The NFL introduced the so-called dynamic kickoff last year, limiting how far the coverage team has to run and establishing a landing zone inside the 20-yard line.

Not long after came a seismic jolt, the helicopter crash of Kobe Bryant in the fog-shrouded California hills that reverberated across sports and across continents. Deep into the year, a bookend to Bryant, Diego Maradona died from a heart attack in Argentina weeks after brain surgery, the waves of grief rippling across soccer. The losses, of course, came against a backdrop of a pandemic, its number of fatalities rolled out daily on TV screens. Niekro won 318 games and pitched until he was 48, his knuckleball dancing and mystifying batters across the decades. Kurt Thomas in 1978 became the first U.S. male gymnast to win a world title but lost an Olympic shot in 1980 because of the boycott.

The longtime stalwart of the Atlanta Braves rotation died after a lengthy fight with cancer, the team announced Sunday. Niekro didn't make it to the big leagues until 1964, when he pitched 10 games in relief for the then-Milwaukee Braves. “He was a very good pitcher,” Niekro told ESPN in an interview after his playing days were over. He went 21-20 with a 3.39 ERA for a dismal Braves team that finished 66-94. “There’s nobody around who can teach how to throw a knuckleball,” Niekro said in the ESPN interview.