Roddick’s Fault

After three years of showing up for nothing more than an appearance fee and an opportunity to show off his Lacoste polo shirts, Andy Roddick finally gets his chance.

 

In his 8^th Wimbledon, America’s current best hope for a men’s title can envision the championship plate engraved for him on Sunday afternoon in London. Then again, he probably thought he’d win two of these by now.

 

While the Williams sisters seem to bring home trophies that could fill many tennis arenas, Roddick’s career continues to disappoint. Sure, he’s won a Grand Slam (2003 U.S. Open) and reached three other Grand Slam finals. Still, shouldn’t he have a better resume’? Why does it always seem that he’s ranked 6^th or 7^th in the field and the phrase “Don’t forgot about Andy Roddick” always seems to be on the lips of the tennis commentators?

 

Quite simply, he played like he didn’t give a damn if he won or lost – as long as he was still marketable. Call it the “Anna Kournikova corollary.” Both stars successfully cashed in on their good looks and spent more time in fashion shoots instead of practice courts. The only difference between tennis’ A-Rod and Anna K. can be seen when the match starts. Roddick can win matches. Kournikova couldn’t. That explains why Roddick outlasted the blonde at her own game.

 

The native from Omaha, Nebraska looked like the next Pete Sampras or Jim Courier when he smashed onto the tennis scene in the year 2000. Here’s a fun quiz question: name another American men’s tennis player that competes deep into the most important tournaments on a consistent basis. And no, John McEnroe’s analysis doesn’t count.  The perpetually disappointing James Blake sits as the only other American in the top 20.

 

With only four men left in the 2009 draw at The Championships in Wimbledon, Andy Roddick once again finds himself with another chance. Going deeper than any other major in the last three years, Roddick must take advantage of this precious opportunity. He faces Great Britain’s Andy Murray on Center Court on the 4^th of July weekend.

 

Making more than 15 million dollars in his career, Roddick must put away all of the distractions for the final weekend at Wimbledon. One guy named Andy will make the Gentleman’s Final on Sunday at Wimbledon. Can Roddick finally find his way?

Fantastic Voyage

On an afternoon where more people tuned in to see a South Carolina Governor admit that his trip to Argentina was more for pleasure than business, the United States soccer team continued their trip to South Africa with a workmanlike upset for the ages.

 

Team USA beat Spain on Wednesday afternoon to advance to the final match of the Confederations Cup.

 

Even if you don’t give a red card about soccer, pay attention to this result.

 

If you think the United States has a rich soccer history, then you also really think “Transformers 2” should win the Academy Award for Best Picture or that Jennifer Love Hewitt whispers to ghosts in her free time. In short, they stink. The best result the team has had in the World Cup in 3^rd place. That happened in 1930. In America, we don’t usually celebrate bronze medals.

 

Granted, the win against Spain in South Africa wasn’t the World Cup final. I understand that. But it was something very special.

 

Spain hadn’t allowed a goal since April 1^st. No joke.

 

Spain’s last loss was in 2006.

 

Looking as confused as any star of the movie “The Hangover,” Spain’s players looked lost and lethargic. They knew they were beat as hopeless shot after hopeless shot missed the target destination.

 

When the United States beat the Soviet Union in 1980, they needed to win another game to win the gold medal. This American team must win another game to take home the title.

Everyone Go Home

Well, the USGA has suspended play until tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM.

Thus ending the best U.S. Open live blog in history.

Here’s hoping everyone enjoyed it.

Who Will Stop The Rain?

The USGA just announced that it is looking for a “three to five hour window” to play golf this afternoon at Bethpage.

 

If this holds up, it looks like the afternoon wave of golfers won’t even make it to the golf course on the opening day of the tournament.

 

Currently looking like a big puddle with 18 flagsticks, Bethpage needs sunshine in a hurry.

The Heavy Stuff

We are in a rain delay in New York. The best guess is that we could be here for a while.

 

Tiger Woods struggled off the first tee, nearly hitting a makeshift souvenir tent, and still made his par. Woods wasn’t so lucky on the 5^th hole.  Another wayward drive led to Woods chipping it out onto the fairway for his 3^rd shot that acted as an approach effort. Hitting it short and to the left, Woods missed the green and plugged it deep into the bunker. Tiger took a double bogey and couldn’t wait to find a clubhouse.

 

Just before the horn sounded for the delay, the best player in the world nailed a 13-footer for birdie to climb back to +1.

