(insert sappy title about Roger here)

©AELTC / B. Martin

Pete's taking this awfully well. Not that he has a choice *g*

Well, that certainly wasn't one of the prettier matches Roger has played in despite Roddick's very strong performance and the sheer length of the match (particularly set 5). I still didn't think it had the same drama as last year's final. But it would've been impossible to repeat that sort of drama from that match. So this year was a good match. A better match than anyone had anticipated. And I'm glad that Roger was made to work for his 15th title.

I also want to say I have huge amount of respect for Roddick right now. I admit he wasn't my favorite player but he's earned a lot of my respect during this tournament. My heart just broke for him after coming *this* close to winning it. That's definitely a heartbreaker. But I hope to see Andy around for a while yet. Keep it up, Andy =)

Love this video here that the ATP did. And Roger looks so cuuute as a little kid!

OH! And let's not forget a CANADIAN guy won something in tennis this weekend. Lost in the Roger drama was the men's doubels final on Saturday which pitted the creepy Bryan twins against the way cooler Canadian Daniel Nestor and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic. So big congrats to Danial and Nenad for winning =) I liked Nenad's little scream when he served up an ace after dumping the ball in the net repeatedly during the last game. Way to go guys!

15

Rafa germs? What Rafa germs?

(photo from here)

I missed the whole damn thing because I was at work, but Roger now has his record breaking 15th Grand Slam.

More sappyness to come soon =)

Roger vs Andy for the finals!

Whoo! Amid all this gloomy Habs stuff, I'm very happy to say that Roger is doing JUST what I wanted him to do. He's made it to the finals once again (7th straight!) with minimal stress. I've been a little underwhelmed by Wimbly this year if only because Roger was behaving like Good Roger instead of like Sick Roger for the most part. But Wimbly semi-finals are special because I first got into tennis during Nadal's semi-final match last year against.... Schuttler I think. Anyway, it's great to see Roger back in another final =)

Also in really good news, there will be no Andy Murray in the finals. Nope. Andy Roddick smashed him in 4 sets (and two tight tie-breaks). Still not sure if it was because Roddick has been playing some of his best tennis in a long time or if it was because Muz wasn't up to par. Maybe a mix of both? I think all the pressure was getting to Muz.

"*sighs* I'm getting bored hitting this..."

"Okay, how about a lovely Roger smash?"

"Load the ball on my racket, slave, and don't screw it up"

"Oh god... I'm actually breaking out into a sweat."

"I FLY!"

Haas: "ROGER! ROGER! Can I have one point? Please? Just one? I mean really, what do I have to do, imitate Sean Avery here?"
Roger: "Aww, alright, fine. But just one, okay?"

Mirka: "My boy is so much more awesome than your boy".

Meanwhile... Roddick finishes a tight 4 set win over Muz only to find out that he will be playing Roger.

"Ohmygod. Ohmygod!"

Nobody beats Robin Soderling 11 times in a row...

...good thing Roger Federer isn't a nobody.

Sorry, Robin.

Okay, this probably only makes sense if you know that Robin Soderling said after Roger beat him at Roland Garros that "nobody beats Robin Soderling 11 times in a row" after Roger beat him for the 10thtime in a row at Paris. He was half joking of course but still...Better make that "Nobody beats Robin Soderling 12 times in a row" now...

Not ignoring you, Roger

I noticed a complete lack of Wimby updates here. Oops. Well, there's two main reasons for this.

1. it's early in the week. That means boring matches
   
2. I have no desire to talk about Roger's weird getup for Wimby. It is strange. I think Nike has lost it.
   
3. Roger has been boring lately. Which is good. Because he's just flattened the opposition so far. Keep being boring in a good way, Roger.
   
4. No Nadal means nobody cool plays on the days that Roger isn't playing which means I"m not watching tennis too much on those days

(okay so that's more than 2 =p)

So a quick note to Roger for tomorrow

Thanks for playing first thing. Please win quickly so I don't have to agonize about you when I'm off to the tweetup. Kolschrwhatsits isn't anything too scary. You can SO win in straight sets.

