BSR

My dream scenario is that Novak wins on Sunday for Slam #19, then defends his Wimbledon title in a few weeks for #20. That way, the Big 3 all go into the US Open with 20 apiece, plus Novak will be chasing the elusive calendar year Grand Slam. Oh, it would be glorious!

Novak's win today changes the landscape of the Slam race -- currently Roger at 20, Rafa at 20, Novak at 18. Mind you, Novak still has to win the final, but if he does, that puts him just one behind Roger & Rafa. So instead of the rather sizable gap of 3 Slams between Rafa & Novak that just about everyone had penciled in, Novak is just one back, and he's the favorite at Wimbledon. Rafa was 105-2 at Roland Garros going into today's match, with an unreal 13-0 record in semifinals (he's also undefeated in the 13 finals he's played). So Novak hands Rafa his first loss in a semifinal and only his 3rd loss of his career at the clay court Slam. Just an incredible performance from Novak today.

Wow, that's beautiful. Any idea where this is?

Some controversy has erupted in response to Federer's withdrawal. On Men's Tennis Forum, even some Fed fans (or so they claim) are criticizing his decision. Their arguments are mostly that you don't treat a Grand Slam as a warmup tournament and that once you enter a tournament you play until you are knocked out, you don't just quit when it's convenient. Even though I am not at all a Fed fan (die-hard Novak fan here), I'm OK with his decision. Do I wish he played his next match against Berrettini? Yeah, sure. I think it actually hurts Berrettini to have 3 days off before facing (most likely) Novak in the quarters. But Federer was out of commission for more than a year due to 2 knee surgeries. A 3.5 hour match on the grindiest surface is far more stress than any orthopedic surgeon would advise for that knee. Federer turns 40 in August. Please note that just 20 years ago, 30 was the unofficial retirement age in men's tennis. If he thinks that continuing at Roland Garros is too much of a risk to his body, he's probably right because he knows his own body better than anyone. Hopefully his knee is OK and Roger can have a great grass court season. It might be his last hurrah at Wimbledon.

Naomi Osaka made $55 million last year, $5 million in prize money and a whopping $50 million in endorsements. She is by far the highest earning female athlete. Out of all athletes, only Lebron James, Tiger Woods, and Roger Federer made more than Osaka. Osaka is currently dating a rapper. I know nothing about the world of rap, but maybe he's as rich as she is? To give some perspective on just how much Japanese tennis stars make in endorsements, Kei Nishikori (currently #49, career high ranking #4, zero Slam titles) makes more in endorsements than even Rafa Nadal (20 Slams, 209 weeks at #1) and Novak Djokovic (18 Slams, 323 weeks at #1). Even Shuzo Matsuoka, the highest ranked Japanese man before Nishikori, despite a career-high ranking of #46 and just one minor title to his name, became a multimillionaire thanks to endorsements.

An interesting resolution to this stand-off: Osaka has withdrawn from Roland Garros. She cites in a long statement that she had suffered long bouts of depression since winning the US Open in 2018. She also apologized to tennis journalists, which was nice to see because ever since she came on the scene, those who cover tennis have always been particularly nice to Osaka. Honestly, I don't think Osaka thought this one through very well. Whatever mental health issues she suffers, the solution is not avoiding press conferences. I doubt she expected such strong blowback from fellow players nor the four Slams. The ITF (the governing body for the 4 Grand Slams, Davis Cup, and the Olympics) threatened Osaka with not just a default from this Roland Garros but also suspensions from future Slams if she continued to shirk pressers. With the threat of being banned from future Slams, Osaka will do what she should have done in the first place: figure out a way to deal with her mental health issues while fulfilling her press responsibilities, just as every single one of tens of thousands of professional tennis players have done for the last 53 years.

