VCU LEARNS (HARD WAY) ABOUT DEALING WITH CITY

 

Of all things:

Wow! Did Richmond (the city of) stick it to VCU by deferring payment 

of $25 million and thereby forcing the school to delay construction of 

new facilities. By the time the city does pay up … no telling how much 

the planned athletics village will cost. This is just another example of 

why you do not want to do business with Richmond … which says it 

needs the money to build a new baseball stadium by 2026 to keep the 

Flying Squirrels or any minor-league team for that matter. Don’t hold 

your breath, fans!

BREAKING NEWS: Audacy, the nation's leader in radio stations

owned -- 227 including Richmond's WRNL-910 and WRVA-1140 -- 

filed for Chapter II bankruptcy Sunday. The conglomerate, which also 

lists several podcasts, owes $1.9 billion. Ownership said reorganization 

could reduce the amount to less than $400 million. It did not say what -- 

if any -- changes would effect local programming.

SAY THIS FOR the Chicago Blackhawks … they are not very good 

but they will go the extra mile when someone takes advantage of one of 

their own. Friday night New Jersey defenseman Brendan Smith 

popped Connor Bedard in the face with a crunching check, sending the 

odds-on favorite for NHL rookie of the year to the dressing room with a 

fractured jaw. That set in motion a penalty-filled second period in which 

Smith dropped the gloves with Nick Foligno, who landed most of the 

blows (although none appeared to inflict damage) and suffered a broken 

finger as a result.

To its credit, the Blackhawks’ broadcast crew … that included former 

enforcer/goon John Scott … did not accuse Smith of delivering a cheap 

shot. (The fact that he was not penalized could have meant the game 

officials didn’t see it.) Bedard, 18, was caught with his head down and 

didn’t see the big hit coming. He immediately grabbed his jaw, skated 

slowly to the bench, left the ice and never returned. Bedard was put on 

IR and is expected to be out a minimum of five weeks.

Foligno also went on IR, one of nine Chicago players now sidelined 

with injuries, and the undermanned Blackhawks’ took a 2-1 lead into the 

final period only to bow 4-2, extending their road losing streak to 14. 

“Hey, they stuck up for each other … and that’s what this game is all 

about,” said Hawks’ game analyst Darren Pang. 

Yes, that is the same B. Smith who was the only New York Ranger 

willing to take on Washington tough guy Tom Wilson after fans, media 

and presumably front office demanded retribution for his mauling of 

Artemi Panarin and Pavel Buchnevich during a May, 2021 game. At 

Madison Square Garden, in the teams’ next meeting, the Rangers pretty 

much kept their distance until Smith challenged Wilson and became 

another punching bag for the big right winger.

WHEN WAS the last time you saw … both teams penalized for delay 

of game because they were late leaving the ice following pre-game 

warmup? Only in the Federal Prospects Hockey League … Saturday 

night in Columbus, Ga., the River Dragons and Blue Ridge (Wytheville) 

Bobcats skated 4 on 4 to open the game won 7-0 by the home team 

owned by Richmond resident Jeff Croop.

BRIEFLY TOLD:

Has there ever been a more worthless press conference than Sunday’s 

snoozefest leading up to Monday night’s college championship game? It 

sounded orchestrated, like every question had to be submitted in 

advance … and coaches Jim Harbaugh (Michigan) and Kailen Deboer 

(Washington) could choose which ones they would answer. Talk about 

BORING!

Just about everyone thinks Harbaugh, whose program faces more 

sanctions for cheating, will beat the posse and return to the NFL. San 

Diego and Las Vegas are considered frontrunners.

Your Washington Commanders will replace Ron Rivera with …? How 

about Southern Cal’s Lincoln Riley? Or the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin?

Just asking. PLEASE ... not Bill Belichick, who is about to become a 

free agent.

It’s official … 20,000-plus college football viewers voted ESPN’s Chris 

Fowlerand Kirk Herbstreit No. 1 in Awful Announcing’s annual Top 

20 poll. They barely edged another ESPN tandem of Sean McDonough 

and Greg McElroy.

A shakeup of  “The NFL Today” could mean free agency for Phil 

Simms, arguably the second best all-time pro football game analyst 

reduced to studio show duty in recent years by CBS. Also said on the 

way out are possibly host James Brown and, more than likely, Boomer 

Esiason.

Maybe CBS is wising up to the fact the old format of five talking heads 

saying virtually nothing has grown stale and out of touch.

Fox should take the hint, too. Speaking of which … Howie Long was 

missing yesterday because of unspecified illness. Could it be we’ve seen 

the last of him?

Until next time ...