Readable, teachable news.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
After 162 games, baseball’s regular season came to an exciting close.
This year, some new changes made the year even more exciting than usual.
Major League Baseball (MLB) changed the way they choose who gets to be in the playoffs this year.
And with that new system, some teams were battling for a playoff position right down to their last game.
In any sport, referees sometimes make mistakes.
After all, no one’s perfect.
But major league football teams have been irritated by the unusually high number of bad mistakes made by the referees these days, including a bizarre call on Monday night.
The National Football League (NFL) is using stand-in refs.
The league’s usual referees are in a contract dispute and are unable to reach a new collective bargaining agreement.
So the NFL has brought in replacement refs that aren’t as well trained or as experienced.
And they’re making some bad calls.
On Monday night, there was an especially poor call made by a ref that directly affected the outcome of a game.
The start of the NHL season, and the season in general, may not happen as expected.
The NHL has locked out its players.
For the second time in eight years, the NHL is experiencing problems between its owners and players.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement between players and owners has expired.
The LA Kings are the kings of hockey, for the first time in their history.
On Monday night, the Kings won hockey’s ultimate prize — the Stanley Cup.
Their quest for the Stanley Cup has been 45 years in the making.
Their dream became a reality after they beat the New Jersey Devils 6-1 in the sixth game of a seven-game series.
The win can be attributed in large part to a five-minute major penalty against one of the Devils’ players early in the game. During that penalty the Kings scored three goals.
The game then really opened up in favour of the Kings. Jonathan Quick, the Kings’ goalie, was solid in net. In fact, he was fantastic for the entire playoffs, setting NHL records. He was named playoff MVP (Most Valuable Player), and was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy.
“I’ll Have Another” did indeed have another, just last Saturday.
Canadian-owned horse, “I’ll Have Another” (yes, that’s its name) won the 137th Preakness Stakes.
Blazing down the stretch, “I’ll Have Another” pushed hard with each powerful stride to cross the finish line first — winning by only the length of its neck.
It was a very close and exciting finish. The horse was jockeyed by Mario Gutierrez.
The jockey is the person who rides and directs the horse in the race.
On Tuesday, Brett Lawrie — a baseball player for the Toronto Blue Jays — lost control of his emotions during a game.
Lawrie was batting, and the umpire made a couple of calls that Lawrie disagreed with.
In Major League Baseball (MLB), there are four umpires including the home-plate umpire.
He is the one who decides if a pitch was a “ball” or a “strike.”
The pitcher pitches and when the ball crosses home plate the umpire makes a quick decision as to whether it was a good pitch (called a strike) or a bad pitch (called a ball).
If a batter gets three strikes against him he strikes out.
If a batter gets four balls against him he gets a ‘walk’ and is allowed to go to first base.
England loves soccer. English soccer teams play in the Premier League (PL).
Two of the biggest soccer teams in the PL are two of the bitterest rivals: Manchester City, known as “Man City” and Manchester United, known as “Man United.”
Last weekend, one of the most exciting games in the PL took place… and it came down to the final moments. It was a game that would decide who took home the cup.
If Man City won its game against the Queens Park Rangers, Man City would end up with more points than its rival, Man United. In that case, Man City would win its first PL championship in 44 years.
However, a win wouldn’t come easy.
With the beginning of each National Hockey League (NHL) regular season, teams dream of winning The Stanley Cup.
The Stanley Cup is the NHL’s ultimate prize. It is a trophy awarded each year to the team that wins the playoffs.
The playoffs are composed of the top 16 teams from the regular season.
In the playoffs teams embark on a best-of-seven series in hopes of winning The Cup. The team to win four games first wins the series.
Each series win brings a team one step closer to raising The Stanley Cup as champion.
Last year the Boston Bruins were champions and won The Cup.
This year the Bruins lost in round one in a thrilling series against the Washington Capitals.
Last Saturday, a relatively unknown pitcher did something that’s only been done 20 times before in the whole history of Major League Baseball.
The last time it happened, was in 2010. And it’s only happened for the White Sox twice before, in their 112-year history.
Last Saturday, Chicago White Sox pitcher Philip Humber threw a perfect game.
April 16 was a very hot day in Boston, Mass. It was a record-setting 27 degrees Celsius.
It was the day of the 116th Boston Marathon.
A marathon is a long-distance race, covering just over 42 kilometres. On this day, many runners (16 per cent of them, in fact) decided to pass on the event because it was too hot. Many other racers posted slower than usual race times.
Except for one participant. Canadian Josh Cassidy, 27, set a world record.
Cassidy won the men’s wheelchair division. He raced in a three-wheel, high-tech wheelchair; he uses his arms to power it.
Cassidy finished with a record time of 1:18:25 (one hour, 18 minutes and 25 seconds). His time was two seconds faster than the previous best time, set by South Africa’s Ernst Van Dyk in 2004.
