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HOUSTON - The man accused of throwing a can of hard seltzer at Senator Ted Cruz during the Houston Astros parade has been no-billed by a grand jury on Friday, according to court records.

Joseph Arcidiacono was charged with aggravated assault.

Video shared on Twitter captured the moment the can flew through the air toward Sen. Cruz while he was on a float, and someone nearby attempted to block the can.

The senator did not require medical attention.

In a statement following Arcidiacono's arrest, his attorney defended the actions saying it was not meant to be an act of violence.

"Political violence is never acceptable. What happened at the parade was not political violence nor 'aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.’

We have seen various videos and understand why Senator Cruz's security detail was alert for potential violence.

Instead, this was an Astros fan trying to toss drinks from his cooler to the Senator during a championship parade and not realizing how it would be perceived until he saw security's reaction.

The night before the parade, Joey texted a friend, 'My dream would be to throw one of the players a beer. Doubt it would happen haha but that would be epic.'

Many generous, fun, semi-stupid, legendary moments have happened during Astros Championship Parades. Hopefully, many more of those moments will happen in the years to come.

Fans throw cans to people in championship parades all the time. That is a widely known thing. To get them to chug.

Astros pitcher Ryne Stanek set the legendary chugging bar high that day. The Houston Astros official social media account featured him chugging a beer a fan threw to him. That fan posted his own video showing how excited he was it happened.

That was stupid, good fun. This ended up as not fun.

Joey apologizes for how his actions alarmed Senator Cruz, his family, and his security detail and put a damper on an otherwise beautiful celebration for millions of Houstonians. With this fuller context, we ask for grace and hope Senator Cruz declines to maintain charges.

Given the on-going legal process, we have no further comment on this situation, and request others to respect the privacy of Joey and his family. Though, we would like to add, GO ASTROS, CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD!"

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Due to NFL rules, the Houston Texans must wait until after Sunday's NFC Championship Game to interview DeMeco Ryans a second time for their vacant head coaching position.

In the meantime, the Texans had to figure out whether Ryans would actually want the job. According to a league source, Houston and team owner Cal McNair weren't sure whether Ryans, who once sued the Texans for negligence, would ultimately want to be the head coach for the team.

Multiple sources have told CBS Sports that's not true. In fact, one source described the Texans job as Ryans' top choice this cycle. As with anything, though, negotiations between both sides would have to continue.

Ryans, who's currently the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator, began his NFL playing career in 2006 with the Texans where he was Defensive Rookie of the Year and then a second-team All-Pro linebacker a year later. After starring there for six years, Ryans was traded to Philadelphia in the 2012 offseason.

In 2014, Ryans tore his Achilles in a game against his former team in Houston. He'd only play one more season before retiring.

In October 2016, Ryans sued Harris County -- which owns the stadium -- the stadium management company, the turf company, the Texans and the NFL for more than $10 million. He claimed the injury was "due to the dangerous condition of the field."

"The Achilles injury at NRG Stadium prematurely ended DeMeco's noteworthy NFL career," the lawsuit read. "But for the NRG Stadium field, DeMeco would have, in reasonable probability, remained in the league for another five years."

As the lawsuit worked its way through the courts over the years, the NFL and the Texans were eventually dropped from the suit. Court records show that in July 2021, Ryans appears to have reached a settlement with Harris County, the stadium management company and the turf company. Terms of any potential settlement weren't disclosed, and multiple emails from CBS Sports to Ryans' lawyers were not returned.

The Texans have completed second interviews with Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero. In addition to Ryans, Houston is expected to also have a second interview with Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon.

NFL rules prohibit coaches on teams playing this weekend from interviewing a second time for a head coaching position until Monday.

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Going into Sunday's NFC Championship game, the 49ers were already down to their third-string quarterback (Brock Purdy), but after an injury to the rookie, San Francisco is now just one big hit away from being forced to play a quarterback who has never actually played quarterback.

With Purdy on the sideline due to an elbow injury that he suffered on the first possession of the game, San Francisco turned to fourth-stringer Josh Johnson, but then he got injured in the third quarter (concussion), which now leaves the 49ers down to their emergency quarterback.

So who is the emergency QB? That would be either Kyle Juszczyk or Christian McCaffrey, according to the Fox broadcast. It's looking more and more possible that one of those two guys could end up taking taking a few snaps under center. With Johnson out, the 49ers put Purdy back in, but he can barely throw due to his injured elbow, so he might not last long.

On McCaffrey's end, he's thrown four career passes, going 2 for 4 for 84 yards and a touchdown. As for Juszczyk, he's been in the NFL for 10 seasons and he's never thrown a pass, which means the 49ers would almost certainly have to run some sort of Wildcat offense if either Juszczyk or McCaffrey enters the game at QB.

The crazy part about Juszczyk is that the NFC Championship isn't even the first game this season where he's been one injury away from entering the game. Back in Week 2, the 49ers only had two active quarterbacks against the Seahawks. That was the game where the 49ers had to turn to Jimmy Garoppolo after Trey Lance suffered a broken ankle.

If Garoppolo had gotten injured in that 27-7 win, then the 49ers would have had to turn to Juszczyk. At the time, Juszczyk made it clear that he wanted no part of playing QB.

"I told Jimmy in the locker room, I said 'Hey man, don't make me play quarterback today,'" Juszczyk said following the Week 2 win. "And he promised he was going to do everything he could to not let that happen."

Despite the QB injuries, the 49ers are battling to stay in the game, trailing 21-7 in the third quarter. If you want the latest updates, along with the current score, be sure to check out our live blog by clicking here.

If the experts are correct, the Texans will pick a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback second overall in the NFL Draft.

