tennis

i follow professional tennis to a weird degree. only a few people really know how big the obsession is, but it's there (i think i freaked my sister out when we went to the us open a few years ago and i went off on this russian girl and her myriad of injury problems. also, she had huge quads).

so i was really disappointed i couldn't watch venus and serena play last night. i wandered my neighborhood trying to find it on tv in a bar somewhere (another complaint about my apartment - we don't have cable), but couldn't and was too pussy to ask at the gay sports bar for them to put it on. instead, i popped open a beer at my house and followed the score on the computer. it was pretty pathetic.

after talking to nora on the phone, who kept saying it was an unbelievable match, i decided that if it went to a third set, i would gather my courage and go back to the mix and have them put it on one of the tvs. and then venus lost.

i've always liked venus more than serena - i think something about being the less athletically gifted sibling strikes a chord with me (although, obviously, nora and i are much more impressive athletes than these two) - so it was especially sad to read all the analysis this morning and see that she essentally choked.

i'm pulling for dementieva now - the best player never to win a major - or serena. on the men's side, i have a soft spot for roger, and would love to see andy roddick regain some of his luster. but i think we're heading to a novak - rafa final, which at least would be an exciting match (with the extra drama of novak crying after he lost the gold medal match to rafa at the olympics - that was pretty funny).

anyway. i love tennis.