Lincoln Park Tennis Hall of Fame

In case anyone's interested, I just updated the Lincoln Park Tennis Hall of Fame. It's a list of all the regular players that ever played there. A document copy of it is kept in the real Tennis Hall of Fame in New Port, RI. As far as I know Lincoln Park is the only public park with recreational players that are recognized there.

If you want to view the list on line here are two links:

http://blog.myspace.com/29311641

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/Lincoln_Park_Tennis/

Master's Series Final

The Master's Series Final in Shanghai is Sunday 3-6 PM Fox Sports Network (FSN) Channel 30 on Comcast. Djokovic vs. Davydenko.

OFF Topic

Soo, many years ago, I lost my wallet. Sucked, had my rent and grocery money in it along with all the legal cards and CC's. I was panicked to say the least. Long story short, some nice young woman called and said she found it. I was very relieved indeed, in fact I rewarded her efforts with a $100.00. Not much, but alot for a struggling college student like me. She was happy and I was very relieved losing $100.00 and not the $500.00


So about a year ago, I found this wallet outside the 7-11, had a couple hundred dollars in it and the owner was right up the street according to the address. I took it to him and all I got was a Yo.. thanks dude.

Yesterday, I found a woman's purse with about 7 CC's and all her pins. Almost $500.00 and several gift cards. There was no Phone numbers so I googled her and found her on the web. I emailed her work and this morning she called very happy. She picked her wallet up with a departing, "thank you so much" .

Now, I'm not looking for a reward but am I wrong here. Should'nt she offer a reward? I probably would'nt take it but still it seems like good kharma, to offer. No she should insist.. at least a lunch for the effort to find her.

Offering a reward for your lost property not only enhances the integrity of the finder but also rewards and encourges it. I mean thank you is fine, but I'm sure I would get a greater thank you if I gave it to the bum outside the store there to find the owner.

My rant

Tuesday 9/16 am tennis Lincoln Pk players coming

Many of the morning group players from Lincoln Park are coming via car pool to lower woodland to play doubles.
I think Cal Bannon, Willie from South America, Frankie Key, Clyde, Ruth, Sail, Paul and maybe even Coon. And others, They should be should be there around 9:30am, hope we find lower woodland players to play.
Dave

Funny Commercials

Some of you probably saw these commercials already.









Roger Federer Interview

Dodgeballers Dislodged

You've no doubt seen this, but, for the record...from Sea. Times:

"Dodgeball group can't play on Capitol Hill tennis courts
Seattle Street Dodgeball, a group that has been chucking playground balls at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill for more than a year, will have to find a new home. The Seattle Parks Superintendent has ruled that the group can no longer play on tennis courts at the park.

By Seattle Times staff
In a dispute between dodgeball and tennis players over who can use public tennis courts in Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill, tennis won.

Seattle Parks Superintendent Timothy Gallagher said Thursday that dodgeball could not be played on city tennis courts.

Seattle Street Dodgeball, a group that has been chucking playground balls at Cal Anderson for more than a year, had asked the city to sanction their game on city tennis courts. The courts at Cal Anderson have the best proportions for dodgeball, organizers said.

Tennis players protested that dodgeball took up time on courts intended for tennis and damaged court surface and nets. It made sense to find another place for dodgeball, said parks spokeswoman Dewey Potter.

New signs will go up at Cal Anderson in mid-September, saying the courts can be used only for tennis.

The city has offered Seattle Street Dodgeball free access to indoor space at a community center for now and will work with the players to find a permanent home, Potter said."

So the system works...possibly, sort of, in spite of itself, partially, could be, sometimes by coincidence, to a degree, I still have my doubts, maybe, maybe not, who knows....stay vigilant.

Monday BBQ

Not.

someone backed out of it so.. unless someone else brings grill, no BBQ.

Interesting, we get alot of viewers here but not many that comment or post. I know there's alot to be said, you hear it on the courts all the time..

Speak your mind here so everyone can hear.

CYA all on the courts!

