Great Glutes

Rob Gronkowski

Francois Sagat,

Nicola Simionato

Ass olutely

Francois Sagat

Robert Gronkowski

Nicola Simionato

Pietro Boselli

Renzo Molinari

SR Sports Potpourri

There have been so many activities in the international sporting world, that we have not attempted to report on all of them. We'll try to catch you up.

The Gronk is retiring.

Well known to readers of this space, New England Patriot's Tight End Rob Gronkowski has announced that he will retire at age 29. The Gronk is so much fun to watch, and is unafraid to appeal to certain demographics, appearing frequently in Speedos or in the all together. He is the son and grandson of professional athletes, and his three brothers have all joined him in playing professional sports, one in Major League Baseball, and the other three joined him in the National Football League. 

The Gronk entertained us, on and off the field, for 8 years with the NFL, all with the Patriots. As a tight end he received many passes from the Patriot's perennial quarterback, Tom Brady. While Tom Brady seems to be trying to play pro football until he is fifty, the Gronk is stepping down at 29. Godspeed Gronk.

In PGA Golf, two weeks ago another story of longevity in pro sports was played out. Tiger Woods, the young phenom who won several Masters Golf Tournaments years ago, did so again, after a drought of 14 years. In doing so, he completed a comeback from personal and professional adversity on Sunday, including a divorce and medical problems, capturing his fifth Masters title and his 15th major tournament. This victory that snapped a decade-long championship drought and instantly returned him to the top of the sports world. At 43, Woods became the second-oldest winner of the Masters. 

The win led to a moment of agreement between President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama. “What a fantastic life comeback for a really great guy!’’ the President said on Twitter. “To come back and win the Masters after all the highs and lows is a testament to excellence, grit and determination,’’ President Obama posted. 

With a closing round of two-under-par 70, Woods won out over a field of many, which had remained quite close until the final round. He edged out Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, as well as Xander Schauffele. Woods’s overall score of 13-under 275 was one shot better than his total in his 2005 victory at Augusta. It was also the first time that Woods, who started the day two strokes off the lead, had come from behind in the final round to win a major tournament.

Readers of this space will recall that the Indian Premier Leagues of Cricket is contested each April and May. The league is kind of a round robin playoff of India's best teams, and currently includes eight teams. The table remains close as the Chennai Super Kings head the standings with 16 points, certainly putting them into the playoffs. They are followed by the Mumbai Indians, the Dehli Capitals, and the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Back in the USA, the NFL Draft was conducted this weekend, with a quarterback, of course, being the first pick. The University of Oklahoma's Kyler Murray was the top draft pick in this year's edition. Since the previous year's top finishers have the last pick in the first round, the New England Patriots chose last, with the 32nd pick. They chose N'Keal Harry, who played for the Arizona State University. He is a wide receiver, apparently the Patriots will fill their tight end vacancy from within...

جائزة البحرين الكبرى Sunday Sport

Today is the day of the Bahrain Grand Prix (جائزة البحرين الكبرى‎ )at the Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir, as the Formula 1 season continues. Lewis Hamilton faces tough task to derail teammate Valtteri Bottas' momentum in Bahrain.  The Mercedes cars dominated at the season opener in Australia, last month,  but who comes out on top between the pair in Sakhir could be telling to how the rivalry among brothers could unfold this year.  

Sebastian Vettel, who last won the Belgian Grand Prix in August, 215 days ago, has said that "In Formula One, if you win, everything is fine, but if you come second you must have had a horrible ride. That's the echo you hear, but I don't see it that way. Last year, we had highlights and it takes a lot of effort to finish second even though I hate it."   Sebastian Vettel has a fond association with the racecourse, though, having won four times in Sakhir, more than any other driver. 

In contrast, Hamilton has not triumphed here for three years. That is hardly a crime, but given the Briton's impeccable high standards, it is a losing run he will be keen to end.  There are still 20 races to go, so there is a lot of laps still to be covered between now and the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 1, as he defends his title.  Hamilton will not want to make losing to Bottas a regular occurrence and will want to hit back at Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.  Finnish driver Bottas' confidence will have grown immensely from his dominant display in Melbourne, and Hamilton will be aware that allowing him to build momentum could potentially be dangerous to his hopes of a sixth drivers' title and a fifth in six years.

