The 3 plays in sports everybody will be talking about today
Good morning! The Pittsburgh Penguins are Stanley Cup champions (again), Rafael Nadal is the French Open champion (again), Aaron Judge hit a really long home run (again) and Michael Bradley scored a brilliant goal in Mexico (for the first time). Here are the plays everybody will be talking about Monday:
The Nashville Predators goal that never happened. The Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup with a late goal by Patric Hornqvist, a nifty bank-shot off the elbow of Pekka Rinne. Unfortunately, that will be overshadowed by the goal by the Predators that was waived off early, their second of the series. It looked like Colton Sissons had given the Preds the lead in the second period. Instead, the refs waived it off when they lost sight of the puck and assumed it was trapped by the goalie. It clearly wasn't and the goal didn't count. If you listen carefully, you can hear the whistle blow just a split-second before the puck goes in the net.
Rafael Nadal wins the French Open for the 10th time. Nadal beat Stan Wawrinka in the final of the French Open, winning easily in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1. Nadal is the first player ever, men or women, to win one Grand Slam ten times. Nadal also now has 15 career Grand Slam titles, the second-most all-time on the men's side, breaking his tie with Pete Sampras, and just three titles behind Roger Federer for the most ever, with 18. Here is match point.
Michael Bradley's long-distance goal against Mexico. The U.S. Men's National Team has long struggled playing Mexico in Estadio Azteca, so it had to be a huge relief when Bradley scored in the sixth minute on a brilliant long-distance goal. The score can best be described as a 40-yard chip with pace as he somehow rocketed the ball past the goalie when it looked like he just flicked it. Amazing. Mexico would later score to tie the game, but the U.S. got a rare point in Mexico in World Cup qualifying.
The Aaron Judge 500-foot bonus. On most days, this would get top billing. But Sunday turned out to be a sneaky good sports day and the longest home run of the season is relegated to bonus status. At 495 feet, Judge joins Giancarlo Stanton as the only players since 2010 with home runs of 490-feet-plus.