July has been one of my favorite months for years. Not for the weather—October wins there—but because it was the one month that my bride never had to worry about her teaching job. August also had that status once, but that vanished years ago when the school year was extended and the Back-to-School Day moved into August. That changed when she hung up her dry markers two Junes ago, but July is still a month to enjoy.

I clued in on July when I asked a former newspaper colleague, who had moved on to teaching at a local community college, what he liked best about teaching. His one-word answer: July.
For families with children, it’s the busiest vacation month of the year now that August is primarily a school month. If you had a doubt, check out the traffic last week during the commute. With Independent Day falling on a Wednesday, there was question about whether people would make it a very long weekend.
Checking out the commute traffic on July 5th, it looked like it does on Dec. 26th, nobody on the road at 7 a.m. headed to work. Maybe going to the beach or the golf course, but not the office.

This also is a favorite month because the sun comes so early that it’s easy to be awake and going around 6:30 a.m. —an hour I do not see much in the winter. This month there’s the bonus of great sporting events being conducted in the British Isles and France, plus the World Cup in Russia. I cut my teeth in the newspaper business as a sports writer and my love of high quality sports stays with me today.
So, watching the highest level of soccer, with players giving their all for national pride, is a joy. The DVR is set for today and tomorrow to ensure I do not miss any of the semi-finals and it will be the same on Sunday when church commitments will require delayed viewing. The challenge will be staying out of the media until the afternoon.

The Championships at Wimbledon take over the early morning through mid-day hours this week until the Scottish Open starts on Thursday. Then it will be a tough choice between great links golf and the semi-finals—tennis may well be the choice, particularly given Serena Williams great run.
And finally, there’s always the Tour de France—I’m no particular fan of bicycle racing, but the scenery, particularly in the Alps, is sensational. Having driven some of those roads, the races bring back fond memories.

WOW--For serious golf fans, today and tomorrow, they can watch live coverage of The Open Championship from Scotland starting before bedtime (10:30 p.m.) and running through 1 p.m. That's 14 1/2 hours of live coverage both days. It drops back, after the cut, to 10 1/2 hours of live coverage on Golf Channel and NBC on Saturday and 10 on Sunday.