WIMBY, DAY13: WILL I. AMS

Was Sconehenge real? Or just a figment of J-Dubs international imagination? No photos, and USA Today dropped in a reference of sorts to validate it, but that was just from Carillo. You post about it, post again about it ... and just like that ... it's scone.

Not even sure what horrible accent you need to pull that pun off, but I think Federer could tell you.

You've clearly been spoiled during your fortnight at Wimbledon, what with being surrounded by magnificent women of a certain age who are the best in the world...Martina, Billie Jean and of course, the fabulous Mary Carillo. But how about a shout out to a history-making Dara Torres, who, at 41, not only made her FIFTH Olympics, but came in first in the 100 Free at the US Trials yesterday....making her the oldest woman in US history to compete in the Olympic Games. That was an incredible moment to witness, and I'm sure Mary and others are blown away by this extraordinary accomplishment!!!

We have the same name. Contact me. I work for some of the NASCAR teams and have insight.Also a very interesting NFL perspective.
JW

WIMBLEDON’S WOMEN’S FINAL
SPECTACULAR PLAY – UNSPECTACULAR ANNOUNCING
By Joan Lieberman

When I was young, I used to watch sports all the time. From baseball to football and, yes, to tennis. McEnroe, Borg, Agassi, Graf and best of all, Navratilova were my idols. I watched not only to feel the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” as Jim McKay so aptly said, but also to learn. I learned about strategy and technique – why certain strategies worked and why some didn’t, why footwork and positioning was so important, why an error wasn’t always at it appeared; it wasn’t only that the ball wasn’t struck well, but it wasn’t struck well because the player was pulled out of position by a deep return. Lesson learned: Return your opponent’s serve deep, and you’d have a good shot at controlling the point.

On Saturday morning, we had the privilege to witness two of tennis’ most talented female players. The play was, for both of them, probably one of the most error-free matches of their careers. The night before, I had said to my friend’s niece, who was just learning to play, “watch Wimbledon tomorrow, it’s going to be a great match – you’ll learn a lot”. I thought it would be inspiring. And the play was. High quality tennis, tremendous tenacity, and a wealth of different shots from various angles. There was a lot to talk about, and a lot to learn from, for those of us who were viewers.

But as much as the Williams sisters lifted us up with their level of play, the announcers disappointedly let us down. I have never heard such an uninspiring match called by any announcers; it was devoid of any analysis, instruction, or insightful commentary. Instead of talking about technique or strategy, which would have been particularly instructive given the high level of play, the announcers lazily relied on some well known statistics and some MTV like instant replays as substitution. Essentially, we were subjected to the E! Entertainment Channel version of tennis: Constant references to how the Williams’ father went home because of the emotional stress of having his daughters play each other, repeated displays of how many Wimbledon championships each sister had won, and long, rambling discussions about how Venus was having difficulty serving into the sun (accompanied with slow motion videos of Venus eyes looking into the sun). These are all interesting background points for sure, but there was certainly more instructive, and frankly, less obvious things to talk about. I could see if this was an incredibly one-sided, painful match to watch, where everyone just wants it to end and the last thing you want to do is keep talking about it, but it wasn’t.

When Venus fought back from being down 0-2, and turned the 1st set around, there wasn’t one comment about how she did that. Or what emotionally might have been a very challenging situation to overcome, and how champions deal with a “right out of the box” opponent. Instead, there was a flimsy comment stating the obvious: Venus had fought back. There was also the observation that Serena hated to be behind the baseline because it made it obvious to her that she wasn’t controlling the point. True, but where’s the learning for the rest of us in that? What was Venus doing to push her back there, and what could Serena do to correct that situation? That’s something we can learn from.

Maybe I was so disappointed because I have always been a fan of Mary Carillo. But it was also because I know how hard women like Billy Jean King are working to attract young women to tennis, and to continue to create excitement around the game. Uninspiring announcers, like the ones for this year’s Wimbledon’s women’s final, don’t help that cause. Just because you’ve got 2 spectacular players playing spectacularly, doesn’t mean you sit back, enjoy, and lazily call the match. Let’s up the level of “play” by the announcers so that the inspirational play by the players gets the attention and analysis it deserves. And then maybe, we can let the learning begin!

Just glad it is almost over so we can start
talking about Dara Torres 24/7.

hez so handsum n wholesum luving man