The Rock Chalkboard

3-star 2021 OG Edgar Amaya opens up on KU football commitment
"I just felt like there was no point in holding out anymore," Amaya told Phog.net of his commitment. "I felt at home, so why run away from home?"

Brent Dearmon joining Nick Saban, Mike Leach at football seminar
Some of the keynote speakers at the event, according to WKRG in Alabama, include SEC coaches in Nick Saban (Alabama), Mike Leach (Mississippi State), Gus Malzahn (Auburn) and Kirby Smart (Georgia). Other coaches expected at the event include Dave Aranda of Baylor and Clay Helton at USC.

Film room: Landen Lucas' under-the-radar impact on a KU comeback
It was in that final season when the Jayhawks overcame a 14-point deficit with fewer than three minutes remaining against West Virginia in Allen Fieldhouse. (KU won, 84-80, in overtime.) And while Lucas didn't score a point in flipping the deficit from down 14 to up eight late in the extra period, he made a plethora of little plays that helped the Jayhawks turn the game around.

5-star Jayhawk Bryce Thompson picks number to honor Kobe Bryant
"I chose No. 24 to honor Kobe and the mamba mentality," Thompson said in a KU basketball release. "Reminding myself that every time I step on the court to give it my all and nothing else."

Self Perspective Episode 8: A furious KU comeback vs. Oklahoma
"There's so many important games throughout the course of 17 years, but this is one that really registers with me," Self said in the video. "I think it's the most important one that we've had here with the exception of NCAA Tournament games."

Bits o Chalk

NFL set to release full 17-week schedule next week, league spokesman says
ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported in mid-April that the league planned to release its schedule, based on a full season, by May 9. NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent told The Associated Press this week that the league is doing "reasonable and responsible planning" regarding health and safety during the coronavirus pandemic.

Bill Belichick, Joe Burrow favorites for top coach, rookie awards
"If [Belichick] takes that roster and wins that division, and no other team goes 16-0, how do you give it to somebody else?" Caesars Sportsbook director of trading Jeff Davis told ESPN. "The only way he doesn't get it is if one of the teams that was terrible last year makes the playoffs."

Sources -- NBA discusses delaying start of 2020-21 season until December
"If you start in December, that doesn't mean the people are coming back in December, but maybe they're back by March," one member of the board of governors told ESPN on Friday.

Judge sides with U.S. Soccer in USWNT's equal pay lawsuit
A federal judge in California ruled in favor of the United States Soccer Federation on most of the key points in the ongoing wage discrimination lawsuit brought by members of the U.S. women's national team player pool, dealing a potentially fatal setback to the players in the high-profile case.

Alex Smith's comeback -- Inside the fight to save the QB's leg and life
It's been 57 hours since my husband was carted off the field with a compound fracture in his right leg in a Week 11 game, but now it's Wednesday at midnight and he's not just an injured football player -- he's the patient who's drifting in and out of consciousness as doctors try to figure out what's wrong. Of course, I just want to talk to Alex. But he's ... he's not there.

Eraser Dust

Kalispell nurses say thank you to the Flathead community
"Some of the money coming from the community, the hospital put that towards what they call a compassion cart," said Hunnicutt. "And they bought tons of yummy snacks and decorated the cart, and they brought it around to every unit. And that just lifts your spirits when you're working on the unit and just in the walls of the hospital all day long."

Busy Kalispell road designated primary route freeing up more funding
Reserve Drive in Kalispell is being changed from an urban to a primary route, allowing more funding for reconstruction.

Your Chicken Is No Longer Pink. That Doesn’t Mean It’s Safe to Eat. - The New York Times
At 158 degrees, but not lower, bacteria inside the chickens’ cores was reduced to safe levels, and when cut open its flesh appeared dull and fibrous, not glossy like raw chicken. But meat began changing from pink to white far below this threshold, and most color change occurred below 131 degrees Fahrenheit. Sometimes, the chicken’s core would be safely cooked, but unsafe levels of bacteria still lingered on surfaces that hadn’t touched the grill plate.

Sorry, Superfans: Parks and Rec ’s Socially Distanced Reunion Didn’t Work
Nothing about the new episode worked.

The entire concept made no sense. Five years after the show ended, the employees of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department are former employees and scattered all over the place. Leslie Knope works for the Department of the Interior; her husband, the guy who should have stayed on Party Down, is a congressman; Jerry Gergich is mayor; Ann Perkins is volunteering as a nurse in Michigan; Ron Swanson is holed up in a cabin; etc. And yet they’re apparently all still close friends, and Knope has set up a system where they check up on each other daily during the COVID crisis through a “phone tree,” not by simply calling or texting each other but by chatting face-to-face online.