YAY SPORTS FANS!

[HairOfTheDog]

Gettin' Minnesota with it...



Video posted on request of MS; I'll let him provide some commentary.

[Midwest Spy]

I really suggest checking out the video.

The guy providing the commentary is very good.

Thanks HotD!

[Midwest Spy]

The 41^st edition of golf's Ryder Cup is this weekend at Hazeltine in Chaska, MN.

If you drive 4 miles ENE of Hazeltine you'd run smack dab into Princes' old place Paisley Park. If you were to continue ENE from there for another 5 miles you'd run right into my place.

The Ryder Cup is a match play event (for those with no clue) which means each hole is up for grabs.

I had a chance to get tix, but decided against it.

It's on ttelevision starting @ 7:30 Central tomorrow morning.

[BigMark]

Vineland Court?

[Midwest Spy]

Vineland Court?

Very good.

[Midwest Spy]

The Ryder Cup is heading into the homestretch.

USA leads but it feels precarious.

Head over to NBC and check out Minny's sun splashed day and see some great golf.

[HairOfTheDog]

(New mom and total badass) Serena Williams roared into her 12^th US Open semi-final on Tuesday night as her quest to equal Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam titles remained on course.  

The home favourite claimed eight games in a row to recover from an early break of serve in the opening set and secure a 6-4, 6-3 victory over No 8 seed Karolina Pliskova.

She will play No 19 seed Anastasija Sevastova in the semi-final on Thursday, after winning her 14^th consecutive quarter-final in a Major at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

More:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/...inals.html

[Carsman]

Serena's amazing, hoping for her continued success!

[Midwest Spy]

I watched her post match interview and I think she’s a very likable person.

Her tennis speaks for itself: she simply overpowers the other women. And, the woman she beat last night was almost six feet tall, not someone who’s 5’2”.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen the prize money for the US Open it’s pretty impressive.

$3.8M to the winner (men’s and women’s purses are identical). $1.9M to the runners up and $975K to reach the semis.

[HairOfTheDog]

I didn't know it was such a high purse MS.

I did know that Serena's been banking buck for years (by winning tournaments and securing lucrative advertising endorsements). She married a multi-millionaire, but was already financially independent and successful before they met.

I saw a documentary on Serena and Venus some time back. Man, their dad (and coach) really pushed them to develop their athletic skills and practice, practice, practice when they were kids. It sure paid off in terms of their level of play and ability to achieve success.

They both seem like decent driven people to me as well.

[HairOfTheDog]

U.S. Open Finals

In a 6-3, 6-0 victory, Serena beat Anastasija Sevastova to move on to the U.S. Open finals.  

She'll be facing off against Naomi Osaka, 20 years old and the 20^th seed, in Saturday’s final.  Osaka beat Madison Keys, 6-2, 6-4, in the semifinals.



Osaka (left) has beaten Serena in the past.  Should be a great match.

Serena fought back the tears after today's win, but there was no hiding her sentiments after she had reached her first Open final in four years.

“I got a little emotional out there because last year (after giving birth) I was literally fighting for my life in the hospital,” she said. “I think I was on my fourth  surgery by now. What is today? I was on my third surgery. I had one more to go still.

“To come from that, in the hospital bed, not being able to move and walk and do anything. Now only a year later, I’m not training, but I’m actually in these finals, in two in a row,” she said, referring also to her advance to the Wimbledon final. “Like I said, this is the beginning. I’m not there yet. I’m on the climb still.”

[HairOfTheDog]

Did you see any of yesterday's Finals match MS?

Serena Williams really lost her shit.  

She accused the umpire of implying she was a cheater after the umpire penalized her for getting hand signals from her coach, then accused the umpire of sexism because male players don't get penalized for that.  

She smashed her racket after losing a game and was penalized for that too.  

She then called the umpire a 'thief' for stealing points from her and was penalized a whole game point.

Naomi Osaka played better and more consistently than Serena (in my view) and won the U.S. Open Final yesterday, quashing Serena's hopes of a Grand Slam championship.

[HairOfTheDog]

As the players stood next to each other for the trophies, some Serena fans booed and Williams, seeing how upset Osaka was, moved over and put her arm around the new champion and then pleaded with the fans not to boo.  

Serena acknowledged later that Osaka deserved to win based on her play.

Osaka cried a bit after the match, but pulled it together quickly.  She idolizes Serena Williams and in a post-match interview said she felt bad for Serena, but on the court she's just a tennis player who wants to win.

[HairOfTheDog]

Serena has been fined $17,000 for the three code violations yesterday.

I think Serena may have a point in terms of sexism in professional tennis. It was asinine that she was banned from wearing her catsuit uniform recently.

Regarding yesterday's Finals specifically, Umpire Ramos is reportedly a tight-ass in terms of enforcing the rules, with men and women alike. But, he doesn't always penalize men for sideline coaching. So, I don't know if Ramos would have penalized a man for the same behavior or not. But Serena is confident he would not have (and Billie Jean King is voicing strong support for Serena's sexism complaint).

I do think that some of the pundits' and fans' assertions that Serena was a victim of racism yesterday are unreasonable though. A Portuguese umpire penalizes an American black woman, playing against a Haitian-Japanese American, and somehow Serena is a victim of umpire racism? Pffft.