Happy Canada Day everybody! It was on this date 141 years ago that Queen Victoria decided that our friendly neighbours to the north would be an independent country rather than a British colony. Canada Day weekend is also the traditional start to the CFL season. In other words, starting this weekend, there will be professional football played somewhere on the continent in 2011 (the UFL doesn't count).
As for sports here in the U.S., we've now reached a point where half of the major professional leagues have voluntarily shut down. The NBA owners have joined their friends in the NFL by locking out the players. I don't really know that much about the NBA labor situation (my not caring really comes into play as one of the main reasons), but evidently it's worse than the NFL's problems. The way I understand it, the NFL owners simply want more money, while the NBA owners would like to stop losing money. (If they don't want to lose money, maybe they shouldn't ante up those ridiculous free agent contracts.) Anyway, there's now a possibility that we'll lose games in both leagues once their respective seasons start. The last time that happened was the last time we had simultaneous work stoppages--1994-95. We all know what happened with baseball back then, but the NHL also had a lockout that reduced the regular season to 48 games.
But this was a big sports news day for non-labor-issue related reasons, too. First, let's jump across the pond. Novak Djokovic moved into his first Wimbledon final and, with that became the No. 1 player in the world. Monday marks the first time in seven years that somebody not named Rafa or Roger will be ranked No. 1. Who was it you might ask? Andy Roddick. Roddick was actually the year-end No. 1 in 2003. Oh how times have changed. (Andy Roddick fun fact: he's never been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but his wife, Brooklyn Decker has.) Djokovic will play Nadal, who beat the great British hope, Andy Murray. Murray won the first set before Nadal turned it up a notch. And with that, the British drought at Wimbledon continues. The last native son to win the title was Fred Perry in 1936.
Maria Sharapova's in the women's final. No complaints about that here. And in a pleasant surprise, the number of Pippa sightings on Centre Court have been numerous. Will and Kate were there on Monday, but Pippa's been there every day since. I'm not sure if she'll be at the women's final, but if she is, they might need to develop some sort of Maria/Pippa split screen for me.
Across the Chunnel from England, the Tour de France gets underway tomorrow. Alberto Contador is the defending champion, but (sadly not surprisingly) is currently embroiled in a doping scandal, becoming the latest big-name cyclist accused of doping. That sport simply can't get away from doping problems. Contador is still allowed to compete for the time being, and will be in France to defend his title. But I like Andy Schleck, who's finished second to Contador in each of the last two years, to ride down the Champs Elysses wearing the yellow jersey at the end of this year's Tour.
Moving further west to Germany, the Women's World Cup is still going strong. I think. They sold out Berlin's Olympic Stadium (74,000) for the opening game between Germany and Canada, but the USA-North Korea game had more than a few empty seats. The Americans play again tomorrow against Sweden. Maybe someone will actually notice.
I'm not sure how many people know or care about the Women's World Cup, so I'll bring it back Stateside. All of last summer's conference jumping is now official. Nebraska is now officially the 12th member of the Big Ten, while the Pac-10 is now the Pac-12 after adding Colorado and Utah. Meanwhile, Boise State is the newest member of the Mountain West. So, just to keep track of the math: the Big Ten now has 12 members and the Big 12 is made up of 10 schools. The Pac-10 is no more, since the conference probably decided that it was easier to rename it reflecting the actual number of schools in the league rather than confusing all the smart people at Stanford.
Speaking of the Pac-12, one of my favorite things about this year's College World Series was the appearance by Cal. This is a program that was dropped (along with several others) by the Cal athletic department back in October, meaning 2011 was supposed to be its final season. However, the boosters came up with enough money to keep the program going, so this wasn't Cal's swan song. But imagine if it was. That would've been some way to go out.
Lastly, this weekend marks the conclusion of Interleague Play for 2011. The marquee matchup is round two of the Subway Series, but it's rivalry weekend all across baseball. The Cubs are playing the White Sox at Wrigley, the Dodgers are visiting the Angels, and the Indians are in Cincinnati. But I'm more excited that everybody's playing on Monday. For once, they actually scheduled 15 games on the Fourth of July (one of three days where every team should play regardless) AND remembered to have the Blue Jays play on the road. Although, come to think if it, Fourth of July baseball means those stupid patriotic hats, so scratch that.
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