BSR

Oh boy, I have such a crush on Max Whitlock -- British gymnast who won gold in floor exercise & pommel horse Rio 2016 for those unfamiliar with him. YouTube video of a shirtless Max Whitlock

Very true that when NBC forked over the container ship of cash for broadcasting rights, they didn't know who was & wasn't playing or how deep Americans would go. They were probably hoping that living legend (any player with double-digit Slams is a LL) Serena Williams would play. She has greatly reduced her playing schedule but loves the Olympic experience. Unfortunately, her hamstring injury from a slip on the slick Wimbledon grass killed any chance of her going to Tokyo. Superstar Coco Gauff had a great chance of winning gold and would have brought in blockbuster TV ratings, but she got knocked out by a positive Covid test.

Forget NBC, what about Japan's own TV ratings? Naomi Osaka is the favorite to win gold, especially after #1 Ash Barty got upset in the 1st Round. And Kei Nishikori looked like his old self (he was once ranked as high as #4, now #69) in his upset over #7 Andrey Rublev. I'm not confident in Kei's medal chances (he'd have to beat near-invincible Novak in the quarters), but surely all of Japan will be glued to his matches, as well as Osaka's. TV ratings for Japan's two tennis stars would be so much higher if their matches were at 7pm, when people were home from work, instead of the middle of the day.

If I recall correctly, the IOC shifted the Seoul Games to late Sept (9/17-10/2) because of the sweltering heat in July & August. If they made an exception then, why can't they make one for Tokyo? The heat & humidity aren't just uncomfortable; they're dangerous. As for the tennis schedule, American tennis fans tend to tune in only when an American is playing, or Federer. Two US women are already out, although Jen Brady has a shot at a medal (hey, if Monica Puig could win gold ... ). Two American men (Tommy Paul & Tennys Sandgren) lost in the 1st Round. No diss to Marcos Giron & Frances Tiafoe (again, if Monica Puig ... ), but their chances at a medal are awfully slim. I doubt Russian TV paid anywhere near what NBC did for broadcasting rights, but the Russian men have a great chance of medaling, even gold. Of course, all of Serbia is riveted to the TV to watch Novak, but I doubt Serbian TV paid even 0.01% what NBC did. You are correct in that the 11am start is better for the US market. I just doubt many US fans are watching Olympic tennis. Late afternoon/evening matches are better for Europeans -- not evening prime time but at least later in the day. Not just Novak, #2 Daniil Medvedev also complained about the heat & asked that the matches be scheduled in the evening. Roland Garros finalist Pavlyuchenkova complained that when she went to get ice to cool off during a changeover, it had all melted! But honestly, unless there's a serious medical incident, the ITF will keep scheduling matches in the heat of the day.

Oops, apparently there are no night matches in tennis. Novak has complained about the scheduling. At sites with high heat/humidity, they usually start the matches much later. At Los Cabos (finals are tomorrow), they start matches at 5pm. In Tokyo the matches start at 11am, and even though Novak's match was the last of the day, they still finished before 5pm. He's spoken with a number of fellow players, who agree the conditions are brutal, the worst they've ever experienced. The ITF responded that they had to schedule the matches during the day to allow time for rain delays & heat breaks (matches postponed if the heat index goes above a certain point). Even if other players start speaking out publicly, I doubt the ITF will budge. My issue isn't so much with the ITF as much as with the International Olympic Committee. Why do they award the Games to host cities with sweltering summers? Why do the schedule the Games during the hottest/most humid weeks of the year? At least when the IOC gave Seoul the 1988 Games, they had the decency to schedule them in late September. Tennis players are struggling, but the ones I really worry about are the marathoners & triathletes. If a marathoner/triathlete has trained for years and made huge sacrifices to compete in the Olympics, they will likely keep pushing themselves even in the most sweltering conditions. Even in the early morning or evening when temps are lower, the humidity is still near saturation point. No Olympic athlete wants to quit, but I'd much rather they quit than collapse, or worse.

All the player withdrawals aside, Novak Djokovic's path to a gold medal is surprisingly difficult. In the 2nd Round, he could face big serve+big forehand Jan-Lennard Struff, a chronic underachiever (imo), someone who might put it all together in any given match. In R3, Novak could face Musetti, who took the first 2 sets off him at Roland Garros. After that, he could face Rublev (currently #7) in the quarters, #5 Zverev in the semis, and #2 Medvedev in the final -- yikes! As tough as his draw is, I still think Novak's biggest challenge will be the sweltering heat & humidity because Novak struggles more than most in the heat. His ATG (all time great) status might get his matches scheduled in the evening, when he won't have to deal with the sun (although it'll still be swampy humid), but who knows?

