A Tradition Unlike Any Other...

No, not the Masters. A better sporting event with better grass than is found at Augusta National started today, and I am really excited about it. I am talking, of course, about the Tennis championships at Wimbledon. I wrote about the French Open recently, but Wimbledon is on an entirely different level. It just has a mystique about it with the all-white clothing that is required by the All-England club and the beautiful grass courts where the matches are played. I also would submit that grass is the best tennis surface because it produces the most exciting matches. Players are moving around the court both horizontally and vertically more than on any other surface, especially clay.

That being said, there is unfortunately not quite as much excitement as there could be in the men's draw with defending champion Rafael Nadal having dropped out of the tournament two days ago. Now the men's side feels like you can pretty much hand the trophy over to World number two Roger Federer, who lost to Nadal last year in one of the greatest tennis matches ever. Federer won five straight Wimbledon titles before last year, and he is ready to be back on top. Without Nadal there to challenge him, it seems like it should be an easy win for the Swiss tennis star. The tournament is still worth watching though, because grass is American Andy Roddick's best surface, and he usually makes a pretty deep run into Wimbledon, which is something pretty rare for American men's tennis lately.

There is also lots of excitement on the women's side, with defending champion Venus Williams coming back to try and best her sister Serena again. Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dinara Safina, and Elena Dementieva all figure to be players for the championship again in a field of players that seems to be very even. That is the one good thing about women's tennis right now: you never know who is going to make it to the finals in a major on the women's side. That has not been the case on the men's side recently, and it certainly introduces a great deal of intrigue for the women's tournament.

Check out Wimbledon on ESPN2 starting at 7 am on weekdays. Watch when you can, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Don't Get Drunk and Drive

is the only thing I have to say to Cleveland Browns wide receiver Dante Stallworth. Don't be an idiot. That being said, give the NFL credit for doing what the law never seems to do: give these athletes what they deserve. Stallworth was given 30 days in jail for DUI manslaughter charges. HE KILLED SOMEONE. I don't care if it was on accident, 30 days in jail is not going to be that hard on him. The NFL, on the other hand, did basically all that they could, by issuing Stallworth an indefinite suspension.

Roger Goodell continues to be pretty impressive in the way he is handling these thug players in such a no-nonsense way. He made it clear that he was not going to tolerate any trouble from the players, and he has stuck to that so far. You can't help but have some respect for that. I think that Goodell has done a great job as commissioner, and that is something that can't be said for every sport. The job he has done is especially impressive because as NFL commissioner he has to deal with so many players. There is no other league that seems to have as many idiots as the NFL, and Goodell handles them pretty well. The only results to look for now, are NFL players stopping being idiots. That seems like it still may be a far way off.

The Long Haul

Well, I think all of us were hoping to avoid it, but it comes every year, and there is really no way to get away from it. As my older brother pointed out, we have officially entered the worst time of the year for sports. The NHL and NBA playoffs have ended, and we are in the middle of the unending baseball season. Don't get me wrong, I love baseball, but it is the only sport going on anymore, and that makes it very tough. Not much baseball is on TV over the course of a week, and it's hard to get excited about regular season games day in and day out. So, I'm going to put together a little list of activities for people to keep themselves from getting bored until baseball nears the end of its season and football starts back up.

1. Watch a movie. It's summertime! Some of the biggest blockbusters of the year are coming out this time of the year. If you haven't seen them yet, get out there and check out "Star Trek" or "The Hangover." Both of them were great. The new Transformers movie will be coming out soon, and several others. If you have already seen all the movies in theaters, get a Netflix account and start watching all those movies you have wanted to see but never got around to going to the theaters. I've got the movie "Hot Rod" coming pretty soon to my house. It's easy as can be, and a great deal.

2. Watch other stuff on TV. Sports are not the only good thing on TV. Check out "Burn Notice" on USA Channel. It just started up its third season, and I think it just might be the best show on TV. There is some kind of TV show or movie playing every night for all people of all ages. There is always something good on TV.

3. READ. I know, it sounds crazy, but do it. There is so much out there to read. Fiction books, Factual books, Magazines, Blogs. Go to a library or a bookstore. Order a subscription of a magazine. Read online columns. I'd recommend Bill Simmons. If you're desperate to keep up with your sports teams, read the blogs of the columnists that cover them during the year. They'll keep you updated on what is going on with the team. How guys are doing, what their injuries are looking like nowadays, etc. You can keep up with your team if you want to, you just have to be willing to complete the archaic task of reading. But hey, I assume you are reading right now, so what's the big deal? You're a pro!

