Wow! Is it Friday, already? Hello once again, friends and fans. The ice is melting just in time for the weekend, and the Oklahoma Sooners are in line for another packed weekend across the sports landscape. Softball is underway, baseball’s home slate starts up Saturday morning, and basketball looks to get back into the win column. And it may not be football season, but there’s obviously been plenty of talk going around about Baker Mayfield. Some of it is insightful, but a lot of it is just idiotic and lazy.

So Colin Cowherd says that if it were up to him (it isn’t), Mayfield would be undraftable because of his run-in (no pun intended) with Fayetteville police one year ago.

This is obviously on-brand for Cowherd, who has climbed the sports media ladder with his cringeworthy hot takes over the years. Luckily for Mayfield, Colin Cowherd is not - and obviously never will be - an NFL GM, and there are plenty of teams that have already expressed immense interest in the OU legend.

Now for today’s edition of Hot Links! Below, you’ll find a trio of Sooners named Academic All-Big 12 players, one writer boldly predicting Oklahoma to lose to Florida Atlantic to start next football season, Russell Westbrook beating the Kings at the buzzer and... another Baker Mayfield hot take.

OU Links

• To finish out the topic of the latest jabs against Baker Mayfield, Cowherd wasn’t the only person spouting a fiery take on the Heisman Trophy winner yesterday. ESPN’s Booger McFarland shared his thoughts on why he doesn’t see Mayfield as the type to carry an NFL franchise. I’m sure Baker is focused on all the right things at this point of the process, and I won’t be surprised if dingleberries such as Cowherd and Booger end up eat a heaping helping of crow down the road. Anyway, the stream of lazy takes is tiresome, but it will not be coming to an end anytime soon and probably never will. People will say stupid things about him on 30 for 30-esque documentaries 30 years from now.

• Executive of the Senior Bowl Phil Savage spoke with Sports Illustrated about mock NFL drafts and the quarterback class. Savage focused mostly on the top four QBs in the draft class, including Baker Mayfield.
• Speaking of Mayfield, Darrell Bevell discusses how he compares to Russell Wilson and his transition into the NFL game.
• Congratulations to Matt Freeman, Jamuni McNeace and Rashard Odomes, as they have all been named to the 2018 Academic All-Big 12 teams. Freeman and Odomes are on the first team, and McNeace has been named to the second team.

• In case you missed it, the Oklahoma baseball home opener has been rescheduled for this Saturday, the 24th. It should be a much nicer day, weather-wise, so come on out and support your Sooners!

• Check out this Oklahoma-focused roundtable discussion held by some of the Dallas Morning News writers. They discuss the Sooners as the head into the 2018 football season, and someone even predicts Lane Kiffin and the Florida Atlantic Owls to upset Oklahoma in the season opener.
• Steven Parker is back with the third part of his episodic journey towards the NFL, and in this part Parker talks about some of the people that have inspired him the most along the way, namely his father.
• As the Oklahoma Sooners basketball team has spiraled into one of the nation’s longest losing streaks, it has become less likely that Trae Young sweeps the player of the year honors and more likely (if that’s possible) that he heads to the NBA.
• Kameron McGusty hasn’t been given nearly as much playing time as he probably should have, but now that he’s gaining confidence, his opportunities are starting to grow. Lon Kruger recently told Toby Rowland that he would stick with the starting lineup from Monday, which included McGusty, Jamuni McNeace and Kristian Doolittle.
• Speaking of basketball, OU signee Jamal Bieniemy came up big with a game-winner last evening.

• Four-star offensive tackle William Harrod out of Maryland has received an offer from Oklahoma. Harrod would make another nice edition to Bill Bedenbaugh’s offensive line unit.

• Sooner softball had a nice night after topping a ranked Arizona State squad and tying against Team Japan in an exhibition match. Congratulations, ladies! This team can smack the stitching out of a rock!

Around the Sports World

• There was one second left, but Russell Westbrook only needed about half that time to take out the Sacramento Kings. The Brodie is clutch.

• More names have been connected to the FBI’s investigation of the colossal corruption happening throughout college basketball. Of the names that have been recently found to be in connection, some are already professional players, while others are still among the college ranks.
• Did you know that every single team that has made the College Football Playoff has been a Nike branded team? Well now that you know this, which team will be the first non-Nike team to make the CFP? If I had to guess, I’d go with Auburn as most likely, followed by Wisconsin.
• Kicker Adam Vinatieri was the oldest player in the NFL last season, and at 45, he will continue to be the oldest next season, as he is re-signing with the Indianapolis Colts. Vinatieri is within striking distance of breaking the all-time points mark this season.
• Kelly Oubre thought he was being sneaky about it, but I’m pretty sure Rodney Hood saw him do it. Also, Oubre admitted to untying Hood’s shoe after the game, so no controversy about whether he actually did or didn’t. Sort of hilarious stuff, I’ll admit.

Stick to Sports!

• Over 1.2 million people signed a petition to get Snapchat to reverse one of its latest updates, but it wasn’t enough. The Snapchat company feels as though users will adapt to the update over time, but all I know is that I’ve been missing Story updates from all my pals. C’mon, Snapchat.

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