Yesterday was the first Sunday without football since August. That made me a little sad. Sigh.
Fortunately, I had my favorite pro athlete maybe ever playing for a Grand Slam championship Sunday. So that made things a lot better. And then he won, again, by playing exquisitely in beating Andy Murray in three entertaining sets.
Roger Federer isn’t only the best pro tennis player to ever live. He may be better than anyone has ever been at any sport. Yeah, fine, tell me I’m crazy and not objective. But the man is on another level, and I feel privileged to be alive during the age of Federer.
I’ve said it once (actually David Foster Wallace said it first, but I feel it’s worth repeating), and I’ll say it again: The more you play and know about tennis, the more you appreciate how incredible Federer is. I’ve been playing the sport for 27 years, and I’m still amazed at what he does.
More on Federer’s big win in my tennis blog here. And the wonderful sports columnist Simon Barnes, from London’s Times, typically writes the best take of anyone on the match here.
**OK, I am in no way, shape or form qualified to comment on the Grammys. I believe there hasn’t been any really good music made since 1993 or so. And yet, I was briefly sucked in for a few moments of Sunday night’s show.
Couple thoughts:
— Wanna feel old, if you’re a Gen X’er like myself? As I watched Bon Jovi do “Livin’ On a Prayer” for the 4,868 time, it occurred to me that that song’s been sung in four different decades now. That blew me away.
— I like some Black Eyed Peas songs, and I think Fergie is pretty and talented, but I thought their costumes were atrociously bad. And what the hell was with the dancing robots? I had a weird flashback to a weird 80s video there.
— Is it me or did Taylor Swift look a little like an exact replica of a late 1960s hippie chick while she was singing with Stevie Nicks?
— Why do Michael Jackson’s kids constantly have to be shoved into the spotlight? Hasn’t their childhood been weird enough? I’m just sayin.’
OK, let me wrap this baby up with a real musician who I love. Back in late December, Eddie Vedder was among many who paid tribute to Bruce Springsteen at the Kennedy Center Honors, which was televised and I missed it. Some of it is on YouTube, though, including this beautiful Vedder cover of “My City in Ruins,” Bruce’s haunting post 9/11 song.
Enjoy.
Wide World of Stuff 