new york, new york, big city of dreams

It’s day one of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships and the top tennis professionals have converged on the Big Apple to compete in the year’s final slam. I’m completely glued to the TV and Internet because 1) it’s in New York so I don’t have to set my alarm clock to watch a match. 2) Rafa’s back . 3) The U.S. Open IS the toughest slam. I decided not write any previews of the draws because I’m out of the prediction business. Instead, I’ll write about my thoughts on the daily action and express my hopes.

Day one was a bit of a snooze. Most of the top seeds had an easy time of it with the exception of Venus Williams who looks like she is suffering from some knee tendinitis. It took her 3 sets to put away her opponent. Her sister Serena on the other hand breezed through along with Stosur, Li Na, Mauresmo, Blake, Davydenko and oh yeah, Federer. However, the player who garnered the most attention today was Kim Clijsters-this year’s comeback kid. It’s too early to tell how far she’ll go in the tournament, but she’s looking pretty good so far. Naturally her return has led to inevitable question as to whether the OTHER player from Belgium will make her own comeback.

The fashions weren’t anything to get excited over either. There was fuschia and drab. There were stripes and mini skirts. There were monikered jackets and monograms. Like I said, nothing that made me tingle and go “wow”. I don’t know who’s slipping more, the tournament organizers or the clothing companies.

The highlight for me was seeing Andre Agassi back in New York to get some kudos and drop some knowledge. It’s my dream (other than seeing Steffi Graf and Gaby Sabatini play Ladies Legend Doubles at Wimbledon) that Andre will one day decide to become a commentator. I can listen to this man talk tennis all day.

As for the coverage, the Tennis Channel gets a thumbs up. ESPN…*sigh*

So tomorrow it’s Safina, Ivanovic , Murray, and Djokovic. I’m hoping for a little bit more action-and better fashion.

oh, just go already!

Ever have someone stop by your crib and they just don’t want to leave? You start with subtle hints and once that doesn’t work, you change into your night clothes and put some rollers in your hair. If that is unsuccessful, you then have to get all hood and tell the person, “you don’t have to go home but you got to get the hell up outta here.”  Well, South Carolina citizens may be at that point with it’s governor, Mark “Mack Daddy” Sanford. They want him to go; they’ve started to turn out the lights and put the dog in, but his ass refuses to leave.

Even after his own Lt. Governor suggested that Sanford skeedaddle, Sanford decided to do his best Jennifer Holliday impression and hold a press conference to declare that he’s telling you-he’s not going. Damn, I feel sorry for my South Carolinian neighbors. How it must suck to have the most embarrasing political figure (right now) as head of state. I mean, even John Ensign is like, “ha! this mofo right HERE!” And what can they do? Wait until his term ends and be further subjected to more media attention or rally to start impeachment proceedings which will hem up a state already suffering from the effects of the recession.

Unfortunately, Sanford refuses to do the right and honorable thing and step down. Like most cheaters he’s ruled by his selfishness and haunted by his insecurities.  I wonder if he thinks that if he sticks around folks will just forget about all the dirt he’s done. He obviously has never heard, “how can we forget if you won’t go AWAY?”

Trust me, my heart goes out to them. Yes, we have the Governator but we’d take Arnold and his crazy budget cuts over Mark Sanford and his domestic drama any day.

In Remembrance…

Senator Ted Kennedy

 

Dominick Dunne

 

And my Bennett Sister, Marjorie Penalver.

Rest in Peace.

dashed hopes

The healthcare fight has been comprised lately of anger, lies, misdirection, and now appeasement. This weekend, President Obama and his top surrogates started to throw the Public Option under the bus and conservative Democrats have been touting the concept of co-op healthcare. It’s safe to say with the apparent waffling from the administration, those on the Right are delighted and those on the Left are befuddled.

