I spent Labor Day weekend at the U.S. Open. My camera was dead on arrival (literally) at the Open, so I had to resort to taking pics from the Blackberry, which turned out much better than I thought (RIM can thank me for the plug). Check it out! Continue reading
Tag Archives: tennis
ON THE SCENE: Inside the U.S. Open…From My Blackberry
20 SepHOT TOPICS: The Commish: Does College Football or Tennis Need A Commissioner?
8 Sep
HOT SCALE (1-10): 7
I’m not sure if this is an ESPN thing, but I heard no fewer than two different commentators in two vastly different sports question whether there is a need for a commissioner.
On Doug Gottlieb’s radio show, he suggested that the solution to this Texas A&M leaving the Big 12 to join the SEC to chase for the money debacle was to have a college football commissioner who could fairly represent the best interests of college football as a whole.
A few hours later, I listened to John McEnroe push for a commissioner of tennis after several players voiced their disapproval for being rushed out to play on slippery courts at the U.S. Open, allegedly for the sake of making money and pleasing fans. With the now two-day long rain delay, McEnroe had plenty of time to wax philosophic about the unfairness that players face with their unprotected status, and even promote his book, You Cannot Be Serious, where he apparently discussed this issue at length.
I know commissioners get a bad reputation, particularly in football, but maybe they are, in fact, a necessary evil (kind of like lawyers – it’s ok, I accept it). What do you think? Would a commissioner be a good thing for either college football or tennis?*
*Extra credit if you have an opinion on both!
HOT TOPICS: The 28th Best Player in the U.S. Open?
23 Aug
HOT SCORE (1-10): 5
The U.S. Open made the terrible decision to seed Serena Williams according to her ranking, which means some poor, higher-seeded girl is going home early with less money than she should have when Serena smacks her in the early rounds of play. We get that she has not played in a while, so it wouldn’t be fair to the other players to seed her too high, but No. 28 is barely a seed. (Click here for the full list of seeds in the women’s draw. Matchups will be announced on August 25th.)
Because, you know, it’s not like Serena just beat Top 10 players – including #7 Maria Sharapova – on her way to her first tournament victory in over a year, or beat another Top 10 player en route to her second title in as many weeks or anything. Man, she is really struggling these days…
We get it, U.S. Open officials: Stick with the rankings, not past performances, so the exceptions don’t swallow the rule. But there’s a slight problem with such a rigid rule when you’re applying it to a person who has won your tournament five times (3 singles, 2 doubles championships) and who is walking over the Top 10 players in the world like their the 28th seeds.
Chrissy Evert agrees with us:
“It hurts the field, is what it does. It really doesn’t hurt Serena as much as it hurts the other players. One of the top seeds will get her in the third round,” said Evert, who will call U.S. Open matches for ESPN2. “I think they could have made a much better judgment call.”
We are certain when the draw comes out, whoever is in Serena’s bracket is not going to be a happy camper. We have to wait two days for the brackets to come out, too, but we’re looking at you, Sharapova.
