The regionals of the 2018 NCAA baseball tournament began the road to the College World Series, which ends in Omaha, Neb.

The initial field of 64 college baseball teams began play at 16 regional sites around the country. The top 16 teams were seeded by the selection committee and will host a regional of four teams each.

The Bay Ridge, NY, native — who now lives in Gramercy, an easy commute to Rockefeller Center — is a pop-culture addict and a true comedy nerd. His warm-up act, Seth Herzog, is a veteran comic Fallon knew from a Lower East Side variety show. Some people are like, ‘Dude, the show was great, but especially the warm-up guy!’ I’m like, yeah, he’s OK. But I did a whole song and dance, I was covered in whipped cream going down a slide like a human tongue — that wasn’t entertaining?

One of the complaints about American football in London has been that the type of grass pitch that soccer teams use does not have the proper footing for American football. That results in players slipping and sliding, and the middle of the pitch getting torn up. Nobody is happy with that.

So the NFL is investing in a field that is specifically designed for American football. That field will be used for the first time on October 14, when the Seahawks face the Raiders.

Knox, whose father, Kevin Knox Sr., played wide receiver at Florida State and had two games with the NFL Cardinals in 1994, also will work out for the Cavaliers (eighth pick) and Bulls (seventh). Trading back a few notches, though, could be the best avenue to snare Knox.

Boston-based journalist Chris Mannix revealed on a podcast that Boston’s Kyrie Irving talked about playing for the Knicks with his former Cavaliers teammates, which has apparently alarmed the Celtics because he’s a 2019 free agent.

A staple of the slow time is the release of training-camp practice schedules. And this year’s training-camp practice schedule for the Jets will make fans feel like it’s still the slow time.

Via NJ.com, the Jets will have only three public practices at the team’s facility. Due to scheduling conflicts, the team also won’t practice or scrimmage on Long Island, at Hofstra.

The reduced access comes in part from the team’s decision to conduct joint practices with Washington, at the team’s training camp in Richmond, Virginia.

The White House statement, which has also been rebuked by ex-Eagle Torrey Smith, claims that the Eagles did not stand proudly for the national anthem last season, and also suggests the Super Bowl champions have not honored military members appropriately.

Jenkins took exception to the characterization of the team not standing for the anthem, as he and other team members raised their fists but never knelt in protest during the regular season. Cornerback Ron Brooks knelt for the anthem before a preseason game prior to being cut.

He started 41 of 49 career games at Old Dominion, making a school-record 233 receptions for 3,193 yards and 30 touchdowns.

Ross signed with the Colts as an undrafted free agent on May 18. He participated in the team’s rookie minicamp on a tryout basis before being signed.

He played 18 games in two seasons at Kentucky, making 21 catches for 296 yards and one touchdown.

Long also called the NFL’s new national anthem policy clumsy, and said the move to ban protest from the sidelines was driven by fear of a diminished bottom line.

A group of Eagles was still planning on traveling to Washington before the official cancellation, as players had arranged to do charitable work in the area instead of visiting Trump.

Those plans were scrapped after the White House statement, and the team was back at practice on Tuesday.

A.J. Bouye reflects on how his father’s tough love molded him into an NFL star More Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback A.J. Bouye took the hard route to the NFL as an undrafted player who has found his way to stardom. However, climbing the ranks of the NFL after going undrafted out of the University of Central Florida was likely made easier by Bouye’s childhood.

Indeed, Brooks Koepka had just won, after out-dueling Johnson throughout Sunday’s final round. The duo entered Sunday tied for the lead at 3-over – along with Tony Finau and Daniel Berger – but Koepka fired up a 2-under 68 to close out the victory, while Johnson managed only an even-par afternoon.

The win makes Koepka the U.S. Open’s first back-to-back champion since 1988 and 1989, when Curtis Strange took the titles at The Country Club and Oak Hill.

Oh, and for those curious: Wayne Gretzky was nowhere to be seen. But we’re guessing he knew the score.

That curious answer clashes somewhat with Brady’s previous assertions that he sees himself playing until he’s 45 years old  and Pats owner Robert Kraft’s claim last year that Brady assured he had six, seven years left in him.

