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Lewis Hamilton finally reaches the top step again with victory at the British Grand Prix lewis,hamilton,finally,reaches,the,top,step,again,with,victory,at,the,british,grand,prix,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one

On: July 7, 2024 By: admin

It came home.

Sure England is still alive in the Euros, after a victory over Switzerland on penalties Saturday that advanced the Three Lions into the semi-finals where they will face The Netherlands on Wednesday. But something else came home on English soil Sunday.

As Lewis Hamilton finally climbed back to the top step of a Formula 1 podium, doing so at the British Grand Prix.

The last time Hamilton reached the top step? That came at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on the fifth of December, 2021. Much has changed since then, starting with the fact that a week later Max Verstappen beat Hamilton to the checkered flag at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — in controversial fashion many will be quick to point out — to capture his first F1 Drivers’ Championship. But this victory has been a long time coming for Hamilton.

But it finally came.

As the teams battled challenging weather conditions, which included two different spurts of rain at Silverstone, the second lasting longer and creating slicker conditions on the track, Hamilton and Mercedes made a series of impressive strategy calls. The second was when the team made the decision to pit one lap earlier than race leader Lando Norris, bolting on a set of soft tires to last the seven-time champion to the checkered flag. Norris came in for his own set of softs on the following lap but was left helpless as Hamilton rocketed by him as he lumbered out of the McLaren pit box.

That set up a fascinating finish, with Hamilton ahead of Norris and the ever-dangerous Max Verstappen on the prowl behind the British duo in third place. For a moment it looked as if it would be Verstappen who would come out with the win, as Red Bull made the decision to bolt on a set of hard tires and those seemed to be working better for Verstappen than the softs were for Hamilton, and Norris. On Lap 48 Verstappen wound by Norris, advancing into second place with just Hamilton in front of him.

But Hamilton had a three-second gap over his rival, and with just a handful of laps remaining the Mercedes driver had the advantage, and one hand on the Royal Automobile Club Trophy. Could he hold off his rival, or would Verstappen deny Hamilton his 104th career victory?

The roar of the crowd at Silverstone told the final story.

As Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May waved the checkered flag, it was Hamilton who crossed the line first. Verstappen was able to chip away at Hamilton’s advantage over the last two laps, but he could not get to the rear wing of Hamilton’s W15.

A win years in the making had finally come home and on British soil. Lewis Hamilton had captured the 2024 British Grand Prix.

As Hamilton crossed the line, you could hear the emotion in the driver’s voice has he received the congratulations from his team. He was handed the Union Jack as he reached Becketts Corner on his cooldown lap, and he waved it proudly as he brought his race-winning W15 back to pit lane.

An iconic image, on an iconic day, in what is becoming an iconic F1 season.

Top 5 WWE matches to watch this weekend top,wwe,matches,to,watch,this,weekend,sbnation,com,front-page,wrestling,all-womens-sports,womens-combat,dot-com-grid-coverage

On: July 5, 2024 By: admin

While a lot of folks will be trying to stretch the July 4 holiday out to another weekend here in the United States, WWE is sending its current and future stars to Canada for two major shows in Toronto.

The biggest pro wrestling company in the world will hold one of its most popular events of the year on Sat., July 7 when Money in the Bank hits Scotiabank Arena at 8 p.m. Eastern. Then the following night at the same time, the next generation of WWE superstars will look to make their mark when their NXT brand puts on Heatwave in the same building.

It should be a great weekend of pro wrestling, but of course we’re looking forward to some matches more than others.

Here are our top five recommendations from Money in the Bank and Heatwave, and why they’re our picks from those two shows:

Drew McIntyre vs. Jey Uso vs. LA Knight vs. Andrade vs. Chad Gable vs. Carmelo Hayes in a Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Who doesn’t love a ladder match? Alright the wrestlers probably don’t when they’re slammed and splashed into, onto, in between, or through them (and many of us watching wince every time thinking about how much that must hurt… which you have to acknowledge, even if you insist pro wrestling’s “fake”).