And... Soxies... I can't believe I bought MLB tv for a month to watch you play...... Oh well. Please forget tonight happened and win tomorrow. Even if I'm not watching you.

On the eve of Wimbledon, the biggest tournament of the year...

....EP is thinking about getting NHL Center Ice.

Oops.

But really, I've been thinking I need to find a way to watch my Caps and the Peachhawks next season so I'm thinking of getting it. It seems to be something like $169 or the year (I'm guessing that's American too) which sounds reasonable. Now, if I could just figure out this blackout crap thing and know for sure which teams would be blacked out, I wouldn't have to angst about this. I mean... there really isn't any such thing as TOO much hockey is there? No. There isn't. I think I shall have to get my hands on this.

Speaking of blackouts, I was also looking at MLB tv (I know, I know) and apparently ALL Jays games are blacked out in Canada. Contrary to popular belief, this is the greatest thing ever. Now, if only they could blackout all Leafs games too.. Canada would be so better off.

Anyway... Wimby.....

I will offer no predictions whatsoever. I refuse. But I will say this to Roger: I know in theory the pressure is off of you to win another Slam and all that jazz... In terms of that whole record thing, you've matched it. You've got a while to break it a few times over. BUT! it would be NICE if you won this. Who knows how distracted you'll be once Mini Roger comes along. It would be nice if you won this before you're up to your head in dipers...

Random info day =p

In hockey news....

Well, I can say for sure that was the least amount of fun I've had "watching" the NHL awards thing. I blame CBC for airing the thing an hour after it started. So I already knew who won via twitter before hand. Whoever was responsible for that messup should be waterbottled. Just saying. Also I predicted this over at A View From the Cheap Seats:

Hart - I’ll say Malkin… But I’d like to see Ovie get it. Obviously.

Pearson - Ovie! Ovie! Ovie!

Norris - Chara…..*sigh* (my Markov should be there)

Calder - Mason

Vezina - Thomas *sighs some more*

Adams - it should be Andy Murray but Julien is walking out with it *sighs even more*

Selke - Datsyuk although I’d take Richards winning the thing….

Lady Byng - Shorty Marty…. poor guy

......And was only wrong twice. In all honesty, I didn't actually see Shorty Marty getting the Byng thing over Turnip because... well, it's Turnip here (lesson learned: don't go against your gut feeling in this case). Not sure why I went with Eggplant over Ovie for the Hart though... That was just stupid. Probably to set myself up in the weird event that he actually did win it. So all in all, I was bored and annoyed with this whole thing last night. Mind you...some nice pictures came out of it.... I'm a sucker for pictures....ANYWAY... Congrats to Ovie for winning the Hart thingy and the Pearson thing and we already knew you were walking out with the Maurice Richard thing (how about we work on the assists and/or goals for next year so you can get the Ross again? *G*). And congrats to everyone else too (and someone please tell Chara that it's okay to deliver a short speech in the event that he wins something next time. I know the guy doesn't do anything short but really... I almost fell asleep!).

Two random things about the awards:

1. I loved Ovie's "it's too hot to touch" thing when he got the Hart
2. "I could really use two Stanley Cup rings to block out Roenick..." <-- Number31 last night on Twitter while Roenick was attempting to talk last night. She is a genius.

Not too much in the way of rumors in general and pretty much nada about the Habs. I'm not sure if I should be worried that there's nothing coming out of Habsland or if I should just be thankful that I don't have to think about insane rumors. The closest thing to a rumor I've heard from Habsland is that they're close to coming to a deal with Komi and there appears to be a big chance that Koivu's headed to the Wild. Meh. Heard that one about Koivu. Let me know if it actually happens (which I hope it doesn't).

