Mornin'. Certain events bring even a robust, bustling city like New York to a virtual standstill, and it was like that this morning. After Buck and I finished our four-mile run, we stopped in at the dog run in Riverside Park, as is our habit (our jog is just his warm-up). The only subject of discussion among the eclectic and amusing collection of regulars at the run was the New York Giants astonishing, we'll-never-live-this-down loss to the much-hated Philadelphia Eagles.
The Giants led 24-3 at the half and by 31-10 with under nine minutes left in the game...**but somehow the Eagles caught up and won it on a long touchdown runback as time expired. It will be remembered forever, particularly in Philly and New York. Kind of like 70-68 is burned into the memory of tennis fans.
Somewhere, Pennsylvania boy Steve Tignor is laughing. But so is easy Ed McGrogan, whose own hapless Bills also won yesterday, though in less dramatic fashion.
Anyway, I'm in the process of tracking down ATP official Jim McManus, a man who was present at creation, and who has recently published an invaluable source book for tennis mavens. I'll tell you all about it after I speak with Jim. But I also wanted to give you a place to jawbone about the upcoming Roger Federer v. Rafael Nadal exhibitions that will take place tomorrow (in Switzerland) and Wednesday (in Spain). And how about ESPN stepping up to provide a live broadcast of those clashes for U.S. fans?
Of course, I'm not altogether sure that a Federer v. Nadal topic is the best hunk of red meat to toss out to the Twibe, given how keyed up and tennis-hungry y'all are. I can already visualize the string of exclamation points, the posts written entirely in upper case, the haughty "voice of God" declarations and throwaway comments that invaribly begin, "Everybody knows.. ."
I touched on the fan sensibility in the column I wrote at ESPN today (it's not posted yet), so mosey on over there later to contemplate the three questions that formed in my mind when these exhibitions were first announced. I don't think I'll be able to watch that first battle in Zurich, but I plan to see the second one on Wednesday, and will have some thoughts on it.
So it's over to you, I'll be back after I get holt of Jim.
- Pete