US President Trump reportedly said during a call with the commissioners of pro sports leagues that he thinks the NFL season should start on time, and hinted at when bans on large public gatherings might end. Trump told top executives from a dozen leagues that he hopes to have spectators back in sports stadiums and arenas by August or September, according to ESPN. The president also said he believes the NFL should proceed as if its season were going to start as scheduled in September, reported Adam Schefter. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, whose league was the first to suspend its season, reportedly said the NBA would like the opportunity to lead the return of sports. Nearly all professional and prominent amateur sports leagues have been suspended since March 12, the day after a Utah Jazz player's positive test prompted the suspension of two games and the evacuation of thousands of fans from two arenas. A White House pool report said the call included top officials from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, WNBA, PGA, LPGA, IndyCar, WWE, UFC and Breeders' Cup.

Mike's On host Mike Francesa opened a Saturday installment of his talk show with a plea for national unity in the face of the coronavirus crisis. "America is supposed to be about action," Francesa said. "When something happens, when we have a crisis -- an act of god, an earthquake or a hurricane -- we attack the problem. After 9/11 we all pulled together. This country was heroic. We were all one. "Right now we are at each other's throats trying to blame everybody for what happened. ... It's got to stop! It has to stop." Those matters can wait until after the pandemic is under control, Mike said. "We can have those stupid in-fights when we decide a presidential campaign in the fall, after we are back to being America again, after we've gone back to work and after we don't have bodies lined up outside every hospital in this country. "It's April 4. Two weeks -- we all pull together, no politics -- and we try to get this thing somehow pushed in the right direction. And let every factory, every possible laboratory that can produce a test, produce it. Let's get people tested. The New York sports talk legend closed with a call to action for Americans concerned about the future. "But if you're like me and you think that it is spinning completely out of control, and you are worried, worried sick about what you're looking at, please do something about it today. "You know what? Vox populi - the voice of the people matters. Nothing is as strong as the voice of the people when the voice of the people is real and it's unified. And you know what? This is our country. This is our government. Not anybody else's. We have to be a voice. There are times when we have to be a voice. And we need to tell people that they need to get a national plan, and now."

Before the NHL suspended its season, a playoff race was heating up between two of the sport's biggest rivals. In 2018, the lower-seeded Philadelphia Flyers were eliminated by the defending Cup champs Pittsburgh Penguins in six games. This season, the Flyers had recently surged past the Penguins in the standings, and if the playoff started tomorrow, the Flyers would have home-ice advantage against their hated cross-state rivals. To hold us over until the Flyers and Penguins take the ice again (whenever that will be), RADIO.COM Sports Simulations has challenged an all-time Flyers roster to a virtual game against an all-time Penguins squad using EA Sports NHL 20. Once again the Legion of Doom goes toe-to-toe with Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, and Ron Francis. The Flyers famed LCB line (Reggie Leach, Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber) tests their mettle against Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang. Of course it’s Hall-of-Famer Bernie Parent who battles future Hall-of-Famer Marc-Andre Fleury in the crease. And since we are RADIO.COM Sports, we must include our own 94 WIP’s Keith Jones on the Flyers roster. He’s an all-time Philly guy beloved by the city and his coworkers alike: Keith Jones is the man.https://t.co/3TzJKeVRdh— Angelo Cataldi (@AngeloCataldi) March 31, 2020But this rivalry was not always so heated. Out of the 333 meetings before Coronavirus cancellations, the Flyers have a 178-114-30-11 advantage, including playoffs. The Penguins have made up a lot of ground in the past 30 years; from February 7, 1974 through February 2, 1989, the Penguins were winless in Philadelphia going an obscene 0-39-3 at The Spectrum. During the early 90s, as Lemieux, Jagr, Paul Coffey, Larry Murphy, and Ron Francis were developing into a super team that captured back-to-back cups in 1991-92, the Flyers were embarking on a five-year playoff drought. Finally, it was the mid-to-late 90s that enjoyed both teams being respectable now that the Flyers boasted their own superstar in Eric Lindros. But the Flyers never reached the promised land with Lindros because his career was derailed by concussions. His first was delivered by the Penguins Darius Kasparaitis March 7th, 1998. The Flyers did not take too kindly with all the smiles on the Penguins bench after the devastating hit and the powder keg exploded in the second half of the home-and-home series the next day. It’s been nothing but fire and anger since. The Flyers also aren’t kind to the Penguins superstars, either. In Crosby’s first game against the orange and black on November 16, 2005, hulking defenseman Derian Hatcher shattered three of Sid’s teeth with a high stick. The Flyers always play Crosby hard, which has prompted him to say that “I don’t like them… I don’t like any guy on their team.” This doesn’t help Crosby’s reputation with Flyers fans that he is a cry baby but that dislike fuels Sid’s production against Philly, scoring more goals against the Flyers than he has against any other opponent in his career. The rivalry arguably reached its apex in April 2012. On April 1, 10 days before the Flyers and Penguins were to meet in the first round of the playoffs, the table was set when Flyer coach Peter Laviolette wanted a piece of anybody on the Pittsburgh Penguins bench after Danny Briere was hit with his head down during a Flyers 6-4 win. Ironically it was famed Flyers enforcer turned assistant coach Craig Berube that had to restrain Laviolette. During the Flyers 6 game triumph over the Penguins in the upcoming series, a combined 56 goals and 312 penalty minutes made the stat sheet. The Flyers scored 8 goals in both games 2 and 3 and the Penguins managed to light the lamp 10 times in game 4. The Penguins are still loaded with stars and the Flyers were playing some of the best hockey in the NHL since Thanksgiving. The rivalry was definitely approaching 2012 levels as both teams are legitimate contenders. There will certainly be new chapters written about the “Battle of PA” when hockey does resume.

They are playing baseball again in South Korea, albeit under somewhat different circumstances than normal. So far, there have just been practice games but they are games, nonetheless. Games that are played in empty stadiums with many of the players wearing surgical masks, with an eye toward opening the regular season in early May. Lotte's Dixon Machado pic.twitter.com/7pxpgSAPB0— Dan Kurtz (@MyKBO) March 28, 2020So, how would the MLB players acclimate themselves to such an environment? According to former Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly, there might some subtle adjustments and concerns that aren't really on the radar of those playing in Asia right now. "What about the guys who like to chew tobacco during the game," Kelly said on the latest episode of the Bradfo Sho podcast's "Quarantined with the Kellys". "I know plenty of guys who are chewing tobacco. How are you going to spit? You're going to have to keep going up and down, you're going to be touching your mouth. It kind of defeats the purpose. ... I think if that was a thing where they said, 'We're going to let you play but there are going to be no fans and surgical masks I still think some people would say know because they want to do tobacco. They wouldn't even take full pay. They would be like, 'Nah, I'm good.' So, if the players were given the option of coming back and playing but forced to wear the masks there would be a push back? "Yeah, I think it would be a tough vote," Kelly added. How about playing with no fans in the stands? "It is going to happen and I don't like it," he said. "It's not going to be fun ... I think -- obviously people want  to be paid -- (a vote) would lean 60-40 people would say let's play." On the latest @Bradfo_Sho, Joe Kelly raises an interesting point when it comes to surgical masks and baseball ... pic.twitter.com/68nE9N7nrx— The Bradfo Sho (@Bradfo_Sho) April 3, 2020