I saw most of the second half of tonight’s season opener. I think New England played up and down - they had a few three-and-outs, but they were still quite solid. I don’t know which team can beat this Patriots team. I am sure there will be a few teams, but in the grand stage, in playoffs, who will be confident enough to beat them??
I will try to put all my week’s picks on this blog before they start. It was of course a no brainer that NE would beat Oak.
So here go the rest:
Washington beats Chicago Denver beats Miami Carolina beats New Orleans Jacksonville beats Seattle (upset?) Pittsburgh beats Tennessee Cincinnati beats Cleveland Buffalo beats Houston NY Jets beat Kansa City Minnesota beats Tampa Bay San Diego beats Dallas St Louis beats San Francisco (too easy to call?) Arizona beats NY Giants Detroit beats Green Bay (I really want this to happen!) Baltimore beats Indianapolis (upset) Atlanta beats Philadelphia (upset?)
England is once again batting first, and even though they are 7-down and Australia seems to be on top, I would not write England’s first innings off yet. Jones is still there and with some help from the tail, they can put up a large total, at least enough to bat them out of a loss.
And a draw is just good enough for England, and a huge first innings total is halfway to the draw.
Why are season premieres diametrically opposite season finales? The season premiere of The OC was such a drag. There were ten minutes of nonsense songs with the 4 on the beach. There was some sort of recap, and all’s well (sort of) that ends well with Trey going away and Ryan getting justice.
The only variable now is what is Jeri Ryan’s character really up to? What is Kirsten really thinking - or is she thinking at all?
And I am not sure what they are thinking of Jimmy Cooper’s interest in the Nichol empire. He has no morals, looks like. Given what Sandy has done for him in the past, it was quite pathetic that he did not inform him of Julie’s ‘move’.
Today is the last day of the Jain fesitval Paryushan. I would like to ask for forgiveness from everyone who I may have hurt, physically or emotionally, and hope that you forgive me.
Damn. Last night, for no reason, my DVR recorded only the first half hour of Rockstar:INXS. As a result I had to resort to ‘other methods’ to see the second half. I did see it and I will call comcast this morning.
Could this be the best match I have ever seen? Yes, as far as I can remember. I did not see the Federer/Safin match at this year’s Australian Open, but I have not seen more exciting, fast-paced tennis since a long long time.
As I talked about it earlier, this game had a promise of being good, because Blake has been playing flawlessly in the past few weeks. And Agassi has meticulously taken out youngsters in his path.
And what a start it was for Blake. Quick breaks in both sets gave him a 2-0 set lead. Even in the third, Agassi looked clueless and then, out of nowhere, he started getting his rhythm back. He started hitting more balls back, and started getting the corners and the lines. Blake seemed to doubt himself for just that little bit, which gave Agassi the third set.
The fourth set was relatively easier to win for Agassi. But again, Blake was not out. As he showed in the final set after a few breaks were exchanged. He was serving for the match at 5-3, and was broken.
The tie break was also see-saw with mini breaks exchanged multiple times. In the end, it was a fantastic performance from both players that created an exciting match to watch for everyone in the stadium, and everyone at home.
Thank goodness I have cable, because dish network shows the Eastern feed of usa network and usa network had to cut off at about 12.35am Eastern time and they switched to CBS, but on the west coast, it was still on usa network. So if I had dish network, I would not have been able to watch the most exciting part of the match!
It was a great Wednesday show of Rockstar:INXS last night. The first song they performed ‘Us’, was fantastic.
But it was certainly a rehearsed thing, and not a surprise to the final 5 …. because they all had parts of the song to sing by themselves and with others and that could not have just happened on the spot. In any case, it looks like a superb song for INXS.
As for the show itself, it was clear that Jordis had given up. She had said in more than one way that she was done and had accepted that she was the worst of the lot. And she was.
Did not think that this matchup would happen in the first place. But the way Blake played against Nadal, I know that it is going to be a good one. Unless of course either Blake is overawed, or Agassi is tired from his previous round game. Both of those situations could hand off the match to the other.
