Breaking Tradition

Tennis balls. Check. Strawberries and cream. Check. Green and purple ties. Check. Umbrellas. Check. Roof on Centre Court. Che...wait a second. There is a roof on Centre Court in London?

Yup. You better believe it. The roof is now officially in duty. On day 7 of an unusually dry tournament at the Wimbledon Championships, the newly installed, £80 million retractable was called into action at around 5 PM.

With raindrops sprinkling Centre Court, the grounds crew pulled the tarp cover across the field while the tournament organizers contemplated on using their newest gadget After a 5 minute wait, the roof began to move to the delight of the crowd who watched in amazement as a layer of cantilevered fabric made a shield against the sky.

When the roof completely shut out the rain 7 minutes later, the fans in the stands gave the retractable a roaring applause. With that, tradition was broken and we were going to play indoor tennis at Wimbledon!

With more reverberation as a result of the roof, every stroke of the racket and every roar from the crowd was amplified. It made for a cool sound effect as Dinara Safina and Amelie Mauresmo finished their match under the roof.

That set the scene for the match of the tournament so far. The pride of Scotland, third seeded youngster Andy Murray came trotting out to meet the hometown fans. Stanislas Wawrinka, of Switzerland was his opponent.

Wawrinka powered his way through the opening set 6-2 and even though the sky outside had cleared, the lid at Centre Court remained shut. In the second and third sets, Murray rallied the crowd back into the game, winning both by a score of 6-3. By the fourth set, it was pushing 9 o’clock in London. The moon was up and shining but with artificial lighting installed onto the
roof, they just kept on battling.

The match went past 9:35, the previous record for the latest finish ever at Wimbledon. Then, after a long, battle-filled, emotionally charged fifth set, Andy Murray closed the door on Wawrinka, winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

The crowd under the roof and those gathered on the hill outside Centre Court jumped in celebration and headed for the Underground.

It was 10:39 PM, more than an hour past the unwritten Wimbledon Curfew.

With that appropriately exciting 4 hour duel between Murray and Wawrinka, history was made and tradition was broken at Wimbledon.

It only took 132 years.

-D

*The Daily Telegraph contributed to this article.

Photo credits: G. Penny: http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/photos/2009-06-29/200906291246297726560.html?glryid=2009-06-29/200906291246307977859

P. Pozzetti: http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/photos/2009-06-29/200906291246305075636.html?glryid=2009-06-29/200906291246308220265

Jays vs. Reds-June 23

My goal for this game: two baseballs.

What I actually ended up with was so much more.

Four friends and I arrived at the Rogers Centre around 5:15, 15 minutes before the gates were to open (we gotta make that earlier!). We didn't exactly get the best of seats, but I was just looking forward to batting practice nonetheless.

When we ran into the stadium, there was barely anyone in the seats. We gathered down at the right field foul line, but none of the Reds tossed a ball to anybody. So I left and joined some of my other friends up in the right field bleachers. There was about 45 minutes left and I was sure there were plenty of opportunities to snag baseballs.

There were a couple homers hit to left, but hardly any came to right. When one of the shots did come toward me, I lined myself up with it, scooted down a couple rows, kept my eye on the ball, stuck my glove up, and felt the weight of it strike the pocket. A man behind me let out a yell. I presumed it was in pleasure, so I thought I had lost the ball. When I pulled the glove back, there was the ball, perfectly clean, sitting in the pocket. I gave that one to my friend Prathik, who was attending his first baseball game.

Surprisingly, that was it for batting practice. I got nothing down at the dugout when the Reds and the ball boys trotted in. Once the game started, I tried to play the third out balls, but after five fruitless half innings, I became tired and went up to our assigned seats.

After the seventh inning stretch, my friends and I went down to the ground level concourse, and found some empty seats behind the Jays dugout. They were beautiful seats with a great view. The game was exciting too. We jumped on the board early with three homers. We led 6-0 til the 7th when the Reds scored 4. By the top of the ninth, it was 7-5 Jays and the crowd rose to its feet for the final out.