The Bahrain Grand Prix has often been accoladed  as the best organized Grand Prix in the world.  This early season test, in Bahrain, should provide plenty of interest. 

Meanwhile, Godolphin’s Thunder Snow made history on Saturday night by becoming the first horse to win the Dubai World Cup twice.  The five-year-old, who won the 2018 event, came out on top of a thrilling duel in the final stages with Gronkowski to put his name in the record books.

The phrase "USA Cricket wins" is not at all common in world sport. In fact, who knew there was a national team. In 2015, the US Cricket national governing body had been expelled by international cricket, with a new governing body welcoming into the fold this past January.  Apparently thing are looking up.  

The USA showed their strength against the United Arab Emirates with their nine-wicket win in Dubai.  This completed a successful tour for the American squad of the United Arab Emirates.  They set the seal on a successful tour with a nine-wicket thrashing of the UAE team at The Sevens, Dubai. That gave the USA a 2-1 series win over the national team in the 50-over series between the two sides.  

In addition to that, they whitewashed the UAE’s second string side in three matches, as well as coasting to a win over Lancashire, the English county team, in a limited-overs match.  All of which means they are purring along nicely in preparation for their World Cricket League Division 2 campaign in Namibia next month, for which this tour was preparation. 

Pubudu Dassanayake, is the  USA coach. in the past he has helped teams come up out of the basement, notably Paskitan, and his technique seems to be working quite successfully with the Americans.  He has balanced the players coming from an Indian background, and those from a Carribean background, and the team is pulling together.  He said “there is a lot of cricket being played in the US. It is just about that being channeled into the team. But we need to perform for that to happen.”

Sunday will be a defining moment in the NCAA Men's basketball tourney in the USA, as the number of teams is finally reduced from 8 to 4.  Today Cinderella Texas Tech beat the last remaining Catholic team in the tournament, Gonzaga, by a score of 75 to 69.  Meanwhile, Virginia beat Purdue 80 to 75.  Today's games should be lively ones, as Michigan State takes on Duke and surprise victor Auburn takes on Kentucky. Each of these has a solid Basketball program, so much is expected as the last two Final Four teams are determined. 

In the United States, in Major League Baseball, Opening Day 2019 featured 15 games, sunny weather (except in Kansas City), good pitching and plenty of home runs and strikeouts. More southern teams and those with indoor stadiums tend to have Opening Day earlier, but the other teams, although playing, will not have their home openers for a few weeks. 

The play on opening day shows us that  baseball in 2019 is going to look a lot like baseball in 2018. There were five shutouts, but despite one-third of the games including a zero, players homered once every 19.9 at-bats -- higher than last year's rate of once every 29.6 at-bats.  2019 looks like a good year for Major League Baseball. 

The Pittsburgh Pirates visited the Cincinnati Reds for their opening day.   The top five hitters in the Cincinnati lineup went 1-for-18 with two walks, but the bottom of the order picked them up, as Jose Peraza homered, Tucker Barnhart reached twice, Jose Iglesias had two hits, and Derek Dietrich delivered the game's big blow: a pinch-hit, three-run homer off Pirates reliever Richard Rodriguez in the bottom of the seventh.  The Reds managed to hold things together to win the game 5 to 3.  Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs ruined the Texas Rangers home opening by beating them 12-4. 

New England Patriots win Super Bowl

Overcoming long odds, and the talk that the dynasty was finished, the New England Patriots have won Super Bowl LIII, American football's top festival of sport.

Quarterback Tom Brady, who is, let's face it, almost your age, overcame ageist stereotypes to hang with the team throughout the season, and carried the game through a tough challenge by the Los Angeles Rams.  

