Sport Saturday: Paradise

Paradise.  From now until sometime in January.  Paradise for true fans of football.  American that is.  NCAA Division One College Football.  From the shores of Florida to the Yukon, from Honolulu to Maine, crowds which make the pros jealous will fill football palaces to cheer on their favorite teams.  Although there were a few ceremonial games last weekend, this weekend marks the official start of the NCAA College Football Season.  

The blogosphere resounds with praise and welcome for this weekend. From you faithful readers here at this space, to blogs as disparate as http://closetprofessor.blogspot.com/ and  probably soon, http://daninokc.blogspot.com/

Today this weekend will be filled with David and Goliath moments, as powerful teams invite their obligatory poor step cousins to be beaten at their homes.  Last night, already, No. 18 Michigan State beat  Tulsa 28 to 7.  No. 19 Wisconsin showed no mercy to hurricane ravaged (or soon will be) South Florida, whipping them 49- 0. 

 

Don't miss the great, new, slick uniforms the teams will be wearing for the opening weekend.  Since Oregon alums at Nike began to dress the Ducks, weekly, with amazing kit, other teams have caught on.  Spare the expense.  Readers of this space will not be upset. 

Today's menu shows only one game between ranked teams, neither at home, to make it more interesting.   Number 11 Oregon will take on Number 16 Auburn at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.  The Dallas Cowboys home stadium will maybe see more action and drama today than in all the upcoming NFL season,  as these two teams duke it out on the field.  Oregon does not have a good history here, having lost several key games the infrequent times they have been featured here. 

Meanwhile back and Flushing Meadows...  Novak...  and RF

(Round three of the US Open of Tennis continues in New York City, in Queens today)

and the Vuelta (more tomorrow)

and who could forget the AFL playoffs.  

Paradise

  

Saturday Sport: July is July

The finals are set for Wimbledon today, as Novak Djokovic will contend with Roger Federer in the finals on Sunday.   Federer arrives at the finals, having again beaten Rafael Nadal, who took the loss with good graces, after having fought hard every step of the way.  Djokovic also defeated a Spaniard to arrive at the finals. RobertoBautistaAgut was beaten in four sets.  

Sunday England will contend with New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup.  The Cricket World Cup is a series of 48 ODI matches, and now the finals have arrived. England has never reached the finals in this tournament, so expections are high.  

Tennis Anyone?

Pedro Martinez, Maxime Chazal

Add caption

Marco Chiudinelli, Roger Federer

Fernando Verdasco

Wimbledon is underway, turning the world's attention to tennis.  Tennis anyone?

Sunday Sport: Lycra and Cream

As reported yesterday, the Tour de France has kicked off in Brussels, to the acclaim of the thousands of fans who had turned out just to see the Tour.  Brussels has never looked batter, after the heat wave of the last few weeks broke, the city is ready to be out and about again, according to local reports.  
 

  

Stage one took place yesterday, an 192 jaunt through the Belgian Countryside to Charleroi, which also highlighted much of the Belgian capital. Mike Teunissen, the Dutch rider for Team Jumbo–Visma, won in a photo finish in Brussels, not far from the iconic Atomium, which serves as the finish spot today, also.  Teunissen beat Peter Sagan,  after much of the peloton was involved in a crash 1.5km from the finish. 

The crash included last year's  champion Geraint Thomas, whom some blamed for the crash.  Some of you will remember his statement after being crowned last year.  He was asked to say a few words from the podium, which he did, then he literally dropped the mike, in a very obvious way. Enough said.  

Today's the Tour continues with a 29 km Team Time Trial through the streets of Brussels.  

In other news, both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have advanced in the third round of the tournament at Wimbledon. 

 Nadal overcame a terrific challenge from Australian Phenom Nick Kyrgios on Thursday, in a match which quickly took on the flavor of a grudge match, with insulting words and gestures, and warnings of unsportsmanlike conduct. He handily defeated Frenchman J Tsonga yesterday, in Third Round play.  

Federer also handily triumphed over a Frenchman in yesterday's play, defeating Lucas Pouille in straight sets. 

Round of 16 play begins on Monday in the Men's Singles portion of the tournament.  The winners, of course, at Wimbledon, include all those who are able to consume the emblematic fresh strawberries, and lots of cream.  Happy viewing!  

