NFL Week 1 and Survivor Pick

The NFL season kicks off on Wednesday, so here is the top ten in the ESPN Power Rankings:

1.  Los Angeles

2.  Seattle

3.  Buffalo

4.  Denver

5.  Philadelphia

6.  New England

7.  Green Bay

8.  Baltimore

9.  San Francisco

10.  Houston

The Chiefs are Number 13.  Washington is Number 20.  The Dolphins are Number 32.

As usual, the Week One matchups are challenging for anyone interested in Survivor Pools, because the League does a good job of matching up teams of similar quality.  However, there is one clear favorite -- the Chargers are expected to beat the Cardinals by 10 points.  So I'm taking the Chargers as my team to survive Week One.

Scottie Scheffler Wins the FedEx Cup

Scottie Scheffler, who really is the greatest golfer in the world, had a frustrating year.  Until a few weeks ago, he was miles ahead of everyone in the FedEx Cup Standings, but he had only won a single tournament.  He finished 2d, T14, T4, and T4 in the majors, which is the epitome of close but no cigar.

He was a new man in the playoffs, however.  First, he won the First Playoff Tournament in Memphis two weeks ago.  And today, he shot a glorious 66 to chase down Viktor Hovland and win the Tour Championship in Atlanta by three shots.  That was good enough to win the FedEx Cup for the second time in three years.

Here are the last ten winners of the FedEx Cup:

2017:  Justin Thomas

2018:  Justin Rose (ENG)
2019:  Rory McIlroy (NIR)

2020:  Dustin Johnson

2021:  Patrick Cantlay

2022:  Rory McIlroy (NIR)

2023:  Viktor Hovland (NOR)
2024:  Scottie Scheffler

2025:  Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)

2026:  Scottie Scheffler

Here are the winners of the most significant tournaments in 2026:

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am:  Collin Morikawa (7th PGA Tour victory)

Genesis Invitational:  Jacob Bridgeman (1)

Arnold Palmer Invitational:  Akshay Bhatia (3)

The Players Championship:  Cameron Young (2)

Masters Tournament:  Rory McIlroy (NIR) (30)

RBC Heritage:  Matt Fitzpatrick (ENG) (4)

Cadillac Championship:  Cameron Young (3)

Truist Championship:  Kristoffer Reitan (NOR) (1)

PGA Championship:  Aaron Rai (ENG) (2)

Memorial Tournament:  J.T. Poston (4)

U.S. Open:  Wyndham Clark (5)

Travelers Championship:  Viktor Hovland (8)

British Open:  Ryan Fox (NZL) (3)

FedEx St. Jude Championship:  Scottie Scheffler (21)

BMW Championship:  Wyndham Clark (6)

Tour Championship:  Scottie Scheffler (22)

We also had some Team Golf this summer.  The United States won the Curtis Cup, beating GB & I 13-7 at the Bel-Air C.C. in Los Angeles.

On the whole, it was a satisfying golf season, although the Majors were not very dramatic.  We still have a lot of team golf left to play.  The U.S. male amateurs will play amateurs from Great Britain and Ireland at the Walker Cup, to be contested from September 5-6 at Lahinch G.C. in Ireland.  The European and U.S. women professionals will contest the Solheim Cup at the Bernadus G.C. in the Netherlands from September 7 to 13.  The U.S. men professionals will take on the non-Europeans at the President's Cup from September 22 to 27 at the Medinah C.C. near Chicago.

Golf never ends, so here is the schedule for next year's majors.  We get Pebble Beach and St. Andrews in the same year, which will be fun:

The Masters Tournament:  Augusta National G.C., Augusta Ga. (April 8-11)

PGA Championship:  Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco, Frisco, Tex. (May 20-23)

U.S. Open:  Pebble Beach G.L., Pebble Beach, Calif. (June 17-20)

British Open:  The Old Course at St. Andrews, Fife, SCOTLAND (July 15-18)

It looks like the Ryder Cup will be the only major team competition next year.  The Americans will suffer their usual defeat at Adare Manor in County Limerick, Ireland from September 17-19.  But I will likely miss the whole thing, as I will be watching football.

