Aussie....Aussie...Aussie!

Oh my God!

What an Australian Open!

Janko Tipsarevic

Janko Tipsarevic, the 49th-ranked player in the world, took the Greatest Player Who Ever Lived to the very limit in a thrilling, 4 1/2 hour, five-set match which included a 10 - 8 fifth set!

Roger Federer

Roger Federer had ample opportunties (21 break points) but Tipsarevic refused to die (Fed only converted 5 break points) and consistently took it to Fed. Finally, it was some Sampras-like serving by Fed (39 aces - 14 more than his previous best) to take him over the top (Fed's never been known for his serve the same way that Pete was, but without it he would have lost).

Marat Safin

Prior to that you had more thrilling matches. Marcos Baghdatis over my beloved Marat Safin (so sad...though I do like Baghdatis) in another epic 3 1/2 hour, five set match that featured inspired shot-making from both players. All of this on top of the controversy surrounding the nationalistic statements made by the Cypriot Baghdatis that had drawn the ire of the Turkish community in Australia.

James Blake

You also had the stirring comeback from James Blake against Sebastien Grosjean after losing the first two sets and being down two breaks ( and 1 - 4 in the tiebreak) in the fourth set. Blake would spin this fact endlessly in the post-match interviews, but this was only the second five-set match he had ever won; in fact, he had never won a five-set match until the US Open last year.

Andy Roddick

Of course, you had Andy Roddick going down to the unheralded German Philipp Kohlschreiber in another five-set epic, which not only included two tiebreaks in the third and fourth sets, a 9 - 7 fifth set, fantastic tennis, a career-best 42 aces from Rodick, but also plenty of ranting and raving from the frustrated American (including some Connors-worthy put-downs of the umpire).

Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez

There were plenty of other upsets as well. Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez, last year's finalist, lost to a 19-year-old Croat with a big serve and uncanny shot-making ability (where have we heard that before?), Marin Cilic.

Amerlie Mauresmo

Amerlie Mauresmo (my favorite on the women's side), Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anna Chakvetadze all went down; and even Venus Williams was given a tough fight by our very own Sania Mirza.

Lleyton "C'Mon!" Hewitt

And then, to bring it all to a head you had the 4 hour 45 minute slugfest between Baghdatis and Lleyton Hewitt which ended at 4:33 am local time. Hewitt looked out of it in the beginning, but hung in there. Then Baghdatis rolled his ankle, but came roaring back. Hewitt served for the match and set in the fourth at 5 - 1 and 5 -3, but Baghdatis rallied to force a tiebreak and push things into a fifth set.

And then it was finally over. At 4:33 am, with Baghdatis gracious in defeat, but in tears in the locker room.

And, oh yeah, there were incidents of crowd misbehaving throughout the first six days.

And the first week is finally over...whew!

We Can't Get Our Hopes Up...Can We?


India v Australia Test 3: Day 2 Stumps

Okay, okay, okay, I know...I can't get my hopes up, but India not only put up a fighting total in the first inning (330 with Rahul Dravid going a long way toward beginning to rehabilitate his quickly-deteriorating legacy with a fine 93), but actually restricted Australia to 212 with some inspired bowling.

As we stand now at the end of Day 2, India is currently on 52 / 1, with Virender Sehwag on 29. If India is going to have any chance at all, he needs to put up a big score and lay the foundation for a big lead and "eat up some clock" (as they are wont to say in American Football).

Give Australia enough time and it's inevitable they will chase down any score, but put some time pressure on them and perhaps, just perhaps, we might have a chance.

The NFL Playoffs, the Australian Open, the India - Australia Series...what a time to be alive!

Links

Video Highlights from The Age

CricInfo Match Home

Clash of the Titans...in Round 2!

The 2008 Australian Open is barely underway and we've got two titanic battles in Round 2!

We have former finalists in both matches and lots of back-stories to go around.

Marat Safin v Marcos Baghdatis
Thursday, 17 January 2008 | ~8:30 PM [1:30 AM PST]


Two big-hitting, crowd-pleasing, shot-making, mercurial fan favorites going toe to toe - what more could you ask for?