Saturday Sport: Giro, Madrid Open

This weekend, the finals will be played in Madrid at their Open of Tennis.  Yesterday, Dominic Thiem saved two match points as he came from behind to end Roger Federer's participation in his first clay tournament in three years.  The Austrian prevailed 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 in a thrilling quarter-final, despite Federer's strong start.   Thiem, who had come into the tournament on the back of winning in Barcelona last month, looked to hit back quickly but Federer saved two break points in his opening service game of the second set.  Thiem was now showing the form that has made him one of the major contenders for the French Open and he earned three more break points in the sixth game.

Thiem took the momentum in the second set and carried through into the deciding set and finally broke Federer in the third game. Thiem now meets world Number one ranked  Novak Djokovic today for a place in the final.  Djokovic had been given a walkover after his scheduled quarter-final opponent Marin Cilic withdrew after suffering from food poisoning.  In Saturday's other semifinal, Spaniard Rafael Nadal, feeling quite at home in Madrid,  will play Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, Tsitsipas has also advanced in the doubles tournament, with his partner Wesley Koolhof of Holland, but they lost today in the semifinal game. 

Cycling's Giro d'Italia kicks off this weekend with an 8.2 km individual time trial around the medieval streets of Bologna.  The stage finishes up the steep and fabled climb of San Luca. The race will continue throughout the month, with 21 individual stages, full of cycling action.    The 21st and final stage will be on June 2nd.  It will be an additional individual time trial around the medieval streets of Verona, in northern Italy.  The closing stage will be a 17 km affair, which may very well be extremely exciting, or may be boring, depending on the standings at that time. 

 Italian Vicenzo Nibali is a perpetual favorite in the race.  Simon Yates considers himself a favorite. He led the race last year until four stages from the end, when he fell behind more than a half an hour in one day's stage, and never recovered. 

Tennis Moods

Jake Mast,Kyle Sarine

Rafael Nadal

Thanasi Kokkinakis

Alexander Zverev,

Federer and Nadal

Sport Sunday: Returns (Federer, Zidane, Aussie Rules, etc.)

In the United States, in Men's Tennis, it will be Dominic Thiem versus Roger Federer in Sunday’s men's final at the BNP Paribas Masters Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California.

It will be the ninth final here in the desert for the fourth-seeded Federer, who has won the title five times but lost last year’s final after squandering three match points against Juan Martín del Potro.  He was to play Rafael Nadal Saturday in the Semifinal but received a bit of a bye when Nadal withdrew due to tendonitis.  Thiem had dispatched Milos Raonic 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 6-4, in a match of contrasting styles in which there was only one break of serve. 

Nadal, who leads the lifetime series with Federer, has already pulled out of the Miami Open, but hopes to compete in Monte Carlo next month. 

In Spain in La Liga, Real Madrid certainly knows how to call attention to itself, constantly generating interest by sudden moves.  Longtime coach Zinedine Zidane was forced out 10 months ago, just before Cristiano Ronaldo's departure for Italy.  Now he is back, Zidane that is, having been rehired in a surprise move on Monday. 

 

Isco and Gareth Bale got Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid return off to winning start on Saturday, with the Spanish playmaker and the Welsh forward on target in 2-0 La Liga win over Celta Vigo that saw Keylor Vavas preferred in goal to Thibaut Courtois.  Isco and Keylor Navas rewarded Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane for naming them in his first Liga team since returning to the Bernabeu as their goal and clean sheet helped beat Celta Vigo 2-0. 

29 year old Gareth Bale had not lost his place under just fired, interim coach Santiago Solari, who was sacked on Monday before three-time Champions League-winning manager Zidane was reappointed in a somewhat unexpected move, but question marks over the Welshman's long-term future in Madrid persist and he duly answered some of his critics with a second-half goal to kill off the match. 

The eyebrow-raising exclusion from Zidane's team sheet was goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, with Costa Rican stopper Navas recalled in his place after spending much of the season on the bench. Zidane apparently now knows how Grover Cleveland felt. 

In NCAA Men's Basketball, literally hundreds of hours of play has been contested over the last few days.  So many conferences have already crowned their champions. Six games remain today, kicking off with the Ivy League finals, number one seeded Harvard vs. number two seeded Yale.  The Big Ten final between Michigan  and Michigan State my provide the most interest of this afternoon's games.  Reportedly a favorite Harvard cheer:  "Repel them, Retard them, make them relinquish the ball."   Take that, Thurston Howell III

Don't forget that the Aussie Rules Football season officially kicks of this week.  All forms of media are replete with pre Season predictions, too many for this space to tease out and present a cohesive synthesis. 

What we do know is that on Thursday, at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, the Richmond Tigers, who finished last year on top, will meet the Carlton Blues, who finished at the bottom.  There will be an additional match on Friday, Four on Saturday, and three next Sunday.  More later. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!