Wimbledon Update

The quarter-finals at Wimbledon are set.  Here are the men's and ladies' draws (numbers in parenthesis represent seeding).  The Americans have two competitors left in the men's draw, and one left in the ladies' draw:

MEN'S SINGLES:

(1) Jannik Sinner (ITA) v. (10) Ben Shelton

(22) Flavio Cobolli (ITA) v. (6) Novak Djokovic (SRB)

(5) Taylor Fritz v. (17) Karen Khachanov (RUS)

Cameron Norrie (GBR) v. (2) Carlos Alcaraz (ESP)

LADIES' SINGLES:

(1) Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) v. Laura Siegemund (GER)

(13) Amanda Anisimova v. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)

(7) Mirra Andreeva (RUS) v. Belinda Bencic (SUI)

(8) Iga Swiatek (POL) v. (19) Liudmila Samsonova (RUS)

The FIBA U19 World Cup

Since 1979, FIBA has hosted 17 iterations of the Under-19 World Championship.  The latest iteration took place last week in Lausanne, Switzerland.  The Americans won the title.  It was their ninth win in 17 tries, and their sixth in the last nine.  It was a pretty easy tournament for the Americans, who were challenged only by Canada.  Here are the scores from the knockout stage:

ROUND OF SIXTEEN:

New Zealand 99, China 86

Switzerland 86, France 79 (OT)

Canada 100, Mali 75

United States 140, Jordan 67

Slovenia 81, Argentina 80

Israel 86, Cameroon 82

Germany 92, Serbia 83

Australia 106, Dominican Republic 96

QUARTER-FINALS:

New Zealand 84, Switzerland 70

United States 108, Canada 102

Slovenia 79, Israel 55

Germany 80, Australia 67

SEMI-FINALS:

United States 120, New Zealand 64

Germany 84, Slovenia 72

FINAL:

United States 109, Germany 76

IMDB and the 21st Century

According to IMDB, here are the ten highest rated movies of the 21st Century (which began in 2001):

1.  The Dark Knight (2008):  9.0 (3d highest movie of all time)

2.  The Lord of the Rings:  The Return of the King (2003):  9.0 (6th highest movie of all time)

3.  The Lord of the Rings:  The Fellowship of the Ring (2001):  8.9 (9th highest movie of all time)

4.  The Lord of the Rings:  The Two Towers (2002):  8.8 (12th highest movie of all time)

5.  Inception (2010):  8.8 (14th highest movie of all time)

6.  Interstellar (2014):  8.7 (18th highest movie of all time)

7.  City of God (2002):  8.6 (26th highest movie of all time)

8.  Spirited Away (2001): 8.6 (31st highest movie of all time)

9.  The Pianist (2002):  8.5 (32d highest movie of all time)

10.  Parasite (2019):  8.5 (34th highest movie of all time)

Last week, The New York Times picked Parasite as the best movie of the 21st century so far.

IMDB and Star Wars

Here is the current IMDB ranking for each of the nine parts of the Star Wars movie universe:

Episode I (The Phantom Menace) (1999):  6.5

Episode II (Attack of the Clones) (2002):  6.6

Episode III (Revenge of the Sith) (2005):  7.6

Episode IV (A New Hope) (1977):  8.6 (29th highest of all time)

Episode V (The Empire Strikes Back) (1980):  8.7 (15th highest of all time)

Episode VI (Return of the Jedi) (1983):  8.3 (92d highest of all time)

Episode VII (The Force Awakens) (2015):  7.7

Episode VIII (The Last Jedi) (2017):  6.9

Episode IX (The Rise of Skywalker) (2019):  6.4

I should mention one more standalone movie:

Rogue One:  A Star Wars Story (2016):  7.8

I did not see Episodes VIII or IX, but I saw all the others, and I think the folks at IMDB got the others (including Rogue One) almost exactly right.  (I would raise Rogue One to 8.0, and I would lower The Force Awakens to 7.3.  The others I'd keep the same.

American Top 40: June 28, 1980

I'm in the mood for another AT 40, and I wanted one from late June.  So I found the countdown for June 28, 1980 on YouTube, and I'm going to work through it.

By this point, AT 40 was so successful that it ran for four hours (with commercials).  To fill the extra time, Casey Kasem had added various features, such as the Long Distance Dedications.  But he also started the countdown by giving us the top three from last week's countdown.  Here are the top three from last week's countdown:

3.  Ambrosia, "Biggest Part of Me"

2.  Paul McCartney, "Coming Up"

1.  Lipps Inc., "Funkytown"

By the way, this week in 1980 the Gallup poll showed Reagan leading Carter 47 to 41.  When John Anderson was included, Reagan had 37 percent, Carter had 32 percent, and Anderson had 22 percent.  These data marked a shift -- up until June, Carter led Reagan in most of the polls during 1980, as the country had rallied to Carter during the hostage crisis.

At the close of play on June 28, 1980, the Expos led the NL East by 2 1/2 games over the Pirates and 3 games over the Phillies.  The Astros led the NL West by 2 games over the Dodgers.  The Yankees led the AL East by 5 1/2 games over the Brewers.  The Royals led the AL West by 9 games over the White Sox.