What a racket
Some news and notes about the U.S. Open, since I'm getting a nice dose of it during the day and the fact that it helps give me something else to follow other than baseball and football:

-- I was never a big Pete Sampras fan, although I definitely respected his game and his accomplishments. Maybe he was a bit boring, maybe it was because a family friend called him Pete sam-PRAS years ago when he won his first U.S. Open. I'm not sure what it was, but something never sat right with me regarding him.

-- I was obviously a Michael Chang fan growing up, although it seems sad that his going-away bash was so understated, then again he was barely hanging on to respectability at the end. It's also weird that he was the first of the post-Connors/Mac Americans to win a Grand Slam but never won any other majors after that. He helped set the tone for Courier (another favorite now doing the TV thing), Agassi and Sampras to win their majors. However, Chang is the one guy who barely aged from his early days to his final matches -- the hair is only receding a little bit.

Jon Wertheim has a nice tribute to Chang, although I somewhat disagree with his assessment that Chang brought a lot of Asian-Americans into the game. Asians, yes. He made for a great role model since he made so many appearances in Asia. But from what I could tell growing up, tennis was the sport of choice among Asian-Americans even before Chang hit the scene.

-- I suppose it's good that Sampras "went out on top" but his hints and false starts with his retirement were a bit annoying. At least he hasn't dragged it out as long as Martina Hingis, or done the NBA thing by having reports of retirement surface so many times that the real thing is an afterthought.

Sampras' farewell party was well done, although I'm wondering since when did the U.S. Open opt for a cheesy opening ceremony? After seeing the "Movin' Out" stuff, we wondered at work what artist would have their catalog become a musical next. "Silent Lucidity" -- the Queensryche musical. "Livin' on a Prayer" -- the dramatic interpretation of Bon Jovi. "A Flock of Seagulls -- the musical." And so on and so on.

-- Andy Roddick proves yet again that Reebok made a horrible decision by making those trucker-type caps cool again. Besides, is that any good for mopping up the sweat while you're playing?

-- Gee, Anna Kournikova isn't playing, and yet she throws out the first pitch at a Yankees game, does a bunch of PR appearances for XBox, makes Jeff Bezos look like Kevin Spacey's character in American Beauty, and gets a "reporter" job for USA Network? OK, makes sense to me. Then again, did you see what she was wearing during her first segment? Sweet fancy Moses! However, I do wonder if Anna's segment was intentionally shown during Ashley Harkleroad's second-round match? And wouldn't you know, she lost -- although it was to a seeded player.

-- One intriguing second-round women's matchup has Mary Pierce facing Jelena Dokic. There are so many weird storylines flying: the vagabond nationalities, the crazy fathers, their "paper bag" looks.

-- Maybe they'll come later, but I really miss those marathon matches that take so long that they creep into the CBS late-night recap show.

-- Now that I've watched a lot of tennis, it's about time for me to get back on the court for the first time in ages.