Almost all WWE fans love the ladder matches that give Money in the Bank its name, where their winner climb to grab a briefcase containing a guaranteed title shot that’s dangling above the ring. It’s a storytelling device that’s led to some amazing moments. And some that all involved would like to forget. But the game of “will they or won’t they cash in?” is usually a lot of fun, whether it lasts hours or months.

One hallmark of the so-called “Triple H Era” (named for WWE Hall of Famer and Chief Creative Officer Paul Levasque, who took over creative for the company when his father-in-law was ousted during his latest scandal) is that most of the wrestlers who appear on television have an established character and are involved in an angle (this seems straight-forward, but if you were watching WWE under the latter days of Vince McMahon, you know it wasn’t always).

This match has a couple of the best examples, as McIntyre is not only chasing a World title, but is engaged in one of the company’s hottest feuds with an injured CM Punk… who can’t be ruled out as a factor here, despited the big Scotsman beating him within an inch of his life after the last time Punk meddled in Drew’s business.

Former Olympian Gable at the center of an entirely different of story. He’s been a real jerk to his Alpha Academy team, which had made him a target of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks, a group led by the late Bray Wyatt’s brother Bo Dallas. The Sicks are carrying on Bray’s legacy by embodying his creepy creations and targeting those who’ve done their “family” wrong.

Plus, everyone in the match can go — especially Andrade, recent NXT call-up Hayes, and Gable. This one should be nuts, in that good pro wrestling way.

IYO SKY vs. Naomi vs. Tiffany Stratton vs. Chelsea Green vs. Lyra Valkyria vs. Zoey Stark in a Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Much of the above applies her as well, although the women’s MitB match feels like it has a greater chance of delivering something else WWE watchers often mention when talking about the concept: elevating a performer.

Sure, we could see former champions like Naomi or SKY — who only recently lost the belt as her Damage CTRL stable has been falling apart around her since kicking out Bayley, the woman her took her title at WrestleMania. But it will be very interesting to see if WWE pulls the trigger and helps establish a new main event player.

Stratton and Valkyria are former NXT Women’s champs, both of whom WWE would clearly like to see reach the same heights on the main roster. Green’s been around a while, but she’s entertainingly been all in on her gimmick everywhere she’s been and has been making the most out of finally being able to do that on wrestling’s biggest stage. And Stark’s just a great wrestler (a proverbial workhorse) who Triple H has loved since he was running developmental and she was in NXT.

No bad choices here.

Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton & Kevin Owens vs. The Bloodline

If you thought the story of Rhodes and The Bloodline ended with Cody winning the WWE title from Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40… think again.

The evil faction of Pacific Islanders’ has been refreshed with Reigns’ former enforcer Solo Sikoa taking over his position as Tribal Chief. Sikoa’s proved to considerable more unpredictable than his older cousin was, bringing in Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa from New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Jacob Fatu from MLW as his hit squad. It’s unclear which pair will team with Solo in Toronto; Fatu is the guy with the most upside, but he may also have issues getting into Canada due to a past arrest. And, yes, a possible criminal background has been alluded to in-story as proof of how dangerous Sikoa’s Bloodline is — not that we needed much proof after the group sent Roman’s “wiseman” Paul Heyman to the hospital last week.

So Rhodes has assembled a team of good guys to stop Bloodline 2.0 while fans chant for Roman to come back and deal with the problem he left behind after dropping the title back in April. They’ll all held WWE’s top prize, and the always dangerous Orton has shown signs he might have eyes on Cody’s belt. Be on the lookout for a heel turn from The Viper here, possibly setting up a SummerSlam main event with his former Legacy protege.

