Oh, and according to Tennis Magazine, he was so pissed that he didn't get the ATP Championships after this year that he made some very uncalled for remarks regarding CEO of the ATP, Mark Miles. Some crap about Miles just wanting to fly first class. Mattress Mac is a first-class ass.

Jim McIngvale has done a lot for tennis in Houston, though, and spent tons of his own money doing it. Imagine getting to see the Davis Cup, the Clay Courts, and the Masters Cup in a really nice venue on three different surfaces (grass, clay, hardcourt). He really took Westside and turned it around and brought the big names back to Houston. I for one appreciate the chance to see Sampras, Agassi, Federer, Nalbandian, the Bryan brothers, etc. etc.

He even took a local group of high school tennis players to the French Open, based on an essay contest. What an opportunity for those kids!

Not defending the man, because he did act overly partisan towards Roddick (gag) and Agassi (yay), and made Federer very angry in the process. The local defense was that he appreciated Roddick so much for putting the Clay Courts on the map in Houston. Agassi and Roddick have both been very complimentary of the treatment they've received here.

It will be interesting to see Mac's demeanor this fall at the Masters Cup.

Yeah, especially since Roger has already earned his slot there and Roddick (Ugh!) & Agassi (Meh) still have yet to earn theirs.

Roddick will be there. Agassi would probably have to win the US Open or at least make the final to qualify.

I'm hoping that Nalbandian qualifies again because I remember that he was the one most vocal in criticizing McIngvale during the tournament. I think he even yelled at McIngvale in the stands a couple of times during one of his matches.

Don't mean to be mean (and I'm not an administrator) but this thread is for discussion on ESPN's tennis coverage and not "favorite player" "sexiest player" "why i hate andy" etc. Now, I am all for those types of discussions but just not in this thread...

It's kind of difficult to separate the personalities from the coverage of the personalities because the natural charisma (or unnatural hype) of certain players affects how they're covered. Or how I perceive they should be covered. It's a real conundrum for a sports thread.

Like, a few years ago there was this incessant commentary about how Nicolas Kiefer, whom I like as a player and who's also really cute (sorry, I just had to!), was gonna be "the next Andre Agassi". Well, that never panned out. Now he's back after over a year of injuries and he's playing fantastically, but he's not "sexy" enough anymore to get even a few comments about his amazing comeback, much less general discussion in the broadcast booth about his game. Except as a poor response to [fawns]Andy Roddick's[/f] superb strokes. I mean, if you're not Roddick (or Agassi or Federer), who do you have to fuck to get some talk started about yourself? It's frustrating.

On the other hand, to keep from getting angry I amuse myself by imagining PeeMac masturbating in the booth to every winner his fuckbuddy A-Rodd shoots over the net. It's like the giving a speech visualizing the audience naked. It steadies me.

Thanks for burning that image into my head!

And the sight of which might explain why Gilbert stopped talking when PeeMac started going on about Andy with Gilbert in the booth.

Ew.

and hee!

That reminds me - because I can't believe no one commented on it in this thread - In one of the tournaments Pee Mac (love the name, by the way) held up a t-shirt that said "Mrs. Roddick" on it ---- and then proceeded to tell Cliffy that he thought about modeling it but thought better of it???

You WISH, Pee Mac!!

On behalf of the group, let me say: "Eeeeuuuuuw!"

Oh my goodness! I had not caught that!

You guys can go here instead. (Scroll down for "p/reviews" of Andre, Marat and Nicolas. Oh, and a Lleyton reference, too.)

Bwah! to this whole page. (Pee Mac is even more of a loser than I had thought!)

And Bungalow Joy, that link was interesting, to say the least.

I agree with Bungalow Joy that it is pretty difficult not to discuss the "characters" portrayed on the coverage the same way we discuss characters on a show or personas on reality TV.
That's why I'm always wondering if I'm straying too off topic when I post on this thread. Can I ONLY talk about ESPN?

Way, way back JuanitaSmi, who started this thread, questioned whether she should ask the moderators to change the title so it wasn't just ESPN but no one, at the time, seemed to mind that we were wandering all over the tv coverage landscape.

Wow... It really bums me out to see all of this Andy hate over here (althought I can perfectly understand being annoyed with Pee Mac's ridiculously annoying preferential commentating). Andy seems like a good guy to me. And how can you really hate someone who became such fast friends with the Olympic wrestler living down the hall from him in Athlete's Village?

