* !RG
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by Jackie Roe, TW Social Director
Hey there, TWibe. Pumped for Roland Garros? (Silly question.) Don’t forget to play the Suicide Pool, which is as much a TW Slam tradition as whining about cupcake draws. Here’s Mariya with all the info:
The French Open '11 Suicide Pool is on at TalkAboutTennis.com. If you've played it before, you know what to do. Click here to play. You should find the thread for the first day (after the OOP is announced) at that link. REMEMBER, the first day for the French Open is this SUNDAY, May 22nd.
If you don't know how to play the Suicide Pool, read on or click here:
The basic idea of the Suicide Pool is to pick, for each day of the tournament (in this case the French Open), one player from the OOP who you think is going to win his/her match. If he/she wins his/her match you get to pick a fresh player from the next day's OOP. The end goal, of course, is to progress to the final and pick the eventual winner. There is a catch, in that you can only pick a player once for the entire tournament (so, for instance, you might want to save Nadal for a later round).
There are separate games for the ATP and WTA singles draws and you can play one or both of them.
Additional rules:
You have to be a registered member of TAT, which you can easily become by registering here for free.
We will be keeping track of the fortunes of the TWibe. If you want your name to be tracked, please indicate this with the text "TW" in your first day's (and ONLY your first day's) pick. Only include your TW name if it’s different from your username on TAT. Check out the example below:
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Thomas Bellucci
ptenisnet
TW
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There will be a fresh thread open every day of the tournament, for both the ATP and WTA. You'll also see a thread which tracks updated results once the tournament begins.
The deadline is start of play, SUNDAY, May 22nd. And, unlike other slams, there will be 3 first round picks because the First Round is spread over the first three days of the tournament.
I will be tracking the list for TW and Jon Wertheim will provide prizes to the overall winners.
Thanks to Mariya for the reminder, and good luck to everyone who plays! (If I recall correctly, at least one of the pools has been won by a TWiber at the last three Slams, so let’s pull a Nole and keep that streak alive, yeah?)
This week I have another All About Me profile, so let’s get on with it. (Programming note: We’ll take a break from the AAM fun during Roland Garros—gotta stay in Slam mode—then we’ll resume in June. Remember that if you’re interested in taking the quiz yourself, e-mail me here.)
Introducting the “real” !
Age: !!!!!
Zodiac sign: Capricorn
Hair color: That would give me away
Occupation: Editor
Siblings: 2 older brothers, 1 older sister. I am the baby (“a pleasant surprise,” my mother said)
Last album you listened to: Mumford and Sons, plus a Nick Cave song
Last film you saw: Restrepo
Do you have a significant other?: I am married
Crushes: Oh yes.
Favorite musician: U2’s Edge
Favorite actress: Helen Mirren
Favorite actor: Matt Damon
Favorite film: The Bourne series
Favorite TV show: Seinfeld
Favorite color: Anything but royal blue and mauve
Favorite food: Sushi
Favorite sport: Tennis
Most memorable experience: Visiting Egypt
Favorite vacation spot: London
Pets: 1 pooch
Favorite number: 7
Worst fear: Losing a child
Best feeling in the world: Laughter
Worst feeling in the world: Your child in trouble/danger
Love at first sight: Yes, I believe it happens
Death: It happens to all of us. Hope mine is quick.
Do you believe in heaven and hell?: No, I do not.
Who is the closest person to you?: My mom
Bad habits: Smoking
Talents: Entertaining friends, playing balderdash
Most prized possession: Family photographs
Most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done: I jumped off a diving board when I was 4 to impress some older kids and sank like a stone. My brother had to fish me off the bottom of the pool.
Hard liquor or beer?: Not anymore!
Love or lust?: Both
What are you thinking at this very moment?: I’m depressed I don’t have anything to list under “talents”
Have you ever cried in public?: Many times
Something you want to do before you die: Travel to distant lands
Favorite person to talk to: My sister, husband, best friend, kids. I love to talk to people and find out
as much as possible about them. Everyone’s interesting to me!
What do you hate: Bullying
What makes you angry: Corporate thieves
Who would you want to meet?: David McCullough
Who do you miss?: Quite a few TW posters who aren’t around
The last person to make you smile: My son or possibly a post on TW
What is the meaning of life?: To make the world a better place for our children
If you could change one thing that happened in your life, what would it be?: My parents’ divorce
First time posting on TW: I asked a lot of questions about Fed’s sexuality and my theory about Rafa’s pants tugging. Everyone was very tolerant of the newbie.
Favorite TW moment: The time we took Beatles song titles and made them tennis related. And the recent discussion on left-handedness was TW at its best. [JR: I missed the left-handed thread! Anyone have a link? As for those Beatles song titles, my favorites were “Ballad of John and Djoko,” “Mean Mr. Muzzah,” and “When I’m 6-4.”]
OK, TWibe, so who is this? Let the guessing game begin!
Have a good weekend, and enjoy the start of RG!