Sourav Ganguly is widely regarded as one of the most influential captains in Indian cricket history. During his career, "Dada" was known for several memorable moments on and off the field, from making Steve Waugh wait at the toss and celebrating shirtless on the Lord's balcony to clashes with coaches Greg Chappell and John Buchanan, arguments with Shane Warne, and refusing to walk after Graeme Smith claimed a catch.

But former Australia captain Michael Clarke has shared another story that shows a lighter side of Ganguly.

In his book Eleven Gods and a Billion Indians, author Boria Majumdar quotes Clarke recalling an incident involving Ganguly and Ricky Ponting during a toss in India, although Clarke admits he does not remember which match it was.

"One of Clarke's favourite anecdotes goes thus: Ganguly and Ricky Ponting were out at the toss during one of the matches in India — Clarke doesn't specifically remember which one — and Ponting had the coin in hand. Just as he flipped the coin, Ganguly, if Clarke is to be believed, said, 'Head-Tail'.

"'Trust me, mate, that's what Ricky told me,' Clarke says, cracking up. 'Ricky said he couldn't fathom what had happened with Dada having said Head-Tail. [And, apparently it was said at the speed of lightning.] It had taken Ricky a second or two to come to grips with the situation and by that time the coin had come down. Ganguly just picked it up and said to Ricky, "We'll bat" and walked off. India had won the toss and were batting. Ricky did not really know what to do or say and all he did was tell us in the dressing room exactly what happened at the toss," Clarke was quoted as saying in the book.

Clarke is not sure which match the incident took place in.

According to available records, Ganguly won five tosses against Ricky Ponting, and all of those came outside India; twice during the 2003 World Cup and three times in the 2003-04 VB Series. That means Clarke may have mixed up the venue while recalling the story, as Ponting would have been the one calling the toss if the match had been played in India.

Clarke, however, clearly states that he does not remember the exact match in which the incident happened.

#clarke #ponting

While just about everyone considers Luka Doncic to be one of the NBA's best players, there are plenty who doubt that he can and will win a championship. The pundits point to his extremely high-usage style of play, defensive shortcomings and supposed lack of fitness and conditioning as reasons why he won't lead his team to the promised land.
Former NBA big man Channing Frye is one of those doubters. During an episode on his "Channing's Mailbag" YouTube show, he said that Doncic will not win a ring with that current high-usage style of play, although he did say that he thinks Doncic will eventually win it all.
"I think Luka will win a championship. I do not think that he will win with that style of play and high usage rate. He needs a team around him, sure, but he plays physical and is usually beat up by the time. Did he miss his one chance? No. I just think something's going to come around where Luka got to come to grips with like, that's not what is going to win.
"Luka's greatness is not better than OKC or San Antonio or New York or Philly, no matter how great Luka is individually. So you got to build an NBA team around him where he trusts and can get off the rock a little bit more."
Doncic has the highest career usage rate in NBA history at 35.8, and he has led the league in that category in four of his eight seasons. While he has put up super impressive numbers, it has taken a bit of a toll on him physically, and some feel it was a factor that contributed to the hamstring strain that prematurely ended his 2025-26 season in early April.

#high #team #championship

Coventry boss Frank Lampard told BBC Sport: "For a game we controlled a lot of the possession we were too slow with it. Against a back five and a team who want to slow you down.
"We created more problems than Man Utd did. But it wasn't like us. Normally we're more aggressive. There's some serious lessons to learn.
"[Missing] Quality as well. You have to work towards quality. It was too much slow play from us. It's hard against a back five. When you cross they have players to deal with it.
"The Premier League brings it with feeling around it, it's a step up. It's a mental side for the players - I want them to get over it. They have to get to grips with it. We have to get there quickly.
"You talk about experience but it's moments on the pitch. The counter attack [goal] was our corner, you have to stop it by any means. Those details are crucial."

