CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Injuries to starting quarterbacks are creeping up in the Big 12, highlighting the need for backups to be prepared for significant playing time.Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said Monday that the status of FBS total offense leader Patrick Mahomes is day-to-day. Mahomes left last weeks game against Kansas after going down hard on his right (throwing) shoulder and he didnt return.If Mahomes isnt ready, junior Nic Shimonek would get his first career start Saturday for Texas Tech (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) at Kansas State (2-2, 0-1).Oklahomas Baker Mayfield tweaked his right ankle when he was sacked by TCUs Josh Carraway and fumbled in the second quarter Saturday. Mayfields ankle was heavily taped at halftime and he returned to the field. Coach Bob Stoops said Mayfield is a little bit sore but hell be ready to go when the 20th-ranked Sooners (2-2, 1-0) play Texas (2-2, 0-1) in their annual rivalry game Saturday in Dallas.The injuries are a wakeup call not only for the need to having reserves ready, but for opposing teams to prepare to face them.Just in case, Oklahoma has freshman Austin Kendall, who threw two touchdown passes against Louisiana-Monroe earlier this season. And Shimonek completed 15 of 21 passes with four TDs in the 55-19 win Saturday over Kansas State. He also got extensive work in Texas Techs season opener against Stephen F. Austin.I was excited to see him get his opportunity, Kingsbury said. It was fun for me to get to see him do it out under the lights and I thought he handled himself very well.Kingsbury said Shimonek just showed up at Texas Tech two summers ago as a walk-on transfer from Iowa. He had to work his way up the depth chart, playing behind Mahomes and Davis Webb in 2015.We could tell he could throw pretty well, we didnt know what we had on our hands, Kingsbury said. What jumped out to me was his work ethic. He made himself the player that he is. Ive got to give him all the credit.Kansas State coach Bill Snyder was impressed by Shimoneks accuracy and confidence.It didnt look to me like there was any drop off from Mahomes, Snyder said. Obviously Texas Tech is doing it the right way because that youngster came in and played so very well.Teams like Texas, Iowa State and Kansas use their backup quarterbacks regularly. For other teams that dont, youve got to keep them sharp, give them reps, continue to remind them that theyre one play away, said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen.West Virginia got a scare in its season opener when Skyler Howard hurt his ribs against Missouri and sat out a few series. Two backups had turnovers during brief stints, and Holgorsen said that was an eye opener for them.Our backup quarterbacks werent ready to go in there, Holgorsen said. Since that game, I thought theyve been more engaged and practiced better to the point to where if that happens again, theyre going to be more ready to play.Other news from the Big 12 coaches teleconference:-No. 13 Baylor (5-0, 2-0) hasnt allowed a point in the fourth quarter all season, and interim coach Jim Grobe attributes that in part to conditioning and becoming familiar with the opponents offense. But after a nail-biting 45-42 win over Iowa State, Grobe said his team needs to correct its mistakes during a bye week, particularly on defense.Weve got to get back to being a better fundamental football team, Grobe said.-TCU coach Gary Patterson said he doesnt believe the winner of the Big 12 race will come out unscathed in league play. Baylor, No. 22 West Virginia, Texas Tech and Oklahoma are the remaining teams that havent lost in Big 12 games.Theres a chance, because where everybody has to go to, that the winner of this league may have two losses. It could be one, Patterson said. For me theres a lot of parity in it.-After Texas got three extra points blocked at Oklahoma State, one of which was returned for two points, Longhorns coach Charlie Strong promised that the problem will be fixed.We didnt do a good job of reacting to it, he said. Cheap Jordan 12 Black . During the athletes parade, the 23-strong Ukrainian team was represented by a lone flagbearer in an apparent protest at the presence of Russian troops in Ukraines Crimean peninsula. Cheap Air Jordan 4 China . Roman Josi had a goal and an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night. http://www.wholesalejordan12.com/discount-jordan-12-wholesale/cheap-jordan-12-mens-china.html .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Cheap Air Jordan 12 Retro . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive. Cheap Jordan 4 China . Miikka Kiprusoff had just announced his retirement after a decade-long run in Calgary and it would be up to Berra and Ramo to fill the void. On Monday, the New York Yankees traded closer Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs, giving a significant boost to a team already well-positioned for a deep playoff run. New York received three prospects, including highly touted infielder Gleyber Torres, and reacquired pitcher and former Yankees draft pick Adam Warren.As a lifelong Yankees fan, people have been asking me my thoughts on the trade, which can basically be summed up thusly: For a team that had three top relievers in Chapman, Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances, the Yankees sold high on Chapman, who is set to hit free agency at the end of this season, and in return got a top-15 prospect and a major league pitcher who threw quite well during his years in the Bronx.Most importantly, Im just glad that Ill once again be able to enjoy watching the ninth inning again.It pained me to watch my