I was excited when Mardy Fish made a nice little run at Wimbledon because I expected to see him live on July 22nd. I thought he had a chance to get through Nadal at Wimbledon but he lost in four sets in the quarterfinal match.
Julie and I have tennis in common. I became semi-obsessed with the idea of attending a professional match together in July 2010 when I watched part of the ATP Atlanta Tennis Championships on television. Atlanta is a reasonable 7 hour drive to watch a top-10 professional tennis player.
We purchased the evening quarterfinal match for Friday, July 22nd. Mardy Fish, as the #9 player in the world, was the highest ranked player committed to the tournament so I expected he would have the 7 pm feature quarterfinal match in Atlanta assuming there wasn't some major upset. Fish didn't disappoint.
If you get ESPN3, look for us starting around the 3:40 mark. You can also see us also standing in the back if you look between the faces of Brad Gilbert and Cliff Drysdale at about the 4:00 mark. I haven't watched the whole match over again yet so I'm not sure if we made any other brief appearances on screen but we sat behind the player benches. You can see the folding chairs followed by the green bleachers. We sat in the fifth row of green seats four or five seats to the right hand side of the chair umpire.
We had a blast. Julie felt we were out of our league a bit what with all the fancy cars in the parking lot and the attitude we perceived from the other attendees. It was a bit more exclusive than was my first golf tournament experience in May but I didn't think it had nearly the country club feel like some of our high school experiences. Funny note - the guy next to us commented how nice it would be to have 6 new racquets sitting in your bag on the court like the pros and he seemed a bit turned off when Julie admitted that she has had the same racquet for 15 years;)
Immediately following the match we saw the final quarterfinal match between Ryan Harrison and Rajeev Ram. Both are Americans and Harrison has been touted as the next big thing in USA tennis. We've heard that before about players that never panned out so we'll wait and see how it goes but it was another exciting match. Harrison still has some work left on harnessing his emotion into more positive and professional energy but he is young and we won't throw the first rock and condemn him just yet. The final set tie-break took us all the way close to midnight. Tough way to lose for Ram - the final point at 6-5 in the tiebreak of the final set clipped the tape and eluded his approaching volley. That's tennis for you.
I enjoy watching tennis on television and I can try to explain the contrast to watching it in person, but really ... you had to be there.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
New collective bargaining agreement
So the NFL now has a new collective bargaining agreement. The NBA is now on the clock. Still, I can't help but consider the similarities between NFL owners locking out the players and politicians locking out Americans in the current debt ceiling debate. This isn't a politics blog but I'm just saying...
Would the equivalent of a new CBA be amending the constitution or dissolving most regulatory agencies and starting over?
Would the equivalent of a new CBA be amending the constitution or dissolving most regulatory agencies and starting over?
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The Walmart of the MLB
So Julie and I went to the Rays game and were grateful to be there. There is always a bit more on the line when the Yankees come to town (Take that Boston!).
The Rays are kind of the Walmart of MLB. Julie kept reminding last night when I would complain about the talent differential that it is much more gratifying to earn the win than to buy the win.
Robinson Chirinos was called up yesterday to play in his first major league game (because another rookie catcher got hurt the night before in his first career start). He doubled in his first at bat. Derek Jeter walked over to him from shortstop and congratulated him on his first career hit. The Yanks have a guy with 3,000 hits and the Rays have a guy with one career hit.
Later in the game the Yanks were batting in the ninth inning of a tie game. The bases were loaded and there were two outs. Alex Torres had just been called up from the minors and due to how the game developed and the length of the game on Sunday he was pitching. You could tell he was a bit rattled after walking a guy so Chirinos went out to the mound to calm him down. It was then that I realized I was watching a catcher in his first major league game talking to a pitcher pitching in his first major league game and their job was to defeat an opponent full of established, hall of fame guys. It was a David versus Goliath. Hey rookies - welcome to the majors against the Yankees in a tie game on national television in the ninth inning with the bases loaded, two outs, and a full count (No, really. That's what it was.)
Julie is right. If we had won that game, imagine the satisfaction and accomplishment those kids would have felt playing in their first game in the major leagues. Goliath won last night but I'm still glad I'm not a Philistine.
Remember Sam Fuld? Remember when the Rays only won one of the first nine games to start the season and built themselves a huge hole. Then came the spark that was Sam Fuld. That flame burned out pretty quick and was replaced by Matt Joyce who was hot for a while. Kotchman has been the most consistent spark.
