The Rock Chalkboard

After a year off, the return of in-person Late Night evokes extra appreciation from Kansas basketball players, coaches | KUsports.com
“We may be the first team in America to have the opportunity to feel what it’s supposed to feel like,” KU coach Bill Self said this week. “It's time for us to have some fun.”

Kansas State tops Kansas, 2-1 in overtime in women's soccer showdown | KUsports.com
The Kansas women’s soccer team dropped its fourth game in a row Thursday night, 2-1 to rival Kansas State at Rock Chalk Park.

KU football defense lagging in sack production | KUsports.com
“We’ve got to do a better job getting to the quarterback,” head coach Lance Leipold said. “And then when we’re there, making the play.”

Q & A with KU football WR Trevor Wilson | KUsports.com
Ahead of KU’s trip to Iowa State on Saturday (6 p.m., FOX Sports 1), Wilson, in his first season at KU after transferring from Buffalo, discussed his eye-popping play and what he hopes to give the Jayhawks the rest of the season.

Bits o Chalk

LeBron James wore an interesting shirt to practice today
Cavaliers star LeBron James raised eyebrows when he peeled off his practice jersey on Tuesday to reveal a T-shirt featuring a leprechaun on the front. According to Cleveland.com, the logo is of his high school, St. Vincent-St. Mary High in Akron, whose mascot is the Fighting Irish.

Here's why LeBron James not being an NBA MVP finalist is ridiculous
But if LeBron can't make the final three for the MVP award — for the first time since 2008 — while he's playing the best basketball we've ever seen, what are we even doing here?

Frustrated Urban Meyer calls Jacksonville Jaguars' 19th-straight loss 'heartbreaking'
"It's devastating. Heartbreaking," Meyer said after Cincinnati kicked a field goal as time expired to beat the Jaguars 24-21 at Paul Brown Stadium on Thursday night. "These guys. Usually, I'm not wrong about stuff like that. I just see a good team in there. I see good guys. I see good hearts. I see guys that work and I told them I'm not wrong. I'm not wrong about that stuff.

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid calls Ben Simmons situation 'borderline disrespectful' to team
"The situation is disappointing, borderline kind of disrespectful to all the guys that are out here fighting for their lives," Embiid told reporters at training camp in Camden, New Jersey.

Draymond Green says he won't push Golden State Warriors teammate Andrew Wiggins to get COVID-19 vaccine
"That would be like Andrew -- who everyone knows recently just had a kid maybe 5 months or so ago now -- that would be like me telling him, 'Yo, your wife is going into labor. How dare you leave this team and not go tend to your wife?'" Green said. "That's something that's personal to him. That's something that's health-related. That's something that's personal to his family. This is no different. We're dealing with something that to me feels like has turned into a political war when you're talking about vaccinated [people] and non-vaccinated [people]. I think it's become very political."

LeBron James says energy at Los Angeles Lakers training camp up from last season
"Just the energy," James said when asked what had changed. "Last year after coming off the bubble it literally took everything away from you. Any little bit of energy that you had, it was completely gone when we left there. ... To come back into the season with the quick start that we had, kind of the life of the party was a little bit, just like, it was just kind of stale. You know, rightfully so. Guys just didn't have an opportunity to get a mental break.

Eraser Dust

What Americans Think About The Fight Over The Debt Ceiling | FiveThirtyEight
Yet, at this point, a new poll from Politico/Morning Consult suggests public opinion may not push either party to change course, especially Republicans. Overall, 31 percent of registered voters said they would mostly blame Democrats if the country defaults on its debt, while 20 percent said they would primarily blame the GOP. However, the plurality (39 percent) said they would blame both parties equally, while 11 percent said they didn’t know or had no opinion.

Dissension at the Supreme Court as justices take their anger public - CNNPolitics
(CNN)Supreme Court justices have revealed a new level of defensiveness and anger in recent weeks, showing irritation with public expectations, the news media and one another.

Covid-19 vaccine health care worker holdouts: For them, it's personal. For their hospitals it's professional - CNN
Babinski believes that the decision of whether she should get vaccinated against Covid-19 should be a personal medical choice. So far, she has chosen not to be vaccinated.

She says she's not anti-vaccine, or against the Covid-19 vaccine. She encouraged her father to get one.

And she has worked all through the pandemic, in layers of PPE, and been floated to the Covid unit, where she saw firsthand how devastating it can be some patients.

2 million uninsured Americans could get on Medicaid In Democrats' spending plan : Shots - Health News : NPR
Tired of waiting for Republican state lawmakers, congressional Democrats are moving to close the Medicaid coverage gap as they forge a package of new domestic spending that could run as high as $3.5 trillion over 10 years and would significantly enhance other federal health programs. But the cost is raising concerns within the party, and the competition to get initiatives in the package is fierce.

Biden signs funding bill to prevent government shutdown - CBS News
Washington — The House and Senate on Thursday both approved a short-term government funding bill that keeps federal agencies open through early December and staves off a partial government shutdown, just hours before funding is set to expire.

Biblical News

Liam Gallagher announces Knebworth show - a return to the site of famous Oasis gigs in 1996 | Ents & Arts News | Sky News
"I'm absolutely buzzing to announce that on 4 June 2022 I'll be playing Knebworth Park," the singer said in a statement sent to Sky News, signing off in the style of his typical Twitter posts, "It's gonna be biblical. C'mon You Know. LG x".

Liam Gallagher says he's dedicated a song on his new album to Noel Gallagher
“The next single is gonna be called ‘Better Days’ and it’s full of sunshine,” he said.

“And then there’s another one, ‘I Wish I Had More Power’, and it’s dedicated to Noel. Yeah, it’s a naughty little tune, but it’s lovely.