How’s everybody doing?

So... the third episode of “Hard Knocks” aired on Tuesday night, featuring the Cleveland Browns’ second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. Baker Mayfield’s night started off a bit slow, but he and the offense found a rhythm in the second half. The No. 1 overall draft pick’s night ended after leading the Browns on a scoring drive with the help of second-round pick Nick Chubb.

After Chubb punches in the TD, Mayfield tells him “I’ve seen that before”. In case you don’t immediately know what he’s referring to (how could you not?), he’s talking about the epic Rose Bowl semifinal between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Georgia Bulldogs. Knowing all of that, it’s pretty cool to see them working together and laughing about it.

People wondered if the interior of Cleveland’s QB-RV would be featured on the show, and lo and behold it was, along with country music star Brad Paisley.

Mayfield keeps it real and talks about how the RV serves as a place for the QBs to bond and relax. Nothing said too earth-shattering, but Paisley’s big-striped shirt is definitely noteworthy. I feel like I wore something similar for picture day in seventh grade. And no — it wasn’t popular. Maybe he got Gatorade-dunked off-screen and grabbed whatever he could find from the nearest lost-and-found.

The episode also features free agent receiver Dez Bryant, who is reportedly interested in joining the Browns. He met up with Hue Jackson, and Coach gave him quite the recruiting pitch.

“The greatest turnaround in sports history” is a mouthful, but if you’ve been paying attention to how Cleveland is building this team, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Signing an elite caliber talent like Dez Bryant could make the Browns’ receiving corps even stronger. However, he still hasn’t signed, and I’m not sure if things are really rolling here.

Finally, one of the other stars from the episode was offensive line coach Bob Wylie, who offered this golden nugget of coach-isms.

I mean, he’s right to an extent, the soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy didn’t use bands to stretch their hammies, and their workout routines were probably more rudimentary than today’s advanced training methods. However, the excellence in this clip lies in his delivery. He just seems like a stereotypical old school O-line coach, and I’m here for every second of it.

If you missed this episode, it re-airs on HBO tonight at 10:30 p.m. CT.

Now let’s move onto some Hot Links! Kirk Herbstreit makes his annual Herbie picks with a noticeable Sooner flavor, a fan gets a questionable tattoo of Baker Mayfield running with the OU flag, Texas A&M might have committed an NCAA no-no or two and more!

OU Links

• Kyler Murray has been named the starting quarterback for OU’s opener vs. the Florida Atlantic Owls. It may seem like a late decision, but it fits pretty well with Riley’s past timelines.
• In case you missed it yesterday, Baker Mayfield did his best John Dorsey impression, and if you’ve ever seen or heard from the Browns’ GM, Mayfield’s performance in this is spot-on. I cracked up pretty hard watching this. I hope he starts doing commercials soon.

• Speaking of Baker, he’s doing pretty well on the field, too, especially compared to his rookie counterparts across the league.

• This is the time of year when players show how they’ve improved (or haven’t improved) their individual games. Check out this list of five Sooners who have increased their stock. Safety Kahlil Haughton and receiver A.D. Miller are both listed, but after each of them have been in the program for so long, they’ll have to prove it when it matters.
• Neville Gallimore is going to be heavily relied upon to anchor the Oklahoma defensive line as the nose tackle. If he can hold his own and eat up double teams, the defense as a whole would benefit greatly.
• Jonathan Alvarez has been in the program seemingly forever, and going into his final season with the Sooners, he hopes to make the most of it.
• Kirk Herbstreit’s picks for his annual Herbie Awards are in, and Oklahoma is prominently featured throughout. Marquise Brown, Kyler Murray and Rodney Anderson are each tabbed for different Herbies. Check out where Kirk sees them as well as where he projects the team in the conference race.
• Nice to see Du’Vonta Lampkin repping his Sooners. Dude’s a hoss!

• The new video board on the North side of the stadium is now up and running. It’s really amazing how much the place has transformed over the past couple of years.

• After watching “Hard Knocks”, Jarvis Landry must have made quite the impression on this Oklahoma lady, because her tag is his catch phrase.

• “NO RAGRETS”, amirite? The loyalty this fan displays is pretty admirable, but please, if you’re going to have words tattooed on your body, make sure everything is spelled correctly. ‘I’ before ‘E’ except after ‘C’!

Around the Sports World

• Texas A&M could be finding itself in some hot water after a former player has made several claims to receiving cash from coaches to host recruits on unofficial visits. Also according to the player’s claims, the coaching staff neglected giving him ample time to recover from an injury. An investigation is likely in the works.
• None of us feel bad for the Aggies, but if you’re only focusing on Texas A&M, you’re missing the forest for the trees. This could have some serious national implications moving forward. However, the NCAA can do something to avoid this in the future.
• The NCAA Basketball Tournament committee uses a number of metrics to assess potential playoff teams, including RPI. That’s going to change now, as the NCAA announced RPI will not play the part it once did when evaluating teams’ resumes. Instead it will use its own system — NET — and it’s a bit vague.

• A very interesting collection of ball players worked out at UCLA on Tuesday, including Kevin Durant and LeBron James. Another notable player seen in this photo is Kawhi Leonard, but the internet is buzzing for a different reason with him in the picture. Just look at his hands! They’re massive, and they completely engulf the basketball. He’ve even drawing comparisons to Uncle Jack from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. Elite company, indeed.

• ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi likes to have fun, even at the expense of a nice suit. I’ll give the man some props. I’d probably never do this.

• Ah, the old hidden-ball trick. A classic not-so-fast-my-friend in the game of baseball. That has to be really embarrassing for the runner, but man the pitcher almost messed it up at the end. Still, got heem!

Stick to Sports!

• Picture day is kind of a big deal for kids, but it’s typically even more important to the parents of the students. A mom dressed her son in a neon green shirt, and of course the school used a green screen background, setting up a collection of hilarious photos that honestly make me jealous. The floating head and arms look is way cooler than the popped collar I sported in middle school, but I digress.

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