Quck hitters

I've obviously missed a bunch of things, but here's a brief attempt at catching up a few things.

The Wimbledon final: This was the first of the four major finals between Federer and Nadal that went the distance and really could have gone either way. It wasn't surprising, really; Nadal is capable of giving Federer trouble off clay, even though he had to play two five-setters against Soderling and Youzhny, hardly world-class players, to get there. I once heard a theory about knuckleball pitchers; that they are virtually as effective against major league hitters as minor leaguers, because hitters don't reach the majors on account of their ability to hit a knuckleball. Likewise, Federer didn't become a galactic marvel because of his play against lefties, so Nadal creates a different set of challenges for him. But he has been in two straight Wimbledon finals, so it's not entirely random. Can he keep it up to give us the rubber match in New York in two months?

David Beckham: I've always wondered what the audience is for those television-tabloid shows hosted by ex-CBS sportscaster Pat O'Brien, I suppose I'm about to find out. I suppose the theory here is that Beckham will raise the profile of US football pulling even more talent into the league, but ask the NASL how that worked out for them. Beckham's celebrity status far outstrips his playing ability at this point in his career and, while he has plenty of gas left for now to be a dominant playmaker in MLS, how much of the interest will be maintained after he inevitably hangs it up in two years? More on this later.

It's the Bible of anti-authoritarian leftists, so you'd think I would have read 1984 at least ten times by now, but I actually hadn't read it at all until last week. Of course, now I have all kinds of things I'd like to say about it, but the problem with 1984 is that there's nothing new and interesting left to say about it. Oh well.

I still want a "Junior Anti-Sex League" t-shirt, though.