The only other interesting thing I've heard is that those creepy Sedin twins want matching 12 year contracts worth 63 million.... Not that I care about where they end up or anything, but to me, 12 years is a long time and unless you front load the contract, you could end up with a b*tch of a time trying to get rid of them if you don't want them down the road.... I get that players want the security but as a GM, I'd be hesitant to do it.

In tennis news....

The biggest news is whether or not Rafa will be playing in Wimby on Monday. Apparently his knees are still acting up. I'm a bit torn on this. I'm ready to believe that Rafa is indeed in a lot of pain. I'm not making light of his injuries. I just wonder how it is that he didn't appear to be playing with a lot of pain a the French Open, still lost, and now we're hearing about this? Maybe he really was in pain throughout the French Open. Maybe it started afterwords. It's entirely possible. Honestly, I almost hope that he really is in pain and this isn't an attempt at trying to 1) soften the blow of his Roland Garros loss and 2) lessen the expectations for Wimbledon. I've heard before that Rafa is supposedly injured and then he plays and blows everyone out of the water for the most part. All this being said, I want Rafa to recover and play. I want him and Roger to play in the finals the way it's been for the past.... however many years *g* It wouldn't be a Wimby final without Rafa and Roger. I don't want Muzz and Roger. I don't want Nole and Roger. And I definitely do NOT want Muzz and Nole. GIMME A ROGER VS RAFA FINAL!

EDIT: He pulled out. *sighs* no Rafa. Messed up draw now.... I'm not very pleased with this. Not at all.

And in football/soccer and yes, baseball news....

I hate Toronto. I hate Toronto. I hate Toronto. I hate Toronto. I hate Toronto. I hate Toronto. I hate Toronto.

My top 10 events for this year

...or half the year. I only came to this whole thing in April. Talk about late to the party...Anyway. The list. It's late because I was waiting to see what Team Canada could do.

1. Wimbledon final between Roger and Rafa. What can I say?It was one heck of a fantastic match that had me permanently hooked on tennis.
   
2. Spain winning the Euro Cup. That was really cool for Spain, who hadn't won in over 40 years. I was screaming for a while *G*
   
3. Canada vs. Russia in the World Junior Hockey Championship semi-finals. That was a game for the ages. Canada came very close to losing the tournament and seeing their four gold medal streak come to an end. But Jordan Eberle had a different idea and with just 5.4 seconds left in the game, he tied the goal. Canada ultimately won it in shoutouts but man... that game will be one for the ages!
4. Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals. Pittsburgh showed a lot of determination in extending their stay in the finals. Sykora getting that goal in the third period of OT was really awesome. Okay, so I was actually asleep when he scored and missed the party but yeah.... sue me...
   
5. Federer winning the Olympic gold medal with Wawrinka. I've never seen the guy so incredibly happy after winning a match before.
   
6. Rafa winning the Olympics gold medal. That was a great way to pretty much finish off his amazing summer. Two grand slams, an Olympic gold medal AND the no. 1 spot? Come on...!
   
7. The Canada/US game in the round robbin stage of the Junior World event thing. Great hockey. Better than a lot of NHL games I've had to sit through...
8. That match in the round-robbin stages of the Tennis Masters Cup between Roger and Murray. Too bad Roger was again on the losing side of that one but it was a really good match nonetheless and it completely tired out Murray *g*
   
9. The Davis Cup final. Okay, so I didn't want Spain to win but you have to admit that it was quite the feat for the Rafa-less team to beat the odds and win it. Yes, it's very tragic for Argentina but hopefully that can get things together and win it another time.
10. Team Canada winning the Junior World Championship for the 5th time in a row and 15th time overall right here at home in Canada. Fantastic stuff!
    
11. Game 2 of the Montreal-Boston series in the Stanley playoffs. No, the game itself wasn't particularly amazing but I wouldn't be hear writing any of this stuff if it wasn't for that game. So it's SPECIAL *g*2