4. Get outside for Pete's sake. Have you emerged from your sports cave in the past few months? If not, get out there, it's beautiful. You can go outside and bring football back early by playing a backyard game, or just do something as simple as catch. Go to a pool and get some swimming in. Whatever you choose to do, just go out because September will be here soon enough and you will be kicking yourself for not taking advantage of the sun and warmth.

Hope this list was helpful. There are many more things to do during this time I am sure. Go ahead and leave a comment. Help out your fellow readers that don't like TV, movies, reading, or the beautiful outdoors.

Congrats to the Lakers

Well, much to my chagrin, the Los Angeles Lakers are NBA Champions for the fifteenth time. I can't say I'm surprised, since I thought they were the team to beat after losing to the Celtics last year in the finals, but I'm still disappointed. I don't particularly like them. I do not like Kobe, Gasol, Ariza, Vujacic, or most of the Lakers. If not for a big-time appearance on Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, I would dislike Lamar Odom as well, making me a hater of pretty much every important player on the team. That being said, you have still got to give them credit.

The Lakers followed what I think has become the formula for winning the NBA title: play well in the regular season, but not necessarily as well are you are capable of playing every night (Cavs). Get a 1 or 2 seed for the playoffs, and then win when you need to. Don't tax yourselves, even if it means the sportswriters think you're soft and your fans are angry. Then, when you can see the finish line, pounce and take it. The Celtics did it last year, the Lakers did it this year. Both teams played more games than they should have in the playoffs. A year ago, the Celtics were taken to seven games by the two worst teams they played in the playoffs, the Hawks and Cavs. Then they beat the Pistons in six games and embarassed the Lakers in the finals. Much the same formula for the Lakers this year. While they handled the Jazz in five games, they allowed a depleted Rockets squad to take them to seven games and probably should have beaten the Nuggets in six games. When they knew the championship was in sight though, they dominated the Magic.

Sure, the Magic didn't play as well in the finals as they had the rest of the playoffs. Maybe they even choked in a couple games. But all that does is bring to light what the Lakers were able to do this year that the Celtics also did last year: they never choked. The Cavs blew big leads to the Magic, the Magic missed free throws. Last year, the Lakers blew a huge lead to the Celtics. The story for our last two championship teams? They almost never made mistakes, and that is the real way to win a title.

Hilarious

You know whats funny? I was just looking at ESPN.com and they are officially writing stories about wide receiver Chad Ochocinco. You might know him better as Chad Johnson, the Bengals wide receiver who's list of fines by the NFL is just about as long as the Ohio River. Anyway, it tickles me a great deal that his name change is finally sticking--his last name really is Ochocinco now.

You may not be a big fan of Chad Ochocinco, but I have no issues with him. He is having a blast out there, and that is about it. Sure, he is upset at times that his team is not winning with all the talent they seem to possess on offense, but that's a rare occurrence. Don't lump Ochocinco in with guys like Terrell Owens. Owens has managed to ruin the careers of two different quarterbacks (Jeff Garcia and Donovan McNabb with Tony Romo loooming as a strong possibility) and effectively destroyed his last three teams, all of them very talented. Ochocinco (it is really weird to type his name as that by the way, I feel like I'm talking about a different person altogether) has pitted himself in a race against a horse, celebrated touchdowns, praised his quarterback Carson Palmer, and changed his last name. Sure he wanted to be traded, but can you blame him? I would want to be traded two if I was playing for the Bengals. Compared to half his teammates, Ochocinco is a saint. He hasn't had trouble with the law, so he's a class act in the Bungals organization.

Don't act like Owens and Ochocinco are even comparable. If Ochocinco made an appearance in the Super Bowl, he would not be the main reason they imploded the next year, like Owens was in Philadelphia. He has some making up to do with his teammates this offseason, but he has reported early for OTAs, a good start. As always, I will be watching and enjoying the energy and goofiness Ochocinco brings to the game, and I hope you will as well.

Why?