Play it again, Sam. We need another spark plug. I don't care who it is but somebody step up fast before this thing gets away from us.
The Rays are kind of the Walmart of MLB. Julie kept reminding last night when I would complain about the talent differential that it is much more gratifying to earn the win than to buy the win.
Robinson Chirinos was called up yesterday to play in his first major league game (because another rookie catcher got hurt the night before in his first career start). He doubled in his first at bat. Derek Jeter walked over to him from shortstop and congratulated him on his first career hit. The Yanks have a guy with 3,000 hits and the Rays have a guy with one career hit.
Later in the game the Yanks were batting in the ninth inning of a tie game. The bases were loaded and there were two outs. Alex Torres had just been called up from the minors and due to how the game developed and the length of the game on Sunday he was pitching. You could tell he was a bit rattled after walking a guy so Chirinos went out to the mound to calm him down. It was then that I realized I was watching a catcher in his first major league game talking to a pitcher pitching in his first major league game and their job was to defeat an opponent full of established, hall of fame guys. It was a David versus Goliath. Hey rookies - welcome to the majors against the Yankees in a tie game on national television in the ninth inning with the bases loaded, two outs, and a full count (No, really. That's what it was.)
Julie is right. If we had won that game, imagine the satisfaction and accomplishment those kids would have felt playing in their first game in the major leagues. Goliath won last night but I'm still glad I'm not a Philistine.
Remember Sam Fuld? Remember when the Rays only won one of the first nine games to start the season and built themselves a huge hole. Then came the spark that was Sam Fuld. That flame burned out pretty quick and was replaced by Matt Joyce who was hot for a while. Kotchman has been the most consistent spark.
Play it again, Sam. We need another spark plug. I don't care who it is but somebody step up fast before this thing gets away from us.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
You're all quite short
The subject line is another movie quote but it is just what I thought when I caught a glimpse of the Japan team at the Women's World Cup (WWC). I hit up Google and tried to find the heights of the starting lineup. The only thing I could find was an article that claimed the average height of their team is 5'4" so there you go.
I'm enough of a patriot that I've watched a little more than just highlights the last few weeks but I decided it wouldn't be worth a blog post until the gold was within reach. Here we are. Great match yesterday. The US certainly played better against Brazil but it was still good enough to win yesterday and at least the officiating seemed fair.
I'm excited for the WWC Final even though it is on Sunday so I won't be watching. I think it has the potential to be a very exciting match-up. It's no secret that in any sport I like an "undersized" team that wins with grit, precision, and determination rather than just trying to overpower the opponent. That is Japan and it is a fun brand of soccer to watch.
USA, USA, USA!
I'm enough of a patriot that I've watched a little more than just highlights the last few weeks but I decided it wouldn't be worth a blog post until the gold was within reach. Here we are. Great match yesterday. The US certainly played better against Brazil but it was still good enough to win yesterday and at least the officiating seemed fair.
I'm excited for the WWC Final even though it is on Sunday so I won't be watching. I think it has the potential to be a very exciting match-up. It's no secret that in any sport I like an "undersized" team that wins with grit, precision, and determination rather than just trying to overpower the opponent. That is Japan and it is a fun brand of soccer to watch.
USA, USA, USA!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
I was there when...
Everyone is talking 3,000 hits because of Jeter. Congrats to Jeter. He won the game for NY today. It was a great back-and-forth game. It is a big deal for sure to get to 3,000. There had been as many guys tally 3,000 as there are outs recorded by a pitcher in a perfect game - 27. Now there are 28.
Reminds me of a story.
In high school I had one of the greatest job a high schooler can have. I sold dippin dots ice cream at Rays baseball games. Well, they were the Devil Rays then but same thing. I could get into the games (well, I had to be there) 30 minutes before gates opened to the public so I got to watch part of the Rays batting practice in a pretty empty stadium. Sometimes I would go down close and talk to the guys or get an autograph. Fred McGriff was nice and so was Wade Boggs. The one guy I couldn't stand and who was never nice was Jose Canseco (probably not a huge shock to most people).
So I worked the game when Boggs was at 2,999 hits. I worked out in the food court area with another person who didn't care as much and let me run into the nearest section to watch each time Wade came to bat. It was electric in there. I remember well standing there with another food vendor and predicting the home run. Sure enough. Home run. The crowd went wild. I don't think I really appreciated it at that age but it was pretty cool to watch live a guy get his 3,000th hit.