I really hope Safin wins, but this would be one of the few times I would not be terribly upset if his opponent Baghdatis (who pretty much seems to make his living at the Slams) were to advance.

Either way, I hope the eventual winner makes short, merciless work of that ever-annoying Lleyton Hewitt
when they meet further down the draw.

Maria Sharapova v Lindsay Davenport


Okay, so this one wasn't as close with Sharapova looking unusually error-free and crisp. She said that she had been preparing for this match like it was a final, and it showed.

I am not a big believe in moral victories, but this is one of the few times I will make an exception. You see Davenport is a new mom; and her boy Jagger, not quite four months old, was cheering her on from the sidelines.

Four months after giving birth, she's back playing Grand Slam tennis! Incredible! Looks like all those hours working out at my gym (yes, we go to the same gym!) paid off.

Imagine, this is only the beginning of the tournament. Sigh, aren't you happy that Tennis is back!

Even More From Lawrence Booth:
Quote of the Week [Don Bradman...Still the Greatest]

"On a rest day during the Indian tour in 1977-78, Don Bradman was around in the nets. I was bowling only leg-spin to him, but he had a couple of young blokes trying to get him out. With no pads, no nothing... for a 68-year-old, he belted the hell out of them on a turf wicket. And he hadn't batted for 20 years. I went back in and said, "Why isn't this ba$tard playing with us tomorrow?" That's how good I thought he was."

- Jeff Thomson fails to be hauled in front of an ICC disciplinary hearing after calling the Don a rude name in an interview with Cricinfo

More from Lawrence Booth:
Remember When Curtly and Courtney Destroyed Australia?

For Australians, it still ranks as the most painful single run that never was. Fifteen years ago on January 26 - Australia Day for those who tend not to celebrate it - Craig McDermott was caught behind off Courtney Walsh for 18 to end a last-wicket stand of 40 with Tim May.

The decision - made by Darrell Hair in those innocent days before neutral umpires: and look where they have got us - meant West Indies had won the fourth Test at Adelaide and thus squared the five-match series at 1-1. And when Curtly Ambrose destroyed Australia in the decider at Perth with that spell of seven for one in 32 balls, West Indies had hung on to the Frank Worrell Trophy by the skin of their teeth. Yet again. Forget Edgbaston 2005: this was Australia's real sickener.

Wisden records that McDermott "gloved a catch" but adds that Allan Border, Australia's captain, felt the decision was "a very close one". So what really happened on the day that in effect prolonged the handover of power from West Indies to Australia for another two years? "Courtney bowled me that short ball and it followed me a bit," McDermott tells the latest issue of Inside Edge magazine. "I still say it touched my helmet, not my glove." So far, so clear.

Then May, the non-striker, gives his version of events. "I couldn't really see from my end because Craig sort of turned his back as he swayed away from the ball," he says. "There was a noise and when we were walking off Craig said he hit it. But the next day he said he didn't and he maintained that since. So I've always been a bit confused." Which is slightly less clear than the view May had of the dismissal. An uncharitable interpretation is that McDermott did not want to provide fuel for those who thought he was frightened of the short ball. A generous one says his emotions were scrambled at the time and clarity did not emerge until 24 hours after the incident.

The Spin invites readers to draw their own conclusions.

More From the Test That Will Live in Infamy


I hope my little name will catch on like the naming of so many seminal sports moments in the US ("The Drive", "The Play", "The Catch", "The Miracle on Ice", "The Music City Miracle", "The Phantom Tag" etc.).

While I wait for history to catch up, here is some fine reading from Lawrence Booth of The Guardian regarding...

...wait for it...

The Test That Will Live in Infamy.

[Okay, technically, it should be "which will live in infamy" for it to be a play on the famous FDR speech, but "that" just flows better with "test."]

