No Football Friday 7/12 '24
Steal My Sunshine
- GAA All-Ireland Semi-Final
- Wimbledon
- Scottish Open
Steal My Sunshine
- YouTube Rabbitole
Alright @YouTheReader,
While it’s a quiet weekend of sports in the states, there is plenty going on across the Atlantic. This weekend is the Gaelic Athletic Association’s All-Ireland Football Semi-Finals, Wimbledon Tennis Finals, and Golf’s Scottish Open.
(England also plays Spain in the Euro 2024 Finals, is Football Finally Coming Home?)
For the Yanks reading this who have no idea what the GAA is, it’s Ireland’s largest sports organization. Founded in 1884, they promote and organize the nation’s two biggest homegrown sports: Hurling and Gaelic (Irish) Football. This year’s Hurling Final features a matchup of Clare and Cork. It will be played next weekend on July 21.
Today’s focus is on Gaelic Football so here are some of the basic rules…
The Gaelic Football Field is 145 meters in length (about 150 yards) and 90 meters wide (about 100 yards). There are 15 players on the pitch for each side and the positonal spacing is generally like what it looks like above, however, everybody is moving so it’s sorta like soccer.
The ball used in Gaelic Football tends to be a bit smaller than a soccer ball, but heavier and harder… you wouldn’t want to head it. The sport differs from soccer in that you use your hands.
To pick the ball up off the ground, you gotta kick it into your hands. That said, you can catch it on a bounce or pass through the air as well.
When you have the ball in your possession you get 4 steps before you have to do something with it. Within the 4 steps, you can bounce it like a basketball, kick to yourself (called a solo), kick it to somebody else, pass via an underhand punch, or shoot it at the goal. The one tricky rule is you can’t bounce the ball twice consecutively. If you don’t do any of these things within the 4 steps, it’s a travel and the other team gets the ball, however, it’s sorta like an NBA travel where you just know it when you see it.
To score points in Gaelic Football, there is a goal that looks like a soccer net with field goal posts like you see in American Football. If you kick the ball through the post, it’s 1 point. A soccer style goal counts for 3 scores. Don’t ever talk in points out loud or you’ll look like a fool. The way it’s scored is…
(Team A) # of Goals - # of points
For example if Galway scores 3 goals with 7 points over the bar, it would be on the scoreboard as Galway 3-7, but in your head it’s 16 total points.
The old saying is to take your points over the bar, the goals will come.
Gaelic is a fun and physical sport that’ll keep you fit. For any soccer or rugby players, if you’re interested in playing and are from the Tri-State NY/NJ area, check out the Rockland GAA. They have teams from ages 7 to adults, as well as a nice clubhouse that serves a proper pint of Guinness.
County Kerry is home to the most All-Ireland Gaelic Football Finals. Dating back to 1887, Kerry has won 38 titles. They’ve participated in the last 2 Finals, beating Galway in ‘22 and losing to Dublin last year. To get to this year’s Semi’s they defeated Derry 0-15 to 0-10. Right corner forward with a lethal left boot, David Clifford, scored the first points of the match but only finished with 3 over the bar. It’s expected that he’ll have a better game Saturday.
While Kerry is a powerhouse, County Armagh is every bit the underdog. They’ve won just one All-Ireland and that was back in ‘02. They also haven’t played in a All-Ireland Semi-Final since ‘05. Armagh beat Roscommon 2-12 to 0-12 (they scored 2 more goals). The match was tight until the Rossies blundered a quick kickout that lost possession and led to a Connor Turbitt goal. It was Turbitt’s 7th career All-Ireland goal.
County Donegal has won 2 All-Irelands in 1992 and ‘12. The last time they made a semi-final was a decade ago. Peader Mogan was Donegal’s clear man of the match in their 1-23 to 0-18 win over Louth. Mogan had 5 points over the bar. After the match, RTE reporters asked what it meant for Donegal to be back in a semi-final and Mogan responded, “It’s a football mad county and we’re delighted to give these people another day out in Croke Park.” Peader Mogan won the PwC All-Stars Footballer of the Month in June.
