British Open and NBA Finals (2021) and MLB All-Star Game (1975)

Louis Oosthuizen at some point leads every major golf tournament, and he is leading the British Open now--after an opening-round 64. Brian Harman and Jordan Spieth, also done for the day, are both a stroke back at 5-under.

The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns last night, to even the NBA Finals at two games apiece. The home team has won each of the four games so far. Game 5 is in Phoenix, at 7 Central Saturday.

Sometimes I really enjoy watching sports without a rooting interest. I will be happy to see either the Bucks (for Greg Smith) or Suns (for Kyle Macy) win the NBA championship, and I thought last night's game was just fantastic. And now I'm enjoying the golf today. Here's Justin Thomas (even through 10) teeing off, and I'd be fine with Louisville Justin, anxious Spieth, farmer Oosthuizen ... most any of them winning. I don't care really. It's just fun to crank up the air conditioning, watch these guys in the wind and imagine myself being somewhere pretty and not 200 degrees.

But as for the 1975 Major League Baseball All-Star Game (on Channel 6 at 7 today, Tuesday, July 15), though I will be excited to see Gary Carter, Randy Jones and Bob Watson in their exotic Expos, Padres and Astros uniforms, I am firmly in the camp of the American Leaguers. Vida Blue is breathtaking in all gold.

Go, Washington Wizards!

I've been a really bad Washington Wizards fan this season. I thought the Russell Westbrook acquisition was a joke--that he'd end up just playing only a handful or no games in Washington--and I pretty much quit paying attention after the team's poor start. 

Well, at age 32, Russell Westbrook played 65 games for the Wizards this season and averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists a game. Washington won 17 of its last 23 games and finished eighth place in the Eastern Conference. So I was absolutely wrong about this whole deal, and it was my loss that I watched only about 30 total game minutes of the regular season.

The 8 seed qualifies the Wizards to play at the Boston Celtics in the NBA's new "play-in" round of playoffs, which I think is a neat tweak. (Boston beat Washington in two of their three games this season—most recently, 111-110 in Boston on Feb. 28.) A Wizards win would advance them to a seven-game series with the Brooklyn Nets, while a loss would send them to an elimination game against either the Charlotte Hornets or Indiana Pacers. I’m planning to watch the Washington-Boston game Tuesday night at 8 on TNT, figure out who’s on my team and root for them.

NBA Preview

I predict that the Los Angeles Lakers, led by LeBron James and UK legend Anthony Davis, will be the NBA Champions for the 2020-21 season.

NBA21 Update

The Washington Wizards lost at home last night, 97-86, in preseason action against the Pistons. Russell Westbrook did not play. The boxscore indicates he was resting.

Here is a video of "bloopers and outtakes" from Washington's training camp.