Guess what day it is? (Dirk Game Day)

Crank Dat Horned Frog

Black and Purple (Horned Frogs Remix)

Give ‘Em Hell TCU

Don’t Back Down

TCU Hype Video

The hope now is that the Frogs make it to the top of Everest. Win the Big 12, make the playoff, and bring home some hardware that hasn’t taken up permanent residence in Fort Worth since 1938. And while outsiders might shake their heads, those that bleed purple hold out hope. The Frogs have done it before, and that means it can happen again.

Sports, especially baseball, is a lovely paradox. Baseball is so statistically driven that you can pretty much argue yourself out of any gut-feeling you could ever have if it could be even mildly disproven with numbers. But yesterday when Cody Jones threw that rope from centerfield- combined with Skoug’s brilliant block- prevented LSU from getting the first run of the game, you had to like TCU’s chances for the day.

TCU’s 10-3 victory puts them in the winner’s bracket for Tuesday, where they will face the winner of Vanderbilt and Cal State Fullerton at 7pm. LSU will play the loser of that game at 2pm on the same day. The Frogs will likely look to Alex Young or Tyler Alexander to start game two, as they hope to take a short route to the championship series. One step closer to the destination! Go Frogs!

This year’s College World Series field is loaded. Four national seeds are joined by four programs with rich baseball histories to create what will no doubt be a very competitive two weeks in Omaha. The eight teams in this year’s field account for 15 of the last 36 National Championships as well as 85 total appearances in the College World Series.

Before first pitch, here’s everything you need to know about this year’s field!

I’m not going to lie, I did not see the first few minutes of the first quarter of yesterday’s game against the 49ers. I walk into my house, turn my TV on, and I see that the score is 7-3 San Francisco. I’m not too upset because I’m thinking in my head that Dallas’ still has a shot in this game.

I then see 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick literally go right down the field and throw a 29 yard wide open TD pass to his Tight End Vernon Davis. It was then 14-3 San Francisco. Fox Sports then proceeded to show an aerial view inside of AT&T Stadium. It showed a vast majority of fans wearing red and gold. Yes, there were a good amount of 49ers fans that dominated the home of the Dallas Cowboys. I personally believe that they were the majority. Knowing the Cowboys’ history, it is very sad that it has come down to this.

The Dallas Cowboys first became known as Americas Team because their fan base would dominate other teams’ stadiums. To see the home of the Dallas Cowboys dominated by the opposing teams’ fans, I literally felt disappointed.

My disappointment quickly turned into disgust midway through the first quarter when Tony Romo threw his first of three interceptions of the day. His intent was to throw to Dez Bryant, but he threw into triple coverage and was picked off by 49ers safety Eric Reid and was able to run all the way into Cowboys territory.

Tony Romo’s interception turned into a 49ers 2 yard TD from Colin Kaepernick to Vernon Davis. The score was now 21-3. It was getting so ugly that I wanted to turn the game off and the 1^st quarter wasn’t even over yet.

The second quarter was not better for Tony Romo and the Cowboys. Romo threw two interceptions in the second quarter including a pass that should have been a wide open touchdown to Dwayne Harris but it ended up being intercepted by Patrick Willis.

The 49ers went up big late in the 2^nd quarter when rookie running back Carlos Hyde put San Fran up 28-3. AS you can tell, things did not get better for Dallas and company.

In the 2^nd half, Tony Romo did not throw an interception, and the defense did not give up any points. Dallas got a 3^rd quarter touchdown by running back DeMarco Murray and then a 4^th quarter touchdown pass from Tony Romo to Terrance Williams. The final score ended up being 28-17 but the score did not reflect the atrocity that took place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington Texas yesterday.

The Cowboys have issue, did Tony Romo just have a bad day or is this the new surgically repaired back Tony Romo? With the Cowboys defense being incredibly thin, if Romo and the offense perform like this during the course of the season, it is going to be a long horrible year for the Dallas Cowboys.