County Galway has won 9 All-Irelands but their last one came back in ‘01. They are the only county west of the Shannon to bring the Sam across the big river since Mayo in 1951. To get here, they upset the Dubs by a point 0-17 to 0-16. The last time Galway beat Dublin in an All-Ireland match was 1934. The best way to describe the moment came from Galway Bay FM’s Ollie Turner’s legendary call, “Galway have won. It’s the greatest day that Galway Football has seen in over 2 decades. As every man, women, and child stands to applaud Padraic Joyce and his gallant Galway men. Sweet mother of Jesus, they have pulled off the unthinkable. Forget about Taylor Swift, 'shake it off' at the Aviva and come over here to Croke Park because you're witnessing the west awake. Gaillimh abú!”
(Source: Irish Echo)
Women’s Finals
Barbora Krejčíková vs Jasmine Paolini
Match: Saturday, Time TBD
Barbora Krejčíková is Czech and a Grand Slam Champion. She was formerly ranked #2 in the world but slipped all the way down to 32nd. She’s previously never made it past the 4th Round of the Wimbledon and her last Major Singles win came at the French Open in ‘21. After getting knocked out of the 1st Round of the French Open this year Krejčíková recently said, “Four weeks ago it would have been impossible to think about reaching a Wimbledon final, to think I could be a different player. Before the tournament, I told myself I was going to enjoy everything more, that I already had great achievements, so I just wanted to have fun instead of being so stressed about my performances.” From the highlights, she is a loud tennis player.
Jasmine Paolini is Italian and coming off a 2nd place finish at the French Open. She became the first woman to reach the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since Serena Williams in ‘16. At 5’4”, Paolini is half a foot shorter than Krejčíková is more of a silent player. We’ll take her with this one because anyone remotely on Serena’s level seems pretty good.
Prediction: Paolini in 3 sets
Men’s Semi-Finals
Carlos Alvcaraz vs Danilli Medvedev
Match: Friday morning, 8:30 AM ET
Carlos Alcaraz is Spanish and coming off his French Open win. He can carry a lot of ground and slip-n-slide on the Wimbledon grass. His opponent is 6’6” and I suspect not nearly as agile on the Wimbledon grass.
Daniil Medvedev is Russian and ranked #5 in the world. He’s made 2 of the last 3 finals of the Tennis Majors, but hasn’t won one since the US Open in ‘21. The last time Medvedev and Alcaraz met at Wimbledon was ‘21, however, Alcaraz at the time was just 18 years old. Our educated guess is the Spaniard has matured since.
Prediction: Carlos Alvcaraz in 3 sets
Lorenzo Musetti vs Novak Djokovic
Match: Friday morning, 10:30 AM ET
Lorenzo Musetti is Italian and just 22 years of age. He is currently ranked the #25 in the world. This will be his 1st semi-final at a Tennis Grand Slam. He seems to play with a ton of energy and enjoys shouting after points.
Novak Djokovic is currently ranked #2 in the world, but apparently had a Vogue piece written about him being the Greatest of All Time. The Serbian has won at Wimbledon 7 times and trails only Roger Federer for most all time on the English Lawn. His 24 career Grand Slams are the most of all time. He got though the Quarter-finals on a walkover because Alex de Minaur pulled out from playing with a hip. Djokovic made some headlines aside from Vogue when after his previous match he heard some boos and said, “To all those people who have chosen to disrespect the player and in this case me. Have a gooooood night. I know they were cheering for Rune but that’s also an excuse to boo. Listen I’ve been on the tour for over 20 years so I know all the tricks. I focus on the respectful people that have respect. I’ve played in much more hostile environments outside of Wimbledon, trust me, you guys can’t touch me.” After the exchange John McEnroe said, “Djokovic is the greatest of all time because of everything he has been up against as well as the records.” With all the disrespect thrown his way, we gotta think he takes down the inexperienced Italian in 4 sets.
Prediction: Djokovic in 4 sets
North Berwick, SCO | The Renaissance Club | $9,000,000 (Purse) | Peacock/CBS
The first Scottish Open took place in 1973. This is the 6th year in a row that The Renaissance Club is the venue for the event and they will continue to host it until at least ‘26. While the Scottish Open has been played on quite a few golf courses, they tend to always be played on links courses because it is appealing for players who want to get adjusted to playing on links prior to the Open Championship, which takes place next week. The winner of the ‘23 Scottish Open was Rory McIlroy.