 

A foursome of unknowns (even to avid golf fans) have the lead at 1-under. Jeff Brehaut, Johan Edfors, Andrew Parr and Ryan Spears can all say they held the lead in the United States Open. So can Jumbo Ozaki. None of these guys end up in the winners circle. Then again, Lee Janzen and his two titles are up for debate.  

 

Scorecard of the morning (so far): Andres Romero. The young Argentine started birdie-bogey-bogey-par before the rain halted his play. The rub? Romero’s par came on the only par-5 on the back nine. He’s at +1, only a handful of shots away from the foursome in red numbers.

 

According to the latest report from Farmington, there’s a tremendous amount of wet weather that is approaching the area. It looks like a long, long day at the national championship.

The Starter

Welcome to the best part of your Thursday.

 

It’s the 109^th United States Open in Farmington, New York. For the second time this decade, Bethpage will host the U.S. Open on it’s “Black” course. You have to be really, really good to play well here. They have a sign near the first tee and everything.

 

From now until the end of the first round, I will blog about the second major of the season and will take any questions that you may have. Feel free to leave a question or comment through e-mail at CDachille@hearst.com.

 

The crowd favorite, for obvious reasons is Phil Mickelson. The betting favorite (or favourite at Ladbroke’s) is Tiger Woods.

 

Let’s get this party started.

Woods & Rough In New York

 Like a mobster who enjoys the act of suffering to and through the breaking point, the United States Golfing Association sets up a United States Open with an abundance of obstacles. This isn’t a PGA Tour event where the birdies flow under pristine conditions and the final score shoots back in the -13 range.

 

Nope, this is the Open. There are only two par 5’s on the entire course. About 400,000 bunkers line the way from the tee box to the green on every hole. Celery stalks dressed as “rough” swallow up wayward drives. A round of 74 is considered acceptable. On Monday morning, 3 days before the tournament starts, three players have already withdrawn from the event.

 

So, who’s ready to give it a go?

 

Tiger Woods, the best golfer in the world, will line up as the early favorite to take home yet another U.S. Open trophy. We will never forget the other-worldly performance he displayed at Torrey Pines last year in a playoff victory over Rocco Mediate. There’s really no way he can top this. Winning three U.S. Open titles, Woods looks to collect his 15^th major title this week in New York which would put him within three majors of tying the all-time record of 18 majors held by Jack Nicklaus.

 

Tiger has won two tournaments this season – at Jack’s tournament in Ohio and Arnold’s in Florida. In both tournaments, Woods had to go low on Sunday to shave away deficits of four and five strokes to become the champion. Even after surgery and a lengthy staycation away from the Tour, players are still scared of his name on the leaderboard. It’s something that didn’t happen with Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus or Gary Player. The level of talent in that golden era of golf could easily dominate the current crop of pro golfers. Now, I’m not taking anything away from Tiger, but who acts as his toughest competition?

 

Phil Mickelson, shaky at best, is going through a family struggle that no one wants to face. Ernie Els has lost his putting stroke. Retief Goosen probably won’t forget his U.S. Open collapse at Pinehurst. Sergio Garcia hasn’t won a major. Steve Stricker can’t finish in a major. Vijay Singh is past his prime.

 

Who else is left?

 

Paul Casey, ranked third in the world, looks to finally finish in a big time tournament. A standout on the European Tour, Casey finally looks to shine when the lights are the brightest. Casey usually hangs around for the weekend. He hasn’t missed a cut since the ’06 PGA. Winning twice this year on the European Tour, Casey looks for his first major at one of the tougher settings in championship golf.

 

Henrik Stenson hopes the mojo he picked up from the final two majors last year continues on the tee box at the Open. Winner of The Players Championship last month, Stenson no longer can hide under golf’s radar. The man who wears the Boss clothing label has proven that he can take on all challengers in big events. Stenson won the World Match Play Championships in ’07 and always plays well in the big tournaments. Could he be a factor on Sunday?

 

We enter Bethpage week with the usual question: Would you like to pick Tiger Woods or the field?

 

Your guess is as good as mine.

I’ll Take Manhattan

Unless an opportunity for a Triple Crown presents itself, most people bypass the Belmont Stakes.

 

That’s not necessarily a mistake this year.

 

Looking at the card on Belmont Stakes day, the race that jumps out features five Grade One winners and many recognizable names in the field. The bad news for our friends at ABC who are televising the race? It’s not the Belmont Stakes. The Manhattan Handicap (the race before the Belmont) reads like a “Who Who Among Turf Horses.”

