SEX & TENNIS and WHEN REAL MEN CRY

LEGACY

   Lone chimneys dot California wilderness and mountain areas. Sentries, guarding the past of what was once a place of life and settlement they are also powerful testament to enduring. Some things last and remain. So it is with life and human legacy.

REAL MEN TEARS

   The Detroit Free Press said it was his "most impressive moment after the worst loss," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo in tears, voice cracking after his highly ranked Spartans lost to little Middle Tennessee State. One of his key players Denzel Valentine said it had been his job to carry a team but he let them down and that's when a tearful Izzo reached out to touch the neck of an obviously hurting kid. Tom Izzo is one of the real and genuine guys in big time college coaching. Of course he was disappointed in the team's play and their loss but he was more concerned, even compassionate about how much it hurt his kids.

     Chris Mack coach of Xavier that lost on a last second shot  was interviewed live after trying to console his highly ranked team. He emerged solemn and shaken and was asked what it was like. He said, "that is a tough locker room right now, really hurting."

     There were other such moments as the NCAA tournament  played down to the Sweet 16. Even the professional analysts, Clark Kellogg, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley were moved by the emotion, especially the Izzo comments and concern. Some may poo poo the emotions but one needs to remember despite their size and skill, they are still  really kids, many in their teens and most will never go on to play professional ball, so a tourney loss is the end of a dream and the ruin of hope. A coach, a good coach, cares about that as well. And so it is healthy, I think, to see a man who has drilled and trained an athlete, to respond to the kid, or young man with concern and compassion at one of the worst moments of their young life. And if tears flow, that's not only human, real and caring, it is also manly. Real man, manly!

AND THERE ARE MINDLESS WORDS 

     It didn't take long for most of tennis and much of the media world to fire back at Raymond Moore. He is the now besieged CEO of the Indiana Wells Tennis Garden and BNP Paribas tournament, one of the prestige venues in the world.

      Players, commentators, journalists and fans heaped scorn on Moore for his comment, on the day of the Championship Finals, that women tennis players had ridden the coat tails of men and that women players should go down on their knees to thank players like Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.  

      Even if that was true, and it is not, it certainly is not wise to make such a sexist and outrageous comment to anyone, especially the media. Patrick McEnroe quickly said Moore should resign. Serena Williams and others have called the comments offensive. 

       I have not seen marketing studies to verify it but my hunch is the women professionals are every bit as much a box office draw as men. The top ranked women, like their male counterparts are millionaires from prize money and endorsements. 

       Oracle mogul Larry Ellison who owns the complex and tourney is expected to have the last word on Moore's unfortunate comments.

OBSERVED

   We caught this lovely scene and sound as we drove home from dinner in Cambria.

      Someone hired Voces Tapatias Mariachi to serenade those living in this apartment just off Main Street.

   It was a lovely pre sunset desert.  

A GAME OF LOVE--SHARING THE BIG BLUE and BAN FOOTBALL?

STRANGENESS ON THE COURT

   Cambria Tennis Club play cancelled Monday because of strangeness on the courts. Locals haven't seen this substance for quite a while. Measurable rain in September! Remnants of a tropical storm delivering a small gift and we hope a signal of the rainy season which begins next month.

    Glad to give up play for rain and oh how we hope some of this rain gets to the tragic fires burning upstate.

     A Game of Love

   In case you missed it, a real life fairy tail played out at the US Open Tennis Championship this weekend. Flavia Pennetta, ranked 26th defeated her life long friend and unranked player Roberta Vinci. That's the stat. As Chrissie Evert said, she's never seen such a happy scene after a match. Vinci came out of nowhere to upset the famed number 1, Serena Williams to get to the finals.

    The charismatic and charming Italian women, roommates when they were young, wowed the tennis world with enthusiasm and delight. Upon being presented the US Open Trophy, Flavia announced that a month ago she had decided to retire at age 34.  

     It was her first major championship and she is the oldest US Open Winner. You can't make up a better story line. Hope you can get a chance to see video of Vinci and Penetta in the trophy presentation. Their smiles and antics will make you smile.

     On the men's side the #1 Novak Djokovic beat #2 Roger Federer. I'm a fan of both men, but had hoped the 34 year old Fed could manage another win. He's won 5 but still plays with a grace and elegance that is unmatched.  Even Djokovic said he's the greatest player of all time.

HEADS UP

    We victims of traumatic brain injury pay close attention to the latest research on details of legacy affects. In the last couple of years we all have duly begun to pay attention the tragedy being inflicted on football players after years of serial concussions.

     A good friend and one of the more studied and wise people I know says as "anti-American" as it may seem, it is time to outlaw football, until and unless it can be proved that new helmets and rules can prevent what is now common place-serial concussions and the damage they extract. 

    A couple of high profile NFL suicides has further opened the door on what is one of those obvious issues hiding in plain view. By the time a kid has played junior league, high school and college football, he has rattled his brain thousands of times. 
     Will Smith stars in an upcoming film the NFL would like to see go away. We are told the story line has been tweaked a bit to soften the blow, but Concussion is on path to create a new public awareness-long overdue.

