Sports Time Radio

Since it’s been awhile since we’ve had any sports played people might not remember how Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz had what would easily be described as a lackadaisical attitude to the spread of the Coronavirus. You might remember the way Gobert acted at a press conference before the NBA shutdown. He made sure to touch every microphone at that press conference.

Gobert’s actions put not only himself, but pretty much the entire Jazz organization at risk. Now by this point NBA teams had been informed of the Coronavirus and teams had started to take preventative measures to try to keep players and team employees safe.

As it turned out Gobert’s action turned out to be stupid as he was the first NBA player to be diagnosed with the Coronavirus.

Now the second player who tested positive for the Coronavirus ended up being Gobert’s teammate Donovan Mitchell and it appears as though Mitchell is upset with Gobert’s actions and there is an issue with their relationship.

Now there’s no way to tell if Gobert was the person who passed the Coronavirus onto Mitchell, but it’s possible that just Gobert’s actions as the outbreak was starting might be enough to cause tension between the two players. There are some reports out their that the relationship between Mitchell and Gobert might be permanently damaged because of this situation.

Since there’s no basketball on the schedule for the foreseeable future; so the Jazz will have time to try and repair the relationship between Gobert and Mitchell. Unfortunately it appears as though Mitchell has no interest in fixing the relationship between the two players. We’ll have to see if time and distance apart will help smooth things over in this relationship, but there was a quote from someone with knowledge of this situation that said “It doesn’t appear salvageable” meaning the relationship between Mitchell and Gobert.

If the situation between Mitchell and Gobert can’t be worked out it would be a very sad situation for the Jazz. Utah has spent many years putting their team together and Mitchell and Gobert are their top two players. How would having to trade one of them affect the team? Which player would be traded? And what could they get for him?

Now luckily for Mitchell he ended up getting through his Coronavirus situation without too much trouble, but that was only by chance. Now will have to see if Mitchell and Gobert can get through their situation.

The NBA has already had their players compete in a NBA 2k20 tournament to try to keep fans interest in basketball and now the NBA has put together a H-O-R-S-E competition which will be televised by ESPN. The competition will feature current and past NBA players along with players from the WNBA.

All games will be filmed while competing at home locations on indoor or outdoor courts and it will be a traditional shot for shot H-O-R-S-E competition like you and your friends use to have on the playground.

A coin toss will decided which player gets to shoot first with the senior player getting to call the coin toss. Dunking is prohibited and players must describe each of their shots attempts such as a bank shot or if the player is going for a swish which are pretty much standard H-O-R-S-E rules and just like in a regular game of H-O-R-S-E- the first player to miss five shots and spell out H-O-R-S-E will be eliminated.

Here are the first round match ups.

Trae Young vs. Chauncey Billups

Tamika Catchings vs. Mike Conley

Zach LaVine vs. Paul Pierce

Chris Paul vs. Allie Quigley

ESPN will show their entire tournament with the first round airing on ESPN April 12th at 6:00 p.m. cst. The semi-finals and the finals will both air on April 16th. The semi-final will air on ESPN at 8:00 p.m. cst on the 16th with the finals following at 10:00 p.m. cst.

I’m actually thinking that this could be fun to watch depending on how it’s film. If they can keep the show moving at a quick pace and there isn’t a lot of down time between shots it might be something decent to watch, but my fear is there will be a lot of standing around and talking between shots to fill time.

Do you think this is something you’d enjoy watching? While we’re at it; who do think will win this H-O-R-S-E competition?

I was sad to hear that the XFL has suspended operations and have laid off nearly all of their employees. Just a handful of executives remain employed with the XFL, but the league has no plans right now to play in 2021.

The XFL is owed by WWE CEO/ President Vince McMahon and Alpha Entertainment and they released a statement saying “Given the uncertainty of the current environment, the XFL has suspended operations and is evaluating next steps.”

The XFL canceled its season last month after five games as part of a nationwide shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, pledging to return next year, but XFL CEO Jeffrey Pollack changed course Friday, conducting a 10 minute conference call to inform employees of the news.

One of the XFL staffer that was on the conference call with Pollack mentioned that it wasn’t said that the league was going out of business, but this staffer was quoted as saying “It’s done” and “It’s not coming back.”

The XFL wouldn’t made no immediate comment not only on these two quotes, but on any kind of return.

I would be disappointed to see the go away again after just a 5 game season. Remember this is the second time McMahon has attempted to get a professional football league up and running. Of course the first version of the XFL was much, much different than what we saw last season; which honestly was a much better version.

How do you feel about what looks to be the end of the XFL?

With the failure AAF and now what appears to be the end of the XFL; will we see another professional football league any time soon?

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