Day 111

• Portugal's health secretary has confirmed that the UEFA Champions League, if it completes at all, will complete in Lisbon and be without fans.
• Netflix will do a 6-part retrospective on the advocacy of Colin Kaepernick.
• The Nationals' Joe Ross is joining Ryan Zimmerman in sitting out the 2020 season.
• Dan Hughes will not coach the WNBA's Seattle Storm due to high risk for complications should he catch the coronavirus. 
• In a move surprising no one (and one I thought already happened), the 2020 minor league season is toast. 
• Chad Campbell is the 6th PGA positive, announced today. 
• Three Pelicans and three Nuggets have tested positive for the coronavirus. 
• New charity for Botball:  RAINN.
• And speaking of Botball... 

With the calendar now effectively reading July 1st, it's time to look at the standings at about the halfway point.

Quick refresher for those picking up here:  A community of several baseball fans started, upon the coronavirus shutdown, a PS4 sim of the entire 2020 Major League Baseball schedule, as scheduled, on MLB: The Show 20.

Plans to stream several games a day on Twitch.tv/MLBotball have grown the community to several dozen, with occasional guest spots from even major-league team broadcasters!

The effort is unpaid and volunteer:  The effort is for charity -- started with Meals on Wheels and has rotated several others, including Black Lives Matter, The Trevor Project, and now RAINN.

With that, the season is about half over, so it's time to check the standings, as posted on MLBotball.com -- so they may not cover even all of the June 30 games:

• AL East:  Yankees are 50-35, 2 1/2 up on the Rays, 6 1/2 up on the Blue Jays.
• AL Central:  Indians are 55-30, 1 game up on both the Twins and White Sox.  Those are the three best records in the American League.
• AL West:  Oakland is 47-38, the only team in the division over .500, 5 1/2 up on the Rangers and Angels.
• AL Wild Card:  Twins and White Sox would be the Wild Card game, just not sure who hosts.  Tampa Bay is 3 1/2 back, Toronto 7 1/2 back.
• AL Best Record:  Indians 1 up on their division rivals, 5 up on the Yankees, 7 1/2 on the Rays, 8 on the A's.
• AL seeding:  Indians, Yankees, A's, Twins/White Sox

And onto the NL:

• NL East:  Nationals are 55-30, 4 up on the Braves, 12 1/2 up on the Phillies
• NL Central:  Cubs are the Best Team In Baseball:  56-29, 6 clear of the Reds.
• NL West:  Dodgers and Diamondbacks are both 50-35.
• NL Wild Card:  Atlanta would host, but you'd probably have a one-game playoff Dodgers and D-Backs for the NL West, the loser facing the Reds to go to Atlanta for the Wild Card Game.
• NL Best Record:  Cubs are 1 up on the Nationals, 5 up on the Braves, 6 up on the Reds, Dodgers, and Diamondbacks.
• NL Seeding:  Cubs, Nationals, Dodgers/D-Backs, Dodgers/D-Backs/Reds/Braves

More news:

• Last NXT UK News:  Promotion is suspended "until the time is right" due to COVID-19.
• Latest #SpeakingOut NXT UK:  Joe Coffey suspended, NXT UK referees Joel Allen and Chris Roberts fired.

Day 110

• Statistic from UrinatingTree's new "Return To Sports" video:  Ten WNBA players, so far, from six teams, have opted out.  Five due to health, four due to advocacy (one announced pre-virus), and one due to simple personal reasons.
• Word is the NFL may be considering halving the preseason to two games this year.
• The proposed start of MLB is about three weeks away.  On an ESPN Radio show, ESPN analyst Buster Olney was asked the probability the season would start, and the probability it would end as planned.  
• He put the former at 5%, the latter at zero. 
• In recent months, President Trump was using Twitch to broadcast a number of his rallies.
• That was ended today when Twitch banned the President of the United States for a charge of hateful conduct. 
• As has Reddit with The_Donald, a pro-Trump forum of over 800,000 contributors.  Same reason. 
• The Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman will not play this year due to the coronavirus concerns. 
• The Brooklyn Nets' Spencer Dinwiddie has tested positive for the coronavirus.  So has DeAndre Jordan.
• In another sign of the disintegration of Vegas, Cirque du Soleil has filed for bankruptcy. 
• Trouble for the Brooklyn Nets.  There is now belief that at least five, counting Jordan but not counting Dinwiddie, of the Nets roster is not going to participate in Orlando. 
• Ian Desmond of the Rockies has opted out of the MLB restart.  He then has demanded MLB and it's players take more of a stand on social issues.
• No Olbermann again tonight.  Will continue soon.

Day 109

• Reports have Derrick Jones Jr. of the Miami Heat positive for the coronavirus.
• South Korea is preparing to open sports events to fans.
• This probably is going to finish off any plans for my annual August Vegas Adventure:  A utility porter at one of the Caesar's casinos in Las Vegas has died from the coronavirus -- his family believes it was contracted at the casino.
• As a result, the Culinary Union has sued the Vegas casinos, citing the working conditions.
• Cam Newton signs one-year deal with the Patriots...
• ... who've been fined $1,100,000 and stripped of a third-round pick for illegal taping.  The perpetrator has been banned from the NFL (and even attending games) for life.
• Kevin Owens, trying to talk some common sense to the Covidiots: 

Let’s try this. pic.twitter.com/SJXJSpNfd7

— Kevin (@FightOwensFight) June 29, 2020

• Another night off of Olbermann. Schedule's been a problem lately.
• And the re-shutdown is beginning in California. Seven counties have had their bars shut again because the fucking Covidiots couldn't take a hint. It's BACK, fuckers... 
• 668 players were tested in Orlando in preparation for "MLS is Back" -- 18 player positives. 
• Wilson Chandler of the Brooklyn Nets will not play in the resumption of the NBA.    
• FOX is done with the US Open in golf.  NBC is taking over, starting this Fall.

Day 108, and the sense that things may completely fall apart by July 4th...

• The Texas Rangers staff, with cases rising in the state, is fearful to work at Globe Life Park and wants to work from home.
• Over half of the markets with major-league teams in baseball are in markets where cases are increasing.
• The Kentucky Derby and Oaks will approve a plan for fans...
• ... as will the Indianapolis 500 -- they're planning for half-capacity which would be, what?  100,000 or more???  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...  No.   
• Sounds like that experimental small-scale tennis tour is a bad idea.  Goran Ivanisevic also has the coronavirus.
• At least two LA Sparks players have opted out of the WNBA season at IMG Academy in Florida. 
• And wouldn't you know who won the pony?  The #1 draft pick for the NHL Draft this Fall will be from a team who lost out in the Qualifying Round (the 5-12 seeds in each conference), equal chance to all eight losers. 
• And The Big One:  Sportsnaut and MSN are now reporting there is concern the NFL will not be able to have (or, at the very least, complete) a season. 
• Last night's Olbermann: 

#Thurbercast returned with No. 71 and two of his best: “The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty” and “Sex ex Machina”https://t.co/HXiW1cMhDP

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 27, 2020

• The NWSL Cup brings back American team sports in Utah this weekend. Minus at least one team.   
• Olbermann: 

#Thurbercast No. 71 last night included the latest bad news from baseball’s “return” and two from the Thurber Hall of Fame: “The Black Magic of Barney Haller” and “How To Relax While Broadcasting”https://t.co/8LQxzOpCuf

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 28, 2020

• WWE is resuming tapings next Wednesday (NXT), Thursday (Smackdown), and Friday (Raw), two episodes each.  Yeesh.
• Jason Day requested and received a coronavirus test -- had to change his tee time for the third round of the Travelers, but was negative and allowed to play on alone.

This may be about turning as good of a week in NASCAR as it is in professional wrestling...

Just hours after it was revealed a racist track owner in North Carolina was selling nooses as "Bubba Ropes" on Facebook, NASCAR had to announce that the crew chief of the "Blue Lives Matter" pro-police car in the XFinity Series has been banned from the sport indefinitely after a habitual assault of women charge was filed against him.

Something tells me that's all one and the same.

Bitch...

Day 107

• And the hits just keep on coming:  Roberto Duran has tested positive for the coronavirus.
• At least one Australian Rules Football match last week had to be postponed because a team had to be quarantined due to a positive test.
• Early results from the NBA indicate 16 of the 302 players initially tested are positive for the coronavirus.
• Denny McCarthey tested positive for the coronavirus yesterday at the PGA Travelers' Championship -- he and one of his playing partners Bud Cauley withdrew.  All the caddies in his group, Cauley, and the third in his group, Matt Wallace, tested negative.
• Morehouse, an HBCU near Atlanta, has cancelled it's fall sports due to the continuing risk -- including football. 
• Two of the NXT UK accusees on the #SpeakingOut campaign:  Travis Banks and Ligero, both fired from WWE today. 
• It appears, now, there are "MANY problematic wrestlers" who will need to be cleaned out of WWE.  Velveteen Dream is reported to be all but gone.  SHUT DOWN ALL NEW PROGRAMMING NOW, YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT VINCE!
• There is now new word that the only reason Velveteen Dream hasn't been fired in the last week is that he's one of the COVID-19 positives.
• And as if THAT was not enough, he's also been in a car accident today -- released from the hospital.
• Jamie Noble, a former wrestler, now producer, with WWE announced he tested positive in the latest WWE testing swath.
• One "sheet" is now putting the number of positives in the WWE Florida community over THIRTY! 
• Only a couple days after the shutdown of Twitch rival Mixer (basically pushing Ninja over to Facebook???), reports are now that major Twitch streamer/screamer Dr. Disrespect has been permabanned from the service, and, at least one streamer is saying, far more than that.  No one's saying why.  Hmmmm...  Who has the doctor sexually disrespected that they don't want us knowing about?  Beginning to scream sexual assault/rape here.     
• In what probably is one of the least surprising offshoots of #SpeakingOut, Michael Elgin has finally been fired from Impact Wrestling.
• 23 members of the Texas Tech football community have tested positive for the coronavirus -- that includes players, but no word on how many players are on the list.
• A fucktard White racist track owner in North Carolina is advertising "Bubba Rope" on Facebook.  It's exactly what you think it is.  Someone needs to beat the everloving motherfucking shit out of this cocksucker.     
• Fourteen MORE positive football player tests on the national champion Clemson team -- that's 37 total, or about a third of the entire roster!

