Recently in Sport Category

Sci-Fi writer Neal Stephenson has a new novel out (September 9th) entitled Anathem.  As Jason Kottke mentions there's a nice summary in the latest Wired Magazine:

Set on a planet called Arbe (pronounced "arb"), Anathem documents a civilization split between two cultures: an indulgent Saecular general population (hooked on casinos, shopping in megastores, trashing the environment -- sound familiar?) and the super-educated cohort known as the avaunt, or "auts," who live a monastic existence defined by intellectual activity and circumscribed rituals. Freed from the pressures of pedestrian life, the avaunt view time differently. Their society -- the "mathic" world -- is clustered in walled-off areas known as concents built around giant clocks designed to last for centuries. The avaunt are separated into four groups, distinguished by the amount of time they are isolated from the outside world and each other. Unarians stay inside the wall for a year. Decenarians can venture outside only once a decade. Centenarians are locked in for a hundred years, and Millennarians -- long-lifespanners who are endowed with Yoda-esque wisdom -- emerge only in years ending in triple zeros.

Stephenson is a prolific Sci-Fi writer and not only has he predicted and coined terms like, "Cyberspace" he also has an almost academic understanding of physics, sociology, philosophy, etc.  Stephenson's best work, in my opinion, is Snowcrash.

The United States Open tennis tournament begins today in Flushing, Queens and former world number one is not the favorite.  George Vecsey of the NY Times has an excellent article on how Federer has turned into a mere mortal over the last 2-3 big tournaments.

If you were lucky enough to view the Wimbeldon final this weekend, you most likely watched the most epic, modern day, tennis match of all time.  The match lasted a record 4 hours and 48 minutes (the match started at 9AM EST), including two 25 minute plus rain delays.

Nadal took the first two sets and Federer won two tie-breaks to earn the 3rd and 4th sets.  The final set came down to a Nadal break of serve, who eventually went on to win 9-7 when Federer hit a forehand into the net.

Here's the championship point:

The NY Times frontpage included an exhausted Nadal slumped to the ground (or grass).  And here's some coverage from the BBC.

For the 3rd time in recent history it will be Nadal vs Federer at the 2008 French Open.  The odds are with Nadal who is a 3x champion at Roland Garros even though Federer is the world's number 1 players and winner of 12 Grand Slam titles (none which include the French).

The match is scheduled for Sunday June 8th at 9:00 AM EST on NBC, so tune in to see if Federer can finally beat Nadal on clay!

Want to understand the anatomy of a serve then see this video from Professor Bruce Elliot.

The 2008 French Open kicked off at Roland Garros this past weekend.  Roland Garros is actually the name of the tennis center where the Open is held; more specifically, Roland Garros was a French aviator and WWI hero.

The French Open is played on red clay versus the Decoturf surface at the US Open in Flushing, Queens.  Red clay surfaces are made up of crushed red brick and traditionally play slower than harder surfaces, including the grass surface at Wimbledon.  Specifically, clay produces a higher bounce and removes the "big power" advantage that most US players are used to on harder surfaces.  In my view, the clay game (including HAR-TRU surfaces) is tons of fun, more strategic, and is not just about battling it out at the baseline, but rather necessitates that the player has an overall game (including the ability to play at net, lob, slice, etc.).

Check out Ralphael Nadal, who many consider to be the best clay court player alive today: