Saturday, July 08, 2006

Another game

For a change of pace, I've been watching Wimbledon. Tennis is a characteristically Western game where the individual counts. And I have some modest suggestions. One of the big news items is that the women want to be paid the same amount as the men. I think this would be unfair, since the women only play the best of three sets while the men play the best of five, so at most the women should receive 3/5 of the prize money of the men. If you switch from a women's match to a men's you immediately see that the game is faster and the hitting more powerful, as expected, so that deserves more money. Also, Serena Williams hit three consecutive double faults in her last match (against an unknown Serbian) and that is certainly not professional and not worth paying for.
I noticed that most of the players bounce the ball twice before they throw it up for a serve. What does the bouncing accomplish, why bother, is it just to be sure that the ball bounces? Also, the players take two balls when they are serving when they could take just one and the men shove one in their pocket, while the women shove one up their panties which looks very ungraceful. And the women make horrible noises like they are having an orgasm on the court each time they hit the ball (sometimes it sounds like a poor animal being tortured). Prize money should be deducted for these noises.
Another strange practice is that they fiddle with their racket strings between plays. It looks as if they are trying to play a tune on the racket. I suspect this is a secret way to calm themselves, they listen to the tune on the racket strings and this calms them down.
Have you noticed that some players waggle their fingers in front of their face after a point. Sometimes I think they do this when they win a point and other times when they lose. Maybe they are blowing on their fingers, but some, such as Murray seems to be sending messages. Maybe its a form of communication. They also do a little dance before the next point, maybe a form of religious observance. At the end of the game the winner tosses his wrist bands into the crowd. Who wants to have sweaty smelly sweat bands as a souvenir?
When I was living in the US I used to have breakfast at Wimbledon, now I have tea at Wimbledon. It's not strawberries and cream, but its a nice experience - certainly better than soccer at the Mondial - how boring in comparison. It's also a great break from current reality. But, it's very exhausing watching Wimbledon, I need a rest.

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