All Hail King Rafael!

After watching the best all around tennis match in my life, I am just beyond thrilled that i saw history in the making. Roger and Rafael gave us the ultimate and I stuck with it the entire Sunday through both rain delays and it being the longest match in Wimbledon history. On Saturday I have my all american final and on Sunday it went from breakfast at Wimbledon to dinner at Wimbledon literally. From Roger coming back from two sets down to both men having their break chances until Rafeal finally capitalized on his, it was a beautiful display of two champions who in the end showed great class and respect for each other. It was heartbreaking seeing Roger's tears and pain of not winning six straight to break the tie between him and Bjorn Borg to seeing Rafeal's tears of joy and elation and having his own history of winning the French and Wimbledon that hadn't been done since 1980 by Borg. My hope is that this rivalry continues for at least another five to six years down the road, this is what men's tennis has needed and hasn't had since the Agassi and Sampres era.

Venus and Serena have a classic match

The match started off with Serena looking to be in control and ended with Venus completely dominating and overpowering Serena where it counted. As I watched this match this morning I was so thrilled to see one that wasn't filled with sloppy play or a ridiculous amount of unforced errors, clearly after five years of not being in a final both Venus and Serena have matured and Wimbledon has become Venus's domain. Now Venus joins Steffi and Martina as the only players with five or more singles titles and she played like she wanted it more.

For the final icing on the cake for today, both sisters won their third women double's title at Wimbledon and it clearly showed their poise and greatness to be able to handle their epic match and comeback and completely demolish their opposition. Well done ladies and thank you for a wonderful breakfast at Wimbledon on Saturday.

A-Rod and his wife split maybe but when is he going to show up?

I know that's the news that everyone is saying and believing. My biggest concern though is that for all of the money that Alex has been payed over the years he never comes through during the playoffs and lately he's been MIA except when the game is out of reach. If he and his wife are splitting up that's rather unfortunate but as a sports fan I'd like to see him do something to make the Yankees look like the zillion bucks they are spending on him. I'm not a diehard Yankee fan but I’ve been a fan of Alex since his Rangers days and it's easier rooting for him in the American League since I am a National League fan growing up the ultimate Atlanta Braves fan, I only root against him if it comes down to a World Series Situation which by the looks of things won't be a problem this year.

Thank you Venus and Serena

I think this title match is going to be really awesome. Neither sister has lost a set during this Wimbledon run of theirs and yes I know it's all I've been talking about but this is so incredible and I want to enjoy it while these incredible sisters are in their prime. It's not everyday that you get to see exceptional players as well as sisters no less give us some awesome moments in tennis watching. I'll be there with bells on Saturday morning marveling in the spectacle of the Williams sisters.

So far so good Williams sisters

I won't say too much i don't want to jinx it but that all Williams final as i said before would be great, i can't believe it's been 5 years since we've had one and i hope it's an all out slugfest. With the men's tennis pretty much going to be Roger and Raffi, the women's side needs this excitement with nearly all of the top seeds gone bye bye.

Venus and Serena it's crunch time

Today i wait on pins and needles hoping that the Williams sisters make it through this round of 16 at Wimbledon, with American players having their worst showing since 1926 and only the two of them and one other american left, all i can say ladies please make it so I can have some great matches to watch this fourth of July weekend. I'm pleading with you.

Derrick Rose is going home

Derrick Rose is going to be playing for the hometown some see it as great; others as a extra pressure trap either way it comes down to the support system you have around you. For the Chicago Bulls this gives them true excitement they haven't truly felt since the Jordan Era ended. Although not a Chicago Bulls fan i wish Derrick nothing but the best.

Roger are you still the one to beat or is this Raffi's year

My favorite tennis slam is here and it's Wimbledon. I grew up loving it because it was the first one i got into and I always enjoyed watching finals on the 4th of July particularly if an American was in it. In focusing on the men's final i predict Roger Federer verus Rafael Nadal and i wouldn't be shocked to see an upset. After the way Roger got manhandled at the French by Raffi all bests are off. I know Roger says he is still the man to beat but after last year's final in which Raffi played him very well and barely lost i say Roger better not slip or it's Raffi's for the taking.

At least one MLB manager who got fired wasn't humiliated in the middle of the night

The Seattle Mariners fired John McLaren today and it wasn't done at three in the morning. Instead they were respectful enough to fire him before the team left on its road trip and three days after general manager Bill Bavasi was fired. Perhaps the New York Mets could learn a lesson or two on how to do things right and then you wouldn't be still having to defend yourself days after making such a disgusting decison. Like Willie Randolph before him, John McLaren had a great team contending who went on a losing implosion as the Mets did at the end of last season. Managers can be blamed to a point but players who never get fired and keep increasing their paychecks need to be held accountable as well, I wish John McLaren the best.