Getting abandoned must be so traumatic for dogs. I think of the stress the big fella would have suffered had you not been there to rescue him. On behalf of dog lovers everywhere, thank you for everything you did for him. You mentioned the couple who adopted him live fairly nearby. Hopefully you'll run into him/them one day and see how he's doing. I'm sure he'll remember you.

I've lived in two gayborhoods, NYC's West Village (in the mid-1980s) and Boston's South End (1988-2000). Well, at least they used to be gayborhoods when I lived there. Now they're just neighborhoods for anyone with enough $$$ to afford the eye-popping prices. Funny enough, a straight coworker who also lived in the South End used to complain far more than I ever did about how the gayborhood was disappearing & all the straights were moving in.

Steffi Graf won the Golden Slam (all 4 majors plus the Olympic gold medal in 1 calendar year) in 1988, but no man has ever done it. The only two men to win the Grand Slam are Don Budge and Rod Laver, but tennis was not an Olympic sport between 1924 & 1988. Besides, 1938 & 1969 weren't Olympic years. Philippe Chatrier, former head of the French Tennis Federation and the International Tennis Federation, was the driving force behind tennis's reinstatement in the Olympics. He thought that by making tennis an Olympic sport, the old Soviet Union and Soviet bloc countries would develop tennis much more because they valued the Olympics so highly. He turned out to be right. The old Soviet Union wasn't much of a tennis country back in the day, but Russia currently has 4 players in the top 25, including the #2 & #7.

In tennis, the players are dropping like flies: some because they don't want to deal with all the restrictions (many players report that living in a bubble is really stressful) and the empty stadium, some because they're injured (Federer, Berrettini) and some because they tested positive for Covid & are barred from competition (DeMinaur). While the men's field (sorry, don't follow the women as closely) has many notable absences, the singles draw is still pretty strong, featuring Novak, Tsitsipas, and the Russians (Medvedev, Rublev, Khachanov, Karatsev). I think one factor for some players' decision to withdraw is that the Olympics don't matter as much in tennis. Sure, an Olympic medal would be nice, but the four Slams remain the summit of achievement in the sport. For example, Denis Shapovalov gladly put up with all the bubble restrictions at Wimbledon (all players were confined to one hotel, not allowed to leave except to go to the AELTC, the bus ride to the AELTC took 1.5 hours, no private transportation allowed, limited entourages, no contact allowed with family/friends attending) because after all, it's Wimbledon. But he said he couldn't deal with the bubble restrictions in Tokyo. Some exceptions of course : Novak desperately wants an Olympic gold medal for Serbia, Tsitsipas is very excited about representing Greece, and for the Russians the Olympics are huge, as big if not bigger than the Slams. I doubt other sports are suffering as many withdrawals because in most sports the Olympics are the summit of achievement. Whereas tennis players almost unanimously would pick a Wimbledon title over Olympic gold, sports like track & field, swimming & diving, gymnastics, etc. don't have anything like Wimbledon. The Olympics are it for them. As for my pick for the gold medal, it's between Novak and Medvedev. Novak in normal conditions would be the overwhelming favorite because he's won the last 3 Slams, trouncing Medvedev in the Australian Open final. But Tokyo will be sweltering (temps in the 90s with very high humidity), and Novak struggles more than most in the heat. Mind you, I'm not sure how well Medvedev deals with extreme heat & humidity, just know that Novak will not be at his best.

Yikes, civet poop coffee sells for $100-500 a pound ($500 for beans from wild civets, less if it comes from civet farms). I wonder how any buyer knows for sure that real, honest-to-God civets pooped out the coffee beans they're buying. I can just picture some scamster selling regular non-pooped coffee beans for $500/pound and laughing his ass off that some sucker with more money than sense is actually shelling out such a scandalous sum.

What a beautiful dog. He deserves so much better than getting kicked to the curb by his former owner. I pray that you can find a no-kill shelter for him and that he eventually gets adopted by a great family. And yes, I also hope that karma comes back to bite his sh*tty former owner in the ass.

Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam titles is a bit skewed because, as you point out, she won 11 Australian Opens back when few non-Aussies played the tournament. Also, most years that Court won the AO, the singles draw was just 32 players (Slams all now have 128-player draws). One detail that boosts Court's CV is that she gave birth to three children during her playing career. Compare that to Serena's struggles to win a Slam after having one. Court retired when she became pregnant with her fourth child.

Yes, non-Aussie players used to skip the Australian Open more often than they played it. Bjorn Borg played it only once, skipped it 10 times. Chris Evert played it 6 times but skipped 13. Martina Navratilova complains that had she known that she would be judged on how many Slams she won, she would have made the schlep (played 10, skipped 12). Borg, king of clay before Rafa, even skipped Roland Garros once. Queen of clay Evert skipped RG 6 times! I'm not sure exactly when or why the Slams became the be all & end all of professional tennis. My guess is it started in the early 1990s when Pete Sampras became quite vocal about his goal of breaking Roy Emerson's record of 12 Slams. The 4 Slams also started to increase prize money by eye-popping amounts, always a motivator. Adjusted for inflation, Chris Evert won about $150K for winning the 1978 US Open. In 2019 (prize money took a hit due to Covid), Bianca Andreescu's winner's check was $3.85 million!

As a die-hard Novak fan, I am tickled pink by his victory. Wow, 6 Wimbledon titles and 20 Slams, tying rivals Roger & Rafa. This looked pretty unlikely 10 years ago. Before the 2011 Australian Open, Roger had 16 Slams, Rafa 9, and Novak just 1. After the 2018 Australian, Roger had 20, Rafa 16, and Novak just 12. The Serb caught up in a hurry. Everyone was talking about Berrettini's serve and understandably so. His average 1st serve speed was 126mph, and even his 2nd serve averaged an eye-popping 108. Novak fell far short on pace (1st serve 111mph average, 2nd serve 88) yet was arguably more effective. 1st serve percentage was pretty close -- 61% for Novak, 59% for Berrettini. Despite a much slower 1st serve, Novak won 79% of 1st serve points vs. 76% for Berrettini. The gap in 2nd serve points won is even greater: 53% for Novak, just 38% for Berrettini. The quality of play from both players was pretty scratchy in the 1st set. Both improved in Set 2, although it still wasn't great tennis. Novak got much better in Sets 3 & 4. Matteo was pretty decent, but you got the sense that he never had a chance once Novak found his groove. The Big 3 all go to the US Open seeking to break the tie & grab Slam #21. Hopefully Roger will be 100% physically and will be able to play plenty of matches in the lead-up to get match-sharp. I'm pretty sure Rafa will be fully rested (he cited exhaustion for his decision to skip Wimbledon) and hopefully healthy (he didn't mention it, but he injured his foot in the RG semi). I know Novak will be raring to go. All three will not only be trying to beat each other but also will be fending off the NextGen (players 25 & under). Even though Novak won the first 3 Slams of 2021 and is on paper the strong favorite in New York, the pressure of the calendar year Grand Slam will weigh on him like an anvil. Oh, this should be damn good.

Yeah, once you get past the Chippendales gimmick, you can see that they're not very good dancers.

Yes, Macallan 18 is wonderful, but the one time I was lucky enough to have Macalllan 25, it was a religious experience. The 18 is expensive ($375 on astorwines.com) but the 25 will make you do a Tom & Jerry jaw-drop (out of stock on astorwines.com, but around $2000 when available). For a "bargain" single malt, I like Glenlivet 18 ($140).

On the subject of betting, the odds for some of Novak's matches were a bit nutty. For example, against Kevin Anderson in R2, Novak was at -7000. That means in order to win $100, you would have to bet $7000! What I hear around Las Vegas is the cardinal rule of sports betting is never risk a lot to win a little, yet apparently Europeans do it all the time. Against Berrettini in the final, Novak was just -450 (to win $100 you have to bet $450), which actually aren't bad odds because I was so sure that Novak would win. Still, I'm glad I didn't make the bet because I would have had a heart attack after the first set. I didn't pick Berrettini as early as you did, but once Zverev & Medvedev lost, I expected Matteo to make the final. Roger didn't have nearly enough matches under his belt to make the final (a bagel against Hurkacz, first time Roger's ever been bageled at Wimbledon!).