Now there are two guys who hit home runs for their 3,000th hit. I wasn't in Yankee Stadium today but I was there when Boggs jogged around the bases for his moment in history.
Reminds me of a story.
In high school I had one of the greatest job a high schooler can have. I sold dippin dots ice cream at Rays baseball games. Well, they were the Devil Rays then but same thing. I could get into the games (well, I had to be there) 30 minutes before gates opened to the public so I got to watch part of the Rays batting practice in a pretty empty stadium. Sometimes I would go down close and talk to the guys or get an autograph. Fred McGriff was nice and so was Wade Boggs. The one guy I couldn't stand and who was never nice was Jose Canseco (probably not a huge shock to most people).
So I worked the game when Boggs was at 2,999 hits. I worked out in the food court area with another person who didn't care as much and let me run into the nearest section to watch each time Wade came to bat. It was electric in there. I remember well standing there with another food vendor and predicting the home run. Sure enough. Home run. The crowd went wild. I don't think I really appreciated it at that age but it was pretty cool to watch live a guy get his 3,000th hit.
Now there are two guys who hit home runs for their 3,000th hit. I wasn't in Yankee Stadium today but I was there when Boggs jogged around the bases for his moment in history.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Old sports injury
Most people can claim at least one old sports injury that lingers for years and flares up on occasion. I have mine.
This story takes us back to freshman year of high school. I didn't apologize for being 4'8" when I started high school. Nor did I consider myself athletically inferior for weighing in at a whopping 70 lbs.
I was committed to joining the high school basketball team. After all, I could rain three pointers all day and accumulate steals constantly at church pick-up games and I knew most of the guys who had already been hand selected by the high school coach in middle school to make the team.
Maybe unapologetic, but I wasn't unaware that the shortest freshman who wound up making the team was 15 inches looking down at me. Maybe I had watched Rudy too many times but I figured I could compensate for size with determination.
My determination caused my injury. I'm not sure if I regret it or not. I was never much of a weight lifter so I was a little hesitant when my friends who would eventually be on the team invited me to work out over the summer at the high school weight room. I didn't really know what I was doing but they took me under their wing and showed me what to do. It didn't take too many curls with the barbells before I strained my forearm and it has never quite been the same.
The story stops there because this post is about sports injuries and not about life lessons of getting cut from high school basketball teams (didn't MJ get cut from his high school team). Point is I can't seem to shake it. I still feel the strained forearm whenever I use it with much significance and I've learned to be careful with it.
Which leads us to the next blog post... bowling.
This story takes us back to freshman year of high school. I didn't apologize for being 4'8" when I started high school. Nor did I consider myself athletically inferior for weighing in at a whopping 70 lbs.
I was committed to joining the high school basketball team. After all, I could rain three pointers all day and accumulate steals constantly at church pick-up games and I knew most of the guys who had already been hand selected by the high school coach in middle school to make the team.
Maybe unapologetic, but I wasn't unaware that the shortest freshman who wound up making the team was 15 inches looking down at me. Maybe I had watched Rudy too many times but I figured I could compensate for size with determination.
My determination caused my injury. I'm not sure if I regret it or not. I was never much of a weight lifter so I was a little hesitant when my friends who would eventually be on the team invited me to work out over the summer at the high school weight room. I didn't really know what I was doing but they took me under their wing and showed me what to do. It didn't take too many curls with the barbells before I strained my forearm and it has never quite been the same.
The story stops there because this post is about sports injuries and not about life lessons of getting cut from high school basketball teams (didn't MJ get cut from his high school team). Point is I can't seem to shake it. I still feel the strained forearm whenever I use it with much significance and I've learned to be careful with it.
Which leads us to the next blog post... bowling.
Duckpin Bowling
I'm feeling the old sports injury after five games of bowling on Wednesday night. I hadn't bowled in a few years so I forgot how sore my forearm gets after just three games. Typing isn't bad but even gripping a pencil to write is tough.
But this post won't be about sports injuries. This post is about bowling. I was actually on my high school bowling team.
My bowling is similar to my tennis. My pedigree includes some experience but I received no formal training in either sport. My grandmother taught me how to love tennis and a decade of losing to my dad prepared me to compete in high school. Bowling I also picked up from my dad who was a professional duck pin bowler for a few years in Maryland. Like any good story, I'd like to embellish it a bit for you but he actually did a pretty good job of that himself describing himself as an up-and-coming star before he left for his mission. His name was often in the Washington Post with his scores and he made a few bucks at it to help pay for college.