Tennis for Friday

Looks like its going to be rather wet Friday afternoon, possibly early friday afternoon.

I'd like to get some playing in before it does start raining, so lets get out early tomorrow.

Thinking alittle BBQ Monday and alot of tennis.

Good match on primetime, Raddick.

The wood racquet tourney

You know if we decide to have a wood racquet tourney we should at least reserve the courts. I would imagine it would be a short tourney so we could reserve the courts for a weekend. I think we should divide the tourney based on NTRP ratings. Should it be doubles only or both singles and doubles?

Let's hear some opinions on what should happen.

Opening day Aug 15!

With little fan fare the Lower Woodland courts resumed operations.
A phone call from Sprague around noon let me know we were playing.
So I arrived to find Tim and Berry breaking in the courts, soon afterwards Vic showed up and Berry and I of course showed the Tim and Vic that it didin't matter what courts we played on, we still beat them.

First Ace.. Tim
First Shank.. Tim
First on the parking lot.. Tim

Tim there playing with the anti Weed eater.

Seattle tennis mecca!
Tremendous, no cracks, no dead spots, no un-even surfaces, no cars, no butts and no distractions.
I did a search on court construction and this seems to be the closest to what we have.. called decoturf.

It favors for right now, top spin and slices. If you have a hard fast serves and strokes.. watch out cause now they just sit up, I found that out today. That being said, its fun.. top spin check and bounce higher, and slices slide. Footing is sure, you can stop on a dime. With every bounce, ruminants of fuzz and ball stuff are stuck to the court like bad chinese food left to dry on a plate.

For those interested.. heres regulation Court demensions


8/16 Bring your own food and bev.. Kevin providing the BBQ facilities. So chips, dogs and libation and plenty of tennis!

One day, and it will be a hot one

Well wev'e all endured the past 3 months, mostly at the upper courts and now it has come to one final day. I think we can all say that despite the handicap we all had a good time up there and there was certainly some good tennis, despite some of the craters and faults that made up the Upper courts. Some of the last minute finishing details of the courts..
and

What Lou Wick received for being in the finals of the National 80's tournament not to long ago in Portland.

From Bill Peters

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/othersports/2008106538_dodgeball12.html

Dodgeball article.. Bill Replied with a nice letter that he can share with all if he chooses.

Now..

Front page stuff on the Seattle Times..

A few kind words, "joy and terror", etc

I queried Ken Holden about security and whatnot....his response...

Dear Mr. Horn,

Thank you for your kind words. I am extremely proud of how well this project has run and the superb results we are getting. The last minute details are always a crunch, and I'm hoping they can all be completed by end of the work day on the 15th. Minor but important details like getting new vending machines, getting all the bleachers moved back, finishing the striping of the new parking lot, and getting all the court rules and the DOs and DON'Ts signs reinstalled are consuming my time at present.

I can appreciate your concern for the security of this wonderful new facility. You ask about security cameras, however from other projects I've worked on where we had the same concerns, since there was not an issue with personal safety cameras were not to be considered. As for locking the courts, they will be open and actively in use until the lights go out at 10:30 or 11:00. We just do not have staff available at that time to go around and lock all the gates to the courts. We do have a security service that locks the park restrooms throughout the summer, and we can certainly request that they do a surveillance drive by when the park closes. Other than this, I would have to say the best approach to reducing vandalism and abuse of the facility is to have it actively used. I'm confident that this will be the case. However, we have already had some graffiti on the new wall. The Contractor is taking care of it at this point. Even with this issue I'm hoping active and continuous use will be a determent.

Again, thank you for your email and kind words.

