Thursday’s Sports

NFL

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Robert Griffin III is aiming to raise $1,000,000 through the ‘This is for Us’ initiative, which would impact the local and state governments to help wipe out social injustice. RG3 said, “We’re selling the bands for the RG3 Foundation. We clearly want to ride this wave of momentum that the world is going right now. It’s not just the US. Trying to spark change, as you and I both know, the only way to actually start change is to have money behind it. We don’t need anyone to donate $50,000 but if we can get 20,000 people to donate $1, that’s $20,000. That goes a long way. Bands, facemasks, shirts, and we have a GoFundMe initiative.”

MLB

Spencer Torkelson slugged his way through college, bashing baseballs all around the country with eye-popping power. His results made the decision easy for the Detroit Tigers, who selected the Arizona State star has the No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball amateur draft Wednesday night.

Baylor junior shortstop Nick Loftin was selected No. 32 overall by the Kansas City Royals in the Competitive Balance Round A of the 2020 MLB Draft. Loftin hit .323 as a junior. MLB.com and CBS Sports projected him to be selected late in the first round. It marks the second-straight year that before the second round, they drafted a Baylor player. Loftin is from Corpus Christi.

Claudell Washington, a two-time All-Star outfielder who played 17 seasons in the majors after being called up as a teenager by the Oakland Athletics, has died. He was 65.

NBA

Harry Glickman, the founder of the Portland Trail Blazers and general manager of the franchise’s only NBA title-winning team in 1977, died Wednesday. He was 96.

SOCCER

U.S. Soccer’s board of directors voted to repeal a 2017 policy that required national team players to stand during the national anthem. The board decided during a conference call, and U.S. Soccer announced the decision Wednesday.

HIGH SCHOOL

If Dave Campbell is right, Northeast Texas has the power machines once again in 3A DII released Wednesday. They are Daingerfield, Paul Pewitt, and Newton. The Daingerfield Tigers entered the poll in the No.3 spot. The Tigers went 11-3 last season, losing to rival Paul Pewitt in the Region III final 45-42. Paul Pewitt finished 14-2 last season with the year ending to Gunter in the state title game. The Brahmas will begin this season in the No. 4 spot of 3A DII.

The UIL announced the first changes Tuesday afternoon, just hours after schools finished their second day of summer workouts. Now, the coach to student ratio of one coach for every 20 students is history. The majority of the changes will take place on June 22. On that date, indoor activities can move from 25% to 50% capacity. For sports specific activities indoors, schools will be allowed to increase working groups of athletes from 10 to 5 students. For outdoor activities, those groups can go from 15 to 25.

The UIL also said that starting on June 22, “thoroughly disinfecting equipment before and after each use. If used, disinfecting that equipment has to happen before another student uses it. Schools should limit the use of equipment to reduce further the risk of spreading the virus..” Disinfecting equipment is a requirement right now.