Opening Round
JT Thomas
JT Thomas’ 8-under Thursday was 1 off from the course record of 61 for a round. This is the first time that JT Thomas leads a PGA Tour event in 781 days. It was a bogey-free day for JT Thomas, who has taken a few weekends off the PGA Tour and last played to a 5th place finish at the Travelers Championship.
Ludvig Aberg
Ludvig Aberg had a great approach shot that an already sitting ball on the green. Don’t see that every day. Very unfortunate. The rest of his Thursday went well and his back 9 included 3 birds with an eagle.
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy has made his return to the PGA Tour since taking some time after the US Open. My mother also mentioned that Rory is back with his wife after they reversed the divorce. (Source: Jeannette) Erica Stoll was on hand to witness Rory’s nice round, which included an eagle chip-in on the 3rd hole as Rory looks to defend his Scottish Open trophy.
Sahith Theegala
Sahith Theegala also chipped one in for eagle on the 5th hole. Can’t confirm if his significant other was there or not, but can confirm that Theegala got off to a better start than last year when he missed the cut.
Robert MacIntyre
Scotland’s own, Robert MacIntyre, showed the lads how it’s done by going over a rock wall to green one. Even though he’s from Oban on the west of Scotland and this tournament is in North Berwick on the country’s east, he knows the land. MacIntyre finished in 2nd place in the Scottish Open last year. Although he couldn’t pull it off a year ago, it must’ve been a confidence builder as he won his 1st PGA Tour event at the Canadian Open last month.
Today’s tune is Steal My Sunshine by Len. This song was released in the Summer of 1999 and just celebrated it’s 25th birthday on June 22. It peaked on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #9, while reaching #8 in the UK, and #3 in Ireland.
The band Len is comprised of Marc Costanzo and his older sister, Sharon, as the main vocalists. These opening lines are other members. Butter tarts are a popular Canadian dish, which makes sense since the band is Canadian.
Marc Costanzo told Stereogum, "I was at an outdoor electronic music festival up north, like a rave, and I just got caught up in the night. The song is about how I felt, and then it was exaggerated by the fact that I'm sitting in the middle of a field looking at the stars, about 1000 feet away from the stage, watching everybody dancing at 3 a.m. And I wrote part of it on my leg and a lot of it on a napkin. And then we were hanging out at Brendan [Canning, of Broken Social Scene]'s place, and Brendan ended up playing that Andrea True Connection record, and I just sampled it right then. I looped it and I just tied the two together.”
Len was given $100k for the budget of this music video and decided to spend most of it on partying. They spent so much on booze that they broke the hotel elevator they were staying at. Marc Costanzo said, “It took us 20 minutes to load up the elevator. I mean, there was something like 20 of us, you know? Just for two nights. We were drinkers. We’re like, “OK, well, $5000 of liquor is a couple of days. Just to make sure everybody’s cool.” The elevator just couldn’t take it.” (Stereogum)
The premise of this song were Marc and Sharon in some sort of argument. I’m pretty sure the Jared in the lines above from Lyrics.com should be “Sharon” since it would make more sense.
When asked about this song Costanzo felt, “The second that song blew up, it’s not my song anymore. I was a part of it, I was there. But the fact that it does what it does every year, you know, movies, commercials, whatever, has nothing to do with me. It has to do with the people that have a connection to it, you know? I listen to it and I don’t have any memories of it. I don’t listen to it and go, “Ah, those were good times.” It feels like it has so much more power than me as just one individual.”
Sounds like it was all a blur from the hotel party.
Costanzo furthered, “I don’t even understand how people relate to it. When I listen to that song, I just can’t make sense of it. Because there’s nothing right about that song. The elements are all wrong. But that’s why I love it so much. I still love it to this day, because I listen to it and I go, “I don’t know what happened, man!” It’s like a perfect storm of the weirdest shit.”
This is a relief to know because I’ve been listening to this since I was a kid and I have no idea what it’s about, it just sounds great.
