Rooogeeer!

After a tough game which saw some great shots, Roger finally made an error and sent the ball into the net. Game, Novak Djokovic. Raising his hands up to the sky, Nole thanked the tennis gods for handing him a win. With this victory, Nole had now won....

photo from here.

..................his first - and only - game of the first set. HUZZAH!

Yeah.

Roger just had to play really good tennis in the first set, which, coupled with Nole playing like crap, equaled an easy 6-1 first set win. Nole fought back in the second set - including breaking Roger's serve. But ultimately it didn't do much and Roger broke back, leveled the set, broke again and won the match 6-1, 7-5.

So way to go Roger. It's your first title as a new daddy. I'm sure the twins are over the moon. Well, actually, the one over the moon was Roger who was all smiles as he got talking about the twinsies. Anyway....You're now just one Master Series win away from tying Agassi's record of 17 MS' wins. Yay!

Photo from: AP

Roger: Hey, Nole, that's a nice flower vase you got there...

Nole: Wanna swtich? I've always wanted a pretty punch bowl. Please?

Roger: Hmmm....no thanks. I think I'll store the twins bottles in this one.

Roundup of EP's Saturday

Today didn't promise to be a good sports day. After the major Soxfail last night (which we are now denying happened) and the prospect of Muzzy taking down Roger, I was ready to skip this sports thing and just entertain the guests who were coming.

Apparently sports thought otherwise.

The Sox were clearly didn't want to get killed by their own crowd by losing again to the Yankees so instead they decided to win. And minus some major Ellsfail, it was a great win at 14-1. Yeah. I'm kind of afraid of tomorrow's game. It'll end up like 30-29 or something. So, thank you Sox for being angry enough to want to win. And thank you, Yankees, for leaving your brains at the hotel. It was nice.

Anyway... Back in Cincy where the Fab Four (which is really only comprised of two fab guys, one almost fab guy and one guy who gets called "toothface" at times) were going at it in the semis, we had some interesting results.

Last year, we saw Rafa's awesome summer come to a halt as Nole beat him and then promptly... .blew it completely to the-yet-great-Muzzy. Roger had long since disappeared into oblivion.

THIS YEAR everyone was touting Muzzy to win again as he had pretty much blown everyone else out of the water last week in Montreal (and Roger blew himself out of the water). Yeah well, Roger decided that after that little backhanded compliment he gave to Muzzy at the beginning of the week ("He’s [Muz] almost won everything there is to win except, let’s say US Open and the Masters") it was time to back up said "compliment" by actually beating Muz. Shocker, I know. It was a pretty nice win too at 6-2 7-6(8). THANK YOU ROGER! Finally.

Roger is going to get Nole in the finals after the latter decided he too would like to snap an ugly losing streak. Oddly enough, the last time that Nole won a match against Rafa was at... well, Cincy last year. Oops. It was a really solid win at 6-1 6-4. Ow, Rafa...

Do you think Rafa means it when he says

I’m very happy today, more than yesterday. No. 3 is a very good number too.

I get the odd feeling that he really doesn't mind being no. 3 all that much....

hockey notes from Quebec City

So I was in Quebec City for the last two days for a mini vacation. Despite the fact that the Nordiques aren't a team anymore there were still minor hockey notes worth reporting:

• Are the Nordiques really gone? You wouldn't know it but the amount of stuff that they sell. Keychains, mugs, jerseys, shirts, magnets, etc, etc, etc. Jeez. If you didn't know anything about hockey you wouldn't know that they didn't have a team.
  
  
• I also stepped into my favorite hockey store in the old city and noticed that they sold Remparts shirts. At least they're supporting the team that they still have.
  
  
• The tour guide - yeah, I took a tour - was rather fond of mentioing that Quebec City did indeed win a Stanley Cup. With the Quebec Bulldogs. Sadly for the tour guide, this info wasn't new to me and I failed to be overly impressed. Sorry.
  
  
• I found TSN on my TV in the hotel and caught Burke attempting to make some symphony analogy with the Leafs. It didn't work and at least Burke admitted that he had no clue what he was talking about. But I died laughing at him anyway. I think a better analogy would've been "trainwreck".
  
  
• I didn't buy my pre-rec Habs item in QC this time. Instead I bought a keychain with a team canada jersey on it. The guy was smart enough not to offer the Nordiques keychain to me. I wanted so badly to buy the Ovie jersey but I ran out of money. Also... I really wanted to ask the guy why they were selling Leafs hats and Yankees stuff. It was gross.
  
  
• I stuck out my tongue at the Voltigeurs on my way up and on the back from Quebec City.
  
  
• The vending machine didn't take my Habs dollar. It took my other normal boring dollar but not my pretty Habs dollar. I think it's pro-grammed to be pro-Nordiques.
  
  
• Cameron Frye gathered a pile of female hockey fans and asked them to name 5 reasons why they loved hockey. Some great answers can be seen here (what? You honestly thought you'd get something NOT random from me? HAHAHAHA)

And finally, I'd like to offer my deepest sympathies to Jose Theodore's family. If you missed it, Jose's 2 month old son died the other day. Details - as far as I know - weren't given.

Quote of the Day: It's a miracle Safin has lasted this long

Q. Were you describing yourself as maybe someone that finds it sometimes stressful and doesn’t enjoy those moments always?

