A Winning Saturday

The Saints thrashed the Cardinals which was an outcome I desired until the second half when it became clear this would be a blow-out and my heart was moved to pity. I didn't necessarily want the Cardinals to win but I wanted them to make it a game. Their defense was, is, anemic. I'm not a Saints fan and indeed fervently hoped all season they would fail to complete the perfect season (plus they beat my Giants as if they stole something and they were never right since). Once that became an actuality the fervency was gone and I sincerely dislike the Cardinals more, so... Who dat? Who dat? Who dat, Saints!!!

The Colts triumphed over the Ravens. Until the final two minutes of the first half this match had all the markings of a tightly contested barn-burner. Then the Ravens three-and-outed with about two minutes left on the clock and no team can give Peyton f*cking Manning two minutes (with two time-outs) and not expect to pay the man with a touchdown or field goal. The man is magic. The Colts scored ten points in approximately two minutes and the contest was lost from that moment onward. After one field goal, the Ravens never scored a single point thereafter, receiving not even a sniff at the endzone. I really like Peyton, and the Colts don't generally rub me the wrong way... though I call foul on cutting out on that Jets game, as well as the ones which followed! However, the way they won more than the win itself, as vital as it was, will subside the disgruntled whispers across the myriad fandom.

I am a fool but I am a fool with a good excuse. By the time I wrote my blurb on the Giants needing to fire their defensive coordinator, Bill Sheridan, the deed had already been done. A number of heads rolled by the time I wrote my post, in fact. My good excuse for not knowing this? I was so embarrassed by the Giants play I avoided all sports news outlets including my favorite Giants' site, the Big Blue View. I neither wished to read nor hear anything about the Giants. I knew if I waited long enough, with the start of the post season so close, I could avoid hearing my beloveds described as the losers they turned out to be this season. Cowardice. To quote Walter Bishop (of Fringe fame), I am learning to appreciate it.

Finally, the Australian Open starts today and I can't wait!!!! Plus the Cowboys vs. the Vikings, and the Chargers vs. the Jets. A very good sports day is a-comin.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Boys and girls, it is tennis season!!!! Three cheers, hip-hip-hooray!!!! I'm not sure how dedicated a tennis fan I am though -- I only watch between the Slams, meaning from the start of the Australian Open to the end of the U.S. Open I am tennis mad and catch as many matches as I can. Everything outside that period gets an 'eh' from me. I'm sure I have mentioned once, twice, maybe three times my favorite players: Rafael Nadal, Venus and Serena Williams. I ride or die with these guys so how much I'm feeling a season depends at least 80% on how they are doing, lol. Still last year was pretty good in spite of Rafa's mid year drop off and Venus's loss at Wimbledon, Serena's, ahem, incident at the U.S. Open, etc. Some good tennis was played and new talents emerged and anticipated talents (well, at least one) delivered. The Australian Open is rearing its Aussie head once more so I'll probably haunt my favorite tennis sites until September: Craig Hickman's Tennis Blog at Blogger; Nadal News; Tennis.com; and Forty Deuce (because she's funny) over at Typepad. Honorable mentions to Down the Line at Blogger and Tennis Talk. Tennis season, yay!!!!

Since I'm on a sports kick I should mention another of my favorite spectator sports that has been neglected on this blog -- football... of the American variety. I love me some football and my favorite team is the NY Giants (I'm from Jersey and their stadium is in Jersey and they train in Jersey and most of them live in Jersey... they're ours! LOL). My Giants though, have sucked this year. All-caps SUCKED. Thank you, Bill Sheridan, for taking one of the fiercest defenses in the league and turning them into mush. The man needs to be fired. Fired!!! My family is in agreement. This is his first year on the job, however, so the Giants' owners and manager might decide to suffer through him for one more year much to my utter disagreement. Sigh. Still, I like football and so have watched a lot of non-Giant games for the sheer fun of it. Yesterday I watched the two teams I wished to have win -- the Bengals and the Eagles, lose. It was a bad Saturday. Today, one team I wanted to win (Ravens) won, while the other (Packers) lost in the most preposterous manner. It was a middling Sunday.

What else... what else... what else? Um. The Winter Olympics??? ... Yeah, I don't care either.

I hope to keep better blog track of tennis this year as well as the waning football post-season. Ta-ta for now!

Go Home, Rafa.

Go home.

Relax.

Eat some pasta tonight. Maybe treat yourself to a cookie or three. Then hop on a plane and wing your way back to Mallorca.