Damian Priest vs. Seth Rollins

Kinda weird to have the only World title match at Saturday’s event this far down the list, but it’s no shade to champion Priest or challenger Rollins. The former hasn’t really felt like the star of his own show during his reign, but Priest is involved in one of Raw’s hottest programs as Women’s World champ Liv Morgan attempts to take over his Judgment Day group as part of her revenge plot against Damian’s teammate, Rhea Ripley (who’s out with an injury Morgan gave her). Rollins has played into that strife, goading Priest into agreeing to leave Judgment Day if he loses. In exchange, Seth said if he loses, he’ll give up his pursuit of the belt for as long it’s around Priest’s waist.

Plus, Rollins has been out of action since April due to knee surgery. So this will be the first time we’ve seen the Visionary in action since he reminded the world he’s one of the best wrestlers alive at WrestleMania.

Roxanne Perez vs. Lola Vice

Only one NXT match makes the cut, as the Heatwave build has been a bit lackluster. That’s due in large part to the number of wrestlers who were promoted to Raw or SmackDown in this past spring’s WWE Draft, so the brand’s creative team — led by Triple H’s right-hand man Shawn Michaels — has been in reset mode.

That was evident in the build to this Women’s title clash. Champion Perez is still settling into the heel character she’s working for her second reign. Challenger Vice (former MMA pro Valerie Loureda) has been built up for this opportunity, but only recently turned babyface for this match. They’re both performers WWE has high hopes for, but we’re still waiting for them to really click while working together.

It might not be the best match of the weekend, but it should be interesting no matter what. And who knows? Maybe someone from TNA — an outside promotion NXT’s got an ongoing crossover going with, now that WWE’s become willing to play nice with (some) others in the wrestling world since Vince’s exit — will crash this or another Heatwave match to make it REALLY interesting on Sunday night.

Whichever matches you’re looking forward to this weekend, you can get all the information about them and follow all the action at CagesideSeats.com!

The Brewers have refused to leave the top of the NL Central the,brewers,have,refused,to,leave,the,top,of,the,nl,central,sbnation,com,front-page,mlb,dot-com-grid-coverage

On: June 21, 2024 By: admin

Back in spring training when we were previewing each division, my view of the National League Central Division was that it was anybody’s game where anybody could win. That was also to say that this probably would be the end of the two-season run as NL Central champions for the Milwaukee Brewers. Here’s my reasoning below:

If they’re going to do it again in 2024 then it’ll be a bit of an upset because it appears that they’ve fallen right back into the pack after the offseason that they had. Corbin Burnes is in Baltimore now and Brandon Woodruff is likely to miss the entire season as he recovers from shoulder surgery. They also lost their manager to their rivals on the North Side of Chicago, as the Cubs snatched away Craig Counsell almost immediately after his contract with the Brewers expired. That’s a lot to lose in a division that’s as wide open as the NL Central is.

Well, here we are in mid-June and it’s looking like this division may not be as wide open as I had expected it to be. While there are still plenty of questions as to whether or not any of the other four teams in the NL Central will have what it takes to go on the type of run that could propel them into the Postseason, it’s obvious who currently has the massive upper hand when it comes to winning the division. As it turns out, the more things change, the more they stay the same — manager Pat Murphy’s Milwaukee Brewers once again look like they’re the class of the NL Central.

Heading into this season, the Brewers were only given the third-best odds from FanGraphs to win the division at 18 percent. They were given a 30 percent shot to make the Postseason, which is a perfectly fine chance to have going into any season but it was definitely a bit low for a club that had made it to the Postseason in five of the past six seasons.

Now, Brewers fans can’t complain about the odds being against them since their team has surged their way into the position of being massive favorites. Heading into action on June 20, the Brewers are now being given a whopping 73 percent chance to make it three divisional titles in a row and are also being given an 86 percent shot to make the playoffs either way. Most importantly, the Brewers 44-30 and are 7.5 games ahead of the Cardinals for first place in the Central and also hold the second-largest divisional lead in the National League.