The Spin: 15 January 2008
LESS SPIRIT, MORE HUMANITY By Lawrence Booth

"Time to move on." As words go, they are certainly preferable to "monkey" and "ba$tard". But how exactly does cricket move on from Bollyline if it fails to address one of its most fundamental failings? It is one that has been levelled at just about everyone involved in the Sydney Test, but might equally apply to every stakeholder in the game today. Step forward double standards.

Let's ignore for a moment the conciliatory sounds coming from down under, where Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble are all smiles after a clear-the-air meeting which reflects well on the diplomatic skills of the ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle. Instead, let's consider all the recent blather about the Spirit of Cricket, the holy ghost of sporting concepts and one so ethereal it's no wonder the players – sentient beings who inhabit the real world - struggle to live up to it. As Mike Atherton put it in the Sunday Telegraph: "No other sport, save golf perhaps, sees itself in such pure, mythical terms."

And yet it is very much how cricket - or at least a certain section of cricket - sees itself. Now of course it isn't nice if grown men call each other names, whether or not a monkey is worse than a ba$tard in one culture and a ba$tard worse than a monkey in the other. But as long as the rest of the cricketing world - this column included –colludes to create an atmosphere in which the players are under far more pressure than they ought to be to win a game played on a green field with a bat and a ball, then the occasional Sydney will keep cropping up - regardless of platitudes about respect for cricket and its traditions.

It's a measure of the sport's ability to disappear up its own behind that objections to the Harbhajan/Symonds spat concern damage to the game's image as much as the pathetic sight of two adults behaving like gits to each other. Why not an appeal to the players' humanity rather than pious pleas on behalf of an ethos that has never really existed?

That is why the promises to behave at Perth are barely worth the clichés they were spoken in. Because if the rest of us continue to demand a game full of passion, that passion will continue to be amplified in the middle and it will, sometimes, spill over.

We - the fans and the pundits - will go on demanding complete commitment, we will go on criticising batsmen for getting out (it happens from time to time) and bowlers for sending down half-volleys.

We will call them disgraces to their respective nations and we will make sure damn sure they do not want to fail. We will publish books tittering at sledging and laugh about jokes concerning wives and biscuits. And then we will invoke the spirit of cricket when the players fail to live up to a set of ideals that are written in a book.

We will, in other words, continue to get the game we deserve. Oh, and did anyone else notice the fact that in this new-found atmosphere of mutual trust, Australia and India yesterday agreed to drop the plan to accept a fielder's word on the question of border-line catches?

The spirit of cricket, it seems, remains as elusive as ever.

Links

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport

Don't You Just Wish, Sometimes, That You Could Just, You Know...

A Good Patriots Joke!

Courtesy of my ex-Dosco pal Bharat "Apey/Brad" Talwar:

God asks Peyton Manning first: "What do you believe?"

Peyton thinks long and hard, looks God in the eye, and says, "I believe in hard work, and in staying true to family and friends. I believe in giving. I was lucky, but I always tried to do right by my fans."

God can't help but see the essential goodness of Manning, and offers him a seat to his left.

Then God turns to Tony Romo and says, "What do you believe?"

Tony says, "I believe passion, discipline, courage and honor are the fundamentals of life. I, too, have been lucky, but win or lose, I've always tried to be a true sportsman, both on and off the playing fields."

God is greatly moved by Tony's sincere eloquence, and he offers him a seat to his right.

Finally, God turns to Tom Brady: "And you, Tom, what do you believe?"

Tom replies, "I believe you're in my seat."

12 Days of Christmas...sorry Holidays...

Day 0: Wrapping the gifts for the wife. All appearances to the contrary, the cat was of no help at all...


Day 1: A cute reindeer named Jingly


Day 2: A cute snowman named Flakesy



Day 3: A Tori Amos concert...t-shirt (just the t-shirt)



Day 4: A Whole Foods gift certificate [the wife stops by there for lunch from time to time]



Day 5: A "world atlas" from The Onion [the wife loves The Onion...just not as much as I thought]


Day 6: Billie Holiday [most of which the wife had already; I guess when I don't listen to her I don't listen to her music either...]