New England Patriots fans traveled to Atlanta, site of this year's Super Bowl, from the Boston area and from throughout the country.  They loudly outnumbered the Rams fans, who, let's face it, have no fan base, having failed to generate excitement and energy since they returned to LA from St. Louis  a few years ago.  

The half time show was admittedly mediocre, and no we did not want to see all THOSE tattoos, Adam Levin...  really. Gladys Knight's masterful performance of the National Anthem brought many to tears.  In an earlier interview she noted that she has sung the Star Spangled Girl since she was a young girl, getting her start singing the anthem at Civil Rights rallies. Her anthem performance might be considered the greatest of all time.  

Considered by some to be the g.o.a.t., Tom Brady proved himself to still be a stellar football player, despite being somewhat long in the tooth.  Rob Gronkoski, "the Gronk" also played well, although he hobbled off the field early in the game due to a low hit.  He returned to the game and acquitted himself well.  

The Gronk

The Patriots end up beating the Rams 13-3, in  the lowest scoring Super Bowl in history.  It was also the first Super Bowl in which no touchdown was scored in the first three quarters.  

The Lombardi trophy was presented to the Patriots by Roger Goodell, the embattled NFL commissioner who has always shown every sign of being one of the 80% of American football fans who despise the Patriots.  He was roundly booed by the crowd as he stepped up to present the trophy to Robert Kraft, owner of the Patriots.  Kraft credited Bill Belichick and Tom Brady with the win. 

Sunday Sport: Bikes, Spinners and NFL

The UCI Road World Championships, often referred to as the World Cycling Championships, is the annual world championship for bicycle road racing organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships include championships for elite men's road race and individual time trial, with other contests also held. 

This year's World Cycling Championships have been ongoing this week in Bergen, in far northern Norway, and conclude today with the elite men's road race.  A bit of controversy erupted when two of the three cyclists on the Under 23 men's race podium are already riding for professional teams.  The winner of the UCI Road World Championships road race is considered the World Cycling Champion (or World Road Cycling Champion) and earns the right to wear the Rainbow Jersey for a full year in road race or stage events.  The road race is contested by riders organized by national cycling teams as opposed to commercially sponsored or trade teams, which is the standard in professional cycling.  The rainbow jersey is normally integrated into the team jersey for races throughout the year.  Last year's world champion, in competitions held at Doha, Qatar,  was Slovakia's Peter Sagan.  He has reigned for the last two years, having won in Richmond, Virginia, USA the year before.  The two countries with far and beyond numbers regarding the most gold medals won at Cycling Worlds are Belgium, firmly in first place, and Italy, in second place.  All others pale by comparison.  Spaniard Alejandro Valverde has won six individual medals, but so far has never been world champion. 

In International Cricket, today features two interesting matches, both One Day Internationals (ODI).  Australia continues its tour of India today with a third ODI at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore, and although the Aussies have fallen prey to prime Indian spinners often throughout this tour, competition should remain close in today's match.  Two-down in the series, Australia are faced with a must-win situation to have a chance at the trophy.  India has been playing strong throughout the series, and is confident of a win.  The West Indies continue their tour of England today with their 3rd ODI at County Ground, Bristol.  West Indies, who are World Champions in the twenty twenty format (T20) have had some success in those games, but otherwise their tour has continued with mixed results.  India's National Cricket League teams are engaged in four test matches today, these four matches all conclude on Monday.  16 teams are currently engaged in pool play at four different venues in  the 2017 Africa T20 World Cup. 

In the USA, in NFL play this weekend, none of these pro football teams have a bye week this week. The Houston Texans  will play at the New England Patriots at Foxboro this weekend.  After their season ended at Gillette Stadium in the playoffs, the Texans look to prove that they are a completely different team with J.J. Watt back in the fold. Meanwhile, the Patriots could have a star of their own returning in tight end Rob Gronkowski, well known to readers of this space,  to face the Texans' vaunted defense.

Football, American that is

Lucas Kerr

Marc Megna

 Mark Sanchez

Matt LeMond

Robert Gronkowski

Sam Asghari,

It is almost football season.  Here are a few shots to whet the appetite.