Every year has its memorable sports moments; often every month has something to offer. But June 2015 has several noteworthy accomplishments from multiple sports, moments that united both diehard and casual fans of the particular sport.

Going into Saturday, June 6th, it had been 37 years since a race horse had won all three legs of the coveted Triple Crown. There have  been several horses since the beginning of the century who took both the Kentucky Derby & Preakness Stakes, but failed to win the Belmont Stakes. That changed this year, with American Pharoah completing the Triple Crown in New York.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctss9h26IqY

Earlier that Saturday, Barcelona met Juventus in Berlin for the UEFA Champions League Final. Fans hoping for a Luis Suarez vs. Giorgio Chiellini reunion would be disappointed, as the Italian defender had to miss the match through injury. Suarez would end up scoring the winning goal as the Blaugrana won their fifth European Cup title, all of them coming since 1992.

In golf, the best players in the world arrived at Chambers Bay for an always-challenging U.S. Open. When all was said and done, it was another major championship heartbreak for Dustin Johnson; the American had an eagle putt to win in regulation, but not only missed that, but the ensuing birdie that would’ve put him in a playoff with Jordan Spieth. Spieth is the first player since Tiger Woods to win the Masters and the U.S. Open. All eyes will be on Spieth to see if he can complete a Grand Slam in a calendar year, but there will be pressure on Johnson to put the Chambers Bay disappointment behind him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HL3U4Y6adc

June 2015 was also a month of historic news for LGBT rights. The Supreme Court ruled on June 26 that gay marriage is legal in all 50 states, ending years of debate between those for and against the issue.

What more newsworthy moments will the rest of 2015 have to offer?

June 25th, 2013 was a significant day for me, personally. To date, it’s the only time I’ve witnessed a cricket match (any format) in its entirety in person. That was the day England hosted New Zealand at the Oval in London for the first of two scheduled T20I contests. (The second one, planned for two days later, would be rained out and not made up.) The sold-out crowd made for an electric atmosphere in London, and the match did not disappoint, with England falling just short in a game that came down to the final delivery. The ECB uploaded two different videos of highlights; one of New Zealand’s batting innings…

…and one from England’s innings…

England have had a roller coaster of mixed fortunes – in all formats of the game – in the two years since that night at the Oval. It started with a high, as Alastair Cook led the squad to success in the Ashes series in the second half of that summer, retaining the urn for the third consecutive series. That joy would be short-lived, however, as only three months passed before England and Australia met Down Under for another series. This time, it was the Aussies doing the celebrating, winning all five Tests in convincing fashion.

2014 was another year of ups and downs for the squad, as focus slowly turned to the World Cup in Australia & New Zealand at the beginning of this year. What occurred Down Under this time around was a disaster, as England failed to qualify for the quarterfinals, leading many skeptics to wonder what’s next for the players. With the New Zealand having just finished, all eyes will be on winning back the Ashes. England will be regarded underdogs – although not quite to the extent that they were back in 2005 – and the younger players who struggled against the Blackcaps can expect even more scrutiny should they struggle against Australia.

The upcoming tour is set to create another chapter in Alastair Cook’s legacy as England captain; will it be positive or negative?

The 2015 U.S. Open was always going to make history over the last few days with a first-time host and a first-time television broadcaster. The second golf major of the calendar year usually produces plenty of drama – arguably more consistently than the other three majors – and this year did not disappoint. And as is the case with any major sporting event, the stories varied, with plenty of highs and lows.

High

Jason Day played all 72 holes at the 2015 U.S. Open. To someone who’s not familiar with how the week unfolded, the preceding sentence is not a story, but what he went through over those four days makes that statement noteworthy. While approaching the green on the final hole of his second round, Day collapsed, having a bout with vertigo, but the Australian was able to finish on Friday, which is an accomplishment in itself. That Day’s third-round performance put him in Sunday’s final group had some fans wondering if the stars would align for him. A final-round 74 derailed hopes of a dream ending, but throughout the week he showed glimpses that a major championship win is not far away.

