Hometown Broadcasting Sports Thursday 6/4/20
4 June 2020 Sports
On a call with the NBA’s Board of Governors on Thursday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver will outline a 22-team proposal for returning to play at Walt Disney World Resort, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
The league’s owners are expected to endorse the proposal, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The proposal reportedly includes the 16 teams currently slotted for playoffs seeds and six additional teams. According to Wojnarowski, all 22 teams will play eight additional regular-season games to determine seeding prior to a play-in series for the eighth seed. That tournament will feature the eighth- and ninth-place teams, only if they finish within four games of each other, Charania reported. The ninth-place team would then have to win two straight head-to-head games to unseat the eighth seed.
The six teams joining the current top-eight seeds in each conference are the Portland Trail Blazers, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards, per Wojnarowski. Only the Wizards represent the Eastern Conference. The East’s Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls are the only teams currently within eight games of a playoff spot that will not be invited.
The league reportedly plans to resume the regular season on July 31 and finish playoffs by October 12.
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Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is speaking out for social justice as protests against racial inequality spread across the country after the death of a black man under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer.
In an Instagram post Wednesday afternoon, Rodgers recalls in 2017, when other NFL players were kneeling during the anthem to protest racial injustice, Packers players were criticized for a show of solidarity standing with their arms linked together.
Rodgers wrote on Instagram, “A few years ago we were criticized for locking arms in solidarity before the game. It has NEVER been about the anthem or a flag. Not then. Not now. Listen with an open heart, let’s educate ourselves, and then turn word and thought into action.”
He followed that with hashtags #wakeupamerica, #itstimeforchange, #loveoverfear, #solidarity, #libertyandjusticeforall #all
Rodgers doesn’t mention fellow NFL quarterback Drew Brees in his post, but it comes after the New Orleans Saints quarterback’s comments about social activism.
Brees told ESPN he stands with his teammates in fighting for social justice and racial equality but would never agree with anyone disrespecting the American flag — referring to NFL players kneeling during the anthem.
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On Wednesday, the league rejected the union’s 114-game proposal and made it clear that it would not send a counterproposal. MLB reportedly remains open to conversations with the union about how to restart a season without fans but it has also made it clear owners and commissioner Rob Manfred are prepared to move forward with unilaterally implementing a schedule as short as 50 games.
In not making a counterproposal, the league is essentially saying it is done negotiating unless the MLBPA is willing to move off its demand for receiving full salaries for games played. The same March 26 agreement that the players are citing for prorated salaries also gives the commissioner power to determine season start and length. Thus, the league could cut player salary costs while still honoring the terms of that agreement by simply playing fewer games.
A 50-game season allows the owners to pay roughly 30 percent of a typical season’s agreed-upon salaries, without having to successfully renegotiate how players are paid. It’s unclear how seriously MLB is considering such a short season or if it’s primarily a tactic to demonstrate the ability to extract economic concessions without the union’s sign-off, but it is at least posturing at moving ahead with a plan that doesn’t involve a successful negotiation.
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Johnny Majors, a college football legend as both a player and coach, has died. He was 85.
Majors, a Tennessee native, was a star tailback at the University of Tennessee before going on to an illustrious run as head coach at Iowa State, Pittsburgh and his alma mater. The College Football Hall of Famer died Wednesday morning, his wife of 61 years, Mary Lynn Majors, said in a statement to WNML.
Following a brief professional career, Majors entered the world of coaching. He first worked as an assistant at Tennessee before moving on to Mississippi State and Arkansas, also in assistant roles. From there, he would land his first head-coaching job at Iowa State, where he spent five seasons and brought the Cyclones to their first bowl game appearances in 1971 and 1972.
Majors then moved on to a four-year stint at Pitt that culminated in a perfect 12-0 record and national championship in 1976. The ’76 Panthers were led by star running back Tony Dorsett, who rushed for 2,150 yards and 22 touchdowns and won the Heisman.
After he won the national title at Pitt, Majors returned to his beloved Tennessee. He would coach the Vols from 1977-92, amassing a 116-62-8 record with three SEC titles, three top 10 finishes and a 7-4 record in bowl games. A street on Tennessee’s campus in Knoxville is named Johnny Majors Drive in his honor.
Majors and UT parted ways in 1992, leading to one last stint at Pitt. He coached the Panthers for four more seasons before deciding to retire in 1996 from coaching. Majors stayed at Pitt, working as a special assistant to the athletic director until 2007.
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Demetri Goodson has been promoted to college scout covering the Midlands region after spending last season as a scouting intern for the Packers. He was originally drafted by Green Bay in the sixth round (No. 197 overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft out of Baylor. In four seasons with the Packers, Goodson played in 26 regular-season games with three starts and appeared in two postseason contests. The former basketball player at Gonzaga (2008-11) also spent some time on the New Orleans Saints’ roster in 2018.
Brandian Ross (first name pronounced Brandon), who spent the last two years as a college scout covering the Midlands region for the Packers, will now scout the Southwest region. He joined the Packers’ personnel department in 2017 as a scoutingintern and then was a scouting assistant before being promoted to college scout in May 2018. The former defensive back originally signed with Green Bay as an undrafted free agent in 2011 and spent time on the Packers’ practice squad during the 2011-12 seasons. From 2012-15, Ross played in 45 games with 24 starts for the Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins.
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