Something For Everyone

I was off work on Wednesday, and I was excited that this would allow me to watch the U.S. vs. Algeria game on my own TV (instead of my work computer) as well as Andy Roddick's second round match at Wimbledon.

Andy's match was up first at 8am.  He lost the first set but was playing much more solidly thereafter.  By the time the US game came on, I thought he was in control of the match, so I dialed the match up on my laptop (thank you for existing, ESPN3) and changed the TV to the soccer game.  I learned that given the tempo of a soccer game and the breaks between points and games in a tennis match, it is possible to watch both simultaneously without really missing anything too important.  Andy won his match in 4 sets, looking strong after that first set mishap.

In the first half of the soccer game, I felt like the US controlled the ball, so I thought they had a good chance to win though the score was nil-nil at halftime.  I felt like they got ripped off when another goal was disallowed (beautiful goal, too!) but at least this time it was just a bad off-sides call.  Last time, who the heck knows what happened?  I liked Coach Bradley's suggestion that when a referee regrets calling a foul, he sometimes decides he is going to prevent that foul from changing the game, and so the referee might have disallowed the goal in order to reverse the call on the foul against Altidore.  But who knows.

By halftime, I was aware that the Isner/Mahut match that had been suspended due to darkness on Tuesday night was still going, so I flipped the tv over to watch that.  At that point, it was not quite record breaking yet, but still getting very interesting.  By now, you've all heard about this unprecedented match.  When the soccer came back on, I flipped back over.  In the second half, I felt like the US had quite a few great scoring chances, but they just couldn't convert.  As the minutes ticked away, I was trying to console myself about the failure to advance, telling myself that if they couldn't manage a single win, they didn't deserve to move forward.  Then time ran out and they announced there were about 4 minutes of stoppage time left.  That's a lot, I thought!  And then I saw Landon Donovan bring the ball all the way down the field, pass it off to Altidore, and score a goal because he followed Dempsey's deflected shot.  (Always follow your shots, Dad and Bart told us repeatedly growing up.)  I screamed!  I jumped!  I shouted GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!  I freaked Oscar out!  I waited for it to be called back!  It wasn't!  I thought Coach Bradley looked like he wanted to go jump on the pile!  I realized the US won the group!  I wondered if this could be the game that American kids will cite in 15 years when they're leading the US team to victory!  I ran out of exclamatory things to do!

Update: Want to relive the excitement?  Check out this video!

I hoped for Lando to do the shirt swap thing.  (He didn't.  Bummer.)  I liked his post game interview, in which he rubbed his eyes as if to stop tears, and then managed to compose himself to give a great wrap-up.  I liked that he said "you can't miss from there."  I liked when he said "Hi Bianca" and blew her a kiss at the end of the interview.  (He is divorced from this Bianca Kajhlich, but I like her, and I like that he speaks well of her despite the split.  He credits her with helping him realize that a lot of people work really hard to try to earn the opportunities that he was handed because he's so talented.  And I believe Bianca could take any of the British WAGs, any day of the week.)

And then I switched back to the Isner/Mahut match, at which point I entered some kind of trance.  I could not believe what I was seeing.  I could not leave the couch.  I never felt strongly that the match was going to end.  I was convinced it would get called again on account of darkness, even though I started watching it about noon my time, and it didn't get called until about 4:10.  I couldn't believe Mahut was still leaping around.  I felt sure that Isner was nearly passing out.  As I neared the end of my race Sunday, I experienced a sensation that I can only describe as "out of my head."  It's sort of a combination of fatigue and adrenaline, and it's a thrilling sensation, but I also worry that it is one step away from passing out, so I try to get rid of it as quickly as possible.  When they interviewed Isner after play was suspended the second time, I am fairly sure he was "out of his head."  How long had he been in this altered mental and physical state?  Did he have any idea what was going on?  I thought to myself, Andy and the US were playing today?  At that point, those contests both seemed like ancient history.

(Isner and Roddick on the changeover during their semi-final at the Legg Mason last year.  Andy got him that time, but Isner won their matchup in the US Open.)

So today I tuned in at work (thanks again, ESPN3) to see Isner finally topple Mahut 70-68.  Truth be told, I thought Mahut deserved to win the match even though I'm an Isner fan.  Mahut held up better physically, and since he was serving second, he was under more pressure the entire time.  He heard the phrase "Isner leads" 70 times, on every single changeover.  Had he broken Isner, he still would have had to serve out a final game to earn the win.  When Isner broke Mahut, he could collapse onto the court.  I think it's fitting, though, that Isner won, because I think he's at the front end of a notable career.  While we'll always remember that Mahut played a part in this legendary match, I think we'll look back on Isner's successful career and say, "Remember when he introduced himself to the world by holding serve 70 times in a row?"

John Isner on the practice courts at the Legg Mason, August 2009.  Yes, he's tall!

Last week, I watched a documentary film on ESPN called June 17, 1994.  On this day in American sports, the Rangers held their ticker tape parade for winning the Stanley Cup, the Knicks played the Rockets in the NBA finals, Chicago hosted the opening ceremony for the 1994 World Cup, and OJ Simpson took that famous ride in the white Bronco.  The film was awesome, and is evidently showing again on June 30, July 15, and July 31.  I'll long think of June 23, 2010 as another epic day in American sports for much more positive reasons!  And I was home to watch it all!

("Something For Everyone" is an essay from David Sedaris's 1998 collection, Naked.  After graduation, he finds himself unemployed, and he watches some TV before he begins working on an old lady's house renovation.  She says she's so old that it hurts her arm to raise a paintbrush.  I cringe to think how bad it must have hurt Isner to raise his arm when he woke up this morning.)