Relax on a beach or at home. Just relax. If there are personal (non-career/health related) problems deal with them quickly, quietly, then let 'em slide.

Remember: you have a wealth of people who believe you in you, within your family and without.

I'm sure you know this, are looking to do most of this already but sometimes it helps to get this stuff out into the ether. Everyone loses the thread once in a while and it's not like a quarterfinal result is chopped liver. You've done amazing things so far this season and for that you should be very proud. All the best for the future.

Feel better, come back strong.

SN: We Can't Be Winners All The Time

Rafa lost :(! It's one of the few times I've ever seen Rafa snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I'm writing specifically of the three breaks up he had in the final set. Still, can't take anything away from Juan Martin Del Potro. He played extremely well! He corrected a lot of bad behaviors which had put him in poor spots in previous matches. When I read the scoreline of his David Ferrer match I knew he hadn't come into this tournament to be any man's pigeon.

All credit to Sean Randall over at Xtreme Tennis for predicting before the tournament a quarterfinal bow for Nadal. I thought he'd at least make the semis. Now I'm curious as to how many points he's lost since I believe he made the finals last year. I think his improved record in the tournaments he's played so far (wins at the Australian Open, Indian Wells) even the one he lost (Rotterdam final) will offset the loss but I'm a bit fuzzy on the mathematical particulars. Then there's the whole Dubai 'goose egg' from pulling out; can he still drop that? (lowest score can be dropped)

Well, onto the other matches! You know, it used to be that if my favorite lost I stopped watching the tournament. At least it was that way with the WTA. I, however, plan on watching the rest of the quarterfinal matches (at least) on the men's side. It's the match-ups -- they are mouthwatering! Murray vs. Verdasco!!! Federer vs. Djokovic!!! Talk about another man whose on the path of proving he's nobody's pigeon! Djokovic seems to have regained his form. Then there's the Williamses. The sisters are playing today and their matches are always an exercise in the fascinating. I'm rooting hard for Venus in spite of what will occur should she win and Serena lose. You see, the WTA's ranking system is for shit and right now Dinara Safina, who currently can't find a serve or a shot to save her life, is poised to overtake Serena as #1 should she lose. That? Blows. Should this happen it will only underscore, as Jelena Jankovic did before her, all that is terribly, terribly wrong with the WTA. No one should achieve the number one ranking through anything less than winning. I mean a relatively sustained campaign of wins. So to get number one because everyone around -- to include yourself -- is doing too much losing is a travesty. An absolute travesty. Look, I love me some Dinara but no way should she be #1. Although I will concede that on paper she's in a better position than Jankovic when she became #1 (been to two Slam finals vs. JJ's none). Even knowing what is at stake, the WTA's credibility, I still can't make myself do it. I love them both but love Venus a little harder :). It's been that way from the start.

So, yeah, if all goes as I wish (not much luck so far), Venus for the win. I predict Dinara's head will explode if that should happen. Literally explode. Either that or she'll commit seppuku just to avoid the pressure.

SN: A Sort of Tirade

Tell me, what is the point of buying the licensing rights or whatever to broadcast a sporting event (say, tennis) only to not broadcast any matches during the appointed times? Or preempt a portion of a match to play high school basketball highlights? High school basketball?! Highlights?!?!?! Or, you know, bass fishing. Look, I know there are people in the world who live and die by fishing but come on, FSN (or in some areas, FS-SW)! Don't buy the rights to the programming if showing 45 minutes more of water, fish and/or amateur highlights is a higher priority than live QUARTERFINAL tennis! It's ridiculous!

True story:

Live tennis is scheduled for 9 p.m. central on FSN and some bright son-of-a-b*tch decides to allow bass fishing to overrun their timeslot. The live tennis is a quarterfinal match. The quarters, damn it! Featuring Federer and Verdasco (he of Australian Open semi-final fame). Point of mention: the match turned out to be rather anticlimatic and boring but that's beside the point, FSN couldn't have known that. Getting back to it: I'm pissed, tired of waiting, and so take to the internet for a streaming feed. Having found one, I enjoy the match on my awesome, new widescreen computer screen. Sometime around 10:30 I notice FSN has finally broadcasted the match but do I switch off my computer? Hell to the NO. See, this is how viewership dies and fans disappear, crap scheduling like this.

