Quick Sporting News

Time heals all wounds and helps us forget the past. This unfortunately holds true for Alex Rodriguez and the steroid scandal he was involved in during the 2009 baseball season. The New York Yankees slugging third baseman conveniently blamed his cousin, Yuri Sucart, for purchasing, transporting, and injecting him with steroids during the 2003 Major League Baseball season. Part of the deal that A-Rod struck with MLB included Sucart being banned from all MLB related activities. Well guess who was hanging around the Yankees team hotel in San Francisco during the Yankees vs. A’s series this past weekend? Sucart was spotted multiple times over the weekend. Let the rumor mill begin.

Only thing missing from this story in San Francisco is Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco and a bathroom stall.

Attention: Fantasy Football Players

HogManInLA received word from Yahoo Fantasy Sports on Wednesday that they are opening registration for their 2011-2012 NFL Fantasy Football Leagues. No information on why registration was opened so soon, especially for a season that no one knows when it will begin.

In a protest that will be oblivious to the NFL, NFL owners, and NFL players, some Yahoo fantasy players are holding their drafts in July for a season that may not happen just so everyone can get together, drink some beers, and talk smack. An anonymous Yahoo Fantasy Football player’s source said, “Our wives are oblivious to the fact the NFL lockout is occurring. We intend to have a draft in July and hopefully another one a couple of weeks before the season starts, if and when that happens. We intend to tell our wives, if caught, that the NFL shook up the rosters and with a new start time we will have to draft all of our teams all over again.”

The Yahoo Fantasy Football Players Union said, “Any fantasy player that crosses the fantasy line during the NFL lockout will be considered a scab and not recognized by Yahoo Fantasy Sports Players Union if they win their season with a team drafted during the lockout.”

Tough words by Yahoo Players Union and a hard decision coming up for Yahoo Fantasy players.

Arkansas Razorback were hosed a couple of times this week.

After winning the SEC West, posting a 38-20 record, having a RPI ranking of 14, being ranked in the top 25 all season, and recording the second largest home team attendance per game average in all of college baseball, the Razorbacks will not get to host a regional this year. They will start regional play Friday at Packard Stadium in Tempe, Arizona as a 2 seed, making their 24^th appearance in the NCAA tournament. The Razorback’s will open NCAA Division 1 play against #3 seeded Charlotte (42-14; not ranked), the Atlantic 10 Conference champions, Friday at 5:00 p.m. EST.

The Razorbacks will start sophomore left-hander Randall Fant (3-4, 3.96) against Charlotte saving their top pitcher, DJ Baxendale (9-2, 1.57), for their second game, hopefully, against #11 Arizona State. Charlotte’s pitching staff posted the fourth best ERA in college baseball, 2.43, during the 2011 season. New Mexico, 20-39, is the 4^th seeded team in the Tempe Regional. New Mexico won 4 straight games in the Mountain West Conference Championship tournament to earn a NCAA berth.

Super Regional Sites

The only way the Razorbacks will be able play at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas again this season is if they win their regional and University of Texas loses their regional. UT is the higher seed amongst all 8 teams between the Tempe and Austin Regional in the field of 64. Razorback fans rooting against the Longhorns will not be a problem. The former Southwest Conference foes have a long standing rivalry. Texas appears to have a pretty easy bracket in their regional. Texas State (40-21) is the #2 seed, Kent State (43-15) is the #3 seed, and Princeton (22-23) is the #4 seed.

University of Arkansas at Little Rock (24-32) won the Sun Belt Conference tournament as an 8 seed to earn a NCAA berth. They drew the 4^th seed in the Oregon State (38-17)/Corvallis Regional at Goss Stadium. Creighton (44-14) is the #2 seed and University of Georgia (31-20) is the #3 seed in this regional.

UCLA (33-22) earned a regional hosted at Jackie Robinson Stadium, their 5^th in the last 6 years, by winning their first outright PAC 10 conference title since 1986. They drew a tough bracket with #2 seeded Fresno State (40-14), #3 seeded UC Irvine (39-16), and #4 University of San Francisco (31-23). UCLA’s pitching staff has been dominating again this year, posting a team ERA of 2.30. They are led by junior right-hander Trevor Bauer.

SEC releases early season TV football schedule

The SEC released their early TV football schedule and the preseason top 25 Arkansas Razorbacks only have one confirmed game listed… other than the predetermined SEC Championship game which they will be playing in on December 3^rd in Atlanta, Georgia (wink!). The Hogs only game currently picked up by a major network is their day after Thanksgiving battle against LSU to be aired on CBS after a one-year hiatus.

The lack of Razorback games being picked up early can be viewed two ways. 1) The programming people at the major networks are idiots, or 2) The networks want to wait to see how the Razorbacks begin their season so their games will be nationally televised during peak times on the bigger networks. CBS has first dibs on SEC games, then ESPN and their string of stations get to pick from there. 

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