A lot of sports editors around the world today weren’t exactly surprised that, with the end of the World Cup, not a whole lot is going on … but it still represents an unpleasant reality.

A limited number of scheduled events in the near future.

It is the case in the UAE, and it is the case in the U.S., too.

Shall we rank the three “deadest” days of the year, for predictable sports news?

Yes. I think we should.

1. The day before baseball’s All-Star Game. Which this year also happened to be the day after the World Cup final. Today, that is. Nothing is happening. Not only is it a Monday, none of the world’s major professional sports leagues are playing. None of them.

2. December 24, Christmas Eve in the west. You might get a couple of NFL playoff games, if Christmas Eve falls on the weekend. Otherwise, not much of anything goes on. Even in the Gulf.

3. The day after baseball’s All-Star Game. Or what we also this year call “the day after tomorrow.”

The issues here are not a surprise to us. None of the big soccer leagues are playing yet. Baseball is off. The NBA and NFL haven’t started yet. No Summer Olympics, this year. Wimbledon and the U.S. Open behind us.

We have the British Open coming, but it doesn’t start until Thursday.

Another fairly big thing, from the perspective of The National’s cricket fans, is the England v India five-match Test series, but we are between the first and second Tests. Play resumes Thursday.

So, in the matter of a day, we go from the biggest event in world sports, the World Cup final … to a whole lotta nothin’.

It is the job of sports managers to have other concepts ready to go. But …

But for the past month and a half, we knew we could do up to nine pages (out of 16) every day on the World Cup, and did at least four since May 26. Now … that’s gone. We follow it up at some length today, but then you pretty much have to let go.

By mid-August, most of Europe will be playing soccer again. Until then, though, it’s thin.

Let’s hope for an interesting Tour de France.