1) Kicking off this week: it’s Nascar’s version of an NHL game-stopping throwdown. Spencer Gallagher and John Wes Townley engage in some comic rough and tumble – and a very peculiar standing grapple – after both crashed out of a race in St Louis.
2) Mont Ventoux, of which Roland Barthes once wrote, ‘A god of evil, a despot of cyclists’ returns to the route of the Tour de France, which begins on Saturday, for the first time since 2013, when Chris Froome became only the second rider in yellow to win at the summit of the Giant of Provence. Lance Armstrong never won a stage that finished there, ruefully claiming he allowed Marco Pantani to cross the line first in 2000 after an epic tussle while Eddy Merckx rode himself to the brink of collapse in 1970.
3) Right. On. Cue.
4) Let’s take a trip down memory lane to remind ourselves that, as the FA’s Martin Glenn was so keen to point out, England really have been pap at tournament football for the last 50 years. Here’s Luis Suárez biting the hand that used to feed him (in a way), Andrea Pirlo putting Joe Hart in his place, a bloodbath in Bloemfontein, Portugal on penalties Part I, Portugal on penalties Part II, Seaman lobbed, Romanian ridicule and Beckham’s red mist. Need we go on?
5) The UK trials took place over the weekend with Adam Gemili winning the men’s 200m, which is all well and good but can he beat a Red Arrow? The American equivalent of this very British contest sees the former Olympic 200m gold medallist Shawn Crawford take on a giraffe, and then a zebra – obviously.
6) Nathan Ross defies the laws of gravity.
Highlights from last week’s blog
1) Eric Cantona sings ‘Will Grigg’s on fire’ in what can only be described as a strange Eurosport video.
2) Bravo Williams, who kept up their reputation as the quickest team in the F1 paddock with one of the fastest pit stops of all time during the European Grand Prix in Baku.
3) The world record for 0-60mph in an electric car is 1.513 secs and here it is, complete with added laughs from its creators.
4) Borussia Mönchengladbach 12-0 Borussia Dortmund: the biggest thrashing in Bundesliga history.
5) Having previously discussed great moments at SW19 there was callous disregard for one of the great stories of men’s tennis: when Goran Ivanisecvic won Wimbledon.
6) And after last week here is more from ‘Beast Mode’ himself, Marshawn Lynch.
Spotters’ badges: Vesuvial, GrahamClayton, BlackCaeser, Voller, fmgazette
Guardian YouTube football channel
Guardian YouTube sport channel
