Americans look forward to sport

COLLEGE PARK, MD - NOVEMBER 25: Head coach James Franklin of the Penn State Nittany Lions applauds from the sidelines in the first quarter against the Maryland Terrapins at Capital One Field on Novemb

As summer drifts across North America and the FIFA World Cup comes to a dramatic close the general American and Canadian sports fans say "now we can get back to our sports" and Canadians look towards the ice hockey season while Americans focus on their upcoming gridiron season.

And like New Zealand where hardly a newspaper day goes by without the All Blacks being mentioned, it is the same in both North American countries.
International sport in the USA in particular certainly takes second place to local "world" championships, whether it is baseball, gridiron, basketball or ice hockey.

What headlines are dominating the North American scene? Here are a few.

College football coach rewarded with a six-year deal worth $32 million!
Penn State football coach James Franklin (pictured) will be paid $4.3 million in guaranteed money this year with his salary rising to $6.25 million in 2022.
His team's record is 25 wins and 15 losses with last season's 11-3 record being his best. Wonder what the AB coach thinks of that?

FIFA World Cup
Taking the stated opinion of US executives that "the only way we will get into the World Cup is if we host it" the US has been successful in its bid — along with Mexico and Canada — to host the largest sporting event in the world. There has been no mention as to whether the Mexican team will be allowed over the wall that is being built.

Phil Mickleson decries the observation he is under having "played hockey" with his golf ball in a recent tournament. Phil decided that he needed to nudge his ball along closer to the hole and was penalised for his "mistake".
Apparently he was getting ready to play golf with a certain president who has found that the rules of golf do not apply to him!

Basketball college coach Eric Musselman was gifted $10,000 for each round in which his team played with an additional guarantee of $100,000 if they made the final four.
The college did save the money however as the team faltered along the way.

$22.5 million base salary
Moving to the Minnesota Vikings NFL team has will be a rewarding experience for Kirk Cousins who has been around the league for a few years with limited success though "a quarter-back can't carry the whole team on its back". In base salary this upcoming season in addition to a $500,000 workout bonus he will receive the $22.5m base salary PLUS $3m as a signing bonus, a 2019 base salary of $27.5m with $500,000 workout bonus, and a $29.5m base salary with a $500,000 workout bonus for the 2020 season. What do you think Barrett?

Cut back!
Eastern Michigan College has decided to cut back on its sports.
They have decided to cut softball, men's swimming and diving, women's tennis and wrestling.
The move affects 58 males and 25 females who would have received or had received sport scholarships and will save the college about $2.5m.
No mention was made as to whether the money saved would go into classroom educational programmes.

Justify justifies his place
North American horse racing received a boost when the outstanding three-year-old Justify won the Triple Crown — the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes — a three-race series that takes place over a five week period each year.
To win all three races at varying distances has proven to be a difficult challenge and only 14 horses have done so in the 100 plus years of the challenge.
Justify won each race handily and at this time is undefeated.
The last horse to win the Triple Crown was American Pharoah.
What do you think of that, Winx baby?

Just a few sporting headlines for Na-Land.