Hayden's new Album, The Office, Party Down, Rafa v. Fed, Simmons v. Gladwell II,

• I can't believe it, but Hayden has a new album coming out The Place Where We Lived, May 26. Yeah, that was fast...

• How 'bout the Office? What a nice finale. I'm not sure whether its the mockumentary format, but 5 seasons in and its still going strong (not sure how long they are going to be able to keep this together). Ordinarily I'd be a little worried about the PB&J pregnancy thing, but they handled the couple getting together so well....

• I've started watching Party Down, and I gotta say, its growing on me. I do like Rob Thomas (mostly, that he created Veronica Mars), and the fact that he's bascially re-hired the cast of V-Mars (minus Kristen Bell). There've been some great cameos by Rob Coddry (Daily Show), Juno's dad, Breckin Meyer (Road Trip), and a bunch of other "that guys". Oh, did I mention that the show is being directed by Fred Savage (Kevin from the Wonder Years)?

• There was some great tennis on this weekend - Masters Series Madrid. Normally I don't watch anything outside the Grand Slams, but the Nadal v. Djokovic semi was probably the best match I've seen since the epic Nadal/Fed Wimbledon final. And it was great to see Federer get a win under his belt this year (especially over Nadal on clay), even though the courts were/are supposedly much faster. Does the win boad well for Federer going into the French? Sure, but its going to take a hell of an effort to take 3 sets off Nadal on a slower court...
  

• If you haven't caught the Simmons v. Gladwell II email exchange do...

• And I was all excited about the Lakers/Rockets & Celtics/Magic game 7s... gawd... that was disappointing...
  

Ra Ra Roger/Ra Ra Remixes/Ra Ra Riot

• So, it was nice to see R-Fed come away the last Grand Slam of the year tonight even if the match, which was on Rogers Channel 166 on my box, took me 45 mins to find and wasn't particularly exciting. That said, the tournament on the whole was probably one of the more entertaining tournaments (Williams-Williams- even if they do fix their matches; Federer-Andreev; Andy Roddick playing unbelievable in week one and then falling apart; Djokovic getting booed by the NYC Crowd; Murray joining the top teir of Men's tennis; etc.). Of course, the best part of all this is the way it sets up for next year: Can Fed tie Sampras and/or regain #1? Can Nadal win a hard court major, or even make a final? Can any of the next generation (Sam Querry, Gulbis, Cilic, Tsonga, Monfils, etc.) establish themselves as a contender on a consistent basis? Also, great to see NYC following the rest of the majors setting an attendance record for the Open... so, even if tennis isn't getting the mainstream media coverage it got in the 80s, its indicative that tennis is still a growing sport.
  

• Ummmm, I was up early on Saturday morning and was watching Much Music - mostly I just get kind of curious what the kids are listening to - and, well, I came across Katy Perry's 'Kissed A Girl' which left me... speechless. I mean, anyone who remembers Tatu probably remembers them for their... unambigious lesbianosity. But, this is kind of, different than that, somehow. I think its probably the way she brings in the lesbianity so casually, which, while not being the epi-centre of the decay of society; it is kind of troubling that tweens are going to be running around singing the chorus to tween-aged boys. Troubling in that this is a serious and difficult subject for a lot of people, and I think it kind of trivializes the struggle that a lot of young girls/boys/?s have coming to terms with their own sexual identity. But I guess this is no more troubling than it was when kids of my generation were singing Nirvana's 'Rape Me'... and I guess we turned out alright... right? Mom? Dad? Grandma?
  

[mp3] Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl (Hot Pink Delorean Remix) (but the song content aside, and the remix, is pretty catchy.)

• Ra Ra Riot, who I wrote about a while ago, has a full length album out now called The Rhumb Line. Re-reading the old post I was pretty stoked for this album to come out, and it has met and exceeded what were very high expectations. I'm not sure I have anything particularly insightful to say about it (the album), or their sound more generally, but I'd urge you to check it out if you haven't already. My favourite song + a pretty awesome remix of a Tokyo Police Club's 'Juno'.

[mp3] Tokyo Police Club - Juno (Ra Ra Riot/Andrew Maury remix)
[mp3] Ra Ra Riot - Suspended in Gaffa

Roger's Cup... its supposed to be a play on words, I'm not a retard.

The Rogers Cup (Men) is on this week in Toronto and if you're a tennis fan, a friend/acquaintance/friend of a friend, Dan, has media accreditation through his work at The ATP Blog. He's got some really cool insider stuff - pics, videos - from the guys practicing at one of the Mayfair clubs (I want to say East?) the other night, and so if you're interested in following the tournament I'd keep tabs on him.

A couple of other tennis related notes:

• Kyle did a Wimbledon round-up not so long ago, and in it he had a nice rebuttal to that retarded Bill Simmons tennis article. Kudos to Simmons for admitting the article was 'the worst he'd ever written' on his podcast (7/10). My response to Simmons here.
  
• I'm watching Canadian Frank Dancevic, who I used to play juniors with, and I'm impressed with how steady and composed he looks. He looks like... a professional. He's going to really have to bring it if he's going to beat Djokovic tomorrow night.
• Also, a note to commentator Brian Williams and the crew at TSN its 'Dance-a-vick' not 'vich', but it might not be Williams' fault because he might be Canada's answer the progressively more senile Dick Enberg.
  
