Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Tennis and All That Jazz

I'm not a tennis fan (more of a racquetball player, to be precise), but I got a kick out of a column by Kevin B. Blackistone in yesterday's Dallas Morning News because it opened with a jazz metaphor:
At least Count Basie had an option to get to the top of the music game when he was coming up. When he saw how well another prodigy, Sonny Greer, played the drums, Basie left the kit behind and started tickling the keyboard. Greer became Duke Ellington's legendary drummer and Basie became a pianist and one of the great bandleaders.

But what can Andy Roddick do finding himself like Basie staring now at a similar stonewall in the form of Roger Federer? Have a sex change operation? Call Tonya Hardings' old hit men?

The bottom line about the outcome of the 2005 men's final at the All England Club on Sunday, in which Federer needed but three sets and an hour and 41 minutes to dispatch Roddick, was that this is a lousy time to be a twentysomething up-and-coming men's tennis star. It doesn't matter if you're Roddick or anybody else. You're probably just getting a good workout, because you'll probably never reach the heights of Federer. (source)
I've known for quite some time that Blackistone was a jazz fan; I even saw him at a jazz club one time. He's used jazz imagery in his stories before, but this one happened to jump out at me, so I thought I'd pass it along.

Rockets' red glare? I went with some friends to the Las Colinas fireworks display last night and had a good time. Anyone have some good firework stories from this year? Post 'em in the comments, if you please.

A picture sings a thousand words: I've updated the post about singing the National Anthem at the Rangers game with a couple of pictures from the game.

I think I understand where the term "moon children" comes from: A Russian astrologer is suing NASA for crashing a space probe into that comet on Monday, saying it "messed up her horoscope."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I went out to Lake Grapevine with my camera (big suprise there). 3 displays from other cities could be seen, as well as some lightning. The crowd was huge and the "kool-aid" was more than plentiful. In fact, 2 groups of hispanics started shooting off illegal fireworks right there on the shore. One group's aim was a bit off, as most of the small shells exploded directly above me. They made me nervous all night, because they didn't stop shooting once the real show had started. The other group was shooting them in the direction of the lake [pic].

There were so many boats on the lake that it looked as if there were a floating city out there. The boaters had the best seat in the house when it came to watching Grapevine's display. I chose a poor location for taking pictures (too many people), but it was decent for watching. The show(s) was/were great, and definately worth the drive from Denton.

Eric Grubbs said...

I stayed inside after playing kickball on the night of Fourth of July. That in itself was interesting.

Our dog Juliet hates fireworks. She barks up a storm whenever she hears the slightest noise. So she was still going nuts by the time I had to go to sleep. She really goes haywire when she's in the front den, so I figured it would be better to have her in my room. Nope: she started barking. So I put her in Jason's room and she started screaming bloody murder.

Eventually I put her in the utility room (which is far away from the front den and my room). She barked a little, but I could barely hear her. I was able to fall asleep but kept feeling that I'm turning into a parent with this dog . . .