I am all set for the evening, switched to the usa network :-)
I know, I know. It is not yet time to compare Sania to the world #6. But I happened to catch the last set of the quarter final between Dementieva and Davenport and realized that Dementieva’s second serve was worse than Sania’s. In fact, she was so defensive that sometimes in the third set, her first serve was also looking pathetic. She was just slicing the serve in and wait for Davenport to hit a bad return.
But one big difference between her and Sania is that Sania did not have consistent ground strokes. Dementieva was solid on the ground, irrespective of the first serve, second serve or return of serve. That put Davenport on the backfoot in pretty much every rally, and won the match for Dementieva.
So there is a slight chance that it could be an all-Russian final after all. I was just wondering on the way back home today that from the last year’s 3 Russian winners in 4 Grand Slams, we’ve had 0 so far. The US Open gives the Russian contingent some hope.
I think Jordis was quite bad with her We Are The Champions performance. Her original was ok, but overall I think she has given up.
Marty had a great Everlong and his original was quite alright. I think he may get the encore nod this time.
I did not know the Bonnie Rait song that Suzie sang, so I could not really tell if she was good or bad with the song as such. But the performance was quite alright, though not quite fitting with INXS I thought. But again, this was chosen by the fans who voted, so no one can ding any of the performers for their song choice.
I thought JD’s set was great and I really think he redeemed himself for the past 2-3 weeks.
Mig’s set was so-so and I would not be surprised if he, Jordis and either Suzie or JD end up in the bottom three. Marty is safe.
I just happened to look at some browser stats of visitors to this blog. I now tend to agree with the other well-published stats about IE’s share going down.
Looks like IE is now 77% (ONLY!) of the total visits, whereas Firefox is at 12% as exclusively Firefox and 15% if you include Netscape. Safari is at 7% and I think it is quite a high number! Welcome, mac users! :-)
After some usual straight set victories, the women’s matches became exciting after all. The all-Russian Sharapova/Petrova match was great because of the shots they traded. There were too many errors, but then there were too many great, powerful shots too.
Women’s game is no more lobbing the ball over to the 3/4th of the other court and repeating till an error causes a point to be taken. It is now a powerful serve followed by quite a few powerful strokes in the rallies. This is exciting to watch, but only after the quarter-finals. In earlier rounds, the lower-ranked players are just not good enough for the higher-ranked players.
The second match, which was even more exciting to watch was the Clijsters/Venus match. I have not seen Clijsters play before so I was amazed at the splits that she kept pulling off at the baseline, and even more amazingly, the quickness with which she would get back on her feet and run the ball down on the other corner! I thought she listlessly lost the first set, which was hers to win. She fought hard to win the second set and tightened up her game in the final set to close it out.
Interesting match up next - Sharapova/Clijsters. Will be quite a watch!
From what little they showed us of the shoot, it was clear that JD seems most comfortable in front of the camera and Jordis was on the exact opposite. Marty was a little stiff/angry and Suzie was the same. Mig went too far on the exhibition side :-)
As for the next performance, there’s going to be two songs and one of them is going to be an original. I am not sure what to expect because they didn’t show much of the rehearsals.
And finally, met some people over the weekend who also watch Rockstar:INXS. And surprisingly (to me), they both loved Suzie’s Bohemian Rhapsody. I thought I was in a minority, but looks like Suzie is a favorite to win it all.
This time he was out second ball. LBW. This story of being bowled or lbw does not comfort me because technically correct players are least likely to get out in those ways.
Unless he got a bad decision or the ball skidded or something, I think India has a problem.
After what seemed like a good start, India could not make enough runs to put pressure on NZ in the finals. Sehwag got among the runs … and this time against a full squad. So I hope this innings has at least given some of his confidence back.
Kaif looks solid at #3 or #4.
And Dravid again had a duck. And this time it is lbw. Shucks - what is going on??
Rahul Dravid failed again. And again, he was bowled. Of course I did not see the match, but getting bowled so frequently is a cause for a batsman of such his technical ability.
