Pennant Fever

In Scotland, Celtic went to Motherwell and pulled out a 3-2 victory.  Hearts played their last home game of the year and hammered Falkirk 3-0.  So with one game left, the top of the standings look like this:

1.  Heart of Midlothian:  24-5-8 (80 points)

2.  Celtic:  25-8-4 (79 points)

On Saturday, at 6:30 A.M. Central Time, Hearts will travel to Celtic Park for the Title Decider.

Hearts and Celtic have been playing each other since 1890.  Here's how this season's matches have gone:

10/26/25:  Hearts 3 - 1 Celtic

12/07/25:  Celtic 1 - 2 Hearts

01/25/26:  Hearts 2 - 2 Celtic

The all-time record is Celtics by 221-91-76.

It's very simple.  If Celtic win the match, they win the Scottish Premier League, which would be their 56th League Title, and their fifth in a row.  If Hearts can win or tie, then they will win the Scottish Premier League.  That would be their fifth League Title, and their first since the 1959-60 season.

I've been watching Scottish soccer since 1995, and I can't remember another League race that came down to the last game.  It's been very exciting, and I really hope that Hearts can pull it out.

Pennant Fever

In England, Arsenal have won three games in a row, while Man City suffered a 3-3 draw against Everton in its next-to-last game.  Man City has a game in hand, but Arsenal will win the title if the Gunners can win their last two games:

1.  Arsenal:  24-5-7 (79 points)

2.  Man City:  22-5-8 (74 points)

Here's what's left.  On Wednesday, Man City hosts Crystal Place and will probably win that game to get to 77 points.  On Monday, May 18, Arsenal hosts Burnley, who have already been relegated.  On Tuesday, May 19, City goes to Bournemouth, who are in the middle of the pack.  The season will end on Sunday, May 24 with every team in the Premier League kicking off at 10 A.M. Central Time.  City will host fifth-place Aston Villa, one of the best teams in the league, while Arsenal will travel to fifteenth-place Crystal Palace.  So, the Arsenal clearly have the advantage on the remaining schedule.

On Saturday, May 16, Man City will play Chelsea in the final of the F.A. Cup.

In Scotland, last week Heart of Midlothian picked up a 2-1 victory over Rangers to effectively eliminate Rangers from the title race.  But on Saturday, Hearts played a 1-1 draw with Motherwell that opened the door for Celtic to take the title.  With two games left, the top of the table looks like this:

1.  Hearts:  23-5-8 (77 points)

2.  Celtic:  24-8-4 (76)

On Wednesday, Celtic travels to Motherwell, while Hearts host Falkirk.  And then on Saturday, the final day of the season, Celtic will host Hearts in a game that will probably decide the Scottish title.  It's been several generations since the Scottish race was this exciting.

On Saturday, May 23, Celtic will play Dunfermline Athletic in the final of the Scottish F.A. Cup.

In Europe, Arsenal (ENG) beat Atletico Madrid (ESP) by 2-1 over two legs to reach the final of the Champions' League for the second time in team history.  The Gunners will face defending champ Paris-Saint-Germain (FRA), who beat Bayern Munich (GER) in a 6-5 thriller over two legs.  PSG and Arsenal will meet at Puskas Arena in Budapest on May 30.  That game, which will decide the Champions of Europe, will be the final club match of the 2025-26 season.  After that, everyone will start focusing on the World Cup. 

Pennant Fever

On Saturday, Arsenal beat Newcastle United, while Manchester City won its semi-final match in the F.A. Cup.  Man City advances to the F.A. Cup final, where they will play Chelsea on Saturday, May 16.  Meanwhile, the top of the English Premier League looks like this:

1.  Arsenal:  22-5-7 (73 points)

2.  Manchester City:  21-5-7 (70)

In Scotland, Heart of Midlothian won at Hibernian 2-1, Rangers lost at home to Motherwell, and Celtic defeated Falkirk 3-1.  So with four games left in the season, the top of the Scottish Premier League looks like this:

1.  Heart of Midlothian:  22-5-7 (73 points)

2.  Celtic:  22-8-4 (70)

3.  Rangers:  19-3-12 (69)

I can't remember another season where both countries had such exciting pennant races.  Hearts will host Rangers on Monday, May 4 in the biggest game played in Edinburgh in many years.

The Scottish F.A. Cup Final will feature Celtic and Dunfermline Athletic.  It will take place on Saturday, May 23.

