The Rock Chalkboard

Kansas football at Coastal Carolina (2021): Preview & prediction
Each week before the Jayhawks kick off, Phog.net will go through the matchup and list three things to look for in the upcoming game. Some of the factors may be the same from week to week, but consider this a guide of sorts to your game-day experience.

Preview: Kansas preparing for unique challenge at Coastal Carolina
Brian Borland has been coaching for a long, long while — more than 30 years in fact. He's seen just about every kind of offense that you can face, and he's served at the helm of Lance Leipold's defensive staffs for the last 14 years.

Recruiting Period Live Blog: Tracking who is visiting the top high school prospects
The Recruiting Period has officially kicked off and college basketball coaches are allowed to go off-campus and make in-person contacts and evaluations with their recruits.

Ask EBoss: Latest on high profile 2022 targets
With each passing day, less top talent remains on the board and over half of 247Sports top 150 for the class of 2022 have made their college choice. But, there are still some big fish on the board and not surprisingly our readers want to hear the latest.

Bits o Chalk

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott throws for 403 yards and 3 TDs in 1st game in 11 months
It turns out they were right, but that was not enough to overcome Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Cowboys lost 31-29 on a 36-yard field goal by Ryan Succop with two seconds to play Thursday night.

MLB: Hunter Renfroe 'completely wrong' in saying that Boston Red Sox were told to stop testing amid COVID-19 outbreak
Major League Baseball on Thursday denied Boston Red Sox outfielder Hunter Renfroe's allegation that the league told the team to stop testing for COVID-19 amid the outbreak spreading through its clubhouse.

New Los Angeles Lakers center DeAndre Jordan says Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving remain 'brothers beyond basketball'
He quickly assured the trio's friendship is still intact. It was his role with the Nets -- who came to rely on Blake Griffin and Nicolas Claxton at the 5 last season before signing LaMarcus Aldridge and Paul Millsap to add to their frontcourt rotation this summer -- that changed.

Patrick Reed 'likes' tweets disparaging captain Steve Stricker over Ryder Cup snub
Steve Stricker's at-large picks for his U.S. Ryder Cup team did not include Patrick Reed, one of the few American players with a winning record in the competition that has frustratingly seen Europe capture nine of the last 12 events.

Eraser Dust

Comedians Reflect on Performing After 9/11
We are now used to the calm voice of a late-night host after a mass shooting, but in those first couple weeks, people weren’t ready, expecting, or wanting to process what happened. Many comedians didn’t talk about it or simply made a passing reference at the top of their sets. The comedians who did feel an obligation to talk it out were sometimes received positively and sometimes received combatively. Sheryl Underwood was thanked after a show by an air-traffic controller who helped guide United Flight 93, while Marc Maron was confronted by a Marine in the audience telling him “You can’t say that.” Looking back on his first post-9/11 stand-up set, David Cross put it this way: “I would say the audience was not nearly as comfortable as I was talking about it.”

Biden announces new vaccine mandates that could cover 100 million Americans - CNNPolitics
At the center of Biden's new plan is directing the Labor Department to require all businesses with 100 or more employees ensure their workers are either vaccinated or tested once a week, an expansive step the President took after consultation with administration health officials and lawyers. Companies could face thousands of dollars in fines per employee if they don't comply.

New poll finds Gavin Newsom likely to beat recall effort - Los Angeles Times
SACRAMENTO — Momentum has turned strongly against the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom with just days to go before voting ends, a change that comes after a deluge of political ads and support from leading Democrats who have slammed the effort as a Republican power grab.

Los Angeles mandates COVID-19 vaccines for students 12 and older - CBS News
The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest school district in the country, approved a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students 12 and older on Thursday— one of the most aggressive measures taken by any school district to protect children.

Walmart ends quarterly bonuses, as it raises employees' hourly pay
A company spokeswoman confirmed Thursday that the big-box retailer is eliminating the additional pay on Jan. 31, 2022, and rolling it into its workers’ base pay. The bonuses — dispersed four times per year — have been paid out for decades.

“He Could Be The Beast of All Beasts” - Noel Gallagher Reveals Why Manchester City Fans Want One Striker Over Harry Kane - Sports Illustrated Manchester City News, Analysis and More
Manchester City’s much-publicised pursuit of Tottenham striker Harry Kane was met with a disappointing end during the course of the summer transfer window, and Noel Gallagher believes the club should have targeted Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland and teammate Jude Bellingham instead.

Kalispell's Samaritan House eyes expansion
“It includes 16-to-18, two and three-bedroom apartments. We’re hoping to keep them priced super affordable such that a single-income family can afford it,” Samaritan House Executive Director Chris Krager told MTN News.

Amazon offers to pay college fees of 750,000 frontline US workers | Amazon | The Guardian
Amazon has offered to pay the cost of college tuition fees for 750,000 of its frontline workers, the latest move by a major US company to offer perks to attract and retain staff amid a labour shortage.