Serena was penalized justly (and later fined). But let’s not judge anyone. In the heat of the moment, we can say things we regret.
The story does have a moral: If you are an athlete, never mouth-off at officials.
Leave it to somone else to complain. Let the fans boo. Let your coach console you later.
I remember losing a high-school basketball game that we should have won. After the game, the coach was not mad at us.
I was amazed. He loved to yell at us. He usually told us we should use rubber-bands and peanut shells for jockstraps. But this time he said, “You guys got a lot of bad calls.”
Never occurred to me during the game.
Why second guess officials? If you overcome bad officiating and win anyway, you are a hero. If you lose gracefully in the face of bad officiating, you are noble. But any player who yells at a referee looks like a spoiled child.
…but, of all the sports action in greater NYC this weekend, I am actually more fired up for tennis than I am for the Redskins’ season opener.
(Click here for my predictions about opening the season against the Giants last year. I predict a similar outcome tomorrow.)
I know that American men are supposed to scoff at tennis and live and breathe football. Football is the more ‘manly’ game.
But:
First of all, I take Serena over Jason Campbell any day.
Secondly, these intriguing questions are swirling in the clouds over Queens:
Will Nadal rally and hobble his way to victory?
Will Federer Federer?
OR: Will Delpo carry the tall-man banner into the tennis stratosphere?
…There are not enough hours in the day to take in all the excitement, my friends.
From His celestial perch, high above the New York metropolitan area, the good Lord will watch all the tennis in Queens and all the football in north Jersey simultaneously.
The rest of us will have to be content with channel-flipping.
The Williams sisters love each other. They inspire each other. They each claim that they are as good as they are because of the other one.
Yet here they are at Centre Court at Wimbledon, trying to make the other one cry.
Many things do us proud. It does our nation proud to have three out of four Wimbledon finalists be Americans, two of them sisters. (Serena won it! by the way)
But on Independence Day let’s remember that we are dependent on God for everything. Our nation is dependent on God for everything. To God be all the glory!
King Lear divided his kingdom between his two daughters and decided to retire.
He retained only his faithful knights and the title of king.
His daughters Regan and Goneril conspired against him. Lear traveled between his two daughters’ castles to live a month at a time. The daughters decided not to accommodate the King’s full retinue of knights.
GONERIL Hear me, my lord;
What need you five and twenty, ten, or five,
To follow in a house where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?
REGAN What need one?
KING LEAR O, reason not the need: our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous:
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man’s life’s as cheap as beast’s: thou art a lady;
If only to go warm were gorgeous,
Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear’st,
Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true need,–
You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!
Here is James Earl Jones doing this scene. It is worth watching all ten minutes. Your spine will tingle at the end.
Human embryonic stem cells may be used in research using NIH funds, if the cells were derived from human embryos that were created for reproductive purposes, were no longer needed for this purpose…
Needed? Like you need some ball-bearings to fix your dishwasher?
When you and I were embryos, who debated about whether we were ‘needed’?
Elena Dementieva
The most inhuman slavemasters have talked about ‘needing’ their human chattel. But civilized people do not reason the need for human beings.
None of us are needed. Our Creator does not need us human beings any more than He needs a pedicure.
He wants us. He freely wills us into existence–every last one of us, no matter how small.
Click here for a thorough commentary on the Draft NIH Guidelines.
…Serena almost lost her Wimbledon semifinal. Elena Dementieva played with so much heart, I almost started rooting for her. (Please do not tell my beloved Serena.)
The Russian had a match point after two hours and fifteen minutes. She did not capitalize. Serena finally dispatched her at 2:49. Unforgettable match.
Meanwhile, Venus won in 51 minutes. So the Williams sisters will meet again in the Final.
Once again, it is a Chvotkin special on AM 570 (i.e., not televised). 7:30 p.m.
Will you call me un-patriotic if I admit that I want Federer to beat Andy Roddick (and Nadal to beat Fernando Verdasco) to set up a Federer-Nadal re-match in the Australian Open Finals?
If so, no me importa. Quel dommage.
Roger FedererIt was hot last summer in Wimbledon, and it will be hot on Sunday in Melbourne (owing to the way the seasons fluctuate in the northern and southern hemispheres).
If it’s a Nadal-Federer re-match, it will be the most interesting sporting event on Sunday, for my money. Of course, the Finals match will be at 3:30 a.m. EST. It will be long over by the time THE GAME begins, Steelers fans, so don’t panic.
Meanwhile, let’s not forget about one of the world’s most beautiful women: Serena! She is also in the hunt for the championship.
See–I am not as unpatriotic as you thought. I may be for the Swiss in the men’s, but I’m for the American in the women’s.
It is rather annoying to have to contend with the fact that ESPN radio and the sports bars of the world do not consider tennis to be a real sport. I managed with some finagling to catch a lot of the US Open championship matches anyway. (This evening I was handed the remote to manipulate myself by my scattered waitress. It did give me a feeling of power, but then I couldn’t get the dagblame thing to work. The manager had to step in. She promptly assured me that there was no tennis on CBS, only the evening news. ‘It’s not on my list.’ ‘Please try it anyway,’ I begged. She graciously indulged me.)
It was fun to see Murray knock off the pretty boy yesterday (the hearthrob Raffy). Then the lovely Serena took care of the lovely Jankovic. And today the prettier boy made quick work of his historic second fifth-in-a-row Grand Slam title. It would have been nice to see Nadal and Federer square off again, but I am happy that Roger is the champ. Tennis is such a nice escape from even thinking about the Redskins.
I was amazed. He loved to yell at us. He usually told us we should use rubber-bands and peanut shells for jockstraps. But this time he said, “You guys got a lot of bad calls.”
Father Mark White Blog 