Goodbye Andy Murray

This blog has always been focused on two things above all else: politics and movies.  That doesn't mean that we don't have other things that we discuss here.  This is not run for profit (mostly because I don't really know how to do that, and also because I don't think we have enough readers to make it worth it-share links of articles to prove me wrong!), so it is mostly a reflection of what I'm interested in at a given time.  That means that in the 4000+ articles on this blog, you're going to find some niche interests of mine intermingling the thousands of Oscars, movie, and politics discussions.  One of those interests is tennis, and while I'm way late (the Olympics have been over for over a week), I feel I would be remiss if I didn't commentate on the main reason I got into tennis in the first place: Andy Murray.

I started watching tennis in college.  My best friend Pat at the time was a tennis player for our college, and since I'm the kind of friend who supports their friends (my love language, to use common parlance about such things, is support), I went to a lot of tennis matches, and watched a lot of tennis in his dad's condo living room.  During that time, I figured if I'm going to be watching this, I should cheer for someone, and I was drawn to Andy Murray.  He was competitive (I'm competitive-this fit), incredibly hard on himself, but determined, and he had an athletic drive on the court that felt at-home.  While Roger Federer was graceful and Rafael Nadal was limber and Andy Roddick was just smoking hot, Murray felt like the kind of underdog that I could root for.

My love of tennis lasted longer than my friendship with Pat, and largely became a love of Andy Murray.  There were other players (like Federer and the Williams sisters) who captured my imagination, but it was Murray who beat them all when it came to my dedication.  I remember watching his first major final in 2008 when he competed against Federer at the US Open.  In the years that followed, I would never miss a single Grand Slam final for Murray in a singles match.

This meant a lot of heartbreak.  Unlike Federer, Nadal, or Djokovic, the three men he is frequently lumped with but is always very apparently in fourth compared toward in common parlance, Andy Murray never won a career grand slam.  There was a lot of heartache poured very early in the morning at Melbourne Park and Roland Garros as Murray couldn't finish those laps of the Grand Slam (he competed in a grand total of five Australian Open finals without a victory...as a devoted fan, this was the Great White Whale that I wanted most for him but he never got).  But it also meant that you got to be there for the big victories.  Exactly two times in my decades as an apartment renter did I hear my neighbors pound the walls for me being too loud.  One was TJ Oshie getting the Americans a victory over the Russians at the 2014 Winter Olympics (Oshie is a Minnesotan, and if you can tell from my Tim Walz posts, I have the affliction of many Minnesotans of loving watching other Minnesotans succeed).  The second was Murray winning the 2012 Wimbledon championship.  I was there, wearing my Murray shirt proudly, eating a bowl of strawberries-and-cream in honor of Wimbledon, screaming as he finally took the top prize.

As Murray's career began to fade, so did my love of tennis.  I realized as his career began to wind down (alongside the Williams sisters and Federer) that this was not going to be a lifelong love like movies or politics, but instead was a point-in-time, something that I knew for a while but eventually lost my interest with.  Seeing Murray play at one last Olympics (where he had his greatest professional successes, taking two Gold Singles medals, something no other man has done, though ardent feminist Murray would be quick to note that Serena & Venus both had four gold medals between them) was beyond special.  As he hangs up his racket, it's likely I hang up mine as a tennis fanboy...but I will remain forever an Andy Murray fan, the underdog who found glory for the dedicated & lucky fans who stuck by him.

OVP: King Richard (2021)

Film: King Richard (2021)

Stars: Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Tony Goldwyn, Jon Bernthal

Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green

Oscar History: 6 nominations/1 win (Best Picture, Actor-Will Smith*, Supporting Actress-Aunjanue Ellis, Original Screenplay, Original Song-"Be Alive," Editing)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Having watched 20+ Oscar seasons from beginning to end, I know how certain films will play.  It becomes clear based on the way a studio is positioning a picture or the way it's being marketed, the stars involved and the studio's slate that year which films are being pushed toward Oscar glory and which movies are going to have to work hard for that honor.  King Richard quickly showed itself to be an obvious contender for Will Smith.  Despite some initial questions about whether Smith was the appropriate casting choice, that has been put to rest in the weeks since King Richard first came out, as Smith not only seems assured a nomination, but given his A-list celebrity (one of the few indisputable, scandal-free industry "movie stars" who doesn't have his own gold statue) & the picture's positive reception, this feels about as strong of a lock to win Best Actor as you can get the week after Thanksgiving.  But, the question becomes-is the movie any good (Oscar isn't always as concerned about that question)?  Let's take a look.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie, despite a long run time, doesn't feel particularly tedious and moves briskly through the adult life of Richard Williams (Smith) as he moves to make his daughters Serena (Singleton) and Venus (Sidney) into two of the greatest tennis players of all-time.  A lot of the movie is focused on Williams' unconventional approach to his daughter's future.  Living in a violent Compton neighborhood while continually strapped-for-cash, Williams has an uphill battle to try to get into the predominantly white world of competitive tennis.  He achieves that through a combination of luck, skill, and people being genuinely impressed with his daughters' insane tennis ability.  We see them coached first by Paul Cohen (Goldwyn), whom Richard eventually drops once it becomes clear that he wants his daughters to have a traditional education (rather than having them go through the normal juniors competition), and then by Rick Macci (Bernthal), who at the time had just launched Jennifer Capriati into tennis superstardom.  The film ends with Venus Williams' spectacular debut at the Oakland Best of the West Classic tournament, where she lost but still managed to take a set from Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who that year would take the French & US Open and just months later would become World No. 1 for Women's tennis (i.e. Venus Williams was clearly a superstar in the making).

The film is a strange conundrum.  I genuinely enjoy watching tennis, and while I'm not as well-practiced in following it now as I would've been a few years back (when my favorites started to skip tournaments, so did I), I know a lot of the backstory of the Williams sisters, two of American athletics all-time great champions.  Smith is solid in the lead role, playing a bit against-type (though not entirely-there is a bit of the loose, cool persona that has made Smith a household name the past thirty years), and never understating (even when it might be uncomfortable for the audience) the truly racist institutions that Richard Williams had to break down to give his daughters, now arguably the definitive names in their sport, even a chance at getting through the door.

