Conor McGregor competes in exhibition bout at Crumlin Boxing Club - MMA Fighting

Conor McGregor competed in an exhibition boxing match at his old boxing club, Crumlin Boxing Club, on Friday, fighting Michael McGrane to a draw.

Irish outlet SportsJoe.ie reported that McGregor contested an exhibition bout against McGrane to close out Crumlin BC’s 27th annual Easter weekend showcase. Crumlin Boxing Club put on an event every year, ‘The Good Friday Boxing Show’, to raise funds for the facility and for its athletes.

McGregor’s inclusion on the night was not advertised, with McGrane’s opponent being billed as “A. Another” ahead of the contest.

Videos circulated on Friday of McGregor receiving a hero’s welcome as he took to the ring.

Further footage showed McGregor and McGrane landing shots on each other.

When all was said and done, both men had their hands raised, with the contest ending in a draw.

Two days before the showcase, McGregor showed up at the Dublin boxing club for a training session. He did pad rounds and some light spars and took pictures with club members.

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https://www.mmafighting.com/2019/4/20/18508784/conor-mcgregor-competes-in-exhibition-bout-at-crumlin-boxing-club

2019-04-20 13:30:00Z
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Gil Brandt to Giants, NFL Draft: Duke's Daniel Jones like 'watching the same guy' as young Peyton Manning - NJ.com

Maybe the NFL doesn’t have to wait another generation to see the next Manning family quarterback.

Cooper Manning’s teenage son already is creating football buzz, and his younger brothers, two-time Super Bowl winners Peyton and Eli, both have young sons.

But Hall of Fame talent evaluator Gil Brandt sees Manning genes in Duke’s Daniel Jones, who is expected to be picked in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

“I. Love. Dan Jones,” Brandt said on a teleconference for Sirius XM NFL Radio. “I have to say this carefully: When you watch him and you go back (20) years and watch Peyton Manning, you are watching the same guy. He’s athletic. He doesn’t have a rocket for an arm, but neither did Peyton. Very smart."

NFL Draft 2019: Giants could be taking huge risk on Duke’s Daniel Jones | ‘Is this as good as he’s going to be?’

Ex-NFL quarterbacks Dan Orlovsky and Phil Seems studied Duke's Daniel Jones and critique his skills and personality going into the NFL Draft. Former NFL general manager Charley Casserly is a big fan of Jones.

Jones started out the pre-draft process as a fringe first-round pick. His stock has steady climbed since he won MVP honors at the Senior Bowl.

The Giants drafted the last two Senior Bowl MVPs (Davis Webb and Kyle Lauletta).

When the Giants acquired the No. 17 pick in the Odell Beckham trade, Jones seemed to have a natural landing spot. But NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah just pegged Jones to the Giants with the No. 6 pick, where the more popular projections are Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins or a defensive standout.

“I just think stylistically how they want to play, having a long track record of having played there at Duke versus maybe Haskins with the one year," Jeremiah said, “I just think that kind of falls in line more with the Giants.”

And yet Jones is Jeremiah’s fourth-ranked quarterback in the class. Giants general manager Dave Gettleman’s cardinal rule for drafting: Don’t reach for need or it will be a disaster every time.

“When you watch Jones play and the things he does, I think he can play an efficient game (for) a team that’s going to build around his defense going forward,” Jeremiah said. "I think you’ll see that with the Giants. We’ve seen it reflected in the Odell Beckham trade.

“I think the more conservative, efficient approach offensively, that to me fits with Daniel Jones’ style."

Duke coach David Cutcliffe, who is considered one of the top quarterback mentors at any level of football, was Peyton’s quarterbacks coach at the University of Tennessee. Eli visits Duke each offseason to train under Cutcliffe’s eye.

It actually creates a slippery slope: Would Jones be a first-round on his own, without any ties to Cutcliffe? Some ex-NFL quarterbacks analyzing Jones worry he already has reached his ceiling.

Former NFL general manager Charley Casserly scoffed at the idea that the Manning family ties will lift up Jones. But the words of Brandt, who was the vice president of player personnel for the Cowboys from 1960-88 and is considered a godfather of modern scouting, illustrate how tough the two are to separate.

“He had an opportunity to have a full scholarship to Princeton,” Brandt said of Jones. "He said, ‘No, I’m better (at football) than that. I want to walk-on at Duke.’ He completed 60 percent of his passes but they didn’t have any great receivers there to catch the ball.

