Non-baseball items, part II Showing 701-750 of 1,087

[C. John]

The Summer Transfer window in football closes today. There are actually two this year, one fefore the Club World Cup and one after. Any player a team has signed during this window is eligible to play in the tournament for his new team.

[C. John]

Basketball was never like this.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Vb8nRP...

[C. John]

Brian Wilson has passed away. None of the Wilson brothers are still alive now.

[C. John]

Australia has now qualified for the World Cup automatically from their group for the World Cup. No need for going through playoffs this time around.

[C. John]

More on the World Cup. Earlier I was wondering about how trump's travel ban might affect things. Apparently there is a provision in the ban allowing team athletes and support staff to attend as well as their immediate families. However general fans are out of luck. It is important as Iran has in fact qulaified for the finals of the World Cup.

[C. John]

Apparently Russia is moving its most valuable planes as far away from Ukraine as possible. Gee, I wonder why.

[C. John]

The following is from this morning's Morning Brew for those who missed it.

Good morning. The countdown has begun: In one year, the US men’s national soccer team will play their first game of the World Cup, which we’re hosting alongside Mexico and Canada.

There’s little belief that we will win. The team has just lost four straight games for the first time since 2007, including a 4–0 thrashing by Switzerland on Tuesday night. New coach Mauricio Pochettino, whose reported $6 million/year salary was partially bankrolled by Ken Griffin, is under increasing pressure to get the squad in respectable form before their World Cup debut.

Should we just sell the team to Ryan Reynolds?

[C. John]

Even if I shouldn't I sometimes have to feel sorry for certain members of the Southern Baptist Convention of churches. They have been trying to get the Convention to bar churches with female pastors from membership. They brought the matter before the SBC meeting again and again it failed. They will probably keep tryig but I daresay they will continue to be unsuccessful.

[C. John]

David Beckham will soon be Sir David Beckham. He is apparently on the King's Birthday Honours List. Two other names that people may recognize on the list are Roger Daltrey and Gary Oldmam. Below is a link to the article. There are quite a few athletes, though I daresay many names will be unfamiliar to you as, of course, they are British.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...

[C. John]

While I am at it a happy Flag Day to one and all. We don't have any such celebration up here though if we did it would likely be in February which is the month in which we got the flag we use now. That was an event many were not happy about at the time.

[C. John]

Here is the weekend pub quiz

https://www.mirror.co.uk/play/quizzes...

[C. John]

Happy Father's Day to all fathers and fathers to be.

[C. John]

A great quote about Chicago from the Chicago Tribune:

Ten of thousands of Chicagoans gathered together in various locations Saturday to do what we arguably do best — party, protest and pray.

[Brina]

Sounds accurate but they forgot vote.

[C. John]

A couple of notes about sports yesterday.
1. Bath defeated Leicester Tigers to win the rugby Premiership in England. I don't know if this is Union or League rugby.
2. South Aftica defeated Australia in Cricket's World test Championship final. Probably not the result the Aussies were looking for with the Ashes coming up.

[C. John]

The following is from the Telegraph Sports Report, which is why I haven't provided a link.

There was a predictable farce at the unloved Club World Cup when Bayern Munich won 10-0 in a match against Auckland City, a team of forklift drivers and fizzy-drinks salesmen.

[C. John]

it seems Prince Andrew was seen heading to Windsor Castle for Garter Day. This was a bit of a surprise as it was presumed he was banned from atending such events.

[C. John]

One of the teams in the COCACAF Gold Cup, which starts this week, is Saudi Arabia. It is a guest team it seams. This is like the recent Copa Amerioca, which is a South American championship but which had five Concacaf teams participating.

[C. John]

There will be a Grand Prix race in Montreal until at least 2035

[C. John]

This is Ascot week in the UK so plenty of horseracing. The Royal Family of course will be attending the races, decked out in their formal clothes, as that is what is normally worn for this occassion.

[C. John]

Apparently Boss made an appearance at the G7 meeting, much to the consternation of some.

[Lance]

C. John wrote: "There will be a Grand Prix race in Montreal until at least 2035"

Ooh, another reason to make the trip there. Plus I would like to see the Canadiens once live and also the Alouettes.

[C. John]

The Buss family is going to be selling its majority share of the Lakers to Mark Walter, a businessman. He is the primary owner of the Dodgers and is involved with several other sports properties, including Chelsea FC of the Premier League.

[C. John]

Happy Juneteenth to one and all.

[C. John]

Today is National Selfie Day (US) and/or National Indigenous People's Day (Canada).

