by John Walters
Starting Five
It’s Dustin Johnson’s 31st birthday today. Somebody give him a hug….
1. Noooooooooooo!
Dustin Johnson misses this four-foot putt on 18, which would have put him into a Monday playoff with Jordan Spieth. Johnson’s lovely parting gifts include his son (it was Father’s Day, after all) and his smoke-show fiancee. Spieth, only 21, has now won two majors this year with two remaining.
2. True Defective?
True Detective, Season 2: It’s no Castle
The second season of True Detective, which takes place in Los Angeles, premiered last night on the HBO. Most everyone panned it. Talk about The Leftovers.
3. Surfin’ Safari
In Huntington Beach, Calif., — check out that as-advertised June Gloom weather — a Guinness World Record is set for most people on a surfboard. I don’t have the precise number of people, but I hear it was “two girls for every boy.”
Note: It is officially the slow time of the news cycle. We should all be on vacation.
Note 2: It was actually 66 people, the board was 42-feet long, and they rode for the required minimum of 10 seconds. I want to know who paddled to catch that wave.
4. Death on the Pitch
Ackerman was 25
Here’s your heartbreaking Father’s Day story: James Ackerman, a player for the Sunshine Coast Falcons in the Australian Rugby League and a father of two, died after being tackled in a match against the Norths Devils in the Queensland Cup on Saturday.
Ackerman, 25, suffered a head injury after being tackled by Francis Molo, 20, just five minutes into the game. Ackerman two days later, Monday in Australia, at a hospital in Brisbane as the game was canceled.
5. Mad, Max?
Did Tabata have enough elbow room to avoid being plunked?
Rule 6: In baseball, every game brings an opportunity to see something you’ve never seen before.
Washington Nationals’ ace Max Scherzer is one out away from a perfect game — and Scherzer would’ve been the first pitcher with heterochromia to throw a perfecto — but instead strikes the Pirates’ Jose Tabata on the elbow. Tabata not only didn’t make an effort to avoid being hit, but he somewhat leaned into the inside pitch.
Scherzer still picked up the no-hitter, but meow, that hurts. Meanwhile, stay tuned for the next time Tabata faces Max. I think he’ll make the next HBP memorable.
Music 101
Only In My Dreams
As real as it may seem/It was only in my dreams
Bubble-gum pop never was more sugary than in this No. 4 hit from the summer of ’87 by Debbie Gibson. Who cares if there was never a solid follow-up? We loved this song. Stay tuned for the cheesy mid-’80s saxophone solo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IivGqwQvdCI
Remote Patrol
Women’s World Cup: USA vs. Colombia
FS1 8 p.m.
After shocking France, 2-0, in group play (the French are ranked third in the world by FIFA, behind Germany and the USA), Colombia meets the Yanks tonight in Edmonton in the Round of 16. Lose and you’re out. Thunderstorms expected. We’ll see about colossal meltdowns.
What did you think of this US Open? Specifically, the course? I guess the USGA should be given kudos for going with “something new & different” but I detested it. Every time I clicked onto the coverage, my 1st thought was that I was looking at an ABANDONED or unfinished golf course, designed by someone who really, really hates golf. It was even worse than most of the British Open courses (also not a fan). Plus, there were the passenger & freight trains running through it on a fairly regular basis, which actually made me laugh – God FORBID a spectator try to take a photo (WITHOUT a flash) at a PGA event, but noisy, barreling trains comin’ down the track right next to a green/hole at the US Open are apparently a-ok! But even worse, at least until Sunday, the spectators had all been corralled into the scattered bleachers & not allowed along the “fairways” at all. Which compounded the “abandoned” vibe. One would think that keeping the fans so far from the players would have ONE positive affect – it would save the TV viewers from the usual numerous & varied renditions of “You da man!” & “TO THE HOLE!”. But, ONE WOULD BE WRONG! Nope, seems the bleachers were wired for sound. sigh.
Honestly, every time I tried to watch the coverage, I started wondering if FIFA had somehow got involved in the “selection process”. Ahem.
What is your opinion of FOX’s Women’s World Cup coverage? Unfortunately, it started while my attention was elsewhere (GO SWEET PEA!), so I haven’t watched TOO much yet, but I did watch the 1st Saturday’s pregame coverage. I’ve been wanting to comment ever since. Did you watch that show? If not, lemme fill you in – 2 men & 3 women were the talking heads (Alexi was oddly not on this opening show). The one woman I liked was a German past-WC champion name Ari – smart, spunky, great sense of humor, I adored her instantly. As for the 2 other women – one was a past USA WC player & I think the other played for Mexico in the past. They both wore brightly colored outfits. The American wore a sundress with 1-inch straps & while that’s not the outfit *I* would have chosen for the 1st WC show, what I STILL can’t get over is her highly styled hair & heavy makeup – all she needed was a sash & “the wave” & she was ready to walk down the Miss Universe runway. The other woman wore a pencil skirt & silk tank-top with spaghetti straps. I don’t care if this show was held at the freakin equator, that outfit was a TRAVESTY for this event! Plus, they’re in the GREAT WHITE NORTH, how HOT could it be?! But even worse, when the gang headed down to the fake grass faux-soccer field part of the set, we saw that these 2 women, FORMER WORLD CUP participants, were each wearing 4 inch stiletto heels. WTF?! I thought we were being punked. I do need to mention that neither of these women (or any others) have looked quite like this on any other subsequent WC show. Still, in more than 45 years of TV sports viewing, I can’t remember EVER being so distracted by the TV hosts/analysts’ clothing & overall appearance. NEVER! Until that Saturday. If Ari hadn’t also been on that show, I may have written off the entire WC coverage right then.
Whenever I’ve caught the pre & post WC game shows since, the coverage seems ok. Ari is still my fave by far. But looking forward in the future, if I was in charge of NBC Sports &/or FOX, I would pay ESPN ANY FEE THEY WANTED, to get Julie Foudy on my women’s Olympic & WC coverage. And pair her with Ari. They would be AWESOME!
Oh, for pete’s sake – that’s “positive EFFECT”!
And re: ‘Surfin Safari’ – “two girls for every boy”. 🙂
by item 4 I thought you were only writing about stories that took place near the Pacific Ocean. The 5th story avoided that but instead made it near the Atlantic Ocean.
Could be a new MH record.