WSD Sports Page: Texas Longhorns advance to NCAA Baseball Super Regionals

NCAA Baseball's Super Regional information is announced with a highlighted matchup between Texas and Houston, Dan LeBatard goes on a predictable and crazy rant about the Miami Heat, and Dan Marino sues the NFL over concussions on today's sports page.

The Lede: American hope fades in 2014 French Open

Photo from Wikimedia

NCAA Baseball: Texas defeats Texas A&M in Houston Regional

Texas baseball is back after a two-season hiatus from the postseason. From the lone team that missed out on the Big 12 Championship a year ago, the Longhorns defeat their hated in-state rivals to move on and host the Houston Cougars next weekend in the Super Regional.

Texas took two out of three against Texas A&M during the long weekend. Starting pitcher Chad Hollingsworth responded to Tyler Stubblefield's complete game for the Aggies by giving up just two hits and one run in a complete game himself.

Perhaps Stubblefield was a bit too quick on flashing the "Horns down" hand signal after his dominant 134-pitching night. But you'd expect nothing less from the Aggies that can't seem to find much success against their in-state rival. They'll take what they can get.

Super Regionals: All four Big 12 teams will host three-game series

While the SEC likes to hail themselves as the best in college baseball -- and they certainly have the attendance to prove it -- they saw a buzz saw in the Regional round. Of the 10 SEC teams that made it, only two will advance to the next level while the Big 12 saw four of their five teams advance and all of them will be hosting.

Texas will host Houston in the highlight matchup of the weekend. All games will will take place in the afternoon -- Game 1 will be Friday at 3:00 PM Central time while Games 2 and 3 (if necessay) will be at 1:00 PM Central time on ESPN.

Oklahoma State will host UC Irvine (who dropped the top overall seed in the nation, Oregon State), Texas Tech will host College of Charleston, and seventh-seeded TCU will host Pepperdine.

NFL: Dan Marino joins mass of players suing league over concussions

Now out at his NFL gig with CBS, apparently Marino's tactic to get back at the league is to sue them for concussions, joining a ridiculous amount of former players that are trying to collect some money. His lawsuit is apparently separate from the big one, but will probably take just as long to complete.

NBA: Dan LeBatard goes on shouting rant dissing Pacers, Indianapolis after Heat win ECF

"GIVE IT TO ME AGAIN! GIVE IT TO ME AGAIN!" The 10-minute rant that went on seven minutes too long shows local Miami blowhard turned ESPN blowhard yelling out disses to the city of Indianapolis and the Indiana Pacers after the Miami Heat took the Eastern Conference Finals.

Honestly, the bit itself really isn't that bad. But this is local radio sewage that was spewed on national airwaves through ESPN Radio. Dan's sidekick constantly laughing at everything comes off as fake as hell, and LeBatard's constant shouting of "Give it to me again!" definitely promotes a worthy remix if the Heat do fail in the Finals.

NHL: Kings, Rangers Twitter accounts spar after LA advances to Stanley Cup Final(s)

The Rangers Twitter account went Bomani Jones and corrected the Kings after getting excited that the team reached the Stanley Cup Final. As usual, the Kings' responded with gold, asking if it was "gonna be like that Mavis Beacon?"

Afterwards, the Kings continued to celebrate by posting a picture of Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York cruising in a limo with pizza and a glass of chardonnay. Of course, the Rangers pounced again by tweeting out the subtitle. Because that matters.

We'll give them a break though. This is the first time the Rangers' Twitter account has been relevant in its history. They'll get better.

Today's Slate
Central times listed.

TENNIS
French Open (Qtrs) - Now on Tennis Channel

MLB
-Giants at Reds - 6:10 CSBA/FSOH
D'backs at Rockies - 7:40 FSAZ/RSRM
White Sox at Dodgers - 9:10 WGN/SNLA
Pirates at Padres - 9:10 RSPT/FSSD

Yesterday's Favorites: San Francisco Giants sweep the Cleveland Indians

The San Francisco Giants improves to 15-10 after sweeping the Cleveland Indians and the Texas Longhorns fall back in the Big 12 as we recap my favorite teams from yesterday.


MLB: Giants 4, Indians 1

San Francisco got another walk-off home run on a Sunday, and this time it was to complete their first sweep of the season. For the second time this week, walking a batter didn't work for the opponent. Cleveland passed up Brandon Crawford to bring on Brandon Hicks, who smacked a 3-run walk-off home run, his third HR of the season.

Sergio Romo picked up the victory, but the story on the mound was Ryan Vogelsong finally finding his rhythm. He pitched seven scoreless innings, giving up just two hits and recording six strikeouts. It was needed with Danny Salazar matching him with recording eight strikeouts, one walk, and one run in the same amount of innings.

With Colorado taking two of three against the LA Dodgers, the Giants enjoy a 1.5 game lead in the NL West while those two sit with te same 14-12 record. San Diego finally found some offense in Washington and improve their record to 12-14.

NCAA Baseball: Oklahoma State 8, Texas 3

It was a mixture of leaving base runners and Nathan Thornhill's tough start that demised the Longhorns in the series finale against the Cowboys. Thornhill suffered just his second loss this season, giving up seven hits and seven runs (all earned) in 3.1 innings of work.

Oklahoma State's Vince Wheeland made just his second start of the season but recorded his fifth victory. Texas still was able to come up with nine total hits, and four different players had multi-hit games, but they left 11 players on the bases.

Texas lost the final two games of the series, falling back to 4th in the Big 12 after Texas Tech swept Oklahoma and has won six straight games. Oklahoma State remains in first place.