Don't even get me started on how they voided Nadal's match entirely last night. Nadal, the No. 1 tennis player in the world!!! They could play the rare women's match that night -- Azarenka vs Safina, but not Nadal's highly anticipated match. Like, what the f**k?! As a serious Nadal fan my gasket, she was a-blown! Instead, guess what FSN graced their viewing audience with? A doc on a former hockey player. O-kaaaaay. I don't have problems with documentaries on players, not even when its based on sports I couldn't care a whiff about. What does light my fuse is live tennis being ignored in favor of a doc the channel has probably been running for the last year! This whole situation wouldn't suck so much if FSN weren't the only channel licensed to broadcast tennis for at least this week. There's no alternative but sreaming feeds; thank god for streaming feeds! That's how I was able to watch my Nadal survive a fourth round scare and write this awesome post.

Also, what the hell is up with the television scheduling of women's tennis in general? It's rare to catch a WTA match and they killed any early round viewings all together. It's got my mom, a big tennis fan, fit to be tied. I charge sexism. Sure, the women's game sucks right now but there was a time in the '90's when the men's game wasn't so hot either and no one was dodging their matches... or saying they don't deserve their pay for that matter. It's something else that when the men's game has a dip everyone freaks but cautions that highs and lows are normal. However, let the women's game suffer for a stretch and not only does everyone freak out but the real misogynist-*ssholes come out to play.

"The women's game has always been poor," they chortle. "This is why they don't deserve equal prize money."

Blah, blah-blah, blah-blah, blah-blah, blah-f**k you!

There's a power vacuum in the WTA, it happens, suck it! Trust me, the men's game was no fun for some people (namely me) when Federer was dominating and every other player was too crap or too puss to be anything more than bone-meal in his trough. I'm not particularly pleased with what's happening at the very top of women's tennis but I know they'll pull it out because that's what happens in tennis and in sports.

That's all I got.
/tirade

VAMOS!

Reuters / Michael Fiala
retrieved from Nadal News

Rafael Nadal d. David Nalbandian 3-6 7-6 6-0

This is Rafa's very first victory over the man I affectionately call 'The Shark'. Nalbandian is the destroyer of seeds -- no player is safe. When he was fitter and I was still a tennis neophyte I wondered why he had not yet been to a Grand Slam final let alone won one. The answer: ultimately he is too lazy, too content to display only every so often flashes of brilliance. This makes him dangerous, his unpredictability; it's what makes him a waste of god-given talent. In the last year or so he has allowed himself to go to seed showing a shocking lack of concern for the state of his game. Increasingly seeming more content to get off the court as fast as possible than to scratch out the win. The question every knowledgeable fan asked once the Indian Wells draw was released: which Dave are we getting? 'The Shark'? Or 'Fat Dave'? He wasn't anywhere near the best of shape but it was soon clear that 'The Shark', not 'Fat Dave', had come out to play. He handled every comer in each successive round with skill and arrived in the fourth round on the wings of strong matchplay.

Only twice before in his professional career had Nadal stood across the net from him. Both were three set matches in 2007 (Paris and Madrid). Both times Nadal lost in straight sets. There is no shame in losing to 'The Shark'; many equally good players have lost to him. Federer, Djokovic, Murray; currently ranked No. 2, 3 and 4 respectively (Nadal is No. 1) and were at or near those ranks when they lost to him. He is Cheron and Styx rolled into one: he must be crossed and the one to whom a toll must be paid.

The match was a nail-biter. Nadal was clearly not at his best and Nalbandian was aggressive from word 'go'. He took it to Rafa again and again and again. I would have screamed aloud from the frustration but it was 1 a.m. central and it wouldn't do to wake the household. I finally did let loose with many a "Come on!" and "Vamos!" as the match wore on. Rafa was frustratingly passive with his returns in that first set. The situation was made worse by a slew of unforced errors on shots he almost never misses. The first half of the second set wasn't a picnic either. He had breakpoint chances on Nalby's serve, lost them, then surrendered his own serve the following game. 'The Shark' played lights out, aggressive tennis and though Nadal started to find his serve in the second set, his unforced errors were still a problem.

The turn-around happened during Rafa's serve at 3-5 which, if lost, would have given Nalbandian the set and the match. Nadal clawed his way through four matchpoints (!), cleaning up and gritting out his service game. Now it's 4-5 and Nalbandian's on serve for the set and the match; he tightened as Nadal's level continued to rise. One matchpoint. He faced one matchpoint on 'The Shark's' serve, fought passed it, broke him and went on to win the tiebreak -- yet another nail-biter in which Nadal quickly went up 5-1 only to see Nalby storm back, but not to worry! Rafa won the tiebreak in the end, 7-5. Already Rafa was in new territory: it was the first time in all their meetings he had ever taken a set off of Nalbandian.