More Classic Conference Previews

Three more Classic college football conferences with each team's preseason ranking on CBS Sports.  Here's the Classic Big Eight:

9.  Oklahoma

23.  Missouri

33.  Nebraska

34.  Kansas St.

44.  Oklahoma St.

56.  Kansas

65.  Colorado

69.  Iowa St.

Here's the Classic Southwest:

4.  Texas

8.  Texas Tech

11.  Texas A & M

20.  S.M.U.

26.  Houston

31.  T.C.U.

49.  Arkansas

53.  Baylor

121.  Rice

And, finally, here's the Classic Pac-10:

2.  Oregon

14.  U.S.C.

19.  Washington

30.  Arizona

41.  Arizona St.

42.  U.C.L.A.

50.  California

74.  Stanford

88.  Washington St.

94.  Oregon St.

Here are the six major conference Champions last year:

SEC:  Georgia (3d time in the last 4 years)

ACC:  Virginia (1st time since 2004)

SWC:  Texas Tech (1st time ever as outright champion)

Big 8:  Oklahoma (1st time since 2019)

Big 10:  Indiana (1st time since 1967)

Pac 10:  Oregon (2d year in a row)

It's Almost Time

Last week, CBS put out its ranking of the teams that play D-1A college football.  Here are the ranking for every team in the Classic SEC.  As you will see below, Kentucky is not in last place, because they are well ahead of the Tulane Green Wave:

5.  Georgia

10.  Louisiana St.

12.  Mississippi

13.  Alabama

17.  Tennessee

22.  Florida

32.  Auburn

36.  Vanderbilt

47.  Georgia Tech

51.  Mississippi St.

55.  Kentucky

86.  Tulane

Meanwhile, let's see how the Classic Big 10 is doing.  UK fans used to take comfort from comparing themselves to Indiana, but that probably won't be happening for awhile:

1.  Ohio St.

6.  Indiana

15.  Michigan

21.  Iowa

29.  Illinois

40.  Minnesota

48.  Northwestern

60.  Wisconsin

66.  Michigan St.

82.  Purdue

On the other hand, the Cats are ranked ahead of UNC.  Here's the Classic ACC:

27.  Clemson

28.  S. Carolina

37.  Virginia

45.  N. Carolina St.

46.  Duke

52.  Maryland

58.  Wake Forest

61.  N. Carolina

What's really striking about the Classic ACC is how closely bunched all the teams are, even though none of them is in the Top 20.  It seems obvious that fans at all eight of these schools would have more fun if these teams played a true round-robin schedule with each other.  Check out the 2026 home schedule for Maryland:

9/5:  Hampton

9/19:  Virginia Tech

9/26:  U.C.L.A.

10/17:  Rutgers

10/31:  Illinois

11/14:  Wisconsin

11/28:  Penn St.

Now, if you replaced U.C.L.A., Rutgers, Illinois, and Wisconsin with South Carolina, N. Carolina St., Duke, and N. Carolina -- and threw in road games against Clemson, UVA, and Wake -- wouldn't that be a lot more entertaining?  Of course it would.

R.E.M.'s Best Song?

There's a guy on YouTube named Rick Beato (born 1962), who is identified on Wikipedia as "an American YouTuber, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, and educator."  Three years ago, he posted a video called "WHY This is R.E.M.'s Greatest Song."  This video has 705,000 views, and he says he's going to work through nine R.E.M. songs.  Let's follow along!

The End of the Sports Year

With Spain's victory in the World Cup Final, the 2025-26 Sports Year has come to an end.  It was a good one.

