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It’s hard to believe it’s July 12 already. The World Cup is over, and Spain was the victor. I nearly forgot the game was on yesterday as much of the hoopla for the United States ended when our team was eliminated. But I did catch all of the extra time, including Spain’s game-winning goal.

I also saw a handful of the yellow cards and one red card to the Netherlands in that time frame. Just like NASCAR drivers in a green-white-checkers finish, the players on the field at the end for both Spain and the Netherlands were going-for-broke at the end, resulting in several near-misses for both teams before Andres Iniesta buried the only game of the game.

If you saw the World Cup, well, they may call it the beautiful game but it’s not a beautiful trophy. Give me the Sprint Cup any day; I’ve seen it in person and it looks like it wasn’t an afterthought.

It’s time for baseball’s All-Star Game as well, and as the LeBron watch is over, the dog days of summer will give way to football season.

Despite an off-weekend for the Sprint Cup Series this weekend, the NASCAR schedule thunders forward. Iowa Speedway hosted its second Camping World Truck Series race Sunday, and was rewarded with a first-time race winner in Austin Dillon. The youngster, all of 20, is Richard Childress’ grandson, and to the delight of the crowd, returned the black No. 3 to victory lane since the last time you-know-who won in 2000. 

Ah, summer. You are passing us by too quickly.

I find it funny how you can tell the same story over a long period of time then have something happen at a later date that completely changes the entire story you tell.

For example, when I was a youngster – probably 10 or 11 – I went down near the Arizona State dugout before a College World Series game to meet my favorite college player. Oddibe McDowell wasn’t in the area though, but a handful of other Sun Devils signed the CWS program I was carrying.

A few years later, the day I didn’t meet Oddibe McDowell became the day I got Barry Bonds’ autograph. The future home run king, and BALCO poster boy, happened to be one of the players that penned his name on the ASU page.

Too bad my mom threw all of my old programs away.

Anyway, the U.S. soccer victory over Algeria has now changed another of my tales. I liked this one better the way it was, but history has a way of amending things.

David Beckham crossed the pond to change the sport in America. I guess he did because I actually went to an MLS game – something I would’ve never considered doing before.

Of course, he was hurt. And not only did he not play, he didn’t even make the trip with the team.

I was stuck watching the L.A. Galaxy and the Kansas City Wizards at Arrowhead Stadium without the world’s most famous player. The experience spawned one of my favorite things that I’ve written to date – a column entitled “Spend It Like Beckham.”

It spelled out the money I used on the trip and how I felt ripped off because the MLS jacked up the ticket price for the game because Beckham was supposed to play.

After the U.S. victory, “Spend It Like Beckham” no longer applies. It’s now the night I saw our national hero Landon Donovan, Beckham’s L.A. teammate, play in person.

Sorry for the hiatus, folks, but I’m back.

It’s amazing how the biggest sports story in the (rest of the) world is the start of the World Cup. While you may know I’m an avid volleyball player, you probably don’t know that I played soccer (futbol) with the same basic team from sixth grade to adult.  It’s a great sport. You say it’s boring? It’s like NASCAR; there may be long stretches where your attention span drags, but just wait for the next corner kick or breakaway.

Like NASCAR drivers, soccer players have plenty of personality. You’ll see them flop on occasion, hoping to draw that free kick or a yellow card on the opponent. Some performances are Academy Award-worthy. It’s just a shame that there have been a spate of injuries to some of the sport’s superstars. While NASCAR teams get to compete in their crown jewel, the Daytona 500, once a year, like Olympic athletes, soccer players must wait four years for their marquee event.

Now back to the biggest sports story. ‘Round here, that would be the breakup of the Big 12 conference, which is on a scale of the breakup of the Eastern Europe block after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

My initial thoughts a couple months ago when this topic came up was that the member universities would threaten to leave to force the Big 12 to give them what they want. What exactly is that? Money? Their own TV network? Money?

What will be lost in this dissolution will be the history and rivalries the original Big 8 schools have shared for generations.

While some of the new matchups in the Big 10 (12) and Pac 10 (16) conferences are intriguing, it won’t be the same. Nebraska fans will have to travel further – not that don’t for football, but in these economic times, it’s not a given. Then there’s the Big 12 North teams that are in limbo if the Texas and Oklahoma teams go to the Pac 10.

Stay tuned for what happens next …

A week later, I’m still hearing about it – although almost no one has said or written something directly to me.

Last Friday’s Piece of Mind column in The Daily Nonpareil about Iowa Western’s move to Lewis Central for football seems to have hit a nerve with some in the Bluffs.

I somewhat expected that. But I didn’t expect others to take the column for more than it was.

For those who may have missed it, I wrote that I believe IWCC’s move to Lewis Central was the right move for the junior college because that facility is much better than C.B. Stadium, which pales in comparison to what other Class 4-A schools are using now, let alone colleges.

That’s it. That one sentence above is basically what I said.

Yet, somehow, some have taken that sentence about a stadium as a personal slam against the students, teachers, coaches and administrators of the Council Bluffs Community School District and to those who take care of C.B. Stadium.

I don’t recall writing about any of those folks. I wrote about the stadium, nothing more.

Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion about C.B. Stadium or my column. But I think it’s a tough sell to say that C.B. Stadium lives up to today’s standards.

Here are two things to take into consideration:

1. When Mark Puev was hired as Thomas Jefferson’s new football coach this week, he wasn’t shown the home field that his team will play on before signing his contract. Why is that?

2. I’m heading to Glenwood today for the Missouri River Activities Conference track meet, for which T.J. is the host. If C.B. Stadium is such a fine facility, why isn’t the meet there?

It amazes me that folks often have so much to say about things, yet don’t take the time to look at how things actually are. 

Along those same lines, the MRAC tennis meet was held this week in Omaha.

Tranquility Park has a fine facility and our staff covered both MRAC events. But I’m beginning to wonder what it takes for C.B. to actually host events that are supposed to be hosted by C.B.

Then again, I recall going to an MRAC cross country meet in South Dakota when it was supposed to be in Sioux City so I guess it all makes sense.

Believe it or not, I spent the first half of my life in Iowa, yet this weekend was the first time I’d ever been to the Drake Relays.

I’d been at Drake Stadium before. I ran in the state track meet and watched my sister run there twice. I even attended a Bulldog football game there once while I was in college.

But for some unknown reason, I had never been to the Relays. And, boy, was I missing out.

Every tale I’d ever been told about the greatness of the event was absolutely true. I could’ve done without the rain, especially since the Relays staff wouldn’t allow umbrellas in the stadium. But the meet was as impressive as I could’ve ever imagined.

Watching Iowa’s top prep track and field athletes go head to head, with school size disregarded, certainly makes the Drake Relays a unique event. As much as I’ve enjoyed covering Nebraska state track at Burke Stadium in Omaha over the years, it just couldn’t compare to this past weekend.

The college events were exciting, and the invitational events allowed us to see efforts that you don’t normally get to see in person. For example, I never thought I’d see a female high jumper clear 6-foot-5. I did on Saturday.

The top six men in the special invitational mile broke the four-minute barrier while running the six fastest times in the mile this year. And the hurdle events at that level, even though Iowa native Lolo Jones got nipped at the wire, were incredible.

Closer to home, enough can’t be said for the efforts of Glenwood’s Johnny Fuller and Logan-Magnolia’s Alex Gochenour. To pull off doubles against the fields they were competing against is as impressive as anything else they will do in athletics.

There were other performances this weekend that were equally as inspiring. And I assume it’s like that every year.

I just can’t believe I’ve missed out on the Relays for all this time.