Change I can believe in

I regret to inform you that tennis will no longer be the subject of my blog. Not. haha. Well, the regret part. I just find that no on wants to read about it. And, my desire to write about it went the way of the Wimbledon. At least for the year I suppose.

Look, I know everyone is disappointed.... But we'll make it through this. I promise.

So onto the new. I think Food is the most likely candidate, but don't count out anything just yet. But keep checking I will be doing some experiments, exploratory blogging if you will.

Think what you will about the part 1. It was just an idea born of Shaq's absurd quotes.

As for the Nike video's, they are just a start. In this final post there will be more video's and pictures pertaining directly to the paper. Enjoy,
Shaq

Photo credit: members.shaw.ca

This is Shaq's magnificent 64,000 square foot house mentioned in the paper. In the paper it says 17,000 but that is taken directly from the source I cited. As the 17,000 square foot home was sold I think the most logical explanation is that he had 2 homes. But I watched this cribs episode and it was insane. And it was the 64,000 squarefoot home I saw, just to be clear.

There are sections of the house that they didn't even use. Shaq said that sometimes he would walk into a room or section of the house and feel like he was somewhere else. The house was so big it was an adventure. Once you get bored with the 2,000 or so square feet you spend all of your time in you don't have to move! Just walk over to another side of the house and voila, a new home.

Clearly the square footage includes the tennis courts, basketball etc. but it's insane. Period.

The embedding option has been "disabled upon request," but here is the link to the Cribs video. Seven minutes long. Skip in 1 minute 40 seconds and it's right on Shaq's entrance. Take notice of the fingerprint scanner to get into his office. Crazy. And according to his wife he's a clean freak. Interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amq_XWYimmQ

Kobe Bryant




Here is a photo of Kobe Bryant's accuser in the 2003 case if you were curious to see it. Classy as she looks on the front of that dirty tabloid, but what do you expect? Personally I don't believe her for a second, not that he was in the right at all. He has a wife and a child! But I doubt if some young hotel worker would turn down sex with an NBA star of his stature. Call me cynical, or sexist haha. But my answer is guided ourely by logic. It just makes sense.


And Jordan!

As everyone will reiterate, Jordan was the man on the court. I can say, and this could be widely supported by video and just via stats. He was the best player the NBA has ever seen. I couldn't find single youtube videos to break down his dunks. Originally I wanted to have a top 5 list or something along those lines. In hindsight, this is probably better as they are all so good.

He was amazing.

Ignore the music if you want, but these moves are incredible.

I love how it's in top 10 and the announcers are right on. "This is Michael jordan at his best and there are very few people on this planet who can do this.


Here is Jordan's 60 Minute interview. It reveals his sportsmanship and outlook. Especially at the beginning as they discuss baseball. I think it's great to have such a contrast to Shaq's in your face, "I'm the best." "Call me Superman, etc." And I had no idea his father was robbed and murdered. Incredible information. so if you have a few minutes take it all in. He also touches on his gambling problem (or prior problem).

I also agree with the message Jordan wants to give to the public and I will repeat it. 'Look closer to home for your heroes, not just to superstars. "

So remember your stars and take a second to consider the WHY. Why do we watch these stars what is it?

My best guess?

They're human, just like you and me.

PART 2- Some Nike Video

A clear voice and a good quote. Always, Jordan is on top with his class. Even his attire is first class. The delivery, the authority. These are qualities that stars have. Nike saw this in Jordan and exploited it. But their hand was heavy in the deal as well. Surely they picked out the outfit, lighting Jordan in the best light they could. His image is memorable. Walking down that dark street, telling you about the times he's lost. Fans love that angle, take it in for all it's worth.

This is Bo Jackson. Another great athlete who dealt with Nike during his career. Granted he played in the NFL and the MLB with success, but look at the hyperbole that Nike makes of it. He surf's, he races, he does everything. And that catch phrase was born from Nike as well, you don't know Bo. Simplicity seems to be their strongest suit and they play it well.

Final- Because it doesn't always have to be serious

MJ and Shaq
Ever wonder if the biggest names in the game spend their free time together?
I do too and I bet it would go something like this.

