Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Love Memorial Day Weekend!

No, not because of the day off. My semester is over so every weekend is a three-day weekend in the summer. (Well, as any academic knows, that's not really true. What really happens is that you keep on going forgetting that certain days are holidays and become really confused when you can't find any place open for lunch and why there was so much traffic in the middle of the day which is what happened to me yesterday.)
Anyway Memorial Day weekend is a great time for sports. I watched a fair amount of softball this weekend and on Sunday found myself happily ensconced on the couch toggling between Serena Williams's first round match at Roland Garros and the Women's College World Series. There was golf on as well with the Corning Classic concluding in New York though I didn't actually get to see any of it.
I was even mildly interested in the Indy500 given Danica Patrick's potential. I followed the results on the ESPN ticker but before I could change over to watch (briefly because car racing holds no appeal for me) I saw the crash scene. Whoa was she pissed. I would be too. Haven't seen any media reaction to Patrick's near-confrontation with the driver who took her out. Someone let me know if anyone said anything particularly sexist or snide please.
Luckily I will not be having post-Memorial Day withdrawal because the final 8 in the WCWS head to Oklahoma this week and play begins on Thursday. Check out the contenders. It's a really interesting field and I don't think Arizona will be achieving a three-peat. I'm quite sad that Michigan--I remain Big Ten loyal despite how that loyalty continues to bite me in the backside--could not get past Virginia Tech. But Angela Tincher is too good. Feel-good stories and post-shooting sentiments aside, I think they're an underrated team. In the end, though, I just cannot put my full support behind a team with a male coach, especially with all this recent banter about how difficult it is for a man to get a head coaching position in women's intercollegiate sports. Of the eight teams Virgina Tech, Arizona, Arizona State, Florida, and Alabama are all helmed by men. Louisiana-Layfayette is co-coached by husband-wife team like Tennessee who did not make it to the final eight this year. That leaves me to root for a Texas team--A&M coached by Jo Evans which goes against my no-Texas rule or UCLA which I am happy to do because I like new coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. So it's official: Go Bruins! UCLA is due for a championship anyway.
Also starting the 29th is the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika. It will be on the Golf Channel. This will be good since Tennis Channel is doing some of the French Open coverage alongside ESPN2 which means I am not getting to see as much of it as I had hoped. (There was none on yesterday, which ticked me off.)
I love summer! Hopefully I won't have to make too many choices between playing my own sports and watching others.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The olympics will be on while we're at the lake....
Mommia