The Rock Chalkboard

KU volleyball's NCAA Tournament run ends in Sweet 16 at No. 3 Pitt | KUsports.com
“We jumped on them pretty good in the first set, but you didn't see a lot of panic or anxiety on their side,” KU head coach Ray Bechard said of Pitt’s resolve during his team’s postgame press conference.

Kenny Logan Jr. KU football's lone representative on AP All-Big 12 teams | KUsports.com
“Kenny’s had a heck of a year. He continues to play at a high level,” Leipold said. “(Logan’s) a guy who’s been on the field for a lot of snaps and, you know, his Mondays and Tuesdays sometimes are limited a little bit based on how the body’s feeling. And he keeps fighting through it.

Passage of time the biggest reason KU is set to renew its rivalry with Missouri on Saturday | KUsports.com
By now, Missouri’s well-known exit from the Big 12 Conference to the SEC and the impact it had on one of the best rivalries in all of college athletics has been well documented. And Self on Thursday summed it up simply as Missouri doing what it felt was best, that not sitting well with the KU crowd and a void in the rivalry being the result.

Missing Mizzou? How Kansas basketball fans coped with the absence of their border rivals during the past 9 years | KUsports.com
“The KU-Missouri rivalry was always about more than just basketball,” said Rick Renfro, owner of Johnny’s Tavern. “It seems to me like it was brothers that were competing all the time and it was as fierce a competition as you could get. One family member’s been gone a while and now they’re back. It’s going to be bittersweet, it’s going to be great to compete with them again and there’ll be bragging rights on the line.”

Bits o Chalk

Former Denver Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas, 33, found dead in his home, police say
"He had been suffering from seizures for over a year, and we believe he had a seizure when he was showering," Bonseigneur said early Friday. "We're not sure when he died. We just spoke with him yesterday."

Fake slide like Pitt's Kenny Pickett to be blown dead under new NCAA football rules interpretation
The NCAA is stopping the fake slide that Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett used to score a touchdown in the ACC championship game Saturday.

Oregon Ducks making push to bring back Chip Kelly as the school's head football coach, sources say
Kelly took Oregon to the BCS national championship game in 2010 and has strong support in Eugene. Kelly is in his fourth season as UCLA's coach and entering what would be the final year of the five-year, $23.3 million contract he signed in November 2017.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights stun No. 1 Purdue on deep 3-pointer at buzzer
Harper finished with 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting and 10 rebounds for the Scarlet Knights, a do-it-all performance that concluded with the most stunning shot of the college hoops season thus far. Rutgers (5-4, 1-1 Big Ten) beat the top-ranked team for the first time in program history.

Eraser Dust

Julian Assange can be extradited to the US, court rules - BBC News
Judges were reassured by US promises to reduce the risk of suicide. His fiancee said they intended to appeal.

Covid-19 patients at this hospital are dying 'at a rate we've never seen die before' -- and it's taking a toll on health care workers - CNN
"I was really hoping that we'd (all) get vaccinated and things would be back to normal," said Sefton, an assistant manager at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan.

But this week Michigan had more patients hospitalized for Covid-19 than ever before. Covid-19 hospitalizations jumped 88% in the past month, according to the Michigan Health & Hospital Association.

South Africa says no signal of increased Omicron severity yet | Reuters
JOHANNESBURG, Dec 10 (Reuters) - South African scientists see no sign that the Omicron coronavirus variant is causing more severe illness, they said on Friday, as officials announced plans to roll out vaccine boosters with daily infections approaching an all-time high.

Trump White House records release upheld by U.S. appeals court - The Washington Post
A federal appeals court on Thursday resoundingly rejected former president Donald Trump’s bid to keep his White House documents secret from a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, setting up an emergency Supreme Court review.

First Thing: Biden faces vaccine mandate pushback from own party | | The Guardian
The West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, who co-sponsored the bill, and Montana’s senator, Jon Tester, crossed Democratic party lines to vote yes and join 50 Republicans in their opposition to the public health policy, illustrating problems the US president faces even within a faction of his own party.

Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 Listing Quietly Appears On Amazon
A new listing for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 has appeared on Amazon. The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is currently one of the most eagerly anticipated games for 2022. However, Nintendo has been playing its cards very close to its chest thus far and not given anything much away about the upcoming RPG, including its official name.

Judge rules citizen enforcement of Texas abortion law unconstitutional | Reuters
LOS ANGELES, Dec 9 (Reuters) - A judge in Texas ruled on Thursday that a law prohibiting abortions after about six weeks violated the state's constitution because it allows private citizens to sue abortion providers.

In Texas, Panic Over Critical Race Theory Extends to Bookshelves - The New York Times
A new state law constricts teachers when it comes to race and history. And a politician is questioning why 850 titles are on library shelves. The result: “A lot of our teachers are petrified.”

Favorable conditions surprise skiers on opening day | Daily Inter Lake
Anthony Tatum, Lane Anello, Keyaunn Wood and Payton Douglas secured the first chair up Big Mountain on Thursday morning — their third year in a row getting the first spot in the lift line for the start of the season.

The teenagers waited 10 and a half hours, between the lift line and the Cedar Lot, to claim their spot.

They slept in their cars on Wednesday night just to make sure they’d be first in line.

Kanye West begs Kim Kardashian to 'run right back' to him - CNN
"I need you to run right back to me," West rapped, adding a new verse to the track. "More specifically, Kimberly."