The World Cup is down to the final eight

Soccer »
The knockout round of soccer's World Cup has been very exciting even without the U.S. or the defending champion, Germany, in the mix. Some of the solid teams are being eliminated in some crazy games, many coming down to penalty kicks. I think the favorite will probably be France because they have had the most consistent offense throughout the tournament up to this point.

England was just barely able to advance over Columbia by winning in a penalty kick shootout as well. Since 1966, whenever England was in a penalty kick shootout during a major tournament, they ALWAYS lost. This win finally broke that curse! England is now the favorite to win in their matchup with Sweden on Saturday in the effort to reach the semi-finals.

Brazil is also still in the tournament after defeating Mexico. They can't be overlooked either as a possible champion. No matter what, it's been a blast to follow this year's World Cup.

Basketball »
I was quite surprised that LeBron James only waited two days to announce that he had made his decision to become a Los Angeles Laker. The Lakers are very young team so they are not an automatic championship favorite, but they certainly will make the playoffs now. The 76ers have not done anything big with free agency opportunities. I think they will be in the top three of this coming season's Eastern Conference, along with the Boston Celtics and the Toronto Raptors, since LeBron James has gone west. Even though the 76ers won't have LeBron, Philadelphia basketball will continue to be worth watching with the likes of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid on the team.

I am spending a good bit of time watching the Wimbledon tennis tournament, but things change so quickly from match to match that there is no point on reporting anything until next week.

Baseball »
The major league baseball All-Star game is two weeks away. The Phillies will have at least two representatives in that game. That will be Aaron Nola and Rhys Hoskins. As a team, the Phillies have improved a lot more than I thought they would at this point. They are about a year ahead of where I thought they would be. The National League east division is pretty darn weak this year and, because of that, the Phillies may actually have a legitimate chance to make the playoffs. I never thought I would say that and I hope I don't have to eat my words.