WSD Daily Sports Page (4-16-14): Boston Marathon hoax, NCAA feeds their athletes, Giants-Dodgers goes to 12 innings

The Boston Marathon is the site of a completely horrible hoax, Chris Johnson won't give up in the NFL, some dude shoots hoops while driving in his car, and San Francisco beats LA in a 5-hour baseball game that featured both teams leaving nearly 30 people on base.

Let's get to it.


The Lede

Boston Marathon hoax proves we can't have nice things

A year ago, three people died near the finish line of the Boston Marathon after two bombs went off. Shortly after the ceremonies that had people remembering the anniversary of the disaster, somebody decided to be cute and re-create the scene with two bookbags.

The hoax creator has been identified as Kevin Edson, or "Kayvon" has he apparently goes by. He ran around the area yelling out "Boston strong!" in a black veil and dropped two suspicious bookbags off by the finish line. Police self-detonated them be safe, but they simply had a rice cooker and photo equipment between the two of them.

Edson has been charged with possession of a hoax device, disorderly coonduct, and disturbing the peace. Later on, Deadspin revealed the crazy man looked at Dzhokhar Tsaranev, the man involved with the real bombings a year ago, as a heartthrob.

Even more unnerving: Edson's Facebook banner had a picture of Tsaranev's face with the following text: "Had a blast at the marathon!!! Y U Stalin 2 Call Me????????"

Edson clearly has a few issues, and maybe like most of us guys that reach 25 years old, he's just trying to figure out what the hell life means. For him, he thought it'd be a great time to celebrate the loss of his apparent loved one by re-creating the scene of an event that killed people and injured plenty more. A scene of chaos that affected so many people and a city that rallied together to get past a tragedy.

That's great. Maybe you can deal with your problems with a loved one you can't get like every other normal guy and spend a night with yourself and a laptop with a bottle of lotion, Kleenex, and the doors and blinds closed.

Top Five

1. NFL: Ex-Tennessee Titans RB Chris Johnson visited the New York Jets. It's a good fit. I'm pro disaster getting together with disaster in any sport. Because the results are exciting.
2. NCAA: Council approves all the meals and snacks athletes could ever want. There you go athletes, you happy now? Maybe you can share with those other students that already don't get meals in the first place and are living on ramen noodles Great Value chips.
3. NHL: ESPN predicts that Sidney Crosby is a 97 percent favorite to win the Hart Trophy. That's in today's edition of Mastery of the Obvious with the Worldwide Leader.
4. GOLF: John Daly, the amazing golf ball whacker guy, tees up in a woman's mouth. Now this would have done much better than Daly selling his own memorabilia outside of Augusta National.
5. WTF: Somebody dribbles a ball and makes a basket out of a moonroof of a car WHILE DRIVING IT. I don't need to say anything else.

Yesterday's Favorites

NCAA Baseball: Texas 10, UT-Arlington 2

The Longhorns continue to dominate in college baseball. They've climbed up into the top five in one poll and picked up their 30th win of the season after an incredible performance from the bullpen. The Mavericks were able to open up the game with a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning, but Texas answered quickly with three runs in the 3rd inning and they didn't look back.

Chad Hollingsworth picked up his first win of the season for Texas with the staff pitching. Ben Johnson and Tres Barrera combined for seven RBIs.

NFL: San Francisco 49ers pick up Brandon Lloyd

It's the return of B-Lloyd for the 49ers. One can only hope his next rap album will follow.

NL West Recap

• Giants 3, Dodgers 2 (F/12)
• Mets 9, Diamondbacks 0
• Rockies 3, Padres 2

San Francisco is on a roll against LA, taking three of the first four games against their hated rivals. The latest chapter was a thriller and complete torture for both teams. They went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position -- each -- and left a combined 29 players on base as a team. But the Giants' second score was the most important, and Hector Sanchez won the day on a night where Pablo Sandoval went 0-for-5 with a walk and Buster Posy left early after going 0-and-3 with two walks.

Elsewhere, it just keeps getting worse for Arizona. The NY Mets have now collected 25 hits in the first two games. A collected effort by their pitching staff held the D'backs to just three hits while Bronson Arroyo gave up 10 hits and nine runs in 3.1 innings.

Finally, Colorado didn't blow it again San Diego this time -- it was the other way around. The Padres put up two runs on Juan Nicasio, but he settled down and pitched well the rest of the way after a bad first inning. The Rockies held them scoreless the rest of the way while picking up enough runs to win the contest.

With two straight extra-inning victories, the Giants have tied it all up with the Dodgers atop the West at 9-15 apiece. The D'backs already sit 6.5 games out of first place.

Today's Slate I'll Be Watching

BARCLAY'S PREMIER LEAGUE

Crystal Palace at Everton - 1:45 NBC Live Extra / EPL Overflow Channels

Sunderland at Man City - 1:45 NBCS

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1

Canadiens at Lightning - 6:00 CNBC

Blue Jackets at Penguins - 6:30 NBCS

Stars at Ducks - 9:00 NBCS

MLB - NL WEST

Mets at D'backs - 2:40 FSAZ

Rockies at Padres - 9:10 FSSD

-Dodgers at Giants - 9:15 NBC BA

NBA (Games w/ playoff implications)

Bulls at Bobcats - 6:00 CSCH

Mavericks at Grizzlies - 7:00 ESPN

Raptors at Knicks - 7:00 MSG

Pistons at Thunder - 7:00 FSOK

Clippers at Blazers - 9:30 ESPN

BIG 12 CBB

Grand Canyon at Kansas - 6:00 ESPN3