Ted Holden, Senior Landscape Architect, Project Manager
Seattle Parks and Recreation

"Creating community through people, parks and programs." www.seattle.gov/parks


>>> William Horn 8/9/2008 2:53 PM >>>
Dear Mr. Holden,
Just a note of thanks on behalf of Seattle tennis enthusiasts
(addicts, obsessives, etc.) for your part in the transmogrification of
the Lower Woodland courts into the splendiferous incarnation nearing
completion. I would have to call them spellbinding if that didn't
sound so over the top. Gratitude and superlatives are ricocheting among
those of us who have had a look.
Now since, like Baudelaire, I am a worrier ("I have cultivated my
hysteria with joy and terror."), I am wondering if any security
provisions have been made to protect this pristine and lovely work. Has
any thought been given to securing the courts overnight by padlock now
that they are fully enclosed? Are nighttime security cameras wildly
implausible? Signage regarding food, drink, and black-soled shoes? Am I
fretting entirely too much? If funding is not available for such
measures, can the city accept private donations to realize them? Just
wondering.
I understand the courts will be playable on 15 August. Thanks again
for your efforts in realizing this great asset to our city.

Yours,
William Horn

Concerning the new courts..

Was just thinking that it would be nice and fun.. Keyword 'FUN' maybe if next saturday we had a barbecue of sorts to kick off the opening of lower woodland courts. I thought Saturday since.. well it is a weekend and everyone will be available and I'm sure excited about being there. Maybe do a pot luck thing from about noon to 3 or somthing.

Just a thought.

comment your ideas if you have anything to kick off this fine event!

New Court pics

Interesting, the parking lot is level with the courts.. hope they put bumpers in.

Looks like bench's are being put in place.. looks good.

Court reservations

How much is it to reserve 1 court? The reason I bring this up, it's because next year we all know what's going to happen at the beginning of summer. I'd be willing to pitch in some money to reserve some courts on the same day our counter parts reserve the courts.

EVERY Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30 to 8:00 they reserve 4 courts from June to September. I'd at least like to know there are some guaranteed courts to play on after 6:30 without worrying about getting kicked off in the middle of some games. There are lots of us regulars to gather a few hundreds of dollars to reserve the courts. I know a lot of the other regulars bitch and moan about it too. I have a saying about people who bitch and moan, 1-Do something about it or 2-Shut up and accept it.

Any thoughts?

This just in.. Extra!

From Bill Peters, via Ted Holden of the Seattle Parks and rec..

Courts playable 8/15..

Let the count down .. start 9 days, Friday.

Thanks Bill.

Frequent guest

For the past several weeks we have been hearing and seeing this hawk around the upper courts. There is actually two of them and often will see them flying together in search of prey. I sent this photo to a raptor center and was told by Louise A. Shimmel, the executive director of the Cascades Raptor center in Eugene that it was a immature Coopers Hawk... here's her reply..

That's an immature Coopers hawk. They are nesting more and more in cities and suburbs, and being quite successful because of all the bird feeders (their primary prey is songbirds and pigeons). How neat to see them around! Most often they are a brown blur as they speed past the feeder, causing all the feeder birds to dive into cover! Louise

She is right, we can see these birds darh, dart and swoop, in and out through the canopy.

WA State Open Semis

Well, could you believe it...Steve was the chair umpire for the Hadad vs. Shields match. I was only there for the first set but, after speaking with Bill looks like the match came down to a 3rd set tie breaker. I wish I was there. I also heard there was a controversial over rule call. "Point penalty for interrupting a good match."

Faces of the wash open, pristine courts

8.2 updates..

All but the post and nets huh?

WA State Open

Checked out the tourney at the Seattle Tennis Club. Watched some really good singles. The last match I saw was Amir Hadad (The Israeli Tank) vs Patrik Fischer from UW. Really nice match. Hadad won the first set 6-4. Hadad was serving for set at 5-2 but got broken. Fischer held serve to get the match at 4-5 and that's when Hadad held serve to win the set. Next set Hadad seemed to be bothered by the wind and lost some focus. Fischer seemed to have picked up his game and I think he was up 2-0 in the set before I left to go back to work.

These guys were playing on the main court and they had the radar gun set up. Hadad's first serve speed average was around 116mhp, second serve average was around 88mhp. I saw Dean and Geoff Garza sitting in the seats behind the radar gun.

