Sunday, April 13, 2008

peerlessness update



Roger Federer: some recent speed bumps, although it's hard to know whether to chalk it up more to mono or Djokovic. the next two Slams should tell us a lot, Roland Garros where Nadal has never lost a match, three-time defending champ, and Wimbledon where the Fed hasn't lost since 2002 (!), five in a row and counting.

Tiger Woods: took a little too long to wake up this week at Augusta (35 holes in), couldn't buy a putt for most of Sunday, and still somehow ended up second. he finally drained one on 18 to bring him back to par for the day and move him into second. his immediate reaction when it went in seemed to be along the lines of "NOW YOU FUCKING DECIDE TO DROP", so awesome.

Tim Duncan: so hard to say in the endlessly mutating West, but losing to the Lakers today might be the difference between first and fifth, although Houston has a tough last three. anyway, assuming Ginobili and Parker are healthy, they're in as good as shape as any to win the West, one would think. him against Garnett in the Finals would be interesting, The Big Dullness going for his fifth ring and KG going for his first. that might be a scenario that would have me rooting for a Boston team to win a title (first time ever?), hopefully someone will take out SA before then.

NCAA hoops: this year was a triumph for the forces of peerlessness, the first time ever that all four #1 seeds made the Final Four. the interesting results from there were two blowout wins in the semis, with the winning team playing at an insanely high level (Kansas put a 40-12 run on North Carolina, the overall top seed, in the first 13 minutes), and then a hard fought final with a few major momentum swings, Kansas with the last, they were a little deeper and a little more disciplined. incredible D on both sides in this game, just so many pro-level athletes on both sides, a fantastic game and not nearly as much of a choke as the media has portrayed it.

Erstwhile: third release of 2008 out later this week, Toshi Nakamura/English-One Day. my non-Keith releases over the last few years haven't been as consistent as I'd like, which makes me even more excited about these three, all great in their own wildly different ways. I'm hoping to get three more out in the second half of the year, Keith/Will Guthrie, a new studio record from schnee and a Radu Malfatti/Klaus Filip live duo are the ones currently slotted in. there are a bunch of others also in the works, so the order may still move around depending on how they all progress.

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