Day 7: Two of the wife's favorite things - Dixieland Jazz and Christmas...sorry the Holidays


Day 8: The soundtrack and a first-day screening of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story [the wife's a huge John C. Reilly fan]



Days 9 - 12: These had to be done all in a row post our Christmas...sorry Holidays East Cost trip as there wasn't enough space to take all the gifts with us on the airplane [funny story, we were actually going to be charged $50 for being ever so slightly overweight so I took some stuff out, re-weighed the bag, was not charged, and then put the stuff back in while taking the bag over to the X-ray machine...I'm sorry United...please forgive me...]












And there you have it, a gift for every 12 Days of Christmas...sorry Holidays. Between this, the surprise Bruce Springsteen concert, the Jerome Bettis autobiography and the AIDS Walk LA, I should be solid for at least another couple of months!

The Little Master Stands Tall

I know I have bagged on Sachin Tendulkar many times in the past (instead, choosing to shine a light on a then criminally under-appreciated Rahul Dravid...but more on that at a later time) but I do have to give credit where credit is due.

Sachin's 154 not out has given India the slimmest of leads, and it's only a matter of time before Australia roars back to slap back the impertinent Indian team.

But, until then, we should all take a moment to bask in the glorious brilliance of Sachin, especially since this time he's coming through when we need him to!






Links

Cricinfo Match Home

Dada is Back

That's right, Sachin "Dada" Ganguly is back...

...and about the same as ever (some sparkling knocks in India were followed by a bout of cramping in Australia; Dada was never one for any kind of physical conditioning drills).

Still, for Bengalis the world over, this was something to rejoice!

India v Australia - Happier Times

Ah, before the Boxing Day Test massacre, India managed to bludgeon Pakistan into submission (though, admittedly, we only won one test).

Here are some wonderful reminders of how dominant India was playing at home...

Hermosa Beach, CA [02 Jan 2008 | 1400 PST]

Back at home (finally) and back at work (already).

Beautiful New Jersey [24 Dec 2007 | 1120 EST]

It's sunny, beautiful and warm (it might hit 50 F). And of course, the weather had to turn perfect after our car dies on us abandoning us in the middle of a freezing storm.

There is much more of a Christmas-y feeling out here on the East Coast. Somehow the lights, the decorations, the good cheer all seem much more organic here than out there in SoCal where it all seems a bit forced (especially in Orange County).

Of course, we're about to to go watch the macabre and bloody Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street today - all in keeping with the Christmas spirit.

Stuck in Jersey! - Update 3 [23 Dec 2007 | 2130 EST]

Finally, we're rescued.

Oh no, our replacement car is a Chevy Impala.

Maybe we should just sit out in the rain for a better car....

Stuck in Jersey! - The Update 2 [23 Dec 2007 | 2030]

OMG!

Things just got worse!

It's a full moon tonight.

And I think I just heard someone/thing howl...

Stuck in Jersey! - The Update [23 Dec 2007 | 2000 EST]

It's been almost two hours, and we're still stuck here.

There have been strange comings and goings from that "behavioral health care" facility (i.e. the insane asylum).

The storm has gotten worse.

And I really have to pee.

Things look grim.

Stuck in Jersey! [23 Dec 2007 | 1930 EST]

It's freezing. It's raining...hard. It's windy, really windy.

And we're stuck in the middle of nowhere in New Jersey.

Our fancy Chrysler PT Cruiser quit on the way back from Rosanne's sister's place. We waited for about 45 minutes, but no one from Budget came a-callin'.

Luckily, we got another of Rosanne's sisters to drive her mother home and we tried to make our way to the mother's place.

The car stopped thrice, and each time we would coast to the side of the road, wait for a little bit, and start it up again.

Finally, it died right at the intersection before the 295 South (whew...imagine if we had actually gotten on the 295 South).

A Good Samaritan stopped to help us push our car off the main road and now we sit here waiting for the tow truck to come all the way from Philadelphia.

To summarize: it's raining, it's freezing, it's windy, it's the Holidays so no one is around, we're a couple of kids stuck in the middle of nowhere...right in front of a behavioral health care facility...

OMG!