Congratulations to George Rogers Clark H.S., which became the first school since 1928 to win the boys' and girls' KHSAA basketball championships in the same year.  Congratulations to Vanderbilt, which went 10-2 in football, and also sent both its men's and women's teams to the NCAA basketball tournaments.  Congratulations to the Dodgers, who won their second World Series in a row, and to the Knicks, who won the NBA title for the first time since 1973.  Congratulations to all the Americans who contributed to hosting a successful World Cup Tournament, and to all the Europeans who got to try ranch dressing for the first time.  Congratulations to West Virginia for winning the NCAA Rifle championship.  Congratulations to Georgia, for having the best football team in the SEC, and to Ole Miss, for beating Georgia in the playoffs.  Congratulations to the Miami Hurricanes for beating Notre Dame and returning to the NCAA Football title game.  Congratulations to Notre Dame for holding the Unofficial College Football Championship.  Congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines, for their first men's NCAA basketball title since 1989, and to the U.C.L.A. Bruins, for their first women's NCAA basketball title.  Congrats to UConn for a miracle win over Duke and another trip to the men's Final Four.  Congrats to U of L, for pasting Kentucky in both football and basketball.  Congrats to Tennessee, for a third consecutive trip to the men's Regional Final in basketball.  Congrats to Oklahoma, for winning the gymnastics title and the College World Series.  Congrats to Texas, for winning the softball title.  Congrats to the long-suffering football fans of the Midwest, who saw their heroes crush the SEC for the third year in a row.  And most of all, congratulations to the Indiana Hoosiers, who put aside over a century of suffering on the football field, to capture the 2025 Big Ten title, and the 2025 National Championship.

And now we can all take a break until September 5, when the college football season will begin in earnest, or (if you prefer) September 9, when the Seahawks will kick off the NFL season.  Read some good books.  Go down to the Lake.  Maybe play some putt-putt, or get to the driving range.  Take at least one day where you spend most of the day driving through the countryside, listening to really good music.  And give thanks for the chance to see it all start over again.

World Cup Final: Spain v. Argentina

Here are the starting lineups:

SPAIN (4-2-3-1):

GK:  Unai Simon, Athletic Bilbao (ESP)

DF:  Pedro Porro, Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
DF:  Pau Cubarsi, Barcelona (ESP)

DF:  Aymeric Laporte, Athletic Bilbao (ESP)

DF:  Marc Cucurella, Real Madrid (ESP)

MF:  Rodri (Captain), Manchester City (ENG)

MF:  Fabian Ruiz, Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)

FW:  Lamine Yamal, Barcelona (ESP)

MF:  Dani Olmo, Barcelona (ESP)

MF:  Alex Baena, Atletico Madrid (ESP)

FW:  Mikel Oyarzabal, Real Sociedad (ESP)

ARGENTINA (4-1-3-2):

GK:  Emiliano Martinez, Aston Villa (ENG)

DF:  Gonzalo Montiel, River Plate (ARG)

DF:  Cristian Romero, Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)

DF:  Lisandro Martinez, Manchester Utd (ENG)

DF:  Nicolas Tagliafico, Lyon (FRA)

MF:   Enzo Fernandez, Chelsea (ENG)

MF:  Rodrigo De Paul, Inter Miami (USA)
MF:  Alexis Mac Allister, Liverpool (ENG)

FW:  Nicolas Gonzalez, Juventus (ITA)

FW:  Lionel Messi (Captain), Inter Miami (USA)

FW:  Julian Alvarez, Atletico Madrid (ESP)

As usual, Argentina has opened the game by teaching their opponents that if you have the ball, it won't be long before someone from Argentina crashes into you.  Argentina hasn't bothered to do anything on offense yet.  After 30 minutes, we have no score.

The British Open: Final Results

Ryan Fox, a 39-year-old New Zealander with two PGA Tour victories to his name, played the last two rounds in 10-under par 130 to take the 154th British Open.  On the 16th tee, Fox trailed Cameron Young by one shot with three holes to go.  He then birdied the 16th to force a tie, parred the 17th, and then hit a spectacular approach shot to within about seven feet on the par-4 18th, which had only been birdied twice all day.  He rammed in the birdie putt and became the Champion Golfer of the Year.  Here's the final leaderboard:

1.  Ryan Fox (NZL):  -10 (72+68+62+68 = 270)

2.  Cameron Young:  -9 (67+67+73+64=271)

3.  Sam Burns:  -8 (73+62+65+72=272)

T4.  Scottie Scheffler:  -7 (68+68+70+67=273)

T4.  Tommy Fleetwood (ENG):  -7 (69+67+69+68=273)

T6.  Casey Jarvis (RSA):  -6 (73+67+68+66=274)

