Day 307

• You still think that Sturgis show was a good idea, Jericho???  Chris Jericho now all but admits he got coronavirus as a result of that performance, "maybe September" he said.
• Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks also, several days ago, announced he had the coronavirus in September as well, and may be still battling it to an extent with trying to get his cardio back up.  Gee, you think he might've gotten it from...   
• James Harden has basically thrown in the towel on the Houston Rockets.
• ... and, as I'm updating, word from The Athletic has a monster trade (four firsts, four pick-swaps) to the Nets basically in the works for Harden.
• Sports Illustrated's Ronan Nadkarni has basically thrown in the towel on the entire NBA 2021 season, stating the best case scenario for the league is getting everything ready for next year.  It's more and more likely, IMODO, that at least one NBA franchise will fail before then.  
• But that's nothing compared to the NHL, which is supposed to start tonight.  Commissioner Bettman has already said the league will lose billions, and that it'd have been cheaper to scrap the 2021 season entirely than play it.
• And the next MLB deal for ESPN will be at least $150 million/year less than this one.
• ESPN's Paul Finebaum, in saying players want to go to playoff teams, jokingly said that the only way to fix the CFP is to get Nick Saban to retire.  It'd be funny if it weren't fact.  The fact is, college football as you've known it is finished -- we're just down to how it actually collapses and what comes in it's place.   
• Zion Williamson is the latest COVID protocol departure from the NBA for a couple days.
• And there it is:  The James Harden Megadeal.

Brooklyn gets Harden, sacrifices the next SEVEN YEARS of drafts to Houston to get him (3 direct non-protected first-round picks the even numbered years, 4 first-round swaps the odd, and a first they got from Milwaukee)...

Wow.  If this isn't "star-driven league", and maybe even an indictment of what's about to happen to what's left of college sports...