“He had an unbelievable workout a month or so ago. A lot of people have turned to like him.”

Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find our Giants coverage on Facebook.

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2019-04-20 11:01:00Z
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Mariners act responsibly on a Friday night, take out the trash first - Lookout Landing

Friday got off to a dubious start in the baseball world. MLB announced that Tim Anderson, the player who was thrown at by Brad Keller and ejected from the Royals/White Sox game, was also to be suspended for one game for using a racial slur during the dust-up. Shortly after that announcement, Mariners fans got some very sour news on one of the system’s best prospects.

Mariners OF prospect Julio Rodriguez has a hairline fracture of his left hand. Was HBP on April 12 and hasn't played since. Timeline TBA.
Rodriguez was off to a .355/.444/.452 start in nine games as an 18 y/o (!) in the South Atlantic League.

— Corey Brock (@CoreyBrockMLB) April 19, 2019

Rodriguez will be out of action for 4-6 weeks. It stings.

A lot of havoc being caused by HBP’s these days and I don’t like it.

You know what I do like? Beating the Angels.

You know what else I like? Dingers.

And this game delivered on both fronts, even with Angel Hernandez behind home plate and in spite of a mercifully brief period of despair and panic late in the game.

Catch up on all the action in the game thread:

Marco Gonzales was going for his fifth win of the season, which would have set a franchise record for pitcher wins before May 1 per Brad Adam. He came out strong and extremely crafty and pitched a relatively drama-free seven innings. He gave up one run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, but otherwise cruised with six strikeouts and two walks.

But then came the dreaded eighth inning, before which my dad and I had this text exchange:

Well shit, indeed. Sorry Dad, I must now retire in shame from the baseball blogging business. It’s been an honor and a privilege, y’all.

So, yes, Tim Beckham fielded a hard-hit grounder and bobbled the transfer, so David Fletcher reached base ahead of Mike Trout. Trout had looked rather pedestrian in his prior three at-bats (a strikeout, a line out, and a broken bat weak comebacker to the mound) came to the plate and capitalized on his apparent long-con by sending a pitch just below the zone well beyond the center field fence. It was a Muhammad Ali-approved rope-a-dope (the dope being me).

And so continued the mini-me version of last night’s game, except it was the starter blowing the lead instead of the oft-scapegoated bullpen. Whoops.

But, Tim Beckham had amends to make, and make them he did in very short order in the top of the ninth.

the real bat flips were the friends we made along the way

Followed right away by Omar Narváez’s second absolutely GOLFED home run in as many days.

The Mariners took the lead 5-3 and Roenis Elias came in to shut things down in a drama-free fashion for his fourth save of 2019. Neat!

• This is the first Friday night win for the 2019 Mariners. Feels good to start the weekend off right!
• In the second inning, Jay Bruce hit his ninth home of 2019 and this came across my Twitter feed:

I mean, Lydia is not wrong!

• It’s no secret that I am long time booster of Daniel Vogelbach, so here is his crucial 2-run shot from the fourth inning in all its glory:

damn, daniel

• In the bottom of the seventh, Marco was absolutely rolling and got to feast on the soft underbelly of the bottom third of the Angels lineup. A long flyout by Kole Calhoun to center field was followed by a weak pop out in foul territory by Peter Bourjos, and then Marco came in for the kill with this strikeout of Zack Cozart:

(sound of a turning faucet)

• The bottom of the eighth was quite an adventure. There was the previously discussed Trout game-tying dinger, which prompted the Mariners bullpen into action. Cory Gearrin, who pitches like he’s trying to avoid being seen by a Tyrannosaurus Rex, got Simmons to pop out, but then hit Albert Pujols with a pitch. Zach Rosscup came in to face real-life Homer Simpson look-alike Justin Bour, which resulted in this:

baseball!

You’ll note that Dee Gordon notices that Bour has chosen to NOT to run to first base on a pop-up, so he directs traffic during this entire play and tells Ryon Healy to let it drop, then throw it to Beckham at second, who then non-chalantly throws it to first for the double play. Here’s Healy on his thought process during this play:

More Healy on Dee Gordon's help: "I felt like he was playing MLB the Show and just controlled me on a little controller. But it was awesome."

"I looked at first, first. I almost threw it there and I would've ruined the whole entire thing. Luckily I had Dee there to help." https://t.co/XMB9anb4bO

— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) April 20, 2019

God bless us, everyone.