Low

Dustin Johnson has not had a great deal of luck when it’s come to playing in majors. In 2010, Johnson had the 54-hole lead of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach before shooting 82 in the final round. Later that year, he grounded his club in a bunker on the 72nd hole of the PGA Championship, receiving a two-stroke penalty that took him out of a playoff. Johnson also had a close call at the 2011 British Open, before his “suspension/voluntary leave-of-absence” at the end of 2014. This year, Johnson had an eagle putt to overtake Jordan Spieth and win the U.S. Open, but not only missed that, but also missed a birdie putt that would’ve put the two in an 18-hole playoff Monday. Is Johnson ever going to win a major championship, or will he be “that guy” who always comes within touching distance without getting a victory?

High

He remains the second-ranked player in the world behind Rory McIlroy, but Jordan Spieth has enjoyed an amazing two months on the PGA Tour. Following his dominant play at Augusta to win the Masters, the 21-year-old was another figure always in contention throughout the four rounds at Chambers Bay. He didn’t have the smoothest of Sunday rounds in Washington state (especially when compared to Louis Oosthuizen & Adam Scott!), but Spieth made shots when it mattered, including a birdie on the 18th following a double bogey on the 17th. A “Spieth Slam” remains alive; will the Dallas native continue this solid play at St. Andrews and Whistling Straits over the next two months?

Low

This year’s championship marked the first ever professional golf telecast for FOX Sports. The network always had big shoes to fill, particularly after the stellar job done by NBC from 1995-2014. However, reaction has been mostly negative about the coverage over the four days. From commentators talking about “Australian” Louis Oosthuizen (he’s from South Africa), to cameras not documenting Spieth’s live reaction to Johnson’s missed eagle & birdie putts on #18, the network has plenty to learn from going forward. There were several bright spots for FOX, but fans will expect a much better production when the Open visits Oakmont in 2016.

Hosting a U.S. Open on the West Coast hasn’t always been popular, but two of the more recent championships staged in the Pacific time zone have seen some of the most dramatic 72nd hole finishes in the sport’s history; it was at Torrey Pines in California where Tiger Woods birdied the final hole in regulation in 2008 to force that playoff with Rocco Mediate, and now Johnson’s 3-putt on Sunday will rank among the more memorable blunders. When the Open returns to Pebble Beach in 2019, what new drama will golf fans witness?

England cricket’s first home series of the summer has been full of ups and downs with New Zealand. From records broken to disappointing finishes, fans have not run out of things to talk about, both positive and negative.

The first Test between the two teams saw England behind the eight-ball for most of the match; it wasn’t a question of who would win, but rather what the margin would be. However, Alastair Cook’s second innings century laid the groundwork for what would prove to be an emphatic win for the hosts at the famed Lord’s Cricket Ground. The second Test will be remembered for two moments in particular; James Anderson reached 400 Test wickets, having surpassed Sir Ian Botham in April for the most wickets taken by an English bowler. The second historic accomplishment at Headingley was Cook becoming the leading run scorer in Tests; the captain became the first Englishman to score 9,000 career runs in the five-day format. Yet for those personal achievements, England rather collapsed in their second innings, allowing New Zealand to pick up a 199-run win, and draw the Test series.

The One Day International series have not been lacking in drama, either. Perhaps motivated by the Headingley Test loss, England wasted no time putting up a score of 408/9, their highest score ever in ODIs. New Zealand responded by taking the next two matches, in spite of England continuing to put up respectable scores; it was the first time the hosts made 300 in three consecutive ODI contests. That streak continued on Wednesday, with captain Eoin Morgan getting a century, his partnership with Joe Root helping England reach their highest-ever successful run chase.

Saturday sees the ODI series finish at Chester-le-Street, and it’s fair to expect that encounter follow a similar format to what fans have already witnessed; a match that features both excellent bowling and sensational batting. Then on Tuesday, England & New Zealand will meet at Old Trafford for the only T20I of this tour. Having been at the first (and because of rain, essentially the only T20I of the 2013 series), I witnessed a game that came down to the final ball between two evenly matched squads. England came up just short in that match, but are hungry to prove that they can get results in the shortest format of the game, as well. It’s set to be an exciting finish to the series, and a great tune-up for the Australians’ visit next month.