Meanwhile, and most important of all, the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League start this week.  The quarter-finals (played over two legs) went like this:

Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 4 - 0 Liverpool (ENG)

Real Madrid (ESP) 4 - 6 Bayern Munich (GER)

Barcelona (ESP) 2 - 3 Atletico Madrid (ESP)

Sporting CP (POR) 0 - 1 Arsenal (ENG)

It's pretty rare to see both Real Madrid and Barcelona eliminated before the semi-finals.  Anyway, here are the semi-finalists:

Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) v. Bayern Munich (GER)

Atletico Madrid (ESP) v. Arsenal (ENG)

Soccer Update

We have some drama left in the 2025-26 European soccer season.

Arsenal, seeking its first league title since the 2003-04 season, has led the English Premier League almost the entire year.  But today, Manchester City beat Arsenal 2-1 at Manchester City, and now the top of the EPL looks like this:

1.  Arsenal:  21-5-7 (70 points) (goal differential of 37)

2.  Man City:  20-5-7 (67) (goal differential of 36)

If Man City wins at Burnley on Wednesday, the Sky Blues will take over first place.  And they will be very tough to catch after that.  Still, the title is very much up for grabs.  The British oddsmakers have Man City favored to win the league at odds of 4 to 6, while you can get Arsenal at 6 to 5.

Manchester City is also favored to win the F.A. Cup.  Next weekend, they will play the semi-finals of the F.A. Cup, and here are the matchups:

4/25/26:  Manchester City v. Southampton

4/26/26:  Chelsea v. Leeds United

Here are the odds to win the cup:

Man City:  1 to 2

Chelsea:  11 to 4

Leeds:  9 to 1

Southampton:  20 to 1

On the other hand, Manchester City is out of the Champions' League -- they were beaten by Real Madrid in the Round of 16.  The Champions' League is also down to the semi-finals, and those matchups look like this:

Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) v. Bayern Munich (GER)

Atletico Madrid (ESP) v. Arsenal (ENG)

These semi-finals will be two-legged matches played on April 28-29 and May 5-6.  Here are the odds to win the Champions League.  As you can see, it's very much up for grabs as we await the final in Budapest on May 30:

Bayern Munich:  7 to 4

Arsenal:  9 to 4

PSG:  5 to 2

Atletico Madrid:  7 to 1

And finally, we have a thriller in the Scottish Premier League.  With only five games left in the season, Heart of Midlothian is still trying to become the first club outside of Celtic and Rangers to win the Scottish League since 1985.  Here are the standings:

Heart of Midlothian:  21-5-7 (70 points)

Rangers:  19-2-12 (69)

Celtic:  21-8-4 (67)

Here are the odds, with the smart money being put on Rangers:

Rangers:  21 to 20

Celtic:  2 to 1

Hearts:  13 to 5

So there's a lot to play for over the next month and a half -- and then we get the 2026 World Cup, which begins on June 11.  Here are the current favorites to lift the trophy in East Rutherford, N.J. on July 19:

Spain:  +450

France:  +550

England:  +650

Argentina:  +800

Brazil:  +800

Portugal:  +1000

Germany:  +1400

Anyway, if you have any interest in soccer, you should be tuning in from now through the end of the World Cup -- this is all about as good as it gets.

Scottish Football Update

No team other than Celtic and Rangers have won the Scottish Football League since the 1984-85 season, when Aberdeen turned the trick.  But this year, Heart of Midlothian F.C. is making a run at the title.  Here is the top of the standings with three months left in the season:

1.  Heart of Midlothian:  17-4-6 (57 points)

2.  Rangers:  15-2-10 (55)

3.  Celtic:  17-6-3 (54)

I'm going to keep an eye on Hearts.  The manager of that Aberdeen team back in 1984-85 was Alex Ferguson, and he went on to Manchester United, where he became one of the greatest managers of all time.

Meanwhile, the top of the English Premier League looks like this:

1.  Arsenal:  17-3-6 (57 points)

2.  Manchester City:  16-5-5 (53)

3.  Aston Villa:  15-6-5 (50)

Arsenal haven't won the League since the 2003-04 season, so Nick Hornby is probably on pins and needles, and he still has a long way to go.

