Happy Friday, friends and fans!

A real genius came up with this brilliant idea to strap a dummy into the backseat of their parked car so it would appear that a person is occupying the vehicle. Turns out their little stunt didn’t work, but I suppose you have to congratulate the effort. I think the dead giveaway was that hoodie that nobody should be wearing because it’s burnt orange and it’s the middle of July.

The real gem to come from all of this was how one extremely butthurt Texas fan took to the comments section to voice displeasure of the incident. The NYPD 20th Precinct Twitter account then proceeded to body bag this fan with a little assistance from Alex Ross and the 2014 Red River Shootout/Rivalry/Showdown/whatever.

NYPD 1, Longhorn Morty 0.

It’s always nice to see those without a dog in the fight siding with the good guys. Also, laughing at Texas’ expense is a college football pastime that unites us all.

Now onto this week’s Friday edition of Hot Links! Someone doesn’t believe in Jalen Hurts and the OU offense, Damien Williams is the sleeper pick you want in your next fantasy draft, Russell Westbrook is no longer with the Thunder buddies and more!

OU Links

• Oklahoma just received a commitment from four-star TE Jalin Conyers, whose versatility will allow him to thrive in Lincoln Riley’s offense.

• Kyler Murray was named Big 12 Male Athlete of the Year, becoming Oklahoma’s sixth male student-athlete to receive the honor and the eleventh overall.

• I think it’s safe to say Jalen Hurts won’t eclipse what Kyler Murray did at OU in 2018, but I also don’t think he’ll have a mediocre season from a statistical standpoint. One of the beauties of Lincoln Riley’s offense is that it’s so well-balanced, multiple and deep at virtually every position that it doesn’t take a Herculean effort from the QB to make it hum.

• Speaking of Sports Illustrated, SI released its list of the top 100 college football players heading into the 2019 season, and Oklahoma TE Grant Calcaterra (No. 79), RB Trey Sermon (No. 53), LB Kenneth Murray (No. 49), WR CeeDee Lamb (No. 33) and QB Jalen Hurts (No. 28) all made the list. I noticed there was no mention of Creed Humphrey. Not even in the honorable sense. Yeah, this list is garbage just because of that major oversight.
• ESPN college football writer Dave Wilson put together this gem of a piece on the wacky history of the ‘Horns Down hand sign. It’s a symbolic gesture that unites fan bases across the nation, but it’s origin and rise in popularity is credited to the Texas Longhorns’ rival north of the Red River - the Oklahoma Sooners.

• For all you fantasy football heads, check out what Yahoo Sports’ Brad Evans thinks about Kansas City Chiefs running back and former Sooner Damien Williams. Sounds like he could be just the kind of sleeper pick to get your team over the hump this season.

• In case you missed it, make sure you check out Allen’s take on the preseason All-Big 12 team. He made his own personal tweaks on offense and defense in contrast to how the media members voted.
• Also, check out Allen’s latest Blatant Homerism podcast episode. This week, he talked about new Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman and how the Wildcats will operate following the Bill Snyder era.

Around the Sports World

• Obviously, the biggest news in American sports over the last day has been the Oklahoma City Thunder’s trading of Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul (plus more future first round draft picks). To say this is the end of an era for OKC would be accurate, but also a massive understatement.
• If another city is to house its own NFL franchise, which one could it be? After Toronto just claimed the most recent NBA Championship, I think it would be cool to see the biggest football league finally set up shop in the great white north.
• The Memphis Grizzlies’ Grayson Allen was ejected from a Summer League game against the Boston Celtics on Thursday after being charged with a flagrant foul for taking a swing at Grant Williams’ head. The dude hasn’t shown a ton of growth from his similar antics at Duke.

• Academic advisor Brittany Wagner from the first two seasons of Netflix’s ‘Last Chance U’ will serve as the basis for an upcoming scripted network series produced by and starring actress Courteney Cox. I don’t know how well this will do, but I’ll leave my expectations low and my optimism high.

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