Monday, April 15, 2019

Recapping the Wide World of Sports

Yours Truly didn't get much sleep last night.

No, it was not because something was bothering him. Instead, Yours Truly was so excited by the sporting scene around the world that he simply could not fall asleep.

In English Premiership, Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-0 to return to the top of the table. Being a fan for the Reds since childhood, Yours Truly really hopes that Liverpool can finally become the league champion for the first time since 1990. Five years ago, his dream was shattered when the Reds lost to Chelsea 0-2 late in the season, and the second goal by Demba Ba (Who?) was the result of a disastrous slip by none other than their captain, Steven Gerrard. When Yours Truly saw Andy Robertson had a similar slip last night when led to a break for the Blues, there was definitely a sense of déjà vu. Fortunately, that break resulted in nothing and Yours Truly really hopes that it has finally exorcised the demon that has been plaguing the Reds for years.

In fact, demons of various breeds have been exorcised here and there. In Moto2, Thomas Luthi, a solid veteran rider Yours Truly has been rooting for, won comfortably on his third race back from a disastrous year in MotoGP. In fact, Luthi's spell in MotoGP was so bad that he was the only regular rider in the grid not to have scored a point last year. Five 16th-place finishes were the best he could muster and even Xavier Simeon managed to score ONE point more than he did. Luckily for Luthi, he managed to latch onto a solid Dynavolt team in Moto2 this year and is now second in the championship.

In MotoGP, Alex Rins finally got his first win in his third year in the series. With the ever-improving Suzuki team, he came on strong late last season and finished second in the last two races of the season. With the dominant Marc Marquez crashing out yesterday in Austin, Rins managed to out-fox Valentino Rossi for a much-deserved first victory in the premier class, and also Suzuki's first win in MotoGP since Maverick Vinales' win in Silverstone in 2016.

Finally, Tiger Woods finally won his 15th majors in Augusta, a one-stroke victory over three other players. Yours Truly seldom watches golf on TV, but the likelihood of Tiger finally winning another was so appealing that Yours Truly decided to stay in front of the TV, and was duly rewarded when El Tigre two-putted the 18th for his first major win since the U.S. Open in 2008. When Woods finally let out a huge roar after his title-clinching putt, everyone in the world, including Yours Truly, could feel that the monkey is finally off his back.

And that was just another sporting Sunday around the world.

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