The Scottish Premier League

We don't talk much about the Scottish Premier League because it is dominated by two giant clubs in Glasgow -- Celtic and Rangers.  In Britain, those two clubs are known as the Old Firm.  Either Celtic or Rangers has won the league every year since 1984-85, and most years they finish 1-2.  But look at the standings after 20 games:

1.  Heart of Midlothian:  13-2-5 (44 points)

2.  Celtic:  12-6-2 (38) (goal differential of 13) (34 goals scored)

3.  Rangers:  10-2-8 (38) (goal differential of 13) (30 goals scored)

4.  Motherwell:  9-3-9 (36)

5.  Hibernian:  9-5-7 (34)

6.  Falkirk:  7-7-6 (27)

7.  Dundee Utd:  5-6-10 (25) (goal differential of negative 2)

8.  Aberdeen:  7-9-4 (25) (goal differential of negative 4)

9.  Dundee:  6-11-4 (22)

10.  St. Mirren:  4-9-6 (18)

11.  Kilmarnock:  2-12-7 (13)

12.  Livingston:  1-13-6 (9)

Heart of Midlothian is one of two major clubs in Edinburgh -- the other is Hibernian.  Hearts play their matches in Tynecastle Park, which seats 19,852 people.  To put that figure in perspective, Celtic Park seats 60,411 people, while Ibrox Stadium (where Rangers play) holds 51,700.  So it's virtually impossible for Hearts to win the league, and in fact they have not done so since the 1959-60 season.  But I've been tracking the Scottish Premier League since 1995, and I don't remember seeing a team from outside the Old Firm at the top of the table this far into the season.  So I wanted to give Hearts a shoutout.

Soccer Update

They've wrapped up the soccer season, and the big story was the dominant performance of Paris-Saint Germain.  PSG crushed Inter Milan 5-0 in the final of the Champions League yesterday to become only the second French club to win the title.

Here are the major results:

European Cup:  Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) (first ever European Cup)

English Premier League:  Liverpool (ended a four-year winning streak for Man City)

English F.A. Cup:  Crystal Palace (first major title in club history)

Scottish Premier League:  Celtic (four in a row, and 13 of the last 14)

Scottish F.A. Cup:  Aberdeen (first F.A. Cup for Aberdeen in 35 years)

Spanish La Liga:  Barcelona

German Bundesliga:  Bayern Munich (11 of the last 12)

Italian Serie A:  Napoli

French Ligue 1:  Paris Saint-Germain (four in a row, and 11 of the last 13)

If you want to see how much people love sports, look up the videos of the Crystal Palace and Aberdeen fans after their teams each pulled big upsets in their respective Cup finals.  And if you want to see how good a soccer team can be, watch PSG's blowout over Inter Milan in yesterday's Champions League final.

We'll see everyone in August.

Soccer Update

It has been a relatively dull soccer season unless you are a Liverpool fan.  In England, Liverpool has already clinched the Premier League title with four games left in the season.  In Scotland, Celtic has done the same.  The F.A. Cup final will be between Crystal Palace and Manchester City, and the Scottish F.A. Cup final will be Aberdeen v. Celtic (Rangers was upset by Queen's Park in the Round of 16).

So that leaves the Champions League.  You will recall that a few years ago, UEFA changed the rules so that teams had to fund themselves from their soccer operations.  This rule was intended to prevent owners from using their fortunes to build super teams, but as a practical matter it gives an incredible advantage to the three biggest clubs in Europe:  Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich.  Since 2012, these three clubs have dominated the Champions League.  Only the English clubs have been able to challenge them:

2013:  Bayern Munich (GER)
2014:  Real Madrid (ESP)

2015:  Barcelona (ESP)

2016:  Real Madrid (ESP)

2017:  Real Madrid (ESP)

2018:  Real Madrid (ESP)

2019:  Liverpool (ENG)

2020:  Bayern Munich (GER)

2021:  Chelsea (ENG)

2022:  Real Madrid (ESP)

2023:  Manchester City (ENG)
2024:  Real Madrid (ESP)

This system has largely killed my interest in the Champions' League, as there's not much point in watching so long as Real Madrid is alive.  And so, when Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich all cruised into the quarter-finals during this season, I felt pretty safe in ignoring the competition -- especially as Liverpool had already been eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain.  But then we had some upsets.  Here were the quarter-final results over two legs:

Aston Villa (ENG) 4 - 5 Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)

Real Madrid (ESP) 1 - 5 Arsenal (ENG)
Borussia Dortmund (GER) 3 - 5 Barcelona (ESP)

Inter Milan (ITA) 4 - 3 Bayern Munich (GER)

So that gives us the following two-leg semi-finals:

Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) v. Arsenal (ENG)
Inter Milan (ITA) v. Barcelona (ESP)

PSG has already eliminated Liverpool and Aston Villa, and my guess is that they will complete their sweep over the English clubs by eliminating Arsenal.  And I expect Barca to roll over Inter and PSG to keep the title in the hands of the Big Three.  But at least it won't be Real Madrid, and that's about all we can hope for these days.

