The Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Defeat

A meditation on the emptiest day in the sports calendar.

Yesterday I had an essay in the Washington Post on Amy Coney Barrett, which they actually solicited. The last time I was in that paper was seven years ago, when I was asked to write about Anthony Kennedy’s legacy. So I guess look for me there again in 2032 to discuss another inscrutable justice. —IS

Today is the day after the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which makes this the saddest day of the year for sports fans. It’s the only day when none of the four major North American professional leagues have games, making it the nadir of the athletic calendar, the opposite of the tantalizing October apogee when the entire quartet is in action. Plus Wimbledon just ended on Sunday—Jannik Sinner versus Carlos Alcaraz looks to be a worthy successor to the Big Three battles of the past two decades—and the Club World Cup too. One of the highlights of this summer was taking my soccer-obsessed seven-year-old to Atlanta to see Leo Messi’s Inter Miami play Paris Saint Germain, which ended up losing bigly to Chelsea in the final.

Yes, I know, Major League Soccer has games tonight—the Brazilian league does as well—and the NBA Summer League is in full swing. More importantly for my interests, the Tour de France is back in gear—it’s compelling and uplifting to have it on in the background as you start your day—but even the cyclists took a rest day yesterday. These days there’s always something going on, and you can probably watch it if you download your umpteenth streaming app, which features not only Malaysian Muay Thai but the hot new post-prestige-TV series you never thought you’d end up pulling all-nighters to binge. (For me that was recently “The Pitt” on the re-rebranded HBO Max.)