Update of a long-dormant story, and the rules may no longer apply...

Billy Mitchell, the video-game fraud, has just had his records reinstated, according to Pat the NES Punk (through my anonymous friend).


If you recall, Mitchell was the idiot who used dodgy referees and probably picture editing to scam a number of records on the Twin Galaxies leaderboards -- some of which were PROVEN impossible.

He got his records reinstated this week by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Mitchell is suing Twin Galaxies and YouTuber Apollo Legend that he got his "records" on Donkey Kong on a MAME emulator rather than a full legit Donkey Kong machine.

It appears, according to Pat the NES Punk, that Mitchell also sued Guinness to have his recognition, and Guinness folded their tents.

Someone actually claimed that they could duplicate a lot of what Mitchell did legitimately.

(Which WASN'T the fucking question, Guinness...  Unless you could duplicate the game, at least, on an ACTUAL ARCADE MACHINE, which, of course, the guy never tried to check on to verify Mitchell's scores...)

Which has been VERIFIED as to not be the case!

A Guinness spokesperson has called the claims of Jace Hall and Twin Galaxies in this regard abject lies!

The claim is that you could never put an emulator into an arcade machine to pass the former off as the latter...

Shall I laugh at your absurdity now, Guinness spokesperson, or after I'm done?  You could do any number of things to make it look as such -- all it would take is a decent understanding of how to put what where as far as the controls, and you probably could make a pretty good approximation of a PC computer in there if you could get the controls right!!  (As Pat and Ian speak of later!)

In fact, there is a company which sold, until the coronavirus pandemic shut down the antique store in my town, similar emulation situations in arcade cabinets out of a booth at a local antique store!!

So we mow have probably Mitchell vs. Hall and Legend in a court of law, coming to you if people ever get head out of ass so the lawsuit can be heard.

Day 106

• Disneyland has scrapped a proposed July 17 reopening.
• Latest coronavirus retail bankruptcy:  GNC.
• Add Chuck E. Cheese to the bankruptcy list.
• CNET (through SFGate) is now reporting that the gaming industry is bursting forth with sexual abuse allegations.  Oh what a fucking shock...  I told you the only way to deal with it is to blow it up and reconstruct.     

You're not making gaming safer, Twitch or otherwise, until you blow up the entire concept of being a "gamer" in this culture.  Shut down e-sports in this country, blow up the entire YouTube/Twitch celebrity culture.  Most importantly, ENFORCE "NO!"

A lot of the things I have said for years are coming to pass.  Now it looks like we are seeing sexual abuse at Twitch itself...

• One report on the WWE/NXT/PC positives is now saying the number is upwards of "two dozen". 
• Kayla Braxton (whom, if true, this would be the SECOND TIME she's tested positive, she reports -- she stated a positive test back in March, perhaps this is the one previously reported) and agent and former NWA World Champion Adam Pearce are two names circulating as positive.  But every time a report seems to come up about this on one or more wrestling "sheets", the scope and number of positives seems to increase!
• The Tokyo Game Show has joined the growing list of events moving online.  September 23-27. 
• Latest college sports casualties:  UConn men's swimming/diving, cross-country, women's rowing, and one other sport.
• The Tigers, Dodgers, Mariners, and Red Sox have reported coronavirus positives.  Some have involved players, others are more unclear.
• Major incident in the Brixton District of London Thursday morning.  House party turned into a riot, the police were attacked and 22 were injured. 
• And in the first step to the cancellation of the NFL season, the 2020 Hall of Fame Game has been cancelled.  This had some importance -- this was to celebrate the large Centennial Class. 
• The enshrinement ceremony has also been scrapped.  The Centennial Class (and the matchup) now goes in in 2021.
• Ezekiel Elliott has not yet been cleared for workouts from his positive status for the coronavirus. 
• Provided world sport survives two more years, Australia and New Zealand will co-host the 2023 soccer Women's World Cup. 
• For reasons yet undetermined (but appears NOT to be because of her controversies, but because she has not worked with the company), Impact Wrestling has fired the first major female world champion of one of the higher-level companies, Tessa Blanchard.

Day 105

• The New York City Marathon has formally cancelled for 2020.
• California now has multiple consecutive days of record case amounts.  How's that reopen working for you inconsiderate motherfuckers??     
• Graeme McDowell's caddie has the coronavirus, and McDowell has withdrawn from this week's tournament.
• And the same has now happened to Brooks Koepka's caddy.  Koepka has also withdrawn. 
• Malcolm Brogdon of the Indiana Pacers has tested positive for the coronavirus.
• New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut have reinstituted the 14-day coronavirus quarantine from any area with a high rate of the disease. 
• Tony Khan of AEW has announced a contact of QT Marshall's has tested positive for the coronavirus, so Marshall is off the next couple of weeks of cards while he is being tested at home in Georgia and taking precautions. 
• It appears as if Vince is in a fair spot of trouble now with the coronavirus, as a number of people, including in-ring talent, have tested positive for the coronavirus after the testing from the June 9th positive.  According to at least one "sheet", there have been at least three positives, including an in-ring performer.  Another person with sources claims the number is DOUBLE DIGITS.
• One of the people, though we do not know if she had a connection to these Performance Center positives, but Renee Young has admitted she now has tested positive for the coronavirus...
• ... meaning that her husband, AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, pulled himself off tonight's card (which is supposed to be the lead-in to a major-TV-card title match next week with Brian Cage), probably forcing a rearrangement of the deck chairs as it were.
• The AEW Championship match was originally scheduled for next Wednesday's "Fyter Fest" version of AEW Dynamite -- it has been moved to the second week of "Fyter Fest" the following Wednesday night, pending tests on Moxley.
• Another US independent company has shut down due to pervasive abuse by a number of it's wrestlers and staffers.  CHIKARA has been officially "discontinued" by Mike Quackenbush, who's been accused himself. 
• A player and a staffer for the Marlins have both asymptomatically tested positive for the coronavirus. 
• As of the evening before first tee-off, now SEVEN golfers have pulled out of the Travelers Championship this weekend, five due to coronavirus concerns:  McDowell and Koepka because of positive tests for their caddies,  Cameron Champ has tested positive, Chase Koepka because of abundance of caution with his older brother's caddie testing positive, Webb Simpson due to more generalized caution, and Steve Stricker and Nate Lashley for undisclosed reasons.
• Vegas casinos are now requiring masks.  They were optional to this point. 
• Jabari Parker and Alex Len of the Sacramento Kings have tested positive for the coronavirus.  The Kings are in the window to play in Orlando -- 3 1/2 games out of 8th.

Day 104

• The 60-game season for MLB has been finalized.

1. All play will be geographic to limit travel.
2. Full prorated salaries.
3. 10 team playoff for now.
4. Universal DH
5. And they're going with the runner at second for extra innings.  FUCK.
6. Teams can have 60 players, and a three-player taxi squad, one of the three must be a catcher. 
7. And, for those on Twitch, the Botball season will continue.  Not sure how many games will get covered once the season starts.

• Avery Bradley of the Lakers will not play in the NBA restart.
• Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets has tested positive for the coronavirus in his home country. 
• As has Novak Djokovic, one of tennis' Big Three. 
• Accusations in the #SpeakingOut situation have been levied against Jerry Lawler (by a 14 year old), Scott Levy/Raven (fellow wrestler), and the late Mean Gene Okerlund, among others, as I'm still looking through.
• AEW has more problems:  Prominent in the card Darby Allin now has an allegation against him. 
• AEW's "The Elite":  Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, etc. have begun the process of scrubbing sexual predator Joey Ryan out of their wildly-popular Being the Elite archive, they announced today. 
• Marty Scurll, in a statement, said he believes the incident he is being accused of (16 year old in the UK, he says it was age of consent) was consensual, but he understands why she spoke out, given the reports in the UK wrestling community.  We'll see what happens to him, not only in BTE, but that he's Ring of Honor's booker and the #1 contender for the NWA World Championship.
• Olbermann: 

#Thurbercast No. 69 with the new EFF Jackie Robinson jacket, the 1983 glasses, the bad news about baseball’s doomed “re-start”, plus two Thurber storieee: “A Couple Of Hamburgers” and “Snapshot Of A Dog”https://t.co/0dGTU1r17V

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 24, 2020

• Three Colorado Rockies have been reported as tested positive for the coronavirus.  You sure a 60-man roster is going to be ENOUGH?   
• The list of potential hub cities for the NHL playoffs is down to six:  Vegas, Chicago, LA, Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver.  Two of the three Canadian cities, please -- so you have enough rinks to deal with.    