British Open: Day Three

Here are the leaders after the second round:

1.  S. Lowry (IRL):  -7 (66+69=135)

T2.  D. Brown (ENG):  -5 (65+72=137)

T2.  J. Rose (ENG):  -5 (69+68=137)

T4.  B. Horschel:  -2 (72+68=140)

T4.  D. Burmester (RSA):  -2 (71+69=140)

T4.  S. Scheffler:  -2 (70+70=140)

T7.  C. Conners (CAN):  -1 (71+70=141)

T7.  J. Day (AUS):  -1 (73+68=141)

T7.  X. Schauffele:  -1 (69+72=141)

T7.  P. Cantlay:  -1 (73+68=141)

Here are the oddsmakers' favorites:

S. Lowry (IRL):  +190

S. Scheffler:  +350

J. Rose (ENG):  +650

British Open: Day Two

Here are the leaders after Day One:

1.  D. Brown (ENG):  -6 (65)

2.  S. Lowry (IRL):  -5 (66)

3.  J. Thomas:  -3 (68)

T4.  A. Noren (SWE):  -2 (69)

T4.  N. Hojgaard (DEN): -2 (69)

T4.  J. Rose (ENG):  -2 (69)

T4.  R. Henley:  -2 (69)

T4.  X. Schauffele:  -2 (69)

T4.  M. Hughes (CAN):  -2 (69)

T4.  J. Dean (ENG): -2 (69)

Here are the betting favorites:

S. Scheffler:  +400  (Scheffler is 1 under after one round)

S. Lowry (IRL):  +450

X. Schauffele:  +600

Justin Thomas Is Leading the British Open

1.  J. Thomas:  -3 (18 holes)

T2.  A. Noren (SWE):  -2 (18)

T2.  N. Hojgaard (DEN):  -2 (18)

T2.  J. Rose (ENG):  -2 (18)

T2.  R. Henley:  -2 (18)

T2.  B. Koepka:  -2 (8)

T2.  X. Schauffele:  -2 (8)

T2.  M. Hughes (CAN):  -2 (4)

Rory McIlroy (NIR) shot a 78 (7 over par), so he's out of it.

Bryson DeChambeau shot a 76 (5 over par), so he's probably out of it.

Great Music Videos: 'Alive and Kicking,' Simple Minds

Thanks, Matthew, for getting this series going. Here's the second video I thought of after reading your introductory post.

I'm pretty sure that I saw this video debut on MTV in September 1985. Remember how they used to do that? They'd announce they'd be showing a video for the first time at whatever time, and then on would come Alan, or J.J., or Nina, or Mark, or Martha, at that time to introduce the video with appropriate fanfare. I'm pretty sure the first time I saw "Alive and Kicking" was during this treatment.

I wasn't much of a Simple Minds fan before this video, and I feel confident I'd never heard this song before seeing this video. But immediately the video just totally grabbed me. I thought it was the song that I liked so much, and so I went out and bought the album at Camelot in the Kentucky Oaks Mall at some point that autumn of our senior year at Heath. I listened to the record all the way through once or twice, but I quickly got to the point where I pretty much just dropped the needle on "Alive and Kicking" and yanked it back off after that song had played.

And then it wasn't long after that before I realized it was the video I loved. I liked the song, but I loved the video. "Alive and Kicking" would fall into Matthew's Category 2, "Videos That Are Really Made to Be a Visual that Goes Along With the Music." I was a 17-year-old boy ready to get out of my parents' house on Cairo Road in Paducah, Kentucky, and here came Jim Kerr with his exotic friends inviting me with a striking Scottish travelogue into kicking, free life with all of its dramatic waterfalls, piercing sunsets and giant drums. Indeed, within a year, I was on my (self-perceived) own in college in Bowling Green, making my own discoveries, such as the rocky embankments along the Barren and Green rivers north of town.

I learned this morning from super Wikipedia that the video was actually shot "near the town of Hunter, at North–South Lake in the Catskill Mountains of New York State." Which is fine. Simple Minds was from Scotland, and the place they found to make their video looked like what I imagined Scotland to look like. But, regardless of exactly where on God's green Earth that it was shot, the "Alive and Kicking" video is no bait and switch. It's a brilliantly executed brochure for the gift of Life, More Life, wherever we have to get ourselves to receive and embrace its wild abundance.

