The Rock Chalkboard

3-star Texas prep Jacobe Chester decommits from KU football | KUsports.com
Rated a three-star athlete by Rivals, Chester called his recruitment “100% open” in a tweet announcing his decision to back out with the Jayhawks.

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self deems Jayhawks ready for the next step, but not necessarily for a game yet | KUsports.com
“I think we have a lot of nice pieces,” Self said during a Zoom interview with the media on Tuesday. “But the person that’s probably not as ready is me because I don’t have an idea yet on how it all fits. I’m really looking forward to seeing how all the pieces fit once we get comfortable together.”

Huge 3rd quarter swings ruining KU football's chances of late | KUsports.com
In KU’s two most recent defeats — in Lawrence versus Baylor, and on the road at Duke — the team was outscored 35-3 in the third quarters. On the season, foes hold a decisive 49-13 advantage in third-quarter scoring.

Bits o Chalk

TCU's Gary Patterson rips SMU; Horned Frogs assistant Jerry Kill sustained concussion in postgame fracas
Patterson on Tuesday said SMU orchestrated an attempt to plant its flag at midfield at Amon G. Carter Stadium if the Mustangs won. After SMU's 42-34 victory, several players tried to plant the flag at midfield. TCU players responded to the attempt, and Horned Frogs assistant coach Jerry Kill sustained a concussion after being knocked down twice on the field. Kill, the former Minnesota and Northern Illinois head coach, has epilepsy, but he is OK and has returned to work, Patterson said.

Manny Pacquiao, only eight-division champion in boxing history, announces retirement
Manny Pacquiao, one of the greatest boxers of all time, announced his retirement Tuesday night, three months shy of his 43rd birthday and one month after a decision loss to Yordenis Ugas.

Los Angeles Lakers' Russell Westbrook - Playing with LeBron James 'helps my game'
"It was going to work," Westbrook told ESPN on Tuesday during the Lakers' annual media day, held at the team practice facility.

New England Patriots book goes inside secretive and controversial franchise and Robert Kraft, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick
In the end, Tom Brady just wanted to say goodbye -- in person -- to his longtime coach. But according to a new book to be published next month, Bill Belichick said he wasn't available and insisted the two New England Patriots legends talk on the phone.

Eraser Dust

MDT looking to fill snowplow driver positions before winter
The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) is responsible for plowing roughly 25,000 lane miles of highway. Right now they’re trying to fill snowplow driver positions across the state.

Can you guess the world's most hated fast food chains?
Rave Reviews used SentiStrength, a language analysis tool, to scan over a million brand-related tweets and determine whether the overall sentiment toward those brands was negative or positive. RAVE Reviews then compiled the most loathed brands in every country based on “hate rate,” or the highest percentage of negative tweets. (By the way, this is non-food related, but Uber was the most hated brand overall in the United States, at 48.35% negative tweets. Just... something to consider.)

GOP could split Colorado’s House seats under new congressional map - POLITICO
Colorado’s new independent redistricting commission passed a congressional map late Tuesday that would give Republicans a decent shot at controlling four of eight House seats in a fast-growing state that's become reliably blue.

Dead & Company Cancels Florida Concerts
Dead & Company canceled the first two shows of their upcoming fall tour. Dates in the Florida cities of West Palm Beach on October 6 and Tampa on October 7 have been axed “due to routing and production logistics” according to a note from the sextet.

Steven Van Zandt says Bruce Springsteen is 'playing a character' as he reflects on fallout | Fox News
"He completely, 180 degrees changed his identity. He’s fronting, he’s playing a character," said Van Zandt. "That was the most important moment of his life because he stayed in that persona forever."

Youth suicides in Kalispell continue to grow, community takes a stance | KECI
Recently the Nate Schute Foundation partnered with Kalispell Logan Health to bring in Dr. Scott Poland, a national expert in suicide prevention, to address the Kalispell community, to have that open conversation of suicide and mental health.

Bill Cosby feels R. Kelly 'got railroaded' at sex-trafficking trial
Cosby believes the pervy singer “was screwed” and that “he wasn’t going to catch a break,” during the month-long trial, according to his spokesman, Andrew Wyatt.