BSR

Whoever scouts talent for the Russian tennis federation has some serious egg on their face now that a player they dismissed as not worth developing has just won Wimbledon. How ironic that if the Russian federation had supported Rybakina in the first place, she would have been barred from entering this year's Wimbledon. I heard that the British government put some heavy pressure on the LTA to ban Russian & Belarusian players because they didn't want the PR "disaster" of Princess Kate awarding the trophy to a Russian/Belarusian player. Then we end up with a ladies singles champion who is Russian through & through, just with a Kazakhstani fig leaf. If I were Rybakina, I would have spoken Russian in my acceptance speech just to be a smartass.

Althea Gibson was a great champion who was born in the wrong time. Despite 5 Slam singles titles, Gibson was denied many opportunities due to racial discrimination. She ended up giving up on pro tennis because too many doors were closed to her. Contrast that to today, when Coco Gauff was reportedly earning $1 million a year at 15yo even before her big breakthrough win, upsetting Venus Williams in the 1st round of Wimbledon 2019. Gibson suffered serious financial hardship in the 1980s due to some major medical expenses. The tennis community rallied behind her and donated almost a $million to help her out. I heard that Venus and Serena quietly gave her money so that she could live out her final years in dignity.

OIC, she switched nationality to get support, like Bublik. Either the Russian tennis federation is terribly short on funds, or there are so many promising young players that a lot of them are denied support, much like the situation in Spain. Well, good for Rybakina, from being treated as not worth investing in by her own country's federation to the Wimbledon final.

Thanks for this info. Since I don't follow the women's side as closely, I was wondering about Rybakina. When I saw her in the latter rounds, I thought, "Wait, isn't she Russian?" So she's born & raised in Moscow but wears a Kazakh fig leaf.

Yikes! Rafa's abdominal tear was worse than I thought. He has withdrawn from his semifinal match, giving Nick Kyrgios a walkover into the final. I thought he would at least wait until tomorrow morning to see how the abdominal feels, but the tear must be too great to even think about playing. I can't remember the last time a player withdrew from a Slam semifinal. Of course, the other semi has yet to be played, but forgive me Cam Norrie for anticipating a Novak-Kyrgios final. Novak is playing great and looked very impressive in the last 3 sets against Jannik Sinner. Note that Kyrgios won the only 2 matches he played against Novak.

If Kyrgios had half of Novak's or Rafa's discipline and work ethic, he'd be number one in the world, he's that talented. Let's see what kind of condition Rafa and his abdominal tear are in tomorrow. Even a 100% fit Rafa might struggle against Nick. An injured Rafa is toast.

Groupthink drones get very testy when someone refuses to toe the line. Groupthink demands that we worship and glorify drag queens. Anything less or other than that the drones condemn as "hate." I find the comparison of drag to clowns and mime interesting because I don't like clowns or mime either. Clowns are creepy and I can't figure out what's entertaining about them, and mime is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I find drag queens tiresome, and like clowns, I can't figure out what's entertaining about them. Perhaps if they actually did something besides lip-sync, which is second only to mime as the stupidest thing I've ever seen.

OK, this is the craziest Wimbledon in recent memory. First Wimbledon bans Russian and Belarusian players. Even if none of the banned players was a favorite or even a particularly strong contender for the singles titles, it still had a huge impact because so many players were shut out. Now seeds on the men's side are dropping like flies, whether due to Covid like Berretini (my favorite to make the final from the bottom half) and Marin Cilic (my dark horse pick), unlucky 1R matchups (Felix Auger-Aliassime losing to the only true serve & volleyer in pro tennis), or too-high seedings (clay-courter Casper Ruud clueless on grass). Hurkacz, my favorite to make the semi against Novak, got upset by Alexander Davidovich, who lost his 2R match because he got a point penalty on match point! A softy like Mo Lahyani might have pretended not to see that Davidovich hit a ball into the stands (which is supposed to be an automatic code violation) given that it was match point, but by-the-book Carlos Ramos (the umpire famous for giving Serena a point and game penalty in the US 2018 Open final) was umpiring the match. In the humblest and quietest way possible, Davidovich asked Ramos why he got the point penalty, Ramos gave his explanation, and Davidovich walked away & took his lumps. No screaming, no calling for the tournament supervisor, no racket-breaking tantrum -- just a surprising absence of drama following such an odd end to a match Perhaps unexpected but not that crazy is Serena's 1R loss to #115 Harmony Tan. Even when she was dominating women's tennis, I doubt Serena could be sidelined for a year and come back to win a Slam without any warm-up tournaments. And whaddya know. Tan frustrated the hell out of Serena by chasing down so many balls, returning them deep with lots of slice but no pace. Besides Tan, Serena was also fighting rust and nerves, and fighting all three at once turned out to be too much in the end. Wow, with tons of drama, this Wimbledon feels like a roller coaster, and we haven't even gotten to the 3rd Round!

