July 7, 2019: Queen Megan Rapinoe's Coronation

July 7, 2019: The U.S. women's national soccer team wins the Women's World Cup, beating the Netherlands in the Final, 2-0 at Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu, in the suburbs of Lyon, France.

The Dutch women's team had recently risen to the same level of talent as their legendary men's team. So their appearance in the Final, as one of a few teams that were seen as possibilities for it before the tournament began, was not exactly a surprise. Certainly, the Americans reaching it was no surprise at all: It would have been a shock if they hadn't.

The U.S. team had won the Women's World Cup in 1999. They had also done so in 1991, the 1st time the tournament was held, but few people noticed. In 1999, it was nationally televised and heavily promoted, and people noticed.

That 1999 U.S. women's soccer team shocked Middle America's ignorant male sports fans, because this was a great women's sports team that wasn't a bunch of stereotypical butch lesbians. They all seemed to look feminine, even attractive. Many of them were married. Some of them had returned to competition after having children, even taking their babies and their diaper bags to practice.

It would take until 2015 for the U.S. team to win the World Cup again, and this time, some of the women were lesbians, and they didn't give a damn who knew it. In 2019, they repeated. Carli Lloyd, the biggest star of the '15 team, was older and didn't have as much of an impact in '19. She's straight and married. But the best player on the team was Alex Morgan: Gorgeous, straight, married, and, as the year came to a close, pregnant. (Her husband, former MLS player Servando Carrasco, was a classmate of hers at the University of California at Berkeley. Their daughter, Charlie Elena Carrasco, was born on May 7, 2020).

But the unquestioned leader, the queen of this court, was Megan Rapinoe, who converted a penalty for the 1st U.S. goal in the Final, and then made the pose seen in the photo above. Celebrating her 30th birthday during the tournament,  the native of Redding, California is gay, has been out since 2012, usually has a short pink hairstyle, and is well aware of what her performance and example can mean, to men and women, to straights and gays, to supporters and haters. She's supported causes from LGBT rights to Colin Kaepernick's protest. And when establishment figures objected, she didn't care. She pissed off people who deserved to get pissed off.

In December 2019, Rapinoe became the 1st openly gay person to be named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine. (Billie Jean King was named in 1972, but she wasn't out yet.) That same month, her national side teammates Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger married each other, with Rapinoe as maid of honor. #LesbianTwitter called it "the Royal Wedding." At the time, they both played for a team named for the struggle for gay rights: The Orlando Pride. They adopted a daughter, Sloane, in 2021.

Rapinoe has been in a relationship with WNBA star Sue Bird since 2016, and they have been engaged since 2020. As of July 7, 2022, they have not yet gotten married. On that day, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden. (Donald Trump certainly wouldn't have given it to her.) Another athlete was honored that same day, another Olympic Gold Medalist: Gymnast Simone Biles. (Since Biles is black and female, Trump wouldn't have given it to her, either.)

UPDATE: Rapinoe and Bird never did get married, and separated in 2026. Harris and Krieger adopted a 2nd child, a son named Ocean, but divorced in 2023. Harris began dating actress Sophia Bush, while Krieger began dating Scottish footballer Jean Beattie.

*

July 7, 2019 was a Sunday. Since the event in question was a soccer game, I'll mention that there were 3 games played that day in Major League Soccer:

* The New York Red Bulls played Atlanta United to a 3-3 draw at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

* New York City F.C. lost to the Portland Timbers, 1-0 at Yankee Stadium.

* And the Philadelphia Union played Orlando City to a 2-2 draw at Talen Energy Stadium (now Subaru Park) outside Philadelphia in Chester, Pennsylvania.

These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Tampa Bay Rays, 2-1 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The Yankees only got 5 hits, including a solo home run from Brett Gardner.

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-3 at Citi Field.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins, 4-3 at SunTrust Park (now Truist Park) in the Atlanta suburb of Cumberland, Georgia.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-1 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-5 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Indians beat their in-State rivals, the Cincinnati Reds, 11-1 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-3 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat their intra-City rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 3-1 at Guaranteed Rate Field (now Rate Field).