Patrik Fischer is a very solid and smart player. If anyone has watched him play you'll notice he serves left handed and hits ground strokes right handed. I heard he's ambidextrous and can play right or left handed, that's pretty awesome if you ask me. Hope to see more Greenlake regs out there watching.

Some guys to really watch are the Shields brothers from Colorado, they play tennis at Boise State and these guys are super solid. They remind me of Dimitry Tursinov. I watch Luke Shields (#3 Seed in the draw) play David Chu (Another solid UW player) and he beat Chu 3-6,0-6. In the second set it looked like Luke Shields was playing around with David. That's saying a lot since David Chu is a very good player himself. I was sitting by Dean but, he didn't seem impressed.

On the nascent scourge of alternate use and abuse

Dear Court 51,
May I call you Court? Perhaps I should contribute my correspondence with the Park Board (below).
Also...dropped by the courts of yore this eve, (Monday). First coat of paint is down. Blue. Fencing and gates seem complete. A young painter named Nick held up two fingers, "Two weeks!", he said. Blue courts with contrasting light green perimeter area according to him. Not sure if "two weeks" refers to painting and curing or the project in total. Anyway, coming along....
Bill



Hello William,
 
Thank you for submitting testimony to the Board of Park Commissioner's about the pilot program for non-tennis uses of tennis courts.  Your e-mail was forwarded to the Board of Park Commissioners and to Dennis Cook, Seattle Parks' Citywide Recreation Manager. 
 
The Board plans to discuss the proposal and make a recommendation at its August 28 meeting.  That meeting is scheduled for 7:00 pm at Seattle Parks Headquarters, 100 Dexter Avenue North.  Please let me know if you would like a copy of the agenda (it is distributed about 10 days prior to the meeting) or if I can be of further assistance.
 
Sandy Brooks
Park Board Coordinator
(206) 684-5066
www.seattle.gov/parks/parkboard
"Creating community through people, parks and programs."
www.seattle.gov/parks


>>> William Horn 7/24/2008 8:46 PM >>>
This is a door that should not be opened. Our public courts are already
subject to the (putatively illicit) use and abuse by skateboarders,
bicyclists, dodgeballers, soccer players, etc. The wear and tear of
unconventional uses of the courts is unsustainable. Tennis nets are not
designed to repel soccer balls, dodgeballs, etc. Court surfaces are
damaged by novel and intensive uses for which they are not designed.
Moreover, it is already difficult for the tennis playing public to find
available courts in playable condition let alone competing with
untraditional and destructive recreations. I urge the Board to close
this Pandora's box and let those of us who practice the religion of
tennis to observe our faith as God intended.
Sincerely,
William Horn

New Court pics

From what Lou said.. the courts will take a week to dry, and a couple of weeks to do the parking lot..

Updates

Anyone go to last nights meeting? Any updates concerning the courts? I plan on bringing my dodge ball and street hockey gear to upper woodland today. Just think in another 2 months order will be restored and the lower courts will be finished.

This is just a side note. I ran into some court regulars telling me if they knew I was going to be at the courts they would have brought their racquets to have them restrung. If you need your racquets restrung you can either call or email me. I'm not at the courts quite as often anymore but, I am willing to meet pick up racquets somewhere convenient for both of us. Ken is a gold star member, I drop his off at his house...Mario on the other hand is an exclusive member of the tin foil star.

Tennis Meeting

Ok, there's a correction the meeting is for Thursday.

Anyone plan on going to the Tennis meeting this week? Thursday at 7, but get there by 6 so you can say your piece. Read Sweet Lou's comments. Also there are a few Greenlake regulars who entered in the up and coming Washington State Open.

Josey, Ice and the stoner girl.

Soooo....its the wee hours of the tennis day.. Wednesday evening.. 6:30..

The majority of the tennis has been played out, only a couple on the courts just wrapping things up.. It was a day of libation to say the least, Larry and his cornucopia of brews had just left, Mario and his beer possy were all gone, only the ruminants of Roman's Styrofoams ice cooler with watered down ice remained next to a nice shading tree no more than 20 feet from Roman.

