Back in Black

World number 1, and this blogger’s favorite male player played his first round match tonight at the US Open.  He had a tougher time than anyone expected defeating Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-6, 7-6, 6-3. His backhand was shaky and his return game was M.I.A until the third set. But I don’t want to be all Negative Nelly on Rafa, I thought he served extremely well. Nadal fans have been writing “131″ on their blogs and tweets all  evening. That’s because Nadal hit a 131 mph serve tonight. In fact, he was serving bombs all night. Can we all raise a glass to the return of Rafa’s big serve which took an extended vacation during the Cincinnati Masters? He wasn’t broken once and ran around the court like rabbit. A rabbit in black.

Let’s talk about the kit for a minute then shall we? It’s sleek and it fits him like a glove. The color combination finally works and the shoes are on point. In other words, I approve. I really approve. Let’s hope we get to see more of this ensemble during the next two weeks.

In other news:

• Novak Djokovic won a match he should have lost.
• Ernests Gulbis lost a match he should have won
• The New Haven curse has reared his head: Nadia Petrova and Marcos Baghdatis were bounced out
• The Glitter Serb nearly met the same fate, but her opponent gagged a big one and she slipped through
• Fernando Verdasco and David Nalbandian, potential 3rd opponents decided they wanted extra practice at playing long drawn out error-prone matches. *yawn*
• I’m not even going to mention the tweener shot by the Swiss #2. Enough wads have been blown and enough panties have been wrung over it already. No need to say more.

first do no harm

A tragic story out of San Diego this weekend, a month old infant has died from whooping cough. You read right, whooping cough. A disease that was supposedly eradicated in the U.S decades ago. Now, health officials in San Diego county are reporting an alarming increase in cases of whooping cough in the area. What could possibly be the cause? Is there a vaccine resistant strain going around? Hardly. It’s mainly a result of parents refusing to immunize their kids due to religion or fear.

I’m not going to be the one to tell a parent how to take care of their child ( I’m really not), but can I ask that if a parent does decide to eschew vaccinations, please keep your diseased riddled ankle biters away from other children.  No matter what conspiracy you adhere to, Vaccinations cause autism or the government is placing ID chips in the shots, REAL, NON DISPUTABLE , scientific data is overwhelming. Vaccinating children saves lives. Preventing your children from catching a life threatening illness is the ultimate height of selfishness. Exposing non-vaccinated children to others is downright criminal.

So go ahead and follow Jenny McCarthy and her anti-vaccination crusade if you want to. The result will always be the same. Refuse to or delay your child’s immunization will lead to sickness and death.

Story link: http://www.fox5sandiego.com/news/kswb-baby-dies-from-whooping-cough,0,1588182.story