A Standing O: Wimbledon, Wiffleball, and White Barbecue Sauce

Once the weather gets nice, most people look forward to baseball season really getting under way. But Alex O has another sport that has his attention once the seasons turn. Summer just started and Alex O is back to talk about Wimbledon, Wiffleball, and give you a recipe for barbecue sauce (editors note: posted a day late which is my fault)

SI

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Summer is almost a week old. The 3H days are upon us---- Hazy, Hot and Humid. I was born in the summer so it is no surprise that it is my favorite season. It is the time to barbecue, head to the beach, and enjoy the sports of the summer.

One of my favorites sporting events to watch in the summer is Wimbledon. A trip to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is high upon my bucket list of sporting events to witness live. I can still remember the epic Wimbledon match in 1980 between John McEnroe (my favorite) vs. the Bjorn Borg.I have yet to watch the HBO documentary on these two but am looking forward to it.

There is something special about this tournament that holds on to its traditions, and is the only major tournament still played on grass. When I was growing up in the 80’s the Australian Open was still a grass tourney and the US Open was grass until 1974. One of the strict rules is that players must wear mostly white. Here is a link to some outfits that caused a stir at Wimbledon. The tournament this year is now wide open on the women’s side since the Williams sisters lost as did the #1 seed Wozniacki. The favorite now is the grunting Maria Sharapova, it is all about her ability to serve if she will be able to get her second Wimbledon title. She won her first when she was 17 back in 2004.

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Quote of the Day: LOST Co-creator on Wimbledon

This is an awesome quote from LOST co-creator and executive producer Damon Lindelof via Twitter on the recently completed marathon Wimbledon tennis match between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner:

@DamonLindelof: I found the ending of Isner/Mahut satisfying, but wish they had answered more questions.

Nice serve, Mr. Lindelof. 

Picture from The Star-Ledger

Who's On Drugs Now? D-Wade, Albert/Joey Belle, NASCAR Driver and the Stripper Kisser

Athletes as role models? PLEASE. Give me a break. They're all on drugs. We've talked about it a lot on this blog: Michael Phelps (pot), Geovany Soto (marijuana), Sidney Ponson (stimulant/maybe-diet pills), Donte Stallworth (weed), Manny Ramirez (PEDs/women's drugs), Lenny Dykstra (probably a lot of shit), and, of course A-Rod (steroids).

Now we got some more to add to this list (all alleged of course...):

• Dwayne Wade thinks he's a rapper: he supposedly organizes sex parties and smokes weed. Awesome life, dude! This report is accoring to SportsByBrooks, who also talk about the accuser: "[Richard] Van Houtman said he twice saw Wade smoking a joint in the house but wasn’t in attendance for the orgies that Wade allegedly helped arrange." What an IDIOT! He knew that there were orgies going on but left? He watched someone smoke weed? Doesn't he know he's never going to be a professional athlete or rapper acting like that? And Dwayne Wade is just ripping up the competition: his divorce is so much weirder and messier than Kobe Bryant's!
• And then there's Albert Belle. This man HAS to be on something. Has to be. Had to be on something while he was playing (ie - steroids) and now is definitely on something (I go with crack). Because according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Belle called and wanted to talk about how frustrated he was with the Indians season so far and how he feels it's unfair that Manny Ramirez is singled out for steroids. When asked if Belle himself had done steroids, he said no, and attributed his anger not to steroids, but to being "an angry black man". This is the same man who once used a corked bat and had a teammate crawl through the ventilation system to retreive it. Oh yeah...and he also, according to the LA Times: threw a baseball at a fan, chased trick-or-treating children with his car, threw a baseball at a photographer, Belle screamed at a woman from NBC and was ordered to undergo counseling.
  So remember what Dan Patrick said about you, Albert (or shall we call you Joey)? You're no Kirby Puckett! I mean this is the Kirby Puckett, who, as Sports Illustrated revealed "tried to strangle [his ex-wife] with an electrical cord, locked her in the basement and used a power saw to cut through a door after she had locked herself in a room. Once...he even put a cocked gun to her head while she was holding their young daughter." Yeah Albert/Joey, Dan Patrick thinks you're worse than that.
  
• Meanwhile, racecar driver, Jeremy Mayfield, is a big meth user, according to ESPN. He just was suspended again for meth use. "Again?" you might ask. Well, yes...because as Deadspin points out, he was suspended for the first time in May. I'm telling you, this is the type of shit that gets America intrigued. At least Fake America (where I live).
• Lastly, Richard Gasquet was a tennis player suspended from the ATP Tour for cocaine use. The ruling was just reversed by the International Tennis Federation according to the New York Times. Thank goodness, too...you never want to be falsely accused of that. His defense? "Richard Gasquet escaped a lengthy doping ban Wednesday when the International Tennis Federation ruled that he inadvertently took cocaine by kissing a woman in a nightclub. The 23-year-old Frenchman, who was cleared to resume playing after completing a 2 1/2-month ban on Wednesday, convinced an independent anti-doping tribunal that he ingested cocaine from kissing the woman he had just met at the club in Miami." He even said the woman was named Pamela but didn't know her last name. What idiots! I use that excuse all the time. I can't BELIEVE they fell for that. I always tell them I'm a foreigner who didn't know you weren't supposed to kiss strippers in Miami because of fear of being drug tested afterward.
  

That, my friends, is amazing. Kids, don't do drugs.

This Day In Sports Histroy

Via RealClearSports once again:

Bjorn Borg wins his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title, July 5, 1980: Bjorn Borg wins his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title, but not before being stretched to the limit by John McEnroe. In the fourth set, McEnroe fought off five match points - four on Borg's serve - during the tiebreaker, eventually winning 18-16 to force a fifth set. McEnroe later acknowledged that the strain of the tiebreaker cost him in the final set, which Borg won 8-6 while losing only three points in his last seven service games.

Ted Williams dies, July 5, 2002: Ted Williams dies in Inverness, Florida at age 83. The last man to bat .400 in a season, Williams's ambition was to be the greatest hitter who ever lived, and his claim to the title is as good as anybody's. His death set off a legal battle that lasted nearly two years, with two of his children fighting their older half-sister for the right to have his remains cryogenically frozen at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona. They won, thanks to a hand-written note signed by Williams in 2000 that superceded a will written in 1996.

A congratulations go out to Roger Federer for winning his 15th Grand Slam title today. What an epic match that was against Andy Roddick (who looked devestated afterwards). With Pete Sampras and Roger Federer to go along with John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, and Andre Agassi, I feel privileged to have seen some of the greatest male tennis players of all time.