team trade for Chapman in December, when other teams had deemed him untouchable after reports surfaced of a domestic violence incident in which Chapmans girlfriend told police he choked her, pushed her into a wall and threatened her with gunshots fired in his garage. No arrests were made after more than a dozen officers appeared at Chapmans house and found his girlfriend hiding in the bushes.In addition to the uneasiness of having an apparently unhinged player in my teams clubhouse and on my teams field, it particularly didnt sit well with me that the main reason the Yankees managed to land an All-Star closer at the bargain-basement price of four unexciting prospects was because they were willing to look the other way from an act of violence.As I wrote at the time, the move was cynical and grossly opportunistic -- ESPNs Andrew Marchand likened it to the predatory nature of a foreclosure sale -- precluding me and many others from enjoying a win sealed by Chapman.That was quite startling for someone who grew up idolizing Mariano Rivera, for a fan base that became accustomed to the ninth inning as automatic, yet experienced the same level of excitement every time that cutter left No. 42s hand. With Chapman in for the save, many of us this season have simply been going through the motions, holding our breath and applause until the last out so we could cheer not for the pitcher who nailed it down, but for the team we still cant help but love despite ourselves. Rather than rising to our feet at the opening bars of Enter Sandman and gasping with every Rivera-induced broken bat, there was no joy in watching a Chapman save, no matter how hard he threw. A 105 mph pitch is exciting until you imagine that same physical force being used by an athlete against the mother of his child.So Im happy to see Chapman go, if only to reclaim my love of late-inning pitching. Thats why I sympathize with my colleague Sarah Spain, who wrote Tuesday about her own difficulties with Chapman potentially being a key component of her beloved Cubs World Series run. Now, I have to picture Chapman pitching the final out of the World Series, she wrote. Chapman on the front page of every newspaper in the country. Chapman, the lasting image of the victory. Chapman, the hero.That image is no big deal for some fans and writers content to settle on the conclusion that major league teams are in the business of winning, no matter what it takes (to quote USA Today MLB columnist Bob Nighteengale) -- a notion completely belied by years of PED reform, anti-tampering rules, regulations against foreign substances tainting equipment, not to mention MLBs revamped domestic violence policy.dddddddddddd The league itself has decided that whatever it takes isnt good enough after a certain point.To be sure, MLB did conduct its own investigation of Chapman under its new policy, suspending him for the first 30 games of the season.We can talk about whether that penalty was enough -- by comparison, the minimum suspension for a first-time PED user is 80 games -- and yes, relative severity matters in the message to both victims and offenders as to just what kind of infractions the league takes most seriously. With the understanding that MLB players have the strongest union and labor protections in all of sports (and thats a good thing), 30 games wasnt enough to delay Chapmans eligibility for free agency, setting him up for a huge payday after the 2016 season.MLBs domestic violence policy is more advanced than others in sports, and Chapman did serve his time. So heres where those win at all costs fans and commentators will bellow about second chances, admonishing those of us who dont think Chapman has quite yet earned that opportunity. If youre willing and able to accept Chapman as a Cub, thats your right as a fan, and your privilege as someone who has likely never been affected by violence against women. Many of these people are just as quick to dismiss the rest of us as reactionary torch-wielders who secretly hate sports and dont believe in second chances, rehabilitation or reform.Thats simply not the case. The issue with Chapmans moves to both the Yankees and the Cubs isnt just the unsavory opportunism; its that, as Spain and others have noted, hes shown little contrition in the months since the October incident.Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts and general manager Theo Epstein should receive some credit for using the words domestic violence rather than glossing over Chapmans case as a simple mistake (Im looking at you, Sandy Alderson). But both of them also emphasized that the organization takes players character very seriously, and weve no indication that Chapmans character has actually improved. He hasnt spoken out about domestic violence education, and has repeatedly dismissed the October incident as nothing. On Tuesday, he did tell ESPNs Pedro Gomez in Spanish that he has grown tremendously since that time after a rather confusing news conference with English-speaking Chicago media.We have about as much clarity on Chapmans personal growth as we do on just how to feel as fans every time he steps onto a pitchers mound. I know precisely what many Cubs fans are feeling today, having felt it for the past few months. Even if, as a Yankees fan, Im relieved to see Chapman gone, there will be a gnawing in my mind should Torres turn into the pro phenom hes slated to become, if the pieces that help build another Yankees dynasty were acquired through a cynically shrewd trade of a player who might not have deserved to be in the Bronx in the first place.I suppose Ill confront that reality if and when it comes to fruition. For now, at least I have my ninth innings back. ' ' '