Unless you are an old(er);) man from the northeast you may not be familiar with duck pins. A duckpin ball is a little larger than a softball so you grip it around the exterior rather than using finger holes as you would with a traditional bowling ball. The pins are arranged on the lane identical to normal bowling but the pins are a little shorter and lighter so that it is more difficult to achieve a strike in combination with the smaller ball. You track the score similarly. However, due to the difficulty you are allowed three attempts instead of two in each frame. You can read more at wikipedia.
So add another to my bucket list - go duck pin bowling at least once in my lifetime.
But this post won't be about sports injuries. This post is about bowling. I was actually on my high school bowling team.
My bowling is similar to my tennis. My pedigree includes some experience but I received no formal training in either sport. My grandmother taught me how to love tennis and a decade of losing to my dad prepared me to compete in high school. Bowling I also picked up from my dad who was a professional duck pin bowler for a few years in Maryland. Like any good story, I'd like to embellish it a bit for you but he actually did a pretty good job of that himself describing himself as an up-and-coming star before he left for his mission. His name was often in the Washington Post with his scores and he made a few bucks at it to help pay for college.
Unless you are an old(er);) man from the northeast you may not be familiar with duck pins. A duckpin ball is a little larger than a softball so you grip it around the exterior rather than using finger holes as you would with a traditional bowling ball. The pins are arranged on the lane identical to normal bowling but the pins are a little shorter and lighter so that it is more difficult to achieve a strike in combination with the smaller ball. You track the score similarly. However, due to the difficulty you are allowed three attempts instead of two in each frame. You can read more at wikipedia.
So add another to my bucket list - go duck pin bowling at least once in my lifetime.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Move over Vlade Divac
It's about time I do a Jimmer post!
So I've never really sat down and done a formal list but I've always kind of compartmentalized teams into three categories in my head: teams I like, teams I don't care about, and teams I dislike.
Here are some examples. I like the Rays, Cubs, BYU Cougars. I'm neutral on the Royals, the Washington Capitals, the Denver Broncos. I dislike the Nuggets, the Yankees, the Cowboys.
Up until the evening of June 23, 2011 the Sacramento Kings were on the margin between teams I dislike and teams I don't care about. They switched margins during the first round of the NBA draft.
I tried to think of a Kings player I've enjoyed watching in the past and I came up with Vlade Divac. He drove me kind of nuts but in the same way I enjoyed watching Dennis Rodman play basketball, I enjoyed watching Vlade play basketball. He knew how to do it.
And now without ever playing a single minute for the Kings I have a new favorite Kings player of all-time: Jimmer. I'm curious if I become a full Kings fan or just a Jimmer fan but assuming he gets some good playing time I think I'll actually become a Kings fan.
All I know is that I'll be at the game when the Magic host the Kings next season as long as it isn't on a Sunday. Never say never. Never say always. But I'm pretty sure.
I know it is just sports. But this is a sports blog. And as far as sports go, Go Jimmer!!!!
So I've never really sat down and done a formal list but I've always kind of compartmentalized teams into three categories in my head: teams I like, teams I don't care about, and teams I dislike.
Here are some examples. I like the Rays, Cubs, BYU Cougars. I'm neutral on the Royals, the Washington Capitals, the Denver Broncos. I dislike the Nuggets, the Yankees, the Cowboys.
Up until the evening of June 23, 2011 the Sacramento Kings were on the margin between teams I dislike and teams I don't care about. They switched margins during the first round of the NBA draft.
I tried to think of a Kings player I've enjoyed watching in the past and I came up with Vlade Divac. He drove me kind of nuts but in the same way I enjoyed watching Dennis Rodman play basketball, I enjoyed watching Vlade play basketball. He knew how to do it.
And now without ever playing a single minute for the Kings I have a new favorite Kings player of all-time: Jimmer. I'm curious if I become a full Kings fan or just a Jimmer fan but assuming he gets some good playing time I think I'll actually become a Kings fan.
All I know is that I'll be at the game when the Magic host the Kings next season as long as it isn't on a Sunday. Never say never. Never say always. But I'm pretty sure.
I know it is just sports. But this is a sports blog. And as far as sports go, Go Jimmer!!!!
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