#back #sport

The world is mourning the loss of Dolly Parton, but her death has hit goddaughter Miley Cyrus especially hard.
According to a new report from Rob Shuter's Naughty But Nice Substack published on Wednesday, August 26, the "Flowers" singer, 33, is having a tough time coming to grips with Parton's death.
"Miley needs time. This one is going to hurt for a very long time," a source told the gossip columnist, adding that while Miley "knew this day would eventually come," she still wasn't prepared for the reality of losing the Steel Magnolias star and is now "absolutely heartbroken."
"Miley is in a very dark place right now," the source continued. "This isn't Miley losing another music legend. This is Miley losing someone who helped raise her, guided her career and loved her unconditionally."
The Hannah Montana alum publicly addressed the devastating loss on Wednesday, and she admitted that some parts of her relationship with Parton were simply too personal to share with the public.

#dolly

Rory McIlroy's key to re-unlocking his golf swing?
Putter grips on his 7-iron and lob wedge.
McIlroy was spotted on the range at Bellerive hitting **** with Flat Cat putter grips attached at 45-degree angles to both clubs. He explained to Golf Channel's Kira Dixon on Thursday that his right arm was staying too straight in the backswing and was getting too far across the line at the top, not supporting the club like it should.
"I was trying to save it a lot," said McIlroy, who is coming off his worst finish in a no-cut tournament, a 66th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, where he ranked ahead of just three of the 68 other competitors in strokes gained off the tee and 35th in strokes gained approach.
The putter grips serve as a training aid for McIlroy's right hand, helping him get the feel of where the club needs to be hallway back, which then corrects everything else. McIlroy discovered the solution with his instructor Michael Bannon upon returning home last Sunday evening.

#putter #grips #strokes #bellerive

ARDMORE, Pa. — Merion, the club and the course, is about as English as anything American thing could be, and Sunday here — for the finale of the 126th U.S. Amateur — was dank and wet and of-so-English. An Englishman was playing a kid from California. The Englishman won. Not a shocker.
There was something truly great about this Am, the whole seven days of it: six days of hot, dry golf leading to this rainy, cool Sunday; 312 players whittled down to two; and a final featuring two totally dissimilar golfers. Jack Whaley, deeply tanned and powerfully built, grew up in Doncaster, England, plays at Florida State and has a ready-for-the-Tour swing and a grind-it-out demeanor. Jay Leng Jr. grew up in San Diego, plays at Stanford, could not weigh 130 pounds, has a stance wider than Moe Norman's and a backswing shorter than Jon Rahm's, and follows no known playbook but his own. It was a delight watching these two go at it in this 36-hole final. Whaley won the match with a birdie on 15, the final nail in his 4-and-3 victory.
Arnold Palmer, who won this event in 1954, offered this as a swing tip for life: "Swing your swing." A cousin to you do you. Leng, winner of the Western Amateur earlier this summer who will represent the U.S. at next month's Walker Cup at Lahinch in Ireland, did not know Palmer's three-word phrase but understood its message. "I've always done things my own way and it seems to be working so I don't see any reason to change now," Leng said Sunday night, about to board a van for a ride back to the clubhouse as Whaley's new trophy was being brought to the 15th green.
By 14, Leng was playing without a hat, his black hair so wet he looked like he had just stepped out of a shower, his shirt close to soaked. Asked if he had learned anything over the course of the day about playing in the rain, he said, "Maybe carry more towels?" He was wet and worn out and tired. A U.S. Amateur can take a lot out of a guy, and so can golf in a steady rain.
Andy North won his two U.S. Opens playing in cold and wet conditions. He is now a member of the USGA executive committee — nice get, USGA! — and was at the award presentation. "Not a shock to see a player from England play so well in these conditions — you would think he has a lot of experience at it," North said Sunday night. "Playing in the rain really requires you to stay as dry as you possibly can while keeping your mind totally focused on the shots you have to make, never giving in to the rain for a second." Andy North was a master of keeping two towels in the spokes of his umbrella while playing in the rain, one for the grips, the other for his hands.