T6.  Lucas Herbert (AUS): -6 (70+62+71+71=274)

T6.  Si Woo Kim (KOR):  -6 (68+67+67+72=274)

T9.  Adam Scott (AUS):  -5 (72+66+71+66=275)

T9.  Russell Henley:  -5 (70+71+68+66=275)

T9.  Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (DEN): -5 (72+66+67+70=275)

T9.  Ludvig Aberg (SWE):  -5 (71+66+67+71=275)

T9.  Ryan Gerard:  -5 (67+67+69+72=275)

And so ends a disappointing year for American Golf fans.  Rory McIlroy (NIR) won the Masters for the second year in a row, and there wasn't much reason to complain about that.  But Aaron Rai (ENG) staggered home the winner in a fairly dour PGA Championship, and Ryan Fox (NZL) became the first non-American to with the British Open since Cameron Smith in 2022.  Only Wyndham Clark's second U.S. Open victory prevented the Americans from being whitewashed.

The British Open: Second Round

At the end of Bryson DeChambeau's round, he appeared to be only one shot off the lead.  But after his round was complete, the Royal & Ancient whacked him with a two-shot penalty for allegedly moving his ball on the fifth hole -- to DeChambeau's rage and obvious fury.  So, now, the leaderboard looks like this:

1.  Lucas Herbert (AUS):  -8 (70+62=132)

T2.  Jackson Suber:  -6 (65+69=134)

T2.  Cameron Young:  -6 (67+67=134)

T2.  Ryan Gerard: -6 (67+67=134)

T5.  Sam Burns:  -5 (73+62=135)

T5.  Bryson DeChambeau:  -5 (67+68=135)

T5.  Si Woo Kim (KOR):  -5 (68+67=135)

T8.  Matt Wallace (ENG): -4 (69+67=136)

T8.  Bud Cauley:  -4 (68+68=136)

T8.  Thomas Detry (BEL): -4 (67+69=136)

T8.  Robert MacIntyre (SCO): -4 (67+69=136)

T8.  Alex Fitzpatrick (ENG): -4 (69+67=136)

T8.  Francesco Molinari (ITA): -4 (67+69=136)

T8.  Scottie Scheffler: -4 (68+68=136)

T8.  Tommy Fleetwood (ENG): -4 (69+67=136)

T8.  Jon Rahm (ESP): -4 (69+67=136)

Scheffler (+550) is the favorite, followed by Cameron Young (+700) and Lucas Herbert (+950).

82-0

I had a whole bunch of fun with this game for about three or four weeks this summer, and, about 10 days into playing it, I decided to start keeping track of the lineups that ended up with 82-0, 81-1 or 80-2 records. Each player would get a 2, 1 or 0 when they were picked for a team that recorded one of those records, respectively, and here are how things came out.

The British Open: First Round

Here's the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the British Open, played at Royal Birkdale:

1.  Jackson Suber:  -5 (65)

T2.  Sungjae Im (KOR):  -4 (66)

T2.  Dan Brown (ENG):  -4 (66)

T4.  Thomas Detry (BEL):  -3 (67)

T4.  Robert MacIntyre (SCO):  -3 (67)

T4.  Francesco Molinari (ITA):  -3 (67)

T4.  Alex Smalley:  -3 (67)

T4.  Bryson DeChambeau:  -3 (67)

T4.  Ryan Gerard:  -3 (67)

T4.  M.J. Daffue (RSA):  -3 (67)

T4.  Pierceson Coody:  -3 (67)

T4.  Cameron Young:  -3 (67)

Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa are each 2 under par.  Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, and Shane Lowry are each 1 under.  No other prominent golfers broke par.

World Cup: England v. Argentina

England v. Argentina is like the Kentucky v. Duke of the World Cup -- a legendary matchup that doesn't occur all that often, but is almost always a big deal when it does happen.  Here is the history:

06/02/62:  England defeated Argentina 3-1 in the Group Stage of the 1962 World Cup, in Chile.  Both England and Argentina finished 1-1-1 in the Group Stage, but England had a better goal average, so England advanced to the knockout rounds, while Argentina's tournament was over.

