40 Acres Sports

Lebron James picked up a few new teammates Wednesday night including UT guard Daniel Gibson with the 42nd pick. The experts seem to really like the pick this deep into the draft but still worry about whether he can end up being a point guard. Playing with James should make anyone a better player.

With the 35th pick the Toronto Raptors select Texas forward PJ Tucker. Video below of Jay Bilas and Greg Anthony praising Tucker and praising the pick.

LaMarcus Aldridge is picked second overall by the Chicago Bulls and promptly traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for the fourth pick. This is the highest a Longhorn has ever been selected in the NBA Draft.

Video below of David Stern announcing the pick, Lamarcus Aldridge putting on the Bulls cap, and then the ESPN experts discussing the pick and the trade.

Update

I love the fact that Aldridge makes Stern put on a Longhorn cap and pose for a picture as he makes the “Hook ’em”. I just noticed that, I love it. Good kid and a good Longhorn.

The Texas men took home third place in the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships yesterday. Florida State won the title easily with 67 points, finishing well in front of second place LSU and the Horns.

Two Texas football stars played a part in that finish. Defensive end/shot putter [tag]Brian Robison[/tag] narrowly missed another national title with his throw of 66 feet 5.25 inches. The winner of the event, Garrett Johnson of Florida State, bested him by less than two inches. Excellent performance by Robison in what will likely be his last for the Texas Track team, as next year this time he’ll likely be preparing himself for an NFL career.

Running back/sprinter [tag]Jamaal Charles[/tag] competed in the 100- and 200-meter events, as well as the 4×100-meter relay. He started well in the 100 before the leaders pulled away. His 10.27 time into a stiff headwind earned him a fifth place finish in the event. Not a bad performance for a freshman competing against Olympic sprinters. A particularly impressive feat for a running back, the majority of football/track sprinters are wide receivers or cornerbacks. Charles can definitely claim the title of college football’s fastest running back next season.

Click here to watch Charles’ performance in the 100-meters. (Note: Video playback requires Flash Player 8.)

Part of baseball is cheating just a little so that you’ve got the edge over your opponent. Doctoring the baseball, tipping pitches, shooting up with HGH till your head is the size of a beach ball, you know that kind of stuff. Well [tag]Arkansas[/tag] Razorbacks catcher Brian Walker attempts to win the Oscar for best actor and comes away with MTV’s “Best Villian” instead when he pretends to be hit by a pitch:

Wow, low class. It’s one thing to fake being hit, it’s another completely to show up and threaten the umpire who got the call right. What kind of lunatic acts like that when you clearly weren’t hit? His elbow sure didn’t look bruised when he chunked the bat and helmet in a hissy fit. They repeatedly pulled similar stunts when they were in Austin for the Regionals last year.

I hope the Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn disciplined the kid for this, although it’s probably sanctioned behavior. Dirty play like this is why I’ve no interest in playing them anymore.

via Orangebloods.

I don’t know what position QB/athlete recruit John Chiles will end up playing for the Longhorns, but damn that kid needs the ball in his hands somehow. The three and a half minute highlight reel shows why John is headed for 5-star status and why so many teams wanted him regardless of position. Check out the very first play, it really shows just how electric he can be from the quarterback position and why despite John Brantley’s recent commitment he’ll also get his fair shot to be the next great Longhorn QB.

Thanks to The Wizard of Odds for the tip.

ESPN’s NFL Draft Special was pretty darn entertaining last night. In addition to Merril Hoge’s idiotic opinions, they also had an excellent segment on Vince Young’s draft stock and his NFL potential.

I certainly don’t agree with everything said, but it was still really well done. Not that Vince should be compared to Alex Smith, but where was all the “takes most of his snaps in the shotgun” comments last year? Maybe it was Smith’s suckiness that made them pay attention to it with Young. I also call BS on Chris Mortensen’s claim that NFL scouts hadn’t studied Vince just because they didn’t think he was coming out this year. There was always a decent chance he’d leave early, I hope scouts put out enough effort to check in on one of the top players in the nation once in a while.

ESPN analyst Merril Hoge, who has clearly taken too many hits to the head, says there’s not a single QB worth taking in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft.

“Kellen Clemens from Oregon is better than Matt Leinart and Vince Young when you study the tape.” Yikes. What tape is he watching? Compare Leinart, Young, and Clemens’ stats and it’s not even close. Maybe Hoge likes that he’s coming off a major injury or that he’s much smaller and slower than either of the two more heralded QB’s. Or maybe he’s got brain damage.

Wow, that’s one of the dumber things I’ve heard in a long time.

Update: Check out his latest idiocy.

[tag]Roger Clemens[/tag] picks up his National League Championship ring and then catches for fellow Longhorn legend Vince Young as he throws at the first pitch. As usual, he throws a perfect strike.

Nice overhand throwing motion from Vince, I bet NFL scouts would love that. With his size and athleticism, if he’d have grown up with a baseball in his hand he’d probably have been a remarkable centerfielder. Of course, the Longhorns already win plenty of championships in baseball so I think he picked the right sport.

Two minutes of highlights from the Texas Longhorns’ spring scrimmage. Jordan Shipley, Jermichael Finley, and Roddrick Muckelroy were probably the most impressive performers from Saturday evening. Both of the young quarterbacks had good plays and bad, but certainly showed promise and glimpses of what they could be able to do with five more months of work. Check out the video below:

The game will be replayed at least once this week Wednesday at 1:30 pm on Fox Sports Southwest so be sure to set your DVR’s if you missed it this weekend.