January 31, 2023 News and Notes

• One month through, and 2023 wants the World Record in SUCK...
• We lost Cindy Williams, "Shirley" of Laverne and Shirley, on Monday.
• The COVID towel will be officially thrown in by the Biden administration when the national emergency is terminated on May 11th.
• Brock Purdy suffered -- and was forced to play in the game with -- a Tommy John injury, a UCL in the elbow Sunday.
• In a move which could well portend the event's cancellation, Nintendo has joined Sony and Microsoft -- none of the three major console providers are going to be a part of 2023 E3.
• The famed FA Cup run of fifth-tier Wrexham (the subject of a Netflix series Welcome to Wrexham, owned by two Hollywood celebrities) took a hit Sunday.  Somehow getting drawn as the home side in facing second-tier (and promotion candidate to the Premier League) Sheffield United, United went down to 10 men after a red card about 15 minutes to go in regular time.
• Wrexham scored, five minutes from the end of regular time, to take a 3-2 lead...
• Only for United's John Egan to slot home a corner kick cross in the fifth minute of seven of added time to force a replay, this one at Sheffield United.
• The replay will be one of six to take place on February 7th, to determine the last six of the 16 octofinalists.
• The winner has been drawn to host European-bound EPL top-flighter Tottenham Hotspur in the round of 16.
• As of right now, there is only one team below the English Championship assured a round of 16 spot:  That's a replay between League One's Fleetwood Town and Sheffield Wednesday.

A couple of teams of note:

• Wigan Athletic, who bravely won their way back to the English Championship, are going to have to do significant work to stay there.  Wigan Athletic is last in the second tier, four points from safety, the other two relegation teams have a game in hand on them, and the team just fired the coach they hired a scant eight weeks ago, meaning Wigan Athletic will be on it's third head coach of the season as it does appear they are headed back to League One, barring some heroics.
• Derby County, demoted from the Championship to League One due to improprieties and administration in 2022, is headed for the playoff for the third promotion spot back to the Championship.  They're fourth in the table, eight points out of the two automatic promotion spots, but nine points safe from not making the playoff.