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.