What’s up, folks?

So Bob Stoops spent some time up at Matty McMillen’s Irish Pub on Wednesday night. The recently opened pub is named after and partly-owned by Matt McMillen, who is OU’s former director of football operations. Stoops and McMillen are long-time friends, so naturally the legend himself hangs out at his new place.

Check out Stoops pouring a Guinness behind the bar. The Stoops family is Irish, so I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.

He’s got the beard, the towel thrown over his shoulder, and a playful smile to boot. Stoops is clearly living his best life right now, and it’s honestly the most laid back I’ve ever seen him. Stay fly, Coach!

Now let’s dig into some Hot Links! Baker Mayfield plants a toothpick in Marcus Mariota’s sandwich, A.D. Miller is standing out in practice, Aaron Rodgers is a badass and we don’t deserve him, and more!

OU Links

• I cannot wait for these Heisman House ads this season. Now that Baker Mayfield is living there, you know it’s about to get wild.

• When you see the Oklahoma Sooners on TV this weekend, they’ll be ranked 7th in the nation. That ranking is based on the AP Poll, and will remain the most widely used ranking until the CFP Committee releases their rankings later this fall. There are many other rankings out there, though, so where does Oklahoma come in when they’re all averaged together? Hint: it’s higher than No. 7.
• Oklahoma’s season opener against Florida Atlantic could be one of the more hotly-contested matchups during this college football’s opening weekend. Check out a few keys to the game for a Sooner victory.
• In case you missed it, Oklahoma’s game against Army on September 22nd will air on pay-per-view. The good thing for service men and women overseas is that the game will be free to watch on the Armed Forces Network.
• Lincoln Riley says the team has yet to vote on captains, but that it will happen before Saturday. Also, A.D. Miller is a player who has continued to impress Riley this fall.
• Of course Bob Stoops declined Iowa’s invitation. He can be an honorary captain another day, but he’ll only ever get to go to his son’s first collegiate game once. Bob’s the man, man.

• Speaking of Stoops, he recently interviewed with Mark Rogers and Dusty Dvoracek, and in the interview Coach spoke about the real reason why he’s rocking the facial hair these days.

Around the Sports World

• The Green Bay Packers just made Aaron Rodgers the highest-paid player in the league — again. Rodgers inked his new deal for $134 million over four years, including over $100 million guaranteed. Behold, the high roller himself:

• In other NFL QB news, the New York Jets have traded Teddy Bridgewater (along with a sixth-round pick) to the New Orleans Saints for a third-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Seems like the Jets could have received a lot more for TB, but the deal is done. Also, the trade resulted in this rather awkward moment:

• Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey spent much of this offseason trashing quarterbacks around the league, and now he’s opining on his former college head coach Jimbo Fisher. If you’ve never met Fisher, don’t worry, because according to Ramsey, “you’re not missing out.” Ouch.
• North Texas plans to unveil a 12-foot statue of alum ‘Mean’ Joe Greene just outside of Apogee Stadium on September 29th. Thanks, ‘Mean’ Joe!
• I’ll watch more baseball if ‘Big Al’ makes it to the majors. Why? Because HE HITS DINGERS!

Stick to Sports!

• Batman Day is on September 15th, and that’ll also be the day DC Comics is launching its video streaming service ‘DC Universe’. The Netflix-like monthly subscription service will be a one-stop-shop for all content DC related, including films, series, and even electronic copies of the comics themselves.

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