So one night Jordan and Shaq are having a sleep over at Shaq’s because he has the biggest bed. The two are incredibly competitive so they decide to play some chess.

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***MOST LINES ARE QUOTES FROM THE PLAYERS
**UNDERLINED AND ITALICIZED LINES ARE NOT
Jordan makes a move, slides a pawn out two spaces and the game begins.
Jordan: “Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.”


Shaq: “I don’t see us having a problem.”


Shaq moves a pawn and a couple uneventful turns pass. Then Jordan takes Shaq’s queen, laughing.


Jordan: “I didn't really have a choice”


Shaq: “There is no need to talk.”


Jordan: “Accept failure, everyone fails at something. When you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result.” You wanna bet on this? 20,000 to the winner, what do you say?


Shaq: “That’s sort of a trick question, and I don’t have a trick answer. Next question, please.”


Jordan: “I’m a competitor. I wanna play.” I wanna bet.


Shaq: Are you trying to Hustle me? I was in Kazaam. “I know what’s a charade, and I know what’s not a charade. I’ll leave it at that."

Jordan: I just wanna bet. Afraid?

Shaq: “I didn’t say anything. Got nothing to say.” You can’t trick me into betting. I’m Superman. Look at the Logo on my chest.

Jordan: Yeah, you’re Superman. You’re a hero. You can’t lose.

Shaq: "But you know, as the saying goes, a hero ain’t nothing but a sandwich."

Jordan: (Awkwardly) That’s the toughest part. (What is wrong with him??)

Shaq: "I’m a married man; I don’t need a relationship with another man."

Jordan: I just wanted a friendly bet. I didn’t ask you to dinner.

Shaq: “I’ll beat you up right now if you want me to.” “I’m George Bush. I’m the president.”

Jordan: I thought you were Superman?

Shaq looks over at his bed, ignoring Jordan.

Shaq: "I think I’m one of the patches of the quilt here. "

Jordan: Man, umm, what?

Shaq: "I was an earthling last summer. I had to go back to my alien roots. I don’t know how it is for you earthlings, but where I’m from, strength is mental."

Jordan: Alien huh? "I was pretty confident that I could make some kind of contact, and I did.”

Awkward silence. Jordan looks back at the game and takes out one of Shaq’s Rooks.

Shaq: “I knew I was dog meat. [But] I’m the good-quality dog meat. I’m the Alpo.”

Jordan: Rolls his eyes. Looks away.
Shaq looks down at his King, surrounded by a few pawns and lesser pieces.

Shaq: "It’s just like a bunch of worker bees protecting the king bee, because I’m not a queen bee. I’m a king bee.”

Jordan looks back at the board, desperate for some escape from this madness. Thank God. Check.

Jordan: No hard feelings, right?

Shaq: “There is nothing for me to be sour about. What you got to understand is that I’m a military man."

Jordan looks down at the pieces on the board, staring at Shaq’s with disdain. Shaq moves his Knight and takes Kobe’s Bishop.

Jordan: "That was a great move, but I don’t wanna tell you that. But I gotta tell you." Because the game is over man.

Shaq: "but did you ever hear me say anything about it?"

Jordan: "Intelligence wins."

Shaq: Being the best right now doesn’t do anything for my feathers. I’m the Halle Berry of the NBA. Everybody wants this, baby. Everybody wants me. I’m getting older. I’m getting sexier. I’m getting meaner. I can still do what I do."

He speaks the last line to the picture of Halle Berry hanging on his wall. Jordan made an escape sometime ago, even tripping on the tails of his tux. But Shaq didn’t notice. He only had eyes for her.

Photos ascribed to Google Images and the subsequent sites: Hoophypes, NBA.com and IMDB.com

Awesome

BREAKING NEWS: Sort of

The talented 23-year-old from Majorca will return next month in Montreal. Hopefully he's fully recovered. I'd like to see a Federer rematch with both players at the top of their game.

Also, Stacey Allaster is the new CEO for the WTA. Personally, I'm not interested, but for you WTA fans there is the link. I'm not sure how complicated or interesting her job is. Schedule major tournaments and preingrave trophies for the Venus sisters. There. Done.

THESE ARE PRICELESS

These are ridiculous. I don't mind the outfit so much, just the flying jacket and the intense squinty grimace.

