G'day sports fans,

Classic quote: "I quit school in the sixth grade because of Pneumonia. Not because I had it, but because I couldn't spell it". - Boxer Rocky Graziano.

In today's edition of Sport Journal:

🏏 Warner's annoying pain

🐴 Launceston Cup

👾 NBA enter the Crypto space

🗞 Breaking News

Tiger Woods injured in California car crash

Golfer Tiger Woods has been injured in a serious car crash near Los Angeles, officials and witnesses say. He was freed from his vehicle and taken to an area hospital for treatment.

The accident happened at 7:12 a.m. on Tuesday when rescue workers were called for a single vehicle, roll-over accident in Ranchos Palos Verdes, just south of Los Angeles. How the crash happened was not immediately clear.

“The vehicle sustained major damage,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. “Mr. Woods was extricated from the wreck with the ‘jaws of life’ by Los Angeles County firefighters and paramedics, then transported to a local hospital by ambulance for his injuries.”

Details about the golfer’s condition were not immediately known.

🏏 Cricket

The Hundred: Draft

New, hundred ball cricket. Eight women's and men's teams will compete over five weeks, starting 21st July 2021, in the UK.

A men’s squad and women’s squad will be formed for each team, with the competitions running alongside each other.

David Warner was the last £100,000 (AU$178k) man, as he was drafted by the Southern Brave's. He was part of the their original drafted squad last year, but pulled out, allowing Marcus Stoinis to be signed. The all-rounder was then retained and Warner had to be redrafted.

Big Bash favourites drafted included:

• Aaron Finch (£125,000)

• Glenn Maxwell (£125,000)

• Mitchell Starc (£125,000)

• Steve Smith (£125,000)

• Rashid Khan (£125,000)

• Chris Lynn (£100,000)

• D'arcy Short (£100,000)

• Nathan Coulter-Nile (£60,000)

• Daniel Christian (£60,000)

• Adam Zampa (£40,000)

'It's going to aggravate me for the next six to nine months'

Australian Test opener David Warner uses a TV commentary stint to reveal the extent of a groin injury that may keep him in pain until just before the Ashes series.

⚽️ Football

Guatemalan player hits himself with object thrown onto pitch

Batanecos FC player Rosbin Ramos picks up an object thrown onto the pitch and pretends to hit himself on the head with it before feigning injury.

Glamour tie: The league's bottom-two sides will lock horns when Melbourne Victory (2.60) host Wellington Phoenix (2.55) at AAMI Park tonight.

The final fixture of Matchweek 9 sees the 11th-placed Phoenix travel to face a Victory outfit at the foot of the table, bereft of confidence in the midst of a three-game losing streak.

📺 19:05 - A-League Regular Season - Melbourne Victory v Wellington Phoenix (Fox Sports)

A-League result: Melbourne City went 3-0 up but had to staved off a late charge from Sydney FC to end their three-game losing streak. The Grand Final rematch ended 3-2.

🐴 Racing

Launceston Cup

The Group 3 Launceston Cup will be run and won at Launceston tonight as the Tasmanian Summer Racing Carnival winds down.

Last start Hobart Cup winner Double You Tee has been installed as the favourite, but there has also been strong support for the likes of Runaway, Barade and Supalopo.

Double You Tee is looking for a Cup double in the feature after storming home to beat Classic Weiwei by more than a length in last fortnight’s Hobart Cup.

This is tougher for the son of Written Tycoon, but the wide draw should allow Jye McNeil to get back and run on again.

Runaway is likely the main danger after causing a boil-over at big odds last start at Flemington over the 2000m.

Still preparing for the upcoming jumps season, there’s no question he can see out this trip, especially carrying 5.5kg less under Sam Clipperton.

Barade did well to fill the minors in the Hobart Cup after unleashing with a big run down the straight.

His recent form is an easy read, and the wide draw should allow him to get back and run on again.

Supalopo has been all class rising through the grades to the tune of five consecutive wins. This is his toughest assignment to date, but he’s rock hard fit and capable of running a big race.

🏀 NBL

2021 NBL Cup - Melbourne NBL Hub

9 Teams, 36 Games, 1 Winner.

The entire league has defended on Melbourne for the inaugural NBL Cup - where we'll see 36 games over 4 weeks.

The Bryce Cotton and Casper Ware battle resuming was one of the highlights of the NBL season so far, but John Mooney proved unstoppable for the Sydney Kings as the Perth Wildcats took out the 113-106 NBL Cup victory. (match report)

The Adelaide 36ers turned on some scintillating basketball but then had to hold off a momentous South East Melbourne Phoenix comeback to win their opening NBL Cup game 99-94 on Tuesday night. (match report)

🏉 NRL

💰 NRL opens salary cap investigation into Titans: After the NRL was made aware of a payment tied up in a David Fifita controversy. (nine)

🍻 Canberra prop Corey Horsburgh disqualified after having ‘10 or 11’ drinks before driving.

📝 St George Illawarra captain Ben Hunt says the NRL has "hurt themselves" with the introduction of the new play-the-ball restart rule, claiming it's damaged the speed of the game.

League officials have introduced a raft of changes ahead of the 2021 season which were on show over the weekend as several teams lined up for pre-season warm-up matches.

"Personally, I think the NRL have hurt themselves a bit with the play the ball," Hunt said.

