What's the best one in your state?

 

I know what you're thinking, and I did that deliberately.  The best what?  Best ice cream?  Best Certified Public Accountant?  Best place to get a beer and watch the game?

No, none of those things.  It's another one of the lists, this time the "Best Small Town in Your State", on the discoverer.com blog.

Out of curiosity, of course, I read the list to see which ones I've been to.  Six of them; I need to get out more.  Maryland has Oakland, actually a long haul from most of the state.  Illinois has Galena, which I haven't been to, but I've been to Galesburg.  A couple of them are touristy, like Branson in Missouri and Helen in Georgia and Leavenworth in Washington and Bar Harbor in Maine (one of the six I've been to). 

I'll finish this with a picture of one I'd like to visit:  Meredith, New Hampshire. Looks good in every season.

There will always be an England

 

OK, so England didn't win the World Cup (again). There was considerable wailing and gnashing of teeth. But soccer is mostly about disappointment.  So they'll figure out how to live with it.

But a couple of days later, an Englishman did what Englishmen have been doing for decades -- he broke the world record in the mile. 

Remember that the mile is an English unit of measure, too. Because of that, the track mile race is not contested very often.  The 1,500 meter race is.  So when someone lines up to break world record in the mile, they probably plan to do it.

Josh Kerr did just that. He broke the record in the mile. If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching.

Here:

But getting back to England;  if you look at the mile record progression, ever since Roger Bannister (English) broke 4:00, it has been held by runners from England, the British Commonwealth (I can rope in Australia and New Zealand that way), and former English colonies (USA) for the latter half of the 20th century, until an Algerian and a Moroccan held it in the 1990s. The record that Kerr broke was set in 1999.

So it's a very British/English thing to hold the world record in the mile. And even though they didn't win the World Cup, Kerr brought the record home.

 

Win one for the old guys

 

While we're on the subject of sports that recently happened, I have to mention two things that happened TODAY (hard to do that when I'm trying to catch up on a couple of lost months). 

A.  The FIFA World Cup.  Spain defeated Argentina 1-0.  It was a soccer fan's dream, and a nightmare for those trying to sell the sport in the USA.  Because it wasn't exciting.  It was clearly a mismatch, the classic where one team is dominant and the other team is hoping for some luck. Now, the other team was Argentina, and they had Lionel Messi, and he's good at making luck.  Amazingly enough, in the last desperate minutes, down a man, he still almost made the luck he's famous for.  

But was it exciting?  If you hope for something more than a boring game, maybe. It was like hoping for a miracle but not expecting one.  So the better team won, as expected for the whole game.

Yes, there was great defense and some amazing saves from the Argentinian goalkeeper, Martinez. But when one goalkeeper is making a lot of great saves and the other team is not getting any shots on goal, that's not a great contest.

So let's move on to B. the British Open (aka The Open Championship).  

That was actually exciting.  In this case, because of numerous surprises. An unexpected first-found leader, golfers shooting 62s when hardly anyone else could, including a 39-year old New Zealander.  The really surprising thing was that one of the 62 shooters, Sam Burns, stayed in it until nearly the end, an early starter (Cameron Young) posted a score that almost got him into a playoff, and one of the other 62 shooters, the New Zealander named Ryan Fox, sank an 11-foot birdie putt to win it.

(By the way, Fox is a very accomplished international golfer. But the USA sports networks don't cover the PGA Tour of Australasia or the European Tour very much.  Golf aficionados have likely heard of him, and he has won a PGA Tour event and the RBC Canadian Open. So even though he's not particularly well-known, he had the game, obviously.)

So the players that were expected to win didn't, an unlikely winner took the cup, and the outcome was uncertain until the last hole.

That's exciting.  And Ryan Fox knew it.

Never mind my predictions

My first post in July was a gentle prediction for the outcome of Wimbledon, in which I suggested that Naomi Osaka, Coco Gauff, or Jessica Pegula might have a chance to win the big one on grass.  I never had any idea that either Noskova or Muchová was going to be in the final, much less both of them (Noskova won after nearly losing the chance to win, if you didn't know). Now, Gauff had a heroic semifinal against Muchová, so she almost made it.

On the men's side, I was right about Sinner, but I said "as long as he's playing, no one else is".  I didn't give Zverev a thought. I should have. Sinner is indeed a bit more consistent, and was able to do what champion players do, which is to exploit a couple of mistakes. But Zverev gave him a good battle. 

Next up, we'll consider the U.S. Open in late August.

No, it's not over

 

I don't know if anyone reads this blog (though looking at my stats, there are a few readers).  With a changing schedule, I've found it hard to get to it daily like I used to.  And I still have so much to say!  So, I'm going to be trying to catch up for awhile.   

Meanwhile, here's a nice picture from the past.

Tour de France Stage 3 avoids the smoke

As I write this, the Tour de France is doing a special Stage 3 due to a nearby large wildfire. The public was asked not to watch from the roadside.

They're getting into the last couple of climbs  in the Pyrenees right now.

Anything can happen, but what's still most likely to happen is that Pogacar will win it again.

Wimbledon at the halfway mark

 

(Yes, I'm back. More on that later.  Lots to post.)

Well, maybe a little more than halfway, actually.  Stunning surprises on the women's side, with Sabalenka, Swiatek, and Rybakina all knocked out.  So, is this Jessica Pegula's year?  Maybe.  Gauff has weaknesses, everybody knows that, and Pegula is smart enough to exploit them.

Still, I think it's Naomi Osaka's comeback that's going to capture the headlines and the title.  Great to see Jasmine Paolini still playing (like she is right now), but I don't see her winning on grass.  I wouldn't mind being wrong about that.

On the men's side, as long as Sinner is playing, nobody else is.  Taylor Fritz could make it through to the final, but I'm afraid Sinner is to Fritz what Federer was to Andy Roddick, i.e., unbeatable.

Now on to the Tour de France.