Anyone watching Washington this week? Castallack, have you been able to see any of it on The Tennis Channel?

The US Open is coming! American Express put up their signage in the Helmsley Walks this week, complete with game sound (*pock* *pock* *applause* *"Game, Set, Match"*) LOVING IT!

Self promotion. I hold no hope of seeing The Tennis Channel in the 'hood but I'll take the victories I can get.

Hey Cranky! Congratulations! I did go to The Tennis Channel and sign a petition to have my cable station carry it, but I'm not holding my breath.

Go Juanita! <shaking groove thing and attempting snaps> I, of course, selfishly want everyone to get the Tennis Channel so I can discuss those matches with y'all.

Actually, LT, I've been concentrating on the Olympics this week but I didn't notice any tournaments being shown on The Tennis Channel last time I checked. I'd love to discuss the Taylor Dent-Nicolas Massu match I'm watching right now but that would be off-topic. Of course, I can't go to the correct topic because I'm afraid of spoilers for what will be shown later. What a quandary.

I'll be at the Quallies next Thursday and I get my Open tickets today. Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Oooohhhh, what days are you going? Maybe we should meet at the big board.

According to their website (which I check to see what I would be seeing if I had TTC) The Tennis Channel has been showing Washington. I don't know if they actually show the matches though.

Thursday and Friday of the first week and possibly Wednesday of the first week. I'd love to meet up! We could eat ice cream messily and appear on TV a la George Costanza.

And may I just add:

MARDY FISH MARDY FISH MARDY FISH

That is all.

Cool. I won't be there Wednesday, but will Thursday and Friday of the first week. If you get the chance, e-mail me (I think that works through my profile?).

As for Washington, it looks like Agassi and Hewitt are looking (and I'm guessing CBS is praying) for a repeat of Cincy. Both have quarterfinals today. Interestingly, Hewitt has had all day matches and Agassi has had all night matches. . . another repeat of Cincy.

Done and done.

Thanks for the tip on the Tennis Channel programming. How very annoying to see that they are on right now while I'm at work. How dare there be live tennis while I'm not around to watch it? However, due to the fact that I have no life I will be around for the night matches, hurrah!

Well, if anyone wants to complain to ESPN, here is the address I wrote to:
askespntv@espn.twdc.com.

Not sure yet if I'll get a reply. I'm not holding my breath though.

From this week's Wertheim column at cnnsi.com:

Wertheim is now the back page columnist for Tennis Magazine. His article for the September issue is about how popular tennis is around the world, and how popular it isn't in the US. As he says, "Sadly, indifference is most Americans' default attitude toward non-English-speaking champions."

I wish he had taken it one step further and discussed, as we have here, how jingoistic American TV coverage has helped that attitude along in the US. He claims that having events all over the world is one culprit--which doesn't make sense to me at all--and another being that , unlike not that long ago, there are more players not from English-speaking countries or Western Europe--which makes more sense, but I see many players whose first language is not English still doing interviews in English so. . .

Gotta love Courier embracing the French in such a way that he learned the language.

LT: I have been waiting for Tennis magazine to post this month's edition online so I could link to Wertheim's column. Very strange how similar our reading patterns are. I do like Wertheim's coverage though. More so than Bud Collins *ducks*. Did you read his Venus Envy about the 2000 WTA season?

Well, one anyway. His girlfriend at the time was French.

I never understood why that was so rare. How hard is it to learn how to say "Thank you to the fans & ball kids" in another language? You don't have to give your whole speech like a native, but if you're playing in Italy, Germany, Spain, France, etc. take five minutes and learn a sentence phoenetically. Being that you're living in that country for at least a week, I would hope you already know how to say thank you, so that's half the battle.

I think it's rare for the Americans, not the international players. A sad commentary on our culture.

I must admit, I don't read too much about the women's tour. As for Collins, his schtick bothers me more and more as the decades pass. At least he is not doing active duty as a commentator anymore. Heck, I haven't even read Total Tennis yet! (Although, that one I will.)