• Speaking of Djokovic, my buddy Richie sends this story from the other night at an ATP players party:

Girl: Are you famous or something? Should I know you?
Djokovic: (a little bit stunned, looking around - this might be a time to mention that Djokovic is hosting the ATP Players Party and is the number 3 tennis player in the world) ... have you heard of the movie Hancock?
Girl: Uhhhh ... yes.
Djokovic: I'm the executive producer.
Girl: Awesome!

• Lastly, if you can't get enough of Nadal picking his butt... check this out.

My pre-tournament prediction: Roger gets his groove back, Federer over Djokovic in three sets in the final.

Bill Simmons on Tennis

I like Bill Simmons most of the time, but his latest article on Tennis is absolutely .... fuckin' stupid. There. You got me to curse. FUCK. It also caused Kyle (who has a bunch of new stuff up now) to send me this email: "The. Worst. Thing. Ever.".

I was going to break down the stupidity of his article and explain how its pretty clear he knows literally nothing about the game except how to score, which, I suspect, was learned through video games. But, then I realized it was kind of pointless to work myself up into that kind of a lather and chalk it up to - and I hate to generalize - Americans not appreciating 'international' sports... like they can't appreciate soccer (not that I can, but I do appreciate the merits of FIFA '07, which is a pretty excellent time).

I felt better once it occurred to me that Americans don't like anything, as a country - again, a big generalization - that they aren't good at. Once the world caught up in tennis... they stopped watching, they're not watching basketball in as large numbers - I suspect Hockey numbers peaked some time around, say, 1980. If anyone can suggest anything that they're not good at that they like... (like, like - like more than a friend), I'd be interested to hear it.

Nadal is a Ninja Turtle and proves Federer is not the GOAT

I wrote a post probably 3 weeks before the French Open predicting that this was the year that Roger Federer would win on the dirt at Roland Garros... well, he got to the finals didn't he? And then got absolutely obliterated by the King of Klay, Rafael Nadal.

One of the reasons I thought Federer would win is that after spending much of the beginning of the year battling mono that Fed would come back refreshed, hungry, and ready to compete with Nadal. Unfortunately, for me and for fans of good tennis, that was not the case as Federer basically rolled over for Nadal only winning a combined 4 games in 3 sets. The trashing of Federer was probably most disappointing in that a player who is consistently mentioned as the greatest of all time (GOAT) showed few signs of life, and quit after getting broken at 3-3 in the second set. Frankly, that is not something that the GOAT does, or, in my mind, should do. Is Federer the most talented player ever? Yes. Does he have the most beautiful game to watch? Yes. Is he the greatest champion? No. That title is still reserved for Pete Sampras. Until Federer wins a couple of matches like Sampras did - while vomiting at the US Open, or over coming emotion after the death of his coach at the Australian - Sampras is the greatest.

I mean, its not as though playing against Nadal is easy... Nadal has been playing at an extraordinary high level throughout the 2 weeks in Paris, only allowing an opponent to get more than 4 games in a set throughout the tournament. This was all despite a particularly grueling condensed clay court season where Nadal played 3 Masters Series tournaments in 4 weeks.

Of the two competitors on Centre Court on Sunday only Nadal looked like he had the desire to be the greatest of all time...

An Early French Open Prediction...

For those of you who have been around long enough you may remember me correctly picking Novack Djokovic to win the Australian Open. Well, I've been saying to anyone who will listen to me lately that I think this is Federer's year to win the French. A couple of reasons why:

1. Since 2004 there has been one stretch where Federer has gone 2 tries without winning a Grand Slam (2005 Australian - had a match point in the semis, 2005 French semis).

2. He's had a little bit of a rest, granted it was because he had mono, but I'd suggest that this 'rest' is more beneficial mentally than anything else.

3. Federer has started to come out of his slump, making the Final of the Estoril Open (to play Davydenko on Sunday). I realize he hasn't played anyone in the top-50 enroute to the finals, but, half the battle here - I think - has got to be for him to re-gain some confidence, especially on the dirt.

4. Fed's got a new coach, Jose 'George Hamilton' Higeuras and some tennis insiders (here and here) seem to think its a good fit. George Jose has coached more than a couple of French Open champs (Michael Chang, Jim Courier, Carlos Moya, Sergi Bruguera), and maybe can give the Fed some inside as to how to crack Nadal.

5. Speaking of Nadal, Bjorn Borg is the only person to win 4 FO titles in a row in the Open Era (see the list of Men's singles Champs). Nadal, who currently has 3 in a row, has had progressively more injury problems over the last few years; he typically plays a pretty rigorous clay court schedule, and will (presumably) have Djokovic in the semis, which, should take a lot out Nadal.

That said, it may be a little (or a lot) early to call this, since the French is more than a month away...

Monday Bullets

• Kyle has finally posted his Kid Nation running diary. Even if you didn't watch the show, or watched and didn't enjoy the show, I'd encourage you to read it. I think he's a great writer, and my only complaint is that he doesn't post enough...

• Malcolm Gladwell, (author of The Tipping Point and Blink) comments on the "intellectual sloppiness" of drug policy in professional sports. He makes an interesting point, which I agree with.

• By now, I'd imagine, a large number of people have seen the video that Chris Bosh and family produced over the holidays trying to get votes for the NBA All-Star Game. As I understand it, it was done without the knowledge/consent of the Raptors PR people, luckily Bosh has a good head on his shoulders. Former Raptor, Tracy McGrady, has got involved in a video, of let's say, lower, quality. (Look for T-Mac at around the 2 minute mark)

• With Federer being sick and the surface speeding up, I'm picking Djokovic over Roddick in the Aussie Open final. I'm also picking Serena Williams to lead the tournament in excuses after a semi-final loss to Justine Henin.