But the problem with King Richard is that it it is far too glossy.  Obviously the Williams sisters are still alive, but so is Richard and his (now ex)-wife Oracene Price, and making biopics of living figures is always a touchy subject, particularly when those figures are involved with the production of the film because it always feels too one-sided.  Richard Williams in the film is always right, and somehow knows everything that will happen in the future, which feels a bit two-dimensional even for a prescient man.  It's not necessary to always imbue a film with realism and to keep to the facts (I'm fine with cutting out parts of a biopic in service to a film), but he's played like a superhero here, and it feels a bit of a loss for a much better film that might have tackled some of Williams' more complicated personal biography (his fraught relationships with his other children, his divorce from Price for a much younger woman) which is basically ignored save for one giant speech which felt more inclined to ensure that Aunjanue Ellis would get an Oscar nomination alongside Smith rather than to help the story.  That they introduce this aspect of Richard's life/marriage and then just ignore it...it makes for sloppy filmmaking, and the kind of movie that wants to have its cake & eat it too.  It's probably going to be a serious contender for the Oscars this season, but it's a pity that it couldn't have found a way to uplift while also feeling authentic to the stories of two pioneering athletes.

Battle of the Sexes (2017)

Film: Battle of the Sexes (2017)
Stars: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming, Elisabeth Shue, Austin Stowell
Director: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

I try really hard not to be a genre snob, as I honestly think that every single type of film has the potential for greatness.  People who rule out westerns or war films or romantic-comedies or superhero pictures-they're just limiting what they might experience at the movies, and I think that's a terrible way to treat a love of the cinema.  That being said, few types of movies give me allergies more than sports pictures.  Generally, there is only one type of sports movie (uplifting, come-from-behind, eventually either win or get a moral win), and the formula is so oft-repeated that I get bored really easily.  Pretty much all sports films fall into the shadow of Rocky at this point, which isn't the worst thing in the world (the original Rocky being a good movie), but it doesn't leave them room to breathe. When people ask me my favorite sports pictures, I almost always say Raging Bull or (more recently, depending on my mood) Everybody Wants Some!!! or if I'm feeling particularly cheeky, On the Waterfront.  None of these movies actually have sports as the central theme to their greatness, which is why it feels like a cheat as an answer.  Raging Bull is more about man's own struggle against himself, the fights he loses with himself (On the Waterfront is even more so about this, and is really just about an athlete in a situation that has little to do with athletics), and Everybody Wants Some!!! the baseball is almost completely incidental (they never even play an actual game against another team in the movie), as it's about growing up.  So color me surprised yesterday when I caught Battle of the Sexes, and those preconceptions I have about sports films got shattered; here is the rare come-from-behind movie that genuinely feels fresh and new, and not just a retread of what came before it.  That it's a true story and achieves that is a truly grand achievement.

(Real Life Doesn't Have Spoiler Alerts...though with Trump in charge, I kind of wish it did) The movie focuses on the peak of Billie Jean King's career (Stone), when she was fresh off of four consecutive wins at Wimbledon, was armed with the Grand Slam, and was world number one, and yet was still not being given her due in professional sports.  The film opens with King demanding that Jack Kramer (Pullman) pay the women the same for an upcoming tournament as what the male players are making (a debate that's sadly still talked about in the sport).  Kramer turns her down, and so King, along with eight other major players at the time (though admittedly none as important to the sport as King), start their own tour, playing in the "Virginia Slims Series" organized by King's friend Gladys (Silverman).  All the while, King is struggling with her own sexuality, balancing her deep platonic love for her husband Larry (Stowell) and her burgeoning sexual desire for a hairdresser she meets named Marilyn (Riseborough).  The movie lobs (pun intended) between King's story and that of former tennis great Bobby Riggs (Carell), who is struggling in his marriage and with his gambling addiction, and consistently is upset about women taking over a sport he used to dominate, and perhaps more so just mad the world has forgotten about him.  He decides to challenge King to a match, and when she refuses he plays Margaret Court (Jessica McNamee), the World #1 who bests a distracted Billie Jean King, beats her, forcing Billie Jean King to go out and beat Riggs to essentially save women's tennis from becoming a laughingstock.

If you follow this blog very closely, you'll know that I don't love a lot of athletics, but do have an undying love for tennis, so there's a part of me watching this movie that is waiting on the edge of my seat to see which superstars from the era will show up, who will play them, feeling the thrill others do when they hear names of superstars mentioned on the screen.  I've always been surprised that tennis hasn't given us more stories on the big-screen, since like boxing (film's favorite athletic competition), it's a strength-of-will, about one person versus one other person, and dominated by unlikely stories of people who rise to the top of their field (and unlike boxing, it doesn't glorify a sport that causes permanent brain damage).  Yet for some reason it's never really resonated at the movies in the same way, so part of me was just thrilled to see my heroes on the big-screen here, particularly one of my favorite athletes of all time, Billie Jean King.

But bias isn't what makes this movie great-it's anchored by a wonderful performance by Emma Stone at its center, which keeps the movie shifting forward even when it can't quite pick its mood (alternating between serious sports drama and occasionally languid 70's music-laden montages that feel out-of-place and a cheap ploy on the audience).  Stone is an actor I've struggled with my admiration for in the past.  After her grand breakthrough in Easy A, she has impressed me fully as a celebrity and clearly shown movie star potential, but even in her Oscar-nominated performances I haven't been wowed, but here she delivers.  By far her best work since Easy A, she grounds a difficult character to play onscreen with charisma and introversion.  Billie Jean King is not a tragic figure of sports, she's in fact someone who succeeded over-and-over again and is not someone who was plagued by drugs or alcohol or a ruinous marriage (she's famously good friends with her now ex-husband Larry).  Stone doesn't rely upon easy sports cliches to portray King, and even when she's struggling, it's in a way that feels unique to the character, and not just cribbed from every other athletic movie.  Look at the way that she can shift into performance mode, and the way she handles both her lesbianism and the fact that so much of the success of the sport she loves, at a critical time for women, rests on her ability to succeed.  It's a grand combination of solid acting and movie star magic, and Stone achieves it as an actress who has matured into her natural gifts.  Combined with supporting players who were very solid (Stowell and Silverman being the standouts), the movie is elevated by her work.

