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ISSUE Nº 001 · WEEK OF JULY 20, 2026
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Spain won the World Cup on a goal from a substitute, a New Zealander won golf's oldest trophy on the final putt, and the Seattle Seahawks sold for $9.6 billion. Everything below is safe to repeat out loud.
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BIG EVENTS · THE WORLD CUP FINAL |
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EXHIBIT A
Spain beat Argentina 1–0 to win the World Cup
Spain won the men's World Cup on Sunday night in New Jersey, beating defending champion Argentina 1–0. Nobody scored for 106 minutes. Then Ferran Torres, who had spent most of the match on the bench, came on and scored the only goal of the game. Argentina finished with 10 players after Enzo Fernández was sent off in stoppage time. It is Spain's second World Cup, after 2010, and the last one Lionel Messi is expected to play.
Torres is only the second substitute in history to score the winner in a World Cup final, which is a compelling argument for arriving late to things.
PHOTO VIA SPORTS MOLE
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GOLF |
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EXHIBIT B
Ryan Fox won golf's oldest tournament with a putt on the very last hole
Ryan Fox, a 39-year-old New Zealander, made birdie on the 18th hole Sunday at Royal Birkdale in England to win The Open Championship by one shot over Cameron Young. It is his first major title in a career that did not previously include one. Sam Burns led when the day started and finished third. Scottie Scheffler, the world's top-ranked player, tied for fourth.
The putt also avoided a playoff, sparing several million people an unplanned extra hour of television.
PHOTO VIA GOLF CHANNEL
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FORMULA 1 |
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EXHIBIT C
A 19-year-old won the Belgian Grand Prix while his own teammate got wiped out on lap one
Kimi Antonelli, 19, won Formula 1's Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday at Spa, finishing ahead of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. His Mercedes teammate George Russell was knocked out of the race on the opening lap after contact with Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was given a five-second penalty for it and still finished fourth.
Five seconds is the punishment for ending a colleague's afternoon, which is roughly the going rate in most offices too.
PHOTO VIA MOTORSPORT WEEK
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FOOTBALL, AMERICAN |
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EXHIBIT D
The Seattle Seahawks sold for $9.6 billion, a record for any sports team anywhere
A group led by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and his wife, Neeru, agreed to buy the Seattle Seahawks for a reported $9.6 billion, pending approval from the other NFL owners. Neeru Khosla would be the controlling owner. The family owns a small stake in the San Francisco 49ers and will have to sell it first.
That is the highest price ever paid for a business whose product will not be available again until September.
PHOTO VIA ESPN
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BASEBALL |
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EXHIBIT E
The American League won the All-Star Game 4–0 without letting anyone do anything
Eleven American League pitchers combined to strike out 15 batters and allow three hits in a shutout of the National League on Tuesday. Dylan Cease started and struck out the side in the first inning. The second half of the regular season has since resumed, with the trade deadline set for August 3.
The All-Star Game is an exhibition with nothing at stake, and the pitchers treated it like a job interview.
PHOTO VIA ESPN
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HOCKEY |
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EXHIBIT F
Steve Yzerman abruptly quit as the boss of the Detroit Red Wings
Yzerman, a Hall of Fame player who ran the Red Wings' front office for seven seasons, stepped down unexpectedly this week after the team missed the playoffs in all of them. His long-term rebuild was known locally as the "Yzerplan."
He stays on as a senior adviser, the corporate term for still in the building but no longer answering email.
PHOTO VIA ESPN
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BASKETBALL |
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EXHIBIT G
A star player's trade is frozen while the NBA waits on a law firm
A deal sending Kawhi Leonard from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Toronto Raptors was agreed at the end of June and then put on hold. The league is investigating whether the Clippers routed money to Leonard through an endorsement contract to get around its spending rules. Commissioner Adam Silver said this week the review has run longer than he hoped and has to be finished before next season starts.
Two franchises and one superstar are currently waiting on a document, which is the most relatable thing in this newsletter.
PHOTO VIA ESPN
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TENNIS |
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Nothing happened. You're welcome.
Wimbledon ended the previous weekend. The tour is now in its quiet summer stretch until the US Open in late August.
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ALSO FILED |
| ⚲ The Chicago White Sox gave No. 1 draft pick Roch Cholowsky a record $10.35 million signing bonus, the most ever paid for baseball not yet played. |
| ⚲ The New York Mets are expected to sell off players before baseball's August 3 trade deadline, the polite institutional way of conceding a season. |
| ⚲ Aaron Donald, who retired from the NFL two years ago, worked out at the Los Angeles Rams facility while considering unretiring. Retirement is going great. |
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The Sportsball newsletter is issued every Monday by the Sportsball Dept. of Morale, a division of didyoucatchthegame.com.
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