A fashion crime that’s worth the time
From The GIST College Sports (hi@thegistsports.com)
TGIF!
May you enter this weekend as unbothered as the University of Houston, who met the NFL’s cease-and-desist notice regarding their football team’s alternate uniforms with a resounding shrug. Being so invested in a ’fit that you call the NFL’s bluff and risk legal action? Honestly, we respect it.
— No. 2 Oklahoma softball’s legendary head coach (HC) Patty Gasso on her Sooners’ weekend series with No. 4 Oklahoma State, aka the Bedlam series, aka the sport’s current biggest rivalry. The three-game tilt begins tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1 — let’s get ready to rumble.
Softball
🥎 Nothin’ soft about it
The GIST: It’s the last weekend of the regular season, and the season titles are still up for grabs in three stacked Power Five conferences — each with three Top-10 teams. Here’s who could slide home with the hardware.
Big 12: The regular-season title rests on the aforementioned Bedlam series. Oklahoma State sits two games back from the Sooners and could capture the crown with a road sweep…though that seems like a long shot, since they haven’t won a game on Oklahoma’s diamond in this century.
- But with even one win over the Sooners, the Cowgirls would create space for No. 1 Texas to snag a share of the crown — as long as the Longhorns can hold it down against Texas Tech this weekend. Living for the drama.
Pac-12: At 14-4 in conference play, No. 6 UCLA holds a tenuous lead in the Pac-12’s final season, and they should clinch their 18th title with two weekend wins over Arizona State. But if the Bruins bumble it, No. 7 Stanford is lurking just behind at 15-6. A strong homestand against No. 21 Oregon, plus a UCLA choke, would push the Cardinal to a huge come-from-behind conference win.
SEC: Like UCLA, No. 3 Tennessee has the country’s fiercest conference locked up…if they can keep their sh!t together against No. 24 Kentucky this weekend. No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 9 Florida sit one and two games back, respectively — but since they play each other in the season finale, it’ll take some serious grit and a lot of luck for either one to catch the Vols.
National championships
🏆 Confetti cannons, loaded
The GIST: ’Ship season is back, back again. Here’s the lowdown on this weekend’s hardware-hoisting:
🏐 Men’s volleyball: For all of last night’s semifinal stress, the tourney’s top two seeds are headed to tomorrow’s 5:10 p.m. ET final on ESPN. Reigning champs No. 1–seed UCLA looked unusually shaky in last night’s five-set thriller against No. 4 UC Irvine — not what the Bruins wanted before facing one of the few teams to beat them all season, No. 2 Long Beach State.
🏖️ Beach volleyball: Not enough volleyball for you? No worries — the beach gals’ tourney crams 16 matchups into three days, starting with today’s play-in game and first round and ending with Sunday’s 11 a.m. ET final. Only two schools, No. 1–seed USC and No. 2 UCLA, have ever won this natty, but No. 3 Stanford and No. 4 Florida State could break that trend. Time to bump, set, bop.
🎾 Tennis: If seeing Challengers has you in your tennis era, you’re in luck. The women’s and men’s 64-team, three-week tournaments start today, with their Super Regionals (aka Sweet 16) set by Sunday evening. Prep for some potential shake-ups, as neither reigning champ enters as the top seed: Virginia’s men come in at No. 3, and UNC’s women are seeded fourth.
🥍 Women’s lacrosse
Yesterday’s Big Ten tournament semis were a tale of two games: No. 1–seed Northwestern squeaked out a razor-thin 13–12 win over No. 5 Johns Hopkins, while No. 2 Penn State thumped No. 6 Rutgers 17–8. Can Northwestern stop Penn State’s explosive offense to snag their fourth conference title in five years when the pair face off tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. ET?
🥍 Men’s lacrosse
The ACC tourney returns from a five-year hiatus tomorrow, and it’ll be a doozy. Four of the nation’s top six teams, including reigning national champ No. 1 Notre Dame, will battle for a spot in Sunday’s final. While the winner will earn a natty auto-bid, the three losers will likely snag at-large bids during Sunday’s 9:30 p.m. ET selection show on ESPN2 (right after the women’s at 9 p.m. ET).
🚣 Rowing
The movie The Boys in the Boat — which chronicles the Washington men’s Olympic rowing gold medal win at the 1936 Games — comes to life at today’s 38th annual Windermere Cup, where the Huskies’ No. 8 women and club-level men will host the Italian National Team (the 1936 silver medalists) starting at 1:15 p.m. ET. TBD whether George Clooney makes an appearance.
⚾ Baseball
With just three regular-season weekends remaining, every game counts, especially in the SEC — with nine ranked teams, it’s the nation’s most competitive conference. This weekend’s matchup between SEC West leader No. 2 Arkansas and SEC East top squad No. 8 Kentucky is as high stakes as they come, so don’t miss tonight’s 6:30 p.m. ET first pitch.
Hi. It’s us. We’re the recommenders, it’s us.
🍻 Where to watch the game
At your local The Sports Bra location. The first-of-its-kind women’s sports bar from Portland, Oregon, just announced plans to franchise nationally. Cheers to that.
🌭 Where to eat
A Premier League match. Bachelor stars and social media foodies Matt James and Rachel Kirkconnell had themselves a feast at the Arsenal vs. Chelsea game, and it all looks divine.
🎧 What to listen to
This episode of Call Her Daddy. Alex interviews Olympic gold medalist and GOAT Simone Biles about what really happened at the infamous Tokyo Games. A must-listen.
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