#playing #amateur

Leeds United Women opened their account for the 2026/27 FA WNL Division One North campaign with a hefty 7-0 win over Thornaby Women.
Goals from all over the park helped the Whites see off the newly promoted side, and ******* istant manager Lee Harrison was pleased with the display.
"Relatively pleased," Harrison began. "It was a nervy first 10 minutes, but once we got the nerves out of the way and got to grips to the game, we were very good in the final third.
"A lot of things we worked on in pre-season came to fruition so we're happy, but take the result out of it, we still feel there were elements of the game we could have done better. There's things to work on.
"It's definitely a confidence booster and it makes training in the week a little bit simpler, but we're under no illusions that, even with a result like that, the next game's going to be easy.

#things #we 're #united #division

The Fastest Man on Earth is slowing down in order to rush us into an enhanced future.
It's all relative, they say, and in this case, you must come to grips with 351 miles per hour registering as "slowing down."
"It's been an interesting journey and I'm hugely enjoying it," Andy Green said by phone midweek from Northwest Utah, where the annual Speed Week is under way at the famed Bonneville Salt Flats.
It was 29 years ago when Green, the former fighter-jet pilot in the UK's Royal Air Force, became the first Earth-bound person to go supersonic, surpassing the speed of sound and reaching 763 mph. Next Wednesday, Aug. 12, the goal is 351 mph, which by comparison sounds like a milk-and-bread run, but it will also be a record because at Bonneville's annual carnival of speed, again, it's all relative.
In this case, it'd be a record for hydrogen-powered machinery.

#down #case #fastest

Look, everyone, you need to come to grips with the reality that Indiana really did win the College Football Playoff National Championship under Curt Cignetti, and it might do it again.

This isn't stopping.

Anecdotal, I know, but let me sum up the prevailing attitude of just about all the various media hits I've done since the Hoosiers had, arguably, the greatest season in the history of college football.

Wonderful story, amazing job done by Cignetti. Now Ohio State, Alabama, Notre Dame, and the other bluebloods will restore order, and Indiana will go back to waiting for basketball season.

Well done, Hoosiers, here are your commemorative t-shirts, off you go ...

Nope.
Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
It's not just that Indiana took a blowtorch to everything the stodgy world of college football knows to be holy, right, and true.

It's that now everyone - from Kentucky to UCLA to insert-your-Power-Four-school-here - has some glimmer of hope that maybe, with the right mix of miracles, can have the type of success that fans of most schools have been generationally conditioned to not dare dream possible.
It's also that the bar has been raised for the powerhouses.

Alabama didn't just lose in the College Football Playoff. Ala-FREAKING-Bama is still recovering from the atomic wedgie applied by ... Indiana?! It offends the sensibilities.

And if you think that's not sitting well for an Alabama, try Nebraska, and USC, and Florida and all the other traditional football schools that expect to compete for giant things every year, and can't.
But no, this doesn't necessarily mean Indiana will win the national ****** le again this year, or next year, or five years from now. It means that it'll at least be in the mix.

Ohio State doesn't win it all every year. Texas still hasn't won one since Vince Young. Notre Dame hasn't won one since 1988.

#alabama #done #playoff

Hundreds of friends, family and community members lined up outside a church to celebrate Nolan Well's life as they continue to come to grips with the 18-year-old's tragic death after a July 4 boat trip with his friends. Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a eulogy demanding answers and questioning the circumstances surrounding Wells' death. NBC's Aaron Gilchrist reports for TODAY.

#death #nolan #july

PHILADELPHIA – The involvement from the team with the second-best record in baseball during the All-Star Game was sparse.
With Jacob Misiorowski not pitching and Brice Turang, despite being 10th in baseball in WAR, not selected, William Contreras was the lone representative from the Milwaukee Brewers to take the field July 14 at Citizens Bank Park.
Contreras entered the game on defense in the top of the fourth, replacing Braves backstop and Madison native Drake Baldwin.
His lone at-bat came in the bottom of the sixth against Cleveland closer Cade Smith. Contreras saw three pitches, swung at each of them and flew out to right.
Misiorowski did take the field as part of a segment between innings in which kids took the field on bikes and went to a spot on the diamond. Misiorowski was stationed at home plate, where he showed the kid he was paired with each of his pitch grips while Ray Charles' "America the Beautiful" played in the back.