The reigning queen of hardcourts Naomi Osaka (current US Open & Australian champion) announced via social media that she will no longer do the mandatory post-match press conferences, citing the issue of mental health. "I've often felt that people have no regard for athletes mental health and this very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one. We're often sat there and asked questions that we've been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds and I'm just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me." In response, Roland Garros tournament organizers have fined her $15,000 for skipping out of her 1st round press conference. Since Osaka made $55 million last year, the fine is a drop in the bucket for her. But tournament officials have threatened her with heavier fines in the future and even a default from the tournament (yikes!). She has gotten support from Venus Williams (just a "you go, girl!" tweet), but criticism from almost everyone else. Novak said that press is part of the job & that all players have to do their job. Rafa, who has always avoided controversy like the plague, even weighed in, saying that the reason (top) tennis players are lucky to be making $millions is all the media attention, and press conferences feed the worldwide fan interest. My opinion is that Osaka needs to suck it up. Oh, she has to answer the same questions over & over again? So does every other athlete, not just in tennis but in every sport. As for the issue of mental health, tens of thousands of tennis players since the Open Era began have had to deal with tough questions, doubters, and blows to their self-esteem. Miraculously, not one has suffered a psychological breakdown or had to check into a mental health facility. If tens of thousands of other players had to figure out a way to get through press conferences, Osaka can too. I wonder if the powers-that-be at Roland Garros will actually make good on their threats. Heavier fines? Sure, that's easy. But *gulp* defaulting her from a Grand Slam?? Wow, that'll take a pair. Hoooooooey! There'll be fireworks like Bastille Day times a zillion if that comes to pass.

Different strokes ... I loved "Friends" during its initial run. I don't make it a point to watch it in syndication, but when I catch the occasional rerun, I am impressed by the comic genius of Joey & Phoebe. I definitely underappreciated just how funny those two were back in the Nineties. On a bit of a "Friends" tangent, I once met a guy here in Vegas who was born & raised in Dubai, had been living in London for 5 years, yet spoke perfect colloquial American English. When I asked him if he had lived in the US because his English sounded so American, he said he got it from friends. "Oh, you have American friends in London?" I asked. "No, from the TV show 'Friends.' I have the boxed set and have watched every episode at least 10 times."

She got quite a backlash from her initial tweet. I see that she made amends.

Holy Toledo, those two officers are gorgeous!!

When I first saw this, I was baffled -- MLB players making errors (in judgment) that Little Leaguers don't make (even 10-year-olds know better). Wow, you gotta see it to believe it. Had I just read or heard about it, no way would I believe that big leaguers could be so boneheaded, LOL.

I just saw this Facebook: "Memorial Day is coming, so if you visit a cemetary, don't remove the coins laid on graves because they have meaning: A penny, you stopped & paid your respects A nickel, you were in boot camp with them A dime, you served in the same you unit with them A quarter, you were with them when they died" Is this common knowledge? I had never heard of it before.

VP Kamala Harris issued a puzzling tweet about Memorial Day: Enjoy the long weekend. Perhaps she will say something to acknowledge our nation's fallen military on Memorial Day itself.

I don't know who this is, but he has a beautifully defined back

Great thread topic, @JoeMendoza I can think of a number of things, but the one that stands out the most is the old TV show "Dukes of Hazzard." In grade school, we had to stay in the cafeteria until opening bell. On the morning after Dukes was on, all the boys in my class could talk about was Daisy Duke, her trademark shorts, and how sexy she was in this or that scene. I knew I was very different from the other boys & wished I had someone to talk with about how sexy Bo & Luke were 😍

Now that the Nevada governor dropped the indoor mask mandate, businesses are dropping their mask requirement with lightning speed. As far as I know, the only corporation to keep its mask requirement is the supermarket chain Smith's (Kroger). I have no idea what percentage of mom & pop businesses are still requiring masks. As I expected, all of the casinos immediately ditched their mask requirement, some even before the governor's press conference where he officially lifted his executive order. As of May 5, only 27.13% of Nevadans have been fully vaccinated, not a great number. In light of the relatively low percentage of vaccinated Nevadans, I will keep a close eye out for an increase in Covid hospitalizations & deaths. While the governor could always re-issue his executive order mandating masks in indoor public places, I wonder what the compliance rate will be once people have ditched their masks.

