MLB Draft night, wedding invitations and terrible National Anthems in the sports moments of the week

By Clark Gerber, WRAL Sports contributor

The internet is a big place. Unless you're 100% plugged in all the time (and let's be clear, that is NOT recommended), you're going to miss some stuff.

Let us do that work. You can be a well-adjusted human being and still catch all the best sports moments of the week, with a quick review ...

Local baseball stars begin their "Road to the Show"

North Carolina is on the short list of best states for producing major league talent, and it looks like it could be rising up the rankings.

Five in-state players were selected in the first round of Sunday's MLB Draft, including three Wake Forest players in the top 10.

Pitcher Chase Burns went second overall to the Cincinnati Reds, first baseman Nick Kurtz went fourth overall to the Oakland A's and infielder Seaver King went 10th to the Washington Nationals.

The Demon Deacons are only the second school ever to produce three top 10 draft picks in the same year, joining 2004 Rice.

Later in the first round, East Carolina pitcher Trey Yesavage, who himself was thought to be a Top 10-type prospect, was scooped up at No. 20 overall by the Toronto Blue Jays, making him the second highest draft pick in ECU history.

Jeff Hoffman, who now plays for the Phillies, went ninth overall in 2014, also to Toronto.

Yesavage got better in each of his three seasons with the Pirates and absolutely dominated in 2024. He finished the year with an 11-1 record, 2.03 ERA, a staggering 14 strikeouts per 9 innings and was named AAC Pitcher of the Year.

His split-finger fastball was one of the best pitches in college baseball last year. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the majors sooner rather than later.

Just a couple of picks later, North Carolina star center fielder Vance Honeycutt was drafted 22nd overall by the Baltimore Orioles.

Honeycutt is the reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year, has great power and delivered more than a few clutch moments during his Tar Heel career.

Head coach Scott Forbes says he's one of the best players to ever wear Carolina Blue... so why didn't he go top 10?

According to Keith Law of The Athletic, the answer is actually pretty simple -- Honeycutt strikes out too much.

"He struck out 83 times this year, which I believe is a record for a first-round pick; he had more strikeouts than hits (81) and whiffed on nearly 32 percent of his swings. It’s an all-around issue, with chase and in-zone miss, and I don’t think it’s an easy fix.

It’s a top five sort of upside, though, and the Orioles are among the few teams that can easily stomach the high risk of a pick like this one."

So, there's that.

In all, there were 26 players drafted out of North Carolina, also including Duke pitcher Jonathan Santucci and NC State catcher Jacob Cozart, who were second rounders.

Only one state produced more draft picks this year -- California.

I'd say that's pretty good!

Brawl at the Bank kicks off a crazy weekend in soccer

The USA got a first-hand look at South American soccer fandom this weekend and I think it's safe to say they were not ready for it.

Colombia and Uruguay fans (but mostly Colombia fans) packed Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte last Wednesday for the second semifinal in the Copa America.

They were treated to a riveting game as Colombia scored off a first half corner kick, then held on with only 10 men the entire second half for an emotional 1-0 upset victory.

Unfortunately, the match will be remembered for what happened after the final whistle, as some Uruguay players ran into the stands and started to fight a group of Colombia supporters.

Until the police finally stepped in, it really looked like it might exceed "Malice at the Palace" levels of ugly.

From what I can gather, the Uruguay players initially went into the stands to defend their families, who they claim were being harassed by some drunk Colombia fans (who, again, greatly outnumbered them).

In many other parts of the world, they separate opposing fan sections with a partition of some kind and this is why.

Charlotte wasn't ready.

And for the Final on Sunday, Miami really wasn't ready.

The Colombia-Argentina championship match was delayed for over an hour because thousands of unticketed fans stormed the gates of Hard Rock Stadium (crawling in through the vents in some cases!), caused significant damage and complete chaos.

Some fans who actually did pay thousands for tickets were turned away as the stadium was stuffed beyond capacity.

Sunday should have been a day to enjoy two outstanding matches, with Spain and Argentina both winning historic championships thanks to late game-winners.

Instead, the games were overshadowed by poor behavior in the stands and we're left with a bunch of finger-pointing over who is most to blame.

One thing is for sure -- there's a lot of work to be done before the World Cup in 2026.

Cam Newton interviews Bryce Young, talks CMC wedding snub

Former Panthers great Cam Newton blessed Carolina fans with some top notch content this week as we look toward the start of training camp.

