Friday, September 01, 2006

Mullet Headed Madman

I haven't watched tennis in a long long time, but night's US Open match was excellent. Andre Agassi def. Baghdatis in a 5 set thriller. Agassi started as a mullet headed punk kid who made McEnroe look like one of the game's old gentleman. Agassi was probably the last tennis player I had much of an opinion about, and I hated him. But in fairness he was like 12 or something when he hit the tour, so its probably not right to have expected him to act like an adult.

Having not watched tennis in at least 5 years some things really stood out. Andre hit only 3 or 4 first serves in the 2 sets I watched. Back in the day that would have cost you the match right there. Second, no one yelled at the ump. The whole point of having him way up in a chair is so that you can come over, curse him, bang your racet on the chair, and him remain safe the entire time. It's sad that young tennis players today have grown too lazy to verbally assault the chair umpire. The technology that surrounds the game to day is unbelievable. For a game that was mired in the 17th century when I was playing back in the 20th century, they've really improved.

Through all the changes a bit of the old punk still shown through in Andre. After his opponent had heaped a great deal of kind words on him, not just for the match but for his life time achievements, Andre did not mention Baghdatis once. Baghdatis played the last two sets with severe leg cramps that would have kept far lesser players from finishing the match. Andre remained silent on the subject. I guess you can take the mullet off the kid, but not out of the kid. Still I hope Andre keeps on winning.

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