It's also a movie that's easy to root for, and Faris/Dayton don't shy away from the obvious correlations between the 2016 election and this battle.  After all, a strong, competent, at-the-top-of-her-game woman is constantly challenged by men she would dominate, particularly a blustering old fool who treats women like garbage and is intent on putting the best players in the world in their place.  There's a scene where Riggs, gleeful after besting Margaret Court in a rout, talks about wanting to take on Chris Evert next-if you look beyond Carell's colorful crowing, you can see the nastiness in this man wanting to take down these women, arguably the three best players in the world at the time, and show that "a man, any man, is better."  That doesn't, based on some conversations that King and others who knew Riggs, seem that genuine-Riggs was more of a ham, and someone simply craving money & publicity, but it does go to how men like Jack Kramer, and men like, say Donald Trump, clearly feel about women.  Stone's Billie Jean points this out late in the film when she refuses to let Jack Kramer announce the game-Riggs' sexism is for show, an act, she says, while Kramer's is for real (the latter being true, I'd argue, for Donald Trump and numerous other male commentators like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity who constantly feel the need to put women in their place).  The filmmakers have done a really strong job on the press tour pointing out that they anticipated that they'd be releasing this in a very different environment, anticipating a political sequel of sorts in 2016 rather than a Court/Riggs style matchup instead, but it perhaps makes the movie itself that much more urgent-this still happens today, we still marginalize women who try to invade a "man's world" in the same way.  It just got a little bit harder for the men when Billie Jean King kicked Bobby Riggs' ass.

There's so much more I could talk about here, as my inner tennis nerd surely got a workout with this picture (I especially was fascinated by the way they treated Margaret Court, a true legend of tennis but one who has been overshadowed by her deeply controversial statements in recent years about LGBT people, showing her as a side villain that nonetheless King was still rooting to best Riggs for the good of women everywhere), but I'll turn it over to the comments.  What were your thoughts on Battle of the Sexes?  Do you think Emma Stone can grab a third Oscar nomination for her work here? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Olympics Images of the Day: Day 3

Okay, THAT is what I'm talking about at the Olympics!!!  An amazing night for both Team USA and just in general a magnificent night for competition, period.  I'm reminded each year of how much I like the first week of the Olympics, where swimming, diving, gymnastics, and tennis all are the principle sports, and how much it's lost on me later on in the competition when we go to track, soccer, and basketball (which I can never get into as much).  Yesterday was a combination of all of those sports, so let's take a look...

Michael Phelps has been a personal hero for years, and to see him back in the water, and in such peak form (even better, in my opinion, than some of his work in London), was a rare treat.  The men's 4x100m relay four years ago was an enormous disappointment for American swim fans, watching as Ryan Lochte couldn't sink the basket as the anchor.  This year Nathan Adrian (everyone's imaginary Olympic boyfriend) held it together, though he went into the final leg with such a lead thanks to Phelps and the rest of his teammates that it was a relatively easy task.  It'll be tough to match last night's relay in terms of excitement the rest of the games.

For weeks, I've heard nothing but how incredible Simone Biles is (and Tim Daggett, who is the most annoying announcer this side of Scott Hamilton, would not shut up about her) that it felt like it would be hype that would be impossible to live up to, but man did she.  She looks to have qualified for three different individual events in addition to the all-around and the team event, putting her in contention to take an astonishing five medals in gymnastics.  It was bittersweet to see one-time champion Gabby Douglas fall under Simone's shadow, but Biles is an athlete that few could rival.

The word bromance is disgusting, but if there's one brewing in the swim lanes at Rio that I can get behind, it's adorable Prince Harry-lookalike Adam Peaty and the long-locked Cody Miller both cheering and hugging each other in the pool after Peaty smashed his world record once again to take the gold and Miller exuberantly won the bronze.  If they had a reality show, I'd watch it.

At this point in American women's swimming, there are truly great swimmers that represent the best in the world, and then there's Katie Ledecky, in a class by herself.  Ledecky smashed her own world record (much like Peaty) in the 400m freestyle, nearly five seconds over even second place Jazmin Carlin.  She's set to win multiple races this Olympics-it's likely she'll be at the top of that podium again soon.

Tennis saw some of the greats batted down this weekend.  The Williams Sisters and the Murray Brothers both were ousted in doubles.  Venus Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Roberta Vinci were all brought down in singles.  But nowhere was there a greater shock than Juan Martin del Potro taking down World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the first round.  Admittedly del Potro was a tough first round pick and had beaten Djoker at the Olympics before (in London, actually), but still to see one of the best tennis players of all-time felled in that way was stunning, and Djokovic, who recently finished his Career Grand Slam but lost badly in Wimbledon and is still missing an Olympic gold medal, was clearly heartbroken by the loss, breaking down in tears on the court.  A stunning defeat, which busts the men's tournament wide open.  No man has ever won two Olympic gold medals in Olympic single's tennis-could Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray try for the honor this year?

It takes a lot to get to the Olympics just once.  To make it five times takes a different type of endurance. And for Tania Cagnotto, it clearly was personal at that point, because despite this being her fifth Olympics and hitting a Top 10 finish six times previously, she had never medaled before Rio.  And then, yesterday, at the top of the 3m synchronized springboard, she finally achieved that dream, winning a silver medal in a moment that had to be a huge relief for the 31-year-old (now) Olympic medalist.

Olympic Images of the Day: Day 2

We officially are in Day Two of the Olympics, and like most of you I'm already wondering if I'll get anything done again other than support NBC affiliates for the next two weeks, and also man am I out of shape.  Seriously-you see these people and sometimes I wonder if they're a different species (and occasionally if they centrally-cast these athletes, since how can all of them be that good-looking in select sports).  Anyway, here's some of the highlights/stand-outs for me of yesterday.

