phelps

nice illusion, I fear... I think it will never happen with the current NHLPA tenure...

actually they got Jordan Montgomery from the Yankees (in exchange for Harrison Bader) and Josè Quintana from the Pirates to solidify their rotation (they also got Chris Stratton to add some arms in the bullpen)... I would wait a bit before calling them the TD losers...

the news I would never read... https://www.mlb.com/news/vin-scully-legendary-announcer-dies R.I.P. Vinny

not the question raised by today's news... it was only about new sports making their request to be added to the program... possible additions/changes in the already existing sports will be discussed later...

Soto and Bell to San Diego, Abrams, Gore and 3 of the top prospects from the SD organization go to Washington... https://www.mlb.com/news/juan-soto-padres-trade Hosmer going to Boston... and Gallo to the Dodgers (pending a physical)...

amazing KO (not for the Jamaican guy, who's still down and crying because of pain) in 30 secs in boxing by a Scotsman (named Jolly, I haven't seen in which weight class), who landed a perfect left hook on the poor Jamaican's liver...

I want pencak silat and Turkish oil wrestling!

if cricket makes it to the Games, you can be sure that in the USA you'll find enough people to fill a 20/30,000 seat stadium in all the tournament matches with those with heritage from the sports Nations of that discipline... exactly as they used to fill the football stadiums back in the Cosmos days or at the 1984 Olympics / 1994 world cup... and in any case, it's not about the USA...it's about a big part of the world (like it or not, we're talking of billions of fans through 5 Continents...which isn't the case for the above mentioned team sports already in the Olympic program -and not from yesterday) which doesn't have many of their most popular sports included in the Olympic schedule and would like to have something big (for them) to follow... and it's about the IOC's requirements in terms of how much it's spread and played all around the world (even if in Europe it's almost inexistent outside GBR & Ireland)...

all athletics stadiums have the perfect size and shape to be converted for a couple of weeks into cricket stadiums...

technically, Guyana is in South America...so, they also have a representative that might do very well...

of course they will split the Caribbean teams... however, there are at least 12 teams (from all the 5 Continents) capable of playing very good and entertaining cricket... I'd say that the game has more depth than Waterpolo or Field Hockey, tbh... p.s. don't underestimate the interest for the sport in North America, where a lot of people with heritage from Cricket powerhouses live...

Canada is always scary in youth tournaments played on their own ice...especially now in the middle of Summer, when not so many European players are fully fit yet...

he's dead and gone by the early 2024 executive board...this is his last stint, luckily...

basic rules are as simple as baseball's... there are 2 teams playing, one is defending (those with the full set of players placed around the pitch and pitching the ball) meanwhile the other is attacking (those with the bat in their hands and, in baseball, a few players running the bases)... the aim of the game is scoring runs by throwing the ball out of the boundaries (in baseball it's 1 point for the batter + 1 for each baserunner -if there are any- up to 4 points in one action, called grand slam...more runs are scored by completing the trip around the 4 bases; in cricket it's 6 runs for a ball hit directly out and 4 for a ball rebounding on the pitch and then going out, more runs can be recorded by hitting the ball within the playing field and running up and down the stripe where they pitch and bat...it's 1 run for every side completed without being eliminated)... in baseball there are 9 rounds (innings) for each team to attack and defend, an (half) inning is over when 3 players are eliminated...the team scoring the most total runs wins the match... in cricket there are 2 innings (1 defending and 1 attacking for each team)... an inning is done when 10 batsmen are eliminated or when the number of sets (overs) has been completed (the number may vary according to the format of the Game, it might be 10, 20, 50 or undetermined if a 3-day test match is played)... knowing this, you should be able to understand what happens on the field in both sports (anything else is surely useful, but not absolutely necessary to enjoy the sports)...

