It was a relatively busy sporting day for me today, starting with an early morning DVR-ed version of the French Open finals, mid-morning DVR-ed Canadian GP (on Fox, thanks a lot!) and then the Game 2 of the NBA finals in the evening.
I watched the first one almost completely. I could not resist the “30-second skip” on the DVR for some of the boring points in the match, though there were not too many. Nadal is too strong and Federer has only himself to blame for not winning this one. He (Fed) had so many break chances, and if he had converted even a fraction of the chances he had, the story would have been completely different.
But he did not, and Nadal continues his mastery of the French Open. Can’t believe he has not lost a single match at the French Open!!
And then it was on to the F-1 race. Frankly, I am not surprised why I have not missed F-1 so far this year. There is no real “hero”. Excluding the new kid Hamilton, there is really no positive storyline this season. Maybe it is the transition season from Schumy to the next generation, and I certainly hope that is the case, but frankly, Alonso and Massa are just too boring. Kimi has some color and a wild background to make things interesting but after the first race, he has steadily disintegrated and has shown that the last couple of years may not have been McLaren’s fault but actually his.
Of course this Canadian GP was quite eventful and Kubica’s crash was simply unbelievable. With that big a crash, for him to survive and be quite ok in the hospital, shows how far the technology and protection mechanism has come to in the past many years.
In the end it was the new hero in F-1 who won a convincing race - Lewis Hamilton. Congratulations to him, and all the best for the rest of the season!
And finally, the NBA finals. The Spurs are looking just too good and too methodical to create too many problems for themselves this year. Horry is going to get another ring in his collection and the Spurs are going to be the true dynasty in the NBA today.
Despite what people said was a thrilling Wimbledon finals match, I think Andy Roddick is overrated. He has a good serve, but his overall game is hyped up here in the US and most of the European players are better than him on paper at least.
Mentally, he has the edge over them and that is key, no doubt. But besides his serve and some attacking groundstrokes, he does not have that complete package to beat someone like Federer consistently.
But unlike my point about England being uselessly hyped, I think Roddick is at least somewhat worthy of the hype.
Didn’t I say that Maria Sharapova’s got what it takes?
What a win! Completely contradictory to pre-match analyses. She’s too tired. Serena’s won three in a row. It’s her first Grand Slam title. Any many more.
But she did it. Though I must say, the first set was more a story of Serena’s unforced errors than Sharapova’s winners, but the point is that Sharapova did not give in to the occassion. She stayed on top of her game and mentally took Serena out of the match. The exact reason I thought she would actually lose the match.
Congratulations, and may this be the beginning of a new wave!
Maria Sharapova has done it again. I thought she would not be able to come back from being one set down to winning the match against Lindsay Davenport.
I mean, to come back from behind against Ai Sugiyama is different, but to do it against a former champion is something that tells me that she is different.
And in both those matches, she ripped through the final set.
Of course, Serena is going to be a completely different opponent. She has won here twice in a row and she is just too strong in today’s tennis world.
Let’s hope I am not hyping Maria too much. Good luck, Maria!
Maria Sharapova - Unlike Kournikova, she can win! :-)
Copyright - Getty Images and Wimbledon.org
I am not a big soccer fan. Sorry, football. But I noticed how everyone was talking about England and how they were shocked when they lost.
Granted that it was a great match, but didn’t they have a self-goal? Didn’t the highest paid player David “Posh Spice’s husband” Beckham miss a penalty kick? Didn’t he miss one earlier?
The English media elevates their teams and players to the highest levels. Case in point - Tim Henman. Any time he reaches the quarters of a Grand Slam, the talk starts. There is in fact a Henmania at Wimbledon every year.
Another case in point - the cricket team. Teams like Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka have won the World Cup, but England has not. In fact, I can’t remember the last time England won a significant tournament. This is after the fact that their domestic cricket structure is probably the most well-developed.
Is all the hype and hoopla around the English teams and players worth it?
Saw that match on a replay this morning since there was no play again all day today. It was quite bizarre actually. There was no point won, it was only a first service fault which was returned and the umpire just changed the score from 2-1 to 2-2.
What surprises me is that the players did not realize the score change…are they so focussed that they have no idea what the score is? Either of them??
Bizaaaarrrre.
Wimbledon 2004 - Venus match umpire error
Why would it be? Too much money bet on Venus?
Or was the chair umpire just not on the court? Who knows………
Can you believe an entire day was washed out?
Check it out here…