Pictures are courtesy of Gototennisblog.com

Sweet- 45

45 shot rally between Federer and Lleyton Hewitt, former Wimbledon champ.. It's not recent, but cool. That's all that matters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tZhQi8aDcg

News? Maybe

TV ratings are not newsworthy to me.


Yes, it's important that the Federer-Roddick Final is the most viewed since the final of '99. I guess. But the important, most deciding factor that drives me against this as news is this. I don't care. I just don't. Berate me if you will. Tell me it's a slow news day. Tell me they write about everything and this is significant. But don't tell me that you care. I know you don't. No one cares what the TV ratings of a tennis match are compared to a match ten years ago. This belongs in a research paper. TV ratings are not exciting.


They are not important to anyone who doesn't work in TV. And I would bet that the ratings bore them, maybe even more than you and me.

So take your TV ratings and be selfish, keep them to yourselves. We don't want to read about it. We don't care.

Skimming the web

ESPN has a great follow up article on Federer's Wimbledon success. It discusses the celebration and the madness following the win. Also, it is to the point but descriptive, which I like.

One detail that I liked was an image of Federer skimming the web to see the media's reaction to his 15th major. That's awesome. It would be incredible to think, "huh, I wonder what ESPN wrote about me." Or SI, NYtimes, or any major news outlet at all. The feeling would have to be incredible knowing that you would be the headline.

That would be something.

AMAZING-- 15!!!!!!

15th major! I should have posted this yesterday, but I was out of town for the 4th and I didn't feel like mobile blogging. It was a holiday, understandable right?

Anyways, I'll come out and say it. Andy Roddick deserved to win. He played amazingly. He turned around an otherwise fading career and appears to be moving up in the world. He beat everyone including Andy Murray, a favorite from the beginning, to at least play in the finals. Then, when he was playing Federer, he continued to put up a fight. He didn't come into the match expecting to lose. Well, maybe he did and maybe he didn't. I'm guessing everyone else thought it would be 3 sets, maybe 4?

The outcome was unpredictable! One of the announcers stupidly called it a "biblical match." Not that it wasn't epic or grand, but biblical? I don't know, it just rubbed me the wrong way, but he did have to come up with clever commentary for more than 4 hours so I won't be too hard on him. Unlike Roddick, who was very hard on Federer. It was no easy major to attain. That is certain. The most games ever played! Although it wasn't the longest match, which is an oddity. Last years final between Nadal and Federer was 7 and a half hours, incredible.

This was still a great match though! I don't think we could've asked for better. It was great to see an American face in the finals. Roddick has really tightened his game, dropped 15 pounds, gained a ton of athleticism. He plays smarter and harder than ever before. I particularly liked his resentfulness at the end of the match as Federer was speaking. Granted, Federer was trying to make him feel better, but it would've been better if he hadn't said it. Essentially, he told Roddick he knew how he felt after his loss to Nadal the previous year. Knew how he felt? Roddick, who has held the silver runner up plate 3-times? Federer, who had 5 Wimbledon titles before his loss knew how Roddick must've felt? And that, is exactly what Roddick said, through tears mind you.

There's something else to analyze, Roddick was crying afterwords. It is slightly debateable. His eyes were red, lip trembling, and an announcer mentioned it, but debateable. He din't have tears streaming by any means. I for one will not demean him for his emotion. He played hard, endured set after set over the past weeks to get to this point and it came down to the 5th set and he couldn't pull through.

I say let him be. Roddick will be back and I think we will see him at the top of tennis for some time. His transformation is astounding. I actually wanted Federer to win so I was happy with the outcome, but you can't help but feel for Roddick. It seemed like his time. His tournament.

ESPN 360--- NOT FREE

I'm at work trying to watch the Wimbledon, but it's no dice. ESPN 360 is free in some cases but not all. Mainly, your ISP has to be an ESPN affiliate or you have to purchase a subscription. It's also free on college campuses which would be great if I was on campus. Sadly the remote desktop option wouldn't work either as it allows access to the files, not the internet.