"I think it slows the game down a bit more and doesn't really give you those freedoms off the scrum to put on some plays. (nine)

🇦🇺 AFL

Coroner urges AFL players to donate brains to science

A post-mortem examination found Mr Frawley was suffering from "low-stage" CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — which has been linked to repeated blows to the head.A Victorian coroner has recommended AFL players be encouraged to donate their brains to science to further researchers' understanding of the brain disease CTE.

Victorian Coroner Paresa Spanos made the recommendation after investigating the death of AFL great Danny Frawley, who died at 56 in a car crash in September 2019.

Key points:

• Former AFL player and coach Danny Frawley suffered anxiety and depression before his death.

• He is one of a number of former players diagnosed with brain disease CTE.

• There is a lack of research into the brain disease, partly because it can only be diagnosed after death.

🤕 Injuries

Chris Mayne is likely to sit out Collingwood's pre-season games after being concussed during match simulation on Tuesday. (AFL)

A hamstring injury will Nic Naitanui out of practice match against Fremantle.

🇺🇸 USA

NBA's $140 million explosion as craze booms

NBA Top Shot, sport's first serious foray into crypto, is taking off and some of the biggest names in the game are on board.

Instead of fans owning physical collectables such as trading cards, users can build a personal collection of NBA highlights from their favourite players, which can be obtained by buying packs, which include randomly inserted highlights of players, and on the website's marketplace where members set the prices.

The reason it's become popular is due to the clips, which fans are obtaining, being created through Blockchain - the same technology that supports Bitcoin, Etherium, and other cryptocurrencies.

What this also means for users is that the clips can't be duplicated and are impossible to be hacked as it's entirely encrypted, giving fans a collectable that is unique to them.

🧑🏻‍💻 I’ve completed a deep dive of the Collectibles and NFT (Non-fungible Token, like TopShot above) markets.

Reply to this if you’re interested in me publishing it, maybe as an additional edition of Sport Journal? Or I can send you the info.

For example, sales on EBay on sports cards in Australia, have gone up +375%, in the last 12 months.

Time to dig out those old cards, collecting dust?

The Los Angeles Lakers let a 17-point third-quarter lead slip as they fell to a 127-124 overtime defeat to the Washington Wizards.

The reversal means that the NBA champions have lost three games in a row for the first time this season.

🗞 We'll be back on Friday!

📺 Live sport 👇🏼

⚽️ 06:45 - English Championship - Rotherham United v Nottingham Forest (BeIN Sports 2)

⚽️ 07:00 - UEFA Champions Lge R16 - Atletico Madrid v Chelsea (Optus Sport 1) 

⚽️ 07:00 - UEFA Champions Lge R16 - Lazio v Bayern Munich (Optus Sport 2) 

⚽️ 07:10 - Women's Friendly - France v Norway (BeIN Sports 3) 

🏒 11:00 - NHL - Washington Capitals v Pittsburgh Penguins (ESPN 2) 

🏀 11:30 - NBA - Dallas Mavericks v Boston Celtics (ESPN 1) 

🏀 14:00 - NBA - Denver Nuggets v Portland Trail Blazers (ESPN 1) 

🎾 17:00 - ATP Singapore Open, Round 2, Day 3 (BeIN Sports 1) 

17:00 - Bowls Premier League, Day 2 (Fox Sports More) 

⚽️ 19:05 - A-League Regular Season - Melbourne Victory v Wellington Phoenix (Fox Sports)

🏏 20:00 - Test Match - India v England (Fox Cricket) 

THURSDAY

⚽️ 01:00 - Indian Super League - Odisha FC v Mumbai City (Fox Sports More) 

⚽️ 04:00 - UEFA Europa League R32 - Tottenham v Wolfsberger (Optus Sport 3) 

⚽️ 05:00 - Spanish La Liga - Barcelona v Elche (BeIN Sports 2) 

⚽️ 06:45 - English Championship - Preston North End v Queens Park Rangers (BeIN Sports 3)

⚽️ 07:00 - UEFA Champions Lge R16 - Borussia Monchengladbach v Manchester City (Optus Sport 1) 

⚽️ 07:00 - UEFA Champions Lge R16 - Atalanta v Real Madrid (Optus Sport 2) 

🏀 11:30 - NBA - Indiana Pacers v Golden State Warriors (ESPN 1) 

🏏 12:00 - Twenty20 Series - New Zealand v Australia (Fox Cricket) 

🏒13:30 - NHL - St. Louis Blues v Los Angeles Kings (ESPN 2) 

🏀 14:00 - NBA - Utah Jazz v Los Angeles Lakers (ESPN 1) 

🎾 17:00 - ATP Singapore Open, Round 2, Day 4 (BeIN Sports 1) 

🏀 17:00 - NBL - Sydney Kings v New Zealand Breakers (ESPN 1) 

17:00 - Bowls Premier League, Day 3, Part 2 (Fox Sports More) 

⚽️ 19:05 - W-League - W. Syd. Wanderers Women v Melbourne City Women (Fox Sports)

🏀 19:30 - NBL - Adelaide 36ers v Melbourne United (ESPN 1) 

🏏 20:00 - Test Match - India v England (Fox Cricket)

🏏 23:30 - CSA T20 Challenge Group - Warriors v Knights (Fox Sports)