Did not see the game, but some points worth noting:
1. Top order failed again - and it was against Zimbabwe. They have to face the same attack soon in tests. Better get something done … attitude or otherwise. 2. Dravid failed again…the Wall is crumbling. And again, he got bowled. 3. Yuvraj finally clicked. Hopefully he and Kaif get some confidence back now. 4. Dhoni seems to be the most consistent of the Indian players. He has failed a little bit, but of all the players, he is the one who has scored most consistently. And that is a sad state of affairs. 5. Ajit Agarkar has quietly kept performing - how come no one points that out anymore???
Now, Sehwag and Ganguly desperately need to find their form because if they do and India gets to 80-90 without a wicket, it gives Dravid some breathing room to settle down and pace his innings. Until then, India will have no hope of winning against quality opposition.
Alright then! It was a good weekend, though I did not experience it as I would have liked (watch some parts of College Gameday, watch the entire USC game, and watch SportsCenter in the evening), at least I was able to keep in touch with what’s going on.
Oklahoma and Auburn lost. I hope that clips their wings from last year’s flight.
Texas won big and should be the biggest problem from a rankings standpoint for USC. A lot of writers are in love with Texas and especially with Oklahoma losing, they have to give everything to Texas.
But I won’t get into the rankings nonsense yet. That I have to save for later in the season :-)
The Trojans start well with a rout of Hawaii. Surprisingly, I thought the defense was not that exciting, but looks like reports say otherwise.
Anyway, it was good to see that at least the offense has not slowed down. They were scoring at will and I guess the job for all opposing teams is to keep Matt Leinart and co. away from the field as much as possible.
Kimi Raikkonen had a great run, with his one-stop strategy. The only problem was, his tire gave way just after his first pit stop. And that was ridiculous because the only way he could have gained 10 spots was through pit strategy, and he was truly on track to win it and push Alonso to P3.
But it was not to be. Kimi had to pit again to replace his tire and as a result he ended up at #4.
#4 is still not a bad finish, much better than out of the points. But it gives Alonso an even bigger cushion going into the last few races.
Also, with Fisi ending up at #3, it was even more difficult for McLaren Mercedes to close the gap on Renault.
Had a nice weekend off in San Francisco and was away from the internet. Was able to catch the USC game at a sports bar in SF but not the F-1 race. Saw it after coming back yesterday (DVR-ed). Will write about that and some meaningless cricket separately.
Kimi Raikkonen’s run of bad luck continues with McLaren Mercedes. They had to replace the engine right before qualifying and as a result, no matter what he did in qualifying he was going to lose 10 spots.
And what ended up happening? He finished on pole!! With Juan Pablo on second position, it would have been perfect for both Kimi and McLaren, but that’s just a fantasy.
Now, what will be the strategy? Kimi on heavy fuel, maybe taking one pitstop less? I am sure, with the track record that McLarens have, they will be able to pass a few guys with no problems - heavy fuel or not.
The US Open media reps are just going goo-goo gaa-gaa over Sania Mirza. After all the exposure that I have talked about that Sania has gotten on TV, read this “news article” on usopen.org.
Notable quotes:
Top-seed Sharapova reached the fourth round for the first time, blasting past German Julia Schruff, 6-2, 6-4.
The tall Russian with tremendous Q-quality will meet a personality laden 19-year-old who may someday steal her mantle in the form of India’s Sania Mirza. Mirza became the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam when she bullied France’s Marion Bartoli, 7-6, 6-4.
Sania may steal Sharapova’s mantle??
Sharapova and Mirza have never faced off, but fans will be busting down the gates to see this match-up between two teens who not only can belt the ball but are widely considered two of the most popular players on the planet.
“It’s gonna be another tough one. I haven’t really seen much of how she plays,” Sharapova said. “I heard she’s got a big and powerful game. It’s hard to predict things, but I’m sure it’s going to be a good match."
Sania Mirza Friday, September 2, 2005 Sania Mirza Transcribed Interview
S. MIRZA/M. Bartoli
7‑6, 6‑4
An interview with:
SANIA MIRZA
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Sania, please.
Q. When you’re not really controlling the ball like you want to, the balls are going out in a big match, does that bother you? What’s going through your mind at those times? SANIA MIRZA: I think, first of all, we need to… hold on one second. Sorry about that. First of all, I think we need to start thinking that every tennis player is human and we all make errors in every match that I play. I don’t know what you mean by not controlling the ball when you want to, I guess we all make errors, forced or unforced. It does irritate you sometimes, yeah, but that’s the way tennis goes. You can’t hit every ball perfectly.