SUMMER COVE

sharing the water

   One of the many Humpback Whales that have summered near the shore from Cambria to San Simeon.

         Sea Otters have become cohabitants as well.

     Tourists have taken to the San Simeon Cove too, sans wet suits.  More evidence of the warmer than normal currents.

   See you down the trail.

PRIVATE SPACES and OUTING A RACIST?

THE MOCKINGBIRD RISES

     Watching the world react to a revised view of Atticus Finch is probably a once in a lifetime adventure. It is a bit like when Dorothy peeked behind the curtain to learn the truth about the wizard. In Harper Lee's newly published Go Set A Watchman, the character who has become a kind of inspirational figure in civil rights causes turns out to be a cranky old man with racist views. Remember though Finch did not evolve into this. 

     The Finch we all know was the product of a revised book. To Kill A Mockingbird was a type of rewrite or retelling of the story. Go Set A Watchman came first in the creative process, but only now after a half a century is it being published. Editors challenged Lee to tell the story differently and Mockingbird morphed out of Watchman. Finch and the racial vista we will see reflects the world in which author Lee created it and Mockingbird. I make this point because early response has bordered a bit on despondency that the good man Finch became something quite different.

     Still, it is a fascinating chapter in our ongoing struggle with race. It is a kind of symbolic set piece. Racial discrimination ceased being front page news sometime after Martin Luther King and the passage of laws, but the under girding racial discord did disappear. Weather it is  incarceration numbers, economic dislocation, educational performance, police violence, crime stats or other social fissures people have lived with realities that prove race relations are still a work in progress. If you are on the downside of the equation your entire life can be skewed.

     So now comes this new old version of Finch and oh boy will we see and hear a lot of new chatter and hopefully soul searching.

QUIET SPACE

   Along Estero Bluff between Cambria and Cayucos Ca.

FED AND THE DONALD

    A note of contrast needs a moment in the light.

The great, though aging, Roger Federer valiantly struggled for yet another Wimbledon Championship. He played great tennis and made only a few mistakes. Novak Djokovic played better and pounced on those mistakes and so for the second year the younger Novak dispatched Roger. I am with those who believe that Federer is the greatest tennis player of all time. He is graceful and elegant in his play and in his manner. 

    It had to hurt deeply to lose and to know that at 33 being in championship form is harder to achieve. He's won his share, but to be so close to an historic win and see it slip away must be crushing.  But afterwards the cool Mr. Federer was nothing but grace, class and dignity. And of course Tennis is that kind of game, where fans cheer even for an opponent who makes a good shot.  

    Later on the screen I watched clips of Donald Trump. Can there be any wider gap between levels of decency, class and integrity. I know that Federer and Trump are not in the same game, but they are both wealthy and competitive. Going with a sports analogy Trump is like a big time wrestling loud mouth phony. Federer personifies a kind of  sportsmanship that reveals honor and is turned by humility. Reminds me of the old spaghetti western-The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Hand it to the Donald-He wins 2 out of that 3.

    See you down the trail.

FIVE STAR EXCELLENCE

CLASS IN THE DESERT
And on the screen
*Notes about Matthew and Woody below

    Since our move to California Cambria friends have sung the praises of the Indian Wells Tennis tournament in the southern California desert. Now we understand.

     A remarkable tennis oasis and "theatre." Stadium 1 is new.

   Stadium 2

   and several smaller stadiums, all blessed with stunning views.

  A complex of practice courts put you up close and personal

with the game's stars.

   Below Australian Open Champ, and number 3 in the world Stan Wawrinka tunes up.

   The close access to the game's headliners is a benefit of Indian Wells.

  Amenities abound in the Tennis Garden.

  The great thrill for fans is of course the action on the court. Roger Federer, on left below, is one of the game's all time greatest. 

   I've covered Presidents, rock stars, other major sports heroes. I was thrilled to see Fed.

   As impressive as Rafa Nadal is on television, he is even more so live and in person.

  Alexandra Wozniak

  Maria Sharapova and up and comer Camile Giorgi. Etc, Etc, etc...

    Among all of the sports, tennis fans are special.  Polite, cheering good play as well as their favorite.  Here it is 88-90 degrees, blazing desert sun and the stadium is full. 

   And since this is the desert a full day of tennis may well be capped by a dip, 

   and a cool drink and dinner.

  Many such oasis abound. A kind of desert survival.

ONE OF THE BEST 

   Much has been said of the noir HBO thriller True Detective as critics and fans have blown the doors off joint with praise and acclaim. As I've noted, it is not for everyone, but the Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson performances are without peer. And their "partnership" maybe the greatest on any screen. It is one of those rare moments when two excellent actors hit a zone and then construct an onscreen chemistry that will become legend.  I'm sorry the series has ended. They were nothing short of brilliant.

   See you down the trail.