#62 Sunday Sundries

Worst of the Week

• McCain's pick for VP. Well...the whole situation could be summed up by your last-line rhyme-picks for the Limerick in last post, and for sure you can click online already for a whirlwind of exhaustive and bloody dissection by pundits on the right and the left and the in-between of McCain's unfortunate choice--what WAS he thinking?!. So I'll leave that to my betters. But personally I'm truly saddened. I like the guy...seen him on SNL... read his book...suffered vicariously with him in that prison camp. He's perhaps overdoing the latter a bit vis a vis his qualifications for president, but no question he's a genuine hero, a bona fide mensch who has all the right credentials to be president, but the wrong ideas, on the wrong side. And, per an earlier post, we need to be proud of BOTH tickets, now more than ever in the face of generally adverse world opinion. But my goodness did he not screw the pooch on this one? And speaking of which, doesn't he seem to be acting out the old horny-sailor-boy routine once again: first, numerous extramarital affairs, then the rich, young, trophy-wife, and now the beauty-queen VP. I roll my eyes.

Best of the Week

• McCain's VP pick. On the other hand, from a partisan point of view, this pretty much wraps it up for President Obama.

• The Democratic Convention. Actually, an unsightly thing. Didn't watch a live minute of it. Excerpts good enough. Highlights, though, were Hillary and Bill's "concession" speeches (everybody knew Obama would give a stem-winder), boding well for a unified campaign.

• The US Open. Tennis at its best, with lots of back-story nostalgia this year in spotlighting winners past. Here's some some personal nostalgia. It was noted in the TV commentary that one of the qualifiers had "just come from winning The Juniors' at Kalamazoo" (and subsequently losing an un-televised match). Well, while I was at K College in the early '60s, us lowly students had the privilege of attending (for free even) the USTA Junior and Boys' Championships held late summer every year since forever on our very campus--held there because "K" has historically been a powerhouse in small-college conference tennis, but even beating the likes of Notre Dame and U. of Ill. in years past. Anyway, we were able to witness the very best young tennis talent (from ages 12-18) in sort of mock-battle preparation for bigger things to come. One example dear to my heart: my late father (on a family visit) and I sat in the stands and watched a young Stan Smith capture the Junior title for that year. A good start...because there he was again the other night at the US Open parading across the stage with other former champions. Ah, I knew him when....

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