The Rock Chalkboard

Kansas football coach Lance Leipold saying the 85-man scholarship limit is in reach is a feat worth celebrating as much as any KU victory | Tale of the Tait | KUsports.com
Make no mistake about it, Leipold’s answer to the question of how close Kansas will be to the 85-man scholarship limit next season was a big deal. Huge, in fact.

“I think we have a chance to be there,” he said. “We could put a lot of people to sleep with this subject.”

Jayhawks still waiting for reserve guard Joe Yesufu to break out | KUsports.com
“I told him (recently), ‘Just guard the heck out of the ball and shoot it,’” Self said of his brief conversation with Yesufu ahead of KU’s win over UTEP. “You can talk defense and I know I’m a big fan of it, and all this stuff, but Joe’s a scorer. And I think sometimes he’s focused on trying to play the way I want him to play and doesn’t play the way he’s best capable of playing.”

Kansas running back Amauri Pesek-Hickson enters transfer portal | KUsports.com
He dealt with injuries throughout the 2021 campaign, but still managed to play in 11 of KU’s 12 games, including the season finale versus West Virginia, where he tied a career-high with 12 carries — for 60 yards — while filling in for injured starter Devin Neal, who missed the game.

'The whole package': Why KU football targeted prep QB Ethan Vasko out of Virginia | KUsports.com
“He was one that, if we were going that route, that was where Jim wanted to go from the start,” Leipold said of the Jayhawks signing Vasko, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound QB who helped Oscar F. Smith High win consecutive state championships.

Bits o Chalk

Memo - NBA, NBPA agree to new COVID-19 protocols, increased testing
As the NBA tries to fortify itself against waves of positive COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, the league will increase daily testing and face mask use for players and staff through the holiday season, according to a memo obtained by ESPN.

Kansas City Chiefs' Travis Kelce breaks out of 2-game slump with career performance in OT win over Los Angeles Chargers
"Coach Reid always reminds me when I'm feeling a little sore,'' Kelce said Thursday night at SoFi Stadium, where he scored both the score-tying and game-winning touchdowns as the Chiefs rallied to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 34-28 in overtime. "He always kinds of throws a jab at me. He says, 'Feel like you're 22 again, baby.'

Los Angeles Lakers add Russell Westbrook, Avery Bradley to COVID-19 protocols
MINNEAPOLIS -- Los Angeles Lakers guards Russell Westbrook and Avery Bradley have entered the NBA's health and safety protocols, it was announced Thursday.

Ticket stub from Michael Jordan's NBA debut sells for $264K, a record for a sports ticket
The highest-graded ticket stub (bestowed with a grade of EX-MT 6 from Professional Sports Authenticator, or PSA) from Michael Jordan's NBA debut sold for $264,000 at auction, breaking the record for most expensive collectible sports ticket ever sold.

Eraser Dust

The Ringer's 100 Best Rap Songs of the 2010s
The wildly divergent threads that make up the cloth of 2010s rap only highlight why it’s so difficult to grapple with the decade, even nearly two years removed from it. No similar stretch in the genre’s history produced sea changes so rapidly: The ’90s may have started with Rakim’s lyrical fury and ended with Bad Boy’s glimmering chart dominance, but as disparate as those artists were, the terms of engagement ultimately remained the same. Contrast that with the 2010s—the first no. 1 rap song of the decade was Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”; by the end, artists like Juice WRLD, Post Malone, and XXXTentacion were regularly pumping out chart-toppers with songs and marketing approaches that felt beamed in from a universe where Hov never existed.

Schools districts respond to TIkTok threat of violence, 'challenge'
School districts across the country are issuing warnings, increasing security and cancelling classes Friday in response to vague, anonymous shooting and bomb threats being made on TikTok that officials say are not considered credible.

U.S. relaxes restriction on abortion pill, allows women to obtain by mail | Reuters
NEW YORK, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Thursday permanently eased some restrictions on a pill used to terminate early pregnancies, allowing the drug to be sent by mail rather than requiring it to be dispensed in person.

Judge Overturns Purdue Pharma’s Opioid Settlement - The New York Times
The ruling said the company’s owners, members of the Sackler family, could not receive protection from civil lawsuits in return for a $4.5 billion contribution.

In a Small Kentucky Town, the Candle Factory Was a Lifeline for Its Workers - The New York Times
Eight people were killed when a tornado struck a Mayfield Consumer Products building. Now, amid acrimony over whether managers could have done more to keep employees safe, there is worry about lost jobs.

Glacier High goes into soft lockdown following unsubstantiated threat | Daily Inter Lake
According to an email from Kalispell Public Schools Superintendent Micah Hill, officials at Glacier High School were made aware of a threat of school violence posted on the social media site TikTok that referenced "GHS." The post did not specifically mention Glacier High School or Kalispell.

Whitefish schools to lift K-6 mask mandate | Daily Inter Lake
Since the start of the school year Whitefish School District has been following several Covid-19 mitigation strategies, including requiring the wearing of masks while indoors for students in kindergarten through sixth grade. With a recent decline in positive Covid-19 cases in both the district and Flathead County, as well as the recent availability of the vaccine for children ages 5 through 12, the administration recommended the district no longer require masks for younger children. At the Whitefish School Board meeting Tuesday, the trustees unanimously approved the change.