 

Cowboy Cal gets the morning line favorite status in this deep race at 3-1. Todd Pletcher, who throws horses at Grade One cards like I take Claritin, thinks that his horse can finally get it together after a decent performance at the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on Derby Day (he finished second) and an awful showing at the Santa Anita Handicap (he finished eighth). Cowboy Cal finished in 9th place in the crapshoot that is the Kentucky Derby last year, and seems like he can’t be trusted in a big race.

 

Court Vision is another horse that didn’t show up in last year’s Derby or this year’s Santa Anita Handicap. His morning line is set at 4-1, but he also faces many questions. Can this 4-year-old find his old form in late ‘07 where he found the winners circle on a constant basis? After the Derby, Court Vision took part in eight races. He only won two of them, and has barely hit the board this year. With so much talent deep in this pool, it may be best to look somewhere else.

 

There’s great value for 7-year-old Cosmonaut in the Manhattan. The lightly-raced veteran is 1-for-1 this year with a win at Belmont in the Fort Marcy Stakes. Consistently in the top five, Cosmonaut seems to never have a bad race. The same can be said for Champs Elysees. This champion 6-year-old won the Hollywood Turf Cup Sprint in December and has almost fizzled since since. Good enough to get into the Breeders’ Cup Classic last year, expect a double digit price for the best value play on the board.

 

Oh, and then there’s last year’s winner of this event. Better Talk Now, the 10-year-old gelding, can still get it done. Down by 5 lengths at the top of the stretch at Belmont last June, Better Talk Now weaved his way past a bevy of champion horses to win the Manhattan. Refreshing myself with this race a few minutes ago, I still can’t believe how that horse got past such legends as English Channel and Shakkis to eek out an ever-so-close win at the wire. His morning line odds are 15-1. You want to bet against him?

 

I’ll take Better Talk Now and Champs Elysees in a box exacta and hope for the best.

 

Remember, the best race on Saturday isn’t the feature race of the day. Sometimes, the grass is greener on the inside of the racetrack.

Race Weekend At Dover

The official mascot of Dover International Speedway is Miles the Monster and yes, that is a real car in his hand. Regardless of who wins the race, I’d probably take Miles if I needed a crew chief.

When the race is over, the winning driver celebrates in victory lane. Let’s just say that I like being the warm-up act.

We met a number of fans in the Dover garage. Our chat with Beth stands out. Here’s why:

Here’s a pit road view of a Marcos Ambrose pit stop. They didn’t have the best day.

The best part of the day? The pace car ride!

Joy In Dover

Just before midnight on Saturday night, I received a standing ovation on a game of chance.

At the Dover Downs casino on NASCAR race weekend, I had the honor of sitting next to veteran TV play-by-play announcer Mike Joy. For those of you not used to the “boogity boogity boogity,” Joy is the guy in the booth who doesn’t sound like he’s lived in Alabama all of his life. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

The casino game of roulette is perfect for NASCAR fans. This sport is built on associating numbers with drivers. Sure, everyone knows that Michael Jordan wore number 23 (and for a short period, he wore number 45). But how many of us know the uniform number of Ken Griffey Jr. or Mark Messier? The numbers game works for NASCAR fans.

Huddled around a group of about 30-40 with a Bud Light and time on their hands, everyone wanted to see if Joy could call the roulette wheel as well as he calls the races. Not exactly. Joy hit a rough patch about 30 minutes in and asked for my help on the ultimate guessing game.

I always put money in and around the number 14. I was born on the 14th and always considered this to be my lucky number. So, I gave him the tip. Joy took the advice. In my mind, the next roll would land on the number 14 and we’d both make hundreds of dollars. After this good break, Joy would invite me to the NASCAR play-by-play booth on Sunday and, heck, even let me call a lap.

Reality interrupted my daydream.

33.

Rats.

Like a fool with tried to rationalize roulette, Joy and I kept hitting the number 14. And we kept losing.

Out of credits with the roulette machine and with my Saturday evening gambling friends, I decided to walk around the casino, get a beverage and decide if I would go back to the table.

Yeah, like that was a tough call.

Three hours after my first game and many hands being so close to the number 14, I finally won big.

So did Mike, who pointed at me after a few rounds of applause.

“Finally,” he said.

That’s how I roll.