Technology is great

I am at work, watching Andy Murray v Roger Federer live on the interweb. Things could be worse. Speaking of which...

You know who are a bunch of dickbags? The New England Patriots. They had neither win covered the spread or lost outright. Where's the decency?! I blame Belichick. He's a cheater.

Arizona Wildcats football: 2-0. May have to get out to the UCLA game in a couple weeks.

From the "Oh, by the way" file...

Oh, by the way, sitting five rows off the third base line for a Dodger game on a beautiful Sunday afternoon with all the free food you can eat definitely does not suck. The Arizona Diamondbacks, now they suck.

Finally, Nadal!

Spain celebrating two weeks in a row... Just feels strange.

Greatest tennis match ever? Has to be. Certainly the best tie-break I've ever seen. And despite what the official ATP rankings say, there can be no doubt that, right now, Rafa Nadal is the best player in the world. But what an unreal match. Who says tennis is dying? I'll tell you who: all the numbnuts out there who think that if an American male isn't in the mix (Roddick seems to have officially lost it, Blake never even came close to having it), then the sport isn't worth watching. That's a pretty sad way of looking at it. If that numbnuts happens to be you, you're missing some excellent sport.

Bouncing into the weekend

Because it is Friday and things are a little slow at the moment, some quick bullets on the hot (and not so hot) issues this week. Everything aside from Kobe, that is, because he still isn't going anywhere before next summer.

Pacman Jones
Let's just drop the whole issue, shall we, and just fire him already. People don't seem to be aware that this suspension imposed by the league doesn't just apply to the coming season, it spans forever. So let's just accept that this guy isn't going to play golf or watch daytime TV in his spare time and cut our losses. Whaddya say, Roger?

Sammy Steroids
It wasn't long ago that 600 homeruns meant you were a baseball immortal. But as Jayson Stark said in an interview, last night, this is the price we're paying for the steroids era. The numbers -- particularly the power numbers -- have been devalued to such an extreme that when a scumbag like Sosa finally does hit 600, it barely illicits a response. By tacitlly allowing rampant steroid and growth hormone abuse, Major League Baseball has sacrificed the very lore that makes people sentimental over the sport in the first place. Without the numbers -- 755, 61, 191 -- what does baseball have left? I'll be very curious to see how people react to Ken Griffey Jr. hitting 600, which will probably happen by season's end. Griffey deserves all the accolades coming his way. It's pretty fair to say that Sosa does not. And while we're condemning one of baseball all-time shadiest characters, a message to all the baseball writers and media personalities absolving Sosa of the past while still condeming Mark McGwire: PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS. If Big Mac only received a HOF vote in the low 20s, then damn it, Sosa should, too. All or nothing. If anything, Sosa was an even bigger cheater (corked bat), more deceitful (left the country, forgot how to speak English in front of Congress), and was never at any time considered one of the best to play right field (not that the Hall of Fame values "excellence" anymore. You just have to be "good and well-liked"). The Baseball Hall of Fame: Becoming more irrelevant by the second.

Kevin Garnett
If one superstar is getting traded, this summer, it's him. And it will be to the Suns. No one else has a chance. Is Chicago going to mortgage Hinrich/Deng/Gordon? Not likely. Phoenix isn't budging when it comes to keeping Amare off the table, either. Just the thought of a Nash/Amare/KG trio should be enough to make everyone else concede their games against the Suns and just play for second place.

Thierry Henry
Unfortunately for Gunners supporters, there will be no miracle. Henry is off to the Catalan. Surprising? No, not at all. Re-read the part where I said there will be no miracle. What does it mean for Arsenal? Well, they were without Henry for a large chunk of the season and still managed fourth place in the table. I'd say that no longer having the distraction of whether or not he'll play could be advantageous. While I maintain that there's no better striker in the world than a healthy Thierry Henry (that includes Drogba), Arsenal should recover rather quickly. Adebayor needs to work on his consistency, though.

Wimbledon
I'm a sucker for Grand Slam Tennis and it doesn't get much better than this one. Federer's gunning for Borg's record of five consecutive Wimby titles. He's going to get it, too. Can't imagine he's too happy about just missing out on the French... again. Watch out.

Gold Cup
Not many people even know it's going on and, really, they don't need to. It's been some miserable, miserable soccer. But -- and there is a big but -- the US and Mexico have managed to sleepwalk their way to the final. USA v Mexico? Count me in. Prediction? Please, how could I possibly offer anything other than 2-0 to the Americans? Copa America is right around the corner... By the by, terrible luck for Canada in the semi against the US. That equalizing goal in the dying seconds definitely was not offside. I'm rather amazed that Paul Stalteri didn't murder the ref on site.

NBA Draft
Less than a week away. Strong crop of talent, too. At least at first glance. However, is it just me, or has there been so much attention focused on why Oden will go ahead of Durant that people haven't bothered to ponder what will happen between picks 3-58?

Tri-Nations
Springboks host the All Blacks tomorrow in Durban, 5 a.m. PST. COMME BOKKE!

Tennis Hooligans

I think nationalism is one of the things, if not the thing, that makes international competition so great. It's an appreciation and respect and love for your roots and your background and a badge to be worn proudly. In the tennis world, it is definitely prevelant, particularly down under in Melbourne. But tennis hooligans? I suppose the ingredients for this unprecedented flare up were there (Serb vs Croat, passionate fan base for each, Australia home to many Slavic immigrants), but tennis and it's fans have generally always been associated with well-mannered nobility (on-court antics of McEnroe, insane tirade by Jeff Tarango, and murderous tendancies by Gunther Partch or however you spell that insane German's name, aside). I'd call this a black eye for tennis, but it really seems as though tennis had nothing to do with it. Hopefully, this brawl can be categorized as nothing more than a stray bizarre incident. I don't expect repeat occurrences as there are in soccer because, by nature, a fan cannot join a following for one particular tennis player in a way that allows for sectarian groups of fans, mobilized for ulterior causes, the way a soccer team (or basketball or football, whatever) can. My point is that it's easier to slip into the collective and maintain anonymity (something essential to hooliganism) when hiding behind a team badge than it is to put yourself out there as the guys who run riot in the name of Ilia Bozoljac or Marin Cilic. At any rate, strange and unfortunate happenings down in Melbourne. Still looking forward to all the great tennis to come.