At a town hall meeting in Colorado, the President asked healthcare reform supporters to knock on doors and get the message out. Huh? With all the confusion about what’s going to be reformed and what isn’t, how are they supposed to spread a message they don’t understand. To me, that’s the biggest reason why their hasn’t been a huge pushback against healthcare opposition. There simply isn’t much to support at this point.

On the one hand, you have the Republicans who are dead set against any kind of reform. Then you have the Conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats who come from swing districts are are afraid they will be booted out of office. Let’s not forget the Congressmen and women whose pockets are lined with health insurance money. Oh, and the Liberal Democrats who are pissed because the single payer option was never considered. Throw in lobbyists, pundits, conspiracy theorists, and ex-Presidents, and it’s just a big ol’ mess. The already complicated matter of changing the way Americans receive and pay for their health seems even more complicated.

I hate to do this but I gotta place a lot of the blame on PBO. In his desire to try to get the Republicans to hop aboard his Change train, he allowed the reins of the debate to be taken away from him. As a result, the townhall mobs got more media attention than he did. While his getting on the trail and holding townhalls of his own is appreciated, in order to satisfy his real base, he needs to declare what HIS vision of healthcare should be. He then needs to direct the Democrats to follow suit. If the Republicans are down it’s all good, if they aren’t then he needs to let them know that healthcare reform is going to pass with or without their help.

Finally, he needs to take into account of what Progressives want. Much of the spin coming from the White House involved placating the fears of seniors, on-the-fence Independents, and pharmaceutical companies. The Public Option must be included. Our voices must be heard, the real story of what this healthcare crisis entails must be told. Otherwise, what support he had counted on will be gone as well.

Real Talk.

despair

Rafael lost his quarterfinal match today again Juan Del Potro of Argentina. With this loss, Andy Murray of Great Britain will become the #2 ranked player come Monday.

This blogger is off to find something alcoholic.

The Eagles have landed…with

Michael Vick: NFL Superstar, turned felon, turned NFL superstar? Excuse me? Michael Vick is back in the NFL after the Philadelphia Eagles signed him to a  2 year contract? And here I was thinking that the Town Hall protesters were crazy. What a country we live in when a dog killing, herpes spreading, felon can be reinstated back into an elite sports league.

And when I mean elite I mean less than 1% of African American males in this country are NFL football players. Being part of that select group of athletes is a privilege indeed. If they are really good (and most are) they can earn millions of dollars in salary and bonuses and even more in endorsements. NFL athletes are adored, reveared, catered to, excused, and even worshiped. At one time, Michael Vick was a part of that exclusive club. He had the world at his feet. How could he eff it up so badly? And how can he be asked back?

A privilege I say, NOT a right. As an athlete Vick is entitled to try to make a living doing something that he’s trained for years to do. What Vick isn’t entitled to is a welcome mat back into the league in which he treated with such selfish disdain. As much we all like to say that only parents should be a child’s role model, we know in our hearts that it’s not true. How many of us had fed the dreams of young athletes we know with exhortations of, “Keep it up and you can get into the NFL like so and so!”  We buy hats and jerseys with our favorite athletes name on them, and we spend a small fortune for tickets just for the experience to see players do what they are so handsomely paid to do.

Which leads to the question, what do these guys owe us? Us, who by our ticket purchases get to play in huge stadiums. Us, who stock up on sports drink, tennis shoes, car, and beef jerky brands that endorse the athletes. What should we expect? How about respect for the law for starters. A lot of sports fans get up everyday, work hard, pay our taxes (taxes that help maintain those big stadiums by the way) , and manage to stay out prison. We shouldn’t expect that our favorite team isn’t piled with former jailbirds? Yeah I know about  Leon and Ray and you know what, their asses shouldn’t have been allowed to play either. And how about a respect for life? Lest we forget, Vick supplemented his hefty income by financing and watching animals rip each other apart for kicks and  when that animal could no longer fight, it was killed. Think about that. Think about how absolutely sick and souless that is.