I've been to the Vineyard a few times but never Nantucket. Must confess, I assumed they were pretty similar. What are the major differences?

I just finished The Innocent, a Spanish mystery thriller based on a Harlan Coben novel. Wow, one of the best series I've seen on Netflix. I'll rank it a strong #2 behind Money Heist. The protagonist is a guy who is provoked into a bar fight in which he accidentally kills a man. After he gets out of prison, he tries to put his life back together and does a good job of it until his wife gets a phone call and needs to go to Berlin for work. But instead of going on a legit business trip, she mysteriously disappears. Since I don't want to give away any spoilers, I'll leave it at that, but The Innocent is definitely worth watching. Available in English dubbed and subtitles.

The priest's 10 inches is a gift from the divine and should never be put to waste. He should get some special exemption from his vow of chastity, like a papal indulgence or something.

What I've heard from my fellow Catholics is that priests, even ones not nearly as attractive as Padre Heriberto, often have to deal with parishioners who are attracted to them because they see the priest as kind, understanding, and good. Looking like he does, Padre Heriberto must have to beat them off with a stick, or something.

With just 1 week before Wimbledon starts, the only 2 withdrawals on the men's side (don't follow the women as closely) are Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem, both injury-related. Zverev wrecked his ankle at Roland Garros, and Domi's wrist still isn't right, poor guy. On the women's side, the most notable name in the draw is 7-time champion Serena, who hasn't played since she withdrew from Wimbledon last year due to injury. Also, despite Rafa's chronic foot injury, he is planning to play. If you're halfway to the calendar year Grand Slam and your archrival in the Slam race is playing Wimbledon, you're going to play even if you need to be wheeled onto Centre Court. I haven't read anything about sponsors pulling out, but Wimbledon did increase prize money significantly, 15% more than last year and 6.2% more than 2019, the previous record-high year. That's a good sign that sponsors stayed put.

I always read the IMDB user reviews before starting a series, and the ones for The Kingdom were interesting. Viewers seemed to either love it or hate it, depending on whether or not they liked the series' condemnation of evangelicals. I loved the series, but didn't see it that way. Instead, I saw it as a study in how power and money corrupts. The pastor loses his soul as he stashes vaults of cash in the temple walls and lusts for the power of the presidency while his disciple, the dirt-poor Tadeo, lives a true and pure life. Controversy aside, the series is brilliant. An evangelical pastor drawn to politics is thrust into the spotlight when his running mate (for president, the pastor for VP) is murdered. It turns out to be a mistake since it's soon discovered that the assassin had intended to kill the pastor. The series exposes the sordid underbelly of the church and the equally sordid backroom deals of politicians as we learn why the pastor was targeted. The whole cast is good, but two performances really stand out. Chino Darín plays the pastor's son-in-law and right-hand man. It's a complicated role (can't say more than that, don't want to give away spoilers) in which Darín really shines. I was pleasantly surprised since he was totally wooden and awful in a series I saw him in 6 years ago (The Embassy). Maybe Chino decided to buckle down & hone his craft instead of living off his father's name (dad's a very famous actor). Even better was Diego Peretti, who plays the pastor. The cash hidden in the temple walls is just the tip of the iceberg of this guy's wrongdoing, yet he preaches the gospel as if he were living and breathing every word. In other words, yeah, the pastor's a nutjob. But to be able to play the role without sinking into parody or caricature is a helluva feat. The Kingdom isn't easy to watch. It presents a very dark and cynical view of human nature. If you're looking for something fun, skip this one. If you're in the mood for romance or comedy, run away as fast as you can. But if you know what to expect, the series is well-done and well worth watching.