Well two things happend and in what order I do not know and will not profess to know but,

1) Josey Gordon comes walking down from the parking lot, looking for a game, you know Josey.. "singles" singles??? doubles"????? singles? and apparantly, there is a taker. Josey just coming back from work goes up and disappears from view to change...

2) Not more than 40 feet from where Josey is changing behind the tree a .. perhaps an native american is standing, should I say leaning over, in a manner that suggest she's going to discharge things from her mouth, yet oddly just appears totally stoned and seems to have great trouble remaining in a up right position.. she remains that way for a moment and then staggers closer and closer only to stop and lean over again..


Sooo this is going on.. and Roman's watching with abaited interest.. thinking this stoned drunk woman is just going to keel over any second.. any second ..Its one of those things you know its going to happen and its just a matter of time..

and it happens.

Josey, this side of the stoned girl,
.. Josy trips while changing from his un-seen position behind the tree in only his tighty whities.. Stumbling and falling butt first into the Styrofoam ice chest.. he shatters the ice chest to all hell and lands like a brick on his proverbial arse in the pile of melting ice.

So unexpected was this, so stunning was this development, Roman after thinking it was the girl who was going to fall breaks out into full belly laughter

and then..

To add insult to injury, the girl meanwhile breaks out of her stumbling ways and breaks out laughing while taunting Josey over and over that he's in his undies.. "your in your undies" she repeated over and over.."your in your undies!" laughing unconscionably at Joseies misfortune.

I wish I saw that..
As told by Roman and re-told by me.. :)

Thurs

I think I'll stay away today.. licking my wounds so to speak. Yeah my lower back and hips act up and its such a struggle to swing, always end up using all arms and just spraying the crap out of everything.
'
Today looks like alittle break from the hot.. look to see everyone in the next several days though. happy hitting!

More updated pics..

What they are doing, now that the courts have been cured for the past 15 days is checking for drainage.

Wed update.

Some updated pics..

Wed

Tuesday..

Well if you were not at the courts today, you missed some good playing.. today promises to be the same. Some fantastic weather can only inhance your playing experience.

Well the trend is continuing.. more and more players from the greenlake zone are heading up to the upper courts.. why? who knows, but the courts get pretty crowded now and often a long line is the norm.

Well I will be out around 1:00 to round up some doubles, though I got a call today with someone threatining to steal the courts for singles.. not to play but just to hit.. come on.. go find a backboard.

Sunday

Players were out in masses.
Starting early It was Lou, Tim and Roman and Nick. Looked pretty competitive and tight all the way through. Over on court 1 was Dean and Swanky playing Bendu and Ken. The former taking the first set in once again controversy before retiring with a shin problem by Steve.

Later Tim and Lou split sets with Nick and Bendu, while Ken and Joshua took out Vic and Norm.

Other activity occured on the upper courts that need special attention all to them selves.

Lots of brew as the heat got pretty high.

Lower Woodland Tennis Court project

Hello Bill:
-Good to meet you last night at the Park Board meeting.

I spoke with Ted Holden the Parks Department's project manager for the Lower Woodland Tennis Court project. As I mentioned last night, we received an extremely good bid for the work and were able to add much needed scope to the project while staying within the project budget. Not only are we completely rebuilding all 10 courts, but we are rebuilding the old broken up parking lot too. This additional scope has added days to the contract. Per our contract with the contractor, Emerald Paving, the date for Substantial Completion is officially September 22, 2008 - so the contractor has until that date to complete the project.

