tennis Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

The watching sports report

Week 18?

I grew up loving watching sports on television. Not just baseball and football, either. I grew up with the Wide World of Sports. Not so much in 2021.

Oh, I caught some innings of a few baseball games, but almost nothing from beginning to end. Yet I would READ the box scores and stories about the previous night’s games. I was particularly fascinated with Shohei Ohtani, who GQ profiled. “Not since the days of Babe Ruth has one of baseball’s greatest hitters also been one of its finest pitchers.”

Maybe it was the fate of the New York Mets, who looked as though they might get to the World Series but ended up not even getting to the playoffs. Or the New York Yankees who were streakily great, followed by being terrible and were eliminated after one playoff game.

Perhaps it’s my antipathy for some of the teams. Both the 2017 Houston Astros and the 2018 Boston Red Sox were nicked by a cheating scandal. The Astros also yanked their team affiliation from our local Tri-City Valley Cats. More parochially, the Dodgers beat the Yankees in the 1963 World Series; I hold a long grudge.

Gridiron

As usual, I didn’t watch the NFL before Thanksgiving. I saw bits of one of those Turkey Day games, then nothing else in 2021 unless the CBS game ran late, delaying 60 Minutes.

But then there was week 18. Week 18? There used to be 17 weeks in which the teams each played 16 games, with one week off. Now there is a 17th game. And, perhaps related to the expansion of the eligible playoff teams to 14, it seemed that almost every team that didn’t play their home games in New Jersey still had a chance.

Such as the Pittsburgh Steelers. Chuck Miller described what happened. But that Raiders-Chargers game that ended in the final minute of overtime was edge-of-my-seat exciting. The following week there were a couple of close games which I saw. However, I will acknowledge that I watched almost the entire Buffalo Bills beating of the New England Patriots, 47-17. Seven touchdowns in seven possessions!

Soured

Only one of the annoying things about COVID is that sports figures who you felt neutral or mildly positive about managed to act in a disappointing manner. Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers spread some malarkey about his vaccine status.

More irritating, though, was Novak Djokovic, the tennis star who got booted out of the Australian Open because that country actually wants to take the disease seriously. Then the Serbian president blasted Australia. Now, Djokovic may not be able to play in the French Open in May if he isn’t vaccinated. I had no strong opinion about Novak, beyond admiring his considerable talent, but now he’s rather ticked me off.

Rhode Island: longest name

What’s not to like?

Rhode Island I always favored conceptually because it was founded by Roger Williams in the 17th century. As a kid, I was a sucker for people named Roger: Bannister, Daltrey, Maris, Miller, e.g., but not Taney.

Williams was “a Puritan minister, theologian, and author… He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with American Indians, and he was one of the first abolitionists.” What’s not to like?

Ironically, the smallest state in the United States bears the longest official name. It is the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The state is the seventh least populous, but the second-most densely populated.

The Ocean State is also the 13th state, the last of the original colonies to ratify the Constitution, on May 29, 1790. In fact, it was “the only state not to send a representative to the Constitutional Convention,” which had approved the document on September 17, 1787. The First Congress subsequently “passed 12 proposed amendments to the Constitution” without RI, most of which became the Bill of Rights.

I have visited Providence a few times. Its view of the Atlantic Ocean was spectacular. My daughter particularly enjoyed it. But back in 2007 or so, a friend of mine tried to wean her from her fear of dogs with his very tame canine; it did not work at the time.

In 2012, many of my in-laws were staying in Newport at a couple of timeshares. We spent a good chunk of time visiting the mansions of the Gilded Age. Very Upstairs/Downstairs, or I suppose now, Downton Abbey.

Some of us also visited the Tennis Hall of Fame. I STILL get emails from the organization, where I give my opinions on who should next be enshrined. I’m a sucker for a good Hall of Fame, and that one definitely qualified.

