Hello again. Okay, we started back up again with our show on June 20. It had been four months since our last show. Everybody seemed to enjoy it, and thankfully most folks seemed to be Covid-safety conscious. Our show this month is set to go on as scheduled on 7/18 - at least I haven't heard anything to the contrary. If things change between now and then we will keep you informed by this newsletter mailing list and on our Facebook page (here).

In pro sports news, the MLB, NFL and NBA all have plans to play some kind of season starting within the next few weeks. All face problems, however. NFL players are arguing about pre-season games and safety rules, such as having to wear face shields and not being allowed to swap jerseys after the game. In a sport where they spend a lot of minutes breathing on each other, rolling in each other's sweat and generally just hugging each other, so to speak, you may wonder if these "concerns" are just a little bit of "I really don't want to do this" creeping in.

Baseball can't even seem to get the basics of pandemic safety right, like getting the testing done in a timely manner. Many players are "opting out" of playing this year.

The NBA has their "campus" in Florida, which is currently a hot spot of Covid-19 cases. Many players (as is true in the other sports) have already tested positive, and others are "opting out".

All in all, I personally wouldn't bet that ANY of these pro seasons will actually even start, let alone complete as planned. We will see.

In semi-pro sports, the college athletic leagues are starting to make plans without considering anybody else. The "Ivy" league was first to act, as they canceled all fall sports. Sadly, this eliminated Harvard and Yale from the FBS championship contention. The Big 10 has canceled all non-conference football games, leaving the game we were all waiting for - Penn State vs Va Tech - in nowhere land. You will know the end is near if the SEC starts to cancel games. Late news - the Pac 12 is also going to a conference-only schedule this year.

The MLS ("Major League Soccer") soccer (futbol) league is having some kind of tournament. As with the NBA they are playing their tournament in Florida. Already two teams have dropped out because a whole bunch of their players tested positive for coronavirus. I can tell you from personal experience that not being able to breathe makes it hard to randomly run up and down and side to side as futbol players must do. (My "experience" is not from playing futbol, it's from climbing the stairs from my basement.)

In non-coronavirus sports news, Mike Golic is out at ESPN, as "Golic and Wingo" has been canceled. I was once a big fan of "Mike and Mike", but I can't say "Golic and WIngo" ever grabbed me. At least maybe it will get rid of the totally worthless Golic Jr. I can't say I find much to like about Mike Greenberg's "Get Up" either. Golic and Greeny just had a "chemistry", if you will, that they don't seem to find on their own. In other ESPN news, Adrian Wojwhatever ("Woj") is apparently suspended by the network for an, uh, unfortunate email he sent to a U.S. senator. Gee, now they have hardly 25 or so other NBA "insiders" to fill up his time. Or, with luck, they can find some NFL news to fill the time - hahahahahaha! And in the nothing-to-see-here news, the New England Patriots and their happy-go-lucky coach Bill Youknowwho got their punishment for their latest (known) round of cheating - the spy-gate filming of Cincinnati last season. They lost a third-round pick, $1.1 million dollars, and, laughably, the right to film any games in the upcoming year. They cheat, get caught, deny, confess, blame some low-level flunky, and skate any significant punishment. And play goes on.

You may not have heard of an Angels minor league infielder named Kurt Russell. He was signed in (I believe) 1971, and he had two productive years in the minors, advancing to double-A in 1972. Unfortunately a game injury resulted in a torn rotator cuff which sadly ended his baseball career. Unlike most of the people you meet in this section, however, Kurt had a fairly lucrative sideline going as a child and young adult actor, and he was able to keep that career going, thus becoming a fairly successful actor - haha! And he married Goldie Hawn (eventually).

What single sporting event has the most in-person spectators in the world? Answer this one correctly and you get 1000 points (the points don't matter). (Answer below)

A new book which may be of interest to collectors is "Baseball and Bubble Gum", which is a coffee-table size book about the 1952 Topps set. It includes pictures and descriptions of each card in the set and a general history of the set. For more info click here.