Pennant Fever

Arsenal remains on top of the English Premier League, but I still think Man City is the better team:

1.  Arsenal:  14-1-2 (44 points)

2.  Man City:  12-2-3 (39)

3.  Newcastle:  9-1-8 (35) (goal differential of 21)

4.  Man Utd:  11-4-2 (35) (goal differential of 7)

5.  Tottenham:  10-5-3 (33)

6.  Liverpool:  8-5-4 (28) (goal differential of 12)

7.  Fulham:  8-6-4 (28) (goal differential of 3)

Meanwhile, Celtic appears to have everything under control in Scotland:

1.  Celtic:  19-1-1 (58 points)

2.  Rangers:  14-2-4 (46)

3.  Hearts:  9-6-5 (32)

The British Open, Final Round

On Saturday, Cameron Smith struggled to a 73, while Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland shot sizzling 66's.  So McIlroy and Hovland were tied at 16-under, while the Camerons (Smith and Young) were 12-under par, four shots behind.  It looked as though the final round was set for a showdown between two of the most glamorous European golfers.  But that was not what happened.  On Sunday, Hovland never really got going at all, and shot himself out of contention with a two-over par 74.  McIlroy never made any big mistakes, and shot a two-under par 70 that normally would be enough for victory when one starts off with a four-shot lead.

But not today.  Today belonged to the Camerons.  The American Cameron (Young), who was widely expected to fade, shot an extraordinary 65, capped off with an eagle-2 on the 18th hole.  That put him at 19-under par, and was good enough to beat McIlroy by a shot.

But it wasn't good enough to beat Cameron Smith.  The man from Brisbane, Australia, who's been near the top of the leaderboard all year, had a round for the ages.  He went out with a two-under par 34, and then on the back nine he did this:

10th hole:  birdie

11th hole:  birdie

12th hole:  birdie

13th hole:  birdie

14th hole:  birdie

At this point, he was in the lead with a score of 19-under par.  McIlroy was 18-under, and Young was 17-under.  Young eventually got to 19-under with that eagle on the last hole, but by then Smith had a three-footer on 18 for yet another birdie that brought him home in only 30 strokes for the back nine.  In the 150th British Open, on the Old Course at St. Andrews, Cameron Smith shot one of the greatest rounds in golf history -- a near-perfect 64 that beat Smith's 65 by one shot, and that give him a two-shot win over McIlroy.

It was a disappointment for the British fans, of course, who were all rooting for Rory.  And it was a disappointment for Young, who shot a 65 and still lost.  But it was almost perfect golf, and attention must be paid.  So congratulations to Cameron Smith of Australia, who capped off the 2022 major season with a bang.

I now have no idea what we sports fans are supposed to do until the end of August.  I'll probably buy school supplies and fiddle around with my stereo equipment.  This would have been a good year to play the Summer Olympics.

1.  C. Smith (AUS):  -20 (67+64+73+64=268)

2.  C. Young:  -19 (64+69+71+65=269)

3.  R. McIlroy (NIR):  -18 (66+68+66+70=270)

T4.  T. Fleetwood (ENG):  -14 (72+69+66+67=274)

T4.  V. Hovland (NOR):  -14 (68+66+66+74=274)

T6.  B. Harman:  -13 (73+68+68+66=275)

T6.  D. Johnson:  -13 (68+67+71+69=275)

T8.  B. DeChambeau:  -12 (69+74+67+66=276)

T8.  P. Cantlay:  -12 (70+67+71+68=276)

T8.  J. Spieth:  -12 (71+69+68+68=276)

The British Open, Day Two

So a number of big names missed the cut, including the defending champion:

T83:  Collin Morikawa:  1 over

T117:  Brooks Koepka:  4 over

T126:  Phil Mickelson:  5 over

T148:  Tiger Woods:  9 over

But as usual, St. Andrews has got an impressive collection of big names at the top of the leaderboard:

1.  C. Smith (AUS):  -13 (67+64=131)

2.  C. Young:  -11 (64+69=133)

T3.  R. McIlroy (NIR):  -10 (66+68=134)

T3.  V. Hovland (NOR):  -10 (68+66=134)

5.  D. Johnson:  -9 (68+67=135)

T6.  S. Scheffler:  -8 (68+68=136)

T6.  T. Hatton (ENG):  -8 (70+66=136)

T8.  T. Gooch:  -7 (68+69=137)