Young Prince Harry lookalike Adam Peaty smashed the 100m breaststroke record (which he already had) to smithereens during the HEATS of the Olympics-something that almost never happens, and was over a second better than the next best performer in the event during the semifinals.  His finals are today, and I suspect if he can equal his previous performance he'll be in for a grand gold time.  Also, umm, he's really cute.  It had to be said.  And was, by pretty much all of Twitter.

In less exciting news, 4-time Olympic gold medalist Venus Williams lost in her first-round match, at least in part due to a poor call from the line judge (I'm a BIG tennis fan, and I was yelling profanities that I wouldn't dream of printing here but suffice it to say I was royally upset).  She's still got a shot at the Doubles medal (and also-what's up with the Mixed Doubles match-are they still figuring out the brackets because I can't find them anywhere?), but at 36 this is likely the end of the road for a second singles medal.

I know as an enlightened person I'm not supposed to find this funny, but every four years I do.  The men's gymnasts could all kick my ass and they're all gorgeous and I think Blaine Wilson made me gay, but the cheering from the American men's team, where they're all rooting like they're in a college football game is amusing as they are balancing on rings and doing the splits.  I know this isn't something I'm supposed to find funny, but I do-also the American men's team, including Sam Mikulak (pictured) made it to the Team finals, so huzzah!

Finally, it's always great to be first.  For a second there I was worried that NBC wouldn't get to do their customary nightly gold medal ceremony that always makes me cry, but thankfully Ginny Thrasher came through the 10m air rifle, becoming the first American gold medal of the Rio games.  Congrats Ginny!

Olympic Images of the Day: Day 1

They're back!  Yes, if you've been on my blog for many a moon, you'll know that I have an obsession with the Olympics that comes out every two years and cannot be denied.  Each year, we've put out a series of my favorite photos of things that happened on each day, and of course this year is no exception.  Since we're only so far into the opening ceremonies, let's take a look...

The Parade of Nations is always moving, long, has a plethora of costumes both ornate and occasionally highly eyebrow-raising, ridiculously long, patriotic, and so, so long.  However, it may be the most moving moment of the parade when a group of athletes has no home country.  A standing ovation greeted Team Refugee, and while that is incredibly moving, I wish that those countries that used to be their homes could see the support we have for their everyday people (and incredible athletes) and find a way to find a peace.

While they may be home to the rainforest, coffee, and apparently the birthplace of flight (who knew?!?), what perhaps the pop culture world most identifies Brazil with is their seeming abundance of supermodels, none of which is more famous than Gisele Bundchen, who took a little turn on the world's most-watched catwalk (for her final strut, if we're to be believed), and then danced the night away (something you'd do too if you didn't have to go home to Tom Brady's likely Trump bumper sticker).

Two of my all-time favorite athletes (swimming and tennis being my favorite sports, at the Olympics or outside of it), managed to be the flag-bearers for their countries.  Phelps insists this year is his actual swan song, and I finally believe him so I hope he gets at least one golden moment out of Rio, while Andy (I know it's not patriotic, I don't care-American men's tennis is not going to be a threat for the podium) is hopefully going to take a second gold medal after a smashing Wimbledon victory!

And, finally, umm, Tonga-how you doing?  What event is this guy going to be in?

Ranting On...Novak Djokovic and Sexism in Athletics

I really hope all of you enjoyed Lost week this past week-it was a passion project that I've been wanting to do for a number of months, and I'm so glad that it all came together.  If you haven't read any of the articles, please peruse here, as I think you'll like it if you're a devoted or casual fan of the program.  However, for those of you where the phrase "what lies in the shadow of the statue?" means absolutely nothing to you, and want some more Oscars, movie reviews, and politics, the blog is about to be handed back to you.  However, I wanted to first address one of the bigger issues that happened while I was away in another passion area of mine: tennis.

For those who missed the controversies (and no, I'm not talking about the Sharapova failed drug tests, though come on there-someone on her team should have been able to see that issue coming as no other major tennis player failed that drug test), Raymond Moore, the CEO of BNP Paribas Open (more commonly known-amongst tennis fans as Indian Wells), stated in regard to Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, and the WTA in general, "in my next life when I come back, I want to be someone in the WTA because they ride on the coattails of the men.  They don't make any decisions and they are lucky.  They are very, very lucky.  If I was a lady player, I'd go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport."  Later, during the same tournament, reigning World No. 1 (and the champion of Indian Wells), Novak Djokovic, piggy-backed off of Moore's comments, and while not using the same sort of incendiary language, did indicate that the ATP should push to be making more once again than the WTA due to the men allegedly garnering more spectators to their tournaments.

These sorts of statements are sadly par for the course when it comes to sexism, particularly in the world of athletics, and are quite instantly rebuked.  After all, Djokovic may claim that spectators are coming just to see he and his fellow male athletes coming out to play, but that is pretty easily refuted. The 2015 US Open tournament, which had a matchup between Serena and Venus Williams, sold out faster for the women than for the men.  In 2013 and 2014, the US Open Final garnered better ratings for the women than the men, and in 2005 it was even a wider gap-1 million more people tuned in for Venus Williams' come-from-behind Wimbledon victory over world Number One Lindsay Davenport than they did the same match between Andy Roddick, and Raymond Moore's case-in-point Roger Federer.

Moore's comments are equally rebuffed in such a fashion, particularly in citing Serena Williams, arguably the most famous and beloved tennis star in the United States at this point in time.  My gut says that if you polled 1000 people in Time Square tomorrow you'd find more who had heard of Serena Williams than Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, or if you asked them to name a tennis player, they'd likely have more that name Williams.  She'd certainly outmatch the best current American men's tennis player John Isner in pretty much any name recognition poll.  You could argue Rafa or Roger have more sway in Europe, but for the chairman of an American tournament to be making the vulgar (yes, he meant the crude double entendre as language like that is never used toward straight men) statements against Serena being a big draw to his tournament, well, I suspect he's not only a chauvinist but perhaps bad at bookkeeping.

