The Rock Chalkboard

2022 five-star Brandon Huntley-Hatfield cuts list to eight
Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, the No. 8 overall prospect in the 2022 Top247, trimmed his list down to eight on Friday afternoon -- Auburn, Georgia, Kansas, Louisville, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

3-star Jerrell Boykins talks recruitment before virtual KU visit
“I’ve been talking to them for a long time,” Boykins said in a phone interview with 247Sports. “I’m looking for a great coaching staff, great community, academics of course and I want to go somewhere that I can actually play.”

Source: ACC, Big 12 kickoff times, TV info coming next week
The first and second weeks of the ACC schedule will be finalized with kickoff times and television information next week, the source said. The Big 12's slate of 10 non-conference games set for Sept. 12 will also be announced next week.

Bits o Chalk

What experts say NBA players should do with this power
Before the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced Friday that the postseason would resume with players and the league working collectively toward social justice goals, we reached out to more than a dozen leaders to ask how they would advise NBA players to use their influence to translate political passions into tangible results. One recurring theme that emerged from these elected officials, legal scholars, criminal justice reform advocates, communications executives and political operatives can be summarized by an old adage: All politics is local

LeBron James, Chris Paul received advice from Barack Obama during stalemate
Following a contentious players' meeting Wednesday that left the NBA bubble on the verge of bursting, LeBron James and Chris Paul led a subcommittee of players who reached out to former President Barack Obama for advice.

NBA, NBPA announce playoffs to resume Saturday, new initiatives
The NBA and National Basketball Players Association released a joint statement Friday announcing that the NBA playoffs will resume Saturday and that the league and its players will work together on several initiatives to promote voting access, combat social injustice and racial inequality, and advocate for police reform.

Source says Steve Cohen in negotiations for Mets as A-Rod group withdraws
Billionaire Steve Cohen has reentered into negotiations to purchase the New York Mets, hoping to salvage a deal for the franchise after a previous agreement to buy the team fell apart, a source familiar with the organization's sale confirmed to ESPN.

Eraser Dust

Greg Gianforte Would Destroy Public Education in Montana – The Montana Post
While he’s offered a grammatically-challenged “plan” that is laden with buzzwords, his record, his donations, and his work in education all show that he would use the power of the governor to defund Montana public schools, shift taxpayer dollars to private schools, and allow those private schools to discriminate against students.

Kenosha police shooting aftermath: Don’t make 17-year-old vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse a hero - Chicago Sun-Times
How does a teenage vigilante get to be the hero?

A white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot Jacob Blake Jr., a Black man, in the back, for reasons that are still unclear; a Black man whose three young children were sitting in the back seat of his SUV; a Black man who is now paralyzed from the waist down and might never walk again; and that Black man initially was chained to a hospital bed to fight for his life.

But a white teenager, Kyle Rittenhouse, could walk down a public street in that same city during a chaotic protest — in violation of a curfew — with a military style semi-automatic long gun strapped over his shoulder, and police officers didn’t stop him.

Instead, they tossed him a bottle of water and thanked him for his help.

Chadwick Boseman Dead: Black Panther Actor Was 43 - Variety
Chadwick Boseman, star of “Black Panther,” died on Friday after a four year battle with colon cancer, his rep confirmed to Variety. He was 43.

3 arrested following Kalispell disturbance
While officers talked with the alleged victims in the assault, the suspected vehicle -- with the three suspects inside -- was located by KPD, according to a news release.

Why Chadwick Boseman will always be remembered as Black Panther | Entertainment News,The Indian Express
Although Black Panther had all the eye-candy and visual effects of any other MCU movie, it was more than a mish-mash of CGI. Even before its release, it had become a cultural phenomenon and was luring those moviegoers to theaters who otherwise would not leave their homes to watch any movie. It tackled complex themes like racism, slavery and identity while being endlessly entertaining and fun to watch.

A NASA Satellite From the 1960s Is About to Die
The Orbiting Geophysics Observatory 1 (OGO-1) satellite studied how the Sun affects the Earth’s magnetic field between 1964 and 1969, according to Space.com. Now, after roughly 50 years of peaceful retirement, the satellite will come back home — and incinerate as it re-enters the atmosphere.