Junto Boys

WEEKEND SPORTS

I watched or listened to most of the ladies Wimbledon matches yesterday as we were working on the rental house. Most interesting was the match between the diminutive (by Tennis standards) Justine Henin-Hardene and the 26th year old French player Severine Bremond. Bremond had to play three qualifying matches just to get into the tourney and then beat three higher ranked opponents to get to the Belgian born Hardene. The tenacious Hardene recently won the French Open and had won every major except for Wimbledon and this looks like her year and yet this unknown gave her the toughest match yet, 6-4,6-4. We also learn in the match that Severine didn’t take up tennis seriously until she was 18 (Tracy Austin won the U.S. Open at 16). If she were 19 or 20, they’d be talking her up as a rising star. Since she is already 26, was this her only chance?

On the men’s side it was tough seeing Andre Agassi losing in his last appearance. He’s become such a gracious player and good all around guy in ways the brash Connors and McEnroe never quite could, though I always liked both of those guys with the edge to Connors and his sweaty bangs. In that era, I use to bang a tennis ball against the garage door for hours letting my bangs hang over my eyes pretending to be Jimmy. American Tennis domination is over with Sampras and Agassi gone and Roddick not quite good enough to beat Nadal and Federer. Those two in the final as a rematch of the French Open would make great sport.

I haven’t played the game in a few years, because it sometimes inflames my back injury. Watching these past few weeks has made me begin to miss it again.

After Tennis I turned it over to the World Cup where Germany and Italy were trying to break the scoreless tie in their first overtime period. Though I immediately began rooting for Germany and their superior beer, Italy made things happen and scored two quick goals in the second overtime. I’m at least grateful that it didn’t end with an anti-climactic penalty kick.

American football doesn’t break a tie very well either, I think. I don’t like the NFL’s Sudden Death, because it comes down to a coin flip. College Football’s recent tie-breaker is even worse, because it can cause so much scoring that the final score doesn’t even reflect the overall experience of the game. Why not just play an entire quarter to decide the outcome? If that doesn’t work let it end in a tie.