First call: JuJu wants to be on 'Madden' cover; is Le'Veon Bell trolling or hyping?

In Wednesday’s “First Call,” JuJu Smith-Schuster is campaigning for EA Sports’ “Madden NFL” video game cover. Le’Veon Bell is either hyping himself or trolling the Steelers.

Or both.

And an NBA ending almost as good as the Sharks vs Vegas.

No. We don’t need this.

Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is openly campaigning to be the EA Sports “Madden NFL 20” video game cover boy.

RT IF WE NEED THIS ????? @eamaddennfl pic.twitter.com/YUIPq5DCtT

— JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu) April 23, 2019

Don’t hit retweet because we don’t need that. And, no, JuJu. This has nothing to do with the “Madden Video Game Curse” history.

This has everything to do with associating yourself with the last Steeler to be on the cover.

Steelers Wide Receiver Antonio Brown Named ‘Madden NFL 19’ Cover Athlete https://t.co/wGy8kDGkC8

— Variety (@Variety) July 18, 2018

Like I said, no one needs that at all.

Trailer or trolling?

I’m not sure what the end game is here, but Le’Veon Bell released this video on his Instagram.

#Juice ? pic.twitter.com/wxgwKKSQ1f

— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) April 24, 2019

Is that to punk the Steelers on the way out the door? Is that just to hype up Jets fans? Or is that an effort to distract people from the fact he is already missing workouts in New York?

And some are wondering if he’s absent because he’s not in good enough shape yet after missing all of last year.

How do you top that?

That Sharks-Golden Knights Game 7 set an incredibly high bar for NHL drama in the 2019 playoffs.

The Hurricanes and Capitals can’t be asked to go above that. But they’ll try anyway. The teams play an elimination game Wednesday night in Washington.

The defending Stanley Cup champions face off against Carolina at 7:30 p.m. It’s the only game of the night and the lone remaining first-round series.

En route to the Stanley Cup, the Caps won a Game 7, 4-0, against Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference Finals last year.

Andre Burakovsky scored twice to lead the Capitals to a huge Game 7 victory over the Lightning.

He's your @GatoradeCanada Performer of the Night! #CoolAsIce pic.twitter.com/5O55Yz1c2H

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 24, 2018

The previous round, they also won a Game 6 in overtime, as you may recall.

College rules changes

We spent a lot of time talking about the NFL rules changes.

Well, here are two big ones for college. The first one has to do with targeting.

Via WWL radio in New Orleans, “there is now a three-pronged litmus test when reviewing those penalties, and officials must confirm all three of those elements are present.

Those elements include; a defenseless player, forcible contact, and that contact directed at the head or neck area. If any of those elements can’t be confirmed on review, the targeting penalty will be overturned. There will no longer be targeting penalties that simply ‘stand’ as they must either be confirmed or overturned.”

The other change is an effort to shorten multi-overtime games. Now, once a game enters a fifth overtime, teams will stop getting drives at their opponents’ 25-yard line. Instead, both clubs will just alternate two-point conversion attempts to win the game.

Another crazy ending

Just before the Sharks completed their amazing comeback against the Golden Knights, Damian Lillard was advancing his Portland Trail Blazers past Oklahoma City with the game-winning shot over Paul George.

Damian Lillard goes for 50 and hits the game winner to send the Thunder home #PeepGame pic.twitter.com/9bT1wf3N2Y

— Champs Sports (@champssports) April 24, 2019

That was from 37 feet at the horn to give Lillard 50 points and Portland a 118-115 victory. That eliminates the Thunder and makes Portland the first Western Conference team to jump into Round 2.

That was so good, let’s hear it again….in Korean?

Here's the Korean call of Lillard's game-winning three-pointer. It's as electric as you'd expect! (Call from SpoTV) pic.twitter.com/mJWbSzoOAi

— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) April 24, 2019

Yup. Somehow, that was even better.

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