How should a man be viewed? How he treats those he considers equals or how he treats those deemed less than he is? True, Vick has served his time and he has expressed regret for his actions. That’s all well and good but saying you’re sorry doesn’t always mean you get to pick up where you left off. Sometimes you have to really earn redemption.  The Eagles hiring Vick has little to do with altruism, I know that. But think about how much money and future grief they can save by focusing their resources on a young, hungry, upstanding player who will not be so easily tempted to take that chance for granted.

photoshopped and screwed

This month’s Self magazine cover girl is Season 1 American Idol Winner Kelly Clarkson. And doesn’t she look great? She looks all fresh faced and trim and everything. The problem is, that’s not her. Well I take that back. It’s her digitally created doppleganger.  How ironic that a magazine that has the words,  ”Total Body Confidence” on its cover feels the need to photoshop its cover model into some almost unrecognizable fantasy girl.

When this obvious point was brought up to the Editor in Chief of the magazine, Lucy Danzinger stated that it was a standard practice to digitally alter photos. According to her it’s art, not news. She is right in once aspect; digital alteration of photos is a standard practice. Every magazine cover from Vogue to Newsweek features subjects that have had crow’s feet, tummy bulges, and flyaway hair magically brushed away. Pale starlets are given tans and African Americans skin tones are made lighter and brighter. It’s all based on the notion that real people looking like they really do won’t sell magazines.

That’s where Ms. Danzinger has it wrong. As much as we all would like to have our own personal digital alteration program that allows us to wipe away all of our flaws , that just ain’t the way things are. One of the most important lessons all of us have to learn is that we have accept ourselves as we are, otherwise happiness is as much an illusion as that girl on the magazine cover. Hell, the name of the magazine is SELF. What are they trying to hawk? Self love obtained by Adobe? What’s the real message? You can be your best self–only if you’re skinny with no acne?

Kelly Clarkson has always stated how proud she is of her body, so she has to be extremely disappointed that her pride in herself was brushed away with a few keystrokes.

have gun will travel

So today, President Barack Obama held a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, NH to discuss health care and with all the craziness lined with astroturf that’s been highlighted during previous town hall meetings, everyone was on their toes to see what would stick today.

Lo and behold, the nut wing of The Right didn’t disappoint. A guy named William Kostric showed up with a gun strapped to his leg. No he wasn’t taken out by snipers, tased, or handcuffed and taken away because according to New Hampshire law, he was well within his rights to stand outside of an event featuring the President with a loaded gun. Gotta love America! A Harvard professor can be arrested inside his own home for giving the po po attitude, but Mr. Kostric can be in plain view of the police and Secret Service and remain unmolested.

If anyone can tell me how carrying a loaded weapon has anything to do with health care reform I’d like to know. I have an inkling that it further symbolizes the fear that more than a few in this country have about any change that will affect them economically, socially, or culturally. See, I think Mr. Kostric could care less about the details of public option and end of life decisions. He being the coward that he is (and yes, cowards carry guns. in fact there is a correlative effect: the less guts you have, the bigger the gun) wanted to show America that as a White Christian male, he was not content to stand idly on the sidelines and let this Black Man make any decisions that will change his way of life-even if it’s for the better. It was much easier for him to hold a sign misquoting Thomas Jefferson than to actually go inside the venue with an intelligent and well reasoned question or statement (and without a gun).

But that’s asking too much I know. Instead we were all treated to this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/11/chris-matthews-to-town-ha_n_256952.html

guess who’s back?

After a brief blogging break, I am back and sharing my venom with the world. I know ya’ll missed me.

Also, someone else is back in the mix:

Rafael Nadal made his return to the tour today at the Roger’s Cup in Montreal. So far, he’s tamping down expectations by saying that he’s not expecting to win. Nevertheless, his fans are thrilled to see him back on the court. His firt singles match will be sometime Wednesday. Only then, will we all see whether or not he’s recovered from his knee issues. There is reason to be happy though, Nadal and his partner/coach Francisco Roig scored a doubles win today.

Welcome back chico!