It seems that every few weeks a new discovery of vintage cards is announced. Such a find, referred to as "Uncle Jimmy's Attic", was the collection of James Micioni who died in March at the age of 97. In his attic, his surviving nieces and nephews found nearly 100,000 cards including 1000 vintage cards described as in "remarkable condition". Included in the cards were six signed Babe Ruth 1933 Goudeys. There were also 1965, 1956 and 1967 Topps sets as well as a 1948 Bowman set. There was also a complete (I believe) Goudey set. Some of the items are being auctioned by Wheatland Auctions.

Earlier this month the FBI raided in Michigan the home of a suspected forger of sports art and memorabilia. The suspect is believed to have been selling forged items for a number of years. Here's more on the story - click here.

A new set just released is the 2020 Negro Leagues Legends set. It contains 184 cards of Negro League stars in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues. Only 5000 have been produced. I'm getting one.

Topps has announced that Allen & Ginter CHROME will be released in November. I've never really been a fan of A&G, but the pics I've seen look pretty good. There will be only ONE auto per CASE, so maybe it will at least be cheap.

A "long-time major player" in grading coins, comic books and other items is going to offer grading services for authenticating and grading cards. Certified Collectibles Group (CCG) will start with gaming cards but plans to expand into sports cards. Which of you will be the first to send your #1/1 Zion to this outfit?

In 1923 Frank Hayes was a horse trainer and stablehand. He convinced the owner of a horse named "Sweet Kiss" to let him ride the horse in a steeplechase race, although he had never before won a race. Sometime during the race Frank died of a heart attack but somehow managed to stay in the saddle through the finish line. The horse finished first making Frank, so far as is known, the only dead jockey ever to win a race. The horse thereafter was frequently called "Sweet Kiss of Death". I wonder how many of you out there have the same dedication to your jobs as Frank had.

Let's talk about Picigin (pronounced "pih-tshi-gheen". It's a popular "sport" in Croatia. Croatia, if you don't know, is one of those "ia" countries somewhere in Europe, along with Bosnia, Austria, Macedonia, and, I believe, Paraguayia, Anemia and Ethiopia. The "sport" involves a group of guys (I suppose women can play, too) standing in the surf and batting a tennis ball around. If you think this would be a little boring, well, you would be wrong. It's EXCRUCIATINGLY BORING, as shown in this video sample - click here. As far as I can tell, the sport hasn't "escaped" to Great Britain, perhaps because (as far as I can tell) no beer is involved. If you watch as many videos of the "sport" as I have, you may see that they are sometimes interspersed with views of girls in bikinis. These are, however, more than balanced by views of ugly old fat guys in speedos. It reminds me of soccer a little bit, in that it's a bunch of players randomly batting a ball around the playing area. But unlike soccer, which has apparently three rules, none of which makes sense, and the time is kept secretly by the referee, picigin apparently has no rules and hence no referee. I guess the time of play is limited only by how long it takes you to get badly sunburned.

Today, statements that seem to make sense. Or not.

July is "National Baked Beans Month" - eating lots of baked beans may help with your "social distancing"; July 27 is (seriously) "Take Your Houseplant For A Walk Day" - if you're really, really bored with staying at home; to follow up on June's list of Covid-19 drinking celebrations, July 12-18 is "National Vodka Week", the 10th was "Pina Colada Day", the 24th is "National Tequila Day", and the 18th is "Strawberry Rhubarb Wine Day", which sort of gags me just reading about it; and, finally, the 14th is "Shark Awareness Day", when I will certainly keep my eyes peeled for any sharks in my neighborhood. Hope you enjoy all of these days and all of the other July days.

This is right much of a trick question. The Tour De France typically has 12 million to 15 million spectators. Of course, they are not all watching at the same time.

Not sure that Ethiopia is actually in Europe. Perhaps I'm thinking of Mongolia. I'll have my staff check on that.

Big league sports have resumed in this pandemic time, with mixed results. The NBA has had no positive tests so far in its "bubble", while the bubble-less MLB has had two infected teams that have caused a bunch of games to be postponed.

The NFL starts up in a few days. As of yesterday, 66 players have opted out of playing this year.

In news that you've been waiting for years to hear, the lovable Mike Tyson is returning to boxing. He has an "exhibition" match scheduled against Roy Jones (that's "Jr" to be specific). Guard your ears, Roy!