RI Rhode Island, a US state in New England. Capital and largest city: Providence. I recommend the New England Clam Chowder.

Little Rhody for ABC Wednesday

Enjoying Aussie interaction: sports edition

The Blue Jays lead grew to 8-1 in the top of the 7th when Tommy Kahnle from Albany County, NY, the fourth of seven Yankee pitchers, gave up three runs in only 2/3 of an inning.

Making only my second trip to the new Yankee Stadium, Marconi and I took Metro North from Poughkeepsie (halfway between Albany and NYC) to see the New York Yankees take on the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday, September 15, 2018. I’ve only known him since September 12, 1971, so not very long.

In the bottom of the 2nd, the two empty seats on the aisle nearest us were filled by this young couple from Australia, in the City for a couple weeks. She was wearing a borrowed Blue Jays top, while he was nominally a Yankees fan.

Soon after they arrived, the Yankees starting pitcher, the usually reliable CC Sabathia, had given up five runs in only 2 1/3 innings, including two solo home runs by right fielder Randal Grichuk. CC was taken out of the game.

Meanwhile, the Yankees had opportunities to score, twice with the bases loaded, and once with runs on second and third base, but failed to do so. This really deflated the home team crowd.

We, mostly I, since I was closer, answered some of the idiosyncrasies of the game, such as the foul ball rule and how the defensive positions are numbered.

Yankee shortstop Didi Gregorius hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 6th, and the female Aussie frowned. “You still have a big lead.” I also coaxed her into acknowledging that he had made a great basket catch over second base.

The Blue Jays lead grew to 8-1 in the top of the 7th when Tommy Kahnle from Albany County, NY, the fourth of seven Yankee pitchers, gave up three runs in only 2/3 of an inning. Toronto had the bases loaded and no outs, and the Aussie guy was savvy enough to know that the situation was still perilous for the Yankees even when the lead runner was thrown out at the plate.

In in the bottom of the 7th, designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton (I explained the DH) and Gregorious hit solo homers, and pinch hitter Miguel Andújar hit a grand slam. Suddenly Toronto was up by only 8-7, and the Aussie woman fretted. But that’s the way the game turned out.

The scoreboard displayed narratives of what the batters had done earlier in the game. But in the latter stages, it showed scorecard shorthand. F7 meant flying out to the left fielder. The Aussie guy was bemused to know that a forward K meant struck out swinging while a backward K meant struck out looking.

“How do you KNOW these things?” he asked. “I’ve been only going to games since I was eight.” “So 20 years.” HA! A splendid time was had by Aussies and at least these two Americans.

Oh, I was in Washington, DC at the beginning of September. I was starving one muggy evening, and I ended up at a tavern/restaurant. I sat at the bar, got a burger and a drink, and had a nice conversation with an Aussie woman currently working in the US. She mostly bemoaned the leadership of her home country and her current one as we watched the US Open tennis on TV.

I just want the information, please

1. I get an alert from WSOC-TV in Charlotte, NC on Facebook when a significant news story comes along. On Friday, the sky turned black around 5 pm, the result of a storm. As I watch the picture, a stream of FB emojis scrolls along the lower part of the screen. Sad faces, wow faces, likes at different levels floating along the screen.

A bit later, another alert: an accident that killed two people. A bunch of mostly sad faces, a few wow, and of course, the like button, buzzing across the screen as we see an aerial photo of automotive devastation.

It is a case of “Because we can, we do.” How are you FEELING about this piece of news, Carolina? This not only in bad taste, but a distraction from what’s taking place.

Maybe we can do this for the 2017 State of the Union. Wait, wait, I was saying I thought it was a BAD idea. (Expect someone will do this next year.)

2. I was watching the US Open tennis tournament on ESPN2. There was an exciting 4th Round match going on between Rafael Nadal and Lucas Pouille. They would cut away to commentators, not the ones who were following the match, but other people, interview people with less-than-insightful questions. This is during the match, where we miss some court action to find out, if Pouille wins, there will be three French in the next round. What in the water over there? or something equally banal.