To lose is one thing but to get crushed

As I have previously mentioned i grew up a diehard Lakers fan and I am still one i even conceeded if they lost unlike when i was a teenager i could live with Boston winning because some of the players there as well as the coach I like. I despised the Boston teams of the 1980s when i was a preteen going into teen years. That was a completely different dynamic. For the Lakers to loose game 6 by 39 points is just beyond pathetic and shameful. I feel sorry for Andrew Bynum who has all of this pressure now to be the missing part that caused the Lakers to crash and burn so badly. With cautious praise congrats Celtics and to the Lakers I am too angry to say anything I think a picture speaks a billion words.

Nice guy got fired today

I could sit here and talk about all of the wrong that supposedly is Willie Randolph's fault but I won't. Instead i'll talk about a nice guy who got fired in a cowardly disgusting manner. Even if people want to blame him for one of the biggest collapses in baseball history last season in how the New York Mets who were leading their division went on a disastrous losing streak lost their lead and shut out of the playoffs among other problems. If that was a key factor why not have let Willie go at the end of the 2007 season and start over? Willie as a player was very good and sometimes underrated, as a manger he started off slowly and went on to have a very good team in 2006. People got upset when he mentioned race may have factor into his problems but that's the reality that people want to ignore but remains a constant problem. With Willie fired, the only black manager left is Dusty Baker. I hope another team gives Willie another chance he deserves it and being a manager in New York no doubt added undue pressure.

Tiger made my Monday

Normally i dread Mondays, i mean after all it comes after the weekend is up so it gets the most abuse from us 9 to 5 folks. Today though i had the lingering thought of could Tiger pull it out and win his 14th major on a bad knee. There are million websites that will chornicle today how brilliant and fascinating it all came down to sudden death and how Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate put on a show for the ages. For me though personally it was being able to refresh from website to website at work to keep up with the play by play action on each hole and having that made usual mundane Mondays something to live for and enjoy. Congratulations Tiger and thank you Rocco for taking it to the limit!

Oh Chipper!

I am a lifelong Atlanta Braves fan as has been noted here and so today i want to salute 3rd baseman Chipper Jones. Chipper is on this quest to hit over .400 for his battling average and while i doubt he'll be able to do it for the whole season what i love about him is the desire to play well even through injuries and beyond. From the moment I first saw him i knew he was the real deal and he's a definite future hall of famer!

Lamar you gotta step up buddy

Yes i know the media is being tough on you, the Celtics are tougher and yes i know you are plagued by foul touble BUTTTTTTTTT hey you gotta find a way to step it up if the Lakers have a chance to even stretching this series beyond 5 games. Kobe is doing what he can and yes i know that Paul Gasol hasn't been consistant either but you Lamar Odom have to be there for Kobe to get it all going. and I'm not letting Fish and the rest of the starters off the hook but I'm looking to you to right the ship and have the others feed off you, we know Kobe will get points can you get yours?

Golf is one sport I don’t completely understand

I was never interested in golf until the arrival of the ultimate and adorable Tiger Woods got me interested. Golf is one sport that I just don’t have a clue about the scoring I know it involves a ball, a club, making holes in one’s I guess and grassy fields and being a Georgian the Masters is always here. The thing about Tiger though is that he transcends so much from race to youth to class and the story about how his late father loved golf and was so passionate about it and got Tiger into it is very precious. So this week we have the U.S. Open and Tiger is back after knee surgery, Tiger I'm rooting for you to get another major.

Gone forever my dream reunion?

I am a diehard Braves fan. It’s been a roller coaster ride the last 31 years of ups and downs and then going through that glorious period from 1991 to 2005 of winning their division. Three of my favorite players from that era are Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz. Great pitchers who were a vital part of those championships along with a number of other players. In 2002 we lost Tom to the Mets and in 2003 lost Greg to the Cubs and things weren’t the same then in 2008 we get Tom back and still have Smoltz and I am hoping that since San Diego Padres are looking to trade Greg that he can come back too and I can have all of those great memories back well I was hopeful for that until Smoltz suffered a season ending injury. It’s hard because I wanted them all to retired here as Braves and have one more year in them together. I’m hopeful for a miracle of maybe they can have it in 2009 but I know that time is running out due to them all being in their 40’s but I will always have 1995 when they became world champions and I can’t think of three other pitchers who were together that long in my lifetime and are all classy great guys.

