Sports this 'n' that

NASCAR has been running something known as the iRacing series in recent weeks. On Sunday, driver Kyle Larson was heard using a racial slur on what he thought was a secure line. It wasn't. It was a public line.

48 hours later, Larson is out of a job, dismissed by Chip Ganassi Racing, and this was after he'd been slapped with an indefinite suspension yesterday, and ordered to undergo sensitivity training. Larson will still have to go through with the training course if he wants to latch on with another team.
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Eyebrows were raised in Florida on Monday after Governor Ron DeSantis declared WWE "an essential business" in his state, just in time for Monday Night Raw. Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings delivered the news mere hours before the program went on the air.

While Demings' political affiliation wasn't made public, it's known that DeSantis is a Republican who has already gotten himself in hot water with his handling of COVID-19, allowing college students on spring break to congregate three weeks ago when it wasn't safe, for example.

WWE CEO/Chairman Vince McMahon is also a registered Republican, and his friendship with President Donald Trump is well known. I think you can figure out the rest.

McMahon made the decision on Friday to resume live broadcasts, rather than do a marathon taping session that would've ensured they would've had programming well into May. Around the same time, an unnamed WWE employee was revealed to have tested positive for COVID-19, and has recovered.

The issue seems to be, in relation to live programming, fulfilling the terms of contracts with the company's media partners, USA Network (NBC-Universal-Comcast) & Fox (now part of Disney), as McMahon feared there would be an issue over a contract breach if they didn't start with live programming soon enough. And, then, as with Trump, there's the matter of protecting the corporate bottom line.

Meanwhile, the other shoe dropped for XFL 2.0 on Monday, as the league, having suspended operations halfway through the season, filed for Chapter 11 in bankruptcy protection. All 8 coaches (i.e. Bob Stoops, June Jones) are among the main creditors. Yes, the league lost money, but only because they weren't able to fill the stadiums, and I think half the teams were playing in NFL stadiums (NY, Tampa Bay, Seattle, and, I believe, Houston), while a fifth, St. Louis, used the dormant Edward Jomes Dome, formerly home to the NFL Rams. Overpricing the tickets might've had something to do with the cash shortfalls.
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News has just come over the wires in the last hour that former Royals & Cubs manager Jim Frey has passed away. Frey led the Royals to the 1980 World Series, where they lost to Philadelphia, and took the Cubs to the 1984 NLCS, where they were upset by San Diego.

In New York, Yankee co-owner Hank Steinbrenner has also passed away, but COVID-19 had nothing to do with it. Steinbrenner, 63, inherited the Bombers, along with brother Hal, after father George passed away 10 years ago.