Reflection on the sports whirl often varies from season to season, from purpose to purpose, and locale to locale. July is for conclusions of baseball and softball in our communities. On the national scene the focus includes Major League Baseball (MLB), professional golf tours, auto racing, especially NASCAR this month in Chicago. International tennis at Wimbledon, the British national tournament, will draw televised interest this week and next week. Then, later in the month, professional football will begin training camps, followed by college football camps. The cycle continues with only modest variation from year to year.
Four Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox players will prepare for the MLB all-star game Tuesday, July 11, in Seattle. The deserving players selected are: White Sox center fielder Luis Robert, Jr., and Chicago Cubs shortstop Danby Swanson, lefthanded pitcher Justin Steele, and righthanded pitcher Marcus Stroman. The Sox and Cubs both are under .500 and in danger of slipping out of contention, although teams ahead of them in their divisions, are slipping and sliding, as well.
Youth is served: Connor Bedard, the 17-year-old National Hockey League prospect who was drafted No. 1 last week by the Chicago Blackhawks, continues to cause a significant stir. The scouts agreed he is a once-in-a-generation talent with skill set, physical attributes, and game IQ, to be successful. He has been interviewed and reacted with unusual poise, modesty, confidence, for a 17-year-old athlete.
The only other Blackhawks’ No. 1 draft choice was Patrick Kane in 2007. He helped the Blackhawks capture Stanley Cup NHL championships in 2010, 2013, 2015. Can Bedard…?
The tennis grand-slam third leg at Wimbleon is most welcome in July at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Tennis Club in London, England. The tournament was first played in 1868, three years following the U.S. Civil War when our country began to reintegrate itself, modestly, into European matters. Now, the question is, can Serbian Novak Djovic win his record 24th Grand Slam (Australian, French, British, U.S.) men’s singles tennis championship? Youth? On the horizon is 20-year-old Spanish phenom, Carlos Alvarez, all ready ranked No. 1.