MARAT SAFIN: I don’t like any sports. For example, I would not play soccer. I would not play hockey. Basketball I hate. I never watch any sports on TV. It’s amazing, and I’m a tennis player.

But I don’t like it, the competition. For example, if I have to play soccer against neighborhood, I will play for ten minutes and then I get bored. I’m not a player.

Q. How did you last this long at this level?

MARAT SAFIN: It’s a miracle, huh? It’s a miracle.

Aww, Safin, you're making me sad and I never got to watch you when you were good =(

I am going to puke...

The title says it all I'm afraid.....

Thanks to the H Does NOT Stand for Habs for the pic.

I believe this drawing I did a few months back is suddenly very relavent:

Pssst Carey

....happy birthday!

Umm yeah, I kinda didn't know it was his birthday until like... right now and I figured if Jaro got a random "happy birthday" then Pricey should too. So yeah.

(clearly it's time for me to stop surfing the web and go to sleep)

And the new world no. 2 is...

MUZ.

Congrats.

Now, Rafa, please win next week. And Roger AND Rafa... Please do better in the US Open. I do not want Muz sitting on the top of the rankings when he has no freaking Grand Slams to his name. And no, Muzzy will not win the US Open. Roger will have it because he knows I won't be there live so it's okay for him to win.

ARGH. My tennis world is crashing down around me now.

BRING ON THE HOCKEY SEASON!

What an up and down day it was yesterday

Now that I'm awake and can think a little clearer:

Aside from TMF losing in epic proportions... We had some other faily tennis news:

• Muz won against Davydenko. Yeah. Saw it live. No, nobody cared about Muz. Everyone came to see Roger. And plus, everyone was baking in the sun and they were too hot to cheer on Muzzy.
• Rafa lost to Delpo. Not like we were expecting anything different but it was still sad to see Rafa fail so sadly in the second set. I'm chalking it up to rust. He didn't look in pain to me but he was hitting everything long and wide and into the net. Rust. Rust. Rust. FIX IT SOON. Or else you'll end up with Roger in the semi-finals at the US Open. DO YOU WAN THAT RAFA? Because I don't. There can be nothing less than a Roger/Rafa FINAL.
• And Nole failed against Andy not-Murray. As Dootsiez put it on All I Need is a Picket Fence:
  
  

  Over the last 18 months, Novak Djokovic has somehow managed to slump from “the Australian Open champ”, to “the perennial semifinalist", to “Jo-Willy Tsonga’s bitch“, to “momentarily the second best player on clay“, to “the quarterfinals or earlier guy“, and now to “three times Andy Roddick’s bridesmaid“

  
  Way to go Nole. NOT. You epic fail. So glad I'm not a huge fan of yours otherwise I'd be ripping out my hair.
• in one not faily bit of tennis... My former Serbian canuck who is partnered with a Serbian won the doubles match to set up a semi-final match with... whoever won that match I saw yesterday. Knowles and umm... Buphati. Or something.

And baseball tried to fail too....

Amidst all this fail, here came the Soxies who are battling it out with the Texas Rangers for a wild card to the playoffs. And here came the top of the 9th with the failsox down by two runs. Oh here we go again.... Haven't we seen this movie before? It something like "Sox forget how to get runs in". But of course they couldn't just get struck out in quick fashion. No. Ortiz and Tek had to get on base. Ells who wasn't supposed to be on there shows up. Oh good. Maybe EP will get to look at her favorite Soxie at the very least. Not that EP needs to see more grumpy people. Oh what's this?! Ells gets a run in? OH so now the Sox are only down by one run? YAY! Of course the happiness didn't last. Oh no. The Woodthing struck out in a spectacularly sad fashion. 1 out.

And... oh dear baseball gods, what the hell is this? STICKBUG is going on base instead of Tek? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? The Stickbug doesn't even look like he's capable of running...Here comes Pedroia... omg he hits the ball! Omg run CLAY! YOU EPIC IDIOT RUN! DAMN. POINT PROVEN! THE STICKBUG CAN NOT RUN TO SAVE HIS LIFE OR THE GAME. Well, he would've made if he had known that the ball hadn't been caught as he initially thought. But still.. He was so floppy and flaily and faily at running. Plus he dove head first into home. Bad idea, Stickbug. Don't break your neck, you twerp. 2 out.

At this point, EP nearly died as Martinez wound up with two strikes against.... one strike away from the an epically faily night for EP. Stupid Sox. Stupid Stickbug. Stupid game. Stupid failtennis too. ARGH. OMG MARTINEZ JUST HIT THE BLOODY BALL. OMG IT'S A FAIR BALL. OMG THE SOX JUST GOT TWO RUNS IN. OMG THE SOX ARE WINNING?! OMG. EP died at this point of a heart attack. Hah! Of course they didn't stop there. That wouldn't be fun. No, Jbay sends Martinez to home. Then Drew homers! 8-4! Then some guy strikes out. Then the Sox win after the shell shocked Rangers fail to get any runs in in the 9th. HAH. HAH. HAH. SOX WIN! HAAAAAAAAAH! What an epically awesome way to end last night. EAT THAT YOU FAIL TENNIS!

=)

ANNNNNND IN HOCKEY NEWS:

• We got D'agger back for one year (why all the one year deals, Bob?)
• Happy birthday Gorges (that was the 14th)
• Guy Boucher still scares me. But I wish him good luck with his coaching! (bringing this up as I just heard his loooong interview on Habs Inside/Out)