2022 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup ( Red Deer, Alberta) Day #2 Results Group A Sweden b. Slovakia 4-1 (1-0, 1-0, 3-1) Group B Finland b. USA 4-1 (1-1, 2-0, 1-0) Czech Republic b. Germany 7-2 (3-1, 4-0, 0-1) Standings Group A Canada, 3 pts (1 GP, 14 GF, 0 GA, +14 GD) Sweden, 3 pts (1 GP, 4 GF, 1 GA, +3 GD) Slovakia, 0 pts (1 GP, 1 GF, 4 GA, -3 GD) Switzerland, 0 pts (1 GP, 0 GF, 14 GA, -14 GD) Group B Czech Republic, 5 pts (2 GP, 11 GF, 5 GA, +6 GD) Finland, 4 pt (2 GP, 7 GF, 5 GA, +2 GD) USA, 3 pts (2 GP, 9 GF, 5 GA, +4 GD) Germany, 0 pts (2 GP, 3 GF, 15 GA, -12 GD)

nice... you've been lucky...

remember...right now, boxing and weightlifting are out of the 2028 Games...if it's confirmed, it might make room for those sports that need quite some quota places...

according to our sports website OA (which normally knows many things common people ignore about the sport politics), Cricket is almost there, Baseball/Softball is surely going to be included in the 2028 program (but it might be another one-hit wonder, just because it's LA), Karate has chances if Boxing is confirmed out, Breaking has less chances than expected (IOC still wants to see how it goes in Paris) and there's no room for the other disciplines (even if there's a strong interest by FIA to push for the motorsports, but at the moment they aren't even among the sports that can make the Olympic program)... my personal taste, instead, is Cricket T20 in, Baseball / Softball in, Karate in with all the 5 kumite weight classes (and with 32 athletes per class, if Boxing is really out, otherwise 16 per class at least, in any case), Squash in...only if Tennis, Badminton and Table Tennis are cut to the Single events only (no more doubles and team events)... anything else...vade retro, Satan!

sure... but it's not going easy...if she focus on her freestyle and butterfly races (and the 400 IM), it might happen that she'll never be good enough in breaststroke... breaststroke is a very tough beast for those who can't swim "naturally" and it's definitely a threat to the other styles in terms of coordination and of required skills...

good race by McIntosh, but she's way too slow in the breaststroke leg, you can't lose 2 and a half seconds on Hosszu's WR pace in 50m... she will never beat the 200m WR if she doesn't improve dramatically in the breaststroke section...

have you met some wild boars? it looks that they're the new owners of Rome's streets and parks...

considering only Olympic Games, World and European Championships, it is (the previous best was a 1.53.low by Federica Pellegrini in the final of the 2009 Worlds in Rome (with the rubbish...ehm, rubber suits...also Allison Schmitt had a similar time in the same race)... p.s. really strange that Pellegrini did swim below the 1.53 mark in the individual race starting still and couldn't do better in an inside (last) leg of the relay (actually, she never swam faster in the relays than in the individual races in her entire career)...

2022 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup ( Red Deer, Alberta) Day #1 Results Group A Canada b. Switzerland 14-0 (8-0, 4-0, 2-0) Group B Czech Republic b. Finland 4-3 SO (1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 0-0, 1-0) USA b. Germany 8-1 (2-0, 3-1, 3-0) Standings Group A Canada, 3 pts (1 GP, 14 GF, 0 GA, +14 GD) Slovakia, 0 pts (0 GP, 0 GF, 0 GA, 0 GD) Sweden, 0 pts (0 GP, 0 GF, 0 GA, 0 GD) Switzerland, 0 pts (1 GP, 0 GF, 14 GA, -14 GD) Group B USA, 3 pts (1 GP, 14 GF, 0 GA, +7 GD) Czech Republic, 2 pts (1 GP, 4 GF, 3 GA, +1 GD) Finland, 1 pt (1 GP, 3 GF, 4 GA, -1 GD) Germany, 0 pts (1 GP, 0 GF, 14 GA, -7 GD)

yeah... I would have liked to watch a good fight between him, Martinenghi and Kamminga... most likely, we'll have to be satisfied with the ITA vs NED matchup (which is not bad all, in any case)... being a bit selfish, good that we increase our chances of gold...

now I wonder if he comes to swim at the Europeans in Rome in a couple of weeks?