FBI: You gotta be beepin' me!!

The FBI has concluded Bubba Wallace was not the victim of a hate crime, that the noose was there since October AND was a small garage-door rope made into one.

OH FUCKING REALLY!!!!

Well, in that case:

• Was it mere coincidence, a 40-to-1 shot, that Wallace drew THAT garage?
• No one, in cleaning and preparing Talladega post-COVID shutdown, could see that and take care of it?
• And who did that back in October, and WHY??

So even if I believe your story, FBI (which I DON'T)...

You're lying.  Now tell us the fucking truth.

#SpeakingOut: The Scorecard So Far

The continuing number of abuse allegations against major wrestlers in promotions across the world has meant the following in the American scene so far (and by NO MEANS is this an exhaustive list -- and the Cornettes have their lawyers on the case, and probably aren't involved with any promotion, having been canceled from pretty much all of them already!):

• WWE:  Jack Gallgher fired.
• WWE:  Nothing yet on Matt Riddle.  They apparently are aware of the past incident, were when they hired him...
• NXT:  Nor on Patrick Clark, the Velveteen Dream.
• NXT UK:  ... nor on any of the number of other wrestlers accused last week.  Though Jordan Devlin and Travis Banks, two of the NXT UK talents accused, have both been suspended by their home promotion PROGRESS.
• AEW:   Sent Jimmy Havoc to rehab.
• AEW:   Suspended Sammy Guevara indefinitely for stating he wanted to rape Sasha Banks 4 1/2 years ago.  The two have spoken, she has accepted his apology and wants this a lesson to heal in the current situation.  He will be re-evaluated after the dreaded "sensitivity training".
• Impact Wrestling:  Joey Ryan fired.
• Impact Wrestling:  Dave Crist fired, both for allegations of abuse of multiple women.
• Impact Wrestling:  Michael Elgin is back in the doghouse for more allegations, but he's only been suspended at this time.  Elgin probably could have Patient Zero for the American scene, going back to his time in New Japan.
• Bar Wrestling:  Closing.
• NWA:  Fired Dave Lagana and terminated all programming.  Now all talent is released from their contracts until the NWA can hold shows with fans again -- they're thinking early next year on that one.
• Major League Wrestling:  Mark Adam Haggerty, a ring announcer, fired for inappropriate texts with a minor.
• British Wrestling company PROGRESS is pretty much having to shut down and reboot, as the better amount of it's power structure is neck-deep in allegations.
• Patient Zero for the #SpeakingOut movement was accusations against David Starr -- and most of the companies he has worked for have severed ties.
• A massive ongoing police investigation is in progress.

Stay tuned.

Day 103

• AEW's Sammy Guevara may be without a job soon -- tweets of him making pro-rape advances toward WWE's Sasha Banks when he was far younger have surfaced in the #SpeakingOut movement.
• UPDATE 5 PM:  Suspended indefinitely without pay, admits the comments.  Major decision, Guevara was one of the young guns in the biggest heel faction in AEW. 
• Banks went out of character to address the wrestling community that she and Guevara had a conversation, she condemned the comments, he apologized.
• But we're still waiting to see if the WWE wants to continue to paper over (because they knew already!) the allegations against Matt Riddle.
• Condemnation of the Bubba Wallace noose has been swift and severe, but no word as to whom within the NASCAR bubble did the deed.
• There are, however, a number of conservative protesters with "Defund NASCAR" banners, against the banning of the Confederate Flag.  I'd chortle if it were any funnier.     
• Before today's race, the entire NASCAR community (drivers, teams, pit crews -- including Richard Petty, his car owner (love to see the bigots and racists process that one!)) stood together on pit road in solidarity with Wallace.  During the display, his car was symbolicly pushed to the front of the field by NASCAR's community.  Later in the race, Wallace actually led with less than 30 laps to go.  He finished 14th, Ryan Blaney won.
• Someone was not impressed with English football's acquiesence to Black Lives Matter -- flying a White Lives Matter banner above today's game in Burnley -- which Manchester City won 6-0.  All relevant parties have condemned the move.
• MLBPA has rejected the 60-game offer from Manfred and the owners.  Any 2020 season at all will be imposed.
• MLB SEASON IS IMPOSED:  60 games, July 24th Opening Day, March agreement on salaries, etc.
• The NWSL tournament will be minus at least one team -- Orlando will not be making the trip, with 10 positive coronavirus tests on the roster.  More and more looking like team sports will be destroyed by the time this is all over.     
• The first defection in the NBA:  Portland's Trevor Ariza will not play the rest of the season -- opting to spend the time with his son instead.
• At least three WNBA players have joined them. 
• At least one team is out of the winner-take-all Basketball Tournament because of a positive test of one of a team of West Virginia University alumni.
• The PGA Championship is a go for August 6-9 in San Francisco, fanless.

Day 102

• Sleep schedule's been turned around -- but all hail English soccer and the Korean baseball.
• Word coming out is, because of Canadian restrictions, the Toronto Blue Jays may have to go down to Tampa and play their home games at Tropicana Field.
• The #SpeakingOut scandal continues -- really appears as if the master of the YouPorn Plex is done.  Joey Ryan has a number of allegations against him.
• Chris Jericho is continuing his Saturday Night Special series -- here's #11, a Q&A -- or, as the Canadian puts it, a Q and Eh: 

• AND HERE WE GO IN NASCAR:  Bubba Wallace, the series only Black driver, has found a noose in his garage at the Talladega race.  Given the restricted nature of access to the tracks, that is especially disturbing!  Weather washed out the race Sunday. They'll try again Monday.
• Olbermann: 

This evening’s #Thurbercast No. 68: his fable “The Mouse And The Money” followed by the amazing story of his great grandfather - the one who met Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and both Adamses, in “Time Exposure.”https://t.co/cuRL87mWVT

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 22, 2020

• At least one American independent wrestling promotion is finished due to #SpeakingOut.  Joey Ryan's Bar Wrestling is shutting down.
• And one of the larger UK organizations, PROGRESS, is undergoing a serious re-staff, if not an outright closure as well.
• The 2020 ESPYs were held virtually on Sunday night. 

1. Nelson Cruz won the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award
2. The LA Dodgers won it's team counterpart.
3. The "Can't Stop Watching" Moment went to another one of those "manager gets on the court for Senior Night" moments -- Thomas Lee, nicknamed "Snacks" for his girth, drilled a 3-pointer from Steph Curry range for the honors.
4. Kevin Love won the Arthur Ashe Award For Courage for his mental-health advocacy efforts.
5. The Jimmy V Award was awarded to Taquarius Wair, a small Indian college running back, burned over most of his body quite badly at the age of four, but came back to play football in the small college.
6. They created a Pat Tillman Service Award for the former NFL player fragged by "friendly fire" in the military.  This year's honoree:  Kim Clavel, a female NABF champion boxer who put her career on hold to be a frontline medical worker against the coronavirus.
7. The Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award was given to the WNBA and it's Players Association.

Normally, the ESPYs give out awards for achievement on the field in sports, both individual sports and collective awards for athletes of the year.  No such awards were given in this year's edition, largely due to the COVID-19 shutdowns and the desire for ESPN and Disney to honor the above.

Day 101

• In a move which should end any talk of a 2020 season, all MLB spring-training facilities will be shut down, according to reports tonight.
• Latest news indicates that Patrick Clark, probably the #1 or #2 NXT prospect, is about to be fired for pedophilia, as a second report has surfaced tonight, this one with him in a text relationship with a 15 year-old.  Clark, who wrestles/wrestled as the Velveteen Dream, got two NXT title shots on television (losing them both) while having the first case over his head. 
• The MLBPA has halted a vote on the last owners' offer due to the new outbreaks.
• Favorite Tiz The Law won a shortened Belmont Stakes today.
• Reports now have a large number of LSU players isolated, no confirmation as to any positives.
• Max Roshkopf's corner is in trouble with the NSAC for refusing to stop a fight in which Roshkopf was getting beaten badly.
• Olbermann: 

#Thurbercast No. 67 tonight features “Six For The Road” and a series of fables including the superb “The Peacelike Mongoose.”https://t.co/tMobqHSKyg

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 21, 2020

• NBA schedules draft for October 16 and the start of free agency for October 18.
• Philadelphia's Dallas Goedert was sucker-punched in a South Dakota bar last night.  He says he's "fine" and home after the attack. 
• Kansas State is the latest school to suspend workouts two weeks after 14 athletes tested positive for the coronavirus. 
• The NFLPA has advised all players to work out individually...

100 Days of this now...

Today is 100 days since the cancellation of March Madness and the suspension of the major sports leagues.

I'd like to say, til about a week ago, I was far more optimistic than I am now.

