Ira On Sports

Saturday at the Miami Open. - I saw a great match where American Mackenzie McDonald (teal shirt) - who beat Nadal in Australia, upset #16 seeded and former Wimbledon finalist Italian Matteo Berrettini 7-6 7-6 (white shirt)I watched it on the small court 1 in a fantastic seat. Then I went into the grandstand and watched Canadian and #5 seeded Felix Auger Allassine (blue shirt )defeat Brazilian Thiago Montero also by the score of 7-6 7-6. Tennis is truly an international sport with fans from all countries cheering on their local stars.

I love the early rounds at tennis tournaments because almost all the players play on the small non-stadium court with no assigned seats.  The Butch Buchholz court at the Miami Open, named after the tournament’s founder, seats less than a 1,000 and is perfect to watch tennis.  I sat in the front row behind the baseline – the best place to watch tennis (that is why the Royal Box at Wimbledon is behind the baseline) on Friday to watch three of the top 15 players in the world – Denis Shapovalov (blue shirt) from Canada, Jannik Sinner (maroon shirt) of Italy, and Tommy Paul (orange shirt) of the USA win their second round matches.  

Some great pics of last night’s game with some major star power in the audience: and were in da house 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🤩

Pictures of Japan and their star Shohei Ohtani defeating the USA and its star Mike Trout - and Ohtanis teammate on the Angels in the Wolrd Baseball Classic .
Trout has won 3 MVP awards and is considered the best hitter in the game and Ohtani has won one MVP award and is the first player since Babe Ruth to pitch and hit. Loandepot stadium in Miami was packed and evenly divided between Japanese and USA fans. Japan had a 3-1 lead going into the 8th inning when USA and Philees slugger Kyle Schwarber launched a monster home run off Japanese legend (and Padres pitcher) Yu Darvish. Darvish got the final Ohtani, who was the DH for the Japanese had a hit and a walk (he also hit 435 for the series ) came in to pitch in the top of the ninth with a 3-2 lead. After Jeff McNeil of the USA walked , Ohtani was able to get Dodger superstar Mookie Betts to ground into a double play. Then Mike Trout came to bat. Ohtani threw 100-103 mile per hour pitches to trout and the count was 3-2 and then Ohtani threw a slider by Trout for the final strike and out. It was like out of scripted movie. This game was one of the most watched games of all time because most of Japan was watching the game. The Japanese fans, who are silent when their pitcher throws, erupted and Ohtani threw off his hat and glove.

Listen now to my interview with this legend
Link in bio!!!

2nd half pictures from Tennessee’s won over Duke to advance to the sweet sixteen Thursday in Orlando.

pictures of the first half of Tennesses win over Duke 65-52 in Orlando to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Pics of Dukes Kyle Filipowski getting introduced and recovering from an elebow. Tennessee played tough defense and a very physical style of play which got Duke out of its game

#5 seed Duke dominated #12 seed Oral Roberts 74-51 in the first round of the March Madness in Orlando. Duke is my favorite to win the tournament. Jeremy Roach, #3, the point guard on Dukes run to the final four last year led Duke with 23 points.

Golf superstars - Victor Hovalnd - tan pants ; Jordan Spieth - black pants ; Rickie Fowler - orange shirt. Tommy Fleetwood - pink shirt

Pictures from Sunday at the Players Championship in Ponta Verde, Florida. The Players is considered the 5th most prestigious golf tournament after the 4 majors - Masters, US Open, British Open, and the PGA Championship.  
The Players is held at the TPC Sawgrass. It is easy to follow the golfers because the course is considered a stadium and was designed by golf architect Pete Dye to accommodate fans following the players.  Fans can surround 17 of the 18 tee boxes and the best feature of TPC Sawgrass is the 17th hole Island Green.  It is by far the most famous hole in golf. When the leaders started, I got some great pictures of Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler and then followed Scottie Sheffler from hole 6 to 18.  Sheffler, the number one player in the world, won in dominating fashion by 5 strokes and played perfect golf throughout the round.  Sheffler now joins Tiger and Jack as the only golfers to hold be the Masters and Players champion at the same time.

Listen now to the interview - link in bio

This was an exhibition game before Team Israel starts playing in the World Baseball Classic in Miami. Israel won 9-0. I sat In the first row and was able to take awesome pictures without the net getting in the way.

No major league stars play on Team Israel but there are a few mlb players and some in the minors. Israel is in the toughest pool as they have to play against Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic - these teams have the top players in baseball.

Listen now - link in bio!!

Some great pics
🔥🔥🔥