Shapovalov played far better than Novak for 90% of the match, but unfortunately played like **** in the most important points. Although Denis's physical game is top-notch, his mentality is Challenger-level. Novak wasn't playing great, but he didn't have to because Shapo totally gave away the match.

A very interesting foursome of semifinalists: Novak is playing his umpteenth Grand Slam semi (too lazy to look it up - 41st?), Berrettini in his 2nd, and Hurkacz & Shapovalov in their 1st ever. I haven't watched the DVRs of the matches yet, but I'm a bit stunned by the bagel in the 3rd set between Hurkacz & Roger.

I recently put two forum members on ignore, first time in my decade+ here. For one of them, I put him on ignore because I stopped reading his posts years ago. Since he often responded to my posts & mentioned me using the @, I noted in my signature that he was on my ignore list as a courtesy to him, so that he doesn't waste time writing posts directed at me that I'll never read. For the other board member, I just felt like he was far more interested in trolling than any honest discussion or debate. I got fed up with the trolling, and gotta say, I've been enjoying my visits to this board so much more ever since I set him to ignore.

On men's tennis forum, the Roger & Rafa fans are going berserk over Novak's easy draw. Even as a die-hard Novak fan, gotta admit, this draw almost looks like Novak hand-picked his opponents. Since the 4 most dangerous players for Novak (Berretini, Zverev, Federer, Medvedev) all landed in the other half of the draw, Novak will have to face only one of them in the final to win the title. In the more mathematically likely scenario where 2 of those 4 ended up in Novak's half, he would have had to beat 3 of the 4 to win the title. I'm afraid that Novak's draw might actually be too easy because a player needs some challenges before the final to get match-sharp. Shapovalov looks like he's improved a lot under coach Youzhny's guidance, but I don't know if he's mentally strong enough to handle the pressure of the projected semifinal against Novak. None of the other players in Novak's half (Garín, Fucsovics, Rublev, Khachanov, Korda, Bautista-Agut) pose much of a threat. I think something kinda crazy has to happen for anyone other than Novak to win the title next Sunday. Who makes the final from the other half? The romantic pick is Federer, of course. As much as Fed has improved over his first 3 matches, he's not the player he was 2 years ago, when he outplayed Novak for 5 sets yet still somehow lost. I don't think the 2 supertall Russians Medvedev & Zverev (yes, I know Zverev was born & raised in Germany, but his family is Russian & he grew up speaking Russian at home) have quite mastered grass enough to challenge Novak. Novak's biggest threat, imho, is Berrettini because his serve is such a monster weapon, but serve alone won't be enough to beat Novak.

60+ deaths, how tragic. I wonder why more weren't able to get to a cooling center. Maybe some didn't know about them or know where they were (many seniors don't use the Internet). Perhaps some didn't have transportation to get back & forth (many seniors no longer drive). Whatever the reason, it's so sad. If transportation were the issue, I'm sure plenty of volunteers would gladly offer to drive people to cooling centers.

I first saw Almodovar's "Law of Desire" in its initial release back in 1987, and I watched it again just now after a 34-year gap. Whereas I loved it 34 years ago, so much that I saw it several times at the artsy NYC cinema where it was playing, I didn't particularly enjoy it today. Back in 1987, the film was groundbreaking. A film with a gay protagonist was pretty much unheard of, especially one who lived so openly & unapologetically. Portrayals of gay sex and male nudity were pretty racy stuff anywhere, especially in Spain just 11 years after Franco's death. Almodovar's nutty, unconventional style and dark sense of humor were so different from any movie I had ever seen. 34 years later, plenty of gay-themed movies are made, and a gay protagonist isn't groundbreaking stuff any more. I've lost my taste for Almodovar's style because, as a friend correctly pointed out, once you've seen one Almodovar flick, you've seen them all. They're all kind of the same. At least "Matador" and "Women on the Verge" were a lot funnier. Who else has seen "Law of Desire"? What do you think of it?

I don't know how I'd react in the heat of the moment. It looks like the poor cyclist might have been too injured to go after the spectator. But once I've been treated and have a clear head, I would follow up with race officials and law enforcement to make sure that spectator is charged with assault. Since she caused a chain reaction, she should be charged with multiple assaults. If you multiply the prison time for assault by the dozens of cyclists involved, that spectator is looking at a veeeeeeeeeery long sentence. Hopefully law enforcement catches her & throws the book at her.