Now I do have to wonder if we are well and truly fucked.  Many of the states opening up in the last several weeks have witnessed spikes, including much of the warmer Southern states, indicating summer heat does NOT stop this thing.

And we're knee deep in riots and serious unrest.  And, don't look now...  Donald Trump has a major rally tomorrow night in Tulsa, OK...

• To follow up on the #SpeakingOut article:  Jim Cornette's lawyer has all but announced on Twitter the Cornettes are suing their accuser.
• POSSIBLE RETRACTION:  His lawyer reached out to me today on Facebook and said "Not so fast", that they are looking into it.  I then replied, in all due respect, that his statement does seem to indicate they're going to sue the accusers.
• An assistant coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has tested positive for the coronavirus.  Keep thinking we have a football season this year, Football Nation America...    
• Mark Cuban will gladly join his players should they choose to take a knee during the Anthem.
• The 13 Texas football positives were learned within 10 days of being allowed to return to workouts.  Ten more are being isolated.
• The NHL will have no restrictions on their coaches (probably more who can coach, on the basis of risk) if/when the NHL returns.
• Unless some of these names have been cut in the April cuts, I believe we are now up to seven WWE-contracted talents in the #SpeakingOut situation:  Barry "Wolfgang" Young is the newest, accused by his ex-fiancee.
• Interestingly, the Belmont Stakes will be held tomorrow.
• And even more interestingly, for the first time, the Belmont Stakes will take place over only a mile and an eighth -- officials believing the horses are not ready for the traditional mile and a half marathon. 
• Eight people in the Phillies organization, including five players, have tested positive for the coronavirus.
• As has Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs. 
• Dave Lagana has resigned his position with the National Wrestling Alliance, and all further production has been ceased.  Game over, Billy Corgan.     
• Mixed signals from the WWE this taped Smackdown:  WWE has released Jack Gallagher after his accusations -- Matt Riddle, on the other hand, had a big win over United States Champion AJ Styles on his debut aired, however. 
• Olbermann, with the sobering warning that it now appears that any resumption of team sports in 2020 (or, IMODO, 2021) is probably ignorant of the realities of the situation: 

#Thurbercast No. 66 includes the fantastic “The Macbeth Murder Mystery” and “The French Wild West” starring Wild Bird Hickok.

I also explain the rash of NHL, MLB, CFB, and PGA COVID-19 positives today means there will not be team sports this year. https://t.co/cENymAnEav

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 20, 2020

What Olbermann is referring to, in addition to the above:

• The PGA Tour has it's first positive test: Nick Watney was forced to withdraw after testing positive at this week's event.
• Three Four MLB camps have closed -- the Phillies (five players and three staffers positive), Blue Jays (player symptomatic), and Giants (two outside people at the camp symptomatic) -- this with knowledge MLB will NOT counter or play more than 60 games this season.  EDIT TO ADD:  The Rangers also closed theirs, but no positives were recorded.
• As has the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL (three players and some staff positive).
• 23 members of the national champion Clemson college football team have tested positive for the virus.

People better start getting real with the possibility sports NEVER comes back in any form approximating that which you knew it.

Boy, this has NOT been a good week for professional wrestling, and it may well be time for at least a temporary shutdown...

And the hits just keep on coming...

Today, an explosive exposition of negative treatment toward female wrestlers (both in the industry and trying to break in) by many wrestlers (including world champions such as Tessa Blanchard) have broken into social media on the basis of the #SpeakingOut hashtag.

I'm not going to delineate everything, as this SquaredCircle Reddit megathread can do a better job than I can of at least SOME of the allegations involved.

But here's a small list of some of the allegations involving names you may or may not have heard of:

• Jim Cornette is back on the Shit List again (not like he fucking cares, but there you go!).  This one comes from a wrestler trying to break into the business during Cornette's time with Ohio Valley Wrestling.  The wrestler alleges pretty much anyone not coming to OVW under a WWE contract had to perform sex acts on his girlfriend Stacey (often with him watching!), and anyone refusing was not going to be able to wrestle in that part of the country at all -- and, on top of that, very realistically could be assaulted in the dark of night with no one knowing or caring.  I'm not really sure what could be done with Cornette, short of offing the guy, that's really going to DO anything at this juncture.  Outside his Arcadian Vanguard podcast series and his "Cult of Cornette", he has pretty much been cancelled from every major wrestling promotion there is left -- often at his own hand (which see his NWA incident from NWA Powerrr).
• Liz Savage has accused prominent pro wrestling reporter and podcaster Dave Lagana of sexual assault.  Lagana is also Executive Producer of Billy Corgan's NWA reboot.  Corgan just can't buy a fucking break -- or is it that there is so much slime out there that you CAN'T avoid it, and, hence, Corgan has thrown a lot of "good money after bad" here?     
• It is believed, in the book "Ring of Hell", that Lagana was fired from an influential position in WWE in 2008 because he was doing many of the same things (as well as more direct leveraging of power for sex for advancement -- both genders!) in the WWE, and that "Human resources was compiling a strong case against Lagana when they received numerous complaints from young women who were trying to break into the business". (page 303, thorugh Josef Samael's Twitter)
• Joey Ryan and Ring of Honor booker/NWA main-eventer Marty Scurll are both being accused by a group attempting to expose (and probably end) professional wrestling, ExposeWrestling on Twitter.  Both are being accused of inappropriate conduct toward 16-17 year olds at wrestling parties.  No victims have come forward as of yet.  ... however, at least Ryan, one of the most sexually-controversial figures in wrestling the last five years with YouPorn PenisPlex and the like, would surprise next to no one.  Both are MAJOR independent/RoH/Impact Wrestling-level players.     
• Another prominent player, Jimmy Havoc, is being accused of abuse by his ex-girlfriend.  Havoc is not only a wrestler in Major League Wrestling (probably the top indie out there at this point), but is also in AEW as well.
• Travis Banks of the NXT UK brand has been apparently harassing fellow UK wrestler Millie McKenzie, resulting in her 2019 rejection of an NXT UK contract.
• Jordan Devlin of NXT UK is now under official WWE investigation for allegations of abuse by his ex-girlfriend, including pictures of her with bruises.
• Joe Coffey of NXT UK will probably be similarly investigated, as the same group who talked about Ryan and Scurll also has him in the crosshairs, with pictures.
• ExposeWrestling also has a bead on major NXT UK player Tyler Bate, one of the few over in the UK brand who's crossed over to the United States.
• The WWE has apparently called an emergency high-level management meeting over the allegations.
• At least one accusation appears to indicate that Will Ospreay of New Japan and Bea Priestley of AEW got a British female wrestler blackballed from the sport for accusing a friend of Ospreay's of rape.
• Chasyn Rance, though not in any of THESE accusations, still is in the wrestling business and owns at least one school in Florida, at least a year after his disastrous situation with Kenny Omega.  Rance is a registered sex offender, and has tried to get famous female (some young -- I'm looking at you, Izzy!!) to be in his school. 
• There is at least one party who appears to be accusing former TNA World Champion Ken Anderson/Mr. Kennedy/Mr. Anderson.
• And one accusing Lanny Poffo of sexually going after her and 3-4 other women at a 2020 indie show.
• It appears as if a significant portion of the entire British professional wrestling scene (one of the great untapped markets in pro wrestling) has been accused over the last few days.  A list circulating seems to indicate at least 50 talents have been accused at one time or another, most in the British scene.
• And the worst news may still be to come:  There are more names planned to come out tomorrow.  This is just 12 hours of it today.
• And doesn't account for people who have already been accused of abuse like Impact World Champion Tessa Blanchard, Michael Elgin, Enzo, Sexy Star, Teddy Hart, and others.
• EDIT TO ADD:  205 Live cruiserweight WWE talent Gentleman Jack Gallagher has been accused. 
• Recently-promoted to Smackdown wrestler Matt Riddle (who's had public beefs with both Goldberg and Brock Lesnar) is being accused by an ex-girlfriend of a 2018 sexual assault.  Not known whether this was rumored to be in his last days in the indies or his first in NXT.  Riddle was in line for some degree of initial Smackdown push.  That will definitely draw an investigation now.  
• Numerous UK promoters are being alleged as well. 

I think we are well in line, at this point, that there could be a forced shutdown of what professional wrestling is left worldwide at this point.

I've been a pro wrestling fan for 40+ years now.  I go back to Verne Gagne and the AWA and "All-Star Wrestling" Sunday mornings at 11 AM on independent channel 9 in the Twin Cities (back at the time).

None of this surprises me.  Absolute... zero.

I'm not saying all the allegations are true, I'm not saying all the accused are guilty.  (Their inclusion on this list only indicates they are accused, most at some point through the #SpeakingOut situation Thursday).

But if you have paid one REMOTE OUNCE of attention to the professional wrestling scene, especially at lower levels, you know sex for power for advancement (including pedophilia, which see Rance) has been a common thread of professional wrestling for DECADES.

And that also attends to the fans as well -- the "ring rats" which wrestlers would often use for sexual favors from town to city to territory to territory.

I guess I've always thought of that girl from Florida:  Izzy, Isabel Silyagi, now 13.  Working her butt off to chase the dream of being a professional wrestler in the WWE.  I do have to wonder, though, when (NOT IF) she's going to be abused by one of these types.

