The Rock Chalkboard

#20 Volleyball Ends Season With Second Round Loss to Kansas - Creighton University Athletics
Kansas dominated the first set to post a 25-13 victory, snapping Creighton's streak of 22 straight set victories that dated to Nov. 7. KU hit .440 and had five blocks to limit the Bluejay attack to .100 hitting. In a battle of Conference Freshmen of the Year, both Norah SIs (CU) and Caroline Bien (KU) had five kills.

KU women's volleyball rides upsets to Sweet 16
The Jayhawks are into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament for the first time since 2015, courtesy of a pair of improbable wins over ranked opponents.

KU Jayhawks volleyball to Sweet 16 after upset vs. Creighton | The Kansas City Star
Kansas City-area product Caroline Bien tied a career-high with 21 kills, powering unranked Kansas volleyball to a 3-1 victory (25-13, 26-24, 19-25, 25-22) over host and 14th-ranked Creighton on Friday night in the NCAA Round of 32 at D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha, Nebraska.

Bits o Chalk

Man United's Ralf Rangnick wants Chris Armas to join coaching staff - sources
Manchester United are exploring the possibility of hiring former United States international Chris Armas as part of Ralf Rangnick's staff, sources have told ESPN.

Oklahoma hires Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables as Sooners' new football coach
A deal was finalized Sunday night after OU athletic director Joe Castiglione flew to the Clemson, South Carolina, area to meet with Venables, who had emerged as the Sooners' top target. Venables flew back with the Oklahoma contingent Sunday night and will be formally introduced Monday morning.

Eraser Dust

Beijing Olympics: Biden admin expected to announce diplomatic boycott this week - CNNPolitics
(CNN)The Biden administration is expected to announce this week that no US government officials will attend the 2022 Beijing Olympics, implementing a diplomatic boycott of the games, according to several sources.

Michigan AG offers to help investigate high school shooting : NPR
"We have reached out to the attorney for the Oxford Community School District and have offered the services of the Michigan [Department] of Attorney General to conduct a full and comprehensive review" of the shooting "and the events leading up to it," Attorney General Dana Nessel said Sunday morning on Twitter.

Fauci Optimistic After Early Reports Suggest Omicron Lacks 'Great Degree of Severity'
"Thus far, it does not look like there's a great degree of severity to it," Fauci explained. "But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn't cause any severe illness, comparable to Delta."

Next pandemic could be more lethal than COVID, vaccine creator says | Reuters
LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Future pandemics could be even more lethal than COVID-19 so the lessons learned from the outbreak must not be squandered and the world should ensure it is prepared for the next viral onslaught, one of the creators of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine said.

Kalispell carwash supports Salvation Army's Red Kettle Campaign | KECI
MISSOULA, Mont. — The annual Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign will kick off at Auto-Mutt Dog & Car Wash in Kalispell this year.

Pro-Trump counties now have far higher COVID death rates : Shots - Health News : NPR
Since May 2021, people living in counties that voted heavily for Donald Trump during the last presidential election have been nearly three times as likely to die from COVID-19 as those who live in areas that went for now-President Biden. That's according to a new analysis by NPR that examines how political polarization and misinformation are driving a significant share of the deaths in the pandemic.

Taco Bell Worker Is Leaving After 20 Years Because of Entitled Customers
The employee says that things have gotten especially bad since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020. Customers have become more critical and angry towards workers in the service industry, and suddenly "people think it's perfectly okay to be intolerant, demand things, and just be unreasonable," he said, to the point where his work is "almost untenable."