07/23/66:  England defeated Argentina 1-0 in the Quarter-Finals of the 1966 World Cup, in England.  The 1966 World Cup was a cracker -- each of the seven knockout games had a lot of drama, and this game was one of the best.  In the 35th minute of an extremely violent game, the referee sent off the Argentine captain, who responded by refusing to leave the pitch for nearly eight minutes.  The English fans were furious, and England manager Alf Ramsey famously referred to the Argentine players as "animals."  This game led to the creation of red and yellow cards, as the Argentine captain claimed that he could not understand what the German referee was telling him.  England won the World Cup for the first and only time, and Argentina, furious over how it was treated, waited for revenge.

06/22/86:  Argentina defeated England 2-1 in the Quarter-Finals of the 1986 World Cup, in Mexico.  England was in the Quarter-Finals for the first time since 1970, but they were no match for Diego Maradona, who was the greatest player in the world at the time.  In the most famous game he ever played, Maradona scored one goal by using his fist (the so-called "Hand of God") to help his header.  The referees missed the fist and counted the goal.  That was in the 51st minute, and it gave Argentina a 1-0 lead.  Four minutes leader, with England still boiling over the Hand of God goal, Maradona dribbled through virtually the entire England team, scoring one of the best goals in soccer history to put Argentina up 2-0 and effectively bury England's hope.  Argentina won its second World Cup in 1986, and England fans started acting like Red Sox fans used to act before they won all those World Series.

06/30/98:  Argentina defeated England 2-2 (4-3 on penalty kicks) in the Round of 16 of the 1998 World Cup, in France.  The atmosphere was electric for the first World Cup match between England and Argentina since the Hand of God game, and the first half was incredibly exciting.  Argentina took a 1-0 lead after 5 minutes, but England struck back with a penalty goal in the 9th minute and a wonderful goal by Michael Owen in the 16th minute to take a 2-1 lead.  In injury time of the first half, Argentina tied the game at two.  Just as everyone was settling in for what was likely to be a thrilling second half, David Beckham (who was just about the most famous soccer player in the world at the time) was sent off with a red card in the 47th minute.  That effectively killed England's offense, but England hung on with ten men to send the game to penalty kicks.  Argentina won the shootout 4-3, further contributing to England's inferiority complex regarding penalty kicks.  Argentina lost in the next round, but both countries had a new chapter in this rivalry.

06/07/02:  England defeated Argentina 1-0 in the Group Stage of the 2002 World Cup, in Japan.  England advanced to the knockout rounds with a record of 1-0-2, losing in the Quarter-Finals to Brazil, who won the whole thing.  Argentina finished the Group Stage with a record of 1-1-1, and did not advance to the knockout rounds.

And that's it.  England eliminated Argentina in 1966, and effectively eliminated them in both 1962 and 2002, because England's wins in the Group Stage made it impossible for Argentina to advance.  On the other hand, Argentina eliminated England in 1986 and 2002, and Argentina has three World Cup titles to England's one.  Argentina also has Lionel Messi -- a strong candidate for the greatest soccer player of all time.  Remarkably, Messi has never played for Argentina against England.  But he will tomorrow.

If you're an England or Argentina fan my age, this will be the fourth time you've seen these teams meet in the World Cup -- and it may be the last.  The stakes are enormous.  In the South, we like to say that "It just means more," but there aren't too many games that mean more than this.

Here are the starting lineups:

ENGLAND (4-2-3-1):

GK:  Jordan Pickford, Everton (ENG)

DF:  Reece James, Chelsea (ENG)

DF:  John Stones, played last season for Manchester City (ENG) (currently a free agent)

DF:  Marc Guehi, Manchester City (ENG)
DF:  Djed Spence, Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)

MF:  Declan Rice (Vice-Captain), Arsenal (ENG)

MF:  Elliot Anderson, Manchester City (ENG)

MF:  Morgan Rogers, Aston Villa (ENG)

MF:  Jude Bellingham, Real Madrid (ESP)

FW:  Anthony Gordon, Barcelona (ESP)

FW:  Harry Kane (Captain), Bayern Munich (GER)

ARGENTINA (4-1-3-2):

