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Hello everyone, and welcome to today’s “The Stack” with me, Nathan Stacken. As summer continues, there is still not not too much going on in the world of sports other than baseball, but with Wimbledon and the women’s World Cup going on right now, there is at least something else to peak our interests. Let’s see what made “The Stack” today:

1. T.O has surgery to repair torn ACL.

One of the NFL most ecentric and controversial players may have played his last NFL down. Sources close to Terrell Owens say that the wide receiver had surgery to repair a torn ACL he suffered in an undisclosed injury during the offseason. His agent Drew Rosenhaus was unavailable for comment. At 37, it would seem to be very difficult for Owens to come back from a torn ACL and be effective. He is one of the best wide receivers to play the game. He is near the top in many statistical categories including second in all-time receiving yards only behind Jerry Rice. Will he be a hall-of-famer? His antics and constant terrible treatment of former quarterbacks will not put him in good faith with voters. If the hall of fame was based on being a good teammate, without question he would not make it. But his play on the field speaks for itself. He came back from a terrible knee injury to play in the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles against the New England Patriots in 2005. He is a hall-of-famer.

2. Dodgers file for bankruptcy protection.

In his latest move to try and keep the Los Angeles Dodgers and prevent MLB from taking over, Frank McCourt has filed for bankruptcy protection in a Delaware court today. It allows the Dodgers 150 millions dollars for daily operations and gives them time to prove their case and perhaps secure a media deal to keep the team. Now McCourt has to prove before the court that he has enough finances to keep the team and make payroll. The Dodgers are in such disarray and that has contributed to their record this year (35-44) and their inability to go after big-name free agents. Will they be able to keep Matt Kemp, their best palyer? Depends on their financial situation, which isn’t good. Either way, this has been really embarassing for the Dodgers and MLB. We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out andd hopefully, this gets worked out soon.

3. NHL realigning in 2012-13.

The NHL Draft was this weekend in St. Paul, Minnesota and while there were some big trades and interesting storylines from the draft, the bigger news is that the NHL is working on a deal for realigning the NHL for the 2012-13 season. There would be four divisions, two with eight teams, two with seven teams. The plan is scheduled to be voted on at the December Board of Governers meeting. The reason the NHL is doing this and has to do this is because the Winnipeg Jets, formerly the Atlanta Thrashers, will be playing the Southeast division this year when they play in the Canadian province of Manitoba which lies right above Minnesota and North Dakota. It doesn’t make any sense.

What makes the most sense, and this is the “Nathan realignment plan” would be to move the Jets to the Northwest Division, move the Minnesota Wild to the Central Division and the Nashville Predators move to the Southeast Division. With teams though like the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets wanting to move to the eastern conference because they are in the eastern time zone, that may not work. Either way, it will be interesting to see the NHL’s plan come December.

4. Wimbledon news.

We’ve seen several upsets so far in Wimbledon and some pretty good matches. A good match today that involved a mild upset was Marion Bartoli, ranked ninth in the world, beat Serena Williams, seventh in the world, in the fourth round. It was a good run for Williams who hadn’t played since last year’s Wimbledon due to several health issues. She seemed very happy to be back. #5 Maria Sharapova, won her match today in straight sets. On the men’s side, #4 Andy Murray won in straight sets. You have to think that we’re going to see semi-finals of the top four players in the world: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Murray. Should set up for a great week at Wimbledon as the tournament concludes.

5. Women’s world cup gets underway.

Yesterday, the first game of the Women’s World Cup got underway from Germany and the host country did not disappoint, beating Canada 2-1. France later beat Nigeria 1-0. Team USA begins their quest tomorrow against North Korea. If they don’t rout the North Koreans and why by at least two or three goals, it will be a disappointment. It is interesting that fans don’t get as amped for the women’s world cup as they do the men’s world cup. The men’s cup is a better spectacle because the talent level is just that much better in men’s soccer. Some may see the lack of interest as being sexist, but it is the same in every sport like college basketball, golf and tennis. This does not make it right. It’s just the way it is. It will interesting to see tomorrow how amped up fans across the USA are and if they will pack the sports bars and pubs to watch team USA battle North Korea.

There are two matches today. Japan defeated New Zealand 2-1. Mexico takes on England at noon eastern. More on the women’s world cup throughout the tournament here on “The Stack.”

That just about does it for me today. A couple of interesting baseball notes to pass along from the weekend. The Milwaukee Brewers swept the Minnesota Twins to increase their lead in the NL Central. The Pittsburgh Pirates nearly pulled off a sweep of the Boston Red Sox, but lost yesterday 4-2. They trail the Brewers by only four games in the NL Central. And the Florida Marlins lost two of three to the Seattle Mariners. What makes this noteworthy is that the series was played in Seattle though the Marlins were the home team. They had to play in Seattle due to U2 hosting a concert at Sun Life Stadium where the Marlins play. Shows where the Marlins stand when it comes to popularity. U2 beats them out.

Check back tomorrow for another edition of “The Stack.” Until then, have a great day and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

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