While a lot of this may have to do with the fact that the Cubs and Cardinals both have yet to really put it together like most observers expected them to, it also has to do with the fact that maybe the Brewers themselves didn’t get the memo that they were supposed to fade away into the pack. At the very least, Willy Adames and William Contreras both definitely missed the memo as both of them have been fantastic in Milwaukee’s lineup so far this season.

Willy Adames in particular has been killing it both at the plate but out in the field as well. Adames currently has a wRC+ of 118 to go with a wOBA of .336 and 12 home runs as well. If he can keep on producing at the plate at this rate, then he’ll be celebrating a career year once the season ends. Combine that with the fact that he’s currently in the 98th percentile of all fielders when it comes to Outs Above Average and you’ve got a player who has been the total package for the Brewers here in 2024. Adames has rarely had a season where he’s put it together with both his bat and his glove so it’s definitely encouraging for Milwaukee that this appears to be the year where it’s all connecting in his favor.

Meanwhile, William Contreras has simply just been mashing the ball like crazy this season. If he’s made contact with a ball, there’s a very good chance that it’s going to fly long and far and get to where it’s going in a hurry. Contreras is in the 95th percentile of all hitters when it comes to both Average Exit Velocity (93.1 mph) and Hard-Hit percentage (53 percent). Combined with his 89th percentile average bat speed and suddenly it’s easy to envision how Contreras got to a point where he’s sporting a 134 wRC+, which is second-best among all qualified catchers and only one point behind Salvador Perez for first place. While Wild Bill’s defense has taken a step back compared to where he was at last season, you aren’t going to hear anybody in Milwaukee complain about what he’s been doing with the bat this season.

Adames and Contreras haven’t been the only ones killing it for Milwaukee this season. Joey Ortiz has gone from struggling mightily in his first 34 big league plate appearances back in 2023 as a member of the Orioles to succeeding wildly as a breakout candidate for the Brewers. He might be doing it in a weird way (and for more on that, check out this article from Ben Clemens of FanGraphs) but you aren’t going to hear about anybody trying to “fix” what he’s doing when it’s working to the tune of a .369 wOBA and a 140 wRC+ so far. Brice Turang has also turned things around in a major way, though he didn’t have a change of scenery like Ortiz did. Instead, he appears to have found his footing in the bigs and is now sitting on a .328 wOBA and 112 wRC+ after struggling through 137 games with a 60 wRC+ in 2023. It also helps that Turang has been a terror to deal with on the basepaths as well, as he’s already stolen 26 bases this season.

The Brewers have also been getting positive contributions in the outfield from guys like Blake Perkins (and his 97th percentile-rated OAA) and even Christian Yelich. As it turns out, his resurgent 2023 campaign wasn’t just a flash in the pan and Yelich looks primed to improve upon a season that saw him start to look like the old dynamo that was playing MVP-caliber baseball just a few years ago. Yelich’s wOBA is currently at a lofty .394 and his wRC+ is at 157, which is easily as high as it’s been since the halcyon days of 2018 and 2019 when he was truly among the game’s elite players. While Yelich probably won’t fully return to that level again, the Brewers don’t need him to be a world-beater — they just need him to continue being what he is, which is a reliable hitter to slot into what’s been an impressive lineup for Milwaukee so far this season.

Between the high level of production that Milwaukee is getting from impact guys and the fact that they’ve already built up such a large lead in the division, it’s hard to see the Brewers messing this up as we get into the actual second half of this season. Additionally, the Brewers currently have the joint-fifth-easiest strength-of-schedule going forward at .492 while their divisional rivals in Chicago (.508 remaining strength-of-schedule) and St. Louis (.514) each have tougher roads ahead. The Pirates have a similarly-tough SOS remaining (.507) and while the Reds have a slightly-easier road ahead (.491), they also need to get their act together outside of Elly de la Cruz doing cool stuff on a nightly basis.

