2 reasons for liking Kavanaugh as Supreme Court pick

Two good (if frivolous) reasons for Connecticut residents to like President Donald Trump’s nomination to the Supreme Court of Brett Kavanaugh: First, in this basketball-crazy state, he’s a spare-time coach of his daughter’s basketball team. Do you know anyone in your neighborhood who isn’t a fan of Geno Auriemma’s team? Second, Kavanaugh is a Yale man — both undergraduate and Yale Law School.

Two of the other potential nominees, Amy Coney Barrett and Thomas Hardiman, have ties to Notre Dame, which would make them attractive to fans, students, graduates and parents of that university.

I haven’t checked out the sports connections of the other Supreme Court justices, but I read a story recently about Brooklyn-born Ruth Bader Ginsburg who, despite her age, 85, maintains a rigorous workout routine. Only a fraction over 5 feet tall, she is a cancer survivor who works out twice a week with a personal trainer. Her story is a remarkable one. A great American story, I call it.

⏩ How would you like to start your own baseball team with the American League’s starting All-Star outfield — Mookie Betts, Mike Trout and Aaron Judge? With an outfield like that, we could win with me doing the pitching and the other positions filled by five guys who walked in off the highway.

⏩ In 1994, Brazil’s soccer team beat Italy 3-2 on penalty kicks to win the World Cup. The match took place at a chock-full Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., one of nine sites used for Cup matches during that historic tournament; historic because it was held in the USA for the first and only time.

While interest in soccer was building in this country, staging the World Cup tournament here gave it stature unheard of beforehand. The world’s most popular game strutted its stuff at its highest level and fans of the USA got a good look and many liked what they saw.

The other venues besides the Rose Bowl were Pontiac Silverdome, Stanford Stadium, Giants Stadium, the Citrus Bowl, Soldier Field, the Cotton Bowl, Foxboro and RFK Stadium.

World Cup attendance records which have yet to be broken were set that year. A total of 3,570,000 fans attended for an average of 68,991 per game.

The largest one-game attendance in World Cup history, however, was recorded in 1950 when 173,830 fans jammed Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro to see Uruguay defeat Brazil, 2-1.

I know two Torrington men who are enjoying the Cup games: Chon Escobar, owner of Dos Amigos restaurant, and Rob Ross, a physical therapist at Maletta Pfeiffer & Associates. Both men were goalies, Escobar in his native El Salvador and later for various teams in the U.S. Ross played for the late Joe Morrone at UConn.

⏩ In case you missed it: Tuesday was the anniversary of the USA soccer team winning the Women’s World Cup in 1999 over China. Brandi Chastain booted in the winning penalty kick in the 5-4 overtime victory. Who doesn’t remember Brandi?

⏩ A recently published list named the five best sports movies ever made. They were all fine and famous, but the list omitted my two favorites: “The Natural,” starring Robert Redford and Glenn Close and “The Fighter,” which featured Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams. To each his own, I guess.

⏩ The passing of Tab Hunter reminded me of the 1958 movie “Damn Yankees.” Loaded with great tunes, it starred Hunter and the fabulous Gwen Verdon. “You Gotta Have Heart” is still a favorite and lesser known but poignantly beautiful “Goodbye Old Girl” still makes me gulp.