Ball Girl #062: What could you and Keanu Reeves have in common?

Keanu Reeves is so obsessed with the sport that he is reportedly involved in a new F1 docuseries streaming on Disney+

Can I have your number?

3: Highest number of sports teams within one city (in America, at least) that rep the same colors. The city? Pittsburgh, PA, where the Steelers, the Penguins and the Pirates all wear black and yellow.

TLDRs

🏀 Summer League has officially come to a close, so now we really have to wait until next season for gorgeous tall men and sneaker swag. Top takeaways — Paulo Banchero (#1 pick) and Chet Holmgren (#2 pick) are the greats of tomorrow. And they are reportedly single???? Just saying I’ll take an intro thanks.

🎓🏉 USC and UCLA are leaving the Pac-12 conference for the Big Ten in 2024. Why? For the MONEY. The Big Ten is considered a premier football conference (alongside the SEC). More eyeballs = bigger TV contracts = more endorsements for players = colleges recruit better players. The list goes on. This is like moving to another city for lower rent. Drastic? Yes. But crazy? No…

⛳️ Cameron Smith won the 2022 British Open, finishing 8-under in the final round yesterday, resulting in a -20 total score. Cameron Young finished 2nd and Rory McIlroy finished 3rd.

⚾ We have ourselves a baseball bender this week, folks: the MLB Draft, Home Run Derby, and All Star Game are all happening over the next couple of days.

🏒 NHL free agency signings are in full swing. The best deals? Elite playmakers Johnny Gaudreau to the Blue Jackets and Valeri Nichushkin re-signing to the Avalanche.

MLB

We have a TON of MLB news today, because for the second year in a row, the league decided to pack in the All Star Game, Home Run Derby, and MLB Draft all into the same 3-day time span. Have you ever gone on 3 dates, 3 days in a row with 3 different people? Me neither… Well, this is probably like that.

Yankees beat the Sox off of Boston

• From this past weekend: This highly anticipated series between two long-time rivals ended in confident triumph for the Yanks. After a close loss in Friday’s game, the Yankees came back to beat the Sox 14-1 on Saturday and 13-2 on Sunday, taking the series 2-1.

Home Run Derby — Monday 8pm

• What is it? Top sluggers on various teams face off in a bracket-style competition to see who can hit the most homers in three minutes of pitches.

• Who to watch?

  • Pete Alonso: The New York Mets’ first baseman, aka “Polar Bear”, is the home run derby back to back champion and an incredible power hitter.

  • Ronald Acuna Jr: This outfielder for the Atlanta Braves might stand a chance against Alonso, as his body count career home run tally (113) comes preeetty close to Alonso’s (129).

  • Juan Soto: This young outfielder for the Washington Nationals hit the longest home run in the competition last year, but tired out after the first round… This year, he just needs to last as long as his homers. 

All Star Game — Tuesday 8pm

• What is it? Pretty self explanatory — the best players (as chosen by fans) from the National League and American League face off in an epic showdown.

• Who to watch?

  • the American League has Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, both crazy talented hitters. As for pitchers, they’ve got Justin Verlander, who you may know because he is married to Kate Upton 😍

  • the less-stacked National League has pitcher Clayton Kershaw, aka one of the best pitchers of all time, + sluggers Peter Alonso, Juan Soto, and Kyle Schwarber. 

MLB Draft started yesterday, and you know what that means… Fresh meat!

• The draft is when major league teams choose the next generation of sluggers. There are 20 rounds of the draft, lasting three days. The MLB draft is less of a spectacle than the NBA or NFL drafts tbh but still cool.

• The first round pick was Jackson Holliday, high school shortstop, to the Baltimore Orioles. Jackson is the son of long-time big league outfielder Matt Holliday.

Finally, for some comedy:

Golf

Cammy Smith knocks Rory McIlroy at St. Andrews

• Yesterday, Cameron Smith won The 2022 British Open (the 150th Championship), notching the first major win of his career.

• Despite Smith’s muskrat resemblance due to his heinous haircut (evidence below), the guy had an incredible 8-under performance on the final round. He was four strokes behind Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland after Saturday’s round… then on the back nine, he recorded five straight birdies (holes 10-14) to shoot up to first place.

• Not to mention, Smith set a couple records, too: 1) in 13 holes, Smith was more under par than anyone in the history of the British Open, and 2) he recorded 253 feet of putts, which is the most in a single PGA Tour round.

• Smith takes home $2.5mil (hopefully he’ll put some of those funds towards a much-needed haircut). Cameron Young took 2nd ($1.45mil payout) and Rory McIlroy took 3rd ($933k).

Tiger goes emo

• After not making the cut following the second round on Friday, Tiger Woods shed a tear walking off the course at St. Andrews. Not only was he crying over his 78-75 (+9) scorecard, but also many speculate this was his last Open Championship.

• Tiger’s first Open was in 2000 and he was the youngest player to compete in the PGA Grand Slam (the Masters, U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship). It’s been a long journey.

Must Watch This Week

Monday, July 18th

• 8:00pm ET, Home Run Derby, MLB: Tune in to watch a bunch of ripped dudes hit the heck out of some baseballs.

Tuesday, July 19th

• 8:00pm ET, All Star Game, MLB: In the immortal words of Smash Mouth, “you’re an all star, get the game on”… you know the rest.

Time Out for the Tea

Tom Brady sets the record straight

• In 2015, a “Make America Great Again” hat was spotted in a photo of Tom Brady’s locker. Naturally, Brady was scrutinized for being besties with Donald Trump. They had even been seen golfing together several times. Brady was recently asked if the two are still close, and he said, “No. I haven’t talked to him in a lot of years.” Brady thinks the press “just mischaracterized a lot” of their relationship. Not Brady sounding like me talking about my ex…

PGA vs. LIV saga continues

• On Tuesday, Tiger Woods expressed his distaste for LIV Golf, saying players who left the PGA Tour for LIV have “turned their back on what has allowed them to get into this position”. Phil Mickelson, an influential voice in this saga, said he respects Tiger’s opinion. “I think everybody’s going to have strong emotions and opinions about it, and I certainly respect his.”