Third set. Here is where the stuff outside of skill comes strongly into play, like fitness. Would Nalby's lackluster fitness be an issue in the deciding set? Playing Nadal is as much a tremendous physical feat as it is a technical one. He hits the ball with so much spin and from impossible angles while making impossible gets. It can be a demoralizing exercise, particularly when it appears one has him by the short hairs only to find he's slipped the grip. And so enters some more of the other stuff it takes to win -- the psychological component. Mental fortitude is a part of every athletic competition but it is an incredibly vital portion of tennis. I've seen greatly talented players turned into near journeymen due to a lack in confidence, a crack in their mental strength. One must have a mind like a steeltrap and an unshakeable self-belief to carry one not only through wins but also through disappointing moments. The natural dips and yips and how a player handles them are what winners are made of, the mental stuff is the stuff from which champions are forged.

That mental stuff is something Nadal has in spades. If not, he would have buckled under his own frustration and self-remonstrations in that first set and a half. There is something to be said for gritting out a match, for clawing and spitting out a win. Sometimes it tires a player out, the effort; other times it invigorates. It was the latter for Nadal. He had found the rhythm on his serve; he had found the rhythm in his shots; he had shown himself, his opponent and everyone watching that he can fight his way back even with the odds stacked against him. I won't lie. I was nervous. But the mental stuff, ah, that mental stuff is one of the reasons why I love him so. It is why I am a fan.

I can't remember what year it was but I watched his American hardcourt coming-out. At least that's how all the commentators labeled it at the time. I was in Texas visiting family and that was where they were playing. The headliner? Andy Roddick. He was in his prime, his game at its height. Federer was a problem that still had an answer then, one Andy was confident he would find. This was, of course, before the cumulative losses to The Fed crushed his game and psyche. At the time, Andy was my favorite male tennis player by far, I think my only one (I've always been more of a WTA girl). The tournament showed Andy off but also played out as a showcase for the rising talent on tour -- those wet, new shining stars glistening on the horizon. Amongst them was Rafa. I recall thinking that Rafa's game seemed very well-suited for hardcourts -- a rarity amongst Spanish and/or Spanish-speaking players.

The commentators were trying to decide which of them would rise to the top, ala cream. I picked Rafa. I had a sense that Rafa would eventually prove to be the better of them. So, I tucked the name 'Rafael Nadal' into my "stable" -- players I didn't actively follow but whom I wished well when I saw their names in the draws. As predicted, Nadal rose and rose and rose and rose. His wins didn't make him my favorite; no, that was still Andy going into 2007. It was his loss at Wimbledon that year which made me into an ardent fan.

He pushed it to a fifth. Prior to the final he had played seven straight days of matchplay due to inclement weather and crap scheduling. His opponent in the final (the eventual winner) had nearly that many days off in a row coming into the same match. So he was exhausted and near-broken (his knees, my poor Rafa's knees!). He pushed it to a fifth. Did I mention he was facing the best grass-court player on tour, if not history? And not just the best grass-courter but someone who was hailed (and still is) as The GOAT -- The Greatest Of All Time? AKA Roger Federer, a man who until that bright day in Wimbledon, England 2007, had never faced even a whiff of a fifth set on grass. Rafa pushed him to a fifth. Prior to that fifth and deciding set, Nadal lost his serve but once in a set he ended up winning. It was the gutsiest, most mental performance I had witnessed in tennis in too long a time. Even as he lost that fifth set, Rafa went down snarling and fighting. The loss hurt him deeply (he cried in the shower for 30 mins post-match) but he had won my admiring, unyielding fandom.

There is a certain safety to being his fan. He leaves everything out there so neither the victories nor the losses are ever hollow. One knows he musters his best for every point of every game of every match, that and then some. It's not that losses are easier just that there is a sense of peace there amidst the disappointment. Everything is left out there which is why he wins more often than not. Which is why I didn't give up on him in the face of four matchpoints on his serve, one on Nalby's. Yes, I groaned and yelped but I didn't surrender to the sensation of defeat because I knew he wouldn't. And he didn't. 6-0 in the third and final set. Everything was clicking by then: first serves in, shots cutting angles and kissing lines. Not one game lost by Rafa, not one game won by Nalbandian. Rafa was visibly relieved to have won; it was not his best tennis but it was winning tennis. That is so often the difference between losers and winners on tour, between the Nos. 1, 2, 3, now 4 and the rest of the tour.