GK:  Emiliano Martinez, Aston Villa (ENG)
DF:  Nahuel Molina, Atletico Madrid (ESP)

DF:  Cristian Romero, Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
DF:  Lisandro Martinez, Manchester Utd (ENG)
DF:  Nicolas Tagliafico, Lyon (FRA)

MF:  Leandro Paredes, Boca Juniors (ARG)
FW:  Giuliano Simeone, Atletico Madrid (ESP)

MF:  Enzo Fernandez, Chelsea (ENG)

MF:  Alexis Mac Allister, Liverpool (ENG)

FW:  Lionel Messi (Captain), Inter Miami (USA)

FW:  Julian Alvarez, Atletico Madrid (ESP)

World Cup: France v. Spain

Here's what has happened in the World Cup since the Round of 16:

Round of 16:

Paraguay 0 - 1 France

Canada 0 - 3 Morocco

Portugal 0 - 1 Spain

United States 1 - 4 Belgium

Brazil 1 - 2 Norway

Mexico 2 - 3 England

Argentina 3 - 2 Egypt

Switzerland 0 - 0 Colombia (Switzerland win 4-3 on penalty kicks)

Quarter-Finals:

France 2 - 0 Morocco

Spain 2 - 1 Belgium

Norway 1 - 2 England (after extra time)

Argentina 3 - 1 Switzerland (after extra time)

And that gives us the following semi-finals:

France v. Spain

England v. Argentina

France (who won the World Cup in 1998 and 2018) will play Spain (who won the World Cup in 2010) at 2 PM Central today at JerryWorld in Arlington, Texas.  France (who went to the final of the World Cup in 2022) and Spain (who won the Championship of Europe in 2024) have been the two best teams in the Tournament, and whoever wins today will be favored to win the Final on Sunday.

Spain and France met in the semifinal of the 2024 European Championships, and Spain won that game 2-1.  But France has looked sharper in this tournament, and so they are slightly favored today.  Here are the odds on the moneyline:

France:  +135

Spain:  +210

Draw (pays off if the game goes to Penalty Kicks):  +210

It's a huge game in the relationship between France and Spain.  If Spain wins this World Cup, they and France will both have two World Cups.  But if France wins the World Cup, then they would have three World Cups and Spain would only have one.

World Cup: The Iberian Derby

We're down to the Round of 16 in the World Cup, and it's been downright thrilling so far.  The first half of the Round of 16 was played over the weekend, and here are the results:

July 4:

Canada 0 - 3 Morocco

Paraguay 0 - 1 France

Morocco and France will meet in the quarterfinals on July 9

July 5:

Brazil 1 - 2 Norway

Mexico 2 - 3 England

Norway and England will meet in the quarterfinals on July 11.

Today we have these matchups:

2 P.M. Central:  Portugal v. Spain (the Iberian Derby!)

7 P.M. Central:  United States v. Belgium

I have nothing to say about the politics of the USA/Belgium game, but that was a stupid and unjustified red card, and I'm glad it got overturned.

Here are the lineups for the Iberian Derby.  These are two big-time teams:

PORTUGAL:

GK:  Diogo Costa, Porto (POR)

DF:  Joao Cancelo, Barcelona (ESP)

DF:  Ruben Dias, Manchester City (ENG)
DF:  Renato Veiga, Villareal (ESP)

DF:  Nuno Mendes, Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)

MF:  Joao Neves, Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)

MF:  Vitinha, Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
FW:  Pedro Neto, Chelsea (ENG)

MF:  Bruno Fernandes, Manchester Utd (ENG)
FW:  Joao Felix, Al-Nassr (KSA)
FW:  Cristiano Ronaldo (Captain), Al-Nassr (KSA)

SPAIN:

GK:  Unai Simon, Athletic Bilbao (ESP)

DF:  Pedro Porro, Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
DF:  Pau Cubarsi, Barcelona (ESP)

DF:  Aymeric Laporte, Athletic Bilbao (ESP)

DF:  Marc Cucurella, Real Madrid (ESP)

MF:  Pedri, Barcelona (ESP)

MF:  Rodri (Captain), Manchester City (ENG)

FW:  Lamine Yamal, Barcelona (ESP)

MF:  Dani Olmo, Barcelona (ESP)

MF:  Alex Baena, Atletico Madrid (ESP)

FW:  Mikel Oyarzabal, Real Socieadad (ESP)

1979

I finally figured out what I want to say about Password Plus.