The contractor is doing a super job. Not only is the work top quality, but at this point they are ahead of schedule. There are still many steps in completing the project that require favorable weather (warmth and no rain). We have completed the A.C. paving of all 10 courts and they need to 'cure' a minimum of 15 days in warm dry weather, just like we are having now. A "flood test" of the A.C. courts (to indicate proper drainage and no puddling), and the color coat will follow. We have focused our efforts on the courts, and the parking lot rebuild will follow. We have been asked by the Parks Scheduling Office if the project will be complete for a tournament on Aug 23-29. At this point Ted is guardedly optimistic, BUT until we are a bit further along with the parking lot and provided we continue to have great weather, we cannot yet commit to opening the courts before the substantial completion date of Sept. 22. That determination won't be made until the end of the first week in August. By that time we should know with a pretty good measure of confidence when the project will be complete and the facility can be available for use.

I will ask Ted to check back with you at the end of the first week of August to provide you with an update. Ted can be reached via phone at 684.7021. Keep your fingers crossed for continued warm dry weather!

thank you,

Michael Shiosaki
Deputy Director
Planning & Development Division
Seattle Parks & Recreation

Friday

Alot of tennis..


My first video.. have to get better..

Non-tennis activity on Seattle courts

A couple of points to amplify Court 51's thorough summary of this topic.

First, a complete discussion of the one-year pilot project proposal can be found at the Board of Park Commissioners website (http://www.seattle.gov/parks/parkboard 05-22-08 meeting minutes PDF. Second, the Park Board will hear public testimony (3-minutes per person, yes, it's timed) and vote to approve/disapprove this proposal at their July 24, 2008, meeting in the Park Board Room, Denny Park, 100 Dexter Avenue North, Seattle, at 7:00 p.m.

Given the reaction of the Board at the May 22 meeting where this was first presented, I'd say the Board is inclined to approve this proposal, despite some concerns, because it's one court, a couple of nights a week, at Bobby Morris Playfield. The real concern is whether this is the beginning of an initiative to put multiple uses (e.g. bike polo, soccer, dodge ball, whatever), THAT ARE WILLING TO PAY, on courts citywide (god forbid, Lower Woodland). The dodge ball constituency had 8-people at the May 22 meeting. As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

The USTA and the Puget Sound Tennis Tour have been contacted about this meeting. The Western Wash. VP of the PNW/USTA has said she'll be there. The PSTT has a post on their blog/forum about this. Comment from established organizations that Park & Rec. already know will hopefully have impact, but an audience of committed public-court tennis players are sure to help.

Wednesday

Must be a rest day.. nice day to rest as only a handful of players were on board. Some new players, were seen including Bill.. Lou M. friend and also Guy and his faithful dog Woofie were on board.

Lets see..
We have a important announcement concerning the use of tennis courts in the area. Now I don't know the full details of this, and this is hearsay from Bill and a couple of others.. I"m hoping that someone that knows alittle more will fill in the gaps.

Apparantly, on the 24th. of this month, there will be a meeting that will affect how some of the courts are to be used. Seems a bunch of people that play dodge ball are petitioning the city to allow them to use the courts, especially the ones up on Capital hill, for the use of playing dodge ball. Similarly another group of bicyclists want to use the courts to play hockey. This was all brought up in a previous meeting where perhaps 10 or 11 pundits brought it up. Only from what I hear is Canada Norm was there to squelch the plan. Now this is only a pilot program and not a permanent situation. It is possible that the city could scrap the whole program later or worse, do an about face and expand on it.

This all being said, it is highly critcle that we nip this nonsense in the bud. We don't even want something like this to start or even imagined less it turns into something non-stoppable. So it would behoove you, if you enjoy and like the tennis and don't want to see other sports encroach on your turf to attend these meetings.

Again I don't know all the details and I'm hoping someone with more knowledge of the situation speaks up. Best person to talk to concerning this and where the meetings are held is Bill Peters. I think now Bill will post some more information here very shortly to keep everyone abreast of things.



0




Court update
coming along!

Tuesday

Well if you weren't there today, you missed some good tennis. In the first match that featured some good volleys, verbly and on the court we had Dean and Paul, schooling Roman and Mario for a couple of sets.

Tim and Haung.. played singles, I"m not sure anyone saw that.

