What’s with the grunting..seriously?

Now I have been following tennis for a while and have loved almost every aspect of it.  But one thing that I just can’t get past is certain women tennis players grunting like wild boars after each and every shot they play.  Now I know the argument is that they are just trying really really hard and trying to hit the skin of the ball every time and this leads to them releasing their inner “uruk-hai” and scream at the top of the lungs that would even shatter a windshield.  Now I am not just trying to single out women here because there are many men who grunt when they play their shots such as Guga Kuerten. 

But seriously ladies.  You guys grunt even when you play a drop shot.  Come on.  There is never a record of Steffi Graff grunting but she managed to win a couple of grand slams I think.  But ever since Serena and Venus Williams stepped on to the tennis stage grunting has taken over women’s tennis like a fad.  I feel like these players think that they have to grunt in order to be real competitors.  For example Sharapova, Dementieva, Serena, Venus and now even this little girl have grunted all the way to the news stands.

I am sitting here watching the first women’s semifinal at the 2009 Australian open between Serena Williams(2) vs Elena Dementieva(4).  These two women have been orchestrating an incredible amount of “melodies” between them but seem to be able to turn of their cries even during points.  I don’t get this.  They grunt for some of the point then just stop and are quiet even though they hit the ball and run just as hard. 

I am all for effort but they just take it to the next level.  We have to be real here.  Most tennis players don’t let out these tribal cries but for those who do please be considerate of the audience and provide ear muffs. 

Oh and one another thing.  Not to pick on Serena or anything but a friend of mine photo-shopped the picture below and I had to give it to him.  The uruk-hai of lord of the rings and serena do look awfully similar not because of the color of their skin or any of that.  But just look at them..their both ridiculously muscular and look like they could eat a child.  I am just saying..that’s all.

                        

Technorati Tags: serena,lord of the rings,tennis,grunting,women,uruk hai,orks,dementieva,venus,sharapova

What is the most difficult sport to be in?

Been a long weekend and difficult to write about things other than the fact that my sister is now married, well kind of.  Very happy for her and wish Vidya and Vivek a very happy married life, kind of. 

But I also found out that people actually have read this blog.  Which is flattering to know that even one person has read your material no matter how much they agree or disagree with what I have to say. 

Now I have never been a runner, cyclist or any sort of track and field star.  I had my hay day as a tennis player in high school and gladly told people I was my team captain.  Now I am biased to tennis and have always felt that it is a very challenging sport that requires a lot of physical strength as well as endurance. 

So this weekend someone told me that cycling, supposedly considered a sport(something I will talk about other day) should be recognized as the most demanding and difficult sport.  Now I feel that cycling is a very demanding sport as you have to bike for extreme amounts of length and requires a great amount of concentration and over al physical fitness.  But when I thought of a difficult sport to play that required those most amount of physical fitness would be football, soccer, and something like that.  Cycling just is not on my radar, even if poster boy Lance Armstrong has won a million races and is trying make a “comeback”, and probably never will. 

Now I was thrown all this scientific data like V2 max or something like that supporting cycling saying that they have the lowest resting heart rate and the most pristine examples of fitness.  Cyclists travel north of 50 miles with out stopping up inclines and down fast slopes. 

Now I am probably never going to appreciate cycling for what it is, but I figured that I would give it some due credit.  I would rather play tennis for 4 hours in Australia rather then bike 70 miles up and down mountains in France.  So here’s to cycling! Wu Hu! But it still isn’t a real sport and that is all.

                        

Technorati Tags: Cycling,sports,armstrong,funny,endurance,france

How to not remove a security tag

I purchased a suit for my sisters engagement and not going to lie it was pretty nice. However the geniuses at macys forgot to remove that plastic security tag thingy and it didn't even beep when we exited the store. 2 weeks later I realize that my suit jacket still has the tag and being the lazy bum that I explored ways to remove it shoplifter style.

Step I: Open computer and google "how to remove tag thingy on clothing."

Step II: Unsuccessful search. Retry. Reword. "How to remove security tag from clothes?"

Step III: Eureka. Instructional videos on youtube posted to help bums like me.