There will be a plethora of plot lines to follow over the next four days during the second golf major of 2015. The U.S. Open will make history in multiple ways, and could potentially be the site of another historic first. Chambers Bay Golf Course will welcome the world’s best to the Pacific Northwest for an exciting week of championship action.

The first historic part of U.S. Open Week 2015 is that the tournament is being staged in that part of the country for the first time, and Chambers Bay is hosting its very first major. This is a win for the public course, which has only been in operation since 2007, but its staging of the 2010 U.S. Amateur played a factor in the USGA’s decision to bring the Open to Washington state. The Northwest hasn’t played host to a major since the 1998 PGA Championship at Sahalee, so players and fans can both expect to view some spectacular scenery.

Another “first” for this year’s tournament is the first year of a new TV broadcast partner. Fox Sports has exclusive rights to USGA events, after NBC was the longtime over-the-air broadcaster. Fox will have big shoes to fill when it comes to the production, and Joe Buck, Greg Norman will come under a lot of scrutiny over the four days, particularly if the broadcasts aren’t very crisp. This is the first golf Fox will have televised, so criticism from skeptics will be very similar from what was said when the network first acquired the NFL, among other properties. Norman does have experience, though, as a television analyst in the past, and Buck is an avid golf fan who will bring credible knowledge to the booth; it won’t be a scenario like when Gus Johnson was the top voice for soccer.

With these “firsts” already set in stone, is 2015 the year when the stars finally align for Phil Mickelson, and “Lefty” wins his first U.S. Open? Some of his runner-up finishes have been iconic in the sport’s history; the scene at hole #18 following Payne Stewart’s win at Pinehurst in 1999; the collapse on #18 at Winged Foot; the despair after coming up short at Merion two years ago (before recovering to win the Open Championship). Golf fans have seen many of Mickelson’s highs and lows; a win this week would see him finally reach that coveted group of golfers with career grand slams. This is likely not his last chance to win this major, but it’s arguably his best chance, on a new course, with a new broadcaster looking for that tournament-defining moment.

Who is your favorite to win at Chambers Bay? Leave a comment below!

For those who are skeptics about the unpredictability of soccer, consider this. The bottom half of the quarterfinal bracket for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup included the following nations: Germany, Mali, Serbia, and the United States. One of those four teams would be headed to the Final on June 20, and odds are that nine of 10 neutrals would pick Germany to be in that position. The USA-Serbia match could be viewed as a toss-up, but conventional wisdom said Die Mannschaft would have little, if any, difficulty progressing to the championship match.

No one told the Malian squad before their quarterfinal against the Germans last Sunday in Christchurch. Highlights uploaded to YouTube by FIFA’s official channel:

It’s not just a shock that Mali was able to upset Germany, but that they were able to do so on penalties, as the Germans have developed a reputation as excellent penalty takers. It must be said, though, that with this being the U-20 World Cup, the players in this tournament will surely grow and compete for spots on the senior squad for future men’s World Cups.

Both semifinals are set for Wednesday, with Brazil facing Senegal in Christchurch, while Mali and Serbia will meet in Auckland. Of the four remaining nations, Brazil is the heavy favorite to win what would be its sixth title in this competition. But the Seleçao needed penalties to get past both Uruguay and Portugal in the knockout round; should they reach that phase against Senegal, will their luck run out? And can Mali continue their Cinderella run against the Serbians, who needed more than 90 minutes to progress in both the Round of 16 and the quarterfinal?

For those interested in watching future household names in the sport, the rest of the week provides great opportunities to see them in action in New Zealand.

The United States takes on Sweden Friday evening in the second group game of the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada. It will be a unique scenario, as Swedish native and coach Pia Sundhage – who led the USA to two Olympic gold medals and a silver medal in the 2011 WWC – will be on the opposite touchline from many of her former players.

There’s been a lot of recent news this week about comments Sundhage made concerning her former team. The Swede particularly singled out Hope Solo, describing the goalkeeper as a challenging player to work with. This comes with some irony; it was Sundhage who helped bring Solo and many other teammates together in the wake of the goalkeeping fiasco during the 2007 Women’s World Cup.

