It's always fascinating and enlightening to me to look back at the history of sports, and how we got to where we are today. When you see anniversary dates of tournaments or events like 'the 50th Super Bowl' or the '70th NBA title champ', you take for granted the state the sport is in during our current climate.

In almost all cases, it didn't start out this way. And also in most cases, there has been and remains an ongoing war of attrition between the talent, the owners, the fans, and the broadcasters. Mix that in with how much our social and political climate has changed from decade to decade, and it's easy then to imagine how a lot of the most popular sporting events in America where at one time on the brink of complete dissolution.

War for the Tour: The day the PGA Championship nearly died is an article put out by Golf.com that illustrates this point exactly. Sure, PGA champs today make millions in purse prizes, even if you don't finish in the top 5-10 spots. But that was far from the case in the late 60's.

Very much worth the read, and might give you some added perspective on sport history in general. If this was the case for one tournament in one sport, undoubtedly the history of every sport has had it's own 'nearly died' moment. Or several of them.

The PGA Championship now celebrates its 100th Championship.

I know I'm getting older when I remember watching most of these Hall of Fame inductees play, in their prime. This might be the first year that's happened for me. Anyways, it's a good list this year (2018):

Brian Dawkins
Ray Lewis
Terrell Owens
Randy Moss
Brian Ulracher
Jerry Kramer
Robert Brazile
Bobby Beathbard

Those last 3 are the only guys I didn't know, for good reason. Brazile was a linebacker from 1975-84 with Oilers. Kramer was a Packers guard from 1958-1968. And Beathard was a personal administrator for 33 years.

Dawkins, Lewis and Ulracher are maybe the 3 biggest names on the defensive side of things in the NFL in the 2000's to date. And Randy Moss has been a shoe in for years now. Arguably top 3 receiver all time.

And then there's TO. His career numbers are ungodly. But his attitude was terrible. And that kept him out of the HOF for a while. Seems it was inevitable for him to get in though. And in true TO fashion, he opted out of speaking at the official induction ceremony, and will instead give a speech at his alma mater, at the University of Tennessee.

Anyways, I'll be watching some of the speeches this year. Sporting News did a good write up of everyone's careers and when the event will happen, if interested.

Who do you think was the most deserving on this list? Or who got snubbed this year? I didn't follow that story line too much, but I'm sure someone obvious was left out..

Finished with the US getting 7 of the top 11 spots. But when it was all said and done, an Italian won. Francesco Molinari. That's the first time that's happened at The Open.

Both Spieth and Tiger had their chances, and both briefly held the lead or were tied for it. But for whatever reason day 3 brought all the low scores and the final day was a lot of misfires for almost everyone. Spieth was probably the most disappointing, shooting +5 on the day.

The Open Leaderboard (live)

6 of the top 10 are from the US. After 2 rounds, 1st place belongs to a -6 tie between Zach Johnson and Kevin Kisner, both Americans. Spieth is tied for 11th at -3. And even Tiger Woods is sorta still in play at EVEN after 2.

It's been since 1992 since an Englishmen has won at The Open. While USA and interestingly enough South African and Northern Ireland golfers have dominated the top spot, since 2010.

Zach Johnson seems like the safe bet for this year, and my prediction to win it all. But Spieth did win last year, and being only 3 shots back with half the tournament still to go... it's really anyone's tournament as no one is running away with it.

Also Tommy Fleetwood, from England, is tied for 3rd at -5 under. So the 16 year drought could be broken this year.

Lastly, Rory is at -4 and did win in 2014. Since it's been bad weather at the course so far (and he has a nack for playing well in bad weather), he has a real shot at another championship.

Any predictions?

Been following the Tour de France for a few years now. I think this year seems to be having a higher than normal amount of crashes. To the point where I thought I would compile them here:

Stage 1:
Tour de France 2018: Chris Froome crashes in Stage 1

Stage 2:
Tour de France 2018: Crash causes chaos just before Stage 2 finish

Stage 4:
Tour de France 2018: Huge peloton crash in final moments of Stage 4
Crash within the bunch - Stage 4 - Tour de France 2018

Stage 5:
Crash within the bush - Stage 5 - Tour de France 2018

Stage 8:
Crash in the peloton - Stage 8 - Tour de France 2018

Stage 9:
Tour de France 2018: Chris Froome crashes on cobblestone in Stage 9
Landa crashes! - Stage 9 - Tour de France 2018
Groenewegen crashes! - Stage 9 - Tour de France 2018
Bernal crashes in the peloton ! - Stage 9 - Tour de France 2018
Crash in the peloton, Richie Porte quits - Stage 9 - Tour de France 2018

As you can see only a few stages so far that don't have notable crashes. Though they might exist and I just didn't see the videos for them. That's just from NBC Sports and the official Tour de France youtube pages.

Some of these are minor. A few major crashes. But we are not even through the halfway point and already about a dozen crashes. Is this normal?

That's cool. Also saw they are doing a VR home run derby tournament challenge.

But really, the main event for me is the actual Home Run Derby. I don't care too much for the All Star game. Even though it is way better than the other sports' all star games, probably because you are less likely to get hurt in baseball vs football or even basketball, by giving it your all.

That Federer game was really intense. Anderson deserved it after all that. But really to me the best match this year so far was the Nadal v Potro match. Went to 5 and it was super tense the whole match. Really felt like 2 of the best players in the world going at it:

Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals after epic Juan Martin Del Potro clash - Wimbledon 2018