The Rock Chalkboard

'It's still fun': Injured left foot not keeping KU freshman Bobby Pettiford down | KUsports.com
Topeka — With the soreness in his injured left foot dissipating, Kansas freshman point guard Bobby Pettiford experienced a different kind of pain on Tuesday, when the Jayhawks went through their first day of summer workouts with Pettiford as a bystander.

Jayhawks expecting weekend visit from Top 5 Class of 2022 hoops prospect Chris Livingston | Tale of the Tait | KUsports.com
The Kansas men’s basketball program’s summer is set to heat up dramatically this weekend, when one of the top players in the 2022 recruiting class makes an official visit to campus.

KU football OC Andy Kotelnicki values collaborating when building a play sheet | KUsports.com
KU’s offensive coordinator said he considers that part of the process the starting point for that week’s game plan. He thinks highly of the merging of ideas, because that gives him multiple perspectives — “What do they see with their eyes and the position that they’re working with?”

Lance Leipold announces new additions to KU football support staff | KUsports.com
Two of the program’s newest employees, director of scouting Scott Aligo and director of recruiting Greg Svarczkopf, will play key roles in KU’s behind the scenes recruiting efforts.

KU pole vaulter earns All-American status in first appearance at NCAA Outdoor Championships | KUsports.com
The Wellsville native entered the competition at the opening height of 4.05 meters and she cleared the mark on her first attempt. That moved her to the 4.2-meter height, which she also cleared on her first try.

3 KU track standouts earn All-American honors at NCAA Outdoor Championships | KUsports.com
Led by a second-place finish by hammer thrower Gleb Dudarev, three University of Kansas track athletes earned All-American honors at Day 1 of this year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships on Wednesday.

QB Miles Kendrick named KU football's first 'guy of the week' during summer workouts | KUsports.com
“Guy of the week is the guy that moves the needle the most in this program — not just maintains the standard or is consistent with it, but he is relentlessly pursuing the enhancement of our standard here,” Gildersleeve explained in a video posted to KU football’s social media accounts.

Lawmakers agree NCAA needs NIL help, but how much and when? | KUsports.com
A federal law governing how college athletes can earn money off their fame and celebrity seems certain to pass — at some point.

Eraser Dust

Toronto Raptors' Pascal Siakam undergoes shoulder surgery, to miss five months
The Raptors said Friday that Siakam had surgery last week to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, with an anticipated recovery and rehabilitation time of five months. That timetable would mean Siakam can play again in early November -- about two weeks after the NBA plans to open the 2021-22 season.

Michael Malone on Denver Nuggets' 3-0 hole - 'We have rewritten history' before
"I know for myself, I can't speak for anyone else, the last thing I want to see is the Phoenix Suns pushing a broom across our court after Game 4," Malone said. "We have had a tremendous season, tremendous. I said going into this year you can't judge a season by the end result. We got to the Western Conference finals last year, certain things can happen, but we can have a better season this year but not get as far.

Ben Simmons goes on attack after half to lead Philadelphia 76ers in Game 3 rout
Philadelphia 76ers wing Ben Simmons had his hands full on defense in the first half of Friday's eventual 127-111 win over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Trying to keep up with Hawks star Trae Young is no simple assignment.

Eraser Dust

Noel Gallagher reveals plans for solo tour of Oasis tracks
He told The Sun: “When I am making a record, I don’t think about my legacy. I am in the trenches with the songs and I follow my instincts. How they come out is how they come out. As a whole, High Flying Birds is a totally different set-up to Oasis. They couldn’t be more different.

“But when I put together a show, you have to merge the two. You can’t charge people £70 a ticket and not do a handful of Oasis songs, some of the most famous songs of the Nineties.”

Montana, the sold-out state New Yorkers can't get enough of
According to Realtor.com, just before the pandemic in December 2019, the average home price in Whitefish, a town of 7,700 people just south of Glacier National Park, was $369,450. A year and a half later, that has almost doubled — and the average home price is now $704,000. Local average wages in Whitefish are just $30,642, according to bestplaces.net.

Biden flourishes in Trump’s absence from the world stage - POLITICO
Biden’s predecessor spent four years disparaging world leaders — in public and on Twitter— accusing their countries of freeloading off the United States. He pulled out of international agreements, refused to sign others and scoffed at the trans-Atlantic alliances that served as a bedrock of U.S. foreign policy in the post-WWII era.

Joe Biden Gifts Boris Johnson $6k Bike, Johnson Gives a Photo Printed From Wikipedia
President Joe Biden gifted British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a new, $6,000, custom-made touring bicycle and helmet at their first meeting on Thursday.

As part of the customary exchange, Johnson gave Biden a free-to-use Wikipedia photo of a British mural depicting Black 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglass in return.

Bigfork to bring back popular Fourth of July parade | Daily Inter Lake
The Bigfork Fourth of July Parade typically draws between 3,000 and 5,000 attendees each year, and if the other recent events are anything to go by, turnout could be on the high side.

Who Built the Road, Daddy? - Flathead Beacon
On her way to countless hikes in Glacier National Park over the years, Joyce Siblerud Schmautz would always marvel at the engineering wonder of Going-to-the-Sun Road. The fascination had a personal element: two of her uncles, Harold and Maynard Siblerud, helped build the iconic alpine highway nearly a century ago.