* The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-1 at Target Field in Minneapolis. Rougned Odor won the game with a 3-run home run in the top of the 11th inning.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels, 11-10 at Minute Maid Park in Houston. George Springer singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-3 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 1-0 at Oracle Park in San Francisco. The only run came on a home run by Evan Longoria in the 7th inning.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-4 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. 

June 26, 2003: The Death of Marc-Vivien Foé

June 26, 2003: Marc-Vivien Foé dies of a previously undiagnosed heart condition, while playing midfield for Cameroon against Colombia, in the Semifinal of the Confederations Cup, a match being held in his adopted hometown of Lyon, France. He was 28, and was survived by a wife, but no children.

Foé was born on May 1, 1975, in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. A midfielder, he won his country's version of the FA Cup with Canon Yaoundé in 1993. He moved to France, and helped Racing Club de Lens win the League title in 1998.

He spent the next season with West Ham United of East London, and helped them win the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup, a 3rd-tier European tournament. He moved to Olympique Lyonnais, and helped them win the Ligue 1 title in 2002. In addition, he helped Cameroon with the Africa Cup of Nations, the continent's national team tournament, in 2000 and 2002.

Lyon loaned him to Manchester City for the 2002-03 season, and he played in 38 of their 41 games, scoring 9 goals, including the last goal at their old stadium, Maine Road, on April 21, 2003.

The Cameroon team, known as the Indomitable Lions, reached the World Cup in 1994 and 2002. Foé was in both squads, but they did not get past the Group Stage either time. They played in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. Foé played in wins over Brazil and Turkey. With the team having thus qualified for the knockout stage, he was rested for their game against the United States, a 0-0 draw that knocked the Americans out of the tournament.

Only 4 teams qualified for the knockout stage. On June 26, Cameroon faced Colombia in the Semifinal, at what was officially his club home field, the Stade de Gerland in Lyon. In the 72nd minute, with Cameroon leading 1-0, he ran to the center circle, and collapsed. No other player was near him, so he hadn't been fouled.

The medical team attempted to resuscitate him on the pitch. He was stretchered off, and for 45 minutes, they tried to restart his heart. It didn't work, and he was dead at 28.

His wife, Marie-Louise, said that he had been suffering from stomach issues, but he wanted to play this game in his adopted hometown. Winfried Schäfer, Cameroon's German manager, had noticed that Foé seemed fatigued. He signaled to Foé that he wanted to substitute him off, but Foé signaled that he wanted to keep going.

The game was played to a conclusion, and Cameroon hung on to win. That night, in the other Semifinal, at the Stade de France in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, France beat Turkey, 3-2. Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Sylvain Wiltord, all players for North London team Arsenal, scored for France, and each pointed to the sky as a salute to Foé. Three days later, France beat Cameron in the Final at the Stade de France, with Henry scoring a "golden goal" in the 97th minute.

Unlike in North American sports, retiring uniform numbers is unusual in world soccer, and is rarely done for a player who is still alive. Lens retired the Number 17 shirt that he wore for them, and Manchester City did the same with Number 23. Plaques honoring him were installed at the new City of Manchester Stadium (now the Etihad Stadium) and in the memorial garden at the housing complex built on the site of Maine Road. A street outside Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens was renamed for him.

*

June 26, 2003 was a Thursday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 4-3 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Mike Mussina got the win, supported by home runs from Jason Giambi and Raúl Mondesí. Derek Jeter went 0-for-5.

* The New York Mets lost to the Florida Marlins, 6-1 at Shea Stadium.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-4 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-1 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. Randy Wolf outpitched Mike Hampton, and was supported by home runs from Jim Thome and Mike Lieberthal.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 13-8 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-1 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Sammy Sosa hit a home run, but the Cubs blew a 3-2 lead in the 9th inning, including a home run by Geoff Jenkins.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 11-7 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 13-0 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Tim Hudson pitched 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and 2 relievers finished a 4-hit shutout.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Anaheim Angels, 10-6 at Edison International Field (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Ichiro Suzuki went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* And the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Colorado Rockies, the Houston Astros, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Montreal Expos, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants were not scheduled.