Oh, Bud Collins. What's your favorite painful Collins pronunciation of a foreign name? Mine: "Gee-zzzzzzhhhhh-JAIR-moh Vilas"

I think I'll always remember Bud Collins' strange play-by-play commentary during the Williams sisters first Wimbledon final, reporting from what seemed to be the roof. He made me laugh out loud when he called the Williams team "the Venuses".

Bud is a great historian, but he is no play by play guy.

Bud seems to be eccentric purely to receive attention. He wears those hideous trousers we get glimpses of, and seems to want to be thought of as a kindly old uncle, at least to the women players. He always uses their entire names when he addresses them after victories - Christine Marie Evert, Venus Ebony Star Williams, etc. He is embarrassing & I'm glad they've relegated him to only moments on camera during a tournament.

They've done a SportsCentury on Andy Roddick? The guy's won one Grand Slam and he was #1 in the world for a few weeks last year. Has ESPN run out of great athletes to profile? Because, if that's the case, they should just drop the program instead of continuing to profile current athletes who have yet to show long-lasting greatness.

I agree with Bungalow Joy on the "best" pronunciation. I'm giggling just remembering it.

For me, the thing about Collins is that he is one hell of a tennis sportswriter. His column in The Boston Globe was one of the reasons tennis hit such a high point in the 70's, 80s. He champions the sport without playing real favorites (hello, you know who) and knows what the hell he is talking about. Tennis coverage needed his flavor when he was commentating but that flavor is now out of place and I think he is losing the respect he used to garner from the players now that the younger ones don't really know who he is.

btw: latest in US Open is coming. . . the buses for the umpires/line judges and players (qualifiers this week) were out front of the Intercontinental and the Waldorf. Love that.

ETA: I checked the draws for the US Open here and there are some interesting first-round matches. (I didn't look at the women's but I'm guessing there are some interesting ones there as well.) In the top half of the draw Federer has Albert Costa, which should be a featured day match on USA, and I'm guessing Agassi against Robby Ginepri will definitely be the men's Monday night match. Also of note from the top half of the top half of the draw is Todd Martin (a perennial favorite) vs. Fabrice Santoro (ranked #31) so they'll probably show some of that. What I'm really thinking should be an interesting match is Taylor Dent vs. Younes El Anynoui. Hopefully, Monday will include some bottom half of the top half of the draw because Moya is up, as is Max (and Henman, Fish, Malisse, Kiefer and Greg Rusedski!--is he every retiring?). I didn't really look at the bottom half of the draw since that really doesn't get a start until Wednesday (although Roddick vs. Scoville Jenkins [??] will probably be Tuesday's night match).

Article on Maria Sharapova's success post-Wimbledon is here on CNN's Money magazine page.

And also, there's a new authorized biography of Althea Gibson. I saw it today at Barnes & Noble.

It's a record! After 17 minutes I have turned the sound off on the US Open. I never knew how much better it could be with a soundtrack of The Killers and Franz Ferdinand.

And how excited must USA be? Tonight, after a probably 48 minute Serena match they'll have Andre vs. Ginepri. It's supposed to rain tonight, though, so we'll see how that goes.

Castallack: Try muting USA and turning the computer on for the live feed from US Open Radio.

In Detroit, for decades, we muted Tigers games and had Ernie Harwell's radio coverage playing.

Thanks, Juanita. Quite frankly, although I miss the grunting, crowd noise, and thwack of the ball, this isn't too bad. I think that's the best part of seeing live tennis; all the action, none of the commentary. But I'll have to get the sound back soon as I'm not getting any work done this way.

Hey, has anyone else noticed that the commentators are calling it "Louis" Armstrong Stadium instead of "Louie."

Was it last year that Tony Bennett visited Mac in the booth and said, "I knew Louis Armstrong and no one who knew him called him 'Louie'."?

I haven't noticed that (most people I know just call it "Armstrong," anyway) but I have noticed a few awkward moments between Jim Courier and Johnny Mac. Except, of course, when they agreed that women didn't deserve equal prize money with men.

Why, oh why do we have to have Al Trautwig for the US Open? Didn't we suffer enough during the Olympics!

I thought Johnny Mac reversed his stance on equal prize money...I remember him discussing it a couple years ago...?

