Like it is

Area's perfect for sports lovers this weekend

Arkansas coach Chad Morris speaks with players Wednesday, March 28, 2018, during practice at the university's practice facility on campus in Fayetteville.

Not sure there has ever been a week of perspiring arts like this one in central Arkansas.

There's football, baseball, basketball, horse racing and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.

Last week, Oaklawn Park hosted the Track Superintendents Conference with more than 80 entities from all over the world, and today it begins hosting the Associations of Racing Commissioners International.

That conference ends Friday, and the Racing Festival of the South begins Saturday. Oaklawn will give away a new truck and boat to patrons Saturday.

Normally, that would be a big week for Arkansas, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Thursday night while the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame is having a reception honoring its newest class at its museum in Verizon Arena, just a few blocks away the Arkansas Travelers will throw out the first pitch to open their season.

That's the same day the Masters begins, but it takes place in Augusta, Ga., again.

Also Thursday night is the Mike Conley Jr. All-Star Classic at Little Rock High School, which features an all-star team from Memphis vs. an all-star team from Arkansas. That game could feature as many as six future University of Arkansas, Fayetteville basketball players as well as the No. 1 player in the country in the junior class, James Wiseman, who will play for Memphis.

That game kicks off the Real Deal in the Rock basketball spectacular that has seen more than 187 McDonald's All-Americans participate. The games start Friday at the P.A.R.K. complex on Geyer Springs Road in Little Rock and other gyms in Pulaski County, and it ends Sunday.

Friday evening, the annual Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony is set for the Statehouse Convention Center. The dinner also honors past inductees who attend.

Some Razorbacks football coaches will be there to pay respects, and to be fair so will folks from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the University of Central Arkansas and Arkansas State University who widely support the hall of fame.

New UALR basketball Coach Darrell Walker and his wife Lisa will be at the banquet. Walker was inducted in 2003.

Earlier Friday, some of the Razorbacks coaching staff and all the players will be at Dickey-Stephens Park to sign autographs when the gates open at 6:10 p.m. Head Coach Chad Morris will get a chance to show off his own throwing motion when he throws out the first pitch.

On Saturday, while Real Deal is rocking and Oaklawn is racing, the Razorbacks will be in the left lane at War Memorial Stadium with the pedal to the metal, full-tilt boogie with has tags flying almost as fast as the footballs.

The annual Red-White game was moved to Little Rock because of construction at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Kickoff Saturday is 1 p.m.

Prior to kickoff, on parking lot 5 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., will be Spring Game Fan Fest.

The game and the festival are free to attend.

With all that going on something might have been missed -- like last week's NCAA Tournament trivia column that missed on the question of the last team to win consecutive NCAA championships, which was Florida in 2006 and 2007.

Lastly, it was mentioned in this space last week that Loyola-Chicago's Ben Richardson, the Most Outstanding Player of the South Regional, had a tie to the Razorbacks.

His dad, Dave, graduated from the UA in 1983 and was a walk-on for one year for Eddie Sutton before being recruited by Phi Delta Theta, which apparently offered him a bit more playing time.

Sports on 04/03/2018