Sports this 'n' that

More than 24 hours later, there are still headlines about the passing of former LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant after he, his daughter, Gianna, 13, and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday morning.

Bryant, 41, had such an impact not only on the game of basketball, but on sports and pop culture. In addition to the moments of silence before each NBA game Sunday, NFL players gathered at halftime of the Pro Bowl in prayer. Grammy host Alicia Keys & Boyz II Men teamed to perform the latter's 1992 hit, "It's so Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" in memory of Bryant. Even WWE announcer Michael Cole got in on it, offering condolences on behalf of WWE during the Royal Rumble.

The tributes from not only the NBA, but the NFL, WWE, and elsewhere, are still pouring in today.

But, there is a downside.

Take, for example, CBS, which had the Farmers Insurance Open (formerly the Andy Williams San Diego Open back in the day). Tiger Woods, a friend of Bryant, was in contention, but finished ninth. After Woods finished his round, CBS cameras left the course with him, practically, so they could cover a hastily scheduled press conference.

You & I know that won't play well in New York with media gadflies Phil Mushnick and Bob Raissman.

ESPN & ABC, which carried the Pro Bowl, jumped to a quickly produced special report on Bryant that didn't really add anything to what had already been reported. Not even sure if the game was still going on or was over by the time of the cutaway. I get that the tragedy is big news, but does it need to trump (no pun intended) other events?

That ain't for me to decide.
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Speaking of the Pro Bowl, aside from defensive quarterback sacks, they played two-handed touch football with the receivers and running backs to prevent unnecessary injury. Welcome to the playground game. Oh, by the way, the AFC won, 38-33.
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Remember the Hula Bowl? The college all star game was brought back after a 12 year hiatus Sunday night in Honolulu, and, for the first time that I can think of, the game wasn't on ESPN/ABC. CBS Sports Network has the rights now, and aired the game live beginning at 10:30 pm (ET). For what it's worth, Team Kai (ocean) def. Team Aina (land), 28-7.

I can recall when the game was shown much earlier in the day on ABC's Wide World of Sports back in the day. If you're going to put the game on in primetime, why not move the start time in Honolulu back to about, say 2:00 local time (7 pm ET), because you're not getting kids to watch it in late night.
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No matter what they do, WWE is bound to upset some folks based on booking decisions.

Such was the case at the Royal Rumble on Sunday in Houston. While Scotland's Drew McIntyre won the men's Rumble, eliminating reigning WWE champ Brock Lesnar along the way (title wasn't on the line), second generation starlet Charlotte Flair (Ashley Fliehr) won the women's Rumble, which made fans more than a little salty online, since Flair already has won 10 women's titles in the last 4 1/2 years since being called up in July 2015.

There are those who believe that Flair has gained favored nation status with CEO/Chairman Vince McMahon, but the truth of the matter is, Flair made history on Sunday. Her father, 2-time Hall of Famer "Nature Boy" Ric Flair won the 1992 Rumble at the then-Knickerbocker Arena, winning the vacated WWE (then-WWF) title in the process. Thus, it marks the first time a father & daughter have won the same event, separated by 28 years.

WWE has had familial ties with some of their championships over the years.

For example, the late Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig was an Intercontinental champion as late as 1991. More than 20 years later, son Joseph, under the name Curtis Axel, claimed the IC title for his last significant title run before winning the tag titles as 1/2 of the B Team a couple of years back.

There've been two sets of brothers who've held the IC title:

Bret (1991) and Owen (1996) Hart.
Dustin (as Goldust, 1995) & Cody (2012-3) Rhodes.

Of course, Vince McMahon booked himself to win the then-WWF title for a weekend in 1999, while daughter Stephanie was given the women's title for five months in 2000, but it pales in comparison to what the other families have accomplished.

Some might think that Vince is getting some, ah, side action with Charlotte when her fiancee, US champion Andrade, isn't around, but that hasn't been proven.