From what we saw yesterday, the Dallas Cowboys are not a good football team. The bit of glimmer of hope that Dallas Cowboys fans can give themselves is that it is only week one and things can change quickly in the NFL. That doesn’t seem likely for the Cowboys but we will have to find out next Sunday in Nashville Tennessee as the Cowboys take on the Tennessee Titans.

Over the last three seasons, the Mavericks aimed for star fee agents Deron Williams, Chris Paul, and Dwight Howard. Dallas swung for all three of them and missed on all three. In the 2012 season following the championship, the Mavs had pieces from their championship team still around but with key pieces, Tyson Chandler, JJ Barea, and DeShawn Stevenson leaving via free agency; it definitely affected the Mavericks during the 2012 lockout year.

The Mavericks did trade for Lamar Odom. Most people loved the trade at the time. Lamar Odom did win the sixth man of the year award during the 2011 season. When Odom got to Dallas, everyone could tell something wasn’t right. Odom was deactivated before the season even ended after he got into a confrontation with owner Mark Cuban during a regular season game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

At the end of the 2012 season, the Mavs attempted to sign hometown grown Deron Williams. The Mavericks offered Williams a max deal but Williams declined and re-signed with the Brooklyn Nets after the Nets traded for Joe Johnson.

The Mavs then did a restructuring of their roster trading and signing one year rentals of OJ Mayo, Darren Collison, Dahntay Jones, Chris Kaman, Mike James, and others.  The 2012-2013 season featured Dirk Nowitzki missed nearly half the season due to injury. The Mavs got off to a 13-23 record until Dirk came back. Dirk tried to revive the Mavs the best they could but it was too late. The Mavs finished 41-41 and finished 4 games out of the final playoff spot.

At the end of the 2013 season, the Mavs attempted to sign Dwight Howard away from the Lakers and Chris Paul away from the Clippers. Chris Paul finally put an end to his free agent rumors and signed a max deal with the LA Clippers. Most people expected Chris Paul to do that at some point. Nobody knew what Dwight Howard wanted to do. Over the course of Dwight’s career with the Magic and the Lakers, he had been very indecisive on where he wanted to play.

After a nightmare season with the Lakers, Dwight decided to pursue free agency and the Mavs pursued him hard. The Mavs had Mark Cuban, Donnie Nelson, Dirk Nowitzki, and other representatives take a summer trip to Los Angeles to try to meet and pursue Dwight. That attempt failed as Dwight bolted the Mavs and the Lakers and decided to go play with James Harden and the Houston Rockets.

The Mavericks then had a plan B and decided to go with Monta Ellis, Jose Calderon, and Samuel Dalembert as their prime free agent signings. This season, the Mavs fought very hard to make the playoffs and they did on the 81^st game of the NBA season. The Mavs battled all year through a very tough western conference.

This offseason, the Mavs face another hand of questions involving free agency. Dirk Nowitzki, Vince Carter, Shawn Marion, Devin Harris, DeJuan Blair, Jae Crowder, and Bernard James are all eligible to become free agents.

Dirk Nowitzki has indicated that he will resign with a hometown discount so that the Mavs have more flexibility sign other free agents. Dirk Nowitzki who turns 36 in June doesn’t have a long window left and he would like other stars to play with him in his golden years. With free agents Carmelo Anthony, Luol Deng, Marcin Gortat and others all available to possibly improve the Mavs team, we may have seen the final days of Shawn Marion and Vince Carter wearing Dallas Mavericks uniforms.

Free Agency doesn’t begin till July 1^st. The Mavericks will be in the free agency hunt once again for the third straight year and we can also expect trades to be made at some point this summer to try to improve the team. What those trades will be? At this point, nobody really knows. There is speculation that with Phil Jackson now running the New York Knicks, Tyson Chandler could be involved in a trade to help with the rebuilding of the Knicks. Roy Hibbert of the Indiana Pacers has had tough NBA playoffs and may need a change of scenery if Indiana doesn’t win it all.

