Happy Friday, friends and fans!

Detroit Pistons shooting guard Langston Galloway was in Norman on Thursday night to talk about mental health and wellness in athletics, and joining him on the discussion panel were two Oklahoma Sooners student athletes in senior linebacker Caleb Kelly and junior softball utility player Nicole Mendes.

It’s a topic that has seen an increase in discussion over the years, and not just in sports. Still, with prominent professional athletes like Michael Phelps, Kevin Love, DeMar DeRozan and many others having opened up about their struggles with mental health issues, it only helps further these discussions across the board.

It’s pretty amazing to see some of OU’s finest stepping up and showing that it’s okay to not be okay, and that there’s always something positive that can be done about whatever challenges you may be dealing with. Thank you, Langston Galloway, for stopping by and sharing your side of this important subject, and thank you Caleb and Nicole for continuing to represent the University of Oklahoma in the best of ways.

Now onto this week’s Friday edition of Hot Links! Caleb Kelly and Jordan Kelley are out for the spring, OU baseball and softball are both set for action in Norman tonight, Texas did not in fact just win a damn national championship and more!

OU Links

• If you’re just returning to earth from a five year interstellar expedition, and you have no idea who Kyler Murray is or what all the fuss is about him, check out this 2019 NFL Draft promo and he’ll give you a quick rundown himself.

• In case you missed it, senior linebacker Caleb Kelly and redshirt freshman defensive tackle Jordan Kelley have both been ruled out for the remainder of spring after sustaining lower-body injuries.
• Oklahoma softball is back at Marita Hynes Field as Big 12 foe Baylor comes to town. Patty Gasso appears to have another championship contender with this group, and if you haven’t seen much of this team yet, now’s the perfect time. All three games in this series will be nationally televised, so if you’re not able to make it in person, you can catch tonight’s game at 6:30 p.m. CT on FS1.

• Oklahoma baseball hosts TCU tonight at 6 p.m. CT. The Sooners are looking to get back on the winning side of things after a recent slide, and taking the series against the Horned Frogs would be a great way get back on track.

• OU women’s gymnastics superstar Maggie Nichols talked about life after the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal and more in this compelling piece from the AP’s Cliff Brunt.

• Make sure you check out episode 14 of the Crimson & Cream Machine podcast with Jack and Kamiar. In this latest installment, the guys discuss some of the happenings and developments from spring football, and with the final season premier on the way, a healthy dose of Game of Thrones talk is mixed in there. As always, it’s a lot of fun, and just a heads up, there is a bit of NSFW language. Also, don’t forget to subscribe on ITunes, Spotify, Google Play or Stitcher.

Around the Sports World

• The Texas Longhorns defeated the Lipscomb Bisons (yes, BisonS) in the NIT Final on Thursday night, and then this happened. Just stop it with these stupid championship claims and declarations already, people. This has since been changed to ‘NIT Champions’, but the internet never forgets.

• The Cleveland Browns have signed QB Garrett Gilbert, a former Texas Longhorn and most recently the Orlando Apollo’s starting signal caller in the late AAF. Fun fact: he and Baker Mayfield are both Lake Travis HS alumni.

• The New York Jets unveiled new uniforms, and the reviews are... mixed at best. To me, they’re not the worst ones I’ve ever seen, but I think they could have done a lot better. Reminds me too much of a Group of Five college football team. Maybe even the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

• So where do all the teams in the NBA Playoff race stand as of today? With the postseason tipping off a week from this Saturday, there are many tight battles when it comes to seeding in both the Eastern and Western Conferences.
• After Charlie Strong’s USF Bulls started 2018 a pristine 7-0, they went on to lose their final six games of the season. The bulk of last year’s team is back, but if another major slide happens again, it could be a dicey winter for the former Texas head coach. Read all about that and more in Bill Connelly’s preview of South Florida.
• The debate about paying collegiate players isn’t going away any time soon, and now several politicians around the nation are joining the discussion.
• Steph Curry surprised the Texas Tech men’s basketball team with his new Curry 6’s ahead of the Final Four. Pretty cool moment for those players.

Stick to Sports!

• If you’re at all familiar with HBO’s Game of Thrones, you should know how the losses have mounted up for both the revered and the despised characters. On the red carpet for the GoT season 8 premiere, Jacob Andersen (who plays Grey Worm), Pilou Asbæk (Euron Greyjoy) and Richard Dormer (Beric Dondarrion) were asked who they’d like to scratch off the list of the living. It’s funny because I’m actually hoping somebody takes out Euron this season, but his answer was kind of perfect. Otherwise, get Daenerys out of here for me, please. That would completely disrupt the whole entire thing, and she’s also pretty annoying.

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