T8.  A. Scott (AUS):  -7 (72+65=137)

T8.  P. Cantlay:  -7 (70+67=137)

T8.  S. Theegala:  -7 (69+68=137)

The British Open, Day One

Since 1970, here's a list of all the British Open winners who won at St. Andrews:

1970:  Jack Nicklaus

1978:  Jack Nicklaus

1984:  Seve Ballesteros (ESP)

1990:  Nick Faldo (ENG)

1995:  John Daly

2000:  Tiger Woods

2005:  Tiger Woods

2010:  Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)

2015:  Zach Johnson

That's a really impressive list.  So it will be interesting to see who can win this year, which is the 150th playing of the British Open.  Today was a funny round, because conditions were very favorable in the morning, and quite windy in the afternoon -- so you had a big advantage if you played in the morning.

A lot of big stars are out of it already.  Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm are tied for 77th place after shooting one-over par 73's.  Sergio Garcia is in a tie for 117th place after shooting a 3-over par 75.  Tiger barely made it around the course with a 6-over par 78.

Others have a slightly better chance.  Phil Mickelson, Collin Morikawa, and Justin Thomas are all part of a tie for 55th with even par 72's.  Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama part of a tie for 35th with one-under par 71'.

Meanwhile, here is the current top 10, led by 25-year-old Cameron Young, an American from Westchester County, New York.  Young is better than you think -- he's currently ranked number 32 in the world and came in third at the PGA Championship back in May.  Today he shot a 64, which gives him a two-shot lead with 54 holes left.  But there are some big names behind him.

1.  C. Young:  -8 (64)

2.  R. McIlroy (NIR):  -6 (66)

T3.  C. Smith (AUS):  -5 (67)

T3.  R. Dinwiddie (ENG):  -5 (67)

T5.  Mr. B. Brown (am) (ENG):  -4 (68)

T5.  K. Kitayama:  -4 (68)

T5.  L. Westwood (ENG):  -4 (68)

T5.  B. Kennedy (AUS):  -4 (68)

T5.  V. Hovland (NOR):  -4 (68)

T5.  T. Gooch:  -4 (68)

T5.  D. Johnson:  -4 (68)

T5.  S. Scheffler:  -4 (68)

Wales wins the Six Nations Championship

Well, they had a lot of drama in this year's Six Nations Rugby Championship.  Six Nations Rugby is probably the closest thing you'll find in the rest of the world to SEC football, and this year's version was even more dramatic.  Here's what happened:

In the first round, played on February 7, France crushed Italy 50-10, Scotland stunned England 11-6, and Wales squeezed past Ireland 21-16, largely because an Irish player was thrown out of the game.

In the second round, played on February 13 and 14, England crushed Italy 41-18, France edged Ireland 15-13, and Wales squeezed past Scotland 25-24, largely because a Scottish player was thrown out of the game.

In the third round, played on February 27, Ireland crushed Italy 48-10, and Wales hammered England 40-24, largely because Wales was a much better team on the night.  The match between France and Scotland was postponed due to COVID issues.

In the fourth round, played on March 13 and 14, Wales crushed Italy 48-7, England edged France 23-20, and Ireland slipped past Scotland 27-24.

So that brought us to the fifth round, which is normally the conclusion of the Six Nations.  At this point Wales was 4-0 and France was 2-1.  No one else could catch Wales.  If Wales beat France, they would have a "Grand Slam" (a sweep of England, France, Ireland, and Scotland) and they would win the title.  If France beat Wales, the title would be decided by the France/Scotland game that had been postponed.  All over Britain, the non-Welsh fans complained that Wales had been lucky to get past Ireland and Scotland, and the Welsh fans complained that everyone else wasn't giving them enough credit.  Over here, I thought Wales should be more focused on France.

In the fifth round, played on March 20 and 21, Scotland crushed Italy 52-10, Ireland smashed England 32-18, and Wales led France 30-27 in injury time.  France was down to 14 men, but Wales was down to 13 men (welcome to France!)  Sure enough, France scored a very late try to beat Wales 32-30.

Anguish across Wales.  Joy in France.  Confusion in America, where France would normally have the tie-breaker since it won the head-to-head matchup.  But they do these things differently in Europe.  To win the title, France needed to beat Scotland tonight, in Paris, by more than 20 points -- and it also needed to score a bonus point for scoring four tries.

Of course, the Welsh spent the whole week in despair.  Scotland had not won in Paris for 22 years.  But on the night, Scotland was magnificent.  Not only did France fail to win by 20 points, it failed to win at all.  Scotland pulled out a 27-23 victory with a late try, and Wales didn't need to rely on the tie-breaker after all.