Stay tuned.  I sense this is going to get ugly.  Not just for an individual talent situation -- but if even a small portion of the NXT UK accusations prove out, would that be enough for a permanent cessation of the NXT UK brand?

I think we are at the point, however, that a full suspension of professional wrestling worldwide would not be out of order at this point.

And there's a very real chance junior hockey in Canada is about to die...

In what has to be the least-surprising thought which should've crossed sports fans' minds a long time ago, The Hockey News has reported today that a lawsuit has been filed against four major Canadian junior hockey leagues, stating systemic bullying and hazing takes place throughout the leagues.

Among the allegations, the Ken Campbell report states the plaintiffs allege:

• Forced masturbation
• Sexual assault and rape
• Sexual humilation, including the ingestion of bodily waste
• Racial and homophobic slurs 
• Orders to fight other players during practice on the ice
• Consumption of large amounts of alcohol and illegal drugs...

And this being junior hockey, the victims were between 15 and 17 years old.

Anyone who has followed along with football in this country should not be surprised by any of this.  It's the same fucking dehumanization techniques used to turn boys into football monsters.

Maybe it'd be better if sports DIDN'T come back...

Day 99

• Mike Gundy is probably on his way out at Oklahoma State.  They're dredging up older stuff, including a racial slur thrown at a player in 1989.  So why wasn't he out THEN???     
• MLBPA has countered with a 70-game counterproposal, after the talks yesterday.
• Josh Gordon has applied for reinstatement.
• The Southeastern Conference has pulled all championship events from the state of Mississippi until they change their state flag.  ... and nothing of real consequence is lost here.    
• Olbermann: 

#Thurbercast No. 65 from this evening: his fable “The Princess And The Tin Box” and his tribute to the humorist all other humorists believed was the 20th Century’s best: “The Incomparable Mr. Benchley.”https://t.co/XvlAMD0xdK

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 19, 2020

• Manfred has rejected the above-mentioned plan. He has no intention to play the season.  
• Dr. Fauci has, rightly, begun to sound the alarm of no NFL nor college football this year.
• This is on the heels of reports that 13 University of Texas players have tested positive for the coronavirus.
  

Day 98

• The WWE has now cancelled all tapings until the completion of the coronavirus testing necessitated by the positive at the Performance Center announced on Sunday.  No word on what that means for Friday's Smackdown.  Smackdown was taped last week.  Tapings have resumed at a trickle, but the taping of Smackdown for next week, which was scheduled for today, has been shelved.
• World 100-meter champion Christian Coleman was banned yesterday by the Athletics Integrity Unit.  He didn't fail a drug test, but he's missed at least three.  That's, by rule, a drug-test fail, and a hearing will determine the length of the suspension, which could (and SHOULD!) disqualify Coleman from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.  This is, in fact, the FOURTH such failure, apparently -- this is the second time he's run afoul of the missed tests.
• That is, of course, if the 2021 Games are held at all.  At least one Japanese organizer has already begun the process of exploring another delay.  IOC President Thomas Bach has said the Tokyo Games will be outright cancelled if the coronavirus would force another delay.
• The 100-page NBA guidelines for the Orlando "bubble" have been released.  ESPN has some of the details:

1. A positive test will put that person into an isolation-housing unit.  A second test will be made to confirm the first.  If the two disagree, a third test within two days will determine whether the player stays in isolation or returns to action.
2. A person testing positive will not be required to otherwise quarantine once getting two negative tests at least two days apart, but will be down for two weeks and then given a cardiac screening before being cleared for action. 
3. The deadline for players to agree to play is one week from today, June 24th.
4. Everyone (37 people per one of the 22 teams) will have to be quarantined for two weeks before camps can start.  Everyone entering the bubble will be extensively tested.
5. The document also goes over amenities and sites and what the players can expect.

• Governor of the state of Ohio has said the Hall of Fame Game, if it takes place, will have to be fanless.  Scheduled for August 6th. 
• Nick Kygrios has all but ruled out the US Open, if it takes place.  He not only calls the USTA possibly selfish for trying, but joked he would have to show up in the US in a hazmat suit. 
• But Governor Cuomo of New York says the tournament can go on, fanless.  Scheduled to start August 31st. 
• Two of the larger gaming conventions, PAX and GenCon, have announced online alternatives for 2020. 
• It does look like MLB has at least proposed a 60 game schedule -- 60 games in 70 days, starting in mid-July.  We'll see where THIS goes.   Reports indicate that it would involve this year and next being universal DH and a 16-team playoff.
• The English Premier League returned today.  Another promising sign overseas. 
• Standard Wednesday night off for Olbermann.

Day 97

• A WWE taping scheduled for tonight has been called off due to the Performance Center positive test and all talent currently near it being tested.
• In more bad news for the WWE, a "former wrestler" who performed at the ill-fated 2019 Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia has confirmed the worst, according to a filing in a lawsuit filed by a stockholder in WWE against the company, charging inflation of the value of the company. 

According to the Going in RAW podcast through Wrestlenomics, the wrestler was one who was in company from 2012 until released in April's pandemic cuts.

It is largely believed the wrestler is Rusev, one of several vocal wrestlers during the ordeal, however he joined WWE in 2010!   One commenter on Cageside Seats believes it could be Dax Hartwood of AEW's FTR, the former Scott Dawson of The Revival.

The former wrestler notes that a talent relations person held with him knew EVERYTHING of the dispute as it was reported (money dispute before the card going back to a 2018 Saudi card, Saudi feed was cut as a result, MbS got pissed), and armed guards swarmed around the plane in black uniforms.

AND the claim that talent could opt out of the Saudi cards without consequence was also debunked, as the wrestler also said a number of fellow complainers were told their pushes could be aborted as a result.

• The NBA has given a deadline of this weekend for the players to agree to start heading to Florida.  A players' coalition has outlined concerns of a number of players surrounding the Orlando "bubble". 
• The two NHL hub cities for the playoffs have still not been determined.  Prime Minister Trudeau has said Canada IS open for at least one of the sites.
• Dr. Anthony Fauci has actually stated that MLB should NOT play in October.
• Olbermann gave that news item, and his nightly Thurbercast as well:

#Thurbercast No. 65 in which James Thurber meets...The Loch Ness Monster? “There’s Something Out There.”https://t.co/7vprXr7aFE

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 17, 2020

Day 96

• BREAKING NEWS IN THE LAST TWO HOURS:  (Posted 9:15 PM PDT)  A militia member in New Mexico has shot a protester in Albuquerque -- the protest was trying to take down the statue of Conquistador Juan de Onate. 
• Three NYPD officers were poisoned today at a New York City Shake Shack with bleach placed in their drinks by people working there.  CUT THIS FUCKING SHIT OUT NOW OR THIS FUCKING GOES FREEFIRE!!!!
• It's only a matter of when Wile E. Coyote looks down now in MLB:  Manfred is ordering, as a condition of any season at all, the players to waive all legal claims.  Ladies and gentlemen, we have a LOCKOUT!     
• Chuba Hubbard, an Oklahoma State running back, is threatening to boycott after his head coach, Mike Gundy, wore a T-shirt at some recent point advertising hard right Trumpie television network OAN. 
• A letter from MLB has announced that "several" players are staff have tested positive for the coronavirus. 
• As have a number of Houston Texans and Dallas Cowboys, including Ezekiel Elliott.  Elliott DID, however, have some very real questions (and probable legal recourse under HIPAA) as to who gave out the information.  All apparent positives are feeling well at this time, however.
• Sources are saying UEFA has picked Lisbon, Portugal, as the "bubble" site for the UEFA Champions' League completion.
• Olbermann: 

https://t.co/oQow65hFaA

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 16, 2020

• UH OH!!!  WWE Performance Center has a coronavirus positive -- last on-site June 9th.  Everybody's being tested, no further symptoms, but there's at least another week to worry about in most cases. 
• WNBA Players Union approves a 22-game regular season and playoff schedule -- IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL is now, as of tonight, the confirmed site for their "bubble". 
• Highlights of the Sportscenter Return To Sports Special, hosted (very ably and well) by Mike Greenberg: 

