It might be a first. NCAA passed up an opportunity to oversee the championships of a fast-growing and big-money collegiate sport. In fact, it opted out of governing it completely. And that puts collegiate esports in the enviable position of allowing third-party organizations to establish competitions with monetary prizes.

Finding enough referees and umpires for high school sporting events is a challenging task for athletics administrators and in Illinois, it just got more stringent with a decision to conduct background checks on all officials starting in the 2019-2020 school year. In this case, nobody's arguing.

Cornhole, the ultimate tailgate sport (hey, you can play it with a drink in one hand), would like to be considered for Olympic inclusion. And even if the sport doesn't hit the podium any time soon, it has moved forward light-years in technology and organizational structure.

Good news for owners of sports events where athletes commonly carry large and awkwardly-shaped equipment: American Airlines just eliminated its excess fees for oversized bags on domestic flights. Previously classified as "oversize baggage," such items used to carry a $150 (per piece, each way) charge.

Although the ideas ultimately were discarded, it's a revealing sign of the times when a school district is considering local jail inmates and goats to keep the sports fields in the system cut to a manageable length. Supervisors say keeping grounds management employees is their biggest challenge.

Well, that's a horse of a different color. Into the arena of fantasy baseball, fantasy football and fantasy college basketball comes fantasy horse jumping. On the international stage, no less. FEI, the governing body, is counting on it to gain new interest among dissociated viewers. Can it work?