HossC

I know I've made this comment before, but when one of the satellite channels over here was showing Dukes a few years ago, it was the first time I'd ever seen it with commercial breaks. It was originally shown in the UK on the BBC which doesn't show any commercials, and then I got it on DVD. Other shows like The A-Team, Knight Rider and the Fall Guy were shown on ITV which does show commercials, but not nearly as many as the US.

When I had time to watch NASCAR a few years ago, any incident seemed to be an excuse for a commercial break. Sometimes, they'd come back from the break, tell the audience that the incident was still ongoing, and go for another break. I sometimes forget how lucky we are over here with much stricter constraints on the amount of advertising that's allowed to interrupt TV shows, although obviously things are a bit different nowadays with many people streaming their shows.

Can I just say that everyone outside of the US knows that the "hydration breaks" have been introduced for this tournament because American TV couldn't possibly show 45 minutes of sport without commercials. They ruin the flow of the game and are unpopular with fans. Obviously, the players need to stay hydrated in hot weather, but they've just had the break in the England-Panama game and it's being played in the rain! We've managed without them for over 150 years and I hope this is the last time we see them. They are not part of the sport.

Hobie, you started a discussion about the population of Hazzard in 2021, but the replies were only guesses. You can read it here.

There don't seem to be many songs for this year's tournament, so for Meadowmfn, here's Andy Cameron's 'Ally's Tartan Army' from the 1978 World Cup in Argentina (I couldn't embed the Top of the Pops version!). England's best-known football anthem is 'Three Lions (Football's Coming Home)' by Baddiel & Skinner & Lightning Seeds. It was actually written for the 1996 UEFA European Championship, which England was hosting. FYI. Jules Rimet is the World Cup trophy and "30 years of hurt" refers to time since England won the World Cup in 1966 (we don't like to talk about it ). We've been spoiled for football songs. Here's New Order's 'World in Motion' from the 1990 World Cup. It was co-written by comedian Keith Allen, who is singer Lily Allen's father. He appears in the video along several of the players from that era. Finally, for a bit of football mixed with humor, Keith Allen was also behind Fat Les's 'Vindaloo' for the 1998 World Cup which was co-written by Blur bassist Alex James and bassist Guy Pratt. It was written as a parody, but has since been adopted as a chant by England fans. The video is a parody of The Verve's 'Bitter Sweet Symphony', and was filmed on the same street in Hoxton, London.

USA won their second game yesterday, so they should be progressing to the knockout stage. Scotland, however, have never reached the knockout stage and will have to wait until their last game after losing yesterday. At the World Cup, players play for their country, but on a weekly basis, 154 of them play in the English Premier League, 94 in the German Bundesliga, 78 in the French Ligue 1, 74 in the Spanish La Liga and 68 in the Italian Serie A. The ninth highest with 37 is England's second division, the EFL Championship.

Out of interest, how many of y'all are watching the World Cup? I really only watch motorsports, but I keep an eye on the scores at Word Cups and watch bits here and there. England had a good win in their first match, and I'll watch some of their games as they progress, but the time difference means that a lot of the fixtures are taking place in the middle of the night over here.

The Tartan Army are confusing the people of Boston by putting traffic cones on statues.

I found a description of the incident, but it didn't add a lot to your write-up. Johnny was invited to a fake cocktail party at the Mayfair Hotel after watching the tennis at Wimbledon. It took place in 1985.

Here's something a bit different. How well do y'all know British words and phrases?

I pretty much answered that question here.

A feature that the Formula 1 YouTube channel has recently introduced is a ghost car comparison of the fight for pole position. It's very interesting to see where the cars and drivers get a slight advantage over each other. You can see George Russell vs Lewis Hamilton here.

Some past Spanish grands prix have been processional, but not today. George Russell took pole in qualifying yesterday with Lewis Hamilton second and championship leader Kimi Antonelli in third. Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari in qualifying and started tenth. Despite Lewis (and Max Verstappen in fifth) starting on the soft tires, the top drivers held position at the start. Lewis was then first to take a pit stop. With a powerful undercut at this track, Mercedes had to cover off the stop by ptting race leader George. After Lewis took a second stop, he was taking 2.5 seconds out of the leaders' advantage. With Lewis closing in, Mercedes pitted both of their drivers giving Lewis the lead. Then Ferrari had a bit of luck when Fernando Alonso had to stop his Aston Martin triggereing a vitrual safety car. That gave Lewis a chance to make his final stop and stay in the lead. Toward the end, Kimi put George under a lot of pressure and eventually took second place, but it didn't last long as Kimi had his first mechanical failure of the year and had to retire. Chsrles also had to retire around the same time, but made it back to pits. That left Lewis to win by nearly 20 seconds ahead of George in second and reigning world champion Lando Norris in third. Race highlights are here. It's great to see Lewis take his first win for Ferrari after a tough 2025 when he didn't even make the podium. At 41, he's the oldest driver to win an F1 race since 1970, and it's the first all-British podium since 1968. Kimi still leads the drivers' championship, but Lewis has moved ahead of George to take second. There's two weeks until the next race in Austria.

Before the Spanish Grand Prix, a bit of news from the Monaco Grand Prix. The Alpine team have successfully appealed Pierre Gasly's pit lane speeding penalty which demoted him from third to seventh, and his original finishing position has now been reinstated. They showed that drivers could legally take a shorter route at the pit entry which reduced their time between two marker points without exceeding the speed limit. It doesn't look like the other teams affected are going to appeal their drivers' penalties.

Wings It's amazing how a single word can trigger an earworm!