Day 652

• Two starters from the Packers are now on the COVID list.
  
• Texas A&M is in limited preparations for the Gator Bowl because of numerous breakthroughs.
• Nope, scratch that.  The 2021 Gator Bowl has been cancelled.  (I guess, as of the moment, the opponent for Wake Forest is "TBD", but how you gonna do this one without fucking up other bowls or making another team that's already played come in?)
• Illinois and Marshall are apparently wishing to volunteer.
• The head of the NFLPA now states the NFL was perilously close to cancelling the three games postponed this weekend due to the COVID surge.
• There are now THIRTY-FIVE men's college basketball teams who have stopped operations due to the Omicron-led COVID surge.
• They include Memphis, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Georgetown, USC, and UCLA.
• At least 18 Division I college men's basketball games have been cancelled tonight due to COVID.
• The COVID situation is so bad in the NBA, the Boston Celtics have just signed, as a replacement player, Joe Johnson -- who hasn't been in the NBA for three years!
• Alabama's offensive coordinator and offensive line coach have tested positive for COVID-19.
• As does the Head Coach of the New York Jets.
• And with 14 players on the COVID list for the Jets, that's a probable Week 16 postponement or even cancellation!
• And the Head Coach of the Eagles fell ill today, got tested, positive.
• The College Football Playoff has announced a champion can be crowned, if necessary, via forfeit.
• At least one NBA game tonight and one tomorrow, involving the COVID-ravaged Nets and Raptors, postponed due to not having enough players.  And the Nets are supposed to play in Cry Staples Center as part of the big quintupleheader Saturday.
• The NBA now has over 80 players in the protocols.  Enough for FIVE-PLUS ENTIRE TEAM ROSTERS.
• Including at least two new cases in the Atlanta Hawks, causing them to start dipping into a replacement pool for the likes of Lance Stephenson.  (My anonymous friend, through research, notes Stephenson has also not played in the league in three years.)
• It's several hours before relevant tipoffs -- they're the only postponements in the NBA so far.
• Luke Doncic of the Mavericks is probably out of the Christmas quintupleheader, in protocols.
• It's so bad, the Big XII is considering relaxing from a "forfeit" stance (which has already felled three games in the Big East), back to a "no-contest" stance.
• And, oh gee, what a shock -- whoda thunk??  ANOTHER WWE COVID outbreak!