Day 519

• At least a fourth extension of Trevor Bauer's leave:  August 20 now.
• Yesterday, a made-for-TV event for MLB delivered on almost every level.  They built a Major League Baseball-quality stadium in the "Field of Dreams" corn field in Iowa, and the Yankees and White Sox played an instant classic in it -- the White Sox won 9-8 on a Tim Anderson walk-off home run, the third home run of the ninth inning.
• The game drew the highest ratings for any regular-season MLB game in sixteen years.
• Sports Illustrated has exclusive interviews (article is paywalled with SI's online subscription) with two of the women accusing DeShaun Watson of sexual assault.  The fact is, "The Problems With The NFL's DeShaun Watson Investigation" (the title of the piece) are very simple -- Watson is one of about six major persons the league orbits around.  This is probably a very minor step below Brady, Rodgers, Mahomes, Jackson, maybe Dak Prescott getting accused of the same thing.   
• On the day of the first matches of the Premier League, word that nine of the EPL teams have been approached by investors for at least partial purchase of the club -- all American investors...
• The CDC has announced a 700% increase in the week-to-week average of COVID cases since July 1.  And we're supposed to be having our kids back in school...  HOW???    
• Three Broward County (Florida) teachers, all killed by COVID within 24 hours of each other (and probably within a week after classes started).
• On the day of their first preseason game, the Detroit Lions have fired their head trainer...
• Free Agent:  Derrius Guice suspended 6 games for the domestic violence policy after a strangulation and assault situation with a former girlfriend in 2020.  He was fired by the Washington Football Team after the arrest.  All charges were eventually either dropped or settled.  His NFL career:  Five games over two-plus seasons.
• The Pac-XII, Big Ten, and ACC are talking alliance, at least for football.
• Max Muncy was the victim of a ninth-inning laser pointer at Citi Field tonight.  The Dodgers needed ten innings to beat the Mets.
• Craig Reynolds had a very interesting Friday.  Reynolds was in North Carolina, preparing to go to Detroit for a tryout with the Lions.  He impressed the people there, suited up for that night's exhibition game, and scored a fourth-quarter TD against the other soon-to-be roster cuts.  Detroit is the undrafted player's fourth team; he has yet to latch on.