Pretend XIX Olympic Summer Games, Real Gym 2018

Great news. 2018 me just figured out how to pretend out the 1968 Mexico City Olympics basketball tournament for real in his church gym. 1972 me is going to be very thankful to 2018 me for this post after the Munich games this pretend September.

Group A

Oct. 13, 1968

Team USA 57, Spain 39

Team USA scoring: Spencer Haywood 9, Bill Hosket 6, Glynn Saulters 5, Charlie Scott 9, Jo-Jo White 5, Cal Fowler 5, Ken Spain 6, Mike Silliman (of Louisville Saint Xavier High!) 3, John Clawson 2, Don Dee 3, Mike Barrett 1, Jim King 3

The Freakin' Weekend (1970)

I was ready for a long weekend.

The Kentucky New Era isn't publishing July 4, 1970, so they gave us a fantastic, expanded TV grid in the Friday, July 3, paper.

Congratulations to the Reeds.

That Saturday-afternoon tennis program on NBC is a wrap-up of the Wimbledon finals, but I'm going to be watching the Firecracker 400 on ABC's Wide World of Sports.

And, of course, I'm very excited to see what CBS shows on this Sunday afternoon's episode of NFL Action.

Did you see that Morgana, the Kissing Bandit, is from Louisville?

Happy Independence Day, all.

Oh, Kentucky (1969)

And more from the April, May and June 1969 editions of Hopkinsville's Kentucky New Era ...

Good jobs news for Hoptown ... American Snuff is out, and English candy is in ... Volt sporting goods ... a new mall ...

Turning to sports, ...

Maybe it was George McGinnis's extra motivation, or maybe it was Dick Lugar's pep talk, but this is not going to end well for the Kentuckians ...

When Tom Payne of Louisville Shawnee signed on with UK, it made A1 in Hoptown ...

No, he's not ...

This Tilghman grad ended up with a laudable career record of 31-21 and 3.89 ERA in five minor-league seasons ...

Finally, tonight, from Calvert City, ...

Glory's Last Chance

Here is the latest top 10 from the Official World Golf Ranking:

1.  T. Woods
2.  P. Mickelson
3.  R. McIlroy (NIR)
4.  J. Rose (ENG)
5.  A. Scott (AUS)
6.  M. Kuchar
7.  B. Snedeker
8.  G. McDowell (NIR)
9.  L. Donald (ENG)
10.  K. Bradley

Remarkably, the last four majors were won by golfers ranked 2, 3, 4, and 5 on this list.  Tiger hasn't won a major this year, but he's won 5 times in only 11 starts.  After so many flukey winners in recent years, this has been a great year for golf fans.

Unfortunately, that run may now be coming to an end.  Here are the last 10 winners of the PGA:

2012:  R. McIlroy (NIR)
2011:  K. Bradley
2010:  M. Kaymer (GER)
2009:  Y.E. Yang (KOR)
2008:  P. Harrington (IRE)
2007:  T. Woods
2006:  T. Woods
2005:  P. Mickleson
2004:  V. Singh (FIJ)
2003:  S. Micheel

It's a pretty good list, but check out the 2003 winner -- Shaun Micheel.  That was the only victory of Micheel's career -- and one of only two times he finished in the top 10 of a major.  And that lone victory came at Oak Hill Country Club, the same course that is hosting this week's PGA.  Here were the top 4 players in the 2003 PGA:

1.  S. Micheel
2.  C. Campbell
3.  T. Clark (RSA)
4.  A. Cejka (GER)

Not exactly Murderer's Row.  And here were the top 4 at the 1989 U.S. Open, the last National Open held at Oak Hill:

1.  C. Strange
T2.  C. Beck
T2.  M. McCumber
T2.  I. Woosnam (WAL)

Again, not an impressive list.  Oak Hill doesn't always produce such disappointing results -- Jack Nicklaus won the PGA here in 1980 and Lee Trevino took the Open here in 1968.  But I'm afraid it's one of those U.S. Open-type courses with lots of narrow fairways that punishes long, aggressive players.  This type of course makes no sense to me, as long, aggressive players tend to be the best players in the world.

So I think this is the week to take the field, and assume that some relative unknown will take the title.  But given how much fun this year has been for golf fans, we won't complain (all that much).