When Mark Cuban bought the Mavs, he put them in a comfortable position that lasted over a decade. Mavs fans got pretty spoiled and loved the 50 and 60 win seasons. We loved the deep playoff runs o f 2003, 2006, and 2011. We have definitely gotten a little spoiled. Expectations are higher. We don’t like missing the playoffs and fighting for the 7 and 8^th seed. With that said, we knew a rebuild was coming at some point, and we can only hope that Cuban and Nelson get it right so we can have one more final hoorah with the best player in Mavs history, Dirk Nowitzki.

The game was not close at all. The Spurs got off to an early lead and never looked back. They led by 12 at the end of the first quarter, and they led by 22 at halftime. During the second quarter, the Spurs led by as much as 29. The Spurs shot nearly 70% from the field.

In the third quarter, Dallas attempted a comeback and within the first 5 minutes of the quarter, trimmed the lead down to 14. San Antonio then got back to business and never looked back. The Spurs took the lead to as many as 31 points in the 2^nd half and ultimately won the game 119-96.

The Spurs were led by their big 3 of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili. Parker led the three headed monster with 32 points shooting 11-19. Ginobili scored 20 points shooting 5-7 from the field. Duncan had 15 points and shot 7 of 8 from the field.

For the Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki scored 22 points, Devin Harris had 17, and Monta Ellis had 12 points. Despite the good games from Nowitzki and Harris, it was obvious Dallas could just never get it going. Monta Ellis got in foul trouble early which affected his grove for the entire game.

The Mavericks final game was disappointing but the season itself was not. A lot of experts did not even have the Mavs making the playoffs. It felt like the ones who did have the Mavs in the playoffs had them getting swept or losing in 5 games. The Mavs were able to take the team with the best record, and their most hated rivals right to the brink and even though the Mavs didn’t show up in game 7, most fans will not call this season a failure.

How they were able to do it?

Monta Ellis put the 4^th quarter in his own hands. Ellis finished the game with 29 points with 12 of them coming in the 4^th quarter. That performance by Ellis helped lead a comeback as the Mavs trailed by 5 heading into the 4^th quarter. DeJuan Blair was suspended for game 5 but he let his presence show in game 6 by contributing 14 rebounds which included 5 of them on the offensive end. Dirk Nowitzki scored 22 points, playing a supporting role for Monta Ellis. The Mavericks were able to score 37 points in the 4^th quarter and shoot 57% from the field.

What to expect in game 7?

The San Antonio Spurs are facing becoming the third one seeded team to fall to the 8 seed team in the last 7 years. The last two teams to do it were the 2007 Dallas Mavericks to the Golden State Warriors, and these same San Antonio Spurs in 2011 to the Memphis Grizzlies. Some experts believe that San Antonio was not fully healthy with Manu Ginobili missing the series.

To a lot of Mavs and Spurs fans, this series reminds them of the 2006 semi conference finals when the Mavs beat the Spurs in 7 games. The 7^th game happened to be at the same AT&T Center that the Mavericks will be at Sunday afternoon. That 7^th game went into overtime where Dirk Nowitzki had one of his all-time memorable performances. Both Mavs and Spurs fans remember when Ginobili fouled Nowitzki which sent Nowitzki to the free throw line which put the Mavs in OT to ultimately win the game and the series.

History shows that Dirk Nowitzki will be ready for game 7. Nowitzki is 4-0 in Game 7s throughout his career. Nowitzki has averaged 28 points and nearly 15 rebounds in Game 7s. Veterans on the Mavs like Vince Carter and Shawn Marion could potentially be playing for all the marbles on Sunday afternoon as it may be their last game in Mavericks uniforms. They are veterans; history shows that veterans are ready for game 7s. Monta Ellis who was a member of the 2007 Golden State Warriors always feels that he has something to prove. He showed that in game 6 and we can expect that in game 7.

The San Antonio Spurs are led by their dynamic trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili. On top of that, the Spurs have a future hall of fame coach in Gregg Popovich. Despite the pressure they may have, they will be ready to play. On top of that, they are at home.

In other words, this has all of the potential to be a classic Texas two-step in the Alamo city. Two veteran teams that are throwing everything out of the window for this one final game, at least for now.