Sunday, July 19, 2009

Plenty of beer.



Good times here. My grandparents were partiers! That's them in the back on the left. My dad is on the end on the right with his...uh, girlfriend. Not my mom! Hmmph.



This is where they were for the evening.

My Mom




This first pic looks like it was probably taken around the same time that my Dad went to war. They grew up together in Detroit, went to Denby High School together, dated and then broke up. My Dad lost her to another guy for a while...she married and had my oldest siblings - but her husband died very young. My Dad swooped in. I'm not kidding. LOL.

The second pic of my Mom is one of the few glamour shots of her. She was not a glamour girl. Beautiful, but much more into sports than makeup!

My Dad. My WWII hero.






This isn't the best pic of my Dad, but I like it because it looks like it was taken outside his parents' home in Detroit. The second two are scans of a postcard my Dad sent home in 1944. I know he shipped off from San Diego, so I wonder if this is his first postcard from the war to home.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

He did it!!!! Congratulations, Roger!




Wow. Just an amazing match. My head is still spinning over it. 5 sets. 16 games to 14 in the last set. Epic. Rollercoaster match, with momentum switching back and forth until the fifth set, when game after game, both men stared down a "sudden death" by valiantly holding their serves until the 30th game. Yes - the 30th game in one set! Roger broke Andy to win the Championships. I screamed. Both men deserved such high praise for this effort that I was sad to see someone lose. Warriors. Both of them.

I truly hope Andy gets the next one. He so deserves one after this effort.

Oh, boy. The record for most grand slam singles titles ever (15) was claimed by Roger today edging Pete Sampras, who flew there just this morning to be there for the momentous occasion (how classy was that?), and...Roger is now the world's number one ranked player once again! He had relinquished the number one ranking to Rafael Nadal last year shortly after losing his prized Wimbledon champion status to the same. How sweet it is for this fan that he was able to reclaim it.

Sports dreams don't get much bigger than this for me.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Oh, Andys!!!!

American Andy Roddick took on Great Britain's (Scottish) Andy Murray today in the semi finals of Wimbledon. Roddick was the big underdog here, and Murray was not only the favorite, but saddled with the enormous hopes hung on his young shoulders by his nation, desperate for a British champion since Fred Perry won in 1936, beating - I just realized - the lovely Baron Gottfried von Cramm (!), whose handsome face is my Twitter background.

I like both of these players very much, so I had a tough time figuring out who to root for. My emotions swung wildly during the match.

So my take on this match is that Murray went into it tight under the weight of expectations. Roddick won in four, needing tiebreaks for two of the three sets won. I don't think Murray played like he could, but Roddick played such superb, mature, focused tennis that I hate to take anything away from this win. It's huge. Roddick now into his third Wimbledon final, but not since 2005. I don't think many serious tennis analysts thought he'd get there again.

I'm so proud of Andy Roddick! Well done to him. Unfortunately, I can't root against Roger, who also won his semi final match today making it to his 7th straight Wimbledon final.

Go Roger!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Elena Lost!!!

8 games to 6 in the third set. I'm so...disappointed! So close. I think I'd rather she got blown off the court.

*sigh*

I predict a Williams sisters final, which I'll skip. I used to watch these, but they have become boring, and I couldn't care less who wins. I know that's not really supporting the game, but enough is enough. It is times like these that I understand the apathy toward Federer.

So...Dinara Safina vs. Venus Williams now for the final spot in the finals. Just pencil Venus in, there.

Do I seem crabby? Yeah, I am. LOL.