Q. Being a bit more positive, are you very happy to be as far as you are in another Grand Slam? SANIA MIRZA: Yeah. Obviously. I mean, every round of a Grand Slam is very important, especially fourth round at the US Open. I’m, you know ‑‑ I just came here thinking I wanted to win one round and won three. I’m very happy about it.
Q. How far do you think you can go? SANIA MIRZA: I don’t want to think anything because I just want to, you know, have fun out there. I have a big match against I don’t know who yet, but I’m looking forward to it.
Q. 45 winners to only 4 from Bartoli which is a pretty good statistic. That’s what they’re saying? SANIA MIRZA: I don’t know about that.
Q. She’s a hard hitter. Did you feel you were dictating most of the match? SANIA MIRZA: I did play much better than I have in the past two matches, and I still feel that I could have done a bit better, you know, I probably could have finished the first set a bit earlier than I did. But, I mean, you know, she’s a very different kind of player. You have to think. She makes you think what you have to do. She hits the ball pretty cleanly. But you have to play smart tennis out there. I think I, uhm, I don’t know about the winner count, though, but I did hit quite a lot of winners. I’m happy about the way I played.
Q. Was this last match good practice for your next round, like Sharapova? SANIA MIRZA: I think we still have to wait if Sharapova is winning or not. Every match that you play out there is a good preparation. I’ve played a lot of sets already. Yeah, she was, it was good practice for me. I’m not sure when I’m going to play my next round, but I’m hitting the ball much better than I have been.
Q. Are you surprised with how fast you climbed the rankings in the past year? SANIA MIRZA: It was quite fast. I’m not sure if I was surprised. But, you know, I don’t know. It just kept ‑‑ you know, I was just enjoying the moment, I guess. It just kept happening. I never surprise myself. I always believed I could do it. It was just a question of when I could do it, and I guess it was sooner rather than later.
Q. What were the reasons for your sudden breakthrough? SANIA MIRZA: I don’t know. I think I’ve just, you know, some training, I think I worked on a few weaknesses that I thought I had. Especially my fitness, you know, I’ve been injured. I was injured for about almost three months this year. Apart from that I think I’ve had a great year. It’s just that I guess I’m just playing like the best tennis I ever have.
Q. If you play Maria, it might be on Ashe stadium, probably at night. Will it be the biggest match of your career? SANIA MIRZA: I don’t know. It will be one of the biggest matches of my career. You know, I think I played Wimbledon Centre Court. It’s definitely going to be one of the biggest matches in my career, but hopefully I’ll have the crowd there again. I mean, it’s great. It’s the biggest stadium in, you know, in all the Grand Slams, so I’m actually very excited.
Q. How much of a test will it be for you mentally trying to keep your nerves and being able to play your game without letting the occasion overwhelm you? SANIA MIRZA: Just give me time. Let this sink in, come on. Don’t hurry up (smiling). I don’t know. I mean, you know, I really ‑‑ I am not even thinking about it right now. I just want to enjoy this moment right now. Then when I’m gonna go out there, I don’t think I’ll be ‑‑ you know, I don’t think I’ll be intimidated but, you know, it’s obviously a very big match for me. So let’s see.
Q. Have you met Sharapova at all? SANIA MIRZA: No, not at all. I’ve seen her around since the Juniors and, you know, here. But only three, four years, but I never played her or met her.
Q. How do you feel your game matches up with hers? SANIA MIRZA: I don’t know (laughing). I think we both hit the ball pretty hard, so that’s one similarity I see. The others, I think we should wait and watch.
Q. Do you analyze your rivals before playing them? SANIA MIRZA: I think everyone does. You kind of have to have a game plan before you go on court, whether you played them or not, doesn’t matter. So you just have to, you know, do ‑‑ it’s just the question of how you execute it when you go out there. We all have game plans when we go out. I had a game plan today and it worked so…
Q. What was going through your mind when you finished the match? You’re in the fourth round of the US Open, and an Indian hasn’t been there. SANIA MIRZA: That’s not what I think every time I step on court, that an Indian never did this, an Indian never did that. I’m just there because I just want to be there. I’m happy, I’m starting something. I’m not thinking who did it or who’s gonna do it. Nothing. What was I thinking? I was actually absolutely blank. I was just enjoying the moment. I loved playing out there, loved playing for the people. They all seemed pretty happy by the performance, so I just loved being out there.
Q. Are you impressed that Sharapova was able to win Wimbledon by 17 and get to the No. 1 ranking by 18? SANIA MIRZA: I mean, obviously, I think the whole world is impressed. 17 to win Wimbledon, it’s absolutely great. She’s been ‑‑ she’s obviously a very, very good player. You know, it’s great to come out. She had a history, she came from Russia, stuff like that. So it’s really good.
Q. Can you just talk a little bit about yourself, about your growth curve and getting to where you want to. You’re a little older than she is, but you obviously grew up under different circumstances? SANIA MIRZA: Yeah, I mean, you know, when you come out from a country like India or one of those countries, it’s obviously much tougher for you because ‑‑ I guess now, if there are people starting tennis now, it’s easier because the facilities are improving. But at that time, I mean, I played in clay courts where it was almost, you know ‑‑ there were almost craters on the court. I twisted my ankle about a dozen times a day. So the first time I got coaching outside India was last year, and, I mean, whatever I did to last year was playing in India, so I don’t think it would be that bad. But, you know, it’s obviously ‑‑ I just started going for swimming and just started playing tennis just for the fun. I never thought it would be this professional. But after a certain point, yes, we did.
Q. People are curious about your T‑shirt. Why didn’t you wear the ones with the sayings on them? It’s hard to tell what today’s says. Can you tell us? SANIA MIRZA: (Laughing). I think I’ve said this enough, a number of times, but oh, my God, this is the last time I’m going to wear a T‑shirt in a press conference that says something. It’s no big deal. I’m 18 years old. Give me a break. I’m just trying to have some fun here. I’m bored of the stripes or checks or the lines. It’s nothing. I always say if I have to make a statement or say something, I can speak, I don’t have to wear it. I can always tell people what I want to.
Q. Is Sharapova secretly someone you want to measure yourself against? SANIA MIRZA: Secretly? No, never. I mean, she’s obviously the younger one out there who’s world No. 1, so I still have nothing to lose if I’m going to play her. There’s obviously no pressure on me. I don’t think a lot of people expect me to win. So I never really wanted to play her, but, I mean, she’s one of the players I haven’t played on the circuit ever, so that will be interesting.
Q. You made such a quick rise this past year. Do you remember the last time you walked on court and you were intimidated by your opponent? SANIA MIRZA: I think when I played Serena in Australia I was a bit nervous, to be honest. Actually, that was the beginning of everything to happen. I played, you know ‑‑ it was just that I woke up and I couldn’t sleep the night before because I was going to play her.
I guess once you’re on the circuit all the time, you kind of get used to seeing them around and playing against them. So I don’t think a lot of people intimidate me now.
Q. Will you be able to draw on this experience for this match against Maria? SANIA MIRZA: Yeah, I’ve played on big stadiums before. I’ve played in front of big crowds. So, you know, all that just counts and all that experience that you get from playing in those matches and, you know, playing on all those big courts, it just pays off, like hopefully it will in a couple of days.
Q. Can you tell us, how big of a thrill was it for you to win a title in your home town? SANIA MIRZA: Winning a WTA is great, and I guess winning it at home was just the icing on the cake for me. You know, just in front of my family, friends, in front of all the fans, in front of my country, it was actually my hometown. So it was just amazing. I think there was a lot of pressure, even though I was ‑‑ you know, I was the last one to get in the main draw, but there was a lot of pressure. People didn’t expect me to lose. I’m just glad I stood up to their expectations.
Q. Have you met Sachin Tendulkar? SANIA MIRZA: Yes, he actually gifted me a car.
Q. A car? SANIA MIRZA: Yeah, after I won the junior Wimbledon doubles.
Q. His nickname is Little Master? SANIA MIRZA: Yeah.
