Monday, September 8, 2008

Weekend Notes

There was so much going on this weekend I could hardly contain myself:

The Sox finished their series against the Rangers taking two out of three. The Yankees and Rays both lost. Boston is now 1 1/2 games behind the Rays going into the series with them starting tonight. Six of the Sox next nine games will be against Tampa Bay. They must be careful not to lose concentration when they play Toronto in between those games against the Rays.

I think the Sox will have the advantage in starting pitching in two of those three coming games. The lone exception is in game two with Dice-K vs. Scott Kazmir, although Matsuzaka has been nasty of late. Tonight it's John Lester vs. Edwin Jackson.

Week one in the NFL is in the books. All I can think of is, Tom Brady out for the season does not compute. Without Brady, the Pats may still make the playoffs. But I think the defense will show its age when they don't have a 30 point cushion to play with every game. 583 points covered up a lot of flaws for them on defense last season.

We also saw some compelling play in US Open Tennis yesterday. Andy Murray, a rising star for a couple years, is now more familiar to the general public after beating Rafael Nadal in the men's semis. We'll see how he fairs against R-Fed tonight.

I was hoping Jalena Jankovic, another rising star, would break through with her first title, but instead Serena Williams moved closer to immortality with her 9th Grand Slam. The Williams Sisters have been around so long it's hard to believe that Serena is still only 26. Her quotable father, Richard Williams, had this to say following the match. "Her desire is unbelievable. I describe her as being a combination of a pit bull dog, a young Mike Tyson and an alligator." Huh? He forgot Viking warrior and ocelot. Metaphors are not your strong suit Rich. Seriously, I get what he's trying to say. She is resilient. You can't count her or Venus out for anything. Tennis is a game of mental toughness, and Serena and Venus have bucket loads.

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