The reality is that tennis, like very few other sports (gymnastics and figure skating are the only two that come to mind), is one of the rare athletic worlds where women have achieved financial parity with men, at least in terms of championship salaries (it's worth noting women's tennis comes nowhere near men's in terms of endorsement deals, which are far more plentiful for the male side of the fence).    Only rare athletic fields like gymnastics and figure skating (where, it should be noted, women completely dominate the conversation in terms of athletic press and endorsement deals), have equal pay for women and men alike, and by Novak's argument the women should be paid more there, which feels equally wrong.  The reality is that tennis has long been a sport that has celebrated both men and women, and has had women that were just as big of headliners (the likes of Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, and Stefi Graf can go toe-to-toe with the men of their age in terms of headlines), and it's likely that emerging talents such as Simona Halep and Madison Keys will keep that tradition going once the Williams sisters have hung up there rackets.

In short, Novak Djokovic may understand how to win at tennis better than almost any other men's player in the world right now, but he clearly doesn't understand the grand appeal of his sport.  Striving for equality and for equal pay has been a proud tradition of tennis, and its near unparalleled gender-balance in terms of press and celebration is something that should be championed, not derided.

Predictions for 2016

CNN, in all of its boldness, decided to survey 12 of their top correspondents about their thoughts on what will happen in 2016.  Rather than do an annual list of 36 random predictions for the year, I decided to try my hand at the news organizations' task, and answered all of the questions they poised to their employees.  Here's what I came up with:

1. Who will be elected president on November 8?

Hillary Rodham Clinton, after an incredibly close race, closer than either of those enjoyed by Barack Obama, and she will be given about one day (Inauguration) in terms of a honeymoon before the Republican Congress starts to tear her to shreds.  As a Democrat I'm not good at predicting victory for my party (we're a pessimistic lot), but the math is too good for her not to succeed and buck history by getting a third term (one of several ways her win will challenge the status quo).

2. Who will come in second in the presidential race?

Ted Cruz-I go back-and-forth on an almost hourly basis between Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (whom I still think is able to beat Clinton, making this one of those rare years where the nominee actually matters), but Cruz is peaking at the exact right time and considering the year that the GOP has had it's hard to imagine that someone not from the Trump/Cruz/Carson wing of the party takes the nomination.  Donald Trump will take New Hampshire, and then fade into the background (as much as he can), while persistently playing up a third party bid that never actually happens but increases Maalox purchases at the RNC.

3. Which nation will win the most medals at the 2016 Olympics?

China will put up a solid fight, but the United States will emerge victorious on this one.

4. What movie will win the Oscar for Best Picture?

Spotlight, with The Martian and The Revenant close behind.

5. Who will win the Super Bowl?

I'm not a huge football person, so I'm going to just assume the Patriots since Tom Brady doesn't want his legacy to be that of deflated balls.

6. Who will win the men's final at Wimbledon?  Who will win the women's final?

I DO know something about professional tennis, however, and I see no reason to assume that Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams won't take it again, though Simona Halep is going to eventually take out Serena in a major tournament and my heart eternally belongs to Andy Murray.

7. Who will win the World Series?

In the same year that I'm predicting Hillary Clinton will win the White House, I'll say her beloved Cubs join her in upending history.

8. What will be the closing level for the Dow Jones Industrial Average on the last day of 2016?

The dow will be around 18,500, the jobless rate will likely be down...and we'll still be talking about whether or not we're in a recession on FOX News.

Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

I had a bunch of family in town this past weekend, so I didn't get a lot of time to do much writing (though I had a marvelous time-planning your fun ahead of time makes for ease and relaxation, something I'll get into in a later post this week).  Anyway, here's a quick link roundup even though I should probably be working right now.

In Entertainment...

-The Hollywood Reporter got in front of the inevitable controversy that was bound to spring up out of their annual Actress Roundtable, a long-standing tradition where they assemble eight white women competing for the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Oscars this year, and while I truly wish I could shame the Hollywood Reporter for not including an actress of color this season, I just can't, as there are no women of color who are in serious contention for an Academy Award this season, at least for acting.  Names like Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Concussion), Phylicia Rashad (Creed), and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez (Tangerine) are all in movies that may be in the Oscar conversation, but you wouldn't dream of putting them even in the Top 10 most likely contenders, and they would stick out compared to women like Brie Larson, Jennifer Lawrence, and Kate Winslet as someone who clearly is being added just for tokenism as part of the Oscar conversation.  The reality is that this is on Hollywood, and in particular the film industry (television and Broadway have gotten the joke on this front), and they need to step it up for fear of being thought out-of-sync with the growing diversity of film audiences.

-Zayn Malik's continued push to condemn One Direction was all over the news this week, with Malik calling 1D's music "generic" and basically bashing his time in the band.  Here's the deal-Malik is still big news until his new album comes out at least, and I get the coverage and he was my favorite member of the band prior to their break-up too, but he's been kind of a tool lately.  He has every right to quit the band, but let's not pretend he didn't become wildly successful from this group, and I am sick-to-death of celebrities coming out and berating past success when they clearly were fine with it at the time.  The same thing happened a few months ago when Natalie Portman bemoaned her Oscar even while she was campaigning constantly for it when she was nominated.  Being too cool for something after it's made you millions of dollars isn't really genuine, so stop pretending.

-I am not going to weigh in on the Jenny McCarthy/Charlie Sheen feud that is raging right now in social media, as I can't really stand either of these two, and I am sick-to-death of the media giving McCarthy's views on medicine more publicity.  However, I was curious about Entertainment Weekly's surprisingly solid overview of where Charlie Sheen's career goes from here, because it was kind of tanked before he announced he was HIV+.  I think they are dead-on in terms of the two avenues he really has here, career-wise: tell-all memoir or reality show (or probably both).  Sheen's erratic behavior after a decades worth of success (yet another actor who made millions, or in Sheen's case tens of millions of dollars and then bemoaned the quality after cashing the checks) and essentially throwing away his wildly successful television career is not going to be forgotten anytime soon, and I suspect no one's going to work with him again, particularly after he turned down the ability to do a final scene in Two and a Half Men's finale.  The HIV announcement isn't going to change that.  However, it's impossible to deny that Sheen still demands public interest, and this week showed that, and either a reality show or a tell-all both would be places where Sheen's erratic behavior would be a benefit.  I suspect he does at least one, if not both.

