In a sports world full of quarantines and opt outs, empty venues and cardboard cutouts, rule changes and daily testing—week one of the NFL season was bound to be a relative unknown. With exhibition games canceled and the media limited, the first week of the NFL would have to serve as a limited sample size in answering many of the questions about the teams around the league, the quarterback carousels, and the sport in general. Here are ten things we learned: The Jacksonville Jaguars are not tanking for Trevor – After shipping players like Jalen Ramsey, Leonard Fournette, and Nick Foles to... Read More

It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  But by the end of last season’s Fantasy Football season it seemed as if I had proven the definition to be wrong. Last season I used the same tried and true system that had made me a perennial playoff contender for years, and yet my result were different.  This time I had failed. I always start with a running back in round one of my fantasy draft before aggressively going after a top tight end in round two.  Round three always has me at the quarterback position selecting... Read More

To say that 2020 has been a bit strange is an understatement.  People wear a mask when entering banks, toilet paper and Clorox wipes are the new currency, and being home-schooled has a whole new meaning. In a year that has included political division, countless protests, and a worldwide pandemic, it is only with the return of sports that we are allowed distraction for a few hours, briefly returning to a world we once deemed sane. Sports are the rational in a time of irrationality, the normal in times of abnormality, and the calming in times of calamity. At least until this week that is. The... Read More

The University of Iowa announced that it will be cutting four athletic programs starting in the 2021-22 school year as revenue decline due to COVID-19, and the apparent absence of college football, continue to dismantle athletic departments across the country. The Hawkeyes will drop Men’s Gymnastics, Men’s Tennis, and Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving from their program, joining Stanford, Boise State, Dartmouth, and a long list of Division I schools that have cut nonrevenue sports in an effort to trim expenses. Despite the vast economics departments, numerous professors, and most prized... Read More

Ask someone to name their favorite sport and you will find a variety of answers.  The question so subjective that a crack of a bat, smell of fresh cut grass, or even taste of cheese dip may elicit contrasting responses. Ask someone to name the toughest sport and you will find arguments defending the size and speed of the everyday linebacker, the blood and bruises of the MMA fighter, and the toothless grin of the second-line hockey player.  Again subjective. But ask which sport has done the best job returning to play during a pandemic and there looks to be plenty of evidence to judge them objectively. ... Read More

As congressional leaders continue to work on the latest Coronavirus Relief Bill, a major point of contention between the two parties is how they should handle the expired unemployment benefits.  One side has argued that the $600 a week benefit, which expired on July 31, should be extended by the Federal Government as families continue to struggle in an environment that includes double-digit unemployment, a struggling economy, and a dangerous pandemic. The other side argues that the $600 was too generous as it discouraged Americans from going back to work, often paying the unemployed more than... Read More

An asterisk.  Look up the definition in Webster’s and you will find it described as the following: the character * thought of as being appended to something (such as an athletic accomplishment included in a record book) typically in order to indicate that there is a limiting fact or consideration which makes that thing less important or impressive than it would otherwise be. In sports, the asterisk first made a splash in 1961 after Roger Maris set a single-season home run record with 61, passing the legendary Babe Ruth’s mark of 60 set back in 1927.  The issue was that Ruth hit his 60 home... Read More

Lou Williams rejoined his NBA teammates after an eventful few days outside the Disney World bubble that included a trip to Atlanta, the memorial of a family friend, and finally, a well-publicized stop at a Gentlemen’s Club. The 6’1” shooting guard and reigning Sixth-Man-of-the-Year for the Los Angeles Clippers was provided an excused absence by the league to leave Orlando and their COVID-19 high secured environment in order to attend the viewing of a family friend that had recently passed.  But after a social media posting by a rapper and friend of Williams—Jack Harlow—of both men attending... Read More

It had to have been more than a decade ago that I found myself arguing with the Admissions Department at a nearby University.  Looking to do some post-grad work, I found it absurd that the department needed a copy of my high school transcripts despite the fact that I was already years removed from the bachelor’s degree I had earned prior.  But I relented. Opening my computer, I started with the obvious and searched for University High School in Los Angeles, but it didn’t show up.  I searched high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, schools in West Los Angeles, and even the... Read More

As I headed downstairs to make coffee the other morning, I stared at the empty calendar hanging in the kitchen. The quarantine had turned the days and months irrelevant.  My sports-themed, Drew Litton calendar, usually marked up with family activities, summer road trips, and neighborhood barbeques, hung empty. Past July’s had meant trips to the Coast for days on the beach, small town festivals filled with music and food, and visiting family across the states. The highlight of this summer was watching Hamilton on Disney Plus. It was then that I noticed that, according to my calendar, Tuesday,... Read More