As long as I’m still loving it. As long as I’m loving the training and preparation and willing to make the commitment, Brady explained when asked by Oprah if that end could be as far away as his age-43 or age-45 season. But it’s also [that] I think what I’ve alluded to a lot in the [‘Tom vs. Time’] docuseries was there’s other things happening in my life too. I do have [three] kids that I love, and I don’t want to be a dad that’s not there driving my kids to their games. I think my kids have brought a great perspective in my life, because kids just want the attention. You better be there and be available to them, or else they’re going to look back on their life and go, ‘Dad didn’t really care that much.’

As demonstrated by these comments and the end of Tom vs. Time, Brady remains torn between playing as long as his pliable body will allow and being fully there for his family.

His wife, Gisele Bundchen, made headlines when in the finale of the Facebook Watch series, she said, These last two years have been very challenging for him in so many ways. And he tells me, ‘I love it so much and I just want to go to work and feel appreciated and have fun.

The Los Angeles Rams began mandatory minicamp Tuesday with a large hole on the defensive line.

All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald, the league’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, was not present when the Rams took the practice field, NFL Network’s Steve Wyche reported.

Donald, 27, has become one of the NFL’s premier players since entering the league in 2014 as a first-round pick (13th overall) out of Pittsburgh. He has 205 tackles (148 solo), 57 sacks, nine forced fumbles and eight passes defensed in four seasons, and was selected as a first-team All-Pro in three straight seasons.

I wouldn’t say so much, man, he said. I think a lot of that’s mental. As you get older, you get smarter and you figure out ways to maybe better ways to take care of yourself, the way you eat or the way you sleep or the way you work out and the way you prepare for a game on a daily basis. I feel great physically. I really do. I’ve been fortunate to have be healthy for the most part for the last several years, stay on the field. For me, that’s the main thing. Just staying healthy.

Names can be just as harmful as sticks and stones. Just ask Cassidy Warner.

The 10-year-old Scranton, Pennsylvania, fourth-grader exhibited bravery beyond her years this March, posting a video on Facebook without her parents’ knowledge, detailing her struggles with being bullied. She does not speak in her video, instead holding up white sheets of paper with handwritten descriptions of bullying she has endured at school. She writes that classmates have spit on her, pulled her hair and spilled milk on her jacket. They’ve pushed and kicked her and threatened her life, and whenever she sits at a lunch table, other kids leave.

Her sadness was not limited to her own experiences. She also hoped her video could affect change in the world, ending her post with a message that read, This is my story… Stop bullying! Not just for me for other kids too. Please share my story!

The offseason drama that has infected New England is nearing its end. A day after star tight end Rob Gronkowski revealed that he plans to attend the Patriots’ mandatory minicamp, which begins on Tuesday, the MMQB’s Albert Breer reported that star quarterback Tom Brady is expected to attend mandatory minicamp as well, as expected. Both players the team’s two most important players skipped voluntary OTAs.

A separate question asked, Do you think that NFL players who kneel during the national anthem are patriotic or unpatriotic?Forty-one percent of people said that kneeling is unpatriotic, but 42% selected, Kneeling is not related to patriotism.Only 14% said kneeling is patriotic. San Francisco 49ers players Eli Harold (57), Eric Reid (35) and Marquise Goodwin (11) kneel during the national anthem before a game against the Houston Texans in Houston on Dec. 10, 2017.

Long was questioned about Goodell’s silence in the wake of Trump’s comments about the Eagles in recent days.

He didn’t say anything? Long asked. Hey, I don’t speak for the commissioner, if he doesn’t want to stand up for the players, that’s not really my business.

As Trump and the White House made attacks on the Eagles for their approach to a canceled White House event celebrating the team’s Super Bowl LII victory. It also touched on their supposed proclivity for kneeling during the anthem — which nobody on the team did during the regular season or postseason — Goodell or the NFL have yet to comment on the situation or come out in support of the Eagles or any players.

The White House also accused the Eagles of abandoning their fans.

Goodell’s silence on the matter doesn’t concern Long, he said.