By William Hathaway, Jr.
With half of the season gone, it was once again time for Major League Baseball’s Summer Classic, the All-Star Game. This year, the contest was initially set for Atlanta, but due to political disagreements, the game was moved to Coors Field in Colorado.
First, the Home Run Derby retuned after the pandemic scrapped last year’s event. New York Mets star first baseman and defending Derby champion Pete Alonso kept his crown, winning the final round over cancer survivor Trey Mancini. Meanwhile, the Derby favorite Shohei Ohtani failed to advance after losing a tiebreaker to Washington Nationals phenom Juan Soto in the first round.
As for the All-Star Game itself, the American League won their eighth contest in a row thanks to a 5-2 victory. The Japanese born Ohtani, who was also the AL’s leadoff hitter, was credited with the win, while Australian-born Liam Hendriks earned the save. Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. made history, as the Canadian-born slugger was named the youngest MVP in MLB All-Star history after belting a 468 ft. homer.
As for the NBA Finals, the first two games saw the Phoenix Suns dominate at home. However, once the series shifted to Milwaukee, the Bucks scored a 120-100 win in Game 3. Hopefully, this series will be more entertaining than the Stanley Cup Finals, which saw the Tampa Bay Lighting win back to back titles, this time over the Montreal Canadiens.
In other sports news, the Euro Soccer Final saw Italy come all the way back to the top of the soccer world again after failing to qualify for the last World Cup. The Italians beat England in a 3-2 penalty kick shootout after the match finished 1-1. It was a true road game for Italy, as the game was played at Wembley Stadium in London.
While the action was certainly memorable, the ending was ruined by some racist and bigoted behavior from some of the fans who came down hard on the black players that misconnected on their kicks.
At Wimbledon, top seeded Ash Barty won the ladies draw, while Novak Djokovic won the gentlemen’s draw, his 20th major win overall. This ties him with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the most major wins among men of all time. Also, if Djokovic wins the U.S. Open, he will become the first player to win all the major tournaments in a calendar year since Rod Laver.
Finally, some sad news from the world of pro wrestling, as “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff has passed away at the age of 71.
