Grassmarket

It’s only there because of the corrupt influence of the big Olive Oil & Skin Dyeing cartels.

Well, I’ve spent the day reviewing the 2019 MarbleLympics (to use its proper name) and I’m going with Mellow Yellow (quite rightly). Most hated team would be the Crazy Cats Eyes because basically I think they are cheating with their transparent design, which gives them an undeserved advantage in the water and the sand events.

Northern hemisphere Rugby League restarts 2 August - teams from Enlgland, France & Canada. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/53196901

Girl leading the joint male/female 10000m race is making a terrible mistake.....

German guy manages both, or all three, French guy is struggling with the interviews! Good meet though - first I have seen this year with proper size fields, and not just International superstars against the girl who works at the Post Office.

Live now! Commentary in both & alternately.

That reminds me, must clean my duelling pistols.

Not often Luxembourg wins a global event that isn’t the Eurovision Song Contest. Ticker tape parade when he gets home, with a grand paardenworst barbecue!

The good new: there will be a British Athletics season this year. The bad news. It will last two weeks. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/53192762

Sadly a common story. Bureaucrats require success to secure their own positions, and if someone is delivering it they don’t care how the bread is baked. Unfortunately even if you tore the system down, the new one would be.....not much different. Also - being politically incorrect here - teenagers are very seldom good judges of their own long-term interests.

Various things on over the weekend, but this looks worth a watch - the Swiss Steeplechase & 10000m Champs - is on an open stream. https://www.ubs-athletics.fans https://www.swiss-athletics.ch/de/blog/2020/06/24/abraham-und-schlumpf-sind-in-uster-in-der-favoritenrolle-mit-live-stream/

Well, so it’s for the next generation, then! It’s just as important to keep the production line rolling as it is to keep the big names happy. Unless people start bucking up & showing some courage there’s going to be a whole lot of places for new sports on the Olympic schedule, because a lot of the old ones are just going to die off.

New York & Berlin marathons both cancelled. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/53169797

Well, like every other sport in America, NASCAR had a historical problem with racism. The fact that the only racist incident we can point to over the last few years turned out to be at worst a hoax & at best a misunderstanding suggests that NASCAR has, like everyone else, modernised

A noose is a slip knot. By definition, you have to pull on it for it to work, and once you’ve pulled on it, it ceases to be a noose. That’s how hangings work. But if what you say is true, why haven’t we seen a photo of the actual knot? Why wasn’t that on every front page in America? I suggest It’s because the knot is the size of something you use to catch rabbits, not hang humans, and everyone would know that once they saw it, making the hoax too obvious to take seriously.

I imagine something like a single flat fee for all three segments - ie pre-, regular- & post-season. Anything else would be too complicated. Maybe a seperate post-season deal at the end of September. Say €40-50 for the lot?

Fortunately the players have backed down: preseason Training restarts 1 July: actual season 23 July. 60 games then playoffs. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/baseball/53161741

Anyone know how things are in Belgium these days? Am planning to go there in July. Lots to enjoy, & the fact that it has Europe & possibly the world’s highest death rate means hotels are very cheap.

So I’m guessing the final round won’t be on Eurosport this weekend? Bad news all round though, looks like it’s just Marbles as the only European event with a live audience for the rest of the Summer. Incidentally, Amazon Prime has this week’s British tournament from Roehampton, starting today.

I’m thinking this is a great chance to go back to classic skiing.

An alternative explanation is given here. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/06/22/is-bubba-wallace-rope-noose-a-hoax-or-misunderstanding-all-talladega-garage-doors-have-nooses-nascar-video-evidence/#more-195048 https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/06/23/fake-noose-the-nascar-bubba-wallace-rope-noose-was-a-purposeful-hoax/#more-195081

Player’s Union vote to commit suicide, makes an MLB Season restart anytime soon difficult. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/06/mlbpa-votes-against-mlb-season-restart-proposal.html

Japanese domestic athletics season resumes on 4 July.

Quite a few sports have had the idea of allowing fans to pay for photographs of themselves in the stadium. Only Galatasaray have managed to pretty much sell out the stadium, though.

Dear oh dear, get well soon. Not like he was overweight....