Blowout and a near blowout ruins my Sunday

First up, I love tennis and I can’t play at all. Still I grew up enjoying watching from Pete Sampras to Andre Agassi to Chris Evert to Steffi Graf. Then the arrival of the William sisters in later years made me so proud and excited to see someone on the court who looked closer to what I look like. So now I come to this past weekend of the French Open Final and since Pete and Andre have retired I’ve been bored with men’s tennis because clearly Andy Roddick and James Blake well anyway they will never be Roger Federer.

So that brings me to my Sunday and Roger Federer became what I missed most when Pete Sampras retired. Since the aforementioned American men clearly won’t be what Pete and Andre were and all of their great rivalries I got hooked on Roger Federer and the latest big rivalry he has with Raffi Nadal and it was painful just flat out painful watching Raffi kick his ass. How do you have a FINAL with scores of 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 I mean damn the last set you just don’t even win a game sheesh. Roger like Pete seems to be able to win everything but the damn French. I guess like Pete one day he’ll retire not ever having won it just hurt like hell.

Now on to the almost blowout was Game 2 between the Celtics and the Lakers and once again Paul Pierce was the truth. Kobe tried his best and after being down as many as 24 point my Lakers came back and cut it to two but couldn’t come all the way back, at least unlike Federer they put up a better effort but a lost is still a lost, Kobe and gang please please for ratings sake, and game sake don’t get swept it’s not pretty not at all, I still have nasty memories of the Lakers being swept in 89 so please don’t repeat that nearly 20 years later……

Big Brown says leave me alone

In a time when Baseball has been excoriated for being a steroid haven and we have Barry Bonds on trial and Roger Clemens all but destroyed reputation wise because of that so called Mitchell Report, now we have the story of Big Brown the horse who was a steroid winner who went bust. It was known by Friday, that Big Brown had a quarter crack in his left front hoof that was patched yet clearly that was the first sign that things were not going to be right. Perhaps tired of all of the constant pushing and depleted of the roids that kept it going this was Big Brown’s way of saying leave me alone. It wasn’t just Big Brown losing but coming in dead last no other horse going for the triple crown had ever done that, I think a lesson should be learned here that just because you find back door ways to getting what you want doesn’t mean it’s going to keep going that way, I realize that it’s not completely illegal to use in horse racing but why should one sport go through a serious public humiliation as baseball has and the steroid use done in horse racing get swept under to the point that nobody cared as long as Big Brown won, sure baseball behaved in the same way for many years but the loud cries of the steroid scandals have ran much of it out of baseball shouldn’t horse racing have those same loud cries, perhaps then a tired exhausted and depleted horse like Big Brown won’t completely break down in it’s own way of just wanting to be left alone.

NBA finals exciting but...........

The NBA finals this year features the Los Angeles Lakers and The Boston Celtics and there have been thousands of stories of their long and shared histories of meeting in the finals and all of the great stars from Russell to Chamberlain from Bird to Magic and now it’s Kobe versus KG. Still though as exciting as it is for me my favorite time was in the 80s of the Bird-Magic era. Being a teenager then and all of the complexities of the hate factor and the race factor gave it such a top billing of the ultimate sports event in all of those late Mays and early Junes. You had the magic of Showtime versus the conservative B-town and you had Magic the ever smiling charmer against Larry the small town guy from rural Indiana and it was the recipe of being on the edge constantly. It was the decade that the Lakers finally broke the curse of the Celtics dominating them in 1985 and it was the ultimate of either you hated one or the other there was no room for liking both. No offense to these years Lakers-Celtics match up but I like guys on both teams and as a teen I hated Ainge, Parrish, Johnson and Bird. I respected them as great players but I couldn’t stand them. Today I am still a diehard Lakers fan but I feel so bad that if Boston won I wouldn’t be too sad, I’ve always like Kevin Garnett and to see him win it for the first time wouldn’t pain me even though I want Kobe to get that one without Shaq and to add it to his MVP season. I know it feels just wrong but these players are almost too nice, too cordial not the rough tough really ballsy actions that they displayed in the 80s. I know it’s early yet and only one game down but I hope for the rest of the series it truly lives up to the hype, maybe the problem is that all of the preceding championships were so great and so much more fun that no matter what happens here in 2008 it’s almost an afterthought