Isn't "behavioral health care facility" an euphemism for an insane asylum.

OMG!

Isn't this how horror movies begin...

The Mitchell Report: Krazy Krish's Final Word


Here you go, Krazy Krish and his commentary on the Mitchell Report:

Agreed, this report merely scratches the surface. I think most outsiders with any insider knowledge would attest that steroid use is considerably more widespread than the names implicated in Mitchell's probe. So where do we go from here? The sport needs to clean itself up. The media does have a responsibility to report the truth as they know it. It becomes very tricky when you try to separate players who were prescribed HGH or similar agents for "health purposes" from those who were simply "juicing." Byrd is just one example and I don't know his full story, so I can't comment on his case one way or another. But it's no secret that many of these guys were receiving HGH or whatever as a prescribed medication to treat an illness from a supposed health-care professional who possesses a license to prescribe such meds, and let's face it....the whole thing was a sham. One such instance comes to mind, Matt Williams receiving HGH for his ankle, prescribed by a dentist?!?!? I may not have all the facts straight, but you get the idea. A lot of these players are claiming that they only took the substances under the medical direction of a doctor, but let's face it......if you're an established professional athlete who makes millions of dollars based on what you do, don't tell me you're not going to know what you're taking, regardless of who prescribes it and then pretend like you don't know what it really is (anyone remember Bonds with the Cream/Clear vs. flaxseed oil and/or some type of arthritic balm)? I also have a big problem with the so-called medical professionals who are prescribing these meds in this manner.....in my mind, they are a disgrace to the medical profession and should be held accountable by their peers, state medical board, etc. Whether they lose their license, or have to serve some sort of probation, whatever. This whole steroids mess extends well beyond the athletes, to include everyone on down from the owners to the GMs to the commisioner's office to the managers, to the coaches/training staff, anybody who turned a blind eye or feigned ignorance of this, as well as to the suppliers (i.e., the chemists, the distributors), the so-called docs whose names are on the Rx for patients they have never even seen! This is a big stain on our beloved sport. Only time will tell if this is viewed with as much notoriety as the strike or the infamous Black Sox scandal, which you hit upon earlier, Pakki. It helps that baseball is our national pastime and has an avid fan base, despite its past and present problems. I think the sport will survive. But it needs to be cleaned up and could start by following the examples already set by some of its peers (i.e., track and field, cycling, etc). Granted, those sports have become embarrassments too, with positive drug tests turning up on almost a semiregular basis, but at least they were aggressive in recognizing the growing problem and acting on it. So what if we can't remember who won the Tour de France because so and so ahead of him got kicked out? Who cares, at least they rigorously tested anybody and everybody who participated. Baseball needs to act in a similar fashion. And I don't mean they should necessarily crack down on guys who tested positive in Mitchell's report. This likely won't do much, as it still won't punish those who were cheating, but just weren't stupid enough to get caught. What's done is done. And one fell swoop isn't going to clean the sport up. Selig is a buffoon. I would like to see him replaced by someone with even an ounce more intelligence and integrity to champion the cause for a cleaner league. These are just my two cents. I know some of you don't care whether or not these guys even cheated to begin with and may even think it's OK that they did, because so many others around them were doing likewise. Regardless of what you may or may not think, steroids have been banned for quite some time now and are still illegal. Baseball just wasn't checking for it.....and they still have no reliable test for HGH. So there is no quick fix to this mess. Despite the report, people will continue to cheat. Because it is more than just a game. It is a business. And when $$$ and people's careers are involved, then people will do what they think is necessary to survive, as long as they think they can avoid getting caught. The Mitchell report only touches on the degree of steroid use. We knew the problem existed. The ball is now in Selig and MLB's court. What are you gonna do, Bud? For a start, how about you read the damn report, before giving a press conference! Thanks, Pakki......I was unaware of Selig's latest feat of incompetence until you mentioned this. OK, that's it from me, folks. Have a Happy Holiday, everyone! Oh, one last thing......how about showing Pete Rose some love for the HOF? Does what he did really look so bad now......not that it ever did in my opinion.