Links and videos from recent happenings around the sporting world. If you come across good articles, videos, etc. – please pass them along, I’d love to take a look.

National Hockey League:

Photo via zimbio.com

There’s nothing in sports like a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals. Penguins coach Dan Bylsma – who lead the Pens to a Game 7 Stanley Cup Finals victory in 2009 – gives some insight into what Game 7 is like for the coaches and players. Make sure you tune in tonight for Game 7 on NBC between the Bruins and Canucks.

Canucks forward Mason Raymond will be out for 3-4 months with a fractured vertebra after being awkwardly checked into the boards by Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk in Game 6. I thought the hit was semi-dirty, should have been a penalty for boarding and/or interference, and was perhaps worthy of a suspension taking the severity of the injury into account – as they did with Aaron Rome’s hit on Nathan Horton.

College Football:

I’m sure glad I’m not a Buckeye fan since their sanctions could wind up worse than USC’s.

Apparently Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and Ohio State have conflicting timelines which could be a big issue. It’s usually the conference commissioners that help keep schools out of trouble but Delany might have caused more for the Buckeyes – whoops!

Former Buckeye QB Terrelle Pryor signed with agent Drew Rosenhaus. Honestly, who didn’t see that one coming? These two attention-seeking drama queens were meant for each other.

Oregon star CB Cliff Harris was cited for driving 118 mph on a suspended license at 4:30 AM in a car rented by a university employee. This isn’t good news for Ducks fans – if Harris is suspended he will likely miss the season opener against LSU.

As the NCAA continues their investigative rampage across the country, Heismanpundit says it’s the NCAA that lacks institutional control and something must be done.  He makes some good points..

Sports agency IMG is diving into 7-on-7 and high school football. Despite the negative reputation of 7-on-7 football, IMG joining elite travel football could be a game changer (in a good way).

Rivals.com unveiled its position rankings for the 2012 class for those of you that try to keep up with recruiting.

Idaho Statesman posted the Mountain West conference football schedules for 2012 and 2013 including soon-to-be members Fresno State, Hawaii, and Nevada. It also notes which teams wont be playing each other since the 10-team conference will only play eight league games in ’12 and ’13.

Scout.com wrote a pretty solid 2011 Boise State Preview if you’re dying for some pre-season reading material. One of the players mentioned throughout Scout’s preview was WR Geraldo Hiwat who is expected to play a large role in the Broncos success this year – OBNUG covered him Day 82 of the Numerical Roster Countdown. That said, there’s only 80 more days until Boise State plays Georgia – this video “Boise State vs Georgia Redemption” should get you excited for the season opener if you aren’t already:

Surfing:

10 Surfers Who Broke The Mold according to Ozzy Wright. This is a great list of surfers.

Surfer Magazine’s Week in Review had a couple cool videos – one about Great Whites liking AC/DC and another of some geese surfing a river wave.

You might be surprised to hear this – I was anyway – but one man says the Toyota Sienna is the best surf vehicle out there – Ode to the Man Van.

Episode 10 of Volcom’s Annihilator Series: Dusty Payne. If you don’t want to watch it all you at least fast forward to the 4:30 mark to see the ridiculous barrel he paddles into:

Soccer:

If you don’t recognize some of the names on the U.S. Soccer Team’s Player Pool you probably aren’t alone. Expect it to happen more often as the U.S. continues to target dual-passport players in order to join the world’s elite.

Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo both scored 53 goals in all competitions this season – enjoy the video of all 106 goals between the two.

Sir Alex Ferguson is at it again as Manchester United signed 19-year-old Phil Jones from Blackburn. Jones is regarded as one of the best young defenders in the EPL and Sir Alex clearly has an eye for talent.

Summer transfer rumors of Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona are in full swing and while I would hate to see him leave Arsenal but some think he should just go already.  I still don’t understand why Wenger would sell his best player – the team clearly struggled without him in the squad this year.

You have to see this goal scored by Vancouver’s Eric Hassli – it’s one of the most unbelievable MLS goals I’ve ever seen:

National Basketball Association:

As everyone knows, the Dallas Mavericks won their first NBA Title after defeating the Miami Heat in Game 6. I wrote that we need to quit talking about LeBron and Give The Mavs Some Credit but as I assumed, many of the national writer wanted to talk about LBJ. Here are some of the better pieces I read:

- Chill pills, please, about Dirk and LeBron – Michael Wilbon
- Tears of a Crown: Dirk Nowitzki rejoices – Marc Stein
- A season without acquittal for LeBron – Brian Windhorst
- LeBron James’ Marketing Might Never Recover – Darren Rovell
- NBA Finals Game 6 Retro Diary – Bill Simmons

Golf:

This doesn’t really have anything to do with golf other than it features four PGA Tour Players – Ben Crane, Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson & Hunter Mahan. It’s so terrible that it’s awesome:

Any good articles or videos I missed? Happy Humpday Everyone!