When that out was made, I quickly got into position behind the dugout. When the Jays trotted back in, they tossed a couple balls into the crowd, but none came my way. Then, unexpectedly, Lyle Overbay reappeared from the dugout and rolled his bat across the roof. I quickly got a grip on the handle and snagged it. Wow!

Though I was hoping for a ball, or the line up cards, the bat was even nicer. It had a nice splinter, as you can see, and Overbay's own autugraph inscripted into it. What was more concidental was the fact that the production date was written 3/12/2009, also know as my 16th birthday.

My goal was 2 baseballs, but I'll settle for an Overbay bat any day!

-D

Wimbledon Tomorrow!

I'm excited!

Wimbledon starts tomorrow! Though it won't be the same without Rafa Nadal. I was so looking forward to a Nadal-Federer rematch in the final, but that won't happen due to Nadal's knee injury. I think now I would like to see an Andy Murray-Roger Federer final because Murray will be in his home country.

The Wimbledon roof may look nice and shut out the rain and all but what a horrible idea! Imagine if last year's Nadal-Federer classic was played under the roof? It just wouldn't be the same if Wimbledon wasn't ever rained out again. It just isn't. Besides, they could have put that money to better use rather than destroy part of Wimbledon tradition. What do YOU think?

To baseball now. The Jays could have very well went home on a 6 game winning streak, instead they go 4-2, which is not that bad. They swept the Phillies (applause) and dropped two consecutive games in extras to the Nats before the bats broke out this afternoon, winning against Washington 9-4. It's a good sign certainly, and I hope they win again on Tuesday when I'll be at the Rogers Centre for the match up against the Reds.

Two more exams to go tomorrow and I'll be done my first half of high school!

-D

Photo credits: http://blog.nj.com/realtimesports_impact/2009/06/large_rafael-nadal-wimbledon-619.jpg

We're Talkin' Baseball!

To paraphrase Chuck Swirsky:

Jays win! Jays win! Jays win!

Again, with a good combined effort from the pitchers and the batting order, the Jays salvage the series in Philly under a steady rain. We got on board early, gave Scott Richmond 4 runs to work with, and added insurance for a 7-1 win. Aaron Hill hit another tater which was good to see. So that brings our record to 36-31, a much less impressive stand than just a month ago when we were still leading the division. Nonetheless, winning series on the road is always a good sign!

In other notable news, Scott Downs has suffered greatly from interleague play. Being an AL relief pitcher, going up to bat was probably already intimidating enough for Downs. But as he slapped at a pitch in the 10th inning last night, Downs stumbled out of the gate and hurt his foot. Now, he's been summoned to the DL. Horrible. Horrible. I had been a fan of interleague play, but now I understand what significant consequences it could have.

Ivan Rodriguez has now become the number 1 catcher in games caught. Now, he's a wonderful player in all, but like many in the game, there are some character issues and I wonder whether that's going to affect his chances in the quest for Cooperstown. As well, Omar Vizquel set the record for most hits by a Venezuelan. That's certainly great to see. I love Omar-great defensive shortstop. With nearly 3000 hits, Vizquel would definitely be on my ballot for the HOF. Now, only if he could secure it by reaching 3000.

-D

Federer Among Other Things

I know it's been a long while since I posted, but these past two weeks have been unbelievably crazy for me, both in and outside of school. I'm happy to say that I am finished with end of the year school work, and I only have exams left, which will come late next week.

I woke up early (well, 10:30's not that early) Sunday morning and caught the last set and a bit of the French Open final. I have to say, it was a breeze for Federer. I was glad to have witnesssed a great moment in sports history, when Roger finally hoisted that elusive 14th victory trophy, completing a coveted career Grand Slam.


Though the quality of the match may not have been as great as last year's Wimbledon, and it was over in less than 2 hours, Federer's win was every bit as amazing as any other. The fact that he has now won every surface and still has plenty of shots ahead of him is hard to fathom. This year's Wimbledon will be particularly exciting to watch-I'm hoping for another Federer-Nadal final. That would make this rivalry one of the greatest in sports history-sports history!

When I find the time, I shall write a long piece on Federer's win in Paris and his place in tennis history. In the meanwhile, it's nice to see the Blue Jays doing well. I might go to another game on June 23rd.

-D