the mad sports man

 This tournament was hosted by Chile from May 30 to June 17. 16 teams competed. First tournament to use goal average. First tournament to have a goals per game average below 3 (2.78). Thus has been repeated since.  Chile had suffered a major 9.5 magnitude earthquake.  Stadiums and infrastructure were rebuilt in time for tournament. Carlos Bittborn, who was organizing committee president, had passed away before the tournament znd had a stadium in Arila named after him.  Group 1 had Soviet Union followed by Yugoslavia, Uruguay and Colombia. Group 2 had West Germany,  Chile Italy and Switzerland. Group 3 had Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Mexico and Spain. Group 4 had Hungary, England, Argentina and Bulgaria. England gets second with better goals average. Quarterfinals had: Chile 2 Soviet Union 1, Brazil 3 England 1, Yugoslavia 1 West Germany 0 and Czechoslovakia 1 Hungary 0. Semi finals: Brazil 4 Chile 2 and Czechoslovakia 1 Yugoslavia 0. 3rd: Chile 1 Yugoslavia 0. Final...

 This tournament was held in Sweden from June 8-29. First tournament held in a Nordic country.  Brazil's Pele makes his first appearance at 17. His first game was against the Soviet Union. He later scores to make him the youngest player to debut and score. Brazil and England played the first scoreless draw. Three tiebreakers were held. In a semi final game, France was forced to play with 10 players when  Robert Jonquet suffered a broken leg in a collision with Vava. Substitutions weren't allowed. Group 1 had West Germany,  Northern Ireland,  Czechoslovakia and Argentina,  with Northern Ireland winning 2-1 over Czechoslovakia. Group 2 had France, Yugoslavia, Paraguay and Scotland. Group 3 had Sweden, Wales, Hungary and Mexico with Wales beating Hungary 2-1 Ina playoff. Group 4 had Brazil, Soviet Union England and Austria with Soviet Union beating England 1-0 in playoff.   Quarterfinals had: Brazil 1 Wales 0, France 4 Northern Ireland 0, Sweden 2 So...

 The San Diego Padres are into the NLCS for the first time since 1998 after beating the Dodgers 3 games to 1, winning game 4 5-3. The will face the Philadelphia Phillies,  making their first NLCS appearance since 2010. Series starts Tuesday.

 Game 3 took 18 innings. 18. Houston scores the only run in the top half,  beating Seattle 1-0 to sweep Seattle 3 straight games.  Houston will start the ALCS at home starting on Wednesday. 

 This tournament was held in Squaw Valley California from February 19-28, 1960. 9 teams competed.  Australia competed for the only time at this tournament.  They finished 9th. United States won all 7 games en route to their first hockey gold.  Canada,  represented by the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen, took the silver and the Soviet Union took bronze. Canada won its 9th ice hockey medal in a row, matched by the Soviet Union in 1988. A 2010 documentary named "The Forgotten Miracle" looked at the USA win.  Herb Brooks was last cut by USA coach Jack Riley.  Brooks is coach for the Miracle on Ice team that won 1980 gold. So that is that for that.  Coming soon - 1964 in Innsbruck Austria. 

 This tournament was in Switzerland from June 16 to July 4.  16 teams competed.  Unique group stage setup where the 4 groups had two seeded and two unseeded teams. And the seeded teams played the unseeded teams.  Extra time was used in group play.  If tied after extra time, then it was a draw. There was two playoffs to decide second place. Group 1 had Brazil with 3 points, Yugoslavia with 3, France with 2 and Mexico with 0. Group 2 had Hungary with 4, West Germany with 2, Turkey with 2 and South Korea with 0. West Germany beat Turkey 7-2 in playoff. Group 3 had Uruguay with 4, Austria with 4, Czechoslovakia with 0 and Scotland with 0. Group 4 had England with 3, Switzerland with 2, Italy with 2 and Belgium with 1. Switzerland beat Italy 4-1 in playoff.  Quarterfinals: West Germany 2 Yugoslavia 0, Austria 7 Switzerland 5, Hungary 4 Brazil 2 and Uruguay 4 England 2.  Semis: West Germany 6 Austria 1, Hungary 4 Uruguay 2. 3rd: Austria 3 Uruguay 1. Final ha...

 The defending world series champs are out as Philadelphia Phillies have eliminated Atlanta 3 games to 1 with a 8-3 win in game 4. They either get San Diego or Los Angeles. Stay tuned. 

 This tournament was held in Brazil and Brazil was a favorite to win. 13 teams competed here. It went from June 24 to July 16. Only tournament not to have a single game final.  Jules Rimet cup was used for first time, to honor Rimet as fifa president for 25 years. Four groups with the top team going to the final round.  Group 1 finished with Brazil, Yugoslavia, Switzerland and Mexico.  Group b had Spain, England, Chile  and United States. Group 3 had Sweden,  Italy and Paraguay.  India was drawn into this group but withdrew. Group 4 had Uruguay first and Bolivia second.  France was drawn into this group but withdrew.  Final round had Uruguay win, Brazil second,  Sweden 3rd and Spain 4th. On July 16, Uruguay beat Brazil to win. Game was at Maracana Stadium in Rio De Janeiro.  Below is a poster from this tournament. 

 Started watching the Red Green  show again the last couple of days with the first two episodes. Plus been munching on some M&Ms as well. Harkens back to when the show first aired and I seemed to always have a bag of M&Ms handy. Show went from 1991 to 2006 and 300 episodes. Great times. 

