Sunday, June 29, 2008

#15 Sunday Sundries

Worst of the Week
  • The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club Championships (True title. Wimbledon is just a pretty little rich suburb that I used to pass by on British Rail, first stop going west from London. The tournament is simply held there. But we don't call the US Open "the Flushing Meadows Championship," now do we? OK, it's a handy toponymic. End of peeve)--the UPSETS! The beauty (male-superficiality alert) is gone. Sharapova and Ivanovich suffered early burial under fabled turf. Upsets happen, but to two of the best-looking blondes and brunettes ever to grace the courts? And both about equally favored to win? What a synaesthetic treat such a final would have been.
  • Supreme Court's decision (5-4) against restrictive gun laws. They can't be restrictive ENOUGH--short of banning minimal ownership to certifiably law-abiding and certifiably non-mental-case citizens. I'm a Libertarian. And a pretty strict-constructionist where the Constitution is concerned (especially the non-establishment of religion clause). But, really, there are just too many handguns and assault rifles floating around out there for a healthy society. And highly restrictive LICENSED ownership of certain private property (motor vehicles come first to mind) has plenty of legal and constitutional precedent. I owned guns once. Pawned 'em.
Best of the Week
  • Wimbledon--the UPSETS! Aside from the Slav-sisters above, they were great fun. Roddick and Blake out: always unpleasant to watch. Boring. No style or grace. Roddick= only the big serve. Blake= sullen, surly, and plodding. Djokovich out: a brat in the McEnroe mold. Also, his ouster assures a Federer/Nadal rematch. With the former a bit down, and the latter at the height of his game, it should be one of the most competitive and entertaining matches since the Borg/McEnroe years. And there are still a lot of pretty Russians left (and I don't mean Marat Safin).
  • The beach getaway.
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