In Politics...

-While my relatives were in town this weekend, and when we weren't soaking up the cultural highlights of the Twin Cities, we were discussing a wee bit of politics, and of course that meant Donald Trump (and the fact that like a lot of moderate, occasionally fair weather Democrats, Hillary Clinton is not eliciting much excitement with the Baby Boomer set on my family tree).  Trump has had a marvelous week the past week, even if it may be at the expense of common decency, and the New York Times points out how much trouble Republicans might be in soon, as Trump continues to dominate in New Hampshire, which is generally the voice of GOP reason to those much more caution-to-the-wind Iowans.  It's worth noting that Trump is still ahead by a country mile in both Iowa and New Hampshire, and the elections are getting closer and closer.  The last candidate to win the nomination of a major party without taking either of those two states was Bill Clinton, and in that case Iowa and New Hampshire still picked different candidates (Tom Harkin and Paul Tsongas, respectively).  The only time that a candidate won both of these two races and eventually lost the nomination is Edmund Muskie in 1972, and that race is an absolutely bizarre one where comparisons are hard to make (the campaign included a candidate who wasn't running but still got the most total votes, a candidate who survived an assassination attempt, and a forged document that was part of the other party's candidate's eventual downfall and resignation).  As a result, if Donald Trump wins both Iowa and New Hampshire, the Republicans are going to have to either push hard for the guy who got second place in those races (read: Ted Cruz) or potentially get "huge" (or grumble for four years of a Clinton administration).

-Rep. Jackie Speier, 37 years after the fact, recalls surviving the Jonestown Massacre, a really riveting read about the only confirmed assassination of a member of the United States House of Representatives, her then boss Leo Ryan.  It's a riveting read (I don't know if I've ever seen Speier, who ran for Ryan's seat and lost after the trip, but then many years later won a seat of her own in Congress, discuss the events so thoroughly).  It's a riveting read, particularly if you aren't familiar with this aspect of US History.

-Roll Call also had a conversation with the only two Muslim members of Congress (Reps. Andre Carson and Keith Ellison), discussing language and getting their thoughts on the rather racist and xenophobic lines of rhetoric from the Right that have come up in the wake of the Paris attacks.  I have to admit that I haven't written about the attacks at length yet (I still might-I need to give myself some time to give it a proper due and my day job has not allowed that lately), but I am alarmed by the rhetoric used by multiple people running for Congress, and in particular Donald Trump, John Kasich, and Ted Cruz, and I am frustrated by the number of governors who have denied refugees into their states (and yes, Maggie Hassan, that D behind your name doesn't excuse you from my disappointed glare).  I am not going to get more into this in a link roundup, but if I have time later this week I will probably devote an article to this conversation.

-Attorney General Kamala Harris, currently the frontrunner to take Sen. Barbara Boxer's seat in California, is apparently struggling on the campaign trail.  She's not fundraising the way she was expected to, and isn't great on the stump.  This doesn't actually surprise me-anyone who saw her DNC speech in 2012 will be aware that she's not the great speaker that President Obama is (the two are frequently compared for their seemingly meteoric rises to the top), nor does she have Barbara Boxer's retailing skills.  I am curious how this race goes if, as some have speculated, it will be both Harris and Rep. Loretta Sanchez in the general next November (Republican votes are splintered, and Democrats have only two real options, so it's possible that two Democrats will land in the general in California's odd new open primary system).  Without the risk of the seat exchanging hands, Harris vs. Sanchez could be a generally interesting debate, and it's hard to see organizations like the DSCC and Emily's List (which did technically go with Harris but has endorsed Sanchez in the past) spending any money on a seat the Democrats are guaranteed to win when other races in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Ohio are actually going to win back the Senate, and both are progress elected officials with long ties to the national party.  If that's the case, Sanchez could gain as she seems to be doing extremely well amongst Hispanic voters, who may be moved to get a Latina elected statewide in California.  If the race is Harris v. Sanchez, though, the real winner would be the DCCC, as Hillary Clinton would surely be dominating statewide and with a vested reason for Democrats to get out in the Senate race and almost no reason for the Republicans to get out and cast a ballot, the DCCC could be able to pick up and hold even more House seats from disproportionate turnout.

Shameless Self-Promotion of the Week...

-I'm aware that I haven't discussed Louisiana-all in good time this week.  But know that I'm excited about the Democrats' new favorite silver lining, John Bel Edwards.

YouTube Video of the Week...

-Prank videos make me physically uncomfortable, but this is Smosh's tenth anniversary, and in this case it was Anthony and Ian getting pranked by none other than Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, so I'm cool:

Just One More...

-My favorite story of the week from a makes-me-smile angle was surely my beloved Andy Murray's mid-match haircut, where he attempted to hold back Rafael Nadal (it didn't work at the ATP World Tour Finals) by cutting his hair mid-match, as he claimed it was in his eyes.  The link has a video of the event.

Congratulations Flavia!

We will officially be back to twice-daily blog posts later today and will be throughout the week.  This past week with a combination of a weirdly long work-week for three days, a robust series of evening plans, the US Open, and my last trip for a few months, I didn't have it in me to also weigh on the ridiculousness of Donald Trump's continued dominance of the polls.  As a result, here's a story worth clebrating-the classy win of Flavia Pennetta at the US Open, who finally won a Grand Slam title and then promptly retired.  It was one of the few moments during the tournament that I had to celebrate as most of my favorites (the Murray Brothers, Serena Williams, Roger Federer) came up empty-handed.

There's Always Australia...

My favorite Andy Murray lost at the US Open in a heart-stopping match so I shall have to endure much taunting tomorrow at work.

On the plus side, my girl Serena is still in the match, and now I will proudly switch my flag from Scottish to Swiss.  Go Fed!

Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

Sorry for the lighter writing output this week in terms of posts-it was one of those weeks at work where everything in the outside world just sort of fell by the wayside (in a good way-occasionally you need a good week where work comes first).  However, we'll be back to our regular twice-a-day schedule come next week as we finish up the Top 200 Songs countdown and the 2008 OVP, and start up some new projects potentially by Labor Day.  In the meantime, we have a link roundup to get to!

