Scooter Chronicles

The top two seeded women of the tourney, American Lindsay Davenport and Russian Maria Sharapova, both got knocked out in their quarterfinal matches today. That leaves 7th seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia the top seed left. Yikes! But that is not really fair, since Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium is left. She won the French and US Open’s in 2003, then the Australian Open in 2004. I was surprised to see her so low a seed, but her world ranking is only 12th. Must be struggling this year.

Henin-Hardenne was the one that knocked Sharapova out, 6-4, 6-2. Davenport lost to France’s Mary Pierce, 6-3, 6-2. Pierce is seeded 21st in the tourney and won the French Open in 2000.

I know some of you have been just dying to find out how I did last week.

THE FREEDOM WIN!!!

Yes, miracles never cease! I got some big games from all the players involved, and was up against a team that had many poor performances from their players, which led to a 108 point margin of victory. Now hopefully I can get a few more here. Trent Croad of the Hawthorn Hawks was the guy that really helped. I had been looking at his stats wrong and didn’t realize how well he was doing. I put him in last week, but he had season lows in quite a few categories. But this week he...

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Last night Marcia and I watched “Wilde”, a movie about the life of poet/playwright Oscar Wilde. It stars Stephen Fry of “Blackadder” and “Jeeves and Wooster” fame.

I know of Oscar Wilde, but really knew little about him or his work. This movie centered on his final 15-16 years of his life, just before his marriage to Constance Lloyd. And it really displays little of his marriage, and almost solely on his extra-marital affairs with men, most notably Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas who is played by Jude Law, and his continuing friendship with ex-lover Robbie Ross.

Not knowing what is true, embellished,...

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This afternoon I finished the Star Wars novel “Vector Prime” by R. A. Salvatore. This is the first book of a 20 book series called “The New Jedi Order” which takes place 25-30 years after the first Star Wars movie, “A New Hope” or Episode IV.

At the time of this story, the New Republic is up and running with a 6-8 person council instead of a full senate like before. Luke is contemplating putting together the Jedi council again, as he has already opened a new Jedi Academy (that the beginning was POORLY novelized by Kevin J. Anderson). The Jedi at this stage are just kind of going around doing their own thing, and the...

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The plans for our usual Memorial Day BBQ were altered due to my mother-in-law not feeling well. So David and Catherine picked up the “torch” and had the gang over. Just as we showed up it started to rain. But it was just a passing cloud, because 15 minutes later it had stopped and was sunny again. The skies stayed clear the rest of the day.

After having some bugers and dogs, David’s son Lyric asked Andy to go play catch with his football, and I joined in, too. After cleaning up and eating, David joined us as well. It was a lot of fun playing around. Lyric can really through the ball for a 6 year old. His aim needs some work, but he has the distance. But then at times he would wing it at David as a joke. ...

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I have been a racing fan for most of my life, and unlike most these days that love NASCAR, my fandom has always involved open wheel cars. And though my interest has waned over the years, and it is harder and harder to get up and watch the Forumla One races on Sunday morning during the 5 year reign of Michael Schumacher, I still make a point of watching the Indianapolis 500. This year the race was won by British sensation Dan Wheldon. This was his fourth win of the season that is only five races old.

Dan Wheldon takes the famous drink of victory milk.

Due to the stupid way the qualifying works at Indy (my opinion), Wheldon...

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So you have probably heard the term “Stepford Wife” over the years. I know I have. It wasn’t until years later I found out it was from the book and subsequent movie “The Stepford Wives” by Ira Levin. The remake came around last summer, starring Nicole Kidman. Last night Marcia and I watched it.

I didn’t expect too much, knowing this was a remake and a comedic version. At least I believe the book and the first movie were not. But with a cast that included Kidman (hubba-hubba), Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, Glenn Close, Bette Midler, and Jon Lovitz, my hopes started to get a little bigger.

The...

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The web site for Sports Illustrated is reporting that ESPN has dropped it’s coverage of the NHL. You can read the ARTICLE on their web site. There is no news of this over on ESPN’s web site.

If this indeed happens, it will ruin the NHL. Of course, the ruining started with the lock-out. Sure, it could continue. But the salary cap would get a whole heck of a lot smaller.

Meanwhile, progress in the talks between the owners and the union is being reported by ESPN in this ARTICLE. I think it is taking too long to get this done. The damage, with ESPN or...

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Marcia’s going to love hearing this. Andy Roddick, the 2nd seed in the tourney, lost a TWO SET LEAD. He also had a lead in the fifth set, but lost it as the set played out. Unseeded Argentine Jose Acasuso was the giant killer, winning 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 8-6. Roddick has yet to make it past the 3rd round at Roland Garros. And that was in his first try. Since then it’s been first or second round exits.

Tim Henman, the 7th seed of the tourney was also knocked out in the second round. He lost yesterday to Luis Horna of Peru, 7-5, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-4.

For those that don’t know about European soccer leagues, there is a big tournament every year that plays out during the regular seasons of the pro leagues. It’s called the Champions League. The league champions from the season before, along with some of the teams that finished in second, third, and even fourth in some leagues comprise the teams.

The championship game was this afternoon (US time), and replayed on ESPN2. As a matter of fact, at the time of writing this it is at halftime. I shut it off for two reasons. Mostly because Marcia wanted to watch the season finale of “Lost” tonight. I was not upset by that because AC Milan was winning 3-0 and I figured it was over. Guess what? It wasn’t.

Liverpool...

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