 The 1938 World Cup was in France from June 4-19. 16 teams scheduled to participate. Italy is first team to repeat and first mens team to win multiple times with same coach - this being Vittorio Pozzo. Knockout stage used here again with no group stage. 5 of 7 first round matches needed extra time.  There were 3 (I counted 3) replays. One of which eliminated Germany in the first round. This doesn't again until 2018. (Astonishing. I hated 2018. OK I'm part German).  Round of 16: Italy 2 Norway 1 (et), France 3 Belgium 1, Brazil 6 Poland 5 (et), Czechoslovakia 3 Netherlands 0 (et), Hungary 6 Dutch East Indies 0, Switzerland 1(4) Germany 1(2) (repeat), Austria withdrew so Sweden won in walkover, Cuba 3(2) Romania 3(1) (repeat).  Qf: Italy 3 France 1, Brazil 1(2) Czechoslovakia 1(1), Hungary 2 Switzerland 0, Sweden 8 Cuba 0. Sf: Italy 2 Brazil 1 (first of a few big meetings), Hungary 5 Sweden 1. 3rd place: Brazil 4 Sweden 2. Championship game: Italy 4 Hungary 2. With WWI...

 The second tournament was held in Italy 🇮🇹 from May 27 to June 10. 16 nations participated. Tournament was marred by bribery and scandals, much from Benito Mussolini, who was leading Italy. 10 teams appeared for first time.  They are: Italy 🇮🇹 Germany 🇩🇪 Spain 🇪🇸 Netherlands 🇳🇱 Czechoslovakia 🇨🇿 Hungary 🇭🇺 Sweden 🇸🇪 Austria 🇦🇹 Switzerland 🇨🇭 and Egypt 🇪🇬.  Egypt would not appear again until 1990 when Italy also hosted. The Feograle 192 ball was used here. Tournament was a knockout stage, with group stage not held. Final 8 was all European nations. Only time it's happened. First replay happened. Italy and Spain played to a 1-1 tie after extra time.  It also had aggressive play with players getting injured.  The replay also had aggressive play. Italy won 1-0. Games had: round of 16; Italy 7 USA 1, Spain 3 Brazil 1, Austria 3 France 2 (aet), Hungary 4 Egypt 2, Czechoslovakia 2 Romania 1, Switzerland 3 Netherlands 2, Germany 5 Belgium 2 and Sw...

 Ireland has joined Switzerland in going to the world cup after beating Scotland 1-0 and having second best second place record amongst the 3 playoff path winners.  Portugal will be playing in the inter conference tournament to be one of the last 3 teams to  qualify.  That takes place in February. 

 The first ever World Cup was held in Uruguay 🇺🇾 from July 17-30, 1930. Montevideo hosted all the games. Highlights had Lucien Laurent of France 🇫🇷 score the first ever world cup goal in a 4-1 win over Mexico, while on the same day Jimmy Douglas of the USA 🇺🇸 produce the furs clean sheet (shutout) in a 3-0 win over Belgium 🇧🇪. Francisco Varallo of Argentina 🇦🇷 was the last surviving player,  when he passed away on August 30, 2010 at 100 years old.  4 groups and 13 teams participated. Group winners went to semi finals. Group 1 had Argentina 🇦🇷 1st followed by Chile 🇨🇱, France 🇫🇷 and Mexico 🇲🇽. Group 2 had Yugoslavia first  followed by Brazil 🇧🇷 and Bolivia 🇧🇴. Group 3 had Uruguay 🇺🇾,  followed by Romania 🇷🇴 and Peru 🇵🇪. Group 4 had USA 🇺🇸 followed by Paraguay 🇵🇾 and Belgium 🇧🇪.  Semi finals had Uruguay beat Yugoslavia 6-1 and Argentina beat USA 6-1. Uruguay then beat Argentina 4-2 to become first champions, while on home soi...

 Switzerland 🇨🇭 is going to next year's womens world cup winning their playoff path and having the best of the three playoff path records (from group play and playoff). Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and Ireland 🇮🇪 are playing now with either the winner of this game or Portugal 🇵🇹 moving to the womens world cup as second best record. 

 With a 6-0 win in New York, the San Diego Padres are going to the NLDS against Los Angeles with a 2-1 series win over the Mets. Series with the Dodgers starts Tuesday. 

 The Philadelphia Phillies are into the NLDS after beating St. Louis 2-0 in game two and in the series. They will get Atlanta starting Tuesday. 

 What an absolute comeback by Seattle.  Came back from 8-1 down to beat Toronto 10-9 and sweep the series two straight.  Seattle bow plays Houston in the ALDS starting Tuesday. 

 It took 15 innings today, but Cleveland has eliminated Tampa Bay in a two game sweep to move on to the ALDS vs New York Yankees. Series starts Tuesday. 

 The 1958-59 NHL season had (you guessed it) 6 teams and 70 games.  Highlights includes: 1. Montreal is the only team to score more goals than they give up. This may be the only time this has happened. 2.  Punch Imlach becomes Toronto GM. He also ends up coach.  3. June 8 1958, Toronto signs Johnny Bower.  4. New York  wins 3 of last 20. With 5 games left they had a 7 point lead on Toronto.  New York lost all of them and Toronto got hot and passed them for last playoff spot. 4. Jean Beliveau sets a record for centre's with 91 points. Teammate Dickie Moore sets an NHL record with 96 points.  5. Ken Mosdell retires. He is last player that played with the Brooklyn Americans and the last player until 1967 to play for a non original 6 team. (NHL went to 12 teams in 1967).  The postseason had: sf; Montreal 4 Chicago 2, Toronto 4 Boston 3.  Stanley Cup: Montreal 4 Toronto 1. Montreal wins Cup #11 and wins 4th in a row. They're the first to win ...

 With San Diego beating San Francisco and Philadelphia losing to Houston,  the NL match ups have San Diego playing New York Mets and St. Louis playing Philadelphia. Postseason begins Friday.