Bendu and moi lost a very tight set to Kelly and Mario, that featured some really good serving by all and some very good shots by all. Afterwards, Kelly and Roman cleaned house against Bendu and Haung.

So even though it was a bit hot, there was some good matches.

We look forward to more Wed.

Ahhhh Roger

Not looking good for Rog.. why did he stop doing the things that were making him points?

HELLO RAF!

Saturday part 2

These pictures were taken on Friday at upperwoodland. John Mark and I almost took out Noman and Roy Pryor, we lost 5-7. RR Ron had some kind of visit by the police (not the rock band) I don't want to comment on it, as you might imagine, it wasn't good news. Players that were there were Norman, Ben, Taj, Pat and myself. At around 7pm Roy and John arrived. Roy is having another mixer at Magnolia next Saturday, certain high level players will be there including the no. 1 player in the state, Willy. Mark Bosley will be there too. Okay, see you at Lincoln tomorrow.
Dave

Saturday.. in the park?

A little showers this morning, but should be clearing by PM.. according to the sources.
Alot of us will be frequenting the upper courts this afternoon.
Alot of others will be at some function I'm not privy to.

Appears the Lower courts are ahead of schedule.. hoorah! Seem, the foundation has been laid, though thats all hearsay as I have not seen it myself. Anyone have better info.. pics, let us know.

Yesterday's tennis consisted of alot of us matriculating in and out of the two upper courts. Some good, some not so, some really bad.

Some good doubles on tv now, I'm watching, gonna do some house work and then finally head up to the courts around noon or so.. weather of course permitting.

cya there.

Plans for Friday?

So what's the plan for Friday? Normally on the 4th Kevin would bring his grill and we'd (the rest of the regulars) bring some food or refreshments. Wimbledon semifinals are on that day too...Go Rafa!

This post intentionally left blank

Cool Link

Here's a cool link that I like to read. It shows what strings the pros, both ATP and WTA use and their tensions.

http://www.colinthestringer.com/pros-strings/

Tuesday Tuesday..

Gonna up to Upper courts today, 2ish. Tim will be there.. Lou Possibly, The usual, anonymous, Romy.. Peter..

Got my new racquet, feels good, looks good.. waiting to play!

Monday.. Monday

Monday Monday, so good to me,
Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Monday morning, Monday morning couldn't guarantee
That Monday evening you would still be here with me.

Monday Monday, can't trust that day,
Monday Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way
Oh Monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be
Oh Monday Monday, how yould cou leave and not take me.

Every other day, every other day,
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
You can find me cryin' all of the time

Monday Monday, so good to me,
Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Monday morning, Monday morning couldn't guarantee
That Monday evening you would still be here with me.

Every other day, every other day,
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
You can find me cryin' all of the time

Monday Monday, ...

Not going to mention what I really want to mention.

Phew! One HOT Sunday

Gonna be a scorcher today..
Who's where, when and for gods sake,, why?

I was thinking after 4:00 pm,
Oh I miss those marine clouds.


I"m sure ball girls like this would raise the tennis level.

Hot Saturday.

Looks like it will be a hot one today.. calling for 88, probably be over 90 on the courts.
Bring plenty of libation and sun screen.

Might want to play early to avoid all that hot stuff in the PM. I'm going up around 10:30.

Plenty of action yesterday as Niky alluded too.. Well don't forget pack your bags, pack your racquet and get on down to the courts!

Friday

Lots of guys at Upper Woodland this afternoon/evening. Bindu, Roman, Norm, Huong, Mario (Mr. I don't want to play with anyone but Huong), Swanky (made a brief appearance) and Peter on the better surfaced courts. On the other courts I saw Rob, Richard, and few others...I can't remember who else.

Overall it was really nice. The wind died down which made it feel like the 90s when we were playing. Squirrels were after Roman today dropping pine cones on him while he was lying in the grass. Roman tried to tell the squirrels to "mellow out," but that seemed to aggravate them more. Mario attempted to throw a pine cone at them and like I said it was an attempt. It was good times today. It's going to be hot hot hot this weekend so bring lots of water.