Here's some semi-pro, I mean, "amateur", sports news. The University of Louisville - known for their mascot bird which has a ridiculous mouthful of teeth, and a history of irresponsible partying - had to shut down four sports teams due to a breakout of covid-19. The infection apparently started at a party organized by members of the soccer team. I can find no report on whether Rick Pitino or the "ladies" from the boat were invited.

In other NCAA news, some FBS independent colleges are canceling their football seasons, and a number of the FCS leagues are canceling their football seasons, or possibly moving them to Spring.

Big time golf is going on with its first "major" of the year, the PGA championship, being played this week. Watch that all you want, but this here is the most interesting golf of the week: Watch here. (Sorry - you'll have to suffer through an ad.)

Here's some interesting things about whistles. The NBA referee whistles now contain a velcro-attached bag to catch the spit that heretofore has always just been sprayed wherever it wanted to go. This is, of course, to make the NBA "bubble" a little safer. But that is not as interesting as this: The NBA whistles contain a high-tech feature that works with the game timer to automatically stop the clock when the ref blows the whistle.

Because this is a family-friendly publication, I cannot explain here, if you don't know already, why this is funny. But the Atlanta organist played Michael Jackson's song "Beat It" when Blue Jays catcher Reese McGuire came to bat. Search the internet if you like.

Charles Barkley is going to auction off many of the trophies he won including his 1993 NBA MVP award and his 1996 Olympic Gold Medal. The proceeds, he says, will be used to help build affordable housing in Leeds, Alabama, his home town.

From our vault of truly useless information, who holds the NBA career record for most personal fouls? Hint: it was a basketball player. (Answer below)

Goldin Auctions has a, or I should say, THE 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Trout #1/1 auto up for sale. The bidding as of now has reached $1.3 million. Click here for the details. Have YOU bid yet?

Meanwhile, a 2003-04 Upper Deck Exquisite Lebron James Rookie Patch Autograph sold for $1.8 million, thereby becoming "the most valuable basketball card ever and the priciest modern era trading card of any kind".

Beckett has raised the prices on their 2- and 5-day grading services. The reason given is that so many 2- and 5-day

submissions are coming in that the longer-term submissions are getting very slow turnaround. If you can follow that logic, please explain it to me.

The Topps Now card of Dr. Anthony Fauci set an all-time print record run of 51,512 in its 24 hour offering.

Jo Adell, a consensus top-10 MLB prospect, has been called up to the Angels. We assume real rookie cards will soon be coming.

Unless you're a South Carolina football fan, and why would you admit that, you probably don't remember Wilbur Hackett Jr. He was an SEC football referee who made a great tackle on South Carolina QB Stephen Garcia. Watch here.

If my trivia question was "Who died in an MLB game?" you might answer "Ray Chapman", and of course you would be correct. But he was not the only one who gave his or her life in a game. Watch here.

How can we make cricket more entertaining? Sometime in the 70s, a "cricketer" named Stan Dawson - you remember him, I'm sure - in Australia, was hit in his hip pocket by the cricket ball. This might have been just a painful bruise, but he had a box of matches in his pocket that burst into flames causing his pants to catch on fire. In our semi-regular feature on how we can improve otherwise boring sports, I suggest the randomly flaring pants pockets. Imagine if "Tiger" Woods or "Tompa" Brady had their pants occasionally burst into flames. I'd watch that!

Golfer Tommy Bolt was famous for, uh, releasing gas during competition. The PGA fined him $250 in 1959 for loudly doing just that just as his opponent was about to putt. This is a situation where the randomly flaring pants pockets might be a real tragedy.

We return once again to Australia this month for the not widely known sport of "sheep counting". I'm not trying to pull the wool over your eyes with this one. Any sport involving sheep is shear pleasure. I hope ewe agree. In this "sport" several hundred sheep are run by the contestants who must quickly count how many critters there are. The closest to the actual count is the winner. Unfortunately I can't find any videos of the "sport", but they would only put you to sleep anyway.

This month: athletes take on mathematics.

August 2-8 is "National Exercise With Your Child Week". If you don't own a child of your own, go to the nearest park, pick a kid at random, and begin to exercise. Prepare to run FAST!

August 2-8 is also "National Button Week", which you can celebrate by imagining all the fun we'd have if all the world's buttons suddenly disappeared.

