U.S. Open Who’S No. 1?Since The Knife, ‘Don’T Think’ Is Seles Salvation
NEW YORK — The glittering stage above the mosh pit at the MTV Video Awards is a strange place to find a female U.S. Open tennis champion — especially the night before a big match. But there was Monica Seles at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday, live, in front of millions of viewers, giggling and reading off the cue cards. Seles, in her clipped English, announced the contenders for some award, “Hootie and the Blowfish” and “Michael and Janet Jackson” and then she came to a video with a rather strange name.
YES, GEHRIG WAS PASSED; BUT THEIRON HORSE WON’T BE SURPASSED
NEW YORK — The end of summer, a chilling breeze swirled through Yankee Stadium and danced across the infield and out into the area by the leftfield bleachers, the area they call Monument Park. Here, fathers walk with sons licking ice cream cones and point at the...
I Return Because Readers Are What Matters The Most
Enough.
The summer is over, school buses are rolling, people are back to work.
And so am I.
Not as a symbol. I am not here because I side with management in this wretched newspaper strike, nor am I here to be a union spy. I did not come back for money, and I plan to give much of what I earn to the people still on strike.
3PETESAMPRAS TAKES THIRD TITLE,LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE, IN STRIDE
WIMBLEDON, England — Boris Becker stood at the baseline and covered his eyes, like a child playing hide-and-seek. Later he would say, “I had the same chance of hitting his serve with my eyes closed as I did with them open.” Perhaps, deep down, he was...
British Horse Likes Beer, But Doesn’T Say ‘Busch!’
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — What could be more American than drinking beer and not showering after a workout? Hey, half my college roommates fit that description. So it’s very comforting to find a guy with similar habits right here at the Kentucky Derby. Only the guy isn’t American. Nor, when you get right down to it, is he a guy. He is a horse.
A British horse.
British Tv Can Get Anyone Off The Boil
LONDON — Last week at Wimbledon, American Pete Sampras caused a stir when he said there was “nothing to watch” on British television. Bloody hell! The Brits went bonkers! At least the Brits who weren’t watching TV. Those who were, naturally, were sound asleep.
Sampras was not completely correct. There is, in fact, something to watch on British TV — but that something usually involves the beetle and its mating habits.
PATIENT BECKER FINDS DEFECT IN AGASSI IMAGE
“That was the best match I’ve ever had at Wimbledon.”Boris Becker, after Friday’s semifinal WIMBLEDON, England — To understand what the old guy did, you must first understand what the young guy had been doing. The young guy, Andre Agassi,...
Without Seles, Steffi Unbeatable
WIMBLEDON, England — You can’t play tennis against a mirror, so Steffi Graf must settle for the women they put in front of her. They are not as good as she is. They are not as haunting as her lonesome quest for perfection. They do not spook her, or cause her to lose sleep. She can beat them all, even when she stumbles.
She stumbled often against Jana Novotna in Thursday’s semifinal. Graf double-faulted. Graf foot-faulted. Graf hit long. Graf whiffed at Novotna’s serve. Whiffed? As in “swing and a miss”?
Yep. And she still won.
A Bug-Eyed Day At Wimbledon
WIMBLEDON, England — Here is the reason I will never be a world-class tennis player: I refuse to let a ball girl stick her finger in my eye.
This, apparently, is a new requirement at Wimbledon, based on the behavior of Shuzo Matsuoka, a tall Japanese tennis ace. Shuzo is the first man from Japan to reach the quarterfinals here since 1933.
He also travels with his own karaoke machine.
You think a finger in the eye is gonna stop him?
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