The first No. 1 overall pick in Panthers history took to the red carpet and interviewed the second No. 1 overall pick in Panthers history -- Bryce Young -- on Thursday at the ESPY Awards.

The size difference between the two men is jarring to see, but it's a good reminder that their early-career experiences weren't all that different.

Carolina was a mess in Newton's rookie season, but through steady improvement, they made the playoffs by Year 3 and then the Super Bowl by Year 5.

I wouldn't necessarily bank on the same career arch happening for Young, but it is too early to give up. That's for sure.

Ok, now the thing I really wanted to talk about, which is the fact that Cam Newton apparently didn't get an invite to Christian McCaffrey's wedding last month.

Newton did a hilarious breakdown of the situation on his podcast this week (very NSFW language so beware), which prompted an incredible response from CMC in Instagram.

The newlywed McCaffrey wrote an impromptu screenplay explaining himself, and even wrote in a highlights montage with a Creed song.

All a good-natured exchange. I'm not doing it justice. You just gotta read it.

The 11-year College Football video game drought is over!

If you're like me, Monday was a long time coming.

The original NCAA Football game was my single favorite thing to play on my old PlayStation 3.

I spent wayyyyyyyy too much time manually updating rosters for years after the franchise was discontinued.

I went out and bought a PS5 last month specifically because I wanted to pre-order this game.

I'm 35 years old. And I'm not alone.

My timeline was flooded at 4 p.m. Monday of people dropping everything to play. (I even saw some NC State and UNC fans already using the game to trash talk one another. It was glorious.)

The best part? It lived up to the hype.

Gameplay is super smooth. The new recruiting system in dynasty mode is really cool. And most importantly, the spirit of the original franchise remains in tact.

I definitely do need to shake off some rust and adjust to this newer version. Running the read option is way harder (and more realistic) than the old version and, it turns out, so is tackling.

I used to routinely crush CPU teams by 50 on Heisman mode in the old game. That ain't happening in this one ... at least not yet.

Bravo to EA Sports. (Although you need to add some bald coach options in dynasty mode. Representation matters!)

We are so back, baby.

Steph Curry is having a great time with Team USA

Team USA basketball has enough talent to make the Olympics look like a video game next month. (Nice transition, right?)

Two-time MVP Stephen Curry played well in Wednesday's come-from-behind exhibition win over Canada, and scored a couple of viral moments as well.

One of Curry's 3 assists was an alley-oop lob to LeBron James in the third quarter, a moment that had both players positively giddy after the game.

After so many years of always playing against one another, it must be nice for both great players to finally combine forces.

Curry also found a moment to strike a pose after an and-one layup. 10/10 no notes.

If the vibes stay this high (and Joel Embiid finds a way to adjust to FIBA rules), Paris is going to be a lot of fun.

Fun at the Home Run Derby

I didn't intend to write about the Home Run Derby today, but there's so much that happened. I just couldn't resist.

On the field, we had Teoscar Hernandez hitting absolute bombs, becoming the first Dodgers player ever to win the event.

The Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. came super close to forcing overtime in the final round, but his last swing hit agonizingly off the wall, not over it.

There was also Orioles phenom Gunnar Henderson busting out a shockingly good Scooby-Doo impression.

But the thing I most want to focus on is the National Anthem, sung by country star Ingrid Andress.

Now, before we continue, I should mention that Andress came out Tuesday and apologized for the performance, saying she was drunk and will be checking herself into rehab.

That is not funny.

But even with that context, I think we can still have a little fun and enjoy this train wreck of a performance for what it was -- the latest successor in a proud line of Awful Anthem Performances (AAP for short).

Obviously, Fergie's rendition at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game immediately comes to mind.

Very similar vibes, right down to the players trying to stifle their laughter (as Philadelphia's Alec Bohm did Monday night).

Of course, before Fergie, there was Olympic Gold Medalist Carl Lewis trying to sing at a Bulls-Nets game in 1993. Emphasis on the word "trying."

And before that it was Roseanne Barr very much not trying to sing (I think) at a Padres-Reds game in 1990.

The point is, this is a proud tradition, spanning decades.

And while I wish Ms. Andress the best in her recovery (I don't mean to make light of that; it's serious), I was excited in the moment to have another entry into the AAP pantheon!

We'll see you next week.