The 8th is "International Cat Day" when you treat your cat like the royalty he or she clearly is. Oh, that's every day! If you don't have a cat (why not! They're great!), celebrate with whatever's your favorite pet: dog, chicken, lizard, hippo, rock, whatever.

In line with our recent policy of keeping you informed of drinking holidays during this time of isolation, the 1st was "Mead Day", the 7th is "International Beer Day", the 16th is "National Rum Day", and the 25th and 29th both celebrate "National Whiskey Sour Day".

In keeping with our other recent policy of finding things (other than drinking) to pass your time in isolation, the 28th is (seriously) "Race Your Mouse Around The Icons Day", the 17th is "I Love My Feet Day" (celebrate any way you like - nobody's watching), and the 17th is (I'm not making these up) "The Meaning of Is Day", when you can discuss with yourself the meaning of "is" or even other common words such as "to", "for", "supererogatory", and "hello".

The 7th is also the birthday of a number of famous sports celebrities, including Mike Trout, Ernie Johnson, Sidney Crosby, and, well, me.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar had 4,657 personal fouls in his career. Karl Malone (4,578) is second and Robert Parrish (4,443) is third.

Hello again, sports fans! As 2020 careens towards Autumn, we welcome you to another thrilling episode of the TSCS newsletter.

Yikes! A story I just saw online. Poker player and commentator Mike Sexton has died of prostate cancer at the age of 72. Mike is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame and was a co-creator of and long-time commentator on the World Poker Tour. Mike was a gymnast at Ohio State University, a paratrooper in the U.S. Army, a ballroom dance instructor and a contract bridge teacher. He was a fierce competitor at and away from the poker table, frequently playing golf matches for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. For more on his life or if you just like poker (as I do - I've said here before that I'd rather watch the World Series of Poker than 10 Super Bowls) check out his book "Life's A Gamble".

What's happening in sports, you ask. Well, much to the relief of 97 talking heads ("THs") at ESPN, the NFL has started up. After roughly 8,923 on-air discussions and predictions, we will finally see how things will actually go. I think all 97 THs are holding their breath, hoping that what happened to MLB won't happen to the NFL. Except possibly Steven "A" Smith, who NEVER holds his breath when the camera is on. Personally, I'd like to see doubleheaders in the NFL. See how tough those big fat guys really are. The questions abound: How will Tom Brady do? How will the Boston, I mean, New England, Patriots do? What about Dak Prescott's depression? Will Kansas City win all THEIR games and maybe some other teams' as well?

In Major League Baseball, Atlanta scored 29 runs in a game against Miami, the day after being shut out by those same Marlins. The New York Yankers are in some danger of not making the playoffs - uh, oh, please wait while I clean the teardrops off my keyboard. And the Washington Nits are down but not out. Hahahaha! No, they're out! Nititude! What an interesting season.

In semi-pro sports, NCAA football has also sort of started up. Many of the big-time teams will not be playing this fall. Some that are scheduled to play may have problems. The Va Tech-UVA season opener has been postponed because of Covid-19 positive tests. Auburn has had ten players "sidelined" by positive tests, but Coach Malzahn says don't worry, the games will go on. Some of the potentially best players have "opted out". We'll see what the season will bring.

The NBA has so far had a relatively problem-free playoffs in the "bubble". Here's some bad news and good news. Bad news: Boston has advanced to the conference finals; Houston won their first round; Portland and Luka lost in the first round; Milwaukee and Giannis apparently didn't show up for the second round, and they lost. Good news: Lakers drub Houston 4-1, so that we won't have to look at James "Flopper" Harden again for a few months; the Denver Nougats are maybe coming back against the LA Drippers (go, Jamal!); and Miami is rested before they face Boston.

