not sure i entirely agree with this. it has to be said that Kim Jong-Un is baiting the West - at some level he is asking for this escalation. To what end, I’m not sure, but he is a bad guy who is hurting his own people. That area of the world would be safer with Kim gone.

It appears you’ve missed the part when United kicked one of their customers’ asses.

sure, that may be true in a very narrow, non sport-specific sense. my point is more that any examination of the way that RF has made this resurgence happen requires a more nuanced, tennis-centric analysis rather than ‘90s baseball PEDs duuurrrrrrr’.

i get it, i really do. i’m not even saying i don’t have a few questions about his performance, and i say this as a huge RF fan. but just saying ‘90s baseball’ without any more insight or evidence is kind of bullshit.

Wondering why you think Rafa is ‘a step slower’. I’m not sure i see that, but i could admittedly be missing something.

I’ve been suspicious of a few of the top players before, but from your comment here I’m just not convinced you watch much tennis. Whatever ‘help’ you think RF might be getting it’s not the kind that would help him to strike the ball more cleanly; take it earlier; be more confident in the big moments; etc etc etc.

It is true RF looked very nervous. Its also true that when Berdych plays his best there’s not much anyone can do.

i ask this only because i don’t know, but is it possible Pence and the conservatives who agree with him are concerned more about optics than what a dinner like that could lead to? they are, after all, in politics. wouldn’t look good even if it was just a friendly dinner.

thing is, Federer and most other top professionals are constantly anticipating their opponents’ next shots based on percentages of probability and their specific experience paying against a given player. so, they make educated guesses about which way the next shot will go, and even if every once in a while they get…

bear-rel roll

ha that didn’t even occur to me! i knew that Dimitrov was with her, and that it was her match but never put it all together. i think she went on to lose that match as well...

i’ve never heard him claim to be a ‘loving student of the game’ except where it pertains to the act of playing it. also never heard that he doesn’t know who althea gibson is, but i have no reason to doubt what you’ve said here... though it doesn’t make him an asshole in and of itself. just look at how much this guy…

right - sorry. i mean that’s not what Valhalla (to whom you replied) was saying.

therefore he’s off the hook

‘Very, Very Rich Man’s Rasheed Wallace’

totally get it. what’s interesting about him (and not ‘likeable’ in the traditional sense of the word) is that he is all of these guys at once. we never know who we’re going to see.

this is really good, thanks Giri. I saw Kyrgios last week at the BNP Paribas Showdown in NYC and felt the same thing, that TV doesn’t do justice to either the game, or the breadth of any of the personalities playing it.

if there ever was a case to be made for the Electoral College, this election was it.

originally called ‘Good Friend’

love this, maybe only topped by ‘Yer Blues’. Winston, welcome to the show.