Bronx Tories

Full disclosure: Author is a Red Sox fan. Now, onto the commentary. The vast majority of Baseball TV coverage is around the diamond, say 75% on pitcher and batter, maybe more. Usually low angles, with fans as the backdrop to Jeter and CC and company. It's been impossible to miss those fans. Self-respecting Yankee fans are intense, passionate and sometimes vulgar in an endearing, inebriated sort of way. Say what you will about manners, but they definitely care.

Well, ummm...have you seen the fans that are in majority of the shots? and thanks to Hi-Def, you almost get to know them. Yea, the plutocrats in the blue suits, at least those still in their seats. Yeah, those seats, the seats surrounded by a freakin moat to keep regular citizens out. On the phone, sipping (and I mean SIPPING) an occasional beer, talking business with other captains of industry, checking their watches, and then quietly exiting, emphasis on the word quiet, slipping into their limos for the ride back to Gotham. I don't think they raised the decibel meter once during these three games in the Bronx vs Texas.

On a personal note, I've been binging on schadendreude for most of these 6 games, and I actually feel for the real Yankee fans that are not only suffering a horsewhipping from the irrepressible Texas Rangers, but that their fandom is being represented for all the country to see by a bunch of Bernie Madoffs. Oh, I don't really feel for you Pinstripers. If you build a huge monument to greed and excess, they will come. You got what you paid for. And if a guy dressed as Cliff Lee knocks on your door this Halloween, be afraid, be very afraid.

Enjoy the off-season, it'll be here any minute.

New credibility for Fast Times

Took a recent trip down memory lane to the 80's via the cult classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In spite of its nonsensical themes embodied by the immortal Sean Penn, director Amy Heffering actually accomplished historical significance, something along the lines of George Lucas in American Graffiti. Now, you may want to debate what kind of turmoil was facing the free love/stoner set that was attending high school in the early 1980's in southern California, but there were lots of tough choices, especially for the females, to find a popular niche back then. I propose that this is a bookend film to Graffiti, and as Lucas captured the search for significance of the adolescents in the James Dean era, Heffering does the same in the Cheech and Chong 80's. A huge thumbs up to Penn for actually mastering Cheech's genre. His fantasy dream of being interviewed on national televsion after winning the surfing competition belongs in a time capsule in the Smithsonian. Bring plenty of Kleenex for the inescapable laughter it will generate.

Education from Frank McCourt

The late Frankie McCourt, author of two memoirs including Angela's Ashes, has the best quote I've ever heard about education and learning. From his Pulitzer-winning AA, he remembers his grade school teacher Hoppy O'Halloran's advice from his Limerick, Ireland public school:

"You have to study and learn so that you can make up your own mind about history and everything else, but you can't make up an empty mind. Stock your mind, stock your mind. It is your house of treasure and no one in the world can interfere with it. If you won the Irish sweepstakes and and bought a house that needed furniture would you fill it with bits and pieces of rubbish? Your mind is your house and if you fill it with rubbish from cinemas (and today's video screens) it will rot in your head. You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace."

Revenge of the Pole

She has spent the summer knocking off the powerful Russians. Although mass media loves to call her Danish with all the associations of blonde Scandinavia, Caroline Wozniacki is as Polish as they come, her dad just happened to be on a pro soccer gig in Denmark when she was born. Those of you with a working knowledge of European history know how the Russians and Soviets abused Poland for centuries, abuse that made a lot of Polish citizens yearn for the warm and fuzzy days of Nazi occupation after receiving special treatment from Joe Stalin and company. But that was then, and this is now.
Wozniacki has no inferiority complex when it comes to playing mother Russia, in fact she thrives on it, slapping around the likes of Zvonerova, Kuznetsova, Dementieva in her amazing summer run to this year's Open. It's enough to make a population of Poles stick out their chest a bit.
But with the arrival of Labor Day, Day 8 of the 2010 U.S. Open, reality looms. The queen of modern Russian players, the beautiful and deadly Maria Sharapova stands in the way of this 20 year old Pole and her dream of Grand Slam glory.
Sharapova already has two major titles, including the U.S.; she is the hottest player in the tournament, just through a double bagel bashing in the 3rd round, and she has nevedr lost to Wozniacki. Woz is now the darling of the women's tennis world, the It Girl, a status that used to belong to Sharapova and one that she desperately wants back.
It's an amazing 4th round matchup, future and former champions clashing in a crossroads match brimming with history. It's Poland vs Russia, youth vs experience, Wozniacki vs Sharapova, today, Labor Day, on the biggest stage in tennis.

Andy the Lion Heart?

You wonder if the Andy Murray era will come and go without a Major title. He may not be the one to carry the Grand Slam hopes of the British Isles on his shoulders. In one of the great theaters in tennis, a packed Louis Armstrong stadium in the fading light, Murray failed. Failed to win, failed to sink his teeth into a comeback, failed to even force a fifth and deciding set. He made his opponent Stan Wawrinka, the 25th seed, look like Rocky Balboa.