In Entertainment...

-DailyDot had a "preaching to the choir" moment for me earlier this week when they profiled Steve Harvey, perhaps the most obnoxious celebrity we don't instantly associate with obnoxious celebrities.  Seriously-Harvey has to be one of the worst people in entertainment right now, right up there with Donald Trump.  The article talks about how Jonathan Franzen and Wendy Williams both got lambasted by the media for comments they made, while Harvey's comments and actions, which run-the-gamut from having an all-male audience boo women for not giving their husband enough sex to saying gay men aren't "real men" to saying that men are only be friends with women because they want to have sex with them.  Really, Harvey's 1950's-style attitude is probably part of the reason why Donald Trump can get away with some of the things that he's saying-it feels like it's preaching to a similar choir.

-CBCRadio did an interesting take on the potential death of the one-hit wonder in the wake of Carly Rae Jepsen's success on her sophomore album (seriously-the Twitter gays are going bananas for this thing).  I agree with the idea that we are no longer going to have one-hit wonders, particularly in pop music as radio stations have become annoyingly similar and hyper-gentrified.  Even in the Minneapolis market, where something like Cities 97 (somewhat of an institution in the area) has transitioned to essentially being yet another Katy Perry/Imagine Dragons-style station rather than a network where you're consistently finding newer and lesser-known pop music.  All of this is to say that while I like pop music, I tend to get bored of the same ten songs over-and-over and the modern radio game has me just listening to NPR when I am in the car and scoring new songs on YouTube or perusing blogs to get a taste of music.

-With the US Open starting up on Monday, Nike did something awesome in New York, recreating the iconic street tennis match between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.  Both men were there again, along with current tennis stars Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Madison Keys, Maria Sharapova (pictured above), and of course Roger Federer.  Click over for some fun photos from the event, which also managed to get John McEnroe to be the umpire.

In Politics...

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-MD)

-I know that we discussed this a little earlier in the week, but Al Hunt has a piece out discussing how a Biden-Warren primary ticket would not be without precedent (though it would be without precedent in terms of announcing this early in the process).  While we echoed a lot of the ideas in my piece (hint, read mine if you haven't already!), it's interesting to point out that this concept has been floated around a bit before, and was actually executed by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1976 when he chose liberal Sen. Richard Schweiker as his running mate to try and gain points in his close primary race against President Ford.  It's also interesting in hindsight to see Sen. Bob Dole, who had an impressive start to his 1988 presidential campaign, watch his chances at the presidency evaporate by not selecting Gov. Lamar Alexander, a young hotshot at the time, to build momentum headed into New Hampshire.  Dole and Alexander would both pursue the nomination in 1996, with Dole winning it, but they certainly would have had an easier time actually making it to the White House had they been the ticket in 1988.

-There's been a lot of talk this past week about whether or not Carly Fiorina should be included in the debates coming up on CNN, and how she is taking her frustrations out on the RNC rather than exclusively on CNN.  It's an interesting argument, and looking at CNN's rules (where they had a much-longer window than they probably should have considering the 2008 and 2012 GOP primaries and how quickly certain candidates fell), the network should have planned better, but I don't sympathize entirely with Fiorina for a couple of reasons.  One, her team knew long-in-advance that this would be the rule, and should have protested earlier that you need shorter windows for eligibility, and two, Carly Fiorina is not going to be the nominee or see her campaign skyrocket if she is included in the grown-up debate.  Ten people on the debate stage seems too high to me, quite frankly, and I think it should probably be closer to six.  Still, pragmatically looking at recent polls Fiorina should be in the debate over Gov. Chris Christie, who has endured a huge fall in his ability and will likely exit the primaries before a vote is cast and will, in 2018, leave the public stage indefinitely having squandered his star by assuming it would last forever (he was a fool for not reading the tea leaves and going for the nomination in 2012, when he likely could have beaten Mitt Romney-you can claim hindsight is 20/20, but I think we all kind of knew it was an unnecessarily big risk to wait when his window was very much open three years ago).

-Gov. Martin O'Malley came out swinging this past Friday in Minneapolis against the DNC while the subject of his ire, Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz looked on in frustration.  O'Malley accused the DNC (never DWS by name, but it was clear she was who he was going after) of rigging the debate schedule to help Hillary Clinton win the nomination, and I could not agree with him more.  I have stated many times that I am supportive of the Clinton nomination (though not yet ready to endorse her), but the debate schedule is a joke.  For starters, DWS and the DNC have done a horrible job in countering the Republicans who are going to have had two debates and a forum before the Democrats even have their first get-together.  As a result, the GOP candidates have been dominating the airwaves and conversation for months, and the Democrats simply look late-to-the-party.  Wasserman Schultz, in my opinion, has been an absolute disaster in the chair with the Democrats losing horribly down-ballot during her tenure and the DNC's fundraising lagging behind its congressional counterparts.  Just add this to the list of why I can't wait for 2016 to get here, and hopefully for DWS to become a Democratic backbencher and not try to make a play at the House leadership.

Shameless Self-Promotion of the Week...

-A gentle reminder to all of those liberals who say Bernie Sanders is way more progressive than Hillary Clinton.

YouTube Video of the Week...

-My brother emailed this to me saying "isn't this one of your dreams come true?"  And yes, yes it is-Darren Criss and Aaron Tveit dueting with each other (and yes, while Darren is perfect, I must acknowledge that Aaron with his more traditional Broadway-background is the better singer of the pair):

Just One More...

-I have to weigh in on this since it is one of my worst nightmares realized.  I'm sure you already heard about the boy who tripped and punched a fit through a 17th-century Paolo Porpora floral painting worth $1.5 million.  Seriously-I am petrified of doing this to the point where I have thought about wearing slip-on shoes at museums.  I actually attend art and history museums on a regular basis (I'm one of those people who actually visits their local museums when they have new exhibitions and doesn't just talk about it, and will in fact be going to the art museum next weekend in Minneapolis to catch the new Irises painting), but I constantly am shuffling my feet for fear of a shoelace-ruining a Monet or watching my grandma like a hawk since she has this petrifying history of walking backwards when looking at paintings, not realizing there's a statue in the middle of the room.  Anyone else have this fear?