Step IV: Take break. Check facebook. Stalk people. Now Check the video.



Step IV: Realize I do not have a bent screw driver and attempt to do procedure using a coat hanger.

Step V: Try and try to force open the dam thing. Apply voodoo curses. Sweet talk and ask the tag nicely to disengage from your expensive suit so that hopefully you won't destroy the suit by accident out of anger.

Step VI: Decide a career in shoplifting isn't in the cards for me. Think about going to macys today to have them remove thing. Have a tube light moment and remember I am lazy and procrastinate the job to tomorrow(hopefully).

Step VII: Check facebook. Update status. Eat lunch. Watch the NFC championship game on TV feeling accomplished.

Karma is a bleep

People who come to a blog hoping to read an unbiased opinion are asking for a lot. So with that out of the way I feel free to show my "unbiased" opinion on a few recent occurrences in the sports world.

The Yankees have not yet signed their groundskeeper to a 100 million dollar contract yet. The reason obviously is that he is a Scott Boras client and likes to play hard ball seeing that he is going to have to tread and maintain a whole new field in the New Yankee Stadium. No but seriously on someone that maybe is worth at least a 100 million bucks to the Yankees is Andy Pettitte. Pettitte was virtually the leader and the ace of an injury depleted staff during the past season. No one will doubt that this is not the same pettitte of the pennant winning teams but he nevertheless provided a sense of stability to a much needed team. Sure his era ballooned and the wins went down but his experience and clubhouse standing were indispensable for a team that lost Mike Mussina and is in the process of firming youngsters Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes in to the rotation. It seems Pettitte rejected a 10 million dollar offer while he was looking for something closer to his last year salary of 16 million. Now I don't think either side is right in the negotiations and they must arbitrate and come to a compromise in the middle because pettitte does not deserve to be treated the way bernie williams was when he was on his way out.
But the reality is Yankees GM Brian Cashman is fully invested in his youth movement and believes that Phil Hughes will come to fruition and that he and Joba will live up to their potential at the expense of a valuable part of the Yankees last dynasty.
All in all it is simply out with the old ( Pettitte) and in with the new(Hughes and new Yankee stadium)

Lets consider a similar change in the NBA. For the past couple of weeks more and more "experts" are saying that Lebron James is the best player in the NBA and has surpassed Kobe Bryant in this category. Well since everyone today is considered an expert on anything and everything, this certain expert disagrees with the rest of his peers. James shows uncanny ability to penetrate and complete almost every drive he attempts at the basket with the ref usually signalling an and 1. His free throw percentage has gone up to 78 %, an improvement from his career average of 73, and his FG% is at an excellent 51%. The majority of his shots are layups therefore leading to such a high shooting percentage but most good teams will have the strategy to block of the lanes and force James to settle for jump shots. James has struggled tremendously in this area. He has a horrible three point shooter at about 29% which is an excellent way to change momentum as well as clinch a game. Just today in the Cavaliers loss to the Bulls in OT, James missed somewhere in the neighborhood of his last 12-14 shots. That is just unforgivable for the so called Chosen One. He hasn't proved to me yet that he can take over a game when his team is struggling and knock down shots when they need it. Today he missed a game winning two just inside the 3 point line as the clock expired showing once again he just isn't a pristine jump shooter like the other greats such as Jordan, Bird and Bryant. Kobe shows the amazing ability to drive his team and puts up numbers to back them and comes through when his team needs him. He revs up his team after a win and scolds them after the loss seizing the role of the leader. Even though Kobe passed up a shot to win the game last night against the spurs, it was ultimately the right call as he was being double teamed and had to give it up instead of just heaving up a long range three. To give the lakers the lead before Roger "Rocket" Mason's incredible three point play, he knocked down a huge 3 in the face of mason with time winding down. Just as a spectator I was scared to my bones, even though I won't publicly admit it, that whenever Bryant touches the ball I feel like he can go for 50 any given night if he really wanted to.

Oh and how awesome is it that the day after Martin Luther King day, the first black president will be sworn in to office. Karma sure is something alright.