Was that during the day? If it was, maybe that was because McEnroe was in Arthur Ashe and Courier was in the USA booth in Armstrong. And I, too, thought McEnroe changed his mind about the money. Well, from what I heard from him at night McEnroe sounded all sorts of pissed of about something. What was up with that? Although I did like when McEnroe was trying to tease Ted Robinson about the Olympic diving commentary and asked about who the "man" professional commentatator was and Robison replied "you mean Cynthia (or whatever her name was)." McEnroe came off like such as ass (must be taking lessons from his brother), especially when he followed that up with asking whether she "even" did commentary for the male divers as well.

The prize money thing went something like this. There were three in the booth, Courier, McEnroe, and someone I can't remember. That 3rd person said something about the heat rule coming into effect in the women's game, if it went to three sets, that there would be a 10 minute break before the third set if the players chose. Courier then said something like "And yet the men grind for 5 sets with no such break and they make the same amount!" McEnroe then said something like "Well, you know how I feel about that" or "I'm not going to say anything about that" and they all chuckled knowingly. Cut to commercial.

And yes, it was during the day and they were all in the same booth at least for certain periods of time. Two I remember were 1. McEnroe congradulating Courier about some Senior match he had won recently and Courier pausing awkwardly, stammering something about only wanting to talk about the Open, and then finally saying thanks in a reluctant way and 2. McEnroe bringing up Courier's Olympic coverage (in almost a teasing manner) to yet another awkward pause from Courier. It was just weird.

And I would just like to commend the Open for putting Sharapova on Ashe for the night session when they had the option of Venus. I know if Sharapova looked like Amy Frazier it wouldn't happen (no disrespect, Amy) and there is a buzz surrounding her plus she's playing an American, but still, bravo. So look at that, one of the "name" players we'll see tonight on USA isn't from the USA. I'm also looking forward to seeing Scoville Jenkins play Roddick as I've been hearing some buzz about him but have never seen him play. Plus, I just like the name Scoville Jenkins...sue me.

Let's take a moment to commend Todd Martin upon his retirement. And here's hoping ESPN or another network snatches him up quickly for work in the booth and retires another former pro from commentary. (PeeMac, I'm looking at you.)

Good idea! Martin was always great when he would "guest" in the booth. I'd go for him doing that.

What is up with John McEnroe and the Olympics? Was he jealous that no one asked him? What is he going to say to Mary Carillo when she gets back? Probably some back-handed compliment about anchoring but "only on Bravo" or "too early in the morning for (him)" or some other such stupidity.

ETA: So, Serena's "costume." Loved Tracy Austin's not-very-veiled comments about worrying that her sons would come home married to someone who dressed like that. And Serena, you know that old saw about calling yourself a rebel, right?

Tracy Austin must be a very conservative woman. She sounded like she was 80 years old, not 40 with her comments last night. This is a woman who wore shapeless jumpers her mother made her to play professional tennis, so she really has no leg to stand on regarding tennis fashion. I didn't see all of Serena's match last night, but I would have been impressed if they did a split screen with Serena in her outfit and Tracy in one her mother specials, hair bunches and braces.

The technical innovations freaked me out a bit. That weird stro-motion one when a ghost of a player is left behind as she continues to move in the court was so weird, but I think I like it.

McEnroe probably was unable to go to the Olympics due to his talk show commitment with CNBC. It was weird flipping around last night from 10-11 seeing him live on USA and a new episode of his show on CNBC at the same time. Does anyone know what time Mac tapes his talk show? Since there's usually a women's match first during the night session, he should be okay. But did someone say he was doing commentary during the day matches as well? How is that working? He and Courier both need haircuts badly - what's up with Mac's shaggy sideburns?

I wouldn't be surprised if Johnny Mac recorded several eps on Friday in anticipation of the Open. But I haven't watched McEnroe in WEEKS so I don't know if it was obvious that the episode was recorded on Monday. The pilot was taped at the same time that Squawkbox was on the air so that's in the a.m. There's a conversation about that craziness in the Talk Show forums McEnroe thread.

Love this!

But what The Hell was going on with the camera and the coverage last night? They cut away when the chair umpire was announcing Todd's retirement. Grr argh.
They failed to do a Hawkeye on a critical point that was called out by the linesmen but both those in the booth thought was good.
They stayed on a graphic for a VERY long time at several points missing live action. So damn frustrating! But on a good note: a scoreboard I can get behind. And? No "New Balls" graphic, thankfully.