Password Plus is electrifying.™

Comments flow ...

World Cup: England v. Dem. Rep. of the Congo

This game kicked off at 11 A.M. Central, and England promptly fell behind 1-0 after only seven minutes.  The English defense fell completely asleep, and a DRC player was left with an easy shot that he blasted past the goalkeeper.  England have been chasing the game ever since.  They have outshot the DRC 10 to 3, but the DRC have had 43 percent of the possession, so the traffic has not all gone one way.  We are now in the 62d minute, and my guess is that England are probably going out.  Which will be a humiliating result for England, but on the other hand they weren't ever getting past Mexico in the next round anyway.  They just aren't good enough.

Anyway, there are about 30 minutes left in England's 2026 World Cup campaign, and they should be entertaining.

World Cup: Ivory Coast v. Norway

Last night, Morocco wrapped up thrilling day with a win in penalty kicks over the Netherlands.  So two of the sport's biggest traditional powers -- Germany and the Netherlands -- will not make the round of 16.  Another great power -- Italy -- didn't even qualify for the tournament.

Today's action kicks off with the Ivory Coast and Norway.  Whoever wins this match will face Brazil in the Round of 16.  Africa started with 10 teams in this tournament, and eight of them are still dancing.

World Cup: Germany v. Paraguay

We have reached the knockout stage of the 2026 World Cup.  So far, we have had two games in the Round of 32.  Yesterday, Canada scored in injury time to beat South Africa 1-0.  Earlier today, Brazil trailed 1-0 at the half, but fought back to beat Japan 2-0.

Now we have Germany v. Paraguay.  Germany dominated possession in the first half, but failed to score.  On the other hand, Paraguay did score late in the first half to take a 1-0 lead into the break.  Now Paraguay just has to defend that lead for approximately 55 minutes, and they will be in the Round of 16.

A Poem for Father's Day

Yes, I know Father's Day was last Sunday, but I just found this poem today.  It's by an American poet named Joseph Fasano (born 1982).

My Father Watching Baseball

What he doesn't say

is he wanted this with all his life,

the smell of grass, the crack of bat

each morning,

the whole world simplified to wonder.

You have to understand

he had nothing.  You have to understand

his father still carried a war in him

and my father had to carry it also.

It was 1973, once.  My father stood

on the mound of Yankee Stadium, the men

who had invited him were watching,

and he leaned back and asked his life

not to fail him.  It didn't

work out, as the cheap books say.

A whole life selling tools and hope to strangers.

(A life will try to call its prison

beauty.  Every morning, every night

of trial.)

But now he sits

in the aching of his rocker

and mutters "we" when he means

a team of strangers, and calls me up

to ask me if I saw it,

and tells me of a game I have no stake in,

and the green grass, and the trouble

of his country,

and the things men do

to win the game they're playing,

the double play, the bunt, the K, the homer,

and his favorite play of all,

the sacrifice.

Last Day of the Sports Year

The sports year begins with football season in late August, goes through the fall, winter, and spring, and ends tonight with the final game of the College World Series.  Here are this year's major sports champions:

MLB:  Los Angeles Dodgers

NCAA Football:  Indiana Hoosiers

NFL Football:  Seattle Seahawks

NCAA Women's Basketball:  U.C.L.A. Bruins

NCAA Men's Basketball:  Michigan Wolverines

NCAA Softball:  Texas Longhorns

NBA:  New York Knicks

And so, today, we get the last game of the NCAA Baseball Championship between the Oklahoma Sooners and the North Carolina Tar Heels.  Oklahoma won the first game of the final series, 9 to 3.  But yesterday, North Carolina struck back for a 6-2 victory.  So tonight will be the title decider.

As you can tell from the list above, it's been a disappointing season for teams in the Classic SEC.  But it's been a pretty good year.  Both the World Series and the NBA Playoffs were particularly good.