My Girl posted 9/8/2009 7:47:12 PM | 2 kudos what's this?     report abuse

PsychoMagnet

I wasn't watching the TV, I just had it on. I didn't even have the sound on. What kind of man would have the TV blaring while his mom was over for a Saturday afternoon visit? It was Mom who brought her to my attention when she pointed and said “Hell, she's just a little girl”. It was only then that I broke from my visiting posture to look at the tube. There she was holding a tennis racket and sporting a sun visor cap and a ponytail ala Justine Henin. She kind of looked like Henin; a twelve-year-old Henin. That was the first thing I noticed. As the camera backed away I could see the little girl was playing a match against my girl, Maria Sharapova. The score was put up on the screen and I could see the little girl was down big in the first set. I returned to visiting mode, look at Mom and replied: “She maybe a little girl now, but she'll be a woman before this match is over”.

I like tennis. I always have. I've never played a single game in me life but I've always enjoyed watching it. It was John McEnroe who got me started watching. Of course, I was only only watching to see if the crazy son-of-a-bitch was going to throw a fit. And McEnroe seldom disappointed. Something happened, however. And that something was a discovery of sorts. I discovered that in between McEnroe's tantrums, there was an interesting and highly watchable sporting even taking place. I've been a fan for years.

Mom left shortly after that and I turned the channel over to college football. I like The US Open and all, but not so much in the early rounds as I find it too one-sided and predictable. College football takes priority at casa de Rog, and besides, thought I, what kind of man would want to watch a little girl (5' 6”) get hammered by my girl Sharapova (6' 3”)?

Sharapova became “my girl” back in 2004 when she (at the age of 17) beat Serena Williams in the finals at Wimbledon. I like women's tennis as much as men's if not more. It's different though. After McEnroe retired and before Roger Federer came on the scene I didn't have a favorite men's player. But I've always had a favorite women's player – I always had my girl. Before Sharapova it was Martina Hingis and before Hingis it was Seles and before Seles it was Navratilova.

I watched football the rest of the day Saturday and then rested on Sunday. It was Monday before I turned on the tube again. I was shocked to see the little girl warming up for a match. Turns out she came back and beat my beloved Sharapova and was about to play another huge Russian; Nadia Petrova. I was intrigued. Petrova won the first match 6-1 and I was certain that the tennis gods had finally stepped in and put things back in their natural order. But there was simply no room for quit in the little girl. And in stunning fashion the little unranked girl, seventeen year-old Melanie Oudin from Marietta Georgia, pulled off the upset and provided your friend and humble blogger with one of the greatest matches I've ever seen.

I only tuned in to CBS that day because I knew that Roger Federer was set to play later in the day. And play he did. But even watching Roger The Great was anti-climatic for me after watching the Oudin/Petrova match.

I may have a new girl . . .

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Blogs by PsychoMagnet: The Final Post (part 6) The Final Post (part 5) The Final Post (An Introduction) The Final Post (part 4) The Final Post (part 3) The Final Post (part 2) The Final Post (part 1) MacPsycho's Park My Girl Why Can't We Be Friends? Boom A Blog Longer* Than Misschoos** Untitled My Blog, My Friend My Blog, My Bitch Code (end) Code (part 2) Code (part 1) The Rat Pack & Pack Rats T & A . . . gone tomorrow Blogging is Very Sweet, Brother . . . An Open Letter to the President of the United States Everyone Has One . . . Here's Mine 12 Days of Psycho (Day 12)