Best and worst from myriad sports this week:
BEST COMEBACK
Oh, the headline? No, not that World Cup. The rowing World Cup (one of several for the year) in France.
But the race deserves the clickbait-and-switch. U.S. women’s eight were written off by one of the commentators. See what happened next.
That was part of a productive weekend for the U.S. team — two gold, three silver, two bronze.
MOST CONSISTENT RECORD BREAKER
If you see “swimming world record falls” just assume Katie Ledecky did it.
CLOSEST MARGIN WITH A BMW LEASE AT STAKE
QUICKEST MOVES
World chess champion Magnus Carlsen completed the triple crown, adding the rapid (15 minutes + 10 seconds per move) and blitz (3 minutes + 2 seconds per move) championships to his regulation title. This down-to-the-wire draw against top American Hikaru Nakamura helped. They drew on a three-move repetition while each player flung pieces around like they were in a cup-stacking contest.
BEST USA-GERMANY CONTEXT
Nick Zaccardi wraps up memorable USA-Germany duels in Olympic sports.
BEST OLYMPIC-RELATED USA-GERMANY TWEET
BEST OLYMPIC-RELATED USA-PORTUGAL TWEET
BEST USA-PORTUGAL QUIP
MOST CONFUSING ABBREVIATIONS
Do you abbreviate Nigeria NGA, NGR or NIG? How about Slovenia? Why are the U.S. Virgin Islands abbreviated ISV? Check out the differences between the IOC, FIFA and the IAAF.
BEST FULFILLMENT OF PHENOM HYPE
BIGGEST UPSET
World League volleyball: 0-7 Bulgaria won at 7-0 USA.
SECOND BIGGEST UPSET, SAME SPORT UMBRELLA
Americans Tri Bourne (age 25) and John Hyden (41!) had never won an FIVB World Tour medal, and they had to advance through the qualification rounds in Berlin. They did so, then beat ANOTHER American team that had come through qualification — Ryan Doherty and Nick Lucena.
BIGGEST RUGBY WIN
U.S. rugby men had lost seven straight to Canada before this thriller:
BEST NAME
On the start list for this week’s USA Track and Field Championships: Just’N Thymes.
TV times (ET):
- Friday 10 p.m.-midnight, NBCSN
- Saturday 3-4 p.m., Universal Sports
- Saturday 4-6 p.m., NBC
- Sunday 3-4 p.m., Universal Sports
- Sunday 4-6 p.m., NBC
BEST WAY TO COPE WITH BEING LEFT OFF WORLD CUP TEAM
Max Kruse quickly learned 2-7 Draw Lowball Poker and won $36,000 at the World Series of Poker.
BEST POKER EVENT
Rotating games, high buy-in, big money — the pros love the Poker Players Championship, event #46 of the World Series of Poker.
WORST NEWS FOR ENGLAND SINCE THE WORLD CUP
Yeah, this ain’t gonna happen.
AND WE’RE ALL JUST WAITING FOR BIATHLON SEASON
Duresport.com 