The HoustonTexans.com Mock Draft Roundup is back. The NFL Draft starts Thursday, April 27 in Kansas City, and from now until then, every few weeks we'll gather up the more prominent mock drafts from the media landscape and see who they think the Texans will take with their first pick.

Check out the 12th overall pick Mock Draft Roundup. Houston owns Cleveland's first-rounder because of a March trade last year with the Browns.

In the first one of the offseason, we tabulated results from 12 mock drafts. That number will rise each time from now until late April. Nine of those 12 predicted the Texans will take Alabama quarterback Bryce Young with the second pick. Two other mock drafts had Houston selecting C.J. Stroud, the quarterback from Ohio State at two. One mock-drafter thinks the Texans will tab Kentucky signal-caller Will Levis with their first pick of the first round.

If the 75 percent of the experts are right, Young would join Mark Ingram, Matt Leinart and Ron Dayne as Heisman Trophy winners to play for Houston. Young won the award in 2021 with the Crimson Tide and finished his Alabama career completing 65.8 percent of his passes, with 80 career touchdown tosses and just 12 interceptions.

The Senior Bowl is a week from Saturday in Mobile, Alabama. All next week, though, scouts, coaches and front office personnel from around the NFL will be in south Alabama to watch the practices, interview players before and after, and get a first-hand look at the prospects. Our John Harris pinpointed "5 Things to Watch" in Mobile. The week after the Senior Bowl concludes, we'll have our second Mock Draft Roundup.

Houston Astros News

How events this week have major franchise-defining impacts for Astros (houston.sportsmap.com)

When Joe Kelly slammed Houston Astros stars for trying to shift the blame onto managers for the 2017 cheating scandal (sportskeeda.com)

Around the AL West

Oakland Athletics trade starter Cole Irvin to Baltimore to compete for Orioles rotation spot (cbssports.com)

Seattle Mariners Drop Grey Unis for 2023, will wear Navy Blue for Road Games (news.sportslogos.net)

Other MLB News

Braves extend Snitker through ‘25 (mlb.com)

MLB Twitter reacts to report that former World Series MVP Cole Hamels impressed teams with recent workout: “The yearly Cole Hamels comeback tweet” (sportskeeda.com)

Red Sox Could Pursue Four-Time All-Star Attempting MLB Comeback To Bolster Rotation (si.com)

Rolen’s journey to the Hall of Fame, in his own words (mlb.com)

“What’s Wrong With You?”: Ex-MLB Player’s Bizarre Damar Hamlin “Death” Theory Draws Major Flak From NFL Vet and Other Fans (essentiallysports.com)

Oops! All Astros

Freilyn De Pena is a five-foot-10, 173 lb. right-handed reliever from Samana, DR. Born on March 13, 2003, he signed his first professional deal with the Astros on January 15, 2021.

De Pena came into 13 games in relief through that first season, spent with Houston’s sole (at the time) Dominican Summer League affiliate. He pitched 27 ¹⁄₃ frames and struck out as many as he walked (26). He also allowed 27 hits for a WHIP just shy of 2. Things had to change for De Pena to stick around.

The 2022 season started for De Pena back at the DSL rookie level, with the newly split-off Orange squad. On June 18, he struck out three and over 1 ¹⁄₃ innings, also walking three but earning the win in a 15-13 win over the DSL Red Guardians.

De Pena appeared in seven games for the Oranges, posting a 2-0 record with two saves and 12 strikeouts in 8 ¹⁄₃ innings. He also walked eight and allowed five runs (four earned). Unfortunately, Houston released him on July 25.

The absence of former Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Joe Kelly was felt in the ways of his enthusiasm and sometimes demonstrative attitude. Heading into another year with the Chicago White Sox, Kelly announced the release date for his new book, which opens with a memorable moment from the Dodgers’ 2020 World Series season.

Kelly dealt with multiple injuries with the White Sox last season, including a biceps strain, hamstring issues, and knee trouble. But he found time in the offseason to open up and work with journalist and writer Rob Bradford to bring many of his baseball stories to life and to speak up about behind-the-scenes information, along with the state of Major League Baseball.

The colorful pitcher has been at the center of a few on-field brawls and jaw-dropping moments, but in an appearance on “Dodger Talk” with David Vassegh, Kelly explained why his benches-clearing incident with former Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa was the ideal introduction:

“I’ve always hated the finale being at the end. You watch a movie, you know exactly what’s going to happen. For myself, I’ve always been the guy not to shy away from the honest answer, or being myself and being candid. I think that whole situation between me and Carlos was perfect to start off the book that way. Let people know this is me, this is real, and I want you guys to understand what really happened. What’s cool in the book is I go in depth behind the scenes.”

The July 28, 2020 game between the Dodgers and Astros will be remembered as the game Kelly buzzed the tower on Alex Bregman and Yuli Gurriel, both members of the 2017 Astros championship team tainted by their cheating scandal.

He then struck out Correa to complete a scoreless frame before exchanging glares, then words, and Kelly then made a pouty face toward Correa.

The two-time World Series champion and his book, “A Damn Near Perfect Game: Reclaiming America’s Pastime” explains the issues Kelly personally has with MLB and how they’re approaching rule changes and ultimately changing the foundation of baseball, with a myriad personal tales from his time in the big leagues.

Joe Kelly doesn’t believe Houston Astros will ever escape cheating scandal

Prior to the 2022 World Series matchup between the Astros and Philadelphia Phillies, Kelly spoke about the perception fans and many around MLB have when it comes to how they view the franchise involved in a cheating scandal that guided them to a championship title.

Kelly thinks that a majority of fans associate the Astros with that ‘cheating’ mentality and will go beyond the normal rules of the game to win a game, mainly because of how much information and chatter that go on via social media.

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