Going off the board here with an update. Mario and I played doubles at the STC Har-Tru courts and beat Conrad McCormick and Taylor Jackon 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Best I've ever seen Mario play. So long and Godspeed.

Court update.

Where are the workers?








Where are the workers?







Have you seen the workers?

Thursday and Friday

I heard there were a lot of faces at Upper Woodland yesterday, I'm bummed that I missed it. Weather looks a bit gloomy today but, the clouds should burn off by this afternoon. I definitely plan on being out on the courts after work tomorrow, which is around 5. I hope to see some of you out there still.

I just got my new racquets...yes I got new racquets AGAIN because, one of my green graphites cracked. My new WMDs are the Prince Ozone Pro Tour. I'll probably break them it with Mario on the Har-Tru courts at the STC. Hope to see you on the courts....now it's back to Wimbledon Radio.

Thursday

The weather is much cooler here in W.S this morning. I'll be at Lincoln Pk at 10:30. So, come on down.
We need more players. Dave

Tennis tourney

Yes it's true. Kenny gave me to power to post!

Today Mario and I went to Lincoln Park to play some tennis. It was aight but, there was nobody there. Word must have spread that Mario was making his way to the...WEST SIDE!

Anyway, I think I mentioned this to a couple of guys but, I had the idea that we should have a "Wood Racquet Only" Tournament. At least for now a "Wood Racquet Only" Doubles tourney because it would be easier to organize and get more players involved. Sound like a cool idea? I think it would be the shiznizzle to break out the wood racquets and start banging some balls old school son! A few guys were definitely interested.

Monday's Results

Must be tennis vacation..
Roman and I vs. Dean and Dewight
Good match except someone in the middle of the match wanted to bail.. it wasn't Dean, Roman or myself, I"m not saying who though. Probably cause he couldn't hold serve we all speculate. I thought maybe I saw a tear drop..

Lou came by briefly only to remind Mario of some important matter. Saw Mario on the phone, we suspect to get a game going in WS.

Alot of fat was chewed, conversation always seems to start one way and end up with how so and so looked in the stand.. yadayadayada.. so it goes.

I'm still working on my house, seems everything takes so long to get done, looking for a roomate and a new tenant for down stairs. They come in see the scary cat and all the tennis racquet's and scurry hurriedly on their way.. and I'm not sure it is merry. I'm sticking with that story.

Lower woodland courts are progressing in a steady manner I guess, if anyone has new pictures, we sure would like to see them. These courts are getting old.. especially the cracks.. I think I saw a ball just stick in one of them, in much the same way that a ball gets caught in the net.. kinda funny.

Oh well, come out one, come out all, tennis is served.

Monday Lincoln Park

My doubles partner Pat has lost his cell phone. I'll be at Lincoln Park around 1pm or so with Gordon. Maybe some lower woodland players will show? Sounds like we might see Mario here soon. We'll take what we can get, big hitters are welcome too, there is the hitting wall for them, and sometimes Boeing players drop by. Yesterday I saw Bret and Ken Gage there, I would say those guys are above 3.5 level for sure. So, see you all there this afternoon. Dave

Sunday..

Confronted and accousted by 3.+ players.. oh wait, it was Mario. A-game - 4.0, B-game 3.0 = 3.5

Other than that it was a mix mash of different players and players. Mario and Norm, split sets with Dwight and Kevin. Sprague was there after winning his finals at the city open, to inflict his punishment on some others. Ben and Ray played, Taj was there.

Lets see, Others showed some 3.0 moves by warming up a player and then walking off, thereby freezing him.

We'll see you all on Monday.. at the big courts
at the upper courts.

Ah, Sunday

At 3pm Saturday Tim, Joe and RailRoad Ron finally showed up and played with me at Lincoln Park. We only played two sets, but it was good. Ron said the courts are good, but I need to go to where the tennis players. There were plenty of open courts.
I may make it to upper woodland tomorrow with Pat.