A very interesting development in Las Vegas: the Wynn & Encore resorts will no longer require fully vaccinated guests to wear a mask indoors. No proof of vaccination will be required; guests are simply on the honor system. I'm a bit puzzled by this because I thought all of Nevada was subject to an executive order from Gov. Sisolak mandating masks for all indoor public spaces. But if the Wynn & Encore can drop the mask mandate, apparently I was mistaken. I expect other casinos to follow suit quickly, as well as other businesses. Edited to add: I saw this after the news about Wynn/Encore, that Gov. Sisolak plans on lifting the indoor mask mandate in light of the latest CDC recommendation. Details will come out later today.

I paid $3.59/gallon last night. Gas prices have been going up ~10 cents a week lately.

Tradition dictates that the man save up for the engagement ring to present to his fiance. If she breaks off the engagement, she is expected to return it. If he breaks it off, she can keep it. According to this new 21st century trend of men wearing engagement rings, who saves up for the ring? Far more women today get bachelors degrees than men, and women getting post-grad degrees still outnumber men. It's fair to expect that the woman pays for the ring, and whether or not the man keeps it depends on who breaks the engagement. All that said, I would never wear a diamond ring ... way too pimpy. Pimpy's great if you can pull it off, but I would just make a fool of myself.

I finally saw "My Straight Son," (original title "Azul y no tan rosa" - Blue & Not So Pink) a Venezuelan movie I had been wanting to see since I saw the preview years ago. It's about a gay father (Diego) in Venezuela whose teenage Spanish son (Armando) comes to live with him for a while. With all the chaos in Diego's life -- his boyfriend Fabrizio is in a coma after being gay-bashed -- the unexpected arrival of his straight (and homophobic) son really complicates matters. The movie got a lot of great reviews and won the Goya (Spain's equivalent of the Oscars) for best Ibero-American film (although how many movies compete in that category?). I wonder if some of the raves weren't more for the themes the film takes on -- anti-gay violence, domestic violence, trans issues -- than the film's actual merits. I thought the movie tried to take on too much and that some of the acting was uneven. It also bothered me that the actor playing the 15yo son was 20 at the time of shooting and looked a lot more like 20 than 15. But Guillermo García, who plays the protagonist Diego, was simply brilliant & more than made up for whatever other of the film's flaws. All in all, it's definitely worth seeing. A low-res version can be found on YouTube, but no subtitles. I don't know if it's available on Netflix or other streaming services.

But doesn't the tipping system lower costs for the consumer? For round numbers' sake, let's say a restaurant server needs to take home $15/hr to make a decent living. To net that, his employer would have to pay $25/hr total, $20 to the server (of which he gets $15 after taxes) and $5 to the IRS in payroll taxes. Let's say that in a tipping system, that same server also takes home $15/hr. The difference is that by paying a much lower serving wage, the restaurant owner pays far less in payroll taxes. Because the owner has lower costs, he can pass those savings on to customers (competition & all). The only party that loses out is the IRS. Maybe that's why leftists advocate for eliminating tipping, because they hate that the Almighty State is being denied precious tax revenue.

SA is a site that connects sugardaddies with sugarbabies. The OP is asking about clients whose hiring relationship with an escort developed into a long-term sugar relationship, a bit different from SA. Gotta admit, I'm interested in hearing those stories as well.

When I said that Spaniards were just lazy with accents and such, my phrasing was too harsh. A better way of putting it would be "can't be bothered." After all, these are just musings posted to a Facebook group. Perfect grammar, spelling, and accent marks are hardly expected. I'm sure these same Spaniards are far more diligent in more important written communications.

When I said that Spaniards were just lazy with accents and such, my phrasing was too harsh. A better way of putting it would be "can't be bothered." After all, these are just musings posted to a Facebook group. Perfect grammar, spelling, and accent marks are hardly expected. I'm sure these same Spaniards are far more diligent in more important written communications.

I understand the keyboard issue. When I type in Spanish, I avoid using my laptop because the keyboard doesn't allow for accents or the ¡¿. But the Facebook groups I participate in are almost all Spaniards, presumably with Spanish keyboards.