Vamos, Rafa! Onto the quarterfinals! Onto Del Potro!


--
listening to the sounds of birds
hello early morning

The Headcase, The Finger and The Way It Is

I love tennis, and have been happily spectating for years. My love's pendulum has swung from the WTA to the ATP and back again as I have enjoyed the tennis stylings of Agassi, Venus and Nadal. For a person who spends most matches cheering or yelling at the television I do not write enough about the sport (I do not write enough about many things).

So, here I go: I write about an incident which caught my eye during my daily review of favored tennis blogs. It happened during France and Italy's Fed Cup matches. Fed Cup, for those not in the know, is what happens when tennis players team up by nation and play at various times throughout the tennis season in order to determine the best tennis nation ever (for that year)!!! The competition is further divided by gender, with Fed Cup being for girls and Davis Cup being for boys.

What happened involved Amelie Mauresmo. Ah, Amelie! Headcase extraordinaire! Well, let me not be mean: she did "unclog" long enough to win two Slam titles and attain the number one ranking, if I'm not mistaken. Such results can never be dismissed; 2006 was a very good year. Still, she has a history of being mentally vulnerable and that is a trait which is very hard to entirely defeat.

So, the French Amelie played against the Italian Flavia Pennetta (How awesome is that name?) in her rubber, as it is called. Amelie had won the first set and was serving out the second. A win here would tie France with Italy in the Fed Cup overall and keep French hopes alive. During a rally, Flavia hit a backhand long -- at least that's what the chair ump decided and ruled it so -- this gave Amelie matchpoint. Flavia, as one might imagine, was not pleased. She abused the chair ump with some rough, presumably Italian words and finished it off with The Finger. I guess that's the kind of stuff that gets one thrown out of matches, but the chair ump might have been new to the job because he only gave out a warning.

Even for the mentally toughest competitors that kind of disturbance can effect the rhythm of one's game. Amelie, as I have written above, is not the mentally toughest of gals. With matchpoint in the second set on her racket she double-faulted, gifting Flavia the chance she needed to force the match to a third and deciding set. Here is where it gets sad for Amelie: in the third set she goes up 4 games to 1, obviously having regained her match rhythm. Yet, she still loses the match! Don't ask me how! One could only choke such a commanding lead away because as tricky (in a tough sense) a tennis player as Flavia is, she's not better than Amelie except for maybe one area: her head's screwed on a bit tighter.

Amelie, as one might imagine, was far from pleased by her loss and placed the blame for her game's inexplicable meltdown on one... chair ump. Oh, if only the chair ump had ejected Flavia, then she'd have been gifted the win rather than having to earn it by not having a mental lapse. She was so pissed she flipped him the bird on her way off the court. Nice. The entire French team was seriously incensed for that matter, vowing to file a protest.

In the next match -- featuring one Alize Cornet (French) who is just. not. ready. to. win. -- they lost their last chance to stay in the Fed Cup running when Alize got beaten pretty handily. Of course, the French team lost their collective *ahem* after that. As they ranted about the chair ump, one among their number dropped the name Zidane which surprised me. The 'Zidane ejection controversy' happened, I think, three years ago. It did happen against Italy so it is not entirely without reference. It is an indication of how angry they must feel if they are cross-referencing sports and other bitter losses.

Perhaps the chair ump did circumvent protocol in this instance but it wasn't as if Flavia spit in Amelie's water or broke her rackets or even benefited from bad line calls. There was nothing keeping Amelie from winning that third set, up 4-1. Hell, there was nothing keeping Amelie from winning the second set! Distractions happen in tennis, shake it off. Amelie has been on the tour long enough to know that and to know better.

Sports News (run and hide!)

BAD NEWS: Rafa Nadal lost in the semifinals of the Madrid Open to young gun, Gilles Simon. (Boo-urns!!!)

GOOD NEWS: By reaching the semifinals, Rafa officially secured year-end number one!!!!!! He is the first Spaniard to do so, if I am not mistaken. Hee! Absolutely lovely! Also, my girl, Venus, won the Zurich Open thereby clinching her place at Doha, the WTA's end-of-year Battle Royale -- eight women enter, only one will survive! The men, too, have an year-end Battle Royale in which my boy, Rafa, and eight others will be participating. I'm hoping Venus and Rafa are the last woman and man standing (just like at Wimbledon) but the competition is stiff. Fun tennis times ahead!

