Is America ready for sports to return? Obviously not. Is the reader prepared for refreshing sports notes? Here’s hoping. Get ‘em while they’re hot! (They’re always hot.)

• Nine Miami Marlins players (and five other memers of the traveling party) are reportedly infected by covid-19. If Miami has to use mostly minor-leaguers, well, they do that anyway. Sports outside a bubble have no chance. Sports outside a bubble are being played there for the worst of reasons: So the prima-donna athletes aren’t inconvenienced. MLB is done. Lots of players are going to bail. MLB’s “plan” is flawed and foolhardy, largely ignoring reality.

• The Los Angeles Clippers’ Lou Williams left the NBA’s Orlando bubble to attend a funeral, but wound up in a strip club. Being inside a bubble offers the NBA no guarantees.

• WNBA teams walking off the court before the national anthem gets played is meaningless, a mere made-for-WokeCenter event. When Colin Kaepernick first took a knee, it involved risk and, ultimately, sacrifice. The WNBA’s players should refuse to play until Breonna Taylor’s killers are arrested. That’s risk. That’s sacrifice. Former WNBA MVP Maya Moore is on hiatus from playing to work toward criminal justice reform. That’s risk. That’s sacrifice. Not empty virtue signaling.

• The Cleveland Indians all stood during the national anthem. San Francisco reliever Sam Coonrod declined to take a knee during a pregame unity ceremony, saying he “can’t kneel for anything besides God.” These are reasonable decisions and not to be at all criticized.

• The Penguins are good enough to win the Stanley Cup. But can they beat Washington, Tampa Bay and Boston (in some order) consecutively? Re-seeding each round virtually guarantees that the No. 5 seed (which the Penguins are) never gets a lesser foe. When the Penguins lost eight out of 11 before the pause to drop out of the Eastern Conference’s top four, it hurt.

• Getting that No. 1 seed via the round-robin between each conference’s top four will be good as gold. My pick to win the Stanley Cup is whoever gets the No. 1 seed in the East. That team benefits by every upset.

• There’s no reason cases of covid-19 shouldn’t be disclosed by sports teams. It’s not an STD. It’s not embarrassing to have. The NHL’s standard policy of reporting every injury as “unfit to play” causes unreasonable speculation. Sidney Crosby provides an example. We don’t know what’s wrong with him, so the vibe put out by the Penguins makes me think he’s at least a doubt for Game 1 Saturday vs. Montreal. That notion has no basis in fact, but “the vibe” is all I’ve got.

• The Penguins could beat Montreal without Crosby. After that, they’d be toast.

• The only way the Penguins lose their prelim-round series vs. Montreal is by losing Game 1. Ergo, Tristan Jarry should start in goal because, based on training camp, he’s less likely to implode than Matt Murray. (Credit to show guest Jose Yohe for that notion.) Makes sense. Murray starts anyway. Hopefully on a short leash. (That leash should be kept short at least through the first round proper. Playing well against the Canadiens would prove little.)

• If the Steelers do well, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will get zero credit from fans. If they do poorly, he will be blamed. That’s an absolute lock. Meantime, Pittsburgh lionizes the tackle-eligible novelty act, receiver who fumbled away two playoff berths and running back that’s always hurt because they’re adept at social media. (I saw Roethlisberger on social media last week. He was handing out food to the needy, not flexing or dancing.)

• Lots of revenue has been lost, so the NFL salary cap for next season is likely to be $175 million. As of now, the Steelers would be $23 million over that figure. New England, meantime, would have $52 million to spend in a buyer’s market. Bill Belichick will re-launch his dynasty.

• There were two All-Pro safeties last season. The Steelers acquired one, Minkah Fitzpatrick, for a first-round pick. Seattle just acquired the other, Jamal Adams, for two first-round picks, a third-round pick and a make-weight veteran. That’s a big win for Steelers GM Kevin Colbert.

• Le’Veon Bell complained on Twitter about Adams forcing a trade from the New York Jets, apparently forgetting he did the exact same here in Pittsburgh. What a maroon.

• Antonio Brown’s latest “retirement” lasted two days. Brown wants the NFL to clarify his status so teams know if he’ll be suspended and for how long. Brown is facing a civil suit that claims sexual misconduct. The league’s investigation thereof has been going on for nearly a year. Brown is right. It’s not fair. But we reap what we sow. The NFL is clearly weary of Brown’s circus act.

• Not much was encouraging about the Pirates’ opening weekend at St. Louis. The bottom third of the lineup is impotent. The Pirates had just one extra-base hit in the first two games. But rookie Mitch Keller allowed two hits and one run over five innings in Sunday’s 5-1 win. Nick Burdi struck out the side in closing out the ninth, topping 99 mph. Not much, but it’s something.

• The best thing about the Pirates organization is the broadcast team. Greg Brown, Bob Walk and Co. consistently make chicken salad out of chicken scratch, planting seeds of optimism without sounding like absurd homers given the Pirates’ meager talent level and lack of organizational ambition. They do a fine job walking a difficult tightrope, though there’s no replacing Steve Blass, a popular link to a true era of glory.

• Thirty-two wins, three draws and three losses: A dream season for Liverpool Football Club, Champions of England. The heaviest weight possible has been lifted from my shoulders, and not just mine. I’m not crying. You’re crying. #LFC #YNWA (BTW, European soccer prospered outside a bubble because those countries took the pandemic seriously in the first place.)

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