Crapfest! I got all excited when I found Merli (the original series, not Sapere Aude) on RTVE, Spain's public TV channel, all 3 seasons available via the Internet. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered they had no subtitles or dubbing! The RTVE app has an icon for subtitles, but when the menu pops up, it's blank. So the series is available, but only in its original Catalan *grumblegrumble*

Valeria is supposedly a Spanish version of Sex and the City (just what I read, can't say since I've never seen SATC), with Valeria instead of Carrie and Madrid instead of NYC. Since expectations have a big impact on how much you end up liking something, I'm glad I read some IMDB reviews of the series beforehand. Yeesh, as user reviews warned, the protagonist is insufferably self-absorbed at times and insufferably angst-ridden all the time. That's the big annoyance. Minor ones as well: Valeria and her friends are always broke yet manage to live in big, beautiful apartments in Central Madrid, dress fabulously in new, smart outfits every episode, and go out for drinks, sushi, etc. every night. I had no idea being poor was so easy. That's the bad. The good is that all the other characters are terrific: interesting, funny, likable, and lovable. The male protagonist is played by the impossibly beautiful Maxi Iglesias, whose green eyes alone make the series worth watching. As a bonus, he took his clothes off almost as much as he did playing a male stripper in Toy Boy. The acting is all-around top-notch, much better than you'd expect from a fluffy series. And they shoot Madrid in a way that makes you want to move there forever. So far, 2 seasons of 8 40-minute episodes are available on Netflix. Valeria is definitely worth a binge. I'm looking forward to the 3rd and final season.

The trailer is pretty damn funny. Crossing my fingers that the movie lives up to its promise.

Spain's King Juan Carlos abdicated because of scandal, not health reasons. In 2012 he took an over-the-top elephant hunting trip to Botswana which cost twice what the average Spaniard made in a year. After getting injured, he had to fly back to Spain via private jet. The lavishness of the trip offended Spaniards who were still mired in the depths of the financial crash. Spaniards were even more offended when the King was caught awarding his son-in-law graft-laden contracts that fleeced the Spanish taxpayers for €50-100 million. The son-in-law went to prison. The King was spared that humiliation but abdicated and went into exile.

I dont know if lane-splitting is legal in neighboring Nevada or if the police just let it go, but lane-splitters are rampant here in Las Vegas. It makes my heart skip a beat or several whenever a motorcyclist flies past me between lanes. I really wish it were illegal everywhere.

Yikes! That sounds scary. When you say "truck," do you mean a pickup, or ...

Gawd, how I hate virtue-signaling. FIFA signaled its virtue by sanctioning the Mexican team for its fans' homophobic taunts yet knowingly, willingly, and all too gladly gave the World Cup to a country where being gay is a crime. I can only imagine the mountain of cash that Qatar paid FIFA to ignore the nation's profound homophobia. Don't pretend to care about LGBT rights when the only thing you really care about is money. Dozens of Qatari hotels are refusing to admit LGBT guests or are telling them to avoid looking or acting gay. Did FIFA honestly think sh*t like this wouldn't happen? What else do you expect from a country that makes homosexuality a crime?! I dont know if it's possible to strip Qatar of the World Cup and relocate it to another country. Logistically I doubt it's a problem (World Cup starts Nov 21). A number of European countries have the facilities and hotel capacity to stage the mega-event, plus would burst with joy at the chance to do so. The hitch is that FIFA would have to forfeit the container ship of cash Qatar gave them. If forced to choose between money and LGBT rights, the virtue-signallers in FIFA would take maybe a nanosecond to decide.

Some heavy-duty pickups have an option of a 30-gallon tank. Bad enough when gas was $2.50. $170.88 to fill up? Yikes!!

High Seas came out with a third season, although much shorter than the first 2, just 6 40-minute episodes. Without a doubt, Season 3 starts with the stupidest premise in the history of TV, exponentially stupider than the Evil Twin: the bad guy (gal, actually) has cosmetic surgery to look like the good gal, and kidnaps the good gal so she can carry out the evil master plan. The surgery is so good even her own sister falls for it (yeah, right). And whaddya know, after just a couple of attempts, she manages to nail down the kidnapped good gal's voice (again, yeah right). OK, once you get past the preposterous premise, it isn't bad. Typical scheming villains trying to carry out their dastardly plot while the heroes save the world, or at least the ocean liner. The first 2 seasons of High Seas were a lot better, but the 3rd was entertaining enough. The show gets docked a star for having a super-handsome lead with a great body but never takes even his shirt off. Come on this is Netflix, not the Royal Shakespeare Company. Whatever pretense you come up with for getting the guy's clothes off will be nothing compared to the cosmetic-surgery silliness.

I can't believe Tommy Paul is already 25. It feels like just yesterday (2015) that he won the Roland Garros boys title.

Roland Garros finalist Casper Ruud