Here are the rules that pop up if I click on a match or anything I'd like to watch:


How to Get Access to ESPN360.com
ESPN360.com is available at no charge to fans who receive their high-speed internet connection from an ESPN360.com affiliated internet service provider. ESPN360.com is also available to fans that access the internet from U.S. college campuses and U.S. military bases.
Your current computer network falls outside of these categories. Here’s how you can get access to ESPN360.com.
1. Switch to an ESPN360.com affiliated internet service provider or to contact your internet service provider and request ESPN360.com. Click here to enter your ZIP code and find out which providers in your area carry offer ESPN360.com
2. If you already get ESPN360.com at home and activated remote access, sign in using the myESPN link in the upper right hand corner. In order to activate remote access, you must sign in through your ESPN360.com affiliate Internet Service Provider.
3. For Verizon Customers Only: Sign-in using remote access if you already get ESPN360.com
4. For Comcast Customers Only: Great news! ESPN360.com will be free with your Comcast High-Speed Internet subscription beginning August 1st.Click here to sign up to receive ESPN360.com newsletters and updates

Not Equal

So, as a feeble gesture to the equality of men's and women's sports I suppose I should mention the unsurprising headline that the Williams sisters are facing off. That's the gist of the women's finals. They win everything, exciting. Oh, and I'll attach a photo so I can fail quantitative and qualitative approaches simultaneously.

Ugh

It's not "Andymonium," an Andy day, an Andy affair, Andy and Andy, or any other stultification of the dual Andy's you clever writers can devise. It's not creative. It sucks, plain and simple. So, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray are going to the Semis. That's a headline. Murray and Roddick face off. That's the story. Don't change it to some sort of contest to create the best pun. It's the 3rd seed and the 6th seed and should be an awesome match. Don't play up the names. It's not necessary. These two are interesting enough without it.

3 hours and 50 minutes

Roddick and Hewitt played all 5 sets, but Roddick prevailed. He had an astounding 43 Aces and won the last set 6-4. I believe the 43 aces, if the announcer Patrick Mcenroe is correct, is a career high. And even if it's not it's an amazing feat nonetheless.

Andy Roddick

The American 6th seed is something else. Watching him brings an amalgamation of frustration and awe as 140 mph serves couple with no hustle. Right now he's playing Hewitt who represents Great Britain's prison state of Australia. Well, guess it's a full fledged country now. Hewitt was the Wimbledon champ before Federer and still has some of his old fire. The score, which is in progress, favors Roddick. He is up 2 sets and they are playing the 4th. They've had 2 tie breakers and each player came away with one.

Anyways, back to frustration. Here I am, rooting for Roddick. Not because he's cool or particularly amazing for anything but his serve, but because he's the last American in the "Gentlemen's" singles. That is, men's singles. The Wimbledon site pompously labels everything. Perhaps it's for some sustenance of class, but I don't know, it's just so damn irritating.

Alright, well it looks like a 5th set might be coming up, but I can only speculate as coverage has digressed, technologically speaking. First the sound, now the picture. So, I'll relive a particular interesting part of the match while I wait.

Roddick was down 40-Love. It looked as though Hewitt was about to snatch an easy point in the otherwise tight match. I, with all of my quiet dignity, yelled profanely and vented my feelings on Roddick's flat-footed approach to a few shots that were mere feet away. Granted they were going close to 100 mph and he had split seconds to react, I know, it's hard. But he's a professional. He should be faster. So, Roddick serves again and we see his signature ace change the score to 15-40. Not a huge difference, but it looks better than 0, right? Well, I yelled "damn right, Roddick, now just do 3 more and get it over with." 4 aces in a row? Possible, yes. Probable? Obviously not. Well, to my amazement he did. So sports fans, when in doubt, yell. I think that's the moral anyways....

Picture Courteous of www.InstaBlogImages.com

Whoah

Serbian Novak Djokovic, 4th seed, is losing to Tommy Haas. Haas is the 24th seed playing for Germany. He's 31. So far Haas is winning by 2 sets and the 3rd is underway. The second set went down to a tie break and the score could not ahve been closer. Haas took it with a risky back hand right up on the net. Djokovic, family, and coach all look, well sad. He's not playing his best and it might cost him. Unfortuantely I have to go to class and miss the rest. Oh, and an update said Federer was losing. Oddly, it showed no score and didn't flash to the match... Very helpful ESPN2.