Some of you, like me, may have been watching a lot of the NBA playoffs, and for many of you, like for me, your main takeaway is you've seen a whole bunch of stupid commercials over and over again. In particular there is a series of ads for the unfortunately named "Corona" beer. Some strange ad executive somewhere said to his agency team, "We got some beer to sell. Who can we get? Wow! Snoop Dogg is available! Ya-a-a-a-y!". "Snoop Dogg"! Just that name makes me want to buy anything he's selling. Except - they're selling a beer that apparently tastes so bad that you have to shove a piece of sour fruit into it to make it drinkable. Then there's the one that is, I guess, selling some kind of car. Young lady #1 gets told by her boss that she's not getting that big promotion this year. Then young lady #2 drives up and yells, and I quote, "Drop the taco and get in!". Then she drives around for a while like a crazy person - forwards, backwards, sideways - and finally drops girl #1 back at her office, where she presumably picks up the "taco" and shoves it in her boss's face. Exactly how this is supposed to make me want to buy this car, please explain to me.

In other major sports (hahahaha!), the U.S. Open Tennis tournament was won by persons I never heard of and I doubt that you have either. Strangely, none was named "Serena Williams". Actually, the men have not yet played their final, but you never heard of them, either. If you really want to know who won, you can look it up.

What two-time All-Big-Eight defensive back at Colorado won three U.S. Open golf titles? (Answer below)

I found the box that Paul, Ronnie, Curtis and I should have split. What were we thinking?

Click here for more info.

Due to the shortage of Card Savers, PSA is now allowing submissions in top loaders with a penny sleeve. PSA will note (presumably on their case) that the card was received in a top loader. (How that will make you feel better if the card gets a dinged corner or two, I don't know.) This is temporary until the card savers are again generally available.

MLB has an authentication program (with the catchy title "MLB Authentication Program") which provides (stay with me now) authentication of MLB game-used items - mainly baseballs but bats and other stuff. A foul ball, for example, which will be immediately thrown out of the game, may be identified as to who threw the pitch, what the count was, who the batter was, game info, etc. Hits and homers are a little tougher as the authenticator must keep eyes on the ball throughout whatever action is involved. Ordinarily the items would be offered for sale immediately at the game, but in these times of no fans, the items may be purchased from the team web site. For more info, click here.

The guy who sold the 2009 Trout 1/1 for $3.9M recently predicts that today's booming card market will drop in a year or two. So if you paid tens of thousands of dollars for a Tatis Jr or a Zion, be prepared for future disappointment. For more info click here.

Usually in this space we celebrate "athletes", coaches or others who actually participate in whatever the sport may be. Today, however, we celebrate the fan. Those folks just like you and me who live (and sometimes die) for our sports. Who among us would show this much dedication!

Regular readers of this diatribe know what fans of soccer ("futbol") we here at TSCS are. We've traveled around the world seeking entertaining variations on the sport, including motorcycle soccer, robot soccer, flaming coconut soccer and more. This month we present "Binocular Football". This soccer variation is played by participants who have special goggles or maybe just reversed binoculars on their eyes. This distorts their vision and depth perception thereby rendering the game even more entertaining than usual. I've seen videos of this "sport" played in some European countries, but here's a sample from Japan. Click here . I have no word on whether you must wear the silly striped pajamas. You decide if this is an improvement on your basic FIFA soccer.

This month: We investigate what the brain-dead world of boxing has to offer.

September is "All American Breakfast Month", which you can celebrate with a morning meal of six eggs, half pound of fried bacon, biscuits and sausage gravy, French toast, and a couple of cheese Danish for dessert. September, of course, is also "Cholesterol Education Month".

This month is also "National Fruit and Veggies Month", in case you'd rather have broccoli and kiwi instead of the All American Breakfast - hahahahahaha! Just kidding!

While we're on somewhat of a food motif, this month is big on rice: there's "Wild Rice Month", "Go Wild For California Wild Rice Month", and, of course, generic old "National Rice Month". Celebrate with a big old bowl of plain boiled rice. Yum! Yum! Makes the broccoli and kiwi sound good.

The 19th through the 25th is "Farm Animal Awareness Week", which you can celebrate by - but wait! Are you still eating the bacon and sausage gravy? Better skip this one then.

The 23rd is "International Day of Sign Languages", when you can learn a few new signs besides the one all of you already know.

The 18th is "Bright Pink Lipstick Day". We challenge our readers here to put on the brightest pink lipstick on this day and keep it on for our show the next day. This includes all you women, too.

Hale Irwin.

From last month - my staff reviewed for me where Ethiopia is located, and they assure me that it is indeed in Europe, right between Manitobia and Cardiac-Arrhythmia. Don't know why they're laughing.