flush another 55 million Dollars into the till. That adds up to an annual income of 125 million Dollars. Not bad for a man who just kicks a ball across the green lawn!

The earnings of another superstar

Lionel Messi has to be satisfied with the 3^rd place of the Forbes ranking this year. The Argentine professional soccer player moved to Paris Saint-Germain and lost a bit of this income there. FC Barcelona payed him 97 million Dollars per year, the French transfer to him only 75 million Dollars, but he stays one of the best soccer players of all time. Numerous advertising partners literally stick to him, among them MasterCard, Pepsi and Adidas. That brings him an additional 35 million, so his income is about 110 million Dollars per year. Enough to have a relaxed lifestyle without worries about the future. 

Football is worthwhile, too

On the fourth place we meet the football player Dak Prescott, working for the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL. According to the Forbes ranking 2021, the famous quarterback was paid around 97,5 million Dollars last year. Plus, he had a 66-million-dollar signing bonus in this new four-year-contract, so it all adds up to more than 100 million dollars within twelve months.

As was expected, one of the all-time Washington Nationals greats, Ryan Zimmerman, announced today that he is retiring from Baseball.

Drafted in the First Round in 2005, Zimmerman made the big leagues that year, and remained with the Nationals for all of his sixteen seasons.

An All-Star in 2009 and 2017, Zimmerman was a solid power hitter, who had seven 20-Home Run years with a pair of Silver Sluggers (2009 & 2010).  Batting .277 lifetime for Washington, Zimmerman was a veteran presence on the 2019 team that won the World Series, the first for the organization.

Zimmerman was a member of the Washington Nationals 2019 World Series Championship Team, and is at present the all-time franchise leader in Games Played (1,799), Runs Scored (964), Hits (1,846), Doubles (417), Home Runs (284) and RBIs (1,061).

Zimmerman is Hall of Fame eligible in 2027, though is unlikely to make it past the first ballot, though he is a prime candidate to be honored by the Nationals in the future.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Ryan Zimmerman the best in his post-playing career.