Wish Me Luck!

You will get your next batch of Favorite Songs countdown this afternoon, but I'm giving a big presentation this morning so I didn't have the time to get to it to start the day (my nerves are a little bit shot-I hate public speaking).  Instead, since the US Open is coming up, I figured I'd put my two favorite champions here as inspiration!

How I Am Spending My Morning

I will have posts later today, but I will be spending the morning between these two guys...I can't imagine a better way to spend a morning.

Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

I am starting this weekend off on the right foot (I have had a weirdly productive week both at work and at home, which rarely happens for me so I plan on continuing the streak into the weekend).  As a result, let's get right into those stories the blog (and hopefully you) missed so far this week!

On Entertainment...

-Listen, I love Aaron Tveit like he's one of the family (and if he's interested, he can meet me at a courthouse and literally become a member of my family, no questions asked), but I have to raise an eyebrow over his casting in Grease.  I know the play has a history of hiring actors that are too old for the roles of high school students, but that's slightly different on Broadway where age has a fifty foot sight gap from actor to audience, and Tveit, while still gorgeous, doesn't look remotely 18.  That being said, he's the only member of this train-wreck of a cast I actually enjoy and who can, you know, act.  Honestly: Vanessa Hudges and (blech) Julianne Hough?  I don't know that you could have picked two actresses that would make me want to see this movie less.

-Legendary actor Omar Sharif died yesterday at the age of 83.  For those of you unfamiliar, you need a crash course in 1960's cinema, as he starred in three classics of the era: Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, and Funny Girl.  While he continued working for decades after that (starring with everyone from Julie Andrews to Anthony Hopkins to Viggo Mortensen), these three films defined his career, as did his position as the first (and so far only) major Egyptian movie star.  I will always love him best for his sole Oscar nominated-turn in Lawrence, a film I spent most of my senior year of college parcelling through for my honors thesis.

-It might be a stretch to call this entertainment, but it does connect to the Blackfish and SeaWorld controversy that has continued to have legs, so I am putting it here.  However you classify it, you must investigate this article about the 103-year-old orca whale that was spotted off the Canadian coast.  The orca's incredible longevity is a huge issue for SeaWorld because the company has long argued that we don't know how long whales generally live, but those in captivity rarely live past their twenties and those born in captivity average to only about 4.5 years of age.  While whales don't usually live this long, female orcas in the wild have double the lifespan of those in captivity, and frequently travel with their families, which is something that they are not allowed in captivity.  The reality of this situation has been clear for years, but SeaWorld needs to close down; their treatment of whales and other marine mammals has gone the way of cigarette commercials and asbestos, and it's time for their business model to reflect as such.

On Politics...

Gov. Charlie Crist (D-FL)

-This article's a little older than I usually allow (I try to just have stuff from the past week), but it's such a fascinating read that I couldn't skip it.  The quite long piece from Vox is about the possibility of Nuclear War, particularly in regard to Vladimir Putin's disdain for NATO, and how that possibility has grown over the past year, and what a World War III situation would look like for the world.  The piece is fascinating in that it rarely sensationalizes (it stays very grounded), but doesn't broach the topic with tepidity, making it both utterly readable and incredibly terrifying, particularly when you compare the divergent opinions that the two major nuclear powers in the world have of the opposite country's leader.

-Politico had a fascinating look at the backlog of judicial appointments in the Senate right now.  I find it truly staggering that this is the least amount of judges that will be approved since 1969 (a 46-year gap!).  I get that the Senate is made up of Republican senators, and they have every right to not allow the president his appointments (advise and consent), but come on-at least advise here.  Give them a no vote if that's what you want, but considering that two dozen courts have declared judicial emergencies based on the number of judges appointed, this is yet another crisis that is wholly preventable.  America voted for Obama twice-it's been six years, get over it.

-In news that I have conflicted feelings regarding, former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is plotting yet another comeback bid.  Crist, who famously ruined his career in 2010 by trying to make a play for the Senate when he could have won the governor's mansion with relative ease (and then been a serious presidential contender in 2012), and then failed to make a go of the Sunshine State's executive mansion in 2014 after switching parties, is apparently looking into a run for the U.S. House now that the 13th congressional district is likely to become more Democratic with the recent court decision mandating that Florida redraw their congressional maps.  On the one hand it's hard to deny that Crist has kept a lot of goodwill in this district (which houses his home in St. Petersburg), but on the other hand I am so tired of Charlie Crist, who seems like a skilled retail politician who cannot sink the basket on Election Day, and wish that someone else would take up the mantle for the Democrats.  It also proves how devastating that 2010 decision was; Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are using the ultimate swing state as a presidential launching ground while Crist might make it into the House minority in 2017.  Oh how the mighty...

Shameless Self-Promotion of the Week...

-I share in JK Rowling's despair over Andy Murray losing to Roger Federer in the Semi-Finals.

YouTube Video of the Week...

-We already talked about Shane Dawson's coming out video, so I'm going to go with this video fresh from the Oscars channel on YouTube of Rosie O'Donnell presenting the short film Oscars at the 1993 awards.  I love this for a number of reasons-you have Whoopi (her first time hosting) and Rosie united decades before The View, you have Rosie in the midst of her brief period as a movie star (she references her soon to be major hit The Flintstones), and Nick Park in a gigantic green bowtie.  Enjoy:

Just One More...

-CNN has been doing a fascinating look at manmade structures that are victim to decay across the world, and this is one of the more interesting ones, highlighting some of the world's most iconic sites that are in jeopardy of fading away..  While not all of them are resulting from climate change, enough of them are that you know my soapbox is nearby if you need a lecture.

Are You Ready for Wimbledon?

That's what I thought. ;)

Happy Monday!

Djokovic Takes Wimbledon!

Novak Djokovic grabbed the grandest trophy in tennis for the second time this year, upending audience favorite Roger Federer.  Here a few pictures of the (ridiculously handsome) champion (along with some of the person everyone in the audience was really looking at).

Who were you cheering for?  Federer or Djokovic?  And the real question-is she pregnant?!?!?