---

The Mariners take on the Angels tomorrow at 6:07 PM in game three of the four game series. Yusei Kikuchi looks to bounce back from his last rough start and notch his first MLB win, but the Mariners will have to solve the mystery wrapped in an enigma that is Trevor Cahill to make it happen. Go Mariners. Hit dingers.

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2019-04-20 07:09:59Z
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Russ gets better of Lillard in chippy Game 3 win - ESPN

3:23 AM ET

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Russell Westbrook vowed to be better in Game 3 against the Portland Trail Blazers, and with 33 points on 11-of-22 shooting and 11 assists in a 120-108 win Friday night, he followed through.

"Man of his word," Paul George said. "He came out, he led, we got behind him, and he put us on his back."

After losing Games 1 and 2 in Portland to fall into an 0-2 hole, the Oklahoma City Thunder were backed into a virtual must-win as the series shifted to OKC. Westbrook set a tone early with his trademark intensity but cranked it to another level as the Thunder built a lead in the third quarter. That's when the fun started.

• 

Westbrook swatted a layup attempt by Blazers guard Damian Lillard with 10:15 left in the third quarter and turned to the baseline crowd, yelling something. It caught the attention of Lillard, who said something in return to Westbrook, who then started talking back. The next OKC possession, Westbrook posted up on Lillard and hit an and-1 jumper over him, celebrating with a demonstrative rock-the-baby move. Lillard smirked at Westbrook.

"I didn't even see him do it," Lillard said. "A lot of times, I'm waiting for the ball to be inbounded. So I'm not looking at what's going on going the other way. So, rocked the baby on a jump shot -- you can do that all day."

Lillard, who to that point was swarmed by the Thunder and held to only six points, erupted for 25 in the third, including 23 after Westbrook's rock-the-baby celebration. Lillard's 25 third-quarter points were the most in a single quarter in the playoffs by any player since Allen Iverson had 26 on June 1, 2001, against the Milwaukee Bucks in the fourth quarter.

Lillard denied Westbrook's move added any motivation and focused more on the fact his team was down double digits and needed him to up the aggressiveness.

The Blazers came back to tie the score early in the fourth quarter, but Westbrook responded brilliantly with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting. He rocked the baby over Lillard one more time -- a little less emphatically this time around -- and after sinking a dagger 3-pointer with 1:20 left, he pointed right at Lillard and had more to say.

Lillard engaged with some more talk shortly afterward with George, and then Westbrook joined in, with Westbrook eventually picking up a technical foul with 41.5 seconds left.

"That's just how he is," said Blazers center Enes Kanter, a former teammate of Westbrook's in OKC. "He's going to scream and yell, he's going to try and get under your skin. But I think Dame and CJ [McCollum] did a really good job standing up there in coolness."

Thunder guard Dennis Schroder also got in the mix, mocking Lillard's trademark "Dame Time" gesture by tapping on his wrist with the Thunder up 12 with two minutes to go. Schroder said he saw Lillard do it in the first two games and was just returning the favor.

Lillard acknowledged he saw Schroder's gesture.

"Yeah, I did see it," he said. "I thought it was kinda funny that he waited so late in the game, when he knew the game was decided, to do it. And he also hadn't done that, he hadn't pulled that out the first two games. So I thought that was interesting."

And to cap it all off, with the Blazers and Thunder taking their starters off the floor down 12 with 20 seconds left, George stayed in to shoot free throws. The Blazers missed a layup on their final possession and the ball tipped out ahead to George who threw down a reverse double-clutch dunk after the buzzer sounded.

"I mean, it was after the clock, but just doing that -- I don't really care," Lillard said. "It's the playoffs, people do things that maybe they're trying to get under somebody's skin, or maybe trying to make a statement, or, I don't know. It don't matter. The game was over; the game was decided. Typically, people say you don't do stuff like that, but honestly I really couldn't care less. The game had been decided; and if that's something they needed to do to make themselves feel more dominant or feel better, then so be it."

Asked why he decided to throw down the dunk, George said, "Next question."

Game 4 is Sunday in Oklahoma City.

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2019-04-20 06:44:02Z
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Cokin's Corner, Friday 4/19/19 - smokincokin.com

• April 19, 2019

Great weekend of playoff action coming up in both the NHL and NBA, some intriguing series matchups on the diamond, it’s a pretty good time to be a fan and/or a sports bettor.

