HossC

Just a little stat that amused me when I heard it yesterday. Sunday was also the date of this year's All Ireland Senior Hurling final (Limerick beat Galway 1-29 to 1-18). I know the global viewing figures are hugely different, but attendance at the hurling final at Croke Park in Dublin was 82,300. Attendance for the football at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey was only 80,663.

Kimi Antonelli took another pole at yesterday's Belgian Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen, George Russell and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. World Champion Lando Norris had to start from 13th after he got a 10-place grid drop for using too many engine components in a season. Max briefly took the lead on the first lap before dropping back to third, and Lewis hit George, ending George's race and earning Lewis a 5-second penalty. After the resulting safety car, Max got back to second and Oscar Piastri moved to third before both Ferraris got ahead of him. There were a couple of short VSCs (virtual safety cars) which mixed the order a little through the pit stops. Lewis failed to receive the front wing tweak he wanted and knocked over a mechanic as he left the pits. The mechanic was unhurt, and although the incident was investigated after the race, it didn't affect the outcome. Despite being shuffled back to third in the pit stops, Kimi retook the lead with 10 laps to go and went on to take another win. Behind him were Charles, Max and Lewis. Lewis' fourth place was enough to move him to second place in the Drivers' Championship ahead of the non-finishing George. The race highlights are here. Next week's Hungarian Grand Prix is the last before the summer break, and several teams will have upgrades for the race.

On at a more reasonable 8pm, I decided to watch the final last night. It was a long way from 10-goal thriller the night before, and the game was still goalless after 90 minutes. There were a few yellow cards and two of them went to Argentinian Enzo Fernandez which meant that he was sent off just before the extra time. He became the sixth player sent off in a World Cup final, three of whom have been from Argentina. Spain scored the winning goal in extra time against 10-man Argentina to claim this year's trophy. They are one of the co-hosts for the next World Cup in 2030. The action didn't end at the final whistle, and Argentina's Leandro Paredes also received a red card when a fight broke out between the players. Maybe they'd spent too much time in Waffle House while they were in the US. I'm not a big football fan, but I hope this marks the end of hydration breaks and half-time shows, both of which ruin the flow of the game. It would also be good if it was the end of highly inflated ticket and transport costs, and questionable choices by FIFA, but especially the latter seems unlikely.

I wasn't going to watch last night's third place play-off, but I switched over with about 20 minutes gone and found England were already 2-0 up against France. By half-time they'd doubled that to 4-0 and it looked like being a walk-over. The French coach must've given his team a strong talk during the break, because within 10 minutes of the second half they had pulled back two goals. It was a nail-biting time for England as France then made it 4-3. With three minutes of regular time left, France conceded a penalty which England's Bukayo Saka scored to complete his hat-trick - 5-3. France weren't done, and brought the score back to 5-4 in injury time. Then, with seconds left on the clock, late substitute Jude Bellingham scored an amazing goal for England to make the final score 6-4. It's shame that England missed out on tonight's final, but it was an action-packed way to end their 2026 World Cup. You can see all the goals in just over two minutes here.

Yes, they were released here and the DVDs are still easily available.

The BBC news website has a timelapse video of the World Cup final stadium almost disappearing due to the smoke in the air: https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c1w1nqwxgexo

I know the smoke has spread over a large area of the northern United States, but it hasn't made it across the Atlantic. It may, however, affect the air quality at Sunday's World Cup final in New Jersey.

Irish actress Brenda Fricker, who was the Central Park pigeon lady in Home Alone 2, has passed away at the age of 81. She won an Oscar for her role in 'My Left Foot' and was one of the original cast members of long-running British hospital drama 'Casualty'. Read more here.

Well, last night was the end of England's chances of winning this year's World Cup when they lost 2-1 to Argentina. The final on Sunday will now be between current European champions Spain and current World champions Argentina. England will play France for third place.

Book

Another Country song I'm hearing most days on the radio is 'Dry Spell' by Kacey Musgraves. I really like the innuendo-laced lyrics that treat the subject matter with a lot of humor without going too far. I've just watched the video for the first time, and it just adds to the fun. Maybe the British movies and TV shows I grew up with in the '70s and '80s make me appreciate it more!

After he scored both England goals last night, Jude Bellingham was serenaded by the crowd singing the Beatles' 'Hey Jude'.

And once more we let down the Scots. Another great result for England last night as they sent home Erling Haaland's Norway with a goal in extra time. Now England face reining champions and FIFA's favorite side Argentina in the semi-finals. At least that match is on at a more reasonable 8pm. I was up until 1am last night and I'm very tired this morning. BTW. When I googled Erling Haaland's name to check the spelling, a load of Vikings danced across my screen. I don't know if this Easter egg works in other countries.

That sounds fun. I've never seen a whole episode of Gilmore Girls, but I watched a few clips while researching the Hazzard Square thread.

Have you visited any of the filming locations?