🔥 Goal Digger

⚽️ Checking in at the World Cup, where a cow-heart-eating Norwegian Viking has suddenly become the most famous person on the planet. Erling Haaland has single-handedly brought Norway to the quarterfinals, scoring seven goals in five games in the tournament. That’s more than Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in five World Cups and more than the entire Norway national team has had in its history before this year’s tournament. 

• Julian Edelman said he’s like a European, Gen Z version of Gronk, and I honestly can’t look at him any differently now.

In other World Cup news, every person living outside of the U.S. was livid this week after FIFA decided to reverse USA striker Folarin Balogun’s red card. The controversial decision reportedly came after a phone call from Donald Trump to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, where he was told in no uncertain terms to get rid of the red-card suspension. 

• The whole world was crying about corruption (welcome to FIFA guys, it’s kind of their thing), but in the end, none of it mattered. Even with Balogun in the lineup, Belgium embarrassed Team USA 4-1 to send them packing.
  

• Of course, the Belgians did the Trump dance in the locker room to YMCA after the win. Tariffs on Belgian chocolate soon! 

Last but not least, Argentina pulled off an all-time comeback in the round of 16 to beat Egypt. Messi and Argentina were down 2-0 in the 78th minute (they had just a 0.6% chance of winning) but ended up scoring three unanswered goals in a 13-minute span to keep their World Cup hopes alive. Tom Brady tweeted that it even topped his famous 28-3 comeback in the Super Bowl. High praise. 

⛳️ Josh Allen revealed his (very intimate) golf training routine. The swing looks fantastic, so you can’t really argue with his methods. Half of Buffalo would pay to be the guy sitting behind Josh. 

📱 Yahoo is launching a Fantasy College Football league. Just in case you didn’t sink enough time into your NFL fantasy team, you can now spend another five hours a week scouring stats, video, and injury reports of a bunch of 18-year-old kids. 

🙅‍♂️ The Kawhi trade has been vetoed by the NBA until it’s done its salary cap investigation. It sounds like the deal will still go through, but there’s still a chance the league voids Kawhi’s Clippers contract entirely. If that happens, he’d become a free agent and would be free to sign with the Raptors (without them having to cough up two players and four draft picks). 

🎾 A 24-year-old local wildcard has punched his ticket to the Wimbledon semi-finals. He may be getting slaughtered by Alexander Zverev as you read this, but British tennis player Arthur Fery (ranked No. 114 in the world) has made one of the most improbable runs in Wimbledon history. Before this tournament, his total career earnings after five years is just shy of $800,000. Regardless of what happens today, he’s guaranteed at least a $1.2 million cheque from Wimbledon. Not a bad two weeks. 

• It’s a great story, but he’s not exactly a scrappy underdog. Fery’s mom was a former pro, his dad is worth about $350 million, and he grew up a 10-minute walk from the Wimbledon club. 

• To be fair, he’s also a short king at 5 '9 (his opponent in the semi-finals is 6' 6), so maybe life’s advantages have balanced out. 

🏀 The NBA is testing a new rule where players take one free throw worth multiple points. Basically, if you’re fouled going to the rim, you take one shot for two points. If you’re fouled while taking a three, you take one worth three points. 

• It sounds gimmicky and doesn’t solve any of the league’s real issues, so naturally Adam Silver is all over it. 

⚾️ All Junior Caminero does is hit home runs. The Rays’ star hit 11 homers in 11 straight games over the past two weeks, including a three-homer game against the Royals. The Royals’ week somehow got worse in a game against the Mets, where they managed to make three errors in one play. Legit little league level defence.

🏒 Leo Carlsson just became hockey’s richest player. The Ducks’ phenom just landed a new five-year, $90 million contract, making him the NHL’s top-paid player at just 21-years-old. The deal is even crazier when you consider that it’s $20 million more than what the Ducks’ owner paid for the entire franchise in 2005. 

👥 The Cavs are apparently saving a roster spot for Bronny in case LeBron signs with them. If only we all had dads like LeBron looking out for our career prospects like this.

Alright, that’s enough for one Friday.

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