For those who don’t remember, Solo had been performing admirably as the Americans reached the semifinals. On the eve of their match against Brazil, then-head coach Greg Ryan dropped Solo in favor of longtime veteran Briana Scurry; Brazil won the semifinal emphatically. Following the game, Solo told a reporter there was no doubt in her mind she would’ve made critical saves had she played, leading to her being ostracized by Ryan and most of the players. When Sundhage took over, she was instrumental in closing that gap, but her comments over the past few days may provide the U.S. with some extra motivation.

Many analysts say the Americans didn’t perform particularly well in their opening match against Australia, despite the 3-1 win. Captain Megan Rapinoe excelled, among others, but there were times when the team was treating the game more as a friendly rather than part of an international competition. With many players on this year’s squad on the team that lost to Sweden in the group stage in 2011, they’ll be keen to avoid the same mistakes that put them in the predicament of a quarterfinal with Brazil four years ago. With Sweden blowing a two-goal lead against Nigeria in their opening match, expect both teams to be pushing early for that critical first goal.

How much of the Women’s World Cup have you been able to watch so far? Do you think Team USA can go all the way, and claim its first title since 1999? Leave a comment below!

In the United States, arguably the most important day on the sports calendar is Super Bowl Sunday. In Europe, arguably the most important sports event that happens on a yearly basis is the UEFA Champions League Final. Saturday’s match will be aired around the world, as Juventus & Barcelona fans hope their clubs can add to their trophy cabinet.

Soccer is not always a sport for the sentimental storyline. If it was, Liverpool would have won the Premier League in 2014, and Steven Gerrard likely would’ve retired by going out on top. However, both clubs have a sentimental story to bring to Berlin this weekend. Longtime Barcelona midfielder Xavi is set to make his final appearance for the club, and the man who missed out on the Blaugrana’s 2006 triumph, but was at the core of the winning sides in 2009 & 2011, is hoping the stars will align for a “ride off into the sunset” scenario. For Juventus, they simply need to look to two players – goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon & midfielder Andrea Pirlo – who were on the 2006 Italian team that lifted the World Cup in the Olympiastadion. For those two to have won the most prestigious trophy in the sport, and then win the most prestigious club trophy, in the same venue, would be an amazing feat.

For Juventus, a win on the biggest stage would solidify their return to Europe’s elite. In 2006, the club was demoted the second tier of the Italian system, Serie B, in the wake of the infamous Calciopoli scandal. Many Italians on the team at that time were on the World Cup-winning squad, a side that defied the odds to win in unlikely circumstances. Juve had no problem returning to Serie A, and are coming off their 4th straight Scudetto championship. The Bianconeri will be heavy underdogs in 2015, but are eager to add to their two European Cups.

Barcelona also arrive in this year’s Final as domestic league champions; in fact, whoever wins will complete the storied “treble,” having won the domestic league, domestic cup, and Champions League in the same season. The Blaugrana have been the standard to which many other top clubs have been compared to for almost a decade, starting with that 2006 win in Paris. Should Barcelona win on Saturday, it would be the eighth time in 10 years that either they, or the team that beat them in the semifinals, were crowned champions of Europe. (Juventus, by contrast, can argue that they eliminated defending champions Real Madrid in the semifinals, proving perhaps that “to be the best you’ve got to beat the best.”) Lionel Messi is on the verge of an individual milestone, as no player in the modern era has scored in three separate Champions League finals. Again, Xavi will be wanting to go out on top, but things don’t always go according to plan; he was on the 2011 team that spoiled what would otherwise have been Edwin van der Sar’s farewell party at Wembley.

There are plenty of matchups to keep an eye on. One of the big blows for Juventus, though, will be the absence of Giorgio Chiellini, the defender who Luis Suarez bit in the 2014 World Cup group stage. The Uruguayan will have a reunion with Patrice Evra, after the infamous racism scandal from the 2011-12 Premier League season. And who will win the intriguing battle between Suarez/Messi/Neymar and the Italian Buffon, who at 37 might be looking to retire on top if he lifts the Cup?

My prediction: Juventus wins 2-1 for a third European title. Leave a comment below on how you think the match will go!