The Rock Chalkboard

Predicting college basketball's first Top 25 poll rankings
Keep in mind: these aren't our own rankings, but rather where we think teams will be ranked when media and coach votes are tallied for the year's first polls. It should be a terrific year for college basketball; while the individual talent level might not be up to last season — nobody is likely to have one of the best statistical seasons of the last 25 years like Zion Williamson did, or have one of the best statistical seasons of the last 10 years that nobody talks about like Brandon Clarke — the teams themselves could actually be better, headlined by a squad that returns most of its starters from a Final Four berth, and adds one of its best players, who missed that March Madness run, back into the mix.

Kansas set to host seventh annual Jayhawk Jamboree – Kansas Jayhawks
Kansas rowing will prepare to host the seventh annual Jayhawk Jamboree on Sunday, Oct. 20, and celebrate 25 years of rowing as a program at Burcham Park.

GAME PREVIEW: at Texas – Kansas Jayhawks
After their first bye week of the season, the Kansas Jayhawks (2-4, 0-3 Big 12) return to action on Saturday as they travel to Austin, Texas to take on the No. 15/15 Texas Longhorns (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium at 6 p.m., airing on Longhorn Network.

Three thoughts for the Texas Longhorns against the Kansas Jayhawks - Burnt Orange Nation
The No. 15 Texas Longhorns open this week as 21.5-point favorite over the Kansas Jayhawks following their disappointing performance against the Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl. Kansas comes into the game with a 2-4 overall record and a 0-3 record in the Big 12.

Bits o Chalk

Former Utah Jazz guard Trey Burke: 'No one wants to play' in Utah - CBSSports.com
Salt Lake City, home of the Utah Jazz, is not a major market like Los Angeles or the San Francisco Bay area, where the Lakers and Warriors play. It's not a typical free-agent destination. And as we've seen recently with Gordon Hayward, it's tough to hang on to big-name players once they develop.

The incredible survival story of DeAndre Hopkins and his mom
Seventeen years. That's how long it has been since she lost her vision when a woman she didn't know threw acid at her face, blinding and disfiguring her in a bout of jealous rage. Greenlee was a single mother of four in South Carolina, caught up in abusive relationships, hustling to survive. DeAndre was 10 years old. Over time, she regained her sight in spurts, but it disappeared completely a few years ago, just as her son was emerging as one of the NFL's brightest stars. Since then, millions of people have watched the Texans wide receiver dive for otherworldly catches on the national stage, racking up more receptions through the first six seasons of a career than any other player in NFL history. Greenlee sees Hopkins' highlights only in her mind. "I visualize everything that he does," she says. "The dreads, the body movement."

Nationals' Howie Kendrick named MVP of NLCS
Veteran Howie Kendrick was named MVP of the NL Championship Series on Tuesday, with his big bat helping Washington to a four-game sweep of the Cardinals.

Jaguars send Jalen Ramsey to Rams for pair of 1st-rounders
The Jaguars on Tuesday sent Ramsey to the West Coast for first-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021 and a fourth-rounder in 2021, the teams announced. Ramsey joins two former Jaguars on the Rams in defensive end Dante Fowler and quarterback Blake Bortles -- all three were taken with top-five draft picks from 2014 to 2016.

Astros' Josh Reddick calls Yankees fans 'disrespectful' for throwing debris
"You throw a baseball hard enough and hit somebody in the head when they're not looking, it could do some damage to the player, so it's definitely disrespectful and at the same time very unsafe," Reddick said.

Alabama student accused of bomb threat at LSU
According to a police affidavit obtained by WBRZ in Baton Rouge, Croll told police that he called in a bomb threat during the Tigers' 42-28 win because a friend was "on the verge of losing a large bet."

Canada vs. United States - Football Match Report - October 15, 2019 - ESPN
The U.S. keeps coming up with underwhelming performances in its first year under Gregg Berhalter, whose tenure as American coach is starting to draw criticism.

Eraser Dust

What Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ Might Tell Us About the Future of Streaming – Rolling Stone
“I’ve just done a tour in America with Smashing Pumpkins, and the sight of two goths, one in a Rancid T-shirt, one in a Kiss T-shirt, with their arms around each other, singing “Wonderwall” in Arkansas, is not something you see every day. What is it about that song? It’s crazy.”

Car break-ins on the rise in Flathead Co. | KECI
“We have seen an increase in the last few weeks with vehicle break-ins,” Flathead County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Commander Nic Salois said. “(It’s) almost on a nightly basis.”

Anne Sacoolas: Grieving Parents ‘Ambushed’ by Trump, Who Had Teen’s Killer Waiting at White House
The Dunn family, now in the United States to drum up support to send Sacoolas back to the U.K. to face justice, had accepted an “urgent” invitation by the White House from National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, to visit Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. Trump, it seems, thought he could convince the Dunns to meet the woman who killed their son, and would do so by opening a side door through which she would walk. The whole scene would be captured by a pool of photographers who had been summoned for the meeting.

Wendy's gets ready to make one of its biggest changes since 1969
At long last, Wendy’s (WEN) is getting serious about delivery, to cater to the growing on-demand consumer ordering environment. Wendy’s is looking at bringing in Uber Eats and GrubHub as delivery partners before year end, CEO Todd Penegor tells Yahoo Finance. Spokespeople for GrubHub and Uber Eats didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

Family Spent 9 Years in a Secluded Dutch Farmhouse ‘Waiting for the End of Days’ - The New York Times
As the bearded man in the dated outfit quickly gulped down five beers, he said that for the last nine years, he and his siblings had barely seen the outside world. Instead, they were mostly confined to a small room in a Dutch farmhouse on the outskirts of the village of Ruinerwold “waiting for the end of days,” Mr. Westerbeek told Dutch reporters.