In OKAY NEWS: Andy Murray (of Great Britain) ultimately won the prize, the Madrid Open championship. If one knows anything about tennis, then one knows Great Britain hasn't had a real Grand Slam contender in ages. There have been pretenders in recent years -- Rusedki (a transplant but whatever, he's a Brit citizen) and Henman, both damn good ones at their height. However I don't think they had the spark young Murray has, the pure talent and "tennis brain" which makes him lethal at present and lethal in the future. His attitude is a problem though. I admired Murray first out the gate but it was this which cooled any burgeoning fan-dom for him in my heart. I still like his game, even admire it. He is one of those players I'll rarely if ever root against unless, of course, he faces any of my boys. ^^

Well, congrats Andy, Rafa, for a year well done.

In EVEN BETTER NEWS: The Giants won their football game on Sunday. I didn't have the pleasure of watching it, although I did enjoy myself some football that day. I heard they didn't play their A-game, which isn't good, but the score differential (respectable) makes up for that in my opinion. They are still leading their division which is good, so I'm crossing my fingers for their continued success this year. One game at a time, baby!

Sports News (Rafa Forever!)

A big HUZZAH for Rafa Nadal!!! He beat a difficult opponent in rising star, Ernest Gulbis -- watch out for him and others in 2009 -- in the second round of the Madrid Open.

After winning the first set (7-5), Nadal dropped the second (3-6) yet won the third and deciding set (6-3). Good job, Rafa! Just keep doing what you do best out there, son.

Here's a big RAZ for the NY Football Giants for Monday Night's game against the Cleveland Browns. Now, I have no beef with the Browns, nor do I care about them one way or the other. I

just care about my beloved Giants -- and they did not show up to play the game of which they are capable, while Cleveland did (hats off to them).

I was so thoroughly disappointed in what I perceived as Eli's befuddled leadership on the field, a discombobulated mess which seemed to trickle down throughout the offensive line; in the defense, who stopped the hard-charging, high-scoring Patriot offense on a dime yet somehow couldn't stifle the Browns offense's inexorable movement of the chains; and with the coaching staff on the sidelines who seemingly were unable to come up with a counter to the heat the Browns were bringing that I walked away early in the 4th quarter (post another Eli interception).

Only one team in NFL history has achieved perfection -- say hello, 1972 Dolphins -- and the Giants wouldn't be my Giants if they didn't f-up every now and again. However. Let's make this an infrequent occurence, okay, Giants?

Also, stop trying to force the pass to Plax!!!! For three-quarters of the game I watched them do this and I was like, what? Is he T.O. now? Must we make him feel included after the suspension, must we utilize him by giving him the ball even when play after play shows that boat won't float?!?! Look. I know Burress is great, and great for us, but it does neither him nor the team any good to give him the ball when clearly it isn't working (at least not this game)! What I found masterful about the Seahawks game last week was the Giants willingness and effectiveness at finding other receivers to fill the Plaxico-shaped hole on their side of the line of scrimage. It showcased our range and depth. Let's remember the lessons of the Seahawks at Giants stadium and keep to that, shall we?

What I saw Monday was the old, sloppy, pre-2007 post season Giants -- that is no longer allowed!!! To cut the Giants a little slack, I will say something must have been in the air week 6 because a lot of dominant teams racked up losses in games they were expected to win. So there's

your slack, now KNOCK IT OFF!!!!

--
Not listening to anything right now. But I guess we can go with a little
*Tilly and The Wall's Pot Kettle Black -- awse!


*tap the bold link for a free listen, no download :(

Football! Tennis! Perfection! Sports News!

FOOTBALL
Whoohoo, Giants!!!! Keep it up! Keep it up! Keep it up!!!

A more tepid 'whoohoo' for the Cowboys, whom I also love. I know, same division -- don't care! ^^ I just -- sigh, I have a problem with Romo. He rubs me the wrong way; I don't know why. And no, it has nothing to do with Jessica Simpson. In fact, I think she got a bum rap on the whole 'jinx controversy'. I just don't like him.

TENNIS
Nadal, my lovely, this is late in coming but congratulations on all your success this year, it is much deserved. *kisses*

---
What am I listening to now? Lupe. I have fallen in love with 'The Cool'.
Streets Are On Fire, y'all!