Here are the final standings in one of the most dramatic Six Nations ever played.  (You get four points for a win, two points for a draw, plus a bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match or losing by seven points or fewer):

1.  Wales:  4-1-0 (4 bonus points) (20 points)

2.  France:  3-2-0 (4 bonus points) (16 points)

3.  Ireland:  3-2-0 (3 bonus points) (15 points) (point differential of 48)

4.  Scotland:  3-2-0 (3 bonus points) (15 points) (point differential of 43)

5.  England:  2-3-0 (2 bonus points) (10 points)

6.  Itlay:  0-5-0 (0 bonus points) (0 points)

Pennant Fever

Back in the 1980's, SEC football was still a lot of fun, but the teams weren't all that good.  You ended up with a lot of seasons where the standings looked something like this (from 1985):

Tennessee:  5-1

Florida:  5-1

Alabama:  4-1-1

LSU:  4-1-1

Georgia:  3-2-1

Auburn:  3-3

Ole Miss:  2-4

Vandy:  1-4-1

Kentucky:  1-5

Mississippi St:  0-6

Now this sort of season was exciting and dramatic -- especially if you were a Tennessee fan that hadn't seen your team win the SEC title since 1967.  But the quality of play wasn't all that great, and all of the teams seemed smaller because none of them was in contention for the national title.

That's what the English Premier League has been like lately.  From 2005 to 2012, English clubs reached the final of the Champions' League seven times in eight seasons.  Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal all reached the final during that stretch.  In 2008, Manchester United played Chelsea for the championship of Europe.  It was good to know that when you watched the EPL, you were seeing some of the best clubs in the world.  It was a lot like watching ACC basketball in the 1980's, or SEC football in the last decade.

But then they changed the rules to make it harder for English clubs to stockpile talent, and Sir Alex Ferguson retired from Manchester United, and we got more parity but less quality.  Last year, for example, saw Leicester City's thrilling ride to the EPL title -- but only one English club reached the quarter-finals of the Champions' League, compared to three clubs from Spain and two from Germany.  The season ended with an all-Spanish final -- the fourth year in a row that no English club made it.

Anyway, it feels like Leicester City's victory worked some type of transition among the big English clubs.  They decided to step up their game:

1.  Chelsea went out and hired Antonio Conte -- last seen managing Italy to the quarter-final of Euro 2016 -- to be its new manager.  Conte won the Italian League three years in a row when he managed Juventus.

2.  Manchester United hired Jose Mourinho, who has won the EPL three times for Chelsea, and won the Champions' League for Porto in 2003-04 and for Inter Milan in 2009-10.

3.  Manchester City hired Pep Guardiola.  All he's done is win the Spanish League three times for Barcelona, win the German League three times for Bayern Munich, and win the Champions' League for Barcelona in 2008-09 and 2010-11.

As you can see, these are some giant coaches.  It's been a while since England featured two different coaches with Champions' League titles in their resumes.

So Chelsea, Manchester United, and Manchester City all started 3-0-0 to open the new season.  That set up today's big game at Old Trafford (home of Manchester United) between City and United.  Everyone was excited to see Guardiola and Mourinho go head-to-head -- they've been rivals for years, they're both very charismatic, and the don't seem to like each other very much.

Guardiola got the better of today's match-up, as City beat United 2-1.  It was a huge road victory for City, and it keeps them at the top of the standings.  Chelsea hasn't yet played their fourth game, so the standings look like this:

1.  Man City:  4-0-0 (12 points)

2.  Chelsea:  3-0-0 (9) (goal differential of 5)

3.  Man Utd:  3-1-0 (9) (goal differential of 4)

4.  Spurs:  2-0-2 (8)

5.  Arsenal:  2-1-1 (7)

So things are getting back to normal in England.  Leicester City is currently in ninth place with a record of 1-1-1.

