Day 405

• The Super League has officially collapsed.  Now for the backlash, from both ends...
• Just saying for now...  Man City did win 2-1, but the "1" Aston Villa got seemed to be a very suspicious first-minute goal.
• ESPN Radio host Bob Valvano is taking a leave of absence because he has cancer.
• Sickest fucking irony of this:  Bob is Jim's brother.
• In better news:  By popular demand, LeVar Burton WILL be a Jeopardy! guest host before the season ends.  That will be sometime this early summer.
• Nick Castellanos' two-game suspension was for COVID protocols, creating a possible super-spreader situation.   As Steve Mancuso pointed out, the same MLB which allowed 38000 people at the Rangers opener.  FUCK ROB MANFRED!   
• Antonio Brown has settled with at least one trainer who accused him of sexual assault.
• In better news:  Ronda Rousey is pregnant with her first child, from husband Travis Browne.
• NBA gonna take a look at this one?  LeBron James has just outed the cop in Columbus, OH, who killed a knife-wielding 16 year-old Black girl, by posting his picture and saying "YOU'RE NEXT!"  Now, it was a call-for-accountability issue, but how anyone, in the present sensibilities, cannot see that as a cop-killing threat is beyond me.  I'm no fan of the place exposing this, since James deleted the Tweet 20 minutes later, but he MUST be sanctioned -- NBA, Twitter, AND the law.  That is an incitement to violence.   
• And Jason Whitlock throwing gasoline on this one:  Saying that James and the Tweet are fomenting racial division to turn the US into a communist country.  (MSN)

NFL Rules Change Day.  New NFL rules for the 2021 17-game season:

• The TMO (Television Match Official/"Sky Judge") proposal by the Ravens was rejected.  Why?  You can't twice get through rigged calls more than a few times a season before people figure you out?   
• A compromise was reached -- the current replay judge will be allowed to CONSULT with the officials on certain errors deemed clear and obvious.  Possession, catches, spots appear to be the consultation allowances.
• Offensive position players other than quarterbacks and defensive backs and linebackers can now wear single-digit numbers.
• To give the kicking team a chance on onside kicks:  The receiving team must place at least two players further than 25 yards from the kick.  Onside-kick success ratio in 2020:  3 of 67.  Of the 82 Last Chance Miss games (the losing team had an opportunity (including a missed onside kick) in the last two minutes to tie or win), 27 were at least partially a missed onside kick attempt.  Someone's trying to pump the ratings...   
• It is a one-year experiment.  The Eagles put a "4th and 15" alternative -- one play, where 15 yards have to be gained, in lieu of an onside kick -- forward.  That has been tabled for the one year, but may be considered for 2022.
• Discussion will continue on changing and expanding the area where blocking below the waist is a foul.  Could be re-examined in May meetings.
• Preseason games tied at regulation will be declared draws.
• If, on a single play, two passes are attempted and completed behind the line of scrimmage, it will be loss of down.  I thought that was illegal in the first place!   
• All accepted penalties on extra-point or two-point conversion attempts will now be enforced.
• Efforts to alter the timetables for the postseason hiring of new coaches and GMs so as not to interfere with the playoffs have been shelved, but may return.
• Taunting will be a point of emphasis this season. You could throw a flag, somewhere on the field, probably on just about every play!  It's called "Shut the fuck up and get back in the huddle."