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SOMETHING MORE ENTERTAINING THAN TRUMP OR OTHER CATACLYSMS: Sports

This blog site has too much recently focused on natural disasters and Donald Trump, so today, an escape into sports. Must start with Spain beating England for their first soccer World Cup.  From utter turmoil to triumph, what a story.  The women had revolted against their Spanish soccer authority, and lost that battle.  Perhaps 12 of their best players might have been missing in Australia.  Yet, they're world champs.  Incredible.

Oh, I drafted three ESPN NFL fantasy football teams yesterday.  Took me two hours.  

  • Mind you, it is FREE.
  • Had no idea what I was doing, but ended up, I think, with competitive teams.  
  • First kick-off is not until the day after my birthday, a game between Detroit and Kansas City (I have Mahomes and Kelce) on September 7.  I'll be on the Pride of America between the Big Island and Kauai.
  • There will be three games this year in London and two in Frankfurt.  They had one game in Munich last year, and it was sold out.
  • Super Bowl LVIII will be on Sunday, February 11, 2024 at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada.
  • It is not too late to get your team(s).  Click on this.
    • If you're really ambitious, start by reading the league settings.  If new, this will totally confuse you.
    • Join a Public League.  Click on that.  You don't want to be in a Pro league.  They take this too seriously.  You will be in a Beginner league, and proceed to:
    • Point-Per-Reception, which makes the game more interesting.
    • Snake, which is the type of draft.  Salary Cap is too early for you.
    • Draft Now (you can pick any time), but jump into it and clip on Join a Leage.
    • This will take you to your league page.  When there are ten teams signed up, you will be launched into your draft.  Those commercials will be tedious.
    • You will learn upon doing this at what number you will draft.
    • You might screw up the first time.  However, who cares, so you can abandon this team (well, the league members do, but they don't know who you are).  The draft will take about half an hour.
    • Try again, you will be more educated on what to do the next time.  Remember, this is all FREE.
    • Then you will need to weekly adjust your team on starters, etc.
    • When you watch the games on TV your allegiances will dramatically change.  Your favorite team will not mean much.  You will be loyal to your players, and they will come from several teams.  You can, however, select only players from your favorite team and truly be involved.  I've never done this, mostly because you will want the best players to be on  your fantasy team.  
    • I did some of this this year, with my QB being Tua Tagovailoa from the Miami Dolphins.  He is only the 13th best quarterback, so that is compromising my team, for there are ten teams in the ESPN leagues.  But the sacrifice of drafting him later allowed me to better stock my players.  The key is to get the best, and many, running backs.  Quarterbacks, it turns out, are not that important.  Nor are the defense team and kickers.

Incidentally, I have had three ESPN fantasy baseball teams this year:

  • One is in a head-to-head league, and I am at this point in the year undefeated, which is almost impossible to do.
  • A second team leads a rotisserie league, while the third is in second or third place in a RL.

From Zach Pereles of CBS Sports at contact@email.cbssports.com on the upcoming NBA season:

  • Opening night:  Nuggets at Lakers and Suns at Warriors on October 24.
  • This year the exciting new star is Victor Wembanyama of France, playing for the San Antonio Spurs, against the Mavericks and Luca Doncic on October 25.  The bigger match is against the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic on November 26.  Wembanyam is 7'3.5", while Jokic is 6'11".  Victor is only 19 and still growing.  The problem is he weighs in at 209 pounds.  Jokic is 284 pounds and moves fluidly.
  • The Major League Baseball World Series begins on October 27.

University of Hawaii women's volleyball and men's football teams open their season this weekend.  The women should win their league for the third straight year.  The men will be woeful.  First against Northwestern at 7PM on Friday, August 25 on Spectrum Channel 1016, but Hawaii only.

This will be Week Zero for NCAA football, with the first game of the season being Navy and Notre Dame at 2:30PM EDT, Saturday, August 26, from Ireland on NBC.  Hawaii at Vanderbilt at 7:30 PM EDT on the SEC Network.  Doormat Vanderbilt in the SEC?  Not this year, for they are ranked with Tennessee at #4 behind #1 Georgia, #2 Alabama and #3 LSU this year.  Nationally, Georgia is #1, Alabama #4, LSU #6 and Tennessee #12.  LSU plays Florida State, ranked #7 in the nation, in Week 1, on September 2.
Hope for the USA in women's tennis? The U.S. Open qualifying round begins tomorrow, Tuesday, at Flushing Meadows.  The actual tournament starts on August 28, with finals for women on Saturday, September 9, and for men on September 10.  #1 seeded are Iga Swiatek (22) of Poland and Carlos Alcaraz Garfia (20) of Spain.  They were champions here last here.  Total prize money is up to $65 million.  This is the 50th anniversary of this competition for equal prize money going to both sexes ($3 million to champions) in sports.

Why so optimistic about American women's tennis?  Coco Gauff (19) this weekend won the Cincinnati Open by beating Karolina Muchova.  To do so, Gauff had to first overcome Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.  Garfia lost to Djokovic, and he will be ranked #2 for the U.S. Open.

A long way away, but the next Summer Olympics from Paris, France begins of July 24, 2024.

Today, August 21, is National Senior Citizens Day, passed by Congress and authorized by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.  You only need to be 55 to celebrate this day.  At 15 Craigside, this is huge.

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