1. To no one's surprise, it started with Manfred and a very pessimistic view of the events of the last few days.  Manfred said the players intended to file an immediate grievance at the imposition of a schedule for an extra billion dollars.
2. Manfred still will try to talk to the MLBPA in the next few days.  Last real talks were June 7 in person, in writing since.
3. Manfred puts it all on the Players' Union...  "Not confident" on a continuance of the season.
4. The MLBPA:  "This has always been about extracting additional pay cuts from players and this is just another day and another bad-faith tactic in their ongoing campaign."  They, unlike Manfred, do not believe the creation of protocols are an issue.
5. Jeff Passan believes this is heading 1994 directions.  He believes the interview Mike Greenberg held with Manfred did the sport no favors.
6. Next was the NHL.  Gary Bettman is together with the Players Association to follow health officials and their protocols, through extensive testing in the announced as two hub cities.
7. Concerns are both with respect to COVID-19 and the players being rusty.
8. If a positive test occurs in the NHL, the single person will be isolated.  A major outbreak will change everything, obviously. 
9. Four rounds, best of 7, after the play-in round.  Really wants to try to keep the Stanley Cup of this season on level with the rest of the champions.
10. Patrick Kane was then interviewed for the players' perspective.  Talked the no-fans environment, getting used to skating again, etc.
11. The MLS was next on the list with it's MLS Is Back tournament.
12. MLS Commissioner Don Garber says there will be additional cameras at the Orlando tournament to aid in the fan experience from home on ESPN.
13. Alejandro Bedoya of the Philadelphia Union was brought on to give the players' side of THAT equation.
14. Then the NWSL, who announced their own professional women's tournament in two sites in Utah starting June 27 and going a month, with all nine teams in the league involved in a 25-game tournament.  I would assume double-round robin in three groups of three, with one team being dropped and the other eight going knockout.
15. NBA was next on the docket, with an explanation of their Return To Play, as has previously been announced.  Adam Silver was then interviewed, starting with the March decision to suspend everything.
16. Some discussion on concerns (both health/safety and social justice) was discussed.
17. Also a situation regarding the turnaround to whatever 2020-21 season exists was also talked about.
18. The players' discussion was taken up with Damian Lillard of the Trail Blazers.
19. Lillard's participation in a Portland rally allowed the show to pivot to the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor protests and the rioting, etc. which has followed.
20. The WNBA's Brianna Turner was interviewed about the protests.  Turner had two Black police officers as parents -- who both denounce the brutality some of their cohorts are guilty of.
21. Matt Ryan of the Falcons was then interviewed about the protests in Atlanta.
22. The WNBA plan was then announced, confirming it will be at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL.
23. The League Humanitarian Leadership Award, a new Sports Humanitarian Award, was awarded to the NFL...  (awaiting punch line)  For their "Huddle for 100" campaign, getting 1,000,000 NFL fans to give back to their community through community service.  (Oh.  Never mind.  Carry on.)  The goal was a cumulative 100,000,000 minutes of community service.
24. The total:  Over 397,000,000 minutes.  That's over 200,000 days, almost 300,000.
25. Dovetailed into a significant conversation with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on both pandemic and social unrest subjects which went over 10 minutes.
26. The players' perspective (on both fronts) was discussed with Jacksonville's Calais Campbell, including a discussion on Colin Kaepernick (and I can tell you I've seen his jersey at a number of these protests, including locally to myself)
27. The show concluded with a discussion on fan safety.  I really can't see it until at least 2022 now.  You're already seeing spikes in case numbers wherever people are congregating (including Newsweek today reporting on cases from the Houston George Floyd protests.)  Dr. Jennifer Ashton, a senior ABC chief medical correspondent for several ABC programs, took the honors for this interview.
28. Greenberg concluded with the words of Nelson Mandela:  "Sports have the power to change the world."  (Not only is Greenberg right to bring it to the present day, but Mandela would know first-hand from the South Africans winning rugby's World Cup on home soil in 1995.  That was the first allowed major world sport event after the country's blackballing due to apartheid.  He presented the trophy to the South African champions.)

So when does the counting stop? The Current Reality, end of June 14th edition.

• UFC:  Been going about a month now.  Minimal, if any, problems.  UFC 251 in Abu Dhabi at the new "Fight Island", featuring 3 title bouts, July 11.  Weekly Fight Nights to lead up.
• Boxing:  Two major Top Rank ESPN cards last week welcomed that back.  Seven more cards, five fanless in Vegas, lined up to help the restart this month.
• PGA:  First tournament back this weekend.  Secondary Korn Ferry Tour also began this weekend, Seattle's Luke List won by one stroke.
• Aussie Rules:  Restarted this weekend, as did the Aus/NZ Super League of Rugby.  20,000 saw a match in New Zealand, a country with no cases in three weeks. 
• Wrestling:  Still no plans to return to large-scale fan cards yet -- New Japan starts up again tonight and will have a rescheduled (and domestic-talent revamped) New Japan Cup starting this week.  Plan is to start at 1/3 capacity for the finals of that tournament and the Dominion card in Osaka in about four weeks.
• NFL:  Still planning to start on schedule.  There is quite pessimism on that end, though.
• NHL:  Training camps to open July 10, pending an agreement to actually return to play for the playoffs in August.  One Phoenix Coyotes staffer has tested positive for the coronavirus.
• NBA:  Players beginning returns to home markets -- trip to Orlando bubble July 7, first games July 30 of the last eight games of the season for the 22 relevant teams.
• MLS:  Draw for the MLS Is Back Tournament held this weekend.  Teams head to THEIR Orlando bubble June 24, group stage begins July 8 -- group stage counts in the season standings.
• MLB:  Who knows?  If there's a season, it will be Commissioner-imposed.  I found out the players CANNOT strike due to the current CBA.  I do, however, think a lockout is very possible, and is my current prediction.     

Day 95: Speaking of steroid eras...

• Almost ironic, given the "30 For 30" premiere on McGwire and Sosa, but, thanks to my anonymous friend, I am now aware of a probable burgeoning steroid/HGH controversy in the PGA Tour.

Bryson DeChambeau, we need a talk.

Because THIS is what a UK paper was able to pull out between what you looked like before the shutdown and what you look like now!!!



Bryson, we need a drug test.  That looks like about 40-50 pounds of that you put something in you the PGA Tour is not going to like.

And now you're hitting the ball so far that Colim Montgomerie believes that, unless a new distance-restriction ball is made available to pros and they must use it, many pro courses will be obsoleted soon!!!

Daniel Berger won the Charles Schwab Challenge, playoff win over Collim Morikawa.  DeChambeau finished one shot back, four-way tie for third.

• In an apparent retaliatory to Bubba Wallace's Black Lives Matter car, Kyle Weatherman took a "Back The Blue" car to Homestead for at least one of the two Xfinity races this weekend.
• To which it didn't take long for same anonymous friend to find that Weatherman apparently stole the trailer and equipment from Jennifer Jo Cobb, including five Xfinity cars and two NASCAR Truck Series vehicles.  Whassamatter, White Boy??  Didn't like gurlz in your racing?   
• Olbermann: 

#Thurbercast No. 63 - Thurber’s loving story of his clearly crazy grandfather, “Man With A Rose” - begins with a man with a Rose (the dog). https://t.co/thTYvIMSWN

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 15, 2020

Day 94

• Last night's Olbermann:

#Thurbercast No. 61 featured the inconvenient fact that we are pretending there’s no more COVID-19, the owners’ moves towards killing baseball, and his story “Back To Grades” (actually a recurring nightmare if mine) and “How To Write An Autobiography.”https://t.co/UZ67FoOCD2

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 13, 2020

• In preparation for the 30 For 30 on his and Sosa's record chase, Mark McGwire was asked if he could've broken the record clean.  He was sure he could.  Fucking bullshit...  Fucking bullshit... 
• Turner has signed a new billion-dollar deal with MLB to continue to broadcast the playoffs.  If there's an MLB at all by the point this is done.    
• Huge riot in London today.  Atlanta looks as another possible hotspot.
• On Monday, ESPN will hold a two-hour roundtable at 9-11 PM Eastern with the commissioners of the major sports in the country regarding their return.
• A judge in New York City has ruled that the Yankees must release to The Athletic a minimally-redacted letter about a 2017 investigation into sign-stealing by their organization.  The publication believes they've been reporting the Yankees being involved in sign-stealing since 2015, but 2017 is when MLB cracked down on the electronics being used.  Please, just cancel this fucking season and try to save the next one.     
• Aussie Rules returns tonight.
• Well, the NFL can now move to end Antonio Brown's career:  After pleading no-contest to a January battery and burglary incident, he got two years probation, 100 hours community service, a psych evaluation, and 13 weeks of anger management.  If that had been any "normal" person, much less any normal Black person, that's a decade or so in the slammer!     
• NBA players are not only looking into raising money for Black Lives Matter through their restart, but young players are looking to the league to back insurance policies to ensure their livelihoods.
• Napoli drew Inter 1-1 today in the Coppa Italia to face Juventus in the final before Serie A relaunches next week (2-1 aggregate).
• Australian and New Zealand rugby has also relaunched.  The virus is minimal in NZ, and 20,000 were drawn to a match today in NZ. 
• And here we go to the brink in MLB:   Jeff Passan has reported that not only has the MLBPA rejected the owners' latest offer, but that they will not counter it, want to know how long the imposed season will be, and when they are expected to report.  Season cancellation/strike in 3...  2...  1...     
• Olbermann:

Tonight’s #Thurbercast No. 62 consisted of his admission of Writer Self-Loathing: “The Porcupines In The Artichokes” and it’s features my self-fulfilling prophesy that the standing light would blow over in the gusty windhttps://t.co/m8BRfqgob6

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 14, 2020

Day 93

• Ugly scenes in the main event of last night's "Boxing is Back" second Top Rank on ESPN card.  Prospect Jessie Magdalena won a disqualification victory over Yenifel Vicente.

1. Magdalena knocked Vicente down in the first round.
2. Vicente then was knocked two points (and I think should've been straight DQ'ed right here!) in the fourth round when he low blowed Magdalena and then knocked him down.
3. He was docked ANOTHER point in the fourth for another low blow.  Usually, three points deducted is a fairly automatic disqualification.
4. Vicente was knocked down again in the fifth. 
5. Most people thought Vicente might've won one round, the ninth.  So he's starting something like 89-77.
6. According to BoxRec, however, two of the three ringside judges had the fight 6 rounds to 3 for Magdalena, meaning 87-79 with all the fouls and knockdowns.  One judge, incredulously, had it only 85-81, meaning that he actually had, save the fouls and knockdowns, Vicente winning the fight!
7. One low blow gets a FOURTH point taken in the tenth, another FINALLY FINISHES IT -- disqualification.