In a situation where all of New York was prepared to embrace Murray, he politely handed the match to a Swiss player no one had ever heard of.

It made you wonder where Tim Henman was. Henman may not have had the raw talent of Murray, but he had some fight in him. He battled Croatian gun slinger Goran Ivanisovic down to the last point in the Wimbledon semis, and made a habit of showing up in the Final Four in London. Murray lay down 6 weeks ago in his Wimbledon semi vs Nadal. You think about the fierce sporting crowd in back in Scotland, some true Bravehearts in their own right, and wonder what they are thinking of their boy Andy, whose shoulders seemed to narrow as the match progressed. With all of New York trying to will him into a fifth set, Murray seemed to be in a race with the setting sun. Body language be damned, he appeared to only care about the flight schedule for the Virgin red-eye back to London and beyond.

Both he and Wawrinka walked by the catering/production truck alley on their way to press. Wawrinka was bathed in healthy sweat, glowing in the golden hour of New York, exuding energy and confidence. Murray, head down, clothed in a white outfit matching his pale skin, avoided all eye contact. The incredible shrinking man, the man burdened by the weighty tennis hopes of Britain. For New York sports fans, this guy had nothin.

Requiem for a Contender

Men's pro tennis is brutally competitive: the entire tour is made up of supremely fit, supremely skilled athletes. Competitive advantages are razor thin, nearly indistinguishable. Unless you're Roger Federer, it's almost always confidence that determines who wins and loses, the confidence to propel one through the big points that dictates winning and losing. And in men's tennis, confidence usually comes from that one big victory against a name opponent, the so-called "breakthrough" match. And if you don't get that breakthrough early in your career, you go from being a 'future star' to an 'also-ran'. And that transition can be lightning quick. Ask Robert Kendrick.
Flash back to Wimbledon 2006. Kendrick was the new gunslinger on the tour, and one of those big American serving studs who had sailed through three qualifying rounds in London. He blitzed his first opponent in the main draw, and found himself taking a serious liking to grass. He marched out to Centre Court to take on the French champion. a guy named Nadal that hadn't proven a thing on grass, yet. On national television in the States and the U.K., Kendrick punished Nadal, short circuiting rallies with classic serve and volley tennis, jumping to a two set lead, and holding comfortably in the third. Announcers were already projecting his third round opponent; for a millisecond, the tennis world was his proverbial oyster. And then reality kicked in, and Rafa became Rafa, and in painstaking fashion, Kendrick was bled to death for three agonizing sets, Close enough to taste victory, but secretly learning the fear and loathing of defeat on the biggest stage. It was awful tasting, a taste he never quite got out of his mouth.
A month later he was rocking on the grass in Newport, rolling into the quarters to face a teenager named Andy Murray. The Scot knew a bit about grass, and demolished Kendrick, whose lost confidence cost him a nationally televised trip to the semis at the Hall of Fame Championships.
Fast Forward to Flushing 2010. Kendrick's raw skill earned him 3 victories in the Flushing Qualies. His skills match up quite favorably with summer sensation Mardy Fish. Fish has the edge on the volley, Kendrick is the superior ground stroker. But he is now a low-ranked journeyman, and the confidence from his run through the qualies was superficial. In another display of painstaking tennis failure, Kendrick threw away several chances to knock off a notable seed in his five set killing loss to Gael Monfils of France. There was no solace of having played a 5-set war in which he was nearly equal to the victor. Kendrick continued to curse himself as he sat down after the losing handshake. He is now a middle aged pro, no longer being considered for Wild Card entries into the big tourneys that are reserved for the up and comers. He is still searching for that breakthrough, a breakthrough that will probably die the death of failed confidence.

Girardi Town

As this item is being posted, Yankees skipper Joe Girardi is enjoying a homecoming in Chicago. 36 hours off in his kind of town. A town that has Joe's perfect job available for him: to manage the beloved north side Cubs. And his current Yankee gig expires in 2 months As Wallace Matthews reported on ESPN NY.com, Joe's deal is third on the Pinstripers priority list behind looming free agents Jeter and Riviera.
A quick look at the facts on Girardi: Born and raised in Illinois; Lifelong Cubs fan; 2 stints as a player in their organization; went to college within walking distance of Wrigley Field (Northwestern); Ailing dad (Alzheimers) living in Chicago; he prefers the National League style of play and managing.
Hell, Yankee fans who care about Girardi would urge him to take this gig. Yankee fans who might be worried about their club's long-term health might want to keep tabs on Joe G. today. Will he be hanging on the South Side with his current club, or the north side with his future club? If the Empire crumbles, this might be one of those dates you put in the historical time line.