We interrupt this program to bring you a special message from the U.S. Open:
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Thanks are most definitely due to the dayjob for hooking me up with some pretty bitchin perks every so often.
Live from Flushing Meadow, good night.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Yesterday Cory and I met Rashmi, Mark and Michele out at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow for the practice day before the tournament started today. It was a beautiful day, though a hot one, and we had a a great time running around the grounds, watching some top players and doing some stargazing.
One of the highlights for me was seeing one of my personal tennis heroes out of retirement and in action (at least for the moment.)
Yup, that's Johnny Mac himself, whacking a serve. He was playing an informal game with some guy nobody seemed able to recognize. I'm thinking maybe a contest winner, silent auction for charity, something like that. The guy was pretty good too, but what a treat to see one of the guys who got me really into tennis in the first place.
We moved over to the Louis Armstrong stadium and saw Dinara Safina hitting with Carla Suarez Navarro.
It was just practice, of course, but that's the number one women's tennis player in the world and we were there on a beautiful day watching her for free. Pretty rad.
I like this shot a lot. [As usual, clicking on these shots lets you see a bigger, more detailed image. I recommend it.]
And over on the practice courts there was some guy who really grabbed Rashmi and Michele's attention:
Ok, ok, he's not just 'some guy.' That's Marat Safin, Dinara's older bro, and a former U.S. Open Champion and World Number One himself, walking onto the court with his hitting partner. I guess for some reason certain people find him sort of watchable, because there were some fans tucked into a little corner where there was a gap in the hedge bordering the practice courts, and a whole group of fans crowded up to the top of the bleachers for court 4 that let you peek over that hedge.
I eventually got tired of slipping on all the drool that was collecting on those bleachers and wandered around the compound on my own a little.
Fun way to spend a Sunday. Thanks to Rashmi for the invitation!
That's what i said a couple times in the last couple days, over sporting events.
First, when maria sharapova was beaten yesterday in the u.s. open by agnieszka radwanska (say it five times fast). 
18 years old, seeded 30th, radwanska took apart number 2 seed, tennis 'it' girl and camera spokesperson sharapova. Way cool.
But then the even better exclamation came this morning when i was checking the baseball scores and found that clay buchholz threw a no-hitter for the red sox!
Who??
Well may you ask - this was only buchholz's 2nd major league game; he'd had a little trouble with the law while in college, got drafted by the sox as a compensation pick when they lost pedro martinez, had an up-and-down stint in the minors, then comes in and becomes the third person since 1900 to throw a no-hitter in one of his first two games. And could it have come at a better time? We were all stinging from the sweeps of this past week: the mets were swept by the phillies (ugh) and the red sox were swept by the dreaded evil yankees (ok, ok, they're not REAL evil - not karl rove evil - but still, seeing all those NY caps all over town is a little like being surrounded by swastikas). Then the sox lost a nail-biter against the orioles on friday, and the yanks won again yesterday... so it was a HUGE lift for this rarity to happen, boosted by some amazing defense by second baseman justin pedroia and center fielder coco crisp, and ten - count 'em: 10 - runs on offense. Great way to start september.
Holy shit!
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