Rafanole revisited: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic meet in the French Open quarterfinals

June 2, 2015

Well, the match that we’ve anticipated since the French Open draw May 22 (Novak Djokovic’s 28th birthday), is now at hand, the 44th meeting between him and Rafael Nadal, the longest – and, I think, greatest – rivalry in tennis’ open era.

For both men, this is a crucial contest. For Rafa, it represents a chance to return to former glory after a dismal winter and a surprisingly mediocre season on his favorite surface, clay. A win against Nole in the quarterfinals Wednesday, June 3 – his 29th birthday – would cement the return of the King of Clay. He could still go down in the semifinal or final, but the Big Mo, momentum, would be with him.

For Nole, the quarterfinal represents an opportunity to bury once and for all the notion that he can’t beat Rafa at Roland-Garros, that he lacks the Rafa-esque mental fortitude to close out a match that means the most. He would be the only man to take Rafa down on every Slam surface, and he would position himself not only for a career Grand Slam, since the French is the only Slam he hasn’t won, but propel himself toward winning the Grand Slam in a calendar year – something no man has done since Rod Laver in 1969. ...

Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris – the best of rivalries

May 26, 2015

One of the fellow customers I met in the jewelry store said I should write about baseball on my blog.

Well, here it is, a post inspired by a Sunday New York Times’ column by presidential historian Michael Bechloss about a friendship/rivalry – should that be frivalry? – between the New York Yankees’ Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.

In the summer of 1961, the “M & M Boys,” as they were known, electrified the nation as they pursued Babe Ruth’s single season home-run record, 60, together. It helped that they were teammates who had a lot in common. (Although not all teammate rivals are friendly: Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, anyone?)

Both Mantle and Maris were big corn-fed blonds from the Middle West, Mantle from Oklahoma and Maris from North Dakota. But they were also complements. Mantle, whose father had died young, lived a life of reckless abandon in the big city. Maris never lost his small-town, family roots. Long before “The Odd Couple,” Mantle and Maris roomed together with outfielder Bob Cerv in Queens – cooking out and shopping local. Once a stock boy was so stunned to see the diamond demigods doing something as mundane as grocery shopping, that he took out a row of cans as he fell off the ladder. The M & M Boys had that effect on people, who would reach out to touch them everywhere they went. ...

Michael Phelps starts over

May 19, 2015

He didn’t win any events at the Arena Pro Swim Series in Charlotte, N.C. But then, Michael Phelps has dug himself a hole that he has to climb out of. He retired. He unretired. He was arrested for DUI.

Sometimes I think he does some of this on purpose so that he’ll have to start over. But that’s just what he’s doing. He’ll follow coach Bob Bowman to Arizona State in Tempe, where Bowman will coach the men’s and women’s swim team. Phelps – who is making the move with his fiancée, Nicole Johnson – has some familiarity with the area, having rehabbed in Phoenix. Still, it’s a big move from his hometown of Baltimore – new program, new surroundings, new responsibilities, new life.

Maybe it’s just what he needs to get back in the swim. ...

Rafael Nadal’s feet of clay

May 16, 2015

These are not the best of times for us Nadalistas. Our beloved Rafa has lost five times this season on his best surface, clay, most recently in the quarterfinals against Stan Wawrinka at the Italian Open in Rome.

In the past, Rafa could count on clay to rev up the old engine when he flamed out at Wimbledon or was returning from an injury. Not anymore.

The question is, Has his intense playing style taken too much of a toll on his body and thus affected his mind, or is he having a crisis of conscience that is affecting his style of play?

It’s hard to say. With a top athlete, the mind-body connection is so complex that it may be a bit of both. ...

Gay marriage v. states’ rights

April 29, 2015

Gay marriage is once again before the U.S. Supreme Court, and depending on what the Court decides, it could become the law of the land.

Opponents have taken a new tactic. It’s not about whether or not gays should marry but whether the Court or the states should decide this.

Trust me: It’s about whether or not gays should marry, and invoking states’ rights in this situation here smacks of the Dred Scott Decision of 1857, in which the Court ruled 7-2 that just because you’re a slave living in a free state doesn’t make you free.

Right now, you might be gay and married in New York but you sure as hell ain’t gay and married, in, say, Tennessee.

And that’s absurd. There are certain things in which there must be uniformity of the law, otherwise what’s to stop a heterosexual couple’s marriage from being ignored by a state? ...

Seems like old times for Phelpte

April 22, 2015

Michael Phelps, back from his DUI suspension, and Ryan Lochte, back from a knee injury and flirtation with celebrity, went head-to-head at the Arena Pro Swim in Mesa, Ariz. recently and split the difference.

Phelps edged Lochte in the 100-meter freestyle April 16. Lochte finished first, and Phelps third, in the 200-meter individual medley April 18.

“Like old times,” Lochte said.

Theirs is a most interesting rivalry, most companionable. It helps that they have complementary personalities – Lochte being more laidback and Phelps more intense, at least on the surface – and that the superb Lochte is nonetheless not quite in Phelps’ league. And yet that has never fazed Ryan. He keeps coming after him. ...

Rivals spark sports

April 16, 2015

Jordan Spieth at the A T & T Championship in February. Is the Masters’ champ and new golf phenom on his way to a rivalry with Rory McIlroy? Photograph by Erik Charlton.

On a recent installment of the “PBS NewsHour,” John Feinstein, author and sports columnist for The Washington Post, was asked to comment on the ascent of Jordan Spieth, golf’s latest phenom. He said he thought that Speith and Rory McIlroy had the opportunity to develop a great rivalry now and that for him, rivalries rather than dynasties make sports interesting.

Tell that to the fans of the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers in various eras. They’ll tell you there’s nothing sweeter than the monotony of winning year after year.

But I know what he means: Fed and Rafa, Rafa and Nole, Nole and Andy, Andy and Fed, Fed and Nole, Andy and Rafa – tennis has always thrived on great rivalries and has a round robin of them going on now. Even when you have a dynasty like the Yanks have been, they were made better by their clashes with the Bosox (even if it sometimes tore your heart out as a Bombers’ fan). ...