Day 421

• Two asshole Republican states, Montana and South Carolina, have ended their involvement with Federal unemployment benefits to try to force people back to work.  You know, dumbshits on the Right, since we don't have slavery in this country anymore -- if you want people to work, you gotta make it worth it.  It's one of the main reasons that hard work is a zero in this country anymore...   
• The Aaron Rodgers saga is continuing -- it appears latest word is Denver is the destination.  If he actually thinks he can win a Super Bowl before he is forced from the league by age in Denver, he's a bigger idiot than many Packer fans are...   
• I still have a couple major stories I've been having in the tank for some months now -- but permissions and energy are holding them up at this point.  Stay tuned.
• Japan, in a last-ditch effort to save the 2021 Summer Olympics in a country only 2% vaccinated (in comparison, the US is over 1/3 vaccinated!!), has extended the lockdown through the end of the month, with the Olympics six weeks away at the end of the month.
• This means New Japan Pro Wrestling is shut down again, now looking at two stadium shows they had planned for May now scrapped.
• Major League Baseball, in trying to continue to cover up and defend the Astros, has been trying to force fans to tone back the rhetoric against the team.  One Yankee fan got his costume for the game confiscated as a result, according to Yahoo!  Another day at the office for a new nickname my anonymous friend came up with:  The Houston WAAAAAHstros...
• With the Champions League now an all-England affair, there is a move to move the Champions League finals to the UK, since no supporters can go to the original site in Turkey.  Cardiff, Wales and Tottenham are the two potential offered neutral sites.
• Villereal of Spain kept both major UEFA club championships from being English-only, ousting Arsenal after Manchester United won their two-legged tie over Roma.  That final is in Gdansk.
• First UEFA punishment for the Super League breakaway is out:  5% loss of revenue for UEFA competition and a 15 million euro donation to grassroots soccer initiatives.  Any further attempt costs them a hundred million euros.  I still like the two-year UCL ban.   
• Three teams:  Juventus, Barcelona, and Real Madrid...  Are still not renouncing the situation, and they probably WILL be banned at least two years.
• Barcelona and Real Madrid have just been named to a list of the 10 most valuable sports franchises in the world.  Only one other soccer team is on the list published by Forbes.  
• The Cowboys are #1 at $5.7 billion.  The Yankees #2 at $5.25 million  The Knicks, somehow, are #3 at $5 billion (probably includes Madison Square Garden in that valuation!).  The Warriors and Lakers are #6 and #7 after Barcelona and Real Madrid.  $4.7 billion with the new arena for the Warriors, $4.6 billion for the Lakers.    The Patriots and Giants are #8 and #9 at $4.4 and $4.3 billion.  Bayern Munich is #10.
• Make that FIVE actual no hitters this season so far.  Wade Miley of the Reds no-hit the Indians tonight.
• Only one other time has baseball had five no-hitters this early in the year, according to Elias Sports Bureau (through the Botball Discord):  1917!