Tennis fever in NYC

New York City is having a fever again, Tennis fever that is. The US open is currently in session at the USTA tennis center in Flushing, Queens, New York, right across the street from Citi Field. I bet some of you have already caught some tennis action already. I'm am going to explain some rules regarding the tennis court itself. This applies to singles matches. Correct me if I have any wrong information here.

A regular tennis court measures 78 feet by 36 feet. The service area (where the ball has to land in a serve) is 21 feet away from the net. The Net is three feet high at the center of the court. Any ball hitting the net and going over to the other side is considered in play, and if the ball doesn't go over, the other player takes a point. The side (tramline) boxes are considered out if a ball is hit there, (except in doubles matches.)

The borderline calls can be quite controversial, sometimes missed calls are made here, (refer to the third image) Players have three challenges in each match to protest these calls if such is disputed.

The US Open is in session until September 13th.

Explaining the tennis court

New York City is having tennis fever again. Why, it's the United States Open, by the United States Tennis Association. I'm just going to show you some diagrams for what a tennis court looks like.

Now for some rules as of how this court is used.

My reasons baseball is boring.

Here are the why we should not focus on baseball.

1. Most of the action is between the pitcher and catcher.
2. The pitcher usually initiates every play, (unless someone steals a base)
3. The games tend to become too long and most defensive fielders and baserunners do absolutely nothing if the ball isn't going toward them.
4. People fall asleep in games, (I saw this a lot when going to Yankee Stadium)
5. Most outdoor games are prone to having their games delayed or cancelled due to inclement weather.
6. If your favorite team starts bad, they're most likely going to do bad.
7. The scheduling of the games makes it difficult to keep up with the action.
8. This sport is full of silly superstitions.
9. This is the sport where referees make the most inaccurate calls.
10. Is baseball really an American pastime when only 33% of Americans really watching it?
11. This sport is known for some infamous streaks such as the year after year failures of the Chicago Cubs not winning the World Series, and the American League winning ever All Star game since 1996 (not including 2002 tie)
12. Some fans become way too enthusiastic and become rowdy to the point where they can't focus on anything else in their lives other than baseball.
13. Who cares about Earn Run Average, on base percentage, and the number of home runs a player hits, those don't carry onto next season so you might as well leave your brain at home if you don't feel like doing math while observing baseball.
14. The games are too expensive (Yankees and Mets have the worst ticket prices in the majors today) especially if the team isn't doing so well.
15. Baseball is not a religion so you shouldn't treat it that way, unfortunately some fans still do...
16. Players are paid as much as $100 millon to do great and later blow up when the moments count, what a ripoff!
17. Most professional sports that have at least 30 clubs send at least 12, while MLB sends only 8 which makes it harder for more deserving teams to make the post season.
18. If a pitcher is the spotlight of the game, why can't he finish what he started?
19. Hitting is the most exciting part of the game, and if that doesn't happen, I'm going to bed.
20. The food in addition to ticket prices is way too expensive for my budget, and to make things worse, I can't sneak outside food into venues.

Coney Island, Brooklyn.

Coney Island is a neighborhood in Brooklyn. In fact it's probably the most talked about neighborhood in the borough. There's KeySpan Park for the Cyclones, the amusement park, the BMT Subway station, the Hot Dog store Nathan's and the two and a half mile boardwalk (The Edward J Riegelmann boardwalk to be exact) that serves Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach, and Coney Island, and ending at Sea Gate (east-to-west)

In case you're curious to see what points of interest look like, here they are.

Let me start with the Riegelmann boardwalk itself.






The Famous roller coaster, the Cyclone






The Wonder Wheel and the amusement park




The Parachute Jump Tower: back in the day a parachute jump was an actual ride.





KeySpan Park, home for the Cyclones. I believe these side walls were more interesting though.




Nathan's hot Dog Stand.


Looking along Stillwell Avenue


The Subway Station, home for the D F N and Q lines


That's it for now, thanks for reading.

Two new sports coming in 2016

I'm thinking seven years ahead, as of when the 2016 Summer Olympic Games will have. It looks like Golf and Rugby are the front runners of the two vacant sporting event slots left by the removal of baseball and softball, leaving after the 2008 Games. I don't watch Golf frequently, and I don't know much about Rugby either. Honestly, I think baseball/softball are way more popular spectator sports than those two combined. IOC took out softball because the Americans dominated the sport? I think that statement is just BS. If that's the case the IOC might as well take out basketball, swimming, and track and field too.

Baseball reps as well as the softball speakers are going to discuss in this ever growing debate of which two sports will make it to the 2016 games. Clinics are going around the world in order to prove that baseball and softball have grown as a worldwide sport. Promotions have been taking place as well to increase interest on baseball and softball.

I keep wondering, what was the IOC thinking when they voted out baseball and softball? Were certain nations too dominant such as the Americans, or was it not global enough? While we'll neve know the answer, we do know this, the dreams of a lot of would be olympians have been broken because the supreme powers of the IOC have decided that baseball/softball was not a global sport, that there was a global imbalance in those sports.

We'll have to wait until October of this year to see which two sports made the 2016 cut. Baseball and Softball will need to do a better job convincing the IOC that those sports have grown globally.

R160 on the R train?

This will be a short entry, I really don't have much detail to it right now. From what I'm hearing, there's a R160 train set on line as of today. Remember this is not confirmed yet, but line riders should be prepared for a train of R160s to roll out in the Fall of 2009. The line usually has R40M, R42 and R46 cars. Most recently the lines have updated their announcements and now the line is getting the cars. Not surprising that the just recently used the R160s during reroutes going to 179th Street on the line due to construction.

line customers would sure welcome the new R160 trains considering that the line has been rated amongst the dirtiest subway lines in NYC. It might change eventually, but hopefully the R160s on the line will make the line cleaner.