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The Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, more commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in Milan, Italy. It is the home stadium for two of the three most successful Italian Football League clubs: A.C. Milan and F.C. Internazionale. It is officially named in honor of Giuseppe Meazza, the Inter and Milan player of the 1930s and 1940s.

With the spectators being so close to the pitch, the stands being so steep, and with a large roof, it is considered to have one of the best atmospheres of any stadium in the world. Construction began in 1925 in the Milanese district of San Siro with the idea to build it in the same district of the horse racing track originating with then-president of A.C. Milan, Piero Pirelli. The architects designed the stadium only for football.

The San Siro’s inauguration was on September 19, 1926 when 35,000 spectators saw Inter defeat Milan 6-3. Originally, the ground was home and property of A.C. Milan but in 1947 Internazionale became tenants and the two have shared the ground ever since. The Italian national side also plays occasional games there and it has also been used for the 1964/65, 1969/70, and 2000/01 Champions League/European Cup finals. The stadium underwent further renovations for the World Cup with $60 million being spent.

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The first version of softball was invented in Chicago, Illinois by George Hancock as a winter version of baseball. It was intended to be a way for baseball players to keep in practice during the winter and was initially called “Indoor Baseball.”

Yale and Harvard alumni gathered at the Farragut Boat Club in Chicago to hear the annual football game. When the score was announced and bets were paid, a Yale alum threw a boxing glove at a Harvard supporter. The other person grabbed a stick and swung at it. Hancock called “Play ball!” and the game began. He took a boxing glove and tied it into a ball while a broom handle was used as a bat. The first softball game ended with a score of 44-40. The ball, being soft, was fielded barehanded rather than with gloves. The next week, Hancock developed a ball and an undersized bat.

The Farragut Club soon set rules for the game and they quickly spread to outsiders. The game, under the name of “Indoor-Outdoor,” was moved outside next year and the first rules were published in 1889. The first softball league outside of the United States was organized in Toronto in 1897. The name “softball” dates from 1926 and was coined by Walter Hankanson of the YMCA at a meeting of the National Recreation Congress. The name softball had spread across the U.S. by 1930.

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The Milwaukee Mile is a race track in West Allis, Wisconsin. It is a one-mile long oval track that seats about 50,000 spectators. It operated as a dirt track until 1953 when it was paved. The Milwaukee Mile’s premier distinction is as the oldest operating motor speedway in the world, hosting at least one auto race every year since 1903.

The track is located at the grounds for the Wisconsin State Fair. The track has held events sanctioned by major organizations such as American Automobile Association, NASCAR, and the IndyCar Series. The track started out as a one-mile private horse racing track on or before 1876. The first event was held on September 11, 1903, William Jones of Chicago won a five lap speed contest, and set the first track record with a 72 second, 50 mph lap. There were 24-hour endurance races in 1907 and 1908.

Louis Disbrow won the first 100-mile event in 1915, averaging 62.5 mph. Barney Oldfield’s success at the Mile helped make him a legend when he set the track record in 1905 and raised his speed in 1910 to 70.1 mph in his “Blitzen Benz.” In 1911, Ralph De Palma won the first Milwaukee Mile Championship Car race a week before his Indianapolis 500 win. The tradition of hosting the “race after the Indianapolis 500” began in 1947.

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Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting and producing sports-related programming 24 hours a day. It was founded by Scott Rasmussen and his father, Bill, and launched on September 7, 1979, under the direction of Chet Simmons.

ESPN’s signature telecast, SportsCenter, debuted with the network and aired its 30,000^th episode on February 11, 2007. The network broadcasts primarily out of its studios in Bristol, Connecticut with offices in New York City, Seattle, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Los Angeles. Most programming on ESPN is composed of live or tape-delayed sporting events and sports-related news programming with the remainder filled by sports-related talk shows and documentaries.

The roots of ESPN can be traced to Bill Rasmussen who was hoping to create the first national sports network. In 1977, he and his son Scott sought a new business venture. Bill’s original idea was for a cable TV network that focused on covering sporting events in the state of Connecticut. He found out that it was cheaper to buy a continuous 24-hour satellite feed than buying several blocks of only a few hours a night. ESPN started with the debut of SportsCenter with a pro slow pitch softball game on afterwards. The network broadcasts 65 sports, 24 hours a day in 14 languages in more than 150 countries.

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Gareth Southgate was born in Watford, England and is a former English football player. He is currently manager of English Premier League side Middlesbrough. His highest achievements in the sport were winning the League Cup with Aston Villa and Middlesbrough. He also reached an FA Cup and UEFA Cup as a player, and made 57 appearances for the England national team.

Southgate began his career at Crystal Palace, playing in central midfield. He became captain and led the club to the 1994 Division One title. After they were relegated from the Premier League, he moved to Aston Villa. Once there, he was converted to a center-back. In his first season, he lifted the League Cup and Aston Villa qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Southgate left the club in 2001 and signed on with Middlesbrough. He won the club’s Player of the Year award in his first season after a series of assured displays whilst receiving no yellow cards. He became captain for the 2002-03 season and helped them win the Carling Cup in February 2004. After club manager Steve McClaren left to manage the England national team, Southgate replaced him amidst controversy because he did not have the required coaching qualifications to manage a top-flight club.