• Referee Robert Byrd needs to be suspended.  Vicente needs to be banned.  Most of this was blatant and intentional.  If the fight even continues after the initial incident in the fourth, that's a three-point foul right there and the DQ comes in the fourth after he fouls again. 
• This afternoon, the Nevada State Athletic Commission opened an official investigation into Vicente's conduct.
• Latest MLB owners' proposal: 

The #MLBPA receives formal proposal from #MLB on 72-game season starting July 14, with 80% guarantee of their prorated salaries with a postseason, 70% with no postseason. Deadline is Sunday for 72-game schedule. Also, 29-man rosters for the first month. Players also have opt-out.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 12, 2020

• University of Houston has kiboshed voluntary college-sports workouts after six positive tests.  Houston is flaring up in cases so badly, locking down again is being considered.
• ESPN did a confidential survey of 73 college football players to see how comfortable they were about having a season this year, etc.  Almost all were comfortable trying to play this year without a vaccine, and if the school was closed to the general student body.  Playing in empty stadiums has support of over 80% of them.
• One of the things the survey is split on is the concept of playing two distinct seasons in one calendar year (purportedly, 2021).
• Players, on average, think they need about six weeks to get ready.
• The Coppa Italia marks the return of soccer to Italy after three months.  Semifinal second-legs this weekend, finals mid-week next week, Serie A resumes the season in a week.  Juventus advanced to the finals after a scoreless draw today on away goals, after a 1-1 draw with AC Milan before the stoppage.  Napoli is 1-0 and an away goal up on Inter in the other semifinal, second-leg to be played tomorrow.

Day 92

• The Basketball Tournament, the winner-take-all millionaire tournament (this year, the prize goes back to $1,000,000), has announced it's plans to play.  24 teams, Columbus, OH, ESPN will air it live as the first American basketball television event since the coronavirus suspension, begins July 4th.
• One positive test is the end of a team in the tournament.  Hmmmm....
• The Charles Schwab Challenge has begun, the PGA Tour's return to play.
• About 40-50 players are expressing concerns on the Orlando plans to relaunch the NBA -- nobody, YET, is wanting out of the plan.
• NHL has announced it's restart training camps will open July 10th.
• NBA has moved it's restart up one day to July 30th. 
• Spain resumes it's top soccer league today. 
• The MLS will have a World Cup-style tournament in July to laud it's return (starting July 8) and THEN do a regular season and playoffs.  The group stage of the tournament WILL count in the standings.  The tournament winner gets a spot in the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League.
• No Olbermann tonight.  He decided to watch some Korean baseball, and everything went to heck. 
• Sony held their PS5 reveal video today.  No date or price point yet, but games in the first year include an expanded Grand Theft Auto V, sequels to Resident Evil, Horizon, and other properties, as well as numerous new properties. 
• John Harbaugh of the Ravens put a bit of a damper on the NFL hopes -- saying the NFL plans for the coronavirus are "humanly impossible".  (ESPN) 

Day 91

• In a statement today, NASCAR has banned the use of the Confederate Flag at their events and properties.  That's going to go over like a fart in church...     
• And it's cost them a driver-owner.  Ray Ciccarelli is done with NASCAR after the changes. 
• On the flip side:  When NASCAR does four races in two days in Miami this weekend (two XFinity, one Truck, one Monster Cup), about 1,000 military from a local base will be the first fans allowed at a NASCAR event since the shutdown.
• MLB Draft Round 1 tonight -- ESPN covers it.
• PGA Tour relaunch tomorrow with the Charles Schwab.
• And all parties involved in the Charles Schwab have been announced tested clean for the coronavirus.
• Martin Truex Jr. won the Martinsville race tonight -- Bubba Wallace drove the Black Lives Matter #43 to an 11th place finish.

Ninety days of this now, and the "new reality" looks incrementally more ominous...

• Calls for the NFL to be more open about the blackballing of Colin Kaepernick.  Some people in Seattle actually propose giving him a look.  Interesting thing:  That would give Seattle three Black quarterbacks who've started in the league.     
• Well, we finally know where Fight Island is, and it will host UFC 251...  In the United Arab Emirates...  Oh shit.  I always had the feeling Fight Island was a precursor to that dystopian situation like Thunderdome.     
• Bubba Wallace wants NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag.  
• Some discussion of the 2020-21 NBA season.  The GM of the Atlanta Hawks told ESPN that he sees the season not starting (best case scenario with a second wave) until December 1, which would have some issues arising with the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
• Botball has now decided to throw some donations toward Black Lives Matter.
• And tonight's relaunch of live boxing (fanless) will include another incremental ominousness which has been discussed -- outside crowd noise.  Not FAKE crowd noise, mind you (that has also been discussed), but the use of the Hear Me Cheer app to create a crowd noise during the event.  Oof.     
• One ROTFL moment:  The ring announcer for the ESPN card is at least 30 feet from the ring. 
• The LPGA will, as well, be at least one major short this year:  Evian Championship cancelled.
• Gary Player won a lawsuit over the branding of his name from his son's company.
• PGA and Web.com relaunches will have a George Floyd tribute -- an appropriate tee-time to the incidents will be left unused for a moment of silence, and other things as well. 
• ESPN and Top Rank added an "In Memoriam" ten-bell for many in the boxing community lost during the shutdown...  and the over 400,000 now killed by the coronavirus. 
• Much like the UFC's return, Top Rank is putting on multiple cards in it's comeback.  Another one Thursday. 
• Olbermann: 

#Thurbercast No. 60 this evening with “The Darlings At The Top Of The Stairs” and “The Spreading ‘You Know’” and the events it set in motion in my own life. https://t.co/N336BY3dNV

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 10, 2020

• And it sounds like Seattle is in chaos.  Thousands of protesters have seized the City Hall and are demanding the ouster of the Mayor.  Look out!  Here's the next battle of Civil War II.     

Day 89: One Reality Collides With Another

• The riots may fell the NBA return, as it now appears there is the real possibility, according to MSN, that the prominent Black NBA players may actually sit out the return in protest of police treatment of Blacks, scuttling it.
• At least one boxer is off tomorrow's return Top Rank card for testing positive for the coronavirus.
• At least two of the major top-level men's tennis pros do not believe the US Open can take place this year under the necessary protocols and restrictions.
• Newest MLB proposal has more possible money than the last one, but less guaranteed.  The season, at this point, would be 76 games.  Major League Baseball wants the season done roughly in normal time, but won't be starting until past July 4 now.  Oh God...  What, doubleheaders every day???  Sounds like BotBall may be the only baseball we get this season.     
• And the new offer appears to be DOA, according to at least Karl Ravech: 

The MLBPA regards today’s offer from MLB to be worse than the league’s last because it shifts greater emphasis on risk sharing in the postseason. Players would receive 50 percent of pro rata if there is no postseason, 75 if there is. @karlravechespn first on a new offer coming.

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) June 8, 2020

• Speaking of the MLB: The Show 20 amateur simulation:  BotBall is doing a special minor-league day for a decent part of it's schedule, raising money for the "Adopt a Minor Leaguer" program.  Not that, if the colluding bastards have their way, do I think we'll HAVE minor leagues at this point...     
• Last night's Olbermann:

#Thurbercast No. 59 featured “The Car We Had To Push” and “The Secret Life of Harold Winney” - the Secretary of the founder of The @NewYorker who embezzled $71,000 from his boss. Also some beauty shots and a lot of Ted. https://t.co/xKj6p79mH2

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 8, 2020

• Sony will try again for it's "E3" PS5 launch presentation at 1 PM Thursday, Pacific Time. 
• No Olbermann tonight -- sick dog. 
• The news many pro wrestling fans have waited for.  3 1/2 months after closing for Japan's coronavirus emergency, New Japan Pro Wrestling will return on June 15 for an "NJPW Together" mystery card.  After that, it's a rescheduled 2020 New Japan Cup from June 16 to July 11, the finals at Osaka-Jo Hall.  The cards will be fanless.  The winner probably gets an NJPW World Title shot the next night on July 12 at the annual Dominion event.  All cards will stream live on the NJPW World streaming service (about $9 a month, billed on the first whenever you join).  The New Japan Cup final on the 11th of July and the Dominion card on the 12th will be the first cards with limited fan attendance.

BOMBSHELL: Is Conor serious this time?

After UFC 250, this came across the wire:

Hey guys I’ve decided to retire from fighting.
Thank you all for the amazing memories! What a ride it’s been!
Here is a picture of myself and my mother in Las Vegas post one of my World title wins!
Pick the home of your dreams Mags I love you!
Whatever you desire it’s yours ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Dh4ijsZacZ

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) June 7, 2020

Day 87, starring Olbermann and his dogs...

