Showing posts tagged: tennis

theparisreview: “Sports broadcasters are guiltier these days than sportswriters of the ‘grand metaphor’ approach where tennis is concerned. Following the major tournaments this summer on television, I’ve heard again and again of the history about to be made: Raphael Nadal’s seventh French championship (history made), Djokovic’s career Slam (history not made), Murray’s becoming the first Brit to win Wimbledon since 1936 (nope). Even Federer’s thirty-first birthday was seen as historic, according to a certain fan site: ‘God is too an imaginative word, rather I would call him a ‘Prophet’ / Someday the prophet will make Tennis the most loved sport, I bet.’ The language of ‘bravery and heart’ was applied particularly to Murray, whose loss to Federer in the Wimbledon final was vindicated first with Olympic gold, and then with a victory over Djokovic in the U.S. Open final. With Andy Roddick’s retirement during the Open, we were also treated to any number slow-motion montages of the American’s days in the sun. (Even Roddick remarked during one interview how moving those montages can be.) “Magazine writing doesn’t do montage well. Instead, we’ve lately gotten storylines, and sometimes whole stories, that explore the quasimetaphysical existence of what has been variously called, among other things, ‘the kinesthetic sense’ (David Foster Wallace on Federer) and ‘physical genius’ (John Jeremiah Sullivan on the Williams sisters)—the very thing slow-motion replay is meant to reveal on television.” —Scott Korb on the art of the sports profile.

theparisreview:

“Sports broadcasters are guiltier these days than sportswriters of the ‘grand metaphor’ approach where tennis is concerned. Following the major tournaments this summer on television, I’ve heard again and again of the history about to be made: Raphael Nadal’s seventh French championship (history made), Djokovic’s career Slam (history not made), Murray’s becoming the first Brit to win Wimbledon since 1936 (nope). Even Federer’s thirty-first birthday was seen as historic, according to a certain fan site: ‘God is too an imaginative word, rather I would call him a ‘Prophet’ / Someday the prophet will make Tennis the most loved sport, I bet.’ The language of ‘bravery and heart’ was applied particularly to Murray, whose loss to Federer in the Wimbledon final was vindicated first with Olympic gold, and then with a victory over Djokovic in the U.S. Open final. With Andy Roddick’s retirement during the Open, we were also treated to any number slow-motion montages of the American’s days in the sun. (Even Roddick remarked during one interview how moving those montages can be.)

“Magazine writing doesn’t do montage well. Instead, we’ve lately gotten storylines, and sometimes whole stories, that explore the quasimetaphysical existence of what has been variously called, among other things, ‘the kinesthetic sense’ (David Foster Wallace on Federer) and ‘physical genius’ (John Jeremiah Sullivan on the Williams sisters)—the very thing slow-motion replay is meant to reveal on television.”

—Scott Korb on the art of the sports profile.

(via heysportsblog)

It All Feels The Same

Tennis - It All Feels The Same

We could be good but we don’t live the way that we should
Constantly told we’re imperfect and cannot be good
Tired of waiting around for you to intervene
Tired of wishing that you even knew what I mean

Can’t decide what my favorite song on Young and Old is.

(Source: )

Albums of note - Part 1

It can be hard to remember what albums I liked back in January when November rolls around, so periodic notations help me remember. I’ve heard some new stuff, but these are the albums I think I’ll be listening to all year.

So far, the year has started off nicely. The first few are absolute keepers…I’m just getting acquainted witht this new Heartless Bastards, so happy to have new stuff from them.

Schoolboy Q - Habits & Contradictions
Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
Heartless Bastards - Arrow
Tennis - Young & Old
Hospitality - Hospitality
Dr. Dog - Be The Void
Shearwater - Animal Joy Punch Brothers - Who’s Feeling Young Now?

Haha…So one of my old tennis players from when I coached JV tennis two years ago is in a band. I didn’t realize it until I finally paid attention to all of the random invites these band folks send out on FB.

Anyway, I went to listen to them just now. And it’s really good low-fi, surf-pop jangly awesomeness. How one makes surf pop from Denver is anyone’s guess. But they’re doing it. And just to make you feel even worse, these kids are in high school still. 

I guess when a kid is a sophomore and listens to better music to you, he should be in a band. Anyway, check it out. It’s sort of a lo-fi kiddie pop mixture of Tennis and the All Girl Summer Fun Band.

They were named “best Denver band still in high school” and they’re opening for the B-52s (THAT SHOW IS LIKE $80 for GA), opening for Tennis next month and have already opened for a bunch of bands that I can’t even remember right now. 

If we had to peg a certain sound to this four-song EP, we’d probably say something like Black Tambourine meets the Vaselines with a touch of surf, like a lot of garage-pop these days. That’s not a bad thing, because for all the chances SAUNA gives itself to sound like anything else, it would rather just sit back and play songs in earnest

Now Everyone Is a Racket Diva

This is a polite way of saying they can be total divas about their rackets.

But today, as the U.S. Open kicks into high gear, tennis experts say the tweaking is getting out of control. As sponsor deals and prize purses grow richer, more top pros have money to burn on seemingly tiny advantages. And recent leaps in racket technology allow them to tinker with an increasingly preposterous list of variables, including width, length, balance, handle dimensions, string combinations and patterns, and variations in the placement of thread holes. They even get worked up about something as simple as paint: Stringers say some pros prefer a glossy finish to a matte finish because it makes the racket look like it’s moving faster.

“If we eliminate what bothers them most about their rackets, then they just notice something else,” said Nate Ferguson of Priority One, a company that modifies and strings rackets for many top pros. “It’s gotten crazy,” added John McEnroe.

Links You Missed

With a new site comes reformatting this thing to work better. One of the ideas I’ve come up with is to post a smattering of stuff I’ve run into worth sharing. Maybe not every day, but whenever the spirit moves (which very well may be very day.) So with that, let’s see.

The Awl tackles the sometimes messy, How To Split A Check. Which is fine if you hang with the sort of people who make a big deal out of it. I’ve been lucky enough not to deal with people like that, thank goodness. Seriously, nothing is more annoying.  Speaking of The Awl, they also posted an interview with the proprieter of a vegan, gluten-free cupcake shop in New York City and Los Angeles called BabyCakes. (aka, why do I choose the lamest places to live? revisited…) Anyway, the interview might change your life. No promises though.

Celebrity Ethopian-Swedish chef Marcus Samuelsson opened a new restaurant in New York, Red Rooster, which was worth reading about. But what I enjoyed this interview he did with Venus Williams. He cooked for her and apparently they’re at his place. Very casual and fun.

It made me realize there’s probably lots of interesting content on YouTube that’s not being curated, because I can’t say I ever spend much time on the site save for music videos. Part of that is I find it noisy and home to lots of internet memes, but I suspect I should do some digging…

Last, but not least

I’m enjoying Wye Oak’s newest album called Civilian. Ellie Goulding’s Lights is really good spring music and I didn’t expect to enjoy it, but really have. It could just be me cleansing myself of months of indie pop though, not sure. Couldn’t get all the way through Lupe Fiasco’s Lasers, but it might appeal to the “I don’t like rap” set. Too poppy for me, I think. Finally, Rival Schools United By Fate album in 2001 was one of my favorites ever. I checked out Pedals, their latest last night and have to say I’m sold. I seriously love this Wye Oak though. It’s playing right now. Sooooooooo good.

Oh, I missed +/- {Plus/Minus}, they released Pulled Punches last October. It’s very good, but I had no idea it came out. Rdio has been better than Grooveshark because it makes it easier for me to find stuff, it’s a bit more social than Grooveshark is (but that’s nominal, since it’s pay-only) and if you stream a lot all day because of work and want control over that, it’s easier to lugging your library everywhere (iTunes, Zune, whatever) because if you’re like me, you only want to hear stuff that’s not on your MP3 player when it’s not on there. 

Oh, one more thing

Hulu Plus was gifted to me last month for a month and I have to say that while it’s not really worth the full freight — especially given there are commercials — it’s useful for someone who doesn’t own a television but wants to have TV stuff at their disposal.  So this is a lukewarm endorsement of it.

Speaking of endorsements though, I accidentally started watching The Chicago Code and I’ve watched every episode now. I don’t watch television shows religiously and haven’t in a really long time unless it’s PTI or Around The Horn on ESPN. Just hard to hold my attention (for lots of reasons..) but I think it’s a generally good show and it’s passed the threshold of “I’m only watching this because I could watch it from episode one.” 

It’s actually enjoyable to watch and I hope it lasts. 

1 2