ICYMI – The World Cup has been full of upsets

Hitting the Dog Days of summer we have some big surprises in the World Cup and Women’s side of Wimbledon, some free agency moves in the NHL and NBA, MLB prepares for the All-Star break, Erik Jones got his first NASCAR win and the WNBA saw a handful of all-time leaders come about.

World Cup (Semifinals)

· Four teams left: France vs. Belgium tomorrow and Croatia vs. England on Wednesday

· France and Belgium are the two favorites to win it all (France 2-1; Belgium 5-2)

· This is the first World Cup ever not to have Brazil, Germany or Argentina to finish in the top 3!

Tennis (Wimbledon is down to the final 16)

· Notable mens names still left: Roger Federer, John Isner, Novak Djokovic, Juan Del Potro and Rafael Nadal

· Notable mens names still left: Angelique Kerber andSerena Williams

· On the womens side there are NO top ten seeds left

NHL (Rasmus Dahlin drafted first overall)

· Alex Ovechkin brings Stanley Cup home to Russia

· Jonathan Bernier signs 3 year deal with Detroit Red Wings

· Paul Statsny signs 3 year deal with the Vegas Golden Knights

· 44 players file for Salary Arbitration

MLB (50% of the way into the season)

· Last week before the All-Star game. Snubs include Blake Snell, Charlie Morton and Jed Lowrie.

· Mark Reynolds had a 10 RBI game and pitched for a batter, Shohei Ohtani hits the ground running with a 440+ FT homer.

· Kyle Tucker was called up and got an RBI and run in his first game.

· Alex Bregman take top billings over the last two weeks with 14 runs, 14 RBIs, 2 SB, 404 Avg; .483 OBP and .885 SLG.

NBA (Summer League Play)

· Granted it’s summer league but some of the names that have been standing out so far. In the Vegas League Trevon Bluiett (New Orleans Pelicans) leads points with 25 PPG. Tyler Dorsey (Atlanta Hawks) leads rebounds with 14 per game.

· Utah League: Grayson Allen is leading this league in rebounds with 7.5 per game (Derrick White is 2^nd we will highlight him later)

· Sacramento League: De’Aaron Fox (Sacramento Kings) leagues this league with 23 PPG (3^rd in Rebounds with 8 and 4^th in assists with 6). Justin Jackson is third with 17.

· Kevin Durant resigned, Devin Booker signed a five year contract, Keita Bates-Diop signed with the Timberwolves, Rajon Rondo signed with the Lakers, Michael Porter signed with the Nuggets and Collin Sexton signed with the Cavs.

PGA – Kevin Na (2^nd career tour win)

· Kevin Na led by 5 strokes to win the Military Tribute at Greenbrier over Kelly Kraft. Brent Snedeker, Jason Kokrak, Joaquin Niemann, Austin Cook, Joel Dahmen, Sam Saunders and Harold Varner all rounded out the top 10.

· Kevin Na now has $26MM in PGA Earnings despite just two wins.

WNBA

· Sue Bird becomes all time Seattle Storm scoring leader with 31 points over the Washington Mystics

· Rebekkah Brunson becomes all time rebounding leader in WNBA history with 12 rebounds over the Los Angeles Sparks.

· Mike Thibault gets 300^th career win with Minnesota’s win over Los Angeles

· Sancho Lyttle (Phoenix Mercury) out of the season with ACL tear.

NASCAR – Erik Jones gets his first career victory.

· To sum up the race, 10 cautions, one red flag two overtimes and half of the field DNF (all from accidents).

· Kevin Harvick, Trevor Bayne, Ross Chastain, Clint Bowyer, Joey Gase, Michael McDowell, Aric Almora, Kyle Larson, Jamie McMuray, Corey LaJoie, William Byron, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Brad Keslowski, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney all knocked out through accidents.

· Erik Jones outlasted one of the racing worlds best (Martin Truex Jr.) showing it was not a breeze victory for him.

Women’s Soccer

North Carolina wins again! (beat Chicago Red Stars 4-1)

Crystal Dunn (North Carolina Courage) takes offensive player of June while Becky Sauerbrunn (Utah Royals FC) takes defensive player

MMA –

· Daniel Cormier wins heavyweight title with KO over Stipe Miocic

· Derrick Lewis won by unanimous decision over Francis Ngannou

Boxing

· Egidijus Kavaliauskas won by unanimous decision over Juan Carlos Abreu

College

· Curious who has won the most NCAA titles?