#Thurbercast No. 58: two of the chapters from “My Life And Hard Times”: “The Night The Bed Fell” and “The Night The Ghost Got In.”https://t.co/Ho0gOALeYb

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 7, 2020

• I could be sitting on something right now which could explode in the next few days or weeks.  It is definitely at the "I Have Good Authority" level, but a lot more could be coming of this very soon.  I'll let you know more when things get a bit more concrete.

Which players do you believe need to speak up, Mr. Goodell??

Today, Roger Goodell found himself, as a lot of people in this country are, doing damage control not to get swept up in the first rounds of the Second American Civil War.

He regretted not being more receptive to the players and resolved to listen to them on issues such as race relations, police abuse, etc.

The problem is simple, Mr. Goodell.  Which players?

You see, one of the reasons we can praise Adam Silver so cleanly for how he handled the Donald Sterling situation is a very stark reality of his league:  Without African-American players, THERE IS NO NBA.

Even with all the international expansion and the like, according to racial expert Richard Lapchick, 74.4% of the 2015 NBA players were Black.  Basically three-quarters of the league is Black.

Similarly, 70% of the NFL players are Black.  This has been the case for a number of years.  So you would THINK that the NFL would have the same issues and need to be far more receptive to the needs and safely of African-American players.

But for two problems...

First, all of the NFL CEO's and Presidents are White.  Only 9% of team and league officials were Black in 2018, and that number has been steadily declining since 1996, where 14% of such officials were Black.

The second problem is even more stark.  The NFL, much to the chagrin of many people around the sport, has become, especially in the ESPN-media-driven era, all about the quarterback.

The media has pointed out that it has even been a rare occurrence that 10 teams started a week's games with a Black quarterback.  From 2000 to Week 12 of 2017, according to an article from The Undefeated:

• Only twelve times in that 17 1/2 season span were there at least nine Black quarterbacks starting a week.
• Only TWICE did that number reach ten, both in 2003.
• From 2004 to Week 12 of 2017, the number of times that even nine Black quarterbacks started in a week was only five.  Four in 2013, Week 5 in 2017.
• In 2017, only eight of the 32 teams had a Black quarterback.
• Only three times, including Patrick Mahomes last season, has a Black QB won the Super Bowl.
• At the end of the 2019-20 season, according to Wikipedia, there are now sixteen Black quarterbacks who had, at some point, started in the NFL.

1. Cam Newton is no longer in the league for the time being, and it may be a while before he finds a substitute fit after leaving Carolina.
2. Tyrod Taylor was the backup to Philip Rivers last year in Los Angeles.  With Rivers gone, though Taylor is believed to start this year as the Chargers' starter, CBS Sports lists him the second most likely quarterback to lose that position.
3. Robert Griffin III, now the backup to Jackson in Baltimore.
4. Russell Wilson, still the starter in Seattle, and a second of the three Black quarterbacks to win the Super Bowl.
5. Geno Smith is one of Wilson's backups, but has not played a regular-season game since 2018.
6. Teddy Bridgewater is probably going to be the successor to Newton in the starting role in Carolina.
7. Jameis Winston, after being the starter in Tampa Bay after being installed as the #1 draft pick, will now back up Drew Brees in New Orleans.  And I predict he will play quite a bit after Brees' big mouth.    
8. Brett Hundley has been a career backup -- first in Green Bay, now in Arizona.  Only real starts were the season Rodgers was hurt.
9. Dak Prescott, the big-money starter for the Cowboys, but for how much longer??
10. Jacoby Brissett WAS the starter in Indianapolis, but that's where Philip Rivers landed, so he's now a backup.
11. DeShaun Watson, the highly-entertaining and athletic starting quarterback of the Texans.
12. DeShone Kizer, waived by the LA Raiders, so he's no longer in the league as of the moment.
13. Mahomes
14. LaMar Jackson, another heir apparent to the top rung of teams in Baltimore as it's starter.
15. Kyler Murray, Arizona's starter and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
16. Dwayne Haskins, who started seven games for Washington last season after the starter was benched, but was injured in his seventh start and that was the end of his season.

So, of the 16:

• Six, possibly seven are starters now.
• Two probably will be starters this year, one moving to a new team, one graduating to the starting job of his old team.
• Two have lost their starting jobs (one to a new team) to White quarterbacks.
• Two are out of the league.
• And three are backups to other Black quarterbacks.

What's the point of the entire exercise?

Even with 70% of the players Black, it is still a White Quarterbacks league.

So WHICH PLAYERS are you talking about, Commissioner Goodell?

Day 86

• After his wife made posts on social media calling for people to kill the rioters looting and trying to run over people, Aleksandar Katai was called in to meet with officials of the LA Galaxy.  He was fired today with a financial settlement.  Oof.  That probably means they didn't like what they heard from him, either!  You are seeing a very definite counterattack on the part of the Right in this country in the last 48-72 hours.     
• The current WNBA plan is a 22 game season at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL.
• It really appears the media narrative about Major League Baseball is turning to a fact that the owners' attempt to continue to squeeze the players (which started as the open-faced collusion of LAST season) will cost the sport at least the entire 2020 season.  It appears now the MLB plan is now getting down to a 48-game regular season (meaning a July 31 Opening Day???)...  The MLBPA has at least gotten down to a half-season, but still.
• There is now the belief that older coaches, in the expectation the NBA WILL have positive coronavirus tests in the restart, may be asked to refrain from the NBA, at least for the completion of the 2019-20 season.
• The first PGA Tour event with fans appears to be getting ready to be The Memorial in Ohio, July 16-19. 
• No Olbermann.  ESPN needed him Friday night.

Day 85

• Drew Brees has apologized for his comments from yesterday.  ... and I damn well would make sure, if I'm the Saints, to have the backup ready.  Those kind of comments get White quarterbacks hurt.  Might wanna ask David Carr.     
• Today is reopening day for a decent number of the Las Vegas casinos and sportsbooks.
• The NBA approved the relaunch plans (only the Trail Blazers dissented) -- and answered an important question:  2020-21 season would begin December 1.  So basically no offseason at all...   
• MLB players overwhelmingly rejected the latest MLB owners' offer for a 2020 season.
• Bills quarterback Jake Fromm stuck foot in mouth when he said only "elite White people" should have guns.  He since apologized. But that's not helping anything either -- he would want elite White people to determine who lives and dies.  Are we getting White quarterbacks lining up, now, to support Donald Trump and try to curry #NFLBoycott (and hence NFL) favor?     
• Olbermann:

The new #Thurbercast No. 57 featuring one of his serious and haunting stories: “Teacher’s Pet” and the much sillier “Miscellaneous Mentation.”https://t.co/8tURgQKd4V

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 5, 2020

Day 84

• Financial Fair Play regulations have also earned Turkish league leader (with eight rounds to go, they have a goal-difference advantage, and play is scheduled to start next week) Trabzonspor a one-year ban from European club play.
• Drew Brees has officially come out against the "taking a knee" movement.  Anyone surprised needs to remember how the last two seasons have ended for the Saints.  He's going to try to MAGAt his way to a Super Bowl.  (I believe he will fail.)     
• Aaron Rodgers, however, has gone the other way.
• A number of players are very angry with Brees, and it very easily could happen that, if a 2020 season occurs, he could well have a target on his back.  (One of them, for example, is Richard Sherman of the 49ers.)
• The 114-game plan the MLBPA presented the owners has been rejected, with no counteroffer.  There is word management might go as low as 50 games, which would actually start the season in August.  Season cancellation forthcoming.     
• Olbermann off for his usual Wednesday off.
• And history on the BotBall fields.  MLBotBall has it's first no-hitter, and it was not simmed.  German Marquez of the Rockies no-hit the Diamondbacks in the final full-broadcast game of the day, 3-0. 
• It is becoming clear that much of the Internet is not doing regular content, almost as if it's a "choose sides" motif.  One of the largest Twitch channels of the last week or so is Woke, with coverage during the relevant parts of the day of the protests -- usually NOT when they become violent, unlike the news media.
• A number of regular-content events which have taken place over the coronavirus pandemic have been shelved.  And at least one charity marathon, scheduled for this weekend, has been pulled, Zeldathon's Side Quest.  Instead, Twitch will be highlighting fundraisers geared to the African-American community.
• Including the Cageside Seats article on this because you can read what he said, but The Rock had some words for the Asshole in Chief and his supporters.

The Current Reality, NBA Edition

Yesterday, we got word that the NBA's plan for restart has a potential Game 7 of The Finals being October 12 -- putting into real question the timetable for next season, even if the riots are quelled for the medium to long term.

This morning, sources are leaking the plan.

• Nine teams are eliminated from the league for the rest of the year.  Only 22 teams -- the 16 currently in the playoffs, and 6 within a few games of the #8 seed.
• The way the standings are, only nine teams will be brought from the Eastern Conference to Orlando, thirteen from the West.  (Only one non-playoff team East, five from the West)
• Then, once play resumes (scheduled for July 31st), each of the 22 teams will play eight games for seeding purposes.
• At that point, if the #8 seed in a conference is four or more games clear from the #9 seed, there is no further play to get to the eight teams in the conference.
• If the #9 seed is within four games, the #8 seed must defeat the #9 seed in one of two games (they get two chances, the #9 seed must win BOTH to supplant them) to make the playoffs.

The formal owners' vote is tomorrow, it is expected to pass.