Hot Clicks: The XFL's Suspended Operations Likely Isn't Temporary

“It’s done. It’s not coming back.”

The headlines read, “XFL suspends operations,” on Friday, but, according to sources from several media outlets, this isn’t temporary; the XFL is not returning in 2021 and has an uncertain future beyond that.

“According to a prominent former XFL staffer who was on the call, [XFL COO Jeffrey] Pollack stopped short of saying the league was going out of business,” reported ESPN’s Kevin Siefert and Field Yates “But the strong implication was clear. ‘It's done,’ the staffer said. ‘It's not coming back.’ “

In suspending the league, four weeks after the coronavirus forced the shutdown and almost exactly 19 years after the original XFL folded, nearly everyone was laid off. Seven things you might miss from the XFL, the Chargers signed an XFL lineman, and we’ll never forget the Defenders’ beer snake tradition.

Colby Cave

Edmonton Oilers’ forward Colby Cave, 25, died Saturday morning after suffering a brain bleed earlier in the week.

"It is with great sadness to share the news that our Colby Cave passed away this morning," his wife Emily said in a statement. "I and both our families are in shock but know our Colby was loved dearly by us, his family and friends, the entire hockey community and many more. We thank everyone for their prayers during this difficult time."

Cave, a native of Saskatchewan, was airlifted to a Toronto hospital on Tuesday and spent the last four days in a medically induced coma after brain surgery to remove a cyst that was causing brain pressure. Because of coronavirus restrictions, his wife and other family members were unable to visit him in the hospital.

It might be a while...

“The NBA, NFL and MLB are dreaming up ways to play amid a pandemic, with talk of isolating players in Arizona or Las Vegas or maybe on the moon. It all sounds great, until you talk to people who actually know science.”

And the people “who actually know science,” whom SI’s Stephanie Apstein spoke with for her article “Bursting the Bubble: Why Sports Aren't Coming Back Soon,” say we won’t have sporting events with fans until there’s a vaccine. And leagues may want to pump the brakes on radical ideas like the MLB’s quarantined league in Arizona.

“The idea of a quarantined sports league that can still go on sounds really good in theory,” says Zach Binney, a PhD in epidemiology who wrote his dissertation on injuries in the NFL and now teaches at Emory. “But it’s a lot harder to pull off in practice than most people appreciate.”

Odds & Ends

25 best novelty college football games this season … 100 non-conference college football games I don’t want to lose to cancellations … Tiger King has crazy viewer numbers over the last 10 days … Vontae Davis’s former teammates tell the story of his halftime retirement … FOX NFL analyst Charles Davis is joining CBS to replace Dan Fouts as their No. 2 analyst … ICYMI: Sean Payton obliterated the Falcons with a 28-to-3 tweet … Coronavirus cancellations have changed the College Football Playoff expansion debate … Former NFL players say who should be the first receiver drafted this year … Ranking Tiger’s Masters performances …

Kate Upton

How...

Homecoming Season 2

There’s a wall

No. 1 song 25 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hiUuL5uTKc

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