Almost three quarters into game 1 of the NBA Finals there's just one question on my mind:  Why is Jameer Nelson playing in this game, or this series at all?  He's been out since before the All-Star break!  He hasn't played a minute in months.  What part of that would indicate that he would be ready at all to play in the NBA FINALS?!?!  I realize that he is a great player, but to play him now is absurd.

Orlando is the underdog in these finals.  But they have beaten the Lakers before.  They don't need to do anything crazy in order to do it again.  Just play the way they have been playing, and everything else will fall into place.  Dwight Howard should be dominant in the middle, and just like the Cavs, the Lakers should not be able to defend both Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis.  No need to play a guy who is obviously not going to be at his best.  No wonder they are doing by 27 points right now.

Just writing out a little bit of frustration right now.

Congress should stay out of sports

Congress is meddling in sports once again.  I was scratching my head wondering why they got involved in the steroids controversy in baseball, but this one seems even odder to me.  Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen has written a letter to NBA Commissioner David Stern requesting that he and the NBA eliminate the age limit that was recently put in place for young players.

For those of you who are unaware, the age limit says that a player must be at least 19 years old and one year removed from high school.  It first affected players like Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, and most likely kept Derrick Rose and OJ Mayo from entering the NBA draft straight from high school.  Cohen's letter cites the fact that Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard are playing for the Championship this season, and both of them did just fine coming out of high school.  Cohen also made references to the scandals surrounding both Mayo and Rose at USC and Memphis that have surfaced recently.  With this, it seems like Cohen is attempting to claim that these two young players would have had no scandals following them if they had simply been allowed to leave high school.  Give me a break.  Sending those kids to college might have been pointless because they were never going to take it seriously.  But they were never going to take high school seriously either.  They were always going to be offered money and accept it or have their test scores switched.  This rule made no difference in that respect.  What it did do was provide college basketball fans with some excellent entertainment, especially from Rose, who led his team to the best National Championship game in recent memory.  I don't see much negative in that.

After that, Cohen comes up with this abomination in his letter:  "It's a restrain of trade on these kids, and you see it in the NFL and NBA," Cohen said. "You don't see it in Major League Baseball. I was watching the [Memphis] Redbirds play ... and I was looking at the field and there wasn't an African-American player on the field when the Iowa Cubs played the Redbirds [in a Triple-A baseball game]. I didn't see one on either team, and I thought, 'This is a white sport. And tennis is a white sport. And golf is a white sport. And swimming is a white sport. And hockey is a white sport. And they don't have these restrictions. But basketball and football are predominantly African-American sports, and that's where they have the rule that forces players into college [instead of] going straight to the pros. Something here doesn't compute."

Come on.  It's a race thing? Really?  It's smart.  A high schooler that attempted to go straight to the NFL would never make it, or he would die.  There is too much of a size and strength difference.  The same is true a lesser extent for basketball.  There is more growing and more strength to be gained.  In golf, baseball, tennis, etc., that is not as important.  To act like we are doing this to keep black athletes down is ridiculous.  Congressman, just enjoy the sports, don't try to control them please.

Here is the article if you would like to read more:  http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/11816994

French Open (It actually is this year!)

Right now we've got another lesser watched sport going on--tennis.  And even though the French Open is my least favorite of the tennis majors, it is still a really entertaining sport to get into.  I think you should check it out this year if you never have before, especially now because this year it is living up to its name of being an open.  Now that Rafael Nadal has been knocked in an enormous upset (think like the Pistons had beaten the Cavs in the first round of the playoffs), the trophy actually is open to anyone.  Now that Nadal, 4 seed Novak Djokovic and 6 seed Andy Roddick are out of the tournament, it really could be just about any of the remaining seeds.  Roger Federer figures to be the favorite now with Nadal out of the way, but he had to come back out of a 2 sets to love deficit to beat Tommie Haas.  Third-seeded Andy Murray is still alive, which could produce a pretty great final if he and Federer were to meet.

On the women's side, there is still a lot to root for if you are an American.  Serena Williams is still alive and playing well.  She will be one of the major players as we move toward the finals in the women's bracket.

What I'm suggesting is that you try out a new sport.  You can watch it on ESPN360.com, or on ESPN2.  There will be a game going on while you are doing your morning routine before work.  Check it out.  Learn about a new sport.  Every time I have taken the time to sit down and learn a sport, it becomes much more entertaining to me.  Nowadays, I'm a big fan of tennis.  Join in the fun.