La Terre Bateau

I had a good weekend at home, rested up and got some work done. The wedding was interesting, running into some people I hadn't seen in a loooong time, but it was fun. I don't think I've ever seen Chad (the groom) so nervous, but who can blame him, he was getting married. The one complaint I had (making future notes) is that the ceremony was subdued. Whenever that day comes, I want my wedding to be a joyous occasion, one big celebration. Everyone looked to be going through the motions it seemed. So when I decide to get married, you will feel the raw emotion, I can guarantee you that.

Anyway, here are some other random thoughts:

• La Terre Bateau is the nickname given to the red clay of Roland Garros and the French Open, tennis's 2nd major, which begins bright and early tomorrow. This is my least favorite major of the year for several reasons:
• Americans have not done well recently, especially on the men's side. Andre Agassi has won here, but that was 6 years ago. Andy Roddick has never made it to the 2nd week, and everyone else has trouble making it past the 1st round.
  
• The atmosphere surrounding the tournament severly lacks excitement. It's hard to get excited about the tournament when the show courts are half-full at best. The people that do come sit on their hands and make no noise whatsoever. If a Frenchman or Frenchwomen isn't playing, the stadium turns into a library (although King library here on a Saturday night before finals week is louder than some of these courts ever get).
  
• Clay court tennis itself isn't that exciting to watch. Yes, the rallies become longer, which usually translates into more exciting tennis, but the rallies are too long and too boring. The men are especially guilty of this, hitting topsin forehands and backhands repeatedly until one of them can't take it anymore and tries a drop shot, forcing his opponent to come to the net to make a volley. The pace of play becomes really slow on a cold day as the clay plays slow, making the ball stand up on the bounce more, meaning even more topspin. At least when the weather warms up, the clay plays faster, more like a hard court, and the excitement level increases. But for the most part, it comes down to Spainard vs. Spainard, and who has the meanest topspin.
• It's hard to remember recent great French Open matches. Last year's men's final was interesting when Guillermo Coria faked an injury, then tried to surprise Gaston Gaudio in the 5th set, only to lose. Other than that, nothing hits me.
• Afleet Alex won the Preakness, Giacomo took 3rd, there will be no Triple Crown winner, goodbye Horse Racing, see you next May.
• Major League Baseball gets a rare place in the blog, only because the Reds are so bad. The Redlegs dropped 2 of 3 to the Indians this past weekend, which included a 5-3 loss Sat. night. The gamewinning hit was a homerun by Indians pitcher C.C. Sabathia in the 5th inning. Remember, American League pitchers don't usually hit, so for Sabathia to come up and jack a homer (to center field nonetheless, 400+ feet) indicates how bad the Reds are.
• Congratulations to the Miami men's baseball team, who swept their weekend series at Kent St. to clinch the MAC regular season championship, entitling them to host the MAC Championship here in Oxford this week, beginning Wednesday. Yours truly will be there.
• In Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, the Spurs outran the Suns 121-114 in a game much to my liking. This is how basketball should be played. Both teams run any chance they get, they make shots, and they play pretty smart basketball. The only one negative is the number of players that don't stay down on a shotfake. Offensive players, 25 feet away sometimes, fake a shot, get their defender in the air, run into them and go to the foul line. Whatever happened to looking at the guy's chest when you're on defense, so you didn't go for the shotfake??? And, why are you trying to block a shot 25 feet away from the basket??? How many times do you see that actually done??? Sometimes I wonder....
• In the Contender, Sergio Mora survived a late rally from Jesse Brinkley to advance to Tuesday's live Million-Dollar showdown vs. Peter Manfredo. When this show is done, what am I going to watch on TV??? French Open will be in the morning, NBA in the evening, but that isn't a whole lot. I'm sure something will come along.

That's all I've got tonight, see you tomorrow.