I like watching tennis. Commentators telling me first-serve percentage or the number of unforced errors is fine. Taking me away from the action is not.

3. Meanwhile, I find it really odd that I had seen not one story, on NBC or CBS, at least, about the Standing Rock Sioux protest in North Dakota, with tribes gathering together to block construction of a crude oil pipeline until a confrontation took place, and still zero on the evening news. This story from The Guardian lays it out.

I HAVE read several stories elsewhere, many from the “alternative” press, such as Indian Country Today and Democracy Now and Common Dreams and Nation of Change and Truthout.

I am pleased to note that the Presbyterian Church (USA) offers support for the tribe’s efforts to halt the pipeline beneath the Missouri River.

ADDENDUM (06:10): North Dakota activates National Guard to protect the pipeline instead of our tribes

A for Arthur Ashe

Arthur Ashe’s mother had suffered from cardiovascular disease before she died at the age of 27.

Arthur Ashe (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was a top-ranked tennis player in the 1960s and ’70s, despite experiencing the slings of segregation, which did not allow him to participate in the sport, growing up in Richmond, VA. Tennis was not a sport I much paid attention to until Ashe came on the scene.

He was the #2 ranked men’s player in 1976, and he was competitive at many levels of the sport, from making the Davis Cup team in 1963 to being the only black man to win the singles title at the US Open (1968), Australian Open (1970), or Wimbledon (1975) v. Jimmy Connors, against whom he had never won previously.

Ashe was committed to issues of social justice, health, and humanitarian issues. He fought against South African apartheid, and the US crackdown against Haitian refugees, and was arrested in protests regarding both these issues. In 1988, Ashe published a three-volume book titled A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete, which was more important to him than his tennis titles.

Ashe’s mother had suffered from cardiovascular disease before she died at the age of 27. His father had suffered a first heart attack at the age of 55. Arthur suffered a heart attack in July 1979, while holding a tennis clinic in New York. “In view of his high level of fitness as an athlete, his condition drew attention to the hereditary aspect of heart disease.” He went through two rounds of heart surgery, in 1979, and after developing chest pains, in 1983.

“In September 1988, Ashe was hospitalized after experiencing paralysis in his right arm… [Eventually] Doctors discovered that Ashe was HIV positive. Ashe and his doctors believed he contracted the virus from blood transfusions he received during his second heart surgery. He and his wife decided to keep his illness private for the sake of their daughter, who was then two years old.

“In 1992, a friend of Ashe’s who worked for USA Today heard that he was ill and called Ashe to confirm the story. Ashe decided to preempt USA Today’s plans to publish the story about his illness and, on April 8, 1992, publicly announced he had contracted HIV. Ashe blamed USA Today for forcing him to go public with the news but also stated that he was relieved that he no longer had to lie about his illness…”

I own a copy of Daddy and Me: A Photo Story of Arthur Ashe and His Daughter Camera by his wife Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, a sweet book published after his death. It is a “photographic portrait of Ashe’s relationship with his six-year-old daughter during his illness, accompanied by the child’s reflections on living with and helping her father.”

“After Ashe went public…, he began to work to raise awareness about AIDS and advocated teaching sex education and safe sex. He also fielded questions about his own diagnosis… In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on World AIDS Day, December 1, 1992, he addressed the growing need for AIDS awareness and increased research funding saying, ‘We want to be able to look back and say to all concerned that we did what we had to do when we had to do it, and with all the resources required.’

“Ashe founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS. Two months before his death, he founded the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health to help address issues of inadequate health care delivery and was named Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sportsman of the Year. He also spent much of the last years of his life writing his memoir Days of Grace, finishing the manuscript less than a week before his death.”

The main stadium for the US Open since 1997 is the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York City.

ABC Wednesday – Round 18