I’m battling the clock as I’m writing this, so let’s head right to the daily free play. Following three straight plus nights, I absorbed a small loss last night, but nothing significant. The free play was a winner as the Freeland F5 Under at Coors was 0-0 after five innings. Wish they were all that easy. The free play today is a small one for me, just a half unit wager.

AVALANCHE at FLAMES

TAKE: AVALANCHE +155

Calgary will pull out all the stops tonight to try and extend this series. But I make this a true tossup and that makes for a load of value on the Avalanche. Mike Smith has been awesome in goal for the Flames but he’s facing a ridiculous volume of shots (108 the last two games) and I do wonder about fatigue setting in. Beyond that, these are two speed teams but Colorado is the substantially bigger team and they really wore the Flames down in Game Four. I can see the same thing happening tonight. Calgary desperately needs to be playing from ahead tonight, so the first period is going to be critical for them. I wouldn’t play this if the line was short, but at this number I’ll take a flyer with the Avalanche.

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2019-04-20 06:19:43Z
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NFL Mock Draft 2019: Nine trades, with Falcons making blockbuster to move into the top five - CBS Sports

Cody Benjamin

Apr 19, 2019 at 7:23 pm ET • 1 min read

NFL teams completed 10 trades involving first-round picks a year ago, while teams traded more than ever before at the 2017 draft. With increasingly progressive front offices league-wide, not to mention increasing incentives for wheeling and dealing, it should be no surprise if picks are being swapped all over the place when the 2019 draft kicks off on April 25.

That's why, for this mock draft, there are not one or two or three but nine projected first-round deals.

As for the actual draft, you'll be able to stream our live coverage right here on CBS Sports HQ (or download the CBS Sports app for free on any mobile or connected TV device) breaking down all the picks and everything you need to know during draft weekend. 

Does the reality of so much movement make it even harder to correctly predict picks? Sure. But guess what? Mock drafts are always wrong anyway. So you're just as well off forecasting trades as you are pretending all 32 teams are just going to stand pat.

With that said, let's get to the good stuff.

Among the highlights of this nine-trade mock draft:

• The Atlanta Falcons jumping all the way into the top five
• The Seattle Seahawks moving back -- twice
• The New England Patriots landing a Pro Bowl veteran
• Four QB selections, including one after a late trade

The entire rundown is just below. Feel free to print this (it's free!) so that it can be framed and hung once it's proven 100 percent accurate on draft weekend. On the off chance it's not completely accurate, feel free to reach out on Twitter @CodyJBenjamin to let me know why you deserve an NFL front-office job.

NFL Mock Draft

Round 1

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https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/nfl-mock-draft-2019-nine-trades-with-falcons-making-blockbuster-to-move-into-the-top-five/

2019-04-19 23:23:00Z
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NFL Mock Draft 2019: Nine trades, with Falcons making blockbuster to move into the top five - CBS Sports

Cody Benjamin

Apr 19, 2019 at 5:43 pm ET • 1 min read

Follow Cody at

NFL teams completed 10 trades involving first-round picks a year ago, while teams traded more than ever before at the 2017 draft. With increasingly progressive front offices league-wide, not to mention increasing incentives for wheeling and dealing, it should be no surprise if picks are being swapped all over the place when the 2019 draft kicks off on April 25.

That's why, for this mock draft, there are not one or two or three but nine projected first-round deals.

As for the actual draft, you'll be able to stream our live coverage right here on CBS Sports HQ (or download the CBS Sports app for free on any mobile or connected TV device) breaking down all the picks and everything you need to know during draft weekend. 

Does the reality of so much movement make it even harder to correctly predict picks? Sure. But guess what? Mock drafts are always wrong anyway. So you're just as well off forecasting trades as you are pretending all 32 teams are just going to stand pat.

With that said, let's get to the good stuff.

Among the highlights of this nine-trade mock draft:

• The Atlanta Falcons jumping all the way into the top five
• The Seattle Seahawks moving back -- twice
• The New England Patriots landing a Pro Bowl veteran
• Four QB selections, including one after a late trade

The entire rundown is just below. Feel free to print this (it's free!) so that it can be framed and hung once it's proven 100 percent accurate on draft weekend. On the off chance it's not completely accurate, feel free to reach out on Twitter @CodyJBenjamin to let me know why you deserve an NFL front-office job.

NFL Mock Draft

Round 1

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https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/nfl-mock-draft-2019-nine-trades-with-falcons-making-blockbuster-to-move-into-the-top-five/

2019-04-19 21:43:00Z
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