Yesterday, a day Mexico won a first round/non elimination “Group F” game vs defending World Cup champion, Germany–Brooks Koepka became just the seventh golfer to repeat as U.S. Open champion.
Curtis Strange in 1989, was the last to do so.
Koepka won by one stroke over Tommy Fleetwood, who shot a final round, U.S. Open record tying 63.
Germany and certainly Brazil, though tied in its “Group E” opener, still are favored to make it to the next round.
Koepka’s round and title yesterday advanced him in golf history.
The Golden State Warriors not only became the first franchise to sweep the NBA Final Series twice, but also are the first to win a 7 game semi-final series and then sweep the subsequent final as many as two times.
In 1975, a year/’74-’75 season, in which their fellow 2018 champion, the first year, Washington Capitals had an 8 win, 67 loss, 5 tie record, “G.S.” won #7 at home vs the Chicago Bulls, before sweeping another Washington team, the Bullets, in the final series.
Both teams “broomed out” (a one time employer implored me to “broom out” the area quicker, so he could get home. I was “killing his sex life,” he quipped and all of it resonates this Father’s Day, including my incredible recall for things, often not important, such as this “information”) in the final series by “G.S.,” defeated the Boston Celtics in semi-final series that ended on a Sunday (the Bullets in ’75 and the Cavs this past season).
In the recently completed NHL season and playoffs, the Winnipeg Jets finished second in overall points in the regular season and won two rounds before losing to the first year, Las Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL semi-final round.
The past season was the first time the Winnipeg Jets, in either of their incarnations, won 2 rounds in the NHL playoffs.
Results were much different in the W.H.A. where the original Winnipeg Jets, now the Phoenix Coyotes, won 3 titles and made 5 final round appearances in the league’s 7 year existence (1973-1979).
They were led by the great player, Bobby Hull, who scored over 600 goals in the NHL playing his entire career with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Bobby Hull, pictured above.
A note involving the Golden State Warriors’ back to back titles in 2017 and 2018, is that the father and son Mychal and Klay Thompson played on repeat NBA champions, 30 years apart.
Mychal did so with the ’87 and ’88 Lakers, by the way the first repeat NBA champions in 19 years.
Klay and his Warriors are the sixth team to win at least two straight crowns since the ’88 Lakers.
They are the fourth father and son players to each win NBA crowns (Matt Goukas Sr. and Matt Goukas, Rick and Brent Barry, Bill and Luke Walton, the others).
Interesting round numbers as Goukas Sr. was on the first recognized NBA champions, the 1947 Philadelphia Warriors with son Matt on the great Philadelphia 76ers title team, 20 years later in 1967.
All but the Waltons, had at least one member of the father/son title duo as a member of the Warriors. Rick Barry having led the Warriors to the 1975 title.
Two today, one from “column” WNBA dogs do “bark” outright and one from “column” esoteric, winter sports first letters, also “columns” a and b.
In the WNBA yesterday, a Las Vegas team, the Aces won outright at the New York Liberty, paying off at 5.25 to 1. The Aces moved to the Las Vegas area this season after incarnations in Utah and more recently San Antonio. Their coach Bill Laimbeer won vs the team he coached for 5 seasons yesterday.
The Washington Mystics were also a huge underdog and paid off at 4.50 to 1, winning outright at the now (7-2) Connecticut Sun.
That parlay, certainly not mine, paid nearly 35 to 1!
This year marked just the second time that the first letter of the city/area of the NHL champion matched that of the first letter of the NBA champion’s team nickname. (“W”ashington/”W”arriors).
The only other time that occurred was in 1961, when the “C”hicago Blackhawks won the NHL crown and the “C”eltics of Boston won their third straight title and fourth in 5 seasons.
Rudy guided Chicago to the ’61 title, dispatching the great 5 time champion, Montreal Canadiens in the semis and then “6 ing” the Detroit Red Wings in the Final Series.
At the time the team spelling was Black Hawks since changed to Blackhawks.
Of course, all things being equal, it is better to finish first and avoid the one game/10 to 8 teams, that is played in each league.
However, those purporting any race for avoiding that game as great, are perpetuating the very ruination of the great game of baseball, the wild card presence.
I will not waste time bemoaning the wild card, nor recalling 1951 and 1978, two great examples of races with no wild card safety net that produced unbelievable, ecstatic and heartbreaking drama.
Right now the Yankees, who somehow have played 6 less games than the Red Sox (I guess the weather “gods” do not like this either), lead them by 3 games in the loss column.
In turn, Boston has a 9 game loss column lead for playoffs qualification.
Also, need I cite the fact that last season, the Red Sox won the one eighth division, but lost in the division round to eventual champion, Houston.
Meanwhile, the wild card Yankees made the next round, before losing in 7 games to those Astros.
Carroll “Whitey” Lockman, pictured above, delivered a huge hit in the decisive game of the 1951 National League race.
Of course Bobby Thomson followed with the decisive hit, we would not be recalling anywhere near as dramatically if the losing team in that game/race, the Brooklyn Dodgers made post-season play as a wild card team.
Last night, some nice memories and coincidences manifested, as I watched television shows and movies of past years.
The seminal show, “All in the Family” had 4 major guest appearances, two by actors alive in their 90’s, in the episode “Archie sees a mugging.”
One, Bill Macy, appeared in the episode, a role preceding that of “Walter” on “Maude.”
“Maude,” “Edith Bunker’s” cousin, (Edith of course played brilliantly by Jean Stapleton), later a series also developed by another in his 90’s, the great Norman Lear, is referenced in the episode. Bea Arthur played the role of “Maude.”
Also appearing and in his 90’s is Val Bisoglio.
Later, switching channels, there he was lamenting how little a dollar buys, playing “Tony Manero’s” father in “Saturday Night Fever,” which of course starred John Travolta as “Tony Manero.”
In future posts, I will have more comments and coincidences.
Val Bisoglio, pictured above.
