Hail Britannia!

There are several things I think of when the first days of summer roll around: the upcoming MLB All-Star Game(with 3 BoSox starting :) ), doing some kind of outdoor activity, no school(on normal occasions), and of course, Wimbledon: The Championships, probably my favorite tennis event of them all. Why do I like it so much? I wish I knew the answer. I think it may be because it has that kind of grandeur about it being in England. Didn't they invent tennis over there? Also, it's the only Grand Slam with the name "Championship" in the official title, so that's definitely a reason it should be revered. I've always enjoyed the grass courts too; they're very quiet, yet the ball travels at high speeds on the surface. I'm not a fan of clay, and hard courts are alright, except the ever-present squeaking of the shoes as they slide across it.

On the women's side, I pick Maria Sharapova to win her 2nd Wimbledon title in a row. Besides being beautiful, she has improved her game immensely since last year's tournament, when she was already pretty good. She's fast on the grass, and she has begun to play at the net more, resulting in her opponent's trying to play over her or trying to blast one by her. That works to her advantage, 1) because she's tall, and 2) as I said before, she's ultra-light on her feet when playing on the grass.

With the men, I wanted to pick Raphael Nadal before today, until he was ousted by Gilles Muller(who?!). So I guess I'll stick with my boy, A-Rod(the good A-Rod. The one that doesn't slap baseballs out of the hands of a pitcher in order to reach base safely. The tennis A-Rod: Andy Roddick). You really cannot emphasize this guy's serve enough; especially on grass or hard courts, his first serve is usually around the 125 range. It even gets higher as the match progresses. Roddick has never won a Wimbledon title, and I do believe he will have one before his career is over. He could still meet Federer in the final, which would be fantastic; however, Federer has had Roddick's number the last few meetings.

Well, the boys are back in town tomorrow...Dan and Adam are coming in from Huntsville. Adam Brown is coming up from Madison. Trevor has copped out of coming; for what reason, I'm sure we'll never know. Reggie "says" he has a never-ending supply of homework, yet he only has one real class; the other two are online. Nevertheless, the crew and I will have a blast this weekend; I think the agenda so far is soccer, Sox game on Saturday, Land of the Dead at some point, and definitely some gaming time.