Meanwhile, in Scotland, Rangers have finally made it up to the Scottish Premier League, after wandering in the lower divisions for the last four years.  But they are still not quite ready for Celtic -- they got drilled 5-1 by Celtic today.  So the top of the SPL looks like this:

1.  Celtic:  4-0-0 (12 points)

2.  Heart of Midlothian:  3-1-1 (10)

3.  Rangers:  2-1-2 (8)

British Open -- Day Three Wrap-Up

The two guys who started off in third place -- Soren Kjeldsen and Keegan Bradley -- both struggled all day, so the tournament quickly turned into a match play battle between Henrik Stenson of Sweden and Phil Mickelson of the good old U.S. of A.  If you've watched any Ryder Cup matches since Phil started participating, way back in the mid-1990's, you pretty much knew how this was going to turn out.  Phil was spraying the ball all over the place, while Stenson was pretty much knocking it straight down the middle.  Nevertheless, through sheer pluck, determination, and great putting skill, Phil hung in there for almost the whole round.  In fact, going to the 17th hole, he still led by a single shot.  But then, as almost always happens to the Americans in the Ryder Cup, disaster struck.  Phil hit yet another disastrous approach shot, and this time he couldn't save par.  Meanwhile, as the Europeans always do in these situations, Stenson rolled in his birdie putt at the most devastating moment possible -- slingshotting past Mickelson and taking over the lead.

It was a glorious performance from Stenson, whose 68 was the low round of the day and one of the best rounds I've seen at the British Open.  If not for Phil's genius around the greens -- he just kept making one amazing save after another -- Stenson would have buried the rest of the field today.  As it is, Mickelson's wizardry gets him one more chance tomorrow.

Mickelson is not a great bet in these situations -- he has finished first or second 15 times in major tournaments:  5 firsts and 10 seconds.  (By contrast, Tiger had 14 firsts and 6 seconds).  Mickelson's game is too eccentric for grinding; he is like a great basketball player who you can always count on to make some key turnovers down the stretch.  And, in fact, the oddsmakers agree that Stenson is the favorite:

Stenson:  4 to 6 (60 percent chance of winning)
Mickelson:  11 to 8 (42.1 percent chance of winning)

(It adds up to more than 100 percent because the odds have to be somewhat less than reality in order for the bookies to make money.)

That sounds about right to me.  On the other hand, here are the latest odds to win the White House:

Hillary Clinton:  4 to 9 (69.2 percent chance of winning)
Donald Trump:  7 to 4 (36.6 percent chance of winning)

So Phil's chances of winning the British Open tomorrow are better than Donald Trump's chances of winning the White House.  For a 46-year-old guy who struggles to hit the ball straight, that's not too bad.

And I will make one other point in Phil's favor.  Whatever you think of him -- and my thoughts have been all over the place in the last 25 years -- he is a big-time star, one of the greatest golfers who ever lived.  Mickelson has won 42 PGA Tour events, including 5 majors.  Henrick Stenson is a great golfer -- but at the age of 40, he has never won a major tournament, despite nine top-10 finishes.  Down the stretch, those facts could make a difference (although they didn't save Phil against Justin Rose a few years ago in the U.S. Open).

1.  H. Stenson (SWE):  -12 (68+65+68=201)

2.  P. Mickelson:  -11 (63+69+70=202)

3.  B. Haas:  -6 (68+70+69=207)

4.  A. Johnston (ENG):  -5 (69+69+70=208)

5.  J.B. Holmes:  -4 (70+70+69=209)

T6.  T. Finau:  -3 (67+71+72=210)
T6.  S. Kjeldsen (DEN):  -3 (67+68+75=210)
T6.  S. Stricker:  -3 (67+75+68=210)

T9.  K. Bradley:  -2 (67+68+76=211)
T9.  S. Garcia (ESP):  -2 (68+70+73=211)
T9.  P. Reed:  -2 (66+74+71=211)
T9.  C. Schwarzel (RSA):  -2 (72+66+73=211)

British Open -- Day Two Wrap-Up

We pretty much already covered this day in the comments.  The main thing you need to understand is that the relatively soft weather conditions on Friday morning -- and the brutal conditions on Friday afternoon -- effectively eliminated everyone who was scheduled to play Friday afternoon, including Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, and Rory McIlroy.  So we are left with these players, almost all of whom finished their second rounds before the weather got too bad:

1.  P. Mickelson:  -10 (63+69=132)

2.  H. Stenson (SWE):  -9 (68+65=133)

T3.  K. Bradley:  -7 (67+68=135)
T3.  S. Kjeldsen (DEN):  -7 (67+68=135)

5.  Z. Johnson:  -5 (67+70=137)

T6.  T. Finau:  -4 (67+71=138)
T6.  S. Garcia (ESP):  -4 (68+70=138)
T6.  B. Haas:  -4 (68+70=138)
T6.  A. Johnston (ENG):  -4 (69+68=138)
T6.  C. Schwartzel (RSA):  -4 (72+66=138)