All this means is that the Brewers have bucked all the odds and have managed to play themselves into a very good position for another season. It’s all coming up sunshine and roses for the Brewers and the only thing that’s really gone wrong for them here in 2024 has been one of their employees getting caught failing miserably in an attempt to do assassination work as a side job. I didn’t make up a single word of that last sentence, either. I’m not going to hold that insane bit of news against the Brewers though since I believe that this squad is smart enough to not find themselves in such an incredibly hot mess. Either way, y’all should keep an eye on Milwaukee this season as they are once again right in the thick of the Postseason conversation.

Three top bets for the combat sports weekend three,top,bets,for,the,combat,sports,weekend,sbnation,com,front-page,mma,ufc,draftkings,golf-news,dot-com-grid-coverage

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

A busy combat sports weekend looms as on Saturday, Gervonta Davis puts his WBA lightweight title on the line against undefeated challenger Frank Martin and UFC Vegas 93 takes place with a high-profile flyweight matchup between top-15 competitors Alex Perez and Tatsuro Taira.

With so much happening this weekend, we broke down our three favorite bets for the weekend. All odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.

Gervonta Davis by Decision or Technical Decision (+260)

Davis is an elite counter-puncher in the mold of Floyd Mayweather Jr. He’s got good vision and defense, and a preternatural sense of range, allowing him to draw out punches at the end of range and land his power shots, particularly his left hook. That left hook, plus a commitment to body work early and often, makes Tank an excellent finisher with 27 of his 29 wins coming by way of stoppage.

As such, this is a big step up for Martin. Martin is fast, technical, and defensively tight, with good footwork. He’s not a huge volume boxer, but he’s good at blocking incoming artillery and then ripping the body in response. The problem is he’s not a huge puncher, and he’s facing someone who is. That makes the margin for error much smaller.

I like Martin as a fighter, but he’s facing an uphill battle in this one. That being said, I do think he has a good chance to make this a fight. Davis is not a fast starter and Martin is so quick and defensively that at the very least he’s going to make Tank work for it. Add in that Tank’s been out of action for over a year, and I think this one goes long in a bout that might not be the most thrilling to watch.

Tatsuro Taira To Win By KO/TKO/DQ or Submission (+100)

The UFC main event this Saturday is set up to be the arrival of Japan’s best MMA prospect. Taira is only 24 years old and has all the trappings of a future champion. The Okinawa native is an elite athlete, lethal grappler, and developing striker with natural power. Taira has dominated in his five UFC fights which is why he’s getting this shot at a top-five opponent.

Alex Perez has been a staple of the UFC’s flyweight division since 2017, even challenging for the title in 2020. Things didn’t go well for Perez that night, which has sort of been the story of his career: losing whenever he faces the best opposition. This is Perez’s second shot to rebuff an emerging wunderkind (he lost to Muhammad Mokaev in March) and to prove he’s still in the mix for title contention.

This should be a straightforward win for Taira. He’s the superior grappler and the far better athlete, and can compete on the feet, if not win outright there. The main questions is how will he win? Historically, when Perez loses it’s by submission, and while that seems to be the most likely outcome, I’m not ruling out Taira showing off his improving hands.

Joshua Van (+170)

Originally this was going to be a bet on Ikram Aliskerov, but late on Thursday, Aliskerov was pulled from the event this weekend to step in on short notice and fight Robert Whittaker at UFC Saudi Arabia next Saturday. In light of that, we’re pivoting to a prelim underdog.

Van takes on top-15 flyweight Tagir Ulanbekov in the featured prelim fight of on Saturday. Only 22 years old, this is a huge step up for the super prospect but one he’s got a realistic shot at winning. Ulanbekov is a big, experienced flyweight who has only lost to top-shelf competition, but he’s not the most dynamic fighter. Van has that in spades. Moreover, Van has shown good takedown defense and good scrambling ability when he does get taken down, meaning Ulanbekov shouldn’t totally have his way.

If Van can continue to show the sort of rapid improvement he’s shown the last few times out, a new contender will emerge on Saturday.

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