I haven't blogged it, so it's certain that you don't know that I've been following the US Open this year. I like watching tennis; I have for a while now. I hadn't been one to analyze my regard for the game as a spectator, but I just realized yesterday what it is: tennis is an unadulterated game. There are men and women playing, hitting the balls as best they can, and sometimes losing or winning based on mental mistakes. As you watch, you can almost tell what's going on in their heads. There is no way that a tennis contest, even a major one (Grand Slam) like the US Open, can be fixed in any way. It's just not conceivable. Everyone plays his best, and the best players win it. Tennis is so much about the players and their level of skill and mental fitness. That's why I like to watch it.

I want to learn how to play tennis too. I don't really have the time right now, but perhaps later in the year (especially as the weather gets cooler) I can go out and hit some balls around with my dad, who's primary exercise is tennis right now. He's trying to start playing lefty, because his right elbow is hurting a bit. He played tennis a lot when he was younger and kind of messed it up, I think. Anyway, we both enjoy the game.

I like going to Usopen.org and reading the press conferences, and when there's a match going that we can't get on tv, since we don't have cable, I turn on the cool scoreboard thing and the netcam and pretend that I'm there. Sometimes I also hear the radio broadcast, but I don't like it so much because it's really just the audio part of the cable TV broadcast, so there isn't detailed play-by-play anyway. Today, however, they're televising some matches on network, so I'll get to watch! :&)



...P.S. My birthday is November 5. I will be 17. I feel so terribly old sometimes, and especially when I think about it and when I observe people who are younger than I am, which is often. I'm the oldest person on my swim team! *deep sigh* I don't really want to grow up. Is it absolutely necessary, do you think?