tennis, life and a few things in between

The footballers and cheerleaders usher in the autumn.  The summer is over.

You can be dumb as dirt but still attend Stanford University if you can
hit a golf ball 300 yds:

STANFORD PLAYER:
Michelle Wie already has played her first round at Stanford — but not
for Stanford. According to Golf Digest’s web site, the 18-year-old played nine holes Monday at Stanford University Golf Course, accompanied by her parents. Freshman were to check in Tuesday, with classes starting next week.

Golf Digest also reported that while Wie is required to live in a
dormitory on campus — a rule for all freshmen — her parents have
rented a house nearby. Wie cannot play for the Cardinal because she
turned pro two years ago, although she will be allowed to use the course
and the practice facilities. 

Had a very exciting night of badminton.  Simon and I played Jordan/Michael, and Charles/his buddy who’s very skilled player.  Either they’re sleepwalk or I really played well, we beat Jordan/Michael twice – the 2nd set came very close, actually we were down 7:1; and Charles/buddy once, 2nd set lost in tie break.  I did put a little pressure on myself.

Jordan is an 11th grader and on school’s badminton team.  He complained that he doesn’t get enough time to sleep, “I only slept 3 hours on average.. have to work after school.. so much homework ..”  What do you do?  I tutor younger kids.  For $15 an hour.  King came home today, as usual, without any homework.

Only 5 players showed up for work tonight.  When there is too many people around at the badminton, you’ll have to wait for your turn.  But when there isn’t, you don’t get pump up as much.  It’s only Simon and I.  We played for a good 20 minutes before Sammy and his wife showed up.  Then John.  So Simon and I played 4 sets against Sam/John.  Was good.  We lost 2nd set (was down 12:1 but  we chased hard, lost 15:9 eventually) and won the rest.

It’s humid and hot.  During the water break, John talked about his daughter who’s going to college next Sept.  She wants to go to Harvard, “she likes the atmosphere of Boston..  but she won’t do any extra preparation .. has too many other obligations at school.”  Although she had perfect scores on SAT II, but only has 2100 on SAT.  “I’m thinking NYU or Cooper Union .. .. but if the tuition is an upward $40k at NYU, then I’d rather it be Harvard .. but I don’t think she can get in ..”  Whatever, I’m just listening. 

Boston is a great city, a college town.  It’s my distant #2 choice after NY to live.  Heidelberg is another cool college town, so is Cambridge (UK).   Geneva is also a good place to live, it has water for summer and ski is just short drive in the winter time .. but for a Chinese or Asian in that matter, US beats out Europe by a large margin.

Eli Manning had a great game yesterday, but Giants still lost.  We all miss the charming Tiki, who speaks well.  One day last week, I heard Billie Jean King was commentating at the Open, thank god the network didn’t offer her a regular job.  It’s terrible.

FedEx pocketed $1.4m from the US Open easily, plus another $1m as bonus.  A buddy of mine decided to work there every year since his second year playing tennis.  It’s been 4 years in a row.  Each year he has to apply, felt lucky being chose.  This year his job was crowd control.  Working 2 weeks straight.  He has a 5 years old daughter. Works full time in IT.  ‘How many vacation do you get each year?’  3 weeks.  How’s pay at the Open .. $2k to 3k?  With overtime yes.  Gosh.  That’s stingy.  I sometime feel those organizations exploit its core fans.  But this is a free world, you do what you like to.  Exploit isn’t the right word when the takers are doing it willingly and happily.

I played a relative mistake free match with Simon against Bob and Peter.  I choked 3 points in the tie break = lost.  When the ball comes fast and furious, I seem to have a better answer for it than when it’s soft, I mostly don’t know what to do, with too much time on hand.  Story of my life.

Anyway, I went to shopping again afterward.  Don’t I hate shopping?  Yes I do, still do.  But greens are different, :).  When I came home, Golfer went like, ‘no plant today?’ and commented that he’s surprised I bought an orchard to begin with for it’s very fragile and difficult to take care.  “Mom, you went over your head” King added.  Don’t I know my own limit?  LOL.

Joker is being destroyed, was up 4:1 in the second, ended up losing it too.  I miss Sampras very much, for his serve and volley style of play.  So did Becker.  One year he stubbornly stayed by the baseline and won the championship.  I found that amazing.  FedEx is only few years older, but looks very mature, is the man in the two when Joker acting like a little boy.  Quiet man with deep voice is very sexy.  Sampras is very sexy.  My grammar is good here, right?  FedEx is somewhat sexy, I don’t like his giggles, doesn’t sound very cool, coming from a man.

Djokovic Joker 地包天 had 5 chances at 6:5, but couldn’t close, went on to lost the set.  A lot like Eliot Spitzer, who rarely could close a case that made huge headline on Wall Street while as the attorney general of NY, i.e. Frank Quattrone, whom he tried and re-tried – still couldn’t close.  Many careers had been ruined.  I had reservation on him from the start: he seemed to have strong political aspiration, with an affluent background, he turned on to his fellows of those he would rely on to raise money for public office.  Was it a stun?  In comparison, Rudy Giuliani seems cleaner.  Ok, let’s keep it simply, go back to tennis.  The announcers commented that the last 14 players who won the first set, had ultimately won the championship.