Jon Wertheim’s annual “Baggies” awards are up, over at Mailbag (hence, Baggies) under the the aegis of SI.com.
Reading Jon is more fun even than noodling for catfish. He has a deft touch and draws less attention to himself (Look at how clever I am! Ha-ha-ha-ha, I even crack myself up sometimes!) than almost anyone else in the business. He always gets the story right,and you know he loves tennis—I mean, at tournaments, he’s always trying to drag me out to watch Paola Suarez and Virginia Ruano Pascual. That’s doubles, folks!
Jon’s is a great wrap of the year, and I especially enjoyed the “Lighter Side” comments a little further along in this agreeable trip through the year in tennis. I’m not sure the cheapskates at Sports Illustrated are sending Jon to the Australian Open this year. I hope they change their minds; SI is still the bible of sports for American readers, and it ought to be at all the majors.
And your year-end reading list should also include my colleague, Pennsyltucky’s very own Steve Tignor, whose final The Wrapcolumn is now live. Later, or tomorrow, I’ll be posting the first of my Memorable Stories of 2005 items.
Meanwhile, TW reader Kevin sent me this link, which may help you while away time during this tennis off-season just in case you aren’t too busy partying like it's 1999 with Marat Safin and his posse—a mind is a beautiful thing not to waste, right?