Brandon Aiyuk just failed the test...big time.
He was on social media again on Saturday. This time, Aiyuk claimed that his college teammate at Arizona State, Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, texted him saying that he (Brandon Aiyuk) has to follow the rules since "he's on his (Daniels') team."
Aiyuk and Daniels also unfollowed one another on social media.
Now, first of all, we have no idea, as of Saturday night, whether this is what actually transpired. Secondly, if the two were talking and Daniels was telling Aiyuk he needs to come to grips with the fact that he can't always criticize others on his team or in his organization, that makes perfect sense.
The conversation might even have gone so far as Daniels informing Aiyuk that things between them would not be as they were in college. Daniels is expected to lead in Washington, so Aiyuk needs to consider if he can handle the dynamics of their relationship changing 100 percent. That also makes perfect sense.

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — The Iranian national team left North America on Tuesday, departing from its World Cup home in Mexico following a tournament marked by repeated disagreements with U.S. officials, flashes of athletic brilliance and, ultimately, disappointment over barely missing out on advancing beyond the group stage.
The players return to a homeland still in the grips of an unresolved conflict with Israel and the United States. But their fans say they should be proud.
"I think even though they lost, it gave people a sense of hope," said Mohammad Modarres, 38, who traveled from San Diego to bid the team farewell.
After its three group stage matches ended in draws, Iran's World Cup future depended on either Algeria or Austria winning their match on Saturday.
Watching from the lobby of their Tijuana hotel, the team erupted in celebration when Algeria took the lead in stoppage time.

The limited-edition Americana 250 Collection release celebrates 250 years of America with patriotic versions of several familiar TaylorMade products, including MG5 wedges, a Spider ZT putter, TP5 and TP5x golf ***** and headcovers. The performance story is the same as the standard gear, but the cosmetics are fully Fourth of July and a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, just with fewer hot dogs.
The Americana MG5 wedge set ($750) includes clubs with three lofts, 52 degrees, 56 degrees and 60 degrees, and each has a different American-themed engraving. The 52-degree wedge features a bald eagle, the 56-degree wedge has "We the People" script from the Constitution's preamble, and the 60-degree wedge shows the Statue of Liberty. TaylorMade also added red, white and blue rings to the ferrules, matching Golf Pride Z grips and a shaft label that calls out the 250th anniversary theme.
The Americana Spider ZT putter ($649.99) takes TaylorMade's zero-torque platform and dresses it in red, white and navy. It still has the same core technologies as the standard Spider ZT, including True Path alignment and the Pure Roll insert, but this version comes with a matching Americana headcover.
The driver headcover ($89.99) features Lady Liberty holding her torch in front of an American flag design, while the mallet putter cover shows a bald eagle spreading its wings over stars and stripes.
The Americana 250 TP5 and TP5x MySymbol golf ***** ($62) keep the same Tour-level construction as the standard TP5 and TP5x ***** , but add "1776" below the TaylorMade logo and an American flag side stamp.

Yankees' Gerrit Cole captured giving back to baseball in awesome video originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Gerrit Cole is far from done with his MLB career.
That doesn't stop the New York Yankees' right-handed pitching ace from caring about the next generation of ballplayers.
In a cool video clip captured on Sunday, Cole could be seen speaking to a bunch of youngsters. It's clear that he's showing them different pitch grips and the way that holding the baseball a certain way makes the ball move.
Check it out:

Toncoin, Terra Classic rise by double digits as Bitcoin grips $80,000 | FXStreet

Rates & Charts
News
Analysis
Economic Calendar
Cryptos

https://www.fxstreet.com/c...

Bitcoin Presses a Major Breakout Level as Iran Conflict Grips Markets | Investing.com India

https://in.investing.com/a...

Bitcoin Presses a Major Breakout Level as Iran Conflict Grips Markets | Investing.com NG

https://ng.investing.com/a...