Sports

Big Shots has some busy times ahead with several major competitions to cover. I expect individual posts soon on the US Open tennis championships in New York, the World Basketball Championships in Turkey, and the Vuelta a Espana bicycle race in Spain. American football fans are happy that both the NFL and the NCAA are kicking around the pigskin again. And baseball's World Series is not far off. While you wait, enjoy the Combat Games in Beijing, the Agricultural Society Fair in Martha's Vineyard, and the Junior World Snowboard & Freestyle Championships in New Zealand. ( 24 photos total)

The Youth Olympic Games in Singapore drew teams from 204 countries for the 12-day event. The games, about a third the size of a regular Olympics, featured 14 - 18 year olds competing in 26 Olympic sports, including new twists on old favorites like three-on-three basketball. After a successful production, could a bid for the larger international quadrennial be in the future for the tiny island nation? ( 25 photos total)

This week Big Shots takes in an incredible variety of sports. There's wake boarding in Germany, low-tide cricket in England, buzkashi (or goat-grabbing) in Afghanistan, and the Palio horse race in Italy. There will be no Big Shots posts next week, as I'll be on vacation. When I return I hope to have an entry from the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore as well as the regular weekly post. ( 28 photos total)

Was Dustin Johnson in a bunker? Had his penalty occurred on the first day of play, he could have blamed the fog, which enveloped the Whistling Straits course in Kohler, Wis. and delayed play. But it was Martin Kaymer who emerged from the mist, and from a three-hole playoff with Bubba Watson, to win the 92nd PGA Championship. Johnson missed the playoff, and this tournament may be remembered more for the controversy than for the play of the winner. ( 22 photos total)

This week Big Shots lassoes horses in Inner Mongolia, fights off attacking butterflies in South Carolina, and crashes holiday caravans in England. There's also cliff diving in Italy, river surfing in Germany, and snowboarding in New Zealand. Next week I'll have pictures from the PGA golf championship in Wisconsin as well as the usual weekly post. ( 29 photos total)

Budapest and Balatonfured, Hungary are hosting the 30th European Swimming Championships now through August 15. A full slate of events are represented in four disciplines: swimming, diving, synchro, and open water. Underwater cameras have made this event a much more visually interesting spectacle than if it were photographed only from above the waterline. ( 20 photos total)

Any time I get a great ear pulling picture, it's going right on the top of the entry. And if you put soccer ball motif contact lenses in your eyes, I'm putting your picture in here as well. Ditto for crashing your bike in the transition area of a triathlon, or kissing bricks en masse with your stock car teammates in Indianapolis. And those are just some of the moments, both silly and decisive, in this week's Big Shots. I will not post any entries next week in Big Shots as I'll be spending the week in production training. ( 31 photos total)

All over the world athletes are meeting on the track, on the mat, in the pool, and even on the velodrome as multinational events fill the void left by the end of the World Cup and Tour de France. Barcelona hosted the European Athletics Championships, Puerto Rico hosted the Central American and Caribbean Games, Moncton, Canada hosted the IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships, Nairobi hosted the African Athletics Championships, and Monaco hosted the Herculis International Athletics Meeting. Here is a selection of pictures from those events. ( 22 photos total)

Friends and rivals Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck gave cycling fans one of the all-time great battles in the 2010 Tour de France, with Contador winning by the fourth-smallest margin in Tour history. Just 31 seconds separated the pair in a three-week race that covered over 2000 miles. The race saw five stage wins by British sprinter Mark Cavendish, chaos on the cobbles in stage 3 (see link for part one below), the last ride of seven-time champion Lance Armstrong, and a duel on the Tourmalet that will be remembered for generations. Perhaps the best part of the Contador-Schleck rivalry (both men topped the podium in last year's Tour as well) is that they're both young and should treat us to more battles for years to come. ( 34 photos total)

Now I'm in trouble. The NBA playoffs are a memory, the World Cup is over, and the Tour de France is drawing to a close. How to sustain myself? Not to worry. There's always something happening in the sports world, as evidenced by this week's Big Shots. From the Central American & Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico to the European Fencing Championship in Leipzig, from the US Windsurfing National Championships in San Francisco to sumo wrestling in Japan, we have plenty to satisfy the competitive urge. ( 28 photos total)

When you sink a pressure-packed 40-foot birdie putt in the final round, there's little else you need do to announce your arrival as an important player on the PGA Tour. But Louis Oosthuizen did more. His solid play, long drives, and accurate putts over the entire tournament had him dominating more famous hitters on the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland. The 139th British Open Golf Championship was his to loose all weekend, and the Claret Jug was in his hands at the end. It was Oosthuizen's first Major win. ( 18 photos total)

As I fight through World Cup withdrawal - I may just have to fake an injury right here in the office - I'm happy to find that there's still plenty of sports action throughout the world. I'm looking forward to upcoming posts on the British Open and another on the Tour de France. Meanwhile there's beach volleyball in Switzerland - wait, there's a beach in Switzerland? - the Calgary Stampede rodeo in Canada, the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in North Carolina, and so much more. ( 25 photos total)