[C. John]

Listening to Norwegian Wood performed by the Buddy Rich Big Band. The Beatles and Buddy Rich, a combination made in Heaven.

[C. John]

And here is the weekly Pub Quiz.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/play/quizzes...

[C. John]

Email from Pinterest with suggestions for me is labelled "Rugby for You". Looked at the pictures and all save three are actually Baseball, and the three that aren't picture Gridiron Football. I darsay that the Aussies wouldn't be amused, as they refer to the latter sport as "a game for wusses". I suspect that is due to all the protective gear worn compared to rugby.

[C. John]

Well it seems Kevin Durant is now a Houston Rocket.

[C. John]

Sixties teen idol Booby Sherman has passed away at age 81. Oddly enough I didn't care for his music at the time but came to appreciate it later in life.

[Lance]

C. John wrote: "Well it seems Kevin Durant is now a Houston Rocket."

Not officially until July 6. And it was an underwhelming return for the Suns. I’m more interested in the free agent period to see what the Timberwolves do to keep two key bench players, Naz Reid and Nikel Alexander-Walker

[C. John]

Looking at Maud's Coffee on Amazon on Amazon and not they have a couple of Dark Roast coffees. One is called Tall, Dark and Handsome. The other is called Taller, Darker and Handsomer. By the way here is an interesting bit of trivia. With coffee the darker the roast the less caffeine in the coffee.

[C. John]

In French Football news Lyon have been demoted from Ligue 1 to Ligue 2 due to financial circumstances. This may be good news for the Premier League's Crystal Palace.

[C. John]

I hope everyone has enjoyed Leon Day. If you want to know what that is just spell Leon backwards.

[C. John]

Item on the Hockey HOF class of 2025.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/...

[C. John]

The Guardian's Football Daily has taken to referring to the Club World Cup as the Copa Gianni.

[Lance]

C. John wrote: "I hope everyone has enjoyed Leon Day. If you want to know what that is just spell Leon backwards."

Noel - as in exactly 6 months to Christmas? Or that now my name is Ance?

[Lance]

C. John wrote: "Item on the Hockey HOF class of 2025.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/..."

Shame it took Mogilny this long to get in. And that Neal Broten is still waiting is a travesty

[Lance]

Above I noted that I was watching what the Wolves would do about Naz Reid…got the answer yesterday. Re-signed for 5 years, $125M. So glad he’s staying. And for the other MN basketball team….Napheesa Collier returned from injury, scored 26 points and the Lynx just keep rolling

[C. John]

Lance wrote: "C. John wrote: "Item on the Hockey HOF class of 2025.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/......"

The complaint with baseball is people get in too soon (or get in at all) and with hockey it is they get in too slowly (if ever). Somewhere there must be a happy medium.

[C. John]

Here is the weekly pub quiz.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/play/quizzes...

[C. John]

An interesting news item for the upcoming holiday. An apartment building in Ottawa has seen its balconies being overtaken by Canadian flags. The building happens to overlook a Tesla dealership. Somehow this does not seem like a coincidence to me.

[C. John]

The girls are on holiday from school. Technically there was school last week but the only thing happening was final exams and my daughters didn't have those this year. They will be going back on the day after Labour Day. The oldest girl has spent this week stretched out on the couch watching one iteration or another of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turltes.

[C. John]

The British House of Commons today is debating something called the "Deprivation of Citizenship Orders (Effect During Appeal) Bill" Not sure what all that means but it sounds better, or at least more governmental, than "Big, Beautiful Bill".

[C. John]

Speaking of citizenship, did you know that Elon Musck has Canadian citizenship. Apparently some people want to see if it can be revoked.

[C. John]

Inter Miami were defeated yesterday by PSG in the Club World Cup. So it is goodbye Messi. There are now no MLS teams left in the tournament.

[C. John]

Well someone found a way to beat the hear in the UK. However I would not reccommend this method to anyone.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

By the way the temperatures have been really high in the UK this week.

[Lance]

Why I always prefer cold to heat. You can as many layers as necessary but you can only strip down so far…

[C. John]

The following item was in the Brussels Playbook from Politico. Remember it is already July 1st over there.

"NOT-SO-FROZEN-NORTH: Spare a thought for the diplomats celebrating Canada Day at the residence of the country’s ambassador in Brussels this evening from 6 p.m. Organizers have been forced to downgrade the dress code amid sweltering weather, according to an invite seen by Playbook, telling attendees to turn up in smart casual instead of suits. Time to dig out the Maple Leaf shorts …"

[C. John]

Happy Canada/Dominion Day one and all.