June 24, 1894: The Assassination of Sadi Carnot

June 24, 1894: Sadi Carnot, the President of France, is assassinated in Lyon. He was 56 years old.

Marie François Sadi Carnot was born on August 11, 1837 in Limoges, New Aquitaine. His father, Hippolyte Carnot, was also a politician, and was a brother of the scientist now regarded as the father of thermodynamics, Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, for whom he named his son.

Following the fall of France's Second Empire in 1870 and the Paris Commune the next year, he left his profession of civil engineering to enter public service in the Third Republic. By 1880, he was in the Cabinet, serving twice as Minister of Public Works, and in 1885 was named Minister of Finance. Scandal doomed the Presidency of Jules Grévy in 1887, and Carnot was seen as clean, and was thus an easy choice to be the new President.

For his 1st 2 years in office, Carnot and the nation were threatened by the popularity of Georges Ernest Boulanger, a would-be dictator nicknamed Général Revanche ("General Revenge"), whom many liberals feared would become the next Napleon Bonaparte, after Napoleon III had been overthrown as Emperor as a result of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.

But he celebrated his January 1889 election as a deputy (equivalent to a U.S. Senator) for Paris by running off to see his mistress, Marguerite Brouzet, Vicomtesse de Bonnemains. His absence from the capital meant that his supporters couldn't rally around him, giving his opponents time to build a criminal case against him. On April 4, he was stripped of his immunity from prosecution, and was sentenced to deportation. He and the Vicomtesse fled to London, where she died of tuberculosis in his arms in 1891. Her remains were returned to France, and so did he. A few weeks later, he shot himself at her grave.

In 1889, Carnot presided over the 100th Anniversary celebrations for the French Revolution, including the Paris Exhibition, a world's fair, and the opening of what became its, and eventually, France's, best-known icon, the Eiffel Tower. The most troubling period of his tenure turned out to be the scandal over France's abandonment of building the Panama Canal in 1892 (resumed by the U.S. in 1904), but Carnot's personal integrity saved the government.

President Carnot was reaching the zenith of his popularity, when, on June 24, 1894, after delivering a public banquet speech at the Palais du Commerce in Lyon, in which he appeared to imply that he would not seek re-election, he was stabbed on the Rue de la République by an Italian anarchist named Sante Geronimo Caserio. Carnot was transported to the Préfecture du Rhône nearby, but died shortly after midnight on June 25.

The stabbing aroused widespread horror and grief, and the president was honoured with an elaborate funeral ceremony in the Panthéon on July 1, 1894, after which he was interred in the Panthéon's crypt, alongside other notable figures in French history, including Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Victor Hugo.

Among those buried there since 1894 are Louis Braille (his remains transferred from elsewhere), Alexandre Dumas père (ditto), Marie and Pierre Curie (ditto), Émile Zola, Josephine Baker, Jean Moulin and Jean Monnet.

Caserio called the assassination a political act, and was executed on August 16, 1894. Within 2 months, the Dreyfus Affair began, and France was thrown into turmoil. It can only be guessed how Carnot would have handled it, but on January 16, 1895, it brought down his successor, Jean Casimir-Perier.

*

June 24, 1894 was a Sunday. The only professional sports league then operating in North America was baseball's National League. But the Eastern teams were in States that still did not permit professional sports to be played on Sundays, so all 3 games played that day were in the Midwest:

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Louisville Colonels, 7-5 at Eclipse Park in Louisville, Kentucky.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago Colts, forerunners of the Cubs, 11-10 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago.

* And the St. Louis Browns, forerunners of the Cardinals, beat the Cleveland Spiders, 14-10 at the 1892-1898 version of Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.