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Laird Hamilton is an American big-wave surfer and co-inventor of tow-in surfing. He is married to Gabrielle Reece, celebrity women’s’ professional sports competitor and fashion model. Hamilton grew up in a location that is known as one of the greatest surfing regions in the world, the north coast of Oahu and helped along by the surfing greats of the modern surfing era who were his father’s friends and customers.

By the age of 20, Hamilton had already become an accomplished surfer but competitive contests never appealed to him. In late 1992, Hamilton with two of his close friends, big wave riders Darrick Doerner and Buzzy Kerbox, started using inflatable boats to tow one another into waves which were too big to catch under paddle power alone. The technique, which would later be modified to use jet skis, was a revolutionary innovation. Tow-in surfing, as it soon became known, pushed the confinements and possibilities of big wave surfing to a whole new level.

Using tow-in surfing methods, Hamilton quickly learned how to survive 70-foot waves and carving arcs across walls of water. It was Hamilton’s death-defying drop into Tahiti’s Teahupo’o break on the morning of August 17, 2000 which became the measure of his surfing career to date, and firmly established his reputation as the greatest and bravest big wave surfer in the recorded history of surfing. Hamilton dropped into what is widely considered to be the most dangerous wave ever ridden, due to the sea “sucking down” into a huge well and forming an enormous mass of moving water.

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Born in Dayton, Ohio, William Roger Clemens is an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played in the majors for 24 seasons for the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, and Houston Astros from 1984 to 2007. Clemens won seven Cy Young Awards, two more than any other pitcher.

He debuted in the majors in 1984 with the Boston Red Sox, playing 13 seasons in a row with them – more than half of his career. In 1997, he moved to Canada to pitch for the Toronto Blue Jays for two seasons. In both of his seasons there, Clemens won the pitching triple crown – leading the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts – and a Cy Young Award.

Clemens was traded to the New York Yankees for the 1999 season, where he had his first World Series success. In 2003, he reached his 300th win and 4000th strikeout in the same game. Clemens is one of only four pitchers to have more than 4,000 strikeouts in their career. He played three seasons with the Houston Astros, where he won his seventh Cy Young Award. Clemens was alleged by the Mitchell Report to have used anabolic steroids during his late career, but he has firmly denied the truth about these allegations.

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The 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup was held in England from July 11 to July 30, 1966. England was chosen as hosts by FIFA in August 1960 to celebrate the centenary of the codification of football in the country. England won the final, beating West Germany 4-2, giving them their first (and only to this date) World Cup win, becoming the first host to win the tournament since Italy in 1934.

There was a record number of entries for the qualifying tournament, with 70 nations taking part. The format of the competition featured 16 qualified teams divided into four groups of four. The two top teams in each group advanced to the quarter-final. Despite achieving record attendances for the time, 1966 was a World Cup with few goals as the teams began to play more tactically and defensively.

For example, England finished top of Group 1 with only four goals to their credit, but having none scored against them. London’s Wembley Stadium provided the venue for the final and 98,000 people attended. The score was level at 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes and the game went into extra time. Geoff Hurst scored twice for England, becoming the only player to have scored three times in a World Cup final.

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George Brett is a former Major League Baseball player for the Kansas City Royals. A third baseman, he is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Brett had injuries on-and-off between 1981 and 1984, during which occurred the most notable event in his career, the notorious “Pine Tar Incident” that took place in an American League game played between the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees on July 24, 1983.

The Royal were trailing 4-3 with two outs in the top of the ninth and U.L. Washington on first base. Brett connected off Yankee reliever Rich “Goose” Gossage for a two-run home run and a 5-4 lead. As Brett crossed the plate, New York manager Billy Martin approached the home plate umpire and requested that Brett’s bat be examined.

The umpire crew inspected the bat and determined that the amount of pine tar on the bat’s handle exceeded the allowed rule. The umpire signaled that Brett’s home run was nullified and the game over. An enraged Brett stormed out of the dugout to confront the umpire and had to be physically restrained by the Kansas City manager and his teammates. The Royals protested the game and their protest was upheld. The game was finished at a later date which the Royals held on to win.

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Raul Gonzalez Blanco was born in Madrid, Spain and is a Spanish professional football forward. He has been playing for Read Madrid at the senior level since 1994 and has been the team captain since 2003. He was also a member of the Spanish national team and is its all-time leading scorer with 44 goals. He represented Spain in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2000, the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2004, and 2006 FIFA World Cup tournaments.

With Read Madrid, Raul has won the UEFA Champions League three times and is the all-time leading scorer of that competition with 61 goals. He is currently the seventh highest scorer in the history of Spain’s top flight with 205 goals in 483 games. All of these goals were with Read Madrid, making him the club’s second highest goal scorer of all time.

Raul is also called The Seven, Madrid’s Angel and The Captain by fans and pundits. When playing, he wears the number 7 jersey for both club and country. His current contract with Real Madrid runs until 2011 and will be extended for a year each as long as he plays at least 30 official games in his last year of a contract. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest Spanish footballers of all time.

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